Evan Rose
...was born in Dallas, Texas, traveled, lived in the Bay Area, DJed, studied architecture, collected furniture, played drums, and is now a web developer and IT consultant in New York City. Here's more.
Works
When I'm not working on mtv.com, I build web sites and web based applications for small businesses and individuals. I also help those businesses and individuals with their Macs and networks. Here's more.
Wednesday June 24, 2009
iPhone 3GS, Books and Movies
Yesterday, there were layoffs. Today, I traded in the iPhone 3G I bought late last month for a brand spankin' new iPhone 3GS. It is way fast and it tells me what direction I'm facing. The young lady who took the old phone back neglected to check to see whether or not I'd included the charger and cable in the box, items if purchased new would have been far more ($30) than the 10% restocking fee I paid ($20), so if I happened to have not put them in the box, I would have come out ever so slightly ahead ($10). I also would probably spend eternity roasting in hell, but hey, I now have two chargers ($60).
It took me three months to get through Broca's Brain, three days to get through Ethan Frome (you can get it here for free) and now that I've started on Anathem I've spent a week on the glossary and am looking at six months on the book itself. Neal Stephenson, though, is one of my favorite authors and I burned through The Baroque Cycle rather quickly, if you consider "several months quickly, and would like to do so again at some point in the future, so I might end up making the time for the book because I expect to enjoy it. Speaking of time, I also don't have much time for movie watching either and it's a damn shame I wasted an hour and a half of it on Lovely and Amazing which was not only not lovely or amazing, but so forgettable that I think I might have seen it before and not remembered it.
Monday June 22, 2009
Blogs and Pics
Regarding blogs, if you're not reading Arch Daily, you're missing out. If you're reading Texts From Last Night like I was for a few days up until a few minutes ago, you're wasting your life away. If you'd like to raise a better son or be a better man, start reading 1001 Rules for My Unborn Son.
Like I said before, we went to New Haven earlier this month to bike, play rockband, and eat, and pics have been posted here.
Friday June 19, 2009
Five Years! Can You Believe It?
I arrived in New York five years ago today. The next day, on my first full day here, I was happy with my decision, but I wasn't necessarily happy and ten days later wasn't much better. It took until September when a whole bunch of great things happened that things started looking up. Upon looking back, I realize that I wasn't crazy about the summer of 2005 either, at least not when I wrote about what was going on after celebrating my first year here. In 2006, I had just had surgery and a lovely weekend recovering; it was the start of a huge change as the time leading up to that was pretty bad and not just because I was so sick for so long. Two years ago, things were pretty damn good and I'm amazed, reading that post from June of '07 that almost everything is the same. I've traded the motorcycle for a bicycle (which I rode to work for the first time today) and I no longer smoke, but I'm at the same company doing the same job and living in the same apartment; a stretch of consistency that I haven't had since my mid-teens. I'm grateful for that.
This month, I have been extremely busy, got my bike, spent a weekend in New Haven (pics of which are coming soon), managed the launch of a redeveloped blog platform at work (the results of which can be seen hereand here), got served by my landlord in our continued legal battle, which was expected, and have had some really, really lovely evenings and weekends. It's life, and that's what all the people say, and I'm pleased it continues to go the way it's been going.
Monday June 1, 2009
iPhone Annoyances
I got a new iPhone yesterday because my old one had been crapping out worse and worse until it couldn't be un-crapped. I have some gripes:
- A new contract with an extra $10 for 1500 text messages, just in case I go over the $5 for 200 texts plan (which includes received texts). Each text beyond is $.40 apiece
- $18 for some sort of set-up fee; I can't even begin to imagine what this is for or why it cost $18. I had an iPhone and an At&T contract already
- My $80 V-Moda headphones, headphones that have been replaced under warranty twice, won't stay seated in the headphone jack and therefore need to be replaced. Perhaps the Apple in-ear ones for which I also paid $80 will work better? It's doubtful
- The screen is more susceptible to finger printing and upon closer inspection appears to be smaller. Is it, or is the phone bigger? I don't know.
- I haven't done it yet, but the more rounded corners will inspire me to drop it more often, as I have with my new, smaller, rounder camera
- Actually, scratch #3. It appears as though the headphone jack is more secure than the previous one. +1 for Apple
After rereading this list, it seems as though my big problems are with AT&T, which shouldn't have surprised me. Now, let's hope that a new iPhone comes out in the next 30 days at the end of which my window to return this one closes. While I'm hoping, I also want a tiny MacBook Air in time for my birthday, pretty please.
Wednesday May 27, 2009
Tuesday Miscellany on Wednesday
Why is a t-shirt covered with wolves howling at the moon Amazon's top-selling item of apparel? I'll tell you why. My man Keenan was rocking it three years ago.
Lebbeus Woods whose artwork I appreciate more than his architecture (rather like Daniel Libeskind) and Torres Blancas in Madrid, which figured prominently in The Limits of Control, which I saw recently. I also recently saw Irreversible which was very, very good but so disturbing I think it messed up half my weekend.
Finally, some recent interesting articles I've saved on Instapaper:
- On the House: Total Shill; David Chang of Momofuku Noodle Bar, Momofuku Ssam Bar, Momofuku Ko, and Momofuku Milk Bar speaks on his foie gras
- The dark side of Dubai; As hard times arrive in the city state that rose from the desert sands, an uglier [and fascinating!] story is emerging
- Up and Then Down; The lives of elevators and the perils of getting stuck in one
- Let Them Eat Tweets; "The microblogging service that lets you post and read fragmentary communications at high speed — is fun, but it’s embarrassing. Anyone with a strong soul or a fat wallet turns his ringer off for good and cultivates private gardens that keep the hectic Web far away"
There's more to come. We've just finished a long, long weekend.
Monday May 25, 2009
Two Weeks Since My Last Update?
No way. I suppose there has been a lot going on, so much so that even though I've been taking photos and putting them up for your viewing pleasure, I'm two weddings and a link to Dave's visit for ICFF weekend behind.
Among other things, professionally, I've been a bit distraught over my boss quitting and soon, moving back to California and stressed out over but stepping up to the plate on two big projects. Personally, I've doing a lot of stuff, going to see a lot of stuff, going to new places and meeting a lot of new people, getting a bike built, and trying to enjoy the spring and all that comes with it. I've also tried to do some very simple things that I have been incapable of in the past and despite their simplicity, they're difficult for me. It is a work in progress.
Happy Memorial Day. I'll be enjoying it with new and important people at the Brooklyn Museum and Botanical Garden and looking forward to it.
Monday May 11, 2009
And Nine Years Later...
It's been nine years to the day since I got in my car and moved to California. I haven't noted the date on my blog very consistently over the past few years (though I was there this time last year), but on May 15, 2006 noted the date and mentioned Mays being big change months whereas Aprils are big problem months (as I have on Facebook recently); April of 2006 in particular. That month I made the worst mistake I've ever made, a mistake one only gets to make once, and I very well may never get over it and hope that I've learned my lesson. In its way, it's similar to that move: I have been in New York for almost five years now and I absolutely love it and the semi-miserable time in Texas in between that inspired me to get my stuff together and move here was totally worth it. My time in California came and went pretty uneventfully and hough I used to tell people that I would never, ever move, I was done in just over two years, for better or for worse. Aside from a small component of my career and a record collection I've lugged and stored, my time there has virtually no bearing on my life now but I sure am glad I did it. If I hadn't, things wouldn't be as they are now and things now are good.
Thursday May 7, 2009
Tortoise and The Weekend
Tortoise, one of my all-time favorite bands, is putting out a new record soon and have released two new tracks, Slim Came Floatin' In and Prepare Your Coffin. The are awesome in a rougher synth/Justice/Daft Punk/Trans Am kind of way; kind of metal and 70s funk all at the same time. I can totally imagine these same songs ten years ago played with basses and vibraphones whereas now, we have sax and abrasive, agressive keys, but whatever they are, I'm loving them.
This weekend, I'll be out and about at Brooklyn Designs and The Affordable Art Fair and wishing my Derby escort were also going to be my Brooklyn Designs and Affordable Art Fair escort. I will also be two-wheeled vehicle shopping.
Tuesday May 5, 2009
Friends, Fun and Food
My friends Chris and Jayna have both been in town recently and though we went and did a whole bunch of fun things like The Met, the Russian & Turkish Baths, a Gaziano & Girling trunk show at Leffot where I ordered another pair of boots (by the way, the ones I ordered previously have arrived; they're the last two on this page), Morimoto, Chelsea Galleries (where I saw the work of Albert Oehlen, which I really liked, as well as Marc Jacobs), an intimate gathering at Philip Glass's house where he played a gorgeous piece that I filmed and put up on YouTube, and much, much more. A lot happened, a lot more happened and a lot more continues to happen. More on that soon (or on Facebook, of course).
One of the funnest parts of that ten day span is that we ate at three Momofukus; the Noodle Bar and Milk Bar, both of which I'd been to before, and we ate at Ssäm Bar, my first time there, and it was very nice. Most recently though, I scored reservations for the fixed price ten course dinner at Momofuku Ko (reviews at Yelp here) and it was beyond spectacular. I won't even try to tell you what we had or how much it cost or if I'll ever go there again, but in general, I've been eating really well and having a lot of fun.
Thursday April 23, 2009
Flickr, Recent Goings-On, and a New Camera
A whole mess of photos have gone up on Flickr and in fact there's been a lot of activity there, for me, in general.
- First, I discovered my "activity" page where there were comments on photos that were left up to FIFTY months ago that I'd never seen. I now have Flickr emailing me every time someone posts a comment, which they do sometimes, which is kind of cool. I like it when people look at my pics.
- Second, I've put up a couple of sets of photos of events that have occurred recently; Adam's Bachelor Party (which was crazy fun) and Larkin's Birthday Visit to New York which was attended by Matt, Daria, Kristen and Nick and celebrated city-wide.
- Speaking of Larkin's visit, I rediscovered a building that has the most gorgeous Art Deco lobby in the world; The RCA Victor/GE building at 51st and Lexington. I took some pictures when I stumbled upon it again. Look at the large sizes for details; they're stunning.
- Finally, I've been going through and tagging photos from oldest to newest with the names of the people in them, the location they were taken, and other miscellaneous metadata. If you were a friend of mine and you might be in my Flickr feed, you might try an Url like this http://www.flickr.com/photos/evanrose/tags/yourname or http://www.flickr.com/photos/evanrose/tags/dallas or nyc to see pics with those tags.
More photos are on their way: Chris is currently in town and we've been taking pictures and Jayna's coming into town for the weekend today and I'm sure we'll take some pictures too. Stay tuned. If you're friends with me on Facebook, you can see some of them right now! Also, I dropped my trusty Canon PowerShot SD800 IS and broke it the other night (right on schedule) so I replaced it today with an SD1200 IS which is way better and half the size. I'm looking forward to seeing the results.