Archive for January, 2009

I think the photos I took on a walk today are some of the best I’ve ever taken. I spent much of my time focused on macro photography, with some other odds and ends thrown in.








And Some HDR:

In the last month, here are the top keywords (ordered high to low by number of hits, ranging from 18 to 1) that have landed people on this blog from Google:

“adjectives starting with m”
“adjectives beginning with m”
(Apparently I’m not the only one that can’t think of very many)
“vibrating belt and Dallas”
(Uh…)
“interesting adjectives”
“migratory marketer”
(Ok, I’ll give them that one)
“rick davis, portland, or”
(Undoubtedly a combination of several different posts having absolutely nothing to do with one another)
“rock racing”
(I may have mentioned them once, which apparently is enough)
“Vibrating Belt”
(Really? This was a couple months ago. And they’re a joke!)
“Adam Edgerton blog”
(Hurray! Even if it is only one hit!)
“adjective running child”
(Once again, a mashing up of several different posts)
“Merry Marketer”
(At least this person spent a whole four minutes on the site rather than immediately bouncing)
“Portland Oregon Sneakerhead”
(Seems fairly apt)
“Road trips from Phoenix to Flagstaff”
(I wouldn’t call myself an expert, but it is a trip I’ve taken)
“food movie”
(Well, I do like food. And movies, for that matter)

It would appear that my random post subjects that fail to fall under any one theme have unsurprisingly made it really difficult for Google to catalog my blog. Using the tags section on each post for locations also probably doesn’t help. Nor does my blog’s current state of name-in-flux syndrome. Not that I’m really that concerned with drawing in people who are actually looking for my blog. It’s linked from every major online social network I’m connected to. Plus I kind of like drawing in people who are searching for something completely menial that my blog has nothing to do with.

After a week in Portland I’m starting to feel settled into a bit of a routine, for better or worse. A typical day begins around 8:00-8:30 with a run. Then I’ll get back, eat Cheerios, and begin searching the dozen or so job sites I’m frequenting for new postings. After doing this combined with some research and brainstorming about companies to apply to directly, It’s about lunchtime. I’ll have a bit to eat and get back to job hunting, usually focusing on writing cover letters and submitting actual applications in the afternoon. Around the time my aunt and uncle get home, I finish up for the day and socialize a bit. Dinner is next, followed by anything from a movie to watching a bit of TV to reading a book to messing around with my camera. Late evening I’ll watch some TV in the basement while stretching and doing some weights/balance ball exercises. Bed usually around 1AM. Rinse and repeat.

There are a few exceptions, including last night when I went over to a different aunt and uncle’s house for dinner followed by American Idol. And Friday nights have been designated as the night I cook dinner with my aunt. We’re experimenting with various Thai and Asian dishes.

Still, I need to get outside a bit more, see some friends in the area, and explore Portland. I’m also in the process of planning a long weekend trip to Eugene and Corvallis, probably to occur the weekend following this one.

I’ve got enough applications out now that I’m waiting patiently for an interview call. I’ve gotten a couple no answers already, including what I thought my best shot might be at the company I was recently working for.

I need to get one of my bikes.

So I finally added RAW as a file format my camera saves with. I’m not sure why it took so long, other than I had to get around to installing software to make full use of the format’s potential. For those who don’t know RAW, it’s a format that saves all the details of the photo as captured by the camera’s sensor before any additional settings (such as white balance or noise reduction) are applied. This allows you to go back later and make any changes to the image that you would otherwise not be able to if you set those extra settings prior to taking the shot and only saved as a jpeg.

This means that this otherwise badly underexposed shot…

can be mostly salvaged without having to resort to contrast and brightness manipulation.

Oh, and I also decided to create my first HDR image. It’s really a shame that I picked such a boring subject, but at least I don’t feel bad for spending very little time adjusting it to make it look good. Look at the top of the window. Yikes.

I spent much of yesterday playing with my cousin’s son whose grandmother (the aunt I’m staying with) regularly babysits him. Legos were the name of the game, and I fulfilled building requests for a Star Wars-like spaceship, R2D2, and C3P0. Eventually the spaceship gave way to a larger space ship that was nearly 2 feet long.

R2 was an especially big hit. There was a bit of a tantrum when R2 had to stay when it was time to go. Not to worry though, R2 is currently sitting on the fireplace mantle waiting for his return.

My personal project of the day started out with a wheeled-vehicle of some sort. I wasn’t sure where I was going with the idea, until I decided it had better be a jet-driven car. I added a couple jets. I quickly got completely carried away and decided that this needed to be the most overpowered jet car ever, so I crammed as many jets onto it as possible. I only stopped when I ran out of jet-like pieces to use.

32.

Well if I wasn’t already into shoes before today I guess now I’m immersed.  Shoes and running technology has definitely been the theme of the day.  I started off the day with a walk in my running shoes to really feel out how they fit me.  Then I spent a while reading articles online about running stride, gait, and common gait problems.  Then I watched videos online of various running and walking gaits (plus 3d models and renderings – isn’t the internet great?).

This is a public notice of removal from my “Some Favorite Blogs” list to the distinguished authors of “Crisscrossing the US” and “etc.” as seen on the right column of the page.  While I hold your persons in highest esteem and regard, I must insist upon unlinking your blog (the most brutal and hurtful of blogging-related actions) unless new content appears therein thereby breathing new life into your wonderful yet stale creations.