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6.29.01
. . . glacier bay
Ten
hours ago I was taking in the smallest plane I've ever flown on, winging
across tidal flats, up through a mountain pass, landing in Gustavus
(pop. 400). I'm now cruising back to Gustavus on a speedy catamaran,
tired and a bit wind burned after a glorious day 'up bay.'
Glacier bay is "I know of no other place in our vast country where
so much has unfolded in so short a timne" --John Muir "Shed our layers
of our fact-based high tech society"--Emily Scott
6.28.01
. . . juneau the way to glacier bay?
I had
no idea Juneau was so close. A
speedy two hour flight and we're in Alaska. Never been to Alaska before.
Juneau reminds me of Colorado, if you ignore the docking cruise ships.
It's beautiful, small (pop. 40,000), can only be accessed by plane or
boat, and happens to be where Mary, Kim, and their beautiful baby Asha
live. They (Mary & Kim) get married on Saturday. Apparently Juneau is
also where the Internet is located.
6.27.01
. . .
Busy
day at work . . . end of fiscal quarter, day before I leave for the
first of two back-to-back, out of town weddings . . . my mind is on
packing and dealing with various and sundry logistical details as I
hop in a cab for a ride home . . . fiddling with my phone, making a
mental list of things to get at the grocery store . . . suddenly the
little computer screen on the dashboard lights up with a new message
for driver:
"Aurora Bridge traffic slow due to jumper."
Someone,
at this very moment, is thinking about ending their life.
6.23.01
. . . i'm not here, this isn't happening
Made
the pilgrimage to the Gorge
with Jay & Karin to see Radiohead,
arguably the world's best band, perform. They were fabulous. Really,
really good. Set list and pix here.
Camped next to some college girls who'd travelled from Wisconsin for
the show. Unfortunately also camped near some yahoos who's idea of a
good post-concert time was to blast heavy metalfrom their car stereo.
I may be getting too old and cranky for this.
6.17.01
. . . happy father's day, father!
 I
love my dad. Still, I've been on the fence about Father's Day. Is it
really a holiday or just annual marketing initiative from our friends
at Hallmark?
Apparently it is the real deal, with Northwest origins no less. This
according to not one,
not two,
but three
different, albeit random Web sites. So much for my conspiracy theories.
The picture at right demonstrates the clear similarities between myself
and my dad . . . baldness, a physique illustrating a clear love of food,
large head to contain equally large brain required to analyze things
most people wouldn't spend the energy thinking about, a fabulous taste
in women, and of the course the suave dance moves. Like a chip off the
old block, I am.
6.16.01
. . . summer has officially begun
Yet another perfect day spent at the Fremont Solstice Parade. Great
parade, plenty o' naked bicyclists, beer, sun, and lots of friends.
Cyd, Howie, and dog Rudy were the diehards, staking our curb at 8:30am,
ready with bagels & juice. Scott, Angelica, and Case brought the giant inflatable Godzilla.
Jay Wyeth Smith was missed, but he's been busy being a cinema
bigwig for the past few weeks.
The caribou herd was my favorite parade entry. Did you know you can
track real life caribou
via this little thing called the World Wide Web?? More solstice
pix to come.
6.15.01
. . . it's a damn good thing i'm a doctor
Most
weeks don't involve nearly as much medical treament as this one. I had
some XRays, delivered
Dia to the emergency
room in the middle of the night in response to acute stomach pains
that have since disappeared, and our good friend (recovering from bronchitis)
discovered that she was allergic
to sulfa drugs after developing a 'disfiguring rash' and finding it
hard to breath.
Tommorow
is the Fremont
Solstice Parade, my favorite Seattle event of the year. We'll be
at the same street corner we're at every
year.
6.12.01 . . . what more could i ask for?
I find
myself suddenly being aware that I am in one of those periods where
the laws of physics seems to have been suspended. Time compresses and
expands. The contrast between the crucial and the mundane becomes both
stark and surprising. I find myself smiling for no reason.
6.10.01 . . . too busy to write any of it down
Whirled
through the month of May so completely absorbed in my awake time that
I did an extraordinarily bad job of engaging with pop culture, the news
media, mail, email, and any other stimulus not related to work or love.
Quite enjoyed it.
5.4.01 . . . happy quatro de mayo
After
spending 25% of the year outside the US and three of the last four weeks
on the road, I've now been home for a full week and it feels wonderful
. . . sleeping in my own bed, waking up next to Dia, having cats meow
inches from my face. Lovely.
5.1.01 . . . mayday, mayday
Workers
of the world unite. Really.
4.24.01 . . . form, i'd like to introduce you to function.
please?
Oh
my. Donald Norman
would have a field day at the Habita
hotel. Staying here is like dating someone beautiful who can't sustain
a conversation. Or is speaking a language you will never bother to learn.
Let's review:
| object |
form |
function |
| Sink |
Beautiful
stainless steel cube, with perfect white porcelin basin. |
Faucet
works in completely nonintuitive fashion. Position of faucet ensures
water spalshes everywhere when you turn it on and off. No wastebasket
to be found. |
| Desk |
Gorgeous
glass panes that jut out from the wall. |
Lots
of horizontal space, but no drawers. Power outlet and data port
are conveniently located next to each other, above the desk, in
the best possible place. |
| Sound
system |
Unobtrusive
speakers mounted in ceiling and bathroom, with two channels of demographically
perfect music. |
Sound
fills room, making it seem you are constantly in a music video of
your own making, even when taking a shower. Sound cuts in an out,
abruptly creating a disturbing silence. |
| Bathroom |
Calming
tile, glass, and steel. Speaker in ceiling delivering a relaxing
soundtrack. Phone by toilet for those intimate telephonic moments. |
High
style shower head spits out but a trickle. Water pressure is terribly
low with elusive temperature control, and bathtub requires assuming
a yoga position to bath. Shampoo container is too rigid to squeeze--a
problem given that the soapy substance is as viscous as tar. |
| Closet |
Stunning
plain wood panels that look like the cabinetry of my dreams. |
Located
in the narrow hallway, making it difficult access anything in the
closet. |
| Patio |
Striking
narrow patio, separated from room by a solid glass panel and separated
from the street (and other rooms) by frosted glass bolted to the
side of the building. |
Nice
to have access to the outside, though swinging door makes it impossible
to maneuver on patio without shutting said door, and all the beautiful
glass ensures that light leaks into room even when blackout curtains
are drawn. |
| Lounge |
Funky
downstairs lounge with high style sofas and coffee table art books. |
Lights
are unfortunately dimmed so that reading aforementioned coffee table
art books is headache inducing. |
| Bar |
Rooftop
bar appointed with white, terry cloth sofas and easy chairs, a view
of the city, and a 12 foot long fireplace. |
I
want one of these. |
4.23.01 . . . living in a magazine
I have been transported into the middle of a design magazine. Nineteen
hours after leaving Rio and I am now sitting in a white,
Karim Rashid designed Oh
chair on the rooftop deck of Habita
Hotel in Mexico City, overlooking a photoshoot taking placing in
the sleek, white tiled pool below. The hotel is faced on two sides by
six stories of frosted glass bolted to the walls. Cool, brand named
minimalism reigns. Jacobson chairs fill the lobby restaurant, everything
is white, steel, or glass. Two channels of music are pumped into my
room--including one that plays a steady stream of trance/ambient/house.
I recognize tracks from CDs I own. Coffee has just arrived in a white
ceramic mug with a square flange where one would expect a handle. Down
at the pool the photographer, a slick looking man in a tight zebra-print
tee-shirt and large colored sunglasses is coaxing looks of sexy ennui
from teenagers attired in the latest summer fashions. The bed in my
room--white--is low to the ground, an Eames chair sits next to it, and
the 'desk' is a single pane of glass floating out from the length of
the wall adorned only with a silver Sony TV set, a data port, and of
course design magazines. I feel as though the years spent cultivating
desire for beautiful objects, a habit that has become an industry, has
now reached its apogee. Perhaps its time to move on to something else.
4.16.01 . . . enroute to sao paulo
I'm
travelling through the air at 529 miles per hour, 37,000 feet above
the earth. It is -49 degrees outside. Fortunately I am not outside.
In
the 32 days since my last installment:
- Our
beloved 18 year old cat Kiki died. Rather horribly. She's missed everyday.
- The
kitchen is now painted a nice shade of green, no thanks to me.
- Set
a personal record for sustained sleep
deprivation.
- Had
my first and only work-related performance review in 34 years.
- Visted
Brian and Natalie in Chicago for 24 hours.
- Saw
U2 play
in Tacoma, though they seemed to think they were in Seattle.
- Stumbled
into a delightful new friendship.
- Ate
a meal at a New York restaurant
I've read about for years.
- Saw
some excellent art and design
exhibits.
- Had
project review with company CEO, which despite forwarnings, went very
well.
- Had
dinner with Mary, visiting from Alaska, and Jessamyn,
visiting from Madison Park.
- Ate
a meal on our deck for the first time this year.
- Replaced
toilet seat cover.
- Bought
Burning Man tickets, which
note "Attending this event could result in serious injury or
death."
- Had
an intriguing but terribly odd hour-long conversation with a white
rapper who rapped his relpies to my queries. I was down with it.
- Wrote
some pornography.
- Was
unable to fix my CDR drive.
- Drank
beer with a very good friend whose brother, it appears, is going crazy.
- Had
most excellent sex.
- Saw
no good reason to interrupt any of these activities to update my website.
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