Anyway, taking into consideration that February’s main events were comprised of Valentine’s Day and Presidents Day, I decided this month’s challenge would revolve around food (no, not for Presidents Day). Specifically, food photography has always interested me. So I worked to explore how to take good shots of food.

Valentine's Wine

The first thing I noticed was that shooting food was very similar to shooting people. You wanted to highlight the subject and keep the background out of focus. For that reason, I decided to stick to my 50mm f/1.8 lens: very small depth of field andthe ability to shoot in low light.

Soy Sauce

I soon realized that, like all photography, having the right light really was the key here. And having low light was a huge disadvantage. The problem, of course, is that I’m at work during most of the day and there isn’t much light when I get home. Considering I don’t have much artificial light in the apartment, I decided it was time to start using my flash more often.

To counteract the harsh shadows and shine from shots taken with the flash, I opted for a DIY style Chinese food take-out carton diffuser. I got a frosted carton from The Container Store for a couple bucks and strapped it to my flash. A quick test:

Flash - No Diffuser

Flash - With Diffuser

Even subtly, the diffuser made a difference. I learned quickly, however, that I simply could not make the flash work to my advantage.

Unattractive Meatloaf, Even With Diffuser

So I stuck to natural and/or [artificial] room lighting.

Saturday Morning Tea

All in all, I learned a few things here. First off, natural light is always best. Hands down. Secondly, I need to work harder on making my flash work for me. I know there is a bit of math involved here, but I can never remember or figure it out, so I always give it up and leave it at home. I’d like to work past that.

Most importantly, however, I reaffirmed that I love my roommate’s cooking.

Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed Peppers

Butternut Squash Gnocchi

About 10 years ago I wrote a program in REALbasic that simply displayed the same phrase in each of your installed/active fonts. The purpose was to quickly see what your options were when it came to font choice. I uploaded the software to various freeware/shareware sites and it was downloaded a few thousand times. It was also twice featured on the CD included with MacAddict magazine.

FontTasteTester 1.0

Right before the new year I received an email from a past user forwarded to me from my father:

I tried again today to see if FTT had leapt the Mac OSX gap, or failing that, whether there was anytrhing similarly easy and rational for trying phrases and then concentrating purely on their visual effect. I had to upgrade to OSX about a year ago and I really miss that facility and wish I had written fan-mail at the time.

Nothing comes near FTT, even the Linotype widget with its many bells and whistles.

Thank you for your ingenuity and generosity…

So I decided that I would challenge myself to redevelop this thing. I also decided that, as part of my January Self-Improvement challenge I would try to develop something for a platform for which I had never written before. While Apple’s Mac OS X Dashboard is technically a webpage in a widget, this was still a new experience. I used Apple’s free Dashcode for development.

As such, I present Font Taste Tester 1.0b3 for Mac OS X Dashboard. It’s definitely still a beta, as I haven’t done extensive testing and it’s my first foray into Dashboard. Anyway – if you give it a try and have comments, please don’t hesitate to send them my way.

This officially closes out my January Self-Improvement challenge. Look for a February Self-Indulgence intro/update soon.

The Food

It’s not so much a diet. I don’t do [or need] those. It’s more a welcome break in the old routine…after an unwelcome break in the old routine. The holidays always throw me off pretty well, and I come out of December hurting. So the roommate and I have started cooking at home more, we’ve gone to the pantry more often, and I’ve been partaking in my annual alcohol-free-January ritual.

The Homestead

I hinted at this in my last Self-Improvement post. Our apartment is freezing. We can’t seem to plug all the drafts in the windows and doors. We’ve taped up as many gaps as we can find, but we’re still hurting on this. It doesn’t help that we get wind from the Charles and the harbor hitting us at all times. My only hope is that that same wind will replace any A/C useage we might need in the Summer, and we’ll see some savings there.

The Work

Will hopefully be posting the result of some toiling later this month. The challenge I gave myself was to develop for a new platform. Nothing fancy, but you’ll see.

I welcome recommendations as well as any updates on your 2009 status.

Heading off to DC for a couple days. There’s something big going on down there, and a friend and I figured we’d give it a shot. Updates upon my return.

“No great improvements in the lot of mankind are possible until a great change takes place in the fundamental constitution of their modes of thought.” – John Stuart Mill

Good thing I’m not trying to improve mankind– just myself. And I’m also not going for great change here– just minor improvements. But the point is still well taken. While putting together an intense new gym plan or cutting out fried foods may seem appropriately ambitious (and unrealistic), it’s those underlying aspects of my life that deserve the most attention.

Is there any way I can make my home a more comfortable place– so that when I’m away from the office, I can really relax? Maybe I need an outlet for the kinds of projects that I want to be doing– so there’s a complement to my work.

We’ll see what the first month of 2009 brings. I’ve got some plans for the site, some plans for travel, and some plans for personal projects outside the office. Keep your browsers tuned for proper documentation.

Oh – and a happy new year to you. Got any good resolutions?