I wanted to test a homemade green screen that I made, so I put my MS Office 2007 CD-holder on it and took a pic with my Cliq XT. Then, I searched Google images for a replacement background, and chose a photo of a beach. I put both pics on my desktop, then went to YouTube to find a tutorial on how to chroma key in Photoshop CS4. Not only did I find a tutorial video (see below) but, with it coming in at 2 minutes and 35 seconds long, I found a very SHORT one at that… and miracle of miracles, it was easy to understand and follow.

Less than ten minutes later, I’d successfully chroma keyed my first photo. Yay, me!

I combined these two photos…

To get this photo…

Why did I do this? I needed to see if my homemade greenscreen would work, because I’m going to start video blogging again and this time I wanted to have different backdrops behind me to liven things up a bit, at least visually, anyway. I haven’t done a vlog in several months. I hadn’t been feeling well (fibro flare), and I also had to try to find a new place after I decided not to renew my lease in Sandy Springs. By the way, I love living in Midtown!

I’ll be doing a full write up, including pics, of how I made my greenscreen in the next few days. So, stay tuned! In the meantime, if you want to learn how to chroma key using Photoshop CS4, here’s the tutorial video I watched.

Well, today’s the day. It’s 7:30 AM as I type this and although the movers aren’t coming until about 1 PM, I want to get started on the cleaning before getting out to run a few errands. My ears tell me it’s raining pretty steadily outside. Hopefully it will stop or lighten up before the movers get here.

It’s not raining. My ears were hearing my upstairs neighbor’s shower, LOL. They must’ve already been in when I woke up. Ha!

It came down to the wire but, come Saturday, I will be trading in Sandy Springs for Midtown. My new place isn’t as upscale and “new” feeling as where I’ve lived for the last year, but it’s still a better place for me to live. You know what they say: Location, Location, Location!

I’ll be in the heart of Midtown, which has no shortage of things to do, and I’ll just be two blocks from the Midtown MARTA station and three blocks from Publix Supermarket. Another perk is being within – for me – walking distance of 4 ZipCar locations, and a less than 10 minute bus ride from 14 more locations, some having multiple cars “living” at these locations (FYI: ZipCars aren’t merely parked at their locations, they LIVE at them). Grocery shopping just got a lot easier.

I was going to have Aaron’s come move my furniture, and rent a U-Haul cargo van to take my other stuff to the new place, but I ran the numbers… and the base rate, insurance, milage, gas, hand truck rental, and paying my boyfriend’s unemployed brother to load/unload my other stuff (all in boxes) all ended up being within a few dollars of what it would cost to hire a moving company for two hours. So, instead of waiting around in a 4-5 hour afternoon window for Aaron’s to show up, I’ll hire the movers and have everything go in one trip as early in the day as possible.

I paid my deposit earlier in the week, and signed my lease Thursday (wanted to inspect the apt before signing, and it wasn’t yet ready) but couldn’t get the keys. I got a super move-in special where, among other things, I got the remainder of August rent-free. Since September’s rent is not yet due, I thought that I would get the keys upon signing the lease. But, it turns out that I need to pay the first month’s rent, which for me is September, upon move-in. I should’ve been told this in advance, but I didn’t sweat it because I’ll have the money in the morning, and I planned on paying September’s rent early anyway. I almost always pay my rent two weeks early, as soon as my LTD bennies are direct-deposited into my checking account in the middle of each month.

On Saturdays, the leasing office at my new place doesn’t open until 1:00 PM. So, I’ll be taking a money order for September’s rent down there Friday morning (can’t pay the first month with a check), so I can get my keys. Come Saturday, I want to only need to unlock the door and let the movers have at it. I definitely hope to have all my stuff in the apartment by then (not necessarily unpacked, just in the apartment) and be back in Sandy Springs to do a final walk-through. I don’t have a vacuum cleaner, so I’m just going to pay the $10-$15 dollars it costs to have one of the complex’s housekeepers do it. All but the vacuuming will be done when I turn in the keys here.

I have a really busy day ahead of me starting early on Friday, and it’s almost 1:00 AM. Let me drag my sleepy self to the shower and head for bed. I’m medicated, so the shower isn’t going to wake me back up, thank Goodness.

Michelle Obama paid for her Spanish trip expenses out of her own pocket. But, her critics don’t seem to want to acknowledge that before she became First Lady she was a high-powered corporate lawyer in Chicago. Her own income was over $300,000 a year! It totally escapes her critics that she could – and probably did – have savings and other liquid assets, built up over many years of making big money in BigLaw.

Michelle Obama has the personal finances to vacation wherever she wants, as lavishly as she wants. Critics seem to think the Obamas have no right to go and come as they please, or to take vacations and trips just like they do. These critics claim that the reason for their anger is that “taxpayer money” was being misused when Sasha and Michelle flew to Spain in Air Force One.

Well, the last time I checked, President and Mrs. Obama paid taxes just like the rest of us. And by virtue of Sasha and Michelle being members of the First Family, flying commercial was out of the question – the only way for them to get from Point A to Point B is to fly Air Force One or Marine One (the helicopter). So, I guess none of the Obamas are supposed to go anywhere, ever, for leisure time just so the critics won’t be reminded how much their own lives suck. Child, please. Cry me a river, build a bridge, and get the heck over it.

Jealous bastids.

I don’t think ANY wealthy person should have to “tone down” their lifestyle just to keep from offending poor people. It’s their money! They can do (almost) what they want with it, and they don’t need anybody’s approval or permission. Maybe if some of these critics paid more attention to their own lives, they’d be happier people and wouldn’t need to nitpick and find fault in everything someone else does.

I must have needed to get my praise and worship on, because I know I listened to this about 10 times in a row. Sometimes I’ll hear something that on a particular day just ministers to me and stays in my spirit – sometimes for days. I’m here at home by myself listening to this and watching the video, and it’s all I can do to keep from hopping up out of this chair and dancing like David danced all around my house singing this at the top of my lungs. But, err, uh, it’s 4:30 in the morning, so I don’t think my neighbors would appreciate that.

The song is called Highest Praise (aka The Lord is High Above the Heavens), and I don’t know who wrote it or popularized it. The YouTube video below isn’t the best quality, but it’s the only one I could find that I could embed on the blog. You can watch the original at this link for news station KTVU, which streamed the service from its website.

The performance was at the memorial service for Bishop Walter Hawkins. The choir is the choir for Bishop Hawkins’ Love Center Church, and the gentleman leading the song is the Minister of Music for the Love Center Church. There are other versions out there in videoland, but I like this one. This man SANG this song, y’all hear me!?

So, yeah… that’s where I’m headed. I’ve been without health coverage since Dec 1, 2009 when my COBRA premium went back up to full price. The politicians – who all have GREAT health insurance – took their time extending the subsidy, and by the time everything was signed off on, it was too late. Some might say I should’ve paid the high premium, and after the subsidy extension passed let the overage be applied to future months. That could’ve worked… had I had the almost $500 premium. Sorry, I don’t have a money tree growing in my proverbial (and fictional) back yard.

So, in order to get into the federal pre-existing health conditions insurance pools, a person has to have not had health insurance for at least 6 months, and must have an insurance denial letter dated within the 6 months prior to the application date. I met the first condition but not the second, so I had to apply for a policy and be rejected. No problem; I have Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (among other things it caused). That makes me an auto-reject.

So, I surfed myself on over to Aetna’s website and spent several HOURS completely, and truthfully, filling out the application. I gave my payment information (unlike UnitedHealthcare, they don’t actually take your money until you are approved for a policy), and awaited a decision.

It didn’t even take 48 hours. The next day, I logged in to check my application status, and there it was as plain as day…

Ironically, while my greenbacks were no good to Aetna for a health insurance policy, they’re good enough for the discount drug, vision, and dental card program they tried to sell me. I wouldn’t sign up for that program, even if it was the best one on the market, just on general principle (GP). If I’m not good enough for them one way, I’m not good enough for them another way. Aetna can kiss my grits.

So… how do you think that’s going to work out for you on Judgment Day? I’m just sayin…

If health care isn’t a right, then whatever laws that say emergency care must be provided in the ER need to be repealed. Let’s just go all the way with it, then. Let’s have everyone fend for themselves, and to hell with compassion or helping those less fortunate. If you can’t afford health care then you have the RIGHT to die and be cremated on the cheap, instead of buried, with the cost of cremation coming out of an Indigent Cremation Fund that everyone pays a nominal flat fee into every year. Your relatives can dig a hole in the backyard and bury your urn there, right next to beloved Fido, if they want.

After all, God didn’t bless any of us with anything, or make it possible for us to have what we have. We did it ALL on our own and by ourselves. God who? Let’s just all stop pretending. Why even FAKE anymore? I mean, really, it’s time to end the charade. We have become our own Gods (yes, with the capital G), and there is not enough room for us and him, so he has to go. Oh, wait, he’s already gone. We just need to stop pretending he’s still here, still relevant, and still matters.

I mean, since he didn’t, and never has, done anything for us anyway, why keep him around? After all, we worked for our money and why should we have to give it away in tithes and offering for a building we only use once a week, if that? If our hurting and sick neighbor who we CAN see doesn’t deserve any of our largesse, then why should we give anything to some “being” – a perfect, and perfectly healthy one at that – we’ve never seen? Like, what kind of sense does that make?

So, let’s just cut the crap and get real. Anything that’s not a right needs to be eliminated right now, so we all can keep as much of our hard earned money in our pockets as possible. Poor, sick people? Eh well. They’ll die off sooner or later, and just could be better off for it. Right?

/sarcasm

My latest acquisition is a low budget, wide-angle manual focus prime lens. The Pentax Takumar Bayonet 28mm f2.8 lens is a member of Pentax’s low budget Takumar Bayonet line of lenses, and debuted in 1984. Optically it’s identical to it’s older, and more expensive, brothers in the Pentax M and A lines, and it’s even built to the same high mechanical standards.

But, yet, it’s very much an underdog because, as a low budget lens, it lacks the Super-Multi-Coating (SMC) that is found in Pentax’s higher end lenses. The lens is coated, but the lack of SMC makes it prone to flaring, among other things. But, used within its limitations, this lens can turn out some great results.

Example 1. This photo is straight out of the photographer’s camera. Not bad. All I did was crop out a cloud and some tree leaves on the sides.

Example 2. The same photo after a super quick edit in Photoshop. I decreased the exposure and increased the contrast both a smidgen, just enough to make the colors pop a little.

Not bad at all for a 26 year old underdog “budget” lens, huh? To see more pictures taken with this lens, check out this PBase photo gallery that I found.

Time is winding down, and I only have about a month to go before my lease ends. As much as I like my apartment and the area it’s in, I decided not to renew my lease here. Long story short, I haven’t had a car in over a year, so I depend on public transportation. The public transit system here, called MARTA, had to take some drastic measures to stay within budget for their next fiscal year, which starts in the fall. They eliminated 40 bus routes, and made a lot of changes to almost all of the remaining routes.

There are two buses that come where I live. One was eliminated. The other was spared, but it’s only a M-F peak hour route, anyway. It doesn’t run from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and the last bus leaves its bay at the MARTA station at 6:40 p.m. Not very useful. I thought about staying put and taking more cabs, but the county has set the minimum fare at $6. That could get expensive fast. So, once again, I’m moving. And, I am not happy about it.

Dealing with public transportation is becoming too much of a hassle. I can’t, and won’t, move every time MARTA decides to cut a route. The best thing for me to do is to get another car, but in order to make that work, I need to find a cheaper apartment. When I say cheaper, I mean a lot cheaper. As in paying no more than $475 a month for rent. There are complexes in the Atlanta metro with rent that cheap, but they’re in very bad areas.

So, I’m thinking about moving to one of the small towns, or smaller cities, in North/Northwest/Northeast Georgia or upstate South Carolina where decent apartments in safe areas can be rented for what I need to pay. I’d live there for the 18-24 months it would take to pay off the used car I’d buy. These smaller towns and cities may not be very happening places but, truthfully, besides my photography hobby and going to an occasional movie, I don’t do much of anything anyway. Once the car is paid off, I’ll be free to move back to the big city and go back to paying big city rent.

My first serious attempt at shooting fireworks, during a pre-4th celebration on June 26th, are in a post called SummerFest on the Green Fireworks. Comparing this set to the last set, I think I show definite improvement. Things didn’t go according to plan, but I was able to improvise and get decent results. So, what didn’t go according to plan?

Well, this time I had my complete tripod… but I forgot to bring the remote control for my camera. I put the camera on the tripod anyway, because I figured that even if I did have to manually press the shutter-release button, there would still be less camera shake than if I hand-held the camera to take the shots.

All things considered, I think the results are okay. My goal for this set of pics was to improve over the last set, and I did. So, I guess I can say mission accomplished. Here are my favorite five pics from the 4th of July. Don’t forget that you have to click on the pics to see them full-sized.