February 29
[Taken February 20, 2008 | Icy refelction | Dayton, OH]
Happy leap day.
February 29 happens only once every 4 years. February 29 falls on a Friday a lot less often. I think that the next Friday, February 29 is in 2036. The last time this happened was in 1980. So it si not quite as rare as Halley's Comet, but not exactly a common occurrence either. I almost feel like I ought to do something to mark the day... but the truth is that I don't feel like it. It has been a long week, and it is going to be a long weekend as I have some work that I need to do as well as a line of personal projects that need my attention.
I think that the extent of my celebration of leap day will be eating edamame and drinking my favorite beer (Young's Double Chocolate Stout) with a cat in my lap while I watch really bad television.
Hooray.
February 24
[Taken February 20, 2008 | More Ice and Snow | Dayton, OH]
I have been having some trouble with my primary lens - the 28-200mm Promaster - for a little while. About half of the time it works just fine, but the other half of the time it makes a grinding noise and errors out. The specific error it was giving me was "Error 99" and the recommendations were to turn the camera off, remove the battery and the flash card (or some mystic combination or order of the above) and try again. Sometimes it worked, most of the time it didn't.
Today I took the camera and lens with me to the local camera store to see if the lens needed to be cleaned or repaired or if I just needed to suck it up and get a new lens.
Apparently the big problem with my lens is the fact that it is not a digital-specific lens. It is a lens that will work with automatic film and some/most (but not all) digital cameras, which I did not know. I assumed when I got it that I was getting a lens for a digital camera since when I got it I brought the specific digital camera (the Canon 300D) that I intended to use it on with me. It errors out when the camera that I am using now (Canon XTi) tries to give it (the lens) more information then it knows how to deal with.
For example, digital specific lenses can handle some pretty funky things, like half or quarter stops, that my current lens cannot, since the current lens can only handle full stops. So when I am trying to shoot in shutter priority mode, sometimes (a lot of the time) the camera body tells the lens that it needs an f-stop that the lens cannot provide, and it errors out. The guy at the shop said that he has seen problems like the one that I am having a lot, and recommended shooting in Program (P) mode or full manual only, and that the lens ought to be able to work with those.
I am going to try that suggestion. The equivalent digital specific Promaster lens is an 18-200mm lens, and will set me back a cool $399 (plus tax). Ouch. We will see what happens and if I can work within the suggested restrictions... which may be tough since I shoot most of my stuff in the shutter priority mode. A new lens may be my tax refund splurge this year...
February 21
[Taken February 20. 2008 | Ice and Snow | Dayton, OH]
Fencing was cancelled for tonight. Granted, it was snowing after work (not heavily, though) and there is apparently a "winter storm warning" issued for this area (though, seriously, the prediction for the "winter storm" tonight is a measly 2-3 incles. 2-3 inches is not a storm) but still. As soon as we got the call that fencing was cancelled due to weather, it stopped snowing.
We are also supposed to get quite a bit of freezing rain, sleet, and "wintry mix" tonight. It is supposed to be quite a "storm". I will believe it when I wake up tomorrow morning and there is a solid inch or more of ice coating every surface.
It is pretty still outside right now. No percipitation worth mentioning.
Have I mentioned yet how much I miss real winters... like those I used to enjoy in Ann Arbor and Cleveland? I think that I have...
We had a bit of snow the other day, and I raced home after work so that I could pick up my camera and a couple of lenses, and then race off to the arboretum before the sun set. I got some pretty nice shots...
February 18
Reboot.
What with all of the various stuff going on here lately, I felt that it was high time for a site retooling. The old design was nice enough, but I had been feeling that it felt a bit outdated for a while now. As you can see, my response to that is a new liquid layout and a return to minimalism. I have also downloaded a blooging kit to help me manage my journal and photo posts, but have not quite installed that yet. Really, I can only do so much in a single weekend, and I figured, frontend first...backend later.
There is only so much I can do, even over a three-day weekend.
Living in southern Ohio is a lot different from growing up in northern Ohio, but every winter I am struck once again by the disparity. I love snow - snow storms, ice storms, blizzards, mounds and mounds of softly falling snow - and you just don't get winters like that down here. Sure, it gets cold..bitterly cold...but no accompanying snow. To me, snow is the compensation for putting up with the cold (especially since I tend to get cold pretty easily). Oh, we do get the occasional storm down here, but the snow never lasts much more then a day or two.
Right now, it keeps snowing on-and-off, but nothing is sticking. Very frustrating.
February 13
[Taken February 2. 2008 | Percival | Dayton, OH]
Vital Statistics
Name: Percival
Gender: Male
Age: Almost 4 months
Breed: Bengal (mix?)
Likes: The laser pointer, hair ties, belly rubs
Dislikes: Water (maybe), jingly cat toys
Ain't he a cutie? He is already as big as Merlin is. We think that he is going to be a big cat... he has a big face, and big paws, and Bengal Cats are not a breed that is known for being small.
Merlin is displeased, but is slowly learning to temper her outright hostility, and is now at the point where she can tolerate being in the same room as Percival without (constantly) hissing and growling. Progress is being made, though at a snail's pace.