Me: Te amo, Tessa.
Tessa: Ti elmo, Daddy.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Our TV debut on Jimmy Fallon...
We abandoned Tess with her aunts yesterday so we could go to NYC and try to get standby tickets to Jimmy Fallon. And it worked! At the end of the show, Jimmy and his chef guest passed out treats to the audience. See if you can find us in the crowd. We're in the clips that show the chef.
Jimmy gave me a cupcake! We're basically BFFs 4eva 4life now.
While waiting to see if we could get the standby tickets, we passed the rest of the day at the Met. I found some new favorite works of art. This one is pretty great:
But this is my new favorite:
Guess which Katy Perry song we were singing when we saw this one:
This was probably Jaime's favorite. I think she stared at it for a good 7 and a half minutes. Pervert.
The last time I was at the Met (years ago), I didn't get to see any of the ancient stuff. So, even though we killed our feet walking around the whole museum, it was worth it:
Here is Jaime on the roof garden:
This work was up on the roof garden. Very cool.
Jimmy gave me a cupcake! We're basically BFFs 4eva 4life now.
While waiting to see if we could get the standby tickets, we passed the rest of the day at the Met. I found some new favorite works of art. This one is pretty great:
But this is my new favorite:
Guess which Katy Perry song we were singing when we saw this one:
This was probably Jaime's favorite. I think she stared at it for a good 7 and a half minutes. Pervert.
The last time I was at the Met (years ago), I didn't get to see any of the ancient stuff. So, even though we killed our feet walking around the whole museum, it was worth it:
Here is Jaime on the roof garden:
This work was up on the roof garden. Very cool.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Flugtag...
3 days after my birthday, Kellie finally gave me permission to celebrate. So we went to flugtag to see all the human powered flying machines. Most of which fly about as well as a large rock.
Here's the record flight, so you can see what the goal is:
And here is an ad showing what usually happens:
We took a shuttle over to Camden from Independence Hall to see this, which wasn't the best idea. Here's what our ride over in the shuttle looked like. There were so many people:
Shane and Ashton came down after us and actually got to the place before us. Then it took forever to find them amongst the 85000 people there. Tess was very happy to have found them, but she was a bit wiped out.
Nothing a little Red Bull can't fix! Having her first one ever:
Because we were so late getting there, we never had a good view of the barge where the flying machines take off. So after it ended and people cleared out, we went down to the riverfront to see things up close. This is the crew pulling some of the last remains of a craft out of the water:
Us with Philly behind us. Notice Tess still won't give up her Red Bull:
Instead of taking the shuttle back to Independence Hall, we decided to walk back over the Ben Franklin Bridge.
It was a long walk, and we stopped every now and then to take more pictures. Some crazy ladies on the bridge:
Standing on the bridge looking at nasty New Jersey on the left and Philly on the right.
PS-we didn't really let Tess drink the Red Bull. We told her she would have to wait til she was at least 3 before she could have that strong of a drink.
Here's the record flight, so you can see what the goal is:
And here is an ad showing what usually happens:
We took a shuttle over to Camden from Independence Hall to see this, which wasn't the best idea. Here's what our ride over in the shuttle looked like. There were so many people:
Shane and Ashton came down after us and actually got to the place before us. Then it took forever to find them amongst the 85000 people there. Tess was very happy to have found them, but she was a bit wiped out.
Nothing a little Red Bull can't fix! Having her first one ever:
Because we were so late getting there, we never had a good view of the barge where the flying machines take off. So after it ended and people cleared out, we went down to the riverfront to see things up close. This is the crew pulling some of the last remains of a craft out of the water:
Us with Philly behind us. Notice Tess still won't give up her Red Bull:
Instead of taking the shuttle back to Independence Hall, we decided to walk back over the Ben Franklin Bridge.
It was a long walk, and we stopped every now and then to take more pictures. Some crazy ladies on the bridge:
Standing on the bridge looking at nasty New Jersey on the left and Philly on the right.
PS-we didn't really let Tess drink the Red Bull. We told her she would have to wait til she was at least 3 before she could have that strong of a drink.
Kellie's Birthday in Philly...
To celebrate Kellie's birthday (which incidentally is mine too, but I'm not allowed to celebrate it until Kellie gives permission), Miriam and Shane took us all down to Philadelphia to eat at Max Brenner. It was pretty much amazing. Dessert for dinner is always a good thing!
Afterwards, we walked around the city a little and went down to see the Love statue. Aaaawwww. Love. Blah blah blah.
Twin powers unite! Kellie claims I made her pose like this, but she's obviously the one having the most fun with it. She's so weird.
Here she is again.
And one last shot of the group walking back to our car. We all piled in to our station wagon. There were 7 of us, and we still could have fit one more person! Miriam and Ashton rode in the very back where the seats face backwards. Luckily they both only way 70 pounds which is the suggested weight limit.
Afterwards, we walked around the city a little and went down to see the Love statue. Aaaawwww. Love. Blah blah blah.
Twin powers unite! Kellie claims I made her pose like this, but she's obviously the one having the most fun with it. She's so weird.
Here she is again.
And one last shot of the group walking back to our car. We all piled in to our station wagon. There were 7 of us, and we still could have fit one more person! Miriam and Ashton rode in the very back where the seats face backwards. Luckily they both only way 70 pounds which is the suggested weight limit.
More catching up to do...
At the end of August, many of Jaime's family came to visit us. So we unceremoniously threw all of Kellie's stuff to curb to make room for everyone, and left a note on the locked door telling her to come back in a few days. Our apartment isn't very large.
It was pretty cramped, but it was a good visit...despite our nosey neighbor threateningly asking all these brown people what they were doing snooping around our garage.
We also took everyone downtown to see Independence Hall. The first picture is of everyone eating Philly Cheesesteaks. A must.
We had gotten tickets when we arrived to go through Independence Hall. Waiting to get in, Tess had fun and entertained Grandma:
After the tour, we took a family picture. I tried to combine it with another one so that you could see the whole statue and the bell tower behind everyone. But they were taken at different exposures. So it looks good small, but not the best large.
However, the original of the family is great:
Finally, here is our little family and then Jaime with the Liberty Bell.
It was pretty cramped, but it was a good visit...despite our nosey neighbor threateningly asking all these brown people what they were doing snooping around our garage.
We also took everyone downtown to see Independence Hall. The first picture is of everyone eating Philly Cheesesteaks. A must.
We had gotten tickets when we arrived to go through Independence Hall. Waiting to get in, Tess had fun and entertained Grandma:
After the tour, we took a family picture. I tried to combine it with another one so that you could see the whole statue and the bell tower behind everyone. But they were taken at different exposures. So it looks good small, but not the best large.
However, the original of the family is great:
Finally, here is our little family and then Jaime with the Liberty Bell.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
How I waste my time lately...
I have a pretty obsessive personality and go from hobby to hobby fairly quickly. Here is my latest obsession. Equirectangular panoramas and stereographic projections. These are 360 degrees by 180 degrees panoramas which can be warped into a small looking planet. I think they're really interesting especially because you get to see so much all at once.
To give you an idea of how it is done, here's how it starts. I don't have a very good camera, so I have to rotate 360 degrees around one spot taking 60 to 80 pictures to get the whole panorama. The below image shows those images all together. You might want to click on it to see it bigger. This small, it is hard to look at:
I put those images into a nice little program I have, and it stitches them together to create the Equirectangular Panorama. So then it more or less turns into this:
After the program has combined the images, I have to go in and make some corrections in Photoshop--usually to erase my gut, which you can see a few times in the first image! I was lazy with the above image and only corrected a few parts of it. So there are lots of spots where the stitching doesn't match up, but you get the idea.
Finally, using the same program, I can then turn the 360 degree panorama into a small planet (Stereographic Projection):
I'm also putting up two more that I did a few weeks ago.
Commodore Barry Bridge:
Swarthmore Train Station:
If you want to see more of my little planets, head over to Flickr.
And that is how I waste my time.
To give you an idea of how it is done, here's how it starts. I don't have a very good camera, so I have to rotate 360 degrees around one spot taking 60 to 80 pictures to get the whole panorama. The below image shows those images all together. You might want to click on it to see it bigger. This small, it is hard to look at:
I put those images into a nice little program I have, and it stitches them together to create the Equirectangular Panorama. So then it more or less turns into this:
After the program has combined the images, I have to go in and make some corrections in Photoshop--usually to erase my gut, which you can see a few times in the first image! I was lazy with the above image and only corrected a few parts of it. So there are lots of spots where the stitching doesn't match up, but you get the idea.
Finally, using the same program, I can then turn the 360 degree panorama into a small planet (Stereographic Projection):
I'm also putting up two more that I did a few weeks ago.
Commodore Barry Bridge:
Swarthmore Train Station:
If you want to see more of my little planets, head over to Flickr.
And that is how I waste my time.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Tess vs the Volcano
We have no idea what started this or why she thinks there is a volcano in our neighbor's yard.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Trying not to be so lazy about blogging...
We've had a pretty fun last month or so with family. And so there are some things to write about, but I've been too lazy to do it. On the 23rd of August (Tuesday), we drove down to Raleigh to see my sister. I actually only stayed an hour and left Jaime and Tess there so I could drive down to Atlanta for a job interview the next day. Then after my interview, I drove right back up to Raleigh, and got to spend most of Thursday with Erin and her boys.
Here are some of the highlights from the trip:
Marbles Museum
Erin and her boys really enjoy this museum, so we thought it would be a fun day activity. Jaime's cousin Chelsea and her two kids also met us there. I think everyone had a great time.
Tess hiding inside a safe:
Tess definitely loved the place. Her favorite area was the Splash Zone, and she had to be dragged kicking and screaming from it.
Not too sure about her cousin's driving:
So she found her own ride:
I love this picture. Jaime and Chelsea wanted to get a picture together with their kids, and then my nephew (striped shirt) decided to jump in as well!
Members of the Alley clan:
Driving through South Carolina
I'd never been to South Carolina before. In one of the Carolinas I saw this huge water tower that instead of having the boring old bulb on top, had a giant peach. It was neat, except it would have made more sense to me in Georgia.
That one time I got a job not scrubbing toilets
While my nephew was jumping into pictures, I was on the phone listening to a voice mail message from the people I interviewed with telling me they were really impressed. So then I had Jaime listen to the message, and her face deleted it. I've been scrubbing toilets to put food on our table and been completely stressed out for the last 20 months with my crummy job situation, and finally someone shows some interest in hiring me for a job I would love and HER FACE DELETED IT! Luckily, the lady that called, also sent me an email and I was able to reach her. And...they gave me the job! I'm sure most anyone that reads this blog already knew, but we'll be moving to Atlanta in the near future where I'll be teaching at the Art Institute of Atlanta.
Here are some of the highlights from the trip:
Marbles Museum
Erin and her boys really enjoy this museum, so we thought it would be a fun day activity. Jaime's cousin Chelsea and her two kids also met us there. I think everyone had a great time.
Tess hiding inside a safe:
Tess definitely loved the place. Her favorite area was the Splash Zone, and she had to be dragged kicking and screaming from it.
Not too sure about her cousin's driving:
So she found her own ride:
I love this picture. Jaime and Chelsea wanted to get a picture together with their kids, and then my nephew (striped shirt) decided to jump in as well!
Members of the Alley clan:
Driving through South Carolina
I'd never been to South Carolina before. In one of the Carolinas I saw this huge water tower that instead of having the boring old bulb on top, had a giant peach. It was neat, except it would have made more sense to me in Georgia.
That one time I got a job not scrubbing toilets
While my nephew was jumping into pictures, I was on the phone listening to a voice mail message from the people I interviewed with telling me they were really impressed. So then I had Jaime listen to the message, and her face deleted it. I've been scrubbing toilets to put food on our table and been completely stressed out for the last 20 months with my crummy job situation, and finally someone shows some interest in hiring me for a job I would love and HER FACE DELETED IT! Luckily, the lady that called, also sent me an email and I was able to reach her. And...they gave me the job! I'm sure most anyone that reads this blog already knew, but we'll be moving to Atlanta in the near future where I'll be teaching at the Art Institute of Atlanta.
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