I am pretty sure that most people that frequent this site, know that I moonlight as a photographer. My workflow pipeline used to flow through a series of Adobe products, and when I made my transition to Apple, I also picked up their professional photo software.  The majority of my time sorting, rating and adjusting photos is now done using Aperture, with only the really serious editing falling through to Photoshop.  It only made sense, when the newest version of Aperture came out, that I would upgrade.

Usually upgrading Apple's software is a breeze, Aperture is the exception to the rule.

The software installed just fine, and at first appeared to be working wonderfully, but then some of the frayed edges started to show.  At first, it was the new Faces feature they include.  The computer spent about 8 hours scanning my entire library for faces, and then one is supposed to go and put names on all the faces.  The problem was the majority of the images presented to me were just black.  I went through skipping the black images, thinking that the software was confused, when I came across a straight black image, and Aperture was asking me to confirm that it was somebody.  At that point I knew something was up, what I didn't know was how deep the rabbit hole went.

The support forum recommended I perform an 'Update Previews' which took my computer under an hour for the 35k + images in the library.  After that was completed, I still saw the black images in the Faces section of the application.  At this point my business partner recommended I try rebuilding the database; I sent Aperture on its way and it methodically rebuilt the core of the library.  When it was done, I nearly died.

I navigated to the browser, and was presented with a checkboard of 'unsupported file' exclamation points.  Panic subsided when I remembered that I had the v2.1 library backed up (twice), and that I could restore anything that was screwed up now.  Back to the support forums, and I found a gentleman who encountered the same problem (also shooting Nikon), and found that the magical 'Reprocess Masters...' menu option was able to correct his problem.  I sent my computer about this task, and about 2 hours later, I can see my library.

Although, the blackout images in Faces remain.  For now I'm not going to try and fix that problem.  Take it from this early adopter: Wait for a few more releases before jumping to version 3.

This week's Photo Friday challenge is: Self Portrait 2010. I immediately thought of the gangster shot we did when we made our visit to Dorothy at the beginning of the year. By no means did I do this shot alone, but I was a big part of the creative setup of the shot.

The pseudo shotgun in my hand is from a Hallowe'en costume some years ago. The coat and hat are regular attire. We're set up on the bridge in Dorothy with a generator, and two White-Lightnings. The first is behind me, at full power, aimed straight at my back to separate me from the darkness. The second is on camera right with a super tight grid where I was thinking of a 'caught in the headlights' look. The photograph is only cropped, as I didn't even have the desire to edit out the extension cable you can see running across the ground.

Over the winter I, while I was shovelling non-trivial amounts of money into Alberta Energy Savings I decided to check into some other options. I had been with AES L.P. for about as long as I've lived in this house. I never really questioned the bills, they came to the door and I payed them. I figured that living in Alberta, the energy capital of Canada, that rates would have to be competitive else the company would just sink to the bottom of the business pool and drown.

Boy, was I ever wrong.

Electrical rates were on par, but Natural Gas was a whole new ball game.  On my last bill with AES, I paid an average of $9.11 per GJ, my first bill with Enmax I paid under $5.50.  You don't need a calculator to figure out I was getting hornswaggled.  Thanks for locking in those 'Savings' Alberta Energy.

The real kicker was getting off the hook and getting my services transfered.  It turns out that in order to cancel my account, if I was not moving, I was required to give sufficient notice or pay a penalty.  The phone was crushed in my hand as my position came to light.  The barrier holding back the beast just about fell to rage when the person on the other end of the phone muttered: "We reserve the right to..."

Then, things got a little shady.  After I though the AES boat had sailed, and now nothing lay ahead but clear skies and full sails, I got ANOTHER bill from AES.  I looked at the statement date and it read: February 16th 2010.  The month of February has a little made up holiday in the middle of it, so it is very easy to categorize things into "Before" and "After" Hallmark Day.  Whereas the date on the statement was very much after that date, my memories had me paying the bill before that date.

I first checked with the Bank, and sure enough I had made a payment on the twelfth of the month.  I called the 1-800-No-Help number, and waited until I could speak with an agent.  The agent said that I did not in fact owe anything on the account, and that the payment must have been made after the statement was printed.  I asked when they did get the payment and I was told that it was on February 12th.  I was going to start asking what the hell the 'Statement Date' was on this hopefully final bill, and decided that I probably wouldn't like any answer that was given to me and just let it go.

Now, I feel my only obligation regarding AES L.P. is to share this story.

A shot of the sun setting over Lac le Jeune.

Yesterday marked the kickoff of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.  I would imagine that our countrymen will be able to shake off the snow problems, and be amazing hosts to the world's best amateur athletes.

Other obligations meant that I could watch the opening cerimonies live, although the magic of a personal video recorder meant I could take it in this morning.  The scale of the opening show was not even close to the scale the Chinese pulled out two years ago for their opening.  Nevertheless, the show had a lot of class and imaginative components, and I can not deny that the pride for my country overwhelmed me while watching the taped event.

No Canadian has won an Olympic Gold medal on Canadian soil, despite hosting two other games.  I would imagine there is a lot of excitement amongst the Canadian athletes over who is going to be first.  Furthermore, Vancouver isn't the tamest of cities; I'm sure the place is turning itself inside-out with the influx of like minded competitors and fun seeking visitors.

Go Canada! Go!

Another year, another revolution around the sun.  I added another click on my chronometer; doing so with a few close friends.  We collected at the Bermuda casa, and began merriment, electronic entertainment while enjoying a layout of deep fried foods.

I think it is a matter of safety that I limit these indulgences to no more than one per year.  As delicious as the food tasted, I'm sure the spread of corn dogs, tacos, cheese balls, hush-puppies, chips and frieds that all spent some time in a vat of oil did not do too much for me in the longevity department.  Mike has some photos on flickr, if you'd like to see our wares.

The remainder of the 3-6-9 festivities resulted in a trip to Ducky's Pub.  Ducky's does not fall into the 'high end' category, and is more often associated with a 'dive'.  It is a good deal of fun, and I definitely enjoyed the evening, although I did not enjoy the next morning.

Google has changed the world in which we live.  They have brought about a lot of great technological changes in the web space, and continue to give away their servies (mostly) for free.  Google suggestions isn't anything new; basically they take what you've typed into their search so far, and help out with the most common searches they service.  The results move between gut splittingly funny and downright scary.

When I started off with "Where do I find..." apparently a lot of people are looking for real vampires and Chuck Norris.  Some real fun can be had with proper nouns and the word "is".  "Apple is ", "Microsoft is ", "Firefox is", "Ford is " or the pluralized "Cows are", "People are" or "Politicians are " can each give up a short laugh, and keep one entertained for some time.  If I punch in "Wes is " (include the space) I find that the two most common searches are "Wes is a douchebag" and "Wes is legend".  Thankfully the legend returns more results.

Unfortunately, the crowd sourced suggestions show us how dumb a lot of people really are.  Punching in "Monkeys are" will give you the top two suggestions of: "Monkeys are made of chocolate" and "Monkeys aren't donkeys".  Still not convinced?  Place "What do I do when " and "What do I do if " in the search bar and have a look at what you get told.

I'm afraid I have a bit of a vice: I quite enjoy electronic gaming.  I put it on my list of vices right after pistachios and bacon.  The difference between this third place vice and the two of higher rankings is that I don't try to curb my intake of video games.

I have always preferred interactive entertainment to the passive kind.  I do not believe I'm alone in this, since some video games have generated more revenues than a lot of movies.  The challenge of these games continue to entrance me.  Sometimes a piece of software woven by a dedicated producer will keep me entranced day after day.  If you do not believe me, you can always ask my Xbox.

Today, that all changed.  My Xbox has been on the edge lately; during a recent game, it decided to give me a bit of attitude and locked up.  A few power cycles and it appeared to be good to continue fulfilling its purpose.  I even spent some time testing it the next day, thinking I was ensuring the continuation of my video entertainment experience.  After work today I thought I would spend some time wacking people with a lightsaber when the console decided to stop processing instructions.

At first I thought I was only a power cycle away from getting back into the action, although when I fulfilled my part of the bargin, the xbox decided to kick it up a notch and show me the dreaded RROD.  This is not unfamiliar territory for me, as I've already burned out my first console.

I readied myself for Microsoft Support, and sent myself into their portal.   After some time dealing with the Terminator of support websites, I managed to get to a point where I could troubleshoot my console.  The instructions were easy to follow, and led to absolutely nowhere.  The end of my online experience was a page that told me that my warranty was expired; a simple form into which I could place my credit card was displayed to me.

Phone Wes transcended the cage into which I put him and dialed customer support.  The poor indian call center employee did not know what hit him.  The other end of the phone seemed to be equipped with every answer and a plethora of questions.  Phone Wes was curious how a console manufactured less than two years ago could already be outside the 3 year manufacturer's warranty.  The unfortunate part is that Phone Wes is a bit of a prick, and can be rather aggressive towards the wrong target.

About half way through the conversation, I started to feel bad for 'Neil' as he didn't seem to have any of the answers, although he was more than willing to help.  After a severe beating, it was agreed that the big corporation would pay for the repairs.  A tentative peace was formed, and relavent details exchanged.  Very soon, I can get back to my electronic distraction from Pistachios and Bacon

Photo Friday threw up the challenge of 'Distant' and I figured I'd use one of my more recent photos from Dorothy Alberta.  The photo is taken using an infrared converted D70s.  I found the highway intriguing as it was straight for what seemed like forever, before taking a sharp turn out of the valley.

The only post processing done was to convert the RAW into a Monochrome.

Photo Friday threw out the challenge of Damaged this week.  The first ideas that came to mind were some photos I had of broken down farm equipment, and some old vehicles.  Once I was in my photo library, however, I remembered that I have photography that involves high speed captures of things getting destroyed.  This photograph was taken around the time we started moving past the technical hurdles of high speed capture into the more artistic considerations of background, lighting and composition.

The idea for this shot was to hit the top of the glass, which was filled with water.  We were successful in finding our target with the other shots of the night, but this show we fired a bit low.  If memory serves, we were launching spent batteries as they were the perfect diameter and weight to fire out of the pneumatic cannon.  The projectile was edited out of the final shot, giving an impression that the glass just descided to break.