I’ve been testing out the different places that print photos. The most recent one was MPIX.com

What’s MPIX? From their “about us” section:

Mpix… The professional online digital imaging lab for both the professional photographer and the advanced amateur.

Mpix is a division of Miller’s Professional Imaging. Miller’s was founded in 1939, and is the largest professional photography lab in the United States. The company has production facilities in Pittsburg, Kansas and Columbia, Missouri.

The swift evolution of the digital photographic industry prompted Miller’s to respond to changes in the marketplace with Mpix.com…a high quality online lab for all photographers.

With Mpix, a photographer is able to upload images to a secured website, store and share images in albums, and order professional prints, professional finishing services, and specialty products.

I’ve known about them for years, and have had an account there for almost that long - but I’ve never actually developed anything there, until recently.

I had submitted my work to the Black Dog months ago and had essentially forgotten about it. As such, I forgot to get the pieces I submitted printed. Imagine my surprise when I got a big “Congratulations!” email a couple of weeks ago. Opps, now I need to actually print this thing.

I’d always envisioned it to be a larger piece, 20″x30″ or so. So I decided to give MPIX a shot. I uploaded the photo, chose a 20″x30″ print, lustre coating¹ ,double matted and framed. All together it came to $80. Overnight shipping via FedEx was a very reasonable $9.75, so I opted for that as well - had it sent to my office. This was about 11am.

That night I received an email saying my package had shipped, and to expect it the next day. I eagerly awaited the email from the shipping department at work (God knows, don’t you dare show up until you get that email!) and hurry over to the other tower and pick it up, all aflutter. Get back to my cube, open it up - it’s stunning. They did such a superb job on the printing² - blacks were very black, subtle colors shone through and the tiny nuances I was attempting to capture came through loud and clear. All in all it was about as excellent as I could have hoped for - except I didn’t seem to get a frame.

So at 12:36pm I sent a quick email to customer service saying that “Hey, looks like you guys forgot to include a frame - can you just send it along, or how can we take care of this?”

At 12:46pm - only 11 minutes after I send out my email, I received this response:

Jeremy,

I apologize for this. I will have the order reprinted, framed, and shipped out to you ASAP. Thank you!

And damn it all, if they didn’t come through. An entirely reprinted, rematted photograph - this time with frame - arrived at my door the next day. They went above and beyond the call of duty to help resolve this issue, and I couldn’t be happier. Instead of just sending a $30 frame, which I would have been happy to get - they went above and beyond and ate $90 to send it all out to me again. Needless to say, they now have a customer for life. Thanks again mpix, and now I’m spreading the news!

1. Lustre Coating, according to the site, is an environmentally friendly, non-flammable coating which protects against UV light, finger prints and dust. Please note: Our lustre coating is not visible. It does not change the look of the image in any way. [↩]
2. They use Kodak’s professional Endura surface paper printer via laser photo printers which print using visible light laser to expose silver halide photographic media [↩]

Last weekend JACC came to visit us during the Art Crawl. By a weird coincidence I was just coming out of the loft as he and his crew were emerging from the elevator - which was a good thing as he thought we lived in a totally different unit then we did and, well, he wouldn’t have seen me.

They stopped, chatted for a bit, drank a Shiner, then asked me 3 questions. Watch the whole awkward thing below - I look goofy, my hair is unkempt and the chair I sat in made my jacket ride up but, meh, it is what it is¹

Secondly, I hung my stuff up at the Black Dog Coffee and Wine Bar in downtown St. Paul. The official opening for the show, Limitless Energy, begins on May 2nd - but feel free to stop in anyway. I submitted 3 pieces, and I think 2 of them have already sold. After the luke warm art crawl reception, I was nervous hanging them - but people absolutely loved them and, to be honest, they look quite sharp hanging where we put them.

I was most worried about “On”, which is a fairly experimental piece for me. I was worried that the composition was off, that there wasn’t enough happening on one side.  All 3 are below, “On” is the all dark light switch. Hanging in the neutral white of the hallway here it looked out of place, but on the large orange wall of the Black Dog it seems to ‘pop’ and looks pretty good. The biggest worry about the thing was the size. It needs to be a certain size, too big or too small and it would look off. I took a gamble, and went for 20″x30″. Didn’t work so well at the Art Crawl, works well here. Not so sure it will sell, but if it does I’d be happy!

1. Visit Side Note: Mishka came home from work exhausted, and immediately donned her robe. I rudely walked JACC and his whole crew in anyway, making her scurry to the bedroom to change. I’m an ass. [↩]

The 2008 Bent Festival will be making it’s final stop here in Minneapolis from May 1st - 3rd at Intermedia Arts¹. This is it’s 5th year, and it’s 2nd in Minneapolis - let’s show ‘em some love!

What is it? The Bent Festival is an annual art and music festival celebrating DIY electronics, hardware hacking, and circuit bending. Each year they invite artists from across the country and around the globe to perform music with their home-made or circuit bent instruments, teach workshops to adults and children alike, create beautiful art installations and to generally come together, face to face, and showcase the state of the art in DIY electronics and circuit bending culture.

If you’re the type that took your toys apart growing up, then this event is definitely for you! Like to learn more? Check out the Bent Festival on Flickr or YouTube, add them to your MySpace or Facebook, look at the workshops or check out the complete schedule. The 3 concerts are $10 each, and some of the workshops have a small charge for parts. Buy individual tickets, or a 3 day pass for only $25.

Local artists performing this year are: Datura 1.0, Caly McMorrow, Beatrix*JAR and Memory Selector.

1. Google Map to Intermedia Arts [↩]

Well another Story Slam goes off without a hitch. And they are seriously getting better and better with every iteration. The audience is larger and louder, the orators are more confident and the lines get delivered at the right time. It was absolutely great! This was seriously the best one to date, and gets me salivating when I think about when the next one will be. Talked to some of the regulars, met some amazing new Slammers and possibly made a connection that could get me into an underground I’ve been trying to get into for years - as a photographer of course.

If you aren’t coming to this thing, what in the hell is wrong with you? It’s awesome! I better see you at the next one; eat, drink, laugh, cry and have your fill of some of the best¹ slammers the TC has to offer!

And speaking of art and what not - starting Friday and going on all weekend it’s the St. Paul Art Crawl!! Hundreds of artists located throughout lowertown St. Paul will be swinging open their doors and letting you in to peek at their wares - and liberate you of any extra Franklins you might be carrying around. So go ahead and print out the map and start marking off where you’d like to go. And if you plan on stopping by the Rossmor building², be sure to let me know. We can have a few beers and play Super Smash Brothers on the Wii. I might throw out a few things this time, but it’s doubtful - both my neighbors are photographers and both of them are also exhibiting. Too many cooks and all that jazz. Besides, my website isn’t fully done yet and I’m busy getting right for a gallery exhibition I have all next month at the Black Dog.

Hoping to see you there! (Or here, even)

1. And, yes, some of the not-so-best [↩]
2. Link doesn’t go to the real website, because for some reason it isn’t coming up for me. WTF? [↩]

Just a friendly reminder - the 5th Story Slam from MPR is tonight at the Bedlam Theater¹ in Minneapolis. It starts at 7:30pm, free parking² but the event will cost you $10 ($5 if you sign up to tell a story, $1back if you get there without your car)

This slam’s theme is Achilles’ Heel - what that means is up to you!
Bedlam Theater has a full bar and menu, and will be serving food³ and drink before, during and after the show.

What’s the Story Slam? From the MPR website about it: “The In The Loop “Story Slam” is a live event (and version of our show) based around the simple formula of great storytelling from anybody and everybody who wants to take a crack at it. The Smarts and I will be there as your guides through the evening, but mostly it’s about whatever stories our talented audience brings to the table.”

Still unsure? How about listening to the last Story Slam (With pictures by yours truly) or checking out the entire “In The Loop” archive.

So I hope you’ll join me, our host Jeff Horwich, and the venerable house band “The Smarts” for what aims to be a night of story tellings, laughter, food and drink!

1. Google Map to Bedlam Theater [↩]
2. And it’s a stone’s throw from light rail [↩]
3. Bedlam Theater’s “Be Social” Polish-Fusion Cuisine - It’s AWESOME! Try the Pieorogis [↩]

A couple years ago, I was driving to work one sunny morning, tunes blaring. As I passed a truck hauling gravel, I watched - in a slowed down Matrix kind of way - a small pebble flying towards my windshield. It hit, and made a might racket as it pinged off. And there I was. Stuck with a little chip missing out of my windshield.

I really didn’t think anything of it, and for years I drove with that tiny chip. All was fine, until the first big snow this winter. See, at the place I used to live at I had heated underground parking. And when I drove from home to the bus stop, it usually wasn’t snowing. So there was never a chance for water to get in, then freeze.

This new place, I park outside. The first big snowstorm, it took me 2 hours to get home. Swish, swish, swish went the wipers, making quick work of the heavy flakes that fell upon my windshield. The car got quite toasty and warm, so much so that I had to turn down the heater. I finally make it home. I don’t even want to park in the parking garage - I decide to just park on the street and move it in a few hours.

And when I did, there was this large crack. And all winter long it got larger, and larger - until it hit an easy 2 feet long.

Well, I didn’t think much of it. Being a Daewoo, it’s not exactly the most premium transportation method available - but it does the job well, and it does it without complaint. But I was getting the itch. The itch that says “Hey, you should check out the new cars. That Mazdaspeed 3 is looking pretty sweet. And such a great price!”

So I decided to scratch it in the only way I can - by fixing what’s wrong with the current ride. It’s 7 years old, but it only has 75,000 miles on it and runs perfect. So really, I should fix it, and keep that extra $400 a month I would be spending in the bank.
I went to Geico.com to just feel out how much new glass would cost and, I shit you not, literally 10 minutes later I had an appointment for this Monday to swap it out. Happened so fast I didn’t even realize it at first. No talking to anyone, no filling out forms, just a dozen or so clicks and some personal information - they even made the appointment.

The glass man came on Monday, replaced my window, and I gave him a check for a little over $200. The glass is perfect, and it was crazy easy.

And I know everyone gives me shit for not having the $3/month glass coverage but this is the first time I’ve ever had to replace a windshield - so I really saved money, not spending thousands on useless coverage over the years.

But damn. I just wanted to say, Geico rocks.

I was messing around with code this week and a thought hit me - wouldn’t it be cool if someone animated the MN DOT traffic map? Hell yeah it would be! So I wrote a bot, called SnapShot, that sucks images off websites at a regular interval. Aimed it at the DOT website, and waited 24 hours. Then I took the 2100+ images and some Nekromantix and pow, there you have it - a neat little video. Check it out below!

It starts out slow and ends slow - but it’s traffic from Midnight to Midnight, so what did you expect? Also, you’ll notice occasional ‘glitches’ - this is when I’d be downloading a picture at the same time their system was generating one, so I’d receive half an image or less. Opps. I have ideas for another one, which might be a little neater looking.

Additionally, I’ll be have a small exhibition at the Black Dog Coffee and Wine Bar in downtown St. Paul starting April 29th - come check it out

Well we certainly had a busy weekend! We went to La Crosse to celebrate the 3rd birthday of Mishka’s nephew. The house was full of people and food and screaming kids. It was truly an adventure.

Sunday, though, was awesome. We ate some food at a place called Buzzard Billy’s, then Mishka and her Dad both got new tattoos. We went to Mind Altering Tattoos and the artist we had was named Chad, he has his own shops in East Grand Forks, MN and soon in Duluth. His work was absolutely amazing - especially for the price. Mishka’s dad paid just over $200 for his, a huge Dharmacakra¹ on his right shoulder. The detail is amazing and they shading looks gorgeous.

Afterwords it was Mishka’s turn. She chose a Tiger Lily on her right thigh. He drew it on her freehand, then proceeded to color it in - another absolutely beautiful one.

I don’t have a shot of the completed tat, once it heals up a bit I’ll see if I can’t snap a few. It looks great though, and at only $150, it was at the ’stupidly low’ price.

Needless to say, we have a new tattoo guy. We have a thing we need to next month, the soon-to-be sister-in-law’s graduation from college. We’ll be in contact with the tat guy before then and hopefully he’ll be at his shop there, otherwise we will end up going to East Grand Forks. The main reason we’re sticking with this guy is Mishka’s mom will be getting a tattoo as well (Which is a big thing!) and he’s the guy I think that can best design a Fenghuang for me on my right forearm. The Fenghuang is the Chinese Phoenix. It doesn’t stand for rebirth, this one stands for loyalty and honesty. Essentially, the Fenghuang only stays there when the owner is without darkness and corruption.

And, because we always need some drama - Mishka learned the importance of looking while you backup.

1. Her father is a Buddhist [↩]

Just a reminder, when you’re NT account keeps getting locked out every 20 minutes, and you’ve found the server name that is the culprit, but you’ve looked and looked and have absolutely no idea exactly what is causing it.

If it’s a SQL Reporting Services server, make sure you go to http://<ServerName>/Reports, then click on the “My Subscriptions” in the upper right hand corner. Then see the test report you created, 6 months ago, and set to run every 5 minutes. Then see that the delivery method is Windows File Share, and that you’ve entered you’re own credentials, and not those of a service account.

Then smack your forehead, and wonder why you went through 2 days of hell before an offhand remark from a coworker helped you resolve it. Then, go buy him a Twix (I haven’t done that yet, but I will) as thanks.

ARGH!

Greetings! It’s time again for the semi-regular Friday link-o-rama - Adderall edition! Lets see what I’ve read this week, shall we!

How to catch a Netflix thief - Filing a few to many lost DVD forms over at Netflix, making you a tad suspicious? Brian Krische did, and he caught the portly thief red (envelope) handed!

Greatest use of an LED, ever - This slightly-NSFW (Bikini models) YouTube video shows us what decades of technological improvements have brought us - behold it’s blinking wonder!

Not that kind of party - On the local front, it seems like local internet hottie and bacon aficionado Alie has a problem with being green during the ride tide. It’s good for the environment, damn it!

Remember your computer roots - Sure, you might look suave with that ultra hip, ultra-slim Mac Air under you’re arm, but this 1983 photo of an Atari users desk reminds us of what it used to be like.

The next logical step? - Introducing Clitter, a service for clits to communicate and keep in touch. It’s about time, eh ladies?

How background people ruin your photos (NSFW) - A decidedly NSFW PSA for looking at the whole scene before you press the shutter button - you might be surprised what ends up in the shot!

Map #1 - The first map I’d like to show you is an interactive one. It’s from the Federal Reserve and shows the current sub prime loan conditions across the US. We’re not doing so bad.

Map #2 - The second map I’m sending you to is a singles map, showing you the number of available singles in US. MN looks like it’s ladies choice.

Is it a lipstick, or is it a vibrator? - Can you tell if the following items are sex toys or household objects? You might be surprised.

and finally….

Always clear your download history - While I thought it was common knowledge, apparently I was wrong. Folks, if you’re going to be interviewed on TV, please try to remember to delete your download history lest your perversions become known to the world!

And that’s it for this week folks! This weekend is supposed to be cloudy, but the temperatures will be spot-on, so dust off those grills and go outside! I’ll man the fort back here - it’s my sacrifice to you, gentle reader.