On Desire

The outcome for 1/1 – 1/2 is to publish a clear and fun compendium and quick reference for the driving objectives of 2013.

Let’s begin with thinking about thinking. How do introspective sessions connect and coalese, how do I bind virtuality, what’s the ultimate digital expression? Perhaps not static, no mere ebook. Anyway, we’ve got to have a serviceable approach to building and updating our plans.

Each of the following chunks are lightning flashes of self definition I project / complete. Of course there may be too much, great gobbing mouthfuls of ambition beyond any reasonable expectation of chewing. How can I feel myself to be so much, so many? Worry about this for all of 10 seconds and just keep moving. Moderation in moderation. Like the Glimmung, we cannot know our limitations without a trial, a quest. Perhaps we have no limitations at all.

Then projects, the proving grounds of desire. What we want is what we do, we do things (ideally) to get what we want. Action then is a working through of desire, especially action towards a deliberate, conscious outcome. Whatever emotions arise are rich in vitamins and nutrients. Struggle is a flashing neon sign guiding us along the highway – turn here, keep going. If we are conscious and paying attention, everything speaks of what we want.

Why WordPress?

Ok, holy boners. We need to identify the pragmatic tool for recording AND indexing progress, having already tinkered with mind map software and such like esoterica, WordPress seems to be the down and dirty solution. Each post is sort of story, and the tags are great for cross referencing. WP is awesome enough except for 1) lack of local editing and 2) it’s handling of imagery and layout, which is execrable. So how do we get more pleasure out of thinking visually in WordPress? I love that all those open sourcerers made this happen, I’m down with not reinventing the wheel. Perhaps a plug-in exists, minor modifications to experience 90% of perfection. One normally would not get so specific at the start of a visioning document, but it’s really really important to get the documentation optimized. Blogging on the right brain.

God DOG!

The feedback form for a test screening of Bill W, a documentary about the founder of AA that Jeff and I went to. Soon I’ll be gathering feedback about DOG. Yes, the completion of DOG, the primary uber objective. Perhaps a bit of a joke to some, the puppets in my head throw up their hands at the mention of this seven year itch, or avert their gaze and snigger. I’ll show ‘em! Whether with raves or pans, pretty soon they’ll be filling out the forms. The end is nigh.

An archival post bath shot found while setting up the scanner – apropos of nothing except I like the filename stolen from Dick’s The Man Who Japed, “boiled enemy”. After an extended and near fatal voyage, the radiation scorched naked space ape helms his personal starship back to sparkling Gaia.

Ways in the World

Catch the Big Ball

Giving Mantak Chia a chance to guide my investigation and practice of sexual renovation. Current experiments have been very intriguing. Who can teach me tantra? Can’t believe I waited half a century to seek shakti.

Depth of Field

An intense portrait of my time shifted house mate. Imagine an alternate universe with someone like her as an incarnation of affection, companionship, adventure and seeing myself more compassionately. Choosing again to experience the loving, powerful and mysterious feminine with trust and confidence. In the not so distant past, I’ve incarnated the archetypal she as a capricious and even dangerous threat – another Dick reference, Galactic Pot Healer and the malevolent female deity who ravages creation and sinks the cathedral. My out as a powerful creator was loving one Kali after another, the pith-ed frog prince. I let that go in 2013, I don’t have to suffer any more. At a half century, the prince can be retired and the king or better yet the wizard can step up. See references for tantra.

 This is not a blog, this is not 2013, this is not a box full of pens

Look at this box. There is no clay or legos, no wood chisels, powdered mica, rolls of 16 mm film or coconut oil. What resources does this box offer, what is possible? If we make an inventory of what we do have, the list would certainly be endless. Focusing on what’s missing? The micro lecture I gave Lena – make a list of what you have right now.

Proof of Polymathism

Here’s an excerpt from the Huge Fuck Mother of all Lists, a riff on George Galloway and the Mother of all Talk Shows. Obscenity is often associated with sex, divinity and other unspeakables, perhaps that’s why it’s considered crass and even unprofessional. It’s tough to get collaborative traction on slippery unwords like god and genitalia. So too fuck. A giant to do list is a tribute to the impossible, inherently contradictory, like running over your grandmother with a time machine. Check all the items off the list and you’re dead. Including impolite words in the title hints that it’s a symbolic containment vessel for hot paradox, and you better be fucking clear on that, laddie.

Directorial – Live theater

Directorial – Feature

College Version 2.0

Room to Groove

 Love thyself

Ultimate Agenda

Adventures on the Edge of Apocalypse

Some supporters of “25 x 25″ have wondered why I spoke out just now about Proposal 3 or “25 x 25.”  I will tell you why.

But first about the points I made. Now as before they say little bio-massacre will occur under “25 x 25.”  They keep repeating that.

Do we believe their rhetoric, or their written “25 x 25″ reports?

Do we believe their rhetoric, or who they are in bed with?

Do we believe their rhetoric that they can “control biomass,” or the fact that in Michigan WE ALREADY HAVE FIFTEEN TIMES more biomass burning as “green energy” than wind?

Do we believe there rhetoric, or their actions in allowing (or not knowing) “get off coal” plans include biomass burning in East Lansing and Holland. When is the protest?

Why did I speak out now? Well I have done two radio shows, so I am not a newcomer to the debate.

But maybe it also has something to do with the fact I was just in the woods.

I just got back from driving across the UP. Down every highway is a parade of logging trucks. Trains with logs were sitting on tracks. Huge lumber yards were filled with trees. Matchsticks they look like, pile after pile of toothpick trees.

I went to a woods where I have camped for a years. It is National Forest. I often thought to myself, here finally is a stand of trees, that might if they grow look like nice trees. Here I can relax. And what was in the forest the last time I was there? Loggers. In the National Forest CAMPGROUND and surrounding lands.

Random people in restaurants in the UP complain to me about the hellacious level of logging. You can see it for yourself. You can see clearcut or “thinned” forest lands coming up with scruffy trees and weeds, or nothing. I see woods cut thirty years ago struggling to re-grow.

We have brusheries, the result of working our woods as an ATM machine.

It doesn’t take a genius to see that every round of logging, whether someone signed off on it as sustainable or otherwise, produces a crappier, more stressed forest.

It doesn’t take a genius to see that air pollution and climate change are weakening our trees.

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that when in parks there are signs saying “do not leave path” to protect the delicate forest soil and plants from FOOTSTEPS, that logging machinery forever changes things.

I am not saying we’re never going to cut a tree. I burned wood for many years myself.

But what’s happening now is beyond the pale. We just keep stepping aside, compromising, and nature is in trouble.

Go visit a green energy biomass plant. They run on tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of tons of chipped up trees and forests. And produce very little energy.

Go learn about the creosote soaked railroad ties tossed in the biomass plant in L’anse poisoning the air and water in the name of green energy.

Go to Detroit where they sickened people for decades by burning trash as green energy.

Go to Grayling where they have burned tires along with whole trees in the biomass plant.

Go online and see Mascoma with a 150 mile bulls eye targeting hardwoods to be dissolved into ETHANOL.

Why speak out now?

Because the environmental groups have not done their job.

Because many people tried asking questions and got told don’t worry about it.

Because we have lost the chestnuts. We have lost billions of passenger pigeons and flocks of fowl that darkened the sky for days. For DAYS!

We have lost the grayling, most of the moose, elk and caribou we once had in Michigan.

The sturgeon hang by a thread, a few thousand where there used to be millions. We burned them in steamers for fuel.

Of tiny piping plovers a handful are left. When I was a boy every shore was filled with peeping shorebirds. No longer.

The chestnuts are gone, gone forever. The elms are decimated. Our beech trees are in trouble. The ash are going extinct.

Two white pines just dropped dead in my yard, and the oaks and maples are so stressed on my block nearly every single day someone is cutting them down.

Nature is in trouble. And it’s our fault.

Our environmental movement has to stop doing what’s funded, and start doing what is right.

They have to stop gearing information on renewable energy to get “a win” but to be true and accurate.

Either you stand with the trees, or for more logging and burning of the trees.

Trying to have it both ways means everyone loses.

And no amount of windmills will green-wash that.

This is an email that Jeff is circulating regarding Michigan’s Proposal 3. I’ve bloggified it for social media links.

Michigan “25 x 25” is a Bio-Massacre

by Jeff Gibbs

In Michigan right now ballot Proposal 3 known as “25 x 25” would require our state to get 25% of it’s electricity from “renewable” sources by the year 2025. “25 x 25” is being sold as all about solar panels and wind mills. It’s not. Far more than anyone suspects, it’s going to ramp up the dirtiest form of energy of all: biomass burning. Incinerating trees in the name of “green energy.” And it must be stopped if we care about climate change, clean air and thriving forests.

Yes that’s right, in the name of saving the planet and renewable energy we are about to make things worse. For those unfamiliar with biomass burning, it releases more carbon dioxide and more harmful particulates than even coal. Logging for biomass can drastically reduce biodiversity and set back a forest’s ability to sequester carbon dioxide for centuries. Most environmentalists oppose it. Or used to.

Michigan environmental groups promoting “25 x 25,” whose goals such as stopping climate change I otherwise support, have insisted there will not be much biomass burning. Their campaign shows images of wind and solar exclusively.

Clean Water Action   

Green Energy Future 

Michigan Energy, Michigan Jobs    

But this is what we are actually going to get. I call it a bio-massacre:

Massachusetts logging for biomass    

New Hampshire biomass plant

Michigan trees chipped for biomass

Don’t believe it? It was hard for me grasp as well. Still, there was that little word “biomass” in the definition of renewable energy. So I decided to check for myself.

Here was my first stunner: the national “25 x 25” Steering Committee seems to be 100% agribusiness and logging interests. Ethanol and biomass. On their bios are found the words cattle, corn, biomass and forestry, not solar or wind. The national “25 x 25” mission statement reflects this commitment to biofuels and biomass:

25x’25 Vision: By 2025, America’s farms, forests and ranches will provide 25 percent of the total energy consumed in the United States, while continuing to produce safe, abundant, and affordable food, feed and fiber.

When questioned about national “25 x 25” being primarily big ag and big timber, Michigan “25 x 25” supporters responded they have little to do with the national organization. Really? That’s odd. Because the national “25 x 25” organization brags on their website that they have influenced state laws and they include Michigan as a place where good things are happening.

And then the Michigan 25 x 25 Jobs and Energy Report was released. It was produced at Michigan State University, our state’s agricultural college. It was written not by the solar and wind department, but by faculty from the Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics Department with a huge vested interest in biomass and biofuels.

The report projects a nearly 300% increase in biomass. The red line on the chart below indicates the projected increase in biomass plant staffing.

 The authors of the report also aren’t shy about describing the new opportunities for their friends:

… the impact to the agricultural and forestry sector is anticipated to be… significant. Accounting for direct and indirect impacts due to feed stock procurement, transportation, logistics, storage etc., it is expected that biomass generation under a 25% RPS will result in nearly 12,000 job years. 

 (Please note: boosters of “25 x 25” routinely turn “job years” i.e. one job for 25 years is 25 “job years” into “jobs.” This means 75,000 “job years” gets turned into 75,000 “jobs” when it should be more like 3,000.)

And just what is the aforementioned “feedstock procurement?” In large part logging. Ah, the wonderful green jobs! Logging, trucking, installing air quality control equipment, using bulldozers to move around giant piles of wood chips lest they spontaneously combust like this fire at Biomass One in Oregon, or this entire biomass plant that exploded in flames.

So widely known (except to the public) is this new opportunity for “green energy” that “Biomass Magazine” has already alerted it’s readers. The magazine cautions though, that making “25 x 25” a constitutional amendment might be a mistake because it could draw “scrutiny and introduce more controversy than legislative action…” Yes that’s right, it’s easier to sell a bio-massacre beyond closed doors.

But there’s more. The burning of woody biomass isn’t all we’re going to get. The chart below reveals a big helping of biogas as well as biomass.

What are the other biogas and biomass sources besides trees and forests? Confined animal feed operations, landfill gases, burning garbage including old homes and tires, human and agricultural “waste.” All have serious issues and depend on enormous fossil fuel intensive systems. But those are not my main concern, it’s the burning of the source of our clean air and clean water as “green energy” that is my nightmare. Only two great planetary systems are capable of soaking up the CO2, our forests and our oceans. It makes no sense to destroy either one of them.

But alas the bio-massacre isn’t just in our future. It’s the reality of “renewable energy” right now:

 Burlington, Vermont biomass plant. Note whole trees looking like matchsticks in this photo prior to chipping. 

–In Vermont, the biggest single contributor to climate change and air pollution is their “green energy” facility. An enormous biomass burner which only produces a fraction of the energy of a fossil fuel plant.

–There is at least 15 times more biomass burning RIGHT NOW in Michigan than solar and wind combined. Given this, is it ethical for “Michigan Energy, Michigan Jobs” to ONLY show solar and wind on it’s photo “tour” of Michigan renewable energy? Here is what they won’t show you:

Cadillac, Michigan biomass plant

Enjoying our sustainable state forests.

–Michigan State University, the source of the “25 x 25” report, has no wind and almost no solar yet has already obtained a permit to toss 24,000 tons of trees annually into their coal plant to meet their “renewable energy” goals, a feat which will actually increase the CO2 coming from the smokestack.

 –In Holland, Michigan the Sierra Club has been fighting to stop a coal plant expansion. But Holland’s “clean energy” plan is in large part biomass burning disguised as “combined heat and power.” (The word “biomass” isn’t mentioned until page 31 in the proposal. That’s not an accident.)

So why are we getting so much burning in the name of green if wind and solar are such miracles? That’s a story for another day. Suffice to say there are issues with solar and wind that cannot be wished away. One major problem is that right now wind supplies only about 0.3 percent of Michigan’s electrical energy. To ramp that up to provide a significant share of our electricity would take tens of billions of dollars and 50 times more wind turbines than currently exist. Anyone think that’s going to happen?

And so it all comes back to cutting and burning our forests for energy. They say we would never denude the land of trees, yet that is the most common way civilizations end. It’s doesn’t happen in a day or a year, but blow by blow, cut by cut. We went though this once before. The trees are now smaller, stressed, and far less in extent. We won’t survive doing it again.

Michigan logging scenes from 120 years ago.

It makes no sense to stop the tar sands, fight fracking, or end the horror of mountaintop removal to protect the living planet, if we then incinerate the living planet for energy. Let’s get back to our “roots.” Save the trees. Stand with them against any “renewable energy” scheme like “25 x 25” that calls incinerating trees and forests “green energy.”

Jeff Gibbs is a filmmaker who has produced films for Michael Moore, the Dixie Chicks, and about the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. He has lived in Michigan all his life. He is currently working on a film about the state of the planet and the fate of humanity. 

For more information about biomass burning go www.biofuelwatch.org.uk or to Partnership for Policy Integrity or this article I wrote.

Here’s my instant review of Blue Planet with David Attenborough – things want to eat and breed and not get eaten. The ocean is big and mysterious, underwater photographers experience some serious beauty.

What struck me in the tub at ~2:30 AM was the role of adult animals. They live for their young. Since it’s all about me, I thought about my role as an adult animal sans young. I was urged by Swami Bua to have a family, why? Perhaps because it’s a necessary phase of spiritual growth? A experience that fosters understanding and empathy? So I can have a little army of caretakers in my golden years? All the above? Well, there doesn’t seem to be much likelihood of this occurring so I’ve got to acquire these boons some other way or not at all.

What about making art, does being a parent help or hinder? Of course both and neither. There are the young years when prodigies are prodigious – making movies or paintings and setting the foundations for future retrospectives. Yet what can a young person really offer the world, having tasted so little of life? They offer the very energy of their lives, which – whether squandered or auspiciously channeled – is compelling. No deep insights needed. They create. Perhaps they breed and then do both, raise kids and keep creating.

For me this is all conjecture. I avoided parenthood because I wanted my own experience, without the responsibility of kids to limit my options. I guess my options were already so limited due to my interior situation, what I believed I could get away with. My universe was proscribed and I didn’t even know, consciously. I must have realized intuitively, because the idea of having kids was anathema. Marriage too.

What I am getting to here is I didn’t have the courage to follow my bliss way back when, so creating additional obstacles was just right out. Perhaps I learned by example, my parents appeared limited by having my brothers and myself, their lives were not very compelling to me, so why would I follow that path? Looking around as a kid, I didn’t see one example of parents who were having adventures and doing groovy stuff, so that’s that.

So much for second guessing distant decisions, the point is did I miss some character building opportunity? Do I lack key fortitude because I was never a dad? Can you see the fundamental routines running in the old bean dear reader? Lack… what’s wrong with me? Is there something wrong with me? Ha!

It’s just a flavor of thought. Gosh – who wants to eat ice cream cones 24/7?

Now the big gorilla in the room, the most intense introspection – unfinished projects. I returned from Brooklyn a couple years ago to finish unfinished projects. Progress certainly, yet as much deck clearing yet remains I have felt a shifting of late. Let’s inventory and assess.

From ~ 09-10-12

• Projects unfinished •
DOG
ALM
Brooklyn – too many failures/heartbreak
Hello World still busted after second expedition 2010
Sailing gear disorganized
Hobies untouched
Raft unlaunched, rusty
Rosie
House renovations
Back room / bathroom / roof
Shack
Accounting / Taxes
Food cache
Back pain
boners (holy)
Almonds festivals
Toasters
Dishes
Piano <440
Van
Spanish
Tai chi teaching
Sword and ru yi
Garden
Film gear organized
Garage organized and clean
Scuba gear

Projects finished (within 4 years)
Myriad collaborations with nyc artists
Lofts
Pot rack
vfx demo reel v.9
Jet video
Two M33Ms
Hammond organ
Teeth
Hanging chairs
Many parties
Dede videos
Lena videos
Bumper TCFF
Edits TCFF
Paper rack

As I am alone, I become aware that there is no one to continue in my stead, with no children or woman to believe (in the great work 09-19-12) and carry on. Thus I must neaten up my life and clear the way for passage into the next, not leave a big mess for someone else to clean up, untangle. Simplify.

I dreamt I was falling. First I was happy because the ground was far, far below, and then I got terrified as the ground rushed up. But no matter how close the ground got I always managed to swoop away. Then I was exhilarated because I could fly, which is falling forever. We are all falling forever.

Fallingforever.com
Dreamsofflying.com

“Double your success rate, triple your failure rate.” Og Mandino.

That could be a description of my life approach, I just haven’t been acknowledging this as deliberate. It’s just a slew of random incomplete projects that i was afraid to look at. If we define them as massive opportunities for failure, ongoing efforts that have hit a wide variety of obstacles and are all in various stages of problem solving, then this could make a hell of a lot more sense.

Plus, Rosie is not an unfinished  project. When I bought her, I set a clear objective. To convert her by the fall into a viable spare bedroom for the house. In the meantime to stabilize her – fix her leak. This has been accomplished. Further goals can be set and met, but to say she is unfinished is quite inaccurate.

Back to 09-19-12

I wrote the inventory then a few days later revisited and added the Og Mandino, after hearing Doctorow mention it I think. A deep blogging on this topic has been on my agenda since, so here we are.

Regardless of the rationalization, the fact of unfinished projects is justly antagonizing. When I look around at the clutter and scattered energy I am embarrassed. Not a very competent playing of the game, not a very adroit application of resources. I want to be surrounded by efficient and conscious environs, right now. Of course, undoing the damage of decades isn’t an overnight affair, or remediated by a week of frantic activity. It’s the long haul.

It’s a practice and a priority. An expression of who we are, nowadays. I don’t have to surrender any delightful qualities or break my nature, I am deciding on an enhancement of all the above. Imagine how much more rapidly I can manifest, knowing where things are and what’s available?

Alright, so protocol. It’s daunting, I’ve still got great boxes of unsorted material, but maybe more sorted than un? Is that true? I’d say at this point, possibly so. We want to identify all the projects, everything we’d like to get to. So we’d need a expanded list.

1 page for every year of my life – From Gurudeva, a fascinating objective. I would want to have a listing of historical events for the first few years of my life, slides and movies available. Moving into my later years, I’d want my own drawings and writings. I imagine this as a blog, heavily supplemented with movies and pictures. Includes my cast of characters, detailed bios on everyone I can remember and how I felt about them.

This would mean organizing and sequencing all my papers, phew! Compiling whatever family archives exist.

The supplemental material is for sparking memory, but I could always start, like this.

I was born, I suppose. I don’t remember that right now, maybe I will someday. Born in 1963, on May 18 at 10:30 AM or so my birth certificate says. Mineola, Long Island. My parents are/were Eileen Mary Kelly (Redling) and James Barton Kelly. I am was born on Earth by the way. I’ve got brothers but it’s not yet time for them to enter the story. Let’s just stick with being born and the events I can remember. My first memory I have assigned to the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who was president of the United States of America. This is the country I am supposedly a citizen of, though that doesn’t really mean all that much to me now and certainly didn’t then. I remember a kitchen, light blue and white patterned wallpaper. Again, I assign this to Pound Ridge, New York and our house on Kinnicutt Lane, the wide window looking onto the backyard and the distant stacks (Big Alice) is to my left, the sun is out and blue sky fills the frame. There is the black rectangle of a door just ahead leading into the house proper and the stairs down to the finished basement. Perhaps there’s a phone mounted on the wall to the left of the door frame? I am in a crib, facing the ceiling, so I suppose I was lying on my back. I remember radio voices and then shock in the room, I believe I was picked up, perhaps more for the comfort of the adult (mother, grandmother) than myself. The words on the radio were unimportant, President John Kennedy shot. That’s all.

I find on Wikipedia (remember Wikipedia?) that JFK was shot on November 22, 12:30 Central, or 11:30 Eastern Standard Time. I would have been 6 months, 4 days and 1 hour old approximately. Is it possible for a 6 month old to have such a detailed memory? Sure, why not? I haven’t checked the web, but let’s have a look at the circs. The president is shot, perhaps dead. That’s big news anywhere. He’s also a Catholic, and in my family that’s key. Every adult in the room would have been horror stricken. The level of ambient grief would have been unprecedented in my short life, therefor it was a singular event and even without language, any brain certainly would have tagged the sensory data for later analysis. I don’t doubt that there are other examples of infant memory.

So what else can I say about my first year of life? Aside from the mundane recitation of kin, geography, world events and whatnot associated with start of my life, I have only my wonder. Who the hell was I to come to this planet? So much waiting to wake up, did I even know I was waiting? There are other memories that don’t have a specific age, perhaps I’ll relate all these now and then later link back to them. Of course, baby hood is full of possibilities, my first year on earth. Just ponder.

Now that’s not quite a page, but it’s a start and an indication of how to proceed.

Anyway, now it’s an unfinished project. Doh!

TBC in Chapter 2.

Seems almost wrong to be staring at screens when it’s so lovely outside, implementing roto, roto, roto. That’s what has to be done as I drive forward on DOG’s conclusion. This repetitive visual work leaves great chunks of my brain unoccupied, so I’ve started research on nukes for the proposed future expedition of ALM. I’ve been meaning to aggregate Fukushima news, and so here’s some of that. Also a bit of Mooney’s work might also apply when discussing the matter as I travel.

Gotta check this…

Freevideo.rt.com

Russia Today, Beyond Fukushima parts 1 and 2.

60 minutes

Arnie Gunderson about the pumps and workers at the plants

Some of my favorites (what’s MJ doing in there?)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19245818

I got an actual letter from Liz Paladino on June 25, freshly recovered from the archives.

Arnie Gunderson – 23 plants in the USA identical to Fukushima, 2 near Chicago, Dresden and Quad City neither are on Lake Michigan

http://holyboners.com/uploaded_archive/moon_001_02.mov

Up this morning early trying to time lapse celestial events, then back home for a super hot bath. Claire raved about cold showers and so as a concession to her I flopped into Crystal right after. It’s been a super summer at the lake temple, grueling for the rest of the mid west but no complaints right here in heaven. The water is certainly not cold but it was cooling. When I got back inside there was a little bird hopping around the fireplace. I opened a window and gently shewed him out. Then hit my scalp with apple cider vinegar and now I am at the helm of the starblog.

I look kinda skinny here, wouldn’t it be fun to bulk up this winter? Should I hit 50 looking the part of the spiritual commando or stay in camouflage?

Anyway, here’s my epiphany for the morning. Writing about Doug and Jim Allegro and then imagining Lena maybe checking in with the organic spacecrafter Kai during her Seattle flyby which reminded me Dirk, Kai’s brother who was my inspiration for monkey barring the Artist house…my cast of characters. How much fun it would be writing little bios for everyone. I mention folks frequently in these posts so why not a reference page where they all live? Wouldn’t that be delightfully annoying to my tribe? Rue the day they ever came onto my radar? Nah, they’d dig it or at least not mind, mostly.

I dream about scanning all my paper based correspondence and getting EVERYTHING online, not unlike Kurzweil’s effort to resurrect his father – except I’m not dead yet. A cast of characters and a timeline would help access this ocean of data. Also helpful when I get round to writing 1o pages for every year of my life as recommended by Gurudeva, not to mention The Making of a Saint, revisited. You have no idea what I am talking about, eh? Back to Rotoscoping!

I’ve been blogging in my mind for the last couple of months, here’s a sample of the topics I’d like elaborate on soonish.

First, a crisis of confidence. Gosh, why blog at all? With the explosion of FB, a personal blog seems like a lot of work for friends. I intuit (perhaps fear would be more apropos) that pushing out post links via email is just going to feel like obligation to my peeps. On the other hand (maybe this is arrogance now) it’s not impossible that my ravings are a lantern in the fog. Is it encouraging to think of Dan Kelly out there somewhere, still deep into his crazy schemes? I’d like to think that Doug Michels would give an approving nod from the command pod of Bluestar and of course James Allegro here on Terra. As I’ve oft stated, blogging is performance art for my crowd of internal personas, getting it beyond my skull feels wonderfully pointless, like a SETI broadcast to the cosmos. Is anyone out there? Whatever.

“Artist house, instantiate your metameme. Standby to vortex the vagus!”

x

Speaking of SETI, I recently bought one of these…

It’s the Flag of Earth, the planet whose “anthem is the wind in her trees and the waves of her seas”. From flagofearth.org… The Flag of Earth could be flown if you are conducting a project or event which benefits the Earth as a whole … not just your community or country. If that’s not Around Lake Michigan, well then heck.

Rosie the Pocket Cruiser, (25 foot Seacraft Dana clone).

I got curious about Earth flags after I acquired Rosie, my ticket to Cuba and support ship for the new ALM Hobie fleet. She deserves her very own post, but here’s a teaser – parked next to Hello World.

Rosie and Hello World apparently mouldering. Weapons to overthrow the inner oppressor, hidden in plain sight.

x

Creative Film Finance

I’ve been perfecting my 0 APR credit card film finance scheme. I’ve got about 60k in available credit now and my FICA score keeps rising. Decrypting the system is really fascinating. I can’t say I’m gaming it yet, but I have hopes…

Save the Hobies

What are all these vintage Hobie’s doing in the garden? Are the neighbors complaining? I like to imagine jetskiers wilting in their shorts when they drive by. These specters of the 70s, embodied energy waiting for their moment in the wind, to shine and sparkle once again. Who will crew the pirate fleet? We need more H16s!

Artifacts of a Sustainable Civilization? Not yet, but dreaming in the right direction…

x

New ALM

Around Lake Michigan has transmogrified from the Search for Sustainable Civilizations into the People’s Inspection of Atomic Power. Hard to close your eyes and read at the same time, but savor this… Sunrise on the Big Lake. A ragtag squadron of vintage catamarans suddenly surges into view, spray spinning off dancing bows, crews in harness hanging over blurred waves. Where are they going? Ahead… pale pink beaches rising into dunes, green forest and… incomprehensible! A behemoth of the industrial age sprawls across the shore! Concrete containment, plumes of steam, high voltage electrical infrastructure, a nuclear power plant.  A mysterious and unpredictable convergence of 20th century artifacts – leaping sun powered sail boats and a brooding atomic reactor.

Shack

So what’s all this about the shack? After a year of slogging, brutal renovations by Patrick and Dan, the family’s cow farm has a maker outpost. Hungering for a more proprietary scenario to build his race car, Patrick has recently vacated. I’m finishing the mad lab by my lonesome. Where will the Hobies be reborn? How will Rosie get her groove back? The shack.

x

Animation Studio

Ben Woody inspired me to act on a dormant dream. I discovered Dragon Frame about a year or so ago, and have had it on the Birthday list. After my decisive move into VFX, with the nefs last year and the advent of an ambitious intern this year, I decided it was time to manifest. A little ahead of schedule but right on time, I’ve acquired a long coveted set of Dedo lights, a Canon T3i and Dragon Frame. Check some of our early tests at Ben’s YouTube channel. The garage is being converted to an animation studio where all this gear lives.

Personal Archeology

In the process of cleaning and organizing, I’ve come across a slew of old paintings, letters – my personal archeology. I’ve sort of boxed it all for the moment, but there will be a reckoning, oh yes.

James and Jeff

I seem to be spending ever more time talking with Jeff about his project Planet. Weston’s been revising the Ethiopia concept and I’ve kinda getting sucked in a bit there too. Collaborating with these two has been great, I really don’t have anyone else who is deep into projects and I didn’t realize how encouraging this comradery can be.

Ben Woody

I’m looking forward to sharing my Ben Woody boon with y’all, but for now check out his blog BenWoody.com

Before Lena Maude headed west, she grabbed the full set of Tony Robbins Personal Power. I have taken the course about 10 times since the early 90s and suggested she give it a whirl. Admittedly Tony is a little over the top but his tools are effective.

Lena and I had been talking about how polymaths prioritize. We even explored how we might go about developing a software assistant that could act like a dashboard for our priorities and goals. I’m excited to have her impressions of the material when she (theoretically) returns in late summer / fall.

Lena in June

x

I’ve been feeling a distinct momentum and sense of accomplishment… which is a little dangerous, it makes me want to look around for more stuff to do. My big list is beginning to feel a little unstructured, so it’s high time for me to revisit my own priorities.

First priority is DOG completion. Simple. Getting that wrapped by fall is still my primary focus. What else do I want to experience and what can I realistically accomplish in the next few months? There are five categories 1) DOG, 2) stay strong and balanced, 3) getting organized and inventoried 4) sharing joy and 5) pre-production for revised ALM.

Strong and Balanced

I lied. Maintaining and expanding my physical presence is actually my first priority. I’m pretty much at my goal of doing each of the following practices 2-3 times a week – yoga, tai chi, tumbling (combat mime) and light free diving. Sustained action flows from staying strong and balanced.

DOG

Next comes DOG. I parted ways with the whacky VFX contractor Trace (New York, Bombay) in June and have yet to replace them. Ben and I have been slogging through the roto but it’s time to re-recruit if I am serious about a fall finish. I myself will need to log 4-6 productive roto hours daily from mid July through the end of  August. Also, I’ve got to perfect welding jump cuts. That means buying Twixtor, a powerful tweening application often used to convert GoPro footage to super slow motion for extreme sports videos.

Ben Loves to Rotoscope!

x

Organized

Getting organized and inventoried was delayed last fall because of a snafu in the renovations at the shack – a fabrication space Patrick and I were working on. As of July the shack is operational and my organizational efforts are finally moving forward.

Organization means having all the production equipment sorted and ready, tools accessible, art materials like clay and paint sorted and available and my archives of past projects stabilized. Finally, the house itself requires renovation to support collaboration. The renovation short list includes new lofts for visiting VIPs, greenhouse, floor refinishing, mudding and trimming out the back room, executing the mosaic in the bathroom, and replacing uninsulated windows. Except for lofts, most of the house renovations could be postponed to the fall. If I have more lofts, I can allocate proprietary space to visiting artists (and their families) so that the house doesn’t get completely cluttered with travel gear, toys, clothes, etc. If the lofts were freestanding, they could be disassembled in the fall to allow for the backroom to be finished and painted.

Sharing Joy

Sharing joy is about having 1-2 of ALMs vintage Hobie Cats operational, launching the raft as a high diving and free diving platform, making more opportunities to dance and inviting the tribe to soak up the good vibes of the Artist house. (Added 07-12-12), blogging is another sharing of joy, it’s also organization/inventory.

The Hobie fleet (so far 3 H16s and 1 H14) needs love. With the exception of Hello World, they’re all vintage 70s cats acquired this summer for cheap. The long term plans are discussed below, but in this context of sharing joy I’d like to have a couple on the lake by the end of July, when my brother’s family shows up. Jim Barnes H16 and my family’s original H14 are mostly functional right now, so that would make a mini fleet of 4.

The raft is a non trivial undertaking with several steps – I need to locate the anchor in 15 feet of water, clean and prep the raft for painting, paint, erect a new cedar tower, put down a deck, and hook up solar nav lights. She-oot! Seeing the big raft out there would certainly be a magnet for friend fun.

For dance I’ve just got to go to Traverse City weekly or invite folks over. Meryl and Alex are getting married in August so that’s a good excuse to gather and practice.

I’d love to have some visitors from NYC but it’s not totally feasible without lofts (see Organized).

Blogging spans several categories, certainly it’s a sharing of joy. In this post I’ve alluded to a vast backlog of topics – 0 APR credit cards for film finance, the arrival of Rosie, Save the Hobies, ALM revised, shack, animation studio, personal archeology, producing and collaboration with James and Jeff, the incomparable Ben Woody. Jeff was down here talking about Story (big S) and he asked me how much I write. I wanted to answer a lot, but for the past month or two I’ve only been blogging in my mind. The running narrative to my far flung friends hasn’t actually been published.

Revised ALM

Remember sailing Around Lake Michigan on Hello World, the 300 mile expeditions in 2009 and 2010? Will there be another circumnavigation attempt in 2013? What’s this got to do with assembling a Hobie fleet?

I’ve got a new concept that will both amp up ALM epic-ness and tightly focus the premise. Previously, I was searching for artifacts of the emerging sustainable civilization(s) but all that’s moot if there’s a catastrophic failure of the current unsustainable infrastructure. Think Fukashima. So the new expeditions will be focused on neutralizing threats and facilitating a soft transition from consumerism to balance. The earlier expeditions demonstrated that navigating, sailing, arranging interviews, blogging and making a feature doc is a little more than one man can handle, even if he is Dan Kelly. A team is wanted. A support crew. Diverse talents and expertise. To support the new premise, I need to grab at least another 2-3 H16s locally before folks put them back into storage, fit out the shack for fiberglass work this winter, recruit a robust sailing / support team, research the threats and figure out how to take them offline safely.

Miscellaneous

I’ve got to coordinate the Michigan Movie Makers Micro Movie Marathon happening on July 25, then there’s the M3 party to organize for the TCFF. I’d also like to shoot the secret beaches project I’ve been scheming on with Sandra Dee in September.

There are also a smattering of informal collaborations eg distractions. I had promised to cut a trailer for Patricia Norowol’s Circuits which is way overdue. James’s Africa movie is attempting to suck me in and I meet almost weekly to banter with Jeff about Planet. Add to this family and friends and that’s a pretty crowded dance card.

Conclusion

Here’s an energy breakdown. 80% of my energy needs to flow to my top 3 objectives. Physical practice only requires a non negotiable 10% of my time, then 50% for DOG and 20% for organization. A whopping 10% goes to sharing joy, (whoo!) 5% to ALM pre-production and 5% to distractions. If I project a 14 hour work day, here’s the hourly breakdown…

• 10% physical 1.4 hours
• 50% DOG 7 hours
• 20% Organized 2.8 hours
• 10% Shared Joy 1.4 hours
• 05% ALM pre-production 0.7 hours
• 05% distractions 0.7 hours

Priorities simplified…

finish DOG

• roto
• welding jump cuts
• new design – logos, adverts, apocalypse spoor
• final cut

staying strong and balanced

• yoga
• tai chi
• tumbling
• free diving

getting organized and inventoried

• production equipment sorted and ready
• tools accessible
• art materials sorted and available
• archives stabilized
• house renovation for work and collaboration

sharing joy

• boats for sailing
• raft – high dive and free diving platform
• dance
• visitors

pre-production for revised ALM

• acquire more H16s for winter rebuilds
• finish shack, insure work space availability
• nuke research and alliances
• identify recruit potential sail team
• Rosie as spare bedroom

Ben and I do DOG daily (have you met Ben Woody?) but my early evenings and weekends are dedicated to acquiring old Hobie 16s cheap – usually with soft decks and other structural issues. This is long range planning for the return of ALM and a tribal post apocalyptic fable idea.

The hulls need to be opened to make repairs but the trick is to cut the glass without shattering it. The in and out of reciprocating saws tend to rip apart the lamination at the cut edge. I’ve pushed drill bits sideways to make cuts, but drill bits are designed to go cleanly down, not sideways. I’ve seen a Rotozip in Home Depot which I gather uses spinning bits to make horizontal cuts. I already own two routers but these are heavy, high RPM devices that are best be kept on a flat surface and guided by a physical template – it’s not safe or practical to try to use them free hand for the surgical cuts required on hobie hulls. Designing a counterweighted arm for the routers could allow them to be guided with a precise feather touch. A thin routing bit could glide through thin glass laminate without traumatizing the surrounding material – think hot knife vs butter.

Buying and trying a Rotozip might be the most practical idea.

Along with building the pirate fleet, there’s also a support boat possibility. A little scary, stay tuned.

of auto tweeting for On Desire!

Yes, Trickster Pictures is acquiring more sailboats in preparation for the post petroleum America. Mostly Hobie 16s, same as Hello World. Beyond fun!

Actually the point of this post is to see if we can re-establish our inter blog communication. Jordan Bates found me a plug-in with promise – a feed based updater. Now the question is can a Feed Word Press post trigger a Tweet?

Standby. testing, testing…

You know, I haven’t yet reproduced. There’s been some opportunity and perhaps even motive, but my unique DNA remains proprietary. Cool people should breed and all that. Am I cool? Do I or any of you deserve to even survive, much less replicate?

I’m not down on myself, in fact I think I’m one of the finest cats I know. Really, tho – what do I have to offer? Let’s think big. Imagine humans are getting off the planet and colonizing distant solar systems. Will we do to other beings what our Euro ancestors did to the indigenous of the Americas? Will we rape and pillage, spreading the contagion of the un-free market across the universe? That assumes of course that we won’t run into beings more adept at raping and pillaging than ourselves.

If we can’t even get in accord with the automatic life support system of this planet, what havoc will we carry to others? Fortunately, we’re stuck here for now. The choices on this planet of finite resources are simple, either off ourselves through ignorance or become stewards.

If we choose life and stewardship, what the heck does that look like? Like the sustainable civilizations postulated in Around Lake Michigan, it’s probably not going to be some slight variant of consumer culture powered by solar panels and wind towers.

If I can figure out how to become a steward, then I deserve to live. Define an enlightened earth being. Little or no impact, sure. Composting, recycling, conservation, yada yada – got it. What underlies the nuts and bolts of personal responsibility? The folks who really deserve to live are those that can awaken others, who are the wilds.

I want to emphasize the darkness here. DESERVE TO LIVE. Let’s say there’s an apocalypse around the corner. An apocalypse for humans that is, there’s already an apocalypse for lots of other species, for ancient ice, for atmospheric integrity. Ok, so postulating an imminent human die back, say from 7 billion to 1 billion or 500 million. That implies sweeping catastrophes, disease, total wars… really bad shit. Chance might play a huge role in who survives. No matter how many silver bars, assault rifles or dried food one was able to cache – it probably wouldn’t make much difference.

Probably the most important factor of survival aside from luck would be a driving idea. I’d guess that most people wouldn’t care to survive loss on such a magnitude unless they were carrying a metameme. Religious zealotry probably couldn’t weather such a storm, faulty premises would be ripped up at the roots. Only those who rigorously attend to now could make it. What’s the big idea then?

When I ask myself if I would want to survive, I could only answer yes if I am a steward. I deserve to live if I am living in accord with earth, a human incarnation of the wilds. If I ain’t, then ciao baby.

So do I deserve to live? Can I grow up to be a being worthy of the food I eat, the energy I use, the garbage I leave behind? I’ve gotten into the habit of taking stock of my impact, of keeping an inventory, of recognizing the cost of existence… but that’s hardly even a start. The deserving to live thing seems to be about getting in accord with the mother as a human. We are wildcards, able to be almost anything. What we choose to cultivate is crucial. My practices are certainly building physical presence, both performance and body awareness. This shades into feeling connection with the universe, at one and joyful. So far so good.

Any asshole can be a grizzled cutthroat in a hovel, that’s not for me. The 500 million who make it through, what would they look like? They’d be idea rich, martial artists, pragmatic, capable and robust. They’d be walking wild and historians. I don’t rightly know but I feel a bigger dream here, perhaps unprecedented. In Almonds shorthand, badass vegetarians with open source encryption.

English

Dear Earth,

We, the people of the USA, are finally getting our shit together. We’re actually practicing democracy by taking direct responsibility for ourselves.

We’ve always been in power here but have inappropriately allowed our beliefs and behaviors to be determined by financial syndicates, military industrial complexes, fanatical religious bigots, schlock manufacturers, elitist empire builders and spooky conspirators. Sorry about that.

Fortunately it looks like we’re learning how to pay attention, be grateful for basic things and take care of each other. We are striving to feel, think and act not only in our own best interest, but in the collective best interest of all life on this shared and finite planet.

Thanks for your patience and please standby.

Deutsch

Liebe Erde,

Wir, das Volk der USA, sind endlich unsere Scheißezusammen. Wir sind tatsächlich funktionierende Demokratiedurch die direkte Verantwortung für uns.

Wir haben immer an der Macht hier waren, aber unangemessenkonnten unsere Einstellungen und Verhaltensweisen, die vonFinanz-Syndikate, militärisch-industriellen Komplexe,fanatische religiöse Eiferer, schlock Hersteller, elitäre ReichBauherren und spooky Verschwörer gefahren werden. Tut mir leid.

Zum Glück ist es wie wir lernen, wie darauf zu achten, sieht,dankbar sein für grundlegende Dinge und kümmern uns umeinander. Wir sind bestrebt, fühlen, denken und nicht nur inunserem eigenen Interesse, sondern im kollektiven Interesse aller Leben auf diesem gemeinsamen und endlichen Planetenhandeln.

Vielen Dank für Ihre Geduld und bitte Standby-Modus.

Française

Chère terre,

Nous, les gens des états unis d’Amérique, ont finalement réglé nos emmerdes. Nous pratiquons la démocratie en assumant directement nos responsabilités.

Nous avons toujours eu le pouvoir mais nous avons laissé nos comportements et réactions être guidées de façon inappropriée par les syndicats financiers, les complexes militaires industriels, les bigots religieux fanatiques, des bâtisseurs d’empire élitistes des commerciaux pas très clairs et des conspirateurs sinistres. Désolant.

Heureusement, on dirait que nous apprenons à faire attention, à respecter les choses basiques et à prendre soin des autres. Nous ressentons constamment, pensons et agissons pas seulement à nos fins personnelles, mais dans le meilleur intérêt collectif de toute vie sur cette planette partagée et limitée.

thanks for you patience and please standby

Translations by Kai Schwarz and Laurence Schroeder

…and basking in beauty, that’s the summer of 2011. Hello World has been beached (blossomed) for a solid year following her crippling injury 30 miles north of Chicago that ended our 2010 expedition.

She’s communing with the flox and vetch across the street, waiting for repairs. Patrick and I are converting a storage shed into a workshop and that’s where she’ll be before the snow flies. I’ll mend her over the winter.

Meanwhile, she’s watching over another exploration of sustainability – the Lauren di Scipio memorial vegetable garden.  I’ve followed the weed free (layer cake) method – with commercial organic soil in some beds and composted horse poop from Willy and Marijke Church in others. Unfortunately, the entire plot is shadowed by the backyard bluff and misses most of the morning sun. The corn patch is growing in a wedge shape, plants are progressively lower the closer they are to the bluff. There couldn’t be a clearer demonstration of solar power.

So what’s the prognosis for Around Lake Michigan, Search for Sustainable Civilizations? Will there be another expedition? What about posting movies from the rest of the 2010 expedition? What the hell has Dan Kelly been doing for the last year?!

After the 2010 expedition ended, I decided to leave NYC and return to Michigan full time. I enjoyed the summer on Crystal Lake, intent on posting the expedition movies and evaluating the project. The abrupt end of the sailing may have been more discouraging than I was able to admit, my passion for the project waned and… I got distracted.

In August, documentation of Gretchen Eichberger’s American Document flowed into discussions about starting a performance company, which ultimately triggered a traumatic misunderstanding. Though our friendship has bounced back, we’ve since steered clear of any significant collaborations.

In September the lads and I joined my brother Mike for a trip down the San Juan River in Utah. My no jet travel protocol and recent ALM experience prompted me to do a little trickstery critique of James Weston’s Africa documentary in November.

Speaking of James, my experience with Mykl Werth’s partner dance methodology started an extensive exploration of how Mykl’s classroom technique could be translated to video. We started in October but by the spring of 2011, disagreements with Mykl about the business model ended the project.

Also in September, the Trickster Pictures motion graphics show reel was re-activated, featuring work by myself and the Bear Lake Kelly brothers. We posted Version 0.9 in May of 2011.

From October 2010 – March 2011, I taught Tai Chi at Studio on Main in Frankfort, which Patrick and I have since moved to the house. Joe Cissel, Patrick and I were also teaching ourselves combat mime for most of the winter.

In the spring, I conned James into forming a production affinity group, the Michigan Movie Makers. After the first meeting, James was off to film school in Montana,  but fortunately a slew of other local production VIPs have stepped into the breach. M3 had a presence at the recent Traverse City Film Festival, and I ended up volunteering for the TCFF video team and helping to edit a video for the Awards Ceremony.

The inventory of distractions wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t mention the house I’d neglected for the last 6 years. The furnace was toast, skylights leaking, etc. Still some stabilization required before real weather returns.

In summary, in the fall of 2010 I made a commitment to focus on current projects and not start any new ones. The Gretchen and Mykl dalliances were definitely new business – and they both tanked. M3 is also new business but has been justified as support for my relocated production presence. The other initiatives were arguably old business and have reached various stages of completion. However the two most important pre-existing projects – Daughter of God and Around Lake Michigan – have not been touched!

I haven’t been eating lotus only, progress has been made on various fronts and life is good. I even have a steady girlfriend and the possibility of an instant family.

But… I’m done with distractions. Now let’s be a laser beam, it’s time to make my movies. Since DOG has been on the back burner the longest, it’s first in the queue.

ALM is right after DOG. If we count the reconstruction of Hello World this fall, ALM will be happening concurrently to some degree. The next expedition of ALM will have to be re-thought if it’s going to accommodate sailing, movie making and distribution all at once. After Fukushima, I’ve been thinking about all those reactors I sailed by. What chance does a powered down civilization have surrounded by nuclear bombs? 10,000 years of toxic threat seems pretty daunting, maybe ALM needs a tighter focus.

…and basking in beauty, that’s the summer of 2011. Hello World has been beached (blossomed) for a solid year following her crippling injury 30 miles north of Chicago that ended our 2010 expedition.

She’s communing with the flox and vetch across the street, waiting for repairs. Patrick and I are converting a storage shed into a workshop and that’s where she’ll be before the snow flies. I’ll mend her over the winter.

Meanwhile, she’s watching over another exploration of sustainability – the Lauren di Scipio memorial vegetable garden.  I’ve followed the weed free (layer cake) method – with commercial organic soil in some beds and composted horse poop from Willy and Marijke Church in others. Unfortunately, the entire plot is shadowed by the backyard bluff and misses most of the morning sun. The corn patch is growing in a wedge shape, plants are progressively lower the closer they are to the bluff. There couldn’t be a clearer demonstration of solar power.

So what’s the prognosis for Around Lake Michigan, Search for Sustainable Civilizations? Will there be another expedition? What about posting movies from the rest of the 2010 expedition? What the hell has Dan Kelly been doing for the last year?!

After the 2010 expedition ended, I decided to leave NYC and return to Michigan full time. I enjoyed the summer on Crystal Lake, intent on posting the expedition movies and evaluating the project. The abrupt end of the sailing may have been more discouraging than I was able to admit, my passion for the project waned and… I got distracted.

In August, documentation of Gretchen Eichberger’s American Document flowed into discussions about starting a performance company, which ultimately triggered a traumatic misunderstanding. Though our friendship has bounced back, we’ve since steered clear of any significant collaborations.

In September the lads and I joined my brother Mike for a trip down the San Juan River in Utah. My no jet travel protocol and recent ALM experience prompted me to do a little trickstery critique of James Weston’s Africa documentary in November.

Speaking of James, my experience with Mykl Werth’s partner dance methodology started an extensive exploration of how Mykl’s classroom technique could be translated to video. We started in October but by the spring of 2011, disagreements with Mykl about the business model ended the project.

Also in September, the Trickster Pictures motion graphics show reel was re-activated, featuring work by myself and the Bear Lake Kelly brothers. We posted Version 0.9 in May of 2011.

From October 2010 – March 2011, I taught Tai Chi at Studio on Main in Frankfort, which Patrick and I have since moved to the house. Joe Cissel, Patrick and I were also teaching ourselves combat mime for most of the winter.

In the spring, I conned James into forming a production affinity group, the Michigan Movie Makers. After the first meeting, James was off to film school in Montana,  but fortunately a slew of other local production VIPs have stepped into the breach. M3 had a presence at the recent Traverse City Film Festival, and I ended up volunteering for the TCFF video team and helping to edit a video for the Awards Ceremony.

The inventory of distractions wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t mention the house I’d neglected for the last 6 years. The furnace was toast, skylights leaking, etc. Still some stabilization required before real weather returns.

In the fall of 2010, I made a commitment to focus on current projects and not start any new ones. The Gretchen and Mykl dalliances were definitely new business – and they both tanked. M3 is also new business but has been justified as support for my relocated production presence. The other initiatives were arguably old business and have reached various stages of completion. However the two most important pre-existing projects – Daughter of God and Around Lake Michigan – have not been touched!

I haven’t been eating lotus only, progress has been made on various fronts and life is good. I even have a steady girlfriend and the possibility of an instant family.

But… I’m done with distractions. Now let’s be a laser beam, it’s time to make my movies. Since DOG has been on the back burner the longest, it’s first in the queue.

ALM is right after DOG. If we count the reconstruction of Hello World this fall, ALM will be happening concurrently to some degree. The next expedition of ALM will have to be re-thought if it’s going to accommodate sailing, movie making and distribution all at once. After Fukushima, I’ve been thinking about all those reactors I sailed by. What chance does a powered down civilization have surrounded by nuclear bombs? 10,000 years of toxic threat seems pretty daunting, maybe ALM needs a tighter focus.

This is for my extended inner circle of creatives, both producers that might have a micro budget and/or good things to trade and artists that might have a wild idea or fancy getting hired to help.

x

Am I prepared to take on motion graphics challenges professionally? Do I have the knowledge, workflow, hardware support and storage to pull off something really complicated? Not quite yet. Perhaps clients are on their way, but I’m aspiring to professional performance to realize my own outstanding projects, DOG and ALM.  I see SFX as the three way love child of editing, painting and code, a natural extension of what I’ve been doing for awhile. You may or may not see an opportunity for yourself here, my job is only to keep the cosmic channels open.

To finish my projects, I’ve got to set my expectations at 80% max. That means that if I want to wrap them this year, I’ve got to accept that I’m only  going to achieve 80% of my vision. That’s reality, see behind the scenes for my rationale.

Premise

Climbing high above a menacing mega-weather system, the VIP passengers aboard the Execu-jet attempt an escape to gentler climes, anticipating warm backrubs and frosty cocktails. Hubris! Even the mighty kerosene sucking turbo engines cannot forever loft such a heavy burden of sin! The weighty karma of their own greedy excess, their wanton spilling of carbon into the atmosphere and flippant sabotage of the global life support system drags them down. As if judged by the ancient gods, a bolt of rogue lightning strikes! Down, down into the swirling siphon perhaps to ditch in the flood waters or be smashed into jelly upon a mountain side. Fin.

Climate Change is a spin off of my Power Down PSA.

When my pals James and Jamaica were invited to document a travel boondoggle disguised as right livelihood, I felt compelled to whip up an editorial video. This didn’t stop the travel or even jam the hype, but I’m glad I spoke up. I’ve since been contacted by others who were also annoyed by the project’s premise, so at least I’m not the lone curmudgeon.

<digression>

Is it possible to carve out a profitable niche in “green” industries and services? Can we convert our environmental debts into the comfortable currency of convenience and excess? How can we repair the global life support system if we’re not ready to abandon some familiar habits? Clearly, what we’ve been conditioned to think of as good and proper just isn’t. Hamlet, you have drunk your death.

I hear coffee enemas are good for you, but sucking the stuff down daily ain’t, period. Shipping beans or any other commodity around the world certainly isn’t healthy for the planet – check this container ship presentation. Riding your bike to work every morning will never make up for your vacation jet flight. If you’re going to process organic food, pay local growers more than California growers. Be on guard against activist arrogance – we can’t trade our good works for privilege. Beware of environmental leaders with large families, they need to hustle to feed all those kids. We’ve got real work to do and willful ignorance isn’t helping. I’m willing to be somewhat diplomatic and gentle in explaining the situation, but to those who assert their personal agenda over global survival, watch out.

</digression>

I shot the jet footage at Cherry Capital Airport and wanted to wipe out the plane’s registration numbers so I wouldn’t need a release. It was unlikely that the owners of the jet would gang up with the boondogglers and retaliate, but better safe than sorry. Another job for After Effects! I mucked my way through and the results were… good enough!

Unmarked plane, ready for a rendition run

When I was stabilizing the footage for the registration erasure, I wondered how the jet would look without it’s background. Weeks later, I was refreshing my roto chops with Pete O’Connell’s tutorials and needed some footage to practice with. The jet seemed ideal. After a rough roto extraction of the jet from the airport, I played with new backgrounds, including a trippy swirl that seemed to suck the stabilized jet in. That sketch became the basis for Climate Change.

Rough roto and the original vortex

The difference between a rough and a refined roto turned out to be about 3 days more work. The new roto tightened up the edges and wiped out the landing gear.

I also added a strobe flash, based on strobe from the original footage.

Lightning strikes are a bit of cliche, but so are apocalyptic images generally. Never mind that the plane is flying above the weather system, gimme some of that special Hollywood sauce! Extensive experimentation with various plugins eventually led to Sapphire’s S_ Zapto for the lightning and S_Glownoise for the dancing glow of rain on an electrically charged fuselage.

Jonathan and Patrick (experienced 3D modelers) both suggested that the plane’s movement was unrealistic, while James Weston (airplane pilot and flight instructor) was fine with the movement. Jeff wanted me to loose the rain streaks, he thought that broke the shot. The feedback was all over the place, so I decided to not make any changes. Maybe it is a little over the top. Jonathan thought the scene would work if it were pushed to be either totally over the top or totally realistic. I’ll ponder that when we plan the next release.

This is mostly directed to Jonathan with a heads up for Patrick, the other 2 directors on the motion graphics reel. This is all issues we’ve discussed before, eg documenting lessons and process.

The car renderings must be 3968×2288, not 3840×2160. The extra space is so that there isn’t a border when the cars track the camera shake. We gave them a lot of leeway, at least +/- 50 frames.

The new white light and blue light renderings are more reflective, but the color washout doesn’t improve photo-realism, we’re just trading matte and saturated color for glossy and washed out color. Is there another approach?

Even if the new renderings worked you’d still have to re-render at the higher dimensions. This demonstrate the need to document. Legacy projects should include details about their approach and solutions. Documentation saves us from repeating trial and error when revisiting projects and provides a solid foundation for new projects.

I am leaning towards a single resource that has specific entries for each project and application.  We might associate notes with each AE or mocha file during development but at the finish everything gets compiled.

I think the compilation is going to be our individual blogs, with regular backups. The advantages of using blogs as opposed to local files are 1) you always know where it is, 2) other members of the team can refer to it as needed when they are coming up to speed on software or projects, 3) you can link to references that explain and support the content, including collaborators blogs, 4) you create a resource for the wider community as well as the team, and 5) if we know other folks are going to read it we will need to be clear and obvious in our descriptions – more likely that (years later) it’ll be comprehensible to us.

There is a method for running a blog on a local drive so we’re not dependent on the web connection for referencing our content.

I’d be willing to entertain a solution for documentation that doesn’t involve blogs if it meets the above criteria. Otherwise, you’ll have to bite the bullet and get used to the idea of updating your own blog regularly with clearly written posts about lessons learned. Ghak!

I probably should revisit the organization and objectives of MY various sites. I want to have high level blog(s) to foster affinities – audience, investors, collaborators, movie geeks and content allies. Typically, high level posts are broad strokes, epiphanies and metamemes with deep technical detail provided indirectly – as links. This is standard interaction, from general to specific. Deep technical detail attracts a different crowd. Production artists  require a consolidated technical resource that they can reference and revise. The resource is easier to maintain if it’s all in one place, rather than scattered over several blogs.

Currently I’ve got one high level blog for each project – dogthemovie.com, almondsmovie.com, ondesire.com. I can designate holyboners.com as the low level technical (and philosophical) mothership.

When you’ve written complex software with thousands of lines of code you appreciate how essential comments are. Since I’ve been responsible for polishing the motion graphics reel, I took on most of the pain of not having proper documentation for the legacy scenes.  As we move forward, each director will take responsibility for polishing his/her own projects. Adopting a blog/documentation protocol now may seem like drudgery, but it will save your bacon on the next iteration of the reel.

Might be worthwhile to revisit CK roto and recall your process. Same with smoke, iCar illustration, car renderings… remember the funky exported tiff sequence that shrunk the CK video?

Documenting lessons and implementations will slow the process down in the short term, but accelerate our competency and make us very efficient. It’s a waste of time if we just create willy nilly and then have to decipher a project 3 months later or even 2 weeks later, relearn all the lessons and make all the same mistakes.

Below are various permutations of the cars and masks that are begging for explanations. Here’s my inadequate (high level) documentation on the highway scene.

I also need to share all the AE files in their final cleaned up form.

Since we all are involved in developing technical and creative expertise, we all have to document for effective collaboration. So it’s not like I want you to suffer alone… >:)

What is a party anyway and Why do I keep having them?  These questions are surprisingly sticky, fraught with dangerous revelations and dark discoveries. With not a little trepidation I turn my attention to look, to document, to understand. Though there be dragons here, certainly treasures too.

For What, I’ll start with a broad sweep of the brush. Party : a gathering of people whose only agenda is to be, together.  Note that punctuation. Since this definition suits both mystic and fascist it’s really no definition at all. The trick is to forget about meaning and just feel it’s flow and rhythm, beat style. Parties are subtle and wonderful phenomena, too slippery for pointy fingers. To name it is to miss it, methinks.

As we turn to Why, remember – no matter how filthy pedants might scribble and peck, a thousand answers to Why doesn’t tell us anything about What. The Whys are worthy of review, so here’s a few.

Why I keep having parties

Introducing Dan Kelly

I left Michigan in 2003 to level up from mere traitor to full on terrorist. After a year wandering in the wilderness, I perched in Brooklyn, New York until the summer of 2010. After busting Hello World 30 miles north of Chicago during Expedition 2 of the Search for Sustainable Civilizations, I decided to pull a prodigal and return to Michigan full time. Mostly I wanted my trees, sunny dunes and snowy frozen lake back. Who could’ve guessed that while I was elsewhere, the north woods would sprout a thick and mossy mat of arts, (specifically dance + movies), to rival what I’d been soaking up out east? And even more painters!

Inexorable awakening had swept the scene. Kids who were just 13 in 2003 are now legal to drink and debauch. The hoary exploits of Dan Kelly are half remembered myths, fables to keep naughty children in check, dreams of a bygone age. I am a stranger to the tribe.

May I introduce myself? Party’s are one method of milieu re-entry, a way to take the stage and give the gift of my heretical healing. Say ‘hey’ to a more hep and perhaps humbler Dan Kelly, one of the hero’s thousand faces. I’m back and ready to boogie shoes with u.

Reason to Clean

Having the house clean and organized feels wonderful, but I don’t always give that gift to myself. Since I’m obsessed with wrapping legacy movie projects, domestic messes get deferred until visitors show up.  Messes range from routine maintenance (like dishes, laundry) to ineffective resources (enigmatic pantry, disheveled library).

Major infrastructure issues (busted furnace, foundation failure) always take priority over mere messes. The house has several infrastructure vulnerability stop gaps in process, (bare wallboard, untrimmed skylights) so an immaculate environment is not possible, the best I can do is an uncluttered, cozy and hygienic space. If guests get the impression that I am not a total slob, that’s a win.

When parties loom, I can usually handle all the routine maintenance and at least one inefficiency. The pantry was the Rabbit Party’s achievement (February 5, 2011), there was an extensive library purge for the Lunar Eclipse and Winter Solstice gathering (December 20, 2010) and for the American Document Afterglow (August 28, 2010) I built lofts. Maybe I’ll handle the killer robot that lurks in the garage next.

Community building

We are cruising into some seriously strange times. With luck the American empire will drift off in a delicious plume of feathery dust, as opposed to crashing down in a cascade of tumbling concrete and jagged rebar. In any case, the coherency of the tribe will see us through.  By playing together we become aware of the robust inventory of capabilities, experience and knowledge available in our local community. We flash on the possibilities offered by creative recombination of our diverse powers and gifts. We understand who is a facilitator and who needs a pinch of catalyst.

Parties are driven by the innovators, the adventurers, the dreamers of dreams and the makers, the manifestors. There’s a couple or three sweet utopias sparkling among the razor black shards of apocalypse, and parties point a path through. Amidst the multiplicitous futurez, party people stride towards bright survival. We practice sticking together and improvising on the edge of experience.

Parties as Production

The Trickster Pictures blog is subtitled, “the party people who love to movie.”  Both parties and movie productions require organization, preparation, an awesome cast/crew and superb locations. The main players’ competency, personal charisma and panache support everyone involved/attending. The gathered gestalt must be able to flow and flex with improvisational aplomb. Throwing parties is useful not only as a exercise of logistical fortes, but as a practice of the subtle social dynamics essential to excellence in movie making.

Parties as Art

The juicy stuff. Dancing and live music can happen in both parties and works of theater. Party people might even be performers – either professionally or by inclination. Unlike theater, a party doesn’t distinguish between performers and audience. Everyone shows off, pulls a boner, gets a surprise, is enchanted, falls in love, pratfalls. Probably the most intriguing and generally appealing of my personal Whys, certainly deserving of it’s very own post.

“Did you have fun?” “It was the partyest!”

“No he’s not an artist, he’s a partyst.

“We do big things. From the earliest days of our founding, America has been the story of ordinary people who dare to dream. That’s how we win the future.”

… and don’t forget a heaping helping of genocide on our own frontiers and the overthrow of a slew of democratically elected governments where there’s stuff we want, like Haiti, Iran, Congo… Do we really need to “win the future”? Winning is fine for games like chess, soccer and Wii but it doesn’t really scale up to the global, we’re just too interconnected.

I came out of class late last night, and the rhetoric of returning America to her former dominance was all I heard. Phawg!

“Encounters at the End of the World” is my first encounter with Werner Herzog. The title of the movie has a double meaning, referring both to Herzog’s NSF sponsored visit to Antartica, and his cliche assertion that humanity is doomed. By filling the screen with field researchers, he attempts to borrow scientific imprimatur for his soured perspective.  “Encounters” is a kind of ego porn in which Werner manages to be both trite AND pretentious. There’s certainly beauty in the work, but much of it seems accidental, as if Werner himself doesn’t know what he’s pointing the camera at or why. His ugly observations keep anything authentic from emerging on the screen. Extracting the merest nugget of pleasure required constant effort – untangling the hokey mishmash of condescending interviews, eye candy and reverb heavy choral music.

In the distant past I had posted about Grizzly Man, another Herzog project which I have yet to see. It’s supposedly about a kid who get’s eaten by the bears he loves. Since “Grizzly” isn’t an instant watch on Netflix, I figured “Encounters” would be a tasty appetizer. Now I’m really not looking forward to the entree.

This brings me to why I want to have parties. I’m all aglow about community building here in Michigan, about pooling artistic resources to become more than the sum of our parts. Making movies requires diverse talent. Gathering and taking inventory of regional creatives is key. It’s simple really. Who can have fun, who’s into living life? Parties are about social play and digging the moment. I know I can build a future with folks who like to laugh.

We’ve got a world to save, we’ve got to evolve and how. Sad old boors like Werner Herzog are not going to get the job done. We need vital folks for that, folks who have the human game sussed. Party people.

Every year or two, I replace and upgrade gear to stay current with emerging technology. I used the Vixia HF-S10 exclusively for the 2009 and 2010 expeditions of Around Lake Michigan, Search for Sustainable Civilizations, shooting 100s of hours of video. All components were stored in waterproof bags and protected from dust and sand. Along with the HF-S10, I have two HF-100s that were not used on the expeditions. The only difference between the two models is that the HF-S10 has 32 BG of internal memory. Both models use Series 6 or above SDHC cards.

Kit 1 – $800 or best offer

Vixia HF-S10 Camera standard package
Remote
AC Power (CA-570)
(1) Battery Canon (BP-807)
USB cable (IFC-400PCU)
Stereo video and audio cable (STV-250N)
Component video (CTC-100/S)
Box
Manual as PDF

(3) 16 GB SDHC memory
Battery Charger (CG800)
(4) Battery Canon (BP-819)
Century Optics Reversible .55 Wide Angle and Fish Eye Adapter (small scuff on lens)
Century Optics Digital Sunshade
Tenba bag

Kit 2 – $600 or best offer

Vixia HF-S100 Camera standard package
Remote
AC Power (CA-570)
(1) Battery Canon (BP-807)
USB cable (IFC-400PCU)
Stereo video and audio cable (STV-250N)
Component video (CTC-100/S)
Box
Manual as PDF

(1) 16 GB SDHC memory
Century Optics Reversible .55 Wide Angle and Fish Eye Adapter
Century Optics Digital Sunshade

Kit 3 – $500 or best offer

Vixia HF-S100 Camera standard package
Remote
AC Power (CA-570)
(1) Battery Canon (BP-807)
USB cable (IFC-400PCU)
Stereo video and audio cable (STV-250N)
Component video (CTC-100/S)
Box
Manual as PDF

(1) 16 GB SDHC memory

I wrote this originally for Gretchen Eichberger’s “Music for Sleepy Beings” CD, but it didn’t make the cut. Even though I’m an old wolf with no kids, I know what it is to be up late and wishing I could sleep. “Go to Sleep Now Baby” is a dual use ditty, appropriate for calming children or (in my case) a manic girlfriend.

I had to strip the Planets off the You Tube version of the Power Down PSA, and tho “Baby” is kind of a weird replacement, it was expeditious.

Go to Sleep Now Baby

Play movie for computer, phone or youtube

An ALM inspired public service message about giving up jet travel, whipped up in response to a regional fund raising effort that seemed inherently contradictory. The more I learned the more I felt compelled to speak out. The catalytic event was the release of a video by musicians May Erlewine and Seth Bernard on their kickstarter site.

Several aspects of their project appear problematic, but I’ve focused on the environmental impact. I’m down with Awakening the Dreamer, a movement to realize a socially just, environmentally sustainable and spiritually fulfilling human presence on the planet. These three outcomes are inherently linked, achieving one at the expense of the other two is no achievement at all.

There are certainly bigger fish to fry, why critique local activists and artists? Who elected Dan Kelly the arbiter of worthiness?

Folks disagree on how dire our environmental situation is, but it’s pretty clear we’ve got to make a change. Transparency and open communication are critical to deciding what that change should be. If we artists and activists can’t figure out how to do transparency and communication within our extended local tribe, how can we expect anyone to figure it out?

I don’t know many of the principle actors personally, but I am aware of their worthy efforts in the past. For my part, I just spent the last couple of years searching for artifacts of future sustainable civilizations. Having sailed a 16 foot catamaran 600 miles Around Lake Michigan, I’ve got some unique information to share especially with regards to travel.

I’ll be posting on youtube after a bit more polish.

I tested my PSA yesterday – me doing a talking head with ALM b-roll. It’s got potential. This morning I simplified the narration.

I am Dan Kelly

In 2008 I was invited to sail around the Hawaiian islands and make a movie about sustainability. Getting to Hawaii usually means flying – and jet flight generates lots of carbon. Documenting low impact lifestyles while having a big impact myself – that didn’t make sense. So I decided to stay home and make the movie right here, in Michigan.

sync sound
opening of ALM

In fact, I haven’t flown on a jet since. This summer I visited my brother for a trip down the San Juan river in Utah, a round trip of over 4000 miles, and it was Amtrak and cars the whole way.

river trip montage, floating

Flying on jets is probably the most environmentally damaging American behavior. If we’re concerned about climate change then jets should be the first thing we give up.

video of “on jets” calculation

I love to travel – adventure is my middle name. There’s so much to learn from other people and cultures. Maybe we can even help the folks we visit.

whoa! shots, that suckers coming right at me
http://ondesire.com/story/09-09-28_ritch_branstrom/01.html, carol

But trying to do good deeds by flying to far away places seems an obvious contradiction. We don’t need jets to have adventures or be of service. Wondrous discoveries await within 200, 20 or even 2 miles of our front door. Plenty of people need love and support in our own home towns.

(montage of more sailing, arriving on beaches, characters, town signs)

We are all responsible for each other, for our common survival. The choices we make now determine what will happen to us and to our extended family on earth. Jet travel is not a responsible choice, it messes up the global life support system we all depend on.

earth animation

let’s live fully, pay attention and power down

black with text, then “resources”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_and_the_environment

http://www.ondesire.com/ search for “jets”

I’ve been away from ondesire.com for a couple of months, reconstructing my land based life and recovering from an NYC exit. Let’s return now to the Around Lake Michigan archives for further extraction and posting. I’m starting with a PSA exploring the ills of jet travel. ALM is a search for what’s useful, the artifacts of future sustainable civilizations. Rather than look at what is wrong and complain, ALM explores what might be right, what seems to work. Explaining why something works may require contrasting it with what doesn’t.

There’s a local effort underway to fund extensive jet travel, ostensibly for good works on the other side of the earth. Certainly the organizers mean well, but on the balance they’ll probably do way more harm than good. Having recently sailed hundreds of miles in an open catamaran, I’m in a unique position to comment, to offer some perspective on travel choices. Here’s a first draft of my narration.

Two years ago I was invited to sail around the islands of Hawaii and make a movie about sustainability. Getting to Hawaii usually means flying on a jet plane – and that’s a huge carbon footprint. Talking about the low impact lifestyle while having a big impact myself – that didn’t make sense. So I decided instead to stay home and make my movie right here, in Michigan. In fact, I decided to give up jet flight in general. This summer I visited my brother for a trip down the San Juan river in Utah, and it was Amtrak and cars the whole way.

Flying on jets is just about the biggest environmental impact we can have as Americans. Trying to do good deeds by flying to far away places is usually a contradiction. Do the ends justify the means?

I love to travel – adventure is my middle name. There’s so much to learn from other people and cultures. Maybe we can even help the folks we visit.

We don’t need to fly in jets to have adventures or be of service. Wondrous discoveries await within 200, 20 or 2 miles of our front door. There are plenty of people who need love and support in our own home towns.

If we want to help people in China or Africa, we can send checks to reputable organizations already there. If we want to make new friends on the other side of the earth, we can reach out through social networks, telephones and… wait for it… posted letters.

If we traveled around the world without taking a single jet, we would have a richer and more immediate experience, make more friends, have many more adventures and probably be a lot smarter after.

We are all responsible for each other, for our common survival. The choices we make determine what will happen to us and to our extended global family. Jet travel is not a responsible choice, it messes up the global life support system we all depend on.

live fully, go slow, power down

Day 5 was the second and for real launch. June 1st was the official day of getting Hello World into the Big Lake and starting to sail but the truth was we weren’t ready. A few days of puttering around in Bear Lake and Beulah and then 6.5 hours organizing and prepping on Arcadia beach got us there. This short 3:33 segment gives a taste of Day 5 and Day 6.

10-06-05 Ready to go for real, Arcadia to north of Portage Lake, Michigan (computer, phone)

With ALM, I have three basic flows for telling the story – raw video, motion graphics and posts (text). Though I wasn’t as faithful with imaging everything, I was fairly thorough in my writing. I captured details that I certainly would have been forgotten now. The posts are ready made narrative. It’s another voice, a different Dan, another processing perspective.

What stories do I want to tell, what is the story? Are details like my struggle with Wordbooker worth telling? This geeky stuff might be trivia, but if ALM is about learning how to do a project, how to be low impact and effective, if it’s about an open source approach then these details could be the components of a future epiphany.

The details I choose to include reveal my opinion of what matters. What’s most important and what’s next most important? Including the disaster details means I can turn around and talk about what did work…

“The best gear (approach, attitude) is often not mentioned because it’s never part of the problem, it’s never a cause or contributor to trials and tribulations. Rather, good gear is an invisible assumed element of every solution. Here’s my roster of invisible stuff.”

Now we’re into collaborator territory. This could also make me a field testing force to be reckoned with. The question is – is grabbing collaborators part of my main theme(s)?

I can also bring the blog right into the movie as screen capture while narrating.

Tangents aside, there’s an immediate goal here – to make a first pass on the video, to post it. To revitalize the project and find out what it is, who’s on board. Can there be an online following between trips? How does that work?

Another tangent. Recently I saw Dave Hart and we had a great time just hanging out. When I think about philosophy of projects I am reminded of an argument we had about cam chocks for climbing protection, back on the South Manitou boat when he and I weren’t getting along so great. I gave Roger Bonnet’s argument that cam chocks were overly complicated, expensive poser gear. I can’t remember why Dave liked cams – maybe because they were a sort of one size fits all solution that ultimately reduced the amount of metal (and weight) on a rack. It doesn’t matter what you do or don’t know about climbing, the basic argument was simplicity vs complication. Both of us felt probably felt like we were arguing for simplicity.

Simplicity will emerge as one of my principles of preparing for and approaching a challenge, but my idea of simplicity has to be clarified, rigorously polished until it’s perfectly obvious.

What this all helps me to understand is that I’m ready to take another whack at the index cards and sort the main themes of the project. It’s a great day, except for this burning pain in my adrenals. But that’s another story.

An easy afternoon on the beach making adjustments to Hello World, mostly the straps and plates that secured the waterproof rifle cases. There’s also insights about yawning.

Behind the scene details were posted on June 6.

10-06-04 Adjustments in Arcadia, Michigan (computer, phone)

Sailing from Elberta to Arcadia on Day 2 was much easier than getting from Point Betsie to Elberta on Day 1. In this episode, I discuss the plan to beach Hello World and run some errands while still within range of the home base, recap Day 1, ramble about where the water comes and marvel at the miracle of solar power.

10-06-02 Elberta to Arcadia, Michigan (computer, phone)

Somehow the front aluminum pylon is sinking or twisting inside the hull. It might have happened while moored in Chicago’s Monroe Harbor, perhaps from an impact by another boat. Or it could be a sign of some internal problem that is only now showing up, like the pylon coming loose from the bottom of the hull? I did a deck job on both hulls a year ago and sailed 300 miles with no hitches. There are no fractures or cracks anywhere around the deck where the pylon emerges. There’s a ring around the pylon where the deck is now slightly concave. Any experienced Hobie sailors ever seen anything like this before?

Starboard hull outside	Starboard hull inside

Port hull outside	Port hull inside

Day 34

I had ambitions last night, but today just flitted away. I tinkered with the camera on the boat and made a spectacle of myself chillin’ in the tent. I got looks from tender passengers and a “love your setup” from folks on a passing big boat. Generally I think Chicago is a wash, I’m ready to sweep out of here. It’s not that there isn’t plenty of interesting things happening, but I’ve hit it wrong. The holiday extends until Monday and so there’s nobody to meet with until Tuesday and without prior arrangements it’s not a crap shoot whether anyone will be available then. It sounds so much better to just loose the lines and get out of town. There’s plenty more lake to go. Tonight there will be pretty fire in the sky and of course I’ll get some shots. They canceled last night’s show so I’m thinking, it’ll be double tonight. Maybe I’ll actually try and edit in the tent tonight, but chances are I’ll just drink my beer and pass out. This stop counts as a rest I guess.

Day 33

Perfection? The kingdom of god is spread upon the earth and man does not see it. Someone to tumble with in this grass would be sweet but as far as solo moments go, pretty near perfect. In tree shadow on sloping grass, facing the water and Hello World tugging on her can. So many other boats, most of them with masts! Behind me the great city yawns and rumbles with AM bustle.

Hello World is so low profile as to be nearly invisible, like a bigger boat that sank. Besides the buzzing and piping of birds, I hear hundreds of masts clanking against thier shackles, the accidental bells of an unplanned devotion. Each sail boat is a place of practice, a temple to the available free energy of wind. Hello World came right into Monroe Harbor under this energy, probably she’s the only boat who did. The rest manuevered to their cans with petrol motors. Out on the Big Lake, they sail.

All projects are test projects. I wonder about ALM, certainly a movie will emerge from this, but am I just setting the stage for a future scheme?
Much of ALM works, but I’m having problems with posting and sharing video. That’s kind of a crucial component. “Look at me I’m traveling” and “here’s what happened today” are not enough of an outcome to justify all the effort and expense. I’m living pretty minimally granted, but I want to offer more than just reporting the trivia of my admittedly unusual life.

Doing this project, I feel like an envoy of destiny, one foot stepping into an incredible possibility, an inevitable present that boggles. Are we really going there? Are we really getting in accord with the momma? I guess by dreaming it, by dedicating a summer to it, I am bringing it forth.

Yes the social aspect matters, it’s gotta make sense. Video and blogging are somehow integral, even if they are ineffective, if hardly anyone is paying attention. The ritual of outreach is what this is about, imaging the ideas flowing out and finding minds, delighting and inspiring. If I act in good faith, eventually the reality will catch up to my dreams.

Hello World is just left of center

A column of Segways passed my shade, surreal

Day 32

Not enough sleep after dozing in the conference room while cloning drives, but me and the z-bike were on the Metra heading south by 9:00 am. When I peddled up the beach was clean, sunny and deserted. I was happy to see Hello World gently rocking at anchor protected from the south wind. I asked Jen at the life guard station about the water conditions in case there was an ecoli or medical waste situation. She was relaxed said she hadn’t heard of any problems. I asked her if the boat out there had been any trouble and told her it was mine and she said the staff had been keeping an eye on it. So cool. I thanked her and took some pictures of Hello World from the south pier, then set up the camera and made a movie of bringing her in. It wasn’t until 11:45 that we were launched and heading towards the breakwater. Tacking got us across the shipping lane, passing the lights and out into the open water. Several sails passed through ahead of us but the only one heading towards Chicago we left behind within an hour. Hello World’s a frisky boat. Our heading was 135-140, bringing us right past an odd little structure that said “restricted” and went beep. It had some dishes on it, looked like microwave to me.

I googled images of the Shed Aquarium so I could have some visuals to guide me in. I also checked and rechecked my charts to be sure I wasn’t totally confused. The skyscrapers of the city loomed large, we headed right at them. It was a perfect wind to get there, pushing the whole 8 miles north then providing plenty of power to get us west into the harbor mouth and through the chop. Looking for the O row (O for Oscar) and dropping sail after spotting it. Turns out I overshot and went to the Q row, but with a little vigorous if panicky paddling I was in the right row and hanging onto 29. I must have taken 45 minutes to tie my little anchor lines to the can in a sufficiently bulletproof configuration. I guess I was nervous. In the movie “When Worlds Collide”, the climactic scene is when the hastily constructed spaceship carrying the last survivors of earth attempts a landing on the new planet, out of fuel and coming in fast. The ship skids and bounces in the snow and when it finally stops, there’s a brief silence and then triumphant music – success! That music was playing in my head while I tied to the can. My very first broadcast on my Icom marine radio was to whistle up the harbor tender. I took the bike and a small bag with me. 6:30 pm.

Shaved and showered at the hostel and back to Flacos for enchildas and another burrito. A little more computing and then bed by 10:45 pm. Phew!

Hiding in the shade of the sail to keep from frying, he looks a little worried...

Chicago proper north

and south

Where in the world is Hello World?

Very low and stealthy. Two boats over from the red hull, foreground.

This is for the Facebook people who’ve been missing out on recent posts due to the unpredictable behavior of the sharing application. I’ve gone back to a less fancy but very reliable solution.

Day 27

Day 28

Day 29

Day 30

Day 31

It’s big city life, Chicago. Amazing how familiar it feels after days and days of waves.

Mostly I’m catching up and doing housekeeping. After breakfast I wandered over to Monroe Harbor and made arrangements to bring in Hello World. I was feeling a little apprehensive about sailing into such a busy place, but learning is what were here for. They’ll call me and let me know my “can”. Cans are floating buoys that boats can tie to, arranged in a grid so it’s something like a parking lot for boats. I did my first floating dock in Grand Haven and Chicago will be my first can.

Credit card snafu resolved thanks to competent record keeping. When you put it out there, it shows up. That’s how I found a health food store in the loop with Bronners, I needed real soap big time and most of my hygiene supplies are a 20 minute train ride and a swim away. Picked up more raw cacao nibs too.

Took CTA out to O’Hare to meet an old friend who now works for the government doing black ops, so I can’t tell you his name. It was cool seeing him even if he is an agent of oppression empire builder rat fink. Flipping this scenario so I’ll feel better about it, I’m going to say that I met my lost love at the airport and she lit up several times during our time together, forgetting her cares and worries for an hour or so over fancy food she wouldn’t eat. We kissed like a dream way too late.

Riding back I was mildly euphoric and not unsettled as if I had spent an hour with a childhood buddy turned monster baby killer. A sort of anti-matter me, I’d rub him out if he wasn’t the yin to my yang, the F.

Returning from the airport, I walked up to the Apple Store along the Miracle mile to buy another hard drive and find a replacement AquaPac. The drive they had but not the other, tho they told me on the phone they had it. Face to face, all the experts and geniuses were totally ignorant of this essential Iphone infrastructure.

Back at the hostel and an errand or two before trying the Indian Cafe around the corner. Not impressed. It seems like there’s an ethnic stealth franchise movement here in Chicago, a theme park approach to restaurants. At Flaco’s Tacos, the food is decent and there’s only Mexican folks working there but I am not sure they own it. Then there’s Joe Curry, which is an Indian spin with similar set up and the only people working there are sort of south asian looking. Meanwhile back at Cafecito a Cuban place that does sandwiches and coffee, the folks working there appear to be some flavor of latin, maybe Cubano. Now it’s not impossible that these places are owned by their respective nationalities, but they all seem to be set up in similar styles. If it’s tastes and looks ethnic, is that enough? Is this worth looking into?

I spent the rest of the evening cloning drives in the 4th floor conference room until about 2:00 am. My lips are chapped and burned, but frequent applications of Carmex are beginning to turn the tide.

My can is North Oscar 29, easy access from the main channel into the harbor. Thank goodness. Looking forward to picking up Hello World, a little worried about her all alone in Calumet Park.

Day 30

Down at the beach with Jeni and Nancy to open my wind window. Steve came jogging by and they introduced us. He’s working at the steel mill and said that before US Steel bought it and nixed everyone’s pensions, it almost became a worker cooperative. Later he returned with his wife Randy with some sweet arrowheads that he had made! He gave me the pick and I immediately snatched the rainbow obsidian, what a beaut.

I offered him one of my artifacts of the global life support system but Jeni took it instead – the polished concrete from in front of Fritz’s in Douglas.

Steve also gave me an organic PB and J, so that about wraps up his application as producer. Imagine what we could accomplish with Michael AND Steve.

Send off from the secret freak tribe at Ogden Dunes, Steve is taking the picture

Dan the other filmmaker showed up too and Nancy’s sister – we had a crowd! I was off the beach by 10:30 into a very light wind, Calumet looked very far. As usual, the gods kicked in and we were hauling ass by 2:30 roaring past the breakwaters of the point and into the harbor. I had a sketchy idea where I was going, but studying images on the net paid off. The mooring is kinda wavy, but the beach was an easy offload. We’ll probably move north soon.

Loaded up with technology and even less of a plan, (eat something) I biked off into the wilds of south Chicago. I was feeling like a bit of an idiot, where was I going? My iphone was out of power, so no helpful searching. The mural of Jake and Elwood was encouraging, I just needed to stop worrying and flow. Eventually a train station appeared and I waited on the “To Chicago” side. The conductor was very helpful and suggested I get off downtown for a Taste of Chicago. I didn’t really care about the festival, but I’d been downtown before. Why not?

Detraining at Monroe, I rode seemingly at random until I found my burrito place – small, good food, cute waitresses and one table with power to charge the iPhone – hurrah! I searched for hotels, then an inspiration… hostels! Remember hostels? The Hostel International Chicago was just a few blocks away for $30 a night. A bike room, laundry, crappy wireless and oblivious young clods – what more could I ask for? At least waves won’t be bashing my spine at 3:00 am. If I can find a solid home for HW, I’ll haunt Chicago for a few days and catch up on the project, duplicate hard drives and ship them home. Maybe within a week we can be back on schedule… Whoa!

What can I say about a night at Chicago’s Hostels International? Generally it’s fun – bunk beds and common bathrooms, padlocking gear. You’re not supposed to drink in bed, but I am constantly needing to hydrate from days in the sun so I took my water bottle up to the top bunk with me – and my laptop, camera, phone… After I nodded off I heard the my bottle slip between the bunk and wall and fell into my neighbor’s bed below. I had dreams of his bed flooding, of my camera getting wet.

Then some duffus came in, turned on his reading light and left for another two hours. I can sleep through a lot but WTF? Coming entirely awake at 3:00 am, I toyed with a scheme for hauling my water bottle back up by dropping a slip knot over it. I could clearly see it between his bed and the wall thanks to the light of the inconsiderate oaf. Problem solving is so much of my moment to moment experience now that it’s like breathing. Fishing with a slip knot in some random dude’s bed seemed fraught with peril, so I bagged the project and resigned myself to fate. Mr reading light finally returned, read for 5 minutes and turned off the light. Just then my downstairs neighbor headed for the bathroom. I pulled on some pants, jumped down and grabbed my bottle. I took it and my phone down the hall to the empty conference room for some charging and catchup time.

Too late to go back to bed – 5:00 am! 7 hours to get to O’Hare airport to meet an old pal. Around 7:00 I checked out the hearty all GMO breakfast the hostel had provided for the kids of less gullible nations and chatted with Anna from Argentina. She was a latina ringer for Sarah Eichberger-Wheeler.

Day 29

Off the New Buffalo Public Beach at 11:00 am after a quick run for groceries and one last visit to the restrooms. The wind was out of the northeast at maybe 9 knots, good for southwest course. At 12:30 I passed Michigan City, Indiana with it’s 3 mile island style cooling tower. Goodbye Michigan, Hello Indiana.

Looking back at Michigan City

Steel mill east of Ogden Dunes and Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

The wind was a bit puffy and capricious, but it was generally one long curving tack until 2:30 pm, well near the steel mill at Burns Harbor or Port. That’s when we made a decisive turn towards shore and the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. I performed a rather clumsy landing and yanked the boat up enough to drain the starboard hull.

The first federal employee on the scene (a lifeguard) was less than welcoming – “Get off the beach,” basically. “I doubt the Gary police will let you park on the City’s beach, and Ogden Dunes has a lot of rules, you probably won’t have any luck there either.” This guy probably didn’t have anything waiting for him at home but a Swanson TV dinner and Seinfeld reruns. Life without magic, what a concept. Turning Hello World into the wind so she’d stay put, I started casting the home spell.

First I called the Gary police and asked the dispatcher to have the beach patrol call me back. Then I headed for Ogden Dunes and the masts poking out the dune grass. I started asking folks I met along the way, “I’m looking for a beach to keep my Hobie for the night.” Nancy told me about Jim, a big sailor and pointed out his house. Before i got there I saw a kid sitting on Hello World’s sister. “Hey, this your boat? Are your parents around, I’m looking for a place to park my Hobie for the night, my name’s Dan.”

His name was Zach and his friend Kyle appeared suddenly from under a kayak. Kinda reminded me of a turtle popping his head out of a shell. I told them my deal and then made my way to the next cluster of Hobie 16s and up to the house behind them.

I met Vicki at her front door and she said I was welcome to park my boat there but I might get a ticket. I thanked her and said I might to her up on the offer.

I hustled back to Hello World and called the Gary Police again just to have some options. The dispatcher wasn’t much help so I thought about calling Gary’s mayor. As his website didn’t have a phone number, I decided to go with my Ogden Dunes plan. Just as I was pushing off an actual ranger showed up. He told me the Feds had jurisdiction for the beach all the into Ogden Dunes but that he wouldn’t bust my boat unless there was a complaint. Thanking him and thouroughly confused, I dragged my baby into the waves.

As I pulled up in front of my safe house, I was greeted by Tom, Zach’s dad. Zach had told his dad and mom Jeni about this guy sailing around Lake Michigan. They invited me to stay with them for the night. How about that?

Zach, Kyle and another pal Cody and had just taken the family’s Hobie out for thier first big wind solo. They were hell bent for Chicago and looked like they might be having a little trouble turning around. Tom and I unloaded Hello World and prepared for a rescue run. By the time we were both wetsuited, harnessed and life preserved, they were heading back. Us old guys were able to stand down.

Tom and Jeni

After the three amigos flew up on the beach like total dudes, Tom took Kyle and Zach back out again while Cody watched me scarf Jeni’s cous cous and beans. Her daughter’s a vegetarian too so she gets it.

They took me home to meet the 4 dogs and grab an ecstatic hot shower. Then the old folks sipped tea and watched the lads doing phenomenal dive tricks in the backyard pool. Before enjoying the sleep of the just, i showed Tom and Jeni the ALM trailer online.

Zach and his pals reminded me of the iconic gang in Bradbury’s R is for Rocket. Made me miss my nephews!

Day 28

I woke up bright and fine after a terrific rest. Having surveyed the forest last night, I knew a nitrogen drop off was doable. The rich loamy sand of the forest floor had a dense root mat. I found a deep pocket of forest far from any trail, scrapped off the duff, opened the mat and dug a hole about 6″ deep. I emptied the poopamatic into the hole, replaced the soil, mat and lastly the duff.

Returning to the boat I crawled back into the tent until the sun climbed over the dune and made it feel like the inside of a light bulb. Before packing, repairs.

A cargo bracket had slipped out and had to be reseated. In the process of tightening I broke a buckle and had to replace it from spares. I sat down with the tiller extender in the shade and slowly worked it open. Wading into the waves with it, I coaxed it open and closed until all the sand was flushed out. Now it’s good as new.

I started getting ready and got as far as rigging the mainsail when the uphaul came untied and flew up the mast and out of reach. My options were either to shimmy up a 25 ft slick aluminum mast, drop the mast or tip the boat on it’s side. Option 3 was my choice and I eventually was able to get the needed leverage by hanging both dry bags and the anchor bags from the wire. She came over like a dream and back to upright without a hitch. By the time I was off the beach and into the big curlers it was 1:30 pm.

I has slept just a couple miles from the Cook nuclear plant, and I passed it sailing sw in a west wind. The wind tapered from a stiff blow to a whimper by 4:30, leaving me stranded in front of New Buffalo. A couple in a largish monohull helpfully told me where I was. They eventually gave up on the wind and motored in. I eventually followed powered by paddle and the occasional puff. On the way in I recovered a mighty blue plastic container which Mike and his family claimed for a recycling bin.

Sunset at New Buffalo

Friendly lighthouse at New Buffalo Public Beach

I supped at the Brewster, a stellar Italian restaurant. Before commiting to the Brewster, I confirmed my plan with the locals at the open til midnight boatshop. That’s where I bought my very own Thirsty Mate like the one Tim Cook had loaned me in Grand Haven. I still haven’t tried the sealant Mark and Marilyn gave me.

I’d like to say the evening was pleasant but I’d be lying. It was very blowy back at the boat but I pitched the tent on the tramp anyway and tried to sleep. I was up at 2:00 am and then again at 3:00 am with incredible night sweats, I think I might be getting sick. The waves were getting louder and the wind was giving the tent a fascinating geometry. I stuck my hand out and into the sand, it was wet! Waves were getting closer.

I offloaded the boat in the moonlight and dragged her to higher ground. I wrapped myself in a tarp behind the gear pile and crashed. I eventually added a sleeping bag to this arrangement to keep from freezing and enjoyed 2-3 hours of blissful unconsciousness. Now for a quick grocery run then vamos.

Day 25 and 26

Jean Klock park. Spent yesterday and this morning with Carol deconstructing the very sleezy maneuvers required to tear down exquisite wild dunes and privatize a community commons. Will a poorly designed golf course and an upscale brownfield development really become the new economic engine of Benton Harbor?

The Jean Klock Park Wikipedia article includes an excerpt from John Klock’s dedication in 1917. He and his wife Carrie gave the park to Benton Harbor as a memorial to their deceased daughter, Jean. Emphasis is mine.

“In taking an inventory of life, we all take stock of the circumstances surrounding the happiest moments. The giving of this park to the city of Benton Harbor has been to Mrs. Klock and myself, the happiest moment of our lives. The deed of this park in the courthouse of St. Joseph will live forever. Perhaps some of you do not own a foot of ground, remember then, that this is your park, it belongs to you. Perhaps some of you have no piano or phonograph, the roll of the water murmuring in calm, roaring in storm, is your music, your piano and music box.”

In closing Klock affirmed: “The beach is yours, the drive is yours, the dunes are yours, all yours. It is not so much a gift from my wife and myself, it’s a gift from a little child. See to it, that the park is the children’s.”

Fast forward 90+ years. About 2/3 of the park has been leased to a commercial golf course and land development scheme, Harbor Shores. Prior to this horror show, a chunk of the park was sold to private parties for beachfront homes. Talk about invader species. The legal battles have been long and hard fought. The last gasp of the suicide culture deploying the same failed strategies with predicatable results. In the short term, loss of wilds and the subversion of local democracy.

So where is the future here? How does this illustrate the emergence of sustainable civilizations?

I think the answer is Carol Drake. She’s a tenacious being with a fierce love of the wilds. Decades into the struggle, she still sheds a tear recalling the Jean Klock Park of her youth. She might feel weary and despondent but she won’t rest until the invaders are repelled and the land healed. She’s doesn’t have wealth or advanced degrees, she just loves that park. That’s what gives her the gumption to keep shoving sabots into the flywheels of the death machine. She hasn’t stopped it yet but she’s certainly slowed it down, made it smoke and grind. Like the Klock’s she copes with her broken heart by giving the gift of the earth. Her continued existence is evidence of a miraculous sustaining energy. It’s my theory that the global life support system has been flowing through her. She is the vanguard, we are all getting plugged in.

Her dunes are coming back.

After phone calls and goodbyes, I walked over from Fritz’s to the Schumann’s beach, turned Hello World around and ate breakfast. The wind was blowing about 15-20 mph and there was great waves for body surfing. Two kids who I assumed belonged to the Schumanns were frolicking in the water and eventually George Schumann’s son Brian came down. Barb wandered by and Ted Ring was playing around with his Hobie in the surf, obviously waiting for me to get my act together.

Marty and Roxy stopped by to find out what my deal was, and Roxy asked a great question, “Hello World, does that have something to do with Perl?” My heart went pitter pat – a geek girl!
“Well it’s common to all software languages, because typically the first computer program folks write displays the words ‘hello world’ on the screen.”
We enjoyed a silent moment of insider affinity.

Ted came in and watched me wrap up the pre-flight. He even caught me in an oversight. We yanked HW into the water with the help of Brian and then Ted jumped on his boat and escorted me out. By the time I hit the lake it was 2:00 pm, kinda late.

Passed South Haven at 4:00 and the nuke plant around 6:00. Now it’s nearly 7:00 and the wind is gone. I’m about 2 miles from shore and 10 miles from Benton Harbor. Guess I’ll try for land while the suns up.

Day 24

There’s steady WNW wind this morning, good for heading south. I’ve got a stop I might make along the way to Benton Harbor today. I’m looking to round out the Lake’s bottom before the month ends. What’s in Chicago? I don’t have any hookups there yet, I’m just going to wing it – maybe make a spontaneous landing north or south and introduce myself to some beachfront homeowner or find the municipal marina. Likewise, I don’t have a clear plan for Gary which I’ll be passing before Chi, but I do have a dark fantasy about a clandestine overnight somewhere in the industrial badlands. This could be the most beautiful and/or harrowing leg of the trip.

First Benton Harbor then a night somewhere in the Indiana Dunes, favored by sweet breezes. Alternate outcomes are infinite, I am open.

Yesterday I edited some of the Vince Gallant segment, pulled Hello World further up the beach and then took the Swans up on their gracious offer to share food at Tracy’s. The rye bread? Fuggedaboudit!

Thanks to Dawn and George Schummer and Fred Eagle Royce for providing power and showers, Catherine Bragdon for our interview in the park, the crew of the chain ferry who I didn’t get a chance to film cause it was closed when I went back, the Swan’s, RJ Peterson, The Oval Beach staff including Tom and especially Vicky Morales, Barb the beach glass and rust collector, Kelsey, Bruce, Tom for the sobering reminder that white supremacy skulks in these pretty little towns (some of my best friends are black people, but…), Amos Kennedy the humble negro printer, Tracy and Marcia.

Day 23

Woke to big thunder and flashes. Wind is less than ideal. Planning to hang here at Fred’s for another day and edit. Jet in the AM for Benton Harbor and St Joe.

Day 22

Waking at Schumann’s 7:00 am, gotta move on over to Fred Eagle Royce’s and then get to town for an interview with RJ Peterson, marina magnate, community booster, friend to the late Dennison and self proclaimed conservationist.

RJ asserts the development proposed by McClendon will be a boon and the best bet for low impact development on the dunes, but also opined that whatever happens on the former Dennison property will not make a wit of difference to the Saugatuck / Douglas economy. For RJ, the harbor is what matters. A municipal marina would help bring support for dredging and maintenance. What if bigger boats could get in as in days of old? What if the Kewadin could get out? RJ is gruff, outspoken and perhaps even a bit stubborn, but I suspect he is more open minded than most locals give him credit for. When I asked him if he was on the McClendon payroll, he barked “I wish!” That’s a sort of integrity, IMHO.

Ignoring or dismissing this dynamic curmudgeon would be a huge blunder. Like the shifting dunes and great pounding shoreline, RJ embodies the heritage and majesty of the region. He is practically a force of nature.

Later Alison and David Swan met with me. They described an aesthetic and economic vision for the community that I found far more compelling and realistic than any old school development so far proposed, low impact or high.

RJ and the Swans have two complementary hunks of one great plan. I wonder if they know…

Julie gave me a hard time about getting a map going and today I finally did all the digital magic. There’s also an updated itinerary at You are here.

Day 20

In Kalamazoo zoo zoo this morning with plans to see the Pekarovic’s goat ranch before jetting back to Saugatuck with Susan. 7:30 am departure turned into 9:30 am because I stayed up editing the Great Lakes Aquatics segment instead of packing. Got an interesting opening I think.

After hugging my new eastern european brothers goodbye, we made it to Wick’s Park gazebo 15 minutes early. Picked up contact info for the Schumann’ enroute, they had offered to shelter Hello World for the duration of our Saug stay.

Interviewed Catherine Bragdon until 1:00 pm and then Susan and I shared a greasy lunch at the Elbo Room.

Back to Oval Park and Saugatuck Dunes Natural Area. Hello World was off her Baolongs but otherwise perfect. Susan crashed on the trampoline as I brought the gear over from the parking lot in 3 trips. Susan split and the boat and me made the move to the Schumanns beach, about 1 mile south. They are generous folks with a lovely home (including wireless) and have offered to put me up too!

Into town for hot beverages at Uncommon Grounds. A quick conversation with Gretchen about the doings back in the hood. Returning to my suite at the Schumann’s for some editing and more lightning posts. Coincidence – our latest benefactors live on Lakeshore Drive which turns into Campbell Rd, as in Mike an Shala Campbell.

A new strategy is needed for the blog. Tho I enjoy writing, trying to craft posts just takes too much time! I’m falling further and further behind. The plan is to try a twitter influenced approach, distillation and supplement with pix when available. Let me know how this works.

Around Lake Michigan, Search for Sustainable Civilizations

Watch the movie excerpt – 13:30 minutes. This is intended to give the basic premise of the project. What artifacts of future sustainable civilizations can be found in Ritch Branstrom’s interview?

The full size and fixed size versions require a fast internet connection. For slower connections, try small.

Feedback about the ALM excerpt is encouraged and appreciated via comments. Please let us know which link you followed above.

Day 15 – 16

Paused in the Pine Motel parking lot on the way back from Wallys, riding the Zilliax Miyata back to Oval beach in the rain. It was a warm rain and I wanted to add a little more to this blog entry. I stopped there for some solid wireless, dripping and pecking at the screen. I should have just checked in. I got back to Oval Beach and following through on my promise to not camp. I pushed Hello World into the surf and anchored for the night… or so I thought. Once out there snug in the tent, the wind came up and started to buffet the boat. Waves smashed the bottom of the trampoline and rolled down my spine. Backwards and forwards, up and down with Hello World creaking and complaining all the while. I eventually bit the bullet and traded my warmish sleeping bag for a wet wetsuit in preparation for an emergency beaching. The worst thing is to do have to hard manual labor after nearly falling asleep. She was secure by the time first light arrived and I got started getting her ready for a few days alone, hauling gear to the parking lot.

Day 16-19

Susan’s smiling face around 10:00 am then 45 minutes back to Kalamazoo (Kzoo, Kazoo) and Garland Gardens (Vince and Susan’s house). Trot the gear up to my garret and start charging. Quick tour of the home farm, 100+ tomato plants. Vince’s mom and Aunt Rose arrive, then Vince himself from packing his classroom, (they’re refinishing the floors at school over the summer). Pizza for dinner, then off to record Vince performing with the Kalamazoo Mandolin and Guitar Orchestra conducted by Miles Kusik and featuring Carlo Aonzo. There’s an after glow at our house where I finally break out the Larrivee and play and sing with members of KMGO. Vince fuels the evening with homebrew beer.

Since constant vigilance and top performance is not currently required, my body demands rest. I yawn and groan constantly.

Wake up on Thursday and organize the blog and posts. I am way behind and intent on catching up. Processing Vixia video with Final Cut Pro takes time, so the computer and hard drives are constantly munching. In the afternoon take the camera to a practice of Great Lake Aquatics (Akitas) the swimming club and racing team that Vince coaches. His coaching is what I’ve come to document. Use the Aquapac underwater bag for the Vixia successfully, tho it continues to be awkward. Kids are a little creeped out by guy in pool with camera. I am caught of guard when Vince introduces me after practice and do a lame job of explaining the project. Home for dinner with Susan and noodling on guitars. Blackout.

Great Lakes Aquatics Summer Solstice swim meet starts on Friday and I’m there to make movies of the Akitas racing against other clubs from around the Michigan and Canada. Catch a ride there and back with Dan from the team, a habitually happy guy. Big storm sweeps through with winds up to 70 mph on Lake Michigan. I fret for Hello World and put a call into Vicki at Oval Park and text to Dave and Allison at Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance. While waiting for the pot of oopama I am making for the fam and visiting swimmers, get creamed at the card game Set by teens. Spend an hour or so interviewing Vince. Video processing is ongoing, begin to run short on hard drive space. Will have to buy additional drives eventually.

Visit the meet again on Saturday for events with Swim for Success kids. Party again at the house with the meet officials and some of the other coaches. Interesting conversation about how pool swimmers have anxiety about open water. Problematic to move pool swimmers to a wild venue (we got lakes) for promotion and expansion of swimming sports around Michigan. Vince and Susan force me to agree to visit the Ondrej, Mattej and Jan Pekarovic at their goat ranch on the way back to Saugatuck Sunday. I disappear to edit Vince’s video and blow off packing.

Watch for a flurry of blog and video posts in the next 24 hours. I’ll be in Kalamazoo with Susan and Vince until Sunday morning then heading back to Saugatuck Dunes Natural Area where Hello World is parked.

Day 15

So much blogging and not enough lime, I mean time. I’m in Wallys in downtown Saugatuck with minimal cell coverage. This place is brimming with hotties dressed for luau, a couple were doing a beer bong as I came in. My ALM 2010 standard issue Hawaiian print shirt is like wearing camo in this place.

I’ve secured a perch with power to feed the iPhone and bribed my server into letting me drink club soda. It’s slightly disconcerting to be blogging out flanked by raging sexy drunks.

A bit of a late start today, off the Rosy Mound beach at 11:30 am after busting a batten pocket, tangling the uphaul cables and getting clobbered by the boom while turning to meet a kayaker. I thought it might be Joan’s husband as she had also mentioned Kayaks. I think the magic Dr Suess hat protected me, my face is tender but so far no bruises.

Before the parade of snafus, Joan Wolfe showed up to enthuse about HER 16 foot Hobie Cat Survivor while the golden hound she was walking dug several joint wrenching trenches in front of Hello World’s launch vector. I told Joan to get Survivor flying and join me in Chicago, then amused myself with a little joint wrenching.

An hour and a half later we beached at Holland’s south pier to meet Blake and Dennis from the Holland Sentinel. The illustrious Mike Campbell of Grand Haven had arranged this press contact. I had invited him to help produce and he’s running with it! Here’s the article.

Dave Swan from the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance had posted on facebook.com/ondesire offering assistance just hours before. This was a connection from artist Marcia Perry who had made the hookup via Facebook sometime in April I think.

Following Dave’s guidance, we swooped to the beach in Saugatuck just north of a sign that read something like “Private Property Here to Pier”, (south). To raise my elevation for better cellphone reception, I followed a path in the dune grass inland and called Dave. No sooner had we started talking than a guy pulled up in an ATV and started hollering at me (it was sort of windy) that I was on private property.

“I’m just trying to get cell reception.” I hollered back. He looked exasperated. I told Dave to hold on and walked over to the guy.

“Your sign says private property south of the sign, I’m north of it. Where does your property end exactly?” I moved a few feet north. “Here?” I jumped a few more. “How about here, is this ok?”

“50 ft more.”

“Well, why didn’t you put your sign 50 feet further down? You’ve gotta admit your signage needs work if you’re this concerned about trespassing.”

“I guess we can’t have enough no trespassing signs so poeple will respect private property.”

“Just make it clear, I’m not trying to cause trouble.” Suddenly realizing that I might like to interview this guy, I introduced myself and told him about the project. He didn’t want to tell me his name!

“We don’t want to be in any movies, we don’t want to talk to anyone. We just want our private property. We don’t let local people come here either.”

Refusing to tell me his name tore it. “Dude, you’ve got to learn to chill out, this is Michigan,” and spun away, back to the boat.

Welcome to Saugatuck.

Climb the bluff carefully for a thrilling view of the big lake and better cell reception.

Nearby construction along the bluff edge reminds me of my reason for sailing around Lake Michigan. Activating global consciousness to steward and EXPAND the wilds.

Wandering about I discover a whacky development project with faux stone and dune grass (?) Head spinning, I borrow stairs back to the beach.

Maybe I’m being judgmental and forgetting essential principle of project – unexpected artifacts. What do the real estate agent and developer have to offer? Interviews?

Take the bike to town, bad reception and depressing juxtaposition of industry and wetlands at nearby park. Forget iphone maps, just ride into town. Synchronistic stumble on the Secretary of State’s office, I forgot to renew my drivers license before launching. Phone rings… date with developer next morning.

Google ‘ludington organic’ and find the Plaza Cafe, interview Tom and then check out Redolencia.

Chad recommends a half press and a couch with power. Blogging and recharge, Chad impromptu set and interview. Meet Lars and head on home, stashing bike in the meadow at top of bluff.

I can’t help but feel as I kick back with my 1/2 french press and cardamom bun ($4.50!) that we truly are on the cusp of realizing sustainable civilizations. Who’d of thought that in downtown Ludington, Michigan there would be coffee shop ambiance to rival – nay – surpass the Tea Lounge in Brooklyn? Redolencia has straight up coffee so fine I can hardly concentrate to write what with the buzz I got on.  Local musician Chad Rushing has already given me multiple mini tours and he’s not even the owner. This place is clearly an incubator for local culture combined with the super friendly Michigan vibe. There are young people here, lots of them.

I just finished my first interview of 2010 with Tom of the Plaza Cafe. It’s spooky how close his story is to Chris and Tanya of Homegrown in Traverse City – it took him 10 years to shift over from conventional restaurant worker to organic evangelist but now – stand back! The Plaza has just started it’s 4th year and it’s Tom’s first business venture. His kids are slinging wraps with him too. One son is going to chef school and his 14 year old daughter can practically run the whole place solo. I had the cream of asparagus soup (organic milk AND cream) and it’s the only soup they serve that’s not gluton free.

I’m getting a little ahead of myself. Let’s jump back a day for some tedious trip details.

Being cozy in a tent when it’s raining is nearly the most romantic situation imaginable, second only to being cozy in a tent when it’s snowing, whether it’s on high altitude pass in Rockies or an illicit encampment in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. More often than not I’m alone when these situations are transpiring, more’s the pity. My next search will be for women who camp!

In spite of ideal atmospheric conditions, it wasn’t all that pleasant waking to wet after a fitful sleep and slightly disturbing dreams.

When pitching the tent it seemed like a good idea to first place a waterproof tarp over the wet horsetail and poplar shoots. The rain pitter pattered prettily against the tent all night, then oozed down to the tarp and pooled in the low spots – like under my foam bed roll. I mused on the art of site selection as I broke camp and packed the soggy gear back to the beach.

Just within the tree shadow, a stand of these stalky blooms signify fairie forest. Identification?

At 12:30 pm we pushed off into curling surf and a bit of whipping drizzle. As NOAA robots were whispering about thunder beings in the churning gray above, Hello World and I offered the ritual of jumper cable deployment.

I was disheartened at the prospect of sailing in chilly wind (mid 50s) with no warming sun. I wondered why I hadn’t just stayed home with a book and a hot bath or slumped in a rocking chair with my feet aimed at the cheery glow of a woodstove. Soon enough we were jumping south-ish in the brisk NE blow and I was competent guy, with no time for wussy old man thoughts.

The 210 course turned out to be more like 240. I was intrigued to find the new Silva compass had a frozen bezel. This had happened to another Silva in 2009, a couple of days before it blew up. Turns out the adhesive velcro I had used to mount it to the tiller was the culprit. I didn’t realize the compass bottom articulated. The old compass exploded because the velcro had formed a seal where there shouldn’t have been one.

We dashed past the break waters of Manistee and on to Big Sable Point in one long, strong tack and then turned south. Dedication paid off, a bit of blue opened to the north. Just before Big Sable, the cloud cover began rotating around us, with the southern clouds heading inland and the northern clouds moving out over the lake. Trippy. I took it as an acknowledgement of our sacred quest.

Ahead of Hello World, clouds move inland ...

... in the wake of Hello World, clouds move out over the Big Lake

Approaching Big Sable Point and Ludington State Park	Sun at last	Big Sable Point lighthouse

x

Ludington State Park was a potential landing spot, but reconnaissance proved the beaches too crowded for inconspicuous camping. We kissed beach at the remote southern tip of the park but the “no camping” signs were a deterrent.

Riding the north-ish wind we glided past the festive beachfront of Ludington, across the breakwater and on towards rugged bluffs that suggested difficult beach access for the few houses perched above. The wind had been powering up and we surfed it another couple miles right into a secret pirate cove, complete with sparkling springs and a crumbling fortress. 5:00 pm arrival, 30.5 miles in 4.5 hours on the water.

The crumbling citadel near our pirate cove

I don’t want to leave the tent. 7:20 am, sore and wishing to sleep more. The waves take a little breath now – big surges with a rest in between. That’s a change from yesterday – constant roll and crash.

Finally pushed off at 5:00 pm from Point Betsie after a tedious couple of hours of preparation. The first moments in the water were a comedy teetering on tragedy as the boat lept into the big wind and ran me over. I slid under the trampoline and just caught the tiller bar as it rushed over me. Imagine a backpack laden catamaran arriving in Wisconsin all by herself… That’s the reality I might have blogged about this morning.

Instead we fought 2 hours to go 2 miles south – in a south wind. Negotiating a inexorable procession of kinesthetic questions, shining choices between staying upright and catastrophe.

Imagine ground that lifted and sank against your feet, endlessly twisting and folding into itself. If every step required tight concentration and presence, would you, could you walk?

On my first day, 2 hours was all I could handle, so the end of the day was a convenience. I slid into e beach and wrestled with Hello World in the sucking surf, eventually stabilizing her with the help of Kari who appeared all smiles and shivers.

She watched my days end ritual and gave me a bagel from Lychaim Deli, to life! Relief in realizing I wasn’t out there anymore. It was a tough start.

Kevin and Brenda built a beach fire and made me stay up until 1:00 am talking! Cool folks and local too, great to meet them and a wonderful way to bring in Wednesday.

Movie: 10-06-01 ALM 2010 Launch (computer, phone)

The illustrious James Barnes gave Hello World a lift over to Point Betsie and that’s where she camped last night. I wanted to copy a few files from the big archive before heading over. It will likely be a short day on the water as we iron out any remaining bugs before getting too far from our home port. Elberta beach is a likely first stop (4 miles) though we may try for Arcadia (15 miles) if all goes well.

Morning of Friday May 28, three weeks after the original launch date. If I can get on the water in the next few days, I’ll likely be sailing into late August early September. I’ve still got a 3 month window, September is an entire extra month. I may have to skip the wedding in California and cancel my summer guests though. It’s all just blow and bluster – there’s no telling what will happen.

This morning I’ll raise the mast and get her on the water, then disassemble and into / onto the van for the portage over to the big lake. Finish packing and go.

I admit to feeling a little daunted by all this. There’s nothing accidental in building up the momentum – it’s a decisive effort, a force of will. The journey could remake me, that’s really why I’m going. Dipping into my media feed to catch the news of the day, I feel the call to activate. I am ready to live my gifts, to be what the earth needs. My time has arrived.

Yet there’s the inertia of the familiar. Leaving behind what I am for a deeper experience, even a more enlivened and capable Dan Kelly – it’s scary. Also, It kinda sucks to vacate my happy little beach squat for the whole summer.

Ha! Well, there’s not going to be a terrible accident that provides an honorable retreat. Destiny is my decision.

Ready for shakedown

Oops! Rudder trouble...

I started the staging area in March and completed it yesterday with the help of nefs and their pa. Steve zapped the stumps from the two big poplar trees. Jonathan, Patrick and I moved the logs to the lake to create sand catching jettys and wove the branches into a Andrew Goldsworthy inspired fence. I had to explain the purpose of the fence twice… “when you bring a girl here, she’ll be more likely to take off all her clothes if she thinks the neighbors can’t see.” That’s a plan we can all get behind.

We saved as many little trees as possible, especially the dainty white pines saplings. I can transplant them later, for now they fit right under the boat.

I didn’t have a mast bearing so we didn’t get the mast up. I’m checking and packing gear today and will make a pilgrimage to Traverse City to pick up odds and ends. With luck I’ll have Hello World out for a test sail this afternoon.

White pine saplings shelter under the trampoline

The wild beach with freshly deployed poplar jettys. No sand yet...

Sarah Castle recently tweeted an New Scientist article by Deborah Mackenzie, Living in Denial, Why Sensible People Reject the Truth. This may have been a continuation of our exchange over my Stephen Hawkin inspired ET conquistador proposal, so I’ve been thinking about it, teasing out my ideas. It’s a sketch, perhaps once I am on the water I’ll elaborate on these themes.

***

There are many ways to ask a question. People test hypotheses, initiate conversations, open themselves to experience, devise tools for discovery, make myths, wonder without words and relax into knowing.

Science yields reliable predictions about the future. Compassion reveals the feelings of others. Mindfulness is an inquiry into the possibilities of the present. Living history is an exploration of the past from suppressed or forgotten perspectives, as demonstrated by Howard Zinn and John Hendrik Clarke.

Our experience of reality is determined by how we ask. We manipulate and fabricate reality with questions. ‘What do we want?’ can often be entangled with ‘What do we want to know?’ Know in the sense of both having pragmatic information and in the sense of wordless rapport, whether sexual, spiritual, aesthetic…

Science is one way of knowing. It’s emphasis on prediction has enabled our amazing technological civilization. We begin to realize though that the questions science poses cannot insure our survival or even guide us to joy.

Edward Bernays applied the theories of Sigmund Freud to develop the most destructive force yet unleashed against the earth – the consumer. Industrial productivity enabled by scientific inquiry has broken the climate. We literally cannot live with science alone. That’s Koyaanisquatsi – crazy life, life out of balance.

Science has rubbed out the authoritarian gods – and filled their shoes. Just one more rigid system that must not be transgressed, *cannot* be transgressed – it’s the law. The law of gravity, conservation of energy, etc. It’s impossible to step outside these laws… until our understanding shifts and we find those laws were just special cases, applicable only so long as x and y were true. Are we really so arrogant to think that our understanding is nearly complete?

Rather than demean or ignore other methods of inquiry, scientists should look for allies. Anyone who is intensely curious, anyone who is rigorous with inquiry – whatever the method –  is potentially an ally. Openness to the idea of questions could be the basis for unity. Questions should not be evaluated by whether they can fit the dominant mode of inquiry but whether they are interesting, useful and even fun.

Conspiracy theorists attempt to break free of the gravity well of conventional thinking. They express a pragmatic and savvy skepticism of authority. They are entertaining. Not all conspiracy theories are bosh either, conspiracies really happen.

If we accept that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 911 and that he didn’t have significant weapons of mass destruction, why did we go to war with Iraq? Was it just a big mistake or can we use the C word here? I remember a lot of misleading imagery and dysfunctional reportage in the media back then. I remember fabrications by authorities and leaders. Who’s ready to step up and name that animal?

We can’t survive if we limit inquiry or act only on the authority of experts. Rather than deny the irrational we ought to find out what it has to offer. If both the rational and non-rational are our allies, we won’t be at war with ourselves.

***

Update

New Scientist is doing a whole series on Living in Denial. Three days ago Michael Fitzpatrick contributed with Questioning Science isn’t Blasphemy. Dr Fitzpatrick may not agree with what I’ve asserted here, but I appreciate his bringing some balance. I had read Why Sensible People Reject the Truth weeks ago and was inspired to try and contrast my position, to articulate what seemed important. I have to thank Deborah Mackenzie, her assertion that folks who don’t agree with orthodoxy are mentally ill, she really had me going. I hadn’t reread her article until tonight and whoa! The generalization that “all denialists see themselves as underdogs fighting a corrupt elite” could as easily be applied to activists and reformers.

Here’s a conspiracy theory for you -  There’s rumors that the Tea Party movement is corporate funded. If Ran Paul is the best those folks can muster, then maybe the whole point is to discredit dissident movements in general by equating them to the Tea Party.  You wanna take back your government? Aw, go join the Tea Party!

There’s a terrible tragedy at this end of this post, so if you’re the weepy type close your browser and check back tomorrow.

How to glue pennies to the bottom of a Hobie Cat, the completion of Hello World’s armor deployment.

Including the 8 layers of powdered aluminum running along the entire keel, I wanted plate metal to protect the hulls where they would start to run aground. Matching hull curvature with a single sheet of metal seemed daunting. I imagined a corner or an edge of a single sheet being peeled back in an impact – nearly impossible to fix in the wilds.  In contrast, if the metal sheath consisted of many small plates or tiles then an impact might tear away one or two tiles and leave the surrounding tiles intact. The tile approach was inspired by the space shuttle’s thermal protection system. I had sheets of scrap copper laying around, but I didn’t really like the idea of cutting them into little squares. Pennies are just about the right size, and they are readily available everywhere I’ll be.

The copper in US pennies comes from the Keweenaw Peninsula, which is the thumb of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. US pennies minted on or after 1982 have a zinc core coated in a thin condom of copper. Before 1982, pennies were about 95% copper. A roll of pre 1982 pennies is worth $.50 cents as coin, but the value of the copper is $1.00. In doing this project I found that about 10-30% of pennies in circulation are  pre 1982. That means that if you had $1000 worth of pennies, you’d actually have about $1100-$1300 dollars. Of course you’d have to melt and sell the older ones, which would probably get the Secret Service on your ass. It might not be a bad idea to sort and stash your pre 1982 pennies in a safe place until such time as the federal government collapses and you can melt them without fear of arrest.

A preliminary cleaning – bathing the pennies in dilute muriatic acid	Rinse
Dry	Remove all oxidation to attach
In formation with attach side down – these need to be flipped	Tape fixes the pennies in formation. Slicing along the edge of the rows so they’ll articulate and follow the curvature of the hulls
ready for pennies	West Systems 404, resin and fast hardner

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The rentry system is complete. The tiles on the starboard hull had drifted off the edge slightly,  but otherwise looking good!  Hello World’s hulls were almost ready – all that remained to do on Sunday was hatch installation and caulking the pylons.

I use plywood props to support the hulls to keep them upright during hatch work. A couple of nails where the plywood meets the picnic table keep them from slipping. I had the plywood in place to support the port hull and was about to tack the last sheet down when the hull rolled away and almost fell off the table onto the concrete. Though I was able to catch it, I didn’t save the day.  It had rolled right over the claw hammer and broken the fiberglass in two spots. Fahgk!

Quel damage!	The broken fiberglass removed.
The pressure from the claw almost busted the inner skin, note the slight shattering in the center	At least the hatches are in

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I could have fixed the holes right then and there if I had more of the magic West Systems 404 powder but West Marine had already closed. So I am off to Traverse City this morning and will walk in just as they open the doors.

Getting ready for my swim this morning, here’s what’s waiting.

Maybe I’m still dreaming…

Yesterday afternoon I tested both the Aquapac underwater camera solution and my Gul skin out wetsuit with a swim to the blue line.

A classic tao situation. All the cheese and yogurt I’ve been eating is starting to show – too much repair work and not enough expression of magnificent physicality. I couldn’t run yesterday morning ’cause my calf was inexplicably crampy again. I was also thinking about my Gul skin out wetsuit because Scott of Sailsport Marine scared me. Just before he sold me rivets for the jib tracks, he said “Dude, you’re crazy,” and “That water is cold.” He’s right, it is and will be for a month or two more. The prudent move would be to test my wetsuit and what better way than with a rigorous 15 minute round trip to the blue line? (computer, phone). An adventure just before sunset.

Success! It was cold certainly but I could probably last an hour in the water, plenty of time to right a flipped Hello World. Pulling off the wetsuit afterward I realized that my original justification of the need for cheese wasn’t self deceptive gluttony after all. A little extra fat might be a smart start. So the cramping calf, the cheese, the wetsuit repairs, the dire warnings of my local Hobie dealer… I just went with it all and lo – enlightenment, bliss.

I did it again just now without the camera and with Five Fingers instead of booties. Water temperature is 49F.

The cold could fire off ear infections so alcohol is a must. My hands were scary cold when I started but were buzzing with warmth at the blue line. Hallucination or superior metabolism? I’ll definitely get some gloves to complete my neoprene ensemble. I’ve also got to replace the Gul logo on my chest – maybe I can get the URL on there somehow.

Started to run Indian Trails this morning when the strange cramp in my starboard calf returned with a vengeance. I’m getting fat, now what? I walked out of the woods and onto the dunes to try a little tai chi in the sand, but couldn’t even manage half a short form. Looking to the Big Lake, wanna get out there.

That’s how much fun I’m having right now. Hello World’s first finish coat was applied this morning. Speaking of Malcolm X (today’s his birthday, he’d be 85) here’s an insidious bit of racial marketing I came across.

The VOCs from the Interlux Brightside White paint are intense!  As replacement filters for my old respirator are hard to find I decided to buy a new respirator. My local Ace Hardware stocked several models from AO Safety. They all used the same filters and ranged in price from high $20 to mid $40. The highest priced had a picture of a serious looking middle aged white male with iron gray hair. The lowest price looked like this…

Is that subtle or what? Here’s the embarrassing part – I instinctively reached for the expensive one first because I assumed it would provide better protection, until I noticed that the filters were identical. Was I choosing based on price (inference of quality), or racial affinity?

I ended up buying the brown people respirator. You know what? It pretty much sucks. After painting for couple of hours this morning I had a headache. WTF? Tell me there aren’t aliens running the planet. You can sell us the crappy respirators, but you can’t kill us.

Here’s Hugh Hamilton’s show Talk Back on WBAI FM New York for May 19, 2010, (local archive is here). There’s fundraising during the first 10 minutes or so, but after that are excerpts from some of El Hajj Malik el Shabazz’s most amazing speeches.

Here’s the back page from the vintage Hobie Cat brochure that came with Hello World. Hobie had an intriguing angle on catamarans in 1979 – camping. Perhaps being a subsidiary of the Coleman Company had something to do with it. I don’t know whether this was a significant factor in sales back then, but this photo sure made an impression on me. Sailing Around Lake Michigan was not in my head when I bought her – so let’s hear it for the power of antique lifestyle marketing!

As the groovy copy explains, Hobie 16s can navigate very shallow water and can even be sailed right onto the beach – sandy preferably. They can go where few other boats can with minimal impact on the environment. That’s why Hello World is ideal for wilderness camping – in theory.

A spiel reminiscent of Adam Curtis's Century of the Self documentary series.

In practice, rocky shallows and sandy shores scrape away the hull bottoms. An lightly loaded Hobie bounces off rocks, deflecting the force of impact and minimizing damage. Add tents, sleeping bags and other cargo (like tripods and scuba tanks) and inertia increases, making direct impact and serious damage more likely. Landing a loaded Hobie on a rocky beach requires a slow approach. When the water is shallow enough to wade, it’s best to get off and walk her in, off load the bags, place Bao longs (solid fenders) under her hulls and then roll her up.

Even with such careful handling Hello World’s bottoms were pretty chewed up after last September’s trial run. To survive 3 months requires armor.

The highly worn areas along the bottom have already been protected with 9 layers of epoxy mixed with 10% powdered aluminum, an additive sold by West Systems for abrasion resistance.

Powdered aluminum is also a component of thermite – a steel cutting explosive used in building demolitions. Traces of thermite like residues have been detected in the dust from the Twin Towers. It took me two days to armor up the keel with the powdered aluminum, and each batch I mixed was a sort of meditation on dark history. My two beautiful fish, the feet of Hello World shod in sleek gray gloss. Perfect paradox.

Applying armor

Originally, Patrick and I had discussed installing thin steel plate along the keels. To conform to her complex curves, the plates could either be curved to match her contours or be placed as tiles, like on the space shuttle. In a worst case scenario, tiles could be torn away without taking a great chunk of hull with them.

Lining both keels with steel would have added a lot of weight – so aluminum powder was the choice. The most vulnerable section is between the bow and the mid section, the point of first impact below the water line. I repaired damage there when I bought Hello World and smashed it again myself last September.

Armor detail on port hull. Roller texture will be abraded soon enough.	Port hull from inside. The most vulnerable area is defined by the width of the filing cabinets

x

I’m currently investigating plating the most vulnerable bow/mid section with pre 1982 pennies, which are 95% copper.

…and by the way, Happy Birthday to Me!

When Hello World came down from the rafters I was dismayed to find she was still wet. Before lofting her last October I had drained the standing water from the hulls. Though I suspected her fiberglass / foam sandwich was still saturated, I assumed that 6 months hanging in a warm house would dry her out.

I had forgotten about the 10 lbs of sand that had washed into the port hull during the Point Betsie surprise. The water did migrate out of the sandwich but rather than evaporating it mixed with the sand and pooled. There was about a half gallon in there!

The starboard hull had been breached, probably during the emergency landing to secure Zilliax’s bike. I had drilled the damage clear so it could drain – which it did – drip, drip, drip all winter. Yet the sandwich was still saturated when I opened the hatch hole.

Removing the wet sand and facilitating evaporation required hatches to be installed in both hulls. Love suffused my methodology. Deployment of the other essential modification – keel armor – was accompanied by a melange of emotions and associations, including the events of 9/11…

Why does powdered aluminum remind me of September 11, 2001?

I know the journey has started when I don’t know when it’s going to start.

The moment when the handcrafted Hello World slides into surf cannot be predicted. I’ve been back in the water since the year flipped. I’ve shared my process nearly every day for the last month. Even with the dust of her body clinging to my clothes, her curves all atangle and in disarray, we search. The important part is how we start – not when. This project celebrates assembly after all,  the awakening of the way.

August 09 same thing. Time was a fiction,  deadlines a conceit. Jackie Ankerson made it plain yesterday. Do I want the sun to fly across the sky, am I in a hurry to get to my grave?

Here’s how I’m changing. No time on wind river, (computer / phone) she’s ready when she’s ready. I too may only be half baked / boiled – though last night’s tub could have been the hottest ever.

Now that we’ve settled that…

While returning from yet another pilgrimage to my local West Systems and Interlux dealer, I realized that I only had to have interesting conversations. I only have to interview people who fascinate me. Does any part of this adventure need to suck? Not on purpose!

The way to make this project (and life in general) amazing is to dare to be who I am. If this movie is going to be watchable then I have to push through to me. Naked on camera – glorious, confused, grinning, dashingly scruffy, fierce, introspective, full of shit, fabulous!

You’re either down with the Dan or not. All those Facebook scribblers – pshaw! Why, I’ve been gushing my secrets without a by-your-leave since before Mark Zuckerberg was cozying up to the shadow government or stealing his clients’ ideas. Who remembers tractor feed paper?

Look, I know nobody’s reading all this, ok? I’ve got better things to do than read my ramblings too. All this bluster is a sort of encryption. God is always in disguise, otherwise there can be no cosmic game. You get it now? If not – no worries! It’s likely the Rev. Victoria Weinstein didn’t even make it this far – and she’s a divinity professional.

Despite precautions, when I crawl into bed I feel the prickle of tiny glass fibers on my naked skin.  I mingle with Hello World, we become one flesh.

Hello World is more than my production platform, transport and home. The ‘boat as planet’ analogy is especially relevant – if my boat’s messed up, I might die.

Do I mythologize when I say it’s a cinch for me to feel her presence?  Like me, she is made of star stuff. A lot of energy and intention went into her design and manufacture. In her 31 years of existence she’s been a facilitator of much joy and excitement for the Vigland family. She’s been cared for with pride and guiltily neglected. Now she’s collaborating with a mad genius and his wild tribe on a world saving Search for Sustainable Civilizations.

When during this sequence of events did sentience arise? Is she alive and deserving of love only because I’ll be counting on her?

It’s fun to wonder about. What I can report first hand is our rapport, especially when sailing. She moves with and speaks to me, she is aware and involved.

Mere cybernetic transference? Advanced visualization technique? Dan smiles….

What does all this have to do with today’s progress report? The fiberglass work is stretching because this boat is a being.  I have to do my best by her. Attend, please.

When hatching hulls, the standard procedure is to cut a hole and screw the hatch on. That’s not for me. The Viking hatch I bought from Murrays doesn’t mate well with the surface of the hull and removing structure compromises Hello World’s strength and integrity.

My solution is to create a ring of new structure around the hatch hole and build up the hull surface for a nearly perfect fit. This manuever made an afternoon’s project into 4 days!

Love keeps Serenity in the air says Malcolm Reynolds. I’m so down with that. Knowing I gave Hello World my best attention will keep me grinning when we’re miles from shore and a crazy wind is howling. I’ll remember that I loved her enough to take the time, and she’ll fly true.

A cup of ginger tea before donning the yellow hazmat suit and starting the day’s fiberglass fun. The Brunton inverter is whirring away somewhat creakily as it charges this iPhone. Most of the gear has already been checked for solid operation, the Brunton solar power components are among the last on the list.

How am I changing? I’m preparing for nomadic life, for wandering within. It took Loreen Niewenhuis over a year to walk around the Big Lake, so the distances involved are imaginable, human. The scheduled duration of our sail Around Lake Michigan is about 3 months.

I get to go faster than Loreen because I’ve got technological infrastructure and a larger carbon footprint. Though powered by paddle and sail alone, Hello World is an industrial child. She owes her existence to oil drilling and petrochemistry, (polyester resins, dacron sails, nylon rope) not to mention mining and smelting, (aluminum frame and mast, steel fittings). Add in the filmmaking electronics we are carrying (rare earths, heavy metals) and suddenly this project isn’t quite so bright green.

The price for 3 months of environmental documentary in a romantic mileau is a diminishment of our collective destiny. I kill all of us a little by making this trip. I’m not an impact idiot either, I work to minimize the consequences of my daily actions – fairly small footprint as far as 1st world lifestyles go. Even so, the way our civilization is set up, I can’t help but hurt.

Jor-El packed his infant son into a spaceship and sent him from the doomed planet Krypton. Moses was placed in a reed basket and launched on the Nile. The stories keep coming back. We make another variation today – an artifact of industry launched to transcend industry by reminding us of what we already know. Into the shadows to search for light. I am the man who asks the child’s questions.

Sorting and packin

x

Dreams of flying last night. A decisive ignorance of gravity and intense experience of remembering.  When I’d stretch into a laughing loft or a lazy backflip I’d feel a body rush / energy shiver flash from my chest. I kept thinking – I’ve done this countless times before. I’m dreaming… but this is real.

Flying is fun but what felt the most amazing was remembering. This dream came from the same place as the perfect attention / rapture vision I had with Jon and Laura. It’s the reality behind the waking state, what I’m really doing here. Transparency. I keep seeing thru – for which I am grateful.

I’m in the tub now as Tuesday fades. I’ve got the iPhone in it’s waterproof bag so as to catch up on my reports. Fiberglass repair halted yesterday when I cut the hatch hole for the port hull and found the foam sandwich soaked. Basically a winter of hanging in a warm house didn’t dry Hello World completely. Not only does extra water add weight, but the existing fiberglass structure needs to be totally dry before new glass will bond to it.

Port hull has yet to opened, starboard hull hatch ready for sanding and shaping

x

It’s May and all – but a snow shower is not impossible. That might be why Shop and Save is still stocking pure calcium chloride.

Calcium chloride can suck enough water out of frozen air to dissolve and form ice melting brine. I sealed 5 open ziplock bags full of calcium chloride inside the hull. In theory, the interior humidity will drop and the dry air will suck water out of the foam and fiberglass walls. I’ve checked and the walls are much drier while the plastic bags are slick with condensation. Did I mention my high school chemistry and physics grades sucked?

Port hull filled with calcium chloride

x

While the inexorable laws of science cranked away, I picked up my cargo plates from Chuck Hunt of Northern Welding Specialties. Although some of the plates need a little rubber mallet encouragement, they fit fine and seem to be an ideal solution.

These stainless steel plates slip under the lip of the hull…	… enabling straps to cross the top of the hull and keep cargo secure.

x

I also bit the bullet and ordered West Systems 420 aluminum powder to armor the hull bottoms. It should arrive tomorrow afternoon from Bay City, Michigan via UPS ground. With a little luck the repairs will be wrapped by Thursday and ready for touch-up paint.

After this much needed bath I’ll be updating the inventory and taking pictures. There have been a host of minor snafus, to wit… The big tripod won’t fit in the Pelican 1720 cases unless it’s disassembled. The new dive light takes AAA batteries and not AA, which breaks my battery standard. I’ve got to return the extra iPhone bag because there’s no camera window. These are all DK errors, but I’ve aced so many other challenges I can’t complain. WordPress for the iPhone is DOA, let’s trust a reload will fix that.

The 1720 cases that will be strapped to the top of the hulls. The big tripod is to the right of the silver scuba tank.

x

The longer I stay the shorter my summer, so I really do have to get out of Dodge ASAP. Folks ask me – are u close to leaving? I’d like to think so, but there are more interesting questions… eg – As launch approaches, how are you changing Mr Dan Kelly? Ah! Ask me, go on… I dare ya!

The hulls upright and ready for hatch work	View towards Crystal Lake
Close up on starboard hull hatch opening before sanding	ready for paint and installation of the hatch
Cracking at the pylons cleared and filled with 404	Stump crack healed and ready for fairing

Places not managed by humans thrive. What does that tell us? The idea of management is inherently flawed. When we see ourselves as apart and other we become the blight.

Learn from the way, the wilds. Become rather than command.

The mad wasichus wanted the yellow metal, trading mythic cyclical abundance for it’s flash and glitter. A thought contagion sterilizing the future.

If conquistador ETs are just a little far fetched, then let’s try virulent memes. Imagine ideas that can infect and replicate. Imagine an idea that can shut off our drive to survive, like bio weapons shutting down our immune systems. We know ideas flow through culture like breeze through trees. What if ideas evolved too? What if an idea was alive… and toxic? Eek!

What would a cognitive immune system look like? To have tasted the yellow metal madness and recovered. Building immunity to an intriguing idea, even rejecting a complex meme synergy – an entire culture.

Folks misbehaving might be the cognitive immune system at work, attempting to throw off the infection. A hallucinatory fever, madness against madness. Burning off the bad ideas.

Is there such a thing as mental medicine? Can we develop a serum, an infusion, a protocol?

Analogies are fun.

“Our long years of negotiations with foreign countries… have yielded no results this far. With the oil revenues we could meet our entire budget and combat poverty, disease, and backwardness among our people. Another important consideration is that by the elimination of the power of the British company, we would also eliminate corruption and intrigue, by means of which the internal affairs of our country have been influenced. Once this tutelage has ceased, Iran will have achieved its economic and political independence.”

Iranian Prime Minister Mosaddegh explaining why he wanted to nationalize the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. A CIA and MI6 coup removed him from power and the Anglo Iranian Oil Company became British Petroleum or BP.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Mosaddegh

http://www.democracynow.org/ (05-06-10 end of show)

Are we ready? Not quite yet. Fiberglass repairs will take another few days. An ordering snafu has delayed the arrival of some gear. Chuck is fabricating cargo plates that need to be tested. This weekend’s weather forecast is not beach friendly.

It’s official! Launch has been pushed back to May 15. This Saturday’s party is canceled.

Progress is otherwise stellar. Dan Kelchak did a beautiful job on the Larrivee and It’s first coat of armor is on. The body tone still seems to be quite bright. The 1720 Pelican cases are ideal for both guitar and the new 30 cubic ft scuba tank. Winslow’s self silencing torus has arrived and it’s voice is reminiscent of indonesian gamelan and himalayan monasteries.

Here are some fiberglass components fresh from their molds. The collar is intended to reinforce the hull access ports. Note the black stitching showing through where the strips of glass cloth were sewn together – Patrick’s idea. The 5 foot strip was saturated with resin and then wrapped around a circular form to form about 1/4″ thickness. The S shaped bit is a casting of the hull lip and was passed on to Chuck to be used as a guide for the stainless steel cargo plates.

The Larrivee with armor plate. The overlapping edges have to be carefully sanded flush with the guitar’s body.

Winslow’s fabulous torus. Loud! Movie…

Hello World in the rain. Not quite dry dock.

Driving in to Traverse City for another round of errands. Fiberglass repairs are in process. Could wrap primary hull repairs this evening, with fairing and paint by Wednesday (2 days). That’s when I’ll decide whether to launch as planned or push it back.

Here’s today’s to do…

West Marine – 206 hardener (just in case)
Chuck or other fabricator – build cargo plates
Dan Kelchak – Larrivee pickup
Scuba north – 30 cu tank fits Pelican 1720?
Ace Hardware on Front St – sander heads and disks
Oryana – lunch
Aluminum powder?

Woke up with a big happy after an 11 hour crash. About 8:30 pm last night I started nodding and had to lay down. Could have been the wine and lasagna… or just the turnings of mystery.

I clarified my extra-terrestrial conquistador theory to Kari yesterday when she brought over lunch. White euros weren’t themselves aliens by and large, they were just the first to come under alien influence. The white euros established colonies as unwitting agents of ETs, vanquishing native cultures through chicanery and bio-weapons.

This discussion flows from Stephen Hawking’s recent suggestion that maybe we shouldn’t be advertising our presence to the cosmos as we might attract cosmic conquistadors… and end up like the Aztecs or the Incas.

IMHO, it’s not an issue. The Aztecs and Incas didn’t broadcast on shortwave and invite the smelly Spanish to come lay a can of whup ass on ‘em, they got “discovered”. Likewise, we don’t have to worry about attracting space pirates to Earth, they’re already here. That’s why the dominant culture is locked on apocalypse and folks are conditioned to kill themselves. We’ve been infiltrated and double crossed… and most of us have no clue. The best attack is the one the enemy never notices.

Yep, I’m out of the closet. Conspiracy nut – don’t tell me you’re surprised?!

What does this have to do with sailing and sustainability? Most humans really are human but are tranced out, especially regarding their self interest. Using the conquistador analogy, there are certainly way more humans on earth than space invaders. We humans can wake up to what really matters – like a robust global life support system. Global life support is our number one native priority. Anyone who advocates otherwise has an ET’s arm up their shirt, yanking their yack strings.

Sustainability starts with reminding each other who we really are.

Chief Seattle said that the white man’s way was the end of living and the beginning of survival. Now it’s unclear if most folks even know how to survive. Remembering how seems like a great place to start.

By the way, we’ll probably never see a full on space invader until we’re damn close to taking our planet back. So just assume everyone you meet is an authentic earth native. Beyond the raving and occlusion, we can find a way to be a family again.

Since I’m making a movie, I can get away with documenting everything. Writing daily, describing insights and epiphanies ad nauseum. This blog is a strategy for generating interest in the project – coming soon to a theater near you… Clearly I am a social media savvy filmmaker!

Let’s flip it. What if I just had an urge to share, to pass my memes around? What if i just wanted attention, to be listened to? The whole movie thing, even the adventure of sailing Around Lake Michigan solo in 16 foot catamaran… what if it all is just a plea to “look at me!”?

My ex-wife would’ve agreed. She thought that my outgoing and gregarious habits were a sign of deep insecurity. Thus the prefix ex. She might have been right, maybe I was/am deeply insecure… but I think joyful contact and rapport with others is a healing force. Cowering in a closet gets me nowhere.

The path of recovery from addiction starts with recognizing and admitting the addiction. Disabled athletes blow us away because of what they achieve *through* limitation.

We face a world crisis that seems to big to cope with. National governments are puppets to profit and unable to act. It’s frigging scary. What can we do with the fear?

If I am sailing just to get attention, fine. If my limitations can be leveraged to make a miracle, what’s the problem? Driven by my insecurity, perhaps I’ll discover a wonder. If this entire project becomes an enormous public pratfall, a disaster – so what? I’ll take what’s at hand and give it a whirl, painting with the full palette – confidence and insecurity. The creative principle is consciousness. When we pay attention everything becomes useful.

I want to demonstrate the art of glorious mistakes and fortunate accidents. Arthur Dent learned to fly by falling and accidentally missing the ground. We learn when we forget how to fail.

Familiarity breeds contempt, which is another way of saying – fuggedaboudit! Failing is painful at first. The trick is to fail big time, over and over until the novelty wears off. Then try even crazier stuff, schemes so totally out there that eventually genius kicks in and voilà! If not success then at least another blog post.

Yesterday Hello World had a soft landing and went into drydock. Movie!

10-04-28 Hello World soft landing and drydock variable / full screen
10-04-28 Hello World soft landing and drydock fixed size

James Cameron’s life is shifting because of his super blockbuster, Avatar. Democracy Now interviewed Cameron yesterday. Here’s where to find it.

WBAI NYC archive for Tuesday April 27, 2010 8:00am (audio)

Democracy Now archive Tuesday April 27, 2010 (audio or video)

ondesire.com archive mp3 (audio)

Notice how calm I appear? Tomorrow gear should start arriving via ground shipping including the voice of Hello World, Winslow’s Torus. I’m a Taurus too!

Hello World has yet to go into the shop for fiberglass patching, but I think I’ve got everything I need to do the job. We’ll start today.

Total pre launch expenses for services, parts and materials should be under $2500. Deft deployment of the indy filmmaker’s friend – low APR credit cards – makes it possible.

We’re also enjoying amazing gifts and discounts. Patagonia has offered their corporate purchase program to the project, Dan Kelchak is giving a break on the repair of the Larrivee, Winslow is contributing a bell for Hello World, Julie continues to hook us up with pro bono social media guidance and the tribal citizens are activating their networks, both real life and virtual. I expect the generosity and collaboration will continue – it’s awesome and thrilling.

We are not doomed, my friends. Acting together we can turn this around.

Will Around Lake Michigan make it to Cannes or Sundance? It doesn’t matter. The success of a project isn’t measured by critical acclaim or money made – that’s so 20th century. It’s measured in how much hearts open and awareness expands. ALM is already blowing me away because of the resources, humor and love flowing to it.

I put myself out there as the ambassador of an idea – we can discover a sustainable civilization. It’s whacky sure, but doable. The idea basically asserts that humans are not doomed, nor are we inherently toxic. We can be a benign and eventually benevolent presence on the planet. Let’s roll up our sleeves and figure it out, let’s redefine what matters, redesign our desire.

Holy ship that’s huge! What else have you got going on today? Crazy job, messy divorce, health issues? Ok, we’ll give u a couple weeks to square away your troubles and wrap up what’s not working, then you’ve got to come out and play!

Whether or not you dig my clown pirate schtick, we can each ask ourselves what we REALLY want. If we accept suckiness as our destiny, that’s what we’ll get by default. I’ve got nephews, nieces and cool friends who are breeding. I cannot accept suck as their future. I myself want to have a good reason to dance, sing and make an utter fool of myself. “Aw, leave him alone, he saved the planet!”

Be a human for heaven’s sake. Our destiny isn’t supposed to suck!

As Jim Allegro used to say, ideas are alive. This project begins to breathe. We are all coming back to life.

A day driving around and hooking up with experts.

I dropped in to see Chuck of Northern Welding Specialties first, but he wasn’t there. He told me via cell that he was teaching at the college and perhaps we could meet after 3:00. I didn’t get back to his shop until 5:30 and missed him. We talked again and agreed that I can email him some drawings of the cargo brackets I’d like him to fabricate.

Next I swung by the indy Apple store City Mac to pick up a spare power supply for the Macbook Pro. I got to see Zeb and Greg. I also got to touch an IPad. They’ve sold a couple dozen already and Apple is not able to keep them stocked, but that’s typical for new product introductions.

1. √ Macbook Pro power supply [Apple] $80

Rolling down 31 toward town, I pulled into West Marine, a big box vendor and our local supplier of West Systems products for fiberglass repair. Bob sold me 2 x 200 feet of thin anchor line for Hello Word’s double anchors. He had given great guidance last August but I could only afford 2 x 50 feet of line then. The longer lines will allow Hello World to safely anchor in water up to 30 feet, greatly expanding our overnight options. Andy asked me about the trip as I hadn’t seen him since early September 2009. By coincidence he had moored his boat next to Hello World when she was anchored in Grand Traverse Bay. He had also recently come across a scrap of paper in his wallet with the ondesire.com url scribbled on it. A friend saw it too and assumed it was some kind of porn site.

“Hey Andy, what’s that all about, eh?” Nudge, nudge, wink wink!

“On no, it’s this guys sailing blog, honest!”

We also wondered about the guy who had been rigging a 40′ cat for kite sailing and a big ocean trip. He had eventually launched, but neither Andy nor I had heard what happened to him.

1. √ 2 x 200 anchor rope $200

Oryana food coop was the next stop. The managers there let me buy a stack of thin plastic containers provided for bulk nut butters. These and yogurt containers are ideal for mixing fiberglass. I also bumped into Christie and invited her to the launch on May 8.

1. √ x2 paper towels [Seventh Generation] (fiberglass)
2. √ plastic bulk containers [Solo] (fiberglass) $5
3. √ bandaids [All Terrain]
4. √ non deet insect repellent, [Badger]. Green Ban is nor longer stocked.
5. √ x2 ribbon floss [Toms]
6. √ apples, bananas, ginger, carrots, liquid soap [Bronners], bread [Pleasanton Bakeries], cheese [Organic Valley

Down 8th Street from Oryana is Brick Wheels. They had worked on Zilliax's Miyata bicycle last September, but their mechanics were booked up until after My 8th. They recommended City Bikes, so that's where the handlebar replacement, tuning and brake work is happening. Should be ready by 5/6.

I ate some hot rice and beans from Oryana's deli on the ride over to Scuba North. Captain Jack was there, he and Charles Craw had originally certified me as a NAUI diver in the late 80's. Jack recently sold Scuba North but is continuing to work there, in his words, "Now I am making money instead of loosing it!"

My big 80 cubic foot tank is just too bulky and heavy to bring on Hello World. At Scuba North I checked two sizes of pony tanks, 19 cubic feet and 30 cubic feet.  I originally wanted to go with two 19's and Jack explored hooking them together with discontinued fittings. Twining tanks is more common in Europe these days, so there are no USA distributors for new parts. Two small tanks would be easier to fit than one big one, but to use them together during a dive I would either have to buy a 2nd regulator or twin them, European fashion. With the gear Jack had on hand both tanks would have to be empty to break them apart - not a good solution.

Jack also explained that the water accumulation would reduce the capacity of the 19 faster than the 30 and that it would be a good idea to dry the small tanks before every fill. Here's the specs...

19 cubic feet

height = 21"

diameter = 4.5"

wieght = 9 lbs

price = $125

estimated dive time at 30 feet = 19 minutes

30 cubic feet

height = 22.5"

diameter = 5.25"

wieght = 14 lbs

price = $145

estimated dive time at 30 feet = 25 minutes

With a diameter of 5.25", the 30 would just barely fit in the Pelican 1720 rifle cases - .25" to spare. This is probably the way to go, a good balance between the 19 (short dive time) and the 80 (too bulky to carry). I'm going to ponder this a few more days.

1. √ extra backpack strap for small tank [Seaquest] $20
2. √ shoulder pads for backpack [Dive Rite] $16
3. √ repair kit for skin out wetsuit [Aquaseal] $20

I bought a strap to fit a smaller tank to my backpack, padding for the shoulder traps, and aquaseal kits to to fix repair the dings in the Gul skin out wetsuit.

A sweep past along east bay gave me a chance to drop off the thumb drive Jeff had loaned me and to visit Interlochen Guitar and Dan Kelchak, the project’s luthier. My Larrivee parlor guitar was stepped on at a party right after I got it -  almost broke my heart! Dan patched it up, almost good as new. Since then the Larrivee’s been west to the beaches of Hawaii, east to the canyons of NYC and even camped on North Manitou Island. To survive sailing Around Lake Michgan, the Larrivee needs love. Dan and I came up with a plan for rehabilitation. He’s going to reinforce the internal structure, securing delicate wood struts and panels that have broken loose or split. After that, I’ll sand her back and secure the vulnerable injury with fiberglass. Her sound might not be as bright, but she be solid for years to come. His part of the project will run about $200.

1. √ repair Larrivee guitar $200

I dropped off the drowned iPhone at the UPS store for return to Apple. Out of warranty replacement is $200, I should see it this week.

1. √ out of warranty replacement iphone returned to Apple $200

Finally I drove down to Bear Lake to borrow the grinder and fordham tool for the fiberglass repair. Me and the men spent the evening finishing the Firefly TV series on Netflix.

Take my life
Take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don’t care, I’m still free
You can’t take the sky from me

Heading into Traverse City to shop and run errands. Here’s my list…

Oryana

1. bug repellent (no deet) [Green Ban] (1)
2. food

Backcountry

1. paddle head or new paddle
2. sawdust bag (waterproof)

The UPS store 14th or garfield the ups store

1. return iPhone 3GS [Apple]
2. repair ID

Scuba North

1. go see Scuba North ponies 19, 30, 40 cu ft
2. out wetsuit[Gul] in car
   1. repair
3. harness
   1. compatible with dual ponys + PVC dummy?
   2. padding for pec/bicep

Brick Wheels

1. bicycle [Miyata, Steve Zilliax] in car
2. needs tune
3. replace handlebars
4. valve adapter

Dan Kelchak

1. Parlor Guitar [Larrivee] repair, stabilize back [Kelchak]

City Mac

1. laptop power supply [Apple Computer Macbook power supply] (1)

West Marine

1. West Systems faring and structure supplies
2. mixing cups (yogurt containers – recycled)
3. paper towels
4. x2 200 ft of line (30 ft depth x ~5-7)
5. sample line in car

Sailsport Marine

1. extra rivets for the jib traveler tracks (tight, no play)
2. rudder (spare)

Jeff’s house

1. drop off thumb drive

Richfield Trailer Supply 470 Us Highway 31 231-943-4700

1. flat hook straps

Shop and Save (Benzonia)

1. tape measure
2. white gas
3. 20′ rope, 30′ drawstring, 200′ twine
4. zip locks
5. x5 NiMH 9v battery (2)
6. x20 NiMH AA batteries (4)
7. jumper cables
8. grinder

Bear Lake

1. fordham tool
2. bits

Much ordering, inspections and organization. I’m driving up to Traverse City tomorrow or Tuesday for a shopping day.

Fiberglass work has not started, I expect to prep the garage for Hello World today and maybe even get her in there. Structural damage is spread over 5 spots totaling 1 square foot in area. The hull bottoms need to be faired and all repairs painted.

Compared to last fall’s rebuild, this work should take about 5 days from prep to paint. As long as there are no surprises once repairs start, launch will be on schedule. I’ll be posting progress.

I’m introducing a new variable to the equation – saddlebags. The idea is to deploy uncrushable waterproof storage so the Larivee parlor guitar can come along. One scenario involves strapping Pelican 1720 rifle cases between the hulls and tramp. I could also keep them on “on deck” and eliminate one of the big dry bags.

The cases weigh 20 lbs each. Hello World can carry 500 lbs but I want to stay well under the max and only carry 400 lbs. I weigh about 180 lbs + 40 lbs of cases = 220 lbs total. That leaves 180 lbs for gear or the equivalent of three decent sized backpacks – 1 for wilderness camping, 1 for production / power and 1 for scuba. Don’t forget the bike. Doable.

On the Master Checklist, orange text is for items that need to be inspected, tested or acquired. Green text is for items ordered. Checked items are on hand and ready to go. Monitor our progress towards launch on the Master Checklist… like watching spring shoots poke up out the dirt!

http://www.ondesire.com/2010/04/18/master-checklist-alm-2010/

It’s 5:15 am, a bit early for me to be up. On my way back to bed after taking a leak I knocked over a mason jar of water. Groping in the dark for some clothes, towels – anything to mop it up… remembering belatedly to snatch my phone and computer from harm’s way. Loathe to turn on the lights and spoil my natural melatonin rush. Disaster narrowly averted, except I didn’t much feel like falling asleep after. Time then for the morning post.

Dream before I kicked over the water… A friend and I were kissing, (let’s call her Eve). I said I was waiting for her to take a break so we could be together. She said she never took breaks. I know there’s something there for me.

47 is old, at least to my 17 year old self image. Back when I first discovered intimacy and connection – I guess I just got stuck there. I still feel the world with the heart of a cocky teenager, only more confidently. A sensual and intimate kid, deeply romantic, a sex god – I knew that I wasn’t destined for hearth and home. My passion wasn’t going to wear down and find a familiar groove. The way of the lone wolf was waiting.

I don’t have a steady lover – that’s the point. There’s possibilities, prospects but my attention strays. I can’t cozy down with anything less than the ultimate… so keep moving. Settling for less seems like capitulation, the end of dreams. Rather, let me howl in the desolate heath and run wild, forgotten.

What does my love status have to do with a boat ride, the earth, anything? There must be some reason (other than back story) to touch this. Standing on a whale, fishing for minnows. That’s the dream life by analogy. The big awakening is right here, yet we scramble for tiny insights. What does that dream mean?

It means get up sucker and get ready. Only 13 days until you’re married to wind.

A brief postscript.  While I was sleeping, my excellent brother became the 2nd most viewed male on a popular (and competitive) online dating site, and he’s 10 years older than me… Way to go, bro!

Beautiful. Inventory and ordering continues today, with a bit of general organization around the house.

Yesterday I became 6.5 lbs heavier when I started wearing a scuba weight belt. Carrying extra weight is an easy way to challenge the body and build strength, even when just walking around the house. I ran 3 miles with it too and felt fine. A year or two back I owned a weight vest designed for training firefighters but sold it after a few months. It was too much of a hassle to wear it with less than 15 lbs. The belt I hardly notice.

I’ve been writing for an hour just about every day for the past few weeks. That’s the drill with any serious practice – do it daily. My writing might improve if i keep this up, imagine that! Once on the water it could be challenging to keep the longer posts coming. I may only be able to check in on days of easy wind.

Gear ahoy!

Getting close now. Order of operations seems to be holding together, it’s spooky that I’m mostly on schedule. Everything can go right between now and launch… it’s possible.

I am noticing more, recognizing the unfolding of a larger story. A lot of ideas to fit into a coherent movie… I guess I started this, mostly just made myself available and let the pieces fall into place. Is this what I want?

How it began… On location in 2006 shooting my first movie with a budget. For the next two years I spent most of my days free climbing the first movie learning curve. Daughter of God – http://dogthemovie.com. I kept the fridge full with freelance production work for NYC dancers.

In 2008 I spent yet another perfectly good summer sweating in a tiny apartment staring at screens. The DOG project has merit and is worth finishing, will be finished. Is anything worth giving up a whole summer of diving Crystal’s blue, of running barefoot in the forest, of waking up to waves lapping?

Here’s the deal… Daughter of God is set in a post apocalyptic world, it’s a post apocalyptic surreal romantic comedy, sinister in the sense that some humans still dream of asphalt plains resplendant with the snaking migrations of countless multi-colored cars. It’s over tho, human population has been devastated, industrial infrastructure deleted and nature is reclaiming the cities. Certainly there’s toxic aftermath, sure the survivors are traumatized, but they dress snappy!

Meanwhile, back in RL I’m listening to Democracy Now every morning on WBAI radio. Assembling a fictional apocalypse seems pretty pointless when an actual apocalypse is nigh – I can never match the Pentagon’s special fx budget, let alone Gaia herself.

I wondered… Is DOG the best use of my time right now? Wouldn’t I rather be swimming? How about that super hero correspondence course I just aced?

That’s the setup. In the autumn of 2008 Kai invited me to make a documentary about sailing in Hawaii and – of course – sustainability… Well? What would Jesus do?

That was earth momma’s little joke. Come summer 2009, Kai abandoned Desire and Pele for a motor sailor… and I noticed there was a 30 year old Hobie Cat in my driveway.

Is this what I want? To act as an agent of Earth disguised as a pirate filmmaker? Hours drifting wind free followed by contact improv with Shiva? Three months of wilderness occasionally interupted with regionally brewed stouts and porters? The making of a saint?

I say, Yes.

Are we feeling it? Today was the last day of asking for a while. I’ve contacted Apple, Brunton, Verizon, Patagonia and Light and Motion asking for help with ALM, gear mostly. Patagonia already said no. In the process I learned that Yvon Chouinard never uses a computer, ever – not even email. I assume that means no Google either, no Wikipedia, no Youtube, no Netflix and definitely no Facebook. Can you imagine? No FACEBOOK?!

Kari and I talked about something else last night. She’s not a big science fiction buff, but I asked her if she had seen the first Terminator – cause that’s illustrates where I am at.

Remember when the scary Terminator shows up in the club to kill Sarah Conner, and she realizes it’s coming for her? She’s skittering around the bar and folks are dropping like flies from gun blasts – it’s madness, chaos, apocalypse. Just as she about to be snuffed there’s a moment of reprieve as Kyle counter attacks, temporarily disabling the Terminator. Kyle reaches his hand to Sarah and says the immortal line – “Come with me if you want to live.”

That’s ALM by analogy. “Come with me if you want to live.” We’re in trouble for sure, the Terminator is about to get up and waste our sorry asses. We can lie down and watch the world fry, wallow in our own ignorance and trauma or we can bust a move. We need some workable strategies, now.

Well, I’ll have to yank a few more corporate chains on Friday but it’s 10:oo pm and time to turn in. Sweet dreams all.

Kari was over last night for dinner and we talked about guns, earthships and vision quests. She used a big cutting board as a model of Hello World, sliding it back and forth on the counter top as if it were tossed in a slow motion tempest. She talked about her training for scuba and snorkle and how you always take a buddy on the water.

“Doing what you are about to do, alone on the water, says you are willing to die for what you are willing to live for. It’s a prayer out there.”

I mentioned that I wasn’t sure whether it was Geronimo or Crazy Horse, (it was Roman Nose) who laid down on a tiny raft and got stormed on for 4 days. After that bullets couldn’t touch him.

I never thought about this aspect of the trip. Sitting with the awareness this morning I felt reluctant to even relate our conversation – but this is an open source inspired project.

Those who are ready to read this post will. Those who are following and paying attention may share my epiphany. Wow. That about covers it.

Joe Campbell advocated following your bliss. Bliss or passion. Zeal. Zealot.

Back around again to desire. What do we want? Are we ready to have what we want, where that takes us? Each of us has a built in compass that we’ve been taught to fear. Humans are only clever animals after all, they’ll rape and murder given half a chance. Our nature is savage, red in tooth and claw. Monsters from the id, Morbius.

If we buy that, then desire is the last thing we’d ever dare to explore. Desire comes from our nature, desire = nature. See where this is going? By denying our desire we deny our nature and that’s how trivial and self destructive life ways are imposed upon us.

Ah, what a grand opera this truly is, I begin to see it now. Over and over authentic experience has been replaced with the mediocre, the slaughtered labeled savages and erased from history. That’s why we’ve got to keep digging up so called sustainability and relearn it, reimplement it, re-remember it. Taught to fear what we are.

What am I?

take me, sneak up and surround me
smother me in the unknown, unseen
unfathomed
the darkness of depth, underwater
danger and cold
almost death only to awaken
live again, breath in sunlight
but I lie a little
you are not a cold night nor dangerous
merely mysterious
warm and friendly in fact
at least as April nights in Michigan go

You might notice an unusual use of pronouns in this project. “We” usually replaces “I” when discussing the trip. That’s because Hello World has it’s own identity and presence, it’s not just Dan Kelly sailing Around Lake Michigan, it’s Dan Kelly and Hello World. When sailing we become a cybernetic / symbiotic fusion of two sentient beings, so technically “I” would be appropriate, but we’re not always sailing. Sometimes she and I are lounging on the beach or rolling at anchor in the swells.

How can Hello World be a “she”? I mentioned our symbiotic rapport when under sail. If the wind is wild, the edges between boat and Dan blur. My senses stretch – I feel the taughtness of the sail, hear the singing of the wires – every creak and twist of the hulls are happening in my own body. Comparing it to sex is a cliche – it’s sex with deep trust on the edge of oblivion. It’s sex to stay alive.

Once initiated into this mystery, one can’t help but see the radiant goddess in curves of fiberglass, swishing nylon and aluminum arches. She too is an artifact of the industrial age – love has no limits. Americans can learn to cherish sailboats and earthships as much as they loved their hydrocarbon powered cars, maybe more. Take heart.

Another unique use of “we” and “us” is in reference to the tribe. Everyone who’s thinking about the trip, telling friends about it or helping to make it possible is traveling along with Hello World and Dan Kelly. Even without blog posts or tweets, I can feel your attention and presence. We are all doing this together.

What’s today about? The schedule is already slipping but that’s to be expected. We’ll have to make daily adjustments as launch approaches. Concentrating on core issues, getting ready to go.

The master checklist is about 90% complete and posted. It will be revised right up to launch day as I sort, verify and (if needed) repair items. Borrowed, contributed and purchased gear will be arriving next week.

The itinerary was posted yesterday, but it’s really just a sketch. Short of having Edgar Cayce or Nostradamus on the team, there’s no way to know our schedule in advance. The itinerary has two functions – to provide a rough idea of where Hello World and I need to be and when so that the trip can wrap well before the snow flies (August) AND to inspire the tribe to think about artifacts and where they may be – specific people and places. We’re getting action on that already.

Cultural geography is a sub-field within human geography. Cultural geography is the study of cultural products and norms and their variations across and relations to spaces and places. It focuses on describing and analyzing the ways language, religion, economy, government and other cultural phenomena vary or remain constant, from one place to another and on explaining how humans function spatially.

Just ran 4 miles, 2 backward in 21:00 minutes or 10:50 minutes/miles and 2 forward in 16:11 minutes or 8:05/minutes/mile for a total of 37:11 minutes. The backwards miles are amazing, just keep tossing the feet behind and trust.

Around Lake Michigan route 2010, version 1.0. Subject to change by whim, weather, clues, portents and synchronicity.

Actual

Point Betsie to Elberta Beach, Elberta, Michigan arrive 10-06-01
Arcadia Lake, Arcadia, Michigan arrive 10-06-02 depart 10-06-05
North of Portage Lake, Michigan arrive 10-06-05 depart 10-06-06
Ludington, Michigan arrive 10-06-06 depart 10-06-08
South of Big Sable Point arrive 10-06-06 depart 10-06-08
Grand Haven, Michigan arrive 10-06-12 depart 10-06-14
Holland Saugatauk Dunes Natural Area, Saugatauk, Michigan arrive 10-06-15, depart 10-06-23
Kalamazoo, Michigan arrive 10-06-16 depart 10-06-20 (side trip)

Actual daily average = 134 miles /23 days = 5.8 miles/day
Required daily average to complete trip by August 31  = (1600 miles total – 130 miles so far) / 67 days remaining as of 10-06-23 = 21 miles/day

Projected

Benton Harbor, Michigan 2 days
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore 1 day
Gary, Indiana + Industrial and Airport 2 days
Chicago, Illinois + Fermilab + Field Museum 5 days
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Milwaukee + Arkham House
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Manitowoc, Wisconsin
Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Escanaba + Little Bay Du Noc, Michigan
Big Bay du Noc + Garden Penninsula
Manistique, Michigan
Seul Choix, Michigan
Beaver Island
Naubinway, Michigan
Epoulette Bay, Michigan
West Moran Bay, Michigan
Mackinac Bridge, Michigan
Wilderness State Park, Michigan
Cross Village, Michigan
Little Traverse Bay, Michigan
Charlevoix, Michigan
Torch Lake, Michigan
East Grand Traverse Bay
West Grand Traverse Bay
Suttons Bay
Northport
Leland
North Manitou
South Manitou
Empire
Point Betsie

Toby suggested…
Betty the Stuffed Sleigh Dog:
Address: 6054 124th Ave., Fennville, MI [Show Map]
Directions: I-196 exit 34. Hwy 89 (124th Ave.) east about three miles to Crane’s Pie Pantry. On the right.
Phone: 269-561-2297

Sunny and chill by the lake this morning. Working through the recently posted order of operations, taking inventory and building lists. I expect to be asking this afternoon and into tomorrow – contacting a few key companies and inviting them to collaborate with gear and services. I’ll also have a list of companies whose products are already part of project. They can be approached later for help with post-production.

The lists also provide a trail of breadcrumbs for those who might like to replicate the Search in their own locale. Low impact exploration doesn’t have to involve sailing or even extensive travel – future artifacts are everywhere. The lists are modules – camping, hiking, sailing, cooking, production – that are applied to fit the situation.

Building, revising and simplifying these lists is a wonderful process. Limiting my life to just what I can carry on a boat is liberating. Being ready for whatever might arise, I can feel truly home – wherever I go. At ease. Present.

My methods will determine my results. By asking what minimum requirements are, I’m tuning into what really matters. I think that’s the basis of this whole project. Desire is what really matters most. I want to live, I want to be warm, I want to eat. The lists answer these fundamental questions.

Handling the fundamentals I suddenly realize that I’m free – everything else is clutter, distraction and entanglement. Amusing perhaps, convenient, attractive… but being able to let all of that go – that’s the beginning of the discovery. If I can find future sustainable civilizations, it will be because I am able to thow off the fetters of the present civilization, to drift free from it’s assumptions and imperatives. Empty and open to a simplier way, starting with survival.

revised 10-05-23

Light

1. √ flashlight [Sure Shot]
2. √ dive flashlight [Intova]
3. √ x4 lighter
4. √ x3 chemical light sticks
5. √ candle lantern
6. √ x5 candles
   

Hygiene Health and First Aid

1. √ scissor
2. √ tweezor
3. √ utility knife
4. √ finger nail clipper
5. √ bandaids
   
6. √ cotton swabs
7. √ hair ties x6
8. √ electric razor
9. √ floss [Toms]
   
10. √ 3x toothbrush heads [Fuchs]
11. √ toothbrush [Fuchs}
    

Shaman Rx

1. aspirin
2. √ cold sore (september)
   
3. √ sunscreen [Dr Hauschka]
4. √ x2  bug repellent (no deet) [Green Ban] (1)
   
5. √ Niacinamide Gel [LifeLink]
6. R-alpha lipoic acid [LifeLink]
7. immune boost [Banyan botanicals immune support]
8. √ Beta glucans [LifeLink]
9. CoQ10 [LifeLink]
10. melatonin [LifeLink]
11. √ Dinindolyl methane (DIM) [LifeLink]
12. √ Quercetin
13. Lugal solution
14. Steve’s skin saver
    
15. B-12 [LifeLink]
16. Zheng gu Shui (bone water)
17. Wan hua oil (joints)
18. Ching Wan Hung (burn medicine)
19. oregano oil
20. sage
    

Reference library

1. √ weather [Weather 1957]
2. √ writing [Elements of Style, Strunk and White]
3. √ first aid [Wilderness Medicine Beyond First Aid, Forgey]
4. √ ropes [Ropes, Knots and Slings for Climbers, Wheelock]
5. √ scuba [NAUI Openwater I Training]
6. √ sailing [Catamaran Sailing from Start to Finish, Phil Berman]
   
7. lyrics
8. spanish[Pimsleur]
9. tai chi forms video [Ru]
   1. √ sword
      

revised 10-05-31

1. √ x2 socks wool [Icebreaker]
2. √ x2 underwear poly/merino
3. √ x2 underwear cotton (1)
   
4. √ merino top [Icebreaker Bodyfit 260 XL]
5. √ x2 merino bottom [Icebreaker Bodyfit 260 L] (1)
6. √ black cargo pants
7. √ pile pullover
8. √ wind/rain shell [Patagonia]
9. ASK *** wind/rain pants [Patagonia]
10. √ pile baklava
11. √ wool gloves cut-off
12. √ shorts [Patagonia]
13. √ bandana
14. √ dress shirt
15. √ sailing and surf shoes [Vibram Five Fingers]
16. √ hiking boots [Blundstones]
17. √ sun hat
18. √ pack towel

revised 10-05-19

This is based on the 09-08-31 Master Checklist, posted only 5 days before the September launch. We’re posting this 18 days before launch – that’s progress.

revised 10-05-31

Launching 23 days late and this will be the final review. Yikes, so much for progress.

1. Survival
   1. warmth
      1. shelter
         1. √ tent, poles, stakes [The North Face]
            1. check
               
         2. √ sleeping bag [The North Face, Cats Meow 2001]
         3. √ sleeping bag [Montbel, Ultra Light Alpine Burrow bag #3 2008]
         4. √ foam roll /  yoga matte [Gaiam]
         5. √ x2 tarp 4′ x 8′
         6. 20′ rope, 30′ drawstring, 200′ twine
      2. sailing wetsuit / drysuit
         1. √ skin out wetsuit[Gul]
            1. repair
         2. √ booties
            1. replace w/warmer
               
         3. √ hood
         4. ASK *** drysuit
      3. clothes – link
   2. water
      1. √ water bottles x4 [Nalgene]
      2. √ ceramic filter pump [MSR]
         1. check
      3. √ dual use – see Hello World/righting/big bucket
         
   3. cooking
      1. √ locking pot with lid
      2. √ big family pot
      3. √ 4 x bowls
      4. √ 4 x spoons
      5. √ dish soap [Ecover]
      6. √ scrungy
      7. √ wooden spoon
      8. √ paring knife
      9. √ white gas stove [MSR Whisperlite]
         1. check
      10. √ x2 fuel bottle large [MSR]
          1. fill
   4. √ food
      1. √ grains (make link)
   5. √ sanitation
      1. √ portable composting toilet
         1. √ prep
      2. √ sawdust bag (waterproof)
         
   6. sundries – link
2. Hello World [Hobie Cat]
   1. checked and repaired
      1. hull structure
         1. √ starboard bottom hole from rock impact, possibly near dune buggy blowouts UP
         2. √ starboard hull ratching hook dents under lip ~5
         3. √ port dent from stump pre 2009 launch
         4. √ ratcheting hook dents under lip ~5
         5. √ install hatches
         6. √ fair hatch surround
         7. √ reinforce inner hull under hatch
         8. √ fair and armor keels
         9. √ plate first impact
         10. safety patch
             
      2. inspect
         1. √ frame
         2. √ lines, shrouds
         3. √ mast
         4. √ rudders
         5. √ sails [Whirlwind]
         6. √ remove Hobie logo
         7. √ shock cord for trapeze (10-05-13)
         8. √ main traveler (10-05-13)
            1. thread lock main traveler
         9. √ big bucket righting system
            1. √ test
         10. √ ditty bag
         11. toolkit
         12. spare parts
         13. √ paddle head or new paddle (10-05-13)
         14. √ harness with back support and spreader hook [Murrays] (10-05-13)
         15. √ hull graphics
         16. √ x4 baolong fenders (10-05-13)
   2. Tools
      1. tools – link
   3. Legal
      1. √ Passport
      2. √ Hello World registration
      3. √ x4 vds – water proof flares [Orion]
      4. √ air horn with bike pump [Ecohorn]
      1. √ torus bell [Winslow]
      1. √ x2 life preservers for trapeze [Stohlquist]
      2. √ x1 white light
      3. √ x1 red/green light
      4. √ x2 light mount and safety line
      5. √ x2 anchor, 6 feet chain with buoy
      6. √ x2 200 ft of anchor line (30 ft depth x ~5-7)
      7. √ x2 45 ft of line (5-7 ft depth separate or 12-18 ft combined)
   4. Navigation
      1. √ gps and charts iPhone application [iNavX]
      2. √ x2 compass [Engineer] [something that won't explode or fog up]
         
   5. Production and Power
      1. production and post kit – link [Canon] [Apple]
   6. Communication
      1. √ submersible VHF – [iCom M72]
      2. ASK *** iPhone 3GS [Apple]
         1. √ dry bag [Aquapac]
            
      3. √ iPhone back-up [Apple]
         1. √ dry bag [Aquapac]
      4. √ Mifi [Verizon]
         1. √ Mifi interface USB
         2. ASK *** summer connection
   7. Bags and straps
      1. √  backpack – [The North Face Snow Leopard 1991]
      2. √ backpack – [The North Face Technical 1995]
         1. needs repair
      3. √ dry bag backpack x2 [Seal line 115 2009]
      4. √ fanny pack dry bag x2 [Seal Line Sealpack 2009]
      5. √ messenger bag with shoulder and waist strap [Tenba]
      6. √ compression stuff sack [Granite Gear]
      7. √ x6 large stuff sacks [Granite Gear] [Sea to Summit]
      8. √ x7 small stuff sacks [Outdoor Research] [Granite Gear]
      9. √ x2 Pelican 1720NF Long Case without Foam Black 20lbs w/foam ~$400
      10. √ x8 climbing carabiners [Black Diamond
          
      11. √ x4 climbing carabiners locking [Omega Pacific]
      12. √ x12 H16 cargo plates [Dan Kelly and Chuck Hunt]
          
   8. Scuba and Snorkle
      1. ASK *** waterproof enclosure for Vixia [Light and Sound Bluefin] [Gates]
      2. √ waterproof enclosure for Vixia (shallows and light duty waterproof) [Aquapac]
      3. √ pony scuba tank 30 cu ft [Luxfer]
         
      4. √ pressure gauge [Cessi]
      5. √ harness
         1. √ adjusted straps removed shoulder release
         2. √ compatible with dual ponys?
         3. √ padding for pec/bicep
      6. √ regulator [Seaquest]
         1. √ purchased 87 rebuilt 7/09
      7. √ mask [Mares]
      8. √ snorkel [US Divers]
      9. √ x2 fins [Mares]
      10. √ x2 weight belt
      11. √ x4 dive weights
      12. √ flag
      13. flag mount
      14. √ NAUI card
      15. √ bag for mask and snorkle
      16. √ check mask for leaks
          
      17. √ mesh bag for all gear
   9. Landing
      1. √ bicycle [Miyata, Steve Zilliax]
         1. needs service
         2. replace handlebars
      2. √ aircraft cable (cargo)
      3. √ ratcheting straps (square ends not hooks)
      4. √ heavy duty chain and lock [American]
      5. valve adapter
   10. Art
       1. √ jbells
       2. *** ASK soft chaulk [Prang]
       1. √ Parlor Guitar [Larrivee] 36.25 x 13.25 x 4.5
          1. needs repair [Kelchak]
          2. armor [Dan Kelly]
             
   11. Logistics
       1. √ trailer