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Jul. 26th, 2010 09:33 amI'm starting to feel like I need to somehow get a properly calibrated monitor to do work on photos with, if that's at all possible without breaking the bank. Does anyone have any experience with that?
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posicat and I left my parents' house in Kenosha around seven or eight in the evening. We'd spent a little while on Priceline trying to find a really cheap hotel in the Cedarburg area, but we ended up with one in Waukesha. I didn't mind; I didn't see Cedarburg at dawn, but it felt so good just to be on the road with a friend. We got to the hotel (after driving north of Milwaukee on 43 then realizing we had to turn around to go back to 94) around ten thirty or eleven. Something called Dual Survival was on TV, with a couple of guys who demonstrate what to do in survival situations. I loved Cody, who'd grown up in the Arizona desert (I'm guessing on an Indian Reservation) and walked everywhere barefoot, hair in braided pigtails, just generally being a mellow, unassuming bad-ass.
It felt inexplicably good just to be out somewhere new at a hotel with a friend. I guess part of it is that I have so many really good associations with being at hotels. The vast majority of my stays have been as a convention attendee, visiting somebody I'm involved romantically with, or both. On top of that, it's a beautiful thing to have a bed and, much as I usually disdain it, air conditioning, after a couple months doing without.
So, Posi and I got to Cedarburg in the late morning and, after a little walk around a small park and a stop at a religious school with a fantastic wire-work saint standing guard over the doorway, parked at one end of the main street area and just walked down one side and up the other. We shot tons of photos of the beautiful century-old masonry buildings that lined the town center. We stopped in a few really cool stores including one that reminds me a lot of Sheepish in Racine wheremoiracoon has taken me a few times. There was a chocolate shop that made me think of reading Chocolat when cranberrynomiko lent it to me. I bought a cute little truffle shaped like a dog (the Black Lab Truffle) and photographed it before consuming it. I would have bought something for Moira if I'd thought it would survive the car.
I bought a few bumper stickers that I couldn't pass up; they'd caught my eye as I chatted with the woman behind the counter about how much I liked the shop and why it reminded me of Sheepish (pretty, hand made things, fair-trade goods, positive vibes). Later this week I'll wash my bumper and it will have a Dalai Lama quote on it; "Compassion is the radicalism of our time." I also have one that says "Something wonderful is about to happen." That one appeals to me for multiple reasons, one of them being that, when people ask me why I have a camera, I often say that you never know when something interesting is going to happen. And thirdly, I have one that Posi pointed out that says "I do not intend to tiptoe carefully through life only to arrive safely at death." That matches my internal through processes lately. It's a more eloquent version of words of my grandfather's that are in my head from time to time. "Screw it!"
The Rivoli Theatre was gorgeous. The recreation Vitrolite covering the entire facade gleams in the light of day, and clouds dance across the black surface, reflecting down from the bright summer sky. The red neon and flashing lights of the marquee are eye-catching and contribute to the classic Art Deco look. There's a little article here on the process of restoration and the Vitrolite expert who worked on it. It's a beautiful building that I'm very glad to have had the chance to see. I'd really never seen anything like it, and it was definitely worth the drive.
We enjoyed the small bridge over the river to one side of main street too (it was once part of the interurban line from Milwaukee) and conjecturing whether some of the large masonry buildings were once the waterwheel-powered mills that a historical marker described as the heart of the town's early development. But we'd about covered the main drag by three o' clock and we headed on to Oostburg, home of Christian pizza buffet.
It's a Pizza Ranch (a chain of pizza buffets) owned by some fairly religious folks. There are bible verses on the walls and a bulletin board oriented toward religious groups near the entrance. The food is pretty decent though, and I can credit their 'cactus bread' for turning me on to cinnamony pastries when I stopped there with Moira for the first time.
There not being much else to do in Oostburg, we decided to back east across 94 and see what was down the road toward the lake. As it happened, we found lake! We parked at the end of the road and walked up and down one of the most beautiful inland beaches I've ever been on. The water was a little soupy with algae, but we still got our feet wet as I shot some wide-angle views of the lake and clouds and sun and little sailboats. I'm also happy to have learned that, even if I walk around in the water with my Tevas on and get sand on my feet, it doesn't take long for them to dry out and the sand to work its way out. That shouldn't be surprising I suppose since that's kind of what they were made for, but I'm appreciative.
As we walked down to the beach, there was a man who I assumed was homeless walking up toward our car and a camper-converted pickup truck where they were parked at the end of the road. He had several feet of long greasy hair and seemed to be carrying all of his possessions in a couple of plastic bags. I was concerned when he seemed to be lingering around the cars, but after a while, I looked back and he was gone and the camper was pulling out of its spot. I guess it was his. "Maybe he's just really anti-social" Posi remarked when I said that part of what made me worry was that when I said hi on the way by he completely ignored me. "He's probably a sysadmin." For my part, I suppose if I was independently wealthy, maybe I'd be driving around Lake Michigan and sleeping on the beaches just for kicks.
After splashing around and getting pictures and video, the two of us drove back south toward Port Washington. I'd been through it briefly with Moira before and I really wanted pictures of the old stone cathedral perched on its hill, towering over the town like a scene from a Gothic horror novel. And I got them! But there was so much more to the town. It really may be the most picturesque small town I've yet been in in terms of terrain. I didn't realize it at the time, but the town has more Antebellum (that is, pre-Civil War, not southern) buildings than any other town in Wisconsin.
After getting pictures of the downtown and the south side of the harbor, we drove up to the church. The building is another beautiful example of the skilled work of masons and dates to the 1880s. I was lucky enough to find the door unlocked, so I walked in and took a few interior shots too. As sorely as I was temped by the apparent total lack of people, I restricted myself to the first floor and didn't try to find a way into the steeple. I'll probably regret that.
We went back downhill looking for the other side of the harbor; we were trying to get out to a long breakwater that we could see from the south earlier but couldn't get to without walking through the whole town. We found it with only a little difficulty and it was well worth it. It's certainly the longest breakwater I've been out on, and on top of that, it has only a wall down the center with thick wire rope as a railing along the first half. After that, it narrows to eight or ten feet and has no railings at all! I'm really amazed, and very pleased, that it's a publicly accessible space. I can't imagine something like it in a more populous area not being fenced off and secured.
At the end is a large square platform with a metal lighthouse above it. The lighthouse sits on a tall concrete platform with open space below and there's plenty of room for a couple dozen people to sit and enjoy the wind and sun. I'm planning a trip out there for some dawn-time shots of the breakwater, harbor, and town. I think they'd come out just beautifully.
I had some panic on the breakwater. (Is that anything like panic at the disco?) I couldn't find my keys and thought they'd fallen out of my pocket while I was lying down somewhere or other for pictures. I walked purposefully back to the car, looking all the way for shiny things on the ground. Fortunately, it turned out that they were in the car the whole time. Given that I'd locked them in there once already, then climbed in through the sunroof to get them, and then locked them in the car after going in to close the sunroof tight, this doesn't speak wonders for my organization skills. But, I was able to unlock the door by bending the end of my telescoping antenna into a hook and slipping it in pas the window to unlock the door. Yay for cars that are easy to break into!
Yesterday, on the way to the family reunion, I got three copies made so that I won't have this issue again. But for now I'll end with Posi and I getting back to Kenosha and me getting my tired tail and sore paws to bed.
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I have a bunch of great pictures from the trip, but I haven't had time to go through them yet. Instead, please enjoy another one from the National Air and Space Museum extension in Virginia. This is a really neat display of a radial aircraft engine that's been cut in two and mounted on moving arms that open it up so you can see the inner workings as they rotate and reciprocate. There are red lights mounted in the ends of the cylinders too so you can see which cylinder would be firing as the crankshaft spins and pistons move up and down. It was really neat!
Cutaway Radial Engine
© Stormdog 2009
For now, its back to work, and thinking about my upcoming move and stuff. I can deal with this. *nods*
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posicat and I left my parents' house in Kenosha around seven or eight in the evening. We'd spent a little while on Priceline trying to find a really cheap hotel in the Cedarburg area, but we ended up with one in Waukesha. I didn't mind; I didn't see Cedarburg at dawn, but it felt so good just to be on the road with a friend. We got to the hotel (after driving north of Milwaukee on 43 then realizing we had to turn around to go back to 94) around ten thirty or eleven. Something called Dual Survival was on TV, with a couple of guys who demonstrate what to do in survival situations. I loved Cody, who'd grown up in the Arizona desert (I'm guessing on an Indian Reservation) and walked everywhere barefoot, hair in braided pigtails, just generally being a mellow, unassuming bad-ass.It felt inexplicably good just to be out somewhere new at a hotel with a friend. I guess part of it is that I have so many really good associations with being at hotels. The vast majority of my stays have been as a convention attendee, visiting somebody I'm involved romantically with, or both. On top of that, it's a beautiful thing to have a bed and, much as I usually disdain it, air conditioning, after a couple months doing without.
So, Posi and I got to Cedarburg in the late morning and, after a little walk around a small park and a stop at a religious school with a fantastic wire-work saint standing guard over the doorway, parked at one end of the main street area and just walked down one side and up the other. We shot tons of photos of the beautiful century-old masonry buildings that lined the town center. We stopped in a few really cool stores including one that reminds me a lot of Sheepish in Racine where
moiracoon has taken me a few times. There was a chocolate shop that made me think of reading Chocolat when cranberrynomiko lent it to me. I bought a cute little truffle shaped like a dog (the Black Lab Truffle) and photographed it before consuming it. I would have bought something for Moira if I'd thought it would survive the car.I bought a few bumper stickers that I couldn't pass up; they'd caught my eye as I chatted with the woman behind the counter about how much I liked the shop and why it reminded me of Sheepish (pretty, hand made things, fair-trade goods, positive vibes). Later this week I'll wash my bumper and it will have a Dalai Lama quote on it; "Compassion is the radicalism of our time." I also have one that says "Something wonderful is about to happen." That one appeals to me for multiple reasons, one of them being that, when people ask me why I have a camera, I often say that you never know when something interesting is going to happen. And thirdly, I have one that Posi pointed out that says "I do not intend to tiptoe carefully through life only to arrive safely at death." That matches my internal through processes lately. It's a more eloquent version of words of my grandfather's that are in my head from time to time. "Screw it!"
The Rivoli Theatre was gorgeous. The recreation Vitrolite covering the entire facade gleams in the light of day, and clouds dance across the black surface, reflecting down from the bright summer sky. The red neon and flashing lights of the marquee are eye-catching and contribute to the classic Art Deco look. There's a little article here on the process of restoration and the Vitrolite expert who worked on it. It's a beautiful building that I'm very glad to have had the chance to see. I'd really never seen anything like it, and it was definitely worth the drive.
We enjoyed the small bridge over the river to one side of main street too (it was once part of the interurban line from Milwaukee) and conjecturing whether some of the large masonry buildings were once the waterwheel-powered mills that a historical marker described as the heart of the town's early development. But we'd about covered the main drag by three o' clock and we headed on to Oostburg, home of Christian pizza buffet.
It's a Pizza Ranch (a chain of pizza buffets) owned by some fairly religious folks. There are bible verses on the walls and a bulletin board oriented toward religious groups near the entrance. The food is pretty decent though, and I can credit their 'cactus bread' for turning me on to cinnamony pastries when I stopped there with Moira for the first time.
There not being much else to do in Oostburg, we decided to back east across 94 and see what was down the road toward the lake. As it happened, we found lake! We parked at the end of the road and walked up and down one of the most beautiful inland beaches I've ever been on. The water was a little soupy with algae, but we still got our feet wet as I shot some wide-angle views of the lake and clouds and sun and little sailboats. I'm also happy to have learned that, even if I walk around in the water with my Tevas on and get sand on my feet, it doesn't take long for them to dry out and the sand to work its way out. That shouldn't be surprising I suppose since that's kind of what they were made for, but I'm appreciative.
As we walked down to the beach, there was a man who I assumed was homeless walking up toward our car and a camper-converted pickup truck where they were parked at the end of the road. He had several feet of long greasy hair and seemed to be carrying all of his possessions in a couple of plastic bags. I was concerned when he seemed to be lingering around the cars, but after a while, I looked back and he was gone and the camper was pulling out of its spot. I guess it was his. "Maybe he's just really anti-social" Posi remarked when I said that part of what made me worry was that when I said hi on the way by he completely ignored me. "He's probably a sysadmin." For my part, I suppose if I was independently wealthy, maybe I'd be driving around Lake Michigan and sleeping on the beaches just for kicks.
After splashing around and getting pictures and video, the two of us drove back south toward Port Washington. I'd been through it briefly with Moira before and I really wanted pictures of the old stone cathedral perched on its hill, towering over the town like a scene from a Gothic horror novel. And I got them! But there was so much more to the town. It really may be the most picturesque small town I've yet been in in terms of terrain. I didn't realize it at the time, but the town has more Antebellum (that is, pre-Civil War, not southern) buildings than any other town in Wisconsin.
After getting pictures of the downtown and the south side of the harbor, we drove up to the church. The building is another beautiful example of the skilled work of masons and dates to the 1880s. I was lucky enough to find the door unlocked, so I walked in and took a few interior shots too. As sorely as I was temped by the apparent total lack of people, I restricted myself to the first floor and didn't try to find a way into the steeple. I'll probably regret that.
We went back downhill looking for the other side of the harbor; we were trying to get out to a long breakwater that we could see from the south earlier but couldn't get to without walking through the whole town. We found it with only a little difficulty and it was well worth it. It's certainly the longest breakwater I've been out on, and on top of that, it has only a wall down the center with thick wire rope as a railing along the first half. After that, it narrows to eight or ten feet and has no railings at all! I'm really amazed, and very pleased, that it's a publicly accessible space. I can't imagine something like it in a more populous area not being fenced off and secured.
At the end is a large square platform with a metal lighthouse above it. The lighthouse sits on a tall concrete platform with open space below and there's plenty of room for a couple dozen people to sit and enjoy the wind and sun. I'm planning a trip out there for some dawn-time shots of the breakwater, harbor, and town. I think they'd come out just beautifully.
I had some panic on the breakwater. (Is that anything like panic at the disco?) I couldn't find my keys and thought they'd fallen out of my pocket while I was lying down somewhere or other for pictures. I walked purposefully back to the car, looking all the way for shiny things on the ground. Fortunately, it turned out that they were in the car the whole time. Given that I'd locked them in there once already, then climbed in through the sunroof to get them, and then locked them in the car after going in to close the sunroof tight, this doesn't speak wonders for my organization skills. But, I was able to unlock the door by bending the end of my telescoping antenna into a hook and slipping it in pas the window to unlock the door. Yay for cars that are easy to break into!
Yesterday, on the way to the family reunion, I got three copies made so that I won't have this issue again. But for now I'll end with Posi and I getting back to Kenosha and me getting my tired tail and sore paws to bed.
-----------------
I have a bunch of great pictures from the trip, but I haven't had time to go through them yet. Instead, please enjoy another one from the National Air and Space Museum extension in Virginia. This is a really neat display of a radial aircraft engine that's been cut in two and mounted on moving arms that open it up so you can see the inner workings as they rotate and reciprocate. There are red lights mounted in the ends of the cylinders too so you can see which cylinder would be firing as the crankshaft spins and pistons move up and down. It was really neat!
Cutaway Radial Engine
© Stormdog 2009
For now, its back to work, and thinking about my upcoming move and stuff. I can deal with this. *nods*
