I made it to the 26th RIT Big Shot tonight at the Strong National Museum. They had it online almost before I got home. I was pleasantly happy with the results:
UPDATE: The Democrat and Chronicle has posted a short video and a write-up. Both worth checking out.
Almost exactly a year later, we were at Perinton park again. Only this time, not only did we not have the Oregon Onesie with us, it won’t even fit our daughter anymore.
Hard to believe she’s almost a year old. Time pretty much flys by now.
I’ve been caught in a physical photo archival project for the better part of 5 years. Yesterday my friend Matt shared a post on the Monroe County Library System‘s website that stated they are currently running a test of the Kodak Picture Saver Scanning System for patrons for free. I decided I’d take the opportunity to test it out and scan a bunch of my photos in the process.
I used the Kodak Picture Saver Scanning System for the first time today and thought I’d share some of my thoughts before I forgot.
Pros:
Cons:
The women I talked to at the library seemed to think the User Interface needed some work because many people had been confused by the terms “Next” on basically every screen. Her exact comment was “next what?” This seemed sort of silly to me but could also be fixed very easily simply by using terms like “I’m done scanning” or “save photos” instead. Since there’s been so many complaints this is probably something they should address even if they (like I) think it’s silly.
In Summary:
It might look like there are more cons than pros, but really, it’s an excellent system and the cons I’ve listed are all very nitpicky. The biggest downfall of the system as I see it is price, and if you act now you’ll get what you need for free. Don’t think for a second my love for the system has anything to do with my local proximity to the business. If you remember… the only previous time I’ve written about a Kodak product, I wasn’t too gentle. Maybe they’ve found a new niche they’re good at? I don’t know, but I’ll tell you what…
I’ll be making another appointment tomorrow and I will be be going back as often as I can until I finish scanning my photos.
We went to the Sandbox yesterday for a friends birthday. Lilah got to play with a lot of new toys and her favorites were the ride-on types. Besides a dragon and a goose, the laundry basket and an empty box or two it was the first time she’s played with one.
Last night we were tooling around in Wal-Mart and, while I’m generally opposed to buying stuff like this in a brick and mortar store (without a coupon), we happened upon one of the carts that Lilah really liked at the Sandbox. The price was (semi) reasonable so we once again bought something for Delilah on OUR date night. She had so much fun it was hard to resist. The picture above might be solely responsible for the purchase. Just sayin…
This morning she had a blast after we gave it to her. I had just about as much fun making this video.
Being the photographer of the family I’m rarely in the photos. Someone needs to make a suggestion to get me into a photo before I’m in front of the lens or nobody knows I was ever there. I don’t mind it but we’ve realized recently that we don’t really have enough pictures of us together so starting this month we’re going to make it a point to get at least one family photo a month. It doesn’t have to be spectacular, just us. Here’s our first attempt:
Lilah has her typical “everything is amazing and surprising” look on her face, but not bad for a self-timed job with a 9-mo-old.
Our recent trip(s) and membership to Strong reminded me of the first time Delilah interactively played with us. It was a very memorable experience.
A few months ago we were all out to dinner together at The Olive Garden and Delilah was in a different high chair for the first time. It was almost too big so we stuffed a blanket and some other stuff behind her to give her some support.
After the waitress brought us drinks there was a coaster left on the table just inside Delilah’s reach. Once she realized this she quickly flung it towards the edge of the table. With cat like reflexes I stopped it from toppling to the floor with a single finger and slide it back to where it was. Her shocked look said to me: “Whoa! What was that!?”. She then tried again, and I stopped it again. This repeated for about 5 minutes until our food showed up and she was smiling and laughing almost hysterically.
Little games like these are every day occurrences now and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Taking her to Strong is a riot and she’s really noticing and playing with everything now.
There’s nothing more welcoming than a warm and cozy cabin at 21 below in the mountains.
We’ve only made it to camp once this winter so far for a few reasons but the weekend we spent there was a beautiful (cold) one. The second night the moon was shining so bright it was casting daylight like shadows. The next morning we woke up to -21° which was easily explained by the clear skies and bright moon.
Even in the brisk -21° degrees and the middle of 4ft of snow, the camp always offers a nice warm zone of comfort, and sights like these are some of the top reasons I love being in the mountains in the winter.
A few days ago, just before the “big snow storm” hit, a boy from down the street stopped and asked if we’d like the sidewalk or driveway shoveled.
I’m a sucker for young entrepreneurs so of course we did until I realized we didn’t have any cash.
“if you stop by tomorrow we’ll pay you double.”. “sure!” he exclaimed and headed towards the next house.
The next evening I shoveled the whole driveway after the kid never showed up. While doing so I had two thoughts:
That last one probably warrants a description of my train of thought:
I think for now I’ll just forget I ever thought of it.
These Days she’s growing so fast it’s hard to keep up. She’s now pulling herself up, (assisted) walking, babbling (non stop), laughing up a storm, teething, high-fiving, smiling (all the freaking time), wearing pigtails and she even had her first real fever the other day (101.8°F). Pulled out of it without a scratch in 2 days though. She’s a trooper. Coming home is so much fun now because as soon as she sees you she smiles like crazy and wants you to pick her up right away just to be close.
Favorite thing in the world right now? Comforting Baby-Hugs. She’s been doing it for a long time but it doesn’t make it any less special. If she wakes up or wont go to sleep for a while and she’s crying & you walk in and pick her up she gives you the biggest bear-hug and calms right down. Gotta say, it’s awesome.
She’s only 8 months old and I have NO IDEA what’s next, but that’s the best part. I can’t wait.
We might have a new tradition.
While we decorated the tree this past Monday I setup the camera and had it take a shot every 5 seconds. Threw it together in a timelapse video and it didn’t come out half bad. My favorite parts are the few times you can see the little monster jumping up and down, spinning and grinning.
Next years will be even more fun.
Randy Aldrich 