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I can't believe I've been making these birthday posts for 11 years now!
From September 4, 2013 to September 4, 2014 I...
...finally got a real lathe and a good horizontal bandsaw, completing this round of major shop upgrades.
...was the Ignition Northwest Pratt Scholar, and joined the INW Arts Council.
...made a (tiny) steam engine, a deadly tricycle, and many other silly things.
...entered and won the Longitude Punk'd competition, with my piece currently on display at Greenwich Observatory.
...started actively working on R&D stuff at work, signed my first patent application as a result.
...attended a Royal Society lecture, saw half of Babbage's brain, visited a new country (Iceland).
...designed and built my second large-scale art installation, GMBLMZ. And it didn't collapse and kill someone.
Compared to last year, with its European sojourn, this year felt very normal. I did some great stuff, but it all followed more or less naturally from the initial conditions. Part of me feels very comfortable where I am, and part of me feels like it's an unstable balance -- can I keep doing bigger and better projects like this indefinitely, or is some sudden phase shift going to hit? I still like my day job, but I can't pretend it entirely holds my interest most of the time. There are some big opportunities coming up for the next year I'm already working on, and maybe I need to start actively looking for more as well.
From September 4, 2013 to September 4, 2014 I...
...finally got a real lathe and a good horizontal bandsaw, completing this round of major shop upgrades.
...was the Ignition Northwest Pratt Scholar, and joined the INW Arts Council.
...made a (tiny) steam engine, a deadly tricycle, and many other silly things.
...entered and won the Longitude Punk'd competition, with my piece currently on display at Greenwich Observatory.
...started actively working on R&D stuff at work, signed my first patent application as a result.
...attended a Royal Society lecture, saw half of Babbage's brain, visited a new country (Iceland).
...designed and built my second large-scale art installation, GMBLMZ. And it didn't collapse and kill someone.
Compared to last year, with its European sojourn, this year felt very normal. I did some great stuff, but it all followed more or less naturally from the initial conditions. Part of me feels very comfortable where I am, and part of me feels like it's an unstable balance -- can I keep doing bigger and better projects like this indefinitely, or is some sudden phase shift going to hit? I still like my day job, but I can't pretend it entirely holds my interest most of the time. There are some big opportunities coming up for the next year I'm already working on, and maybe I need to start actively looking for more as well.