The Northwoods Is No Place For A Pink Flamingo
Photography
Summertime, and the living is easy….
Jun 19th
For those who don’t have to work anyhow.
It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted an update on this blog. Life is crazy for me right now. Work, Work, Work, sleep, sleep, sleep. It’s a redundant cycle that won’t end until late August it seems. All things considered, this is turning out to be a pretty decent summer. The weather has been SO much better than last year, temperatures have remained fairly consistent in the upper 70′s to 80′s. Right where it should be. The boat is in the water at the cottage and the folks are keeping very busy building fences, making cookies, and keeping up with the neighbors (as much as they can stand it anyhow). Looks like sister Sarah and nephew Christopher are going to be making a trip up to the northwoods as soon as this next week. Sounds like Sarah might need a break even before their road trip in August. Looking forward to seeing them, especially Christopher. I’ve only seen pictures since last Christmas, I’m sure he’s growing fast and will eventually be in shock to discover a new sibling draining some of the attention away from him. First born’s tend to get the best and the worst of things. They are of course always FIRST, but the loss of devoted attention when a new family member arrives is a big step for any child to deal with. Most do just fine and I’m sure Christopher will too. He’s got great parents.
Things have been fairly busy on the national news front lately. Of course the BP oil spill is the consuming story. It has been interesting to follow things as they have developed. It sickens me that our government as well as BP seem to think that an escrow account with 20 billion dollars in it is going to help solve this massive environmental disaster. It doesn’t even matter any more when they eventually cap the flow of oil out of the hole in the ocean floor. The damage has already been done. Millions of gallons of oil and thousands of tons of methane now displacing what once was crystal clear waters in the Gulf will be killing us slowly for decades. News came out today that oil and gas is now seeping up through the ocean floor near the well which is presenting another issue. Could it be creating a sink hole due to pressure? Nobody knows but if that is occurring, the worst of this disaster is not even close to being over yet. We’ll see what happens.
In other news, the Prop 8 trial held closing arguments this past Wednesday. Once again, proponents of the ban on gay marriage in California sputtered and shouted but in the end produced absolutely NO evidence to support their position. This is a hugely significant case that will eventually make it to the supreme court. A decision is expected in a few weeks and then it’s off to the appeals process. I don’t have the energy to recap the whole thing, if you want to know about it more than visit the Prop 8 Trial Tracker web site for a full re-cap of all the arguments. It really has been a pleasure watching one of the most successful lawyers in this country defend my right to exist and it amazes me that in a courtroom, where politics is NOT the key element, all those who are so intent on upholding discrimination against the GLBT community simply fall flat on their faces. It’s been amazing to watch.
I have been able to keep up a little bit on my photography. I’ve uploaded a few new galleries to leelanauphotography.com since my last entry. Please be sure to check them out. I’m looking forward to eventually having some time off this summer to really do some exploring with my camera, perhaps in places I’ve not been. So, until my next entry which might be tomorrow, or several weeks from now, enjoy this picture of early summer in Leelanau.
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Summertime
May 31st
As you can likely see, I’ve chosen a new theme for my blog. I don’t have much to write about lately, mainly because I’m being kept so busy at work but also just because there is next to nothing going on in my life or really in politics right now. I’ve been spending my time off either playing around my yard or floating around out on the lake, writing has sort of taken a back burner to those 2 very important things! Never fear, I will write more eventually. For now, I’ll share a newer picture from my late spring gallery on leelanauphotography.com. I am really impressed by my new camera and it’s ability to capture some really stunning pictures. This summer I will need to start branching out a bit more from Leelanau County and start taking some pictures of other areas. I mean, I have enough pictures now of the Sand Dunes to publish another book. Speaking of which, maybe I’ll make that my summer project!
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Waiting
May 22nd
Got an email from my Realtor tonight telling me that the owners of the house I want to buy have dropped their price another $2000 as of this morning. It’s killing me because I have to wait until at least June 7 before I can run my credit report again which will then indicate whether or not I can obtain a mortgage. I’m stressing about it because it’s a great little house that would be perfect for me, in a great location very close to work and no further from the folks than I am right now. It’s a 2 story (something hard to find up here in the northwoods) Colonial styled but contemporary home on a corner lot in a nice area and it’s just the right size for me and Gavin the Wonder Dog. It’s been on the market now for 89 days and has not sold yet although at this point I am starting to ask myself why but that might be beside the point. My Realtor continues to tell me they are very motivated, the short of it is, I want this house but I have about 3 weeks yet before I will know for sure if I can get a mortgage for it and I have made the decision not to pursue anything until I have a guarantee on financing, something I still realize may not be possible at this time. Stay tuned, you can be sure I’ll be writing about it here if I end up buying a house this summer.
On that note, with this pursuit of home ownership, I have in many ways now officially committed myself to living in this area for at least the next 5 years or more. This of course makes the parents happy but at the same time they are not necessarily the reason I’ve chosen to stay up here. Regardless of all the bitching I do about the people around here, I do actually like this part of Michigan. It has done amazing things for my photography skills and I like the fact that pretty much my entire extended family lives up here even though I don’t get to see them all that often. I’m not the type of person that just randomly goes out and makes friends with people and knowing that, it’s important to me to have family near me so that I don’t cocoon myself which I would be very prone to doing if I lived in a city where I did not know anyone. That’s not saying I don’t have friends, but it is saying that I place more emphasis on my immediate and extended family than I do many of the other random people that I know. I deal with the public 50 hours a week which is more than many people have to deal with people in a month. It’s nice to be able to go to my folks house and not be forced to make small talk about stupid shit. I can have quality conversations when I feel like it. So, even though my boss at work has started pushing me again to promote with Menards and move into store level management, at least for the next 5 years I’ll be working on my management skills here in Traverse City. I refuse to buy a house and not live in at least long enough to make a little money when I sell it. Lord knows, I’ll need a profit if or when I decide to take that next step at work which I think can happen any time I want it to. It’s a nice feeling knowing that you have a steady job with very little chance of loosing it unless I fuck up in a big way and I’m just not the type of person to do that anymore. I’ve become old and careful before my time and it’s paying off.
So tonight is Saturday night and I’m home enjoying a couple of cold beers and a little internet time before I head off again to work tomorrow. It’s going to be in the upper 80′s for most of this week which means it’s going to be CRAZY busy at work. Tuesday is my day off and it promises to be the hottest day of the week. It’s of course the day I am acquiring new furniture from the relatives but oh well, free shit is worth a little sweat.
Anyhow, just a short update, you know in the summer it’s very hard to find time to write or post things. Most of you reading this follow me on Facebook anyhow and thats about all I have time for right now. I’ll leave you tonight with a recent picture taken this past week.
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I’ve Had It
Apr 28th
Ok, I know I rant and holler and bitch and whatever else all the time about Charter, my Internet provider and yet I continue to use them. Well, I’ve finally had it with them. I won’t say where I’m getting the connection right now to write this blog post but it’s not coming from Charter, all I’ll say is there are some pretty dumb ass people living around me. So, likely this next Tuesday I will be making phone calls to AT&T, Verizon, and any other DSL service provider I can locate in town to see what kind of deals I can get for Internet. Any way I look at it, the new service I find will mean shittier speeds meaning I won’t be able to watch as much video in as high a quality, and I won’t be able to download things as fast, I won’t be able to stream music as flawlessly and it will just all around suck donkey balls. The cable TV is going away entirely at this point, perhaps if I decide that I really do need TV in the future I will get satellite service. The folks down at the Charter office are going to get an ear full from me, I’ll say my peace and just be done with them forever. I suppose if living up here means being able to sit on a boat in the summer, it also means putting up with the fact that this town is not set up for geeks like me who actually understand how to utilize technology to our advantage rather than just putz around looking at porn and reading blogs. It’s no wonder at all to me why there are no significant tech companies located in Northern Michigan. They would simply collapse given the lack of understanding people have about the Internet and how it works and how it could work SOOOOOOO much better up here than it actually does. Charter has this region by the balls and they are not going to let go for any reason. My best choice is to rid myself of their horrendous services before it just drives me fucking nuts.
To top off my day today, I came home and received a summons for Jury Duty. This is just the qualification questionnaire at this point so I’ve not actually been selected but shit, this could not be a worse time to have to do that. I am buried up to my eyes at work right now and my team is a mess mainly because of their inability to live up to my standards. I’m pissed off at most of them right now for various reasons and they know it which makes working with them rather tense at times. All I want them to do is do their fucking jobs. I want them to work the hours I schedule them, sell things to people when there are people there to sell to, and put stock away when there are no customers. The job could not be simpler. I can’t leave them for a single day without walking back into a disaster. Thank GOD it’s just an internal one and they are so far not pissing off customers. The sad thing is, most of them are so comfortable in their positions that they don’t understand they can be replaced at the drop of a hat….for that matter so can I. 300 applications a week STILL coming in from people looking for a job. It’s unbelievable how big the prospective employee pool is at this point but yet, those who are applying? Out of 300, maybe 5 are potential candidates AT BEST. When you aren’t even qualified to work as a stocker in a big box store there is a problem not only with the economy but with the entire job pool. I digress. So lets all hope I don’t get called to sit on a jury right now. I really just don’t have the time or the patience to put my life on hold in order to determine someone else’s fate.
I have been able to do a little photography lately. So click on over to leelanauphotography.com and take a look at the gallery. I’ve been adding to it recently.
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Spring Time
Apr 3rd
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve done an update via the old blog here. This is my busy season at work and I’ve been swamped, putting in about 50 hours a week or so right now. The 12 hour days are taking a toll on my legs but I’ll only need to do this for a couple months and then it will slow down again and settle into summer.
So, tomorrow is the day of reckoning for Jesus Christ and the Easter Bunny. I’ll be headed out to the lake to have dinner with the folks and hopefully Gavin the wonder Dog will have a chance to run for a while. It has been raining all day today so he’s been stuck inside…not that he would not go out in the rain but because the smell of wet dog is heinous. It looks like the family is finally set up on Skype and everyone finally has it installed and working. If you are not a user, you should try it. You’ll need a web cam and some basic knowledge of how to install software. That’s about it. One of these days I’ll get to have a conversation with nephew Christopher although I suspect he has little interest right now.
So, aside from work and warmer weather lately, I’ve not nothing much else to say! I’ve put a few new galleries on my web site, you can check them out by clicking HERE. This was taken using my new camera.
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Amateur?
Feb 25th
I had a busy day today. I did manage to sleep in until about 10am which is a record for me. Usually I can get past 8am before I’m up and wide awake. I had a busy week at work though so I know I was tired. Anyhow, the coffee was on and I needed to get out of the house for a while. I started my day by heading out to Best Buy. This town frustrates me sometimes. It’s not a good town for a tech geek like me to live in because technology is just not that important to people around these parts. Tractors and Monster Trucks are. Anyhow, I’m trying to get a good idea on price for upgrading the stereo system in my car. It works great right now but I can’t listen to my iPod while driving and since I did away with physical CD’s nearly 2 years ago now, I don’t have any CD’s that I can stick in the dash. I had a stereo that supported my iPod in my last car and I loved it and it didn’t cost much either. I went into Best Buy today prepared to spend a small amount of money to upgrade my car but, as is typical up here, the parts needed to install a new system were not available and it would be another week before they got them back in stock. So, it didn’t happen. I’ll put it off another week and have to waste more of my time waiting.
After that, I decided to get my hair cut. Always a trip to go into Supercuts. One thing I don’t do is high end salons. If I ever have to pay more than $20 with tip for a hair cut, that will be the day I start cutting my own hair. I don’t need it styled, I just need it cut. Anyhow, got that done and then it was home to play with the dog and maybe clean the house.
I played with the dog but the house is still a shit hole. I decided that I was going to visit Meijer to get a few new pictures printed for my dining room wall. I’ve got 3 nice framed pictures that I’ve taken up on the wall and it’s time for a change of scenery so I spent a few hours going through my recent pictures looking for replacements. I settled on 3 new pictures and loaded up the SD card and headed off to Meijer land to have them developed. You all know I hate Meijer. Once again, it’s the only grocery store of any quality in this little town so EVERYONE goes there. It’s always crowded, the parking lot is a disaster, and I can never get out of there without having to wait at least 30 minutes in line and spending $100! I went to the kiosk to pick out my pictures and options and submitted them for processing. It was going to take about 30 minutes so I decided to grocery shop. I went back to pick them up after 30 minutes and was accosted by the Meijer Photo Lab people. They wanted me to prove that I was the photographer, that my pictures looked too professional and that they would only release them to me if I signed an affidavit claiming that I was in fact the photographer. Normally I get my photography printed through my hosting web site and I’ve never had this issue before. I didn’t know whether I should be flattered that they thought my work was that good, or offended that they thought I was a thief. I decided to sign their release (which absolved them from legal issues if someone were to challenge my copyright), they put it in a little file along with maybe a dozen others then informed me that it might be a good idea for me to make sure my copyright is obvious, like a logo or something on my pictures. So off I went. Somewhat flustered that I had to prove something that was mine, was actually mine!
Tonight I’ve been sitting on my computer investigating copyright laws and how they apply to digital photography. I’ve always been pretty careful with my photography. I don’t sell it but I have left open too many loop holes that might allow someone else to try and sell it and claim it as their own. Tonight I decided to turn off the print option for my web site. This won’t eliminate the problem but it will prevent people from trying to order prints of my work without my permission. I’m also going to work up a small copyright notice that I can attach to my photos that will enforce the digital data already stored in the picture file. It seems that the more people see my work, the more people tell me I ought to be doing something with it. I’m not sure I’m there yet. Maybe soon.
Anyhow, here is one of the pictures that drew the attention of the Meijer Photo Lab.
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Spectacular
Feb 19th
Like it or not, being single with a decent, stable job has it’s advantages. Those of you who visit here often, know that I usually start my blog posts this way when I’ve made a purchase of some sort. This year, there are 3 bigger purchases that have intended to make. The first one is my car. My folks were generous enough to allow me enough time to obtain my 2010 bonus at work before paying them for the car. That’s my first big one and it will consume most of my bonus checks. Very much justified since this new car will easily last me another 8-10 years and that means another 8-10 years without car payments (fingers crossed). Awesome. My second purchase this year is going to be a keyboard. Some time ago, I decided that after having spent all but the last 10 years of my life pursuing music in one way or another, I had really better do myself a favor and not forget any of it. One way to ensure that I won’t soon forget how to sight-read, how to compose, or how to sing is to purchase an instrument that will help me do maintenance. I have decided this year to allow myself a $300-$1000 budget to purchase the necessary equipment to keep myself musically in shape for the foreseeable future. Again, a long term investment that is well worth the money. Many of you all knew about those planned purchases.
Finally, after spending the last 2 years developing my amateur photography skills and capturing over 20 Gigabytes of photos (that’s over 5000 pictures) in just those 2 years alone, and after countless people informing me that I’m wasting my time selling paint and that I should be selling my photography, I decided to upgrade my camera to the real deal. Tonight I purchased my first DSLR camera via a package deal from Best Buy (the only place left in town that stocks anything). For those of you who considered my previous photography to be pretty good, the photos you will see coming out of this new thing will blow your mind. That’s just my impression based on a few pictures I’ve taken tonight with it. The difference in quality, resolution, contrast, and just about everything else is very noticeable. This camera uses actual mechanical optics rather than digital technology to reproduce the image which gives it a huge advantage over any digital camera out there. This camera, along with the additional zoom lens I purchased with it will allow me to capture in much more detail the things I enjoy taking pictures of, mainly the lake, the woods and Gavin the Wonder Dog! For you family out there, it is very similar to Andy’s camera that he had with him this past summer.
For those of you who want to know, I purchased the Canon EOS Rebel T1i that came with the EFS18-55mm standard lens and I also purchased the EFS55-250mm zoom lens. Of course I got the extra battery and a new SD card as well. Big features on this camera include an integrated flash with the option for the external flash, auto-focus, image stabilization, Canon’s newest image processor, a 3″ LCD screen as well as a TON of features to set up pictures manually or automatically. It also allows for the addition of an entire family of lens’s as I develop my skills. While it’s not considered a “PRO” camera, it is an intermediate level camera and it’s likely to far exceed my own ability to use it which means I can easily grow into it and expand it’s features as I learn more how to use them. So, tomorrow or Sunday, assuming I get a little good weather up here, I’ll be heading out to take some pictures with my new camera and I’ll post them to leelanauaphotography.com for you all to see. As an added bonus for me, I’ll be selling my old camera which will recoup some of the cost for this new one, anyone interested should send me an email.
So, there you have it, 3 big purchases and guess what…this year, (Mom and Dad because I know you want to know) I’ll even be able to save a considerable amount of money and put it in the bank where it belongs right? I’ll be putting the first payment for the car in the mail to Iowa very soon (we’ll talk first).
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Mid-Winter Blues
Feb 7th
Finally, I’ve had a reasonably relaxing weekend. Of course tomorrow I head back in to hell for what will likely turn into a 6 day work week. We begin a major re-set in my department tomorrow morning, there is a ton of work to be done and only 1 week to do it. I’m going to have to be a cheerleader most of the week and that is indeed exhausting work.
Today I packed up the dog and headed out to the lake. The sun has been out for the past few days, something exceedingly rare this time of year and I figured I would take advantage of it today by bringing my camera along. I ended up going down to a beach I had not been to in quite some time. It was further south than I usually go but still on Good Harbor Bay, just down the road further. It was quite nice. There were a few people out today but because of the Super Bowl and my complete lack of interest in sports, it was pretty quiet overall. Gavin was able to run around off the leash for a while and I spent some time trying to capture a few good pictures. I’ve uploaded a new gallery at leelanauphotography.com, just click the picture below to check it out.
The folks are off to Iowa for about 6 weeks tomorrow morning. They’ve decided to spend some time away from here this winter since it’s easy to get really stir crazy this time of year. We still have a good 3 months of shitty weather before spring starts to hit, I really hate this time of year up here. Luckily, my job keeps me quite busy so it’s hard for me to care much. Mom and Dad will be staying with Sarah, Brian and Christopher and I’ll be interested to hear how that all works out. I love my folks to death but given the choice, I would not choose to have them live with me for any extended amount of time. I’m pretty sure my folks would say the same about me. Our family dynamics are a bit much to tolerate day in and day out. And, at my age, and their age, that’s the way it should be. Christopher will be spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa for 6 weeks, and, that’s the way THAT should be too! He’s a lucky kid, even if the only words he can say are “doggie” and “LOOK”. We’ll see if Grandpa can teach him a few words during his stay.
I have made a new purchase since my last entry in this blog. Last week, I broke down and bought a Wii so that I too could join the ranks of 30 something’s who are sick of being out of shape but who don’t want to join a gym. I have always enjoyed video games even though I suck at them and I like the concept of being more involved in them rather than just sitting on a couch with a controller. The Wii promises to at least get me off my ass for a little bit each day. Eventually I’ll buy the Wii balance board and Wii Fit Plus game so that I can actually start getting in shape. Sadly, they are sold out nearly all over the country and it’s going to be several weeks before they get back in stock. Oh well, I’ll be busy enough at work.
Bonus time at work is fast approaching. Profit Sharing checks are handed out Feb. 16th and my Managers bonus is due in mid March. Crazy thing about my job is that I make more in the first 3 months of the year than I do the next 8 months of regular work just because of bonuses. It’s nice to get big fat checks but it’s also dangerous because it’s easy to just go out and spend it. If I had this job at any other time in my life, I’d be broke all the time but fortunately I’ve learned how to manage my money in much healthier ways so I’ll be able to save what is necessary but I’ll also be able to go out and get a few toys to play with. This year I am buying a keyboard and I’ll write more about that when the time comes. So for now, enjoy the new gallery.
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Holiday Pics!
Jan 7th
I finally got around to uploading the holiday pictures from Christmas. You can see them at leelanauphotography.com. Not much new going on right now in the northwoods, at least nothing I care to write about right now. I have the weekend off, I’ll write later on. Enjoy the pictures!
Uncle David teaching Christopher to be a nerd. He got up on my lap without prompting indicating that even though I only see him a couple times each year, he clearly knows who the “cool” uncle is!! haha.
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The Season for…
Dec 3rd
Well, I made it through the crazy Black Friday madness at work and things are settling down now for the Christmas Holiday. I spent my day off today out at the lake decorating the parents Christmas Tree and enjoying some meatloaf. Really Mom, you ought to make that more often. It was good and it doesn’t appear to have taken any more effort than a frozen Lasagna. I’m preparing now to head off for the annual trip to Eau Clair Wisconsin for my company’s yearly training seminars. I’ve always got mixed feelings about these things. On the one hand, I am thankful that for a huge company they still take the time to make sure their managers know about the products they are selling. On the other hand, it’s all crammed into a 2 day period consisting of 16 hour days each day. By the end of it I am whipped and as the years go on, I don’t come out knowing anything that new or exciting. Oh well, it’s 2 days away from the rednecks up here I guess.
Lots of interesting things going on in politics although I don’t have the energy to report on much of it. Eventually I’ll get around to writing another prophetic post blasting the religious right and the drag your heals left. It’s exhausting. I’ll leave you with a couple pictures below. Hopefully I’ll find more time to write soon.
Santa Times 2
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