Wednesday January 10, 2007 8:20 am Lethbridge Sunrise 8:26 Sunset 16:51 Hours of daylight: 8:25

A. Morning Musings

8:20 am It is -8 C at the moment with the temperature falling to - 23 C later in the day. But the coffee is hot.

From rear window	South patio
Both images taken at 12:40 PM

B. Plan

Immediate
Health	Walk & exercise	1 hr
Technology	Begin reading "iPhoto"	1 hr
	Digital photography - learn about using the various manual settings	2 hr
Literature	Continue reading "Virginia Woolf: The Inner Life" by Julia Briggs	1 hr
	Begin reading "The Waves" by Virginia Woolf.	1 hr
Later
Chores	Investigate water softeners for home
Technology	Read manual for cell phone
	Make notes for chap. 4 of "Switching to the Mac"
Mathematics	Read "Fearless Symmetry" chap 9: Elliptic Curves
Model Trains	Add ground cover to oil refinery diorama
	Continue assembly of coaling tower
	Purchase DCC system
History	Read Watson "Ideas"
Philosophy	Read & make notes for "Breaking the Spell"
GO	Complete reading "Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go"
Puzzles	The Orange Puzzle Cube: puzzle #10

C. Actual/Note

	Technology 06 January 10
Technology Notes
2:00 PM I am finally beginning to carefully look at some of the settings on my digital camera, a Panasonic DMC-FZ30. I have the focus set at MF (Manual Focus). The following two images were taken from about 6 feet away (focal length 88.80 mm) with the zoom on maximum. A monopod was used for stability. Focus button pressed Using manual focus ring with MF1 setting enlargement of above enlargement of above Same setup, but this time the camera was only about 2 feet away (focal length 10.30 mm). Focus button pressed Using manual focus ring with MF1 setting enlaargement of above enlargement of above The latter two images have a much larger depth of field (note that the blinds and window frame are also in focus). Pressing the focus button seems to work slightly better than my attempt with the focus ring, although both turned out well for the second set of images. Here are two images taken with AE (Auto Exposure): Focal length 25.2 mm Focal Length 56.3 mm Here are 4 photos, the first three with a tripod, with an enlargement directly below it: (focal length 88.80 mm) Auto focus Manual Focus - focus button Best Poor (dark) Manual Focus - focus ring Auto focus - no tripod Second best Poorest   SUMMARY of the session: So what have I learned. Auto focus is quite good. I am also able to use Manual Focus quite successfully. A tripod is essential for ALL photos. 3:30 PM

D. Reflection

8:50 PM This was a strange day. I spent a couple of hours viewing websites of model train layouts. Some of these were incredibly impressive! It makes my efforts look like the amateur effort they actually are. At one point I was sufficiently chastened that I seriously thought of stopping what I was doing and beginning over. Then reason asserted itself, thankfully, and I decided that what I was doing was not that bad and that I still had a lot of Learning in front of me as I worked on wiring the layout for DCC and to then gain some experience with realistic operations. There will be lots of time in the future to think about a new layout. However I can take a few steps in that direction by doing more reading on layout planning and computer software for this.

I also spent a little over an hour reading Virginia Woolf's "The Waves". This novel follows the lives of a half-dozen people from early childhood through many of life's important events such as the first day of school, graduation, university, marriage, ... (that is as far as I have read). Unlike all of the previous books of hers, I am not enjoying this one as much. While the metaphor of never ending waves is a good one, the lives she describes are not worth describing (at least so far). I may decide to take a rest from the novel and see if Briggs' commentary on it helps bring me back to a level of interest worth maintaining.

On the plus side, we made a large pot of Begas (Hunter's Stew) today. It was superb!

It is -17 C at the moment, and with the wind, the effective temperature is -28 C. We have a nice fire going in the fireplace so it is quite cosy.