thedude.com » Wisconsin

James Was Here

thedude — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:01:50 +0000

OK – I’ve been feeling kinda bad. My pal Jim visited for a week, and, despite great conversation, great weather and meals at places like Haven, Sea Salt and of course Chop Bar, I took a grand total of one photograph. With a cheap-ass point-and-click. I guess it could have been worse – I could have used a cell phone. There’s no excuse for this.

I was stumped at what to do, and Jim solved the dilemma by posting a really amazing shot of a few of the more than 50 orchids he has blossoming in his kitchen right now. In Madison Wisconsin. In January. I find this amazing. There is absolutely zero chance of me ever being capable of creating anything even remotely like this. I’m in awe.

It was great to hang with you, Dude. Always enlightening in so many ways.

Wisconsin Winter Weather Woes

thedude — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 18:41:06 +0000

Access to one of the most important destinations in Burlington, Wisconsin has been hindered by a four foot snow drift.

My forecast is that thirsty residents will grab their shovels and clear a path to their beloved watering hole by beer-thirty.

Scanning — Again

thedude — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 03:27:41 +0000

Yes, Kelly found a stack of old negatives, and I’m back at it. These days, I basically have the scanner running whenever I’m at the computer. I load up the negative carrier, preview scan a bunch of images, and final scan the best ones. The process is time-consuming, but my new computer is fast enough that I can now run the scanner software in the background pretty much no matter what I’m doing, which is sometimes quite a lot. So, in an evening I can now get 6 or 8 scans done – sometimes without even having to reboot. Yay Windows!

So, I have this shot of Dave that is much taller than it is wide, but man, it looks really nice if you happen to have a your 1600×1200 pixel display in portrait orientation. So there ya go.

Jim and Wendy Celebrate in the Bay Area

thedude — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 00:20:29 +0000

Our foodie friends Jim and Wendy dropped in while celebrating 25 years of wedded bliss. Congratulations to both of you, and thanks for giving us a reason to visit some of the best the Bay Area has to offer. I’m full now.

Fall Colors in Wisconsin

thedude — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:53:41 +0000

Thanks, Dave for sending this shot of Lori & Pat’s tree. What’s that then, a maple? Is this tree in Lyons, Wisconsin? Who are Lori and Pat?

Kerry & Matt

thedude — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:57:17 +0000

Kerry and Matt paid a visit to the Bay Area. We spent a few food-filled days traveling up and down the coast. I will be posting more pictures as soon as possible!

Laughing Dogs

thedude — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:10:25 +0000

Once in a while a friend sends a photo that amazes me. Dave was practicing with his new camera, and managed to capture this cool image of googly-eyed puppies going crazy in the Wisconsin snow.

Dave, I’d say this picture proves that some pet-owners do look just like their pets! :)

Mark Lands in the Bay Area

thedude — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:12:13 +0000

Welcome! You certainly picked a gorgeous day to fly in to Oakland.

More Snow Blankets from Wisconsin

thedude — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:08:37 +0000

Thanks, Bob for the very cool shots!

My Never-Ending Scanning Project

thedude — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:48:58 +0000

A few years ago, my best man Steve and I split the cost of a Nikon film scanner. I figured I’d spend a few days scanning the best of the thousands of slides and negatives I have scattered around. Well, this little project has grown into a monster. I’ve been scanning on and off for the better part of three years, and I’m no where near done.

The main reason my project has grown so time-consuming is the amount time it takes to get a good scan. Initially, I cut corners and scanned at lower resolutions or lower bit-depth or even skipped a preview scan. Now I know that attempting to save time in this way a very bad idea. There is no way around the fact that every image must be preview scanned and adjusted individually. Also, there are several scanning options which must be enabled to get the best results. Doing this causes the amount of time per scan to increase dramatically. A single 35 mm slide now takes about 15-20 minutes to scan. My 6 x 7 cm images will take three or four times that. And that’s before they even get opened in PhotoShop, which can easily add another hour or two to the process.

So now, in addition to the slides and negatives that have not yet been scanned, I have to go back and re-scan a buttload of images. This may not be as bad as it sounds though. It turns out that the scanner is perfectly happy scanning in the background. Even on my lowly pee see, I can color-correct and dust-spot an image in PhotoShop, and make an entry on my blog while the scanner hums away on another decades-old image.