Lighthouse Planet

This is the same lighthouse as in my previous post only I have distorted it into a sphere. It's a fun technique that I recently found on the web. I've been wanting to try it and the lighthouse seemed a good subject. Mostly it's a Photoshop trick using the filter Polar Coordinates to curve the photo around on itself. Then it's just some digital cleanup.

Lighthouses always seem so sad and lonely. I can imagine this lighthouse being far away from every other planet and manned by a lone person dedicated to keeping the skies safe. If you look really closely at it, or in the original, you will see that the person is Linda's sister Sharon. Can you find her?

There are a whole bunch of these on Flickr - although this is my only one.

Pigeon Point Lighthouse

After looking at the elephant seals on Christmas Eve, I stopped at a nearby lighthouse. Since it was such a nice day I was hoping to get some great shots of the lighthouse. The Pigeon Point Lighthouse is no longer in use (probably due to satellites and GPS) and is in serious danger of falling down. Luck for us it looked sturdy enough. An interesting fact is that it is named after a ship and not the obvious assumption of the bird. I guess it is true of many light houses up and down the coast.

It was late afternoon when I shot this so the colors were really starting to pop. It was also neat that there was a observation deck built out on a rock on the ocean side. It offered a great spot to be able to shot back towards the builds and the coast with the sun behind me. I can't think of a better time and place to photograph this landmark. I felt luck to be there.

This is another panorama of 6 photos. The black area at the bottom is where I did not shoot photos. So the bottom curve could be considered the rotation path of the camera. The exposure of the sky across the whole pan was too difficult to match in the stitching software so I ended up masking out the sky and replacing it with a gradient based on colors in the original sky. It's very close to the original, just more even. Click on the image for the larger version.

Elephant Seals

Linda and I are in San Jose, CA for Christmas. We are staying with Linda's sister and her family. On Christmas Eve we spent the day out on the Pacific coast at Ano Nuevo State Park checking out the elephant seals. The seals are there for mating season. It was a bit of luck for us because they are only there for a short time. I guess we were also lucky in that it was unusually sunny and clear. We had reserve tickets for a guided hike out into the park reserve. I was surprised how close we were able to get to all the lounging animals. All of them were mostly just sunning themselves and not doing much. But they were still impressive to see.

Virtual Time Trial

Now Sport in Arden Hills held a virtual time trial contest at their store. It's just down the road from work so some of my work biking buddies go over there at noon for their winter training. For some it's a better option then trying to get on the trainer at home with kids, etc., drawing on their time.

For the TT everyone would bring in there own bike, then the guys at Now would set it up on their computer training system. The system puts a load on the wheel to simulate the ride that we see on the TV. There is a computer bike rider that represents me. So as the computer biker went up a hill I could feel the pedaling get heavier. All I was missing was the wind! Although you can see that they had fans so at least I could stay cool.



The TT was about 5 miles long which amounted to about 12-14 minutes for most people. As you can see in the picture as I was finishing, it really gave me a workout! According to the final results, I finished 4th. Its fun to see that 4 of the top 6th are people I ride with at work including the top 2. Paul at Now Sports plans to do the virtual TT more this winter. I do my own trainer work at home in the basement but it can be boring. Stuff like this is good motivation to keep training.

First Snow Caught with New Camera

Today we are getting our first real snow and it's really whipping around. A good old fashioned Minnesota snow storm.

The video is from my new Canon G9 camera. It's a point and shot but has some nice pro-sumer level features. Most importantly is that it shots RAW photos, something that, right now anyway, you can only find in the Digital SLR cameras. I'm also excited about having some limited video capability. Now that Blogger suports video uploads (hosted by Google Video) I should be able to shot just enough video for blog sort of content.

Dave Badman

My old friend Dave Badman was in town to install a piece of artwork at a financial office in Arden Hills. Dave asked me to help him because some of the parts were very heavy. There are about 8 parts that needed to be mounted on the wall and bolted all together. Dave and his welder Mark did an amazing job of engineering to get everything to fit. The photo doesn't do it justice. The grinder markings give the panels a shimmering quality that is almost 3D and seems to be in constant motion.

Ever since we finished art school at the University of North Dakota, Dave has run a very successful jewelery design business in our hometown of Grand Forks, ND. In more recent years he has gotten into large metal installations like the one above. Last year he designed a stainless steel and copper fireplace front for our basement.

Panoramas: Boston Sci. Campus

Here is another panorama shot. This time on the campus where I work. This building is our training center and is one of the newest additions to the company.

There are 7 photographs shot in portrait orientation. They were assembled in Realviz Stitcher, cleaned up in Photoshop, then color corrected in Lightroom. I could have done the adjustments in Photoshop but I wanted to test out the connection between Photoshop and Lightroom for created images verses straight out of the camera photos. Plus I'm getting to like adjusting in Lightroom rather then Photoshop.

The second pano has a Lightroom black and white effect applied. I thought it was cool.

Click on the images to get a gainormous size version.

MN State Cyclocross Champ

On Saturday I went to what is considered the last bike race of the year here in Minnesota. I went to shot photos as I don't do cyclocross - yet anyway. Cyclocross is a hybrid of road and mountain bike racing. It involves obstacles that require racers to sometimes get off their bikes and run up stairs or over barriers. Each race is different. Its a great event for spectators because it's a circuit race (allowing you to see the racers over and over) and you can be fairly close to them. You can yell encouragements right in their ear! Or, as in the photo above, offer them shots of whiskey!

I have 80 photos on Flickr but the above one is my favorite. I only got the 3 shots but they were perfectly timed (accident, not planned) to convey the moment.

A guy I ride with at work, Frank Rowe, was also there taking photos. Frank has some nice shots that can be found on his blog here.

Weekend; Lumberjacks

Linda and I spent the weekend in northern Minnesota near the town of Fergus Falls. We were at our friends cabin to help the take down some trees. It's an abandoned tree farm of pines. All in nice neat rows. The trees are generally unhealthy because they are overgrown. So every 3rd row has to go to save the rest.

Some of the pines will be used in the floor of a new cabin to be built. So Jon hired a guy with a portable saw mill to come and cut the trees down to planks. The whole process was fascinating to watch. The machine would take a length up to 20 fee long. Then itwould cut down four sides with a bandsaw to square it up into a beam. After that it was a matter of cutting 1 inch planks from the beam. It took a bit of time to do - about 4 logs per hour.


More Flickr Photos

Race Report; Twin Cities Marathon, 10 Miler

Last year I did the full marathon. It was a thrill but I wasn't interested in doing it again. Mostly it was the amount of training involved and the cut it made into my bike training. So this year I decided to do the 10 mile race held at the same time as the marathon. We ran the same last 10 miles as the marathoners and finished ahead of them.

It was already 70 degrees at 7 am when the race started. A strange day for Minneapolis but just fine for me. I like the heat. The race started at the Metro Dome in downtown Minneapolis. Linda dropped me off along with my neighbor Angela who was also going to run the 10 mile. Angela also met up with her running partners from work (Medtronic, the race sponsor).

We started in the last wave of 3 which turned out to be a big mistake. All of us were faster then those people so we spent the first part of the race ducking and weaving. It was like trying to run at the half time of a Vikings game. Crazy.

The race was really nice just like last year. Lots of cheering spectators and a beautiful route through St. Paul to the state capitol building. I ran really strong and felt great the whole way.

I finished with a time of 1 hour and 15 minutes which beat my goal of 1:20 by 5 minutes! My average pace was 7:32 per mile. My friend Angela, who I left after about 500 meters due to all the weaving, finished just behind me at 1:20. An awesome finish for her first running race.

The photos at the top were ones I pulled down from a profession photo service that was at the race. If you are so inclined, you are order photos of me here. They are really expensive in my opinion.

Montalcino Panorama

Here is another panorama from Italy. This time from the top of the castle in Montalcino Italy.

Race Report: Fall Classic Duathlon

I haven't done all that much racing this Summer. The usual time trial once a month and a couple 10K races. Nothing all that interesting.

Saturday was a great morning for a duathlon - 3 mile run, 12 mile bike, 3 mile run. It's the very same course as the spring time Oakdale Duathlon. Sunny, almost no wind. I had arm warmers but ditched them at the starting line as it started to warm up. They had 2 waves to spread people out. I was in the second wave of all women and all men over 39.

Within a few minutes after the gun I found myself in 5-6 place and going fast - around a 6:20 pace! Yikes, thats fast so I'm already worried about flaming out. I watched my HR closely and let the leaders pull away a bit. Hoping to catch them on the bike. At mile 2 my left glut starts to tighten but I worked through it and it went away. Little did I know, not forever.

Transition goes well and I'm off on the bike. At this point I'm starting to catch the back end of the first wave. As we exit Lake Elmo Park Reserve, we head right up a hill that's about a 1/10 of a mile long and very steep. Lucky for me this in my neighborhood and I ride that hill every weekend. I know how to ride it AND how to handle the slight climb recovery at the top. A big 'home court' advantage I felt. The rest of the ride was spend watching out for and passing the first wave. I was passed by one one guy that looked really really fast.

At the second transition I had assumed we would enter from the far side but it was much closer so I was not ready. I was still in my shoes (normally I slip out and pedal on top of them). When I jumped off the bike my cleaks took me for a slide on the smooth asphalt. Wee!! I didn't go down but man that was scary.

As I started my last 3 miles my glutt tightened up again right way. Far worse then before. I was really hobbling and thinking I wouldn't make it. But I decided that I would walk if I needed to. After a full mile it started to loosen and by the 2 mile mark I was back to full speed. By this point in the race we were so spread out the few people were around me. One guy that I know was over 50 past me. He had been ahead of me on the first leg but I passed him on the bike. Damn, I was hoping to get enough time there to cover my run. He was a fast runner.

I finished the race very stong and sprinted in alone. The guy at the line told me I was somewhere around 25th. Later in the day I saw on the website that I was 1st place for men 40-49. I was 2nd of all the second wave (behind the 50 year old dude). My effort was all on the bike as I was the 8th fastest there out of 134 finishers. Full results here.

Of course I always have photos. This time thanks to the Linda. The best one is me pointing to where I had ditched my arm warmers. Looks like I'm doing a disco pose.

Flickr Photos

Drawing Class Final

The drawing class is over now. The last assignment was an extra one that Iain would do individual critics of. The assignment was to do another self portrait but now with the knowledge of the last 10 weeks. I definitely applied things I learned about proportion and drawing the volume of shapes. I'm not sure that it looks any more like me by I like the second drawing more. The following is Iain's comments;

Rhalvorsten: Quite a transformation from your first sketch, Robbie, which I just hunted down among the Challenge One submissions! Your first portrait was actually full of charm, but structurally distorted. This one is much more structurally sound and proportionally correct, but it has lost some of the warmth of the first portrait. This often happens whenever we’re learning something new. You can’t use your old tricks because you’re learning a new way of doing things, but you haven’t learned the new stuff yet so that won’t help you either. If you persevere, though, the new skills will inevitably kick in, and the moment they do that, you can draw on all your old tricks too. The net result is that, seemingly overnight, your drawing ability takes a huge leap forward. That’s where I think you are right now: poised for the leap into Stage Two. Where do you go from here? Keep working on your new skills—proportion, balance, anatomy and lighting in particular. As those become stronger within you, your natural ability at expression will find a solid support from which to leap. By the way, your desire to sketch and keep a sketch book is the best news of all! Beyond learning to draw, there is a challenge a thousand times more terrifying, and that is WHAT to draw. Your sketchbook—a collection of things drawn for the pure love of drawing them—will show you the way. Keep it with you and sketch in it always, and know that one day, when you need it most, it will remind you who you are, and what you need to say with your drawings.

Iain's word to me, and the other 5-6 people who did the extra work, are very motivating. Not only is he an amazing artist who is inspiring just to look at, but he is also a gifted educator.

Race Report: Heart of the Summer 10K

I did this race with Linda although she opted for the 5K walk. I did the 10K race then after that I decided to walk with Linda. the temp that morning was cool by my standards but I could have done without the jacket I guess. The photo was nabbed from a site selling prints.

By the time we were done with the walk I was very sore. Almost 10 miles of exercise and the last 2 miles was in the drizzling rain. But it was fun to be with Linda. I can't remember my time on the 10K but I do know that I wasn't all that happy.

Drawing Class Update

I'm nearing the end of the online drawing class I have been taking. Only one week to go. In the last few weeks it's been difficult to keep up but I think in all I only missed 1 of the 10 assignments. I haven't been exposed to anything dramatically new - it is a basic class after all - but it has been a great experience and really forced me to draw. Why a moose? I have no idea. I found an image of a moose in google while searching for something else.

The above drawing is a contour drawing. The purpose is to use just lines to form the volume of the subject. It forces the artist to think in terms of shapes and volumes instead of trying to reproduce the lights and darks. It's an excellent exercise and one that I will continue to explore.

The Springfield Halvorsons

This is Linda and I as we would appear on The Simpsons.

Over at the official Simpsons movie website, anyone can create there own likeness (or a loved one) using their neat little flash app. Very cool!

Italia: The Vatican

90 of the 455 photos I took in Italy are now up on Flickr. This one is another panorama I made from 8 photographs. The original is huge!

This view is of St Peter's Square and I am standing in front of St Peter's Basilica. The wikipedia entry has a panorama looking the other way. Funny.

We spend most of our last day at the Vatican touring through the museum. And by museum they mean through the halls of the Vatican itself. The place is gigantic and each corner reveals more art, sculptures and frescos. We stood in line for 1.5 hours in enter then probably another hour snaking through the halls to the crown gem of the Vatican - Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. I was in awe of it. The room was packed with people looking straight up. I managed to take a couple photos before the guards started yelling "No Photo". I saw the signs but thought it was no flash but they weren't allowing any photography or even video. Not sure why. So I feel a little bad but never the less got to take home a memory. The room is much darker then the photos give the impression of. I lighted them quite a bit.

Italy: Siena

Our first full day in Italy was spent in the medival town of Siena in Tuscany. Siena has a famous horse race twice a year called the Palio. We were luck enough to be there for the Summer event. It's a big deal for the Sienise and a source of great pride for the winning team. I'll defer to Wikipedia for the full explanation. It's worth a read.

Unfortunately we were not able to actually see the race since it started at 7:45 in the evening and that would have made us late for the last train back to our villa. But since the race is only 3 minutes long we didn't feel like we missed all that much. The party lasted all day and in fact had been going for a few days. The town was packed with tourist but not uncomfortably so.

This photo is of one of the jockeys. Each horse was lead into a square for everyone to admire. The handlers mostly just pushed their way into the crowd and it was up to us not to be trampled by his noble steed. Ironically I have no photos of the horses themselves!

I've got more photos of Siena here on Flickr.

Italia Trip

Linda and I returned from Italy a week ago and I still haven't gotten any photos onto the web or blogged about it. I have 400+ photos. It's a real problem deciding which ones not to post. But to start with here is a panorama I took of the Tuscan town of Montepulciano. It's composed of 5 photos. (Don't forget to click on the photo for a large version)

Montepulciano might be my favorite spot we visited. Typical of most towns in Tuscany it occupied the top of a tall hill (or small mountain depending on your view). We parked near the left side of the photo and ended up walking all the way through town to the right side. Fun little shops lined the narrow main street. Linda bought a couple purses and I found a neat leather bound sketchbook that are supposedly used as props in the Harry Potter movies. It looks very medieval and sure to contain magic!

At the end the day we stopped at a cafe to have a glass of wine. We ended up staying for dinner as well. I was so busy sketching in my new sketchbook that I forgot to look at the menu. Our very friendly waiter said that he would take care of me. I was game. What I got was a pork shank that was the best thing I eat all week. Now, I rarely meet a pig I won't eat but this pig knee was truly amazing - tender and meaty. It was the only thing I ate!

Drawing Class

Last week I joined an online drawning class with a group called Pixel Corps. It's being taught by Iain McCaig who is an incredible artist most noted for working on designs for Star Wars. The way it works is that Iain puts up a video intro on some aspect of drawing, after which we have 4 days to work on the drawing, then put them up on a website that only the class member can see. Everyone can look at and critique if they want. On Thursdays Iain picks out a few to critique to the whole group. We will go for 10 weeks.

It's a beginning drawing class so I expect the lessons to be basic. But basics are good and having a reason to make me draw is really good. It's also a chance for me to work with a tablet and the computer. I'm going to do all the drawings digitally on the computer using a Wacom and Sketchbook Pro.

So far we have done a self portrait and this week we worked on balance. The particular drawing excercise above was to balance things on top of a bucket on a stick. We also had to make a figure balanced then unbalanced. I'll post more about the class as it progresses. Hopefully we'll see an improvement.

San Francisco, CA

The week of June 10th I was in San Jose for 4 days. I had 2 days of work meetings. One afternoon we quit early so they could take us to Fisherman's Wharf. Most people stuck around there until our dinner reservations at 8pm, but I elected to rent a bike. My goal was to bike across the Golden Gate Bridge and take lots of photos. Mission accomplished! It was extremely windy and down right scary on the bridge. But it was a gorgeous evening and despite having an average bike with no clip-in shoes, I made it to the top of the bluff overlooking the bridge and downtown San Francisco. I started the ride somewhere on the shore close to my head.

Once I caught up to my colleagues at the restaurant, I found out that they all took a boat ride out to the Golden Gate around 7:30pm which was about the time this photo was taken. So more then likely they were on the boat under the bridge in the photo!

6/07 Race Report : Withrow TT

The June time trial was back in the old location that we've used in previous years - unlike last month. The concensis with members was that the roads aren't really that much worse then usual. It was a warm night with a slight SE wind. Great night. There were almost 60 people there which is a really big turnout.

The graph about is the elevation (green), speed (blue), and heart rate (red). Not surprising the speed and elevations are inverse to each other. Speed goes down while climbing hills. What is more interesting is that my heart rate peaks quickly at about 172 bpm then only varies a few beats each way despite the climbing. In the final 2 miles my HR went up to 189 because I really poured it on.

I had a really good result. I nearly beat my personal best over the last 2 years when most everyone else was slowing down. I placed 11th out of about 50 people. Pretty happy with that.

Garmin GPS

I bought a new training tool, a Garmin 305 GPS. It is able to track my pace, location, as well as heart rate and some other stuff. I have a 2 year old Timex GPS but it doesn't have nearly the features and is not all in one.

I took it to the TT last weekend but I couldn't set it up in time for the race so I decide to not let it distract me. There will be other races to use it on.

The following image is a screen capture of the computer graph downloaded from the unit. It shows where on earth I was, my speed, and in this case the altitude. Look closely at those numbers. Yup, I was going 400 mph at around 20,000 feet! On the way back from a trip to California, I turned on the unit while we were in a holding pattern for 45 minutes. I was bored. The oval in the bottom corner (yellow) is where we did 5-6 turns before heading north then south again to the MSP airport.

Race Report: State Time Trial Championship

This race took place in St Peter, MN which is about 50-60 miles south west of Minneapolis. A typical quaint Minnesota town. My neighbor Jeff and I carpooled in my Element to the race.

A time trial, or TT, is an individualized race against the clock. This was the first time that I raced in a sanctioned race. Most bikers are licensed by the Cycling Federation but they also allow other people like me to buy a one day license for the race. However we are only allowed to be in the lowest category called 'Cat 5'. Not really a problem for me - I just want to race.

This race was 40K or around 24 miles out and back on the same country road. There is really no story to tell about TTs other then trying to tempo ones effort so you are going as fast as you can but making sure you won't use up all your effort too early. It's a real mind game of enduring pain to a certain point.

The race went very well for me. I felt like I was working hard and had enough left to ride the last 4-5 miles really hard. At one point I had a guy pass me while I was doing about 26mph. He was flying. I looked him up in the results and he ended up being one of the fastest. My finishing time was just under an hour at 59:18. I was pleased. Jeff finished ahead of me at 56:10. Here are all the results.

After I finished the race I grabbed my camera and took some shoots. They are on my Flickr page. There is a great photo of a guy from work that I ride with during the noon hour. Nelson Zamora. Nice work Nelson!

Race Report: Get In Gear 10K 2007

This is a bit out of order as I did this race back in April. I blogged about this same race last year. This year the day was quite different in that it was a gorgeous sunny morning. Other then that it was almost the same race. Strangely so.

I entered the race feeling very strong. I had a good winter of continuous training and after all the marathon training last Summer I assumed I would be faster then last year. The goal was sub 7 minute miles. At the first mile marked I was already 15 seconds behind where I wanted to be. Not good but understandable with so many people. At the second mile I was once again 20 seconds off on that mile. Clearly the race was not going my way. There was nothing special about the rest of the race other then I was able to really gun the last half mile and passed a ton of people. I finish with a time of 46.28.

The real surprise, and frustration, was that mile for mile I ran almost the same race last year, in the rain and supposedly in less shape. My take away is that I need to work more on speed. I've done a lot of work to build my aerobic conditioning but I haven't been much time doing intervals or just running fast.

Riding with Andy

The duathlon ended up not being the highlight of my weekend in Grand Forks. On Sunday morning I got to ride with retired pro racer Andy Hampsten!

Andy was in town to help move his Mother who has been an English Professor at UND forever. Plus, the city of Grand Fork had a ceremony to name their new bike trail system after Hampsten. But the best part of the weekend was that the local bike shop organized a fast 30 mile ride with Andy which was meant for more serious bike riders. I had no idea about any of this until Saturday afternoon. Riding with him would be equivalent to a tennis player having the chance to volley with Andre Agassi.

There were about 30 people at the ride. Some came from as far away as Winnipeg. There was nothing fast about the ride (15mph average) thou after about 10 miles there were only maybe 15 people. I talked with Andy for at least 20 minutes about Italy which Linda and I will be visiting in July 07. I told him about my race FU and asked him if he ever got lost in a pro race. He said 'Oh yeah!'. He tried to remember which one but couldn't. I was surprised to hear about the lack of course marshals or signs and how the pros sometimes just go where the crowds are standing.

The neatest part was telling him that his Mom had purchased one of my photographs from my senior art show way back in 1988 when I graduated from UND. He said that she had bought many student artworks over the years and that they filled her house. Part of the move that he was in town for was that all her kids had to choose artworks to take back home. Was mine still there?

I was beside him as we climbed over the highest hill in Grand Forks county (an overpass). I made sure that I got just a wheel length ahead at the top. So, yes, I out climbed Andy Hampsten.

Andy is a really cool likable guy. A great memory.

Race Report: Dewey Kvidt Memorial Duathlon

I love this photo. I assure you that the ambulance was not following me!

I opted to do this race instead of the Oakdale Du because it was in my hometown of Grand Forks, North Dakota and I hadn't been back in a while. Plus it would be a small race on pancake flat roads. It ended up being a crazy race.

The first 3 mile run was uneventful. It was hard to judge my place because they were running a concurrent 5K run on the same course. At the first transition the foot racers went to the finish and we turned left to the transition area. I was very pleased to see a majority of the people in front of me head to the finish. But then the fun REALLY started.

Once I got my bike in hand I went for a flying mount which I had never practiced on the new Cervelo. I landed right but I missed the pedal and was weaving all over - or at least it seemed I was. I recovered and was off.

Two miles into the 15 mile bike was a 20 foot patch of gravel where they must of done some construction (they had warned us about it). I grew up on country roads and that little patch managed to represented the worst of every one of them. It was washboard and loose gravel. Luckily I had ridden over it the night before so I was ready with a line through it. But it was really really scary. I did fine.

Then it was 6 mile straight out with only a highway overpass crossing as a distraction. I passed a few people then at a railroad crossing the race volunteers yelled that there are 4 people ahead of me. Excellent!

After a few more miles I finally see the leader coming back so I start looking for the turn around which must be ahead. I started to see a lone man standing in an intersection up ahead. As I get closer I'm waiting for some kind of indication to turn around. But he just looked at me so I blew passed him because clearly that wasn't the turn around, right? One mile past him I start to approach a huge tractor pulling a plow that is spanning the whole road. Oh crap. But I figure everyone else had to deal with it. France has mountains, North Dakota has tractors! I'm wondering if he even notices this speck coming up behind him. Luckily, he started to pull over for 2 cars coming from the other way. I jetted by and gave the farmer a wave. At this point I can see probably a good 2 miles down the road and I don't see anything along the road - and I mean nothing. A sinking feeling takes over me that the guy back 1.5 miles was the turn around. I turn around.

Now I'm really pissed and completely frustrated. Why did that guy let me go by? Where was the sign or pylons? I'm pretty much soft pedaling and swearing. I was trying to decide whether I should even bother with the last run. But then I think about the crazy things that can happen to the people in front of me; flats, the train crossing (they warned us that a train 'might' be coming), and that gravel patch. So I once again cranked it up and was off. At the turn around there were now plenty of people making the turn. Were they just smarter then me? Maybe. I estimated that I tacked on an extra 3 miles total and I think I passed many people for the second time. The rest of the way was fine including the scary gravel which I didn't even slow for this time.

Off the bike and onto the last 3 miles of running. I caught a bunch of people and got to high five the leaders as they were just finishing. Cool guys. I was talking with them before the race.

Ended up 2nd in my age bracket. Not sure about overall as they haven't posted it yet.

And as a good lesson, one guy in front of me did flat on the gravel and he might have been in my age bracket. So never give up.

It was still fun despite the FU.

My buddy Dave, whom I stayed with in Grand Forks, was my photographer. As usually, more photos are on Flickr

Honorary Degree

Will the honors ever stop?!? A few weeks ago I received an honorary masters degree from the prestigious Kellogg business school.

So really, this is Linda's MBA school. They invited all the spouses or partners, to join the students for a weekend. During one of the events they gave each of us partners these Masters of Understanding degrees in recognition of the support we give. Very thoughtful. But hell, as far as I'm concerned I've got a MU from one of the best business schools in the country and I'm going to put it on my resume! (not really)

If you should need some understanding I'm available for consultation.

Japanese Language Proficiency Test: RESULTS

I passed! やった！

I'm really really amazed. As I wrote in my previous post, I didn't think I had a very good chance at passing this test. 50/50 at best. But I ended up doing exactly what was needed to pass. As suspected the listening part was my worst of the 3 at 50%. But the writing/vocab was totally shocking - 93%!! The grammer part was also good enough at around 80%. Overall I got a 70% and needed only 60% to pass. I'm very proud of this test because it's so official. This is the Japanese governments indication of skill. Now for the humbling part, this is by far the easiest of the 4 tests. It's kindergarten. The next step, level 3, is not just a little harder but is probably more like 2-3 times more difficult.

The scan is of the test results but I also got a very nice certificate, suitable for framing.

Hockey Quiz

When I was a kid we would alternate choosing people for a pickup hockey game. I rarely went early in those drafts. So which one of these 2 teammates would you take first for your team? There is no illusion here, Finley is 6'7" and Bina is almost a foot shorter at 5'8" as well as being around 70 pounds lighter. Both are defenceman where size counts yet 'little' Robbie Bina has been a dominant player for the Sioux this year and has so far racked up 25 points to Finley's 7. So, who would you pick now? Not so easy. Of course I've got to go with any guy from Grand Forks named Robbie. Duh.

On Saturday, March 3rd, 4 of us went to St Cloud, MN to watch our UND Sioux beat St Cloud in the last game of the year. The smallish arena afforded me a good chance to get some closeup photos of the action. I have them on my Flickr account.

Best Wife Ever?

Thursday and Friday we got a good old fashion Minnesota snow storm. It was great! I think at home we got about 18 inches of snow in two waves. Just enough in each case to force us to blow out the driveway twice. But that's ok because the snowblower is one of the funnest things about winter - if not the funnest! I've been a little disappointed in the last few year with the lack of blowable snow. Here is a shot of Linda getting in on the fun.

Jersey Design Process

In 2005 I took it upon myself to design a biking jersey for our club at work. For years before that we had talked about how cool it would be to have one but, as always, nobody wants to do the work. I finally decided that if I did it at least I would like it enough to wear it. Being that most of the club riders are engineers, it was probably best in the long run that I stepped up.
The first image in this post is from the concept phase. What it shows is how I played around with the corporate color scheme (green with orange) on the body and sleeves - trying to find a nice balance without being too green. I'm not a big green fan.

In the concept phase I came up with 2 candidates. One design was more aggressive then the other. I figured I would let the group decide on which one to use. The next image is of those 2. Which one would you vote for? As I recall it was a pretty close race but the more conservative design won. Not all that surprising.

Next I sent the design to Voler to be printed. They took my computer file and combined it with their template. The 3rd image is the resulting artwork that was printed. What is very interesting about their process is that this artwork has all the sizes on it. If you look closely you can see the outlines of all the sizes starting with the x-large on the outside, then large, medium, etc... It's a very cleaver way to cut down on the amount of unique printing.

The jersey was a big success and I ended up ordering around 150. When I started out I was worried I wouldn't even get the minimum order of 25 jerseys!

You can see me wearing the jersey here.

UltiMed Animation

Last Summer I did a freelance animation project for a contract engineering company. It was to demonstrate a new product they designed for the dispensing and disposal of syringes. A version of the animation has become a part of the company homepage. UltiMed

They messed around with the timing of the animation and slowed it down - which makes it slightly jittery. I often run into this. Customers are always concerned that the viewer will not 'Get it' unless it's really slow. Yet one of the benefits of animation, and particularly web animation, is that viewers can stop it, rewind it, and generally watch it until they 'Get it'. I believe the concerns comes from a TV mentality where you get to see something once and then it's over.

Notebook Sketch

At work I was recently asked to visualize a new device concept. It was sort of an odd looking design that led to my comment that it was like putting Frankenstein's head on Tyra Bank's body. That in turned lead to my notepad doodle. I kinda liked it so I decided to show it here. I always have a notebook by me to take down information as well as sketching. I have a stack of old pads that are like my visual work diary. It's fun to look back at them.

Did Frankenstein ever smile? Maybe he would have if given a better body.