or at least, that’s what They Might Be Giants told me once, in a song.

last week around this time, i was attending the Future Of Web Design workshops and conference. i got in my focus and i drove down to manhattan last sunday. yeah, probably crazy. who knew it was marathon day? well, i arrived as the race was ending, so that wasn’t a problem. just some very tired looking folks wandering around wrapped in space blankets.

the conference was pretty good. i did learn a bit. there was a common thread that i don’t think they expected, but a lot of people were interested in workflow and process improvement. most of the speakers did pretty well; a few had some nerves but eventually loosened up.

as far as networking, not much opportunity. workshop day was pretty busy, and i was tired and grumpy for some reason. i thought, conference day would have more people and mingling in between speakers. well – not really. between speakers they blasted music so loud that you couldn’t hear yourself think, much less strike up a conversation. if you walked out from the main venue area, it was almost completely dark.

so, i enjoyed being in new york, i got probably as much value out of the conference as i paid in, and after a couple days i was completely exhausted and ready to get home.

the White Mountains to the north…

Manchester to the east…

and a faint glimpse of the Boston skyline to the southeast (55 miles away)

this is cannon beach:

these are the “sea lion rocks” offshore of ecola state park:

this is one of my favorite pictures i’ve shot to date, crescent beach cove:

saturday night i stayed in portland, after a drive out to cannon beach and astoria (pictures to come, i promise!) while relaxing back at the hotel, my locally brewed organic IPA was interrupted by a roll of thunder. then it started raining.

it rained at a rate, the likes of which i’m not sure i’ve seen before; in the northeast, in the northwest. the only thing i can think of being comparable was being caught in a rain & hail storm in wisconsin when we were driving out to Seattle in ’01.

my friend greg put an audio clip of the storm on his blog, it’s neat.

the sun

sunday, i drove back up to Seattle, via Bremerton for a dual-purpose on the peninsula. first, visiting my friend Charles at a SCCA Northwest Region Autocross event. it was cool – i got to watch the 2nd morning run, then i walked the course for the afternoon runs before departing.

my other reason for heading out on the peninsula was to enjoy lunch at Silver City Brewing in silverdale. enjoy, i surely did. it was departing Silver City when i started to notice that my forehead hurt. i forgot to bring a hat on this trip, and i guess the half-hour or so that it was actually sunny while i was at the autocross, was enough to fry me. it figures that the only time it was sunny on this trip, i got sunburned.

so if you’re in the greater seattle area today and you see a large, round, bright red orb floating at you – don’t worry. it’s just my head. say hi!

one of the pieces on display was a 1935 Stout Scarab. a handbuilt car of which only a handful were ever produced. it was ridiculously expensive for the time.

i finally remembered to look it up – get this. rear engine, cab-forward driving position. flexible seating with a small table that can be deployed. unit-body construction. four wheel independent suspension.

what was that year again? 1935.