Aceliner 502

- This is my Aceliner 502 "Executive" stapler. I have owned it for more than 30 years and moved it from office to office and job to job over the years. It now sits in my home office after I acquired a Red Swingline as a going away gift from my last job. The "Office Space" Red Swingline is now on the desk at work. While the Red Swingline is cool and a pop icon among geeks everywhere, the Aceliner 502 is clealy the best office stapler you can own. It is heavy, durable, has great Art Deco styling and staples like no other. There's enough steel in this baby to make six or eight of what passes for an office stapler at today's supply stores. Canon 7D, 1/60 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 800.

Cat 5E

- This is the connector on a Category 5 Enhanced, better known as Cat 5E, Ethernet patch cable used to connect a computer to a wired network. The cable has eight wires in four twisted pairs although in most cases only two pairs are used for communications. Each pair has a different distance between twists. This alternating distance reduces crosstalk, without affecting the characteristic impedance. The distance per twist is commonly referred to as pitch. Each pair contains between 51.7 and 65.2 twists per meter. How's that for dose of geek talk. Enough techno babel, here's some photo speak - Canon 7D, 1/40 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 800, 100mm macro focused at about 12 inches from the subject. Light is from one LED Litepanel.

Analog Bureaucracy

- I guess you can call this my "signature" photo. I sign my name dozens of times everyday day at work - contracts, agreements, HR paperwork and even small dollar amount mileage reimbursements. It's kind of sad that the Director of Technology is stuck in an analog bureaucracy. My only joy is that if I have to do it, I'll do it in style with a fine fountain pen. Canon 7D, 1/500 sec @ f/13.0, ISO 1600, 100mm macro with two LED litepanels.

Katydid

- Caught this little katydid hanging out on one of the spider daylily blooms this evening. Don't you just love mother nature's color palette? Canon 7D, 1/160 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro.

Pink

- This little pink flower was in a bouquet that Cindy picked up at Trader Joe's yesterday. It's only about a half an inch across but up close it puts on quite a show. Canon 7D, 1/640 sec @ f/11.0, ISO 80, 100mm macro lens.

Strawberry To Be

- The patio strawberries are just starting their second round of blooms. In a few weeks this will be a tasty red berry. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/200 sec @ f/11.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro.

Future Heat

- First blooms on this year's Jalpaneo pepper crop. Last year's crop produced peppers all the way into December. Canon 7D, 1/250 sec @ f/5.6, 100mm macro, LED Litepanel.

More Wright Stuff

- Spent this evening building building Lincoln Logs with my grandson. Lincoln Logs were invented in 1916, by John Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright. The toy was based on the architecture of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, designed by the inventor's father. The foundation of the hotel was designed with interlocking beams, which made the structure "earthquake proof". This feature assisted in the design of the toy logs, ensuring stability of the miniature buildings created with the toy set. John Lloyd Wright was issued US Patent 1,351,086 on August 31, 1920, for a "Toy-Cabin Construction." Today Lincoln Logs are distributed by K'nex. Canon G11, 1/80 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 400 in macro mode.

Deuteragonist

- My latest PEZ dispenser acquisition is Ferb Fletcher. Ferb and his step brother Phineas Flynn are the stars of the animated series Phineas and Ferb. Creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh worked together on the 1990's Nickelodeon classic series Rocko's Modern Life. As I was working on this post, my son Mike pointed out some rather significant trivia related to Phineas and Ferb. The boy's father, Lawrence Fletcher, is voiced by Richard O'Brien who wrote the cult musical The Rocky Horror Show and appeared in the film as the character Riff Raff. Of course Ferb is the deuteragonist, from the Greek deuteragonistes meaning second actor or typically the second most important character. Canon 7D, 1/2500 sec @ f/6.3, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens, and two LED litepanels.

It's a Knockout

- In the past few days the Knockout roses have exploded with new blooms. It's pretty hard to beat the beauty of a single red rose. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/500 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 800, 105mm, light from a single LED Litepanel.

To The Rescue

- Modern antibiotics come to rescue me from a sinus infection. In my case it was the old standby 500mg of Amoxicillin made by West-Ward Pharmaceuticals of Eatontown, New Jersey. Canon 7D, 1/500 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro lens.

best-sleep-you-ever-got-with-a-cold

"The nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, best-sleep-you-ever-got-with-a-cold medicine" or so goes the original slogan for NyQuil. I feel like *$(% but I still got a photo for today. Hopefully I can get a good night's sleep tonight and feel better tomorrow. I have always been a fan of NyQuil although its not as good after they took out the pseudoephedrine in 2006. You can still get the "good stuff" called NyQuil D but it is behind the counter at the pharmacy. Canon 7D, 1/40 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 800, 100mm and one LED Litepanel that the bottle is sitting on.

Night Iris

light a night bloomer
behold magnificence of spring
yellow and purple

My first haiku seemed appropriate for this lovely iris. Canon 7D, 1/1600 sec @ f/6.3, ISO 1600, 100mm macro, two LED Litepanels, one below and one to the left.

Strawberry Bloom

- The patio strawberries are in full bloom. This variety is "June-bearing" and I should see some ripe berries by late May. Take a close look at this small bloom just to the left of center and notice the small unwelcome pest already at work. Canon 7D, 1/125 sec @ f/14.0, ISO 1600, 100mm macro lens taken at night with two LED Litepanels for illumination.

My First Lytro

- This is the first picture I've shared from my new Lytro camera. The Lytro changes almost everything for digital photography as its new and innovative design allows you to refocus the picture after you take it. This birthday bouquet does not have a lot of depth of field so the effect isn't that noticeable. Look for new pics in the future after I develop some skill in actually using this camera. You can play with a "living" version of the photo on my Facebook timeline page. Just click on the image to refocus on that spot. Lytro, 1/80 sec @ f/2.0, two LED Litepanels for illumination.

Can You Smell This?

- Can a photograph trigger the memory of scent? Some research says it can. These hyacinths located near my front porch provide an amazing and welcoming aroma to visitors. They've been blooming for over a week now and the scent has been imprinted in my brain. Can you smell them? Canon 7D, 1/30 sec @ f/11.0, ISO 400, 100mm macro, two LED litepanels.

The Humble Moth

Moths are closely related to the butterflies, both being of the order Lepidoptera. There are over 160,000 species of moths, more than ten times the number of butterfly species. Butterflies get all of the glory with their bright colors and beautiful wings. Moths on the other hand tend to be more brown and unpretentious. They are not perceived in the same manner as their well loved cousins. But like much of mother nature, you just need to look close enough to see the beauty and glory. This humble little moth is hanging in close to our front porch light. The macro lens captures some of the fine detail of nature. This photo is also a good example of how shallow the depth of field can be on a macro lens when focused on a very close subject. As you can see the depth of field is less than 1/4 inch. Canon 7D, 1/160 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 800, 100mm macro.

Dimples

- Dimples have been a part of golf ball design for over a 100 years. The dimples help a golf ball fly longer and with more back spin. Most golf balls have a symmetrical dimple pattern consisting of 200 to 300 dimples. Golf balls with asymmetrical dimple patterns and varied dimple depths were designed in the 1970's significantly improving the straight flight of a golf ball but were quickly banned by the USGA. Canon 7D, 1/250 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 800, 100mm macro, 3 - LED litepanels.

Cold & Wet

- It's a cold and wet night for this early daffodil. Canon 7D, 1/250 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800, 100mm macro, LED Litepanel.

First Snow

- Staring snowing for the first time this season around 5:45. The flakes were big and wet as the temperature was about 36 degrees. Here some land on the azalea while other flakes streak by through the light field created by my LED Litepanel. Canon 7D, 1/10 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800, 199mm macro lens.