2024.11.28. Thanksgiving Day

11/28, Thursday. My planned trip fizzled out due to an unexpected event. The large turkey lunch called for a walk to burn off some calories. Headed uphill to Kerry Park just before sunset. Surprised to see so many people. I had never seen this much crowd here. Great view of downtown and Rainier. Some clouds today, advertising a colorful sunset.

We walked to waterfront for sunset, a lot less people. Excellent color today. Olympic mountains are clear.

During this long weekend, painted my old home, did a lot of shopping online.

2024.11.23. Level Up Vocal Ensemble + Warren Miller's 75

11/23, Saturday, 4:30pm. My 2nd time attending Level Up! Vocal Ensemble's performance, because I really enjoyed it last time, even though I'm not a gamer. Yes, they sing video game songs. Today's concert is titled Girl Boss Battle. Copy of their program here:

Sleeping in the Cold Below, Warframe: Call of the Tempestarii - arr. Julia Cosma
Sis Puella Magica, Puella Magi Madoka Magica ------------------ arr. Julia Cosma
Good Riddance, Hades ------------------------------------------ arr. Stephen O'Bent
Tomb Raider Theme, Tomb Raider (1996) ------------------------- arr. Julie Sakalys
Malach, the Angel Messenger, World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor
                                                     ---------- arr. Julie Sakalys
Still Alive, Portal ------------------------------------------- arr. Katie Bent
MORE, League of Legends --------------------------------------- arr. Julie Sakalys
STAGE OF SEKAI, Project SEKAI: Colorful Stage! ---------------- arr. Isabella Cabullos

I especially liked "Still Alive". This is a very fun group, some in costumes, all wore face masks.

---

At 7:30, we went to McCaw Hall to see Warren Miller's Film Tour of 75, a collection of some new footage of these athletes on snow: Selema Masakela | Shaun White | Caite Zeliff | Jeremy Jones | LJ Henriquez Max Hitzig | Danny Davis | Parkin Costain | Toby Miller | JJ Thomas | Alex Ferreira Lexi duPont | Noah Maisonet | Zeb Powell | Daron Rahlves | Connery Lundin Aaron Blunck | Mark Abma | Cassie Sharpe | Juho Kilkki | Luis Medearis Cass Jones | Mia Jones. Ticketmaster sells tickets, and only Ticketmaster, so a hefty service fee.

I really enjoyed the very first documentary on free ride skier Max Hitzig from the foot of Austrian Alps. Stunning mountain scenary and death-defying moves, made me want to get out in the snow. Could have left after that. The movie went downhill afterawards, both the scenary and the skills. I definitely won't be attending another Warren Miller screening.

Not a full house, but full enough. During the intermission, the organizer threw swags into the auditorium. So a lot of people crammed to the front to catch them. Only then, I noticed a lot of kids. It also encourages you to sign up a sweepstake online. In the lobby, the sponsors showcased their gears, and ski map.

The next day, briefly checked out the gingerbread village at the Grand Sheraton. 5 kids, 5 over-engineered gingerbread creations. I came to see this exhibition last December too.

2024.11.21. Pacific Marine Expo + Founder's Live

The Pacific Marine Expo is a 2.5 day affair 11/20-22. I only went on Thursday, not very early. My first time ever. Location: the event center of Lumen Field. Is it the same as WaMu Theatre? It's a very large 2 story hall. Lots of vendors, from mechanic tools to digital monitoring system, fishing industry, recreational vessels, government agencies, environment NGOs. There's one company that only showcases their chicken egg (in powder), but they don't sell it there.

I attended a few educational talks, and talked to a few vendors (including the egg seller, yes, it does taste like egg). I liked these.

• Linde's plasma cutting machine, and it cut a steel fish for anyone who wants one.
• Rachel Aronson from Maritime Blue talked about its Quite Sound voluntary program. About 70% vessels going through Puget Sound voluntarily lower their speed during winter season, to reduce underwater sound pollution, when Orcas are around.

No food or drink provided by the expo. There are vendors who sell lunch. However, at 4pm, one company hosted a happy hour with some sliders and beer, and it soon ran out. I'm also surprised to see quite a few groups from Alaska, at least 2 from Bristol Bay.

I left for Founders Live event (6-8pm). 4 founders today:

• news publishing/subscribing database service
• a little AI robot friend
• yet another social network
• EV charging robot

The EV charging robot idea won the popular vote today.

2024.11.16. Games + Education Collider

11/16, Saturday. This is the 2nd time I went to this games in education event held at Pacific Science Center. Last year (2023/11/15) was only in the evening. The goal is to share knowledge of how to teach using games. The expo is on the lower floor, where you can see many interesting games aimed for from toddlers to adults, and talked to the designers. I like this event last time. A lot more content this year. Educational and fun. I wish more people would come.

Keynote speaker Tammie Schrader, science coordinator for the Washington Education Service District 101. She's an excellent speaker: loud, clear, funny. A few panels throughout the day. Sometimes 2 classrooms were holding workshops at the same time. The classrooms here have terrible sound proof. Noisy like hell.

During one of the panels, I jotted down a few websites (missed most):

• Unity Game Engine, a sponser of this event
• Teach AI
• AI competency framework for students
• The annual ED Games Expo | Washington, DC
• Microsoft 21st Century Learning Design
• 3 AR tools: Adobe Aero, Lens Studio, Procreate 3D

In the afternoon, I took a 3-hr workshop, lead by 4 teachers from Center for Leadership and Innovation of St. Thomas School in Medina, South Bellevue, a very wealthy neighorhood. Each one talked about one game class and its process and takeaway: a cardboard maze for kindergardeners, a narrative card game using Someone Has Died, building a box with raspberry-pi, servos and blinking lights. I forgot what's the 4th. I'm very impressed what they have done, and kids' demos. I asked one of them who can come to their school. I was told that anyone can apply, but they'll interview the kids and the parents. The last section, I and 2 other guys tried to use Twine, an open-source tool for telling interactive, nonlinear stories, to outline a narrative game.

Between the sessions, I went down to checkout the games. I'm especially taken by this game Brailliance to learn Braille. Talked to its designer, and saw him using a Braille keyboard. He's not blind.

2024.11.15. Third Friday Speaker at Center for Wooden Boats

11/15, Friday, 6-7:30pm. Third Friday Speaker series at Center of Wooden Boats. I arrived late, but the speakers didn't start until ~6:30pm. 3 local business owners who operate in the space of private boats:

• surveyor Zach Simonson-Bond of Kingspke Marine
• shipwright Andy Stewart from Emerald Marine
• insurance underwriter Alex Jones of Redshield

My first time here. Not sure if I learned anything. The talks are very general, nothing in detail. The Q&A is more interesting, especially from this lady who arrived at the same time as me (the door is locked, and she knows to ring someone to let us in). 2 takeaways from her: 1) wooden boats are no longer allowed to moor in LA (and potentially banned from more harbors). 2) get a smaller boat, so you can operate without a crew.

2024.11.14. Structural Engineer 2024 Forum

11/14, Thursday, 6pm, Benaroya Hall, recital hall. Structural Engineers Foundation of Washington's fall forum. I love this forum last year (about the Summit building of Seattle Convention Center). This time, it's a deep dive of the design and construction of the Overlook Walk at the waterfront.

The speakers are (in order of presentation):

• Peter Steinbrueck gave an overview of the Overlook Walkway project, and the history of Seattle waterfront, with historical photos from late 1800s.
• David Miller (Miller Hulls Architects, talked about the design and change/consideration since the conception of the walkway.
• Andrew Barash (Jacob, the actual project manager of the structural engineering of this project).
• Osama Quotah (LMN architects) on the design of the new aquarium expansion, emphasizes on regional and sustainable design.
• Arash Naderpour (Turner Construction) on aquarium's Ocean Pavilion. Impressive rebar!

One positive comment from all is the collaboration, and discussion throughout (especially before) the project. One negative comment is too many contractors and sub-contractors, so difficult/slow to coordinate.