Disher Family Fodder
For mom’s 62nd birthday my sister and I took her and all her grand kids out to dinner at the Iron Chef.
Nothing like a good Japanese steak house. Services was a bit slow, but it was the night of the ice storm and they were a little understaffed.
The meal was delicious as expected. Of course none of us were smart enough to bring a camera though. At least the folks at Iron Chef had a Polaroid.
A good time and a good meal was had by all.
I’m very fortunate to have a boss who’s a photo fanatic. He’s also much quicker to drop the coin on new gear than I. He shoots some sport photography (hockey) and some nature stuff too. He’s gotten pretty good. The sports stuff can be fairly demanding. Getting good action shots in low light conditions usually means big fast lenses and cranking up the ISO. Something that always adds to the grain and noise in digital photos.
When the new Nikons came out, it didn’t surprise me that he’s be right there with a new rig. I was fortunate enough to borrow his D3 this weekend to do some last minute candid shooting at a worship service and teaching seminar at my in-laws church. This was a perfect place to show off this camera’s low-light, high-iso, with little noise capabilities.
I went into this a little blind. Nobody knew what was going on, and I had exactly ZERO experience with this camera. I have no doubt with a little practice the D3 could have been used better.
Note all of these photos were handheld, no flash, and the church was less than ideal light wise.
While I had the camera for the above assignment, I took the opportunity to shoot some portraits of the kids. Natural lighting, in our living room which leaves much to be desired, it’s not the ideal place to do it but it was far too cold outside. A little fill flash added as needed.
The rest of the photos can be found here: Picasa Web Album
This camera is pretty sweet, and I have a birthday coming up (hint-hint).
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At the last tire change I put on a pair of Avon Storms.
I decided to try the Storms because many folks claim the are “the @#$@$”. Outstanding handling and performance as well as reasonable life.
I had to replace the first rear right at 6k, which considering I got a good 7k out of the previous Metzlers wasn’t what I had in mind. The front still looked ‘great’ although the handling was starting to deteriorate. I mounted a new rear and marched on.
We’ll 5000 miles later I was very sorry. The front went to hell at about 8000 miles total, but we were on our way to the Void Rally and didn’t have time. The tread still looked good but it had started to wear really lopsided.
After the rally I ordered up a new set of Pilot Road 2’s. Now weather and other factors meant it would be about 3 months before I’d get those mounted.
The following are photos of the Storms:
2nd Rear after 5k miles. Well into the wear bars but probably has another 2k left in it. Somewhat flat spotted in the middle but I’d venture out of those 5k miles, only 1200 are slab, so I’m not impressed.
The front:
I didn’t like the Storms and won’t buy them again.
Yeah I know I’m a little late to the party but last night I finished ‘Portal’.
Portal is this amazing game that’s part of the ‘Orange Box’ from Valve. It’s one of 5 games in the game pack, and in my humble opinion the only game in it worth playing.
It’s a 3D puzzle game that puts you as a test subject at the Aperture Science Institute. “We do what we must because we can.”
The portal concept is difficult for some to get. I’ll try to explain it.
There are two portals, one orange, one blue. If you walk in one you come out the other. In early stages you only get to control one, the blue portal.
Imagine that if you walked out your front door. But instead of walking out onto the porch you ended up coming in the back door of your house. Like wise you could turn around and walk out the back and instantly be in your front foyer, as if there was no ‘outside’. That’s what a portal would be like, only you get to shoot them and place them where you need them in most cases.
There’s a 2D flash version on the net that might help explain this [here].
I won’t spoil the ending for those who haven’t played it.
I played this on the PS3. It’s available for X Box, PS3 and the PC platform. You can buy Portal by itself for $20 from Valve and I’d recommend that if you’re not into the half life series.
On the PS3 the game played fine, though it loaded like a slug.
And so it endsâŚ
3 years ago Molly started taking gymnastics for fun. Participation in a home school gymnastics class was all it took. She was âdiscoveredâ and encouraged to try out for the âteamâ. Even though sheâd only been taking gymnastics for a couple months and didnât have the skills they saw something in her they liked.
Her first ever attempt at a round off back hand spring was at the Level 4 tryouts 3 years ago.
The rest is history. She made the team on heart and ability. The rest would come with training.
She worked her tail off and by the time meet season rolled around did very well. She finished very well. Exceptionally well for someone that didnât have a couple years of experience, and she did well enough to get moved to level 5. Skill wise she was ready, emotionally, probably not.
CGA/Gymnastics transformed Molly. It brought her out of her shell and gave her a confidence she probably never would have gained any other way.
She met lots of friends and generally loved every minute of it. Her results at the end of her first year in level 5 were acceptable. Not great but not bad either. Towards the end we could tell that she really wasnât giving it her all. She did at practice but during meets she was nervous and just going through the motions. She had thoughts of quitting. I think the season was tough for her, and on her, she didnât score as well as sheâd hoped. 10âs are very rare, heck, 9.5âs are very rare and I think she expected them every time.
We encouraged her and explained to her that she was âgiftedâ. She has âitâ. Itâs rare that kids get to find their knack and she had found hers. Many parents try to will their kids to be good at something; Baseball, Football, or Soccer. Iâm not saying it canât be done. Through hard work anything can be done, but itâs certainly comes easier for them when itâs their âthingâ.
Gymnastics do come naturally for Molly. She generally doesnât have to work as hard as other kids to obtain new skills. They just come.
This year started out well. The coaches decided she needed to repeat level 5. In hindsight I think that was a mistake. She may not have been ready emotionally, but she wasnât ready for level 4 either. She may not have scored as well as the coaches wanted in level 5 but she was still in the top half of the team or better.
I think the boredom killed her passion. The stress that these little girls are placed under to compete and score well is immense. Some get it, others donât. Those that do, well itâs not easy to cope with when your 8, 9 or 10 years old.
They work hard, 12+ hours a week (3 hours a day 4 times a week) conditioning and polishing their routines at the gym and that doesnât include all the gymnastics she does around the house or open gym. Two years of doing the same thing is a long, long time.
Molly started the year with some personal goals in mind. Her vault in level 5 was the one thing that really held her back. Had those scores been a point higher she probably would have made level 6 and I wouldnât be typing this.
But the fact is she did repeat level 5. (Repeating level 4 or 5 is not uncommon). She worked through the preparation season twice. Day in and day out doing the same thing, the same work outs, the same exercises and routines. Iâm not knocking the coaches. They do what they can to keep it fun and exciting but itâs still not enough.
Her first meet this year went OK. She finished 7th in the overall which all things considered is good. But thatâs not Mollyâs style. She was used to podiums from level 4. She vaulted well, got robbed on Bars and floor. Had a huge routine on Beam and scored well even with a fall.
Her 7th place finish stressed her a bit. We could see she was getting her nervous ticks againâ. The only time weâd ever seen those from her was during competition last year. She tweaks her neck, and raises her eyebrows. We can clearly tell when sheâs stressed.
She had wanted to quit last year but we encouraged her to finish what she started. Persevere, get it done. It wasnât time to quit just yet.
Last week we realized she had done that. She had done everything we had asked of her. If she wasnât enjoying it anymore there really is no need to continue. We had given her permission to quit a couple weeks ago but she wasnât ready. She didnât want to let down the team or her coaches. âThey are counting on my scoresâ, she said (and they do).
Last week was the breaking point, and she decided she was ready. One more meet, one more competition to get a good vault score, something sheâd worked so hard on all year. We agreed she could quit after the Coaches Spectacular meet and she was very relieved.
Then came Friday and she turned up with a fever and the flu. It wasnât fun for her. She was equally sick on Saturday and we decided she needed to stay home. She couldnât compete, she didnât have the energy.
Sunday morning she awoke somewhat refreshed and begged Claudine to take her to the meet. She had something to prove to herself. She needed to get a 9 on Vault. Then she was done.
She got an 8.800, which scored her 6th on Vault. Only two girls got 9âs and 9.200 was the top score. She finished 3rd overall for her age group and that was good enough. Mission accomplished.
Right about now sheâs informing her coach that sheâs done. She wants to continue doing the gymnastics things she likes and CGA has a class for that. Tumbling and Optional skills. Will she ever compete again? Who knows?. Maybe there will be a coaching change at CGA, maybe something will trigger her passion again. Then again maybe not. Weâll enjoy having her around much more often.
We are proud of Molly, she really is awesome. Here is a guide about cheap treadmills by TreadmillBody.com.
