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Moving... be sure to move with us!

2011-03-22T00:02:00.000-06:00

Well, it's been a wonderful run on blogger, but after a few trial months and service tests, we've decided to switch homes to a more comfortable place :)

Be sure to check us out on:

Facebook
Flickr (Read the fun stories on each picture here!)

You can also subscribe directly to our RSS feed in your favorite reader, using this link.

Peace.

74- And they're off

2011-03-15T18:53:00.003-06:00

And they're off... 5 CDs for the swap. Dropped them in the mail today, they told me at the post office they'll be a couple weeks.

I took the time to actually listen to the mix with all the patience in the world today at work. And I have to say, this one turned out pretty decent =D

73- Told you so

2011-03-14T18:52:00.000-06:00

See... I told you so... skip the fries and you can have 16 cotton candies xD

72- Arts festival, final part

2011-03-13T18:51:00.001-06:00

Final day at the downtown arts festival. I have to say, for a third year, it was well worth it...

A while back I was thinking that there were no decent contact jugglers anymore, and much less in this remote area of the world. I saw a couple of those streetlight performers a few months ago, but they really didn't measure up to my reference benchmark, which for the moment is David Bowie (yeah, David Bowie), in Labyrinth.

But then I saw this guy, calls himself Costrini de Sebastian Marcelo Guz. And, I take it back... I have now seen a decent contact juggler in this part of the world =)

The photos from the festival turned out real good... and there's a couple which are absolutely amazing. I mean, to the point where they popped up on screen and I just stood there thinking "wait.. that shot is absolutely amazing... I cannot believe I did *that*".

Still a few days to go of processing, calibrating, and RAW conversion. But as soon as they're out, I'll let everyone know!

I did put up a few shots in the gallery, in case anyone should want to see what's come out so far.

71- Arts festival, part 2

2011-03-12T18:50:00.000-06:00

And once again, it's off to the downtown area for the arts festival...

70- Be safe

2011-03-11T12:34:00.001-06:00

One of the annoying things about doing concert photos is that many times you end up sitting for hours on end next to a huge speaker tower. Happened to me last weekend: one of the best places for stage shots was the tip of the stage... where the towers were.

So, I figured out a solution. Went to my local hardware store and got these. About $3 for 31 dB of attenuation. That brings night club level sound down to more of less the level you'd have playing in your living room. Ok maybe a little louder than that =D

And of course, at that level you can still enjoy the concert. Only thing is, you'll miss the trip to the emergency room with busted eardrums the next morning.

69- Here comes the train

2011-03-10T20:24:00.001-06:00

March 10, 2011

Saw a train going by... not exactly in the usual way though...

68- Out for a stroll

2011-03-09T21:15:00.000-06:00

March 9, 2011

Sleepwalking is one of those funny human quirks. It's a condition where the mind is still asleep, but can perform automatic behavior: those actions you do every day over and over again and you can do without even thinking. Like opening doors, walking through the house, picking up objects, etc.

And nope, nothing wrong with the brain if you sleepwalk. Just another one of those processes that the mind sometimes goes through, a bit unusual, but normal if you have the genes. Kind of like being able to wiggle your ears.

According to biologists, it's an evolutionary thing. Apes developed a brain function that paralyzes the body while asleep, so they wouldn't fall out of trees. That's in part the reason why you can't scream or lift heavy objects in dreams. With time, beds and ground level buildings, evolution started degrading that area of the brain. In many cases, that causes people to twitch and talk in their sleep. And in some, it causes them to sleepwalk.

So, what's with the discovery channel lesson? Turns out this morning around 4:30 I hear a door close downstairs. Probably the wind, I think. Then I hear it open. And I hear it close again. Ok, that's strange.

Then I hear things falling to the ground. And I figure I better go have a look. And I go down the stairs, and find my dad opening and closing file cabinet drawers. I get closer and he doesn't seem to notice... and so then I think wait a second...

And sure enough, he was asleep all the way. It became more than clear when one of the drawers wouldn't open, so he let go, then tried it again, then let go, then tried it again, almost like watching a Roomba at work.

My brother talks in his sleep and sleepwalks. He's done it all his life. I guess I know now where he got it from =)

The million dollar question: so, do you wake them or not? According to experts on the subject, nothing wrong happens if you wake them. It's similar to waking someone up from a nightmare. They're bound to be confused and startled for a few minutes, but they get over it. My experience? It doesn't do much to wake a sleepwalker, since they sometimes fake waking up. They act startled, maybe say a few coherent sentences and act normal, but they're still asleep as ever. And f you don't know that part of their routine, you're bound to just let them walk off thinking they know where they're going =S

I wanted a picture so he'd believe me in the morning, but my mom was horrified at the thought of using a flash on him in that state. In the end she talked him back into bed and he went along. Experience from 30 years of dealing with my brother I guess xD

67- 102 days

2011-03-08T19:20:00.001-06:00

I -was- going to go on about how I hate myself for not having ridden to work today after having to spend hours stuck in traffic, and actually having to turn back on my way home after being immobile for almost 15 minutes.

But then I found something better... my WD Mybook World II has now been up and running, without shutting down and without problems, for 102 days =D

If you recall from 2010, on October 17 one of the drives simply died, out of nowhere. The following days' exchanges with tech support led me to find out just how buggy, dumb and just plain strange external drives from Western Digital are. But, a month later Western Digital was true to their word and I got a replacement hard disk in the mail.

The replacement disk is still in the closet, in its unopened packaging. I had bought a replacement locally while the new drive from WD shipped and decided to keep it instead of opening the new one and stashing that one away. Eventually this year if I get around to upgrading to a desktop PC I'll use that new disk.

Well, it's been 102 days since I last turned the drive off, and it's still going. Without locking up, without making any weird noises, or anything of the sort.

And I'm pretty hopeful it'll keep on going that way, at least for a couple years more :)

66- Cashews

2011-03-07T18:44:00.002-06:00

If you've ever wondered where Cashews come from, here's the answer.

A cashew is actually attached to the base of a fruit that we call marañon (Anacardium occidentale) that looks kind of like a mushroom.

They grow on trees and taste like, well, marañon. They don't really taste like anything else so there's no point of comparison. And they smell all the way across the house, it's that strong, though not really a bad smell, depending on whether you like the fruit or not.

The cashew itself is toxic when it's taken off the fruit. The seeds are acid and irritating, like poison ivy, so you don't want to break the skin on the seed. What you do is roast them over a fire, which gets rid of the top layers and produces the cashews you get in stores.

65- Kati

2011-03-06T20:07:00.002-06:00

This is Kati Winnegrad. Aka "la doñita".

She's been around for as long as I can remember, always showing up at concerts all over the place. And while most people sit and listen, she'll dance all over the place to whatever the beat may be that day.

About a year ago, she got a voice. Someone decided to create a fan page for her on Facebook. And she had way more fans than anyone could have ever imagined. That was the day all 7.675 of us finally met Kati.

She doesn't say much about her past, probably because she's too busy living in the present. But when you talk to her, you realize you're not only dealing with some lady: you're dealing with a force of nature. One of those forces that the universe just steps aside to watch.

And one thing's for certain: whatever you might call the gift that she has, she's come to share it with the entire world. And she'll keep on sharing it for as long as she can.

64 - Developing

2011-03-05T12:52:00.004-06:00

This weekend they're having an arts festival downtown. Which is a pretty unusual setting since the downtown area is generally seen as degraded, polluted, noisy, and unsafe to be in.

But it all makes sense when you throw in a good amount of police to watch over, and some really good performers.

Downtown San Jose is a neat case study. Most people all over the world are born into ready-made cities, which had solved their major problems long before. San Jose hasn't. Running the city like it's still 1950 and ignoring basic urban infrastructure laws has made the downtown area... as many would put it... a polluted, stinking town.

Fortunately 10 years ago some people started thinking about that. And 5 years ago they finally got the nerve to do something. And since then, the city has been transforming itself, little by little.

It's something I see as kind of a privilege... getting to watch a run down urban center transform itself. It's the stuff you spend years reading about in urban design textbooks, but can never quite put your finger on it until you actually see it happen.

63- Big ass latte

2011-03-04T17:14:00.002-06:00

No work today. They were rewiring the office, so everyone got the day off.

So I ran all the errands I hadn't bothered to run in like 3 months, including going store to store to see what they had in monitors: I need to buy a new one, given that my old one got this annoying flickering there's no getting rid of.

I also took my old monitor to the repair shop, to see if there's anything they can do to it.

When I finally got home, I started poking around for old stuff in closets... and found an espresso machine someone had purchased, used once, and never used again.

So I made myself a huge family size latte.

62- How to clean a carpet

2011-03-03T17:13:00.000-06:00

So, how do you clean 20 year old carpet? Given that I was out of that vintage cleaning solution they used to sell, and that the carpet was probably going to be ripped out eventually, I decided to bend the rules in the instruction manual a little bit.

So I took a couple buckets of water and dumped them on the carpet, the followed up with a bit of powdered detergent, and I scrubbed the whole room down with one of those hard bristle brooms.

Yeah yeah, I know, the manual says to never, under any circumstance, under penalty of law, never ever let your carpet get soaked. It also says that if you do your ears will fall off the next day, but I figured I'd take my chances.

Then I set the machine to maximum vac, and vacuumed the carpet dry. And opened all the windows and doors in the room and left it like that the entire day.

And it actually worked pretty good. Since there was a whole lot of water, the entire carpet foamed up and the foam did it's function of trapping the dirt in, instead of letting it fall back to the bottom. I dumped the water out of the vac.... and it was pitch black. 20 years worth of dirt for you.

Not to mention that now I can actually see some texture in the carpet again. Before it was just flat as a pancake, now the fibers actually rise again.

It's a shame eventually it's gonna get ripped out... good to see my experiment worked though =D

61- Virtual improvement

2011-03-02T22:30:00.001-06:00

Did a little virtual improvement on an ad campaign I saw this morning =)

60- Here's to the brave ones

2011-03-01T22:29:00.001-06:00

Here's to all those that still brave the morning ride despite the rain...

59- Rain and more rain

2011-02-28T22:28:00.001-06:00

Wouldn't you know it, it never rains at 6 AM... except during the dry season and on the days when I just want to ride to work =/

58- Characters

2011-02-27T22:27:00.000-06:00

Saw a well known character today...

57- Ground up

2011-02-26T22:27:00.000-06:00

Went to shoot some photos this afternoon. Didn't get much... though I did get an interesting shot of the ground while calibrating exposure xD

56- Not so hot either.

2011-02-25T18:30:00.002-06:00

Today was one of those days that just don't seem to go right. I woke up late, when I hopped on my bike it turns out the rear tire had gone flat during the night, after changing it both rims decided to remind me they need truing the whole way to work, my lunch plans went bust...

On the way back I found this insanely long traffic jam, with no apparent explanation. That is, until I got to the front of it. Seems somebody else's day wasn't turning out so hot either.

To top it all off, 2 blocks past the traffic jam it started raining.

Yep, there's something going around all right.

55- Maybe next time

2011-02-24T19:03:00.001-06:00

I was riding past this old style playground today, one of those with equipment built out of steel channels... the ones parents outlawed something like 20 years back. And I noticed that on the bottom, it had two horizontal bars.

And well, immediately I had a flashback to Rocky Balboa doing situps hanging from the side of a barn, and I was like... ok....

But, once I was hanging there with no one to make sure my knees didn't slip... I had second thoughts. Uh, maybe next time.

54- Hooked

2011-02-23T20:03:00.001-06:00

Ok, I admit it. I vandalized the company bathroom with an adhesive hook. I know, I'm a terrible person... I'll try to do better next time...

53- Middle of nowhere

2011-02-22T18:58:00.001-06:00

Went to see a big block of concrete in the middle of nowhere.

52- You drive safely now

2011-02-21T18:56:00.000-06:00

Don't you just hate it when you have to ride around with one of them on your tail,and you just have to start driving on your best behavior...

51- The chair

2011-02-20T18:11:00.000-06:00

I have a chair, like mostly everyone else in the world. I bought it back in 2002 after searching all over town during several afternoons.

The thing is, last year it snapped a screw on one of the arms. So I took off the arm to fix it, but found that a piece of the screw was still stuck in the chair and there was no way to get it out. Long story short the chair ended up with a huge gaping hole in the side that day and no right arm. I made a mental note to fix it, but never got around to it.

A couple of weeks ago, the left arm snapped a screw. I didn't think much of it either, given my previous chair fixing experience, and ignored it. But for some reason the chair started to get kind of uncomfortable: it was leaning back a little bit too much, I had to use a pillow to work comfortably, and I even fell over backwards once when the wheel caught on the carpet.

It dawned on me a few days ago that it was leaning like that because in these cheapo department store executive chairs, the arms tie the back and the seat together. A snapped screw and no right arm means the back leans a little too far.

So today I went out on a limb again. I took a trip to the hardware store and bought some 1/4" bolts. Then I took off the arms and took a drill to the screw holes (dang chinese chairs use metric screws, and the bolts I had were US made). And then I pushed everything back into position and bolted it.

Wow. What a difference. My chair feels normal again. I mean, really normal. Like it hadn't felt in over a year. I don't need the pillow anymore, it doesn't lean back more than you need it to, it's like a whole other chair...

And it cost me $0.75 and about an hour. I don't know why I didn't do this sooner.

50- Coming soon

2011-02-19T20:18:00.001-06:00

Last night just as I was going to sleep, this amazing idea for a photo composition hit me. It was an idea I had way back in the day, I probably hadn't thought about it for close to 25 years. It was so good I actually had to get up, turn on my computer, and type it up before I forgot it.

And today I got to work on it. Just some trial shots to see what I could come up with. Still a long way to go to get this concept to materialize, but it's on a roll. We'll just have to see what comes out in a couple of weeks...

Look at that, I just noticed... I hit 50 photos today.

49 - Idea

2011-02-18T20:18:00.000-06:00

Seems someone had an interesting idea for Valentine's Day

48- Fluffy white clouds

2011-02-17T20:19:00.000-06:00

Saw some fluffy white clouds on the way to work today.

47- Cloudy summer

2011-02-16T20:12:00.001-06:00

It's been a cloudy past few days. Cloudy and cold. Maybe not as cold and december, but surely not what you'd expect by this time in February.

Something tells me this is gonna be another one of those years where it never does go completely sunny, and the clouds just kind of hang around until it starts to rain in May.

46- Traffic, again.

2011-02-16T20:07:00.003-06:00

Ok, someone remind me why it's such a good idea and so entertaining to get to work in a car?

45- That day again....

2011-02-14T20:33:00.001-06:00

So, how'd I celebrate Valentine's Day? I had myself a cupcake... and celebrated that I could just sit back and enjoy watching the rest of the world get stressed out over flowers, teddy bears, greeting cards, dinner reservations... and the likes...

44- Coming soon

2011-02-13T18:26:00.002-06:00

In about a year and a half, there should be a huge shopping mall here...

43- Coding

2011-02-12T23:26:00.001-06:00

There's this software that they got at the office about 2 years ago, promised heaven and earth... in the end we got something like 50% of what the salesman promised... figures.

So we've been suffering to get it up and running ever since. The way it's built, you can't really be sure it's working correctly, you can only hope and pray that the numbers come out right the next time you pop up the report screen. And when something goes wrong, nothing to do but call tech support and hope they can figure it out in a week or so.

Well a couple of weeks back I got fed up and started playing around with the program databases to see what I could find poking around. This week, it turns out I stumbled onto the right solution, and the whole DB blew wide open.

And I've been writing code like crazy these past few days to see if i can make something useful out of the $$$ we invested in that thing. And so far it seems to be working. I've been able to write code that gives me the reports and screens I need, where I need them, and how I need them.

So that's how I've spent my day today. It's been at least a good 5 o 6 years since I've sat down an entire saturday to write code. And, at home they decided to have a party today, which made it all that much more difficult to balance things out.

But in the end I did balance everything out, and the program's up and running. I can't wait to get to the office on Monday and see what happens when I plug it into my desktop PC.

What a second... did I just say I can't wait to get to the office on Monday? Ok, that's it... I'm turning this thing off before I start to say even scarier things.

42- Second day of school

2011-02-11T22:18:00.002-06:00

The first day of the school year always wreaks havoc on the morning rush hour.

The second day... not so much.

41- How to get a crane up

2011-02-10T18:20:00.001-06:00

Once someone asked me how you get a construction crane up...

The answer´s fairly straightforward: with another crane =D

40- Irony of the fire truck

2011-02-09T17:55:00.000-06:00

One of those strangely ironic experiences you get every so often. I was riding home, and hearing a fire truck stuck in traffic behind me. Eventually the sound died out, "must have taken another street" I thought.

But a couple of blocks later I start hearing it again, louder and louder, it had managed to get unstuck. So the first thing that crossed my mind was "hey, neat, a fire truck!"... caught it just as it was going by.

So I keep riding home, and as I'm turning the corner I start hearing this backup signal... I turn the corner... and there's the truck parked right in front of my house.

Uhhhhhh.... hey neat, a fire truck... right in front of my house?

In the end it was nothing. One of the neighbors in front called in because they smelled smoke at their house, turns out they were burning grass clippings next door.

39- An elephant

2011-02-08T18:08:00.001-06:00

I've always been like an elephant when it comes to remembering stuff... well, stuff that's important at least. I'm one who literally doesn't forget a face, and often when I'm talking to people I'll bring up stuff, in full detail, that they'd forgotten decades ago.

Strangely, it seems today I was in more of a hurry than I thought. I got on my bike, rode out of the parking lot, and as I was crossing the street I noticed something didn't feel right. The wind didn't feel right, and my back didn't feel right...

Oh, yeah. I had taken off my backpack to unlock my bike and put on the digital speed thingy, and had left it there, in a table in the corner of the parking lot.

Fortunately 30 seconds later I was turning around and heading back. I don't think anyone would have wanted my backpack anyway. It's been with me like 10 years, and is so beat up, the only value you'd get out of it is sentimental value.

38- Hair!

2011-02-07T18:00:00.000-06:00

After doing the trees shot yesterday, I noticed something weird: this strange diagonal line going through my viewfinder. The line was there, clear as crystal, but it didn't show up in any photos. That gave me a pretty good idea of what it was.

And sure enough, upon removing the lens and looking inside, there was a big old hair on the viewfinder prism. Must have fallen off the brush and into the chamber, and rolled around until it finally settled on the viewfinder. A couple of shots from the blower was enough to get it off.

37- The memory of trees

2011-02-06T19:39:00.001-06:00

Trying to do the initial conditioning of my new camera battery, so I need to run it down to about 25%. Now, most batteries come factory pre-conditioned, but mine being a noname chinese battery and on top of that having cost me only $10, I don't think so.

So I set it to shoot all afternoon, every minute. And even then after 5 hours I had only used up one line on the battery meter. These things last long.

So I went to long exposures,and I'm having a bit more success using those. I'm down to 50% battery after having shot a full hour in 30 second bits. From what I hear long exposures are notorious for eating up battery power. So I should be about done and ready to recharge in a few hours.

Interesting thing I read today, BTW, is that Li-Ion batteries don't like it if you store them fully charged. Seems that storing them at around 40% is the ideal scenario to maximize their useful life. You take them down to 40%, store, and recharge before each use.

But, I've been storing my D80 battery fully charged and to be perfectly honest it's still going and going after almost 3 years. Then again, it's always in the camera so the standby mode very gradually (and I mean very) wears it down, guess that must help somewhat to keep it in good condition.

Problem is now that I have 2 batteries, there's always one that's going to be stored, and will need periodic exercise and care.

36- Spiders

2011-02-05T19:19:00.001-06:00

February 5, 2011

Took a quick trip to the Pacific side today. Along the way I found myself some spiders hiding out in a corner.

I'd always thought these were called daddy longlegs, but from what I'm reading on Wikipedia, that's one of those generic, erroneous names that can refer to a bunch of unrelated spiders. Formally these guys with the small round body and long legs are known as harvestmen, or Opiliones if you want to get really formal.

And these in particular I had never seen before. I'd always seen the round black ones, but looking at the macro I'm noticing these are shaped more like a tin can... or like one of those spider robots you used to see on the sci-fi cartoons.

Tried to point out specifically what it was, but I couldn't find it. And from what I read, there's really not a whole bunch of research on Opiliones. I imagine there's even less on opiliones in the tropics.

35- Altitude work

2011-02-04T20:35:00.001-06:00

They were fixing the siding on one of the University buildings this morning. Which meant my usual biking route was cut off and I had to go around.

34- Intervals

2011-02-03T18:49:00.000-06:00

Playing around with the intervalometer to see what it can do... 30 shots over 30 minutes at dusk. Couldn't catch the sunset today unfortunately.

Arrived finally!

2011-02-02T19:26:00.002-06:00

I stopped by the post office today to see if by any chance my intervalometer had arrived. Sure enough and to my surprise, it had. All the way from Hong Kong, took about 2 weeks to get here.

Despite being shipped in one of those big document envelopes, it was well wrapped in bubble paper and came through just fine. And frankly, the price compared to the Nikon originals was quite a bargain. Makes me think about buying more stuff Hong Kong direct.

I'll try out the intervalometer this weekend, see if I can get some interesting time lapse photos.

Climbing hills

2011-02-01T19:33:00.000-06:00

Took an alternate route home today, had to do quite a bit of hill climbing. The problem wasn't really the hills being steep, but rather them being long. The downhill part was pretty fun, I managed to hit 45 Kph before having to tap the brakes on a blind turn. I figure I could have hit 50, but during rush hour I'd rather skip that trial =)

Thinking about...

2011-01-31T18:46:00.002-06:00

Guess you can imagine what was on my mind this afternoon.

That, after I read a sign on the cart that said one box of McDonalds fries is equal to 16 rolls... =D

#Expo365

2011-01-30T18:41:00.001-06:00

Went to a photo expo this weekend, where the topic was two photo diary projects done in 2010...

Sure hope someday mine is up for show somewhere =D

The Tron Light

2011-01-29T18:30:00.002-06:00

I had a problem. I usually work at my PC under low light, to keep the glare from the windows off the screen. And since I have a wireless keyboard which sits on my lap, the shadow from the desk makes it impossible to see the keys. Aside from that they keyboard itself is black, so that doesn't help much.

It makes it annoying to find the PageUp/PageDn keys and tell them apart from Insert and Delete since they're all bunched together. I figured I needed a keyboard light. So I came up with this one. I found some high intensity blue LEDs which seem to tolerate 6V real well, chained them together and put them in a piece of plastic network conduit I had left over. And the Tron lamp was born.

It runs off 4AA batteries, although I've managed to run it just as well off 2 button cells. I like the AA because, according to my calculations, I should get about 15 hours of light before needing to recharge. I doubt I could get that much out of the button cells.

The light is ok. It's not something you'd want to operate someone under, but it's good enough to let you find those lost keys in the dark. I also tried red light, unsuccessfully (LEDs were too dim). White LEDs could be nicer, but they were out of those at the store and you wouldn't get that cool blue glow.

Total cost for the whole thing was about $2. Mainly the LEDs and a couple battery holders. Plastic channel and batteries were free, since I had those around the house.

Squeak Squeak

2011-01-28T07:46:00.000-06:00

My bike seat is making this annoying squeaking noise. And it's coming from the seat itself. In fact it's so loud people on the sidewalk notice it as I'm riding past.

Problem is the seat has no moving parts to oil. And I've already taken care of all the pressure joints where things come together, and it still squeaks.

I figure the glue must have come loose somewhere, and when it moves, it makes that squeaking noise. Gonna have to see how much I can take the seat apart in order to get oil into the right place.

So... what's for lunch?

2011-01-27T21:04:00.002-06:00

Well, today's post is probably going to sound like something out of a self help book, but what the heck.

So, I came home and opened the refrigerator at 8 PM, to get the ingredients for tomorrow's lunch. And what should I find? Uh... nothing. The chicken I had left out was gone, seems someone had beaten me to it.

I checked the other side of the fridge, and there was chicken there, but it was more like a collection of chicken popsicles. If someone had broken in right at that moment, I could have probably beaten them to death with that frozen chicken.

So in the middle of the dilemma of whether to pack a can of tuna, change out of my pajamas and head out to the supermarket, or stop at the first fast food restaurant I could find on the way to work, I decided, none.

I figured it was better to think outside the box for a second. And so with all the love and care in the world I cut up 3 onions and a bell pepper, ran them through some olive oil and seasonings, and put them on the stove. And 15 minutes later I had myself a heaping bowl of onions and bell pepper. Which in the end turned out to be exactly what I wanted. In fact I had to stop myself from eating it right then and there.

And the chicken can stay in the freezer, for all I care.

I guess the moral of the story is, I like onions. I'm the kind of person who will actually consider eating 3 whole onions for lunch, if they're cooked the way I like them. =)

Lights.... on

2011-01-26T19:46:00.001-06:00

And the stoplights are back...

Lights.... off

2011-01-25T19:26:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I was coming home and realized that the stoplights at this intersection had turned off. I was kind of expecting them to be fixed this morning, but they weren't.

Riding back in the afternoon, the stoplights still weren't fixed, and everyone was managing to cross in whatever way they could. Personally I decided to walk across, this time.

Palm salad

2011-01-24T19:23:00.000-06:00

Came home and found a misplaced jar of heart of palm in the refrigerator. Turned it into a palm salad... problem solved..

Car wash

2011-01-23T17:33:00.001-06:00

Went to get my car washed today, finally. Normally I just wash it myself, but today I decided to let the machines do the work.

Beach house

2011-01-22T21:41:00.001-06:00

Spent the day designing a beach house. Had a real interesting design going, with a slanted roof designed to capture the afternoon sea breeze and channel it into the living room for natural cooling.

Unfortunately it got tossed because the owner wanted a second floor bedroom. With a deck. Which later got tossed too.

So, in the end, not much of my original self ventilating design is left.

Silent key

2011-01-21T19:45:00.002-06:00

Had a run in with an old acquaintance today, maybe not in the way I would have liked though.

Roberto McLean Perez was your version of a modern day DaVinci. He was a lawyer with a PhD, an MBA, an actor... and if it came down to it, he could probably beat the crap out of you any old day, being a 10th dan black belt.

Along the way he made it into ham radio, where our paths crossed a couple times. Then I never saw him again, he got a lead role in a local indie film and from then on, vanished from my scanning ranges.

Until today. It's always sad to see a ham go silent. And to think that every day there's less of us left to fill the airwaves.

I was reading Joe McNally's blog the other day. He had a post on this same subject... only Joe got to speak from up front this time, sadly.

I think it's a post everyone with a camera should read. One of those bits of knowledge that you don't come by so often, and that can really make a difference in how you go about your photos. In retrospect, I wish I had gotten that particular bit a few years back, when McLean was still around.

Traffic

2011-01-20T18:47:00.001-06:00

Sometimes traffic makes me very happy about riding a bike to work.

Nemesis

2011-01-19T18:46:00.000-06:00

This one's got to be my commuting nemesis. About a year back they repaved the street, marked the manhole for elevation... and they never elevated it. They did the same with 2 other manholes that are further up the hill. And it's located precisely at an intersection where there's always a car or two waiting to turn.

So in the afternoon, in the middle of all that, as you're flying down the hill on your bike if you're not careful you'll hit one of these and do a real nice job on your wheel. Hit it fast and hard enough, and you'll probably have to retrue.

I've learned to avoid them, and now I'm making the turn at the top of the hill and my mind's already going "ok, where's the pothole". So they won't be getting me anytime soon.

New paint job

2011-01-18T18:46:00.000-06:00

Look at that, they gave Physics a makeover. Given my short attention span, I figure it probably happened around 6 months ago... and I just happened to notice it today xD

Windmills

2011-01-17T18:41:00.001-06:00

Going past the university a few weeks back, I noticed they put up these wind turbine thingies. Looks like some kind of a wind generator to me. Not sure if it's generating or not, at least it's swaying back and forth. I'll have to drop in one of these days and see who's behind this idea...

Get 'em before they're gone

2011-01-16T18:40:00.001-06:00

Spent the day photographing more old stuff to sell online. The house remodeling job is supposed to start in February (though I have my doubts), which means I'll need to get all the dust-sensitive electronics out of here. Figure the less I have to carry around, the better.

Trolls

2011-01-15T10:56:00.000-06:00

And there's another troll that seems to mess up my house every so often as well.

Paperwork

2011-01-14T10:55:00.000-06:00

Isn't it surprising how you clean up your desk, and 2 days later the papers have all magically come back? It's like there's a troll that comes by at night and puts new papers in your inbox, and shuffles the rest on the way out.

Christmas decorations

2011-01-13T10:55:00.001-06:00

And they're still holding out on taking down the Christmas decorations at the office...

iPod shopping

2011-01-12T19:50:00.000-06:00

Went ipod shopping for a friend today. She didn't know enough about ipods to pick one out... I knew even less, but was willing to read up on the subject, so I got the task assigned to me in the end.

Clouds

2011-01-11T19:35:00.002-06:00

The clouds made for some interesting pictures today.

New jacket

2011-01-10T19:34:00.000-06:00

Got a new jacket today. Unfortunately so did everyone else who works in engneering, all over town. It's going to be interesting the day we all meet up at a project wearing the same jacket =D

Volcano trekking 2

2011-01-09T19:33:00.000-06:00

More volcano trekking today... took a good 2 hour long walk around the park, but, the clouds still didn't get off the volcano.

Volcano trekking 1

2011-01-08T19:33:00.000-06:00

Did some volcano trekking today. First stop on the trip went great... not a cloud in sight at the crater.

Second stop wasn't so hot. Spent all night waiting, and in the end the clouds didn't clear up. Visiting a volcano here is like that, a hit or miss kind of thing. You can make the 5 hour drive in the middle of the dry season, only to find the clouds aren't going away anytime soon.

End of the C385

2011-01-07T19:32:00.000-06:00

Well, that's the end of my Motorola C385. It's been stuck in a drawer for about 5 years now just in case I should need it. I decided to try it out this morning, and found the battery was dead and wouldn't charge anymore.

Unfortunately stores don't carry C385 replacement parts anymore, and it's less expensive to get a new phone than a new battery off the internet.

So I guess it's end of story for my old phone.

Detour

2011-01-06T19:31:00.001-06:00

Took a detour off my usual bike route today, to see what was going on at the flag...

I wonder

2011-01-05T19:08:00.001-06:00

I wonder if anyone's actually managed to get smacked by one of those things by walking underneath it and thinking it's going to detect them.

Keeps going, and going and going...

2011-01-03T23:09:00.000-06:00

Either the gratuitous amounts of caffeine during the holiday break caught up with me, or getting back to the office after 10 days off freaked me out. Because it was 12 AM and I was still going, and going and going...

And that's a wrap

2011-01-02T19:57:00.001-06:00

And, with this one, I declare my holidays officially over...

Hill climbing

2011-01-02T19:17:00.001-06:00

And this is where 2011 starts

2011-01-01T22:13:00.001-06:00

And this is where my year starts off. Downtown, looking for an interesting photograph a little while before sundown. Funny thing, I have yet to find a place that offers a nice panoramic view of the downtown area and doesn't require 50 releases and permits to let you in.

Summer seems to be back, I hope. Not a hint of a drizzle the whole day today. Temps are back around 20C, and I can finally walk around the house without that huge winter coat.. In fact this morning I actually had to get out of bed and open up a window... it was that hot.

Tomorrow's the last day before I have to hit the office again on Monday. Gotta find a way to make the most of it.

Early Resolution

2010-12-31T21:52:00.001-06:00

Early New Year's Resolution: I will post a selfie and regret it the next day.

Check =D

Fireworks

2010-12-30T22:07:00.000-06:00

Caught some fireworks on the way home, after an improvised trekkie gettogether =D

Uh oh

2010-12-29T21:45:00.001-06:00

Started the ritualistic unpacking of the gifts today. Get 'em out of the packages, try on everything and see that it fits, toss the plastic bags and stuff. Took the shrink wrap off the cologne... and it started dripping. Uh oh.

Seems the bottle took a pretty mean hit and cracked. Good thing it cracked and didn't smash into 3 pieces.

Spent all of the afternoon looking for a good replacement bottle. Supermarkets, wal-mart, I went everywhere... not a single one. Incredible. Not one store had a glass bottle, jar, or container that was airtight and not 2 gallons too big. Finally found a sauce bottle that was just about the right size and it would have to do. Only thing I need to do now is plug the hole to kill the evaporation factor.

The big problem? My whole bathroom smells like this stuff now. And the smell is not going away anytime soon.

Tamales and eggnog

2010-12-28T20:35:00.001-06:00

Tamales and eggnog... I am going to hate myself in January =)

Holiday bullfights

2010-12-27T20:34:00.000-06:00

Played video games for most of the day, and then at night I watched more of the holiday bullfights.

Now, before anyone gets on a rant about how awful bullfighting is, I should point out ours are a bit different. Kinda backwards in fact. See this reference video for a better idea of exactly where the fun is in our bullfights.

If anyone's curious, they're streaming every day starting at 0300 GMT, here and here. Which one works depends on the day of the week, since streaming alternates between one site and the other.

A sugar high gives you the strangest ideas

2010-12-26T20:05:00.002-06:00

Of course I tried on the socks I got for Christmas.... the very next day in fact! =D

Presents time

2010-12-25T23:04:00.000-06:00

Christmas Presents time... yay

Seasons greetings

2010-12-24T19:51:00.001-06:00

You can't really tell a story without people, big and small, who helped make 2010 the year it was...

So to everyone out there who became a part of this particular story, Merry Christmas....

Present wrapping day

2010-12-23T19:56:00.001-06:00

Present wrapping day

Gonna learn...

2010-12-22T20:03:00.002-06:00

Hello, my name is Mario and I suck at drawing.

A pencil is a writing instrument. And the pencil universe as I know it ends at HB. Beyond HB, from what I know, is a giant abyss where people fall off the edge of the planet and into space. I once heard of 2B and even 7B, but from what I hear Stephen Hawking is still trying to figure out how to prove their existence.

Tell me to shade, and I'll have no idea. There's such a thing as shadows and stuff like that?

And don't even get me started on proportions. I can turn Marilyn Monroe into Spongebob without even blinking.

But, I promise in 2011 I'll get better at it =D

Team spirit

2010-12-21T20:50:00.001-06:00

Five years. That´s how long they waited to win the national soccer finals. They never seemed to get it quite right, until this year when they finally made it, and in the last seconds of the championship game.

Guess the owners of this shopping center were so thrilled by the win, they actually took down their flag and put up the team's.

$250 saves the day

2010-12-20T20:49:00.000-06:00

My computer at work broke last week. Some electrical wiring problem seems to have burned it out. So I decided to give my Motion M1400 a try as a desktop replacement. I took it to the office, plugged in the monitor, a keyboard, and a mouse. And so far, I haven't missed my desktop PC. Not to mention I have a whole lot more desk space available without a huge metal box on top of it.

Who would have thought, an old $250 thing nobody wanted on Ebay would come to replace my $800 state of the art PC, and actually do a good job at it.

Alone in the dark

2010-12-19T20:48:00.000-06:00

"No sir, I didn't see you playing with your dolls again" xD

Fruitcake and eggs

2010-12-18T19:24:00.000-06:00

One of those unusual holiday breakfast combinations

Highway christmas lights

2010-12-17T21:08:00.000-06:00

Highway christmas lights =)

Waiting for Steam

2010-12-16T21:19:00.001-06:00

Steam was unusually slow today, seems it had to install some kind of an upgrade. Anyway, I was waiting for Left 4 Dead 2 to load... in the end the wait got so long I actually had to get a book to read.

Mind the barrier

2010-12-15T19:18:00.001-06:00

I've always been one for freak accidents. Always the one that never smashes into another car at 50 mph, but manages to hit a steel post while parking in an empty lot. Or gets his windshield cracked by a pebble that flew 10m across the lanes on the highway.

I was riding home today and came to one of those automated traffic barriers that swing up and down. I've gone past it at least 50 times this year. But this time I somehow managed to lose my balance a few inches before it, and as I went left to balance out, I happened to nick the barrier with my arm.

Evidently, these things aren't padded just in case someone should nick them with his arm.

The barrier went bong and bounced up and down a bit. I stopped to see that I hadn't broken anything, and then got out of there pretty fast, before any of the 50 bystanders waiting for the bus could think of a wisecrack.

Am I hurt? Only my pride for the moment.

And the weather outlook is

2010-12-14T19:17:00.000-06:00

And the weather outlook for today is, cold. It's been really cold these past few days. It's stopped raining (still drizzles a bit at sunrise though), but the temperature is not going up.

Most people think that here since we have no formal winter, we don't get cold in December. Actually we do, weather patterns are global. Sometime around the middle of December it starts to get colder at night, and by Christmas if you don't have an extra blanket, you'll be waking up at night for sure.

How cold? The capital averages about 16 C during the day, and in some parts it can get down to below 10 C during the night. It might not seem that bad, compared to other places I've been where by this time of year they're looking at 10C from sunrise to sunset. But when you spend 11 months a year at 18 to 20 C, you notice those 2 o 3 missing degrees.

And I actually found myself taking the car to work nearly all of last week... because it was too darn cold in the morning. On Monday I decided if cold was an issue, I was going to be waiting until january to ride again. No way... a jacket fixed the problem, for the time being.

More like Christmas every day

2010-12-13T19:16:00.001-06:00

Even the christmas bargain shops on the street corners are back...

Hasn´t changed a bit

2010-12-12T19:16:00.000-06:00

Found an old photo on Panoramio I had taken near the university... about 8 years ago. Today I decided to stop and take a look at the spot on my way to work. Hasn´t changed a bit.

Christmas Shopping

2010-12-11T22:08:00.001-06:00

One of those fruitless holiday shopping days. They've been pestering me at home for like 2 weeks now to make a list for this secret santa thing. So I finally got around to it today. Seeing I had way too much stuff from Amazon on there, I decided to take a look at the local stores in case someone just couldn't figure Amazon out and needed locally available gifts.

Spent all afternoon looking around town, had to wait at least 20 minutes for a parking spot at the mall, and picked up all sorts of flyers and clutter along the way. And I thought I was going to get ahead of the christmas shopping crowd by going this weekend.

And in the end, nothing. Sure I got a whole list of ideas for that secret santa thing, but on the other half of the deal which was to buy the rest of the gifts I needed, I came out empty handed. Amazing, but there's just no good stuff available in stores. None of those gifts that you see and you just know they're perfect for someone. Checked the music stores, bookstores, stationary stores, everything you can imagine... and I just didn't see anything that clicked in my mind.

I probably need a couple days and a few more laps around town to start to see potential gifts. Good thing I've got about 2 weeks left to shop.

Tamales

2010-12-10T21:41:00.000-06:00

First hallmark of the holiday season here: tamales. Somewhere around the start of december people hit the local markets in search of cornmeal, pork, lard, chicken, peas, rice, and banana leaves... well, not exactly banana leaves but something like that. You season the cornmeal, make little cakes, stuff them with your favorite meat combination, put in a prune and a couple raisins, and maybe an olive, and wrap them up in the leaves. Boil for a couple hours, and here's what you end up with.

When do you eat it? Any time. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, coffee break... it's all good.

There's about 50 of them sitting in the refrigerator right now. And I'm almost sure that by the 25th, there's not going to be any left.

Are they something like mexican tamales? Sort of. Only in Mexico they wrap them in corn husks and use different fillings. Over there you can find anything from beef to berries inside. Over here we only fill with beef, chicken or pork... and maybe beans, but no berries.

Rolling fishbowl

2010-12-09T21:40:00.000-06:00

I've seen some pretty fun publicity stunts this year. Seems everyone was short on cash and they had to get creative in order to get people to buy stuff. One day I was waiting at a stoplight when I saw this huge number "5" crossing the street, chased by a giant "%" sign. The other day I saw 2 guys on bikes riding down the street, towing billboards.

And today I was driving home and this thing went past me. A fishbowl on wheels with an artificial beach inside, towing a jetski. I wonder what they'll think of next.

Wipe your feet

2010-12-08T21:39:00.001-06:00

Here's one of those ideas you see somewhere that somehow, nobody's come up with yet. Saw this one at a beach a while back, and the idea stuck with me ever since.

Problem with construction sites is that everyone has to make their way back to the office at least 15 times a day, and it seems the one thing everyone manages to do perfectly is track mud into every single corner and hard to reach place in the office.

Well, not on my watch. Step into the square, turn the valve, and twin jets at 40 psi will get every speck of mud off before you can track it anywhere. Add a 30 foot long walk to the office on top of a gravel walk, and you'll be dry before you can even think about getting my floor wet.

They didn't get it quite right though. I told them like 50 times: when you pour, I want you to stick 2 plastic brushes into the pour so the bristles stick out. In the end, they got the pour right, but they forgot the brushes. Darnit.

Let the holidays begin

2010-12-07T21:39:00.000-06:00

Ok, now that we're all good and weighed in, and nobody's pacemaker got fried... let the holidays and the food begin... =D