Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Celtic Bayou!

We have a local haunt called the Celtic Bayou in our neighborhood. It is a restaurant/bar that serves a wide selection of beer as well as Cajun/Creole and Irish food. We have been there many times, including St. Patty's Day. This place never disappoints. Work was slow last night so we took a break and went here for dinner. The Irish tater-tots and hush puppies are always a must for appetizers. I ended up getting the étouffée, which was delicious.

It also helped that they had Green Day on the stereo all night long. This place is really worth the trip if you live in the Seattle area. Other good dishes are: corned beef and cabbage, blackened chicken, gumbo, and jambalaya.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Photo Dump #3

Here is a collection of photos from this week. Most of them are from a train trestle we found that crosses a man-made river near downtown Redmond.

Flickr link

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Sammich!

This morning Britt and I decided to check out Mike's Brooklyn Deli and Bagels in downtown Redmond. They exclusively serve Boar's Head meat in all of their sandwiches, usually a good sign. Britt got a chicken salad sandwich that was reasonable and I got this tasty-looking corned beef sandwich. The corned beef was amazing, it was everything corned beef should be. The meat was tender and juicy, not overcooked. It really was a bad-ass sandwich, I think I will be going back for some of their signature sandwiches in the future.

We got a Playstation 3!

My lovely bride-to-be, seen here cuddling her new toy, has been on a gadget buying spree lately. Not that I am complaining, I get to play with the new 46" TV and Playstation 3 just as much as she does! We are both quite excited about having a Blu-Ray player/video game console.







Movies:
First Knight
Iron Man
Serenity

Games:
Little Big Planet

Bioshock

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe


We have decided to spend this Saturday devoted to video games and meat. Also, there are 3 racks of pork ribs marinating in the fridge.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Light Painting!

So I was surfing the ol' internet yesterday and I happened upon the website of the photographer Michael Bosanko. He has a bunch of really creative photos utilizing light painting. I highly recommend checking out his work. So I tried my hand at a bit of light painting myself. My first attempts are on my Flickr page. This is probably one of the most fun things you can do with a camera. The shots I did outside at night are my favorite. I ended up setting up my camera to get a good exposure at 30 seconds and I would jump in with a flashlight about half way through the exposure and play with the flash light pointed almost at the camera but not directly into the lens. Check out my first light painting offerings!

Flickr link

Monday, January 12, 2009

Photo Dump #2

I had an extremely busy weekend! I ended up buying a Nikkor 50mm 1.8 lens for my D60 and took it around Seattle all day Saturday! So far, this lens is amazing! I ended up getting some shots that I like and uploaded them to Flickr. Later, I spent the evening gallivanting about with the usual gang up on Capital hill. We hit up a couple bars then ended the evening playing party games at Dave and Emily's. Since we were out at night I managed to snap a couple good night photos!

Link to Flickr

Friday, January 9, 2009

New Camera Toy!

I got a new toy for my camera! This is the Nikon ML-L3 Wireless Remote Control. It is basically an infrared remote shutter release. It lets me take photos of myself without using the timer. Also, what I am most excited about, it allows me to take long exposures without having to touch the camera at all. Now, I could just use the timer, but that won't work on the bulb setting. So if I want to take an exposure over 30 seconds without shaking the camera, this wee gadget has me covered.

More on photography: this weekend Mike, Donna, and I are going into Seattle proper for a photo taking adventure. We are thinking of hitting up Pioneer Square. I am planning on picking up a new lens for my camera for this adventure! I am looking at 50mm prime lens with a 1.8 f-stop. Something like this! So hopefully after this weekend I will have some fun photos to share!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Macaroni and Cheese!

I am a really big fan of Food Network. Especially Alton Brown and his amazing shows Good Eats, Feasting on Asphalt, and Feasting on Waves. I had the TV on in the background the other day and was casually listening to Tyler's Ultimate. I wasn't really paying much attention, Tyler Florence isn't too exciting of a cook. However the food he made that episode sounded extremely good! I ended up watching the whole episode. It was called Tyler's Ultimate Mac 'n Cheese. Comfort food at its best! Also in the episode was a home-made tomato soup that I will have to make myself soon.

On another note, I haven't been much of a fish eater most of my life, though I am developing a palate for it. In fact, when I was in Hawaii I had several seafood dishes, most of them utilizing the local mahi-mahi. So, this weekend my good friend Mike and I plan to head down to the Pike Place Market in Seattle and pick up some fish! I really want to make my own fish and chips with some cod or maybe halubut. I will probably use Alton Brown's recipe from the episode Fry Hard!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Pessimist's Mug!

Now, I am not a pessimist by nature, however my fiancé's sister got me this mug for Christmas and it cracks me up! My fiancé and her sister have a tradition of swapping the Demotivation Calendars ever year. They are work checking out over at dispair.com
Their site is worth checking out even if you are an optimist. Some really fun stuff, really great if you need a birthday present for someone.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Vimeo Video Test

I Recently picked up a Kodak Zi6 HD pocket video camera. This thing is so much fun, I keep it on my person almost all the time. So, I have been bouncing around, looking for a decent site to host videos and I came across Vimeo. I like their embedded video player and they allow 1 HD video per week as well as 500 megs/week of VGA video for their free accounts.
I figured I would give them a try! This is a video from my recent trip to Hawaii on the coast of the Big Island just north of Hilo.



Photo Dump #1

I try to have my digital camera on me at all times. Since I picked up my Nikon D60 DSLR I am starting to turn into a bit of a photography nut. Every so often, when my memory card starts to fill up, I dump all the random photos I take while out and about onto my computer. I think it would be fun to pick through my favorites and toss them on my flickr account and link it here. So here is my very first photo dump.

Link to flickr

Monday, January 5, 2009

Welcome!

Lets say you were to go to a bar. Do you have your go-to beer that you order each time you go out, or do you like to spice things up? Are you bold enough to try the ESB on cask that you have never heard of? Me, I plan on ordering that ESB. I believe that variety truely is the spice of life.
This blog will feature my vast array of hobbies and interests. Among other things, you can expect to find: videos of my sleight of hand magic, many of my photographs, some of my art, and information on whatever my current hobby is.
This is basically an outlet for me and my many interests, hopefully some of you out there will share my enthusiasm for variety!


Some of my interests/hobbies:
  • Cooking
  • Eating
  • Sleight of hand Magic
  • Art
  • Photography
  • Video Games
  • Playing Guitar
  • Toys