Author: robertjames1971

I'm wicked tall.

Long Exposure Test

I don’t know why I thought my neutral density filter didn’t fit on the Z 40mm f2 lens I bought for my Z5. I knew it was the right size, but for some reason I thought the threads were backwards or something. I actually tried using it today and much to my glee it fits perfectly. What was I thinking?

Anyway, I popped it into shutter priority mode and set the speed to 30 seconds and took my first mirrorless long exposure.

Testing: 30 Second Exposure with an ND Filter

Now if we can just find a weekend day that isn’t cloudy and rainy, I’ll be able to take some long exposures at the ocean. Someday. Hopefully.

Couch to 5K?

When we went to Disney World* back in January we were there for the Disney Marathon weekend. The weekend ends with a marathon, but in the days leading up to it there was a half marathon, a 10K, and a 5K. Jen suggested that next year I should run the 5K.

I was thinking about it last night. I fake run more than 5K pretty much every day. At the pace I go when I jog in place in the cellar (pronounced “yog” with a soft J) I run for 32 minutes, which is enough to close my 30 minute exercise ring while also rounding off to the nearest mile, which is four miles. 5 kilometers is 3.1 miles, so my watch congratulates me for running a 5K every day.

Don’t get me wrong, I know that my faux running is about as far removed from actual running as you can get. I don’t actually run 5K, I just pretend. We are all in agreement on that, right? If I were to actually take up actual running, I would need help and I would need to carefully build up stamina before running any notable distance.

That brought me to YouTube last night when I should have been sleeping. I searched for “couch to 5k” and started watching. A few minutes ago I installed a Couch to 5K app on my iPhone. I promptly deleted it after it took all of my information and then prompted me for the $40/month subscription. Fuck you.

I have an idea of how to start based on a video series I watched last night. Now the question is, do I actually do it? Am I seriously thinking about taking up running? It would be pretty cool to run the Disney World 5K next year. Pretty cool indeed. It might even impress my wife a little, which is more or less my goal for everything I do.

We’ll see.

*More on Disney World coming soon. You have been warned.

I Missed It

A few minutes ago, as I was typing up the last post, Jen called out to me to come upstairs quick. There was a baby deer in the yard!

I grabbed my Z5 and dashed upstairs, all dramatic-like. I got into Harry’s room just in time to watch the baby deer and it’s mom walk into the wood, completely out of view.

Damn. I missed them.

Oh well. I stuck my camera out the window and took a pic of some birds. Just so it wouldn’t be a waste of time, right?

DSC_1437

Nine Days and Counting

I kept the streak alive by playing some guitar today! Last night I cooked up a song idea in 5/8 time. I thought that rhythmically it was going to be tough to track the guitars today but I finished the whole thing, double tracking too, in about 15 minutes. That’s good for three reasons. One, it kept the streak going. Two, I have a bunch of stuff to do this morning and now have a little more time to do it. Three, I overslept quite a bit today and thought I was going to screw everything up but now I might not have.

Pics!

289/365
289/365
DSC_1432
DSC_1435
DSC_1436

Plant

The plant that lives on the incredibly dirty window sill in the cellar was about 66% dead last week. I have been watering it regularly and pruning it and trying to keep it alive, and now it has a huge new leaf opening up. It still looks diseased and dying though. I wonder if it’s supposed to.

I also can’t seem to take a decent picture of the little bastard. I should use a camera with a flash but that’s cheating.

DSC_1429
DSC_1424
DSC_1427

NHL Predictions Wrap Up Post

The Vegas Golden Knights have won the Stanley Cup! Rejoice, as that means the friggin Florida Panthers lost. Does Florida losing make me feel better about the epic, colossal choke the Bruins gave us in the first round? No. No it doesn’t. Not even a little bit. It does feel good though. Spiteful and vindictive and just good.

So it’s time to wrap up my predictions posts for the year. One more series to add to the total. Where did I stand before the final? Where did the accompanying coin flips stand before the final?

Before the final I had picked the winner correctly in seven out of 14 series (7/14). The coin flip picked the winner correctly in five out of 14 series (5/14). In the final, the coin and I both picked Vegas so we were both correct. That means I finished with more wins than losses, babie! Eight out of 15 (8/15)! That gives me a winning percentage of 53.3%. Not terribly good, but not terribly bad either. You might say my predictions were mediocre and I would be okay with that. As long as I’m over 50% I feel okay. As for the coin flip, six out of 15 (6/15) is pretty freakin’ terrible. Statistically speaking a coin flip should average out at about 50%, right? I guess the sample size of 15 is just too small to meet that expectation. The result of 40% is pretty awful, but not too awful. I guess. As long as I did better, that’s all I need from this experiment.

So now we wait until next year. We go through the draft and the free agency period and see what trades happen and rookie camp and training camp and finally back to opening day in October. Here’s hoping the Bruins redeem themselves next season. They have a lot to answer for after that horrible, nightmare of a choke. I’m still pretty pissed off.

Time to Get Back to This

robertjames1971's avatarRob Shoots Film

It’s the middle of June. The sun rise is ridiculously early. The weather is almost sort of nice. It’s time. It’s time to start planning morning photography projects again. The summer is just about here and around these parts it doesn’t last long. Yeah, it’s time to get back to it. Film and digital. Let’s get to it, Robert.

927201400013_14
Merrimack River in Methuen, MA.

View original post