drewd » Claremont

Counting Up in Seattle

drew — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:55:13 +0000

Allow me to brush away the cobwebs from my pixels and from my memories.

On June 26, 2006, I arrived in Seattle and was instantly lost. Literally, I was lost. I could not find my way around the city for the life of me. Ten days prior, I had completed my final day of work at Harvey Mudd College and then spent the next week packing up all my worldly belongings. I was absolutely terrified: my house in Claremont was still unsold and I had no job. But still I drove north through San Francisco and Ashland and Hood River and finally reached my new home.

I spent my first five days in Seattle somewhat painfully, getting my bearings while at the same time trying to find an apartment. All the while, I ran marathon workouts despite no consistent place to shower or cook meals. I found a place eventually, just in time before Potlatch weekend, and Brooke proved correct in claiming that I could make a living as a web developer. And the house in Claremont sold, offering hard cash to burn through as I got my life in order. But still, what the heck was I thinking?

Well, I have a fairly strong grasp of my thoughts and feelings at the time, but such is not my topic (at least tonight). Regardless, here I am, three years later, still alive and still in Seattle. What more can I say? Everything and nothing. We'll see what comes out as this and other arbitrary anniversaries roll on through my mind.

Hot Domain, Drew

drew — Sun, 11 May 2008 01:47:47 +0000

Here is a list of the domain names that I own:

Some of these I obviously hold for other people (and some of those perhaps a bit awkwardly). A few of them represent personal projects or sites for friends that never came to fruition. I spend approximately $150 per year on these "properties," plus another few hundred in site hosting costs. And I receive approximately zero (0) return on investment.

Regardless, I cannot stop myself from registering a new domain name when I have a new idea. I think a strong component of this compulsion is my perception of the scarcity of good domain names. I contributed a whiz-bang 2.0ish domain name to my work the other week, and was a bit miffed that I hadn't conceived of it myself.

My newest acquisition is hotbombdotcom.com. See, some of the Claremont Ultimate kids took to congratulating successful hucks or exciting throws by saying, "Hot bomb dot com slash Gordy slash Jughead slash SWEET." Or something like that, I don't really remember. hotbomb.com has never been available but I think this domain is the next best option. .net is for suckers, and doesn't work with the rhyme.

So, now, what I want to build is a little hotbomb application that automatically parses the URL to show photographs and text. Think hotbombdotcom.com/krump/lull/PFL: the script finds a photograph tagged with 'krump' and another with 'lull' and then displays crazy, colored text of any other URL component strings for which no photographs are tagged. Awesome.

Do you have thoughts on what I should do with any of my other domains? And when am I planning to change 2008 from the year of conception to the year of execution? We shall see.

Tea in Kensington, Mud in Wimbledon

drew — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 22:18:13 +0000

My intent is to accelerate the process of documenting my trip to Europe by providing vignettes accompanied by photographs. Here is my first attempt.

I stayed in London with a Hook teammate from Paganello 2007. My gracious host was Alexander Dunnett, more commonly known as Stylish. This peerless fellow studies Energy Systems Engineering at Imperial College in London, obsesses over music (his own and that of others), and plays (to steal from his lexicon) bangin' Ultimate with Clapham.

I am lacking in photographs of Stylish in his natural environs but have a brilliant one from Italy that I will feature later. Regardless, I had an amazing time hanging around with him while we ate and drank and discussed music, Ultimate, energy, technology and any random bit of this beautiful life. Stylish fixed some delicious lamb, vegetables and potatoes one night, capped excellently with tea and then whiskey. I responded on my final night in London with a bottle of Malbec, chicken enchiladas, and a chopped fresh salad halfway to salsa-ville. I have no end of appreciation for Stylish's hospitality, and for this time with him.

Stylish brought me out to Tour 0 at Wimbledon on Saturday and Sunday to pick-up with Flump, playing with Hook teammates and friends (Manny! Sam! Kaleigh!). Stylish suited up with Clapham, Ham and Harry with Brighton, and Dirk with Fire of London. Playing with Flump was a great time, despite a few difficult losses, and I quite enjoyed the athleticism and enthusiasm of the team's younger players.

The other, and perhaps primary, goal of my Tour 0 attendance was a reunion with the inimitable Paul Robustelli. Paul and I ate brains together in Claremont but he now works at a PhD, computationally identifying protein structure, at Cambridge and captains Strange Blue, the institution's Ultimate team.

Paul is pictured above at Stylish's flat, drinking morning tea before we headed back out to the English wind, rain and mud. On the night before, Paul accompanied Stylish, Flembo and me for a pint at a dirty weatherspoon, along with the rest of Flump, and then for some amazing fish and chips (and whirled peas).

I quite enjoyed my opportunity to reunite with Ultimate teammates, old and older, and meet new friends in the London disc community. I said my goodbyes to Flump and to Paul on Sunday but I will surely return to visit them all again.

Sorry, Wally the Wart

drew — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 01:08:19 +0000

Harvey Mudd was ranked as one of the 20 Ugliest College Campuses in the United States. As soon as I opened the article, I was hoping to find Harvey Mudd there. I was not expecting to find Pitzer College (another Claremont offering) on the list as well. The 20 Most Beautiful Colleges included Scripps College in Claremont, as well as my sister's alma mater, College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine.

I am bit skeptical of the lists: the writer has not visited all of the schools personally. Take his offerings with a grain of salt.