Category: Tech

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The Cats of University Heights: Prim

Six weeks ago, I started using Google Pixelbook as my primary PC. Transition from 15.4 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar is still incomplete and taking way longer than anticipated. I have 27 months of data committed to Apple platforms and my methodical exploration relentlessly reveals content tucked into digital nooks and crannies where they would be lost or left behind following a MBP erase-and-restore operation. Patience pays.

Today’s feline is good example of a recovered gem. I spotted the beastie, who earns nickname Prim, on Sept. 28, 2017. For reasons I can only guess, the portraits were never processed. I used Leica Q to capture the Featured Image and its companion at 6:33 p.m. PDT. Vitals: f/4, ISO 320, 1/60 sec, 28mm. The second is same except for ISO 250.

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The Cats of University Heights: Backyard

The twenty-fifth Alabama Street cat might not be around much longer, so I rush her profile past others planned to post sooner. One neighbor on the block between Adams and Madison posted about the kitty on July 26, 2018, wondering who she might belong to. Followup on August 3: “Looks like she will be having babies really soon. Friendly but definitely seems weary of people”. I presume the author meant wary, making a common confusion between the words. If expecting—or recently losing—a litter, she might very well be “weary of people”; hence the nickname.

Today, there is quite a bit of banter back and forth among neighbors on the Nextdoor social network about trapping Weary and taking her to the local animal shelter. Her time in the neighborhood ends soon, methinks. Although, as I post, she hasn’t given up her status as an Alabama cat. I am still clueless about why there are so many felines on the street compared to others in University Heights.

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The Cats of University Heights: Patriot

Because of goings-on best discussed some other time, my regular writing is irregular at best. But the cats! They’re piling up on the sidelines, and there comes time to free up the logjam and make this site look even more like a homage to the beasts. It’s not, and their presence wouldn’t loom so large if other content filled the spaces between their profiles.

Whiny introduction aside, we resume the series with a kitty nicknamed Patriot—I would hope for obvious reasons. I captured the Featured Image and its companion, using Leica Q on July 17, 2018, along Louisiana between Adams and Madison. Vitals: f/5.6, ISO 200, 1/250 sec, 28mm; 6:55 p.m. PDT. The other is same, shot first, except for f/4. 

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The Cats of University Heights: Junebug

Along Howard Ave., between Florida and Georgia, I spotted the series‘ twenty-ninth window watcher on the morning of July 15, 2018. Nicknamed Stoic, for no particular reason, the kitty presented setting worthy of black-and-white conversion in post-production.

I captured the Featured Image at 10:17 a.m. PDT, using Leica M10 and Summarit-M 1:2.4/50 lens. Vitals: f/5.6, ISO 200, 1/250 sec, 50mm. (The EXIF states f/4, which the camera wrongly estimated). 

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The Cats of University Heights: Brumble

With more than 200 profiles in the series since its start in October 2016, picking nicknames for new additions grows more difficult when the real ones are unknown. I chose Brumble for this blackie, because the first kitty sighted in the yard along Florida between Howard and Polk is called Bramble—for the thick brush that I shot through.

Brumble follows Shrub, who came to the same brush line and presented better photographic opportunity—both on July 19, 2018. I considered waiting for another visit to the property but opted instead for portraits that are unlike any others so far. 

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The Cats of University Heights: Shrub

What an unexpected surprise. I hadn’t traversed Florida Street between Howard and Polk for many months—well, until July 19, 2018. Along the way, I spotted Bramble, who joined the series on Groundhog Day this year. Gasp, three other felines moved about the property, looking like the whole caboodle came from their afternoon meal.

Shooting through branches presents problems that Leica M10 and its manual focus technique somewhat overcomes. I got the better portraits of the shorthair that earns nickname Shrub. Another, whom I dub Brumble, is next up. The fourth putty-tat must wait for another day and another attempt. 

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Locked and Loaded for Your Browsing Pleasure

Late yesterday, this site underwent a minor, but significant, alteration. An account executive for my webhost sent email reminding about something already known: That today, Google would start aggressively designating sites secure or not secure, depending on whether they used https or http, respectively. The former is encrypted, and presumably safer to engage.

For many months, I had strongly considered moving to another host—not for dissatisfaction but to get more benefits while spending as much, or even a little less. But, as I have learned from painful past experience, migrating WordPress installations can go badly. Why take the risk, when everything works just fine? The account executive and I chatted about a pay-yearly discount (my preferred arrangement) to stay put and also purchase of a SSL certificate for encrypting the site. We reached an agreement. 

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The Cats of University Heights: Ginger

Along Louisiana Street, between Meade and Monroe, on July 1, 2018, my wife and I spotted the furball appropriately nicknamed Ginger. I am fairly confident this is the same cat we saw moseying up Monroe behind Royal nearly a month earlier. Then, Ginger turned down the alley behind, which is where he, or she, went through a yard not long after I snapped the Featured Image.

I am rather dissatisfied with the portrait and its companion; for now they must do until another opportunity presents—and that time could be long coming, if ever. I captured both photos using Leica Q, three minutes to sunset (7:58 p.m. PDT). Vitals for the first, aperture and shutter speed preset for dusk street shooting: f/1.7, ISO 250, 1/250 sec, 28mm. The other is the same, except for ISO 1000. 

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The Cats of University Heights: Caddy

Shooting kitty portraits after sunset—in this case 26 minutes later—presents challenges, particularly when the subject hides under a parked vehicle. The furball strutted down the sidewalk as I approached along Florida Street between Madison and Monroe, then fled beneath a Cadillac; hence the chosen nickname.

The Featured Image is the last of a half-dozen portraits, all of which were manually focused using Leica Q; such control made the impossible shot manageable; okay, barely. Vitals: f/1.7, ISO 3200, 1/60 sec, 28mm; 8:24 p.m. PDT, July 14, 2018. Understandably, the original DNG RAW was heavily edited. I applied considerable noise reduction, among other tweaks, with Adobe Lightroom Classic CC.

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The Cats of University Heights: Cupcake

Feline sightings along Mission Cliff Drive are fairly rare. Since the series started in October 2016, only three have been profiled: AylinFraidy, and Tabby. Meet a fourth! So there’s no misunderstanding: This Tuxedo-like furball is grey not the traditional black—and, as you can see, quite handsome.

I shot the Featured Image and its companion on July 13, 2018 using Leica M10 and Summarit-M 1:2.4/50 lens. Vitals: f/4, ISO 200, 1/250 sec, 50mm; 6:25 p.m. PDT. The other, taken one-minute later and after he stretched out, is same except for 1/180 sec shutter speed. 

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The Cats of University Heights: Friends

We follow up Georgia Twain with another pair. But the two are one less than they should be. I typically see three cats in the same apartment courtyard, on Florida between Meade and Monroe, but typically too far back for meaningful portrait. I stalked the trio for six months before capturing a shot of these, ah, Friends on July 14, 2018. They sat relatively close to the sidewalk.

The three live a few houses down from Lucy and diagonally across the way from Mew and Wonder. I will be lucky to ever get a usable portrait of the third or distinguish it from the other black. But I will try and update appropriately.