Photojoy

Over Thanksgiving break, I had a chance to break out my Canon 20D, which has given me so much photographic joy in the time I’ve had it. I present for you a few pics of beauty and merriment, all taken within the past couple weeks.

This is my Sweetie, glowing as usual. She was kind enough to sit (or, more accurately, lie down) through repeated shots while I tried to capture her delicate beauty. I told her she looked like an angel and I wanted to try to replicate it. I think I have come close.

If I sent out Christmas / holiday cards, this would be the photo. Seasons Greetings from Matt and his Crew! Counterclockwise from the left, that’s Daisy, Mickey, Winston and Me. You have no idea how hard it was to get this shot. Daisy has been around so long she has no patience for photos and kept trying to walk away. Winston kept flying out of the shot! What’s even more amazing is that they are all actually looking at the camera.

After Winston and Daisy took off, it was just me and Mickey. We are best friends. He likes to shake my hand, and I like to pet him on the head.

My sister Katherine is applying to drama programs and needs a headshot, which normally costs hundreds of dollars. But she has little money. Whatever shall she do? Aha! Just ask her brother, aspiring photographer Matt, to help her out! This is the best I could do without a studio setup. (We took these in the kitchen with a bounce flash and a blanket as a backdrop.) A bit of digital airbrushing later, and we have a star on our hands. Everyone, meet Katherine Leigh.

I have met the Poker God, and he is shorter than you might think

This will probably never happen again, so I just wanted to publicly document that I took first place in an online poker tournament. See screen shot below. Note that I could not have done this well without my friend Ian (who adds quite a cushion to his yearly income by playing poker online) offering advice via Instant Messenger. Take a look at this snippet of our conversation (f means fold, c means call, o means offsuit).

Matt: 78 o
Ian: f
Ian: you have a very aggressive chipleader
Ian: you gotta play solid poker
Ian: or he will play you for all your chips
Ian: with 1 hand
Ian: see there are 3 other stacks
Ian: your size now
Matt: 99
Ian: allin
Ian: if you get a shot
Ian: and there is no raiser
Ian: if you bust you do
(I got called — and won.)
Ian: bam
Matt: wow
Ian: see just like that
Matthew Schwartz: i’m in 2nd now
Ian: TIGHT aggressive
Matthew Schwartz: Q9 o
Ian: c
Ian: only on pot odds
(I called, and someone else raised.)
Ian: fold
Ian: bluff
Ian: nice bluff though
Matthew Schwartz: 7 8
Ian: f
Ian: dont play more hands when u have chips
Ian: just dont go allin as much
Mattz: ok
Ian: thats all u change

It was only with Ian’s help that I took first place…. I am pretty positive about this, because in the three subsequent tourneys I attempted to play on my own, I was one of the first people out. Yeah.

So until I learn the game on my own, I can bask in the glory of this screenshot!

Picture time

My sister Katherine, co-starring in a community theater play back home in Detroit. (She is second from the right.)

Scalito. This comic made me smile.

Race-baiting at the highest level

I was listening to yesterday’s NPR podcast on my iPod Nano, like I do most days on the way to the Metro station. Usually the NPR report is pretty routine, just mentioning what’s going on. Nothing too controversial. But yesterday my jaw literally dropped upon hearing this jewel of idiocy from Senator Charles Schumer:

Like Rosa Parks, Judge Alito will be able to change history by virtue of where he sits. The real question today is whether Judge Alito would use his seat on the bench, just as Rosa Parks used her seat on the bus, to change history for the better or whether he would use that seat to reverse much of what Rosa Parks and so many others fought so hard and for so long to put in place.

Excuse me??? The phrasing of this statement makes it seem like there is a real chance Alito is a full-blown cross-burning sheet-wearing racist! It is one thing to question where a judge might stand on various programs such as affirmative action or welfare, but it is just like a liberal to turn any such inquiry into an exercise in race-baiting.

Let’s get this straight: By all measures, Alito seems like a very smart guy, and one who will not put his personal views above the law. On three out of four abortion cases he handled, he voted with the pro-choice position. This is because, unlike most liberals, conservatives can disociate their intellect from their emotion, making a decision based on fact and law, and now based on what their heart tells them. Heartstrings can be pulled — but have you ever heard of brainstrings?

But more importantly, even if a person is against the racial initiatives that liberals champion, it doesn’t mean he is against the ideals embodied in Rosa Parks. To imply otherwise is dispicable.