Engineer by Day; Vigilante by Night

This story is somewhat long; however, I promise that you will be rewarded with laughs, shock, and intrigue as you continue.  OK, maybe you will just learn how to find a lost or stolen cell phone (still not bad, eh?).  Monday morning the 5th of January I was riding the Frontrunner train into Salt Lake as usual.  I was using my phone to check my tasks for the day against the email that had come in over the weekend.  Then came the faux pas; I put my phone on the seat.  :(   I got off the train and went about my day, leaving my phone on the train.  I noticed that my phone was gone almost an hour later at the office. Ugh, Ugh, Ugh. 

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were spent in hopes of finding my phone.  I tried calling it several times a day, checked my usage (nil usage by the way), and called the UTA lost and found. I had pretty much concluded that my phone was still sitting in the back corner of a Frontrunner train and most likely on silent mode!  Oh well, I started looking for a new phone. 

Wednesday night I was looking around Sprint’s website for a way to notify them that my phone was missing, suspend service on the phone, and ask them about my options.  I stumbled across a service on Sprint’s web site called Family Locator with a free trial!  Intrigued, I quickly learned that Family Locator can locate phones on your account and allows parents the ability to keep track of their kids using GPS or cell tower triangulation.  Has anyone ever used this to locate a lost phone, I thought?  Depending on the accuracy of the track, it is possible that I could locate my missing phone!  So I signed up.  Here is what I saw….

Holy Freaking Cow!   West Valley?  First of all, 17 yards blew my mind; second, what the crap was my phone doing here?!  Do you see any UTA facilities?  Some jerk has my phone!!!!!!!!  Here is where all the vigilante impulses came in.  I was going to send this guy a text message with his address saying that I was coming to get my phone.  I started looking for vigilante gear (if only I had a really big black SUV and black leather pants)….  Julie convinced me to call the police instead and I’m glad she did.  I made a few calls and eventually made contact with the UTA police, since it was lost on the train. 

The UTA detectives made contact with me on Thursday morning around 9 AM and asked me to locate the phone again to make sure that it was at the same address as the night before (it was still at the same location).  They told me that a few detectives were heading that way now to check it out.  I got another call an hour or so later; the detectives had made contact with the residents who were denying involvement.  They asked me to locate the phone again; this time I was unable to locate the phone (perhaps it had been turned off).  The detectives said they would do everything possible, but that they couldn’t just demand to go in and search. 

A few hours later I received another call from the detective saying they had retrieved my phone!  The guy that had my phone was wanted for armed robbery in Nevada and had been taken into custody!!!!  I think my jaw dropped at that point!  Not only had I retrieved a lost and stolen cell phone (I hear the chances of this are pretty much null) but I helped catch a criminal!  Needless to say, I was feeling pretty cool.  My phone was returned to me by 2:30 on Thursday afternoon!  Thanks to the UTA detectives for working with a weird guy that said he could track down his stolen cell phone (and who wishes he was batman).   :) 

For all of you out there with lost or stolen cell phones, if you act quickly (before the battery dies) and the criminals aren’t too bright (they leave the phone on), there is a good chance you may retrieve your missing property!  Good luck. 

Foto Friday - Branch

These shots were taken, once again, in St. George. Nate and I were in the backyard hanging out and I decided to try and get some interesting angles of this plant. I have no idea what it is, but if anyone else does, let me know.

For all the months that I've had these pictures, my intent was to NOT edit them at all. The sky was the most perfect shade of blue and as clear as any sky I've ever seen. There honestly wasn't a need for editing. But I kept looking at them, happy with the composition, exposure, and colors...yet they just seemed a little flat. So I finally decided to play with the colors and this darker shade of gray-blue really caught my eye. I also changed the color of the branch grayish instead of the tan color that it was. Of course, a vignette was added. To me, these changes made the shots look a little more "print-ready" rather than snapshots.

Well, I've gotta go now. We're doing a wedding shoot tomorrow and have some planning to do.

Desktop Backgrounds

We've added more desktop backgrounds. Here's a link to instructions on how to download them.

And Rob's working on our new RJSnowPhotography website. Expect to see it in the next month or two.

Oy

The kids have been a handful lately.

As a friend put it, "Nathan is a whirlwind!"

I thought him turning 3 would make things a little easier, but it's actually been worse. Tantrums upon tantrums. Not sharing at all. Absolute refusal to use the potty. Completely ignoring me and Rob when we tell him to do something. Utterly chaotic a few times a day. And he's experimenting with lying.

Madeleine is teething and trying to eliminate her afternoon nap.

Like I said. Oy.

On the plus side, they are both loving, fun little kids that I wouldn't trade for the world.

By-the-way...
Nathan's being tested by the audiologist again on Friday. His left ear failed the hearing test a few weeks ago and they want to check it again, hoping it was just fluid in his ear. We wouldn't mind a couple of prayers on his behalf. Thanks.

Foto Friday – First HDR

Taken with the Nikon D40 in Washington City, Utah on October 21, 2008. Manual Exposure Mode, 23mm, HDR of (1.0, 1/3, 1/10, and 1/30 sec) at f/4.5, ISO 200, Nikon Raw Format converted to Adobe DNG format. Edited in Lightroom 2.2, HDR in LR Enfuse.

I posted a few pictures in the last while that appear to have an “HDR look” that I created in Lightroom. Those are fun but I have really wanted to make a real HDR (High Dynamic Range) photo. This post documents my first attempt.

While in the St. George area I visited a mock town that was hidden inside Washington City. I saw these two sheds and was instantly fascinated by them! Alas that they were facing the wrong way (the background sky was brightly illuminated and the facades were shrouded in shadow. I didn’t bring a tripod but had my trusty bean bag (hey Mom, thanks for sewing that for me) so I was able to make this shot. I made a suite of exposures (see exposure data above and click on photo to see a super large version).

After import into Lightroom I used Timothy Armes LR/Enfuse Plugin to create the HDR photo. I used the automatic settings for my first run. I have provided the raw output from LR/Enfuse below.

So this is a good start. I now have a neutral exposure of the entire scene. Finally I did some extra tweaks in Lightroom to correct the white balance (ideally I would have fixed that before merging) and bring out more of the contrast to arrived at the version at the top of the post. So the photo isn’t amazing itself; however, I felt the process and knowledge gained were worth sharing. Please send any questions in the comments. Have a great new year and make time to enjoy yourself behind the lens this coming year!

Hubba-licious

WOW! Rob is H-O-T!!! Doesn't this look like the cover of GQ Magazine?

These are some fun pictures I took of him when we had the studio lights set up.

I was going through some saved emails I have from our dating time and found this. It's an excerpt from April 8, 2002. I wrote it to a good friend of mine detailing my first date with Rob.

"You ready to hear about my wonderful weekend? Why don't you just wish me congratulations right now and get it over with. Because it was so good."

"So I was going to call Rob Friday afternoon to finalize plans for that night. But HE called ME before I even got a chance. We chatted for a while then decided on him meeting at my house and I'd drive down there (Sky Box)."

"So he comes by and he looks cute. I did too. I had curly hair and you could tell he really liked it. So we're driving and all the while chatting and chatting. It's just so easy for us to find things to talk and laugh about. So we get there and eat and watch the Jazz game...well kind of...we mostly talked and didn't pay attention to anything else. We even shared our food with each other. Pretty cute."

"After the game we decide that we HAVE to run through the fountain. It's a must. So we both get wet and have fun doing it. At this point I know that we are having a blast...but I'm not sure if we are having a blast as friends, or as more. But then he puts his arm around me and I got my answer. Smooth. We drive back to my place all the while laughing again and talking about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Hilarious. So we hang out at my house for a while and then go to his to watch "The Three Amigos". This is where it starts to get interesting."

"During the movie we FINALLY put it out on the table and cuddle and more importantly...hold hands (don't you think that means more than cuddling? Definitely. No more questions about whether or not we only like each other as friends. So after the movie we're just sitting there talking and he says he needs to tell me something. I'm thinking...oh, crap. Here it comes. I'm going to be pissed. But instead this is what he says. "Just so you know, Kristie and I broke up this last week." wwwwwwwwooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"I WANTED to say, "It's about freakin' time!" But instead I say, "Oh, I'm sorry." He just says, no, it's cool. So she is totally and completely OUT OF THE PICTURE!!! Like I said before...you can congratulate me now."

"So it's getting late and he's driving me home. Then we get to my house and it's the somewhat awkward part of the date where you are on the doorstep saying good night. He gives me a hug and then we stand there with our arms around each other for like 5 minutes just looking at each other. In my mind I was thinking "is he going to kiss me, is he not going to kiss me." And I'm sure he was thinking, "should I kiss her, should I not kiss her?" Finally we just left it at that. But I know it won't be too much longer."

I'm SOOOOOOO glad I kept so many of my old emails and text conversations. There are so many amazing and funny things that I would never remember otherwise. I'll have to post more excerpts later.

Hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane with me.

Stuff For Sale

We have been trying to sell a few things on KSL Classifieds and Craigslist for a while now, but due to the holidays and tons of scammers, we haven't been able to yet. We are VERY willing to negotiate prices. So if you or anyone you know want any of this, let us know!

Couch--$175.00:



Neutral colored couch with 2 pillows. Good condition.

Pet free, smoke free home.





TV--$45.00:

20" Toshiba Quatro Bomba. 8 years old but has great picture and sound. The screen is flat, not curved, so there isn't any distortion in the picture.











TV Stand--$20.00:

Dark brown with 3 shelves on side and two inside. Very good condition.

Golf Clubs and Nice Bag--$65.00:



Grand Regal Plus Oversize Irons. 9,8,7,6,5,4,P,M,S. Acushnet Putter. Fairway 420 7 Wood Driver (Graphite). Very nice Knight golf bag (thick and padded shoulder strap and auto extending legs. A great deal.



Ilford Multigrade Black and White Contrast Camera Filters--$10.00:



Your student (high school or college) will need these for their photography class.

The twelve MULTIGRADE filters are numbered 00-5 in 1/2 steps, with the lowest filter number corresponding to the softest contrast. They can be used above or below the lens and can be cut to fit the enlarger filter drawer.

MULTIGRADE filters are very easy to use: no complicated calculations are needed when changing from one filter to another. The exposure time for filters 00-3 1/2 is the same; that for filters 4-5 is double.

The Sledding Event of the Season!

We had a really great time at Nate’s 3rd birthday party! We planned a sledding party with a bunch of Nate's cousins.  We had a lot of snow the day before so there was plenty to go around.  Nate really enjoyed spending time, laughing, and goofing around with his cousins.  Nate loved all the attention and loves all his toys.  Thanks for coming and making Nate’s birthday an awesome one!  See the rest of the pictures here.  Nate is growing up so fast.  We are very proud of him and love him so much!

Foto Friday - Star of Bethlehem

It's been a couple of months (sad!) since I've taken any "artsy" photos. Obviously, since it's Christmas, I wanted to photograph something that pertains to this beautiful season, but something a little more abstract than the usual holiday pictures.

Last week Rob showed me a picture from a photography blog that he follows. I thought it was cool and decided I should try something like that. I knew just the place. Layton Park has a huge setup of Christmas lights, which is perfect! It satisfies my theme plus works perfectly with the technique I was curious to try.

I bundled up and after showing me how to adjust the shutter speed, Rob wished me luck (secretly, I don't think he thought I'd have any!). I walked around the park, pinkie fingers frozen, excitedly getting what I thought would turn out to be fun shots.

For the technical junkies out there, the shutter speed that worked the best for me was 1 second and then I oh-so-slightly moved the camera in different patterns. These shots are actually very cropped in order to get such detail. I'm amazed that they are so crisp. I guess that wasn't so technical after all.

So, without further adieu, I present "Lightwebs" (Slideshow and Gallery).

Sweet Christmas Moment

This morning Nate crawled into bed with us before we all headed downstairs to open gifts.
Rob and I told him "Merry Christmas!" He leaned over me, kissed Rob on the cheek, and said, "Dwerry Drissdwass, Da-yee."

SO CUTE!