Greg

The Tragically Hip hit Seattle

About ten years ago Jude introduced me to the music of The Tragically Hip.  It won me strange "cool point" from the girls in my dorm that thought I was super cool because I was from Oklahoma and knew about this Canadian band :)  Anyway, over the last six years or so, I've been "just missing" seeing them in concert - I'll realize that a show was coming up after it sold out or find out they were hear a few days after it left.  Last night I finally got to see them and I can now say from first hand experience that they're a great band to see live!  Gordon Downie is a maniac on the stage and barely stood still the entire time.  Definitely someone who took the sentiment that a lead singer had to have stage antics to heart. 

I haven't really paid much attention to their new music so at least half of the songs I hadn't heard before, but it didn't make it any less enjoyable.  And yes, I'll probably end up getting their new CD.  Apparently tours to promote a disc do work :)

anyway, that's all.  back to work

End of March roundup

OK, it's not really the end of March yet - for all we know I'll post again before the calendar runs out...  This is just a few random odds & ends that don't necessarily make up a full post.

I had an unexpected experience last week leaving work.  As I walked towards my car there were two coyotes walking across the parking lot.  It's not like Microsoft's "main campus" is exactly the hinterlands, despite what you'll hear me saying about the Eastside :)

Daylight saving time is a pain and I love to complain about it for a week or two after it takes effect.  On the other hand, I love having late sunsets even more - it's been great having natural light until 7:30 or so this last week (and apparently I also love to say the same thing when it kicks in)...  This was particularly nice since we had a preview of weather from the end of Spring / beginning of summer this past weekend.  Shorts and t-shirts here we come!

Bonza Bash was this last weekend.  Last year it was at this cool loft on Capitol Hill.  This year it moved to the Space Needle and felt a lot more formal, like a work Holiday Party.  Which didn't stop it from being fun, but it definitely had a different feel.  Either way, it's not every weekend that we get decked out in suit or black-tie (yes, I did go with a tux this year).  Pictures should be up shortly.

arg! stupid shallow depth of field (experiments with photography)

Partway through Avi and Prasadi's going away party I switched from taking pictures with a slow(ish) lens to a fast prime so that I didn't have to use the flash anymore.  Now that I've gone through the pictures I've seen a few of them where someone's shoulder is in really tight focus.  And their face?  Slightly out of focus :(

It's not the first time that I've combed through photos that were taken with an extremely wide aperture and found that the portion of the frame that's in focus isn't quite right.  Which lead me to wonder - where's the difference in depth of field between say, f/1.4 (click on the thumbnails to see a larger view)

and f/4

So in an experiment, I stepped from f/1.4 to f/22 (gallery online here if you're curious how it changes). 

And yes, this is one way to pass the time indoors when it's crappy weather outside :)

Hooroo friends, hooroo

Well, another set of friends are leaving the region - really leaving the region.  With Avi & Prasadi heading back to Australia, it's the second set of our friends that have left over the last couple years.  I'm not sure who's going to pick up the torch of hosting & feeding the crowd but it'll be tough - they set a high standard.

And yes, part of the reason for this post is because I wanted to use the word 'hooroo' in a blog post :) (despite the fact that the only Australians I know say they've never heard of it).  I'm bringing it to the Seattle area - watch out this time next year people won't say 'goodbye' they'll be saying 'hooroo' ;-)

That's all.  Hooroo.

Issaquah, WA - more than meets the eye

OK, that might be a bit overboard, but a recent trip to downtown Issaquah revealed a lot more than I expected.  The Issaquah that I was familiar with is housing developments that have sprung up in the last 1.5 years and big box / chain stores (Home Depot, Lowe's, Krispy Kreme, etc.).  The Issaquah I didn't expect was a cute little downtown strip - home to the Issaquah Brewery (a Rogue micro-brewery) which was the destination for PubNight #3*.

What was the other biggest revelation of this trip?  No, not that Issaquah apparently has a zoo (yes, really).  It was that the 'buffalo chips' at the brewery could be imported straight from Blueberry Hill in St. Louis!  If you're ever in the area I'd highly recommend getting off at the Front St exit, making the turn onto Sunset and ordering up a basket of buffalo fries.  Oh, and try the Uberfest Pilsner too.

*PubNight is a collection of folks that try a new pub every couple/few weeks.  In theory it's a place none of us have been to - like the Issaquah Brewery in this case.  In practice, usually someone has been to the location before and recommended it.  And there really have been four PubNights so far.  The count started at zero, both because the first of them was accidental and because it's a computer science / programming thing.  :)  But more on PubNight and our encounters in a future post.

What can an amateur photographer do with their photos?

If you're really good, you can have them end up as desktop wallpapers for Vista.  No, not like I do where I'm the only one who uses them (for the last year or two all of the wallpapers/backgrounds I use are photos that I've taken), but as part of the default set of wallpapers that shipped with Vista.  This interview is with Hamad Darwish who had that happen.  You can also see more of his work from that shoot here.

Less cool (since they get less exposure) but still potentially profitable :), I've read a bunch of forums where people are making money off their photos by selling them to stock agencies - the payouts and conditions seem to vary across the agencies.  And so far, I don't think I've taken anything that necessarily would sell.  Oh well, one more reason to get out there and take more pictures - not that trying to make money through photography, but I certainly wouldn't complain if I got a little bit from it :)

Can you still call yourself an "amateur photographer" if you're making money off your shoots?

Night photography is harder than it looks

I went out and took a some night shots in the neighborhood recently - mainly overlooking portage back towards UW.  They aren't particularly interesting or compelling subject matter, but I think shots like this mainly take scouting a good location as opposed to happening to be in the right spot at the right time.  These were more to try to get a feel for how long the exposure woudl need to be, etc.  The first of the one's I'm doing some post-processing on uploaded here.

I also tried to get a couple shots of the moon, but it turns out getting those "good" night shots for the moon & stars are harder than it looks because amongst other things, it's tough to find a good spot to shoot from that let's you get a nice shot without too much ambient light.  Or maybe I just haven't worked out the right settings yet :)

Comcast On Demand == Bad 80s+90s movies at your fingertips! :)

I've found myself using 'on-demand' more and more lately.  Which means that I've swapped out crappy new movies for crappy old movies.  It turns out that on-demand is great for having crappy 80s and 90s movies at your beck and call...  Well, more correcty, the "free movies" section is a trove of 80s and 90s crappy movies.  And by "crappy movies" I mean the movies that in the 50s or 60s would have been called the "b-movie".  There's almost always a Steven Seagal or Jean Claude Van Damme film to be found!

On the costlier side of things (the "not free" movies section), it seems like there had been a selection of "widescreen" versions of films that is no longer available.  Instead they seem to have a larger selection of HD movies these days, but I've noticed that they've changed the pricing so that HD movis are more expensive then the rest of the 'new releases'.  Maybe the took heed of XBox Live Video Marketplace's differentiated pricing :( 

Welcome to March

a bit of Friday catch up as we kick off the month of March...

My finger that I mentioned got injured playing Golden Tee?  It's pretty much returned to normal and I have a new found healthy respect for the Golden Tee machine.  Of course now I've got a sore arm from dodgeball, but that seems like it's a weekly thing at this point :)

On a completely random note: it's been getting colder in the mornings again and so yesterday morning I went hunting for a pair of gloves to wear while the car warms up (parking outside results in a very cold steering wheel).  All I could find were gloves for my right hand.  Where did all the left-hand gloves go?  Maybe they caught a flight with the socks that go missing and all are living happily in the tropics somewhere...