Beard

Sans Beard

*Only three people have ever cut my hair that I can recall. My Grandfather (once), My Father (until I was 16), and Myself.

This year has been filled with many events and responsibilities – Full-time employment, school, graduation, trip to Hawaii, marriage, moving – all of these are great; and all of these have helped contribute to a backlog of several thousand, unsorted, unedited, unblogged photographs. Over the last month I have removed the un’s from the aforementioned photographs, resulting in over one hundred that I’d like to show to you. These photographs are of my trip to Hawaii, my marriage, honeymoon, and various other things that I have seen during the last 6 months.

Starting with this post, I am going to begin posting several photographs every day; making up for all the posts I should have made earlier this year.

Don’t be shy – I welcome your thoughts, critique, and compliments – I’d love for you to comment.

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• If you’re into Flickr, you can do that to: Flickr.com/photos/jordanogren
• Or just visit the site directly when you remember: JordanOgren.com

Now, enough of the shameless advertising. Here’s one more photograph…

This is my friend Joe Derse, and his mother; he graduated this May.

I decided on the Continuous Garden Gate design and bought the narrow wedding band to use as the engagement ring. When I presented Alyson with the ring, she was surprised and ecstatic. For the wedding ring, we choose the same style with the addition of a 1/4 caret diamond. As you can see below, it’s pretty stunning. (Alyson, purchased me a wider ring, of the same style, with no diamonds.)

I really appreciate the helpful, friendly service and the incredible artistry of the people at Reflective Images.

Below are some quick shots (the close-ups are reverse macro) I took before the sun set. I’ll probably borrow a friend‘s light box/tent sometime in the near future and use it to shoot some super sharp pictures of the rings.

Fresh Mango Salsa

1 ripened mango - chunked
1 medium tomato - chunked
1/4 of a medium, mild-tasting onion - minced
1/4 to 1/2 of a red bell pepper - chopped
1/2 of a lime - squeezed
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. fresh minced garlic or 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp. habañero pepper (optional)
Small amount of chopped cilantro - to taste (optional)

The mango can be substituted for 1-2 ripened peaches or 1 papaya.

Why do I think things will be fine? Because data is King. And those that know how to move data, and get data to the right people, in the right way, at the right time, will always have a job. So, maybe having your database servers in the cloud means we do not have to worry about backups, tape storage, etc. Fine, I don’t care about that piece of being a DBA anyway. But you are still going to need someone that understands the tools involved in making your systems and processes work efficiently and correctly.

The full article, found over at BaconBitsAndBytes.com, is a witty (and potentially NSFW/offensive) article by a smart DBA and I highly recommend following the advice.

http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/03/the-sizzling-sound-of-music.html

Berger then said that he tests his incoming students each year in a similar way. He has them listen to a variety of recordings which use different formats from MP3 to ones of much higher quality. He described the results with some disappointment and frustration, as a music lover might, that each year the preference for music in MP3 format rises. In other words, students prefer the quality of that kind of sound over the sound of music of much higher quality. He said that they seemed to prefer “sizzle sounds” that MP3s bring to music. It is a sound they are familiar with.

That “sizzling” has always driven me nuts in the lower quality stuff.

I remember wondering what audiophiles were up to, buying extremely expensive home audio systems to play old vinyl records. They put turntables in sand-filled enclosures with elaborate cabling schemes. I wondered what they heard in that music that I didn’t. Someone explained to me that audiophiles liked the sound artifacts of vinyl records — the crackles of that format. It was familiar and comfortable to them, and maybe those affects became a fetish. Is it now becoming the same with iPod lovers?

I can’t totally subscribe to this hypothesis. Because vinyl records are analog, they play a continuous audio wave that includes a bit of warm fuzz and crackle. Whereas digital audio is a mashup of samples from the audio wave; the sizzle and hiss created from the gaps between the samples. You may get a little noise with vinyl, but at least cymbals will sound like they do in real life.

(via: Daring Fireball)

LoPez’s self-titled EP has been released on Amazon MP3 and iTunes!

The new EP is available for just under $5. You can use the link below to get to the stores.

Buy it from Amazon MP3
Buy it from iTunes

The last month went by with motion blur…. like when your camera is at 1/40th of a second and you are spinning in circles with a 300mm @ f2.8….

As some of you know, I started a full-time job with a company called Fastenal. I am their MS SQL Database Administrator. Consequently, I have been fairly busy lately, as it is summer and I have a “real job”. Right now I am in the Twin Cities at training for work thus providing me with some time to edit a month’s backlog of pictures.

Here are some good portraits I took last month. More updates to come soon.

-Jordan

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

-Lamentations 3:22-23

*Sigh*

Finals are this week at Winona State University. The week leading up to finals is always arduous, because there are myriads of projects and assignments due. While many people dread finals, I always dread the pre-finals week. Despite the hectic week, I did find a few moments were I wasn’t running around, and was able to shoot a few pictures.

I also had played in my studio a bit… I discovered a roll of med-blue paper that we have an over abundance of…So I put it to use.

Things picked up a little, cause we had free food for lunch at work. Then I went to my other job on campus, and sat in my studio for a little while. My fellow coworker and I started to move some stuff around in the studio, cause it has been a mess since we inherited it, and is desperately in need of cleaning.

At 13:00 I went to take pictures at a candle light vigil that was being held for Jared Stene, the president of the WSU student senate, who died Thursday night due to a sudden kidney & liver failure. Let’s just say that it was awkward. Events like these are what remind me why I am not going to be a photojournalist. I don’t have a problem taking pictures in awkward or intense situations, but I want to have a personal connection to the situation, and not just be a vulture. So that event kinda added to the blah feeling.

At 15:00 I went to my news writing class, and then remembered that it was an optional class day. There wasn’t anyone there but my professor, so I ended up talking to her for the duration of the class period, which was a nice break.

By 16:30 I was feeling really tired and slightly despondent… And I wasn’t sure why. So I decided to hang out with my friend Peter Boysen. I spent the rest of the evening chilling with him, talking and doing some random stuff. That brought me out of my funk, which was cool.

I then went home sometime after 22:00, and visited with my grandparents who have come to visit for my younger siblings birthdays. And then I tried to go to sleep a little after 23:00.

And I kept trying… but kept becoming more and more awake… (I think this may have been partially due to my brother’s chainsaw snoring). Finally at 01:00 I was wider awake than I had been all day (or all yesterday I guess), so I got up. I had left all of my stuff (computer, camer bag, etc..) at work, and the only thing I had brought home was my 20D. So I sat and took pictures in low light till I was tired again.

Man… It was a long day.

In the near future I will be doing some overhaul on the theme and functionality.

You may see some new photos…and if your lucky…you’ll hear some words of wisdom…

j-wog