Tesla: Yes, I Want!

I had to come home early today and as I crossed the I-90 bridge this sweet little guy pulled in front. Wow!

It's the first Tesla I've seen in the wild. Holy cow is that thing sweet! Quick. Great looking.

Now, if I just had thousands to spend on one...

Taken with my iPhone 3GS and used the Best Camera app. Nice!

Tiltshift Generator Test

While on the front porch grilling some chicken I decided to test out the new Tiltshift Generator app for the iPhone. Threw this together in about 30 seconds. The image is nothing special but the app is pretty good though it still needs some work.

Thanks to the awesome www.iphoneography.com site I just learned of this new app this morning. Right now it's on sale for $.99 so I bought it. But like everyone else who played with it, my biggest complaint is the output. It's low-res. We're all told the next update will correct that. Hope so. Other than that it seems pretty slick. I did notice it saved the file without a date or name. When I use PhoneView to look at the files on my phone it doesn't show up without digging around. That may be because I just updated to iPhone OS 3.1 that came out today. Not sure.

All in all it seems like a solid app. When the updates come, and there's no indication to think they won't, it will be solid. The developer, Takayuki Fukatsu has some other apps that get rave reviews, so I say go get this thing while it's at this price. It will soon go up to $2.99 US. Let's hope the upgrade is free. Should be, one would think.

By the way, that's our little Monkey Puzzle tree out there.

Hoping For One More Season

Joyce and I installed our wood stove when we first moved to Hobart 25 years ago. It's on its last legs but we hope repairs made today get us through one more season.

When I went to light it for the first time yesterday the handle was frozen. Totally rusted. It took me a couple of hours this morning to drill and pound on it to finally get it open. That's when my son, Jesse and I engineered a new handle mechanism. After a lengthy trip to the local hardware store we returned with threaded rod, a small piece of steel, and an abundance of nuts and washers. When we were through sawing, drilling, twisting and pounding, it worked! Here's hoping it lasts until next spring.

Actually, when we started, Jesse and I were hoping we could submit this project to thereifixedit.com. But when we were finished, mickey mouse as it is, we realized it looks too good for that site. Next time we'll try harder.

Looking Good At 86

Today is my mom's birthday, so Joyce and I stopped by and had dinner with her. It was a good visit and we both came away remarking how good she looks now.

A few months ago that wasn't the case. She was living alone in a retirement apartment in Olympia and just wasn't taking care of herself. Now, she eats well, gets out for walks and short trips with her neighbors, is a voracious reader of trashy novels, and seems in the best spirits we've seen her in a long time.

This summer the family moved her from Olympia to The Lodge at Eagle Ridge in Renton. Can't recommend it highly enough. It's a beautiful facility overlooking downtown Renton and the south end of Lake Washington. Great people, excellent facility.

I shot this with my iPhone 3GS in a dark room with gloomy weather just before sunset. I ran it through Photoshop for a little cropping and vignette. Maybe not the best quality image, but the two smiles make it a keeper.