Electron Hut: Kyle Bedell’s Blog

These impressions are a bit off-beat: they’re about feet. More specifically, they’re about a special shoe from Vibram (based right here in MA!) called the FiveFingers Classic. Part of a new breed of barefoot shoes, the Fivefingers Classic is all about minimizing what’s on your feet while still providing protection from pointy/hot/painful surfaces. I picked up a pair of these recently because, let’s face it, waterproof Merrell hiking boots are not summertime footwear. Plus, all of the extra cushioning and support that regular shoes provide tends to weaken the muscles in your feet and ankles over time.

Actually putting the Fivefingers on is a bit funky; the toes (as you can probably tell) are separated. If your toes are really close together like mine are, you have to get used to spreading them out a bit when you put the shoes on. Once you get the shoes on, there’s a small strap in the back you can use to adjust the fit a bit. If you’ve picked a good fit for your foot size, you shouldn’t need much of an adjustment.

So how do they feel? Surprisingly like…walking barefoot! The bottom is thick enough to protect you from sharp rocks and hot asphalt, but still thin enough for you to feel the surface you’re walking on. Not to quote from the marketing literature here, but I do feel a bit more connected to the surface I’m walking on. With my hiking boots, there’s a half-inch of thick rubber and socks sitting between the bottoms of my feet and the environment. With the Fivefingers, I can feel the grass and the texture of the road. It’s certainly a different experience. I’m going to go for some longer (~3 mile) walks this upcoming weekend to see how they hold up under pressure. Vibram claims that they’re well suited for just about everything except seafaring and mountain climbing (for which there are other models).

If you miss the feeling of not wearing shoes, or would just like to get away from overbearing, padded shoes, give these a try!

With the conclusion of my studies in Bentley University’s HFID program, I’ve posted my final papers in the academic research section. If you’re in to gaming at all, take a look at a virtual ethnographic study I conducted in World of Warcraft!

Commencement’s in two weeks; I can’t wait!

Even if you’re not a fan of graphic novels (think really long comic books), you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen. It is easily one of the greatest triumphs of the medium, right up there with Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. With my obligatory plug out of the way, I wanted to point out that a Watchmen movie happens to be arriving in theatres this Friday! I’m quite excited.

My question to you all is: have you ever seen a movie (based on a book) that was better than the book? Or vice versa, a book made out of a movie that was better than the flim?

“Seven Things” is a fun little exercise that seems to be rapidly spreading around under a variety of names. I was tagged (i.e. told to do this) by Andrew Wirtanen, a former coworker at CyberCamps. I don’t usually do these things, but hey, it’s Friday.

Seven things about me you may or may not know:

1. I originally went to college to become a marketer. I started my Bentley career wanting to go in to marketing, with the eventual goal of going into Food Science R&D. I wanted to be the guy that designed snack foods, cereals, and whatnot. I quickly learned that attaining such a position either requires a long trek up the corporate ladder from sales or going to school for something more chemistry-oriented. I ended up switching to Information Systems, which eventually led me to my graduate work in Human Factors.
2. I’m an avid skiier and hiker. I know my bulbous form doesn’t show it, but I do enjoy glades skiing and hiking quite a bit. I’ve never been much of a runner; as far as exercise goes, I prefer slow and steady.
3. I play electric bass. This is funny when I think about it, because I didn’t start listening to music on a regular basis until I was in high school. I’m a huge classic rock fan, and I like blues and jazz as well. My bass skills are terrible, but I love the way the instrument sounds. I should really take some classes.
4. I love heavy story-arc television shows. Think things like Rome, Battlestar Galactica, and Six Feet Under. Character development is king!
5. My first name, Kyle, means “a narrow strait or channel.” It has its origins in Ireland and Scotland.
6. I used to run a mobile device software company. In the late 1990s when Palm OS was king of the handhelds, I ran a small 2-man development shop that built simple custom-form applications. Long since defunct, a few of our “joke” applications are still floating around out on the internet. It’s an eerie confirmation of the saying “once it’s online, it never comes off.”
7. I was a dental assistant for 4 years. Believe it or not, you actually get to talk to a lot of people. They just don’t talk back very much.

Now it’s time to tag 6 more people, because I can’t think of 7.  Here they are,

1. Greg Hjelte, a former Bentley roommate/classmate. He’s currently at IBM.
2. Matt Wagner, a former Bentley roommate/classmate. He’s a Systems Administrator in Charlestown.
3. Katt Richard, my fiancee and a Support Engineer at Cramer.
4. Ryan Bedell, my brother and a game-developer-in-training at Worcester Polytechnical Institute.
5. Thomas Simmons (aka Gravecat), photographer, gamer, and philosopher.
6. Peter Horrigan, a coworker of mine at Tangoe.

The rules:
1. Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share seven facts about yourself in the post - some random, some weird.
3. Tag seven (or 6 if your name is Kyle) people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.