Photo Journal – Thursday 25th April 2012

Friends, Food & Fabrication

My first task today was to collect a package at USPS…

This is a view along Cambridge St., MA… heading to the Post Office..

Heading back in the direction of home and MIT on Cambridge St.

On campus now… this is Parsons’ Laboratory, opposite the Stata Center on Vassar St.

I have no clue what’s going on here today…

no clue..

My friend Jenine and I have a lunch date today… been a while since we hung out together… We went to Flour… This is their berry bread-pudding… it was really moist! Very delicious!

Jenine had coffee with her bread pudding (because most people at MIT need coffee.. LOL)… Doesn’t that look delectable?!!

I tried a Spindrift with mine.. My first time having that drink… pretty good I will say..

I can’t remember the name of my sandwich, but it had grilled chicken, avocado, and jicama.. the bread was great too… Mmmmm how I love food…

Hi Jenine! This is my awesome friend Jenine! Full of laughs, very artistic… and socially conscious too.. my kinda people!

We both had the same sandwich..

The bakery Flour on Massachusetts Ave. that we went to..

I never eat everything I get… so I had half of a sandwich and my berry bread pudding left… to eat later on… Happy!

I am in the FabLab cutting parts for my continued experiment… it seems like it will work… thus far.. been good..

Spray painting my pieces…

Painting the other side after drying…

The hall of the 3rd Floor in Building 3 (next to the FabLab) at MIT..

DCG (Design & Computation Group) alumni, Marcel Botha PhD (SMArchS ’06) talks about his experiences after DCG to my Forum class. He has done some really awesome projects and worked on life saving products. MIT was an opportunity to change his profession.. drawing on his architecture skills, training, and way of thinking.. I was glad to hear that, as I view it the same way too… an opportunity for a new, layered direction in life, and career…

Marcel Botha: “I am an Architect, Engineer, Product Manager and Technologist. I make physical things. I started with buildings. My last “traditional” building was a Catholic church. My first digitally printed/cut building was an emergency shelter. I dabbled in advertising, and won a scholarship for an ad campaign for Durex condoms, but decided to rather go to MIT using architecture as my Trojan Horse. I specialized in Digital manufacturing, Assembly Engineering and Media Arts. I designed soft cars for GM. Buses and Bus Stops (buildings again 😦 ) for Paris. Helped build a mesh networking company, SNIFLABS (Now General Sensing) with a first product for Social Networking of Pets (think a mashup of Nike+, Foursquare, and FB for your dog). Developed The Betacup with with fellow overlapper Toby Daniels, Starbucks and Jovoto. I convinced the Nordics that Mono-skiing was a resurgent trend on behalf of Mc Donalds during Christmas 2009. I needed more. In 2010 I started devoting my time exclusively to projects that were relevant, scalable, complex and ideally medical in nature. Since, I have developed a low cost electronic stethoscope, helped to reinvent the colposcope and launched Timesulin.

My pieces… all dried, and ready for assembly..

Assembly went well, but I learned a lesson… spray paint quality and thickness.. IMPORTANT! The green paint was much better than the white…

Looks good I find… learned a lot from this experiment..

Today was a good one… time spent with friends, food, great conversation, and fabrication/ research.. is always a plus!

Live with a purpose today!

This work by Vernelle Noel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Photo Journal – Wednesday 24th April 2012

FELA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The day starts at 1am Wednesday morning (late Tuesday night) for this post… There are trains that pass by late at night.

I was heading home earlier than usual and heard the horns of the train, so I waited… It’s kind of strange how scary the slow moving headlights of a large monster of a train in the dark, quiet of the night can be.. Eerie..

A “train dude” mounted off the train, and placed these flares along the tracks and stopped any oncoming vehicles…

I found this so cool..

The horns continue to blare as the train passes by… real noise!

Heading to MIT in the light of the morning…

In my HIE class today Patrick Winston spoke to us about the correct way to conduct a panel discussion.. From the seating arrangement (panel geometry) to the way to engage your panel and encourage dialogue.. We talked about Joshua Tenenbaum‘s paper on Bayesian models and probability.  I also found out that every Drop date (last day to drop classes), which would be tomorrow.. a piano is dropped from Baker House at MIT. I hope to see it..

On my way back from class I took this photo because I love this view. I have yet to draw it… maybe when the semester ends I will get the chance to..

It’s lunch time and I am feeling for some food from the food truck. I was late and unable to put my lunch together today. Food trucks lines along the street close to the Media Lab..

I’ll have lunch from here… Asian Bistro..

Long  line.. plenty people, but the line moves very quickly..

Heading back to my office to have lunch..

I bought a pork baguette and Korean Pad Thai I think… I wasn’t sure which one to try so I bought them both..

I am surprised by the look of the pad thai.. it doesn’t look appetizing.. (I am a foodie!).. I taste it, and it’s not any better.. so I decide I will eat the pork baguette.. now that was delicious!!

After lunch I did some work then went to the FabLab to cut some stuff, but again didn’t have much luck… I needed a break and was ready to head to the Pièce de résistance of my day… FELA! I was meeting my friend Mel at the theater.. Time to get going! I jump on my bicycle and head to the station.

Some hurried shots of the Boston Commons as I walk hurriedly to the Theater….

Ok.. I know where I can come take in a movie or two when I want to.. I haven’t been here since November 2010… As it gets warmer.. I will see more of Cambridge and Boston..

There it is ahead!

Inside of the Majestic Theater…

Now inside the auditorium, playbill in hand…

Fela! is a musical with a book by Bill T. Jones and Jim Lewis, based on music and lyrics by the late Nigerian singer Fela Kuti, with additional music by Aaron Johnson and Jordan Mclean and additional lyrics by Jim Lewis. It is based on events in the life of groundbreaking Nigerian composer and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti. It portrays Kuti in the days when he was the target of 1,000 government soldiers assigned to end his public performances at the legendary Lagos nightclub The Shrine. (Wikipedia)

This show was soooooooooooooooooooo fantastic, I can’t put it in words… The main character was engaging, funny, athletic, had a great voice, and was a great dancer… a mover… His supporting dancers… OUT OF THIS WORLD!!! The men strong, athletic, singers, dancers… the women… hmmm! athletic, sensual, dance, dance, and more dance!! You have to see this show!!

The costuming was also A+…

Fela’s mother in the show (Melanie Marshall) had the voice of an angel! I love singing, but it doesn’t love me.. She had a voice of pure honey… How do you lower your voice and volume as though it’s the end of a song, then in the same breath pick up again and end on a long, loud note..?!!!! I do not know! but she did it! she did it!! It was amazing! She was amazing!

Costumes… GREAT!!!

Do your thing Fela!

The end of the show.. All performers deserving of standing ovations!!! Thanks for making my night, my week, my time here in Boston.. Awesome band too!!

Close of the show (Fela’s mother in the spotlight).. Those from the cast who I saw and remember seeing were:

Sahr Ngaujah – (Fela Kuti) – A theater director and actor of Sierra Leonean descent, US born, living in Amsterdam

Melanie Marshall – Funmilayo (Fela’s mother) – best voice of the night… British born, of Barbadian (Bajan) descent

Paulette Ivory (Sandra) – has a sweet voice.. LA-based, British born

Rasaan-Elijah Green (Djembe) – great drummer and dancer

Gelan Lambert – (JK) – The tap dancing machine and Fela’s buddy – of Haitian descent, graduate of The Juilliard School

Thanks all for a great night again! After such a visual, musical, artistic, and cultural high, I returned to my office.. did some more work, and headed home… no train will be seeing me tonight..

FELA ROCKS!!!!

This work by Vernelle Noel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Photo Documentation – Monday 23rd April 2012

Digital Fabrication… let’s go..

It’s rainy today… weather to be inside.. but MIT calls! Let’s see what today brings…

It has been a pretty busy morning thus far. I had my Human Intelligence class where we discussed the Brains, Minds & Machines Symposium from MIT 150 as I had to write a paper on it. We also discussed the “Carry a Message to Garcia” paper and what its message was… (1) Don’t ask stupid questions (2) Seek alternatives, and (3) Get it done. I am now heading to the Woodshop. Our Digital fabrication class is meeting there as we have been preparing files and cutting material to make a section model of our final project, a Pavilion.

Renovations happening here…

Spring..

Work on a construction site along the way.. I don’t know what’s going up here..

Cambridge is a very bicycle friendly place..

Chris the shop manager on the left..and Dr. Sass our professor on the right…

Team members getting our sheet ready to be CNC cut.. Drilling in screws to secure the sheet to the table bed..

The Techno machine..

Some parts already cut out…

Assembly time.. it’s still raining outside so we begin to assemble and test our parts inside the shop.. We moved some tables out of the way to accomplish this….

The rain stopped so we moved it outside… Linlin and Ki.. We are assembling it laying down..

Ki… my brother from another mother..

Kinda looks like a pool.. 😉

Floor is in..

All our pieces fit very nicely. This section model is just 4′-0″ wide… a full scale test for testing our ideas, structure, connections, etc… Testing is really important in digital fabrication..

We are so happy!

Covered it with a tarpaulin to prevent it from getting rained on..

I went to get something to eat after (a very late lunch) and took this pic by the Alchemist..

Whenever the day is rainy.. this song runs through my mind…

Have a productive day today!

This work by Vernelle Noel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Photo Journal – Friday 20th April 2012

Outside is so beautiful that….

… if it weren’t already outside, I’d take it outside and marry it! I’m a huge Tina Fey and a Mega 30 Rock fan! But it is truly beautiful outside today… I couldn’t stop swaying while riding, and I had to share it with you… Hope the photos do a little justice to the reality… The song of my life is Beautiful Day by U2.. and it’s all I could hear rocking in my mind….

This arcade of trees.. nice yeh?!

Another shot..

IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY!!!!!!!!!!!

I find these buildings here EXTREMELY ugly! it’s kinda depressing and sad passing through here… Terrible!

Koch Institute on the right…

Waiting at the traffic light…

My snack basket… now occupied by a sweater…

STATA

Green Building… on which they did the cool Tetris hack (see previous post)..

Look at the green, the flowers… the air…

I just wanted to share the day with you all..

Had to go back to school later that night to try to accomplish something….

I hope today is a beautiful one for you!

Carpe Diem!!!

This work by Vernelle Noel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Photo Journal – Wednesday 18th April 2012

Visual & Artistic Feast…

This morning as I was going to Rotch (Library) to pick up some books, what do I see…? People walking on tight ropes, someone hanging from a trapeze, what was this here? On closer investigation there were mannequins/ puppets that were placed within the Main Lobby doing strange things.. Why were they here.. I have no clue. But they sure caused a stir..

This puppet was just swinging from side to side…. Thought it was a real person on first glance, but then realized it wasn’t..

It has sneakers on and everything!

I didn’t quite get this one..

That puppet was balancing on chairs.. Note the guy entering the building. he’s probably wondering “What the hell is happening in here today?!”

Some pretty big feet I think..

I don’t know…

I love this view.. and well this shot.. Tightrope puppet doing its thing..

Looks much more dramatic in the previous photo..

The crowds are gathering… I think this crowd included a tour group..

Even the janitors are wondering about this..

I like this shot too..

Still swinging…

and yet more people…

I don’t know about these singers either…When I was leaving class.. there they were! This is one of many things I love about MIT… about education at MIT… No school is perfect, but this is what I like here… even in the high stressed, and high-pressured environment, there are these cool things that people do every now and again that blows your mind and makes you wonder why.. that’s funny, that’s weird… but it’s cool.. not vandalism, but artistic or technological (hack for example)… Well done!

I spray painted the edges of my model last night so that it would be cleaner.. The laser cutter burned the edges pretty badly, so soot was distracting…

I enter the Media Lab for my Textiles class and apparently someone will be giving a speech of some sort in a few minutes….

Tim O’Reilly  giving a talk today..

This is a pretty good book my professor had… looking through it for ideas, case studies, and more…

People I have to remember to check, and read up on… they had some good work in that book..

Edward Mayer

Hilal Sami Hilal

Carson Fox

Piper Shepard

Cal Lane

Shane Waltener

Bennett Battaile

Niels Van Eijk

Henk Wolvers

Janet Echelman

Barbara Zucker (see her TED Talk here >>>)

After leaving my class I rode to Blick to try to get some plaster, or corn starch to try an experiment. Blick had plaster but no corn starch. I went to a Wallgreen’s I think and a guy told me that there’s corn starch at the Co-op.  “The what?” I asked him.. I had no idea what he was taking about. he gave me directions (just the next corner after the bank). I thanked him and went on my way.. Talk about a hole in the wall, but that opens up to a magical place if you ask me. I never knew this existed! There’s a cafe and seating as you enter, and a large grocery behind.. WOW!!! I thought.. this was a hidden gem! I got my corn starch, and some snacks (you know I can’t say no to snacks) and hit the road again… I had to go to the MIT Museum as there was a cocktail closing reception for an exhibition. My friend Mik had an installation there, so I went to support her..

The name of the exhibition was “Ways of Seeing.” This was Mik’s installation.. Beautiful I think!

There was also this cool piece I thought I would share with you… it’s a piece by Arthur Ganson from 1997 entitled “Cory’s Yellow Chair.”

You can see a YouTube vid here >>>

After it all, it was back to school. I was fabricating some pieces for another experiment.. hope it works out!

Yesterday I suggested we “Carry a message to Garcia!” Click on the link to read what I was referring to, in case you never read it… I found the piece a wonderful one! Thanks PHW.

And here’s a classic from one of my favorite couples, Grover & Madeline Kahn – Sing after me.

Have a great day!!

This work by Vernelle Noel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Photo Journal – Tuesday 17th April 2012

Oh what a beautiful day…

Today was part two of another beautiful weekend… I was stuck inside until 6pm or so working on two papers I was late on (a white paper on Spelke and a presentation on Gentner)… I was not happy about having to do this now… and tried my best to finish so I could grasp just a little bit of the beauty I was seeing and hearing outside… It was tough! But after finishing one and getting half of the way on another.. I decided to take in some fresh air, nice sun, relaxing warmth…

I had no clue where I should go or want to go… so I decided that I would ride in the direction of Harvard University a few minutes away… The sun was really bright as you can see..

Parked my bike at the Harvard GSD to begin my sauntering..

Memorial Hall at Harvard University

View of Gund Hall to the right

Memorial Hall

The sun was really bright!

View toward the Science Library..

I love the rhythm of the white baffles here..

Numerous people were out enjoying it all…

Nice yeh?!

Walking through the Harvard yard…

I like this shot..

I didn’t get to examine who this was a sculpture of…

Heading toward Massachusetts Ave.

Harvard Gate…

Mass Ave. at Harvard University…

This street artist was painting some pretty cool things with spray paint..

Harvard Square…

When I passed earlier there was a loooooooooooong line waiting for delicious frozen yogurt at Pinkberry. I am debating if I should have one, seeing that the line is a bit shorter now..

Should I….?

Should I….? or shouldn’t I?

I Should! inside of Pinkberry looking at kids and families eyes wide open wondering what to have and how delicious it will taste…

Kids are so excited…”what are you having?.. what am I having?”

I had a mango flavored frozen yogurt with mango slices, pineapple, and brownie bites… I have no clue why I chose brownie bites.. but it was good.

I wasn’t sure which photo would clearly explain the deliciousness of the yogurt, so I thought I would show another photo…

After enjoying my yogurt, I was walking about heading back home..

The Memorial Church at Harvard U

Another photo that I like…

Sunset…

Other shots of Memorial Hall.. I was trying different settings with my camera here..

Another test…

Another test of settings..

Today I encourage you to “Carry a message to Garcia!!”

Check the following:

MIT Completes the “Holy Grail of Hacks,” Turning the Green Building into a Game of Tetris.

This work by Vernelle Noel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Photo Journal – Monday 16th April 2012

Patriots’ Day & the Boston Marathon

Today was Patriots’ day in Massachusetts.. which is also the day on which the Boston Marathon is held. Unfortunately I didn’t get to look at this this year, but I hope to in 2013. I was up until 5am working on an assignment so that it could be cut and tested later on the evening.. Sorry Boston Marathoners…. Congrats to the Kenyans! it was a very hot day today, a beautiful day!! Just beautiful!! I could not stop smiling… grinning in fact. I had plans to meet a friend of mine for lunch today… Life could not be sweeter..

I cam outside and was in love with the breeze, the sun, the trees, the calm, the sounds of the birds, the doggies, and my faithful bicycle always ready, and waiting to be ridden.

Ain’t that a beaut!

Harvard Square… everyone is out, happy, smelling good, and enjoying the weather.. My friend and I head to a restaurant and order our lunch…

Mel had a salad (beautiful isn’t it!)… bright, healthy colors.

I had a sandwich.. I can’t remember what it was called… the corn threw me off… reminded me of school lunch or something, but it was delicious… There was corn, avocado, grilled chicken, on a nicely grilled bread… it was quite enjoyable. I am hardly ever able to finish my meals, and always have food leftover… to enjoy a couple hours later..

View from the park… green as green could be!

As I go thru the photos that I take, I realize for every photo, there are probably 10 that I forgot to take.. but that’s alright, it means I was pay attention to what I should have been paying attention to..

Some places in Cambridge reminds me of my good old stomping ground DC at times.. I miss DC!

This street called out to me… It’s lovely!

We went into this cafe for a smoothie… I enjoyed the very brightly colored the paintings on the wall… I had a berry smoothie… delish! Good to keep us cool while sauntering back to Central Sq.

I forgot to take a photo of  my Smoothie!

The colors of Spring and Summer… Mmmmm…

I saw this courtyard as we were walking..

Wow! That was quick, we’re on Prospect already!

Just a few shots of Central Square.. it is a nice place to be..

After such a wonderful afternoon, I went home to catch up some things before heading to school to cut my control study..

My study, exploration and search…

Finished – Mockup of design system complete for my team..

Working out a structural system for the main structure..

Using my mockup to inform what we do for the main Structure..

One of 4 or 5 systems we made that night… went home after midnight as usual… see you tomorrow.. PS. I have another day off tomorrow!! Yeehah!!!!

Have a great day!!

This work by Vernelle Noel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Photo Journal – Wednesday 11th April 2012

China Day at MIT

It’s almost time for my class this morning and here I am hoping to try to read and write a paper… I know it won’t happen…. but I HOPE..

It didn’t happen… I have to do this paper ..

Crossing Mass. Ave. to get lunch at the Student Center… It is quite a sunny day, but still a bit cold.

China Day?.. ok.. cool!

Writing students’ names in Chinese..

He is writing my name in Chinese… they had to think a little bit to get my name right…

Finished!

If anyone understands this, feel free to let me know if it’s correct.. 😉

Very correct analysis I will say….

Paintings… nice!

Is it going to eat me?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whew! Someone is in there.. I almost died for a minute…

Awesome sword!

Perfume bottle.. but the coolest thing ever is that the artwork you see there… is actually ON THE INSIDE OF THE BOTTLE. Great right?!

Wedding gown that is worn by the Chinese bride

Clothing donned by the Chinese groom..

Back to my office…

AHHHHH!!!! more dragons!!!!

What I bought for lunch… Stuffed shells (tasted like manicotti), and meatballs… I didn’t get time to cook.. so….

I didn’t get the opportunity to take much photos today… it is already night time. This is a result of an experiment I tried… using Grasshopper to try programming.. unsuccessful as we see… I will try something else again…

Have a wonderful day!!

This work by Vernelle Noel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Photo Journal – Sunday 8th April 2012

Today was pretty quiet.. school, study, getting groceries…

Riding to the grocery store…

Sometimes I come here, other times I go to Trader Joe’s and yet other times to WholeFoods.. it depends.

Mmmmm.. goodies!

Two of my favorite things to eat together.. Mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, basil, olive oil, salt, a little black pepper.. delicious!

My cart..

Unpacked at home..

Milk and yogurt… check! I have yogurt on the mornings that I have my “full service” class where we get donuts..

Vegetables…check!

Meats… check! Those sausages are delicious when cooked with peppers (green, yellow, red)…. and eaten with spaghetti… try it!

I bought this mainly for the bottle… I think it’s quite a nice bottle… Snacks.. check!

I felt signs of an approaching flu.. so I intend to deal with it before it deals with me…

I recorded this video below on Friday morning on my trip back from Atlanta… The sky was magnificent!

Have a great day friends!!

This work by Vernelle Noel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Photo Journal – Thursday 5th April 2012

Today I am heading off to Atlanta, Georgia for a Networking dinner… It is my first time in Atlanta and i hope to return one day to really spend time taking it in..

Off to the airport… Leaving cold Cambridge (Boston) heading to a much warmer Atlanta for an event….

In cab heading to Logan Airport

I LOVE traveling, but I HATE the hassle that’s now involved.. soon we may have to walk naked at airports.. It is so stressful… I miss the good old days of airports and air travel being fun, filled with family and waving galleries… Now it’s like seeing you off to prison..(not that I’ve ever been)..

I love the sun and the way the sun enters buildings… Oh what a beautiful morning!!!

Having my breakfast… A coconut coffee (I won’t be having that again), and chicken salad on a croissant… delish!

I really do love sunny weather, blue skies, and fluffy clouds… add traveling to that.. priceless!

Arrived at the  Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport… Lovely exhibition happening there.. fantastic stone work by the artists!

Look at that! WOW!

Beautiful..

Well done!

Great exhibition! Check it out here >>>

In cab from the airport heading to the hotel..

Inside of the Hyatt in Atlanta, GA. Nice.

I found the wall at the back of the reception desk an interesting one..

Heading up to my room…

My room…

I love hotels.. well the nice ones of course!

Ahhh… they get me every time with those sheets, the pillows.. it’s pure heaven!

It rained a bit but the temperature is wonderful!

Heading to Pascal’s where the dinner is being hosted

Arrived at Pascal’s. The hotel concierge told me they had great food! I can’t wait!

The event went off successfully! The food was delectable!

Got back into hotel room later on that night.. What a lovely view and a lovely night! I love to explore places at night.. I think the real character and beauty of a city or place comes out at night… or maybe I just love lights..

After taking these photos I took a stroll through the streets… and it was great! I have to read and write papers for tomorrow morning, and I leave early (7am) tomorrow morning… Yikes!

Have a great weekend friends!

MyThis work by Vernelle Noel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.