Ploafmaster General

Today's the last day at my first "real" job after I graduated from VCU. I've been a database developer/analyst for Affinion Loyalty Group for the past 7 years working on points systems for credit cards. Yeah, it's as dull as it sounds :-)

But I did learn a ton from the people I worked with, and I'm glad to have been a developer for so long. On Monday I move on and leave development behind. Ah! Transition!

So here's my last shot from my San Francisco photos. Ending on an obvious note. But I really, really like this shot.

Val and I got up at 5 AM on this day, and we caught a cab in front of our hotel around 5:30 and headed to The Presidio and the south overlook. When we arrived it was only just starting to get light out, and the fog was pretty thick. It was even intermittently raining, so I had the rain cover from my bag strapped on top of the camera while it sat on the tripod. When it stopped stpitting just a bit, I managed to take a few long exposures, and this is the one I liked the most.

I may not have left my heart in San Francisco, but I do miss the place, and I hope to make it out there for a longer stretch sometime in the future.

Today is the start of my last week at first post-college job. I'm bracing myself for what could be a crazy 5 days as people scramble to reassign my work or get in their last questions before I'm off the payroll.

On the other hand, it could be a slow crawl as my work is reassigned elsewhere efficiently. Either way, I'm anxious for the transition to complete. At least I'll have my new classes starting this week to distract me a little.

Spool of cable at the Cable Car Museum in San Francisco.

The truth is, I get a lot of me time. I get me time whenever I put off taking out the trash. Whenever I curse at a negligent driver from my car. Whenever I'm mean to my wife. Whenever I eat too much. You see, I get me time whenever I give in to my selfish desires. And the problem is that the ego is insatiable. That's why screaming at somebody never really makes you feel better. That's why that next doughnut doesn't taste as sweet. And that's why procrastinating just leads to loafing on the couch surfing the web while an unwatched TV flickers in the background. The common notion of me time where I get to do what I want, for myself? Yeah, I think I get plenty of that already, and I've already said where that leads.

So I want to try and keep the me time in check. I want to, instead, make room for a little stillness time. Time when I can sit, disconnected, uninterrupted.

Be still and know that I am God. - Psalm 46:10

Eep! I didn't write yesterday.

Two weeks from today is my last day at my current office. I'm starting to offload responsibilities and trying to wrap up whatever I have left on my plate. But I'm fearing the last week will run interminably slow as I try to find things to occupy my time. I could be wrong - it may be that everybody will try to get their pound of flesh before I make it out the door. But I think they've managed things better than that in the past, so we'll see.

So that's clearly at the top of my mind right now. That makes it more than a little difficult to focus on the school work I still have to finish. I need to wrap up a huge paper for my independent study by the end of this weekend, so I don't anticipate making it out of doors too much in the intervening hours. I'll feel a lot better about that if we actually get the thunder storms I've been hearing about.

Oh, final strange note: this morning I stopped in for coffee at Lamplighter, as is my custom, and I saw a freaking Aston Martin DB9 parked in the lot. I, in fact, parked next to it, sure to give it ample clearance. Not every day you park next to a car that is 6-digits more expensive than your house!

So not only did I get a job offer last Thursday while in San Francisco, but later that very day I ventured out into a quieter, more residential part of the city to check out Brown Owl Coffee, the shop mentioned a number of times by Merlin Mann on Back to Work. Val and I ran in to Merlin himself as soon as we got off the light rail, and he was super friendly. Highlight of the day for my wife and I (she also listens to Back to Work). Anyway, Val got a picture of Merlin and I, and he tweeted the link. Gruber retweeted Merlin, and now it's suddenly on track to be the most viewed picture on my photo stream in the near future (though it still has a long way to catch up to this one).

And Merlin is a good hugger, FYI.

Goodness, so much to discuss.

First of all, yes. I haven't written in a while. That's because I didn't feel like blogging while on this short vacation. But man, was it a cool vacation. San Francisco! Temperatures never made it above the mid-60s the entire trip, and we had frequent fog and cloudiness. But I loved it. The respite from the brutal Virginia heat was right up my alley. I also loved the city itself. Super hilly, but covered extensively by public transportation. MUNI may be a joke to San Franciscans, but compared to the GRTC it was golden.

I only wish I'd been able to travel with fewer people - maybe just my wife - so I could have avoided touristy things most of the trip. I also wish, in retrospect, that I'd stayed in Sunset or Haight instead of by Union Square. YEESH...that part of town is dripping with tourists who just want to shop and ride the cable cars. But I did manage to make it out to Brown Owl Coffee on Taraval which was super freaking delicious. More on that in a follow-up post later today...

Oh yeah, and this past Thursday, while waiting in the Hilton lobby, I got a phone call with a job offer.

I'd been communicating pretty heavily with a company here in town, and things had been going well. This all culminated in an interview on Tuesday after work but before my flight to SFO. It seems they liked me, and they extended an offer. I accepted, but since I couldn't formally resign at my current employer until I was back at work today, I've been quiet about it on the internet. But now the cat is out of the bag. I start at my new job on 8/29. First new company in seven years...

So tonight I'm going to celebrate with a little bubbly, and then it's time for some insane amount of homework for my independent study...

Well, a short week at work, if that wasn't already implicit.

Today is jam-packed full of crap - work, which is plenty busy. School work to do when I get home. The absolute need for me to make my way down to Secco for Carytown Restaurant Week. Oh yeah, and packing for my trip tomorrow.

I have a lot going on tomorrow, too - but I can't really talk about it...yet. I hope to be able to say something about it in the near future, but time will tell. I just know it'll make for a hectic afternoon and rush to the airport so I can make it through security and get on my westward flight. Maybe I'll get to eat dinner in there somewhere...

I met up with a friend this evening after work to grab some brew at The Camel. It was already a great way to unwind from a seriously stressful week, but then there was a delightful 3-piece bluegrass band playing in the corner. They were just great - sounded like they'd played together for ages and completely brightened up the darkened tables around the bar.

Aaaaaaand...that's it for now.

No post yesterday. That's because yesterday was a bear. It ended with me writing for both school and work, going to bed near 1 AM. That about sums up why I didn't get a chance to casually write a self-indulgent blog post :-)

Today could end up being just as busy because it's just non-stop meetings, requests, lunch out, early leaving the office to take people to the airport, then more homework. Gah!

This is my small gasp for air.

I have neither the time nor the mental capacity this evening to say much about my day beyond two things:

1. I received my wide angle lens today. It's a 50mm lens, which is like a 24mm lens on a 35mm camera. It's pretty wide. I love it!

2. I am making an awesome dinner tonight - another batch of my made-from-scratch smoked gouda macaroni and cheese with crispy Serrano ham.

That's it for now. I have some photos to touch up and some dinner to cook.

I watched Bridesmaids at The Byrd Theater in Richmond on Saturday night. I was looking forward to it - directed by Paul Feig, staring Kristin Wiig, Maya Rudolph, and several other talented actors/actresses. And you know what? It was fairly funny. The acting was terrific (especially Melissa McCarthy and Maya Rudolph). But I had a hard time watching this movie.

It's not because the movie was crass (boy, though, was it crass). It's not because of a ridiculously contrived plot (it was straightforward enough). It was because Bridesmaids is humiliation comedy. Humiliation comedy is my term for movies where much of the humor revolves around on character unfairly taking the blame for a demoralizing series of mishaps, a la Meet the Parents. That sort of comedy ties my stomach in knots because I end up empathizing with the protagonist, wishing she would just utter one or two sentences that could easily clear up the tiny misunderstanding that lead to monumental problems.

I suppose in Bridesmaids the humiliation was for the sake of piling on misery to an already downtrodden character, making her restoration that much more dramatic. But that's cheap; an artificial means of creating strife between the lead and those close to her.

There are some other issues I had with the movie, like the weak reliance on aerial establishing shots of Milwaukee and Chicago (Hey! Landmarks! Now you know where this act takes place!), and some ideological quibbles, but those would've knocked off maybe a star at most from my rating. Yet with a structure that caused me to tense up anticipating the next embarrassing plot contrivance, I just can't give this movie more than 3/5.

So today's writing actually comes tomorrow, but seeing as I typically don't write on Saturdays, I suppose that's okay. Tonight was the perfect end cap to the week. Was I bar-hopping? Well, not really, since three places hardly qualifies as bar-hopping. But I started out with a simple bowl of cereal for dinner followed by a Perfect Manhattan at Balliceaux, a dessert and Aviation at Can Can, and some quality beer and macarons at Secco. Oh yeah, and some fine champagne to celebrate 10 years with my lovely wife (from the day I asked her out, not our wedding anniversary).

All this was welcome distraction because today was a day longer than it should have been. Fraught with issues related to misunderstandings, client demands, and catching up on slipped deadlines (which slipped because of higher priority work), I felt like Friday would never end. But it did, and it ended with a bang. Hitting several of my favorite spots in one night out with my wife and her sister, I managed to ease out of the boiling hot Friday into weekend mode. Too bad tomorrow appears to be another smoker.

Well, here's to the weekend. I'll get coffee in the morning and brunch near noon. And limited responsibility other than that. My kind of weekend.

Sippin' on a Staropramen, absolutely blasting my music through the stereo. The Genius playlist on the Apple TV is serving me well this go 'round.

It's hot as CRAP outside today, and I wish I didn't have to go out again, but I must, so I will when dinner time rolls around. I guess I really wish it was cooler so I could use this great sunlight we have to make more photographs, but such is life.

Speaking of making photographs, I decided to get a wide-angle lens for my RZ67, especially considering I'll be traveling soon. So I'll carry 50mm and 110mm lenses with me to San Fran, the equivalent of a 24mm and 53mm lens in 35mm format, respectively. I'm really hoping to be able to get in more shooting before I go, but I tell ya; if this heat keeps up I'll be parked inside in the air conditioning.

Oh, would you look at that! My download of Lion for this laptop has finished (installed last night on the iMac), so it's time to upgrade.

(Post Script: Today I had a few THOUSAND page views from several HUNDRED unique visitors...what gives? If you're reading here for the first time, hit me with a comment. What brought you here?)

I'm seriously wiped out. I was up nearly until 2 AM working on a paper. It's my own doing - this, the result of my procrastination - so I'm not complaining. Simply stating the fact that I am actually wiped out.

Here are some more unaffiliated facts that are also not complaints but hew perilously close to so being: It's hot as a furnace outside and will be through the weekend at least. July tired quickly of its amazingly days last week and decided to bring back the hotness. Makes it a bit tough to be outside and walk around taking pictures...

This item's a mixed bag: today marks 10 years since I asked Valerie if she wanted to date me (well, technically it was after midnight, making it the 21st, but whatever. That evening's events started on the 20th). We've been together ever since - and while I stopped marking dating anniversaries years ago, I think a decade together is significant. So I want to celebrate! But tonight I have to meet with my class group to discuss our project, and Valerie has to work late to meet deadlines. I guess we'll just have some fun this weekend.

Finally, I'm going to San Francisco soon. I mentioned that already, right? I'm going to San Francisco for several days as the beginning of August. I'm meeting up with Val, her mom, and her sister; they'll already be there having driven down from Eugene, Oregon that day. I'm bringing my new beast of burden, the RZ67, with me as my only camera for shooting around. I think Valerie will have the D90 with her (since she's traveling ahead of me), but I just want to stick to film for the week. I guess that means I get to order a bunch of film :-)

Elizabeth, my sister-in-law, reclining on the upper-level steps of The Carillon.

There's not a lot I can talk about in this entry, but I'll go all "stream of consciousness" for a bit just to see what I can crank out when I really set my mind and intentions to writing.

So what's foremost in my mind right now is some news that I can't really even share on the 'net just yet, because it's not the right timing. But I did want, at least, to record my sense of anticipation for something. A journal or blog, after all, need not be a record of all the details so much as a record of the prevailing sentiment or mood at that time. I'm capturing, I hope, some sense of my personality through these entries; an endeavor far more interesting to me (and I hope others). I guess that's sort of a philosophical line in the sand wherein I'm stating that the response is more compelling than the stimuli, but that's where I'm at right now. So no details. Maybe in a month I'll get all detailed and crap, and you can try to piece together some understanding of my August 2011 psyche based on those details which I obsessively record.

Enough with all that now, though.

Tonight is the reckoning; the evening where I face just how much writing I have to crank out on a different platform - my portion of a monstrous paper for one of my summer classes. I've procrastinated long enough, but I must meet my own self-imposed (and imposed on others by me) deadline of tomorrow night and complete the draft of my section. There is, then, a small advantage to Valerie having to stay late at work. She's the most wonderful distraction, so it's tough for me to accomplish much while we're both at home, even in different rooms.

So there it is: my Tuesday, laid bare. Dissect it as you wish!

Oh yes, I'm still writing today.

Not that I really have much to say. My weekend was pretty awesome and I wasn't too bothered by that insipid Blackberry. I was able to spend some time last night showing Valerie how to use my old Mamiya C3 medium format camera, and we both basically spent a while photographing her sister on the upper level of the Carillon tower (uploads coming soon). Tonight we'll have a simple breakfast-for-dinner meal before heading out to see the final Harry Potter film.

Scant though that may seem, that's all there is to it for now. But I'll be back. I just can't help myself.

One of my classmates (and a pro photographer) at the large format photography workshop I took at the VMFA Studio School.

I shot this using Clement's Sinar 4x5 view camera and his gorgeous Nikkor 210mm lens (a good portrait focal length for 4x5). This was shot wide open at f/5.6 for 1/60th of a second on Ilford HP5 Plus. I printed on nice cheap Ilford Multigrade RC paper with a pearl finish using a #3 filter in the enlarger for some increased contrast. The paper print is nearly the full size of the 8x10 sheet of paper.

Now I want a darkroom all over again after experiencing (for the first time in 3 years) just how much can be done with an image after the negative is created. I know I can use Photoshop or other tools, but the process of using a darkroom is so wonderful to me; the tactile nature helps, I think. It's hard to beat the tonal range of a good darkroom print, too, at least with current printing technology.

Yesterday I finished my large format photograph workshop, so it's appropriate that I post this photo now.

It was a fantastic class wherein I learned more about view camera movements, metering, and more useful darkroom knowledge than I gained from 10 weeks of printing back in 2008.

I have one particular negative that turned out really well, and a print from that of which I am truly proud. I'll scan and upload both as soon as I get a chance.

I'll open this post on a sappy note: Today I looked at my wedding photo that I keep in my cubicle at the office. As I looked at that record of such a happy moment - on the steps of the church before getting into the limo to the reception, I realized something surprising. Surprising in a great way. I realized that I actually find my wife to be more attractive now than in that photograph. Of course I still love the photo, and I still think Valerie is beautiful in that picture. But the woman I see every morning when I wake up, the way she looks now, to my present eyes, is far more appealing. This isn't because of any particular physical transformation that I can isolate. I think it's a matter of recognizing that the woman I see in that photo, all prettied-up in her wedding dress and such, isn't the same woman I hang out with in the evenings and on weekends. My Valerie is the Valerie I know now and today, and I'm in love with her.

Anyway, I had to lead with that.

So what else? Well tomorrow concludes my large format photography workshop. We have, essentially, 6 hours to make prints from our 4x5 negatives, and I'm thrilled about it. I'm really hoping this on-call Blackberry (with which I'm stuck until Monday morning) doesn't interrupt my fun, but if it does, that's life.

Tomorrow also means the arrival of my sister-in-law to my house, and she'll be with us for at least a week. So she and Valerie and myself will of course be out gallivanting around town hitting our favorite haunts in rapid succession so Elizabeth can get her semi-annual dose of Richmond fun. I'm looking forward to good coffee, food, beer, etc. And I'll also take a crap-ton of photos, naturally.

That's all the news (about me) that's fit to type, at least right now.

So the big thing that happened for me this week was that I received my new (used) medium format film camera: The Mamiya RZ67 Pro IID. This thing is a behemoth, but there are so many things about it which I've wanted in a medium format camera for quite a long time.

Let's start with one of the majors. It's an SLR, not a TLR - this means that I see exactly what the film sees at the same angle and distance. No more worrying about parallax screwing with my close focusing. Additionally the RZ, like a Hasselblad, has interchangeable film backs. I got two backs with mine, so now I can switch between color and B&W without having to finish up the rolls of either. I just swap backs if I decide a shoot would benefit from some color, for example. The RZ also has a rotating back, which is nice since it shoots 6x7 cm negatives. That means I can switch from portrait to landscape without having to adjust my tripod. Finally, this particular body is digital-back ready. Now I'm not going to be in the market for a digital medium format back until the stop costing as much as a Honda Civic. But seeing as this camera is now my main medium format kit, I'm happy that my system won't be useless if 120/220 film ever ceases production.

So yeah, I'm planning to shoot a whole mess of film in the coming weeks. And I'm planning on bringing this monster with me to San Francisco in early August. I know that good tools don't automatically make good work, but I'm pretty psyched to have some more capable tools none-the-less.

I have a ton of school work to do. I have to write my portion of a huge research paper, and then I have to do some research and reading and writing for another huge research paper. But I'm scanning film and writing here on this website.

I'm terribly lazy, I know it. It's probably my lame version of the Shakespearean "tragic flaw", getting in the way of even those pursuits which I love. So when there's something that needs doing, particularly something that isn't my favorite activity, I'll do almost anything else to occupy my time instead of that necessary action.

I always justify my actions to myself - at least with respect to my school work - that I tend to work best under high pressure. Also, something something work filling the time allotted something blah. Excuses, excuses, I know. But my own consciousness of this problem isn't sufficient to transform my behavior. That needs prayer.

But sometimes I'm even too lazy to pray.