Observation…

Lick Observatory sits on the peak of Mt. Hamilton just East of San Jose, CA. It used to be one of the best spots to view the Heavens with its massive telescopes. However in the past 100 years, San Jose has grown from a sleepy agriculture town to the largest city in the Bay Area. The population explosion has caused some pollution problems. The usual pollution from cars, noise and waste are expected. The pollution that is the biggest concern for the Lick Observatory is Light Pollution. Light pollution makes it very difficult to peer deep into the heavens from Mt. Hamilton.

This wasn’t supposed to be a political lesson, nor do I want it to be. So I will get to the topic I was originally going tot write about. At the Lick Observatory they have two working web cams. On clear mornings these cameras provide spectacular images of the sunrise. The cameras are in a fixed position. Hamcam #2 looks East by Northeast. In the view you can see the six domes that are located on the 4200’summit. West facing Hamcam #1 has a panoramic view of San Jose and the valley it sits in.

On October 24, 2007 at 10:12 AM, I observered a giant monster attacking the City of San Jose. The monster turned out to be a small spider on the protective cover of the camera.

Flight test…

On Saturday while my wife was taking a mid-term, I took advantage of the time and made a trip to Palo Alto and Keebler & Schucat Photoagraphy. It was my lucky day. Not only were they having a huge sale, but reps from all the big name vendors were there to parade their wares.

Once I became aware that is was a rep/demo I scampered to the Nikon counter like a kid that was given a dollar for candy. Yes, that’s right… I did… I got to play with the new but rare Nikon D3. If you ever wanted to know what $5,000.00 looks like it looks like this, minus the lens. I spent 15 minutes playing with a camera I will never own. I am sure my wife and I could find many more useful ways to spend 5,000 clams. If I was pro… I could write it off, but I am not and it would never pay for itself. However, I did enjoy toying with it.

The new Nikon D300 is more my speed and price. I remember when the Nikon D70s was $1,799.00

It’s Here…

It’s here, it’s here… The new phone book's here! The new phone book's here!

Photo by: Kirk Howard Copyright© 2007

Well not the new phone book but my new MacBook Pro. With its slick polished aluminum case and newly updated OS. I was so excited, it felt like Christmas morning. I spent all night, moving my profile from my wife’s MacBook that took an hour and a half. Next was the loading of Leopard. I was a little disappointed in Apple Inc., for not having this already loaded and configured. This process took almost two hours. After that I had to down load all the updates to the various programs, security and Leapord updates this took another hour or so.

Now the fun begins. I uploaded my copies of Photoshop Lightroom and CS. I am now ready to do a little photo editing and posting…

Photo by: Kirk Howard Copyright© 2007