Last Post Wins

Dan, my wife and middle daughter were there with me. They had to keep telling me to just let it go. Would've driven you nuts. I was even told, "that's good enough," when I was trying to explain to them that they needed to come away from the big sign they wanted in the background. So I just took the picture. Will be a nice picture of a sign.

The worst may be the pictures they wanted in the doorway of a downtown building, with the sun shining on half of one of the couple. The face looked two-toned. Hair, too. Of course, there were near-identical buildings on the opposite side of the street, with similar to identical doorways, and the sun wasn't shining in the face, but oh, well.

Nice young African-American man and his was the worst. I made a limited attempt to edit the photo later, and gave up. My son came in and saw what I was doing, and started cracking up laughing. That's when you know you failed miserably. I went back and forth trying to lighten the side of his face that was not in the sun, to darkening the side of the face that was in the sun, and then tried to match his hair the same way. Forget his tuxedo....that just wasn't going to happen. I'm sure that you could've handled it fine, but for me, with my limited skills, why not put me in a position to succeed and make the setting user-friendly? You know I have nothing other than a basic camera, and very limited knowledge even with the basic, non-DSLR camera, so why make it difficult for me? For anybody?

I have some things that come in my office sometimes, and I tell them it was a law school exam question, it is so convoluted. I thought some of the photography settings would be similar for advanced photographers. For me, I just waved the surrender flag and took pics.

Some of the pics came out ok, so maybe they'll be happy enough. It's a pretty neat area, Morris Avenue and downtown Birmingham. Have a "cobblestone" road (it's really a bunch of bricks that make the ride very bumpy, but they've been there a million years, as have the buildings), so there's some nice background settings. There's an old, established restaurant in downtown Birmingham, "John's," that has a large wall on the side painted colloquially, "It's nice to be in Birmingham," that is pretty cool for a backdrop....assuming you don't go rest against it, which is what they insisted upon doing, for the most part. Except for the "good enough." That just about made me laugh out loud.

They missed opportunities for pics with the "City Federal" Building sign in the background I would've loved, the stairstep tunnels that they used to get to the places they wanted would've been terrific, any of the Railroad Park areas (you can often see those pics from the Birmingham Barons' tweets, pics, etc. at the downtown Region Park), the train which runs behind Morris Avenue, and a whole host of of other neat things.

But we have a nice pic of a wall with kudzu crawling all over it. If you squint real hard, you can see my daughter. Trust me, it's her. She's the dot on the right.

Attachment 5493 I had trouble positioning this couple once. She would not listen at all!

That's just creepy


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Damn I love LED bulbs wya more than fluorescent. The local power company shifted their subsidy from fluorescent to LEDs and it made them damn cheap (around $1 a bulb). I am really loving the "filament" cadelabra LED bulbs. The house I am renting has a lot of open light fixtures (chandaliers and what not), so these bulbs are a must. When they are on, you would be hard pressed to say they are not traditional incadescent bulbs. Same color, same filament look, same output (only difference is they use 4-5W not 40-50W).

Pedro and Dan and others, i've been meaning to ask you guys about LED bulbs for photography again. I have checked out the strip LEDs you recommended, and for the smaller photo booth I think they'd work nice, but I'm curious about bulbs that work for photos but also can be hung up in my 12' warehouse ceiling and replace the florescent bulbs.

I did homework on the K value (I think that's what it is) etc., just wondering if anyone had a favorite brand or configuration.

My plan is to put them up then just hang a sheet or something to get the diffusion I need. Also to reduce the electric bill, which is shockingly high for the new building and I figure a lot of that has to be the ancient tube lights and ballasts (place was built in the 60s, a lot of them look to be nearly that old).

I wont' do them all at once, but will need to do some over time. The place is huge, the warehouse alone is 30K sf, and I bet 2/3rds of the lights up there are dead. It's enough to see for us still, and I won't replace them all, but I think long term it would pay for itself to go to LEDs.

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Originally Posted by CitizenBBN

Pedro and Dan and others, i've been meaning to ask you guys about LED bulbs for photography again. I have checked out the strip LEDs you recommended, and for the smaller photo booth I think they'd work nice, but I'm curious about bulbs that work for photos but also can be hung up in my 12' warehouse ceiling and replace the florescent bulbs.

I did homework on the K value (I think that's what it is) etc., just wondering if anyone had a favorite brand or configuration.

My plan is to put them up then just hang a sheet or something to get the diffusion I need. Also to reduce the electric bill, which is shockingly high for the new building and I figure a lot of that has to be the ancient tube lights and ballasts (place was built in the 60s, a lot of them look to be nearly that old).

I wont' do them all at once, but will need to do some over time. The place is huge, the warehouse alone is 30K sf, and I bet 2/3rds of the lights up there are dead. It's enough to see for us still, and I won't replace them all, but I think long term it would pay for itself to go to LEDs.

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There are THREE major considerations: Correlated Color Temp (K value), CRI (Color Rendering Index) and R-value. K number tells you the rough color temperature of the output. Incandescent bulbs are around 2000-2700K (halogens are closer to 2700K, while non-halogen are around 2300K and low wattage non-halogen bulbs being closer to 2000K), the sun at noon is around 5000K. Most people find the lower K values more easy on the eyes, the higher K values can cause more glare, that being said a high-CRI 5000K should be pretty neutral feeling in color. CRI and R-Value are linked, R-Value is only specified in specialty lighting. Both are measures of how well the bulbs render color. CRI is a measure of how well it renders most colors, but it was later discovered it is a bit weak in the red-brown region. This why R-values R9-R14 became important because these specifically evaluate the performance in those regions.

For a photo region you are going to want it to be bright but more importantly, you want it to have a really high CRI. The CCT is not as important because the camera will compensate for that with its white balance, white balance can't compensate for colors it can't see though. This is why CRI is important for photography. For the rest of your place, I would look for a CRI greater than 80 if possible but focus on warmer brighter lights.

I have some recommendations but I think they are on my other PC. I will try to post them later when I have a chance.

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Originally Posted by CitizenBBN

Pedro and Dan and others, i've been meaning to ask you guys about LED bulbs for photography again. I have checked out the strip LEDs you recommended, and for the smaller photo booth I think they'd work nice, but I'm curious about bulbs that work for photos but also can be hung up in my 12' warehouse ceiling and replace the florescent bulbs.

I did homework on the K value (I think that's what it is) etc., just wondering if anyone had a favorite brand or configuration.

My plan is to put them up then just hang a sheet or something to get the diffusion I need. Also to reduce the electric bill, which is shockingly high for the new building and I figure a lot of that has to be the ancient tube lights and ballasts (place was built in the 60s, a lot of them look to be nearly that old).

I wont' do them all at once, but will need to do some over time. The place is huge, the warehouse alone is 30K sf, and I bet 2/3rds of the lights up there are dead. It's enough to see for us still, and I won't replace them all, but I think long term it would pay for itself to go to LEDs.

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OK, there are a few major considerations to keep in mind. LED prices have fallen a lot right now and will likely fall a good amount in the near future. I expect them to bottom out in the next year or two. This is for industrial lighting, for home lighting costs are getting closer to bottoming out, they might have already at $1/bulb I don't think I want much cheaper than that.

Anways, if you can't wait here we go.

• BigAssLights (from the makers of BigAss Fans). Likely, well out of your budget. They are extremely robust "Impact-resistant, single-piece construction that doesn’t flicker when you run it over with a truck (or anything else)." Some of their high-bay models are crazy bright with a maximum output of 52,000 lumens. These lights are highly respected for being very robust, very high quality and very long lasting (most have 50-100yr life ratings for 70% lumen retention) but also used to be pricey (not sure if they still are). That being said, they work with you from start to finish to design your lighting layout to maximize your employees performance and minimize lighting costs. The lights are actually made in the Lexington.
  
  
• RabLighting. - Another industrial lighting supplier, makes a lot of high quality stuff. Safe, bright and long lasting (and on the pricier side). THey make indoor lighting, high-bay lighting, outdoor lighting and pretty much everything in between. With these, you would be responsible for eyeballing the installation yourself or hiring a lighting designer to help ensure you don't end up with sub-optimal lighting. I would expect a couple decades
  
  
• Fixtures: you can find a wide range of "fluorescent" fixtures that actually use LEDs. From FEIT at Costco, to house brands at Home Depot, Sams Club, etc. THese all perform very similarly, though some have the High CRI that you would like to have in your warehouse. Their life is likely around a decade or so.
  
  
• Replacement Bulbs: These will run around $20-50 a piece but many can be plugged directly into yoru old fluorescent fixtures with zero modification. Their life span tends to be shorter due to so much circuitry incorporated into the bulb itself. This is especially true of the ones designed to work with a ballast (also a ballast failure can stop light production until it is replaced). 1000bulbs.com is well known for making these but there are a variety of good sources. Look for ones with LEDs from Nichia, Cree, Philips, etc.

I found a 1.9 lb bag of Sour Patch Kids at the store today for $3.00.

Sadly I'll be sick of them after the first lb.

The orange ones are crazy good..


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I once found a 5 lb bag of mixed Jolly Ranchers at a big box store. I feel your pain

Thanks pedro, I'll check them out. I have your post where you helped me with the K value and CRI, and it looks like the strip LEDs have much higher options for CRI than some of these lights but maybe I live with that.

One good thing about our new auction gallery location. One of the local dealers for those RAB lights is a few buildings down from me. I'll go check them out.

My electric bill is pretty high given my use, I think b/c of the large number of old ballasts. Most of them are dead, but there are probably well over 1,000 florescent lights in the building, most a single T12 4' bulb. I assume we'd be brighter than the sun if I replaced them all, but there's no need, but just replacing what we do use with LED is sure to help, just not sure how much b/c I haven't done the homework. But I do need lots of good diffuse light for the photo areas.

Jolly ranchers? No thanks - I prefer softer candy. If I found a bag of gummy Life Savers (or gummi beard, etc), I would be in trouble.

(Actually, Starburst might be evrn a bigger weakness for me).

I officially am sick of Sour Patch Kids, and still have a pound and half left.

Got a hankering for jelly beans but Brach's are really hard to find past Easter.


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Originally Posted by CitizenBBN

Thanks pedro, I'll check them out. I have your post where you helped me with the K value and CRI, and it looks like the strip LEDs have much higher options for CRI than some of these lights but maybe I live with that.

One good thing about our new auction gallery location. One of the local dealers for those RAB lights is a few buildings down from me. I'll go check them out.

My electric bill is pretty high given my use, I think b/c of the large number of old ballasts. Most of them are dead, but there are probably well over 1,000 florescent lights in the building, most a single T12 4' bulb. I assume we'd be brighter than the sun if I replaced them all, but there's no need, but just replacing what we do use with LED is sure to help, just not sure how much b/c I haven't done the homework. But I do need lots of good diffuse light for the photo areas.

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Wow, over 1000 fluorescents is just insane. You might be better off hiring a lighting designer. On a scale this big, there is going to be a LOT to consider with respect to hot-spots, dark-spots, efficient energy usage etc. As for the ballasts, I seem to remember depending on how they die, some blown ballasts can still draw electircity and just produce heat (which increases your electric bills)

Sitting in the emergency room of the hospital. And how are you spending your Saturday night/Sunday morning?

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Originally Posted by Darrell KSR

Sitting in the emergency room of the hospital. And how are you spending your Saturday night/Sunday morning?

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Writing an 8 page research paper at the last minute. Guess I should not complain..

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Originally Posted by blueboss

I officially am sick of Sour Patch Kids, and still have a pound and half left.

Got a hankering for jelly beans but Brach's are really hard to find past Easter.


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I saw a print add last night for Sour Patch Ice Cream

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Originally Posted by Darrell KSR

Sitting in the emergency room of the hospital. And how are you spending your Saturday night/Sunday morning?

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WOw, I hope everything is ok!

Yeah, daughter had a concussion. In a freaking musical of all things. Was hit in the head by a heavy podium being moved off stage during a scene change. She's OK, they told her she couldn't perform today, so, of course, I'm posting from intermission where she's performing today.

I did not know what happened but knew something occurred last night when I saw two girls interlocking arms with her, and she was sideways almost. More later, act 2

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Originally Posted by Darrell KSR

Yeah, daughter had a concussion. In a freaking musical of all things. Was hit in the head by a heavy podium being moved off stage during a scene change. She's OK, they told her she couldn't perform today, so, of course, I'm posting from intermission where she's performing today.

I did not know what happened but knew something occurred last night when I saw two girls interlocking arms with her, and she was sideways almost. More later, act 2

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Glad to hear she is OK, she must have taken a pretty nasty knock.

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Originally Posted by PedroDaGr8

Wow, over 1000 fluorescents is just insane. You might be better off hiring a lighting designer. On a scale this big, there is going to be a LOT to consider with respect to hot-spots, dark-spots, efficient energy usage etc. As for the ballasts, I seem to remember depending on how they die, some blown ballasts can still draw electircity and just produce heat (which increases your electric bills)

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That's a good point on those ballasts. It would help explain the electric bills.

we don't use them all, most are burned out. It doesn't really need to be well done, just so we can see to handle inventory and we get by now with maybe 30% or so of the lights working. Other than the photo areas and our actual gallery and such, those are all working fine. But the warehouse we can work in without a lot of light.

But I do want the photo areas working well and taking better pics. I need to get the right colors on things, and then get enough lumens that I can then put up cloth to then diffuse the light and cut the glare.

Glad she's OK D. I didn't know they had full contact musical theater. Does ESPN know about this?

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Originally Posted by CitizenBBN

That's a good point on those ballasts. It would help explain the electric bills.

we don't use them all, most are burned out. It doesn't really need to be well done, just so we can see to handle inventory and we get by now with maybe 30% or so of the lights working. Other than the photo areas and our actual gallery and such, those are all working fine. But the warehouse we can work in without a lot of light.

But I do want the photo areas working well and taking better pics. I need to get the right colors on things, and then get enough lumens that I can then put up cloth to then diffuse the light and cut the glare.

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Understood, I think if you focus on using the higher CRI stuff for your photo area and the cheaper higher power lower CRI stuff for around the warehouse you should be good. The high CRI stuff is REALLY good for showing off jewelry. Much better than metal-halide or fluorescent lamps, the full color range with a strong blue peak can make jewelry really sparkle.

Also, it might be a good idea to get your electrician (or yourself) to disconnect the dead ballasts to try and save some energy.

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Originally Posted by CitizenBBN

Glad she's OK D. I didn't know they had full contact musical theater. Does ESPN know about this?

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Would be more sports than World Poker Stars.

I'll definitely start disconnecting those ballasts. I need to go up and just take out every other row and replace the ones that are left. The building is big, almost 32,000sf, so it'll be a process.

I'm definitely going to replace the lights for photos, then worry with the rest. Great advice as always Pedro,thanks.

Now if you can just find me someone to help do the cataloging work for us...

I have some funny stories about the incident and the E. R. now, but it will have to wait until I get some sleep. Funny now, of course.

Never a dull moment, it seems.

I wasn't planning on attending the Saturday night performance, but you know how you get those weird feelings sometimes, and it's not gas? I just thought I ought to go, so I did. Rachel's sister was in town from Nashville to watch it, along with a friend of hers and my middle children, so I tagged along.

The scene change occurred near the end of "Footloose, the Musical," where they are seated in church and the preacher announces he's lifting the ban on dancing. She was in the front "pew" and seated when a boy was taking the podium on or off the stage--it is supposed to be carried by two people, but one of them wasn't where he was supposed to be, so they are taught to manage anything--and the boy, who played "Chuck Cranston," is a strong guy, offensive lineman on the football team, so he manhandled it himself. But he couldn't see that well, and he bashed her in the head with it. I didn't see that, but the lights came on, and I saw three girls, my daughter being the middle girl, sort of stumble off stage with the two mostly carrying her. I did not recall seeing that Friday night, but thought, "she's so overcome with emotion with what the preacher is saying, she has to exit the church." Actually, the thought crossed my mind that she might be sick--the guitarist Friday night had "food poisoning," and was throwing up before the show, and I thought maybe he had a virus instead.

Anyway, my thoughts that she was ill were relieved when she came back onstage for the Footloose finale, which involves a lot of singing and dancing. I was videorecording her excerpts, so I wasn't that focused on her, but more on the recording. You can tell when you watch it, she is really struggling--must've been getting by on adrenaline alone. She has performed before with strepthroat (playing "Ariel," in the Little Mermaid, the musical), had injuries and illnesses where she's had a doctor just give her a shot and send her on, etc., and really loves performing, so she will get by if she can. And she did, but I don't know how. Watching the recording last night/this morning where she ran up the stairs as part of the Footloose finale really scared me, as you can see she's a bit wobbly.

I put together a 25-minute video highlight for her of the play on Youtube (and for grandparents, etc., who couldn't come) with her in it, and it was mostly Sunday, but I wanted Saturday night's "concussion-fueled" part to be a part of it, so I had that. I'm cringing when I watch it again. Even her smiles are forced, grimacing at times, etc., and she has been trained long ago to stay in character at all times. I mean, she's in character off stage when nobody can see her, "just in case." So it's a weird thing to see her grimace during a song and dance, even during turns.

(As a side note--for all the criticism I give the Lumix camera for indoor/action shots, it did a whale of a job Saturday night from Row S far back, 32x zoomed in, picking up quality video and excellent audio. 5* to it for that. I'm looking for a camcorder to replace my 9-year old, non-high definition, but high quality Sony camcorder, and while I'm waiting, it was nice to have high definition video from the camera).

Anyway, that's enough about the incident. I'll post the "what happened next" in a post under this after I answer this call.

Back--

Very lucky to have her sister there, who took charge backstage after the show--performed all the neuro tests like an expert. There was another nurse there (the director's Mom, who saw the show), and she was saying she missed some of the things she did. Anyway, she was "ok" at school, but we loaded her up and started to take her home. On the ride home, she got worse. We had her climbing stairs with my arms and her sister's arms around her, and she couldn't lift her foot up the height of a stairstep, so onto the hospital we went.

In route, I was trying to be reasonable--ran two red lights when I felt it was safe on Highway 280, which is a busy highway, even at 10pm on Saturday night--and was going 65mph on a 55mph, but they have street lights, turns, bunch of businesses, etc., and I didn't feel safe going any faster there. You'd just have to see it to know what i"m talking about. Anyway, I proceed through a green light, and I noticed--God knows how--a woman dressed in black shirt, black pants, and walking a black dog across the highway in the middle of the highway. I screech, swerve, and barely avoid killing her. Not 5 seconds behind me, a policeman was going probably 90mph with sirens on that would have killed her if he had been a tad ahead, because there's no way he could've done anything.

We arrive at the hospital, and this is where it gets funny. Now, for the finale, she's wearing a party dress kind of thing. Her sister gave her sunglasses, because light was bothering her, and she staggers in, with sister and dad holding her up. There's an older lady there, and she's judging her so, so hard--she just knows she's been to a party, did alcohol and drugs, or something. The intake person wasn't believing us that she was hit in the head with a podium. They asked if "anybody" saw her immediately after she got hit, and I said, "about 750 people," which is what they had in attendance, and she thought I was being a smartass, which maybe I was, anxious to get on. I then let her sister answer all the questions. Amazing to see the training nurses have--Niki and all of you out there like you, you are unbelievable in times of mini-crises. She went through the injury, what occurred, what she had been given since then, went through all of her symptoms without missing anything, and answered questions they didn't even know they had.

During the process where the E.R. nurse was examining her, taking vitals and history, etc., and my oldest daughter was providing the answers, my wife piped in and told the nurse (a male nurse, not that it matters to the story, I guess) that "she's a nurse."

Of course, she meant my oldest daughter. Apparently he thought my youngest daughter, the 16-year old, was the nurse. He said, "she's a nurse? What was she doing when she got hurt?"

So my wife answered, "she was watching the play."

Now, thoroughly confused, he's wanting to know how she got hurt watching the play. I guess you would've had to been there, but it was a real life, "who's on first" type of skit. Finally when he figured it out, he said he thought she was a "Doogie Howser nurse." So I'm going to start calling her Doogie.

Anyway, we're now there about 3 hours, and she needs to go to the restroom. By this time, they've done the CT scan, done blood work, had both the resident and the attending see her, etc., and we were feeling better about everything, although she still couldn't walk, which was sort of a problem. In fact, the attending said that they were going to admit her to Children's Hospital overnight for observation, unless she could be stable in her gait. So she was trying--they had already told her that she could not perform Sunday, but she knew if she could get home, she had a shot--but still walking with people around her only. Anyway, about this time, they brought in a guy who was obviously drunk off his rear end. I don't know why he was in the E.R., if it had anything to do with his intoxication, but I guess, you'd have to believe it. Anyway, this guy, who must've been 65 years old and smashed, starts leering and doing cat calls as she's walking to the bathroom. I'm thinking, "man, you could be her grandfather," but I guess that happens, sometimes.

Anyway, he saw me looking at him, and shut up quickly. I didn't care, I knew he was harmless, but I think he thought I was going to beat his rear end or something.

They discharged her after all the tests came back fine, although the gait was still poor, but better. She woke up Sunday morning--actually, her sister woke her up in the middle of the night to ask her questions, and she was perfect with them, so we felt very good--and she was fine. They had medically released her to do anything she felt up to, so that meant the show could go on.

We got to the show, and the mother of the guy who accidentally hit her is on the athletic boosters board with me, and she was nearly in tears. She said that her son was "nearly" in tears after the show, and felt so bad. (We heard from others he was sobbing about hurting her--imagine this big, tough offensive linemen, in tears.) We assured her that it was nobody's fault, it was an accident, and she was fine.

Anyway, I guess the funny stories weren't all that funny, now that I look at it. I think everything was funny to me after we knew she was ok, and it seemed funnier--the overly-harsh judging intake person, the "Doogie Howser nurse," the leering older guy (heck, he was probably my age), the emotional rough, tough, offensive lineman. The woman walking the dog wasn't funny--my wife was shaking for a good hour after that. Truth be told, I was pretty shaken with it, too.

It's "funny" because she is thankfully ok. Working in an emergency room would be one of the last jobs I would want, as nurse or doctor.

I'm glad you didn't blurt out "shut up, Otis" to the drunk guy, though it must have been tempting. You must have a heck of a "if looks could kill" face.

Glad all is apparently well

Derby week gets in full swing starting tonight....


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Wife was out of town for two days. Crazy all the stuff she does when she's in town. I tried to do half of them, and did so poorly.

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Originally Posted by Darrell KSR

Wife was out of town for two days. Crazy all the stuff she does when she's in town. I tried to do half of them, and did so poorly.

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She any good at Lawyer stuff?

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Originally Posted by blueboss

She any good at Lawyer stuff?

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Have you never argued with a woman?

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Originally Posted by PedroDaGr8

Have you never argued with a woman?

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Not if he's smart he hasn't. ;)

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Originally Posted by PedroDaGr8

Have you never argued with a woman?

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If answering ok, yes , when, and how high, then I have argued with a woman.

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Originally Posted by blueboss

If answering ok, yes , when, and how high, then I have argued with a woman.

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Lol.

I always lose. Because she's the Judge and Jury as well.

Sitting in Wendy's with 8 teenagers hanging out. You'd think I would learn to check and make sure flights are on schedule, but Nooooo. Not a bad delay and fortunately decided to stop at a gas station in route and check and learned of the delay.

I'm religious about using FlightAware to track flights. So very cool to see exactly where a flight is at in real time.

Unusual week for me.

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Originally Posted by dan_bgblue

Unusual week for me.

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That sounds ominous.

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Originally Posted by dan_bgblue

Unusual week for me.

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Spill.

I drove a few miles over 1,400 last week and never left the state. Not unusual for me to log that many miles but when I do I generally have seen parts of Tennessee or Ohio or both. Got rained on, sometimes reducing visibility to a tenth of a mile, hailed on, and chased up highway 41 by a tornado. Never saw the darn thing but feel it was close as the hail was really coming down and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees in just a couple of minutes. Hail and tornadoes are unusual, but the really weird part was I had 11 appointments last week and every time I arrived at one, it stopped raining almost immediately. I never had to pull out the umbrella, nor make a mad dash the office door. I had 5 motel reservations and none of them were screwed up in the least, they even put me in ground floor rooms without me having to remind them. That my friends is really unusual.

Lastly every where I went gasoline prices were higher than they are here in BG. That might just be the most unusual of all things last week.