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Roadtrip - Day Four

Greetings from Jackson Hole, Wyoming!

Today we drove to Jackson Hole and stopped here for some lunch/dinner. Nora and I were talking about how crazy it is that 2.5 years later, here we are back in Jackson Hole where we took our first vacation together! As we walked around Teton Village, we even came across an old friend -- look familiar, Tracy?

Since it was already getting to be evening, we would not have too much luck heading up towards Yellowstone tonight, so we decided to pack it in early and just have a relaxing night. Nora and I just got back from going to the movies. That's right...a date! We'll be getting up early tomorrow and driving about 60-90 minutes north to enter the southern gate of Yellowstone, spending a bunch of hours there, and then heading east. I think we're hoping to end up somewhere close to Sturgis, South Dakota tomorrow night. That will get us all set up to hit Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse the next morning, and then we can spend the rest of that day driving east - east - east.

We're making progress - slowly but surely!

And here's one last photo for Kim and Tom...Jackson Hole in July! Looks a little bit different, huh?

My Day Four Photos

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Roadtrip - Day Three

We spent day three in the car. All of day three...in the car.

We drove from Winnemucca to Salt Lake City. Let me tell you, that is some boring driving -- hence the lack of photos from this day.

As we approached Salt Lake City, I said to Nora "What do you feel like eating for dinner? Salt Lake City will probably have the best selection of food that we're going to find anywhere around here." Nora said she didn't care too much but wanted some vegetables. I said "Maybe we can find a Brazillian Steakhouse or something. They have rockin' salad bars."

We drove around Salt Lake City for about an hour trying to find their restaurants, and finally stopped at a place that had a Hard Rock Cafe and a few other restaurants. Nora was crazy hungry by then, so we just walked into the first place we found. It was a "private club", so to eat there we would have to buy a three week membership. Uh, no. So we walked around the corner and found Rodagio's Grill...a Brazillian steakhouse! Rad!!!

After dinner we hit the road on our way to Evanston, Utah. I had driven all day, so we traded and Nora would finish the day off. We drove through the mountains, past Park City and then...flashing lights! Nora got pulled over by the highway patrol. The cop told her that he was pulling her over because she failed to signal her lane change. Utah law states that you must signal for three seconds prior to changing lanes. Yeah. Nora seems to think that it had something to do with the California license plates. Who knows. He let us go with no problem, so we kept rolling to Evanston and that's where we are right now.

We're just packing up and now we'll be hitting the road heading to Yellowstone. I imagine we'll take a lot of photos there, so hopefully we'll have internet access again tonight!

All Day Three photos

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Roadtrip - Day Two

A little bit late, but we didn't have internet access the other night, so....DAY TWO!

Nora and I got up, started the day with some Jamba Juice and coffee, then hit the road on our way to Yosemite. I had never been there before, but Nora had been there once before, so she was kind enough to drive and let me take in the scenery. To say that it is breathtaking would be an understatement.

We spent quite a few hours driving through the part, looking at peaks and waterfalls and stopping the car every five minutes to take photos. Unfortunately capturing the majesty of a mountain in a photo is not very easy, so our photos may not get the point across of just how big they are.

At one point while we were walking around snapping photos, Nora started following a dirt trail off the normal path. I followed behind her and we were talking about how awesome all of this was. After walking for about 20 seconds, I looked ahead at Nora and said "Uh, Nora...you have bugs all over you." I learned that that is about the worst thing that you can say to Nora. :) She jumped and yelled a bit. I said, "They're mosquitos...they're all over you!" She said "They're on you too!" So we ran. No wait, we R-A-N back to the car, jumped in and laughed about what city people we are. I wish I had the video rolling for that!

After leaving Yosemite, we drove to Carson City, Nevada, ate dinner next to the romantic hills that were on fire, then drove to Winnemucca and spent the night there.

A day full of adventure!

All Day Two photos

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Roadtrip - Day One

It's 10:00pm Monday, and Nora and I are on the road and stopped in Oakhurst, California. We ended up leaving today instead of Sunday as we had originally planned due to Nora's mechanic being closed on the weekend. She was selling her car to him, so we had to wait until Monday to head out. It worked out for the best though because it gave us some extra time to hang out with people and get things packed up and shipped. It's definitely not the easiest of times for Nora, but she's hanging tough. I know it's hard, so I'm doing whatever I can to help make the transition better.

So far we've only driven about 4-5 hours from San Francisco, but it's already fun. In the morning we'll be heading to Yosemite to do a little hiking and take in the scenery. I'm really stoked since I've never been there before! After Yosemite, we'll keep heading east(ish) stopping wherever we feel like stopping enroute to Sweet Home Chicago.

I'll try to keep posting updates, ideally once a day if I can find a wi-fi signal. In the meantime, enjoy the photos of the roadtrip, day one!

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My Latest Web Project

As some of you already know, I like working on computers. I even build things for fun sometimes. Well, I've just finished my latest fun project, and I launched it over this last weekend. It's called onXiam.

What is onXiam? Well, basically you can think of it as a network of networks which will let you consolidate all of your online identities and tie them back to one singular point of reference. Say what? Well, I don't want to rewrite what I've already written, so let me give just a quick rundown here.

Think about your online presence. Do you store photos somewhere? Do you write a blog? Do you share video somewhere? Do you use instant messenger? Well, for all of these kinds of "communities", you have to create an account. Now, depending on how much of an early adopter you are, you may or may not be able to sign up for these services with the name that you really want to use. That leads to usernames such as "joe_1992-rulezz" and things like that. The problem comes when you have to do this over and over on multiple websites. Your identity gets diluted.

I decided to create a site where you could point all of your various usernames back at a single name. I am Kevin, but on Flickr I am kevinkmp. Using my new site, you can choose a username (yes I see the irony there), sign up then create links to all of your online identities.

On [X] I Am ___________.

I'm very curious to see how well received this is. Some friends have been sending the link out to their network of friends, so please feel free to do the same! And if you haven't already, visit onXiam, sign up and claim your identities!

For more detail about why I made this and how it works, you can check out the about page and the FAQ on the onXiam site.

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Happy Father's Day

Yesterday was Father's Day, and I made the trip up to Racine to hang out with my dad and the rest of the family. It was a nice laid-back day full of talking about things going on in our lives as well as my dad telling some stories about his days in the navy. My mom cooked a tasty dinner that we all shared, and then we retired to the living room.

Since everyone just felt like sitting around, and since there was nothing on TV, I put in the disc one of the dvd set of Long Way Round - the adventures of Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman as they ride their BMW motorcycles 20,000 miles around the world over the course of four months. As the family watched the story unfold, everyone got really into it and we ended up watching the entire series before I headed home! That was unexpected, but pretty cool!

So happy father's day to my dad, the former navy man who went on to marry my mom, work with computers, collect and restore classic cars, ride motorcycles and teach me that you don't have to always be the loudest person in the room or the center of attention. The older I get the more that I notice that I share certain personality traits with my dad. That's pretty neat.

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WIRED NextFest 2005

Thanks to my friend Stacey, I was fortunate to be able to attend the invitation-only preview reception for WIRED NextFest last night at Navy Pier here in Chicago. It was very cool to say the least

NextFest showcases some of the cutting edge technological inventions in the world today. They had robots, artificial limbs, spacecraft, a flying car, crazy interactive video games, robot DJs, and all sorts of other fun. What is so neat about these things is that they are truly blurring the line between science and science fiction, and there they are right in front of you. These things are not just conceptual...they actually exist.

It's hard for me to pick a favorite exhibit out of all the cool stuff, but I was very fascinated with some of the medical inventions as well as the self-healing polymers. If you live in the Chicago area, I would highly suggest heading over to Navy Pier this weekend to check out the exhibition. It really is amazing to see these creations up close and personal.

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Another Fun Flash Game

Found via Screenhead:

"Simple Flash game Poom! is what you'd get if you took one of those wooden paddles with the rubber ball on the bit of elastic stapled to one end, and gave it to Jerry Bruckheimer, and then said to Jerry : 'remake that shit, Jerry... remake the fuck out of it!', and then gave Jerry some chocolate pudding."

Direct link to Poom!

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Space Exploration Is Difficult

Shoot. I feel bad for everyone involved, and I feel disappointed as a bit of a space-geek. Cosmos 1, the first solar sail spacecraft to be launched has failed to reach orbit. Latest reports are siting failure of the booster rocket that was to carry Cosmos 1 into orbit.

Bummer.

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The End Of An Era

Saturday June 18, 2005 at Jefferson Tap. It was Kim and Tom's going away party, but it was also probably the last DJ set from me and Trapper.

We spent years (and oodles of money) DJ-ing as a hobby. Setting up for Kim and Tom's going away party brought back so many memories...hauling the gear, seting up the light, watching the lights take form as the smoke machine spewed out it's gaseous cloud of goodness, hearing the first beats of the soundcheck... Going into the party, I was excited but very nervous because I had not touched my turntables for months. I spent the week before the party getting re-acquainted with my old friends and trying to remember how to make the array of knobs and sliders on my mixer do the magic that it does. It took a while, but on Saturday night when the lights started flashing and the needle hit the vinyl, it all came back.

I threw down the opening set, and I was really satisfied with my mixes. After that Trapper took over and rocked the house playing some of his favorite trance tunes. After he was done, I went back on and ended up closing the night out on the decks.

I had a blast DJ-ing one last time. I thought my stuff sounded good and Trapper's set sounded awesome too. What I really enjoyed was that some of our newer work friends got the chance to see us spin. They did not know us back in our heyday, but they got to see a glimpse of what Trapper and I could do with the turntables. They really seemed to enjoy it, as did Tom and Kim who had asked us to spin as a fitting part of their going away party.

So farewell to the DJ days. They were fun, and if I had unlimited disposable income, I may continue on, but the fact of the matter is that I don't have unlimited disposable income. And as Trapper pointed out in his journal, it is still fun to rock out in your own house, and there is nothing stopping me from doing that. But the days of the public performances are behind us now.

The next step in musical evolution is to move from the dj side to the production side. That is something that I've been talking about doing for a long time, but I think I may finally have the motivation to persue it with more energy. I have some wonderful friends who are very knowledgeable about music production, so that is awesome!

Thanks to all of you who ever came out to our parties or listened to our cds or supported us in any way. It was an absolute blast, and I hope that you all had some fun along the way with us! - kmp

Taken the night of our very first gig:

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Farewell Kim and Tom

Today is moving day for my friends Kim and Tom. Kim is starting a new two year program at Fox Chase hospital, so they are relocating to Philadelphia.

I've spent the last 2+ years working with Tom here at Spencer Stuart, so it will be different now that he is gone. Kim worked so much that I did not get to see her nearly as much as I did Tom, but that did not matter. Whenever she was able to come out or host a party at their house, it was always great fun to spend time with her.

The two of them will certainly leave behind a legacy here in Chicago. At their going away party, people were talking about how they are kind of "uniters". They have friends from so many disparate groups of people that it is neat to see the mix of people that would show up at their parties.

I certainly wish them the best in Philly, and say thanks for always being the most gracious of hosts and adding so much fun into the lives of your friends. Thanks for always coming to our techno parties, for inviting us to DJ in your living room so many times, for opening your hottub to us on countless occassions, for cheering for me during the marathon, and for countless other things. Nobody can ever say that you two were the source of any dull moments!

Best of luck in Philly!

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Last Week In A Nutshell

I didn't really make any entries last week. The week seemed to go by very quickly. Here's why:

Friday

• Arrived in Chicago...back from Orlando / Tech Ed!
• Went to Soundbar w/ Ringley and Brian to see a dj set by Sasha that he performed using Ableton Live

Saturday

• Running at the lake (prep for marathon training)
• Much housework

Last Week

• Worked with Tom Horwedel to transition projects and knowledge at the office due to him leaving for Philly
• Multitasked like mad throughout the week at the office
• Worked at night to recover some dj skills and prep for Kim and Tom's going away party
• Going away BBQ w/ the work crew at Tom's place
• More dj prep work (I was very rusty)
• Haul and setup our lighting gear, smoke machine, turntables and everything else for Tom and Kim's going away party on Saturday night
• DJ at the party
• Take down all lighting and audio gear from party
• Sleep for a few hours
• Drive to Wisconsin to see my dad for Father's day
• Drive home from Wisconsin
• Sleep...get up for work today

Whew! It was a busy week! I guess I can relax now that all I have to do is start training for the Chicago Marathon...

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Tech Ed 2005

A couple weeks ago I was in Orlando for Microsoft Tech Ed 2005. As usual it was a week of excess, but a very fun filled week of excess.

The conference was alright...pretty much exactly what I expected. There were a few classes that had pretty much zero impact on me, but then there were a few others that made it worthwhile. I was particularly interested in three sessions that I attended. One was about Live Communications Server, another about building true Service Oriented Architectures, and the third was about the new Office file formats. Sounds geeky? Yeah, I know. Maybe you had to be there...

Our hotel was awesome! Multiple pools and hottubs and just generally a pretty sweet place to come home to after a day of conferences and evenings/nights of going out on the town with the work crew. I feel really lucky to work with so many fun people. How fun are they? Well, again maybe you had to be there, but you may get some idea by checking out some of the photos that Trapper posted.

Why am I just now posting about Tech Ed when it was two weeks ago? I'm just now finally getting things back in order after being gone that long. Last week was extremely busy.

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Foo Part Two

As I wrote in a previous entry, last night as part of a promotion for their new album, the Foo Fighters played live on MTV2. I Tivo'd the show, and I've had it playing today as I've been working around my house. I have to gush for a second...

Those of you who have discussed music with me on occassion know that I refer to the Foo Fighters as "the last real rock band". That is simply what they are. They play rock music. Not genre-crossing experimental stuff like country-rock or alt-rock or rap-rock...just good old rock music. The promo concert that they played last night shows that this is still true. I mean sure, there are still some of the "old guards" around, but even some of them almost sound...dated? The Foos just continue to keep putting out loud rock music with a fresh sound, and based on the couple of new songs that they played last night, their new album will continue this tradition.

Another thing that I've discussed with some of you is how the Foos remind me so much of an older local Chicago band called Triplefastaction. I swear...if Dave Grohl would get Wes Kidd from Triplefast to play with him, the sheer power of the rock that would come out of that band may in fact create a black hole. Everytime the Foos played a new song, I found myself thinking "man, I could totally hear this being a Triplefastaction song". When the camera would show Dave singing and slamming his guitar, my mind's eye could easily replace him with Wes Kidd and the song still worked. Oh how I miss Triplefastaction... But the same sound that T3FA played is being continued today by the Foo Fighters.

One shining example was their new single, "The Best of You". That song is just a powerhouse of rock. As I sat there watching them play it and turning the volume on my tv up louder and louder, I found myself getting goosebumps. It is so well written and the musical progressions are so powerful...I was really blown away. Dave said that there is a video for the song already, so look for it on MTV or wherever. But even better than that would be to search some bittorrent sites and see if anyone uploaded last night's live show from MTV2. If I had the patience, I would get it off my Tivo and put it up, but I just don't have the patience/time to do that right now.

Ok, I suppose that is enough raving for now, so in conclusion: if you dig the Foo Fighters, I think you'll really like the new album. I don't think any other band around today can "bring it" like these guys can. I'm so glad that they are still around putting out good music like this.

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Dangit

With all the excitement of my week long trip to Orlando for TechEd 2005, I totally forgot that yesterday was the day that Brian Greene was speaking at the Printer's Row Bookfair. Man, I really wanted to go to that too.

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