e man's eyeballs

First Podcast Attempt

I'm just experimenting here, once again, with podcasting. My (and Sequoia Elementary's) First Ever Podcast! Click here to get your own player. Posted by Evan Nichols on 12/8/07; 2:41:44 PM from the e man's eyeballs dept. Comment [0]

Practice Slideshow

I would love to be able to embed a slideshow in my blog. Wouldn't you? Who wouldn't? Nobody. --Here's a test from slide.com Posted by Evan Nichols on 12/1/07; 6:14:05 PM from the e man's eyeballs dept. Comment [0]

Bees in Rosemary

It is very difficult to get a close up of a bee. This is round one. Oh, but it's not over. Posted by Evan Nichols on 11/14/07; 12:48:17 PM from the e man's eyeballs dept. Comment [0]

Shoes For Three

Sometimes you feel as if a pair of shoes were missing from the stack. Posted by Evan Nichols on 11/10/07; 8:33:09 PM from the e man's eyeballs dept. Comment [0]

Moon Over Electric Smile

Just back from putting to bed the girl, I glanced out the kitchen window and realized we'd left the lights plugged in from earlier when we were testing if they still worked. Then I noticed the moon rising above them. I turned off all other lights, stepped out into the cold air and tried to hold the camera steady. Here's what I got. Posted by Evan Nichols on 1/5/07; 9:20:22 PM from the e man's eyeballs dept. Comment [0]

Strawberry Canyon Forever

I took a walk in the Strawberry Botanical Garden up above UC Berkeley today, hoping to take another step in my journey towards tree identification. Two coastal live oaks in a slap fight close up There should be a word for things you do and when you do them you are moved to declare, "I should do this once a week!" but then you never really do them. Perhaps that word could be "project." Anyway, take a look at this next tree. Most of us look at that and think, 'Well, that's not much of a tree.' Some of us might look at it and think, 'Oh, a Blue Elderberry.' Some wise guys might even bust out with, "What a fine specimen of sambucus mexicana!" but they would be asking for somebuttkick mexicana. However, how many of us would look at it and think, "Awwwwwwesome. My next flute!" Imagine having that relationship with your natural surroundings. The Blue Elderberry has been popular with the native folk for its straight wood and easy to hollow out insides since way back. Walking around these excellent gardens, I quickly got used to having my nature neatly labeled. Later I found myself staring at random city trees with hope and then disgust. No label. Then I had to stop myself and ask, "Who cares if I know the name?" Then I had to remind myself, the name is just the first step. First you learn that trees that look like that with those leaves and that bark and maybe those flowers are called Western Redbud. Then you learn that they used to use them to make baskets. Then you learn that they like such and such sun, such and such soil, such and such water. You learn that they grow to a certain height, provide a certain shade, serve a certain artistic function for your mental receptors, provide a certain insect with a certain sense of bliss. Put it all together and you could really amaze and annoy your friends. Constantly. Some tree Posted by Evan Nichols on 1/3/07; 9:49:30 PM from the e man's eyeballs dept. Comment [0]

California Sycamore

Tree with enlarged base, stout trunk, often branched near base, and broad, irregular, open crown of thick, spreading branches. Height 40-80'. According to Western Forests, put out by the National Audubon Society, this has got to be a California Sycamore. Another New Year's goal is to learn more about trees in my neighborhood. This tree stands outside of M1's preschool. It has seen a lot of pick-ups and drop-offs. It has seen its share of weeping, bawling, sobbing 2 3/4 year olds. It has seen it share of beaming, happy 4 year olds. Common in the valleys of California, it is also a shade and ornamental tree. Giant trees with massive, barrel-shaped trunks often lean and fork into picturesque shapes. When I was little I was infamous for exaggerated, bizarre smiles in family pictures. I always thought it was my fault, that I was doing something strange for the pictures, but I never really understand why. Yesterday, it hit me. I was not born with a face that smiles. I was born with a look that my friend, Freddy, in Ecuador described as "serio," serious. I was born with a face that led my English teacher to say, "Cheer up, Evan," on a day when I was perfectly happy. Those bizarre family pictures were me, trying to get my face to lean and fork into picturesque shapes. I like this sycamore that grows in my neighborhood. We understand each other. Posted by Evan Nichols on 1/2/07; 6:27:56 PM from the e man's eyeballs dept. Comment [0]

Walk & Sleep

These are the glorious days when M1 and M2 are best friends. Squabbling, yes, but walking together, playing all day and sleeping side by side on the short ride home from the holidays. Posted by Evan Nichols on 12/27/06; 3:24:42 PM from the e man's eyeballs dept. Comment [0]

Analog Postmortem

Posted by Evan Nichols on 8/22/06; 10:53:15 PM from the e man's eyeballs dept. Comment [0]

The Girl's First Slideshow

The Girl went with me to a Young Writers Camp in San Ramon today. I gave her a camera and told her to go wild.  Here's what she shot. The Girl's First Slideshow Posted by Evan Nichols on 7/12/06; 11:07:32 PM from the e man's eyeballs dept. Comment [0]

Movie Practice 2

Here's another test of the emergency multimedia system. Posted by Evan Nichols on 7/3/06; 3:47:14 PM from the e man's eyeballs dept. Comment [0]

Practice Movie

Here's another try at hosting a movie on a site called Streamload. Posted by Evan Nichols on 6/28/06; 3:06:32 PM from the e man's eyeballs dept. Comment [0]

Tent Head the Explorer

Just back from awesome camping trip, such a good camping trip that I'm not going to even say where we went camping because then you'll go camping there and next time I want to go camping there there won't be any there there. After Camping, Before Shower After Camping, After Shower Posted by Evan Nichols on 6/18/06; 9:02:54 PM from the e man's eyeballs dept. Comment [0]

Oakland Cloud

there is water in the sky there is water in the sky water in the sky? water in the sky! there is... i  know you said it water up yeah! you say, what's up? i say, water! goahead! i don't want to play there is...water...in...the...sky doesn't that knock you out? no, but i just might.... little drops of water got hot they got agitated and they flew towards the universe... imagine if every time a person got angry they flew towards the stars? met other angry people cooled off bonded started to hang out together took a trip to the mountains jumped in a lake and river rafted back to the big city? it's like an anger management program, man!!! what are you talking about? water don't say it in the sky aiiieeee! did you know that volcanic dust can change the weather block the sun make plants grow slower? well, i suppose... so that got me thinking about water water blocks the sun everywhere all the time and we just call it a cloud and forget about it but water makes you cold makes you buy sweaters makes you buy umbrellas and really ugly yellow slickers until one day someone says good morning and by the way yellow is not your color what are you talking about? forget about the water cycle forget about the word cloud forget about vapor and evaporation hey, vapor, evaporation, i never... forget about that, man! i'm talking water in the sky floating there making shapes a headless turkey a seahorse er, with a spear a guy with big ears and pancake face a pancake face? it's a miracle, man! think about it! little fluffy puffs of water forming a cinema of shapes across that band of universe we call sky feathery, icy clouds and gray sheets and bits of mashed potato all twisiting and dancing and forming new shapes and blowing and blocking and throwing shade and changing fashion why? for what? who thought this up? all because a drop of water just can't take the heat? it IS kinda cool, i guess aha! you see?! i mean, it's so random yes! i mean, what if dirt evaporated and formed these dirt clouds and rained mud on our heads um... or, like, if fruit evaporated and just when you were about to pick that juicy apple it was headed straight to the sky wonkavision and then there was an apple juice cloud?! well now, hold on... so people would learn to identify the different clouds and they'd be all hey, grape juice cloud over the safeway! and they'd go running over with an empty jug or bucket but there'd be all these people gathered  out in the parking lot, waiting and when it blew by they'd all follow under that cloud together and there'd be more and more of them moving up the street and they'd head up towards the hills, stopping traffic like a protest but it'd be just a bunch of people who liked grape juice? look, forget i mentioned it Posted by Evan Nichols on 6/6/06; 4:17:14 PM from the e man's eyeballs dept. Comment [0]

Up Where the Air is Clear

Posted by Evan Nichols on 6/2/06; 3:46:58 PM from the e man's eyeballs dept. Comment [0]

Back Off!

do they really develop thorns to survive or are thorns baggage worn on the outside wounds turned to spears times they've been burned by a deer by a bear by a coyote by a squirrell do they wake, born, with thorns and wonder why am i such a bad ass orange mofo tree do they ever just want a hug do they ever plod down the hall in a forward facing gown and go under the shears to finally once and for all start life anew as an apple tree? Posted by Evan Nichols on 3/9/06; 8:41:01 PM from the e man's eyeballs dept. Comment [0]

Sausal

here where native blackberries and invaders battle where the willows wave in the aspirin breeze, the basketball sits stuck behind a rock and bobs with the flow of the future of clouds Posted by Evan Nichols on 2/12/06; 10:07:22 PM from the e man's eyeballs dept. Comment [0]

An Oakland Backyard Sky

days, stumbling into new years wet windows holy clouds we blink our blinks through heavy lids gums dancing with sugar and watch kodachrome sun rays slash again asphalt shingle days, shower droplets over shoulders like salt like storms behind curtain number two but no one is shouting "Come on down!" except our bloodstream to our brain days, listing house-projects like groceries, season by season, half peeled paint by sticking front door by crappy stove , learning, finally, that more than two projects equals zero Posted by Evan Nichols on 1/7/06; 10:11:18 AM from the e man's eyeballs dept. Comment [0]

The Oakland Hills

Posted by Evan Nichols on 11/29/05; 8:01:14 PM from the e man's eyeballs dept. Comment [0]

Oakland Redwoods

It's not that I have nothing to say or that I don't believe in blogging it's just that I've been spending a lot of time trying to get together some sort of very basic design of my school's website and that made the thought of going online again and staring at a computer screen once I get home...blech.  Not to mention that soon I'll be launching a brand new 'zine for the Bay Area Writing Project called Digital Paper, plus working with my ol' pal Uncle Rudolf on Rudolf's Diner, so... Will I blog?  Do I blog?  Do I do? It remains to be seen.  Maybe just pictures for a while.  Like this one, taken in the Oakland hills, Joaquin Miller Park.  These bad boys are the stuff that built San Francisco.  I wonder if a class-action suit of some kind could get Oakland some money.  I mean, I speak for the trees. Posted by Evan Nichols on 11/29/05; 7:58:31 PM from the e man's eyeballs dept. Comment [0]