n_maher

As the official patron saint of painters tape I appreciate the graphics but still feel like there’s room to grow there and that we should employ a kid with a Cricut to do you better. 😁

Work has been continuing to use photos that I’ve been shooting for publicity and Congressional communication so I decided that rather than keep shooting with my personal camera that it was high time to request a replacement. They asked what I wanted so I spec’d the following: 1. Body - Sony A7R5 - I’ve gotten used to the Sony ecosystem through my A7IV and figured what the heck, might as well have all the megapixels. I don’t need 120FPS so the A9 series was not compelling and while it would have been fun to shoot with an A1II budget was somewhat of a consideration. 2. Lenses - I’ll continue to shoot my A7IV with it’s 24-240mm so figured I should cover an expanded range with this rig and be able to shoot high(er) quality. So a 24-70mm F2.8 GMII and a 100-4000mm F4.5/5.6 coupled with a 2x teleconverter round out the bag. I’ve got the whole shebang with me on vacation to get used to the platform and find its limits (me) but sheesh, 60MP is a lot to work with. Initial impression is that it’s all very similar to the A7 but doesn’t shoot low light as well. That won’t be much of a concern at work and if/when night time becomes the right time I’ll switch back to my A7 for those situations. The 100-400 has as lot of pull and with the 2x, it’s pretty absurd. That was lightly touched in LR and just a quick handheld at sunset. I’ll have to contribute more to the HC coffers if I start pushing up 40MB drink photos. And 12,800 starts to get a bit noisy so I’ve reduced the max ISO to 3200 for now to see what I can still grab. And [EDIT] seems like the forum software intelligently down-sampled that image to a more manageable 5MB. It is wild what you can do for fun crops with this much real estate.

Turrboo has been given turboot.

Sending a hug your way @skullguise.

Ribs, pulled pork, and sausage also on the menu.

Having friends over tomorrow, needed dessert.

It's a 1030 Plus, so not exactly vintage. It's actually hugely helpful to have both a gravel and road computer. And the Garmin radar system is actually really cool. I'll probably add a second taillight to the mix for the pure road bike.

In the sprit of getting dirty I decided to list the Tarmac for sale and jump on this deal: It's a 2022 Cervelo Aspero 5 and the top of the line model at that. MSRP $10,500, I paid about 40c on the $ for it and the owner admitted that he bought it and essentially never rode it - condition backs that up. It also came with a like new Garmin head unit and tail light/radar setup which is pretty sweet. When I recently learned that they completed a ~9mi section of rail trail that can become ~50% of my morning commute I decided it was time to dive into the deep end. The color is something like "purple sunset" (cheers to you, Dusty) and is straight up wild. We'll see how the new modified commute goes tomorrow.

I mean seriously, what else could go wrong? Also, it's strawberry season so shortcake is on the menu for dessert.

Happy Birthday!

Proper cooking this time, fried chicken breasts to make sandwiches for dinner.

Technically baking but I'm too lazy to go find that thread. Toasted coconut chocolate chip scones.

Happy Birthday!

Change of Command is this week, which means I get my 4th boss in three years (FML) so I decided I'd fabricobble the command gift. The outgoing skipper is a Navy diver who has a penchant for clapping to build morale. So I decided that I needed to work all that into the gift. So the rough motif is a replica Navy diving bell mounted to a plaque with our command logo and major project logos engraved into brass coins. but the kicker is that the helmet sits on an LED base that lights up and yes, can be controlled by a Clapper.

Do pizza ovens count?

Happy Birthday, Brent! I entered a whisky lottery for you this week. Oh wait, that was for me. My bad.

Happy belated! I hope it was good.

Infecting the next generation. Andrew's new ride is a leftover Specialized Fuse Sport. Specialized stopped making the bike in 2022 but had made so many that dealers still had them and they were blowing them out. Original MSRP $2400, paid $999. Bought one for Lily two years ago for $1600 and thought that was a screaming deal. Can't wait to get him out on the trails if it would ever stop raining around here.

Last step in fondant potatoes is to put them in the oven, so currently baking these.

now lunch.

Banana bread for the birthday boy - somehow Andrew is 14.

Say what? I have to admit, I thought they were talking about the glasses on the table.

Happy Birthday, Chris!

All this deferred resignation stuff has meant the departure of a few key staff members, one in particular I've worked with for nearly 15 years and deserved something more than an Irish goodbye. So I made him a little something for his retirement yesterday. That's the blank walnut, engraved/machined with the cnc machine. Finish applied, awaiting infill bits. Finished project. The middle bit is an original survey boundary marker for the island that I rescued from a demo project. It's likely way more than 100 years old. I thought he deserved to take a little piece of the place with him even if it's a little tarnished and scarred. I prefer things that way actually, probably because I resemble the description.

Have not had much time to consume TV lately but family vacation finally offered a chance to check out: Thoroughly enjoyed this, looking forward to Season 2 this fall even if a very different story arc is proposed.