Siding Solutions

Over Thanksgiving break, I spent an afternoon with my older brother, a contractor and owner of SoCal Siding Solutions. As part of a redesign for his company website, he wanted a set of photographs to showcase his work.

First, we spent a couple hours on Black Friday picking out a new DSLR for him to use when I'm not around to help. He ended up choosing the Canon EOS Rebel T1i, an excellent camera, and, though it isn't the most up to date, more than enough for his needs.

Then we went around his Solana Beach neighborhood to houses that he had already refinished. The sun was setting, so there was gorgeous light.

I recently downloaded a set of plug-ins from Topaz Labs so I thought I'd try them out with these images. While he will probably use my less artistic edits for his work portfolio, I really liked some of the results I got using Topaz Adjust.

While shooting this first house, I realized we were going to be cutting it a bit too close to sundown. In fact, we were unable to get some shots on the opposite side of the building. But check out the warmth of those rays.

As the sun was setting, we arrived at this gorgeous home. I love the architecture and landscaping. Look at that sunset in the sliding doors! Wow!

We were able to take a couple of long-exposures of the left side of this house, with a glowing waterfall and lit windows.

 Lastly, we arrived at this modern home after the sun was down. My initial thought was that it was too dark for my camera which does not do well in low light. But then I thought, what the heck! What is there to lose. And boy am I glad we took a chance.

This picture was taken with nothing but a lingering bit of light from the already set sun and a couple of distant street lights. Shutter speed = 15 seconds.

Thanks, Eric, for a fun and challenging photoshoot. Can't wait to see the new website.

Facetime Wormhole

While playing with Facetime the other day, I had a mild epiphany that I could create a fractal-like recursive experience by FaceTiming with myself.

If I had a twin...

We'd be best Facetime friends. :-)

Creature Pumpkin

Carving pumpkins has always been err... scary, due to my lack if artistic abilities. Imagine my anxiety when my extremely talented girlfriend wanted to paint pumpkins this year.

Of course I wasn't going to be lame and not join her, but I struggled and struggled for inspiration... all the while turning to my iPhone as a distraction. that's when it came to me - "Creature", the little monster who wants to be fed candy in Chillingo's Cut the Rope game, looks a lo like a pumpkin, only green!

Of course, it's no where near as creative as my gorgeous girlfriend's masterpiece.

(Sent from my iPhone)

How not to give a sacrament meeting talk

DON'Ts

1) Hide your face behind the microphone.

2) Explain how you were asked to give the talk.

3) Apologize for ... well, anything.

4) Over explain your point. You'll sound like this:

5) Try to sound like a general authority or Old Testament prophet.

DOs

1) Adjust the mic.

2) Share a relevant personal experience.

3) Back it up with a scripture or two.

4) Keep it simple.

5) Be sincere.

Just had to get that off my chest.

Microsoft Sucks

I work a lot in presentation design. I hate PowerPoint. PERIOD. I cringe and cry when I have to do anything in it.

Microsoft just released Office for Mac 2011. I installed it on my work machine since we get it for free.

Upon first opening Word I got this message.

Update: The same error occurred when I opened PowerPoint.

I decided that yes, I would like to explore Word. This is where it took me:

("Page Not Found")

Not off to a great start, Microsoft. Not a good start at all.

Adventures in Vending Machine Crap - Steak & Cheese Chimichangas

Round two of eating borderline edible, plastic wrapped, snack items features the steak and cheese chimichanga by Windsor Foods.

Mmmm.... I was raised on Mexican cuisine, so this is actually somewhat appealing.

Once again, the ingredients list is dominated by synthetic chemicals used to preserve this food while it is sitting longingly in the refrigerated machine waiting for some starved student to give into unwise dietary choices.

At 350 calories, 15g of fat, and 560mg of sodium this is a considerable contribution to your daily intake of nutrients which should be ingested sparingly.

What's more, this chimichanga actually tastes good! It's made with real cheese which you can see oozing greasily out of the tortilla.

Your dentist would be wary as the fatty, shredded beef easily gets caught between your teeth.

CONCLUSION: While the chimichanga certainly isn't healthy, it is nevertheless edible. ¡Andale!

Family Birthday Celebration

The month of August is a busy one in the Cashion family, with 5+ birthdays along with others in early September. For a few years now, we've been combining all of these birthdays together into one big birthday bash. In Casa de Cashion tradition, we also served the most delicious paella in the world.

The most remarkable birthday this year was Grandma Cashion's 90th!

Paella doubles as dog food. That's some expensive dogfood.

Adorable Athena

Here's a bit of backyard humor from my dad.