Category: Uncategorized

I’ve updated the layout of this site- I’ve made the home page of the site static, and I’ve moved the Blog portion to the left side menu.

I’ve been updating my status blog for three months now, every day. Honestly, I’m not sure how much longer I’ll continue to do that.

I’m itching for a couple of larger building projects for the studio. The full-sized rack mount, a turntable stand (with aux gear) on casters, some large format art storage, and one or two other smaller bits. It’s so close, and I’d just like to get this phase sorted all the way.

There’s a long-term project I’m spending some time prepping for, too- travel with the family. That means a bunch of gear, so I’ll be busy designing/building/testing some of that in the coming months.

I’m not entirely sure what to say, still. Regardless:

• New bike frame has been ordered, shipped, and has come. Headset gets pressed in tomorrow, then a build (and maybe a ride. maybe). Pics when it’s together. I’ll say it’s steel, uses 26″ wheels, has a rear disc brake mount, and more “modern” geometry than the previous ride (which is a bit of a joke, it seems to me. But that’s a longer post).
• New(ish) logo on this page- in the left menu, as well as in the title bar. Not 100% yet on it, but no reason to let perfect get in the way of progress.
• I’ve started thinking about a new shoulder bag. Some of my jackets don’t really want to work properly with my backpack (anything with structured shoulders, really…), and so a shoulder bag is in the mix. I’d be pretty ok with one of these, I suspect- well, every aspect other than the price tag. So: drafting plans here. Could be a while, though. Tends to be how it goes.
• I think I’m ready to really dive into a re-design of a trench coat I picked up. It’s a lovely thing, but it’s build as an over coat, and the layers it was built to wear over are significantly bulkier than anything I’m going to be wearing under it. And it needs some other work, too, so that’s a thing.

New(ish)

• 20mm to 15mm x 110mm front axel conversions for bicycle front wheels
• Remaking a small shoulder bag to replace my existing (NF-P-126 spec)
• Graphic Design Accessibility Standards (hints, anyone?)
• Small tool organization
• Movable vice mounting (casters are a terrible option)
• 650b bike rims with an internal width of 38mm and welded seams
• I’ve begun a shoe re-sole, but I need to build up a midsole somewhat before I continue

So- it’s time. The newsletter is back.
I sent out a smaller edition of it last week, and that was fine. But it was short, and I’m hoping this week will be the first full-sized edition in a few weeks [edit: nope! still a small one…]. To that end, if you’ve not subscribed, you probably should (the sign up form is over on the left side of this page). I’ve realized that by volume, the vast majority of my writing is *actually* in my newsletters. Sure, they’re composed of a few links a week, but I try to offer some commentary as well as some context for my choices. Remember, what I’m trying to offer is a steady stream of useful and inspiring material that you might not have stumbled on yourself.
Anyway.
If you’ve been following here, you know that I’m “in between” computers at the moment. As a result, I’ve been writing and working on an iPad as my “primary” device- though, I suppose, if you were to do the math by calculating hours of screen time, my iPhone would be my “primary.” Whatever. The iPad I’ve been using used to be in heavy rotation by my kids, but they recently got upgraded devices, so me, not being someone who lets something go to waste, decided to see if I could make use of their old devices. I’m writing this now on an iPad. Not an iPad2, not an iPad Air, an iPad. The first one. OG.
Honestly? Not bad. I’d rather browse the web via my phone anyway, so that’s not much of a hangup. And I’d rather play games or consume media elsewhere, too- so that’s not much of an issue. Indeed, what I use this for is writing and drawing (and, I suppose, to a lesser degree for reading…). I just picked up a docking keyboard (the original Apple deal- which has a much nicer keyboard action that it has any right to…) for something like $6 on eBay. It’s a wickedly nice setup, now- it looks nice where it lives (which is weirdly the kitchen counter), it comes apart easily, and it’s a decent sized screen for me to write on. I managed to research, write, edit, do the graphic work, and send the newsletter entirely from this here ancient device. Not too shabby, eh? And this keyboard? No joke, this thing here. Great key action, lovely dedicated buttons to lock/unlock/home/play/volume/etc, and (this might be the best part) Tab actually works to move from text field to text field on the web. That’s key (sorry).
So. Where to next?
Obviously, my ancient device system isn’t workable for all my projects- I like the iPad on the counter in the kitchen, but it won’t do for heavy lifting tasks (In my world, that’d be photo management and editing, video editing and management, IoT development, and other administrative tasks). Clearly, then, a new computer is in the works. Likely an iMac, likely 27″, likely Retina. Speaking of IoT, that’s further to the front of my mind than ever. I have a garage project in the works for that, and the list of things I’d like to do keeps growing faster than I can manage, so plenty left on that front. Also, a slew of crafting projects (mostly in front of a sewing machine), and some looming house projects (getting the library up and running, for example). Plenty to keep busy.

Oh my. Never a dull moment with this (mostly because I’m never really satisfied). Current:

• iPhone 5s 16bg Space Grey in a Magpul case
• Ikea Kullar Vacuum flask
• CORTIÇA mug
• Custom CP3 Ti ring
• Croton 1878 (on a silicone deployment band)
• Friday & River wallet
• Uniball Signo Micro 206 (0.38 black)
• Retrakt Aluminum (G2 0.5 Black refill)
• Field Notes Dark As Night x2
• Leuchtturm1917 (standard size, dot grid)
• Canonet QL17 Giii (this thing seems pretty sweet- though the meter isn’t working [yet] and I’ve just redone the light seals, so…)
• Kershaw/Emerson CQC
• Custom Bag (NF-P-815)

It’s been a month, and I’ve changed a few things around and whatnot.

Current carry is:

• iPhone 5s 16gb Verizon Space Grey
• Kershaw Chilli
• Croton 1878 (on a silicone deployment band)
• Custom CP3 Titanium Ring
• Friday & River wallet
• Uniball Signo Micro 206 (0.38 black)
• Retrakt Aluminum (G2 0.5 Black refill)
• Field Notes Red Blooded (x2)
• Leuchtturm1917 (standard size, dot grid)
• Nikon 8008s w/ Konica Hexanon 40mm f1.8 lens (via Fotodiox adapter)
• HumanGear GoTubb (medium, x2)
• Custom Bag (NF-P-126)

In case you’ve ever wanted more places to find me (and the stuff I like, produce, or pontificate…), I thought I’d put together a list. In general, I work under the name nothingfuture– but here’s as complete a list as I can currently come up with:

• twitter
• ello
• G+
• tumblr
• flickr
• youtube
• vimeo
• instagram
• pinterest
• soundcloud

Some of these aren’t in high use (pinterest, G+, ello) some are mostly for consumption (vimeo, soundcloud), and the rest are for producing/posting/sharing/ranting (twitter, tumblr, flickr, youtube). Even there, flickr is mostly for storage & content mining, if I’m honest. There are other, abandoned & orphaned accounts out here (foursquare, I’m looking at you…), but they’re as good as dead to me (and I only keep them open to maintain control of the username).

Of the active accounts, here’s what I use them for:

twitter

This is where my day-to-day comments go, though there’s always been a pretty heavy educational slant to my postings there. I’m not as active as I once was (which wouldn’t take much), but it’s still a place I check often. I use the API to do a bunch of archiving here as well- it’s a great research tool as well.

instagram

This is a favorite of mine- though I’ve been experimenting with it of late. I used to use it to share the quick shots of my life, but lately I’ve been taking a higher-quality view of what I post there (ironic, given the wildly poor quality of the media). All my content there is original to me- no reposts, no fluff, no filler.

tumblr

I’ve had one of these for a long time now- years. I’d mostly ignored it for a while, but recently I’ve been investing more time in it, and the more time I spend with the platform, the more I like it. Like, a lot. In fact, if someone was talking to me about wanting to start an online platform for themselves, I’d recommend tumblr before most other options. It’s very, very good. My instagram posts are cross posted here, but most of what goes here is not content created by me- I mine other platforms for content that speaks to me, and it gets queued here. This blog gets auto-posted 8 times a day, between 7am EST and 8pm EST. All I do is keep the queue full of good content. Also, tumblr is an amazing content consumption platform- it’s a self-contained RSS reader for other tumblr blogs.

youtube

I’ve had a number of projects in video over the last million years- and youtube is the place (right now, anyway) to post that stuff. I like the compression on vimeo better (uploaded videos literally look nicer there), but youtube has the audience and the infrastructure of google behind it, so there you go. My instagram videos are posted here in all their non-cropped less compressed 14 second glory. Longer work makes it’s home here.

In case you have a morbid curiosity of what setting/apps/workflow I’m using on my iPhone in my current series of instagram videos, let me break it down like a fraction:

1. Shoot the video in FilmicPro. I leave it wedged in 720p/60 frames per second with an automatic output of 30 frames per second. This also drops audio, which I am totally ok with.
2. Load the clips into iMovie and edit. Add the title text (or a splash screen…) and import a soundtrack. Export the whole mess back to the photo roll at full resolution.
3. Grab the edit in Chromic and color grade. I know there are filters in Instagram and iMovie but I like these better- and they offer a bit more control, I think. Push it back to the photo roll.
4. Bring the now edited and graded clip into Instagram. Make sure you pick a decent splash screen. Double color grade if you’re feeling frisky. Tag that thing, too.
5. Get no views regardless.

Done. Some of the new Sony cameras have a neat wifi based proxy recording function where you can send your footage straight to your phone- my Nikon won’t do that (hrmph!) so iPhone it is. It’d be pretty neat to be able to shoot on the serious camera and still edit/grade/upload on the go. Maybe I need to buy a Sony?

An example from today: