Drapes, Utility Closets, and Record Storage

First things first - we took the time after work to go and vote.  We live in the province of British Columbia and today, May 14th, we are having a provincial election.  I did my best to explain to Walter what an election meant.  I told him that when he was 18 he could vote too.  He said he would vote Yes.  I told him that you had to vote for a specific person.  He still figured he would vote Yes and that we should too.  Yes ... we voted.

Now, on to today's topic:  Drapes, Utility Closets, and Record Storage.  I could have added another 6, 15, 32 items, but felt I should stick to no more than three.  I might actually get through three things by the end of the month ... if I keep pressing on.  I've actually already been working on the first one.  In fact, I thought I could tick it off my list last weekend.  It didn't happen.  Here's the problem with that first item.

We've been slowly working away at updating the window coverings we inherited when we moved in.  We put curtains in the family room, updated the curtains in the dining room, and have ordered blinds for the three front facing windows on the upper floor.  The one I'm working on at the moment is the curtains (drapes?) that cover the sliding door that leads onto our balcony.  It's a rather large slider - 94" from the inside frame.  That's just shy of 8 feet wide. 

I thought I'd go simple and chose the Merete curtains from Ikea.

Each panel measures 98" high and 57" wide.  That means it should cover 114" wide, right?  No.  See, curtains need extra material to create those pretty folds.  The 20" difference between the 94" opening and the 114" width of the two panels of drapes isn't enough.

I started researching ... apparently I should be looking for 1.5 to 3 times the width.  That would mean I should be searching for curtains that are 141" to 282" wide.  The only problem with that is that it's almost impossible to find that wide.  Yes, I could go custom, but that's really getting more expensive than I want to go at this time.  So, I'm thinking I should sew something.  Now my problem becomes narrowing down my fabric choice (there are so many lovely fabrics!).  I'm also thinking a bit outside the box by considering sheet fabric.  I'll let you know what I do.

Next on the list:  Utility Closet.  We have a weird one, located between the kitchen and family room.  I say weird because the flue for the furnace that's located in the basement goes through this space.  This means that the closet isn't a regular square space.  It has a portion that is less than half the depth of the other side.  No standard shelving for this baby.

I really need this space to work as a recycling spot (newspaper, other paper products, glass-plastic-metal), cleaning materials storage (think brooms, paper towels), and a place for Manuel to put his work bag so that it's accessible, but out of the way.  Manuel really wants to build shelving for this space, but he's got a lot of other things on his list.  In the interim I'm thinking of something a little more mobile, that could be re-purposed in the future.  I'm working on ideas, creating a list of possible details.  When I have something more solid I'll share.

Last on the list:  Record Storage.  When I say record storage I'm not talking paper ... I'm talking LPs, vinyl.  That old-fashioned stuff that people used to have that allowed them to listen to music.  CDs have really replaced LPs ... and more recently, digital files that people download are now the norm.  Still, I have some 400 plus LPs as well as 400 plus EPs (single song versions).  They take up a lot of space as evidenced by the boxes in our living room which is where they currently reside.



I'm thinking I should shift the items on my bookcase within my study and put the LPs on the bottom shelf.  This means pulling the bookcase out by 1/2" ... which, of course, means I add another job to Manuel's list.
 

Such is life.

Family Date Night

Picture it.  It's Saturday night, 7:30 PM.  Walter should be getting a bath any moment, with a book and bedtime to follow.  Instead Manuel pipes up, "Let's go bowling."  Aha ... right.  Reluctantly I agreed (it was Manuel's night to put Walter to bed ... so my "free" night to relax ... I got a little grumpy losing my time).  Off we go ... to Cloverdale.  Yes, of course ... because five-pin bowling isn't just anywhere.  In fact, there aren't very many of them, and for a five year old five pin is a lot easier to do.  So, yes, Cloverdale.  That's a good 40 kilometers from our home ... 30 plus minutes.

I decided to just let things happen.  Drop my grumpy feelings and enjoy the time with my two guys.  So worth it.  Best Family Date Night ever!

We all had a blast.  Manuel used to play in a league, so naturally he did quite well ... even if he was a little rusty.

Walter and me?  Well, I came in dead last!  That's OK ... I enjoyed myself, and I did get better as we played.

Final score:  Manuel - 533, Walter - 333, and Me - 305.

Lightroom - Being My Own Teacher

I do a lot of on-line researching for my daytime job, so perhaps what I'm about to say won't resonate with everyone.

As you know I recently purchased Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 to help me improve my post-photography images.  Nowadays when you buy software you are very likely not going to get much more than a CD/DVD and the packaging that disc came in.  Perhaps a piece of paper encouraging you to register, but rarely will you get any kind of user manual.  This means you have to find your way around the software on your own.  This is where my on-line researching skills come into play.

Now I love manuals.  I'm the kind of person who reads the user manual on everything I buy if it's provided.  So, if it doesn't come with it?  I start using Google to search for on-line content to read and view.

This is what I did with Lightroom.  One simple source I found was probably the most obvious:  AdobeTV.  This is where I found Learn Lightroom 4.  Simple videos that are generally less than six minutes in length - perfect for watching, learning, and applying in short bursts.

Today I learned the basics to touching up photos in Lightroom.

BEFORE

AFTER

The great thing with Lightroom is it is non-destructive to your digital images.  It uses a metadata system to record everything you do to the photo and stores that information separately.  The original image allows remains as is.

Olympus PEN E-PM1 - Learning the Ropes

I've been playing around with my new camera, the Olympus PEN E-PM1, since I got it on Sunday.  By playing with it I'm getting to know where everything is, on the body and within the menu structure.  The camera looks deceptively simple, but there's a lot going on under it's hood.

Now I'll be able to get some good close ups of roasted chick peas ...

... playing with Walter's Lego ...

... and recording the growing flora around our new home.

I've got a lot to learn.  I've forgotten a lot of things that I used to know when I had a film camera, and there are a lot of things that didn't exist before digital cameras came along which makes them all new to me.

Camera Hunting - The Winner Is ...

The Olympus PEN E-PM1.

I kept on swaying back and forth between DSLR and Mirrorless.  I think both have their place, and in the end I chose the mirrorless for my needs.  I really love the idea of the DSLR, but I knew that I wouldn't take it everywhere with me; that the camera would get in the way of taking photos.  For me, the photo is the important part.  The Mirrorless camera is smaller, lighter, and more forgiving.  It allows me to stretch and push to get better photos without getting frustrated.  I can get more lenses as I need to, but the kit lens will work for now.  And, the best part?  It was on sale for a great deal at London Drugs - $249.99.  So, even if I decide to eventually get a DSLR, I won't feel like I spent wrong now.  True, it's not the newest, greatest, but it's a solid camera that will do me well.

To show you the difference in how the three cameras I have create pictures I used my handy Slik tripod to setup a position that would be the same for each camera.  I then took each camera, used their Auto setting, and snapped the same photo.

The Canon PowerShot S3IS is the camera that I have used for most of the photos on this blog.  I've always found it makes wonderful outside pictures, but I've struggled to get interior photos that I've been totally happy with (especially night photos).  We got this camera in 2006 and it was fairly expensive at the time.  It offers a 12x optical zoom lens with image stabilizer, 6.0 MP sensor, a viewfinder, and a 2" flip/twist LCD with 115K pixels.  It does 30fps VGA movies with stereo sound.  ISO to 800.  Here's the photo I got with it:

The PowerShot S3IS wanted me to raise the flash, but let me take the photo without.  A little washed out, but acceptable.

Next up, the Canon PowerShot A1000IS - the camera I got when Walter was a baby and I realized I needed something simpler to use, that I could grab and put in my bag.  It offers 4x optical zoom, 10 MP sensor, a viewfinder, and a 2.5" fixed LCD with 115K pixels.  No movie taking possible.  ISO 80 - 1600.  Here's the photo I got with it:

The PowerShot A1000IS wanted the flash too, and could have definitely used it.  It struggled between the dining light and the darker shadows.  Not a very useable photo.

Finally, my new baby - the Olympus PEN E-PM1.  This camera has interchangeable lenses - the kit lens I have is the M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 (crop factor is 2.0 so this lens would equate to a 28-84mm on a DSLR); there's 12MP for the sensor, no viewfinder (quite common for mirrorless cameras), and a fixed 3" LCD with 460K pixels.  Image stabilization (IS) is built into the body.  Some, like the Sony NEX cameras, have IS built into the lens.  Movie making can occur at 1080i60.  There's a lot more, but I'll leave it at that for now.  Here's the photo I got with it:

No problems with the Olympus.  Nice, rich colours.  Love that it was able to capture more of the room.

I love this camera.  It's just so much fun to use.  I want to have it with me all the time.  It's so easy.  So light and comfortable in my hands.  I'm very happy with my choice.

Learning More - Improving Photographs in Lightroom

I'm still hunting for a new camera.  Just when I think I've picked the one I do just a little bit more research and hesitate.

In the meantime, I got myself a simple tripod from Staples - the Slik Compact II for Digital.  It's a wonderful little tripod and I'm quite happy with it.  It comes with a little carry pouch which makes it great for taking along when you're out and about.  At $29.86 it didn't hurt either.



The other thing I bought was Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.  I already have Adobe Photoshop Elements 10.  It's been a great program for doing basic edits on my photos, but I wanted to do a bit more and everything I read pointed me to Lightroom.  Since I work in the education field I was able to buy it for $79.98.  What does Lightroom give me?  Well, I'm still learning, but here's one thing I've just done in a few minutes.

I went from this:

 

To this:

I'm still learning how to do things, but I'm hoping it will give me some flexibility in improving the images I create ... whatever the camera.

Passing on the Love of Photography to Our Children

We took a day vacation this past Friday and went to the Sunshine Coast to stay with my Mom for a few days.  It was a nice, relaxing visit.  On the way back home today we stopped in at Costco to pick up some grass seed, fertilizer ... and I wanted to have a look at their cameras.  Manuel and Walter went off to look at the garden section.  Walter knew I was looking at cameras and he told Dad he wanted a camera.

After we got home and put everything away I remembered that I needed to take some photos of a bike I have.  I haven't been using it very much and a colleague and friend at work has a Nintendo DS system that she's willing to trade ... but she wants to see the bike before committing.  This would be a trade for Walter since his Leapster has about had it and the DS was something I was considering as a replacement.  Trading means we don't have to spend money on something I'm not sure will work out - the Leapster has been the perfect fit so far, but Walter is getting close to outgrowing it.  We've been considering a Leapster 2, a Nintendo DS, or an iPod Touch.  They all have their pros and cons.

Since Manuel had mentioned Walter wanting a camera I asked Walter if he'd like to take some photos while I took photos of the bike.  He was game, so I gave him the Canon PowerShot A1000IS while I took the bigger PowerShot S3IS.  I spent a few minutes explaining how to turn it on and off, how to zoom in and out, and taking the shot.

I think we have a photographer in the making.  Check this out:

That's a hard shot to take and he made a really cool photograph out of it.

My budding photographer!