Less than a week from today the gates of Black Rock City officially swing open, and despite our minor setback, Camp Nomadia will be there in style.

We have overcome our lack of "official" placement, and instead have teamed up with Pandora's Lounge & Fix-It Shop, and will be sharing in their primo placement at 6:00 & DNA - right behind center camp!

The mission of Camp Nomadia:

Camp Nomadia is a place where we take the 'Welcome Home!' greeting to a whole other level. We are building a neighborhood for folks who are just passing through Burning Man as part of their normal traveling lifestyle, and not as a break from fixed life in one location. Our vision is to camp and interact with other cool nomadic spirits - sharing stories, resources, and our passion for our chosen lifestyle.

Camp Nomadia Events:

Day	Time	Event	Description
Tuesday	4-6pm	Nomadic Happy Hour	Casual mix and mingle with nomads from across the playa. Bring food or beverage to share, and prepare to inspire and be inspired!
Thursday	3-4pm	Technomadic Lifestyle Workshop	The technomads, Chris (Seeder) and Cherie (Serolynne), will present on how to live, work and play full time on the road. From picking your ideal mobile arsenal, finding location independent professions to the logistics of handling taxes, mail and more. Stick around afterwards for Q&A and Nomadic Happy Hour...
Thursday	4-6pm	Nomadic Happy Hour	Casual mix and mingle with nomads from across the playa. Bring food or beverage to share, and prepare to inspire and be inspired!
Sunday	3-5pm	Nomadic Happy Hour	Casual mix and mingle with nomads from across the playa. Bring food or beverage to share, and prepare to inspire and be inspired! (If Pandora's has started taking their lounge down, we'll host this at our nearby Oliver trailer...)

We will be hosting all of our events in Pandora's Lounge (6:00 & DNA), and all are welcome.

Speaking of the lounge, Camp Nomadia is sharing in Pandora's fully stocked camp bar and shady lounge area, so if you are going to Burning Man this year you have plenty of good reasons to come stop by and say hello even outside of our official events. Stop in on your way to or from Center Camp, or to take advantage of the bike and costume repair services in the Fix-It Shop.

I am really excited to be camped so close to the center of it all. In typical playa fashion, things have worked out perfectly. And we have an incredible group of nomads and friends from all around the world coming together to camp with us. This year is going to be great indeed!

See you out there!

Today is "No Spectators Day" - a Burning Man inspired day for community involvement and art. BM.org even managed to get the day officially recognized by Mayoral Proclamation in San Francisco, and there are burner organized park cleanups and events going on around the country.

"On July 31st everyone is a Participant!"

Which makes it a particularly ironic day for Burning Man to send out notice to Camp Nomadia and 130 other organized theme camps to tell them that there is no room to place them on the playa this year.

The size of Black Rock City is shrinking (back to the layout from 2007), but there are more theme camps than ever wanting to contribute to the city. But rather than expand the size of the theme camp area relative to the rest of the city, BM.org has scaled it way back from last year.

According to the email that BM.org sent out, 130 out of the 685 applications this year were rejected - while last year all but 16 were approved.

I guess they need more space for spectators - participants who have spent nearly a year planning be damned.

Of course Camp Nomadia can (and will) still happen. But without a known address or an ability to get in early for setup, our planned interactivity will be significantly curtailed.

This is a harsh message to get on "no spectators day"...

*grrrr*

For years I have been itching to take on leading a Burning Man art project.

This year, I aim to make it happen.

Here is my vision for 2009 (art theme - "Evolution"):

Evolutionary Perspectives - The Time Mirror
Evolution happens unseen.

The patterns of the past shape the present, but some threads die while others thrive. It is only with the benefit of hindsight that we can even begin to understand how we arrived at the present moment, and only with that understanding we can begin to glimpse where we are heading.

But hindsight is imperfect. It is at best a blurry reflection of the past, colored by our present realities.

What if we had a magic mirror that could stop time, and rewind it?

Not to change the past, but to understand it. To gain perspective on the evolutionary forces that brought us to where we are today – with the hope of a better understanding of the future…

The Evolutionary Perspectives project will offer the citizens of Black Rock City the power to rewind time via a combination of technology, art, and magic.

In its simplest form, the project consists of a high resolution projection screen which in its default state acts as a mirror, showing a live view looking back from a camera mounted above the ornate frame.

Mounted on a pedestal a short distance in front of the screen there is a beautifully sculptured wheel, rotating slowly clockwise as time passes.

Upon arriving at the Evolutionary Perspectives installation, BRC citizens will see themselves on the screen as they curiously approach. Until someone touches the wheel, stopping it, freezing the image on the screen as if freezing time itself.

Now time itself has become interactive.

Spinning the wheel, the participant can move backward in time – watching his or her own arrival. As the wheel spins further back into time, the pace of change accelerates. Other participants come and go. The sun rises and sets. Dust storms blow past. And a city rises from the vast emptiness of a desert.

If the wheel is spun quickly, the entire history of Black Rock City can flash by in less than a minute.

If the wheel is left idle, it will start spinning clockwise again – and the passage of time will accelerate back until the mirror is once again reflecting the near present – showing the participants just moments ago what they looked like as they were looking into the past.

I am writing an art grant proposal right now - they are due by the end of the day tomorrow.

Depending on if I get selected for funding, and how much, the project can scale from being a kiosk in center camp on up to a large playa installation featuring multiple "perspectives" provided by cameras located at various locations around the city. If I get the funding, I am even contemplating a solar powered wireless remote camera mounted on the mountains overlooking Black Rock City that could give an overview of the evolution of the whole city.

If anyone feels called to be a part of this project, let me know.

Suggestions and ideas of any sort are appreciated.

After waiting several hours in a long slow (but thankfully virtual) line, serolynne and I have purchased our tickets for Burning Man 2009.

I am really excited about the theme this year.

Evolution.

Now adrift in our own gene pool, we have encountered a new phase of evolution. We've become a conscious breed of culture-bearing animals. Black Rock City is a kind of Petri dish, and Burning Man is an experiment in generating culture. We've learned that culture's a spontaneous phenomenon. It thrives as a result of numberless and unplanned interactions. All that's really needed is a fitting social vessel to sustain it. This happens best within communities that harbor many different modes of self-expression. We've also learned that cultures effloresce when human beings feel free to offer up their gifts.

Our theme this year prompts three related questions: What are we as human beings, where have we come from, and how may we adapt to meet an ever-changing world?

Camp Nomadia will return for sure this year. Now I need to decide just how strongly I feel called to create my own major art project for the first time...

We're camped tonight at an RV park in Reno - topping off our tanks and batteries before heading out into the deep desert for ten days.

We did most of our provisioning earlier this evening at the Save Mart on Keystone Ave in downtown Reno, and in doing so we got a glimpse into how much Burning Man has impacted mainstream Reno businesses.

For example - Save Mart normally closes at 1AM, but for Burning Man they are going to a 24/7 schedule. They have set up an entire section of their parking lot with pallets of water and other supplies for sale - and to encourage less plastic and packaging they have started selling bulk water and giant potable water drums.

Among the many product shifts, they've placed special orders to stock a wide variety of beers in recyclable and compressable cans - instead of the more typical glass bottles. And of course - it is extremely cool to be able to buy EL-Wire and desert dust goggles at a grocery store.

After Burning Man, Save Mart will be turning its parking lot into a 24/7 recycling drop off center too. And not just this one grocery store - but six others in the Reno area are setting up recycling centers and are making a similar extra effort to embrace the Burning Man community.

I am thrilled to see the raised consciousness around recycling from last year's "Green Man" has stuck.

The night manager at Save Mart saw us shopping, and came up and asked if we were heading to Burning Man. Once we replied yes, she excitedly opened up - telling us stories of other camps she has helped, and how Burning Man gifts their store with a few tickets each year and how she is really hoping to manage to snag one of them this year to go for the first time.

Her excitement and enthusiasm was contagious, and made the provisioning run into one of the most pleasurable grocery trips I have ever had. Burning Man seems to have that effect on people.

One of the best things about Burning Man is how it is not just confined to the Black Rock Desert. The ripples and inspiration radiate outward in a way that touches so many people that it is impossible to quantify.

I'm sure that there are dozens of events that have a larger economic and crowd influx on Reno, but I wonder if any of them actually have had the same sort of deep impact that it feels like Burning Man encourages?

In the morning we will be wrapping up the last of our pre-playa chores. The desert awaits...

Camp Nomadia is rapidly coming together, and serolynne and I will be headed out to the playa in just a few days - stopping in Reno Thursday night and arriving in Black Rock City on Friday.

The man burns in just 10 days!

CAMP NOMADIA LOCATION:
We are located this year at 4:30 & Edsel. If you are going to be in Black Rock City this year, come by and say hello. Our new Oliver should be parked close to the street and it will be easy to find:



CAMP NOMADIA EVENTS:
Due to transportation and logistical issues, we have decided not to host the Giant Settlers of Catan game - but we will have a "Wheel of Fortune" game display and a giant slot machine to entertain passerbys, created by some of our campmates.

Our main camp events will be the three Nomadic Happy Hours. As a reminder, here are the details:

Nomadic Happy Hour - Tuesday & Thursday, 4pm - 6pm. Sunday, 3pm - 5pm - Camp Nomadia @ 4:30 & Edsel

The vision of Camp Nomadia is to bring together as many cool nomadic spirits as we can to share stories, resources, passion, and community.

To foster nomadic community, we are hosting a Nomadic Happy Hour on Tuesday and Thursday (4pm to 6pm) and Sunday (3pm to 5pm).

Come and stop by - whether you are a current nomad, future nomad, wanna-be nomad, part time nomad, domestic nomad, international nomad, technomad, lowtechnomad, former nomad, land nomad, rail nomad, backpacking nomad, open water cruising nomad, friend of a nomad, or you just want to be around nomads.

Bring some food or drink to share, and come mix and mingle. Tour a few truly mobile homes. Learn what it is like to live full-time on the road. Ask questions. Swap stories.

Or just come hang out and meet some cool folk.

Please stop by, and spread the word to your nomadic friends.

I have no idea how many people will be showing up at each of these happy hours, but I do know that a documentary film producer working on a project about people pursuing their own take on personal freedom plans to attend to meet us. Coolness!

MAIL ME:
Finally, it would be great to get some mail on the playa this year. I've never used the Black Rock City Post Office before, but this US postal address should work:

Seeder (aka Chris Dunphy)
Camp Nomadia
4:30 & Edsel
Black Rock City, NV 89412

Let me know if you would like me to send you a postcard from the playa, and I will try to get one sent out for you - email me your address if I don't already have it. I think the BRCPO even has their own special postmark!

I can almost taste the dust already... *grin*

The city map for Black Rock City 2008 has just been published.

Black Rock City is growing substantially for 2008!

Did you feel the squeeze in 2007? Well there are some BIG changes to our city this year! Remove 2007's three inner blocks -- Esplanade through "C" -- and you have our new Esplanade for 2008. After the Esplanade, the streets for 2008 run A-K. Since we've taken the three shortest concentric streets from the inside, we added two longer concentric roads at the back of the city. The distance from the Man to the Esplanade road is increasing from 2200 to 2700 feet, which also means the length of the Esplanade grows over 2500 feet longer than last year.

There will be a LOT more open playa area to explore this year, and nearly a half mile of additional Esplanade to wander.

And appropriate to the theme of "American Dream", the suburbs of Black Rock City will be further spread out than ever before.

The theme this year has inspired some interesting art projects. On the list of funded projects are things ranging from a 38' long oversized Hummer sculpture (titled "Bummer") to a 31' tall ketchup bottle.

Other interesting projects include a recreation of the US Capitol Building turned into a birdcage full of Native American imagery, and a fire breathing robotic horse puling an Old West style covered wagon.

I can't wait to see what sort of creativity will be on display in the desert this year.

Camp Nomadia is starting to come together.

We've been listed in the 2008 Burning Man theme camp directory at BurningMan.com, and just today we submitted the following official camp events to be included in the printed and online "What / Where / When" guide.

Nomadic Happy Hour - Tuesday & Thursday, 4pm - 6pm. Sunday, 3pm - 5pm

The vision of Camp Nomadia is to bring together as many cool nomadic spirits as we can to share stories, resources, passion, and community.

To foster nomadic community, we are hosting a Nomadic Happy Hour on Tuesday and Thursday (4pm to 6pm) and Sunday (3pm to 5pm).

Come and stop by - whether you are a current nomad, future nomad, wanna-be nomad, part time nomad, domestic nomad, international nomad, technomad, lowtechnomad, former nomad, land nomad, rail nomad, backpacking nomad, open water cruising nomad, friend of a nomad, or you just want to be around nomads.

Bring some food or drink to share, and come mix and mingle. Tour a few truly mobile homes. Learn what it is like to live full-time on the road. Ask questions. Swap stories.

Or just come hang out and meet some cool folk.

See you there!

GIANT Settlers of Catan Game - Daily Open Gaming, Monday thru Saturday, 8am - 7pm

Play the strategy game Settlers of Catan on a 25-foot-wide board! Why play with resource cards when you can have resources? Form coalition governments and strategically build the city of your dreams! Get lots of hex in the process! Prove that the playa hasn't reduced your attention span to mere seconds!

A photo showing off the 2007 version of mega-Catan...

You can see more pictures and read more about the giant Catan game here. nasu_dengaku has created a thing of beauty indeed, and I am thrilled that he has decided to join Camp Nomadia (and that he is bringing his toys!)

The planning for Camp Nomadia is being discussed at forum.technomads.net. Anyone interested in camping with us or getting involved somehow is welcome to join in there.

And if you are going to be in Black Rock City at all this year, be sure to stop by and hang out with us at the Nomadic Happy Hour!

serolynne and I have decided that rather than joining up with another group, this year at Burning Man we are going to organize a theme camp of our own - Camp Nomadia.

Our vision is to bring together as many other cool nomadic spirits as we can to share stories, resources, passion, and community. And we'll be giving back to the Black Rock City by hosting a Nomadic Happy Hour (or something similar) where other nomads and wanna-be nomads can converge and connect.

This camp is open to current nomads, future nomads, wanna-be nomads, part time nomads, domestic nomads, international nomads, technomads, lowtechnomads, former nomads, land nomads, rail nomads, backpacking nomads, open water cruising nomads, friends of nomads, or folks who just want to be around nomads.

If you know any of the above, please spread the word, and invite them to join us.

We have to submit our first application for space to Burning Man by the end of May, so if you are at all interested in joining us in building Camp Nomadia, let us know ASAP so we can start to gauge the size of the plot of land we'll need. I imagine that this first year, Camp Nomadia will likely start out rather small.

There is no need to commit 100% now - we'll certainly be making changes to our roster right up until the end.



So - who wants to play out in the dust with us??? *grin*

serolynne and I submitted a collection of photos to the Burning Man Screen Saver Project a few months ago, and we just got the DVD of the final results.

There is some amazing photography here, and I am thrilled that several of our photos were picked for inclusion. So far, we've seen seven of ours pop up, out of the 1485 photos featured.

You can download the 2007 edition of the screen saver here.

Here are the seven photos of ours that we've seen show up - let us know if you see any more:

serolynne and I just purchased our tickets for Burning Man!!!



I am really intrigued about what will come from this years art them - The American Dream:

This year's art theme is about nationality, identity and the nature of patriotism. One species of the patriotic urge conflates the nation state with mass identity. Governments, as actors on a worldwide stage, become a surrogate for self, a vast projection of collective ego. And yet, there is another type of patriotic feeling that attaches us to place and people, to a home and its culture. Both these feeling states (and their attendant ironies) are relevant to this year's theme.

In 2008, leave narrow and exclusive ideologies at home; forget the blue states and the red; let parties, factions and divisive issues fall away, and carefully consider your immediate experience. What has America achieved that you admire? What has it done or failed to do that fills you with dismay? What is laudatory? What is ludicrous? Put blame aside, let humor thrive, and dare to contemplate a larger question: What can America, this stumbling, roused, half-conscious giant, still contribute to the world?

The man burns in 227 days!

When I first saw photographs from a Royal Del Luxe performance several years ago, I was blown away, touched, and inspired.

This is monumental art - interactive and alive in ways that I had only ever before encountered at Burning Man. But Royal De Luxe creates this magic in the middle of cities, turning the mundane world into a stage and the awestruck bystanders into participants.

I was trying to describe Royal De Luxe last night while hanging out for New Years Eve, and words failed me. Only pictures and video could explain this, so YouTube came to my rescue.

The video above is from the visit of "The Sultan's Elephant", when a giant girl and a time-traveling elephant visited London in the summer of 2006.

The entire room had their jaws on the floor after watching this video, so I think it is worth sharing here. Enjoy, and be amazed.

You can read a great article with lots more details about the Royal De Luxe here.

Here's another video clip, this one focusing on the elephant. Amazing!

When serolynne and I set off to travel together in May, we committed to each other that we would stay together trying out a fully intertwined life at least through Burning Man.

Clearly the experiment has been a success. We fit together, incredibly and amazingly well.

The highlight of Burning Man this year was us taking our relationship and commitment to the next level, in a private ceremony between the two of us on Thursday night - with the Man as our witness.

We've now set our sights on a much further horizon, and we are officially considering each other "unionized" life partners. We plan to renew this commitment and our intentions every prime numbered year here on out - 1,2,3,5,7 years, etc... (What else do you expect from two geeks?)

While the ceremony was just between the two of us, we did get some pictures:

Before we left Florida, Cherie's father gave me a genuine Krewe of Zeus Mardi Gras captain's outfit to wear at Burning Man. We passed it on to the talented seamstress mladypain, along with Cherie's old wedding dress. Laura did an amazing job adding el-wire to both outfits for us. As Burning Man approached and Cherie and I started to contemplate a ceremony, we realized that we had the perfect outfits for our Unionization already waiting for us. Thank you Laura!


We managed to manifest a photographer to capture the moment for us. Just moments later the rebuilt Man's green neon re-lit.

I love you Cherie. I look forward to the many years of adventure ahead of us.

One thing that strikes me every year at Burning Man is how many people on the final day are wishing each other "Happy New Year".

And indeed, I've come to discover that the Burn is a personally much more meaningful year divider than watching some silly ball in Times Square ever has been.

Burning Man has become the uber-holiday, wrapping up the best elements of many traditional celebrations into one intense week. Consider...


New Year's Eve: Imagine the biggest, wildest, most intense, and most cathartic New Year's Eve party you can ever possibly imagine, without Dick Clark and his New Year's Rockin Eve nor any of the other commercial nonsense or pointless traditions. And then imagine the next morning seeing the partygoers personally wandering Times Square picking up every piece of trash left behind by the revelry...


Christmas: Imagine experiencing the "Christmas Spirit" without the crass commercialization, consumer orgy, and non-stop shopping. Imagine getting beautiful heartfelt gifts given to you by both friends and strangers, often spontaneously. Getting gifts given with NO expectation of getting anything in return. Getting gifts given reflecting a person's art or personal passions, not just things from your "list".

The "Gift Economy" of Burning Man is perhaps one of the hardest things to explain or understand until you actually feel it and participate in it. This is not a barter system. A true gift does not come with any sense of obligation about needing to give one back of your own.

The giving / receiving that I have experienced at Burning Man always leaves me feeling inspired.


Halloween: Imagine if Halloween lasted all week, day and night... Imagine if vehicles and machines were just as decked out in costume as the people... Imagine seeing things around every bend that push the limits of your imagination... And imagine LOTS of glowing EL wire and fire belching everywhere...

After having been to Burning Man, "Default World" Halloween parties will never again be able to compare...


Fourth of July: Of course there are world-class fireworks and pyrotechnics at Burning Man. "Crude Awaking" this year was by far the largest and longest fire-spectacular I have ever seen.

But Burning Man is much more than just fire. Nowhere on earth is "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" taken more seriously - and I certainly feel more connected to these core American values in Black Rock City than anywhere else.

Next year's art theme has been announced as "The American Dream". Like good art often does, the theme is already provoking conversation and controversy. I am really curious to see what will emerge from this...


Easter: Well, this year - the Man did rise on the third day after being burned early... And there are always a disturbingly large number of folks running around in rabbit outfits...


I feel like I have a million stories to tell from Burning Man this year. Hopefully I will be able to get a few of them written down while they are still fresh. serolynne has also started to share her reflections, and she's been uploading some great photos too. Expect LOTS more from both of us soon!


UPDATE: Since I never managed to post the detailed stories from Burning Man 2007, I instead offer up some highlights from my Burning Man 2007 flickr Set:

Last night as we were setting up camp at Beales Point State Park (near Folsom Lake, CA) - serolynne asked me "what is that beeping?"

The beeping turned out to be our Xantrex XM1000 Inverter - flashing an "E05 - OL" code, indicating an overload condition and depriving us of AC power. *ugh*

I spent the evening tearing apart the electrical system to try and isolate the problem, only to conclude that the inverter was internally broken. It was still giving us an "overload" with no load at all...

Perfect timing, just two days before Burning Man. If only that were the only glitch I was dealing with...

Here is a rundown of all the broken, busted, or sprained things I've got to worry about - and how I am dealing with them:

Xantrex XM1000 Inverter: Perpetually overloaded, but still under warranty. Xantrex gave me an RMA without much fuss, so hopefully I'll have it mailed off tomorrow and repaired within a few weeks. In the meantime - I spent today rewiring the electric system to use the old 400W inverter. It is up and working after a day of hard work - BUT - there is not enough power to drive the blender.
(No SolarSmoothies on the playa!!!)

MacBook Pro: Kent called back today, and after consulting with engineering he has decided to authorize "a special one-time-only out of warranty repair." He set up an appointment for me to drop off my Mac at the Apple store in Reno on Sunday - with luck it should be fully functional by the time I return from BRC.

Treo 650: My Treo has been flaky ever since I dunked it in Monster Kaos a year ago. But over the past few weeks it has gotten significantly worse, and now in addition to the fiddly keyboard - my phone is now only holding a charge for at most a few minutes. And just this afternoon I reached into my pocket to grab it - and the antenna popped off! *ugh*

It is time for a new phone - but what? The iPhone looks like lots of fun, now that it has been hacked wide open... But the costs and the downsides are pretty extreme too... Also worth considering is a Treo 755P (Palm OS), a HTC 6800 (Pocket PC), or perhaps even a BlackBerry. Whatever I get, I need to decide soon...

HP PSC 2510 Printer: I've always hauled a printer around with me in Tab, and last year at Burning Man I set up the "Solar Studio" and did photo portraits and 8x10 printouts right on the playa. This afternoon Cherie and I set up the printer to test out our ink supply, and print out a new stack of business cards. But... All the printer does now is click. It never even fully wakes up when you turn it on. Dead. *ugh*

Casio Exilim EX750: The other core component of the Solar Studio is my uber-sweet Casio digital camera. But... Ever since Oklahoma (May), there has been a faint black dot in the upper left corner of every picture I have taken. No amount of lens cleaning seems to make a difference either. It is probably time for a new camera, but not until after Burning Man. *ugh*

Email: The email server I share with the Geeks has imploded again, and though our email backup is working to forward all my incoming mail to Gmail, all my filters and spam prevention tools are now broken. *ugh* I think it is time to move my mail hosting to DreamHost...

Bike: The chain on my bike is jammed. I can probably fix it myself, but I had hoped to have time to do so (or have a professional do it) before Burning Man. But with so much else to do, it will just have to wait until I get there. Hopefully I can find one of the bike repair camps for help if I end up needing it...

Jeep: The dimmed AC light is now back to full brightness, and Jeep seems to be running great. But... I worry whenever an electrical problem (like a dim light) miraculously heals. It will be a while before I fully trust the work done by Great Valley Jeep...

Girl: And even my girlfriend is broken. Well, not broken - just sprained. Cherie took a bad step out of Tab last weekend at SolFest, and ever since she has been hobbled. Though fortunately - she has been healing rapidly. I am hoping that she is back to full speed by the time we arrive in Black Rock City on Sunday.


Egads, that is a long list...


But - surprisingly, I am feeling great. Last night was full of growling, snarling, and frustration... But today I've just been plugging away getting stuff fixed and handled. And - there is nothing here that I can't handle. It actually feels good to face down challenges, and not be stopped by them.

But, enough for this week - ok?

My original plan for Burning Man this year was to again be a part of Conexus - and there had been some talk months ago of once again creating some sort of on-playa Cathedral. But after such a massive undertaking last year, the energy to take on another big project was lacking - and Conexus this year has fragmented into several smaller camps.

Our particular fragment is calling itself "Our Lil' Camp" and will consist of about 25 folks sharing some shade and a shower structure. Low stress, chill, and minimal infrastructure to build and tear down.

Sounds nice.

A few of our camp-mates have already arrived and secured some space for us.

Our Lil' Camp: Our exact location is 3:33 and Freshwater (on the left between 4:00 and 3:30). Identifiers include big blue shade structure with a smaller, round shade structure attached to it (with a silver roof and a gold flag). Directly across from our camp is a camp with a mailbox reading 3:33. If you're going down 3:30 toward the Man, turn LEFT on freshwater, Our Lil' Camp will be on the right almost immediately. We did not get the corner plot but we are just one camp in from the corner on the man side. Our plot spans from Estuary to Freshwater (approx 100x150 foot).

We also just got a playa condition report from our advance team:

There was a week of dust storms culminating in Sunday's 6-7 hour white out.

It was still pretty windy and dusty on Monday morning when Kevin and I rolled into the city but we prevailed putting up kitchen structure. On Monday night it lifted (beautiful skies) and cooled to nice and balmy night under the stars. Tuesday was gorgeously hot, clear, no wind. Got the shower structure up and reinforced kitchen with walls of tarp in a light wind. Today, Wednesday, again, optimal conditions -- hot, clear, light breeze. Got the shade structure up.

In other words - the conditions were extreme, now they are perfect, and who knows what they will be like next week. Be prepared for anything - as usual.

I'll try to get an LJ post out on Monday after Cherie and I arrive with the exact coordinates of Camp Technomadia within Our Lil Camp.

Come find us out there!

My good friend Mark Lewis has this past year founded an energy drink company - and he's created what I consider to be the perfect Burning Man fuel.

Mark's "SmartPower" drink tastes to me a bit like Low-Carb Monster, but less "fake" - and it is by far the best energy drink I've ever had. It tastes great, gives a good buzz, mixes well, and it has none of the typical caffeine jitters or crash. It is pretty amazing stuff.

As Mark describes it:
Its a "smart" energy drink that balances the dance-all-night energy of drinks like Monster, Red Bull, and Rock Star - with supplements that counteract their negative side-effects. This means that the drink just feels better while it is active (smooth energy, no jitters), AND feels better when it wears off (no crash, soft landing).

serolynne and I have gotten addicted to the stuff, and we've been working with Mark this week helping him set up a special deal for Burning Man camps.

If you are going to Burning Man, you can order a few cases below wholesale ASAP (by Wednesday or Thursday!) and he'll make sure that you have them this weekend for Burning Man loadout. Here are the details:

Burning Man 2007 Offer: (Bay Area only!)
(Regular price - $50 per case of 24 16oz cans)

1 case - $35 or 2 cases - $60 free shipping
4 cases - $100 ($25 per case)** free delivery
8 cases - $175 ($22 per case)**
10 cases - $200 ($20 per case)**

To Order: http://UpgradeYourEnergyDrink.com/Burners.htm
Or call: 707-745-GLOW (4569)

If you had been planning on Monster, Rock Star, or Red Bull to help keep you dancing all night on the playa - this is way better stuff. Try it - you'll be impressed.

Even if you aren't going to Burning Man - this is an incredible price (good this week only), so take advantage of it and give this drink a try. Spread the word too.

PS: It mixes great. Try it with Tequila, or blended in a smoothie...
(Or try both at once! *grin*)

The goal of Geek Week out here in the Black Rock Desert is to load test the WiFi network that will be deployed for Burning Man in August.

Someone out here put the network to the test yesterday by downloading a bootleg copy of the just released Transformers movie - and late last night after most of the fireworks had died down, well over a dozen people attended the Black Rock City premiere.

It was totally surreal to be sitting out munching popcorn in a dessert watching a just-released movie on a big outdoor projection screen. Cherie dozed asleep on my lap while we watched, only to be stirred awake periodically by the sound of flame throwers, explosions, and buzzing glowing UFOs overhead.

Oh - and those sounds weren't coming from the movie BTW... *grin*

The movie itself absolutely sucked. The plot wasn't even worthy of a cartoon episode. The special effects were rather run of the mill. And the acting and dialog??? *ugh*

But even thought the movie sucked, you sure couldn't beat the coolness of the theater.

Rating: 1 star...

There has been hardly any wind since we arrived in the Black Rock on Monday night. Amazingly calm and dust-free.

Also - amazingly HOT!

The calm winds did allow for a brief paramotor flight last evening though. I am looking forward to a longer flight later today. It felt GREAT to get back in the air. I haven't flown my paramotor since last year at Burning Man. *grin*

serolynne and I are camped out in the Black Rock Desert this week - my first time on the playa other than for Burning Man, and her first time ever.

The plan was to come volunteer for "Geek Week" - a beta-test for the temporary wireless network that will be installed for the week of Burning Man, used during the event for ticketing and many other official and unofficial purposes. The unofficial "Fourth of Juplaya" celebration is also going on - something I've heard about and been curious to check out.

We expected to be roughing it. We loaded down with food and water, and made sure that the solar system was ready and the batteries were fully charged. We were even looking forward to finding out how well Tab's small porta-potty and solar shower would work for us - we haven't needed to use either yet.

The only thing we expected to have available for us when we arrived Monday evening was a usable wireless internet connection.

We were not expecting to have AC power available, a tanker truck full of shared water, full-size porta-potties, and HOT pressurized showers. Wow.

The only thing that wasn't ready Monday night was the internet connection. That went live an hour ago. Cherie and I are now in bed together, happily sucking down bits.

The weather today was perfect - and the night is warm and still. The sky is amazing. The Milky Way seems to be hanging over us, and we've already each seen several shooting stars.

We are in one of the most beautiful places on earth, and we have fast internet and hot showers.

Could life get any better than this? *grin*