I just had to post this because it’s so crazy…check this guy out!
Twenty years from now when we’re all using Macs (well, hopefully not) no one will know what this even means.
Loving Fast Lenses
Last weekend I took my Nikon D200 and my 50mm prime lens, the cheap F1.8 one, out for a spin. I’ve had poor (blurry) results from this lens in the past because I think I had adapted my shooting style leaning on the image stabilization in the 18-200mm lens as a crutch. The 50mm prime lens has no image stabilization, so if I’m not steady, the photos are blurry. I focused more on stability, and the photos came out fantastic – the early evening summer lighting was soft and glorious, making every shot look superb. Here are a few of my favourite shots from the shoot.
Turning on BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) in Windows Mail
I’ve been using Vista’s Windows Mail (the re-born Outlook Express) on the computers where I don’t want to have Outlook 2007 installed, and in generally it’s a pretty decent mail solution. I’m using IMAP so my email is the same on all the computers. One important solution I had to configure was using FolderShare to synchronize the /contacts folder between all my PCs so each PC had the same contacts. I wish Microsoft acknowledged and provided solutions for multi-PC households – they seem to have their head stuck in the sand when it comes to that.
At any rate, I wanted to email a bunch of people today and like any good, rational person using email I wanted to use the Blind Caron Copy (BCC) field to protect the privacy of the people I was emailing, and to lessen the chance of it being blocked by spam filters. So I start clicking through the menus, and nowhere do I find a simple “View BCC”. What the hell? I looked through the options, and even tried the help file. There isn’t a single result for the terms “BCC” or “blind carbon copy” (in quotes). Who writes these help files?
I finally turned to an online search and discovered that in order to view the BCC field I had to click on “All Headers” under the View menu. That’s absolutely inane – why could you have a UI element that doesn’t include the keyword that the user is looking for? To quote Monty Python, someone should be sacked.
12 x 12″ Paper and FotoFusion: A Great Combination
Since installing and reviewing v4 of FotoFusion, I’ve been really enjoying using it to create photo layouts – it’s amazing how quickly I can whip one up, and it’s equally amazing how quickly I can remove frames, resize them, and keep them locked into the grid so everything is clean looking. I ordered some 12″ by 12″ matte paper from an eBay seller a few weeks ago, and I decided to combine the two: creating a photo layout with FotoFusion and printing it out on the 12″ x 12″ paper. Here was the result:
This is such a fantastic way to create a unique, great way of remembering an event: I’m hooked and I suspect I’ll be printing many more 12 x 12″ prints in the future. I printed up several of these and gave them to a few of the people involved, and they all loved them. Scenarios such as this are when I feel I’m most successful with technology: when I can take useful software, a bit of photographic skill, a nice printer, and create something that people can cherish for years to come. That’s when technology works as it should.
Dell Kicked Out a Cool Commercial
We’ve all seen a lot of Dell commercials over the years, and let’s face, they’ve been as exciting as watching paint dry. The “Dell Dude” commercials were funny in the short term, but irritating in the long term. Dell has never tried to be hip or cool, and that’s for good reason: their products haven’t ever really been hip or cool. People have tended to buy Dell products because they provide good value for the money, not for how they look. Over the past couple of years they’ve started to change that with their XPS line of gaming and performance machines, and recently they’ve really kicked it up a notch with their launch of new Inspiron laptops and desktops. The laptops in particular have a nice “wow” factor with a choice of eight different colours, three different screen sizes, and all of the customizations Dell offers (CPU, RAM, etc.). But here’s what really caught my attention: I was watching a show on the SPIKE TV network and check out the commercial I saw:
Dell Inspiron Commercial
Uploaded by jasondunn
That’s completely unlike anything Dell has ever done in terms of marketing, and I think it works really well. Finally, a Windows PC maker trying something different! Catchy song, memorable video, and it shows just enough about the product to entice you to visit the site and check it out. The only thing I didn’t like about it was the Intel blurb at the end – it takes some of the shine off the commercial with that old and tired four-tone Intel branding. Dell mentioned Intel in the commercial, I don’t see why Intel had to also have their lame plug in there. Still, I think it works – what do you think?
The Importance of Laughter
It’s been a bad week, but laughter helps lift some of the clouds. Here are two videos on YouTube that gave me a good chuckle. The first is Chuck Norris reading some of the funniest (but cleanest) Chuck Norris one-liners.
This next one has a slight language warning, but it’s even funnier – it’s a David Blaine magic spoof, and the guy playing David Blaine is PERFECT because he eyeballs the camera just right.
Dealing With Sorrow
I find myself in a hard place at the moment. Ashley and I came back from vacation a few days ago and were told that a dear friend has been diagnosed with cancer. She had cancer in her eye a bit over a year ago (melanoma) but was told that they got it all and we were all thrilled that she was in the clear. She gave birth to a baby girl about two months ago, and she was embarking on a new part of her life. Yesterday we were told the cancer is even worse than they thought – the prognosis isn’t looking very good. Here’s the description in her own words:
“I’ve been told that I have numerous lumps in the occipital bone in my right eye cavity with one tumor pressing on my brain. I also found out that the cancer has spread to my spine and pelvis/hips. In additional, the cancer has also been located in my lungs, liver and another tumor has been discovered in my pelvic region. Right now, the doctors are doing radiation on my spine and lumbar region in hopes that I can get back on my feet, return home under palliative care and then research as to whether or not the cancer can be treated with Chemotherapy now that it’s spread to other organs. As for the original site of the malignant melanoma, which grew on my eye lid and conjunctiva in the corner of the eye…that’s not such a big deal anymore. Phew, no more worrying about whether or not I’m be a one eye’d pirate!”
As you can tell, she has a lively personality and a great sense of humour. In some ways I think she’s dealing with this better than everyone else around her is. I’ve never had anyone I’ve been close to die – I’m finding it very hard to deal with this. It’s hard to concentrate, it’s hard to get any work done, it’s hard to put what I’m feeling into words. I feel some solace that there are Christians all over North America praying for her and her family right now – I’m fortunate to know brothers and sisters in Christ from many places and I’ve emailed everyone I can think of to pray. If that’s also you, please pray. I believe in miracles and I believe in the power of prayer…but that doesn’t make the sorrow I feel hurt any less.
Being Sick Sucks
I’m so incredibly tired of being sick. A little over a week after I get over having the flu, wham, I’m knocked to the floor with a particularly nasty cold. Last week it started with a very sore throat (it felt like someone was pouring acid down my throat), that blossomed into a head cold with all the associated head-stuffed-up problems, then it moved down into my chest and now I’m coughing up a lung and all sorts of nasty-coloured globs of mucus on an hourly basis. Gross. I went on antibiotics as of two days ago, and I’m hoping it will start to clear up before I leave for a short vacation on Friday – there’s nothing worse than flying with a head cold. The pressure changes
What makes this particularly frustrating for me is that I delayed a few days on my HTC Touch video review, and then for the past week I’ve been unable to complete it because who wants to listen to coughing and sniffing on a video? Bah! I want to be healthy again, which is what I normally am – to be sick twice in a matter of weeks is unheard of. Stupid body of mine – heal thyself!
Vista Pain Point: Software Compatibility
As much as I like Vista, what I don’t like is waiting for developers to catch up and make their applications Vista-compatible. I still can’t get ACDSee 9.0 to work on Vista, and Adobe Lightroom is crashing regularly on me when I try to edit my RAW photos (which is bizarre because it worked fine for more than a month on the same hardware, minus a video card). I filled out an Adobe tech support request and Vista isn’t even an option on their list of operating systems. Vista came out at the end of January, making it six months now since release. I have all of my hardware working, but I’m still fighting with all sorts of software issues. There’s no solution other than to grit my teeth and bear it, but I’ve gotta’ say, my jaw is getting sore. When will the pain end? When will computing feel “normal” again like it did with XP? Come on software developers, catch up…
Wheels for the World Photos Posted
A couple of weeks ago, on June 3rd, the church I attend (RockPointe) had a fund-raising event for AIDS and extreme poverty prevention as part of a “Compassion in Action” push we’re doing as a congregation. They did it in an interesting way: they got together some of the most exotic and unique cars in western Canada, charged $100 a ticket, and put on a first-class event with food, entertainment, and an awesome assortment of jaw-dropping cars. Then then asked the nice (mostly) rich people who attended to reach deep and donate what was within their means. The final tally isn’t quite in, but at last count this event raised $115,000 – is that amazing or what? Calgary is such a financially blessed city, and it’s nice to see some of those people giving to a good cause. I attended the event and was the official event photographer. Here are a few pictures of some mighty lovely cars…
You can check out the full gallery over on my photo site, and you can even order prints if you like an image you see.