Books

Read as of late:

Everybody Wants to go to Heaven But Nobody Wants to Die – David Crowder
Lord Save Us From Your Followers – Dan Merchant
7 Checkpoints – Andy Stanley
Blue Like Jazz – D0n Miller

…and some other books I forget the title/author of.

Recommendations?

More posting

I will write more when I get home about the creation of the Northern Brethren Core, which is our Guild Wars guild.

Also, WordPress 2.7 is coming out! Huzzah!!

Northern Brethren

The Northern Brethren are coming back!

Northern Brethren is the Guild Wars guild that a bunch of us folks from Michigan Tech formed back in the World Preview Event in 2005. Since then, activity has fluctuated, ranging from an addicted core, to nearly dead. In our prime, we were a top ranked Guild vs Guild team, coming in at #12 worldwide. The metagame shifted a ton, and we quickly retreated to PvE play, and still enjoy it.

Today, we are in the reformative stage, figuring out how to get back in to the game and remain loyal to our GW roots (The Wikipedia article on Guild Wars used to use the Northern Brethren as a visual representation of the original six character classes).

Anyway, the new Northern Brethren site is up. Check it out, come back often for updates.

I really like the GvG log I maintained for the longest time. My favorite part, and hopefully something I can begin to update again soon.

Fake Plant, Cross Processed

Fake Plant, Cross Processed, originally uploaded by danakin.

Cross-process developing (thanks Lightroom!) of a shot of a fabric plant in the apartment.

Shot with my telephoto at 135mm. Pretty pleased with the clarity and colors (the original looks great as well, I just like this cross processed look much more).

Lomo Mailboxes

Lomo Mailboxes, originally uploaded by danakin.

Lomo mailboxes. It’s been a crummy night weatherwise (which is the way I love it).
Shot with my old Nikkor 50mm f/1.4

More on Lomo photography (Lomography) at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lomography and http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/how-to-make-digital-photos-look-like-lomo-photography/

These Tracks Don’t Lead Where You Wanna Go

These Tracks Don’t Lead Where You Wanna Go, originally uploaded by danakin.

Snapped by Jill on our way to Bayne’s Apple Farm outside of Saginaw, Michigan. These are the Dow train tracks on Waldo Rd outside of Midland, MI. A little blurry at the bottom since we were driving 45mph, but I think she did a great job getting the shot off.

Night Hearts

Night Hearts, originally uploaded by danakin.

Bokeh! Basically it’s putting a “cookie cutter” in front of a large aperature lens. The blurred points of light take on the shape of the cutout. This is my first attempt, and I’m pretty happy with the turnout. Polygonal hearts, heyooo!!!

Tree and Grill in Fall

Tree and Grill in Fall, originally uploaded by danakin.

Pilgrims

Pilgrims, originally uploaded by danakin.

Long Overdue Updates

Being married is a strange thing. Jill and I have been married for two and a half months, and it’s been great. We just have so much going on between her school and my work that sometimes we don’t get to spend good time with each other as much as we want to. But we are managing.

Things that have happened in the past 4ish months:

• My buddies Lew and Jess got married
• Jill and I got married
• We spent a lot of time cleaning up our apartment, and it still isn’t clean really
• Red Wings won the Stanley Cup
• Jill started her final semester of nursing school. She graduates in mid-December, and then takes the NCLEX exam a little while later to become certified as an RN.
• Jill is now playing guitar at church for services every couple of weeks
• I am playing bass for an alternative service we are working on getting started
• Jill and I now have a new Nikon D40 with which I have been taking pictures. I even work with some of them on Photoshop to edit them to look better. Who knew editing will help?
• My job rocks. There are periods of time where I feel I have nothing to do, followed by periods of time where I am panicking that there is not enough time to complete everything.
• I have been using Twitter as a microblog mostly. You can find most everything that has happened there.
• Jill and I got a kitten named Smoky. Today Smoky lived up to his name and burned off some of his whiskers when he got too curious about the candles.

There’s more I can get in to, but later, okay? Good.