Jeremy – Page 55 – Jeremy Crandell

Quechua folding tent – the real world

September 25, 2008September 25, 2008
by Jeremy

So, I have this tent that I have temporarily inherited from my new dearest friends from Ireland and Spain. Part of the reason I have it is that we couldn’t figure out how to fold it up in time to meet a train, etc, so now it’s at my place. No problem! I’ll fold it! How hard can it be? It comes with instructions and Marisa even sent me a link to the manufacturer’s website that has a video that you can follow along from home. Um. Still not obvious. Wait, let me just show you:

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Not so smart

September 23, 2008October 12, 2008
by Jeremy

Today was to be the day I picked up my brand new smart car from the Mercedes dealer in SF. I BARTed over and on the walk to 8th & Bryant received this call:

smart: “Uh, Mr. Crandell? This is Mehdi from the smart center. We had you scheduled for a delivery meeting at 11am?”

me (a little breathless): “Yep, I should be there in about 10 minutes, running a few minutes behind.”

smart: “Yes, well, I’m sorry to say that Kristi had a little accident.”

me: “Oh, no, is she ok?”

smart: “Yes, yes, she’s fine, it was just a small accident.”

me: “Oh, good. Will someone else be able to help me with taking delivery of the car?”

smart: “Uh, well, she as driving your car when she had the accident…”

Oh. Great. Evidently the car was prepped and ready and had been driven off the dealership lot to have the tank topped off. On her return there was an accident. I think on the premises, on their own ramp. The car was unavailable for my inspection (at the repair facility already) but evidently only received scratches and a couple of dinks. Oh and the front suspension was hit hard. Now what?

They’re going to try and find another similar car or order a new one altogether. No real ETA at this time. Might happen faster if I’m flexible on color and options. Now I wait to hear back. They’re experiencing a 38% cancellation rate on pre-orders but the abandoned vehicles have been selling the same week so I may have a decent selection from which to consider.

Art

Joining the Switchback Sea

September 3, 2008
by Jeremy

Wilhelmina is here! A day late and a red eye flight later and I find myself on the Manhattan shores of the Hudson looking out at Kinetic Steamworks’ stern-wheel paddle boat, anchored and tied at Pier I, at the doorstep of Trump Towers. And not alone! She’s accompanied by three other decidedly rougher craft that have made the two week journey here down from Troy.

Grabbed a mocha and an apple crumble muffin at the foot of the pier after finally succeeding in convincing my cabby that I really could meet the boat on the Upper West Side.

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The Gate is open sigh

August 25, 2008
by Jeremy

…and now the perimeter around the Man base has been lowered. I guess this event is on.

For the first time I feel a sense of dread as Gate opens to the line of dim and distant headlights stretching out to Gerlach. It feels like the city is already populated enough and that it is about to be changed forever. Like it is every morning. But now, so much more so. I miss the relative solitude of being a single outpost on the Esplanade with nothing but the DPW Ghetto in hearing range. I know these next several days are going to probably going to fly past even faster than the past 10.

Burning Man

Stunning evening!

August 17, 2008August 18, 2008
by Jeremy

I wish I had taken a camera out.

After an unsatisfying meal at the Commissary, I returned home to find Eva and Hollis finishing cooking an amazing BBQ chicken dinner. And me too stuffed to participate.

I focussed on leveling the RV, tying down the shade structure to the RV, adding outdoor speakers to the shade area so that the music can be better enjoyed by those enjoying the shade, etc. And I added my silly blue ground effect LED lights under the RV.

Invited Eva and Hollis to hang out under the porch to watch an amazing full moon rise and lounge in chairs and hammock and listen to Thom Yorke followed by the new Underworld album. All so relaxing. We sort of mumbled to one another as we drifted away into half slumber. No breeze, maybe 75 degrees, slight cloud cover.

Of course, they rallied for bed and I headed to the Artery to write this. Wow! What a change in circumstances. In about 30 minutes the dead calm turned to 30 mph winds and intermittent whiteouts. By the time I rode my bike back home I found that the porch had lifted and dropped 3 out of 4 supports and was floating in the wind, threatening to take off. I brought Lampy’s trailer around to act as tie-down anchor and re-secured all four points. Seemed like that would do the trick.

I couldn’t light the hot water heater in the now gale force wind so elected for a refreshing cold shower and then to bed. Sort of. The wind was so strong that I couldn’t sleep as I kept awakening to what I feared was the porch flying away, tearing out its roof supports on the way. Not a great rest but much better than being in a tent.

Burning Man

Day of rest

August 17, 2008August 18, 2008
by Jeremy

Believe it or not most of DPW is taking the day off and other depts seem to be following suit. Not sure if this is actually a Sabbath observation or just that it’s been close to 104 degrees every day and everyone’s been working hard.

I was able to get all of the radios accounted for, cataloged, labeled, prepped for Artery operations and all tracked in my fancy new 3-ring binder that I hope to hand off successfully to Shift Leads next week. It would be really good for me to finally learn some basic MySQL/PHP coding so that I can throw all of this into a web-accessible database. Lisa has similar needs/issues in terms of tracking fuel disbursements. I think we all spend a disproportionate amount of time messing with Excel. Because it’s fast and easy!

Some GPS issues. Not sure if these are due to math, improper survey of perimeter fence or something with the Garmin eTrex Legend units. I thought this was all getting easier but now I think not.

Burning Man

Easy work

August 16, 2008August 18, 2008
by Jeremy

So, the first full day of Artery duties went super easy. The structure was already up. The office is not only up but has been properly connected to our properly sized generator pending grid power. All the radios were delivered and are (mostly) accounted for. I think I can figure out the two whose whereabouts aren’t immediately known.

Early Man burn is tonight: Otto has some new Durka-Durka Man (re: Trey & Matt) sculpture to torch for us.

Burning Man

On playa and Not Carp

August 15, 2008August 18, 2008
by Jeremy

Arrived alive and in time for dinner at the Commissary. A beautiful evening, perfect weather, only the slightest of breezes so no crazy whiteouts and the moonrise in full swing. Here’s the proof that Not Carp is happening:

Burning Man

Lampy refurb

August 12, 2008August 18, 2008
by Jeremy

Thank you, Michael Sturtz, for all of your dilligence in getting Lampy back in good working order. I was just looking for some help banging out the tail and fixing some broken welds that resulted in Dann Davis’ fateful Ramp of Death flight last year:

So, with a little work and a lot of skill, Michael whacked her back into shape, gave her a tune-up, determined the electric starter was a non-starter and re-worked the weed-burner flame effect. And the lights are working again!

Art

Oakland Art Murmur

August 1, 2008April 9, 2009
by Jeremy

Yep, we’re out on Robert Burke’s double-decker bus again, celebrating this month’s Art Murmur in Oakland. Great fun for the whole family! Amazing to see how many artists are out here working their heart’s out; makes one humble about one’s sense of community and scale.

Author: <span>Jeremy</span>