Fourth of July Weekend in NJ/NYC

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Fourth of July in New Jersey presented an opportunity to test out how well Google Glass captures fireworks. It was pretty fun to be able to record video while also looking at the explosions rather than checking a screen constantly. (With thanks to brother-in-law Bob for driving us to Nomahegan Park to see the show.)

Over the weekend we took a Circle Line boat ride around Manhattan to see the updated skyline with the almost-finished World Trade Center tower.

WTC

It’s a tour I haven’t taken since I was a kid, and it was nice to be on the water and see the Statue of Liberty and the undersides of the East River bridges again.

Statue of Liberty
Brooklyn Bridge

Full Fourth of July Weekend 2014 photo album here, and a Google+ story auto-generated from my Google Glass photos and videos here.

Google Glass

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Google Glass

Google Glass is large, conspicuous, and expensive. It’s a bulky two-piece computer prominently clinging to the side of your face on a frame that is unfoldable and unpocketable. Unless you have a bag* with you, Glass pretty much forces you to wear it on your face — and this might be by design. It’s possible Google wants Glass to be a real-life viral marketing tool for itself, just by being an extremely visible head-mounted conversation starter: conversations that will probably start with mention of the $1,500 price tag (after the standard “are you recording me now?”)

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Miles O’Brien Loses an Arm

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I’ve been a fan of journalist Miles O’Brien since his early days as a space reporter at CNN (following the untimely death of previous space reporter John Holliman). O’Brien recently lost his left arm to amputation, due to complications from acute compartment syndrome after a freak bag accident. He’s written a frank and moving piece in NYMag about his experiences post-amputation.

O’Brien was going to be the first journalist in space, but the fatal Columbia disaster cancelled that plan. He was later laid off from CNN. I can’t help but feel bad for the guy: he was a great journalist destined for awesome things, but fell prey over the years to a combination of factors outside his control. Despite all adversity I hope he gets to go into space eventually.

(Not to be confused with Starfleet officer Miles O’Brien — although the “O’Brien Must Suffer!” trend of Star Trek script tragedies might well apply here.)

Great Falls with Mom

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Parent came to visit us in NoVA after Florida, so I took Mom out for a hike around the Billy Goat Trail at Great Falls (Maryland side). With the river swollen from the previous week’s heavy rain, the falls raged higher than I had ever seen them before, and Sec. A of the trail was closed due to flooding. Sec. B was still open, though, and proved just as fun and challenging.

Great Falls (MD)
Potomac River below Great Falls (MD)
Billy Goat Trail Sec. B

We also spotted this rough green snake on the trail during the walk back.

Rough Green Snake

It was great having my parents over for a weekend. Mom’s fitter than I am.

Playalinda and Atlantis

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Brochures

I was in Orlando to meet up with my parents before a convention, but I had a day to myself before they arrived. The first thing I noticed after checking in to an old, threadbare room at the Best Western was that the tap water smelled funny, like sulfurous mud, and I thought as I lay down to sleep: I should get out of Orlando.

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