Tonight is the two year anniversary of our marriage. Holy shit.
The AF system sensors are located in the floor of the mirror box. They receive the image through the semi-silvered mirror, which is then reflected downward by a secondary mirror hinged to the back of the main mirror. This forms a virtual focusing plane that is supposed to be at the exact same plane as the sensor (a point of possible miscalibration).
Each AF sensor consists of a pair of short lines of pixels forming an array. One array comprises the outer sensors. Two crossed arrays (one vertical, one horizontal) comprise the center sensor. With lenses or f2.8 or faster, the camera activates a second vertical array in the center.
The arrays are sensitive to linear details that run perpendicular to the orientation of the array. Therefore, the horizontal arrays (identified by the horizontal rectangle marks on the viewscreen) are sensitive to vetical linear details; the vertical arrays (identified by the vertical rectangle marks on the viewscreen) are sensitive to horizontal linear details.
They are blind to linear details that run parallel to the array direction. The center array, being a crossed combination of a vertical and a horizontal array, is sensitive to linear details running both vertically and horizontally. When the second vertical array is activated, it's combined input increases the accuracy by a factor of three.
The pixel arrays are actually three times longer than indicated by the viewfinder markings. This is to cover the fact that the viewscreen has a significant amount of "slop" in its horizontal-plane positioning (what you see as left/right/up/down in the viewfinder). Therefore, the sensors actually see details that are somewhat outside the viewfinder markings, and may focus on them instead of details within the sensor markings, if those outside details are more perpendicular to the array than the details inside the markings.
When you mount a lens (whether the camera is on or off), the camera interrogates the lens for its characteristics, including maximum aperture, which one of the focusing parameters.
When you half-press the shutter release (or the * button, if you've used the custom function to move focusing control there), the activated AF sensor "looks" at the image projected by the lens from two different directions (each line of pixels in the array looks from the opposite direction of the other) and identifies the phase difference of the light from each direction. In one "look," it calculates the distance and direction the lens must be moved to cancel the phase differences. It then commands the lens to move the appropriate distance and direction and stops. It does not "hunt" for a best focus, nor does it take a second look after the lens has moved (it is an "open loop" system).
If the starting point is so far out of focus that the sensor can't identify a phase difference, the camera racks the lens once forward and once backward to find a detectable difference. If it can't find a detectable difference during that motion, it stops.
Although the camera does not take a "second look" to see if the intended focus has been achieved, the lens does take a "second look" to ensure it has moved the direction and distance commanded by the camera (it is a "closed loop" system). This second look corrects for any slippage or backlash in the lens mechanism, and can often be detected as a small "correction" movement at the end of the longer initial movements.
When the camera determines how far and in what direction the lens must move to cancel the phase difference, it does so within a tolerance of "within the depth of focus" of lenses slower than f2.8 (down to f5.6) or "within 1/3 of the depth of focus" of lenses f2.8 and faster. The depth of focus is the range at the sensor plane within which the image of a point will be reproduced as a blur smaller than the manufacturer's designated "circle of confusion" (CoC). Canon's designated circle of confusion is 0.035mm for the 24x36mm format and 0.02mm for the APS-C format. The CoC is based on maintaining the appearance of sharpness in a 6x9 inch print at about an 10 inch viewing distance (as revealed by the Euro-Canon web site). There is no guarantee that images enlarged any greater than this will appear sharp.
The depth of focus increases when the aperture of the lens decreases (like depth of field at the subject plane), but it does not change with the focused distance or the focal length of the lens (according to Canon, unlike depth of field). That is why the camera interrogates the lens for that information; it calculates the depth of focus tolerance from the maximum aperture, not the set working aperture.
As a result of this tolerance (within the depth of focus or within 1/3 of the depth of focus), the camera can place the actual plane of focus at random anywhere within the tolerance range, and not necessarily at the same place each time.
A non-exhaustive list of information about focusing:
1. The center focus square in the viewfinder represents has both horizontal and vertical sensors, so it can focus just as well on vertical and horizontal lines of detail. The outer focusing rectangles are represent sensors that are oriented either vertically or horizontally (according to the shape of the marks), and focus best on lines of detail that are perpendicular to them. You can test this easily: Line up a vertical focusing rectangle on a vertical detail (like the corner of a wall or the edge of a door) and try to focus. The camera will not be able to focus on it. But put a horizontal rectangle against that vertical line, and it will snap instantly into focus (you can turn the camera, and the same will be true). This is a valuable tool. If you are struggling with a background that competes with the foreground, look at whether either has linear detail (say, a squirrel on a tree branch). You can activate one of the rectangles and turn the camera so that the rectangle is either parallel with the linear detail that you want to ignore or perpendicular to the detail you want to focus on.
2. The actual focus sensor arrays are three times larger than the viewfinder marks. A user could put an intended subject in the mark, but if there is a strong detail just outside the mark (but within the sensor area), the camera would focus on that strong detail. This is a source of much of the complaints of the back- or front-focusing -- especially with the "ruler tests." Also, as far as the camera is concerned, a focus lock on anything within the sensor area is good, which sometimes covers more area than the photographer intended.
3. Auto focusing with the 20D only works with lenses with maximum apertures of f5.6 or greater (as determined by the information passed to the camera by the lens). This means the total maximum aperture of the lens, not the aperture you're shooting with at the momement. With a lens slower than f5.6, you have to focus manually (unless you fool the lens somehow into reporting an incorrect aperture to the camera).
4. On the 20D, the center marks have additional sensors to increase accuracy three times greater than the 10D, but these only come into play with lenses that have maximum apertures of f2.8 or greater (not the aperture set for shooting, but the maximum aperture). On a variable aperture zoom lens, if it drops below f2.8 while zooming, that information is passed to the camera, which cuts out the additional focusing sensors. The outside focus sensors of the 20D are normal accuracy.
5. The camera's AF sensors require some details in the image to determine the phase difference. It's harder for the camera to find focus when the light is dim or there is little subject detail. Contrary to recent remarks on another topic, the camera CAN distinguish contrast between equally bright hues of red and green just as the eye can--the sensors are color corrected. Although the sensors can distinguish some quite subtle detail differences, they don't see quite a sharply as the eye. If the lens starts from a very out of focus condition, it can miss very fine detail that the eye sees clearly, such as the mesh of a speaker grill from across the room. In this case, it can be helped if the photographer manually moves close to "focus" and allows the camera to find the actual focus.
6. AF controls:
Shutter release. By default, when you half-depress the shutter release, the camera will focus with the active sensors on the strongest contrasts within those sensor areas. Whether or not it will hold that focused distance depends on what AF mode you're shooting in.
AE/AF Lock Button. The asterisk button on the back near your right thumb. You can set this button to be the focus button in the Custom Function menu (CF4--choose option 1). When this is set, you focus by putting the active AF mark in the viewfinder on your subject and press the asterisk button. The camera focuses on that spot and does not change focus until you press the button again. In AI Servo mode, the camera continuously evaluates focus only as long as you have the button pressed.
Multicontroller (joy button) and AF Selection button. These controls, plus the control wheels, allow you to select which focus marks are active--they provide multiple ways to do the same thing, so take your choice. You can either select one point or you can set the camera to choose its own points as you focus. If the camera chooses the points, it will usually focus on any number of points that are closest to the camera. About the only time this is better is when you're focusing on fast-moving activity that you can't keep under a single mark (say, a soccer player). Otherwise, it's usually better to select your own point. The diagonal points on the 20D are very close to the "Rule of Thirds" intersections, so sometimes it's convenient (if you use that composition rule to place your subject in the frame) to select one of those points.
7. AF Modes:
One Shot: When you set the camera to "One Shot," you set the condition "The subject is definitely not moving." The camera is in a "focus priority" mode. The shutter release is locked until the camera achieves what it thinks is the proper focus. This is best if your subject and the camera will be motionless, because it allows you to focus and change the framing without the camera refocusing automatically.
AI Servo: When you put the camera into AI Servo mode, you have set the condition "The subject is definitely moving." The camera is in a "shutter priority" mode. Therefore, the camera goes into a routine that continually collects data to predict the subject movement and move the lens to intercept the subject at its new position. You can shoot even if out of focus (however, the camera cannot release the shutter if the lens is actually in motion). If you know your subject will be in constant motion, this is the best mode. If the subject is actually not moving, the chance of a misfocused shot increases as the camera goes through its data-collection routine. However, often a handheld camera does move (as the photographer sways naturally) for AI Focus to detect and correct for the sway. AI Servo will use whichever focus point you have activated. However, if you activate all the focus points, you must put the center point on the subject and half-press the shutter release for about half a second for the camera to "acquire" the right subject. After that, while you hold the shutter release, the camera can intelligently "hand off" the subject focus from point to point as the subject "wanders" over the viewscreen.
AI Focus: The camera is normally in One Shot mode and the shutter will lock until it achieves focus. However, if it detects the subject moving (that is, the subject goes out of focus), it will automatically switch into AI Servo mode and try to maintain focus. If you are focusing on something that frequently stays still but could move suddenly (like a toddler) this mode comes in handy. The important point wiht AI Focus is that it does not lock the shutter. However, the camera will usually interpret "focus and recompose" as movement of the subject, and will refocus.
"If the camera places the actual focused plane within the depth of focus range, the intended focused plane of the subject should "look sharp" on a 6x9-inch print from a distance of 10 inches. In "high precision mode" the intended plane of focus should "look sharp" on about an 11x14-inch print at 10 inches (extrapolating from the standard size given by Canon for normal mode).
This standard is important to understand. If you use high precision mode and view the image on a monitor at 100 percent of the original pixel resolution, do not expect the actual plane of focus to coincide with the intended plane of focus. It's not necessarily going to do that--it's only designed to get close enough to "look sharp" at the standard final display enlargement size and viewing distance. If it does that much, then it's doing its job as designed.
If you're operating at normal AF precision, the camera will happily settle for any point within the depth of focus range (and not necessarily the same place every time--randomness within limits is what "tolerance" means in this context).
If you need optimum sharpness at greater than the standard final display sizes and viewing distances, then yes, you'll have to focus manually. However, a lot of focusing problems are caused by users not realizing that even autofocus requires learning certain techniques, some similar to the techniques of using a manual split-image rangefinder.
One person on this forum has reported an e-mail from Sigma stating that Canon cameras will tend to stop at the first part of the depth of focus range they reach, depending on the direction the lens must move to get there. My results have not verified that, and I don't think it really corresponds to how Canon says the system works."
It was then that the fox appeared.
"Good morning," said the fox.
"Good morning," the little prince responded politely, although when he turned around he saw nothing.
"I am right here," the voice said, "under the apple tree."
"Who are you?" asked the little prince, and added, "You are very pretty to look at."
"I am a fox," said the fox.
"Come and play with me," proposed the little prince.
"I am so unhappy." "I cannot play with you," the fox said. "I am not tamed."
"Ah! Please excuse me," said the little prince. But, after some thought, he added: "What does that mean, 'tame'?"
"You do not live here," said the fox. "What is it that you are looking for?"
"I am looking for men," said the little prince. "What does that mean, 'tame'?"
"Men," said the fox. "They have guns, and they hunt. It is very disturbing. They also raise chickens. These are their only interests. Are you looking for chickens?"
"No," said the little prince. "I am looking for friends. What does that mean, 'tame'?"
"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. "It means to establish ties."
"'To establish ties'?"
"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world..."
"I am beginning to understand," said the little prince. "There is a flower... I think that she has tamed me..."
"It is possible," said the fox. "On the Earth one sees all sorts of things."
"Oh, but this is not on the Earth!" said the little prince. The fox seemed perplexed, and very curious.
"On another planet?"
"Yes."
"Are there hunters on this planet?"
"No."
"Ah, that is interesting! Are there chickens?"
"No."
"Nothing is perfect," sighed the fox. But he came back to his idea. "My life is very monotonous," the fox said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life . I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the colour of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat..." The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time. "Please, tame me!" he said.
"I want to, very much," the little prince replied. "But I have not much time. I have friends to discover, and a great many things to understand."
"One only understands the things that one tames," said the fox. "Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me..."
"What must I do, to tame you?" asked the little prince.
"You must be very patient," replied the fox. "First you will sit down at a little distance from me, like that, in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me, every day..."
The next day the little prince came back.
"It would have been better to come back at the same hour," said the fox. "If, for example, you come at four o'clock in the afternoon, then at three o'clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four o'clock, I shall already be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you... One must observe the proper rites..."
"What is a rite?" asked the little prince.
"Those also are actions too often neglected," said the fox. "They are what make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours. There is a rite, for example, among my hunters. Every Thursday they dance with the village girls. So Thursday is a wonderful day for me! I can take a walk as far as the vineyards. But if the hunters danced at just any time, every day would be like every other day, and I should never have any vacation at all."
So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure drew near...
"Ah," said the fox, "I shall cry."
"It is your own fault," said the little prince. "I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you..."
"Yes, that is so," said the fox.
"But now you are going to cry!" said the little prince.
"Yes, that is so," said the fox.
"Then it has done you no good at all!"
"It has done me good," said the fox, "because of the color of the wheat fields." And then he added: "Go and look again at the roses. You will understand now that yours is unique in all the world. Then come back to say goodbye to me, and I will make you a present of a secret."
The little prince went away, to look again at the roses. "You are not at all like my rose," he said. "As yet you are nothing. No one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one. You are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I have made him my friend, and now he is unique in all the world." And the roses were very much embarrassed. "You are beautiful, but you are empty," he went on. "One could not die for you. To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you, the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose."
And he went back to meet the fox. "Goodbye," he said.
"Goodbye," said the fox. "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
"What is essential is invisible to the eye," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.
"It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important."
"It is the time I have wasted for my rose..." said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember.
"Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose..."
"I am responsible for my rose," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.
EL and I went to a real luau lat night with Urs, Sandra, Petra, and her man, Danny. It was pretty cool... tiki torches, beach sand, live Polynesian music, dancers, and a whole pig cooked underground in the traditional fashion. There were even the fire dancers. Despite the heat, we all had a great time. I'm a little sluggish today. I didn't drink much last night... I just didn't sleep well (again). EL and I went for breakfast on the bike this morning. It’s a beautiful day outside! It's really a shame that I don't have the energy to enjoy it.
"You wake up at Seatac, SFO, LAX. You wake up at O'Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth, BWI. Pacific, mountain, central. Lose an hour, gain an hour. This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time. You wake up at Air Harbor International. If you wake up at a different time, in a different place, could you wake up as a different person?"
EL is a fucking genius when it comes to wifehood. She planned another luau this year without leaking info to me about any specifics and it went off well this past Sunday. Granted, a lot of peops couldn't come because of a prior commitment conflict or the stereotypical American fear of breaking out of the time scheduled rut in life, set by our society of lemmings, requiring them to be good on a school night. She set up a four hole putting green in the back yard and established the first annual "Par 1 Whiskey Tournament". Our entire house was tiki'd out and quite tropical. A lot of good folks showed up for the libations and I believe that a good time was had by all. I've been struggling with exhaustion over the last week or so for completely other reasons than partying. When EL came back into town last Wednesday sicker than a dog (what the fuck does that mean anyway?), I was already tired from restless sleep. I need a little quality time in one of those sensory deprivation chambers while highly medicated. Body must rest. Anyhoo, things are tricky at work and I'm pretty busy... hence the complete and total A.F.K. I've pulled recently... but hopefully, things will settle down a bit.
Other than being generally unmotivated to do anything with EL out of town, I've been pretty busy with work. I flew into San Jose on Thursday morning for a sales conference that persisted through the weekend. I would like to say that it was wildly informative, but a lot of the material was already presented at our semi-monthly weekend training sessions (mandatory). Overall, I think the biggest advantage of the trip was meeting so many more of my colleagues in the company that previously had only been voices on the other end of the phone or text in an email header. It's good to put a face with a name. The conference schedule was tremendous and I largely would only find time for a couple hours sleep a night. Strict rules about no cell phone calls (in or out) and no laptop usage during the presentations made distance support of my existing customer base difficult, but I managed to find time during the break. I had just worked on a huge network cutover for one of my customers on Wednesday prior to my flight, so I was concerned they may run into issues and not be able to reach me. All went well over the weekend. Saturday was my birthday. There was a big outing planned Saturday night after things were winding down to take me down to
Ruby Skye in the downtown district of San Francisco for a little birthday cheer. The party train was leaving at 10:00 for an 11:00 pee emm arrival. Here is how you know you are really 34 years old: I knew I had to get up at 3:30 aye emm to catch my shuttle to the airport for my return flight, so I didn't go. It was less about the lack of sleep and going to the airport drunk and more about not being in control of the return from the Bay. The guy driving was local, so he didn't have to go anywhere. I however, had to fly three and a half hours back to Houston and couldn't miss my flight. I think I would have been down in a heartbeat if I had a rental and could ensure my prompt departure for Santa Clara after the club closed. There were too many variables and I just had a bad feeling about it. Call me an old fuddy duddy... go ahead, see if I care. Getting out of bed at 3:30 took tremendous will. I can't remember the last time I was this exhausted. I am still recovering and it's been a couple of days. I have been really busy at work and the time has passed fairly quickly, so it helps to take my mind of how miserable I am without EL around. My mother and step-father house sat (read: Henry sat) while I was away on my business trip. They really worked their tails off fixing this and that around the house... I'm so grateful! Bob even pressure washed the cement on the back patio and made it look brand new. Amazing! It was great to see them both again as well... we don't visit enough for being so close. I'd like to think we can make our way down to visit more often before I find a way to fashion my career geographic relocation to Colorado. I purchased two giant (60") soft boxes for the studio so I can get better diffusion for glamour/beauty photography that the 48" shoot throughs that I've been using. They came in before I left for my trip, but lay on the floor of my studio until last night. I decided I'd put them together before bed and so Henry and I started piecing the bits together slowly. I was tired and it really was a struggle to stay up and do it, but I needed to get it done. When you are tired, you make mistakes. Point. I put the softbox on one of my strobes and found it to be a little top heavy, but didn't seem to need additional support ala boom or the like. When moving the air cushioned stand afterwards, my hand bumped the quick release on the mount and the softbox came tumbling off... taking my modeling lamp with it. The outer casing of the modeling lamp shattered and most of it stayed inside the box, but none the less, it was a mess. I ordered a replacement, but the bulbs are $25.00 each and that was an expensive, stupid mistake. It was a mistake I probably could have avoided if I wasn't so exhausted and just took my time to make sure I was holding the clamp shut when moving the stand. I felt like an idiot... an idiot that is now has $25.00 less dollars in his pocket. *sigh* Anyhoo, I need to get back to work. Sorry I've been aloof.
Obviously it is full of cyanobacteria.
Several graduate students, along with supervising professor Joe Kirschvink, have released a paper presenting their explanation of what caused "Snowball Earth," a periodic deep freeze of Earth's atmosphere that has been theorized for years. The Caltech team argues that 2.3 billion years ago, cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, gained the ability to break down water, which in turn released a flood of oxygen into the atmosphere.
That oxygen reacted with the atmospheric methane, which insulated the Earth at the time, and broke it down. While the oxygen-methane reaction created the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, the protective nature of the barrier cracked.
Temperatures plunged to minus 50 degrees Celsius, and ice at the equator grew to 1 mile thick. Although this process took several million years, substantial damage to the methane layer could have occurred in the first 100,000 years.
Life-forms only recovered after microorganisms, clinging then to thermal vents or living underground, evolved the ability to consume oxygen and turn it into carbon dioxide.
It was a close call to a planetary destruction," said professor Kirschvink, who oversaw the project, in a prepared statement. "If Earth had been a bit further from the sun, the temperature at the poles could have dropped enough to freeze the carbon dioxide into dry ice, robbing us of this greenhouse escape from Snowball Earth."
Carbon dioxide concentrations became so high over millions of years that the temperature soared to 50 degrees Celsius. As the solar system aged, Earth's mood swings became less extreme.
Scientists have known for a number of years that Earth plunged into one of its periodic ice ages 2.3 billion years ago, a change reflected in glacially formed rocks in Canada. The cause, however, has been the subject of debate. Many experts have said that cyanobacteria evolved to break down water between 3.8 billion and 2.7 billion years ago, too early to cause the deep freeze.
Previous Next The Caltech team believes the answer lies in the movement of glaciers at the time around the middle latitudes of the planet, which in part is borne out by magnetic readings of the Canadian rocks. The glaciers scraped iron, phosphorous and other nutrients off existing rocks. These ran into the ocean and provided food for a massive algal bloom.
"We could still go into Snowball if we goof up the environment badly enough," Kirschvink said. "We haven't had a Snowball in the past 630 million years, and because the sun is warmer now it may be harder to get into the right condition. But if it ever happens, all life on Earth would likely be destroyed. We could probably get out only by becoming a runaway greenhouse planet like Venus."
Like PB&J bagels... and this:
Now that I have your attention...
 |
The days drag on slowly without EL around. I miss her tremendously. I was going to lead off with how I hope that me posting a little nudity didn't offend anyone and then I realized that I don't really give a shit anyway (as you can easily click somewhere else) and that missing the Mrs. was what was really on my mind. I took Henry to Petco this morning for a little shopping spree. He's a handful in public... a ham for the children and always wanting to get into trouble. I took the bike out to stretch it's legs and meet Sam and his clan at Double Dave's Pizzaworks. I'd never been before. It's a lot like a slightly upscale version of Mr. Ghatti's. Afterwards, I treated myself to a matinee. I saw Fantastic 4... less than Fantastic, but the effects were cool. Half way through the movie, I was expecting Beavis and Butthead to have a cameo proclaiming "hot chicks with superpowers are kewl... huh huh... huh..." I fiddled around the house a bit, but was getting a little stir crazy. I wanted to shoot, but didn't have anything to put together on short notice. I contacted Urs via SMS for a beer call (distant relative to a booty call, but without gender rules). We went to this new (to me) place called
The Lava Hut... very cool digs in my opinion. The property is surrounded in tiki torches and pretty much everywhere you can walk is covered in sand. It's like going to the beach, but not going anywhere. I'm tired. I'm bored. I miss EL. *yawn* I'm calling it a night.
Who is that masked man?!
|
I don't know whether to like it or hate it. Arty and spur of the moment. Deal with it. |
RAWR!
|
We managed to find the parts in Colorado and are FedEx'ing them overnight to save the day. So all and all, Monday hasn't been as bad as it could have been. I spent a few minutes with Urs tonight getting his web site up and running before heading over to meet Ted for fried pickles. They are quite addicting. Urs and I tried out a new little biker bar that turned out to be unfriendly. It happens. I have a lot on my mind. EL is going out of town to see her family in Minnesota for a week before visiting friends in Colorado for another week. I have a lot fo work to do and am wanting to get more photo shoots scheduled for August. I wish I could somehow make my days have about 32 hours while keeping the rest of the world on a 24 hours clock in the same span of RealWorld™ time. Twist the space-time-continuem into a pretzel of my doing. That's the ticket. Hooty hoo!
I have a case of pseudo-insomnia. I am so effin tired, but all at the same time, I'm not. EL and I went down to Port Aransas this weekend to attend the wedding of one of my good high school friends. She had been dating her husband-to-be on-again/off-again for years and Saturday was finally the day. The wedding was gorgeous and we were happy to be there despite some of the technical difficulties in the trip... like the ferry line to transport the car to the island being so long it actually delayed the wedding because so many guests were still awaiting transport. It was nice to attend the wedding and see the event as a guest and not a photographer. I am sure the hired photographer did a great job, but I noticed little things that he did or didn't do that left me feeling uneasy. I mean really... you only have one chance to capture the moment and he was content taking a smoke break during the ceremony and just pose and pretend before the reception. That is definitely not my style. Although the trip was largely engineered around the wedding attendance, we used it as a good excuse to see the family. It was so great to see my sister and mother again. I rarely have time to get away for a visit and between their scheduling conflicts and mine, it had been months since we last stood before each other. EL and I spent a little time in the studio tonight. What do you think?
 |
 |
 |
Tomorrow is a big day for me. I have a lot of outstanding account issues to deal with... open TAC cases and technical follow-ups. The biggest worry for me of the gambit is one in which I have no direct control over. The wrong mounting brackets were packaged with a slew of switches one of my larger accounts purchased. As they approach a mid-week deadline for implementation, it appears that the correct brackets are backordered and they might not be able to get them in time. If I were a handy man, I'd forge them in the garage like MacGyver... out of bubble gum wrappers and tampon strings... but I'm not, so I just sit and watch the series of unfortunate events play out before me. I take direct calls to my cell from unhappy executives that want answers that I don't have to give. It's quite the party. You should try it sometime. The worst of it all is that I really care about my "customers" and I sincerely want to make it right for them. Being helpless in a situation sucks, eh? On another note, my homie Matt had one of the famous LAN's on Saturday at Wideout's Hideout. I missed it, but damn it would have been nice to go. He throws the most kick ass LAN parties around. The whole environment is infused with game goodness. He has a mid-tower case mounted on the wall with lasers and a disco ball inside that houses his Doom3 commemorative box personally autographed by the entire iD team... including Carmack. That is some nifty schwag. It's nothing but black lights, spot coolers, hardcore FPS, and Guinness at the Hideout. *sigh* Maybe by the time the event rolls back around, I can get Sean to fly in for it. It is something to be experienced. I think I'm going to drink a beer and sit on the couch until I'm sleepy. It isn't glamorous, but it sounds like a good idea at the moment. Goodnight.
Page 1 of 1 pages
