// This file is part of the materials accompanying the book // "The Elements of Computing Systems" by Nisan and Schocken, // MIT Press. Book site: www.idc.ac.il/tecs // File name: projects/01/Not.hdl /** * Not gate: out = not in */ CHIP Not { IN in; OUT out; PARTS: // Put your code here. Nand(a=in, b=in, out=out); }
So, now that I have a little down time in my life I have begun doing hobbies again. Last weekend I pimped my car a little by adding 3 usb charging ports to the dash and installing blue LEDs in the cupholders and center console. That is just phase one of my car project (I don't know how many phases there are). My next phase includes a microchip and an LCD display that will interface with a temperature sensor, a photocell, my ipod, and an NES controller. The development platform I am using is called Arduino. I just got the controller successfully sending play, pause, and skip commands to the ipod. The next challenging part is getting the track information from the ipod to the LCD. I hope I can figure it out.
I have been getting more and more interested in LED projects. I think they will be incredibly important and valuable to my career. Greg Purnell took a picture of one of my projects that I have stolen. I will try to take some video so you can all enjoy the effects it does. It is a 3d cube that goes through several effects. I didn't invent it, I made it from instructions I found at my favorite hobby site Instructables.com. I made some very minor modifications, nothing too significant.
Behind it is my phone headset that I have installed a bluetooth into, so i have a hand held hands free headset.
I am sitting in rehearsal for Galileo. It is amazing how much easier it is to get my own creative juices flowing when I see other people using theirs. I have spent all of today trying to spiritually and emotionally find myself in this show. Up to this point I have been too intellectually involved. I have been causing my own problems. Finding emotion in a piece is sometimes difficult. I do, however, feel incredibly blessed to have found a profession where making emotional and instinctual decisions is often the preferred method. This is what makes art so meaningful. It is not about reaching out to touch others, but reaching in and using what touches me. I can only make it of any value if I do it this way. If I reach to affect others I will miss. It seems to me that most people have experiences that relate to each other. Hopefully what affects me will touch others. I have had a lot of insight into myself over the last 2 weeks, much of it has been a trial by fire.
I am finding time to meet some new people. I have been participating in activities in the Providence, RI Stake. I live literally 2 miles from the boundary of the Hartford and Providence stakes (a big deal with stakes this big.) I have been meeting more lds members at UCONN.
It has been incredibly sad about the recent murder on campus here. It is the first instance of this on this campus ever. It is such a beautiful campus, surrounded by trees, and full of talented and powerful people. I am glad they have made charges in the crime, it puts the mind at rest.
I started watching Glee the other night. A couple of episodes in the students try to hire an evil choreographer. He is a short unattractive guy. I immediately recognized him as Whit Hertford, an acting graduate from the University of Utah. I worked on a show or two that he was in while I was at the U. It is crazy how small the world is getting.
It's been a long time. There is a lot I need to catch up on, but now it is late. I wanted to get started short with a couple of fun things. One is a video I made for a promo, not bad for my first video. It is for our school's next show.
www.youtube.com/CTRepertoryTheatre
The other is an awesome website. I think many of you will enjoy this one.
People of Walmart
Enjoy!
Hopefully more will come soon.
Today was possibly to toughest opening night I have ever been through. I was up the night before until 3 fixing focus notes and rewriting some cues. I woke up yesterday morning with a cold. I felt horrible. My head was so heavy I thought I would tip over. I couldn't sleep in, however, because my primary console stopped booting up the day before, so I needed to get on the phone early with tech support to work it out. I didn't want to run opening night without a backup console running. I did get the console fixed in the morning, the memory needed to be reseated. The rest of the day went hot and humid, and I got some last minute things done, but was for the most part ready to go. About an hour and a half before showtime a massive thunderstorm blows in out of nowhere. We were having a hard time tracking it because the internet we were on was proving to be very unreliable. Our best guess was that we would be able to do the show, if we started late. We had to drop part of the tarp covering front of house because the rain was blowing at an angle. When the worst of the storm had blown over we decided to get the show rolling. It was about 9pm. The pageant president, President Renouf, got up on the stage to start the introduction. I couldn't put the followspot operators in the towers because there was still lightning in the area. I had prerecorded some submasters with stage areas to cover for such a problem. I looked down at the fader wing to orient myself to the subs, but it was dead. I restarted the console, but nothing. Now I was a little stressed, the show was starting, and I couldn't cover for the spots. After trying a little percussive maintenance I decided to run to the truck and see if I could find a backup wing. I believed I had heard we had one. I found it and ran clumsily with an awkward box back to front of house. I didn't dare plug the new wing in while the console was on, I don't know how that would work, and I couldn't afford another dead wing. I shut the console off again, plugged in the wing, turned it on and crossed my fingers. I was pleased to find that the wing booted up and worked. I was just trying to buy time until I could get the spots up into their towers. The lightning persisted until about half way through the show. A while after the last strike the sky suddenly went calm, and it seemed clear that the storm was done for now. I sent the spots up and made it through the rest of the show successfully. By the time the show was over I was exhausted. I came home and stumbled to bed. Thank goodness I got to sleep in this morning.
Well, here's an interesting update...The reason we couldn't get the weather was because North Korea conveniently decided to attack government web sites this week. Thanks for adding to the fun...
I know it is a little late for this, but I just stumbled across this video of Hitler's anger at last year's football championship.
Yesterday I went to the retirement party for Peter Willardson who was my lighting advisor at the U. His training is the reason I got into UCONN, and any success I have in the future will be traced back to the interest he took in my career. It is a sad day that no future lighting designers will have Pete to train them. I am happy for him, he has been ready to retire for a long time. There is a hole in the entertainment industry that will never be filled.
So, I have been thinking about where I am, and have been awe struck at how fast time has gone. I am nearly done with my first semester. I have my classes one more time, a 10-page paper to write, a light lab project, a final, and one last mood board and concept. I can't believe it is so close. Thanksgiving break is very welcome. It has been a furious few months. I am also excited to come home for Christmas break. I really want to go skiing. I haven't gone in forever. If anyone wants to go please let me know.
Yesterday we had Al Crawford come to adjudicate the lighting for Jen's thesis show. He is the lighting director for the Alvin Ailey company. It is incredible to be out here meeting people that are doing what I want to do and have been very successful at it. It fills me with hope and fear all at the same time.
Tomorrow is the much anticipated "Holy War" I am going to paint my hair red in support of my alma mater. It has been a fun season and I am excited to watch the Utes win it this year.
I may be the projection designer for "Hair" next semester. That will be an exciting new challenge. Probably a large learning curve as well. I am registered to take a photoshop class, intro to grad studies, lighting systems, and projections next semester.
The only other thing worth note is that this week we went from T-shirt weather to freezing to death in one day. I am seeing ice form on some of the ponds. I guess winter decided to hit all at once. At least there isn't any snow yet.
I keep intending to take lots of pictures. I have taken some, but I don't feel that they are all worthwhile. 
The fall leaves are nearly done. I got a few pictures, but I think I was about 4 days too early for the really good stuff. I am amazed at the reds, yellows, and oranges that the trees can reproduce. It is so vibrant I think my driving has gotten a little...distracted. Good thing it is almost over.
This is the house I live in, there is a lake right across the street.
It is a really nice house. I got really lucky.
This is the bridge I drive over and the waterfall I see everyday on the way to school. I love the drive, it is fairly short, very scenic, and very little traffic. It is just a refreshing drive, a really nice way to start the day.
I am dating a beautiful girl named Sarah. We met several weeks ago at a singles FHE. She is way fun. I took her down to NYC for the first time. We went through the Metropolitan Museum of Art, walked around Central Park, saw the temple, watched the sun set over the statue of liberty from Battery Park, visited Times Square, and saw Grand Central Station. It was a fun time. My second time there. It was a lot better this time having someone to see the sights with.
I want to start by saying what I intended to say in the last post but think I forgot. I am absolutely amazed at how beautiful Connecticut is. Hartford is an amazing city scape, and all the country roads I have been on have filled me with awe and exhilaration. I just can't believe I am here (though that may change come winter). Campus is gorgeous, they are really interested in making this a great school.
I went and got sushi (sorry Aimee) with a few new found friends at school. The fortune in my cookie read, "Keep on keeping on." It struck me as odd at first as it seems like such an unoriental phrase. Though over the past few days it has come to be quite profound. Grad school is hard. I know that the challenges I am experiencing are exactly what I need. The reason it is so hard is because it is attacking all my weaknesses in the theatrical realm. It is demanding me to put a lot of effort into things I don't well understand. I am simultaneously anxious and scared beyond all reason. I am incredibly blessed with classmates who inspire me to work harder then my own motivation would expect. I am more productive in their presence and already feel a deep kinship here.
I love theatre. One of the most incredible parts is the people. I fit in here much better than I expected. It is an environment where one is expected to strive to be themselves. My beliefs have often been inquired into, but never attacked. I will spend the next few years with some of the greatest people in the world.
My time here has also been incredibly bitter-sweet. I am not around the people I am used. You are not there to buoy me up. I have open myself up to risk to get through my trials. I have been incredibly lonely for home at times. I have, over the last week, often felt a sense of insecurity that I have not experienced in years.
I appreciate knowing that this post will be read. I am grateful to be able to let my struggles out. Thank you.
Alright, here is my update, I thought I would keep you all in suspense. It has been a grueling little while, driving like a bajillion miles twice in one week. The few days I had at home were really fun and furious. Then the four day trip out to Connecticut was about as boring as driving across our country of corn fields can get. I arrived last Tuesday and was happy to discover that the room I had found on the internet was in a gorgeous house and has a giant walk in closet. I unpacked my full car worth of stuff and it still looks like I don't own very much. The landlord is great, he lives on the main floor and has a lot of plans for the house. I will have to take some pictures and post them so you can all be jealous.
On Wednesday I had to go to a TA orientation. I am not teaching so it was extremely boring. I slipped out less than half way through and made a clean break for it. I had a department orientation on Thursday. That one was way more relevant. I actually learned what was going on with my new life. It will be some decent work. I think I will survive. During that orientation I met the 3 other grad lighting designers and found out that one of them lives right across the street from me. They had a party that night and I made a late appearance. Friday was my bum around day. I took mom to the airport then just kind of bummed around. It was nice having her out here while I tried to get settled I would have been bored out of my mind, having not met anyone yet. On Saturday I got some little podiddly things done then went to a department party in one of the Staff member's homes. It was great to meet most of the department and just be crazy like theatre people usually are.
Sunday was exciting because it was my first day in my new ward. It is about a 25 minute drive to church. I am now in the Manchester Branch. It is funny because if I lived on campus or on the other side of it I would be in a different stake. I think I got the better deal because the Hartford Stake seems to do more activities. I counted about 75 people in sacrament meeting. I don't know why I expected it to be bigger. It is mostly families. Maybe a couple other people near my age. I got invited to dinner by a member of the bishopric. It was really nice because I had neglected to plan what I was going to eat that night, it probably would have ended up being cold cereal. I still haven't gone grocery shopping. My landlord is getting a new fridge tomorrow so I decided to hold off until that was all figured out. Yay for ramen.
Today was the first day of classes. They didn't start until one in the afternoon, but I had little things like laundry to keep me busy all morning. My class today was Theatre History. It is going to be great because we are studying the history from the context of the text of plays. I am going to have to read a lot of plays, but it will be a lot better than a history book. Then we had a tech planning meeting. They happen every monday and everyone just gets together to make sure the production process is going well.
I realized this evening that since arriving here I have had no idea which direction is which. I am constantly surprised at the direction I need to drive to go home. It always feels like i should be going off another way. Stupid cow paths. I can't keep my bearing because no road goes straight for more than a few hundred feet.
I live right by a lake, it is fun to look out at the fog hanging over it in the mornings.
I have my other two classes tomorrow (Tuesdays). I am pretty much in class from 9:30am until 5pm. It will be a long day. Not to mention parking is a pain, just like any other college campus. Maybe I will be there early enough tomorrow to get a decent spot.
Sorry no pictures this time, I will get some cool ones soon though.
