Lolrus.org

What's new?

Lots.  Since the last time I posted, I got a full-time job, moved to California with a bunch of CSHers, and still haven't graduated.

I started at a company called Truviso in April.  Basically, we have a product based off of PostgreSQL that allows our software to process copious amounts of aggregate data on the fly and have it ready when you need it.  I'm working on the engine in C and it's good times.  It's so nice not having to deal with writing web apps or desktop apps for once.  I really like working for a smallish start-up on a product I believe in.  It's also nice living a mile away from work.

I'm also working on an independent study to implement HDR tone mapping in Quartz composer (it uses GLSL).  It's an implementation of iCAM06.  It's pretty fun when Quartz doesn't crash.  HDR imaging is pretty awesome and the results it produces are great.  Doing it in Quartz composer/GLSL is pretty awesome because it offloads the processing onto the GPU so you can play around with it realtime.  It also allows you to visualize the whole flow of the image easily.

Speaking of imaging, I'm pretty uninspired as far as photography.  I haven't really shot anything meaningful since '06 in the desert.  I'm not sure if it's lack of time, ambition, or whatnot.  Perhaps I was just jaded in the desert and nothing will compare as far as natural beauty goes.  I need to go back.  I mean the last time I took some photos that were even acceptable to me was about 6 months ago in Germany.  And that happened once.  I've taken about 300 digital photos in the last year.  Shot maybe 1 or 2 rolls of 120 (and didn't even get aroudn to processing them).  Maybe 3 sheets of 4x5s too (and haven't processed them either).  Compare that to my 3 weeks in the desert.  I shot over 1500 digital photos, 20 or so rolls of 120, 50+ sheets of 4x5, and I loved doing it.  I don't know what happened.

If I told myself I was going to shoot some 4x5s this weekend I would probably just walk around with 20lbs of gear for 3 hours, and take maybe 1 or 2 shots so I didn't feel like a complete waste of time then go home.  I'd probably never get around to processing the film.  Maybe I need to fidn interest in some other subject matters, or maybe I just need a new thing to do.

Sorry for the rant.  Anyways I'll post links to the HDR mapping stuff once I get it working.