Coulda Done Better

Coulda done worse...

7 out of 11 with one more day to go.

Classes This Spring

The new semester starts Monday.  I've got until then to get four courses configured.  This coming semester I am teaching (again):

• Basic PTM
• Scenic Fabrication & Installation
• Entertainment Rigging
• Studiocraft AutoCAD

I think that this is maybe the 8th time through the first two classes, something like the 6th for the rigging class, and a whopping 14th time through the CAD class.

By Monday I need completed syllabi for the first two classes.  I have until Friday for the second two.  I think the Scenofab syllabus will be complete but I am dubious about the BPTM edition.  Basic PTM has something on the order of 14 guest spots and over the years it has become more and more difficult to pin those dates down before the semester actually begins; so for that class I think the written part of the syllabus will be done, but the schedule will be a mass of TBDs.  This is compounded this semester because for at least 7 of the sessions I not only need to find a date but I actually need to find someone to appear.

The Entertainment Rigging syllabus will also probably come with a bunch of TDBs on the schedule.  In this case it is built that way.  The class content is composed of student presentations.  The students pick a pool of topics which are then assigned to them randomly (although after the assignments are made they are allowed to trade) and then once the students have their topics they pick the presentation dates they want (theoretically based on the demands of their schedules).  Usually it works out that I do the early sessions and they sort of fill in from the end of the semester forward.

I could probably do a CAD syllabus with one hand tied behind my back while blindfolded.  There's good and bad parts to that.  Biggest issue there is not being stale.  Lately the class has been more difficult for me than the kids.  Every time AutoDesk revises the program and the interface they seem to make it more intuitive - so easier for the kids to pick up (since they don't know the legacy interface) and more difficult for me to learn - old dog new tricks.  I have a grad assistant that wants to teach this class this round.  That's not hard to say yes to.

Be nice if I could crank through this paperwork tomorrow.  Watch this space to find if I managed it.

TANBI Florida Tour 2014

It was time for the boy to do a Florida swing. First off he helped us pack - that's usually Freya's job. This also hatched a Shark Tank idea: "Suitcase/Pack & Play."

He did ok on the flight down.  Passed out on the tray tables.  We lucked out and the middle seat between me and Mrs. TANBI was empty, so we had a little more room to operate.

First stop was to see his Great-Grandmother.  I never got to meet a great grandparent, so I though this was really cool.  I'm not sure the boy understood the significance.  Did you know that babies under 3 aren't allowed in public pools in Palm Beach County?  So, no swimming here, just enjoying the atmosphere.

 

Since there was no swimming at the pool we made a side trip to the beach.  Once we got there we decided that there was a lot of potential for swallowing sea water and/or sand, so it was a good time, but we'll have to take him back when he's older to get the whole experience.

Sandwiching the beach trip the boy got to meet his Great Aunt.  Shouldn't that really be "Grand Aunt?"  It's my mother's sister or the boy's grandmother's sister.  That sounds like Grand Aunt to me rather than Great Aunt.  Whatever the true name of the relationship she is both Great and Grand.

The logistics of taking these photos clearly preoccupied my posing for it.  Also, the odds of snapping the shutter when the baby is looking at the camera... unlikely.  Clearly I have quite a bit to work on as family photographer.

And then it was time for the trip home.  We scored an empty middle seat again and the boy was the hit of the plane.

Now he's already looking forward to his next adventure.

Ellipses...

Didn't make any project progress today, that was probably a mistake...  I wonder if it would have come out different if instead of playing and getting hurt the Steelers and Bengals had just flipped a coin...  The temperature difference here between yesterday and today was like 50 degrees...  Fun seeing Sig on Apprentice.  Doesn't seem like he's doing much talking though...  The boy had a fussy day today.  Here's hoping it isn't a streak...  Looking for tips on travel to Israel...  Watched "Arbitrage" last night.  Pretty neat script...  Sling is starting a TV over the internet service.  Might be that much closer to cutting the cable...  The office was pretty quiet today, except for that guy pounding grommets in the shop...  I've really fallen off on the Highland Park document processing/shredding.  I should get back to that...  Six days left until classes start again.  Guess I should get my butt in gear...  My sister sent a whole box of toys for the boy for the holidays.  Really nice gesture...  I couldn't find a door swing limiter at Target, but I bet they have them - although the web site says no...  Really missing Station Street Dogs.  Might have to explore Franktuary...  My feeds are making me miss Vegas, although even if I were there I probably wouldn't be at CES...  I wish it were possible to declare a one year ban on Presidential campaigning...  Just because you say you will help to challenge racism doesn't imply that people around you are racist...  Congress is coming back.  It doesn't give me a warm feeling inside...  I don't understand why government, even school board really, have governance over curriculum - or more accurately over curricular specifics...

Plugging Away

Got moving on the attic project a little today.  The weather was good and it just seemed like too good a chance to miss.  Pretty much all along I've thought the most difficult part of the job was going to be moving materials.  There's a flight and a half of stairs from the garage to the front door.  There's two flights of stairs from the first floor to the second.  After that there's another flight and a half's worth of attic ladder.

That's a lot of up.

To ease into it I started with insulation.  The moving equivalent would be boxes of pillows - leave the books for later.  Even with very little weight, eight times up and down like 40 steps I did start to feel it.

The first step in the actual work was to install the insulation on the existing wall.

It doesn't look like much but it's a start.  I have to take a half a second out to give a plug for the plastic encapsulated JM ComfortTherm insulation.  I'd been dreading the insulation part of this job (if you're keeping track that's the second dread) and this stuff is awesome.  Through all the work you basically don't ever touch the batting and the cover serves as a vapor barrier so you can skip that step.  Also, the casing has flanges on the side that ride over the studs for staples.  It was a little more expensive but for me it was 100% worth it.

Since the ball was rolling and the weather was odd (mid 50's the first week of January) I decided to move to another step.  I could have moved 2x4's up to the attic or I could go buy drywall.  I opted for drywall.

I'd been dreading moving the drywall (#3).  Partly it was because I wasn't sure how it would fit on my roof rack.  I'd danced around the job for a week trying to decide if I was going to buy a new roof rack for drywall.  Obviously I opted for a DIY solution over purchasing what I found would have been about a $300 commercial rack (although I think it might still fit inside the number the contractor quoted me).

Somewhere along the way I'd forgotten how heavy this stuff was.  I really should have brought a helper to the home center.  I think I'd talked myself into thinking it wouldn't be difficult because I'd found 1/4" drywall as opposed to 1/2".  Unfortunately the 1/4" was a dollar more per sheet than 3/8" and even after I'd talked myself into the cost I determined that the stuff was so brittle that I'd never get it moved.

So 7 @ 4x8 3/8" dual drywall sheets - 90# per pack.  I loaded it onto a dolly myself as packs.  When I got to the car I split them into individual sheets.  When I got to the very last sheet a Home Depot guy showed up to help - thanks.

Unloading at home was easier than loading at the store.  I have not one clue as to how I am going to get these things up all those stairs.  Certainly have to do some pre-cutting (I don't think a 4x8 will pass the attic access anyway).

Wish me luck.

Books 2014

It looks like I read 28 books this past year.  Some combination of buying a kindle and having the baby really upped the output.  I think I probably read less than 10 books in 2013.

Here's the top 10:

10	Woken Furies (Takeshi Kovacs Novels Book 3)	Richard K. Morgan
9	Broken Angels (Takeshi Kovacs Novels Book 2)	Richard K. Morgan
8	The Final Reflection (Star Trek: The Original Series)	John M. Ford
7	A Stitch in Time (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)	Andrew J. Robinson
6	Saturn's Children	Charles Stross
5	Year Zero: A Novel	Rob Reid
4	Stand on Zanzibar	John Brunner
3	Love Minus Eighty	Will McIntosh
2	The Peripheral	William Gibson
1	Song of Spider-Man: The Inside Story of the Most..	Glen Berger

The number one book there is obviously colored by my vocation, and that I even know some of the people involved somewhat tangentially.  Number two, the latest from William Gibson continues the streak he started quite some time ago with each book being better than the last.  The biggest surprise I think is the Brunner title "Stand on Zanzibar" as it was first published in 1968 but still holds up really well.  I'm not sure I liked either of the Takeshi Kovacs books as much as the first one, but I am also fairly sure I read Altered Carbon sometime in 2013.

Here's the rest in no particular order (ok, it's alphabetical order):

	A Fire in the Sun (The Budayeen Cycle Book 2)	George Alec Effinger
	Channel Blue	Jay Martel
	Heaven and Mel (Kindle Single)	Joe Eszterhas
	How Much for Just the Planet? (Star Trek: The Original..	John M. Ford
	Neptune's Brood	Charles Stross
	Pathfinder	Orson Scott Card
	Robert B. Parker's Blind Spot (Jesse Stone Novels Book 13)	Reed Farrel Coleman
	Robert B. Parker's Cheap Shot (Spenser series Book 42)	Ace Atkins
	Robert B. Parker's Damned If You Do (Jesse Stone Novels Book..	Michael Brandman
	Robert B. Parker's Wonderland (Spenser Book 41)	Ace Atkins
	Ruins (Pathfinder Book 2)	Orson Scott Card
	Scoundrels: Star Wars (Star Wars - Legends)	Timothy Zahn
	The Best of All Possible Worlds: A Novel	Karen Lord
	The Exile Kiss (The Budayeen Cycle Book 3)	George Alec Effinger
	Torchwood: Exodus Code (Torchwood Series)	Carole E. Barrowman
	Visitors (Pathfinder Book 3)	Orson Scott Card
	When Gravity Fails (Budayeen Book 1)	George Alec Effinger
	Yesterday's Kin	Nancy Kress

 
Channel Blue had a shot at the top ten but started out much more interesting than it finished.  The internet seems crazy about "How much for just the planet" but I just don't see it.  It's a TOS Star Trek book rendered as a musical.  I think maybe the excitement is over possibly seeing it performed as opposed to the book being particularly good.

Here's hoping this year's list is even longer.

And Another Project

Keeping a list?  You can add "build room in the attic."

We bought a new furnace a little while back.  When we did the buy the march of progress took us from a 75% efficient unit to a 90+% efficient unit.  That was swell.  But there's a wrinkle.  The new, more efficient units have a water line and a drain.  In many installations this wouldn't matter even a little bit, but in this particular case it does because the furnace is in the attic.  The attic of our house is insulated on the floor such that air can come in through the eaves to cool the roof in the summer.  This arrangement means the roofing lasts longer, but the attic is vulnerable to freezing in the winter.

Most of the time one wouldn't care if the attic froze as long as the house underneath it remains toasty warm.  That was true of our house right up until we installed a furnace in the attic that had a water line.  FWIW we complicated it a little too by adding a humidifier - I mean as long as water was going to be a problem we might as well go all in, right?

So I have to build a room in the attic.

My thought was to get a guy.  The job is mostly within my skillset, but I figured it would be nice to have someone else to blame when something comes out less than.  I had a number in my head - well a couple numbers: what I thought the materials cost would be, what I thought the bid would be, what I wanted to pay, and what I thought I'd get away with.  When the bid came in it was about 100% over the number I thought the initial bid would be.

So I have to build a room in the attic.

A couple of days ago I made a start...

When I started the job I started a spreadsheet.  Gonna be interesting to see where I come in against the number I got from the contractor.  On the first day I learned something new about my car: the roof rack on my car (having traded my truck in after the boy was born) will hold 16 2x4's on a single layer.

The loading thing has been bugging me for a while.  Somewhere along the way I am going to have to bring in some sheet-rock and the roof rack really won't accommodate it.  Suddenly I'm cruising the internet looking for rack bars that are sized to accommodate sheet goods.  Kind of a bummer.  Most of the time when I do a home project I manage to find a way to buy a new tool along the way.  This job felt right for a cordless mitre saw, but now it looks like I might have to do a roof rack.

Or I guess I could just rent a truck for the day.

Watch this space for project updates.

Ellipses...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!  First year home on NYE for a decade.  Mixed drinks and cake are a reasonable substitute for surplus pizza and peanut M&M's...  Seems like there weren't any New Year's repercussions for that movie...  Please everyone send positive thoughts for Le'Veon Bell's knee...  Fixed my chair today and it didn't break because I am huge...  Well, at least we didn't lose all our fantasy football games, but probably enough to keep me from doing it again...  Mrs. TANBI has undertaken a massive photo project.  Could be really cool...  HBO ran The Wire in a marathon this week, cost me some sleep.  Good TV though...  Tuesday night came and went last night - forgot the trash, oops...  It wasn't as magical as I had hoped, but putting the sheave in the freezer did most of the job...  Already more tired of hearing about Jeb Bush than of Hilary Clinton...  I've got too many issues requiring resolutions to make resolutions...  How come none of the movie preview articles are listing Jupiter Ascending?  I hope it hasn't been pushed back...  Thinking of buying a rack to put on the rack on my car.  I hope that's not stupid...  Need to write an IFTTT recipe for welcome messages to new followers on @NFTRW_Feed...  A little bit not having work somewhat complicates parenting...  It might be time to start putting some real brainpower toward the spring classes...  What time I didn't lose to The Wire this past week was lost to Alpha Centauri...  Amazon asked me to review a book the other day and I have no recollection of reading it.  I guess that ought to be the review...  MSNBC appears to have given pretty much all their on-air talent the whole week off...  I wonder if 2015 will have as many changes for me as 2014...

Ellipses...

Should really get back to this more often...  Spent my first 24 hour period alone with the progeny.  No disasters.  I even got the trash taken out...  Bummed about the weakening of the banking regulations they squeezed into the budget.  We ought to have a procedure that keeps that particular legislation from being left to the last minute...  We did semester reviews in three days this round - three days of three sessions.  First ramification?  No blog pictures (head over to Facebook if you are interested)...  BBC America is running Battlestar Galactica daily in two hour blocks around lunchtime.  Haven't seen scheduling that dangerous since Bravo used to run West Wing in the morning...  Speaking of West Wing, it was a shame to see the end of The Newsroom this week.  Can't help it, I guess I am a die hard Sorkin fan.  Since he'll have some free time I think it would be neat if he'd write an episode of The Simpsons...  In my total lack of blogging I didn't do an "All David Honor Roll" this semester.  FWIW there would have been nobody on the "All David Honor Roll" if I had done it...  Had to turn down a friends request to board their cats with us.  We just went through too much reducing our feline population...  I really wish they would stop saying "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" on the news and just say "Torture."  Using a weasel word doesn't make it right.  For that matter legal and/or effective don't make it right either...  My second twitter feed: @NFTRW_Feed is now tweeting more than a dozen job postings a day thanks to IFTTT.  I'm looking for even more...  I'm feeling like a crappy gift giver this year.  Have to fix that for next year...  Spending a whole lot of mental horsepower trying to come up with what's next.  No, I don't know...

Worth a Look

Here are a few posts from last weeks Greenpage that might be worth your time...

Technology Takes a Tightrope Walk

c2meworld.com: As a man prepared to walk off the edge of a skyscraper and on to a 340-foot-long steel cable, Marc Weinstock had other things on his mind.

While 65,000 people on the ground and more than 6.7 million viewers were watching daredevil Nik Wallenda walk untethered across a tightrope over the city of Chicago, the director of technical operations for NBC’s field and production operations had his mind on technical things.

Posted by David at 11/24/2014 01:15:00 PM

Devising The Environment: Mixing Science and Theater In The Classroom

HowlRound: The first day of class, I have no idea what to expect. Though the college is a small one—only about 1,500 students—some of these fourteen undergrads have never met. That’s because the class is split almost right down the middle between theater majors and environmental studies students, with a few crossovers.

Posted by David at 11/27/2014 01:23:00 PM
 

Cirque Show Scene Returns After Performer’s Death

Pollstar: Cirque du Soleil officials have invited reporters to a Dec. 3 preview of the scene’s return at the MGM Grand hotel-casino on the Strip.

Cirque expects to add the scene intermittently to regular performances for the ticket-buying public starting next week, and it will be part of every performance by Dec. 12, said Alexandria Baum, a spokeswoman for the show.

Changes have been made to the choreography and equipment used in the scene, she said.

Posted by David at 11/27/2014 01:16:00 PM

Versatile. Durable. Incredible... Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloons!

American Chemistry Matters: Everyone knows that enormous amounts of helium fill Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons each year.

But, do you think about the volume of engineering, science and technology that go into making each balloon?

Did you know that the giant balloons seen by more than 50 million viewers across the world begin as a lump of clay?

The balloons are conceived, manufactured and cared for by 28 full-time studio employees in the Macy’s Parade Studio in Moonachie, New Jersey.

Posted by David at 11/28/2014 04:40:00 PM
 

Interview with PigPen Theatre Company members Ryan Melia, Arya Shahi, and Matt Nurenberger

HowlRound: Corey Ruzicano is a senior at Emerson College in their BFA acting program program. She is participating in the Creative Producer program inside the Office of the Arts at Emerson College. She recently got to talk with PigPen Theatre Co. members Ryan Melia, Arya Shahi, and Matt Nurenberger about how a group of guys who got together in college made a band, a theater company, and remained friends.

Posted by David at 11/26/2014 03:02:00 PM