Category: Alma Mater

Posted on

You will be missed

145993677_c254b79ff6_o

I was saddened to hear that Red Burns, founder of NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, passed away earlier this week. Red was my academic adviser and one of the first people that I met when I arrived to study at ITP in the late 90s. Oddly enough, despite her small stature, she was also one of the most intimidating people I have ever met. And I say that as a person that is not easily intimidated. My first impression of Red was that she was not someone to trifle with, piss off, or just generally wind up on her bad side. Over time I was fortunate to see that there was a kinder and gentler side to her. Red cared deeply for her students, but she demanded the best from them. She was a formidable personality and utterly fearless in her approach to life.

Over the past few days my Facebook and Twitter feeds have been inundated by posts from friends and fellow ITP students who were influenced heavily by Red. She was truly a pioneer in the fields of tech education and digital expression. The overwhelming theme that comes through in all of the posts is that Red, and the program that she created, changed their lives for the better. Continue reading “You will be missed”

Posted on

Oberlin College Basketball Scrimmage

Some of my old basketball friends from Oberlin have been bugging me to post this video for awhile. This is the intra-team scrimmage from the 1986-87 Season Midnight madness kickoff for the Oberlin College Basketball team. I still get a kick when I see how short our uniforms were back then.

Posted on

Old memories

In searching through some old disks I came across this old Quicktime multimedia project that I did when I was back in graduate school. The piece was designed as a letter to my daughter. The purpose of the project was to document all of the feelings resulting from the event of her birth. I thought that it might be cool to record some of my emotions in order to give her some insight on her family history for when she was older. It was on of the first digital stories that I had created and, in many ways, was a precursor to my interest in ePortfolios.

Posted on

My 25th High School Reunion

The class of 1983

I waited a while to write this post because I wanted to let the events of the last few days sink in fully. You you see last Saturday I attended my 25th high school reunion. Now I am not a fearful or anxious person by nature, but I have to admit that the thought of returning to my old high school unnerved me. High school for me was like it was for most people, difficult. Typically it is a time in a young person’s life when they are struggling to determine the type of man or woman that they want to ultimately become. And yes in typical fashion, it wasn’t a fun time for me. As a result I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to go back and revisit those days. But since I am a firm believer in facing your inner fears and demons, and Des called me a wuss if I didn’t go, I went and hoped for the best. Continue reading “My 25th High School Reunion”

Posted on

I need a stress reliever so…..

You gotta love torrents. I downloaded the latest episode of Doctor Who from the ‘net. The 4th season of the new Doctor Who series is currently airing on the BBC but it won’t be available in the US for awhile. However, I seriously needed a break after the LaGuardia ePortfolio conference, the kids, and my 25th high school reunion (I’ll talk about that later). Plus I just heard that my department is rumored to be undergoing a massive reorganization shortly. That type of change can always raise your stress levels. I’ll find out on Monday. Until then, I am gonna zone out for an hour or so and watch the good Doctor.

*Note to self….. I should really think about shooting a Doctor Who fan film after I finish “Dark Vengeance“*

Posted on

My first Flashcoders meeting

NYC Flashcoders meeting

I went to my first meeting of the New York City Flashcoders user group last night. I have been a member of the mailing list for a few months now and figured that it was time to meet the actual people behind the site. The Flashcoders user group appears to be one of the more active flash communities in the NYC area. In fact, this group of multimedia professionals meet about once a week to discuss and display cool new Flash based projects and tools. The meeting last night was about using Arduino in conjunction with Flash actionscript. Continue reading “My first Flashcoders meeting”

Posted on

Hail Ceasor!!!

Now before you go telling me that I spelled the word “Caesar” incorrectly, let me explain. I woke up this morning to a ringing telephone. The wife and kids had gone to Easter service with my mom so I was actually able to sleep in late for a change. And as much as I love my mom, not even she can make me step inside of a church. But that is a story for another time. Anyway, the ringing phone woke me up. I hate waking up to the phone. Needless to say I was pissed. I was all set to flip out on whatever telemarketer had the balls to wake me up this early in the morning when all of a sudden I hear……

“Rock……what’s up my brother? It’s your boy Ceasor!” Continue reading “Hail Ceasor!!!”

Posted on

I loves me some free Knicks tickets!

J and J

As I posted yesterday, my boy Jeff Ice is in town traveling with the Pistons. He and my other boy, Des “D’Increbible” (don’t ask), all hung out a bit last night and kicked it old school. I remember busting their chops about not keeping in touch and causing my kids to think that I didn’t have any close friends. I guess Jeff took it literally because he calls me up the next day and asks me if me I want two tickets to the Knicks-Pistons game. My son has been bugging the hell out of me to take him to the Garden again so of course I jump at the opportunity. Continue reading “I loves me some free Knicks tickets!”