J and I spent all day wandering the city; we wandered down Mission to SFMoMa, enjoying a pretty great exhibit of both pop art and classics .. Dim sum for lunch, and then a long, uphill walk to the Haight area. Lots of shopping later, we met up with Ellen for Sushi (this trip seems to be centered around food?) and then back to her place for some lazy drinking.

A rough life, hm?

Back in San Francisco; the wedding was beautiful, and the recovery from the after party was painful.

Ellen, Jess & I just finished dinner at Emmy's Spaghetti Shop; I had the largest meatballs I've ever seen. It's hoodie weather, and it's really, really cozy here. Bizzare bit of nothingness - Jess ran into some kids she knew from Austin at dinner. How strange.

Now, to watch The Last Samurai. :D

A day of sitting, drinking, and generally enjoying the sunshine. Tahoe is unbelievable, albeit a bit upscale for my tastes; the lake is georgeous, however, and the atomsphere around here is very laid back.

Going to the wedding in a few hours, and then off to drink, eat, and be merry. Kelly looks great, and quite the same as the last time I saw her (which might even have been during our own wedding).

At Ellen's house; beautiful, small, wooden, and well decorated. My tummy is full from some thai/asian/fusian/southwest/whatever deliciousness, and I'm loving the nine open wireless access points I can see from inside this comfy little abode. Seventy degrees, cool, beer, wireless, chill.

What more could you want?

At the airport, on the way to San Fran! About time - this quarter seemed like it was having an awful hard time coming to an end. The results were mixed - I was very, very happy with the outcome of the Information Architecture class, but the general outcome of the Interaction Design Studio was ridiculously poor. I'm not sure why; with the exception of a few flagship projects, it seemed like the level of synthesis from the other courses was simply not present. The next go-around of the class is going to be much, much more structured; I have a strong feeling that the lack of positive results was due to the leniancy given in the original project brief. I simply put too much freedom in the hands of the inexperienced, and I think I did not provide adequate coaching with regard to project estimates (time, for example) and planning. Additionally, there seemed to be a general push to follow process - which is great - but without reflection, as if the students were simply going through the motions without thinking about _why_ they were completing each phase of the project.

A thought about the check-in kiosks; although much faster, I find it interesting that they find it necessary to place a dedicated employee next to _each_ kiosk, who actually pressed the buttons for me; sort of defeats the purpose (the whole "self" part of self check-in). Additionally, I found the advertisement at the end particularly amusing - $10 off some lobster dinner or something to that effect. Wonderful placement.

So, now a day of flying; bring on the screaming children.

Absolutely beautiful weekend; low eighties, sunny, and great porch sitting, beer drinkin' weather. I've gotten a fair bit done on the proposal to revamp the undergraduate curriculum, and had time to update a few websites as well.

Ill-structured thoughts ahead.

We've been talking a bit about culture in Information Architecture, and several people have been reflecting on the nature of childhood.

For me, the most interesting part of the discussion is how important a supportive environment is during childhood in shaping the motivation and level of enthusiasm that drives most of positive design. I'm curious about design in other countries, specifically those going through turmoil right now; in twenty years, when the kids of these countries grow up, what are the creative ones going to create? Will fear and antipathy drive their work?

Around here, as part of the generation that grew up with very few problems and not a whole lot of social strife to have to cope with, designers in their late twenties seem to create based on a mix of personal angst (art) and aesthetics (design), with a much-too-early midlife crisis in the middle. The kids coming through the design grinder in the next few years seem to have a much more enlightened spin on things - is this because they value life more?