Donal Mountain

Japan for the first time

dm065 — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:48:49 +0000

Braden and I went to Japan to give a talk, do some work, and experience something of a new country. Leaving two weeks later we wondered why we’d ever panicked about surviving in a country where we knew no language and in a culture whose norms we were unfamiliar with. Japan is just about the friendliest country I’ve ever been to and I know I’ll be back again.

Camping in Big Sur

dm065 — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:27:49 +0000

Four years in

dm065 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:31:49 +0000

Above: The clouds above Dublin Airport as I waited to take off on my big move to California, four years ago.

Touring the Bay Bridge Construction site

dm065 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:25:28 +0000

Today Braden, Alex and I were lucky enough to join a tour of the new Bay Bridge construction site.

Andy And Ruth’s Wedding

dm065 — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:03:43 +0000

Jim and Ruth’s German wedding

dmountain — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 08:21:20 +0000

My brother got married today in Schönecken!

Snippets #4

dmountain — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:53:57 +0000

Finding the penguins
Talking with strangers
Shrieking from the back of a scooter
Holding on tight
Making plans
Making mistakes
Making up
Growing up
Doing a 1080º on the 101

Canoe Camping

dmountain — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:20:19 +0000

Lake Sonoma for a second weekend, but this time at canoe pace. We swam to submerged trees, cooked smores on a fire we lit with no matches and slept under shooting stars, keeping guard for the wild boars!

My photos on Flickr

Snippets #3

dmountain — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 23:58:47 +0000

How it’s difficult not to get nostalgic when doing something for the very last time, and how it’s difficult not to regret doing something for the last time without realizing that it would be the last time you do it.
Not noticing that I’m listening to an amazing album for the first time in mono because of a wonky headphone socket. Jiggling the socket and getting to listen to it for a second time in beautiful glorious stereo.
Wishing that I had a pair of glasses that somehow showed me the world in mirror image, so everything was familiar yet novel all at once.
Driving across the Bay Bridge with friends, watching the main suspension cable fall and rise again, with the foggy SF skyline behind.
That whenever I flick my camera to movie mode, magic seems to happen: swans, whitewater, ropeswings, tubes
Realizing that just because I put it on a to do list doesn’t mean it’s done (’star-and-forget)
Writing a best-man’s speech in German (I got a D in German language in school)
Thinking way too hard about how to organize bookmarks
Listening to the radio really carefully, hearing the edits
Planning a shopping trip to Amsterdam with my sister
Getting a mowhawk from Dave Young
Not getting too comfortable
The Google androids
Internalizing the cosmos
All the pretty girls
Reconnecting

Brett's Birthweekend

dmountain — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:00:12 +0000

Photos on Flickr

Ropeswing video on Flickr

Tubing video on Vimeo