I found a solution for the excess fabric: start a new project. I’ve roughed out a new lined, fur-trimmed vest, using the same design as the one I just made for Michael H. This one is tailored for me, however, with silver and white fabric, a little brocade trim, and some really luscious white fur. This should go well with the blue/white/silver raver side of my wardrobe.

Five months later, I finally have last year’s Burning Man bins unpacked.

In other news, I now have two entire bins full of leftover fabric. Something must be done. Perhaps I should think about setting up a shop space somewhere… perhaps, oh, maybe, in Ballard, near the bridge…

I finished Michael’s vest off with a set of brass clasps, in place of buttons. I had a little trouble getting them positioned, but it came out fine in the end. He came by to pick it up on his way out of town for a weekend trip, and it was great to see him feeling good and excited about wearing it. This project was just ambitious enough to stretch me a bit without requiring a lot of backtracking, and I am very happy with the way it came out.

Now of course it’s time to think up the next project. I’ll poke around in my remnants box after dinner and see if anything inspires me.

We have gone past software simulations of hardware devices and moved on to Web mimicries of software simulations of hardware devices. Here’s a pixel-perfect Roland TR-909 simulator as a Flash app. The idea of using a mouse to control little digital knobs is just as silly in Flash as it always has been in normal music software, but it does yield a ridiculously accurate simulation of the original machine.

I have decided to buy a typewriter. I want one of the older Underwood portables with three key-banks, though a Corona 3 would work too. I don’t have an immediate use for this machine, but the current fashion for cutting up old typewriters and making things out of their keys makes me think I should pick mine up before good, working machines become expensive and hard to find.

In a piece of nostalgia-driven engineering as awesome as it is pointless, here’s a 512k Mac upgraded to run Mac OS X (by replacing its logic board with an entire Mac Mini).

Someone left a pile of laser projector hardware at my door while I was gone over Christmas and New Year’s, but neglected to include a note. I thought it was Llew R., but I mentioned it to him at Dona’s party tonight, and he had no idea what I was talking about. A mystery! There are a couple of audio processor kits, a three-mirror projector board, and some kind of control device. Did you leave this stuff for me, or know who did?

Lacking plans last night, I happily accepted an invitation to join a sushi mob which descended upon Hana and placed an order amounting to some hundred and fifty pieces of fish. It was a long, boisterous, sake-enabled evening.

The dryer at Heden is broken. Is there a laundromat anywhere near Montlake…?

I am having fun sorting through a great pile of music lifted from Michael H.’s hard drive.

I’m back home from Whistler. There was a good six inches of fresh fluffy snow on the ground this morning, but after packing and cleaning we were all too tired to go play in it. I wanted to have some time to relax at home before diving back into work, anyway.

Barry’s Whistler cabin trips are a great blend of action, relaxation, and social interaction. I’m going to miss the big February/March trip this year, which is definitely a disappointment, but this New Year’s trip was a good substitute.

Looking ahead, this year will probably go by even more quickly than the last. I’m starting off with three months of travel, and it looks like I’ll be doing Burning Man again…