My Pet Facehugger

I am really digging my new CPAP and all its associated hardware. Not!

Twitterature

The newest fad to spill forth from the digital age is called "Twitterature". The object of this new art form is to cleverly rewrite classic works of literature in 140 characters or less, as they would no-doubt have been written today since nobody writes anything longer than that anymore. At least not in public.

Here are the Twitter versions of a few of our old favorites. I think this could actually be a fun and challenging exercise, despite the grievous assault on our cherished classics.

Moby Dick: Bloke goes bonkers pursuing large white whale across oceans and ends up harpooned to its side. Moral: don't become a fisherman.

A Clockwork Orange: Group of teenagers adopt incomprehensible jargon, drink milk and discuss Beethoven before terrorizing the community. All society's fault.

Lord of The Flies: Dozen kids abandoned on desert island. Scene soon resembles 10-year-old's birthday party, but worse.

Oedipus the King: PARTY IN THEBES!!! Nobody cares I killed that old dude, plus this woman is all over me.

Hamlet: WTF is Polonius doing behind the curtain???

Macbeth: @LadyMac - There's nothing on your hands, you've washed them 100 times already!!

The Great Gatsby: Gatsby is so emo. Who cries about his girlfriend while eating breakfast…IN THE POOL?

The Metamorphosis: I seem to have transformed into a large bug. Has this ever happened to any of you? No solution on WebMD.

One More Blog To Follow

I know, you've already got too many blogs to follow. But if you do have room for one more in your day, one that won't be updated too frequently, then go to:

http://davidwildphoto.wordpress.com/

This is my brand new photography blog on Wordpress. It's also accessible directly from my new David Wild Photography website, and referenced on this page to the right.

This blog intended for my customers and potential customers, and will highlight and showcase some of my favorite recent photographs and the stories that live behind them. Not sure how much cross-posting I'll be doing, we'll just have to see how it works out.

So RSS me! :)

Text To Cash

Many banks now have their own iPhone apps. Many also have mobile-friendly web sites. Most banks let you interface directly with financial software.

But not my bank. This is what they call mobile banking:


Text any of the commands below to 839862 (TEXTNC)

bal = available balance of your primary mobile account
bal nickname = available balance of the nicknamed mobile account
bal all = available balance of all mobile accounts
hist = last five transactions of your primary mobile account
hist nickname = last five transactions of the nicknamed mobile account
list = list of mobile accounts and nicknames
help = list of commands and support information
stop = deactivate service

Examples:

Text bal to 839862 to receive the balance of your primary mobile account
Text bal chk1 to 839862 if you want the balance of the account nicknamed ‘chk1’


Text message banking? WTF? You have to be kidding me. Your competition has slick iPhone apps that look like this:


Heck, one bank even lets you deposit checks by photographing them with the iPhone camera and uploading them electronically!!

But not my bank.

Welcome to 1995!

Really Simple Syndication

Do you RSS? I'm all about it. I love it. I'm addicted. I saw the possibilities of RSS as soon as I first heard about it, years ago.

Basically, every news source, blog, photostream, and social site on the internet sends it's content out in a basic form, pictures and text only, to the wide world. All this information is collected, 24/7, by news aggregators, and you can subscribe to these feeds so that they are delivered right to your digital doorstep. This is called RSS, which stands for "Really Simple Syndication". RSS feeds give you a constant source of new and timely information, customized for your individual tastes.

For instance, here are a few RSS feeds I subscribe to:

CNN Top Stories
All of my friends blogs
Various Apple Mac news sources
Various Photoshop and Lightroom blogs and news pages
The Onion
The daily Dilbert comic strip
Urban Word of the Day
Wired
Engadget
Gizmodo
Mashable!
The Nation
Feeds for many of the apps I use that relay news about updates
Epicurious New Recipes
App Advice: Best iPhone Apps
NPR book recommendations
Roger Ebert Movie Reviews
Factcheck.org
Various backpacking magazines and sites
Various photography sites and blogs
WebMD Health
Blogs from some of my favorite scientists and biologists
The Daily Beast
Amazon Hot New Blu Ray Releases
And more...

Yes, it's a huge amount of information, but with practice you'd be amazed at how fast you could scan through it. So now I never miss any piece of news that relates to my job or hobbies. In fact, I often find the most amazing stories and articles, some so remote or obscure that I would never have run into them any other way.

It's the whole internet, funneled through a firehose pointed right at your brain.

There are many ways to read RSS feeds: I have mine organized with Google Reader on the web, but I have a Mac program (NetNewsWire) that brings them all up in fancy form on my desktop. I also use Byline on the iPhone to get the same feeds. And when you read an article on one device, it's marked as read on all of them through Google Reader. Nifty stuff!

The downside of RSS is that you only get the content, not the window dressing. So for those of you who have additional content on your blogs off to the side (you know who you are), I always make sure to check the actual page every now and then.

One word of warning: if your mind is susceptible to information overload, you will probably be better off not diving into the world of RSS...it's addictive and unrelenting.

Four Trips Around The Sun Together

Four years ago today I married the beautiful redhead we call Heatherbaby! In the past four years we have had many changes in our lives: we have two new children, we've sold two houses and bought one with all the associated moving around. Add in a job change for Heather. We have several new cars and new schools and so many other things in our lives have changed many times over.

But the one thing that hasn't changed is how much I love my Heatherbaby!

Happy Anniversary, Honey!

Happy Firstdateiversary Heatherbaby!

It was 5 short years ago today that we strolled into Sangria and had dinner together :)

PAPzilla

I have been a little distressed lately, because I have to use a CPAP machine to sleep now due to my sleep apnea. I have a very mild case of apnea, but apparently it's enough to be dangerous so off I go into the wonderful world of high-pressure breathing apparatus.

I am more profoundly saddened by this very expensive, humming little machine than I ever thought I would be. I feel like I will never have a normal life again (as if I ever had one to begin with). I know I am supposed to "get used" to it, but it's claustrophobic, limiting, very un-sexy, and one big step closer to death. And talk about uncomfortable...it feels like trying to breathe with my head stuck out the window of a car on the expressway.

Last night was the first full night of my mad dance with the machine that I will name PAPzilla. I didn't sleep very well. I felt like I wasn't getting enough air, and the human body is designed to wake up when that happens. And as a little reminder, the mask of PAPzilla gave me very deep indentations in my face that show no signs of disappearing.

I know it's good for me, so I'll keep trying. But it's a challenging adventure, for sure.

Snoopy!

Gotta Love Maurice

Reporter: "What do you say to parents who think the Wild Things film may be too scary?"

Sendak: "I would tell them to go to hell. That's a question I will not tolerate."

Reporter: "Because kids can handle it?"

Sendak: "If they can't handle it, go home. Or wet your pants. Do whatever you like. But it's not a question that can be answered."

I can't wait!

Heatherbaseball!

A very happy birthday to my wonderful wife!!! We all hope you have a wonderful day, free of crazy people (except the good kind), stress, and hassles!

Heather always likes to remind me that the Tigers won the World Series on her birthday in 1984. In fact, lots of great Tigers baseball history has happened on October 14th:

1908: Tigers lose World Series to the Chicago Cubs, and that was the last time the Cubs won it!

1984: Tigers win the world series over San Diego!

2006: Magglio Ordonez hits an awesome walk-off 3-run homerun to beat the A's and put the Tigers in the World Series! I remember all of us sitting in the living room and freaking out, dancing around, and high-fiving each other until our palms were red.

Although the Tigers didn't quite make it this year, I still wish Heather a fun high-fiving day today :)

Kitty Hello

Maddie calls her "Kitty Hello".

Henri

"Photography has not changed since its origin except in its technical aspects, which for me are not important." Henri Cartier-Bresson

Flowering

Madison continues to get more and more into her ballet class. What started out as a first day of shyness and trepidation has turned into a love of dancing and showing off to her peeping parents.

Sisters

Firehouse

The city of Troy held the annual Fire Station Open House last week and we went to Fire Station No. 1 (The Big Beaver Boys, I kid you not), which as it turns out looks more like a luxury condo inside than a fire station. Big screen TVs, padded leather lounge chairs, and a kitchen Emeril would covet give the impression that when these people are not out fighting fires, they're living large. Which is ok with me, since they need to be sharp and rested in order to rescue me from my roof during a 4-alarm.

It was very cool, the kids loved the ride up in the ladder bucket, sitting in the fire truck, and watching the firemen dismantle a Taurus with the Jaws of Life. And the free donuts didn't hurt either.

The Red Delicious Empire

After football Saturday we once again traipsed through the apple orchards and trod the beaten paths of the great corn maze (Maize Maze?). We ate apples (they probably should have weighed us before and after) and drank cider and crammed donuts in our sticky faces. All in all, a great fall day. One bummer though: Jay hurt his back and had to go home. :( We'll try it again soon Jay!

The Cheap Seats

The Vikings had no shortage of fans this weekend. Thanks for coming out everyone, they really appreciate the support :)

Zacthlete

It was a sad day for the now 2-1 Vikings. Try as they might, they just couldn't pull it together this time. And they faced a pretty good team with a penchant for scoring touchdowns.

On a more personal note...

Looking over these photos, I am still amazed at Zach's athleticism. Frozen in time by photography he looks powerful and fast, nimble and alert. And he throws a perfect spiral! I am so proud of him.

Fluffball

Sissy & B

Sonic Cell

Sandi and I did a studio shot for an 80's cover band called Sonic Cell. The studio, which is her day job, is amazing. And huge.

We took a series of pics of the band members against a blown-out white background (courtesy of several 800W Alien Bees) and these will be composited later.

This is my favorite kind of shooting. Creative and fun, and a big challenge.

Here are some shots of the setup. Band pics will follow when they are done.

Labels

Labels, tags, keywords. Whatever you call them, Blogger only allows you to have 2,000 of them.

How do I know this? Because I have used 2,000 of them and tried to go for 2,001.

So, you're going to see some serious recycling of labels on here.

Halloween...It's Coming!

WTF Dave?

I know, I know. I have been sparse lately. Very busy, for sure, and I've picked up a sinus infection that bellied up to the bar, gulped down the Amoxicillin I gave it, and ordered up a second round. So I'm trying out Zithromax on it. We'll see.

Anyhow, I will be back, soon. In the meantime, here's a picture of my neighbor's creaky thousand-year-old dog, who looks just about like I feel right now.

L8tr.