New York February NYC Meet-Up/ Ninth Annual Camera Beauty Contest

Prest_400 said:
Definitely open up a bike thread! Also, once you retire, stay around in some form or proceed with the blog idea.

All the bike talk had me taking the bike out in the fields here. We're having an abnormal surge of temp up to 50F this weekend on Scandinavia. Definitely climate change shows with some strange variability.
Click to expand...

Jorde,

Saul has some JPEG's.

"Maggie" started her blog a little more than 4 years ago at the age of 61. Now it is my turn.

Soon Maggie will pay to go to Paris for their Fashion Week. At this level no one will be paying for this travel, but her agent is mighty happy with the results from NYC Fashion Week. She attended some exclusive shows and 4 out of 4 days was in Vogue's Street Style section photographed by Phil Oh. This all is prime exposure.

Also her agent says out of all his clients, even ones that have been doing it longer or who are more famous, that she gets the big contracts that they do not get.

Things will really open up from here.

Christian and Phil make a point that already I am somewhat a public figure because of my association with Maggie. Maggie also has been plugging me and priming her followers.

The problem for me that blogging would become work, and from what I see it is endless. Not the best for a self proclaimed "lazy slacker." LOL.

Pretty much though I imagine just being myself and reporting my lifestyle like I have been doing here. I really don't want to be more known than I already am.

As it is I do the NYC Meet-Up as a public service, and perhaps my sharing of other aspects of my life will be in the same vein as a public service based on a sustainable lifestyle/building a retirement and somewhat a travel/fitness exploration.

In other words disorganized chaos that is somewhat thoughtful rants that I do and somehow create entertainment value. LOL.

Let me know how you like the shots when Saul does me the favor. You guys are my focus group.

Speaking of focus groups I have been "profiled" and get recruited for studies. Pretty much $350.00 for about 3 hours per gig. The money is cash in a envelope. "I love it."

Pretty much you get recorded in an interogation room that has a two way mirror and video cams.

Last time was about developing a camera for a brand we all know and love. Pretty much a dream come true. Still waiting for my camera that I helped design to be built.

This time the interview will not be a group and they will be probing me as an individual as far as banking goes. Kinda fun since I think I have "Bankster" in my blood. Wednesday after work is my interview.

"I was just walking along, minding my own business," I say. Why does all this biz-R stuff happen to me?

Cal
 
Cal, I was photographing a wedding in my neighborhood about 8 years ago. To leave room for the limo I parked a few houses over. While shooting the getting ready shots in the couple's house - there's a knock on the door. A lady from down the block broadsided my car with her Explorer. The street is very wide. She backed out of her driveway and drove at least 40 feet without looking. She said, "usually there isn't a car parked there." I said - and you're lucky a child wasn't walking there. I called the police. When they came the officer asked if I wanted to file a report. My Subaru drivers door was toast - and could not be opened. I knew it was be close to 3G to fix. I told the officer are you kidding? Do your job and write the report. The lady and her mother were annoyed that I didn't go directly to them. Later when I had the repair estimate, and told them the amount (which the insurance company was paying) - the lady said oh, we couldn't have paid that. And the lady wouldn't speak to her insurance company so the repair could proceed until I showed up at her doorstep and told them I'd sue for damages. Then lickety split - the lady (who's a well-paid teacher) called her company and the car got repaired. Ugh. People!
 
NY_Dan said:
Cal, I was photographing a wedding in my neighborhood about 8 years ago. To leave room for the limo I parked a few houses over. While shooting the getting ready shots in the couple's house - there's a knock on the door. A lady from down the block broadsided my car with her Explorer. The street is very wide. She backed out of her driveway and drove at least 40 feet without looking. She said, "usually there isn't a car parked there." I said - and you're lucky a child wasn't walking there. I called the police. When they came the officer asked if I wanted to file a report. My Subaru drivers door was toast - and could not be opened. I knew it was be close to 3G to fix. I told the officer are you kidding? Do your job and write the report. The lady and her mother were annoyed that I didn't go directly to them. Later when I had the repair estimate, and told them the amount (which the insurance company was paying) - the lady said oh, we couldn't have paid that. And the lady wouldn't speak to her insurance company so the repair could proceed until I showed up at her doorstep and told them I'd sue for damages. Then lickety split - the lady (who's a well-paid teacher) called her company and the car got repaired. Ugh. People!
Click to expand...

Dan,

Sorry to hear about that incident.

Do you also remember if your car insurance went up into "assigned risk" due to no-fault laws. Pretty much you would remember a 50% premium because you had an accident for three years.

Does not matter if your car was parked and you were not driving.

In my case my 1967 Volvo was a hit an run on a snowy day when my car was parked right in front of my house.

I did the wrong thing and was a nice guy. I found out from a neighbor who hit my car who saw it and took down the license plate. This neighbor also happened to know the person and where he lived. I made the mistake of knocking on the door to confront him.

In the end the claim went into the insurance. The damage was something like $700.00 and the insurance only paid $500.00. Then there was the rude surprise of 3 years of assigned risk premium because I was in an accident.

Cal
 
On that one, there wasn't a premium increase. I will say - Liberty Insurance sucks. State Farm if you bundle with other insurance coverage is okay. Owning a car sucks - but a necessity depending upon where you live.
 
NY_Dan said:
On that one, there wasn't a premium increase. I will say - Liberty Insurance sucks. State Farm if you bundle with other insurance coverage is okay. Owning a car sucks - but a necessity depending upon where you live.
Click to expand...

Dan,

Owning a car is cool if it is a cool car and is not a liability.

I would rather walk or use mass transit than have the responsibility and cost. I also hate insurance companies.

If I could though I would love to still own my 1980 Checker limo with black vinyl top and opera window that had seating capacity for 9-10 people. Pretty much is built from a GM pickup truck X-frame chassis. The 67 Volvo 122s was kinda sporty even though it resembled a 3/4 sized 1954 Chevy. My 84 Jeep Scrambler with Corvette engine surely was fun and dangerous.

So I have this story of when in Long Island City a light turned green and I proceed to move through the intersection when this car door swings open and the big bumper I had made at Grumman made of 6061 4 inch square aluminum extrusion pushed the driver's side door right into the front fender of a brand new red Toyota Celica.

Pretty much was like a deadly Kung-Fu move and pretty much destroyed the otherwise brand new car with paper temporary plates into junk.

I designed the Jeep so that your car is basically my airbag, so other than some red paint on my bumper as a trophy: oh-well.

So the driver is some teenaged kid and a hot-head. He gets out of the car with two of his friends, so all of the sudden it is three against one and I'm in real danger in a part of Long Island City close to the projects.

This kid makes a mistake and gets in my face, but his two friends had enough sense to mind their own business. I'm right at the point of hair trigger to launch a "first strike" but I let the kid know that where I stand is, "You had better calm down or something bad is going to happen."

So at work the next day I ask my friend Mike who's wife worked for GEICO to inquire about this driver's insurance, because this kid's story did not jive, something was not right. You know me: I'm a smut queen.

First off it was not his car, it was his father's or uncle's, and then I learned that the insurance had been cancelled and was not valid. Oh-well.

What should I do? Pretty much the accident was not my fault, the plates without insurance made them invalid, and driving without insurance is a crime.

So I figured I would call and do a hypothetical with my insurance company to make sure nothing happens that is bad. Oh-dicked again.

Pretty much anything you do with insurance companies is painful.

Pretty much if it came down to a street fight that kid would learn the hard way what it is like to be hit by an old man.

I saw in the seventies this kid bothering an old man. The old guy looked to be past retirement age and the kid was perhaps 18-19. The kid was pushing and manhandling the old guy right in his face.

The old guy turned and calmly tied to walk away, but the kid grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. The kid did not see the uppercut that would physically lift him off the ground. Then there was the horrible sound of the back of the kids head hitting the sidewalk.

I never saw anyone hit so hard, and surely that kid will never be the same. I suspect that the old man might of done construction swinging a hammer for decades. He knew how to throw a deadly punch.

Cal
 
Calzone said:
In the news and in the media is this hype about this luxury carry on luggage given as a thank you present for attending Princess Meghan's NYC baby shower.

The brand s called "Away" and looked so familiar, so this morning I look into a closet and I see the same "Away" carry on luggage that was gifted to "Maggie" about two years ago.

They mentioned that this bag has a cell phone/USB backup power connection, but the media and the news are clueless that the TSA pretty much will confiscate the Lithium battery if the bag is not a carry on. The battery can be removed easily if the bag has to be checked in.

Recently she was sent a free Leica Sofit. Cheap *******s only sent two packs of film. In the box also was a new IPAD.

Wednesday Cyberdoorman had a flower arrangement for Maggie. Instead of flying back from L.A. Friday my jet setting gal caught an earlier flight and came home last night. I learned who sent the flowers. Funny thing is that the card said "Happy Birthday" even though Maggie's birthday is in June.

Also know that in all my life I never-ever bought a woman flowers. I'm not that kind of guy. LOL.

BTW Leica Camera is one of Maggie's followers.

Cal
Click to expand...

I saw her a few times on T.V. and a short video with her on 34th street train station, very cool.
 
Good morning all, great seeing everybody yesterday. Thanks again to Cal and Jeff
for letting me try out those lenses for my new camera's that Leica and Zeiss lenses
are terrific.
 
JMQ said:
So who won the beauty contest yesterday?
Click to expand...

Jean-Mark,

Both Happy Joe and Sam were the champs.

As usual Sam brought a ringer. It was a chrome LTM and was a much newer camera than Joe's stable of LTM's. The coolest things/details was pretty much the knobs.

Sam's chrome camera had a film advanced knob that was so well used that not only was it brassed but the knurling was worn off. Mucho accessories also including VF'er, meter, Leicavit, and grip. "I Love it."

One of Happy Joe's black paint II had a small/low film advanced knob, but the coolest camera was this camera conversion that Joe believes happened in the 50's due to the forensics/added flash sync that Leica performed along with the conversion/upgrade that also included new "chromed" knobs at would otherwise not be "period correct for an early 1930's Leica II that should of had nickle knobs.

Sam was happy to get the Minolta 35 Model Two because he wants to build one working camera from two.

Happy Joe got the grand prize of the working PEN-F that Philippe kindly donated. I printed out an owner's manual I found online at work.

Christian brought an updated LTM that is a one shot per roll of film panorama camera that he created. One 35 roll of film creates one negative via motor. I have a Go Pro video of the film advance turning when he demonstrated the camera.

Christian went over the top and brought out a Linhof that is slightly larger than 5x7. It kinda takes a muscular military build to use the camera handheld, but Christian makes the point that it is not so much more than my SL rigged the the massive 50. Really not a lie.

Bernard had a M6J. This is a camera I have never ever seen "in the wild." He also had this Marty F modified Nikon F that was from the New York Times Press pool. It had a dirty mirror and had seen a lot of history.

I showed off this Pelican case with built in wheelie that my boss who hates me one day kindly gifted me. I once was a case for an oscilloscope or network analizer we bought for the lab.

Dunstan came from Jersey, Fidel from Jersey, and new crew Dennis from Jersey, so we had some Jersey boys.

Jim came from Philly.

We had some bystanders that kinda joined in as spectators.

I even gifted Ignacio ha bag of new and used mountain bike butal tubes to clean out and cull down now that I upgraded to soft Latex tubes. Ignacio made the point of risk/danger of blowouts, but because I weigh so little that's not so likely to happen.

Iron Mike had a rear wheel blowout on a downhill. He said he "ejected" doing mach 3. The frame got a bent rear triangle from the crash, but our friend Harry was able to rescue the bike.

One time in West Virginia a group of us wanted to downhill this long logging/fire road. A year earlier Mike and I did this when it was a dirt road with this guy Rod who we met who was from Maryland, but a year later we were there with Vinny and Albee.

I was riding alongside Vinny at the start, but they had made the once all dirt road a loose gravel road. At a start of a second or third downhill run I heard this hiss that had a Leslie rotating speaker effect.

I pointed to Vinny at his rear tire, but Vinny shook his head and pointed at my rear tire. So I had not approached "terminal velocity" yet, but hitting the brakes in a controlled manner became an imperative. Sliding on loose gravel would be really ugly.

I kinda fishtailed left and right, and somehow remained upright. There were awful sounds of the rim being destroyed by gravel.

Mike had a spare wheel, so we continued. The gravel was not quite rail road gravel in size, but it was rough enough to tear off some knobs off the tire on the wheel Mike lent me. I ended up buying him a new tire.

Cal
 
An interesting story I didn't get to tell Chris about this PhD we both know as a slimeball.

This guy hates me because he brought around some VIP's on a tour. I was running the Cyclotron and he presses the button that opens a 30 thousand pound door that is filled with lead as shielding because when I'm operating the Cyclotron creating nuclear activity and transmutating materials with a proton beam I also create a horriffic neutron field that is bad for health that can cause mutations, Cancer and cell death.

So pretty much I'm invisible until I start yelling at this fool and I mention that he is irradiating these "guests" with radiation in an unsafe manner. I add an exclaimation point and yell at him, "Never do that again" as if he was a five year old.

Separately it gets back to me that he told somebody if he could fire me he would. "I love it" that this dude hates me.

Privately at the Meet-Up I tell Chris that he half resembles a man cross breed with a cockroach, and then Chris mentions the insect like "Frog eyes." Even this man's aftershave is toxic and gives me an instant headache.

So I forgot to tell the story of my friend Andrez who is a man who attended the MIT of Poland, worked in Russia and Germany before migrating to the U.S. Andrez and I were armchair economists, and he was brilliant.

So Dr. Cockroach is his boss and inadpropriately he asks Andrez to "Volenteer" for a Pet/CT study. Pretty inappropriate, and clearly an abuse of power to kinda make or even ask an employee to vollenteer for a research study where basically you will be get experimented on and injected with a radioactive compound for your boss to look good.

So Andrez somehow starts getting billed as if a sick patient for all this "Nuclear Medicine" and the bills add up to be major thousands of dollars. Andrez lets Dr. Cockroach, AKA "Frog eyes," know about the sich-E-A-tion and Dr. Cockroach says, "I'll take care of it."

But that does not happen and the next thing is poor Andrez is getting threatening notices from bill collectors...

Cal
 
Range-rover said:
Cal, I like to see that go-pro video of all of us at the meet, let us know when it's
up and running.
Click to expand...

Bob,

Figure May-June I should have something up on the Internet. Bikes, cameras, and guitars. Perhaps a public display of a "mancave" with flavor of episodes of "This Old Man" and "This Old Camera."

Now that I purposely intend on becoming a public figure I need to get into shape. I have been concentrating on recovering the strength of my youth and not being so lazy. I'm not quite there where I can do three sets of 50 pushups throughout a day. I still don't have the "three fingers" of definition that look like ribs that Bruce Lee had.

These workouts build out definition pretty fast, and I expect that it won't take long to get to where I can do a hundred sloppy, violent pushups in one set.

The hardest part is the long slow workouts of long rides in the saddle, or three hour jogs to get the cardio vascular base. This just requires time and sweating.

In the past when I lived in Williamsburg I would run home after work. I wore to work these pants that converted to shorts and I would proudly run without my shirt.

This girl Eva who had a Sport Ilustrated swimsuit body sometimes would run with me for the 6-7 miles and then take the "L" train the rest of the way home.

One day this hipster girl walking on the Williamsburg Bridge adjusts her glasses so she can admire me better as we approach, she smiles at me in a seductive manner, and when she looks at Eva it was an certain expression that said, "You suck: I hate you."

Eva took notice and made a comment, "That bitch gave me a nasty look." Evidently this hipster gal thought Eva was my girlfriend. LOL.

"I was just minding my own business...

er-owwww...

BTW I'm old enough to be Eva's or that hipster girl's father at that time. This is before I was 49 and when I ran the New York Marathon "off the couch" as Scot Nichole says.

Cal
 
Hey Cal,

While you're busy transmutating elements, mind making me some Vibrainium tubing so I can make a vibration absorbing tripod?
 
MrFujicaman said:
Hey Cal,

While you're busy transmutating elements, mind making me some Vibrainium tubing so I can make a vibration absorbing tripod?
Click to expand...

On that note, I want a 2.5' x 3/8" tungsten/molybdenum rod that I can use to replace the wood dowel as the shaft for my Totes umbrella. Just because.

Phil Forrest
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom