Applepie

How do you spell RECORD!!!

While it is not official yet, we have broken the rain record for the wettest rain month in Seattle. How do I know? Check out this radar image from the National Weather Service - 11/30/2006 9:57PM

Cool!

Cris Pierry

Breaking the record

"By Sunday evening, more than half an inch of rain had fallen at Sea-Tac, making November's total 15.20 inches, less than a quarter inch away from the 15.33 record set in downtown Seattle in 1933"

Unfortunately, the weather forecast is for mostly dry weather until Thursday.

To compound to the difficulties of breaking the record, check out this juicy tidbit from Answers.com

"Rain gauges only indicate rainfall in a localized area. An extreme example of this is the annual rainfall in Seattle: the official weather station for the city is at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the driest part of the city, and the gauge itself was placed, by chance, at the driest part of the airport. Actual annual rainfall for the city is around 254 mm (10 in) greater than the official records indicate."

Cris Pierry

The rainy city?

Seattle ranks 44th among US cities for rainfall with an average yearly rainfall of 36.2 inches (92 cm).

This compares to:

145 inches (368 cm) in the Hoh Rain Forest (part of Olympic National Park in Washington State),
129 inches (327cm) in Hilo,
65 inches (165 cm) in Mobile,
60 inches (152 cm) in New Orleans,
58 inches (147 cm) in Miami,
49 inches (124 cm) in Atlanta,
45 inches (114 cm) in Houston,
44 inches (112 cm) in Boston,
40.3 inches (102 cm) in New York City,
39 inches (99 cm) in Washington, D.C.,
34.5 inches (88 cm) in Chicago,
19.5 inches (50 cm) in San Francisco,
15 inches (38 cm) in Sequim (on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State,
12 inches (30 cm) in Los Angeles and
4 inches (10 cm) in Las Vegas.

Beautiful Wet Seattle

"When in Rome, do like the Romans". My kids were all born and raised in the beautiful Pacific Northwet. What is a WA native to do if not to cheer and celebrate rain? You see, everyone in our house is currently cheering for more rainfall. Why? It seems so natural, it is so we can break the record for the wettest month on record.

We have a pretty good chance. We already smashed the record of 12.92" set in Jan 53 since the National Weather Service began measuring Seattle rainfall at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in 1945.

We currently sit at 13.11" of rain and we still have 9 days to go before November is done.

The target right now is 15.33" set way back in 1933 (measured at the Federal Building downtown).

Go Hawks Rain!

Technorati Tags: Rain, Seattle

Rainy City No More!

Here is something you don't see in Seattle very often - Barely a drop of rain in August in Seattle: just 0.02 inches of rainfall, less than the 30-year average of 1.02 inches in August.

Cris Pierry

Technorati Tags: Seattle

There are two types of luggage.

A former manager of mine used to say that there are two types of bags when you travel: carry on and lost.

BA is reporting that 10,000 bags have been misplaced at airports since the UK security alert began last week.

Now aren't you glad you encrypted your hard-drive before checking in your laptop?

Cristiano Pierry

How To Prep Laptops For Airport Security

There is a good, alb-eight superficial, article on TechWeb outlining 9 different steps you can take to safeguard your laptop prior to a trip.

Cristiano Pierry

Photographing Brown Bears

Andy Biggs recently returned from his Alaska workshop and has posted some of his photos online - check it out.

Here are some of Andy's tips on photographing brown bears:

Exposures are actually very very difficult for most, so here is how I approach shooting the bears.

Always shoot on manual if you have slow changing light. Especially overcast light.
Watch out for highlights on their backs, as their hair gets lighter the farther away from their body. So you will see the lightness more on their backs than anywhere else.

Take a shot. Check your histogram!!!! Everything else can be perfect, but you will get specular highlights blowing out. This is a major pain.

I tend to underexpose a little bit to keep the highlights in check, but the overall scene is slightly under exposed. This doesn't happen in overcast situations, though, and you will have to use positive exposure compensation as a result.

Be sure to check with your tour leader to see how he specifically deals with exposures. I rarely use anything other than evaluative metering in situations such as this.

Most everything in the scene in middle toned, at least when they are grazing, so I just start from there.

If you are looking to improve your photography, make sure to check out one of Andy's awesome photography workshops.

Cristiano Pierry

Brown Bears

National Geographic online has a great section on Brown Bears in the Alaska Peninsula. They even have a live web cam (note: it requires Real Player for access).

Check out some photos from John Tangney from his recent trip to Brooks Lodge, in Katmai National Park, Alaska, USA.

Cristiano Pierry

Seattle Sushi Bars

The Seattle Times today has a review on the best Sushi bars around Seattle - Sushi patrol: What floats a "fishionado's" boat?. Worth a read if you, like me, seek out sushi restaurants in every city you visit.

Two of my favorite Japanese cuisine restaurants in the east-side are:

Kikuya - great for bento boxes

Nara - create sushi bar.

Tanzania - What's in the bag: Clothing

We will be spending 16 days in Tanzania, we have a weight limit of 34 lbs for all of our luggage, and all of our clothing needs to fit inside of a single 30" x 14" duffel bag (per person).

Duffel bag (30" x `4")
Small Duffel bag for gifts to bring back
Locks for baggage

1 Rain jacket
1 Fleece Jacket hard wear wind-resistent
2 Convertible Travel Pants (w/ lots of pockets, w/ SPF 30-50 protection)

1 Pair of Shorts (w/ pockets, , w/ SPF 30-50 protection)
3 Long sleeve shirts (quick drying, wrinkle free, button down, roll-up sleeves, , w/ SPF 30-50 protection)
2 Short-sleeve shirts (quick drying, , w/ SPF 30-50 protection)
7 Pairs of underwear
7 Socks (light-weight, non-white, quick-drying)
2 Hiking shoes (non-white, trail running)
1 Hat (wide-brim, tie-on, neck and ear protection)
1 Photo Vest
1 Pair of Sunglasses
1 Pair of pajamas
1 Towel (thin, quick drying)

VAREKAI Cirque du Soleil - Redmond!

Cool! Cirque du Soleil - Varekai will be in Redmond at Marymoor Park from May 4th through May 19th, 2006. Tickets are on sale now at Admission.com.

Off to Dubai

I am off to Dubai for a business trip - another intense work week is ahead with back-to-back meetings. Cycling season gets postponed yet again. However, this is probably just the right recipe to get re-energized and plan for resuming a home search upon my return.

Family Trip to Italy

We are planning a family vacation to Italy this summer. We are going to spend one week in the Tuscany region, and one week in Rome. This will be a true family vacation as my parents will be coming, as well as my sister-in-law's family (all 5 of them).

We will be staying at Villa Pia while in Tuscany, and I am still looking for appropriate accommodations for our stay in Rome.

We will be at Villa Pia the week of July 22nd, then off to Rome for 1 week. Rome should be especially busy with tourists, ourselves included, at this time of year, but hopefully it will still be enjoyable.

Tilt and Shift Lens

I am seriously considering adding a Tilt & Shift lens to my line up. T&S lenses enables one to optically correct the un-natural optical shift that occurs when you tilt the camera upwards to photograph an object/structure - see example:

You can correct this in photoshop, but it is just not the same as properly recording the imagine in the first place.

Tilt movements allow you to obtain a wide depth of field even at the maximum aperture and still keep the entire subject in focus. Shift movements correct the trapezoidal effect seen in pictures taken of tall objects, so as not to distort the subject.

The problem is that a T&S lens is not for the faint of heart, and it is most certainly not a lens for snap-shots, nor is it a lens that you can hand-hold. Canon has 3 lenses in their line-up - all are manual focus lens, and only one is wide angle; the price is not cheap, over $1k - ouch.

I can just see my wife patiently waiting for me to setup the tripod, frame, and focus as I photograph a building during a family trip :-)

Culture Shock

I consider myself well traveled, having covered over 1,000,000 air miles world-wide, and having lived in Brazil, USA, England, Venice/Italy, and Brussels, as well as traveled to every continent except Africa and Antarctica. But this past trip to Spain caught me unprepared.

While using the bathroom facilities at the 3GSM conference I literally jumped back when two women walked in and proceeded to clean all around me. What gives? I noticed that no one else seemed surprised or bothered by it, so I zipped up, washed my hands and walked out - that's an experience I could have lived without. Apparently this is pretty common in Spain, as this scene repeated itself multiple times throughout the week. At least one cannot complain that the restrooms are not clean.

Ciao Roma

My 3GSM conference was cut short by an unplanned trip to Rome. What was going to be a short 24h stay turned into a weekend long visit as my friend and travel buddy took ill with influenza. While he stayed locked up in a hotel room for 4 days straight, I had a chance to visit the Colosseum on Sunday evening.

It had been over 15 years since I had toured Rome as previous business trips had not afforded me any spare time. What a city, so full of history - breathtaking. (and packed w/ tourists, myself included, even in the middle of winter).

Canon EOS 5D, 24-105 f/4L at 24mm, f/8 at 3 sec, ISO 400, tripod

Web Access in Barelona, Spain?

Something is definitely not right with my internet access at Hotel Arts Barcelona. They seem to be blocking some perfectly normal web sites.

I cannot access:

Amazon.com
Wordpress - nor any wordpress RSS feeds either
Google Mail - via web access or POP3 access.

I am sure that these 3 web sites have not been down for 36h. I can't imagine that you can't access them at all from Barcelona. For some reason the internet in the hotel we are in must be blocking access to some web sites - unknowingly I suppose.

In a few hours, I will be able to try these sites from the 3GSM show floor and get a better sense if this a localized access issue.

The Brown Bears of Katmai

Joseph van os Photo Safari has a photo safari to Katmai National Park in September to watch brown bears feeding on salmon as they get ready for their long winter hibernation.

Katmai National Park is located on the Alaska Peninsula, across from Kodiak Island. Park Headquarters is in King Salmon, about 290 air miles southwest of Anchorage. The park is open year-round, but the ideal time to visit is July and September.

The trip is scheduled from September 9th to 14, 2006.

Seattle Rain - putting it all in perspective

While everyone is taking about Seattle breaking its record for consecutive days of rain, few people even know that Seattle isn't even the wettest city in Washington, let alone the rainiest city in the United States.

The wettest city in Washington is Centralia - it set the Washington record for consecutive days of precipitation at 55 between late 1996 and early 1997.

Toping the record books though is Kaneohe Ranch on the island of Oahu which recorded 247 consecutive days of rain from Aug. 27, 1993 through April 30, 1994.

Even setting Hawaii aside, Washington is not the wettest state in the West. Alaska had 69 days of precipitation between November 1993 and January 1994.

In the Lower 48, Oregon holds the record for most consecutive wet days. From December 1997 through mid-February 1998, Otis, Ore., on the central Pacific coast, recorded 79 straight days of rain.

It makes Seattle's record attempt a little less impressive, doesn't it?

Unless, of course, you are living through it :-)

Escaping the winter weather

It has been 5 years since I last escaped the winter months in the Pacific Northwet :-)and headed down south to Brazil to spend christmas in a tropical country, with sunshine, white sandy beaches, and the company of friends and family.

But it looks like my getaway is not going to be as ideal as I had hoped.

An open and free internet

It is so easy to take for granted the freedom we enjoy in the USA, below is a reminder that the internet is not open and free world-wide. 

Some of the sites on my blogroll cannot be freely read around the world.

African Safari - Minimal Equipment List

My first choice for photo equipment is too heavy.  Let's look at the minimal gear that I should take on Safari and still be able to capture great shot.

• Canon 5D DSLR (12.9 MP, FF) - 810g
• Cannon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 USM - 600g
• Sigma 50-500mm f/4-6.3 EX DG HSM - 1800g

This would give me wide angle and long reach zoom.

A 1.4x extender would give me 700 mm at f/8. 

 

• Canon EF 1.4X II extender - 220g

A 2x extender would give me up to 1000 mm and f/11 lens, which means no auto-focus, and too dark.  May as well leave the 2x extender at home.

Total kit weight is 3430g or 7.56 lbs - not bad. 

But this selection does not have a lens with image stabilization, maybe I should stick with the

 

• Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM at 1380g

420g less weight, but 100 mm less reach, but image stabilization!

African Safari: Equipment Choice, Option 1

Here is a great selection of camera gear for a safari, but will it fit in the 35 lbs total luggage limit?  The list below covers dual camera bodies, and super wide-angle to 400 mm zoom, with an option for a 800 mm zoom.

• Canon 5D DSLR (12.9 MP, FF) - 810g
• Canon 20D DSLR (8MP, 1.6x) - 685g
• Cannon EF-S 10-22mm F/3.5-4.5 USM - 385g
• Cannon EF 28-300mm F/3.5-5.6L IS USM 1670g
• Cannon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM 1380g
• Canon EF 1.4X II extender - 220g
• Canon EF 2.0X II extender - 265g

Would I have enough reach with the 100-400mm lens?  I could add the 1.4x extender but the 2.x extender might be stretching the image quality.

An interesting long reach zoom lens is

• Sigma 300-800mm f/5.6 EX DG APO IF HSM lens - 5870g (and 21.3" in length)

But is it practical on safari?

Instead of the 28-300mm, should I take a

• Sigma 50-500mm f/4-6.3 EX DG HSM - 1800g

Total weight of the Canon kit above is 5415g, the Sigma 300-800 would make it total 11,285, or 24.87 lbs.  Add to that a camera bag that can handle this load and you are looking at 30 lbs total just in camera gear.

Clearly this is a bit much, what to cut?

African Safari: Photo Equipment

What camera equipment should I take on an African Safari?

Things to keep in mind.

• Luggage weight limit (~35 lbs)
• Dusty environment
• No repair facilities
• Photographs are taken from the roof of a car (not on the ground)
• Limited access to electricity during the day
• Distance to subject varies greatly

What happens if on the first day you drop your long lens and it breaks?  Knowing that one can not reasonably be expected to take 2 of everything, what makes the ideal photo safari equipment list? 

Tripods don't seem very practical on a tour safari.  A beam bag might be more useful.  Lens that offer image stabilization might also be a good idea.

Because of the dusty environment, I am leaning towards using zoom lens instead of primes (minimize lens change while in the field).  To capitalize on this, I am planning on taking 2 camera bodies, one with a long reach zoom lens, and another with wide angle zoom. 

To minimize equipment, it would be best to have 2 identical camera bodies in order to share batteries, cables, and power cords.

I have a good collection of Canon equipment, and while the Nikon 200-400mm zoom is an awesome lens, I would be better off staying with the Canon DSLRs.