Category: Generic

June Music

It’s June 2nd. I’ve tortured you by making you wait a whole day for a June Music update! I’m sorry!

Yesterday I stitched together three ideas. I don’t really have a theme this month, but so far everything is 100% iPad (that won’t last), 100% Strat (that probably will last), and almost, but not quite, bluesy. Well, 1.5 of the new things at least.

All three are ready for vocals. Can you believe that? I wanted to write lyrics for one of them before work today but I decided to sleep an extra 15 minutes and then leave a little early instead.

That plan fell apart as epically as most of my music plans do. I was in the car at 7:15 on my first day back from vacation and the damn thing wouldn’t start. I had to call for a tow, and of course the tow truck driver got the sucker running almost immediately. It was fine all the way to work and back. The turd.

2014 NHL Stanley Cup Finals Predictions

Yippee, Bruins free NHL. Urgh.

Doesn’t it just suck that I have been super accurate in my predictions this year and one of the only pics I got wrong was on my favorite team? Jerks.

I correctly picked the winner in seven of eight first round series, and three of four second round series (friggin’ Bruins).

How’d I do with the two third round series?

I picked the hated Rangers over the more hated Canadiens. The Rangers won. I got it right.
I picked the Kings over the hated Blackhawks. The Kings won. I got it right.

So 7/8 in the first round plus 3/4 in the second round plus 2/2 in the third round gives me 12/14 overall for a winning percentage of 85.7%. Not bad, I guess. The only team I cared about happened to be one of the two I got wrong. (stupid Bruins).

This brings us to the Stanley Cup Finals. Before I make my pick, let me say that since the start of the season it has been a foregone conclusion that the only teams in the East with a prayer of beating the West were the Bruins and the Penguins. Are either of those teams in the finals? No? Can you guess who I’m picking?

Kings vs Rangers. The minute the Bruins lost I transferred my hockey allegiance to the Kings. That is irrelevant. The only way I could have possibly picked an Eastern Conference team in this match up would have been if the Bruins were the Eastern representative. For any other match up, I would pick the Western team. The West has been so good this year that they’ve made the East look like a youth league. I’m picking the Kings. I’m just really glad I get to pick a team I don’t hate.

There you have it, hockey fans. The dork who has been right 85% of the time this year is picking the Kings. Place your bets (but only if you’re dumb because I honestly have no clue what I’m doing)

Polarizing Filter

I got a polarizing filter for Christmas this year. I hadn’t even screwed it onto the lens before this week. Why? I don’t know, don’t pick on me. Sheesh.

Anyway I did a few tests while in the mountains. I’d turn it until the sky looked washed out, take a pic, then turn it until the sky was as dark as it could get, take a pic. And so on. Here are a few results.

This one…
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…compared to this one.
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And another test, this one…
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…compared to this one.
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I also did a test of how it handles reflections on water. I turned it so that I could see as much sunlight reflecting off the water as possible, took a pic, turned it so there was as little reflection as possible, took a pic.

This one…
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…compared to this one.
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Did I do it right? As with all things photography, I haven’t a clue. I’m just pushing buttons and turning dials and seeing what happens. Should I do anything different when using the polarizing filter?

Let me know.

June 1st

This year is going by so fast it’s down right terrifying. How can it possibly be June 1st when New Years Day was just a couple of weeks ago?

We got home from our get away yesterday and before we were even in the house my beloved bride of five years and one day (two days, as of today) injured her leg. We were pretty sure it was nothing serious, but we went to the ER to get an x-ray to make sure. Thankfully our diagnosis was correct. She’s okay, but it hurts a lot. My poor sweetie.

Our trip included one night in Conway, NH and two nights in Jackson, NH. The hotel in Conway was called Adventure Suites. Each suite has a different theme. Ours was a jungle theme. It was really cheesy, but fun. In Jackson we stayed at the Wentworth which was pretty seriously classy. I would go back there in a heartbeat.

Mostly we just drove around in the mountains enjoying the views but enjoying the company even more. We stopped at a couple of waterfalls. Jackson Falls and Glen Ellis Falls. Jackson was right on the road next to our hotel. I could have just spent a day hanging out there. Glen Ellis required a short hike. The path was mostly stairs, and while it would have been easy for most people a super out of shaper like me had to take it slow. The view was absolutely worth it though. As with all of our White Mountains trips, it has made me want to plan a full vacation of just waterfall hopping. That would be awesome.

The best part of the trip happened on Friday when we celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. We went for a fancy dinner at the Wentworth’s excellent restaurant. More importantly we spent the day just being together. I love my wife very much. Just being near her is a thrill for me.

We are home now though. Back to reality. Patches the kitty was meowing like a maniac the minute we opened the door. I think she was glad to see us. She hadn’t been pet in a while so we showered her with attention. Today I’ll post some pictures here. All the keepers are already on Flickr. It’s also a new month, and the 20 songs from April and March are all done (though a few could use a new mix) so today starts a new album in a month. June Music. How exciting!

Then tomorrow? Back to work. Oh, way to ruin the happy post, you jerk.