314/365 - Staplergator

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Fear the Staplergator!!

305/365 - Apply a light sharpening

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The Photoshop tutorial told me to do it.

Sha-zing!

133/365 - Frankenstein Thanks You!

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Some days, I go out to find a photo. Some days, the photos come to me. Today turned out to be the latter kind. While walking down the street in lovely downtown Calumet, Michigan, I came upon... a giant inflatable Frankenstein's monster thanking our veterans. It's definitely the first think I would think of!

The owner of this shop -- the Office Shop -- has some pretty cool stuff. Examples include a truck with giant pencils along the bed, an old Chevy with a scale model of the Statue of Liberty mounted where its trunk should be, and the infamous Moose Door.

55/365 - O is for Olympic Onions

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O is for the Olympics -- which has been taking up a lot of TV and Newspaper time lately. It's also for Onion Rings -- delicious, greasy goodness. Here, I present these two, together at last!

Hmmm...

Interesting... very interesting...
This slow cooker has personality! It made a yummy turkey, however, so I can't complain.

Gnommity Gnome Gnome

Gnomunculus Backyardia in its natural habitat
After hunting down the elusive Blizzard T. Husky, I thought I'd hit the peak of my rare-animal-hunting career. But amazingly, my luck held out -- I have now found the rare Common Garden Gnome (Gnomunculus Backyardia) in its native habitat. Enjoy this candid photo, possibly the only one of its kind!

Heikki's Rage

You might have heard -- we had some crazy weather up here during this past week. After a week or two of good old fashioned warm weather, most of our snow and ice were gone, and things were looking up. Well, Heikki Lunta must have thought we were getting our hopes up a little too much, and he decided to drop a few feet of snow on us. Yes, feet. Painesdale got two of them.

Inspired by this, I have developed a partial classification of Keweenaw seasons. Beginning in January, we have:

1. Winter: you know what this is. A joyous time of snowshoeing, cool crisp nights, and enjoying the lone snow-shoveler exercise plan.
   
2. Fake thaw: About 1 week in late February. Just late enough to fake you out, give you hope that winter may actually be over, and topple snow statues. A cruel joke.
3. Winter's revenge: The return of winter after the fake thaw. Its purpose is to crush your spirit and remind you that winter is not even close to over.
4. Thaw: This is the real deal: the end of the main part of winter. Its main characteristic is the massive melt-off of snow and ice -- filling streams and making waterfalls appear out of nowhere. Note that nothing is growing yet, and there are usually snow and ice left on the ground.



5. Heikki's Rage: Winter's last hurrah, when Heikki Lunta throws everything he has left in one final storm. This almost always happens in the form of a blizzard or heavy, wet snowfall late in April or early in May.


6. Spring: About one week in which flowers and all kinds of plants finally poke their heads through the ground. Almost immediately becomes...
7. Summer: About 3 weeks months of varying degrees of heat and dryness.
8. Fall: One cool month at the end of summer. Pleasant.
9. Indian Summer: or, Summer's Revenge: reminding you that heat is still your enemy. This is about a week of pure hell in early October, just after the new students have started to think "well this isn't bad at all!"
10. Autumn: When the leaves turn, and everything is beautiful, cool, and earthy for a while. It lasts all too little time.

11. The Blahs: That in-between time when all of the leaves are down (or brown), and mother nature is trying to snow, but it just comes out as rain. Neither autumn nor winter, this is the least interesting season of the year. But eventually, we give in, and come right back to...


12. Winter (again).

We just finished Heikki's Rage, and are quickly moving in to true Spring. The 10 inches of snow -- 21 in Painesdale -- has almost entirely melted, and it was above 60 today, just a day later! We had a couple days of very difficult driving... it seems like the snow plows were all put away for the season! But I can see buds on the trees and crocuses popping back up out of the earth, so I have no doubt that the real spring will be here soon.

The Council of Dave

At night, the Council of Dave gathers on Quincy Hill
Lo, the Daves are Legion, and on cloudless nights they appear on Quincy Hill and pass judgment upon those who have sinned against our land. Yea, fear the council of Dave, all ye who throwest thine old washers and dryers down in the Quincy ravine! Beware, spray-painters of ugly graffiti (especially ye who cannot spell very well)!

So yes, I had fun with my new LED flashlight. It took me several nights to get this just right, but boy was it fun! This photo is taken from the scenic turnoff on US-41 near the top of Quincy Hill -- that's Houghton you can see in the background. I probably frightened more than a few drivers, when I was kneeling behind these posts, shining a bright bluish light on my face, in the middle of the night. If you're interested in the secrets of this photo, ping me in the comments -- I'll keep quiet for now so as not to spoil the surprise.

Edit: Having been up for a few years, I suppose that it's only fair to share the secrets. I wrote a detailed account of the taking of this photo on Digital Photography School: The Council of Dave: fun with light painting. Enjoy!

Blizzard Warning

Blizzard T. Husky: man or myth?
January 31st 2009, 10:21 AM: while snowshoeing in the darkest reaches of the Tech Trails, I heard a strange rustling down in a small ravine. Hiding myself in some underbrush, I carefully peered around a tree. There it was, at long last! The object of my hunt! After years of study, careful preparation and miles of tracking, I had at last found the elusive Blizzard T. Husky -- in his native habitat, on snowshoes!! I quickly snapped this photo, but I think that the sound of the shutter must have spooked him -- he quickly ran out of sight. Nonetheless, I now have conclusive proof that Blizzard is not just a myth, not just a story born out of long, dark winters -- but a real, living, upright-walking Husky!!

Stupid Internet Tricks

I don't normally post things like this on here, but... here's some website's idea of which "celebrities" I look most like. Who is that on the right, hiding behind Richard Gere? Could it be... David Hilbert, famous mathematician best known for his immensely important list of 23 problems fundamental to mathematics?! Check out his photo in that first link -- very stylish.

I also appreciate that a computer somewhere thinks I look like Janeane Garofalo. Very interesting.

Back to real photos soon! Until then, enjoy this ultra-rare Dave-all-dressed-up photo.

Stairway

Stairway to fuel-oil
Like this? You can order a print!

There's a feeling I get when I head to campus
And the temperature outside is freezing
In my thoughts I have seen radiators full of steam
And I've heard all their clanging and pinging.

Moving...

... sucks! It takes up all your time, and no matter when you think you're done, there's always one more drawer to clean out. Anyhow, I thought I'd post a couple photos of our new home before I get back to the packing and unpacking.




Here's a shot from the main doorway. The new house is nothing if not spacious. It gets some great light in the afternoons. The roof could use a little work. We have some house cleaners coming in to take care of the random rubble left by the last tenants (it's on the left).



Of course, there are a few problems. The electrical system needs repairing, and the heating too (it's steam heated, so we have our own boiler stacks, which haven't been maintained). But we got a great deal on the place, so I shouldn't complain!

Unfortunately, the biggest problem is the uncapped mine shafts directly underfoot. But you know -- caveat emptor (which means, "we hope you like it!").

Anyhow, I guess I should get back to packing. The cleaning maids are coming soon!