that I'm not the only one that hates the news

I really think that this comic (click to view) really sums it all up.

After seeing giddy newscasters chortle the death toll from the Minnesota bridge disaster I'm ready for news to be a paper in the morning and an hour of tv before prime time comes on. Reporters talking 24 hours a day isn't really news.... Its gossip.

how to make a coffee grasshopper

The name needs a little work, but here is the skinny :

3 - 4 leaves fresh mint
8 oz Coffee, brewed strong
1tbls Milk
1 Tsp Ghirardelli Hot Chocolate Mix
Ice

Brew up the coffee and pour all the ingredients into a blender and let it rip. The ice is really only there to cool off the coffee but you can turn this into a frozen drink if you use more. Recipe yields one magic bullet sized serving.

The mint might be a little much on its own, but the combination of the mint and the strong coffee gets mellowed out by the chocolate. It could be my new favorite summer time drink.

that Tripods are awesome

Also: ants don't like to get sat on, bees are kinda cool, and I need a shorter camera stand.

Here are the photos. As always... clicky to get a bigger pic.

On a side note: ibhome.org is no longer my site. I let the URL lapse and GoDaddy won't give it back. I'm ok with it and I'm working on a different URL. Hopefully I'll have the old site up under a new name shortly.

what you don't know can make things so much better.

I'm a big fan of Netflix. The only complaint that I've had with them is that the synopses of their films either tend to be misleading or give so much information about the film that it ruins it.

I decided to stop reading previews. I add films to the netflix queue and don't look at them again until I've gotten and seen the film. Films are so much more powerful if you don't know anything about what you are seeing until you've seen it. You struggle to understand right along with the characters as they struggle to find themselves. Small plot twists that are sketched out in previews to setup the story suddenly become these jarring moments if you aren't already expecting them.

There is no better way to watch a film than to go into it knowing only as much as the title and just watching it for what it is. Of course, taking that sort of mentality into a film is hard when you see something that moves you. You want to tell someone about it but can't without ruining their chance to see the same thing.

not to leave my lunch at work

I left my leftovers from lunch at work and decided to pick them up after I got back from playing frisbee. I got to work fully intending to grab my lunch and get on the road.

Then I turned on the computer to kick off a quick compile. An hour and a half later I raced out of work to make sure I hadn't gotten a move-it ticket for parking in the errand parking spots.

Lesson Learned: There is no such thing as one quick thing.

the beauty of a loop

I really had never heard of Imogen Heap until I watched The Last Kiss and was treated to Hide And Seek (link goes to youtube)

Kyle over at kylebriana.blogspot.com sent me a link to Imogen performing Just For Now live in a radio studio. I've posted the video below.



I've watched this thing through twice now and I'm captivated. I hadn't realized how strong she was vocally until just now.

Lesson Learned : Good things can come in 5 second intervals

that fireworks are fun to film (Basic camera theory)

Happy 4th of July! I went to the local fire works and just kept shooting till it was over. Click the album below to see the best of the results. I also bought a tripod today which should with macro photos in the future

2007-07-04 fireworks

Now for what I learned. I really should spend some time reading up on basic photography theory, but here is what I've gathered from trial and error so far. Shutter speed is important for deciding how much action should be captured in an image. The slower the speed the more the image will blur. This part makes sense.

The part that confused me was the f/stop. The f/stop determines how much light will make it through the camera to sensor. The lower the number the more light would make it through. For the most part, I've been shooting images in lower light situations that require the lowest f/stop and as quick of a shutter as I can manage and still see the image. The confusing part was trying to understand why anyone would want to use the f/stop priority setting on my camera.

A Tedious Explanation of the f/stop by Matthew Cole has a solid write up of exactly what the f/stop is. I still don't know why you would want to use the f/stop as the priority, but at least now I know what it is.

All of this leads up to the part that I learned photographing fireworks. A 2 second exposure is juts about enough time to take the shot as soon as the firework explodes. To get a quick capture of what it looks like at any point in time the shutter speed can be moved to 1/2 or 1/5 second. To get a very interesting shot, push the shutter speed up to 4 or 6 seconds and turn the f/stop up to darken the image. This one takes a little guess work to line up the shot, but the result is an exposure that covers the entire life span of the firework.

Lesson Learned : What the f/stop is and how much nicer it is to take a long exposure on a tripod.