This Old Blog

Seen while driving down Universal Blvd , stopped at the light at the intersection with Sand Lake. It's good to know you can get unlimited light bulbs with your zombie survival gear. You can always be guaranteed your lights will stay lit when the zombies come for your brains. Makes it easier to target the zombies before they get you. And always remember: Rule #2 .

After my long rambling exposition in the prior post I thought I'd put this out to counter-balance all the intense seriousness. I saw this car this morning while I was out buying some bagels for breakfast. I spied it briefly as I hurried into the store. Once I had my precious bagels I found I could linger a bit near the car to appreciate it's decorative elements, particularly the pink eye lashes. I'm sure that such car decorations have been and will continue to be the subject of casual derision. But not from me. At a point where it seems every piece of news is so grim ( Syria , the NSA spying on us, the echos of Trayvon Martin , the gutting of the Voting Rights Act and our Fifth Amendment rights by an increasingly clueless and hostile supreme court...) it's nice to come across an act of non-destructive creativity that brings a big smile to your face. I hope this car stays this way. And I hope one day to meet the person that owns it. It should be interesting. ...

It's been a while since I've got any spam email is crazy and stupid as this one. This particular missive landed (correctly) in my gmail spam folder just the other day. I am quoting it as-is. Federal bureau of investigation Field Intelligence Unit J. Edgar Hoover building 935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC. I am special agent John Edward from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Field Intelligence Unit, we have just intercepted and confiscated two (2) trunk boxes at John F Kennedy airport in New York, and are on the verge of moving it to our bureau headquarter. We crosschecked the content of the boxes and found it to contains millions of dallars and also backup documents which bears your name as the receiver of the money contained in the boxes, investigations carried out on the diplomat which accompanied the boxes into the united states has it that he was to deliver this funds to your residence as payment which was due you from unpaid contract, inheritance,...

Ode to an Orange Pop Carbonated Water, Citric Acid , Sodium Citrate , Malic Acid , Sodium Benzoate (Preservative), Aspartame , Modified Food Starch , Acelsulfame Potassium , Natural Flavors, Caffeine , Ester Gum , Yellow 6 , Red 40 . Phenylketonurics : Contains Phenylalanine

Up-Front Disclaimer I like Kirk. Over time I've developed a lot of respect for his body of work. He's one of a handful of folk that I've never met face-to-face, yet managed to create a long-distance friendship around photography. (The other is Matthew Robertson.) So when I say "Kirk might be wrong", it's meant as gentle teasing, nothing more. This is humor. Humor . Hilarity . Something to provoke laughter and provide amusement. But not at someone else's expense, unless it's directed at me. Kirk's Lament Kirk has something of a love-hate relationship with the Olympus digital Pens. He loves their small size and weight, their ability to mount just about any lens with a suitable adapter (especially his beloved film Pen lenses), and his ability to take photographs far more discretely than with say his Canon 7D or 5DMk2. But the one thing he can't abide is the lack of a built-in viewfinder and using the LCD screen on the back of the digital Pen ...

She doesn't smoke or read the paper while sitting on her litter box, and both her eyes are the same size. But  when the lighting is just right Lucy looks like cartoonist Berkeley Breathed 's Bill The Cat , with her frizzy coat and whiskers sticking out in all directions. Lucy M. Cat Bill D. Cat I love my Lucy Cat. I really do. But those times when Lucy is cranky and cantankerous and just an absolute little pill and wants to be left alone are some of the moments I try to seek out and photograph. It's a good thing she can't surf the web or I'd be attacked by eight pounds of feline fury ninja-style in my sleep.

Sometimes you play with an image in post, sometimes you play with an image in camera. The top image was an accident (many would say that about all my photos...) As I was headed down to the street in the elevator, I was flipping the camera around in my hands so that the camera was lens up. At that moment I hit the shutter release. No big deal. When I got home and pulled it off the flash card, I sorta liked what happened. But then I decided to really screw around with the image in Lightroom just to see what I could do with it. I was trying to get a 1950's/X-Files horror/science fiction look, but I'm not sure. My balding forehead and thinning hair added an interesting halo effect. While fixing supper the Labs decided to do what they do best, which is lay about the floor hoping I'll drop something for them to snack on. No such luck tonight. Between preparing the meal and then waiting for it to cook, I stalked them as they lay about, trying to get something that captures t...

Occasionally there are products introduced to the marketplace that are so bad they inspire creative genius in the reviewer in order to convey just how utterly bad they are. Such a product is the Energizer Candle, and such a creative genius is Rob Beschizza. Originally recorded with a wonderful soundtrack, the transcription that follows can never fully convey the absolute and utter contempt Rob feels towards the Energizer Candle. Like experiencing Shakespeare in the original Klingon, you must experience this review in the original Beschizza. In more than a decade as a reporter, technology correspondent, columnist and managing editor of one of the world's most lavishly marketed technology blogs, I've never come across a product quite like Energizer's flickering LED candle lights. This is the worst consumer electronics product I've encountered in my career. The possibility that Energizer itself developed this supernaturally useless device is inconceivable. Someone th...

5:20pm - We just got back from " Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ." Ian McShane is Blackbeard  and chewed up quite a bit of the scenery as he went swashbuckling about the movie. He was, unfortunately, about the only character to show any lively personality; everybody else seemed to be sleepwalking through by-now very familiar motions. With the notable exception of Judy Dench Perhaps they realized the movie would be released on the day of the rapture, and so they decided it didn't matter. Yet another sign of the apocalypse? As I see it, I've got just 40 minutes left (whoops, just 30 minutes now) before Something Happens. 8:00pm - I've not been feeling well today, almost like a summer cold. Minor headache, joint ache, some nausea, and fatigue. So I sat in my big chair after getting home from the movie and fell asleep. And slept right through the End of the World As We Know It. The channels on the tele are still broadcasting, and there are no break...

Since the end of the world won't occur until 6pm local Orlando time, I thought I'd blog my experiences up to that fateful hour. 9:30am - I'm allowed to sleep in this morning. The Labs don't bother me at 5:30am, and Lucy the cat has yet to walk across my chest to let me know it's time to get up. Instead, I awaken to the melodious voice of my beloved wife yelling at me from the living room. She wants to know if I'm going out to get bagels for breakfast. 10:00am - I arrive at the local Einstein's bagel shop to stand in a line about 10 people deep. I'm the last. It's not looking too good at the order register; many of the bagel baskets are empty. When I finally get to the head of the line, I place my order and find that yes, I can have 6 asiago cheese, 4 everything, and three poppy seed. This in spite of the fact I was late to the shop and stood in a long slow line. I got my baker's dozen without any drama. A sign of impending doom? 10:30am - Now...

Another Sunday, and another day of rest away from work. Except there's home chores to do. I might not live on a farm but I'm still accused of living in a barn. Whatever... At least Sunday morning was relaxing. Lucy walked all over my wife at 6am instead of me, and the Labs bugged her 30 minutes later to be let out back. I didn't rise to greet the day until 9am. I then spent a leisurely hour drinking coffee and eating day-old toasted bagels (the best kind, actually). Then life got a little more active. Cleaning around the house, a late lunch with my wife and oldest, then off to Home Depot where I wound up between a pair of antediluvian Hummers; a red H2 on the left and a yellow H3 on the right. You'd think that high gas prices would have driven every single one of those monsters into a pit somewhere. You'd be wrong. I'd gone to Home Depot originally to pick up a replacement wheelbarrow for the one that's currently falling apart. I need one to help mo...

Wouldn't you know it. After all that emo-angst I wrote yesterday about how I wasn't worthy and it was a waste for me to spend all that cash on new camera gear, Sony comes along and blows those self-rightous platitudes completely out of the water with their announcement of the α700 replacement, the SLT α77. I. Want. One. Now. Well, not quite this very minute. I'll wait for the official product release, and then let it get reviewed by the usual guilty parties, mix in the requisite amount of salt with the conclusions, and see if it's worth purchasing. Until then, it's standard operating procedure with the standard camera gear I currently have. According to Camera Gearguide : It uses the same fixed mirror-technology first introduced with the α33 and α55 It is supposed to have an Exmore-based rear-illuminated 20+ megapixel APS-C sensor Cost as much as the Canon 60D I'd give anything to buy one with the translucent body. Translucent is the new black. Will...

There's a new Zodiac symbol in town, and his name is Ophiuchus. According to a story published by Time , some trouble-making astronomers (not honest, hard working astrologers) in Minnesota of all places decided things were boring, what with all the cold and snow, and so decided to upend the astrologer's apple cart by noting that the current zodiac was a month off, and furthermore, there was a new thirteenth constellation to deal with, Mr. Ophiuchus. Now, instead of being represented in the heavens by a creature that's half-man, half-horse, I get to be represented by a guy messin' with a big ol' snake. Which, according to legend ( as recounted by Time ), may not be all that bad. According to Time's sources, Ophiuchus is based in part on two historical figures, Egyptian Imhotep and Biblical Joseph. Joseph I can deal with; Imhotep, not so much. After all, it was Brendan Frasier who showed us in " The Mummy " what Imhotep was; a wife stealing, soul ste...

"Chimping the Chimp" Olympus E-P2 with ZD 50mm and MMF-1 adapter 1/160s, f/3.2, ISO 800, -1.3 EV Several more self portraits. I figure if I can (figuratively speaking) learn how to put lipstick on this particular pig and make it look good in spite of itself, then I can create a decent portrait with just about anybody. Historical footnote: the blog title is stolen from Spiro Agnew 's "nattering nabobs of negativism" comment he first used during his address to the California Republican state convention in San Diego on September 11, 1970. That entertaining phrase didn't spring from Agnew's intellect unaided; it was written by Agnew's and Nixon's speech writer at the time, William Safire . "Dr. Evil" Olympus E-P2 ZD 50mm and MMF-1 adapter 1/640s, f/3.2, ISO 800, -2 EV This second photo reminded me of a late-1960's hideous cross between Capt Kirk (Shatner) and Mr. Spock (Nimoy), what with the fleshy face and over-arching...

I have extensive experience and a proven track record as a motivated, dynamic, innovative fast-paced entrepreneurial problem solving team player. Taken from the article " LinkedIn's Resume Advice: The Top Ten Buzzwords to Avoid ". And yes, I used all ten.

Normally you're supposed to finish a book before you write a review of it. Well, I've just started to read Mira Grant 's (a.k.a. Seanan McGuire ) "Feed", and I'm only up to chapter 4. It's a zombie book. I hate zombie books. Well, maybe hate is too strong a word. More like I try to avoid them. As I said I avoid zombie novels. It's fairly trivial to do so; I spot books with dark colored covers combined with garishly drawn zombies and/or zombie killer illustrations, and just automatically steer clear of them. But "Feed" is different. "Feed"'s cover is a dirty white, with the RSS feed symbol at the top, drawn in blood (well, printed to look like it's drawn in blood). That's what caught my attention, and then kept it. It didn't come across as your typical zombie book. The front cover alone got me curious enough to pick up the book and start reading the back cover. There wasn't much information there, and I would ...

This is from a co-worker from New Jersey, who happens to be in the office today. He's hoping to get back home before a big snow storm hits around where he lives. He sent this out to me in an email. Enjoy. Diary Of a Snow Shoveler December 8 - 6:00 PM It started to snow. The first snow of the season and the wife and I took our cocktails and sat for hours by the window watching the huge soft flakes drift down from heaven. It looked like a Grandma Moses Print. So romantic we felt like newlyweds again. I love snow! December 9 We woke to a beautiful blanket of crystal white snow covering every inch of the landscape. What a fantastic sight! Can there be a more lovely place in the whole world? Moving here was the best idea I've ever had! Shoveled for the first time in years and felt like a boy again. I did both our driveway and the sidewalks. This afternoon the snowplow came along and covered up the sidewalks and closed in the driveway, so I got to shovel again. What a perf...

Two guys I know, and one I used to work with on OneTESS (Kurt Hamby) have ridden from Florida to Alaska on Triumph Tiger motorcycles . Which is a hoot with Kurt; you'll either see his blue Triumph in the parking lot or his monster diesel F350 (the one he uses to tow his horses). I just got off the (cell) phone with Kurt: Me: "Hey Kurt!" Kurt: "Hey Bill!" Me: "Where are you?" Kurt: "Alaska. Why?" And so it went for another minute before the link got dropped somewhere between here and Alaska. I couldn't quite make out where he said he was, but I think he said Fairbanks. GPS shows them in Fairbanks and the blog they've been keeping notes they stopped in Fairbanks and are headed back south. Kurt said it would take another 10 days to get back to Florida. When he gets back I'm sure there'll be plenty of stories to regale us at many a Tijuana Flats lunch. Ride safe guys.

If only they were this silly and harmless in real life...