UW Design Show 2010

If you're in Seattle, stop on by, if not, fly up here and then stop on by!

The new superpower?

My wife and I drove home to see my family in Nebraska for this last Christmas from Seattle. I've called the Pacific Northwest my home now for eight years and our population certainly considers itself forward thinking when it comes to minimizing our impact upon the planet. They also generally, and I STRESS generally (cuz we actually have a lot of cornhuskers living up here who share my perspective) consider the midwest to be backwards when it comes to energy consciousness and environmental concern. Here in Seattle we generate most of our electricity from hydroelectric power which, though it may cut the heads off a few salmon, is generally a "green" technology. I am designing an electric car at the moment and love being able to squash the "electricity comes from coal so its just as bad as combustion engines" argument by stating the source of our power.

After my trip I started thinking that wind power could become to the Midwest what hydroelectric is to the Northwest. During our trip I noted that as I moved further east from the coast there was an exponential increase in the amount of wind turbines along the way. Wyoming was definitely the hot spot. I must say that even as a native heartlander I was impressed with the progressive stance these folks had taken on energy independence.

If pure tree-hugging sentiment isn't enough for those in the midwest to adopt green energy solutions then perhaps economically it would make sense. I recently stumbled upon this map below:

As you can see, my homeland promises to become what the middle east is to fossil fuel once widespread wind energy technology is feasible... Notice the potential of Nebraska, and North and South Dakota for that matter, even when compared to the "windy city" to the east... Once we stop paying farmers government subsidies to destroy their surplus crops we can use that acreage to harvest something that could truly benefit our whole country. A great deal of those corn crops we produce are just made into high-fructose corn syrup that contributes to our national obesity epidemic anyhow...

That's my piece, clean energy NOW!

My little girl...

She's reawakened an interest in poetry for me...

I love her.

Before the natal waterslide Immersed you in the pool of birth, 

I dreamed your pageant on this earth As cherub, tomboy, scholar, bride.  

My heart's your plaything, woman child, Your windup toy, your music box - 

For of its massive, steel-bolt locks The combinations have you dialed.

Got a minute?

We launched our senior capstone project a week ago and I have decided to use this year's Michelin Challenge as the foundation for my project. The challenge is to design a vehicle for the year 2021. I am going to be focusing on small commuter vehicles because I think they will dramatically increase in popularity over the next decade. RIght now I am in the research phase, collecting data and observations. As part of that, I have designed a survey that deals with people's impressions of microcars. If you have ten minutes to spare, please help me out by taking the survey, I will reward you handsomely with my undying respect and adoration! You know you want it... click the link below.

TAKE MY SURVEY

Prosthetics project makes Seattle Times

Sketchcercise

More practice, this is using a style called "canson." Chrome is tough, but this was a really fun exercise...

A breakthrough?

Between some of the help Ahn has been giving me in class and some sweet online tutorials at idsketching.com I have been working toward a new technique of sketching. It is a much more loose, emotional and dynamic style, important for an industrial designer. It is also much less focused on the details and mechanics of the object in question. I have been plagued by this need to make super detailed drawings that make sense mechanically and from a manufacturing standpoint but have lacked a certain shimmer, if you know what I mean. This drawing is the first of the new style. It is for our upcoming mousetrap car competition. I still have a long way to go, but it is so different from what I've done in the past that I felt I had to share it with the interwebs.

A guiding quote

Rachel and I did some exploring up near the Canadian border this weekend. We visited an amazing museum in Bellingham called Mindport that focuses on interactive art and exhibits ($2 entry fee, if you're there, it is a must see). On one of the walls of the museum I found a framed piece of 8.5 x 11 with the following written in an unassuming 12 point italic:

"The first enslaving illusion is the idea that people are born to be consumers and that they can attain any of their goals by purchasing goods and services."

"What people do or make but will not or cannot put up for sale is as immeasurable and as invaluable for the economy as the oxygen they breathe."

Ivan Illich

Toward a History of Needs

Prosthetic Arm Final Model

The quarter is drawing to a close and last night I finished the final prototype for my prosthetic arm design. I am quite happy with how it turned out. As soon as I finish a process book to help explain the usage and features a little bit I think it will be my finest piece of design yet.

Transhumanist art project

I am counting down the days until Rachel and I depart for Omaha, I am so excited to go on an adventure with my wife and to see my family for xmas. In the meantime, however, there is still much work to be done by thursday. Tonight I finished my experimental art project for my DXARTS class. Besides this blog, which really doesn't count, it is the first complete website I have ever built. Click on the photo below to check it out!

Prosthetic Arm Project rough model

After nearly a month of sketching, researching, sketching, researching, I am finally on to the model building phase. It is going well, the picture below is the first iteration of my prosthetic arm concept...

Scary Monster

Things I'm doing besides ignoring my blog....

I have been learning Rhino 3D, a program designers use to create digital models of their ideas. These are just some fun exercises I have done in the last few weeks to get used to the tools:

Freaks...

I rode the bus today for the first time in a couple months....

Oh, how I've missed you freaky people...

Though, to you I am likely the freaky guy on the bus....

Henry Doorly Zoo

A resident gorilla at the Lied Jungle....

Letterpress

So, after the Astoria trip (and a sleepless week of school stuff), we met up with the Oregon crowd again this last weekend for some more adventure. Joanne's old business partner, Ed, has a printing shop at his house including an antique letterpress that we have decided to use for our wedding invites. It took something that I would really not care much about, as long as everybody knew where and when to be at the wedding, and transformed it into a really exciting and meaningful experience for me. We spent pretty much all day saturday setting type (mmmmm....Garamond) and are closing in on our final designs now.... I'm shopping for paper tomorrow..... I love shopping for paper..... We also attended Uncle George's 70th birthday party smackdown that night, it was a big crowd and tons of fun. Fran and George had a tremendous amount of food ready for everyone, as usual. I always eat so much over there that I have a favorite napping spot in their house for after meals coma. 

Click the image below for the photo album of last weekend....

Astoria Trip

OK, a little catching up to do, my patience is telling me that these are stories best told photographically, so it's a good thing I've taken a TON of pictures recently. Two weeks ago, Rachel, myself, Seaton, Joanne, Lisa and Rebecca all took a trip together down to Astoria, Oregon, just across the Columbia from where Rach and I are getting married this summer. We saw some sights, relaxed a bit, handled some wedding business, found the best place for B.M.s (bloody marys that is), tried some local breweries and ate dinner at the restaraunt we are going to have cater the wedding (It was so damn good). Click on the map below to go to the photo album:

Soy Vay!

I try to change little things about the way I eat every month or so. I don't go crazy I just pick one thing to try to cut out of my diet that is poisonous, toxic, disgusting or otherwise bad for me and then try my best to at least be aware of when I am ingesting it. It has led to some very positive changes in my lifestyle and I change so gradually that I barely miss some of the things I used to eat everyday. For example, my naturopath told me I was allergic to bananas. I used to eat bananas EVERY DAY! Turns out that they may have been contributing to some of the health issues I've had, so I stopped eating them, or rather, started generally avoiding them. Another thing that I have tried my best to cut out of my life is HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, it sure is difficult thought, that crap is everywhere!!! It is in things you would never even think of like ketchup, dry cereal, worcestershire sauce, yogurt and most recently I found it in the Kikkoman teriyaki sauce I have always bought! WOW, what the crap?!? So, the whole point of this post is to introduce my new favorite sauce, Rach and I have totally fallen in love with this stuff... I think we have had it the last two nights on our chicken, it is thick, chunky, and much more robust than regular teriyaki and best of all, NO HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP!!! It does have a little more sugar per serving, but it's the good stuff and this sauce is so flavorful, you end up using less of it anyway. No preservatives, no poison, tons of flavor, all natural and if you haven't gathered from the name of the company, it's kosher!  Seriously, pick up a bottle of this stuff and just drink a big glassful. I can't wait to marinate some chicken overnight in it with some pineapple chunks and fire up the barbeque grill on the first sunny day we have up here (it snowed last night). OK, well that's enough product placement for now, but you know I wouldn't rant and rave about something like this if it didn't truly melt my undies....

Design Program in Rome

Tonight is probably the last time the participants of the Design Program in Rome 2008 will all have the chance to be together... The UW faculty club is hosting an exhibition of our photography and tonight is the reception for the show. On the announcement below, my photograph is the black and white "hotel" one...