Eric Wolfram's : infrequently updated chronological publication of personal thoughts and web links

Eric Wolfram's infrequently updated chronological publication of personal thoughts and web links

Strange Bikes in NYC -- 20070128
Strange seeing this spin bike locked up on the street, as if someone would want to ride away with it.

bike around Manhattan -- 20050316
Kevin Ready and I biking near lower manhattan east side. I road my bike down 2nd avenue from 91st and Lexington and joined Kevin on 4th street (I beat any car that was attempting the same route.) We then cut over to the East river via Houston Street and we went around the bottom of the island to the west side. Kevin got tired (or something) at around 4th street and I swiftly beat it uptown against a decent head wind and cut across the city at 78th street. Nice ride -- totally recommended.

Parenthood -- 20050316
Parenting Skills -- You're the Greatest! is an informative and well written article on praise. It's in 4 pages, and this page summarizes good child praising techniqes.

Anthony's Ten Minute Rule -- 20050315
One day I was feeling like a slug and Anthony Baker sent me some motivation tip to get off my butt and onto my bike ride around central park. He told me his ten minute rule, which I think is worth sharing. "The first ten minutes of doing something you don't want to do ALWAYS sucks (or kind of sucks anyhow -- particularly the thought of doing it). Ten minutes in -- all of that disappears and you'll be enjoying yourself." I was sceptical and feeling lazy, but I wanted to test The Ten Minute Rule out, so I went on a bike ride around central park* and made that small video with my digital camera in video mode (not a camcorder, just a regular digital camera). Judge for yourself if I'm enjoying the ride ten minutes in (I was prepared for the 45 F degrees but I didn't expect the cross wind.) Anthony claims, "The Ten Minute Rule also works with dinner parties, dating, and all sorts of other stuff we say we'd like to do but seem like a bad idea in the moment you're supposed to step out the door."

Small SF Ballet Reunion after a show in NYC -- 20041003
Mikko Nissinen, DJ, Eric Hoisington, Kate Lydon, Me and Tony Randazzo in 2004

Happy Family on Mom's B-day -- 20040707
My parents are in Istambule on vacation with my brother's family. They sent me this photo via my brothers cellphone. Everyone looks happy and here they are boat near Kalkan Turkey.

101 ways to praise Jack -- 20040706
Wow, way to go, super, you're special, outstanding, excellent, great, good, neat, well done, remarkable, I knew you could do it, I'm proud of you, fantastic, superstar, nice work, looking good, you're on top of it, beautiful, now you're flying, you're catching on, now you've got it, you're incredible, bravo, you're fantastic, hurray for you, you're on target, you're on your way, how nice, how smart, good job, that's incredible, hot dog, dynamite, you're beautiful, you're unique, nothing can stop you now, good for you, I like you, you're darling, you're a winner, remarkable job, beautiful work, spectacular, you're spectacular, you're precious, great discovery, you've discovered the secret, you figured it out, fantastic job, hip, hip hurray, bingo, magnificent, marvelous, terrific, you're important, super job, fantastic job, exceptional performance, you're a real trooper, you are responsible, you are exciting, you learned it right, what an imagination, what a good listener, you are fun, you're growing up, you tried hard, you care, beautiful sharing, outstanding performance, you're a good friend, I trust you, you're important, you mean a lot to me, you make me happy, you belong, you've got a friend, you make me laugh, you brighten my day, I respect you, you mean the word to me, that's correct, you're a joy, you're a treasure, you're wonderful, you're perfect, awesome, A+ job, you're A-OK- my buddy, you made my day, the best, a big hug, a big kiss, say I love you!, remember a smile is worth 1000 words!!!!!!!

Traffic Tragedy in Chinatown -- 20040701
Unfortunately, I witnessed a traffic tragedy in Chinatown on my way over to Kevin Ready's apartment. The press almost made me sound like a hero or something...moving a car and all...it wasn't like that. It was a rather disturbing experience, a sight I do not wish to see again. It made us reflect on life a bit later. Know it while you have it folks!

". . .Your life is your life. Know it while you have it. You are marvelous, the gods wait to delight in you." C. Bukowski

Cool Internet Map -- 20040516
Something for Mapquest, Yahoo maps to strive for. This (removed broken link) has interactive zooming from national to street, a distance measure, better directional maps (but less precise actual instructions) and when you get to the granular level there are more details about schools, doctors dentists. By zooming in even more you get details about stuff like local stores, banks and gas stations with phone numbers.

3 things about sleep they don't tell you in Lamaz -- 20040306
1) The idiom "sleep like a baby" is misleading because babies only sleep two hours and then wake up screaming. If you want rest, then you want to sleep like an adult. more specifically, you want to "sleep like an adult who doesn't have any babies." 2) The difference between a mobile and a ceiling hung cognitive development tool is about $30. Also, I would gladly pay $100 for a ceiling hung baby distraction device if it worked. 3) A pacifier is well named -- it is what it says it is.

Color Picker -- 20040301
This is a great web based tool for picking colors. It's the best I've seen.

Real Media without the ads and spybots -- 20040202
"The BBC made a unique deal with Real Networks which disposes of their spyware tactics. Basically, if a user clicks on a link to download Real Player from a BBC website, the referrer script sends them to a page where they can download an expiry-free, spyware-free and nuicance-free version of the player. It's because the BBC have such a stringent public service remit, that it was offensive to charge people a license fee for BBC content, then make them pay all over again for the facility to view/listen to it."

American Idol -- part 3 -- Political and social -- 20040123
Speaking of stars (Arnold, Dean, and all), has anyone been catching American Idol lately? It's the early round of auditions all across American and they're looking for the best unknown talent for a pop-singer that they can find. I can begin understand our political situation and our culture by watching many of the deluded people who are auditioning. It's appalling, in some cases, and depressing. At other times I feel really sorry for these people, who are obviously suffering from the early stages of a mental disorder or some type of drug induced psychosis. Maybe some of them just suffer from being young and blindly hopeful, but the whole audition, on some levels, is a documentation of the American dream. The judges of the program say there is a fame epidemic going on. Everyone wants to be instantly and effortlessly rich and famous these days. People who can't sing -- never had training and never really listened to their voice or worked on the craft -- are trying out for a singing competition for the best singer in America. And then they don't understand when they're not picked. I once met a young Russian opera singer and had the opportunity to watch her sing. She had it all -- looks, voice, performance quality. I told her she could go to LA and become the next Madonna. "You can be a star, baby, a STAR!" She said slowly but firmly, "Amerika, vill hav enough stars without me." She was uninterested. At the time, I didn't think she understood -- you could be rich and famous -- but now I see how she was right on. Now I understand. Anyway, with all the American Idols out there -- dean bush arnold -- we see the democratic caucus as one big game of survivor (only more boring because there are no torches.) Someone needs to "queer eye" Dean or something so we can do Trading Spaces with the White House.

Is it cold outside? -- 20040114
It's cold here in New York. It's 9 degrees. It reminds me of late spring time in Winnipeg though :-) Seriously, if you think 9 degrees is cold, wait until it's -9 and it warms up to 9. It's all relative. If you think -9 is cold, wait until it's -40 and it warms up to -9 -- you'll be saying "wow, it's warm today -- don't need the toque today, eh..." That exposed skin warning, in Winnipeg, went all the way down to "exposed skin freezes in under 30 seconds". Then it got colder and more windy. So the TV just said "hazardous conditions." We used to laugh at that -- as if skin freezing in 30 seconds wasn't yet hazardous! When it's -40 outside, you spit and it bounces. People think I'm joking when I say that but I'm not. It does. We used to chew gum, blow a bubble, throw it in the air, and when it hit the ground it shattered! When you first walk outside in -40 and snort because of post nasal drip, you got to be careful because your nose can easily freeze shut if you snort too hard. It takes a few seconds to unfreeze. Also, after swimming (indoors, of course), I'd carry my swim suit for half a block and then I could hit my friend on the head with it -- we used to sword fight with frozen bathing suits on the way home. It's all relative. It used to warm up to 9 degrees and we would seriously be in jackets without scarves, totally amped that spring was here. When I moved to San Francisco, I spent the first winter in a t-shirt trying to convince people that it wasn't yet cold and I kept telling people that what they were feeling wasn't "cold." But by the next winter, I was all bundled up at 45 degrees and shivering with the rest of them.

Baby Boy Bliss -- 20040108
I'm really happy to be sitting with Jack. He's 14 days and When he's not crying, he's an angle. When he is crying, he's an angle of darkness. Yes I change diapers, I've been shat upon and peed upon but, all in all, it's a very good thing to finally be a father. I'm looking for work in New York City. What I can do: I type REALLY fast. I operate computer operating systems (Unix, Windows, Mac) REALLY fast. I Learn new software REALLY fast. I write scripts and web pages. I video tape well and I have my own perfesional quality gear. I love editing video and I'm fast. I assemble things well. I like to write. I specify things. I like learning things and meeting people. I like to share with others and to collaberate, mediate and debate. I want to do something exciting -- filming, writing, presenting, teaching, inspiring, selling and convincing.