Category Archives: Fun

Goal: Hawaii

A bit of adventure.

Yesterday Summer and I packed our bags and headed for the airport. Our plan was to catch a flight to Seattle and then another to Lihue Hawaii.

Well, we made the connection, but the flight was full. After we were sure we wouldn’t be making the flight we checked the departures board and attemped a flight to Honolulu and then one to Las Vegas. Having no luck on those flights either it was getting pretty late and the list of destinations was dwindling so we decided to return to Portland and try again on Friday.

Friday morning came early and we headed back to the airport, resuming our attempt at Hawaii. With no small amount of luck we got the last two seats on a flight to Maui. Neither of us have been to Maui before (this is my first trip to Hawai’i) and as of the time of this writing, I’m somewhere over the pacific sitting next to a cute couple with a seemingly endless supply of little Captain Morgan bottles that they have been kind enough to share.

Summer and I have nowhere arranged to stay when we arrive. For me, that’s the fun part. We’ll touch down in another couple hours and figure the rest out then.

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Filed under Adventure, Fun, Personal, United States

Jay Leno will lead the 3D printer revolution

Via: MAKE: Blog: Jay Leno will lead the 3D printer revolution

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Filed under Design, Fun, Hack, hobby, Make

Insert Thought Here

Color Me Katie: Thursday. – – Fun project of putting “thought bubbles” on various surfaces and taking pictures of people passing under them. Then photoshopping in the thoughts you think they were having.

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Filed under Culture Jamming, Fun, Photography, Random

A White Album Christmas

Summer and I went to a performance a couple weeks back entitled “A White Album Christmas” and weren’t entirely sure what to expect.

They sold out every seat in the house and all of the standing room available. It was absolutely fantastic. Every song on the Beatles White Album was performed, as well as a few others, while performers fliped, spun, threw and flew through the air.

Here are a few shots I took from the sidelines (link):

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Filed under Fun, Photography, Random

Dave Gingery’s Philosophy

Who is Dave Gingery you might ask? I don’t know either, but one night stumbling around on the web I came across a page written on the way he looks at things and it stuck with me.

http://www.lindsaybks.com/dgjp/dave/philos/index.html

“Most of my life was spent in trying to figure out how to do a $50.00 project for 50 cents, and the remainder of my time was spent in trying to scrounge up the 50 cents.”

I really like his perspective on “apparent obstacles”. Give it a read, maybe you’ll be inspired to pick up that project that you’d talked yourself out of and give it another shot.

Acquiring knowledge is a relatively straight forward process, and so is the development of manual skill. You can know what others know, and you can do what they do. Your level of performance is determined by a combination of opportunity, energy expended and available resource. You can provide your own opportunity, and you can decide how diligently you will apply yourself. So, we must deal with the problem of resources which is no small matter if you are the bird with 50 cents who needs $50.00 worth of stuff! Nevertheless, it can be done, so let’s get with it while we are yet young and eager.

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Filed under Fun, Hack, Random

Invention, Innovation, Portland.

I’d thought about starting something like this, but now that TechShop is making its Portland debut I will happily use their tools and facilities to learn more about the process of making things. I’m very excited about this development and will be one of the first to support an East Side Annex!

From Molly Purnell @ Core77:

On the bus I get to know Dave, a self-proclaimed inventor and maker who’s excited about TechShop’s CNC router. Dave builds Fretted Dulcimers which are apparently coming back into fashion in the Japanese hand-made instrument market, and he needs access to the shop in order to build prototypes.

Dave seems to be the typical clientelle of TechShop; a maker with big dreams, little space, and no equipment. TechShop’s goal is to remedy this situation for the 300 or so potential members that came to the opening event. TechShop plans to have milling machines, lathes, welders, a laser cutter, an electronics shop, blacksmithing tools, a finishing room, workstations, a 3D printer, and of course the coveted CNC router. Along with all of this equipment there will be a tool and materials shop, a small library and a communal kitchen.

The greatest benefit of Techshop will be the probable development of community. The owner of TechShop, Jim Newton and the Portland shop manager, Denney Cole, claim that the community is one of the greatest drawing powers for continued membership. Most builders know that another’s experience and knowledge is the best tool available.

In addition to the tools and community, TechShop will offer offices for rent so that businesses may be based out of the shop. This will include access to the machines and tools as well. The monthly cost for a membership is $125 while a yearly membership is $1000. There may be a special rate if you get in now, which I would recommend since there are only 500 available memberships. The anticipated opening date for TechShop Portland is December 15, 2008 and the hours will be 10am-9pm, 7 days a week. Eventually Denney would like to have the shop open 24 hrs a day. Jim and Denney hope to open an annex on the East Side as soon as possible, sparing us more long bus rides.

More about TechShop @ GeekDad, LA Times, Forbes

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Filed under Design, DigiBoom, Education, Fun, Hack, Make, Portland, trends