Elvis Ripley

I put up these pictures of Viet's going away party. It is a good set but I also thought I would put up this video. When I shoot a group of images I usually just put up one, whatever is best during the second long burst but when you view them all together it is a pretty nice experience.

It is pretty cold. On Sunday night the power went out for a little bit because of the ice storm and then came back on a few hours later. It wasn't too bad but that night as I watched the transformers blow all through my neighborhood, they kept getting closer and closer until my transformer blew up and my power went out. Then the next day I saw that everyone's power was out, pretty much.

I had a bunch of work to do so I packed up my computer and lots of drives and took them all to the farm to stay with my parents. It is pretty sweet living in the studio. It is a little chilly but it is big and open and has a very nice ceiling. I really had a tight deadline to get a Biker Fox music video finished for Tulsa Overground so that is what I mainly worked on and then other stuff came my way too. I went to Tulsa on Tuesday to drop off the Biker Fox DVD, pick up some footage and then stayed the night to get some ram. It was so freezing that night. I got a bunch of bottles and filled them with hot water and put them in the bed with me under all the blankets I could find. It was still too cold but I did alright and only had to refill the bottles with warmer water once.

In my driveway.

I have pretty much all I need with the exception of a strong internet connection. It is satellite based and goes in and out all day. The one thing that has really come in handy and hasn't let me down is my iPhone. It is a great source for an independent network to look up numbers and be in all forms of communication with people. The battery lasts a long time and the cold didn't seem to bother it. That night I spent at home with the water bottles my iPhone was sitting on top of my blankets and when I picked it up in the middle of the night it felt ice cold but it still had full battery power and I was able to send some emails.

My street after the storm damage.
It looks pretty dreary.

Monday is the expected date for the return of the power at my house and I hope that works out. As of Wednesday it still seems like there is a lot of damage and I don't know how they are going to get to everything by the 18th. I did see on the news how many electrical workers they had brought in but on Tuesday night I saw more transformers blowing in areas where they were trying to restore power so I don't know what to think of it all. It is a great disaster that has slowed everything down but overall it didn't seem to really be too much of a disaster. It is just pretty inconvenient. If it kept going for a few more weeks everyone would just adjust to it and by January it wouldn't be that bad.

I will update if anything happens but I will probably just be at the farm until my power comes back on and then I will be back to normal with less trees. Hopefully full internet and power come back pretty close to each other. I think my Cox line is yanked out of the back of the house along with the phone line and power.

Update: so I am at home. It is so freaking amazing here.
I came back on Wednesday for a quick meeting and to drop off some DVDs. As I was coming into town I noticed an AEP truck in the front of my house. I came in and turned off anything I found on and waited for the work to finish so I could start the house heat up process. The power came on and I heard plenty of beeps meaning that I didn't get close to unplugging anything. I turned the heater on, went to my meeting, went to the farm and finally brought everything home after a little dinner with my parents and anti aliasing talk (audio and video) with my dad. The internet didn't work but the power was on and it was pretty nice. After an extensive water flush to get rid of some sort of stagnant smell it was back to normal.

Today my parents saw some Cox guys and had them come over and fix my Cox drop. They were so overwhelmingly nice and didn't leave until they made sure my internet was going and as fast as possible. In fact, after they were done they hung out in front of my house for about an hour, that is how dedicated they were. So in conclusion I am glad to be back and happy about everything else.

Sherri and Brad

I spent a few hours yesterday taking some pictures of the Feamster family at the request of Sherri shown to the right. It was a fun time and I think that they all worked out really well. Check out the set of hundreds of pictures here if you are interested.

Brad, Sherri, Me and Brooke

Dan Mayo is in the hospital for a little bit getting his brain replaced. I thought it would be fun to take some hospital pictures and so did he. I put together a weird set of photos along with some not so weird photos of Dan doing hospital and iPhone stuff.

Update: It was Heather. She was just goofing around and not telling me that she left it for me. I am glad that is finally taken care of.

Last evening I sat down at my office chair and looked out my office window. I saw a little bird sitting on the outside of my window looking in. I ran to check it out and it was this stuffed bird with glasses. It is looking at me right now.

So the point is, I don't know who left it, when they left it but I am pretty sure they did leave it because they think I am super special. If you know anything about this bird let me know.

Dan Mayo bought a Leica M8 and I took it home during his busy day to get the battery charged and look for any issues. It sure was hard to use and I didn't like it very much and then I totally changed my mind. After about an hour of realizing what I couldn't take pictures of, I started to really like it. I walked around my neighborhood and I spent a few minutes at a birthday party and really enjoyed it all. So I give it a thumbs up. Click on the picture above to see my Leica M8 Pictures set.

The build quality is astounding and the usability is fantastic. The usability is also tough because it doesn't really do anything for you. You have to think like a photographer which is probably pretty handy. I used to have a Voigtlander Bessa T and it was similar in the restrictions. I really loved that camera big time, it was so fantastic. I sold it and bought a Voightlander Bessa R2 which was a mistake. I didn't like it and immediately changed my mind but too late to get my money back. I sold it after a month and lost a little but my rangefinder experience was a good one. This Leica M8 reminds me of it but in a nicer digital way.

Update: It took about one day but I am boxing it up to send back. It had a nice run but somethings just don't fit and in this case it was the wrong tool for the job.

Update: Dan loves this camera! He is going to keep it. It will probably be with him for years to come. He will also get the Digilux 3 unless that changes too. I might skew him to an Olympus body using the Leica lens.

Even More Updates: I got a Leica Digilux 3 for Dan so we will see how that impacts the situation. The Digilux 3 is also a great camera but not the level of the M8 in terms of quality. If ease of use and features are your thing then the Digilux 3 wins like crazy. The Digilux 3 also has a great upgrade path. (See the compatible Olympus bodies)

Digilux 3 Update: Dan now has the Digilux 3 and was very impressed with it. I am not sure if he has taken any pictures yet but I am sure he is thinking about it.

Here are some pictures I took with the Leica's lens on my Olympus E-300 body. They are super sharp and the lens was very nice to use.