May 23, 2006

A Nice Evening Out

Wow, where did I go after dinner tonight? First, I went down to the gallery (Duke's Diggs) and visited my receptionist to find out who'd been in the gallery today. Then, I stopped into a latex clothing contest at a bar in a seedy part of town and played some roulette (I'm attracted to the roulette table). Then, I visited Clown Town and rode the Teacups and sat for a cup of coffee on the pier with some strangers. One of the strangers mentioned an art walk along the private island, Muse Island, so I headed there to visit it. It turned out that they had open spots for artists, so I found the proprietor and arranged two of my pieces in their gallery on the island, setting them for sale.
Afterwards, I visited Cecilia's, a bar on the island, and listened to a folk artist, Russell Eponym, for the first time. He's an artist originally from the UK, and has a very calming style. You should catch his work.
I did this all in Second Life (www.secondlife.com). Didn't have to leave the house once and didn't need a babysitter at all. And the night's still young. The teacups didn't make me hurl (but did make me dizzy) and I could control the bar's speaker volume quite nicely from my front row table. As the music streamed in from across the world, I was amazed at the possibilities available. I have played SL for only a few weeks now, but some folks are doing amazing things with it.

May 10, 2006

Business Bankruptcy Attorneys Pietzman, Weg & Kempinsky LLP

My brother is a partner at a law firm in California, Pietzman, Weg & Kempinsky LLP. From their web site "The firm provides clients representation in chapter 11 bankruptcies, out-of-court restructurings, and business litigation matters." He works hard, much harder than I do, and for it, he is well paid, just as any lawyer can expect to be paid well. They just re-did their web site and put it up on the web, and he called and mentioned the site. I told him that I'd take a look at CSS-ifying it, making it look nice in multiple resolutions and stuff like that. I wish I had more time to work on stuff like that, but I'm currently working on stuff for work that's just as interesting, and more beneficial to my career...

It's a shame that there isn't enough time to do all the favors you want to do for everyone. It just feels different when you're doing something as a 'favor' or a 'hobby' instead of for 'work'. Perhaps when I have enough money, I can retire and work on projects for fun, without the stress of my performance actually affecting my life. That's right, work needs to be more like a video game, where if you screw up a project, you can just push the RESET button and start over.

May 08, 2006

Ack! Help! Another Time Sink!

Found another time sink - ugh. I stayed up until 1 AM last night at a casino. No, not a real casino, but an online simulation of a casino. I was playing as my avatar, Duke Scarborough, in Second Life. The folks at Second Life have given 3D virtual worlds some oomph with their client/server. Of course, the world isn't without its problems, of course. Lag is a problem with large population concentrated in any one area (like a casino running hundreds of simulated slot and video poker machines). But the experience when the lag lets up is amazing. With streaming music and sounds, lighting features, and well-programmed machines and a good casino design, it felt a lot like Vegas. In fact, in some respects it felt even better than Vegas, since there's some things you just can't do reasonably in real life, like particle effects that pop out of the machines when you get a Flush or better in Video Poker.

I spoke with several people in the casino, all of whom had the best things to say about the operator. But after speaking with the operator, he expressed that he didn't want to be featured in my blog. If you log into Second Life, though, I am sure that you'll find this great casino in due time.

It was a much better experience than losing myself in front of the television for a few hours. Log onto Second Life and look me up (Duke Scarborough). I think you'll enjoy the simulation.