In honor of their 10th birthday, Google has allowed you to step back in time and use its search engine as it appeared in January 2001. MikeDiDonato.com doesn’t exist nor does any reference to September 11th or Facebook.
Whenever I’m wheeling a cart around the grocery store or the shop floor at work I am hard pressed not to kick off, jump on, and ride that cart for a few meters.
As Mike D’s geography & maps correspondent, I’m here to tell you that this weekend is National Orienteering Day! Get maps, explore the woods, and find checkpoints! Less than $10! Woo!
And since I know that most of you are in the CT/MA area, here are the two events nearest you! (I can look up other National Orienteering Day events by request, too.)
Jeff and I met in the lobby of the Guadalajara Holiday Inn Select this morning before our trip to the customer’s site. It’s the rainy season here so the streets are flooded from torrential rains in the morning, but the weather seems to clear out as the day progresses. come the evening, the sun shines brightly and the temperature remains steady at a comfortable 80. As expected, this morning greeted us with violent rain.
I went up to the front desk.
“Buenos dias, Necesitamos un taxi” I said hesitantly
The woman behind the desk, immediately responded in a flurry of Spanish of which I caught “lluvia” and “cinco minutos”
“bueno bueno. gracias.” I said as I followed her pointed finger towards the side of the building. I assumed she meant that there would be a taxi here in about 5 minutes.
As I walked outside, it no longer mattered. Jeff had hailed a cab. And the driver was wearing a sombrero.
It wasn’t just the sombrero that was awesome. His seat covers had pictures of bottles of tequila, a small set of rosary beads hung from his mirror, and the radio hummed quiet Spanish trios. It was the quintessential Mexican taxi cab. The man followed our directions well (”uhhhh… la proxima derecha? comprende?”) and we reached our destination.
Most of the day was uneventful. Some critical equipment was stuck in customs… so we spent the day waiting. Lunch time, however, was fantastic. We had authentic comida mexicana: beans, rice, and meat served with fresh tortillas. It was perfect!
We got back to the hotel reasonably early… grabbed a bite to eat and wandered the streets of Guadalajara. This city is pretty great. It’s reasonably clean, very colorful, and friendly. Last time Jeff was here, he and some co-workers went to an Aerosmith concert. I’m going to check the schedules for tomorrow. If we do get out of work early hopefully we’ll be able to have some fun.
I had a great conversation with one of the locals here. He had spent some time in Chicago and California and we spoke of the United States.
“The United States is a good place to earn money,” he said, “but living there takes something from you. Here in Mexico, I am free. If I want to go hunting in the hills, I can go hunting in the hills. I don’t need a license or special permits. I can do what I please and go where I please.”
It was an interesting perspective. The U.S. is all about the idea of freedom, but this gentleman’s first complaint was that the U.S. kept him down. He felt that there were too many rules to follow and the rules restricted freedom enough that he had no real desire to go back.
“I don’t think I can leave my family like this though,” he added, “I have four kids. Three daughters:16, 14, and 3. and one son, 6. I’d like to go north and earn some money to help them, but at the same time I need to be here. My youngest daughter is [sweet]. She runs up to me when I get home from work and shouts ‘pappi pappi!’ and kisses my cheek. I don’t think I could my family right now even to earn more money to help them.”
The conversation then switched to Visas.
“I want to get a Visa for Vacation to the States but it’s very hard. When I was in the United States before, I was there illegally. On the forms they ask where you’ve lived for the last 10 years. I was in the U.S. in 2000. I can’t lie. So I’ll tell them I was in the U.S. They may turn me down. I hope they let my daughters in. Some of my brothers and sisters are in the United States and I’d like my daughters to be able to see what it’s like there.”
I greatly enjoy chatting with foreigners about the U.S. It’s interesting to learn what the country looks like from the outside in.
Last week Schenk challenged me to an MSPaint vs. Photoshop match. The goal was to draw a ping pong paddle. I went into great detail of my methods here. In response, Ryan decided to make up a little how to that explains his methods for creating a Photoshop masterpiece.
Without further ado…. How do draw a ping pong paddle in 9 easy steps!
Step 1. Drawing in perspective is entirely too hard. So do begin with, draw the shape of a ping pong paddle head-on, it’s much easier this way. Note that this is a shape layer, I will be using shape layers exclusively in this tutorial.
Step 2. Once you’ve created the outline of the paddle, duplicate the layer twice, and adjust these duplicated shapes accordingly to create the rubber surface of the paddle and the handle. You can see that once I got the shape right, I made the rubber red and the handle a lighter shade of brown.
Step 3. I always need a little help with perspective, so I drew a rectangle shape layer, and used the Perspective transform tool (Edit-> Transform -> Perspective) to create a plane that the paddle will eventually be resting on.
Step 4. Select all your paddle layers (this only works in PS CS2 and above), and using the rotate tool (Edit -> Transform -> Rotate), rotate your paddle counter-clockwise.
Step 5. Using the Perspective or Free Transform tool, put your paddle into the perspective of the plane you drew in Step 3.
Step 6. I’ve resized the paddle a little smaller, the size that I want my icon to be, and I chopped off some of the handle that got elongated by the Perspective transform tool.
Step 7. To give the illusion of depth, I duplicated the Blade layer, made it darker brown, and offset it below and to the left the original blade. I also tweaked the Handle layer a little bit to create an overlapping effect over the rubber.
Step 8. This is where all the magic happens, and why I like to use shape layers, because you can mess with the effects endlessly. You can see I’ve added a drop shadow to the layer created in Step 7, a gradient and faint white highlight to the Rubber layer, and a gradient and embossing to the Handle layer.
Step 9. To finish things up and complete the illusion of a 3d object, I drew a light brown ellipse on the end of the handle, a dark brown rectangle through it for the blade of the paddle, and a dark brown arc where the handle tapers down to the rubber. And that’s a wrap.
Other than having to wake up at 3:30am, the trip south was pretty straight forward. I flew to Atlanta for the Guadalajara connection. The food on the trip over the border was delicious… there was this brownie that had Oreo chunks in it. Oreo chunks in a brownie. Pure Genius.
Once I arrived I took a taxi over to the holiday inn, which is very nice. There’s some funky art on the wall and the colors make the room feel light and calming.
Guadalajara is loaded with advertising billboards. They are everywhere. Most appear to be advertising clothes with pictures of spathic women and comments about ‘la ropa de las estrellas.’
The weather is warm, but not as bad as CT this morning where walking to the car felt like wading through waist deep water. The people are friendly and the taxi driver said tomorrow there would be lluvia.
I’ll take some pictures and post them up tomorrow night.
currently eating: two donuts. — what is going on?!??!
On Monday I will be flying out to Guadalajara.
This will be my first trip to Mexico. I will be flying Monday, working Tuesday and Wednesday, and leaving Thursday. Hopefully I’ll be able to whip through the workload on Tuesday so I can explore the beautiful Mexican countryside on Wednesday.
Apparently it’s pretty warm down there right now… what with it being August… and Mexico.
At some point in the past 4 months something changed inside Mike D. Today I won’t be going to the gym. This morning I had coffee for breakfast. Last night I went out for ice cream. I put cheese on my egg sandwich earlier this week.
I don’t like these trends.
At some point in the past 4 months something changed inside Mike D. Today I won’t be going to the gym. This morning I had coffee for breakfast. Last night I went out for ice cream. I put cheese on my egg sandwich earlier this week.
Today MikeDiDonato.com turns three years old. It’s kind of strange thinking that three years of my life (11%!!) is documented here. Thanks to everybody who has read and participated. This website has been really fun. On average, I probably spend about 30-45 minutes a day on this thing. That’s a total of something like 500-600 hours of effort over the past three years.
That’s a lot of time but there are distinct benefits to having a website. Financially, this website got me a free furnace service package, a tea steeping thing, roller derby tickets, 20 dollars off my Kitchen Aid Mixer, the opportunity to buy Jocelyn’s car, kiteboarding lessons from Schenk, and endless amounts of free advice. It costs 10 bucks a month to run… which is a lot less than some people spend on coffee.
I’ve met a whole crowd of new exciting people through the site: UK Roland, Aaron, Jes Saint, Molly, Patrick, UUIG, Zoe, and J2.
I’ve had great e-mail correspondence with some folks in India and Australia, and even received a comment from a distant relative who sent me this sweet photo of my mom when she was two.
Major page accomplishments over the last three years:
#1 on Google searches for Mike D.
#4 on searches for Britney Gallivan - if you ARE Britney Gallivan… send us an e-mail at MikeDiDonato AT gmail DOT com You’re a mikedidonato.com hero!
We broke the 300 unique readers mark on Tuesday - yay!
Interesting page facts:
The most common way random people find this site is from image searches for “cupcake” (thank you Roland) and web searches for “spelt vs. spelled”.
Presently, I get more referrals from the CT Roller Girls than from any other single website. Second place goes to www.jonabad.com
My website is not banned in China.
Shaun McQuaid really does know everything and JonAbad really did invent the pommel horse.
There are currently 1,698 posts and 9,731 comments.
The post with the most comments is wish corruption.
If you have any favorite posts from the past, throw a link up in the comments.
Wow it’s been awhile since we did one of these. Congratulations go out to Liz and Patrick for successfully guessing the last skyline and satellite image. The skyline was Providence, the satellite image was Hong Kong.
Ruth: mike D, do you have a clean desk or messy desk
i guess clean Mike D.: you guessed… poorly. Ruth: haha! guess me! Mike D:
You’re desk is small. It’s metal… with worn corners from frequent impacts with book carts.
there’s a pencil holder and a place for paperclips
sometimes, when it’s too warm you take your shoes off under the desk
the front is solid… so the desk keeps your secret well
there are papers strewn about, but not haphazardly.
someone placed them there with intent.
the items though, those are a bit more random
the ruler always seems to be in a different spot
there’s a small circular stain on the left from where a cup was placed
but it’s been there since you arrived and is more part of the desk than anything else
thin strips of white out splatter are on the right side
the computer monitor is not at all a flat screen
it’s that computer tan color. there’s dust on top, but you don’t notice it really.
there are three piles of books
you tried to stack them according to size.. with the largest at the bottom.
but recently you had an extra book that needed to be put down and didn’t feel like putting it in the middle
so the pile on the right looks off balance
you have a rolodex but you have no idea who all the people are inside it
there’s no desk lamp. you rely more on the overhead lights from the library
it’s quiet here….
too quiet. sometimes you tap your foot against he metal frame of the desk.
you’re doing that right now.
DONE!
how’d I do?
Ruth: it’s not very accurate, but amusing me: ha ha ha
did I get anything right? Ruth: I do have three stacks of books me: YES!
Leave your name and your job title in the comments. I will make a prediction as to what your desk looks like.
On Sunday, the crowds gathered once again at the Waterbury RollerMagic rink for a taste of Roller Derby. The Iron Angels (0-2) would be taking on the Widowmakers (2-0) in a bout that truly lived up to its hype.
I had been looking forward to this one for awhile. The Angels were coming back from a bout break and the Widowmakers were returning from a brutal slaying of the Elm City Bone Crushers back in June. The last time these two teams met the Widowmakers took the victory. Could they repeat the win?
After a quick and always entertaining demo explaining the sport, the whistles blared and the girls got skating.
Iron Angels Pearl Jammer, Tina Colada, and Pam Terror started the bout switching off as Jammers. Their speed was devastating! Within the first 4 minutes the Iron angels had pulled off numerous 4 and 5 point rounds. But the Widowmaker Jammers Barbie Q and Pepper Grind-Her were answering each point run with one of their own.
It wasn’t long before the action dropped its first skater. The Angel’s assistant captain Dead End Allie took a violent spill on the near side of the ring. After struggling for a moment she tried to get up but her ankle buckled and she fell back to the ground. Even as the EMT’s ran across the ring to assist her, Dead End Allie, showing unmatched dedication, tried unsuccessfully to get up yet again, wincing in pain all the while.
She left the ring on crutches.
The Widowmaker defense wasn’t fooling around. Revengela, Ruby Wreckingball, and Slick Shoes were hitting hard.
And then there’s Black Cherry.
Perhaps she is the most feared by Iron Angel Fans. There were a number of rounds where Black Cherry, as pivot, skated furiously in front matching her speed to that of the oncoming jammer… then she’d unexpectedly drop her shoulder and swing violently into her opponent. On more than one occasion she sent the Angel’s jammer careening out of the ring a good 10 or 15 feet… the crowd (including her mom in this sweet t-shirt) rewarded her with deafening cheers.
The match remained close through the second period and into the third. Soon, there were ten minutes left and the Widowmakers trailed by 9 points. A lead for the Angels to be sure, but hardly a comfortable one. The Widowmakers suffered a short setback when Eleanor Bruisevelt fell after getting a roller skate in her back… though she didn’t stay down for long. After two or three rounds of rest she was right back out there beating back Iron Angels.
As time ticked away the roller girls began to get a bit more vicious. Check out this video of Widowmakers and Angels exchanging blows:
Soon, there were only 45 seconds left on the clock. The Widowmakers were trailing by 15 points… and Pepper Grind-Her was sent out as the Widowmaker Jammer. The bout got started and she got in front… Angel defense was doing everything in their power to keep her back… but she slipped through.. again and again.
The points started racking up… and up… and up… All eyes were on the clock as it ticked the final seconds away.
The final count? Pepper Grind-Her brought in 10 points for the Widowmakers… An extremely impressive run but just shy of what was needed. Final score?
Widowmakers 75, Iron Angels 80.
The Iron Angels Won!
Queen’s WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS exploded from the speakers, the crowd erupted in cheers, and the Iron Angels piled in a heap of skates and skirts celebrating victory.
While I may still be an inexperienced Roller Derby fan, I think it’s safe to say that Sunday’s skating was the best I’ve seen. To witness Violet Riot pull slick maneuvers to escape a crushing blow from the likes of Miz Con SepJen and to see Black Cherry’s intensity first hand… it’s exhilarating and like no other sport out there.
The next match is Sunday Sept 9th, it’s going to be the Elm City Bonecrushers vs. the Iron Angels: A rematch that will surely rival Sunday’s bout in bruises. Check out the Roller Girl website for more info.
currently eating: eggs w/ franks red hot <– so tasty!
Once again, the weekend was a fury of activity.
Highlights:
Friday night I hung out with Ernie, Keller, Joanna, and Bekah. Bekah wanted Keller’s help in recording a few tracks on the piano. I helped by sitting quietly in the background matching her left hand on bass. What fun. I haven’t played music with a group in quite some time, and it was a blast. We also had a really short, but really interesting, conversation about books. Bekah, it seems, has read every book ever written by mankind. She was able to fully converse about any book that any of us had read. This made me realize two things.
1. I need to read more books for pleasure.
2. I wish I had a better memory and could remember books more easily.
Saturday, post class, I had my first real introduction to guitar hero. Holy Fun. My sister totally ruined it for me though as I excitedly told her of my guitar hero adventures…
Mike D (overly excited): I played GUITAR HERO last night for the first time Alicia: oh yeah? my Friend Eran invented that game. Mike D: wha.. huh? Alicia: yeah. he helped develop Harmonix the company behind it. He’s a clarinet player. Mike D: … Alicia: in fact, just recently he was interviewed about the upcoming ROCK BAND game and…. really funny story… the interviewers brought clothes with them for him to wear so that during the interview he’d look “cooler.” Apparently he’s wearing a sequence Ozzy Osborn shirt. ha ha! Which is extra hilarious because normally he wears khakis and button up shirts.
Her story was so much better than mine.
Sunday I worked on a paper for a bit and then hit up ROLLER DERBY in CT. I think that this bout goes down as the most exciting ever. I can’t wait to write a review. It’ll probably be up in the next few days in the features section. Keep an eye out for it.
Last night’s REM sleep was pure misery. I had dreams of tossing and turning and just staring at the clock. Yet I’m pretty confident that I was conked out the whole time. When the alarm clock went off I actually spoke aloud:
“you’ve got to be kidding me.”
Here “you” presumably refers to either my subconscious or my clock radio. And since clocks are pretty reliable, I blame my subconscious. Way to go Subconscious. Way to ruin 6 hours of potential bliss.
Thankfully, my mood immediately changed because Journey was playing on the radio.
How close could I get in replicating his sweet ping pong paddle graphic.
First, Ryan Schenk’s:
WOW.
A few things to notice:
1. the TIGHT gradient of the paddle itself - this is extremely difficult to duplicate. If you have firefox and can zoom in on the image, the gradient doesn’t appear until about 6x. Prior to starting the paddle, I expected this to be the greatest challenge.
2. soft edges. This isn’t too bad in MSPaint. If you have a color you can “softify” the edges by pulling up the gradient wheel and finding and dividing the color shade column into quarters. By doing rings of lighter colors the edges become softer.
3. The Shadow. Prior to starting, I didn’t think this would be an issue. As it happens, finding the ideal gray scale was far harder than I expected.
So how did I do?
Ta-da!
Here’s my method:
First I created what I deemed an appropriate shape using the SPLINE tool. I got as close as I could. The perfect curve of Schenk’s paddle was hard to replicate.
Next, was the handle. I opened up my color wheel and created three or four custom Mike D gradients using the Gradient print screen trick.
You can see the distinct black outline of the spline curve as well as a mostly textured handle. Once the colors were available, the handle wasn’t a problem.
Here’s my first attempt at the gradient. Horrible! You can see I was using a black-red to white-red mix, and the gradient was FAR too dramatic. You’ll also noticed the shape changed slightly. I removed a handful of pixels off the left side as it made the paddle appear misshapen.
For this next attempt, I tried to just go from the white-red to red. It’s better… but still too much. Then I discovered something. If instead of copying the gradient out of the color wheel, I actually copied the red edge of the gradient field… I could get an EXTREMELY tight gradient.
Just above the paddle in this picture is the gradient I used. The gradient was SO tight that I had to make little ‘turrets’ underneath in order to indicate where the color was changing.
After that, I just took the simple gray scale that’s on the left and started work on the shadow. Originally, I was expecting it to be three pixels thick. This DID NOT WORK. My end result was more like 7 pixels. It was also tough to make it look like a distinct shadow and not just a weird growth off the side of the paddle.
You’ll notice that in between this and the last picture the depth of the gray gradient changed. The dark end of the gray scale was WAY too dark. This helped my shadow work a lot.
Once the shadow was done, I softened the edges of the paddle and removed my gradients. I tried a couple different tricks of shrinking the image and enlarging it again. If done in MSPaint this will have the effect of auto-gradient. Amazingly, this method didn’t produce anything as good as what I had pre size changes.
At this point, I wanted to make a few final changes. I didn’t like the intersection where the paddle meets the handle and the shadow. so I made a few minor changes and finished her up.
So there you have it.
I’m very proud. I think Schenk’s is still sweeter, so Photoshop can take the win. But once again, MSPaint has provided surprisingly good results. With more practice, my MSPaint skills will continue to grow and the Photoshop-MSPaint gap will continue to narrow.
I’m giving Steve a quick tour of the workplace.
mike d: “and those are our power supplies… check out the huge transformer inside.”
steve excitedly looks into the cabinet. Then gets really disappointed.
Steve: “oh. That’s not at all what I thought you meant by Transformer.”
I’m giving Steve a quick tour of the workplace.
mike d: “and those are our power supplies… check out the huge transformer inside.”
steve excitedly looks into the cabinet. Then gets really disappointed.
Steve: “oh. That’s not at all what I thought you meant by Transformer.”
Steve is a good friend from high school. you may remember him from various past stories of MikeDiDonato.com including his festive wedding last August and the raucous bachelor party in Montreal where he spent hours in the emergency room for a busted back.
update:his back is better and his marriage is going just fine.
He picked me up at work and we drove back to the House of Rock to make some delicious eggplant parmesan. A+ my friends, A+. Fried battered eggplant covered in three types of cheese and a tomato basil sauce… it wasn’t so much a meal as heaven in a 9×13 glass baking dish.
Following the meal, we had some ice cream: dulche de leche.
