Tree Removal - Jesse's Tree Maintenance

I had an apple tree removed from our backyard last week by Jesse's Tree Maintenance.  Great job!

Four guys came in and removed the dead tree.  The owner, Jesse, also trimmed back a huge Magnolia tree that was getting way too heavy to be safe.  You can see Jesse at work using a long pole with a saw at the end of it.  He didn't even need to climb the tree!  The huge pole made the work a lot easier for him!

One of his crew had to climb my neighbor's tree, however.  His tree was hanging way over to our garage and he felt it was best to take some of those branches down just in case.  Since Jesse was at our home working, it made it easy for him to do this as well.  My other neighbor who had recommended Jesse to me in the first place came over and had him go to her house to remove an old tree stump in her yard.  The one stop to our home gave him two extra jobs!  Not bad...

I'd recommend Jesse's Tree Maintenance if you ever need trees to be cut down or trimmed.  They did all the work in just over one hour.  They were quick and reasonably priced.  I had another service quote the job and it was a lot more expensive.  By the way, the stump remover machine is awesome!  It essentially chops up the stump and turns it into mulch!

Catfish Caught at Racine Harbor

I went fishing this morning at Racine Harbor, but as usual, I didn't catch anything.

I saw at least 10 fish swimming directly in front of me!  I threw every lure at them even hitting a couple of the fish in the head with my bait... nothing!  I could not get them to bite!

Disappointed, I decided to travel down a little farther than where I usually fish and ran into this nice gentleman named Rick who told me he had caught a catfish!  In all the years he had been fishing out of Lake Michigan (since he was a boy), he had never seen anyone catch a catfish out of Lake Michigan!

He said while fishing, he caught a very small Gobi (which is an invasive species that we all don't want in the lake.)  He decided to use the gobi as bait and caught this nice catfish with it!  I asked if I could take his picture and he kindly obliged.  I'll email the photos to him.

While I didn't catch anything (nobody else did too except for Rick), at least this catfish got caught!  Congrats Rick!

Sunrise At Racine Harbor - Wisconsin

No fish caught last week, but at least I got some nice sunrise photos!  Images taken with a Lumix DMC-LX5 camera on 16x9 aspect ratio.  Manual mode - shutters vary from 1/320 to 1/800 sec with apertures from f2.0 to f3.3 and ISO at 80.

Concrete Poured on Driveway Entrance

Taken from the front window of my home, the Public Works crew are finishing the job by pouring the concrete.  Here's hoping they do a good job so we won't have standing water after a rain in front of the driveway!  The asphalt still needs to be fixed on the street in front of the driveway, so they aren't fully done.

(Edit Note: The street crew came by today - August 10, 2015 to repair the asphalt.)

United States Seal - Lodge Cast Iron

My latest addition to my Cast Iron collection.  This one is destined to be the next "collector's item" because they sell out very quickly when available.

I got this one at the Cracker Barrel in Gurnee, IL. It's a 10.25" model and was "on sale" too! Couldn't pass it up at $17.24!  I've looked for a while to get one of these, but they were always sold out. But on a whim after going fishing in Racine, I stopped by to check on my way home and lo and behold, they had a couple of the 10.25" models in stock!  The 10.25" size seems to be very similar in size to my old #8 Blacklock skillet that was made between 1896 and 1910.

Sorry for the "fingerprints" on the cast iron.  I was too anxious to take the photos and so I did not re-season the skillet first.

A Hole In Front Of Our Driveway

I was awaken this morning by noise that I thought was from our lawn maintenance crew.  But after checking out our front window, this is what I saw!

The Public Works department had put a huge hole in front of our driveway!  With our cars still on the driveway and in the garage, you would think that the workers would have at least knocked on our door to ask if we wanted to get our cars out first!

I called the Department of Public Works to complain and they sent their foreman out in 10 minutes.  He asked the guys working, "Didn't you think to knock on their door first before putting a huge hole in front of their driveway?"  The workers just looked at him.

He apologized and said that we would have to drive over the grass between our neighbor's home and our home and if the grass were to be damaged, they would replace it.  It would have been better had they told us first so that we could have driven our cars out before they ripped a hole at least 6-8 feet in diameter in front of our driveway!  Before they poured some gravel into the hole, it was deep enough for an adult to stand in and the hole would still be over his head.

They're Not The Same - White Balance Targets

For many years, I have been recommending the Photovision 14" One Shot Digital Target for use in performing Custom White Balancing for digital cameras.  While other custom white balance tools are available, this particular device allows you to correct your camera's white balance and then also confirm AND FIX again the white balance in Adobe Lightroom.  This is something many other white balance tools can't do.

But at a selling price of $39.95 on the B&H website, it's often more than some photographers are willing to pay.  Personally, I think it is way overpriced as well, but well worth paying to get perfect color balance.

Recently, I decided to see if I could find a less expensive alternative for my students.  I found one device on Amazon.com and decided to buy it to test it out.  The cost was only $9.28.

While it looked promising, after testing it out, I found that it was close, but still off.  The 18% grey seemed darker and slightly "off-grey" compared to the Photovision target.  It still produced a much better color balance than auto white balancing did on my Nikon D750, but it wasn't perfect.  The Photovision target produced a much truer color.

So while it's better than not having anything to produce custom white balanced images, it's not the same as the Photovision target.  I'd recommend it if you were on a budget and wanted something to use for custom white balancing your camera, but I would not recommend it if you want truer white balanced images.  It seems so far, the Photovision target is still the way to go.

There may be other devices out there that can compete against the Photovision target, but I'm not willing to purchase them all to try to find it.  For me, the Photovision target seems the most reliable.  Plus you can set your white and black levels too in Lightroom using the white and black panels.

The image above was taken with a Nikon D750 and Nikon 24-120mm f4.0 ED lens.  Custom white balancing for the shot was done with the Photovision target.

Sunset at Sister Bay Wisconsin

Sunset out on Lake Michigan near Sister Bay, Wisconsin - Door County.  Image taken with a Canon 70D and Canon 18-135 f3.5-5.6 IS lens.

Follow-up To Maintenance Man Found in Balanced Exposure's Storage Area

I filed a police report with Schaumburg Police Department concerning the incident from June 26, 2015.

After emailing our building management again and determining that this maintenance person was with Harvard Maintenance as a cleaning staff and not hired by Hamilton Partners (who manages our building), I was told that he gave neither Harvard nor Hamilton Partners a valid reason as to why he was in our office either.

To me, it's pretty clear that his intentions was not in doing maintenance work but rather to check out our space to see what could be stolen.  Because of this, I felt it was important to call the police department so that a record of his intrusion into the Balanced Exposure's office space would be on file and that if he ever tried to do something like this again at another company's location, he'd have a record at the police department of having done this before in the past.

While Hamilton Partners have banned him from working at our building, he is not their employee, so there's no way to find out if his employer (Harvard Cleaning) has released him from their employ or not.

Hamilton Partners will be installing new locks for my office as a result of the incident.  In addition, I will now have security every day escorting me to my vehicle as I leave the building, thanks to Hamilton Partners.  Great!

"Maintenance Man" Caught In My Storage Room At Balanced Exposure

Well today was rather interesting.

I walked into my school, Balanced Exposure, around 1:45 PM to find a young hispanic male in the backroom of the school.  He took me by surprise as I was not expecting to see anyone in the office space at all.

I asked him what he was doing there and he said that he was with the maintenance company for our building.  Well, I've never met him, so how would I know if he was telling the truth or not?  Plus, I had never heard of the maintenance company that he claimed to work for.  I only know our building's maintenance person that's been with the building for years.

I questioned him over and over why he was in my office space.  All he could say was that he was checking things out.  Checking what out?  He couldn't tell me.  So all he said was that he was checking a lot of the other office spaces as well.  Checking for what?  He couldn't tell me.

I told him to leave and immediately called our building's Office Manager who did not answer her phone.  I called her assistant... no answer either.  So I decided to call the management company's security team.  I made my report to the person who answered and after checking a little, he called me back to say that the person does indeed work for the maintenance company hired by the building management.

After checking around my space, I could not find anything missing, but I still felt uneasy about finding someone in my private storage area without having had any advance notice from the building management.

I wrote an email message to our building manager reporting what happened and asked that the company look into the situation and to institute better security measures and procedures for maintenance people to let us know in advance when possible if someone is going to be in our office spaces.  While this person was indeed an employee hired by the building management, there was no way I would know this.  Am I to take anyone's word for it that they are in my space to check things out without my approval or knowledge?  How would I know if he wasn't in there just checking out what to steal later?  Or was he in there just to case the location to send someone else in there later to burglarize the space?

I received an email response about a half hour after my email complaint from the building manager stating the the employee will no longer have access to our building and that the building manager would contact me at the beginning of next week to discuss the situation.

Personally, I think I had walked in during a time period that the intruder did not think I would be there and I surprised him in the act of casing my location.  There's no reason for him to be in my private storage area.  Even if he was there to check the air conditioning , the thermostat is in the main classroom area.  There are no controls in the storage area.

I also keep my equipment case in the back room and place it in a specific location and angle every day before leaving the school.  It was moved slightly and not in the same position I normally leave it.  Why would maintenance need to move my equipment case?  Highly suspicious!

We'll see where all this leads.  Did they fire the employee or merely move him to another building?  We shall see.

(Image borrowed from the internet)

Swimming With Whales

You know, swimming with whales in the swimming pool of a cruise ship in Alaska might not be such a smart idea...

Still following him...

Alaska Aboard The Ruby Princess

I spent the past week aboard Princess Cruise's Ruby Princess as it headed towards Alaska!  We had 3157 passengers and approximately 1100 crew members onboard.

I took my trusty Nikon D4s along with several lenses... Nikon 24-70mm f2.8, Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VRII with a 1.7x teleconverter and Nikon 16mm f2.8 fisheye.

The whale's tail is from a Humpback Whale.  The seagull is just a seagull.  :)

The icebergs were rather small as they poked through the water.  Surprisingly, parts of the icebergs were blue!  While all of the color spectrum of light is there, the blue is seen most promenently.

Tracy Arm Fjord was a highlight of the trip for me along with just sitting on the deck at night to watch the ocean go by!

No cruise is complete without eating every few hours!  There goes my diet!  Believe it or not, I had three of these lobster tails along with four huge prawns all at one sitting!  Fine dining at it's best!

Graduation Images

Congratulations to my daughter on her graduation!  She received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the St Louis College of Pharmacy on May 3, 2015.

She and several of her professional Fraternity sisters gathered at the St Louis Arch to get their photo taken.  Because the Arch was having a lot of construction going on, there were only a few angles to take the photo to avoid the construction activities from being included in the photo.

The image was taken with a Nikon D4s camera and a Nikon 16mm fisheye lens because we had to be really close to the Arch.  To include the tall Arch, the fisheye lens gave me the ability to shoot close to the girls and also the Arch.  But the distortion of the fisheye lens required me to correct the distortion within Adobe Lightroom CC.  I also combined three exposures with the HDR processing in Lightroom CC to get a full range of brightness levels.

The second image was taken at Forrest Park.  I've taken a lot of "jump shots" when I was photographing weddings, but the girls wanted one, so I took it for them.  The image was taken with a Nikon D4s and a Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 lens.

More Updates on Using the Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display

An update on my experiences with an Apple Macbook Pro computer... I'm getting faster using it! After living with it now for several months, I'm finding I can do things a lot faster than when I first got it. Does that mean it's better than a PC? No. It's just different.

I think those who have used a PC as their main computer for years will always struggle initially when trying out an Apple computer.  It's not easy to use and figure out without spending more time on it.

I believe the main problem I was having using Microsoft Excel and Word on it is an issue with the Microsoft program on Apple computers. I don't think it's the Apple computer itself. Copy and pasting cells in Excel just is not fast enough. But this issue is not a problem if you use Apple's "Numbers" spreadsheet. So this tells me it's a software issue, not a computer issue. Still, for those of us that use Microsoft programs on an Apple computer, it's just terrible!

I still find that file manipulation is just painful to do on an Apple computer. There's no real fast way to move things around! It's a LOT FASTER to move files around on a PC. For that, I don't like Apple's approach!

So am I a full convert to Apple computers yet? No. I doubt I will ever be fully converted. But, I do like how I have had little to no problems so far with viruses, popups and other things that plague PC use. The computer starts up lightning fast. I never have to turn it off... I just close the display lid on the computer and put it away. Then when I want to use it, I open the lid and it's up and running! Battery life is amazing on this computer too!

I'm getting faster with the touchpad as well. The new Force Touch trackpad on my computer is amazingly good. You can click anywhere on the pad and it feels and works great! It's much better than the previous version of trackpads on 13" MacBook Pros. I'm glad the Apple store in Woodfield Mall let me swap my computer out for the newer version with this new trackpad!

More updates as I continue to learn the Apple operating system...

Century Egg - aka 100 Year Old Egg

The Century Egg, also known as the 100 year old egg or 1000 year old egg, is actually a preserved duck egg.  I recall contestants on the TV show, "Fear Factor" had to endure eating these.

For many Asians, this egg is actually eaten often!  It is usually combined with rice congee when served.  Would I dare eat them?  Absolutely!  I've been eating these eggs since I was a young boy!

The toughest part about eating these eggs is the egg yolk.  The smell and taste can put you off if you've never tried it before.  They definitely have an ammonia smell to them and the texture can be a bit surprising.  But, if you've grown up eating these, they actually are quite tasty.  I actually look forward to them when eating a bowl of congee! (Images borrowed from the internet)

Would you try these?  Post your comments!

Sunrise at Racine Harbor - April 14, 2015

Sunrise at Racine Harbor, Racine, Wisconsin.  Went fishing from 4:15 AM to 7:30 AM... not a single bite!  At least I got a decent photo!  Image taken with a Lumix DMC - LX5 point and shoot camera.  Image taken on manual mode, ISO 80, 1/250 second, f4.0.  Four Thirds image sensor.  Shot at 5:16 AM.

New Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display (and new Trackforce trackpad)

The saga of my journey into Apple computers continues...

I recently contacted the Apple Store in Woodfield Mall about the discounts set up for my students and during my discussion with my product specialist, I was offered the chance to swap my new Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display for an even NEWER one that has the latest TrackForce trackpad.  Kudos to Apple for offering this to me!

I had just purchased the MacBook Pro just shy of two months ago, but recently, Apple announced an improved version with a new Intel processor, an SSD (solid state drive) that is twice as fast as the old one and also a new trackpad that makes it easier to click and has secondary functions.  Apple's product specialist decided that I should be using the latest version of the machine since it is one that I will use to evaluate their computers with for recommendations to my students.  He felt that if I had a better experience with my machine, I'd be happier with my laptop and ultimately refer more potential computer users to them!  Smart move on his part and great customer service!

I have to say, this is how business should be run!  While it was not something that needed to be done, the gesture was a smart one.  If only other companies would recognize that a little bending of the rules often go a long way to gaining more satisfied customers and also more business because of it!

The Problem With PCs...

Back in 2011, I purchased a new Dell XPS 17" laptop with an i7 processor.  It has served me well until this past year where it has started to really slow down.  It's a problem common to any PC.

With the last two days off of work, I decided it was time to wipe the hard drive and do a clean install of the Windows 7 operating system and reinstall all of the programs.  I've done this type of thing many times to other PC computers, so it was easy to do.

The problem though is that you HAVE to do it eventually.  PC's seem to really start slowing down the more you use them.  Perhaps this is a MAJOR reason users of Apple Macs really prefer using a Mac!

I've heard that this isn't necessary to do on a Mac.  Time will tell as I continue using my new Apple MacBook Pro with Retina display.

I also defragment the hard drive of my PC's regularly.  Again, I've heard that this is not necessary on a Mac.  Not really sure why though!  Also, since my drive on my MacBook Pro is a flash drive, it's been said that you definitely do not want to do a defrag of this kind of drive.

I use McAfee anti-virus software with my PC's and also Malwarebytes for controlling malware.  Does anyone know if this is necessary for Macs?  If so, what antivirus programs are best for a Mac?

By the way, after reloading the Windows 7 operating system, I have well over 200 software updates reloading back in as well.  Some started to have problems reloading and so I simply stopped the auto-update function of Windows 7 to control having to sit at the computer all day trying to get the updates to work.  It's just another issue with PC use!

So far my experiences with an Apple Mac have been mixed.  I like some things, but not others.  But I will say this... PC's are a pain to deal with when they start slowing down!  Apples win in this regard!

Oh... the PC is blazing fast again since the reinstallation!

(Image borrowed from the Internet)

Daughter and Mother

Special thanks to one of my former brides... Monica, for letting her daughter Brianna model for my "Balancing The Light" class tonight!  It was fun!

One Month Update On Owning An Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display

Well it's been one month since I purchased a new Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display.

I purchased this computer with the intent to learn the Apple Operating System (OS) so that I could help my students in my Photoshop and Lightroom classes while they navigated their computers while taking class.  Here's my observations so far:

1. I like how lightweight the new computer is compared to my heavy 17" Dell XPS laptop.
2. I like that it is whisper quiet.  No loud fans blowing while working with it!
3. I like that the computer has a solid-state flash drive to store my programs and data.
4. I never turn off the computer!  Because of this, it's always immediately ready to use.  No start up time!
5. I like how fast my emails come in!
6. Surfing the web is really nice and fast.
7. NO POP-UPS!  Great!
8. No viruses!  Well, at least that's what they tell me.  But so far, nothing.
9. I don't like how the operating system deals with working with Microsoft Excel and Word.  Simple "Cut and Paste" or "Copy and Paste" is very slow on the computer!  I have to wait a couple of seconds after copying before I can even paste.  Not good!  (4-8-15 Edit Update:  Found out that this slow cut and paste or copy and paste issue is not the Apple Computer... it is the Microsoft Office!  Seems it is the software that is not reacting quickly.  When doing cut and paste or copy and paste with Apple's "Numbers" spreadsheet, it moves very fast.)
10. I don't like that there is no Backspace key, only a delete key!  You have to line up your cursor perfectly before you can start deleting.  That's SLOW and often inaccurate.  (Edit: I was told that if you hold the Fn key while depressing the "delete" key, that becomes your backspace.  Why couldn't they just put a backspace key on the keyboard??)
11. I don't like that Apple seems to purposely want to do everything 180 degrees opposite of how it is done in the PC world!  Of course you can say that Microsoft tries to do everything opposite of Apple... it depends on your perspective.  But just like camera companies, it seems these two big companies purposely make it hard for the user to transition from one operating system to the next.  NOT COOL!
12. Apple IS NOT the cure all for all problems with a computer!
13. I still do not understand why everyone says you need a Mac if you do graphics or photography.  To me, working on the PC or Mac is the same in terms of using Photography programs.  I don't see much difference.

While many people who buy a new Apple are totally excited with their purchase, I was not.  I only purchased it because I had to in order to help my classes move along faster.  Because of this, I'm not swayed by the hype often associated with a new Apple purchase.  I wanted to see if Apple lives up to the hype and so far, I'd say it doesn't.

It has a lot of great things going for it as I've outlined above.  But it also has its own quirks that makes me wonder why there is so much hype about it.  It's almost like a cult!  But I'm here to say, I'm not convinced it's the cure-all for everyone.  If you want style (it's a beautiful design), lightweight, fast turn-on times (I never turn it off), long battery life and no viruses, it's the best out there!  But if you need to manipulate files by easily moving them around quickly, I'd say the PC has it beat.

Perhaps I still need more time to see if I move quicker with the Apple OS.  I will say I'm a lot faster than I was when I first got the machine.  Only time will tell if I become a full Apple convert.  But so far, indications say I won't be fully converted.  I still like the PC better for many things.

To be fair, here's what I don't like about a PC...

1. Use the computer long enough, you will get viruses unless you have an anti-virus protection program.  Even that doesn't guarantee you won't end up with a virus.
2. Use the computer long enough and you'll notice it will start slowing down to a crawl.  The registry gets mucked up in time and that's a major problem.  Often you might need to wipe the hard drive and totally do a clean install of all programs to get the computer back to the speed it was when you first bought it!
3. Blue screen crashes can happen and that can spell disaster!

Here's what I like about PC's...

1. You can build your own PC if you know a little about computers.  Buying mother boards, RAM, power supplies, chassis'... it's easy to make your own or upgrade your own computer.
2. You have lots of manufacturers who make parts for your computer!  You aren't stuck with just one brand of parts.
3. They cost a LOT less than an Apple computer!  Apple often is a lot more money for most everything they make.
4.You can usually find someone who can help you if you don't know something about the computer or the program you are working with.  Why?  There are likely more PC users in the business world than Apple users (although Apple is starting to gain a lot more devoted users now).