Picture My World

This is cute: The Sith Sense. Lord Vader will read your mind. Just ignore the Burger King logo and the BK dude and you can’t even tell it’s part of an ad campaign!

Beams

Originally uploaded by JZip.

A photo from a recent trip to Florida.

Racoon-1

Originally uploaded by JZip.

One early morning last week, I was getting ready to go to work and spotted two racoons across the street. They both headed into our front yard and I noticed that they brought along some friends — a murder of crows who harassed them at every opportunity.

I lost sight of the racoons, but the crows gave away their location in the back yard. I grabbed the camera and got a few shots. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a good shot of the crows dive bombing the poor racoons…

Here’s one shot after I took some liberties in Photoshop.

I just got back from a conference in Florida. While baby-unencumbered, I decided to see a movie and picked Star Wars after hearing that it was much better than Lucas’ 2 recent attempts. After seeing it, I’m convinced the majority of reviewers took bribes. Simplistic plot, horrible acting that can only be attributed to even worse dialog, and more. Yes, it’s “darker” but only due to the extra violence (more lightsaber amputations than ever before!) and not because of a clever or deep script. Mr. Cranky, as usual when it comes to bad movies, nails it in his review.

I had set my expectations quite low, hoping the special FX, sound track, and action would pull it through, but it just disappointed in the end. The taxi driver, with his Star Wars philosophical dissertation, proved more entertaining than the film.

Today I drove the Porsche for the last time. It is finally, finally for sale by qualified professionals who sell cars like this all the time. I have mixed feelings, but I’m mostly glad to be rid of it and stop consuming so much gas and money (although I’m sure I did my bit for the economy).

Now it’s time to re-introduce my butt to my bike seat. “Butt, meet seat.”

CloudsOverRoof

Originally uploaded by JZip.

Here’s another picture from California. I’m starting to get the hang of Photoshop and the secret is to relax and have fun. When I first started manipulating photos, I was too worried that I wasn’t processing them “properly”. Now, I’m throwing caution to the wind and trying stuff until I get an effect I like. There are some general rules to follow, such as sharpen as the last step, but otherwise the possibilities are endless.

In this case, the sky wasn’t exactly that color and the roofs weren’t quite so muted (and my camera wasn’t so level… ), but I like this edit.

LA

Originally uploaded by JZip.

I had the pleasure of visiting the [Getty Center](http://www.getty.edu/) while I was in California. It is a small campus of modern buildings nestled in the hills overlooking LA. A storm had blown through the area the previous night and morning leaving the air crystal clear. This is a photo looking south from the Getty. I’ve put the full-sized version on flickr if you want to take a closer look. The view is incredible. You can see the 405 freeway off to the left and the ocean on the right and the hills just west of Long Beach on the horizon.

Do all kids like to splash so much, or is Shula extra talented in this department? Whenever I bathe her we both come out all wet. There’s a splatter pattern on the cabinet behind me reminiscent of the scene in [Hero](http://www.miramax.com/hero/) with the hundreds of arrows impaled on the wall around a person’s silhouet.

I’d post a picture, but I don’t dare take my camera into such a hostile environment!

We’ve decided to find a new home for our two cats. They are slowly driving us crazy and we suspect it’s because the attention they used to receive has been transfered to the girl. Anyway, it was a tough decision but we’ve finally made it after months of internal debate. That’s not the point of this post, though.

I posted the cats’ information on my company’s electronic bulletin board. The next day, one of my coworkers (we work in the same building but not on the same team) posts a vicious rant about the irresponsibility of giving pets up for adoption. She doesn’t mention me by name and claims it’s a general rant after reading a number of similar pet adoption postings, but she does quote from my post a couple of times. Doing so, she manages to insult us on a number of levels — intelligence, parenting, commitment… you name it. Later in the afternoon, I received a phone call from a friend at work who was livid (angrier than me!) about the post.

I’ve refrained from replying publicly or privately so far. The nice guy in me says she didn’t intend this to be a personal attack. She probably just feels strongly about the issue. The not-so-nice guy wants to flame her right back in public.

My livid friend is probably going to send her a private email regarding the post. Maybe others have as well. We’ll see if there’s an apology anytime soon.

Flower

Originally uploaded by JZip.

Isn’t it pretty? These flowers were everywhere in Irvine, California. Not sure what they are called, but they have these cool leopard-like spots at the base of the 3 main petals (you’ll have to click on the photo and get a larger version to see them).

I’m back from vacation and feeling guilty about not posting anything lately.

I thought I would write something during vacation, but my brain had other ideas and it basically shut down. I did read [Davita's Harp](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0449911837/104-1354145-2452743?v=glance) by Chaim Potok, the first of his books I’ve read. Wow. I had no idea he was such a great writer and I now need to read more. It is an amazingly *real* depiction of religious life from both inside and outside. It’s also a brilliant book about life itself and it affected my deeply.

I also took a ton of photos in California which I hope to post a smattering of here one of these days. The thing with this DSLR gig is that most photos need post-processing to get them to their best. At least, that’s what I’m reading. It appears point and shoot cameras do a ton of processing inside the camera itself so the resulting photos are sharp and saturated which is what the typical tourist or parent wants. DSLRs allow more creative freedom. So, I’m focusing on learning more about Photoshop so I can *create*!

Otherwise, I’m preparing for a Creo user conference where I’m doing some usability testing and conducting a survey. All last minute prep due to the vacation so things are very busy. I’m still trying to sell the damn car. Our shul is falling apart and I’m trying to care. Typical stuff.