"There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how valuable it is, nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you... Keep the channel open."
--Martha Graham
"To achieve something truly great, you need two things: a plan and not quite enough time."
--Leonard Bernstein
If you ever find yourself with a chance to do something meaningful, worthwhile, or just plain cool, do it right then and there. It took me a while to figure it out, but I learned it in time to teach astronomy and work at one of the world's leading astrophysical institutions. Pretty cool, huh? I moved to Silicon Valley as the web revolution was in full swing and found myself involved with lots of other cool stuff. Got to geek out on the first portable MP3 players, build developer software for the Palm Pilot, work (and play) on a site for independent musicians called Riffage.com (RIP), and build Robert Mondavi Wineries' first web application to store and cross-reference all their wines. If you've ever gone to their web site and searched for wine by type, appellation, or anything else you've used the database I built. How awesome is that? I also became involved in Save Our Shores, an organization formed in the 1970s to fight offshore drilling (they won) and now working to help preserve and maintain the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary.
At the moment I am designing web applications for Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. There's a big push to give doctors and patients access to all the information they need (securely) over the web. For three years in a row, our referring physicians portal has won national awards. Yay! Now we're working on a system for the national organ donor database and another system for patients and their families.
I've been helping out with the Computer History Museum and built an exhibit to show at this year's Vintage Computer Festival. It went something like this...
I also ran my first marathon this June in San Diego, with Team In Training. Which is a great group, and so incredibly worth doing.
Rock N Roll Marathon 2007..
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Of course, running a marathon is no small task, but if Homer can do it, you can too!
Homer Runs a Marathon
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