Mt. Tabor
I had this feeling (and so said the weather report) that it would be the last clear day for a while. Driving into work everyday last week and seeing Mt. Hood with a clear, crisp sky, I just wanted to get out with my camera.
So Cooper and I did just that Friday after work. We went up to Mt. Tabor and captured some sunset shots of downtown. The actual sunset was awesome, and we missed capturing it by 5 minutes hauling uphill with tri-pods on our shoulders.
For one scene, I took multiple exposures to try some HDR (High Dynamic Range). I actually found some good tools for linux to layer them together:
- qtpfsgui – “an open source graphical user interface application that aims to provide a workflow for HDR imaging.”
I also found Rawstudio, an editor under linux for my Olympus E-410 RAW files.
Here are some of the HDR results (much better at the native resolution, but here is a preview):
I do not speak Klingon (yet)
Yeah those online “Take the blah-blah test” quizzes that go around the Internet bug me sometimes, but this one uses a different sense for taking the test.
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I received 77 credits on The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz How much of a Sci-Fi geek are you? |
| Take the Sci-Fi Movie Quiz | |
I’m not sure what “77 credits” is as it doesn’t provide a scale for the test (assume 100 is perfect?). They also don’t provide the answers after the test is over to see how you scored. And to top it all off, the original html they provide to paste into a blog or website contains an advertisement with link (text opposite to the “take test” link. Laame!
Looking at the root domain: “At SheGoddess, we are committed to providing useful information on losing weight that increases the quality of life and overall well-being. We hope this site is of value to you, your friends and family. Live well.”
Hmm.. odd they throw up that quiz, and a know your 70’s music quiz. Are these two target groups for a losing weight website?
Xmas Addendum
I also sent LEP High $40. They are a local non-profit, public, charter high school located off 20th & Burnside (also an OpenSourcery client).
2008 and Brad
One of my friends I met at OIT left for basic training on the 4th (joined the Army). I decided to head to his home town of Coquille (near Coos Bay) for NYE to hang out with him prior to his departure.
Monday we went out on the dunes. His friend Patrick (a recent Army recruit on leave) came long for the ride. Here is a familiar picture with Brad: modifying the tire pressure before hitting the sand. The first one is from the 1997 Camping Trip; the second taken Monday the 31st.
Prior to this I don’t think I have been on the dunes since the 1998 Camping Trip when we were kicked out of Honeyman State Park. It was fun; we met some guys in a truck and followed them around for a while before we bailed and hit the beach.
NYE itself wasn’t eventful. Brad, Brandy, his parents and I counted down on the TV, and celebrated with some sparkling cider. Oh yeah, par-tay.
Patrick’s Mom forced him to spend time at home as his leave ended on the 1st. This cancelled our “tripple kegger” party by some 3rd party I didn’t know (probably for the best.. though could have been interesting).
Both the drive down Sunday and the drive back Tuesday was great. A nice relaxing trip to drive some roads I hadn’t been on for a while, listen to music, and see a friend I hadn’t seen in forever. It was also good to see Brandy and their 3-yr-old daughter Jessica.
That Thursday Brad was out at the airport Holiday Inn prior to his departure to Oklahoma for basic. That evening Brad, a couple other recruits, Matt and myself hit a bar for some pool and drinks. We dropped the recruits off and hit Shari’s for one last meal.
Good luck Brad on your new journey!
Happy X, x = {christmas|holiday|buy-day}
This year my family was a bit jaded on the whole gift giving aspect of the holidays. I was fine with this. Who needs more crap anyway? I’m all for acknowledging family and friends, but you don’t need a DVD player to do this.
But I decided to do some xmas shopping anyway.
With a budget of $500 and a web browser, we begin. Some criteria:
- $20 minimum
- A mix of local, national, and global causes
- Reputable
- Human causes over social causes (ex: hunger a priority over digital rights)
- A bit of bias for a small amount of personal soapbox causes
Charity Watch and News4Neighbors (for local causes) provided most of what I was looking for.
The final list:
- Paralyzed Veterans of America: $20
- Vietnam Vetrans of America: $20
- Fisher House: $20 (Children’s Scholoarship Program)
- Center for Victims of Torture: $20
- ACLU Membership renewal: $35
- BusProject: $20
- Electronic Frontier Foundation: $20
- Portland Community Land Trust: $20
- Oregon Public Broadcasting: $20
- Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research: $20
- Aids Research Alliance: $35
- Nature Conservation Fund: $30
- Human Rights First: $25
- Hunger Project: $40
- Action Against Hunger: $40
- Doctors Without Borders: $40
- Scholarship America: $20 (Disaster Relief Fund)
Total: $445
This is all I spent on Christmas this year. The only downside to all this is I probably just increased my snail-mail junk by 20%. :)
Japan
I have returned! What was going to be blogging on the road turns into this summary post. :) I tried to stay away from computers as much as I could this trip.
After mechanical failure canceled my direct flight to Narita, I was Horizoned up to Seattle. All said and done the flight wasn’t too bad, and I arrived at the same time I would have had I taken the direct from Portland.
After a bit of crash time and a nap at Greg and Sam’s place, we headed to Chiba City for Underworld. One of the best concerts I’ve been too, and definitely exceeded Daft Punk in Seattle last summer. We all squeezed into the center during the DJ break before Underworld came on. I danced harder than most, and the sound system was well tuned requiring my standard method of shoving torn up receipts into my ears.
I think we made it back by 4-5am. Three hours were straight uninterrupted dancing. As much as I wanted to stay for The Orb, we danced to 20 minutes of their set and headed home, tired and sore (or.. at least I was).
Here is a picture from the camera in the phone I rented. Cell phones in Japan are like some sort of fantasy-land compared to US cell networks. Fast 3G Internet (Mb/s, not Kb/s), video calls that just work, and take a picture of a 3D barcode you get a URL with option to connect and view it.
The next day Greg and I headed over to Narita station to pick up my friend Keiko, who traveled from Yonago to spend a couple days in Tokyo.
We were a couple hours early to the station so Greg and I killed some time visiting a nearby shrine.
Once Keiko arrived, Greg left to pick up Sam while Keiko and I headed into Tokyo to meet with a friend of hers for Coffee with a final destination of a dinner meet up with a couple more of her friends. All of us gathered for an evening of self-grilled foods, and scattered translated conversation.
Monday was spent with Keiko on an adventure of navigating the Tokyo train system, missed shopping opportunities, and the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka.
The museum was wonderful.
Editors note: I’ve been sitting on this post for a month, so I’m posting it unfinished to get it online.
Radiohead
..I downloaded In Rainbows. I choose my own price.. 4.88 GBP ($10US). :)
Halloween Party
..well not quite on Halloween itself, but the following Friday (Nov 2nd) will be a party gathering at my place.
Costume recommended. I’m going to make some jungle juice as I’m not the keg-drinker type. BYO-X. Crash space for out of towners and those who can’t drive.
Moon halo
Wednesday night some cirrostratus clouds floated in for a visit and created a rainbow-like halo around the moon. I took some extended exposures from the beach house. There were actually two halos around the moon as seen in the 2nd shot.
Molokai in Sept
I’m back in Hawaii for a week helping out MCSC. I missed my flight from PDX to Honolulu but was quickly re-routed to Seattle. The ordeal kept me in Honolulu for the night as I had missed all the inter-island flights to Molokai.
My first day on Molokai has be relaxing. I’m back a the awesome house on the beach (I’ll have pictures of that up soon). Since this is a 50% work 50% vacation trip, I’m trying to figure out what I want to do for the time off. Maybe sailing lessons.. but I’m not sure there is such a service on this island.
On my way into town from the house, a rain cloud chased me. It created some great 180 degree rainbows. Here is a picture I took with one crossing through a Father Damien church.
