Photo Dump

I spent most of the morning tagging photos, managing to finish up September 2003. I’ll probably go to May 2004 next and tag backwards so I can start working backward on life.alanv.org as well.

I also did some digging around and discovered that Adobe Photoshop Album (which I use) stores its tags in an Access database. This is actually kind of awesome, because it means I can export the information from the program into an XML file (or other format). Looking at a preliminary dump, it appears that there are two relevant tables: one for tags, which contains a row for each tag that basically gives the tag an ID (and stores information like parent tags and tag ordering), and one for photos, which contains a row for each photo that gives information like filename and path to the image. The photo table also contains a column that appears to be a base64-encoded bit vector. My assumption is that this bit vector is how the tags on each image are stored (based on the tag ID in the tag table). I’ll probably try writing a script to parse this stuff so I can generate dumps of tags by photo or similar. Still, it’s nice to know that I’m not locked in to using PSA forever, and can export my tags to some other program by some means.

So yeah, without further ado, photodump from the past few weeks:

Brian and Danny at lunch after the volunteer event at Glide.


Simon at lunch after the volunteer event at Glide.


Awesome cupcake boxes from the KaraVan.


The Bay Bridge as seen from Colt Tower. Also a bit of downtown.


A game of Kubb at work in the Spear 7 courtyard area.


Release food… Buca di Beppo this time.


He’s so pretty! :O


Ally in her new apartment.


The Container Store’s awesome rainbow-colored selection of hangers. I was amused.


Matt hugging the roll of bubble wrap at the Container Store.


Ally contemplating the fuzzy lime at dinner at 21st Amendment.


Matt in Shawn and Daniel’s awesome living room.


Shawn in his living room.


Shawn and Ally attempting to restrain each other.

Also, the Daily Photo Project seems to be good for me. It gets me out of the house at least once per day, and it’s making me notice things I never have before. I’ve been doing it every day, but uploads will be done in batches because it’s a pain to move files from one computer to the other.

I am really missing my DSLR though, especially now that I’m forcing myself to take more different photos. I might have to get the D90 this month.

Tonight is all-you-can-eat pizza at Local. Om nom nom nom.

Pie!

Today, I spent part of my day volunteering at Glide feeding low-income people. It was a lot of fun, although it was kind of sad to see how much food is thrown out (apparently they don’t like carrots or rice?).

Also, after work, Sharon and I made a pie! It was a chocolate pecan pie and it was made from scratch (yes, even the crust) and it was the most amazing sweet pie I have ever had. Srsly. (Yes, that is a pi on the pie.)

I recently purchased these earphones from Woot! (Excellent deal at 2/$10, plus shipping.) I’m very happy with them… the sound quality is a ton better than the JetBlue headphones I had been using (but, of course, not nearly as good as my $300 Shure headphones). Whee more music-listening things.

(Also? Lala is doing amazing things for me. The ability to access my music library from anywhere with internet… and the ability to pay $0.10 for any song I can think of that I want? Amazing. You should sign up using my referral link.)

I’ve also found a good pancake recipe I like here. It’s particularly good because it doesn’t require milk, which we often don’t have on hand. Reproduced in case the site goes down:

1 C. Flour
1 Tbsp. Sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
ΒΌ tsp. salt
1 beaten egg
1 C. water
1 Tbsp. Oil

Life is good again. It’s been a mostly relaxing week at work, in stark contrast to last week… and this weekend will be quiet in stark contrast to last weekend. Yay life.

Happy New Year

Given that it’s the first day of a new decade, I feel like I should make a post.
It’ll mostly be a dump of random photos from the past couple weeks.


The security line at SFO on my way out was insane. It wrapped around a ton of times before spilling out to the checkin counters area, where it wrapped around a bit to the left before going out to the right, and extending all the way to the end of the terminal. It took me 90 minutes to get through security. Got to the gate just as my flight was boarding. Bleah.


Decorating Christmas cookies is fun. I’m proud of my snowmen. And my snowmen trees. And my vampire tree/star/present.


Frosting!


Apples to Apples.



Snow! ZOMGZ!


A meat pie that I made. Om nom nom nom.


Fruit pies that I made. Om nom nom nom.


Parcheesi.

I’ve had a nice break. Friends are awesome.

Typing “10” for the year is still freaking me out a little. 2000 seems like only yesterday… and to think I was still in middle school at the time, pondering my high school choices. I feel so very old now.

Coca-Cola Cookies!

I tried making coke cookies today. They turned out rather strange, actually. Reasonably tasty, but not my first choice in sweet.

5/6 c flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 c butter
1/8 c sugar
1 egg white
1 can coke

Boil the coke until it is reduced down to less than 1/8 cup. Melt butter and mix melted butter with sugar and egg, and stir in reduced coke. In a separate bowl, mix flour with baking soda and powder. Mix liquid into flour mixture, place onto cookie tray, and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Makes about 12 cookies.

For softer cookies, use more butter and/or use the egg yolk instead.

Om nom nom nom. Next time will be root beer and 7-up layer cake. I could frost it with coke frosting. That might be fun.

Mac and Cheese Patties

I was bored today so I figured I would try making something different for lunch. These are kind of fun.

1 package mac and cheese, plus milk and butter for it
1/4 package frozen vegetables, reheated
3 egg whites

Prepare mac and cheese as per package instructions. While still hot, mix in vegetables. Allow to cool. Mix in egg whites and shape into patties. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Yesterday Sharon and I also made tasty Devil’s Food cupcakes with chocolate frosting and chocolate chips. Mmm sweets.