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February 27, 2013

Call Me Red

So, I walk outside of Amante and there's a guy working the street. His eyes light up when he sees me. He's homeless, but I don't recognize him.

He starts in on his pitch. I reach inot my wallet and dig out a magic $5.00 bill. Offer it to him, and wait for the wild ride to start.

His name is Danny.

I'm from Mississippi. He's from Alabama.

He pulls up his pants leg to revel his lower right leg. It doesn't look good. Looks like he might lose the leg.

"What happened?" I ask him.

"I got a cut, it got infected, I started picking at it. Now they're going to do a skin graft on it."

"Well, that's good. That's good that they're going to fix it," I offer.

He's from Alabama. Recognizes my Southern accent immediately, and comments on it.

But he's out in San Francisco now. Doesn't really like it out here. But he's out here.

"Do you have any family?" I ask him.

"Yeah, but I don't want to bother them. I have a brother, but he has responsibilities. He has three kids. I don't want to be a burden on him. He's doing his thing. I'm doing mine."

And I think about that. That's exactly how I feel. I mean, I'm doing my thing. My family is doing their thing. Like, I'm not asking them for anything. Every man must feel this way. Danny is no different.

"Do you live on the streets? Aren't there shelters you can get into?" I ask.

"Well, yeah, but man, the thing is this. You go into the shelters at noon, and you put your name on a list. And, if you're between here and here on the list, then you might get it, but otherwise, you have to stand outside to see if you're going to get inside. Plus, even if you do get inside, there's like 200 people in the shelter. I mean, it's not really any place that you want to be."

"Yeah, I had another guy tell me that you had to sit in a chair and wait for like 6 hours to find out if you'd get in for the night..."

"Sit in a chair? I don't know where in the hell he was at...we have to stand outside waiting to find out if we get in or not."

Continue reading "Call Me Red"

Posted by Rob Kiser on February 27, 2013 at 12:36 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

February 26, 2013

A Box Full of Canon

Thursday, February 14th - I finally broke down and boxed up all of the broken Canon gear I could put my hands on. Sent it off to the Canon service center in Irvine, California.

Tuesday, February 19th at 9:03 a.m. - Canon signed for the package.

Tuesday, February 19th 12:17 p.m.- Canon sent me 5 emails detailing repair costs and requesting payment.

Monday February 25, 2013 - I approved the repair for all 5 items online.

Wednesday February 27, 2013

Thursday February 28, 2013

Just realized that I signed for these this morning...708, 715, 728, and 814. So, the only one I don't have now is 805, which is one of the 50D's I think. So, I think I received two 50D's, my 100-400 mm lens, and a 7D. My guess is that they still have one of the 50D's.


Friday February 28, 2013

Update: Yeah, this is the frame that I dropped in Utah and ripped the frame in half. They're still working on this one. Go figure.

Continue reading "A Box Full of Canon"

Posted by Rob Kiser on February 26, 2013 at 4:43 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Calling Autumn

Every day I wander into work. The starting point end point never change, but there are an infinite number of paths between the two points, assuming you're not in a rush.

I meander through the streets of San Francisco, perpetually amazed and mesmerized by the activity in the city-hive. Today, I wander down along Stockton Street, then off into the less familiar, bifurcating alleys and back alleys of Chinatown.

I stop into the Mee Mee Bakery to ask about some cookies they make there. Somehow, my iphone has been recording my conversation to send a text message. It thinks I said "Calling Autumn..." for whatever reason.

I wander on, shooting. Always shooting. Shooting.

I recognize the works of many of the artists that tag the city. But none of the people. The crazy denizens of Chinatown spit and stamp and wave their arms, and who knows what drives them?

They're setting up the Falun Gong propaganda stand in Portsmouth Square.

Eventually, I wander over to Montgomery, and try to keep up with the lights. They timed it so that if I walk at a reasonable pace, I never have to wait for the light to cross. But I tend to linger and shoot too much, so I'm always racing into traffic as the light changes, with countless cameras around my neck.

I cross Market street and, a block from work, I see my buddy digging through the recycle bins. Like, he's full-on into it, no different than the chinamen in chinatown. They're hawking chicken feet and fortune cookies. He's rooting through the recycle bins for all he's worth, grinning like a possum eating yellow-jackets.

I'm spotted my buddy. I can't believe my luck. Very nervous now. Don't want to screw this up. All of the planning has come to this. I turn away and root through my wallet for a $5.00 bill. White dove hands extract one out and fold it away into nothing in my palm. It's cleverly concealed now. No one sees it. No one will know. I think about what I'll say to him.

Continue reading "Calling Autumn"

Posted by Rob Kiser on February 26, 2013 at 1:40 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

February 25, 2013

Sunshine Biscuits

Sunshine Biscuits

I sit in a window seat near the back of the plane. There's a bitter, nagging housewife sitting next to me. A tattered rag of a man fading beside her on the aisle.

The flying waitress says to turn off all electronic devices, but I keep tapping away on my cell phone.

The bitter, nagging housewife beside me is about to have a stroke. She's beside herself with angst, foaming at the mouth. Her husband joins into the fray.

"She said to turn those things off!" she spits at me.

Push the button on my iPhone to turn the screen off. It's still on, of course. I have my headphones on. Listening to music.

I turn my headhones around backwards so that the green power light is against the cabin wall (I'm in seat A on the port side of the plane).

I don't want to be alive. Fuck this emotional, shattered housewife. She's fit to be tied.

I'm going to make her have a stroke. I plan my move. I'll wait until we take off, and as we start down the jetway taking off, I'll turn it on and make her flip her shit.

So, over the roar of the jet engines as we scream down the runway to take off, I turn the deadly iPhone back on.

She's frantic. Sure that we're about to careen into the suburbs surrounding Houston Hobby.

Her eyes roll back in her head like Poltergeist.

"She said to turn those things off!" she stammers, foaming at the mouth.

"Have you ever been on a plane before?" I shoot back at her.

I can't hear her response. But I'm sure she's telling me she flies every week. She's livid. She wants to strangle me. I want her to want to strangle me. It's working out according to plan.

Continue reading "Sunshine Biscuits"

Posted by Rob Kiser on February 25, 2013 at 9:01 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

February 16, 2013

Postcards from Nowhere: San Francisco - Feb 2013

I've been walking into work every day, packing two canon EOS 50D frames and the following lenses:

The photographs are from North Beach, Greenwich Steps, Filbert Steps, Chinatown, and the Financial District.

This slideshow features a song by The Veils called Vicious Traditions.

The images are compiled into a 20 Meg (4:30) Adobe Flash slideshow (SF0213.swf) that you should be able to open and view with any browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc.). To view the slideshow, just click on the photo above. If you want to view the slideshow as a Windows executable, you can play this version (SF0213.exe), and it allows you to play, pause, skip forward, backwards, etc.

Image post-processing was done in Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended. The slideshow was created using Imagematics Stillmotion Pro.

Click here to view the other slideshows.

Lyrics in the extended entry.

Continue reading "Postcards from Nowhere: San Francisco - Feb 2013"

Posted by Rob Kiser on February 16, 2013 at 6:42 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

February 15, 2013

Insane video

Posted by Rob Kiser on February 15, 2013 at 8:31 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

February 10, 2013

Weekly Photos from San Francisco

Posted by Rob Kiser on February 10, 2013 at 4:51 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Sharing Files from Apple MacBook Air w/ Mountain Lion to Windows XP

I'm trying to share files from my MacBook Air running Mountain Lion to a Windows XP box. I found this post which looks promising:

Go to System Preferences

Select Sharing

Turn on file sharing

Set Share Folders to Pictures.

Gave myself Read/Write access.

Gave everyone else Read only access.

Then I clicked "Options" and clicked "Share Files and Folders using SMB (Windows)"

Selected my ID and had to enter my password.

Clicked "Done".

Not sure if this will work or not. At some point, I think I'd have to put in a Workgroup name? I dunno.

Then, I went into one of the Windows XP boxes on the network and launched WIndows Explorer.
le
Scrolled down to My Network Places - Entire Network - Workgroup and I now see the MacBook Air computer listed there as MacBook Air-02de, I clicked on it and it prompted me for an ID and password. So, I put in my MacBook Air ID and Password and voila. I see three folders now that are shared from my MacBook Air. Sweet!

Posted by Rob Kiser on February 10, 2013 at 2:02 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

February 9, 2013

Synology DiskStation DS413 Installation

I ordered a 12 Terabyte Network Addressable Storage unit so that I'd have more local storage for my photos. (It will store roughly 2 million 4 megabyte photos).

So far, the setup has been pretty easy. Pulled out the four bays, dropped a 3 Terabyte drive into each bay. Put in four screws to mount each drive into the drive caddie. Slid in the drive caddies into the drive bays. (Note the "Up" arrow at the front. Hard to see. Nearly invisible. But it's there.)

The drives that came with it are 3 TB 3.5" SATA Western Digital WD Green WDBAAY0030-NRSN drives. They show up in the Snyology DiskStation configuration application as WD30EZRX-00DC0B0.

Then plugged it into the network. Gave it some juice. Booted right up. Four disk green lights on the front are all solid. Status light is flashing yellow. Blue power light is on.

Continue reading "Synology DiskStation DS413 Installation"

Posted by Rob Kiser on February 9, 2013 at 3:08 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

The Scared is Scared

the Scared is scared from Bianca Giaever on Vimeo.

Ask a six year old what to make a movie about and this is what you get...

Posted by Rob Kiser on February 9, 2013 at 6:46 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

February 8, 2013

WD Sharespace - Restoring Crashed Drive

Followed the directions on this website:
http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2749/session/L3RpbWUvMTM2MDM3MjczMi9zaWQvTmIxKkFuaWw%3D

Could not have been easier. Didn't even need a screwdriver. Now, three drive lights are flashing green. One drive light (Drive 2) is solid green.

After a while, all four drive lights started flashing green. I believe it's restoring the data automagically for me.

Navigation: Basic Mode - Storage - System Status

So, it appears that the system is attempting to recover the data.

Continue reading "WD Sharespace - Restoring Crashed Drive"

Posted by Rob Kiser on February 8, 2013 at 6:31 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

February 6, 2013

Walkn n

2012-11-17

Flying In

I leave work at 2:30 a.m. The bars are all closed.
They fixed my bike today but I never got by to pick it up. Its raining anyway. BART doesnt run this early, so I schedule for a cab to pick me up at 4:30 a.m.
I close my eyes and try to sleep. An hour later the phone rings. My cab is outside.
I only closed my eyes for an hour. From 3:00 am to 4:00 am.
I pray for a swift death.
The city is dark at 4:30 am. Sound asleep.
Meth addicts rest in cardboard nests among the city's storefronts.
A homeless reef of drug addled delelicts.
A night-whore coughs and stumbles through the night on tall heels in skimpy dress.
Heading home to try to forget how hollow she feels.

At the gate, I plead for a better seat. Please for the love of god...dont make me fly across the continent in a middle seat.
Can I have 8F?
We have to charge you for the upgade.
How much?
$49.
Done.
But she prints my new boarding pass and doesnt charge me anything.

We pack like sardines into this aluminum tube and secrertly rub rabbits feet
Praying to the travel gods for mercy
The interior of the plane is 195 degrees.
Sweltering, we melt like cotton candy in the rain.
"Will you help in the event of an emergency?" the orange-haired flying waitress wants to know.
This pearl rests on her lips.
She wants to know if I'll help in an emergency. But I'll be no good to her or anyone else once we take off, I'll be in a coma.
Outside the rain makes puddles on the tarmac with little gasoline rainbows.
Soaking wet people that can't afford to travel climb up into the belly of the jet on a conveyor to pilfer a few items from the unsuspecting passengers.
Loading suitcases of the traveling class at night in a rainstorm must be about as bad as it gets.

There is nothing but this. This dark wet night that found San Francisco and wrapped her up like a pig in a blanket.
This wet night needs the city. She's here of her own volition.
A yellow raincoat tests his red flashlights.
Waves them around and watches for the pilot to need him.

Takn off.

Continue reading "Walkn n"

Posted by Rob Kiser on February 6, 2013 at 8:13 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

February 2, 2013

Dimocrats and Gun Control

The White House released this photo of Obama today pretending to shoot skeet. Now, first of all, I promise you that my daughter could out-shoot Obama in a standard round of skeet. He doesn't know anything about skeet shooting. He's never been skeet shooting. And he's not skeet shooting in this photo. How do I know? Because I used to shoot skeet in a league. And, the first thing you do is you strap on a belt and a pouch and drop you about 2-3 boxes of shells in there. And, you'll notice he's not wearing an ammo pouch. Ergo propter hoc, he's not shooting skeet. He might have fired the gun, but I'd wager any amount of money that he didn't break a single bird.

Now, moving on. The White House went so far as to warn me not to Photoshop this image that they released today. Only I did Photoshop it. More than once. So, do something, White House. Send the Secret Service to my house. I'm not afraid. I am well within my rights to make fun of this idiotic communist president by Photoshopping him if I want to. Molon Labe.

Continue reading "Dimocrats and Gun Control"

Posted by Rob Kiser on February 2, 2013 at 11:43 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Photography Special Effects

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ajqq3S1Ofw

Posted by Rob Kiser on February 2, 2013 at 4:02 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

February 1, 2013

2005 Graffiti Movie "Infamy"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3WUXA3V7nY

Posted by Rob Kiser on February 1, 2013 at 9:59 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink