I’ve had a crazy idea since my Venturing days of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (either in full or in sections). This idea has never been very serious owing to the immense cost and time commitment of such a trip… until recently.

No, I still don’t have the expense part figured out, but I certainly have the time now that I’m well out of college and career-less (at the moment).

Anyway, I did a brain dump on the current state of the idea and put it up in a page. It’s been getting a fair amount of interest (I posted a link via Twitter and Facebook) so I figured I’d share it with anyone that happens to read my blog.

Pacific Crest Trail dream/idea

Alrighty. This will be the last “Camtasia test” that I post here, I promise. On this third version I added in some images and audio in addition the screencast. It’s amazing how much of a production it looks like — which is a good thing. The content is weak, I know, that will be something I will fix if I decide to take this to the next level.

The next level? Yeah, It’s possible that I’ll start a blog/screencast devoted to WordPress and use the format that I’ve already developed to continue in that proccess. Usefull? Thoughts?

It was fun the first time around, so I did it again:

Thoughts?

Note that this is not a formal review

I downloaded the demo version of Camtasia screen recording software and am considering starting a WordPress screencast. I’ve posted a really rough version below. Note that the subject matter is random and it’s my first run through the program — so it’s a tad rough.

I’m interested in hearing your feedback on the screencast itself and, more importantly, if there would be an interest in WordPress screencasting, likely under a different domain.

I now have some photographs hosted by the fine folks at the Gold Bar coffee shop. This is the second time I’ve been up in a coffee shop (first time was at Caffe Gourmet).

If you have a chance — and you’re in the Phoenix, AZ area — you should check this place out. Not only is some of my photography up in there, but the staff is fun, the shop is inviting, and it generally doesn’t feel like a Starbucks. Which is a good thing. They have free wi-fi, jazz on some days, and they have zero issues with you sticking around for half the day. Here’s a map to the Gold Bar.

It’s no art gallery or museum gallery. In fact, it’s got a bunch of stuff that really distracts from my artwork, but I love the coffee shop so for me it’s nice to be a part of it.

Note: I was originally planning on launching Techtrajectory.com on November 10th, but delays in WordPress 2.7 and an opportunity for some good linking made me re-think that idea. It’s amazing how fast brain synapses can work when they want to.

Tech Trajectory is live!

As of November 1st — or very early on the 2nd, I can’t remember — techtrajectory.com was officially opened up to the world. What that really means is that I took down an ugly message that said it was in pre-release mode. It also means that now I need to do a good job at keeping it updated, fresh, relevant, and fun-to-read for as long as I want it to be alive.

What is Tech Trajectory — I missed something?

I wrote a quick teaser here on this site a little while back, but don’t worry if you missed it. Tech Trajectory is my newest blog and is located at techtrajectory.com. The goal here is to ponder the current status of our technology and where that technology will take us — as a society — in the future. I want to move beyond debating the next iteration of iPod into debating the future of mobile media. That type of thing.

In addition to my simply throwing stuff out there for the consumption of the masses (or whomever shows up), I want guest authors. I’d like to build up a community of guest authors who each have their own specific niche. Kind of like about.com, but blog-style, and not so — uhm — stupid.

Call for Guest Authors

I am looking for guest authors that are interested in writing about the future of our technology. If this even remotely piques your interest, I really want to talk with you. I do. Go to techtrajectory.com -> Guest Authors like right now.

If you build it, it will probably die.

That should be the motto of Web 2.0. There is so much stuff out there that gets created, maybe attracts a few people, and then dies. Nowhere is this more true than in blogging. There are tons of reasons that stuff dies — financial, motivation, content, whatever. I’m not even at the “attract a few users” stage, and that’s where I’d like your help. I don’t intend for you to neccessarily become a frequent commenter — or to even subscribe to the RSS feed — I just want some feedback. Please, one time only, head over to the site, take a look at an article that seems even a little bit interesting and leave a comment, let me know what you thought, how the site looks, to eat a rock — whatever you feel. Comments vindicate a blogger.

Don’t know where to start — here are some quick links:

• Obama & Technology. Betcha didn’t think the blog would have politics in it!
• Censorship abroad. How other countries are making the Internet suck.
• The electric Lamborghini. While it’s not actually a lamborghini, the purely-electric Tesla Roadster rocks.

Thanks for all your help, I hope to see you over there!

Phoenix is alive with creativity.

Or, perhaps it just feels like that because I’m unemployed and thus able to plug into all this cool stuff.

Ignite Phoenix

Ignite phoenix is a micro-presentation confrance for Phoenix’s creative community. Or, at least that’s the way it’s billed. Presenters can choose pretty much any topic to talk about for 5 minutes. They get a new power point slide automatically every 10 seconds.

Unfortunately, I didn’t go. I heard a recap about it at Refocus and I wish I had.

Refocus Phoenix

This is a photography group comprising mostly of tech-headed type people. This particular outing was lead, in particular, by Adam Nollmeyer of Acme Photography — a funny, sarcastic and very creative guy. The group, all five of us, did some individual shots of the fair then sorta-helped on a slightly larger production shot all strobist-style. We all visited a Mexican restaurant afterward and had some good chat. Including a bit about PodCamp AZ this weekend.

PodCamp AZ

This is a 2-day event/confrence dealing just with new/relevant media. While it’s name lends itself to podcasting, Podcamp will also cover blogging, online video, new media using traditional media (yeah, figure that out), ,etc. I took a look at the topics list and, well, let’s just say it’ll probably keep me busy all weekend. I’ll post more about PodCamp AZ after I attend.

I’ll come back with some additional details later, but I wanted to let you know what I’ve been working on for the last few weeks. On November 10, 2008 TechTrajectory.com will be launched. We are planning on having a midnight release party with fireworks, dancers, and free beer — you’re all invited…. That is, if I were rich and could afford all that.

TechTrajectory.com

The website is all about the future of technology. Where we’re at now and where we’re taking it in the future. It’s available for your viewing pleasure in a pre-launch form (there may be weirdness). Please, check it out and let me know what you think.

I was writing about this on the flickr strobist group’s discussion board. I figured I may as well present it here as well.

Import Process:

• Import camera RAW files into Lightroom (still on v1.0), convert to DNG, apply global keywords in the import dialog. Import applies generic metadata which I choose based on the camera that it took.
• Photos are backed up to an external HD on import.
• Go get food and wait for Lightroom to import everything (my computer is really old).

Selection Process:

• Flag poor photos as “rejected”
• Delete above rejected photos.
• Go through the photos and start working on the best of each subject. I don’t tag these photos with anything particular, I just pick them out.

Develop Process:

• Crop if necessary
• Start by adjusting white balance
• Pick if it will be black and white or color (white bal can affect the grayscale mix)
• If grayscale, I’ll set the grayscale mix to something I want here, then tweak it after the tone curve step.
• Turn on “show clipping” (keyboard: “J”)
• Set the overall exposure, minding the highlight clipping
• Set the recovery (if needed) to bring back some of the whites
• I rarely touch fill light and blacks, but occasionally I do. I prefer to mess with the blacks by using the next step

• (Usually by here I will know if I want to really take the time to tweak this image. If not, it will get either (A) flagged for rejection or (B) I will set a color label that says to me, “don’t bother” Usually red or yellow.
• Play with the tone curve until I get the look I want, usually by dropping the darks a bit.

• All other options as needed (colors, sharpening, clarity, presence, etc)
• Review the image and tweak all settings as necessary. I use the “lights out” mode often to check the image. My lights out mode is set to use a white screen — like the mats that I put the image in.

• Once done, set the color label as green, blue, or purple depending on my interest in printing.
• Create a title and a caption and add that information to the meta data
• Repeat the steps for the next image.
• Export (if needed) when done in whatever format is necessary. I don’t use the Lightroom “Web or Slideshow” module, and I only use the “print” module to print to a PDF file so usually I run through the “export” feature. I have a bunch of presets made up for the various things that I need (Flickr, website, printing, etc).

This is not to say my workflow is best, in fact, I doubt it is. From reading the responses on the flickr group, I think I may add “review the photos in a week or so” to my workflow.

I’d like to announce the release of my very first plugin for the WordPress platform. Give it up for….

TDD Recent Posts

::applause::

This is a very simple plugin that essentially mimics the effect of the “recent posts” widget included with WordPress, but with the addition of a content preview. The plugin will, by default, display the name of the post (with a link), the date it was published, and a short bit of text from the post.

There is a widget admin panel that allows changing of the title, the number of posts to display, and how many characters to use for the content preview.

Available for download at WordPress plugin repositories everywhere.