July 2002

Back. Tired.
I’m tired, but feel wonderful. Back in the box.

There’s something really great about listening to Steely Dan when you’re tired and have stuff to do.

More as the day progresses and I get my bearings.

Hawai’i and Memories
Well, this is a bit better. Since I last typed, I jumped off a 40 foot lava rock a few times, swam with 3 honest-to-goodness sea turtles, had some bagels and lox, flew from Maui to Hawai’i (the locals write it out that way. Hawaiian is not a written language, it’s about the sound, and the apostrophe better approximates the pronunciation). I’ve sent a bunch of postcards (apologies to anyone I’ve missed); did some watercolors; lots of snorkling; lots of swimming; walking, and yes, more.

I’m reading the out-of-print A Woman On Paper, a biography of Georgia O’Keeffe. She’s a fascinating woman, as illuminated through letters and images and especially her relationship with the author, Anita Pollitzer. One thing in particular I thought fascinating was that when she was a young girl, and doing portraits of people, often she would destroy what she made soon after making them because she said she did not want them floating around to haunt her. I like that notion – of making a piece of art, then destroying. I think of some native arts where at the completion of the art, you destroy it. Sand painting I think of first. And I also think of the part in the film (also a book, but I know the movie) A River Runs Through It—the father has the boys write a theme, he reads it, and then tells them to throw it away. That dedication to craft, coupled with the destruction of it, I find really interesting. In web design much of what I do is designed to be permanent. Jakob Nielsen says that web pages must live forever. But I think of William Gibson’s Agrippa, which was created in 1992, and was far too expensive for one such as I to buy. It was designed to be read once. Then it would be destroyed. Of course, now, the text is widely available.

The internet remembers. It has a long memory. Whether that is the usenet archives or the internet archive. The net remembers forever. If it appears as bits, someone can remember it. Memory, of course, is very much the topic of much Cyberpunk fiction. Blade Runner. Johnny Mnemonic. We Can Remember It for You Wholesale / Total Recall. Robocop.

And memory is, in the end all we have.

Now I will go make more memories in the water.

Onward.

Greetings from Maui
I’m sitting in a rather lame internet kiosk which seems to only want to show me 50 of my email messages (typically I get 75 messages a day between lists and spam and mail I like). Given I’ve been gone 3 days, well, it adds up.

Today was awesome. Went snorkling off Lanai on a charter pontoon boat. Very wonderful time. I’m getting a lot of sun, but am staying practical enough that the sunblock is being used. No burn so far, thankfully.

The thing that stands out is the blueness of the water. The water is clear to an extreme. Many wonderful fish to see, and luminous coral to look at. My favorite fish (how touristy is that?) is clearly the Parrot Fish. Well, the male Parrot fish. They have amazing coloration. My words can’t do them justice.

My three bucks are winding up. Better go ahead and post. May post more. Sorry for being incommunicado.

Back in a few
Off to Hawaii. Back next week. Drop me a line.

Radio Followup—Email | Phone | Web
Got a bunch of little notes during and after the radio show last night. Let’s attempt to address them, shall we?

Matt Haughey thought it was pretty cool, a high compliment considering he’s the Philosopher King of Metafilter (and a nice guy too).

And about the question of whether I am the real me in this journal, my friend MissEwon says: i think your online persona is pretty much the real you, maybe a tad more serious and a little less goofy.—which is a nice thing to say, I think.

Someone named Maya asks:
I’m wondering if you’d like to share with us what happened between you and Jenny or if that is one subject you’re not planning on exposing on the web?
Which is a fair question. I will answer this way: I think the specifics are things that I’ve alluded to. We are in joint counseling, and working at understanding how our 6 year relationship got into a space where it took a separation to keep us alive and remind us we are alive. I had always known that relationships are work. I was told this many times. I never felt it until my wife left me. But the question of how much or how little to talk about in this public place is an interesting one. And yes, I do struggle with it.

My sister had very nice things to say, and also made this observation: Life is so surreal, strange, and funny sometimes. I definitely agree 100% with that assessment.

My sister’s boyfriend Daniel also sent me some pictures of my parents listening to me via a little iMac with Windows Media Player. Fun to see them in the midst of listening. I don’t think I’m going to post the pictures. But they are awesome. And my parents are awesome. They drove several hours to hear that on Daniel+Kelly’s broadband connection. And also to see the special edition of Cinema Paradiso.

I received a few other notes, but I’ll be replying via email to them.

When I got home, I had two messages on my answering machine. One was my Grandmother & Grandfather, and the other was my Mom. They were very complimentary. It was very sweet of them to call. I guess I didn’t blow it. Not that the show was mine to blow, really. Hm. I think I often take more responsibilities for things than I should.

Some new inbound links, and web mentions: Joan mentioned me, and my appearance on the radio yesterday. She also added me as a sidebar link on her site. Her permalinks are not working right now, or I would point directly at what she had to say. She seems pretty cool altogether. I’m sure I’ll meet her eventually at a San Diego Blog Meetup. And Mitch has added me as a sidebar link, which is a great compliment. Lester also mentioned me in his blog yesterday.

Impressions of The Radio
All in all it went well. The studio was intimate. The conversation before during, and after the show was good. Smart people talking is always interesting. They gave me a water bottle but I didn’t drink it. I was very focused on being on the blog, and trying to keep track of the conversation. I don’t think it’s possible to be blogging and listening at the same time. Unless you’re transcribing a conversation, I guess. I had met both Mitch and Lester before, so that was not new. All the people at the KPBS studio were really nice. The place is kind of a fortress – the hallways are very much like those in the open credits of the (old) TV show Get Smart. I think I would go on the radio again, it was a nice feeling. Definitely an ego boost, and a chance to plug myself, but also a chance to share what I think I’ve learned. I do that here on this site, on the WebSanDiego.org Mailing List, and in many venues online. And even personally, I’m always trying to share useful information with people. It’s how I’m wired.

Today I’ll be taking a trip. Not sure if there will be updates from the trip. Time will tell.

And as my mantra goes: Onward.

The radio thing went well. I’m sleepy now. Will blog the responses I got tomorrow.

Being referred to now. Scary.

Mitch is talking with erudition. Nice.

Lester now. He’s rad. Being asked about coming ‘out.’ Big questions.

It’s evolving. Doing some updates in emacs.

Dirk looking over my6 shoulder as I update. Cool.

bak from the break.

Lots of personal questions. (squirm). But it was cool. Dirk asks good questions.

Lester discussing Kaycee Nicole. Good topic for blogs. Reality vs. Fiction.

Paying attention to the converstion makes it hard to blog.

Yikes. They keep talking about me blogging.

Short break.

Back.

Lester plugging Electroluxe. Cool. He read a good entry.

Taking calls now. A person talking about her livejournal.

Tara! calling! She’s got two sites that are dead from san diego bloggers.

Wrapping it up. Nice. Went well. Already have gotten several pieces of mail from friends. Very cool.

Dirk is doing pre-show banter. Here with Lester and with Mitch and with the host of The Lounge, Dirk. He’s doing the intro now.

Another test. Blogger is not behaving.

Testing. Testing. 1.2.3.
Going to try and blog this live.