How many meters is that?!?!
And "keep right" is different than "turn right".
I hate GPS.
A week in the village of Saint Joseph
In case you didn't know it, I'm not at home (but Carolyn is, so don't steal my stuff!). I'm in the land of freedom and firearms for two weeks (although I'm hoping it'll just be one). Specifically, I'm in a place they call San Jose. I can't say I've seen much of it, but it looks like most other American cities I've visited. I am enjoying the warmish weather though (about 15-20 degrees centigrade - yay metric system!); I'm wearing a jacket, but I could take it off, if I wanted to.
I won't bore you with all the details.
But I will bore you with some.
I flew out on Sunday at 10am to Vancouver. The Rocky Mountains are awesome. Beautiful. I saw them only from the airport, but they are truly awe-inspiring. My layover was less than two hours, of which an hour was spent sitting in US Customs awaiting my fate. While my experience wasn't nearly as bad as it's been in the past, but every time I talk to a US Customs official I ask myself why did I agree to go on a business trip to the US.
"What is the purpose of your trip?"
"I'm doing software integration. I'll be installing our software and testing it to make sure it works".
"So... you'll be... testing this... software?"
"Uhm, yeah"
"Oh"
He obviously didn't get straight-A's at jack-ass boot camp, but I'll give him a B for effort. The woman who escorted me to the "nervous room" was, dare I say, almost amicable. The third guy let me through after "checking something out" in the back room (i.e. pee break) and giving me the ol' "you're lucky we let you through this time" spiel. Anyway, I didn't cry, so I think it went well.
The flights were both uneventful. I was bothered that they didn't serve food on the flight to Vancouver. That's five hours! Those jerks. When I fly to Germany it's only slightly longer and I get free wine!
My car, alas, is no Musty, but it did come with GPS which I've mentioned before is a gift and a curse. I've only had to loop around a couple of times.
So here I am in San Jose. I haven't taken a single photo yet. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe not. Really, it doesn't matter because I forgot to pack my card reader. Although that does give me an excuse to go to Fry's...
I won't bore you with all the details.
But I will bore you with some.
I flew out on Sunday at 10am to Vancouver. The Rocky Mountains are awesome. Beautiful. I saw them only from the airport, but they are truly awe-inspiring. My layover was less than two hours, of which an hour was spent sitting in US Customs awaiting my fate. While my experience wasn't nearly as bad as it's been in the past, but every time I talk to a US Customs official I ask myself why did I agree to go on a business trip to the US.
"What is the purpose of your trip?"
"I'm doing software integration. I'll be installing our software and testing it to make sure it works".
"So... you'll be... testing this... software?"
"Uhm, yeah"
"Oh"
He obviously didn't get straight-A's at jack-ass boot camp, but I'll give him a B for effort. The woman who escorted me to the "nervous room" was, dare I say, almost amicable. The third guy let me through after "checking something out" in the back room (i.e. pee break) and giving me the ol' "you're lucky we let you through this time" spiel. Anyway, I didn't cry, so I think it went well.
The flights were both uneventful. I was bothered that they didn't serve food on the flight to Vancouver. That's five hours! Those jerks. When I fly to Germany it's only slightly longer and I get free wine!
My car, alas, is no Musty, but it did come with GPS which I've mentioned before is a gift and a curse. I've only had to loop around a couple of times.
So here I am in San Jose. I haven't taken a single photo yet. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe not. Really, it doesn't matter because I forgot to pack my card reader. Although that does give me an excuse to go to Fry's...
One man's misfortune...
... is another man's fortune. As sad as I am for Richard having to get his camera serviced by Nikon, it did afford me the opportunity to borrow his 50mm lens and flash. I didn't utilize them as much as I should have, but I did play around a bit. Here are some of the results. Not that great when I view them on the monitor, but if you shrink them to 3x3cm they look fine. :)
This shot is taken with the 50mm lens. Cats - when they aren't sleeping - are very tricky subjects, because the refuse to sit still long enough to properly focus (let alone trying to set up the perfect composition). This was the best of a series of photos of Jack looking away.
Another shot with the 50mm. Jack got bored very quickly.
Actually just shot with my regular lens, but I had to throw it in. Jack is loving the chin rub.
This is a macro shot, aided with Richard's SB-600 flash. It's amazing what a difference the flash makes for macro photography. You can crank up the shutter speed to get a sharp image (I was too lazy to set up the tripod), and still have a small aperture to a decent depth-of-field. It is much less frustrating.
Alas, Richard's camera has been fixed and is likely in his hands right now, so I must say goodbye to the equipment that he generously lent to me. Goodbye 50mm lens. Goodbye wireless flash. I'll miss you.
This shot is taken with the 50mm lens. Cats - when they aren't sleeping - are very tricky subjects, because the refuse to sit still long enough to properly focus (let alone trying to set up the perfect composition). This was the best of a series of photos of Jack looking away.
Another shot with the 50mm. Jack got bored very quickly.
Actually just shot with my regular lens, but I had to throw it in. Jack is loving the chin rub.
This is a macro shot, aided with Richard's SB-600 flash. It's amazing what a difference the flash makes for macro photography. You can crank up the shutter speed to get a sharp image (I was too lazy to set up the tripod), and still have a small aperture to a decent depth-of-field. It is much less frustrating.
Alas, Richard's camera has been fixed and is likely in his hands right now, so I must say goodbye to the equipment that he generously lent to me. Goodbye 50mm lens. Goodbye wireless flash. I'll miss you.
Joke for the day
My friend Alex sent this to me yesterday.
A Czech man felt his eyesight was growing steadily worse, and felt it was time to go see an optometrist.
The doctor started with some simple testing, and showed him a standard eye chart with letters of diminishing size: CRKBNWXSKZY...
"Can you read this?" the doctor asked.
"Read it?" the Czech answered. "Doc, I know him!"
A Czech man felt his eyesight was growing steadily worse, and felt it was time to go see an optometrist.
The doctor started with some simple testing, and showed him a standard eye chart with letters of diminishing size: CRKBNWXSKZY...
"Can you read this?" the doctor asked.
"Read it?" the Czech answered. "Doc, I know him!"
time for a change
I've been meaning to update my blog in a long long time. Carolyn and I have been so busy with, well, the usual stuff, that I haven't been able to justify taking the time to do this. And considering that it's after 2am now, I'm going to have a hard time justifying this in the morning to myself. But what's done is done, and I like the new look. Thanks to Charm Skins for a blog template that was simple, yet well-designed. I would like to make my own template from scratch one day, but that will take far more than a few hours to learn all the requisite skills.
Anyway, I've been pretty productive lately so I'm feeling good. My computer is freshly setup with a brand new 500gb harddrive so I can finally organize my existing 10,000+ pictures. I still plan on creating a "best of 2007" photo album sometime in April, but we'll see if that ever happens.
But back to the positives. Carolyn and I finally hired an officiant for our wedding, so the last big checkbox is ticked (checked, filled-in, etc.) We also looked at rings and tuxes this weekend, so yay us! We still have plenty to do, but it all seems quite manageable. I've put a countdown timer on the sidebar as a reminder to keep on track.
That's it for now. Time for bed. Let me know what you think of the new look.
Anyway, I've been pretty productive lately so I'm feeling good. My computer is freshly setup with a brand new 500gb harddrive so I can finally organize my existing 10,000+ pictures. I still plan on creating a "best of 2007" photo album sometime in April, but we'll see if that ever happens.
But back to the positives. Carolyn and I finally hired an officiant for our wedding, so the last big checkbox is ticked (checked, filled-in, etc.) We also looked at rings and tuxes this weekend, so yay us! We still have plenty to do, but it all seems quite manageable. I've put a countdown timer on the sidebar as a reminder to keep on track.
That's it for now. Time for bed. Let me know what you think of the new look.
