11.27.2007

Episode 500(!), or how well I've been eating lately.

Small pictures, many of them, covering the last few weeks...

Along with Thanksgiving eating, there was a fair amount of boozing,

it takes a steady hand

breakfasting,

pulla french toast

coffeeing,

coffee break

some sushi making,

Sushi

some gluten-free bakery visiting,

Cooqi

and, of course, pancakes.

the blender the batter

And also, bacon.

BACON!

And a little something from the family recipe book, untouched for generations, coffee pudding, which involves a bag of marshmallows, a cup of brewed coffee, and some whipping cream. "These are a few of my favorite things" as the song says. It turned out quite delicious.

coffee pudding

On the non-food front, we learned there are now Segway tours in the Twin Cities,

segway tours

we booked a venue for our nuptials,

uclub

and we got a visual confirmation on the mommy Molly situation.

molly mor

A very nice trip, then back home for a little work, but then we were off to Mexico, for the nuptials of Laura and Anil. Here's a link, but be warned, it's mostly pictures of iguanas. That's just who I am.

http://www.flickr.com/gp/58131161@N00/5UjGz5

Briefly, Mexico was about, of course, the wedding, and staying at this crazy resort. Not like certifiable crazy, just like new experience crazy. Check the photos.

11.23.2007

Plated and Sated

plated

Turkey, salmon, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, brussels sprouts, stuffing, gravy, cornbread, wheat rolls, salad, and then pumpkin "pie". "Pie" in a cakepan.

pumpkin "pie"

More later. Gotta go eat some other food now...

11.20.2007

Just some camera stuff...

camerahead

I received my griptastic additions to my G9 last week and adhesed them to the camera.

The grip, for the front.
G9 grip

And the thumb rest, for the back.
G9 thumbrest

I ordered these after seeing them here, www.mycanong7.com/65801/460401.html. 50% for the coolness of the machined aluminum look, and 50% for the improved grip.

I also found a cheap case at Target, which will hold just enough camera + battery for my needs.
G9 case

True testing will commence tomorrow, but I'm really enjoying the zoom with image stabilization. Observe - dimly lit room, full wide.
optical wide @ 500

Dimly lit room, 6x optical zoom.
optical zoom @ 800

Dimly lit room, full on optical/digital combined 24x zoom.
digital zoom @ 800

The quality/lighting aren't great, but you can make out most of the label, and we're definitely close to film grain here, even with a small sensor packed with pixels.

Expect food pictures for the next few days...

11.19.2007

Things

O'Rourke's

O'ROURKE'S UPDATE: Serious monies have been raised and reconstruction progress is being made. The back of the building has been extended into the lot, which will increase seating as well as kitchen space, and thankfully the exterior retains the fantastic classic shabby diner look, as well as its structural soundness. There are even windows where some of the plywood sheets were.

O'Rourke's

No re-opening day has been announced as of yet, but it's coming.

Other also awesome things include...

red leaf
This plant next to our house with one red leaf on each stem.

Eli Cannon's
Eli Cannon's Taproom on a Sunday afternoon.

And lastly, some quick links to a potential holiday side project for those with xactos and gluesticks around the house. These are big in Japan, and you'll find plenty of advanced ones should you so choose, but paper models of everything from fictional creatures to real transportation can be found and often downloaded as a PDF for you to print out, cut out, and then put out on display.

I'm particularly keen on these starter ones for their ease of assembly. My favorite is the Dodecaheathen.

http://readymech.fwis.com/

This one because it's a functional pinhole camera.

http://www.pinhole.cz/en/pinholecameras/dirkon_01.html

And these ones because they just look really cool.


http://www.yamaha-motor.co.jp/global/entertainment/papercraft/index.html


Happy Holidays! See some soon!

11.12.2007

More stock!

Lesse, what do we have here...

wha9.BMP
"Hi handsome, wanna join me down here on my tiny stool and 'do the jumble'? No, really, what does LYUGF spell?"


wha8.BMP
"KIDS! No more leftovers! We've gotten rid of our dining room table and we're eating nothing but bits and bytes from now on!"


wha7.BMP
What do you think happened to these two?


wha5.BMP
"Whoa! Awesome setup! Let's see what that machine can do..."
wha6.BMP
"AAAAAAGUUGUGUGGGGGGUGGGGHHHHHHHH! MY EYES! MY EYES! THE BURNING!!!!"


wha4.BMP
"Hmmm...My 'laptop' tells me this supercomputer isn't that super anymore."


wha3.BMP
That reminds me, I have some laundry and some hard drive backups to do.


wha2.BMP
"Would you care for 'beard' with that, sir?"


wha18.BMP
Matthew McConaughey and Kirsten Dunst star in "The War of Northern Affection"


wha17.BMP
No comment, I was just happy to see the Minneapolis skyline.


wha16.BMP
You gotta know when to x-acto, know when to solder, know when to drill press, know when to clamp...


wha15.BMP
"Hi, Ma? Yeah, um, I think I put on half of one shirt and half of a different shirt this morning, maybe? Can you check my closet? Also, something is wrong with my hair..."


wha14.BMP
Remember when VISA cards had BANK on them, instead of the other way around? Me neither.


wha13.BMP
"AAAAAAGUUGUGUGGGGGGUGGGGHHHHHHHH! MY EYES! MY EYES! THE BURNING!!!!"


wha12.BMP
"Doctor, could you take a look at this thing on my head?"

Hey, wait a minute, that's the same guy that was hanging with Miss Silhouette and the Breuer chair.
wha7.BMP
"Honey, you know I love your angry silhouette, but I've met someone. Someone with a big white thing on her head, and I'm leaving you."


wha11.BMP
"Uhh, Mr. Jones, I don't want to alarm you, but I'm hearing an awful lot of hair here..."


wha10.BMP
KABOOM!


wha1.BMP
"This boarding pass machine will help me catch those pesky dalmatians!!!"

WHEW! I'm out for now!

11.11.2007

No snow...yet.

I replaced our old Honeywell thermostat with a basic programmable one so the furnace will be under control when we're not home/sleeping/busy. So far it works great, and we wake up to a warm house.

thermo

There was a threat of our first snow here this weekend, but nothing came of it in our area. We had a brisk but sunny weekend. Perfect for hanging out in basements!

Like, maybe a church basement!

Holiday Fair

I saw the words "Swedish Breads" on the sign, so I had to check it out. We went, but the cardamom bread was $9 a loaf, so we purchased some other baked goods and entered the raffle instead. On to the next basement!

stairs.jpg

OK, so it's just our basement, but now it has outer cellar access stairs, and we have a functioning dryer. The old stairs were falling apart, but believe it or not, one of my co-workers had some "spare" stairs that I brought home, and they fit perfectly and dropped right in, allowing me to bring the free dryer (also from work) in from the garage.

dryer.jpg

After such a productive afternoon (we also cut the grass for hopefully the last time this season) it was time for a little culture. The Wesleyan cinema was showing "The City" with live Wesleyan Orchestra accompanienment FOR FREE Saturday night, so we went.

orchestra

The score was by Aaron Copland (it's what's for dinner), so it was quite an experience. The film was prepared for the 1939 World's Fair, and it was meant to suggest that a new type of design was called for in urban planning. It was fun to see, especially with the orchestra, and of course, free is free.

Today was just a highly efficient trip to Target and Trader Joes, and a trip to the gym.

WEEKEND OVER!!!

11.09.2007

Ahhh, stock photography.

I was at work today and looking for some images for a client job. Our vector clip art that we use fairly often also includes some "hi-res photography" and here, for your viewing pleasure, are some of the highlights I ran across today.

Under "Holiday"

Holiday 096.jpg

Holiday 140.jpg

Holiday 051.jpg

Holiday 019.jpg

Holiday 054.jpg

And my Holiday favorite...

Holiday 060.jpg

Under "People-General"...

People - General 123.jpg

People - General 438.jpg

People - General 433.jpg

...those are NOT general people.

Under "People at Work"

People at Work 144.jpg

People at Work 106.jpg

and my personal favorite from this category, PEOPLE AT WORK

People at Work 417.jpg

Under "Household"

Household 106.jpg

Household 082.jpg

and one more, my favorite for this category

Household 031.jpg

Stay tuned, there's plenty more where this came from.

11.05.2007

Technical Difficulties

My web hosting company, One World Hosting, took their (our?) servers on a trip from MD to MA on Saturday, and I guess they didn't remember to pack everything, because a supposed "several hour" outage inconvenience has turned into two days plus of no email or website(s) for their customers.

I have other things to talk about, but I'll have to do it when I'm sure everything is working again, as the ol' blog just came back online with in the last few minutes.

I made Mock Apple Pie this weekend. Do you know the secret ingredient?

Ritz cracker pie!

...please stand by.

11.02.2007

12.1 megapixels? What the hell am I gonna do with 12.1 megapixels?

Canon PowerShot G9

Today I received my newest camera, the Canon PowerShot G9.

Canon Powershot G9

It is the latest in the G series, and I've put my G3 through it's its paces over the last several years.

Canon PowerShot G9

It has a gigantic 3" screen, and from the back pretty much looks like a digital camera. From the front, and especially the top, it resembles an "elegant weapon, from a more civilized time." Or maybe a rangefinder. Look at the knobs!

Canon Powershot G9

Yes, it is a LOT of megapixels, but we did recently get one of these at work.