Monthly Archives: February 2010

Photo Dump

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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.

Daily Photo Project

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Today’s been an interesting day.

First off, life has gotten an update from the past few days.
In addition, it has gained a new section: the Daily Photo Project.

My last entry got me thinking that I really want to take more different photos, since all of my photography as of late has been random documentary photography of social events (work meetings, board games, rock band, food out) and that kind of sucks. The result is this project, where my goal is to take at least one photo each day that is “different” from my usual photography… that is, a photo with no people in it (or at least minimal people) where the subject is something I would normally never think twice about. Let’s see how long I can keep this up.

Additionally, Justin is currently moving to a new apartment. This would not be too terribly interesting for me except for the fact that he has a ton of Magic and WoW cards that he doesn’t want to move with him. As a result, I found myself dragging a suitcase full of ~12,800 trading cards home at around 8 this evening. I missed the bus by a few seconds and the next wasn’t for 15 minutes, so I figured I would walk to Geary and Fillmore (from Green and Fillmore) and catch the 38 instead, as it would take me around 15 minutes and the 38 stops closer to home.
Unfortunately, I didn’t take into account the hilliness of the area… nor the rain… nor my lack of direction in the area. As a result, I spent 5 minutes going the wrong way down Fillmore (down a rather steep hill) only to have to turn around and head back up that hill. My shoes, unfortunately don’t have much traction when wet, and pulling a very, very heavy suitcase behind you doesn’t help either. Overall, there were three really steep hills to climb (where I would actually slide backwards if I stopped moving due to the weight and the rain) and it took me about 20 minutes to go three blocks. Once there, the remainder of the walk was relatively easy, and I somehow managed to get the suitcase onto and off of the bus. Yay adventure.

So yeah, now I have a shitton of Magic and Wow cards that I should build into decks and play with. Yay more cards? Thanks Justin! :D :D

Also also, my parents and uncle had been visiting for the past couple days (took yesterday off of work to explore the city with them). It was a good time and I miss them already.

So yeah, two goals from my last post are now in progress (tagging photos and taking photos) as I have started tagging high school photos again (and have finished August of my last year of high school). Yay progress. Yay goals.