Nodnarb.Net

Team Fortress 2 Engineer Halloween Costume

brandon — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:17:33 -0600

Halloween is, perhaps, one of my favorite holidays of all time. Having a late October birthday, many of my childhood birthday parties were Halloween-themed. Now that Im all grown up, its great that people in their 20s, 30s and beyond can still celebrate this time of year costumed, albeit a very different kind of party from when I was a kid.

The question Whats my costume this year? is something I ask myself as each October approaches. Ill re-use a costume if attending different Halloween gatherings than the previous year, but I like to mix it up a bit if Ill be seeing the same friends as before. Rather than buy a costume for 2009, I thought it would be fun to either make something or use things I already had. No slutty nurse for me this year!

The inspiration for this years attire came from one of my all-time favorite video game, Team Fortress 2. Team Fortress 2 (or TF2 as its commonly known) is a first-person shooter game available for Sony Playstation 3, Microsoft XBox 360 and PC. Trust me, though, youll get the most enjoyment out of it on a PC. For those of you not in the know, TF2 is a team-based (duh!) online multiplayer game where the character you choose has specific roles and abilities that serves as part of a team of several other players, which opposes a team of other similar characters. Teams are differentiated by wearing either red or blue and consist of real-life fellow human-player geeks at computers. No bots, or computer controlled players, are allowed. I could go on, but you should read more here.

My costume for this year was the TF2 Engineer (aka Engi). I wanted to do this last year but already had a costume by the time I thought of it. You can find many other examples of TF2 costumes by searching Google. I couldnt find many blog posts on how people created their TF2 costumes, so I thought Id put this out there for you.

Ill be up front with you. This crap was expensive! Approximately $200 was spent this season on my Halloween ware. If youre shocked by this, pause here, re-read the little blub under the big Nodnarb.Net at the top of this site, and return.

The seemingly ridiculous-for-a-Halloween-costume cost was planned for and even had a purpose! My goal was to buy items that were 1) real and 2) re-usable in everyday life. I do a lot of handiwork around the house and have been wanting some of these items (for real!) for a while. A few of these items are a stretch for point No. 2, but, otherwise, my goals were met. Allow me to tell you about it

The yellow hard hat and brazing goggles were bought from Amazon.com for about $8 and $8.25. These are the items that fall into the more likely than not to be used at some near point in the future, probably category. If I should find myself needing to enter a construction site or doing a little gas welding, Ill be covered. The goggles may even come in handy when using my Dremel tool. Goals one and two have been met, but just barely!

The stubble was 100% grown by me for absolutely free.

The red shirt was on sale at Kohls for about $12 and the patches were made from felt fabric bought at Michaels for about $2. Many special thanks to my wonderful girlfriend for designing the wrench logo in Illustrator, making the patches, attaching them to the shirt (via safety pins) and finding the majority of this stuff to begin with. The Engis sleeves are rolled up, you know, for safety. You learned about this in middle school shop class, unless you took home ec.

The overalls are Carhartt dark brown bib/unlined, purchased from Getzs.com for about $64 because they were in stock, the right color and Id receive them by Halloween. This pair of overalls definitely meets goal two. Theyre rugged and warm, which will be perfect for shoveling snow in the near future. A party guest even complimented me on them and told me theyre a great brand.

The gloves were about $3 (Engi only wears the right one) and the pipe wrench was about $20 from Lowes. Also from Lowes were the knee pads ($10) and a 15-foot yellow extension cord ($15). The tool belt was about $50. I already had the boots, which are Red Wings.

So thats it! Now you can geek out and make your own next year. Final thoughts:

The best parts about the costume were the ability to easily store multiple beverages in the tool belt and use the pipe wrench as a real-mans bottle opener.

The worst part was getting confused for another well-known engineer type by the non-gamer community or someone else entirelyunrelated.

[PicasaAlbum:Halloween2009]

Man v. Food : The Follow-up

brandon — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:24:00 -0600

In my last post, I told you about being contacted by Room214.com for a short spot on the Blahg about the Travel Channel?s "Man v. Food"episode featuring some of Springfield?s favorite eateries. I was promised a "Man v. Food" T-shirt for spreading the word. Well, it arrived! You can see me, to the right, using it to intimidate my fridge.

We left for vacation they day after the episode aired and got around to watching it a few days after we got back, as part of our post-vacation recovery. It?s funny to see your town on a national television show. Being both the capitol of Illinois and the hometown of Abe Lincoln, Springfield gets its fair share of airtime on various shows, so seeing Springfield on TV is nothing new. Seeing Springfield on ?Man v. Food? was different, though, because it was about places I?ve been to and enjoyed with friends, rather than a museum or historical site (I enjoy those too, by the way).

Adam?s first stop was the Cozy Dog Drive-In, mythical (and disputed) birthplace of the corn dog. Cozy dog, I tend to forget about you, because you?re off my regular path. You can thank ?Man v. Food? for reminding me of how great your corn dogs and burgers are. It was interesting to learn about the invention of the patented cozy dog food handler (a.k.a. the semi-automatic cozy dog maker), created by Ed Waldmire, the original owner of the Cozy Dog. The business is still in the family, too, which is great to see.

Next was D?Arcy?s Pint, which is a favorite of mine. Here, the show featured the horseshoe. A horseshoe, for you outsiders, is a piece of bread ? generally Texas toast ? on a plate and topped with your choice of meat. Next, golden French fries are piled high. Finally, the ENTIRE THING is topped with a gooey, irresistible cheese sauce. The cheese sauce is what sets D?Arcy?s shoes apart from many of the other horseshoes in town. ?Man v. Food? featured the hamburger shoe. Personally, I think Adam would have enjoyed the buffalo chicken shoe more. I was a little surprised, in fact, to learn the hamburger shoe is the best seller. I make my way to D?Arcy?s every few weeks. I don?t get a horseshoe every time, however, for two main reasons. The first is that D?Arcy?s has many other wonderful things to dine on besides cheese-covered fries, bread and meat. The second reason is I don?t want to die. Great tasting food is always terrible for you, and the horseshoe is no exception. If you visit Springfield and dare to try this delicacy, start off with the ponyshoe which, as the name implies, is a smaller version. This is generally what I get, because being taken out of a restaurant in a wheelbarrow is embarrassing. Have your first one at D?Arcy?s but be prepared to wait for a table during dinner hours. A friend of mine even started a D?Arcy?s Pint Fan Club Facebook page, so join up!

Lastly, Adam visited Joe Rogers Chili Parlor on Ninth Street. The second half of the show took place here because Adam?s challenge was to top the record-setting score of downing five bowls of Joe Rogers ?Firebrand? chili. I?ve had Firebrand, too. Yep, it?s hot! I remember this used to be called something like the J.R. Special, but it was re-labeled Firebrand a few years ago. I don?t know the entire story behind it, so if you do, please leave a comment!

The Joe Rogers portion of the show starts off with a lesson on how they make the chili at Joe?s. It was neat to see behind the scenes. Afterward, Adam works the crowd a bit before the big challenge. The woman whom he convinces to try a spoonful of Firebrand is the wife of one of my co-workers. I lol?d hard at her reaction.

Adam is good at hamming up the situation and does it in an entertaining way. During the Firebrand challenge, I can only imagine the pain as he?s downing the bowls. He starts to suffer early on, but I think he?s really serious about it around bowl three. He is a professional eater of hot and spicy food and probably has a bit higher tolerance than us mere mortals. One bowl is enough for me. A bowl full is a lot of chili and I don?t think I could fit more than one. Sadly, he couldn?t beat the record of five bowls of Firebrand. He did tie, however, so congrats to him!

Joe Rogers has much more than just incredibly hot chili. You can get several levels of spice and I guarantee you?ll find one to your liking. You can also get chili dogs, tamales and a few other items. Bring cash on your trip to Joe Rogers because they don?t take plastic. They are open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Saturday.

Man v. Food v. Something to Chew On

brandon — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:40:10 -0600

A few months ago, you may have heard of or read some of the local buzz about the Travel Channel's Man v. Food episode shot here, in our very own Springfield, Ill.

Filmed in July, the episode will air at 9 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7, on channel 62 (Springfield/Comcast). The host, Adam Richman, will be chugging corn dogs at the Cozy Dog Drive-In, hammering down horseshoes at D'Arcy's Pint (join the group!), and feasting on ~~five~~ six bowls (maybe!) of Firebrand chili at Joe Roger's Chili Parlor. I've heard of the show, but haven't watched it before. My TiVo is ready to go, so I'm all set.

I'm writing about this not just to tell you about a show you may or may not have already planned on watching. There is another reason, and it has to do with how companies are either embracing or shunning online social media.

I received an e-mail today from someone at Room214.com asking if I would post some information about the upcoming show here, on the blog. Room214, as it says in big letters on their site, is a social media agency. After a few minutes of clicking around their site, it seems they are an ad agency who draws in business for their clients by leveraging the almost countless supply of bloggers, Twitterers, Facebookers, etc. to spread the word in exchange for a little something. I was offered a Man v. Food T-shirt. Why me? Well, this blahg of mine says Springfield, Ill., all over it. I would imagine drumming up hometown excitement for a show or an event is part of what they do.

I'm posting this because I think it's interesting to see how individuals and corporations are either interacting with or reacting to the Internet. There are so many headlines these days of some company issuing C&D (cease and desist) letters (or worse) to other companies or individuals for doing something they didn't like online. I won't go into details or give case examples because you most likely already know what I'm talking about. These seem to end in online backlash and bad press for the bully-company. On the other hand, there are cases, such as this, where non-traditional approaches are being taken to advertising and human interaction. Companies are actually asking us to talk about them, post their content (mileage varies heavily in this aspect), remix or parody their content, and a slew of other things those companies I mentioned earlier would have your head for. I can imagine the old-school corporate types having their doubts about following this path. As a blogger, however, I can tell them it's welcomed and appreciated. Just don't screw it up for yourselves by pulling a 180 in the future. I know this is nothing new, but we're still at a point where the negative experiences with issues such as this are still outnumbering the positive ones.

As for Room214, I did a little research on them before deciding to post this. The e-mail was entirely out of the blue, after all, so I wanted to know a bit more about the company. It turns out Room214 had a little online snafu of its own not quite a year ago. Search for Room214 online to find out more, but to summarize, there was a Twitter incident brought to the masses in large part by Kevin Rose involving the user twitter.com/room214 and Room214.com. Details are a little sketchy with the passage of time, but, apparently, this Twitter user was fearing the loss of his account to Room214.com. A co-founder of Room214.com responded - see the comments on the site - (video here, more here) and apologized for what became a mess out of a misunderstanding. Kudos to Room214.com for handling it the right way. Just for that, I'll gladly post what you sent me about Man v. Food (P.S., size XL please )

What is Travel Channel's Man v. Food?
Host Adam Richman sets out to travel the country in search of the best places to do some serious indulging. Adam's quest brings him to some of the greatest traditional food the nation can serve up, and he takes on some epic food challenges along the way. Watch the series to find out who wins when Man takes on Food.

Springfield Episode Details
Adam's first stop in Springfield is to Cozy Dog Drive-In, which is a historical diner on iconic Route 66. This place is literally the "home of the corn dog" as rumor has it they invented this tasty batter-covered hot dog. Adam gets to see the homemade invention the restaurant still uses to fry 'em up. The diner serves up over 500 cozy dogs every day and they look delicious!

Next up Adam visits D'Arcy's Pint for a Springfield specialty: the horseshoe. What the heck is a horseshoe? Only one of the best hangover foods around! It's an open-faced sandwich made with Texas toast, your favorite meat (hamburger is the most popular), a mound of crinkle fries, and homemade cheese sauce. D'Arcy's makes over 700 horseshoes a day in over 500 variations!

For the main challenge, Adam hits up Joe Rogers Chili Parlor to try the Firebrand Chili Challenge. This extra hot chili is 9x hotter than the normal chili they serve. Tens of thousands have tried to eat it, but only 2,000 have succeeded in finishing one bowl. Adam is upping the ante by trying to beat the current record of 5 bowls of this fire-hot food. Will he do it?

Tune-in Wednesday at 10 E/P to find out! In the meantime, check out this sneak peek video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AebN1VFBGVI

As far as these restaurants go, I've been to them all many times and love each one. After moving to Central Illinois, I was amazed that a meal like the horseshoe was not only socially acceptable but also loved. D'Arcy's 'shoes quickly made a believer out of me. Do your heart a favor, though, and go for the ponyshoe, the smaller version. I don't get out to the Cozy Dog much, but if you go there, try other things on their menu, too, instead of stuffing yourself entirely with delicious corn dogs. Their burgers are great. Lastly, I've had bowls of Firebrand (formerly "JR Special" . I don't know the story of that) many times, but not five bowls all at once. I just don't think I have the capacity. One bowl fills me up.

The Washington Park Project - Intro

brandon — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:43:43 -0600

Most Springfielders are familiar with Washington Park, one of the city's most popular parks.

I first learned of the park in the spring of 2003, shortly after I moved to Springfield. Before coming to Central Illinois, I really hadn't been much of a park person. Other places I lived had parks, and I went to them occasionally for events, etc., but never just to enjoy the weather, the scenery, or to exercise. As the new guy in town, without any relatives or past friends close by, I became open to trying new things. Getting out to the park for a few laps after work and on the weekends became a new pastime.

Having lived here for several years now, my relationship with Washington Park has been on the outs. I've found many other things to fill my free time since then. I was recently re-acquainted with my old friend, however, with the purchase of a new DSLR camera earlier this year.

The park makes for an excellent place to practice photography. It's large, there are tons of plant life (obviously), park animals are everywhere, and there's the occasional large event. I don't take pictures of random strangers, though, because that just feels creepy . ducks and squirrels never seem to mind.

Where is all this leading, you may wonder? I was trying out some new digital camera toys in the park last month and noticed the first signs of fall. Some of the trees in the park already began to change from green to autumn colors. There aren't a lot of trees in my neighborhood, so it didn't really hit me summer was coming to an end until that time. I sat on a bench, snapping a photo of the Thomas Rees Carillon (pictured above), when I thought it would be neat to take the same photo of a spot in the park each week for a few months, detailing the gradual change from summer to winter.

I wouldn't doubt something like this has been done before in this very same park, but I wanted to try it myself. My plan is to take the same shot of the Carillon each weekend (give or take) until the leaves are gone and the park is snow-covered. Once the photo collection is complete, I'll make a movie of them to illustrate the transition.

I'll admit I'm not being too scientific about this. I haven't lugged along the tripod, so far, and my point of reference is what I see while sitting on that bench I mentioned (let's hope they don't decide to move it). There will be many things I can't necessarily control, either, like the lighting and weather conditions on the days when I have time to do this. Because this is a just-for-fun project, I don't think I'll necessarily have to go to extreme lengths to get the results I want. I'll chime in on the blog every now and then with an update. I'll share details regarding how I'm doing the project and what I've learned from it.

Below are a few of the beginning shots. The photo on the left is from Sept. 13 and the photo on the right is from Oct. 4. The lighting conditions on these days were different, but you can see a little less green in October's picture. It's hard to tell because of the sunlight, but if you look closely you can see what is green and what is turning. Hope you enjoy the project.

Springfield?s Route 66 Festival - 2009

brandon — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:56:00 -0600

Ever been to a car show? If you’ve lived in the Midwest for any amount of time, there’s a good chance you have, or at least, been dragged to one as a child. Once again, a not-so-old Springfield tradition, the International Route 66 Mother Road Festival, was held downtown this year on the weekend of Sept. 25.

As the son of an auto body shop owner, I’ve been to quite a few car shows in my day. Since moving to Springfield, though, I’ve grown old enough to appreciate them. This year’s Route 66 festival, like previous years, offered onlookers a glimpse into America’s auto heritage.

Why all the nostalgia over old gas guzzlers, you may ask? These automobiles are like rolling museums. When tied to the infamous Route 66 “Mother Road,” they not only tell a story about their designs and specs, but also tell about the people who owned them and how they helped shape our nation into a modern, vehicular culture where we can travel easily (mostly) to (almost) any part of the country. To better understand this, however, it helps to have a little background knowledge on Route 66.

I won’t go into Route 66 history in this post. You can approach any older car owner at one of these shows, who may have actually driven on Route 66 … or at least remember it as a kid, and find out how these automobiles and this highway affected their lives. To preserve these automobiles is to preserve a brighter side of our nation’s history from the 1920s to the 1970s, when Americans were expanding by moving west and building new settlements along the way.

Springfield’s downtown Route 66 festival has been held in the Old State Capitol area each September since the early 2000s. I first attended and volunteered at 2003’s event. In 2004, my dad and I brought a 1960s Camaro that he restored for a family member to the show. I volunteered then, too, and had a good time. This year, I decided to check it out with my Canon 50D at my side.

This year’s turnout of classic cars did seem smaller than when I last attended in 2004, but you can blame a slew of factors on that … down economy, lousy weather Friday and Saturday (morning, at least), so many fall car shows, etcetera. There were more varieties of booths and vendors present this year, compared to what I remember from before. Despite some rain during the weekend, it seemed like many people made it downtown this year to enjoy the festivities. You can check out the event’s Web site (link in first paragraph) for a more information. One thing about that … I’m not sure when the event was sold (???) to the company running familyevents.com, but their old Web site seemed better.

If you couldn’t tell from the photos below, I like Corvettes. There were many varieties of autos at the show, both old and new, but Corvettes always catch my eye. Some of these photos were also uploaded to our local newspaper’s Web site, The State Journal-Register.

[PicasaAlbum:Route66Fest2009]

Springfield Pied Piper Architectural Tour Three

brandon — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:03:02 -0600

So, it?s been a while since my last post on the Downtown Springfield Inc.?s Pied Piper Architectural Walking Tour. I attended tours in July and August but had to miss September?s because of work. October?s tour will be on Wednesday, the 7th, so I thought I?d catch you up before then. If you haven?t been before now, I?d encourage you to go in October because it will be the last one for 2009!

July?s tour was the only tour to not meet at the Lincoln-Herndon Law Office. This tour, instead, focused on the Illinois State Capitolcomplex and met at the Lincoln statue in front of the capitol. Anthony Rubano, of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, once again led us on an entertaining, educational walk of some of Springfield?s historic and modern structures.

The tour began with the Illinois State Capitol. Completed in 1888, the building is designed in a Second Empire style and is meant to be overwhelming when close up. While it?s made up of many components, its height is equivalent to a building between 20 and 30 stories tall and is taller than the United States Capitol, according to Wikipedia. To take in the entire scope of it all, you really need to walk either north or south to put some distance between yourself and the structure. The dome signifies the importance of the building as the seat of government, which is another idea dating back to the years of the Roman Empire. None of the other buildings surrounding it have domes, for instance, because that would take away from the significance of the capitol building.

The Illinois Armory building, a streamlined classicism-style building, was next. One of the first things we learned about it (a feature shared by many buildings) was the meaning of the Roman numerals on the left and right sides of the building?s front. The numerals on the left signify when the organization for the building was established (1898 on the Illinois building) and the numerals on the right signify when the building was built (1936). Following the armory was the Illinois State Library, which was finished around 1990, and the Illinois Supreme Court building, finished in 1906.

The next building on the tour was the Illinois State Bar Association. It was designed in part by Walter Netsch of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill(the firm that defined American modernism in the 1950s, ?60s and ?70s) and was built in 1966. I?ve been inside this building and can say it?s not quite like any other building I?ve been in. It?s composed of many concentric, multi-level squares in the center and in all corners. All the levels and half-levels in the building make for a lot of stairs. The exterior is poured-in-place concrete, with columns that have been tooled to achieve a rugged, tapestry-like surface. I can imagine some pretty crazy parties happening in a building like this ?

The last buildings of the tour were the Howlett building, Illinois State Archives and the Stratton building.

The Howlett building, started in 1918 and completed in 1923, was called the Centennial Building to commemorate Illinois? first 100 years of statehood. It now houses offices of the Illinois Secretary of State. We saw several very ornate doors on the building?s north side. The education of architects from this time drew from very old Greek/Roman/etcetera forms of sculpture and medallion making. These doors reflect this style of training and craftsmanship very well (see photos) through the expression of shells, fish, scales, fish nets, etcetera. Doors with a maritime motif like these are a little unusual for a building in the middle of the prairie, but they?re still pretty neat overall.

The Illinois State Archives building is very similar in design to the Howlett building and even includes the ornate ?fish doors? on the north side. It fits in very well with the rest of the buildings making up the capitol complex, and probably sacrifices some of its own style to do so. The architects of the Stratton building, however, didn?t quite follow that pattern. It?s a 1950s-era, H-shaped structure that?s an early example of architectural modernism and was built to house state offices. During this time, many private corporations on the rise constructed headquarters in this style, and so the state hired architects who naturally continued this pattern when designing this one. According to Mr. Rubano, however, the inside of the building more resembles a 1930s era ?grand lobby? style with marble and custom light fixtures and is meant to look more governmental, such as buildings that were being constructed in Washington, D.C.

Even though the buildings of the Illinois State Capitol complex were built decades apart, they share several common characteristics. A design trait among almost all of the buildings in the complex is called rustication. Rustication, as it?s used in the complex, is the different textures you see on the lower floor of the buildings compared to the upper floors. The carved-block style gives the building?s base floors a strong look to emphasize how they support the weight of the structures above. Several of them also feature colossal columns, which are columns that are two stories tall or taller. The Stratton building doesn?t have this, but it does have a darker stone base, which provides a similar separation effect. The faces of the buildings are also limestone, which is a common building material for this part of the country. The limestone used between the decades of the construction of these buildings has changed, which is why the Capitol building appears more yellowish than the others.

Our tour concluded at the famous Pasfield House Inn, a bed and breakfast, reception hall, meeting facility and much more. Mr. Rubano and Tony Leone, the owner of Pasfield House, gave great descriptions of the history, style, and significance of the home. Mr. Leone took groups of us inside for a first-hand look. While there, we were treated to some of the best ice cream I?ve ever had (cinnamon!). The Pasfield House is a place more than worthy of its own blog post, for sure, but their own Web site has more and better information than I could give you. Check it out if you have friends or family coming to town and you want to provide them with a unique stay during their visit.

[PicasaAlbum:PiedPiperTour3]

X-TREME PARKING: State Fair Style

brandon — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 00:34:00 -0600

You see a lot of interesting things at the Illinois State Fair?farm animals, butter cows, deep-fried foods and contests for things you had no idea were contestable. Despite all these intriguing things, it?s the fairgoers themselves who are sometimes the most interesting of them all.

I snapped the photos below, on my way back to my car, after stuffing myself with delicious foods that were completely terrible for me. I LOL?d hard upon approaching this gemstone of a state fair attendee specimen. Some passers-by, generally the older folks, gave the automobile strange stares while those of the younger generation ROFL?d just as I. Seeing it made me wonder what was on the person?s mind??MUST HAVE CORNDOG!!!???MUST NOT MISS LYNYRD SKYNYRD AND BO BICE!!!?

Maybe this was just the last parking spot in the lot? For those of you unfamiliar with the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, many fairgoers park in the yards of homes surrounding the fairgrounds. Owners of these homes/lots make pretty decent bank from it each year, too. This is pretty extreme, however. I wish I could have been there to see how the driver got back in it. Hope he/she got a discount.

Upcoming Stuff

brandon — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:19:00 -0600

Hello August! There's nothing like a combination of great weather and busy days at work to detract a blogger from his blog. I have some things coming up that I wanted to post a quick note about:

Downtown Springfield, Inc's Pied Piper Architectural Tour number four is today at 5:30 PM, meeting at the Old State Capitol. I attended last month's tour of the Illinois State Capitol complex, but never got around to posting an entry for it (UPDATE: check it out here). I plan to go to today's event, so maybe I'll make the post a double feature.

I bought a new (used, technically) car recently and wanted to share with you, Internet, some of the things I learned during the process. Spoiler: overall, the experience wasn't entirely terrible!

Chatham 36th annual Sweetcorn Festival

brandon — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 14:08:00 -0600

Cross another local activity off my “things to experience” list. This year, I finally attended the Chatham Sweetcorn Festival.

For those of you not familiar with Central Illinois, Chatham (pronounced chat-um) is a town south of Springfield on Illinois 4. Many of its residents work in Springfield, which is a short drive away.

The Sweetcorn Festival started as a small food/beer/entertainment local summertime celebration by the Chatham Jaycees. Today, it’s a large festival that draws thousands of people. The main attraction, if you couldn’t guess, is the corn. I don’t know a lot about agriculture, but corn appears to be a pretty popular crop in this part of the state. My neighborhood in Springfield is surrounded by corn fields. This festival seems like an excuse to pluck some of that tasty corn and combine it with some food and drink that isn’t quite as good for you. If so, it’s all the excuse I need!

This year’s event was held July 17 and 18. I should add that the Sweetcorn Festival is much more than eating corn and drinking beer. In fact, many events take place during Friday and Saturday. One of the most notable ones is the cow chip throw, which gained some national notoriety on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien" in the mid-1990s. If you don’t know what a cow chip is, do some searching online. I don’t think I should be the one to break it to you.

I went with a few friends this year on Saturday, the 18th. This year’s location was “South Park,” as one of my former Chatham-resident friends put it. We arrived just after 7:30 p.m. The weather was surprisingly cool for a mid-July day, with some people wearing hooded, zip-up sweatshirts. It was our first time there for each of us, so we wandered around a bit while making our way to the ticket stand. The ticket concept works just like the Taste of Downtown. You buy food/drink tickets at a booth and use them at the vendor of your choice. The main courses (corn, burgers, brats, hot dogs, pork) were served in the large “food tent” with other vendors selling beer, funnel cakes, kettle corn, etcetera on the festival grounds. Other attractions included kids’ play areas, a climbing wall and various vendors selling their wares along the south end of the festival grounds. A stage at the west side of the grounds served as the main entertainment area. You can read more about the Sweetcorn Festival on the SJ-R’s site.

The band playing that night was The Station, who last played the Sweetcorn Festival 10 years ago. You can catch them often at Marly’s Pub downtown. They played a combination of original music and covers. Two of the covers were Pink Floyd songs, which instantly gives them bonus points in my book. You can read a little more about The Station here and buy some of their music at CD Baby.

[PicasaAlbum:ChathamSweetCorn2009]

Screen Protector for my 50D ? Part 2

brandon — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:55:51 -0600

My blog post and my YouTube video for installing the GGS LCD screen protector have had a lot of views over the past few days. Thanks to all who read the blog and watched the video!

This is the second part of the story. In the first post, I showed you how to install the GGS LCD screen protector and gave a comparison of how it looked before and after on my Canon 50D. This time, I?ll show you my Canon 50D (with screen protector) compared side-by-side with my girlfriend?s camera, the Canon Digital Rebel T1i(Canon 500D). While it?s not quite an apples-to-apples comparison (I don?t know anyone else with a 50D), I think it will be close enough. I?m not a pro reviewer, after all

In the photo below, you?ll see the 50D and the T1i sitting beside each other while indoors. The sample image, taken with the T1i and the EF-S 10-22 mm lens, is displayed on both cameras. The image is nice and bright on both units when viewed indoors. The only light source for this room was the outside window.

I took the cameras outside just a little after 4:40 p.m. The sun was bright and there were a few scattered clouds, but not enough to affect this test. Looking at the photo below, I think you?ll agree with me that images on an LCD screen are hard to see whether or not the GGS LCD screen protector is installed. The sample image may not be perfect, but I can tell you from looking at them in person that they were both hard to see in the sunlight. The LCDs on both cameras are at their default brightness, by the way.

Because neither LCD was very viewable in direct sunlight, I decided to get another shot of them. This time, I turned my back to the sunlight and shaded them with my torso and head, just like anyone else may do when trying to review a shot on a bright day. In my opinion, both images look good. You can see some reflection from my T-shirt on the 50D with the screen protector. I didn?t get a shot of me holding the T1i against my T-shirt, however. From my experience in comparing the two cameras, my guess is the T1i would also show the reflection, maybe just not as prominent as the 50D. On both cameras, you can discern the tree, horizon, sky and clouds in the display image.

In the final picture, below, both cameras are compared again. This time, no image is being displayed on the LCDs. Here, just like the video from the first post, you can see the 50D with the GGS LCD screen protector is more reflective when no image is displayed. Concentrate on the green grass in the background of the display image. Look at the T1i next. While both screens are clearly reflecting the table, you cannot see the grass with the anti-reflective coating on the T1i?s screen. This result could have a little to do with the angle at which the comparison image was shot, but I think you?d definitely see grass on the T1i if it also had a screen protector installed.

CONCLUSION:

Installing a LCD screen protector on your digital camera, like the GGS LCD screen protector, may introduce some unwanted reflection. I thought the amount of reflection was negligible, though, when I viewed an image both indoors and outdoors. If you?re considering a LCD screen protector for your camera, keep your eyesight in mind and think about how much this might bother you. I have good eyesight and wasn?t bothered at all. The main thing to ponder, though, is how you use your camera and if you think you are accident-prone enough to scratch or crack your LCD screen. If you only take the camera out at holidays and other special occasions, it might not be worth it. If you find an excuse to drag your camera everywhere, like me, it may be worth the price. I bought this $9 accessory to possibly save myself an expensive repair in the future. I?ve weighed the pros and cons and will keep the screen protector on my 50D for now. If I decided to remove it, or if it saves me from a nasty scratch, I?ll be sure to post about it.

Thanks for reading my posts about the LCD screen protector. If I helped you make a decision on whether or not to purchase one for yourself, please leave a comment!