Happy anniversary...



...to me. This month marks 7 years since I kicked cigarette smoking. One of the best things I ever did. I've totally become one of "those" ex-smokers, too. Wondering (often out loud) how/why people could do that shit to themselves. It seriously is a nasty-ass habit. And one I'm very happy to be rid of.

Oh, the wife and I also took a quick overnight trip to NYC just before xmas. Took the kid and the niece. It was a great trip, but I wish we'd have had more time to roam the city. A few of my snaps can be seen here. I have a bunch more to post process. (See my last post re: motivation and hibernation).

We drove up early Saturday. Stayed over in Jersey. Ferried to NYC. Roamed the south end of the island. Had lunch in some random little cafe. Cabbed it up to Rockefeller Center. Saw the crowds. Saw the tree. Saw the light show on the side of the building. Roamed through Saks for a bit to warm up. Then, under protest, I dragged the family up to 76th St(?) and Fifth Ave to check out the Apple store. Took some quick snaps (not as nice as the official Apple snaps above). Cabbed it back to the ferry. Ferried back to the Jersey. Crashed for the night, then drove home Sunday.

*whew*

Not much writing going on lately, obviously. With the holidays, a brother-in-law's near-xmas-wedding (which I attempted to shoot with mediocre results, some of which can be seen here) and all sorts of other goings-on time has been tight and motivation has been nil. I seem to be in full-blown hibernation mode. Tonight the wife and I have our first meeting with a Realtor (proper noun? Who knew?). Time to stop paying other people's mortgages and start paying our own. Hopefully.

Anyway...I have a few drafts in the hopper. I'll finish them up and post them shortly. I've moved the blog to the new, non-beta Blogger format. This adds one super-cool feature on which I've been waiting...tagging. So now I'm spending time going through my 400+ old posts and tagging them appropriately.

So, until I have some quality content to provide, I'll offer this random tidbit found on CNN the other day. Sad situation, random-ass quote. On the suicide of Nikki Bacharach, daughter of Burt Bacharach and Angie Dickinson, the family's official "announcement" contained this gem:

"She loved kitties, and earthquakes, glacial calving, meteor showers, science, blue skies and sunsets, and Tahiti".

(via)

Sounds like a Playboy Playmate bio on acid.

Weekend shooting

I managed to get away to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge just south of Cambridge, MD this past weekend. First time there since last October. I really dig that place. Since it was my first time out there in a long while, I decided to mini-splurge and rent a $1300 Canon 100-400mm "L" lens. Wish I could have *really* splurged and bought that *ucker!

Being winter, there wasn't a whole lot of activity, but I did manage to get a few shots of the locals (click on the images below to see the full-sized version):


This bald eagle took off from his perch on the top branch and came straight towards me...


...before looping around and giving me a couple of nice fly-bys. (Interesting to note the different intensity of the blue sky. These shots were taken seconds apart, but at different angles to the sun. I'm guessing that's why one is blue-blue and the other is washed-out-blue.


On the other side of the refuge I found this juvenile bald eagle hanging out in the tree.


And this endangered Delmarva Fox Squirrel with a mouth full of leaves for the nest (s)he was building.


Yet another eagle flyby.

In what was to be the second worst missed opportunity of the weekend, I nearly caught this eagle in an aptly-named "Klingon Bird of Prey" pose. If only the focus would have locked (operator error).



However, by far the worst missed opportunity of the weekend came Sunday morning. I got to the refuge late (about 8:30am) and took a drive through. Not seeing much going on, I decided to roam the MD countryside for a while. When I returned, Wildlife Drive (the main loop through the refuge) was closed. I went to the visitor's center to ask why. Turns out there was an injured bald eagle in the refuge, and the head ranger and a vet were going to try and capture it so they could take it to an eagle rehab facility. I asked if there was any way she (the woman I was talking to...who was wearing a ranger outfit) could get me in to the refuge to act as an official photographer for them. I told her it could make a really cool PR piece for the refuge. I said I'd stay well out of the way, and I'd do whatever the ranger said to. I also offered them full rights to any shots I got. She thought it sounded like a good idea, and called the head ranger on his cell phone to ask if it wold be possible. Unfortunately, the overly-litigious society did me in. He said that due to "liability reasons", it wouldn't be possible. I told him (through her) that I promised I wasn't one of those idiots who sued other people when I did dumb things and hurt myself (and I'd told my family to behave the same way if I managed to kill myself). And I offered to sign anything they put in front of me as a permission slip/waiver of liability/whatever. Sadly, he wouldn't budge. He said "maybe if I'd have been a volunteer". So I asked where to sign up. Roadblocked again...the woman who handles the volunteer sign-ups worked Monday through Friday. Damn!

So, instead of hanging around the visitor's center for an unknown amount of time, I decided to drive out to the far side of the refuge and see what I could find (which is where I got the juvenile bald eagle seen above). A decent shot, but not nearly as cool as what could have been.

Needless to say, I have the volunteer information open in a web browser as I type. The next time I'm at the refuge and there's an injured bald eagle rescue going on, I'll be set!

Search *this*, asshat

Thanks to DT for pointing out this article on retailers searching *your* property after you've made a purchase and before you've left *their* store. Well worth the read, especially around this time of year. As the great Nancy Reagan once said..."Just Say No". Oh, and don't shop at Wal-Mart. They're truly evil.

http://www.bwcitypaper.com/bw.digg.page.final.html

The author is man after my own heart. I've said the same things they say in the article time and time again.

VA Voting Shenanigans

This freaked me out a little. And it doesn't seem to be getting too much press (at least that I've seen). Perhaps I'm just overly sensitive.

An article in the Online Journal says:

"What is being called a "glitch" by Hart InterCivic spokespersons, three cities in Virginia -- Alexandria (my note: population 128,283 in 2000), Falls Church (pop. 10,377 in 2000) and Charlottesville (pop. 45,049 in 2000)-- will not properly display (~Democrat) Jim Webb's name on the November ballot summary screen. Voters will only see 'James H. "Jim"' on the ballot, instead of 'James H. "Jim" Webb'.

To make matters worse, the candidates will have "their party affiliations . . . cut off". To put some perspective and clarity to this, in Alexandria, Falls Church and Charlottesville, Virginia, voters will not be able to recognize Jim Webb by his full name OR by his party's affiliation!"

Those of us who live in VA know that those 6-year-old census numbers have done nothing but skyrocket since they were recorded. So the number of voters seeing incorrect (or incomplete) information on their ballots is going to be significantly higher than the 183,709 recorded in '00. Nice. The last couple of elections have been won and lost by what...27...maybe 30 votes? 100k shouldn't matter at all...right?

While on the subject, did anybody happen to catch HBO's "Hacking Democracy" last night about the ultra creepyness of the Diebold voting machines? Scary stuff. I only watched a few minutes of it (but I recorded it for later viewing pleasure), but I have to say the ease with which they were tampered was startling.

---
Edited to change my population data. Evidently I used the total population of VA (7+ million). Duh. The data has been corrected. However, my point still stands. With a race that came down to 6,000 votes (as of last night), that 100k+ still could make or break somebody. I guess we'll see after all of the the recounts and lawsuits are done.

Canon 20d: The autopsy

The autopsy is complete.



All of the photos (and any clever comments I could muster) can be seen here:

http://www.pbase.com/gmr2048/20d-dissection&page=all

I have to say, I agree with Canon's diagnosis. There was no saving this patient. It's amazing. The camera didn't get all that wet in the accident, but that didn't stop death and destruction from raining down on all the little internal bits.

Thanks to this place for hosting the PDF parts catalog with exploded 20D which I used as a step by step deconstruction manual:

www.customslr.com/technical/EOS_20D_Parts%20Catalog.pdf