In a rare (and momentary) period of wealth, I ordered a David Sylvian CD for Jen to be delivered to her office. We borrowed one of his other CD’s from our buddy Rob, and she reported back that playing it while working had a beneficial effect on her mental health and productivity. So hopefully this double-CD set will bring her double happiness. Being able to do things like that makes me feel good as well. I love you baby.
I looked at the download log for that UMAX scanner software; it took 5 hours last night for a 21MB file to download. On a clean T-1. Um… guys? you might want to set up a mirror somewhere…
Last night I had the most amazing sensation while in the pool. Even though I had an aluminum tank, fins, bouyancy compensator, mask, wetsuit, and 12 pounds of weights attached to me, I was at neutral bouyancy and floating gracefully through the water, using my breathing to lower the top of my tank under the lane dividers. The regulator worked flawlessly, and the only issues I had were the attempts to clear my mask- it is a hard thing indeed to program your brain to switch valves from exhaling through your mouth to the nose underwater. Next week I’ll need to practice this repeatedly so that I don’t panic in the quarry check-dive.
Some new albums to look into buying on the next paycheck: the new Underworld CD and Dirty Vegas, recommended by Matt. Also to consider: Boards of Canada. Plus, there’s a new Thievery Corporation CD coming out October first. Bonus!
I finally, after a month or so of waiting, ordered three rolls of 620 film from Film for Classics for the stable of old cameras I bought at the beginning of August. I also paid off a bunch of niggling little bills that have been nipping at my heels for a few weeks. When I get the film, I’m going to take a walk on the main drag of Highlandtown and shoot some of the buildings still out there, like the movie theater and some of the storefronts.
Boy, Americans sure are stupid. This story about a woman in Houston who made a store put a fig leaf over a copy of Michelangelo’s David is just mind-boggling. Why are people in this country so damn uptight?
dock, 7.30
We have a busy busy weekend planned. Jen is having her birthday on Saturday (no, I’m not telling you how old she is) and I’m taking her out on Friday night; on Saturday her family comes into town and we go out again for dinner. Tonight we’re getting together with some folks from work for a postponed dinner. What a social schedule!
Never really having used Excel before, I approached it with a lot of caution and loathing. I plugged in the information I wanted to capture (freelance billing data) and looked through the helpfiles for a few minutes. When i figured out how to add one column and total it out, I found myself clapping like a 5-year old.
ALGX is sucking totally these last weeks; their nameservers keep dropping in and out, so none of the entries in my logfiles have resolved names. Grrr! Who are you? Where are you coming from? Where are you in the world?
It is so unbearably hot here in Baltimore, I want to kill myself. Tonight the heatwave will break, but I’m wondering why we ever left NY state and that beautiful, warm, clear lake. In the backyard, I got the support columns bought (decided not to deal with my other neighbor) and the anchors drilled, as well as the notches in the concrete caps cut, so all we have to do is cut some notches in the bottoms of the columns and install. Then we level each of them out and put the top plate on.
I had a very interesting chat this weekend about a possible part-time teaching position; even if it doesn’t happen, it was still a great meeting and could lead to exciting possibilities down the road. Plus, there’s a bunch of freelance work coming down the road in the next couple of weeks, and that should keep the money flowing into my bank accound and not out.
Todd said he saw Esther on the way to work this morning, so I know she isn’t a mirage.
I started doing a little research into some of the cameras I bought on my vacation; some of the super-8’s are pretty rare, and some of the Kodak Brownies I bought are common but beautiful examples of industrial design. I also have a really nice Agfa and a few lesser-known brands which all seem to take 620 or 120 variant film. Now to find a few 620 spools and order some film! I’m dying to try some of these cameras…! Luckily there’s a company in town that develops 120 film…
Ellicott City, Monday July 15
Katie made a good point tonight when I ran into her at the grocery store: I didn’t have a good way to get people to the pictures other than the links buried in the text, so I added a list of links to the sidebar. Thanks Katie! (duh, bill)
This morning on the way back from the Saturn dealership, I happened to pass through Ellicott City and a Model T club meet. For a wonderful summer morning, I was easily able to imagine the main street in 1925, bustling with commerce and people.
I spent some time looking at the BMW Films site last week, and explored it further today. Following the lead of some of the clues in the additional movies, I found a website where they had left clues to set up a covert meeting for people to pick up a package, most likely of BMW materials or some other promotional gift, tying in with the ‘secret agent’ feel of the series. What a fantastic use of the Internet as a marketing tool. I wonder if the series did anything for them in sales, because they sold me on a variety of different aspects of the BMW line. If I had the discretionary income to afford an entry-level BMW sedan, I would surely buy one. And from a marketing standpoint, this is a company that gets it.
Jen and I went to a great party on Saturday at Tim and Sue’s place, got to see the spread and meet the dog, and spent Sunday looking at antiques. A very relaxed weekend. Jen found a teapot in my mother’s pattern that I’m going to buy her for her birthday; hopefully it will look good with the rest of her collection. It was also really cool to be able to take pictures of the items to cross-check with my Mom.
Unfortunately I missed Bill the Scout Guy when he was in the field this weekend; he called at some time on Sunday when I couldn’t hear the phone. Darnit.
Well, the Sun stuff I have here is worth about as much as the empty coffee cup next to this monitor, so I’m going to chuck them both in the dumpster this afternoon. I can’t even get money for the Sun mouses. I would eventually like to buy a used SPARC at some point, but for now I’ll stick with MKLinux on the 7100. I did read that the official version of Apache 2 has been released though.
I’m trying to resist the impulse to buy a digital camera right now. I think the money will be better spent on the Scout- new brakes, a tune-up, etc. so that she can get back on the road. I have $200 from eBay that I’m going to combine with a check from O. to pay off the Powerbook, and when (and if) we ever get the payout from Greycube that will pay off the rest of the credit card bill.
I have a message for all you smokers that complain about non-smokers infringing upon your rights: Kiss my ass. Until you decide you can be adult enough to throw your butts in the garbage, or in the little accessory thing in your car they call the ashtray instead of out the window or onto the curb, I don’t give a crap about your infringed rights. Clean up your mess.
Today I think I’m going to do some shopping for a digital camera when I’m taking breaks. Hopefully I can find a good unit for about $200 with USB or FireWire and at least 1.3 megapixels.
| camera | memory | capacity | zoom | price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kodak DX-3500 ZOOM Digital Camera 2.2MP 3X Zoom USB | 8MB | 2.2MP | 3x zoom | $219.95 | review |
| Olympus Camedia D-370 Digital Camera Bundle | 40 total | 1.3MP | 4x optical | $239.95 | review |
| Kodak DX3600 Zoom Digital Camera | 8MB | 2.2MP | 3x zoom | $299.95 | review |
| Olympus Camedia D-510 | 8MB | 2.1MP | 3X optical | $399.95 | review |
What I’m seeing from the sample photos on this review site is that the cheaper Olympus, while being a good deal, takes pictures that have a lot of warping and fuzz at the edges of the pictures- a cheap lens. The Kodak cameras, while feeling rather cheap and plasticky, take larger and better pictures. The more expensive Olympus is probably not worth the extra $100 right now.
I just found out the company is taking us out to see Lord of the Rings tomorrow at noon. Pretty cool!
Mumia Abu-Jamal got out of the death sentence today; the federal high court decided he needed a new sentencing. Granola hippie kids and stupid liberal Hollywood stars are rejoicing worldwide as we speak.
Not a lot to write about- very busy today. Lots seen and done, but not a whole lot of time to process the information. I did get a bunch of photos back from Blow-Up yesterday- they look fantastic. Now I just can’t wait to get a digital camera for some instant gratification.
I also added the calendar to the left for some easy reference in the running (OK, walking right now) project. (this links back to the old weblog format).