Soren's Bear Suit from Christian Yates on Vimeo.

Betsy took the boy to Babies 'r' Us today and picked up another contraption. A swing with forest noise, a bee rotisserie and a funhouse mirror. Even I was mesmerized by the sensory overload.

I finally got to play with my new toy last night- my new Canon 5D MkII DSLR. So far, I'm really enjoying it. I shot these at ISO 6400 with barely any light at all:

Focus isn't great on some, as I was focusing manually - too dark for AF, and I'm out of practice. (The last time I had to manually focus was in college shooting sports with Nikon F4's and manual focus lenses.)

The video in the same lighting conditions is less impressive, but I think the stuttering is directly linked to the ancient memory card I was using:

Impressions so far:

• Focus is pretty good - extremely fast, though I need to play with the settings to highlight a specific focus point. Wish they were spread out more, like on Nikons.
• The viewfinder is awesome. Much better coverage than Nikon's consumer cameras. Nearly as good as my old F5, with almost 100% coverage of the image. Makes manual focusing much easier, even with a slowish lens (f/4).
• Camera and lens feel like they're hewn from solid metal. I guess they are, in part, but it's a big shock moving from my D70. The downside (for some) is that it's a good bit heavier, even without a battery grip on the bottom, which I'll probably get eventually. Lens in this case is the kit 24-105 f/4 IS. The 70-200 f/4 IS actually feels lighter.
• Low light performance is pretty impressive, at least with stills. I need to do a lot more testing, but images at 6400 have less grain than images at 1000 on the D70. Of course, since I don't have a Canon flash (yet), they need to be.
• For shooting video, an external microphone is needed. The internal mic is mono-only, and it's located right next to the lens mount, where it picks up the noise of the image stabilizer and focus motors. That's the constant crackling you hear in the video. Luckily the 5D MkII (unlike the Nikon D90) has a microphone port, and mini shotgun mics can be had fairly cheaply.

Now, is anyone looking for Nikon gear for Christmas?

If you're like me, the best way to have a great Thanksgiving dinner is to have someone else do it, so you can sit around on your ass. Better yet, find someone who actually likes doing the whole turkey-day cooking thing and entice them (using an adorable infant child, if necessary) to deliver the whole deal over to your house, cutlery, plates and all.

Randy, Anne and son Nick rolled up mid-afternoon yesterday with a vanload of freshly broiled ostrich, half a ton of mashed potatoes, and an armada of casserole dishes filled other sides and deserts.

My mom and Stu travelled down from Colorado with beagles riding shotgun.

We all consumed vast amounts of bird, sides, cake and pie. I'm still stuffed 30 hours later.

[ More Pix ]

Yeah, I finally got around to re-theming my site, and moving it to Lighty at the same time.

How did I manage this? Søren was being pacified by his Granddaddy and Grandma Carol:

Check out the hair! Yes, it's still blond in person, despite how it looks in pictures.

Søren* is two weeks, three days old today. Through Betsy's doctor-mandated bed rest, and Søren's first weeks, I've relocated from my office at ASU to my new corner office:

As in, in the corner of the guest room, next to the piano, under some Ikea wall shelving.

Here's what I've found:

• At home, I work a lot more hours, not fewer. Despite needing to get up pretty frequently to do things like change diapers, replace pacifiers, reposition blankets, and keep Betsy from doing anything when she was supposed to be on bed rest, I managed to work between 10 and 15 hours per day, diffused over the whole day. The effect of this is that despite taking a bunch of whole days, I've made up for the majority of the time, and have only taken one week of vacation time over one week with Betsy in the hospital for pre-term labor, four weeks of playing Bed Rest Enforcer, and two and 1/2 weeks of being home with my son. At the end of a 13-15 hour day, I don't feel burnt out like I would sitting in the office, away from my family.
• Work time is more productive. When I'm working, I can focus better on what I'm doing. I don't have frequent interruptions or redirections that I have to change mental gears to deal with. I've cranked out a lot of code from my comfy corner nook.
• I don't feel disconnected. My coworkers reach me the same way they would if they were down the hall - by instant messenger and email. I've gone in for a few meetings as needed. I'm every bit as accessible here as at the office.
• I do miss a few things. Like eating at Phonecia with coworkers, and my new Mac Pro with 30" display at the office. I never thought the 24" monitor I bought for my home office would feel small, but it does.

It's been awesome that my employer is flexible enough to allow me to spend the time I need with my family, while still keeping up with work commitments.

* I'm adding the ø just to irritate his mother.

I present Soren Ray Yates, born 9:42 AM, 7lbs, 3.9oz.