Certified.

After about a month and a half of racking my brains, I am now iWork certified. I passed with an 83.33% and the cutoff was 80%. I squeezed by on that one. A pass is a pass though. Wooooooo!

New Chapter.

Today marks a new chapter...

When I woke up this morning, I had no idea the day was going to pan out the way it did. All I knew was that at 1pm, I was going to meet with the Plant 51 sales rep to put in an offer on our second choice loft unit. The brick loft I posted about a few weeks back was unfortunately snatched away from us by another buyer. Jenny and I had the option to proceed with our second choice unit or continue to keep looking for places. We decided that we weren't going to find any place like the lofts at Plant 51, so I told the sales rep I was ready to purchase.



So, today when I went to the sales office, the rep divulged some new information. The person who reserved the brick loft never followed through with the paper work. This meant that starting that day, unit 2131 (the one Jenny and I loved) was back on the market. In the back of my head, I was thinking "April Fools, right?" Nope. Just lucky timing.

Jenny and I were at a standstill. We didn't know what to do. The brick loft was a bit more money, but it was our first choice to begin with. The only way to make a final decision was to do a final walkthrough. It was one of those moments where when you walk through the door, it just feels right. It was meant to be.



A few hours and 200+ documents later we had put our offer in. We were able to agree to a 55 day escrow, which meant that we would have close to two months to save up for furniture and such. As awesome as today was, nothing is guaranteed. We are not out of the woods quite yet. Our purchase is contingent on us getting financing. Based on what the mortgage broker said, we should be just fine, but nothing is for sure. So until then, fingers crossed.

If it's meant to be, it's meant to be.

Goodbye Old Friend

From the moment I purchased my x100, I sort of new this moment was inevitable. Now that I'm trying to save up for a downpayment on a house, I'm trying to make cash from wherever I can. I figured while the camera was still relevant I'd put it up for sale. One craigslist posting later and I had 20-30 messages in my inbox.

Because I was not the original seller, selling this camera was like pulling teeth. Apparently, in recent months, this camera has been known to have a "sticky aperture blade" issue. Because of this known issue, everyone wanted the purchase receipt so they could get the camera serviced by Fujifilm. So for me, not having this was a big turn off. Finally, I found someone who didn't care so much about the receipt, but rather that they were getting a good price for this awesome little camera.

All in all, for three months of use with the camera, I only lost $50.

Thanks for all the good times. I will miss you.

Love, Film

I was taking some photos for an eBay posting, and I decided to shoot some other product based shots. One of my subjects was my girlfriend's newly acquired Kodak Satrmite II camera. Jenny's grandma is always picking us up old vintage cameras from estate sales. To say we have quite a collection is a bit of an understatement.

When I was messing with this photo in Photoshop, it felt like it was missing something. So I decided to add some text. I figured if analog cameras could speak, this is what they might say. Doing stuff like this really makes me admire what graphic designers do. It's not easy. Choosing the right fonts, choosing the right colors, choosing the right spacing, etc. You could spend hours on one line of text to get it perfect.

Here is my final product

WANT

It's been a few months now, and I still have the loft bug as bad as ever. Part of me wishes it was a passing fad so I could just move on. Instead, I've been saving like a mad man in hopes that I can make this lofty dream in to a reality (did you see what I did there).

Every spare minute of every day I am thinking of different furniture layouts. I don't want to fill the space with IKEA furniture, but I'd rather get furniture that I really admire and appreciate. I already have my list of must haves, including pieces from designers like Eames and Noguchi.

I'm still trying not to get too attached, but... well... I'm attached. Fingers crossed.

Here's a mockup of one of my layouts

Impromptu SF Trip.

The girlfriend and I went to SF a few weekends ago for this



Unfortunately when we got there, it was way over capacity and we couldn't go in. I would've been bummed, but honestly any excuse to go to the city is fine with me. Also, the parking lot was pretty much a car show on its own.

Thank God for video coverage, because here's what I missed



After getting the boot from the show, we decided to take a stroll along the coast. I brought my x100 along to snap some photos as well. Overall a really nice escape with my favorite person.

Going Home.

After putting it off for several months, I finally found some time to make it home to Southern California to spend some time with my mom and brother. We didn't do anything too extravagant, but it was great to catch up with the family. I know San Jose and San Clemente are only six-seven hours away from each other, but it still feels like we're on opposite sides of the planet sometimes. I hope that I can see my family more often this year. For now, these photographs will remind me of the great times I had.