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Warren Shea

Archive for July, 2010

Life updates

Saturday, July 31st, 2010 at 1:11 am

WordPress 3.0.1 updated!
Okay…that’s not very impressive.

The problem is that with every update, I have to apply my custom code to the WordPress template.
It’s editing 8 files, 100~ lines of code. I’m trying to figure out a better way to do updates…it’d be awesome to parse the files and do auto replaces…kind of like what WordPress does. But to do that, you have to know what changes…and I don’t really…

Life…has been…off
Aimless rant incoming:
Things have been weird lately. I haven’t been blogging, updating twitter, studying, taking/editing photographs, designing, developing, watching anime, watching anything…basically, I haven’t been doing anything. My sleeping schedule has been screwed up…I’m generally sleeping at 3…waking up at 9:15 (which is pretty late…for a work day). I take 2-3-4 hour naps after work. I recently had a night of insomnia…couldn’t sleep until 5am. Pretty rare for me to do that…it’s usually not very difficult for me to fall asleep but that night, my mind just wouldn’t stop racing. I’m just generally tired…even though I’m not doing anything. My life’s been busy…going out, etc. I don’t walk to work anymore because it’s too hot. Last weekend was my first weekend of unwinding but…I’m still tired. This weekend’s kinda different…still busy though.

Tomorrow I have lunch and dinner with the family…Monday or Tuesday, I’m going to the Toronto Zoo.

The weekend after this, August 7, I’m going to see Jersey Boys. And then…there’s Comicon coming up.
I have a deluxe pass (3 days) and I’m taking the day before and after off (so..Thursday-Tuesday – 5 day weekend).

So busy. I don’t have time to do the things I want (below):

I need a…list…of….like…to do…or something….(in no particular order):
(GREEN: to complete this weekend)
-design new layout for warrenshea.com…like…NOW.
-contact me web form (which shouldn’t take too long)
-decide which of my two EPIC SITE ideas to pursue…and then
-start planning/designing EPIC SITE…
-finish reading Scott Pilgrim
-watch Despicable Me, Kick-Ass (again), Once, Shutter Island, Remember Me (…which only got 28~% on RT…)
-secret project (not the epic site…even more secret!)
-update To Buy list…for comic-con
-take more photographs/galleries – Yoshi, Scarlet Witch, Psylocke, Kakashi, Scheris, Cagalli, Lunamaria, Catwoman, Yuna, Full Metal Panic! characters…
-clean Hamster cage (tomorrow)
-study ASP.NET
-catch up on 6 episodes of True Blood, 1 episode of Hell’s Kitchen, 2 episodes of Futurama
-start reading One Piece manga
-start playing Zelda: Ocarina of time again
-laundry
-watch Transformers DVDs I recently purchased
-watch EXTRAs to DVDs – Battlestar Galactica, Seinfeld, Friends, Transformers
-wear retainer…to fix my teeth…cuz they’re not looking so hot

I need to avoid
-taking naps after work
-sleeping after 2am on weekdays
-drinking…well, enough that it ruins my night…i need to moderate it better/train my terrible alcohol genes
-playing DOTA…hours passing by like nothing…it’s just a fun & addicting game! damn, i feel like playing a game right now…….
-….wasting time on things not on the list above

/i feel so scattered lately…my focus is all over the place…need to cross some of these items off…and focus.

Peas in a pod

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 at 10:40 pm


Okay, the plush for this toy is like, $50 on eBay! WTF! I want one :'(

My first attempt at an animated gif where the screen is captured off of the Disney site with CamStudio. Then imported into Adobe Premiere and Exported as an animated gif.
I don’t know why there’s a black line on the right and a flicker! it’s really annoying :( the video in Premiere doesn’t have that at all! Anyways, I don’t want to spend more time on this…just yet.

Soccer Game – Toronto VS Motagua

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 at 2:16 am


Went to a soccer game tonight!
So tired…wanna sleep but I haven’t blogged in what seems like forever!


The hardcore fans


City shot…around 8pm


City shot…at night….around 10-10:30pm


Red Moon


Final score…1-0 us! time to P – A – R – T – A – Y
I’m cool. That’s what my mommy says.

Photography – eternally time consuming

Saturday, July 24th, 2010 at 11:48 pm

Okay, I have 2 new galleries up. About 3 nights of work here. Originally I wanted to post like…10 galleries! but frig, it’s time consuming. I did these 2 but I need to take a break. I should do a gallery every once in a while instead of all at once…even doing 2 galleries was pretty painful.

Step 1: Set up the “studio”.
Studio

Step 2: Take pictures. Go wild, take as many angles and shots as you want.

Step 3: Select the ones you want to show.

Step 4: In Photoshop, adjust levels to lighten the background. I attempt to make it white, to blend in with pure white. Doing so, you lose color information, darkened colors, etc. It kind of sucks, losing the information…but I sacrifice it for a more intense image. The colors can become more vivid as well.

Step 5: With the Brush tool, go over the corners to make everything white. Also, use the clone tool to fix blemishes.

Step 6: Resize for the web and post.




Step 4 and 5 take the most time. The 32 shots for my recent Black Widow gallery took about….4-5 hours. It was painful. I should take fewer shots but it’s just so fun to try different angles, etc.

Anyways, here are thumbnails to my 2 most recent galleries. They can, of course, also be found at Gallery.

Kotobukiya Bishoujo Statue: Black Widow

Kotobukiya Bishoujo Statue: Rogue

Focaccia – Summerlicious – Lunch

Saturday, July 24th, 2010 at 2:33 pm


Menu – Appetizer
Gazpacho soup (vegetarian)
Gazpacho soup (vegetarian)
or
Mixed greens, cranberries, cherry tomatoes & orange vinaigrette (vegetarian)
Mixed greens, cranberries, cherry tomatoes & orange vinaigrette (vegetarian)
or
Caesar salad, double smoked bacon, garlic croutons
Caesar salad, double smoked bacon, garlic croutons

Menu – Entrée
Penne Pollo, sautéed chicken, mushrooms with tomatoes cream sauce
Penne Pollo, sautéed chicken, mushrooms with tomatoes cream sauce
or
Spaghetti oven roasted tomatoes, caramelized fennel, chilies, bread crumbs, olive oil & garlic sauce (vegetarian)
Spaghetti oven roasted tomatoes, caramelized fennel, chilies, bread crumbs, olive oil & garlic sauce (vegetarian)

Menu – Dessert
Italian Biscotti
Italian Biscotti
or
Lemon Smifreddo
Lemon Smifreddo

TOTAL COST – only $15

FOOD
Appetizer : The Gazpacho soup was great. Very refreshing. Out of the 3 appetizers, I wish I got that. I had the Caesar salad, double smoked bacon, garlic croutons which was…like any casear salad. The double smoked bacon was crazy salty…but if you have it with the salad, it’s alright.
Entrée : The Penne was cooked perfectly and very tasty. A great entrée.
Dessert : The Biscotti was alright. Like a standard cookie/biscotti. It left me a bit thirsty. I had the Lemon Smifreddo which was definitely the better dessert. It was very refreshing, a great palette cleanser.
Overall, I was very pleased with my food. I wish I got the Gazpacho over the Caesar salad. The Penne and Lemon Smifreddo were the correct choices though. I would definitely go back based on taste alone…however…

SERVICE
Terrible, terrible service.
1. They took our wine glasses away without asking if we wanted anything to drink. They gave us water but they didn’t even ask if we wanted Coke or anything.
2. They gave us hummus for our bread…but…bread went out to tables that sat after us, we had to ask for the bread which was sitting on the counter for over 5 minutes.
3. We had to ask for water refills, our water wasn’t refilled despite being empty for a long time.
4. Our desserts, much like our bread, were sitting on the counter as well for over 5 minutes.
5. Lots of waiting. Lots.
6. When the entrées were served, one of them didn’t come out with the other 6. The waiter says to everyone “this last dish will take another minute, please start”. The waiter says that to the table…shouldn’t it be the person who didn’t get their food? Weak.

OVERALL
…I would not return. There are a million places with good food and good service. It’s ridiculous to fall so short one on.