pictures:

Kinetic Sculpture Race, 2009

saw eugene mirman at his book reading at barnes & noble last night. there are even some pictures:

Eugene Mirman, 27 February 2009

also, this was my parking lot at work this morning:

From From my phone

I went to Meadowlark Botanical Gardens to kill the afternoon, and take some pictures. Mostly this was to try out my new lens, a Nikkor 10.5mm Fisheye. Definitely a lot of fun to use, although it takes some time getting accustomed to a 180º field of vision. Very easy to forget and leave your hand (or foot) in the frame.

Also trying out Picasa web albums from Google. Haven’t decided if I want to start using it exclusively, and/or move my current photos over to it.

Ah, the joys of visiting the family. Spent a good chunk of the night sitting around with my parents, brother and sister-in-law, looking through several boxes of family pictures. And unlike these family pictures, they were actually fairly modern and mostly just my immediate family.

But just odd looking at pictures of myself over the years. My high school graduation. Going off to college. At my brother’s wedding. Couple of ex-girlfriends. And oh, my long hair. How I sometimes miss you.

Right now, none of those pix have been scanned in, and probably won’t be. But here are some shots I took of the family reunion this afternoon, if you are curious. The reunion focused on my maternal grandmother’s side of the family, and you can at least tell where I get my height from.

Happy and peaceful, soaking up some sun:

Jenny and I wandered around Rosslyn today. Pictures can be found here.

My parents, brother and sister-in-law took a trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway last weekend, and my dad took some pictures. Apparently a good year for looking at leaves, so why not check them out?

Finally got around to upgrading Gallery, and moving my main photo album to the root of images.jgumby.com. There’s also an RSS feed, if you’re so inclined to check it out.

Images from a recent trip through Washington, DC

Well, I finally got around to setting up my grow lights today. Next up, time to start planting seeds.

First up was my main light, a thirty-six inch light fixture that I got from Karen. I hung it from the drop-ceiling using velcro ties and some excess chain from Jenny’s project to add a light to the living room.

Next up, creating a light box (of sorts) out of an old bookcase that I had sitting around. I picked up a couple of twenty-four inch light fixtures from Home Depot this afternoon, to replace my previous fixtures. I found that the low-power versions would not properly start up the flourescents, unless I physically moved the bulbs around. Not terribly optimal since I wanted all of this to be automated. A few wire connectors and screws later, I have what you see above. I’ve tied them all into an outdoor timer (since it can handle grounded plugs), and hopefully none of these will set the house on fire.
You can see all of the photos here

So far, I’m happy with how things look. The time works, and all of the bulbs come on when I give them juice (a definite plus.) Now I just need to find a bulb to replace the white bulb in my large grow light. Naturally, HD had a large assortment of 24″ and 48″ bulbs. But only one type of 36″ bulb, but it wasn’t a full-spectrum bulb. Oh well, I’m sure I can find one soon enough.

But until then, it’s time to start planting some seeds and getting seedlings ready for the ground. I’m hoping that this warm winter we’ve had will mean I can plant fairly early. Of course, I fully expect a real cold snap to come along and ruin all of this. For the curious, below is my list of seeds that I ordered. I’m sure I won’t plant all of the varieties this year, but hopefully I’ll get a fair amount into some dirt.

• Redventure Celery
• Golden Beets
• Verdi Cauliflower
• Supersette Fava Beans
• Atomic Red Carrots
• Diablo Brussels Sprouts
• Lemon Cucumbers
• Kolibri Kohlrabi
• Turkish Orange Eggplant
• Fuego Radishes
• Rat Tail Radishes
• Round Red Core Shrinmei Daikon Radishes
• Kyoto Mizuna
• Red Perilla Akashiso
• Aurora Orach Mixture
• Springer Spinach
• Mung Bean Sprouting Seeds
• Morris Heading Collard Greens
• German Red Rocambole Garlic
• Panache Parsnips
• Dakota Peas
• Cotton Candy Pumpkins
• Diamond Bell Peppers
• Tabasco Chile Peppers
• Sungold Cherry Tomatoes
• Black Russian Tomatoes
• Persimmon Tomatoes
• Lime Basil
• Mexican Spice Basil
• Dulce Rojo Paprika Peppers
• Aromatic Summer Savory
• Catnip
• Signet Paprika Marigolds
• Sensationally Fragrant Niotiana Mixture
• Victoria
• Picante Salvia Splendens Mixture