Getting Old but not Growing Up

Accept the stretchy pants.

Tristan — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 06:19:50 +0000

This is a potential outfit for warped tour as picked out by my sister. I think it is very nice:

The beach trip recap.

Tristan — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 07:31:43 +0000

I just got back from Lincoln City, OR. My girlfriend had to go home a day early which was sad, but she left at the right time. My family sort of went crazy and started fighting which was embarrassing. The trip was a lot of fun, we did the typical stuff: we ate at our favorite pizza place, we went to Mo’s on Siletz Bay, and we made our ritual trip to Newport to shop at the stores on the wharf.

I have a few pictures up on my flickr feed for you to enjoy, but just in case you are quite lazy I will show you my favorites:

Kimmi on the beach access stairs. This was a surprise snap I took with the Canon.

This is a hidden passageway that Girlfriend and I found on one of our walks:

This is my attempt to fill up the roll of film in front of Walgreens:

Today (August 14th), I brought my sister to Klamath Falls, OR to practice with the OIT Hooters soccer team. We had some trouble getting to the right spot, but we arrived there right on time. When we approached the coach he told Ashlyn that they had bumped the practice up to 5 o’clock instead of 6 and that he “should have emailed her”. She was very sad, and I was very angry because it made the trip a lot harder.

Everything worked out in the end. Theresa and Ashlyn played a free game of bowling; Bobby and I had to cheap beers and played a few games of pool, and then we all went to the movies.

We saw “The Collector” which was a gorey and pretty intense movie from the directory of Saw VI, but more importantly, THERE IS A SAW VI?! Theresa got scared at the end and left, probably because Bobby sneaked around and made her scream in the middle of the theater. It was a pretty typical horror movie.

Tomorrow Ashlyn is getting up at 5 am to practice with the team so this trip won’t have been a huge loss. I hope it goes well and she gets a scholarship!

I would also like to say that I miss my girlfriend right now, and I hope everything works out so that I can go visit her in Pullman in a couple of weeks. It is always sad when we have to go back to school, especially when she has to go back first I saw one of my professors today who reminded me that my senior project is around the corner. I don’t like being old! Goodnight!

My cat is lousy.

Tristan — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 04:33:57 +0000

Last night I went into my room to go to bed after watching some Charlie the Unicorn with the sis. And I noticed a funky smell so I sniffed around until I found a quite obvious stain on my bed from my lovely aging cat. He’s a jerk. He is fixed, but he likes to try and prove his manhood still.

Anyways, I would like to play back the conversation I had with my cat for you

Because of that darn cat, I had to sleep on this last night:

Which was surprisingly comfortable thanks to my lovely girlfriend who made that blanket for me

I got some new music, and I almost blew up (unrelated)

Tristan — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 08:54:14 +0000

Our new foreign exchange student from Germany (Theresa) emerged from her jet lagged nap tonight after I texted/guilted her into it. And I started to ask her about everything in an attempt to figure out what she’s into. The answer, it turns out, is soccer and parties. Sweet.

When I started asking her about what music she likes (“um… anything I guess”) she remembered that she brought me a CD from Germany. I was super excited! The CD is a punk/alternative band called Beatsteaks, and the CD is their newest studio release. They are quite good and a little bit like Tiger Army. Here is a picture of the album cover:

I looked them up on Amazon to see if they were actually popular in the States and I was just oblivious. Nope! The cheapest Amazon had the CD for was 30 buckaroonies due to import costs. Anyways I am currently giving them a thorough listening to, and I suggest you use any of the various available means to procure this album! From what I understand, Theresa doesn’t much care for them haha! I am assuming she is a Black Eyed Peas fan though, because they have 2 top 10 hits in Germany right now. I looked!

Oh yeah! Here is my favorite song on the album, please enjoy before the RIAA decides to wave the Ban Hammer.

As for almost dying, I found out that my dad’s old external flash for the Canon would fit on my new Soviet Smena 8m! I hadn’t yet played with the flash, so I dug it out and cracked open the battery compartment, only to find 4 exploded AA batteries. I removed them, and applied vinegar to the contacts to loosen some of the green oxidation. I loaded 4 new batteries and thumbed through the original manual. It explained that the flash was controlled by a 330 volt solid state capacitor.

For those of you who don’t know, in the electrical world, things don’t get much riskier than a 25 year old 330v capacitor. I really wanted a flash though, so I hit the switch and waited. I listened for the high pitched charging noise… there it is SQEEAAALLLOOOOEEEPBLEEeeedodo gone. The smart thing to do would be to discharge the capacitor, but instead I plugged in the 25 year old AC adapter and attempted to get a charge that way. Nothing. Then I got paranoid, so i used the leg of the tripod to press the flash button. Nothing!

I guess I will have to pony up and buy a flash someday, for now, I will just shoot in the day light. Also, I didn’t die. Hurray!

One more thing I must say is that I really really really miss my girlfriend right now. Please wake up and talk to me! I get to see her in less than 2 days which makes me lucky

New cameras, new plans

Tristan — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:24:16 +0000

I just microwaved a Stouffer’s Panini and now I am going to tell you that I just purchased 2 new cameras for girlfriend and I. They are LOMO cameras. More importantly than that, they are vintage Soviet Union Smena 8m 35mm cameras. The Soviet Union started manufacturing the 8m cameras for hard working communist peons in the 70′s. Lee Harvey Oswald was rumored to have a smena 2 in his apartment when they raided it. Here is a picture:

Also, today I found 7 rolls of 35mm film that expired in 2006, so I hope it looks awesome! Be sure to check out the most recent roll of canon shots on my flickr feed. Two days until the beach!

Oh yeah, and our new foreign exchange student Theresa just got here, I will post pictures soon, she seems nice, but I think she is terribly bored right now :s

I just bought this.

Tristan — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:07:46 +0000

I just bought this because it went on clearance. Not saying I’m ever going to wear it, but the option is there.

Charlie the unicorn fanny pack.

The upcoming beach trip and adventures with my Canon.

Tristan — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 09:29:09 +0000

Every year my family makes a trip to Lincoln City, OR and rents a house. Usually about 20 family members show up and its a ton of fun. This last year has been rough, due to 2 divorces (both my older sister and older brother ended their marriages). This doesn’t really bother me too much, but it makes the beach trip more interesting…

I just found out today that my brother (36 – 37 ish) is bringing his new girlfriend Shakira (23) to the beach. This is cool for Kimmi and I (Kimmi is also going) because it adds someone with whom we may have some common interest. I however just wanted to paint my initial impressions of this for you, the reader…

This is what first came to mind:

My family with the Shakira Upgrade

Next I kinda freaked out and thought that maybe girlfriend would feel a bit starstruck, so i decided that she might want to wear this:

Kimmi's potential costume

This idea is still on the table, but I suppose we will play it by ear.

In other news, I did some research on my Canon FT QL:

The classic Canon FT QL

I found a scan of the original manual and learned that i can do manual exposures as long as I want. This makes me smile because now I can do lightning storms and stars! Look forward to those soon! You can see some of my first tests with this camera on my Photostream.

Now I just need to purchase a cable release like girlfriend’s, and a new tripod.

I also did a bunch of reading on what lenses this beast can use and found a fisheye lense for it on ebay going for a pretty easy price. I am hoping to win the bid, so I am not saying how much . Here is a picture of the lense:

15mm Canon FD

It takes pictures like this:

Something in Bratislava

Ok that is all for now! I am off to bed I think. Goodnight!

My weekend and current ambitions.

Tristan — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:29:35 +0000

This weekend I went to see my beautiful girlfriend in Shelton, WA. It was a ton of fun, and we went to a wedding that was sorta like the movie ‘Coming to America’. Except waaaay cooler than Eddie Murphy. There were a bunch of super cool Africans there and I had a strange root with green sludge that tasted like mild fish.

Kimmi and I also went to see Funny People which it turns out isn’t as funny as it is depressing, but it was still good and we had some delish pizza before!

Kimmi and I took a bunch of pictures with the holga (Holgs) as well as tried to convert her into a makeshift pinholga. (the camera not my girlfriend).

I am currently finishing up Transmorphers. And yes I spelled that right. Its quite a good movie, i recommend it if you hate yourself.

I will put up some pictures and such tomorrow, just because Kimmi has pretty much all of them and she goes to bed waaaay early. She happens to have a few up on her blog though, so you should definitely check them out.

I am really wanting to make a stop motion movie, so hopefully that will be in the works today or tomorrow, also Kimmi and I have a “special” video that I will hopefully have up tomorrow.

Finally, I just want to say that I miss Shelton. Adios Blogworld for now.

Eye-Fi Geo AKA Map of an emo kids bathroom…

Tristan — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 06:14:37 +0000

I stumbled upon the Eye-Fi Geo on a gadget site that I frequent. It is a 2Gb SD card for your camera which uses GPS triangulation to Geo-Tag your pictures. In non-nerd this means “I just took me a picture in Germany uh-huh…ahh snap dawg! My computer says I took this picture in Germany dawg!”

This got me thinking, that from my experience with digital photography, most cameras never leave the house. Mind you, this information comes mostly from MySpace browsing.

I would submit to the Eye-Fi company that these cards should be quite precise. I have included some mock-ups and illustrations showing the desired operation:

This table shows a picture, next to its geo-tagged information.

This level of GPS accuracy is necessary for a successful product.

Sister is amazing, Dad is…

Tristan — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 06:39:13 +0000

I just wanted to brag about my sister as well as pimp her new non-profit organization. My sister has been overseeing ongoing mission work in Ghana, Africa. Last year she orchestrated a trip to Africa for her and a handful of students from the CCCS in Prineville, OR. They went to repaint a Christian School for a bunch of kids whose parents risked a lot to send them to school.

The mission was a success and Ashlyn has been in the media spotlight a lot lately. She has been interviewed by the Central Oregon Scandal Sheet, as well as had her story as written by her published in “Prineville Territory” Magazine.

Her new organization is called STEP Up, message me if you are interested in helping in any way. They are going back next June to work on several building projects to help the school be more self sufficient.

Below is a picture of the first of her 3 page spread:

Sister's newest feature (that's her in the top picture)

In other news, my dad brought me some hand lotion today. He got it from his “Chemical Supplier” (he owns a funeral home). He said “Yeah, it’s supposed to be good stuff, it may or may not have embalming fluid in it.” Here’s a picture:

"Velvatone, a rich blend of aloe and embalming fluid"