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The Personal Website of Mike Specian
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Personal

Thundersnow and Thundersnowmen

Mike Specian January 27, 2011 Leave a Comment 2622 Views

I have to keep this brief because my cell phone is going to run out of battery power, and I don’t have any way of easily recharging it. Last night around 9 PM during “Thunder Snow 2011” we lost power and have been without it since. Our heat is triggered by an electric thermostat, and we live in an old Victorian home so we’re leaking our extant heat at a rapid rate.

According to BGE, Baltimore’s electric and gas provider, the problem is significant.  Last night proved a great time to meet the upstairs neighbor and to begin construction of a truly epic snowman, but you get the distinct sense of being on the Titanic, that it’s all fun and games until you realize the microwave doesn’t work and you’ve been subsisting on processed frozen foods.

Of course, I could try to leave, but the 1988 Mercury Cougar is not likely to make it out of his driveway. And even if it does the roads aren’t great condition, there’s certainly very little parking. Biking remains a (dangerous) possibility, but one I may resort to later.

Photography

Comments on Image Types

Mike Specian January 26, 2011 2 Comments 3116 Views

Every time I think about getting back to work on my photography I run into a roadblock.  First, I argued that I needed a new website; otherwise, I’d have no place to showcase my work.  Well check that off the list.  Second, I rationalized that I needed to finish up some old galleries I’ve been putting off (e.g. Czech, Rome, India) before I get to work on my new ones.  But before that happens, I should hone my digital editing techniques.  On second thought, digital editing means little if one’s original image isn’t of high quality.  And you see where this is going…

One of my next goals (after uploading my finished galleries) is studying image file types.  I want to know the differences between .png, .jpg, .RAW, and so forth.  I want to ensure that images taken with my camera and subsequently edited digitally are done in such a way as to maximize their quality for the web, for printing, or for whatever.  I am happy to solicit advice on the matter if anyone is actually reading this site, which I assume no one is.  Thanks, diary.

Photography

Major Photography Updates

Mike Specian January 5, 2011 Leave a Comment 2417 Views

I’ve continued to regularly add updates:

  • Height of the masthead has been reduced to increase its aesthetic apppeal
  • Adjusted header to center masthead above the body
  • Changed the background color of the drop down menus and properly set the hovering highlight effect
  • Added purple border to posts
  • Introduced Costa Rica, Nashville, Western, Northern, Maine, Delaware, and Southern Road Trips, Ireland, Falling Water, Germany, Southern California, and Caribbean Cruise photo galleries
  • All photo galleries from the Pacific Northwest up through the Maine Road Trip have been properly ordered and descriptions have been placed under each photo to properly relate the story of the trip/image

Over the next week, I will focus mainly on reordering and properly labeling the galleries up through Germany.

Photography

Photography Coming Along

Mike Specian December 29, 2010 Leave a Comment 2467 Views

I’ve added some more architectural features:

  • properly center the masthead
  • added background color to the drop-down menu
  • increased border size of posts and changed the color
  • changed the color of the date circle, RSS feed, underline bar, and search button
  • greatly modified the photography section by adding buttons and two sample galleries

I can’t figure out how to change the rollover color of the drop-down menu text.  I still need to modify the borders around the “reply” and “comments” section.  But overall, decent progress.

ClimateEnergyPhotographyPolitics

Progress is Being Made

Mike Specian December 23, 2010 Leave a Comment 2345 Views

The user will notice that I have created a new banner that symbolizes my interests in astronomy, green energy, and nature. I have developed a gradient background to mesh with this masthead and a body background with the subtle hint of textured stars. I have attempted to suggest three-dimensionality with the shadow to the right of the box, but I will admit that this could be done better. I still must figure out a way to get the masthead to be centered on the screen. I’ve replaced a PNG of the word “Bueno” (the name of this theme) with my own masthead, so I didn’t set any of the parameters for its placement. In fact, I merely changed the name of my banner to logo.png to get it to appear there. I recognize that this is a bit of a hack, but it’s also considerably quicker than trying to figure out someone else’s code.

Politics

Losing the Loop

Mike Specian December 17, 2010 Leave a Comment 2566 Views

What happens to my post if I don’t have a Loop.php file? Does the formatting for my posts still appear as they should? If so, how?

Photography

My latest photograph

Mike Specian November 25, 2010 1 Comment 2631 Views

Politics

Hello world!

Mike Specian November 25, 2010 1 Comment 3117 Views

Welcome to # WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

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About Me

mike_specian

Hi, I’m Mike Specian. This site is a repository for things that matter to me including science, energy, climate, public policy, and photography from around the world. You are welcome to follow me on social media or by subscribing to email updates below.

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Most Recent Posts

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