Greetings through the fiber optics straight to your fleshy dome-piece

Is summer really over? Has the TechNomad been in LA for almost a year? Time has been flying at a ridiculous pace and I've been woefully neglectful in my documentation. While I'm about to declare journalistic bankruptcy on my diary, which has been gathering dust since May, I can still post some pictures, add some quasi-humorous captions and get together a little email just to let you know I haven't been abducted by corporate ninja's.

It's late and I'm on the top floor of the circa 1880 Edison Electric Building. The sounds coming in the window are a mix of the 5 freeway and the LA train yard; I'm sitting rebelliously still at a junction of motion that never halts. There's ants in my pants both figuratively, due to my ever growing obsessive nature, and literally, thanks to my hot, porous and infested loft - but the love still emanates and my heart still pumps the freshness. It's been a while since I sent out the digi-love so will break it down like a prosaic lightening bolt.


BRIEF UPDATE (for the illiterate and time-crammed):

Pics:
Summertime Freshness - LA - Dallas - San Diego - Tijuana - NorCal
http://snaps.projectfresh.com/albums/2006-08-28-Fresh-Summer

Burning Man in Black Rock City, NV
http://snaps.projectfresh.com/albums/2006-09-03-Burning-Man


Projects:
Super quick turnaround UK website for OutKast's new album "Idlewild"
http://outkastonline.co.uk/


Upcoming Trips:
NYC on the 22nd September
Providence on the 30th
London on the 1st October
Boston on the 16th
Maine on the 18th for PopTech
Back to LA on the 23rd October

How's that for brief?



EXTENDED UPDATE:

Summertime Freshness

I am itching to write some in depth LA cultural observations but for now I must skim the surface and purely report the facts. So here's a little update to get you (but in truth mainly me) into the present. And I think, even though it's 2 am and I have to be up at 7 I'm going to make it a hyperlink fest (those with plain text emails - get with it you luddites!)

Since my return from the east coast in late May everything seemed to go into overdrive and stress mounted to a crescendo when I flung my shaving mirror across the bathroom for having larger suction cups than the tiled walls would hold. It was at that point that I realized that I was processing things in a strangely negative way. I was being a sponge. You see, most situations can be solved with a little material science. A sponge absorbs until it is saturated and can't hold anymore whereas a mirror purely reflects, both too extreme to be healthy. Strive to be like glass my friends, let the intensity flow right through you, and leave you unaffected.

So with my new glassy attitude I faced the summer and even as projects piled on I felt a new sense of calm. The lovely miss Sarah came to visit from London and helped get me on a new lunchtime gym routine - one of the true beauties of freelance life! I got a new part-time job as a web usability analyst for a NY company called Creative Good. As a designer this is a great opportunity to see how actual people use the internet and just how wonderfully inept most of them are. It was my first time behind a 1-way mirror! It also fits right into my travel addiction as it sends me around to various places every couple of months and lets me sample various small jams in hotels.

The funny thing is, I'm always excited to get back to LA, great friends, good work, awesome weather and the sound of the metallic ocean from the trainyard that makes other places just seem oddly quiet.

For Father's Day a miracle happened and Pops Campbell finally decided it was time to 'get with it' and get online. I went down to Dallas and hooked him up with Gmail, iTunes and a Mac system. Then I pointed him in the direction of his nearby apple store and told him to go there with problems! Now that's love!

After the 4th of July I went down to San Diego for a one-day business mixer but decided to stay for a week with a horrendous individual who's since requested anonymity. Each morning we strictly worked at our web projects until the 3rd Bloody Mary when all the waitresses turned into supermodel's that thought we were just so-much-fun. Then what else is there to do in San Diego but go on a strip club crawl of Tijuana's Calle Revolucion? Emily still is in my heart - and for only $10 per dance.

I came back to LA to a sweet rat infestation but no time for that - it's onward to Reggae on the River in Northern California! It was a wonderful weekend of good music juxtaposed by dreary eyed drug dealers but we made it through and completed the 14 hours trip back to LA in Big Red!

There's few cities that have such proximal mountainous areas edged right up against the urbanity as LA (Hong Kong, yes, Providence, no) but it's quite excellent to be able to get away from the concrete at any moment. While it looks like 2007 might boot me out of LA, and perhaps this entire country (more on that later), for now I love the place and am proud to call it home.


Burning Man

I can honestly say there's nothing like Burning Man. It's quite possibly the best party in the world - a one-week explosion of color in the otherwise barren landscape of the northern Nevada deserts. The event itself is unique in that it's simultaneously both crazy AND logical. Many ask: What are these naked nutcases doing, all dressed up miles from anywhere with now cell phone reception and mostly using pseudonyms? Who on earth puts so much time into making things that have no way of regenerating their costs? What is there to do all day - a full week's too long. Let me tell you, I didn't understand it until I went. It's a full week of non-materialism and free self-expression, where you provide for yourselves and if you give to others, you give freely of return expectation. Also, there's something unbelievably satisfying about getting back to a (slightly) more primitive existence. If everything went dark, how would you fare? By the end of the week it almost all feels too comfortable, which is why when you return the next year they say "Welcome Home".

This year, Hector returned, bringing with him Andres from the distant land of Puerto Rico. Marcos Santacruz from Miami also joined and we had two days to prepare for the Playa (what Burners call the expanse of desert that the makeshift town of Black Rock City springs up on). We loaded up Rig Red until the back wheel grinded in the wheel wells and finally arrived the next day at the True Prophet camp. A great group of people, mainly from Caltech, let us join their fabulous camp and in return we built an epic shower and helped with cleaning and cooking duties! We had an Art Car strangely but lovingly called Strangelove which, along with our newly pimped out bikes, took us around the Playa in style. (At least after I unstuck the superglue tube from my finger)

There's so much that's impossible to convey through mere words (further compounded by the hours ticking away) and the pictures can only do so much justice but if, after my photos, you're still hungry for more you can view our groups collection:
http://mentor.caltech.edu/bin/view/Main/BMPhotos
Kyle's in particular give a great run through of the many faces and costumes that come out to play!

What is notable and something that the pictures often can't show is that, while not as extreme as Mt. Everest, this is survival and sometimes things don't go too smoothly. Without a doubt the morale draining moment of the week was a massive dust storm that began as a large dust devil and grew into a 2 hour long sun-blocking storm that left our camp decimated and our tents just plain inhospitable. Nevertheless, that's just how it goes sometimes and as a smiling force we forged ahead! (But not before seeking shelter with a few lovely ladies under some blankets!)

Every night there were numerous fire shows, and all things come alive with light, including the 70ft tall Man at the center. The nights are faced with your best costumes, the mornings with dreamy smiles. Every day there is many things to do, and a booklet contains all of the days events from pancake giveaways to Barbie murder houses - or you can just roam the desert, on your bike or by hopping on a random art car, and explore the art.

All good things come to an end and the final two nights consist of the largest burnings - the Man literally EXPLODES on Saturday night and on Sunday, up goes the Temple and this year - the Belgian Waffle, the largest fire most of us had ever seen!

Finally there's the cleanup - and where one of the most important tenants of Burning Man comes into effect - Leave No Trace... Super thanks goes out to all of the True Prophet Crew, see you all next year! (And likely before that at the decompression parties) In the meantime, Big Red's up for the ride home!

If you're interested in going next year (and you might be able to tell I'm addicted), get in touch and we can talk about it more - I guarantee it's a week that you'll never forget! In the meantime, if you've located on my upcoming travel coordinates you can look forward to a warm front of freshness swooping in from the west!


Well my friends, 4 am approaches and I need to be up at 7. On any normal day I might say "screw the boss, he doesn't appreciate me anyway", but while that would be hilariously schizophrenic of us, tomorrow I simply MUST get up. I slyly scored a spot to sit in for a Simpson's table read at Fox, at the stage of a script where the characters gather and read it through! HAH! I used to have a great script idea for the show but there's only so much time and so many courses our lives can take. At least until the singularity later this century...

Yours with a utopian smile that masks a dystopian grin,


Dougie WOW
part time usability agent - full time digital gigolo.
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portfolio : www.projectfresh.com
pictures : snaps.projectfresh.com
travel logs : technomad.projectfresh.com
myspace : www.myspace.com/friendlyd

aim : douglez
skype : wdcampbell3