Photography Basics: Shutter Speed, Aperture and ISO

This is the layman's introduction to some key photography concepts that I've been looking for.

Sweet Dev Tools

To my developer readers: you may want to check this one out -- it's a javascript debugger (among other things) for FireFox. Yet another reason I'm spreading FireFox.

Also, if you're a MS SQL Server developer, you may want to get this intelli-sense add-in for SQL Server. Another sweet freebie.

Yamnuska Photos

Click on the photos to enlarge.

Yamnuska 2006

On May 22, Victoria Day in Canada, the Wolff's along with several other families went up Mt. Yamnuska (well, part way anyway). It took Erin some convincing, but 2 mintues before it was time to leave she decided to come along.

We arrived at the trail head a bit later than most, then Erin had to feed Hannah -- so the group (made up of about 6-8 families from Tuscany) went on without us. Graice and Matt went ahead with Wendy Shipley, and after not too long Gracie was connected with Madison Shipley, Kaytlyn Fibke and Julia Gedlaman. Grace was enjoying herself so much, that Erin and I didn't walk one step of the hike with her -- she went ahead with the kids and we met up with her at the top. I'm so pleased that she would do this by herself.

Matt on the otherhand fell and cut his knee within the first few mintues of the hike (he's not able to focus on the trail, and he triped on every other root and rock). Fortunately Wendy had a band-aide, and I put Matt on my shoulders and hiked him to the top.

As we pulled into the parking lot, Erin asked if I had packed the baby carrier -- which I had cleaned off and prepared earlier in the morning. Nope, I did not. So with that, Erin and I took turns holding Hannah in our arms, and walking her up the mountain. (Thanks to Derek Kearl and Mike Gedlaman who both took brief stints holding Hannah also.) For the most part, Hannah slept both on the way up and on the way down.

The group stoped for a rest and snack at a rocky outcropping midway between the trail head and the tree line. The outcropping overlooks the Nakoda lodge and Heart Lake, and forms a bit of a ledge that you can stand on for a great photo.



Gracie didn't like being close to the edge, so by the time we all got positioned to take a photo, she bolted back up to safer ground.



We didn't have anything to put Hannah in while we rested, so Julie Kearl let us user her jacket and we put Hannah on that.



We rested and visited for about 45 minutes, then packed up and started back for the car. The hike down is always harder than the hike up. It doesn't take as much strength, but it takes far more concentration. Erin carried Hannah most of the way down, and I had Matt on my shoulders. The steep parts were particularly tricky. Erin took a bit of a spill and cut her hand and knee -- this scared her more than hurt her. Fortunately when she fell, I was carying Hanna, and she was only holding Matt's hand.


At one point, on the steepest part of all, I took Hannah and Matt, so Erin could focus 100% on getting herself down safely. We felt a real sense of accomplishment when we got back to the parking lot -- especially after having carried both Matt and Hannah up and down.

On the ride home we stoped for a heard of big horn sheep, who were scaling down the side of a very steep, sheer rock face. There must have been thrity sheep in all, and we waited, stoped on the hiway for at least two or three minutes while these sheep came down the side of the mountain and crossed the road. The kids loved it!


After the hike, Julie and Derek Kearl invited everyone over to thier place for a bar-b-que. They've go a great place for a gathering of that size -- there must have been 75-80 people all together. We had a great time, and didn't get back to the house until the kids bedtime -- which, for many parents, is the best part of the day.

Mothers Day 2006

On Sunday past the Calgary Melchin's celebrated mother's day at Rick & Cathy's place. In traditional style, Cathy prepared her own celebration dinner for everyone. (Also in traditional style my mother was in Salt Lake with her sisters at a bit of an informal Gibb sisters reunion.) After dinner at the Melchins we surprised Cathly with the hammock she's had her eye on.




Here's a photo of Melinda and the kids, taken just before dinner. I took about 10 photos in this setting, and believe it or not, this was the best one. Too bad Grace isn't looking at the camera, and Liv's face is partly covered.

Wednesday May 17, 2006

The kids are getting over their fear of the trampoline. Check out this photo -- need I say more?

Saturday May 13, 2006

Busy day today. I helped Jeff Shipley move in the morning, then helped setup for the Tuscany BBQ. Around 4:00 PM we all got in the car and went to the BBQ. The BBQ was hosted by the community association in honor of the familes who's homes burned down a couple of weeks ago. The Calgary fire department was there with a couple of fire trucks, and Matt was completely captivated -- he was totally in his element. His focus was amzaing. Here's a couple of photos (I took about 30, but could only get him to take his eyes off the firetruck to smile for the camera).







I took this photo of Lara and Sean at the BBQ -- I really like it, so I'm posting it, inspite the fact that it doesn't have anything to do with the firetrucks.

ASCII Erin

Thursday May 11, 2006

Here's a couple of photos of the girls. Grace is doing very well with Hanna, she's helping feed Hannah cereal in the mornign, and even (with a little help from mom) changing diapers. Grace really likes to play with Hannah -- often wanting to pick her up and hold her like Erin and I do (of course she's still too young to do that safely).

We went out for dinner this evening with Kevin/Elise and my folks. We celebrated Mothers Day early, in that my mother will be out of town (in SLC) at a sisters renunion. She's done this every year at this time since Gracie was born.

After dinner we came home and I read Narnia to Grace. This one (A Boy and His Horse) isn't quite as good as the first two -- Grace is having a hard time sticking with it. I hope the next one is a bit more engaging. After reading, I went to Kevin's new place to help frame the basement. Kevin takes possession of his new house tomorrow morning.

LOST

NOTE: Don't bother reading this post if you're not a LOST fan.

I don't watch much TV -- really only the ABC program LOST. I've been a faithfull viewer since the first season. Lately I've been dissapointed with the program, it hasn't been progressing, and hasn't been living up to it's interesting plot twists and revelations. Last night however was different.

During the last sequence of commercials, there was a 5 second advertisment for the Hanso Foundation. I'm guessing most people missed it -- but they had a website address at the end of the spot. It took me a couple of tries, because the spelling was weird -- but here it is:

http://www.sublymanol.com

If you're a devout LOST fan, you're going to like this.

Scott's Girls

My dad took some photos of the girls today while we were there for dinner. They're really great -- thanks dad.

Sunday May 7, 2006

Nice day today -- no early morning meetings, so I slept in untill 7:00 or so. Nice. Came home after church and spent the afernoon with the kids on the trampoline. They're finally starting to enjoy it (which is good, beacuse I was seriously considering taking it back or selling it).

I did spend some time organizing my office. I used the GTD methodology (which I'm back into with a vengance). I love stress free productivity.

Went over to mom and dad's place for dinner -- dad made a delicouse three cheese spaghetti with chicken strips, sautéd mushrooms and red and yellow pepers. It was as nice to look at as it was to eat. After dinner we went to see Erin's folks.

We went to the Shrine Circus with the Taylor's yesterday. Man was it hot. (Mental note: bring something to drink next time). The kids enjoyed it, however they did complain about not being able to buy the $15 glow sticks. Sorry kids -- get your own darn jobs and buy the rip-off glow sticks that you will have lost by morning.

Yesterday would have been Erin's grandmother's 100^th birthday. The Melchins celebrated by going out for a banana split (something that I guess "granny" would have really loved).

Though I never met her, I had a banana split anyway.

View At Your Own Risk

My brother-in-law is a podiatrist. He's posted a photo of some of his recent handy work. Caution: this photo is very graphic -- it's not for the faint of heart.

Getting Things Done, 43Folders, Hipster PDA

About eight months ago I read Getting Things Done (frequenty abbreviated by geeks as GTD), by David Allen. It literally changed my life (at least for a month or so).

I re-read it this week, and I'm converted... again. Last time through I got so excited about Allen's method, that I just dove in -- without really thinking about it. This time through, I'm much more prepared (and I'm going to try mixing in the lo-fi, paper based version).

I've found some sweet resources to help implement the GTD methodology:

1. The Hipster PDA
   A sweet PDA that uses 3*5 cards
   
   
2. D*Y*I Planner
   A set of templates that works very well with the hipster PDA
   
   
3. I bougt a voice recorder for capturing "next actions" and ideas

Some other interesting/related websites

1. Remember The Milk
2. LifeHacker
3. 43 Folders
   

Secret of Success

I read this blog post last night -- some of the best work/personal life advice I've ever read.

Thursday May 4, 2006

Had a busy day at work today. A coleague flew out from Vernon, B.C. and we discussed the future state of our main business application all day. Despite the big lunch, and hot boardroom -- I was excited about the converstation. It's fun to work with a talented group that gets along well.

It was such a nice day today that I found myself thinking about bouncing on the trampoline with the kids several times during my meetings, and lots in the car on the way home. When I got home, I scooped the kids up and spent about 45 mintues with them on the tramp. I can't describe how pleased I am that we spent almost an hour together, on the trampoline, without any complaining or crying. We actually all had fun together. Finally.

Trumba Redux

**Attention all Melchin clan readers... please do not bother reading this post. You wont get it, and you'll likely thing less of me**

Wow! Trumba is amazing. I can't believe that I'm this excited about a silly calendar. It's really awesome. I think why I'm so consumed by this, is because I have some small understanding as to what it would take to build such a well thought out application, and I'm amazed. Hyperbole asisde, Trumba is probably the sweetest web application I've ever seen!

**Again, Melchins... don't even think of posting some mocking comment. Really. Don't.**

Online Calendar Apps

I've been interested in online calendars lately. I was really pleased to see Google's entry in this space, but I must say that I've been more impressed with Trumba. If you're looking for a decent online calendar -- one of these two should do it for you.