Subject Clarity
11 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
Well, the second assignment in my photo class is now complete. The assignment was called “Subject Clarity” and the goal was to shoot pictures where it was easy to identify the subject of the photo. I know what you’re thinking, but it’s harder than it sounds!
For a few days in there I rented a very nice macro lens; this let me get those amazing razor-sharp closeups that you’ll see. Also it rained almost non stop for two weeks so you’ll see that a lot of the photos were taken in the rain.
Anyhow, it’s done and critiqued and submitted for grading. My five absolute best, as determined by the class and the prof, are now up on the Photo Gallery page. I also threw in some that didn’t make the final cut but are still some of my favorites from the batch of several hundred that I shot. Enjoy!
– Papa-D
Someone’s Showing! (It’s Jenny, BTW)
18 Mar 2012 1 Comment
Well, Jenny’s finally showing enough that we can take a picture and it won’t just look like she had a big dinner! Here’s what Freckle is looking like from the outside these days.
On Wednesday we’re going in for our second Genetic Screening ultrasound and we should have some pictures of what s/he looks like from the inside. Oh and we’ll find out if Freckle is a boy or a girl.
Papa-D
Photo Gallery Page
08 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
Some of you may have noticed that I put a new “Photo Gallery” page up on the top there, next to where it says “Home”. Feel free to go in there and check it out. It’s not really Freckle-related at this point; consider it practice for figuring out how best to display photos of the little one when it arrives.
Feedback on the layout of the page and ease of use of the gallery is appreciated. (Feedback on the actual photos will only be accepted if it’s glowing praise. Mom, I know you got my back on that one!) There are a lot of options for programs to use to display the photos and I’m not completely sold on any I’ve tried yet. The current one is relatively easy to use once it’s setup but it’s still not perfect. Nevertheless, let me know what YOU think.
There should be a comment box on that page that you can use. If not, comment here and let me know!
-Papa-D
Early Cherry Blossoms
13 Feb 2012 4 Comments
in The Pregnancy Tags: photography
Well we don’t have anything interesting to post right now since… you know… Freckle is being really boring. So I thought I’d post a photo I took this weekend. I’ve been taking a LOT of photos (and a photography class) and so far this is the first one that I’ve felt warrants other people looking at it. So here you go: Early Cherry Blossoms.
Early Cherry Blossoms
Greetings, Human!
06 Feb 2012 2 Comments
Today we went in for our “integrated screening” procedure. We met with a “genetic counselor” and talked about blah blah blah…
OMG ALIEN! IT’S WAVING HELLO!!!
Greetings, Human!
Okay, now that that’s out of the way, back to the story. As I’ve already discussed, our disparate genetic past significantly reduces Freckle’s likelihood to contract any hereditary genetic diseases. There’s always the possibility of a spontaneous error happening (knock on wood!) so we get this integrated screening test thingy. They do some nifty measurements on different things, including mommy’s blood, and then come up with probabilities for different problems occurring. If anything seems worryingly probable, they move on to more invasive testing.
They did an ultrasound to get some measurements on the baby as part of the testing. Freckle, like mommy and daddy, seems to enjoy sleeping because there wasn’t much movement this time. Unfortunately, the nurse wanted to get measurements from the other side and so decided to wake Freckle up.
We tried a few different methods…jiggling the belly didn’t work, neither did tapping it. I was expecting the nurse to lean down and yell, “WAKE UP!” but instead she had some other less direct ideas (partially emptying the bladder didn’t work either, unsurprisingly) which were all equally fruitless. Finally she told Jenny to lay on her side for a few minutes and she’d be back to see if that helped.
The nurse stepped out for a minute and I took the opportunity to whip out my phone and crank up some tunes. Clearly Freckle just needed the right motivation. Since today is Bob Marley’s birthday, we figured it would be appropriate. Of course, it did the trick and then some. Freckle even gave us the “black power” fist when the nurse got back! I’d call that a great success!
Anyhow, we’ll get the first round of results in ten days and then we go back in for a second round in another 6 weeks or so. We’ll let you know how it goes. Black power!
A Note to My Wife
24 Jan 2012 2 Comments
For thousands of years, humankind has raised its children under deplorable circumstances. If it wasn’t razor-fanged predators and creeping glaciers, it was religious crusades and rampant plagues. Children were growing up with nothing to hope for but another generation to carry on their line.
These days, we have almost none of those problems. Food is readily available to even the poorest citizens, education is free to a point and potentially very cheap after that, we’re at the top of the food chain and shelter is a problem for relatively few. And that’s just the bare minimum that can be said.
Freckle is fortunate enough to have parents (and a great support network of family and friends) who can give far more than the bare minimum. We carry around small devices that keep us constantly connected to the global repository of all human knowledge. We think nothing of hopping on an airplane to fly thousands of miles for the weekend. While there are still some great plagues out there (e.g. AIDS), they can be avoided for the most part with a little education and effort.
When you look at how much has changed in the last 100 years, or even the last 25 years, you will realize that Freckle will be growing up in the most exciting time in human history. Advances in genetic, robotic, information, and nano technologies will change the world as even we know it. There are some who say that if you can live to 2050, you have a very good chance of living forever. We are already taking the first major strides in weening ourselves off fossil fuels and moving to renewable sources of energy. Commercial sub-orbital space flight exists and one day may replace those pesky slow airplanes. All plagues may soon be a sad footnote in history. Globalization and transnationalism are making war a much less desirable way of solving our differences.
Freckle has so many things going for him/her; what’s there to be worried about? Rest up, think about all the wonders our child will take for granted, drift asleep with a smile on your lips. It’s going to be great.
Mobile Site
22 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in The Pregnancy Tags: mobile
Hey everyone,
Just a quick heads-up that I’ve added functionality to make the site easier to read on mobile devices (i.e. your cell phone). If you have any issues with the mobile site, there is a link at the very bottom of every page to switch back and forth.
Let me know if you use it and what you think. It’s pretty basic, but that’s the idea.
Papa-D
Photography
19 Jan 2012 1 Comment
in The Pregnancy Tags: photography
As some of you may know, I used to have a nice film SLR camera. I enjoyed taking photographs and, though I wasn’t great at it, I had enough control to get some great results occasionally. Well it’s been a while and I have been looking for a good excuse to spend too much money on a new DSLR. And what is a baby, really, other than an excuse to spend too much money? (Don’t answer that.)
When I say I’ve been looking for an excuse, I mean it. I spent months doing research before our wedding, looking for the perfect camera. I wanted to have something nice to take on our honeymoon. Unfortunately, circumstances conspired to keep me from purchasing one at the time. I did, however, have a great camera picked out back then. It didn’t take me too long, a year and a half later, to realize that it is still a great camera — but now it’s several hundred dollars cheaper! Score!
So armed with my research and armored by my little gestating excuse (aka Freckle), I approached Jenny prepared to duel for the fate of my photographic future. Can anyone stand against one so armed and armored? Don’t blame Jenny for her failure to protect our precious funds, nobody could have withstood that assault. Also, pregnant women fight like…well, like pregnant women.
To the victor go the spoils. I present to you, my new Nikon D5000:
Nikon D5000
Now I have six months to learn how to use it to take impressive photos of tiny humans. Wish me luck!
DISCLAIMER: No pregnant women were hurt in the making of this post. Some or all of the facts may have been changed to embellish the innocent. Ownership of said camera is technically joint between both parties. The author of this post does not wish to get beat up or yelled at by any pregnant women and apologizes in advance, just in case.
So you’re having a hapa?
13 Jan 2012 2 Comments
in The Pregnancy Tags: hapa
I used the term “hapa” previously but it occurred to me this morning that many people reading this may not have heard it before. According to Wikipedia, “Hapa is a Hawaiian language term used to describe a person of mixed Asian or Pacific Islander racial or ethnic heritage.” I don’t know that I heard the term before moving to the Bay Area, but it’s very common around here. (Apparently my spell checker has never heard the term either!)
The rumor is that hapas are more beautiful than pure Asian or white people. It’s a modern urban myth…or is it? According to this article in Psychology Today, “…according to a study…hapa faces are rated as more beautiful than European or Japanese faces. Researchers say the finding may extend to other racial mixes as well. ” I tried to find the source of the study, but only found older references to it. But who needs proof, just look at a hapa and you can tell!
As if our hapa-to-be didn’t have enough advantages with the enhanced beauty and the amazing parents, it turns out s/he will be generally healthier as well. The same article states “…evidence suggests that half-Asians’ diverse genetic ancestry would enhance health…”. Besides general health, they say “Genetic diversity, or heterozygosity, is associated with a lower incidence of some diseases. Genetic diseases, such as hemophilia and Tay-Sachs…”.
So the next time you hear us use the word hapa to describe Freckle, you’ll know we’re talking about our half-asian/half-white baby with +1 charisma and +1 constitution (Edited because my nerdy wife called me out on the original numbers).
Papa-D
Hello world!
12 Jan 2012 1 Comment
Hey everyone, Jenny’s pregnant! The Browdy-to-be’s code name right now is Freckle. Seeing as how me and Jenny are both afflicted, we thought it somewhat appropriate.
Our first ultrasound
Note the heartbeat. That made Jenny melt when we heard it for the first time. I wish I had a picture of the look on her face to show you. 🙂
In other news, my friend at work has started calling me “Papa-D” so I thought I’d try it on and see how it feels.
Papa-D