BlizBlog

Beach Trash

2009-10-25T15:58:00.000-07:00

After feeling like a castaway due to spending a few weeks on a secluded beach in Mexico. I awoke one day with an idea of walking the entire bay and picking up trash. The strange bit of this adventure was the amount of shoes that I found. It was interesting that I never came across pairs, only a single lone shoe missing its twin.

After collection two grocery bags full. I thought it would be a good idea to make them into some form of art before I threw them into the garbage.

Mimicking the palm leaf shapes casting shadows on the ground, I ordered the shoes largest to smallest creating my "found object art piece" Here's the photo of my work!

I'm still a bit bewildered by how many shoes are washed up on shore when compared to other trash items. I think that this provides a bit of a lesson to all of us. Please check your shoes to be sure they are a snug fit, or leave them with your towel. The ocean has a way of taking them and never giving them back.

Living & Surviving - The Other Half "Literally"

2009-08-10T17:39:00.000-07:00

In Hongshan village, Xiangzhou town, Zhuhai city, Guangdong province, there is an extraordinary four-story building. Half of the building has been demolished, but people continued to live in the other half. According to the owner (of the remaining half), the building had been owned by him and his cousin. Last year, his cousin sold his half of the building to a real estate developer which demolished that half. However, he was unable to reach an agreement to the real estate developer and therefore continued to live there. The family of six of the owner lives on the fourth floor, while the rest of the floors are rented out at very cheap rents of 100 to 200 yuan per month per floor. The real estate developer went out of business two months ago.

For the rest of the story and more, check out the article here: Link

Fender Blender

2009-07-30T18:20:00.000-07:00

Order your Fender Blender now via The Juice Peddler

This would be a perfect addition to any Eco-Friendly event. Take it along to your local Critical Mass ride... it would surely make a few people smile!

Drunken Monkey Tech

2009-05-21T16:53:00.000-07:00

These guys are real video game fanatics! They play lots and like to talk about what they like and what they dislike.

Check out their website Bag of Mad Bastards

I got the chance to discuss some of the Dead Space lighting with one of them so they game me mad props on their Drunken Monkey Tech pod cast. You can listen to it here:

Twitter Hate or Love?

2009-03-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

Got to work today and was forwarded a link with this Anti-Twitter graphic created by Josh Holland. I started reading up on the thread via comments found on Joyengine

Admit
They say before you can move forward you must face the music and face your demons. Yes, I am a Twitter user, and yes I think that Twitter is a powerful tool. Ok.. now that I have said it, we can move forward from a centered place.

Bobble Head
I have come across many Twitter naysayers and people who just don't see any value in it. They usually question the fundamentals.... like.. "what does it do?" or "I don't get it, I signed up and then what?" or "How do I know who to follow?" Be patient my young Luke Skywalker, in this world of immediacy some things, like a good bolognese sauce, take a bit of time. You don't need everything to hit you over the head Tony Little style.

Statistics don't lie
No matter what you think of Twitter, you can't ignore the stats and the adoption rates and all those unique view statistics that you can find on Mashable. It's a growing phenomenon that is moving so fast that it can give you whiplash. Yes, Twitter is now up to about 14 million Unique views in the month of March. Anything with this much momentum and views is a gold-mine.

My value
So what's up with Twitter for me? I have been able to come across the most diverse and unique data when using search.twitter.com. This is a very different search engine when compared to google search. It's a way to scrape for keywords in the twittersphere, a sampling of what people are talking about at the moment vs. data mining tons of html that is quickly becoming out of date. If I'm attending GDC, I'm not going to search google for "GDC '09" and expect to find out what is going on right now. Immediately I reach for search.twitter.com

Example
Prior to shipping Dead Space we provided a bunch of "pre-released" copies of the game to certain people in the industry. I started searching twitter for "dead space" and utilizing the results.

I would get things like "@jimmygameplayer I've just started playing Dead Space and will hope to have a review soon." Having access to this kind of connection is incredibly powerful. I would follow up by clicking on this Twitter page to see what he has been tweeting about. Following the link to his website or blog etc. Immediately I would find out that @jimmygame player was a reviewer for xbox360 magazine. Nice.

In most cases I would follow up by tweeting @jimmygameplayer with "I hope that you have fun, turn off the lights and wear your diapers. We spent tons of time tweaking our lighting."

This would usually create an immediate dialogue. I'm saying "shit, how would I ever have made a direct connection to a game reviewer for xbox360 mag." I'm sure that he was saying something similar "shit, how did a developer on Dead Space find me, and sweet to be connected directly to someone on the team."

The possibilities are somewhat endless here.. but just a sampling of a way that I find Twitter very useful and informative.

Nutshell
So what does this all mean? I think that Twitter and Social Networking sites are something that we can't ignore. In the game-space that I work in.. I think that it would be extremely foolish to think that we can continue to develop in our small little world when a giant one exists just nearby. The power of Kutcher and Armstrong to direct traffic is incredible. We need to embrace this movement and utilize it for the potential that it has. I could go into lots of detail on this subject, but just like the good sauce... with a bit of time, you can conjure up some of your own ideas.

Anatomy of a Dead Space frame

2009-03-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

So there were a few good comments after I tweeted that there should be a "lighting" category when referring to video game awards. Great to hear that lots of peeps really agree regarding the importance of lighting. This prompted me to dig up a few images from a Dead Space lighting and Post Effects presentation that I gave here at EA Black Box in Vancouver. Theses images are from a slide entitled "Anatomy of a Frame" from the video game Dead Space. I was the lighting director on this title and the lighting / rendering /post effects aspect was paramount in an effort to achieve a living breathing ship where actions had consequences not only in a game play sense, but in a visual sense as well.

So.... here is a breakdown of lighting and post effects for a single frame of Dead Space.

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Ambient Only - This is what the frame would look like if there was just a single ambient light in the scene set to a value of 1,1,1. An ambient light is infinite and has no directionality. Might be easier to say that it is a light that contributes equally from all directions. It does not contribute to specular term. Compare this frame to the final frame for the true before & after.
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Ambient Occlusion - We are storing the ambient occlusion values in the form of lightmaps. Ambient Occlusion is computed using a simple raycast to determine visibility. Our max distance is set quite low to only provide occlusion values between objects that are quite close in spatial relation. These lightmaps are computed offline via a Render Farm. Only the occlusion values are used in rutime to effect the final pixel values generated via shader calcs.
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Lighting - When considering all the lighting calculations the image starts to become more compelling and complex. We can't see what's in the background because it's very dark... starts to feel slightly scary? One of the limitations to this deferred rendering approach is the lack of specular "outside" of the light volume. This is becoming more apparent to me when looking at these images closely. Further investigation and potential solutions on this topic are in my future.
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Shadows - This might not be the best example of shadows in the game, but here I have enabled shadow casting from the main directional light in the scene. I won't get into the details of this cheat, but the effect seemed to work fine. Nothing really fancy here, just a depth map runtime shadow approach. We supported multiple depth map buffers including shadow casting from the player weapon/light. Even though the shadow rendering tech was basic, our shadowing triggering/messaging system was complex. Next time check out what happens when you enter and exit one of the stores/upgrade stations in the game. You will see a shadowing light turn on and also a depth of field effect being triggered. Notice how these go away when you exit. This is a good example of our messaging system triggering lights / shadows and post effects.
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Emissive Lights - One of the key elements or visual signatures of Dead Space was through the use of emissive textured light sources. Clearly in this example it helps define the length of space and direct your eye into the frame. These very bright light sources are critical aid to navigating through a level. One of the key observations here is that during "low-light" situations, the natural "filmic-response" is for anything moderately bright in the frame to become completely blown out.
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Post effects - There are a few post effects that we used regularly. This image features a "bloom effect" that basically takes the brightest part of the image, blurs it, and composites this back over the top of the original image. It's not quite that simple, but that's basically what is going on... combined with a few added tricks. You might be able to see some camera relative "lens effects" that are part of the ceiling lights here as well.
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Final Frame - Here is the final shipping frame. The only difference here is that I am showing it with the "look-up" table applied. The lut or color correction is a way that we remap the colors of the image. We implemented a very nice way of scripting the color correction based on game-play or just about any event in the game. In this image the color is being pushed toward cyan/blue and re-balancing the contrast a bit, while pushing the brights to achieve more bloom. Color correction is such a vital part of the image. Take a peek at any Michael Bay film or Minority Report. What would these look like without color correction! Now take a look back at the first frame and see just how important lighting & post are to crafting a compelling image.

Today is history... tomorrow is a mystery...

2008-12-18T14:48:00.000-08:00

When I was about 15 years old I worked at the Country Club in our small town. One of the grounds keepers would say the same thing every time that I saw him. "Today is history, tomorrow is a mystery."

The logic here rings true.. but it was funny as he told me this "mini prayer" almost daily, like it was the first time he was saying it. I would never call him out and say, "Dude, you just told me that yesterday!" I guess that I sensed something was a bit off.. and I'd let him preach his gospel to me based on the inner ramblings of his consciousness. It seemed like he might be getting more out of it than me anyway.

The ringing in my ears is due to these same words playing on a constant loop cycle in my brain. After joining EA's Black Box studios here in Vancouver on December 1st. It's just been an onslaught of different trajectories coming at me quick.

There is little to nothing that I can say publicly at this point. There are rumors.. certainly lots and lots of rumors. So I will put it this way... Need For Speed will continue...Black Box will continue... and hopefully I will still have a job! The economic outlook means that EA needs to cut costs and overhead. Facilities and staff is one of the quickest ways to do it. Surely now more than ever "Today is history and tomorrow is a mystery." Thanks again for that bit of knowledge Larry... I'm living it!

Observations Vancouver vs. San Francisco

2008-12-15T18:43:00.000-08:00

Since moving to Vancouver I have observed some differences. I thought it might be fun to keep track of them here:

Misc.

We ordered a Cesar today thinking that it was a salad. Turns out that a Cesar here can mean a drink that is very similar to a Bloody Mary.

Politics

Seeing Obama on the news here is even better than in the US.
I really feel that the US has gotten some world credibility back by electing Obama. This is even more apparent when living in Canada. I have yet to meet a Bush supporter.
I have no idea how Canadian Politics work but I intend to learn.

Geography

Since I was born in Massachusetts, I found myself starting to explain where it's located when talking with a few Canadians. They usually stop me mid sentence and say "I know where that is.. we had to study the configuration of the US states in school here." Now can you tell me where Manitoba and Alberta are in relation to Ontario?

Temperature

When someone say's it's "plus 10" outside. That's 50 degrees for you and me. Remember when the US decided to "opt out" of that whole metric thing? Well....the rest of the world "opted in"

Beer

The beer here is good and varied.
The idea of having a pint along with lunch is encouraged.

Iraq

I have noticed that there is quite a bit of news and other documentaries on television regarding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Canadians are not afraid of putting a real face to these tragic stories created from war.
On the front page of today's paper 12/15/08 there were pictures and descriptions of three Canadian soldiers just killed on Saturday in Afghanistan. I don't think that I have seen this in the US. The descriptions included what friends and family had to say about their loved ones. Certainly this is not something the US seems eager to make the public aware of. The most I remember hearing in the mainstream media in the US was numbers, digits, not faces and stories. An effort to dehumanize might be a good way to put it.

Hockey is everywhere

No need for an explanation here as hockey seems to be everywhere. I am considering this an expected observation.

Rain and foul weather doesn't stop anyone

I've seen bikers, joggers, walkers etc.. just in rain gear fighting the good fight in some horrible weather conditions.
The bike messengers here must have nutz of steel.

The 1 dollar and 2 dollar coins.

There are a few issues with coins of this monetary denomination. When paying for something and all you receive is coins as change. It makes you feel like you just spent way to much money.
You might make the mistake and give a homeless person like 7 bucks.
Fortunately I am starting to make use of my little coin pocket that was completely underutilized in my jeans prior to the Canada move.
The one dollar is a Loonie and the two dollar is a tuneeee

CalTrain sucks just a bit less

2008-11-13T10:25:00.000-08:00

Just found out about someone who is trying to make your experience riding CalTrain a bit better.. wow.. can't believe it.. of course is has nothing to do with the people running the show.. just someone with a bit of sympathy in their hearts and some tech in their brains. Check it out at Caltrain Tweets and start to "Follow" them on Twitter.

Reminds me of someone who told me that the incompetence of a business can be a great reason to spawn other businesses. The example that he gave was the US postal service.. "The only reason why we have carriers such as DHL, Fed-Ex, UPS is due to the sheer incompetence of the USPS."

Let's hope that CalTrain can suck so bad.. it can lead to a better tomorrow? huh? In this case... I don't know if it works that way.

Cliffy B might go Survival Horror

2008-11-07T09:47:00.000-08:00

This article posted on Destructiod mentions that Cliffy B. from Gears of War fame might be interested in making a Survial Horror game. I wonder if any inspiration comes from Dead Space? A quote pulled from the article states, "Do you think this one has been in the works for awhile? Or is it a "me too" title, following the success of Dead Space and coming in line after Resident Evil 5?"

Justin.tv

2008-10-22T11:19:00.000-07:00

A very cool thing that someone on the team discovered is the fact that you can go to Justin.tv Search for Dead Space, and find people who are playing the game live right now while they offer commentary and take direction and comments from IM scrolling off to the side bar of the page.

Many of us on the Dead Space team didn't realize just how much fun it is to watch other peeps playing the game that you created. It's been a blast!

Seems like we could just use this approach as another form of focus testing. It would alow others to play the game while we provide feedback and comunicate via voice or im.

Another interesting idea would be to have some of the developers on the team play the game while providing insider commentary as it happens. I am sure that a bunch of gamers out there would love to hear the ideas and inspirations in a "behind the scenes playthrough"

Hey EA Marketing peeps.. what do you think about giving this a shot?

The Seven Days of Dead Space

2008-10-20T10:37:00.000-07:00

Congrats Erin Ali....You have won a Dead Space Isaac Clarke helmet. Check out her creative entry at the contest sponsor Game Daily

Ctrl+Alt+Del

2008-10-17T11:32:00.001-07:00

I think that I experienced this first hand through the development process of making Dead Space.. Looking back.. I had some really *#$%@'ing weird dreams.

More Reviews

2008-10-13T09:55:00.000-07:00

Now that we are just one day away from launch.. the reviews, mentions and screens are really starting to roll in... so instead of a unique blog post for each one.. I'll just start listing them here with links.. Enjoy

GamePro
GameSpot
NeoGaf Tread
NeoGaf Review Thread
JoyStig Features Dead Space games out this week
Gamer 2.0 interview with Chuck
News-a-rama
Vigster
MetaCritic
1Up
Kotaku
GameTrailers
GCHD
Xbox360 Fanboy
UGO
VideoGamer
CVG
GameZone
Cheat Code Central
X3F
Game Revolution
DorQ
GameDaily Issac Clarke spoof
Sarcastic Gamer
GameDaily
PCworld
xbox domain
GameSpot
Daily Game
VX en Espanol
Button Mashing
Crunch Gear
360 Sync
Spieletester
Digital Comic News Interview with Antony Johnston
Wired
CNET Crave
MSNBC
Gamer 2.0
Edge
Ve3tro
The Casual Gamer
The Escapist
Gaming Nexus
Hawty McBloggy
Zombie Reporting Center
Ars Technica
Helmet Contest at UGO
Launch Trailer featuring music by Sigur Rus
Game Rankings
Game Score Blog
LA Times
PGNX
AeroPause
Xbox mag
TeamXbox
Gamespy
Gamasutra
GameTrailers Sci vs. Fi
ZTGameDomain
360 Gamer
SFX 360 Video Review
Kombo
Game Trailers
Trusted Reviews
Check Your HUD
Destructoid
FullSignull
GamerVision
Xbox Addict
MeriStation Xbox360
Destructoid

Unscripted 360 reviews Dead Space 9.3

2008-10-10T19:09:00.000-07:00

This just in... Unscripted 360 gives Dead Space a whopping 9.3!! If you want to cut to the chase.. here is the how is how DeconBlade wraps it up.

Conclusion

Dead Space is a freakishly disturbing game that makes hell seem like a day at camp. It looks great and has a deep enough story to keep you checking your video files and clues throughout just to uncover the truth. Did the game scare me? Yes. Did I survive? So far. Will I play this game again despite no multiplayer? Hell yeah. There were a lot of intense moments that EA managed to capture perfectly with a blend of quality sound and detailed environments. I’m already preparing myself for Dead Space 2.

IGN Dead Space review 8.7

2008-10-10T16:53:00.000-07:00

Take a look at the IGN reviews for Dead Space PS3 and for x360.

Note the 9.0 for Graphics.. :)

"the world's scariest game" PSW article

2008-10-08T13:56:00.000-07:00

Haven't heard this in a while but the latest news on the Dead Space front is that it's "the world's scariest game". Wow!!

Concluding the review, the mag says Dead Space is "the new benchmark to beat in survival horror that pushes the genre to twisted new heights and into the outer limits of space itself," before slapping it with a nice 9/10 score.

Will see exactly what they have to say in the PSW article that comes out tomorrow!

Godfather II

2008-10-08T11:03:00.000-07:00

So after getting Dead Space out the door and on it's way to an early ship date of Oct 14th. I am now working on Godfather II. There is a bunch of work still left to do so I am helping out on the IGC's or "In Game Cinematics". Trying to leverage some of the cool tricks that I was able to implement on Dead Space. I've only got a few weeks before I have to pack my bags and head up to EA's Black Box in Vancouver to join the Need For Speed team! Yes.. lots of changes in the works.. but hey.. change is good right?

Please... for the love of god... READ THIS!

2008-10-03T15:08:00.001-07:00

If I hear McCain / Palin say one more time that the Obama ticket will result in higher taxes, which will lead to killing jobs. I am going to loose my mind!! Please for the love of god.. just take 1 min. out of your busy schedules and look at this chart found on washingtonpost website.

It's not rocket science people.. if you make up to $160,972.00 you will benefit by the tax rebates offered by Obama / Biden. If you make more than this.. Congrats.. you are doing well for yourself and will be paying more. Simple facts.. straight talk.. no media spin.

The antics continue.....

Instead of owning up to her incompetence and inability to answer a question, Palin is now complaining that Couric was missing the point by asking what a VP candidate should stand for. So let me get this straight.. it's Couric's fault? Who are these people, where do they come from... If normal everyday people tried to pull this shit at work they would be bitch slapped into being fired. Why do politicians get to have all the fun and talk out of their asses.

In an interview for Fox news today, Palin has this to say,

"In those Katie Couric interviews, I did feel that there were lot of things that she was missing in terms of an opportunity to ask what a VP candidate stands for, what the values are represented in our ticket. I wanted to talk about Barack Obama increasing taxes, which would lead to killing jobs. I wanted to talk about his proposal to increase government spending by another trillion dollars. Some of his comments that he's made about the war, that I think may, in my world, disqualify someone from consideration as the next commander in chief. Some of the comments that he has made about Afghanistan -- what we are doing there, supposedly just air raiding villages and killing civilians. That's reckless. I want to talk about things like that. So I guess I have to apologize for being a bit annoyed, but that's also an indication of being outside the Washington elite, outside of the media elite also. I just wanted to talk to Americans without the filter and let them know what we stand for."

VP debate brought to you by ExxonMobile Corp.

2008-10-02T15:26:00.001-07:00

Just took a look at a link posted on Twitter by @ClockworkGrue McCain says Obama lead is growing because "life isn't fair" So each time I think that things are looking even more and more odd with not only this election, the process, and the country.. What I am really alarmed about is not this piece of journalism but what I see off to the side bar of this article.

This should be a red flag to anyone thinking that we are getting a fair and balanced view of what happens in this country. Most importantly what happens regarding our political process. The caption reads: Sponsored By ExxonMobile "Taking on the world's toughest energy challenges" Are you serious?

Has anyone else been wondering why our debate process doesn't have proper oversight to ensure that this is delivered to the American public in a fair and unbiased way? There was a great interview on this mornings Oct 2nd. "Democracy Now" discussing just how the election process went from being a fair and un-biased process with oversight to what it has become today. It is now managed and run by a private corporation called the "Commission on Presidential Debates". Check out what George Farah has to say on the topic and learn more from the Open Debates website devoted to fair and open debates.

Project Manana

2008-10-01T11:29:00.001-07:00

The return from our two week stay in Soliman Bay Mexico has inspired the launch of Project Manana. We hope that this will serve as a place to keep track of our inspirations for this future project.

Dead Space Countdown Clock

2008-09-22T10:42:00.000-07:00

Want to know how long you are going to have to wait until you can go play your own copy of Dead Space? Check out this cool Dead Space Countdown clock added to the bottom of my page.

Pimp my rice paddy?

2008-08-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

Rice Paddy Art

Each year, farmers in the town of Inakadate in Aomori prefecture create works of crop art by growing a little purple and yellow-leafed kodaimai rice along with their local green-leafed tsugaru-roman variety. This year’s creation — a pair of grassy reproductions of famous woodblock prints from Hokusai’s 36 Views of Mount Fuji — has begun to appear (above). It will be visible until the rice is harvested in September.

Looks a bit like Burning Man

2008-08-19T15:00:00.000-07:00

I saw this video and with the "Waffle" errrr.. "Birdsnest" in the background.. this is almost looking like Burningman. Innovative uses of tiny LED lighting is a must for protests and life in the Playa.... and remember Don't be a Dark Wad.

Bright Lights spell out "Free Tibet" on banner in Bejing.

CG Hair gets a new look

2008-08-18T11:37:00.000-07:00

University of California, San Diego today announced a new method for accurately capturing the shape and appearance of a person’s hairstyle. The results closely match the real hairstyles and can be used for animation.

Article can be found here:

More Dead Space......

2008-08-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

Two are diggin - one is.... ahh... not so much. :) Enjoy this Dead Space review on 1UP

This one is from the Community Day here at EARS... find it on Achievement Hunter

My Lighting Presentation is now Live

2008-08-12T12:15:00.000-07:00

Here's the link to my lighting / rendering presentation for Dead Space. There were a few links floating around for this... but something was a bit wacky with the audio. This version went live the other day and looks quite bit better... weird to see yourself on camera.. guess I wouldn't be a good actor! Sorry for the power point graphics... you really can't see any of what is on the TV monitor. Note to self: Never use a white background with black type.. this will be completely unreadable if video taped.

Well.. I hope that this might help to clear up some of the confusion going on around "frame rate" and real time rendering vs. "software / pre-rendered solutions".

I'll see if I can post a few of my power-point slides on this blog as well.. that might also serve as interesting information for some of ya.

Isaac Clarke on Twitter

2008-08-11T12:20:00.000-07:00

Tell your friends and family to follow Dead Space's own Isaac Clarke on Twitter.

Off to Godfather

2008-08-07T15:18:00.000-07:00

Looks like I will be now going onto GodfatherII for a bit. No rest for the weary... still not done with Dead Space.. but hopefully I can get this in the can and take a bit of R&R before getting on the GFII train.

Community Day Rock'd!

2008-08-07T12:22:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all who helped put the Dead Space EA Community day together. It was lots of fun for me to get to meet some of the peeps who have their fingers on the pulse of the industry. My voice took a beating as I am speaking today like I smoked a pack 'o Camels. :)

Seriously... was very cool to see this side of things and get out from behind my computer for a bit. Great to see the excitement and appreciation for the game. It truly makes me and the rest of the lighting peeps happy to know that our work is valued and respected by our core gamer community.

Starting to collect links:

Scobleizer
Kombo
io9
GamerTagRadio
HawtyMcBloggy
Scobleizer2

Dead Space is racking up the awards!

2008-08-07T12:16:00.000-07:00

Game Critics Awards – Winner! Best Action/Adventure Game
New York Times – Winner! 10 Games that Impressed at E3 (List) “Without question the sleeper hit of E3.”
Popular Mechanics – Winner! Top Ten Games of E3 – Dead Space takes #5
IGN – Winner! Best X360 Action Game
Kotaku – Winner! Best Action/Adventure Game of E3
GameSpy.com – Winner! Top Ten Games by Platform, 5th on Xbox, 6th on PS3 and 10th on PC
GamePro – Winner! Silver Medal
Cheat Code Central – Winner! Best Horror Game of E3
IGN – Nominee: Best Overall Action Game, Best PS3 Action Game, Best PC Action Game, Best X360 Graphics Technology
GameTrailers – Nominee: Best New Franchise, Best Shooter
1UP – Nominee: Best E3 Action Game
X-Play – Nominee: Best Innovation
UGO – Special follow-up commendation for Best Action Adventure Game

Dead Space Community Day

2008-08-05T12:25:00.000-07:00

Today and tomorrow EA is sponsoring a Dead Space community day. The roster of events will include a meet and greet along with dinner and drinks. A 7:00 pm double feature along with Popcorn and all the candy your dentist told you not to eat will be available for the invited guests.

Tomorrow the 6th heats up with hands on game play and discussions and interviews with the developers including myself! Stay tuned for more.

Dead Space

2008-07-31T18:43:00.000-07:00

I am currently working on the new IP Sci-Fi Horror game DEAD SPACE. This is being produced at Electronic Arts Redwood Shores. We are actually very close to wrapping this up.. probably about 1-2 weeks of bug fixing left. I'll be back to document the lighting / rendering tech used on this project. We have really done some very cool next gen stuff on this title. Deferred rendering is just part of the mix.

Coorporate MashUp

2007-05-14T22:54:00.000-07:00

Electronic Arts Redwood Shores Campus gets a Starbucks inside the atrium of building #250. What other cooporate mashups are next??

Starbucks Cup Durability Test

2007-05-14T22:14:00.001-07:00

I was listening to NPR a while back and they were discussing the new Starbucks cups that are made from 10% recycled product. I mumbled to myself, "Geeezzz it seems like they could be making these from more than 10% recycled product." The claim from the Starbucks spokesperson was that this could jepordize the integrity and strength of the cup. Being born in the "land of the wastefull" I thought of the uncommon idea that it might be interesting to actually see how long one of these new cups would last.

This simple questions deserves a simple answer:

Exactly 8 uses.

After use #1 and #2

After use #3

After use #4

After use #5

After use #6

After use #7

After use #8

Prior to use #9 Cup officially expires.

Detail of the weakest link.... the seam.

Lumia Grande Burning Man Project

2007-04-26T17:05:00.000-07:00

The Lumia Grande project has been migrated to it's own Blog site.

http://www.lumiagrande.blogspot.com/

finish paint / installed cabinets

2006-10-19T19:50:00.000-07:00

Long time since I have updated things here.. but now I have the moulding all installed and primed and painted. The walls are also primed and painted. The cabinets are finished and now installed. They really look great and Dave did an awesome job putting it all together and also helping me install them. The material used was a Veneer called "Italian Ebony" Bascially this is a copy of the exotic hardwood called Macassar Ebony, but this is a much more earth friendly version. To create this veneer two types of wood are sandwiched / glued together.. then the thin veneer is cut off in sheets. This results in the two color look of the Macassar Ebony, but without harvesting the hardwood from environmentally fragile locations.

The recessed medicine cabinet is installed along with the light fixture just above it. The mirror is made by Robern and it's got a very nice defogging / door warming feature. The dimmers have yet to be installed.

Here is the vanity cabinet. Still have to pick out a stone or some solid surface that will finish the top of the cabinet. It also needs some drawer pulls to make opening and closing things much easier.

Detail of the crown moulding and the open shelved cabinet. The top piece of the cabinet is removable to have access to the light bulbs back in the wall. It's a very nice feature with a special clip to hold the piece in place, but also allows easy removal.

Here is the recessed open shelved cabinet that has adjustable shelving. The floor heating thermostat is installed on the wall just in front of the cabinet.

Beet Salad

2006-07-27T22:29:00.000-07:00

The other day I made a mean Beet Salad. Here is the aftermath.

Glass door / Crown Mouldings begin / Some painting..

2006-07-27T22:04:00.000-07:00

Ahhh... having a shower at home has been sweet.. but now lets take it up a notch! I've installed the body spray units and just today the Glass shower door was installed. The shower door was done by a company called Schicker. I must say that they did an amazing job. It's fun to watch people that have done something so many times that they don't even have to think about what they are doing. There is no time wasted in indecision or doing things out of order. The process is mangaged with as few steps as possible and things are done once. It's great when things work out that way.. it was a good day for Dave and the bathroom today.

I managed to get the body spray shower heads installed. The showering experience should be something like a carwash.

Here is the detail of the shower head and recessed ceiling element. This is my artist inspired angled photo.

I've started painting the mouldings around the windows... I'm going with the same moulding color as the rest of the house. I think that the color is going to work well.

The crown mouldings are started, but I won't be able to finish these completely until the recessed cabinet / shelf unit goes in. Hurry up Dave the cabinet maker!! :) Hopefully Dave is going to get things done in the next few weeks so that I can really and truely finish this project. Once the vanity goes in, then I can install the sink, faucet and toilet. almost.. almost.. almost.. really this time..!!!

Houston we have a shower!

2006-07-16T23:04:00.000-07:00

I've managed to install a bunch of the fixtures for the bathtub and shower. The volume contols were a bit tricky to install as two different pieces of this fixture needed to be cut to different lengths in order for it all to be correct. yikes.. that was a bit tricky but I managed to get the job done with a bit of patients and being super extra careful. The big issue here is that if you get it wrong.. you can't just easily replace the valve. Tile would have to be torn out and then plumbing would need to be cut out and replaced.. pheeewwww... glad that it's done.

The body spray's are going to have to wait as the tile guy needs to come back. The holes in the tile are too large and leave a visible gap when the body spray fixtures are installed. :(

I've installed the rain shower head as well. This uses a Opella extension kit. It all conected up somewhat easily and looks nice.

The tub spout was the easiest one.. just keep turning it until it was just right!

A major milestone was achieve this weekend as the first shower was taken in this bathroom since early MARCH!! YIKES!

The glass shower door should be installed sometime this week!

Ceiling done.. Window and Door Mouldings...

2006-07-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

The tile is basically all done... except that they need to come back and fix a small detail. The holes that they made in the tile for the body spray fixtures are too large. When installing the body spray fixture.. it doesn't cover the entire hole. :(

The ceiling is also basically done... I went ahead and put the final two coats of paint on it. Figured it would be best to just finish it up and try to install the rain shower, and all the lighting trims etc.. this way I won't have to take anything back down to apply the final coat of paint. Here is the picture of the recessed shower niche design element.

Here is a detail of the light slit element. I still need to find a small statue of the Mayan rain god Chaac! That will make it complete! The box in the center between the two slits of light will be the place where the statue can sit. I will also put in some small semi-opaque pieces of glass in the light slits to finish them off.

Here are some details of the moulding work that I have completed. The door and window mouldings are done.. just have to add the crown mouldings and that will be it for the mouldings in this room! :) Just primer white on everything at this point... still need to decide on the paint colors. That always proves to be a difficult challenge even though it seems like it should be really simple.Color is really difficult to get right!

What's next?? Install all the shower fixtures, and get the cabinets done!! Hopefully Dave the cabinet maker is getting these done in the next few weeks.. saying with my fingers crossed. Once the cabinets are all installed, then I will get the plumber back to finish up on the sink hookup and toilet installation.

Tile day three.

2006-06-27T22:34:00.000-07:00

Mark and Joe started early as usual, showing up at my house around 7:45. They are really moving quickly now that the layout has been established.

Here is the current view of their progress. Shower surround and shampoo niche starting to look good.

Wall has field tile and base tile in place, just need to put on the chair rail cap. The holes are for the faucet.

I couldn't help but try to get an early preview of what the volume control knobs would look like against the tile.

Tile starts.. hip hip something!

2006-06-26T20:01:00.000-07:00

Mark, the tile guy started with the installation of the Nu-Heat floor warming mat. It's going to be totally killer to have a warm stone floor on those cold San Francisco days.... since that's about every day!

This is the detail of the thermostat probe installed into the morter bed. Nice job cutting a notch for the probe so that it sits level and the tile will lay nice and flat. The other wires are part of the heating mat and have already been installed and then morter applied on top.

Mark knows the in's and out's of all this which has been great. He even knew about the card for the Nu-Heat floor that needs to be signed at three steps during the installation. If you miss one of these checks... the warranty is void. yikes! Good to do it right the first time and have coverage just in case something doesn't work... which means pulling up the floor to fix it! Unlike my failed attempt with the contractor at the onset of this job.... in this case I finally feel like it's good to have a pro doing the work. That's about it for day one of the tile installation, not much else you can do except for waiting on things to dry.

The second day consisted of installing the floor tile. The first step is to cut and lay it all out.

Here is the floor after about a days worth of work. All the floor tile has been cut and installed. Not too bad for one day... this guy is fast!

Another angle of the floor. The blue ring is the "water closet flange" It's great that its official name is something so elaborate.. why not just toilet connector or something like that.... :)

One more shot for good measure!

Sanding Drywall.. it's can get dusty.. start to install moulding

2006-06-26T19:43:00.000-07:00

Finished up the drywall with 3 coats of mud and then sanding. I have hear of dustless methods of sanding, or wet sanding.. but I just wanted to get it done. All the sanding only took about 1 or 2 hours, but the results are very dusy.. yuck I hate this part.

After the sanding I started the mouldings. It was necessary to get the moudlings done around the doorway and one of the windows to have something for the tile guy to butt up against. In the case of the window, I wanted to be sure that there was sufficient room between the bullnosed edge of tile in the shower and the moudlings around the windows.

I have done lots of moudlings already on the house so this is just a matter of matching what is already done in the rest of the house.

Here is the door detail.

and this is the window detail. Just one more window to go and then the crown. One of the most important steps to finishing off the mouldings is to fill all the holes with a wood putty and also caulk all the gaps to create a clean and solid look. It's amazing the difference that a bit of caulking can make to the overall look and quality of the project.

I splurged a bit on this buy purchasing a new miter saw. After lots of research and going to the store to try out a few models I decided on teh Bosch 4410L. It's a 10" slide saw with a laser guide. My old miter saw is just about dead and it's about as no frills as you can get. It does get the job done, but since it's just a 10" fixed miter, it doesn't do well with any lumber that it much wider than 4 1/2" in width. It's even worse when trying to deal with crown that should be cut at the installation angle in the saw. Flipping the wood and doing a double cut takes lots of time and usually yeilds an imperfect cut.

Went to NYC...

2006-06-22T14:20:00.000-07:00

Jenny and I went to NYC so needless to say that status of things on the bathroom haven't changed in a while. NYC was great, busy, vibrant, fun, lots of great things going on everywhere... it was hot!! really hot!! yikes! When do we go back??

Some of the highlights of our trip included mayhem at the airport. We have mad mullet hair in front of us and behind was two crazy couples yelling to each other about how to use a cellphone and why men take less room in a suitcases than women. The guy kept saying "it's what you make of it... it's what you make of it..."

I did a bit more mudding and am getting close to 3 coats on the whole room. It's amazing how long the little details take. The little light slit area along with the recessed circle over the rain shower have taken so much time! So many corners and edges to detail out... The goal is to finish up on the mudding and sanding over the weekend and get all the drywall primed!

Another small issue that I ran into was with the rain shower extension. I ordered this from homeannex.com, the best prices with no shipping on orders over 75 bucks and no tax! Double check on all lead times when ordering. If you ask, they will tell you about how long things should take. They told me this item would take 2 weeks and it arrived in about a week. Wow! This was actually ahead of schedule.. that never happens! I went with the opella brand and upon it's arriving realized that it is a 3/4" pipe and not 1/2" uggg... I had roughed in the plumbing for the rain shower using a transition from 3/4" to 1/2" at the very top and finished off with a 1/2" ipc 90. The hans-grohe rain shower head is configured for 1/2" so I thought that this was the way to go. Opella also makes a 3/4" to 1/2" transition piece for the end of the rain shower extension kit. hmmmm.... I wish that I knew this earlier. I would have just roughed in the whole thing using 3/4" and finishing off with a 3/4" ipc 90. This would deliver the most water and the best shower. Now I have a few options to get this all working... will see how it goes and show the details later.

oh yeah.. the tile guy is really supposed to start tomorrow morning! for real!

finished tub soffet and added the dot controller

2006-06-04T22:26:00.000-07:00

Just had about a 1/2 of a day to work today.

I got the tub soffet done and also added the dot control for the jacuzzi tub.

Here is the tub finally installed with tile flange, caulked and sealed. I covered up the tub so that it won't get any scratches during the rest of the project. The shampoo niche is also installed.

Another angle of the tub / shower area. The soffet in the front of the tub is also now done and ready for tile.

Here is the detail of the dot controller for the jacuzzi tub. I should have installed this much earlier as it was a bit difficult to run the wires at this point in the process. I was thinking that it would be installed on the exterior of the shower, but then decided it would be nice to have access to the controls while in the bath.

Everything is really close to being ready for the tile contractor. I hope that he can start this coming week. He said that it should take about 5 days to do all the tile work. I think that it's going to take much longer, but we will see! I'm not doing the work, so they can take as long as they want. :) Part of the tile installation also includes a Nu-Heat floor warming system. This will be super nice to have warm tile in the morning!

drywall in... cement board starts... mud / tape starts..

2006-06-04T22:11:00.000-07:00

This is probably about 2 days of work since my last post and now the drywall is all in, and the hardi-board is also in. Finally glad to get all this work done which means that the tile guys can come and start their work asap!

Here is the shower area, very important to put a layer of construction paper, or moisture barrier before installing the hardi-board. In this case I used the jumbo tex 60 min. just tack it into place with some staples. Always use a 4" to 6" overlap between sheets! Overlap in the correct order.... top piece over bottom piece.

I also added some construction adhesive between the drywall and hardi-board layers. This is probably overkill, but this really makes for a strong solid bond.

I got a jump on the mud and tape stage. Here is what the first coat looks like on the ceiling and part of the walls.

The tub is in! This is the last and final time... no more taking it back out. We installed a tile-flange around the exterior rim of the tub to add an extra layer of protection so that no water can get under the tile. A bead of silicon caulking was also applied to the tile flange to adhere it against the wall.

Drywall going in... and Ouch!

2006-05-21T21:48:00.000-07:00

Took a few additional days off from work. Put in a few solid days of work and got quite a bit acomplished. Started the day off by installing the 5/8" drywall on the ceiling. Always do the ceiling first as the walls will butt up against the ceiling and help support it a bit. This was more work than anticipated due to all the recessed can lights. These take a bit to mark and cut out and ensure that they are in the right place. My technique for doing this is to use some chalk to mark each can light, then put up the drywall and put some pressure on it to transfer the chalk marking to the underside of the drywall. Just take down the drywall and you can see exactly where each hole should be cut. Here is the ceiling ready for mud and tape.

The walls are next.... The North and West facing walls require multiple sheets of drywall to ensure the correct thickness as well as keep the 2 hour fire rating adjacent to the property line.

There was quite a bit of shimming required to ensure that the studs are all correctly alligned. Here is Jorge applying paper furring strips in the shower area. This is a really important step in the process.. it takes a bit of additional time to make sure things are all lined up but saves lots of issues in the end. Installing drywall into misaligned studs can not only lead to things being not being straight, but also cause the drywall to break when screwing it in.

More shimming.....

The cutout in the center of the windows is ready for the installation of the mirror / medicine cabinet. This cabinet is huge and it's 4" deep so it will provide lots of good storage space.

The next step will be to install all the cement board which serves as solid backing for the tile installation. I hope to get that started later this week.

Best purchase yet! I got this Bosch18V hammer drill from a seller on Ebay. It was a really good deal and worth every penny. I started using it and immediately it made my DeWalt 12V drill feel like a little toy. This is heavy, well built, powerfull and holds a charge all day long. I'm looking forward to trying it out on the cement board installation as that will be a good test to see how much abuse it can endure.

Stupid move of the week goes to me! I cut my finger while using a pair of scissors! Be carefull space travelers.. even sissors can do some serious damage.

Weekend Continues... Acoustical ceiling installation starts.

2006-05-14T21:05:00.000-07:00

Sunday Jorge is helping me out but I feel like my nose is about to fall off my face. I think that all this dust and stuff is starting to catch up with me... I can't breath out of my nose at all! YUCK!

Well, we have to start putting up the ceiling which is quite a bit of work, it's got sound absorbing materials and multiple layers / materials etc.. so that it helps reduce noise down here in the lower apartment. The good thing is that I have done this before so I know what I am doing. :)

Here is the plan:

Ceiling is already insulated.. that's one thing that we don't have to worry about today. YES!

Install the framing for the recessed circular detail above the rain shower. I added this detail to the drawings a while back. This should really nice as it's just a recessed 12" circular detail centered above the rainshower in the ceiling. Cut out a circle in a piece of 1/2" plywood and screw this into the ceiling joists. This will provide a guide as well as a place to attach the drywall. It's going to look ulta sweet!

Install Resilient Channel or RC-1. Bascially this stuff disconnects the joists from the drywall by attaching the drywall to the RC-1 and not directly to the joists. This lessens the sound transmission and impact noise from the upstairs condo. So this picture shows the RC-1 and keep in mind that it's upside down in the pic. It screws into the joists spaced approx. every 24". It always installed perpendicular to the joists. Sometimes it's not possible to space it exactly 24" and this is the case with my ceiling as I have lots and lots of recessed lighting. I got it close enough though...

Install a sound absorbing adhesive foam strip to the RC-1. Ok, you can guess that this is super easy! Please note that this is just a demo pic.. it's upside down and in my case, the RC-1 was already installed in the ceiling when I did this step. This product is purchased separately and is "supposed" to help quite a bit. What the heck, it probably can't hurt?

Put up the 1/2" sound absorbing board. This gets cut just like gypsum board, but not quite as easy as it's fiberous material that must be cut all the way through. Can't snap it...Not too bad though... really dusty so wear the mask and use a new matte knife to make it as easy as possible. Here is another demo picture just so no one is confused. This shows the correct orientation of the RC-1 Channel with the foam strip and the 1/2" sound absorbing board underneath. Now just use your imagination and see it all up on the ceiling.

Here ya go. Oh yeah.. use fine threaded drywall screws and make sure they are just the right length. Long enough to grab the RC-1, but not too long! If they touch the joists, the wholepoint is shot.

Here you can see the rain head shower detail, might give you a vibe on what I am getting at.

The square cutout is just the exhaust fan rough open.

That's it for today.. next day will be putting up the 5/8" CoreX Green board... and that stuff is heavy! Gotta get some rest!

Oh yeah... Thanks for the yummi sandwiches Jenny! The day always goes better when my girlfriend brings sandwiches for lunch!! Jorge says thanks too!

Another weekend... 1/2 day of plumber on Saturday

2006-05-14T20:43:00.000-07:00

The plumber Phillip got drunk or something on Friday night which delayed his arrival on Saturday until much later than expected. Hey.. it can happen to the best of them and Phillip has totally kicked ass for me... so no worries.. it's all good. We are almost done, just need to hook up the trap for the tub and make sure that there are no leaks. Also need to fix one of the connectors to the volume control as it's leaking a bit. Here is the all waste lines and toilet closet flange, it's mostly all new stuff.

Note to self, or others who are interested: When connecting plumbing pipes that have threads, always adhere to the following rules. A. Use lots of tape on male threaded pieces.... about 5 - 7 turns of this stuff. B. Use lots of pipe dope on both male and female threaded pices. C. Tighten beyond what you think is tight! Use something to give more leverage like adding a long piece of temporary pipe. Failure to do this can result in leaky connections that are hell to fix once all connections are soldered.

Unfortunately this is what happened and we had to take some of the connections apart and fix and then solder again.

Phillip finished everything up in exactly 2 hours. Even with a hangover, he rocks!

In total, it took about 3 days plus an additional 2 hour day to get all the plumbing hooked up and all the waste lines run. Only about 1 more day to finish up and install all the fixtures and sink trap, but that's much later after the room is done and tile is all in.

Here are the finished connections for part of the shower. It was quite a bit of work and then more tweaking to be sure that it's all straight, centered, lined up.

CLEAN Deeps!

2006-05-09T22:25:00.000-07:00

Depot escaped and then came back all dirty.. not sure what happened exactly, but I decided to give her a bath and get her all clean and fluffy! I don't think that she is too happy about what is going on.

She was really good though.... didn't really fight it, just made some weird howling sounds every once in a while. She was glad when that was over!

Plumbing is not fun!

2006-05-09T22:07:00.000-07:00

Things are ready for the plumbing work to start. I have designed a complicated shower system, so I assuming that this is going to be a bit tricky.

Larry my plumber friend from R&L Plumbing hooked me up with one of his plumber friends Phillip. I gave Phillip a call to see if he could start on the work to coincide with my day off from work. It's a good situation as I am able to pay Phillip directly for his work and get his personal rate vs. the inflated rates that would normally be paid directly to a plumbing company. I am also going to help out with all the plumbing work and my rate is totally affordable! :) I'm a good helper so I'm hoping that we can get all the work done in a day or so.

I was totally wrong with my time estimates for the amount of work required. Phillip and I worked Thurs, Friday, Saturday and still didn't finish. There was just so much work to do here. After looking at the situation he decided to cut out a big portion of the old waste lines to connect the new stuff much easier and cleaner.

Got the closet flange / toilet waste line in the correct position now!

All the new plumbing was lots and lots of work to figure out and to get soldered in place. Bascially it was like a puzzle and to get it finished took tons of time! The shower consists of an overhead rain shower as well as 4 body sprays, tub spout, volume contols, and thermostat. Getting all of this to fit inside the wall and to get all the holes in the right place was a serious challange.

A side effect of all this work is that my house is starting to look like a bomb went off. Here is my hallway during the plumbing work. UGG!

2006-05-09T21:43:00.000-07:00

Ok..Ok.. Alright..Alright.. I'm way behind on my posts.. but that's because I have been really busy!!

So over the past few weeks.. things have progressed quite a bit. After Howie took care of the electrial work, all in one day! That was fast! Jorge and I started back on a few items that needed to get finished up. We put up all the insulation for the entire room. Using thick R-19 in the ceiling cavity. That should help a bit on the sound proofing, but more on that later as we will be installing some other materials that will help isolate the sound and keep things quiet down here.

Another one checked off the list was to move the hole for the toilet as it was in the wrong place. We patched the old one and it's ready to go for the new hole in the correct location this time please! Here it is after the patch work.
While I had some of the thinset mixed up, it was good to finish the seams for the floor with the fiberglass tape.

Thursday AM before work.... Electrical starts

2006-04-20T12:12:00.000-07:00

The electrician consisting of my neighbor Howie and his friend / co-worker Jake and some other guy showed up at 8am to start the electrical work.

They said that all the work will be finished today. I should be able to come home and find that it's all done! It's nice to have other people doing the work at times.. that's for sure.

All that should be left is a few additional things to connect and I'll be good to go.

Sweet!! they did finish today! I got home and it was all good! Nice job Howie and Jake and crew!

Weds day off from work means day of work at home

2006-04-20T11:58:00.001-07:00

Jorge and I got to work in the morning checking a few more things off the list. I will be adding photos later!

Routed out the stud in the wall to lower the box for the light fixture above the mirror.
Cut out the old waste line for the toilet. There is a bit more work here since the toilet hole was cut out in the wrong place. I don't really understand why the contractor decided to cut the toilet hole in the floor so early in the process. Rule of thumb #210.5 Always leave this stuff until much later. Many things will change that will ultimately effect the placement of fixtures etc. Cut out the hole in the floor when you are sure where the hole will be. Cutting in the wrong place triggers lots of additional work to fix the mistake plus the additional work of cutting the hole again. Yucky
Framing of wall behind the tub. This got complicated as there is a design element built into this wall providing a small slit of light through a portal in the wall. Nothing seemed to go right... it was very frustrating to say the least.
Additional supports added to wall to provide support for the glass shower door.
Finished adding electrical boxes to get things ready for electrician tomorrow AM.

Air Compressors and moving a life to Vietnam

2006-04-17T15:06:00.000-07:00

In my quest to find an air compressor that actually works, I took another chance on trust and faith in the goodness of humans. Craigslist provided yet another oportunity to purchase a slightly used unit at a very good price as compared to new. I also have been thinking quite a bit about the impact of my purchasing of "things" on this planet. Purchasing something used helps cut down "just a little bit" on my impact to this whole delicate system. I was thinking about buying a new one, but then I started pondering about the process that triggers. Purchasing, packing, the distribution of that unit to my house via UPS or whatever, the packaging materials and all that associated waste.. uggg... Instead of introducing something new into the system why can't I just re-use something that has already gone through that whole process already.

I met this guy named Hong who was selling lots of stuff. The compressor looked great, he started it up and even used it to shoot a few nails to show me that it worked fine. He showed me nail guns, nails, saws, sanders, dust collection systems, drills, and so many things that he wanted to sell. I asked him, "Why are you selling all this stuff" He replied, "I am moving to Vietnam"

I was really surprised at his answer but even more surprised by what he mentioned next.

I asked him, "What are you going to be doing in Vietnam? Why are you moving there?" Without hesitation he replied, "I am going to be a farmer."

He proceeded to tell me more about how he couldn't sit in an office anymore and basically it was not a proper existence of life and living. He wanted to go work with the land and with people to try and make things better. He told me that he also had hopes to save some animals that are treated quite poorly or even used for food and other medicines especially in Northern Vietnam. Many of these wild animals are endangered and he wanted to help try and change the way that people thought about these creatures of the earth. He talked about a golden eagle and a little monkey that he saw when he was in some market during a recent trip back to Vietnam. He told me that he wanted to purchase these animals and bring them back to his farm and then hopefully one day he could release them back into the wild.

My feelings about the inner goodness of most people has now been restored thanks to a guy named Hong. We talked for a bit more about life and what is living. How most people from the United States don't like to challenge themselves and only like to travel when all the comforts of home are guarenteed. We said goodbye with sharing email addresses and I told him that I will email him if I get the chance to travel to Vietnam. I have always thought that a trip to South East Asia would be awesome, and now I am thinking that it would be even cooler to see Hong on his farm taking care of his Eagle and Monkey.

Weekend April 15th and 16th

2006-04-16T22:27:00.000-07:00

Saturday got a bit of a late start... needed to sleep!

The goal of this weekend was to get all the stuff ready for the electrician to do his work during the next week. Basically that meant to get all the electrical boxes placed and account for all the fixures and where the switches would be placed. Also a few additional things were on this list.

After realizing that there was not enough depth in the wall to fit the shampoo niche...uggg.. Jorge and I moved out the tub and framing an additional inch to provide enough room. Good thing that we didn't really nail all the framing securely. I kind of figured something like this would happen so we only used a few finishing nails and screws that can be backed off easily. I'll use the big 3" framing nails later when I am sure that all is going to stay where it is!

First had to remove one of the diagonal wall supports and then you have the frame ready for the installation of the metal shampoo niche unit. That will go in later after all the cement board and moisture resistant drywall.

The next project was to install the blower for the tub. The installation instructions mentioned that the blower should not be installed in a closed location due to overheating. It's also a good idea to have easy access just in case servicing of the unit becomes necessary.

After lining everything up, we drilled a small pilot hole for each. I had my fingers crossed hoping that the holes were clear of obstructions and floor joists. We got lucky on this one and all was clear. We drilled the larger diameter holes with a hole cutting saw. It took a bit to get through all the layers of cement board and subfloor etc.

The second step was to mount the motor in the basement. This was easy enough, just put in some 2x4 framing and then a piece of plywood on top. Mouting the motor was done with just two screws.

While we were making holes in the floor, we put in the hole for the tub drain. This was done with the 4 1/4" hole saw.

Jenny brought us Mexican food for lunch! Sweet time to chow! Thanks Jenny!

Now to put the ceiling fan exhaust in... This required drilling a 4 1/4" hole in the celing joist to install the louvered vent cover. After drilling a pilot hole, we found that a waste line pipe was obstructing thing on the exterior of the house. We decided to move the location over. This new location was clear on the exterior for the louvered vent but required putting another 4" hole through a joist. This joist already had a large notch in it so we didn't feel that bad by making it a bit bigger for the vent pipe.

I used the sticky plastic membrane flashing material to line the hole in the wall. This stuff makes sure that no water will get in, it's crazy sticky!

On Sunday I ended up just working by myself as there wasn't much heavy lifting to do today. I had to get all the electrical boxes installed today so that the electritian could do his work during the coming week.

First issue was that the switch box as you enter the bath was to be placed right where the wall stud was.. uggg! To make matters even more compicated, this is plaster and lath and the other side of the wall is the hallway. This stuff is super fragile... I had to be ultra carefull removing the piece of stud required to get the 4 gang electrical box to fit in there. I cut the stud very carefully by hand with a pull saw. These things are really great and have gotten me out of a jam more than once. Once I cut through the stud in two places I could carefully remove the piece without disturbing any of the plaster and lath. There was only a few small nails to worry about, other than that it came out quite easily. Here it is all done.. the white piece of paper is just a note for the electrician.

This is a bit of a weird random one... Behind the existing light switch, I found a little reminder of the past. Someone had written on this piece of wood. "Fuck Nix Ford is new president Dummy" Hmmmm.. who knows what you are going to find when remodeling an old home. This was a precious little jem of a find for sure, probably written in 1974 or so.... It incorporates a sense of humor, personality, and clearly a time in history reflected in the not so elegant words of a disgruntled citizen. Wow... seems like things never change! Here we are in 2006 and I feel like writing the same thing about our current president. Guess I will just have to wait for the "impeachment" errrr... should I say the proper term of "resignation?" and then I can leave another little note of my own.

Finished adding a few extra pieces of wood to get the exact rough opening for the mirror / medicine cabinet. Installation of this should be easy enough and now I am sure it will be centered perfectly.

The electrical box for the light fixture above the mirror was screwed into place. I also notched out the 2x4 support just below the white square piece of paper in the photo. This is to allow the necessary amount of depth for the outlet box. I didn't have a 2 gang box... will have to install that one later this week.

I also installed the rough pluming for the faucet. You can see it between the two horizontal 2x4's. This is a Kohler unit that sits inside the wall. When the installation is complete all you will see is the handles and the spout! That should look really nice.

That was about it for this weekend... Everything should be in a good enough state for the electrician to start roughing in all the electrical this week. The goal is to get the plumber to come in next weekend to rough in the plubing. Once this is done I can start to hang the ceiling. The installation of the ceiling is a bit non-conventional as it wil be done to provide sound proofing from the upstairs unit.

Monday after work / Tuesday Morning before work

2006-04-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

Met with the electrician last night. We went over all the aspects of the electrical and where things should be placed etc.. Howie is also my neighbor and besides being a good electrician, he is also a cool guy. I have so many lights in this bathroom.. he must think that I am nuts! A bathroom needs good lighting and I figured that I would rather have too much light vs. not enough light! He is scheduled to start on things sometime next week. The sooner that I can get all the recessed cans and ceiling fan wired up.. the sooner that I can start to cover it all up!

Tuesday morning I had a few errands to take care of..... First stop was JC plumbing supply. I went right to their service pickup location over on Capp Street. It's always exciting to see what is going on over in that neck of the woods... I think that there is some type of gravitational pull for all the wacky people to hang out on Capp Street. As I pulled up to the front of the building, some weird / crazy lady with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth was shouting at me asking if I had called her. She had some weird facial expressions and was all jerky in her motions.. I think that she was jacked up on something. I did my best to just ignore her and act like I didn't even notice her presence. She ended up stumbling away down the street yelling at every car that passed. Weird stuff....

Picked up my tub spout from JC and opened the box to find out that it was dented... looked like it had been dropped. ARGG! I brought it back and they are going to order a new one.. Hopefully this one won't take another 4 weeks.

Next stop Tool Repair shop on Evans Street to drop off the infamous Air Compressor from Vince. These guys are cool as I have rented tools from them in the past. I dropped off the bum Hitachi unit and they are going to take a look at it and let me know by sometime next week. I was hoping they could tell me the status of this much sooner, but it looks like I will have to wait. $18 bucks charged for taking a look and letting me know the status.. that's a much better deal that I thought. Fingers crossed that it can get fixed for cheap. If not?? I'm going on a search to find Vince and attempt to get my cash back.

More weekend work and a compressor from "Vince"

2006-04-10T09:49:00.000-07:00

Weekend of 4/8-4/9

Jorge and I got quite a bit done..

Installation of recessed lighting fixtures
Installation of exhaust fan
Finished installing all decking materials 2x6 in airshaft
Filled all holes and gaps with expanding foam
Found some big holes / gaps where the waste line from upstairs unit pokes through joist. Caulked and filled these
Finished putting up moisture barrier on west wall
Rough framing for tub and dropped tub in to be sure that it all fits

The installation of the recessed lighting became a bit more complicated as some water pipes from the upstairs unit are in the way of one of the fixtures. The fixture is unable to be placed in the correct location. I am going to have to re-order another recessed can that is non-ic rated as it is much smaller and will fit without any issues. Just need to keep the insulation 3" away from this one.

Got email regarding medicine cabinet / mirror. It has finally shipped and should arrive tomorrow. The only item that is still back-ordered is my tub spout!

The adventures continue..... This time it was an attempt to purchase a Hitachi compressor from some dude "Vince" on CraigsList.

I have been looking to purchase an aircompressor to drive my nail gun / framing gun. I figured in the long run this will probably save me time and money vs. going to the tool rental shop each time. I have been searching on Craigslist hoping to find something slightly used but for a more reasonable price. On Friday I saw a Hitachi EC12 in very good condition listed for 175.00. This is a decent price considering that they sell new for around 220.00. Sounds quite simple right? ugggg!!!

I called the number and talked to this guy named Vince who exploits the usage of the word "dude" more than the Jeff Spicoli character from Fast Times. He seems a bit sketch, but what the heck... He says that he has used it very little, probably only about 50 hours or so to do some framing work. He seems very anxious to sell it as soon as possible, but I tell him that I don't have any time to take a look at it until next week.

Saturday Vince calls me and says that he is willing to meet me in San Francisco because he really wants to sell it quickly and get the cash. I tell him that I am busy all day working on my house, but if he wants to drive over to my house and drop it off.... he is more than welcome to do so. He agrees to swing it by.. Sweet... all I have to do is hang out here and wait until he shows up! This is working out even better than I could have expected!

Vince calls back.. says that he won't be able to make it to San Francisco today it went something like "The traffic is really bad dude." An alternate plan is discussed, we decide to meet up at 8pm at IKEA in Emeryville. This is probably only about 15 min away from my house during non traffic hours.

I call Vince at 7:30 saying that I am on my way and to make sure that he is still on his way. He says that all systems are go.

I get to IKEA at about 7:50 and then Vince calls... kind of weird because the first thing that he says is "How about $150 for the compressor" I am like... err.. ahh.. what?? Why are you offering it to me for 25 bucks less than we agreed? He proceeds to tell me that he is running late and feels really bad for making me wait. He wants to make it worth my time and so he is knocking 25 bucks off the price. He promises to be at IKEA no later than 9:00pm. I figure.. I'm here.. what the heck, I'll go walk around IKEA and eat some Sweedish meetballs for dinner and buy one of those industrial sized supplies of Tea Light Candles for some insanely low price.

Vince calls again around 8:45 saying something like he is at Home Depot in Oakland and he is not sure what to do. HUH? I tell him that we are supposed to be meeting up at IKEA and I am here and not going to meet up anywhere else besides I am in the middle of eating a $1.00 cinnamon swirl cake thingy, such tasty goodness for only a buck. He asks me to find out the street that IKEA is on as he feels this is necessary requirement for him to find the place. I am like.. "Street address?? I have no idea.. just take highway 880 until you see this big yellow sign that is about the size of a small blimp it says IKEA!! Really you can't miss it" He replies "ok dude.. I'm gonna find it for sure"

Vince shows up around 9:10 or so... he is in a construction truck that says the name of a company all over it. He says that he is sorry and that somehow he missed IKEA and ended up at Home Depot. "I just got caught up man." Compressor looks sweet, almost brand new, I check the oil and it has some which is a good thing. Doesn't seem to be any metal fillings or anything bad in the oil... so cool I'll take it. Vince reassures me that if anything is wrong I should let him know and I know where he works and his phone number so all is good. I pay $149 cash for the deal as neither of us have the exact change.

I get the compressor home.. Plug it in.... Flip to switch... errrr... hmmm... nothing, dead, bust. I try it again, first resetting the breaker on the exterior panel of the compressor. Turn it on, it makes a bit of a humming sound and the breaker trips again. Pissed off? yeah.. right.. I don't think that simple word can do the situation justice.

Call Vince.. tell him that he has sold me a bum compressor. He swears up and down that it works fine and I should try it in another outlet, maybe that one is not delivering enough juice to turn it over. This sounds really odd, I have used compressors before in the same exact outlet without any issues.. but what the hell. I lug the thing over to two additional outlets and get the same exact behavior.

Call Vince.. He swears it works, but he does offer to give me my money back if it doesn't. I am telling him ok, but in the back of my mind I know this guy is just full of BS. I just need to go to sleep, it's about 11:00pm and I am way beyond beat.

Fed up.. called Vince back and left a message. "I want my money back"

Weird stuff.. Vince calls me on Monday AM to ask if the compressor is working. I say that it doesn't and I want my money back. Didn't he get my last message? Anyway he says that is totally cool and will figure something out so we can meet up and make the reverse exchange.

Called Vince back today about 5 times.. just rings and rings and rings... no answer.. ok.. guess this is the place where he just doesn't answer my calls and I give up and he keeps my cash and I keep a bum compressor.

First Stages

2006-04-05T21:48:00.000-07:00

Seems simple enough, remodel a bathroom! As with virtually everything in life, it's easier than it looks. So in an effort have the ability to re-live this project at any time in the future I am going to keep this cyber journal of all the twists and turns a project like this can take. Hey mom and dad... see!! I am busy doing stuff!

Stage 1.

Here is my bathroom.. it's about as ugly as you can get. I would say that it was probably designed by someone with really poor eyesight while under the influence of LSD sometime in the late 60's or early 70's. The linoleum flooring is totally rad. The good thing about a bathroom like this is that there is really no reason to clean it. Just let everything build up a nice patina of yucky stuff.

The careful attention to detail and design is evident throughout. Here we have the shower designed into the space of the windows. When faced with elements of conflict such as this, we can see that the designer chooses to make functional decisions. Curtain rod intersects windows? Add a multi-functional dual action rod support and shelf combo.. SWEET! I promise to do a much better job on planning out the space and how everything fits in the new and improved version 2.0.

Detail of Yucky Stuff

Stage 2.

Dave's conversation with himself "Don't do this project yourself, you have already done way too much on this place yourself, hire a contractor on this one man.. just pay someone to do the job right and get it done and move one. It's a bathroom, you don't want it out of commission for an extended period of time.. just get it done.." I figured the process here would be rather easy. I actually met a guy a while back, a friend of a friend sort of thing. He was doing lots of construction work, pursuing his contractors license, and also starting his own business. I figured this would be a great opportunity for me to get a decent price from someone who would do a really good job. Not having to bid this out to multiple contractors would save me lots of time and headache as well.

Stage3.

Drawings, really good.. detailed drawings were a must. I had Jenny show me the ropes of Illustrator and I was off running. I now have a deep admiration for the Pen Tool and Bezier Curves. I have also found that the Smart Guides totally rock. In retrospect I would never want to design anything like this in Illustrator again. Having a 3D or CAD application is the way to go. There was just way to much work involved in moving and making adjustments in all elevations individually. I don't want to even think about the amount of hours I put into the drawings.. way too much!

Stage4.

Pick out tile and order all materials... Considering that some of the items still have not arrived and I ordered them about 8-10 weeks ago.... I would say that jumping on getting all your items in the queue early is a very good idea. It's always best to have things onsite to be sure of clearances and specifics on installations as early on in the project as possible.

Stage 5.

So the I did hire a contractor, I did have really good intentions.

Stage 6.

Demo out the old bathroom. :) I decided to do this myself as I have a lots of experience tearing down old construction. The beauty of tearing apart an old house like this one is that the walls are comprised of plaster and lath. This stuff is messy, heavy, dusty, dirty, ugly and depressing to deal with. The bonus of the bathroom was that over the plaster and lath in some places was an additional layer of gypsum board. Just another layer to strip away! The demo required a dumpster out in front of the house, I think that this cost me about 350.00 for the week. This is kind of pricey for sure, but it also includes drop off and pick up and all the permits necessary from the city. There is really no sane way to do this without a dumpster, unless you have a really big pickup truck and can make many runs to the Colma dumps. A total of about 2 days were spent ripping out the old stuff with the help of my new found companion and workhorse Jorge. There was one small minor mishap, but catastrophe was avoided. I was tearing out one of the walls near the cold water line for the toilet. The pipe snapped sending a hisssing stream of water out into the basement below. I ran downstairs and shut off the water main to the house and cut and capped the line. I couldn't believe how fast this water started to flood the basement. In the amount of time it took me to shut off the water main, the basement had accumulated quite a bit of water. Lesson learned... When working with live water lines, it's probably a good idea to shut off the water main first. Another good idea would to have shut off the main line, cut and cap the lines going to the bathroom and then turn on the main line again and continue to do the demo without worrying about a flood situation.

Taking a closer look, it turned out that the toilet cold water line was corroded and rusty and extremely fragile. These pipes were made from iron and not copper. The other really bad thing is that some of the iron piping was connected to copper piping. This is a bad idea as they can corrode each other.

After two full days of demo, it was nice to see the entire contents of my bathroom residing in the street side dumpster! I should have taken a picture of that as it was quite a milestone.

Stage 7.

Ok, call the contractor and tell him that I am ready to have him start. Bathroom is demo'd out, I have good drawings and most of the supplies, fixtures, tile are on the job site. Now I can just sit back, relax, and watch the job get done!

After lots of long delays in getting the project started, and to be sure these were delays were my own fault. Trying to pick out and get all the fixtures, tile, medicine cabinet, vanity, sinks, tub, blah, blah.. settled before the contractor started took much longer than I thought.

Anyway, to make a short story even shorter. The contractor spent a total of 4 days on the job site and only managed to accomplish a few things while eating up close to 1/4 of the total budget. Needless to say that wasn't going to work. Besides most of the things that he had done were incorrect and not following either the manufacture specifications or the details of my well thought out drawings.

What happened exactly?

The contractor that I hired to do the job ended up not doing any of the work and not really being around to manage the job at all. Basically, this seems to be the case of how things end up going. You hire a contractor and then he sends out his guys to do the work. Who are these guys, do they know what they are doing, are they clear on what they should be working on each day. Are they going to be doing things to your and the manufacturer specifications? A really good question to ask a contractor would be, "Are you going to be here at the job site every day to ensure things go smoothly? Do you have time in your schedule to give this job the attention that it deserves? or do you have a bunch of other jobs that are more important to you which means you won't be here very often and you really won't have much of an idea of what is going on." unfortunately the later was the case for me. We will get into the specifics of that a bit later.......

Bad things...

Tearing out some of the rotting joists required adequately supporting the floor above while the work was being done. The contractor said that he would support the joists by using a very large and substantial wood or iron beam. The support used was a single 2 x 4. I guess his crew decided this was adequate. Needless to say that all is still standing... thankfully.
Toilet flange hole for waste line in the wrong place.
None of the wall studs were moved to allow the window rough-in or recessed medicine cabinet to be installed correctly.
Plumbing was done using 1/2 pipe when all my shower volume control valves and thermostat values were 3/4". No consideration was taken to look at this stuff prior to doing the plumbing rough-in work. No consideration or questions were asked for the gpm ratings on shower system etc.
Toilet plumbing cold water rough-in was in the wrong place. This would have ended up directly behind the toilet instead of 8" from the center line of the toilet as in the drawings.
Hardi-Board for floor was being installed using construction adhesive. I have never heard of this application method. This was just plain wrong. The manufacturer recommendation is to install only using thinset applied with a 1/4" notched trowel. www.jameshardie.com After talking with some professional tile setters I have realized that there should have been at least a discussion regarding what the recommended sub-flooring method when using specific tile materials such as limestone and marble etc. Many of the tile contractors suggest mudding the entire floor "old school" style to ensure a faultless lifespan on the job. I hope that 1/4" hardi-board embedded with thinset, installed over 3/4" tongue and groove sub-flooring will be adequate. Time will tell....
Hardi-Board flooring was not laid out on the entire floor surface. They stopped it short at the point of the tub area. This doesn't make much sense as you want to do everything to ensure a strong and level surface. The hardi-board should extend throughout the entire flooring area in an effort to achieve the best end result.
Luckily I caught this flooring stuff midway. I had them pull it back up and re-install it correctly.