Category: Art

Art

Friday, January 17th, 2025 – Happy New Year!

Hello Gutenberg! This is definitely different. I didn’t think that I installed this plug-in but I’m glad I did and that it’s working now. I remember it crashing my site and having to disable it.

In any event, Happy New Year 2025 readers!

Update: I hit the 100K point mark in Duo Lingo for Russian! Making it my most studied language. However, I have to start furthering myself in the Russian language and not just working on points ;p. I am also going to start to try and learn Hindi. I have a new goal – keep my Russian up and learn Hindi at the same time. I can try and practice with Vikash and Pooja.

Update: I had a doctors appt on Jan 3rd and I got the directive that I have to lose some weight, and my doctor recommended that I start limiting my carbs. So, that is what I am doing. I did some keto stuff last year and although it wasn’t sustainable, I used a pretty good app on the iPhone (Carb Manager). I am using the same app this time but adjusting my carbs to the recommended amount. I mentioned trying to diet last year and was using the “Lumen” to try and get my body into fat burning mode. While I could never get it there, I could only burn carbs or glucose. I got frustrated and ditched the Lumen after 2 or 3 months and figured that I was metabolically inflexible and had no idea how to combat it. Well, this time I have a strategy. This time, I am trying to be “Ideologically Flexible” (flexible in thought) so, I will see what I can do to adjust my diet and exercise this time. Anyway, the last time was a stupid time to diet – right before a 12-day cruise to the “ABC Islands”. Yeah, I know – stupid. I haven’t busted out the Lumen yet. I had a bunch of concerns for the doctor on resting heart rate and metabolic inflexibility – since diabetes runs in the family. I am taking 6 weeks off from watercolor painting and trying to get a jump start on exercise (my art teacher was not feeling well and is taking the first 6 weeks of this year off – at night). Hopefully, he is feeling better and will resume night teaching. I retired my old weight bench and bought a new one – it is much safer. I don’t have to worry about weights crushing my larynx.

Update: After almost a year of audio frustration, I rewired my Klipsch speakers I got from my brother and decided to bi-amp them. My theory is that the crossovers are fried so I will use the receiver’s crossover to bypass the speaker’s crossover. That should increase the speaker’s performance as well as cut out the distortion and attenuation. I went to a record show and bought 2 new albums (vinyl) – Evanescence – Fallen (2003) , Triumph – Just A Game (1979) and some record cover sleaves. I also found some replacement needles for my turntable. Around Christmas, I purchased an audio streamer so I can rip all my CD’s to it. Currently, they are all in the cloud (Apple). I also have a NAD streamer, but I lost all the data someway, So I am not very keen on re-burning my CD’s. The cloud is bullet proof, but you are beholden to apple forever. I was also looking at ROON. I love the MAC mini. I may try something like that – if I can ever figure out how ROON works.

-Rat

Friday, July 19 2024… Just when you think you have everything figured out…

So, applications have been giving me a hard time this week. If it wasn’t Duo Lingo, it was my blog, or some application at work. Duo-Lingo kept giving me errors no matter what I would do. I was having a hard time getting anything accomplished. So, I filed a bug note with the app manufacturer. I tried all the suggestions they had, from uninstalling the application to restarting the app. Turns out, since I have 3 wireless routers (SSIDs) in my house, the one that was the most convenient was not connecting to the app. It’s lack of connection was causing the errors. Change the WAP, problem solved! Couldn’t log into my blog for a few weeks! I forgot that all I have to do is disable some of my more esoteric plug-ins, the problem goes away! I still have to make everything work together though.

I am sore today. My trainer was on vacation this week, so I worked out by myself. I guess I tend to push myself harder than usual. Chest sore, triceps sore, shoulders sore, Hammie’s sore. I’ve been pounding the protein. I think I need to work out more than once per week – just not as hard though. I think my body needs it.

I am working on a watercolor of the Chicago skyline. A friend suggested it. I am still wrestling on the drawing part of things. I may mount it on a board and stretch the paper since its only on 140lb – it is currently on a pad block. Can’t wait for fall and painting again!

-Rat

Tuesday, April 2nd 2024… Microsoft Azure is interesting…

I have been starting to study for my Azure AZ-900 test which is broad-based Azure concepts. It’s been fairly interesting and a lot of things I can apply to my website (from a concepts perspective). Which has been good for me. I would really like to put my site on Azure, but I wonder how much that would cost me? It would probably be cost prohibitive since my stuff is just a glorified blog and a personal opinion blog at that – lame.

I started doing a portrait last week of Leo. I am planning on using acrylic paint tonight painting and a smallish 11×14 portrait, with the plan on cutting it down to fit an 8×10 frame – matted.

In duo lingo, I started doing Russian in lieu of Dutch. Just for a break. I’ll come back to Dutch. Russian is like an old friend. I learned Russian back at the university for Physics.

-Rat

Sunday, July 30th 2023… very interesting, but stupid…

As Arty Johnson used to say…

Very interesting, but stupid…

My honest opinion of Nikon cameras DSLR, DX, FX, and mirrorless…

I have 3 Nikons – D5600, D810, D850. First, the 2 full frames (D810 and D850) are behemoths and with the larger lenses I need a tripod that is capable of handling around 24lbs. Second. the D5600 which has WiFi built in is smaller, lighter, and is quick and nimble -but the D850 which also has WiFi support, weighs a ton but is quick. The D5600 is also supposed to have GPS support built in. But nothing in the Nikon world is more full of crap than “supportive GPS”. Its highly complex, slow as hell, and requires steps that would frustrate the most patient person. The D850 pulls location data easily/seamlessly from the iPhone while the others do not. However, you have to move the pictures to your iPhone or Apple Cloud. Third, from a shot perspective, you can fit more in in the same shot with a FX vs DX. I used to joke with a friend to take 2 big steps back and get the same shot and save money. Fourth, only the D850 does movies easily, the other 2 are a PITA.

I like the professional looking pictures from the D810 and the D850 vs the D5600 – better bokeh, better lenses, higher megapixel counts, a longer shelf life (equates to more pictures over the life of the camera), the D850 is also a much faster camera than the D5600 or the D810 – from both a chip and consequently a focus and picture processing perspective.

I’ll take the D850 – anytime. I don’t know if I would take the D810 over the D5600 knowing what I know now – I think I would recommend living with the D5600. Mirrorless vs the D850? I don’t think it’s worth it – save your money.

-Rat

Thursday, July 20th 2023…Happy Moon Day!…

Back in the summer of 69′. Neil, Buzz, and Collins landed and walked on the moon! Well, Michael Collins was there in spirit. He orbited in the return ship.

Nikon D850 First Pix with the help of YouTube video – this was a life saver! Kudos to “Atort Aerials”. I didn’t feel like any of this was intuitive.

Nikon D850 Snapbridge Tutorial with iPhone Bluetooth/Wifi – YouTube

Hummingbird feeder
Rose of Sharon
Old Man Stump

I’m also working on an acrylic painting which is turning out better than some of my other acrylic attempts but that’s not saying much.

-Rat

Tuesday, July 18th 2023 …art…

There is never enough time in the day. It’s always something. The baby shower went well, unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures. That the hell kind of photographer am I going to make? I was so inundated with work from a getting everything together perspective, clean the house, cook the food, organize things, etc. I didn’t have time to think about photography and that was a bummer in retrospect. What’s a dad to do?

I got a Nikon D850 on eBay and am selling my D810. The main differences are the 2 is the extra 10Mp of resolution, the extra 2 fps, the upgraded chipset, the built-in wireless, better video and faster memory card support.

As I learn, I will post. I purchased the memory cards I will be using and instead of relying on the ability to upload and clear photos, I decided to take the plunge and bought 1 TB memory cards – both CFExpress and microXDSC. It may seem like overkill, but I figured I’d rather grow with it instead of outgrowing it almost immediately.

-Rat

Tuesday, June 6th 2023… a quick update…

I was futzin’ around today with the site (got some new caching) and figured that I had better do a quick update before June is over. Over Memorial Day weekend, we went up to Michigan to my bro-in-laws house on a lake. The short update is we brought the 4-wheeler scooter on the lift on the back of the minivan and strapped the hybrid to it. On the way home, traffic was horrendous and we took a GPS shortcut home. We got off at Cline Ave & The Indiana Toll Road (I90). There was a string of pot-holes that bounced the car so much, it shook the back tire right off the bike and dragged it underneath. The only thing that was holding it on was the chain! Ugh. It’s hard to find good roads these days. Back to Richards.

-Rat

Watermelon

Acrylic wash on 300lb Arches

Sunday, February 12 2023… Happy flipping’ New Year…

I can’t believe it’s February and I haven’t posted since September of last year! Holy Crap! Today is supposed to be sunny and nice (50F for a high). There is a grove of interesting trees that I wanted to photograph. I’m going to bust out the hybrid and go for a short ride. There have been some interesting changes and some interesting things going on.

The basement is slowly getting cleaned (-1.0 bummer:very cool). I haven’t done anything with photography (bummer). No Tai Chi (bummerx2), but I have been researching while I’m getting my area cleaned (-0.5 bummers). I hooked up the Ohm’s to the Carver amp (TFM-25) and nixed the old receiver (CT-3) for a “new” Pioneer Elite (SC-72). My bro gave me all his old CD’s so I’m going to throw them in the carousel. That said, I am starting to seriously consider the BlueSound Vault 2i Network Streamer. I’d really like to rip all my CD’s and store them on a NAS and put away all my CD’s for good. Once upon a time back in 2007, I ripped them all up to iTunes. I’d like to get away from that since Microsoft is not developing it anymore and its “iffy” sometimes. It’s all a project. A buddy of mine has a NAD M50 streamer player and is willing to sell it to me for a good price. I’m also considering that direction. I don’t want to be stuck with CD’s with no way to play them or degrading disks. I’ve been keeping up with painting watercolor (fun). Since I’ve posted last, I’ve done 3 watercolor paintings that I can remember – 2 koi (16×20), the Niagra river (16×20), and a sunflower (10×12). I’m also working on fixing/finishing a painting from last year (32×40). I’ve started prepping/training for the upcoming riding season. Losing some weight (a priority) and working on my cardio and strength. Ill post pix’s next time because I’m working this morning, and on my work laptop, so I don’t have my graphics and web tools.

Speaking on working, I’ve been working like a dog. That said… I finally got some help. It’s been a blessing. We moved offices to a new location – closer to my house so my commute is now 15 minutes tops.

-Rat