One of the advantages to having a flexible schedule at work is that it affords you the opportunity to spend a day at the ballpark with your family.

As part of my son’s PONY Little League season that recently concluded, all of the kids were given vouchers for free tickets to a Chicago White Sox game. While the tickets were in the upper deck, we still had a great view of the game and had an enjoyable day even though it reminded me of one reason minor league baseball is better - cost!

Without the expense of tickets to the game, I didn’t think the cost would be too bad. But $22.00 for parking and $30.00 for four drinks and three hot dogs does not make for a cheap afternoon. Then throw in some cotton candy, a super rope, and Edy’s Dibs just to make sure there isn’t any money left.

For the first time, I decided to bring my Nikon D40x along to the game to try and capture a few interesting pictures. Before I share a few of my pictures (btw, I was shooting in JPEG mode) with you, I have to say that I am a bit apprehensive given that there is now a professional photographer here at The Man Page.

Enjoy the photos and please let me know what you think.

To see more of the photos that were taken at the game, check out my White Sox picture set at flickr.

2005 World Series Banner - That’s right Cub fans, eat your heart out!

Jim Thome connects on a home run swing.

Ozzie Guillen speaks his mind after being ejected.

Carlos Quentin as he watches what became the game winning home run.

Fun (lower right corner) at the Sox game.

Nick Swisher in a mid-air victory leap.

Good and Evil, Black and White, Yin and Yang: meet JPEG and RAW, the newest members of the never-ending battle royale club.

Visit most photography forums today and you’re bound to find an intense discussion on the benefits of shooting one file format or another. Everyone has an opinion, and they might as well be arguing about political candidates.

Most DSLR’s (and some pocket cameras) today support shooting in JPEG and RAW modes. Put simply, RAW is the image directly as it comes off the sensor. It has no changes to it whatsoever. However, add some predetermined settings for color, white balance, file size, and more, and you end up with a JPEG file. The settings that each camera performs on the image are a mystery, but for the most part the images look good.

The majority of everyday shooters out there go with JPEG because it’s easy, the file sizes are smaller, and there’s no post-processing required. Pros, on the other hand, probably tend to shoot as least as much RAW as JPEG, if not more. This wasn’t true in the early days of digital cameras, but it’s becoming more prevalent as photographers learn the benefits of RAW.

What are the benefits of RAW?

RAW allows you to adjust the color temperature (known as the white balance), the exposure, and other settings without disturbing the actual pixel data. It’s simply the best quality image you will get out of your camera.

When should I use it?

As a general rule, try RAW when you:

• may ultimately make an 11×14 or larger print
• are shooting in weird lighting conditions and want the flexibility to change it later
• are unsure if the exposure is correct at the time the shot was taken
• want to tinker with the image

RAW images must be converted at some point to JPEG or some other format before you can do anything with them, and that’s the downside - they take extra time and require software to adjust. But the quality can be quite noticeable. Plus, you can always go back to the RAW file and start over, as the adjustments you make are not permanent! With that quality and flexibility comes a price in file size. RAW files can be several times larger than the corresponding JPEG file.

What about JPEG?

For everyday shooting, JPEG is great! The file sizes are much smaller, and the images are already adjusted to what the camera believes looks good. Because the sizes are smaller, you can get more pictures on your memory card than you can with RAW.

When should I use it?

Use JPEG when you:

• are shooting to record an event, and may not necessarily make prints later
• are shooting in even lighting and even white balance (i.e. outside, shade, or anywhere where the light color is consistent throughout the scene)
• have a limited amount of memory card or drive space
• are just starting out or are practicing techniques

JPEG files come out of the camera looking great! However, if you push them too hard in Photoshop or some other photo editing software, your image quality may start to degrade.

Eventually, you may find that RAW has the quality that you are looking for. Or, you may stick with JPEG for its considerable benefits. In either case, know that you have options and it’s worth exploring both of them!

Eric Doggett is a photographer in Austin, Texas. He has a site specifically for baby photography tips at ShootTheBaby.com, as well as BoxOfficeBaby.com, a site where you can order custom birth/party announcement posters - a unique gift newborn children can keep forever. You can reach him at babydaddy -at- ShootTheBaby.com.

When discussing the pros and cons of telecommuting, one of the tangible benefits is the cost savings of working at home.

With fuel prices reaching new highs, more and more people are striving to work from home and many claim they would even be willing to take a pay cut to telecommute.

But how much can you really save by telecommuting?

There are a variety of factors that will influence how much you can personally save by telecommuting but I thought it would be interesting to use my current situation as an example.

The first thing we need to do is look at how much it costs to commute each day. For now we will only be looking at the immediate costs of commuting such as fuel and tolls. Other costs to consider are the wear and tear on your vehicle, such as replacing tires and routine oil changes.

My cost to commute to work each day breaks down as follows:

• Distance: 130 mile round trip commute
• Fuel Economy: 31.5 miles per gallon
• Fuel Consumption: 4.13 gallons per day
• Fuel Cost: $4.23 per gallon (price paid this morning)
• Tolls: $2.50 per day (six tolls, thank you Illinois Tollway Authority)
• Total Cost: $19.97 per day

At a cost of $19.97 per day, commuting to work is not cheap and adds up quickly - $99.85 per week or $4992.50 per year assuming a 50-week working year.

In order to get a flavor for how much we can actually save by working from home, lets assume that we are able to telecommute only one day per week. Using our 50-week assumption, we can save $998.50 over the course of a year just by telecommuting once each week.

How much would that translate to if we saved that money?

After punching a few numbers into a financial calculator, we see that saving $998.50 per year could result in a nest egg of approximately $35,000 after 30 years assuming a somewhat conservative (historically) 6.00% savings rate.

Telecommute two days per week…$70,155 in savings!

Telecommute five days per week…$175,387 in savings!

When you bump the savings rate up to a slightly more aggressive 8.00% you would have over $215,000 in savings if you were to telecommute every day of the week. Add in the savings realized as a result of fewer oil changes and fewer tire purchases and you will soon be pushing $250,000 in savings.

That is a nice chunk of change!

At first glance, taking a pay cut in order to telecommute sounds like a silly idea and you might be wondering whether or not you can afford to take a pay cut.

After running the numbers, can you afford not to take a pay cut?

Being a parent isn’t always easy - as any parent will readily tell those without children. One situation that is often the cause of much parenting heartache is child discipline.

With the many different methods of disciplining your child, it can certainly be confusing as to what is the “best” method for your children. To further the confusion, what works for one child may not work at all for another child. Often times parents want to use one method of discipline for all of their children and expect the children to behave like perfect little angels at all times.

Regardless of what method you choose, one key to success is that you stay consistent when it comes to discipline. If you don’t stick to it and enforce the rules consistently, your child isn’t likely to follow the rules consistently either. Likewise, when your kids have broken the rules and have been disciplined, don’t waver on their punishment and change the consequences.

No video games all week…stick to it.

Sit in your room for one hour…stick to it.

No TV or movies…but The Dark Knight, no…stick to it.

That last point there put me face to face with the dilemma of altering my stance on discipline this afternoon. With plans to wrap up work early today and take my oldest son to an afternoon showing of The Dark Knight, I was faced with the decision to stick to it or bend the rules when he decided to misbehave.

As much as I really wanted to see the movie today - don’t think I didn’t give serious consideration to leaving him home with my wife and seeing the movie by myself - I knew that the right decision was to stick to our consequences for violating the rules. If I were to bend the rules for this “special occasion”, he would quickly learn that whenever we had something special planned for the day that he would not have to follow the rules.

There are times that you will have to sacrifice something that you want to do in order to stay consistent with your method of discipline. As I mentioned earlier, nobody ever said that parenting was easy.

When your children know what to expect if the rules are broken, they will most likely have an easier time following the rules consistently. That doesn’t mean that they will always behave - but they will understand that they will face the consequences should they decide to not follow the rules. In addition, consistent enforcement of the rules will often mean that there is a reduced amount of whining and crying (can I get an “it’s not fair”) when you do have to discipline your kids.

While you continue to praise your child for good behavior, you also need to stay consistent with the rules and consequences for bad behavior.

Don’t take the easy way out…stick to it!

There are not too many people that would disagree with the idea that parents have a desire to be proud of their children. However, there is some debate around how you should express that praise for your children, if you even should at all.

On one side, you have people that believe pride in oneself should be avoided as it comes across as being over-confident and bragging. As an extension of this belief, displaying praise for your children is a means of taking responsibility for their success and there should be a better alternative.

Contrary to this belief, there are those that say taking pride in our own accomplishments or those of our children is a healthy thing. It helps children grow into confident, successful adults.

Who is right?

It is hard to say, as I believe there are very valid points from both sides of the coin.

Showering your child with praise will certainly boost their self-esteem and confidence. However, too much praise and your child will become self-centered and arrogant, thinking everything is about them and their accomplishments. Not enough praise and your child may begin to lack the motivation to push themselves to achieve great things.

Speaking of motivation, often times it is best to praise the effort displayed by your child as opposed to the outcome. By telling your child that you are proud of how hard they worked regardless of the outcome, you are teaching them that failure is acceptable. When a child can learn that failure is not something to be feared, they will begin to push themselves and not fall apart in the face of fear.

In recent months, I have had a few experiences that made me proud of my children - or I should say made me proud of how hard they worked for something that they wanted.

Most recently, my youngest son wanted to expand on his experience with hip-hop dancing and audition for the dance company, which is the competitive dance team. When we received word that he made the team, I sat down with him and expressed to him that I was very proud of how hard he worked and the challenge that he took on to make the team before telling him that he had made the team.

A few months back, my oldest son attended the tryouts for the local baseball team that would compete in the PONY National Tournament. With players that were one to two years older than him, he faced his fears and jumped right out there and did his best. When the team was announced and he had not made the roster, I told him that I was extremely proud of the fact that he challenged himself to compete with older boys and did not back down from a difficult situation.

As you can see, I do tell my children when I am proud of them but I am careful not to go too far. Rather than telling them they are the best, I try to tell them that their effort is the best.

If you’re concerned about your child becoming one of those arrogant brats that thinks (and tells everyone within a 50-mile radius) they are the best, focus more on praising them for their level of effort rather than the accomplishments themselves.

What are your thoughts on being proud of your children?

Not too long ago we talked about the basics of a Man Cave. While there may be some debate about the bare essentials required for a Man Cave, one thing was nearly unanimous - we all want a Man Cave of our own.

After discussing the concept of the Man Cave, I opened the floor for all of you to send me a few pictures and a description of your Man Cave.

Chris Gray’s Man Cave

The first person to contact me about their Man Cave was Chris Gray. Chis and I met through blogging (you can find Chris over at SEO Ladder) and have followed one another for some time now.

As you can see above, Chris has sectioned off part of his basement and built his own Man Cave that serves as a recording studio. He has been into music for quite some time and the Man Cave provides a great place where he can go and record music for his band, Sepia, or just zone out and listen to music.

While it might not be the Man Cave that everyone desires, I am sure anyone interested in music would love to have a place like this where they can go and relax.

It is difficult to see in these pictures but in addition to the selection of recording equipment at Chris’ disposal, he added a nice touch with the acoustic treatment hanging on the walls.

More Details On The Man Cave

While pictures are always nice to drool over look at, I thought it would be fun to include a little Q&A with the Man Cave owner as well to provide some additional insight.

Derek: Tell us about your Man Cave.

Chris: Shortly after moving into our first home back in 2001 our sump pump failed. The basement flooded after a freak winter storm and we ended up having to pretty much gut the basement. I have always been into music and computers so when it came time to rebuild, I took the opportunity and sectioned off part of the basement to build my “Man Cave” — a home recording studio.

It didn’t happen over night, but in time, has evolved into a nice space where I am able to away to work on song ideas or just zone out and listen to music. I am currently running a ProTools LE setup on an older Dell Precision 530 machine (dual P4 1.5 GHz with 2GB RAM). My father-in-law was kind enough to build the mixing desk you see pictured.

Derek: How long has your Man Cave been in existence?

Chris: About seven years now.

Derek: What do you like most about your Man Cave?

Chris: My children have all taken an interest in music in one way or another. Lately, we have all been going down to the studio to mess around on the drums or play the keyboard. My youngest asks to go down and “jam”…I love it!

Derek: How much time do you spend in your Man Cave?

Chris: With three children keeping my wife and I pretty busy these days I don’t spend too much time down there in isolation but I do have the band over once a week to practice. We usually track song ideas and work on our demo when we can.

Derek: What does your wife think about your Man Cave?

Chris: My wife has been very supportive…especially given the amount of money I have plunked away on equipment. She and I have also recently started working on our own music down there. I guess it’s not 100% Man Cave anymore…is it?

Thanks for sharing your Man Cave Chris!

Remember that if you would like to see your Man Cave featured here, shoot me an email or send me a tweet and we will get everything coordinated.