Happy Proof Of Concept Morning
Continuing with my new morning ritual of starting my morning off with some hacking, I did a couple of proof-of-concept things just now. The first is for a consulting gig I’m doing involving programatically filling out Adobe Acrobat forms. That went very well.
The second was to try out the new mini-tripod I bought for my digital camera. I’ve noticed that when I take a photo using only natural light, it brings out the texture of my knitting much more than when I use the flash. But natural light photos also tend to be very blurry. I think that I could solve the problem by adjusting some of the camera’s settings, but I don’t know enough about photography to do that yet. So I bought a cheapo tripod from Target and used that to take a picture of my Aran this morning. It came out very nicely. I’ll be posting more flash-free pictures in the coming weeks.
I had to go by the tax office yesterday to dig up the info on a couple of naughty drivers who harassed me on my bike. Knowing that it would mean standing in line for at least half an hour, I brought the Aran with me. That turned out to be a very good idea. Not only did I crank out a row and a half while making my way through the line, it provided a conversation starter for the half-dozen people on either side of me in the line. One lady told me that her mother makes sweaters all the time, but all she does is knit and watch the Spurs. Man, what a life. Where do I sign up?
(Well, I’d be watching cycling, not basketball, but it still sounds like a great deal.)
February 10th, 2004 at 11:04 am
Are they very forthcoming at the tax office?
I just read this:
http://www.staugustine.com/stories/020704/new_2111766.shtml
and this:
http://www.texaspress.com/messenger/december03/foisidebar1203.htm
today (via Metafilter). Perhaps they didn’t view you as a threat because you were knitting. (Or does that make one more suspicious? You know, pointy things.)
February 10th, 2004 at 12:15 pm
Michelle,
Very interesting read. When I went to the tax office, I had already downloaded the appropriate forms from a Texas .gov website ( I don’t have the URL on me at the moment ). The woman I dealt with looked them and told me I had to fill in the reasons on the back of the form. But she was very cordial - I think the knitting definitely helped.
The first time I filled out one of these requests, the person I spoke to had no idea which form I needed to fill out. Apparently a vehicle information request is not very common.