Category Archives: Personal

I’m a big fan of Anthony Bourdain. From his breakout book Kitchen Confidential to his fantastic Travel Channel show No Reservations, I don’t know of anyone doing better experiential non-fiction writing right now. Because of my own trip to Asia in 2005, I’ve always been able to appreciate and relate to his traveling, and just how eye opening it can be to immerse yourself in another culture. Unfortunately though, I’ve never really had a good point of reference for Bourdain’s gastronomic adventures. That is, until last night.

I was inspired this week by the 10 Geeky Things to Be Thankful For post over on Wired.com’s GeekDad to do a post of my own this Turkey Day. 2010 has been a crazy great year for me. So much has happened and while it hasn’t all been awesome, it’s certainly left me grateful.

About six weeks ago, I got an amazing offer from someone I really admire. Gabe Bridger — Creative Director, podcaster and blogger — invited me to come onboard as the editor of his well known MINI news blog, MotoringFile.com. I now handle the day-to-day curation and creation of content for the site, and I’m beginning to coordinate other contributors as well. Gabe needs the help as he’s extremely busy rockin’ the ad world full time and and being an automotive journalist part time.

June 24, 2010 — Last year I started a simple tradition: to take my birthday off from work and try to have some sort of adventure. Last year, I used the day to build a small trebuchet. This year, I took my first ever motorcycle day trip on my 1980 Honda CB650. At just 140 miles round trip, my ride wasn’t more than an afternoon’s jaunt, but what I experienced in that afternoon has cemented motorcycle riding into my life in a really profound way.

This week my wife and I attended w00tstock 2.3 here in Minneapolis. This show was staged by Paul and Storm, Wil Wheaton, and Adam Savage as part of a limited tour of nerdy goodness. It’s a difficult show to describe. One part music, one part spoken word, one part local flavor, 100 parts nerd. Aside from the brilliant core team for w00tstock, they try to include local nerds for the particular local show their doing. For Minneapolis, special guests included Ukulele virtuoso nerd Molly Lewis; MST3K alums Trace Beaulieu, Bill Corbet, and Kevin Murphey; and even Neil Gaiman made a brief appearance. The three-ish hour show turned out to be more like five hours, but it was worth every moment. In retrospect, getting to w00tstock was as much of a journey as the event itself.

I’ve got quite a few big things going on right now, but I’m pausing here to say thank you to everybody who reads me around the web, especially here on my blog. Thank you!

About 15 years ago, my dad built a 1/6th scale radio controlled flying model of Charles Lindbergh’s iconic Ryan NYP, better known as The Spirit of St. Louis. In the two years he spent constructing his 91″ replica, dad extensively researched Lindbergh’s life and seminal, 1927 New York-to-Paris flight. This research showed in the meticulous detail of his plane. Every detail is represented in immaculate miniature — from Lindbergh’s uncomfortable wicker seat, to each and every one of his instrument panel gauges, to a tiny working version of his side periscope complete with mirrors. Dad’s research gave him enough expertise that he could see un-captioned photos of the plane and know when and usually where they were taken. He even uncovered inaccuracies in some of the written accounts. However, one detail escaped him: the golden nose.

The week of Christmas, 2007, I learned an essential truth about myself. I am born with invention and discovery in my pedigree. I was sitting in my parents’ new house holding a small, silver alarm clock pitted with little dents and patina. Picture the stereotypical alarm clock — round face, stubby little peg feet, big bells on top with a clapper in between them and a little lever for bypassing the clockwork to both silence and reset the alarm. Nothing remarkable about that, right? You can still find them for about $15 at Target. What makes that little clock remarkable is that according to my dad, it’s the first one of its kind.

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