If you wanted a card from us but didn't get one, we apologize! Please send us your current mailing address and we'll make sure you're on the list for next year.
Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts
Friday, December 25, 2015
MEOWY XMAS
This year, D and I switched from hand-writing all our holiday cards to drop-shipping pre-printed postcards. It forced us to write more concisely about the past year, but we're very happy with the results:
If you wanted a card from us but didn't get one, we apologize! Please send us your current mailing address and we'll make sure you're on the list for next year.
If you wanted a card from us but didn't get one, we apologize! Please send us your current mailing address and we'll make sure you're on the list for next year.
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
I Am Not Any of These Other People
I recently finished listening to Judy Greer's audiobook of her memoir I Don't Know What You Know Me From (which is delightful, by the way: my favorite chapter is "My Stupid Trip (Alone) to Spain" but they're all great).
Now, I'm nowhere near as well-known as Judy Greer, but I also get the "where do I know you from" thing quite a bit. I also don't know why this happens. (Remind me to tell you sometime about the first time I met Kim Stanley Robinson.)
Anyway, here is a brief list of people I have been told I look like.
1. Ted Chiang
Photo © 2014 by Folly Blaine
We are not the same person, as you can see... I'M THE ONE ON THE RIGHT OKAY.
That said, if someone mistakenly invites me onto a movie set and wants to introduce me to Amy Adams, I'm not going to say no.
2. A Native American
(That's Chief Joseph)
This according to a homeless man in San Francisco. He was perhaps not an authority on comparative phenotypic analysis.
3. The character shown on the cover of China Mountain Zhang (Tor, 1992)
Cover art by Wayne Barlowe
Okay, that's actually a fair cop. Here's a close-up from the 1997 Orb edition, which remixes the original artwork:
And here's a picture of me from this year's Readercon:
Photo by Christopher M. Cevasco
You win this round, Dan Trefethen!
Anyway. I won't be offended if you come up to me and insist that you know me from somewhere else, even if it's the first time we've ever met. Just don't turn it into a weird interminable guessing game and we'll be cool.
Now, I'm nowhere near as well-known as Judy Greer, but I also get the "where do I know you from" thing quite a bit. I also don't know why this happens. (Remind me to tell you sometime about the first time I met Kim Stanley Robinson.)
Anyway, here is a brief list of people I have been told I look like.
1. Ted Chiang
Photo © 2014 by Folly Blaine
We are not the same person, as you can see... I'M THE ONE ON THE RIGHT OKAY.
That said, if someone mistakenly invites me onto a movie set and wants to introduce me to Amy Adams, I'm not going to say no.
2. A Native American
(That's Chief Joseph)
This according to a homeless man in San Francisco. He was perhaps not an authority on comparative phenotypic analysis.
3. The character shown on the cover of China Mountain Zhang (Tor, 1992)
Cover art by Wayne Barlowe
Okay, that's actually a fair cop. Here's a close-up from the 1997 Orb edition, which remixes the original artwork:
And here's a picture of me from this year's Readercon:
Photo by Christopher M. Cevasco
You win this round, Dan Trefethen!
Anyway. I won't be offended if you come up to me and insist that you know me from somewhere else, even if it's the first time we've ever met. Just don't turn it into a weird interminable guessing game and we'll be cool.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
I Witnessed Orion's First Flight
It was beautiful and awe-inspiring, and I hope to see more space flights soon. Our future is up there.
Whether or not you believe all the #JourneyToMars hype, no matter how critical you might be of the Space Launch System (SLS)—if you don't feel something when you watch a rocket launch, please consult a medical professional, you freaking Grinch.
I cried when Orion lifted off—even more than I did when DeeAnn and I watched the STS-124 launch in May of 2008. Last Friday, when that Delta IV Heavy hit its second launch window, I was standing less than three miles from the pad. I felt the heat from the engines. For a moment, I honestly couldn't decide whether I should just watch the blurry scene through my tears, or blink and risk missing any of it.
Others in my NASA Social group got brilliant recordings of the EFT-1 launch—I didn't even try. Check out our photo pool on Flickr, some of which I daresay rival NASA's official images:
Don't even get me started on how great our amateur videographers are:
And for a real treat, listen to Danny Sussman's audio recording with headphones on:
But what I'm really looking forward to is Alison Wilgus' forthcoming comic about the event. Alison is a fantastic writer and artist, and she was one of my Clarion West classmates this summer. It was a complete coincidence that we both got into this NASA Social—we live on opposite coasts, and I didn't even know she had applied until we were tweeting at each other about the movie Interstellar and other space-related topics. Second-best surprise ever!
Alison drew a wonderful comic about her previous NASA Social rocket launch experience, the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-K (TDRS-K) launch in January of 2013. Incidentally, this is possibly my favorite single panel from that comic, because I'm a weirdo:
You can read the entire comic on Alison's web site. And if you enjoy it, sign up for Alison's newsletter to get updates on her future projects!
I don't have much more to say about my NASA Social week. It was amazing, informative, and incredibly inspirational. I brought back some souvenirs, but nothing compares to the indelible memory of seeing that rocket rise from the ground and disappear into the clouds.
One. More. Time:
If you have a couple of hours to spare, I recommend watching our Orion pre-launch briefing, which was video-conferenced between several NASA facilities around the country and included a lot of great information. My fellow NASA Social attendees asked some excellent questions about the future of America's space program.
Finally, I threw together a slide show of my own photos from last week. They're neither spectacular nor comprehensive, but should give you an idea of what the trip was like:
I was born after the Apollo missions ended. No people have walked on the Moon in my lifetime. I hope I live long enough to see human beings land on Mars. I really do.
Whether or not you believe all the #JourneyToMars hype, no matter how critical you might be of the Space Launch System (SLS)—if you don't feel something when you watch a rocket launch, please consult a medical professional, you freaking Grinch.
I cried when Orion lifted off—even more than I did when DeeAnn and I watched the STS-124 launch in May of 2008. Last Friday, when that Delta IV Heavy hit its second launch window, I was standing less than three miles from the pad. I felt the heat from the engines. For a moment, I honestly couldn't decide whether I should just watch the blurry scene through my tears, or blink and risk missing any of it.
Others in my NASA Social group got brilliant recordings of the EFT-1 launch—I didn't even try. Check out our photo pool on Flickr, some of which I daresay rival NASA's official images:
Favorite of the #Orion EFT-1 launch photos I took. You can see the shock diamonds in the rocket exhaust #NASASocial pic.twitter.com/sMGzxPjYsL
— Denny Atkin (@dennya) December 8, 2014And for a real treat, listen to Danny Sussman's audio recording with headphones on:
But what I'm really looking forward to is Alison Wilgus' forthcoming comic about the event. Alison is a fantastic writer and artist, and she was one of my Clarion West classmates this summer. It was a complete coincidence that we both got into this NASA Social—we live on opposite coasts, and I didn't even know she had applied until we were tweeting at each other about the movie Interstellar and other space-related topics. Second-best surprise ever!
Just made travel arrangements for my 1st @NASASocial trip, can't decide if I'm more excited about seeing @NASA_Orion or @aliwilgus XD
— Curtis C. Chen (@curtiscchen) November 15, 2014You can read the entire comic on Alison's web site. And if you enjoy it, sign up for Alison's newsletter to get updates on her future projects!
I don't have much more to say about my NASA Social week. It was amazing, informative, and incredibly inspirational. I brought back some souvenirs, but nothing compares to the indelible memory of seeing that rocket rise from the ground and disappear into the clouds.
One. More. Time:
If you have a couple of hours to spare, I recommend watching our Orion pre-launch briefing, which was video-conferenced between several NASA facilities around the country and included a lot of great information. My fellow NASA Social attendees asked some excellent questions about the future of America's space program.
Finally, I threw together a slide show of my own photos from last week. They're neither spectacular nor comprehensive, but should give you an idea of what the trip was like:
I was born after the Apollo missions ended. No people have walked on the Moon in my lifetime. I hope I live long enough to see human beings land on Mars. I really do.
@NASA_Orion @ExploreSpaceKSC @NASA #Space #ToBoldlyGo #OrionSplashdown pic.twitter.com/Jf8R5KGuBU
— Joe D (@Tooboldlygo) December 5, 2014Wednesday, December 03, 2014
I am in Titusville
As mentioned previously, I'm here as part of the NASA Social event for Orion EFT-1 at Kennedy Space Center.
instagram.com/p/wHjzqKGphj
Look for my tweets in the Orion NASASocial - KSC stream this week! You can also watch the briefings on NASA TV later today.
instagram.com/p/wHjzqKGphj
Look for my tweets in the Orion NASASocial - KSC stream this week! You can also watch the briefings on NASA TV later today.
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
I Am Thankful for Many Things
Including (but not limited to) my amazing family, friends, and communities—both near and far. Happy Thanksgiving to all those celebrating this week!
And everyone, please enjoy this lolcat picture, which I made recently while procrastinating.
First commenter to correctly identify the source of the quotation wins bragging rights. (Hint: it's a musical.)
And everyone, please enjoy this lolcat picture, which I made recently while procrastinating.
First commenter to correctly identify the source of the quotation wins bragging rights. (Hint: it's a musical.)
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
I May Have Gotten a Bit Drunk along the Way
DeeAnn and I went on an epic quest last weekend to collect McMenamins Passport stamps. She was our designated driver, and I did my best to chronicle our journey on Twitter and Instagram:
StampsQuest 2014
https://twitter.com/sparCKL/timelines/504524715923230720
In all, we visited 25 different McMenamins locations, and I collected 39 stamps, including bonuses and experiences. (I've had my passport since early this year, but DeeAnn only got hers this weekend, so I'm ahead of her by approximately 16 stamps.) I am now 54.3% of the way to Cosmic Tripster status!
A word on our methodology: We always stopped and had at least two drinks (one for each of us) at each location. It wasn't humanly possible to eat at every single place, especially when we were doing seven or eight stops in less than twelve hours, but we wanted to actually spend some time in each new place.
As the late Joe Cotter's epigram on the back of the passport says: "If you ever get to it, and don't do it, you may never get to it to do it again!"
We did observe other people doing drop-ins, where they just asked for a passport stamp and left immediately. Several of the servers we spoke to said that behavior is not uncommon, and the staff don't really care one way or the other. But many years of running The Game and Puzzled Pint have made us sensitive to the quid pro quo of asking locations to host players.
Anyway. Most of the remaining McMenaminses are around Portland, but we'll have to do another road trip out west to catch the two bars which weren't open when we visited last weekend, plus a separate jaunt down to Bend. We also plan to hit some Washington state locations when we drive up to Seattle for our friends' housewarming party next month. THERE WILL BE TWEETING.
Meanwhile, for other questing perspectives with much more detailed travelogues, check out Portlander Gretchin Lair's "McMenamin's[sic] Passport Project" blog, which she began this month; and Seattleite Todd Springer's "My McMenamins Passport Odyssey," which he started in January (the latest update was in mid-April).
StampsQuest 2014
https://twitter.com/sparCKL/timelines/504524715923230720
In all, we visited 25 different McMenamins locations, and I collected 39 stamps, including bonuses and experiences. (I've had my passport since early this year, but DeeAnn only got hers this weekend, so I'm ahead of her by approximately 16 stamps.) I am now 54.3% of the way to Cosmic Tripster status!
A word on our methodology: We always stopped and had at least two drinks (one for each of us) at each location. It wasn't humanly possible to eat at every single place, especially when we were doing seven or eight stops in less than twelve hours, but we wanted to actually spend some time in each new place.
As the late Joe Cotter's epigram on the back of the passport says: "If you ever get to it, and don't do it, you may never get to it to do it again!"
We did observe other people doing drop-ins, where they just asked for a passport stamp and left immediately. Several of the servers we spoke to said that behavior is not uncommon, and the staff don't really care one way or the other. But many years of running The Game and Puzzled Pint have made us sensitive to the quid pro quo of asking locations to host players.
Anyway. Most of the remaining McMenaminses are around Portland, but we'll have to do another road trip out west to catch the two bars which weren't open when we visited last weekend, plus a separate jaunt down to Bend. We also plan to hit some Washington state locations when we drive up to Seattle for our friends' housewarming party next month. THERE WILL BE TWEETING.
Meanwhile, for other questing perspectives with much more detailed travelogues, check out Portlander Gretchin Lair's "McMenamin's[sic] Passport Project" blog, which she began this month; and Seattleite Todd Springer's "My McMenamins Passport Odyssey," which he started in January (the latest update was in mid-April).
Wednesday, June 04, 2014
I Knew Jay Lake
And now he's gone forever.
Photo by Waterloo Productions
I didn't know Jay very well, but I did have the privilege of spending some time with him over the past few years—in local "co-working" writing groups, at a few different conventions, and once while waiting for our shared flight back to Portland (we talked about how home genome sequencing and "chemjet" drug printers could revolutionize medicine).
We were both writers, and we were both born in Taiwan. That's about where the similarities end, but he was a wonderful person to know and an inspiration in many ways. I'll miss him a lot.
Lunch at Paradise Lost 2013. Photo by Donnie G. Reynolds
As a tribute, here's my own, somewhat morbid version of Link Salad, a frequent feature on Jay's personal blog, and from which I always gleaned something fascinating.
A little bird told me — Twitter is awesome, in all senses of the word. In this case, it was good to know from the source sooner rather than later, but those four little words hit me with a sharp, deep pain.
It was dark and cold that morning — on June 1st, the power went out in our neighborhood just after 4:30 AM, and stayed out until 5:45 AM, the same time as Jay's passing. It's meaningless. But it's a thing. I don't know.
I've seen the future, baby It is murder. — Lisa's post about "the day after." (The title of the blog post is lyrics from the Leonard Cohen song "The Future." It's okay, I had to look it up too.)
The Oregonian story on Jay's passing — longer than an obituary, but still too short.
Remembering Jay Lake, 1964-2014 — a more SFnal perspective on Jay's life.
Free Speculative Fiction Online: Jay Lake — read some of Jay's many, many, many published stories.
Some of Jay Lake's books at Powell's — the greatest bookstore in the world.
International Fuck Cancer Day — the first Saturday of every June. Because seriously, fuck cancer. (Join the Facebook group if you're into that sort of thing.)
The Clayton Memorial Medical Fund — if you'd like to make a contribution in Jay's name, there are many other Pacific Northwest writers who are currently enduring or will someday encounter medical emergencies which strain their personal resources.
Lakeside — a documentary by my friend Donnie, currently in post-production. The original concept was "a year in the life of Jay Lake," but after Jay's cancer diagnosis, the film morphed into something else. I want to see it, and I know I'm going to cry. It's okay. It's going to be okay.
Photo by Waterloo Productions
I didn't know Jay very well, but I did have the privilege of spending some time with him over the past few years—in local "co-working" writing groups, at a few different conventions, and once while waiting for our shared flight back to Portland (we talked about how home genome sequencing and "chemjet" drug printers could revolutionize medicine).
We were both writers, and we were both born in Taiwan. That's about where the similarities end, but he was a wonderful person to know and an inspiration in many ways. I'll miss him a lot.
Lunch at Paradise Lost 2013. Photo by Donnie G. Reynolds
As a tribute, here's my own, somewhat morbid version of Link Salad, a frequent feature on Jay's personal blog, and from which I always gleaned something fascinating.
A little bird told me — Twitter is awesome, in all senses of the word. In this case, it was good to know from the source sooner rather than later, but those four little words hit me with a sharp, deep pain.
It was dark and cold that morning — on June 1st, the power went out in our neighborhood just after 4:30 AM, and stayed out until 5:45 AM, the same time as Jay's passing. It's meaningless. But it's a thing. I don't know.
I've seen the future, baby It is murder. — Lisa's post about "the day after." (The title of the blog post is lyrics from the Leonard Cohen song "The Future." It's okay, I had to look it up too.)
The Oregonian story on Jay's passing — longer than an obituary, but still too short.
Remembering Jay Lake, 1964-2014 — a more SFnal perspective on Jay's life.
Free Speculative Fiction Online: Jay Lake — read some of Jay's many, many, many published stories.
Some of Jay Lake's books at Powell's — the greatest bookstore in the world.
International Fuck Cancer Day — the first Saturday of every June. Because seriously, fuck cancer. (Join the Facebook group if you're into that sort of thing.)
The Clayton Memorial Medical Fund — if you'd like to make a contribution in Jay's name, there are many other Pacific Northwest writers who are currently enduring or will someday encounter medical emergencies which strain their personal resources.
Lakeside — a documentary by my friend Donnie, currently in post-production. The original concept was "a year in the life of Jay Lake," but after Jay's cancer diagnosis, the film morphed into something else. I want to see it, and I know I'm going to cry. It's okay. It's going to be okay.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
I had a great Memorial Day weekend
As shown in these spoiler-free photos, and one video:
http://goo.gl/FtyEY7
DeeAnn and I traveled to the Bay Area to visit friends and participate in a few different puzzle-hunt-ish events, including Team Snout's annual business meeting, volunteering for Shinteki Decathlon 9, playing the Cluekeeper "Stanford Puzzle Tour" with Larry Hosken, and attempting to "Escape from the Moon Base" (our first Real Escape Game experience) with Larry, Corby, Yuan, and Mike.
It was a great trip, albeit a little exhausting: was California always so brutally sunny? Or have we just grown accustomed to the Pacific Northwest?
http://goo.gl/FtyEY7
DeeAnn and I traveled to the Bay Area to visit friends and participate in a few different puzzle-hunt-ish events, including Team Snout's annual business meeting, volunteering for Shinteki Decathlon 9, playing the Cluekeeper "Stanford Puzzle Tour" with Larry Hosken, and attempting to "Escape from the Moon Base" (our first Real Escape Game experience) with Larry, Corby, Yuan, and Mike.
It was a great trip, albeit a little exhausting: was California always so brutally sunny? Or have we just grown accustomed to the Pacific Northwest?
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
I Love My Wife
Nine years ago today, I married my best friend.
A few fun facts about our wedding:
Our invitations included custom-made Fluxx cards.
As part of our ceremony, The Richter Scales sang "Pencil Boy," "Storybook Love," and "Up the Ladder."
We had pyrotechnics on stage.
There was a mini-puzzle hunt.
Instead of dancing, we had a game show called "Win Curtis and DeeAnn's Wedding Presents!"
All our friends and family made it a wonderful day.
Happy Anniversary, DeeAnn. I love you.
A few fun facts about our wedding:
Our invitations included custom-made Fluxx cards.
As part of our ceremony, The Richter Scales sang "Pencil Boy," "Storybook Love," and "Up the Ladder."
We had pyrotechnics on stage.
There was a mini-puzzle hunt.
Instead of dancing, we had a game show called "Win Curtis and DeeAnn's Wedding Presents!"
All our friends and family made it a wonderful day.
Happy Anniversary, DeeAnn. I love you.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Artisanally Hand-Crafted in Portlandia
On Tuesday, while setting up for Puzzled Pint at Beulahland, we managed to lose one of our answer sheets while stuffing puzzle packets. I quickly made an extra one by hand, just in case a full complement of 20 teams showed up. (They did, though two of them ended up joining forces with other groups, so we only got 18 answer sheets back.) Good thing we had plenty of scratch paper.
Before:
After:
The scratch paper I used was actually an unused puzzle from a previous month. Guess which one and I'll send you a prize!
Before:
After:
The scratch paper I used was actually an unused puzzle from a previous month. Guess which one and I'll send you a prize!
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
This cat would make a great Xmas gift!
Jasper here! If you live in the Portland metro area, we've got the perfect gift for that special human on your list: Lady Grey! She is a spayed female cat—a gray tuxedo Domestic Shorthair (DSH)—approximately five years old, and she would love to join your family!
Lady Grey likes to explore closets, climb furniture, eat wet and dry food, charge around the house, and watch the world out the window! She greets every visitor, and plays with everything from cat toys to postcards!
See for yourself! Lady Grey stars in this safe-for-work video...
http://youtu.be/l_0HK9GYgiY
...and this TOTES ADORBS photo slideshow!
picasaweb.google.com/116737692309729475506/MeetLadyGrey
I know, right? I'll bet you want to come whisk her away to your loving home right now! Well, here's how you can get in touch with our humans to arrange just that (click image to embiggen):
Make one of your fellow humans very happy with a new cat this holiday season! Preferably Lady Grey! SRSLY.
Note: you should not try to stuff Lady Grey into a stocking, or wrap her up in a box, for that matter! I recommend asking the lucky recipient to close his or her eyes, then gently placing Lady Grey into his or her arms. After that, just step back to reveal the surprise and witness the beginning of a beautiful friendship!
(Lady Grey will put herself in a corner just fine, but that's neither here nor there.)
Lady Grey likes to explore closets, climb furniture, eat wet and dry food, charge around the house, and watch the world out the window! She greets every visitor, and plays with everything from cat toys to postcards!
See for yourself! Lady Grey stars in this safe-for-work video...
http://youtu.be/l_0HK9GYgiY
...and this TOTES ADORBS photo slideshow!
picasaweb.google.com/116737692309729475506/MeetLadyGrey
I know, right? I'll bet you want to come whisk her away to your loving home right now! Well, here's how you can get in touch with our humans to arrange just that (click image to embiggen):
Make one of your fellow humans very happy with a new cat this holiday season! Preferably Lady Grey! SRSLY.
Note: you should not try to stuff Lady Grey into a stocking, or wrap her up in a box, for that matter! I recommend asking the lucky recipient to close his or her eyes, then gently placing Lady Grey into his or her arms. After that, just step back to reveal the surprise and witness the beginning of a beautiful friendship!
(Lady Grey will put herself in a corner just fine, but that's neither here nor there.)
Thursday, November 29, 2012
you should ADOPT LADY GREY
hello... I'm TYE and as you know... we have had a GUEST CAT staying with us for the past few months... her name is LADY GREY... here is what she looks like...
now as much as fun as it has been having her around... she likes to run and play which is nice... it has put a bit of a damper on the bachelor lifestyle which JASPER and I previously enjoyed... so it would be nice if one of you lovely humans adopted her into your own lovely home...
if you are interested... please contact our humans by sending an "e-mail" to solechen+ladygrey@gmail.com... they would be happy to tell you all about her...
meanwhile... you can see more photos of LADY GREY online... and experience her supreme adoptability for yourself... do not delay... act now... KTHXBAI
now as much as fun as it has been having her around... she likes to run and play which is nice... it has put a bit of a damper on the bachelor lifestyle which JASPER and I previously enjoyed... so it would be nice if one of you lovely humans adopted her into your own lovely home...
if you are interested... please contact our humans by sending an "e-mail" to solechen+ladygrey@gmail.com... they would be happy to tell you all about her...
meanwhile... you can see more photos of LADY GREY online... and experience her supreme adoptability for yourself... do not delay... act now... KTHXBAI
Thursday, November 08, 2012
Lady Grey Strikes Back!
Jasper here! Earlier this week there was an incident involving our beloved Food Robot and our somewhat disruptive house guest, Lady Grey! Everything is fine now, but I must report on these shenanigans!
It is possible that Lady Grey became aware that Food Robot is only designed to feed two cats, and since Tye and I have seniority in this household, she would always be the third wheel. It is also possible that this disparity came into stark relief when the humans were away for much of last weekend, and thus did not feed us as often.
But we do not deal in speculation! We are interested in facts! AND HERE ARE THE FACTS:
At 7:00 AM on Monday, November 5th, Food Robot delivered our breakfast as usual.
About twenty minutes later, Lady Grey approached Food Robot...
...and instigated a vicious and unprovoked attack! And yes, she is actually chewing on the blue tape which secures the ramp to the housing! Outrageous!
Moments later, summoned by Tye, one of the humans came along to document the crime scene.
And then we all went back to sleep for a while. The humans knew our next auto-feeding would not happen until 6:00 PM, so they had plenty of time to repair the damage.
BUT WAIT! Something else happened less than ninety minutes later, and it was caught on camera!
Really? Was that really necessary, Lady Grey? Really?
Sigh.
Though it took a few more hours, the humans eventually came to the rescue and rebuilt Food Robot! They also took the opportunity to improve the structural design of the ramp, as shown below!
(Those interested can view additional photographic evidence, or a complete video record from that day.)
I am happy to report that things are back to normal now, and Lady Grey has been behaving herself—more or less—since Monday!
So what have we learned? One, that Food Robot is vulnerable to feline interference; but we knew that already. Two, that Lady Grey is an inveterate troublemaker! Between this and chasing Tye and me all around the house, she is definitely ready to leave and go to her own home!
Please adopt Lady Grey! Contact the humans for more information.
It is possible that Lady Grey became aware that Food Robot is only designed to feed two cats, and since Tye and I have seniority in this household, she would always be the third wheel. It is also possible that this disparity came into stark relief when the humans were away for much of last weekend, and thus did not feed us as often.
But we do not deal in speculation! We are interested in facts! AND HERE ARE THE FACTS:
At 7:00 AM on Monday, November 5th, Food Robot delivered our breakfast as usual.
About twenty minutes later, Lady Grey approached Food Robot...
...and instigated a vicious and unprovoked attack! And yes, she is actually chewing on the blue tape which secures the ramp to the housing! Outrageous!
Moments later, summoned by Tye, one of the humans came along to document the crime scene.
And then we all went back to sleep for a while. The humans knew our next auto-feeding would not happen until 6:00 PM, so they had plenty of time to repair the damage.
BUT WAIT! Something else happened less than ninety minutes later, and it was caught on camera!
Really? Was that really necessary, Lady Grey? Really?
Sigh.
Though it took a few more hours, the humans eventually came to the rescue and rebuilt Food Robot! They also took the opportunity to improve the structural design of the ramp, as shown below!
(Those interested can view additional photographic evidence, or a complete video record from that day.)
I am happy to report that things are back to normal now, and Lady Grey has been behaving herself—more or less—since Monday!
So what have we learned? One, that Food Robot is vulnerable to feline interference; but we knew that already. Two, that Lady Grey is an inveterate troublemaker! Between this and chasing Tye and me all around the house, she is definitely ready to leave and go to her own home!
Please adopt Lady Grey! Contact the humans for more information.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Snout Games FTW (Part 4 of 4)
Last week, Mike Selinker's Wired article on "The 10 Greatest 'Games' Ever Played" mentioned 4 different Team Snout productions. Let me show you them.
Previous: Police Detectives!
8. FoBiK coffin
Here's the coffin being inspected on location, inside a self-storage space in Oakland, by GC member Jeff Allen. (Photo by Curtis C. Chen)
And here's a look at the electronics inside, built by GC member Cary Roberts. There was no actual power switch, so we had to take some reference photos to show which wires to connect to turn on the device. (Photo by Curtis C. Chen)
Two switches had to be closed to activate the audio playback: first, a spring-loaded sensor inside the coffin, requiring someone to rest their head inside the coffin (right on top of the speakers); and second, a contact in the hinge, so the lid actually had to be closed. By the time the last team went through, both switches had been broken and jammed into their "on" positions. That's okay--we heard that some teams refused to get in the coffin at all, but this way, they were still able to enjoy the puzzle.
The coffin itself was built by GC helper Todd Stansell, who took it home after The Game and used it as a coffee table until his wife got sick of it. It eventually ended up with our friend (and current GC member) Acorn Pooley, and periodically shows up as a prop in his annual Halloween haunted house.
For more information about FoBiK, check out our GC wrap-up site.
And that's it for this trip down memory lane! If you'd like to hear more about what happens behind the scenes at Game Control, tune into the SnoutCast every Tuesday morning.
Would you like to play The Game? You're in luck: Team Snout is planning another event for this August in Portland, Oregon. Go to WarTron.NET for more details!
Previous: Police Detectives!
8. FoBiK coffin
Here's the coffin being inspected on location, inside a self-storage space in Oakland, by GC member Jeff Allen. (Photo by Curtis C. Chen)
And here's a look at the electronics inside, built by GC member Cary Roberts. There was no actual power switch, so we had to take some reference photos to show which wires to connect to turn on the device. (Photo by Curtis C. Chen)
Two switches had to be closed to activate the audio playback: first, a spring-loaded sensor inside the coffin, requiring someone to rest their head inside the coffin (right on top of the speakers); and second, a contact in the hinge, so the lid actually had to be closed. By the time the last team went through, both switches had been broken and jammed into their "on" positions. That's okay--we heard that some teams refused to get in the coffin at all, but this way, they were still able to enjoy the puzzle.
The coffin itself was built by GC helper Todd Stansell, who took it home after The Game and used it as a coffee table until his wife got sick of it. It eventually ended up with our friend (and current GC member) Acorn Pooley, and periodically shows up as a prop in his annual Halloween haunted house.
For more information about FoBiK, check out our GC wrap-up site.
And that's it for this trip down memory lane! If you'd like to hear more about what happens behind the scenes at Game Control, tune into the SnoutCast every Tuesday morning.
Would you like to play The Game? You're in luck: Team Snout is planning another event for this August in Portland, Oregon. Go to WarTron.NET for more details!
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