process work

an image collection of what i'm working on, interested in, or obsessing over.

I claim to be happy with unhappiness.

"But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin."

"In fact," said Mustapha Mond, "you're claiming the right to be unhappy."
"All right then," said the Savage defiantly, "I'm claiming the right to be unhappy."

"Not to mention the right to grow old and ugly and impotent; the right to have syphilis and cancer; the right to have too little to eat; the right to be lousy; the right to live in constant apprehension of what may happen tomorrow; the right to catch typhoid; the right to be tortured by unspeakable pains of every kind." There was a long silence.

"I claim them all," said the Savage at last.

Mustapha Mond shrugged his shoulders. "You're welcome," he said. 


Ahh, a brave new world it is. Classic, and what truths.

I like stir fry and I cannot lie!

           

Wouldn't do the tofu steak strips again, but everything else was good!

As I walk through fields of red, purple, orange and yellow

Dutch tulips

The fields of northern Holland explode into a colourful springtime display.Their dazzling colours are thanks to the years in the 17th century when Tulipmania swept the globe and the most eye-catching specimens changed hands for a small fortune.

via dailymail.co.uk

Tulips are a sure sign spring is here. And what a sight for sore eyes (i.e., those of us in Minnesota who are still seeing snow).

April Fools…?

It's a lil late, but I couldn't resist. They have these amazing fake belly bumps in maternity clothing stores, so I humored myself by trying one on. Turns out, it just made me sweat with nervousness. 

8 people, 8 hours, 1 amazing result.

Things look amazing. I couldn't be more pleased with the 'after' results of the installation of What the if… , which has transformed the space of McNeal Hall and will continue to do so until April 10, as students interact with the new palettes and surfaces (not shown here). Available Monday, March 30 11:45am-12:45? Come to the kick-off event! Otherwise, be sure to stop by McNeal sometime during the two-week installation, March 30 – April 10.


In case you can't tell, I have the best friends ever who all helped me make my vision a reality. You all rock.

Did someone say "beer pong?"

It might not meet regulation requirements, but it fit our needs perfectly. Ping pong balls courtesy of Walgreens ("No one buys these unless they're about to play beer pong!") and music courtesy Joss Stone and Kayne. Try it– you need less room than you think.

         

You can take your p-value and… illustrate it.

Data, without context or design, is useless for most people.

 

via poptech.com

Stats: love 'em or hate 'em, we live in a world full of 'em– and not knowing 'em can suffocate your intellectual conversations. But, beyond knowing statistics (after all 97% of them are incorrect), we need to understand what they mean. Thankfully, people who understand visual literacy also understand data literacy– people like FlowingData, for example. So next time you want to tout your fancy study or mind-blowing statistic, consider your illiterate audience, and break it down for them in a way that's meaningful and applicable. Now that's statistics 2.0.

A little Lucé goes a long way

It's time to reward myself for a productive night of thesising (yes, it's a verb), and some Fresh Veggie pizza and Greek Salad from Pizza Lucé is just what the future "doctor" ordered. A little Shiraz, Grey's Anatomy, and Office on the side, and we'll call it an excellent night.

Return to sender: Grooming time is over.

additional friends are not free. Primatologists call at least some of the things that happen on social networks grooming. In the wild, grooming is time-consuming and here computerisation certainly helps. But keeping track of who to groom—and why—demands quite a bit of mental computation.
via economist.com

Lately, I've been feeling the stress of 'grooming' my social networks, primarily because I don't have much time to waste in the black hole of Facebook or to schedule yet another social hour lunchtime. Part of it is related to other priorities in my life (teaching, freelance, thesis!), but in general I feel like I have too many peripheral friends that require incessant grooming. [Disclaimer: if you're reading this, you're not periphery]. Remember the good old days of getting a message on your answering machine and taking a few days (maybe even weeks) to return it? Time moved more slowly, expectations were lower, and people seemed to be much more forgiving. These days, if I don't respond to a Facebook message fast enough, I get an email from the same friend– perhaps even followed by a phone call and/or text message. These days I regret my social networks and want to remove all versions of my online self. It leaves me wondering: how much is too much? can I strike a balance? instead of an "Easy" button, can I click "Return to sender?" As our networks expand, will expectations become more realistic? Or are those of us who are ultra-connected hit a breaking point and return entirely to face-to-face networks? Maybe face-to-face is the new online. Now that I could groom.

True signs of spring...

What happens when the days start getting longer and the temperature hits almost 40 (39 F!)? Time to ditch the red wine and bust out the ginny t's! Smells like spring to me!