Saturday, April 19, 2008

Men' Warehouse

So, Today I took the time to cull the crap out of my Gmail. I was methodically going down my list, searching for names in the 'from' field that I knew I would never go back to, and deleting them. It was all going well until I typed "from:mens warehouse" and it kept coming up blank. I knew I had a few messages from them peppered in there, why wern't they coming up? It was pissing me off!

Then I picked up on it.... "WEARhouse". Those sneaky fellas! Normally I boycott places that use alternate spelling (Krazy Korner), but I will give them a pass. Why? The reasons are twofold.

  1. I have seen the 'Bearded One' and his ads for many years and didn't pick up on it. It isn't a look how wacky we are alternate spelling.
  2. The few times I have used their services, I have been very pleased with the service that I got. Hey, just like in the ads!


I remember reading something on how your brain pretty much picks up on what a word starts and finishes with to read. What is in the middle has a much smaller part in the process of reading. Interesting stuff, It sure was true with 'Wearhouse'.

PS- No worries friends and family. I don't delete a single email that you send me... You never know when the may come in handy!

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Friday, April 18, 2008

April Snow Showers Kill Spring Flowers

Uhhh, what the hell is going on?

Today I came home from work to an inch or two of snow. Carrie and I went out to dinner (Yes, Mi Tierra, If you want to know...) and came home to around four inches. Just a week ago, I was scorching my forehead as Carrie and I enjoyed a seventy degree day in our shorts and tee shirts. That will not be happening tomorrow.

I can't remember the last time snow stuck (or fell) around here in April. Amazing.

Here is a shot of my deck tonight...


Yes, I said tonight. To all you non-photoheads, the picture above was exposed for 20 seconds. A 'typical' picture is taken at 1/60th of a second or shorter. Because of this long exposure it soaks up enough light to appear like it is daytime. The other thing it does it make the falling snow disappear.

As a comparison, here is a shot I took a minute after with a flash...


Notice the snowflakes and the dark background. Quite a difference.



Edit- I just came in from shaking the snow off my plum tree that you see hanging low in the pictures. Bad news, I lost a big branch off the top. Sad.

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Thursday, April 17, 2008

Pet Peeve

I was sitting at the laptop cruising some photography forums and I found something to add to my list of pet peeves.

The use of 'haha'

Flat out annoying. It screams 12 year old.

The more 'ha's tacked on the more annoying it is. Worse yet is when the 'haha's get peppered throughout the post. hahahaha (done to prove my point, please forgive). Honestly who talks like that? Look at me, I am better than you, hahahaha. It reads like a badly dubbed kungfu movie.

The singular 'ha' is fine. Alone it is harmless. 'Heh' (a chuckle) is a favorite of mine, a mature 'ha'. Just don't put two together.... Not nearly as annoying, it still doesn't come across well. I use LOL a lot but you need have a bit of space between repeated uses. More than a few in a typical message and it is a bit sour. LMAO is borderline, ROFL is just a bit too dramatic for me. ROFLMAO is right out.

Beware of OMG and be very aware of OMFG. They typically travel with 'haha's, and are right there with it in the annoying percentile.

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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Water Lab

The Clyde photos on my Flickr stream are making a comeback!


Clyde heading back out to sea.

With a fun new Adobe Lightroom preset in my back pocket I went searching through my library looking for a shot to use it on and I came across this one. I really like what it did to this photo, it gives it almost a 'velvet painting' look.

After last weekend I am really excited to get out shooting again. I'm not sure it will be this weekend as the weather once again looks crappy, but it will be soon. The shots that I'm finding most interesting right now are pictures of old worn out rusty things. Things like the old refinery that we saw at Gas Works Park on Saturday. I need to find a few nice old junkyards to wander.

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Sunday, April 13, 2008

Flickr Attack

I took the time today to process all my photos from yesterday and ended up culling two hundred and sixty photographs down to eleven. In fact, shooting Thursday and Saturday I snapped over seven hundred shots and only have 36 to show for it (and that number may go down still). It is hard for me to do, as I am inclined to keep everything. That said, I am getting a lot better at it. All I want to keep are good, interesting photos.

My increasing inventory of 'nice' shots has had the biggest impact on my ability to get rid of bad shots. Now that I have more than a handful of shots that make me go "wow", I can better tell what it takes.

Blah, blah, blah...

Which brings me to the point of todays post. I more than doubled the amount of photos that are on my Flickr account. You can find them by following this link. Now the pictures that aren't of Clyde actually outnumber the pictures of him.


Salmon Waves, a sculpture by Paul Sorey, at the Hiram Chittenden Locks.




BTW, net-luddites, did you know that you can subscribe to my flickr stream in with a reader such as Google Reader.

You didn't? Get with the program!!!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, readers are the greatest thing since computers could display pictures (wink wink). No need to remember to check back on a site to see if there is something new and interesting. If it is new, it is there, no matter if a site has new content yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, hourly, or minutely. (??)

For example, I have blog I like that posts twice a month if that. If I were to go to their site everyday hoping for some new content I would get irritated quickly.

Not so with a reader!

Since it is my one stop shop for everything from political goings on, Formula 1 news, Seahawk info, automobile news, to pictures of my sisters pug, there is always something new to read daily.

Bookmarks are so 2001.

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Saturday, April 12, 2008

Spring is Here!

At last!!!

What is happening, peeps? (That is code for Mike is BUI, blogging under influence...) I am sitting out on my back porch enjoying a Mothership Wit and the first truly wonderful day of the year.


Slingblade...

Sunny and seventy, double S, a perfect day in my book. Wearing a t-shirt and shorts Carrie (she wore capris) and I had a fun little midday. We left the house at around 11am and headed down to Ivars Salmon house on Lake Union for some lunch. Fish, Chips and Chowder. Tasty.



We ate on their patio overlooking the lake with Seattle in the distance. After hanging there and checking out the waterfront we went down the street a bit to Gasworks Park. The whole city was there. The start of the 'Seattle Summer' (see video linked at top...) People flying kites, holding hands, sleeping, walking on tightropes (more on that later), sailing, kayaking, just generally having a good time.




After hanging there for awhile we headed to the Ballard Locks. Probably one of my favorite places to go as a kid. I have yet to travel through the locks on a boat. Hopefully sooner or later I'll do it on my own (boat).




We wandered around there for a while and snapped some cool pics. Again we saw people walking tightropes.

I can honestly say, omitting trips to the circus, I have never encountered tight-ropers out and about. I realize that they can appear as normal members of society (for the most part) when they aren't balancing on strings, but c'mon! Two in a day in different places??? Is this a new fad that I am missing out on?

After a bit it was time to go. We took off for two reasons.

  1. I only paid for an hour and a half of parking. time was running out.
  2. Both Carrie and I got our first sunburns of the season. It really stinks being pale.


We went home, I cut the lawn and ended up here on the porch typing this up with a beer...

Fast forward a couple hours and I am still on the porch finishing up this post. To put the cherry on top of a wonderful day, we had our first BBQ of the year. Nothing fancy, we just had some Trader Joe's Chicken Asiago Sausages, with a bit of cream cheese, Grey Poupon, and grilled onions.



Once again, tastey.

As far as days go, today was a solid 8.52. Probably the best day since the Seahawks beat the Redskins in the playoffs. And I didn't have to wear as much clothing.


To finish this post up, here is a picture of me just 30 seconds ago... King dork.





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Thursday, April 10, 2008

Loch Ness Monster

Carrie, Clyde, and I went to the dog park today. Good thing I took the camera as I was lucky enough to snap a picture of the Loch Ness monster swimming offshore a bit.



If you look at just about dead center you can see it. Here is a 100% crop for a better view.



Just kidding. It was Clyde! (Like you didn't know) That is as far as I have seen him swim out, it actually scared me a bit. He was making a run for Kingston after overshooting his Kong. Silly dog.

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Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Playing with the Boys

Soccergal said...

Where's the video of shirtless Val Kilmer playin' volleyball with the boys.


Typically I have a no Kenny Logins policy, but for you I will overlook that. Here you go...


I don't remember Apollo Ohno in the movie...

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Low Pass

I'm in a bit of a YouTube mood this evening.

I clap like an overjoyed two year old when I watch these....

Spitfire pass (warning, language. You'll understand.)


A-10 low pass


F-16 low pass


F-14 low (and fast) pass


The Blues...







...And finally tie it all together with a good tune.



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Dog Slide

Lol...



I'm guessing he does this until dropped with a tranquilizer dart

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A Joke

I often (yesterday) goof on baseball because in my opinion it is boring.

...Thank God they put real grass in Safeco Field so at least you can watch it grow if you are at a game...

Sorry, there I go again. Much like team vs team rivalries, I have that same feeling with the NFL vs MLB. All thanks to one person, they know who they are. All in all it is in good fun, just goofing around. Often it is too easy, Knitting Night anyone?

But today I have official proof as to why baseball is a joke. No, it has nothing to do with steroids, way too long of a season/ too many games, or this.

This is the reason that baseball is a joke.

Alex Rodriguez will make more this year than his hometown Florida Marlins.

Boosted by his new deal with the New York Yankees, Rodriguez tops Major League Baseball's list with an annual salary of $28 million, according to a study of contract terms by The Associated Press. The 33 players on the Marlins' opening-day roster and disabled list total $21.8 million.

The problem isn't Alex Rodriguez's fault, it isn't Steinbrenners fault, it is baseballs fault. Mr. Rodriguez should have every right to make as much money as can find someone to pay him. Mr. Steinbrenner has every right to spend his money however he sees fit. Baseball as a whole needs to even out the playing field to add some much needed excitement (It still won't win me over, though). Something is wrong when an individual player makes more (quite a bit more) than an entire team.

Sure David beats Goliath occasionally, and it is a great story. But c'mon, the highest paid team spending ten times what the lowest is doing? Silly. There needs to be both a ceiling and floor too what is spent on payroll. I think the NFL does a pretty good job of this. Sure there still are high salaries, and low salaries, but they are much closer together. The difference between the highest and lowest payrolls last year in the NFL was 63%. The Seahawks beat Goliath (the Redskins), and David (the Giants) beat the second highest payroll (the Patriots). The Kicker with the NFL is that if you go too high it will slap you back in a couple of years with players that haven't played for your team still counting significantly against your cap (cough, Wistrom). The NFL seems to be about how smart you are with your money, not how much you have.


Side note - In the middle of typing this up I went out back and tossed the ball with Clyde. He had a spectacular wipe out. While making a cut he lost his footing, rolled onto his back and then was totally upended, standing on his head, then crashing on his side. He got right up and stared at me while shaking the sod off, the ball never came loose. A second later he was back running at full speed. Atta-boy!

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