At my staff meeting this morning, I tested out our new Olympus DM-10 Digital Voice Recorder. Its outboard stereo microphone does a decent job of picking up group conversations. The solid state memory supposedly holds 22 hours of audio, which can be transferred by USB to a desktop PC. I'm going to use this in some meetings to podcast discussion to team members who couldn't attend.

I noticed this Korean market-only Samsung phone on Gizmodo today. Look familiar?

While in Olsson's bookstore late this afternnon, I saw that Jessica Cutler, the Senate mail clerk who got fired for blogging about her sexual adventures with co-workers and others, was going to do a reading from her book tonight. I thought for a second about staying late to catch that, but came to my senses quickly. I must have been dazed momentarily by the cover of the book.

My Promaster 5550DX digital flash Nikon adapter arrived today. This will let me use a third party flash on my old Olympus 5060 and new D70.

I also picked up Bruce Fraser's Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS to read up on how to handle digital images in the highest quality workflow possible.

- mike lee - washington, dc

After a long day of chasing business operations issues, I went out for a Chop House beer with John, who was in town meeting with various sponsors of his lab. We reviewed the upcoming months of lab events in between which I need to work in several trips for the waiting list of co-workers and business partners who want me to take them. We also placed on the to-do list some hardware hacking time with his students. On empty drink glasses, John and I head out, he to the airport, me with wife for the car ride home.

On the road, I started into the latest issue of Make in the car, which seems to mention MIT in each issue. I was most surprised about the how-to on running HDTV on a Mac for under $200 in hardware add-ons (until the broadcast flag lands on July 1) and some free software.

After dinner and playing with child, I dissapated the last of my brain cycles on some rounds of Lumines on the PSP.

- mike lee - langley park, md

I was going to post this photo of the rainbow that just appeared over my mom's house where we are staying for a few more weeks. Moved by the deeply personal post about the passing of Aaron's mom, I post it to mark the moment that this blog has completed a circle of life from arrival to passing.

Aaron, our thoughts are with you.

- mike lee - langley park, md

While a significant portion of the local population probably headed east to the ocean beaches, we took a 30-hour overnight escape by car west to the Enchanted River Meadow Cottage at Great Cacapon near Berkeley Springs, WV.

The cottage (2) was in the picaresque and smoky valley adjacent to the Cacapon River (4). There wasn't a lot to explore on foot as our valley was chopped up into private properties bounded by sheer sandstone outcroppings and pretty dense forest. At the end of our dirt road, there was a scenic access to the river. Cianna also had a great time squawking at the geese along the pond (1 & 3) by the cottage.

The highlight of the trip for me was going out on the porch at 11pm after lights out to see the valley bathed in astronomical twilight and sparkling with thousands of blinking fireflies at rest in the trees. I need to figure out how to capture that on film one day.

On our way out today, we stopped for lunch at the historic Berkeley Springs Inn & Spa (5 - 7).

- mike lee - note to self: remember to keep camera equipment stored somewhere at closer to ambient outside temperature. my nikon d70 completely fogged up when i took it out from the air conditioned cabin into the humid 90+ degree air.

Last weekend, I finally made the return to shooting with an SLR with a new Nikon D70. It's been about five years since I used an F series film camera. I really don't miss working with film or printing in the darkroom. The digital workflow is so much more powefull and generally faster.

The advantages of D-SLR for me are the capablility to shoot in very low light with fast lenses and exacting control of depth of field. The D70 can capture usable images in a candlelit room. For portraits, I can throw the background completely out of focus.

The tradeoff for more picture-taking capability is a bulkier camera along with the need to carry more than one interchangable lens. The Nikon Coolpix and Olympus Camedia cameras I've been using for the last several years were very compact, and a real way, very liberating in that I could float them in the airspace around my body to take pictures by composing them in cameras' articulated LCD screens. With the new Nikon, I'll have to get used to pressing my face onto the viewfinder all the time.

I put my new camera through some streetshooter's customizations. The included neckstrap with giant yellow "steal me" Nikon logos was the first to get replaced with a simple black strap. Next, I taped over the branding on the front of the camera (5, 6). I'm also going to leave the lens cap off of my zoom lens, but keep the scalloped lens hood on most of the time (4).

Then there's dealing with the heavier, bulkier camera everywhere I go. With the long lens, I'll start carrying the camera with the front and lens facing my hip as my first photo teacher taught me. This keeps the front of the lens close to the body and somewhat more shield from bumps. I can also reach down and grab the right-handed grip very quickly to bring the camera up to my face for a shot (1-3).

Now the other thing I have to watch is not to slam the camera into the side of my child's head when I bend over near her.

- mike lee - langley park, md

Our scenario planning sessions ended at 5pm today with a euphoric group of people. We were blessed that a group of such high stature gave us two days out of their busy schedules. I hung out in the hotel lobby for an hour or so surfing via WiFi until my boss Mark (4) arrived to have dinner with Erik (2) and I at the hotel's bistro.

We three were deep in conversation about the last two days until I noticed that Hillary Rodham Clinton sat down in the next booth. I didn't have the nerve to interrupt her and her two dinner guests, so I just sneaked her into the photo of Erik (2). Hillary is partially visible through the pane of glass to the left of Erik's head. We were all wondering which of the men in suits across the aisle (1) was the spook assigned to protect her.

- mike lee - washington, dc

The energy is high as we near the end if the second day of our workshop to envision the future of the Internet. Everyone is having a blast working in groups to write news headlines of the future.

Best quip heard today: "Don't be roadkill on the Yellow Brick Road." --Erik

- mike lee - washington, dc

Today was the first day of our two-day scenario planning workshop with the Global Business Network. In addition to the GBN team and colleagues from work, we were joined at the Hotel George by a number of external invited guests including cyberpunk fiction author Bruce Sterling (4), gaming expert JC Herz (2, 3rd from left), MIT Media Lab Executive Director Walter Bender, Stanford Persuasive Technologies Laboratory's BJ Fogg (2, 2nd from left), University of Maryland Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory's Ben Shneiderman and the Usability Professional Association's President Whitney Quesenbery. The room of 30 was probably the most diverse and accomplished I've ever joined. The day was engaging and productive producing a draft framework in which we'll create four scenarios for the future tomorrow.

Of note: Bruce has already photoblogged the local security landscaping.

- mike lee - washington, dc

Jeff, who gave us the tip that led to the purchase of our new house, invited us to our first neighborhood association meeting at the Brookside Gardens Visitor's Center. In addition to seeing all of Jeff's family for the first time, we met Mark, our neighbor directly across, and Nancy two doors down. Even though we aren't moving in for a few weeks, I already have a new social network of names to remember.

The meeting agenda was what you'd expect: a firehouse will be built at the southern edge of our neighborhood, and there are concerns about the siren noise; a condo community of about 170 units is going in south of the firehouse by 2010, and there are concerns about the increased auto traffic. The guests addressing these issues assured the room that everything was being implemented within county-wide smart growth guidelines, but no one seemed to take the assurance. I imagine the occupants in a given neighborhood are the last people who are consulted about development plans because they will likely want NO change unless it helps them directly.

From the current officer's various requests for help, it was apparent that the group has been limping along for a while, so Amy and I are ready to pitch in and help once we get settled into the house.

- mike lee - wheaton, md