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sharon linne faulk

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photowalk friday

March 11th, 2010 · ramblings

Doyle and I had been talking about doing some weekday photowalks. Because we both have kids in school, evening and weekend walks didn’t always work out. We tried to start out weekly Friday meet-up last week but Doyle got a paying gig and we didn’t have that much time to plan so we started last week.

We had 6 people RSVP including Doyle and I. Only 1 person didn’t show and she was sick. Two of the photographers were new to me. I liked having a small number as crowds intimidate me. I think it’s best that Doyle and I are co-hosting these. I can handle the planning and posting and he can handle talking to people.

I had never been to the Tampa Friday Market. I thought I had missed it all these years but found that this is only their second year. It’s still small but the vendors all have great stuff.

I am not sure what it is by my photos are mostly awesome. Well, they are crisp and clear and in focus without a bunch of noise. My camera just doesn’t like to shoot low-light. Today, in the bright sun, my camera was in heaven.

After a couple hours of playing with my computer and photos, it was time to leave again. This time for a nighttime photowalk at Clearwater Beach. And this one was all about learning to use your flash. See, I got the flash at the end of December but hadn’t even mounted it to the camera yet. I needed a reason to actually purchase the rechargeable batteries and learn to use the camera.

The walk was scheduled at 6 pm which I thought was good because it meant I could see Ryan get home before I left. But this meant I would be driving through rush hour. About 15 into the drive, I realized that I had forgotten my tripod. I didn’t want to be late so I didn’t turn back. I decided that using the flash I wouldn’t need a tripod.

Traffic was awful. The hour drive took me an hour and a half. Along the way I realized how stupid this whole trip was. Ryan wants me home by bedtime which is 8:30. I need to leave by 7:15 to get home in time. All that driving for an hour of shooting? Either I will skip the evening photowalks or have a talk with Ryan.

I did arrive about 15 minutes late. But with most photowalks, they get started late so I didn’t miss much. I did some shooting with my flash. It wasn’t great. My camera does not allow me to use the flash wireless except in manual mode. I have yet to get a flash sync cable ($50) or a bracket so I was stuck with it on the camera. But I learned to play with the settings a bit. And really, I needed that push.

The sunset was nice and I wished I had my tripod. I tried using the pier railing for stabilize the camera but I couldn’t aim it the way I wanted to. Maybe I need to get a bean bag to leave in the car, just in case.

It was cold! The temperature was about 50 but the wind was strong. My hands were freezing! The only gloves I had are too bulk to use with a camera.

I hadn’t been to Clearwater beach in about 8 years. I am not much of a beach person, the sand, the wind, the salt water is all too much. But I would like to go back and shoot more. I asked Sherry is she would like to go for a Friday photowalk but she just stared at me. She would prefer to stay in Hillsborough since she does stuff with the other photo group. So I may try to go for another Friday evening photowalk. But I will go early and do some of my own shooting. So if I have to leave early, it won’t feel so short.

I have uploaded a lot of my photos from the morning photowalk to the gallery at meet-up. I still have more to process. I only had 10 decent shots from the evening photowalk. And only a few I even processed. Still needs lots of practice with my flash.

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new computer

March 7th, 2010 · ramblings

My computer woes became too much. The last straw was the missing airport card. The computer decided that the card was no longer installed. Without my airport card, I have no wi-fi. Without wi-fi I cannot print, I cannot sync Things nor 1Password nor SplashShopper or Budget.

I ordered a new computer. I would have loved to have gotten a 27″ iMac but I was too wary of some the problems they have been experiencing. Besides, the 21.5″ iMac fits better in the space I have.

Once I received notification of shipping, the airport card started working again in my 17″ iMac. Too little too late. I am still having weird random issues. I hope a fresh erase and install will get it working enough for Andy.

And because of the issues, I decided on not migrating the contents of the hard drive to the new computer. At this point, I don’t know if I have a hardware or software problem. And there are some programs which may not be compatible with Snow Leopard.

My last two computers were purchased under duress. My previous computer had died and I needed something ASAP. I migrated what I could hoping to be up and running as quickly as possible. This time I have the time to take it slow and get things right. So I hope.

I started out making a fresh back up, just in case. Then I decided to make back ups or archives of the programs I use often like Address Book, 1Password, Budget and BusyCal. I put those on a thumb drive to transfer them.

Setting up the iMac was easy as always. The Magic Mouse is fun! I inserted the thumb drive and transferred over my backups. Then I started downloading my apps. One of the first apps I downloaded was Evernote. Then I synced it with their online database. Now I had (almost) all of my software receipts and serial numbers so I could download the rest. Address Book and Budget opened up fine. 1Password did not. Well, the app is fine but it would not accept the archive from the previous version. Oh joy. OK, I should be able to sync from my iPhone. Let’s just hook up my external hard drive where I keep my iTunes library. But, um, Frick! This iMac has FireWire 800 and my EHD is FireWire 400. I need an adapter. I feel like this is 1995 and I forgot to buy the printer cable.

I can get the adapter tomorrow. So I go to download and install more programs. Next up is BusyCal. Installs fine but does not import the fire or perhaps the file did not export correctly. Either way, my calendar is empty. Again, I could sync with my iPhone but…

Those of you who are mac savvy are probably wondering why I don’t use MobileMe. Well, I do this have a subscription but stopped using it when I got my iPhone. It just was too wonky. I find it better to sync through iTunes. Though I did use it to sync my bookmarks for Safari. Unfortunately, they didn’t all come through.

So I didn’t get very far in setting up my new computer. I did order the adapter and a FireWire hub from amazon to be overnighted. Yes, I could drive down to the apple store but their prices are higher and there is a chance they wouldn’t have what I need. Why doesn’t apple have a mobile version of their site?

I have some other issues that makes me slap my forehead. One is that Quickbooks 2007 will not work with Snow Leopard. It’s not worth it to upgrade to Quickbooks 2010. It’s $200 and I just need to close out LinneCards. There is also a question of compatibility with Office 2004. I am not sure if I should upgrade to Office 2008 or switch to iWork. I don’t really need to worry about compatibility to other computers. I don’t do complicated spreadsheets nor do I use macros. iWork is cheaper than Office 2008.

What a difference a few hours of sleep makes. (Not sleeping well, probably because I have not been exercising.) After breakfast, I set up the 17″ iMac next to the new one. How puny and dull the screen is! I exported and backed up BusyCal, 1Password and Things, transferred them via iDisk. This time everything worked. Yay!

I decided to install Photoshop. I knew I would have a problem with my serial number. I upgraded from CS2 to CS3. I went from a suite to a stand alone product which really isn’t allowed. But they don’t tell you that when you buy it. So each time I install CS3, I have to call Adobe to have them bypass the registration code. Pain in the bum!

I went to the chiropractor because I started feeling dizzy again. I didn’t want to wait another week for my adjustment. I feel better now.

I got home to find one box from amazon. Amazing that they can make any money by shipping everything separately. It was the adapter which is more important than the hub. I could finally connect my external hard drive and check out Ligjtroom and iTunes.

I had a hiccup installing Lightroom. I needed the serial number for Lightroom 1 since Lightroom 2 was an upgrade. But Adobe didn’t have my serial number listed. Another call to Adobe. This time it took 20 minutes on hold before I spoke to a human. The guy was not as friendly or helpful. Luckily I found the serial number myself and got it working while I was put on hold. The Lightroom catalog is still messed up. I will have to start cleaning it up.

I did use Photoshop and Topaz Labs Adjust 4. Photoshop loaded wicked fast (compared to my old iMac) and Topaz Adjust 4 has a cool new interface.

I ran into more problems with Lightroom’s export plugins. I had to reinstall them which wasn’t a problem. But I needed to reregister them again. The one’s from Jeffrey Friedl would not accept the previous code so I ended up paying for them again. Grrrr…

I didn’t get much of a chance to play on Friday. I had 2 photowalks scheduled.

Suddenly, I am very tired.

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special olympics… again

February 28th, 2010 · ramblings

Years ago, Andy was invited to participate in the Pasco County Special Olympics. I let him go. He came home and got very sick. He had a high fever and was lethargic. I think it was sun poisoning.

The Pasco County Special Olympics is held at the end of February at one of the high schools. It’s all day affair with lots of different events. Mostly the kids are outside in the sun all day waiting for their events. At that event, 3 years ago, the kids were not wearing their hats. They were not given enough to drink.

After that, I kept Andy home when the rest of the kids went to Special Olympics. He had the same teacher and I just didn’t trust her lack of good judgement.

The events were to take place from 11:30 until 4:30. I did not go to any before and did not know what to expect.

This year, Andy has a new teacher and a new school. And this year, the Special Olympics would be local. Apparently, the event has gotten so big that they needed to split up the event into 2 days. So our school only had to walk next door rather than ride the bus for up to an hour one way.


(Another school left their canopy to participate in the events. We borrowed the area and danced. OK, only Andy and two peers danced.)

I had a photography meet-up that morning so I went there first. Then I stopped at Chick Fil A for lunch. I had packed only juice boxes in Andy’s lunch. I made the mistake of going the shorter route through Zephyrhills. Zephyrhills is full of old people in no particular hurry to go anyway. If the speed limit is 50, expect them to go about 35.

I got to the school before noon. The parking lot was full so I got to park on the grass. I walked to the football field only to be met with a sea of blue. Almost everyone was wearing their blue special olympics shirts. Where is my son?

I called his teacher but she didn’t answer. The noise level was high and she didn’t hear the phone. I wandered about looking for Andy’s group. I was approached by a woman who asked if I was Andy’s mom. I learned that this was Miss C one of the paras in Andy’s class. Ah… there is Andy!

Andy was happy to attack his chicken nuggets. He had already gone through 2 juice boxes while waiting for me to arrive.


(I tried to keep Andy occupied and let him use my iPhone to play Jeopardy. He liked the echo at the restrooms.)

Most of the schools has those portable canopies. I asked why our school did not have one especially since the high school had one. “We were not allowed to buy one.” I wish I had known. They are not expensive and could be easily donated. I also which I had know to bring chairs. I guess I thought we would be sitting in the bleachers. Very few people sat in the bleachers.

Only a few parents came. We weren’t given much notice so it might have been tough to get the time off. G’s mom was there and she does not like the heat. It wasn’t hot but beautiful Florida weather, sunny and 70. G’s mom went home and got a couple of chairs and an umbrella. When her son wasn’t sitting in one of the chairs, I claimed it.

Andy & G were scheduled for the same events. I had asked Andy was he was going to do and he said walk. But this was not true. Andy was going to ride a bike. His events were the 500m and 1k. They were scheduled to take place at 1:40pm and 2:20pm.

But this is Special Olympics where “organized chaos” is the rule of the day. They called our group several times though never said where were should go. We waited on the football field in the sun. The running events were taking longer and they had to finish and clear the track before the bikes could start.

The kids were bored. D had gotten a bike and was riding around the field. I thought I’d help Andy pick out a bike so he could ride too. Miss C did not know Andy could ride a two wheeled bike. During P.E., he asked for the three wheeled bike. I suspect it is more of a novelty.

Finally, Andy had to give up the bike so someone else could ride. The races were starting! Andy’s first event did not get started until 3:00pm. He did OK. He is not competitive so he just rode at a leasurely pace. At home, he will try to “race” with the mail carrier’s jeep or the UPS truck. But mostly he is just out to have fun.

We then had to wait for the next event. Lots of waiting about. By then, many of the other schools were leaving. I wonder if our events were delayed because we didn’t have to take a bus back to our school. The bike Andy had ridden belonged to another school and was taken away. Andy had to wait for a bike to ride. He would have preferred to ride a three wheeled bike but I said no. Had I known that I could have brought his own bike, I would have done so.

We were done by 4:00pm. Andy was glad to leave. He said he wanted to go to Chick Fil A for more food. I obliged him bit he didn’t eat much, maybe half of the fries.

Andy was sunburnt. I didn’t think he would need sunblock. Because we spent so much time ready and waiting for the bikes, Andy wore his bike helmet which does not shield enough of his face. He did allow me to put some aloe on his face and his neck. And he did eat some chicken nuggets made at home.

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