Today I accomplished something that I've been wanting to do for some time. I rode my bike to work. And then I rode it home at the end of the day. Ever since I started biking seriously I've looked for ways to ride more and drive less. Well, sort of. I've always thought it would be cool to live in an urban area that put home close enough to work and shopping that I could do most of my daily travel by bike. Living in suburban hell and working 25 miles away kind of put a damper on that, but I'll admit I didn't push to hard to commute to the few local places I shop.
But now I work just less than 14 miles away, and most of those miles are rural roads. Ever since I took the job I've been toying with the idea of riding in. Today I did it and had a pretty good ride, but I don't think I'll be doing it again anytime soon.
I learned a few things on the road today.
Number One: An hour long commute sucks, even if it IS on a bike. By the time I got near the house, I was just pissed off that I was still not home. Honestly, the ride was pretty enjoyable, but 14 miles is just too far for me to do it often. If I lived 5 miles closer, it would be hard NOT to ride to work. It was great to watch the sun come up while on the bike. Riding an hour home after a full day's work on the other hand was just a chore, and that's not what I want riding to be.
Number Two: Road riding for me is a very social activity. Riding an hour by myself sucked - I started talking to myself (well - more than normal) on the way home. I think it would be better with an iPod at least. The experience really made me understand that interacting with my friends - even the limited talking in a fast pace line - is a big part of why I ride.
Number Three: There is a heck of a lot of traffic on Houston Lake Road in the afternoon. Don't any of you people WORK?
So, there it is. I did it, but it will be a while before I do it again. I might consider doing a half-and-half commute. Drive in with the bike, ride home, ride in the next day and then drive home. That might not be so bad. Plus, if we ever move for employment, I know my ride-to-work radius is about 10 miles when buying a house.
Tuesday, November 3
Friday, October 2
Canon Image Stabilizer makes my pics BLURRY??!!
Back yard at sunset
Jobsite at sunrise
The above images don't have anything to do with the post title. That's below:
Jobsite at sunrise
The above images don't have anything to do with the post title. That's below:My new Canon XSi DSLR camera came with an EF-S IS lens. The IS stands for Image Stabilizer. It has a mechanism built in to negate camera shake. I noticed that my first longer-exposure, low light shots had some blurring in them. This specifically showed up while shooting on the tripod. I figued my tripod was crappy and started pricing more solid versions. But then I noticed an odd effect whilst shooting the wine glass on the tripod last night. The image moved around in the view finder, noticeably, while the camer and tripod were rock steady. I then turned the IS off (there's a small switch on the lens.) The image in the viewfinder became still.
Strange.
To confirm this, I shot four images back to back tonight. I zoomed the lense all the way out (55mm) then shot with and without the IS. I also repeated the process using the mirror lock. The internal mirror is what allows you to see through the lens when looking in the viewfinder. It snaps out of the way when you take the picture, causing the loud click most people associate with taking a picture. Locking the mirror makes taking a shot a 2 step process. The first button push flips the mirror up. You let the camera settle, then press the button again to take the picture. This avoids any blur from the vibration of the mirror moving.
So, here's the result:
Details: shot on A-DEP profile with center weighted average metering and auto focus. A wired remote trigger was used. All were shot off a tripod with all legs in shortest position sitting on a table. All shots were taken within 5 minutes. Interestingly, the auto exposure, auto focus didn't choose the same shutter speed or f-stop on any of the photos. Before you cry foul, the sharpest shot was actually the longest at 15 seconds. The shortest shot was the no mirror, no IS image at 8.5 seconds. I don't know if the IS function in the lens affects the automated choice of shutter and aperture. Even if it does, it seems like it should make choices that minimize blur when the IS is ON, and that's not what shows up here.
So, if I'm shooting on a tripod the IS will definitely be turned off. Maybe it does help when hand holding the camera, I'll have to test that to find out.
Thursday, October 1
Here's a few shots of my favorite models, workin' the black and white
Sitting on the deck tonight enjoying the b-e-a-utiful weather and a few adult beverages, my lovely wife said "hey, look at the reflection in the wine. That would make a cool photo." Well, a half hour later she finally got to finish that glass of wine. She was right, it made for several cool photos. Interestingly here, you can see the progression from first snap shot through the photo shoot with the light changing as the sun set. These are the high points of the experiment.
Sitting on the deck tonight enjoying the b-e-a-utiful weather and a few adult beverages, my lovely wife said "hey, look at the reflection in the wine. That would make a cool photo." Well, a half hour later she finally got to finish that glass of wine. She was right, it made for several cool photos. Interestingly here, you can see the progression from first snap shot through the photo shoot with the light changing as the sun set. These are the high points of the experiment.
For more info on Three Sisters Vinyards, Georgias best wine, visit the website.
We recommend the Fat Bot Red, the Fat Boy White, and the Blood Mountain Red.
Sunday, September 27
Wednesday, September 23
I am lucky enough to have friends and family that encourage my artistic endeavors, as wacky as they may be sometimes. Thanks to all those that contributed. Maybe this time's not quite so wacky.
This is the first crop of images from my new Canon Rebel XSi digital SLR camera. For the uninitiated, it's a digital camera that gives you all the creative control of an old-school 35mm pro camera. I always have an image in my head before I take a picture. This camera gives me the control to make that image a reality. Click to enlarge.
This is the first crop of images from my new Canon Rebel XSi digital SLR camera. For the uninitiated, it's a digital camera that gives you all the creative control of an old-school 35mm pro camera. I always have an image in my head before I take a picture. This camera gives me the control to make that image a reality. Click to enlarge.
Sunday, September 20
Snapshots of the recent past
Finishing out the construction of the new facility has been hell of a journey. I've been pulling a lot of hours over the last few months and haven't had the energy for long discourses on the blog, but I think we're close to crossing the finish line. We've got the system and the new mill up and running, we've had our grand opening, now we're waiting for someone to make some sales. Far too much has happened for me to recount, so I thought I'd throw out some mental snapshots that have stayed with me.
Brian, Terry and I are standing behind the mill building. When we look down, we experience a concurrent ohno second. There is a perfectly silent second while we all look at the white foam and water creeping out from under the wall from inside. In the silence I hear Brian say "Where's that coming from?" We're all running suddenly for the inside of the mill room with his wods visibly hanging in the air behind us. Skittering into the mill room we find six inches of pretty white foam blanketing the concrete floor across half of the room. The half million dollar mill unit looks quite nice silhoutted against the fluffy white clouds of soap mix, and for one weightless second, we all enjoy the spectacle in silence as our stomachs fall into our boots.
It's five minutes past sunset on Monday night, and I'm still at the site - by choice this time. I'm sitting in a camp chair with a cold beer and the clouds are slowly darkening overhead into evening. Fresh killed dove breasts wrapped in bacon are sizzling on a charcoal grill and the wild hog quarters have just finished almost a full day on the smoker. It's my birthday, and I'm pretty sure it's the best one I've had in years. My wife and my friends are gathered in a field, cooking things locally caught, laughing a great deal and taking a deep breath before the circus starts. I'm thinking that for once, I'm right where I should be.
The next day has come, and it's D-day, the grand opening of the site I've worked months on and was hired to run. The sun is breaking through clouds, spiking the temperature in brutal humidity. I've just led the heads of state from three different companies on a tour of my site that they paid for. They are satisfied, perhaps a little in awe of the site and (I hope) it's captain. As we walk back across the truck scale toward the circus, I look back at the red scoreboard readout for the scale. It's crystal clear at that moment that the numbers on the readout in no way tally the weight that these men carry. And they love me.
At the end of a long day and a longer night, it's 4:30 AM and I'm watching the sun get lighter on the eastern horizon. Standing 30 feet in the air on our load tower and listening to our first real load of product pumping into the semi trailer below, I think that this is a rare view. Not many people get to see this, a job completed after an all night haul, just like not many people see a humpback blow in an Alaskan sound. I'm almost sick to my stomach from lack of sleep, but the product is right, the customer is happy, and we came through in a pinch. I hope I don't have this view again any time soon, but it's one I'll treasure.
Brian, Terry and I are standing behind the mill building. When we look down, we experience a concurrent ohno second. There is a perfectly silent second while we all look at the white foam and water creeping out from under the wall from inside. In the silence I hear Brian say "Where's that coming from?" We're all running suddenly for the inside of the mill room with his wods visibly hanging in the air behind us. Skittering into the mill room we find six inches of pretty white foam blanketing the concrete floor across half of the room. The half million dollar mill unit looks quite nice silhoutted against the fluffy white clouds of soap mix, and for one weightless second, we all enjoy the spectacle in silence as our stomachs fall into our boots.
It's five minutes past sunset on Monday night, and I'm still at the site - by choice this time. I'm sitting in a camp chair with a cold beer and the clouds are slowly darkening overhead into evening. Fresh killed dove breasts wrapped in bacon are sizzling on a charcoal grill and the wild hog quarters have just finished almost a full day on the smoker. It's my birthday, and I'm pretty sure it's the best one I've had in years. My wife and my friends are gathered in a field, cooking things locally caught, laughing a great deal and taking a deep breath before the circus starts. I'm thinking that for once, I'm right where I should be.
The next day has come, and it's D-day, the grand opening of the site I've worked months on and was hired to run. The sun is breaking through clouds, spiking the temperature in brutal humidity. I've just led the heads of state from three different companies on a tour of my site that they paid for. They are satisfied, perhaps a little in awe of the site and (I hope) it's captain. As we walk back across the truck scale toward the circus, I look back at the red scoreboard readout for the scale. It's crystal clear at that moment that the numbers on the readout in no way tally the weight that these men carry. And they love me.
At the end of a long day and a longer night, it's 4:30 AM and I'm watching the sun get lighter on the eastern horizon. Standing 30 feet in the air on our load tower and listening to our first real load of product pumping into the semi trailer below, I think that this is a rare view. Not many people get to see this, a job completed after an all night haul, just like not many people see a humpback blow in an Alaskan sound. I'm almost sick to my stomach from lack of sleep, but the product is right, the customer is happy, and we came through in a pinch. I hope I don't have this view again any time soon, but it's one I'll treasure.
Saturday, July 11
This one is just for Kathleen
Crouching Tiger, Hidden....um...Tiger.
Because Kathleen is tired of seeing snakes on my blog, we get saccharine instead.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)