Pipo's Project

Sonya's father was in town this past weekend and had the strange desire to help us refinish our cabinets. He has been telling people that we put him to work on his vacation, but that is a blatant falsehood! He actually pestered us several times about getting started. Here are the results of Pipo's motivation. We sanded and sanded and sanded. I hate sanding. Sonya hates sanding. Pipo smoked while we sanded, but I think he hates sanding, too. We worked on the cabinet doors the longest because of all those pretty little details. We painted everything white, put the cabinets and shelves back, and realized we liked the cabinets without the doors. No we have six painted doors to store in our attic. I'm still learning how to use the new camera, so I apologize for the weird colors in the photos.

Expenditures

This past Christmas, my dad gave me his fathers old camera case full of specialty lenses, an old Nikkormat EL, and Grandpa's Nikon F. Sonya and I were so excited. I planned on taking a film class, but free-time being essentially nonexistent, I just have not had the chance. The cameras and lenses have been sitting in my closet until Thursday when Sonya said, "I want a digital SRL." I told her that before we jumped into that I'd like to see if there was a model that fit those lenses. So after a little research, I discovered the Nikon D60. The reviews I've read have all been positive, and the only issue that has been raised is that none of the automatics features work. That is really no issue because the images are instantly reviewable, and the camera display has the handy feature of highlighting overexposed areas. Snap a picture, check the picture, adjust the f-stop, and keep shooting. Awesome. Here's a picture of my office since I've done some rearranging.

You can see the windows appear overexposed, but the room is dark in the top image. I have complete control over these subtleties which I have never experienced before. Here is where I sat in the Cessna 504 with Pilot Leslie O. Kagey giving me the evil eye. I can't tell if he's kidding.

The fish eye distortion is pretty obvious in all these shots. I love this lens! Here's a shot with the Nippon micro lens. I'm sure my dad was taking pictures of coins with this lens, but I really like the depth you get when taking pictures of subjects with a little more distance.

The next few shots are with the automatic lens that came with the camera. They look pretty darn good, and the snapshot quality of our old Olympus 5 mega pixel camera is still not as severe on the Nikon.

This is Ramona eyeing Sonya's Father's food. That is the other big news. Pipo is here! I better go downstairs and enjoy some cafe' with the rest of the family.

Flying Scientist

Spot the Geek!

It's a trick, we're all geeks!

Which one of these things does not belong?

Druekes in Virginia!

The Miami Druekes were with us for the Independence Day weekend, and it was great having them. They've been here enough times (3 times) to be all done with the usual historic tourist stuff, so we hung around the house and drank wine and beer, played cribbage, grilled bratwurst, and had general merriment. Aunt Mary Kay and Uncle Carl were with us from Michigan, but they had not enjoyed all the Ye-Olde-Colonial fair, so they did that stuff during the day and joined us in the evenings. It was fantastic! Mary Kay took plenty of pictures, so I need to get a hold of those to add to the blog. We did all head to Duke of Gloucester street to enjoy the fireworks which is the one thing in Colonial Williamsburg I have never done. It was a really great display. Of course, for an hour before the fireworks, there was a team of preachers standing on step stools enjoying their rights to free speech and making those around them uncomfortable. I'm pretty sure the framers intended everyone to have the right to make others uncomfortable. Isn't that what "inalienable" means?Here you can see us enjoying the sermon before the fireworks show. Look at how moved my dad is by the power of preachers in Birkenstocks! This weekend also proved a rare occasion for my dad to bond with our not-so-brave dog, Jake. He has become much more social with strangers, yet he is still terrified of having his picture taken. Jake has the uncanny ability to recognize and fear all devices with picture-taking capabilities. Here is an example of Jake's reaction to cameras:
Look at his smile! Ramona loves cameras and people.
I almost forgot this picture. I simply will not explain it!

Lisa's Proof

My sister-in-law always says that I'm a Rocket Scientist or an Astronaut. Here's her proof. I wish they would have let me keep that swell jump suit, but I'm pretty sure I can get one from Cintas.