The Time Sink

Did we get it all done? Heck no! ...but did we make great progress as we flailed about drowning in the sea of homework, projects and household stuff? Yeah, we did okay <g>...

Brad's second project is completed and his first one seems to be well along. Actually that would be the third one that is finished since we did the first one last weekend. That leaves the second one for this weekend, and that should complete the work for Open House. Confused? You haven't been taking notes? Join the club: you should have been inside my head trying to shoe horn pictures from project three into my mental map of project two when I didn't even realize there was a project three!

...and yes, we did make some progress on the garage. Daniel is a great help with his innate organizational skills (that sounds soooo much better than OCD); he spent enough time sorting things back together (stuff that was just dumped from wet boxes back when the water heater lost it) that I should have a pretty easy time putting things away once I get the shelves rewired.

Rewired? Yep, I figure as long as I have the shelves out I may as well wire in the stereo components from the 'library' (remember that?) and clean up the hodge podge of printer and network wiring that travels from the bookshelves to the workbench. Yep, much to be done, but with only one more weekend of "project homework" I have great hopes...

A word or two of explanation on what is 'different' about the three photos posted so far this week on the blog: Saturday morning I took off on my early morning walk with the A-2 set up with the teleconverter. Normally I don't use the tele for 'routine' shoots as the system on the A series isn't exactly one for 'quick' changes. ...but I'd used that combo the other week for half of a cemetery shoot (two of the shots currently up on the blog) and I thought I'd see what the tele would do as a 'modified macro' lens.

What I found was I could extend the reach for my style of shooting by another few feet. The leaves are probably the best example of this: I was able to 'move' into that garden by just those several feet. ...and normally that shot would have been an "Ah, well..." since the area is overgrown and not accessible by foot.

The rose shot leaves a bit to be desired, but that would have been a rough shot even without the tele; the color subtleties in the light I had available didn't leave much depth for contrast. At the other extreme, the morea I have up today was in full sun and offered a challenge at the other end of the contrast continuum: I had to stop that shot down by a couple of points to keep it from being blown out; however the shorter depth of field gained by using the tele allowed me to defocus the background enough to not need a contrast backer...

Midweek... I'm tied up with the boys' and their homework (whew!) and projects; maybe you could head on over to United Airlines and take a look at a commercial they had made for the SuperBowl (and also placed in their Olympics spot). It's called "Dragon" and is done in stop-animation to a level of detail that simply has to be seen to be believed. ...and yes, that's Gershwin in the background, with the early portions evidently a new arrangement of "Rhapsody...".

Bonus: There's also a "Making of Dragon" video available that makes fascinating viewing and gives details on the producer and artists involved in the production of the piece. Wonderful stuff! (Linkage stolen from Susan at 2020 Hindsight.)

Well, the homework crisis of the week is over (and resolved, at least for the moment). Sometimes life just deals you these lessons and you have to take the opportunity to learn from them. Hopefully that has happened with the oldest (and will stick for more than a week)...

In other news? Hmmm... Not much today... Somehow I got involved with supplying some photos for Brad's school yearbook and I worked on that for a time last night. Oh, and the rains are due back in today...

I'm continuing with this week's theme over on the photoblog: all of the pictures since Sunday are from the shoot with the A-2 and the tele last Saturday morning. "Riot" and its complement demonstrate the ability of that combo to take a decent shot from about twenty feet away. I doubt that I could have managed that shot even close to the bush with the wide angle macro setting. In the same fashion. "Counterbalance" didn't have to be shot by taking a ladder along on my walks <g>.

All in all I think the small pack with the tele and the "mouserest" I use as a 'sandbag' will go along on with me more than it has in the past. The ability to grab the 'middle distance' shot outweighs the bother of having to add the tele into the mix (for those not familiar with the A-2, the lens hood has to be removed, the tele screwed in place, and then the camera told there's a teleconverter in place two deep in the menu system).

Project day. If I'm not around here it's because we're going to knock out the last of the Open House assignments before we do anything else. ...and then we're planning on having a life!.

Brad finished typing his newpaper articles last night; today will be photo selection and layout. Shelley is in charge of paste up, and then we're kicking back. ...at least that's the plan!

Done. Done... Done!!!!! We're finished with the blasted projects for school! Yeah. Gee, now all we have to deal with is the usual level of homework and the tendency of these two to put it off until the last minute <g>...

...but frankly, we'll take that: these projects tend to generate stress here, and that's not good for the individuals or the family. Saturday's start wasn't all that auspicious and evolved into Brad and I doing the layout and pasteup on his newspaper while Daniel learned the intricacies of housecleaning under Shelley's tutelage. No, that wasn't a typo (on either of those items): Daniel wanted to earn some money and offered to do the house for the typical fee charged locally. He did a very nice job, and learned quite a few new skills that will serve him well in life, but I'm going to be real curious to see if that particular bargain is ever struck again!

...and as to Mr. Brad and Mr. Dad? We discussed layout together and then printed and pasted up the dummy before giving things the final print. I'm more "hands off" than Shelley and prefer to let the designer have his say as long as his style is workable. I think Brad came up with a good layout and with minimal help from me. He also took charge of all of the cut out and paste up work. Yep, he too learned a few skills yesterday...

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"Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic."
Arthur C. Clarke, "Technology and the Future"

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