I rarely go to UF football games, but I’ve been to far more UF football games as a UF staff member or Gainesville resident than I ever went to at UCF when I was an undergraduate student (which was none). The occasion was that it was my birthday weekend so my boss gave me his tickets as my birthday present. Unfortunately, a certain UCF fan that shall remain nameless here couldn’t accompany me. I’m pleased with the results given that the only camera I took with me was the little one.
Author: craig
But I’m not Korean
For some reason, I found this direct-mail piece humorous enough to blog about. This is not the first time I’ve been assumed to be Korean based on having a surname that’s very common in that culture. This may be the first time though from a company that I’m actually a customer of. I’ve received mail from Korean Air before and had one from them in the same mail batch as this even.
At work, it’s not uncommon for Korean graduate students to be quite surprised to discover that I’m not Korean upon first meeting me. What usually happens is a faculty member tells them to come see me for access to some Web service. They always get the same sort of surprised look on their faces when they discover that who they found is not who they thought they were looking for.
This is not the first case of mistaken ethnicity I’ve experienced either. The former Jennifer Lee (my ex- for you newer readers) used to regularly get offers for Chinese affinity Visa cards. That’s not surprising though given the commonness of the given name Jennifer in the Chinese-American community. However, how the marketers figure that a guy with a Scottish name like Craig might be Korean has me scratching my head.
I should do more here than announce photo sets
I really should. Maybe I’ll comment on the new TV season sometime. In the mean time, however, I have posted several photo sets over on Flickr.
- First, at some point this Summer, I posted a somewhat complete album of pictures from my June vacation with Mom to England and Scotland. I later found some stragglers that may be added at a later date. Or maybe not.
- In mid-August, I led a group from the cycling club on a ride, eat, and tube adventure at Ichetucknee Springs that we dubbed “The Strays Triathlon.” It was the only opportunity I really had this Summer to go tubing. Maybe I’ll get to go again in early Fall before the weather gets too cool for it. That is, if I can get a certain someone to go with me.
- The week after tubing the Ichetucknee, I was off to Chicago for this year’s convention of the Society of Professional Journalists where I once again produced Webcasts of many of the sessions. I didn’t have much time for sightseeing, but came home with some neat pictures. I had the pleasure of meeting and getting my picture taken with Bob Dotson of NBC News. I will be posting some techie details about Webcasts on my work blog.
Photo News
Over the weekend, my cycling club had a picnic at Hart Springs and, of course, I posted photos.
I have been working for weeks on getting my vacation photos posted. I’m still not done, but thought it was time for a link here anyway. Stay tuned here or on Flickr for more. Still to come are more photos from Lacock Abbey, Avebury, and Scotland.
I also updated the “Random Craigs” at right this evening. Refresh the page a few times and you may see a new pic if you haven’t already.
Good grooming requires work
Or so I have discovered as master of the obvious. I made a decision a week or two ago to quit biting my fingernails. You see, when you’re not regularly chewing them down, they seem to grow pretty darn fast (still wearing the “master of the obvious” cap). Last week I bought a pack of emery boards. This week some of those went to the office. Then, earlier this week, I stopped at Walgreen’s on the way home and bought a pair of nail scissors because I don’t like how nail clippers work. The scissors will be a challenge for someone of my clumsy dexterity. I’m determined to make this work, for a number of reasons.
(And hopefully this marks the return of somewhat regular posting on here. I’ve been busy.)
Digital Photography presentation available
I have posted my presentation from the aforementioned Digital Photography workshop. It got great press coverage, which unfortunately led to no additional attendees (at least from my informal “raise your hand if you saw the picture in the paper today” poll during the talk). The slides can be navigated forward by clicking anywhere on the slide. And if you move your mouse to the lower-right region of your screen, you will see additional navigational options.
Public Speaking Engagements
On Friday, April 21, I head off to Tampa where I will be giving two presentations, “Web Publishing Tips” and “Video and Audio for the Web,” at the annual convention of the Florida Scholastic Press Association. I have a soft spot in my heart for the FSPA because I attended the convention twice (’80 and ’81) as a high school journalist. The presentations are not open to the public, but the slides will be online afterward.
On Thursday, April 27 at 7 p.m., I will give a presentation on “How to select and use a digital camera” at the Melrose library. All are welcome to come and bring cameras or problem photos and get free advice on usage or improvements. I have given this sort of presentation before and have always been well-received. The first time I did this, I sold a photo. This presentation is free and open to the public.
DJ Emily goes a blogging
My favorite Rock104 and BreakThruRadio.com DJ Emily Smith has taken up blogging. Stay tuned.
slickr is, well, slick
I installed the slickr screen saver on my office computer on Friday. I’m writing about it here instead of there because this is where I write about photography. It’s strange to write about it here though because it’s a Windows-only offering and I’m writing at home on a Mac. What slickr does, when activated, is show a slide show of photos from Flickr. It’s highly configurable, letting you show photos by tag or set if you’d like. The example shows a couple of photos from my tubing adventure last summer with Dana. I find it cool that it shows a different photo on each screen. This is not recommended unless you have some sort of always-on, fast Internet connection.
Just so I don’t go “Oh for March” here
It all started just after my last post, when I undertook a major yard project during the last weekend of February and the first weekend of March. You can check out the photos here or on Flickr. During part two of the operation, I must have inhaled a whole bunch of allergens and other lung irritants because I came down with a bad case of asthma.
I’d feel good after a couple of days, then I’d overdo it somehow, then I’d feel worse again. Rinse. Repeat. The first overdoing of it was a day trip to Tampa for a Yankees Spring Training game. Then the next day I was off to Mom’s for the weekend to see my nephew in Pippin at his high school. The following Tuesday, 10 days after it started, I went to the doctor about it. Two weeks of inhaling steroids later, I finally felt back to normal.
I missed no work and was actually very busy and productive all month, see that blog. It left me without much energy for writing or photos here though.