Art in Life

Friends ask me, are you doing Art?  I see Art these days from the corner of my eye, as it darts, streaks, comet like. My little one:

• I showed her a Charlie Chaplain film and she said, "Buster Keaton is better, Daddy", and settled a longstanding open question.
• She called me once during work and said, "I saw the Girl with Pearl Earring, Daddy", meaning the puristic painting, not the book or movie. 
• She watched a street drummer in SF and said, "He is not good Daddy, he doesnt sweat like Satchmo", because I told her, you have to sweat to do great. 
• She recognized the Joan Miro in de Young and said, "Woman!". 

Research Days

Nisheeth Vishnoi, (whenever I see him, I am reminded that thoughts --- do and have to --- run ultra deep in research), is organizing this year's Research Day at EPFL, Lausanne, June 30, poster on the left.

Few Good Lines

Over the past few weeks, people asked me for few lines on ...

• The best line from a movie, "Boards don't hit back". 
• On Valentines': every time I would buy coffee beans,  I would buy a  new kind and I would come downstairs in the morning, grind them, make myself a cup, make sure it tasted ok, before the rest of the family woke up. 
• On Family: Spending 3 hrs washing, wiping, drying and transporting $100 IKEA wood tiles, doing it together as a family. 
• On Being a Parent: When you are any fraction x into the hike, be prepared for the remaining 1-x, to carry the food, drink, jackets, and her scooter on your back, and your kid on your shoulder while she sings "Let it go". 

Weekend Update

What was my saturday like? I made myself some black coffee and pancakes. I couldnt bring myself to read the news, far too many unfolding events in the world had the potential to distract me. Instead, I washed, sanded and primed the roughly 50ft X 5 ft fence. I needed something on the sidewalk to catch the drips and decided to buy a weekend WSJ. And while I may have been Tom and the art of painting is a lustrous seductive, no neighbors volunteered to swap their treasures for my brush. And when I was done, I cleaned up with thinners, choosing to leave some white primer on my beard, which no one noticed.