faraday cages

i don’t know why i never thought about it until JUST now, but microwave ovens are tiny little faraday cages. i just saw one of the dev guys put a cell phone into the microwave and wait a while. i was trying to figure out what he was doing and he explained that he was trying to get the cell phone to lose signal from the carrier.

“oh YEAH!” if radiation isn’t leaking out, waves probably aren’t leaking in, either!

canon’s announcements

canon has announced the canon 5D digital SLR. a full-frame 12.8MP digital SLR that shoots at 3fps in roughly the same form factor as the 20D. this camera is wedged between the 20D prosumer body and the 1D pro bodies. it looks like a great movie for pros who don’t want to lug around their big 1D bodies with them.

canon has also announced a 24-105mm f/4L IS lens. this lens is a smaller, lighter version of the 24-70mm f/2.8L with a little more length and IS. i’m not sure how much IS will help in this range, but canon seems to be putting IS on everything these days. i was just thinking that if i got this lens, i will complete my all f/4L lens collection, but seeing how i have the 24-70 already, it’s unlikely that i’ll step down to this lens. still, it looks tempting.

the last item of interest to me is canon’s update to the 420EX, the speedlite 430EX flash. it looks like this flash has a much better information panel and controls that the 420EX doesn’t have. it also has a wide angle diffusion panel. to me this feels like the a baby version of the 580EX.

it seems like canon is listening to their users and they’ve created a smaller version of the 1D series of cameras and accessories so that if someone wants to go small, they don’t have to compromise too much.

the 5D looks like an extremely attractive body, but retailing at $3299, it’s far from practical for me. i’ll stay with my 20D, thank you very much. i am curious, though to see the next version of the 5D. i think that may be the camera for me.

josi-ah? josi-ah!

as is usual, when i leave my name for a drink, i use the name josiah. many cashiers will ask me how to spell my name. there are some (and i’m assuming they either know a josiah or are religious) that don’t hesitate to spell out the name. usually when people see the name, they know how to pronounce it.

at jamba juice i ordered my drink, the cashier wrote my name down, but the person who made my drink called out my name “josie-ah? razzmatazz, no bananas, sub blueberries for josie-ah?”

i didn’t realize at first she was butchering my name, but i got it after a moment’s hesitation and i came up to get the drink. and she says, “josie-ah?” and i said, “no, josiah.” and she replied, “oh, this drink is for josie-ah.”

*blink, blink*

“oh, ok, i’m josie-ah,” i say.

“oh…uhhh, ok, ” she says as she hands me the drink.

big blue adventure series sprint

i went to check out the big blue adventure series sprint in half moon bay this weekend. several of my friends were in the race so i went there to go cheer them on as they ran, kayaked, and biked the race.

it’s amazing to me that people would compete in these kinds of events. it was a labored effort for me to walk around taking pictures of people running around, but to actually run around…i dunno.

i was thinking about stopping by krispy kreme on my way up, but i thought that that might seem excessive compared to all of these people who are working hard early in the morning, so instead i opted to bring a bottle of water instead. i think i would have been happier with the donut.

it was fun to watch people race, though. maybe one of these days i’ll do a race…

on marriage

i was talking to a few people the other night and we were talking about the sanctity of marriage. it’s incredible to me how different my views of marriage are compared to other people. this year will be the most number of weddings that i’ll have attended. i think it will be a total of six in all. it might have been seven were it not for the wedding that i was invited to and then later uninvited to.

but man, that’s a lot of weddings. it makes you wonder if there’s something in the water…

but so far all of the weddings i’ve been to have been really beautiful. you can tell how much the couple really loves each other. the devotion they have to each other, the joy in their hearts, the happiness that sings out from the depth of their souls. this is what weddings are all about.

it saddens me to no end when i hear about a wedding where the there is so much turmoil surrounding the couple. i shudder at the thought that they think that getting married will alleviate some of the issues that they have. marriage is not a solution to a problem that the couple is having.

it is even more insane for me to think that people will get married thinking that if things don’t work out they can always get divorced. is that really how things are going to work? there’s always an out? does marriage really mean that little to you? the only thing that i can hope for now is that they don’t have kids and bring children into this world with that kind of mentality. those poor kids…

broken dryer

jen broke the dryer in our apartment and i have more laundry piling up than ever before. it always is more urgent to do laundry when i can’t do it. whenever jen is doing laundry i have a sudden huge need to do laundry, but when she wasn’t doing it before, i didn’t really care to do it.

now that the dryer is broken, i feel like i have a mountain of laundry to do and it needs to be done NOW. i actually have run out of clean socks and boxers so i suppose it really is imperative that i do some laundry. i contemplated hanging the clothes to drive, but the sheer volume of clothes that i need to dry made that idea unattractive.

i finally went over to the local laundromat and did three huge loads of laundry. that should hold me over until later this week when the apartment people will finally fix the dryer.

epson p-2000

epson p2000

for shooting adam and rae’s wedding, they gave me an epson p-2000 image tank. it has been something that i’ve been wanting for a long while, but just couldn’t get myself to get because i never thought that i would need to have an image tank for the normal shoots that i do.

but at his wedding, i shot something like 10GB of images so i borrowed his image tank and i loved it. i really loved how easy it was to use and how useful it was in the field.

after using it for a while, i have decided that i really like the device. there are a few quirks about the device, like the memory cards needing to be inserted backwards from what you would expect them to be inserted, but i love the image tank.

i know there are some image tanks that don’t have displays and it terrifies me about whether or not you have actually copied all of the images on to the image tank if you can’t preview it. i love how you can preview the images on the image tank and the images are gorgeous.

i am a little disappointed at how slow the device displaying one image to another, but i guess part of that is because i’m dealing with 8MP images.

but overall i’m very pleased with the image tank.

i’ll eat anything in front of me

while at city beach inbetween games, we were having this conversation about how i’ve been eating better. i put out these fruit gummies on the table and someone says that they don’t really like gummy candies.

diana: i don’t even like this, but it’s right in front of me and i’ll eat anything in front of me.
me: i’m right in front of you and i don’t see you eating me.
diana: …
rest of the table: <laughter>

ahhh, there are few times where i can stun diana into silence. the last time that happened was when i hugged from after a long day of volleyball, soaked in sweat. yeah…good times.

mr. chau’s

i haven’t had mr. chau’s in a long time and there is one near my work. i remember the days when paul and i would go there and stuff ourselves. cheap fast food. that’s what we were all about. well, i went today and ordered a 3 item combo. one of the items was disgusting and i had to throw it out. the other two were ok, but i only ate maybe a third of it before i had to stop eating.

i’ve put the leftovers in the fridge at work in case i get hungry later, but i don’t think that i will be finishing that lunch. it was not all that tasty.

yesterday, i finally went to try out TC Tea. it’s a pearl tea place that i’ve been wanting to check out for a while, but never knew where it was until yesterday. the pearls were awful, they melted in your mouth! the tea was strong and was not bad, but the pearls were a big deal breaker for me.

man, i’ve been having some bad food lately. i’m going to be trying out this brazilian bbq place tomorrow, i hope that it is better than what i’ve been eating lately.