9/23/08 - Jeff's Moment in the Sun

This was my 30 minutes onstage in the Grand Ballroom at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, giving the 2008 Presidential Address for the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (video link below). This speech was the upshot of 20 years of work in various committees within the Society -- including a stint as Editor of Ergonomics In Design.

The title was Quo Vadis, Ergonomia - Redux, and, taking a huge professional risk, I made it a more humorous and more "spiritually" oriented talk than has been the norm.

I am told that this was the first time in Society history that a Presidential Address received a standing ovation.

Click below to play the ipod-sized video [*]. Don't laugh too hard at the production values -- it was my first attempt to do post-production and I didn't have much in the way of raw material to work with.




[*] I was trying to get the high-res version working for my HFES Story Corps page, but failed. My failed attempt is at ergowizard.com/hfestorycorps/interviews/showmovie_broken.html. If you can figure out why this doesn't work, I'll give you a dollar (and become your FFL).

P.S. Here is the photoshop'ed image I put together for the title page. A couple of years ago, I heard, out of the blue, from one of my old camp counsellors from Calamigos Summer Camp in SoCal. She sent me the picture "hanging on the wall" behind me. I think I was 13 in that picture. The current shot is a demo taken of me by Maria in the camera store where I bought my Samsung S1050.

10/4/08 - Oh, we moved

We closed on our new house in the quaint town of Clarkesville, GA on October 4th, 2008.

Isn't it pretty?



BTW: Here's more than anyone would ever want to know about our new house: House

It's HERE!

"Mountain Bike! Los Angeles County", by our very own Charles Patterson. It arrived! And, it's BEAUTIFUL!

Way to go NEPH!

(SOMEone on page 131 wasn't wearing her helmet!)

Sunrise at Mono Lake

Hey, Fam. Have you been to Mono Lake via Google Earth lately? The new Panoramio layer has a lot of photos contributed Web 2.0-style by various Friends of The Lake. Here is a really beautiful one entitled "Sunrise at Mono Lake".

I expect Maria and I will be posting a few pix from our T-giving trip up to Casey's in Fairplay (South Park), CO.

Cousin Jim and Anita (pronounced AH'-nee-tah) got married on 12/30/07. Maria and I were there. It took place at the Presdio chapel in Santa Barbara. Present were the new melded family: Allison, Katie, Johnny, Frank, Vija, Nicholas & Natalie (the last two were at the Gulch last year). It was a beautiful event. I took Maria out to Isla Vista and showed her my old dorm at UCSB. Very wierd after 37 years.

Kate has some great news about her ThreadBangers efforts; maybe she'll share...

My best-man toast for Jim included the following (I didn't actually hear Jim's parents laughing ... uh-oh):

. . . I’ve known Jim since 1961, when my family moved to Bonnie Hill Drive.

I came here today prepared to shatter whatever illusions Jim and Gloria may have had about the good schoolboy they thought they were raising during the Woodstock Generation.

But I did the math and realized that there are still 3 members of this new household who are still under 21, so, discretion being the better part of valor, I decided to postpone these revelations.

However, I would like to paint one tantalizing picture for you. I don’t know what the geography is now with all the mudslides in the Hollywood hills, but back in the mid-60’s, if a couple of 14-year-old boys were to go down the driveway from my house, detour around the boulders across from my mailbox, cross Bonnie Hill, get past a chain link fence and tumble down a steep ivy-covered embankment, they would find themselves in Jim and Gloria’s swimming pool with a German Sheppard named Gunner, growling at them from the edge of the pool.

While this particular path was never taken, per se, it behooves me to point something out to Jim and Gloria. Were it not for those boulders across from my mailbox, you would have found, on one sunny morning in 1966, that your beautiful swimming pool had been graced with a most unusual pool toy bearing an astonishing resemblance to my parents’ red 1958 Porsche Speedster.

But, To quote Forrest Gump, “that’s all I have to say about that.”
. . .
For Jim and Anita, I offer this
Irish Marriage Blessing:
May God be with you and bless you.
May you see your children's children.
May you be poor in misfortunes
and rich in blessings.
May you know nothing but happiness
from this day forward.

And for this entire happy assembly,
An Old Irish Blessing:
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

little monkey!

Oh my Goodness!

No, this is not an image of me or Leigh as a kid (very 70s quality as the photo is). It's our little monkey, Parker! 4 months and ready for her first Halloween. (Say "hi," Parker!)

Thanksgiving Visit with Casey and Chuck

I'm looking forward to my trip with Jeff over the Thanksgiving holiday to visit with Casey and Chuck in Fairplay, CO.
... maybe there will be an early snow :)

I fell in love with Casey and Chuck's warm hospitality and magnificent place in the woods during my first visit with them there last Christmas. I can't think of too many other places I would rather be over the Christmas season! Besides their house and grounds being absolutely gorgeous (and at an elevation of 10,300 feet -- it's breathtaking!), it is an animal lover’s paradise... I even saw deer from Casey's kitchen window. How beautiful!

You can see the trees outside the window in this shot of Chuck with his Baltimore Colts Christmas presents (and Casey in her Christmas vest)...

Charlie, Kye and Mary will be there this Thanksgiving as well. I met Charlie and Kye over Fourth of July 2006 at Rattlesnake Gulch (that was great fun!) and I'm looking forward to meeting Charlie's girlfriend Stephanie and Casey's daughter Mary. Mary lives in New York, not too far from our sons Scott and Glenn and daughters Megan and Eden . (Maybe someday we can plan to have a family Get Together in New York!)

Being a new member of the Kelley Family (Jeff and I will be celebrating our first wedding anniversary during this Thanksgiving visit!) -- I'm looking forward to meeting lots and lots of new Kelley family members. (Well, new to me that is) :)

Be on the lookout (on this space) for family pictures of our Thanksgiving trip... Jeff and I can hardly wait to share them with the rest of the family!

Namaste,
Maria

Jeff adds:
Charlie was bragging to me that he scored a Chevy Trailblazer from his rental company...

...this, of course, was in really poor taste in light of
what Maria and I got stuck with from OUR rental company...

...but we get the last laugh, because WE get the AARP discount!

Maria adds:
Jeff got us the discount. (My age, 29, isn't old enough to qualify for an AARP discount!) :)

My Video Debut!

ThreadBanger is a popular internet DIY show which was recently featured on the Rachael Ray show - and last month they came to my house to film me doing a few segments for them! My first episode came out today and I'm so excited. I'll be on a few more episodes, too. I'll put them up on my website www.KateMcFaulDesigns.com as they come out, so you can find them there in the future. I hope you enjoy! This was a really exciting opportunity for me. Oh, and my part of the episode starts at 2:30 if you want to jump ahead. =)

Thanks for watching!

-Kate