andrew.stottsan.net

happy super tuesday 2008!

well, i just got back from voting, and suffice to say obama just got one more in IL! here's hoping the rest of the state (and country) feels the same way.

the process was pretty straightforward as usual, although this time around there was some confusion amongst the poll workers. one woman told me i needed my voter's ID card, which isn't true... since i didn't have it, she tried to look up my name in her book, and i was nowhere to be found. turns out she was looking in the wrong precinct, so once that got sorted out i was all set.

]]> i was looking forward to using an electronic voting machine, but instead i had to do the old fill-in-the-black-line method. at least it was quick, and the machine read my marks successfully. thankfully there were no major issues as some areas had reported. the weather is starting to get worse now, though, and they're forecasting 4-12 inches of snow in the city along with 20-30 mph winds, depending on the exact location.

so, just in case it gets brutal out there, go vote now! and, of course, vote for obama!

the snow arrives

guess it had to happen at some point... it's not the first snow of the season, but this one looks to be the first "real" accumulation we've had, with about 2-5 inches forecast. it's only been falling for a few hours, and it looks like there's already a couple inches out on my deck.

at least it gives me a chance to catch up on tivo, and maybe watch the "highlights" of the victoria's secret show: you know, the ridiculous costumes and huge production value sets... in other words no seal, no spice girls, no stupid interviews, and most importantly no fake "behind-the-scenes" drama. that should boil it down to about 15 minutes of actual content!

the new DIA

elena and i went to detroit again this year to celebrate thanksgiving with her family out there. we had a great time, which of course was to be expected -- hard not to enjoy yourself when you get that many greeks together! this year we skipped the black friday shopping in favor of a little culture, though, and went to check out the grand opening of the new DIA, or the detroit institute of arts.

]]> even though it would've been new to me either way, i must say the DIA is quite impressive. they had a huge collection of european art, including a number of works by rembrandt, renoir, degas, and cézanne. we only got to see a couple of rooms in the modern wing, but managed to see some matisse and picasso. the museum itself looks wonderful, both outside and in. the great hall was certainly done up for the occasion, with an amazing mirror installation hanging from the ceiling. (i just wish i would've had the tripod with me to get a more impressive shot!)

next time we head back out to detroit i'd love to spend some more time there. and of course, this is the perfect time of the year to go back and enjoy chicago's own art institute and the MCA. i just can't wait for the new modern wing to open up!

new grill, new food

last weekend i got a new grill (a weber genesis e-320 in bright blue) and so i've been putting it to heavy use lately... so far i've made beef and chicken kabobs, italian sausage, seasoned potato wedges, portabello mushrooms, and pork chops. as long as the weather holds up, i'm going to grill as much as possible — gotta get a whole summer out of this thing! the menu for tonight includes seasoned potato wedges (again), smoked sausage, corn-on-the-cob, and some asian-themed shrimp skewers. i'll put the recipe up for the seasoned potato wedges (and probably some of the other stuff) as soon as i perfect it...

]]> last night's dinner was the pork chops, which turned out quite well — good enough for a photo shoot at least... i just brushed them with EVOO and rubbed in a good amount of trader joe's steak & chop grill & broil seasoning. then just toss them on the grill until they're ready, making sure the inside temp is 170. as a side i whipped up some seasoned green beans which is one of my favorite quick dishes. here's the recipe for those that are interested, and naturally for my own future reference:

seasoned green beans

ingredients:
» green beans (washed)
» EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
» garlic
» kosher salt
» black pepper

instructions:
» pre-heat a pan to med-high, add a couple ounces of EVOO
» add some freshly chopped garlic (or the stuff from the jar if that's all you have)
» before the garlic burns, add the green beans
» keep the beans moving, so they get a light coating of oil and garlic
» season with kosher salt and fresh pepper
» you're done when the beans are a little browned and still crispy

you go, abt!

i always knew that abt was awesome, but i never had the proof until now... i had been debating tv's for the past few months (or year, depending on who you talk to) and finally made my decision. the search was over — i picked the samsung HL-S5088W, which is the 50" 1080p samsung DLP. sweet tv, but prices were all over the place. abt was good — not the best, but certainly not the worst.

the other item i needed was a stand. easy — the BDI deploy 9634 was the perfect fit for my back room, and for the new tv. but the problem wasn't picking out the stand, it was finding it in chicago. sure, i could've ordered it online and waited a few weeks, but i wanted instant gratification... not to mention something that we could watch the superbowl on. so on a saturday i started calling around town. 15 calls later, no one had it in stock, and delivery quotes ranged from 2-8 weeks.

]]> then i remembered that abt also carried BDI stands, so i gave them a ring. abt had them in stock, and not just one, but five! even better, it was on sale. i checked on the tv, and they had that in stock and on sale, too. damn, everything was working out nicely. now all i had to do was find time to borrow a big car, drive up and get it, and carry it up 4 flights of stairs. but once again i got off easy: free delivery. it was almost too good to be true...

we scheduled delivery for monday afternoon, since i had some client meetings in the morning. "anytime after 1pm" i said, and they marked it down in the delivery instructions. i woke up feeling good, until i got a call from the delivery guy at 8am saying he'd be by at 11am. "um, i won't be here until after 1pm" i said, reminding him that delivery had been requested in the afternoon. of course, he told me the request was just that — not a guarantee. i asked him to do his best, since there was no way i'd be there before 1pm. i talked to him a couple more times throughout the morning, but i wasn't getting a good vibe i'd be seeing my tv.

i took the train home after my meetings, and as i walked around the corner, i saw a big abt delivery truck. my truck. the guys were cool, and helped me get everything up into my back room. somehow, everything just came together with plenty of time to clean up before the big game.

now if only the bears could have delivered as well as abt...

fun with flash(es)

i staged a small photo shoot tonight, using a toy car and a wine bottle as my models. pretty minimal on the equipment front (just the D200, SB-800, SB-600, and a small reflector) but that was part of the challenge, and i think the results are pretty decent... either way, i really like the nikon "creative lighting system" since it lets me just concentrate on the look i want to achieve. of course, i'll be ordering an umbrella and various other accessories (larger reflectors, clamps, and some small tripods) to give me some more flexibility, so naturally i'll be posting more pics.

read on for some details on the photos i made tonight...

]]> this car shot was done with the onboard flash acting in commander mode only. the SB-600 was to the left (pointing straight at the car) and the SB-800 was just to the right, pointing into the reflector's white side, which was positioned directly behind the car. i just wish the car was real, for more than just the obvious reason. every time i was disappointed with the specular highlights i had to remind myself that the car was plastic...

the two wine bottle photos (just the foil and then the rear label) were primarily lit with the SB-800 on the hotshoe, bouncing off the reflector held just above the subject. for both shots, i placed the SB-600 to the right firing back towards the camera at about a 45-degree angle. in the label shot, i used some bottles since my kitchen island isn't the "best" place for product shots, heh.

in related news, i've been enjoying john lehmann's blog and photographs from torino, where he's covering the olympics. he also has some great lighting tips so be sure to give that a read.

thanks for reading this far, i'm out for now. see you soon!

happy 2006

no predictions or resolutions here, just a simple happy new year to everyone.

there is one small bit of news to share, though: the photography from here on out will be thanks to a brand spankin' new nikon D200! (if you know of anyone that's looking for a D100, drop me a werd, heh...) only fitting that the first shot posted is of a poster from one of my favorite local bands, the reputation. enjoy this and the other new photos that will be appearing shortly. take care!

give again

i'm sorry that this needs to be done again, but the destruction that hurricane katrina has caused is simply horrific. i'm sure you've all be watching CNN and the other news sources, so you know that any donation you give will be greatly appreciated.

amazon has again setup a page to make it easy to give. the american red cross is also accepting donations, just make sure to select "2005 hurricane relief" on the form.

as always, feel free to steal this badge for your site.

good to be back in the chi

wow. these last few weeks have been crazy-whirlwind ones, that's for sure. but it starts and ends well, and the in-between was all good, too, so that's all that matters...

it's hard to believe that is has been almost 3 weeks since jeff and lisa got married (out in sheridan, wyoming of course) -- congrats congrats congrats! the ceremony/reception/after-party, not to mention the whole weekend, was just awesome. honestly, things went off without any hitches, and how often does that happen to weddings at home?!?!?! so the congrats is for the act itself as well as for making it so special.

]]> anyway, the wedding trip merged with a denver vacation for elena and me -- since we were already flying through denver it just made sense to stay a couple of extra days. lots of good time spent "sightseeing" in lodo as well as just tooling around the metro area. when you can find a chevy cobalt at the airport car rental for only $22/day, you have to jump on it! i naturally kept stopping to snap pics, sometimes from the side of the offramp but mostly from safer locations... i promise.

vacation didn't last long though, because the very next day after returning from denver i was on a plane to minneapolis. the fishnet office up there needed a visitation from yours truly, so i happily obliged. met the crew, got some training out of the way, and continued missing my tivo... i rolled back into town for the weekend, but again quickly turned around. this time, i was heading to kansas city for an application assessment engagement! whirlwind, like i said, and just the way i like it.

so now that i'm all wrapped up, i'm back at home, much to my (and my tivo's) satisfaction. and if you've been wondering where the crap i've been the past few weeks, now you know.

farewell united, hello fishnet!

as many of you know, a couple weeks back i made a pretty substantial change: i moved from united airlines to fishnet security, where i'll be helping to start and build the chicago region as a security engineer. while i'm certainly sad to leave some wonderful people (and projects and technologies) at united, this opportunity is one that i simply could not pass up.

i hadn't posted about the move mainly since i was still getting settled in, and was learning more and more about my role as it was defined. but now that these things are progressing nicely, what i can say is that i'll be providing infosec solutions for fishnet's clients -- specifically in the areas of pre/post sales engineering, consulting, and support. i'll post updates when (and if) i can.

if you're saying "yay, but what does this mean for me?" i can tell you a couple things -- you can't email me at united anymore and you can't call my old cell phone. :) obviously many of you know how to get in touch with me, so this isn't an issue, but if you don't feel free to drop me a note and i can get you my new info. or find me on linkedin, especially if you're an industry contact. and naturally if you're looking for some information security solutions get in touch with me at fishnet...

thanks to everyone that has made these past few years special. i truly have learned a great deal during my time at united, and i only hope the feeling was, in the slightest way, mutual. take care.

rockin' the diego

that's right, when we go places we don't just go... we rock them. i'm talking me, elena, jeff, and lisa -- taking san diego by storm. at the mission valley resort, we got adjoining rooms to create our party home base. and thanks to some new speakers jeff picked up at the local apple store the tunes were sounding pretty smooth. but seriously, we had a great time, even though it was only for a few days.

the key to short vacas (IMHO) is to break up the days into little mini-vacations themselves. one day, do this, another, do this, etc. it doesn't have to be a fully developed plan, don't get me wrong... i honestly hate spec'ing everything out, since that's more work than fun. but it really does help to focus on the key places you'd like to visit or those few things you just have to do, especially if you're on a short timetable. take paris, where my first trip of 3 days was broken up into the following:

eiffel tower, notre dame, & l'arc de triomphe
montmartre and sacre coeur
versailles

boom! right there i covered most everything i'd been dreaming about since i started taking french. sure, i skipped the louvre and some other key areas, but that's what the next trip(s) are for. of course, along the way, you can squeeze a ton of little activies, too, such as "having breakfast at an outdoor cafe" or "taking the metro" or

in san diego our days broke down like so:

pool and gaslamp
san diego zoo and gaslamp again
mission beach, more gaslamp :)
fashion valley mall, old town, embarcadero, & little italy

a little bit of everything, and most exploring done on the last day. perfect. and we have the pics to prove it.

SAN by way of SFO, DEN, and ORD

last week i had the pleasure of flying across the country. a few times.

it all started with a trip out to san francisco (SFO) for digital id world 2005. i of course was attending for work and specifcally was looking for more information on identity federation, identity-driven web services security, and identity management architecture. overall i'd say it was a good conference, although i was a bit disappointed in a couple of the sessions. sometimes the content seemed to drift off topic, or at least move towards issues i wasn't interested in... but the speakers were excellent, though, and the vendor turnout included a who's who of the identity management space.

unfortunately i wasn't able to stay for the entire week, since i had scheduled a san diego (SAN) vaca with elena, jeff, and lisa starting thursday. most normal people, when faced with the "i'm in SFO for a conference and need to get to SAN for a vacation" would take the easy out: fly or drive down. but not me, of course. ok, i would have, but the conference was a last minute decision, and we had already bought tickets out of chicago (ORD). so needless to say, i was in for a long couple days. what really made it interesting is how things went down.

]]> see, i had been scheduled on the 4pm flight on wednesday and thus left the conference early. when i got to the airport and tried to checkin, i found out the 4pm had been cancelled due to weather, and i had two options left: a 6pm and an 11pm. naturally i opted for the 6pm, but that was all booked up so i was looking at an 11pm departure which would put me into ORD at 5am. not a good situation for someone that needed to get home, unpack, repack, shower, and be back at the airport by 7am... i found a helpful gate agent and we looked at flights through DEN, hoping that approach would get me home a little sooner. he and i put together an itinerary that worked, and off to DEN i went. good flight, the plan was working out well... nothing is ever that simple though, and due to a mechanical issue the DEN-ORD segment plane had to be swapped, after everyone was already comfortably on board! although that took a couple extra hours, i'm certainly not complaining, since safety certainly trumps everything.

i wound up getting home around 3am, leaving plenty of turnaround time. before i knew it, 6:30am had rolled around and i was off to ORD to meet up with elena, jeff, and lisa to start a much needed vacation. i'll save those stories for another post.

shot night 5

although the shot night machine reached new heights with SN4, we knew that we had to break even more new ground with SN5. and so not only did we plan "an international affair" this time, we did a little bit more: we registered shotnight.com and built a whole freaking web app. geektastic, i know, but would you expect anything less?!?! before i show you the screnshots of the scoring app, though, here's the recap.

first, let me say that everyone puled their weight. if it hadn't been for our new DQ rule (i.e. "puke and you're done") the results would've turned out completely differently. the top 3 finishers, sarah (14), brian (12), and elena (11) all wound up losing... if you know what i mean... so a big congrats goes to brad, aka "silent stalker" who held his 11 shots down (without any problem) to win. matt, our previous winner, took 2nd place with 10 shots, and jeff and i rounded out the top 3 with 9.

as always, photos are available. now, on to the screenshots.

]]>
We're international, baby!
Quickly see the most important stats
This is where you want to be. Congrats, Brad!
Who's doing what?
What's popular?
Easy on those Jabulls, Jeff
Add new shots
Add a new player (i.e. latecomer)

what's next you ask? only time will tell, but for now plans include finishing up the scoring app and resting up for SN6. i suppose making shot night a worldwide empire is up there on the list, too, so keep an eye out for our clothing and perfume lines. until next time, choose your shot wisely.

server migration underway

fyi, i'm moving photo.stottsan.net to a new server tonight. i disabled logins on the current/old installation so i could copy the database and all static content (currently 497MB of photos). once you see logins enabled again, you'll be on the new server. shouldn't be any issues, but please let me know if you see anything strange...

and to those that have been asking, the redesign/recode of photo.stottsan.net will be happening in the upcoming months. about time to add the new functionality that's been lingering around in development for quite some time, and i know it has been long overdue for a facelift.

update: this site has moved over as well. please let me know if you see any issues, thanks!

give

amazon has made it easy to donate towards the relief effort underway in east africa and south asia following the horrible tsunamis on december 26th. an absolutely staggering 116,000 people are estimated to have lost their lives, and that's just as of this posting... please take a moment, find something you can do without buying in upcoming weeks (a fancy dinner, a round of drinks, a video game, your morning latte) and make your way over there to contribute. feel free to use these badges to help spread awareness, which is oh so difficult during the holidays. thanks for your time.