Is sugar toxic? Check out these two articles...

When it comes to health, I believe in the old adage of "everything in moderation".  Eating, drinking, alcohol, exercise, sleep, etc.

This approach seems to have done me fairly well throughout the years because I'm in pretty good shape for 44 years old, but I need a little more aggressive exercise so I've recently added biking back to my exercise routine since the weather warmed up and my back injuries from past years are healed.  I also recently got tennis rackets for my wife and I, and the kids already like tennis, so that will be another family activity to burn some calories and tone up.

Back to my point.....

The one area where my diet falters is sugar.  Now more than ever, sugar in its various dubious forms (e.g., high fructose corn syrup) is so pervasive in our foods (especially processed foods) that it's almost impossible to get away from it.  Make no mistake about the fact that this huge increase in sugar over the past 10-15 years can be tied directly to an increase in diabetes.  My line of work at my current employer puts me in the know about that....trust me.  The facts are pretty clear.

I'm making an effort to cut back on my sugar intake whenever I can, and I'm helping my family do the same.  It's not easy.  You really have to think about what you're putting in your mouth.  I'm not going totally right-wing and trying to eliminate all sugar from my diet.....that's not reasonable.  All I'm trying to do is cut back where it's easy and common-sensical to do it.

The thing that really motivated me to cut back on sugar are these two articles.  The first one is an article that also contains a long video about the problems caused by excessive sugar in your diet and the science related to it.  The second is a good article from the New York Times.

1. Mercola.com - Eliminate This ONE Ingredient and Watch Your Health Soar
   
2. New York Times - Is Sugar Toxic?

Once you read these two articles I guarantee that you'll give sugar a second thought.  Again, I'm not saying to go right-wing on this like Dr. Mercola sometimes suggests that people do.  I'm simply suggesting that you think about it and maybe make some adjustments in  your diet that will do you some good in the long run.
 

iPhone - The ultimate lifestyle convergence device

Now there's a mouthful of a title for a blog post!  But I really believe it's true.  The iPhone is the ultimate convergence device for improving your lifestyle, your efficiency, your work....just about everything!  It's part phone, part computer, part personal assistant, part organizer, etc.

Let me say up front that much of what I'm writing here probably also applies to the Android platform and its related smartphones and apps, but the iPhone is what I have experience with so I'm writing about that specifically here.

I got my iPhone a few weeks ago.  My wife had one for almost a year before that so I had ancillary experience in using hers and saw the huge potential of the device.  The problem is that I was too cheap to buy one for myself!  Let's face it....these things are expensive.  Not so much the phone itself, but the monthly data plans and cell service!  Add it all up over the course of a year and it's a whopper of an extra expense to take on.

So.....the expense kept me fretting about getting one for quite a while until I just couldn't take it anymore.  There are so many times when I've been out and about doing something and it occurred to me that having an iPhone would not only come in handy, but it would also enhance the enjoyment of my life.  I finally broke down and got one.  Not once since then have I thought about the expense of owning and using it.  It's that great.  Once you have it, the expense of it fades into the distance and you forget about it.

Maybe a statement like "enhance the enjoyment of my life" sounds extreme, but to people who own and use.......and I mean really use......an iPhone, you know what I mean.  Not only do I use it for the common every day things like sending/receiving email, calling people, calendars, etc, but the world of the App Store has let me load up the phone with about 25 apps that have organized and improved my life, let me enjoy my hobbies more, let me get around easier, and many other things....including some gaming as well!

Most of the apps were free.  The most I paid for any one app was $10 for a specialized photography app that I purchased to make planning my photography outings easier.  But all together I probably didn't spend more than $30 on apps for my iPhone.

Now the iPhone never leaves my side.  I find myself reaching for it when I would have ordinarily gotten up to go to the computer in another room to do something.  News, Facebook, sports, weather, email, Flickr, Twitter, internet, casual photography, reading my RSS feeds, managing my To-Do lists, listening to music, checking prices while I'm out shopping, checking what the latest bird is in our back yard feeder, mapping my bike rides with the GPS, etc.  I do it all on the iPhone.

I read a great quote the other day in an article about smartphones.  The author of the article was trying to pin down a generic definition of what a smartphone is.  He said, “A smartphone is a device whose uses go well beyond calls and messaging. In fact, I would define it as a phone you use at least half the time for something other than calling and messaging”. 

I completely agree with that statement.  In fact, I almost never use my iPhone as.......a phone.  

Yes, the screen is relatively small when comparing it to a computer, but I don't sit there staring at it for hours at a time like I do with a computer screen.  It's a bit here and a bit there throughout the day, and that's what I mean when I say "convergence device".  You find yourself using it for so many different things at so many times during the day that it becomes a part of the way you function.

If you're debating whether or not to get an iPhone, don't waste your time.  Just get it.  Don't wait on the iPhone 5 because you never know when it's going to come out and you'll miss enjoying the iPhone every day until then.  Just go get the iPhone 4 and start enjoying it today.

As part of this blog going forward, I've created an iPhone category on the left side and will be posting about the iPhone, great apps that I find, and other topics in the future.  In fact, I like the iPhone so much that I also purchased an iPad 2 and will be blogging about that as well.  I hope you find the articles interesting...
 

dontflushyourdrugs.net

With the steadily increasing use of pharmaceuticals over the past 10-15 years, one has to wonder what people are doing with all of their expired or unused medication. 

Back in the day, people were told to simply throw them out in the garbage.  But then everyone wised up and realized that young unknowing kids could go into the garbage pail and grab a whole bunch of medicine that could kill them, so people starting flushing their old medications down the toilet or pouring it down the sink instead.

In fact, when I first saw this link the other day I asked about ten people who I know:  "What do you do with your old medicines when you're ready to throw them out"?  Every single person who I asked said, "I flush them down the toilet".  Every one of them.  Wow!  Now you can see the magnitude of the problem we're creating here.

All of this drug-flushing got us into the mess that's detailed at this link:  dontflushyourdrugs.net

It makes complete sense that this has now contaminated our waterways and it's affecting fish and wildlife, as well as aquatic life.  It doesn't take much imagination to realize that this could also very easily affect humans (and almost certainly already does) because all of these waterways lead to watershed areas, sources of residential wells, recreation water areas, springs, etc. 

If all this junk could feminize a male fish and make it produce eggs, I don't even want to know what it could do to a human!

The web site above outlines how to properly dispose of unused pharmaceuticals.  Please take a few minutes to give it a read and follow the directions the next time you have a batch of pills to throw out. 

If everyone helped, we could cut the course of this completely human-made problem that's affecting everything around us...........including humans!

Thanks!
 

Don't forget the atmosphere photos!

A secret team photo from behind, but someone peeked...

Spring has......sprung!  And with spring comes......spring sports!

Now is the season when we run around town heading from soccer to baseball to softball, all the while snapping photos of our young ones as they learn their sports and have their fun.  But as we do this, don't forget one thing:  Take some photos of something other than the game!

Unique view of the first base action under the lights...

Like what, you ask?  Atmosphere photos...

Sports are about a lot more than the action happening out on the field.  They're about the people that come to see the game, the equipment, the weather, etc.  So many things!

Try taking some photos that tell something about what's going on at the games without showing the actual action of the game.  Or perhaps they show the action of the game framed in a unique way, like this photo taken from the dugout of the action at first base during my son's first night game ever.

Take some photos that show the teams and their spirit, the excitement, the camaraderie, the anxiety that comes from a close game, the pep talks from the coach, etc.

All of these things are part of the game, and when you think about creating a holistic memory of these times, I would argue that these types of photos are just as important as the action of the game itself.

So grab your arsenal of lenses, position yourself in unusual locations with unusual views, and create some great atmosphere photos to bring home some memories other than the hits, slides, and tags.  Don't forget to crank up the ISO to ensure hand holdable shutter speeds if you're shooting games that are occurring at night.

I've added a few more samples of what I'm talking about below.  Enjoy!

Pep talk before the big game...

First night game ever, on a field of green under shining lights...

 

Some day my daughter will say, "I remember that pink helmet Daddy"!

The emotion in the dugout near the end of the game: "Please get a hit"!

Is "Camera+" the best camera app for the iPhone? Yes!

I finally got a shiny new iPhone 4.  I love it, but I'll write about how great it is in another post.  :-)

The subject here is photography related, not phone related...

I always try to have a camera with me when I'm out and about so that I can grab serendipitous photos whenever I can.  The native Camera app in iOS on the iPhone is OK for grabbing quick photos, but it has one huge flaw.  You can't control autofocus and exposure metering independently of each other.  Meaning, on the native Camera app, whatever you focus on will determine your exposure.  That's logical for casual photography, but it's bad for more serious/creative photography.....

Most people might think that this setup is OK for casual snapshots on a camera phone, and in good light for a casual shot maybe it is most of the time.  But I saw right away that the photos come out poorly if you're trying to shoot in any kind of questionable lighting situation.  I immediately started looking for a solution.

The answer is "Camera+". Here is a link to Camera+ in the iTunes Store.  You can also read much more information about it on the Tap Tap Tap web site at this link (the creators of Camera+).

This app costs $1, and for that cost you get the problem above corrected but you also get a lot of other handy features as well. Specifically, with Camera+ you get:

1. Separate control of autofocus and exposure metering.  This is a must for creative photography!!!
    
2. A handy and responsive zoom control that's always visible.  On a side note, I would suggest avoiding zooming on the iPhone in general unless you really have to because it uses a digital zoom (not optical) and it deteriorates the photo quality.
    
3. The capability to simultaneously save photos to the Camera+ "Lightbox" (for editing) as well as the iOS Photo app.  This is handy because you can edit your photos right in Camera+ without needing to open a separate application.  The capability to save in both locations is handy because then you don't need to move photos around on your iPhone.
    
4. A grid to use to level your photos.
    
5. Useful "Photo Info" panel with an integrated map of where you took your photo based on geotagging embedded within the image.
   
   
6. A shooting self-timer.
    
7. Quality settings.
   
   
8. Innovative "Photo Flashlight" utility.
    
9. Stabilizer function that senses when your camera is still before it snaps a photo.
    
10. Photo editing effects built into the app.  Each effect has an intensity slider to control how much it affects your photo.  It's handy to have these effects in Camera+ itself instead of having to go to a separate app for editing.  There are also borders and cropping available.
     
11. Built-in social network sharing capabilities (Facebook, Flickr, Twitter).

It's easy to see from the comments above that Camera+ is far superior to the built in Camera app.  For $1, it's a total bargain!  The one drawback is that it doesn't shoot video....yet....so if you want to do that then you need to jump into the native Camera app.  But I'm sure the creators of Camera+ will add this capability to their app quickly.  Even without video, it blows away the built in Camera.  Completely blows it away.

Get this app!  You'll love it.
 

Video for perfect pushups and plank exercises

I'm not big on working out (i.e., lifting weights, core exercises, etc).  It bores me.  I prefer to get my exercise from walking on the treadmill, riding my bike, hiking, or playing basketball.  This year I'm taking up tennis and may try golf again.  These types of things are what I call "active exercise".

Doing "active exercise" has kept me in good shape over the years, but a while back I hurt my back and I had to adjust the way that I do some things.  After I was better, the back doctor told me that since I'm a tall and thin guy, I should do some core and chest/shoulder exercises to take some of the load off my back when doing normal activities.  I thought one thing:  Boring....

But today I saw the video at this link that contains time proven methods for doing pushups and planks the proper way for maximum benefit.  In addition, the video recommends minor tweaks to the form of the exercises to target specific muscle groups while still doing the same basic motions.

It's worth a few minutes to check it out to get some more well-rounded exercise into your routine.  I plan to start doing these types of exercises to add a little variety to what I'm doing and see if it helps out my back.



 

The U.S. government is run by a bunch of morons! (no surprise)

I've always kept my mouth shut on the topic of politics because quite frankly I'm not overly interested in it.  However, whenever I see blatant government stupidity and disregard for the overall good going on, I'm motivated to speak out.

If the U.S. government shuts down this week because our elected Congress-men/women can't resolve their disagreements, then I fall firmly in the camp of feeling that our leaders are complete idiots.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/04/07/6424941-reid-on-shutdown-it-looks-like-its-headed-in-that-direction


http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/04/07/congress.budget/index.html?hpt=T2

Additionally, if the government shuts down then the paychecks of our elected people in Congress should stop too.  Better yet, they should all be voted out of office.  Maybe that will get them going!  If I didn't do my job and did nothing but argue, and contributed to my company failing, then I would get fired.  Simple as that.  These guys should get fired too....

I said it before and I'll say it again.  If Donald Trump runs for President (which he's considering doing and I wrote about it at this link), then I bet he would really rattle our traditional government ranks to the core.  He might not win, but he would hopefully scare a lot of people into seeing things straight and make them understand what has to happen to "fix" the U.S. economic situation.   I would vote for him in one second.  Listen to him talk about political topics and you might give him a second look too.  He did a great interview today on CNN.

What do you think?

"Designing Disney" - John Hench

A note to my friends on Facebook...My posts that appear there are automatically coming from my blog over here at http://www.johnolszewski.com, so if you want to see the full picture of what I'm doing online, check out my blog URL above in addition to watching on Facebook.

I'm adding a new section to my blog with the keyword "Disney" in the My Topics navigation on the left side.  You can click that keyword to see everything that I put up here that's related to Disney.  I hope you'll come back often to check it out, or you can also simply subscribe to the RSS feed for my blog to get automatic updates in your RSS reader or email.

Everyone who knows me is aware of the fact that I've always been a total Disney fanatic.  I think I've been there around nine or ten times, and I even got engaged in front of Italy in Epcot.  But my interest in Disney goes far outside of the parks.  It reaches to books, movies, and now the family has even gotten into Disney pin collecting!

Some day I will visit the other Disney parks.  I've never been to DisneyLand but that seems to be the next one for me to try considering it's in the US.  The other parks around the world will need to wait for a while.  I've also been on the Disney Cruise Line, which is fantastic and I highly recommend it.

To me, Disney has always been my ultimate "feel good" place.  As soon as I walk through the front gates to the park I'm instantly converted back to being a kid again and my inner child runs wild.  Memories come flooding back, everyone is smiling and laughing, etc.  It just feels great to be in a place that makes so many people feel so good.  On top of that, the parks have been kept immaculate and innovative over the years....and they just keep getting better!  I would like to go there for a week every year if I could, but the family budget prevents that.  :-(

The official books from the Disney company that I've read about the parks over the years provide much insight into what went into designing, planning, and building them.  It's really fascinating to get this "behind the scenes" look into the parks because it makes you appreciate the care and attention to detail that went into them, and the total mindset of Disney designing virtually everything that they do for their guests.

A unique view of "Spaceship Earth" that I captured during our 2006 trip

That concept of "designing for the guests" reminds me of a funny anecdote mentioned in one of the books about Walt Disney talking to one of the groundskeepers in DisneyLand one morning.  Walt was touring the grounds before the park opened, and he stopped to speak to a groundskeeper.  The groundskeeper told Walt that he was frustrated by people cutting across one nice section of grass from one part of the park to the other because it was killing the grass and making it look ugly.  Walt explained to the groundskeeper, "Don't get frustrated by this.  This is feedback from our guests that the path through this part of the park that we built is not right".  Walt told the frustrated groundskeeper to accept feedback from the guests in whatever form it comes, and put in a nice path through that part of the grass and line it with flowers and trees.  The path became one of the busiest walkways in that part of the park.  Moral of the story:  "Listen to the guests", and this concept pervades everything that Disney does.

That level of attention to detail is all over the parks, you just have to know where to look for it other than the obvious views that are all around you.

So, with that in mind, to start off this new Disney section of my blog on the right foot, I'm posting some information about the book above called "Designing Disney" by John Hench that I think true Disney fans will find very interesting.

John was a long time "Imagineer" at Disney and worked hand in hand with Walt and all of the key Disney management and park designers over several decades.  He had a major role in much of what you see at all of the Disney parks, the rides, the stores, attractions, theaters, etc.  The book is a fascinating look into how and why Disney does what it does, how their ideas go from plans to realization, and even discusses details like why certain color schemes and music are chosen for the parks, walkways, rides, etc.

Disney is certainly not what you would call a "relaxing" vacation, per se'.  It's an action-filled and fast-paced vacation during which you buzz from one place to another trying to soak everything in and have as much fun as possible before you have to go home.  Being a fast paced vacation destination, you sometimes lose focus of the little design details of the parks, rides, and overall atmosphere.

After reading this book, I wanted to get on a plane to go to DisneyWorld just to walk around and look at the parks.....really look at them.....and soak in the details that went into them that were mentioned in the book.  In fact, the next time that I go there, my mission is to photograph and capture the nuances of the park, instead of just taking the traditional "stand in front of this ride and I'll take your picture" photos. The photo that I put above of Spaceship Earth is a good example of what I'm talking about....capturing a different view.  It will be a fun photographic challenge!

If you decide to give this book a read, I hope you enjoy it.  I will be posting more information about other interesting Disney books in the future.
 

Capture those funny little moments that make you laugh forever

I'm not a great candid photographer or people photographer.  Over the years I think I've gotten better at it, but it's still not really my thing.  The nature of my photography is usually to take my time to frame and capture the shot I want and relax in the moment a bit.

That has to change when you have kids though.  This is the one area where I was forced to get better at capturing candid photos because kids are only young once and the time flies by.  These are the memories of a lifetime... 

I've tried to "spy" on the kids with my cameras as best as I can over the years and a lot of photos of them doing their thing and learning about life turn out to be simple snapshots.  And that's OK....not every photo needs to be a work of art.

I guess that's the point of this post.  I think a lot of people who get into photography (including me) occasionally start to take it a little too seriously in their quest to become "better", and then they start missing out on the little candid things in life.

This photo here is one of my all time favorite candid photos of my daughter.  We were in Disney World in the Animal Kingdom section of the park.  They have a nice little petting zoo there where the kids can go into a fenced in area and pet and brush a variety of goats, sheep, etc.

My daughter saw this little black goat and she followed him around the whole time we were in there.  The goat wanted nothing to do with Nicole.  Every time she got close to him, he quickly walked away to another part of the enclosure.  She was persistent though, and she slowly followed him around mumbling something like "Come here goat.  Don't run.  Come here goat".  It was very funny to watch...

Finally the moment hit.  It was almost like the goat said, "OK.  Fine.  If you're going to follow me around all day then let's get this over with".  Nicole saw him standing still and she bent over in front of him with her little butt sticking out....very slowly getting closer step by step until they were almost face to face.  They just stood there staring at each other....I don't think either of them knew what to do next.

SNAP!  Got it.  Every time I see this photo it makes me laugh.  It brings me back to that day like it was yesterday and I think about how much this simple candid photo perfectly expresses my daughter's personality.  She is endlessly curious, fun spirited, persistent, and very humorous.

If I was worried about choosing lenses, the composition of the shot, the lighting, the background, etc, then I would have missed this moment.  Sometimes you just have to snap and you end up with a better and more meaningful photo than you ever could have planned.

Photography can be as simple as that.  Quickly capturing a candid photo that will make you laugh for a lifetime...
 

Welcome to the 2011 Formula 1 and IndyCar seasons!

It's a sure sign of warmer months coming when the Formula 1 and IndyCar seasons begin.  Formula 1 started this weekend with the season opener in Australia, as did IndyCar with its opener in St. Petersburg, FL.

Seeing the races this weekend reminded me of when I took our family to see the IndyCar race at Watkins Glen International Speedway in 2009 and 2010.  I decided to post this photo to celebrate the season!

This is a shot that I grabbed at 1/2500 of a second of Helio Castroneves leading the pack at the IndyCar race at Watkins Glen in 2009.

There's nothing like the sound of 20 or so of these Indy cars when they all go screaming by together at 170 MPH at the start of the race.  650 HP each.  It takes your breath away...
  

The Photo Argus

I ran across this nice site yesterday called The Photo Argus.  Here's a link for you to check it out.  Nice collection of articles, photo galleries, tips, etc.  Enjoy!
 

Photo Carousel #11: "Player in the Park"

Here's my next Photo Carousel entry, "Player in the Park".  Click the photo above to see it larger and read more about it beyond what I wrote below.  To see it even larger you can click on this link.

From a creative perspective, this photo was an exercise in compromises to get what I wanted from a candid situation.  So the point of this photo is to "work your subject" until you get the image that you want.

For this picture I wanted to hide most of the player's face while still getting most of the saxophone and the open music case in the photo.  Not easy to do.  Every way that I tried to reposition myself to improve the composition ended up putting another bad background element in the photo.

Ultimately, I comprised to get this composition and left to go back to our hotel.

The issue with the color version of this photo is......the color!  There's too much of it!  The grass behind him on the hill of the park came out very green.  And the red bricks on the ground in front of him were also pretty bright.  Yet I knew I wanted to do something with this photo...

Finally I hit on the idea of desaturating the whole image and leaving just him in color.  This achieved the effect I was looking for, which is to draw the viewer's eye to him and not the other elements that I couldn't get rid of.

In the end, it came out nice as an 8x10 print....but not before some coaxing to get its center of attention clearly defined.  It was a fun exercise playing around with this shot.  I wouldn't use this black and color technique often because it's kind of cliche in a way, but for this shot it worked.
 

Japan

This is a link to one of the most incredible photo galleries I've ever seen on CNN.  The aerial photos show the mind-numbing extent of the damage from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

The extent of the damage is really incomprehensible to me.  I can't even begin to imagine how this will all be cleaned up.  The suffering seems immeasurable.  Not to mention that this is all going on in the midst of one of the world's worst nuclear accidents.....

Throughout watching the coverage from Japan on CNN and MSNBC, I repeatedly saw one thread weaving its way through all of the TV coverage that I think is a true shining moment for Japan.  I keep seeing stories of how the Japanese people are banding together to help one another and their nation in this difficult time.  These are values that are taught to Japanese people at a very young age.  They have an incredibly deep culture rooted in these values and it shows in times like these.

There's no violence or looting on TV like other countries occasionally see in these circumstances.  Just people working together under impossible circumstances..... 

Perhaps we can all learn a lesson from the Japanese people and their culture.  They are a shining example of putting the common good and their nation before themselves.
 

Stay away from the Apple iOS 4.3 update for iPhone and iPad!

As readers of this blog know, I like Apple products.  My wife's iPhone is a pleasure to own and use.  Extremely useful device.

Throughout the time that she's had her iPhone, I've always updated it with the latest release of its operating system, Apple's "iOS", to get better performance and new features.  I've never had a problem with the updates or the update process.

Until now....

I'm posting today to let readers know that the latest update to iOS, which is version 4.3, is a complete piece of crap.  The update process (for me) was as easy as always, but from what I read on the Apple user forums that has not been the case for many others.  But the trouble doesn't stop there...

Beyond the update process is the real meat of the situation, which is the 4.3 update itself and what it does to the phone. 

To that end, I can say that the 4.3 update "broke" our iPhone 3GS.  Since updating to 4.3 this weekend, the key internal iPhone apps (Email, Contacts, Settings, etc) have slowed to a crawl.  There are giant pauses between scrolls on the screen.....and I mean pauses of 5-10 seconds or more before the 3GS will respond to a swipe of your fingers.   This obviously makes the phone quite unusable.  It's faster to just do work on the computer.

If you want to see the trouble that you're probably in for if you do this upgrade, check this link on the Apple web site.  The forum at that link is filled with people having problems with their iPhone 3GS and 4, and the iPad, after moving to iOS 4.3.  Broken connections, crashed phones, lost data, horrible performance, etc.

For now, I would recommend to anyone who happens to read this that you stay with iOS 4.2 until these problems with iOS 4.3 are resolved.

Come on Apple.  This update sucks and you've crippled your customers' devices.  Get it fixed!

UPDATE on 3/15:  Here's a link to a thread on the Apple forum dealing with the problems on the 3GS.  There's a rumor going around that Apple has provided some people with info that a 4.3.1 release is already being worked on, but that's just a rumor as far as I know...

UPDATE on 3/18:  We've noticed that the battery life on the phone has plunged and it will drain a full charge in a few hours, even when just sitting there untouched.  The phone also gets quite warm when in a pocket or purse, something that never used to happen before.

UPDATE on 3/20:  Well, as quickly as the problems appeared after the iOS upgrade to 4.3 on my iPhone 3GS, the problems disappeared.  Yes.  All problems are gone.  If I didn't know better, I would say that Apple pushed out a secret fix to iOS 4.3 that suddenly fixed my phone but that's highly unlikely (if not impossible).  Instead, a member on the Apple forum posted a seed of an idea that might have caused the problem.  Since the battery was acting so strange, he suggested that perhaps the batter management subsystem somehow got corrupted during the update process on my phone (which has not been unheard of in the past with iOS upgrades).  This could probably explain some of the strange behaviors that we were seeing, but in any event, there's something wrong with the 4.3 upgrade if it could even cause this problem in the first place.  Knock on wood, my phone is now working fine with iOS 4.3 in place, however a lot of people on the Apple forums are still having problems so I would still recommend staying away from this until a cleaned up iOS 4.3.1 is released.....

UPDATE on 4/14/11:  I recently purchased a new iPhone 4 that has iOS 4.3 on it already, and the phone is running fine.  It has none of the problems mentioned above.  I have not updated to 4.3.1 because I don't have a reason to on either one of our iPhones, and I don't want to risk it.  So, for now, we have two functioning iPhones on 4.3.  Seeing as how I just bought a new iPhone 4 with iOS 4.3 on it and it's running fine, and the problems with my wife's 3GS seem to have completely cleared up, it's really making me wonder what's going on.  My sneaking suspicion is that the 4.3 and 4.3.1 updates themselves might actually be OK, but instead it might be the update process itself that's causing a lot of strange problems.  Many people are complaining that things are going wrong during the process, and those errors and problems might be corrupting the phone somehow.  Just my guess...
  

Under-the-radar tick diseases spreading across the U.S.

I wanted to post the article at this link from MSNBC called "Under-the-radar tick diseases spreading across the U.S." because there's a lot of valuable information in it that people should be aware of as we move into the warmer months of the year when ticks are most active.

At one time or another during the summer months of recent years, we've found ticks on all four of us in my house.  We found dog ticks on me, my wife, and my son.  Several times we found deer ticks on my daughter, and one of those times involved seven or eight at the same time that somehow got in her hair and on her eye.  Those little deer ticks are a pain in the ass.  They're almost impossible to see.

None of us got Lyme disease until my daughter unfortunately got it last year.  She never felt a tick bite, we never saw a tick on her skin over the days that it might have been there, and she had zero symptoms.....except the infamous "bulls-eye rash" that eventually showed up that's a sure symptom of Lyme.

The picture here shows the rash that we found on the back of her leg.  We immediately called the doctor when we found it, he said it was a classic Lyme rash, and he put her on antibiotics without waiting any further.  After three weeks, the rash was gone and she never had any other symptoms.

The article that I linked to above tells of some much more serious diseases that can come from tick bites.  Everyone should be aware of them because some of them (and their symptoms) sound pretty miserable.

We've always been cautious about checking and brushing the kids off when they come in from outside, they don't play in the woods near our house during the summer months, and we always check them for any bulls-eye rashes at night during the warm months.  Even with that, Nicole got Lyme, so we need to step it up a notch.

While I'm not a big fan of spraying chemicals like DEET all over the kids every time they go outside in the summer, I'm going to do some research into what other things might be used to repel ticks from our bodies.  I'll post anything that I find back into this article in the future.

In the mean time, stay cautious as it gets warm.  Check yourselves and your kids when you/they come in from outside, and check in the mirror each night for the Lyme rash.  If you miss seeing the initial rash, it will go away and the next Lyme symptoms that you get could be much worse (i.e., neurological problems, heart issues, etc).

More to come on this topic if/when I find the information that I'm looking for...In the mean time, here's the link to the Center for Disease Control web site on Lyme.
   

"What doesn't add detracts from an image" - Robert Rodriguez Jr.

Here's a link to a short post over on Robert Rodriguez's blog about simplifying your photos to make them more effective.  Definitely a principle that I've worked on in my photography over the years, and it helps to always keep it in mind.

Pathways #2a: Michael Frye - Reading Histograms (and using them!)

In my Pathways #2 article on this blog, I spoke about getting better exposures straight out of your camera.  It makes such a huge impact on the visual appeal of a photo to have it properly exposed.  Within that article, I posted an example photo of mine to drive home my point.  This post is related to the one I mentioned above, so I called it "2a".  :-)

The two main tools to achieve better exposure are:  1) having the knowledge of how your camera's metering system works and what lighting situations will fool your camera into over or underexposing a scene, and 2) how to use your camera to correct these situations.  I touched on both points in my article. 

Related to #2 above, the main way to use your camera to understand and correct any given exposure situation is by viewing the histogram and understand what it's telling you about the exposure settings that you've chosen for any given photo that you're trying to take.

To that end, today I read this post by Michael Frye on his blog that drives home the point of getting proper exposure with even better examples than I provided in my article because he includes photos and histograms and explains what they're showing you.

It's a quick and useful read for anyone looking to get better exposures straight out of their camera.  Enjoy!

Welcome, spring! Are you almost here?!

Before the storm...

It's 55 degrees today where I live in New York.  Tomorrow it will probably be over 60!  Very nice, considering the brutal winter we've had this year.  You can go outside in a sweatshirt, the birds are singing, the sun is shining, etc.  All while we still have over two feet of snow on the ground!

I love the photo to the left.  It was taken at dusk out of my garage door after I cleaned up the snow from the start of a big storm.  The light in the sky was heavy and gray, and you could almost feel the storm coming in.  We got pounded that night with over a foot of snow.  I've seen this type of light many times this winter late in the day before overnight storms...

I didn't mind the harsh winter this year.  In my opinion, I don't have much purpose for winter without the beauty and fun of the snow, so bring it on!  :-)

My greeting in front of the garage door, blocked with 20 inches of snow!

That being said, it was a lot of work cleaning it all up!  This winter, I was typically met with a scene like this when I opened up the garage door.  A blocked door with swirling winds and blowing snow.

Of course, I learned the hard way about the new laws in the U.S. that were implemented in 2010 that increased the amount of ethanol in our gas.  Why does this matter to me?  You can't store your power equipment with gas in it during the off seasons anymore.  The new fuel turns gummy in the fuel lines and carburetor and makes the equipment run very badly.  Of course, not knowing this ahead of time, my snow blower was one of my pieces of equipment that I left the gas in over last summer and all of this snow was that much harder to clear because the machine was not running right.

Clearing the driveway after a storm of more than a foot of snow...

Eventually I got it running better, which helped me cut a path through the multiple storms that dumped over a foot of snow, like this one at left.

The kids had a lot of fun with the first few storms because there was so much snow that it was funny to try to walk and play in it.  But then we got another storm.  And another.  Soon the snow was too deep for sledding.  The sleds didn't move!

Then we got an ice storm on top of it all and that turned everything into a solid block of ice and snow.  The fun was over.

Me, at work, on one of our smaller storm cleanups...

As the winter progressed, we ran into another problem.  Many school cancellations.  In a stroke of genius (insert sarcastic sigh), our school system only planned for one snow day this year.  Huh?  I don't really understand the logic of that, but go figure....

Now the kids will have their spring vacation chipped into so that we can return days to the school calendar.

Was it me who said I wanted all this snow?!  :-)

So as we roll toward the end of February, I can say now that I've had my fill of winter.  The storms were fun, everyone got to play around a lot, and now it's time for spring.  I especially began to feel this way today with a classic day of "spring fever".  The high temperatures and the birds singing brought that on... 

The birds want their bath back...

So I end this winter photo essay with a picture of our birdbath.  It's buried up to the dish in snow and it's tipping over due to the soft ground underneath it.  In some of the past winters, it was so mild that the birds were able to splash around in the bird bath most of the winter.  Not so this year.  They land on the frozen snowcap on top of it and look around as if to say, "What the hell?  Where's the water?".

Soon, my friends...........soon.

Subscribe to me on Flickr!

Hi everyone...

As we move forward into 2011 (covered in snow!), I've started to increase my online photo posting on Flickr.  I'm trying to get some of my better photos up there to get some feedback from people.

If you're interested in receiving my new photos automatically, you can use your RSS reader to pick them up from this link:

http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_public.gne?id=54191762@N02&lang=en-us&format=rss_200

If you're so inclined, please post your comments about any of the photos that you see there.  I would be interested to hear your feedback.

Hope to see you there!

John

Photo Carousel #10: "Boathouse Restaurant"

Here's my next Photo Carousel entry, "Boathouse Restaurant".

We spend some time almost every summer vacationing at Lake George in upstate New York.  It’s a terrific vacation place centered around the beautiful (and big!) lake with many water activities to enjoy and a nice town with a ton of restaurants and other land-based activities.

This is one of my favorite photos that I’ve taken of Lake George, and there’s not even much of the lake in it!  But it captures the spirit of the place for me and for that reason I consider it a successful photo.  I hope others enjoy it as well, even though it may not have the same emotional connection for you.  Click on the photo above to learn more about it…

From a creative perspective, there’s a lot going on in this photo to look at…which is precisely why I captured it.  It’s all “calm” stuff though, so it allows you the time to look around it to explore.

You have the overall scene itself of the restaurant and the reflections of the lights on the water.  I liked the colors there.  Their reach across the water was what initially grabbed me about this scene.  Then there’s the people eating in the upstairs alcove in the upper left.  The boats at the dock, the waitress in the red shirt all the way on the right, etc.  To me it says what it is:  A waterside restaurant, and to me they’re very relaxing.  A great way to spend an evening after a day on the lake.  Pull up to the restaurant, dock, and relax.

I took a number of shots of this scene as the sun was setting.  The most effective ones were after dusk when the lights of the restaurant impacted the scene.  For shots like this, it’s best to try to capture them while there’s a little bit of light left in the sky so it doesn’t appear as total blackness in the final image.  If I had waited just a few minutes longer, the blue sky would have turned black and that would have changed the mood of this scene in a direction that I didn’t want it to go.

I intentionally framed this with the restaurant at the top to allow the lights maximum room to spread across the water.  As I look at this I can almost hear the water lapping against the boats and the laughter of the people on the dock enjoying dinner.

What I really wanted to do was go back to shoot from this same location with a more telephoto lens on a night when the restaurant was more crowded so I could pick out scenes on the docks, in the upstairs bar, etc.  It would have been a cool vantage point to capture the hustle and bustle of the place on a busy night.  But I never got the chance to go back on this trip.  I’ll try again in the future.