Captain Hill versus the outdoors

Captain Hill near the school yard fence.

There's a heat wave this week. Today isn't supposed to be that bad (28°C / 82°F). Over the course of the next few days the temperature is supposed to steadily climb reaching it's peak on thursday where the mercury will hit 37°C or 99°F on the thermometer. I'm sure there are people that live closer to the equator thinking I'm a wimp. To them I say "Yes, I am!". I like cooler temperatures in general.

Anyhow, I managed to stay indoors for most of today by going through photos from my trip to Kitchener and photos from RollerCon 2008. I want to post a few before the week is over. It's nice to have an air conditioned environment and live in a basement in times like these.

While the computers crunched through the photo data I kept up the productivity levels by cleaning Captain Hill's space pod. This woke up the Captain from her nap and she climbed out of the sleep pod, which was no longer attached to the main pods, and started to crawl around the desk. It was at this point that I decided that she needed fresh air and proceeded to take her outside for an impromptu photo shoot on the grass across the street.


Captain Hill explores the grass across the street

Trip to Kitchener Waterloo

Clint Taurus

There was a double header roller derby game in Kitchener today.  I went to see the friends I haven't seen since Montreal's Beast of the East.  In Montreal it was take some photos, snap, snap, say "Hi', more photos, snap, snap, bus back to Toronto.  Even though there was an after party somewhere in between I didn't really get to talk to anyone for any length of time.  I decided that I'd take Mean Little Mama's offer to stay at her house in Kitchener so I could stay at the after party and schmooze.

The London Lunch Ladies


Clint Taurus reffing the bout


Mirambo leaps by Perky Set


Diane launches the after party karaoke


Some guy butchering "Don't Stop Believin'"...


...gets a little derby help


"....Strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard "


"Street lights people uh oh ohhhh"


"Hold on to that feelin'...." Diane has a Journeygasm.

Making the most of a short day

Hot Wheels '67 Chevelle SS 396

Work today started at 07:00 but as luck would have it I finished early, getting out two and a half hours later. This is a very rare occurrence and before you get all jealous when I tell you I get paid for a minimum of eight hours even if I clock in less hours, know that I also put in a large number of hours on my own time that are unpaid for. Today things just worked out in my favour, a nice change.

Ever since the trip to the Bass Pro Shop I've been looking at how things are marketed and brainwashed into kids brains so when they become adults they're already conditioned to buy the bigger priced "real" items. With the Honda Indy having just gone by I thought I'd like to look into toy cars.

I ended up at Zellers and picked up a toy car for $1.50. Partially to do a macro camera test and partially to own the tiny toy car. This is how things collect into giant piles of stuff that no one wants to help me move. I think there's a disorder there some where. We can call it "Packraticus Alotus".

There's a nostalgia that comes with the toy car purchase. When visiting my grandmother's (when I was much younger), my cousin Lance would help me set up a giant orange track that would go down stairs, do a loop de loop, run the length of the living room, then head back towards us at the bottom of the stair case.

I don't have a track but the car is fun to photograph.

This blog entry isn't all that interesting, I know. Since the backlog of photo editing from the Beast of the East I really haven't been able to catch up. Luckily blogspot allows for older entries to be typed in later (or in my past history not at all). I figured I'd start typing something. Maybe something interesting will happen in the next few days and we'll be current.

Anyhoo... if anything this blog entry means I'm still alive and doing stuff. Boring stuff maybe but stuff none the less.

I spent the night with Imants Krumins' friends

One of the posters floating around Hamilton

About a month ago one of the best derby fans died thanks to brain cancer (stupid cancer). Imants Krumins I would find out later that he was also a major fan of the punk rock scene. I suppose this shouldn't be a surprise as there seems to be a lot of overlap (at least with my friends). I knew Imants from the various derby games. He was usually at all of them and if he wasn't it seemed weird. He also kept track of seeing me at games. Not just Hamilton, derby in Toronto, Kitchener, London. Yep, he got around.

He was also one of the fans that actually kept stats on all the skaters. I'm not saying he pulled out a book and read you details of each jammer, from his brain he would recall derby events and recount stories of a jammer's or team's past accomplishments. Usually this would come up when I asked him how he thought a game went or who would win the game being played.


Poster at This Ain't Hollywood.

Tonight a memorial was being held at This Ain't Hollywood. Friends would come and watch bands that Imants would go to see play in the past. It was a great way for the various bands to give tribute to one of their biggest fans and friend. Money was donated to help fight brain cancer.

Friends of mine that knew Imants...


Craig


Joe


Leah


Al


Candy

and some bands that played that night...


Boojies


The Let Downs


The sign at This Ain't Hollywood

Jeff Healey Park

I went down to Woodford park for the festivities. They were changing the name to Jeff Healey park in honour of the Canadian musician that grew up in the area. To be honest I really didn't expect anything other than a sign with a drop cloth over it and a "Ta Da" noise to accompany it.

I wasn't even sure I knew how to get there. Were the directions I got accurate? Was Delroy drive going to be a dead end? As I got closer and the road started to dip down hill I could see people wandering around. Then noticed James in his car beeping at me. Okay If I'm lost than he's lost too. A comforting thought.

As the view opened up I noticed trucks and a stage set up. There were kids running around an inflatable playground air mattress and people sitting around the stage on the grass eating hot dogs and other foods. Even the fire department made an appearance.


Woodford park


Watching the stage

I suppose it's no wonder that musicians were at this thing. It was for Jeff Healey after all and most of the people there were his friends or in my case friends of friends. It was a nice turn out. Enough people to make it look busy but not so many people that it was hard to move around.


Danny Marks aka the human juke box

I had missed the opening musicians by the time I made my way to the park and to be honest I was eating a goat roti that I picked up near Dundas West station on my way to the park. I sat around listening to the music and ate. I did manage to have my gear out by the time Danny Marks got up onto the stage. The last time I saw him was at the Jeff Healey Rock tribute and until now noticed that there are no photos of him on my blog entry. This is a terrible over sight as he's quite a talented individual.

For the kids and the rest of us, he performed a rendition of "Twinkle twinkle little star" switching his sound between Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, and himself. It was so incredible to hear. Posting in the blog with words really doesn't do him justice.


The Mississippi Queen

Behind me in all the chaos of kids running around with ice cream and older folks lounging in lawn chairs I noticed this strikingly attractive women dressed in red with a red umbrella. It was hard not to notice. The red on the green background jumped out at you like a sore thumb. So of course like any good photographer I had to ask if I could take a photo of her. (see above) As it turns out she runs a food company that, yes you guessed it... Cajun food (okay maybe you didn't guess it).


The Comic Juggler, Craig Douglas

There was a point where a juggler took the stage. Juggler? Yes juggler and a funny one. Really?
As it turns out he was pretty funny (and could juggle). He got the whole park laughing. Yes, even the adults. If have an event, and it doesn't have to be a kid event, and you need entertainment... hire this guy. (www.comicjuggler.com)


Roger and James laughing at the Juggler


The Jazz Wizards


Unveiling of the sign

There actually was a drop cloth with a sign under it.


Rob Quail friend of Jeff and the brains behind the operation

Jeff Healey park would still be Woodford park had it not been for Rob. He's really the guy that spearheaded the whole thing. I'm thinking Jeff would have liked this.

Captain Hill versus The Banana Chip

Captain Hill with a freshly made banana chip.

With a food dehydrator I've been making a constant array of chips out of bananas and fuji apples. The hamster seems to like this stuff. I figured tonight would be a good time to take some photos of the sampling of these chips.


Stuffing the banana chip in mouth.


Ready and looking for the next piece of food.


Found a apple chip


The Captain inspects my multi max receiver


Attempting to escape from the POD


Here's a good product placement photo for the Habitrail

Beef Jerky

While the world seems to be filled with roller derby somewhere. I spent the day cleaning and organizing the apartment. This was all just something to do while I was waiting at the various stages during the making of beef jerky.

I suppose it was only a matter of time before I had my fill of banana chips and dried apple slices. I made some bagel chips from some of the Montreal bagels I still had in the fridge. Those didn't last long.

3D on the W3

The Fuji W3

Mix a few weeks of work with a small surplus of cash and a long weekend with nothing to do. Add to that a random sale on a specific camera and you've got one impulse buy for the month of May. I was showing the Fuji W1 to some people in the Art Department at my current work and a few days later (while supposedly drunk) one of the guys went online and bought the Fuji W3 at Henry's for $400.00. $100 off the regular price!


The Fuji W3 back

Today while stumbling around downtown looking for a few replacement trays for the food dehydrator (as I melted two of them while burning my finger and I still don't quite know how this happened) I went into Henry's to see if the camera was on sale in the store (and not just the internet).

I realize that going into a camera store would not find me food dehydrator trays. I've gone into camera stores while looking for trousers, not camera trousers just normal work clothing. So going into a camera store while looking for food dehydrator parts isn't a big leap out of character.

One thing led to another and "Viola", an upgrade from the W1 was made.


The built in HDMI 1.4 port will allow you to attach the camera right into a 3D TV!

The Fuji W3

The first thing one notices, other than the lower price, is that the power cable that came with the W1 is replaced by the battery charger for the W3. The W3 does not have a visible power outlet. Instead the power adapter is sold separately and fits into the battery chamber instead of the battery. This means you cannot charge the battery in the camera like the W1. Instead of a power output on the side of the camera there is an HDMI output (version 1.4 compatible with HDTVs with 3D capability).

The USB plug on the W3 is in roughly the same spot as the W1. Controls for the camera have been moved over to the right side. I suppose this makes for easier handling. One thing that they removed is the buttons that light up. Which in the end, while it might have looked cool, really didn't help the camera shoot (or focus) in a dark setting. Sure you could find the controls but the camera was pretty much useless without some external light to light up the subject so the camera could see it.


Since the W1, controls have been moved to one side of the camera for easier operation.


The Fuji W3 top


Convergence controls


The zoom and shutter button


The Fuji W3 bottom showing the camera mount and the battery and SD card slots.


Close up of the battery and SD card slots


The new NP-50 battery


The old NP-95 battery next to the newer smaller NP-50 battery


you can see the that the NP-50 is thinner too

Overall I like that the camera can shoot HD video. I find that the photos taken at higher ISOs are really grainy compared to my Nikon SLRs but it does fit into my pocket. Also shooting action photos really isn't this camera's strong suit. It takes a long time to focus on objects (even if they are well lit). So unless you're focusing in advance, I wouldn't recommend this camera for fast moving things.

For 3D though. Well there really isn't anything comparable out there is there? You could buy a lens in a cap for your Nikon or canon but it'll split your existing 4:3 image into two. The Fuji W3 allows you to shoot in 3 aspect ratios. 4:3 (3648x2736), 3:2 (3648x2432), and 16:9 (3584x2016). There are smaller resolutions but who really cares about them?