Archive for chatter
Phew! So busy!
May 10th, 2010 • 1 comment chatter
Tags: photography
So, the site’s been stale for a few weeks now and that’s my fault. I’ve all but had to stop my Project 365 photography project as I’m actually a working shooter now, photographing concerts. It’s something I had envisioned doing a few years ago when I set up Band Names Not Brand Names but never got around to doing. Since my last post, I have photographed over 15 different bands at a number of different shows. Most of these are local bands in various musical scenes but three of them are nationally/globally touring acts and I was extremely happy to both shoot and meet them. I’ve taken the last week off from shooting because I was sick and I was severely behind on editing. When you go from shooting 2-3 bands a week to shooting 14 in three days, you get backed up! I’ve still got about half of that to go since I was backed up before that but it’ll all be done this week.
In that time, I’ve also upgraded my standard shooting combo of my 35mm f/1.8G DX and 50mm f/1.8D to a single lens, the massive Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED lens. It’s heavy, it’s metal, and it’s extremely FAST. Effectively, my DX-based shooting kit is almost complete, all I need now is a fast telephoto and I’m done. The next step after that is an FX body purchase but that will be at least a year off, if not more. I’m putting lens purchases first as those will be most beneficial for now in both concert and fashion shooting. I managed to snap some very nice lightning shots with the lens and I think some of them are just fantastic. They’re from a localized cloud-to-cloud lightning (“heat lightning”) storm we had last Thursday. After taking this Weather & Climate class, I found the whole storm to be both astonishing in how it works and beautiful in execution.
What a fine Friday
April 9th, 2010 • 1 comment chatter
It’s the weekend and it’s another busy one. Got some hanging out to do tonight, a concert to shoot tomorrow night, museum outing tomorrow afternoon, and something on Sunday which I can’t recall. I need it after the exams this week, we’re on the home stretch for this semester. I’m registered for more core classes next semester and am looking for summer classes.
Sorry for the recent lack of posts, school has gotten in the way with my shooting and updating. I hope to find smell fun shots this weekend, maybe we’ll go to the beach. But right now I’ve got to get back to work!
I seem to be perpetually tired
March 21st, 2010 • chatter
Tags: chatter, education
These last few weeks have been non-stop go-go-go for us. Add to that I’m not sleeping like I should be. Between work, school, photography, and life, it’s almost as if there’s no “me” time. Sure, I’ve got a few hours every night to myself but then, I don’t really have them because I always have to do something. Most readers will notice both the lack of general updates and the lack of pictures these last few weeks. I started shooting a roll of film and have not yet developed it and the camera’s been off for repairs. Got some sand on the sensor and that took a few days. But it’s back and I’ve got some new lighting set ups I want to try, along with some lights and wireless triggers coming. Now I just have to scout out things around here to shoot. There were two discarded bicycles outside my apartment complex but someone came and got them this week and I so badly wanted to shoot them with a grid or snoot for ambiance.
School’s getting a little confusing. I don’t have a discussion tomorrow but I do have a lecture but next week, we’re supposed to have an exam and lecture, I wonder which will get pushed back or moved. Classes are going alright though, I’ve been slacking a lot more than I should and with an exam coming up, I can’t afford another low grade. However, the geography class is going well, it’s just so easy. I don’t get how some people are failing that class, it’s so simple.
Speaking of school, my girlfriend is now entering her fourth week of internship as a student teacher and she’s enjoying it. There’s been some issues with red tape and how the mentoring teacher teaches but that’s probably to be expected — I have no idea, I don’t plan on teaching 7 year olds to find out. I think next week she starts her second internship that is required for her coursework. I don’t envy her at all. She’ll be essentially working three jobs plus trying to get a business off the ground, which doesn’t really leave a lot of time for much of anything else. I guess I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth sometimes.
I’ve got to get to bed. My neighbor’s computer is almost done with its virus scans and I’m trying to think of something to photograph tomorrow, perhaps I’ll finally make my way over to the mosque beside school.
That was a very long weekend!
March 2nd, 2010 • chatter
We spent all of last week attempting to track down a dog’s owner. Well, we never did but there’s good news to the story. Bubba got a new home on Saturday with our friend Chris. He came over and brought his own pitbull so they could meet each other and socialize together. Turns out, both pitbulls just loved being around each other and played all day. Now Bubba has a nice new home that is HUGE and a new friend to play with! We’re so happy that Bubba has a stable and permanent home.
Sorry there were no new posts last week, we had devoted all of our energies to finding Bubba’s owner or a new home. Luckily we actually found both. His previous owner’s landlord called us yesterday and told us he skipped town. Turned out to be a good thing for Bubba. I also didn’t take any pictures last week because I felt that finding him a home was more important than lugging my camera around. I can always take more pictures, I can’t always help an animal out.
We went to the Florida Ren Fest on Sunday and I’ve got a bunch of pics from that I’ve got to sort through and edit so I’ll be back to taking pictures this week, no worries!
Man, I’m exhausted
February 23rd, 2010 • 1 comment chatter
Tags: dalai lama, dog
Sorry for only a few photos this week, I haven’t had any time to take any. We’re still working on reuniting our rescued pitbull with his owner, Sam. However, it’s now been 48 hours and no word from any of our contacts from Sam’s side of town. We’ve spent those 48 hours tracking down stuff like his favorite hang outs, where he lives, phone number, anything we can get and we are still coming up blank. We’ve done as much as we can, monetarily, at this point and are looking into getting the dog kenneled for a few days. Luckily, we have some AWESOME neighbors who are helping us find prospective adoptive homes for the big guy if the owner never turns up.
I’m freaking exhausted and have had practically no sleep the last few days with trying to find the owner and keep this massive dog calmed down. Tomorrow, we’re going to see the Dalai Lama at FAU and that is going to be AMAZING. Right now, I’ve got to go to sleep.
Blog maintenance pt 2
February 12th, 2010 • blog, chatter
Doing some more maintenance this week, trying to get crap optimized for the new influx of traffic.
Site maintenance
February 9th, 2010 • chatter
Tags: maintenance
Today I am performing some site maintenance. I’m updating old pages along with installing a new information-centric theme and updating some old posts. All the content will still be online but things may change around here and there through the course of the day.
A few weeks in, a few weeks out
February 4th, 2010 • chatter
Tags: nexus one, nikon, photography
We’re going into our fifth week at school and things are going fine, I suppose. I’m not used to these lower level classes where you only do tests every few weeks. The higher level classes give me grade feedback a bit more quickly than that. I solved my dilemma of sitting with chatterboxes by simply sitting where they never will: in the middle of the classroom. There’s still a little chatter but it’s not constantly in my ear like previously. I just do not understand freshmen sometimes. Why pay $500+ for a class that you’re just going to talk through and/or play on Facebook in? I’d rather take that money and do something with it.
We had planned a Valentine’s Day shoot for this upcoming Sunday but have scrapped it because the time frame was simply too short for most people to be able to make it. We will be trying to arrange a “kids only” shoot for Mother’s Day. Not a lot of details at this time, though. It should be fun, that’s all I know. My photos from the Haiti benefit show at Boardriders Boca on 29 Jan still aren’t done processing, which sucks because I need to get them out by next week when I see Black Weather Shaman and Everymen again. Hopefully we’ll have our cards by then too so we can hand some out.
I purchased the lauded Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX lens last week and problems aside, it’s everything people claim it to be. Fast focusing, quiet, and sharp. I’ve found it to be more sharp wide open than my 50mm f/1.8D AF, but only slightly. I will test it out next week at the BWS/Everymen show in Lake Worth.
I also got my Nexus One this week and so far, I love it. Aside from spending a whole day trying to figure out why my contacts didn’t work, it’s a really nice phone. I think the vertical keyboard could have slightly larger keys but other than that, I don’t have too many problems with the phone. I’ve downloaded Swype and while I do like it, it’s not good for any non-common word with repeating letters in it such as names or words like “between”. It’s got a learning curve but it’s not too bad, just takes practice. Compared to my ex’s G1, this thing is blazing. I could tell her Android install was aging but I didn’t realize the stark difference between 1.0 and 2.1 until this week. What a year of active use and development makes.
Nine years ago today, something magical happened
January 27th, 2010 • 1 comment chatter
In 2000, it was just another year for the most part. The economy was doing OK, George Bush was busy trying to figure out how to be a president, and I was a freshman in college. I had been a member of the long defunct CollegeClub.com networking site, it was busy doing social networking before the term was over coined and giving us a glimpse of things MySpace and Facebook do today — none of which is extraordinary. I’d made a bunch of friends and it was all a good time. Since I’d also recently just gotten out of a pretty tough relationship, I wasn’t exactly out scouting for a hook-up. However, as time has shown, it didn’t matter what I was actually looking for, I found exactly what I was subconsciously looking for.
I started chatting on an off-again/on-again schedule with a girl whose handle was bsubaby and was attending Ball State University in Indiana. She was really cute and at least made every attempt to sound intelligent. As any college girl, she liked to go out and dance and have fun, so nothing really struck me as all that interesting to be honest. But during a break between semesters, we began talking a lot more frequently and about many different subjects. Since I was still very heavily into programming at the time and she pretty much sucked at using a computer, that was not a very heavily discussed topic.
Then something happened in December of that year, we decided to be bold and meet up for the first time. Since I was still living at home in Alabama, that was out of the question. She lived in Indiana, which was just too damned cold at that time. So, we decided to meet in one of my favorite US cities: Atlanta. Of course, it also helps that I had lived there for 10 years and knew my way around the city. It was planned for the weekend of January 27, 2001. At the airport, I was greeted by this stunning redhead whom gave me a great big hug. We had a fantastic weekend hanging out in Atlanta and talking each other’s ears off. After she left and I went back home, we talked and decided to hang out again in a few months. I believe our next meet up involved me driving to Indiana, which was a seriously long drive but fun nonetheless. This whole meeting up process lasted for quite a while, just about three years to be exact.
Who am I talking about? My beautiful girlfriend Jess. Over the last nine years, she’s put up with a lot from me and I could never be more thankful for it. I couldn’t be happier nor more proud of her. Despite all the problems of the past, she’s still here.
I never thought it’d last past a year or two, let alone nearly an entire decade. I am quite possibly one of the luckiest people in the world. Thank you.
