What did I learn? Everyone knows what peas look like (whether they’re blurry or not), focus exclusively on the sandwich. It’s dumb to focus up the middle. Also, plastic wrapped store bread looks like plastic wrapped store bread. Yep. All the time. Lastly, I didn’t go for much style, but the proportions on the plate would be nicer if the tomatoes had more mass and the plate was larger. Failure is good!

I came from a very Swedish/Norwegian/German community in Northern Minnesota. Diversity up there is usually shown in the varietals of sauerkraut, but that doesn’t change the fact that I felt deeply about Martin Luther King Jr.’s life  and how he changed the face of this world through the support of fellow civil rights activists. In my recollection of 7-year-old me, the good people of the world were listed chronologically as follows: Jesus, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr. That’s how it went for all the years I was in school, and I’ll never shake that list now.

Every time I look back at his final speech I imagine an impossible conversation. I imagine a dark room where a figure sits with Dr. King hours before his final address (below). The figure tells him in hushed tones what’s about to happen. And I imagine Dr. King saying “Well, thanks for sharing, Friend, but I’ve got to be at the Mason Temple in a few hours. Have a safe trip back to wherever you came from.”

I would give a lot to be able to meet Dr. King today, but I realize he’d be 83 and wouldn’t have much time for me. I hope his family enjoys remembering him on this day as much as I do, and I hope they’re as proud as possible to know that without him our world would be a much emptier place. Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Honestly, I’ve found that I’m already forgetting more about the past than I care to admit. People, places, experiences and conversations seem to slip by more and more every year. At this point my brain is so filled with technical gobbledigook that it’s a wonder anything else sticks. So when I look at the tradition now it seems like an amazing way to capture just a small slice of each year. Everyone is so focused on the new year that no one seems to bother putting the entire last year in perspective, or comparing your experiences to those of previous years.

I strongly encourage you to try these questions out for yourself. Be honest, be thoughtful, and be clear in your responses. If you feel bold enough to post them in a comment or on your own blog, I encourage you to do so. Otherwise, please email me if you’d like to share your answers with someone else. Until then, I hope you enjoy a snapshot of my year.

The most beautiful place I saw this year :

I walked out on a dock on the end of Tilghman Island, in Black Walnut Cove, absolutely beautiful.

Black Walnut Cove Dock

Something I was glad I did but hope to never have to do again this year:

Sometime in November I started working at 9am on Thursday and worked until 5pm. Then I went home, talked to a friend, had dinner and started coding at 9pm. When I finished up around 5am, I decided that sleeping was a bad idea. I took the first bus in to work from 7am to 4pm before coming home and worked another hour or so. The final tally was around 25 hours without sleeping. I was surprised how easy it was to do, but it wrecked me. I’m proud and stupid, and I won’t do it again.

The person I most enjoyed meeting* :

I met a couple of COMPLETE nerds at a barcraft event. They made me feel like Mitt Romney, no joke. They were some of the nicest people I’ve met in DC and hope to see them again someday. I think I’ll try to do more of those kinds of mixers this year. The subject matter is lost on me, but it’s nice to create new nodes in “the network” (i.e. work people get boring too).

The day I would most like to repeat from this year* :

In early November, I took my first “complete day off” in about 15 months. It was just a Friday, but it was pure bliss for me. I finally separated myself from work to have some fun and enjoy the city. I think the fact that I “spent a day” on myself was the most magical part of it. I could have done the exact same thing on the next day…walked the same route, ate the same food and carried the same camera bag. But it wouldn’t have been as good or as sweet or as easy of a burden.

Someone I would like to get to know better in the new year* :

This is the year that a good friend’s little girl starts to really talk it up. I’m so excited to meet her in words, having visited her in the hospital for the first time two thanksgivings ago for the first time. They’re a good family with lots of love and lots of joy, and I’m ecstatic to learn more about how their daughter has learned from them.

The thing that I got better at during this year :

Making curry! Specifically, my chickpea and tomato-based curry. I’ve been trying for some time to eat less meat, and it worked better and better over time. In fact, I’ve got some chickpeas soaking as we speak. You’ve got to use the garam masala in great quantity!

The thing I would most like to accomplish in the new year:

I would like to build a project up in my spare time. It could be anything from a piece of inventive-but-useless software to an organization.

The thing I am proud to have accomplished this year is*:

I survived an earthquake and a hurricane! Contrary to popular belief, the earthquake on the east coast was quite “disturbing” (you’ll pardon my dry sense of humor). The fact that I came through a flooded apartment with my wits about me and without much outside support (save for the support of the carpeted floor of a generous friend). Of course, much credit goes to my wonderful friends who laid out a large net beneath me in case I did fall. Something from a past life, it seems, has continuously blessed me with some of the finest friends that money can’t buy.

Something new I would like to try in the new year is:

I always think extreme with this question. I think I’d like to ride in a hot air balloon. I saw Stephen Fry do it, maybe I’ll follow in his footsteps? Fall in nearby Appalachia looks to be gorgeous.

The Scripture verse/passage that meant the most to me this year was:

Proverbs 17:1 Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it,
Than a house full of feasting with strife.

A place I would like to visit in the new year is:

The northeast. I’ve been on the east coast and a mere train ride away from the greatest metropolis in the United States, and a few more hours from a place I’ve always idealized as perfection incarnate. I would love to travel the rails to Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Vermont and Maine. I have enough vacation to do it, the finances to support it, just no final motivator. Maybe I should start planning for after my “new job”.

My favorite outing/trip/visit was to:

I went to the Eastern Shore with a friend of mine. It was a great day of fun and driving. I’d gladly go again.

I most enjoyed watching the following change this year*:

I think that 2011 was a great year for normalization for me. I moved into my second place on the east coast, and shed a lot of garbage that I still had from college days. My hobbies started to drift from intense wastelands of too much sunlight to a mild biosphere of mixed interests. Photography came back, music became a quieter but more ubiquitous backdrop, and cooking is now a regular activity full of diversity and fun. I became the most socially active of any year in my life, I started attending a huge number of concerts and events relative to any previous year, and my sphere of friends swelled significantly. I began reading again after a far, far too long hiatus. I think it was 6 years since my last non-academic pleasure read, and this year I went through about 25-30 books. I don’t think “I changed”, but I think my circumstances allowed me to let natural urges find a home instead of forcing one objective or another. Definitely a good change.

One thing I wish I could change this new year:

This year I discussed the idea of volunteer work with a few friends. We talked about collaborating on a technical project for a non-profit, but have been unable to find the time to get the kick-off that we need. I hope that this year affords us the opportunity to follow through on a good idea in order to help a local group. I’m always looking for people to help me make that a reality.

A special prayer answered this year:

I was really seeking out some validation of the quality of work that I had been contributing on the job. At the end of the year I received my first performance review and it was better than I could have imagined. I’m very grateful to be in a job that I can do well with people that help me to do well.

My favorite special event this year:

I absolutely enjoyed the Cloud Cult concert at Black Cat in DC. I went with some of my favorite people in the world, the music was fantastic, and I got this great painting. How awesome is that?! I really couldn’t have asked for more.

My favorite holiday memory this year:

When I arrived in Phoenix my father met me at baggage claim, and I gave him a huge hug. My brother was waiting in the car, and when I loaded my bag up I gave him a hug so immense that I lifted him off the ground and made the fellow arrivals guffaw at our silly display. I hadn’t seen either of them in over 14 months. As we drove back to my parents house in Phoenix it took us 10 minutes to start each other laughing so hard that I was crying. That was my favorite holiday memory.

Someone I missed seeing this year:

I had a very good friend for many many years of my life. I was very sad when 2011 ended with nothing more than an awkward 2-minute conversation on the phone that contained all the warmth of a metal bench. I’ve tried to communicate several times, but I haven’t had any luck. I miss him very much, and it will be sad if 2012 ends the same way that 2011 has.

Someone I hope I can visit this new year*:

I would love to visit my friends in southern Wisconsin. It’s been over 3 years since I saw them, and I’ve yet to meet their young son.

The scariest thing that happened to me this year:

I received a phone call early in the morning from a friend of mine who was panicked. He had gotten caught in a bad situation (after a carefully orchestrated series of normal decisions), and was too wound up for me to be able to calm him down. I spent the next few hours trying to figure out how to help him. The situation was resolved by mid-morning without any problems at all; it couldn’t have been a better learning experience. But I remember waking up groggy and immediately hitting 160 BPM when I heard his voice.

My favorite possession of this year:

Just before Thanksgiving I picked up a new camera and have had no end of fun with it. I crossed the 10k photo mark on my Christmas vacation.

My most satisfying accomplishment this year*:

Granted, I think it’s the easiest instrument in the world, I’m very glad to have taught myself the penny whistle. I play frequently now and enjoy coming up with new tunes or finding old ones. I’m no master, but I can kick out campfire songs like nobody’s business.

Something new I learned realized about Faith :

I learned that I’m worried when people believe that conversion can happen, and indeed must happen to avoid despair, but don’t care about their fellow man enough to share this fact with all they meet, out of love and concern.  I learned that those who hate it so much that they lash out at their fellow man are not to be trusted, and those who love it so much that they forget about their fellow man frighten me more than anything.

I experienced personal joy when I remember:

I really experienced joy sitting on the national mall and watching people take pictures of each other in front of the capitol and the monument. It’s a beautiful place to go and sit and watch a carefree world spin around you. If you haven’t done it then come to DC and let me be your footman.

The hardest thing to let go of this year:

I’d like to preface this with my favorite quote from Neil Gaiman’s stories: “You get what everybody gets – you get a lifetime”

This year I lost a colleague at work. We weren’t best friends, he was many years my senior, but we talked. I advised him on some of his projects, and he provided me much more advice on my career and future. He was a kind man, and a good man. He treated me with respect and dignity just like anyone else in his life, and he died before his time. I know it’s not a good way to feel; I know it’s selfish. But I’ll still miss him.

I really felt at peace when I:

I spent one afternoon sitting on my parent’s patio with the Phoenix sun on my face and music in my ears…without a care in the world. I should like to say there are few times I have felt so truly at peace. Perhaps rivaled only by the times when the weather was just right and I’d open windows on both corners of the room and lay in bed with music on. It’s the simple pleasures in life like a warm sun or a cool breeze that really relax me.

The most embarassing moment of this year was when I*:

I hosted a party at my place last year just before I left for the new spot. Lamentably, I was not the most gracious host toward the end of the evening. Let us just say that there are very few times where the spirit of the evening overwhelms my senses, and in this case my best friends caught my fall rather graciously, if I don’t mind saying.

I am really looking forward to :

I’ve got an interesting opportunity to exchange with another company this year. If all goes well it will be one of the most challenging and informative experiences I’ve had yet.

Something I tried for the first time this year:

This year was the year I sold my vehicle (beloved Jack, a 1998 Honda Civic). Instead of replacing it, I opted for a car-free lifestyle (pun-intended). I have lived for 5 months without a vehicle and haven’t looked back.

I hope I get to do this again this year:

One of my favorite joys has been a very good relationship with my two dearest friends in the world. I hope that this year yields many opportunities to dine, talk, and experience the world together. They are a truly wonderful part of my life, and I’m so glad to have gotten to know them and to learn from them. That is my highest hope for the new year.

Something I have been working on but don’t expect to complete this year:

Personal health goals have been on my “in progress list” for a while. My occupation doesn’t exactly sponsor healthy living, so I’ve been trying to eat healthier and choosing hobbies that will get me more active on a regular basis (photography is a great example, I’ve hoofed around 50 miles this year to take pictures).

If I could name the year just passed, I would name it the “Year of the _____________”:

Big Waffle.

Just one more time I would like to:

Have lunch with Scott and Aaron and Andrew. Did it happen last year? It must have! Three work colleagues (one who has moved on) whose passion for their craft invigorates my soul.

In the new year, my wish for you:

My wish for you is that you live outside the spectrum of “alright” to “pretty good”. I’ve discovered that I have a passion for trying things that will definitely fall outside of that space, and I hope to continue to do that.  It’s better to experience “terrible” or “bad” a half dozen times if it means having 1 or 2 “fantastic”s or “earthshattering”s.

The last item that I forgot to mention is that the list can grow. Can you think of a question you’d like to add to this list? I can!

If I built a timeline for the year, it would contain these events:

February – A school friend joins me at work

March – Moved into new flat

April – Eric comes for a visit in the season of the Cherry Blossom

Mid April – The roommate comes to join me!

May – Cloud Cult + Painting  = Joy

August – Earthquake!

September – Refugee returns home

November – CAMERA  + Day Off  = Ecstasy

December – Family in Phoenix means Frolicking Fun in the Florescent faded fauna. Fail fickle, Fenrir!

Yesterday, while walking around DC we decided to stop in and see what was happening with OccupyDC at Freedom Plaza. We thought the place was dead until we wandered around the tents to find an “assembly”. It was sort of like watching an interpretive form of Lord of the Flies: a bunch of children trying to figure out how to structure a government to just stay afloat.

Notably, one extremely, extremely drunk man approached me and asked if I wanted my picture taken with my camera. I ignored him, shot a few more and slowly moved away. Much to my amusement, the same man grabbed the microphone (see photos) and mumbled until members of the audience flashed the /\ sign.

The group was fairly harmless, and seemed to already be bogged down in the bureaucracy of making sure everyone has an equal voice. I’d like to go back and observe again. All I got out of this visit was further confirmation that these are just a bunch of hippies out of their own decade who don’t really have anything to protest about except that their persistent personification of “alternative” prevents them from ever getting a job outside of record and drug paraphernalia shops. I’m not bitter; I’m just not cool enough to sleep in a tent.

Blue Yeti, big....isn't it?

I just got the Blue Yeti Microphone, and after two hours of playing around I already love it. It’s a solid piece of equipment (4 lbs, I think), no hassle install woes, and great sound out of the box. I had a fan running in the room the whole time with almost no carry over. It’ll be fun to try to push it to its limits. For now, it’s a couple of spins with the penny whistle and Skype conversations.

I like to use Frere Jacques as a test case. See what it sounds like on my Logitech Pro 9000.

Flutes Frere Jacques Take 1 by raymondberg

Now on the Blue Yeti.

Flutes Frere Jacques Take 2 by raymondberg

Keep in mind that calling me a trained professional is like calling Michelle Bachmann a viable presidential candidate. I try hard, but it’s really laughable by those with any sense at all. In that same vein, I’m having a blast pretending to know what I’m doing. I’m not comfortable uploading my lack of singing talent to the interwebs, but it’s been interesting to see what I can make in 20 minutes or so. I really need to get back to some music theory to create some fun little experiments.

The biggest problem with the Blue Yeti + Blue Pop [Filter] is a common one among internet users. However, all of their innovative, costly, or dangerous solutions seem to be way harder than something I came up with in about 4 minutes.

MacGyver is an amateur

Yes, that’s styrofoam. The grip is solid; I can pick up the Yeti at a 45-degree angle from that clamp. I wouldn’t carry it through the desert like that, but it’s a fantastic desktop solution. The best part is where I got the styrofoam from*:

*knife not included

Lets start with the definition, which I believe hits the core of my disagreement. It seems that accuracy gets lost in reducing the cloud offering to “multiple computers act as one“. I’d much prefer that the community agrees to “cloud computing means (1)accessing/consuming/manipulating data on (2)any device (3)regardless of origin“. And I can provide examples of these interactions:

(1)I access my email through Gmail, I consume films from Netflix, and I make changes to documents in Google Docs.
(2) I do all of these things from my Android phone as I ride to work on the train for mobility. I do all of these things from either of my two personal laptops or my work pc (except Netflix) if I’m on the road or in the office. I do all of these things from my 8-Core, 3 Monitor home computer to get high-speed and simultaneous processing. I consume data on my Roku (connected to my TV).
(3)I can create a document and type an outline on my phone, when I get home I finish typing each of the devices. When I start watching an episode of Star Trek TNG on my PC and have to jump on the train to see friends I just open Netflix on my way out of the door and resume playing the same episode right where Q left off.

I think his statment about computation power costing more is extremely dubious: “This will drive down cost of PCs, yes, but also put even more trust into the cloud—and most likely raise the price of computers with actual CPU power such as a quad core 3.0 GHz computer as demand will go down.” This assumes that entire swaths of the CPU market is content to slow their inventive nature in favor of ‘churning out’ CPUs with minor improvements. It also assumes that server-side CPU developments will not impact costs to the end user. The market can centralize CPU processing, but that doesn’t reduce peak-performance requirements as processing is still taking place. I would even hypothesize that centralization drives computing requirements UP as server owners will be looking for any efficiencies they can find to reduce server footprint and compute costs during computation cycles that surpass.

I completely agree with the assessment that processing and bandwidth should be considered like natural resources just like electricity. I argue that such pricing has been grossly absent from the entire discussion, just look at the fact that American consumer pays for “bandwidth” instead of “throughput”. Even though I hate to say it, the wireless market is on the right track…just with the wrong pricing models in mind. They view 1GB of data as a fixed price when the reality is far more like the electricity delivery model: peak usage translates to peak pricing. If I’m trying to download a video in the evenings, during peak hours, it should cost more and I (and the service provider) should make decisions based on hard figures.  Fixed lines (e.g. FIOS) have high up-front costs and limited channel sharing so consumers get truly dedicated lines, but we all dump into the same “distribution system”, to borrow a power term. Unfortunately, the similarities only go so-far as throughput isn’t something you can save up like electricity to be expended by another consumer. Regardless, we need to decide what we’re selling to users.

Now, your guess is as good as mine about why he starts freaking out about not having MS Kinect hooked to traffic lights or computers in refridgerators. But the question about why we need everything connected to te cloud is easy: because machine-to-machine management is hard. The average end user doesn’t want to have to understand client-server architectures, install UPSs in their homes for server PCs and reset devices to get them to resync. They also don’t want to debug misconfigurations, diagnose problems, or defend the contents of their refridgerator against cyber attacks from the server they forgot to power cycle after the last Microsoft patch.

But back to the core idea of trade off’s, it’s important to remember that a technology user is balancing three costs:

• [re]education – How do I do this again? I’ve never heard of that before!
• time – After I brush my teeth, it’s going to take me 5 minutes to hook my device to my PC and find the album I wanted to download before I hop on the bus.
• stress – The service is down?! Do I have to reset the server in the basement? Am I going to miss that call with Jane tonight because of some problem with MY stuff?
• money – Derived from the North American ‘evilroot’

The fact is that cloud offerings (right now), offer about as close to an “on-off” switch as you can get for education, 6 second buffering times for Netflix on 3G, no system maintenence stress, and for a price that’s well below most of the traditional service offerings (often free, once you assume connectivity). Now, you can claim that connectivity has to factor into the pricing, which I’m okay with. I personally pay $70 a month for connectivity ($30 cell data + $40 home internet). Add $17 for media and now I’m streaming years of content (video and music), communicating on every social network and through commercial channels for $97 dollars per month.

You can argue that those 6 seconds of buffering and $30 dollars per month would be justified by having to sync all my devices at home on my PC before I leave for work, but the time to download ALL of my media plus not having the ability to choose on the fly means I’m not ever going that way. And neither are the data providers: it’s simply TOO HARD to manage DRM in a distributed computing system. So if I don’t want to move and they don’t want to move…why resist?

EDIT – Update AUG 25 7:30 (Taken from conversation with GM)

EDIT – Update AUG 27 5:30 PM

EDIT – Update SEP 2 6:30 PM

1. [2:23:55 AM]  You’re beautiful. You’re beautiful to me.
2. [2:24:13 AM]  Sometimes I just want to be the wind beneath your wings.
3. [2:24:27 AM]  I want to fly away, yeah yeah, with you.
4. [2:24:55 AM]  Do you know the difference between Love and Hate? Love is a Battlefield. Hate is a boxing match.
5. [2:26:01 AM]  Sometimes the best thing about dreaming, is living without consequences. Other times it’s having 8 clones of Mr. Roper building pinewood derby cars in your den.
6. [2:26:15 AM]  If sex were a rocket, it’d be pretty awesome.
7. [2:26:37 AM]  If Mr. Ed were a talking anteater, the TV show wouldn’t have made as much money.
8. [2:27:25 AM] Sometimes I wonder if James Earl Jones really did make his own Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches. I also wonder why he was floating through space. Who knows?
9. [2:27:54 AM]  Do you think poetry is as beautiful as visual art? I think it’s at least as attractive as a sculpture, especially in the dark.
10. [2:28:28 AM]  Sometimes, I think the world starts spinning backwards just to mess with our clocks.
11. [2:29:09 AM]  In 36 A.D., there was a guy with red hair named Pete. He died of rubella. It sucked to be Pete in 36 A.D.
12. [2:29:37 AM]  Potatos are gods gift to the starch deprived.
13. [2:30:19 AM]  One time, at band camp, I played in the key of Eb instead of Bb. Most people didn’t notice, but the chairs started vibrating.
14. [2:30:33 AM]  Pickles are not a fruit.
15. [2:31:08 AM]  E Pluribus Unum. Out of many, only one or two will like the game of Uno. Everyone else wants to play Skipbo. Screw those people.
16. [2:32:11 AM]  When I want to eat fish, I go to a mongerer. When I want to speak slower, I go to a blonderer.
17. [2:33:18 AM]  Maybe pickels really *are* a fruit. Nobody ever told me they couldn’t. I’m worried that I may have a prejudice against brined veggies. Don’t tell McCarthy.
18. [2:34:02 AM]  Sometimes I mix up el with le. I just wanted to say something. I know, I know, to littel to eatl.
19. [2:34:21 AM]  Have you ever wondered where pancakes come from? Me neither.
20. [2:35:34 AM]  I worry that my dreams are getting erratic and psychadelic. I mean, I’m okay with it, it’s just the rest of the audience that I’m worried about.
21. [2:36:17 AM]  Thirteen years ago, I bought a mango from a sailor. Twelve years ago he died. Can I still return the mango?

Have a happy week, remember to laugh.

For those who don’t know, I have a Google Chat Badge on my home page. It goes largely unused, but occasionally I get a fun gem.

Guest has joined.
Raymond: Greetings
Guest: Hallo
Spreekt u Nederlands?
Raymond: No, I am sorry.
English only
Un poquito espanol
Guest: Ok. I was looking for a Dutch Raymond Berg. Thank you anyway.
Raymond:
I’m happy to help
Good luck on your search.
Guest: Have a nice day!
Thank you
Raymond: You too!
Guest: bye
Raymond: Goodbye.
Guest has left.

The song “Human” by the Killers has an amazing set of lyrics that you have to hear:

I did my best to notice
When the call came down the line
Up to the platform of surrender
I was brought but I was kind

And sometimes I get nervous
When I see an open door
Close your eyes, clear your heart
Cut the cord

Are we human or are we dancer?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I’m on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human or are we dancer?

This is hands-down one of the most nonsensical and beautiful line of lyric I’ve heard in pop music lately. I don’t listen to the Killers very much, but the songs that I hear turn out to be some of the most evocative things I can pick up over radio waves. It took me 2 years (2005 and 2006, for those playing along at home) to be able to listen to “Mr. Brightside” without becoming deeply saddened.

If you, like me, enjoy living outside of the time-space continuum, check it out:

That said, I wish it wasn’t repeated 30 times in the song. When I heard the lyric the first time, I thought “Sweet Baby Moses! Genius lyrics these guys are slinging. This song is blowing my mi-ohhhhh wait, recapitulated already—-in the chorus????—–every chorus????……” I’d call them musical gods if they just let the words swell and die in that third stanza.