Tabla Shop in Brooklyn

Today I turned my bedroom into a tabla shop.  I busted out all my tools and I set about the task of re-heading two of my tablas in anticipation of the Iowa talk. What was really cool, was I got a little stuck trying to see if I could put a 5 1/2 inch head on a 5 5/8 inch shell, so I decided to call Anwar in Varanasi and see what he thought about it.  He gave me some good advice, and then when he was having dinner, he decided to skype me back.  I gave Salmaan some more tech support and they helped me with my drum.  I was holding up to the screen saying, "See here?  It's too high here.  I'm not sure it'll come down."  Anwar would reply, try putting the tuning pegs on it, that will hold it in place.

Ultimately, it didn't fit and I had to redo everything with different heads.  It turns out you might be able to squeeze onto a shell that is a 16th of an inch too big, but an 1/8th of an inch makes too much difference.

It was really fun.  In some ways I felt like I was back in Banaras.  In this weird virtual way.  They were sitting there eating and hanging out (it was almost midnight their time) and I was working on drums and we were just chatting.

I've been calling about once a week or so lately.  I hope I keep it up.  It's great for my hindi and I know they get a kick out of getting calls from America.  "What time is it there?" is still kind of a crazy thing.  I also know that Salman has been able to do a lot more online from what little I have been able to help him with - so that's good too.

I think the work today will be good for the Iowa talk too.  Now I can show one tabla that was made more or less by a master (i put the head on and certainly not as well as he would have done) and another one that I made (with lots of help).  You can definitely hear which one is which, so that's cool too.

Kite Festival in Ann Arbor, the Summer's Swan Song

We had some amazing weather this past weekend in A2 (which we're paying for dearly now with all the miserable rain and cold weather this week)...

My friend Gina and I capitalized on our good fortune and visited BOTH the Botanical Gardens and the Arboretum.

Pretty awesome looking tree on the trails at the Botanical Gardens

Picturesque views from trails at the Botanical Gardens

Picturesque views from the trails at the Botanical Gardens

Kite flying festival at the Arboretum

You could make your own kites based on Japanese, Chinese, and Korean designs

Perfect weather and an amazing location

Wheeeeeee!

There was even a snow lion dance performance

Even though we didn't get to spend tons of time in the great outdoors, I feel so thankful that programming and places like this exist and thrive in Ann Arbor. They are a real source of relief to get away from just locking yourself indoors, staring at a screen all day.

My freakin' awesome day!

Every once in a while the universe conspires to just make everything click into place ... today was that time for me. I apologize in advance for the gloating ... but today has just been too awesomely perfect not to share.

To begin with, I had my first day on the job as a new associate at the Stephen S. Clark Map Library at UM. Turns out this library is a much bigger deal that I originally suspected; it is combining three different smaller areas of the graduate libraries (Maps, Government Information, and Data). Their mission is to make all this information freely accessible to the public so the new space they are building is front and center right across from the main reference area. We'll have digital display areas, a lab area, and a designated teaching space all beyond just the collection. It will be epic ... and I'm the new data person. LOL! Meaning, I'm the only one working there (as a graduate student) that isn't specializing in Library Science ... so I get all the neat data visualization, analysis, and GIS (geographic information systems) projects. SCORE!

Then I had an impromptu meeting with the resident Information Technology and Communication for Development specialist at my school. I'm taking his class, but I wanted to ask him if he'd be interested in some of the research projects I'm working on ... including some collaboration I'm doing with a former colleague on Social Impact Measurement for non-profits. I laid out my plan for how I want to take advantage of all these networks that are working in tandem around me at the moment: my colleague, Alibeth Somers, looking at Social Impact Measurement; the Data Without Borders team that is trying to connect non-profits in the developing world to data scientist in the developed world to help solve their information flow problems (through Contextual Inquiry to all my SI501 friends* out there!); and all of the student groups on campus that are focused towards improving NGO performance through better data implementation, like the Community Informatics Corp. He was a little skeptical at first (mostly because my project sounds enormous) but once I showed him some of the work I did at Agribusiness Systems International in Lucknow, India he said "That! I want you to write a report on that!" Cha-ching! Finding a faculty advisor: check!

I was already planning on picking up my amazing bike today (the shop put a kick-ass basket on back so I don't have to wear my backpack when I'm riding). But just actually having it was squeal worthy!

And THEN (!) my friend Gina (of moving-in fame) finished her preliminary exams (qualifiers for her PhD candidacy) ... and so we celebrated with an early happy hour! Huzzah for excuses to drink beer at 4:30pm on a Monday afternoon!

And THEN (!!) I got an insane 4 missed calls from Allen. I called him back worried that something had happened - and something had happened: SOMEONE MADE AN OFFER ON OUR APARTMENT!!!! YEAH! We haven't decided if we're going to accept (they offered lower than our asking), but we have begun negotiations! Someone liked our apartment! Hope is not lost!

And THEN (!!!) nearly 20 minutes later Allen calls to tell me that someone else is coming to see the apartment this evening! WE ARE COOKING WITH GAS FOLKS!

I don't know if anything will come of these prospective buyers for our apartment, but it takes a huge weight off our shoulders to know that there is interest ... and that Allen might finally be able to join me in Ann Arbor before Thanksgiving!

So you see, I couldn't NOT tell you about this crazily-awesome-amazing-fantastic-joy-filled-crazy-freakin'-day I had today.

Have you ever had a similar type of day? I hope so.

_______________________________
* SI501 is the required course that MSI students at UM have to take. It is essentially about project management, but done through the lens of contextual inquiry (ie seeing how users interact with their information/data and to see if there are any outsider perspectives they can give on how to improve flow/process). It is apparently the class everyone suffers through (crazy amounts of busy work and you're working on a team, who you apparently want to murder by the end of the semester). I feel pretty fortunate that my 501 group seems really awesome and I'm hoping that we all make it through this class alive.

Getting Settled in A2

So last week I give you a pretty pathetic picture of what my life in Ann Arbor is like ... but really ... it isn't all that bad.

All the newbies at orientation

I started classes this week at the School of Information and am excited about what I'll be taking this semester: Statistics, Java Programming, Information Technology and Communication and Development, Community Informatics Seminar, and a fundamentals class that all MSI students have to take to graduate. The workload is a little heavy, but it is a good mix between technical and reading classes ...so at least I won't be completely overloaded using just one side of my brain.

Fingers crossed, but I also think I've found some students and professors on campus that I might be able to collaborate with on my interest in Social Impact Measurement (what brought me to SI in the first place).

I also start my new job at the Stephen S Clark Library, the new maps and government data library, on campus tomorrow. I'm looking forward to working in this space not just because of what I can contribute given all my experience working with government data but because of what I'll be able to learn about new mapping techniques and software.

And last, but not least (I certainly have been a busy bee this week) ... in the spirit of becoming a true Ann Arborian I got a bike to get around town in. Really, this town is nuts about bikes, which is great and horrible all at the same time. It means that there are tons of bike lanes and drivers are more conscious of bikers ... but it also means that many of the bike shops in town cater to higher-end clientele ($6000 for a bike! yikes!), which doesn't really jive with my student budget.


She doesn't look like much, but she's a comfortable ride and I'm actually really digging the retro look. Now all she needs is a NAME! Got any suggestions? I'm open to audience participation!

The Move to A2

The Sunday after Hamsa and Danika's wedding, Allen and I loaded up the car and I drove 8 1/2 hours to Ann Arbor to make it in time for my orientation, which started last Monday. The whole experience was sort of surreal: we were stashing our stuff at a friend's place in Ithaca while we were camping, then we ended up crashing at her place the night of the wedding ... but it is pretty pathetic to see all the stuff you own get shuffled back and forth out of the back seat of your car.

My friend Gina helped me unload when I got to A2 and the sight of my unloaded stuff was just as comical...

(Before) All that fit in our car

I say that the experience was comical only in that it is extremely strange to be living in what is essentially an unfurnished two bedroom apartment by myself. The rooms are very echoy and, well, there isn't any where to "hang out". Luckily we managed to fit a desk and a small chair in the car ... so at least I have a place to eat and work. LOL!

(After) Wall art makes all the difference

Hamsa and Danika Get Hitched!

Buttermilk Falls in Ithaca

So last weekend we drove out to Ithaca with all the junk I was planning to move to Michigan (more on that later) for the wedding of our friends Hamsa and Danika .... names more diligent readers will recognize as our card-playing-gin-drinking buddies from Delhi.

Ithaca really is GORGES (ahahaha) ... and we didn't wanted to miss out on all the fun wedding activities that were happening throughout the week so we set up camp at Treman State Park.


We love love love this tent that the Metzner's gave us (sniff, sniff) for our wedding two years ago. It held up in some serious rain and cold over our days camping in the park.

We were graciously invited to some of the pre-wedding bachelorette/bachelor day activities. The ladies had a bridal shower, a trip to Treman State Park swimming hole, group nap-yoga (seriously), dinner and dancing.




The boys spent the day playing paintball and Beersbee then later met us out for dancing. They were a little worse for wear (they all - including the groom - had some really angry looking red bruises), but seemed to have had a lot of fun.




Their ceremony was beautiful ...


And the reception was a blast!

Despite the threat from Irene the weather held out for Hamsa and Danika...


... although by the Sunday morning rain was coming down in buckets in Ithaca. I know of several people who's travel plans were disrupted by the storm. Thankfully Allen made it back to Brooklyn safely. Our building wasn't affected by the storm at all (no flooding, no loss of power).

I on the other hand headed straight to Ann Arbor from the wedding. After an 8 1/2 hour drive I made it to my new home ... but more on that in a bit.