Week 52: December 26th, 2010

So this picture was shot and edited on my trusty iPhone. Using the built in iPhone camera and the Photoshop Express app, I tweaked the saturation/contrast levels, and then added the vignetting. It's incredible to think that the iPhone is several times more powerful than the first computer I owned - an ancient Acorn Electron with a tape drive. Yes, tape drive. That isn't a typo.

Anyhow. I wanted to do this entire blog post from my iPhone, but couldn't figure out how to/forgot/got distracted by Angry Birds (mostly the latter) and so this is a *little* late.

I'll have my final post up by the end of the week.

From Project 52

Week 51: December 18th, 2010

Gather round children, I have a story for you.

So the week before Christmas is my birthday. I usually don't do anything - people are either out of town or doing last minute Christmas shopping, and so I always say I'll celebrate in January. The new year starts, we get busy with classes and school, and I end up forgetting about it. The most I'll do is dinner with some friends.

Well, this year a friend of mine took it upon herself to make sure we had cake on my birthday.

The day before, we all were out for dinner for a friend who had successfully passed her PhD thesis proposal (Yay MJ!). After dinner, the waiter walks over carrying a cake, and they all start singing happy birthday (they were all in on the devious plan).

I had no idea it was for me. So I did what anyone would have: I joined in singing happy birthday, thinking it was for someone else.

So I'm belting out happy birthday along with everyone, wondering whose birthday is today and why everyone is looking at me like I'm an idiot. Then the dude puts the cake down in front of me. Then the lightbulb went off.

Yeah. I'm smart like that :)

Thanks again to Mariane for the cake, and to everyone who made my birthday weekend so much fun :)

From Project 52

Week 50: December 12th, 2010

So we're closing in on the end of the year. And, as mentioned in a previous post, that means the combination of schoolwork kicking into high gear as well as Christmas approaching. Well, the Christmas season now starts November 1st (thank you Halloween, the final bastion protecting us from Christmas sales in August), but until Starbucks and Second cup start their Christmas drinks, it really isn't Christmas.

So this shot is of the Candy Cane Hot Chocolate offered by Second Cup. It's a great drink, but the people at Second Cup put a ridiculous amount of whipped cream on top.

For those interested, that drink is 490 calories, 23 g of fat, and 52 g of sugar (about 1.5 times a can of coke). But man oh man does it taste delicious (message to my obesity research peeps: don't judge me).

From Project 52

Week 49: Sunday, December 4th, 2010

So I uploaded this photo a few days ago to Picasa, thinking that I'd write the blog post later, and then I forgot about it when I got buried in work. On the plus side, my stats assignments are done! Wahay!

So this pic is of my guitar I've had since I was ... 14? I've had it for a while, but having one for a long time doesn't make you any good unfortunately. I used to play back in the day, but that fell by the wayside once I started undergrad and grad school.

From Project 52

Week 48: Sunday, November 28th, 2010

So I'm a little behind on blogging at the moment. End of semester madness this year is two presentations, 5 stats assignments and a writeup for my seminar course all due next week (and a paaaatridge in a pear tree...). As a result, I haven't had much time for photography and blogging. However, I am hoping to have this weeks' pic up by tomorrow night.

I enjoy cooking, and this week's shot is from dinner the other night - six bell peppers thrown into a stir fry.

Technical deets: ISO640, 1/30 s, f/4.5 @ 30mm

From Project 52