Evan Rose
...was born in Dallas, Texas, traveled, lived in the Bay Area, DJed, studied architecture, collected furniture, played drums, and is now a web developer and IT consultant in New York City. Here's more.
Works
When I'm not working on mtv.com, I build web sites and web based applications for small businesses and individuals. I also help those businesses and individuals with their Macs and networks. Here's more.
Photographs
Wednesday February 3, 2010
Resolutions 2010 Part 3
Last year I got a good hard look at what was important and it seems like a lot of what I see on the computer isn't. I'm doing the same this year that I did last year, purging sites I read that no longer serve me. I've given up:
- Apartment Therapy: I love looking at domesticity porn but I just don't need any inspiration or envy anymore, same thing goes with Arch Daily
- MocoLoco and Advertising/Design Goodness: I've been reading both of these since the very beginning (the same with Apartment Therapy) but esign porn isn't doing much for me anymore either. If it's good enough, it'll cross my path at some point elsewhere.
- A Suitable Wardrobe: I know how to dress and it isn't like this, though I appreciate what I was able to take away while I followed it. Same thing goes for Permanent Style and English Cut
I'm pleased to be removing noise from my life that just stacks up - the red unread count badge on NetNewsWire getting larger and larger every day - and replacing it with time that can be more wisely spent doing almost anything else.
Wednesday January 27, 2010
Taking Back My Name
Yesterday, I noticed a surprising disturbing situation in Google's search results for my name. To fix that, which I did recently for a problem with old and outdated information using actual verifiable SEO techniques, I've gone through and plastered my name all over this site as well as others in an effort to make my name more "relevant" to myself and to others and to hopefully surpress tangential associations (which seem, at least to Google, to be more relevant than the links for other Evan Roses across the net!). To that end, I also added and changed some things across this site that needed a bit of attention.
Regarding this site and its associations and connections: for whatever silly reason, my RSS feed is no longer posting to my wall on facebook, hopefully because of a validation problem which has now been corrected. If it isn't, I'd chock it up to yet another Facebook Fail if it were easy to fix but they're good at hiding functionality that I know exists. Anyway, either way, I'll keep writing stuff and it will, every now and then, get read.
Monday January 25, 2010
Resolutions 2010 Part 2
The small resolutions I made before the New Year were silly and in fact, I didn't even try keeping the one I talked about the most: switching to decaf. I heard over and over that decaf coffee had 30% of the caffeine of regular but that's just not true! It says here on my container of Maxwell House Decaf Coffee that it's 99.7% caffeine free, so now I have a can of decaf coffee I don't want and can't take back. I like coffee and I like caffeine so therefore, I have kept drinking the three or so cups of coffee I drink per day. What's the big deal? I entered this year like a little baby; reborn, renewed, a man who can do whatever he wants, a non-smoker, one who already has a "dynamic practice" and exercise regimen of the type people usually try to start in the new year, a guy who's really got to reach to find a good New Year's resolution; I can drink coffee how I want, by god.
Regarding other resolutions: interestingly, I didn't notice it at the time, but when I made my big long list of things that happened in '09, I actually wrote something that didn't really happen but a record of a decision I made based on something that happened; a resolution, if you will. It's the only thing I wrote that wasn't in past tense. I'm not sure if that resolution was big or small (or if it was a resolution at all), but I mean to keep it.
Friday January 22, 2010
Resolutions 2010 Part 1
I thought for a long time about the resolutions I'd make in the new year, both big and small. The big ones are really big and have to do with recognizing and not repeating patterns and behavior I've perpetuated in the past - there's a big long list of those that I will endeavor to keep to myself and work on on my own, hopefully distilling them down to what is probably their common root. I'll just have to wait and see how that shakes out, but so far, so good. I have more to say about resolutions but will break up what I've written on the subject and put it up in easily digestible chunks over the next week or so.
Regarding last year's resolutions:
- I gave up those sites I used to read every day and this year, I gave up a few more
- I gave up giving up red meat after about a week and after losing a significant amount of weight. I need to eat red meat and I do so with gusto
- I gave up giving money away when I swore as I became more mindful of my language and the impact it has. My language affected my thinking which then affected my behavior which then affects my language, and so on. It has improved
- I kept a journal for the year and have continued to do so. I learned a great deal from reading over it and noting events and patterns both obvious and subtle. I plucked my recap of last year from my journal and I'm noting things as they're happening now (another example of improving mindfulness), wondering if they'll make it into next year's recap. I intend to read this year's journal month by month instead of waiting until the end of the year when it's too late
- I gave up the New York Times Magazine and still never got around to reading the ones I hadn't gotten around to reading. I did, however, start taking the New Yorker which might seem like a step back, but I find far it more satisfying, less expensive, and I don't feel the compulsion to read every issue cover to cover.
- I spent the money and got the furniture but not quite the furniture I'd planned, which is OK. I also put up the TV, had the shelves built, and then spent the last 3/4s of the year enjoying my home by myself
- I continued to not smoke. I continued to try to do things differently. I continued to improve
Parts of last year were better than any year that came before and I look forward to saying the same thing about this year, next year. For now though, I'm still taking a bit of time to look back while enjoying the present. (This January is blowing the doors off of the last one). Here's to 2010, again. I'm glad it's finally arrived and hope it stays a while.
Thursday January 14, 2010
Some Links and Commentary
A few things:
- Put pics of my boots on the Shoe Damage thread at Style Forum because I am a nerd. They are hot though, aren't they? More here
- Put up pics of myself and friends from the past two months on Flickr. I thought, there for a while, that I was slowly but surely losing them to neglect and is glad to be reminded that that is not the case. These are there in case I start thinking that again
- Read Time Out New York's Top 50 Movies of The Decade and though I usually agree with their taste and saw 29 of them (and have a couple more in my Netflix queue), but no Control? No Lust, Caution? And Friday Night at #10?! No way
- evanrose.net which you'll note, along with evanrose.org, redirects to evanrose.com as of just a week or two ago. I hope there's not another Evan Rose out there planning on getting famous
- Bed sharing [is] bad for your health. This was something that piqued my curiosity at some point in the past year and much discussion and thought was spent on it. This answer makes sense but then, it doesn't. I meant to ask some old people but never got around to it. How do they feel about cuddling?
- Brooklyn Playcations; they cherry-picked three past BBs filled with ideas for outdoor fun. The last of these shows a photo of the beach at Far Rockaway where I rode my bike this summer, which was fantastic
As always, there's more where that came from.
Tuesday January 12, 2010
Travel Plans
Every year, Kottke does his "year in cities" and I've done the same thing: 2005, 2006, and 2007/08. In '09, I spent most of my time in New York - Brooklyn, specifically - but unlike last year, I stayed in Manhattan and Queens on several occasions. I also went upstate to Beacon and Geneva. Perhaps Staten Island and The Bronx should go on my list this year. Closer by, I stayed in Scranton, Pennsylvania (near Sno Mountain, Wharton, NJ, and somewhere in the Berkshires. I also went to Dallas four times, Austin, DC and New Haven twice each, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Rome and Florence once each. I also went to Pisa, Hamden CT, New Canaan, CT and Bedford, NY, among others I now forget, but didn't stay the night. Last year, I said that I'd go to several places I didn't end up going: San Francisco, Hawaii, Kansas/Missouri, Spain and Argentina. I make no such promises this year but I will say that I'd like to go someplace tropical and I'd like to go back to Europe. I can make that happen. I'll keep you posted.
Tuesday January 5, 2010
2010
Happy New Year. Welcome to 2010 here at evanrose.com. I've just ended a degenerating six week stretch from the beginning of October until the middle of November, a rocky second half of November, an interesting and mind-expanding two weeks in Italy, a lovely but slightly complicated long weekend before Christmas, a Christmas during which, though spent with lovely people, I felt quite alone, and a busy and cathartic (not to mention spur of the moment) trip to Dallas during which I aired and gathered my thoughts and made some headway, with the help of dear friends, in processing everything that's gone on up until now. That's a lot of stuff. I've also looked back on the beginning of the decade (even though the decade didn't technically start until 2001) when I was writing on my old site. If you'd like to catch up with me, take a look at what I was doing ten years ago yesterday and ten years ago tomorrow as well as further before and after. I was, in addition to being a wreck who'd just attempted to quit smoking, a boy who hadn't started his career, hadn't made his move to California, hadn't yet had any significant relationship, who hadn't been through and started what he did in the summer of '03, who hadn't moved to New York, who hadn't become somewhat successful, and who hadn't reached adulthood and found a desire to start the next decade with a clear idea of the really big things he hopes will happen. I certainly didn't see any of *this* in my future then, and of course, I can't even begin to imagine the change I'll look back upon ten years from now. Whatever it is, I'm ready to leave a whole lot of things behind and am excited about what's yet to come.
Speaking of Italy and Dallas, I've put pictures from Rome up on Flickr and am planning on putting up a few from my recent trips upstate and to Dallas and I hope my friends who are suffering from Facebook over-exposure backlash won't mind! As always, I can be kept up with more closely there.
Thursday December 31, 2009
2009
Gave up red meat, began keeping a journal and gave away a quarter every time I swore
Celebrated a year without a cigarette
Had no heat and no hot water
Went to Pegu and Ñ
Saw Dr. Klein for the final time
Went to court
Stayed in Manhattan
Sebastian had a heart attack
Started eating red meat again
Reconnected with Erin
Saw an airplane in the Hudson
Went to Little Branch
Read Revolutionary Road
Watched Obama's inauguration
Had a lovely lunch at Say Cheese
Saw Garden of Earthly Delights
My old friend Joel died (more)
Went to Dallas
Reconnected with old friends Jayna and Kirk
Went to Joel's funeral
Erin came into town
Jason came into town
Celebrated Beer Table's one year anniversary
Saw Wicked
Had quite the lunch at Punch
Saw Murder by Death
Met Azure Dawn, Rob and Kelly's new addition
Went to Momofuku Milk Bar
Stayed in Pennsylvania and skied
Stayed in New Jersey
Got a big bonus
After long last, got a Laccio table
Stayed in Queens
Saw Andy Samberg on my floor at work
Stayed in the Berkshires in Massachusetts
Started getting Rolfed
Went to The Armory Show and the Pulse and Scope art fairs
Saw Becky Shaw
Read Sex Advice to All Creation
Read Broca's Brain
Got a lawyer
My roommate moved out
Celebrated 14 years, lost a friend, lost a client and had a lovely dinner at Franny's, all on the same day (more)
Lost another friend
Went to Brian and Ashley's annual spring party
Went to Dallas
Worked unsuccessfully on getting my Eagle Scout
Saw an owl in a tree
Went to John and Tasha's wedding
Went to York Street
Got my chip in person
Went to Austin
Larkin, Matt, Daria, Kristen, Nick and Allison came into town
Saw a friend perform with The Roots
Saw 60 dances in 60 minutes
Tammy and Steven came into town, saw Craig again, and met Angela, who became a good friend
Ate whiskey-bacon ice cream
Picked up my grandfather's watch
Saw Reasons to be Pretty
Went to the New York International Auto Show
Chris came into town
Went to Momofuku Ssam
Got a new guest bed
Got a new camera
Went to court again
Jayna came to visit
Went to the Russian Turkish Baths
Saw Marc Jacobs at a gallery
Went to Morimoto
Went to a party at Philip Glass's house
Went to White Star
Had a lovely brunch at Flatbush Farm outside on a gorgeous day
Went to Momofuku Ko
Bet on Mine that Bird, got interviewed, photographed and put on the internet on Derby Day
Sat and waited in the hospital
Bought a bike
Put up a pivotal blog post and then took it down
Sat and waited in the hospital, again
Dave came into town
Went to ICFF
Went to Adam and Alecia's wedding
Went to James for a birthday dinner
Avery, the best boss I've ever had, turned in his two week's notice
Had lunch in Bryant Park
Went to Water Taxi Beach
Moved all my money to Banc of America
Went to Milk and Honey
Went to a wedding on Saten Island
Went to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden
Attended my first graduation ceremony, had an inopportune encounter, and my iPhone crapped out, all on the same day
Went to the Meier Model Museum
Went to a party in the park, learned to hula-hoop, went to Don and Nikki Petersen's baby shower and saw Tortoise, all on the same day
Worked the MTV Movie Awards
Bought a new iPhone
Frances came into town
Evan came into town
Celebrated two years back at MTV
Discovered an absolutely incredible coincidence
Picked up my bicycle
Went to New Haven
Went to Pepe's
Watched Federer win the French Open
Laughed harder than I can ever recall having laughed before
Saw David Byrne play in Prospect Park
Had a dinner party
Got sued and my lawyer quit on the same day
Went to Flex Mussels
Gunnar came into town for his birthday and it was banananoodles
Read Ethan Frome
Babysat Brian and Ashley's Roomba and it unleashed mayhem on my apartment
Celebrated five years in New York City
Justin and Mary came into town
Rhiannon came into town
Read Anathem
Survived a round of layoffs
Returned my new iPhone for a newer iPhone
Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died on the same day
Went to the High Line
Saw Blond Redhead play in Prospect Park
Went to Vinegar Hill House
Went to another wedding
My mom came into town
Read Slash
Went to Lindsey and Anthony's Wedding
Had a surprise birthday party at Brian and Ashley's in which Justin and Trish were heavily involved
Went to Gramercy Tavern
Had the Bunny Stack at Hope and Anchor
Read The Quiet American
Rode to the beach in Far Rockaway
Julie Abby came into town
Had two bike accidents in one day
Saw Justin and Trish's new house
Got two gorgeous Mid-Century Modern dressers
Had a dinner party/book club meeting
Had dinner with two priests
Had shelves and my TV hung on my living room wall
Threw a dinner party for Brian, Ashley, Justin and Trish and made panna cotta
Dog-sat Luigi
Locked myself out of my apartment for the first time ever
Went to traffic and housing court on the same day
Genevieve came into town
Went to Weather Up
Played drums with Bennett
Got a library card
Read The North China Lover
Saw the new Beer Table space
Daria came into town
Went to Hotel Delmano
Successfully ended my legal battle with my landlord
Rolled three strikes in a row at Emily's birthday party
Gunnar came into town
Went to a get-together at Justin's
Went to Adam and Alecia's farewell party
Saw the awesomest bike accident ever
Turned myself on to MGMT, MSTRKRFT and Pivot
Read Drown
Went to Bennett's BBQ birthday party
Went to New Haven
Went to Philip Johnson's Glass House, Blue Hill Stone Barn, and Beacon on the same day
Played drums with Nick
John came into town
Gunnar came into town
Threw a dinner party for Lindsey and Anthony
Ran into Angela and Lisa from the Coffee Haus
Went to Justin and Trish's official house-warming party
Finished my ten session Rolfing cycle
Saw Pivot at Glasslands
Went to Washington DC
Went to The Gibson
Worked the VMAs
Read Meditations in an Emergency
Sam came into town
Saw Radiolab and They Might Be Giants at Water Taxi Beach
Wrote a check for $50,000.00
Went to Los Angeles
Saw architectural masterpieces
Saw Stephen and Carolyn
Went to Las Vegas
Ate Kangaroo meat
Saw my dad's friend Ron for the last time
Went to Dallas
Went to the State Fair of Texas and had fried butter
Went to Tei Tei
Got a $70 haircut
Saw John and Tasha's new house
Went to Austin
Saw Avery and Courtney
Went to Barton Springs
Attempted to maintain ties to my family
TSA lost my keys
Mary Chaney came into town
Read Love Begins in Winter
Went to Chrisman's birthday party at The Metropolitan
Went to a BBQ at Andy's
Lost a client and gained another client on the same day
Claire came into town
Wrote a lot of letters
Read Infinite Jest
Visited Paul Rudolph's townhouse
Went to Angela's Birthday party at Double Crown
Saw an apartment and thought about buying it
Went to 12% Imports first anniversary party
Got a new computer at work which took me out of commission for three days
My laundromat closed down
A little boy ostensibly flew away in a balloon
Went to Saul and Clover Club
Saw Set and Setting
Gunnar came into town
AAPL hit an all time high
Went to Blechtoberfest
Went to the place in Nolita I always see so crowded on weekends
Went to Broadway East
Went to Storm King
Got a check for $50,000.00
Daria and Ben came into town
Kirk came into town
Went to the Rose Club and The "21" Club
Watched season five of The Office as quickly as possible
Went as Beavis for Halloween
Started season three of Mad Men
Got my first flu shot
Heard Ron had died
My dad came into town
Went to DBGB
Gunnar came into town
Decided to buy a painting by Jenny Morgan
Stopped eating candy
Claire came into town
Ordered my first MTM suit
Bought Covet
Reached out to every friend I have
Susan L. turned in her two week's notice
Went to the artists' dinner at Like the Spice
Went to Patricia's dinner party
Resumed meditation practice
Went to Fonda
Had another bike accident
Tried to communicate differently
Heard a good friend and his wife were expecting
Made two pumpkin pies from scratch; one vegan and one standard
Celebrated Thanksgiving at Emily and Nabil's and Justin and Trish's
Started looking into buying the apartment on Prospect Park Southwest
Took a lot of baths
Daria and Ben came into town
Tried out for Set and Setting
Celebrated my third year of being in my apartment
Went to Florence, Italy, via Rome
Went to Il Santo Bevitore
Reconnected with Simona
Went to Pisa
Went to Rome
Behaved like an adult and gained some perspective
Learned that my memory wasn't nearly as good as I thought it was
Jayna came into town
Jason came into town
It snowed a foot
Went to The Vanderbilt
Finally got used to the crazy coincidences
Renewed my MoMA membership
Smashed my iPhone screen
Went to what turned out to be an engagement and going away party at Craig and Angela's
Went to Geneva, NY, via Syracuse
Heard someone I knew on Radiolab
Rode my bike for the last time this year
Finished transcribing my journal from paper to digital
Read it and made a list of the significant things that happened during the year
Realized I should have started reading it earlier and more often because I missed a lot
Subscribed to the New Yorker
Went to Dallas on a whim
Saw Alex Maas from The Black Angels, among others
Made New Year's resolutions
Ran out 2009 at a dinner party with old friends
Was glad 2009 was over and that 2010 was about to begin*
Thursday December 24, 2009
More Florence and a Happy Holiday to You
I put up the first round of pictures of my recent trip to Italy on Flickr. Check out the Florence and Pisa set here. Pictures of Rome and all the fun stuff that's happened since - Jayna and Jason in town, get-togethers with various people at various places and more - are going to have to wait. I've got too many year end things to do to mess around with my pictures right now!
I do want to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and hope you are with your families, friends or significant-others, well and happy. I am on my way upstate to spend Christmas with Jason and his family whose invitation I appreciates so much, though I'm still sometimes sad that I didn't get to carry out all the plans I initially made for the holiday - everything from the Mandarin to McDonald's. It will be lovely though and I will inevitably have a good time. I will continue to have a good time at least up through New Year's Day, a day I am looking forward to so much! Great big changes are coming and I am ready!
Friday December 18, 2009
Florence
If you've been following along, I posted tons of pics of my trip to Italy as well as some notes and observations on my Facebook page. In looking through my photos of the first half of my two weeks in Italy which was spent in Florence, I was reminded of some observations I was able to make before I went to Rome and getting all distracted.
- I don't take very good photos, but what I lack in quality, I make up with quantity. I'll be posting pics soon.
- There are a million bikes and often, when they're parked, they're just locked to themselves. Here in New York, if part of your bike is not locked to something else, that part will get taken, if not your whole bike.
- There is a ton of graffiti, both in Florence and in Rome and some of the writers are amazingly prolific. The economy there is really bad so they probably have nothing better to do.
- Cars are tiny there. They've got a miniature Volkswagen Golf called a Polo. They've got an A class Mercedes that's about the same size. They've got these cars that are so small they've got motorcycle engines in them, can be backed up perpendicular to parallel parked cars, and can be driven without a driver's license. All of these cars are smaller than Smart Cars and are also smaller than the ubiquitous scooters.
- There are, only in Florence as far as I know, locks in groups with writing on them, huge numbers of them in some cases, all locked to something or to each other, perhaps in lieu of carving hearts with initials in them. I have a great photo of a million locks locked to a sign saying not to lock locks to the sign
Florence was quiet and lovely and I'm glad I spent the week there I did before going to Rome. It worked out so well it was spooky. More on the trip later but for now, know that it was cathartic, mind-expanding, and exactly what I needed, just like the last time.