New name, same blog.

A couple of comments regarding my most recent post (about Windows Vista Beta 1) started me thinking about the direction of this blog. "Bill's Photoblog" doesn't sum up what I want to do. I want to post photos, yes, but I don't want to be limited to that. I want to talk about software, hardware, poker, Mikayla, Lily, daily work things, etc.. So, I began my search for a unique name that would cover all of those topics.

Many people would argue, but I like words. I enjoy reading the Dictionary.com Word of the Day. I like learning unfamiliar words that have familiar meanings. I remembered a Word of the Day from a while back (here is the link). Mélange means "a mixture or a medley." That gives me more flexibility than "Bill's Photoblog".

So, just like Western Baptist College, I have a new name with the same mission. Look forward to a mélange of topics here. Mostly photos and hopefully updated daily sprinkled with poker and computer topics.

Saturday: Windows Vista Beta 1

Well, I am beta testing now. I am posting this from Internet Explorer 7 in Windows Vista. I am having a LOT of fun. Yeah, there are a few bugs, features not present, etc.. But, I get excited about software that isn't done yet. Operating systems not available yet. Betas, release candidates, etc. - For some reason these things excite me and I must play with them. Anyway, here are a few screenshots that _I_ took this evening:

Something old & Fantastic

Again, here is an old shot. This is not cropped, he was just really close :) Birds at Mt. Rainier are very friendly.

You might think from the title that I think this is a fantastic shot. Well, it's about as good of a shot of a Steller's Jay as I think I'll ever take, but fantastic might not be the right word. Fantastic is referring to my evening last night.

I came home from work fairly tired from a long day and plopped down in a chair. Mikayla instantly hopped up and stuggled with me for a few minutes. "Daddy came home! Daddy not sick anymore. I love you, Dadda." I could sit there all night. Dinner was raviolli and it was excellent. Krista took my plate when I was done and started trying to get Mikayla to tell me bye-bye. I was a little confused. Then I realized she and I were leaving. "Where are we going?", I asked. "You'll see" was the only response I could get. We went outside and got in the Explorer and Krista started driving. We went through Woodburn and got on I-5 northbound. I had about a dozen places/events going through my head when we left and they got narrower and narrower and we continued and places were past. I made a few guesses outloud, but Krista was not going to even give a hint.

Finally, we pulled into the Fry's Electronics parking lot. Weird. What could we be doing here? Well, that was short-lived and only for a joke. We pulled out of the parking lot and into the Regal Cinemas lot. "Ah ha!" Krista was taking me to see The Fantastic Four. I was very surprised and it was a lot of fun. We ended up eating dessert at Shari's afterwards also. It was very fun and exciting to be surprised like that. Thanks, honey!

As for the movie, I don't claim to be a good movie reviewer. I am very shallow in my movie wants. I like action, special effects, unexpected plot turns, a fun story, etc. Well, I was only a little dissapointed in the movie and even that only when comparing it to Spiderman. It was a lot of fun, had great special effects, lots of action, cheesey funny lines, etc. My only complaint is that the main climactic battle between the Fantastic Four and Doom I expected to be a preliminary conflict followed by some more plot development and then a bigger conflict for a finnish. If it had been Spiderman, that would have been the case. But, in order to keep all the character development, power discoveries, etc. AND have the conflict I would have liked to see, it would have needed to be a 4 hour long movie.

So, was it the best comic movie I've ever seen? No. Was it fun to watch and would I recommend and watch it again? Yes. What made it the most fun was the surprise. That was fun. I can't remember the last time a surprise was pulled on me to that scale. It's been a LONG time.

Short

Well, this post is going to be a little shorter than my last few. I got up late today and I'm still going to try to get a haircut. I need it really badly. I do have one quick Lily story though.

Each morning I spend quite a bit of time on my computer in our bedroom. I read all my RSS feeds, post to this blog, look at news, respond to e-mail, etc. It's a good time for me to do all that. Well, usually Lily wakes up during this time and Krista gets up and brings her in for a bottle. After her morning bottle she goes right back down and 80% of the time she takes a little nap (or at least plays quietly in her crib). On the way back to her room, Krista usually stops her by my chair and she looks/smiles/giggles at me. Or so I thought. Yesterday morning we did this routine, but she was late and I was early. I was just about dressed and on the other side of the room. She was still looking at my monitors. Krista turned her, but she just turned her head. This went on for at least 2 or 3 minutes. She was only interested in my monitors, refusing to even glance at me. Needless to say, this really boosted my self esteem. She hasn't been interested in me at all, only my computers. Another English-born geek on her way to greatness. She can't wait to sit down at the keyboard. I'll keep you all updated with her progress. As for now, haircut!

As the fog rolls in

This photo was taken in Astoria, Oregon. It was a beautiful sunny day and then clouds just started rolling in. In a matter of moments it was completely gray and ended up lasting the rest of the afternoon. I wish I would have had more time to photograph the fog on its way in, but it was fast. I took several shots, but I didn't have time to get to the bridge or other places that would have been fun to see. I think this shot best captures the rolling in of the fog onto a sunny day.

Maybe some clouds from nowhere will roll into Salem today. The high according to the Weather Channel's page is 96F. That is too hot. I like things a LOT cooler. Say, 65 and overcast. I like wearing sweatshirts, jeans, a light jacket, etc. I don't like shorts, sweat, peeling sunburns, heatstroke, etc. I guess I live in the right place. It can't be perfect all the time, but Oregon gets its fair share of 65 and overcast.

A (final?) update on my health: It is still sore to swallow, but it is very minimal. My energy level yesterday was good right up until 8pm...then I dropped. I hope I am completely over this sickness and can get back on with my life now. I am greatly looking forward to that. Mikayla has been too. She has been staying back, blowing kisses, and patting my leg saying, "Daddy sick." Maybe tonight I'll have enough energy to run around the kitchen table or go out back and play.

Diamond Lake at Sunset

I don't know why, but this makes several posts now recently from my trip to Diamond Lake/Crater Lake back in 2003. This shot was taken exactly 2 years ago yesterday. Back then I was shooting with my Nikon Coolpix 5700. A great camera, BTW.

I don't have a single sunset shot with the sun in it that I like. And I have a lot of them. I don't know if it's something I'm missing or just a skill I need to work on, but something has to change. I've seen a lot of shots with the sun in the photo and it works for other people.

On a health note: I am feeling much better now. I'm almost through my antibiotics and I am through my steriods. My throat is still very raw and sore, but it seems that is it. I am eating regular solid foods now (tamalies, pizza, potatoes, hamburger) and not just pudding. I almost stopped at the food stand at Costco last night for a hotdog because it sounded too good. I was in a hurry though going from picking something up there to picking up boxes from Eugene at Corban College (formally known as Western Baptist College).

Yeah, in case you haven't heard, WBC is now Corban. It's weird to think that the name of the college I graduated from no longer exists, but I'm getting used to it. Here are a couple links explaining the change: one & two.

Eugene, my longtime friend and former sorta RA, is now the RD (resident director) of Farrar, the best dorm on Wester....Corban's campus. It was weird helping him move in and weirder still showing up at the dorm last night, pulling into the back parking area where I know I can't park, looking around to make sure campus ops isn't going to fine me. It was weird because it was my home for 2 years. I spend a lot of time at Eugene's place and to think that now that time will be spent in my old place is still taking some getting used to. I can't imagine what it feels like to be living in Farrar. That's got to be the coolest/weirdest thing.

I look forward to seeing Corban grow and having a friend on the inside to keep me up to date with the "official" word, not just the rumors we all got before. Like what's up with possibly banning poker? Is that true? Stay tuned.

Sticks

This is another shot taken while I was at Crater Lake. It's kind of weird, but the actual sunset shots I got of the lake I'm not too fond of, but when I turned around or stopped on my way back to the hotel, those shots I like. Weird, I know, but it's just not alot of sunset experience. It's hard to get a good shot of a sunset. At least, that's what I've found.

As for my health, I do not have mono. After 5 prescription drugs (everything from an anti-vomit to steroids), 2 visits to the Dr, and a visit to the hospital I think I am on the mend. I plan to go to work today, although I am not sure how long I'll stay. I'm shooting for the whole day, but it will depend how I'm feeling.

I for sure had strep throat and that is gone - all but a raw throat left from that (even though I'll be taking an antibiotic for that for several days). Then there is this viral thing. They have me on steroids for that, but those run out this afternoon. No refills on that. Too bad to, I really like those :) They make me feel very good. I'm at the top of my poker game when I am dosed up on steroids :)

Played two home games this weekend. Saturday I was dosed up on steroids and won huge. Sunday I was not and I was first out. I didn't play well, but I was too tired to care. Not a bad way to lose :)

Sickness

Well, this shot was taken on my way back from shooting the sunset at Crater Lake. I like the colors alot.

Sorry for no post yesterday. I have strep throat. I'm on an antibacterial for the strep, vicodin for the pain, and an anti-vomit so it all stays down. I haven't eaten anyting yet today and I'm not hungry. I slept all afternoon yesterday, all night last night, and a nap today. I'm just about to go take another nap. Just thought I'd update ya'll.

Flower of Effect

Well, there is alot to say about this one. All of the effects were done with Picasa2. I've been playing with it more and it is an amazing tool. First off I adjusted the Color Temperature, Shadows, and Highlights. Then I moved on to the Effects tab and started playing there. I used Saturation, Soft Focus, Focal B&W, and Glow. I really like the result. It took a ho-hum photo of a flower and made it an interesting photo. I am very interested to hear what your response is to it.

And now for my rabit trail. I may have to rename this blog if I keep this up. Something like, "Bill's photos and ramblings". I'm enjoying writing, venting, explaining, etc. And I know that's what blogs are all about, but I didn't think I was a blogger. We'll see how long this keeps up, it could very well just be a spirt.

I went to Lefty's last night and played Limit Texas Hold'em. This was my 4th or 5th time there and it was a LOT of fun. There were 43 people playing - an all time high for them. Last week there were 38 and I took 36th place. This time I played a lot better. It helped that I had pocket aces and after the turn I had aces full of twos and someone else made the nut flush. I got a significant amount of chips off that play. I had several dry spells though and I really had to wait and hope for a better hand. My last dry spell was at the last two tables and into the final table. After 6 or 7 hands at the final table and me losing my blinds to raisers, I finally ended my dry spell - or so I thought. I had an ace and my cards where suited, "\//00T!" I thought. At this time the blinds where 1000-1500 (we started with 1500 in chips for comparison) and I was sitting on 5500 in chips (not chip leader by any means, but not short-stack either). I lead out and bet it for 3000. The guy to my left raises my to 4500 and I go all-in and make it 5500. We roll up the cards and he throws down pocket kings. My heart sunk. No hands in an hour and when I finally get a B or C class hand I'm going up against kings? Man. Needless to say, his kings held up and I found myself finishing 6th place. 6th out of 43 isn't bad - but you always play to win. I did my best though and I can't fault myself for that.

Well, today is a day I have to be at work an hour early. We have one person out on vacation and one more will be leaving before 9:00. I have about 30 or 40 minutes worth of work to do to get ready for my boss to take over and finish before she has to leave at 9. That will take us down to 60% of our employees. Working in a small office is very hard that way.

Late night, early morning, busy work day, and a sore throat. Sounds like a Starbucks morning if ever I heard of one. But, I can't complain too much. My wife was up most of the night and not able to sleep. I think she's on less than an hour of sleep. Hopefully she can rest some today.

Cya'all tomorrow!

Another Silhouette

Yeah, it's a weed/bush thing, but I like the colors and the fact that it is a simple thing made interesting because it is a silhouette.

On a side note, I will be trying to get my posts back to the regular format where you can click on the image for a larger version, but my Picasa2->Hello->Blogger setup is not working. I'm not sure where the problem is, but I plan to fix it soon. I have gotten to used to simply hitting the "Blogger" button in Picasa2 to upload my images. This one was much more tedious.

I have had problems with Hello before, but not this problem. It won't go to the screen where you send images. It gets stuck on my "Friends" screen. I try and choose "BloggerBot" to send to, but it's no use - nothing. Hopefully a simple uninstall and reinstall will fix Hello. Otherwise, I have a Windows reinstall in my near future.

My only reason for a Windows reinstall in the immediate future is iTunes. My iPod will not sync with iTunes on my computer. I tested it on another computer and it works. Other firewire and USB2 devices work on my computer, but not my iPod. iTunes thinks that I have a 40GB, not a 20GB. It also thinks that all my music is on it, instead of it being blank. Anyone have any problems like that sync'ing a 4G 20GB iPod with iTunes for Windows XP? I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions. I really don't want to reinstall Windows, but I need my iPod.

On my way to work these days I find myself listening to 860AM KPAM. I like Bob Miller, but I'd like to try out Podcasting. On my way home from work I don't even bother putting my faceplate on my stereo. I can't stand radio music. Having an iPod connected to my stereo has really spoiled me. I want to listen to what I want to listen to when I want to listen to it. I miss my playlists. I had several for several different kinds of moods. And commercials - ug. How can anyone listen to radio music when there are commercials between every song? Man. Commercial free music listening is even more important than commercial free TV. IMHO.

Wow, this is kinda weird for a photoblog to ramble on about stuff. I seldom want to write though, so I'll use this as an outlet when need be.

Weather

Not much to say about this one, other than it was taken at Diamond Lake.

Archive Week - Friday

Well, I made it to Friday. This shot was taken with my Nikon Coolpix 5700. My dad and I went to a hot air balloon launch in August of 2003. We saw tons of balloons launch. It was a lot of fun and we got lots of great photos...hmm, that's coming up again, maybe we'll go this year.

As for archive week, it is now over. That's not to say that I'll cop out again and post old photos, but I have to admit, I'd rather post old shots and post everyday and wait 3 weeks to post.

Oh, and Eugene, this is my 83rd post...

Archive Week - Day of little sleep

This shot was taken with my Nikon Coolpix 5700 on July 4th, 2003. I'd talk more about the photo, but I got home from work last night at 1AM. It's 6:30 now. We had a major server problem and myself and our IT guy had to stay and fix it...maybe I'll update later. As for now, I'm just lucky I could post a shot today. I think this is a Starbucks day for me.

Archive Week - Day 3

This is, of course, our State Capitol here in Oregon. I used my Olympus C-3000Z to capture 5 photos that I then stitched together to make this panoramic image. It was not hard to do and a lot of fun. Key things for a successful panorama: 1.) tripod 2.) use the same exposure for each image 3.) don't use a circular polerizer ;) I learned that at Crater Lake.

On a totally side note from photos, my poker game has gone down the tubes this week. Friday night I was 1st out in a game of 6. Sunday night I was 1st out in a game of 6. And last night I was 3rd out in a game of 38. I am not playing dumb - I have just been very unlucky. Trips beat out by flushes. AKs, AQs, ATs, KQs, KK, TT, 99 - all not holding up after the flop. Last night the only hand I could have one before going out I folded pre-flop: Q3 of spades. The board showed AKX, all of spades. Two people made straights too and it ended up being a HUGE pot. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I plan to keep trying. It's frustrating though. I've been playing the percentages, but those 20%, 30%, and 40% odds have been happening EVERY time this week. I don't get it.

Archive Week - Day 2

Waterfalls are extremely hard to photograph. You have to worry about over-exposing the water, under-exposing everything else, etc.

This shot was taken at Silver Creek Falls back in 2003 with my Olympus C-3000Z. I setup my tripod and took several different exposures. When I got back to my computer, I merged two of the photos into this one. One was exposed for the surroundings and one for the water itself. It took about an hour to do, but the result was one photo of a waterfall that isn't bad.

Looking back on it I would try numerous things different. First, the distortion in the corners wouldn't be there because my equipment is much better now. Second, the tree in the upper right doesn't give enough of a forground, I'd look for something better.

Anyway, it's a fair shot of a waterfall. It's the best I have done. But, I haven't photographed waterfalls much at all since then. Part of the reason is I no longer have a tripod that works with my camera. My Canon D30 with my 17-40mm or my 75-300mm is just way too heavy for my Wal-Mart special $30 tripod. My camera slowly bends forward, making my tripod useless. I should invest in a nice one, but my priorities are elsewhere. My next camera purchase will be a flash unit. I am borrowing my dad's currently when I need to, but it would be very nice if I had a flash in my bag all the time.

Well, I think tomorrow will be a panoramic shot...but I haven't decided for sure...

Kicking off "Archive Week"

Well, I was browsing my photos and I realized that there are several old ones that I think are worth posting. So, this is Archive Week. I'll be picking my best "pre-SLR" photos and posting them this week. This will also hopefully give me the chance to shoot some new content this week and next weekend. I hope you enjoy.

This first one is a shot with my Olympus C-3000Z and an off-brand macro lens add-on. It's a shot of Mikayla's toy keys (she was 3 months old when I shot this). I like photos that you have to look at for awhile to figure out what they are. I also like the shallow depth of field and the range of color in this shot.

A weekend post

My plan behind this blog is to shoot over the weekend and then post on weekdays. It's been working good and I hope to post more regularly...currently I go on spurts.

Well, I am not out taking photos and it's Saturday. What am I doing? I did this. It was great fun. I figured it out and completed it. Don't look too closely at the picture if you want to completely figure it out on your own. If you don't care or don't have time to play, enjoy the image :)

The Squirrel Man

I was on my lunch break eating my Taco Bell goodies at Bush Park when this guy and his wife came and sat down near me. They were feeding the squirrels peanuts. I had never seen squirrels so friendly, so I watched from a distance. The man got bit on the finger and started to bleed (fairly badly), so I took over some Taco Bell napkins and started talking with them. He knew a LOT about squirrels. He let me take some photos and I am really disappointed with my results. I failed to capture the 40 squirrels that once hovered around him. There are only 4 in this shot and the one in the lower left looks more like a mouse. I'll probably never see the couple again, but this has put ideas in my head of shots I'd like to get. I had no idea that a simple bag of peanuts could bring 40+ squirrels to your lap, feet, and all around. I might have to set up a shot someday. For now though, I have this.

Camera: Canon EOS D30
Date: 07-06-2005 12:56 PM
Flash: not used
Focal Length: 19mm
Shutter: 1/125
Aperature: f/10
ISO: 200
Cropped?: no
Photoshop: slight sharpening, converted to B&W, increased contrast

Chopper

At the beach again here. A low-flying helicopter passed overhead and I had my camera out and ready. Actually I was asleep 1 minute before this shot was taken. I was woken up, saw the chopper coming, grabbed my camera (fortunatly my telephoto lens was still attached), and shot off a few as it flew by.

Camera: Canon EOS D30
Date: 07-04-2005 3:49 PM
Flash: not used
Focal Length: 110mm
Shutter: 1/800
Aperature: f/11
ISO: 200
Cropped?: yes
Photoshop: slight sharpening, was landscape - rotated crop.

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Camera: Canon EOS D30
Date: 07-04-2005 3:49 PM
Flash: not used
Focal Length: 300mm
Shutter: 1/1000
Aperature: f/11
ISO: 200
Cropped?: no
Photoshop: slight sharpening

Big Wave

This is my brother-in-law, Brian, out off the Washington coast body surfing. He just came up from the water and looked behind himself and saw this huge wave behind him. His expression is great as the water is about to crash over him...and it did.

Camera: Canon EOS D30
Date: 07-04-2005 3:13 PM
Flash: not used
Focal Length: 300mm
Shutter: 1/200
Aperature: f/22
ISO: 200
Cropped?: no
Photoshop: only minor lighting of his face

Don't throw the sand!!

We took Mikayla and Lily to the beach (Ocean Shores, WA) on the 4th. Mikayla had a BLAST playing in the sand and water. She couldn't understand the concept of not throwing sand at people though. This is a shot of her throwing sand at my camera and I. I spent quite a while getting it all out of my camera, but I think it was worth it.

Here are the stats:

Camera: Canon EOS D30
Date: 07-04-2005 3:09 PM
Flash: Canon 420EX
Focal Length: 17mm
Shutter: 1/200
Aperature: f/20
ISO: 200
Cropped?: no