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Mornings suck.

Messin' wif some night shots... little dudes hanging around the house:

Joe just told me that the flower was Passiflora Caerulea or Blue Crown Passion Vine... in case anyone was wondering.

100mm f8.0 1/6sec ISO100

Word.

Remember the $4.99 all you can eat guy?





He could use some of your time.

All you Photoshop purists out there save your breath. Yes, I know that this is easily done in the channel mixer, but it's nice to have some preset actions set up to save time. I have not used this on any of my photos yet, but I like tools and I like sharing, so you get it too...

Digital Velvia.

Place in your "Photoshop Actions" directory and from the actions popout menu select "Load Action". Once in your actions browser, you can select the level of saturation tweek and let the action run the sequence.

Crown Royal is my friend. Work is slowly becoming unbearable. I started work at 6:30 yesterday morning and I finished at 6:30 last night. I work with some inconsiderate people that occasionally prove themselves to be borderline idiots. Example: Last night I am working with some people that are in the middle of testing their data systems (application workflow, etc.) in a DR environment. We simulate disaster by placing ACL's in various routers to block all traffic to and from production environments that would be gone in the event of a real disaster... floods, locusts, volcanoes, etc. "We" really means me since I'm the only stoop that supports our at-least-two-a-month DR tests from a network perspective. Anyhoo, the testees (huh... I said testes. Hehe.) or testers, whatever you want to call them, have systems that I don't govern. I have no access to them and I know little about them. They sent someone to the DR facility (about 3 hours away) to be there during the test. There was a problem. I show them that the problem isn't any of my gear, but they insist on making me dance for their amusement anyway, so I prove to them that it isn't my gear. Here's where they show brilliance. The device they were trying to reach was a VPN concentrator. The concentrator appeared down because it was unreachable, but they tell me that there is a firewall between the concentrator and my visible network. Ok, I'll play. I tell them they should try to console into the concentrator to check it via reverse telnet from a terminal server. "We don't have a terminal server." Ok, then remote console into the firewall since you can't telnet from the outside interface and try to ping the concentrator from the inside interface to verify it's at least up. "We don't have a terminal server." Do you have another device inside that you can reach the firewall from? "We can't get in the firewall unless we VPN into the network." Ok. Let's ee if I get this straight here... you can't reach a device on the other side of the firewall, but you can't access the firewall unless you VPN into that device. "Yes". Alrighty then... how about you have the guy you sent over to the DR site for the test console in at the physical port. "That's would be a good idea, but all the equipment is in locked cabinets and the keys are all here in Houston." Guess what Einstein... you're driving 3 hours tonight. See ya! What is wrong with people these days? This is why our country is in economic ruin. People like this are given positions of authority. Ugh! So, after EL waited in the car for my for over an hour while a VP (not even my VP) flexed his virtual muscles and demonstrated his true misconception of TCP/IP, I worked late. We finally got out of downtown just before 7:00 and headed south to Mike's house and Donna's shortly there after. Good times. N.J. made a fabulous meal and we had a superb time. I think Mike and I drank half a bottle of Crown between the two of us (the 1.75 liter version). I forgot about the shitty day. That is what's so cool about working for da man, I get to wake up and have another shitty day today. My boss cut his vacation short to come in and have individual meetings about what everyone does with each moment of their day for the Bob's. They're bringing in the Bob's around mid-month. I can't fucking wait.

EL found some trails by the house. We went on a little hike... pretty cool. How can the weekend be over already?

I'm afraid this post will be a little lengthy in terms of scrolliness. Please bear with me...




It's taken me a while to get some photos organized because I've been working through the concert shots from the other night in Photoshop and I have a slow workflow. Another factor is my slow server connection. I remote host images on Fotki because their pipe is fatter than mine, but getting a few hundred MB of image data to them is time consuming.

I don't have much to say this morning. I'm tired and sipping on java... waiting for motivation to seep into my mood. EL and I are in this pre-wedding limbo. It's close... really close. If we don't think too much about all the shit we have to do between now and then, we won't freak out. Today is errands and stuff... once we get moving. I wanted to go biking with Sam, but we never followed up on it. Alas, another lazy day. I do have some pictures (finally) to share.

First off, stuff around the house that was kinda weird recently. EL had a plant in the kitchen window that suddenly developed spots. Further inspection revealed Mealy Bugs (Pseudococcus Affinis):















They are said to have a waxy filament that covers their entire bodies that makes them highly protected from pesticides and a really nuisance to kill. Interesting.

Oh, a quick side note... blast from the past for Michael. You remember this bug that we couldn't figure out what it was?





Well, it's an Ambush Bug (Phymata Erosa). They chill out in flowers and wait on unsuspecting prey. They have gin-trap front legs like a praying mantis and have a raptorial lifestyle... they are also supposed to be lightning fast when they attack. Pretty nifty.
Last night I found a really odd spider out back that had some kind of bulbous thing attached to it... egg sack maybe?





Dunno.

Ok, now the really cool discovery. Have any of you ever seen a Spineybacked Orbweaver? Neither had I... until EL found this in the yard. We didn't know what it was at first, but later discovered it's background. It's a spider with some interesting visual characteristics. Hard shell back like a crab with patterns that look a little like a smiley faced skull... spines around the edges of the back. It has a colorful ass and a hidden face... a very odd little beast. The shots in the web are crappy because of the wind blowing it to and fro, but once the fella rappelled to the lawn, I was able to get a better view. I challenge you to tell me that last picture in the series doesn't look like a crab's body with a possessed chimpanzee's head! Freak!


















































Ok, so here are some butterfly (and a couple bird) shots from earlier in the weekend that simply were stuck in slow bandwidth land for a few days. I'd love to hear your comments. I'm posting some good ones with some bad ones because even if the focus and composition isn't just right, you still get the idea of the color of the creature...

take a look at the little fly watching from the cantaloupe

he jumps in for some kiwi (by the butterfly's foot)

a better view of the fella

neat eyes... I wish he would have turned around

eating a tiny insect

same thing... little closer... a lot of flutter going on here

Thanks!!

Camron drove up from Corpus Christi last night for the Guy Forsyth show. I was still feeling bad and didn't want to go, but I didn't want her going alone, so I tagged along... camera in hand. I've been thinking a lot about a Fotofest portfolio and I think Texas Music would be a fantastic theme. Concert photography is tricky because of the extremely low lit environment in clubs and pubs. It's not like there is a million dollar lighting system providing false daylight above the performers. It was a great show. Even though I wasn't as into it because I was feeling under the weather, the music was just as incredible as it always is with Guy. He played all my favorites... it was as if I wrote the set list. Very cool. Oh, and he's got red hair for the time being. That caught me off guard, but it looks good on stage.

100mm 1/60sec f2.8 ISO3200 +2stopsEC +levels

100mm 1/60sec f2.8 ISO3200 +2stopsEC +levels

100mm 1/60sec f2.8 ISO3200 +2stopsEC +levels

100mm 1/60sec f2.8 ISO3200 +2stopsEC +levels

I have some nature shots to post, but I don't have time to do it now... maybe later this evening. Have a great Saturday!

TGIF. Seriously.