Monthly Archives: April 2006

Nikon 18-200mm DX VR Lens is on it’s way!

18-200 DX VR III am a very Happy Camper! I just got an email that my new 18-200mm DX VR lens is on it's Way. This is my birthday present from my Wife! Needless to say, she's the best!

I was a little surprised to get that shipping notice since I've only ordered it two weeks ago. I thought that there would be at least a month wait to get it. This lens is in high demand and no store can keep it in stock.

I take a lot of walks and this will come in very handy. I'm currently using the Kit lens, the 18-70mm DX lens that comes with the Nikon D70s kit. I'm very happy with the lens , but I'm really looking forward to the new lens. 

Music I'm listening to now:
"Angel in Disguise" by Corrinne May
from her "Safe in a Crazy World" album.

 

April Showers bring May Flowers?

At least I hope so! I Don't mind rains so much, but I do wish it would rain weekdays when I'm at work. My backyard still needs work, but at least I managed to get mulch into the vegetable garden.

Made a slight mistake when I bought some Mulch last week: I purchased some Vigoro Mulch that turned out to have weed killer in it.

Vigoro makes good products and we use their fertilizer for plants and vegetables, but  you don't want to use any chemicals when your planting vegetables that you intend to eat. Luckily, I realized my mistake before putting it on the vegetable garden. We'll  use it for roses, our gladiolus, gardenia and Asiatic Lilies. Instead, I was able to get Scotts Mulch which works out nicely as it has no chemicals in it.

My wife handles the flowers in our yard, I handle the lawn and the vegetables which is also my contribution to the kitchen as I can't cook.

So far we have:

  • Roses
  • a Gardenia plant
  • lots of Gladiolus
  • an Asiatic Lily
  • a Hydrangea
  • Assorted Lettuce
  • Broccoli
  • Basil
  • pepper
  • a Grape tomato plant
  • 3 Beefsteak Tomatoes plants
  • Cucumber (Yet to be planted)
  • String beans (Yet to be planted)

It's a lot of work, but worth it. I think that doing hard work for your own reward is a goods thing. Should all look good within the month.

Music I'm listening to now:
"Pretty Vegas" by INXS from their "Switch" album.

 

Volkswagen Advertisements featuring Peter Stormare


Ok, It's a given that I'm a Peter Stormare fan. I've enjoyed his performance in just about every movie I've seen him being terrifying in "Fargo" or playing Satan in "Constantine". He tends to make a movie or tv show more interesting.

That being the case, the Volkswagen ads featuring him "Unpimping the auto" is perfect! The goal of an advertisement is to make you remember the product. With Peter Stormare in the video, it works. The expression on his face as he hits the button is great.

For more videos on google of Volkswagen GTI advertisements see here

Music I'm listening to now:
"Defeat You" by Smash Mouth from their "Astro Lounge " album.
 

Mamiya leaving the Camera Buisness???

Mamiya ZDBeen a Busy week, so not much posting going on. Just read on Engadget.com: "Mamiya bailing on camera biz" First Konica-Minolta and now Mamiya?!

If true, This is a little odd as they just released the ZD in Europe last month. Since nothing is on DPreview yet, I'm half hoping this is not true or just a Japanese press release that was poorly translated. Mamiya is one of those professional companies that makes Cameras that amateurs like my self would love to have. Who is next I Wonder? Pentax??

 

Music I'm listening to now:
"Hey Pretty" by Poe from the "Haunted " album.

Spring time

TomatoesSoon I'll be able to plant these tomatoes in the ground. We haven't decided what we'll grow this season, but at the least it will be Tomatoes and Mixed lettuce. Cucumbers grow in the shade but tend to take over all the ground.

Cleaning the backyard was a hassle. Instead of raking up the old leaves and dead grass I lowered my mulching lawn mower, attached the bag and scooped nearly all of it up.  Afterwards, it was just a matter of cleaning up the leftover leaves and matted dead grass.

Can't wait to plant these.

 

Music I'm listening to now:
"100 Years" by "Five For Fighting" from the "The Battle for Everything " album.

 

The Root of the problem

Roto-RooterOne of the perils of being a homeowner is that unexpected things come up. In this case, Tree roots have invaded my sewer line. I did what I did last time (over three years ago) and called Roto-Rooter.

The Long and short of it is: The drain pipe is bent, near the street, allowing roots to grow in where the water seeps out. It took over an hour to properly clear the tree roots from the pipe. They came quicky and it's under warranty for six months so I'm not terribly unhappy. 

As an interim solution, this works. Long term, I'll be pouring 2 pounds of Root Destroyer (Copper Sulfate Pentahydrate) into the reap every 6 months. This should kill the tree roots near the pipe without killing the tree (Which is illegal in NYC…).

The alternative to this is to replace the sewer line which would caost a lot more money than I'd care to spend. I suppose I'll just have to wait and see.

Music I'm listening to now:
"In My Life" by The Beatles from thier "Rubber Soul " album.

 

Attention seeking Trolls

TrollIt's funny how some people will Troll around some Blogs, anonymously making mean spirited comments for the mere purpose of getting attention. Others attempt to engage them in reasonable discourse about the post, only to be personally attacked about anything unrelated to the subject at hand. They'll use meaningless labels like "Left Winger/Right winger", etc.

Engaging them tends to be just a waste of time. Basically, anything anyone else says is "invalid" while anything they say is valid. Then they attempt to get off topic to bait you into responding, which is just a waste of time. If they have anything to say that can be commented on, they'll quicky revert to type just to get more attention.

Personally, I think these people get off on being an anonymous nuisance. IMO, it makes the feel bigger and lets them vent anger in their lives.

It's best not to feed their little ego trip and one hopes they get professional help.

 Image from www.cartooncritters.com

 


Music I'm listening to now
:
Nothing at the moment.

Another Fake Tilt Shift ala FlickrToys

Modifying a shot to look like it's from a color 35mm Slide. This was made possible via Flickr toys.

Automation

As I may have mention before,I'm a professional programmer by trade. My usual weapon of choice is PERL, but I've programed Visual Basic, C/C++, RPG, etc. I think I became a programmer because I'm Lazy and I'd rather a machine do what I'd rather not. I also like to make things and seeing a program work as designed without breaking anything gives me a feeling of satisfaction.

Back to the PERL script for copying Nikon NEF files: When I first wrote it, it used the last modified time of the file to determine when I took it. Conceptually, that last modified time may be different than the actual date I took the photo. After a little research (Google IS a useful tool) I found the ExifTool PERL Module written by Phil Harvey. Now, instead of relying on the Last Modified date, it pulls the Date from the 'DateTimeOriginal' embedded into the Nikon NEF file. It's a very simple script, but it's fun to tinker with a program that is made just for my uses.


Music I'm listening to now
:
"Experiment IV" by Kate Bush from their "The Whole Story" Album,