Shuttercal - andytuba's Calendar

Super Dinosaur Funmonkey!

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
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Sat

En route to the party on Saturday, I had an hour or two to kill, so I stopped off at a river off Limestone Road to snap photos with my new tripod. It's, um, yeah, it's actually a creek, but it's still reflecty! (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

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When I stopped to take photos of the creek on Saturday before the party, I noticed this spider web in the guard rails of the road where it crossed over the river. Token macro shot for the week! (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

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Saturday night after the party, a few folks decided to go driving around for shiggles. We ended up actually pretty far south; this is the <s>St. Georges Bridge, I believe, down in Kent County,</s> C&D Bridge on Route 1. We went around to avoid the $2 toll, instead paying the $0.50 toll for Rt 13 instead. This tripod is great, especially since I'm starting to play with long exposures and other nifty camera tricks. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

3

I went down to Rehoboth, DE for the night to listen to the United States Navy Country Current, the Armed Forces country music ensemble, watch the fireworks, and generally hang out with my friend Erinn. The beach was so crowded with people! Where we sat, next to a shed full of umbrellas and whatnot, nearly obscured our view of the fireworks -- when they started, everyone who was sitting right next to it migrated ten feet over, while the lifeguards on top of it were sitting happy. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

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After the fireworks, Erinn and I stuck around all night to sit on the beach, play in the arcades, eat (overpriced) beach food, and just stick around till the dawn so we could do a beach photoshoot. It got a little tedious and sleepy around 3 or 4am, but we went to the Rehoboth Diner for some breakfast and powered through -- and was it worth it! (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

5

Yesterday -- after a few hours' sleep, recovering from staying up all night to see sunrise -- I went to a friend's place for croquet and picnic. It was a smashing success last year, so she decided to hold it again -- mostly to help finish off the 4th of July food. We grilled peppers and onions to put on our sausages and hamburgers, it was a smashing good time! (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

6

I tried to catch some fireflies for <a href='http://shuttercal.com/calendar/caittails/'>caittails</a> the other night, but this is the best I've got! I went out near dusk, set my camera up on the new tripod, and let it run a long exposure. Turns out I caught three or four fireflies, but they were busy flying around! Next time I'll try going out after sunset, since it was still pretty bright out and not as many fireflies were about yet. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

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Another one from Sunday's croquet party. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

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Out in the back yard, my parents keep a few gardens -- dad has a rock garden, mom a more typical collection of flowers and fancy grasses -- as well as two hummingbird feeders. It seems that it's bumblebee time, since mom's garden is getting pollinated. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

9

It's been so long! Last night, my parents and I went out for dinner down in Smyrna at the Boondocks, a crab shack in the middle of nowhere outside of town. We got Delaware crabs from the Chesapeake Bay. Back when I was younger, I wouldn't eat the crab itself, so my family would just give me the claws to smash open with the mallet so other people could eat it. In the past couple of years, I developed the taste for crab meat and Old Bay seasoning, so now I don't have to order chicken strips for kids' meals. It's been two or three years since I've had the chance to go out for crabs, so this was a welcome opportunity. We actually ordered the 'pig out' special: half a dozen crabs, chicken wings (eaten), fries (also eaten), shrimp (just served), and two ears of corn (awaiting their doom). (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

10

My diploma arrived today! I'm an official grad from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science and Theatre Production with a minor in Spanish Studies. Of course, the diploma only says 'Bachelor of ArtS', but that's just as well -- there's a lot of people with double-majors and triple-minors at UD! (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

11

Today's move-in day for Delaware Aerospace Academy, or -- as we tend to call it, much to the chagrin of the director -- Space Camp. Run by the Delaware AeroSpace Education Foundation, the two one-week sessions teach kids about spacey and flying stuff. We've expanded beyond that, though, and now we run programs spanning Dinosaurs to Mars exploration. The camp is a great time both for our 'cadets,' the student campers, and the 'copilots,' 'pilots' (student staff), 'captains' (college staff), and 'commanders' (teaching staff). Unfortunately, I can't help out this year because I'm too busy working and saving up money! (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

12

Nothing special happened today, so have a picture of a bunny running through my neighbor's yard. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

13

My parents and I were sitting out on the back porch for dinner when we heard sirens (for the second time today) coming towards our neighborhood. From our patio, you can see all the way to the end of the road to where they were coming down the lane next to the apartments. I walked down to see what was happening; turns out somebody set off a fire alarm in the apartment complex down there, so they brought out four fire trucks and two police cars and sent one of each back. That's one of hte more exciting things to happen in this neighborhood. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

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I have been noshing on Cap'n Crunch for a solid week -- at work, home, and even <a href='http://shuttercal.com/calendar/andytuba/2009/7/5/'>Erinn</a>'s apartment, where I end up sleeping a lot because we stay up so late watching Buffy on DVD -- and I just barely noticed that they make Choco Crunch now. Five boxes I have (-- they were $1.32/box at Pathmark last week =) and no Chocolate? It actually sounds kinda nasty, but the box looks cute. <br><br>Oh, yes, and that is a real Ikea cup, from when we used to go eat Swedish meatballs in their little cafeteria. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

15

I went with mom and a bunch of her friends and a bunch of our friends and a bunch of my friends and ended up running into a bunch of people I knew there ... where was I? Oh, right, Harry Potter 6! We're not really supposed to bring cameras into the theatre, hence why I had to sneak this crappy photo, but they only really care about people sneaking in glass bottles (hazardous) and liquor (illegal). I'm a fan of how the books of have turned darker and more serious, I never was much of a fan of the little kid-ization of magic and fantasy that J.K. Rowling perpetrated with the first several books. Yay people dying! I mean ... (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

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Today, I'm actually working a dance camp over at Mitchell Hall, but I may as well be looking out my regular office window for all the daylight I get to see in the theatre. Wishing I were out there instead of inside all day -- but I do get nice AC in the booth =D (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

17

Welcome to my movie set. I've been bumming around all day (most of it without clothes -- nobody's home this weekend but me!) and I've obviously been very productive. I was going to get into some programming, but I decided to have a little fun instead. We'll see how it turns out... (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

18

The project from Saturday night has all the footage shot. Now it's time to edit -- if I can manage to turn off the damn Ken Burns effect for all the photos at once. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)<br><br>eta: 11:42pm Eastern and I'm all done. <s>Watch my <a href='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3yI384pzTE'>__opus primeris about ShutterCal on YouTube__</a></s>!<br>
eta Thursday: After talking to Amperes about the video yesterday (Wednesday), I decided to re-edit the short for timing. Watch the new version here: <br><a href='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yRFZ68LZUU'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yRFZ68LZUU</a>

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This was the better portion of my weekend, reinstalling Windows on mom's computer (on the table), wiping viruses off of my friend's laptop (on the floor), and doing everything else on Bandersnatch, my MacBook (hiding on the other side of me). I brought the tower out in order to replace the CD drives (now sitting below the table) and the rest of the computer just kinda followed suit. It just kinda stayed there all weekend, since I was the only one home. Thankfully, it runs an awful lot quicker now, and with shiny, bright new versions of everything! ... including AOL 9.5, ugh. Also, Kate, who owns the laptop underneath, baked me brownies to repay me, so they'll be coming up to NYC with me on Wednesday! P.S. How do you like the weird lighting combination of household lightbulbs, full-spectrum coils, and actual sunlight? P.P.S. The worse portion of my weekend was Sunday daytime, when I moved my friend Kevin between apartments. It was fun, but tiring, and I have a few scrapes and aches (especially today) to show for it. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

20

Oh man. I drove in to work today again, instead of biking, and I noticed -- again -- that my car is a mess. I spilled a cup of Cap'n Crunch Peanut Butter all over the passenger side last week, there's an pan with brownie crumbs, some other cups, an old coffee cup that kept me awake coming home from Rehoboth after the 4th of July... yuck. I gotta clean this car up. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

21

I went up to NYC today for the <a href='http://shuttercal.com/blog/93/'>ShutterCal meetup</a>, which was super-duper awesome fun! My bus brought me into the city way before <a href='/calendar/amperes'>amperes</a> and <a href='calendar/DefaultArtist/'>DefaultArtist</a> got in, so I bummed around, hit up Madison Square Park, said hi to my freshman year RA, went down by High Line Park, and then met up with amperes and DefaultArtist at Penn Station. On the subway, a nice Puerto Rican-New York lady chatted with us for a solid twenty minutes, real friendly lady. Getting off the subway, <a href='/calendar/whitelight/'>whitelight</a>'s place was our first stop, where she fed us delicious lavender & honey sorbet (with brownies a la mode, all the way from Delaware). After hanging out in the pit and chatting for a while -- about life, people, ShutterCal, blah blah blah -- we all headed over to Union Sq. to rendezvous with <a href='/calendar/Mach5'>Mach5</a> for dinner at <a href='http://www.elcantineronyc.com/'>El Cantinero</a>, which had good sangria. We finished in time for me to go catch a bus back to Delaware, while everyone else met up with <a href='/calendar/BaconNEggs'>BaconNEggs</a>. I was wiped out when I finally got home, but it good times hanging out and meeting everyone, and I hope to see amperes and DefaultArtist again in California sometime. <br><br> The actual photo is of the martini glasses that whitelight served us her yummy sorbet experiment in; the blue streaks are reflections from Christmas lights lining the ceiling. And what's that behind the glass? You'll have to wait and watch the ShutterBlog to find out! (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

22

Today at work was the New Castle County police academy graduation. I neglected to bring my camera. Ah well. Have a shot from yesterday of the ShutterCal family in Union Square. with <a href='/calendar/whitelight'>whitelight</a>, long-standing (though currently inactive) ShutterCal user! (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

23

My sleep schedule this week has been a little wonky. I got up at 8am on Wednesday to go up to NYC to for the ShutterCal meetup and got home around 1am. Shower and bed, so that I could get up at 8am again to go in to work (the New Castle County police academy graduation ceremony), which ran till about 10:30 or 11pm including cleanup. The next day, I didn't know if I had work at 9am, so I got up at 8am only to get the call at 9am that it was cancelled, so I sat in my <s>cell</s> office and programmed all day. That went until 10pm, when I decided to head home and ran into an old friend (of about ten years) working at the garage, so I hung out with her through close until 11:30pm. <br><br> All whinging aside, here's some visible results of all today's coding: EventStaffer! It does everything the old version does (which was coded in Tcl/Tdp for AOLserver), but in PHP/MySQL. So it's ready to roll out and my remaining week in Delaware will be filled with debugging and adding functionality. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

24

One goal since <s>college</s> summer started was to clean out my bedroom so that guests can sleep there, since I'm trying to properly move out. Tahra came over this morning around 10:30am for a bitch-and-clean. It was <s>lots of fun</s> not too stressful, though we called it quits around 3 or 4pm 'cause we were damn tired. That five-some hours meant plenty of progress: open floor space, almost all the clothes put away or en route to Goodwill, closet (left) organized, and wall shelves (right-right) organized. She's coming back Monday night, thank god, and hopefully we'll clean out all my cubby-holes and rid the desks (right) of all the junk upon, inside, and below them. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

25

Old and young come together at the Delaware State Fair, a good ol'-timey fair with carnival rides and games, funnel cake, Italian sausages, baby chicks and goats to pet, and farming competitions. I went down with my friend Dubie as her photog; she's one of the reporters for the University of Delaware ag school's Cooperative Extension program, which does joint events and efforts throughout the state in agriculture and farming. After attending the Public Speaking, performance, and Financial Bowl (trivia) competitions, I kinda wish I'd done 4-H as a kid just for the practical knowledge I now lack. Pictured here are two 4-H members of long standing, the MCs for a couple events, Wendy (from UD?) and I never caught the older guy's name, futzing with the sound system in between events. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

26

I didn't go back to the State Fair today, but it's going on all week. When we went down yesterday, two Brits from London came with us; one is a med student doing observations and the other is studying wildlife or something, don't remember. Although they've visited various parts of the U.S., they'd never been to a down-home state fair and eaten funnel cake. It was quite an experience for them. Also, it rained a little. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

27

More State Fair from Sunday! Here's the other bloke that rode with us. He nearly tried deep-fried Oreos, but when nobody else bit, we settled for just funnel cake instead. (The guy frying it said it was the biggest funnel cake he'd ever made -- it looked like it! Chunks in the middle didn't even get cooked, so we just noshed warm, gooey dough.) He also got into a little chat with a woman at a Pro-Life booth and walked away with a brochure on why condoms are useless and a little rubber fetus doll, which later provided great and sanctimonious hilarity. (It ended up somehow in a cup of yellow water-ice.) Nice chap, chipper, good-natured, typical bad British teeth, and awesome striped socks. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

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The whole excuse for going down to the State Fair was so Dubie could cover the 4-H events for the UD ag school's Cooperative Extension program. Here's Dubie in action, bored during Financial Bowl! It's a financial investing and common sense trivia event. Because so many teams competed, a lot of questions got repeated. Dubie was less than riveted by the fifth round, but things perked up after that for the talent show! (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

29

Outside of Kennett Square, PA, sits Longwood Gardens, a duPont estate -- the duPonts are a very rich family from old money and the chemical engineering industry and so have lots of estates and philanthropic endeavors, including the A.I. DuPont Children's Hospital and this, the Longwood Gardens -- and every summer, a regional theatre group called the Brandywiners puts on a traditional (early 20th century) Broadway show. Every other year, they do a Gilbert and Sullivan, but this year was Lerner and Loewe's <em>Camelot</em>. I have a couple of friends involved in the production, including a dancer I went to school with and two girls from colorguard who do lights and scenery. A ticket to the show also includes admission to the grounds, so I spent a while photographing the fountains (foreground) in the yard before the conservatory/greenhouse (background). Tomorrow, I'll show off some of the beautiful flowers housed inside. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

30

Longwood Garden is famous for a couple of things: great topiary, a huge amphitheatre, colored fountain shows, a wide collection of orchids, and generally beautiful greenery inside the greenhouse and out on the lawns. Here's a flower (whose name I know not) that lives inside the greenhouse, next to some other equally large and colorful gems, and it shall be our token macro shot for the week. (Lumix DMC-FZ28)

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