Lego Deco Speedster
Maciek’s lego creation a couple of weeks back.
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New direction for the blog
We need a space to feature the various Things that Smugas Make. I’ll start off with a thumbnail of a Lego spaceship thing that Eli put together back in June (2011). Besides the standard-issue laser gun, it also featured claws and teeth and daggers and palm leaves for wings and flames shooting out the back.
Doomtree at the High Noon Saloon
Kim and I have been listening to a lot of new music this year. One of our favorite recent finds is Dessa, a Minneapolis-based rapper. She’s part of a musicians’ collective, Doomtree, and they performed at the High Noon Saloon in town last Sunday. Besides greatly enjoying the music and energy of the band, I also got a chance to try out the new Nikon D3100 at the concert (with cheapo 18-55 kit zoom, at that). It did not fail to impress.
So, how’s that final semester at MATC going, maciek?
Uh, fine… I guess.
Nothing new to report?
Well, there is my job.
Oh? Do tell!
I’m now officially an interactive designer at Promega Corporation, charged with iPhone and iPad programming, development for mobile platforms in general, related web development, and other odds and ends.
That’s pretty sweet. But no changes back home?
No big ones until April, and whatever little squirming package of joy will be coming our way then.
Awww, how sweet. Do you know if it’ll be a boy or a girl?
Not yet. We’re all pretty psyched about it, though.
I bet you are! And no stress at school?
<sounds of maciek clawing at his few remaining grey hairs>
So there you have it. All’s well with Maciek. We’ll check back in a month, when Maciek presents his life’s work at the DECEMBER 1 PORTFOLIO SHOW.
Don’t miss it.
End of summer
My classes begin next Monday. Do I feel ready? Not in the least. Where the hell did summer go?
A micro ramble on camera equipment: earlier this spring I bought a Nikon D3000 refurbished body for an almost unbelievable bargain basement price because, let’s face it, Ken Rockwell utterly trashed that particular model in his review.
Almost no other online reviewer thought the camera was bad. DxO put up metrics showing that, as far as print quality was concerned, the D3000 was equivalent to or slightly better than the D40. On the other hand, the camera has several interface and feature enhancements over its predecessor, such as a handy electronic rangefinder display in its viewfinder for use with manual focus or older AF Nikon lenses (of which I have a closet’s worth by now). But Mr. Rockwell’s review was apparently enough to shrivel sales enough to make it the best camera deal of 2010.
An entire summer of using the camera confirmed my good judgement: It’s an excellent and fun-to-use camera, and the recently-printed out album from our western trip confirms its image quality chops. I recently re-jiggered the controls so the “function” button allows me to directly dial in the ISO, and when the camera’s set to RAW mode, I really don’t need to worry about white balance. So: Perfect ergonomics to boot.
Which leaves me with a shout-out: Thank you for making an awesome deal possible, Ken!
DC photos
We’re in DC. Today’s big excitement was a tour of the White House. Earlier, we canoed around Teddy Roosevelt Island, toured the various Smithsonian museums, and spent time with Kim’s family. I’ve been taking photos, many of them with the Lensbabies lens, which leads to some curiously satisfying effects – some of which I’ve already put up on flickr.
Mellow
It’s been a mellow weekend. Besides some (more) cleaning out of the basement, gardening, jumping in the community pool, general-cleaning-of-the-house-before-my-in-laws-arrive, and hosting said in-laws, I really didn’t do much. This attitude was apparently shared by Ura, who consumed and then rolled around in some fresh catnip, and who is seen here relaxing afterwards. And she was very relaxed indeed: Instead of running away when Kim’s parents arrived (as she usually does), she just lounged around, looking perfectly content with her lot in the world (yes, that’s my Nikon DSLR she’s made herself “comfortable” on in this shot).
Beyond the Portal
The heat, humidity, storms and overall stickiness of the last few days did not contribute much to my artistic (or intellectual) productivity. I did manage, with David’s immense help, to haul our old washer & dryer out of the basement, just in time for us to comfortably eat dinner in its newly habitable confines last night as the tornado sirens wailed overhead.
I did, however, manage to finish playing Portal, and enjoy the Jonathan Coulton song at the end credits (much better than cake, really). And then I started playing it again, this time with the developer commentary turned on. And as I listened to their explanations of various game features, a vast but embarrassing realization gripped me: The game developers were carefully and intentionally making the puzzles as training exercises for specific skills needed to complete the game. I really WAS a lab rat the whole time. More than that, these people employed some VERY good educational psychology in the process, a delicate combination of just the right amount of reinforcement through repetition, reward, and occasional punishment, without at all appearing heavy-handed. In fact, remembering how much sense of accomplishment I felt the first time going through these in-retrospect-OBVIOUS training exercises, I felt like slapping my forehead, repeatedly.
Some interesting conclusions from all this: Yes, it is possible to teach specific technical skills with a well-crafted narrative (that the unsuspecting subject actually wants to return to). But it takes a deep understanding of psychology, as well as thoughtful user testing. Oh, and game designers are probably among the best (practical) educational psychologists out there. My hat’s off to the Portal team!
Playing Portal
I’m not a gamer. The games I’ve played (both computer and board) I can easily count on my fingers. That being said, two of my close friends convinced me to download Portal for the mac while it was being offered for free as a promo. I’ve spent a few evenings with it over the last month, and have really been liking it: It’s got a wicked vicious sense of humor, the puzzles are both fun and somewhat challenging (one instance had me bashing my head against the wall for a couple of hours, only to figure out the solution once I shut down my laptop for the night and lay down in bed) and, as I discovered last night, it has a non-trivial plot element that put a big smile on my face. That being said, once I’m done with it, I’ll be happy to not touch a game until I get my hands on the sequel to Shadow of the Colossus.
Today’s photo: flowers via lensbaby, taken during an evening walk around the neighborhood a few nights back.
