steveblock.com

Don’t want to incur any fines or anything.

steve :: Aug.31.2003 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

It was a good show last night. I’m glad I finally saw Oh My God, and wish that I had made one of their shows last year. The keyboardist was really cool, and the drummer was really good. The singer had a good voice as well, though he was a little strange.

LKS did well. As seems to be common they started off kind of rusty and then got into it as the songs went on. I’ve noticed the same thing at bigger concerts, so it’s nothing unusual.

I think I’m going to start yelling “Remain Standing” at every LKS show until they play it.

steve :: Aug.29.2003 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

Shutter > 500 doesn’t open correctly. 500 is iffy.

More to come.

steve :: Aug.29.2003 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

I shot another roll on the camera today. I figured out how to restart the rewinding process. It’s supposed to count the frames down as it goes, but for some reason it doesn’t seem to work right. I hit rewind this time and it started rewinding, but the frame counter stopped moving back. I pushed the shutter release and winding started again. Based on the motor noise and vibration I thought that the film was completely rewound, but the frame counter still read 16. I went back and used my backpack as an emergency darkroom, and opened the camera. It looks like the machine rewinds ok, and it advances and counts frames accurately, but it doesn’t properly sense movement of the film in reverse, so it thinks there is a problem and stops rewinding. Since I can sense the change in the motor movement I don’t see why rewinding will be an issue, as long as I pay attention to what I’m doing.

I have plans to develop the film today (1 hour photo, probably) to check the camera’s movement and metering capabilities. Hopefully it takes pictures just fine. I also plan to find a service manual so I can find out how the camera knows what frame it’s on while it is rewinding the film. Maybe I can fix it, or maybe I’ll just live with it. As long as the film makes it back into the canister and the exposure program is accurate, this is a far better machine than the Minolta.

steve :: Aug.28.2003 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

I shot a roll of film with the T70 today. Everything worked just fine, until I rewound the film. Somehow it didn’t rewind all the way (the camera actually seemed to know, because the display read 24 and I think it’s it’s supposed to count all the way back to one and then go blank). I opened the back and noticed that I probably hosed the whole roll. I’ll have to figure out if there’s a way to restart the rewinding process after it stops. I have another roll in there now, and I plan to go out tomorrow to take more pictures. It’s quite possible that this is either a one-time deal, or I messed something up. I’ll post an update when I know.

steve :: Aug.28.2003 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

At the Used Possession Sale today I encountered a Canon T70 SLR with a 50mm F/1.8 Canon FD lens included for $50. For that price I figured it was worth the “as-is” risk associated with the sale. After wading through 2 and a half hours of class I finally got home, put batteries in, and loaded up a roll of film. The camera is kind of loud, but appears to work exactly the way it is supposed to. I think it might actually be the same model camera that my uncle Ron has had for years. Sure this guy is 19 years old, but the light meter seems to work, and for 50mm work this will definitely replace the Minolta. I can safely stow my dreams for a modern professional SLR away for later, when I save up more money.

steve :: Aug.27.2003 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

This is cheating. I am thankful that most of my favorite music doesn’t appear to use this crap. I can tell because they are far from perfect vocally, and that’s OK. Believe it or not I respect that, and it should be obvious that no one is perfect all the time.

steve :: Aug.26.2003 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

I’m not sure if I’m going to like it or not. Maybe once I get my research started things will seem cooler, but right now it just feels like undergrad again, except harder.

steve :: Aug.26.2003 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

Happy birthday to Adam, Catina, and Scott. Thanks to Scott for loaning me his couch for the night. It’s odd to be back in Ames, knowing that I’m going to start school again tomorrow. I thought I was done the first time.

steve :: Aug.25.2003 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

I checked again. It’s really quite terrible. I think it must have been 1995 or 1996 when that went up. I can’t change it now, because I don’t remember the password, and my former contact email is long since dead.

steve :: Aug.22.2003 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »