sprocket i/o

Still-life drawn upside-down.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve stretched myself a bit and tried some new things:

The Opera

Thanks to my Omega-chapter buddy Steve, I got to see my first Opera: Turandot. It was their dress rehearsal, playing at the newly opened Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center. The opera started out a bit slow, but steadily built up to a great ending. The props and lighting were amazing, and the score was pretty good too. The subtitles being displayed at the top of the stage left a little to be desired. I hope to attend more Opera’s in the future.

The Range

Me and my team spent the day at Creekside Firing Range and fired a variety of weapons: rifles, shotguns, pistol’s, revolvers. Again, it started pretty slow but got to be really fun. I managed to bust my lip firing the shotgun a bit too close to my face however. I’m not really much of a gun person, but firing a shotgun is a trip. [photos].

The Classroom

I’m taking an oil-painting class at church on Tuesday nights, and I’ve been pretty successful with it. It’s the first time I’ve painted since I was in high-school, at which time I was a complete failure with it. Back then, I had tried to be a perfectionist and treat my paintbrush as if it was a sharp pencil. My teacher had tried to get me to be messy and just get something up on the canvas, but I guess it took me 10 years to mull over her words in order to put it into action. The photo for this blog entry is the piece I am currently working on. I’ve got photos of my first piece, as well as the second one. I don’t think either is terribly good, but it is relaxing to work the canvas.

The Office

Trying to be a better tech lead at work, I’ve been doing some reading and searching for the most efficient way for me to aid the project. I can say that micro-management is not my strong suite. So far the most useful resource I’ve come into contact with is Ship It! (by the Pragmatic Programmers). After much deliberation, I instituted “The List” using Google Spreadsheets, and began holding daily 5-minute meetings. It’s too early to tell if these techniques will make a difference, but I think they will.