::General BLOG

HDSLR Video Rig

Canon XH-A1 video camera Many years ago I invested in a nice video camera, the Canon XH-A1 HD video camera, which I still own and it has about the best built in glass of any video equipment I have used or owned. With powered dual XLR inputs in addition to an amazing array

Remember what you are celebrating

Ah the beauty and fun of winter holidays! Festive attitudes, the music, the various family oriented traditions are all enjoyable and undoubtedly conform to mean exactly what we intend: a familial warmth where we share together what is most important to us. But from where do these traditions find their origin, most notably, I am thinking about Chanukah and Christmas?

Fisheye Lens Photography

Recently I've had the pleasure of dropping some cash on a new fisheye lens for my digital SLR camera. Those of you into photography know what fun they can be and might even understand what a nice tool it is especially when shooting large venues outside. I picked up the Bower 8mm fisheye lens from Amazon for $272.

Labor Day Weekend 2011

This Labor Day Weekend was packed. A friend came over from Wisconsin (Genessa Tjader) and we went into the city twice and did the Shore on Labor Day itself.

The weekend threatened to storm the entire time but the weather held off until the drive back to Neward Airport.

For fun we...

Change is Coming (and I am not talking about politics)

"Life is pain, your highness. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something."
- The Princess Bride

This line could have well been "Life is change." Pain is a part of life and a change agent. Whether I am working out, or reading and learning for work, or dealing with the personal loss of a friend I am dealing with pain. The question is, does the pain lead to change? But the more important question might be, does the change lead to growth?

Why Did The U.S. Lose It's AAA Credit Rating?

The two perspectives being stated by the White House are, (1) S&P (the group who downgraded the credit rating) is bad at math and we shouldn’t be downgraded, and at the same time (2) the contention over raising debt limits and raising revenues is directly to blame and we should blame the Tea Party for those contentions. At the same time investors tell us that we have been waiting for a downgrade for some time now. Were investors blindly speculating?

Entitlement Of Values

I write this from a hospital bed awaiting surgery. When I was little every time I banged or bumped my head or scraped my knee, my first instinctive response was to run to my mother or father for help. Now that I live hundreds of miles from my father, and my mother has been gone for some time now due to the cancer that prematurely ended this life of hers, the analogy of running to my parents has yet to escape me. I like talking to my dad when I get sick, but I don't run to him anymore.

Violin Lessons Begin

It’s 1:15am and so this isn’t going to be a long one; just mostly a story and some photos.

Smooth Shooting with Camera Sliders

For my next trick I’ve recently invested in trying to tweak out a camera slider. What is a camera slider you ask? Imagine, if you will, an enormous Hollywood camera dolly sitting on a track and fluidly gliding through a scene capturing the action. Now, imagine that I am not using a Hollywood-style 35mm film camera b