The most notable thing I've done recently is photography. Sure, I've been to work, I've searched Monster.com, I've read Gizmodo, but are those really notable? I've been trying to schedule a shoot every couple weeks or so which basically means one between each Minnesota Strobist meetup.

Last year, I had a test shoot for a calendar page I am doing Friday. We're headding down to Research Triangle Park in North Carolina this weekend for the Science Online conference. One of the bloggers there has been asked to participate in next year's SkepChick calendar and I volunteered to be the photographer since there are financial considerations involved. Unfortunately it seems we may not end up with any models for the shoot, so there will probably be some compositing involved.

Last week, I had a shoot with one of my new favorite models, Rachel Grubb. She's making a name for herself in the horror genre and wants to bring back mod styling to replace the current resurgence of pin-ups. I supported that plan and we produced a good body of work from an afternoon in my studio. It was a good shake-down for the space I'm using on my third floor since it was the first time I had to accomodate a makeup artist. I need a tall chair and some sort of counter that won't interfere with the placement of my paper backdrop. Hana from UnVeiled did the makeup in a respectible 2.5 hours.

Last weekend was the Minnesota Stobists January 2009 meetup at Landmark Center in St. Paul. I have to give a big recommendation for using them for photography. We called ahead of time to make sure we wouldn't be stepping on anyone's toes by showing up with 30 photographers, 10 models and 2 makeup artists. They were absolutely fine with it. There were a couple rooms on the fourth floor that were booked for part of the day and there was a boy's choir that used the building as their greenroom prior to a show across the street but otherwise, we had the entire building to ourselves.

We met early at the Dunn Bros coffee shop on Wabasha. They were just as accomodating as Landmark. Probbly 15 of the photographers showed up there with 6 models and 2.5 makeup artists and pretty much took over half the store to do makeup. Most of us bought coffee or sandwiches or both, so they at least got something in exchange for putting up with us.

In other news. The Java blog engine is coming along slowly. Security is a problem, but not one that can't be conquered. I'm probably re-inventing the wheel, but there's always the possibility that I'll use rubber instead of stone. (Which makes a better wheel...) I still can't log in, but at least I can change my password.

If you want to have your mind blown, take a look at Manil Suri's explanation of infinity on YouTube. It got my mind going on breaking down arguments, but he was very kind to me when he told me I was wrong, not only explaning why, but letting me know that my questions would be put to good use in his next class.

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