Not “Tacticool,” Part 2

Posted on February 3, 2016 by mfna

I titled yesterday’s post “Not Tacticool” and then didn’t explain why. Here’s why:

“Tactical” is word that appears on just about every web site and in every magazine dedicated to the shooting sport. Tactical gear is recognized by the plethora of pockets, zippers, tabs, loops, buckles, snaps, compartments, and the like. Take for example, the 5.11 Stryke Pants. Whatever one’s opinion of the fashion statement, there is no mistaking these pants for upscale, casual khakis. And thus is born the concept of “tacticool.”

There are some (okay, perhaps a lot) folks who are so into the gun culture that they adorn themselves with tactical pants, tactical shirts, tactical belts, tactical boots, etc. They equip themselves with pocket knives, flashlights, concealed-carry holsters, extra magazine carriers, and enough gadgetry to make Batman envious.

But here’s the rub: These “tacticool” people are so obvious by how they dress, that if there were ever an active shooter situation, of the kind we’ve heard and read about so much lately, these folks stand out as if they’d painted a target on themselves. A target that says, “hey, look at me – I’ve got a concealed handgun. You’d best shoot me first!”

The truth is, for me, that I’m a jeans-and-tshirt kind of guy. I don’t want to go “tacticool” and look so out of sorts everywhere I go. That’s why I’m being “not tacticool.”

Not “Tacticool”

Posted on February 3, 2016 by mfna

It’s been a while since I posted anything here, so this is an attempt to make up for the lack.

First, at the end of December, I “officially” retired from running. The struggle I’ve had over the past several years with knee and hip issues finally led me to realize that I no longer had the wherewithal to put on the shoes and grind out 100 miles a month in pursuit of a thinner waistline and more ribbons and medals that I’m not even displaying anymore, anyway. Not that I’ve stopped running (although the winter weather has halted things for now), but I’m not going to approach it with the same dedication I’ve had for the past 25 years.

Not content with being a couch potato, I’ve actually found a new interest that’s attracting a lot of my time: Shooting. More specifically, handgun target shooting.

Introduced to the sport by my son-in-law and daughter, who both own guns and shoot, and learning I have a five-star range halfway between home and work, the fit seems perfect! Since my first foray at the range last November, I’ve taken a number of courses, purchased several handguns, and have applied for a concealed handgun permit (CHP).

Why this last? As odd as the answer may seem, it’s not to be a swaggering, gun-toting macho man. The simple answer is that I want to be legal. Here’s the oddity: Virginia is an “open carry” state. That means anyone, without needing a permit, is free to strap on a holster and carry a gun openly, except in certain prohibited areas (schools, government buildings, etc.). However, if one’s open carry gun somehow becomes obstructed from view (say, by putting on a jacket and thus covering the gun), one is breaking the law without a required permit. So, since I have to carry a gun between my home and the range, I decided a CCW (concealed carry weapon) permit would make me legal.

Owning guns is a responsibility second only to raising kids, in my opinion. I’ve taken safety courses, and practice, practice, practice. I take to heart the cardinal rules of guns:

Every gun is always loaded. Never assume a gun is unloaded, or believe someone who says it is. Never. Always clear a gun before you handle it.
Keep your finger off the trigger. A gun will not discharge if the trigger isn’t pulled. So only place your finger on the trigger when you’re ready to pull it. This is known colloquially as “keeping the booger hook off the bang switch.”
Never point a gun at something you don’t want to destroy/kill. Not in jest, not by accident, not even with an empty gun.
Know your target and its environment. This means not only being sure of what you’re shooting at, but also being aware of what’s behind it and in front of it.
Keep the mechanical safety engaged until you’re ready to shoot. Not every gun has a mechanical safety, but if it does, use it!

I’ll post more here shortly. With some severe winter weather, I’ve found myself indoors a lot, so I pulled out my other “shooter” and have taken a number of photos I’ll share with you.

Recognition? Or Robbery?

Posted on September 3, 2015 by mfna

I received an unsolicited email this morning that, due to filtering on my email account, went into the “junk mail” folder. The only reason I was even aware of it, was that when I went to empty the folder’s contents, I saw the subject line: “Still Time to RSVP – Running From Office Book Signing and Panel Discussion.”

Excuse me? I never wrote a book.

But two women, affiliated with the American University’s Women & Politics Institute School of Public Affairs did.

NOT my book – Running From Office

I won’t claim “prior art,” but I will state for the record that this site’s name predates the publication of the book, which is published by Oxford University Press and is copyright 2015 (link to Amazon here). I will also state for the record that I have no interest, commercial or otherwise, in either the book, the authors, or the school.

My intent in posting this “disclaimer” is that if you found this site through an online search for “Running From Office,” and you were looking for information on the book, thanks, but you’ve landed on the wrong page. On the other hand, if you’re looking for personal observations on running, technology, photography and general philosophy from a snarky, opinionated, aging geek, then welcome – this may be the site for you!

Photo Resources

Posted on July 22, 2015 by mfna

The Internet can be a wonderful thing. Oh sure, there’s a lot of spam, malware and general lameness online, but I’m awed by how much it has added to my personal wealth of knowledge!

When I returned to photography after what now seems a millennium, the entire field of digital photography baffled me. After realizing that basic concepts about light, composition, depth of field and so on, still held, the how was still a bit of a mystery.

Enter the Internet. There are videos galore on YouTube and Vimeo. A plethora of web sites, both professional and amateur, exist to lend guidance, support and inspiration.

Here then, is a brief list of web sites I find useful for a wide range of photographic information:

Photography Life – one of the first sites I found. It covers reviews, tips, news, and more.
Digital Photography School. As the name suggests, mostly tutorials and tips.
Picture Correct. Techniques and tips. There’s always an annoying pop-up when you first visit, but dismiss it and enter the site.
iPhotography, an online (for pay) course in digital photography.
ON1 Tutorials. ON1 makes the nifty Perfect Photo Suite of photo processing software, but these tutorials are free for all (with an emphasis on PPS, of course).
Light Stalking. Tips, downloadable tutorials, more.
Camera Labs. Camera and lens reviews.
Digital Photography Review. Camera and lens reviews. Very popular.
Snapsort, compare cameras (features, prices, capabilities).
Ken Rockwell, a professional photographer reviews and opines.
Photzy – sign up and receive a “digital locker” where you can download and store free (and paid) content.

And of what value would these sites be without a place to store and view our photos? Here are some sites and programs I use:

Dropbox. A free account (which includes photo syncing) of about 5Gb. Pay for more.
Copy. Like DropBox, with a 20Gb account.
Flickr. Owned by Yahoo! Gives you 1 terabyte of storage and an online photo editor.
PictureLife. Much like Flickr. Maybe some developers left and started this? You gain space by referring others. Contact me. 🙂
Adobe’s Creative Cloud. Yes, you’ll need to be a subscriber, but at US $9.99/month for full, current versions of PhotoShop and Lightroom, this is a pretty sweet deal: 1 TB for your creative efforts.

There are many, many more. I may revise this list from time to time, or add another. For now, this is a quick “bookmark” for ones I use frequently.

gEeeking Away…

Posted on July 6, 2015 by mfna

It must have been nearly six years ago that the “netbook” craze came into vogue. This was before the iPad and tablet computing. As one who travels frequently, I bought into the craze, looking for something lightweight but powerful enough to carry with me and allow me to check email, browse the web, review work, and generally keep me online.

So I bought an Asus Eee PC 900A.

Asus Eee PC 900A

Admittedly, it was underwhelming. Powered by a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270, 1 GB RAM and a meager 4 GB SSD, it was plain from the beginning that this machine wasn’t going to replace even a bulky laptop in the long run.

It ran a custom version of Ubuntu Linux called Eeebuntu. At the time, it was a serviceable OS on a miniaturized laptop. The keys were tiny (even for someone whose fingers aren’t that large to begin with), but everything worked.

Then the death knell began to toll. The first sign of the end was that Eeebuntu was discontinued. Well, there was an attempt to evolve it into something called Aurora OS, but to my knowledge, a finished product (even an alpha or beta) never saw the light of day.

As tablets came into prominence, I relegated the Eee PC to storage.

About eight months ago I came across this little machine while I was renovating my home office. After doing some research on DistroWatch and other sites, and having a plethora of USB sticks, I decided to use the thing as a ‘sandbox’ to try out light, nimble Linux OSes.

By this time, even most Linux distros had become large (bloated, some might say?) and would not install on the meager 4 GB internal drive. Fortunately, I came across Puppy Linux. It was perfect! It installed entirely on the internal SSD (Asus included 3 USB ports and a SDHC card reader for additional storage). It was loaded with utilities, links, and features. However, it was not without bugs: many windows would not size to the somewhat abnormal screen dimensions (1024 x 600), and while useful, some of the programs and utilities were just downright ugly! Help was also confusing. So, while I used Puppy for a while, I always felt there must be something “better.”

I let things rest to let life get in the way, and just recently returned to this “project.” Once again, I searched and researched. I downloaded numerous 32-bit lightweight Linux distros, such as Lubuntu, Bodhi, LXLE, Mageia. Manjaro and Peppermint OS. None of them quite fit—they either didn’t load, or the interface just wasn’t to my liking. Finally, I came across Simplicity Linux, which is a Puppy derivative. What makes Simplicity Linux appealing to me is that

It’s currently being developed and supported (Puppy’s original creator discontinued work on it)
It has an interface I like. In some ways, it’s Mac-like, in that it has a configurable “dock” on the screen that contains shortcuts to frequently used programs.

The version I’ve been using is a beta: 15.7. As such, there are still some rough edges and bugs. But it too, installs on the internal SSD, loads into RAM (for faster execution), and may just keep my Eee PC alive for a while longer!

An Uncritical Look At The Apple Watch

Posted on June 8, 2015 by mfna

I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for quality timepieces. When LED watches first came out, I bought a Pulsar, and then several other “multi-function” watches. As I matured, gimmickry gave way to elegance, and I moved to Cartier, Movado, and Omega.

More recently, I’ve gone more to the sport watches, including several iterations of Garmin’s GPS watches, which I use to track my running activities.

But, as an Apple aficionado, when the folks at 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino announced they were releasing a watch, I was fascintated.

At first, I said to myself, “No, I’m not interested in another watch. Even if it comes from Apple.” Then I convinced myself that I would wait to see how the one-dot-oh release fared with the early adopters.

Yet, I found myself at midnight on April 10 on the Apple web site, curious as to how the “pre-order” process was going to work. After minutes ticked by, I realized that “midnight” meant Pacific time — a full three hours later my time. No way I was going to stay up. And I wasn’t disappointed.

Somehow, for reasons I can’t explain, I found myself waking up in the pitch dark (I was staying at my daughter’s home at the time — that’s another story, for another time). Fumbling for some light, I tapped my computer keyboard, and up sprang Apple’s pre-order web site. Curious, I selected a watch (38mm stainless) and a strap (leather classic buckle) and hit the “order” button. Wow! Order accepted.

I thought nothing of it until later that morning. I heard on the news that pre-orders for the watch had sold out in something like 15 minutes. I guess the combination I ordered didn’t sell out as quickly, as I was a good hour “late to the party” as they say.

Nonetheless, my watch arrived on April 24, as promised. Good thing, too, as I was heading out on vacation the following day (I’ll post something about my vacation later). The first “test” of my watch came as I used it to have my airline boarding pass scanned (passed!). I also used the Map application in conjunction with the watch to help me find destinations I had never before visited.

To cut to the chase: An article I read spoke about the value of the Apple Watch is in “glances.” There is no point to having a full-blown app that you navigate on a tiny screen. What makes the Apple Watch valuable (for me) is that I can pick up data (message, news headline, map instructions, etc.) through a quick glance at the watch, which doesn’t require me opening an app and pointing, clicking, swiping and otherwise getting distracted.

I’m not always an early adopter, but at this point (which, ironically, is on the same day Apple has announced WatchOS 2.0) I’m very pleased with my choice.

(Postscript: I have since added two more bands to my watch. My experience has shown me that during hot and humid days, my perspiration causes a lot of wear on leather straps. Since bands are easily interchangeable, I added a Sport Band and a Milanese Loop. I keep the leather band stashed away for “dress” occasions!)

Traveling Man

Posted on February 13, 2015 by mfna

The late Rick Nelson once sang about being a traveling man:

I’m a travelin’ man who made a lot of stops
All over the world.
And in every port I owned a heart
Of at least one lovely girl.

Well, except for the lovely girl in every port, I can certainly relate. I grew up in a traveling family, and the bug to move around has remained with me.

Realizing I haven’t updated this site in months, and that I’ve been doing a lot of traveling of late, I figured a short post ought to keep the site from growing too many cobwebs.

In fact, I think I’ll add another post after this one, to describe what I’ve been doing in the world of photography. But, that’s for later.

It’s only February, and already this year I’ve traveled to San Francisco, Boston, and Denver.

View of Denver Train Station Terminal

This weekend I’ll be headed to Florida. And, because I’ve found that I almost have to take a vacation, I’ve booked a trip to Hawaii in April. Will I find myself somewhere new in March? Time will tell.

Sadly, I haven’t been able to photograph as much as I’d like. I thought the trip to Boston might yield some good shots, but I wound up arriving just before the first (of many) blizzards hit New England, and forced me to remain largely indoors. I caught a cold just as I was leaving for Denver, and by the second day there, just didn’t feel up to exploring. The Rockies will have to wait for me another day.

It looks wet, but it’s not. I call it “Spilled Milk.”

I almost expect that I won’t get many shots in Florida, although my camera will be with most. At least most of the time.

Stay tuned.

Sir Fred

Posted on September 25, 2014 by mfna

Well, since this is my blog, and I write for no one but myself (if you happened upon this by accident, then welcome), I guess it’s okay to blow my own horn and pat myself on the back when I feel the occasion deserves it.

This is one such occasion.

Last Saturday, I was “invested” into the Order of Salvador, a chivalric order created by the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida to recognize and honor those who have been supporters and contributors. I have been one such for nearly three decades.

Newly Knighted

When I received the “command” (invitation) to attend and be knighted, I was both surprised and honored. I never expected the museum to bestow any sort of honor on me. No, it has been my pleasure over the years to attend the annual dinner, and donate here and there to support the conservation of some of the artist’s masterpieces.

So, I flew to St. Petersburg, tuxedo in hand (in a manner of speaking), and was knighted by Brad Morse, son of the late Reynolds and Eleanor Morse, the museum’s founders. I was presented with a medal to wear at museum events, “chivalrous events” and “affairs of state.”

Knight of the Order of Salvador

The entire ceremony took about two and a half hours. There was first a cocktail social for about 45 minutes, and then I and several others were invested or “elevated” (promoted). We then enjoyed coffee and sweets, and the deed was done.

I then returned to my hotel, changed into my street clothes, and went out to enjoy dinner.

In the grand scheme of things, this won’t change the orbit of the earth or bring on world peace, but it’s a meaningful honor to me, and I’m delighted to have been awarded it.

As a postscript, this was a great opportunity for me to renew my “authentication” of a lithograph I’ve owned since 1980. If it proves to be a real Dalí, I plan to donate it to the museum!

Numbered (42 of 150) and signed lithograph

New Digs, New Paths

Posted on September 15, 2014 by mfna

I’m feeling a little guilty about not having written anything for months, so I’m assuaging that guilt by writing a meaningless update.

Earlier this month I moved into my new home! That’s right, I decided to stop renting and bought a nice little two-bedroom condominium just two miles from my former apartment. It increases my drive to work by 1.1 miles; oh, the horror! 🙂 But as rents were increasing, I found my first mortgage payment and condominium fee combined were less than the rent I was about to pay. Nice timing, if I say so myself!

My photography hobby has been up and down. Mostly up, although I admit I haven’t been out shooting every day like I thought I might. On the other hand, I took a trip out west to Yellowstone and the Tetons (which is the original reason I bought the camera) and had an absolutely fabulous time. Note to self: Post some photos…

Grand Teton Reflected

So, let’s see. Probably the best shot I took from nearly 1,000 I took, was the “postcard” of Grand Teton.

As my eye becomes more critical and discerning, I review my photos and find some that need “fixing” and others that turned out better than I had originally thought. I got a “thumbs up” from Frank Lee Ruggles on one of my Mount Rushmore photos, and that gave me a good feeling. George Through the Trees

While this is a somewhat unusual perspective of a familiar sight, it’s not my favorite. No, that probably has to be the series I took using my 55-300mm zoom at its full focal length.

Now things have settled a bit. This weekend I will fly to St. Petersburg, Florida, where I am to be invested with the Order of Salvador, an honor bestowed upon me by the Salvador Dalí Museum for my dedication and interest in the artist and his work. I am humbled to be so considered.

Let me conclude this meandering missive by declaring my intent to post more often. I’ll also suggest to the one or two readers who might happen upon it that they check out the site where I’ve been posting more of my pictures, the oddly named Ugly Hedgehog.

Woohoo — Photo Tech!

Posted on April 14, 2014 by mfna

I feel like the stubborn mule who has to get its head walloped just to get its attention.

For some reason, when photography went digital, I adopted the belief that what the camera saw was absolute: what the lens saw was recorded digitally and the end product was the finished photo. Post-processing? Please. I held the belief that post-processing, through the use of software like Adobe PhotoShop, was somehow “cheating,” and thus wasn’t “authentic” photography.

Boy, was I wrong. Thanks to some wiser and more experienced digital photographers, I was able to see the error of my ways. The light came on (pun intended) when it was pointed out to me that developing my own black-and-white prints from film was nothing more than post-processing. Why should using computer technology be any different?

As one who has made a career in the computer industry, all of a sudden it seemed like a natural fit. Fortunately, Adobe makes available for 30 days a nifty program called Lightroom. Thanks to the folks at MacUpdate, Adobe Lightroom I was alerted to a new version of this program and decided to check it out.

Four days into my 30 day trial, I went to Adobe’s site and purchased the product!

And that’s not all. I also learned of a program called easyHDR that includes a Lightroom plug-in. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range, which is a method of combining two differently exposed shots of the same subject into one, allowing a finer resolution of highlights and shadows. It’s a bit more complex than that, but now all of a sudden I have a quiver of computer tools at my disposal to enhance and correct the shots I take.

I have been going through photos I’ve taken over the past few years, and with just some minor tweaks, have turned some “good” shots into pictures that “pop!” I may not be ready to enter any photo contests, but I’m finding out there’s a lot more to digital photography than just taking the picture!

Running FROM Office

everyone is entitled to my opinion