Welcome
Welcome to the home page for Jo Chiti and Tim Graf, appropriately named chiti-graf.net. We'll try to keep our home page updated so that friends and family can keep up to date with our goings on. Since this is the site for all things Jo Chiti and Tim Graf, if you are not a Chiti or Graf, or you are not related to a Chiti or Graf, or you are not a friend of a Chiti or Graf, well then, this site will probably bore the hell out of you. Even if you are one of the above I can not guarantee that this site will interest you at all, so peruse at your own discretion.
News
6/30/2009
Jo and I upgraded our iPhones to the new iPhone 3GS. I basically had to after spilling wine on my original iPhone and it finally died for good, with impeccable timing, seeing how the new iPhone just came out. So the new iPhones have GPS and with the application RunKeeper, you can keep track of your runs. It's very cool. Check this out.
Jo and I basically walk from our condo up to a school a few blocks away and run 3 miles or so on the track. The application keeps track of distance, speed, calories burned, altitude changes, and the duration of the run. You just start the application on your iPhone before you start your run and stop it when your done. The application uploads your data to the web site and you login to view the details. Technology is amazing.
6/29/2009
Ryan, one of our really good friends and a former coworker of mine from Accenture is on a project out here in the Bay Area. We've had a blast since he's been here. We are all hooked on True Blood on HBO so we wait until he comes into town and we all watch it together. Of course there is always some pre show drinks and food. And yes he is obviously posing so that I can add his photo to my contact for him. The wine was an absolute must have element.
6/25/2009
I hadn't decided if I liked this sculpture or not until recently. I think I decided that I do like it for some reason. It's in the park that's near our condo and where we walk Stan. It's of a tree with metal leaves that blow in the wind and have a wind chime sort of sound. They had problems with the metal leaves breaking off and flying away in the strong winds so its been reworked recently. I'd hate to be in the path of a flying metal leaf. It's call "Wind, Light, Shade, Tranquility" and by an artist named Bill Gould.
6/16/2009
I took this picture with the iPhone camera and imported it into the GIMP. I then applied the oilify filter and and removed a few items that didn't add to the aesthetics. I also smoothed out some of the detail and digital artifacts from the oilify filter to give it more of a oil painting look.
I don't think this small version is nearly as nice as the original. You can see it on my DeviantArt gallery here.
6/6/2009
So we spent the day in Napa tasting wines with two of our favorite people, Drew and Maika. We stopped for dinner at this great restaurant, The Rutherford Grill, with a very interesting sculpture of a boar and a crow. I think the first photo is pretty funny. Jo looks like she is cowering in fear of the boar. The second is of Drew and Maika enjoying a glass of wine at the restaurant. We had a great time and ended up staying the night there after drinking wine all day.
5/9/2009
So Jo ran in the California Peace Officers Association 5K at Shadow Cliffs Regional Park in Pleasanton. She finished in 38 minutes and 5 seconds, which was better than more than half of the women in her group. She's been running since February and working up to this 5k. She plans to run a 10k next and then a half marathon. I've been really proud of her and the effort and the progress she's made.
5/3/2009
So I tried some experimental still life photography. We had a rain shower today so I got some shots of the rosemary and flowers from our patio. Then I turned to my one of my favorite subjects, wine.
4/19/2009
Well I can't say this season for our soccer team as turned out like I would have hoped but it's been fun in any event. We also have some really great guys on our team. Everyone has a great attitude and we don't have any jerks on the team. One of our players, Andras, who's out with a shoulder injury was nice enough to take some great pictures during our last game. Yes, this is a little selective, shameless self promotion. I mostly choose photos with me in them.
3/20/2009
Well the first day of spring is here. Blooming trees, plants, and flowers ... oh, and we can't forget the frisky tennis ball chasing labradors.
2/20/2009
The first time Jo saw the commercial for the MacBook Air, judging by her reaction, (read that as glazed eyes and jaw dropped), I had a feeling we'd be buying one of these at some point. Here is the commercial if you some how missed it.
Well that point was last week. We ended up buying two. No we are not that wealthy. Apple had a realy good deal on refurbished MacBook Airs.
So we made the switch from a Windows XP desktop, an OpenSUSE Linux laptop, and one Windows Vista laptop. Neither Jo nor I will be sorry to see Windows Vista leave.
So far I am just completely impressed with the quality and engineering of the MacBook Air. Mac OS X is also just slick, great looking, intuitive, and extremely well integrated. In fact I wrote this web update on my new MacBook Air. Here are a few pictures of this lovely machine.
1/20/2009
Well I know this might be cheesy but I thought it was a nice gesture from the Obama campaign staff to send out an invitation to the inauguration for their supporters during the campaign. Jo and I would not have been able to make it but but it does make for a nice way to remember this historic event.
Several people said that Obama's inaugural speech didn't have one of those memorable lines like Kennedy's, "... ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.", or Roosevelt's "... the only thing we have to fear is fear itself ...", but I found this part to be simple, eloquent, and inspiring.
"In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted, for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things, some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom."
1/17/2009
So Jo's MBA is now official. She graduated today from the University of Phoenix with a MBA in Human Resource Management. The ceremony was in San Antonio Texas, so Jo got to visit with her family over the weekend.
1/15/2009
Well Jo and I didn't have a wild New Years like we did last year. We went out early, had dinner and some drinks, then we came back to spend New Years with Stanley while watching Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffith on CNN. Was it just me or was Kathy Griffith out of control. Yeah, she really did say that on the air. If you didn't see it just Google it, you'll find it. I think there is a clip on YouTube as well.
Jo and also upgraded our projector, as kind of a Christmas gift to ourselves. It's a Panasonic PT-AE3000U, 1600 ANSI Lumens, Widescreen, 1080p High Definition, Home Theater Projector with Smooth Screen Technology. It was a little pricey but well worth it.
I also added a few updates from 2008. So feel free to them out at the following link. 2008 Chiti-Graf News