Sukosaki » General

Photography: A New Hobby Of Mine

sukosaki — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 20:00:19 +0000

Can photography be a hobby? Of course it can, and over the last 6-8 months it has really started to take up some of my day and brain power. Before I purchased my new Canon EOS Rebel T2i, I had just a regular Kodak EasyShare “point and shoot” camera. That camera was nice and I did get some shots that made me smile, but I wanted more control over my pictures and the settings on my camera. That is why I finally got a DSLR.

Now that I have a “beginners” DSLR and more control over my pictures, I cannot put the thing down. Every single thing that I see creates a picture in my head and if I do not have my camera with me, I sometimes try to picture how it would turn out in my head. I have been reading about every little thing that I could possibly want/need to know about how to take the perfect shot.

I have also come to the realization that I would like to try and sell prints of photos that I think other people would buy. Pouring over 100′s of photos online and studying each of their qualities, I start to see that I am going to get a lot better if I actually want someone to purchase prints from me. But, since this is a hobby and not a business, I don’t feel compelled to put 100% of my time into, just yet.

In the meantime, I might post a picture or two here on my blog to see what others think about it and maybe learn a thing or two along the way. If you happen along a couple of images that I posted, please feel free to comment, I hope you enjoy what you see!

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Still Waiting For Spring

sukosaki — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 14:56:45 +0000

As you know, I live in the Midwest. The summers are scorchers and the winters last waaaay too long. Well, now that we have been teased about 4 times with spring like temps and weather, I am really, really getting impatient. I will wait, because what else can a person do? Is there a way that I could speed up mother nature and tell her to get her shit straight?

Spring in the midwest means baseball, gardening, walks, bonfires and even better, taking pictures OUTSIDE the house. I am very much into taking pictures and you might have seen a couple posted here or there, but now I have the camera I’ve always wanted and cannot wait to use it to the best of my ability.

My brand new Canon EOS Rebel T2i is very much a sweet piece of gadgetry and I did more than enough research before purchasing it. I know for sure that it’s at least better than my 14MP point and shoot that I picked up at WalMart on clearance.

So many more options, minus the optical zoom of course, and many features to mess with just to get that perfect picture. The feature I have used the most often so far was the 1/4000 second shutter speed. I use that to capture life at a split, and I mean split, second. It allows me to take pictures of things like water dripping or birds landing on a bird feeder and catch just that split second of life. Love it!

is it Spring yet?

So, as I wait for Spring some more, I am trying to keep my blog up to date because once the weather is favorable around here, I will be outside a lot more! Enjoy!

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How to Break the Mountain Dew Addiction – Part III

sukosaki — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 14:54:45 +0000

I have written two posts (part one here & part two here) regarding this topic already and I just thought about a couple of things and wanted to add to the series. Breaking the addiction to Mountain Dew is NOT easy, by any means. I have gone without it for a couple of days and find the caffine headache hard enough to handle.

The other day, I was putting a lemon wedge into my water bottle before going on a walk. We all know that it is refreshing to taste that bit of lemon in your water. As soon as I took the first full drink of the water, I felt like it didn’t taste that different from Mountain Dew.

I know that Mountain Dew is a combination of a lot of different things. but I thought I would take that idea and put a shot of lemon juice or two right into a Mountain Dew bottle that has water in it. I started to think that it was more mental than anything else. The Mountain Dew bottle in my hand was like a straw in the mouth of someone trying to quit smoking.

At first, I would even try to skip Mountain Dew 100%, but maybe slide the water bottle idea in for every other soda you drink. You will see the difference immediately and realize that you are actually not craving the Mountain Dew as much. Plus it doesn’t hurt to have more liquids in your body other than soda.

Let me know how it goes for you, comment below. If you know anyone else that might benefit from this post, go ahead and send it to them via Twitter.

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Happy Mother’s Day

Mike — Sat, 08 May 2010 16:45:24 +0000

This isn’t your typical mother’s day blog entry. I stand in the position to never say that to my mother again. Every year this day comes along and I have only memories to dwell on and the thought of what, not only my life, but the lives of my children would be like if my mother was still alive. Every March my heart gets heavy as April 1 is the day she died and the rest of April leading up to Mother’s Day is always a hard time of the year. Don’t get me wrong, it gets easier and I have properly grieved for her and healed from the tragedy but it’s still hard to believe she’s gone.

I was once told by my Mother In-Law, of all people, that “Death is the only inevitable thing in life but it’s the only thing that no human can prepare themselves for.” How can the one thing in this life that’s so “For Sure” be so hard to “Accept”? I don’t have the answer for that. Another interesting quote that I think about from time to time was told to me by an old friend. It goes like this; “When we are born, we are the ones crying and everyone else is smiling, when we die, everyone else cries while we are the ones smiling.” I lean on that quote, knowing my Mother is in Heaven smiling, even though I may be crying.

I am no stranger to death like many others in this life. I have seen the passing of both of my grandpas, my mother, and most recently my grandma. I was sitting next to her when she passed. I’ve had plenty of time to think about death and why we hurt so much as the loved ones that are left behind. The answer to that is simple. God has put us on this Earth to love everyone as His Son once did. God is Love and he wired each and everyone of us to love. Love is what makes it hurt so much but in the bittersweetness of it all it’s a good thing. We grieve, we cry, we get mad even, but we loved and that’s the greatest thing we can do in life.

So with that being said, I recommend on this day and everyday and every chance you get to tell your mother just how much she means to you, even if it’s a simple “I Love You”. You’d be surprised how much that means to your mom. I remember my mother saying it to me everyday until she passed which at that time, 4 years ago, I was 28. Twenty eight years of saying it to me and me saying it back is something worth holding onto. So make this Mother’s Day something special and all the days after.

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RD2010 Trojan Virus Fix Not Available Yet, Try Avast Or..

sukosaki — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:53:49 +0000

I am not sure if you have read about the “new” Trojan virus, or worm, that is flying around the internet just like all the

others. It’s called “RD2010″ and it basically works similar to the “reader_s.exe” virus from last year. You computer is most likely slow as mollasses in winter and you might have a “security” popup every now and again, trying to sell you a

product that will remove “viruses” from your computer.

I had a client come to me about a popup that occured out of the blue and told him of a virus threat that was found on his computer, “click here to remove”, yada, yada, yada. The first thing I remembered was battling the reader_s.exe last year to the tune of 4 re-formats of the old harddrive. Since it seemed to be working out the same way, I mentioned not to do anything, but to my dismay, he had already gone and paid for a program to help remove the RD2010 Trojan.

I told him that a free program might take care of the Trojan and always to try those first, no

matter how many popups you get. I went ahead and checked out his anti-virus, which was Avast, and the program that he purchase out of haste. Both should have caught this, but I am wondering if Avast was effected by the Trojan as so many anti-virus programs are. Usually an anti-virus program gets disabled and the Trojan dances around your computer with joy like Michael Jackson at the Super Bowl.

The Fix! (always in SAFE MODE)

Once I got around to thinking straight about this virus, I wanted to try some of the free products that I know have worked for me in the past. Since my client has already been paying out for products, I wanted to ease that pain a little bit. The first one that I could think of trying was MalwareBytes. They have a FREE version at www.malwarebytes.org and a pay version as well. Knowing the free version has worked, I tried that first.

The quick scan is all but that, although it is very thorough. The scan took about 45 minutes or so and revealed all kinds of tracking cookies, small threat stuff AND the RD2010 virus. Perfect, now that I know it found the virus, it was time to remove it and because the program is free I knew that I was going to be able to remove without paying any additional money to do so.

When all is said and done, the virus seemed to be taken care of. This RD2010 isn’t a high level threat and actually isn’t all that bothersome, but it does run high on the processes list when it’s active. It is still quite important to get rid of it as soon as possible.

If you have gotten this virus, please tell us below if you need help, I can do my best via comments or email. Good luck!

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DriveThruDiet.com Is Not a Weight Loss Program – Says Taco Bell

sukosaki — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 03:24:38 +0000

I just watched one of the “best” commercials I have ever seen by Taco Bell. I usually don’t watch commercials, because I have a lovely DVR system that let’s me skip them Anywho, the commercial comes on and there is this attractive brunette talking about how she has lost weight by changing the intake of calories per day. To help with the situation she has been switching her regular fast food meals to those from the Taco Bell Fresco menu.

Yes. Taco Bell has menu items that will allow you to shave some of the fat from your diet 9 fat grams at a time. Of course, the 9 grams is the highest. They can do this by skipping the sour cream and switching to a “healthier” cheese. The regular fans of Taco Bell would think the Fresco items taste like crap, but those that eat “real” food and stay healthy, are used to food with less sodium and other “taste enhancers” included.

I think it’s a great way to promote the menu items, but is Taco Bell under the impression they can hold water to the Subway Diet? I like Taco Bell ocassionally, but I hope they aren’t going to be spending all kinds of money with the hopes of a “Jared” for Taco Bell.

During the commercial “the results are not typical” comes out and it’s not just small, white text hidden at the bottom of the screen. The spokes model actually says the words. That makes it quite clear that you are NOT going to lose weight by switching to that menu, but you might be a tad more healthy that eating at McDonald’s everyday.

Maybe it’s not totally a bad thing, I mean how many commercials have you seen where McDonalds is promoting a healthier option?

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How to Break the Mountain Dew Addiction Part II

sukosaki — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:04:28 +0000

So, if you haven’t read already, I sort of have an addiction to Mountain Dew. I am not sure when it started, or why, for that matter, but it has had a strong hold on me for about 2-3 years. It may have been when I worked the night shift at my current job and I thought the Mountain Dew was like my “coffee”.

Nonetheless, I am still some what addicted to the soda. When I say addicted, I mean that if there is a Mountain Dew anywhere in the house and I want a soda, the Mountain Dew goes down the hatch before any other liquid. Is that considered an addiction?

Maybe it is. BUT it has sort of subsided and when I say that I mean that if there is NO Mountain Dew in the house, I am NOT running out to the store to buy some, just to have it. I think I am making a couple of steps in the right direction with this addiction and it really is just about will power and trying new things.

One thing that I have been trying to do is drink more water. My body feels better and I don’t have these sugar fueled energy swings all day. Also, I have been trying to drink OTHER sodas or juices to get used to any other taste. I think that if I get used to having another taste in my mouth, I will stop drinking Mountain Dew, so often.

Sukosaki » General

Photography: A New Hobby Of Mine

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Still Waiting For Spring

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How to Break the Mountain Dew Addiction – Part III

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Happy Mother’s Day

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RD2010 Trojan Virus Fix Not Available Yet, Try Avast Or..

The Fix! (always in SAFE MODE)

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a1 books Coupon

DirectoryPress – WordPress Theme

ClassifiedsTheme – WordPress Theme

DriveThruDiet.com Is Not a Weight Loss Program – Says Taco Bell

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How to Break the Mountain Dew Addiction Part II

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