Sunbear in the City

Rest in Peace Stanza

2011-10-24T06:34:00.000-07:00

Back in 2009, when the Kindle was only a year and a half old, Amazon bought Stanza. At the time, Stanza was probably the most popular (speculation) and certainly the most usable (opinion) ereader app for iOS devices, like the iPhone. I speculate and post these opinions because at the time I was reading almost exclusively with this app on my iPhone and was amazed at how do-able it was to read on my phone and had done lots of research on picking the app. There were lots of other people using this app and it is no surprise that Amazon thought it a good idea to acquire this company.

Fast forward to October of 2011 and Amazon has finally let the Stanza app die. What does this mean? As of iOS5, Stanza no longer functions as a stable application due to the lack of updates from Amazon. With no announcements from Amazon about updating this app for iOS5, and quite frankly no incentive with its own Kindle app now purring along happily on iOS, I feel safe saying this app is essentially dead.

It is a shame that the Stanza app has died because there was a huge following of users who appreciated it for a number of stand-out features that none of the other ereader apps feature. For me personally, the most appreciated core feature was the ease of adding books without wires or syncing from the vast catalog of Project Gutenberg, as well as accessing other pre-loaded stores and the ability to add other custom sources for books. In addition to this core feature set, Stanza also had the ability to sync to your own collection of dozens, hundreds or even thousands of books easily through a relationship with Calibre, an ebook management software for your computer. Finally there was the vast and very flexible set of features that allowed a user to tailor the reading experience to their exact preferences, including fonts, sizes, margin sizes, between line AND between section/paragraph spacing, black on white or white on black schemes, the ability to lock rotation from within the app, and best of all, the ability to quickly adjust screen brightness using a simple vertical swipe.

It was clear from the very beginning that Stanza wasn't designed by a company looking to bolster sales of books from their own ecosystem, but rather by people who loved to read books FOR people who loved to read books. Clearly Amazon saw the level of detail and care that had been put into this app and were happy to get their hands on it. Whether the intention was to someday incorporate all of this power and flexibility into their own kindle devices and apps, or whether it was simply to get rid of the competition is anyone's guess. I know I have my own theory.

In the meantime, I’m auditioning replacement apps that will give me back the core feature set of being able to access large quantities of public domain books with the added benefit of being easy to use. The apps I have tried with limited success have been Bluefire and Megareader with the nod going to Bluefire so far. While I intend to review at least my final selection at a later date, it does seem relevant to comment on both with regards to how they stack up against Stanza.

Bluefire is the best contender for a Stanza replacement that I've found. Up front Bluefire is free, as was Stanza. With Bluefire there is a set list of book sources and doesn’t seem to be anyway to amend this list. While Project Gutenberg is absent, it does have Feedbooks which has a pretty good selection of public domain books. As a compromise, Bluefire does support loading books through iTunes file transfer, which means that public domain books not on Feedbooks can be downloaded on your computer and then loaded into Bluefire through iTunes. I’m not thrilled with this compromise, but it is a good starting point. The second biggest concern for me is the ability to read a book in a way that is intuitive and non-invasive. Bluefire really shines here. Although the options in Bluefire are more limited and prepackaged, there is nothing missing that will really cause me to suffer in terms of enjoying book reading. One standout highlight I would list is the book mark and annotation feature in Blufire. Book marking and annotation are joined into one feature that seems to work really well. You can jump to any of your book marks or annotations, they preview very nicely, and the annotation is highlighted on the screen.

Megareader is very easy for me to review. It costs $1.99 and allows you to access Project Gutenberg perfectly, however once you get the book downloaded to Megareader, you may not want to read it. The criticism is a bit harsh, but honestly, I would only ever use this app to read books that I simply can’t get in Bluefire through Feedbooks. The settings within Megareader are limited and most critically it has no bookmark or annotation system. It compromises with a simple “last place” memory that will open the book back to the last place you read. However, if you want to jump back to another chapter and then come back to where you just where, be prepared for lots of page flipping to search for your spot. The lack of any sort of book mark or annotation is incredibly disappointing from an otherwise promising app, especially one that costs.

Assuming Amazon has abandoned Stanza development as it seems, the options are currently limited. One would hope that either the ecosystem level players add the option to access public domain catalogs like Project Gutenberg to their repetoir, or independent developers pick up the torch and keep running the race. Time will tell and in the meantime I’ll continue to look for the best compromise.

Winter Reflections

2011-01-31T07:42:00.000-08:00

As the days of February slowly approach and the temperature timidly toys with warming up, experimenting with an occasional day in the 40s, I was reflecting this morning on Winter as a season. I wanted to share the following.

Christmas will forever be, for me, the crowning jewel of this whitest of seasons. As a child growing up I experienced winters in the mid-west and in the south. With a father in the military my childhood was spent moving from to different houses and environments every four years. One constant though was my grandparents’ house. Every year our Christmas tradition was to travel back to my mom’s parent's house for a Christmas eve celebration that brought together large portions of a large family. In a not-over-large house, there would be my immediate family, Grandma and Grandpa, handfuls of aunts and uncles, dozens of cousins, and plenty of food.

We were never cold with that many bodies piled together in one house, and there was never a shortage of food. My Grandma would prepare food days ahead of time, and towards the end of our tradition at that house people would bring over dishes potluck style to spare her the preparation time. Relatives would come back from far and near. We would be able to catch up regardless of how many times we had or had not seen each other since last Christmas.

After the Christmas eve family dinner, many of us would carpool to my Grandparent’s church where they would proudly fill several pews with their returned family. After Christmas inspired sermons, many carols, and a candle lit “O Holy Night” we would end with “Go Tell It on the Mountain” and sometimes my grandfather would let me ring the Church bell at Midnight to announce Christmas was here.

And so, growing up my idea of winter came to focus around family gathered together, food shared, warmth, and community. Looking back now and seeing what Christmas has historically meant, I read other's stories and realize that mine are in the company of those privileged few who have family to join with, who have homes to gather in, and who have food to put on the table. I see now that not everyone has those things, and how lucky I was to have this experience. Come time to recount what I’m grateful for, winter makes it easy not to take things for granted.

Winter is a time of contrasts. While it is frozen outside, we can be thankful for the simplicity of a warm room. While the fields are barren, we can be thankful for the simplicity of an orange, or a slice of warm bread. While the parks and sidewalks are sparcely peopled, we can be thankful for our community of family and friends.

2011-01-10T19:24:00.000-08:00

I've been reading a lot of MacDonald lately and I think I just read my favorite of his books, so far. I wrote a review of "At the Back of the North Wind" in a hurry tonight after finishing it today...

At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am so delighted to have found this book amongst the treasures of project Guteberg. Thank goodness for public domain books and ebook readers! With the low price of admission, I find myself reading more and more books that I might not have otherwise taken the time to look up, or might not have remembered when I got to a library.

Once I started reading this book I couldn't put it down. However, as opposed to most books that pull you through solely with plot, I found myself going back and re-reading passages to think about the things MacDonald was saying. To me, this was the best MacDonald book that I've yet read. As with Sir Gibbie the main character is a boy who seems almost too good for this world. However, far from seeming a prig, this innocent ends up bringing the best out of all those around him. Without giving too much away, I'll just say that the imagery, the story, and the very feel of the book will now be one of my definitions of mythopoea. I can see how these MacDonald books would have so strongly influenced Tolkien and Lewis in their future literary works.

So many of the conversations between North Wind and young Diamond are underlined that I have a hard time picking my favorite part of the book. However, I think one of my favorite conversations may have been between these two characters when Diamond is asking North Wind whether she is real or just a dream. I feel that this must have in some way influenced Lewis in his ideas presented in his essay Weight of Glory, and in his idea for Aslan.

Although the end of the book is something that I suspected earlier on in the book, it did not lose any of its impact for this suspicion. To me this was wonderful proof that if a book has true substance behind it, then a suspected end does not ruin the overall story but in fact adds to it due to the sense of realism. Maybe this realism is a good refute to those who dismiss fantasy as escapist?

View all my reviews

Equipping a Home Kitchen

2010-10-29T06:52:00.000-07:00

When I got married 3 years ago I found myself considering what things we wanted or needed to get to equip a “new” kitchen. My wife had most things needed, and I brought a few with me, but much of the equipment was hand-me-down or cheaply bought. Hand-me-downs CAN be great, but some things, like cheap knives and a few thin pots were clearly going to have to be replaced. I did a fair amount of research and thinking about what I would really use before registering. Since then, we’ve picked up a few additional things, but by and large we continue along with the items we had before marriage and the few key things we registered for.

I wanted to put this experience down in words in case it can help anyone else considering a new knife or pan, or maybe looking to equip their whole kitchen. There’s a lot to tackle and I’m not trying to write a book here, so I’ll try to be concise and organized. I’ll talk about materials and quality, pans, pots, cutlery, and a few odds and ends.

Materials and Quality:

As a general statement, if you have the money and the time to clean them get copper and be done with it. Copper is the best cookery metal for distributing heat and it looks fantastic to boot. If you don’t want to spend the money, or the cleaning time on copper your best bet is a combination of stainless steel and non-stick pans. Non-stick can’t go in the dishwasher usually, and even with the best care you’ll likely still end up replacing them eventually. Stainless steel is often dishwasher safe, and if something is really stuck on you can take some steel wool or other abrasive cleaner to it. Stainless steel is the definite winner when it comes to searing food and developing good color, just remember to use a bit of oil/butter and get the pan good and hot before putting your meat/vegetable in and then don’t move it around until it’s seared on one side.

One downsides to stainless steel is that, unlike copper, it is not great at distributing heat. Aluminum is pretty good though. My recommendation for the ultimate in strong, good searing, better than average heat distribution is to get a pan that combines aluminum and stainless steel. Sometimes this is called, “tri-ply” in that they have distinct layers of aluminum and stainless. I have the Calphalon pan which has stainless steel on the top and bottom layers, which gives it the ability to sear well and work on induction stoves, but has a layer of aluminum inside which helps with heat distribution. I love this pan. It feels good in my hand, cooks well, and when used right is actually pretty easy to clean.

In choosing WHICH stainless steel or non-stick to get, I decided to go middle of the road. I felt it was important to get dishes that were well constructed and wouldn’t have to be thrown away because the handle was getting lose/falling off. I opted for cookware that all had solid metal handles and good solid rivets. Getting solid metal handles also meant I could transfer something from the stove top to the oven…just make sure the pan/pot is listed as being oven safe. Personally, I wouldn’t spend more than $50 on a pan or pot. I’d scour the internet and T.J. Max, but would not spend

Pans:

In general, if it has a single long handle it’s a pan, even if it’s deep. A deep pan may be called a sauce pan. Skillet is another word for pan. For my cooking habits I chose the following sizes. A 10” stainless steel for general searing/frying. A 10” non-stick for omelets and other general cooking tasks. A 12” non-stick for general cooking of larger quantities. That was it. The stainless steel I got is oven safe, so I can sear something on the stove top and then transfer to the oven to slowly cook it with indirect heat.

Pots:

We already had several larger stock pots so the only item I added was a good sturdy bottom sauce pan. I’ll list it under “Pots” because most of the time I use it like a pot, boiling water or making small batches of soup. This is a 4 quart stainless steel sauce pan with a thick steel and copper bottom. For this, I ended up getting a KitchenAid that has stainless steel on the inside, and a composite bottom that has a layer of copper and a layer of stainless steel. It give the pan a good thick/solid bottom that distributes heat very evenly, which is something important especially if you’re heating something “delicate” like milk that you’re trying not to scorch. Also, the handle of this sauce pan is stainless steel with a silicone rubber grip. This means that, I can put it in a warm/hot oven to keep it warm or finish cooking something without worrying about the plastic handle melting. I have found that because the silicone is only on top and bottom, that if I have been boiling something for any amount of time the SIDE of the handle can be uncomfortably hot so I bought a removable silicone handle “hot pad” to use with this as well as taking hot skillets out of the oven.

Cutlery:

It sounds counter intuitive, but the sharper the knife, the safer it is. The idea behind this is that, a dull knife requires more cutting pressure/force than a sharp knife. Having to push harder with a dull knife means you’re more likely to slip and cut yourself. So, which knives are best for you? Unfortunately this one is very personal. Some people only want one or two knives, some want a whole set. Some want every knife serrated, some despise serrated knives. My suggestion is to pick up AT LEAST, an 8” Chef’s knife and a smaller pairing knife. Both of these should be non-serrated in my opinion. The other minimum requirement should be a sharpening steel. If you are uncomfortable using this, ask someone at the store (if it’s a kitchen store) or watch a video on youtube. The sharpening steel will NOT put a new edge on your blade, it WILL help keep the very thin cutting surface aligned and working well. Ideally you would use the steel every time or every few times you use the knife. If you are looking to get a set, the most important blades, in my opinion, are the ones that come standard with most sets anyway. I frequently use: 8” chef’s knife/santoku, pairing knife, serrated bread knife, sharpening steel, and kitchen scissors/shears. I do use the carving knife several times a year and am very glad I have it when I need it. I was fortunate enough to end up receiving a J.A. Henckels knife set for a wedding present and it’s probably one of the most used gifts in the kitchen.

Dutch Oven:

Once you get past the kitchen essentials, there are endless doodads and “others” you can consider. One of my personal favorites is the Dutch Oven. I think of it as sort of a non-powered crock pot. The best thing, in my opinion, about a dutch oven, is starting a roast or other item on the stove top by searing it and developing wonderful color/flavor and then transferring it to the oven, lid on, to continue cooking slowly and letting the item cook slowly with low heat to get tender and juicy. I chose an enameled cast iron dutch oven. The great thing about this piece of cookware is that it should pretty much last forever. You can spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on a dutch oven with someone like Le Cruset, but I found a good one at target for $49.99. One thing to look for here is a lid that really sits securely around the entire perimeter of the “pot”.

Accessories:

If equipping a kitchen from scratch, I’d recommend getting a combination of wooden, plastic, and metal spatulas and spoons. I use plastic on my non-stick, and wood//metal on my stainless steel. I like the wooden for spoons because they work great scrapping the “frond” off the bottom of a stainless steel pan when making a pan sauce or gravy. I like the stainless steel for spatulas to use with steel pans, and I like the plastic spatulas/spoons for use with the non-stick so I don’t scratch.

In addition to spoons and spatulas, you’ll want some trivets or cooling racks to set hot pans/pots/trays on when you need to put them somewhere to cool or to bring them to the table. We have both trivets and racks. Sometimes, like brunch parties, we’re using all of them, so you can’t really have enough of these.

Hot pads are essential, particularly taking things in and out of the oven. I really like the silicone ones we got. We have two kinds, the flat square kind that also work as a trivet in a pinch, and the folded “finger glove” kind that work really well for taking things out of the oven. Also, as mentioned above I got one that is shaped like a tube or sleeve that is designed specifically to slide over the handle of a pot, that makes removing skillets that have been transferred to the oven to finish, much easier.

Mixing Bowls: get ones that you like. That’s about it. Make sure you get a variety of sizes and enough that you can mix multiple things up, and use some as salad bowls. Some people like to keep one by their cooking area as a “trash bowl” so they don’t have to keep running to the trashcan if it’s inconvenient. No reason to get a specific trash bowl, really any big bowl will do.

Photography Workflow, such as it is...

2010-08-11T06:17:00.000-07:00

Other than for iPhone pictures (which come straight off the phone and get emailed to flickr directly), my workflow is pretty much the same for all of my pictures. When I get home I load the pictures onto my hard drive and import them into Lightroom, the photo management/editing software I use most.

From there I cull through the many photos I took (over 1,000 photos in one week for this vacation, similar for Italy). I "stack" similar pictures so that I only see the best one from that group when I'm flipping through casually. Then once I only have the best of what I've taken showing, I look through and find what pictures interest me, even a little. I give those a minimum rating of 2 stars. Then I filter to only the 2 star photos and start looking for the pictures that really stand out. Those get 3 stars and then I edit most of the 3 star pictures. Out of 100 pictures I might have 20 or 30 that I think are really worth anything, this is partially because I end up shooting the same thing 4 or 5 times usually, to make sure I have an exposure and, if it's people, expressions that I'm happy with. Then out of those 20 or 30 pictures There might be 5 or 10 that are real keepers. Those 5 or 10, out of 100, are the ones that I edit first and post to Flickr.

Typically, my "editing" in Lightroom is pretty simple. I adjust the color a bit. Typically I tweak the exposure using the various sliders to get a picture where the light areas are just short of clipping, and there are some areas in the photo that have a true black area in them, and then use the fill light and contrast to punch up any dull or dim areas. Then I go through and play with the vibrance/saturation until the picture has the right effect. The last thing that I typically do is to adjust noise reduction and sharpening. The kit lens I have (the 18-55mm) is not the sharpest in the world, plus I really need to do a better job of keeping it clean for the crispest possible photos. Other things I might occasionally do include removing spots from the photo if there was something on the lens or something small in the scene, like trash or something, that would be easy to remove, and I sometimes crop the picture to focus on something in the picture or adjust the framing if I was in a hurry when I took the photo. I'd rather just take the photo properly the first time though that crop, that way I still have the most pixels possible left.

I have my camera set to save in RAW format only. The very last step of the workflow, for the "chosen" photos, is to export them to jpeg and upload those jpegs to Flickr. Typical workflow for, say 100 photos, takes about 10 minutes to sort, maybe 30 minutes to edit, and about 15 minutes to upload and title in Flickr. So all told about 1 hour, average. This time may be more or less depending on how many good photos really came from the outing. On average though I'm happy if 1 in 10 is decent and 1 in 20 is really good.

Things I'm not doing right now that I REALLY should be doing include: automatic backup to a second hard drive in case something happens to the first. This is probably the BIGGEST thing that I'm NOT doing that I really NEED to be doing. Other than that, I'm not exporting everything to JPEG, which I could be doing to let Amon have a more manageable photo library that she can use in iPhoto, and I'm not using a camera/lens profile within Lightroom to help optimize my photos.

Something else that I don't really consider part of my "workflow" since i just started doing it with the photos from this West Coast vacation photos, and it's really more of an "effect" is HDR. For this I've only done the most basic HDR workflow. I imported the photos into Lightroom as described above. From there I can pick and compare a few photos that have been taken specifically with HDR in mind. When I'm out shooting, if there is a scene with VERY high contrast, like a dim room with windows in it or a forest with bright sunlight breaking through, then I will use a tripod to lock the camera down, and shoot several exposures. Ideally I will take an "average" shot and then a photo exposed for the shadows, and a photo exposed for the bright areas. Then once those pictures are in Lightroom I identify which ones I'm going to use and start up Photoshop. Within Photoshop I use the automate->merge to HDR option and select the files I've noted. I use Photoshop to merge the photos and decide how much contrast/exposure the final photo will have using the information from all the individual photos. This photo is then imported BACK into Lightroom where I do the final tweaking that I would do on any other photo, export to JPG, and upload to Flickr like normal.

Test 2 w/ imbed

2010-05-21T10:35:00.001-07:00

Map w/ imbed?
<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"
marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?ui=maps&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=11912+Centerhill+St,+Silver+Spring,+Montgomery,+Maryland+20902&ll=39.0583,-77.072525&spn=0.005832,0.013754&z=16&output=embed
"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ui=maps&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=11912+Centerhill+St,+Silver+Spring,+Montgomery,+Maryland+20902&ll=39.0583,-77.072525&spn=0.005832,0.013754&z=16&source=embed
" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>

*Sent from a mobile device

Maps Test iPhone

2010-05-21T10:29:00.001-07:00

http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&q=http://mapbookapp.com/maps?rn=4279243910362233

Route Link from PC

2010-05-21T10:11:00.000-07:00

Experiment with google maps and mapbook iphone app.

This route is a bus ride I took yesterday:

View Larger Map

Daylight Long Exposure

2010-03-08T20:10:00.001-08:00

Variation on a Theme III: Waterfall
Originally uploaded by mikeygibran

The Idea
While a long exposure at night can result in fantasy scenes with light trails and skies lit up like day by streetlights, a long exposure during daylight will typically result in so much light that the image is completely washed out. I have been experimenting with using a very dark filter to block enough light out to leave the shutter open for minutes at a time and still achieved good exposure.

Setup-at-a-Glance
Camera: dslr - Nikon d40
Lens: kit zoom - Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Filters: ND filter - B+W neutral density filter, 10 stop
Mount: tripod - Manfrotto Modo Max

Behind the shot
This photo is from Great Falls park in Maryland. It’s another attempt at daylight long exposure. The amount of light from the sun is overwhelming to a long exposure shot. You may be able to set the aperture way down, say f/20-32 depending on your lens, but even then having the shutter open for minutes at a time will still result in frames that are solid white. That is unless you put something in front of the lens to block lots of light – enter the neutral density filter. The filter looks a bit like the glass in a welding helmet, very dark. It blocks light equally across the visible spectrum, meaning it doesn’t color the image or that it is “neutral”, hence the name.

By using this type of filter, you can achieve the same results using long exposure shots during the daytime that you would get a night. There are lots of possibilities including turning water into a fantasy land mass of clouds, to getting the same sorts of trails from vehicles that you would at night, but with different types of detail since you pick up the entire vehicle, not just the lights, to blurring crowds of people. Another nice trick with long exposure shots in the daytime is that you can use them to make people disappear, literally.

If you are trying to photograph a building, and there are not many people walking by, but you just still can’t seem to get a frame devoid of people, use a long exposure shot. The building will be in the frame, not moving, the whole time, while any given walking person will only be in a specific spot for a brief time, at most a few seconds. Once you expose the photo, say for 120 seconds, the contribution to the image from that one person being there for 1 second, maybe 2, is minimal, and they disappear! Note that this won’t work with people standing around, or with huge crowds of people because you need to be able to see any given part of the building for substantially longer that the amount of time when there are people in front of it. It sort of “averages” out the people.

Process
So far I have found the best way to set these photos up, with my camera, is with a three step process: align the shot, add the filter, then set exposure. I align the camera and lens in automatic focus mode to get the exact image zoom, camera positioning, and focus I want while there is still enough light coming through the lens. Also, keeping the camera in autofocus mode prevents the focus ring from turning while you put the filter on. After setting up the frame and focusing, the filter goes on and the camera can then be put into manual focus mode. By putting the camera back into manual focus mode the camera will stay on the focus you've just set and not hunt for focus when you press the shutter release. If you leave the camera in autofocus with the filter on, it will most likely not have enough light coming through the lens to get proper focus and will just keeping searching. The last step is to use trial and error to dial in on the desired exposure setting, best done with manually setting the aperture and shutter until the desired image is achieved. You can tweak the balance between the aperture and shutter to get the best combination of depth of field and motion blur for the image you are trying to achieve.

La Madeleine III

2010-02-20T14:37:00.001-08:00

La Madeleine III
Originally uploaded by mikeygibran

Just got new pics put up from our weekend with Jan. More to come? Check out my flickr photostream for the other great photos from La Madeleine

Telecommune with Nature

2010-02-15T08:10:00.000-08:00

Written as Satire...

I can see a whole new market...you know how people go on nature retreats or go camping? They go out in the wood and, like, beat on drums and they howl at things? They drink really nasty tea, or eat burnt bread out of a filthy dutch oven...Something like that?

Well, who has the time for that today? And besides, it does mother nature more harm than good to fly out to Montana, rent a stinky SUV, and drive your cold metal tent stakes into the soft life-giving top soil. All the standard camping things are actually really terrible for the environment, cutting down trees to burn them and maybe leave live coals smoldering. Defecating in a trench and leaving the foreign bacteria there to reek havoc on the delicate ecosystem. Camping is horrible for the environment.

Introducing "Telecommune with Nature"

Just set up a tent in your living room and then log onto a website that has webcam footage and ambient microphone audio from "campsites" around the country at all the best National Parks. Additionally, friends and family can log into the same campsite so you can go camping with all your friends around the United States without ever leaving the safety of your home. Telecommuning combines the best aspects of the National Parks, video chats, and chat rooms.

“Experience” nature from the safety of your home. You have a bathroom, AC/Heating and a kitchen and the bears will have a hard time getting through your home security system. Your flimsy tent can't say that. So, logon now to Telecommune with Nature to find out how you can have all the best of the outdoors, without leaving your house or contributing to global warming.

Snow Crystals

2010-02-07T18:49:00.001-08:00

Snow Crystals
Originally uploaded by mikeygibran

One of my favorites from the photos I just posted to Flickr. Go check out the whole set:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcolburn

Apple Tablet is Born!

2010-01-27T10:14:00.001-08:00

New apple tablet was announced 14 minutes ago. The gadget world has been waiting for this for at least 6 years. In that time, several tablet type computers have been released by various companies and all have failed except for their laptop functionality. None have really started a new category of "tablet" as distinct from a laptop.

Will apples device live up to the hype? The next few years will tell.

State of Home Theater 3D - End of 2009

2009-12-18T09:14:00.000-08:00

Sooo, apparently 3D could be here quicker than I thought, though I'm still guessing it'll be more of a trickle at first, not exactly the tidal wave that Best Buy would have you believe is ready to break the dam. Even Sony, who's planning to lead the way by releasing a software update allowing existing 2D games people have already purchased to be played in 3D if you buy a display that is 3D enabled, isn't planning to get this out until a vague "sometime in 2010".

http://www.hd-report.com/2009/12/18/3d-specs-finalized-for-blu-ray-to-hit-market-next-year/

http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/blu-ray-3d-specifications-finalized-your-ps3-is-ready/

http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/05/sony-hedges-on-plans-for-ps3-update-to-enable-3d-gaming-on-old-t/

At a Glance

Firstly, the 3D specifications for Bluray were just ratified yesterday, December 17th.
Secondly, the specifications for Bluray 3D involve using a version of the H.264 codec already supported by Bluray (Multiview Video Coded-MVC), and supports (all?) existing 3D display technologies.
Thirdly, the newly agreed upon specification is backwards compatible with the 2D version of the codec, allowing 2D movies to still be played on newer equipment designed for 3D "of course only in 2D" as well as allowing 3D discs to still be seen in 2D on older 2D compatible equipment.
Fourthly, the Playstation 3 seems to be your best bet for a player that is available TODAY that already supports all the standards required for 3D (when paired with a 3D technology display).

SO! If you want 2D content in 2010 (come on, 2009 is pretty much over), make sure your display is capable of supporting one of the various 3D schemes (which I believe would include 120Hz display WITH glasses) and get a Playstation 3...or wait awhile and see which display technology becomes more mainstream and then just buy a new Bluray player or new video card whenever you decide to take the plunge and buy the new display.

Even when it’s bad, it’s good

2009-11-16T06:46:00.000-08:00

Sunday Night Dinner Menu:

Spring Mix salad topped with crushed walnuts and dried cranberries tossed with oil, apple cider vinegar, and salt and pepper.
Coconut Risotto with sautéed onion
Braised Beef Roast served with sweet potatoes and carrots
Pillsbury Grands! Biscuits
Torta al Vino made with red wine and blueberries (based on Lidia Bastianich’s recipe from Lidia’s Italy)

Translation:

Salad with stuff in it
Fancy Rice
Pot Roast
Pillsbury Grands! Biscuits
Blueberry Cake

We had a very nice dinner Sunday and we had Malcolm and Mary over; it was really nice to get to catch up with them. Life gets busy and it is entirely too easy to let things slip until you are counting the number of times you see your friends in a per year manner instead of a per month manner. We’re drifting that way, and we’re trying to remedy that.

I got a dutch oven for my birthday present this year, and hadn’t gotten around to using it yet. So this weekend I cooked a roast. We were still getting ready when Malcolm and Mary showed up. They were nice enough to pitch in so Mary helped Amon with the cake and Malcolm offered a hand putting the risotto together. He did a great job and the flavor and texture were great. You could notice the individual grains of the risotto, but it definitely had a creamy texture. We used coconut milk as the liquid, which is a bit of a guilty pleasure, and then the sautéed onions, garlic, salt and pepper finished the flavors.

I made a bid to time the ingredients as they went into the dutch oven to make sure they didn't get too mushy. The roast started off in the dutch oven by itself with the vegetables added in the end. I had shocked the carrots to make sure they stayed nice and bright orange.

Unfortunately, the potatoes weren't done at the same time as the roast and carrots. I had timed the carrots right, but should have put the potatoes in earlier. My fault.

I took the carrots out and let the roast rest while the potatoes finished up in the oven. Things could have been salvaged if I had served everything here. My final mistake was when I put the roast and carrots back in with the potatoes to make sure everything was good and warm, and left them in while we ate the salad.

I had taken the roast out initially when it reached 160 degrees internal temperature. After resting, my roast had this beautiful light red center surrounded by a blush/pink fading to a wonderfully caramelized exterior. After going back in the oven to warm up, it had turned into a dull medium well with a uniform brown all the way through. Worst of all, the potatoes were now soft. It was very frustrating. The only thing that ended up just as I wanted them to were the carrots.

This was just one more in a long string of lessons about the importance of not only Mise en Place, but timing your cooking to make sure the right ingredients are added at the right time. Good food tastes delicious, great food has good taste, appearance, and texture. On a scale of 1-10, I’d give last nights dinner a 9 for taste, an 8 for appearance, and a 7 for texture. It’s a work in progress.

It is equally true that we are our own harshest critics in cooking as in other aspects of life. We know what we were going for, even when other's don't. Also, unless you're a professional chef it's likely that the people you are cooking for are more concerned with spending time with you than eating a perfect meal. Even when I felt that the dinner could have been better, it was delicious food and more importantly it was good time spent catching up with great friends.

I mean, how bad can pot roast with roasted vegetables and biscuits be?

Mise en Place

2009-10-13T12:11:00.000-07:00

I continue to frustrate myself with my impatience in the kitchen. It’s so hard to force myself to get all my prep work done before I start cooking even when I know that everything is going to turn out better if I do.

Yesterday I made grilled cheese, tomato soup, for Amon and chicken salad for me with a tossed salad for us to share and I did a decent job with the prep work. The true test is going to be this weekend’s semi-annual brunch party. I have no doubt that things are going to get hectic Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning.. I’m going to be helping Amon out in the kitchen quite a bit as we throw together the different recipes leading up to brunch kick-off.

The recipes we have on tap so far include:

-Onion and cheese quiche, one of Amon’s new favorites. This recipe calls for three very, very, slowly caramelized onions mixed with cream and eggs and a handful of your favorite cheese. The recipe calls for Gruyere, which I think we’ll stick with this year.

-Sausage Pie, Mike’s new favorite. I promise myself I will limit this dish to being served/eaten only on holidays, so far I’ve succeeded. The recipe calls for a pastry crust on bottom with a layer of browned sausage, apples cooked down with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a splash of apple cider, a layer of cheddar cheese, and then a topping of crumbled pastry crust mashed together with brown sugar. It is the most wonderful combination of savory and sweet that I’ve ever had the pleasure to try. Major thanks to the Krist family for allowing us to use this recipe.

-Banana bread, one of Amon’s recipes. I’m not really sure what all she puts in this one, but I have yet to try a banana bread I didn’t like.

-Cinnamon Scones, Amon’s been waiting to make this one correctly for several brunches but couldn’t find cinnamon chips she thought would work. This year we got them, so it’s back on the list.

-Breads and Spreads, the low maintenance brunch food. We’ll be picking up several freshly baked baguettes from Whole Foods and cutting them, thinly and on the bias, to be served with a variety of spreads including lemon curd, Nutella, and various jams.

-Drinks will include coffee off course, as well as apple cider, orange juice, milk, and mimosas. Delicious, delicious, Mimosas.

Espresso

2009-09-24T07:12:00.001-07:00

The Espresso Book Machine promises to allow anyone to print a 300 page, library quality paperback book in varying sizes in less than four minutes for a consumer price of less than $10.00. This overcomes the quality, quantity, and price barriers that have stood in the way of small count printing since the first book was hand written. Combined with digitization and availability of the raw information, the benefits of this on-demand model include unprecedented access to material and decentralization of printing.

Setting aside the digital revolution for a minute, a new distribution model for books is being put forward in a more convincing way than ever before. Home printers have existed for about 30 years, but printing a library’s worth of books has been the domain of publishing houses for centuries, ever since Johannes Gutenberg first threatened the jobs of all those monks in the 1400s. Due to cost, printing books was risky and making money was only possible by selling many copies. The resulting model focused on selling large quantities of a few books. On-demand publishing however brings the ability to publish small quantities of many books, popular or niche. On-demand publishing addresses the business models from other markets influenced by the internet as described by Chris Anderson in the Long Tail.

Until on-demand publishing became feasible, local stores were unable to compete with mail order giants like Amazon due to the amount of warehouse space required to stock the many possible books needed to serve niche markets. On-demand publishing reduces the amount of storage space required which could prove to be a major advantage for brick-and-mortar book stores who can now serve niche markets by selling a few copies of many different books.

Whether checking a book out from the library or purchasing, one problem has always been simply locating the book. If your bookstore or local library didn’t have the book, they had to find someone who did. The internet makes this easier in many cases, but it still depends on there being someone willing to send you the book. If a book is out of print this becomes much harder and if a book is rare it may be simply impossible. On -demand publishing combined with digitization means that a physical copy of a centuries old manuscript or first edition of a favorite book could now be available anywhere in the world.

Self publishing in the centralized publishing model involved either steep prices for books, making it less likely for the book to sell, or large printing numbers that may prove difficult for a first time author to sell. With such a low publishing cost and no minimum printing numbers, the barrier to self publishing are effectively gone. With the addition of digitization, to the equation, the self published book can reach audiences around the world. The only limit to the success of the book is now the interest or usefulness of the writing and the ability to market the book.

An additional advantage to local stores as well as to the environment is the reduction in shipping costs. Instead of shipping paper and materials to the printers, then crates full of books to retailers, then shipping the unsold books to outlet stores, and finally shipping unsold books back to printers to be recycled, with on-demand publishing a single shipment of paper and materials goes to the book store, and the new owner walks the book out of the store in their hands. The book didn’t have to be shipped from a printer to anyone. This model cuts out several middle-men that each require resources for shipping.

On the verge of the book’s digital transformation a new distribution model looks to extend the life of the printed book. With numerous iterations of the eBook reader waiting to be declared the next book killer, can an on-demand book printing model reserve a place for the printed book? Will this new generation of readers remain dedicated to printed books for traits like durability and being non-powered, or will the instant access to any printed book at a moments notice erode the feeling of nostalgia previous generations have felt for their first edition leather bound books, for their hardbacks and collector’s editions?

Fall Origins

2009-09-10T06:36:00.001-07:00

Today was fall. It doesn’t start until September 22nd at 5:18 PM EST according to the astronomers and those responsible for all the various standards around the world. But today was fall.

It had felt quite autumnal several days this week, but this was the first day of fall. When I went outside it was distinctly cool. It had been cool several days this week. On my way to work, the sky was gray. It had been gray several days this week. I could tell it was now fall because when I got to work, all I wanted to do was go home, lay on the couch drinking hot tea and watching depressing movies. Instead, I listened to depressing music while I drank tea and drafted. It wasn’t ideal, but then it wasn’t my idea to have fall start two weeks early. I wasn’t prepared.

If I had stayed home and watched movies, the movies I would have watched in no particular order would have been:
-High Fidelity
-Royal Tenenbaums
-Amilie
-The Princess Bride
-Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Each of these movies is on the list for their own reason. Most are on the list because they have good music, are familiar enough that if you dooze off you don’t have to worry about waking up and not knowing where you are, and they fit the fall mood fall. The Princess Bride is on there to keep me from actually getting depressed. It’s good to laugh and remember that Fall’s only one of the four seasons.

So, that’s an update on what I didn’t do today. So go drink some tea, coffee, hot chocolate, or spiced cider, make sure your sweaters are ready, and have a Happy Fall!

Home Improvement

2009-09-01T05:39:00.000-07:00

We’ve had lots to do in our new house, but most of it has involved the actual move-in, deciding where to stage boxes, placing furniture, unpacking, etc. We’re still a number of weeks, possibly months, from truly being un-packed. For that matter we still have to get rid of a large dresser that is sitting in our living room. It’s very nice looking actually, but is more classic/antique than most of our furniture. So for now it is sitting in our living/dining room, preventing us from really setting up or dining table.

It’s going to be a great roadblock conquered when we get rid of that thing. We could just have Large-Trash-Pickup from Montgomery county haul it off, but we’d rather it go to someone who needs it than sending it to a land-fill. The problem is, we don’t have any way to get it anywhere. We’re looking into American Veterans or Goodwill pickup services.

In the meantime I’ve done my first “home improvement” projects. One turned out great, and the other, well, I’m waiting to see. Most exciting is that we now have the over stove microwave mounted in our kitchen and working. It’s wonderful because it isn’t sitting somewhere else taking up space, there isn’t a big hole in our kitchen cabinetry, and mostly, because we have a working microwave in the kitchen now. Hooray.

Equally useful, I hooked the water up to the refrigerator myself. To do this, I had to get a water supply line kit at the store, drill a hole in the kitchen floor, find the hole I’d just drilled in the basement, run the copper supply line, and connect it to the refrigerator and tape into an existing cold water supply. The “tapping in” part consisted of assembling and installing a “self-piercing” or “self-tapping” saddle type valve. Basically it’s a fitting that gets screwed onto the existing pipe, and then when you turn the valve all the way, a pin pierces the copper pipe, allowing the water to flow through the valve and into your new supply line.

New House

2009-08-24T06:42:00.000-07:00

Seems like buying your first home is a big enough activity to warrant a blog posting. It’s been forever since I posted, but things have been quite busy, and the culmination of that busy-ness is that we are now in our new house. At least, we are in the house physically, if not fully in. I remember how long it takes to get everything unpacked, but when you are counting on having access to every square foot of the house to make it usable, then every un-packed box, and every Thing that is out of place, becomes a road block to really being able to live in the house.

Last week was huge for us. We closed and changed the locks on Monday, the portable storage units were delivered on Tuesday, movers were there on Wednesday to help Amon get everything into the house (two hours and they were done!), Thursday we moved things around and Amon continued cleaning. I took off work on Friday to get some substantial work done before Amon had to go back to being a teacher today.

So after close to a week of moving, where do we stand? The kitchen is probably 90% set up. We really just need to install the over-the-stove microwave and do some final cleaning. The living room still has quite a few boxes as we are waiting to purchase some new shelving. The master bedroom is about 90% done, with our new bed put together, the closets almost done, and the big furniture in place. The second bedroom is being used for storage right now and looks the part. The upstairs bathroom is in need of some tile work before we use the shower, so until then we’re showering in the second bathroom located in the basement.

So that’s a brief update. The important rooms, kitchen, bedroom, and living room, are serviceable so we are able to live day to day, but the sheer amount of boxes and little projects are enough to keep us a bit on edge.

I cooked dinner for the first time in the new kitchen last night and it was mostly a positive experience. The obvious lack of kitchen space made things a bit challenging, but the new fridge, gas stove/oven, and Amon’s peg boards all worked beautifully. So far I’m loving cooking with gas and I’m looking forward to doing something a bit more exciting than spaghetti. In the meantime though, the simplest things are nice to have around.

I cooked whole wheat spaghetti, made some cheesy garlic bread, and a very simple salad. The water boiled fast, too fast really, so I had to add a bit more water, lower the heat and went ahead and seasoned the water, and put a lid on it while I worked on some of the other items. I sautéed garlic to put on the bread loaf we picked up at Trader Joe’s. I cut the bread length-wise, put the sautéed garlic, some butter, and shredded mozzarella in the middle, wrapped it all in foil and threw it in the preheated oven. By this time the water was back to a boil so I added the pasta.

While the pasta cooked and the bread got crispy, I cut up one of the peppers Amon had brought back from when she went to stay with Becky, sautéed that in the pan I’d cooked the garlic in and set it aside. The pasta was done so I strained it, added the sauce, tossed it and plated it, adding the peppers only to mine. The last bit was throwing together a salad made from romaine, a drizzle of olive oil, some apple vinegar we picked up from Zingermans, pine nuts, dried cranberries, salt, and pepper.

There was a bit of a learning curve as I had to figure out how hot to set the dials to get the pan at the right temperature (the garlic was dangerously close to being too dark and bitter, but the peppers were beautiful), and I had to micro-manage the amount of space I used for everything. I think the biggest take away was that my mise en place, prep work, is going to be very critical in the new kitchen as there isn’t really room to have many things happening at once. I think that if I prep everything ahead of time, so that I don’t need to have cutting boards out at the same time as strainers, at the same time as mixing bowls, etc. then I should be able to make this work. The focus of this blog may shift from living in the city to, “Big Idea - Little Space”. We’ll see how things go.

Amon & Mike at Coliseum

2009-04-17T09:36:00.001-07:00

Amon & Mike at Coliseum
Originally uploaded by mikeygibran

We're back from Rome!!!

Happy and Sad. Check out the photos on my Flickr account. I'll update once we have a chance to pick our favorites and get the final photos up. Until then, feel free to click over and see what we have posted so far. (As of the day this was posted we had days 0-3 posted).

We Are One - Obama Inauguration Concert

2009-01-19T06:45:00.001-08:00

We Are One - Obama Inauguration Concert
Originally uploaded by mikeygibran

Mike & Amon at Obama Inaugural Concert

2009-01-19T06:44:00.001-08:00

Mike & Amon at Obama Inaugural Concert
Originally uploaded by mikeygibran

Amon and Me at the opening ceremony / Inaugural Concert Sunday. We head to the Inauguration on Tuesday. Sure, the high taxes and expensive rent are annoying, but it's moments like these when we remember why it's great to live in DC.

The people, places, and activities we get to share in are unreal and we are absolutely grateful. If you're not in the district you can still share in it along with us by checking out my Flickr account. I'm posting photos from this week both live and after I get home to comb through the hundreds of photos for the 20 or 30 best shots.

I put a few up on my blog as a teaser, but the best stuff is over here!

Cheers and God Bless!
Mike

Hummer on the Move

2008-11-11T19:18:00.001-08:00

Hummer on the Move
Originally uploaded by mikeygibran

I stopped on the way home today to take some photos on Connecticut Ave NW near work. It's always fun to experiment and tonight one of the things I played around with was motion blur/tracking. I got this photo here that I was pretty happy with. I put up 3 others on Flickr. I took almost 80 photos, but whittled it down to my favorite 4 for you to see.

I hope you enjoy.

What is Good for Ya?

2008-10-24T07:01:00.000-07:00

To all you Joe Six-Packs out there who are tired of people tellin' ya what ya OUGHT to do and what ya SHOULD do, I've found your spokesman…Frank Sodolak.

It's time to eschew, er ignore, those people who tell us that craving something isn't enough justification to do it. I mean, as Frank likes to say: “You know? What is good for ya? It's your own body can tell what's good for ya.” Apparently Frank’s customers agree on one thing - battering bacon strips then deep frying them and serving with gravy is good for your body. Your poor…Poor body.

Supporting Frank is supporting all those good ol boys who say, “Hey, eating this, or drinking that may not be good for me but, maybe it IS good for me and all you nay-sayers out there are simply trying to take away my choices.”

I agree with Ol Frank’s assertion that no one should be able to keep him from serving up multiple rounds of deep-fried, battered, bacon and a side of gravy “sauce”. However, it’s his instance that “your own body can tell what’s good for [you]” that I find the most refreshing. Frank, I think most of America’s bodies, mine included, are telling us that our modern food and exercise habits are not “good for ya”.

Still, we have to defend the rights of Americans to royally screw our bodies over. It may be ugly, and it may be frightening, but it goes along with the territory. Call it natural selection, call it gluttony, or simply call it "Loving Freedom". We have to embrace our freedom to choose with all the best intentions and all the worst results. Either way, here’s to you Frank Sodolak, a scary, true, American.

CVC "Virtual Tour"...first steps

2008-09-22T11:03:00.000-07:00

It’s been awhile since I’d updated my Flickr but hopefully you’ll agree it was worth the wait. I finally got around to rough processing some of the photos I’ve taken around the CVC lately and I picked a few of my favorites to post. Once the CVC opens (allegedly this December to visitors) it’s certainly going to be the buzz around town. The sheer volume of the space is almost without precedent on the Hill, which is certainly a meaningful statement given the nature of monumental architecture.

One of the most impressive spaces is the newly dubbed “Emancipation Hall”, previously the “Great Hall”. They have started moving statues in and included in the list of sculpture and statuary is the original model for the “Freedom Statue” as sculpted by Thomas Crawford himself. This is the plaster model that was transported to the US on a leaky ship and used for casting the actual bronze statue atop the US Capitol Dome. Even given the massive size of the statue, when trying to view it from ground level the detail is hard to make out at the top of the dome. About all you can gather is that it appears to be some kind of Indian. Well it isn’t. You can get a much closer look at all the detail by checking out the statue from right at it’s feet in Emancipation Hall.

If you can’t wait until December though, go check out my Flickr site for a few shots of the “Freedom Statue” being reassembled in Emancipation Hall. You’ll also see some of the other statues they’ve already brought in, catch a glimpse of the visitor’s auditorium, and if you’re still not impressed, check out the whole CVC set including some of my past CVC shots.

Hopefully I’ll be adding more CVC photos as I have the chance. Lastly, I took some fun pictures at the Sackler and the Freer Smithsonian museums this weekend that I hope to be editing and posting soon. If you're going to be in the area soon I recommend seeing the "Seascapes" exhibit by Tryon and Sugimoto on display until January 25, 2009. Very calming and maybe slightly inspiring. Worthy of contemplation.

I Love DC!

Stay Tuned!!!

Mike

Just to Say Hi

2008-09-19T04:58:00.000-07:00

I was checking the pages on my bookmarks tab when I realized it had been almost a month since I posted an updated. In an effort to not offend the sea of readers hitting my page every day desperately or hopefully awaiting the next bit of news, I’ll offer the following minutiae. It’s good to go back to the blog’s roots sometimes, otherwise I’d be forced to change that banner catch-line.

Though it’s 3 days early, I’m welcoming emissaries and ambassadors autumn’s already sent our way. Yes, in a few weeks I’m sure you’ll get yet another post about what I love about Fall, until then simply content yourselves with knowing that this year we tried to embrace summer as best we could. No sense in regretting the present season for loyalty to an absent fall.

Things are good at the Colburn house and this summer saw quite a bit of activity. Amon got some serious progress made on her scrap books, which you probably got a chance to see in draft form if you were one of the folks who lived along the route of our summer odyssey. I got new software for our Mac that makes processing/editing photos easier; many thanks to our friend Tom with the hook up at Adobe. We had friends over for meals, got to be guests at friends tables, read some good books, and in general got a lot done. Of course there’s never enough time and Amon continues to have so many ideas of fun and productive things to do, that we should never have an excuse to be bored.

I attended back to school night with Amon yesterday, and once again was confronted with how unfair it is for teachers to get to work by 6:30am, work all day have an hour break, and have to be back at school to start another “day” of open-house-classes at 7:30pm. But they do it, and a few parents come to meet their child’s teacher, see the amazing class room they’ve set up and appreciate things in general. A few more parents come, show up late for the period, skip out early, and in general feel that they don’t have the time to be bothered listening to the teacher’s talk about what their child is going to learn in the class; they need to see all the teachers before the first period is over so they can leave early. I wonder where their kids learn their bad habits. Must be TV.

Well, I’ll leave my ranting to the professionals as there will be enough negativity on the TV, radio, and printed page between now and November to world of blogs into the ground.

I’ll leave you with this thought…pick the more challenging of the two:
“If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give.” - George MacDonald
“I do not think that the road to contentment lies in despising what we have not got. Let us acknowledge all good, all delight that the world holds, and be content without it.” - George MacDonald

Oatmeal with Caramelized Sugar

2008-08-21T07:14:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe I made up one morning when I wanted to have a nice breakfast but didn’t have a lot around the kitchen. Everything in this recipe can sit on a shelf for months without going bad, which greatly enhances your chances of having the ingredients when you need them. The sugar discs add crunch to the smooth texture of the oatmeal, and as they slowly dissolve will provide pockets of extra flavor.

Ingredients:
Oats – 1 cup per serving
Salt – ¼ tsp for every cup of oats
Sugar – 2 tsp per cup of oats
Cinnamon – ½ tsp per cup of oats
Raisins – ¼ cup raisins, more to taste
Water – portioned per the directions on the oats

Directions:
-Dissolve salt into water and set on high heat.
-Cover an aluminum or steel baking sheet with a layer of heavy duty aluminum foil. Spoon out sugar into a desired shape (circular, strips, etc), 1 tsp. per cup of oats. Using food torch, caramelize the sugar into discs being careful not to burn the sugar. Let cool. After the sugar has cooled, carefully peel away from the aluminum foil. Carefully set aside.
-Once water boils, remove from heat. Combine the oats, remaining tsp of sugar and raisins, mixing thoroughly. Slowly add the hot water to the oat mixture gently stirring until all water is absorbed.
-To serve, portion the oatmeal into bowls and arrange the sugar discs around the oatmeal.

Alternatives:
-For some variety, try using brown sugar instead of white, and experiment with other fruits.
-Dried fruits, such as raisins and dried cranberries work well as they absorb some of the water and thus flavor as the hot water is mixed in.
-The sugar discs add crunch to the smooth texture of the oatmeal, and as they slowly dissolve will provide pockets of extra flavor.
-The salt helps add savory-ness to the dish, but can be lowered or left out if watching sodium intake.

Books Now!

2008-08-11T14:01:00.000-07:00

Books, books, books, books. One big advantage to commuting to work via train is a guaranteed time each day that you are going to be able to read, assuming you bring a book. One disadvantage to commuting to work via train is getting 20 to 30 minutes into a good book and having to stop, assuming you bring a book with you. However painful it may be to tear yourself out of the book at the proper stop, it all hinges on having the right book with you. I’ve made it through quite a few books that I read primarily in my commute time.

When I first moved to DC I was living in La Plata Maryland with the Milster’s and had about 45 minutes (1hour plus on bad days) of train ride both ways every day. During that time I read all three of the Lord of the Rings books. My commute is shorter now, but I’ve read books from Agatha Christie (Then There Was One), to C.S. Lewis, to Heat (a cooking book about Mario Batali, sort of), to my most recently finished book Every Earthly Blessing. Reading all these books happens naturally when you have the time set aside each day; the hard part is building up a good reserve of books to choose from.

Choosing books is much easier when you have a running list you can refer to. That’s probably my favorite thing about Goodreads.com. By having my “to read” list online I can access it from anywhere I have internet connectivity. Also, by using Goodreads, I’m able to pilfer ideas from others people whether like minded or more diverse.

I just used Goodreads to put together a book order, together with Amon, from Amazon using a gift certificate we got by sorting all of our spare change from last year. I’m pretty excited about the incoming new books, it feels like a slightly self-indulgent Christmas in August.

In the meantime I’m re-reading some parts of the Old Testament (any favorite sections I should check out?) and considering reading Pride and Prejudice. Amon’s got the Jane Austen Book Club thing going on, and it’s a good “excuse” to read some books I might get thrown out of the Guy’s Club for reading.

So now I’m waiting for Amazon and the US Postal Service to get my new books to me so I can ensure that daily hour of commute gets put to good use. You hear me Amazon? I’m talking to you!

Attention Span

2008-08-06T04:18:00.001-07:00

0018431-R1-051-24
Originally uploaded by mikeygibran

Interesting commentary on male attention spans? I sort of feel bad for the two blondes decked out in their skimpy bikinis, relegated to the boat's stern and obviously very bored while the guys are all in the front of the boat so engrossed in the airshow they seem to have forgotten the other two members of their party. I'm sure that once the last contrail had dissipated the proper center of attention was restored.

Back in the States

2008-07-14T14:58:00.001-07:00

So long out of the States, but we crossed back into Michigan on the 12th. Pictures will be posted once we get home but Tobermory was beautiful.

We've been staying with friends for the last few days and will head to Amon's Mom's tomorrow. I've heard good things about the parks in Ft. Wayne.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Mike

4th and 5th of July

2008-07-05T09:28:00.000-07:00

We made it safely to Omena yesterday in thyme for a great dinner and to check into the Garden Room at A Place in Thyme, Amon's aunt and uncle's B-and-B.

After dinner we headed over to see fireworks. I got some pictures I was happy with that will be posted to Flickr as soon as I have computer access.

Right now I'm in a boat on Lake Michigan, Grand Traverse Bay, heading from Omena to Traverse City to watch the Blue Angels air show. Attached is a picture taken with my work phone. Sorry for the quality.

Will update again soon.

Mike and Amon

En-route

2008-07-04T09:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we made it to Redford to stay with Amon's cousin Heidi and her husband Andy. They were nice enough to put up with us, er put us up for the night. This morning we left for Omena and Amon's aunt and uncle's B-and-B. We just passed one of the bridges Andy helped build.

Mike and Amon's

Oncoming Odyssey

2008-07-01T13:10:00.000-07:00

Although it seems pertinent to avoid writing about our up-coming trip in Odyssey-esque terms, I have to say it is very tempting. If you don’t hear from Amon or me for a week or two, it’s probably due to our long road trip.

As if anyone needed more reason to take a vacation than the beginning of summer, Amon and I decided that the culmination of the Independence day, our anniversary, and my birthday combined with a friend’s wedding was pretty good reason to cast off on our own many Odyssey.

We’ll leave for Michigan and be in Omena by the 4th of July, be on Mackinac Island by the 7th, and in Tobermory Ontario by the 10th. From there we’ll make our way to Indianapolis to see Amon’s mom, and St. Louis to see my family. Finally on the 19th I’ll be in my friend Andrew’s wedding, and the 20th will see us driving all day back from Missouri to Maryland.

I just bought 6 Gigabyte more flash memory for my camera, so hopefully armed with that and some amazing landscape I’ll have a few pictures up on this blog or Flickr along the way.

Any prayers you’d like to send our way for safe travels, cheap gas, and good weather would be much appreciated.

Stay tuned for updates when we have internet access.

Mike

Test Picture

2008-06-30T14:17:00.000-07:00

Test body 123.

This was sent from my cell phone while on the train. It managed to actually post to the blog properly, which means that you're significantly more likely to actually get updates and pictures posted here while I'm on vacation. Excellent.

Desert Suburbs

2008-06-21T20:16:00.001-07:00

Desert Subarbs
Originally uploaded by mikeygibran

New pictures up taken during my flight back from Infocomm 08 in Las Vegas, plus some other updated photos. Go check them out.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcolburn

DSLRs under $600

2008-06-10T06:13:00.000-07:00

Seriously folks. If you’re looking to start exploring DSLR photography, this is a great way to do it.

A quick google search for reviews of this camera ought to reveal many indepth camera reviews including a couple of great sites, dpreview is more brief and factual, and Ken Rockwell is prolific if nothing else and loves his Nikon D40. Trust the technical information Rockwell gives, but keep in mind that he is pretty opinionated about preferences between one camera and another. I’ll give you the nitty gritty of it here:

Nikon D40 Quick Review:
Body: Compact and Light (for an SLR)
Lens Compatibility: ONLY AF-S lenses (Autofocus drive built into lens)
Memory: Accepts SD and SDHC
File Format: Raw, JPG, or Combination
Sensor: 6 Megapixel

Personal Experience
I’ve been using the Nikon D40 for a few months shy of a year now so I can officially tell you something useful about it. The Nikon D40 is not a Hasselblad H3DII-39MS, it is not a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III SLR nor is it a Nikon D3. If you don’t know what any of those specific cameras are, or even recognize the brand Hasselblad, then chances are you don’t need a $44,000 39 Megapixel camera, an $8,000 21 Megapixel camera, or even a $5,000 12 Megapixel camera (top Hasselblad, Canon, and Nikon DSLR respectively).

I’ve written before about the right way versus the wrong way to chose a digital camera. It was a long drawn out article that may or may not have been useful. Quick synopsis: if you just want a camera to make a good looking image for you anytime you pull it out of your pocket, then stick with a point and shoot. If you are looking to have maximum control over the look and feel of the image (how bright/dark it is, what’s crisp and what’s out of focus) and the ability to change the zoom range of your camera without buying/learning about a whole new camera then consider a DSLR. As far as megapixels: look for something with at least 6 Megapixels and then forget about it (unless you plan on regularly printing posters larger than 11 x 14).

So IF you think a DSLR might be worth playing around with AND you don’t plan on regularly printing larger than 11x14 consider the Nikon D40.

You can check out my Flickr site to see pictures taken with it, both casually as well as more intentional “photography”. You can also check out any number of groups on Flickr that are composed entirely of D40 photos.

Look into it and if you decide to get a DSLR, use it. Don’t just stick it on a shelf somewhere. If you don’t decide to get a DSLR, then get your point and shoot and go take photos of the world and people around you. Either way, it’s up to you. Just don’t waste the technology you are lucky enough to have.

First Lightning Photo

2008-06-07T09:07:00.001-07:00

First Lightning Photo
Originally uploaded by mikeygibran

My first time catching a lightning bolt in a photo. I'll have to keep working on this one.

OK A Little Wet

2008-06-01T14:39:00.001-07:00

OK A Little Wet
Originally uploaded by mikeygibran

Went to the National Zoo with our friend PT who is in town this weekend. It was a blast, though a wee bit wet. OK. Honestly it stormed (thunder, lighting, and torrential downpours) for the better part of the visit but it was still lots of fun. Probably resulted in some more unique photos. I can say this in such good spirits because my camera survived. Somehow.

Enjoy!

Too Bluetooth or Not

2008-05-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

Given the massive market penetration of this device and associated service, what do you know about your phone? Do you know how GSM works? No? How about terms like 3G or Edge networks? No? Ok, something simple, Bluetooth. Ah, at least you’ve heard of that one. Last term: SAR? Nothing? Well this one might be worth learning about: Specific Aborption Rate. SAR is the amount of radiation your body is exposed to from any given device.

Cell phones are largely taken for granted. There are a few who resist the technology either out of some fear of consequences to health or society, or out of a longing to maintain some distance or boundaries. With the exception of these remaining 2 or 3 people the rest of the world’s population, are eating it up. According to the International Telecommunications Union, in 2006 over 90% of the developed world’s population subscribed to a cellphone service. Oh, sure but no one in the developing world has a cell phone though, right? Well the ITU statistics estimate that in 2006 more than 1 in 3 people had a cellphone in the developing world.

Well all these people out there talking on their cellphones, the FCC is looking out for us with a rating that says whether a device can be sold in the US. In order to get FCC approval, a cellphone has to have meet a level deemed safe by the US, a level that corresponds to a SAR of 1.6W/kg. This measure of radiation is a measurement of how much energy from your mobile device is getting into your body. For comparison purposes Europe has the SAR capped at 2.0W/kg and Canada has the SAR capped at 1.6W/kg as in the US.

The level reported on the phone manual or a given website is likely to be the maximum value, with lesser values being possible on phones that offer multiple signal strength levels for battery performance issues, or based on how the phone is used. Even given this allowance, the maximum values for some of todays phones range from (10 lowest) .14-.4 to the 10 highest at 1.5-1.6. My phone, the Samsung Upstage falls in the high range of “safe” at 1.4W/kg.

The goodnews is that, if the FCC is right and 1.6 is a safe level, everyone in the US is safe, right? That assumes that the FCC is right on about what a safe level is. Whether I should or not, I trust that the FCC is making the most educated decision they can, however since cellular phones have not been around terribly long, anything they do is going to be best on projections, analysis of similar themes from previous knowledge bases, and other very scientific methods. The problem seems to be that we just don’t really know right now, and that we are making a very educated guess but it is ultimately a guess, a guideline.

For today’s cellphone users, you can either rest assured that any device sold is below the threshold of radiation that the FCC has deemed safe, or you can take a further step in considering the SAR of the various phones you are considering purchasing and weighing that data along with all the other. Another option is Bluetooth, again a new technology but similar in concept to cellular. You have a radio transmitter in your cellphone and one in the Bluetooth headset. The difference between cellular and Bluetooth is the distance and the associated power levels.

It takes significantly less power to send a radio wave 5 meters than it does 5 kilometers. As a result it shouldn’t be surprising that while the typical rating of the 10 lowest SAR values for cellphones is 0.2W/kg, the typical rating of a Bluetooth headset is closer to 0.002W/kg. That translates to a Bluetooth device having approximately 1/100th the SAR level of a “low” rated cell phone.

So save some money while avoiding the lunatic/cyborg look of the Bluetooth headset and rest assured that the FDA is doing their best to look out for you. Or, conversely, pick up a Bluetooth headset for anywhere from $20-$120 dollars and add a bit of peace of mind to your potentially paranoid arsenal of ways to live a longer happier life. I’m happy to have a Bluetooth headset now, and quite glad to have my wife using one.

Links

How Stuff Works – Cellular Radiation:
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cell-phone-radiation3.htm

FCC SAR Page:
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/sar/

Cell Phone Radiation Levels Discusion and Charts:
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6602_7-5020355-1.html

ITU Statistics:
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/maps.html

Bluetooth SAR Information:
http://www.bag.admin.ch/themen/strahlung/00053/00673/03571/index.html?lang=en#sprungmarke3_5

Amon and Mike with Liberty Bell

2008-05-20T19:33:00.001-07:00

Amon and Mike with Liberty Bell
Originally uploaded by mikeygibran

Just got back from Philly seeing Patti, and the various sights. I think my favorite part was the food. Marathon Grille was a nicer place, Lemon Grass was the best curry I've ever eaten (and at a Prix Fixe $9.95 for appetizer, soup, and entree very reasonable), and the cheesesteak was decent.

Click through HERE to see my 32 favorite photos from the weekend.

Amon Odessey

2008-05-17T05:43:00.001-07:00

Amon Odessey
Originally uploaded by mikeygibran

Got a picture of Amon so I could at least prove SHE was there ;)

It was her time to chaperone the 2008 Prom for her school. It was a good opportunity to get the camera out. You can see more pictures at my Flickr account:

MIKE'S FLICKR ACCOUNT

Prom Kids

2008-05-17T05:42:00.001-07:00

Prom Kids
Originally uploaded by mikeygibran

A few kids at the Prom. Thought the colors and ghostly images of the fluttering dresses were nice against the uniformity of the white rails.

Balcony scene by Night II

2008-05-17T05:40:00.001-07:00

Balcony scene by Night II
Originally uploaded by mikeygibran

Amon was required to chaperone the 2008 Prom at her school. Fortunately the Prom was on a dinner cruise boat, giving me some opportunities to take some interesting photos.

Cooking Healthier

2008-04-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

Audio quote of the day:
“Because I like to eat, is that such a crime?” – School of Rock (click above for audio)

Yeah, I’m sorta on a diet. I really want to go on a diet, but unfortunately, I’m at this point where I’ve really started loving to cook. I sit at work and when I’m not drafting in Autocad, writing up meeting minutes, or walking around the US Capitol, all I can think about or talk about is cooking. I just read Soul of a Chef, which was probably not the best book to read if you're wanting to stop cooking so much.

For the first time in my life I actually have good things to cook with AND someone to cook for. I had to have the basics of oven cooking and sautéing down from when I cooked for 50 guys every week in college. Now that I’m scaling back the cooking though, I’m learning about pan frying, starting things on the stove and finishing them in the oven, broiling, making pan sauces and gravies, seasoning, and all sorts of other fun activities.

Cooking is actually relaxing for me, assuming I’m not trying a recipe I made up for the first time with 20 people eating. I like that when I’m cooking my brain doesn’t start thinking about work, bills, or any of life’s other little attention grabbers. I’m focused on the done-ness of the meat, whether the water is boiling yet, when I should start steaming the vegetables and making sure the pasta isn’t going past al dente. The kitchen is full of the fragrance of onion, garlic, oregano, chilli powder, or whichever other aromatics are being used in the nights meal.

And absolutely best of all, when it's over I get to enjoy a nice meal and the satisfaction that “I made this.” Honestly, it’s a great feeling knowing that the meal your eating might cost you 20 or 30 bucks in a restaurant.

However, it’s also a great way to NOT lose weight. Originally, I would make too much, and then it would all get eaten because it tasted good and was there. The last few weeks though, I’ve started portioning out the “left overs” before I even plate up the meal, this makes it less tempting to eat too much.

Now, I’m trying to come up with recipes that are fun to cook (lots of chopping, cooking, seasoning, etc.) but are healthier. Amon isn’t a big fan of fish, which would be one easy method for making things healthier, but she does like quite a few vegetables so I’m going to start trying to feature the vegetables more prominently with the carbs as more of an accent and make sure to use chicken and turkey more than fatty cuts of beef. I noticed that ground turkey seems to be much cheaper than ground beef so we’ve been using more of that recently.

So now you all know, my evil secret’s out. I like to cook, is that such a crime? Now I just need to balance loving to cook, with cooking healthier.

Cherry Blossom Kiss

2008-04-05T21:02:00.001-07:00

CHERRY BLOSSOMS 2008!!!

Yes, the pandamonium that is the yearly Cherry Blossom Festival is upon us. This means that it's time for people who never come into DC to break out the bikes, the strollers, and the group T-shirts and clog the metro system. Smithsonian is once again hung with the banner, "Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here (have ticket ready when entering and exiting, stand back - doors closing)".

Little bit of cheesy romance for the sheer fun of it.

As usual, head over to my Flickr account (a link now lives permenantly over on the right hand side of this page with the other links) to see the rest of the pictures from this year's Cherry Blossom Festival outing, as well as all my other pics I've posted to Flickr.

CHEERS!

Jefferson Airplane II

2008-04-05T20:59:00.001-07:00

Another interesting shot while at this year's Cherry Blossom Festival. We went in the evening, as we've heard that's a tradition where the trees originally came from. Certainly got some photos I've never taken of the blossoms before.

I also never realized that the flight path from DCA (Regan International Airport) took the planes in such a great route. I'll have to keep this in mind for future night photographs.

Abstract Cherry Blossoms II

2008-04-05T20:57:00.001-07:00

Not your typical Cherry Blossom shot, but then, I've shot the cherry blossoms enough times that you start to say to yourself, "Self, how many more times can I take a picture of a cherry blossom against a blue sky?". Then you answer..."Ah Ha! I'll take the picture at night when it's cloudy, and the lights from the city are making the sky a dull red. Then, when I set my white balance for the flash, it do amazing things with the sky."

Ok, you don't say that, but when you see what you accidently did while playing around with the white balance settings, and you realize WHY it did it, you start tweaking things a bit and get the resulting picture. And now you've answered your original question. "There's at least one more way to photograph a cherry blossom."

Family Fun

2008-03-29T19:55:00.000-07:00

Amon and I had the pleasure of hosting my Dad in town a couple weekends back. Schedules being what they are I wasn't able to get around to posting any pictures until today, but it was a lot of fun having him here. He got a cross-country ride from our friends the Milsters (Thanks Mark!) and was in town Friday through Sunday morning. Early morning. We dropped him off with the Milsters at 6:00am on Sunday. They had the hard work though, driving from DC to St. Louis straight through. Ugh. I'm glad they were up to it, because I wouldn't have been.

It was entirely too short, but short's better than not at all. It was great having you out here Dad.

Mike

Dad at the National Archives

2008-03-29T19:49:00.000-07:00

The first place we went once Dad was in town was the National Archives. This is the building featured in the first National Treasure movie; it's where they store/display the Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, and other significant "archive-worthy" documents and artifacts of our country.

Library of Congress

2008-03-29T19:42:00.001-07:00

Amon had the idea to go to the Library of Congress. If you know my Dad, the you know there couldn't be a better idea than that.

Dad in THE Library

2008-03-29T19:37:00.001-07:00

Dad, or a kid in a candy shop? Yeah, I couldn't decide either ;)

Amon in front of Supreme Court

2008-03-29T19:33:00.001-07:00

Amon in front of the Supreme Court after we left the Library of Congress.

Experimental Photography Set

2008-03-10T06:24:00.000-07:00

I've added a new set to my Flickr account for some experimenting I'm doing with my new camera. It's nothing new in the photography world so don't get excited. I could tell you were starting to. I'm just practicing some techniques that people have been doing for awhile but that I haven't tried before. The photos that are in the set right now are for motion tracking. I was encouraged to do this by checking out the Flickr account of an acquaintance from NCC, David Russel. He made some suggestions for this type of image and I thought I’d give it a go.

The images will likely be familiar to anyone who’s seen photos from a race or seen a single car advertisement. The idea is that while a subject is moving you pan with them. You are then able to use a slightly longer shutter speed because, relative to the frame, they aren’t moving much. However, because the background IS moving, relative to the frame, it gets blurred out. The result is an image where the main subject is relatively sharp, and the background gives a feel of movement.

This is nice for two reasons. One reason is the aforementioned sense of motion. It’s great for giving a picture a sense of dynamics and energy. The second reason has to do with the blurring of the background. Just like using a large aperture (f/3.5-f/1.4) the motion tracking technique results in the desired subject being clear while everything else around it is blurry. Using aperture for this technique results in an out of focus background, puddles of color, while the motion tracking technique results in an environment that is, well, blurred, often with trails instead of puddles. It’s hard to describe, but definitely a different feel.

Mike's motion tracking experiment:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcolburn/sets/72157604088917873/

Also, note the difference between motion tracking blur…

And aperture/out of focus blur (lamps), (Amon)

Potent Potables for 1000

2008-03-07T03:50:00.000-08:00

Wanted to share two examples of authors treating/dealing with words as powerful things. As we listen to sound-bite upon sound-bite from various Presidential candidates and endless commentators, it doesn't hurt to remember what powerful things words are.

"...we should become aware of what we are doing when we speak, of the ancient, fragile, and (well used) immensely potent instruments that words are." - Lewis, Studies in Words

"He chanted a song of wizardry,
Of piercing, opening, of treachery,
Revealing, uncovering, betraying.
Then sudden Felagund there swaying
Sang in answer a song of staying,
Resisting, battling against power,
Of secrets kept, strength like a tower,
And trust unbroken, freedom, escape;
Of changing and of shifting shape
Of snares eluded, broken traps,
The prison opening, the chain that snaps." - Tolkien, Silmarillion

Effects of Technology

2008-03-05T07:01:00.000-08:00

As I was sitting at my desk trying to figure out the answer to this latest word problem one thought ran through my mind, I wish my teacher would let me use a calculator. In eighth grade, my teacher wouldn’t let us use a calculator to figure out the math problems because she had a firm grasp on a very important principle: when we no longer NEED to do a task ourselves, we typically don’t. At the very beginning I want to point out that I understand this is not a hard and fast rule and that I realize there will be eager souls that don’t fall for this laziness, and that there will be some who keep doing a task even after they could pawn it of on someone or something else purely because they enjoy it. The point is, those people are absolutely in the minority, they are the exception.

Calculators, the internet, and cell phones, have had dramatic impact to the progress of knowledge, the advancement of business, and the altering of the fundamentals of human interaction. Think about it, when was the last time you did long division or solved a quadratic equation by hand, went to the library to research the history of some topic of debate among friends, or dialed a number from memory? Maybe you’ve done one or two of these things, but most likely, thinking about it made you realize how much different it is now than when you were younger. The times they are a changing, and now even faster than ever before.

When technology comes along that makes our life easier, it is a simple thing to embrace that and thank the R&D firms for the wonderful gifts they’ve given us: we can listen to any song we own, instantly, wherever we are, find pictures and videos for free at home or on the go, talk to almost anyone we want to whether we are in a park, a car, or the bathroom, and the only time I’ve solved a complex equation by hand in the last 4 years was because I wanted to see if I still could.

It’s great that I no longer have to remember the phone numbers of every relative, friend, and random person I meet. However, it’s a bit frightening that the only 3 numbers I can think of right now are my personal cell number, my work number, and my parent’s home number. Two of those three are because they haven’t changed in 8 years and one because I have to give it out on a daily basis. Other than those three numbers I couldn’t tell you a single cell phone number, not even my wife’s and, personally, that scares me.

The future of “technology” reads more like a fantasy novel than a science fiction novel every day. In Hogwarts the pictures in the newspaper and in peoples frames move about – and advances in thin displays and flexible displays mean this type of technology is less than 10 years away; early adopter technology can be purchased today. Magic bought with money is called technology, and the bounds between science and science fiction is wearing thinner every day.

The question is, what consequences are we willing to live with, even embrace as the outcome of progress? Hopefully, we all enter into the new world only after having thought very carefully about what kind of life we want to have, and where our priorities are.

Contact Lenses for super human vision/real time information updates?

Flexible displays “printed” into the rest of the newspaper?

Emerging Technology

2008-02-25T08:14:00.000-08:00

Being a good little cog in the machine, most of us have probably heard talk about "HDTV", "Digital TV", Blu-ray, HDMI, DVI, and all sorts of other terms fly around that seem to amount to "Buy more TVs and black boxes".

Thought I'd put together the following summary for anyone curious. Of course Wikipedia is a great place to go for these sorts of questions, regardles of how you feel about using it for higher brow subjects like literary criticism.

The "Idiot's Guide to Emerging AV technology" might read something like this (un-edited):

Difference between Digital and HD
HDTV is short for High Definition TV and can be either a digital or analog signal. You can send a "HD" signal over the same 15 pin cable that has been used to hook up computer monitors for the last umpteen years. This is analog HD. You can also send an "HD" signal over a digital cable, such as a DVI-d cable or an HDMI cable.

DIGITAL TV or a DIGITAL broadcast is simply a signal that is binary, 1/0, like computer information. This is different from standard, analog, TV simply by being digital. Standard TV was sent with waves of energy, lots of different frequencies. As the radio wave changed shape (taller, longer, etc.) the image on your TV changed shape. With Digital TV the information for each pixel is sent using binary information, data, and then your TV or monitor creates the image by setting each pixel to the desired color and brightness. It updates this image so many times per second that the image moves.

Digital TV doesn't NECESSARILY equal better image or higher resolution. Digital TV can be either standard definition (what you see on DVDs or cable TV right now) or high definition (see below).

Digital TV Switchover - In February 2009 the federal government has mandated that all broadcasters switch over to purely digital signals. Don't worry. This means absolutely nothing for you unless you get your TV "off the air", which is fancy language for "I use an antenna". If you use an antenna, then you WILL be affected. People who only have an antenna will have to use a digital tuner to get the signal. If you purchased a TV in the last 2 years, chances are you have this tuner. If not, you can get a coupon from the government for $40.00 off the price of a digital tuner. If you have a TV capable of displaying HD content, the good news is that the switch to digital broadcasts means you can now pick up HD content for free off the air, when the broadcaster chooses to send it.

The old "off the air" system was refered to by the acronym NTSC and the new system is called ATSC. That is what you're looking for on your TV to know whether or not you'll need a separate tuner after Feb. 2009 to view TV with an antenna. Keep in mind that if you get cable or satellite, then the provider and their set top box will take care of this switch over for you.

My new TV has a digital (ATSC) tuner and with a basic set of rabbit ears I've been able to watch glorious HD content, for free, from PBS and networks like ABC...including Lost in HD. PBS has some of the most gorgeous free HD content out there. They have an entire channel dedicated to HD that includes beautiful on-site travel programs, science, and lots of other stuff.Blu-ray - Yes, Blu-ray has won this current format war. What does that mean? If you have an HD capable TV (at least 720p) then you can purchase a Blu-ray player, re-purchase all your movies (or just start buying Blu-ray), and watch better looking movies. Yes it's a noticeable difference, mostly on larger TVs. If you have a TV less than 25", it probably won't be an earth shattering experience. Keep in mind that with the pace technology is evolving, the next "Big" shift in technology will likely be streaming or downloaded HD, and unless you are chomping at the bits to have the latest in HD home entertainment, you're probably better suited to wait a year or so. If nothing else, prices should come down from over $400.00 for a player to closer to the $150-$200 mark.

Emerging Technologies - What's coming in the next few years? Well, the early adopter technology is out now which means that, if successful, more widespread devices should be out within 2 years (right around the time Blu-ray COULD be hitting its stride). I'm talking about streaming HD. The benefits? Imagine being able to sit down on your couch and, with access to the entire Netflix or Blockbuster library, pick what movie you want to rent/buy. In less time than it takes to heat up the popcorn, the movie is at your TV and ready to watch. Yes, in HD and with all the control (play/pause/FF/RW/Chapters/Etc) that DVD has spoiled you with. Right now this takes the form of either a TiVo box or AppleTV, however with Blockbuster and Netflix both wanting in on the action, it's likely there will be significantly more options within 2 years.

Essentially, you would be downloading the movie either permenantly (buying), or temporarily (renting) to a hard drive in a box sitting under your TV. The key here is interface. Most consumers don't want to have to operate a computer while watching a movie. They want any computer involved to be as transparent as possible. They want to sit down with a remote, and watch a movie. Period. If the companies involved can grasp this, it will make Blu-ray a moot point as people won't have to go out and buy a physical disc whenever they want to watch a movie.

-edit 3/5/08-
Apply here for a DTV Tuner if you have an old TV AND use an antenna.
-end edit-

Wikipedia on Blu-ray
Wikipedia on HD-TV
Wikipedia on Digital TV

Amon at Discovery Building II

2008-02-20T16:05:00.001-08:00

Amon at Discovery Building II
Originally uploaded by mikeygibran

Went for a walk with Amon and our wonderful friend Katherine around Silver Spring. Walking by the Discovery building, I wanted to use the great colors of the mural as a backdrop. Amon agreed.

More pictures from the film camera posted on my Flickr account.

Frozen Tree through the Living Room Window this Morning

2008-02-14T13:05:00.001-08:00

Frozen Tree through the Living Room Window this Morning
Originally uploaded by mikeygibran

Wanted to try the Flickr "Blog This" feature out and thought I'd share this photo I took out my window a couple mornings ago when I was getting ready for work.

Base Camp 2008

2008-02-04T06:03:00.000-08:00

Base Camp 2008 convened at Adrienne's house this weekend. It was good time spent eating pizza in tents, drinking beverages, and watching insane people push their bodies to the limit in an attempt to stand on the top of the world. I won't tell you how many people died or how many fingers/toes were lost (in the real Everst event, not our pizza eating Base Camp). You can watch the documentary yourself for that. Or you can click on over to my Flickr Account to see the pretty lights and witness Malcom and Mary's stare off...

Nikon D40 Review

2008-02-03T10:14:00.000-08:00

So far soo happy.

Allright thus far I've taken several thousand pictures with my new Nikon DSLR (digital SLR) and wanted to take this chance to make some comments.

Background (Skip if you're simply interested in why I like my camera):
(just a summary, go to Wikipedia for full articles about each)

Cameras come in all sizes and shapes. One way of classifying cameras is by how the light or image gets from the outside world onto the recording surface (either film or digital sensor). The original cameras were merely boxes with a bit of film stuck to the inside and a tiny pinhole on the opposite end of the box that allowed a tiny image to be "projected" onto the film. Because the hole was so small it took a long time to expose the film, but the image usually had equally crisp lines from the closest objects to the furthest (large depth of field). This was rather an unwieldy instrument though since you could only take one photo before having to change the film, and couldn't really preview what you aiming at.

Over time other camera designs sprang up including the twin lens reflex (TLR), the single lens reflex (SLR), and the point and shoot. The "reflex" in the SLR and TLR name is in reference to a surface that remains closed until you depress the shutter release at which point the surface moves out of the way to allow the light to hit the recording surface. A TLR uses two lenses, so the scene you are shooting is always visible though one lens that is dedicated to giving you a preview (often at the top of the camera and you look down onto a preview surface), and the light for the exposure is only let through the second lens when you depress the shutter release. The benefit of the TLR is that there is no point where the scene in the preview is blocked.

An SLR only has one lens, so when the shutter release isn't being triggered the light hits a mirror on the blocking surface and the image is directed to the eyepiece. When yhou press the shutter release on an SLR, the blocking surface and mirror (they are together) swing out of the way to allow the light to hit the recording surface, however this results in a temporary black out of the eye piece. This black out with the SLR is only for the time that the shutter is set for, most often less than 1/30th of a second. The advantage of the SLR is that the image you see in the eye piece is EXACTLY what is going to be recording, no paralax or offset view. Many SLRs even have an image preview that will show you what the depth of field will look like so you can predict very accurately what the scene will look like.

The other type of camera is a point and shoot. Like the TLR the view in the eye piece is slightly offset from the lens that makes the image, however there typically isn't a lens for the preview, simply a glass window from the front of the camera to the back where the photographer looks to see roughly where the camera is pointed. TLR and SLRs most often have interchangable lenses whereas point and shoot cameras usually have a single dedicated lens.

DSLR or Point and Shoot
If you primarily want a camera to take candid snap shoots where ever you might find yourself and do the occassional artistic photo, don't get a DSLR. They are still way bigger than the standard point and shoot, and absurdly larger than the smallest point and shoot. I always have my Canon digital Elph, SD400, with me. Well, anytime I'm with messenger bag. Because this camera is so small I can pack it anywhere and always have something to take decent pictures with. A picture you can take because you actually had your camera with you is always going to be better than one you couldn't take because you didn't have your huge DSLR with you.

Now that's a bit of an exageration to make a point, because I OFTEN have my DSLR in my messenger bag as well...just not as often as my Elph. And the fact that I carry my DSLR around in my messenger bag is probably the exception. However the reason I'm willing to carry around the larger DSLR is that it can take phenomenally better pictures. It has a wider range or zoom on the lens, the lens is faster (allows more light through it allowing quicker shutter times), has a better sensor that looks decent at higher ISO settings, is a higher megapixel sensor, and I'll some day be able to afford more or better lenses.

There are just some things you can't do with a point and shoot, such as crank the ISO up to 3200 and take photos in relative dark with no flash and relatively little camera shake. Also, I can put my DSLR in to fully manual mode and control literally every aspect of the camera from zoom to focus, to shutter speed, to aperature, to ISO, to white balance, and more. If none of that meant anything to you, then you probably want a good point and shoot camera, and they are certainly out there.

I can highly recommend the Canon Digital Elphs as I have one I love and know several other people who swear by them as well.

Hope that helped. If you have any specific questions about my experiences thus far feel free to holler at me in the comment section and I'll do my best to answer.

Mike

True Confessions

2008-01-31T13:42:00.000-08:00

For the first time in my life I'm really, truely excited about a season premier. True, I was looking forward to the Season 2 premier of Project Runway, but that was nothing compared to how excited I am for Lost Season 4 to premier tonight.

There, I've confessed it and you can all judge me. Or not judge me. Whatever, I can feel myself NOT being judged right now.

In a somewhat redeeming turn of events, I went to the National Community Church annual retreat last weekend. It was the second time I've been to this particular event and it was great. I've posted some new pictures on my Flickr account, a couple taken from that weekend and many that weren't.

Head over and check out the new pictures.
-Flickr Account-

Mike

A-B-C, 1-2-3

2007-12-05T04:22:00.001-08:00

Inklings Reloaded is multiplying. Hopefully this means I won’t have to use the phrase, “Inklings Reloaded” again. For those that don’t know, Inklings Reloaded is the official name of the C.S. Lewis book discussion formed by Aaron Mercer and Heather Newman through NCC (the Church I attend). It’s the group that Amon and I met at, and I also happen to be co-leading with Heather now so that Aaron can get to some other group ideas he’s been led to.

After a series of semesters when we’ve had anywhere from 14 to 20+ people at the discussions, we decided it would be in everyone’s best interest to multiply and form two groups. After several semesters of discussing it, we’re finally there. This semester has two more meetings, and next semester (February) we begin operating under the model of “One Group, Two Locations”, a concept familiar to all our NCC friends.

Three wonderful and fitting people have stepped up to co-lead the Capitol Hill location, while Heather and I will continue to co-lead together in Silver Spring at La Casa de Amon and Mike. In a completely unrelated note, it’ll be nice not having to go anywhere to get to small group, or travel home each time. I’m curious to see how things will be different meeting in a home in lieu of above a building.

It’s really exciting to think about the new people we might get to meet at the new locations, the opportunities for people to share who might have thought it a bit much to get a word in edgewise among such a large group, and just see what God has in store generally speaking. Our goal really is to stay one group by sharing leadership with the new co-leaders and by scheduling things like group dinners and other activities that combine the two groups.

It’s exciting getting to dicuss Lewis with so many other people, but it’s even more wonderful how discussing Lewis, without fail, leads to discussing our lives. That’s where the real meaning is so far as I can tell, letting our lives rub against others, recognizing that we’re all in this together. It’s a wonderful way to exercise what Christ said over and over about Loving one another.

I’m really excited about this and just wanted to share with you all. If you’re inclined, I’d love to have people praising God, as well as praying for these two groups with us.

Thanks!
Mike

Cold Weather, Hot Turkey

2007-11-28T04:17:00.000-08:00

Amon and I spent Thanksgiving at her Aunt and Uncle’s house in Omena (Michigan), and had a really wonderful time. We both took Wednesday off so we could leisurely drive up to the Detroit area and stay with her cousin Jenny and family. Thursday morning we ate cinnamon rolls at Jenny and Dustin’s house before heading out for Omena.

By 2:30pm we were in Omena and ready to eat Turkey. Amon’s Aunt Julie and other relatives did not disappoint with a beautifully set table and delicious foods. I couldn’t decide between turkey and duck so I had a bit of each. After Thanksgiving proper we sat around the table and talked. All told it was a pretty nice evening talking with various aunts, uncles, cousins, and even Amon’s Grandma Krist. I forgot to get the recipe for the sweet potato rolls.

Amon had agreed to show me around the area so on Friday Amon, her cousin Shannon, and I went out for some site seeing. There was a light snow the entire time we were there so the ground had a pretty even cover of snow, though not too deep. We saw a light house, the world’s largest pop bottle collection, bought some heirloom apples, went wine tasting and bought some great cheese.

Saturday we drove back to Ypsilani to stay with some of Amon’s friends who graciously put us up for the night. Sunday we drove back home along with the rest of the Mid-Atlantic Seaboard. It was a long slow drive about which I won’t speak.

All in all it was a wonderful holiday weekend with much good food, great company, and wonderful scenery. Pictures will be posted soon, hopefully.

Cheers!

Camping on Cloud 9

2007-11-08T05:33:00.000-08:00

Just a short post today to celebrate the news I got yesterday. While working furiously on some drawings, an Outlook window popped up temporarily blocking my view. In annoyance at all the incoming emails, my cursor darted down to close the window. Before I could click though, something caught my eye and I opened the message.

It's official. I passed my CTS-D certification. For those that didn't know back in September (23-29), I took a week long course followed by a take home test on a Friday night, and a10 hour (straight, no break for lunch) test on a Saturday that involves creating an entire Audiovisual design package (plan views, device locations, elevations, reflected ceiling plans, device wiring, heat load calculations, equipment rack layouts, siteline calculations, sound level calculations, brightness calculations, and more) as well as an oral evaluation where you get interegated for ten to thirty minutes depending on how well you're answering the questions.

You then wait over a month not knowing how you did. So after over a month I know, I passed. Not too shabby either, 80 on the practical (giant design package); 92% on the take home and 95% on the oral. Considering how short a time I've really been doing AV (as distinct from acoustics) I felt really good about those numbers.

Oh, and I FINALLY ordered my digital SLR I've been drooling over for 3 years. Amon told me to, and I found a good deal on an entry level SLR from Nikon (D40) that I've read excellent reviews about. It isn't a cadillac, but it should do everything I need it to, it's a huge step up from a point and shoot, and it's in my budget. I'm very happy about that.

So I'm a happy camper right now. And I get to go to small group tonight and be with all my fellow Narnians.

Mike

Love that Quote!

2007-11-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

I was watching a Lewis documentary covering Narnia and some of the material from Surprised by Joy which prompted me to go look up this full quote. I think it's great so I wanted to share it with you.

“One word, Ma’am,” he said, coming back from the fire; limping because of the pain. “One Word. All you’ve been saying is quite right, I shouldn’t wonder. I’m a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won’t deny any of what you said. But there’s one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed or made up, all those things – trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play-world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the your lady are ready, we’re leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for the Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that’s a small loss if the world’s as dull a place as you say.”

Detroit Photos

2007-10-31T08:01:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to uploading some of the photos from Detroit. Didn't get the camera out too much, but when I did catch you can see below. It was great getting to see Ian and Mike, as well as Amon's Mom and Allen. Plus I made it to some parts of Detroit I hadn't been to yet. The last thing that I know of in Detroit that I really want to do is see the Zoo, still haven't done that yet.

2007-10-31T07:52:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite, though brief, things we did while in MI was the Franklin Cider Mill. I'd definitely go back there again. Fresh, unpasturized cider and hot donuts? Yeah. I'll stop typing so you can go get a mop to clean up that drool.

2007-10-31T07:51:00.000-07:00

The cider really was delicious. Cheers!

Ah, and that bag, Dana, fabulous.

2007-10-31T07:50:00.000-07:00

An aerial view of Benny (did I spell that right, Dana?). Oh, and my shoes. I should have probably cropped that.

2007-10-31T07:46:00.000-07:00

People Mover: Bad Decision.
Thank you for that observation Sufjan. Well the people mover is arriving, in this photo, to whisk us away on a magical journey around a select portion of the Motor City.

2007-10-31T07:42:00.001-07:00

Bridge between US and Canada in Detroit. If only I had brought my passport.

2007-10-31T07:42:00.000-07:00

Look how many places you can go on the people mover! It took us a whole 10 minutes to ride the entire loop. Ok, while short and kind of pointless as mass transit, as a cheap ride (50 cents) it was kind of fun. It let us get the above shot of the bridge between Detroit and Canada.

2007-10-31T07:40:00.000-07:00

It may not be GLARINGLY obvious, but Amon really enjoyed the trains at the Detroit Historical society. We both did actually. There were buttons you could push to make it night time, to raise and lower hot air ballons, etc. It made me feel like I was 8 years old. Good times.

2007-10-31T07:37:00.000-07:00

It may be hard to tell but nature's Remedy for the blood, apparently, involves the "arm of science" choking a...snake? This one really confused me. I guess in the olden days snakes made "moo" sounds as well as opposed to todays lazy snakes that just go around hissing.

Slackers.

Detroit

2007-10-31T07:33:00.000-07:00

Yeah, that's right...Bunion Plasters

Megapixel Madness

2007-10-23T05:19:00.001-07:00

DO NOT BUY A CAMERA JUST BECAUSE IT HAS MORE MEGAPIXELS THAN ANOTHER CAMERA!!!

I’ve been reading more and more articles lately saying that the number of Megapixels (how much information your digital camera captures when you snap a photo) is getting to the point where most people aren’t well served to simply look for the camera with more Megapixels.

Check out this link to West Coast Imaging for a fantastic (and colorful) chart illustrating how different megapixel ratings affect print quality at various sizes. (Hint: the number inside each little rectangle is the effective DPI. DPI is the dots per inch and is how you measure what quality a print is.)

200 DPI or higher is recommended for photographic quality prints.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t find myself printing out two foot by 3 foot prints that often. Ok, never. The largest I’ve ever printed out is 8x10, and that was in photography class in college. That means that for most people, the biggest concern is that they want to crop their picture down and only print part of it.

Let’s say you crop your picture down so that you’re only using the bottom left corner of the image (throwing away 75% of the image…seriously, shoot more discriminately). If you did this with a 4 megapixel image (2464 x 1632 pixels), the remaining image (after cropping) would be 1232 x 816 pixels. Tiny, right? Well that image could still be printed at roughly 204 DPI as a 4x6 image (remember over 200 is considered photo-quality). 4x6 is the standard size for prints from a photolab.

Bottom line…if you are going to be lazy and shoot pictures that have to be cropped to one quarter of their size, a 4 megapixel camera will still let you print photo quality images at the most common size. If you are going to print photos as 8x10s (without cropping) you only need 4 megapixels. Everything above that only serves to allow you to crop more and still print at the same size, or to print larger than 8x10 with minimal cropping.

This tells me that the most important thing in cameras, 4 megapixels and higher, is how well they capture color, sharpness, how good the lens is, how small or easy the camera is to use, and how much it costs.

Last thought. If you are only going to post your photos to your website then keep in mind that most photos get posted at a maximum of the screen resolution. Screen resolutions right now range from 1024x768 to 1920x1200. However, much more common is for images to be used on websites inline with the text at resolutions of less than 640x480. You could do this with less than 25% of a 2 megapixel image Please, please, please, do not spend a couple hundreds dollars extra JUST to move from 6 to 7, or even 6 to 9 megapixels. If the camera has other features,GREAT, if you absolutely know that you are going to crop most of your pictures, then consider it.

Flying Eggs (or Gregarious Gargoyles)

2007-10-16T04:53:00.000-07:00

“It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.” - Lewis

Very odd imagery to start my morning with…flying eggs.

So much to do and so little time, not that this time of year is really known for slowing down and reflecting. I’m overjoyed that fall is finally here. Sure, it may warm back up for brief periods, but there is no denying that it is here.

I have been put on notice that some people that read this blog would like to here more of what is going on. Writing in the few free minutes at work before I really get to working doesn’t allow for too much elaboration, but such time as I have I will spend.

Amon continues to work furiously at teaching 10^th graders what Holden means when he asks where the ducks go during the winter, and she has new technology to aid her. She was able to talk her department into letting her use a spare projector and a document camera for her classroom. This means skipping the step of transferring things she prints at home to over head; she can now simply put the printout under the document camera and project that onto the screen. As an added benefit, she can supplement the reading with relevant movie clips projected onto the screen, much better than trying to see a 29” screen from across the room.

For my part, I just completed a rigorous class and testing where I had to be away from work and home for 7 days. The end result of this, hopefully I’m not being too premature, will be an internationally recognized certification saying that I’m a good Audiovisual design engineer. I’d have to change my business cards to add CTS-D to the end of my name. Not as prestigious as P.E. (Professional Engineer) but acceptable for now. Technically I have E.I.T (Engineer in Training) after my initials, but don’t really bother with that.

Aside from work related matters, we’ve spent limited bits of free time over the last few weeks being entertained and entertaining friends both from in town as well as out of town. One of Amon’s friend from MI, Kimber, was in town for a conference so we got to spend some good times with her. Then we’ve hosted brunch for a couple of our friends Malcolm and Mary, and been hosted by our dear friend Adrienne (Canadian Thanksgiving party!), and by Oh-So-Generous Tom and Alana. Entirely too much food was eaten, and as always it felt like time went too quickly for all the talking, laughing, and hugging that felt appropriate.

This weekend we’ll fly out to Michigan to spend time with Amon’s mom and Allen as well as both of Amon’s brother’s. We’ll be back there for Thanksgiving, but further north near Traverse City, in Omeena, at her Uncle’s Bed and Breakfast for a family Thanksgiving tradition. It’s such a happy and sad occasion. I’m looking forward being a part of Amon’s traditions (and I’m certainly not dreading spending time at a Bed and Breakfast in Michigan!) and having Amon be a part of my traditions, but there is also that bit of sadness at not being able to be able to celebrate both of our traditions at all times. It’s just not possible to spread ourselves out that much, and neither would it be healthy. So, we feel good in the decisions we’re making, but I wish that there was some way to clone ourselves!

I hope that helps bring people up to date, and tune in soon for more photos. Some day, maybe I’ll get around to setting up my Flickr account better then I can just provide you all with a link to that.

Prost

Infectious Diseases

2007-09-18T04:44:00.000-07:00

Thanks Apple. That's exactly what I needed. Really - I just spent all of last month going, "Gee there aren't enough songs in the world to get stuck in my head. Maybe Apple will use an incredibly catchy song to promote it's new Nano and then I can get THAT stuck in my head as well."

So, yeah. Thanks for that.

Woo Hoo...

Viva Voltaire

2007-09-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity. ~Voltaire

“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” - Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, Pavarotti, My Own Story

6 days before he was set to arrive I stepped out of my apartment this morning and was greeted by that annual friend Autumn. So early, he must be as eager to get here as I am for him to arrive. Cultures have been celebrating the beginning and the end of the harvest season for as long as we’ve been an agrarian people. By the end of winter I’m blue and depressed, but Autumn brings out the best in us. Our windows have been open all weekend and the steadily cooling air has been immensely refreshing.

Autumn brings two things to mind: new beginnings and food. Thanksgiving, Christmas, football, harvest…these things bring different associations to different people but better or worse they mostly make me think of food. Thanksgiving is turkey and stuffing; Christmas ham and mom’s egg bake; football wings and nachos, harvest corn, apples, and bread.

I tried very hard to think of something else, but all I could think about this morning was the eggplant I have in the refrigerator, the beans and ham that I’m cooking tomorrow, where I can find the best recipe for apple pie, the fact that I didn’t buy any sweet potatoes, when I can invite people over for a roast. Cranberries, walnuts, sour dough bread, loaves of whole wheat bread, potatoes, carrots, squash are all going through my mind like a stock ticker.

In the comments section, feel free to let me know what foods you associate with Autumn. I’ll leave you with a few quotes I dug up from a post last year, plus a few more.

“Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.” – Jim Davis

Shipping is a terrible thing to do to vegetables. They probably get jet-lagged, just like people. ~Elizabeth Berry

Red meat is not bad for you. Now blue-green meat, that’s bad for you! ~Tommy Smothers

Ultimate Road Trip?

2007-09-10T07:07:00.000-07:00

What makes a good road trip? The single most important requirement of a road trip is driving. Outside of that there seem to be wildly conflicting points of view. My beloved Merriam Webster defines road trip as: an extended trip in a motor vehicle. Somewhat lack luster. Wikipedia on the other hand, that wildly verbose collection of the “worlds wisdom” has multiple pages of definitions, examples, guides, and references, all of this plus a definition of road trip with 8 separate sub-types.

How’s one to sift through all of these competing views and articles to discover the real truth about what a genuine road trip is? Simply read the next line.

A road trip is any trip where the primary reason for going is the journey. There’s a saying that has become seemingly ingrained in our collective conscious that goes, “It’s about the journey, not the destination.” Despite the cliché nature of this aphorism its sentiment sums up the essential requirements of a road trip.

After establishing this truth technicalities can be added such as requiring a vehicle (not hiking, sailing, or flying), or sub-definitions definitions such as: speed run, park hopping, regional, international, etc. And those are all great things to think about if they lead to further interest in road trips, but ultimately a road trip must stay about the journey.

Having said all of that, a road trip typically has an ostensible “purpose”. This purpose helps to inform the itinerary, map out way points, and provides motivation when the generic concept of “going out and driving for 2 weeks” starts sounding too vague to get excited about. With that knowledge it’s easier to understand why the first step of a road trip would be to choose a destination, even though it’s really about the journey.

Interested in some good locations? How about going on a road trip to see 3 of the wildest holes you’ll ever see? The link below lists 7 of the most extreme holes in the world, 3 of which are in the US. If you want to drive to Canada or Central America (Belize/Guatemala) you could do a road trip to see 6 amazing holes (second link).

http://deputy-dog.com/2007/09/09/7-amazing-holes/
http://maptrot.com/mapView.jsp?mapId=a0a236bc-c3e7-49d5-bc17-48b6255e3ae4

Not interested in ridiculously large holes, then why not drive route 1 or route 66. Maybe do an east coast tour or just take a drive to see each of the house you’ve lived in? So many possibilities…

Community Book Shelf: RIP

2007-09-07T04:43:00.000-07:00

Well, the grand experiment that was the Community Bookshelf never really took off. I think for that to work requires a critical mass of people such that whenever any given person logs on whether after days or weeks since checking there is something new to look into. With less than 50 members (less than 25 that were contributing members) it was hard to reach that point. The biggest thing that I miss about the bookshelf was the ability to post a short topic and get people's opinions. I can do that with the blog, but it's a bit of a side step from the usual, "self-indulgent inane claptrap dealing with naught but daily minutiae". I suppose my scattered readership will have to deal for one day.

Less eulogizing and more discussion I suppose.

I have been interested in building my library again recently. I'm going to post (below) the books that I'm most interested in reading right now, which largely fall into categories of classic literature, classic christian literature, and for lack of a better term fantasy (but "fantasy" used in the classical sense...more mythopoeia, not the more modern sense). In other words this isn't an exhaustive library list, but rather a books a "haven't read yet but want to"-list.

However, in addition to posting my list, I'm hoping that in the comments section I might hear back from some of you with what books you think I should add to my list and or what you think of any of the books on the list. Have you read some of them, did you like them, think they were terrible? Do they make you think of other books I should read?

There, I suppose that is verbose enough. Discuss :)

C.S. Lewis
The Pilgrim's Regress
The Allegory of Love
A Preface to Paradise
Lost Studies in Words
The Discarded Image
Letters to an American Lady
Letter to Malcolm

George MacDonald
Phantases
Lilith
The Light Princess
The Princess and the Goblin
The Princess and Curdie

G.K. Chesterton
The Everlasting Man
The Man Who Was Thursday
Orthodoxy
What's Wrong with the World

St. John of the Cross
Canticle and Dark Night of the Soul
Living Flame of Love

Herman Melville
Moby Dick

Tolstoy
War and Peace

Currently Reading

2007-08-29T14:41:00.000-07:00

I just glanced over at the side bar and saw that it said I was still reading "Gilead". Yikes. Truth be told I finished "Gilead" about 2 days after Amon and I got back from Colorado. So much to do, so little time to do it. Updating the sidebar of the blog falls into that category of items reserved for ironing curtains and dusting the top of your book shelf; you know you should do it but somehow it always seems to not be done.

So SINCE "Gilead" I've read the Lemony Snickets books 1-5, part of "Lake Wobegon", bits and pieces of "The Dangerous Book for Boys", and have been brushing up on C.S. Lewis in preparation for the soon to be re-convening Inklings group. I'm currently reading Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughter House Five" as part of my ongoing attempt to read more of those English Lit. class/cultural classic books I some how missed out on. I while back I read "The Old Man and the Sea", and I've also read "Lord of the Flies" recently.

The book we'll be covering in Inklings this semester is "Surprised by Joy". It's Lewis's "autobiography" although I'd think today's literary critics would describe it as more of a memoir. It is certainly told with a point to make (how he became a Christian and what the motivation means for his literary aesthetic) and it only covers a portion of his life. I think it will be interesting to compare his attitudes and approach to life, literature, Christianity in "Surprised by Joy" (written relatively early in life) to one of the books we did last semester in Inklings "A Grief Observed".

Upcoming reads include something by Shakespeare (either a comedy or a history...who's to say), some Chesterton, probably re-read Phantases, some peruse the Annotated Hobbit, and An Acceptable Time, the other 8 Lemony Snicket books, and who knows what else.

Let me know your thoughts on any of the books I've mentioned...I'd love to hear.

Mike

Welcome back STS-118

2007-08-22T13:33:00.000-07:00

The crew of STS-118 is back on earth despite questions about whether the shuttle would be safe to re-enter the atmosphere with a damaged tile. I was listening to an interview with a science and technology public affairs professor who was discussing the change or lack of change in NASA's culture regarding safety issues.

It's a very intersting topic. NASA is our nations space agency; it is not a private corporation. It makes me wonder what kind of discussions would be taking place if we were talking about a private corporation. On the one hand, being a public organization I would IMAGINE it is subject to more inquiry and public openness. Maybe not. However, I have to think that with private space ventures there would be a POTENTIAL for a more dollar oriented approach.

If NASA has to jump through hurrdles to get people thinking safety over money...what will happen with private space ventures?

I hope and wish that private space travel will start as soon as Virgin Galactic seems to imply it will (first commercial sub orbital flights by as early as 2009). There's a part of me that worries about what sorts of risks may be taken to be the first, the highest, the longest, etc. There's also a part of me that thinks that my kids are going to be able to come up with some really awesome sports and games on their vacations to the Galactic (Insert Corporate Sponsor) Center located in Geosynchronous orbit above the Barrier Reef.

Emperor's New Diet?

2007-08-08T16:44:00.000-07:00

How much would YOU pay for "Gourmet Salt"?

I recently read an article that detailed a "salt sampler rack" (like a spice rack but with different salts) that sold for over $100.00. I just can't imagine who's buying over $100.00 in gourmet salt. I could see spending 5 bucks on some cool looking black salt, but I imagine that's probably still a pretty hard sell for most people.

Maybe I'm missing something.

Wedding Photo Sampler

2007-07-24T10:32:00.000-07:00

I should preface these by giving a wonderful thank you to Joe Portnoy (joe@snaptography.net), for doing the photography for our wedding. I've known Joe for about as long as I've known anyone in DC. He has been doing photography for sometime now including weddings and freelance photography for well known companies such as XM radio. He recently went full-on professional and ours was one of the first weddings he's shot with his brand new gear.

Fortunately for us the new gear didn't get in the way of his great technique, only amplified the results! Joe was professional when required, and did a wonderful job of caputring the unique qualities of our wedding. Amon and I were less concerned with getting the same ol' posed shots and more interested in candid shots from ceremony and reception. We took a long time to plan a wedding that was uniquely us, and Joe did justice to all of that work by creating photographs that freeze moments and showed the true feel of our wedding. That's important on a day that seems to fly past so quickly.

Once we get all of the photographs back I'll put together a Flickr or other photo album, until then enjoy this small sampler.

Love,
Mike

2007-07-24T10:25:00.000-07:00

2007-07-24T10:24:00.002-07:00

2007-07-24T10:24:00.001-07:00

2007-07-24T10:24:00.000-07:00

Buechner

2007-07-23T11:13:00.000-07:00

Have any of you read Buechners fiction, specifically Godric or Brendan? I'm curious to hear some feed back. The book Brendan is on my shelf of "to read" books and I've considered buying/borrowing Godric.

2007-07-23T07:48:00.000-07:00

More to be posted soon. Until then though, thanks to everyone who has made it out to celbrate with us, and for those of you coming to the Missouri party - See You Soon!

Very Truly Yours,
Mike

P.S. If you didn't get an invite to the MO party, let me know. If you did but haven't RSVP'ed yet, let me know...my mother is still trying to figure out how many people to expect. Thanks!

First and Last

2007-07-01T18:26:00.000-07:00

My first post since my "year" was up with drinking only water. I'm sure that I will post something more on this after I've been able to think a bit about what it really meant. I can say this though. The experiment with drinking water was a personal success despite the fact that my year of water was shortened into a "year" of water by some fairly monumental life events.

The first couple weeks were incredibly hard, though easier than I had expected. I love juice, tea is such a great way to relax, coffee is one of the best things to sip on a crisp fall morning while reading at a cafe. When having Italian food a glass (or half bottle) of wine does in fact go a long way towards encouraging you to slow down and savor the meal, and beer does wonders to a barbeque chicken pizza at your favorite pizzeria. Replacing each of those drinking experiences with sipping a glass of water was hard not only from a "breaking habits" perspective, but also from a social ackwardness perspective.

Probably the single biggest frustration was the first time I wanted to go hang out with someone, but wasn't hungry and just wanted to talk. We couldn't go hang out at a coffee shop, or get tea. What else was there to do??? Over the next year I figured out how to navigate these situations, but it took some adaptation.

If you ask me what my most memorable glass of wine was I can now tell you what the date was, where I was, who was with me, and what the situation was. There is absolutely no doubt. December 31, 2006 in New York City with Amon Krist, the girl I'm going to be marrying 6 days. I know this was the most memorable glass of wine because it was the ONLY thing I drank other than water during the entire 1 "year" experiment, the only exception, the only special allowance. I figured you only get engaged once, and if that wasn't a reason for a special allowance then nothing was. I don't remember the wine, how much it cost, what it tasted like, or what variety of grape went into it. I'm fairly certain it was red.

Which brings me to the last portion of "First and Last". If there were a count down to my wedding it would read: 0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Weeks, 6 Days. You'd probably say it was cheap for not having an hours and seconds countdown, but I'd say it was just careful planning so I don't have to calculate those after I've had my first beer in a year.

Of course I won't pretend that I can put into words what I'm feeling as I approach one of the biggest days of my life. I've tried but when I look back over it all of the words seem somehow incomplete. I feel like I'm beginning a journey that I have resolved to see to the end anticipating great times of joy and happiness, as well as recognizing (as much as anyone on this end of the journey can) that there will be twists and detours that never showed up on the original plan. It's a journey that despite my resolution, I don't know what to pack, what maps to take, or what supplies I will need.

I have all of these thoughts floating around in my head begging to be put on paper, or placed on the web. I know that trying to put any one of them up would be torture to the others and besides that give an unrealistic picture of what I'm thinking right now.

That is what you get between now and the wedding date. Come celebrate with us at one of the receptions and I can tell you what it's like having taken the first step.

Until then:

The Road goes ever on and on,
down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
and I must follow if I can.
Persuing it with weary feet,
until it joins some larger way,
where many paths and errands meet,
and whither then, I cannot say.

May God bless you and keep you. May he cause His light to shine upon you.

Untitled

2007-06-03T15:51:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to post something to apologize for my lack of posts as well as my relatively terrible job of getting back to people lately. Just to bring people a bit up to speed I have recently:

served on Jury Duty for a week, nearly walked into Sen. Hillary Clinton on the side walk, hiked around the Great Falls area, cooked much barbeque chicken, made my first from scratch gravy, purchased wedding rings, spent approximately 4,000 man hours doing wedding planning and preparation, spent approximately 4,001 man hours worrying how I'm going to pay for it all, left my umbrella on the Metro, purchased 2 of the last 4 or 5 Lewis books I don't own, started reading The Dangerous Book for Boys, and missed many phone calls since I now carry a work phone and a personal phone.

I apologize to anyone that feels I haven't done a good job getting back to them. There really is no excuse for it so I won't make one. What I will say is that after the wedding business is over I will do my absolute best to get more regular about contacting people and returning emails/phone calls.

Sorry :(

Mike

Recently Overheard

2007-05-12T09:09:00.000-07:00

While on the Metro I overheard two interesting characters discussing Shakespeare. The interesting thing wasn't that they were discussing Shakespeare, it was that they were complete strangers who had bumped into each other on the train and were both in different Shakespeare troops and were doing different plays. I found it very random that two Shakespearean actors would happen to be on the same train and somehow, without knowing each other, realize that the other person was a Shakespearean actor. I feel like I'm surrounded by Shakespearean actors! That was a surreal metro ride.

Reunion

2007-04-17T13:52:00.000-07:00

Over a month ago something happened that had the potential to change my life. Looking back years from now, I may still find that it impacted me more than I can now realize. It wasn’t as though I hadn’t seen it coming for some time; there were warning signs, frowning faces, failure to communicate, and freezing up. It was painful to say the least.

After restoring things multiple times, it became apparent that I needed to see a specialist. So I bit the bullet, swallowed my pride, and went to a bar. My first trip to the bar was completely unhelpful, and in fact just irritated the problem further. I tried calling a help line for advice, but they just recommended I make an appointment at the bar to see one of the geniuses.

Long story short, last weekend I made it to the store and the genius at the bar said he could offer me a replacement. I took him up on it and I am now the proud owner of a new iPod. Apparently my old one was having hard drive “issues”.

It was very peculiar going from having access to every song I owned whenever I wanted it to not having any kind of portable music player at all for over a month. I helped me to not only appreciate my iPod more, but to also appreciate the atmosphere around me a bit more as well. There's a whole book that could be written on the differences in a society where the majority of the people walk around completely disconnected from the world around them.

One thing I definitely missed was the opportunity to listen to music I wouldn't normally be caught dead listening to. I despise pop music for what it has BECOME. I think it started off great, maybe, but now it is shameless and listening to it seems like a crime. This morning on the way to work though, I listened to Maroon 5 and it was glorious in all of its unadulterated, sickeningly sweet goodness. All the while the people next to me had no idea what was being pumped into my head :)

The most frustrating dialog from the whole broken iPod fiasco is recorded below:

Helpful: “What seems to be the problem.”

Me: “I completely restored my iPod multiple times when prompted to. Then it wouldn't even respond, including restores. This morning though I plugged it in to charge a bit before brining it in, and it turned on fine. Go figure, right?”

Helpful: “Well I guess we can still look at it. Maybe it’s software related. Does it have the latest software on it?”

Me: “Yes, it has the latest firmware/software upgrade. I think it is hard drive related since it won’t even mount in windows anymore.”

Helpful: “Oh. Well, we can’t actually open the case and look at the hard drive you know. Not in the store.”

Me: !!!!????

Me: “Yes, I realize that you can’t OPEN IT UP and LOOK at the hard drive. Don’t you have a diagnostic program you can run that will look for bad sectors on the hard drive or do some other kind of tests?”

Helpful: “Yeah, we can hook it up and see if any looks wrong”.

Me: (feeling oh so comfortable with this person's technoIQ) “Well thank you.”

Low moment for the day

2007-04-07T12:11:00.000-07:00

Her - "What are you doing?!"
Him - "Just helping set-up."
Her - "What are you doing?"
Him - "I thought I'd help get the stuff setup for stage since I was here."
Her - "That is soooo nice of you. Thank you."

Me, to myself - "WHAT!? I got here like a half hour ago and set up EVERYTHING on stage except the stupid keyboard and stand that guy is setting up right now."

I felt like a jerk wishing to be recognized for something that while I was doing it just felt like what I should be doing since I got there early. But at the same time, I felt really frustrated with the other guy for taking credit for something that he hadn't really done. Yes he set up the keyboard and stand. No, he didn't set up the music stands, the mic stands, the ear monitor stands, bring out the microphones, bring out the ear monitors, OR BRING OUT THE CABLES.

Her - "Why did you get here so early?"
Him - "Just wanted to help."
Me - Yeah, just ignore me and keep talking to each other.

I felt like a complete jerk.

Thin White Cord

2007-04-06T20:00:00.000-07:00

If you want to read about my evening tonight, read my other post. If you would rather read an interesting news article and leave comments in my comment box, read on.

An article on the Forbes magazine site, posted here, talks about the origins and fate of the album. I just typed an entire blog post beneath this one, so I'll keep this short.

The album format is great in the same way that the novel is great.

There are artists who complain that customers logging on and purchasing a single track off their album is like only buying a corner of a Chagal painting. TAKE YOURSELF LESS SERIOUSLY. Honestly, if you, as a rapper think millions of people buying a single track off of your album instead of the whole thing is going to ruin you financially, then by all means keep droning on like a spoiled 2 year old; I will simply exercise my right to ignore you. If however, you as an artist are truly concerned that people are only viewing a portion of your creative work and are therefore not getting the whole messge, then I have a message for you, MAKE A WHOLE ALBUM THAT DOESN'T SUCK. Do you want to know why people buy an entire Chagal (or a copy of a Chagal...hmm, how is that parallel to music, file sharing perhaps)? I will tell you why, because the Chagal painting is freaking genius: it is pretty, and witty and gay.

The artists that make serious music that I happen to like, I buy their whole albums: Josh Ritter, Cat Power, Ryan Adams, Willie Nelson, James Taylor, The Decemberists, to name a few recent purchase. People I would not be very likely to buy a whole album from: any rapper (with the exception of actual hip-hop), any pop group, any American Idol (it's a matter of principal). When you admit that your whole industry is about making money I have no inclination to feel sorry for you. Is it possible that I will break down and buy a song here or there? Yes. Is it remotely possible that sometime in the future I might feel bad for the poor pop/rap artist and buy an album just to see what their vision is? NO!

In Summary: Albums will continue to live on so long as their are true musicians and artists looking to string songs together into albums in the way that writers string plot lines together to weave a nove. When there are no more of these artists left, it will be a single track free for all to control the thin white cord that for so many of today's population forms the link between the real world and the canned emotions that are just a scroll wheel away, held tightly in that light weight metalic case.

End of Rant.

Night at Home

2007-04-06T19:37:00.000-07:00

Willie Nelson's Greatest Hits, Cat Power's The Greatest, Carol King - records I listened to tonight, one side at a time, all the way though.

Sigh. This will be the longest I've gone without seeing Amon since we got engaged. She went to Michigan for two wedding showers this weekend. I couldn't take the time off work so I'm here in DC. Fortunately, Jen is out of town for the weekend which means I have the place to my self.

I decided to take advantage of this now rare down time by just being at my apartment. I came home from work and climbed in bed to watch an episode of Northern Exposure on my laptop while I snoozed a bit. After resting I got up and cooked coconut rissoto and chicken. I tried to make a spicy peanut butter sauce from scratch, with no recipe, but to no avail. Oh well, the chicken and rissoto were excellent. I used a stainless steel pan instead of non-stick for the chicken so that it would really brown, then deglazed the pan with a bit of cooking sherry and left over chicken stock from the rissoto. I let the deglazing liquid swirl around in the pan until the brown bits were all dissolved and the sherry had cooked off. Then I added this liquid to the rissoto and served with the chicken over the top. Ooooh so delicious.

Then I indulged in a bit of That 70's Show, which I just googled and found out that, yes, it is the definition of mindless entertainment. I use to enjoy it, and still do when in the right mood, but wansn't really hooked tonight. I decided my best bet was to start some laundry, listen to the other side of the Cat Power album, and head to bed.

Maybe I'll get a haircut tomorrow. Guys, have you ever gone to get your hair cut at a place where they wash your hair first (in the process massaging your scalp)? If not, then you should go sometime and you'll understand why women are willing to pay more for a haircut then men typically are. If you could put feeling that in a pill you'd be rich.

That is all. No more mindless self indulgent drivel for tonight. If you want more you have to read through my archives to find more.

In the mean time go check out directions for how to deglaze a pan or maybe check out my friend patti's blog.

And last but not least, if you're still reading you're probably worthy to go see my flickr photos. Meager fare so far, but you have to start somewhere.

Family and Friends Plan

2007-03-31T08:38:00.000-07:00

Thought it would be cool to send some shouts out to some people that just visited me in town. Grant was here two weekends ago and I got to hang out with him. It's been awhile and was very cool to see him, discuss religion and theology, and play pool.

LAST weekend my parents came into town and I got to spend a lot of time with them. It's always wonderful to see your parents, but is especially great to see them when something dramatic like a motorcycle accident has made you appreciate things more.

My sister came out with my parents but doesn't go back until this Sunday so I get to hang out with her the rest of the weekend!

So thank you so much to Grant, my parents and my sister for all coming out to see DC and spend some time hanging out with me. Let me know if you want to come hang out some time, although from here on out after July is probably better. If you come after July I'll have a spare bed room to offer you :)

Love you all and please keep in touch.

Mike