Poker Pics

So, it's been a while since I took any pictures "just for the hell of it".  That's just what I did this evening.  I set up some lights and a backdrop and went about capturing some images of the various playing cards and poker chips I have laying around.

While I was at it, I experimented a little bit with the "poor man's macro technique".  If you don't know what that is, it's when you remove the lens from the camera body and flip it around so that you're shooting through the "wrong" end.  It can create an interesting macro effect.  But, obviously, you lose all the digital controls from the camera body and end up in full manual mode... plus you have to carefully hold the lens in place in front of the body while shooting.

"Poor Man's Macro"

Not all the pics in the gallery were taken that way, but a significant number were.  Overall, I'm fairly satisfied with the results.  Tell me what you think by adding a comment below.

Places I've Lived

OK, so here goes.  A few other blogs that I read have used this subject and I found it interesting so I thought I'd give it a go.

Irvine Road - Winchester, KY

This is where my family lived when I was born.  I don't really have any memories from that time, but I do remember making many visits back later because we still had (and still have) family living at the top of the hill nearby.  For years, this is where we went after our annual 4th of July picnic to carry on the fireworks celebration late into the evening.  There were a lot of good times with many cousins traipsing around the farm, swimming, and fishing at the nearby pond.

Fairview Ave - Winchester, KY

We lived here for a while when I was young.  I remember breaking a window to the basement... on purpose, though I don't remember why.  At one point we had a huge (to me) canvas tent setup in the back yard and I could pretend I was camping, an explorer, or a soldier in a far away land.

E. Washington Ave - Winchester, KY

I split my time here with time on Hughes Ave (up next) because by this time my parents were divorced.  This is where we lived when my sister got married and when my niece was born.  I remember playing basketball in the driveway with my dad, my brother-in-law Mike and his brother Pete.  It seemed like we always had a car in various states of repair here that Mike was working on for a family member or as a side job.  We lived here when I got my very first computer... a Commodore VIC-20.  I Met my friend David here because his grandparents lived in the trailer across from our back fence.

Hughes Ave - Winchester, KY

As previously mentioned, this was just one of my two homes at the time.  The neighbors had a grandkid my age (Joe) and we played with toy soldiers and explored the wooded areas behind the house.  The house, as I knew it, is gone.  It's been converted into apartments with other apartments built nearby on the same lot.  When we lived there (in the upstairs apartment), it was a giant old house with just two apartments.  The downstairs apartment and the upstairs apartment were separated by a disused entryway that was completely off-limits... which just fueled my curiosity.  I recall that one of the rooms in the upstairs house was completely covered in old wallpaper with race cars.  Though I was still in elementary school, I remember my tastes in music forming here and I couldn't get enough AC/DC and Def Leppard.

Grandview Apts - Winchester, KY

At some point my mom & I moved to Grandview apartments on the West end of town.  This was still during my elementary school years... a lot of moving, I know.  Since it was an apartment made up of a bunch of units, I pretty much had friends around all the time.  We'd walk down the hill to the convenience store.  For some reason I started collecting these little guitar pins they had at the checkout counter.  I wonder what happened to those?

Fulton Rd - Winchester, KY

A good move for us (My mom & me).  This time a duplex.  Now I was in middle school.  Several of my school friends lived in the surrounding neighborhoods.  In fact, this was where I met my best friend at the time, Jason.  He lived just a few houses up the street with his mom and his brother.  I spent a lot of time walking to the end of the road to the convenience store to play Super Mario Brothers and Contra... two of my all-time-favorite arcade games.  Another computer memory here, as this was where I lived when I got my TRS-80 Color Computer II.  I got this gigantic daisy wheel printer and used it to print out my notes for 7th grade science class.  I was way ahead of my time.

Paris Rd - Winchester, KY

My high-school years.  I got my first car while living here; a 1977 Buick Electra 225.  The metallic gold "deuce & a quarter" was a big hit with my high-school friends.  My best friend Arthur and I spent a lot of time walking the fields behind the house and just generally exploring.  It was also our home base for most of our road trip excursions.  This is where I lived when I tried to elude a state policeman.  The gravel driveway was my downfall; 77 in a 55, passing in a no-passing, attempting to elude.

S. Main St - Winchester, KY

The first place I lived after moving out, though I wasn't truly "on my own".  My then-girlfriend and I got a sweet deal on this old apartment above a Chinese restaurant.  The good part: It was $175/month.  The bad part: It was above a Chinese restaurant.  Eventually, though, the Chinese restaurant closed (much like everything else that has occupied that space).  It was replaced by a cafe where the ex worked for half a day before walking out in frustration.  Parking sucked here because all the street spots were metered.

Lyndhurst Pl - Lexington, KY

Deciding that we need to be closer to the UK campus and to my job in Lexington, we moved to a just-off-campus apartment in an old building off Lyndhurst.  Definitely one of the worst places I've ever lived.  It was old, small and drafty, heated only by sometimes-working steam radiators.  Our upstairs neighbors had a Green Day CD that apparently included only "Longview" and stayed on repeat well into the AM hours even during weekdays.  It was too much to bear.  Fortunately the lease had a "transfer" clause.  So, I had my manager at the time draft a letter saying that I had been transferred to Chicago... problem solved.

Biloxi Ct - Lexington, KY

After escaping the Green Day nightmare I moved in temporarily with one of my coworkers in Lexington.  It was while living here that I ATTEMPTED to learn to roller blade.

Court St - Winchester, KY

Quickly realizing that I was not the roommate type, we moved back to Winchester.  This time we found an apartment above an Attorney's office.  It was directly across the street from the jail, but at least it didn't smell like Kung Pao Chicken.

Liberty Dr - Georgetown, KY

In an attempt to be more centrally located, we moved to Georgetown as it seemed a happy half-way point between Winchester and Williamstown.  While living here, I managed to dislocate my jaw on both side at the same time and that necessitated an ER visit.  Georgetown is quaint, but never really felt like home.

College St - Winchester, KY

So... back to Winchester again.  We bought an old house right at the corner of College Park.  Too many crazy memories from this house to name, but peeling the paint from the house with a pressure washer, hearing Taildragger play spontaneously across the street, and being swarmed by wasps pouring out of the light fixture in the master bedroom are but a few.

Ascension Dr - Asheville, NC

In 2000, we moved to Asheville.  I spent most of my weeks Monday through Friday traveling and basically living at Atlanta's Hartsfield airport.  But, the weekends were a different story.  I loved Asheville for the great proximity to the Smoky Mountains, the views of the Blue Ridge mountains from my balcony and the instant access to the Blue Ridge Parkway and it's myriad hiking trails.  I still have a place in my heart for Asheville and wouldn't mind moving back if the opportunity were right.

Goshen Rd - Winchester, KY

Getting divorced meant another move back to Winchester where I spent a year sorting everything out.

Marine Terrace - St. Louis, MO

In 2002, I moved to St. Louis.  The apartments now have been annexed into Maryland Heights but at the time were unincorporated St. Louis County.  At first I traveled a lot for my job, but that eventually died down and I was pretty much at home throughout the year.  This is where I lived when I met my wife and where she came to live with me... for that reason alone it's got to be one of the best places I've lived.  And the happy times outweigh the not-so-happy times from previous frustrations and from being hospitalized because of my back.

Florissant, MO

Tired of apartment living, we bought a house.  We chose Florissant because of the affordability and the proximity to I-70/I-170/I-270 as well as all the amenities we could want as far as shopping and dining.  It's been a great experience discovering Pirrone's Pizza and Old Town Donuts.

So there you have it.  A rundown of my abodes.  It didn't really seem like I'd lived in all that many places until I sat about putting it into words.  Seventeen seems like a lot of different places now that I think about it.  I wonder what's next...

If you have shared memories with me at any of these places, I'd love to hear them; drop me a comment.

Update on Friday, November 27, 2009 at 10:39AM by R Keith Smith

It just occurred to me that I completely forgot one of the places I previously lived:

N. Bloomfield - Winchester, KY

We lived here before moving to Washington Street.  This is actually the house I was thinking of before when rememering the kid next door, "Joe". I also remember that this is where we lived when we first got HBO and our Odyssey II video game console.

New Cert

Yesterday I added another cert to my résumé.  Now to my list of certifications I can add MCTS.  Or, more specifically... MCTS (Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist): Windows Vista Configuration.  You may ask yourself, "Self, why the hell did he get a Vista cert?"  Good question.  It's not because I'm a huge fan of Vista and just can't get enough of it... Quite the contrary.  But, instead, the answer is that it's just one of the five exams needed to complete my next goal of MCITP: Enterprise Administrator (Microsoft Certified Information Technology Professional: Enterprise Administrator).  I picked up a book from Microsoft last week and spent the entire weekend cramming it all into my brain.  It's a huge chunk of a book, but there are a lot of screen shots in its 800 or so pages, so it's not all dull text.  Then, finally, the day before test day I went online and "found" some practice exams.  These were enough to get me prepped.

I was a bit intimidated when I sat down and the test overview says that you have 200 minutes to complete 50 questions.  Yikes.  But, the book and practice tests were enough preparation and I was able to pass.

It's definitely a relief to not be spending hours of each day studying... but it's just a matter of time until I move on to the next exam.

Favorite new iPhone app

OK, I have to admit that I have no idea why I find this new app quite as amusing as I do.... but I do.  It's called Gowalla and it's in the iTunes app store for free.  That's just one of the reasons I like it.  It's one of those apps that attempts to link up your social networking spaces (facebook, twitter, etc.) with your meatspace experience.  I've been playing with it for a few days and I think it's pretty slick.

Gowalla App Icon

The concept is simple enough.  It uses the iPhone's built-in GPS to find "spots" near you.  If you are at one of those spots, you're given the option to "Check In".  Checking in adds a checkmark next to that location for you.  In that regard, it's kind of like a scavenger hunt... maybe you want to tick off all the places on the list of spots nearest you.  Or maybe you're just looking for a restaurant... or a cup of coffee.  Since spots are sorted by type, you can use it for that as well.

Nearby Spots

Spot Categories

But, the most interesting part of the app (at least to me) is the integration with your social networks.  You can link Gowalla to your Twitter and Facebook accounts to have it update your status whenever you check in at a new location.  Also, it can locate your friends on these services that are also using Gowalla.  Then, in the Friends tab, it will show you their locations if they're near you.  Pretty cool.

Social Network Integration

The Passport page keeps track of all the places you've checked in.  And, there's no "cheating".  If you're not close enough to a location, you can't claim you're there and check-in.  The GPS makes sure of that.

Passport

Also, if you're near an interesting spot and it's not on the list, you can simply add it.  Once you add the spot you can check in.  You can also become a "founder" by dropping an item there.  You're given some seemingly random objects (glove, marbles, praying mantis?) that you can drop at locations or swap for other items.

And finally there's a section for "Trips".  These are user-created trips that contain a series of spots.  Obviously the goal here is to visit each spot and complete the trip.

Trips

So, if you have an iPhone go ahead and download Gowalla.  After all, it is FREE.  And then add me as a friend!

A Coupon Just For You

OK, I lied.  It's a coupon for everybody, but I wanted you to feel special if only for one fleeting moment.  Through November 30, you can use the discount code GREATBOOK at checkout to save 10% on your purchase.  Use the "Buy Now" button or this link to order.

You can find all the legal disclaimer mumbo jumbo about the coupon at Lulu.com