Posted by Dan on Jun 30, 2010 in
Lucky Hit I know I should have determined all of this earlier, but did I make a mistake or what? Everyone told me that choosing someone to take pictures of the wedding wasn’t as easy as it seemed.
I guess I didn’t think that it was that big of a deal in choosing a wedding photographer. How hard could it be? I mean, I just need someone with a good camera that knows where to point it.
Or so I thought. I finally sat down and started looking at websites. There are a lot of choices out there! How do I know if anyone is any good? How to finally make a decision? Who can I count on to actually show up for the event?
Thankfully, after dealing with a bunch of flakes and people that just didn’t seem to understand that I wasn’t trying to be artsy or over the top. I just want good quality pictures from a a Houston Wedding Photographer.
I want pictures that aren’t all posed. I want to look back on this event years from now and just be crying and laughing from all the great wedding photography. Who wouldn’t?
I’m sad that I waited so long, but happy with my choice. My guy is good at capturing the actual event in such a high quality way – I can’t wait to see the pictures and see how it all turned out.
I figure the entire day is just going to be one big blur anyway. Glad to know that I won’t miss a thing.
Posted by Dan on Jun 30, 2010 in
Lucky Hit DV Kitchen has just announced the release of a new version of their widely acclaimed video converter for mac osx.
Version 2.0 includes a completely redesigned publishing room which now has some amazing new features that have never been seen before.
In this article, I walk you through how to publish a video using QuickTime as the platform. Here’s how it works:
When you enter the publishing room interface, you are given the option of selecting a clip that has already been uploaded to a remote server, or one that you have either just encoded or imported from another program.
Having done that, you are offered the choice of three publishing platforms, Quicktime, Jeroen Wijering’s flash player, or ShadowBox.
Again, in this example, we’re only concerned with the QuickTime platform. Drilling down into the Quicktime option, you are presented with 3 sub options:
1. Normal Quicktime embed
2. Default poster frame
3. Custom poster frame
The normal Quicktime embed is a great choice if you just want your movie to appear in a web page quickly. DV Kitchen will generate the required html code automatically and offer the option to upload to your web server then and there.
That’s how easy it is. Note that you can have DV Kitchen generate a whole html page or just a code snippet. The snippet is useful where you are hand coding your html or where you have a blog or other CMS platform. Just copy the snippet and drop it into the page wherever you need it..
You don’t have to type in where your movie is stored, height, width, or any of that stuff. It’s compatible with all browsers and every platform . . . it just works.
Multiple Embeds
Okay, so that’s a great publishing option if you only have one video on the page. But what if you have multiple videos on the same page? It’s not a great idea to have them all start buffering at the same time because it will make the browser very sluggish.
That’s where the poster options become useful. The default poster frame simply places a default image at the start of the clip as a kind of placeholder. It looks great and will suffice for many situations. Once you click the play button, the movie replaces the static image.
If you want to create your own graphic, the manual tells you where the default graphic is stored, so you could have a company logo or similar.
The custom poster frame option is a new feature that allows you to scrub through the video to be embedded and select a frame to use as the poster frame. DV Kitchen will grab a still off the frame, upload it to your server and write it into the html embed code. It’s pretty slick.
There you have it . . . QuickTime video publishing made quick and easy with DV Kitchen, the best video converter for mac on the planet.
Posted by Dan on Jun 30, 2010 in
Lucky Hit I a short while ago took a journey back to Ontario Canada to pay a visit with my family and also with some old friends I once worked with in the field of comic book publishing. It was an insightful week with lunches with my Dad and a saturday and sunday train ride into Toronto with an old friend to be inducted into the Hall of Fame Citation for my achievements in the early days in the indie side of comic books.
Packing for a trip is always frenzied and I always seem to leave it until the last minute, and then try to plan in advance for the weather three thousand miles away. I have figured out over the years to travel in comfort. I always wear a pair of comfy stretch pants on the trip, after several years in a row of having the metal brads in my denims set off the metal detectors at airports. It does not hurt that they look sleek and make it easy for me to stretch out a little in the back of the plane on long trips.
Slip off shoes have of course become almost a necessity when traveling, so I always find myself having to pack my walking shoes and wear some simple slipper type shoe for the flight. I was contemplating on doing some gardening at the house my brother is house-sitting for my journeying sister and her husband, and my family loves to walk and talk, so a dependable pair of shoes would be necessary to this trip.
There is something almost enchanting about walking through a town you lived in almost thirty years ago, chatting with family and just noting the changes in the town. The first thing my brother Michael and I did after my five hour trip was take a extended two hour walk into town, all the way through the town park and back to the house where I would be lodging for the duration of the trip. Just the act of strolling around, after a day coping with airports and customs, sitting and breathing recycled air for five hours is enough to renew your body and mind.
Being aware that I would have a few days of gardening, an pastime I have missed since relocating into my apartment, was also a thought that reinvigorated me. I may sit and write about growing plants for my organic garden fertilizer site and my grass seed planting tips site, but nothing beats the real thing! Fingers in dirt, uncovering a full season of growth since the snows receded and clipping back spent spring bulbs to uncover a new crop of wild strawberries emerging in the front yard rock garden. That is my concept of a excellent day.
On the weekend, I took the train up to Toronto with my old close friend Sally and we checked into the hotel that the Joe Schuster Canadian Comic Book Awards show had booked for us. It was so fun hanging out in Toronto, a city I used to love to see when I lived in Kitchener but had not been to for almost thirty years. We wandered through Kensington Market, dined at a little outdoor cafe that served delicious Indian food, and relished the sixties flashback quality of that multi-colored vibrant area. We passed street musicians in tie-dyed tops, women in decorative long skirts and hair, bell-bottomed college kids offering and purchasing goods from open-air markets, and chalkboard sandwich boards proclaiming what local bands would be performing at the coffee shops and bars that night. The air was filled with the fragrance of gourmet coffee, Indian spices, fresh baked bread and incense. The sidewalks were so packed you had to share the narrow roads with the cars and bicycles to get from location to location.
It was a great afternoon to lead up to the awards show. We went back to our hotel, changed into our dresses and headed out to the University Hall where the Awards Show was going on. It was a modest event, maybe 75 people there in all, but well prepared and it was sweet to see the work of the new kids who were awarded for best cover, best kids comic book, best writer, penciller, inker and of course best comic series. There were several people being inducted in the Hall of Fame, some I recognized and some I simply knew their work. I had not composed any kind of thank you speech, not being sure how that segment of the award show would be dealt with. But everything went easily, I was able to draw on everyone elses comments when they received their award, and even to chat on stage with my presenter.
It is funny- I am always concerned about it, but never really anxious when I have to speak before a crowd. But I never remember what I say so I have to measure by what people say after if I was worthwhile. But everyone at the pub after the function thanked me, so guess I did fine. Thank goodness that in this day and age someone is always video taping something like this and I could check out my talk on the net at YouTube after I got home. Nothing distinctive, but at least I did not sound like an idiot.
The train back to Kitchener was relaxing and Sally and I had more time to get caught up on each others lives and theorize how we might do more journeying together in the next year or two. Back in Kitchener, I had time to spend with my Dad, who at 93 is still defeating everyone at bridge and shooting pool with a bunch of young whipper-snappers in their eighties. I hope I am half as productive at being a senior as he is.
I even had a bit of time to open my laptop, brought in the erroneous idea I would get a couple of hours of work done each day while I was there. But I did get a bit of work done revamping one of my web sites about building an interlocking retaining wall. It is always fun to spend some time exploring something you do not know and learning from the research so I can write articles on the resources and construction principles used for these walls. That is what I love about developing these sites I am always finding out something new. And that is what makes these trips so remarkable too. I get some time for new learning, old reminiscing and time with my family all mixed together. What could be better!
Posted by Dan on Jun 30, 2010 in
Lucky Hit Lima, Peru
In Lima, Peru the annual average temperature is 19.13C (66.425F). 14.00C (57.20F) is the lowest monthly mean min temperature (that takes place in June, July, August, September, October) while 27.00C (80.60F) is the warmest monthly mean max temp which occurs in February, March. The annual mean temperature range is 7.00C. Precipitation in Peru builds up to an average total of 28.00mm (1.10in) per annum. That means that average monthly rainfall is 2.33mm (0.09in). August is the most damp month subject to an average of 6mm (0.24in) of precipitation occurring during 20 days while in February, April only 0mm (0.00in) of rain falls. Peru’s weather is effected by 124 days per year with greater than 0.1mm (0.004in) of rainfall. Relative humidity at Peru averages 87.16666667% over the year. 84% is the lowest mean monthly relative humidity that presents itself in February, March and 90% is the highest mean monthly relative humidity that takes place in June, July, August, September. Peru’s climate enjoys 1474 sunshine hours per year or 4.04 daily hours. The range of hours of sunshine is from an average of 1.0 per day in August to 7.8 per day in March. You can get more info about the temperatures in Peru June on the excellent resource. This link covers preety much everything you want to know. Free Peru climate graphs display a comprehensive synopsis of the wet days in Peru.
Lisbon, Portugal
In Lisbon, Portugal the average temp is 16.58C (61.85F). 8.00C (46.40F) is the lowest monthly mean minimum temp (transpiring in January & February) while 28.00C (82.40F) is the warmest monthly average high temperature which occurs in August. The mean temperature range is 11.50C. Wet weather in Portugal is on average 708.00mm (27.87in) per annum. This is equivalent to average monthly precipitation of 59.00mm (2.32in). January is the most damp month when an average of 111mm (4.37in) of water precipitating on an average of 15 days while in July only 3mm (0.12in) of rain falls over 2 days. Portugal’s climate is subject to 113 days per year with greater than 0.1mm (0.004in) of rainfall. Relative humidity at Portugal averages 70% annually. 60% is the lowest average monthly relative humidity that comes about in July and 80% is the maximum average monthly relative humidity that takes place in January & December. Portugal’s weather receives 3023 sunshine hours per year or 8.28 hours per day. Sunlight hours range from 5.1 per day in December to 12.2 per day in July. Get a more complete guide to the temperature in Portugal July at the fantatastic resource. Free Portugal climate charts depict a full review of the windspeeds in Portugal.
Warsaw, Poland
In Warsaw, Poland the yearly average temp is 7.71C (45.875F). -6.00C (21.20F) is the coldest monthly mean low temp (transpiring in January) while 24.00C (75.20F) is the hottest monthly mean max temp that comes about in the month of July. The mean temperature range is 22.00C. Precipitation in Poland totals on average 471.00mm (18.54in) per annum. This is equivalent to average monthly precipitation of 39.25mm (1.55in). July is the most damp month effected by an average of 79mm (3.11in) of rain, hail, sleet or snow falling across 16 days while in March only 20mm (0.79in) of rain falls over 11 days. Poland’s climate is subject to 158 days per year with greater than 0.1mm (0.004in) of rainfall. Relative humidity at Poland averages 78.25% over the year. 68% is the most low average monthly relative humidity to be found in May and 88% is the peak average monthly relative humidity that comes about in December. Poland’s weather enjoys 1676 sunshine hours per year or 4.59 hours per day. Sunlight hours range from 1.3 per day in December to 8.1 per day in June. You can analyse more info about the temperatures in Poland in August at the helpful website. Free Poland climate graphs expose full details about the sunlight hours in Poland.
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