For a good idea of what the day was like (and to see Dinah at the 7:22 mark) check out http://www.chicago3media.com/events/kevin-grace-at-chicago-comic-entertainment-expo-c2e2-2012 (the video is non-embeddable, deal with it.)

(I’ll update this post later with some images, just too wiped out right now.)

[Update 4/16: As promised, images!
]

Many of the original Wasteland guys worked on the Fallout series, the “spiritual successor” to Wasteland.  However, its always been a dream of fans and the designers to do a direct sequel. Thanks to the stuff that’s popped up on the modern internet, specifically Kickstarter, they are raising funds to do just that.

For just $15 in backing, based on current funding, you’ll get a copy of the game on Linux, Mac, and/or Windows.  The more they raise, the better they can make the game.  I’m excited enough about the game that I’m writing a blog post.  DO IT!

In case you’re not familiar with the Nest: its a thermostat created by some ex-Apple folks that attempts to learn its schedule from you so it can save energy. (Its interesting to note, that most people don’t end up programming their programmable thermostats because its too hard.  Most of your standard ones have interfaces not unlike VCR programming. We all know how that went.) Even if you don’t remember to set the thermostat down when you leave, it’ll start to learn when you’re “away” and use its away temperature to build the schedule.  The Nest also hooks into your wireless network so you can remotely control your thermostat through their webpage or an app on your mobile device. The wifi also lets it do things like look up the external temperature, so it can use that as a factor into your heading or cooling.

Needless to say, I’m excited about such a device. Its weird to be excited by something like a thermostat, but its a thermostat made for today.  I had tweeted about my excitement that it was on the way, and had a nice interaction with Nest over twitter where they asked for pictures. That leads to this blog post… I thought I’d take the chance to do an unboxing video, which I’ve never done before, and post some photos of the install of the Nest.

Before I go into the install and pictures from it, I should point out that I’ve been running it for about 10 days and love it. I haven’t had a chance to use some of the remote control features yet, but the set up was easy. I wasn’t patient enough to wait for it to learn, especially since I wanted it warm in the house before my morning shower, so I ended up programming a basic schedule from the web interface.  It’ll be interesting to see if it learns a slightly different schedule than we’ve set.

First, let’s start with my old thermostat. It was new with our furnace a few years ago. It was programmable, but very VCR like in the whole “press this button to go to the next field, press this button to move the number up by one” way.  However, it had one unique feature that was worth making a video for:

But, on to the nest.  First think you need to do if you go the nest route is see if it’s compatible with your setup.  Most home setups are pretty simple and it should be, but before you order you should use the compatibility check nest has on their page.

Let’s start the install with an unboxing video in which my son decides I needed the tv remote:

Install was pretty simple and I’ll put some pictures from it below.  There’s only 4 wires involved for my setup and its probably one of the most common type of installs you’ll see.  Unfortunately, at this time I can’t pull the humidifier control into the nest.  It’d be great to see that as a future feature.

As you can see from the pictures above, I ended up using the optional wall plate just so I’d have to do less painting and wall patching in the long run.  I was out of pain that matches our wall, so I still have some additional work to do.  Also, the wall plate is paintable, so when the time comes, I’ll paint that as well.

I’ll post more about it as I have more interesting experiences, including any noticeable power savings.  The only story I have so far is that I forgot the cleaning service was coming and the thermostat was scheduled to be down at 63, our “away” temperture.  At work once I remembered, I just went on the Nest’s control web site and turned up the temperature at home so that they wouldn’t be overly cold.  (Yes, I know, first world problem.)

The Nest is about as awesome as I thought it would be, I can’t wait to see the future features they add to the software.

I think I’ve become a much much better photographer through the process.  You clearly see a big change after April 9th when I took the class at the Chicago Photography Center. The other part of it was the constant practice and repetition of shooting and editing. I still have a long road to go in terms of skill and eye, but its been an amazing year of growth.

Some things I’ve learned:

1. Doing something every day is HARD, no matter what it is except necessary bodily functions. Its more of a time commitment than one would think.
2. It’s very difficult to keep coming up with fresh ideas if you feel the need to have every day be a little bit different. There were days when I didn’t shoot anything all day and wanted to go to bed and ended up shooting stuff in the house. By the end of the year, I ran out stuff in the house. Also, I ended up doing accidental themes for days at a time because I couldn’t think of anything new.
3. There are days when things don’t work out or you just shot all crap…but if you are gonna stay on the daily mission, you post it.
4. I have a hard time asking people I don’t know if I can take their picture, or just taking a picture of unknown people. Hence, you got a lot of landscapes and buildings and whatnot.

Here’s links to 23 of my favorites through the year in no particular order:

• The Biltmore Hotel
• The Washington Monument at dusk
• Ding Dong, MMMkay
• The Chicago Skyline
• Swing!
• Y?
• Fall Colors
• Violin
• Waiting
• Wrigley and Trump
• Sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge
• Reach
• The US Capitol
• Chicago Water Tower
• Pike Place Market
• North of the Border
• The bonus beer shot on Epcot from the boardwalk
• Beer
• Forest Gears
• What are you looking at?
• Spring on Michigan Ave
• The strawberries from Wine
• Train approaching

Here’s the top 5 most visited photos on the blog:

1. Ice skating in flight – I’d like to reshoot this, I could do better now. Its very search engine friendly
2. Any skirt in a storm – The Marilyn statue is still a big deal, and this shot got around to a bunch of blogs
3. Food Porn: Matzo Softball – Search Engine friendly
4. Will you be my date for life? – I pointed out it was Sarah’s and my 10 year anniversary
5. Blue wall: Half-way done! – I think I talked this one up when I painted it. It’s just a nice blue

I really enjoy photography, so I’ll still continue to shoot. Hey, I gotta learn to use the backdrops more.  That said, the frequency of photo posts will be going down.  I might just hide for a month and take no pictures. I need a break.

The final shot of the year of shots… The concept didn’t come out as well as I intended, but I thought a final goodbye with some of the equipment would be a good way to end. (Also, I really need to iron the white backdrop.) Finis!

GGB time!

Sarah got me a swanky background kit, and this was my first attempt at using it along with the new 580EXii flash. I also have white and chroma key green backdrops. I’m pretty happy with how this came out.

2 more solo shots of the kids:

It took more shots then it should to get the LEDs glowing

I’m stuck at work the final week of the year, and now so are you

I was tired after Christmas and I thought this would be better than it is

Buzz had it with all the new toys moving in and is hitchhiking his way out of here. (I found Buzz laying on the ground as pictured, so I can only image he flopped down when I walked into the room.)

At Grandma and Grandpa’s

Except for the new name, a 104 year tradition in the Walnut Room in Chicago at Marshall Field’s..er..Macy’s

I really wanted to try to get a picture with snow, but that looks like it wasn’t in the cards. Also, the tree is blocking the HUGE stocking on the door.

My attempt to capture all the little bubbles in a freeze frame

I would have liked to get more light caught up in the head. Not sure how I would have got that done here.

I can’t say “Ho Ho Ho” without saying “Now I have a machine gun” in Alan Rickman’s voice

Took another shot of the capitol now that I can do better night shots. I did a longer exposure to get building detail besides the highly illuminated dome. I had the camera on top of “tourist” binocular, I’ll need to bring a tripod next time.

Touch me! NOT A TOUCH-SCREEN. Sarah and I saw this out shopping

I screwed up and didn’t shoot at all today. I needed the rest. Here’s a shot from yesterday I liked.

PBR, orange juice, and amaretto. Its about as nasty as you think it is.

We have two Christmas trees, so the O Tannenbaum series is 2 images large.

This is the “Science Fiction and Beer” theme tree. You’ll see lots of Star Trek and Star Wars ornaments on the tree, the Borg cube being the easiest to see. I need to get a Serenity or Moya up in this trizzle. A Viper or the Galactica wouldn’t be bad either.

Her birthday is on Monday, but I took her out (sans children) for dinner to Wildfire. Pomegranate martinis for the birthday girl.

Does it count if the tree is artificial?

Our tour of Chicago via our ornaments continues.

I love our new LED lights.

An ornament version of the famous Marshall Field’s Great Clock. One of our many cool Chicago ornaments.

I think for the next week or so, you’ll see lots of the Christmas Tree as its a new item in the house I haven’t over shot yet. Also because we have some cool ornaments, I’m a depth of field overuser, and I think I could turn some shots into Christmas decorations.

After traveling and being up way to late too many nights in a row, I was trying an experiment with ice that failed. But hey, purple ice… I couldn’t really get the texture I wanted out of it.