Published by Chris December 19th, 2007
in life and school.
Well, school is sort of a mixed bag. The one bright spot is that I did not flunk ECE368 (”D” is for “diploma,” as they say) meaning that I have a chance of finishing a CompE degree form Purdue. But right now I’m just totally burnt out and my continued problems with AD/HD are just too much to deal with right now with the other things going on in my life.
I’ve had a lot of mixed commentary on the fact that I’m taking a break from school; usually it’s either, “You can’t quit, you have to finish,” or, “School isn’t right for everyone.” Anyone who thinks I should finish and is willing to cover all my bills and take care of my house while I go for three full-time semesters should feel free to step up and speak now or forever hold their peace. I thinks it’s a little to easy to say, “You have to finish,” when you’re not the one doing the finishing. I might go back and finish my CompE degree, or I might decide to pursue a different major (likely at a different school). Who knows?
For now, I’m working and trying to pay of my debts. In the meantime I am eyeing jobs in Chicago, so if you have any leads on jobs in that area feel free to let me know. My résumé is pretty polished at this point and I can email a PDF if you have a contact email.
Tags: school, chicago, future
Published by Chris December 19th, 2007
in photography and rant.
Snapshooters DO NOT NEED more than 8 megapixels. I would prefer a maximum of 4. I generally set my current PS camera (a Canon SD 300) to 2MP to maximize memory card space. 99.9% of these pictures never get printed and 99.9% of the ones that do won’t be larger than 4×6. 2 megapixels is enough, 4 is plenty. All these digital pictures need stored somewhere too, you know.
Less megapixels. Less megapixels = more sensitive sensors. I want better low-light/high ISO performance.
Zooms that start at 28mm equivalent. 35mm is not wide enough for most tight shots. I think 28-105mm is damn near perfect.
Better glass. Most lenses can’t even resolve details that a 8+ megapixel sensor is capable of. D’oh!
Higher resolution LCD screens. You keep making them bigger but the resolution is the same. That just makes it blurrier. Nikon has the right idea here, their screens are super sharp.
My ideal pocket camera: Canon SD size, 28-105mm zoom, 2-4MP, usable 1600 ISO. Fuji is close with the F30 style camera. I’d settle for a Canon G9-style camera with 4MP, a 28-105mm zoom that starts a f/2.0 and a useable 1600 ISO.
Is anyone in the digital camera business listening?
Tags: photography, digital camera, manifesto
Published by Chris December 6th, 2007
in quote of the day.
Crazy fundamentalists making fun of other crazy fundamentalists is my new favorite art form.
—David Schmader
Tags: qotd, religion, crazy
Published by Chris November 29th, 2007
in life and chicago.
I took an online quiz that put Chicago at the top of the list. The other four cities I pretty much don’t want anything to do with. My top 5:
- Chicago
- Portland
- Seattle
- Austin
- Atlanta
American Cities That Best Fit You:
- 60% Chicago
- 60% Philadelphia
- 55% Honolulu
- 50% Los Angeles
- 50% New York City
Which American Cities Best Fit You?
Tags: quiz, cities
Published by Chris November 9th, 2007
in life, work and school.
Well, I had to get another job because I’m totally broke. School may or may not be on the rocks, and teaching doesn’t pay that well but I wanted to try and keep that job as long as possible. Because I’ve been so frustrated with school, I was considering several scenarios:
- Get a job that let’s me stay in school and keep teaching.
- Get a full-time job locally, screw school and teaching.
- Get a full-time job in Chicago, screw school, teaching, and Lafayette.
- Move to Sweden with Adriane: Hedjå Lafayette, välkommen till Sverige!
Needless to say, jettisoning everything and moving to Chicago (or Sweden!) is an extremely tempting idea, at least in the short term. But, I found a job doing Linux tech support at Touch Support in downtown Lafayette. Since they are 24/7/365, scheduling is pretty flexible, and if I work at least 30 hours a week I get full benefits. This is extremely enticing to me as I have not had insurance of any kind for at least four years.
So for the time being I can at least operate under the pretense that I might actually finish school. The problems I have there are best left to another post, but needless to say it’s been a very rough and rocky road. And honestly, I just want to get off of it and right now I don’t really care how. For now, at least until next May, I’ll be working, teaching, and trying to pass some engineering classes.
Tags: job, work
Published by Chris November 9th, 2007
in friday random ten.
It’s Friday Again Edition
- Holiday — Madonna
- It Takes Two — Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock
- The Promise — When In Rome
- Deeper — AGK
- Still Hustlin’ — MC Plus+
- In A Future Age (Alternate Take) — Wilco
- Budo — Miles Davis
- And Done — Engine Down
- Feed On Me — Trans Am
- The Ocean — Ben Lee
Tags: friday random ten, itunes, music
Published by Chris November 9th, 2007
in life, chicago and cooking.
So I was in Chicago last weekend for an extended period. My girlfriend Adriane lives there, as well as a dozen or so good friends, so ever since I bought my Yaris last March I’ve been spending a lot of time there.
This past weekend included a screening of Blade Runner: The Final Cut at the Music Box Theater, lots of eating at vegetarian restaurants (including Soul Vegetarian!), making sugar cookies with Kenzie, and cooking dinner for Adriane. I also watched Persona, Adriane’s reputed favorite Ingmar Bergman film.
I think my favorite part was cooking dinner for Adriane. I used to cook so much, but now all I eat is Amy’s frozen dinners or I eat out. I don’t know if I’ve just gotten lazy or just busy with other things, but cooking has become such a low priority for me lately. It’s something I really love doing and I wish I did more of it. It’s really nice having someone to cook for. Hell, I was even in such a good mood I did the dishes… and I hatedoing dishes. I made my marinara primavera and served it over quad-colored “Wacky Mac” pasta, a salad with organic mixed greens, fresh mozzarella, and organic pomegranate vinaigrette, and of course some Five Cheese Texas Toast.
Needless to say, I’m headed back up there this weekend as well. Moonshine Mason is playing at the Horseshoe on Saturday night. I’ve also been informed that a new Coen Bros movie is opening this weekend as well. So I’m looking forward to it. And I like having something to look forward to.
Published by Chris November 2nd, 2007
in friday random ten.
Finally pushed the old one off the front page Edition
- Tan/Black — Mates of State
- In A Future Age — Wilco
- Enjoy The Silence (cover) — Division Day
- I Know There’s Something Going On — Frida
- Regina Spektor — Summer In The City
- New Slang — The Shins
- Depleted Uranium Is A War Crime — Anti-Flag
- Fast Kids Sound Like Seagulls — Mission Giant
- Babe I’m Gonna Leave You — Led Zeppelin
- Sem Contenção/Sin Plomo — Bebel Gilberto
Tags: friday random ten, music, itunes
Published by Chris November 2nd, 2007
in life.
This summer my friend Shannon got married. It was a fun wedding on a beautiful summer day, in which I chose to wear all black and charcoal grey. I did get up and deliver a totally improvised speech during the reception, shortly before sweating my ass off on the dance floor.
Here then is photographic evidence that I, from time to time, look pretty suave:
Photo by Michael Hamrick.
Tags: wedding, shannon riggs burdick, speech
Published by Chris October 28th, 2007
in life and photography.
I read this post about the value of work by photographer Lane Hartwell and it really hit home:
Awhile ago, I talked with a friend of mine who has been working as a professional photographer for the past 10 years or so. This is when I was on the fence about leaving my day job to pursue photography full time, and I was asking her for advice. The first thing she said was “From this day forward, you never work again for free. Not even for friends.”
At the time I thought that was a little extreme. But now that I have quit my job and am relying on my photography to pay the bills, I realize she was right. There are exceptions of course, but for the most part, there is absolutely no reason I should work for free.
Imagine a service or product you like, want or need. Would you expect to get it for free? When you go to work, are you okay if they don’t pay you for your time?
Why do you think I should give you my photos for free? Why should you just take them without asking or offering anything in return?
I know I’ve felt trapped before between wanting to do something for a friend and also wanting my work to be respected and valued. I’ve only once tried to make a living from design, and it didn’t work so well. And when I think back on it, it was mostly because my work wasn’t valued. The other reason being the boss threw me under the bus when a design for the 2001 Orange Bowl was printed without getting final approval and after hundreds of shirts were printed and everybody was leaving for Christmas vacation, the school made a complaint about a tiny detail and they all had to be reprinted. They couldn’t understand why the slight raise they offered wasn’t worth it… Um, because I was doing an IT job and a graphic design job, both of which paid about $25 more per hour on average than what they were offering. And they wanted me to take the blame for the tshirts while about 20 of the toughest Mexicans you ever saw got told they couldn’t start their vacation yet? But, I digress…
I guess the basic question is, if my work is that good that you want to use my pictures or need my design services, then it’s worth paying for, right?
Tags: photography, graphic design, money, worth
