The Way of the Johnny

Wow, yet another year gone, and I only had 1 blog post in 2011!  I promise I'll post more in the coming year (I don't believe in New Years resolution, so that's probably as close as I'll get to one).  Like last year, I wasn't sure how many things actually happened this year because it was such a blur, but here they are as best as I can remember at the moment: The Bad The father of close family friends passed away.  I've known the family for most of my life and losing him was like losing an uncle.  May the soul of Francisco Buenconsejo rest in peace. Needed laser retina surgery AGAIN because I had a torn retina for the 3rd time The Good Photographed 1 wedding (better than none!) Attended my cousin's wedding Got more house projects done Worked on reviving the Filipino American Society The Awesome Celebrated 3 years of marriage with Sophia Found out Sophia was pregnant with our 2nd, and the baby will be a boy! Celebrated Cecilia's 2nd birt...

This year, 2011, marks the 10 year anniversary of my dad's death. Thinking about everything that has happened in my life since he left this world, it feels like the decade has just flown by. Since his death, I've graduated college, worked for 3 different companies, I've been unemployed twice, met and married my wife, and had my first child. It's sad to think dad wasn't around physically for all these events in my life. One of the things I've been surprised by over the years is how little things remind me of dad. A commercial on TV, a scene in a movie, music, food, and just about anything else can conjure up memories. And after having my first child, seeing anything associated with fatherhood can also trigger thoughts of dad. It's bittersweet to think that my wife and I had our daughter when I was the same age as my dad was when him and mom had me. I am going through a lot of the same experiences he did, so I feel a closeness to my dad I didn't fee...

Last year, I did a "The Bad, the Good" type list for the year, so I thought I'd do it again this year. I wasn't quite sure how many things actually happened this year because it was such a blur, but Sophia and I were talking and there were indeed a lot of things that happened. So here they are as best as I can remember at the moment (had a little wine to ring in the New Year): The Bad Had to replace the Element's windshield 2 times Needed laser retina surgery because I had a detached retina for the 2 nd time The Good Got a job! Photographed 3 weddings Got lots of house projects done Elected president of the Filipino American Society The Awesome Celebrated 2 years of marriage with Sophia Celebrated Cecilia's 1st birthday Watching Cecilia develop: going from being non-mobile to walking, babbling more and more, starting to eat solid foods, etc., etc.

I've written before about the headphones I use and I still use them to this day ( here's a blog post I wrote years ago about them ). Recently I modified the PX100's by replacing the ear pads with bigger replacement pads from Radioshack to make them more comfortable. I also cut a hole in the middle of the pads (called the quarter mod or nickel mod to describe the size of the hole) so I could hear higher frequencies better. The modifications have made a BIG difference and I find the PX100s have a whole new character. They're much more comfortable now and sound much better. Here are some photos I snapped: After doing the mods, I got to thinking about headphones in general and how overpriced they can be, especially for those well marketed headphones made by Bose and Monster Beats by Dr. Dre. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a headphone snob by any means and I do think the headphones by Bose and Monster Beats sound very good. But I don't think the quality of so...

There seems to be a big epidemic out there right now that people are really concerned about. The news did reports on people who suffered from this disease. It was spreading wildly and there were rallies against the disease saying it must be stopped. What's this disease I'm writing about? Anger. If that first paragraph seemed like hyperbole, it was. I don't think all the anger out there is a big deal, but for some reason people seem to be really concerned about it. I have even been accused of being an angry, paranoid right wing nut. That's fine, but anger happens for various reasons and I feel the news media and people who don't like the angry reactions expect us all to be more Vulcan (logical with no emotions) than human. I happen to believe we should be more human than Vulcan. The best way I can illustrate how anger isn't all bad is to relate to you my experiences in customer service. I've never worked in a customer service position per se , but w...

It's been awhile since I updated this blog and, based on my experiences creating a new ACE Photography website using Squarespace, I was considering just closing this blog down. It was just looking really antiquated next to other blog engines out there (like Squarespace, Tumblr, and Wordpress). But I was pleasantly surprised today to see that Blogger had some new templates to offer. I found a template I liked, changed the background and colors to my liking, and lo and behold, you are now looking at the newly refreshed "The Way of the Johnny" blog. I'd like to get back to writing posts again, so be on the lookout. But for now, enjoy the new look and, while you're at it, check out the archives. There's some juicy stuff in there!

"Music is a language." - Victor Wooten "Music is a listening art." - David Burge I saw the tv show "Glee" for the first time over Memorial Day weekend at a cousin's place. So many people are fans of the show and I wonder what makes it so popular, even after watching finally watching it. I also wonder why American Idol is so popular, even after so many years. Being a musician, I don't consider either show having the best quality music, but I also realize high quality music isn't the point of the shows. As a musician, I believe music is an art form worthy of lifelong study. I like the quotes above very much because I think music is a means of expression, just like a language is. And music is more about listening than it is about making sounds. Musicians just have a more highly developed sense of listening. With American Idol, Glee, and the rise of show choirs lately, it seems to me that music as art is in decline when it comes to the genera...

If you go onto YouTube and search for Fr. Euteneuer /Sean Hannity , you'll see a very heated "discussion" where a cultural Catholic ( Hannity ) criticizes the believes of an orthodox Catholic (Fr. Euteneuer ). The main issue of disagreement was contraception. The Catholic Church teaches contraception in all its forms is wrong and approves natural family planning ( NFP ) for birth regulation. Hannity doesn't agree with the Church as says that contraception is necessary for people how aren't Catholic because it's better than having abortions. Hannity also claims NFP and contraception are the same thing. They aren't. But, unfortunately, most people still think they are, even Catholics. So I was thinking about a good analogy to explain the difference and I realized a good one relates to the recent acceleration problems with Toyota brand cars. Here's how the analogy works: Let's imagine the forward acceleration of a car as intercourse. The in...

I love photo and video editing on my Mac. For photography, iPhoto is a wonderful application I use for casual photos and Aperture 3 is what I use for my serious, professional quality photography. For video, iMovie is easy to use and can give great results. But we also have a netbook in the house ( Asus EeePC ) which runs Windows XP and it gets a lot more use than the Mac does. Between my wife's iPod Touch and the EeePC , she doesn't even use the Mac anymore. She also takes a bunch of photos and videos with her Canon Powershot SD1000. So, to me, it makes a lot of sense to dedicate the EeePC to my wife's photos and videos. It has a fairly big 160GB hard drive and has a decent screen. The question that comes up is: What software can I use on this low powered netbook for editing Sophia's photos and video? More specifically, is there free software out there that can come close to doing the same job as iPhoto and iMovie do on the Mac? I'm happy to say ...

I don't know if you've noticed, but the issues of healthcare, the economy, etc. lately are being argued on two totally different planes on both sides. The liberal Democrats (president Obama is one, of course) are saying that anyone who opposes healthcare reform, economic stimulus, etc., etc. doesn't want what's best for the country. But they're completely missing the point of the conservative's argument. No one is arguing against improving healthcare, economic growth, etc. This may be obvious to most of you, but it doesn't seem to be obvious to the liberal Dems (and ergo their supporters): most people aren't in favor of more government control. I, for one, am all for healthcare reform. I just don't want the government taking control of healthcare. I'm also for economic growth. I just don't think government handouts will improve the economy. And you know what? I personally believe most people are of the same mind set. Scott Brown won...

Being a new parent, I've found that I'm starting to take a lot more video. I consider myself a still photographer first, but I'm really starting to get into videography. Especially since I can take video on my Canon EOS Rebel T1i, I'm enjoying the ability to get shallow depth-of-field in both my stills and my videos. Smaller point-and-shoot cameras can even take HD video now. I was using my Canon Powershot SX110IS for video, but it was only capable of taking a maximum video resolution of 640x480. So I've upgraded to a SX200IS, which is capable of 720p, 30 fps video. This way video from both the SX200IS and T1i will be in HD. Getting a camcorder would be nice, but at this point I can't afford one and I don't feel a need to get one. However, camcorders are specially built for video, so they have features that are absent from most still cameras. This makes taking video using a still camera somewhat of a challenge in some situations. On the other hand,...

I've been wanting to write about moral relativism ever since I attended a local symposium entitled "The Constitution . . . in the Age of Obama". While the symposium was supposed to be about the Constitution, the symposium speakers spoke more about moral relativism and the natural law. The reason for this is that the Constitution, as written by the founders of the USA, was written from the basis of natural rights, which has a direct relationship with natural law. While there are many theories on what constitutes natural law, all the theories have commonalities, namely that there exists law(s) which are set by nature (and by extension, God. if you're a monotheist) that are valid everywhere. Thomas Jefferson believed in natural law, as did Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. The idea of natural law has been around for thousands of years. So what is moral relativism? And where did it come from? Dr. Charles E. Rice, who spoke at the symposium I mentioned above, explained ...

**Note: In my original unedited version of this post, I received some comments stating I was being too judgmental and arrogant in my language. After much thought and second opinions, I believe this resulted from the fact that I mixed my own opinions with the facts I was trying to state. I saw no problem with this before because I write my blogs unedited and uncensored as I think of them, in much the same way a person keeps a diary or journal. However, in the spirit of Catholic apologetics, I must be charitable to those who disagree with my views while at the same time not being afraid to voice my opinions. Therefore, in the future, I will make a concerted effort to post my opinions in separate blog entries from entries with more apologetic, factual material. This way, I hope to achieve both my goals of debunking factual errors stated about the Catholic Church (and other subjects I'm passionate about) and of voicing my uncensored opinion on all kinds of subject matter. I recent...

I recently received a comment on my post "Dance with the Devil." I had to reject the comment because the person tried to bring up the subject of George W. Bush Jr. and how he wasn't really pro-life, abortion went up during his presidency, he approved torture, Pope John Paul II condemned the Iraqi war, etc., etc. It's all the stereotypical objections I hear from Obama's supporters. Even though my post had nothing to do with Bush, this person couldn't help but take the opportunity to condemn the Bush administration. However, I would still like to post a reply to his comments because he listed sound bytes as if they were facts. It's easy to take sound bytes as facts if they're listed very quickly in succession. So I'd like to respond to each criticism objectively with the facts: He approved torture I take it this is a reference to waterboarding . Unfortunately, the definition has been expanded to include "extended interrogation techniques....

As 2009 comes to an end, I think back on the year and a lyric from the Jonathan Coulton song "You Ruined Everything" comes to mind: "The worse of the best behind us." That's exactly how I feel about 2009, in a nutshell. 2009 has by far been the best year of my life so far and I can already see life will only get better from here. To summarize my year, here are 2 lists (and 1 bonus list), one consisting of the bad events and one consisting of the good events in my life (for the record, since everything on the internet will be around indefinitely): The Bad -Laid off from my job at Design Collaborative The Good -Bought a house and moved in with the love of my life -Inherited a sweetheart of a dog -Found out Sophia was pregnant -Found Sophia a great car -Took and passed the Indiana professional engineering licensing test -Had my first real photography gigs The Awesome -Celebrated 1 year of marriage with Sophia -Welcomed Cecilia Rose into the world

I'm really enjoying using my new Canon powershot SX 110 compact " superzoom " camera. The image quality is nowhere near as good as the Rebel T1i, but it's a great portable camera that I can take with me everywhere for any photographic opportunity that may pop up. Like the title of one of my favorite photography books says, the best camera is the one you have with you. I have my compact camera settings dialed in so I can quickly pull out the camera and shoot at a moment's notice. I'm not afraid to dive into all the camera's options because I'm used to dealing with all the settings on the T1i. I'm also an engineer and a nerd, so complicated electronics don't scare me. But most people just aren't like that and usually use their camera on fully automatic because it takes too long to change camera settings. Even then, compact cameras can be slow to use. If you'd like to speed up the operation of your compact camera, the following hint...

I've purchased a new point and shoot camera: a canon powershot sx 110is. I was getting frustrated with the lack of zoom range of my powershot 590is, so I decided to upgrade to canon's lowest "high end" point-and-shoot camera. A G11 would have been nice, or for that matter, one of the new micro 4/3 cameras, but I don't have the money right now to get one. And I don't need a powerful point-and-shoot anyway, just one that's small enough to be portable but has a zoom range that makes it flexible while still having manual controls. The sx 110is fit the bill. I was looking through some Flickr photos taken by users of the sx 110is and there were some comments about the camera that I found interesting. A lot of the users said the sx 110is was the closest camera they've come to having a DSLR . And others said they decided on the sx 110is as an alternative to a DSLR . I used to think this way. Before I got my Canon Rebel XT , I was considering a "...

Remember the Constitution? It's that document that created the nation I (and you) live in and it's a wonderful, divinely inspired document. Unfortunately, it has been abused and stomped on over the years and our nation presently finds itself in an identity crisis. What the USA used to stand for was true freedom as revealed in natural law. But now the USA is at the brink of becoming a socialist nation, slowly falling under ruler's law. One of the weapons liberals, socialists, and communists use to achieve this change is misinformation and ignorance . . . misinformation about what the Constitution and our founding fathers said and keeping the people ignorant of the true meaning and intentions of the Constitution and our founding fathers. I (and I venture to guess most people) believe the founding fathers had the right idea about our nation. I believe the original intentions of the Constitution are what made (and make) this country great. And I, like so many people, for...

I was talking with one of the owners of the guitar shop I teach at and we got onto the subject of photography because I gave him one of my business cards ( acephtgrphy.shutterfly.com ). He was still using his Nikon D60 in automatic mode and I was telling him he should read the manual and learn to use P mode. DSLR's are meant to be used in the more manual settings rather than the automatic settings. Here's a great website for all you DSLR owners who still use it in automatic mode: http://www.photoaficionado.com/situationroom/manual.html This started me thinking. With the prices of DSLR's constantly dropping and with more and more consumers able to buy them, the sheer photographic possibilities available to everyone have exponentially increased. Heck, I wouldn't have been able to afford a DSLR even 5 years ago, but now the cameras, lenses, and equipment are at a very reasonable price. So this makes me ask the question: why are there still so many people who aren...

I've started taking piano lessons from my mother-in-law and I'm looking forward to improving my piano-tickling skills. But she told me something interesting, and that is to NOT use a metronome. Being a bass player and a part of the rhythm section in numerous bands over the past 8 years, I found it strange that I should practice without some kind of beat. I enjoy music without a rhythm section and without a beat, don't get me wrong. I just found it interesting that she made it a point not to use the metronome. And I also found it interesting that there is so much controversy over using a metronome. I won't bore you with what I've found, just Google "metronome" for yourself. There seems to be a lot of people out there, both past and present, that really hate the metronome. Why? What's the big deal with something that gives you a beat? I think a musician's view of the metronome must be colored by the type of music they play. Classical music d...