Do Not Cross

Ever since my graduation, I’ve been taking lots of photos with my new Nikon D80. Here are some highlights from our recent camping trip to Heavenly Acres in Greene County, Virginia:

This is a shot of the South River in Greene County, Virginia. We were out there camping and we stumbled across this small river while looking for some good places for pictures. I shot this in manual mode at 90 mm, 1/3 sec SS, f/22, ISO 100. I used my tripod and the time delay setting to avoid shaking the camera while taking the long exposure. I also took this at dusk so that the image didn’t over expose. I made sure to use a small aperture to allow for a large depth of field.

While we were driving around, my father-in-law’s GPS indicated we were near Greene Acres Lake. What we found was this. For this shot, I used manual at 55 mm, 1.3 sec SS, f/18, and ISO 100. Since this was at dusk and I used a long shutter speed, I set the camera on my tripod and used the time delay to avoid any shaking. The small aperture allowed me to get most of the photo in focus.

This picture was taken at Big Meadows in the Shenandoah National Park. For this photo, I used shutter priority mode at 200 mm, 1/200 sec SS, f/29, and ISO 400. In order to get the silhouette of the tree I made sure to meter for the sky. I did this by aiming at the sky (with no tree or ground in view), pressed halfway down on my shutter button to determine the needed settings, then aimed down to get the tree and ground in view. This allowed the camera to get the sky exposed correctly while underexposing the ground to give me that silhouette.

While we were on a trail that paralleled the Rapidan River, I stumbled across an area that had a lot of bumblebees and other bugs flying around. So I crouched down, set my camera to shutter priority with a very high shutter speed (to try to freeze the motion of the flying insects), and set my camera to burst mode (to keep taking pictures as I held the shutter button down). This was one of the few shots that came out. Here I used (like I said) shutter priority, 200 mm, 1/2000 sec SS, f/8, and ISO 400. Since it was a bright day out, I also had my exposure compensation dial set to -2.

You can see the rest of the photos from our camping trip on my flickr page.

Ok, ok, status updates:

1. I graduate this Saturday.

Yup, that is right. After two years of classes learning about fingerprints, firearms, DNA, autopsies, homicides, crime scenes, and the like, I will be getting my Master of Forensic Science degree from The George Washington University. I’m feeling a tad ambivalent about it though. On one hand I’m extremely happy that I’m done with school (for probably the rest of my life). On the other hand, I’m wondering what I’m going to do with myself. I won’t have classes, homework, a job, and a life to juggle. I’m fearful that I’m going to be bored. But I have lots of hobbies I want to pursue (like my photography, guitar, and violin). Maybe I’ll actually keep updating my blog consistently (what a concept!).

2. No Remicade for Me.

I visited my GI doctor last month and he decided that it isn’t the right time for me to go on Remicade (more about Remicade here). He felt that my symptoms weren’t severe enough to warrant me going on such an extreme treatment method. Instead, he upped my 6-MP dosage. Hopefully this will slowly heal my fistula. Since the visit the pain and discomfort from my fistula has dropped a lot. I’m going to set up a visit with my colon and rectal surgeon for next month to see how it is doing and hopefully see if the drain that is set in there can be removed.

3. Flickr and Twitter Updates

I have seriously become uber-addicted to Twitter lately. I’m updating at least once a day (if not more than that sometimes). I’ve also set it up so that I can update it via SMS text messaging through my cell phone. Since I don’t have an unlimited text messaging plan with my phone company (T-Mobile), I am trying to keep myself from updating via SMS only when I’m not within reach of internet access (which is pretty rare).

I’ve also updated my flickr with a bunch of pictures. Some are from my friend Larry’s wedding and some are from Cheri’s friend Melissa’s wedding. There are also a bunch of random other images as well. Here’s one of my favorite photos from this last batch, our friend Kate (left) with Cheri (right) getting ready for Larry’s wedding:

I just wanted to point everyone to Cheri’s blog where she wrote a wonderful piece on our first experiences with me being treated for both my perianal abscesses and Crohn’s Disease.

He is strong. He fools most people. His co-workers and classmates do not know that the words “Crohn’s Disease” now sit under his name in medical files. They do not ask about the three pills he takes quietly at lunch, nor are they aware of the eleven others he will take throughout the day. Each month, while working a fulltime job and completing his master’s degree, he still must carve out even more time to devote to this on-going battle. This monthly routine includes, not only visiting Target for refills of his many prescriptions but also remembering to have has his blood drawn, meeting with his surgeon and waiting, sometimes hours, for his appointment with his gastroenterologist.

You can visit her site for the full post. (Link)

Fried Video Card

Originally uploaded by fallenposters

Last week, as I was getting ready to go to work, Cheri got on the our desktop computer to wake it up from its slumber. Once she did this she heard some eerie sounds and a burning smell. I came over to investigate and lurched under the desk to see what was going on. Once I was down there, I peered into the back of the computer and saw flames — not something you would normally anticipate.

Luckily, my spidey-sense jolted into action and I sprung out from underneath the desk and pulled out the computer quickly. I opened up the case and had Cheri hand me a towel to smother any flames that might shoot out. Once I opened the case the flames had disappeared and a cloud of smoke emerged from the computer. This photo is the result.

It seems the new video card that I installed recently somehow caught on fire. I have no idea why or how this happened, but I’m very glad that Cheri and I were home when it happened and that it didn’t burn down the apartment. I replaced the video card but it appears that something else must have been damaged in the blaze as it won’t boot now.

Its not a terrible loss as we don’t have anything on the hard drives that we need right this second. Plus we have a new MacBook that we purchased recently — so we won’t go starving for computer usage.