April 2006 Archives

From the drive to work this morning: Does this qualify as being riced up? I know there's no huge a spoiler on it but I was otherwise amused at how this Maxima had been modded-- probably because I drive a Maxima too.

I used to really be annoyed by people that would tailgate you, then pass you like they're in this big hurry, only to get off at the next exit within seconds of passing you in the fast lane. I used to always think, "Geez you were right there, you really didn't save any time being obnoxious and speeding like that."

But I might understand better now. People don't just drive fast because they're in a hurry or because they're obnoxious. They drive fast because they can, and because it really is FUN. I got into the habit this last month of just flying around the point of the mountain on the freeway. I totally enjoy just speeding up to 100 miles and hour and weaving in and out of the slow-poke traffic only to get off the freeway a moment later-- the acceleration of both speeding up and of turning and changing lanes is just a blast, especially when you have cool music to go with it (which of course, I always have cool music). And it is of course more fun driving a manual shift with 6 speeds than it is driving an automatic.

Yesterday I was frustrated with a couple things as I left work and found myself going 80 down a 50mph stretch of road-- I do think the music eggs me on sometimes. I suppose that was part fun and part stress relief (isn't that part of what fun is anyways?) I should get a radar detector or something, hehe.

By the way-- I still haven't been pulled over or gotten a ticket since I was 16 ;) (knock on wood)

I think it's funny how I've just gotten into the habit of telling people I'm just "alright" when they ask how I am (you know, the typical "how are you" hello at the office). Sometimes the response I recieve will be "just alright?" (Like "what's wrong?") Heh. So it's funny that I still say that even when I feel great. I suppose I do the same when I feel like crap... "I'm alright."

In answer to a question in my last post, here's the new camera I'm using as of last week:

Yes, red. Rockstar Red, as Canon calls it, though I don't think
that name does the color justice.

Except this is the European version-- so the text on mine says "Powershot SD30 Digital Elph" instead of "Digital Ixus i Zoom".

My last camera (R.I.P.) was the SD10, so this is 2 generations later. A brief review / rundown of the Powershot SD30:

Improvements:

• 5 megapixels instead of 4 megapixels


• Canon's Digic II processor


• 2.4x the optical zoom (probably one of the nicest improvements for me-- since the SD10 had no optical zoom)


• Cradle included for both charging the battery and viewing photos (has a video out and video cable)


• A small remote for viewing pictures when the camera is connected to the cradle


• The red version is HOT (it's available in 4 colors, Tuxedo Black, Glamour Gold, Rockstar Red, and Vivacious Violet)

Cons:

• Still no optical view finder (not a big deal, I'm used to not having it)


• No included stand-alone battery charger, must buy separately


• Only 1 MP upgrade for a model 2 years newer


• Small price premium for the size over slightly larger cameras

I bought this to replace my SD10 because it died, not so much because I wanted an upgrade (though you know I'm not complaining, right?) so it's not a huge deal to me that it's only a marginal upgrade in some areas. I think though the digic II processor, optical zoom, and cradle are very nice additions. I might need to buy a wall charger for recharging extra batteries while on vacation (kind of a hassle to bring a power cord and cradle on a trip, you know?). I will admit that for regular use the cradle will be a convenient way to charge (no fishing for the charger, taking the battery out of the camera, etc.) Also the remote only works with the cradle and only facilitates playback functions. I'd love it if this were a remote for releasing the shutter/taking pictures.

Of course we're still short on manual controls being that this is a small form factor point-and-shoot camera, but that's to be expected. There are a number of new modes to shoot with, though I haven't really tested them yet. The UI is very similar to the SD10 but it's smoother and has animated transitions. I like that when I'm reviewing photos on the LCD that the next photo fades onto the screen quickly from black (perhaps helpful when reviewing a series of photos that are extremely similar. Either way it's a nice touch).

I also noticed you can put up a 3-column / 3-row grid on the LCD to help you frame a picture/position your subject (so as to avoid good ol' bulls-eye syndrome).

The SD10 had become a drag simply because some of the navigation buttons had become unresponsive so that I practically had to mash them to get them to function. Inconvenient and takes the fun out of taking pictures (especially as I rarely used Auto mode and was always playing with exposure settings, the ISO mode, white balance, etc.). It feels like the buttons / control pad on the SD30 have been raised a bit, so hopefully this won't be a problem in the future with this camera.

I mentioned that I had a little difficulty focusing in macro mode-- I'm still getting used to it. The main thing is that with the new zoom lens (as opposed to the fixed lens on the SD10), the distance at which you can shoot an object is different depending on the focal length. In other words, if you're zoomed out, you have to be farther away from the subject to focus in macro mode than I had to be on the SD10. However, if I zoom in all the way I can get much closer to the subject and focus-- so it's just a matter of getting used to it: the minimum shooting distance zoomed out is 1 ft, while zoomed in it's 3.9 in (interesting huh? You're already zoomed in but then you can focus much closer. Maybe I'll think about why that is later).

The only thing this camera is missing is the next big fad for digital cameras: image stabilization. There's a new Canon SD700 IS which has image stabilization, but I didn't feel like the extra size or paying $200 more (though I wouldn't complain about 6 MP or 4x optical zoom).

Overall a very nice camera-- I'm excited to use it. It fills a specific purpose: it's very small, hence very portable / easy to have with me all the time for catching the odd photo-op. Macro mode is great too, whenever I want to get in close and pick up the texture of something. And it looks hot. Though that conflicts with the portability aspect as I'll have to try harder to keep it looking nice, kinda hard when it's always with you.

p.s. another plug for Macs: Safari (the browser) has built in spell check. Sweet.

Well it's good to have a camera again to take photos with. I am having a bit of trouble getting it to focus in macro mode-- not quite as slick as the old camera for some reason, bummer. Maybe I just need to get used to how it works.

Now I just need to commit to posting photos more frequently =D Heaven knows this summer will not be short on photo-ops.

This semester I've learned more about "unwinding". Not how to do it, per se, but that it seems to be necessary to a healthy night's sleep sometimes. I remember when I lived in Provo with Schmidy, I'd frequently find him sitting in front of the TV around midnight or so. You have to keep in mind that Schmidy was one of the hardest workers I ever knew-- totally diligent at his school work, didn't waste time, etc. So to see him sitting in front of the TV instead of crashing... well his response was that he was unwinding.

I guess back then I didn't get wound up much, whereas I do now. I wonder why? Have I just become more of an uptight person? Do I just care more about the work that I'm doing that gets me wound up?

So last night I decided to work on my final project for a class at the office instead of at home-- less distractions, etc. Then I needed to get up at 6am today, so I'm hurrying to get done to try to get to bed sometime around midnight or shortly thereafter. I get home just after 12, get ready for bed, and hop in bed.

And lie there awake.

Then I remember something in the project that I forgot to do. Rats, I'll have to try to squeeze that in first thing in the morning before I go anywhere.

1am, still awake. Oh well, hope of getting anything near 6 hours of sleep is shot (anything below 6 and I really wish I weren't alive the next day). Guess I'll set my alarm a few minutes earlier to make that change, makes no difference now.

I am not really sure if I really ever got into a deep sleep because the same things were in my head all night and when I woke up at 5:45am (15 minutes before my alarm was set to go off). So in a couple of hours I will likely be dragging my sorry butt... and as I was driving to work today I wondered, what do other people do to wind down? Because often I want to just stop / finish what I was working on, hop in bed, and sleep, and it just doesn't work like that. My mind is still far too active to be able to sleep. It needs to slow down first.

I don't want to watch TV to wind down. I don't want to surf the Internet, usually I'll waste too much time doing that. Maybe I should start reading, that always seems to put me to sleep. Or make a playlist of really soft relaxing instrumental music.

Any other brilliant ideas out there? Now that I think about it, it seems really counter-productive to be *anxious* to get to sleep. I guess it would help to not procrastinate projects-- I'm just annoyed that when I want to sleep sometimes I can't. (this may sound especially strange to my siblings who think I'm somewhat narcoleptic).

Meh.

Nothing like a day off in the Spring to lift one's spirits. I left the house this morning to a clear blue sky, warm air, and trees blossoming. I thought, I've got to see if I can get my camera working to take a picture of some of those blossoms... just to capture a moment of spring.

I love spring. A lot of people I talk to say that fall is their favorite season. I'll admit that the beauty of fall has grown on me a lot over the years, but subconsciously I know that it's the precursor to winter, my least favorite season-- cold, gray, and dead. I love how the seasons of the year are metaphors for the seasons of life, and spring brings with it a freshness and newness of life, full of beauty. In spring I feel alive. I feel free from the chains of winter, I feel alive, I feel like doing.

And I feel like taking pictures... and alas my digital camera won't budge. I charged up the battery again this morning and fiddled with it, trying to get the camera to turn on... once in a while it does. Not today. I realize how much I miss taking pictures. It's sad and ridiculous how much we take things for granted until they are gone. In about a week and a half this web site will be 4 years old... and it wasn't started for me to get on and ramble about nothing, that was just a perk of having it. I started it as an outlet for some of the digital photos I was taking. Is it any coincidence that I started taking pictures in the spring, and that spring is when I begin to feel the itch to take photos again after a dead winter devoid of motivation?

So as part of my day off, I spent some time collecting my digital photos and gathering them into one place so that they're more easily accessible, and chose a photo to display for today. Being as I have thousands of photos, I suppose there's no reason why I can't just post photos for the sake of posting photos... for no other reason than the look at them again. To find an appropriate photo for this beautiful spring day, I went back about a year. Without looking too hard I chose the one you see above, taken from the gardens at Turtle Bay on the North Shore of Oahu. I took nearly 500 pictures while I was there... let's see if I can do better this year :)

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if thousands of Apple fanboys suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

When I bought my MacBook Pro, my brother Steven had once question for me. "Can you play Counter Strike: Source on it?" Because without that ability, it was worthless in his eyes.

Yes, I get to have my cake and eat it too. And I'm sure hardcore Mac zealots have been throwing up in their mouths a little today, while the uber-geeks are celebrating.

In recent years I've become a much lighter sleeper than I used to be. I often wake up a number of times during the night, resulting in much poorer sleep / less rest. I snore like a champ (those who know me can attest), so the thought occurred to me that maybe I had sleep-apnea since my mom has it.

However, after reading this health article today it might be something else causing the light sleeping. I have the number one health issue that those with a "geek lifestyle" complain of. I hadn't thought that this issue was related to any of my geek-like tendencies... but it's quite possible:

Frequently the complaint is of light sleep or of multiple awakening throughout the night. Although this can be a symptom of depression, this is typically caused by poor sleep habits.... Lying in bed and watching TV or using the laptop are the worst. These stimulate the brain to wake up even more. If this happens repeatedly, the habit will be formed.

Damn that laptop and lazy surfing and those all-night LOST marathons, hehe. Who'd a thought that caused my brain to wake up more often than it normally would? Heh... it might also help if I slept in a real bed, eh? The body can be a strange thing sometimes.