The Trip Is Over - Sigh

Well, I'm back from my much anticipated trip to the New Camaldoli Hermitage. This was the second year running that I have made a trip down to Big Sur to stay at the monastery retreat house. This year the weather was warm and clear all six days and five nights. It made it a much more pleasant stay than last year's storms and rain. I probably spoke less than ten words while I was up there, but I did one trip up to Monterey and Carmel midweek where I got to talk to various people.

The whole point of these retreats, whether for spiritual renew or as in my case as an working trip, is to experience total solitude and silence. You might come face to face will another person in the common kitchen when it is time to pick up your midday meal, but heavens, don't say a word. Usually I couldn't help but smile and say, “Hi.” Everyone was older than I and probable thought I was the frivolous kid on the block.

I didn't finish my fourth maze. I got through page 88. Only two more pages to go. Here is where I worked most of the time there. Each room had its own private garden overlooking the sea.

The good news is that I rolled out my Line Around The World four times during the trip. It was very exciting, pitting Man (me) and Art (the Line) against Nature (everything else). I will begin posting the updates on Tuesday.

Here is my favorite place to sit up at the monastery. The bench is on the driveway that leads to the Hermitage. From up here you can see the vastness of the ocean and still hear the breakers down below. I want to go back!

Monday I will have the next page of the first maze.

Jon

Happy New Year

I wasn't planning on doing a post on New Year's Eve, but it is a good time for looking back over year just ending. I want to check back in my journal to see what my goals for this year were. This should be funny. This is one of the reasons I like to keep a journal. It makes it difficult to lie to yourself. Let's see:

Goals for 2010

Lose weight: down to 130 lbs.

                      Ah, I failed on this one. Of course this goal was a carry over goal from 2009, 2008, 2007 , 2006 and so on. This one goes on next year's list.

Get in shape: enough to ride the bicycle the length of the Coyote Creek Trail.

                      This one I almost got done before I fell and badly twisted my ankle. I didn't fall while riding the bike. I fell walking on a dirt path at night. Pretty pathetic really. Of course this goal was a carry over and simplifying of last year's goal of reaching the top of Mount Hamilton. This goes on next years list.

Complete Maze 2 to publish level.

                      This one I almost got done. I just need to do the proofing and final edit. This goes on next year's list.

Complete Maze 3 to publish level.

                       Ha! I didn't even start the process for this one. I think I will cut this one for next year.

Finish drawing maze 4.

                       Well, I have done 71 out of 90 pages, so I got 78 percent of it done. If only I had lost 78 percent of the weight I wanted to lose! This goes on next year's list.

Cut Spending to a minimum.

                       Failed this one too! This definitely goes on next year's list. I have to divert massive amounts of cash to the Line Around The World Project.

It was another one of those years like most of the previous years of my life. Nothing accomplished at all. Unless I consider life's surprises. For instance, I had never even considered doing a Blog. And here I am, blogging away, boring my readers to tears. I love it!

The Line Around The World Project was totally unplanned and yet has grown into a major Art Project. Perhaps soon to be a corporate sponsorship deal. By the way, here is what a mile long line looks like when it is rolled up:

Pretty darn impressive isn't it? Just think of what a Line Around The World will look like. Wow! I might have to move.

For the rest of today I will be working to refine my goals for next year. I'm going to try and be more realistic for next year. And by gum, I'm really going to get them done this time!

Happy New Year!

Jonathan

Drawing The Line - 3

What is this mysterious third problem which I encountered as I started my Line Around The World? If you have read the posts that led up to this ambitious undertaking, you might remember that when I was a wee lad I was impressed by a TV commercial. Of course, you have all been likewise impressed. Maybe it isn't the same commercial that so impressed you, but there is at less one for everyone. That is the whole point of the multi-billion dollar advertising industry. For example, I was also taught by a TV commercial that the Wet Head is Dead. Remember that one? So even today, forty years later I never use any hair tonic. My hair blows free, Robert Redford like, in the afternoon breeze. Which is odd. They must have been selling something, but I'm not using it on my hair, or anywhere else on my body I can think of, whatever it was.

Anyway this vividly remembered commercial for some ball point pen or other stated that this said pen could draw a line around the world. Of course I had to see for myself. I was skeptical. I told my wife that it probably wouldn't even reach Sacramento. That is only about an hour and a half drive away from where I'm sitting.

So imagine my utter shock and dismay when I discovered that the vaulted ball point pen I was using for this adventure, will fail me after less than a mile. Oh dear, I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you to sit down first. A mile! Either I have spent a dollar fifty on a seriously defective pen, or perhaps my memory of that commercial is slightly flawed. Could it be that the man (or woman) that was holding the pen while standing on the highway (or Bonneville Salt Flat) said that the pen could write a line a mile long? Could this statement that have impressed anyone? It certainly doesn't impress me now.

This resounding discovery was made in a very scientific manner. Simply stated, I measured the level of ink in the pen and drew a line along a measured course. After wards I remeasured the level of the ink.

Before drawing the line the level of the ink was 81 mm.

A line 800 inches long was drawn on a notebook page. Here it is.

When remeasured the level was 79 mm.

Just to be really scientific about it, I did a second trial.

Level before: 79 mm

An 800 inch line was drawn.

Level after: 77 mm

Therefore, both trials show that it took 2 mm of ink to draw a line 800 inches long. With a little math we can find that a line 30,800 inches can be drawn with the remaining 77 mm of ink. This works out to be 0.486 of a mile. So all told with the portion of the line I had already completed, the pen would go for about 6/10ths or 3/5ths of a mile. Even with a significant margin of error for measuring, it is doubtful that it could make up a several thousand mile shortage.

This discovery struck at the very heart of the whole endeavor and came even as the project had taken root in my mind. Of course I could go on, replacing the pen every half mile. The thought of running 50,000 pens out of ink did have some appeal. In fact a lot of appeal! But combined with the need to purchase 1.1 million rolls of cash register tape, it didn't really fit into the budget. Fortunately, at just this moment a new product came onto the market which solves my problem and fits into the spirit of the venture.

More about that later.

Jonathan

The Point Of The Point

Last August my buddy was down here in California for a visit. While he was here he showed me the fountain pen he has been using. It was a Pilot Vanishing Pen with a Fine Nib on it. It was very cool, but I didn't think that it would work for my mazes or for writing in my journal. I write very small and draw narrow passage ways. I didn't think a fountain pen could handle it. He let me try it and I was surprised to find that it was capable of detailed work. I didn't buy one right away. I waited a week, and I have been using one, actually two, of them ever since.

What was the point of the thread of posts about the Ball Point Pens? Just that I like to run them out. I could have just said that, but that is not my usual way. I mean, if I would have said, “Hey Dude, I like fountain pens”, you may have thought that I was some kind of crank. After reading my earlier posts you will see that I have a very good reason for liking them, dude.

The great thing about fountain pens is that they run out of ink much more often than ball point pens do. While you are sleeping all comfy in your bed at night, I am carrying out scientific research into just how much more often they do run dry. No, I'm not asking for a medal, it is what I do. Then there are literally hundreds, maybe thousands of different inks to try. It is a whole 'n other world. So in the last year I have purchased four fountain pens. While that might seem like a lot, it is fairly restrained compared to many addicts.

Take this gentleman for example. It is clear that he likes his pens. Notice that this is part one of his collection. I'll spare you further episodes, but I think I'm a bit jealous.

Some people have enough money that they can take their addictions to extremes.

Addicts such as these have an online meeting place called the Fountain Pen Network. Yes, I'm a registered member, but haven't made any posts there. Yet.

Here, completely off topic and with no point in mind, but because it came up as a related video for some unknown reason, are three fellows and their cellos. There may be a connection I'm just not seeing.

Yes, I know that it is sooooo 2007, but I don't get out much.

Jonathan

A Musical Interlude - 2

Yesterday was my first blog free day since I began this here project. My hat's off to those people out there that post something everyday. It is more work than people that haven't tried will understand. Anyway, the point of the day off was for me to experience life in all its glory.

So I got up, did the usual morning rituals. You know, brushing the teeth, shower, corn dog for breakfast, getting disgusted by the news reports, reading a little, all the while waiting for this wonderful thing called life to happen. Eventually I made my way back to my work space and slipped with ease into my regular routines. I figured that if life happened by, I could drop what I was doing and take notice. In the meantime I might as well work.

There are three Blog related projects underway on my desk at this time. Despite the technical difficulties I have continued to work on my “Line Around the World Project” (aka, The Subway Line). I have been experimenting and have learned some surprising things. I have also received some very helpful suggestions which I will be incorporating. There is also a related project which took up a couple of hours yesterday. This project is highly scientific and will be a boon for mankind when I post the results.

It was now after eleven o'clock and life had yet to make an appearance. I was in a groove so I worked for a couple of hours on my fourth maze. After that I noticed it was time to go to my real job, the one that pays the rent, until the Subway deal comes through.

I was happy that I hadn't waited around for life to show up. It would have meant a wasted day if I had.

Anyway, I normally listen to music while working. My iPod is loaded with all sorts of music, from ABBA (don't laugh!) to Zwan (actually after Zwan, there is 10,000 Maniacs and 3 Doors Down, but... A to Z). But yesterday I was listening to an Amibent artist named Robert Carty. His music is very well suited to concentrating on a task that requires it. His website is here.

Here is one of a number of cool music videos he has made.

As I get older this is the way time seems to flow. More and more quickly. I imagine a time when this time lapse stuff will look like slow motion.

Tomorrow we will have another page of maze to tackle.

Jonathan

The Point Finally

Okay here it is, there is nothing sweeter than running a pen out of ink. Nothing. There are probably some people out there that are snickering and saying to themselves, “Oh I can think of a couple of things that are sweeter than that.” But as an older and perhaps more experienced person I will mildly disagree.

“How about the Cheese Cake Factory Pies?” you are probably asking. Been there, done that. They are good, but I will insist that writing the last word out of a pen you have carried around for months far surpasses any dessert offered anywhere.

I mean look at this:

This is the only Ball Point Point that I am positively sure that I personally used up. I used it for the last part of my first maze and the first part of my second maze. I also wrote many entries in my journal with it.

It might not seem like all that big of a deal, and for all I know everybody reading this has a junk drawer in the kitchen filled with spent pens. I'm just saying that for me it has been a very difficult to achieve this feat. First of all, a pen is quite easy to lose. It might fall out your pocket or roll off and behind your desk. Someone could see it laying around on your desk and accidentally walk off with it.

Or, and this is the most difficult circumstance, someone asks if he can borrow your pen. They can see it sticking out of your pocket and might even point at it. You will have to say no. Sometimes the person will ask again, maybe reaching out his hand for it. You know that if you let him write something with it, any little thing at all, then this guy will share some of the credit of using up that pen.

Oh, I suppose that is the Christian thing to do. Let the sorry pen moocher use the thing. Heck, you might as well let him keep it. And since he asked for your pen, you might as well give the bum your pencil too.

I found this link that demonstrates that I'm not the only person that might feel this way.

http://stuffchristianslike.net/2008/11/438-refusing-to-let-people-borrow-your-pen-in-church/

Here is a quick video that shows how you might discourage people from asking to borrow your pen. Of course I'm don't want to promote this sort of thing.

Since I'm a little more charitable than these two folks, I've only managed to run out this one pen. It is the difficulty of the feat that makes it such a thrill.

Jonathan

Closing In On The Point - Part Two

Continuing on towards the point. A few posts ago I hope I left you with that very powerful, vivid even, image of the very very long line. Being the kind of guy I am, it was impossible for me to leave it at that. Using one of the new Pilot Ball Points I bought I will test it to see if using it I can truly draw a line around the world.

Here I am in my room and beginning the line. Thinking ahead, I marked the pen I am using with a piece of tape so I know that I'm always using the correct pen. How silly would it be to get to Denver and discover that for the last 150 miles or so you had been using the wrong pen? Talk about embarrassing!

As you can see, I just carefully tape the new piece of paper end to end with the previous one.  I am using plain old copy paper.

Because of the taping process, it is taking me longer than I thought to reach the front door.

Hey, if this Line Gig takes off maybe I can get corporate sponsorship for it. Maybe something like 'The Subway Line'. Yeah, that's the ticket! See ya later Jared!

We made it to the front door. It is clear that corners are going to be a problem. Well once I'm out of town I suppose it will be easier to keep it straight.

I better leave the door shut when I leave. If my wife's cat gets out, I'll be a Dead Man Walking.

What? Out of paper already? I need a break anyway. Let's look back and see how far we've gone.

Impressive isn't it? I'll pack a few things, pick up some more paper and get back to this later.

Jonathan

Closing In On The Point

I bought this 2 pack of pens at Wallgreen's the other day. They cost me 2.99 plus tax. It is annoying that they weren't on sale, but the fine point pens never seem to be. These are the kind of ball point pens I have been using lately, but I have no emotional attachment to this pack of pens. If it burst into flames in my hand I would remain unmoved. I'd probably scream, throw the pens to the floor and stamp up and down on them to put the flames out, remaining unmoved throughout, emotionally that is.

Now, this pen is the same kind, a little worst for wear. The clip broke off a couple of weeks ago. I use it at work and for rough drafts of letters and journal entries. The ink is water proof which makes it more practical than my fountain pens for some tasks. Despite its similarity to the new pens, I have a strong emotional attachment to this old pen. I would spend hours searching for it if I lost it. What is the difference?

Look. The level of the ink in the old pen is roughly half of that of the new pen. That means that I've written my way halfway around the world with it. The closer to empty this pen gets, the closer I get to another circuit of the planet. At least in my own mind. Some might quibble with this reasoning. Never the less … it seems true to me.

Jonathan

An Earlier Age Part Two

Back to the point I was starting to make in a previous post. I have a vivid recollection of a commercial with a guy demonstrating a pen. At least I'm fairly sure it was a guy. He was out in the middle of a highway, or maybe it was out on the Bonneville Salt Flats. He was holding a spanking new Bic, or maybe it was a PaperMate pen. He proudly informed the audience that with this pen we would be able to draw a line skip and drip free completely around the earth. Then he preceded to do just that on a long sheet of newsprint laid out on the highway dividing line or Salt Flat or whatever. They didn't show him drawing very far, maybe ten feet, maybe a hundred, but I think they cut away while he was still going. Whatever, it is quite vivid to me though. And he did make a lasting image in my young and impressionable mind. The image is of a really really long line.

My crack research staff over at Google and YouTube were unable to uncover this commercial for me when I asked them, so I can't show it to you. Too bad because I'm sure you would be impressed as much as I was. I mean, think of it, there inside that cheap ball point pen resides a line that could stretch clear around the earth.

With a pen like that I could, dare I say it … Rule The World …. (maniacal laughter)

Jonathan

An Earlier Age

Pens seem to have lost some of the gravitas they had in an earlier age. By 'an earlier age' I mean way back in the 1970's. This is a time for most Bloggers that is as remote as World War II was to me back in the Seventies. And by 'gravitas', I merely mean 'importance'. It just sounded more important to say gravitas.

The measure of importance is universally acknowledged to be, the TV commercial. When was the last time you saw a TV commercial for a pen? It may surprise many of you readers out there of the younger persuasion, but in the Seventies the makers of pens spent millions (well maybe back then it was only thousands) of dollars to convince us that we had to have the latest and greatest 49 cent ball point pen. They were the biggest thing in the new age of information. They were back then what ipads and Blackberries are for us today. At least in the measure that counts, TV commercials.

For a laugh, here are a couple of commercials from that earlier age:

and,

Well, I'm sure they spent at least hundreds of bucks on those!

Anyway there is a point to all this, and that point is. Ah … I'll get back to you when I remember what I was thinking.

Jonathan