Richie's Viewfinder

Lightning 1, Tree 0

2009-07-01T22:39:00.001-04:00

Lightning 1, Tree 0
Originally uploaded by Rich Terrell

This tree was struck by lightning tonight at approximately Woolridge and Genito - it was so powerful that it blew parts of the tree all the way across the road into the far bank.

Pretty awesome force of nature.

Tilt Shift on the Cheap

2009-05-26T08:51:00.001-04:00

Tilt Shift on the Cheap
Originally uploaded by Rich Terrell

This was a random photo from our trip to Rome to which I applied a technique in Photoshop that emulates a tilt-shift effect.

Ideally I would really like a Tilt Shift lens, but they're all over a grand and thus are perpetually number 6 or lower on my top 5 things I'd like to buy.

The Photoshop effect is not as good, but it's a fun trick. It works a lot better with a photo that has a little more elevation, but this isn't a bad photo to try the technique out on.

Howard and Woobie

2009-01-16T10:06:00.001-05:00

Howard and Woobie
Originally uploaded by Rich Terrell

My mom bought Howard a toy for Christmas. I was a little skeptical about it since Howard is a little rough on toys, and this was a plush stuffed Chipmunk.

He ripped the eyes off almost immediately, and we took those away to prevent a nice big vet bill. But now he seems to have settled into this being his favorite toy to trot around the house with and occasionally bury under the pillows of the couch or bed.

Nostalgia

2008-12-29T10:35:00.001-05:00

Six sided die
Originally uploaded by Rich Terrell

I was cleaning up my study and in the process of putting a lot of stuff away, I came across some dice from role playing games I have not seen in decades.

This baby really saw some wear and tear. The die was really cheap to begin with, but still - the fatigue evident on the face and edge is fantastic.

And it fills me with nostalgia.

Eastern Bluebird

2008-07-24T08:14:00.001-04:00

Eastern Bluebird
Originally uploaded by Rich Terrell

This is a photo I took a few years ago in the backyard of our previous house. I'd like to get back to some bird photography in the near future; I have not really done that in ages.

This photo is refreshing to me on a hot day.

I am easily entertained.

2008-07-23T12:53:00.001-04:00

Howard with Woobie
Originally uploaded by Rich Terrell

This is Howard with his favorite toy. Every day when he gets home, he tracks his woobie down and then paces around and whines for 5-10 minutes because he can't find a suitable place to hide it.

This has so far never failed to amuse me. Even when I found the guest bed coverings completely strewn about and the pillows in a state of upheaval - because that really WAS a good place to hide the woobie.

Giada Junkie

2008-07-20T20:36:00.018-04:00

Lasagna Rolls
Originally uploaded by Rich Terrell

I spent a good part of Saturday afternoon in the kitchen, which is just a good time to me. It's like organic shop class. You get to work with tools, sometimes open flame, and on top of that you get to eat the results. That's a good time in my book.

I watch several food network shows, among them Everyday Italian, hosted by Giada De Laurentiis. The show appeals to me for it's subject matter - Italian cooking is easily my favorite style - and Giada is a good host. Not too bubbly, not too subdued. She does a good job with it. I made two recipes she had on recent shows (I can't remember if they were from the same show or not).

My last blog post was about individual lasagnas I had made in ramekins. These Lasagna Rolls are what got the individual lasagnas in my head in the first place. They came out really well, I would make them again for sure.

Espresso Panna Cotta
Originally uploaded by Rich Terrell

For dessert I made another Giada recipe - Espresso Panna Cotta. The main ingredients are milk and cream, espresso powder, sugar, and unflavored gelatin. So basically it's coffee flavored pudding. But Panna Cotta sounds ever so much more elegant. And it has very good visual appeal when prepared this way. I confess to buying martini glasses simply for this dessert, which is how they were prepared on the show. They really do look good this way.

Goldilocks Lasagna

2008-07-10T22:50:00.002-04:00

Goldilocks Lasagna
Originally uploaded by Rich Terrell

I was working out and watching the Food network today (bad combo - the combination of the food channel and the workout makes me hungry beyond belief). One of the recipes was a Lasagna, and I had an inspiration to make single serve lasagnas for dinner.

I went to Kroger and started throwing familiar ingredients in the cart that I knew would work out OK, even without working from an actual recipe. The beautiful thing about Lasagna is it's really hard to make a bad one. Some are better than others, sure, but there's nothing tricky about them.

I called the end result "Goldilocks Lasagnas" because, well, they're just the right size. Here's how I made them.

Ingredients:

12 Lasagna Noodles
1 lb Italian Sausage links
26oz jar of pasta sauce (I used a simple tomato and basil sauce)
16oz Ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan, plus extra for topping
2 large eggs
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a large cookie sheet with foil.

2. Spray the inside of (8) 4 inch ramekins with cooking spray.

3. Cook the lasagna noodles according to package directions and drain on wax paper.

4. Brown the Italian Sausage in a large saute pan over medium-high heat, stirring to crumble.

5. Add the jar of sauce to the crumbled sausage and simmer for about 10 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, mix all of the cheeses and the two eggs in a large bowl. Fold in the basil.

Build the individual lasagnas like so:

Put about a tablespoon of sauce in the bottom of each ramekin. Cut a piece of lasagna noodle (a 4" cookie cutter helps loads here for uniformity) and place in the bottom of the bowl. Put a dollop of the cheese mixture and another spoonful of sauce on top. Do that again and then top with a final piece of lasagna noodle. Put a little sauce, a sprinkle of Parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil on top of each ramekin.

Place the individual lasagnas evenly spaced on a cookie sheet, and cover with a piece of foil. Bake for 25-30 minutes, removing the foil for the last 5 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes and then serve with a salad and fresh bread.

Yum!

Orchard House

2008-07-09T08:37:00.002-04:00

Orchard House
Originally uploaded by Rich Terrell

This is the Bed and Breakfast that Jennifer and I stayed at over the weekend. The owners, Richard and Deb, were wonderful hosts. The room was comfortable, the grounds were beautiful, and the breakfasts delicious. Trifecta.

They are in a very good location for vacationing as well. Close to several vineyards, a new brewery, and Crabtree Falls. If you are looking for a reasonably priced B&B to stay at in the Charlottesville area, we would not hesitate to recommend them.

http://www.orchardhousebb.com/

Rabbits

2008-07-09T08:34:00.001-04:00

Rabbit (two)
Originally uploaded by Rich Terrell

Jen and I recently took a trip to Lovingston, VA and stayed at the Orchard House Bed and Breakfast, about 20 miles south of Charlottesville.

I'll post more about that in a moment. But one thing I loved about their property was the vast number of rabbits that turned up at the the edges of the grounds, especially in the early morning and just before susnset. When we were going to dinner one night we counted nine as we went down the 200-yard driveway.

Howard (Pink Background) #2

2008-07-02T13:16:00.001-04:00

Howard (Pink Background) #2
Originally uploaded by Rich Terrell

I was playing around recently with seamless backgrounds made of paper. I only had two rolls at the time, pink and white. I think he'll look a little better with some other colored papers I have gotten since then.

Pink is a lot of contrast, but a tad girly for Howard.

Howard and the Velveteen Rabbit

2008-01-08T16:08:00.001-05:00

Howard and the Velveteen Rabbit
Originally uploaded by Rich Terrell

Recently, Howard and I went to the 1st Anniversary party of the group known as the "Beagles of Richmond", which I found on meetup.com.

Howard has an absolute blast at these gatherings, socializing with his own kind, and I get to meet a lot of really nice people and their pets. Win/win :-)

At this latest gathering, Howard discovered a stuffed rabbit in the owner's yard. He held onto it for most of the day.

Max likes running water

2007-12-26T09:10:00.001-05:00

Maxie
Originally uploaded by Rich Terrell

While my friend Aaron is on Christmas vacation in the Midwest, I am looking in on his cat Max periodically.

Max is a very social cat, and is a pretty garden-variety specimenm of tabby in most ways. But he does have one idiosyncrasy that I had not seen in a feline before.

Max prefers to drink running water. The first thing he does when I get to the house is run to the upstairs bathroom and sit on the sink, meowing like a maniac. As soon as I turn the faucet on, he is very content and purrs between sips.

I need more lights

2007-12-07T08:16:00.001-05:00

Izzy
Originally uploaded by Richieland

This is Izzy, the dog of a friend of mine at the SPCA. The SPCA has really cool business cards - staff members can have a picture of their pet in the lower right-hand corner. Yesterday I took photos of about 9 pets for their owners' cards.

In order to put these photos on a card, the dogs need to be photographed on a smooth white background - the best available being bright white paper. This creates a seamless effect, where the subject can be clipped out.

I really need to have one more light to do this right. I only have one studio light, and then a regular flash. I can get accepatable results with that combination, but I could do a whole lot better with one more light to drown out the shadows.

Howard and Wilson

2007-12-05T08:21:00.001-05:00

Howard and Wilson
Originally uploaded by Richieland

This is Howard playing with his new friend Wilson. While they appear to be locked in mortal combat, I assure you they were just playing.

Howard met Wilson at the Beagles of Richmond meetup group this month. I ran into them one day at Stony Point (when you run into a pack of 15-20 beagles at a mall, you know something is up), and I knew I had to bring Howard to their next get-together. They meet twice a month for some good Beagle (and human) socializing.

Howard had such a good time. He ran faster than I have ever seen him run, and socialized really well with all of the other dogs. It was a really good time. I am betting we'll become regulars.

Back to the Birds

2007-12-03T15:06:00.001-05:00

Cedar Waxwing
Originally uploaded by Richieland

I have not taken many bird photos in the past year. While out on the River with Howard the Wonder Beagle (more on him tomorrow) I had a chance to photograph a few.

This is a new bird for me - I do not think I have ever photographed a Cedar Waxwing before. So that's a real bonus. There were several of them at the west edge of Belle Island in downtown Richmond.

Richmond Cityscape

2007-12-01T19:59:00.001-05:00

Richmond Cityscape
Originally uploaded by Richieland

OK, my blog might get a good revitalization after all. Maybe the "Bolg this" button has always been in Flickr, but I sure don't remember it. Regardless, the one annoyance to me of the blog was linking images - it was just too painful from the blogger side.

But with Flickr, I can create the blog entry from this side and it formats pretty well - and more importantly it is quick. If blogging is not easy I simply won't do it.

So here is another image from today - a wide angle of the city using a 10-22mm lens. I really like it a lot - it takes pretty amazing landscapes.

Howard is wiped out

2007-12-01T19:24:00.001-05:00

Howard wiped out
Originally uploaded by Richieland

Howard and I spent most of the day out and about. We went to the James River (around Browns Island for several hours, and then went to the SPCA. That kind of stuff really wipes him out. After we got home he pretty much immediately made himself comfy on the couch.

I went upstairs to the study to download photos, and he usually follows me - but not this time. When I came downstairs, this is how i found him.

Frogs Aplenty

2007-09-11T22:52:00.001-04:00

When I arrived home tonight from a photo group meeting, there were about a dozen frogs in front of the garage door.

I have no idea what they were doing there - I guess the light attracts them. The silly thing I did then was to open the garage door to get into the house. Most of the frogs headed for the grass, but two of them decided to come inside.

I spent about five minutes chasing them down and evicting them, and then took this photo of one of their cohorts.

Dog Rescue

2007-09-08T15:17:00.000-04:00

Today I transported three dogs from Farmville to Richmond. Usually the most I will transport is two dogs - as I only have two crates. This time, I decided to be a daredevil and take three - one each in crates, and let one of the dogs ride free. My main concern is that a dog will have an accident and won't be confined, but I reasoned that I could keep the third dog confined to the back of the car, where there is a rubber mat with an inch-high lip.

Well, things don't always work out as planned. Sprite was a Feist mix who rode in a crate and gave me no trouble. Homer was an adult Golden Retriever and also rode in a crate, but threw up about 15 minutes into our journey. So, when I pulled over, I put Brianna (shown in the two pictures here) in the front seat while I tended to the mess in the back. I felt bad for Homer - he looked very ashamed of himself, but I don't blame him for tossing his cookies. It's a stressful day for most of these dogs.

Once we were back on the road, I did not see any reason to put Brianna back in the rear of the car. She was extremely well behaved, and seemed to enjoy the comfort of riding up front. So she became my co-pilot for the rest of our journey.

Some lessons I learned - always put the tarp down across the entire back of the car - the lip on the metal crate that Homer was in had no chance of holding in all of the food that came up. Luckily the mess was not too bad.

Lesson two is to get a third crate if I want to transport three dogs. I got lucky that Brianna was such a good rider. I may not be as lucky next time.

Sandy's Commemorative Stamps

2007-09-03T18:28:00.000-04:00

I wanted to create some stamps using Zazzle, a site that partners with Flickr. The timing of it was such that I ended up making 20 stamps of Sandy. She was always my favorite subject anyway, so why not make a set of stamps of her.

In order to avoid getting too emo here, let's discuss the margins on this purchase instead of the sentimental factors. I know many people that think paying a premium for stamps like these is somewhat foolish - that paying 41 cents for a stamp is bad enough, but paying almost double just to personalize it? Absurd!

I disagree. For one thing, I pretty much only use stamps for personal correspondence. There is only one bill I pay through the mail (and they are not getting this stamp, I assure you). So the remainder of my mailings I like to be as personal as possible. Why not have a custom stamp? The stamp is the only part of the letter that, previous to this possibility, I could not really control outside of the bounds of what the Post Office offered me. Now the stamp can be pretty much anything I want it to be. That's worth a few pennies extra.

Sensor Cleaning

2007-09-01T13:28:00.001-04:00

These are before and after images of the sensor on my camera, a Canon 20D Digital SLR.

I can' t recall if I have cleaned this particular camera before - I have cleaned the D60 (the camera I had before this one), but maybe not this one.

The dust really only shows up dramatically as you stop down an image - but it does get to a point where it is obvious even at F/8 against a blue sky. Especially that massive chunk in the upper left-hand corner.

The sensor is not perfectly clean, but it takes a bit of time to clean the sensor. It is a process that is tantamount to surgery, except I would not call it complicated per se. But you have to be very careful, keep everything clean, blah blah blah. And taking photos between cleanings so you can see what you are missing.

It's worth the effort though.

Lightning

2007-08-28T07:23:00.000-04:00

When I was coming back home late Sunday afternoon, I noticed that the sky across the lake was very dark, although the sun was shining down through my sunroof where I was driving.

I figured there was a chance there would be a lot of distant electrical activity, so I set up my camera on a tripod and ripped off several hundred shots. At this time of day, unless I am missing something, this is more about luck than timing - I just fired off a lot of continuous frames and got a few decent shots. This is the best of them I think.

Nice Little Saturday

2007-08-26T16:45:00.000-04:00

Jen and I volunteered to take two dogs from Charlottesville to Richmond this past Saturday. We decided to get an early start so that we could have brunch in c-ville and look around a bit.

I did a little bit of research (thank God for the internet) and found a good place for brunch called the Bluegrass Grill and Bakery. They were voted the best breakfast and brunch for 2007, so I figured they were a safe bet.

I wasn't wrong. Jen just had a egg biscuit (the biscuits are wheat - they're better with butter and honey or jam), but I had a Mediterranean fritatta that was really tasty - spinach, feta olives - and I had them use egg beaters because honestly I can't tell the difference in something like that. The potatoes that came on the side were fantastic. Kind of like what you get at Millie's in Richmond, but more seasoned than spicy. Very tasty. When we were about to leave, the couple at the counter next to us got their food. The guy next to me got the corned beef hash, and it looked realllly good. I am definitely getting that next time. Because I am definitely going back; I liked it a lot. Their prices were very reasonable (Our bill was $14.50 or so) and that's a good thing if you are not used to having plastic rejected - they only take cash.

Slight segue here - when I was trying to find a link for Bluegrass I came up empty - they don't have a website as far as I can tell. But I did find where C-Ville, the entertainment weekly of Charlottesville, made a Google map of their Charlottesville Best of 2007 list, similar to what Richmond Magazine does on a yearly basis. That's a handy resource.

So we walked around the outdoor mall area in the center of Charlottesville, and that was fun, although crazy hot that day. We both want to come back sometime when it is cooler, and we have a little more time.

We headed to the meeting place around 11:30 or so. The caravan was not due to arrive until 12:30, but I thought they might be early. Alas, I got a phone call on the way to the meeting spot - the van had run into some A/C trouble - they would not be there until 12:45.

Luckily, we are in Charlottesville, and there is a lot to do there. So we drove up toward Monticello to kill some time. I thought we might be able to see it from the road, but no such luck. Right in the same area though is Jefferson Vineyards. I had never heard of it, but there's a ton of wineries around that area. So we went in for a tasting and ended up buying a half dozen bottles of various whites. They were really pretty good. Especially the Vin Blanc.

Laden down with our wine purchase, we headed back to the meeting point, and the caravan arrived right on time. We loaded a very vocal Cocker Spaniel named Joshua, who was really very sweet, and Desi, who you see to the left with Jen. He's a Pekingese-Terrier mix, and was really quite a good traveller. Joshua barked off and on the whole way (really, how does he get to that decibel level) but it was hard to hold it against him. He was really cute.

After we dropped the two dogs off back in Richmond, we cruised on home for Greek Lamb Burgers and some newly acquired white wine. That is indeed a nice little Saturday.

2007-08-21T08:14:00.000-04:00

Jenny is growing a wildflower of some kind in a planter on the back deck, and the birds seem to enjoy hanging out in it.

I think this is a female house finch, but I am not really sure. Todd would know. The picture is a little over-exposed; the light was coming in hard from the left and I was not getting good detail out of the bird unless I opened up a bit.

2007-08-20T06:46:00.000-04:00

This is Coda, a Yellow lab mix. Jen and I trasported Coda and her two pups (photo uploading sometime later) from South Hill to Richmond as part of a dog rescue caravan.

This is the 3rd or 4th time I have done this - it's pretty rewarding, and always a different experience. Coda and her pups were great travelers. The puppies romped around for the first fifteen minutes or so but then they just dropped and started snoozing.

Goodbye, Sweet Girl

2007-08-14T07:13:00.000-04:00

I don't have the words to describe what it feels like to lose Sandy. I just want to make sure we remember her. We lost Sandy yesterday after a long struggle with keeping her kidney values in a reasonable range, but she finally went into failure over the last week. Through all of it, she was incredibly brave, and was the same sweet girl we have always known. The only thing worse than losing her would have been not having her these past ten years. We miss you, Sandy.

Fresh Market

2007-08-08T09:33:00.001-04:00

I was looking for a relatively obscure ingredient (creme fraiche, obscure for Richmond grocers anyway) and a fellow blogger recommended I try a place called Fresh Market - it's located where the Saxon Shoes used to be, on Parham across from Regency Square.

What a welcome surprise - it reminds me of a European market. You won't find paper towels or other basic stuff there, but what they do have is an unbelievable selection of produce and meat (the largest butcher counter I have seen in Richmond) and an amazing assortment of cheese/deli products. They also have a large selection of prepared stuff similar to what they have in the case at Ukrop's by the pound, but on a much larger scale. If you have not checked it out before, stop in if you are in the neighborhood sometime. I was very impressed. It is totally out of the way for me but I will certainly go back.

Richmond SPCA Slideshow

2007-08-06T16:43:00.000-04:00

I wanted to use a dynamic slideshow built on the Flickr API as part of my blog framework. In my searches I found the one you see above, Pictobrowser. It's pretty amazing. If you have a Flickr account, you can click on the info button in the lower right hand corner and get started making your own slideshow right now! It is amazingly easy to use.

This strikes me as a terrific way to share a lot of photos on a blog entry all at once - say, the collected photos from a trip or something - without having to actually link in several photos or provide a single link to a different site.

Even more interesting is that the slideshow is dynamically updated. So as I add photos to a set in Flickr called "Richmond SPCA", this slideshow is automatically updated. This post will always have the latest photos I have taken at the SPCA show first.

Richmond Magazine

2007-08-04T19:48:00.001-04:00

I can only remember one other time that I was given photo credit in a publication. About a year ago a photo of the conservatory at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens popped up in a Richmond Times Dispatch publication with my name on it. That was pretty great; I was not expecting it. The photo itself was grainy and small, and printed on cheap paper. But it was still pretty cool.

This month is a much bigger deal to me. The Richmond SPCA ran a 3/4 page announcement in Richmond Magazine, thanking the readers for voting them the best Non-Profit for 2007. Twelve of my photos were used in the ad, but even better - and very unexpected - I was given credit for the photos at the bottom of the page. That really meant a lot to me, and is definitely the highlight of the summer.

Snakes, Flowers, and more!

2007-08-02T15:09:00.000-04:00

My blog has pretty much languished as of late. That's probably not a big surprise to anyone familiar with blogs, a lot of them (mine especially) tend to go in fits and starts. But that's cool - the beauty of a blog is that you can bring it back from the dead even without those cool electrified paddles that you have to shout "CLEAR!" when using.

Last weekend, I went on a hike with my pal Todd and his girlfriend Tammy. I don't actually know where we went - I sort of trust Todd to use his fancy pants GPS device to not get us lost to the point of drawing straws to see who gets eaten first. I know we were in Shenandoah somewhere, but that's about it.

Part of the hike took us down to the remains of a compound that used to be a presidential retreat back in the time of Jefferson, Lincoln, or maybe Roosevelt (the first one). Honestly I don't remember. Once I saw the snake the park ranger pointed out, I sort of lost interest in the historical significance of the place - I just like wildlife that much more.

Off we go for more hiking! We were doing a down-up-up-down. That means starting on a downhill, two legs of uphill, and then finish on a downhill. Thank God. I like hiking, but I confess to disliking down and ups. I like to climb, climb, climb, and then finish coasting.

While we were hiking, we saw a lot of purple flowers like the one below. I used lens extenders to get a decent macro shot of them using a regular 'ol 50mm F/1.8 lens. An extender kit is a pretty excellent purchase, especially for the relatively low price point. And they are lightweight and easy to carry.

Very early on in the hike we passed a waterfall, a small one, that looked photogenic.

Thing is, it looked like a lot of waterfalls I have seen before. It wasn't very interesting to me. So I climbed the rocks behind the waterfall and found this little Lord of the Rings looking scenario happening:

To me this is just so much more interesting. Moss, mini-waterfall, rivulets of water running amok - this is really a scene worth taking a few photos of . And worth climbing to get to it.

Red Headed Woodpecker

2007-05-07T20:39:00.000-04:00

At our previous home we had lots of birds, and lots of woodpeckers. Red Bellied, Downy, Pileated, you name it. But we did not have Red Headed Woodpeckers. But we do now!

Interesting Industry Insight

2007-04-13T11:56:00.001-04:00

That's a lot of "In" !

So Google has a free 411 service now. I thought that was pretty interesting. Google being Google, I did not think much about their motivation - they are always doing interesting stuff.

Then I read this quote from an interview with Tim O'Reilly in Wired magazine:

Why did Google, for example, recently decide to offer free 411 service? I haven't talked to people at Google, but it's pretty clear to me why. It's because of speech recognition. It has nothing to do with 411 service, it has to do with getting a database of voices, so they don't have to license speech technology from Nuance or someone else. They want their own data stream.

That is pretty insightful - probably correct too. Just found it interesting. I never thought of that as the potential for what Google is doing - essentially using a free service to amass voice data. Pretty cool.

Misleading

2007-03-27T12:03:00.000-04:00

One thing I find fascinating about photography is that it can be quite misleading sometimes. This stems from photos being such a razor thin slice of a moment - when they stand alone, they can be completely out of context.

In the photo below, it looks like I am behind a ferocious cat, waiting to catch a snapshot of some delicious carnage when he decides to attack.

The simple truth is that Floyd (the cat in question) is in front of a mirror, and I am catching myself in the photo. I also caught Floyd at the tail end of a yawn; he is one of the most docile cats I have met.

The Other White Meat

2007-01-11T08:44:00.001-05:00

In an effort to eat right I have been trying to cook as much as possible at home. My favorite magazine, I think I have posted before, is Cooking Light. Each issue has something I am interested in, and the recipes, while healthy, are not bland. They tend to focus on fresh ingredients and spices to liven up meals that are low in fat and have a moderate amount of calories.

This last issue has a section focused on pork tenderloins, which I love. They are fast and easy to cook, and can be used in a variety of ways.

Last week we had friends over for dinner, and I made a Fig and Blue Cheese Stuffed Pork Tenderloin. This is one of those great dishes that look really fancy, but are really pretty simple to make, even though it was the first time I had butterflied and stuffed a tenderloin. The kids actually were not that jazzed for this; the blue cheese might be better suited to an adult palette.

Last night I made Pork and Vegetable Stir-Fry with Cashew Rice. This is simply excellent, and is very easy to make. It takes some time to make simply because there is a lot of chopping involved, but that is true of pretty much any stir-fry. Well worth it though. The fresh ginger and garlic really make a dish like this pop.

A new favorite for both Jen and myself though is a chicken recipe from the same issue - Chicken Tagine with Lemon and Olives . This dish is so good I have already made it twice. Served over couscous this dish is very satisfying and delicious. I am definitely hanging on to this recipe for guests. I looked up Tagine on Wikipedia, which redirects to Tajine. This is defined as both a Moroccan dish and a special type of pot for making this dish that is designed to return all condensate to the bottom of the pan when slow cooking on top of a stove.

Swim Therapy

2007-01-09T11:04:00.000-05:00

On Friday of last week I took photos of Huxley going through swim therapy at Paws to Swim. Like the grooming place in Carytown, they generously donate their services to the SPCA for special needs cases like Huxley.

I am emailing this blog entry, which does not let me attach images (or at least I can't get that to work). But the whole group of photos are here if you want to see a Bassett Hound getting his swim on:

http://www.pbase.com/richt/huxley_the_bassett_hound_at_swim_therapy

So far so good

2007-01-05T08:26:00.001-05:00

I am hoping this blog does not become some sort of fitness journal. That would be exceedingly lame. However, the truth of the matter is that not much else different has been going on this past week.

So far I am sticking to my guns. I have worked out five of the last seven days, and have eliminated empty calories from my diet (bread, rice, potatoes). From past experience, I find that is the easiest way for me to lose weight - simply stick to fish and chicken with lots of fresh vegetables, like a stir fry, or in the form of a salad. It is reasonably filling, and is low calorie and low fat. My weight is already down five pounds, but there is a lot of water weight fluctuation in there I am sure. I am more interested in seeing how much I weigh at the end of the month as a better trend. But my clothes already feel a little better, and that is a good sign.

Take It Off, Richie!

2006-12-29T14:25:00.001-05:00

So here we go. The new year is upon us. And I need to decide what changes I am going to make. Because by God I am going to make some changes. I think that, for most people, there is no harsher critic than themselves. I am certainly not an exception there. For example, I doubt seriously that anyone sees more flaws in my photography than I do. Of course, I am not saying that critics would have nothing to offer. I just mean that the general approval rating is probably lowest when viewed using my own eyes. When I stop to think about it, that is sort of a bummer - I should learn to enjoy my hobby more.

But I digress - back to the topic at hand - New Year's Resolutions. I am going to make a few this year, and I really hope to keep them. I am trying not to think of these as resolutions so much as decisions - things I need to change for the long term, not the short term. The one change I am making that I hope to stick with above all others is a fairly serious change in diet and exercise.

I stopped smoking in 1996. That is when I remember starting to slowly put on weight. On my frame I carried it horribly - not a lot of it was muscle; I always had a runner's physique in the army. By the year 2001 I had crept up to a nice, hefty 235 pounds. I decided to aggressively try to lose weight. I remember what the exact catalyst was, too - I was wearing 36 x 32 pants at that point, and had recently outgrew them. I found out that most mainstream clothing companies did not make a 37 inch waist. I had to bump to 38. That seemed like crazy talk to me. I bought several pairs of 38 x 32 khakis anyway, but only because the alternative was going to work naked, and I was pretty sure that would A) cause nausea at the office followed closely by B) getting me fired.

Through aggressive weight training and a very good change in diet, I took off over 50 pounds, hitting a low water mark of 178 pounds, and wearing the same size pants that I had when I was 18 (32 x 34). And I felt a lot better too - I built up a lot of muscle and had a more balanced physique. Life was good.

Unfortunately, the weight has crept back up again over the last two years or so. This has primarily come about through lapsing in both diet (fast food, large portions, you name it) and exercising irregularly, although I have never really stopped working out. Which is a good thing or I would REALLY balloon, I am sure. So, what has happened is I have moved from 32x34 pants to 33x34, and most recently I made a purchase of a few pair of jeans that were 34x34. And there is my catalyst. I am not waiting for 235 pounds and 38 inch pants. I am going to address it now, while I am still at a weight that is not good (214 pounds) but not ridiculously high either. I put on enough muscle mass that I don't really need to get back down to 180. 190 is a much better target weight, and is fairly reasonable as a goal. If I can lose 1 pound a week I can be at that target weight by June. That would be a really positive change.

I hope I can stick to the eat-less-and-exercise plan as well this time as I did last time. And maybe maintain a little better too.

Huxley - a real trooper.

2006-12-20T07:41:00.000-05:00

Meet Huxley, a recent addition to the Richmond SPCA. Huxley has a broken hip, I think the cause may have been from being hit by a car but I never actually got that story straight.

Images like these are always a bit conflicting for me. On the one hand, it is heartbreaking to see a dog with this type of injury. They look ever so vulnerable. Being a Basset Hound does not help matters with those droopy and perpetually sad eyes. But the thing is, I always get a sense of hope from these images as well. Huxley has such a great attitude. He is a cheerful dog, with a very positive outlook. The photo below shows Tameka, a Richmond SPCA staff member, introducing Huxley to another dog, who I imagine is secretly jealous of Huxley's cool wheels.

Huxley has reason to hope as well - Tara (pictured below with Hux) will be working with Huxley in a rehab environment that will include swimming. I am hoping to get some images of this in the future - photos of Huxley working out in a pool sound too good to pass up.

That's an Idea Waiting to Pop

2006-12-15T06:17:00.000-05:00

Reuter's had an article yesterday in their 'Oddly Enough' Section about a new type of single serving wine bottle that is being put through a trial run in Australia by Hardy's, the country's largest vineyard.

The wine bottle is called the 'Shuttle' and has a plastic wine glass built into the packaging. I have no idea why this would be in their offbeat section. This seems like a great idea to me. There are so many 'no glass' events like concerts, outdoor festivals, etc, that this makes perfect sense to me. I can also see this as being particularly attractive to the airline industry.

I have tried their Chardonnay before - as far as table wine goes, or what you might expect in coach class on a domestic flight, it is just fine. Wine for quaffing, as it were.

Before and After

2006-12-14T05:59:00.000-05:00

There is a great dog named Jasmine that is up for adoption at the Richmond SPCA. She is really friendly, and shows a ton of love. When she first came to the SPCA she looked like this:

Then they took 'ol Jasmine to get groomed. Actually a company called Dogma in Carytown donates their services to the SPCA periodically, which I think is pretty great. They did a terrific job with Jasmine - the only way I even recognized her was her familiar way of tackling me and laying on the kisses :-)

Arizona

2006-12-13T22:04:00.000-05:00

Last week I was in Arizona with my pal Carlos from work, primarily for training. But we had a good time - there is a lot to do in the Phoenix / Scottsdale area both day and night.

I won't bore you with everything, but two particular things we did stood out for me. On Thursday of last week we went to the Desert Botanical Garden after class for an illumination event. This is similar to what Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens does here in Richmond, but on a larger scale, and with a lot more live entertainment in the form of music and even people dancing with fire!

This is not meant to disparage LG, of course, the simple math is that the Phoenix area has more people (and more money), which equals more donated funds, so the Desert Botanical Garden certainly has a deeper pool of resources to work from. Carlos and I were both very impressed with the lighting of the gardens, as well as the entertainment.

Class on Friday broke in the early afternoon, and I was jonesing hard for some hiking. Carlos was very accomodating and was more than willing to go along and check out what I had in mind - Lost Dutchman State Park in the Superstition Mountains. I posted in a photography forum asking for some input as to where I might go in the Phoenix area given a brief timetable, and this area came highly recommended from photographers I have a lot of respect for.

Lost Dutchman did not disappoint - this is a great park, and has the added benefit of closing at 10 PM, not dusk, allowing for good late shots while still well inside the grounds. While I have several images in full daylight, I appreciated shooting the desert landscapes even more at night.

My pal Todd would have liked this place as well, not only because he is an avid hiker - the bird action was pretty great the higher you got. I have no idea what this hummingbird is - I snapped a photo of him because A) he was there and B) he was eyeballing me :-)

I was very glad to get home after a week away, but trips like this are great - I don't know if I will ever get back to Phoenix again - if I don't I like to think I made the most of my time there.

I've Been Remiss

2006-11-22T06:05:00.000-05:00

OK, So I have been a bit remiss in posting to my blog. I have essentially taken a one-month hiatus for no good reason whatsoever except sheer laziness on my part. I am still taking photos of the animals at the SPCA on a weekly basis, so you would think I would at least have material for a once a week posting, but I have not gotten off my rear to do it.

So, with the holidays approaching, let me see if I can add a few things. The work at the SPCA is progressing well. I have started doing a little bit of desktop publishing stuff with my photography like making posters out of the animal images that has been well received there. That has been a really enjoyable experience. The only downside is that I am not taking photos of anything else. I am going to Arizona for work in a few weeks; maybe I can get something in there.

I don't really feel like my blog is compelte without a photo, so here is one of my favorites from the SPCA from recent weeks. This is Droopy. He is long gone from the SPCA, a quick adoption. A good thing, too, because I might have had to take him home myself.

Google does it to Microsoft again!

2006-10-20T06:24:00.000-04:00

If I was Microsoft I would not be worried about Google snapping up operating system people (OK, maybe a little worried). I would be worried about Google's Docs and Spreadsheets beta.

Originally this beta only supported spreadsheets, and I was of the opinion: 'eh...cute but what do I care." Now that they have added Word functionality, I am sitting up and taking notice. I have only scratched the surface, but I am fairly certain they are using the OpenOffice suite to power this application. Creating documents in a fairly clean web interface (that is certain to improve) and to then be able to download converted documents in any form you like - Word, OpenOffice, RTF, HTML - that is pretty great. And even better - this can be used as a converter to get your docs into PDF as well.

I'll be exploring this beta in a little more depth later I am sure.

Samson

2006-10-18T17:06:00.000-04:00

This is my friend Mike's new Golden Retriever puppy Samson. He's basically the cutest puppy I have ever seen in my life.

Crazy Delicious

2006-10-17T21:33:00.000-04:00

A lot of my posts are about food. I can't help that - I love to eat. Specifically I like to eat different stuff; I like to be adventuresome.

So my pal Aaron got me hooked on sushi a long time ago, starting first at Hana Zushi in the slip and then moving on to my new favorite, Akida, which is across from the science museum.

At Akida they have this crazy delicious salad dressing. It has a serious thai-peanut-ginger thing going that is just awesome. Pretty much every time Aaron and I go we marvel at it and voice our wishes that we could take a bottle home with us. Well damned if I did not find something at Ukrop's that tastes damn near identical to it:

Even better, it is on sale for about $2.50 a bottle. I need to go back to Ukrop's and buy every bottle they have off the shelf. It seems like every time I discover something I really like it gets discontinued.

For my pal Aaron I will include pertinent information he will want - the nutrition label.

Nothing too suspicious!

Fall Foliage or Housework?

2006-10-15T17:30:00.000-04:00

Housework pretty much won out this weekend. That's OK - Todd went to Shenandoah this weekend so I saw how cool it looked through other eyes :-)

This weekend I:

Hung 14 window blinds
Installed a ceiling fan
Attached party lights to the umbrella on the deck (sounds trivial; it isn't)

And once again took photos of the goofballs awaiting adoption at the SPCA. Always my favorite part.

Time To Get My @#$% Together

2006-10-13T17:27:00.000-04:00

I have not blogged in two weeks. We had a loss in the family, and that pretty much got me away from thinking about the blog for a while, and then once I stopped posting it was really easy to continue that trend. Sort of like working out, which I am also guilty of abstaining from as of late.

So I did two things today. I packed my gym bag for work tomorrow and I posted this blog entry. Both are things I want to continue doing, so maybe the one can motivate the other.

Except I would not hold your breath waiting for any before and after shots of me. That is not happening. You are probably relieved, and rightfully so.

Malabar

2006-09-29T23:09:00.000-04:00

So here I am being remiss abut my blog again and playing catch-up. I am writing this on Sunday but will back-date this to Friday using the post options (neat trick, that) to keep my chronology straight.

Friday was a stressful day involving family issues, so to unwind a bit we went to Malabar in the west end with my brother's family for dinner. Malabar is an Indian restaurant that is owned and operated by a couple that used to run India House in the city, and th new restaurant was favorably profiled in the RTD Dining Guide section recently. I ca't find a link to the review, but it was favorable.

The meal was wonderful - I forget the name of the fish dish I had, it was one of the specials, but it was excellent. The staff was courteous and friendly - I like a restaurant like that, where the proprieter will come by and talk with you a bit, beyond just exchanging pleasantries. Later during the meal I saw the host actually sit down for a few minutes with another couple that he obviously knew. It was a very friendly atmosphere with terrific food. We will definitely go back.

Next we want to try Emilio's, a Spanish restaurant that has opened nearby.

I love my day off

2006-09-28T21:01:00.000-04:00

I work a 4x10 schedule, so I consistently have one day of the week that is nothing but "Richie Time". I get to do whatever I want. So today I started the day by going to CanCan to get a cup of cappuccino and read the paper. Carytown is a much different place in the early morning. That great early-morning-nothing-is-open-yet feel to it. Shopkeepers out sweeping the walks, people getting coffee. Good stuff.

Next I went to the SPCA to photograph the new dogs and to get photos of some of the cats. This one is Crystal.
After that I went to Maymont and had a good time photographing Bumblebees on Salvia.

I finished up the day by playing World of Warcraft in the afternoon and making a whole chicken on the grill with Old Bay seasoning (tip courtesy of Mike) for dinner. That's a nice little Thursday right there.

Need for Speed

2006-09-27T06:29:00.000-04:00

I went to G-Force Karts yesterday for a friend's birthday. Man that was some good times. My pal Aaron and I once rode some go-karts after we played golf at Windy hill, but they were pretty slow by comparison. We had fun, but this was a far different experience. 40 MPH in a little cart feels really fast. We had a good time slingshotting around the track.

Anne's husband Brian was the obvious ringer in the group. He came in first for both of the heats we ran.

I suggested to Aaron and Anne later on that what the track could really use are some ramps at certain judicious points around the track (to get some serious air and potentially to pass by going over as opposed to around). This ludicrous remark sparked a discussion about some of the better features of the car in the video game Spyhunter.

Virtual Productivity

2006-09-26T09:35:00.000-04:00

Be prepared for this post to make no sense to you if you don't play World of Warcraft.

Over the weekend I leveled my main from 58 to 60 (woot), picked up a third piece for my Magister's set (the bindings) as well as a decent blue staff and leggings, joined a guild, and to top it off got attuned to Molten Core. I also picked up some interesting things to sell, such as a Hanzo Sword, which I found very ironic since Kill Bill was just on the night before.

I also leveled the alts a few times apiece. Good times :-)

Confoederatio Helvetica

2006-09-24T09:17:00.000-04:00

Have you ever noticed that there is never a shortage of stuff to be curious about? My recent curiosity was finding out why Switzerland's Internet domain extension is 'CH'. From my site meter of visitors, I noticed I had a regular visitor from what I thought was either Chile or China.

So after I figured out that the visitor was from a Switzerland domain, it was obvious to me that it was my cousin Janet. What was not obvious to me was where the 'CH' was coming from.

So it turns out that Switzerland's official Latin name is 'Confoederatio Helvetica'. This was news to me, although I recognize the possibility that I may have learned this in high school or college at some point and simply forgot it. According to Wikipedia, it means means 'Helvetic Confederation'. The use of Latin avoids having to favor one of the four national languages, I suppose in the spirit of neutrality.

Interesting stuff!

Lasagna!

2006-09-23T18:03:00.000-04:00

I love pasta dishes. Over and above all othe comfort foods, I will take pasta. Within this spectrum of dishes, I would probably choose lasagna as my favorite. The main reason being that since it is so common, people have written recipes to vary it in about a billion ways.

Jennifer and I had friends over for dinner the other night, and like a daredevil I served an untried dish from Bon Appetit.

It worked out pretty well. I would definitely make it again. The spicy/hot Italian sausage was a refreshing change, I have to admit that a lot of lasagnas can be kind of bland if you stick to the recipe as written.

SAUSAGE, CHEESE AND BASIL LASAGNA Recipe at Epicurious.com

Claw Your Way to the Top...

2006-09-23T08:52:00.000-04:00

...Of the Google rankings anyway. I did a Google Search on Richmond SPCA and was pleasantly surprised to find that my gallery of mugshots is on the first page. It used to be down on page two, three, something like that, behind a lot of articles and such.

These rankings are a tenuous thing though - I notice I am #9 right now, have been as high as #8, and have also watched it slip from the front page to page #2 at least once already. My only hope is to get people to put links on their pages to the gallery in order to drive up the ranking.

I have no idea why this matters - it is just another fun thing to keep track of.

Google Maps is Driving Me Nuts

2006-09-22T21:46:00.000-04:00

So I sort of have the Google Maps API figured out. Kind of. What it appears to have done is illuminate the limitations of the blog where customized code is concerned.

All scripting has to happen in tags that are outside of the body tags. The body tags wrap each and every post. So, the only map I could add to my site would have to be in the sidebar or perhaps the header. Not really so useful. And not something I really want.

The API is still pretty interesting though. I may experiment more with it in an environment I have more control over. I gave up my paid web hosting though, so I guess I need to go looking around for some free stuff.

Jersey Fox

2006-09-22T06:13:00.000-04:00

A lot of the dogs at the Richmond SPCA have interesting names. There is Clifford, who is a large Golden Retriever (Clifford the Big Red Dog), and Gaston (Because he is as energetic as a hurricane I suppose), and Frasier (who looks like the dog on the show of the same name).

This guy is Jersey - I have no idea what breed he is; he looks like a fox. But I do wonder where he got his moniker.

The Whole Needle Thing is Getting Old.

2006-09-21T07:00:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday my doctor had to drain fluid from my elbow again and give me yet another shot of cortisone. Man, that is getting old - that is a painful location to have a needle jabbed into you. I am hoping that this is the last recurrence of the bursitis I inflicted on myself 11 weeks ago. If this keeps recurring then surgery is in my future to remove the bursa from my elbow.

Drugged by the Sun

2006-09-21T06:28:00.000-04:00

Sandy is really enjoying having a yard where she can just sprawl out and soak up the sun. She has gotten to the age where she does not move very quick, but we still keep an eye on her when she is outside. She may not move fast, but she can wander quite a ways in her pursuit of interesting smells.

Butterfly on God Knows What

2006-09-20T00:01:00.000-04:00

This is a photo of a butterfly on some sort of flower at Maymont. I am trying to find out what the flower itself is - I have had some people speculate it is Lavender, but I am not sure. I thought Lavender was a lot more fragrant. If you know, or at least have a guess, post!

1600 ISO

2006-09-19T05:14:00.000-04:00

A lot of people I know in photographic circles rave about the relatively low noise produced at high ISO settings in the Canon series of digital SLRs. I have never really been that impressed with anything above 400 ISO myself, but maybe I am picky.

This past weekend at Maymont I had to use ISO 1600 just to get a fast enough shutter speed for the photo of the Fox below. Maybe I have been too harsh on Canon - I am surprised at just how little noise is in this shot. Then again there are other factors. The out-of-focus elements in the image are green, which make up 50% of the sensor pixels in a Bayer filter. And the in-focus parts are grainy in texture to begin with. So maybe this is just a best-case scenario. Either way I am still pretty impressed.

Dog of the Day

2006-09-18T16:13:00.000-04:00

This is Bruno, one of several dogs I photographed today at the Richmond SPCA. What a goofball. It is pretty hard to look at a face like that and not want to take him home with you. I think he is a pretty recent arrival, and I can't imagine he will be staying long.

Good luck getting rid of me - I'm staying.

2006-09-17T21:15:00.000-04:00

There was a huge bed of purple flowers in the Roman Gardens at Maymont. Right dead center in the middle was a lone red flower that was holding its own.

I just thought it was pretty spunky of him to not give in to the re-planting.

Richieland in French, German, Spanish....

2006-09-16T09:53:00.000-04:00

Just so I can have my own unique contribution to my own blog (that did not originate with Todd) I added a translator service. This, I am sure, is bound to be completely useless. I don't exactly have an international following. Who knows though - if I ever write something interesting, there is a chance that my cousin Janet in Switzerland might want to send it to a friend who only speaks German or perhaps even French or Italian.

So, if you scroll down and look on the right, you will see a link for Alta Vista's Babel Fish. Click on the flag of choice and off you go to a translated version of this page. Kind of neat - I speak very limited Spanish but have been entertaining myself by reading my own posts in that language. I am sure it is not 100% accurate, but it is still not too bad of a tutor.

Masonic Temple

2006-09-14T05:51:00.000-04:00

Just a photo of a cool building from when I was in Minneapolis.

All the cool %$#@ on my blog I owe to Todd.

2006-09-11T23:15:00.000-04:00

Flickr Badge.
Site Meter.
Gvisit visitor mapping.

Well, maybe not the blogger beta 2 stuff. I was the avant-garde party there. But the rest of it was stuff Todd told me about.

'Nuff said.

Customer Service is Not, in Fact, Dead.

2006-09-11T22:40:00.000-04:00

I am in Minneapolis on business for the next few days. A more accurate sentence would be that I am in Minneapolis on business by the good graces of a diligent United Airlines employee who I will now dub "Frank" (because unfortunately I did not catch his actual name. I am aware that this makes me a bit of an ass, since I am in his debt. It's not the first time.)

When I showed up at the airport for my 2:00 PM flight connecting through Chicago, imagine my dismay at learning that the 12:24 flight to Chicago was delayed to 3:00 PM. Imagine further how much later my flight became. 4:30 maybe. Blech.

Fortunately the United employee (Frank) was able to hook me up on a Delta flight through Cincinatti that got me to Minneapolis at exactly the same time as my original flight. Pretty cool! Except there is a catch. My luggage was already checked with Delta. "Oh, that's no problem sir," he assured me. "I'll just have them transfer your bag to the other plane. The other plane that was set to leave in only 30 minutes he did not say. The other plane that is on a competing airline he did not say. The other plane that will have you 700 miles removed from my presence he did not say. So I'm a little skeptical. Maybe I have just been burned too many times in the past, like the customer service equivalent of a jilted lover.

So imagine my shock and pleasant surprise when in Minneapolis, as I am standing at the baggage carousel, my bag comes sliding down the ramp like a happy kid on a slide in the park. I might have even said "Whoopee!". All I know for sure is that the woman next to me was staring at me like I was a bug as I gleefully hoisted my bag, laughing like a maniac all the while.

So I learned today that all hope is not lost. That sometimes, however infrequently, stuff works exactly as it is supposed to.

Grasshopper

2006-09-09T15:44:00.000-04:00

This little guy was on the deck for part of the afternoon. He was a pretty cool customer. He would stare right at you and sort of bob and weave his head back and forth while he tried to hypnotize you. It worked one time at least - he jumped right onto my head while I was mesmerized by him.

Ya gotta have a system.

2006-09-08T22:24:00.000-04:00

After my third or fourth visit to the SPCA to take photos of the animals I actually got just a bit discouraged. With the dogs I was averaging a decent picture every 15 minutes or so. That's how long it takes to get a dog out of their run, move him or her to a sitting room, and then try to get an acceptable image. So in 2 hours I would get 8 different dog pictures. And that was if I was lucky.

I quickly realized that I could never keep up with adoption turnover at that rate. But I had an idea to take the dogs' photos as they were being taken outside for their morning walks. The kennel coordinator thought this was a workable idea, so we tried it out. The results were better than I could have possibly expected.

I managed to photograph 22 dogs in only one hour with the help of some very patient and cooperative Richmond SPCA staff members. That is no less than 4-5 times more efficient than any previous session I have had with the dogs. I am very encouraged by this.

Proof of Life

2006-09-06T20:33:00.000-04:00

When I first started watching birds and tried to identify them, I made a few mistakes. One of my biggest mistakes was trying to identify them strictly by appearance. I remember a few years ago I was relating to Todd the latest bird I had seen in our backyard, what I thought was a Ladder-backed Woodpecker.

Todd: "It wasn't a Ladder-backed."
Rich: "Sure it was. It had a ladder going down its back. I saw the marks."
Todd: "It wasn't a Ladder-backed."
Rich: "I'm telling you I saw it. It was unmistakable."
Todd: "Rich, I'm telling you, it wasn't a Ladder-backed."
Rich: "Why the hell not?"
Todd: Because they don't live East of the Mississippi."

Good goof on my part (the "Ladder-backed" was likely a Sapsucker). And he's right; after I started to learn to use a guide book I figured out what the likely suspects were in the backyard based on a lot more than appearance - habitat plays a key role. That is about as far as my birdwatching ability goes really in terms of identifying birds on the fly, but at least I am a better researcher now.

Which leads me to our latest and greatest backyard denizens. Red-Headed Woodpeckers. These are my proof-of-life shots for Todd, although I could not convince the birds to hold up today's newspaper in front of them for ultimate proof.

Footnote: You may (or may not) have noticed that these images are not hyperlinked to larger versions. These are as good as they get; they were pretty far away.

Light up the night

2006-09-05T21:38:00.000-04:00

The road that leads into our new housing subdivision is appropriately named Fountain View. There is a fountain in the lake that borders the road that I did not know was lit with green lights until just recently. I made time tonight to take a photo. There is a neat little gazebo in the background as well.

Night photography is always a lot of fun. You get to really experiment with long exposures and cool concepts like Reciprocity Failure. I just like the way that phrase sounds :-)

Brown Headed Nuthatch

2006-09-04T17:33:00.000-04:00

Our newly placed feeder was going semi-ballistic with activity this afternoon. A lot of the usual suspects were there that we were familiar with from the old neighborhood: White Breasted Nuthatches, Tufted Titmice, Carolina Chickadees, Goldfinches and House Finches. Even a Downy Woodpecker. As an added bonus we had a pair of Brown Headed Nuthatches visiting as well, a species totally new to me.

I speculate we did not see them before because A) they are somewhat less common and B) we had mostly hardwood trees at the last place. These guys love the pines.

Unfortunately they are also on the Audubon Watchlist due to their habitats being degraded from logging and clearing. I have to recognize that this subdivision almost certainly sat on a great deal of trees originally. However, it looks like they are leaving long stands of trees in between housing sections. So hopefully we will all live together in a nice symbiosis :-)

All is right with the world

2006-09-03T11:41:00.000-04:00

One of the things I missed the most about our previous house was drinking coffee at the kitchen table and watching (and sometimes photographing) the birds at the feeder.

Yesterday I set up a new bird feeder on our deck, and it is already getting activity. Here we have a House Finch and a male and female American Goldfinch.

Having our feathered friends come visit makes the new house feel a little bit more like home.

Sunny 16

2006-09-02T14:47:00.000-04:00

Taking photos outside on a bright sunny day can sometimes, oddly enough, introduce exposure problems. This comes from the camera light metering system assuming that anything you point your camera at as being a medium shade of gray. Point the camera at something white, for example, and you tend to get an underexposed image - the camera intentionally reduces the exposure because the camera interprets the subject as being far too bright.

When I try to explain this concept to people who are not into photography at a technical level, I usually do a horrible job of it. The concept of how light metering works is really not all that intuitive. Point the camera at something bright and you need to deliberately overexpose? It sounds counter-intuitive. And in a way it is.

Which leads me back to exposure at a simpler level - simply ignore all that metering your camera is trying to feed you and shoot in manual mode. To be truthful I rarely do this because when you are moving through a lot of changing lighting situations, shooting in manual mode can be a real pain, and the in-camera metering actually works pretty well most of the time.

When outside, however, following a simple rule called "Sunny 16" can make your life a lot easier if the lighting is not changing a lot. Sunny 16 simply means that your exposure setting should be 1/ISO at F16. So if your ISO is set to 100, 1/100. For most of my photography a more practical equivalent setting would be 1/500 @ F8, such as the shot below:

This produced a pretty good tonal range, with no seriously blown highlights. It's a very contrasty image in the first place. So this is sort of a reminder to myself to shoot more in manual mode when the lighting is not changing shot-to-shot. The results are a lot more consistent.

Fred Parker's article on exposure explains some of these concepts with a great deal more clarity. Well worth reading.

I assure you, that's real grass.

2006-09-02T14:35:00.000-04:00

Our house took about 5 months to build from start to finish. For five months I would show Todd pictures of the house progress. Todd universally had only one thing to say: that most houses had more grass than mine. Now that A) We have some room to breathe after the move and B) Ernesto has passed, I finally have time to take a decent picture of the house. And it occurred to me that I now have proof that I have grass at my house. Except knowing Todd, he is going to accuse me of photoshopping the grass into this picture anyway :-)

Daredevil

2006-08-31T21:00:00.000-04:00

Having spent the last week moving into a new home, I have been terribly remiss in posting any entries to my blog. You would think that there would be a rich tapestry of stories to tell (there are) not all of which are pleasant (equally true). However, I have decided not to relive the worst part of the move, which was the performance of the actual moving company itself. The act of venting actually serves to do nothing more than bring my blood to a boil, so I am trying to actively avoid discussing it outside of a few short sentences.

Instead, my first post on returning is about Mozilla Firefox Version 2, Beta 2. How exciting is that? Well, not that much really I guess. But I love stuff that makes my life easier / more fun / more productive. I titled this post "Daredevil" due to the inherent unpredictability of using beta software. I figure a beta 2 must have a few things going for it though, so I decided to go ahead and use the new release. So far I am glad I did, for at least a few reasons.

The best feature I can see out of the gate is on-the-fly spell checking in any text form you are entering text into, pretty much identical to what you would see in MS Word. When you create a typo, it is automatically underlined in red as you plug along. You can add unfamiliar or quirky words to your personal dictionary as well as select from suggested words. For blogging I find this priceless. I don't like to find all my mistakes en masse by using the spell checker when I finish writing; I like to get it (mostly) right on the first pass.

I also really like that all of my tabs have a close button on them, which is pretty great. Minor thing maybe, but I spend a lot of my browsing time right-click-closing those tabs. Handy feature.

The one downside to this release is that apparently many plug ins do not work in the beta. I would not know - you would think that someone who spends as much time surfing as I do would have plug ins aplenty, but the truth is I don't. I have none. I am sure there are all kinds of cool plug ins out there but basically I just want to surf, and I have never really felt inhibited by the browser as-is for that.

Rex needs a home - sort of.

2006-08-18T17:40:00.000-04:00

This is Rex, one of the SPCA dogs I photographed last night. With some dogs I swear I need not bother taking their photos - I know I have only been doing this for a few weeks now, but I can't imagine it will take very long to find Rex a home. Not with a face like this and such a great personality. In fact, he has an "adoption pending" sign on his enclosure door as I type this.

Eduardo the Duck

2006-08-11T19:54:00.000-04:00

Jenny and I are visiting her family this weekend in New Jersey - we are up here to attend Jennifer's 20th high school reunion tomorrow night.

We are staying with Jen's sister Maryanne, who has a unique new resident in her house - Eduardo the baby duck. Maryanne and her husband Andy found Eduardo in a culvert after a bad storm - apparently he was swept away from his family and was on his own at way too young an age to survive. He is quite cool - and probably a lifelong pet at this point. I have the feeling he is pretty much imprinted - he really does not like to be separated from physical contact for long. I can't wait to come back for future visits and see how Eduardo grows up.

Identity Crisis

2006-08-10T22:27:00.000-04:00

So far, each time I have photographed animals at the Richmond SPCA I have bonded more with one animal than any of the others. Tonight it was Ralph. What a great mutt. I mean, just look at that face. How can you not like this guy?

Identified

2006-08-10T11:15:00.000-04:00

I have now learned the names of all of the animals. The Rogue's Gallery is filling out nicely.

Cat 1, Cat 2, Cat 3.....

2006-08-09T21:11:00.000-04:00

This sounds vaguely Dr. Seussish.

I was photographing cats at the Richmond SPCA tonight. The cats in question were chilling out in a cat cotillion (I am not making this up), and I could not tell them apart from the descriptions posted on the door. I mean the simple fact is that I don't know a Tabby from a Calico from a Siamese.

OK, I am exaggerating on the Siamese - everyone who has seen Lady and the Tramp knows those guys. But still - you get my point. Here are the cats I could not ID, and for kicks, the one I could. Miss Lucy (the leadoff batter with the yellow background) made it into the blog simply because I dig her - she is quite cool.

Meet Chester

2006-08-08T05:38:00.000-04:00

Chester is only one of hundreds of animals that are up for adoption at the Richmond SPCA. I have started to volunteer there, and hope to spend the bulk of my efforts in photographing the animals. These images would then be used on the website , newsletters, etc - whatever they need. This is Chester, a 2-year old hound mix with a ton of personality.

Sparrow

2006-08-07T20:15:00.000-04:00

I think this is a Song Sparrow, but Todd can confirm that. I spied him while walking the wonder Beagle this morning.

Randomly Published

2006-08-06T17:25:00.000-04:00

The Richmond Times Dispatch included a large insert in this Sunday's Paper called "Discover Richmond". Jennifer was flipping through it and stumbled over the photo below, which I had donated to Lewis Ginter earlier this year for promotional use. Seeing the image show up (and credit given to boot!) was a very pleasant surprise.

It is a mighty good thing Jenny reads the paper - I would likely have never seen this.

...and Sometimes the Dog Walks You

2006-08-06T13:39:00.000-04:00

Most times when I walk Sandy (which itself is rare, Jenny does most of the walking) we go on a fairly set path around the apartment complex. But every once in a while I like to let Sandy choose the course of her walk. Literally. I simply walk behind her and let her choose the way. It is her walk after all, why not let her go where she wants to (within reason).

This wasn't all that interesting an exercise in the old neighborhood since she could only choose a finite number of directions. But at the complex here, she has a lot more choices. Today we ended up going down the street a ways, when she suddenly decided to cut across a vacant lot to check out the perimeter of a self-storage property. There are a lot of groundhog holes there that I think she likes to check out. From there she decided that the railroad tracks looked appealing, so we went down an embankment and walked along them for a while. Next on her agenda was apparently to try for a trip to Kroger, but I had to draw the line there. Huguenot road is very busy and neither one of us had a wallet on us anyway.

The Stinkier the Better

2006-08-05T17:54:00.000-04:00

Every blue moon or so I get a craving for a very specific snack - small fish on Ritz crackers. Strange in a way that this is a semi-annual event, at best quarterly, because I love 'em. That is a fine snack to have with a beer and watch the sports event of your choice on a weekend afternoon.

Something interesting I noted today though. Our food-oriented Beagle (Sandy) is a beggar from way back. She could write a good how-to book on begging if she had that opposable thumb most mammals want. But her begging today was orders of magnitude stronger than usual. It took nine years, but I think I just figured out that Sandy appreciates a nice, stinky treat above all others. I guess for an animal with olfactory senses as strong as hers, sardines (or kippers in this case) must smell like manna from heaven. It would also explain why she used to positively freak out when we opened a bag of Beggin' Strips. I can smell those a block away, and I am a mere human.

I'd like to say that I did not give her any sardines, but I'd be lying. I let her have about a thimblefull. Just a taste. Sometimes a taste is all you need, you know?

Kermie?

2006-08-03T22:46:00.000-04:00

We have a toad who is a regular at the sidewalk intersection where we let Sandy out at night. He is not there all the time, and the last few times I have missed the opportunity to photograph him. So when Jenny told me the toad was out there, I grabbed my camera with a macro lens and a flash and trotted outside. I did not see him at first - actually I found a tiny version of the toad, which I brought back inside and asked Jenny "Is this him?" After an initial yelp at having an amphibian in the house (granted, I sort of sprang that on her), she informed me that the toad in question was a much larger version so I took the little guy back outside.

Where I found mama/papa toad waiting. He/she is a very willing subject once located.

During the abbreviated photo shoot, I looked through the lens and sort of yelped myself - the toad had taken a considerable leap toward me.

Interesting thing about photography. If you want a photograph of a toad on your sidewalk at an apartment complex at 9:45 in the evening, you have two choices:

1. Pass on the opportunity
2. Look like an idiot, but get the photo

Obviously I took option 2, but I am still a little self conscious when I do stuff like lying down spread eagle in the middle of the sidewalk. At night. And especially when my neighbor walks by. But oh well - I still think the alternative (option 1) is worse.

The Truth Hurts.

2006-07-27T21:33:00.000-04:00

Labs Need a Home!

2006-07-22T20:14:00.000-04:00

I brought three lab mix puppies to Richmond today from a shelter that was about to euthanize them. They will be placed under the temporary care of the AARF.

I can personally vouch for how sweet these pups are. And over the course of a two hour ride to Richmond, they did not make a sound and traveled well (no accidents).

These 3-month old pups need a good home. If you are looking for a dog, or know someone who is, please have a look at them. You can contact the AARF with the information here. Ask about the pups from Wythe named Honey, Sunshine and Midnight (I tried to get the two yellows renamed 'Sierra' and 'Nevada' and the black to 'Guinness', but no dice).

Tweedle the Wonder Pup

2006-07-22T20:02:00.000-04:00

A while back Jennifer and I took a puppy from Richmond to Fairfax as part of a group that moves animals that are at risk to no-kill shelters.

We both found this to be a rewarding experience, so I decided to do another run this weekend on a westerly route. I volunteered to bring three lab mix puppies from Lexington to AARF in Richmond.

The trip to Lexington was uneventful (I can vouch for the Starbuck's on exit 91 of I-64). I posted earlier about my early morning experiences in Natural Bridge so I will skip that.

When I arrived at the Lexington SPCA, the van from Wythe county had not arrived yet (my three passengers were coming from them initially). There were lots of people there, however, with a lot of puppies and dogs - I was the only person making a run back to Richmond; most of the animals were headed for points north by way of Fairfax.

Just like last time I ended up finding a puppy that I desperately wished I could claim for myself. There were two Golden Retriever-Beagle mix puppies headed north. This is 'Tweedle'.

This was such an awesome pup - he was very much like our own Sandy, full of character, and yet laid back. He primarily just wanted to lean up against you and chill out.

Unfortunately, with us in an apartment right now, there is no way we can handle a second dog, much less a puppy that needs to be housebroken. So I will just have to hope that someone up North sees the same things in Tweedle that I did.

Natural Bridge

2006-07-22T19:44:00.000-04:00

So, last post was questioning whether my elbow was fit enough for me to play golf. Turns out it was not - I hit about ten golf balls and the pain on impact, while not severe, was enough to dissuade me from playing just yet.

This left me a weekend with no real plans. So, I decided to make another puppy rescue trip. I will post the details of that in a separate post, but I will say that this led me to Lexington this morning with about 90 minutes to kill.

So, I went to Natural Bridge, just south of Lexington, in order to see its namesake. I have lived in Virginia all my life and have not been to Lexington or seen the Natural Bridge before. I have to admit I was impressed. The yellow circle at the bottom of the image points out a group of three people, to give you a sense of scale. Really pretty cool. Route 11 goes right over top of it.

OK, so that was the cool part of Natural Bridge in the awe and wonder category. Another category to be filled is "Stuff that will completely throw you off stride if you are not expecting it". Sure, that's long winded, but this really does qualify. I came across this little jewel on the way to the bridge itself:

Coming across a 1:1 replica of Stonehenge made out of foam was definitely the weirdest thing I've seen in a while. Freaky.

Back in the Saddle?

2006-07-19T12:44:00.000-04:00

This afternoon I plan to go out and play golf for the first time in 4 weeks, since I hurt my elbow. The doctors say I don't have any physical restrictions, so I am going to test that theory out. I certainly plan to take it easy and warm up though. I imagine my swing is going to look like hell. I just hope it does not feel like it as well.

The golf ball image is from my photo-a-day project that I intended to keep up for all of 2005 but stopped after 6 months (Jan 1 - June 30). That was a lot of fun, I may try it again in 2007. I still like to go back and browse through the images I took back then. The whole process forced me to at least try and come up with something creative on a daily basis. I just had another idea. Maybe start small and try a photo-a-day for just the month of August and see how that goes.

Appliances

2006-07-16T11:57:00.000-04:00

Today we purchased the major appliances for our new home. We decided a while back to get the best appliances we possibly could, to start out on the right foot as it were. We decided on an LG washer and dryer, and a really cool F rench-door style refrigerator from Maytag. The washer and dryer are neat, but the fridge is awesome. We both really like the French-door style. It seems to put what you use the most right at your fingertips, and has excellent storage space.

I understand the cost difference for a stainless fridge compared to a white or black model - after all, it is on display, and needs to match the rest of the kitchen. But I could not for the life of me understand why it would be important to buy a stainless or black version of the washer and dryer (both of which were about $100 more instead of basic white). Every laundry room I have ever seen is A) behind closed doors and B) not exactly a room where fashion is key.

Cooking and Getting Organized

2006-07-15T10:29:00.000-04:00

I tried doing a little but of research yesterday looking for a software product that will hold all of my recipes. I realized quickly that since 99% of my recipes come from the web, this would probably be tedious even if I found a good product. Why re-type all of these recipes in?

My main drive for this is that I find it tedious to create a shopping list that is an amalgam of the ingredients in multiple recipes. What I wanted was to have a program that builds a shopping list of all the items I would need for any number of recipes. I could then subtract items off of that list that I already have.

Well it turns out that this has been under my nose for some time, and I just never paid much attention to it. Cooking Light, my favorite magazine and website for recipes, has a personalized section that allows you to organize all of the recipes you enjoy on your site, plus add your own if you are willing to type them in (or cut and paste from other sites). And the site even builds a shopping list for you with the exact functionality I described.

The one downside is that the shopping list can only read the ingredients from recipes that are part of the Cooking Light site, not ones you add. So it is not perfect. But hey. It's a start.

Tuesday is the New Monday

2006-07-12T12:46:00.000-04:00

I am beginning to badly dislike Tuesdays. It seems like for the past several weeks nothing much good has happened on them.

On Tuesday three weeks ago I injured my elbow with a bad bursitis lifting weights. A week later on Tuesday morning it became badly infected which led to me going into the hospital. And then yesterday (you guessed it - a Tuesday) I had a follow-up that included needles being jammed in my elbow for the second time, an incredibly painful procedure.

This coming up Tuesday I have my last follow-up which I hope will be successful, filled with good news, and will break the "evil Tuesday" trend.

Sesame Noodles with Chicken

2006-07-10T18:51:00.000-04:00

One of the things I missed in the hospital was cooking our own meals. As much as I like to eat out, I really prefer to cook if given the choice. I enjoy it, and I try as many new recipes as I can, so I invariably learn something in the process.

Cooking Light is my favorite magazine for this kind of thing. The recipes tend to be my speed - relatively easy. The added bonus of course is that they are healthy as well, as long as you eat the portion size they recommend. I can say for a fact that is not always the case. Tonight I made Sesame Noodles with Chicken, from the June issue. I notice that I have no trouble linking to the image on Cooking Light's site, and I can't imagine they would have a problem with that since I am promoting their site and publication. This was an excellent recipe, by the way. Very easy, and both Jen and I liked it a lot. The only thing I might change would be to throw a handful of unsalted roasted peanuts in there as well. And a food processor is not really needed for this recipe either - I used a blender since ours is in storage, and it worked just fine.

Home Sweet Home

2006-07-09T12:06:00.000-04:00

I am home from the hospital, thank God. Three days in was three days too long. I am still not 100% recovered but I can finish up with pill-based antibiotics at home. Velaquin is expensive as hell, by the way. Remind me to buy stock in Ortho-McNeil.

I took a brief walk around the apartment complex to get some wonderful fresh air and I took my camera with me. There is a pond around the corner that I think is more of a drainage area than anything else, but it is surrounded by a ton of cattails. This seems to attract Red-winged Blackbirds. I took a picture of one here, Todd tells me that this one is either female or immature (thus the lack of the actual red wing I suppose). I am anxious to fully recover so I can get out into the weeds again and take more bird photos.

Movies Saved Me From Death By Boredom

2006-07-07T20:09:00.000-04:00

Thank God my laptop has a DVD player. While I have been in the hospital I have been watching movies almost non-stop. The headphones tune out the rest of the hospital noises (most of them unpleasant) and I don't have to worry about fighting my roommate for control of the TV.

In a little over 48 hours I have watched an extraordinary number of movies by my standards:

Wake Up, Ron Burgandy: The Lost Movie
Heat
Ronin
Road Trip
Bottle Rocket
The Godfather
The Godfather, Part II

If I have time to burn tomorrow before being discharged I will finish off the Godfather trilogy. I went a little heavy on DeNiro and Pacino in this lineup, but I mixed some good humor in there, especially the two loaners of Bottle Rocket and Road Trip from my pal Aaron.

Family and Friends are a Wonderful Thing

2006-07-06T18:08:00.000-04:00

I have been on a bit of a roller coaster ride since my chipper "thumbs up" post from yesterday. My infection worsened last night before the antibiotics could have a chance to take hold, which led to a considerable amount of pain. Not much I could do about it but accept some Tylenol #3 and hope the antibiotics would do their job and catch up as soon as possible. They also gave me some ambien (sp?) which worked quite well. I am hoping I can have a few more of those tonight. Sleeping is the hardest part. The medical staff have been excellent here, and are as attentive and caring as they possibly can be,

Fortunately this morning and into the day the swelling in my arm has gone down considerably and it looks like the color is receding from angry red to a less threatening shade of pink. So the antibiotics are doing their job, and my doctor does not think surgery will be necessary. With luck I can go home on Saturday.

I have had a steady stream of visitors today. Jennifer has come by twice and is keeping me filled up with all the things I like to eat and drink, most gratifying Starbuck's coffee. Best of all is her company of course. I try to make her laugh in return. She is obviously getting the short end of the deal.

Mom came by and brought me all sorts of goodies as well, including a luscious container of cherries that I have been sharing with my roommate.

Then Aaron came by. I don't really know how to thank someone for bringing me Ukrop's fried chicken, Road Trip and Bottle Rocket DVDs, and making me laugh. That's just a trifecta right there.

An unexpected pleasure was Al and Linda coming by. Their company was very much appreciated. Linda brought me a wonderful cobbler as well, and that was exceeding thoughtful of her.

Last but certainly not least - Anne and Brian came by with DQ and a card, which was extremely thoughtful. Especially because the DQ had sprinkles.

Having caring family and friends is a wonderful thing.

Bloggin' from the Hospital

2006-07-05T20:45:00.000-04:00

When I woke up this morning I really did not think I would be admitted to the hospital later that day. My elbow has become badly infected following my incident with bursitis; bad enough that I need to be on intravenous antibiotics for a few days - Velaquin every 24 hours and Cefazolin Sodium every 8 hours. I have no idea what they are apart from being antibiotics, and I am frankly not about to Google it. Too much information. I took the self portrait below after successfully figuring out how to make dial-up work from my hotel room, not a trivial achievement. If the antibiotics don't knock the infection back in a hurry, I get to have surgery. I'm rooting for the antibiotics. I have not had surgery since I was 14 and I am in no hurry to break my 25-year no-surgery streak.