This morning I woke up and looked out the window. The sun was blood red. The wildfires here in Oregon are out of control, and once again the air quality is rife with smoke and particulates. Makes it really hard to breathe, but at the same time creates this eerie haze that turns the sun red. I decided to try to photog it. I did ok. I do not have the correct solar filters so I was worried about possibly frying my sensor. I didn't take very many, just a few. I mainly wanted the effects around the sun anyway. That was where the interesting bits were.  I posted them up on Flickr. Here are a few of the better ones.

I used my 300mm lens. Notice the double sun? Do you know why it did that? Cause I don't and Google hasn't interpreted my query in a way that yields useful results. My guess is that it is the sun reflecting off the inside of the lens. I think it is kind of cool. Would be interesting to learn the science behind it. I will add an edit here if I figure it out.

So new computer has arrived. The new computer is named Queeg, because I think it is funny. It is a Red Dwarf reference. I am a huge Red Dwarf fan. My old computer and my external hard drive are named Mr. Flibble. The things we do to amuse ourselves. Ah. Anyway, after a few days of wrestling with it, I think I am close to getting it to where I want to be. I stream Jackbox games on Periscope (@TeaWeaselStopMO). OBS apparently does not play well with Windows 10 pro. This frustrates me. By now, surely there are enough people on Windows 10 for long enough for issues to be less...issuey. I have also found my favorite first person shooter, Unreal Tournament, does not play well with Windows 10. I am less surprised about this, cause this game is..um...18 years old...I am guessing it wasn't made for newer hardware. I did download it through Steam, though, so you'd think the versions they are now selling would b e compliant. If I go in and choose OpenGL rather than Direct3D for graphics, it works but it is so dark it is hard to play. Can't see shit and keep walking into the lava. I finally got Jackbox to stream, though it took a while. I had to uninstall the newest version of OBS and install version 16. They are on 18. 18 and 17 both produced black pictures, and none of the fixes I found online worked. It may be my AMD graphics card. Most people go for Nvidia. I like Nvidia...my budget is AMD. (Side note: if you wanna help me pay for the new computer, there is a Tip button in the right column of this page. Feel free to use it. Does not require Paypal or anything, You just put your card number in and email, it sends you a validation code to your email and you are good. Run by Square.) Still, much much better than what I had. I played Viscera Cleanup Detail last night. I just could not get over how much detail was there that I was missing before. I was able to get a mop bucket from the Slosh 0 Matic on the first try. Amazing. And footprints from walking through blood appeared immediately. Usually on my old computer I would think I was done, go to another room to clean, come back and there would be footprints everywhere. I think I discovered why I could never get 100% on any map in that game.

Annnd...Dragonframe works! It opens and works. Whew. Now I need to learn how to use it. I know Pinnacle, so once I get that installed on this computer I will use it to finish the video for Anglicon. But I am looking forward to playing in it and finding out what it can do.

Also....I now have Audacity and Reaper installed, so when I can get rid of this congestion I will be playing around with recording. If I get anything worth while I will post it to Soundcloud and embed on my music page. The new digital piano can record and send files to a computer, so I plan on experimenting with that as soon as I can.

So much to do. I have classes to catch up on, videos to shoot, software to learn, music to record...I love it when I am busy. :) I also found a cheap treadmill on Amazon for around $100, so that should be coming soon. It is way too hot to walk outside right now, and the bus stop is way too far to walk in the heat to get to a gym. I frequently get what I call angsty anxious nervous, and I used to walk it off. When it is so hot, I can't do that. I am hoping with the treadmill I will be able to do that regardless. I found I have started feeling like I HAVE to wash my hands 20 times an hour, which is my default reaction to stress and anxiety. It isn't as bad when I can get out and walk, but as I haven't been able to I am finding I am running out of soap really quickly and my hands are really dry and cracked. The treadmill isn't top of the line or fancy, no bells an whistles, but it will do the job, hopefully...allow me to walk. I really don't need ALL the bells and whistles anyway. I mean, the calorie counter etc are all bogus and approximations anyway. They aren't accurate. I would have liked to get one with adjustable inclines that is programmable so I can go up and down hills, but this will do. It has a 2 inch incline. And if it has the added bonus of helping me lose the weight I have gained since being sedentary, all the better.

OK, with that TMI, I am off to work on stuff. Laters!

Well....I don't have a whole lot to post about. I have been busy and sick and tired and allerging. I have not completed the video yet, nor have I had time to do any real shooting. My computer had issues yesterday. It crashed 3 times, the 3rd time I had to recover it. I am glad I set restore points and backup images. It has been teetering for months now. About once a week it crashes and tells me it can't recognize the BIOS. Well, duh...mainly that is because it does not have a BIOS. It's firmware, as it is for most 64 bit machines, is EFI. If I open the computer in safe mode, then restart it from safe mode, it has been able to fix tiself. I am not really sure "fix" is the word I want to use here. This is a refurbished laptop. I am sure someone probably flashed a BIOS machine with an EFI, and now the workarounds to make that work are crumbling down. When I go to the system window, it says I have a BIOS installed. I have been in the firmware...it is most definitely not BIOS, it is EFI. Computers is usually my job. I know how to tell. What I don't know is why the discrepentcy. Even if it was flashed with EFI, Windows should read it as an EFI, not a BIOS. And yup...people who thought EFI and BIOS were the same thing...they are very different. A BIOS uses a master boot record table to tell your computer how to load the OS. EFI uses a GPT table to tell your computer how to load the OS. If it is looking for a MBR table, and it ia an EFI firmware, it will not find it and think it can't load. Because it is getting the wrong instructions. Probably more than you wanted to know, but this is my blog and I wanted to impart my knowledge. :P

Anyway...so after months of this happening, yesterday it finally crashed enough times in a row that I had to recover it, which is not a good thing. As I am unsure how to fix the workaround, I can't really fix this permanently. As I am worried about my cmputer quitting completely on me, I hesitate to use it for anything heavy duty, like filming.

I bit the bullet and decided I needed to replace this mess. I don't have a lot of money, as I am still unemployed, but I have been socking a little bit away every month so I can have deposit money for when I get a job and am ready to get my own place again. Through my school I get a discount on Dells, and Dell is currently in addition running a back to school discount. I was able to find a gaming laptop with all the bells and whistles I want and need for $750. I checked the Dell site not logged into the school's portal or using the student discount. It would have cost me $1000. So I decided that it was worth it to make sure I have a laptop I can use for school, and something I can use afterward. If I wait until I have a job, which may be after I am done with school, I would have to pay the full price for it. And I wouldn't have something to use when this one finally is unrecoverable. It will have a dedicated graphics card, 12GB of RAM, and 1 TB of storage. And the processor is good enough I can up it to 32GB of RAM if I want to later. So when that arrives I will do some more filming, and post it up here. But it will have to wait now until that is possible. I don't dare kill this thing before I have something else to do school with. And the new laptop probably will work with Dragonframe. Extra bonus. So why do I feel so guilty about spending money on it? :P

I also have been writing and perfecting some songs, which I intend to record and put up on Soundcloud when I get the new computer. I will link them in my music tab. I am excited to play music at Orycon again this year. Last year I was newly laid off and trying to figure out how  to make ends meet and how to get schooling. This year I am still unemployed, but living in town so I don't have to worry about where to stay. I was already planning on going...bought my membership a few months ago. This will just be the icing on the cake. I love doing panels too. We'll see if they allow me to do any. I put in to do a few at Anglicon too. We'll see if they want me. I am not a Seattlite, and don't know any of the concom, so probably not. But I thought I would throw my hat in there anyway.

Ok...back to homework and research paper. Will post back here when I have more to report.

I suppose it is time to post another one of these. I have been working on stop mo a bit, and more dragon eyes. I got a few more color and have been experimenting. They came out ok.

Michaels had a sale the other week, 50% off one item. They had everything you need in one kit for a nature diarama. I got that, thinking it had a base. It did not, just everything else. So I made a base from a cardboard box. I took some popcicle sticks and hot glued them inside the box, and cut the sides down so it is easy to reach.

The idea was that I would be able to use magnets to hold my guy in place and to move him. I got magnets that are ok. They are not as powerful as I need, but they will do for now. I did a test sequence. Not worth posting here, as it is crap, but it proves the concept is sound.

Here are a couple of pics of my newest dragon eyes. I will post more when I have had time to do some more videoing.