Port Aransas

I have to admit.....we have been doing a little partying. Port Aransas on Mustang Island just off the coast of Texas in the Gulf of Mexico.  There were a few reasons to go. First, we needed a little vacation but secondly I'm still working on the Port Aransas Project of making some black and white images to combine with log entries that Ned's family kept back in the 1860-1870s. For those I used my big girl camera but for fun I shot some stuff with the iPhone and the Hipstamatic app. If you want to see the Hipsta images take a look here.

My Life With the iPhone

So far I've made a gazillion bad images with the iPhone. It is so easy to play with the apps, especially ones like Hipstamatic and Instamatic. Then you can download other apps that are just cameras or you can use a ton of photoshop-type apps on an image. It is fun. I think I must be addicted to playing with all the photo apps like some people are with playing Angry Birds on the iPhone.

A few days ago I started to play with a new "camera" in the Hipstamatic application and it has been leading me in an interesting direction, small still lifes in my home. The iPhone is perfect for this. So many times I see a still life but the big girl camera is upstairs and I'm downstairs. The iPhone is always with me. I don't have to think, can I stop what I'm doing and go get the big camera. I just pull out the iPhone and snap.

I'm so easy to entertain these days....as long as I have my iPhone.

The iPhone 4s Is Not Perfect

This could be heresy to some Appleheads, but the iPhone 4s is not perfect. Before I got the iPhone I trolled around the net to see what problems people were reporting. The short life of the battery was the major one. I thought I could deal with that one because I wasn't out of the house or car for long periods of time where I was not able to recharge. There were a few other problems but it seemed more like early adapter problems and they were getting fixed.

But I've run into one with the camera. As you can probably guess I bought the iPhone as a iCamera/phone. So this one aggravates me especially since it seems to me it could be fixed with software. Here is the problem. If I shoot a vertical image and then send it from the Apple camera or the camera roll in email it will appear as sideways, a horizontal image, to the receiver on a computer although if they get it on an iPhone it will be vertical.

I've been searching for answers and solutions and found a long discussion on MacRumors forum. The reason that I think it is a software issue is if I take a vertical picture with the Camera+ app, it will remain in the vertical position. Also if I edit the picture in the camera roll, say use even a tiny crop, and send from the camera roll, it will remain vertical. This isn't a new problem. I don't know why Apple doesn't fix it.

Now, on a kind of positive note about Apple. A couple of weeks after I received the iPhone, I was no longer able to send a photograph in an email. We were still in Houston at the time. I figured it was just some setting I had changed and I would need to go back and do some reading and figure it out. See I always blame myself first! After we got to San Miguel, I read, I tinkered with settings and finally decided that it was beyond my abilities.

Email contact with Apple Support generated an email from them and gave me the option of setting up a time that they would call me or I could call them at this number. I called them. Lo and Behold! I got a representative on line whose first language was English. He worked with me for about 45 minutes and when we were not resolving the issue, he said he was going to put his supervisor on line. I didn't even ask to step up to the next level.

The supervisor tried various things including using several iPhones in their office to try to send an email with a photo attached via Yahoo email. After she couldn't get it to work either she told me that it had to be an Yahoo problem. Oh no! My first thought was that if Yahoo had a email system problem that kept iPhone users from sending photo attachments surely there would be discussions in forums and blogs. But Apple had been so helpful that I didn't know what else to do.

Have you ever tried to contact Yahoo? The Apple supervisor gave me a number that they use to contact Yahoo. This is good. I'll be able to contact Yahoo. Wrong! When I called the number I got the dread recording that if I had a problem I should go on-line to their Q&As and if I wanted to speak to a Yahoo representative they were all busy and there was a long line ahead of me. Basically, I could wait until hell freezes over before I get to speak to a person. I hung up. That was enough for one day.

But here is the most interesting thing about this story. The next day I tried to send a photograph attached to an email.....schoosh.....and it went. After three or four weeks of it not working, it worked. The iPhone email/photo has been working fine now for a week.

The photo above was shot at the Tuesday Tianguis and mostly processed in Snapseed.

My heart is Happy

Yesterday I wrote on Facebook that "My heart was at peace and my soul was singing." I also wrote that "The floor felt like cold silk on the bottom of my feet this morning." It seems like my senses are turned on when I am in San Miguel de Allende. I can almost be poetic. Sometimes when I'm away I forget that I feel so alive when I'm here. So tuned in to the color, the sounds, the architecture, the people. I'm glad to be home.

We arrived here late in the afternoon on Monday and by 6 PM we were having dinner with friends. Tuesday we went to the grocery store, picked up mail, ate fish tacos at the Palapa where we met more friends. I put a pot of cream of chicken and vegetable soup on to cook. Before dinner I visited Jose and he performed his magic so now I'm all gilded with a fresh haircut.

Today has been relaxed. I walked into town with the iCamera/Phone and the only thing of importance that I did was go to the wine store. I bought a case and a half of wine and they will deliver it tomorrow. I popped into a few stores and found a potential love seat for the office, found out about yoga class meeting times and also found some cute earrings that I may go back to buy.

All this is pretty mundane stuff but being here does make my heart happy.

Good Eats and Technology Challenges

Oh my, did I ever have some delicious food last night at DaMarcos. This was one-half a duck so beautifully presented and so delicious. I'm still in the birthday mode and this was a dinner with some of the Houston family and friends. Every sip of wine and every bite of food was just perfect. I'm having so much fun with this birthday that I may have to have another party when we get back to San Miguel.

I made this photo with the iPhone. I'm still learning what it will do besides taking photos. This week I managed to get my calendar over to the iPhone but can't get it to sync back to the computer. Only God knows if I will get that figured out and then the next problem will be how to get it to sync to a second computer in San Miguel. I copied a CD and finally got it to  sync to the iPhone. All of this should be simple but I keep finding that I'm having trouble because some little setting isn't turned on or off. After a "discussion" with Sprint I think I have the phone unlocked so that I can sign up with a carrier in Mexico on a pay as you go basis for while we are there. I'll find out for sure when I get there.

Isn't life an adventure?
........Especially in the Technology Age.

2012 - Happy New Year

Happy New Year, 2012. This year I'm making the switch. when I talk about the year I'm not going to say two thousand twelve. I'm going to say twenty-twelve. I probably should have done that with twenty-ten but twenty-twelve really has a nice ring to it.

We stayed home on New Year's Eve. I admit that I was in bed and asleep by the time the new year rolled in but we had done our best for good luck in 2012. We ate black-eyed peas, a southern tradition,  for prosperity and twelve grapes with good wishes attached for the Mexico tradition.

We had a wonderful Christmas with the boys and their families and Ned's sister's entire family including our newest addition, Baby Finn. And one of her sons brought a girl friend. This is the first one he has brought around so we are all wondering if she will be joining us for good.  Ned's Aunt and cousin also joined us. 

I worry so about my oyster stew for Christmas Eve but it turned out just fine although we barely had enough. I felt really good when Jack, Betsy's Dad, said the oyster stew was one of the reasons he came to Texas for Christmas. This year I had a little more attention from Mike and Betsy while I cooked it. I think they realize that they better learn how to do it 'cause I ain't getting any younger.

And speaking of younger.....I had a birthday on the 30th. What a shock this one was. At 75 I finally have to admit I'm a "senior." All the times when I've bought a senior ticket or taken advantage of a senior discount, I've felt a little like a fraud. I really wasn't THAT old. Well, I still don't feel it but this birthday makes it feel legit. I no longer have to feel guilty about saying, "Senior ticket, please."

We are headed in to 2012 with high hopes. Ned is feeling good. We will be taking a break in treatment and be able to head SOB for a few weeks. We are looking forward to being in our home, seeing our friends, and catching up on all the happenings in San Miguel.

Another photo made on my walk along Buffalo Bayou shot with the iPhone Instagram app. Give me some slack while I explore the iPhone. I don't think it ever going to substitute for my DSLR but it is fun. I'm learning about using some of the apps besides Hipstamatic and Instagram. And it will be a camera that is always with me. I think of it as a Camera/Phone instead of a Phone/Camera. Now I have to get it unlocked so I can use the Phone part when we are in San Miguel. Gotta get that done this week before we head South.

Christmas Crazy

I thought that I had gotten past Christmas Crazy but I'm realizing that I can't help myself. I am on the holiday cooking list for:

Oyster Stew for 10 (or more) on Christmas Eve

4 Jalapeno Quiches on Christmas morning
Fresh squeezed grapefruit juice, again for Christmas morning

Chocolate Cheese Cake and Creamed Onions for Christmas Dinner

That is enough....don't you think? It is really a lot of chopping and prepping and cleaning up. Fine! I can do it although the oyster stew always makes me nervous. I've tried to write down the recipe but when you start making it for 10 or more people it is a little nerve wracking. It is a lot of stirring and tasting and hoping that everyone will think it is as good as last year.

However, here is the deal. I don't think it will be Christmas if I don't make at least one recipe of Chocolate chip cookies, a batch of Pecan Sandies, an attempt at old fashioned Hershey's boiled fudge, and I want Cranberry Nut Bread too. I just can't help myself.

Now to get all of that done along with the other Christmas stuff, I'll end up Christmas Crazy but really happy and full of the spirit of Christmas.

Later in the day: This photograph? I can't leave the new iPhone alone. I'm trying out some of the photo apps. This one is the hipstamatic. You have several lenses and different films you can choose. This one is kind of grungy but colorful. This is the cranberry nut bread. I've also made a recipe of fudge but it looks like if I want to have any on Christmas Day, I'll have to make another batch. It keeps mysteriously disappearing.

An Early Christmas Present

I got an early Christmas present . . . An iPhone.  I've been talking about one for most of this year. Not because of the phone. I had a perfectly good cell phone. I wanted it for the camera and the photography apps. I know that is a ridiculous reason to get an iPhone so you don't have to tell me what I already know.

Here is the thing. I've been watching photography friends posting iPhone images on Facebook and looking at their websites where they are making marvelous art using the apps. I've listened to them talk about the iPhone always being with them so it was the camera they used most often. I've tried to avoid buying the phone by buying some of the small point and shoot cameras. Too much trouble to carry the cell phone AND the camera. But now I have it all in one tiny package and if I'm bored while I wait for something, I can always take a photograph into the apps and play.

I've had the iPhone for almost two weeks now and I'm addicted.  Thank you, Santa.