Tag: camera

all about me, happenings, is it just me?, mixed media, photography, the catch-all-egory

music, money, games, etc.

by  •  • 5 Comments

First off, as if Weezer weren’t cool enough already, they are doing this. I love the idea of a band getting together with musician fans, and playing their hits together. If I was better at the guitar, I would totally show up and jam with them. I guess I will have to settle for jamming on the Xbox, because they have songs on Rock Band and Guitar Hero.

James recently pointed out that I had very little tread left on one of my tires, and so I figured it was about time that I take it in get a new one (it has been 30k+ miles since I got my car after all). Well, turns out, I needed two, and after getting two tires, and having them aligned and balanced, my bill came out to $640 and some change. Holy fuck balls that is a lot of money. Jebus! It has also gotten to where it costs no less than $50 to fill my tank… life is expensive, and having a car seems to have become a very MAJOR expense!

In game news, I picked up Guitar Hero On Tour after a month or so of anticipation, and overall, I think that it is an innovative use of the DS. It is a bit awkward at first to play, and it would be nicer if the top screen (which becomes your left screen when turned to play) would bend back more. Other than that, I really don’t have many complaints!! I think that it is really cool that they made it for the DS, and I am looking forward to rocking out on the go. I am seriously a GH junkie; I can’t get enough.

I think that I have decided what I want for my birthday (or really splurge and get this one which I actually think I want more, now)… now to see if James will go for it… (or at least just help me pay for it… LOL)

On a final note, I think that I am addicted to the nachos at Raging Burrito in Decatur. I will be having them for dinner tonight, and I cannot wait. Yumsicle!

"pointless", all about me, happenings, music suggestion, near and dear, photography, politics

a bit of freelisting on Monday

by  •  • 7 Comments

Well, I have thoughts running through my head this morning, but none of them that I could elaborate a whole post on, so I figured a free list would be a great idea! Let’s get started.

  • After a great weekend spending time with my friend, and attending her great wedding, I had to wait almost 5 hours in the airport because of delays. Boo to that. Either way, the weekend was a blast. It is funny how reconnecting with old friends can be such an amazing time. I’m glad her wedding went so well (even though it was rained out, and we couldn’t have it on the beach), and I fully expect her to be at mine… that is, if we ever have one *james… hint hint*.
  • Tattoo news: I am going to go and get a Sparrow tattoo this weekend, if all works out accordingly. Where should I get it?? I am seriously torn. I also might sign up for a consultation on another half sleeve… I want a phoenix and a Ganesha… stay tuned!
  • The Vampire Weekend CD is great. It gets better with each listen. Seriously, check it out.
  • After hearing the lead single from Death Cab for Cutie’s new record, I am a little worried. I hope that I like it as much as I love their previous work…
  • While at my friend’s wedding this weekend, I met some of her friends which are Atlanta locals. They had a really cool point and shoot that they actually got for the lucky married couple as a gift as well. After playing with their camera, I think that I am going to go and get it… today. It isn’t “better” than mine, it is just more of what I want. So what does that mean??? Well, that means that my perfectly fine 6MP Panasonic FX-01 is for sale, if someone wants it. It is a great camera, and I would be willing to part with it for $100 (much less than I paid for it). I will also throw in a 256MB memory card for free!! (hey, it isn’t much, but it’s something). Anyone interested? I have the box and all the stuff it came with. Let me know.
  • I wish that I were independently wealthy (big surprise), so that I could go on a real vacation. I went to drop my friend and her new husband off for their cruise before hitting the airport, and I now REALLY REALLY want to go on a cruise myself. I think that James and I may have to do that sometime in the near future.
  • This makes me really, really sad. Seriously, enough is enough. Bring them home. I support each and every troop that has been, that is there, and that will go overseas for us; I just want them home safe, and soon.
  • I had to be the respondent to test an interview instrument today, and I was reminded how interesting our jobs must seem to the outside… I mean, we talk about explicit sex for work!!! It certainly makes you at least smile!
  • Is it bad that Zombie Jesus, or the thought thereof makes me giggle? I mean, he kind of was a zombie, wasn’t he?? Maybe that’s blasphemous, but whatever. Did everyone have a great Easter?? I didn’t really do anything to celebrate; in fact, I had brunch with about 15 Jewish people (my friend’s husband is Jewish), so I guess I REALLY didn’t do anything for Easter.
  • Apparently, I look better with weight on me. At least, that is what everyone in my friend’s family said, after having not seen me for a few years. While it is nice to hear, I still can’t help but feel a little fat.
  • I guess that’s it for me… but what’s going on in your world??? Anything you want to talk about? It’s Monday, so I am sure that there are plenty other bored folks out there… am I right?

all about me, is it just me?, tragic, well?

weekend recap

by  •  • 10 Comments

This weekend, my awesome cousin came for a visit, and we had a blast. Photo strolls with Deb, brunch with Deb, Anne, Syd, and the girls, and hanging out with friends and watching movies. Yesterday, I took off work, and we braved the aquarium, because our initial plan of taking pictures at the botanical gardens was a no-go; the gardens are closed on Mondays. Overall, it was a great visit, and it just makes me wish that I lived closer to my real family. There aren’t many of them, and I would certainly love to be able to see them more often. Either way, the weekend was a warmly welcomed great time. Also, she completely hooked me up with a new lens for my camera; in exchange for a ticket to come visit in the future. Done and done!! Now, I definitely have to practice shooting with my new Canon 70-300mm IS lens! It is the bomb! Thanks cuz!

Something else interesting from this weekend: this weekend was my mother’s birthday, Saturday to be exact. While the fact that it was her birthday isn’t that interesting, I do find it kind of telling that my father and sister planned a huge surprise party for her, and guess who wasn’t even invited? Yup. That’s right. Now, I am sure that they just told themselves that I probably wouldn’t be able to make it anyway, but, isn’t it the minimum amount of courtesy to simply extend the invitation? I mean, it would have at least shown that there was some level of consideration for me; but alas, I should have expected what I got, because it is more of the same. Perhaps this is a symbol that they too are moving on? Soon, I suspect that the traditional calls on birthdays and other holidays will fade into silence; much like any other gestures of having anything to do with my life at all. Interestingly enough, my sister called (on Saturday) to remind me to call my mother, to which I said that I was going to do so later; after the party had begun. That way, I could say my piece about happy birthday this and that, and do what I am sure she really wanted; let her get back to her life, and leave her alone. So, that’s exactly what I did.

Maybe next year, I won’t even bother to call at all. Funny, I doubt they would even notice. Oh well… such is life, eh?

hmm interesting, near and dear, show the love

fire, big steps, and a few loves

by  •  • 9 Comments

Last night, my friend Deb stopped by to talk with me about my most recent lens that I acquired, and when we were walking them out, James casually mentions that the house behind us is on fire. Well, imagine my surprise when it was engulfed in flames! The way he mentioned it, it just seemed like it was a small fire. Either way, the house is empty, and has been since it was built. My bet, is that it was for insurance claims, as the house has been in the state of “being built” for over 2 years now. I’m just glad that no one was hurt. The response was very fast, and there were tons of fire trucks that showed up. When we came home from my friend John’s new loft (which is awesome), there was still one sitting out there. It was interesting, though, that I haven’t seen a crew at the house for about a month, and they were out there this morning when I left for work. Hmmm…. Here’s a picture that I got of the incident:
neighbor's house on fire

Today, I have a meeting at GSU, to talk with someone at the nursing school about what I need to do to get into the program, and get started in getting my nursing degree. While I am definitely nervous (this was the big step I referred to in an earlier post), I am excited. I hope that I can get started as soon as possible, because I really need to make some changes in my life. The only one that is going to do it is me. To piggyback on that, I really want to say, that it is an amazing feeling to know that you have family out there that totally support you, and love you. Those same family members want you to succeed, and want nothing more than for you to be happy. That is something that I haven’t always had (well, I have, but I experienced more of that bad, than their good), and it is great to know that it is there for me now. You know who you are, and I greatly appreciate you. When you have family problems, it is wonderful to know that there are at least a couple of people in your family that really act like family.

Finally, I am totally loving Heroes. That is like the best show ever. I can’t wait for it to come out on DVD. Also, I got a new lens for my camera, and while I was totally excited about it, after playing around with it, I don’t think that it is what I really needed, and I am going to take it back and get the EF-S 60mm f/2.8 USM macro instead. I am hoping that the return goes smoothly, because I REALLY want the macro lens. Keep your fingers crossed!

That’s about all for this Tuesday, ya’ll! Hope things are going well for everyone out there in the blogosphere!

flickr, movie musings, photography, the catch-all-egory

zodiac and a new lens

by  •  • 8 Comments

So last night, we went with Barry and Rebekah to check out the newest Jake Gyllenhaal flick, Zodiac. For those of you that know me, know that I love all things Gyllenhaal (Maggie included!), so there was no way I was going to be able to wait for this movie to make its way to DVD. So, I braved the Friday night movie crowds (those of you that know me well, know that I HATE going to the movies on opening night… crowds make me angry), and we managed to have no problem sitting together, thanks to Daniel and Andrew meeting us at the movie, and saving us four chairs. Score!! So just before the movie, when we were eating dinner, Barry mentions that the movie is 2 hours and 40 minutes long… uh, I wasn’t expecting that, but nevertheless, I was excited to see a new Gyllenhaal movie. So we made our way into the theater, settled in, and watched Zodiac. While it definitely was a long movie (seriously, almost 3 hours long, remember!), it was actually really good. There was lots of “thriller” moments, and there was actually a bunch of surprisingly vivid violence in the recreation of the Zodiac’s killings. It really captured the hysteria of the time, being that a mass murderer was just out there killing people, and no one knew who he was or where to look for him. Surprisingly, there was actually quite a bit of humor in the movie, which cut the suspense very nicely. Most of that came from Robert Downey Jr., which was nice and welcome in this serious movie. It was also cool how they followed the reporters and the police as they worked to try and uncover who the killer was before he killed again. Eventually, the police give up, and Jake’s character takes it upon himself to find out who Zodiac is years later, while writing a book about him. Overall, I really liked the movie, and I will definitely get it for our collection when it hits DVD. The only thing that I didn’t really like (even though it was totally necessary), was the continual splicing together of scenes labeled with how much later they were than the previous scene (i.e., 2 months later…). They did that A LOT in the film, and it was a little distracting, but overall, I really liked it. I’ll give it a five out of six (); perhaps another viewing will make that go up, because I get distracted in the theater sometimes, and all that time jumping plus the almost 3 hour movie proved to be a little distracting. Either way, that’s what I thought, now you go see it! [picture from iheartjakemedia.com]

drinks anyone?Other than that, I am completely reeling over my newest purchase; I got a new (very inexpensive) lens for my camera. The lens is a 50mm f1.8, which is awesome, because it has a wicked aperture, allowing me to do awesome DOF things. I am in love with it. I messed around a little yesterday, and got some pretty great pictures. I look forward to learning more and more about it, and hopefully, I will just get better with time. To the right is one of the pictures that I took yesterday (if you want to see it bigger, click on it, and it will take you to the flickr page). What do you think? (you can see the rest on my flickr page) I am impressed with how well this camera handles, and the impressive pictures that come out of it. YAY great purchase!

I hope that everyone is having a great weekend, and relaxing accordingly. We are going to have a rousing Wii Boxing game this afternoon as our workout, and then hang out with friends tonight and tomorrow night. God, weekends are the best. I wish they lasted longer!!!

"pointless", all about me, flickr, the catch-all-egory

a friday free-for-all!

by  •  • 0 Comments

I am all over the place today! So, in the spirit of that “all over the place” mentality I am currently afflicted by, I thought I would share! Why not, right?! I knew you would agree.

First of all, my car starting making a noise this week. Not a good noise either, it was a “metal on metal” scraping noise coming from the wheels. Shit. Of course, I am a proactive person when it comes to car care (I always get the oil done on time, and I rotate tires and that kind of stuff), so I called Acura and made an appointment for this afternoon. Turns out, it is something to do with brake pads and the rotors, and so I have to have the back ones fixed… the front ones are covered by the warranty for whatever reason. It’s going to be $165, but at least I have two things going FOR me here; the vibration and that awful metal on metal noise when braking will go away, AND, I luckily got my tax return money this week. So, I guess things could be worse. I just can’t wait to see how it drives when it is fixed, especially since they let me borrow a BRAND NEW RDX to drive while I am waiting for my car. That car is NICE, but really, the only thing about it I would want, is the MP3 CD capability, and the audio in jack for my ipod… my car doesn’t have either of those features. Other than that, I am very happy with Bianca, and can’t wait to get her back.

Second, to preface this next thing, let me start by saying that my tattoo guy had me on a stand by list, in case of a cancellation, in order to fix my ankle tattoo. Apparently, this was the quickest way to get in, because he has a massive waiting list (which is totally understandable, because he is amazing)… but I didn’t expect that they would call and be all, “um, can you come in tonight?”. Well, needless to say, I said yes, because I don’t want to have to wait that much longer; especially considering the main reason I went to Russ in the first place, was to get my ankle redone… and I ended up with a half sleeve!!! I probably want to do more with the sleeve in the future, but for now, we are doing ankle work ONLY. I can’t wait to see what he can do with it. The man is a genius with a needle and ink. The appointment tonight shouldn’t be half as painful as my last one (which was all inner arm work, ouch!). I just hope James isn’t too shaken by the sudden change of plans… he doesn’t deal well with that, but in this case, I didn’t have much of a choice. Oh well, I guess we’ll see!

a daffodil's view

Finally, my good friend Deb has talked me into getting a kick ass lens for my camera, because it is pretty much one of the best deal lenses for the Canon EOS cameras… it is a 50mm with f1.8, and it should allow me to enhance the bokeh in my shots (bokeh is the effect in the shot above, where the main object of the photo is sharp, but the background is blurred and softened… but this lens can make it much smoother and more soft). This is the effect in photography that I have learned, and one that I love the most, and I can’t wait to see what this lens can do, because the one that comes with the camera is pretty limited when you want to do more specific and advanced things like this; plus, it is a cheap lens (as I mentioned). I am completely loving this camera, and I am SOOOO glad that I got it. It was totally worth the wait, and I know that I am gushing about it, but I really can’t help it. Mama likes her electronics, kids!!! Also, keep in mind I waited over a year and a half to get this camera, so a little excitement is in order. Be sure to keep an eye on my flickr page, because I can assure you, things are only going to get more interesting. Well, at least I am going to posting a lot more… I have fallen back in love with flickr!

I hope that everyone has a great Friday (what’s left of it), and I hope everyone has a great weekend as well! Expect some commentary on the Oscars on Monday… GO JENNIFER HUDSON!!! WOOO WOOO!

all about me, happenings, mixed media, movie musings

the upcoming movies I want to see post

by  •  • 5 Comments

I mentioned on Wednesday that there were a lot of movies coming out in the next month or so, and that I should probably make a list; so I am. After seeing some good movies recently, I realize that while I don’t really like to go to the theater (who needs it when you have a 42″ TV and a soft couch at home?), there is some stuff I feel like I have to see, without waiting for DVD; although, I am sure that I won’t see ALL of them in the theater… Here’s my list so far (listed in the order in which they are coming out):

  • Because I Said So: I will probably go see this tomorrow with John and the boys. It looks cute, and it has Mandy Moore. She is awesome, and that is pretty much any reason to see a movie she is in.
  • Ghost Rider: Now, I HATE Nicholas Cage with a passion, but I LOVE comic book movies. I will probably give in and see this one. I just hope it doesn’t suck monkey nuts; because it definitely has the potential to. And it isn’t a good sign that they aren’t letting reviewers see it before release… that never is, really.
  • Zodiac: Jake Gyllenhaal movies are always worthy of a trip to the theater. Seriously.
  • 300: Holy fucking shit I am so excited about this movie. I talked with Deb about seeing this at IMAX, because based on the MANY previews I have watched, this movie is going to be stunning. I predict it will make my best of 2007 movies list.
  • Premonition: I saw the trailer, and it looks like it could pretty cool. I really like Sandra Bullock too, so perhaps she will make this one worth seeing. I find the whole idea of someone dying, and you waking up the next day and it didn’t happen yet, as a pretty creepy idea.
  • Blades of Glory: I am going to seriously have to see some trailers for this; because it looks really promising, but also looks like it could pull an Anchorman (which wasn’t that funny). At least Ben Stiller isn’t in it (even though he is one of the producers), because that would make it a definite NO.
  • Grindhouse: Holy nerd’s wet dream, Batman: Tarantino AND Miller in one film?!? Well, it’s actually two films, but I am still totally excited. Rose McGowan’s character has a gun for a leg. Fuck yes.
  • Hot Fuzz: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost?!?!? AGAIN??? These two did Shaun of the Dead, one of my favorite movies. I will see anything they do. This one is a top of the list type movie.
  • Spiderman 3: Duh. No need to explain this one at all; I still can’t believe Venom is in it. Wet dream anyone?
  • Shrek the Third: The second one was better than the first one… will the third be better than the second? We shall see.
  • Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer: OMG. I was terribly excited when they announced this, and have been following it ever since. I really liked the first one, even though many didn’t, and can’t wait to see Silver Surfer in action!
  • Transformers: Alright… I’ll bite, but I am not going to be running to the theaters. I liked them when I was a kid, but not that much. I would love to see a Thundercats live action movie. That would be awesome.
  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Duh again. Harry Potter movies are always must see movies.

Wow, that is a pretty short list. I was thinking that there were more movies that I was excited about… what am I missing? What are you excited about seeing? I am probably just drawing a blank on something, so let me know what I am missing, kids!!!

Also, totally unrelated, but I am FINALLY getting my camera; my tax refund was much more than I was expecting, and I am getting a digital SLR!!!! I have wanted one forever, and now I am getting it (just the body, though, because my GREAT FRIEND Deb is giving me a lens!!!)! Woohoo! In case you were wondering, it is the Canon Digital Rebel XT; but I am getting the 8MP version, because it is about $200 cheaper than the 10, and I don’t think there will be THAT much difference, you know? Still, I’m excited!!! Hope everyone’s Friday is rock awesome!