Cwoffee
A collage of photos with this new lense thing that started last night and finished this morning.
Happy Friday 13th/ Valentine’s depending on your blog browsing habits.
Bokandle
I’m loving this new lense. It means I can finally shoot decent shots indoors among other things… You’ll have to take me word for that though, here’s a candle and I think it’s a window reflected on the countertop? Abstraction…
Slug Crossing
We used to live in Santa Cruz. UCSC has the banana slug as its school mascot (“No known predators”). This sign is from yesterday’s wanderings about Lewis & Clark campus in the snow. It’s all melted today. Weird weather… weird signage…
Anyroad, a few business items… First off, one of my mates who is a proper, professional photographer, Mr. Joop Rubens has started a photoblog to go with his flashy pro site, and I urge you to check it out. He’s been into photography for donkey’s years and got into digital about 5 years ago and has enviable portrait skillz.
Next off, I’m considering consolidating my RSS feeds so that if you’ve signed up for photoblog emails, you’ll get my blog updates too. If that sounds like a bad idea, contact me in the next day or two and I may well reconsider. I try to put photos in all my blog posts too… If you’re signed up for both already, you can still unsubscribe from one or t’other.
Thirdly, I’ve still not printed the photos I promised you and for that, I suck. I’m on it, it’s always on my mind and maybe this is the week I’ll make good on my promise.
Fourthly, I got ebaying over the weekend and should have a 50mm 2.0 prime lens to play with in the very near future which is a whole new area to me and I’m looking forward to experimenting. I’ve another vintage viewfinder on its way too, a Kodak Duaflex II, hopefully full of dust, scratches and blemishes all ready to have a Pringles tin strapped to it.
I won’t write any more here cos it puts the whole balance of the design out when there’s tons of text. I’m offski 🙂
Just when you thought it was safe to plant your ‘zuchini’
Luckily this time I read the backs of the packets of seeds and a lot of them could be started indoors then transplanted, so I felt slightly smug this morning when it was whiter than usual outside. Not enough snow to cancel work though, but enough to make the place look suitably festive. Hopefully something’ll sprout soon… and ideally produce vegetables before we move to another timezone
Since it was already snowing when I headed to work today I took me camera in on the offchance there was something photographicable, to coin a word. I submitted one of them to this here Portland blog and they published it. I get the impression they’re not inundated with entries… On Flickr one of the comments was “Best watch where you put the rock salt down.” which I liked.
Desperate times, desperate measures – Comcast error SRM 8001
No, not the economy.
I got fed up with not being able to watch On Demand offerings on cable last night so I finally gave up thinking ‘it’s probably just snow on the lines, or flooding, or high winds, or volcanic/seismic activity’ and phoned Comcast to sort it out. 40 minutes of classical music later, I hung up before my mobile phone died. Then I tried email. Today I got a reply suggesting using their ‘live chat’ . Click on the ‘more’ link or whatever it’s called if you’d like to read the conversation between John.Michael.37920 and Ms. Fisher in its entirety. Basically I’m waiting the proposed 15-30 minutes now and thought posting about Comcast would help pass the time.
Last night we ordered some Mexican food from the local El Salvadorian restaurant (I know…), and since the line was bad and there was a lot of background noise, rather than spending the usual 5 minutes spelling gwyn, I gave my name as Paco. Unfortunately this led to even more confusion and thus we ended up with Tacos de carne asada rather than burritos.
I’d like to say more has been happening of note but not really. Lots of work. Lots of walking the dog. A fair bit of reading. Countless hours on the internets… Half my family appeared in Taunton’s Gazette last week. That was probably the highlight… Doesn’t he look happy? I think I inherited the “Yay-It’s-snow!” gene…
Ah well, I’m off to check if I can watch The Soup on demand yet. If not I’ll be live chatting again for a substantial chunk of this morning.
Read More “Desperate times, desperate measures – Comcast error SRM 8001”
Have an eyeful of my Dad’s pictures
of Kingston in the snow, gorgeous they are:
http://flickr.com/photos/digameuk/sets/72157613433876234/
Though the colouring of some of the faceprints is a bit disturbing.
‘Squirl’
This rum customer stayed staring at me for quite while, calculating his escape no doubt. I’m not used to such attention as Atticus usually frightens off anything alive and under 15 kilos within a 2 mile radius…
Sorry about the absence of posts of late, you know how it is. A new season of Lost starts and everything goes to pot. What with the surprisingly decent weather at we’re enjoying at the minute I should get out more and spend less time on facebook. Talking of which: 
:O
Dog’s water bowl lens
Plan A was to take a high ISO shot with a very fast shutter speed of this breaking when I chucked it at the concrete, but I decided I wasn’t well coordinated enough to pull it off. Plan B was to hold it aloft like a mighty jewel and shoot the sun’s rays glinting off its imperfections. Behold, plan B.
En recherche du noel perdu
Strike me down if it didn’t only go and snow again this morning. ’bout time too. I don’t mind putting up with icy temperatures as long as there’s something to show for it other than frostbite. It more or less all melted by the afternoon though.
The photos this week might well come from the archives rather than fresh off the SD card, apologies in advance
Bridge across the Bokeh
The waterfalls between Portland and The Dalles are connected by an old (by American standards) road with picturesque little bridges.
DrSita’s just crossed one here. The shallow depth of field and blur is deliberate. Honest.
Step #4, Alligator sandwiches, Navelgazing and Last Thursday
DrSita comes back late this evening and in the meantime, I’m baking bread. Sudarat gave me a bread baking stone and it’s getting it’s baptism by yeast today. When DrSita rang yesterday she seemed to be reeling from culture shock from visiting New Orleans, and this morning I turned my computer on and got this Skype message:
[6:21:11 AM] WIFEY! says: i can’t believe i forgot to tell you: i ate alligator!
I dunno, you let her wander off for 48 hours and this kind of thing happens…
What else? I went to Bertie Lou’s this morning for breakfast, had a long chat with Stu & Anne yesterday, watched Cloverfield last night, Hancock the night before, and life’s pretty quiet all in all.
I got tagged by Colibrà and El Charro Negro for an “upload a photo and say 16 things about yourself” Flickr meme thing, so i have to do that. I didn’t realise it had to be in Spanish though, and thinking of 16 things to say was harder than I thought so I just googled about for ’50 questions’ type posts and came up with the following:
1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
Jesus, that’s a lot of white hairs in me beard. Time for a shave…
2. What is your favourite ringtone on your phone?
Any of them are fine EXCEPT the one that I used to have as an alarm at 6am meaning it was time to commute to Sunnyvale for Yahoo(!). Still gives me shivers when I hear it.
3. What were you doing at midnight last night?
Hoping DrSita was alright in her haunted hotel in Louisiana. Wishing the Colbert Report would go on a bit longer, and mulling over the implications and repercussions of time travel in LOST.
4. What’s a word that you say a lot?
In English, anyroad
In Spanish, orale
5. Favorite age you have been so far?
23 was a good vintage.
6. What is your current desktop picture?
Laptop: That Ubuntu heron thing
Home PC: Bokeh-y grass
Work PC: Yes we canine. On black.
7. What do you do when vending machines steal your money?
Pump the return me money button, rock the machine a bit, send another coin in after it, swear, weep.
8. Last magazine you bought?
Word magazine. Best music magazine on the planet. If we lived in the same country for more than 10 months at a time, I’d subscribe.
9. Can you cook?
Now and again. I can follow a recipe if it has pictures of what the result’s meant to look like. The House Speciality is Shepherd’s Pie. And right now I’m 6 hours into a bread recipe.
10. Last movie you watched?
Cloverfield, 2 hours ago. Monsters rock!
11. Do you like marmite?
Hellz yeah! ‘cept nowadays it gives me terrible acid indigestion.
12. Favourite crisps?
US: Funyuns
UK: Quavers
Mexico: Lays, amarillo
13. Do you own a donor card?
Yep. Help yourselves.
14. Are you a collector of anything?
We move too often to amass a serious amount of anything, I’ve 11 and a half thousand photos on Flickr though and I think my two dual lens vintage cameras might be the start of something bigger….
15. Do you believe in ghosts?
Nope.
16. Have you ever done anything more self-obsessed than this?
Can I interest you in my blog..? agaveweb.com/blog
Now I have to translate all that…
The Continuing Adventures of Me’n’Mario’n’Ange:
Last Thursday. I shifted my hours at L&C to a bit later so we could explore the area a tad. It was a misty morning & Atticus was full of beans and came with us.
I thought the park by the Sellwood bridge would be pretty atmospheric what with all the fog so we had a little wander round there before heading up to Tryon park next to where I work. We managed a fairly large loop of the trails there, the mist had more or less disappeared but the sun was low in the sky and casting some nice beams through the trees. I also took advantage of having two experienced dog handlers to pass Atticus over to so I could use my TTV contraption. Here’s one I liked:
We walked briefly around the L&C campus then I went to a meeting about the new CMS we’re going to be adopting at the law school. It’s an impressive system and will eventually make everything run more smoothly… but I think the changeover is going to be a little bumpy. Nothing too severe though, and I likes a challenge.
After than we went CD & poster shopping round Hawthorn way. Word Magazine cost 17 bucks. But it’s rarer than hen’s teeth in Oregon so I bit the bullet and paid up. I shall read it very slowly…
In the evening, ‘tapas gringas’ and beer in Clinton with everyone + a Spanish friend of ours.
Lovely. Anyroad, off to try step #5 in Leif’s recipe…
Cannon Beach Again
Very similar to the one from a couple of days ago, but I like this one too. One of these days I’ll learn how to process black and white shots properly, adjusting the RGB channels and all that.
From labourers to teachers to physicists to web monkeys
Dad just published the fruit of years of research by my Uncle David and Auntie Liz in his Flickrstream– the family tree dating back the 18th century. It’s altogether humbling and an impressive project in itself.
Today DrSita headed off to New Orleans, back on Friday. News as and when. Mario & Ange Pt II:
Last Tuesday, did 9 to 5 on campus, while M&A went to the zoo (i think…), then in the evening Sita cooked (again) and we played a new board game, Sequence, which is like Connect 4, but with cards, teamwork and a lot more vitriol…
Wednesday, 9 to 4 on campus for me, then a walk with ‘Cus and in the evening M&A&me saw the Curious Case of Benjamin Button, in the frozen mists of Moreland. 3 hours long or so, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Like a sci-fi Forrest Gump. 4 Lulus.
The Cute Book
This one’s from Powell’s cooking and crafts bookshop on Hawthorn(e?). Taken through the fisheye obviously, which has been enjoying something of a renaissance in my affections of late.
Dr.Sita’s in Tulane till Friday so Me and Atticus might finally get round to getting some pictures printed and sent to my beloved subscribers.
Sellwood Morning
T’was a misty morning down by the river in Sellwood. Why matey here was fishing in a river that had clearly posted ‘contaminated water’ signs due to the recent floods is anyone’s guess though. I like to think the local council was paying him to provide ambience…
Where to start?
I’ll have to serialise this because I’ve got tons of work on… so how about Monday?.. Mario and Ange took the car and went to investigate the centre of town, I think, meanwhile I worked from home on all manner of lewis and clark related stuff. In the evening we went to see Glasvegas and Carl Barat (below) at the Douglas Fir,
Note to Mexicans heading to the Douglas Fir for a gig. Bring your passports, as national ID cards don’t cut any sway with the pig ignorant doorman. We felt slightly better about going back to get the passports when he almost wouldn’t let a roadie by with the thickest of Glaswegian accents I’ve heard. Other than that it was a fine old night, Carl played me favourite Libertines tracks and Glasvegas seemed to be labouring under the misapprehension they were in some huge stadium and took 2 hours to set up their floodlights, but they made a joyful racket. Nice tuneful scottish pop with beautiful lush guitar/synth soundscapes. Class.
I’ve finally uploaded my flickr stuff, and Mario has several hundred pix too… Stay tuned for an account of Tuesday…
Cannon Beach (Haystack Rock)
This is from Friday’s jaunt to the seaside. Cannon Beach was looking as lovely as always, Haystack rock, if that is its real name, looked suitably emblemic, and the light, ah the light was golden and gorgeous.