We're sitting in the apartment on Christmas Eve, it's raining and miserable outside so we're staying in and watching endless James Bond movies. The holiday spirit has been enhanced by a bit of tinsel and some mince pie - we actually managed to find some! Alan is making a Sri Lankan red beef curry tonight and we have been invited to Stef's house for Christmas lunch tomorrow.
To all our family, friends, and random visitors reading this, have a very Merry Christmas and a splendid New Year.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Beer
Well now, a couple of weeks ago we were invited by one of Alan's colleagues, Mark, to see how he and his Dad did their homebrew beer. His parents live out by Lake Travis so we drove out there to see what was going on, and found them to be lovely people and generous hosts.
They can also brew a fine ale! We sampled a previous brew, an orange-peel beer which was delightful. And here's the homebrew kit - a bit further on from our plastic barrel:
Explanations (and better pictures) can be found at Mark's website.
I promised you Christmas lights, didn't I? We went down to 37th Street last week, where the whole street is known for putting on lots of lights. The kind of street that gets lots of visitors walking and driving by just to look at them. Here's a few pictures, not brilliant but you get the idea. I'm still hoping to get to Zilker Park for the lights down there.
Last Saturday night we held a small party. We spent the entirety of Saturday daytime preparing for it, then some friends who shall remain nameless (to protect their dignity) showed up. Slightly less people than we had anticipated, and the fridge was stocked altogether too healthily with Beer. So we drank it.
It was a very good evening!
Sunday was mostly spent recovering... ;-)
Last night I had a go at High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography for the first time. There's been some buzz about it on the forums I frequent so I thought I'd check it out. The basic idea is that you take several photos (3-5 or so) of the same scene at different exposures, then use some magic software to combine them, so you retain all the shadows and highlights and have detail in all of them, so nothing is all shadowed or all blown out.
Here's one I tried yesterday of the apartment. Notice how you can see outside the windows, where normally the windows would be bright white if I'd just exposed for the darker interior.
I'm hoping to get to the opening of a photo exhibition tomorrow night downtown, a chap called Trey Ratcliff has been doing this HDR stuff for a while and has some amazing stuff. Check it out here.
(Update) Here, I just tried another one, a scene from Las Vegas.
Original photo:
HDR version:
Now, I guess it's up to the subject matter of the picture as to whether this works or not for what you're trying to do. Some might argue in this case the silhouette is a more powerful frame. Either way, this is a great tool. I think I'm going to have some fun with this.
They can also brew a fine ale! We sampled a previous brew, an orange-peel beer which was delightful. And here's the homebrew kit - a bit further on from our plastic barrel:
Explanations (and better pictures) can be found at Mark's website.
I promised you Christmas lights, didn't I? We went down to 37th Street last week, where the whole street is known for putting on lots of lights. The kind of street that gets lots of visitors walking and driving by just to look at them. Here's a few pictures, not brilliant but you get the idea. I'm still hoping to get to Zilker Park for the lights down there.
Last Saturday night we held a small party. We spent the entirety of Saturday daytime preparing for it, then some friends who shall remain nameless (to protect their dignity) showed up. Slightly less people than we had anticipated, and the fridge was stocked altogether too healthily with Beer. So we drank it.
It was a very good evening!
Sunday was mostly spent recovering... ;-)
Last night I had a go at High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography for the first time. There's been some buzz about it on the forums I frequent so I thought I'd check it out. The basic idea is that you take several photos (3-5 or so) of the same scene at different exposures, then use some magic software to combine them, so you retain all the shadows and highlights and have detail in all of them, so nothing is all shadowed or all blown out.
Here's one I tried yesterday of the apartment. Notice how you can see outside the windows, where normally the windows would be bright white if I'd just exposed for the darker interior.
I'm hoping to get to the opening of a photo exhibition tomorrow night downtown, a chap called Trey Ratcliff has been doing this HDR stuff for a while and has some amazing stuff. Check it out here.
(Update) Here, I just tried another one, a scene from Las Vegas.
Original photo:
HDR version:
Now, I guess it's up to the subject matter of the picture as to whether this works or not for what you're trying to do. Some might argue in this case the silhouette is a more powerful frame. Either way, this is a great tool. I think I'm going to have some fun with this.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Things are quiet and steady
We're still alive, in case anyone is wondering. Just getting on with normal life.
Alan finally has his car back! It's still not quite finished, it's missing a new boot liner and the badges for the back. They're waiting for those to come in but it's all perfectly driveable, so Alan is driving it, in a much-relieved kind of fashion. The actual repair has been done very well; the shut lines on the new boot lid are parallel to the body and the paint matches nicely. Unfortunately they've managed to scratch the roof but they have said they will fix it.
Meanwhile, the US Government has now decided they want to see our visas and other documents before they will issue me a work permit. (A) they already know these details - they issued the visas! - and (b) why didn't they ask to see them when they called me down to San Antonio the other week? *sigh*
I finished my stained glass course last night. Won't know what to do with myself on Thursday nights now.
Tuesday morning dawned bright and shiny with a full moon. I dashed outside (well, as dashy as I get in the early AM) with the camera; went up onto the car park top level which is the highest point of our building and for some distance around. You get good views off the top.
Dawn is coming and the clouds are tinged with orange. The moon is setting. This was taken with my new wide-angle lens at about its widest setting.
Here's the moon. This is almost full sized - click here to see the full shot, cropped but not resized. Taken with my 400mm long zoom which equates to about 560mm on my camera due to the smaller sensor. These next two were using the same lens.
Dawn breaks. I think the crane and tower are over at the old airport where they are turning the whole area into basically a new town.
Looking towards the city. You can see the Capitol building (domed), the Frost Bank tower (spiky) and the University tower (square-topped), amongst other towers.
I still haven't got near any Christmas lights with the camera but hope to change that soon. Will keep y'all posted...
Alan finally has his car back! It's still not quite finished, it's missing a new boot liner and the badges for the back. They're waiting for those to come in but it's all perfectly driveable, so Alan is driving it, in a much-relieved kind of fashion. The actual repair has been done very well; the shut lines on the new boot lid are parallel to the body and the paint matches nicely. Unfortunately they've managed to scratch the roof but they have said they will fix it.
Meanwhile, the US Government has now decided they want to see our visas and other documents before they will issue me a work permit. (A) they already know these details - they issued the visas! - and (b) why didn't they ask to see them when they called me down to San Antonio the other week? *sigh*
I finished my stained glass course last night. Won't know what to do with myself on Thursday nights now.
Tuesday morning dawned bright and shiny with a full moon. I dashed outside (well, as dashy as I get in the early AM) with the camera; went up onto the car park top level which is the highest point of our building and for some distance around. You get good views off the top.
Dawn is coming and the clouds are tinged with orange. The moon is setting. This was taken with my new wide-angle lens at about its widest setting.
Here's the moon. This is almost full sized - click here to see the full shot, cropped but not resized. Taken with my 400mm long zoom which equates to about 560mm on my camera due to the smaller sensor. These next two were using the same lens.
Dawn breaks. I think the crane and tower are over at the old airport where they are turning the whole area into basically a new town.
Looking towards the city. You can see the Capitol building (domed), the Frost Bank tower (spiky) and the University tower (square-topped), amongst other towers.
I still haven't got near any Christmas lights with the camera but hope to change that soon. Will keep y'all posted...
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Glass
The eagle eyed reader will have noticed me mention doing a stained glass course. I've been going on Thursday nights for the last 6 weeks. We are making one lead panel and one copper foil panel. Today I finished my lead panel. It's about 20 inches wide.
I made this!:
I made this!:
Friday, November 24, 2006
Thanksgiving
It's Thanksgiving weekend here in the US of A, the biggest holiday of the year. So, a few words about it.
But first, this - by request, here is a pic of the POS that Alan is currently driving, a Vlad, properly known as a Chevrolet Impala:
Word from the garage is that Alan's car is almost fixed but they are waiting on one more part. We should have it back soon....
Alan bought me my Christmas present a month early on Wednesday. He figured I might as well have the use of it. A shiny new wide-angle lens :-) Here's a pic from the first outing, from my favourite vantage point overlooking the bridge on Loop 360:
And now to Thanksgiving. I think this holiday is originally to thank the Founding Fathers for discovering America and creating the country. However it's basically a big family get-together during which Americans eat copious amounts of turkey. A big turkey dinner is the tradition; it's also known as Turkey Day.
We had been invited to join Alan's colleagues Steve and Sarah for Thanksgiving dinner, to which they had invited others as well. There were eleven people at dinner, some from the company and their respective wives/husbands. Sarah had made a great dinner, with sweet potato, roast veg, sweetcorn, broccoli, cornbread, British and American stuffing. Not to mention all the tasty nibbles beforehand.
Another of Alan's mob, Stef, turned up with a second turkey and his own means of cooking it. Deep-fried turkey! Here we introduce Thanksgiving dinner, Stef-style:
Take an enormous box of cooking oil:
And a turkey:
Pour the oil into the burner:
Wait for it to heat up to 350 degrees, and drink some beer:
One person should carefully and slowly lower the turkey in. The rest of the audience should retreat to a safe distance at this point. There will be much bubbling and hissing.
Cook it for 3 minutes per pound.
Here's the finished result. It was more moist than the oven-cooked one but they were both equally nice. The deep-frying didn't make it as oily as you'd imagine, at all.
So there you are, that's our first introduction to Thanksgiving. And very good it was too.
Today - the day after Thanksgiving - is known as Black Friday. This is when the sales start, the Christmas shopping commences, the stores all open at 5am (really) and the retailers go into the black financially for the first time in the year. From here on in, Christmas will be in earnest. Shopping will need to be done, lights will appear on the houses and I expect things to get generally mental. We will keep you posted.
But first, this - by request, here is a pic of the POS that Alan is currently driving, a Vlad, properly known as a Chevrolet Impala:
Word from the garage is that Alan's car is almost fixed but they are waiting on one more part. We should have it back soon....
Alan bought me my Christmas present a month early on Wednesday. He figured I might as well have the use of it. A shiny new wide-angle lens :-) Here's a pic from the first outing, from my favourite vantage point overlooking the bridge on Loop 360:
And now to Thanksgiving. I think this holiday is originally to thank the Founding Fathers for discovering America and creating the country. However it's basically a big family get-together during which Americans eat copious amounts of turkey. A big turkey dinner is the tradition; it's also known as Turkey Day.
We had been invited to join Alan's colleagues Steve and Sarah for Thanksgiving dinner, to which they had invited others as well. There were eleven people at dinner, some from the company and their respective wives/husbands. Sarah had made a great dinner, with sweet potato, roast veg, sweetcorn, broccoli, cornbread, British and American stuffing. Not to mention all the tasty nibbles beforehand.
Another of Alan's mob, Stef, turned up with a second turkey and his own means of cooking it. Deep-fried turkey! Here we introduce Thanksgiving dinner, Stef-style:
Take an enormous box of cooking oil:
And a turkey:
Pour the oil into the burner:
Wait for it to heat up to 350 degrees, and drink some beer:
One person should carefully and slowly lower the turkey in. The rest of the audience should retreat to a safe distance at this point. There will be much bubbling and hissing.
Cook it for 3 minutes per pound.
Here's the finished result. It was more moist than the oven-cooked one but they were both equally nice. The deep-frying didn't make it as oily as you'd imagine, at all.
So there you are, that's our first introduction to Thanksgiving. And very good it was too.
Today - the day after Thanksgiving - is known as Black Friday. This is when the sales start, the Christmas shopping commences, the stores all open at 5am (really) and the retailers go into the black financially for the first time in the year. From here on in, Christmas will be in earnest. Shopping will need to be done, lights will appear on the houses and I expect things to get generally mental. We will keep you posted.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
San Antonio and other things
We had our first visitor this week. Our friend Terry has finished his training in San Antonio and was travelling up country via parents and friends to rejoin Ericka in their new house in North Carolina. So his first stop was at our house in Austin. It was really good to see him. We went out to the Iron Works for some barbeque, then came back, watched TV and chilled out. Doesn't sound mega exciting I know but it was cool.
I had to go down to San Antonio myself last Friday. I've applied for my work permit, so the US Government decided they wanted another fingerprint and photograph, to check I was me, I assume. I had to be down there for 8am, which meant leaving Austin at 06:15. My trusty Jeep got me there in good time and I was out by 08:30. What to do, now I'd driven all the way down there? Go to the zoo, of course!
Off I went to San Antonio Zoo and spent a very pleasant few hours wandering around the various animals. They have a lot of birds, a Komodo dragon and lots of curious cats, amongst many other things. Here's a few pictures:
African animals
A pair of Fossa; very rare cat-like creatures from Madagascar
Two lizards in the reptile house.
We went to the Draughthouse on Friday night as seems to have developed into the usual. This fine establishment serves many excellent beers and is within walking distance of the house. Damn!
This morning we went out on our bicycles. We rode down Shoal Creek, to Town Lake, onto the hike and bike trail. It was a gloriously sunny morning, not too warm, just perfect for cycling. We were out for a couple of hours. Alan got his second puncture in as many times out on his new bike. Luckily it was on the way back, only a few hundred yards from the house.
In the afternoon we went to the cinema, to see 'Stranger than Fiction'. This is about a tax auditor who starts hearing a voice in his head narrating his life. When he discovers the voice belongs to an author who likes to kill off her main characters, he has to find her. It's a great film, go and see it!
I had to go down to San Antonio myself last Friday. I've applied for my work permit, so the US Government decided they wanted another fingerprint and photograph, to check I was me, I assume. I had to be down there for 8am, which meant leaving Austin at 06:15. My trusty Jeep got me there in good time and I was out by 08:30. What to do, now I'd driven all the way down there? Go to the zoo, of course!
Off I went to San Antonio Zoo and spent a very pleasant few hours wandering around the various animals. They have a lot of birds, a Komodo dragon and lots of curious cats, amongst many other things. Here's a few pictures:
African animals
A pair of Fossa; very rare cat-like creatures from Madagascar
Two lizards in the reptile house.
We went to the Draughthouse on Friday night as seems to have developed into the usual. This fine establishment serves many excellent beers and is within walking distance of the house. Damn!
This morning we went out on our bicycles. We rode down Shoal Creek, to Town Lake, onto the hike and bike trail. It was a gloriously sunny morning, not too warm, just perfect for cycling. We were out for a couple of hours. Alan got his second puncture in as many times out on his new bike. Luckily it was on the way back, only a few hundred yards from the house.
In the afternoon we went to the cinema, to see 'Stranger than Fiction'. This is about a tax auditor who starts hearing a voice in his head narrating his life. When he discovers the voice belongs to an author who likes to kill off her main characters, he has to find her. It's a great film, go and see it!
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