Version 3 is up!

After several edits and re-designs I have finally uploaded the new design to a lesser evil production. Check it out! www.alesserevil.com

Home - a cleaner, more readable look. Plus a listing of Today's Specials. Prices may very.
Information - with links to this blog, favorite Web sites, my email and a little history of a lesser evil production.
Photography - up and running much like the previous version.
Design - a totally new section devoted to what I do on a regular basis: design stuff.

Updates already in the works include original sketches added to the design page and a new photographs.

Labor Day weekend 2008: Dave Matthews Band

The week of my Cousin Kelly’s tragic accident I meet a wonderful family and new friends; the Rinaldo’s (Gavin Rinaldo was my cousin’s boyfriend) They’re good people and I will forever consider them apart of my family.
Vito Rinaldo, Gavin’s father, is a huge fan of the Dave Matthews Band. I kid you not that he wore a DMB shirt every single day I was there. Towards the end of the week I found out the he and his beautiful daughter, Gillian, would be traveling to Gorge, WA to see DMB play Labor Day weekend. I’ve never been to the Gorge nor have I ever really been to a major concert before and when this opportunity came up I didn’t hesitate.
With the concert about a month away there was no way for me to get tickets or camping passes on my own. Most of these were being sold a year in advance. Fortunately, Vito belongs to the major DMB fan club called the Warehouse. Through his connections there I was able to get some good seats that normally I wouldn’t have access to.
The weekend was a blast! I took off of work early on Thursday, ran a few errands and then started the 5 hour drive (I hit traffic leaving Portland) to the Gorge. We camped at the Wild Horse Campground with about 300 Vito’s friends, all Warehouse members. DMB played Friday, Saturday and Sunday night and we spent the every day drinking and goofing off.
I was bummed that Gavin wasn’t able to make the concert due to an overbearing Soccer coach. A lot of the people I met, mostly Warehouse members, asked about him. The only other down side to the whole weekend was that Gillian and I got sick; I came home with a head cold and she brought and ear infection with her that just got worse. “She got Ebola!” her joke not mine :)

FLUGTAG!

I know you're thinking WTF but it's an event. A big event. 80 thousand people were reported at the 2008 Flugtag in Portland, Oregon. It's was entertaining to watch these people and there crafts sail of the edge of a pier built at Waterfront Park but the crowds were such that I couldn't get close to the action.


Flugtag is German for "Day of Flight" encase you were wondering.

Kelly Rose Cortesi

May 30, 1992 - July 23, 2008

I wrote earlier this year about my grandfather's passing and how I was unable to make it to the funeral. His death hurt but was expected because of his health and age. He lived a long and full life. The tragedy of loosing my younger cousin last week is still, and will remain for some time, a complete shock.

My family received the call of the accident on Sunday, July 20th. A half a day had not even passed and I was on a plane from Portland to New York to be there for her at the hospital. She spent several days in the hospital on assisted breathing allowing family and many friends to come buy to wish her well. The hospital was wonderful in the care they gave Kelly, her family and friends.

However her injuries were few but great.

A beautiful wake was held on Friday where several hundred mourners came to pay their respects. A celebration of her life was held on Saturday with slides and prints and stories and song were all dedicated to the spirit of Kelly's short but wonderful life.

Below is her obituary as published on July 26th at LoHud.com, New York's Lower Hudson News.

Kelly Rose Cortesi, an athlete, musician, dancer and honor roll student, died Wednesday following a fall from a cliff in Bear Mountain State Park. She was 16. At Putnam Valley High School, where she was to be a junior in September, Kelly was known for her hearty laugh and her ability to forge strong friendships. She played oboe in the high school band and studied piano for several years. She played on the Putnam Valley High School field hockey team and was a runner and hurdler on the Putnam Valley High School track team. She participated in the YMCA Camp Combe leadership club where she was a counselor this summer as well as a junior counselor last summer. She had also obtained her life guard certification for use at the camp. She was an avid Irish step dancer, having studied and performed since she was six, most recently with the Kelly-Oster School of Irish Dance in Brewster. She also had a keen interest in outdoor activities such as hiking, back-packing, snow and water skiing, and bicycling. She is survived by her parents, Mary and Allan Cortesi, both of Putnam Valley; her brother, Kyle; her grandparents Yvonne and Charles Cortesi of Red Hook, NY, and Ginny and Herb Herbig of Yellow Bay, MT, as well as a plethora of aunts, uncles and cousins. A wake will be held Friday July 25 from 2 to 9 PM at Heritage Funeral Home, 35 Morrissey Dr, Putnam Valley. In lieu of flowers, the family plans to set up a scholarship fund in memory of Kelly.

A celebration of her life...a tribute to her spirit.

A special Thank You to all those who helped the family out during this past week.

My Uncle turns 50

Below is the email I sent our for my Uncle's 50th birthday describing what I did to celebrate. This was so much fun it may become tradition!

I wanted to do something special for Doug's 50th birthday
and so I made him a cupcake.





And got some candles; lots of candles. I had to buy three packs.





It's a very nice birthday cupcake for my Uncle.





Hmmm... that is a lot of candles.



I decided to go outsid just to be safe.



Oh my, that is a lot of candles.






HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY DOUG!


~ M@ ~

Holding On

I’ve been meaning to write about this one for a while now.

About a month ago I bought a large Lego set, the Green Grocer, with no intension of building it that day. For those who know me this probably sounds absolutely impossible and in most case this would be true. I bought the Lego set as motivation.

The idea was to cover the box with post-its with tasks that I needed to complete. Every time I completed a task I’d remove a note. Tasks like “Apply for Job”; “Find Apartment”; “Clean the Car” and other stuff of that nature. Some of the notes were duplicated if I needed to and others were added as time went on.

So far so good but damn that set is taunting me every day with tasks I have yet to complete.

Welcome to the 21st Century, Matt.

I’ve been avoiding getting a cell phone for as long as I possibly could. But now that I’m about to move into a new place here in Portland I figured I join the rest of the masses.

That and the new place won’t have a land line.

For many years I have avoided getting a cell phone for a variety of reasons. My biggest reason/excuse was I never really used the phone all that much. Those who needed to get a hold of me could call my home or office and if I wasn’t there, they’d leave me a message.

Another reason was the thought of people calling me at any time kind of bugged me a little. I know I could just shut the phone off or put it on silence but sometimes I just like not being reachable. Selfish, I know, and in the case of emergency I’d be totally screwed but I wasn’t thinking about that.

I shouldn’t say that I’ve never had a cell phone because that’s not true. I did have one for the year I lived in Hawaii because owning a land line there was expensive. My girlfriend at the time carried it around with her so it wasn’t like I really had a cell phone. I just used it to call family every now and again.

I also bought one of those pre-paid phones last year for when I moved down from Fairbanks, Alaska to Portland, Oregon. That one was just to keep my family updated on my progress and in case of emergency which I never needed. I did lock my self out of the car in Canada while it was snowing but a trooper stopped not five minutes later.

Another reason I didn’t want a cell phone was because I didn’t want/need all the extra gadgets and gizmos that come with cell phones. If it made and received calls I’d be happy. Picture would be a bonus but that’s it. But now-a-days even the most basic of cell phones connect to the internet, play music, record movies and other magical things of that nature.

I’ve been avoiding the inevitable for as long as could; I now own a cell phone with all the bells and whistles. Last night I probably spent a few hours playing with all the functions and downloading other features and ring tones.

That’s my sell out story – What’s yours?

Milestone

About a month ago I decided to get my act together and run in the mornings. It was nice but hard to do since I haven’t run like that in a long time. I had only done a couple of morning runs when my aunt suggested that I sign up for the Shamrock Run on March 16.

There was a 5K, three waves of 8K and the 15K race to sign up for. I’ve never done an organized run before and only had about two weeks to get ready so I signed up for the shorter of the three. I use to run a 5K everyday for soccer practice and I knew I could finish the 5K without killing myself.

Of course that was in high school 8 years ago.

I had a blast on race day. 16000 runners crowded downtown Portland and that’s not counting the volunteers and spectators. After the race, there was free beer and clam chowder for those who ran but there was a million other things going on as well.

It was a quick race and I kept my pace as well as I could. I finished in 27:05 which wasn’t to shabby for not having run like that in a long time and only two weeks of prep. But now I have a base time to compare future runs to which I plan on doing. Eventually I would like to participate in a triathlon but that’s not for awhile.

Kenneth C. Walker

I've never been to a funeral. Few members of my family have passed away during my life time and those who have I never spent as much time with as would have liked.

My grandfather passed away late last week and I was unable to make it to the funeral in New York. I figured I could best honor him by re-publishing his obituary within my own blog.

~ For my grandfather ~

ONEONTA- Kenneth C. Walker, 82, of Oneonta, passed away Saturday, March 8, 2008, at the A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital in Oneonta, with his loving family by his side.
He was born Nov. 24, 1925, in Waterville, the son of George and Georgianna (Lux) Walker. He married Shirley Jeffers on Dec. 10, 1966, at the First United Methodist Church in Oneonta.
Ken served in the United States Navy during World War II, and was honorably discharged as a radioman 2nd class.
For a period of 35 years, retiring in 1986, Ken worked in the UC&M division for NYSEG in Oneonta. Ken was also a former part-time greeter with the Lester R. Grummons Funeral Home.
He was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Oneonta, also a 61-year member of the American Legion and a member of the Oneonta American Legion Post 259 in Oneonta. Ken was the second-oldest living past commander at Oneonta Post 259, a former director for many years, and served in any capacity required of him for the Oneonta Legion. He was a past commander of Morris American Legion Post 1135.
He was a member of the Oneonta Elks BPOE 1312, the Quarter Century Club and the Woodhaven Golf Course.
He loved watching his grandchildren participating in all types of sports and enjoyed gardening. He also enjoyed traveling abroad with his wife to various vacation spots.
In his earlier years, he enjoyed bowling. He was an avid Boston Red Sox and New York Giants fan.
He is survived by his wife of 41 years, Shirley Walker, of Oneonta; his children, Sharon Walker, of Oneonta, Steve Walker, of Anchorage, Alaska, Connie Shea, of Guilderland, John (Christy) Walker, of Afton, Doug (Sue) Payton, of Oneonta, and Lori (Mike) Benjamin, of Hyde Park. He is also survived by a brother, Harold (Mary) Walker, of Whitesboro; and by his grandchildren, Michael, Brad, Natalie, Jessica, Matt W., Luke, Nate, Katie, Matt P., Ben, Andrew, Zachary, Jake and Ryan. And great-grandchildren, Nicholas, Ethan, Alex and Chase; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.
Besides his parents; he was predeceased by a brother, Robert Walker; and his first wife, Norma (Colburn) Walker.
A funeral service will be offered at 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 11, at the Lester R. Grummons Funeral Home, 14 Grand St., Oneonta, with the Rev. Kenneth Baldwin officiating. An American Legion service will be conducted at noon. Friends may call from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 11, at the funeral home before the service. The family will be in attendance.
Burial will be in the spring in Glenwood Cemetery with military honors.
Memorial contributions, in lieu of flowers, may be made to the Oneonta Little League, PO Box 542, Oneonta, NY 13820, the Oneonta American Legion Post 259, 279 Chestnut St., Oneonta, NY 13820, or to the American Heart Association, PO Box 3049, Syracuse, NY 13220-3049.
Arrangements are by the Lester R. Grummons Funeral Home, Oneonta.
Published in The Daily Star from 3/10/2008 - 3/11/2008.

The Perks

Last weekend, my Aunt’s Fiancée’s daughter came to visit and on Sunday we showed her around the Nike Campus and shopped at the Employee Store. I didn’t go with the intension of buying anything but I couldn’t resist what I found.
The store carries (of course) Nike products including the iPod products to go with your Nike+ shoes. It also carries the affiliates like Cole Haan, Hurley and Converse. Within the vast rows and rows of shoes, I found these sweet sneakers: Converse Double Uppers Sci-Fi Limited Editions. Luckily one of the two pairs still on the shelf was my size.

I may not officially be a Nike Employee (not yet anyways) but I do enjoy some of the perks.

Flash Games

Apparently I’ve been holding out on too many people so here are those games I’ve been talking about. I believe a re-design to alesserevil.com will be coming within the month.

Play Dave's Adventure Escape from Suburbia

Play Trial By Fire

It helps to have the input so please tell me what you think.

Update: Dave

About a month ago I posted “Great News!” and now I would like to add an update: Dave sucks.
After I had finished Dave’s Adventure Escape from Suburbia I let a few people play it. The consensus was unanimous, “Why am I playing this?” If you were not into the game, it became very tedious and boring. Overall the game was too difficult for some and too long for the simplicity of the tasks; Collecting the keys and figuring out the sewer path and than trying to get the code. I created the game and it still took me 10 minutes to just to collect all the keys.
No big deal, I wasn’t really ready for Dave to be published anyways and I’m not scrapping Dave’s Adventure. Someday I would like to get a playable version (that doesn’t suck) published but for now, Dave and his Adventures will have to wait.

Winter?

Allow me to quote the local weather man; “Nordic Blast 2008!” This winter has been just too funny for me.
It snowed today in the hills around Portland and by “snowed” I mean a layer of ice under and a crunchy flakey icy substance that resembles snow. I took the dog out first thing in the morning and I found the light layer of snow covered the thin ice. Most of the neighborhood was like this.
The drive into work this morning was slow at first. The thin layer of winter made most of the drivers drive extra slow which was a good thing but in truth they were overly cautious. The snow and ice was chunky and made for decent traction on straight stretches of the road until you reached an intersection.
As most winter drivers know, the stopped vehicles’ exhaust will warm the icy road and when temperatures are right, the road freezes back into a thinner slicker layer of ice; kind of a Zambonied effect. This was entertaining me as I followed a large truck who inched his way through a few intersections. I watched him slip and slide despite his good tires which made me smile because my tires are very bald right now and I didn’t slip at all.
I only saw one stuck car on the way in to work today. I think it was stuck or maybe it had slid off the road I couldn’t tell. I noticed the car at one of the intersections I stop at in my neighborhood. The car was at in a round–about with a cop flashing his lights (probably what I noticed first) already pulled in behind the car. This was a good thing for such “lousy driving conditions” only because it blocked the usual flow of traffic coming form that direction in the morning.
As I drove in this morning the condition slowly became drier and easier for others to handle. On days like this I think about the driving conditions I use to have to deal with and smile.

Great news!

I’ve completed* a version of Dave’s Adventure! Dave’s Adventure: Escape from Suburbia will be available online here and at alesserevil.com as soon as I can.

The Dave’s Adventure series was started during the summer of 2006. I wanted to design a game similar to that of Nintendo’s Zelda series with the main character exploring a large world, solving puzzles and finding secrets to eventually beat the game. Because Dave was my first attempt at this style of gaming I know that I would never reach that level of complexity or popularity but I wanted a similar series of my own.
My first attempt was foiled by a computer failure. Despite that set back I had learned a lot about how to program movement and simple character animation. The next version became to complex for me to finish. I was using similar ideas from the first one but soon realized this second version was becoming too much for my ability at the time. Even after programming difficulties and a computer failure, I never gave up trying to program a working game.
In September of 2007, I started work on the third version by coming up with a simple story. I scaled down the size and simplified certain programming issues which allowed me not to worry so much about the over all production and fix the minor problems that would arise. With everything working so well I knew I could finish this version of Dave’s Adventure.
And now I have.

Dave’s Adventure: Escape from Suburbia, brings Dave to the middle of what seems like an endless suburban neighborhood. In order to free himself from the monotony, Dave must find the missing Keys and Map Pieces to unlock and find the Secret Door. The following misleading labyrinth of Tunnels will guide Dave to the Hidden Temple where a Coded Mural awaits to be unlocked.

~

* The game is complete however I have a zillion ideas of extra things I would love to put in the game. I’ve decided to stop editing this version instead of taking another couple of weeks to add them. Perhaps following versions will be more elaborate as I perfect my programming skills and knowledge.

New Posts for the New Year

I know I promised last year to make more of an effort to keep this blog up to date and this past month has been difficult. Hopefully now with a more regular schedule I will be able to keep up with things this year.

A rollercoaster comes to mind when I think of this past year and this new one isn’t going to be any different. This year is staring of with some new things; a new home in Portland and a new job at Nike. I’m very excited about what other new things are in store for me.
My position at Nike is nothing fancy. I’m a Booking Specialist for Conference Room Scheduling in the Tiger Woods Center. I basically book meeting rooms for the entire Nike campus here at the World Head Quarters (WHQ). With 7,000 employees they need a small department of people dedicated to scheduling and keeping track of all the available meeting space.
I actually don’t work for Nike. I work for a staffing company that supports Nike but for right now it’s a foot in the door. This position will last until June or July depending on the schedule of the gal I’m filling in for who will be taking maternity leave soon. Until then I will be at Nike and hopefully this will lead to a more permanent job here at Nike WHQ.