Tag: Leica Q2

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Rest in Peace, Santa

There is moaning and wailing at the North Pool tonight. Who will drive the sleigh and deliver presents to all the good boys and girls (if there are any) on Christmas Eve? Santa somehow got himself tangled in a sticky web and a spider sucked all the fluids and organs out of his body. Chris Kringle is crumpled.

I used Leica Q2 to capture the tragic Featured Image today. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/640 sec, 28mm; 9:37 a.m. PST. My wife and I came upon Santa’s remains in the Campus-North perpendicular alley that is parallel to Meade in San Diego neighborhood University Heights.

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Well, We’re Back!

On New Years 2021, I adopted the habit of posting something every day—and did so, undaunted by interruptions, pandemics, power outages, or sicknesses, among other encumbrances. That is until December 9, 2023, when met by my browser flashing a privacy, site-not-safe warning. My SSL certificate had expired and a fresh one not automatically applied to the domain. I could have logged in and posted but chose not to, particularly being confused why there was a problem.

Rewind: Some years ago, another company acquired my webhost, which didn’t affect this site so I wasn’t bothered. But a few months ago, the new owner finally started migrating customers to its servers and services—mine included. I worried about site outage, but needlessly. The transition was smooth sailing. However, unbeknownst to me something wasn’t quite right.

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Across the Night Room

More than once, I have looked into the window of a closed-for-the-day office on Park Blvd in University Heights and wanted to take a shot. Opportunity presented on the evening of Nov. 30, 2023, when I passed by with Leica Q2, which produced the Featured Image. The red water pot across the room is the point of focus. The scene is quite busy, accentuated by outside reflections on the window glass.

I don’t know which is the San Diego small business; looks something showroom-like to my eyes. For sure, the place is located on the block between Mission and Monroe.

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Pretty, Yes, But What About the Electric Utility Bill?

I want the Featured Image to better, but the discards from last night’s Christmas decor photo walk are worse. This house has beckoned my camera for years. The property, on Florida near Howard here in University Heights, is brazenly lit every December. I must return and seek skills redemption.

Vitals, aperture manually set: f/1.7, ISO 1000, 1/15 sec, 28mm; 7:33 p.m. PST; Leica Q2.

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Delivery @Work

What more appropriate timing than the first few days following Black Friday (ah, weekend) to unveil the next @Work Android Collectible: Logistics / Mail / Delivery / Messenger. All that sales-crazed ordering means massive movement of goods from warehouses to your doorstep. Amazon, FedEx, and UPS trucks are everywhere in my San Diego neighborhood, this week.

Look both ways before crossing streets; the drivers rush from address to address. Do be polite and get out of the way, when the delivery dude or dame appears on sidewalk or stairs carrying a stack of boxes.

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The Immeasurable Value of Books

The third weekend each month, the book sale room opens at the University Heights branch of San Diego Public Library. Of course, I would forget and come happenstance while walking somewhere else on Sunday about 90 minutes before closure. Inside I went, searching for older titles to take home.

Current cultural, progressive values are imposed all about us, with the greatest casualty being history and how the past is revised and censored to match these same norms. The Telegraph gives good example with Nov. 20, 2023 story (headline and dek): “Roman emperor was trans, says museum. Elagabalus will be referred to as she after claims in classical texts that the emperor asked to be called ‘lady’. Except: “Some historians believe these accounts may simply have been a Roman attempt at character assassination”.

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Hello Samsung, Goodbye SanDisk

During Black Friday week 2022, I bought from Amazon several SanDisk SSDs—2TB Extreme Pro. The discounted selling price is even lower this year. But I have decided to retire all. My experience with the drives is nothing short of satisfaction. But throughout 2023, I have read numerous blogs, forum posts, and news stories about SanDisk drive failures resulting in loss of data. Every time I connect Extreme Pro to my laptop, I am nagged by feeling of playing Russian Roulette.

Consider this chilling headline from PetaPixel, in August: “SanDisk Portable SSDs Are Failing So Frequently, We Can No Longer Recommend Them“. Or this one from The Verge: “We just lost 3TB of data on a SanDisk Extreme SSD“, with dek “My colleague Vjeran is furious”. The big bombshell, just 10 days ago: “SanDisk Extreme Pro Failures Result From Design and Manufacturing Flaws, Says Data Recovery Firm” (Tom’s Hardware re-reporting from German Site FutureZone).

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The Big ‘Little Library’ Renovation

Whoa, something changed with the LittleFreeLibrary located on Campus Avenue in University Heights. You probably wouldn’t recognize that this is a less-decorative rendition of the one shared in October 2021. But size still commands all other curbside lending boxes situated around the San Diego neighborhood.

My wife and I first spotted the renovated enclosure on Oct. 10, 2023, while walking along perpendicular street Monroe. The Featured Image and companions come from Leica Q2. Vitals, aperture manually set for all: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/320 sec, 28mm; 11:20 a.m. PDT.

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Calming Halloween

What kid doesn’t like trick-or-treating? For Halloween, with all the crazy decorations outside University Heights homes and San Diegans of all ages marching the sidewalks, I had planned on posting something of a montage of the Macabre.

But instead, I share something simple and unbecoming. I used Leica Q2 to capture the Featured Image on Oct. 19, 2023. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/1.7, ISO 500, 1/15 sec, 28mm; 8:04 p.m.

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The Cross Cat and Venom

At the house where lives Daniel Tiger, one of the “Cats of University Heights“, the kids have put up drawings for Halloween. I am a big fan of spiders and the black putty-tat’s expression is irresistible—as is the uninhibited artistry of a child.

The family also keeps chickens and puts out a jar of food for neighbors to feed them. There had been three birds, but recently only two roam the yard. What happened to the other one? I must ask sometime.

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Don’t Bite Me

I shot the Featured Image using Leica Q2, today, as my wife and I returned to University Heights from grocery shopping in Hillcrest. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/250 sec, 28mm; 11:39 a.m. PDT.

Spiders hold a special place in my heart, and something about the giant fake one demanded photographic attention. I considered close-cropping but the entire holiday decoration display deserved showcasing. So here we are.

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Big Book Sale Surprise

My wife asked about going to see the San Diego mural from my Oct. 18, 2023 post, so today we walked to the alley between El Cajon Blvd and Howard Ave. along 30th Street in North Park. She took first photos; I shot some refreshers.

From there we headed West along Howard towards Sprouts market to buy bananas and organic whole milk. The University Heights Public Library book sale room opens into the grocer’s parking lot—and it was open. So we ventured inside for a surprise.