dorotimes

I find it pretty upsetting when people tell me they aren’t going to vote. Years ago people would have (and some probably) DIED for the right to vote! I know it is too late to register now, but maybe I’ve changed some minds about voting.

What makes me craziest is that it isn’t even hard to vote: it’s totally free and you can register in  many convenient places–I did it on the my school campus. And to make it even more convenient you can opt to have an absentee ballot sent to you which you can either drop off at a polling place, allow someone else to drop off for you or send back to your county elections official.

It is a way to make your thoughts heard, so if its pretty much free, why not?!

And as Will Smith’s father said, “If you don’t vote shut up.”

I’ve been swammped with summer school, work, and internships.

I wanted to share a small part of my life with all of you: I’m an intern at Future Delivery, an up and coming company that acknowledges that many undergraduates and new graduates have no idea about what they want to do after school.

FD has just released a product called FDcareer that will allow students and professionals to research companies, network, and better themselves by completing fun productive and skill acquiring quests. FDcareer has levels in education, experience, leadership, social, and initiative in which users can advance themselves by completing quests. It’s gaming with a productive twist.

Please visit the site and let me know what you guys think!

This one is mostly going to be about the awesome food I had on vacation!
I’m going to be a little choked up writing this, but I’ll be okay guys…college food ain’t so bad (ham sandwiches, oatmeal, and the occasional bagel & cream cheese).

So on the first day of our vacation we stopped at Bucatini in Santa Barbara, CA. It wasn’t busy at all so we got to pick where we sat! Of course, Kevin (zee bf) and I chose the seating arrangement with the best lighting! Kevin ordered the Affumicata Pizza:

and I got the Calzone Prosciutto & Funghi:

They were both delicious and I’d definitely go here again!

The next day we went on a wine pilgrimage in Paso Robles, CA and stopped at Panolivo for lunch. I got a Lobster Sensation BLTA Foccacia:

It was good. I know you can barely spot the lobster, but taste wise it was very prominent. Poor Kevin ordered a rare top sirloin steak that came out overcooked. He had to wait for another while his parents and I chowed down! :C

That same day we had dinner near Cayucos, CA, but I don’t remember the name of the place we were at. Anyway, Kevin’s parents both got burgers with beef from Hearst Ranch:

It was yummy and so juicy! I got the spinach quiche and that was pretty tasty too..the pictures didn’t come out too well though!

Anyway, I was spoiled rotten with food on my vacation. A big THANK YOU to Kevin and his parents for taking me along with them! I enjoyed the vacation oh so very much and appreciate them more than they know!

I apologize for not updating!

I have been in vacation la la land where there are no worries, no homework, much sleep, and lots of REAL FOOD –when I’m in Davis I eat mostly sad ham sandwiches :(.

Predictably, life has come back and smacked me with summer school, trabajo, and HEAT (in the triple digits yah’ll). At least I still have my pictures to reminisce about my week of lightheartedness:

Spent some time in Santa Monica, CA. The weather was perfect! My boyfriend and I actually went to Santa Monica twice. The first time was spent on the pier with a friend of ours and the second time was to check out a new digital back by Leaf. The entire camera set up was amazing (and A TON of money). We got to test out thousands of dollars worth of gear. It was pretty awesome. Here is a comparison shot that my boyfriend did. Amazing, no?

Theres more to this vacation, but I’m feeling a bit worn. More shots and FOOD shots to come. Hope everyones enjoying their summer!

You can do almost anything to pictures these days. Photoshop celebrities into your pictures, take out that unsightly mole with a hair growing out of it, make people look plastic, etc. and there isn’t a wrong way of editing either –it’s all up to you!

I used to be very “anti-editing” and I think it might be because I went through film photography first (and I didn’t realize that in film photography you also edit –with the enlarger :P). Anyway, I now embrace editing my pictures. Even if there are little changes to be made to the picture I usually do a little clarity and sharpening.

I also like “sprucing up” BLAH pictures. An example of this would be a quick webcam picture I took:

The picture on top is unedited. There wasn’t too much I could to to the picture. It’s a pretty bad quality photo so I popped it open in Adobe Lightroom and:

Upped exposure, upped the blacks, upped brightness, upped contrast, converted it to black and white, and then did minor color adjustments in split toning (if you want to give this a try all these adjustments should be made to your liking :)).

Congrats, you’ve just made a BLAH picture a little bit cooler.

I love food, I love photography, and I LOVE FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY.

What I live by when I’m shooting food is natural light. My boyfriend (who also loves photography) and I always think about getting a window seat at restaurants, but when I’m not at restaurants I like shooting near windows or outside. Natural light gives a nice soft glow to food, try to stay away from direct sunlight though –it can be a bit much and make your food/subject look way too bright.

Here’s an example:

Soft right? I used a Nikon d40, a 50mmf1.8, and the most awesome ingredient: natural light.
Check out more food photography at my flickr!

Sure, bureaucracies keep us orderly, but where is the sympathy?!

My parents don’t make a lot of money so I receive much needed financial aid. Recently I had $434 billed to my account and I had no idea why. My grades are good and I am taking more than enough units, so I went to the financial aid office to inquire. They told me that because I transfered over units from a community college I went over a unit requirement for a grant (which had already dispersed to me) therefore they had to take the money back.

This sucks! I was never ever informed of the unit requirement and I explained that to the person that oversaw the grants. She said that students have a responsibility to check up on any money they receive and that all this information was online. I wanted to shout, “#$!%%#@^@#$!!!,” but I didn’t. I told her I would have looked if I was pointed in that direction. Then she insensitively said that she understood my situation (sure…) and that it was “out of their hands” and that they couldn’t control the rules.

What can you do to prevent this from happening to you?

-Look into ALL the financial aid you receive (I’m kind of pissed off about this, because who really looks into grants that they receive?! I’m definitely doing it now.)

-If that information isn’t located on the financial aid site go your financial aid office

-Keep close track of your billing statements and if anything looks weird contact the financial aid office ASAP

-Adhere to all requirements –they are unforgiving and will not cut you slack

What am I doing about this?

I really don’t know if there is anything else I can do. Any suggestions?

Being jobless is no fun. I’m also taking a personal finance class that’s scaring me into saving!

With no steady stream of income I’m forced to say no to the lunch date with friends or the iced coffee at the school coffee house. Fortunately, financial aid is saving my butt with tuition and rent money, but that’s about it. I’m using the money I made last summer to cover books and that isn’t going to last very long! What’s a girl to do when no one seems to be hiring?

Perhaps I’ll have more luck when everyone goes home for the summer!

I was sitting outside of this little coffee shop with my dad in the sweltering heat of Vietnam. I reached across the tiny table and grabbed an ancient film camera. My dad must have been in a good mood, because he let me toy around with it. CLICK! I snapped a picture of my dad. It was my first picture ever and when the roll was developed I rejoiced and ran around showing everyone around me my “masterpiece.”

Eleven years later, I am still that kid running around (or IMing everyone) and showing them my “masterpieces.” Photography has been an on and off outlet for me. As a kid I took pictures of everything. In my early teens I hardly touched the camera. In my later years of high school I developed  a greater appreciation for the art form due to some courses that I took. Today, I am more active photographer than ever thanks to my boyfriend who has added fuel to this passion of mine.

Why do I do it? I love capturing the beauty around me. I love capturing human interaction. I love the funny looks that I get at a restaurant when I bring out this giant camera to take pictures of the super awesome food in front of me. I can go on and on, but the main reason why I love it is because there is so much thought and intricacy that goes into photography. Anyone can snap a picture, but when I photograph something I take into account the surroundings, the lighting, the aperture, the composition, etc.

Unfortunately, it’s not all fun and games. I’m sure a lot of people feel me. I’ve heard of photographers taking 1297234987 shots and they just don’t come out right. When I reach that point I beat myself up and then after much negativity I keep on truckin’!

I still have A LOT to learn (and more gear to acquire :D), but for now I just want to keep practicing and gaining more experienced. LOOK OUT WORLD, HERE COMES DOROTRON!

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