Phinman's

Art Continued

2011-12-14T20:47:00.001-05:00

Art of the Day

2011-12-08T23:21:00.001-05:00

More Art

2011-11-17T21:48:00.001-05:00

I've been painting more and making ColorSplash versions of the paintings.
I've made a lot of prints to frame. The prints come out better than the computer screen reveals, but this gives some idea of the process.

A New Take on Fall Colors

2011-10-30T13:25:00.000-04:00

From my backyard: Before and After Color Splash.

Teach a Man to Fish

2011-10-13T23:12:00.002-04:00

Creating a Series

2011-08-11T18:42:00.007-04:00

FX Photo Studio enables you to create a series with photos. By applying different filters to your photos, you can creating different effects with the same basic image. I've been applying this to some of my paintings. Here's an example of the original plus several other versions.

New Pics

2011-08-10T00:01:00.005-04:00

I have doing some painting and then take picture of the paintings and applying various photo filters. It ends up creating some interesting effects.

The Fourth in Ypsi

2011-07-04T12:23:00.004-04:00

A piece of Americana, the 4th of July parade. The weather was beautiful, and the crowd was happy. The parade lines up near my house. I took some pictures as the paraders were getting ready and then went into downtown Ypsi to see the results. A lot of volunteers put in a lot of time to make something like this go. Sure, it's a small parade, but you gotta admire the organizational effort it takes.

More Photo fun

2011-06-12T19:42:00.005-04:00

I've taken a bunch of photos of several of my paintings. Then I run the photos through Instagram which overlays different filters on top of the photos. So, this has become a way to multiply the art from a single creation. There's the original painting and then versions of photos from it. Each one can become its own artwork. Here's a few more examples.

Color Splash

2011-06-04T16:03:00.005-04:00

This is an interesting app for the iPhone (and iPad). You can place color into a B&W photo. Actually, the app transforms your color photo into B&W. Then, wherever you touch the photo, you "wipe away" the B&W overlay, revealing the original color. You can move and enlarge the area you are working on for greater precision. Not bad for 99¢. I took a picture of my friend's bongo, and here's a picture of a child and birthday cake.

Spring Flowering

2011-05-13T15:25:00.003-04:00

After mowing the backyard, I took out the camera to catch up with some of the progress of spring. A lot grew this week. Here's a sample from around the house.

Spring Colors

2011-05-07T11:58:00.004-04:00

Nothing fancy in my backyard yet, but I wanted a symmetry to the titles, since I used fall colors and winter colors before. Spring is making its advance. I mowed the lawn today for the first time in 2011 and got the patio furniture out.

More Instagram

2011-04-03T23:42:00.004-04:00

Well, when I'm on a roll, may as well keep going. More photo fun with Instagram.

Fun With Instagram

2011-04-03T22:56:00.004-04:00

I came across a new app that will transform photos into different styles and let you share them in various ways, called Instagram. Take photos with iPhone and apply different styles to them. Here are a few including myself and some of my artwork. It creates new art out of old.

Beezy's

2011-03-26T10:41:00.003-04:00

I like to have breakfast at a great little place in Ypsi, Beezy's. The staff are friendly, the food is delicious, and the price is right. There are treasures everywhere if we can take the time to look.

Paintings

2011-03-25T23:18:00.004-04:00

I'm slowly framing some of my paintings. I realized that pictures of them at different angles might create something different. These are some straightforward pictures. I'll play around with photography and see what comes up.

Winter Blast Part Deux

2011-02-21T18:38:00.005-05:00

Well, I think we got more snow today than we did from our earlier winter armageddon. It snowed most of the day yesterday and this morning. UDM cancelled classes again (lightening strikes twice in same place). I spent part of the day digging out, although I still can't get me car all the way up the driveway.

It Coulda Been Worse

2011-02-02T13:38:00.010-05:00

The great blizzard of 2011 was something less than advertised but poured on the snow nonetheless. Here are some pictures around Ypsilanti, including on of my house. So many places and people heeded the warnings. So far today there has been very little traffic around the area.

NYC JAN 2011

2011-01-15T22:22:00.004-05:00

I attended the Division 39 Board meeting this past weekend in NYC. I took the photo on the way to the restaurant for the pre-meeting board get-together. Ustav Indian Restaurant was a great place to eat and chat with everyone.

Penelope, RIP

2011-01-04T18:06:00.003-05:00

My cat, Penelope, died over the holidays. She was about 18 years old (I adopted her as a stray when I moved into the house, so exact age is unclear). She was a sweet cat and a lot of fun.

Winter Colors

2010-12-12T12:50:00.004-05:00

Although it is technically still fall. These are some pictures from my backyard to contrast with the fall colors. We are under a Winter Weather Advisory today, although it is not so bad in Ypsi (so far).

Fall Colors

2010-10-17T12:57:00.005-04:00

Some pictures from my backyard. The colors are great this fall, and the weather today is spectacular.

The Gravy Train's Over

2010-09-29T21:24:00.001-04:00

Amazon kicked the price of Tantalizing Times back up to full price.

They're Practically Giving Them Away

2010-09-17T23:37:00.001-04:00

Amazon has reduced the price of Tantalizing Times to $5.32.

Gas Light District

2010-08-26T00:41:00.003-04:00

My hotel was in the Gas Light District in San Diego, where a lot of restaurants have sprung up. The architecture is quite interesting. I took some pictures while heading off to lunch with Bill MacGillivray, the incoming president of Division 39 (soon to become known as the Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy).

Padres' Game

2010-08-26T00:31:00.004-04:00

When I got back to my hotel the first full day in San Diego, I saw a bunch of folks walk. I wondered where they were going and looked up and saw Petco Park. My hotel was right next to the ballpark, and I hadn't noticed it when I arrived. The Padres were in town playing the Pirates, so I figured it would be a good chance to catch a ballgame. Padres won.

Infinite Adolescence

2010-08-20T22:40:00.006-04:00

I have an article out with a colleague from my department, Steve Abell, Ph.D. It is an outgrowth of the work from my book, which is currently on sale at Amazon for $10.67 (who can pass up such a bargain :>). The article is an exploration of the Singularity movement, which is the idea that we will soon be able to attain hyperlongevity in living, if not downright immorality. It is in the most recent edition of the Psychoanalytic Review.

Update: I was able to put it on the web. Go here.

Poster Presentations

2010-08-20T07:29:00.007-04:00

In addition to the board meetings I attended (all day for Division 39 and a board meeting for the Local Chapter Senate) and attending presentations, I presented two posters at the APA Convention. I received pretty good responses from both of them, as several people stopped to read and talk with me about each poster. The set up in San Diego was roomy enough where the presenters were not crowded in and the passers-by could stroll leisurely along.

I tried to get pictures of me with the poster, but my colleague, Division 39 president elect Bill MacGillivray, accidentally switched the camera on my iPhone to video mode (something I've done before). I had put both posters up after the session to try to get the pictures, but here's a video illustrating the glitch.

Ballooning

2010-08-19T21:13:00.006-04:00

I took a balloon ride via California Dreamin'. It was a fun experience, about 3000 ft. up in the air around sunset. The wind was light, so it took a long time to reach our destination. One of the funny things is that all the dogs start barking when they see the balloon going over, a canine chorus.

Torrey Pines State Park

2010-08-18T22:03:00.004-04:00

This is a great park whose hiking trails have great views of the Pacific.

Carlsbad, CA

2010-08-17T23:39:00.005-04:00

I was in San Diego for the APA Convention and took some time to get out of the city. I'll post a few different excursions. This was a drive to Carlsbad to take in the beach and grab a bite to eat.

Elvis Lives...

2010-07-12T15:06:00.005-04:00

... in Ypsilanti. The weather was great for this year's Michigan Elvis Festival as Elvii from all over descended upon the big Y. Here's a clip.

A New Survey

2010-07-10T11:48:00.003-04:00

One of my graduate students and I have a new survey up on videogaming experiences. We are attempting to improve our rating scale and to explore relationships between gaming and other psychological experiences. I was interviewed this week by a Canadian journalist, who read our article. I will post about that when the article comes out. Click here to complete it.

A Great Stocking Stuffer

2009-12-18T20:38:00.002-05:00

Christopher Walken Does Lady Gaga

2009-11-12T17:57:00.003-05:00

Now here's something you don't see everyday.

Research Project

2009-10-09T20:58:00.004-04:00

A graduate student and I are working on a videogame experience survey, called the Videogame Experiences Questionnaire or VEQ. Basically we are interested in understanding a few things about people's frequency, preferences and self-reported affects on their lives. We will see if this can be broken down into several factors, which could make it useful to compare to other psychological experiences. Our first article will come out in a professional journal soon. This scale is a revision of the initial attempt.

Survey Gizmo is a very good site for creating and collecting surveys. It is especially good for graduate students. It has a number of powerful features and allows graduate students a number of perks that are usually contained in the for-fee services.

UPDATE: I've changed the picture of the Logo in favor of the one we decided upon. After mocking up a few logos, we got some opinions from various people and settled in this.

A Lego Video 1500 Hours in the Making

2009-08-23T23:23:00.002-04:00

How folks could have spent the time for this with no money in the picture is crazy, but the result is amazing.

Your Shot Daily Dozen

2009-08-13T11:49:00.001-04:00

A New Face for Art

2009-08-05T22:34:00.002-04:00

This is quite interesting. It takes a little over 8 minutes, but it is well worth it with amazement all along the way.

Salt Springs State Park, PA

2009-05-29T23:07:00.004-04:00

I had a nice trip to visit my friends Art & Bernadette over the Memorial Day Weekend. It's great to find a new place to explore. Just south of the NY state border is a picturesque little park in PA. The weather was great the entire weekend, and we went over the various trails. Unfortunately the llamas were out of sight, but I'm told they are really there somewhere. The Texas Roadhouse was delicious as usual, and now I know about 5 Guys hamburgers, although not great for those trying to lose weight. We also took in a B-Mets game. Here's hoping that Ypsilanti gets a baseball team after this year's experiment with the Midwest Sliders.

Commencement 2009

2009-05-10T21:17:00.004-04:00

Graduation is always a nice experience, despite the long roll call of diplomas. Actually, this event was larger than usual, and we moved along expeditiously. One day I'll get decent regalia (I'm still using the throw-away stuff meant to be used 2-3 times).

Tenure and Promotion!

2009-05-03T19:06:00.003-04:00

The good news came on April 30, although I had already left the office. So the envelope was sitting in my mailbox when I came in to the office on Friday May 1. It's nice that the news is in all caps to begin the letter. The process of putting together the dossier takes quite a bit of time, since you have to account for and justify your work in enough detail so that people who know very little about you will get a good sense of your work. It also helps to organize the dossier, so that people will know where to find everything they are looking for. I turned in the whole thing very early in the Fall semester and then simply have to wait as it makes it through all the committees at the university for the tenure process.

I'm very happy to say the least but am also not quite sure what to feel in some ways. There are other mountains to climb, but this is putting a big goal behind me. I will be directing the doctoral program, so there are many goals I have for that. I also want to produce more scholarship, a lot of which is in the works. I have a busy summer, so I can't just rest on my laurels, but I am going to be celebrating in various little ways.

Division 39

2009-04-27T23:38:00.003-04:00

I attended the most recent Division 39 spring conference in San Antonio, TX. Many board meetings, presenting a paper with a graduate student, dinner with friends, and my sister came over from Houston. A busy weekend and a nice place to visit.

2009 UDM Research Day & Poster Fair

2009-04-14T22:28:00.004-04:00

We had a really nice turn out for the annual poster fair at UDM. It takes a lot of work by a lot of people for this to run smoothly. I'm on the Faculty Development Team which puts this together each year. But most of the credit really goes to the Team chair, Matt Mio, Ph.D. who keeps this ball rolling and herds the cats. This continues to go over well, and perhaps next year we'll be able to expand it significantly.

Following Flight

2009-03-04T14:25:00.006-05:00

This is simply a cool link illustrating the flight paths for planes in the U.S. New York is quite flooded, as we might expect and might be the cause for many flight delays.

Valentine's Ice Sculpture

2009-02-15T21:22:00.002-05:00

I took these pics next door to Bombadil's. The ice sculpting took place just in time for the cold to return. After a warm week, winter came back. Driving was a pain, but this was one of the better parts of winter.

Obamicon Me

2009-01-25T19:11:00.002-05:00

This is a bit of Inaugural fun. Follow the link in the title to the website and create your own Obamicon. You can use the default hope and change stuff or make your own.

Faculty Achievement Award

2008-11-25T22:59:00.003-05:00

I was happy to receive the UDM Faculty Achievement Award on November 7. It is a really nice dinner and a chance to talk with a large bunch of faculty at the same time. I got to make some comments for about 5 minutes. The faculty agree that this event is well-done by the university. I hung the plaque in my office at UDM. I got the pictures today, so I wasn't able to put any up until now.

My Presidential Run

2008-10-10T00:07:00.002-04:00

I know it's a bit late in the election, but we can't have either of these guys. There's too much at stake. I'm the new one! Click the link above to start the trend.

I'm Barry Dauphin, and I approve this message.

Celebrate Spirit 2008

2008-09-21T21:03:00.003-04:00

This is from the most recent Celebrate Spirit at UDM. This involves a mass and picnic with classes operating on an adjusted schedule for the day. I think it has become a better attended activity over the time I have been at UDM. This year Chrysler sponsored the picnic and had a bunch of new cars out on the fountain area. It was a beautiful day and a nice change of pace.

OK... enough of the hurricane blogging for now

2008-09-08T01:01:00.002-04:00

These are a few shots I took inside the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. You can't use a flash inside the museum, and I struggled to figure out how to take good pictures. Although you aren't supposed to videotape, I ran the video function for a second or two to get good photos. It is a very nice museum, although I only stayed for a couple of hours as I had to get to a meeting. I'll let these speak for themselves.

Ike Could Be a Problem

2008-09-07T00:09:00.003-04:00

Ike is a very powerful storm (Category 4 as of now) that will be heading over warm water. The track puts it into the central gulf of Mexico. New Orleans might have to evacuate a 2nd time. It's too soon to tell, but it certainly appears to be heading into the middle of the Gulf.

Considerable weakening of Gustav | Eye collapsing

2008-09-01T09:05:00.003-04:00

Fortunately Gustav seems to be weakening in a number of ways. It still packs 115 mph winds, but the National Weather service called that "generous". The eye of he storm has weakened considerably, and the east wall seems to be falling apart. As it moves overland, it will weaken fairly rapidly, although not rapidly enough for Houma. There is still danger and the storm surge will test the levies of New Orleans. However, I think this might be a test and might give the Army Corps of Engineers valuable information about how things stand. As far as New Orleans is concerned, this might amount to the equivalent of a preseason game,

Gustav maintains strength...

2008-09-01T00:45:00.003-04:00

...but does not appear to be intensifying. It is on track toward Houma, LA. Because hurricanes can do funny things, we shouldn't think New Orleans is completely out of the woods yet. The West Bank will likely get flooding. On TV I saw a West Bank family that decided to stay and ride out the storm. At least they were well prepared with a generator and boats. So they should be OK, although it does not sound like a wise decision. I'll find out when I wake up, if the track has been maintained. New Orleans could get sustained hurricane force winds of upwards of 85 mph. There will be damage in New Orleans, but Houma will take a beating, as well as areas south of Houma.

Gustav, a bit weaker still

2008-08-31T14:22:00.002-04:00

As of 1 PM Sunday, Gustav's sustained winds are down to 115 mph. that is very good news, since earlier models were projecting significant strengthening by now. It will be very difficult for this hurricane to intensify to a Category 5 storm or perhaps even a Category 4. It is still dangerous because of flooding, wind damage and spawning tornados. But it is looking less like a horrible storm and more like a "typical" one. Word from my relatives is that getting to Baton Rouge from the New Orleans area is actually quite smooth right now. It looks like most people got out yesterday and early this morning. Anyone who is still there should not have traffic as a reason to stay. It still makes sense to get out and get to higher ground. The storm should still intensify to some degree.

Gustav weakens and continues track

2008-08-31T09:05:00.003-04:00

Gustav has weakened a bit, sustained winds down to 120 mph, but it has not slowed down. It is still expected to intensify, but it's starting point is lower than we would have thought to begin the day. I've compared the tracks, and Gustav seems very close to projections of yesterday, and doesn't currently show the east "error" that I noted earlier. That is good for New Orleans.

Tracking Gustav some more

2008-08-31T02:26:00.002-04:00

This is a comparison of the 5 AM Saturday morning projection and the 2AM Sunday morning projection. The Saturday projection included the first projection of where Gustav would hit US land. Although the projections are remarkably accurate at one level, slight variations mean a lot. Over the course of less than 24 hours, Gustav has picked up speed (projected to hit land sooner than before) and projections have shifted slightly east. Neither of those things is good for New Orleans. A faster moving storm can generate a very powerful storm surge. The 2 AM projections are still for central Louisiana, but east of earlier projections. I'll check the projection again in the morning (after I wake up), but I think it will be interesting to see the 2 PM projections, as 12 hours is a pretty good time frame over open water to get a sense of track. so far, the storm seems to actually track further east than projections. I hope this does not continue.

Tracking Gustav

2008-08-31T01:12:00.003-04:00

I've been following the projections for Gustav. The spaghetti graph indicates that it should pass west of New Orleans, although I notice that a couple of models put it right over New Orleans. The graph is useful, but the summated plot indicates a straight line path. That is rare for hurricanes. Of course, this is the best projection so far, but these massive storms rarely travel in such a straight line fashion. At some point, I expect some kind of turning or veering in a slightly different direction. We'll see. If current projections are correct, then New Orleans will have very bad weather but really dodge a bullet. It's too soon to tell.

UPDATE

I've now included a graph showing surface winds. The part I'm interested in is the dotted line, which shows the path. The path to-date is hardly straight. Because Gustav appears to have settled in to the weather systems in the gulf, it is expected to have a much straighter path. But the next 24-36 hours are very important for determining that. The latest track has shifted it slightly east of its earlier track, which means slightly closer to new Orleans.

I talked with my mother today, and she is set on where she'll be going. My aunt will be evacuated with the other residents of the nursing facility she is in, and my cousin will drive to Baton Rouge, and then check in on his mother. Here's hoping it is not too serious.

More from Boston

2008-08-27T22:34:00.003-04:00

I've tended to scorn packaged tours as something geezers do. I guess I've become a geezer, hopefully with not too much geezerness. Taking a set of tours helped me see a lot of sights quickly, although not being able to spend much time at any place. It's a good way to know something about a place, possibly for future reference. I will head back to Boston in November for another conference. Fortunately I had great weather to ride in open buses. I also made it over to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. They had an exhibit of Winslow Homer that was interesting. Too much museum to catch in one day.

The pictures show the Boston skyline via a view from the Charles River, which separates Boston from Cambridge. How long will Boston be separate from Cambridge, I ask facetiously. One of my cabbies was complaining that Harvard was buying every piece of property in sight. He made it sound as if the area will one day be called Harvard, MA. The other picture is of the old capital building. Massachusetts has done a good job of preserving the building as the picture testifies.

Faculty Achievement Award

2008-08-23T07:44:00.003-04:00

This week it was announced that I received the Faculty Achievement Award at UDM. This is an award given to junior faculty who have demonstrated some distinction and promise in their work. It is part of the Faculty Excellence Awards. I was really happy and honored to receive this. The actual ceremony will be in early November. UDM hosts a very nice dinner, and I get a few minutes to make a speech. It should be fun. It is a bit awkward to be congratulated by people, even though I like it. I put in my tenure application this Fall, so this is a good time for the award.

Professional CE and Product Pushing

2008-08-23T00:26:00.005-04:00

I took a workshop at the APA Convention on the WAIS-IV and WMS-IV. Respectively, these are two new versions of an intelligence/cognitive ability test and a memory test. Both have a long tradition and are very good instruments. The new versions have important changes. This was a pretty good format for this kind of information. Essentially it crowds a bunch of professionals together in a lecture-like format.

Because most of this information is basically factual, i.e., they are informing people about the changes/additions/deletions and basic issues concerning administration and scoring, it is not meant to be very interactive. It is a sales pitch for the equipment, and it is presented by individuals employed by the company that makes the tests. As a "consumer" of such stuff, it is important to keep that in mind and never simply take what is said as the final word. These folks have a big investment in selling the equipment. They did a fine job, but it is very sad that so much of what passes for professional education occurs in a format like this. Most issues in psychology aren't as antiseptic as describing the changes that have been implemented for new psychological tests. Many of the questions from the audience made me wonder if some people are taking after their over-eager students who raise trivial things as a way of standing out and looking important or were they always this way. This was as appropriate a situation for this type of format as it gets, and surely folks wanted to pack it in at the earliest opportunity. Pity the field to do this all the time. Mandatory CE gives this kind of format a life support, as people try to fill up their mandated hours. But it ain't much of an education.

By Land and By Sea

2008-08-19T21:29:00.003-04:00

I took a Super Duck Tour of Boston as well as a Trolley tour of Boston and Cambridge and a tour of the Charles River, a lot for one day. The tour guides have a very mixed quality. The guide for the Duck tour is an out-of-work fisherman who has honed his tour with good and bad jokes, but telling the Boston story with wit and interest. The Cambridge tour folks were students and were putting themselves into it, mostly wanting to impress with possession of a large number of facts. The rest were... well... phoning it in. But no never mind. I got to see a lot in a short time and took a ton of pictures. I'll post some more.

Here is a shot of the vehicle that goes on land and sea. The other boat is the USS Constitution. Unfortunately we weren't able to get a closer look from the water, another limitation in the post 9/11 world. One of the guides said that after 9/11, Boston passed an ordinance significantly limiting the height of new buildings in Boston. I liked Boston a lot, but that was one weenie of a decision. I hope they will revisit that one. Please don't attack us, Mr. terrorist. Geez.

Interesting Boston Shots

2008-08-16T19:26:00.003-04:00

These are shots near the Church of Christ Scientist in Boston, MA. The building is quite striking and different from everything else around it. Next to the church is this reflecting pool which serves as an entree to more modern buildings in Boston.

Blue Man Group

2008-08-16T16:07:00.004-04:00

Put it into the "need to see it to believe it" category, The Blue Man Group is a lot of fun. They mock modern technology and mock those who make it important and they mock the mockers. A delightful, fun-filled time with interesting music and audience participation. Near the end of the show, the let loose the streamers and the audience has to pull them up to the front. A sea of arms, hands and streamers. I really recommend seeing them live if you can. They're in Boston for about couple of months. I got a sense of them on TV, but live is great.

A Well Earned Reward

2008-08-04T21:10:00.004-04:00

Two graduate students helped me put together three instructional videos. The acted out the parts of examiner and patient. As a just reward I took them to dinner in Greektown, a nice spot in Detroit with a lot of restaurants and pubs. We went to Pegasus Taverna for some Greek food. And we did get the flaming cheese.
The process of making these videos is interesting. I have learned a lot, and it takes a great deal of planning. The technology is so good today that it can make this look like a very professional production. In some ways it is, but the equipment isn't really all that expensive. The folks at IDS really know what they are doing. This has more possibilities; I just have to think of them.

Just Another Day on the Set

2008-07-13T09:06:00.002-04:00

We've filmed the video for the next two instructional videos, on administration of the Rorschach and the MMPI. The students id a great job again, and we were able to get through the shooting for both videos in a little over a couple of hours. The only glitch was static emanating from one of the microphones for a while. It was never pinpointed, but changing the mic got rid of the problem. I've already done most of the prep work for graphics and design. I will record voiceovers, and then the whole thing will be pt together. A lot of preparation goes into this, but I'm getting the hang of it.

Elvis, Elvis, and More Elvis

2008-07-12T23:37:00.004-04:00

I took a break from grading and head out to the Michigan Elvis Festival. Held right here in Yspilanti, it's a tribute venue to the King. They include some other impersonators too, such as a Beatles group, Roy Orbison impersonator and a Tom Jones act. There are about as many variations on Elvis as one would see with Jesus (check out the book American Jesus: How the son of God became a National Icon by Stephen Prothro. The book shows the incredible variety of Jesus depictions and uses in american culture).

The guys are pretty talented, and they take it all in good fun. Just as in Vegas, ladies are begging for Elvis scarves, so every Elvis comes loaded for bear with scarves. We had thunderstorms earlier in the day, but they cleared up by early afternoon when things got rolling. The organizers do a good job. As soon as one act departs the stage, another is waiting to come out. so there are o real lulls. I hadn't been before, and I had a eye-rolling reaction to it in the past. But it was actually a good time. The Elvii all had a pretty good sense of humor about what they do. The gang of Elvii came on stage together for a candlelight salute to Elvis.

Flowers A'Bloomin'

2008-07-11T22:09:00.003-04:00

I took this picture this morning on my way to work. I like to take my camera with me. The digital photo revolution is great. Just point and shoot and no worry about developing the film. I planted this last year, and it has come back. It begins as a bright yellow flower and stays that way for a couple of weeks. Then it transforms into this beauty. Some of its neighbors are coming up soon.

Hanging out...literally

2008-07-06T22:23:00.003-04:00

Over at Jerry & Karen's today for a B-cue in the great weather of the weekend. This July 4th weekend might have been the best weather-wise that I can remember. Fri thru Sun were gorgeous days, with clear skies and not too hot. These were fantastic days to hang out outside and some of us did just that in the Sky Chairs that Jerry & Karen have. You can gently sway with your feet up, and they make for easy napping too. A lot of folks from UDM were there.

Unusual Precautions

2008-06-29T11:15:00.003-04:00

The retreat facility has a separate, small chapel on the premises. It is a picturesque church that has become quite a popular site for weddings. The sign says it all. Although we saw deer from time to time and the assorted birds, we did not run into any bears. The week before 2 cubs were spotted behind the retreat center.

Inkblot Shirts

2008-06-29T01:46:00.003-04:00

I created a Cafepress site and put up some inkblot T-shirts/Sweatshirts for fun. I might get around to making some more, but will see how this goes. Barry's Blots will be up for a bit. Above are some of the choices.

A Great Trip to Colorado

2008-06-27T22:18:00.005-04:00

The Magis National Faculty Retreat was a true retreat. Little in the way of pressure and much time for reflection, hiking and reading. I finished a couple of books during the retreat, including Wilma Bucci's Psychoanalysis and Cognitive Science. The faculty from across the country were quite interesting and the group worked very well together. I'll put up some pictures from time to time of the great scenery in the Rockies.

Off to Magis National Faculty Retreat

2008-06-21T08:10:00.005-04:00

I'm heading out to Regis University in Denver for the Magis Faculty Retreat. Out in the mountains for several days, it should be a great location for reflection. I plan to come back with some pictures. The picture above is from their web site. I'll see if going on a retreat in the middle of teaching three classes is really a retreat. I'll be swamped with grading when I get back.

A Sudden Spring Thunderstorm

2008-06-09T00:09:00.003-04:00

There I was minding my own business, trying to work on some stuff for this coming week's classes and I noticed the clouds getting very dark, very quickly. The storm was brief and fierce. It passes through Ypsilanti in about 15 minutes, but it was fun to see. I caught some pictures out in front of Bombadill's.. Just alittle slice of Midwestern life.

A Little bit of Sunday photos

2008-06-02T23:16:00.003-04:00

I took the camera with me downtown, but first I snapped a picture of the fence being put up by my next door neighbor. He's done a nice job. It will not only allow us both more privacy but will cut down on the cut throughs to our yards from Michigan Ave. Some people cut through his backyard and mine from Michigan Ave, making for a less secure environment.

The other picture is from the small park in between the library and Bombadill's. On this day at this time, it was undisturbed, although it is usually the site of various folks hanging out. It makes for a peaceful little snapshot.

Out at the old Ballgame

2008-05-28T23:18:00.004-04:00

We caught the Binghamton Mets over the Memorial Day weekend. It was a beautiful day at the ballpark, although the results of the game were not so hot for the hometown boys. Extremely poor base running doomed the Mets to simply make it exciting at the end. Twice players got thrown out at home in early innings, as the players looked like they did not quite understand that running fast is often highly desirable in baseball when someone is trying to throw you out. Another guy was thrown out at first because he didn't even try to run to the base despite having hit a ball the third baseman couldn't field properly. At the end with two on and two outs, a B-Met lined out to center field that was just a hair from being an extra base hit. But the beer and peanuts were great. And we stayed for the fireworks afterward. The funny blue creature is "Ballwinkle". I know... don't ask.

Jones Park Vestal, NY

2008-05-27T21:05:00.004-04:00

I made my way over to see my grad school friends, Art and Mike, over in Vestal, NY for the Memorial Day holiday. I'll run a few photos from activities. This is from the walk in a wooded park near (or in) Vestal. It is a great trail, one that it looks like not too many folks take. We ran across some mountain bikers but that was pretty much it. And we got in a great conversation about the merits of various psychological tests, not exactly a stem-winder for some folks, but it worked for us for a while.

Graduation Day at UDM

2008-05-10T19:15:00.003-04:00

It was a really beautiful day for graduation. This is the kind of day graduations should be like. I hooded my first doctoral student, i.e., dissertation chairs put on the academic regalia of their advisees at the graduation ceremony. After the ceremonies in Calihan Hall, there was a reception in the Fisher Fountain area. The photos are of students and faculty at UDM.

UDM Research and Poster Fair 2008

2008-03-29T22:19:00.003-04:00

Harold Greene, Ph.D. and I will present a poster of our research on the Rorschach and visual information processing at UDM in a couple of weeks. We are working on the article to submit to a journal. I think we have some nice findings from this first study. We have been able to correlate certain characteristics of the blots to different aspects of the eye movement process. The writing up of this is fairly tedious in some ways, because there are a lot of results being presented and a lot of details to keep track of. I hope to send off the paper by the end of the semester.

Bargains Don't Last Long

2008-03-19T19:33:00.003-04:00

Well the book is now back up to about $40 bucks on Amazon, so perhaps this is a sign that the housing crisis is almost over or any other non sequitor I can think of. It started gliding back up a week or two ago. I've been too busy to do much, if any, blogging. The semester heads into the stretch run soon. I'll be submitting a grant proposal for more research and hope to fund a portable projector, so I can take it on the road and use it for running subjects. The storyboarding is underway for the next two video, and we hope to shoot sometime in May. I've created some mock blots to use as graphics for the video. This one was converted to B/W and then with a sepia overtone.

Does it get any better than this?

2008-03-04T19:24:00.002-05:00

Tantalizing Times is now 80% off, selling for $14.19. Surely the masses will sweep in any minute to scoop up this great deal :>).

Going Back to the Drawing Board...

2008-03-04T18:29:00.004-05:00

Creating a reliable shark repellent has been the dream of many. The latest device, called Shark Shield, is supposed to attach to surfboards and such in an effort to keep those pesky sharks away. Well, the test phase went well right up until a great white shark ate it.

h/t: Gizmodo

Making Blots

2008-03-04T00:57:00.003-05:00

One of the reasons I've been too busy to blog is that I'm preparing another instructional video. This one will cover Rorschach administration. In addition to putting the storyboard together, I created some images to use for the video transitions. Wary of using the real blots due to copyright/permission issues, I have made some of my own. I experimented with different kinds of media, including children's paint, watercolors, as well as... that's right, ink. Each has its own virtues, but the ink gets closer to the originals in look and in spirit, which after all were in ink. Still getting the right paper is a challenge, since it has to be folded in half and you want to keep the ink from bleeding through the paper. This is a sheet of several that I made, a bit like the scoring sheet for the Rorschach.

Buy This Man's Book! (update-it's now $17.48)

2008-01-22T22:10:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's a fire sale at Amazon. Spread the word. It's now $27.74! This is about the price I had been hoping it would sell for when I launched. That was almost two years ago. Now they want to move them (and so do I).

A Nice Break from all this Winter Stuff

2008-01-20T23:07:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted on my trip to FLA over the Christmas/New Year's break. Heading to the beach in late December was fantastic. I recommend it to everyone, especially those trapped in the frigid temperatures this weekend. It was great to see my old friends and check out the life of South Florida. The gators were taking cover as apparently it's cold there if it gets into the 60s.

Reaching for the Stars

2007-12-14T23:37:00.000-05:00

The release of the Mitchell report concerning steroid use in baseball essentially confirms what everyone suspected but pretended not to know. People are shocked…shocked that so many players have been implicated. Some new names have emerged, especially pitchers Roger Clemens and Andy Petitte. Still the litany of names is sobering. Furthermore, many sportswriters are saying that there are many more names not in the report but that “everyone” knows they’re doing it. And baseball isn’t even testing for Human Growth Hormone (HGH) at this point. Sports are a reflection of the culture IMHO. So, I’ll briefly ride on my hobbyhorse, namely living in the age of tantalization.

Tantalus was a wealthy king, who was not satisfied with his mortal powers and mortality. Seeking to have what the gods have, he cheats or commits crimes designed to acquire his objects of desire (Nectar and Ambrosia). In one version of the myth he even chops up his son in an attempt to make himself level with the gods. He is caught and punished by being eternally tantalized (seeing what he wants but having it hang just out of reach).

There are many forces in society tempting us toward immediate gratification, and we seem to crave a never-ending onslaught of excitements and powers. The thrills don’t necessarily last too long. So we can set off in search of the next big thing or pick-me-up. Fans liked seeing the legendary records fall or be obliterated, since it is also a thrill to “be a part of history”, even as a witness. In Tantalizing Times –now available at a big discount through Amazon :>)--- I wrote:

Steroids have been the subject of much controversy in recent years. These have tended to be used by male athletes looking to get some kind of edge. They enhance muscle mass, and guys have been able to get pumped up on them and achieve almost unreal sorts of muscle development. They are used to assist the athlete to become stronger and more powerful, in addition to assisting the athlete to develop the body of a Greek god. Questions were raised about the productivity of many athletes as records began to fall in numerous sports. Football players and baseball players have especially been tempted to swallow steroids in the hopes of obtaining athletic immortality. Curiously steroid use has potential health risks and not only enhancement potential. Considering the theme of the book, its risks are almost poetic, namely the potential for shrinking of the testicles and of impotence. Although they temporarily can help one climb to the top of the heap, excessive use could easily produce a person with many of the characteristics of premature aging and impaired capacity to reproduce. Pg. 53

Although steroids affect muscles (more than brain) my focus here lies on the prospect of opening the door for mind drugs as enhancers. The same arguments will be used. In the case of using an enhancer to get the advantage, we abandon whatever investment we have had in something like will power or determination as well as effort. If activities are made easy by intake of pharmaceuticals, then the outcome is privileged over the process and we acclimate ourselves to the notion that anything worth having is worth being acquired via a bottle or needle. In fact it clearly sets the stage for an entitlement viewpoint to reign supreme. Pg. 80

The Perfect Holiday Gift :>)

2007-12-08T00:21:00.000-05:00

Well the last few weeks have seen a mega price drop for the book. It now comes into the realm of not so bad, even if I originally had something else in mind. I am up to 80 libraries (well 80 as of a few days ago, now at 76 in one search with an extra one in another, go figure) according to the latest WorldCat check in.

Long Time No Post

2007-10-21T23:12:00.001-04:00

It's been a while since I posted. I have been extremely busy, even more so than usual. But my work for a conference got piled on top of other things. I presented a paper at the Internal Federation for Psychoanalytic Education Conference (IFPE). I am also chair of the research committee, so I attended the all day board meeting on Thursday before the conference. It was a good conference in many ways, and I enjoyed seeing many old friends and colleagues, getting to hear about the research of Mark Solms (who is showing via neuroscience that Freud's dream theory still has many legs left), and getting about to some good restaurants in Toronto. I took some pictures this morning. Toronto has a very modern look and feel, and we were sure in an interesting part of town, judging by the restaurants anyway and happenings. The hotel is connected to the Rogers Center, where many Toronto sports teams play. The restaurant inside the hotel overlooks the ball field. That picture didn't come out too well. The CN Tower, evident in the picture, is the tallest made man structure in the world, although it doesn't appear that way when you are standing close up to it.

Even Little Projects can be OK

2007-10-02T00:36:00.000-04:00

And this was a little project. I had some small trees cut down and a lot of stumps ground down. I used some of the new space to make a little seated project in the backyard. Not much, but it makes things a tad more interesting.

The Making of a Paper

2007-09-30T01:12:00.000-04:00

I'm working on a paper I'll present at the 2007 Conference of the International Federation for Psychoanalytic Education in a few weeks. Because of the gyrations inherent in many organizations, the panel I organized isn't going to work in the way I was planning. We'll have less time than planned. Sparing you all the bloody details, I've decided (with my panelists) that for a variety of reasons my co-presenter would basically keep her paper at original length, while I would drastically cut mine. Because I was going to tweak the paper anyway, I thought I was simply going to tweak then cut. But, I could see that wasn't going to work. Instead, I used some pieces of the paper I was working on, but reworked it in a very different way.

My paper is titled, "Why Can't the English Learn to Speak", a titled derived from Lerner & Lowe's My Fair Lady. The musical is based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. I use the fictional account of Henry Higgins teaching Eliza Doolittle to speak as proper lady as the backdrop to discuss some of the assumptions behind the push to manualize psychotherapy.

Writing a condensed paper has been quite a challenge, but I let some of the lyrics do the talking, and I try to write this version in a style, which I hope will work for condensing this subject. We shall see. It has been fun in its own way. The posters above show the various versions, and that also illustrates part of the theme of my paper.

Learning Podcasting

2007-09-15T00:17:00.000-04:00

I've been figuring out how to create podcasts to place on the web. I've decided to take my time, so that I don't create a bigger problem than I can solve. I'll be creating podcasts for MSPP of various paper presentations and also doing some interviewing of a number of professionals with "things to say". I'm hoping that this proves to be useful to psychologists that I know and those that I don't know. It is interesting to be able to put something together like this that has the potential to reach an audience beyond our humble confines. I have worked a little bit each day this week to create the first one and to create the web page on which people can visit to listen to or download the podcasts. I hope to have this up and running fairly soon.

The Long and Winding Road

2007-08-20T14:45:00.000-04:00

Well, I have gotten my bike, although I was too busy to blog about it before now. I picked it up at UDM with the help of Jerry. It was an up and down experience in many ways. I got the bike started, and the seller, John Staudemeyer, SJ, came out from his meeting to say goodbye to the bike. As Jerry and I were discussing the best route home, I tried to start up the bike again, but the battery was dead. We tried various things for a long time, before eventually being able to reach John, who provided a jump with his car.

A few blocks away from UDM, I stalled when starting from a red light. Again the battery was down and out. Jerry knew some folks near by and was able to get some jumper cables, while I waited around in inner city Detroit at dusk. A biker stopped by to see if I was OK. He listened to my story, recommended I get a new battery, and I sent him on his way with a thank you. He said if we bikers don't take care of each other, who will. We were finally able to get going again. I rode it out 8 Mile Rd until we got to Farmington and then headed into Plymouth and finally back to Ypsi.

I drove out to Jerry's on Sunday Aug 12th to drop off an auto emergency kit as a thank you. It was a fun ride and I was getting the feel for the bike. As I got back into Ypsi, a strange sequence of events happened that could oly happen to me. I stopped at a Stop sign. As I put my foot down, I unknowingly stepped in a patch of oil and my foot started to slip. This caused the bike to become a little unbalanced, and it started to fall. I hopped off to prevent it from falling, but my left foot had no traction due to the oil. Blam. The bike goes down. After some EMU kids helped me check out the bike, I thought I was ready to go. One problem. The bike had fallen onto the handlebars, specifically the clutch. It had broken in half. There was no one to control gears.

I walked the bike back home. It was crazy trying to get it up my driveway. I was able to get some help from my next door neighbor. But I haven't had time to get the bike to a shop to repair the clutch and mirror, which broke when I was trying to get it up the driveway. I'm sure I'll get the hang of this sooner or later, hopefully sooner.

But it was a lot of fun to begin, and I will get back on the road soon enough.

A Second Printing

2007-08-07T00:19:00.000-04:00

My book has now goen to a second printing. Yeah! I didn't get too excited, as it is not because of overwhelming sales. The publisher needs to replenish its stocks. So, I figure that it has been distributed at a variety of bookstores, and they are running low at the publisher. Still, it's better to have a second printing than not to have a second printing. The publisher didn't give me a lot of time to look it over though. They had made a mistake in the original by misprinting the Greek text that I used in a few places. They have corrected that and let me look that over. I wasn't given enough time to fix my errors, however.

My cousin Greg had found a bunch of errors dotted over the course of the book, usually punctuation problems and the like. Nothing terribly egregious, but it added up. I have now had the opportunity to fix these mistakes. The publishing representative said I could send her that when I finished and they would incorporate them into the thrid printing, providing that each page corrected begins and ends with the same words as the original. She sounded optimistic about a third printing, but I've got to find some classes to use this as a textbook, or the copies will really start gathering dust at this price. I asked about going to paperback, but no dice. I would need to guarantee that 75 would be purchased in order to do that.

Finaly Solving a puzzle

2007-08-05T01:14:00.000-04:00

Off and on for a few months I have tried to make the presentation software Keynote do what it is advertised to do, namely easily export into a Flash presentation. The problem was the audio portions of the slides would not export to Flash. So after doing a lot of work to make a Flash presentation, I had bupkus. The type of audio files simply wouldn't export. After trying a variety of solutions, I stumbled upon success today. The answer was buried in changing something in the preferences (which is why the correct option never showed up in any of the menus). Voila, success. In some ways it is a little thing, but this will make a lot of other things possible, and fairly easily. What a relief to finally solve one of those never ending vexing technical problems of modern living, only to wait for the next one. But for now, I can smoke a cigar.

The future lacrosse stadium?

2007-08-04T00:14:00.000-04:00

I strolled the campus today and took some pictures. I wanted to check out the progress on the new lacrosse stadium, which is supposed to be constructed this summer. Several weeks ago, I saw the construction crew moving a lot of dirt. Well, they've cleared the area, but there's plenty of work to go, as you can see from the pictures. I originally envisioned this project being completed by the time the new academic year started. That doesn't appear to be the case. Well, at least it's underway.

I noticed something about our clock tower I hadn't noticed before. And I only noticed it while studying the pictures I took. The two clocks in the picture aren't giving the same time. At least one of them is right (the one on the left).

Never Ending Road Work

2007-08-02T23:40:00.000-04:00

This year has been a construction boom for roads. Everywhere I drive I have faced major construction projects. Sure, it will be great when they're done, but even the alternative routes have construction. At times it's been noisy outside of my office, but the end is in sight. I figure they aim to finish this up before the Woodward Dream Cruise, since it would make downtown Birmingham a mess otherwise. I took a couple of pictures today to remember the disruption. It has wreaked havoc on the parking situation. I am always thankful there's a spot (when there is one). I've included a shot of my building.

A Frivolous Break

2007-08-01T22:23:00.000-04:00

I took some time out in the middle of the week to catch the Simpson's Movie. It was everything we've come to expect and more...actually about an hour more. It drags a bit from time to time, but it was well done overall and a good get-away from the go-go pace of extra summer teaching and supervision. Yes, a second related Simpson's post within a couple of weeks...D'oh. And it was great to get out of the 96 degree heat we had today. I've got a couple of window units, but the moive theatre is much nicer, and there's popcorn....hmmmmm...popcorn.

Action...

2007-07-31T23:56:00.000-04:00

Since the Spring I have been involved in planning and creating an instructional video for an intelligence test. The video is simply an in-house affair to be used in training our students. We'll be able to put the video up on the secure server for the class, and students can watch the video online as an aid to learning how to administer the test. It's actually quite an involved project. We have had to break every aspect of the testing into its components and figure out how it should look inorder. I have been working with the folks from the Instructional Design Studio at UDM. Simply known as IDS, these folks help the faculty to integrate variou sforms of technology into teaching. The idea is to make the process useful and actually benefit education and not merely "bells and whistles". Today I brought some images over to IDS. We have already shot the footage, and I have done the voiceovers. They are editing the digital video. I plan to use it this semester. It has been a great learning experience to "direct" this video, and better understand how vidoe and films are put together.

Subtle Changes

2007-07-30T22:28:00.000-04:00

This is a picture of one of the dorms at UDM that has just received new windows. I watched the workers put in the new windows for a few minutes a couple of weeks ago. The appearance of the building has been improved in a subtle, but nonetheless pleasing way. More importantly, this was an improvement which was promised at last year's convocation (August 2006). It was reassuing to see the change actually take place and is another sign that the university is investing in its infrastructure, which is sorely in need of upgrades at multiple places throughout the McNichols campus. I assume that otherr work is taking place inside the dorm as well. Let's hope that this is a sign of things to come.

Well, it's a start

2007-07-30T00:05:00.000-04:00

See all my travel pages

I've filled out my travel map. I've been to a lot of states, but I still have a long way to go for world travel. Canada is not exactly an exotic country. A nice country, but not really very different. I hope over the next several years to add to this map quite a bit. (typo corrected)