Cynthia – Page 7 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

Tripping The Low-Light Fandango

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Georege R Brown

My passion (photographically) is low light and available light photography. I love my lenses wide and fast and when that’s not suitable I mount the camera on tripod and shoot extended exposures.

Cynthia has recently shown an interest in this type of photography and I’ve been showing her what I know. We bought her a nice tripod and a 35mm f/2.0 lens and setup in front after dark in of the house to shoot the front door since it has leaded glass and has interesting light properties. She caught on pretty quick.

I suggested we try some new scenery and on Saturday night, after our customary Italian dinner, we proceeded on to Discovery Green to engage in some after dark shutter shenanigans.

We had a good time and Cynthia made several breakthroughs in her understanding of low-light photography. She doesn’t want to publish anything to the web yet, but I am going to share with you a shot she took that night…

Cynthia Shoots The Shooter

The interesting thing about this photo to me is the fact that it’s an extended exposure of me taking an extended exposure shot of something else. Cynthia figured out that she could catch me holding still right after I triggered my shot, allowing her to capture me clearly at 1/2 second exposure and no flash. Good job Cynthia!

I Think I’m Learning Japanese

For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to visit Asia. China, Japan, Korea…something. Cynthia has always wrinkled her nose and frowned at the idea so I wasn’t holding out much hope.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved the trips we have taken and I figured I’d be fine never going east.

Still, whenever the opportunity presented itself I’d revisit the subject. When a travel show would come on we’d watch it or I would mention that someone I knew just went or came back from somewhere.

Sometime earlier this year Cynthia caught a show on one of the learning/history/travel channels about life in Japan and something clicked. All of a sudden she was very interested in the idea of going there. We bought some books and she’s done her research and now it in the pipeline. If we can afford it, we’re planning for spring of 2010.

Cynthia’s also decided she would also like to learn Japanese and has signed up for language lessons. She in a beginner course and it remains to be seen how far she’ll take it.

Learning Japanese

She’s made flash cards of the first 40 Katakana characters she has to learn this week. I’m rooting her on the best I can and who knows, I might learn something myself along the way. I now know what the Japanese language is composed of Katakana, Hiragana and Kanji characters. That’s more than I knew last week.

Any Excuse To Wear A Costume…

Our good friends Barrett and Amanda got married on Friday and the reception was at The Majestic Metro, a renovated old theater from a bygone era.

On the wedding announcement they indicated that the reception was going to be done in a Hollywood glamor theme from the 50’s and costumes were encouraged. We love to play dress up so Cynthia put together a 50’s style dress and went as Joan Crawford

and I went as a sleazy member of the paparazzi

The Deadliest Laugh

The Vast Bering … Drive?

Cynthia and I were driving to work one morning and from the depths of our sleep addled brains sprung the germ of a joke which we executed on a bright Saturday afternoon at the corner of San Felipe and Bering Drive. Lord knows what the drivers passing by must of thought when they witnessed this sight.

Bokeh Machine

The new lens is a veritable bokeh machine. It takes the background, obliterates it and then reassembles it into the most lovely bokeh I have ever seen. This is just a gloved hand in front of Cynthia’s “What’s For Dinner” quilt.

Glove w/bokeh

Happy Anniversary

Happy 15th

Jay and Cynthia

16 years With No End In Sight

Toys In The Attic

Cynthia and I celebrate our 16th anniversary this weekend. It’s an ongoing journey of exploration and adventure and so much joy. I’m a lucky, LUCKY man…

The Indestructable Mr. Zippers

Click for full size

Last Sunday we noticed that Cynthia’s Quaker Parrot, Mr. Zippers, was acting strangely. He was not eating his favorite breakfast treats (Cheerios, or as we call them “Zippy-O’s”) and he was very lethargic.

His condition seemed to worsen as the day went on so I called the vet to see if they could see Mr. Zippers that day and they got us in around 3:00 pm.

The doctor on duty said that they would run some tests and keep the bird overnight. The next day the doctor called and said that the ultrasound showed his liver was abnormally large but detected nothing abnormal in his blood and fecal tests. He was still not eating and was being tube fed to make sure he stayed nourished.

I called Tuesday and the doctor said there was no real improvement but suggested they keep him for observation for a few days. She said it could be a tumor and that they could do a biopsy. I said “no thanks” as it seemed too extreme. I talked with Cynthia and we both agreed that Mr. Zippers should not suffer and she asked that I call the doctor to discuss options.

When I called on Wednesday there was a different doctor on duty and he sounded more optimistic. He said it looked like Mr. Zippers liver had shut down due to some event or another, but that he thought given a few days he might turn around but that there was no way to tell for sure.

I told the doctor to keep going and called Cynthia who by this point had resigned herself to the fact that Mr. Zippers was gone. I explained that I had not pulled the plug yet and gave her all the encouragement the doctor had given me.

On Thursday I called to check in and there was a THIRD doctor. She said that while she had not seen his condition previously that he did seem “feisty” and may have actually eaten a little food on his own. On top of that she indicated that Mr. Zippers managed to bite her pretty good. To me, this was very encouraging and when I told Cynthia that Mr. Zippers had bitten the doctor she smiled for the first time all week.

On Friday when I called again, the doctor from Wednesday who seemed so encouraging was back on duty and he said things seemed to be turning in Mr. Zippers favor and he thought we could pick the bird up on Sunday. He explained that while Mr. Zippers was not eating a whole lot, he was eating on his own and hoped that by sending him home he might get his appetite back.

We thought maybe we were just giving him too many fatty treats, but the doctor said he thought the diet was fine and that something just triggered a shutdown of his liver.

Well, we picked him up Sunday afternoon and the doctor explained the situation and they showed us how to administer the medicine he needed and sent us home. When we took Mr. Zippers from the pet carrier and put him in his cage he fluttered his tail quite happily and proceeded to eat a Zippy-O.

As of now, he seems fine. I think he definitely cheated death and so does Cynthia. In fact, Cynthia wrote a poem commemorating the experience:

Zippy we thought you was a gonner
And that you was gonna die
But ya screwed up all your courage
And you beaked death in the eye!

Sounds a bit like a Rudyard Kipling poem, what with the colloquial styling and all. At any rate we are happy to have Mr. Zippers back home. A bit poorer, but happy. Dooley also seems happy to have his friend to talk to.