./janella.com

The memory card pain continues today. I found out I can’t return the memory card I accidentally bought, even if I didn’t open it (which I did). Oh well, the card is going to go up on the for sale list at work in hopes of recovering some $$$. If I didn’t mention it I accidentally ordered a Secure Digital card and not a CompactFlash card.

The different memory cards can be a pain. I remember when I got my first digital camera I had to decide what memory card to support at the time: CompactFlash, Secure Digital or Sony’s own Memory Stick [see here for a complete list]. I initially chose CompactFlash because it was more widely used, but then switched to Sony since I liked their products.

Once you decide on a type, you then need to decide on a brand, size and speed. Ugh, headache happening.  I’m guessing I’ll go with a 1GB and a 512MB if I can afford both. I need to go look at Fry’s again and Costco, which I think sell SanDisk cards.

Wish me luck.

I received my delivery from FedEx today at work.  It difficult to not open the box and look at the D70s, but I held off for a while.  I should have open it there though because something was wrong.

After running some errands with Farrah, I was able to finally start putting the D70s together.  The body is slightly thicker in my hand then the N80,  and with the kit lens attached (18mm-70mm) the camera feels nice.  I was ready to take some test shots.  I opened the memory card, ready to load then noticed that I got the wrong memory card type!!!!!  Ugh!

It was about 8:30pm and I quickly went to Fry’s Electronics.  No dice on the card I was looking for.  Oh well.  Hopefully I’ll be able to find one before the weekend.  I really want to start testing this camera.

I hope this doesn’t sound too much like ‘look at me and what I have" but I wanted to write down why I chose the equipment I currently have. The equipment is listed on the right-hand column in no particular order.  First up is the Sony DSC-T1

Sony DSC-T1

Farrah and I were in the market for a new digital camera. When knew we wanted something small yet could take great pictures.  I’ve always been a Sony guy, so when a commercial came on showing off the size of the T1 I was hooked. Well almost hooked.

I did my research to note the positives and negatives. The positives: size, good images (if there is enough light), a big LCD, fast start-up time and it looks cool. The negatives: price, poor images in low light, high red-eye count, and price.

Well, it made the cut since we bought it.

Even though we knew a head of time, the indoor performance is really disappointing.  But if you are traveling and you are taking a lot of outdoor photos, it’s a nice small camera to own (and the price has dropped considerably).

The Nikon FM3A

I was looking for a manual camera to give to Farrah for her birthday.  Nikon just came out with the FM3A during that time.  I was sold on the reviews of the camera and haven’t been disappointed.

Nikon FM3A

The camera is a solid piece of machinery, built like a tank. You can take pictures under almost any condition with this solid work horse.  Granted, you need to get the exposure correct (use the light meters) and focus (yes, focus), but nothing feels like you have more control then with a fully manual camera.

If there is a downside to the camera it is two things: (1) the light meter is hard to read in low light, and (2) trying to catch fast action is very difficult. You can avoid the latter if you have an automatic with you, but some times you just aren’t prepared as you should be. (I guess you can tell it’s happened to me.)

The Nikon N80

The N80 is an affordable, easy to use SLR with enough features to keep learning how to shoot. It’s light in weight when compared to the FM3A, so it can be taken almost anywhere without it being a burden. Most of the SLR film photos we have taken are with the N80.

If there are any downsides to the N80 it’s the fragile plastic feeling. The camera doesn’t feel like it could survive rugged conditions, weather or physical. With the FM3A you can probably drop the body and incur minimal damage.

Nikkor AF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D

The most used lens out of the group of lenses we have.  It’s perfect for most photo situations.  I have never really had a problem with this lens.

Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF

A nice fast wide lens, not wide like 18mm but wide enough.  It was also very inexpensive.  I wish I went with the f/1.4 though, but I couldn’t justify the extra cost.

Tamron Zoom Telephoto AF 70-300mm

The last new lens we bought. A fellow photographer at a party suggested I get a 300mm lens.  No way I could afford a fixed lens, so I went the Telephoto non-Nikon route.  A decent lens, allow us to capture shots without getting too close.

So this is the summary of I have now.  Still waiting on that D70s.  Ugh!

• Mr. Brightside The Killers
  
• Somewhere Only We Know Keane
• Sleeps With Butterflies Tori Amos
• Breakdown Jack Johnson
• Collide Howie Day
• Super Duper Love Joss Stone
• Just Like Heaven The Cure
• Float On Modest Mouse
• Behind These Hazel Eyes Kelly Clarkson
• Don't Phunk With My Heart Black Eyed Peas

tri’al
Pronunciation: ‘trI(-&)l
Function: noun
: a tryout or experiment to test quality, value, or usefulness b : one of a number of repetitions of an experiment

trib’u’la’tion
Pronunciation: “tri-by&-‘lA-sh&n
Function: noun
: distress or suffering resulting from oppression or persecution; also : a trying experience

Oh so many blogs, so much to learn, so much to write about, so little time. This is my third blog, but really I only maintain one somewhat frequently. The other two blogs are:

• [weblog] janella.com - which is I update mostly.


• My 360 site @ Yahoo! that mirrors the above site. I keep the 360 site to keep in touch with co-workers.

Why am I starting this one?

I’m trying to get back into photography. I know there is so much to learn and I have really yet to apply what I know so far. I’ve taken pictures before, and even took a black and white photography class with Fina. It was during that stretch, about a two year stretch from when I bought Farrah the Nikon FM3A and her getting me the Nikon N80, that I was into taking pictures.

For some reason my enthusiasm has been tempered. I started concentrating on cataloging what photos we (Farrah and I) have taken, and organizing them on the main web site, [janella.com]. I’m still taking photos here and there. What I am not doing is putting thought into what I am shooting, how I am shooting a certain photo at the time. There are times, for example when Farrah and I went to Yosemite this past year, where I took some time taking photos, composing shots, but I didn’t take that many shots.

Well, I recently ordered a Nikon D-70s. This purchase has gotten me very excited. I’m very very excited!!! I haven’t been this excited since I got my first SLR several years ago. This will be my first DSLR and I hope the experience will be wonderful. I’ve been reading a lot about mega pixels, curves, iTTL, etc. I’ve scoured posts on the [Nikonians.org] web site and have done searches on various equipment. There is a lot of stuff to cover.

So I’ll be mainly writing about my joys and pains with the D-70s, or other camera woes. I might post some test shots here, something not of interest most people who read the main blog. There might be a few cross posts to [janella.com] but I’l try to keep those to a minimum.

What I think I’ll end up doing is just thinking out loud here, venting any frustrations or any new discoveries I make on my quest to be a better photographer!

Now, I just need to wait for the FedEx guy to show up with the package!

Ernie @ Prolific Oven
Originally uploaded by sith_kicker.

Farrah and I had dinner with Ernie today. We ate Yan Can in the Rivermark Center - at Ernie’s suggestion.

I just wanted to post this picture because I told him I would :)

Oh, and we had another local celebrity sighting: [Raj Mathai] walked into The Prolific Oven while we were having our dessert.

052905039
Originally uploaded by sith_kicker.

Today was good day.

Farrah and I decided yesterday to go to the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers. I told Farrah about the Amorphophallus titanum, which blooms once very couple of years. When it blooms it smells like “rotting flesh”. Yum! I wanted to see it, wanted to see the City since it is a three day weekend. So we went.

The drive and weather was very nice. There was a slight crowd in the park, people going to the Japanese Gardens, the Botanical Gardens and the Conservatory. The Conservatory had about four different rooms of various temperature and humidity, depending on the type of plants in the room. You can see the pictures on [Flickr]- sign-up and log in to see more!

On our way back from the exhibit we even ran into a weekly swing dance class! Oh, we should have joined them in a number or two but our stomachs were growling due as it was lunch time.

Melissa’s was closed so we headed to Hillsdale Mall to eat at California Pizza Kitchen. Afterwards we roamed the mall, where Farrah saw [Malou Nubla]! Ugh, I missed seeing here though.

google-janella
Originally uploaded by sith_kicker.

I know this is cheesy, but janella.com is the #1 search result when searching for ‘janella’ on Google! The site was not even ranked in the top 20 results before. Guess Google fixed some things?

We attended a memorial service for Bill today. It was a very nice ceremony at the Los Gatos United Methodist Church. Rex and Wendy shared some memorable moments about their father, and Kayla and Ella even spoke of their memories about their grandfather. Bill will be missed but never forgotten.

This is the obituary notice as posted in the Mercury News:

William Fred Traber

William Fred Traber (Bill) Aged 76, passed away May 15, after a massive stroke. He was born in Denver, Colorado in 1928. He attended the University of Colorado on a scholarship, graduating with a degree in Chemical Engineering. He was a Naval Officer on the U.S.S. Toledo during the Korean War, meeting his future wife and lifelong partner, of 53 years, at the foot of Mt. Fujiyama, Japan in 1951.

Settling in San Jose (1953) he worked on Quality Control, at Economics Laboratory. Later working for IBM for 35 years, in The Research and Development Lab. He was given many awards for his contributions to the company and co-authored several patents. Bill was on the ski patrol, when at the University and enjoyed skiing all his life. He had a black belt in Judo and in Karate. He also practiced Tai Chi. He was an intelligent, hardworking, generous and kind man. A loving and devoted son, brother, husband and father, a playful and involved grandfather, thoughtful friend and neighbor.

He is survived by his 100 year old mother, Maude Parsons, his brother Ronald Traber, his wife Doris Traber, his children Wendy and Rex Traber, his daughter-in-law Susana Traber, his son-in-law Michael Mason, his granddaughters Kayla and Ella Traber.

Rating: * out of five

Quick Shot: Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader, killing every Jedi in sight.

What I liked about the movie: A lot of action, some dialoge.  Nice to see the pace pick up, which made the movie flow better. Love the lightsaber duels.

What I didn’t like: The acting is still wooden, probably due to the director and the script.

More later on the overall theater experience.  I can say right now, boy I’m tired, but I gotta work today.  Oh well.

…but not soon enough. Have you seen the new Playstation 3 design? From what I read it has a pretty powerful processor comes in different colors too! You can probably find more information at places like Gamespot.com

Hand-to-hand Combat Training
Originally uploaded by sith_kicker.

Susana called me to tell me that Rex’s father had passed away. He suffered a stroke earlier this month and never recovered. He will be missed.

I didn’t know Bill that well, only talking to him at family get-togethers such as Mother’s Day brunches at the Coconut Grove, Kayla’s birthdays and especially Thanksgivings. He was always very talkative, very energetic and always willing to lend a hand to anyone. He was always up on current events and had an opinion on mostly anything. I enjoyed talking to him when possible. He always took an interest in the latest camera (digital or otherwise) I had.

My lasting memory of him is in this photo with Kayla and Ella. It was during Thanksgiving at Rex and Susana’s home. Bill was showing Kayla and Ella how to defend themselves and fight as well. “Just a little playtime with Grandpa.”

You will be missed.

Since I was contemplating a new blogging service, I was looking at my old blog at [blogger.com]  You can take at look at it here:

http://www.janella.org/

You can see the whole in entries from April 2003 when I stopped using it to April of 2005 when I came back to play.  I recently did some side-by-side posts on my blogger.com site and [LiveJournal.com] using [Flickr.com].  I must say the template look for blogger.com is much cleaner, stylized than most of the templates I’ve seen so far on LiveJournal.com

The problem I have with blogger.com is that you need a domain name in order to post your blog on a domain (e.g. janella.org) or you can have a blogspot address.  For my blog it was janella.blogspot.com

The [360.yahoo.com] is still a maturing blog that doesn’t have a lot of features that I would like to use right now.  First off it can’t accept Flickr posts (I’m sure it will in the future as Flickr was aquired by Yahoo!).  Also there isn’t an ability to customize the look of your blog as of yet.

I haven’t played with Typepad much, but I assume it is like Movable Type, which I’ve used before.  The only problem I have with Typepad upfront is the cost. Packages start at $4.95/month to $14.95/month (that’s how much I pay for web hosting!!!)  Here at LiveJournal.com, if you choose to have a paid site, it would be as much as $25/year which is a little over $2/month.  Not bad.

So I choose LiveJournal.com for now.  Now it’s time to look for a home for photos.  Is Flickr the solution or is there somewhere else?

National Treasure
Originally uploaded by sith_kicker.

Rating:** 1/2 out of five

Quick Shot:Nic Cage plays a treasure hunter/treasure protector in this action packed film. Yeah, it’s a little like “Indiana Jones meets teh Da Vinci Code”.

What I liked about the movie:Good chemistry between the cast. The storyline keeps moving. A good film to put in and just enjoy, not thinking much about anything.

What I didn’t like:I didn’t care much for the Jon Voight character. Strike that…I don’t care much for Jon Voight at all.

Drawing on Yen's cast
Originally uploaded by sith_kicker.

These are photos from our visit with Yen and Heidi last week. You can see the rest by logging into the [Photos @ Flickr] pages. Yes, you will need to sign up for an account. It’s free and easy!

So as you can see the page is now a little different. This is because I’m trying out new services and am planning to move {Janella.com] off of the web hosting service at [hostgator.com].

Why?

Well, I’ve been playing with hosting a web site for some time now, different incarnations here and there. This last year has been great with using Wordpress for blogging (which is a great piece of software) and Gallery for photo management (another piece of great software). I’m just not in the mood any longer the manage the daily aspects of hosting a web site. I might move back to that platform once an integrated version becomes available, but for now managing the web site is a chore.

So I have moved the blog portion of Janella.com to [LiveJournal.com’s] services. I found out that Fina uses it for [her blog] when I sent here an invite to join Yahoo!’s new blogging service, [360.yahoo.com] I gave Livejournal.com a spin and found it suits my basic needs for blogging. Now on to a photo management site.

I found [filckr.com] suits my needs even before Yahoo! acquired them a couple of months ago. I find that it works well with blogging images to [LiveJournal.com], so it’s pretty cool in that respect.

I’ll need to work on posting older images up (if people still want to see them that is). But anyway, I think this set up should work for a while, until I get the urge to manage a full web site again.

I plan on writing a little about why I chose LiveJournal over Yahoo!, Typepad and Blogger as a blog hosting service. In the meantime, drop a note, comment or just look around and tell me what you think of the new setup. Oh, so to see all the photos on my filckr account you need to sign up for a free flickr account at [flickr.com] and I can add you as a family or friend member. Search for me under “sith_kicker” to add me on your list. Yeah, I’ll write more about why I chose that user name as well.

Anyway, back to enjoying the weekend.