ThinkBrick

The crack

2011-10-02T10:53:00.002-04:00

a bit hungry, but felt like writing

The crack of the cue ball hitting a fresh nine ball rack with a good stroke would send chills down many a spine. It was music to my ears. And i was that guy, yea that guy showing off in the middle of the pool table, at least with the loud break. I had a few good racks, relatively consistent with a decent position. The break shot from the back of the rack with the corner ball going into the side pocket-that shot was becoming easy.
I needed a fresh look at things, a creative boost in another department. What was mostly necessary was being able to shoot without bias, without though or complaint. Its like building without rules, screaming without volume, punching the gas on a go kart and hitting the turn without brakes. That happened this week too, but no one can get enough of that anyway.
It was a payday present to myself. But it wasnt the usual pool hall experience, my rusty memory of the smoky place, ridiculously loud music and friendly hostess seemed to fade a little for a silent three hours of no nonsense shooting. I could use a little company sometimes, i think i spend way too much time alone to be honest. Maybe that stark idealist, maybe i havent figured it out yet, ever the humble gentleman, the nomad and warrior haha.

And this old man on the train, looked like Mr. Miyagi and Sam seed rolled into one. His dirty grey que stuck out of a hole in a beat up old skully. He flexed and stretched like a crazy drunken master and he looked like he lost 3 of his fingers on his right hand fighting the good fight. 'Hav god dag!' streamed out of of his drunken lips, wet from the foam of a can that he couldnt open properly. I made up a story in my head about him, he couldnt just be a vagabond, and homeless stranger. He had to be this warrior, down on his luck, maybe missing some old lady lost in the passage of time. He fought many a battle, drunken style, maybe eagle claw..and his three strong fingers were a akin to that. 'Hav god dag' in an asian danish accent, the old master stammered. I wonder if i could have learned something from him. He could have showed me how to strengthen my hands by crushing beer cans he drank. The story was great. The ride home was sleepy and quiet, and the next day would be just as quiet.

Time for ice cream, time for legoland.

and i should mention oktoberfest somewhere. but thats another story.

obligatory..but really

2011-09-18T05:38:00.002-04:00

Spending the better half of the day cooling down after my first sober birthday since i turned 25. I came home a few hundred kroner and one white bowtie (for some reason the sound of this word does not resonate with me) lighter.

The party itself was a whirlwind. Once at the club, it was near non stop dancing until just about 3am. I was glad people came and got dressed up and even more happy that even those who didnt particularly enjoy the music still came out and danced. The energy was incredible in there, and it was an amazing evening.

It was also a milestone, my first birthday in a new life. I cant believe how much had changed in the last year. And last night had started with this song that i kind of left with in nyc. I saved as many nights as i could, fought the brink of dawn, and tomorrow came, I was gone...and eventually so was she. The last year was truly sobering, full of learning experiences and now a new family here. I felt like i brought them back with me, to the bronx, to a piece of me that they may not really have known about or maybe they did. And it really meant a lot to me that they were there, while wishing my friends back home could help revel in the festivities as well. While lifting this massive one liter of danish beer, i was reminded of the travels and the sights ive seen. It was obviously Munich, but then more than that, my travels have brought me to the foot of the Eiffel tower, the water of the Trevi Fountain, a castle in the mountains, and where the seas meet the seas. But moreover, from those travels i knew there is just so much more to see of the world, the cities that no one heard of, and avenues few people walk through. I danced with more gusto and confidence last night than i had in a very long time. I left my inhibitions at the door and watched my shy youth go off in the distance. Perhaps it was a product of the year's happenings. The nearly forced learning of being independent, quickly and in a place where nobody knows your name, and many times where nobody knows your tongue. Where was this gusto while standing next to a beautiful girl on sort of balcony, listening to a swing band, in Verona!? Next time then. I dont know if i had any new turn patterns in me, maybe a few new moves, or just a few that came back from the back of my mind. I wondered if it would shadow the professional creativity that i've been able to display in the last year. So many things made with these two hands, and even fewer that anyone will see.
The year hasnt abated my hunger for more, and maybe even hungrier to see more, grow more and be more. At times i feel like my age lies to me, theres so much more life to live, I only wonder if i had missed out so much and trying to rush to catch up as i get older. Who am i kidding though, i always tell myself that i intend to live forever!

So here i sit, in a quiet apartment, feasting on Ken Burns Baseball. Enjoying a lazy sunday at home, trying not to think about too much and surely doing way too little. Perhaps i'll get something sweet from the store. I should be thinking about tomorrow, and maybe the next year ahead. Maybe very little will change in the coming year, maybe more will. Yea, 31.

A.... traveler

2011-09-12T07:46:00.003-04:00

Maybe, the selfish traveler?

I spent that last 10 days traversing due south of my current abode. With grueling train rides, sweltering heat, and what felt like days at a time without a good shower.
It was great to share the experience via facebook, foursquare and even email letters with my mom. Traveling alone has all that comes with it, the introspective look, the self pacing, discovery and self discovery - though i hadnt set out for the self discovery part. And its so hard to share that, to share anything about the feeling of excitement and the touch and feel of the world around. I came out thinking that theres still so much more to see and i've only touched the surface.

I began on a wednesday afternoon, to vejle, picking up a travel towel and a water bottle, both essential travel tools. Like the Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy, never leave without a good towel. I had two. From there was a beeline to Venice. Flensburg was interesting at night, I wanted to explore it more, but the train was coming. Vending machine soup saved my ass and so did some tea crackers (which i had with me the entire trip!). I had a few hours in Fulda, a charming town with some really cool churches and sculptures. It was a city that was upgrading and getting some modern touches. Then waking up in Munich to take that last bit over through italy. Here I got to appreciate the Austian alps, they were fantastic.
Venice was as ive seen it in so many books and travel ideas. But as a tourguide said it, its a fading city, soon to be a themepark. Still absolutely beautiful with majestic panoramas and the charming streets where one could get so easily lost. It was a great first stop.
Verona was just a comfortable city, busy enough to have the noise that i like, but easy enough to get around with lots of charm, beautiful women and a fantastic live swing band. I have to return, if only to see the opera and of course greet the hosts that held me there for a few hours.
Rome reminded me of new york, It reminded me about how mundane some of our NYC sights have become to me, yet how grand they still are. But for the locals of Rome, could they be any less mundane? How could it be to let those things be just second nature. "Hey guys lets meet at the Trevi fountain, get drinks.?" but the vatican was as gaudy as they say and this ridiculous arch commemorating the beginning of Christianity'.. I bet my Non denominational friends would love to put something else there haha! The history is just mindboggling, and so was the heat. Rome is best seen with cooler weather for sure. And damn, there were so many filipinos!
A train strike, and me being over cautious sent me over to Grossetto. My host, and fellow MCP, toured me around this fortress town and the following day to the Mediterranean sea with its warm waters and strong breeze.
From there to Milan, which most reminded me of New York's shopping areas. Everything was (even too) easy. Expensive shops and model like women. It was mistimed though, one more night and i could have been at the crazy fashion night. No bowtie, though i held 4 in my hand before i left. I left my bank card in a automatic ordering machine at mcdonalds(!) perhaps a good thing, it kept me from spending more money than i had.
To Laussane, with its breathtaking views, the unexpected (at least for me) Olympic museum and just amazing air. If you wanted an introspective moment, it was here. The train ride reminded me of popping out of the tunnel and seeing seattle. I had that wow moment when seeing those mountains and the lake in between. That was just stunning.
And then the Fairy tale castle, high above the mountain, should i ever come across the means, i'd love to make a room in the castle and then tear out the underground and build my voltron fortress. There were places for each of the lions!
Shopping in munich, and drinking at the famous Hofbrahaus!
Berlin, with its relevant history. It was a growing city..and 'the newest' one I've gone to. And then seeing the colleagues and friends on the train back.

Even this short narrative cant bring the emotions and the feelings of grandeur. I'll keep those to myself. There was a time in rome, when i wanted to stop taking pictures and just enjoy it, just be in the moment. To just be a traveler, passing through these cities to eat, to drink, to experience just a bit of what it is to live there. Maybe i wanted to feel like a local.
So, the experience is mine, no matter how much i can tel you. If you really want to know what its like, come with me on my next adventure..and you'll get a taste of it.

Clarity

2011-08-15T17:09:00.003-04:00

On my way to the gym today I noticed something really strange.
A moment, or maybe more than a moment, but a realization of clarity. I dont think I've ever had that, not like this. Most of my life, at least the recorded bits, via journal, xanga, myspace, facebook and the like.. I've been a troubled soul. I never felt so at peace with myself. There was no search for love, no search for longing feelings, no feeling of solemnity, no immense happiness or sadness, just clarity. The world would still be ahead with its troubles and mysteries.

And it'll be just the first year of the rest of my life. It's coming to a head for sure. My first project, it may be my "life's" work. I'm putting all sorts of pressure on myself, none that need to be added by the enormity of it all. It's just a model anyway. Maybe I'm just sentimental, it's the first, and you never forget your first. Those who know me well also know that I am.

But here and now, things are so clear. I can look forward and back so easily and thus towards my goals with reckless abandon. I'm taking care of myself yet not afraid to let someone in, not afraid of anything but being stagnant. I wish that my friends can also feel this at some point in their lives.

Word, this is life. This is crazy.

an empty apartment

2011-06-11T09:09:00.002-04:00

Its been a quiet day, but again, enjoying this new place.

Here i sit on the couch at the center of this quiet place staring deeply into this computer. Im not bored, but not doing anything either. Maybe i'll get up and out of here later, i do need to find some dinner.

I was looking through Ikea stuff this morning, im so excited to furnish this place. Im trying to turn this place I can at least partially call my own. I'm finally gonna get to make my little LEGO Studio in a place even more inspiring than my office. I can have a nice little bachelor pad that's my bedroom. (Anda ridiculous pause here)
I live across the street from where LEGO was found, The ghosts of the LEGO Family stroll along the streets i look on every morning. The wonderfully perfect smell of the fresh baked bread in the morning, the pizza smell and restaurant next door. I have a fantastic and creative roommate who's probably crazier than I am.
Theres a bit of a future here, lots of excitement in the coming years.

Everything's a bit new again. A lot like my first weekend here back in september. So much opportunity and promise...

Soon we'll have this place full, but for now its a studio.. a place to express yourself without any fears. Its a Dojo, so scream and yell and isolate, and meditate and sweat out the world behind you.

But i'll be gone again. Off to New York again, 4th time in the last year. Off to cause some trouble. Back home again...and more stories to tell, more stories to make.

7000 pushups

2011-05-23T16:00:00.002-04:00

has it been a year already?
i'm still piecing together all of these 'goodbye' parties that i've had. Really some wonderful memories with those people. And then dreading going back home to the madness that would be the summer of 2010. The madness and sadness of leaving, but never really saying goodbye. It was a summer of love last year, one we'll try to remember through our ages.
These days, i'm still settling in, but more like hitting the ground running or just hitting the ground and eventually rolling. Rocks still come to trip me up, but the long road lies ahead.
Trying so hard these days to immerse myself into the work so that i can keep some of the homesickness and loneliness at bay. The weekends can be unbearable, i still dread them most days.
But the crew here is getting ever closer, bound by music and poker, over bbq ribs and under the rain. Its becoming a family that i hope will last at least as long as LEGO pieces stay solid (obligatory i know).
Of course I'm making the best of it! Life is forever an adventure, and i may be that nomad who finds his solace on top of mountains, in front of seas and in the midst of millions of people. I have a place to call home, but as the days pass it slowly slips away leaving me but a citizen of the world...and so - forward I stride.

Ha! Last year i was sticking it out at the hotel svanen eating ramen dinners (those now relegated to late stays at work). I desperately waited for Yvonne's calls and frantically woke at the crack of dawn to put on my headset before work. I really miss those days already. I charged myself 7000 pushups for the 35 days in solitary confinement (With 10 days of conjugal visit -=D). Two hundred a day on average, making up what i missed on the following day or days. It wasnt uncommon to have to do 800 in a day or worse, but they got easier.

I watched Casablanca twice yesterday, more and more gut-wrenching each minute to tell the truth. But there i found a kindred spirit in Rick, the guy left in the rain with a comical look on his face. In my case, i was the one that left, but that doesnt matter. I also aspired to be this imperfect character, flawed and hopeless; clinging on to happier times while sticking his neck out for no one-at least he made it seem so. Maybe i could be strong enough to think for everyone, to let the captain sign the papers and make up lies to get people on the plane.

This is what this time does to you though, looking for ridiculous parallels to incredibly nonsensical, over dramatized stories. I'm so glad i have work to go to! (Today was spent rolling a car around the office back and forth along with serious debates on aesthetics and building very slowly as to get it 'just right).

Its so strange, back home in 3 weeks. Its gonna be a LONG 3 weeks. Deadlines, side trips, moving. Easy pickins, 200 pushups a day and making up for it on the weekends. 7000 again? i've already lost count, but at least 2000 so far.

First Tango in Paris

2011-04-25T17:14:00.003-04:00

So yea, i found just about everything that was said about paris to be true. You can just watch any movie about the place and read it somewhere. The air of romance is everywhere, and it is the true romantic city. The Parisians and tourists are just so comfortable with themselves- not arrogant about it either. Its a wonderfully relaxing place, with lots of history and all the sights to boot.
I'll let my pictures speak for themselves, but they wont give you the magic of the air at the front door of the Sacre Coeur, or the electricity that's at the Eiffel tower when its lit up for the hour or the breeze by the Seine and the mists of the many fountains found around town. But i didnt get to kiss in paris, nor did i get to dance..I'll be back there soon; its a see you later paris, not an au revoir.

But why paris? what would i get out of it? For sure, I have some more of a reassurance about relaxing and humility. We all know Paris to be this great city, but the people there didnt give me the air as so. Its relaxed, and the many cafe's and sitdown spots say so. The deep history of just the city itself gives it some majesty and culture.
There's also something about paying more attention to detail, all of the sculptures and paintings and little details have dug into me and really push me to drive detail into my body of work as well.
As for Toys, sculptors have been making miniature versions of their creations for centuries. I mean today i get so impressed by the detail in some maquettes for anime figures and dolls, but back then..it was all hand carved in stone and with more detail!
I could learn a lot about color from the graffiti from different parts of the world, paris itself didnt have so much, but the outskirts had wonderful work, as did the germans on the way back from hamburg.
Paris was wonderful, and literally to that. Full of wonders for sure..but lets not stop there... I'll be back again for sure..but there is a whole world to see.

Still dreaming.

2011-03-21T16:24:00.002-04:00

As of now, no plans to be in new york til christmas.
maybe the longest time away from home ever. But I'll always be a new yorker, and before that, the man who's feet never touch the ground.

10 years ago, maybe 9 i thought about this whole business in my life - becoming a 'millionaire', being wildly successful in some sort of venture. But i guess that would never have made me a better man, or even happy. I didnt know then that I would only do what my heart told me, and what i thought was right for me. For a while i was just a selfish brat, not wanting to do things that were uncomfortable, uneasy. There were the times when i thought the Robotics, the toys would never get me anywhere- only to my own happy place and that i'd be 40 years old, living with my mom. I'd be the quintessential 40 year old virgin, working a dead end job and worse of all, staring into the eyes of my disappointed mother day in and day out.
And then there were the moments of brilliance and courage, telling myself that i'd make it someday. That one day that passion would bring me everything i ever wanted. I dont know if those days have ever ended. In order for dreams to come true, you have to dream.
I still picture myself as an older gentleman perusing the streets of the bronx; with kids in some public school, causing trouble. Maybe they'd learn more than i did when i grew up, but i'd hope to be one of those dads who was cooler than his kids. More up to speed on everything, but eventually fall behind. I'd have all the toys i could ask for, and even more for the little runts i'd be raising. At times that dream didnt have any kids, but hey, who knows. But these days, i'd be the father who wasnt there that often. Always in Europe having some adventure, or working. In truth i'd probably pay good money to have the kids in some kung fu monastery haha! Its far away though, maybe just a fart in the wind.
In the next 5, maybe 10 years, I'd be more traveled, maybe another language under my belt - 2 possibly. I'd have danced in spain, kissed in paris, had a duel in rome. I could have prayed at the vatican, drove on an autobahn, climbed up an alp, and swam in a fjord. The northern lights would have grazed my skin, and the red light district would be under it.
I could do my job 'til i die though. Is this it ? Do i live happily ever after? And still asking the questions about whats next. Im still sort of young. I can still perfect my craft. To build the greatest thing i can build, to express myself so complete and honest, and call that my life's work. Some may already be able to say it, but i'd like to have a complete body of work to leave behind. And that ought to be what's next. Thats the dream.

So, its getting warmer out here. The office is brighter, the bricks fresh and sharp as if the machines knew it was spring. Lots of things to look forward to. No more waiting. One day i'll be gone, no warnings. As it should be. And back to work on Monday morning, more excited than i was on friday to leave. Still dreaming.

and forgive my grammar, i'm a designer not an english major. My blog dang it.

Old habits die hard

2011-03-06T18:39:00.003-05:00

Here i am.. So late in the evening and just watching anime, posing the hero factory figures.

But i still cant shake my bad habits. I was never a good student, homework really never stuck to me and I never minded doing anything until the last minute. Amongst all other things.

It makes me nervous to think about all that when i was never one to finish projects well. I have my projects and deadlines and stuff. But believing in something so deeply as i do now makes me really want to finish and finish well- if only to continue to better my craft. As an artist, thats all you can hope for right?

But i'm going home soon, just for a couple of days.
And then there's lent, maybe something to believe in. 40 days of some sort of devotion to something. Supposed to be sacrifice, but interpret it as your will.

Im hoping to cut up some old habits and hopefully add some new ones. Definitely need to bring back my resolve and I hope that my trip home will bring that back. I could use a muse.

Getting comfortable - Something about the silence

2011-02-27T07:07:00.002-05:00

Its been a while (Ha, funny reference on this one, think you can find it?) since i've updated..theres been a whole lot going on..and sometimes not.

I think i'm getting way too comfortable here and have to get back on my feet. I've noticed my language has changed, just way too informal. But maybe its a sign of settling in. I'm seeing the things i can do, where my strengths are, building the network of people. Its getting way too relaxed though. Maybe there needs to be some more tension, more push..more to do on my plate? Is it enough already that i've got so much? Im in the office for nearly 11 hrs per day, its a safe haven. Gotta have a food stash there though..i'd probably stay longer!

But things are coming around. Deadlines are looming, dependencies on so many other factors.
Still, remember to stop and smell the roses..no sense rushing.

And coming to a paradox, where i love the sounds and the symphony of white noise with people around yet i deeply cherish my me time. But i may need to spend some time on me, to work out, to develop and study. It comes at a time though when i may need the most company. Its so easy to get lost in the work and the passion, but we all need some human contact. Sometimes its too quiet, sometimes i need it.

And Since the last post..LEGO World Copenhagen, catching up Danish and a HUGE HUGE HUGE project. Trying to stay inspired, building and exploring.
check my flickr. www.flickr.com/1brick

and I ask my readers..whats your passion? What would you do if you could do anything you wanted ? What would you do just because you loved it, money or not ? Where are your dreams?

Saving Grace

2011-01-16T15:21:00.002-05:00

I've never been so happy that a week was over.
I cut up my hand, broke my rice cooker, and separated from my relationship.
Not to mention still recovering from being sick, catching up on a weeks worth of work and this rain and fog doesnt help. My room is a mess, the food in the fridge is spoiling and the dishes are piling up. I want to scratch the stitches off my hand. I'm lacking motivation, hemorrhaging money, and the VPN is so slow now that I cant even watch a movie. My diet has been reduced to boiled eggs and ramen and left over chicken nuggets. And maybe I could let myself cry a little, but even that doesnt make any sense. The year has beaten me up, and we're only 16 days in. To top it off..its not just me, I share my troubles with others, but maybe they wont have a scar to remind them.

I guess i have my saving graces, bits of light cutting through the dreary fog. My work gives me reason and great friends here bring me company and comfort along with dinner and dessert at times. The prospect of travel and promise of exotic land give me hope. And continuing to grow and learn bring me peace. Even though I have already found someone who completes me, I relish meeting new people and reminiscing with old friends. As something ends, many things also begin.

My saving grace is the unknown again. My penance is my solitude.

haha..whatever happened to the LEGO stuff on this blog?
LEGO World Copenhagen in February. Building for that along with work should keep me busy. Looking to build fun, interactive things for the kiddies and well, just to show off a little.
I hope my friends at NYBA are doing well. Flickr is showing them well.
Built the LEGO Architecture Rockefeller Center. Its great to build on that scale and even better to point out my favorite spots on it. It was a good building experience and a nice remembrance of home.

Man in the mirror.

2010-12-31T12:50:00.002-05:00

Its so easy to reflect on the year for me, and surely there were so many ups and downs. Definitely more ups though.
And so many lessons learned, new experiences and yadda yadda yadda. I can go look through this blog, my facebook, my LEGO creations and in the mirror for my reflection.

Let me again look forward on the year to come.
So many more things to learn and places to see. I look forward to making even more friends in strange places and eating the food that makes me happy. And here's to deepening bonds, truer love and amazing sights.

It was true, 2010 was an amazing year, a year that went by way too fast..and maybe things at the end just help put them in perspective. I leave the next year as an open door, even wider than before.

A good time to make fewer promises, but yet get more things done. Life is short, live it up. Here's to not always knowing where you're gonna end up, but having a blast getting there.

3 months and a day

2010-12-23T13:11:00.003-05:00

Sitting here waiting for my flight isnt so bad. I'm actually feeling a little hakuna matata these days. No worries; excited about paying my next months bills; excited about going home and just getting a break; paid again..

So its been 3 months and a day, feels a lot longer! theres been a lot, lot of changes, lots of progress and still lots of waiting. I've got most of the right paperwork, bank account, passport's still valid, all that good stuff. Met a great new set of internationals that i hope will be great friends in the future. Settled and striding at work. As my boss said, pushing forward!

I should try to be realistic, there are still lots of challenges ahead. Many more roads untraveled, at least by me. Though for a little while, i'd like to bask in a little bit of glory. I can now tell myself that it was a good idea to leave the DEP, a good idea to sacrifice successes for passion and a good idea to follow your heart. For now, it feels great, and i stand humbled by the half chances i've had to get here. A little hakuna matata.

But still have to get home for the holidays. Waiting to the tune of Terminator 2 and whatever else i can play in the background to pass the time. Its sure going fast. Here's to the next 3 months!

So, something I've made in the public domain..check out the little arm creation by me!

http://education.lego.com/en-gb/preschool-and-school/

Through his stomach

2010-12-06T17:43:00.003-05:00

The way to a mans heart is through his stomach..they say.

I say nothing brings people together better than food. We had a potluck at my place over the weekend and you got to see what people bring to the table. It wasnt just about the food though, just a good time to see the grave hill crew before they all bounce for the holidays. Our little international community is small and temporary, we all know that, but the people grow on you really fast. Soon we'll move away to our separate places.

I wish i could remember all the foods, each one of them told a story about their makers. For me it was great to teach my danish roommate how to roll lumpia. Honestly, i've probably been boasting my Filipino/New York culture a little too much but I am proud of them. Theres nothing wrong with sharing great food with great people.

I've been doing these dinners at least once a week since i've gone here and it makes things so much more comfortable. It makes it feel like home. It makes the sudden move from home that much more bearable and thus making it easy to move forward. A man can always still miss home.

Each dinner has made me feel closer to home. And surely closer to my new friends here. And even further, appreciating the friends I have at home and the times we've had there.
All of this, through my stomach.

As for work, you can have an off day, where the brain just doesnt work. Builders block at my job can actually be a dangerous thing. But you have to keep working right? Crazy ideas are still ideas, even on a bad day one can still have a few. Actually have something really exciting coming up, but even more than that - the holidays.

Til then all.

Ramping up

2010-11-30T18:44:00.002-05:00

We've gotten quite a bit of snow in the last 8 days. I'd say its snowed at least 5 of the last 8 days at least a few hours each. Its quite the winter wonderland and its taken me out of my funk a little bit. Its still cold as shit, but strangely pleasant. I have some sort of comfort in it, although i'm still searching for the reason why. It just is.

The amount of work i've been given has really ramped up. I'd say its tripled if not quadrupled in the past few weeks. Deadlines are looming, creating arguments and proving thoughts and concepts..just another day in the life. Strangely i want more. Theres so much more to learn.

And its all coming to a head. Soon to come home and see how life has changed around me. I cant wait just to see everyone that i miss so dearly and yet still anticipating returning in the new year and beginning new.

I'm starting to find the balance here. It's still tough to do so, but Its getting better and hopefully will become second nature. I've made some friends here and they're all great people. Where will we all be in the next year?

Looking forward again, getting back on my feet.

2 months - Still not ready

2010-11-22T15:35:00.002-05:00

Just a few hours removed from my first two months away from home, i mean really away from home, and I stand amazed by how little i still know and how unprepared I was for this journey. But that's how we grow right? Getting thrown into the fire, and hopefully walkaway with meaningful scars.

I knew it would happen sooner or later, but I finally feel a little homesick. Maybe its the looming holiday that I'm missing. There's an air that's missing here around this time of year, and it's hit me harder than I thought it would. I honestly didnt prepare myself to miss thanksgiving. With all of the madness going on with the move, it totally slipped my mind and maybe thought that I could get through it. I'm sure i'll feel better at the end of the week and get to focus on my next 30 days or so before I go home for christmas.

That being said, I have a lot to be thankful for. Its been the most productive year of my life and surely the most life changing. I still can't believe i'm here where I am doing what i'm doing. The amount of experiences, good and bad this year really gave me a huge personal boost. Just all the support from my family and friends have been enough as well. I've also got a wonderful girlfriend, who's really been so good to me through all this too. Taking another step with reconnecting with my brother and hopefully it'll get better as the years go on. All of it bringing me back and remembering not to take any of this for granted. It can all come down so quickly, such is life. But i'm super thankful for it all hope everyone at home has a wonderful thanksgiving. I miss you all

I've been thinking about how unprepared i would be if I would buy a house for example. Its a valid thought at this stage in my life I think? I have no clue about it, and watching how people are just going through the motions with mortgages, loans, home repairs, and even something as simple as buying furniture! Its just more than I want to do, and so many other things to focus on. I do know that I want to build a wooden dummy at some point in my home life, what a silly thought right?

Surely i thought i could handle the separation in geography with Yvonne. Its so much harder than I thought. I find myself forgetting that she's 3000 miles away thinking she'll always be there when i'm ready to call or whatever and vice versa. Our time is limited already just by distance, and surely its been just a hard realization for me. Its on me to change my habits to make it work. She's been so supportive, but I've probably not been giving enough in return. Thanks for taking a look from outside for me..and I'll work harder at this.

I'm still not ready for all the craziness about to happen, all the adventures that i'll have. I'm still not ready for the many quiet nights, and silent dinners. I'm not ready for the successes and failures, trials and tribulations, fears and frustrations. Honestly, who is, and what fun would life be if i was.

I am ready to push forward, keep learning. Ready to take leaps of faith and jumps into deep water. Ready to create great things, change for the better and (at this hour...EAT.

and yes, the job is still fun even on a cold and hard monday morning.
I've built my first MOC since I moved here, check out the time lapse on my flickr account. (Ok, maybe not my first..but certainly the most independent one from my work stuff).

Happy thanksgiving again all, thanks for reading.
LeE

Learning New Languages

2010-11-09T17:57:00.002-05:00

Even though everyone speaks English quite well here, there's still so much to learn!

Two weeks, just two weeks of Danish lessons have shown me just how hard the language is and how it is to really immerse myself into the culture. Its an exciting prospect, and a 'free' one. It's a journey well worth going on.

The LEGO Language is quite different as well. Parts don't have the names I'm used to. Modules instead of holes, elements instead of Bricks..really just SOP right? But there is quite a lot to learn here. The amount of Acronyms and initials for things could boggle the mind!

And the Dance, another style of salsa, its like learning to walk again. My head spins just as much as the turn patterns i'm trying to learn. But let it be just another language to learn. On top of the Danish, Spanish and Cuban salsa!

But like my favorite mediums, the universal languages of creativity, and movement - just a few more bricks to build with, and just a few more moves..

2010-11-07T10:04:00.003-05:00

I'm coming on my 6th week, or maybe 7th..I'm starting to lose count.

Things are finally getting settled down. I've got all of the numbers I think I should have, a bank account, and a bunch of the stuff i should have for work in place.

Now its a matter of balancing work life and the personal life.
Its also balancing how to express myself properly as an employee here. You get a few more rules, and the typical work vocabulary to get used to. Interacting with AFOLS and my friends has me thinking about how I represent myself and also how I'm representing the company I work for. Don't get me wrong, I'm still an AFOL too, but being on the inside does change some things. Its just a time to be more mindful of your thoughts.
Work itself is work, more fun for me than the usual 9 to 5 i think. I am starting to get the routine a little. Its more of a structure than routine. Everyday is still different from the rest. Deadlines are still coming though and well, its fun to get it all done on time!

Life is getting pretty crazy over here, with the Grave Hill crew poker nights and apparent Wednesday night takeovers of the Highlander. Getting to know more and more people, its quite fun and it makes me feel like i'm in college again.

The long distance thing is pretty tough. Getting the time is really hard. Just spending some hours can be really tough. But i have to keep trying. Its gonna be a grand journey. Missing my baby for sure.

The first month

2010-10-23T16:40:00.002-04:00

I celebrated my first month with a proper steak..damn it was good.

Harsh realities..and good problems to have.
Its been a tough month for sure. Readjusting to a new environment, getting integrated into society, and finally living on my own. I've faced harsh realities and found all of those things I've taken for granted at home. Maybe, maybe i've told myself that i was prepared to do this, and you can never know how it really is until you're there. I'd like to think i've been humbled by my previous experiences but maybe i've been further humbled by living on my own. My age doesnt forgive me, it thrusts me into life and pushes me to hurry up and experience things. I can't forget to enjoy it.
Its been good though. I can't say it feels like home just yet, but its getting there. There's a level of settling in and finding a balance, and it doesnt happen over one month. Everything is still in flux, at anytime i feel like i could move to a better place (and it better be a better place). I'm still figuring out what i need to spend on basic necessities and food and all that good stuff. Somethings cost more than others, and some things cheaper. I'm not worrying about commuting for the first time in 7 years. Everything is really exciting and a new experience, I cant wait for more.

A sense of purpose, a feeling of accomplishment.
How many people can feel incredibly excited to wake up Monday morning and go to work, hoping 5pm doesnt come. Ok, maybe i could stand some 5pm's ..or whatever time i HAVE to leave the office. My job asks me to be creative at a high level, on demand and to be able to withstand, on a professional level, criticisms and limitations. Its incredibly exciting! My medium has rules and regulations, and is a perfect system to allow these levels of creativity.
Its my current role, my new contribution to society and the world as a whole. I have a sense of purpose and a reason to wake up. A reason to be afraid that something might happen to me in the simple fact that I cant get to express myself if it does.
I got here by doing things I've wanted to do and forgetting about what people think, what kind of salary i had, and all that usual mumbo jumbo. Getting here was an accomplishment on its own. Having people notice the things i've done, the culmination of work over the last few years- its and added bonus.

Staying hungry.
I can't preach enough about staying hungry and pushing for more. What's the next accomplishment? What's next, what's the goal to achieve? Seeing all of Europe? Trying more Beers? Going around and giving back to the the Family and the world ?
For now, as a short term thing, I want to make it to a TED Conference. To share minds with people, and listen and get inspired. But who knows. There's still so many things to do, so much more LEGO to build. I still want to make a truly signature piece. I refuse to let my best be behind me! Stay hungry..there's always more. I've got to get back in shape for sure!

Missing my baby..
Just want to say i miss my baby. Its been tough, but I'll be home soon.

The first month. A LEGO Designer. A citizen of the world.

Under the weather

2010-10-09T06:22:00.002-04:00

This second week has been really tough. I came down with some Danish virus, or at least my body has been just really shocked into a new diet, environment and said WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT! My lungs have been filled with some nastiness, and I've nearly used a whole roll of TP just blowing the snot out of my nose.

Otherwise work has been great, and its the easiest part of my week. At this moment, i dread the weekends. I finally got some feedback on my work and now can move forward with reckless abandon. I was reminded how creative this job can be, and how much it makes a difference to be able to come up with crazy ideas. And its starting to get more 'routine' while learning the ins and outs of the job.

This week, we had a guest at work and some of his superiors invited us to go Go Karting at Vandel Go Kart track. This really felt like a Mario kart track with a wonderful terrain. Too bad i could barely reach the pedals, but it was fun and painful. The bunch of old men were incredibly good and I was just learning the ropes. I crashed at nearly every corner i could, but it was great fun. I'd love to really get good at it, and its another thing to keep me busy here in Billund. Maybe its a good way to prepare myself for the autobahn!. The next day, i was sore, bruises galore and ready for more action.
We also had dinner at a lovely Danish home. Wonderful to bond and get to know people as well as a few more ins and outs.

So, this is a recovery weekend. Still need to do some shopping, and now really keep track of my spending. Time to get some errands done while the sun is out.
Maybe its Danish Mentality, but its not bad. Its surely different from NYC but this is the first time in my life to be truly independent - well at least until my first payment. I'm still basking in the glow and glory of it all. I refuse to be under the weather! Nothing will break my spirits. The sun is out and its time to get some things to live on.

The adventure continues.

The first 11 days...

2010-10-02T05:49:00.004-04:00

You know, just moving continents..
(so this blog was once about my lego, and i guess it always will be, but i'd say its changed a bit and is taking a life of its own)

Has it only been about 11 days? What a weird number.
Its been quite a ride so far. With Delta and Cimber Sterling leaving one of my boxes in Dublin to renting cars and marching in and out of the office with the company bike. Emotions running amok, and life moving incredibly quickly. I still don't exist here in Billund, Denmark - not until i get those vitally important registration and tax numbers in my personal record. I'm still floating on by, trying to figure everything out.
I've been given a lot. This opportunity has me looking towards a long long term future, something i've never done before. And the only thing i can think of: what more can i do? I'm trying hard to stay hungry and keep dreaming. This process has shown me that with some determination and a drive to never be unhappy, you can really get to do what you want. It helps to work hard, play hard and all that good stuff, and even pray a little.
Can't really say that i'm homesick just yet. Dont get me wrong, I miss my girlfriend terribly and the nights here can be quite lonely. I miss the business of the city and the many options. It'll be a bit easier once the income becomes regular. The world feels incredibly small with video conferencing and a company telephone - but nothing can replace human touch. I can only look forward while learning the ins and outs of a foreign place. I look forward to calling this place home and being the crazy socialite i've taught myself to be back home. I look forward to going home to the Bronx and seeing how life has moved on without me.
And there's so much more. The little adventures that have really pushed me and thrown me into this culture and life. Shopping at Ikea, the LEGO Fan weekend, and walking around with the cool people i met at the Global introduction. Now trying to figure out what to do this weekend. Surely i'm domesticated, and think it might be good to stay home and clean up, feel fresh and get ready for the easy part of this whole experience: the work.

11 days.. counting
And many more things to come

Know your worth, Finding your element - Day 35

2010-06-15T16:06:00.003-04:00

So its the last day...at least of this leg of the journey...only to begin another.

Here I am, wondering if I'm a changed man. Sometimes I think not. But "this is who I am"
I also think about how i got myself here and all of the crazy decisions, the luck and hard work its been. Its a dream, a prayer and a touch of hope.

Again, looking forward is really the best thing to do and wondering what's going to happen in the next few years. The future is a little more laid out in front now.

But one should look back, lot of people and experiences that brought me here and constantly being grateful.

I'll finally be independent, loving my job and living a life with meaning to many people and most importantly myself.

The last of my pix aren't up yet, but they'll all soon be taken off public view and will only be available to my friends on facebook. if possible, they'll be moved to my flickr account, with the entire set of photos.

This is it.
Big parties to come, life changes are happening - not just to me ...people getting engaged, married, buying houses, and even the other way around.

last words?
I've found my element, now go find yours.

Don't lose the creativity - Day 34

2010-06-14T15:02:00.002-04:00

With all the craziness happening with work and all that, I'm starting to take a look at the next 5 years or so. Stuff flashing before my eyes.

I'm giving up a lot to pursue this, but I hope I don't lose what brought me here. There are so many influences to everything that's gotten me to this place, working with teams and children, schools and teachers and just having it as a hobby. Having all that really made an impact on the skill level that I have for this job. Can't lose that, and hope that I can put it in somewhere that I can still stay in contact with that experience.

Just one day left though, but so much more to do. Its like a long vacation..but to go do more work. Gotta get packing really. Its gonna be an exciting summer.

Don't know what tomorrow holds...
giving back the ID card.. and walking back to the hotel one last time.

Din Fart in Denmark - Day 33

2010-06-13T17:52:00.002-04:00

Oh man what a weekend. Din Fart (Your speed) in Denmark..and me speeding through land and sea.

Yesterday we strolled through Odense, buying small trinkets and racing through churches and Hans Christian Anderson's Museum and houses there. It was crazy and wet.
Egeskov Castle was quite the amazing and large. The grounds alone were huge and the castle truly something of fairytales - moat and all. They had a motorcycle and car museum there too, fantastic! And among all the exhibits, some familiar faces from LEGO were there too. what a great trip.
And a Boat ride !
The clouds chased us all the way to Mons, after finding a hotel who helped us very much in finding a Bed and breakfast we moseyed on over to a cozy spot not too far from the cliffs.
An early Sunday brought us to Mons cliffs, and almost 500 steps down a nice couple let us look at the baby Perigrine Falcons near the cliffs. Walking by the white chalk cliffs felt like walking on glass with all the flint around. Guess what, another 500 steps up.
Bakeries are saviors!
Off to Copenhagen and souveniers. Running through castles, eating some chicken and getting the heck out of there.
Kronberg castle or Hamlets Castle on which Shakespeare based his play. Just stunning.
Road tripping back, after figuring out how gas works and the amazing Storbaelt bridge. Back to Billund after the crazy weekend with 30 minutes to spare.

yay, pics to come soon!

land and sea - day 32

2010-06-12T16:49:00.000-04:00

long day of castles, boat rides, and being chased by rain.
more when im on a proper computer. at a cozy bed n breakfast..well just bed and ready to see the cliffs of mon at sunrise.

I got my lamb - Day 31

2010-06-11T16:20:00.002-04:00

Last time I ate at Hotel LEGOLand they messed up my order and gave me a steak instead of the lamb I ordered. I was determined to get it at some point and it was SOOO worth it. It was fantasmagorical!

Its pretty gross outside still, been like this all week! Can't believe Yvonne only got to see the gloomy weather since she's been here. Hopefully our big weekend trip will be better.

At work there are a couple of people who've been through the whole going over process. Its incredibly comforting to know that someones gone through the same thing and can help if i needed it.

Tomorrow, Mons Klint and some other stops! Its gonna be a great weekend to leave on. There's still so much more to see and explore though.

"Hey don't you know that we're off to see the world"

Honest Self Expression - Day 30

2010-06-10T15:41:00.002-04:00

This time next week I'll be back home busting my butt to get ready for a very short summer.

Feels like my life is really coming around to itself and I'm finding my place in this world. I'm really preparing for a great life and lifestyle change in the coming year. I think this is the right thing for me though. This is how i express myself honestly and truthfully. All roads would lead me here somehow.

I probably can't even fathom the craziness that'll need to happen in the next few weeks and months. Before summers end there's a lot of work to do. heck, before summer theres a lot of work to do.

The weekend's coming, the final weekend really. Time to see the East coast of Denmark and travel the bridges. Fun fun. !

End is the Beginning - Day 29

2010-06-09T15:45:00.002-04:00

This final week of weather is just depressing.

People are asking at work about my leaving and coming back. As soon as possible I tell them. So we'll see what happens. Still on a bit of a block, but i guess i need to clean stuff up now. I can't think with a messy desk, cleaning and organizing is cathartic..so the Virgo trait I've heard. Usually once a week i think, but its necessary.

Von went to Esbjerg and had what seemed to be a great time. I went shopping for more ramen and got me a Carlsberg Master Brew. Cripes its 10.5%

Looking forward to work tomorrow though. I've got my lot to do. I didnt even realize that it was 530 already today! Another cake today or cakes. I should start thinking about a cake for my last day. A thank you to the great team thats here. And also a see you later.

Feeding Rabbits - Day 28

2010-06-08T15:58:00.003-04:00

Laundry again today, back to the family hostel laundromat. So instead of just hanging around the vending machine like i did last time, we walked around the little village. Found a zoo! they had goats and ponies and rabbits! After feeding some goats we found some cute rabbits to feed too. And a small walk around led to some donkeys to pet. I found some plum blossom poles to walk on. Fun times! wish i had my camera.

And yay clean clothes again.

Counting down the days at work.. and still lots to do. I'll miss the team for sure but i'll be back. It'll be good to go home and recharge my batteries though, even though i'll be running at full speed once i get back.

As the big project is on a timeline, the pace gets more and more frantic...

gotta do some shopping and survive the last week here!..and that it is, just 7 more days.

Preparations - Day 27

2010-06-07T15:59:00.003-04:00

I really am dreading going home. Its pretty crazy whats out there for me when i get back. Everything from switching jobs around and getting a work permit, scheduling, all this nutso stuff.

Work is work, its playtime as someone said to me. One of the interns left today, and soon a bunch more of us will leave for the summer. I'm still wrapping my head around one 'big' motion thing and cleaning up what i need to clean up. Its less than the number of days on my hand and the rest of my future.

'Von went to Kolding and took pictures all over the place, she can tell you her story about the Queen being in town and the Toy museum and my camera finally running out of battery. Where's she going tomorrow?

Now where's my flashlight, it'll be a late night laundry. 'Von got back late. And gotta get up early for a meeting at 8 am!

Skipping Stones in Fjords - Day 26

2010-06-06T16:38:00.003-04:00

Of all days for it to not be sunny.

So yea, yesterday I rented a VW Polo 5 speed (yay!). Today we got up early to go and explore Western Jutland via roadtrip! Definitely an experience for the ages, with just the right company.

My Navigator got us due west with our first major stop at Rinkobing (sp) after a quick reststop at a Fakta and another type of store. I found Powerade! Rinkobing was a nice town with a view into a lake. Yvonne and I were skipping stones and it was great! Further up the west coast we stopped at a Museum area to eat and see some old ship wreck stuff. Cool stuff there too! We found a small inlet to a beach and found some more stones there. While trying to find a rock, Yvonne found a jellyfish which she tried to make me eat. GROSS! Further up we took a short cut to our northernmost point. It led us to a boat ride across a fjord with the car! I never been, That was awesome. And there was a Viking totem pole at the end. In Nykobing there was a hostel and park with a beach too. More skipping stones! 4 Hrs in, and about 250km. Time to head back to Billund! We found ourselves to Herning to have some pizza and a walk around another town. Possible candidate for me to live there, maybe who knows. Back to the hotel, Yvonne got her luggage and we went to return the car (Nooo!) And a walk back to the hotel. A bit of a nice moment when we walked by the airport and the lights turned on for the runways. So fun and great times. Pix up on FB soon. Back to work tomorrow! and my last week in Billund (for now)

Its gonna be a CRAZY week!

New York State of Mind - Day 25

2010-06-05T17:04:00.002-04:00

After all sorts of delays, a rerouted flight to Paris and a total of 5 hours delayed.. Girlfriend made it here!

I spent the early afternoon searching for the Billund Friluft festival. So i walked through the sculpture garden and found some fun things. I eventually decided on following the loud music that you can hear through out Billund. And there it was, like a secret garden no one knew about. A quaint little festival with classic cars, hotdogs beer and blues in an ampitheater. Its great! One of the Bands sang a new york state of mind and really made me think of home.

Of all days the bus decides not to show up. I power walked over to the airport to pick up Yvonne and a car! So great to have her company here, hopefully she'll have a good time in Europe and Denmark traveling around. I rented a car so we could travel the west coast of Jutland. Ahh to drive again, and to drive manual to boot. Where was the reverse gear?!

And back to the festival for some Danish 'theater' and rock music. Wasnt as good as the first two bands that I saw. But they were great. Now to plan for the long road trip tomorrow. Shooting for 12 hrs of driving! It'll be real fun. Maybe 2000 Km or so.

Is it really 10 days left?

The Budget Strikes Back - Day 24

2010-06-04T14:13:00.005-04:00

Show and tell today, with a much bigger crowd! At this point its still nerve wrecking but I feel pretty confident on my things. But three weeks of churning out models and I mean really churning them out and I'm bound to hit a little bit of a wall. Looking for inspiration everywhere again. I'll be back in full force on Monday. A job where you look forward to monday? Is there such a thing?

Its about time to start buying souvenirs for my friends. I got to visit the P-Salg again today, personnel store here. They have all these bags and things I cant get in the US. I picked up 32 of the Collectible minifigs and a bunch of stuff for friends. Can you believe out of 32 I'm missing just one! ARRGH! More than I spent last time, but this stuff will get dispersed. But yea, my pocket feels it.

Yvonne will be here in the morning, and I gotta survive the week with my limited budget. I dont think i've been so frugal, but it is expensive here. Looks like my last week will be grabbing sandwiches again from the breakfast buffet. It can be done! But I'm pretty sure i'll be crawling home. Who cares, once in a lifetime..well sort of.

Soon, I'll be calling Denmark home.

Reflection - Day 23

2010-06-03T17:02:00.002-04:00

My diploma is exactly 7 years old from I think June 6th. Not too far from today..so 7 years ago I left university, bright eyed and bushy tailed without knowing what would happen in the next few years.

But sometime along that summer I visited my grandmother for the last time in the Philippines. It was my first trip outside of the US alone, heck anywhere. Quite an experience there. I got to visit my family and my dad in Baguio, and see some churches there too. In Baguio City I visited Pink Sisters and there I prayed for many things, probably more sincerely than for anything else. I asked for health and for the health of my family, i asked for things just to be well and just a little direction and I even threw out there that maybe I ought to get a job at a cool stop like IDEO or working on prosthetics or building balisongs, dancing, martial arts, all that good stuff, and maybe even work for LEGO.

Here I am, at the cusp of a crossroads. I've dreamed up many things, told my friends that i'd be a millionaire before I was 30, but surely ..this is better. I'm not exactly sure if this is what one wanted when i was growing up. My family is full of people in nursing, doctors, some maids, but not this. I never knew this existed.

Sure, there's lots of luck involved, lots of persistence and pushing. Letting go and letting things come back. I know in 2006 i left the retail job voluntarily, and it was messy. If they wanted me back, they'd call and that they did. There weren't as many brick walls as there were hardships. Salaries looked better on the surface than they were, jobs were hard and the work tedious. Commuting and maintaining the car. I've also been the least thrifty out of my friends, with probably the least salary and a pretty lavish lifestyle of traveling, buying big boys toys and enjoying life. And of course, family troubles - hopefully to be put behind.
It was all rewarding, doing things you enjoy or love. Finding other passions in teaching and sharing information. The joy of winning and the agonies of defeat - all as worthwhile experiences. Finding someone amazing to share things and life with. And taking a minute to step back and feel the wind in your face, relax and find some peace. My last class taught me that at around my age, I'd be doing this and looking for meaning and place and validation. For now, I have some of that, but as i was told today, i'm still a young man.

Its a good time to look back especially after running hard and just going forward for so long. And soon, back to running, run forward, make the path if you need to.

Have Passion, Work Hard, Do Good, Focus, Push Yourself, Serve Others, Foster Ideas, Persist.

Flexibility, Fluency, Originality, Elaboration.

The Routine is Common; The Man is not - Day 22

2010-06-02T16:01:00.003-04:00

And here goes week 4,

With another Show n tell this friday, trying to finish up my the stuff I've been doing. There's probably still a lot to do masked in the glow of just a single finished piece. I know there's much much more.
It took three weeks, but things are feeling routine, even though it'll end. Maybe it'll keep the days just that much longer for me, but its hard to have long minutes to enjoy right? As the days pass I have my quiet hopes and wishes that I get invited back again - believe me its not a mystery to my co workers! I feel like i've been doing well, hopefully on friday I can show off a little more. Humility always settles in though. I can only ask for more without expectation. There's a lot of life left to do!

I was checking on renting a car and driving around Denmark! Road trip for reals. Car isnt as expensive as i thought for a weekend. It should be fun!

Second Wind - Day 21

2010-06-01T16:34:00.002-04:00

Is it really day 21?

Got up ridonculously early to send of YiJia. And man I paid for it. I must've looked like a zombie at work.

I had to hold out though. Today I got to take a tour of Brick production in the Kornmarken factory. I got to take home a LEGO Piece that was FRESH ..and i mean FRESH off the mold. A lego Chain piece that's made with just one mold! so crazy. But really, it was cool to see the molding in action. This place has more than half of the worlds LEGO molds and is the actual vault for the ones in Denmark. Can you imagine they used to bury and build the factor with the old molds so that no one would steal them? Can't do that now. The warehouse of brick is this cathedral of boxes as people have described with robots in each aisle, it looks like the matrix!

Back to work for some Danish cake, mmm chocolate cake with a coconut topping mmm. So good. But man was I beat, I think i was seeing double. I was able to get my computer up and running and now have a LEGO email address and all the applications! I love proper server networks!

After a second wind I was able to really finish up the mechanics of my latest project. Its been my longest task since I've got here! But maybe tomorrow I can have it running. I am a genius!

But the body gets the best of me. Back to the naps, and catching up. Just two weeks to go, and its the shortest two weeks ever!

Detours and getting lost - Day 20

2010-05-31T17:26:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was just wet and gross in copenhagen,
But Amalienborg palace is just incredible. The crown prince and princess have it lucky! Its too bad though, they didnt let us photograph the place. Just the outside. 1.5 meters away from the guards please!
And a good Burger for me at Nyhavn, and EJ Had a good final meal in copenhagen with some Mussels mmm.. The flight back was pretty simple and despite the rain was quite smooth.
Sometimes the Danes can be incredibly helpful and friendly, sometimes not. Really? they didnt know where a restaurant was that was actually just an avenue down? But not to ruin the experience - Copenhagen is beautiful.

Work is work, as always i was excited to get back. Tomorrow I get to tour! Yay. I've got another show and tell this week and all this other stuff to do.
So off work, hungry and my phone wont get service. I wanted to take a small tour of Billund and show off the history of LEGO. I also got to show off a loss of sense of direction. We took a lovely detour around the back streets behind LEGO HQ. It was fun to get lost, but still kinda warm out for it, just a little too warm.
Our goal was Lalaland but since Hotel LEGOLand was on the way, we detoured in.

What a lovely hotel! They've got everything from excellently themed conference rooms to this MASSIVE hall that would be great for some event like a wedding or a corporate gathering. The attention to detail is excellent, from little Ollies to show the bathroom doors, to the color filled vases on the windows matching LEGO colors. And of course there's the giant dragon greeting you at the entrance and the parking lot; Darth vader greeting conference guests and scale minifigures to lead you to your rooms.
Dinner at the Adventure restaurant was preferable to buffet. They had a rather interesting selection including ostritch. I ordered Lamb, but even though they messed up my order it was an amazing dinner. Pleasantly well presented and a good wine to boot. Its still light out at 9:00 here (21:00). Dessert was just as well prepared.
The bar was quaint and we picked up two new beers for ourselves. FUR? But then the Bartender pulled out his guitar and played us a song! This was quite great and he even let me hang on to the guitar and play it myself. Not soon after the bar got pretty packed, must've been a monday conference or something. Its dark out, gotta get EJ to her flight early in the AM. It'll be a fun day tomorrow for sure.

Time is just ticking away. Its June already and just 15 days left to go. Live up every minute of it.

Pix on FB to come soon!

Viking! - Day 19

2010-05-30T04:15:00.004-04:00

Yesterday we took a nice tour of this cozy quaint and busy city. A tourist trap for sure with a wonderful history.

We started at the National Museum to see what this place is all about. Denmark has quite a rich history dating back to pre bronze era through vikings and the wonderful monarchy that it is today. Some quite cool stuff in there, including viking swords!

After that we hit up the Christiansborg castle. They have a really cool underground cavern with the remains of the original castle and its foundations. Castle after castle has been built on top of some 1000 year old brick and mortar ruins and its very cool. Its almost a secret door to go under and it looks like one of those TV shows where you go to an underground city. It wasnt very big, but i really felt like i was part of history there!

Strolling on over to Nyhavn, the picturesque canal mall with its dozens of outdoor restaurants and bars. I really felt like i was in europe here. Everyone's so open and friendly, men with six packs of carlsberg's just sitting on the dock. We ate at a cozy place which according to lonely planet has good danish fair. I had some fish dishes and EJ had a crawfish type dish. I think i was told that the Danes arent known for their service, we were hungry though. They had a Nyhavn bottled beer, which was a little dry, but again quite tasty.

We finally got to walk over to the shops in town, and they were the typical high end stores seen in all tourist attractions. I did stop at an irish pub to have a Viking IPA, which the bartender described as having a high alcohol content and that it would put hair on my chest. I dont know about the hair, but it was a very good beer!
Everything really does close early though, save for bars and restaurants. But in that, i have found a strong candidate for my beer of choice.

After a quite good sushi dinner, we headed off to Tivoli Sq. So we paid admission to see the myriad of restaurants there, also at tourist prices. And to my surprise, one had to buy tickets to get on the rides ! It was really pretty, but a little dissapointing. They did have some good rides though, and one day i'll get on them. It was just a little too late in the night to wait in line. Some were quite scary though, everything moved just that much faster.

All in all Copenhagen is a really beautiful city, even though we didn't I think next time it would be worth it to get the CPH card. I'd like to definitely take some more time soon to explore this place to its fullest, it seems like a good city to get to know.

So after a few more hours here in Kopenhavn, back to Billund!

Showered by Copenhagen - Day 18

2010-05-29T04:29:00.004-04:00

The flight in was nice and short, the view from the plane was amazing! You can see the bridge to sweden from the window, man thats one beautiful bridge. Part of it comes from underground so it looks like the bridge just comes out of the water.
The train ride in was cool, a little scenic and into Kopenhaven Central. Found YiJia there and then walked over to the Hotel Centrum. Unbeknownst to both of us that we're in the heart of the red light district.

So off we went from our VERY Small room. Funny there's two beds there but still. ANyway we found ourselves at Dopenhagen, a free music festival. The music was actually really good for a free event. After a small search for dinner we went back to the tail end. They still had a few bands playing and we caught the last to chick bands, both looked like they came from the 80s. This crazy old man came up and talked to us and he completely showered me with his fantastic drunkness. It was pretty gross, but hey, welcome to Copenhagen.
The final house DJ was great too, really fun stuff and I hadn't been out past 10 pm in Denmark yet so it was cool.
And then a small adventure through the red light district...yeaa..not for this blog. haha.

Off to see the rest of the city.

Halfway there - Day 17

2010-05-28T10:57:00.002-04:00

This will be short and from the hotel lobby.

But yea, all downhill from here! More on this later. Heading off to Copenhagen for the weekend whee! Hoping my phone bill wont be off the charts. I'll have my phone on for the next few hours, text me! But i wont text back. 50c per text is only for emergencies.

A whole load of pix from copenhagen coming.
See you all soon.

Enjoy the Silence - Day 16

2010-05-27T16:30:00.002-04:00

I actually think the last time i felt just this type of silence and peace is when i went skydiving and the chute opened. Its incredibly peaceful, and the silence is refreshing.
But, I'm a city boy, i cant even sleep without the trains and cars buzzing in the background.

As a creative type i've got these moments of deep deep thinking and calculation, Its a wonderful dance and poetic chaos inside my head before putting it down to realization. The trick is to get this period to be shorter and shorter. And the engineer in me says, "measure twice, cut once." I guess i dont really have to, there's enough ABS plastic in the office really. I think i've been pulled into another sub team at work, so cool!

So yea, i've been listening to the same music for weeks now, time to change!

I got to see "Downtown" Billund in action today for lunch. Its quaint and bustling, just as I expected. And I hadn't had pizza for a while either.

Getting ready for the weekend in Copenhagen! Should be real fun, hopefully I can update, but I may have to make a weekend post. Tomorrow to the big city!

Fish out of water - Day 15

2010-05-26T16:16:00.003-04:00

Another exciting day at the office - or is it.

I'm pretty glad i get to walk to work, i've been in this chair watching glee and the tv channels here since i got back from work.

As much as I'm enjoying this experience, I am still away from home. Not homesick, but all my stuff is there, its where my comfort is for now. I dont have my creature comforts yet- a few hundred pounds of LEGO brick at home waiting for me for sure and the crazy routine I have. This feels like such a vacation to work 40 hrs a week! Imagine that? But really, I haven't had a real vacation - in all honesty i dont need one. The time is now to work hard.

If you've got time to see some TED Videos, please check out Sir Ken Robinson. He's always been inspiring and helps me reassure my lifestyle!
http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html

But yea, nothing like wet LEGO. Spilled some water on the desk, but nothing serious! Phew. I also tried the Rock wall today! And almost killed myself. I'll be bringing my proper sneakers to work one of these days to conquer it. It was fun. I'm glad I exercise back here in the room. Need a good leg workout though, I know i walk every day and getting more flexible, but I could speed up the process.

Time for more pushups!

Hustle - Day 14

2010-05-25T15:18:00.003-04:00

So my second week is over, three left..just three.

Last night, internet went down in the hotel! Not cool on so many levels.

But work is quite fast paced, build here, build there. Meetings happening on the spot that could change flows of projects. Its really great. There's a quiet hustle all along the office these days. Another Co worker flying in from the US, and just the team really coming together and being here to have an incredible dynamic.

Can you imagine running low on parts? Pins of all things?! But i got restocked today, phew.

Dinner at Hotel Propellen. Wow so fancy! They've got quite the wine selection let me tell you. If you know your wines and have the dime to spend, I seriously recommend it. But I havent had a solid dinner in a while, and many thanks again to my gracious hosts!

yup.. 2 weeks down.

Clean Clothes - Day 13

2010-05-24T16:28:00.002-04:00

Never thought I'd be so happy to do laundry.

But i managed to find myself a small little laundry spot in the LEGOLand Family Hostel, it was quite quaint. It should last me until I leave I hope. Again everything's expensive, but hey, clean clothes are a must.

Otherwise, another Monday gone and time ticks away. I dread 5pm at work, i never really want the day to be over. There really isnt anyone telling me to leave, oh well. It'll be a good week. I am a creative genius! haha.

Copenhagen this weekend woo hoo!

La La Land - Day 12

2010-05-23T16:01:00.001-04:00

Its oh so very nice to sleep in.

I managed to roll myself out for breakfast, when its late its crowded especially on the weekends.

Lalandia, or my friends in the bronx will giggle a little when i call it lala land or caraho land. Its like a mini vegas walkthrough with the faux sky ceiling and small game area. They have an indoor water park, with lots of screaming children. The mini golf is something to test your golf metal believe me. I had a carlsberg special with a burger on bread that looked like an english muffin, it was pretty tasty, but one of the messiest burgers i've ever eaten.

Since my girlfriend likes horses so much I thought of her when I went to the race track across the street from the hotel. I believe it was the first race of the season. It was really cool! The horses were pulling a small cart with the jockey sitting straddle. The horses look quite regal when they're running, and i just found out that that is more stressful than running naturally. I got to see two clydesdale or budweiser horses with models riding them. Man those horses are really beautiful and fast too!

Its just another lazy sunday in hotel svanen. Saving some money, catching up on my pushups. I havent done 100 straight pushups in years! And I finally got the camera to work with skype. Yay for talking to people and seeing them. For some reason it doesnt always work.

Another Danish Holiday tomorrow, but I'm still working! Its ok, it'll be good work. My time here is getting shorter and shorter and that does make me sad. Anyway good luck to the GF on her med school apps! Buy your ticket already!

Adventure in Arhus - Day 11

2010-05-22T17:52:00.002-04:00

So After researching my trip yesterday I embarked on my journey this morning.

I made sure I had a big breakfast!

The directions lied, the bus stop is in front of Hotel LEGOLand, not LEGOLand itself. Its not that far away, but it is a difference. For 61DKK I was on my way to Vejle, which i believe is supposed to be the largest city in Denmark, but dont quote me on it. I was only there for a few minutes.

The bus was pretty comfortable and the scenery was great. I finally got to understand why LEGO houses look the way they look. Inspiration comes from the Danish countryside. Wind farms marred a near perfect landscape but were beautiful in their own right. The turbines were quite elegant actually and were quite graceful.

At Vejle was the train station, it was a little confusing at first, but i told myself that if i could get around NYC, this should be cake. And it eventually was. The ticket, round trip was 119 DKK.. this trip is getting expensive! And the train was pretty comfy too, not much different from a metronorth or LIRR train. These had Wifi, but me without a code ya? I didnt want to pay for internet on the train, that'd make me a junkie!

I arrived at Arhus, and right away theres a bridge above with hundreds of bikes. But I actually came up to the main level which was a mall. When I made it out of there i got right onto their main street. Shops a plenty, i saw like 3 Mcdonalds and a whole bunch of H&M's along with local shops. I liked their design and toy stores too. There was a dance performance in one of the smaller department stores too. It was a pretty crowded street!

I found my way into my first bar there, had a pilsner and a quick convo with the bartender too. The beer was sweet and was a good pick me up. Believe it or not I had McD's for lunch, I figured I was there for the beer and would much rather spend the money on that. I made my way to an Irish pub where I had a Guiness clone and the largest Hoegaarden glass ever! And my last bar, mostly because I shouldnt be drinking so much had me with an English beer, it was ok but still refreshing. I'd like more please!

After the bar hopping I got on one of the free bikes available in Arhus, its a pretty hoppin town, there was a music festival, lively canal seating, people beat boxing and rapping. The buildings are quite nice and again, LEGO Like, or vice versa. But everything closes early. By 6 nearly everything was shut down save for a few fast food places, 7 elevens, and bars. I wandered around for an hour n a half just to see what else there was, and back to Billund I go!

On the bus ride back, I found a certain Jamie Berard! So cool to have a chat with him on the bus ride back to Billund. He gave me some great travel tips. He's been working with LEGO for just around 4 years and his parents finally came to visit him. They must be really proud. I hope to follow similarly and hopefully I'll get to meet with him again.

It was quite an adventure! Pix will never do it justice, but they're up on facebook anyway.

The man who stares at horses -- Day 10?

2010-05-21T14:37:00.003-04:00

Can you believe it? My trip is just about a third over!

My progress report went well, nerve racking as hell to have these guys stand around you. Again it was humbling. I really want to do something that will generate a wow out of my crowd. Its hard, these guys have seen everything for sure!

Lunch with a big crowd today, I think it` would be worth while for me to learn Danish. The basics at the very least and an investment in Rosetta stone is in my future.

I took another way into town today. Got to walk through the race track thats right across the street from the hotel. You could practically get on the horses, thats how close they are. I think the horses stared me down, so i stared back! And then when I walked pass the other set of them, the first ones called over, that was really kinda strange. But its cool, hopefully in the beginning of June I can catch a race! Also on the way to town, one of my co workers beeped me down in her car. Man if you thought going into work and knowing people was cool - that really made me feel at home!

I stopped into the Highlander pub, this may become a habit anytime I´m in town.

So I´m blogging from the Hotel Svanen Reception area, Its like learning how to type again! Since the Danish have a different alphabet, they have a different keyboard too. I came down to plan my trip to Arhus tomorrow. I´m a little scared and excited at the same time. Hopefully I dont get lost or all that other stuff. Get ready for another junkload of pix!

I picked Arhus becuase they apparently have a lot of pubs and beers to pick from. Theres a bunch of breweries there and what not. Seems like a nice town too, second largest in Denmark next to Vejle - which i´m passing through via train. For those who don't know me that well, I consider myself a beer snob. Its a wonderful drink, and can be just as sophisticated as wine. Its good that the only way to collect beer is to taste it, else I'd have another mess in my house! Sorry kids, there is a part of me who grew up.

Man theres a lot of people here for the weekend. Gotta get up good n early for breakfast! Its gonna be a good day tomorrow, i can feel it.

OOOOO - Day 9

2010-05-20T16:13:00.003-04:00

Just my expression at new things.

Work is work, i mean I get to build LEGO stuff every day. I pull together all the engineering know-how i remember from school, structures, machines and mechanisms, dynamic stability, materials science, all that good stuff here. Definitely mentally tiring.

Theres a bunch of people always in and out of the office, and not just for meetings, but in and out of Denmark. And are always new faces to meet and its not surprising to meet someone for the first time.

8 days here and this is my first one not spending any money! woo hoo! But my stomach paid for it: curry ramen, yum.

I think I've found what I want to do for the next few weeks! I want to go and hunt breweries. I saw that Arhus has one, and i'll see about the nearby towns. Beer is the food of the gods, liquid bread and here, most likely cheaper than bottled water.

Its been a blessing here so far. We will have days that arent exactly the most spectacular, but i never leave work without a smile on my face.

Frankfurter Special - Day 8

2010-05-19T14:47:00.003-04:00

So begins my second week here...

Work is feverish, i've got a progress report coming up on Friday and it really feels quite nerve racking. But it feels this way through out the office. Pace has picked up and there's a bigger buzz around, you can definitely feel it in the air. I dont know what exactly it is, but there is something.

Got to visit the staff store today too. There's some good stuff there, and I needed to get some LEGO to keep myself from going nuts in the room. I did spend more than I wanted, but it'll work. My 8265 should keep my pretty busy, Technic Chicken walker anyone? with Linear actuators! I hope to go back there before i leave to pick up souveniers. They also told me that June will be a good month since they're getting rid of stuff for new stuff! woo HOo.

So i get back and I tell my boss that I don't have lego in my hotel room and he replies " Oh no, that just won't do" its great. We apparently got a visit from a big boss and my stuff got shown to him. You could imagine the beads of sweat coming from my brow! But it seemed to be good so far.

After work i hit up town again, supermarkets for shopping, grabbed more ramen and 9.50 dkk Ice tea! But for dinner, i went to the fast food spot and well i didnt know what to order. So the girl with the purple hair there took my 'Frankfurter special order" in excellent english!. This dog was huge! She grilled it, then cut it and then FRIED IT ! and then put onions and some spices and some pickles, put the bread on the side and it was the most amazing dog ever. I will have to return! Thanks to those who suggested the franks.

Anyways, i got out of my nap funk. Time to open up some toys. What a life. LEGO at work, LEGO at the hotel. I'm still trying to figure out what to do this weekend. Need to save money but still want to see Denmark. Stay tuned for what happens!

Still a dream - Day 7

2010-05-18T16:40:00.003-04:00

So this is it, my first week. As much fun as its been, its been a lot of work too. But every day is a gift here, another chance to live this grand dream that so many have.
I've got my first progress report on Friday, and it really is making me anxious. Tell the truth, there is an air of anxiety every day. At home I'm the best at what I do, and my pressure is different than it is here. The deadlines are different. Here i'm just not sure yet, its hard to tell what's exactly expected of me. Obviously the job is important, but I still feel anxious and its probably expected to want to do well at any employer yea?
Today I got to hang out with one of the other builders for LEGO Education. She's also a fan and has also just recently got her position as a full time builder. Her track began like mine, as a freelancer and she worked her way up to where she is now. After working a year in her role, she says that its still a dream to work there. LIke me and I'm sure many other kids out there, she had a lot of nay sayers about wanting to work for LEGO. She stuck with her passion, and got a little bit of luck from the stars as well and here we are.
And by the way..this would be a different blog if not for the NDA.
Lunch at LEGOLand today? Actual lunch with co workers there, quite fun, but still expensive.
Work is surprisingly quiet. You'd think there would be more ruffling through pieces and banter. Its insane to know that it costs more to take things apart and sort than it does to just make new parts. Its considered inefficient to take apart stuff here I think. Just build a new one!

anyway, i've got myself into quite a vicious nap cycle. Hopefully one good shopping day will do the trick. Another night at the hotel and so goes the first week. Goodnight everyone!

Humble pie - day 6

2010-05-17T17:27:00.002-04:00

Ahh, my first busy day at the office. I still find it a little bizarre and also truly comforting to come here and at least have met a good chunk of the staff. I met Steve C on the way in followed by a host of people that I met in Atlanta. Jesper has done a wonderful job walking me around to meet everyone and I'm trying to remember as many names as I can and I'll get everyone I'm sure. I got to meet the few other builders at hand there as well as curriculum managers and web developers, hardware and interface designers and programmers. It is a truly international group here with Dutch, Argentinian, French and British coworkers and at least in this office, one Filipino.
The busy atmosphere is incredibly creative, its an open office with high ceilings and bright colors despite the whirring of expansion construction. Its a bit quiet though, since we're all so spread out, many of the workers are constantly at meetings and you can hear the buzz even in my far corner desk.
Many of the employees at LEdu and Mindstorms have been around for so many years now and I find myself just at the tip of what I hope to be a long career. They did have a few who have just started, one as an intern and another as a semi full timer who has been with the company for just a few years. I found myself quite humble amongst all of them and even more once described as a good builder.
Lunch at the canteen on the other side of the building was surprisingly good and affordable. Its a buffet style so one should get there early to get the right pickings, but even at the tail end, they had some pork that reminded me of Lechon! fantastic.
It seems my project has hit a fever pitch and I've got to have something to present this friday! It should be good, but I am a little nervous. I think i've gotta order more parts, its quite strange to me to build without limits, use any part I like, cut, saw glue and have rather a lot of freedom. Although I am too much of a purist to do so, i think it might be necessary for this project. I do need to start to order more parts, I'm "running out"

I walked home for the first time today too. It was a beautiful day. Saw more examples of LEGO being everywhere in this town. Bodum, a homewares company is here too! I found some cows on the way back as well. quite fun.

I also had dinner with 2 of my Dutch coworkers, Will and Jonas took me out for pizza at mamas and they gave me a few more tips on getting around the offices and such. Its great to have some friends! They took me to get a sim card for my phone, but for some reason i cant unlock the phone. I'll figure it out tomorrow.

And I got to watch a part of the Barnard Commencement. Gotta support the gf! So proud of you and wish i was there! Good luck to all them graduates.

Theres no I in Denmark - Day 5

2010-05-16T16:02:00.002-04:00

I spent the day inside the hotel room today and hope that this will be the only day I do so. I took the liberty of finding websites and bus schedules and do my typical virtual tour of the rest of Denmark, hopefully I'll get out next weekend, and maybe even some nights! Wish me luck on not getting lost.

For those coming to Europe; at the very least Denmark, this website is like gold, and they need a mobile companion.
http://www.rejseplanen.dk/bin/query.exe/en?ml=m&

I also began my venture into learning Danish and finding the little nuances in their language. Upon learning the alphabet, there isn't a letter I in the Danish alphabet! I thought it a little symbolic, but they tagged on 3 more letters that we dont have in the english. The pronunciation is pretty tricky, and I'm sure I'll need much more videos to practice. I do have the time here though!

And the rest was pretty uneventful, fb chatting, movie watching (Thanks for all the Disney movies!). Working out as usual and hoping to get up early tomorrow for breakfast and the exciting work week. I'm ahead of my scheduled push ups at 1050. Should be able to bust it open this week if i keep at this pace.

Today was passing and gave me another chance to reflect. One thing I watched today told me "People don't buy what you do they buy why you do it." I think i've been lucky enough to be able to have a strong following because I'm doing something I truly believe in. I believe in happiness, life is short all that good stuff. So put up your feet and relax once in a while. We dont get a chance to do it often.

Incredibly Happy I brought Gloves - Day 4

2010-05-15T16:06:00.004-04:00

My first Saturday here and thanks to my Jesper, I had a free ticket to LEGOLand! I hope to have more while I'm here personally. Working at the company should have that kind perk..but I guess I'll see right?

So, on a Holiday Saturday morning, there were THRONGS of people getting in line to go to the theme park. All nationalities were present, Europe of course and I over heard some Japanese, Indians and of course Filipinos.

The park is great, and I'll let my 300+ pictures do the talking when i can get all of them up. But, its nothing I haven't seen before in terms of the big picture. There are some really great build techniques here and everything is amazing in its own right. The Atlantis Exhibit is REALLY worth visiting, with a few tanks filled with sharks and super colorful fish. Its an incredibly immersive experience with tunnels and Bubble shaped windows to peer through, it feels like you're swimming with them! Miniland was full of historical european towns and cities and a few modern ones as well. Taking pictures was pretty crazy, I had my gorilla pod snapping away and the best thing I had were the gloves i thought i shouldnt pack. They were the best things ever! I cant believe i still have both of them though. I dropped them a few times in LEGOLand and backtracked to find it on the floor!
I wasnt too impressed by the LEGO Store there, touted as the largest in size in all of Europe. Nothing super fancy there, I was hoping for the new minifigs. The pick-a-brick wasn't to my liking either, but they did have the new Technic T Beams and a lot of technic bricks too. Worth getting, but be sure I see more than my share of these in the office. I had another pizza for lunch and it was better than the last one i had. I dont remember the last time I finished a 12" Pie, albeit very thin crust. The Dragon coaster is also worth noting, with some of the most intricate sculptures I've seen during the ride. Since it was a ride, I couldnt really take pictures. And the end of the ride is a small coaster. I had the funniest face during the picture! By then it started to rain, and I got me a hot chocolate and a brick shaped chocolate piece - So much for telling your kids not to eat LEGO!
I mosey'd along to town in a light drizzle. Yay for Super Brugsen! I got me some even cheaper dinner, but you get what you pay for! I wish i had somewhere to cook over here. Even a microwave would be great. I cant even buy too many drinks since I cant keep anything cold. But, i've got me some ramen and some iced tea for a lot cheaper than it is here at the hotel and I'm happy!
This four star hotel with a fancy restaurant is weird place to walk around with shorts and a sweater. I still need a fork and knife to eat though and ice to keep my drinks cold.
And thats my first saturday, I dont know what to do tomorrow at all. Maybe some more shopping for necessities. Time to figure out some bus schedules so i can get out to other towns. Next week i'm shooting for copenhagen. But I should look into the surrounding towns too. Til then..

new pix on facebook! Week one's almost over and I've got about 400 pix already. That and around 500 pushups. I'm a little behind on those.

Restless mind, tired body - Day 3

2010-05-14T16:32:00.000-04:00

I think jetlag got the best of me last night. I really couldnt sleep at all. So what did I do? I was restless and my mind was working on my project for the next 5 weeks. I spent most of the dark hours drawing and at least trying to fall asleep. Worked out - and by the way the exercise band was an excellent idea to bring!
Early enough to snag breakfast before the Legoland crowd. I was also able to snag lunch from the breakfast buffet. This is going to work out quite nicely! The crowd was incredulous in the morning when I was picked up.
Just to show you that LEGO is truly international, my coworker who picked me up is from Argentina. At the office I was able to build in the fruits of my late night labor. I still feel like i'm all over the place there and hopefully I can get focused on one thing instead of trying to do everything at once. I was very happy with the results though, and with a little tweaking I think I might have something that'll pass through the crazy tests all lego products must go through I'm sure. At some point during the day I think lack of sleep was kicking in. Determined to stay concious, I build like a madman instead of my intense bouts of thinking followed by a short burst of creative output. Around the same point i also realized that my projects were real ones now, not just the ones i use off the top of my head. I had a moment of feeling that I'm in over my head, quickly followed by I shall knock this project on its ass to completion before I leave ! And then work was over.

I slept for an hour.

Determined not to break the bank on dinner, i took my first excursion into town alone. at 630 its still bright daylight out, but most of the stores were about ready to close. I was able to pull out some Krone so finally i have cash! The town is insanely small, but quaint and friendly. Everything is so expensive, beer is really cheaper than water or even soft drinks. I got myself some refreshments for the room, which though expensive, were cheaper than the .5L Ice Tea here in the hotel. I hope I can come back around when supermarkets are open, i need to get me some ramen for those lazy nights in!
I was able to get in front of the LEGO Idea house and Ole Kirk's old shop and look in to the history of LEGO from 1932 to 2009. REALLY cool to take pix there, and hope that i'll be able to get in and take pix inside too. I think the archive is there as well.
I found a few restaurants and I'm sure to eat at every one of them at least twice while I'm here. I decided on pizza, which I heard wasnt great here, but its pizza and you can't mess up pizza. Mama's Pizzeria was full of families, as i'm sure Billund is. Must be a nice town to raise a family ya? The walk back kinda cooled down the pizza more than I wanted. But, the pizza, with cut ham, pepperoni and pineapples was quite tasty. Along with Tuborg Pilsner, not too bad of a dinner for a fraction of the price of hotel dinner.
Well tomorrow i'm off to LEGOLand, hopefully the weather cooperates. I have heard about people going to LEGOLand in ponchos! But I do worry about clean clothes. I guess that will come too. Gotta get back to the workout 'routine' and finally kick this jetlag. Til tomorrow!

And yes, a few more pix up on facebook. LEGOLand will have its own folder, I'll be filling the card there.

Laters all

Testing my metal or plastic - Day 2

2010-05-13T16:30:00.000-04:00

My first real day at work, and just as expected the place was empty. I'm trying to wrap myself around my project, and what kind of freedom i have to do what I need to do. Its like my office at camp there, but a good chunk of the desks have an army of LEGO Robots on them amongst other things. I'm in one of the few offices where I'm not allowed to photographs. Its also this amazing office that has a black door, as opposed to the other open rooms and desks with glass partitions. As a builder, I've got more parts than I could even imagine (and I can imagine a lot). I spent a lot of time looking around and walking around for inspiration, this project is serious, at least i'm taking it very seriously and even though i know i've got the skills to pay the bills, i just hope i can impress the myriad of people who've been doing this their whole lives. Build on!

So i just realized that its about 5 Danish Krone to 1 USD, holy crap! at least the breakfast is free. And the breakfast is good, cereals, DIY waffles and eggs and deli meats and the best part is that its free. Free is good since dinner is ridiculously expensive. I'm glad its a short week, but to my luck tonights dinner was the first i've paid for since i got here. I'm hoping I can find cheaper food over the week. I still need to exchange my money, how strange, I'm a little spoiled here since they take USD. I think if i can make it through Friday then I can get my money changed and shop around. I'm excited for the weekend, hitting up legoland on saturday! Get ready for the barrage of pictures.

Speaking of which, pix are up on facebook!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=168812&id=501384730&l=f9266a1553

I'll take better ones of the hotel and soon the walk over to the job. Time for another 100 pushups

Delays - Dublin - Denmark - Day 1

2010-05-12T16:44:00.000-04:00

Phew, after waiting for nearly three hours at jfk, they stuck on another hour of delay. True the weather was bad, the flight was overbooked, and they had to cater the plane - at least it wasn't volcanic ash! And oh yea, 55$ for a second bag..i got robbed!

The airplane ride was pleasant, i had a window seat that had 2 windows! But In order to beat jetlag I tried to get as much sleep as possible, even though excitement gets the best of you. Delta airlines really upgraded with heads up, touch screen displays. Really fun to play with and had a bunch of the best picture nominees for movies to watch. It had 'cds' where you could make a playlist or the standard cheesy radio on airplanes. They also had games! Bejeweled, and some other stuff. I played but not too much. Sleep is good, pay for wifi isnt, But its nice to touch down in the land of the green.. to Ireland we came.

With the plane being late, i had just about 45 minutes in Dublin Airport to get checked in and all that stuff. Lines all over the place, but it is cool to get that fancy shmancy stamp on the passport! I had a crazy runaround trying to figure out where i needed to check in. One of the airport security guards had never heard of 'Cimber Sterling'! Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! I Eventually made it to a checkout line, and they almost charged me for bags too. Cripes, but they didnt and off i went to the gate to find me in a small airplane boarding right off the tarmac. But not before dropping 3 euros to update my status and shoot off an email to the person picking me up.

The small plane was surprisingly comfortable, I was able to sleep very well for about an hour of the two hour flight. Landing in Billund felt surreal, was I really doing this? And I saw the LEGO signs everywhere, and its true, LEGO Land is to the right once you land. Here i was.

Mr. Elling came to pick me up, he's a tall man. One could be intimidated by his size, but he's very polite and helped me with my baggage, the one with the broken wheel. We drove over to the Hotel Svanen, checked into room number 69. I dropped off my stuff and proceeded immediately to the building where I would be working. LEGO is everywhere here! Its not the building I thought I'd be working at, but just as cool - even though they are going through renovations. Its still walking distance, but I hope to get a bike from TLG. It turns out that Thursday and Friday is a Danish holiday and that I'd almost be working alone in the office for those two days. Hopefully I can catch up with people over the weekend!
While I can't talk about my work here, lets just say it'll be a fun process and it definitely plays to my strengths in terms of what I've been doing. It was incredibly comforting to meet the people i met in Atlanta and I really felt belonging and comfort while I was here learning about my job (and belonging being something very important i learned in classrooms). Its gonna be a good time, but low on the describing stuff, maybe i'll talk about the stuff i'm doing in the office thats not for work!
After that briefing, I was treated to a buffet dinner at the hotel. It was good, but I am anticipating eating here more than I really want to. Then back to the room to unpack and settle in. Skype is great here! Quite a few amenities, but food is gonna be expensive, I know it. Having a beer while writing this and that'll probably be a habit. Don't expect these long entries after today. Again, cant talk about work too much. I'm hitting up LEGOLand this weekend, probably saturday, and the town on friday. Hopefully this weather lets up. Well tomorrow's another day, gonna wake up early. I'm off to 200 pushups and bed. I'm here to work and thats exactly what i'm gonna do!

Twenty some odd hours - Cleaning Up

2010-05-11T01:57:00.001-04:00

So, its hours before and I'm about 90% packed up minus all the toothbrushes and razors and stuff.

Meanwhile, I'm cleaning up my room and Yvonne is helping me move forward and get rid of a lot of junk that I can't get myself to get rid of. Its good in the long run, i know it is - the sentimental sap that I am.

Well, its a bit odd to think about being in another place the next time i go to bed. So i guess the next entry will be me being somewhere, probably the airport Hopefully with more pictures.

And I'll leave everyone with this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW6TiZlwMBU

Se jer alle senere!

Kung gusto mong takasan ang mundo!
Ilalayo tayo ng magic spaceship ko!

2 days - Building Excitement

2010-05-09T12:52:00.001-04:00

Two days before the big trip. I haven't even started packing yet. The suitcases are in the middle of my room, but at least all of my laundry is done. Think it might be worth it to start living out of the suitcase already?
Lots of good lucks and see you laters from the wonderful support system I have at home. I've probably had a few too many beers in the past few days too. But it's all good fun and celebrating a new journey. Its hard not to get poetic, but that's me.

Yes, I'm super excited and ready to go beyond belief. The excitement is building, the pace is getting sort of frantic and there is still a few things i need before i go. I dropped my sunglasses at the movie theater last night, so thats one. I need a set of those power converters and a fitted Yankee hat. I think its worth walking around telling everyone I'm from the NYC. I hope I have everything else though.

Any tips from anyone ?

10 days - saying goodbye

2010-05-01T09:19:00.000-04:00

Well, not to anyone really, but to old things.
I'm trying to remind myself that I'm only going to be gone for 5 weeks. But there is a changing of the guard in my life. I've been trying to let go of some of the 'useless' things in my life. I'm letting go and saying goodbye to some LEGO Stuff, I've even let go of some of my prized balisongs. And I'm trying to let go of more but its rather difficult. Its a changing of the guard, and to change at all, I must change myself.
Other than that, I'm trying to see lots and lots of people before I go. The other night i got to say fare thee well to my Bricktron team. They've been so good to me and so supportive. What a great team and I know it wont be the last time we're all physically in the same room.
In the meantime, there's still so much to do. I've got a paper/presentation due on Monday! and all this other work to do until then. When will i get a chance to pack? I work up until the hours before I leave for the airport, its hard to get too excited when there's so much to do. Ten long days ahead.

Following your dreams

2010-04-27T23:33:00.000-04:00

So normally this is just my LEGO stuff blog, and although rarely updated, i wanted to keep it pure. But, in situations as these, this blog should take another turn.

Just about three months ago I woke up to an email that would change my life. It honestly couldn't have come at a worse time - it was my first day of what would be a masters of education program. I was asked if i would be interested in working for a certain toy company at a certain far away land, and needless to say, the answer was obvious.
The past 3 months was spent fleshing out this interest, from sending out background information, to renewing passports and applying for visa's and also keeping it a close secret to myself and to a few people. With all the paperwork all set, I figure I should chronicle my experiences - because i'm a sap like that - and also, if it pans out, I'd have a story to tell to those who might want to follow in footsteps only tread by few and far between.
Two weeks from today I'll be flying out to Billund, Denmark to spend 5 weeks in what might as well be heaven for me. I'll be living a dream that I prayed for, hoped for and worked my butt off for and maybe, just maybe it'll become something more than a short stint in what's been seven years of waiting for a big break.
But even if it doesn't, it'll still have been worth while. It'll make my decision to leave the DEP, to leave the LEGO Store, and to do everything i've done up to now worth it. I know it won't make me rich, but its a dream i've been following forever and wouldnt that be worth all the money in the world? I've heard that success follows passion...and here it is, have passion. Follow your dreams, and maybe you'll get there. It certainly hasn't been easy.

Hopefully i'll have some readers, and things can get less retrospective as the next 14 days pass. well, I plan to update as much as I can. T minus 14 days.

MY FLL teams

2010-02-09T09:36:00.000-05:00

Bricktron for Haiti

Team Bricktron did a phenomenal job winning their tournament. They really came together the last week on their project. More on them at
http://bricktron469.blogspot.com/2010/02/bricktron-for-haiti.html

Team Y Tech does Teamwork!

Team Y tech, at their first competition came up with a Trophy! no advancing to the next level yet, but they will.

Beam Shooter

2009-12-10T15:47:00.001-05:00

This was one of my favorite projects of the year, and I finally got it up to flickr.

the rest of the pix on my flickr page, along with some basic description under some of the pix.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1brick/sets/72157622975485392/

It can shoot REALLY far, at least in the scale of LEGO. Maybe one day i'll have be automated. But as a kids project, its best left to some manual labor.

Smart Move Programming

2009-12-09T13:37:00.000-05:00

I've been toying with finite state machines with NXT-g for a while now. This one's my latest exercise in using the myriad of functions that NXT-g has.

I've got timers counting down from 150 seconds, Logic blocks for "and" logic, sounds for debugging, loops with logic ends, tons of myblocks, opening and closing files, switches with multiple values, displaying custom images and all that good stuff.

This program is for my the Smart Move challenge in FLL. This is probably the closest I've gotten to actually finishing all of the missions, even though they weren't as hard as they've been in the last few years. (Hundreds of children could probably beg to differ that they were hard). That said, my robot, IROH will get his pictorials when he's ready. Otherwise, i've got the whole program up on Flickr.com/photos/1brick .

Biggest problem with this program? Screen flickering, I need to find a new spot for the display clearing. I'd rather my program not wait .1 of a second before it runs, even though it hasnt been a problem.

Techball Base Red

2009-10-25T00:28:00.001-04:00

Techball Base Red
Originally uploaded by 1brick

Techball anyone?

Some serious uploading

2009-10-24T19:16:00.000-04:00

I hope everyone can come check out my Flickr account, I've done some SERIOUS uploading in the last week

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1brick/

everything from new LDD builds to old robots long gone

enjoy

Flickr

2009-07-03T19:34:00.001-04:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Carousel!

2009-05-11T08:38:00.000-04:00

I haven't been this excited about a big set in a while, Excited enough to pay full price for this thing..or even beg for it for my birthday! haha But this thing is pretty dang cool

#10196 Grand Carousel

Ages 16+. 3,263 pieces
Available July 1st 2009

Via Brothers-brick

Bricks on a beautiful weekend

2009-04-28T23:46:00.000-04:00

Am I that crazy to do 2 ..YES 2 LEGO events on the same weekend?
The Camp Combe LEGO Carnival on Saturday, April 25th and Lyndhurst LEGO Fun for the entire weekend. What a rush!

At The carnival I had robots, some city and minifigure stuff and a bunch of interactive displays. I had my Final Fantasy chicken walker series there as my true originals and only one of my dragons, zero. I had a usual table full of bionicle stuff, mostly old ones and even had a few rahkshi out! Bohrok, Muaka and Kane-ra were there along with the Droid developer kit - too bad batteries fried my microscout though. I brought out the black creations car and the white convertible only to be topped off with the big Ferrari GTB 599. The Cafe corner and market street were tabled with a circle of train track which had the BSNF Locomotive pulling a few cars. Inside was the 'centerpiece' ferris wheel, which, without a little fiddling with, would get stuck.
The big hits were the rhotuka spinners, BT RC robots and free play areas. Tops using the pull back motors were great, but i dont get how they were so complex for the kids. I had some gold brick to play with (much to my chagrin) but the kids made some fun stuff out of that. There was a great chunk of knights kingdom figure parts and just loose brick from everything.
Everything got mixed up so i really have to sort now!

Lyndhurst had my usuals for Lyndhurst. Bionicle table, this time with the six glatorians, Loci, my two battle angels, the bounty hunter and kikanlhikanalo. I tried pulling out Infinitus, but i think i'm just going to have to rebuild it. I brought out some starwars stuff, everyone loves the Hoth scene. The UCS Naboo starfighter just really gleamed in the sun.
My GBC was really something else this year, and i get better at it everytime i have a run at it. I used philo's instructions for a Jigsaw with a Star justice theme and a generic dumper module. I also made a conveyor belt with a Space Skulls color scheme, but the theming never really got off, i was just happy it worked. My coup de gras was this dozer module, it had a construction theme and used an inverted track to bring the balls up and then drop them to a little off ramp towards the front, minifigs were used structurally to keep balls from popping out. It was great and really really reliable. Lastly, theres always one that doesnt work, a Mars Mission base themed giant tower. It was truly ambitious, the major problem was that the balls would stay on the chain even after they flipped upside down. I tried using a 2x3 plate in between to help the balls jump off, but they'd still stay or the 2x3 plate would come off at the bottom of the conveyor. I did manage a clever mechanism to help catch the balls though. Maybe next year i can make it bigger still and make it more reliable.
On sunday i brought my original chicken walkers since i think they were cool.

As usual Arthurs sculpted buildings were great, the Naboo Castle Really stood out in my mind, since it was his only non real building. Also the LeGo-Bots lady was there with some awesome RC robots and demonstrations, can you believe she told me she bought 7 (YES 7) Black NXTs!

Well till next time

Angels

2008-10-09T13:16:00.000-04:00

One of the kids on my FLL team decided it'd be a cool idea to replicate on of my favorite MOCS in blue - then well i couldnt resist to make it in red.

The yellow one is the original Battle Angel, first introduced in a BZPower BBC Contest. And the red and blue are the new ones

They all have a similar construction, minor differences in the chest area and also the hair.

I love how the red one really feels like one of the Ferrari models, and for once a blue model actually looks female. And i'm loving this color scheme, a hint of filipino in it. Gallery to come soon.

New Projects

2008-09-23T12:24:00.000-04:00

I wonder why i even start new projects when some of the older ones havnt even really gotten that much feet off the ground.

anyway, as a compliment to the 4 legged monstrosity i've been working on. (Which i havent blogged about) i'm working on a biped with similar leg design but this time, instead of worm gearing the knee joints, i'm using the new fangled linear actuators at the rear of the leg.

I havent seen anyone do it yet, and by the looks of my initial sketches and moc ups it looks to be huge. I've always wanted to have as much of the controls within the body as possible and with the linear actuators its much easier to do so. Could i be ambitious enough to make it with the Power Functions? now only if there was a way to get the ankle controls all the way back up to the main body. So we'll see how it works.

Recap and the coming season

2008-09-15T10:59:00.000-04:00

The summer was full of NXT goodness, all sorts of ideas we had this time

from wearable armor to booby traps, remote controls and a huge F'n Y made out of LEGO.

The ideas were pretty grand, with just 3 real days to build the project i had to come up with new and exciting stuff, my favorite was the remote controls though. i had 20 robots running in 10 pairs and only one died because of the battery. The controller itself was pretty dang durable if i say so myself .

A nice looking dual forward/back stick made out of the retail kit and the resource kit and program to boot. This badboy is on its way to being published and its been tried and true.

It was a great event to get the whole camp involved as well, we were all excited about it. In the end i modified it so that i had the touch sensors by the thumbs, they felt a little more like fighter jets then.

The robots themselves were modified versions of the retail tribot with a simplified claw attachment. As it was just strong enough to hold the ball it made it hard to do anything with it. It would work really well autonomosly, but not with the controller. It was nice to see.

This coming season i'm looking to use the task bot built in the LEGO Engineering curriculum, i hope it turns out well, looks like you can do a lot of stuff with it but eventually i'll have my own robot. Still, cant go wrong with what's been tried and true as well as supported.

Y signs up

2008-08-24T17:43:00.000-04:00

Some work at the YMCA
More to come later

AS-ST's!

2008-06-19T00:29:00.000-04:00

as promised, i've got some pix..wish they were higher quality but hey ..
thanks to Daniele Benedettelli for the work and inspiration.

there were 5 in this picture and a sixth being built since one of the kids had to catch up ..he missed a class. I was able to download the pre-written program into all of them, and we had a great time watching them walk around. After all that, i tried getting the kids to write the program using NXT-G, man this was tough. It was hard to get the 'magic built in limit switch' working right. The theory was there, but i hadnt had enough time to test it before giving it to the students. It should've been easier than what it was, but you can definitely see the speed limitations of NXT G under the speed of NXC.

heres some more small thumbnails of the robots, which all got some custom treatment from each kid.

As you can see, i've got some imaginative kids. Most had enough to build the full model, but some had the retail kit limitation. Others had the educational kit and the resource kit together so all their beams were grey instead of white. what a great project.

Is this for real?

2008-06-17T09:37:00.000-04:00

'shelf user dsvelte recently uploaded this badboy. Set 10188, and i definitely have room for this one. but again, i'm afraid the pricetag might border on another vacation.

Set Review - 4993 Cool Convertible

2008-06-13T01:18:00.000-04:00

As a side note, i'd like to say that i was building during game 4 of the celtics vs lakers game..and was quite entertained!

Here's the first of (hopefully) many detailed set reviews and I'll try to get a steady format at it as I get more going. So here it is.

Set 4993, the Cool Convertible is in a long line of LEGO creator sets dealing with pretty nice looking cars starting with Land Busters 4403 and the most recent Roaring Roadster 4896. At 44.95 ( i bought mine at 49.99 from TRU about a week before it was released officially by LEGO), its 15$ cheaper than its previous relatives. Can it compare to such great sets?

First look
The box is in the standard creator layout with main model on the front and some interesting alternate models in the back, a truck cab (surprise surprise) and a working skid steer loader. Although i'm not a fan of the new fangled cereal box style box design, i can appreciate it as a form of cutting costs and what not. One of the first things i noticed from the box was the use of lego katanas for windshield wipers, man i couldnt wait to get my hands on those. I also noticed that each one of the models had some sort of working mechanism, instead of just straight gears- pretty exciting. Lastly, i like the white and dark red color scheme, a nice contrast to the yellow and black from the previous sets. I hope they do green next, but its probably never going to happen.

Parts and pieces
At 648 pieces and much like all creator sets, its a great piece to price value, making this, at retail, a 200 piece value. The list of parts on the box doesn't disappoint either. As a mech/space builder I like having a nice assortment of slopes and curved parts there are ample structural parts and for the castle or architectural builders a nice set of arches. There are a few new pieces in here, first seen (at least by me) in the Speed Racer series. I'm a fan the 2x4 studless curve as well as the 1x4 studless curve but i've never seen a 4x4x3 convex curve thats got 2 technic holes, quite a nice piece i'm sure i could use for a cockpit or something. The rest is a nice standard of creator parts which is never a bad thing.

The Experience
Popping the box open, I was greeted with 4, yes 4 books - the main model, the loader, and two for the truck. I'm saddened by the decision to lower the quality on the instruction booklets, but again, a compromise we'll have to deal with. I really liked having the bags without numbers on them, giving this model (again like the creator series of sets) a sandbox feel like LEGO should be. I didnt bother counting bags, but they're divided up as usual, large parts in a few bags, smaller parts in other bags, and wheels, rims and larger bricks loose in the box. Its always a nice layout, and helps with finding parts later.
Diving into the main model was pretty straight forward, a nice rhythm of 2-3 pieces in a step to well constructed sub models to be attached to the main model. I liked that you go almost right into building the convertible mechanism and its a nice mix of technic to system building. Its a simple crank rocker mechanism that allows the top of the car to be dropped into the bottom of the trunk. They leave it pretty open for modification (I think) if you want the trunk to open at all. There are quite a few snot techniques, but most of the studs stay on top with studless slopes to smooth out the model. The doors on this model are the most stable doors i've seen in all of the previous car incarnations. This one uses a 2x2 turn table WITH a 1x4/2x2 hinge plate. It feels so much more solid than just the hinge connections i'm used to with these sets. Again its pretty straight forward to build but its still fun with a good set of techniques that many users may find useful for their own mocs.

Overall
I must say that i'm more impressed with the model built physically than on the pictures on the box. I dont think the digital images do it justice as the model has a nice feel and has an amazing real life profile. The convertible mechanism is just great and i could play with it for hours, and am already thinking of ways to use it for my own creations. I love the stability of the doors giving it a nice solid feel to open and close. In comparison to Roaring roadsters, it definitely feels a little shorter and much lighter. Although I would like to have the steering built in, I dont mind it (but still plan to add it) to the cool lever convertible.
Sadly the model feels a little hollow. Its the first creator car i've built that doesnt have a solid bottom and its even got a nice void behind the seats. Although i like it for the customiz-ablility, it just doesnt feel right. The windshield (with the super cool katana wipers) is a little looser than i'd like, but it gives the model a nice sleek look.

Still, the model itself is great, something i can leave on the shelf or most likely cannibalize for some great parts. its really playable, despite not having steering, and it just feels like it'll just go from under your hands. There are some great building techniques and pieces to throw around and at 15$ under the older sets in this caliber, is a must buy and build for everyone.

A room full of ATSTs

2008-06-11T09:18:00.000-04:00

My robotics classes are winding down, but i thought i'd share an experience

For my BYOB (Bring your own bot) Advanced Robotics class, I decided to use Daniele Benedettelli's 'Creating Cool Mindstorms NXT Robots for the second half of the class. For the first half i wanted to touch on structural building and touch on making state machines using NXT-G. The kids came up with some great robots and i really wish i took some photos before those robots got taken apart (save for one that was built using my parts). And despite some technical issues with Version 1.0 of NXT-G, we were able to get some basic SUMO programs using a finite state machine.

So on to the second half, I really wanted to keep the theme of getting a strong structure and have them program using state machines and such. We built the ATST out of the book and it took about 1 and 3/4 classes to build verbally. While very difficult, this can be quite rewarding. Since my kids were at a level where they all understood the parts, speaking in LEGO was really easy and i didnt have to backtrack to explain parts. But man, what a great feeling to have 7 NXT at st's walking around at the end of the class. The kids had promised to take their creations home and seriously modify them. I cant wait to get some shots of possibly modified Atsts.

The challenge now is to convert Danielle's NXC program to an NXT g Program. There's already a nice 'servomotor automagic built-in limit switch' already made by LEGO in their Education NXT (software) set. And i think i can manage some of the walking machines, but since there's no real support for array's, a lot of the number plugging will be manual. I'll see about posting when i get that ready (preferably before class next Tuesday).

So next week..watch out endor..atsts are coming

new LEGO Sets

2008-05-27T00:54:00.000-04:00

Gotta love toys r us...
if you're lucky enough to find one that throws new lego sets on the shelf

i picked up a new creator set,

set 4993 'cool convertible'
I havent opened it yet, but just from the box you can see a few cool things. First, katana's for windshield wipers, and a bunch of those new slopes seen in the speed racer sets. Theres a nice helping of snot techniques and for once all three models have some sort of mechanism. The main model has the convertible top, but it did sacrifice steering (although i'm sure someone will remedy that situation). The secondary truck model has a lever to lift the cab, and theres a third model, a skidsteer forklift that uses a fancy mechanism for lifting. I'll be building it for sure this week and see how it stands up with the previous cars in the creator series. I know for sure i'm absolutely going to enjoy it, and at 50$ its dropped 10$ from the previous car set.. great value for 674 pieces.

LEGO Classes (round 2 for the year)

2008-04-30T10:48:00.000-04:00

Well, i'm still trying to figure out what i wanna do with this blog, hence not adding anything in a while but here's an idea

Monday began the 2nd round of Creations classes for 2008 at LHVCC.
for the first session i'm using Maxilos and Spinax, LEGO Bionicle -- what a great set. You can really build quite a bit with it. Its got one of the best piece/price ratio for a bionicle set out there. With what's inside you should be able to build at least 2 figures and add some great detail or make it pretty functional. The set itself is built pretty well. With the piston construction not only for the back part of the legs but also for the shoulder. It gives this set a nice organic and muscular feel.

My kids had a great time with the set. There's a little bit of a learning curve with Bionicle parts, but they can get it. I introduced the socket joint first, it just seemed the easiest thing and one of the most identifying parts to bionicle, coupled with the right angle ball joint in red ( I love that piece..made loci ..(and another idea comes to mind) ). Some of the kids had trouble socketing in, but once they got it it was easy to let them go. I had them do the same to a 2 ball, hip type joint to start making legs .or torso if they desired. I led them to axles by putting a socket joint, axle connector side in to the hip joint - simple, and most of them got it. Lastly were pins and axle/pins and i let them go from there.

Veterans in my class went right at it, but on monday i had mostly new kids. They're pretty good, i'd like to see them finish off their figures in the next week . Pix coming within the week. And i guess i should start thinking about sets for the next class. Indy maybe?

Toy Fair exclusive!

2008-03-06T10:02:00.000-05:00

So the first year i didnt try to get into toy fair they gave out a pretty cool set

an indiana jones magic morph to han solo...now if you got this autographed by the big mr. ford himself...

check it out...

via cooltoyreview

An ambitious contest

2008-03-05T18:59:00.000-05:00

The very cool folks at NXTLOG put up a rather ambitious contest this month.
they want us to build bipeds

Nxtlog Biped challenge

I've tackled this idea before twice and its pretty complex. At least the way I tried. 6 motors, 2 Nxt Bricks..12 batteries and I even cracked a motor (had it sent back and all that ...go Customer service!). But there have been those who have put up some great robots, single motor up to only 3 motor bipeds. Lets see what the community can do with this one!

another LEGO BLOG?!

2008-02-29T23:39:00.001-05:00

really now,
there's so many out there already!
the brothers brick, technic bricks, nxtstep, nxtasy, to name a few (namely the ones i browse through on a daily basis) not including the many hours spent on brickshelf, youtube, bzpower, lego.com and mindstorms.com and so many others.

I'll have my take on what i find, and do my best to give credit where its due. What i'd really like is to post stuff that hasn't been up before, but there will definitely be overlap, especially with noteable things.

its all coming ....

thinkbrick

Joining the Brick Blogosphere

2008-02-29T10:39:00.000-05:00

I've realized that it takes too much time to do it myself via html..
so here it is..

reminding all my readers..
to think brick