Back from a week in the Netherlands.
Had a GREAT TIME.
Photos and news to follow soon.
The Netherlands is a great country.
Too bad San Francisco is so hilly (but fabulous in so many other ways.)
More later. Completely whacked out from jet lag.
May 30, 2009
May 20, 2009
Help Orphans, and Win a Trip to Maui
I’m posting this for my friend Jen. Jen is planning a trip to Ethiopia this coming August, to refurbish three of the state-run orphanages in Addis Ababa as well as spend some much needed time giving attention to the orphans who remain there. She’s raffling off a trip to Maui in order to raise funds for the trip. Details of the raffle and charity are here. If you can, please help her in her charitable endeavors.
May 15, 2009
Dealing with Devices
I’ve obtained a couple of new devices recently, and I am rapidly realizing that they will be more work than I anticipated. To begin with, my wonderful husband Neil gave me the VERY generous gift of an ipod Touch this year for my birthday. I am slowly learning all that it can do. I suddenly have the motivation to set up a wireless network in our house. Neil has been wanting me to set up a wireless network for a while, but it just hasn’t been a priority. Recently it seems like my priorities have centered around cleaning off the TiVo, which means a LOT of TV watching. It’s hard work, people. At any rate, I’m beginning to suspect that the ipod Touch was just his way of giving me the incentive to get going on the whole wireless network project. It’s a diabolical plan that has worked!
In addition to the ipod Touch, I also bought myself a new digital camera. I have never owned a digital camera until now; they always seemed too expensive. But since my job centers around cameras (albeit pretend ones that exist only in the virtual world of the computer) I figured it was time to invest in one. Neil has a very nice digital SLR, so I decided I wanted a smaller point and shoot to complement his. My research led me to the Panasonic dmc-lx3 and I love it. It’s small and it functions like a point and shoot, but it has full manual capability if I want it. And it has a really great Leica lens. It takes great photos and it’s relatively easy to use. It’s a great little camera.
So, now I have two new digital devices that I must learn how to use. I’m finding that in some ways, digital devices make our lives more complicated, instead of easier, like they should. To begin with, I now have to learn how to use these things. In addition, it seems that the money-spending doesn’t stop when you purchase the device. I had to buy a case for the ipod, and I had to buy a memory card for the camera. Speaking of which, I can’t believe how cheap memory is these days. Ten years ago, I remember shelling out fifty or sixty bucks for a 1GB jaz disk. Now, I just bought a 4 gb disk off the internet for $11. I had a discount card for $6 off, so I paid a whopping five bucks for 4 gb of space. And, the jaz disk was a big thing, bigger than a fat wallet. My new 4 gb card is tiny, only about an inch square and very thin. Things have changed.
At any rate, we’ll see how it goes with my new camera and ipod Touch. I just hope both of them don’t get stolen or something.
May 3, 2009
Allium Sativum
I know, it’s been a while since I last posted. I’ve been busy with plenty of personal projects. Here’s a drawing I started back in February, that took much too long to finish. I set up the garlic as a still life, and I would work on the drawing now and then, when I had the time and when I felt like it. Garlic was an excellent subject because it doesn’t spoil right away, which suited my slow pace. Eventually, I had a recipe that called for garlic and the only garlic I had on hand was the garlic in the still life. So I had to wrap up the drawing in order to cook with the subject matter. In case you’re wondering, it was delicious.
I think this drawing took about eight hours, and I used graphite pencils on bristol board. It was a fun little project, and I’m pleased with how it turned out. The hardest part was all of the little bristly bits on the bottom of the garlic on the left. I wasn’t sure how to go about rendering that much detail, but I think the end result is okay.