Goodbye, audio cassettes

While I do have a soft spot for vintage technology, one of my key frustrations at work has been the fact that I have to engineer the broadcast of monthly state board meetings on nearly 20 year old equipment.
No more. Today, the board approved my renovation proposal. 21st century, here we come!

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Getting out

Boy, do I love the winter thaw!

After my disappointing end to 'cross season and a longer-than-expected recovery period, I had a lot of trouble getting myself back in gear to put in base miles outside. The fact that we'd had plenty of snow and ice (generally things I really enjoy...well, at least the snow...) kept me gun shy about another crash, and the longer I was gone from group rides, the more I knew I'd fall behind frustrated after wasting a bunch of energy trying to keep up at the start.

No more. Today, Kat, Ryan and I opted for a later start time and a goal of 50-60 gravel miles at a pace we could all maintain for the duration. We rolled out a little before 11 and headed into a SW wind, Cortland in mind for a first stop.


We found gravel roads in beautiful condition, with options for packed smooth middles, a little pea gravel in between tracks, or churningly difficult wet shoulders. Kat needed that slowing power later in the ride when her front brake cable snapped, leaving her relegated to stopping with a pretty worn out back brake. Scary!


Ryan, riding singlespeed, kept a nice crisp pace for us whenever we started slacking. After worrying his gearing would be too low, he ended the ride thinking this will be his Gravel Worlds gear for this year. (Sorry nerds, I don't know the gear ratio and he's not here right now.)


With temperatures fluctuating from the low 40s to the mid 50s, plus a wind cold enough to make wind chill a factor, clothing decisions were a little challenging. I stayed pretty comfy with a silkweight capilene baselayer, wool jersey, wind vest (detachable sleeves came off pretty fast), neck gaiter, wool cap, glove liners and shell gloves, and cozy Craft running tights over my bibs. Wool socks in my winter shoes were toasty!

After exploring uncharted (to us) gravel east of Cortland en route to Hickman, we ended up back at home with 59.59 miles. Nice way to kick off the outdoor training year, and it felt great to do something more on roads where you didn't have to worry about just staying upright on 1-3 inches of pure ice. Bring on the Spring!


In other news, I was able to make this likeness of Hunter S. Thompson during a work professional development activity in which a team of us were given 16 items of which we could choose 6 to keep after surviving a plane crash in the Australian desert. We chose none of these, though we spent a good deal of time considering the Jameson. With 6 of us, though, it wouldn't have gone very far.

Who Knew?

I just discovered canned dolmas. They're on special right now at Open Harvest, and became an impulse buy for me Saturday. I thought there would be no way they'd compete with fresh, restaurant-made ones, but holy wow, they're yummy.

In other news, I'm spending my little employee benefit of a state holiday working on my Pecha Kucha presentation.


Hope to see you at the Bourbon Theatre on the 24th!

It's Winter in Nebraska, and I Commute By Bike

Thick be the boots!

Fierce be the facial expression!

Downpour

Fast-moving thunderstorms are not uncommon in Nebraska. I thought I could beat the one that blew through this morning. I packed my toast & peanut butter breakfast, left my coffee unfinished, and headed out the door as the weirdly-golden sky changed to sprinkles.

Then utter downpour, with 50 mph wind gusts and pea-sized hail to boot. The streets were washed out, I saw a few branches fall, but I kept on going, fearing worse -- possibly larger hail.

Arriving at the NSOB

Helmets are good for more than protection from falls. The worst hailstone hit was in the pit of my elbow. That stung.


It's not so easy to see, but I poured a nice lake out of my shoes. I also wrung my pants out of their dripping wetness. Good thing my trusty Re-Load kept my change of clothes (and I brought a change of everything, mind you) and my camera high & dry.

By the time I'd changed, the sun was out again.

Now, at 8:30 PM, it's still 88 degrees, and the heat index has finally dropped from 103 an hour ago to 99. Allegedly, we're rocking a dew point second only to Miami.

Data Conference?

Scenes from work

There is a vending machine in my office's breakroom (which looks like it came straight out of the bright orange 70s) that dispenses, for 50 cents a cup, Spiced Chia Tea.


Today, I've been taping sessions at conference on Data. Fun with convex reflective surfaces!

My Week #1 (April 21-27)

Robbie started April with weekly videos with 8 seconds of footage per day. His sister Annie followed suit. I'm hopping in the fold this week.


My Week #1 (April 21-27) from nocoastfilms on Vimeo.

As originated by Robbie Wilkins and followed by Annie Wilkins, here is my first entry into the My Week genre. I decided not to follow the 8 seconds per day allotment as strictly this time; it was a busy week.

Hellomaha

I'm up in (bl)La Vista for a conference, and went to nightcap my workshop with a visit to Ben over at Jake's. I'm certainly not used to driving on the interstate to hang out with friends.



It's all worth it for this one, though, and boz stopped in before the night was through.

xo, ben.

This Is Just To Say

after William Carlos Williams


I ran over
your midsection
this morning
on 14th Street

and you
were probably just
looking
to escape the drain

Forgive me
you were so squishy
and I was in a hurry
to get to work.

Pizza Night Part Two: Gina Joins In

After having rough days at work, Gina & I had beers and made pizzas. This time, toppings included:

Grated Parmesan
Pecorino Romano
Mozzarella
Oil-Cured Olives
Sauce
Spices
Garlic
Baby Spinach
Crimini Mushrooms

In case the three cheeses on the pizza wasn't enough, we also had some Fromage d'Affinois on Le Quartier's White Sourdough. Yum!

First Tornado/Thunderstorm of 2009

I have what would best be described as a morbid fascination with tornadoes. As a child, I got extremely upset when everyone went outside as Ken Siemeck implored us to get in our basements. I had a little suitcase packed full of my favorite matchbox cars, die cast John Deere implements, and maybe a doll or other trinket that I could take into the fruit room with me at a moment's notice. Though we lived in Lincoln, we spent most of the summer on the farm, taking care of the garden & haying; for my brother & I, this also involved the creation of elaborate games with elaborate rules & generally getting into trouble. On the farm, the nearest tornado siren was in Emerald, a solid 4 miles away and hard to hear. The notion that the sirens might be going off and we couldn't even hear them??? Terrifying. (As of a few years ago, there's one at the lake, so this wouldn't be a problem anymore. Not consequently, I now enjoy watching the sky.)

But I loooove a good thunderstorm. I missed them thoroughly in New England. Now, March 23 seems a little early, but we had our first tornado warning today (a brief blast of the sirens, even), in what was a narrow, windy & fast-moving band of storms. It's snowing in Scottsbluff. I managed to bike home in the 10 minutes where it really poured. Right before I left my office, though, it was sunny & there was a rainbow.


Note, however, the extremely windblown flags. The state flag has even been wrapped around the pole a few times.

Technology can't possibly be educational!

Cornfed Gamer summarizes it better than I could, suffice it to say there are bigger fish our auditor ought to be frying...

Neal chimes in, too:

Weather's Nice

Get out and dance!

BOOMBOX from Ely Kim on Vimeo.

(as an aside, on Monday, I sent a boombox to the state surplus property auction...)

TIE Returns to the Ross

The fantastically curated TIE collection is returning to the Ross this Wednesday & Thursday. The past two years, Lincoln has been blessed with great programs and presentation from Christopher May, TIE's curator. This year should be no exception:

Since 2000, the internationally-based TIE festival has been a leading champion of artists still working in the medium of film, with a particular focus on both new and historical avant-garde cinema. TIE returns to UNL with two new programs specifically selected for The Ross by TIE founder/director Christopher May. The exhibition features an eclectic range of experimental films that illuminate the continuing vitality and beauty of celluloid, while subtle and at times obvious philosophical and thematic curatorial gestures conduct the flow of the programs. Both shows include highlights from TIE's 2008 international festivals, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Paonia, Colorado.

The TIE festival will feature two programs.
PROGRAM 1 will be shown on Wednesday, January 14 - 7:00pm
PROGRAM 2 will be shown on Thursday, January 15 - 7:00pm

Come join me. I'll be going to both, if I can help it. Oh, and since you're going to be stopping by the Ross, you should also probably find time to see Slumdog Millionaire, darling of the Golden Globes, and Synecdoche, NY, the latest adventure into Charlie Kaufman's brain.

...

I'm in McCook for work, teaching video editing to a group of 20-some 4th graders through high school seniors. Should be an adventure.

Friday commute

We got quite a bit of ice Thursday night. Lincoln Public Schools, notorious for never closing for a snow day, had no school. The State marches on, however, and the streets were pretty empty for my ride.


There was only one other bike that had evidence of having been ridden that morning. Success!

snow commute

4℉ this morning, snowing, but no wind, and i'll stop dissing my mtb. i had a fun ride.


this was what it looked like out my window all morning. good weather for editing.


this afternoon, different story. it wasn't snowing anymore, but the cars had packed things down pretty well, and the ruts were pretty killer on a relative icebike novice like me. i'm totally thrilled with my winter bike pants, though.

face, masked. head, handknit-hatted & helmeted. eyes, in need of ski goggles. that might make me look less mean.

Men At Work

Ande's been a diligent worker recently. Between his Montessori training and composing the score for a USC graduate thesis film, he's working until he falls asleep.

A report, quite brief

Monday I spent 0 hours on the computer. Tuesday I spent 13 hours on the computer. I liked Monday better.
Also, I believe I have lost my love handles. And I'm not going to look for them anymore.

Updates, Various

I've been up to this and that recently.

Last weekend, I got flown to Detroit to film Bright Eyes in concert. My good friend Joey Lynch is on tour with them doing visuals, and so I got to spend some time with him, too.

One of Joey's screenprints, called Social Studies

Animation with Joey Lynch from nocoastfilms on Vimeo

Some animation I did with Joey a few years back

Another videographer who went along to Detroit -- and who shall be known as the future Mrs.2000 -- is part of the No Coast Derby Girls, and she manages all their taping. Saturday, then, I got back into derby taping, and got the fun job of following jammers. My congratulations especially to Shiv #66 and Sylvia Bullet #45 to a bout well jammed.

Doing these side jobs, I've been feeling really good about my camera work, and I've also been enjoying not being the director of the shoots, and having just a bit of direction to work with in each case. I've been feeling ok about work, when I'm editing or shooting, but have found that I'm really not interested in much beyond that out of my work scene. Also, teaching is looking good for the whole "summers off" bit, though when I mentioned this to my retiring 30+-years-of-teaching mother, she replied, "there's a reason for that."

Grad school or post-bac classes are seeming like a really good idea no matter what for, and I had a nice long talk with Marco at the farmers' market early Saturday morning about sustainability, greenprints, urban/rural planning, and environmental studies while eating pea shoots, local pain de campagne and artisan cheese on a street bench. When I think about the heated discussions I get into, they tend to be more on this bent, therefore making these choices possibly more logical (and certainly more fundable) than film school.

Lots of people are gearing up to move out of town. Hmm.