Cafe Bucky

I have updated the FlexiPhoto site

There is a new preview version there which fixes a lot of bugs, looks a lot nicer, and reflects some input I’ve had from outside my own little bubble.

If you would like to check it out, upload a few pictures (assume this is temporary), and so on, then email me and I’ll let you know where to find it.

I don’t want to open up access to the general public at this point, because I am not looking to get into the hosting business. I’m not keen on having random folks uploading random photos of randomly varying legality either. I’m just sharing where I am at this point, and would love to get any feedback.

I’m looking into how I will handle the source licensing for FlexiPhoto. My inclination is that I want to Open Source it. I also want to make an exceedingly comfortable living jet-setting all over the globe, doing custom FlexiPhoto installations and custom work for non-profits, museums and glitterati alike!

The truth is that there are a number of niche areas for FlexiPhoto (Photograher/Artist web sites, small scale photo stock agencies, photo catalogs, HR departments, ad infinitum …)

Something that would help in the near-term: I’d love to find someone that has strong CSS/Design chops, AND who has a handle on how to work in an LAMP environment (or Mac with MySQL/Apache). For the moment, this means being able to run a couple of shell commands, and be comfortable editing (X)HTML bits within a here document. I can pay for a few hours of help (mostly showing me things I am doing wrong/could do better) This would NOT fit a designer that is used to strictly GUI, static html + CSS.

Yo Jerry! Ya out there?

p.s. btw, yeah, FlexiPhoto is ambitious. Anything worth doing is. I wouldn’t have taken it on if I knew I couldn’t chip away at bits of functionality I want.

Anyone that knows me and my family and our half-dozen Macs and our electric bill is probably wondering …

“not a peep about Mac OS 10.3 (Panther) yet?”

Well here’s a little impressionism from Apple SoHo on release night:

I was there, and did buy Panther. I enjoyed the in-store presentation. Hey man, I try to get to some of the important turning points in geek history! I can’t wait to try Expose, and the new Finder, and the switch users function. You can never navigate too quickly.

I did attempt to install it to an external firewire drive off my 17″ PowerBook, but it kept freezing (3 times, 3 different ways). Since I am feeling a little vulnerable with just one Mac at the moment, and am across the country from my others, I don’t think I want to mess with the internal drive of my laptop. I need it to demo! I am also wondering if the .5 gb extra memory that came with my machine from Smalldog.com could be a factor (their brand) … I am thinking I will wait till I get back to California. Maybe 10.3.1 will be out by then.

The sun peers through the atrium of the Cafe in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum. Just for a moment though. Long enough to appreciate, and then we’re back to an overcast day in New York. But overcast in a nice way, with a good view of joggers, bikers, and fast moving Large French Poodles.

The El Greco exhibit is a ray of sunshine. It was great to see one of the true old masters, and in such a large show.

Lest I be accused of posting nothing but endless zoom blurs …

from Queens … and a closer look …

I had heard that Byrant Park was a hangout for free WiFi, but not today. Not one person out there willing to risk frostbite.

The main New York Public Library, adjacent to the Park, is awe-inspiring. The rotundas, the sense of place, the high ceilings with their paintings …

So much marble. So much history. So many laptops in one place! And get this: a New York woman trusting me to watch her spot, and her iBook for a minute! Such a city! (yes, of course I behaved)

Anywayyy … for many reasons the NYPL is well worth a visit. The reading room has the mixed vibe of a college library and a place for entrepeneurs figuring out their next startup. Oh, and there is a little bit of reading taking place (must be folks well versed in ignoring keyboards and ever shuffling chairs) Felt like a place where people were actually Making Progress on their projects (the few times I looked up). Nice long wood tables with acres of space, felt like home.

I went there to be alone with a couple hundred other people. Got more done on FlexiPhoto in 2 hours than I had in the last few days. Must be the atmosphere.

p.s. yes, I keep whittling on FlexiPhoto, and need to Just Post It Already.

No, no pictures. Chinatown is a zoom blur in sound, in smell, and in real-life visual.

Am I imagining that San Francisco’s Chinatown is smaller than New York?

Daytime noon overcast, ped lost in thought. Stride. Amble. Keep a walking pace. No browsing. Blocks of Asian Impressionism. A New York wrapped inside another. Atmosphere volume knob high. Keep going, past fresh fish on ice, birds on string, pigs on hook. Lobsters and crabs wave hello from tanks, destined for really hot baths. Wafting steam. Fresh Jade. Ginger. Mary Ann. Rugged sidewalks. Yelled conversations across narrow streets. Thick dialects and hand scribbled signs; Cantonese or Mandarin? Some Vietnamese signs add to the mix. Sudden alleys, paths, leading who knows where - possibly the best restaurants of all? Old ladies with toothless smiles shuffle by. Toothful overseas beauties beam from magazine racks. Graffiti’ed trucks. Deliveries of fruit. Endless double parking. Add rain, night, drops of oil, and neon signs, and we’d really be there. Just a few blocks - all it takes for a blur to set in, sensory overload. Delightful urban buzz.

Someone drives their SUV the wrong way down a one-way. Traffic cop loses it, shouting “what the hell are you doing!”. Shamed SUV executes 12 point turn. Go park in a corner for an hour, bub. Streets a barely contained chaos. Any Chinatown, anywhere - faster to just walk.

One block to the next, natural compass steering me towards the Brooklyn Bridge. Suddenly I pop out, back to the rest of Lower Manhattan. Pace, volume, energy level drop off to normal (but still frenetic) levels.

Gotta do that again.

Tequila blur. Heart and Mind fight it out. A dozen vignettes, just from yesterday, speak to my city inclinations. Others will tug to the countryside. In between, interchangeable, forgettable filler suburbs to be navigated through on the way from one form of Really Living to the other. The Heart says Urban, less space, more excitement. The Mind says Semi-Rural, train, much more space, and then get to town often. Good song for the moment: Bjork’s “Human Behavior”.

Afro Blue. John Coltrane. Live At Birdland. Not enough sleep but rarin’ to go today. An art day.

Jazz, audible caffeine. Real Jazz. Not “Smooth Jazz” muzak humming in the background, masquerading as targeted demographic background filler. Irish guys on scaffolding outside, fixing bricks and mortar so that this place in Queens doesn’t leak when Winter Comes. Lots of banter. Lots of “for fucks sake!”. Pretty entertaining. Feel like I’m in Ireland at 8 in the mornin’. Saxophone, Piano, and endless Troweling noises.

My boots are in Eddie’s Shoe Repair, Grand fucking Central Station. Mingling with the well-heeled and bargain-soled alike. They’re eyeing some pretty calfskin boots from the UWS, hoping to nuzzle up and swap stories on fave sidewalks and paths. Gotta get there today before they cause an uproar.

Off to the New York Film Festival in a bit to see “The Barbarian Invasions” (NY Times review).

Then, a PhotoFlashMob! Just can’t say more at this time. I’ll be there though, with clean flashcard and hopefully clean CCD.

Then I’m off to see a fraction of The Met.

Ok, I’m awake now, strains of Coltrane’s take of My Favorite Things. Time for Mocha and the #7 Train. Pack the gear, tote the drink, swipe the card through the gate, hang on, snap away! Gonna be a fun one.

[update: and aside from one hiccup, it was! PhotoFlashMob was to have been on the steps of The Met, but only 3 people showed up out of 20 RSVPs. The organizer is going to try another soon]