Shuttercal - andytuba's Calendar

A Photo a Day, eh?

andytuba

<em>andytuba - A wandering Delawarean</em><p style='clear: right'>Having finished a Project 365, I'm shooting for even more fun and the occasional theme week when things are less fun. Also, I swear that this year I'll program some functional apps to use with ShutterCal!</p><p>Find me on Twitter at <a href='http://twitter.com/andytuba'>@andytuba</a></p>

Name:

Andy Tuba

Location:

Madison, WI, US

Gear:

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28
Moto Droid Cameraphone

Started On:

1/1/09 (Day 617)

About Me:

andytuba - A wandering Delawarean

Having finished a Project 365, I'm shooting for even more fun and the occasional theme week when things are less fun. Also, I swear that this year I'll program some functional apps to use with ShutterCal!

Find me on Twitter at @andytuba

Sun
Mon
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Sat

This gorgeous fogbank descended upon the Ling today to provide some natural examples of volumetric lighting or, as they're more properly called, <em>Jesus Lights</em>. Unfortunately, it brought a bit of a chill, too, so I'm bundled up to the nines today. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

1

Moooooore Jesus rays from yesterday. Still chilly today. Good thing I asked mom to send my heavier jacket; my hoodie and sweater aren't enough to combat this light chill! The mist was so heavy that individual floaty drops were visible moving around in front of my face. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

2

Okay, last fogbank photo. I just wanted to show off my skills at <s>Star Trek film-making</s> lens flare, a.k.a. I should probably go clean my lens. I was reading an article on artistic lens flare the other day, but apparently not close enough. Shaddup, internal dialogue, it still looks cool. Hoo boy it's a long day. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

3

Today gave me empirical evidence of playing coy. Rather than doing everything I've been asked, I usually tell the folks upstairs 'I'm busy with shit downstairs. Here's a little help, now figure it out yourself.' Today I gave in and came upstairs for an hour to dig them out of a mess: Photoshop crashing on two different computers, trying to handle a 900mb 20'x40' poster. After finishing the job on my laptop with Gimp (pictured here) -- yes, I need to learn Photoshop -- Ana Paula gave me this little notebook with Nepalese hand-made paper and a note:<blockquote><i>Dear Andy,<br>Thank you for your 'YES' in between so many 'NO'!!<br>Much love,<br>AnaPaula</i></blockquote> Everybody wins! (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

4

This morning brought me a happy surprise: my latest ULINE order appeared on my doorstep sometime yesterday. (Fortunately, somebody is always available to sign for packages, even if the official Shipper, viz. me, ain't.) Along with a coupla tape dispensers (since I knocked one on the floor on Monday and all the sand bled out and another one walked), some plastic pouches for stuff, and a lot of paper for stuffing, I got this month's freebie: a <a href='http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-14864/Other-Free-Offers/Pallet-Notes'>pallet Post-It note dispenser</a>! (I can't believe people pay $10.) Soooo cute ... and made out of popsicle sticks. and yes, I'm totally playing Uline like a sugar daddy. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

5

One of the folks here, JPZ, told me to go check out my camera last night. I wandered by today to see what's the sitch. Turns out he hijacked my cam and was having fun fun fun with the clickity click. So, I don't know who actually took this photo of Mallory, probably JPZ. There's also a photo of somebody's butt on there, too, but I don't know whose. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

6

The fabled robots, stuff of myth and legend for the last few months, have finally arrived! These machines have been in the works down the road for a while; they're supposed to take care of edge-dying and assembly for us, but we naturally expect to still do half the work half the time and all the work the other half, when they can't keep up and then break down. But hey, it's progress! (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

7

I saw the strangest thing today: a package delivered by UPS to the USPS post office, who delivered it the rest of the way to our site up in the hills. I guess it was cheaper that way, but it was pretty cool to see it on an integrated label. YES I AM NOW A SHIPPING GEEK. (Verizon LG EnV3 cameraphone)

8

The CD burner/printer at work, which we use to produce all our CDs for sale, has been on the fritz. Until we can buy a new LightScribe CD burner and a dedicated CD printer, we're resorting to an alternative tactic: I'm burning the audio on the shipping computer and we're using another program to print the CD fronts.<br><br>

Bad news: the artwork for most of the CDs is embedded in the CD 'project' file, so we can't just print it separately.<br>
Good news: we finally have a reason to redesign the crappy old CD fronts.<br><br>
Here's my first design, for the audiobook of two Jataka Children Tales: the <em>Rabbit who Overcame Fear</em> and the <em>Hunter and the Quail</em>. On left: old and busted. On right: new and groovy!<br><br> (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

9

Today's a sure sign that we're getting into the rainy season, with huge drops of water pelting our heads anytime we step outside. To protect the materials and products, they backed the truck flush against the loading dock gate. Our loading dock, however, is a little too short - but it makes the truck's lift gate into a great diving board. Check out that form! (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

10

Although yesterday was a bit, er, damp, today has some lovely clouds. No, we don't have a cloud machine hiding behind the warehouse. This photo could also be subtitled 'TinyGrab Remix'. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

<img src='http://andytuba.com/storage/pics/grabs/80fd8f5f45f87f2f0bc9a7a61200204d.png' title='TinyGrab icon'>

11

Ah, the kitchen, a great place to cook, eat, and ... do a little <s>YMCA</s> yoga. I really love this kitchen. I probably spend 90% of my time at the lodge in the kitchen. Seriously. It's like I can get full just chilling there. Plus I get to eat cookies and cakes right out of the oven. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

12

And now, our feature presentation: the Proud Peacock! After four months in post-production since <a href='http://shuttercal.com/calendar/andytuba/2009/8/23/'>the shoot</a>, all the pieces finally came together and we got the chance to premier our little student film at the commons. Our adaption of the <a href='http://www.dharmapublishing.com/products/proud-peacock'>classic Jataka Tale</a> is available on <a href='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4V9-eExIQE'>YouTube in HD</a>! (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

13

Since Greg's moving down to Berkeley after the holidays and he just received some camera film in the mail, he busted out his fancy manual camera and was taking advantage of the sights around the Ling and making some memories that he can develop in the city. And yes, of course all our wild turkeys survived Thanksgiving. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

14

Yup, it's Christmas season at the Ling. After reading an article on photographing light displays, I'm hoping my timing worked out, as did my makeshift tripod; a fence post was the best I had on hand. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

15

G'bye, Ratna Ling - it's time for the holidays! Tonight, a CouchSurfer in Berkeley is hosting me so I can catch a flight from Oakland through Vegas to Baltimore, where my friend Erinn will pick me up. I'm barely off out of Buddha Camp and I'm already running up against Christmas carols and Hannukah! My CouchSurfing host, Michal, is an Israeli-Californian who lit the candles with me for the sixth night of the holiday. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

16

Today was spent In Transit. From my CouchSurfing host's place last night, I walked over to the BART station, took a train to the Oakland Airport stop, caught the AirBART to the airport, hopped on a puddlejumper to Vegas, transferred to a more relaxed flight to BWI via Philly, and met my friend Erinn outside of baggage to drive back to Delaware. None of these things did I photograph. However, my host's neighbors had a decent array of bikes - and I can certainly get on board with eating like you give a damn. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

17

My first thing home - besides staying up too late catching up with a friend - was finally getting a haircut. My hairdresser says to me, 'Do you want to try straightening your hair, maybe for your sister's wedding?' I say sure&em;I haven't seen it straight since Belles' Ball, the winter formal, my sophomore year when my big sister did my hair for shiggles. (That year was pretty goofy; my other sister was at the flower shop with me when I ordered the corsage so it ended up with baby's breath and orchids or something expensive like that.) Anyway. It's ... different. (Macbook Photo Booth)

18

Y'know, we don't usually get the blizzards till after Christmas in Delaware. I'm glad I made it home Thursday night before Mama Nature decided to dump white all over the northeast. Now I can perch in my parents' house, warm and cozy, and dig through my clothes for a proper hoodie. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

19

Yup, more snow. We've got some epic icicles growing outside my sister's old room, thanks to the daily thaw-freeze cycle of Delaware weather. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

20

When I went out to run some errands today, I remembered that it was trash day. Thanks for the reminder, <s>mom</s> dad. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

21

There's been a lot of construction recently at the Christiana Mall, including a beautiful new food court that could probably double as a concert venue if the mall managers put their mind to it. Looks like the construction company left behind some detritus from their machines. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

22

Today the Virginia cousins and the New York cousins converged on the Delaware cousin's house - that is to say, my parents'. Our annual tradition is to hang out for a while, eat some food, perform in the Family Recital (more on that later), eat dinner, open Darger Draw presents (like Secret Santa but public), eat dessert (with lots of whipped cream), and bundle everyone off to either a hotel or back home (depending on the snow and the hour). For the Family Recital, all the young folk (under 40) and some of the old folk (our parents) have to perform something, typically musical. While I chanted a Buddhist mantra, my cousins took the more conventional path and sang 'Angels We Have Heard on High' in 4-part harmony out of the Mormon hymnal. There were a few verses that they didn't know, a source of much hilarity. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

23

<p><s>Here's some more lens flare for <a href='/calendar/jeanneschaser/'>jeanneschaser</a>, from my back yard. 2pm shadows are nice and sharp on the snow, but the snow is sharp and cold on my ankles! Faux Chucks aren't so great for insulation, either; but at least it was pretty.</s> (Moving this photo to another day ...)</p><p>Christmas Eve every year, my family gets together with another family for dinner with Christmas sausage, egg nog, cider, etc. After eating and chatting, we sing Christmas carols and put the children to bed. Although the other family has plenty of kids and now grandkids and my family is growing, too, we only had three parents, three children, and two grandchildren out of four, eight, and probably eight. We're getting old and marrying and accumulating small children, along with in-laws who also want to see their children for Christmas. Well, we still sang carols!</p>
(Lumix DMC-FZ28)

24

The Christmas tree is up, most of the presents are wrapped, and it's soon time for my family to come home and celebrate! (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

25

It started to rain last night. There went all the snow. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

26

Everyone and their spouses were in Delaware today! Yup, it's finally time for Christmas; since my two elder sisters both have in-laws now, they do Christmas there every other year and a late Christmas home here. Attending this year were my parents, both my sisters and their cute boys, my baby niece Kate, and yours truly. I helped play Santa and stuff these stockings with apples, mandarin oranges, candy, and money! (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

27

28

Time for a little retrospective on current events! I stayed over in Philly tonight with my friend Claire, whom you might remember from <a href='http://shuttercal.com/calendar/andytuba/2009/6/22/'>when she came to Newark in June</a>. Her house is beautiful, her family is nice, her dinner from pod (an Asian restaurant in Philly) was delicious, and it was generally a nice time. (The real story is that I forgot to bring up my camera and I wanted to save battery power on my cell phone because I forgot to bring my charger. But she's nice to look at, so I didn't want to deny you guys that opportunity!)

29

Today's been a pretty quiet day. After taking the Megabus from Philly to NYC with my friend Rachael, we crashed at her apt in Brooklyn and napped for a bit. Then we watched a bunch of movies. Turns out that the movie I'd just received from Netflix was on her bookshelf. Oye. We streamed SLC Punk instead. (Screenshot)

30

On our way to a New Year's party in Washington Heights, we dropped by Times Square around 7p to see the crowd. The cops had barricaded off an area about a block outside of Times Square, so we didn't stick around long, but I did get to see the New Year's Ball live and in-person ... from two blocks away. That would be the orange blob in the middle of the photo. (LGVX Cameraphone)

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