A crazy alien-looking moth.
The Summer is almost over, and it’s just about time to wrap up Summer of Code. I was in a traffic accident, so I’ll be looking forward to the final payment. With the project almost done, I can move on to my own stuff. Lately I’ve been playing around with electronics some, and working on learning to program microcontrollers. If I can pull off both, then eventually I should be able to make some pretty cool stuff.
A still-life with some black beans and rice
I’ve gotten well into my Summer of Code project, and it’s been taking up a lot of my time. I’m progressing pretty well on the Rockbox theme editor I’m building, and it’s been a lot of fun to watch it take shape as I put the pieces together. I’ve found that the nice thing about working from home without a schedule is that I can mix up my hours like crazy: on a typical day I’m working from 1:00-5:00 in the afternoon…and then 12:00-4:00 in the morning.
A photograph of some water bottles.
It’s Summer now, and I’m all finished up with my second year of University. Since then I’ve been working on my schedule (working out my classes so I can commute next year), starting a Summer internship, and just generally relaxing and enjoying home.
Danie with one of the ducklings
Today was Easter, and it was a good one. I got up nice and early (hooray for running on less than five hours sleep) and went to church to run video for three services straight. Danie sang at the end of each service, and she was great, and I got some decent video of the whole thing. After that I went with my mom and sister for brunch at a nifty cafe down the street called Alpha Omega. It’s a Christian coffee-shop/cafe, and they’ve got a really great bunch of food, including the best chickpea hummus I’ve ever had.
Natasha on the pier
Today I got a chance to photograph a friend from high school out at Coquina Beach. I wanted to try some shots on an old dilapidated pier, and we did some shots in the nearby foliage as well, while waiting for the sun to go down. The wind was nasty, but thankfully the city had provided some warning signs (telling us to stay off the pier, of course) that I was able to use to fasten a light stand down with an umbrella so it wouldn’t blow away.
One of the singers on stage at the memorial
Today I got up bright and early Saturday morning to get over to the Church, where they were hosting a memorial service for the local Haitian churches, in the wake of the recent earthquake. Of course, the service started late, so the waking up early was in vain, but it still felt like quite the accomplishment to actually be somewhere just after seven. (more…)
The dinner table on Christmas Eve
Yesterday was Christmas! On Christmas Eve, I went with my mom’s side of the family to a candlelight service, and then we all had dinner at the grandparents’ house. I made some vegetable and chick-pea curry, and had some assorted vegetables and such that other folks had brought. And Grandma made a wonderful pumpkin pie. I set up and shot family portraits while I was there, which proved interesting, as I worked with Grandpa’s 5D Mark II, and forgot that its maximum sync speed was 1/250. So now I’ve just finished processing the photos, and cropping the black sync bars off the bottoms of every frame. After that and dinner we had the gift exchange, which was one of those where everyone draws a number out of a hat, and then you each pick a present in the order of your numbers, with the option to take someone else’s after your turn.
Danie singing at band practice
Christmas is approaching, and Winter has been a lot of fun so far. I got to see Avatar with some friends yesterday, which turned out to be amazing. The 3D visuals were pretty impressive, and the story was interesting, if not completely original. Now everyone’s coming back home for Christmas, and it was mostly nice to be able to go see it with friends who’ve been off at school for the last year. (more…)
Santa Danie
This weekend I got to come home nice and early on Thursday, and I get to hang around until Monday evening. I’ll get to go and take exams Tuesday and Wednesday, and then the Fall semester is finally over, and I can stop worrying about stupid projects at last. In the meantime, I get to relax, and of course study for the bunch of exams I have to take in a couple of days. Thursday I went and picked Danielle up from USF, and we had lunch and came home in time to make small group, and then went and had dinner at Vertori’s…where I managed to devour a large pizza by myself. Friday I got to sleep in, but the cat woke me up around eleven, so I didn’t waste too much of the day away.
I got to take a nice long weekend for Thanksgiving, starting Tuesday night and going through Sunday. Tuesday I came home and had dinner with Danielle, took her to band practice, and watched a moviefilm with her. Wednesday I got to have a nice lazy day, sleeping in late, and then I tried to make a loaf of chicken flavored seitan…and failed miserably. Then I took Danie to Five Guys, ate peanuts and fries, and we went to Kroaky’s karaoke in Sarasota, where she won their contest. Thursday, of course, was Thanksgiving. I had lunch with my dad, and then went with my mom’s side of the family to my grandma’s house for dinner. That was great fun, and I ate plenty, of course (including half a pumpkin pie), and had a little fun with my grandpa’s 5D Mark II while I was at it. I shot a little video that’s embedded below.