I am a curse to the Tigers

Guys.

My curse of the Tigers is real and I now have the data to prove it.  The following statistics are representative of all regular season games since 1984 (the last time the Tigers won the World Series) where I have either been living in the state of Michigan or out of state.

The difference in my W/L ratio is almost 35%!  That's like saying the Tigers are likely to win 56 more games every year with me OUT of state than with me in state.   Since I moved home they are 4-6 which is almost exactly in line with my current trend rate (small sample size on the return, but the rest of the data speaks for itself).

Furthermore, here are my playoff stats:

Who wants to chip in to put me up in Florida for the next two months?

My analysis attached.

Goodnight.

I got a new camera (part deux)

Hello world,

Thanks for tuning in again.   I have exciting news to share which can really serve to benefit this blog.  Yes, I got a new camera.  As my old one is now five years old and my sister recently made me jealous by getting a new one for her birthday, I decided to invest in one for me.

I also got a new computer.  And guess what?  I am writing this from the air again.  Yup, I am currently on a plane from Charlotte, NC to NYC.  I have been traveling since noon today and it is now 9:49 pm. Needless to say, it has been a long day.

Why do you need a new camera, Steve?  Well, there are a couple of reasons.  First off, I don't need a camera, I want one.  I like to take pictures and my phone camera just wasn't cutting it.  Call me my father's son, but dag-nabbit, there is something great about capturing the world around you and sharing it with others.  Also, it will certainly keep me busy and productive and that's never a bad thing.

What are you going to use it for?  Another good question. I hope to use it to take quality pictures of my friends, family and anyone who gets in the way - that is going to be my main purpose with it.  Next, I hope to shoot a few creative videos.  I think I may have mentioned this in a previous post, but I have been wanting to stimulate my creative side a little bit more.  Keep that side of my brain working.  And while I did have the tools before, now I have awesome tools to create things on the level that I want to create them.  We'll see what happens.

Do you even know how to take pictures?  Ehhh... kinda.  But I'm learning and I'm learning quick.  It hasn't even been a week yet and I am already working on the manual setting and getting it to take pictures that I want it to take.  Obviously it is going to take a lot of practice, but I am really enjoying it and I think that enthusiasm will carry me to fun places.   A friend of mine who traveled to Italy with me once told me that she didn't know a person who used all of the functions of their electronics like I did.  I anticipate that quality of mine will carry on into learning how to shoot.

Are you going to take any classes?  Actually, yes.  I signed up for a Living Social deal on framing shots and I will likely take another one or two once I have a better idea of what I want to learn.  There is so much to learn about the camera, lenses, light, portait pictures, landscapes, etc.  I want to learn it all but I will take it one step at a time.

And you got a new computer, too, huh?  Yes.  Yes, I did.  And she's a beaut.  Nice and thin like a MacBook Air, but a little more powerful in the processing department.  She also has a SSD and a touchscreen with Windows 8 which I like for the novelty of it.  I will call her Schragacer. And she is gender neutral so if I refer to her in the masculine in the future don't be alarmed.

So that's that.  I guess I should name my camera, too.  I am working out a system to name, edit and share my photos.  I think it's going to have to be a multistep process.  I like the Flickr community the best, but Picassa makes it easy with the desktop app to upload and share pictures. I think I might go with that.  Maybe save Flickr for my pro-shots (hah.).

Here are a few:

Montauk Lighthouse, commissioned by President George Washington

 I was in Amagansett and East Hampton this past weekend visiting Sarah's cousins and attended the Am O'gansett St. Patrick's Day parade.  Pretty funny. They were billing it as the world's shortest parade as it went one block and ended at a pub.  You can see me in action here:

That's all.  Time to land.  Thanks for stopping by!

Winter Update

Winter Day at Bryant Park

9:54 AM ET, 6:54 AM PT

Hello future self and anyone who might be peeking.

As I am currently crossing into Nebraska from South Dakota on my way to Los Angeles, I'm back in the air with some time to write again. As usual it has been a while.  What's new? Well a good amount I would say.  Work has been busy which is a good thing. I have been traveling quite a bit already this year - I have been to Costa Mesa, CA (where I got to meet up with Smash!), Washington DC (twice), Hershey, PA, and now to Los Angeles.  It's not even March yet!  It almost feels like my days working for Free the Children. Almost.

Anyway, as of the beginning of the year our company has been acquired by another company so there has been a lot of work to do.  I feel good about the acquisition as it should allow for us to expand our product and really help bring added support to students.

As for me, I keep truckin' right now. Things are starting to click with my piano playing (did I tell you I started taking lessons?) .  I am about a year in now and can play many chords and scales if not many songs yet.  Unfortunately, all of this traveling has kept me from the keys and being able to practice.  I have tried using GarageBand on my iPad, but as you can imagine it's not the same.

What else is going on?  Well, the Harlem Shake videos are pretty popular at the moment.  I am a big fan. I wanted to create one with some friends over the weekend but no one was interested.  C'mon man!  You know you are getting old when the prospect of doing something just for the sake of it doesn't sound appealing anymore.  Sure I guess we are busy, but I really don't want to lose contact with that fun and creative part of my brain.  Related thought: I'd like to invest in a good camera and a new personal computer so that I can make stuff (videos, images, websites, etc) on the go just for the fun of it.  Alas, work takes a majority of my time and that equipment is not cheap! I hope future posts have more video/images/side projects attached to them.

I think that's about all I have for the moment.  I have to start thinking about our 10 year reunion.  My goodness. 10 years is a long time, but I can honestly say that the majority of friendships and people that I met during those four years have been the most stand-up group of people I know.  Our class was particularly awesome in that we minded our own business and got our work done.   I am excited to put something together to see everybody. Who wants to help??

Last thoughts before I sign off: 
**The latest Jack White album is incredible (listen to "Take me with you when you go")
**Technology is awesome - possibly as early as this year I will be able to control a computer without a mouse and Google Glass looks sweet
**And I want to see a few more concerts this summer.

That is all.