Web Development, New Media & Mobile Conferences

Time goes by so quickly. My daughter is out on her first date…alone…with a boy…without a group of friends. I got to talk with him–Mark–for a few minutes before they left for dinner and a movie. He seemed very respectful, and nice, and considerate. Which is all good, but he’s taking my only daughter in a big green truck 30 minutes down the road. Did I say alone?

Music gets me through times like this, so let’s hear a couple of songs about daughters and growing up.

“Daughter” – Loudon Wainwright III (from Knocked Up…oh God I hope not!) [lyrics]

“Daughters” – John Mayer

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Mother and Child Reunion – Paul Simon

And before I start to cry, one of my favorite songs, but with a Step Brothers spin.
“Sweet Child of Mine” – Derek and family

Canon SX10 Pics

Posted on May 18, 2009
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So I bought a new camera Sunday-the Canon SX10 IS. I’ve been going back and forth between it and the Canon G10 for weeks now. I liked the style of the G10, and its old school dials and its 14.7 megapixels, but in the end it was the 20X megazoom on the SX10 that sold me. That and it was on sale at Best Buy for $369.

Have a look at its maiden voyage.

Manderino Library

Sammi out in the yard

Macro of red azalea

River rocks

Overall, I have to say that I am incredibly pleased with the pictures from this camera. It’s a bit heavier than I would have thought, but it adds to the substantial feeling of the camera, and doesn’t bother me since I’ll be using the neck strap anyway. Actually, I was glad I got to physically look at both the SX10 and the G10 before I made my final decision (Best Buy had both). Both cameras were smaller than I had envisioned, with the G10 being surprisingly smaller than I thought. It was only a bit bigger than my Canon SD630, but definitely more sturdy-it looks like you could run it over with a car and not damage it!

I was worried about the noise that’s been widely reported, but I have to say, for my purposes (printing 4×6s, online use) the pictures are crisp and clear. What? No buyer’s remorse? Check back in a week.

Found this old draft with a photography tip in it

Posted on April 6, 2009
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Don’t you hate when you take pictures of groups of people and someone always blinks? I found an article today:

Piers then figured out how many shots I’d need to be 99% certain of getting a good one. He found that photographing thirty people in bad light would need about thirty shots. Once there’s around fifty people, even in good light, you can kiss your hopes of an unspoilt photo goodbye.

Piers also came up with a rule of thumb for calculating the number of photos to take for groups of less than 20: divide the number of people by three if there’s good light and two if the light’s bad.”

48 from 2008

Posted on January 6, 2009
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Everyone and their brother does a top 10/100/50 at the end of the year. This year I thought I join in. Offered for your inspection–48 of my favorite albums and cultural moments.

Presented in no particular order:

1. MGMT
2. Santogold
3. Mates of State
4. Kanye
5. The Verve
6. Oasis
7. The Raconteurs
8. Coldplay
9. Conor Oberst
10. The New Odds – Cheerleader
11. Okkervil River
12. Kings of Leon
13. Mother Mother – Oh My Heart
14. Beck – Modern Guilt
15. Socratic – Spread the Rumors
16. Guns N’ Roses – Chinese Democracy
17. Kaiser Chiefs
18. The Weepies
19. The Black Keys
20. Lightspeed Champion
21. Black Keys
22. Black Mountain
23. The Kooks
24. Nine Inch Nails internet release of Ghosts
25. Lodger – Honeymoon is Over
26. JJ Grey & Mofro – Orange Blossoms
27. Cloud Cult – Feel Good Ghosts
28. TV on the Radio – Dear Science
29. Heath Ledger dies
30. God Is An Astronaut – God Is An Astronaut
31. Hey Rosetta! – Into Your Lungs
32. The Raveonettes – Lust Lust Lust
33. Quiet Village – Silent Movie
34. Vampire Weekend –
35. Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer
36. Britney Spears – from train wreck to comeback
37. Jim Boggia – Misadventures in Stereo
38. Tokyo Police Club – A Lesson in Crime
39. Death Cab for Cutie – Narrow Stairs
40. The Hold Steady – Stay Positive
41. Beyonce – Sasha Fierce
42. Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III
43. Barack Obama elected President
44. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
45. The Subways – All or Nothing
46. JT on SNL (Single Ladies video spoof)
47. Vampire Fever! Twilight, True Blood
48. Tina Fey as Sarah Palin (SNL)