I’m posting this from Vail, Colorado where at night I’ve been able to see vastly more stars than we ever see in Orlando.  The video above isn’t from Vail, but I bet on the clearest of nights, on the highest of peaks one could catch a glimpse of the sky as beautiful as this.

Filmed just last week at the top of Spain’s highest point, El Teide, this incredible footage shows the arms of the Milky Way in beautiful detail!  Be sure to jump to Terje’s Vimeo profile to see some of his other striking landscape photography!

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

There’s more to this one than simple clicking.

Try clicking squares a few times to change their direction (up, down, left, right).  Similar to Sound Matrix, but maybe a bit more deep.  AND, you can “save” your song by clicking the ‘copy piece link.’  Then just bookmark your piece for continued listening down the road.  What a fun toy!

Automata – Found at ISO50

Update

Here’s one I made!  It just keeps evolving.  I could make one of these each night and fall asleep to it!

Seriously, just start clicking squares.

I found this today and I can’t stop fiddling with it!  It’s a simple grid of squares.  Click on a square or five to start making a song.  You can activate and deactivate squares whenever you want.  The more squares you “activate,” the more complex the song becomes.  Try activating squares in every quadrant.  Make most of them far apart, with a few squares doubled or tripled in a row or column.  You’ll get the hang of it.  Press <spacebar> to clear all your squares (and lose your song forever!)

This little toy is called Sound Matrix by SEMBEO.

Headphones recommended!

Ok. So I guess I need some kind of outlet. The couch routine is getting old, not to mention most of the routines I’m in.  I’ve always been able to avoid routines.  Workout routine?  Not for more than three weeks.  House-cleaning routine? Not until I start to see roaches.  Routinely.

But as it turns out, I find myself these days in a number of routines.  A work routine, first and foremost.  Up every weekday by 6:45 (ok, 7:20), showered, dog walked and fed, and on the road by 7:45 (ok, 8:20).  Work till 5:30 (ok, 8:30), then home – where I continue to check my emails, chew my fingernails, and think about things like blood pressure, until bedtime.  I think I’ve been in a work routine long enough now that I’ve almost come to depend on it. It is comfortable. It is easy. It is predictable.

Thankfully I’ve got my Jessica. If there’s a routine there, it’s a good routine. It’s a routine that keeps me sane, happy, full, drunk, joking, laughing, and smiling. And there are still plenty of surprises. Like the time I discovered that despite years of rolling house-salad tomatoes to the side, pawning them off to friends in exchange for cucumbers, croutons, or more cheese — she absolutely loves everything I cook involving tomatoes!  As a tomato fan for, going on, 29 years now this makes me extremely proud of my choice in cohabitant.  I’m smitten.  Still.

Anyway.  So we made this bruschetta (pronounced by assholes as bruce-Ket-Ahh).  And before we enjoyed a plate full of these olive-oil basted crispy plateaus of french baguette, canvassed by boulders of sweet balsamic-vinegar-drenched tomatoes, topped with garlic, basil and balsamic reduction… I took some photos.  Enjoy.

– I dedicate my first (and if my routine remains unchanged, likely my last) blog post of 2011 to Jessica.  May our spring and summer be filled with plenty of tomatoes!  … And may we continue whatever routine it is that makes us as happy as we’ve been these four years.  I love you.

NOTE: I do not actually wait for repeated visits by roaches to begin cleaning.  That’s just gross.

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull – May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.

• Beautifully retro styled, handcrafted wooden tabletop arcade cabinet and MAME emulator for your otherwise useless iPad
• Play your favorite arcade games anywhere there’s a table
• Hundreds of games available from various online sources – not included in product!
• Professional grade arcade stick and microswitch buttons rated for 10,000,000 uses
• Authentic arcade controls connect to your iPad via a standard 30 pin dock connector
• One and two player select buttons add authenticity and really work!
• Integrated 2.1 dolby speakers and subwoofer in cabinet
• Includes 10w USB power adapter
• Separate iCade app required to use the cabinet controllers available soon from the App Store
• Dimensions: 9″ wide x 10″ deep x 16″ high

• 

Via ThinkGeek

And I’ll be sure to be decked out in my best Jay-Bashing attire!  Closest tour-stop for Orlando folks is Atlanta, June 14!

A Night of Music, Comedy, Hugging, And the Occasional Awkward Silence.

Check out the rest of the tour dates here!

Via The Daily What

Making my annual trek to Seattle tomorrow. I’ll be away for around a week! Until then, here’s a bunch of great and funny t-shirt illustrations from Glenn Jones! I’d buy about 90 percent of these shirts!

SAYONARA!

Check out the entire collection here!