Golfing in Seattle, Washington, it's the Best!

It's challenging to play golf here in Seattle where a cloudy day with chances of shower is a good day for golf, and it is a good day for golf. We (brother, my son, me) usually go early in the morning, always the first ones to use the course, Dew Sweepers is what they call us. The good thing about going early is no one is behind you waiting for you to take your shot, you can just relax and enjoy the game, the morning and the fresh air.

AeroGarden Update

This is Awesome! to be able to use fresh herbs when cooking. look at how the plants grew, they are lush and fresh. check it out. (kids are having fun adding figurines to the "forest")

FREE Wallpaper with Bible Verses

This was taken at Seward Park in Seattle, a very nice park with a long boulevard for a nice walk in the morning.



This was taken one summer when my kids and I built a small pond in our backyard. We added some koi and water plants, little did we know that the flowers that will bloom in mid-summer would be so beautiful.

This tulip is from my mom's garden, tulips line the walkway leading to the main door of the house. Tulips are one of my favorite flowers to photograph.

Wenatchee Lake, Washington. Early in the morning when no breeze was present and the sun was about to come up, the water was still, glassy. The surrounding scene was very calm and the only noise you can hear was my camera's shutter.

Vivitar 285HV Zoom Thyristor Flash Gun

The 285 back then was a journalist's favorite flash, it was cheap, powerful and very easy to use. I had one for my Pentax P30t and Pentax PZ-1p and it performed beautifully. The "Auto Thyristor Sensor" that controls the flash output power works all the time, as long as you take your subject's distance into the equation. Aside from the Auto operation of the flash the Vari-Power Module also controls the flash output manually, which is a real usable feature of a flash gun, the ability to cut flash output greatly helps in creative lighting. Vivitar re-introduces the 285 as the 285HV which is compatible with most digital cameras, it uses a lower voltage that will not fry your digital camera's circuitry.

Using the flash in "auto" mode requires simple preparation. The flash never communicates with the camera, the automation process is all contained within the flash. the first thing to do is decide what ISO settings to use, the flash can accommodate ISO settings from 25 to 400. Second is to know what shutter flash sync your camera uses, it usually is 1/100, some cameras have a 1/250 flash sync setting. Next is to set the flash's guide calculator to your camera's ISO setting, the outer ring will be set to the ISO then the inner ring's arrow will be set to the the full output setting. Factor in your subject's distance and decide what color wedge you can use and if that particular color wedge has an f/stop setting that is available in the lens' range. Set your Vari sensor to the color wedge you chose then set your aperture to the f/stop setting that the color wedge is under, then shoot away. The flash's guide calculator is not in any way connected to the flash's internal circuitry, it is just a handy guide that is built into the flash, but it does light up to help in night photography.

In the last photo the current setting is:

• ISO 400 at full power
• 1/125 for my Pentax K10D
• Yellow color wedge: 4 f/stop subject distance range 5 to 50 ft.
• Red color wedge: 8 f/stop, subject distance range 3 to 25 ft.
• Blue color wedge: 16 f/stop, subject distance range -3 to 10 ft.
• Purple color wedge: 22 f/stop, subject distance range -3 to 8 ft.
• Turn Vari-Sensor dial to appropriate color.

I like this flash very much and I am not reluctant to give it a 5 out of 5.

My Aero Garden Update...

The seeds have sprouted and have outgrown the domes, the seedlings look healthy. The thyme looks really good and has sprouted a lot, and so have the others seeds, check it out.

Bankers Lamp, I Like It!

I've always wanted to have my own Bankers Lamp, Ranging in price from $15.00 to a pricey $250.00 Tiffany. So when I was doing some thrift store hunting, I spotted this right away and immediately put it in my cart, price? a cool $2.99, nice! check it out.

Here are more photos of the MARK VI Spartan Soldier 12 inch Action Figure from Mcfarlane Toys...

Aero Garden, I Like It!

It was late at night and I was flipping channels looking specifically for an "As Seen on TV" infomercial and I happen to see this Aero Garden. I told my wife about it and we kinda said to each other that we may get this in the future to extend our tomato garden through winter. So one day we decided to get this and start our indoor garden, we got three kinds of seed kits, a cherry tomato, green salad and herb seed kit. I am used to having a lot of different kinds of veggie plants on my summer garden so when having just one kind of crop through out its 6 month growing average span, I kinda got tired of having just tomatoes or just salad. I am on the third seed kit (herbs) and its not even a year yet, that's how impatient I am, Hopefully I will let it thrive this time. Since I love to cook I think this kit will be best for me to have fresh herbs on hand. as for the Aero Garden itself, it delivers. as long as you follow the directions and not forget to add water and nutrients when reminded then everything will be golden or green, no pun intended. The bulbs are quite pricey but they last for a long time, though they recommend replacing them every 6 months. I have to say I like it! so I'm giving it a cool 4 out of 5.

xyzik

MARK VI Blue Spartan Soldier, HALO 3

WOW! I found this at my fave MallMart (exclusive) today and it really caught my eye. It's a 12 inch HALO Spartan action figure made by Mcfarlane toys and it has 26 moving parts, it includes the assault rifle and a grenade, hmmm, no bubble shield? I like the sniper rifle better or the energy sword! Halo is probably my favorite game ever, I suck at it though :( but the story line, the protagonist, the music and everything just ties it in for me and I love playing the game. The action figure is pretty detailed but posing it is kinda challenging. It is top heavy for its leg joints that if it's slightly off balance it will start to lean over and fall. I also posed it with my Master Chief figure that I got with the Halo edition Xbox 360 controller for size comparison. Let's give it a 4 out of 5, points docked for price and pose ability issues.

Pentax K1000, After all these years...

After all these years it's still giving, so what's so great about this camera? for starters it does not need any batteries for it to work, film is as sharp as you can get when it comes to grain clarity and and it has a lot of lens options that have been produced for the Pentax K-Mount line, Even Lenses Made for my Pentax K10d works with the K1000. This Camera is built like a tank, controls are as basic as you can get, ISO/ASA Setting, Shutter Speed and Aperture Opening, the real basics of photography. I bought this second hand 10 years ago from a camera store, it looks mint when I was examining it but the seals were rotting out, so I bought some sheets of black foamies from Mallmart and used it to replace all the seals to make it lightproof and it still holds up to this day like it was brand new. I always load this camera with whatever film I happen to have or whatever is the cheapest I can find. I find it refreshing sometimes to really get into the old ways of taking photographs, the little things sometimes lets you reminisce about the thought process of taking a picture before pressing the shutter. All the small details that comes up in the back of your mind like if I'm using daylight film? (sorry no white balance for this camera) or the correct shutter/ f/stop combo, The feel of the steel of the camera and the sound of the clunk of the shutter, the anticipation of the pictures after being processed. Someday my wife and I will rebuild the darkroom we always wanted and be able to again start our passion with Black and White pictures and this camera will be my best friend again, frome time to time I can rest from my newer digital cameras with all their buttons and settings and endless previews after every shot, every subject wanting to see their pictures after every session, all the pros from a digital camera that just becomes a burden that it slows down the creative process. This camera though not my first one showed me the ways, tricks and thought process of taking pictures, I will never part with my K1000 and it will always be in my gadget bag loaded and ready to go. I give this particular K1000 a 5/5 as a personal fave!

xyzik

I Definitely Like My New Watch!

I got a nice surprise today from the wife, she probably peeked over my shoulder when I was reading about this cool timepiece from the Scratchworx website. To my surprise when a package arrived for me yesterday, this cool watch was inside! YEY!!! My smiles was from ear to ear. This watch is designed by FLUD, Table Turns Steel is the model name. They do have other cool watches but this is my favorite because I spin records too (not really since I use a turntable that doesn’t have any needle and besides, I’m a dj w/out any gigs, a DJ w/out a DJ name?) This would have been cooler if the design of the watch was based on my Numark HDX's. The watch’s strap is sized large and some links need to be taken out since I have a smaller size wrist. Good thing I have a watch repair kit that I bought from Harbor Freight and I was able to size it exactly for my wrist. As for the quality of the watch I’m not sure how long this will last me since I’m pretty careless when it comes to watches, they end up being scratched up with my carelessness or the fact that I don’t normally wear watches so I’m not used to anything wrapped around my wrist. Oh, and it's not waterproof. For the coolness factor though, I give it a nerdy 5 out of 5 :)

I do like it!

Welcome to my blog, "xyzik says, “I like it”". My blog is all about stuff that I have encountered, things that I have a chance to play around with or things that I own. I am very interested in different things like music, Video games, Automobiles, TOYS, Photography/ equipment and a lot more stuff that really piques my curiosity, more or less like a review of something. Hopefully I will have a chance to blog about all that interests me but my typing sucks big time and it's frustrating to think of all the words to say but hampered by the slow speed of my typing. I have been using a typing teaching software that helps me in that area so hopefully I will be a better blogger in the near future.

xyzik