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The other day when I was checking out Wine Library TV, which is basically my main source for when I want to try out some new wines, I came across this video that’s a couple of years old in which the super knowledgeable, super entertaining Gary Vaynerchuk tastes a number of different random things that are flavors frequently found in wine and I felt the need to share it. This is apparently how he learned to train his palate at the age of 17, when he was too young to really be training his palate by trying the actual wine. As I was watching this, I couldn’t help but think that I should try this out as a tasting exercise – perhaps with a few friends (any takers?) with the wines that are supposed to contain these sorts of flavor profiles. OK, so probably not all like 30 some odd things he tasted here – probably not socks, or dirt, or a rock (unless you’re up for that), but we could try out a few… As someone who enjoys wine, but has trouble really picking out the various flavors present in it, I think this could be a really neat exercise.
By the way, if you haven’t checked out Wine Library TV and you have any interest in learning more about wine, you definitely should check it out. Gary Vaynerchuk is pretty awesome to watch (definitely high energy and something of an insane genius) and probably the reason I’ve taken such a great interest in wine. I usually hit up the site on Saturday mornings before I do my wine shopping – just to get some ideas of what I might want to purchase and what I should be looking out for.
So anyway, check out the video – it’s a half hour long, but fairly entertaining (I think)- even if you’re not really into wine.
In just a few short weeks, I will be going to see the Tim Burton Exhibition at MoMa and I am super excited.
This exhibition explores the full range of his creative work, tracing the current of his visual imagination from early childhood drawings through his mature work in film. It brings together over seven hundred examples of rarely or never-before-seen drawings, paintings, photographs, moving image works, concept art, storyboards, puppets, maquettes, costumes, and cinematic ephemera from such films as Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Batman, Mars Attacks!, Ed Wood, and Beetlejuice, and from unrealized and little-known personal projects that reveal his talent as an artist, illustrator, photographer, and writer working in the spirit of Pop Surrealism.
He made so many of my favorite films growing up and when I first heard about this exhibit it in an article from Wired a few months back, I just knew that I had to go. My mom who is also a big fan of all of Tim Burton’s work will be joining me.
This should be really cool, so definitely expect an update. The exhibit will be showing through April 26th, so that should give you plenty of time to plan your own trip!
It’s been almost two weeks since I first got my iPhone 3Gs and I have to say that I am still very impressed with it. I was originally a bit underwhelmed with the camera on it, but as with everything with the iPhone, there’s an app for that.
I tend to use the camera on my cell phones a lot – I take a lot of pictures (usually because I think I’ll be blogging about something later) and I carry a small purse. I have two digital cameras – one big one that Kevin got me a couple of years ago for my birthday and is quite awesome and one that is quite a bit smaller and I really just have for the sake of portability. I find that in most cases, though, the small one is even kind of a pain to carry around. I do, however, always have my phone on me – “and the best camera is the one that’s with you”.
Taking photos on my old Blackberry was never an enjoyable experience – they didn’t come out great and I found it was kind of a hassle to try to upload them to my PC or even use the Flickr app to upload them to my Flickr account. The iPhone and the various apps available to it make the whole experience far less painful.
In my recent search to find the best iPhone photo apps for my everyday use, I came across Chase Jarvis’s website dedicated to iPhone photography – The Best Camera (though I’ll admit I haven’t yet gotten around to downloading the app) and I’ve been very inspired by it and all you can potentially do with just an iPhone.
I’ve recently stopped using the basic iPhone camera and have downloaded the Snapture app to take all my photos. For just $1.99, it’s totally worth it – just for the ability to zoom in up to 5x. It also adds a number of other cool features including color filters, stability control, touch to focus, and integration with your Facebook and Twitter accounts – just to name a few.
I’ve also downloaded a few free editing apps, but for the most part, I’ve really found the Photoshop.com Mobile App to be the most useful. It just does everything I need it to do – right in one spot.
So now that I’ve taken a great photo and edited it if needed, what am I going to do with it? Just let it sit on my phone? Maybe if I was still using my Blackberry… but now I have better options. I’ve been playing around with another free app called Flickit to upload my photos directly to my Flickr account. I’ve even set it up so that by default they’re all being sent right to a set called “From My iPhone”. If I want them to go to another set, that can also be done quite simply. From there (as I’m sure you already know) they can instantly be viewed right here on my “Recent Photos” Page (which can be accessed from the top of this page if you hadn’t already noticed).
So with a few simple apps, two of which are free, I can quickly take a photo, edit it and have it uploaded to my Flickr account in a matter of a couple of minutes. It’s pretty neat. I definitely hope to do a lot more experimenting with these apps and I’m sure I’ll even try out a few more. In the meantime, you should check out my Recent Photos page to see some of the pictures I’ve taken in the last couple of weeks with my iPhone.
So I really don’t do goodbyes so well… this may be the understatement of the year. I like to think that I do many things well – saying goodbye is just not one of them. When my boss announced that she was leaving the company a couple of weeks ago, I was not exactly a happy camper. While some may be happy to see their boss leave, this was definitely not the case for me. There may have been a few tears… okay lots of tears. I’m a huge crybaby – what do you want?
Kristin (aka Captain Oblivious) was an awesome boss – Bryan and I even presented her with the “Official Seal of Awesomeness” on her last day – which up until now, only he and I had earned. It’s quite the prestigious honor. Over the past couple of years, she had become more than just an awesome boss – she’s become an awesome friend – and saying goodbye to a friend is never an easy task.
Last night we celebrated her new job with a happy hour at Vito’s by the Water , which it turns out is owned by the same people that own all the Vito’s in the area – one, coming soon right near my house here in New Britain in the old Hardware City Tavern location – very exciting. Anyway, I’m not here to discuss food today, I’m here to write about something more important – a friend.
There was, as expected, a pretty huge turnout last night ( which I’m sure had NOTHING to do with the fact that she invited out every single person she spoke with over the past week :p) and I’m fairly certain they weren’t there for the free pizza. Everyone who meets Kristin loves her, and while we may have lost a great boss we still have an awesome friend.
Captain, we wish you the best of luck (not that you need it)!
Republicans want Hawaiians to know that their 40 years of government-run health care will not work. It’s clearly all a house of cards! This was truly brilliant.
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