Thu, May 9, 2002 - 3:45:00 pm

Digital Photography

So my photo developing and printing recently switched to digital imaging. I entered my favorite photo place and noticed a new machine in place of the familiar tan, clunky processing machine. The new machine was a light gray and embellished the curved, bubbly design so prominent in modern industrial design. I asked the man behind the counter, who I am friendly with, "what's up with the new machine". He proceded to tell me that this was the new Fuji Frontier, the best in digital imaging. Immediatly I was skeptical. I stepped around the counter at his invitation and checked out this machine. LCD panels and Fuji logos adorned the side while a single operator was seated at the rear of the machine. He then proceded to tell me that I could have my photos printed at any size, immediatly put on CD or floppy and back within 1 hour. I didn't know how to take this. I asked him if I could view some sample photos from the new machine while noticing the old machine over his shoulder in the back of the store. He whipped out a few envelopes from under the counter and we started going through actual customer photos. Immediatly I noticed the lack of depth of the digitally printed images. The machine struggles with intricate patterns such as the surface of water. It chokes on gradients and fills the areas with pixelated patters as though it were "saving for web" and using diffusion of about 70%. Needless to say, I was not happy. I voiced my concern and was immediatly hit with resistance and suddenly realized that it was not aparent to my photo guys why I come to them.

I love analog photography. Digital photography is great, don't get me wrong. But when I go out to shoot a roll of film with my Nikon or Lomo, I'd like to get those pictures back in their pure, analog form, not some scan of a negative printed to look like an analog print. Utah's forehead should not be pixelated.

I feel bad that I possibly insulted my photo guys. They were quick to tell me how much the machine cost and that it's the latest in digital imaging, the best. I didn't know how to tell them that I don't want the latest in digital imaging. I want the old machine back. I guess I'll have to find another photo place.

Wed, May 8, 2002 - 12:20:00 am

All Wrapped Pp

Wow. This life thing is tricky. One second you think you understand it, then BLAM, the world as we know it changes. I'm sure this happens to even the smallest creatures. Fruit flies. From the second they are born (hatched?) they have about 30 minutes to live a complete and fulfilling life. That's not much time...fortunatly we have a little longer. But, from that instant...that first light...we must do whatever we can to make ourselves and those around us as happy as can be while maintianing some sort of order (we are civilized, you know). What happens when WHAM, the produce worker at the super market splats your fruit fly guts all over some ripe papaya? Hope you did everything you wanted to before that happened.

I guess I'm just a little confused over here. It's not all making complete sense right now. Some things seem so easy while others are a constant battle. This isn't your normal relationship rant or a problem with work. This is just a general observation of the world around me. While I think there are some things I really need to make happen, there are others that I think I will be happier if they just happen to me. That's not to say that I'd like someone to splat my guts all over the frozen food section, just that I need to slow down in planning some aspects of my life. There are a lot of things we can do with our time here...what's next for me?

I'd love to get some feedback on this but I haven't completed my comments popup yet and am too proud to put it up before it's done. Also, I cannot justify working on that until I have the photo galleries up. Gotta have priorities, know what I mean? If you do feel that you just have to let me know how you feel about this then do it. I'd love to hear what you think.

Sun, May 5, 2002 - 9:38:00 pm

Sunshine and Photo Galleries

Spent a good portion of the day outside today but during laundry did manage to sketch out functionality for the photo galleries on this site. I have some work ahead of me scanning and editing the photographs but I think I'll have them up soon. It really was beautiful out again today. Awesome to get good weather all weekend.

For dinner, sea bass cooked in a salt casing with lemon and cilantro. Sides of roasted potatos and asparagus. Homemade guac to start and some good old Coronas to honor the 5th of May.

Sun, May 5, 2002 - 6:13:00 am

Cinco de Mayo

I almost forgot. Happy Cinco de Mayo.

Sun, May 5, 2002 - 6:09:00 am

Today

Today was generally a beautiful day. The air was cool but welcoming. The sky was a beautiful shade of blue. I was warm in the sun and could have used a sweater in the shade. I wish I was outside for longer though. Maybe tomorrow.

Tue, April 30, 2002 - 2:50:00 pm

Empire State Building

I've been living in New York for a while now. Each night I've been here, without fail, save September 11, 2001 the Empire State Building is lit up proudly displaying various colors and providing an awe inspiring icon to locals and visitors alike. Since September 11 each night the top of this great building is awash with the colors of our country, red, white and blue. On special occassions, the colors change to represent holidays and cultures from around the world. It's always fun trying to figure out what the colors are and which holidays or special occassions are upon us. After doing a little research I was able to find this. A listing of each of the color combinations and what they stand for. Take some time and read through them. I'm sure that in some small way there is a color combination which represents everyone.
My favorite is the Red and White which represents Pulaski Day and the Red Cross.

Mon, April 8, 2002 - 7:10:22 pm

Elusive Camera

I've been hot on the trail of this camera all morning but have only turned up a couple of links. The Olympus "O.product is being produced as a limited edition, and it is aimed to appeal not just to photography enthusiasts but also to individuals who appreciate good design in its own right." See it at: http://www.geocities.com/maitani_fan/special_models.html

Sun, April 7, 2002 - 6:19:12 pm

Sneakers and Sweedes

So Saturday night I met up with some of my old crew. Jay showed up at around 7 and we hung for a while comparing geek notes. Headed over to Miladys around 10:30 to meet up with Kristen, her brothers and her cousin. After some great impersonations and a couple pints of Guinness, Christy and I headed to party with Utah and the Sweedes. A small apartment, 20 people and a Sweedish to American ratio of about 2.5:1 always makes for a great Saturday night.

Now where did that hour go?

Wed, April 3, 2002 - 8:39:57 pm

This Rocks

I found this while looking through some sites featured on the Movable Type website. I can remember sitting at my kitchen table reading through these catalogs while eating a bowl of Captain Crunch and watching The Jetsons before school.

Thu, March 28, 2002 - 2:00:19 pm

Whistler

Flying into Vancouver Airport you could tell that this place was going to be amazing. Out the window one side of the plane you could there was water but on the other side there were snow covered mountains as far as the eye could see. Our first day out riding on Sunday was amazing. The snow was perfect. Nice soft powder on top of a groomed snow base. For those of us from the east coast, it's always interesting snowboarding on a non-ice surface. You just seem to float over the snow. Aparently it's harder to ski in powder than it is to snowboard as Frankie and Christel quickly found out. It was an amazing week. We took one day off from riding to go snowmobiling. What a great sport. Cruising at about 30-40 kph through mountain trails and between 80 and 90 kph on a frozen lake is a great way to explore the beautiful backcountry of BC. We also hiked through almost hip-deep snow to visit Alexandria Falls, a beautiful frozen waterfall. The flight home was a little tiresome with a 4 hour layover in San Fran. We ended up getting into Newark (EWR) at about 6:30 AM. It was actually a pretty cool thing to see the New York Area waking up on a Sunday morning. The sunrise over the loading docks was surreal.

Wed, March 27, 2002 - 6:27:58 pm

I should have done this a long time ago.

It seems as though I've been trying to reinvent the wheel. Many people I know were using publishing systems such as Blogger and Movable Type to run their sites but I was very skeptical. I didn't like depending on someone elses software. It seems though that it's just easier. Movable Type makes web publishing very easy. Simply configure the templates and some simple settings and off you go.

Wed, March 27, 2002 - 4:45:12 pm

New and Improved, now with Movable Type

Well, here is the first entry. I'm trying to figure out why it's not being published.