Rodney Mullen
Since I remember skating as a young child I was amazed by Rodney Mullen. Today he's still skating and is even more impressive than before. Many skaters have suggested that Rodney and Mark Gonzales have created the modern street skating with their mix of technical skills.
Short video of Rodney Mullen
Second Life
Recently I was reading a discussion about MMORPG's on-line games and found this game web site. Second Life is basically like a huge on-line game but where it's different from other games is there are no objectives, instead you just build and explore the world. I tried this game out and was impressed with the amount of game space you can travel.
Like with most on-line games, there is a monthly fee but you can create an account for free and explore the world. The only down side is you can not buy anything (in game money is bought with real world money) and you can not own any land (houses can be built in the game). It's still free and fun.
Second Life web site
Rob
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
School
I've been going to school on and off since high school and in recent years kept going to finish a degree. Just recently the last class I needed to finish was only available during the day, which I could not take due to my work. After checking again I found that there is a web class as well which I could take to complete my degree. I was pretty excited and glad that I was down to the last class.
Rob
I've been going to school on and off since high school and in recent years kept going to finish a degree. Just recently the last class I needed to finish was only available during the day, which I could not take due to my work. After checking again I found that there is a web class as well which I could take to complete my degree. I was pretty excited and glad that I was down to the last class.
Rob
Monday, November 27, 2006
Does money equal skill?
This weekend while taking some photos in SF my friend and I discussed this question. Does better equipment equal better photographs? There are some people who say it’s all of the photographer’s skill, I tend to think it’s a mixture of the equipment and the ability of the photographer.
Let’s take this scenario for example. Two photographers, same skill level, both take pictures of a flower garden. Photographer A is using an entry level digital SLR with the kit lens and a 1gb memory card. Photographer B is using a pro level digital SLR with a wide variety of lenses, also has many gb’s of memory cards. With the two photographers taking the pictures of the same objects, who will have the better result? I would say Photographer B would have clearer images and with the greater amount of images taken, better chance to find a nice image of the bunch.
It seems like photography is one area that skill can be made up with better equipment more so that other skills. For example if a low skilled guitar player would have played a $2,500 Les Paul or a $99 Squire, I doubt there would be much if any difference in his/her skill since there is no way to “fake” play. But if poor photographer used pro level equipment and had the ability to take thousands of photos they would have much better chance to get a good shot but just taking as many pictures as possible.
I wonder if other hobbies also follow this pattern as well?
Rob
This weekend while taking some photos in SF my friend and I discussed this question. Does better equipment equal better photographs? There are some people who say it’s all of the photographer’s skill, I tend to think it’s a mixture of the equipment and the ability of the photographer.
Let’s take this scenario for example. Two photographers, same skill level, both take pictures of a flower garden. Photographer A is using an entry level digital SLR with the kit lens and a 1gb memory card. Photographer B is using a pro level digital SLR with a wide variety of lenses, also has many gb’s of memory cards. With the two photographers taking the pictures of the same objects, who will have the better result? I would say Photographer B would have clearer images and with the greater amount of images taken, better chance to find a nice image of the bunch.
It seems like photography is one area that skill can be made up with better equipment more so that other skills. For example if a low skilled guitar player would have played a $2,500 Les Paul or a $99 Squire, I doubt there would be much if any difference in his/her skill since there is no way to “fake” play. But if poor photographer used pro level equipment and had the ability to take thousands of photos they would have much better chance to get a good shot but just taking as many pictures as possible.
I wonder if other hobbies also follow this pattern as well?
Rob
Monday, November 20, 2006
MySpace
I'm not a big MySpace fan, I have a profile but it's checked rarely and don't keep in touch with friend's profiles either. Recently I was browsing on MySpace for high school class mates, and by chance started searching for other people. I found some interesting profiles.
The Gorillaz music group
World of Warcraft video game
Dr. Octagon, hip hop artist
Relevant Christian music magazine
DJ Q-Bert
The Simpsons
Family Guy
These are just a few I found, and I'm sure there are thousands more. It's pretty funny to see the profiles for cartoon characters as well.
Obsession
I just found this link for a movie called Obsession. It's about radical Islam's war aganist the West. Not sure what to expect but does sound interesting to see.
MMORPG
I've been playing on and off World of Warcraft for the past year. The game is a MMORPG, where you play on-line with other people in a virtual gaming world. It's fun but after playing to level 34 (with 60 being the highest) it's becoming less fun. The game is still fun but seems like I'm doing the same thing but with higher level people to fight.
Just recently based upon a suggestion from a co-worker I downloaded a trial version of Everquest2, called Trial of the Isle. It's a free version of the game that allows you to explore and get an idea of the game before buying a copy. So far I've only played a hour but it seems fun and different from Warcraft. Not sure if I'll keep playing after the trial period but it does look good.
Here's what the game looks like.
Logic in programming
From my last posting I've been working on learning C# programming. This isn't my first time learning how to program but wanted to take this further than simple text book application and make something I could use for work. While the actual coding is hard, what is most challenging is using logic with programming. Since the computer is really not smart and only does what is told, your program must be carefully designed to work without any issues.
I found this also applies to other applications as well. In Flash I was making a small interactive music game for kids as part of my class work. I came across a problem in my design where I wanted something to stop then start when the user clicked a button. At first I was worried that I would have to redesign the whole project but then I thought about working around this problem.
Using an example from my text book, I added a script function and fixed the issue using a short command to stop the movie, then start to play only one loop when clicked. It sounds easy but took me a while to figure it out. :)
Rob
I'm not a big MySpace fan, I have a profile but it's checked rarely and don't keep in touch with friend's profiles either. Recently I was browsing on MySpace for high school class mates, and by chance started searching for other people. I found some interesting profiles.
The Gorillaz music group
World of Warcraft video game
Dr. Octagon, hip hop artist
Relevant Christian music magazine
DJ Q-Bert
The Simpsons
Family Guy
These are just a few I found, and I'm sure there are thousands more. It's pretty funny to see the profiles for cartoon characters as well.
Obsession
I just found this link for a movie called Obsession. It's about radical Islam's war aganist the West. Not sure what to expect but does sound interesting to see.
MMORPG
I've been playing on and off World of Warcraft for the past year. The game is a MMORPG, where you play on-line with other people in a virtual gaming world. It's fun but after playing to level 34 (with 60 being the highest) it's becoming less fun. The game is still fun but seems like I'm doing the same thing but with higher level people to fight.
Just recently based upon a suggestion from a co-worker I downloaded a trial version of Everquest2, called Trial of the Isle. It's a free version of the game that allows you to explore and get an idea of the game before buying a copy. So far I've only played a hour but it seems fun and different from Warcraft. Not sure if I'll keep playing after the trial period but it does look good.
Here's what the game looks like.
Logic in programming
From my last posting I've been working on learning C# programming. This isn't my first time learning how to program but wanted to take this further than simple text book application and make something I could use for work. While the actual coding is hard, what is most challenging is using logic with programming. Since the computer is really not smart and only does what is told, your program must be carefully designed to work without any issues.
I found this also applies to other applications as well. In Flash I was making a small interactive music game for kids as part of my class work. I came across a problem in my design where I wanted something to stop then start when the user clicked a button. At first I was worried that I would have to redesign the whole project but then I thought about working around this problem.
Using an example from my text book, I added a script function and fixed the issue using a short command to stop the movie, then start to play only one loop when clicked. It sounds easy but took me a while to figure it out. :)
Rob
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Beginning programming
At work I've been trying to make a simple script to pull information from various servers. The problem I'm encountering is the limited ability to run the script, you have to run this from a command prompt and most users are not familar with this.
Instead of buying another tool, I got the idea about building a application from the bare bones. A few months ago I attended a Microsoft show that handed out Microsoft Visual Studio, a software application for programming Windows applications. Now I always thought that building applications of something useful was really hard. I've written programs at school that did things like play a game or added students to a simple database. Here I wanted to do a bit more.
So now I'm trying to learn what I can and re-learn what I forgot (it's been a few years since my last class).
Here's a few useful links for those who are intersted in prgramming as well.
Microsoft's Coding 4 Fun web site, lots of interesting projects.
Microsoft's C# Learning Resources videos, a bunch of free beginner videos on C#.
Learn Visual Studio web site, lots of videos but you need to subscribe.
Writing a letter
Today I sent out a package to my friend in Chicago. I included a hand written letter since she sent me one with a lanyard the previous week. While I was writing the letter I really noticed just how long it's been since I've actually wrote someone. It's interesting to read someone's letter. At times you can almost feel what they are feeling from the way they write and it has some much more meaning than a e-mail or phone call.
Rob
At work I've been trying to make a simple script to pull information from various servers. The problem I'm encountering is the limited ability to run the script, you have to run this from a command prompt and most users are not familar with this.
Instead of buying another tool, I got the idea about building a application from the bare bones. A few months ago I attended a Microsoft show that handed out Microsoft Visual Studio, a software application for programming Windows applications. Now I always thought that building applications of something useful was really hard. I've written programs at school that did things like play a game or added students to a simple database. Here I wanted to do a bit more.
So now I'm trying to learn what I can and re-learn what I forgot (it's been a few years since my last class).
Here's a few useful links for those who are intersted in prgramming as well.
Microsoft's Coding 4 Fun web site, lots of interesting projects.
Microsoft's C# Learning Resources videos, a bunch of free beginner videos on C#.
Learn Visual Studio web site, lots of videos but you need to subscribe.
Writing a letter
Today I sent out a package to my friend in Chicago. I included a hand written letter since she sent me one with a lanyard the previous week. While I was writing the letter I really noticed just how long it's been since I've actually wrote someone. It's interesting to read someone's letter. At times you can almost feel what they are feeling from the way they write and it has some much more meaning than a e-mail or phone call.
Rob
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Freakonomics
Just recently I found this book at the local book store titled Freakonomics . The book is a very interesting list of reasons from a economist's point of view why certian things happen. One very interesting topic was the reason for crime to lower in the late 90's. In the early 90's, many crime experts said the crime would rise 50%, while it actually dropped 50%, the reasons why were puzzling to the experts. Here the economist Steven Levitt explains that while many people considered gun laws and further police training to make the biggest impact they overlooked the most important piece of the puzzle.
In the 70's a major law was found and won on the courts was Roe vs. Wade, the abortion rights across the nation. Here Levitt explains that since many poorer parents would not want their children they would be more likely to have them aborted. These same children who should have grown up to become criminals 20 years later, now were never born and this would be the reason for the crime drop 20 years later.
It's a very interesting idea and I agree that it does make more sense that any gun law or police traning program.
Gun Control
Does gun control really stop crime? I'm not sure but I think it's a simple fix to a bigger problem. The view of the public might see guns in the news and think that by stopping the sale of certian firearms this would stop the criminals on the street but it's really not the exact truth.
Many crime experts say that it's still very easy to find guns on the street to buy. Also the people who are doing the most crime can not legally purchase a gun so the added gun laws do not stop him or her. It's a very debated subject and I do see both view points but would rather see more push for added laws stopping repeat criminals rather than more gun control laws.
Here's the Wiki on Gun Control that has pros and cons on the subject.
Gun Control Wiki
Rob
Just recently I found this book at the local book store titled Freakonomics . The book is a very interesting list of reasons from a economist's point of view why certian things happen. One very interesting topic was the reason for crime to lower in the late 90's. In the early 90's, many crime experts said the crime would rise 50%, while it actually dropped 50%, the reasons why were puzzling to the experts. Here the economist Steven Levitt explains that while many people considered gun laws and further police training to make the biggest impact they overlooked the most important piece of the puzzle.
In the 70's a major law was found and won on the courts was Roe vs. Wade, the abortion rights across the nation. Here Levitt explains that since many poorer parents would not want their children they would be more likely to have them aborted. These same children who should have grown up to become criminals 20 years later, now were never born and this would be the reason for the crime drop 20 years later.
It's a very interesting idea and I agree that it does make more sense that any gun law or police traning program.
Gun Control
Does gun control really stop crime? I'm not sure but I think it's a simple fix to a bigger problem. The view of the public might see guns in the news and think that by stopping the sale of certian firearms this would stop the criminals on the street but it's really not the exact truth.
Many crime experts say that it's still very easy to find guns on the street to buy. Also the people who are doing the most crime can not legally purchase a gun so the added gun laws do not stop him or her. It's a very debated subject and I do see both view points but would rather see more push for added laws stopping repeat criminals rather than more gun control laws.
Here's the Wiki on Gun Control that has pros and cons on the subject.
Gun Control Wiki
Rob
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
SRV
While I have liked the guitar for a long time what really got me interested in playing was hearing Stevie Ray Vaughan's Pride and Joy. It's still one of my favorite songs and I have really liked his style of playing. It's so simple at times but then can become super complex.
To get an better idea of his playing, here's a video showing the close up of his playing style. This is an old video but it's really shows just how fast he plays.
SRV playing Rude Mood
Sadly, as with many bright stars, SRV died in a helicopter accident in 1990 and in a special concert his brother with many other famed guitarists had a very special show.
SRV Shuffle video
Speaking of guitars, here's the battle scene from Crossroads. BTW that's actually Steve Vai playing aganist him self. :)
Crossroads guitar battle
Rob
While I have liked the guitar for a long time what really got me interested in playing was hearing Stevie Ray Vaughan's Pride and Joy. It's still one of my favorite songs and I have really liked his style of playing. It's so simple at times but then can become super complex.
To get an better idea of his playing, here's a video showing the close up of his playing style. This is an old video but it's really shows just how fast he plays.
SRV playing Rude Mood
Sadly, as with many bright stars, SRV died in a helicopter accident in 1990 and in a special concert his brother with many other famed guitarists had a very special show.
SRV Shuffle video
Speaking of guitars, here's the battle scene from Crossroads. BTW that's actually Steve Vai playing aganist him self. :)
Crossroads guitar battle
Rob
Will the real estate market crash?
When the topic of the real estate comes up there is a big line draw between the people who say a crash is near, and the people who say a crash will never happen. As history has taugh us, things go through a cycle and usually we can find how the market will be affected by looking at how it was decades ago.
Here's a short article from the Wall Street Journal about this topic.
RealEstateJournal Housing Market May Land Harder Than Economists Expect
What is really interesting is the graph they show for the market from the 80's to today.
There seems to be a very similar peak in the 1980's and 2006, with a similar expecting drop. Does this show the future? I'm not sure but I am saving my money just in case.
Rob
When the topic of the real estate comes up there is a big line draw between the people who say a crash is near, and the people who say a crash will never happen. As history has taugh us, things go through a cycle and usually we can find how the market will be affected by looking at how it was decades ago.
Here's a short article from the Wall Street Journal about this topic.
RealEstateJournal Housing Market May Land Harder Than Economists Expect
What is really interesting is the graph they show for the market from the 80's to today.
There seems to be a very similar peak in the 1980's and 2006, with a similar expecting drop. Does this show the future? I'm not sure but I am saving my money just in case.
Rob
Monday, September 04, 2006
Getting back on two wheels
After almost two years of not riding (sold my last bike in Jan 2004) I've been really wanting to get another bike. Something I really missed about not having a bike was how it makes any trip more fun and interesting. Taking a ride to the coast is a lot more fun on a motorcycle and it's much easier to stop and take pictures. :)
My last bike was nice but I just didn't like how it rode. Hard to explain but it felt really heavy and never got used to the bike. Now after I had a lot of time to think about another bike I want something easy to ride and cheap to insure. So I'm thinking of two different bikes that I might buy. A Kawasaki Ninja 250 or a Suzuki DRZ-400SM, both pretty small and light weight, also easy to ride.
Both bikes are really nice, and just recently gotten a chance to test ride a DRZ-400 from a local rider. The bike rode very nice but it was not as comfortable as the Ninja 250 for longer rides. The DRZ is really a dirt bike based street bike and it's hard seat with a small gas tank makes longer trips not as easy.
While summer is ending I might be able to get a better deal on the motorcycle since people don't usually ride much in the fall and winter time. Hoping to have a new bike soon, maybe next month.
Rob
After almost two years of not riding (sold my last bike in Jan 2004) I've been really wanting to get another bike. Something I really missed about not having a bike was how it makes any trip more fun and interesting. Taking a ride to the coast is a lot more fun on a motorcycle and it's much easier to stop and take pictures. :)
My last bike was nice but I just didn't like how it rode. Hard to explain but it felt really heavy and never got used to the bike. Now after I had a lot of time to think about another bike I want something easy to ride and cheap to insure. So I'm thinking of two different bikes that I might buy. A Kawasaki Ninja 250 or a Suzuki DRZ-400SM, both pretty small and light weight, also easy to ride.
Both bikes are really nice, and just recently gotten a chance to test ride a DRZ-400 from a local rider. The bike rode very nice but it was not as comfortable as the Ninja 250 for longer rides. The DRZ is really a dirt bike based street bike and it's hard seat with a small gas tank makes longer trips not as easy.
While summer is ending I might be able to get a better deal on the motorcycle since people don't usually ride much in the fall and winter time. Hoping to have a new bike soon, maybe next month.
Rob
Range trip
This weekend my friend and I spent some time at the range. Really nice day and not very hot, spent a few hours there shooting targets. It was pretty fun, had Jeff, Kevin and Frank there with their guns. I brought two pistols and a 22 rifle.
Here's the view from my rifle at 25 yards.
While shooting we wanted to see how accurate the rifle was, so we put up this quarter at 25 yards. Here's the quarter after a 22LR supersonic bullet.
More pictures are located here.
Range Trip pictures
Rob
This weekend my friend and I spent some time at the range. Really nice day and not very hot, spent a few hours there shooting targets. It was pretty fun, had Jeff, Kevin and Frank there with their guns. I brought two pistols and a 22 rifle.
Here's the view from my rifle at 25 yards.
While shooting we wanted to see how accurate the rifle was, so we put up this quarter at 25 yards. Here's the quarter after a 22LR supersonic bullet.
More pictures are located here.
Range Trip pictures
Rob
Saturday, April 29, 2006
My portfolio
Just recently I got my photography portfolio completed for my class project. Came out better than expected and shows my favorite images. You can find the link here.
Robert Freiberger's portfolio
Just a sample picture from my portfolio as well.
I tried to make the galleries a good mix of my different styles and keep them with high quality images. It actually was very difficult checking all of my 10,000 images and finding the best ones of the bunch. Honestly, I think I got the best ones and still had less than 50 images. I'm not a professional photographer but feel it's not a bad ratio.
Playing the guitar
Last year I took a live recording and sound reinforcement class at my local school. After going to this class and recording live bands, mostly jazz and classic concerts, I started to become interested in learning an instrument. I decided a piano was too big, brass horns too loud, and drums just way too loud. So I was down to either a guitar or a harmonica, I picked the guitar.
So for Christmas my parents gave me a nice Fender acoustic guitar beginner package. I played this on and off up until last month. It was a bit hard to really understand the basics at first. The few books I bought started right into playing but didn't show you how to tune the guitar or where to place your fingers. Also while playing I would get a constant "buzzzz" from the string, not sure but it was very annoying and even after pressing down hard still had this problem.
After a while I stopped playing and the guitar began to collect dust. Well one day at work, I mentioned I was trying to learn the guitar to a co-worker and how the strings keep buzzing. He said to take it over to a well known guitar shop and have the guitar correctly set up. That weekend I dropped the guitar off at Aantone's Music in Newark. For a very good price for $45, Aantone set up the guitar which included filing down the bridge, changed the strings to a lighter type, added a second strap peg, oiled the rosewood board, and adjusted the neck.
The guitar now plays much better and now I have no one to blame for buzzing except my self. :)
I'm also trying out my friend's Fender Stratocaster electric guitar which I really like. The guitar is actually made in Japan instead of the current models being made in Mexico. Right now I am using his small amp which is pretty nice but I want to play with distortion and may buy a new amp soon.
Dual monitors
Just recently I upgraded to a second monitor for my home desktop. While it might sound excessive just for home use, the second monitor is simple great for Photoshop or other applications where you need more deskspace. The problem I ran into before with using a single 19" LCD is the limited desktop resolution. At 1280x1024 you have to keep main window very small and it's not easy to multitasking across different windows. Now I can have one monitor just for Photoshop and the other just for viewing my files.
Here's an example of how the desktop looks with two monitors.
Rob
Just recently I got my photography portfolio completed for my class project. Came out better than expected and shows my favorite images. You can find the link here.
Robert Freiberger's portfolio
Just a sample picture from my portfolio as well.
I tried to make the galleries a good mix of my different styles and keep them with high quality images. It actually was very difficult checking all of my 10,000 images and finding the best ones of the bunch. Honestly, I think I got the best ones and still had less than 50 images. I'm not a professional photographer but feel it's not a bad ratio.
Playing the guitar
Last year I took a live recording and sound reinforcement class at my local school. After going to this class and recording live bands, mostly jazz and classic concerts, I started to become interested in learning an instrument. I decided a piano was too big, brass horns too loud, and drums just way too loud. So I was down to either a guitar or a harmonica, I picked the guitar.
So for Christmas my parents gave me a nice Fender acoustic guitar beginner package. I played this on and off up until last month. It was a bit hard to really understand the basics at first. The few books I bought started right into playing but didn't show you how to tune the guitar or where to place your fingers. Also while playing I would get a constant "buzzzz" from the string, not sure but it was very annoying and even after pressing down hard still had this problem.
After a while I stopped playing and the guitar began to collect dust. Well one day at work, I mentioned I was trying to learn the guitar to a co-worker and how the strings keep buzzing. He said to take it over to a well known guitar shop and have the guitar correctly set up. That weekend I dropped the guitar off at Aantone's Music in Newark. For a very good price for $45, Aantone set up the guitar which included filing down the bridge, changed the strings to a lighter type, added a second strap peg, oiled the rosewood board, and adjusted the neck.
The guitar now plays much better and now I have no one to blame for buzzing except my self. :)
I'm also trying out my friend's Fender Stratocaster electric guitar which I really like. The guitar is actually made in Japan instead of the current models being made in Mexico. Right now I am using his small amp which is pretty nice but I want to play with distortion and may buy a new amp soon.
Dual monitors
Just recently I upgraded to a second monitor for my home desktop. While it might sound excessive just for home use, the second monitor is simple great for Photoshop or other applications where you need more deskspace. The problem I ran into before with using a single 19" LCD is the limited desktop resolution. At 1280x1024 you have to keep main window very small and it's not easy to multitasking across different windows. Now I can have one monitor just for Photoshop and the other just for viewing my files.
Here's an example of how the desktop looks with two monitors.
Rob
Monday, January 02, 2006
Happy New Year
Wishing everyone a great new year!
San Jose's Christmas in the Park
This year I visited Christmas in the Park with my friend and we took some pictures. It's a nice even San Jose throws every year in the down town area. The pictures really don't show the animated puppets and little trains which was really nice.
Wishing everyone a great new year!
San Jose's Christmas in the Park
This year I visited Christmas in the Park with my friend and we took some pictures. It's a nice even San Jose throws every year in the down town area. The pictures really don't show the animated puppets and little trains which was really nice.
Here's a short Photostory I made of the photos.
Christmas in the Park video 10MB
Also here's the pictures, including the new San Jose City Hall.
Gallery of Christmas in the Park and City Hall
Home buying
I'm in the process of saving money for a home but in the mean time read about the market and topics in the news. This article from the Wall Stree Journal's free site caught my attention.
Watch Your Step, Novice Home Buyers...
Basically, they said that while the rates are down it's not a good idea to get over your head with a loan that is more than you can afford. Sounds like common sence but it's hard to settle for something small when you can get something bigger for a few hundred more a month.
F.E.A.R.
A few monthes ago, the video game publisher Sierra released the game F.E.A.R for the PC. This game was created by the company Monolith, they also created the great game series called No One Lives Forever. This game featured a woman as the main character and was set in a very Austin Powers type world completed with funny cut scenes.
Well my local Fry's had the game on sale for $37 so I figured I try the game out and see how it plays. It's actually one of the highest rated game of this year so I figure it must be good. After paying the game for an hour I really was disappointed with the graphics. I don't think it's a performance issue but even with the highest settings they still look sub-par compared with Half Life 2 or Battlefield 2.
The overall game play feels slightly dated as well. I really liked the thinking game that Half Life 2 was, you couldn't just run out and blast everything, some levels required thinking. For F.E.A.R. I felt that it was lacking the depth of a good game, and the feature of the "bullet time" slo-mo was not very interesting. I'll try playing the game again but so far it could have been done better. I do have to say that the creepyness of the game is done well. Plenty of gorey areas, nice effects with the lighting and interesting story line.
Learning to play
For Christmas I received an Fender acoustic guitar kit. It's pretty nice, comes with the tuner, learning dvd, bag and some picks. So far I bought an book to learn from, just going over the basics on how to hold each fret and correct placement of the fingers. It's hard to come from playing music as a dj then to creating music as a musician. I'm so used to hearing something, and being able to change the tempo or tone that understanding how the music is created was something I lacked.
I actually got interested in playing a guitar when I was out helping record a jazz band. Once I saw how the band works and they each play a part of the music I was more interested in playing. Another time I helped record a short session of a 4 piece band. While the band members were discussing the song they kept reffering to names such as "B5" or "E7", then they could tell just what key the song was sung in. These are areas which I never learned from playing records. I'll follow up once I have more experience on the guitar but my goal is to play Message in the Bottle and Everlong.
Rob
Monday, December 12, 2005
Christmas
What I love about Christmas is the lights on the trees and the excitment of gift giving. What I don't like is trying to figure out what to buy my friends. Every year I have this great idea about some gift but before I know it, it's December 19th and I only have a few days to drop off the gifts. Typically I end up getting them some gift certificates at a local music store with a small card. This year is not much different but I think I can twist it up a bit.
Photography
Just looking around some popular sites I have found some great tips about digital photography. Here at Microsoft's Digital Photography site they have a bunch of good resources, including a page about Photoshop CS2 RAW tips written by Scott Kelby.
If you never taken photos in RAW instead of JPG it's a great help when you need to "pull" that extra amount of detail from the photo. There are lots of pros and cons about using RAW but personally I think it's worth it, also it saved a few "lost" photos for me.
Half Life 2 and C++?
While I have a interest in computer programming, I don't have a great grasp on the technology used. I've taken classes in Visual Basic .NET and Java but still never made more than a small data base application. While playing Half Life 2, a computer game, I started to wonder about making my own Half Life level. After some research I found a great site with lots of info about modding (customizing a level) Half Life 2. This site from Valve's Developer Community is great and shows a very detailed basic beginner steps for creating you first mod.
Doing a quick search on Google, I found another page about modding Half Life 2 from Microsoft's Coding4Fun Half-Life 2 Mod Spot page. In this page they list a bunch of other sites for developers and mention that the free version of their C++ editor will not work with Half Life 2. In an updated Microsoft page I found that they now can use the Visual C++ 2005 Express Version, which is free to download. You can create you own games from all of these free tools! Except you still need to buy the game Half Life 2, which costs about $40. lol
Here's the site for all Microsoft Visual Studio Express items. It's free for a limited time.
World of Warcraft
I've been playing World of Warcraft on-line recently. It's a great game that is more interesting to me that typical on-line games. It's classed as a MMORPG, massivley multiplayer on-line role playing game, where people are playing in virtual worlds together. I have only been playing for three days but so far the worlds are really nice, lots of things to do and interact with other players.
Here's a picture of my character.
Then this is what a typical gaming area looks like.
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Cold weather
This morning I was driving to church and the sky was clear, with that super chilly weather. For me I'm not great about winter time. Personally I don't mind rain, hot weather, but cold Chilly Willy weather is not my cup of tea. Guess I'm a bit cold blooded, maybe I should walk around with a electric blanket and a long extenstion cord.
The Fisheye camera
When taking pictures I tend to lean toward the wide side. In fact I usually have to rethink my photo ideas since my current lens does not deliver the wide angle I really want. So far I bought another lens to help but in the future I'll go with something a bit more sharper.
In the mean time I found this very interesting plastic camera. Basically, it's a cheap plastic camera, Holga style, with a super wide (fisheye) lens. This is really cool for those Beastie Boy-esque shots.
Freestyle photo has the camera for $50.
Cell phones
I just saw this ad for Comp USA in today's paper. It's a Nokia cell phone for GSM service that is unlocked. Unlocked is a phone that can be used for most all GSM cell phone companies, like T-Mobile, Cingular, and others. What is nice about this is you do not have to purchase any further contract and there is no extra cost with the phone. Great idea if you have a old phone and just want a replacement or you want something different.
Nokia 6170 at Comp USA
Rob
This morning I was driving to church and the sky was clear, with that super chilly weather. For me I'm not great about winter time. Personally I don't mind rain, hot weather, but cold Chilly Willy weather is not my cup of tea. Guess I'm a bit cold blooded, maybe I should walk around with a electric blanket and a long extenstion cord.
The Fisheye camera
When taking pictures I tend to lean toward the wide side. In fact I usually have to rethink my photo ideas since my current lens does not deliver the wide angle I really want. So far I bought another lens to help but in the future I'll go with something a bit more sharper.
In the mean time I found this very interesting plastic camera. Basically, it's a cheap plastic camera, Holga style, with a super wide (fisheye) lens. This is really cool for those Beastie Boy-esque shots.
Freestyle photo has the camera for $50.
Cell phones
I just saw this ad for Comp USA in today's paper. It's a Nokia cell phone for GSM service that is unlocked. Unlocked is a phone that can be used for most all GSM cell phone companies, like T-Mobile, Cingular, and others. What is nice about this is you do not have to purchase any further contract and there is no extra cost with the phone. Great idea if you have a old phone and just want a replacement or you want something different.
Nokia 6170 at Comp USA
Rob
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
My new computer
After using my notebook for my primary computer for a year I found that it had some limitations. Just saving my images was taking up too much room on my hard drive, even after I upgraded to a 60GB. Then I started moving all of my cd's to my computer, this also limited my drive space.
This past weekend I spent building my new tower system, mostly from parts I bought at New Egg and my local Central Computer. I was aiming for a performance computer with parts that are the most performance per dollar.
Since I do some computer gaming I opted for a nice video card, but also installed a dual core AMD processor for help with Photoshop and 3D tools. Two drives will help keep my images available and store them as a short time back up. Overall I'm really happy with the performance compared to my old tower and notebook. While I was adding a new computer I also bought a new LCD monitor. My 8 year old 19" CRT is out of focus and I felt it was worth paying $200 more for a LCD than another CRT.
After I got the OS up and running I installed Half Life 2, a game I've wanted to play since it came out last year. The first Half Life was a personal favorite with me, I just enjoy the story line, solving puzzles and shooting bad guys. The second is even better with great graphics and more things to do.
Here's a screenshot from my computer.
I'm trying to make a collection of screenshots but so far only have Half Life 2. These are all taken at 1280x1024 with full details. Very surprising to me the game actually runs pretty fast, but does stutter when loading new levels. I would love to see how this games looks on a 24" wide screen monitor!
Rob
After using my notebook for my primary computer for a year I found that it had some limitations. Just saving my images was taking up too much room on my hard drive, even after I upgraded to a 60GB. Then I started moving all of my cd's to my computer, this also limited my drive space.
This past weekend I spent building my new tower system, mostly from parts I bought at New Egg and my local Central Computer. I was aiming for a performance computer with parts that are the most performance per dollar.
Since I do some computer gaming I opted for a nice video card, but also installed a dual core AMD processor for help with Photoshop and 3D tools. Two drives will help keep my images available and store them as a short time back up. Overall I'm really happy with the performance compared to my old tower and notebook. While I was adding a new computer I also bought a new LCD monitor. My 8 year old 19" CRT is out of focus and I felt it was worth paying $200 more for a LCD than another CRT.
After I got the OS up and running I installed Half Life 2, a game I've wanted to play since it came out last year. The first Half Life was a personal favorite with me, I just enjoy the story line, solving puzzles and shooting bad guys. The second is even better with great graphics and more things to do.
Here's a screenshot from my computer.
I'm trying to make a collection of screenshots but so far only have Half Life 2. These are all taken at 1280x1024 with full details. Very surprising to me the game actually runs pretty fast, but does stutter when loading new levels. I would love to see how this games looks on a 24" wide screen monitor!
Rob
Thursday, November 17, 2005
My first computer build
Back in 1999 I bought my first computer. My Dad had computers of various sorts in the house but I wanted something I could play with and not worry about breaking anything of his. So without much experience, besides how to plug in the components, I bought a copy of the PC Gamer "Ultimate Hardware Bible" and from here made my first computer. The computer was pretty decent for 1999 specs and cost me about $1,500 not including a monitor.
Here's the actual list of parts and their pricing from 1999.
It doesn't sound like much but I could play Half Life with decent frame rates. :)
Ironically, I'm building a new computer and just from the parts total I'm almost exactly at $1,500. I think you get more for your money but the prime performace to dollar is still around $1,500 for a gaming/performance computer. The last time I spent $500 on a 19" CRT monitor and now I'm spending $400 on a 19" LCD.
Rob
Back in 1999 I bought my first computer. My Dad had computers of various sorts in the house but I wanted something I could play with and not worry about breaking anything of his. So without much experience, besides how to plug in the components, I bought a copy of the PC Gamer "Ultimate Hardware Bible" and from here made my first computer. The computer was pretty decent for 1999 specs and cost me about $1,500 not including a monitor.
Here's the actual list of parts and their pricing from 1999.
- Intel PIII-450 $250
- Supermicro full tower w/300 watt $150
- Asus 3BF $130
- 128MB PC100 $130
- Diamond Viper V770 Ultra $220
- Creative Labs Sound Blaster $100
- Generic CD-ROM 40X $50
- Western Digital 6GB IDE 7200RPM $150
- Windows 98 second edition OEM $150
It doesn't sound like much but I could play Half Life with decent frame rates. :)
Ironically, I'm building a new computer and just from the parts total I'm almost exactly at $1,500. I think you get more for your money but the prime performace to dollar is still around $1,500 for a gaming/performance computer. The last time I spent $500 on a 19" CRT monitor and now I'm spending $400 on a 19" LCD.
Rob
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Very interesting blog!
I was just looking at other blogs and found this one, Camera Toss, which has photographs taken when tossing a camera. Excellent idea!
Another idea is to write with any bright LED or flashlight. You get some pretty cool shots from doing this.
This was taken with a digital camera on a tripod, and then using a bright bicycle tail light I wrote my name. Actually wrote it backwards, since I was standing in front of the camera.
Rob
I was just looking at other blogs and found this one, Camera Toss, which has photographs taken when tossing a camera. Excellent idea!
Another idea is to write with any bright LED or flashlight. You get some pretty cool shots from doing this.
This was taken with a digital camera on a tripod, and then using a bright bicycle tail light I wrote my name. Actually wrote it backwards, since I was standing in front of the camera.
Rob
I'm writing this blog from work, sitting here at my desk in the dark (the automatic lights shut off at 9pm). It's strange just how peaceful the workplace becomes when there is no one around. I can hear the soft musak playing in the background, can't make out the tune but it's jazzy. The slight hum of the air condition unit in the other room, and the cleaning crew making their rounds in the other offices.
During times like these I wish I worked grave yard, I could get a bunch more things done without having people talking or making noises. I'm easily distracted, like a cat to string. lol
Rob
During times like these I wish I worked grave yard, I could get a bunch more things done without having people talking or making noises. I'm easily distracted, like a cat to string. lol
Rob
Monday, November 14, 2005
Small computer
I've been looking for a new desktop computer. My last desktop is about 5 years old and just doesn't have the power any more. In fact my notebook is actually faster, been using this most of the time.
Since I'm used to something smaller, I was deciding upon the smaller SFF computers. SFF stands for "small form factor", they are the size of a small filing box or big shoe box. Really nice to have a computer on your desk but still save space. Here's one I'm reading about.
The Shuttle SN26P is really nice, complete with SLI for two graphic cards and support for X2 AMD processors. It's a tad expensive at $600 (barebones) but it is small and that's what you pay for. lol
***
Faith
Recently on a local motorcycle forum I say a message with the title, "do you have a god or gods?". Normally I that a careful stance on questions about faith. It's not that I don't like discussing these questions but I find that many times it's becomes far from a normal discussion. Well after reading the comments I was surprised to see how many people did not believe in a God or even had faith in different religions. Maybe those with faith didn't post their comments? After reading the entire posting, about 100 comments from various people with a 70/30 split, the majority aganist religions, I started thinking deeping into the question.
Maybe for the lower amount of people who have a belief or faith could be related to motorcycle riding? Sometimes I think of the motorcycle as more risky and in a slightly related idea, if you live without thinking about the afterworld, you might also take a chance on what happends when you die as well. I'll do some more reading into it but seems like an interesting topic.
Rob
I've been looking for a new desktop computer. My last desktop is about 5 years old and just doesn't have the power any more. In fact my notebook is actually faster, been using this most of the time.
Since I'm used to something smaller, I was deciding upon the smaller SFF computers. SFF stands for "small form factor", they are the size of a small filing box or big shoe box. Really nice to have a computer on your desk but still save space. Here's one I'm reading about.
The Shuttle SN26P is really nice, complete with SLI for two graphic cards and support for X2 AMD processors. It's a tad expensive at $600 (barebones) but it is small and that's what you pay for. lol
***
Faith
Recently on a local motorcycle forum I say a message with the title, "do you have a god or gods?". Normally I that a careful stance on questions about faith. It's not that I don't like discussing these questions but I find that many times it's becomes far from a normal discussion. Well after reading the comments I was surprised to see how many people did not believe in a God or even had faith in different religions. Maybe those with faith didn't post their comments? After reading the entire posting, about 100 comments from various people with a 70/30 split, the majority aganist religions, I started thinking deeping into the question.
Maybe for the lower amount of people who have a belief or faith could be related to motorcycle riding? Sometimes I think of the motorcycle as more risky and in a slightly related idea, if you live without thinking about the afterworld, you might also take a chance on what happends when you die as well. I'll do some more reading into it but seems like an interesting topic.
Rob
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