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2008 Hooters Swimsuit Contest
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 05/25/08 at 02:05:27 pmIt’s been a very busy holiday weekend for me but I wanted to mention one of the many highlights and share some of the many photos I had taken. My birthday was on Thursday and part of my celebration was spent with some friends at Treasure Island Resort & Casino near Red Wing, Minnesota. They were hosting the 2008 Mall of America Hooters Swimsuit Competition and my friends made arrangements to get us VIP passes and a hotel room for the night. In addition to the hotel room, the VIP package scored us free drink coupons for the bar, dinner at the buffet, and some blackjack money.
I can only barely express how much of a blast I had but the photos from the swimsuit contest should give you an idea. You can see all of the pictures I took of the beautiful Hooters girls on Flickr (probably NSFW).
I bought something this weekend.
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 05/04/08 at 08:05:39 amI bought a new car. I’ve been going back and forth in my mind the last few weeks about trading in my van and purchasing a new car and the better half of this past week was dedicated to shopping around and finding out what I really want out of my new vehicle.
I just bought the van like 10 months ago, and it wasn’t that old of an automobile but the miles were getting up there, about 161K when I traded it in on Friday, and the cost of mechanical repairs and keeping body damage and rusting from spreading was really depressing. I wanted something that I can be truly happy with, a car that I’m comfortable in that has a solid warranty to where I don’t have to worry about anything. I wanted something brand new.
Friday I purchased a 2008 Chevy Malibu Classic LS sedan. When I was initially shopping around I didn’t think I’d be looking at purchasing a Malibu of all cars but I literally test drove 6 other vehicles last week before I found what I really wanted. The Malibu is well equipped with the 3.5L V6 that’s rated for 30 MPG highway. The LS package comes with power everything, single disc CD, the GM information center that shows you everything from oil life to tire pressure, leather wrapped shifter & steering wheel with leather accents throughout the car, I absolutely love it.
I’ve had quite a few vehicles in the past but I’ve never purchased anything this new or have spent anything close to this much money. Nor have I ever had a commitment like this before, I mean 6 years is a long time to have a loan for a car. But I swore to myself that my next vehicle would be new, that was my goal and it feels amazing to have accomplished it. The 34,000-Mile Bumper-to-Bumper Warranty means that for at least a year or more I don’t have to worry about anything at all, and with the 100,000-Mile Powertrain and Rust Through/Corrosion Warranties I don’t have to be concerned about major components or weather taking too much of a toll for essentially the entire time I’m paying on the car. That piece of mind alone is almost worth the 18 grand.
I took my new best friend out for a drive yesterday and I snapped a few pictures of her at the car wash, check ‘em out here. Since this car is brand new, don’t be surprised if I try to write my very first automobile review sometime soon 
Create an online portfolio with Carbonmade.com
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 04/20/08 at 09:04:51 pm
My project for this weekend was creating a new portfolio that shows off some of my recent web and graphic design work. While I doubt I’ll actually use the portfolio to gain freelance projects it’s nice to have a spot online to show off a few samples, just like it’s nice to have a resume on hand to outline my work experience.
I stumbled across a portfolio somewhere last week that was using this service called Carbonmade and I guess the cute logo struck my interest because a few minutes later I was working on creating an account for myself. Carbonmade is an innovative concept that allows people to create professional looking portfolios with no HTML or programming experience necessary. It works similar to a photo gallery, you’re able to upload your works and add comments to describe it. Carbonmade offers a free option called the “Meh. Plan” that restricts the user to 5 projects and 35 images. Otherwise the “Whoo! Plan” allows for 50 projects, 500 images, and 10 videos for $12 a month.
The way that this system is set up I could see it being used in a few different ways such as a presentation or a dedicated gallery for family photos and such. I’m not quite finished yet, but you can check out my Carbonmade portfolio here.
Thoughts and photos from a HERO.
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 04/02/08 at 10:04:59 pmI’m not sure if everyone is aware of this but… I am a real live hero. It’s true, at the launch event I attended yesterday Microsoft told me that I along with all of the developers, geeks, and admins in the IT industry are heroes as long as we run their new software.
That new software is of course Microsoft Windows Server, SQL Server, and Visual Studio 2008. The all-new additions to the Microsoft arsenal offer endless new features and functions designed to make management, storage, and development easier for the rest of us. You can check out all of the details about the new titles and the launch events on the tour website.
This was my 4th Microsoft event, 3rd Launch event at the Minneapolis Convention Center (MCC). My first Microsoft conference was the Windows Server 2003 launch about 5 years ago and when I compare the photos from then and now not a lot has changed. There are more vendors at the partner pavilion and some of the workshops (or breakout sessions as Microsoft calls them) moved around but for the most part it’s the same event just with new banners and products to show off. Still, it’s a lot of fun.
Tuesday’s conference had a great keynote speech done by Gabriel Broner who is the General Manager of the Storage Solutions Division at Microsoft. Gabriel claims that he works in Redmond, WA but keeps a home in Edina, MN. I found that interesting because it is a ‘tour’ after all and the other speakers didn’t claim to be residing in Minnesota. I’m curious if Gabriel actually does have a home here or maybe he just looks up a city in each state he hits on the tour and claims he has houses there also. As if I didn’t already have limited free time on my hands now I’ll have to call random residents of Edina asking if they work for Microsoft just to get to the bottom of his shenanigans.
The massive convention center is a great venue for something of this size as each area can essentially have its own floor and each session has its own room. The Partner Pavilion where all of the sponsors had the booths set up was moved to the lower floor into an utterly gigantic warehouse like space. Totally underground, I didn’t even know it existed. In fact, MCC is such a large complex that while the Microsoft thing was going on they were also holding the Minnesota Sportsman’s Show along with another private conference simultaneously and there were still tons of unused space.
Having the opportunity to learn about the new technology is quite an experience but we all know the best part about trade shows is the free garb. I literally got a huge Dell tote bag full of pens, t-shirts, balls, Frisbees and magazines along with a flying monkey, USB charger, and a thing that untangles the cord on my phone. I also received a very nice Microsoft branded lunch bag but the crème de la crème, the big enchilada is of course the mind blowing $550+ worth of software just for attending. I received a kit that includes full copies of Windows Vista Ultimate SP1, Visual Studio 2008 Standard, and a year licensed copy (extended trial) of Server 2008 Enterprise. Now you know why I bother going to these things.
Despite snapping pictures with a camera being frowned upon I did manage to take a few more pictures while I was down there, you can see them all by Clicking Here.
FlickrBackup: A must have for any Flickr user.
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 02/21/08 at 12:02:43 pmThe way I see it, there are 2 different kinds of uses for web based photo sharing services like Flickr and Picasa Web Albums. The first is casual usage where you just sort of upload whatever photos you happen to take on a given day with no real structure or quality control. The 2nd way is sharing and archiving your photos where the service, in this case Flickr, is your only organized-centralized-source for all of your pictures.
I’ve been slowly merging to the latter and this week I think that process has been completed. I have uploaded everything to Flickr, family photos, vacation photos, photos I take for insurance purposes you name it. Since I have moved everything to Flickr I have been utilizing the permissions features for the first time too. I don’t want the general public to have access to family pictures so I can restrict the photos to my family only. Other photos I might just want friends to see and I can restrict those too, simple.
In fact there is only one problem with archiving everything on a single system and that’s redundancy. I don’t think I could ever trust an online service with something so important… I mean what if Flickr were to suddenly shut down one day? Or there was some major crash and somehow there was permanent data loss?! It could never happen, it never has, but for some people like myself that’s still not a risk we’re willing to take. I needed a way to back up all of my photos on Flickr and at least keep my photoset structures in-tact. Automatic backups would be cool but I think even semi-monthly manual backups would be sufficient.
My search quickly came to an end when I stumbled upon an application that can do all of the above and it’s appropriately called FlickrBackup. FlickrBackup is a Java powered, open source application that allows you to back up your entire Flickr library with just a couple clicks. By default the software will keep your sets together by putting each set into its own folder. It also allows you to keep the photo’s name and EXIF data in-tact for a seamless restoration if needed. Additionally, FlickrBackup has a sister plug-in called FlickrEdit which is very similar to the new Uploadr application. It allows you to easily make quick changes, upload and restore your photos onto Flickr. Best of all because it’s all open source software it’s completely free for personal use.
Now I can rest easy knowing that all of my photos are backed up onto my home file server… and maybe backed up again on a mirrored secondary drive. There’s no such thing as overkill.
A Duluth Weekend.
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 02/20/08 at 10:02:44 am
Now that I have had some time to sort and upload all of the photos I took this past weekend in Duluth I thought I’d blog a bit about them. I already had a Duluth, MN photoset started but I added a bunch of beautiful photos of the Lift Bridge, Canal Park, and parts of the Duluth skyline. While we were in Canal Park we also visited the Lake Superior Maritime Museum which is owned and operated by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The museum features artifacts and information about Lake Superior and the massive in-land harbor based in Duluth. They also have exhibits on the other great lakes, the ship wrecks, weather, all of the different technology used, just endless information about the importance of in-land shipping and maritime culture.
I mentioned before that we we’re going to dinner last Friday, the big mystery location was the Top of the Harbor Restaurant which is located on the roof level of the Radisson Hotel in downtown Duluth. Top of the Harbor is a rotating restaurant with an amazing view of the harbor and the hills that surround the city. My mother wrote more about the restaurants we visited this weekend but if you’re interested in the pictures you can find them in this photoset.
For lunch on Saturday we went to this place near Canal Park called Hell’s Kitchen. It’s not quite like the TV show, instead Hell’s Kitchen is a gothic themed restaurant with a limited but amazing selection of food. Only the pictures can describe what this place is like, and again you can find a more detailed review here.
We did have plenty of time to enjoy the sites of Duluth but most of the weekend was spent in the Hotel, Edgewater Resort and Waterpark. Although I didn’t personally spend a lot of time in the waterpark this place offers plenty to do for everyone. They have a good size arcade, daily activities and crafts, blazing fast broadband internet, and the breakfast bar turns into a fully featured lounge in the evening for some good clean alcohol inspired family fun! I took plenty of pictures, take a look for yourself.
There’s so much to see and do in Duluth that there’s no question why it’s one of my favorite Minnesota destinations. I’m glad that I had a chance to spend some time there this weekend and I can’t wait to do it again.
Spending a weekend on The Edge.
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 02/15/08 at 02:02:07 pm
I’ve been looking forward to this little getaway in Duluth for a while. Surprisingly, this is my first time actually spending a couple nights in Duluth rather than just a day trip or driving through as I’ve done many times before. The plan is to spend the weekend at Edgewater Resort and while we’re up there we will celebrate Chad’s birthday with a nice dinner at ________ ( sorry chad ) and see some of the sites such as Canal Park (should be good times at -5 F) and the lift bridge and obviously enjoy the massive indoor water park that ‘The Edge’ is known for. Hopefully I’ll get some photos of the beautiful Duluth landscape, although most everything will be frozen over.
I think I have enough batteries packed up to last me a month which is a good thing since this is my first chance to really get some use out of my new camera. I actually made a whole list of things to bring along so I won’t have to stop at a store or anything while I’m there, and of course most importantly the geek in me had to make sure the hotel has wireless internet access throughout all of the rooms, I should be in good shape.
Hardware Review: Opteka High Definition II Lenses for Canon PowerShot A650 IS
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 02/09/08 at 08:02:34 pm
I wonder how many A650 components I’m going to review before I write about the camera itself? Last week I was thinking about my upcoming weekend in Duluth and how I’d like to get some quality skyline/harbor photos while I’m there. If you get up onto the hills just east of downtown, Duluth offers a nice open landscape with an incredible view of the mighty Lake Superior. I knew that if I wanted to pull off something special I would need a good wide angle lens.
The Canon PowerShot A650 IS is a unique camera because although it’s technically a high end point-and-shoot it offers many features and options you would find on a typical DSLR. One of these options is the ability to add proprietary lenses and filters to the camera which surprisingly isn’t as “proprietary” as it sounds.
Canon offers a number of lenses and accessories for the A650 and all of them come with a not-so-cheap Canon price tag. Fortunately there are a number of other name-brand manufactures that make aftermarket lenses and parts for the A650 and Opteka is one of them. I was able to purchase an Opteka wide angle lens, macro lens and filter adapter on Amazon for less than half of what Canon wants for the same parts and there was no sacrifice on quality.
Opteka currently offers what they call the High Definition II line of lenses which include .45x Wide Angle, .42x Panoramic Macro (fisheye), 2.2 and 3.2x Telephoto, along with a few other special purpose lenses. For my first lens buying experience I went with the .45x Wide Angle which should be perfect for those landscape shots I plan to take next weekend.
The lenses have a nice rugged quality to them, light-weight aluminum but heavy enough to not feel cheap. Opteka’s motto is “Your pictures are only as good as the glass in your lens.” and they may be onto something as I found them to be very clean with no visible imperfections. My only gripe about the wide angle lens is that its physical size is so wide it actually blocks part of the flash on the camera which tends to show up on indoor photos. However, I think that’s going to be bad design on Canon’s part as the flash on the A650 is located in a somewhat odd spot and unfortunately (and surprisingly) there isn’t an ability to use an external flash on this camera.
Overall, if you have a DSLR, Film SLR, or Digital with the ability to attach lenses and you don’t want to pay the premium price companies like Canon, Sony, and Nikon charge for accessories I highly recommend looking into the products Opteka has to offer.
A side note for Canon A650 IS owners – If you are looking at buying an Opteka lens you will find that they are sketchy on the details about the converter that actually makes the lens fit the camera. A separate converter is required for the lenses and filters and it can be found Here.
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