Supplies:
Messenger bag. I liked the look of this one and it was marked down at Burlington Coat Factory. Price: 20 bucks.
Foam padding. Closed-cell padding is better and thinner — you can find it at some fabric stores or camping supply retailers — but I went with some old packing foam I already had. Price: free.
Duct tape. Price: $3.95 because I splurged on a color roll.
That's it.

Total price: $23.95.

I picked the bag for comfort, a decent number of pockets, ease of access, and wide comfortable strap, but your mileage may certainly vary. Mainly, I didn't want something that looked like a camera bag ("Look! I have an expensive, easily pawnable camera inside!") and it had to have enough room inside for my stuff without being bulky.

First step was a sturdy-ish bottom. I used a sheet of foam from an old computer box, trimmed it to fit, and sliced two lines halfway through the foam where I wanted the corners to be. That way when I flipped it over and folded on those lines, I'd get a squared corner instead of a bent piece of foam.I could have just pieced some together, but I had a sheet large enough to keep it one piece.

This fits snugly into my bag, like so. I made it a touch wider than the bottom so it wouldn't slip around.

My bottom and sides.

Next I cut foam bits a little larger than I needed and wrapped them with duct tape. If I recall correctly, the foam packing once cradled a new hard drive.

Black or charcoal gray duct tape would probably have looked cooler, but I went with white to make it easier for me to find dropped filters, lens caps, etc. in the bag later. I made individual walls with the foam so I could easily piece them together with the tape, which peels right back off itself if I screw up and have to redo. And I did, a couple of times. Even wrapped in duct tape, it stays squishy and the tape helps keep your camera from catching on anything.

I crafted padding of various shapes to hold my camera face down, with a lens hood attached. Then I wrapped softer foam around it to form higher sides. No real reason to use different foam here, that was just the type I had in big enough sizes to wrap. I could have wrapped that foam individually in duct tape as well but wasn't sure how far my roll would go so I held off.

Here's the result. It ain't pretty, but my camera fits in it nicely.

And it fits quite snugly in my bag.

I pieced together some loose bits of foam into pockets for my accessories; filter adapter, filters, cleaning supplies, whatever. I didn't put a lot of work into that because I want to carry the bag around for a bit and see how I'll be using it. Duct-tape-wrapped foam walls can be easily separated from each other and retaped in new configurations, so no worries there.Here I just made a frame and stuck some loose, thin foam dividers in afterward.

The finished (so far), loaded camera bag. Camera secure, accessories stashed, camera already in shooting position as soon as I open my bag and pull it out. I can still access the interior pockets of the bag for more storage (batteries, lens cleaner, memory cards, pens, notebook, flashlight, Kruggerands, whatever you need). And the result is extremely light and I can move the compartments from side to side whenever I wish for more convenient accessibility. Doesn't look as snazzy but who cares?  The bag itself is comfortable to carry, soft against my hip, and sturdy enough that I won't panic about my camera gear.

It doesn't close tightly (this bag has magnetic catches) but I knew that when I bought the bag; just make sure you buy one you're happy with. The local Army-Navy store will likely have an incredible collection of just about any sort of carrying bag, pouch, map case or backpack you can imagine, and thrift stores can't be beat for the prices. Diaper bags make great camera bags, by the way; they're waterproof and that have tons of pockets.

And if I get tired of my bag or find one I like better, I can move my padding over or throw it out and do it again from scratch.

Total time: about an hour, mostly because I kept stopping and taking pictures.

If you like the customization but don't feel like mucking about with foam and tape, you can buy padded compartment inserts and mix and match as you like, but my way is cheaper.

It doesn't happen often, I'm pretty good (read: obsessive to an alarming degree) about keeping track of my phone and keys and iPod. But I'd plugged it in to charge and I left earlier today and, well. I was almost to work (45 minutes away) when I noticed.

So? No big deal. I'm a big boy, I can live without a phone for 9 hours.

Only a friend called and wanted to get together for dinner, and I needed to call home and coordinate it, and it's all long distance from my job, and then I was supposed to meet everybody at the restaurant and had no way of letting them know I would be on time or late or early or broken down somewhere on I-4…

It is truly amazing how quickly and totally I have become dependent on having immediate access to everyone I know. Years have gone by since I really sweated out having my car break down, since I can always call for help. I barely use the thing, really, rarely more than a call home every day to make sure nothing needs picking up. But it's there if I need it.

Little scary, really, as I have reservations about becoming dependent on any external device or system. But I also notice I rarely see anyone stuck on the side of the road anymore. Used to, fairly often, and I've given rides to more than a few, especially if people with kids were stranded. And the few times it does happen now, they're almost always standing there talking on a phone so I can drive by with a clear conscience.

Whatever else the last decade has brought us, instant and clear communication from almost everywhere is one of the best things ever.

Unless you forget your damn phone, that is.

Absolutely nothing required assembly or sneaking around, so for the first time in nearly three decades I didn't have to stay up late on Christmas Eve (although I did anyway).

Most everyone in the family knew what they were getting, with a few surprises.

There weren't quite enough surprises, as the Bon Jovi-related merchandise I got for Teres from her list of stuff still to get turned out to be the same stuff she had in fact already ordered for herself. Fortunately I also found her one of the "Have a Nice Day" smirk necklaces. The hard case we got for James turned out to be too small for his bass despite our careful measuring. Still, everyone seemed pleased.

I received:

- A safety razor, holder, blades, beaver hair brush and soap dish (all of which I had asked for, as I plan to start wet shaving with a safety razor to save money and, one hopes, get a better shave).
- "Vanilla Ride" by Joe R. Lansdale (the latest in his Hap and Leonard series, from my housemate, marking the 1st time in many years someone has managed to surprise me with a book I didn't know existed but would immediately have bought myself if I had).
- A carved walking stick (from Teres, so I'd have something unexpected, which it was).
The Incredible Hulk TV series Ultimate Collection (from my son James, who decided my DVD shelf wasn't cheesy enough).- A signed autograph of Walter Cronkite (from my son Tony, because he knew I didn't have one and the likelihood of me getting one seemed bleak).
- Money (from mom, who knows what I like) (Also she gave me fudge)
- The Regular Expressions Cookbook (an unexpected gift from my friend Shmuel, who has answered several panicky instant-messaged regular expressions questions from me in the past and apparently decided to head the next one off) (not pictured; it's at my work desk already).

And some of the money that would have gone into prezzies for me instead was diverted towards the Guilt Camera Teresa bought me (not pictured, cuz it was busy picturing).

All in all, a good haul and a great Christmas. My son Tony was here with his girlfriend Laura, my bro-in-law Rodger came over, and we opened prezzies, went to see "Sherlock Holmes" (quick review: not a great movie or a real cinematic gamechanger, but an awful lot of fun to watch if you can get past the idea of Holmes having any sort of romance) and came back to play "ImagineIf" for hours with lots of uproarious laughing and good natured personal abuse.

Hope yours went as well. Happy holidays, folks.

Tony and Laura

Originally uploaded by CABridges

I know Florida is supposed to be a warmer climate, but shouldn't we have at least a little chilliness?

We drove over to Ormond-By-The-Sea today to spend Christmas Eve with my mom, and went up to the beach approach at the top of the street. Pleasant day, low 70s, nice breeze… this is Christmas?

Nice day, though.

Here we see my son Tony and his girlfriend Laura, discussing the relative merits of Bosonic string theory vs. superstring theory .
More photos of, basically, us messing around on the beach, can be seen here.

N-J Kitty Memorial

Originally uploaded by CABridges

The black cat that has hung around the Daytona Beach News-Journal's building for the last 16 years died last Friday. As our company is in the final steps of being sold, I'm trying really, really hard not to see that as being in any way ironic.

The cat, known as Miss Kitty (and sometimes Mr. Kitty, gender being somewhat indeterminate, an odd omission for usually detail-oriented reporters), could often be seen wandering the parking lot, prowling around the security booth and generally owning the place. Footprints on cars was not uncommon.

One day I left work to find him (her?) sitting regally on my roof. I explained my need to leave and the probable effects of wind shear on cats (yes, I talk to cats out loud. Don't you?) and after a moment of consideration he rose, padded gracefully down my windshield, stared me in the eye while he peed on my hood, and leaped away. I've rarely received such a direct message before.

Anyway. We had a small memorial service today consisting of some of us standing around talking about the cat. One coworker noted that there were quite a few human employees who wouldn't receive such a sendoff.

He — or possibly she — will be missed.

Like all photographers pro and amateur, I am on the eternal hunt for the perfect camera bag. And like all great eternal hunts, my quarry does not exist in the real world.

Partly this is because your needs change. A bag for an all-day hike to take pictures of a transcendent mountain lake sunset would be substantially different than the bag you'd throw your stuff in to take pictures of your neighbor's car, and neither may handle air travel very well.But mostly because I'm really picky and skilled at determining what I don't want without ever quite articulating what I do.

It should be small enough to be convenient as a daily take-to-work bag but include padded compartments for my camera and accessories. It should have pockets for my other assorted doodads — pens, notebooks, ID, extra SD cards, batteries, what-have-you — but not be confusing. It should be durable. And, very important, it should be able to double for a casual backpack or messenger bag, ideally brown or charcoal gray (definitely not "I'm-a-camera-bag-steal me-black").

My other drawback? Has to be cheap, which knocks out some perfectly good contenders.I'm starting to think the easiest way to satisfy my various needs is to find a really good backpack and just add padded compartments for the camera gear. But that seems like cheating, and frankly I also have trouble deciding on the perfect backpack. Also, quick camera access is usually easier from a dedicated camera bag and you never know what sort of horrific accident, perfect moment of beauty, or spontaneous nude eruption might occur.

At the moment the closest (if still on the pricey side) (from my viewpoint, not compared to most camera bags) are the various offerings from Domke, but I know already that whatever I ultimately purchase will disappoint me in some way. This one appeals to me greatly, for example, but while I could make up for the lack of gadgety pockets with makeshift additions the price is still a sticking point.

There is no perfect camera bag. There is only the quest.

I've usually got a camera with me, but I rarely remember to use the thing unless something really jumps out at me (unlike our paper's staff photographers, who know how to stalk settings and wait for the perfect photo to appear).

This morning fog was everywhere, every light was a shining star, and every body of water a misty loch in which hidden monsters stirred. Even in retention ponds.

Except for our house, where it remains resolutely dark.

Not out of any dislike of the holidays, really. We like seeing everybody else's decorations. We just don't get that motivated to do it ourselves. We have a Charlie Brown tree we stick on a table and that's about it.

Now Halloween decorations are a different thing entirely. We have an extremely unsettling fake rubber bat that's been hanging in a tree by our front door for about six years now, perfect for freaking out pizza delivery guys and hopeful religious visitors. True Halloween decorations should not look like decorations. No "Happy Halloween" or cartoon-eyed skeletons for us. Why put up plastic pumpkins when a few heaps of real bones saved from a month of dinners by the front door can be much more disturbing?

Basically, our goal is to become "The Old Bridges Place," the house in the neighborhood the kids dare each other to approach. Festive holiday cheer, no. Terrifying home decor, yes.

Ho ho ho.

According to the makers of the popular antivirus program Avast, their latest virus file update was a little too vague and started detecting malware in programs that did not actually contain malware. Fortunately the list was limited to "high-profile programs produced by Adobe, Realtek sound card drivers, various media players etc." So, no worries there.

Unless, of course, you're like me and immediately deleted the reported programs as soon as the little "Warning!" window popped up. Then you may have a problem.

I don't believe anything vital is gone – the two things that popped up didn't look familiar — but I anticipate something going hilariously wrong months down the road, so thanks for that, guys. Avast users may update their virus definitions manually to fix the last update. Check here for details.

If, unlike me, you did the sensible thing and merely opted to move suspicious files to the Virus Chest, you can probably put those back (here's how). Unless they actually are virused, of course, in which case you're on your own.

(Before I get comments on why this means I should switch to your favorite program; AVG had the same thing happen a few months ago when it decided iTunes was malware — OK, there might be some justification there — and Norton hangs my system worse than spooning molasses directly into the DVD drive.)

Citgo Sky

Originally uploaded by CABridges

The interesting thing about this picture was not the funky sky, although that's why I walked away from my car after filling the tank to get a picture, but that a Citgo employee immediately came out to ask me what I was photographing, which confused me.

I don't look especially terroristic. I wasn't pointing at anything sensitive or governmental. I have to assume they didn't want me to take pictures of their sign, which is idiotic since there's no law against it. They could maybe make a case for stopping me from taking pictures on their property, but I could have taken two steps onto the road and taken pictures of their sign all day.

Were they ashamed of their price? Were they changing it more than once a day and were afraid I'd get proof? Were they in the process of trademarking the sky and afraid I'd infringe?

No clue, and I doubt they know either. But I'm considering a new hobby of taking pictures of the Citgo sign every day.