What a long and tiring week I've had. This was our weekly "DPS Summit" at Gibson Memphis. Basically all of the other guys that do my job across the US (and the rest of the world) gather together and we have a series of meetings with our bosses and the different divisions, as well as do a factory tour of one of our facilities.
Monday started out with my best Gibson related flying experience yet: managed to find a direct flight, and ended up getting a whole row to myself! Relatively quick flight, no delays. I got to Memphis and picked up my rental car. Last trip I ended up sick for 2 days due to getting car sick, so I didn't want to experience that again! I had intended to drive around that day and explore, but after waiting a bit to pick up one of my coworkers from the airport, I got mentally sucked into waiting around for the others...I mean, I never get to see these guys so I figured I should interact with them as much as I could. (just a shame none of them seem to share my random adventure/exploring spirit!). Ended up eating at "Pig on Beale" with Mark B, Dan, and Chris. I had an amazing smoked turkey sandwich with great fries and onion rings.
Tuesday was the first round of meetings. Mid day we did the factory tour at Gibson Memphis, which I had never seen before. That is where they make all the hollow and semi hollow body guitars. The entire building is this huge cavernous affair, and it lent itself well to the factory. For lunch we went to Dyers, this joint that cooks their hamburgers in 100 year old grease. It was delicious. After that we had more meetings...it was a very long exhaustive day. Didn't get out of there til 7ish. For dinner I went with Aljon, Danny, and Glenn to the Butcher Shop. I got chicken (YES...chicken at the steakhouse) which was actually pretty amazing...I've never had grilled chicken be so juicy and flavorful.
Wednesday was another day full of meetings and more meetings. Lunch was provided by Gibson Memphis, they ordered fried chicken from this place called Gus's. AMAZING...never had fried chicken that delicious. More and more meetings, got out super late again. I ended up going to Texas De Brazil, this all you can eat steakhouse, with a big chunk of the group. Sorta expensive, but I figured what the hell...I got to clear out a good chunk of the price with my expense budget for the day.
Thursday we had a cancellation in the morning, so we ended up having a "roundtable" type brainstorming session. The Gibson Bus showed up around 11:30 and we left for Nashville. I had rented a car not knowing the hotel was 2 blocks from the factory, so I didn't get to use it. I was planning to go to Nashville in it but was told not to due to the expense (even though it had been approved beforehand). I should have just done it and paid for it myself, I ended up getting pretty car sick on the ride. We stopped at Dennys on the way, and I had a burger. It was surprisingly REALLY good...but at this point all this super heavy food was starting to wear on me (and everyone else). I even had to break my semi soda-edge, due to needing to stay awake during those meetings haha. We got to Nashville and met with everyone else at the showroom there, and had a demonstration and dinner. I didn't really eat much that night, like I mentioned the food was starting to wear on me.
Friday morning we had some training from Gibson Pro Audio. They got us box lunches for the bus ride...which, I appreciate and all...but they got nothing but Almond chicken salad sandwiches which were just nasty to me. And they didn't get anything for the vegetarians and even made a stupid snarky remark about it too. I think that lack of consideration really shows someone's true nature and character, and I really dislike it. Anyway, the bus ride back was better since I took some Dramamine before. Took forever, because we caught some of the rain leftover from Tropical Storm Isaac. After checking in I got my car and drove around. Drove over to West Memphis in Arkansas, and around some of downtown Memphis.
Woke up super early today because I needed to drop off two others that were leaving before me. I had 2 hours to kill so I drove down to Mississippi (only 10-15 minutes away) and back. The flight was pretty alright, I had a nice cute girl sit next to me and we chatted for a bit. Now I'm going to unpack all this crap and UNWIND!
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Had a really nice conversation today with Ben at Sam Ash, about music. I've said it many times in the last few years, but I REALLY miss having someone to speak to about music. Not just someone that likes music, enjoys hearing music, but someone that - like me - doesn't consider music as something that they really like or love, but rather as just a part of themselves. And important part.
For me, gone are the days of getting in the car with someone and just rocking out to music we both like and singing along like idiots. There are exceptions, to be sure, but when I look to 8-10 years ago the exception was NOT having that happen. I can't remember the last time I was in the car with someone and they actually got excited about me handing them the ipod to pick something to listen to. Now I just get the "oh you can put on whatever, I don't care" reply.
Passivity aside, this underscores a decline in musicblood (the phrase I am using for the rest of this blog entry to describe what I am talking about) that has permeated every facet of my life. When I first started working at Sam Ash I had lots of employees around me that liked similar music to me. Musicians, of course, and sometimes that helps, but sometimes it doesn't at all...point in case, the last few years of working there. Too many diverging musical tastes, all of which ended up being very close minded and unaccommodating. It's one thing to "not mind" listening to new music. It's another to actively seek the new music and embrace it.
Sure, there are many different musical styles and concurrent tastes in those. I'm not even talking about that, I'm talking about musicblood...the energy and spirit BEHIND the love of music, behind the appreciation and excitement of music.
Part of it is moving away from a lot of those people that were like that. Almost all of the newer friends I've made in the last 5-6 years have not really shared the musicblood. Sure, some of them are music fans, and some of them even really love listening to music but...it's just not there.
I miss being able to hang out with people and talk about music. About bands. Share them. Critique them. Go through an album and discuss the finer details. Jump in my car with someone and share a high spirited, belting out lyrics at the top of our voices, rocking out session.
*sigh*
For me, gone are the days of getting in the car with someone and just rocking out to music we both like and singing along like idiots. There are exceptions, to be sure, but when I look to 8-10 years ago the exception was NOT having that happen. I can't remember the last time I was in the car with someone and they actually got excited about me handing them the ipod to pick something to listen to. Now I just get the "oh you can put on whatever, I don't care" reply.
Passivity aside, this underscores a decline in musicblood (the phrase I am using for the rest of this blog entry to describe what I am talking about) that has permeated every facet of my life. When I first started working at Sam Ash I had lots of employees around me that liked similar music to me. Musicians, of course, and sometimes that helps, but sometimes it doesn't at all...point in case, the last few years of working there. Too many diverging musical tastes, all of which ended up being very close minded and unaccommodating. It's one thing to "not mind" listening to new music. It's another to actively seek the new music and embrace it.
Sure, there are many different musical styles and concurrent tastes in those. I'm not even talking about that, I'm talking about musicblood...the energy and spirit BEHIND the love of music, behind the appreciation and excitement of music.
Part of it is moving away from a lot of those people that were like that. Almost all of the newer friends I've made in the last 5-6 years have not really shared the musicblood. Sure, some of them are music fans, and some of them even really love listening to music but...it's just not there.
I miss being able to hang out with people and talk about music. About bands. Share them. Critique them. Go through an album and discuss the finer details. Jump in my car with someone and share a high spirited, belting out lyrics at the top of our voices, rocking out session.
*sigh*
Monday, August 6, 2012
Poop in the mouths of the inconsiderate.
I've had one of the worst, most miserable allergy-ridden days of my life today.
It started with the car rental this morning. He offered me a Jeep but wasn't sure if it had an AUX in (which is a necessity for my long drives and anxiety) so I ended up with the only other car that was ready, a car which had just been returned. Unfortunately, the assholes who had the car before me had dogs in the car, and didn't bother to clean up. I noticed a few pet hairs on the carpet but a quick glance didn't show more (it was dark hair) so I just took it. BIIIIIG mistake.
The car is FULL of pet hair. It's dark. And I didn't notice this until I had a full blown allergy attack halfway across alligator alley. It's not the rental agency's fault because I took the car before he could clean it. But those people...I hope those dogs poop in their mouths while they sleep tonight. INCONSIDERATE ASSHOLES.
Anyway, I tried my best to drive with the windows down, but that wasn't always feasible due to phone calls and meetings. 3+ hours in that car though, did me in. I spent the rest of the day with on and off allergy attacks. When I finally reached my last store visit of the day, I had been recovering from the last attack. Unfortunately though, I guess that store had a really high dust level, because after an hour I started having an attack. It didn't stop for the next 3 hours. My right eye was almost completed closed. My nose would not stop dripping and my eyes would not stop crying. It was terrible. I kept running to the bathroom to wash my face, and it did not help.
This ended up giving me a migraine. When I finally got to the hotel, I took an hour long bath. It didn't entirely help, but it helped a bit. After I decided to take a cold shower....for 20 minutes. That did the most good. The migraine started going away.
I feel MUCH better now...although the allergies are still killing me. I have tissues stuffed in my nose, that's the only way it's somewhat manageable. I've taken allergy pills but they don't seem to be doing much....baaaaaaaah.
It started with the car rental this morning. He offered me a Jeep but wasn't sure if it had an AUX in (which is a necessity for my long drives and anxiety) so I ended up with the only other car that was ready, a car which had just been returned. Unfortunately, the assholes who had the car before me had dogs in the car, and didn't bother to clean up. I noticed a few pet hairs on the carpet but a quick glance didn't show more (it was dark hair) so I just took it. BIIIIIG mistake.
The car is FULL of pet hair. It's dark. And I didn't notice this until I had a full blown allergy attack halfway across alligator alley. It's not the rental agency's fault because I took the car before he could clean it. But those people...I hope those dogs poop in their mouths while they sleep tonight. INCONSIDERATE ASSHOLES.
Anyway, I tried my best to drive with the windows down, but that wasn't always feasible due to phone calls and meetings. 3+ hours in that car though, did me in. I spent the rest of the day with on and off allergy attacks. When I finally reached my last store visit of the day, I had been recovering from the last attack. Unfortunately though, I guess that store had a really high dust level, because after an hour I started having an attack. It didn't stop for the next 3 hours. My right eye was almost completed closed. My nose would not stop dripping and my eyes would not stop crying. It was terrible. I kept running to the bathroom to wash my face, and it did not help.
This ended up giving me a migraine. When I finally got to the hotel, I took an hour long bath. It didn't entirely help, but it helped a bit. After I decided to take a cold shower....for 20 minutes. That did the most good. The migraine started going away.
I feel MUCH better now...although the allergies are still killing me. I have tissues stuffed in my nose, that's the only way it's somewhat manageable. I've taken allergy pills but they don't seem to be doing much....baaaaaaaah.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Saturday, July 28, 2012
They got the sirens loose, I ran right outta juice
Went up to Jacksonville this week. Barely spent any time IN Jacksonville though, as out of my 3 days there I spent one day in Daytona, and one in Tallahassee. This was my first time in Tallahassee ever. The drive over from Jax was nice, mostly 2 lanes but in nice tree-laden straights, with a few hills. Being from South Florida, land of flat and medium sized trees, these super tall trees always catch my attention.
This was my first time doing the store visit in Tallahassee, and it was nice. Smaller store, but it's laid out nice and the staff was very excited to have me there. They were all very cool and down to earth. Wish they were closer so I could visit more often!
After the visit I got to spend some time with Dana. I hadn't seen her in quite a while, and I came to realize that I had never actually hung out with her, just her and me. Carolyn was always there. It was nice! We drove around a bit and explored. She showed me Lichgate, this hidden little park with a huge sprawling oak tree and some community gardens. We also did the Museum of Florida History, a free (donations suggested, but not required) museum of natural history related to Florida. It was surprisingly nice! There were some very cool displays, including the inside of a Florida orange house, a 2 floor steamboat, and an upstairs area called "Grandma's Attic" which is full of many things for kids to play with. There's a surveillance camera that shoots a feed to an old style TV downstairs so that parents can watch their kids play without having to go up. After we drove out west a bit, and explored some neighborhoods. It was getting slightly foggy, so it was pretty cool!
Of course, I ended up leaving my Sunpass transponder in the rental car. I do too good a job hiding it behind the rearview mirror so I don't see it while driving, but it makes it so that I keep missing it...second time this happens! Thankfully they have it at Lost and Found and they will be sending me it this week.
This was my first time doing the store visit in Tallahassee, and it was nice. Smaller store, but it's laid out nice and the staff was very excited to have me there. They were all very cool and down to earth. Wish they were closer so I could visit more often!
After the visit I got to spend some time with Dana. I hadn't seen her in quite a while, and I came to realize that I had never actually hung out with her, just her and me. Carolyn was always there. It was nice! We drove around a bit and explored. She showed me Lichgate, this hidden little park with a huge sprawling oak tree and some community gardens. We also did the Museum of Florida History, a free (donations suggested, but not required) museum of natural history related to Florida. It was surprisingly nice! There were some very cool displays, including the inside of a Florida orange house, a 2 floor steamboat, and an upstairs area called "Grandma's Attic" which is full of many things for kids to play with. There's a surveillance camera that shoots a feed to an old style TV downstairs so that parents can watch their kids play without having to go up. After we drove out west a bit, and explored some neighborhoods. It was getting slightly foggy, so it was pretty cool!
Of course, I ended up leaving my Sunpass transponder in the rental car. I do too good a job hiding it behind the rearview mirror so I don't see it while driving, but it makes it so that I keep missing it...second time this happens! Thankfully they have it at Lost and Found and they will be sending me it this week.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Productivity...maybe.
I managed to finish editing the photos I shoot this week, today. And spent an hour organizing my scheduled Flickr uploads with loadlater. The website is cool, but like FlickrQ has some drawbacks. I'm very annoyed by the fact that the description field stops about 3 sentences in and you cannot write anymore. Also the interface has potential but is executed very poorly. It's too hard to see what's going on, especially when you have more than a few photos in the queue.
I might have to end up going with one of the desktop schedulers if they have a better interface that's easier to use. I'm still put off by the fact that the computer HAS to be on for it to work though. It limits me to posting only when my computer is on and online, and there's also the headache of which computer to use...since I won't have my home computer with me when I'm traveling for work, but my work one I dislike working with for photos. Not to mention that now Id have to actively take a step to have the photos upload (namely having to turn the computer on, especially on days I might not be using the computer in question) which sorta defeats the purpose of using the scheduled uploads. We shall see.
I might have to end up going with one of the desktop schedulers if they have a better interface that's easier to use. I'm still put off by the fact that the computer HAS to be on for it to work though. It limits me to posting only when my computer is on and online, and there's also the headache of which computer to use...since I won't have my home computer with me when I'm traveling for work, but my work one I dislike working with for photos. Not to mention that now Id have to actively take a step to have the photos upload (namely having to turn the computer on, especially on days I might not be using the computer in question) which sorta defeats the purpose of using the scheduled uploads. We shall see.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Angry cop was angry.
So I just had an interesting encounter with a very angry police officer.
I was driving on 75, when I passed a vehicle. I was not the fastest driver on the road, and frankly I was going about the flow of traffic speed. Said vehicle was following close behind another car. As soon as I pass the vehicle (and this passing was not done close the other car, nor at a fast speed), the car pulls out quickly behind me and turns their police lights on.
Great.
The guy is ON MY FUCKING ASS, driving like an asshole, as I'm pulling over. I can't slow down as fast as I'd like once I'm on the shoulder, because he's ON MY ASS. So I come to a stop, and instead of getting behind me he pulls up next to me. I figured he's gonna yell at me and drive off, or maybe tell me my back light is out. I roll my window down and get greeted with "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING" yell at me in the most unexpectedly abrasive and angry manner. I am very thrown off by this reply, and it takes me a moment to say in my most humble, yet confused, voice "I'm just trying to get home sir."
At my comment, rage explodes on his face and he grabs his radio, and yells at me "I'm on the way to an accident call, but I'm going to call another officer so he can take care of this." He calls but waits and gets no reply. He starts yelling to me again: "I'm on my way to an accident, and your stupid ass decides to blow right by a state trooper car. What the hell is wrong with you." He looks at me and I have nothing to say, because I am truly dumbfounded by this insane amount of animosity this guy is throwing at me. I'm also at a loss for what to do or say, because while I've been able to talk my way out of tickets before, this guy just opened up with hostility and irrationality. So I don't say anything but he immediately responds with "ANSWER ME!" I say "I'm sorry officer" and he doesnt let me finish talking, interjecting with "OH LET ME GUESS YOU DIDNT KNOW HOW FAST YOU WERE GOING." I reply (VERY calmly) that I did not say that. He said something else which I forgot and I reply again with "Officer I'm sorry but I never said that." He flips and screams "I cannot believe your goddamned attitude" and opens his door, slams it and comes over and asks for my ID. He takes it (doesn't take insurance or anything else and gets back to his car). He radios for a check on my license and starts mumbling to himself outloud again about how he cannot believe my attitude and how I'm wasting his time and he has an accident to go to.
At this point I'm starting to realize the internal war being waged in this guys mind...should he continue to fuck with me and make my life hell because I happened to pass his car (even though there were other cars driving the same speed and faster) while he was in the middle of having a titty fit, or get to the accident that he has already responded to. Those 20 seconds or so took forever, and he finally gets out of the car and hands me back my license.
He ask if I've had any tickets in the last 6 months. I say no, and he goes "Well you better damn not be lying, because when I check later if you do I'm going to issue a warrant for your arrest." He slams his door again, and then cuts me off as he gets back on the road.
If I'm going to get a ticket, I'm going to get a ticket. Like I said I've gotten out of them before but it's just inevitable sometimes. This guy has some serious anger issues, and I really hate the fact that people like this are out there enforcing laws. Obviously I caught him at a bad moment...but no police officer should ever allow those emotions to run so wild as to misuse their power. Granted, this wasn't a big deal and he left me alone, but I am just talking in generalities.
I was driving on 75, when I passed a vehicle. I was not the fastest driver on the road, and frankly I was going about the flow of traffic speed. Said vehicle was following close behind another car. As soon as I pass the vehicle (and this passing was not done close the other car, nor at a fast speed), the car pulls out quickly behind me and turns their police lights on.
Great.
The guy is ON MY FUCKING ASS, driving like an asshole, as I'm pulling over. I can't slow down as fast as I'd like once I'm on the shoulder, because he's ON MY ASS. So I come to a stop, and instead of getting behind me he pulls up next to me. I figured he's gonna yell at me and drive off, or maybe tell me my back light is out. I roll my window down and get greeted with "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING" yell at me in the most unexpectedly abrasive and angry manner. I am very thrown off by this reply, and it takes me a moment to say in my most humble, yet confused, voice "I'm just trying to get home sir."
At my comment, rage explodes on his face and he grabs his radio, and yells at me "I'm on the way to an accident call, but I'm going to call another officer so he can take care of this." He calls but waits and gets no reply. He starts yelling to me again: "I'm on my way to an accident, and your stupid ass decides to blow right by a state trooper car. What the hell is wrong with you." He looks at me and I have nothing to say, because I am truly dumbfounded by this insane amount of animosity this guy is throwing at me. I'm also at a loss for what to do or say, because while I've been able to talk my way out of tickets before, this guy just opened up with hostility and irrationality. So I don't say anything but he immediately responds with "ANSWER ME!" I say "I'm sorry officer" and he doesnt let me finish talking, interjecting with "OH LET ME GUESS YOU DIDNT KNOW HOW FAST YOU WERE GOING." I reply (VERY calmly) that I did not say that. He said something else which I forgot and I reply again with "Officer I'm sorry but I never said that." He flips and screams "I cannot believe your goddamned attitude" and opens his door, slams it and comes over and asks for my ID. He takes it (doesn't take insurance or anything else and gets back to his car). He radios for a check on my license and starts mumbling to himself outloud again about how he cannot believe my attitude and how I'm wasting his time and he has an accident to go to.
At this point I'm starting to realize the internal war being waged in this guys mind...should he continue to fuck with me and make my life hell because I happened to pass his car (even though there were other cars driving the same speed and faster) while he was in the middle of having a titty fit, or get to the accident that he has already responded to. Those 20 seconds or so took forever, and he finally gets out of the car and hands me back my license.
He ask if I've had any tickets in the last 6 months. I say no, and he goes "Well you better damn not be lying, because when I check later if you do I'm going to issue a warrant for your arrest." He slams his door again, and then cuts me off as he gets back on the road.
If I'm going to get a ticket, I'm going to get a ticket. Like I said I've gotten out of them before but it's just inevitable sometimes. This guy has some serious anger issues, and I really hate the fact that people like this are out there enforcing laws. Obviously I caught him at a bad moment...but no police officer should ever allow those emotions to run so wild as to misuse their power. Granted, this wasn't a big deal and he left me alone, but I am just talking in generalities.
Here we go...
In the midst of my 3 weeks of constant traveling for work, and having attempted to switch over to blogger from wordpress, I've neglected my blog duties.
Needless to say I've been a little stretched thin BUT it's been ok. Nothing too mentally or physically taxing. This coming week I go to Jacksonville. I've put off working out my schedule after that, but now I need to wait til Monday because depending on how a meeting goes will affect the schedule. The last week of August I will be going to Memphis for a summit for work. This time I was able to rent a car, so no car sickness for me!
Needless to say I've been a little stretched thin BUT it's been ok. Nothing too mentally or physically taxing. This coming week I go to Jacksonville. I've put off working out my schedule after that, but now I need to wait til Monday because depending on how a meeting goes will affect the schedule. The last week of August I will be going to Memphis for a summit for work. This time I was able to rent a car, so no car sickness for me!
Sunday, July 8, 2012
$5 days at Miami Metrozoo! (Zoo Miami)
Paola mentioned she wanted an adventure day this week. I had been
thinking of many different options, but it’s just been too damned hot
out for anything adventurous! I thought about Rapids, but it’s $40.
Thankfully in the midst of my research I was reminded that the zoo was
doing $5 days this week for 4th of July.
I had seen the promo before but all that popped into my head was “ugh that’s going to be so full” haha. This worked for adventure day though, even if it was packed it was only $5. Plus, I’d be able to get some photography done. So, having secured Friday off by working on the 4th of July, we made our way down to the deepest depths of South Florida. As anticipated, there were a lot of people. It was mostly manageable though, with the exception of the inside of some of the small buildings. I seriously don’t under stand what compels these idiots to bring a damned STROLLER inside a tiny room that is packed. Mind you, there is no child in the stroller, they are just rolling it around.
The heat was pretty bad most of the day, but through a mix of staying in the shadows and drinking a LOT of water (brought my Camelbak…but forget my cooldownz! boo) we managed to stay alive. Zoo was a lot of fun. As can be imagined, a lot of the animals were hiding because of the heat. The aviary was, as always, awesome.
I had seen the promo before but all that popped into my head was “ugh that’s going to be so full” haha. This worked for adventure day though, even if it was packed it was only $5. Plus, I’d be able to get some photography done. So, having secured Friday off by working on the 4th of July, we made our way down to the deepest depths of South Florida. As anticipated, there were a lot of people. It was mostly manageable though, with the exception of the inside of some of the small buildings. I seriously don’t under stand what compels these idiots to bring a damned STROLLER inside a tiny room that is packed. Mind you, there is no child in the stroller, they are just rolling it around.
The heat was pretty bad most of the day, but through a mix of staying in the shadows and drinking a LOT of water (brought my Camelbak…but forget my cooldownz! boo) we managed to stay alive. Zoo was a lot of fun. As can be imagined, a lot of the animals were hiding because of the heat. The aviary was, as always, awesome.
*breath of relief*
This week was VERY much needed, for my mental and physical sanity.
Not only was I home the entire week, but I was fairly caught up on most of the things I’d fallen behind on the last few weeks/months. Granted, this now created a whole bunch of new things to be backed up on but…it just felt good. Relaxing. I was able to be more productive. I fell into a few bouts of laziness/distractedness, but I think it worked out well because I was truly getting a lot done the rest of the time.
I also started a soda diet. Regular exercise, via routine, seems to be harder and harder to accomplish with my schedule. It’s hard enough for me to focus on anything as it is, but with fact that I’m always going everywhere, mixed in with the fact that it’s been the hottest summer ever, it’s been hard to keep up with exercise. So I figured it was time to start working on the diet aspect of it. I’ve been doing pretty well with it…day two I messed up because I went to my grandmas to eat and she served me Coke and I didn’t realize what I was doing til halfway through the drink haha. Last night, day 6, I decided to reward myself with a Lipton Brisk iced tea as incentive to get a few things done. Otherwise, it’s been mostly water. Unfortunately, most of the juices and other drinks I’d want to drink instead of Coca Cola seem to have just as many calories/carbs/sugars AS coke. Shame.
Not only was I home the entire week, but I was fairly caught up on most of the things I’d fallen behind on the last few weeks/months. Granted, this now created a whole bunch of new things to be backed up on but…it just felt good. Relaxing. I was able to be more productive. I fell into a few bouts of laziness/distractedness, but I think it worked out well because I was truly getting a lot done the rest of the time.
I also started a soda diet. Regular exercise, via routine, seems to be harder and harder to accomplish with my schedule. It’s hard enough for me to focus on anything as it is, but with fact that I’m always going everywhere, mixed in with the fact that it’s been the hottest summer ever, it’s been hard to keep up with exercise. So I figured it was time to start working on the diet aspect of it. I’ve been doing pretty well with it…day two I messed up because I went to my grandmas to eat and she served me Coke and I didn’t realize what I was doing til halfway through the drink haha. Last night, day 6, I decided to reward myself with a Lipton Brisk iced tea as incentive to get a few things done. Otherwise, it’s been mostly water. Unfortunately, most of the juices and other drinks I’d want to drink instead of Coca Cola seem to have just as many calories/carbs/sugars AS coke. Shame.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
A dilema of photographic proportions...
So I find myself in a dilema...or at least, until last night, I did.
I've been going through a lot of old albums since my mother passed away last year. Honestly, this trip down memory lane began at least a year or two ago, and came about in an attempt to connect with my childhood Walt Disney World memories. I dug up what photographic proof of my early bliss at the parks, and it made me happy.
These photos and memories took on a whole different significance after my mom passed away. The hours/day after she died were spent by me going through all of the albums in the front closet of her house. It was my immediately way to cope, I was not only reliving beautiful memories (which is what she wanted...she was very against sad wakes and everyone being sad) but also had something constructive to do, as I was going through these photo albums and loose photographs and sorting them.
I came upon the realization that I needed to have all of these photos scanned. I'd given it thought before, but the daunting task of digitizing thousands of photos always dissuaded me from taking it seriously. It still pushes me away. First off, the expense. There's a lot of photographs in here, and I don't really want to pick and choose...especially since I want to do this for the rest of my family as well, and there are tons of photos of all of the family in there. Second issue, is the quality of the scans. I've heard horror stories of getting tons of photos scanned by a company, and they ended up doing crappy auto-exposure corrects on them, or did a poor job of scratch and dust removal.
The third and biggest issue for me is the fact that these photo albums were not just a random collection of photos thrown into an album, but in many cases pieces of art, excellent displays of scrapbooking before scrapbooking was even anything popular. In short, these are the only tangible creations that I can remember my mother by. Sure...we have the memories. We have myself and my brother. We have all of the people she made smile in her life. We have all of those things to remember her by. But there's just something about having something to hold...something you've grown up with...that just makes such a strong impact...and this is it for me.
So if I were to take the photos out of the albums to photograph, a few things would happen. It would obviously be a much more intense and arduous process than just scanning the photos themselves. I tried to scan the pages but that didn't really work too well, the plastic sheet that protects the photos distorts the image a bit and the scanner light reflects off it. Another issue is that, with the older albums, once you unstick the plastic from the photos, the album pretty much falls apart. These things are 30 years old in some cases.
What I've decided upon doing is this: for starters, I set up a little rig to take photos of the albums open, so I can have a record of what they looked like. It's not perfect, I don't have the gear or the knowhow to make it look great and without some flash flare. But it will serve the purpose of having something to see thats a copy of the album. Then, I will have to take the albums apart and take all the photos out. I tried taking them out 2 pages at a time, scanning, and putting them back in, but it takes way too long and with the older albums just does not work.
I will be doing a few of the albums I have on hand, BY hand...that is to say, by myself and not some outside company. The dust/scratch aspect has me a bit worries, so I think I'm gonna keep that to a minimum. I will have to get the rest of the albums from storage and pick out the ones I want to photograph. Then destroy the rest as i de-photo them and send them off to be scanned in mass.
I've been going through a lot of old albums since my mother passed away last year. Honestly, this trip down memory lane began at least a year or two ago, and came about in an attempt to connect with my childhood Walt Disney World memories. I dug up what photographic proof of my early bliss at the parks, and it made me happy.
These photos and memories took on a whole different significance after my mom passed away. The hours/day after she died were spent by me going through all of the albums in the front closet of her house. It was my immediately way to cope, I was not only reliving beautiful memories (which is what she wanted...she was very against sad wakes and everyone being sad) but also had something constructive to do, as I was going through these photo albums and loose photographs and sorting them.
I came upon the realization that I needed to have all of these photos scanned. I'd given it thought before, but the daunting task of digitizing thousands of photos always dissuaded me from taking it seriously. It still pushes me away. First off, the expense. There's a lot of photographs in here, and I don't really want to pick and choose...especially since I want to do this for the rest of my family as well, and there are tons of photos of all of the family in there. Second issue, is the quality of the scans. I've heard horror stories of getting tons of photos scanned by a company, and they ended up doing crappy auto-exposure corrects on them, or did a poor job of scratch and dust removal.
The third and biggest issue for me is the fact that these photo albums were not just a random collection of photos thrown into an album, but in many cases pieces of art, excellent displays of scrapbooking before scrapbooking was even anything popular. In short, these are the only tangible creations that I can remember my mother by. Sure...we have the memories. We have myself and my brother. We have all of the people she made smile in her life. We have all of those things to remember her by. But there's just something about having something to hold...something you've grown up with...that just makes such a strong impact...and this is it for me.
So if I were to take the photos out of the albums to photograph, a few things would happen. It would obviously be a much more intense and arduous process than just scanning the photos themselves. I tried to scan the pages but that didn't really work too well, the plastic sheet that protects the photos distorts the image a bit and the scanner light reflects off it. Another issue is that, with the older albums, once you unstick the plastic from the photos, the album pretty much falls apart. These things are 30 years old in some cases.
What I've decided upon doing is this: for starters, I set up a little rig to take photos of the albums open, so I can have a record of what they looked like. It's not perfect, I don't have the gear or the knowhow to make it look great and without some flash flare. But it will serve the purpose of having something to see thats a copy of the album. Then, I will have to take the albums apart and take all the photos out. I tried taking them out 2 pages at a time, scanning, and putting them back in, but it takes way too long and with the older albums just does not work.
I will be doing a few of the albums I have on hand, BY hand...that is to say, by myself and not some outside company. The dust/scratch aspect has me a bit worries, so I think I'm gonna keep that to a minimum. I will have to get the rest of the albums from storage and pick out the ones I want to photograph. Then destroy the rest as i de-photo them and send them off to be scanned in mass.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Online photo hosting: a peek into one of the worst designed concepts at the moment
Seeing as though it's the main reason sites like Facebook are as popular as they are, that there would be a myriad of wonderful choices in the web photo hosting world. Let me tell you, there are not.
To me, one of the biggest issues that ALMOST EVERYONE has, is a complete lack of true organization. This manifests itself mainly through the lack of any "folder within a folder" options (Skydrive now finally has this option). NONE of the online hosting sites offer this! Why is this important? Well, let's say I want to have a folder that is for photos of my Family. Cool! But how about I have the option to ORGANIZE the photos inside that folder, according to events? How could one do that, you might ask...why, by having the option to create SEPARATE folders inside the main FAMILY folder. Very simple, cut and dry. You might argue that some sites like Flickr let you use TAGS on your photographs, and that you could sort your photographs that way...but there are two issues with that argument: 1) I shouldn't be denied the option, especially since 2) There is no clean way to easy organize subsections of photos using tags on any website.
And speaking of organization...most of the websites seem to favor Facebooks bullshit assertation that what matters is what just happened...namely, that organization will be base solely on a matter of WHEN something was uploaded, not anything of the users discretion. Flickr falls into this too, where if you go to look at my SETS they show up in reverse chronological order, not an order in which I deem to be useful.
While I understand that there are a lot of disorganized people out there, this lack of an option to have a clean archive of your photos online is not helping the matter at all.
Another big issue with these sites is the lack of vanity URLS, which makes it harder to share these things. On facebook you can direct users to your profile with a vanity url, but not one for individual albums. Instead, you get some random bullshit ass # that's 20+ characters long. Ease of use in this case, is eschewed in favor of poorly thought out url schemes.
I think I'm going to test out Skydrive for now, for my bulk photo uploading needs. Here are some notes on why i didn't like the others:
Facebook: bad album organization, too many ads in the new photo viewer
Flickr: not good for large sets since it's set up more like a gallery for individual photos. Poor album organization
Google Plus: good image viewer and album views, but album organization itself is poor, and Picasa Web Albums is a huge mess. No vanity url
Skydrive: Some cool features, including album in an album. Photo viewer is pretty good. Only real complaint so far: no way to leave a comment on the photos.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Couple of ramblings for this late Saturday afternoon
- You can tell that I am not used to wearing tank tops, due to the fact that I keep trying to raise the shirt up to put deodorant on.
-Florida summer Hell Heat is here...this entire week has felt like a daze, due to the sweltering heat. I wanted to adventure today, but am forgoing any such ventures due to the fact that I start sweating profusely after being outside for 10 seconds. No, seriously, I was pretty sweat free in my car yesterday, and the 15 seconds it took to get inside my house from my car, left me bathed in sweat.
-I had a mission yesterday....to edit my photos from this week, and to finally work on a Packing list. I got neither done...ended up feeling like crap from the heat and then I couldn't focus. Right before bed though, I did half of the work on the photos. I finished today. And now I am doing various photo related organizational things. List comes later, along with some other stuff on my todo list!
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Well, no lightning....
Art of Animation Resort Photo venture: Since my
lovely time described in my last post…I hopped back in the car, and made
my way back to the Art of Animation resort. Very many little annoyances
threatened to make me explode…but thankfully I kept my cool! I spent a
good amount of time walking around trying to make the last of the sunset
light, while the intense clouds loomed over head. Got a few shots of
the Finding Nemo section, and was able to walk into one of the
buildings. Nice motif inside, simple but pleasing. Found a hidden mickey
on the floor.
Cars section: Next I meandered over to the Cars section. THIS is the crown jewel of this resort, I think. While the Nemo section is brilliant and has a lot of great things in it, I think some of the beauty gets lost in the fact that the pool area is HUGE, and a little too spaced out. Great for the pool users, but it doesn’t feel as tight as Cars. You are greeted by two huge lit billboards on the side of the buildings, and then follow a “road” down into the inner part of the area. There are many Cars laid about the road, light up and gazing at you with their eyes. The theming in this area is top notch, from the upside down cone cactus planter, to the beautiful painted simplistic mountain ranges on the building sides, to the light up cone lamps. And there’s even Cone Teepees in the pool area for families to gather in!
Side story: I was waiting at the end of the Cars pool area, with my camera propped up against the fence towards the last building to take a photo. A man was talking a shot of his kid against one of the cars there, so I waited. Then he needed the kid to take a photo of him. This took a few minutes. He’s seen me waiting a few times already. He finally mentions something to the kid “well that’s guy’s waiting to take a photo” but then stops to check the photo the son took, and makes him retake it. 3 times. And then makes the kid move to the other nearby car to take more photos. This entire encounter takes 10 minutes. 10 minutes of time, this bastard KNOWS I’m waiting to take a photo. Thankfully at this point of the evening I had embraced my inner bliss and these annoyances were bouncing off me like bullets off superman. But seriously…come on! I ended up zooming in as much as I could with my wide angle and took a photo of him look like a dumbass on the car. I will be posting it as soon as I edit the shots haha.
Bridge over to Pop Century: I took the Millennium bridge over to the Pop Century resort. That one also has some superb theming. There’s one part where you walk through a foosball field, complete with foosball players 2xs the size of you.
D-Street: Passed by Downtown Disney to do a Vinylmation trade. No luck there. (Earlier in the day I got a pirate from the POTC series that not only has a hat, but also a hook hand!) They did have the Nerds Rock Figment, which I had totally forgotten about! He’s pretty awesome. Got a churru on the way back to the car, and I think that was the highlight of my evening…haha…that churro was awesome!
Drive: I wanted to stop by Magic Kingdom to do some night shots of Storybook Circus, but it was getting late and I just felt like I’d be spending 75% of my time trying to get into and out of the park, so I just drove around for a bit and then headed home.
Cars section: Next I meandered over to the Cars section. THIS is the crown jewel of this resort, I think. While the Nemo section is brilliant and has a lot of great things in it, I think some of the beauty gets lost in the fact that the pool area is HUGE, and a little too spaced out. Great for the pool users, but it doesn’t feel as tight as Cars. You are greeted by two huge lit billboards on the side of the buildings, and then follow a “road” down into the inner part of the area. There are many Cars laid about the road, light up and gazing at you with their eyes. The theming in this area is top notch, from the upside down cone cactus planter, to the beautiful painted simplistic mountain ranges on the building sides, to the light up cone lamps. And there’s even Cone Teepees in the pool area for families to gather in!
Side story: I was waiting at the end of the Cars pool area, with my camera propped up against the fence towards the last building to take a photo. A man was talking a shot of his kid against one of the cars there, so I waited. Then he needed the kid to take a photo of him. This took a few minutes. He’s seen me waiting a few times already. He finally mentions something to the kid “well that’s guy’s waiting to take a photo” but then stops to check the photo the son took, and makes him retake it. 3 times. And then makes the kid move to the other nearby car to take more photos. This entire encounter takes 10 minutes. 10 minutes of time, this bastard KNOWS I’m waiting to take a photo. Thankfully at this point of the evening I had embraced my inner bliss and these annoyances were bouncing off me like bullets off superman. But seriously…come on! I ended up zooming in as much as I could with my wide angle and took a photo of him look like a dumbass on the car. I will be posting it as soon as I edit the shots haha.
Bridge over to Pop Century: I took the Millennium bridge over to the Pop Century resort. That one also has some superb theming. There’s one part where you walk through a foosball field, complete with foosball players 2xs the size of you.
D-Street: Passed by Downtown Disney to do a Vinylmation trade. No luck there. (Earlier in the day I got a pirate from the POTC series that not only has a hat, but also a hook hand!) They did have the Nerds Rock Figment, which I had totally forgotten about! He’s pretty awesome. Got a churru on the way back to the car, and I think that was the highlight of my evening…haha…that churro was awesome!
Drive: I wanted to stop by Magic Kingdom to do some night shots of Storybook Circus, but it was getting late and I just felt like I’d be spending 75% of my time trying to get into and out of the park, so I just drove around for a bit and then headed home.
Lightning's next...
Long day at work....nice and fulfilling though. Head to hotel, bathe, change, and get on my way to the Art of Animation hotel to do some photography. On the way I realize I left my ponco. Annoying, but not a huge deal. Get to the hotel, park. I pack my umbrella in my bag, making sure its tied down so it won't fall out. It wasn't raining, barely a cloud in the sky.
I finally step out of my car. I'm getting ready, and I feel a drop. Then more drops. I try to run for it but my camera is out so I try to get my umbrella out. Its tied down too well. I finally manage to open it still tied to my bag. As I get to the building, a huge wind gust flips my umbrella and almost breaks it.
Thoroughly annoyed at this point. But trudging through. I decide to try to shoot some of the lobby til it stops raining, even though I don't have much interest in shooting the lobby. I go to take a photo and....
I left the motherfucking battery, in my hotel.
I couldn't possibly be having any more George Costanza of a week if I tried.
I finally step out of my car. I'm getting ready, and I feel a drop. Then more drops. I try to run for it but my camera is out so I try to get my umbrella out. Its tied down too well. I finally manage to open it still tied to my bag. As I get to the building, a huge wind gust flips my umbrella and almost breaks it.
Thoroughly annoyed at this point. But trudging through. I decide to try to shoot some of the lobby til it stops raining, even though I don't have much interest in shooting the lobby. I go to take a photo and....
I left the motherfucking battery, in my hotel.
I couldn't possibly be having any more George Costanza of a week if I tried.
Any home remedies for feeling overly crabby? (Some beach north of Half Moon Bay, CA)
Any home remedies for feeling overly crabby? (Some beach north of Half Moon Bay, CA), a photo by ohhector on Flickr.
Found this guy on some random beach in California. I was traveling with Carolyn, Ivel, and Mike from San Fran down to Half Moon Bay, when I decided to turn down some random street and we ended up at a beach. I haven't been able to locate which one is is...I always end up being in a crappy wifi situation when I want to look...but I will find out at some point.
The beach was interesting, there were some small rock tide pools by the stream that fed into the ocean, and a lot of dead sea life (including Mr. Crab up there) washed up on shore.
There were even a few seals hanging out near the end of the beach, chillin on the shoreline. These little kids came running full speed and their parents were totally oblivious to what was going on, so I kindly yelled at them to stop. They booked looked at me with a "huh? why?" face and I explained that they had to stay 300 feet away.
Sorry kids, I know it sucks, but being responsible doesn't get an excuse because you are young and wanna have fun!
Monday, June 25, 2012
Fix this mess
My state of mind (and of body) the last two days: complete mess. I've been struggling with a lot of personal inefficiency and complete lack of focus and drive, in all aspects of my life. This has been going on for a long time, but it's been really taking it's toll this last year since starting my new job. Why has that made it worse?
Well, now I am home a lot less than I used to be, due to traveling for work. When I am traveling, it's very near impossible to be productive with anything. After work, if I go back to my hotel room, I immediately want to leave. I am never comfortable standing still as it is, but these pseudo crappy hotel rooms are just not inviting, plus a bigger part of the issue is that I'm not at these places long enough to feel comfortable. So I end up driving around. Or if I do stay at the hotel, I just fall into the usual internet distractions.
Ok, fine, so then when I DO get home, THEN I am totally productive and make the most of my time right? No...I either fall into these weird slumps where I just cannot get anything done, or fall back into the distractions. I do many little things to change this, to spur a change inside....rearrange my apartment's layout, give myself tasks, etc. None of that seems to work.
So I enter this neverending cycle where nothing every gets accomplished, and the bare minimum of what I have to do (usually related to menial tasks like getting pills paid, and prepping for work) is all that gets done....but THAT takes days to do when it should take hours at most.
I definitely need another internet break...but that's not the point of this post. I am merely rambling as I usually do, and here I go back into my main point...
So after a few days of the unfulfilling ritual described above, I am finally on my way to getting my work prep and packing done. Then I notice that my Sunpass transponder is nowhere to be found. I use a portable one for my rental cars. I end up spending an infuriating 3 hours searching throughout my apartment, my car, I even drove to the car rental place late at night, and stalked the back of the building to see if the car I rented was there, but it was not. I could have sworn it was unlikely to the point of near impossibility that I had left it in the car, because I remembered putting the rental cars ghetto sunpass back into place, and didn't see mine. So the most likely scenario was that I took it home, but ended up losing it and most likely throwing it away by accident as I cleaned my house.
This possibility really upset me, and my night was annoying ruined. I finally admitted defeat, and went on my way trying to finish my list of things to do.
This morning, when I picked up my rental car, there was no luck with the transponder. Eventually, as I was driving to Orlando (taking 95 - partially because it would leave me a bit closer to where I needed to go, and partially so I could avoid tolls [not that I couldn't just pay for them outright, but it would totally mess up the way I expense tolls for my job, which was another frustration added to the original one of losing the thing]), the guy calls me back and says it was still inside the car, it had just been returned. A bit annoyed because of the inconvenience of the tolls and expensing, but at least I wouldn't have to buy a new one.
What else had me annoyed and flustered? Well, I had intended to bring all of my photographic gear including tripod so I could do some nighttime HDR photography at the new Disney resort after work. I was really excited for it, since I decided earlier in the week one of the reasons I am so lost and unfocused lately is because...well, I have nothing to focus on! So when I get to my hotel in Orlando, I realized...I totally forgot the damned tripod. So frustrating. Oh, and an item I had taken out to bring with me, to demo for work? Yea, left that too.
@#!$!#@$!#@$#@!$#@!$#@!$#@!$#@!$#@!$#@!
I've been putting off making a "pack" list for my travels, that has different variables for the locations I am going and if I am planning any side trips or ventures, just to have something solid and concrete to make the packing process faster, and make it so I don't have to rely on my crap ass memory to remember everything.
As soon as I finish this lengthy and venting blog post, I will start on said list.
Thanks for reading my long rambles...it's been a long time since I've been able to write out something like this, and it's been honestly very refreshing and helpful. The same way that I think getting back into my photography will help, I also think that getting back into writing my thoughts will help...hence this blog!
Well, now I am home a lot less than I used to be, due to traveling for work. When I am traveling, it's very near impossible to be productive with anything. After work, if I go back to my hotel room, I immediately want to leave. I am never comfortable standing still as it is, but these pseudo crappy hotel rooms are just not inviting, plus a bigger part of the issue is that I'm not at these places long enough to feel comfortable. So I end up driving around. Or if I do stay at the hotel, I just fall into the usual internet distractions.
Ok, fine, so then when I DO get home, THEN I am totally productive and make the most of my time right? No...I either fall into these weird slumps where I just cannot get anything done, or fall back into the distractions. I do many little things to change this, to spur a change inside....rearrange my apartment's layout, give myself tasks, etc. None of that seems to work.
So I enter this neverending cycle where nothing every gets accomplished, and the bare minimum of what I have to do (usually related to menial tasks like getting pills paid, and prepping for work) is all that gets done....but THAT takes days to do when it should take hours at most.
I definitely need another internet break...but that's not the point of this post. I am merely rambling as I usually do, and here I go back into my main point...
So after a few days of the unfulfilling ritual described above, I am finally on my way to getting my work prep and packing done. Then I notice that my Sunpass transponder is nowhere to be found. I use a portable one for my rental cars. I end up spending an infuriating 3 hours searching throughout my apartment, my car, I even drove to the car rental place late at night, and stalked the back of the building to see if the car I rented was there, but it was not. I could have sworn it was unlikely to the point of near impossibility that I had left it in the car, because I remembered putting the rental cars ghetto sunpass back into place, and didn't see mine. So the most likely scenario was that I took it home, but ended up losing it and most likely throwing it away by accident as I cleaned my house.
This possibility really upset me, and my night was annoying ruined. I finally admitted defeat, and went on my way trying to finish my list of things to do.
This morning, when I picked up my rental car, there was no luck with the transponder. Eventually, as I was driving to Orlando (taking 95 - partially because it would leave me a bit closer to where I needed to go, and partially so I could avoid tolls [not that I couldn't just pay for them outright, but it would totally mess up the way I expense tolls for my job, which was another frustration added to the original one of losing the thing]), the guy calls me back and says it was still inside the car, it had just been returned. A bit annoyed because of the inconvenience of the tolls and expensing, but at least I wouldn't have to buy a new one.
What else had me annoyed and flustered? Well, I had intended to bring all of my photographic gear including tripod so I could do some nighttime HDR photography at the new Disney resort after work. I was really excited for it, since I decided earlier in the week one of the reasons I am so lost and unfocused lately is because...well, I have nothing to focus on! So when I get to my hotel in Orlando, I realized...I totally forgot the damned tripod. So frustrating. Oh, and an item I had taken out to bring with me, to demo for work? Yea, left that too.
@#!$!#@$!#@$#@!$#@!$#@!$#@!$#@!$#@!$#@!
I've been putting off making a "pack" list for my travels, that has different variables for the locations I am going and if I am planning any side trips or ventures, just to have something solid and concrete to make the packing process faster, and make it so I don't have to rely on my crap ass memory to remember everything.
As soon as I finish this lengthy and venting blog post, I will start on said list.
Thanks for reading my long rambles...it's been a long time since I've been able to write out something like this, and it's been honestly very refreshing and helpful. The same way that I think getting back into my photography will help, I also think that getting back into writing my thoughts will help...hence this blog!
Hello, world of blogging/journaling/venting/textual yelling
It's time for me to have an internet say, so to speak, that consists of more than 140 characters and that I can't tag anyone in. I've missed writing...even if most of the time it's just to vent. That's a release I've denied myself, and I think it's time to start up again. Plus, I plan on doing some sort of "adventure" blog chronicling and reviewing parks and other cool things in Florida, and this will serve as good practice for writing and promotion.
Let the games begin!
Let the games begin!
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