August 2013 – Page 2 – Bus Driver Jim

Tori

As our summer visit with family ends I thought it would be a good time to post a couple candid shots of the little character known as Victoria. Warm days of creative diets, electronic toys and small adventures mixed with learning and discovery are about over.

Next Friday I will be sitting on my son Riley’s couch in Kent, WA watching the Seattle Seahawks on TV and along the way Betty and Tori will find themselves back home.

This is actually a ride-share operation as Betty has paid for the gas back to Washington and today I insured our passage over the Montana mountains by replacing my engines stuck thermostat. It should be a fun, one day road trip :-)

SlideShow (Tori)

Partner

The word partner has taken on new meaning in this liberal pro-gay politicaly correct world we live in. I was reading a news story yesterday about some journalist named Glenn Greenwald and his partner David Miranda. It became apparent quickly that these boys are not just co-workers. Partner now refers to someone of the same sex that you have a significant sexual relationship with, but you’re not married to.

What do cops now call the person they ride around with on patrol? When two businessmen in a partnership walk into a meeting and refer to each other as partner, do eyebrows rise?

A few years back my co-worker Karen asked me to deposit a paycheck for her at the local bank while she was on vacation. As I made the transaction I mentioned to the teller that Karen was my partner. Karen was born and raised here and everybody knows her. You should have seen the look of shock on that ladies face (you’re Karen’s partner!)

It was obviously some small town news that she had somehow missed out on :-)

To me a partner is someone you work with, have mutual respect for, and have each others back. I guess this word is finished in that regard…

Recycled

Our Mormon farmers love hanging on to old family buildings even if they’re falling apart. In the case of these old sheds they appear to have fairly functional roofs on them so I suspect they’re being used for equipment storage during the winter.

SlideShow (Recycled)

Location Drive

I created a new builder this morning to handle my new geo-location blog posts. All I have to do is take the pictures, upload them to Flickr as a Set and then run it against the builder. What I get is what you see below, a perfectly formatted collection of photos with the little icons on the lower right for generating a map of the photos location.

I don’t have to hand-craft the blog post to handle each individual photo, it’s all perfect and ready to rock. Click on a photo to see it full size or click on the little icon to see a map. Did I mention it’s really fun to be a programmer!

I took these pictures this morning just driving around the north end of the valley and I made sure the camera’s GPS indicator was on :-)

SlideShow (Location Drive)

Geo Tagged

My new camera records the geo-location (latitude/longitude) of each photo I take and when I upload them to my pro account on Flickr, the location is retained.

Every photo within Flickr has a unique ID number which is used to track the photo down across their many servers scattered around the world. For example, the ID for the photo of my previous Canyon Stop post is “9526330600“. This indicates there are over nine billion photos on Flickr and climbing.

This number is really powerful in the hands of a coder who knows his way around Flickr’s API (Application Programming Interface). You can obtain a wealth of information about a photo based on it’s ID, including the location data.

I’ve added a new button attached to the lower right corner of each new main post photo which will launch a map of the place the photo was taken.

Scroll on down to the previous post Canyon Stop (or click here) and check it out!

Canyon Stop

This infamous and probably much photographed stop sign is at the intersection of Teton Canyon Rd and E Alta Ski Hill Rd on the way up to the Grand Targhee ski resort.

It’s in a constant state of change as the ski seasons come and go. I assume people bound for the resort get dropped off here as their rides continue on into the Canyon. It’s beyond me though why people carry around stickers, looking for a place to put them.

Swingers

I’ve discovered another cool feature on my new camera, slow-mo! The first one here was shot (using my new tripod) in 320 resolution which I then edited and enlarged to 640.

Not bad, but native 640 is the way to go. I was up in the Targhee national forest this morning looking for a camp we spotted a couple of years ago, but it’s empty now. (Map).

I then took Tori down to the park to try out native 640 mode. The little blond girls that come into the scene at the end are a couple of my Victor Community School kids!

Otherwise

Ok, they had me at otherwise. It looked promising as I veered off Hwy 26 towards Antelope Flat this morning. Spacious fields with foothills in the distance and knowing that the mighty Snake River lay at the base of those mountains.

Before long I saw this gate thing and I knew this adventure was about to be cut short. As I read off the no’s I was hopeful until I hit otherwise and then realized that camping probably fit in there somewhere…

I turned around, snapped a few shots and headed for Kelly Canyon, which was right down the main highway a bit. I’ve heard of this place, it’s a small ski resort on the backside of the Big Holes but in the summer it’s just a trendy camping area (several paid spots) next to a national forest.

I drove quite a ways past the resort, up into the forest and found some nice rock formations, people on horseback and a few open campsites. Place noted…

SlideShow (Otherwise)

Antelope Flat

I drove to Idaho Falls yesterday and bought a cool sturdy tripod from BestBuy and some gravy for Piper at WalMart. I came back home via Swan Valley because Hwy 33 construction bites (long delays!) and passed an interesting road called Antelope Flat.

Exploring the area with my cool map programs I’m now intrigued enough to travel out to the end of Antelope Flat road today to check it out.

Boners Basket

Jeanette and Brad Boner are having a baby! Jeannette is the co-editor of our local newspaper, the Valley Citizen and Steph used to work for her when Jet was the editor of our other paper, the Teton Valley News. Brad was the chief photographer for the Jackson Hole News & Guide and is currently freelancing.

The Teton Valley News was good times when we first moved here and we hosted two consecutive Christmas parties for them at our house. Brad and Jeanette got married during that time and after watching their friends have kids, they’ve finally signed up.

Steph is the master of baskets and gave Jet this baby basket yesterday. She loved it!

Little Creek

I drove up into Teton Canyon today and found a quiet little vacant campground next to the creek to experiment with video on my new camera. I mounted it on a small tripod, placed it on a log in the creek and let her run for a minute and a half.

I shot the video at full 1080p (HD) resolution at 30 frames per second. The camera actually allows 60 fps but I’m already seeing that’s overkill.

I resurrected my Vimeo account and uploaded this video. I’m using their free account which allows up to 500mb uploaded per week and this one ate up 260mb. The free account compresses the 1080p down to 720p so obviously I wasted a bunch of space, besides, the content is intended for online consumption. My cameras video recording setting has been changed to 720p :-)

I had initially uploaded this video to my YouTube account but after undergoing their compression algorithm, the results sucked! It has to do with the fact that this is a fixed scene with things (i.e. water flowing) happening around it.

I like Vimeo, the video below is great and if you click on HD you can see the full sized video. Their plus version is $9.95 a month, for 5GB a week. I’m sorry guys but I’m paying $7.99 a month now for unlimited NetFlix and I’m maxed out at the moment…

I’ll be sticking with YouTube for general content and Vimeo for quality shoots.

My Keyboard

Poki Trip

My new camera and I drove down to old Pocatello yesterday and we came back this morning. I need to sit down with the camera manual now and figure how to do more than shoot on full auto. (i.e. dummy mode…)

Anyway, I took some eclectic shots along the way and had a good time!

SlideShow (Poki Trip)

SX280 First Shots

Canon’s top of the line point and shoot, the SX280 HS, showed up in my snailbox this afternoon. First impressions, I love it. It has some nice heft and a zoom lens with great extension. I had it setup quickly without the manual.

After charging the battery for a bit I applied the latest Canon firmware and then took it for a walk around the house. The first shot was taken from my desk, the Tori modified birdhouse was next and then some shots of the neighborhood and yard.

These photos were taken on full auto just to see what it can do in that mode. Not bad at all, but it’s time to dig into the manual :-)

SlideShow (SX280 First Shots)

Idaho Falls

The city of Idaho Falls started out as Taylor’s Crossing on the Montana Trail, a timber frame bridge built across the Snake River in 1865. In 1891 the town voted to change its name to Idaho Falls, in reference to the rapids that existed below the bridge. Today I drove down there in search of a decent fish sandwich.

I actually finally found one at a joint called Scotty’s Drive In. I had them fix it up the way I like (lettuce, tomatoes and onion) and ate it while I cruised downtown.

This place is an interesting eclectic mix of old brick architecture and trendy little businesses trying to stay alive. It was midday and there were way more people driving through than walking. I passed a couple of bars and the smell of mixed alcohol wafted from wide open doors and a homeless lady was changing her clothes in an alley.

I then drove a mile up the road to a super Walmart, did some shopping and came home.

SlideShow (Idaho Falls)