Author: iampotassium

Goin’ to the zoo – close ups

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This weekend, Cobalt, A and I went to the Denver zoo because Mike’s Camera, the big camera store out here was hosting a zoo day. They were out there renting out cameras, lenses, and tripods to anyone who wanted to play with photography. (In case you were wondering, this is similar to the day I spent with the butterflies at the Butterfly Pavilion). This time was awesome because both Cobalt and A rented fancy DSLR cameras too and then we all got to rent super epic lenses. So the three of us trekked around the zoo with our expensive cameras/lenses capturing the wildlife (funny story: Cobalt and I kept hearing small children being excited to see the squirrels running around the zoo… really children? You see squirrels every day… LOOK AT THAT ELEPHANT! *sigh*). I actually switched expensive fancy lenses halfway through and then ended up taking something ridiculous like 427 pictures (!!!!) between the two of them. Since I took a bunch of keepers, I decided to write two posts on the zoo day, one for the pictures taken with each lens.

So today… we discuss the amazing 18 mm by 300 mm lens I tried out first. For those of you that aren’t keen on photography terms, this lens does EVERYTHING. It can do super close ups like these creatures on today’s post or it can do your typical “wide angle” type expansive mountain shots (not shown today). So that’s pretty amazing. It was also REALLY heavy. My hand was getting tired by the time I got back to switch lenses.

One more thing I want to say about these pictures is that I want to thank Patrick for his amazing zoo pictures and his “how to” zoo picture taking guide on his blog. Really got me thinking about the best way to capture the animals at our zoo with my epic lenses…

And without further ado… more pictures…

I like this tiger pic a lot. He just seems so grand but also kitty-like.

Action shot!

I am not sure what this creature is but I like it… They were hanging out with these neat birds. Maybe I will post a picture of them later…

So, this elephant picture is really special because Mike’s Camera had a bunch of HUGE lenses set up on tripods by the elephants. You basically gave the guy your lens and then hooked your camera up to one of the epic crazy lenses. That’s why I decided to focus on this elephant’s eye. I like it… Boo that I couldn’t get rid of the fence though….

That’s all for today! I had so much fun being an epic photographer with Cobalt and A! It was awesome that all three of us got to play with cameras at the same time. Made for a great time at the zoo. Look forward to seeing more pictures from the other lens later this week!

What is your favorite zoo animal? I might be able to post a cool picture of it… :) What did you do this weekend?

Sick Face

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Sick Potassium and her trusty shark, Gustav!

I apologize for having a weird posting schedule this week. I’ve been trying to fight off this stupid sneaky cold all week. Do you know what I mean when I say sneaky? Let me give you some examples from my week.

  • I felt fine until midnight when I ended up keeping both me and Cobalt awake coughing up a storm. It was pouring rain outside so neither Cobalt nor I wanted to get up and go to the store to get cough medicine. Maybe if I had been coughing earlier (when it wasn’t raining), I could have gone to the store then but noooooo…
  • I went to my soccer game feeling normal but in the middle of the game, the cold attacked and made it hard to breathe.
  • I was walking to the bus stop by way of the library to return a book and I was so out of it from the death cold that I slipped on the grass and ended up face down in my apartment complex’s parking lot… booo…

Anyway, thanks to the little hints this cold keeps dropping, I’ve been trying to take it easy in the evenings this week (minus the day I played soccer) and yesterday I managed to rearrange things in the lab so I could take the afternoon off. I went home and made myself tea and soup before settling into my bed. I got a lot of reading done, which was good because I have a growing pile of books that I am currently in the middle of right now. I’m not quite sure how that happened. Maybe I will write a post about that next week!

So tell me about your week! Or about your favorite things to do when you feel a little under the weather. Doing anything fun this weekend? I am planning some awesome things so come on, cold! It’s time to leave.

Golden

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This past Saturday, Cobalt and I went up to Aspen with our friends A, J, K, T, and L to continue our search for fall (which officially started this weekend). The seven of us checked into our condo and immediately headed for the fancy hot tubs and pool.

J, A, and T hanging out at the hot tub

Then we spent the rest of the evening feasting on Chinese delicacies mostly made by T, J, and K, though we all helped. There was sooooo much food that we all totally overstuffed ourselves.

In the morning, L and K made us an epic breakfast consisting of eggs, bacon, pancake balls stuffed with red beans, and Korean pancakes. Oh and Cobalt found this crazy Dragonfruit when we were shopping on Friday night so we ate that too. Then we headed up to the Maroon Bells (two mountains near Aspen) to check out the beautiful changing aspens (all that gold in that top picture comes from the aspens). It turned out to be a wonderful day for running around and being silly in the midst of these gorgeous trees and mountains. I ended up being a crazy photographer who would lie down in the middle of the trail just to get the perfect shot.

K and J with the prettiness behind them…

The first set of pictures I took were pictures of everyone jumping up and down. T was especially good at it as you can see in this picture.

Jumping

T jumping while L checks out a recent picture…
A and T jumping with aspens behind them

Then we decided to take some “Hunger Games” shots, so named because I would focus on the aspens and hold my camera steady while everyone else ran through the trees, getting slightly blurred, not unlike the way the Hunger Games movie was filmed.

Hunger Games


Finally, here is a picture of part of our group towards the end of the trip, J and K had already left at this point.

This trip was so much fun. The drive to and from Aspen was beautiful (the changing trees made the scenery look painted gold), I had a ton of fun with my friends, I got to see the Maroon Bells (which I had never seen before), and I got to have a lot of fun being really creative with my DSLR. I was talking to A today about “life changing experiences” and how I feel like I’ve had a lot of them this year (getting married was obviously one). I think this trip was definitely a life changing experience too. It was so neat to see everything come together – from shopping for food with T, A, and Cobalt on Friday night, to riding the bus up to the Maroon Bells, to running around like crazy people through the aspens… I think it all lead to me feeling at peace with myself and the world for a bit and that was awesome.

Because I posted this today and not on Monday, all bets are off on what the rest of the week will look like. Also, if you want to hear more about the trip/see more pictures/learn about how I took some of them, I have about 173 more pictures left so I can always post more in another post if anyone is interested.

Now it’s your turn. Is fall happening where you are right now? Do the trees change color? What is one of the best life changing experiences that has happened for you recently? Let’s discuss.

Chai Shark Attack!

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Wednesday morning was a lovely morning for chai tea with breakfast…

Oh my, what is that in my chai?!

Whatever it is, it’s got teeth!

AHHHHH THERE’S A SHARK IN MY CUP!!! (runs away screaming)

Who would have guessed sharks liked chai? Btw, this is one of our favorite wedding gifts. :D

Yay! It’s Friday! Any fun plans for you guys this weekend? How was this week for you guys? Crazy? Acceptable? A little bit of crazy and a little bit of acceptable? I’ve been working like crazy in lab while my boss is at a conference in France (jealous…). So determined to have something exciting to tell her when she comes back…

Also, do you have an iPhone (or are you getting the iPhone5 today)? Tell me what you think of the new iOS! I’m kind of upset about the new Maps app.

Beautiful wedding in Santa Fe

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This weekend, Cobalt and I headed south to Santa Fe (Do you know the way… to Santa Fe?) for K and M’s beautiful wedding. Everything about this wedding was so perfect for the two of them, from the well thought out vows and touching ceremony to the adorable bride and groom rat caketopper (not to mention their tower of whoopie pies instead of a traditional cake). We had so much fun with these two. We ate delicious barbecue and then danced the night away with all our friends… Plus it looks like they had quite a bit of fun themselves:

Congratulations you two! We’re soooo happy for you!

In other wedding news, our friends D and D are getting married this weekend! Yay! Congratulations to you guys too! :)

Finally, in other happiness, Baby L was born on Monday morning this week! Yay! Congrats B and T too! :)

What’s going on over there?

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This weekend, Cobalt and I traveled to NM for an amazing wedding! I took some great pictures of the bride and groom but we got back home so late last night that I didn’t even have time to upload them from my camera. Plus we had a pretty stressful weekend involving getting leaky tire on Cobalt’s car fixed (we got to drive halfway there on a donut tire!). So instead you get a picture Fred, my sister in law’s cat. S and Cobalt were outside pulling Virginia Creeper from the side of the house and Fred was so curious about what was going on…

Question of the day: Cobalt and I drove our friend The Chocolate Pudding down to NM and we got super hyper and crazy on the drive back up. What are your road trips like? Do you have ridiculous conversations or is it quiet and mild?

Microscope Modeling

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Lately we have been establishing a core microscopy facility in our new science building where anyone in the building can be trained on and use the fancy (and sometimes grumpy) fluorescence microscopes. Yesterday, a professional photographer came in to take pictures of all the microscopes so they can go on the University’s website. He started with our newest and most fancy (and most popular right now…) microscope and he needed some scientists to be photographed with the scope. Naturally, my friend A and I volunteered.

It turned out to be pretty cool. We got to put on gloves and play with the fancy microscope while he told us how to pose (probably the closest I’ll ever get to actual modeling). I think he was as excited as we were because as he shot, he would explain some of his equipment to us (super fancy photography equipment that I can only dream of owning one day), tell us about the types of shots he was taking, and tell us about how he came to be a professional photographer. Yay fancy microscopes while simultaneously nerding out over photography… Definitely a great way to start the day.

Afterwards A and I got K (who is “lucky” enough to share our section of the lab with us) to take this nice commemorative picture. Thanks K!

PS, nerd alert. So sometimes when I put on my gloves to do lab work, I think “Two by two, hands of blue…” which never ceases to freak me out a little… :-/

Some questions to think about: Is there anything you do as part of your job that causes some of your inner nerd to come out? Have you ever modeled (with or without a microscope)? Are you interested in cool photography gadgets like I am? If not, are there are other cool gadgets you are excited about? Tell me more… Have a good Friday/weekend!

And now, we wait…

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So I am kind of ridiculously excited for my two friends T and B because their baby boy L is due to be born TODAY. T and B are some of Cobalt’s and my really good friends and we can’t wait to meet their new little one! Good luck T and B. We’re so excited for you!

Picture: the onesie I decorated for L at T’s baby shower a few weeks ago. It is shark themed, of course. :)

About Wedding Wednesday: It got put on hold mostly because I only have a few topics left to talk about so I am spacing them out. Also still waiting for our professional pictures… If there is anything you want to know that I haven’t already talked about, please tell me in a comment and I’ll get right on that. :)

Who can make the longest udon noodle?

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This weekend was full of activities. On Saturday, Cobalt and I volunteered by getting college students registered to vote. We were strictly not allowed to discuss politics or political parties (seriously, all we could say was “Hi! Have you updated your voter registration information? If not you can do it now and it only takes 90 seconds…”) and people replied by yelling all sorts of insults at us about the presidential candidates… It was a bit awkward. Oh and we were in the sun for 2.5 hours and we only got two people to register. That was kind of depressing. Come on Colorado! It’s fun being a swing state! :-/

Then yesterday we made salmon teriyaki with homemade udon noodles! The recipe called for stretching the noodles out after we cut them and before we boiled them. Cobalt and I had a lot of fun with that part, as you can see from the above and below pictures.

Aw yeah… This noodle is gonna be great!

The salmon teriyaki also turned out pretty delicious as you can see from the following picture. Result!

You know you want to eat this…

What did you do this weekend? Have you noticed that almost all of my food posts are about noodles? Maybe I should try some other recipe just to be balanced. Do you like cooking? What is your favorite thing to make from scratch? I have to say that pie crust is kind of fun. I got a little obsessed with making homemade pie crust during my first year of grad school… It would probably be easier to make now that we have all these sweet cooking wedding presents… :)

One Frozen Shark

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Don’t judge this shark cake. It’s been through a lot…

Well… it’s been a month since our wedding (officially on Tuesday). To celebrate our one monthversary, Cobalt and I went out to a tasty dinner last night and then came home to try our frozen wedding shark cake. Our cake lady suggested that we eat our cake on our one month anniversary instead of on our one year anniversary. This turned out to be a fine suggestion because I am not sure this cake would have been very tasty next year. As it was, this poor shark cake got dragged 21 hours across the US and then shoved into our freezer so it had seen better days. It still tasted pretty delicious; it just had a hint of freezer to each bite. Awww sharky…

I actually got really sad when we were trying the cake because I feel like all the celebrating for our wedding is officially over now. I mean, it’s been over for about a month really but this just seemed so final. Just reminds me that Cobalt and I should never stop celebrating and enjoying each other’s company as husband and wife. Just because the wedding is over doesn’t mean that we should stop partying yet. We’ve got a whole lifetime of celebrating ahead of us…

I think I’ve only got one to two more wedding posts until we get our wedding pictures back from our photographer so I think this blog is going to go back to more of a photojournal of a day in the lives of Potassium and Cobalt. I hope you’ll stick around to see what happens next!

And now it’s your turn. If you’re married, did you eat frozen wedding cake on your one year anniversary or are you like my parents who have 27 year old wedding cake somewhere in the bottom of their freezers? How was your cake? If you’re not married, would you want to eat year old wedding cake? Yummmm…