Personal

I’ve long had a thing for paper. I always carry around a notebook and pen, just in case I want to write something down. One thing I’ve noticed about my notebooks is their wear pattern. The more you use a notebook the more the corners begin to dull, the more creases in the pages. This wear increases the attractiveness of the notebook. I feel that this translates to most paper products. Generally speaking, the more wear a piece of paper has the more treasured it is. For this reason post cards are valuable. Not just the image, but the process of being through the male provides the wear. What you receive on the other end is a valuable piece of paper with an image and a note from a friend. ...

A week ago Sunday one of mentors passed away. Oliver Ludwig was my friend, teacher, mentor, brother, and advisor. He passed away after a three year long battle with cancer, and in true Doc fashion, kept it from most of us while he fought it. Only in his passing were we made aware of his condition. I met Dr. Ludwig in sophomore year at Villanova, I was in his chemistry class. He had a unique way of teaching the class. Most teachers make you memorize stupid minutia in order to pass their tests. Doc (as he was affectionately known) had a different belief. All his tests and quizzes were open note and open book. His approach was practical. He wanted his students to learn and I felt he was quite effective. Most of the chemistry he taught me was review from my AP class, but there were some things that left a lasting impression. ...

Dear Smugmug, I’m a user of your service, and while I’m very happy with the services provided, I started following the status update page and am a little concerned. Do you really need to have a regularly scheduled maintenance window where you can bring down your entire site? I understand that you are dealing with large quantities of data, but do sites like Google or Apple ever fully come down an regularly scheduled time? Do you not have redundancies? How safe are the images I store with you? ...

Taken by Aaron Meyers:

I took one picture in this video (if that), and they were nice enough to mention my name in the credits. Honestly, I was just happy to be a part of the event. I’m against hate and especially against religious persecution. This was an amazing experience, and while this video captures some of the magic, it doesn’t do it complete justice. The sheer number of people present on that little lawn was amazing. It was so hard to move around. There were so many people for the rally and maybe 10 for the WBC.