http://blog.ericdacus.com/

"If you design something without any regard for or understanding of the end user’s interaction with..."

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:27:28 -0700

“If you design something without any regard for or understanding of the end user’s interaction with the product, what exactly are you doing?”

- Form over Function: A review of the Cube Jigger (via cubicle17)

Sunset drive to Park City.

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:23:00 -0700

Sunset drive to Park City.

Polly and I got to get out for another nice, snowy hike up the Little Cottonwood Trail in with snow...

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:13:18 -0700

Polly and I got to get out for another nice, snowy hike up the Little Cottonwood Trail in with snow softly floating down. Every time we’ve been up there to hike, its also been snowing. Its been good for her hip to get out and move.

See the rest on Flickr here.

A phone upgrade for me has made posting mobile photos much easier and I’m really excited to...

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:01:54 -0700

A phone upgrade for me has made posting mobile photos much easier and I’m really excited to be able to work on seeing and posting simple shots like these more often.

Aperture 3

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:11:00 -0700

I’m trying out Apple’s Aperture 3.0, and its very different from Adobe’s Lightroom that I’ve been using. I think it feels slower, but maybe its just different and causes waits in places I’m not used to waiting. The full screen editing mode is great. The interface almost goes completely away and lets you just work on an image without looking at the usual trappings of software. The brushes interface is brilliant.

Not sure if I’ll switch workflows yet, as there’s a noticeable learning curve and would cost a bit to buy the new software, but I like it so far.

Would you believe that something that looks like this:

Could go into making a really tasty soup?

More photos on Flickr.

"Mechanical Design: Creativity of balancing form, function and cost. Its the left brain-ed version..."

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:21:36 -0700

“Mechanical Design: Creativity of balancing form, function and cost. Its the left brain-ed version of art.”

- me

Roasted Red Peppers

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:14:26 -0700

Roasted Red Peppers

ampersandampersand: Californian FB, Bold Very cool tumblr blog...

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:51:46 -0700

ampersandampersand:

Californian FB, Bold

Very cool tumblr blog of fonts and type as expressed by ampersands. I like following it.

Excited.

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 16:10:31 -0700

Excited.

Creativity vs. Stress

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:45:51 -0700

There’s an idea floating around the internet put forward by Chase Jarvis, Create, Share, Sustain (also explained in a video of a presentation, here), creativity can sustain you.

From his blog:

Create. Make something. A photograph, a video, a poem, a piece of software.

Share. Send your thing out into the world. Post it to your Facebook, your blog. Tweet it. (And still share it with your mom).

Sustain. Start out by waiting tables. Or keep your day job. Or sell your spouse’s socks on ebay. Or do something out of the genre of what you want to do until you can afford not to do it. Or do all of these so that you can keep creating and sharing without requiring “permission” from anyone.

And repeat. Create. Share. Sustain. Repeat.

I don’t have any intentions to stop being a design engineer, however I probably fall under the following:

“The practice of art isn’t to make a living. It’s to make your soul grow.” ~Kurt Vonnegut via the PixelatedImage Blog

The left brain-ed, analytical, time-line driven work of an engineer doesn’t really feed the soul, or at least not mine. The above ‘poster’ was just for fun, and was something I’ve been wanting to experiment with in Photoshop for a while. Normally, I’m not a fan of Photoshop at all. I like doing minor edits in Lightroom, but I have a personal distaste for photos that are obviously [over] processed. No one else has to like the above work, but I had a lot fun skiing with Polly and seeing an idea through to finished work. The same goes for the previous post about Good Design. I like the idea of making a letterpress poster of that or something in that vein and having it around my desk for inspiration.

The process of photography, and simply taking time to do small, potentially meaningless personal projects provides a way to engage the right-brain and find a creatively positive outlet from engineering design that then refuels me to go back and work on the things that pay the bills.

So for me the Create, Share, Sustain isn’t about changing financial sustainability or changing where the finances come from as much as it is mental or emotional and having a different well to draw from.

I think its very important to have a hobby or an outlet beyond vocation that you can engage in and be passionate about doing. I like finally having a better articulation of this how and why a creative outlet is important.

Regardless of your political leanings, I think we can agree that...

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:25:21 -0700

Regardless of your political leanings, I think we can agree that the current system of funding, lobbyists and money = influence is getting in the way of actually solving the problems we face.

http://change-congress.org/

It was a nice long, three day weekend: Yurt trip out to the Unintas and a Ski Free After 3 day with...

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:01:36 -0700

It was a nice long, three day weekend: Yurt trip out to the Unintas and a Ski Free After 3 day with Polly for her first ski day back post-op. The yurt was very, very nicely stocked, firewood, kindling, pots, pans, dishes, propane lantern+stove. No touring beyond the yurt to be had though, the snow pack was too shallow.

Meting snow takes a while…

Photo

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:43:14 -0700

Polly skis again!

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 07:57:00 -0700

Glad to see her skiing again!

Winter Hikes

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:35:57 -0700

These are almost a week late, but last Sunday, got to go on a winter hike with Polly. It was good to get out above the inversion and breath some clean air as well as move the legs around after the tour.

Polly enjoying the fresh air.

Not something you see every day.

Got to get out on a longer tour this Saturday and though for most of the day we were mostly up in...

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 12:56:00 -0700

Got to get out on a longer tour this Saturday and though for most of the day we were mostly up in the clouds, the sun did break through for about 10 minutes and it was an immediate moral boost! The snowpack is thin and the avy conditions very strange, but it was good to get out and above the bad air down in the city.

The full set of photos can be found on Flickr: Skiing 2010.

Nothing compares to dynamic light in the mountains.

Serenity part 1.

Serenity part 2.

The burst of light brought out smiles all around.

Skiing is fun.

Riding looks fun too.

Still Inspiring.

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 11:16:00 -0700

The Boston Globe’s The Big Picture photoblog has some images from NASA’s recent Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Since high school I’ve felt that its unfortunate that my generation doesn’t have any well defined, well funded national goals like the moon program in its hey-day. 30 years later its still inspiring to me, despite that the collective will to accomplish something great seems to be lost to petty partisanship.

"Being covetous of what you are not is corrosive. Enjoy the slow blossoming of your own expertise...."

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:17:11 -0700

““Being covetous of what you are not is corrosive. Enjoy the slow blossoming of your own expertise. This is the craft of developing a craft.””

- from Stay Slow via http://www.theshinysea.ca/?p=567

(not related to the video below)

Just watch this. If you’ve ever wondered about the power...

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 10:31:03 -0700

Just watch this. If you’ve ever wondered about the power of good design, this answers it.

Joe’s Valley: Bouldering in the snow. More photos to...

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:19:00 -0700

Joe’s Valley: Bouldering in the snow. More photos to follow.