Friday, March 04, 2005
Long week.
It's been a long week for me. Again, it's been productive so I don't feel like I've wasted my time.
Today, Lesa and I grabbed a quick lunch then went over to Rhodes Ferry park to take some pics next to the river. She wanted me to show her how I was going about getting some of the shots I had shown her. Mainly I sat and explained how the aperture and depth-of-field are related. I framed up a few shots for her then had her look through the camera to see what I was seeing and how I did it. I also showed her how a bunch of functions on her camera worked such as exposure lock and how to manually select a focus point. It was a good time. I told her it was amazing the kind of stuff you can find in the manual...
When we got back to the office, we took a look at our shots. They were okay but could have been better. After work, we went back over to the same spot and took more shots. Our evening shots turned out pretty good I think.
Switching gears, the Formula 1 season has started up again!!! Woot! First race is this Sunday in Melbourne. I was watching the first qualifying session this evening just taking in all the new cars and some of the new drivers. Glad to see things getting underway.
While on the subject of racing, Brian, Bill and John are down in Sebring, FL with weekend to race the #20 car in an endurance race there. Last I heard, the car was performing well and they're looking forward to the race. Best of luck guys!
Today, Lesa and I grabbed a quick lunch then went over to Rhodes Ferry park to take some pics next to the river. She wanted me to show her how I was going about getting some of the shots I had shown her. Mainly I sat and explained how the aperture and depth-of-field are related. I framed up a few shots for her then had her look through the camera to see what I was seeing and how I did it. I also showed her how a bunch of functions on her camera worked such as exposure lock and how to manually select a focus point. It was a good time. I told her it was amazing the kind of stuff you can find in the manual...
When we got back to the office, we took a look at our shots. They were okay but could have been better. After work, we went back over to the same spot and took more shots. Our evening shots turned out pretty good I think.
Switching gears, the Formula 1 season has started up again!!! Woot! First race is this Sunday in Melbourne. I was watching the first qualifying session this evening just taking in all the new cars and some of the new drivers. Glad to see things getting underway.
While on the subject of racing, Brian, Bill and John are down in Sebring, FL with weekend to race the #20 car in an endurance race there. Last I heard, the car was performing well and they're looking forward to the race. Best of luck guys!
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Wednesday? Already?
Life seems to be going much faster for me as I get older. When you're a kid, it seems like you're not maturing fast enough. Now I'm like "whoa!". Tonight after work, I brought a few things over to my tailor to alter. I hadn't seen her in probably 10 years and she was shocked to see me. She was very complimentary but did enquire about me not being married yet. Sigh. Anyway, I had a few things that needed buttons sewn back on, 2 of which were coats, one which was leather. She re-attached all my buttons while we caught up over the last decade. When I worked in the mall those many years ago, she was the one I sent my customers to in addition to having her take care of my personal things as well. I couldn't believe how long it had been.
When I finally made it home for good, I went out and played with Kelsey. I brought out the super large tennis ball and we had fun playing catch. I really dig my dog.
When I finally made it home for good, I went out and played with Kelsey. I brought out the super large tennis ball and we had fun playing catch. I really dig my dog.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Wacky weather
It was time to bust out the heavy coat, ear thingys, gloves and scarf again today as winter once again made it's presence known. Thinking ahead, I put some thermal underwear on because if I get cold... I ain't happy. I was comfortable all day so that was a smart choice.
I stayed busy ALL day long at the office. Whew! Got plenty accomplished on my list but had to push some things over to tomorrow as I ran out of time. Had an impromptu photo shoot today where I had to get a face and shoulders shot of a girl with a particular expression on her face. I used the studio strobes we had to take the shots since they were still set up from when I used them last week. Had a little trouble getting the exposure right but I got a few usable shots. It's just for a comp though so the quality is sufficient. If and when I have to re-take it, I'll get it right. I did have a blonde moment with the flash power supply... I had flipped the switch on that turns on the model lights but neglected to press the button that arms the flash modules. Subsequently I was checking all sorts of connections, troubleshooting my camera, etc. when Kay asks "Did you turn it on?". Hmmm... the model lights are on so, ahhhh... I forgot the button. It was an honest mistake but Kay took advantage of it. Of course she's the person that moves her windows around on her screen to where she can't "grab" the edges to move it around anymore and I have to get it all back working for her again.
Me, Lesa, Kent and Luke went for sushi at lunch. It was cold in there but luckily, my "parts" were warm due to the attire choice I mentioned earlier. I ate a LOT of food: 10 pieces of sashimi, bowl of rice and terriyaki chicken. Eating a lot at a Japanese restaurant usually means you're going to be paying a lot. In my case it was $29 with tip. Luke hit $25 I think.
Had a cup of ramen noodles for dinner.
I think I'm going to get stuff done around the house tonight. Got to wash jeans, clean off the kitchen table and finally get my drum studio back in order. There's stuff all over the place in there from last week's head-changing extravaganza.
I stayed busy ALL day long at the office. Whew! Got plenty accomplished on my list but had to push some things over to tomorrow as I ran out of time. Had an impromptu photo shoot today where I had to get a face and shoulders shot of a girl with a particular expression on her face. I used the studio strobes we had to take the shots since they were still set up from when I used them last week. Had a little trouble getting the exposure right but I got a few usable shots. It's just for a comp though so the quality is sufficient. If and when I have to re-take it, I'll get it right. I did have a blonde moment with the flash power supply... I had flipped the switch on that turns on the model lights but neglected to press the button that arms the flash modules. Subsequently I was checking all sorts of connections, troubleshooting my camera, etc. when Kay asks "Did you turn it on?". Hmmm... the model lights are on so, ahhhh... I forgot the button. It was an honest mistake but Kay took advantage of it. Of course she's the person that moves her windows around on her screen to where she can't "grab" the edges to move it around anymore and I have to get it all back working for her again.
Me, Lesa, Kent and Luke went for sushi at lunch. It was cold in there but luckily, my "parts" were warm due to the attire choice I mentioned earlier. I ate a LOT of food: 10 pieces of sashimi, bowl of rice and terriyaki chicken. Eating a lot at a Japanese restaurant usually means you're going to be paying a lot. In my case it was $29 with tip. Luke hit $25 I think.
Had a cup of ramen noodles for dinner.
I think I'm going to get stuff done around the house tonight. Got to wash jeans, clean off the kitchen table and finally get my drum studio back in order. There's stuff all over the place in there from last week's head-changing extravaganza.
Monday, February 28, 2005
It's Monday again.
Busy day today for me. I hit the ground running and made my list for the day. One by one I checked off each task and the list got shorter. I was in Huntsville most of the afternoon meeting with a potential new client. Looks like we've got a lot of potential there, I'll just have to sit down and figure out how much work will need to be done to get my proposed solution for them done RIGHT. That'll keep me busy for a day... probably tomorrow.
Me and my sis went to the Taste of the Valley event tonight. Most of the local restaurants were there serving samples of the best items off their menus. I ran into several friends and business associates there. When I got home, I got an idea to try taking a few photos using a picture light as the source light and try out my new lens. For you more photgraphically inclined... it's a 50mm/1.4 lens - a FAST one. I wanted something I could use in low light and also something with a large aperture as I'm going through a shallow depth-of-field phase right now that shows in a lot of my shots. Anyway, I'm thrilled with the results I'm getting after only having used it a few times. I'll have to play around with it a bit more to find out what works best with it. The shots I took of my sis were with the aperture wide open. I've read that this particular lens is sharpest around 1 to 2 stops up from what I was using. We'll see.
It got cold again. Crap.
Me and my sis went to the Taste of the Valley event tonight. Most of the local restaurants were there serving samples of the best items off their menus. I ran into several friends and business associates there. When I got home, I got an idea to try taking a few photos using a picture light as the source light and try out my new lens. For you more photgraphically inclined... it's a 50mm/1.4 lens - a FAST one. I wanted something I could use in low light and also something with a large aperture as I'm going through a shallow depth-of-field phase right now that shows in a lot of my shots. Anyway, I'm thrilled with the results I'm getting after only having used it a few times. I'll have to play around with it a bit more to find out what works best with it. The shots I took of my sis were with the aperture wide open. I've read that this particular lens is sharpest around 1 to 2 stops up from what I was using. We'll see.
It got cold again. Crap.
Sunday, February 27, 2005
I'm sorry, mine's too long.
It's not everyday I get to use that phrase in ANY kind of context but I had several opportunities to last night at the party. What was going on is that for some shots, I was using a short lens that I could zoom out and take shots of people in tight quarters. For many other shots of the band, I was using a fairly long lens that does not lend itself to take snapshots of people near you. So here I was making my way through the crowd when someone would ask me to take a shot of her and her friends and I couldn't because of the lens issue. NEXT time, I'm going to bring my point and shoot camera along for those requests.
While I'm not a big fan of country music, last night's entertainment was very well done. I met Jared before the gig and he seemed like a genuinely good dude. Also met the drummer (of course). He's a Pearl man also. Anyway, it was all very enjoyable. There was a really good crowd there. While I only saw the Greek area of BSU, what I did see was very modern and well kept. Nice place.
Earlier in the day, Kyle and I headed over to Huntsville to shoot photos and video of Brian and John testing their cars. Brian is scheduled to race in Sebring (Florida) next weekend so it was vital that he test all the systems on his Home Depot car. At the end of the day, he still had a few issues to work out. John on the other hand, had a great time in his #21 car. I think he's just waiting on his season to start now. He's all set.
While I'm not a big fan of country music, last night's entertainment was very well done. I met Jared before the gig and he seemed like a genuinely good dude. Also met the drummer (of course). He's a Pearl man also. Anyway, it was all very enjoyable. There was a really good crowd there. While I only saw the Greek area of BSU, what I did see was very modern and well kept. Nice place.
Earlier in the day, Kyle and I headed over to Huntsville to shoot photos and video of Brian and John testing their cars. Brian is scheduled to race in Sebring (Florida) next weekend so it was vital that he test all the systems on his Home Depot car. At the end of the day, he still had a few issues to work out. John on the other hand, had a great time in his #21 car. I think he's just waiting on his season to start now. He's all set.
Ladies & Gentlemen - Introducing Jared Ashley
Doing photo duty at BSU for Jared Ashley (pictured) , up and coming RCA country artist.
Saturday, February 26, 2005
Lights, camera, ACTION!
Spent pretty much the entire day on location shooting a commercial yesterday. There were some logistics involved since we were going to be shooting at an airport gate so we had to get special permission for a bunch of us without boarding passes to get into the area. In addition, we had a whole truckload of production gear we had to get back there as well. Ended up having security escort the truck across the tarmac and pull up to the same gate that planes pull up to and we were able to roll all the gear up the gangway. Sweet.
It took close to two hours to get set up so we milled around a little and talked. As we got closer to being ready, we did a couple of dry runs to check lighting and our positions on the set. My part in the whole thing developed into something more as I got included in more scenes. Originally, I was just to have my back to the camera while seated for a time then get up and leave the shot as if my flight had been called. The director ended up taking several of shots of me with the camera FACING me. I'm not sure if they'll use it in the final cut but if they do, it will be pretty prominent. We'll see.
Changing subjects, Charity came through and get me a tape of a few songs she had written. She's got some good material so maybe we can get something to work out for her. I'll listen to it some more today and get some ideas together. I'll probably ask that she come into town tomorrow to track her vocals and guitar on either Kyle or Kevin's digital rig as what she gave me was on cassette tape. The tape would be a pain for us to work with.
Today is up in the air, the rough schedule is that I need to be at the Huntsville Speedway around lunchtime to shoot John and Brian as the shakedown the #20 and #21 cars. The #20 car will be racing at Sebring I think next weekend so they have to make sure all is working as it should. Looks like the weather will be spectacular so I'm really looking forward to that. Later on, there's a shoot that's in Birmingham for some country music guy name Jared something. The unfortunate thing is that it doesn't start till 10:00 PM. If all goes as planned, I'll have a late night tonight.
It took close to two hours to get set up so we milled around a little and talked. As we got closer to being ready, we did a couple of dry runs to check lighting and our positions on the set. My part in the whole thing developed into something more as I got included in more scenes. Originally, I was just to have my back to the camera while seated for a time then get up and leave the shot as if my flight had been called. The director ended up taking several of shots of me with the camera FACING me. I'm not sure if they'll use it in the final cut but if they do, it will be pretty prominent. We'll see.
Changing subjects, Charity came through and get me a tape of a few songs she had written. She's got some good material so maybe we can get something to work out for her. I'll listen to it some more today and get some ideas together. I'll probably ask that she come into town tomorrow to track her vocals and guitar on either Kyle or Kevin's digital rig as what she gave me was on cassette tape. The tape would be a pain for us to work with.
Today is up in the air, the rough schedule is that I need to be at the Huntsville Speedway around lunchtime to shoot John and Brian as the shakedown the #20 and #21 cars. The #20 car will be racing at Sebring I think next weekend so they have to make sure all is working as it should. Looks like the weather will be spectacular so I'm really looking forward to that. Later on, there's a shoot that's in Birmingham for some country music guy name Jared something. The unfortunate thing is that it doesn't start till 10:00 PM. If all goes as planned, I'll have a late night tonight.
Friday, February 25, 2005
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Thumpin' Thursday.
Woke up this morning rested. Ah... what a glorious feeling. Got ready and dressed for work and discovered that there is a small worn area on my favorite pair of khaki's. Crap. I need to pick up a few more pairs anyway since the majority of my shirts and stuff will go with khaki pants.
After some oatmeal and a glass of orange juice, I was out the door. Morning went quick - had a meeting with a new client then headed to lunch with Kay over to Applebees. Natalie came and sat with us awhile and talked about how busy things have been lately. I asked if she was going to be able to make the Taste of the Valley event this Monday and unfortunately, she's the closing manager that night so no go. She did say that it should be a fantastic event with all the local restaurants proving their best dishes for us to try. Had my usual appetizer sampler and ordered a Perfect Margarita to go along with it. You know what I hate? When I order something and someone goes "You know who makes the best (fill-in your drink here, margaritas in this case)???" I looked at them and said "Yeah, the one who can bring me one NOW". Other than that, lunch was enjoyable and uneventful. Kay popped in one of her FUNK CD's on the way back to work and we we're dancing around in our seats like dingbats. Got some smiles from surrounding cars at stoplights.
Had a productive afternoon but I was looking forward to just going straight home and vegging out. I changed into some sweats and laid around till I got some energy back then banged on the drums awhile. I've got a load of towels in the wash... that's about the only really productive thing I've done so far this evening.
Oh, I had another photo shoot today at work. This was for a print piece for one of our clients. It's nice to get to use the studio lights as the do a good job of evenly lighting the subject. The shots worked out well.
After some oatmeal and a glass of orange juice, I was out the door. Morning went quick - had a meeting with a new client then headed to lunch with Kay over to Applebees. Natalie came and sat with us awhile and talked about how busy things have been lately. I asked if she was going to be able to make the Taste of the Valley event this Monday and unfortunately, she's the closing manager that night so no go. She did say that it should be a fantastic event with all the local restaurants proving their best dishes for us to try. Had my usual appetizer sampler and ordered a Perfect Margarita to go along with it. You know what I hate? When I order something and someone goes "You know who makes the best (fill-in your drink here, margaritas in this case)???" I looked at them and said "Yeah, the one who can bring me one NOW". Other than that, lunch was enjoyable and uneventful. Kay popped in one of her FUNK CD's on the way back to work and we we're dancing around in our seats like dingbats. Got some smiles from surrounding cars at stoplights.
Had a productive afternoon but I was looking forward to just going straight home and vegging out. I changed into some sweats and laid around till I got some energy back then banged on the drums awhile. I've got a load of towels in the wash... that's about the only really productive thing I've done so far this evening.
Oh, I had another photo shoot today at work. This was for a print piece for one of our clients. It's nice to get to use the studio lights as the do a good job of evenly lighting the subject. The shots worked out well.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Back to business as usual.
It's about time I got back into the swing of regular blog updates. I've been so busy with other things the past week or so that I haven't been able to work through my daily task list enough to get to it. Yadda. Yadda. Yadda.
Last night I worked on the most unintuitive piece of electronic equipment I think I have ever run across. Those of you that don't know me... I'm pretty good with most electronics. I'm one of those folks that can put a PC together from parts. As a side note, I've assembled one in as fast as 20 minutes from completely being in parts to being ready to load the O/S... "back in the day". Anyway, I got one of these USB hard drive enclosures. It's just the enclosure, you then have to get the 2.5" laptop drive to use in it. I had the enclosure for a week or so, I just didn't have time to find a drive (although I did try mooching one off of friends but to no avail). Finally, I just went and got one, a 40 gig Toshiba drive. Should be a no-brainer right? Connect the drive, seal it up, then go! Nope! First, there's very little documentation. Without getting into all the drama, I first had to figure out how to get it to work with my PC. I plugged the wall adapter for the unit in (it chrages a Li-Ion battery inside for portable use) and found that the buttons, one of which is the power button, are disabled when plugged in. Hmmm. I then discovered that the unit will also charge when it's hooked up via USB to the PC AND the power button will work... if it has enough of a charge. The battery didn't have enough of a charge so pressing the power button (and you can't have it connected to the PC then turn it on, it has to be on first) only powered the unit for like half a second before it would turn back off. Grrr.... Finally got the timing right and simultaneously turned it on and plugged it into the USB port all at once and had success. Sort of. Next, I had to go into disk manager in XP and partition the drive, give it a letter and then format it. By the way, none of this was in the documentation. Got it formatted then guess what? I have to run another utility to convert the NTFS format to FAT something (16 or 32, I don't remember now) for it to work because in XP I can only format NTFS... FINALLY, it was all working. What a pain in the rump.
What was all that drama for? Well, now when I'm out shooting photos somewhere and fill up my memory cards, I can plug them into the aforementioned box and it will pull the data over to the hard drive for me and then I can erase the memory cards and keep on going. I won't have to drag a laptop around to off load stuff now. At the end of the day I would then just connect the box to my PC or laptop and move the files off then.
Looks like I'll have an opportunity to shoot a lot this Saturday, first at the track where my racing buddies will be running 2 cars, the #20 Home Depot car and the #21 car John campaigned last year. The second will be for some conutry music guy playing a show in Tuscaloosa or Birmingham. Evidently, he's got a signed record deal with MCA so this is the real deal. A while back, Kyle did some promo videos for him I think and it's through his contacts I was able to get this opportunity.
This Friday I'll be in a video shoot for a client. I think you'll only see my back while I'm looking at a newspaper. I'm not the main character, we've got a professional actor coming up doing that part. There's also a trained animal involved. LOL! I'll let you know how all that goes.
Looking at my schedule, I've got lots going on... Friday - Video, Saturday - Photos, Monday - Taste of the Valley thingy, got client meetings all week then the Addy (advertising) awards the next Saturday evening.
Beats sitting around the house. ;-)
Last night I worked on the most unintuitive piece of electronic equipment I think I have ever run across. Those of you that don't know me... I'm pretty good with most electronics. I'm one of those folks that can put a PC together from parts. As a side note, I've assembled one in as fast as 20 minutes from completely being in parts to being ready to load the O/S... "back in the day". Anyway, I got one of these USB hard drive enclosures. It's just the enclosure, you then have to get the 2.5" laptop drive to use in it. I had the enclosure for a week or so, I just didn't have time to find a drive (although I did try mooching one off of friends but to no avail). Finally, I just went and got one, a 40 gig Toshiba drive. Should be a no-brainer right? Connect the drive, seal it up, then go! Nope! First, there's very little documentation. Without getting into all the drama, I first had to figure out how to get it to work with my PC. I plugged the wall adapter for the unit in (it chrages a Li-Ion battery inside for portable use) and found that the buttons, one of which is the power button, are disabled when plugged in. Hmmm. I then discovered that the unit will also charge when it's hooked up via USB to the PC AND the power button will work... if it has enough of a charge. The battery didn't have enough of a charge so pressing the power button (and you can't have it connected to the PC then turn it on, it has to be on first) only powered the unit for like half a second before it would turn back off. Grrr.... Finally got the timing right and simultaneously turned it on and plugged it into the USB port all at once and had success. Sort of. Next, I had to go into disk manager in XP and partition the drive, give it a letter and then format it. By the way, none of this was in the documentation. Got it formatted then guess what? I have to run another utility to convert the NTFS format to FAT something (16 or 32, I don't remember now) for it to work because in XP I can only format NTFS... FINALLY, it was all working. What a pain in the rump.
What was all that drama for? Well, now when I'm out shooting photos somewhere and fill up my memory cards, I can plug them into the aforementioned box and it will pull the data over to the hard drive for me and then I can erase the memory cards and keep on going. I won't have to drag a laptop around to off load stuff now. At the end of the day I would then just connect the box to my PC or laptop and move the files off then.
Looks like I'll have an opportunity to shoot a lot this Saturday, first at the track where my racing buddies will be running 2 cars, the #20 Home Depot car and the #21 car John campaigned last year. The second will be for some conutry music guy playing a show in Tuscaloosa or Birmingham. Evidently, he's got a signed record deal with MCA so this is the real deal. A while back, Kyle did some promo videos for him I think and it's through his contacts I was able to get this opportunity.
This Friday I'll be in a video shoot for a client. I think you'll only see my back while I'm looking at a newspaper. I'm not the main character, we've got a professional actor coming up doing that part. There's also a trained animal involved. LOL! I'll let you know how all that goes.
Looking at my schedule, I've got lots going on... Friday - Video, Saturday - Photos, Monday - Taste of the Valley thingy, got client meetings all week then the Addy (advertising) awards the next Saturday evening.
Beats sitting around the house. ;-)
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Not in the "best" part of town but...
Me trying to work the flag and the Bellsouth building into the shot while avoiding the adult bookstore... or as Dabney would put it, the big-people video store*
Escaped.
Saturday morning I got up and started working on the mountain of laundry I had amassed from the past week or so. I made a list of what I wanted to get done... laundry, wash dishes, dust and vacuum living room and finish changing the heads on my drums. My original plan was to head up to Nashville and shoot some photos but it was pretty dreary out so I was pretty much resigned to spending my day in domestic bliss... or something.
Getting a little closer to noon, the weather started improving and the trip to Nashville was back on. Gave Kyle a quick ring (he's always in on the Nashville trips) and he was in also. Jo was online while I was getting ready and she was happy to join in on all the fun - she would meet us on the way up. Got cleaned up and headed north - 2 Asians, 3 cameras, an iPod, tripod and a guitar (somewhere in there there's something funny).
Picked up Jo then made it to our first stop - Guitar Center. We all have different interests so we all took off on our own separate ways: Kyle to keyboards, me to percussion and Jo to guitars. Kevin called while I was there and phoned in a guitar string order for me to pick up for him. I walked out of there with several pairs of sticks, a clamp and a little ball-bearing chain thingy that I can use to make one of my ride cymbals "sizzle". On to Fork's! Chatted with Jenny for a bit and found out she was going to go try and see "Constantine" later that evening. I wasn't sure what my schedule was like but watching a movie there would put me coming home pretty late so didn't do anything with her this time. Gary Forkum came out and said hey to me - he's usually not there on Saturday's so that was a pleasant surprise. He's the owner and the guy I ordered by "serious" drums from. Super cool individual. Picked up a few things then gathered up the rest of the team over at Corner Music.
As we were on our way downtown, we ran across an excellent spot that had a good vantage point of the city. Unfortunately, it was in a seedy part of town. It was still daylight though and I was able to take several shots without being bothered. Jo was great and jumped right in to let me shoot her. We left there and then came upon a cemetary that looked to be a good photo op. Those shots didn't quite turn out how I wanted so I was a little disappointed. There were also some folks wandering nearby that looked a little iffy so we hopped back in the car and got back on our way.
Once downtown, we parked and headed out on foot. Took some shots at Buffalo Billiards then walked around on Broadway. Took a few shots there too then got our name on the list at Big River Brewery as it was dinner time. While we were waiting, we went over to the river where I snapped a few shots of the bridge and Jo being goofy.
Oh, we had an "incident" with an alarm. It was then I learned who my friends were. LOL! We were all looking in these windows at the lobby of an architectural firm when SOMEONE crossed a line or pressed on glass or something setting off this obnoxious klaxon. Jo and Kyle scattered like roaches under a bright light. FUH-nee. The best part is Jo went back and set it off again later.
Dinner was G O O D. I got everyone to try the jalapeno cheese dip that Scott turned me on to last time. That stuff is addictive. I got something called a Platinum Margarita which was just the thing I needed. My filet was delicious. Everyone else's food was good too from the looks on their faces.
After we were done eating, I noticed that Kyle was sitting there staring at the booth behind me like the Olsen Twins were there motioning him over. Evidently, the women sitting there looked like some women he had seen the night before at a billiards place in Huntsville. Anyway, he was babbling on and on about how they looked exactly like them (Kyle is not known for being observant so...). I finally prodded him to get up and go ask which suprisingly, he did! I was listening in to the conversation and after he found out that they weren't the ones he had seen, he got all tripped up when they asked about him and what brought him to Nashville. He was running out of material quick and probably would have had an awkward transition when he ran out of things to say. Luckily, Emily (one of the girls) mentioned photography and my ears perked up. I turned around and joined in the conversation at that point. Ended up making some new aquaintences and exchanged buisiness cards.
Found out from Jo that The Dabster was expecting us to come visit Murfreesboro before going home. Kyle was up for the drive so we followed Jo over to her place there where The Dabster, John, and Elizabeth joined us. Jo had her guitar there so I took several shots while she played and sang. Had a good time hanging out with all of them but it was already midnight and me and Kyle had band duty in the morning so we took off. Kudos to Kyle for driving. That was tough.
Getting a little closer to noon, the weather started improving and the trip to Nashville was back on. Gave Kyle a quick ring (he's always in on the Nashville trips) and he was in also. Jo was online while I was getting ready and she was happy to join in on all the fun - she would meet us on the way up. Got cleaned up and headed north - 2 Asians, 3 cameras, an iPod, tripod and a guitar (somewhere in there there's something funny).
Picked up Jo then made it to our first stop - Guitar Center. We all have different interests so we all took off on our own separate ways: Kyle to keyboards, me to percussion and Jo to guitars. Kevin called while I was there and phoned in a guitar string order for me to pick up for him. I walked out of there with several pairs of sticks, a clamp and a little ball-bearing chain thingy that I can use to make one of my ride cymbals "sizzle". On to Fork's! Chatted with Jenny for a bit and found out she was going to go try and see "Constantine" later that evening. I wasn't sure what my schedule was like but watching a movie there would put me coming home pretty late so didn't do anything with her this time. Gary Forkum came out and said hey to me - he's usually not there on Saturday's so that was a pleasant surprise. He's the owner and the guy I ordered by "serious" drums from. Super cool individual. Picked up a few things then gathered up the rest of the team over at Corner Music.
As we were on our way downtown, we ran across an excellent spot that had a good vantage point of the city. Unfortunately, it was in a seedy part of town. It was still daylight though and I was able to take several shots without being bothered. Jo was great and jumped right in to let me shoot her. We left there and then came upon a cemetary that looked to be a good photo op. Those shots didn't quite turn out how I wanted so I was a little disappointed. There were also some folks wandering nearby that looked a little iffy so we hopped back in the car and got back on our way.
Once downtown, we parked and headed out on foot. Took some shots at Buffalo Billiards then walked around on Broadway. Took a few shots there too then got our name on the list at Big River Brewery as it was dinner time. While we were waiting, we went over to the river where I snapped a few shots of the bridge and Jo being goofy.
Oh, we had an "incident" with an alarm. It was then I learned who my friends were. LOL! We were all looking in these windows at the lobby of an architectural firm when SOMEONE crossed a line or pressed on glass or something setting off this obnoxious klaxon. Jo and Kyle scattered like roaches under a bright light. FUH-nee. The best part is Jo went back and set it off again later.
Dinner was G O O D. I got everyone to try the jalapeno cheese dip that Scott turned me on to last time. That stuff is addictive. I got something called a Platinum Margarita which was just the thing I needed. My filet was delicious. Everyone else's food was good too from the looks on their faces.
After we were done eating, I noticed that Kyle was sitting there staring at the booth behind me like the Olsen Twins were there motioning him over. Evidently, the women sitting there looked like some women he had seen the night before at a billiards place in Huntsville. Anyway, he was babbling on and on about how they looked exactly like them (Kyle is not known for being observant so...). I finally prodded him to get up and go ask which suprisingly, he did! I was listening in to the conversation and after he found out that they weren't the ones he had seen, he got all tripped up when they asked about him and what brought him to Nashville. He was running out of material quick and probably would have had an awkward transition when he ran out of things to say. Luckily, Emily (one of the girls) mentioned photography and my ears perked up. I turned around and joined in the conversation at that point. Ended up making some new aquaintences and exchanged buisiness cards.
Found out from Jo that The Dabster was expecting us to come visit Murfreesboro before going home. Kyle was up for the drive so we followed Jo over to her place there where The Dabster, John, and Elizabeth joined us. Jo had her guitar there so I took several shots while she played and sang. Had a good time hanging out with all of them but it was already midnight and me and Kyle had band duty in the morning so we took off. Kudos to Kyle for driving. That was tough.
It's the devil I tell ya...
Let me start out again by mentioning that color management is of the devil - at least when it comes to using Photoshop. This is a hot topic for me again as I work on a batches of photos I took yesterday up in Tennessee. If I bypass Photoshop, all is well. I can print just fine. Unfortunately, I have to use Photoshop a lot so printing can turn out being a challenge. Let me break it down for you (as I understand it so far):
- When I take a photo, the photo is embeded with the color profile from my camera.
- When I bring it into my computer, the profile gets read and converted to a monitor profile so that technically, what I see on my monitor (it's calibrated) is the same as what the camera saw.
- When you mess with it in Photoshop, the profile gets converted into a "working" profile that PS uses.
- When you go to print, you specify the color profile of the printer AND media you're printing to.
- It's at this point when the print preview window comes up that I start with the ugly words.
Here's the thing, NOTHING I am using is weird or off-brand. Everything I have has factory color profiles associated with it. I don't need to use any generic settings...
Sigh.
Friday, February 18, 2005
At last...
... it's Friday!
Had a good night last night at a music store in Huntsville where Johnny Rabb was doing a demo for Roland on their electronic drums. Honestly, until I saw the demo, I had no idea how versatile and powerful the V-Drums were. I was very impressed.
Johnny played and talked for almost 2 hours. Good stuff. Got a chance to talk with him a little afterwards. He's a good guy. My old buddy Kusi was there as was Eric and his girls. I think we all had a good time. I did have one "incident" though. The one kid that was running amok ran into... MY CAMERA. Luckily, it was undamaged. The kid however was crying. His dad saw his kid being an idiot when it happened and actually asked if my camera was okay - I checked and it was. Probably taught that kid a lesson though...
Sigh.
Anyway, the pictures I took turned out GREAT. I'm extremely pleased with my flash unit. That makes me happy. I also took a bunch of video on my Sony pocket camera thingy. I had technology all over the place last night.
Later, Kusi and I headed to Hooters for some grub. Yum.
Today at work I had a meeting in Huntsville first thing. That went well. Ate a delicious lunch at Macaroni Grill before heading back to the office. Afternoon went by quickly as I wrapped up my week. Grabbed some dinner on the way home before sitting down to work on my drums. Changed out the heads and worked on re-arranging them differently. In the middle of all this, I got a headache. I'll work on it more tomorrow maybe.
Had a good night last night at a music store in Huntsville where Johnny Rabb was doing a demo for Roland on their electronic drums. Honestly, until I saw the demo, I had no idea how versatile and powerful the V-Drums were. I was very impressed.
Johnny played and talked for almost 2 hours. Good stuff. Got a chance to talk with him a little afterwards. He's a good guy. My old buddy Kusi was there as was Eric and his girls. I think we all had a good time. I did have one "incident" though. The one kid that was running amok ran into... MY CAMERA. Luckily, it was undamaged. The kid however was crying. His dad saw his kid being an idiot when it happened and actually asked if my camera was okay - I checked and it was. Probably taught that kid a lesson though...
Sigh.
Anyway, the pictures I took turned out GREAT. I'm extremely pleased with my flash unit. That makes me happy. I also took a bunch of video on my Sony pocket camera thingy. I had technology all over the place last night.
Later, Kusi and I headed to Hooters for some grub. Yum.
Today at work I had a meeting in Huntsville first thing. That went well. Ate a delicious lunch at Macaroni Grill before heading back to the office. Afternoon went by quickly as I wrapped up my week. Grabbed some dinner on the way home before sitting down to work on my drums. Changed out the heads and worked on re-arranging them differently. In the middle of all this, I got a headache. I'll work on it more tomorrow maybe.
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Bizzzay...
Wow, I think this has been the longest I've gone without a substantial bLog update. Not too much has happened in the interim though, nothing outside the ordinary at least.
Sunday, church was great! Had a guest speaker from the Gideon's come and talk to us. Normally, these presentations are pretty dry. Suprisingly, this guy was informative AND entertaining. He did a great job. On top of all that, I think we had the most people there EVER to date! I think we were all excited. The music went off without a hitch - minor things here and there but nothing the crowd would really notice. Ate lunch with the Jack S. and his family then went home for some nappage.
I forgot what I did that evening.
Monday night I spent working on music stuff. Also watched "The Bachelorette". As usual, the "nice" guy got screwed over. We'll see what happens in the final episode next week.
Tuesday - had an interesting day at the office. Hung out with friends after work then went over to another local eatery for dinner. Helped Kyle out by taking a picture of him with "The Shannamal". LOL! Hopefully he'll make some progress on that.
Band practice was Wednesday night this week as there's a drum clinic featuring my buddy Johnny Rabb tomorrow night in Huntsville. Should be a good time. We were supposed to get together last fall for some drum lessons but our schedules never worked out. He's a busy dude as he represents DW drums, Roland and Meinl cymbals. Those are just a few of his major endorsers.
Work will be hopping tomorrow as I've got a photo shoot in the morning then a big meeting in the afternoon then the clinic in the evening. Looking forward to it! I like busy.
Sunday, church was great! Had a guest speaker from the Gideon's come and talk to us. Normally, these presentations are pretty dry. Suprisingly, this guy was informative AND entertaining. He did a great job. On top of all that, I think we had the most people there EVER to date! I think we were all excited. The music went off without a hitch - minor things here and there but nothing the crowd would really notice. Ate lunch with the Jack S. and his family then went home for some nappage.
I forgot what I did that evening.
Monday night I spent working on music stuff. Also watched "The Bachelorette". As usual, the "nice" guy got screwed over. We'll see what happens in the final episode next week.
Tuesday - had an interesting day at the office. Hung out with friends after work then went over to another local eatery for dinner. Helped Kyle out by taking a picture of him with "The Shannamal". LOL! Hopefully he'll make some progress on that.
Band practice was Wednesday night this week as there's a drum clinic featuring my buddy Johnny Rabb tomorrow night in Huntsville. Should be a good time. We were supposed to get together last fall for some drum lessons but our schedules never worked out. He's a busy dude as he represents DW drums, Roland and Meinl cymbals. Those are just a few of his major endorsers.
Work will be hopping tomorrow as I've got a photo shoot in the morning then a big meeting in the afternoon then the clinic in the evening. Looking forward to it! I like busy.
Slackin'
Yes, I know - I've really fell off on my regular blogging. I've been covered up at work and then my evenings have been packed lately. I'll try to get a substantial update posted very soon.
On another note, weather's fixing to go to crap again.
On another note, weather's fixing to go to crap again.
