Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Weekend To-Do List
Long weekend! Lots of stuff to do.
Register for "classes"- Apply to schools -
12 3 4 5 6 7 Shovel sno -1x2x3xClean out e-mail- Vacuum, mop, sweep
- Fix plant stand
Order "Christmas" presents- Sort/blog photos from the past week
Fix Thermarest(s)Repair and test camping stovesTest filterPut together chlorine dioxide kit- Make pouch for bus pass
Inquire about returning photo map- Send note to trip members
- Do trip tasks
Write eBay feedbackFix snow shovelCelebrate Christmas with ErinPlay Plants vs. Zombies- Complain about bonehead lawyer
Exercise
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Incoming!
Here's the current Minneapolis weather forecast from wunderground. Hmmmmm.
 | Tonight Snow. Snow accumulation around 4 inches. Lows around 25. East winds 10 to 15 mph. |
 | Thursday Snow. Snow accumulation of 5 to 6 inches. Highs around 30. Northeast winds 10 to 15 mph. |
| Thursday Night Snow. Areas of blowing and drifting snow. Snow accumulation of 6 to 7 inches. Lows 25 to 30. Northeast winds 15 to 20 mph. |
| Christmas Day Snow. Areas of blowing and drifting snow. Snow accumulation of 3 to 4 inches. Highs around 30. Northeast winds 15 to 20 mph. |
| Friday Night Snow. Snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches. Storm total snow accumulation of 19 to 21 inches. Lows around 20. North winds 10 to 15 mph. |
 | Saturday Cloudy with snow likely. Snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches. Total snow accumulation 20 to 25 inches. Highs around 25. Chance of snow 70 percent. |
 | Saturday Night Cloudy with a 50 percent chance of snow. Lows around 15. |
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Olympia Trip
Last weekend, we flew up to Olympia, Washington to visit my granny. My mom met us there. Here are some pics.
Erin at the "Beach House" on Steamboat Island, where my Granny Lou and Papa Frank lived when I was growing up. One of my favorite places.
Dinner at the beach house: my mom, aunt Zina, Granny, cousin Darby, cousin Bridgette, me, wife Erin.
Erin at the "Beach House" on Steamboat Island, where my Granny Lou and Papa Frank lived when I was growing up. One of my favorite places.
Dinner at the beach house: my mom, aunt Zina, Granny, cousin Darby, cousin Bridgette, me, wife Erin.
Weekend Imbecile Report
Last night I heard a loud "crunch" and looked outside to see some unidentified junk hanging off the rear bumper of the rental truck that's been parked next door for the past week. Then, a gray sedan with the passenger door missing backed into view and drove away.
I went outside to find our neighbor, Tim, on the phone with the police and so I went around the corner a bit to see if he'd stopped close by (he didn't).
Indeed, someone had (a) crashed into a parked object, (b) left their passenger door hanging of that object's bumper, and then (c) driven away.
A few minutes after the cops arrived, I overheard them saying that they'd found the car but not the driver, and there was blood in the car.
Frankly, I don't have a lot of sympathy for people whose behavior is so incredibly stupid. I hope they found the guy. I wonder if the car was stolen and that's why he ran.
The truck was bent up a bit, but probably not enough to merit any repairs.
Incidentally, this image was 2.5-3 stops underexposed and I managed to recover the above. I'm pretty impressed.
I went outside to find our neighbor, Tim, on the phone with the police and so I went around the corner a bit to see if he'd stopped close by (he didn't).
Indeed, someone had (a) crashed into a parked object, (b) left their passenger door hanging of that object's bumper, and then (c) driven away.
A few minutes after the cops arrived, I overheard them saying that they'd found the car but not the driver, and there was blood in the car.
Frankly, I don't have a lot of sympathy for people whose behavior is so incredibly stupid. I hope they found the guy. I wonder if the car was stolen and that's why he ran.
The truck was bent up a bit, but probably not enough to merit any repairs.
Incidentally, this image was 2.5-3 stops underexposed and I managed to recover the above. I'm pretty impressed.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Weekend To-Do List
Reboot- Work on trip stuff
- Vacuum, mop, sweep
- Fix plant stand
Blog/sort zoo pics, Olympia pics, truck picsOrder battery- Order Christmas presents
Profile schools & send to reccommendersGo to REI, Ax-Man, grocery storeClean out e-mailPhone callsGo to library- Dry spaghetti sauce
Shoe goo Erin's bootsShovel snoTake out trashDo dishesExercise
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Grad Student Review
Every year, the CS department does a performance review for each of its Ph.D. students. Here's mine.
We are very pleased with the quality of your work and with the pace of your progress. We want to congratulate you and encourage you to continue doing such an excellent job. We especially note the unusual and significant achievement of having originated and led the development of Cyclopath, a system that has (a) earned significant real-world usage, (b) resulted in deep collaborations with local government and non-profits, including a sizable grant from the Metropolitan Council, as well as (c) serving as a platform for carrying out excellent research. We also note the unusual and significant leadership role you have taken on the Cyclopath project, engaging in extensive informal and formal mentoring of less experienced students as well as doing large amounts of software project management. We understand that this work certainly has taken away from the amount of "pure" / narrowly construed research you could have done -- that is, you probably could have published more papers if you had not done this. However, you *still* have published a good number of very high quality papers, and the amount and type of effort you have put in have led to accomplishments are much more substantial and longer lasting than just a few (more) research papers.The tone is interesting to me, as Loren is my advisor in addition to being the DGS.
We congratulate you an reaching an advanced stage in your degree program. At this point, we think you should be ready to finish and defend your thesis within the next year. Please consult closely with your advisor to develop a detailed timetable and verify that your examining committee is appropriate. You also should be seeking career guidance from your advisor if you have not done so already.
Sincerely,
Loren Terveen
Director of Graduate Studies
on behalf of the Department of Computer Science & Engineering
The University of Minnesota
Monday, December 14, 2009
B&W pics
Couple of images that have been floating around for a while. Both of these were taken in November. Isn't black and white fun?
These were converted using the iNDA film simulator plugin for Bibble 5.
These were converted using the iNDA film simulator plugin for Bibble 5.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Weekend To-Do List
Apply to NMSUSearch for jobs & update bookmarks- Upgrade Cyclopath
Prep for PFF classClean out e-mail- Reboot
- Call MSR, Marmot
- E-mail scale vendor
Order maps for trip- Work on trip stuff
- Vacuum, mop, sweep
- Fix plant stand
- Schedule exercise
Exercise2x- Blog B&W pics, zoo pics
- Order battery?
Go to playeBay K200D body- Invoice St. Martin's
- Order Christmas presents?
Thursday, December 3, 2009
St. Louis trip
For Thanksgiving, Erin and I drove a long 11 hours down to St. Louis to visit Joanna and Steve and their new baby Anya.
Anya being cute.
Walking in Forest Park. Joanna lost her phone, but a woman picked it up and Steve recovered it a couple of days later.
St. Louis has the City Museum, which is a jungle gym for adults plus about a zillion other things, including...
... a school bus 10 stories up where you go in and look around ...
... a 7-story slide ...
... and a Gothic watchtower, plus two airplanes you can climb in, an artificial cave with an organ in it, a giant white whale, a human hamster wheel, giant ball pits, smores, etc.... the list is basically endless. I have no idea what fraction of it we saw.
Anya being cute.
Joanna and Anya.
Anya being cute.
Walking in Forest Park. Joanna lost her phone, but a woman picked it up and Steve recovered it a couple of days later.
St. Louis has the City Museum, which is a jungle gym for adults plus about a zillion other things, including...
... a school bus 10 stories up where you go in and look around ...
... a 7-story slide ...
... and a Gothic watchtower, plus two airplanes you can climb in, an artificial cave with an organ in it, a giant white whale, a human hamster wheel, giant ball pits, smores, etc.... the list is basically endless. I have no idea what fraction of it we saw.
Anya being cute.
Joanna and Anya.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Weekend To-Do List
Revise job portfolioApply to DenverPrep job portfolio for other Dec 1 deadlines- Prep for PFF class
Work on wedding photo bookWrite 5115 syllabus(cancelled)- Clean out e-mail
- Reboot
- Call Katadyn, MSR, Marmot
- E-mail scale vendor
- Order maps for trip
- Work on trip stuff
- Vacuum, mop, sweep
- Fix plant stand
- Schedule exercise
Exercise2x
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Vignetting Analysis: Pentax DA 18-250 vs. Nikkor 18-200 DX
One of my key beefs with Pentax was the nasty asymmetric vignetting (falloff), and one of my hopes with switching to Nikon would be that I could have a superzoom that doesn't have that awful behavior.
The Nikkor is much better, though still not perfect -- I'll still need to stop down significantly to shoot blue skies, but the horrible gray fleck in the upper-right corner that plagued me on both copies of the Pentax that I had is gone, gone, gone.
Here's a falloff analysis of the Pentax and Nikkor at 30mm and f/4. Each color band is another 3% luminosity falloff, except for the red band which is the limit of the visualization, so red = serious bad. Pentax is first.
And here's the images that produced the above. Quite a difference.
Verdict: Pentax SMC DA 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 ED AL [IF] = fail. Note that the Tamron AF 18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II LD Aspherical (IF) Macro is the same lens, so also fail I would assume.
The Nikkor is much better, though still not perfect -- I'll still need to stop down significantly to shoot blue skies, but the horrible gray fleck in the upper-right corner that plagued me on both copies of the Pentax that I had is gone, gone, gone.
Here's a falloff analysis of the Pentax and Nikkor at 30mm and f/4. Each color band is another 3% luminosity falloff, except for the red band which is the limit of the visualization, so red = serious bad. Pentax is first.
And here's the images that produced the above. Quite a difference.
Verdict: Pentax SMC DA 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 ED AL [IF] = fail. Note that the Tamron AF 18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II LD Aspherical (IF) Macro is the same lens, so also fail I would assume.
Weekend To-Do List
Vacuum, mop,sweep- Clean out e-mail
- Reboot
- Call Katadyn, MSR, Marmot
Go to library- E-mail scale vendor
- Order maps for trip
- Complete draft portfolio for one job
- Write 5115 syllabus?
- PFF prep
Celebrate Erin's birthdayHelp Erin prep for birthday- Recover from birthday
Analyze falloff for 18-200
Friday, November 13, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Bibble 5 - First Image
Bibble 5 is still in "previews", and the interface changed a lot from 4 and confuses the hell out of me, but it does seem to produce nice images from my NEFs (and the subtle red tint in the shadows seems to be gone).
The above is some barley and brewing tanks of some kind at Surly.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Pentax K200D vs. Nikon D90
Some of you may know that I've been making pictures with a Pentax DSLR for the past year. But, now I've switched; a new Nikon D90 and used Nikkor 18-200 lens arrived a few days ago and I hope to have the remaining Pentax gear sold and out the door soon. (Fortunately, it looks like the financial loss will be modest.)
Why? Well, that's a long story and one I'll tell later. Suffice it to say that I managed to get ignored and blown off by all levels of Pentax USA, from customer service on the phone to Mark Davis in management.
Anyway, here's some impressions of the new device. Not comprehensive obviously - you want a multipage review, click here. ;)
The Pentax has far better ergonomics. It fit my hand quite well, while the Nikon is somewhat clunky and actually gives me a blister. I'll have to add padding in some strategic places. Another major fail is the exposure lock button - if you're left-eyed and have a nose (like me), then it's extremely hard to reach this important button without poking yourself in the eye or moving back from the viewfinder. There's a number of other warts as well, like the buttons that can be remapped having a very limited set of remapping choices, and other useless buttons not supporting remapping at all (so I'm stuck with the AE-L in its stupid place).
The Nikon also doesn't fit in the small bag I like.
However, there are lots more things one can do directly with buttons, without needing to enter the menu system. For example, it has two adjustment dials instead of one, making manual mode (where one needs to be able to easily adjust both shutter speed and aperture) quite feasible - it wasn't on the Pentax (though the next higher Pentax does have two dials).
The Nikon system is roughly 50% more expensive in general, as far as I can tell, for "about the same" stuff - maybe, since I haven't figured out yet really what's comparable.
Another thing that seriously bugs me - and this one isn't Nikon's fault - is that Bibble 4 (my raw processing software) doesn't support the camera, even though it is hugely popular and not particularly new. This is because Bibble Labs massively screwed up the Bibble 5 release schedule - it was due Q4 2008, but it's still in "preview" releases - and quit adding new cameras to Bibble 4 some time ago. I'll install one of the Bibble 5 previews and hope it's not too horribly buggy.
On the other hand, the Nikon is clearly a higher spec camera. In addition to the many more buttons, it has a much more capable autofocus system which I don't really understand yet, and max ISO is two stops higher (6400 vs. 1600, i.e. four times more sensitive to light).
The image stabilization on the Nikon is far superior. First off, the experience is great - you're looking through the viewfinder watching the world wiggle around, and then when you push the shutter release halfway and the stabilization activates, bang! it's suddenly rock solid. It's viscerally satisfying, and the sensor-shift stabilization in Pentax cameras simply can't provide this (because corrective elements aren't in the viewfinder's optical path).
User experience aside, it works. I was able to take respectable snaps at 1/4 second and 200mm. For comparison, without VR (that's what Nikon calls it), that kind of exposure looks like complete mush, and the "rule of thumb" for handheld captures at 200mm is 1/250s. The Pentax is completely and utterly outclassed.
Other nice things about the Nikon: it uses a normal USB cable instead of a stupid proprietary one, and the screen is super high resolution (640x480) and gorgeous.
I guess the conclusion is, there are some major annoyances, but overall it seems like a very nice machine, I think it will be an effective tool, and for the most part I suspect I'll be able to work around or get used to the annoyances.
Why? Well, that's a long story and one I'll tell later. Suffice it to say that I managed to get ignored and blown off by all levels of Pentax USA, from customer service on the phone to Mark Davis in management.
Anyway, here's some impressions of the new device. Not comprehensive obviously - you want a multipage review, click here. ;)
The Pentax has far better ergonomics. It fit my hand quite well, while the Nikon is somewhat clunky and actually gives me a blister. I'll have to add padding in some strategic places. Another major fail is the exposure lock button - if you're left-eyed and have a nose (like me), then it's extremely hard to reach this important button without poking yourself in the eye or moving back from the viewfinder. There's a number of other warts as well, like the buttons that can be remapped having a very limited set of remapping choices, and other useless buttons not supporting remapping at all (so I'm stuck with the AE-L in its stupid place).
The Nikon also doesn't fit in the small bag I like.
However, there are lots more things one can do directly with buttons, without needing to enter the menu system. For example, it has two adjustment dials instead of one, making manual mode (where one needs to be able to easily adjust both shutter speed and aperture) quite feasible - it wasn't on the Pentax (though the next higher Pentax does have two dials).
The Nikon system is roughly 50% more expensive in general, as far as I can tell, for "about the same" stuff - maybe, since I haven't figured out yet really what's comparable.
Another thing that seriously bugs me - and this one isn't Nikon's fault - is that Bibble 4 (my raw processing software) doesn't support the camera, even though it is hugely popular and not particularly new. This is because Bibble Labs massively screwed up the Bibble 5 release schedule - it was due Q4 2008, but it's still in "preview" releases - and quit adding new cameras to Bibble 4 some time ago. I'll install one of the Bibble 5 previews and hope it's not too horribly buggy.
On the other hand, the Nikon is clearly a higher spec camera. In addition to the many more buttons, it has a much more capable autofocus system which I don't really understand yet, and max ISO is two stops higher (6400 vs. 1600, i.e. four times more sensitive to light).
The image stabilization on the Nikon is far superior. First off, the experience is great - you're looking through the viewfinder watching the world wiggle around, and then when you push the shutter release halfway and the stabilization activates, bang! it's suddenly rock solid. It's viscerally satisfying, and the sensor-shift stabilization in Pentax cameras simply can't provide this (because corrective elements aren't in the viewfinder's optical path).
User experience aside, it works. I was able to take respectable snaps at 1/4 second and 200mm. For comparison, without VR (that's what Nikon calls it), that kind of exposure looks like complete mush, and the "rule of thumb" for handheld captures at 200mm is 1/250s. The Pentax is completely and utterly outclassed.
Other nice things about the Nikon: it uses a normal USB cable instead of a stupid proprietary one, and the screen is super high resolution (640x480) and gorgeous.
I guess the conclusion is, there are some major annoyances, but overall it seems like a very nice machine, I think it will be an effective tool, and for the most part I suspect I'll be able to work around or get used to the annoyances.
Weekend To-Do List
- Vacuum, mop, sweep
- Clean out e-mail
- Do dishes
- Reboot
- Call Katadyn, MSR, Marmot
Go to libraryBlog about new cameraYard work- E-mail scale vendor
- Order maps for trip
Play with new cameraDeal with dead birdPack up 18-55 lens, bump sale thread- Work on job portfolio website
Search for job ads- Clean up boxes
Secret itemThink about a bag for D90Chinese food and movie with lovely wifeInstall Bibble 5 preview
Friday, November 6, 2009
Surly Brewery Tour
Today, Erin and I visited Surly Brewing Co. and took their once-a-week tour.
Sunset waiting for the ride from Erin behind the CS building.
Tasting room before the tour. It was a pretty popular event (these things are free, but you have to make reservations and it's hard to get a spot).
Surly has some pretty dramatic warning signs.
This is the airlock for one of Surly's great big fermenters. It was bubbling quite vigorously & frequently spilling over the side.
Incidentally, these are the first photos on this blog from my new Nikon D90. A future post will explain why I have a new DSLR so soon after the Pentax.
Incidentally, these are the first photos on this blog from my new Nikon D90. A future post will explain why I have a new DSLR so soon after the Pentax.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Third Roll of Film
My third roll of film came back last weekend. I'm really pleased with the results. Enjoy!
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