Lee.org

I tried to wind my way through “H&R Block at Home Free Edition” but gave up when it kept asking inappropriate (and unanswerable) questions about my business and hobby. And it kept pissing me off how it would ask questions in a wonky order (IE for the sale of stock, it first asks about the sale on one page, then when I bought the stock, then another detail about about the sale on a third page)

I tried Free Tax USA at random off the IRS website and I liked it a lot. I’ll definitely try it again next year.

Taxes done! And with an hour and a half to spare. No problem.

I’m part way through recovering from a hard drive crash. Last week my computer made the dreaded clicking noise. So I decided it was time to transfer my computer life over to a new hard drive.
Old: 180gb main drive, 500gb secondary, 250gb external
New: 1500gb main drive, screw-the-rest eh?

Spinrite told me there were like 3 unrecoverable errors on the old main drive.

My big question is: I have backups; how can I easily tell which files went bad and need recovering? I’ve got something like two hundred and fifty thousand files. (crap, I’ve got two hundred and fifty thousand files!). RAID-5 would automagically do it but Windows doesn’t support software RAID-5 and I don’t want to spend another $600 on drives and controllers. Other solutions?

I’ve got Windows and Outlook reinstalled. Next, the myriad support programs I rely on.

Sorry I haven’t been blogging, I’ve been doing.

Teaching Kinetics 9-12pm and 1-4pm takes a lot out of you, especially when there are always some challenging kids in the group. Those 2 weeks are done. There will be another round shortly!

Tutoring twice a week to a 3rd grader and 4th grader. Last week we played Flash Card battles, it was cool. I’d hold up multiplication flash cards in my fist and throw punches at him from across the room. When he answered them, I’d throw myself back across the room. Then we’d switch sides. Yes kids, math can be fun ;-)

Doing a fabrication project for a company team building project. They got 80% through designing and building it with my help. Now I’m doing the other 80% to finish up.

Doing another fabrication project for a person at the Crucible: making a 2 stage foot pedal for his glass working torch

I haven’t told many about this but I’m STILL trying to get the SWARM robots back from Techkriti in Kanpur India after 7 freaking weeks. The local shipper, Airlift Global has been dragging their feet the whole time. I’ve been calling several times per week for most of these 7 weeks. On Friday I escalated it by writing to the Dean of Student Affairs and the Techkriti Festival Chairman. That seems to have gotten them going but the next step is to call my local federal official, Nancy Pelosi.

I’m still working with a local machine shop, helping to get their computers working well, hunting down viruses, wrangling giant Hurco CNC mills, fixing internets and intranets, and VoIPing.

Been hunting down a few more people to teach at the Crucible. I got some very impressive people responding to my call!

I’m making the lesson plan for a computer controlled flame effects class that’s starting in 2 weeks!

I’m still trying to source products and get a web site for the T. Pen.

While Charlotte and I are very good friends, we’re not dating any more. I’ve been looking for a relationship. I’ve been using OKCupid and enjoying it.

Been recovering from a hard drive crash. I don’t -think- I lost any data. But seriously, how do you tell? I’ve got hundreds of gigs to protect. Considering RAID 5 in software on Win XP Pro.

Been working on Vivoliths with Marnia. There’s an art show in June that we’re going to have them set up for! They’ll chirp kinda like crickets, light up as if they’re bioluminescent and react to people’s presence.

Been working on a mechanical heart art project with Schuyler. It’s going to beat in response to your body heat when you hold it in your hands or against your chest.

Phew!

There’s gonna be a Neumann Prep Reunion June 26th. I might attend… haven’t made up my mind yet. For more details, get on the Neumann Prep Reunion Facebook Group

————————————————–

Wendy ParkerApril 5, 2010 at 5:52pm
Subject: Invite
Your Host: The Neumann Prepsters
Host’s Message: Seriously, this event is gonna be AWESOME.

We’re transforming the old gym into the hottest hot-spot ever.

Includes: 2 Full Open Bars, ’80s DJ, Hors d’oeuvres, Dinner, Desserts, Old Friends & Special Surprises!

COST:
$75 / person if paid before 5/20
$100 / person if paid before 6/20

Please see the EVENT WEB PAGE for info & payment details.
What: Neumann Prep “Junior Citizen Ring Dance” Reunion
Where: The School Formerly Known as Neumann Prep
970 Black Oak Ridge Road,
Wayne, NJ 07470-6306
When: June 26th, 2010, 8pm
More info:
Brought to you by the Class of ’90, this trip down memory lane is open to EVERYONE who ever went to Neumann Prep. We want to tear the roof off that mother. So break out your Dippity Doo and your Aqua Net and join us for a spectacular evening. It could very possibly be the best night of your life.

WHEN?
Saturday
June 26th
8pm – midnight
After-party at HoJo’s (or whatever it’s called now)

WHERE?
The School Formerly Known As Neumann Prep.
In the Old Gym.
But don’t let that scare you.
We’re turning it into the hottest club in Jersey.

WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO THERE?
With 2 full open bars, amazing appetizers, a smorgasbord to salivate over, delectable desserts, a stellar dance floor with an incredible DJ spinning all your 80’s faves, photo booths, old friends, lots of laughs, special guests and wild surprises… what AREN’T we going to do there? We’re gonna reclaim that school, by golly! Breakfast Club style.

PAYMENT INFO:
RSVP and Pre-Registration a MUST!
$75 per person if paid before May 20th
$100 per person if paid before June 20th
No paying at the door… sorry.

TO PAY BY CHECK, make it payable to:
Wendy Parker Events / Memo: Neumann Reunion Payment
1226 South Crescent Heights Blvd.
LA, CA 90035

TO PAY BY CREDIT CARD, go to:

(link) http://www.facebook.com/l/14e94;www.wendyparkerevents.com

Click on the “Buy Now” button.

This will take you to the paypal page and you can either:
1. enter in your paypal login info
2. Click on “continue” if you want to pay via credit card
Please follow the instructions to process your payment.
All credit cards are accepted.

If you have any questions, email us at neumannreunion@gmail.com

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO FORWARD THIS INVITATION to any of your classmates that weren’t included on the guest list.

It’s Easter so I called lots of family. My dad asked me if I went to church. Of course I said “no.” I asked him back and he said…

“I went to church today. I couldn’t tell if the priest was a pedophile or  embezzler.”

Hahah!

Of course we then discussed the plight of the church, how the present scandal was nothing new and how the vows of chastity had been manufacturing pedophiles for centuries.

Last week I taught a week long session of both “Youth Extreme Gizmos” and “Youth Radical Robots” at the Crucible. They’re for 8-11 year olds and 12-17 year olds. Next week I’m doing another session.:-)

Yesterday I played lasertag with Marc Hertlein at Ziggy’s SF Lasertag. It was great fun!

After, I went over to Mark Alexander’s where we  throughly enjoyed dinner, sake, music and the best of times. I now need to enrich my sake and Cornelius collection!

Went to the Switchboard Music Festival last weekend. Super fun!
My favorites include:

Strike Gently, Kate Campbell and Regina Schaffer playing solo piano pieces

Teslim – not entirely my style of music but they can really play!

Sabbaticus Rex – with their animus connections to their musical instruments.

Zoe Keating – She’s becoming one of my musical heros. :-)

Billygoat – They played this awesome psychedelic set with accompanying visuals :-)

It was just 2 blocks away at Dance Mission Theater which was super-nice. And I got to chat with (a pregnant!) Zoe Keating for a few minutes about music and licensing for a few minutes which was terrific.

————————————————–

Here’s snippets from the Switchboard press kit

Teslim means both ‘commit’ and ‘surrender’ in Turkish and features two well known Bay Area
musicians: violinist Kaila Flexer and Gari Hegedus on oud, Turkish saz, Greek lauoto and other
(mostly plucked) stringed instruments. This potent duo performs Greek, Turkish and Sephardic
music. In addition, both Flexer and Hegedus are composers whose original music is based on
these fertile traditions. This unusual duo is at home in classical, early music, and folk music
venues and holds workshops on a variety of topics.

Sabbaticus Rex is an ensemble rooted in the supremacy of sound over music, the triumph of
tone over time and thought. This process uses haunting and beautiful acoustic instruments and
methods: overtone gongs, shakuhachi (bamboo Zen flutes), Taimu (bass) shakuhachi, and throatsinging.
This is sound, but not music. It is primordial easy-listening for dinosaurs: slowly shifting
elemental dialogues between fat flutes and big gongs.

David Klein and Nick Woolley formed the musical/visual duo of Billygoat, producing stopanimated
films and performing their live, original scores. These films have been described as
“stop-motion shorts of staggering complexity,” created one tiny movement at a time via tens of
thousands of individual photographs of an ever-morphing art piece.