In Atlanta

Up in Atlanta this weekend to see my parents and family. Round trip on Delta. Took my new Olympus E-P2 with me, along with three other lenses, in a compact Domke F6 Little Bit Smaller bag. The other three lenses (besides the kit lens) was the ZD 50mm, the ZD 9-18mm, and the Sigma 30mm. I've got the MMF-1 adapter for those lenses. I've also got my charger and an extra battery pack.

I've been quite happy with the E-P2. I want to work with the camera a little while longer before blogging about my experiences. It isn't perfect, but it certainly is fun, and it's far less intrusive than the E-3. And grumbling about the price aside, it's worth what they charge for it. For those on a budget, the E-P1 is now around $600, but it also comes without the EVF. This type of camera is indeed the future of digital photography.

Beware Capital One Mail Scam

Capitol One ("What's in your wallet?") sent me a bit of deceptive mail today. I felt sure it was a credit card offer, and sure enough, it was. I open all credit card offers and shred them before putting them in the trash. Normally I just scan the front to make sure I don't miss anything; the Capital One offer made me stop for a moment and brought a little fear into my heart.

The letter's opening sentence read:

Our records as of December 30, 2009 indicate your Capital One Platinum MasterCard offer is currently valid and active.

It then listed "three ways to reply" at the bottom of the letter; via phone, the internet, and regular snail mail. I elected to call.

Once I reached the automated phone response system, the first entry offered was '1', to "activate my Capital One offer or to remove my name from their mailing list." That was interesting. So I pressed '1'. I was almost immediately talking to a young woman, who wanted a 16 digit number printed above my name and address on the offer letter. I gave that to her, then quickly explained I wanted to remove my name from any further mailings. She said "all right" and started to verify my name and address.

Then she asked for my phone number. I asked "why?". She replied so that she could enter it into the computer record she was working on so that I would not be called. I asked her if she didn't have it already; I didn't ask her if she could read my number on her phone via caller ID. She said she didn't have it, and asked for it again. When I determined she didn't really have it I declined to give it to her. I then hung up.

There are two problems with asking for my phone number. First, there's the National Do Not Call Registry. Second is the Florida Do Not Call Program (as I live in Florida). And the fact I'm in both. No, I think the reason they were asking for my phone number was to add that little bit of intelligence to whatever database they have, or else to verify what was coming across caller ID. I have no idea.

What got to me is I thought it was an active credit card. That's what happens when you're home after work, tired, and just skimming down the page. It didn't fully sink in until I started to dial the number, and then I just got angry. Talking to them on the phone made me angrier. If you get something like this in the mail, know it for what it is, and shred it (like I did) before throwing it in the trash. I know what's in my wallet, and it will never be anything from Capital One.

Fairy Linux Progress Report

Back on Christmas Day I proposed the creation of yet another Linux distribution, which I named Fairy Linux. I am pleased to report that I have come up with a release name for the first iteration of this fabulous distribution. Borrowing from the pattern made most famous by Ubuntu Linux, it is (drum roll please)...

Alluvial Alligator

Careful study of the entomology of the release name will illuminate why I chose it.

• Alluvial - something that is created over a very long time. This should be your first Big Clue as to what is to come. Since I am a group of one, don't expect this product to come flying out in record time. In other words don't hold your breath. And since I want a quality release (where I define quality to include as few bugs as possible), you really shouldn't hold your breath.


• Alligator - I live in Florida after all. We have a fair number of Alligator mississippiensis roaming about the state, through canals and retention ponds. We also have Gainesville and the University of Florida (however, I am more of the 'Nole persuasion, and thus a certified Gater Hater). It thus seemed only right and proper to name my first release after such a creature. Besides that, the 'gator is known for it's bone crushing bite, and the fact it will bite you if you get near it at all, which just goes to remind me of many of my encounters with Linux distributions in the past.

Of course, it's somewhat humorous to realize that a full grown alligator would consider any number of Fairy penguins as little more than little fluffy appetizers. An alligator is a Manly beast.

Do NOT do business with Cheap Tickets

I don't know how I managed to screw this up, but I've lost the cost of a round trip ticket from Orlando to Atlanta. And that cost is $219.

Three days ago (5 January) I tried to book this trip with Cheap Tickets, and I thought I had booked the flight correctly. In all the years I've flown around the country, first via phone, and later via the web, I've never had the kind of screw-up I ran into with Cheap Tickets. As I've stated already, I wanted to travel, round trip, from Orlando to Atlanta and back. I went to Cheap Tickets, thought I had set up the departing and arriving cities correctly, then clicked through rather hurriedly to finish the transaction. I got, via email, confirmation, and then forwarded that to my mother. My mother sent me a response this evening saying that she was confused, as the flights had me traveling in reverse, from Atlanta to Orlando and back on the correct dates. Sure enough, she was right.

I then tried to contact Cheap Tickets and see if I could reverse the departure and destination cities, which unfortunately, triggered their 'change flight' rules and penalties. Which, by the time they were levied, would have left me with exactly $19.40, that had to be spend with Cheap Tickets on another Delta Airline flight before January 2011. No if, ands or buts. I was already mad to find out how I had royally screwed up the flight, but I was pushed to incandescent anger when I spoke with a Cheap Tickets and discovered there was no recourse, none, nada, zip.

I could have lived with being given a 'credit' towards another flight. The flight was already pretty well booked, and I was traveling coach towards the back of the aircraft. But no go, so I finally just gave up and canceled the flight.

I then called my credit card customer service line, and they seemed pretty helpful. They checked and discovered that the ticket had not yet been charged to my credit card. I explained what had happened, and asked if there was any way to contest it. They said they couldn't do anything about it until the charge had posted, so I was given their billing disputes direct number; all I have to do is check my credit card via their website and wait for the charge to post, then call billing disputes. I have no idea if I will succeed, but I won't give up.

Lessons Learned:

1. Don't do business with Cheap Tickets. Ever. Again.


2. Try, try, try to pay better attention. Again, I have no idea how I screwed this up.


3. In the future use Travelocity, Orbitz, or Delta directly. Maybe even Shatner's pitch, Priceline. But never, ever Cheap Tickets.

Going 6x6 Again

I got a new camera during the Christmas break (essentially a new body to compliment the larger E-3), and I've been shooting with it and the lenses I already had in my kit. The following four photos were all shot with the Olympus ZD 50mm f/2 Macro lens. The body was programmed to shoot a 6x6 aspect ratio.

For those old enough and with memories intact, this is the format of 120/220 format film. Up to this point I had been shooting 4x3 (4:3rds), but I decided to see what it was like to 'go retro' with the aspect ratio.

I had a Mamiya C330 Pro/F in the mid 70's, and shot nothing but 220 black and white with it; primarily Tri-X (ASA 400) with some Plus-X (ASA 125). I'd purchased the body used along with a 50mm (wide angle) and 80mm (normal) lens. I got a lot of good negatives out of that rig. In the end I wound up selling it because I needed the money, a decision I have lamented to this day. With this particular camera I can go back in time as it were and relive those days. What makes it better the second time around is the ability to shoot color or black and white. Right now I'm just enjoying the color side of things.

One important feature of the body is I can lay a cross-hairs on the image as I view it. My C-330 had cross-hairs on its ground glass, so this ability to electronically superimpose them adds to the nostalgia as well as provides a good way for lining up the subject.

Notes on the Photos
Clockwise from upper left:

1. A shot of a clock my oldest daughter gave me a few Christmases back. The yellow lab is in remembrance of our first yellow Lab, Rhett.


2. A shot of some of the widgets that populate my office. In this case, the ubiquitous Florida flamingo is leaning dangerously as if ready to fall.


3. On the way home today I had to pick up something at the drug store. I parked right behind a red 2002-2005 Ford Thunderbird. I grabbed a shot of the trunk emblem on the way in. They must have thought I was nuts.


4. I got a small Magnetix set back when I was working for SAIC on WARSIM. I've carried that set around with me ever since then. It was a great way to relax when I needed to stop and take a break. In this image I played with the tone curve in post processing using Olympus Master in order to get the pop-art bright colors.

Everything was shot with available light, and all images came out of the camera as Large Super-Fine (1:2.7 compression) JPEGs. I've gone back to shooting JPEGs exclusively with this body.