Found a Studebaker at Morningside Campus

I found this little toy Studebaker at the Morningside campus of Columbia University while leaving work today. The significance is that people who are moving to the renovated Studebaker Building on the new Manhattanville campus in West Harlem are being given the little toy cars so I wonder if it was from one of those folk.

It's cute little car with a hood that opens revealing an engine replica. I think the car modeled is from the 1950's but am not that familiar with the model line. It was an interesting find since I am soon taking an office in the Studebaker Building myself, although I will split time between that and my office in 201 Philosophy. The model that is appropriate for that location is the Thinker as that sculpture sits outside the campus entrance to the building.

I was thinking to myself that I find many things by looking at the ground in front of me, although I also tend to peer into the future.

Tales from the Train - Training to Work on Sunday

It's been a while since I went to work on a weekend. Normally 5 days a week is plenty for my four hour round trip commute. I wanted to take Friday off so as to be at the J-Street home for the long-awaited arrival of the kitchen countertop so I chose to defer coming to work until Sunday morning.

I didn't get up as early as I had hoped and so am taking an 8:40 semi-express to NYC. I should have thought about the day-trippers that would be going to the city at this time. The train is now full but luckily I have avoided the interlocking knee situation.

Today is Sunday, December 30, and I need to get my office organized and cleaned-up for the new year. I am going to work to be more paperless in 2008, planning to get a scanner so as to digitize notes and non-electronic documents. I also need to work out an online file and document storage approach that will work for easy access and good organization of information. I am undecided whether to use a shared drive on the Columbia server, the personal workspace feature on Sakai, or some other online file storage approach.

Well, it looks like with the number of people getting on the train at Metropark I need to close now. More later...

Whew, I dodged the bullet on that one. I think people were trying to get the front of the train as an announcement sent people to the rear of the train where there are rumored to be plenty of seats available. A strange commuting phenomenon is that people will cram themselves together at the front of the train to save walking an extra 100 feet at the station. I guess that is similar to how people cluster in parking lots waiting to get a close in spot even though the walk from farther out would be mere minutes. People...

Well, it is two days until 2008 so I have to figure out how I am going to make this year different (and better) than any other. I suppose a good blog post for tomorrow would be my new year's resolutions so I can state them for the record with hopes of accomplishing them. I will give that thought the remainder of the day and come up with a good but manageble list. I hope others do the same.

Enjoy the final days of 2007 and I wish you a wonderful and special new year. Make it so!

The Desk I Want

This is a photo of the desk I wanted but did not move quickly enough. It was for sale at the Bombay store at Princeton Market Fair but you can see the sales tag at the upper left corner of the desk. I had seen it two days before at 50% off the original price but with holiday shopping I passed it up. The lucky person who bought it paid a little over $400 for this very nice desk.

I like it because it does not have the typical pedestals of drawers on either side. I like the airy look to it. It combines well my desire to be more paperless in the future and my interest in having something like a writer's desk.

If anyone knows of something similar please clue me in. Until then, the lesson of not moving quickly enough when you see the right thing has been well-learned once again.

Tales from the Train - Campus Technology Conference

So I blogged some the important things about my recent trip to San Francisco like the journey to the Golden Gate Bridge, Linda and Vincent on Lombard Street, swans, and biscuits and gravy, but I didn't put anything about the reason I went there in the first place.

I went to attend a winter conference for IT leaders in higher education that was sponsored by Campus Technology magazine. It was advertised as an immersive workshop in various areas important for leaders of IT in the higher education industry.

The immersive part was true in that the participants chose 2 daily tracks (out of 8 possibles) and each of the first two days was spent immersed in that subject.

I chose Social Collaboration in Teaching and Learning and Technology in Successful Learning Spaces. Both offered good exploration of areas that are important within my new job role.

The Social Collaboration session provided a good look at the millennial generation and how they differ in their learning styles and overall expectations. There was a great video provided through YouTube that I must locate and link here. The session explored the various offerings for incorporating social collaboration technologies into several institutions with varying approaches.

Duke highlighted their launch of the I-Pod and what cascaded from that starting point. The University of Santa Clara highlighted their support for the variety of Web 2.0 technologies including blogs, wikis, and even Second Life where they created a virtual version (a virsion?) Of their new Learning Commons library that was under construction.

The second day was another good immersion into how to incorporate technology and planning and aesthetics to make great formal and informal learning spaces.

To be continued...

Quote from The World Is Flat

"The act of participating is like a muscle you have to use, and we are so we are so unused to being active participants in the process that even though the tools are there now many people don't use them..." Micah Sifry.

The context of this quote was about the relative small number of people who upload. "Uploading is defined as the new found power of individuals to send up, out, or around their own products and ideas, often for free rather than passively downloading them..." writes book author Thomas L. Friedman.

Blogging is a form of uploading. Also open source software development. Actually, anything that involves producing content rather than simply consuming it.

It is an interesting book so far.

Westin Market Street, San Francisco

This a the photo of my hotel while staying in San Francisco as seen from Mission Street. My room is located on the 28th floor of 36 and is near the right side which is on the south-to-southeast facing side. The room has a great view of the southern part of San Francisco. I'll add photos from my window later as the sun is shining full on currently.

A very special thing about the hotel is that it is very close to Market Street at 3rd Street and the room has a 36" flat panel TV (woohoo!) Not a bad place to be stuck for an extra day due to the ice/snow storm in the east.

Southern Breakfast (almost) out West

Breakfast at Mel's Drive-In in San Francisco. For those that don't recognize it, it is Southern Biscuits and Gravy. Some southerners would wonder what that green stuff is that is on top. That is parsley for those who can't identify it. No self-respecting southerner would ever put anything green on biscuits and gravy but it brought a nice flavor and eye appeal to the fairly drab colored meal.

The biscuits were tender and flaky and the gravy was of perfect flavor and consistency. My only complaint was with the sausage pieces which were a little uniform and not the rustic style of mine which I tear off the tubed breakfast sausage.

In all the breakfast was great, especially as I added crispy hash browns and good coffee. The price was fine at just over $12 for the entire meal. As an aside, I went back for cherry pie at lunchtime. It was good, too, warmed up and flavorful but not eye-worthy of taking a photo.

A Journey onto the Golden Gate Bridge

This is the mode of transport for the first leg of my day journey to the Golden Gate Bridge. I plan on crossing San Francisco by the Powell and Market cable car heading to Hyde and Beach streets which is the terminus of the cable car route. As I write this, we are preparing to climb the hill to where the very curvy part of Lombard Street begins as it switch-backs down the steep hill. I'll insert a photo taken on Sunday as I don't want to lose my good outboard facing seat.

I'll have to take two bus lines to get close to the bridge but I intend to walk across part of the bridge on today's journey. I'll chronicle the more important parts by photo and words as I go along today.

Weee, down the hill we go! It's a shame I know so much about gravity and brake technology otherwise this would be even more fun.

Off the cable car I jumped on the 30 bus line to Desiderada and then walked onto the grounds of the Presidio to pick up the 29 bus that proceeds in a scenic fashion to a point near the Golden Gate Bridge. Not much to take photos other than an upscale military base and even more upscale homes adjacent. I can see the GGB off through the trees but it is still several miles away. Looks like the 29 doesn't come along all that often as I'm waiting at the bus stop. More to follow.

The 29 bus finally came along and dropped me off right near the south entrance to the bridge. As I was determined to walk out onto the bridge I proceeded up the pedestrian and bike walkway and this was the sign one encounters just before stepping out onto the bridge itself.

It is certainly good to have comfirmation that there is hope, but I wonder if that only applies if you make the call. And yes, after being on the bridge and looking down, I would agree with the stated consequences.

I proceeded out onto the bridge although it was a little more cautious than I want to admit. I hugged the traffic side of the walkway only going near the lefthand railing when absolutely necessary. I am so glad that I did because the view and the experience were amazing.

Too bad I don't have a better camera to take photos to do justice to this view of SF from the south tower of the GGB. I use the camera on my cell phone for most of the images I use in this blog. My goal is to upgrade to a better 3-4 migapixel camera with my next cell phone that I am due to get in spring.

It is an amazing site. One of the best things about going to Sausolito or Oakland or Berkley or the bridge is being able to look at the city of San Francisco from across the water. The weather was a bit overcast for the only day since my arrival and yet when the sun came out, the city lit up with sunshine. This photo does not do justice.

I was determined when I set foot on the bridge to make it at least to the first tower before the span. It would have been great to walk out onto the span itself and maybe make it to the middle of the bridge but that will have to wait for the next time I come. It was an important feat for me to go this far and I was glad to chronicle it with the two photos, one showing the plaque at the bridge roadway level of the tower, and the second looking upward to the top of the massive towers.




I showed enough mettle for one day to walk out this far and with my fear of heights I am heading back. I'm so glad I made this milestone as I'll use this for inspiration to continue climbing and pressing on. I wish you all could see what I see.

This shows an instance where the sunlight came out and lit the island of Alcatraz for a moment. It is hard to imagine what it must have been like when it was a Federal Prison. Being locked up within site of a city as beautiful as San Francisco and not be able to visit indeed sounds like cruel and unusual punishment.

Below is the view back at the Golden Gate Bridge as I walked away from it. Yes, I was there! See that south tower that is closest to us? Even through the south tower was the extent of my journey onto the bridge it was a good step forward in not letting my fear of heights get the best of wanting to experience certain things. I do envy people who can walk or ride across the entire span, not feeling the sense of dread in your gut and the tension that I get in my feet from trying to grip the pavement through my shoes.

The remainder of my journey was fairly eventless though long as I walked most of the way back to the city from the bridge. By the time I got back to the hotel it was 6:00 so I had been gone almost exactly 6 hours. I had travelled by cable car, electric bus, gasoline powered bus, foot, electric bus again, and finally an electric street car that runs down Market Street and the length of the Embarcadero. Not a bad way to experience a vision quest.

Swans at SF

Lombard Street

Fisherman's Wharf

Lisa final swap meet decor

RUTGERS WINS

Pre-game music

At Rutgers Game

Dateline: Saturday, November 17, 2007. Location: High above the 50 yard line at Rutgers University stadium.

I was given 4 tickets to the Rutgers vs Pittsburg game. With me at the game is Steve, Dan, and Dan's long time friend Kai.

This will be our first big-time college football game. The only other games we,ve been to are Princeton University games.

More to follow...

Dan's Arrival at College in August 2007

I was talking with my sister over the weekend and she told me about a photo of Dan that showed his arrival at College back in August. A few seconds searching Google and I located it myself. Thanks, Sis, for clueing me in on that one.

I was with Dan the day of the move-in and I knew someone had snapped his photo but I never heard where it was printed.

Those that know Dan must be laughing at this photo as it is perfectly in character with the young man. From the hip wardrobe to the designer flip-flop, even the stance is all Dan. His stock phrase of "It's All Good!" seems to exude from his very being.

Good luck with your future, Dan, I know it will be all good.

Princess Castle.

Block architecture - a bridge.

Vincent at J-Street

Vincent discovering the magic of blogging photos from a cell phone.

Pencil sketch by Mary Lansdowne.

Easy Rider

Circular aquarium

Animal barstools

Wolfgang Puck

More HoB

House of Blues

Dinner at Fulton's at Pleasure Island in Downtown Disney

FW: Bazaar at Columbia

FW: View out window of Stud

FW: Lunchroom in Stud

FW: Building photo

Moonset over Train Station

There is an advantage about getting up early. To be exact, waking up and misreading the clock and thinking it is 6:00 AM when it is actually 5:00 AM. Are you still wondering about the advantage? The view.

This photo is of the full moon setting into the west as viewed from the northbound platform at the Hamilton Train Station. The southbound (Trenton) platform is in view and you can see the crossover that I troupe over each day on my way home. Also in view are the electrical wires that power the NJT trains.

This scene was very reminiscent of what I used to see each morning before getting a monthly parking permit for the parking garage. I had to arrive at the station by 5:50 AM each morning in order to get a daily parking space. The good thing about that is I was walking across Columbia University quad by 7:30 AM every morning. I don't even need to mention the bad part.

Truly, whenever I get up and the sun is half-way up in the eastern sky I feel I have lost a good portion of a day. Not to mention that the early bird gets the worm. Enjoy!

Cathedral at Amsterdam and 111th Street

Tales from the Train - new sci-fi author

My newest author is Charles Stross whom I discovered while browsing the sci-fi section at Powell's City of Books store in Portland, Oregon. Powell's is the largest bookstore I have ever seen (as I have not been to the Strand in NYC yet) and carries everything I could ever imagine. If you are a reader and visit Portland, Powell's is a must. Plan to spend a couple hours there.

I ran across Charles Stross' books by browsing the shelves. I am sure I was looking for anything Simmons as in Dan Simmons. Powell's is where I purchased a hardback of Olympos for $7.00 during a trip last year. This was a match for the hardback of Ilium signed by the author I purchased from eBay several years ago. With Stross, here is an author that I had no clue about who had a body of work that included five or six novels in the cyberpunk, nanotech, speculative future genre'. Ah, a gold mine!

I purchased a copy of each of the books on the shelves and acquired several more through Amazon.com. I can't understand why Stross has not gotten the kind of attention of contemporaries in speculative fiction like William Gibson and Neal Stephenson. In my opinion he is right on the mark science- and culture- wise and his characters and stories are highly entertaining. How much more fun can you have when phones rain down from the sky with offer to fulfill any wish with the simple proviso of being entertained as payment (see Singularity Sky) and the main premis that "information must be free" (not free as in no cost, free as in unfettered) ?

Entertainment aside (as in for your reading pleasure) I am in awe of the projection into the future of the effect of technology on culture and individuals. From culture shock of those on the slow end of change through how children may be affected, every page of Stross' work seethes with remarkable and profound speculation. So far I have read Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise and am part way into Accelerando. I have a copy of Glasshouse and still need to acquire The Atrocity Archives and several others to add to my collection of his novels.

I highly recommend Charles Stross if you want to expand you mind and have lots of fun while doing it.

OK, We are getting ready to dive under the Hudson River now so I need to hold my breath. All the best... David

Trial of Sketchcasting

I am trying out a new capability called sketchcasting. Anyone who knows me knows how I love my whiteboard (or chalkboard). Here is my first attempt though with no sound. I need a headset for that.

http://sketchcast.com/view/eU8Bbq2/

Hmmm, there should be a way to embed this directly into a blog-post but I am not seeing it. It seems to truncate the imbedding link.

Any help from anyone out there?

An update, thanks to Philipp Lenssen (see comment) I was able to imbed the sketchcast directly into the blog. The part I was doing wrong was I copy-pasted the imbedding string into the Compose screen of Blogger rather than the Edit Html screen. The later allowed the entire tag.



By the way, no handwriting psycho-analysis allowed. How well can you write with a mouse?

Students Rallying Prior to Iran President Talk

This is a view of the south lawn at Columbia University where students are gathering to watch the simulcast speech of Iran's president. The Columbia quad is filling up with people many of whom are protesting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit and speech at the World Leaders Forum being held on campus this week. Below is a photo taken during the Iranian president's speech.

Dan plays first college game

Dan's college team played the very first game in Chestnut Hill College history beginning against Lackawanna College on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2007. It was great to be there for the double-header of this new Division II baseball program particularly since it marks Dan's entry into collegiate baseball. Joining me at the game were the initial members of the Fans of Dan fan club shown here. The game was scheduled to begin at noon but didn't get started until around 1:00. This allowed the fans to do some fun activities including coloring (left) and nail painting (right).

The game was a scheduled double-header and Dan wasn't scheduled to play the first game. The squad has more than 30 players all vying for spots and Dan is competing for center field. The team did very well but got behind with a number of errors allowing the Falcons a 7-2 win. The second game proceeded with Dan playing center field and batting 7th. In the early innings Dan made several put outs on a couple of well hit balls. He came to bat in the 2nd inning with two outs but grounded out to the 3rd baseman.. For his 2nd at bat he singled down the 3rd baseline for is first college base hit. He came around to score.

His second at bat he got on base due to a throwing error by the 3rd baseman and then stole second base. He went to 3rd on a passed ball to the catcher and then scored on a base hit. The final score of the second game was 7-4 (need to verify score). All in all, the Griffin's did great for their first ever games considering they are mostly freshmen playing in Division II. Expect great things ahead from this energetic squad. Next games are Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday. Stay tuned for further blog coverage and more highlights of Dan.

One Sweet Ride

Yes, here is my dream car. At least the make and model. Oh, sure, I know what you are thinking. Full blown mid-life crisis. So typical. Hey, at least it is not in red.

Truly I have wanted this car for more than 10 years as I have switched from SUV to 4-door coupe as I have supported the family thing. But it makes sense, most of my driving really involves me shuttling myself from point a to point b alone. The family aspects can always be accomodated in car #2. No sense in giving up my dream car for practicality sake.

Anyhow, since I no longer need to fit a team equipment bag into the trunk for the baseball team I think this one has room for golf clubs and tennis rackets. And it is so unbearably sweet.

Here's to making dreams come true. We all have to aspire, right?

Tales from the Train - What is Facebook Anyway?

I am beginning this tale from the train on Wednesday evening however since we just departed Princeton Junction bound for Hamilton as the next stop I only have five minutes to begin. I'll write more on the train tomorrow morning. This tale poses the question, what is Facebook anyway and what is it good for?

I started my FB presence several days ago and have amassed an amazing two friends, count them, two. Of course I have to say that these two first FB friends are true real-world friends and I would feel uncomfortable beginning this journey of discovery and experience. I look at one site and see a particular kind of presence. Lots of friends from a home he left and photos of a particular subject I know to be a significant interest. In fairness the other friend is from a newbie like myself and so her site is pretty stark for now. But still the question, what and why?

My sons each have FB sites but I want them to experience this social environment without the feeling I am looking over their shoulder. There is some risk in that from a parental point-of-view (especially over-protective types or helicopter parents) but part of the good thing about social networking is the peer correcting aspect.

So I have these basic questions and the two ways I know to answer them is to research it and experience it. Oh, I could also solicit other people's ideas, experiences, and opinions of others. Yes, I welcome your comments about this. I admit I still write this blog with the thought that I am speaking to myself. I do want comments, exchange, discussion, and sharing from people with different points-of-view.

And so the experience begins. The research begins. Hopefully your involvement begins. Help me make sense of this puzzling thing. You can see the direct link to my Facebook site over in the left margin of this blog. Follow that if you wish.

Become my friend?

Another pair of home runs from A-Rod

An A-bomb from A-Rod. #50 to straight-away center field. Yankees lead 4-0 in top of 4th.

I took this photo from the TV when A-Rod was back in the dugout after hitting the first of two home runs last night. It's is great to see him being successful in such a great way while also helping the Yankees to the playoffs. I think he is the MVP with Jorge Posada in serious consideration as well.

I just heard while watching today's game that he got #52 and is at bat now with runners on 1st and 3rd. And he strikes out on a change-up. Do we really expect him to hit a home run every at bat? In a word, "Yes!" At least he is catching the steroid-augmented guys including Sosa, McGuire, and Bonds. Go, Alex, go!

Walk in the Wissahickon Valley Park

After taking Dan back to college after the Labor Day weekend I stopped over at a park near the college. The park is called Wissahickon Valley park and winds along the Wissahickon River (or creek) for about 5 miles until it meets the Schuykill River that flows through Philadelphia before joining the Delaware River.

One of the interesting sites within the first part of the park is this covered bridge which was the only one left from the 1800's. I read the plaque about the bridge and it indicated the covering protected the wooden bridge timbers providing for longer life of the bridge. I had always thought the reason was to protect the wagon shipments from rainfall in the passage from fields to market. I'll have to verify this conflicting information.

This view is the end view from below. The walk through the covered bridge was as I had seen in movies or on TV with the interior being very gloomy. There was also quite an interesting build-up of stonework approaching the bridge and keeping the river within the banks at this juncture. Maybe this was also to protect the investment in the bridge from weathering elements including high water and floods. The plaque indicated that this particular bridge joined industries on both sides of the river when Chestnut Hill was a thriving community in the eighteen hundreds.

While I was investigating I saw this fisherman fishing for trout at the spillway of a small waterfall that was directly upstream of the bridge. While I was there he pulled 3 small trout from the river fishing catch and release style. He indicated he was fishing with minnows although I had always heard that trout liked kernel corn the best. While I was there he must have run out of minnows because he broke open a can of corn on the big rock he is standing on. Another interesting thing he told me is that he has best luck fishing in the spillway of the waterfall due to the better oxygenation of the water. He thought trout like that over the warmer water that I am sure holds less oxygen. I think it may be a better place to ambush food coming down the waterfall and spilling into a constricted area. Maybe both aspects come into play to make this a good fishing spot.

This final view is from the downstream vantage looking back up at the covered bridge with the waterfall barely seen beyond as the patch of white foam directly beneath the bridge. My little cell phone camera doesn't do justice to the bright blue sky, the green vegetation, and the brightly red paint of the bridge. In all, the short visit to the Wissahickon River Park was lots of fun and there is much more to explore since I only covered about .5 linear miles of the 6 miles of river.

Sunset Clouds in Central New Jersey

These two photos were taken on Sunday evening, August 25, in Central New Jersey. One of the things I like about New Jersey are the amazing shapes of the clouds. I don't remember ever seeing four or five types of clouds in the sky at one time but that is a regular occurence here.

Another great thing about New Jersey is the complete lack of wind at times. In Texas, the air seems to be always moving either in breezes or strong winds. New Jersey can be completely calm where the trees leaves seem to be frozen as if in a photograph.

The sunsets aren't so bad, either, as you can see from the photos. It's not quite like sunset over the ocean, but can be quite beautiful. Enjoy the photos, enjoy the real thing.

1st One Heading Off to College

The time is quickly approaching for the #1 son to head off to college. A couple more weeks and it may not be true but I think I am more excited than he is. I have to believe he is a little uncertain since he will be leaving the secure life that he has known in the little enclave of Princeton.

On a recent orientation trip I got to visit his room assignment for the freshman year. Here are photos of the single room that he was lucky to get. First, the room plaque for Room 204. I don't remember specifically the building but that is OK since I shouldn't give it out on this blog-site anyhow.

Next is the view into the room showing the bed and clothing chest. The mattress looks a little thin so I am sure an upgrade will be needed. As I indicated he was lucky to get a single room that adjoins another single room with a bathroom/tub with shower in between.