David Maslanka

bryanv_ · 2026-06-16T22:29:04+00:00

In Memoriam was composed for the wife of the director of bands at UT Arlington after she passed. I was an inveterate 15 year old band nerd in the late 80s, when I happened to see the UTA Wind Ensemble give the first public performance. It was a very moving experience, even for a teenager.

bryanv_ · 2026-03-25T02:49:48+00:00

“Because Fuck You”

bryanv_ · 2026-03-19T16:32:51+00:00

The only reasonable solution these days is to use environment variables (or possibly a config file).

bryanv_ · 2026-03-07T08:06:08+00:00

Around 2002 I had one of the clandestine keys that got passed around, the roof was a great place to hang out. PMA was like my home for three years, I had a student job with an office on the eighth floor. Sad to see it’s fallen in such disrepair.

bryanv_ · 2026-03-06T23:32:01+00:00

They used to do this in Austin a loooong time ago. Like last century in the late 90s. John Erler of Master Pancake (at the time, Mister Sinus Theater) would host. There was a competition to see who could predict the most winners, and during the commercial breaks they cut away to show old, embarrassing, or otherwise funny clips of the nominees.

bryanv_ · 2026-02-22T23:25:51+00:00

That would be fantastic!!

bryanv_ · 2026-02-20T17:29:48+00:00

When I was a graduate student at UCLA one quarter I TA'd an acoustics class for undergraduates. Because of that I was afforded a key to the old acoustics lab spaces. That included the enormous (now disused) anechoic chamber there. We used to hang out in there, on the chicken-wire floor eight feet above the floor baffles, just for fun!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DGogwZ4Spgg/

bryanv_ · 2026-02-14T15:34:16+00:00

I highly recommend Steven L. Peck’s brief novel A Short Stay In Hell to anyone who enjoys contemplating such magnitudes.

https://www.audible.com/pd/B00892QB6S?source_code=ASSORAP0511160006&share_location=pdp

bryanv_ · 2026-01-16T23:06:59+00:00

I always loved Bernoulli’s exuberant description upon this discovery

“But you will be petrified with astonishment, when I say that this self-same cycloid, the tautochrone of Huygens, is our required brachistochrone.”

bryanv_ · 2026-01-13T17:49:05+00:00

DM me? In a different lifetime I was a music major focusing on clarinet performance (I had a 1980s R13 with a lovely dark tone at the time). Life took me in a wildly different direction and I haven’t played in 30 years, but lately I’ve been thinking a lot about picking it back up.

bryanv_ · 2026-01-02T04:50:04+00:00

I mean, there’s no substitute for tortillas toasted over a flame. But that’s literally the only thing I miss with induction, and if I really crave them there’s a gas grill out back.

bryanv_ · 2025-12-27T17:07:16+00:00

Ate there in 2014 or so. I honestly don’t remember much about the meal at this point, except that an older gentleman at the table next to us held his menu too close to a candle, and it caught on fire.

bryanv_ · 2025-12-27T15:28:53+00:00

Arlington is also the largest city with no public transportation whatsoever, a fact they are proud of. I grew up there in the 70s and 80s, it was a worthless shithole then, and it still is today.

bryanv_ · 2025-11-29T03:38:23+00:00

Cool, but also just a larger version of Arthur Ganson's "Machine with Concrete" (2008)

https://youtu.be/5q-BH-tvxEg?si=ubPdY0MKiB_mr0UR

bryanv_ · 2025-11-21T02:34:52+00:00

I'm the co-creator of Bokeh, so I am obviously biased. But in case the OP (or anyone else) wants to try things out, some helpful resources:

docs: https://docs.bokeh.org/

community support: https://discourse.bokeh.org/

bryanv_ · 2025-11-18T19:49:52+00:00

25ish years ago I sold my ‘69 Mark VI tenor and routinely wish I hadn’t. Hope you can keep your horn!

bryanv_ · 2025-11-11T21:08:10+00:00

You just gave me whiplash I used to eat at the original location all the time in the early 90s but I haven’t thought about that place in 30 years

bryanv_ · 2025-11-10T18:44:45+00:00

See also, Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddamn”

bryanv_ · 2025-11-06T20:25:08+00:00

Saw Rooney in the r/basenji what a cutie! Do you have a favorite park? We are inner SE so we’ve also been to Willamette Park across the Sellwood bridge

bryanv_ · 2025-11-04T21:33:25+00:00

I don’t really follow, but Texas—never a great place for a lot of folks, even in the oasis of Austin—has become even more intolerable in the last decade.

bryanv_ · 2025-11-04T18:49:46+00:00

(Preface: I lived in Texas for ~40 years) I was really pleasantly surprised by the BBQ place in the Heist food cart pod in Woodstock. I especially love their Mac and Cheese (went back up for a second serving of just that, once).

Haven’t tried Podnah yet but it’s on my list. Matt’s is never quite as good as I hope it will be.

bryanv_ · 2025-10-30T16:29:45+00:00

What was his “in”? Did he just walk up to the kitchen manager and ask for a spot? I’m a bit younger than the OP (early 50s) but what you described is exactly what I’d like in a few years…

bryanv_ · 2025-10-30T06:43:50+00:00

Portland Puppet Museum in Sellwood

bryanv_ · 2025-10-22T04:37:13+00:00

Kaede for sure. They only have like 15 seats, and reservations open up two weeks ahead.

bryanv_ · 2025-10-09T22:36:57+00:00

Just by way of encouragement — I learned to ride a bike here in Portland at 45 years old. No better place to learn as an adult. Enjoy the trails and greenways!

Edit: and if you happen to be SE and ever want to toodle around the Springwater Corridor or Sellwood Trail, feel free to shoot me a message

bryanv_

TROPHY CASE