I ordered a 8gig compact flash card today. The 2gig card plus the two 1gig cards just wasn't cutting it. I'd fill it then have to swap down to my 1 gigs and those of course go in half the time it took to fill the two gig and means another swap which may mean missing a shot depending on the situation. This will more than double my current shooting capacity too. I'm gonna need more external drives soon too.
I've still got a bunch of other goodies I want for my kit like a nice remote release. A couple more lenses to round out my collection. An off camera strobe kit. So on and so forth. But as things are I'm gonna have to take my time on all the things. Unless someone wants to start to give me money for taking photos. Which has happened once but I turned down because I don't know how to pose people nor was I comfortable just shooting a wedding. If it was something like more like senior pictures where it wasn't as big of a production to do I'd be more apt to start there.
I had a good time at the run off. Chris had a decent time and Jana pretty much hated it. So I'm gonna see if we can find something that we will all like. A triathlon is the idea. Jana will swim as she was once on swim team, Chris will bike cause thats what he will do, and I will do the running.
I've thought about doing it all on my own except I don't want to pay for the access to a pool to train for swimming a half mile. Nor do I want to spend a few hundred dollars for a road bike and accessories that would go pretty much unused.
During the visit to Ikea over the weekend I saw a very large print of the Eiffel Tower. While it was impressive and stylish I want a huge canvas print of my own to hang on my wall. Getting the print in large format canvas style doesn't seem like its going to be an issue as there are plenty of vendors out there who do this and ship it right to your door. I'm going to need to a) pick an existing photo or b) take a new photo to hang on my wall... I'm also considering some smaller canvas style prints to hang on the wall of the bathroom or other places around my small dwelling.
Saturday: Bought some new shirts. Went to brew fest, then to a bar. Then puked.
Sunday: Breakfast was a Spanish omelet and a sides of fruit and an English muffin. Then to Ikea. Then to ultimate. Then drove home. Got gas in Eugene while pulling away after getting gas I was stung or bit by a bee on my neck. Went home unpacked cleaned up a bit, went to bed.
Good weekend really.
Had a couple of the Chris' Brews tonight. Good stuff.
Hooray for beer! Hooray for friends! Hooray for friends that make beer!
Two ds for double the dose. I did two laps of the Rexius circuit tonight which comes in around 6.8-9 miles. Until tonight I'd been doing just one.
I also got my new car wash kit today from P21S today. So naturally I shampooed my car, then I cleaned before I proceeded to the waxing stage.
I also got a couple CDs I ordered from Amazon today. I got Hybrid - I Choose Noise and one I doubt you'd ever guess... Paul Simon - Graceland.
Also Spider Man 3 is lame. Best part was Bruce Campbell.
I pre-ordered William Gibson's next book, Spook Country today. So I'll be reading a proper book again within a few weeks time.
Gibson is one of the very few authors that manages to grab me and get me into the story enough to actually read. I've tried others but often just find my self looking at the words. Then later when I'm actually reading the book I realize I missed something. So I go back a little ways and see if I can figure it out which usually means me having to go back further and further until I find about where I stopped reading and started looking at words. This tends to be somewhat frustrating.
I kind of want a set of these. While I realize I don't need a vision problem to get contacts but not having a vision problem means I have no eye doctor to go visit. It also means I don't carry that kind of insurance so it would really be a lot of work and some money to get something for free... I remember hearing about it a couple years back while they were still researching it, I think its pretty cool.
So around 6am this morning Chris, Jana (Chris' Girl) and I all rolled out of bed. We put on our shirts shorts and shoes, pinned our numbers to our shirts, attached our timing chips to our shoes. Then we were on our way to downtown Portland.
We got to the race location with enough time to get some free vitamin water and use the restrooms. It was surprisingly warm for as early as it was. At 7:30am after standing at the starting line listening to the announcer describe the course and talk about he runoff they blew their air horn starting the 3 (it was actually 2.9) mile run. The first mile was all up hill, the rest was downhill then flat and fast. I finished in 21:48 and 3rd of 8 in the 25-29 age division 23rd of the 65 males and 28th of 145 total participants. My heart rate average was 171 and the max was 184.
After Chris and Jana finished we got some free food and drink. Chris and I got our backs adjusted at the free chiropractic at the event. On the way back I realized I lost my wallet. Fortunately it was right where I prayed that it was, the street were the car was parked.
I think I'll do it again next year.
Also I saw a big beautiful red Countach on Saturday.
Yesterday and today both I manged to to 3.4 miles in under 30 min. Not by much but under 30 min. I've made about a 4 minute improvement over the last week. I'm just hopping the cascade run off on Sunday doesn't kick my ass too bad with huge hills and the hard concrete. So far I've been on pretty flat stuff and soft soft trails.
Just watched this Chase Jarvis video of his shoot in New Zealand, looks like his client for the shoot was REI.
The video makes me want to take more pictures. It also makes me more excited about the trip to New Zealand this coming spring and for the potential photos I'll get while there.
The photo I attached with my post yesterday has somehow founds its way all the way up to #20 in explore on flickr today. Just a week ago I was somewhat taken back by the fact another one of my photos was on explore. But this one making it so near the top is pretty insane to me. Pretty exciting and I'm quite proud of my shot making it to where it is...
While pride in ones work is a good thing. The downside it is more justification in my head to spend money on new equipment like expensive lenses...
I did some wake boarding and did much better than I did last week. Not exactly sure on what my problem was last week, though there are a few theories about last weeks suckage by Ben on the wake board...
Matt had a couple of really good Ski sessions. I got some pretty good shots of the action.
Update 7/18/07 10:19am: This photo has been featured explore in flickr. yay.
Helped Nathan put stuff in his attic yesterday. Then pretty much just laid around the rest of the day.
I went for a run this morning then sat around for a bit before I went to get lunch and new running shoes. I went to the Eugene Running Company for the shoes and they put me on a treadmill and took a look at what my ankles and feet do when I run. My left foot pronates just a bit and my right is pretty neutral so they had me try a couple of shoes on and jog around a bit in them. Tomorrow night I'll give them a go.
After I got home I took a nap and have been doing pretty much nothing useful or productive...
A few weeks ago one of my flickr photos was short listed for schamps last night I got an email saying my photo is in the Third Edition Portland Schamp.... It's not even a great photo but it's exposure.
So years ago, when I used to live in Salem. I used to be a semi regular at a certain Coffee House Cafe. At this time in my life I had a much much higher caffeine intake than was healthy, but hey it was fun. Well since then my caffeine intake has fallen to nearly none. Tonight I went to Salem to visit Stephanie a close friend from high school we ended up at the Coffee House Cafe and I got the drink I used to get. The iced Rusty Bucket. After the first couple drinks before the sweet concoction had dropped even an inch in my glass I could feel the caffeine and sugar going to work. That was sometime around 9pm, it is now ten to 1:00am and I can't sleep. I've been trying to sleep since around 11pm....
I'm a caffeine light weight.
Kind of exciting. Even though I'm sure it happened some time ago now.
While I know a couple people who have been explored many many times. One shared their technique with me but it involved more work than I was willing to put into such a thing and kind of felt like cheating to me.
Made it to the right post office to do my passport application. It was quick and painless for the most part, except for the it costing $100 part. But nobody said travel is cheap.
I should have it sometime in October according to the guesstimate made by the postal passport person.
I got an email sometime last week informing me that I'm on the Alpha testing for TrillianAstra. Just got around to installing and configuring it today. So far so good. I think I screwed up at the initial part of configuration as it tried to import my old settings but my Astra account info was wrong so I had to delete the profile and start fresh.
It's sporting support for the myspace im which is great for myspace people, but not me. It's got widgets now too. So far they seem pretty useless to me but some people love that stuff. I do use the flickr widget but I have no idea what the hell it actually does.
I think the folks over at cerulean studios are attempting to start their own IM platform as well. Which to me seems like an already crowded sector to be in but they do work with pretty much all the other IM services so they may have a shot. They also claim its going to be a one stop type solution. So far I have no Astra contacts I'm just using all my AIM/YIM/MSN contacts so finding more about their platform isn't possible just yet, as they also don't yet seem to have any kind of user directory to find other astra users. So far no crashy or super annoying bugs that one would expect from an alpha.
I got my passport photo taken today for New Zealand. Then I headed to what was the wrong post office to get a passport application. So tomorrow after work I'll head to the correct post office to get my passport application taken care of. Fun stuff I say...
Also it's about a million degrees outside, and Murray is feeling snuggly for some reason.
I may soon owe Chris nearly $1,500. He has or at least will be purchasing tickets to New Zealand for next March. So I'll be paying him back until March comes. Hopefully without having to dip to far into my savings or so much that it will keep me from too many fun things.
Looking at the information Chris has already forwarded along it's gonna brutal travel. It will be something like 14+ hours on a plane for the trip to New Zealand and then another 16+ hours on the way back... Should be fun. Hopefully I'll have enough money to get drinks on the plane and sleep though a bulk of the flight(s).
I'll have to find someone to feed Murray...
A friend at work was just checking out some of my photography work. He asked if I was interested in doing his wedding this fall. While I'm greatly complimented by the suggestion I still pretty much don't know what the hell to do with people. I ended up directing him to a good friend of mine who has much more experience and even a business doing that kind of thing.
But it's just cool to have someone think that I'm of that caliber of a photographer.
I'm also wanting to get my self a decent remote release too.
Just more crap to add to the camera bag.
Also my new tripod did quite well for me last night.
If given the opportunity for absolute happiness and stability in that happiness for simply giving a few things up in your life and changing your way of life could you do it?
You have no proof of this absolute happiness. Only the promise or idea. Could you give up what you have become used to. Could you leave your pets, change locations, sell your possessions, take a pay cut, change how you dress, if it meant you'd be happy? How do you know? Would you still be you? Give up the comfort and familiarity of your life for a new one.
I realize people do this all too often. But how often is it because of need or desperation not because of an idea or feeling at the other end. It's much easier to make certain changes from desperation or need or other factors that must be improved that nearly force one into the changes...
I don't know that I could do it. I'd like to think I could. I've grown quite accustom to my lifestyle and things. To just change it seems somewhat unfathomable to me.
Caught Transformers last night with Kevin. While one couldn't say it was a powerful movie that makes one think and feel a myriad of deep thoughts and emotions. It was entertaining and a good watch. The whole thing was pretty much fan service which is ok with me.
After the movie there were a couple of what appeared to be 30 year old virgin super dorks that were by far too excited about the movie. Wishing and dreaming aloud the features they wish their cars had that they had just seen in the movie. Also they were really hoping for a hint that their would be a sequel after the credits, which I suppose would be possible, but they didn't really leave it wide open to have a sequel. I also doubt it would be very good.
The downside to the weekend is I didn't sleep so great any of the nights. Friday night I had some weird crazy ass dreams and felt like I could have slept more when it was time to get up and start the day. Saturday night I didn't have any crazy ass dreams but again could have slept a bit better, but its somewhat expected considering I wasn't in my own bed. Then last night I just could sleep at all. Perhaps still on a rush from the awesome game of frisbee or perhaps catching a second wind at an inopportune time.
Today it was a struggle to not fall asleep at my desk. Got home and fell asleep for a hour and a half and could have slept more. But I thought I'd like to sleep tonight so forced my self to get up and moving again.
Went north for the weekend. Hung out with Chris and Jana the whole time. Good times. Went to Malibu Raceway on Friday night and drove like we were race drivers, and hell for the time we were there we were race drivers.
Saturday we hit the body worlds exhibit at Omsi then we grabbed some lunch and made a stop at someones house warming party before we headed to Jana's place for dinner. The entertainment for the evening was Bullwinkle's were we drove the much slower go carts, played some video games and some broken laser tag.
Sunday we hit the camera shop so I could see the tripod that I have arriving tomorrow and so Chris could find a head he likes for his camera. As well as some other shopping by Chris and Jana. After lunch and a trip to 23rd street for some Gelato on we headed to a park for the ultimate frisbee pickup game. The game was awesome.