Springtime

It's here.

And it's brought a new quarter. Though I wised up and only took on two classes this time. An online digital photography course, and some science course that I'm annoyed that I wasn't able to transfer anything in for...

Spring also brought new house work... the hard wood floor is installed. Next step is to sand, stain and seal it. It already looks beautiful and better than either of my brother-in-law's floors. Hopefully the leftovers bits of flooring will make good bonfire wood. That bonfire will be the official start of summer. Even if it's well before or after the official start date of summer.

The photography thing is treating me well, lots of activity on my pictures over at Zooomr. A lot of that is reciprocity for looking at, commenting on and 'fav'ing other people's pictures. But it still feels good. Boiling it down, the more pictures I take, the more pictures I want to take. This cycle could get vicious.

I looked at the internal counter on my old camera. Between January 2003 & last week, I'd taken nearly 9000 pictures. Last Tuesday was the end of my first week, and I'd already taken more than 1000. Lots of deleting going on there, but I'm going to be thankful for big phat harddrives. A real camera has a much different feel. The ability to change settings is empowering. The big phat memory card is enabling.

Anyway, it's spring, except for next week when we have our retaliatory cold snap. Mother nature can be such a cruel bitch sometimes.

Who Says Romance is Dead?

continuous video recording in progress...of a couple making out

Hosted on Zooomr

samurai sword slo-mo hotness

Drool.

caught this from fazed.

high society soundtrack

high society soundtrack Hosted on Zooomr

Taking Pictures != Planning Terrorism

I was going through new photos in Zooomr today and ran across the photo above and it's related blog entry.

It seems as cameras were linked to planning terrorist attacks in the londonpaper in part of a 'see something suspicious/report it' campaign. While it feels a bit on the 'duh' side, it seems to be part of a bigger effort to restrict freedom based on fear.

This kind of thing pisses me off. God forbid I want to take a picture of my friends or of a neat building. It seems every week somebody gets harrassed for taking pictures.

Honestly?.. I think we should stage some kind of gigantic picture protest, gather peacibly, and take a picture of something.

Hot Tip

Buy stock in advil... I'm pretty sore today.
Kitchen is 90% done. Hall and foyer next.

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No Respite

Installing hard wood floor this week.

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WARNING!: Scooby Doo Mystery Ahead

scooby doo mystery ahead Hosted on Zooomr

Heather and I did a little photowalking last night after dinner. Well, I took photos and she walked... But it was actually a nice way to spend a date, and walk off some really good sushi.

move your feet to the beat

I could quit and go pro...

I could just give it all up and become a professional mover I mean. That's the bulk of what I've done this week. (Well, that and take pictures.)

With the removal of all the furniture, we're again making progress on remodeling the kitchen. It was a process which I started back in July of '06.

The floor has been sitting in the family room for a good 3 months now, and should be well cured to match the humidity of the house. Cabinets arrived a few weeks ago, but this is the first week schedules will permit actual work.

Plus, Heather's office moved, and I got to go help them sort through a bazillion little boxes of greeting cards.

As an amateur, I don't get paid. But I say screw my olympic status and NCAA eligibility. I want to get paid. From now on, I don't move crap with out seeing the beer up front!

Requisite Self Portrait with Camera

BG Self Portrait Hosted on Zooomr

One of a few new pictures go to Zooomr and check 'em out...

Pagoda

Pagoda at Art Institute of Chicago Hosted on Zooomr

Got Soul?

Is it true that taking a person’s photograph steals their soul?

Yes. This is why movie stars, fashion models, politicians and pop singers have such dreadful personality and relationship problems - their souls have been severely depleted by all the photographs which have been taken of them.

Patients

Patients or is it patience? Not being able to spell eliminates the confusion for my 5 year old nephew. Well that and the fact that he has neither patients nor patience. Neither is really expected.

I have none of the former and I'm doing my best to control the latter.

On the one hand, I have a few more papers to write for a class this quarter. Due Monday. Yet I'm having trouble sitting down and just DOING it. The ideas are there, but the words don't come. The words that do come are stilted and misspelled. It's harder and harder to have patience with a broken system when deadlines loom.

On the other hand, I just cashed in my piggy bank, cashback bonus and other monies squirreled away. I had considered buying a shiny/sparkly necklace for my girlfriend, but the idea shocked her as outlandish. Shoes on the other hand might have been welcome.

Instead, I splurged and ordered a new digital camera:

• Canon Digital Rebel XT body
• Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II camera lens
• 4GB Compact flash memory card
• 52mm Close-up Filter Set
• Battery and Smart Travel Charger for Rebel XT

All for less than $600 total including shipping.

That was some piggy bank.

In general, a real DSLR is something I've been dreaming about for quite some time. So lots of patience there. However, the process of waiting for it all to arrive? KILLING ME.

Especially since the memory card arrived today. (A mere two and a half days after ordering.) I can see on the UPS pages that everything but the travel charger/extra battery is in the Chicagoland area.

K
I
L
L
I
N
G

M
E

Anyway, hopefully you'll see an improvement in the photos I post. And hopefully it'll be soooon. And hopefully Zooomr won't still be upgrading to Mark III... and hopefully...

damn. need to work on that patience.

Spring is Coming

200-09-11 - 6986 - halfway home Hosted on Zooomr

You're nuts

Thanks be for almonds Hosted on Zooomr

Renae Sinclair

Get a grip baby... You're a tiny little thing.

A Hands on Future Hosted on Zooomr

Forced Sharing

Why isn't the music from people who's headphones are blasting loud enough to be heard over your own any good?

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Generations

Turkey turns Ostrich, Stuffs Head in Sand

Turkish court orders YouTube blocked
ISTANBUL, Turkey - A Turkish court ordered access to YouTube's Web site blocked on Wednesday, after a prosecutor recommended the ban because of videos allegedly insulting the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

...

Over the past week, Turkish media publicized what some called a "virtual war" between Greeks and Turks on YouTube, with people from both sides posting videos to belittle and berate the other.
The video prompting the ban allegedly said Ataturk and the Turkish people were homosexuals, news reports said. The CNN-Turk Web site featured a link allowing Turks to complain directly to YouTube about the "insult."
On its front page on Wednesday, the newspaper Hurriyet said thousands of people had written YouTube and that the Ataturk videos had been removed from the site. "YouTube got the message," the headline said.
Insulting Ataturk or "Turkishness" is a crime in Turkey punishable by prison.


***
Sigh. Who would want to be able to say what they think anyway?

On the other hand, the collective IQ of Turkey probably went up by blocking YouTube. Probably corporate productivity too...

Renae Sinclair

Hosted on Zooomr

Renae Sinclair

Hosted on Zooomr

Not Everyday

You see somebody making a presentation in class wearing a gun.

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Show of Hands

Who takes their laptop to the potty when studying at the library? (as opposed to leaving it to be stolen...)



Fortunately, my backpack holds my laptop in a smaller pouch (with carrying strap). It can be easily detached for sanitary transport of said laptop through the potty process.

It looks a bit too much like a man purse, but overcoming that merely requires carrying at arms length, manly carriage of self, appropriate scowling or total detachment from the regard of your fellow students. Your choice.