Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Pet Series

[EFS10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM - 22mm, f/4.5, ISO800, 1/200]
[Nikkie, 1/17/2010, Cropped]

Nikkie. Letting you know what she thinks.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Pet Series

I hope you enjoyed the Red Rocks series. Now on to pets..

[EFS10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM - 10mm, f/3.5, ISO400, 1/4]
[Amber, 1/16/2010]

Sleeping Beauty.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Red Rocks Series

[EF50mm f/1.4 USM - 50mm, f/1.4, ISO400, 1/4000]
[Red Rocks, 1/16/2010]

Just a little perspective.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Red Rocks Series

[EFS10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM - 10mm, f/3.5, ISO400, 1/100]
[Red Rocks, 1/16/2010]
Red Rocks Amphitheater. With the now recognized morning light.

In the larger picture you can see people that like to get a workout in the morning (and in a beautiful setting) by running up and down the stairs.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Red Rocks Series

[EF50mm f/1.4 USM - 50mm, f/3.5, ISO400, 1/125]
[Red Rocks, 1/23/2010]

Sunrise colored clouds over Red Rocks.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Red Rocks Series

[EF-S10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM - 22mm, f/4.5, ISO400, 1/60]
[Red Rocks, 1/23/2010, Cropped]

More Red Rocks....

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Red Rocks Series

[EF50mm f/1.4 USM - 50mm, f/3.5, ISO400, 1/320]
[Red Rocks, 1/23/2010, Cropped]

More Red Rocks....

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Red Rocks Series

[EFS10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM - 15mm, f/4, ISO400, 1/500]
[Red Rocks, 1/16/2010, Cropped]

Red Rocks in the morning sun.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Red Rocks Series

[EF50mm f/1.4 USM - 50mm, f/3.5, ISO400, 1/200]
[Red Rocks, 1/23/2010, Cropped]

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Red Rocks Series

[EFS10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM - 15mm, f/4, ISO400, 1/1000]
[Red Rocks, 1/23/2010]

Starting a post series of eight Red Rocks snaps.

I probably should not have lead with my favorite...

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Gate - Almost Done

[EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM - 30mm, f/4, ISO400, 1/3200]
[Side Gate, Home, 11/10/2010]

Just needs another coat of paint and some hardware.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Power Consumption

They say (IDK who, really), that leaving your PC on all day every day for the entire year (24/365) would consume more energy (and cause more CO2) than a car. My FJ Cruiser (not the most efficient vehicle in the world) costs about $9 a day to commute to and from work. So, that's $2340 in fuel every year. A rough calc. I did not remove vacation days for not commuting, but I also did not add in weekend car usage or car usage over the vacation. It averages out - and is 12480 miles - not to far from the typical 12k/year average estimate.

So, me, who recently had as many as 8 desktops (6 winXP, 1 osx, 1 Linux) and 2 laptops (1 osX, 1 winXP) running, that should be (assuming laptops take 1/2 power usage) $21,060 in electric bills. I'm pretty sure I would have noticed that. And, over a decade ago when I used to host lan parties at my prior house, I had 50 PCs running for over 12 hours one day. Old PCs, the power consuming CRTs and graphic intense applications. I took the Kwh reading before, and after. I don't have the numbers any more, but the calc at the time was that it cost well under $10 for the power for the party.

But, that was then. Now, PCs have bigger power supplies - 500-700 watts on average versus 200-250 typical back then. And, cost per Kwh has also increased. So I decided to collect some data and do a little math. How much are my PCs costing me in dollars per year. I'd check the power bill for Kwh prices, and I have a spiffy Greenlee AC ammeter. How hard could it be?

Hard enough. First issue was the bill. Tiered pricing. Add to that, tiered and non tiered surcharges. Add to that, the prices change in the tiers each month. So, I figured I'd just use one month's pricing and go with that (inaccurate, but should still provide useful data). OK, so, for that month, the cheapest price per Kwh was 3.9 cents. The largest was 9.6 cents. The cheapest 'bonus' charge was .3 cents, while the most expensive was 3.4 cents. I crunched some numbers in my head (OK, I didn't crunch any, I just lightly bruised some). I came up with 8 cents per Kwh as a working average.

Next issue. My Greenlee meter was producing numbers that I thought were too low. A lot too low. A 40 watt bulb was coming up at .17 amps. A 500 watt halogen light was coming up at 2.33 to 2.85 amps. How does one know how accurate a meter really is?

Final issue: How to determine the actual power consumption. When is a device hibernating, when is it on, but not using a lot of CPU? When is it using more power for more intense apps? I chose not to answer that completely, and just chose to take readings in the different modes. hibernate/off, up/idle, and running 3 browsers, each with a different youTube video running.

I did not measure every device. Here are some of the amp figures:

MacBook: hibernate = 0.01; on = 0.15; loaded = 0.3

clock radio: 0.01

Dell XPS dual core: off = 0.04; on = 0.69; loaded = .9
Acer 24" LCD: off = 0.02; on = 0.27

NAS Storage device: (off switch did not do anything) on = 0.08;
accessing data on it = 0.1.

8 port gigabit switch: 0.01

1500 watt heater: low = 4.15; high = 6.9.

Knowing the dubious nature of the numbers thus far, and wondering what number to use for volts (110? 115? 120?), I settled for an average of 115 for yet another dubious number. 720 hours per month (used a 30 day month).

Dubious results (usage for a month):

Macbook: Hibernate = 6.6 cents; on = 99 cents; loaded = $1.98.

Dell XPS: off = 26.5 cents; on = $4.57; loaded = $5.96.
LCD Monitor: off = 13 cents; on $1.78.

Not a lot. But I figure those are low ball numbers (due mostly to the low ball readings).

But, they add up. 8 PCs running 24/7/52 (with monitors on all the time) = $617.

I now have 2 PCs and 1 MacBook (mostly hibernating) up all the time, with the occasional 1 or 2 more running as needed.

Still need to figure out what the deal is with the Greenlee readings...

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Oly, RIP

[EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM - 35mm, f/2.8, ISO400, 1/15]
[Olympus Stylus 810, 11/13/2010]

Our Olympus Stylus 810 was dropped on the sidewalk, and has died. Well, it has not actually died. It's just mostly dead. When the power button is pressed it keeps trying to retract and extend the lens. It doesn't go in and out. It just spins and wobbles back and forth. It's sad actually, It looks like a wounded animal. I'd post video of it, but the only camera I had that took video was the 810. OK, somewhere I think there is a VHS-C camera, but I don't have anything to take it from analogue to digital to get it to the mac/pc.

I'll be looking for a replacement camera. Anyone know of a good camera that takes the same memory (xd) and/or the battery (li-12b)? I've found several options in the $80 to $160 range that look like good replacements and use the same memory, but not the same battery. Some of them on the higher end don't have the extending lens, so would be more durable too (and weather proof). That, as evidence shows, would be a good idea.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Random Pic

Lonely aspen.
[EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM - 65mm, f/3.2, ISO100, 1/125]
[Fall River Road, RMNP, 9/16/2010]

Friday, November 5, 2010

Random Pic - Look East

My first attempt at an evening cityscape shot. With the sun setting behind me, the Denver skyline was starting to light up. I think I need to take a larger pano, and do more cropping. Better luck next time. Shot was taken from Barnum Park, just south of 6th ave.

[EF50mm f/1.4 USM - 50mm, f/9.0, ISO100, 0.6]
[crop]
[Denver, 1/30/2010]


p.s. It was cold. My fingers were numb.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Random Pic - Look West

A view to the west at my Lake Granby camp site. Including the picnic table, unused.

The bulk of Lake Granby (and the island I kayaked around) is to the east.

[EFS10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM - 22mm, f/6.3, ISO400, 1/1000]
[crop, post gradient ND filter]
[Lake Granby, 7/24/2010]

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Random Pic

River above Adam's Falls. Time to get wet...

[EFS10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM - 10mm, f/6.3, ISO400, 1/1250]
[Adam's Falls, RMNP, 7/24/2010]

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Camping 2010 Number Two

The 2nd camping trip of the year was the 'AMS' camping trip to Lake Granby in July (23-25). Why the quotes around 'AMS'? AMS is no longer called AMS - it was bought by CGI, and most of the people that go, no longer work for AMS, or even CGI, anymore.

Not a lot to mention on this one. I had been here before, two years ago, in a tent. It was too hot and occasionally windy for a tent. There were no trees for shade close to the camp site then, so I reserved a different site. The Google map satellite picture showed that there were some good trees at my new site. No such luck when I got there though. All trees on the top of the hill were GONE. Due to bark beetles. At least this time I was not confined to a hot tent. The aluminum skin kept the interior of Ellie reasonably cool enough, and the awning on the side worked excellent for shade. Not to mention that the electric supply was better than documented. The AC in Ellie worked fine (needs at least 20 amps, and the site specified that it had 10 amps). I suppose one of the pluses to no trees was that the views were not blocked. Well, except for all the other campers on the hill...

Since Amber was supposed to get eye surgery, and none of the cats wanted to be in a car for the trip, I had Ellie all to myself. It got a bit lonely. I was wishing there was a dog to trip over or someone snoring to hear. Yeah, that's right, I'm never happy.

Day one - setup, and enjoy the sunset.

Pink clouds over cars and tents.

[EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM - 24mm, f/3.5, ISO400, 1/250]
[Stillwater, Lake Granby, 7/23/2010]


Moonlight rippling on Lake Granby.

[EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM - 32mm, f/2.8, ISO800, 1/2]
[Stillwater, Lake Granby, 7/23/2010]


Day two - morning kayaking and afternoon hike to... Um... I forgot the name of the falls. [Adam's Falls]

A shot of the lake and the island that I kayaked around.

[EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM - 24mm, f/8.0, ISO800, 1/3200]
[Stillwater, Lake Granby, 7/24/2010]


The phat man himself...

[EFS10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM - 20mm, f/8.0, ISO800, 1/1250]
[Adam's Falls, RMNP, 7/24/2010]


Curtis taking a photo of the river above Adam's Falls.

[EFS10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM - 22mm, f/6.3, ISO400, 1/540]
[Adam's Falls, RMNP, 7/24/2010]


Day three - pack and head home...

A last view from the dining room table. I really need to wash the windows.

[EFS10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM - 17mm, f/6.3, ISO400, 1/30]
[Stillwater, Lake Granby, 7/25/2010]

Monday, November 1, 2010

Halloween Pic

Maybe this should have been the Halloween pic...

[EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM - 70mm, f/6.3, ISO800, 1/4000]
[Near Leadville, 8/31/2010]


Ugly bug carrying it's young on it's back.
[ISO800... Ooops.]

Click on the closeup...
[Above shot - full res crop]