Author: Rob

Fair Days

One of the many fringe benefits of where we live is being within a block of the County fairgrounds.  It is really not that bad most of the time, but for 10 days every summer the whole county and then some seems to descend upon out neighborhood.  It is best to get out early and then home before the “Lot Full” road rage spreads for a 3 mile radius. 

Today we made it out for some quick errands we before the crowds,

It looks like the fog is going to pull back out over the ocean too, making for a great Friday.

Enjoy your weekend, and get outside.  We will be at the Fair

 

More Famouser

Baby steps, but wishing they were big kid steps.  I have my first picture published in a paper magazine this month.  Momentum  used one of my pictures from Flickr in their reader pics section.  I was hoping it was going to be a little bigger, but I will take it where I can get it.

Also, I decided to enter some pictures in the county fair this year.  I had a bit of time and figured it would be a good learning experience.  It was exactly that.  I had fun working through the process, the price was right, $0, and learned enough to be better prepared for next year as well as any other opportunity to show my prints.  Competition is usually pretty high as we have a large amature photo contingent in the area as well as Brooks Institute right up the road.  Out of 7 entries I was able to pull one honorable mention ribbon

Major lesson learned was to not let it go untill the last-minute, next year’s entries will be better presented for sure.

Back to Our Scheduled Programing

I had some coverage for the baby today and was able to get out fo ra couple of hours, thank you Opie.  I headed up to Casitas for a while before doubling back to head to the farmer’s market.  It was really nice to get out of the morning fog and into some clear skies.

While out in the hills a bit I saw a deer with actual antlers, not usual around here.  I only seem to see one every few years or so, plenty of does, but not really any bucks with head gear.

and then it was back into town where the fog was flirting with the coastline all day.  A successful ride, fresh veggies and spin the legs.

You can just make out the fog bank in the distance.

 

Reaching Out – PC Down – Updated

It has been a crazy week or so, two birthdays (one mine),Family visiting from Philly, one new frame bag out the door, the county fair started a block away this morning and probably more if I really put my mind to it.  I thought I would catch up with a post today but fate has been otherwise.

I post-process my RAW photo files in Adobe Lightroom, and have been really happy with it for the most part.  The downside was the toll it was taking on my 2-year-old PC laptop, it actually would get hot enough to keep my coffee warm.  Today it took its final swing while I was in the kitchen cooking lunch.  With everything in the oven and the little girl down for her nap I went back to find my computer out.  Nothing, power off, cold and lifeless with no response to my prodding.

I am working off of my wife’s iMac at the moment and not finding it all that bad after decades of being a PC guy.  It looks like I am in the market for something new, unless the dissection of the laptop ends well in the next day or two .

Any input from the mac owners out there on how to find the best value when hunting down a mac is greatly appreciated.

UPDATE – While I am still thinking about an apple, I appear to be back up and running at the moment.  I am not sure what actually fixed it though.  After repeated unplugging, battery removals etc. with no luck I headed down to the work bench.  Pulled the top off to see what I may have melted, all looked good at first glance, blew some dust out looked for loose wires, put it all back together and it started up, slow but started.  Kind of like when you could fix an Atari by blowing on the cartridge.   Another re-boot and things are running as well as before.  While happy that I am up and running again, it does not leave me feeling warm and fuzzy, time to increase backup frequency and save some pennies for a new machine.