Hillside

This time, I got it. It happened again today where I was driving down the road, and I saw this field. I knew immediately that there was a photo there, and until I went home, got my camera, and tried to capture it, I couldn't rest. It's really gratifying when you see something like this and you're able to capture completely the beauty that you saw the first time you looked at it. Granted, I took about 40 shots, but out of those 40, this is the one that really shows what I see when I look at this field. I love this shot.

Okay, I'm officially dragging ass. It's 5:18 pm as I'm writing this, and I've been awake for 24 hours. I didn't have to work all night last night, so that has helped me to stay awake, but I am crashing fast. I'm trying to do the "old switcheroo" so I can be on a normal sleep schedule throughout our vacation in California. It's kicking me hard right now, but it will be worth it when we get there. I should be posting a lot of pictures all next week, so keep checking back!

Blast From the Past

What you're looking at is a minaturized version of something I used to make way back in the day. Now that I think of it, it really hasn't been that long since I made these things. This is a sink that's used in salons when you get your hair washed. It's made by a company called Belvedere USA Corp, my former employer. I worked there for about 11 1/2 years. Wow, that's a long time.

The process which is used to make these is really pretty interesting to watch, but not much fun to do. It requires heating the casting up to about 1700°, then covering it in porcelin enamel, which is basically ground up glass with different oxsides and pigments that give the bowl its color. Here's a few shots I took a couple years ago of the process:

The orange color you see is not the color of the bowl, it's orange because it's that hot. Believe me, this is not a job you want to do when it's 100° outside. Not pleasant at all. The job was pretty crappy, but the pay was good. Like I said, interesting to watch, not so much fun to do.

Laptop Bag

In preparation to our trip to California, I've been trying to decide for a couple weeks which laptop bag to buy. I really wanted something that didn't look like a traditional laptop bag, and really was close to buying this one, but since I was uncertain how my 17" Macbook Pro would fit in it, I finally decided to get a backpack. These things are not cheap, but I wanted something that I could put other things in besides my laptop. This pack was a little pricey, but buying it on Amazon saved me about $15, and with my free trial of Amazon Prime, I got it in two days with free shipping. Overall, it wasn't a bad deal. It has a ton of storage, and is padded really nicely for the computer. It's called the Swissgear Pegasus and it fits like a glove!

Favortie Shots #11: Hearst Castle

Hearst Castle, set upon the hills of San Simeon, is one of our favorite destinations when we visit California. This amazing place was built between 1919 and 1947, and was donated to the state of California in 1957. It's really remarkable to see it in person, and it's a place we visit every time we go West. Here's a nice collection of photos from Flickr of the castle.

Well, it looks like I'll be working on Saturday. Luckily, we'll probably only work 1/2 a day, but it stil throws all my plans out of whack.

Changing Weather

What a difference a day can make. Today, after I woke up of course, was beautiful. Cool temps, light breeze, and a beautiful sunset. I think it may have rained this afternoon, but I slept through all that.

I still haven't heard anything from my Union rep about Saturday, but right now I'm just counting on working it. It really stinks, and completely throws off my plans for the weekend, but I really can't afford to call in. I'm hoping eventually, if they hire us in full time, to become a Team Leader. Team Leaders can't have any disciplinary marks on their records, so missing work isn't a good idea for me.

Stormy Skies

We got nailed today with some pretty serious storms. Naturally, I slept through it all, but Steph tells me there were really high winds, and they lost power three times over the course of the day. I was getting ready to shoot when she told me the sky to the west looked cool. Although this is a pretty good shot, I probably missed this one by about 5 minutes. By the time I grabbed my camera and found an unobstructed view, the clouds had moved a bit.

Our vacation plans are progressing nicely, but we've hit a bit of a snag. They've scheduled me to work Saturday. I briefly considered calling in, but the attendance policy is a little harsh, and I really don't want the marks on my record. They tell us that we won't work all night, but I still really want the day off so I can prepare for our trip. There's still a slight chance I will get the night off, but I'll have to wait and see.

Fruit, Veggies, and Outages

Every week, when at the grocery store, I try to think of different things to bring to work for lunches. Oftentimes, just like at dinner, I find myself eating the same things over and over. I try to get as many fresh fruits and vegetables as I can, but Woodmans' produce leaves much to be desired. I'm looking forward to going to some local farmers markets this summer to hopefully find some better produce.

Well, we had another mass outage today. It actually started at about 1:40 am, went until 6 am, went out again sometime around 2:00 pm, then came back on about an hour ago. I called customer service again today, and actually got someone competent! What a shock! He was telling me that it was ridiculous that we've been having this problem since May and that it had not been fixed yet (tell me about it!). He gathered together all the info and charts showing the outages and forwarded then on to his supervisor. He will then send them to the local service office, who hopefully will get it fixed sooner rather than later. He's also supposed to call to update us within the next 48 hours. This guy was so good that he even got our account credited back to the start of the problems. He did this not only for the internet, but he also got us a $40 credit for our cable which we haven't even had much of a problem with! We should be getting over $100 in credit. That's really nice, but I'd rather just have my internet working, thank you. He also canceled the service appointment for Friday, since it's pretty obvious that this is a massive problem for the whole town, and not just with us. I guess the moral here is that if you keep calling and calling, eventually you'll get lucky enough to talk to someone who gives a shit.

Starry Night

Tonight is one of those nights that you can see a billion stars in the sky. I really wanted to try to capture that in this photo, but an image can really not do it justice. Digital photography does have its limitations when it comes to nighttime photography, but I thought this turned out pretty good.

Oh, and one more thing. I'm now linking the image in every post to a full resolution version, so when you click on it it will open in a new window.

Mass Outages

The past month or so, we’ve been experiencing major problems with our internet connection. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but there isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t have at least one outage. This is unacceptable. We’re paying over $40 a month for this service, and I expect to get my money’s worth. I’ve called customer service about four times, and each time they give me some other line of B.S. It’s always well over a week before they can get a service tech out here, and oftentimes, when I call, there is an outage in most of the town. Why do they need to send a tech here if it’s a mass outage? The first time we scheduled an appointment, the guy showed up well after I had gone to bed, and after that day, we really didn’t have problems for about a week, so I thought it had been fixed. Not even close. We’ve scheduled another appointment, but of course the tech wont be able to get here until next Friday. The worst part of all this is that there are no alternatives to Mediacom in our area. I could always go back to Directv for the television, but there are virtually no other companies present out here for internet. There is a company called T6 Wireless which is a provider out here, but the prices are through the roof, and when my cable connection is actually working, my download speeds are well over 5 Mb/s. I guess we’ll have to tough it out and hope they’ll eventually get it fixed....

Eating Habits

It always seems like I'm eating the same things. It makes trips to the grocery store much simpler, but in the long run, dinner can get pretty boring. It's tough to enforce variety when I'm cooking just for myself. I really like the things I eat, and I don't feel like I eat poorly, but it can get pretty repetitive. Fortunately, with warmer weather comes more cooking out, so that changes things a bit. I've had this problem for most of my adult life, and I'm sure that many of you have the same problem. It's just far to easy with life's fast pace to get stuck in a rut.

On a completely (odd) side note, I had a dream that I bought an iPhone today. I've been so inundated lately with iPhone coverage and commercials, that I'm starting to buy into the hype. I'd really love to get one, but the $600 price tag is way too high, and I have a year left on my current contract with US Cellular. I'm hoping eventually that they will offer this amazing piece of tech to all the carriers, not just AT&T, and it will drive the price down. It's just too expensive right now.

New Baby! / 4th of July / Chasing Strays

Man, what a lot to talk about today. I had about three different things I wanted to talk about today. Being the 4th of July isn't really a big thing for me, but my sister Jennee gave birth yesterday to her second child, a daughter, Madelynn Clorice. We went to the hospital this afternoon to see her, and of course I forgot my camera. Needless to say, she's adorable! Babies are so cute when they're newborns. Everyone I've talked to says looks like Jennee when she was born, but all babies look alike to me... :)

When I took a walk around the yard tonight, looking for something to shoot, I saw this cat sleeping on our picnic table. Now I've seen this guy before, but never so close up. I'd really love to get close enough to pet him, even though I know that's an idiotic thing to do, but it will have none of that. This is about as close as I could get to him before he ran away. I'm convinced that this cat is related somehow to our cat Cotton.

Failed Experiments, Successful Results

This was an odd night for me, photographically speaking. I had the brilliant idea that I was going to photograph a field full of lightning bugs for my nephew, completely blocking out of my mind the inadequacies of digital when shooting in the dark. I was going to do this because in California, where Noah is from, they don't have fire flies! I never knew this until my sister moved out there. I guess I just assumed they were everywhere. Obviously, this idea didn't work. Had I been shooting film, it may have looked like I had intended. When I got my camera home, the photos I opened were not what I had intended, but for some reason, I could see something in them that was usable. They were very noisy, poorly lit, and none of the bugs were visible, but a little spooky and surreal. I just needed to tweak it. So I opened up Photoshop, played around for about 1/2 hour, and this is what I got. I'm really happy with the results! It really reminds me of some infrared shots I took a couple years ago. Very grainy, very surreal, yet also very mundane. It's something you see every day, only lit in a different light. You can view the full sized shot HERE. Believe me, that little shot above doesn't do it justice.

Grillin'

One of may favorite things in the summer is cooking most of my meat on the grill. It's very nice to put on a steak, a couple brats, or a chicken breast, then sit outside and enjoy the great weather. Being a vegetarian, Steph appreciates it as well, since the house won't smell like a steakhouse when I'm done. The grill I have now has really seen better days, but I'm holding out on buying a new one until everything at work settles down, and we figure out if we're going to be moving within the next couple years.

Wilderness in the Weeds

Our cat Punkin loves to go outside. He's constantly at the back door, staring longingly at the doorknob as if willing it to open. He lurks inside when we're coming home, trying desperately to escape at the slightest motion of the opening door. Finally, when all else fails and he's truly desperate, he howls. He doesn't squeak, he doesn't meow, he howls.

I try to imagine sometimes what it must be like for him to go from a domestic house cat to a stalking, prowling hunter. He's always slinking stealthily this forest of tall weeds near the railroad tracks, looking for the slightest sign of an afternoon snack. A few times we've opened the back door only to find his latest catch, waiting for us like a macabre offering. He always comes home in the end, however. He knows full well where his meal ticket is.

June: In Review

Six months. Six months I've been doing this, and it's now become part of my daily routine, much like that first cup of coffee or brushing my teeth. It really doesn't seem like six months have already passed, but considering how much I work, the days can seem to flow one into another. June was another really busy month. We finally made some vacation plans, I shot a beautiful wedding, and spent some time editing those hundreds of photos. I finally sold my computer, finished my yard work, and spent way too much time at the doctor's office. July should be a great month, and I should have some awesome pictures to share from scenic Morro Bay!

Here's my favorites from the month:

Goodbye PC!

Whew! I finally sold my PC. When I announced my intentions of making the switch to Mac, I thought a good way to offset the cost would be to sell my old, but still pretty good, Dell desktop. I think at the time I had an overinflated value of the used machine, but in the long run I got a pretty good amount of money for a PC that is a couple of years old. I was approached at work last night by someone I know pretty well, and we worked out a price that was good for both of us.

Tonight I'll be stopping in at a newly opening business in Belvidere to do a "stress test" of sorts. A former co-worker from Belvedere USA Corp is opening a gamer-targeted store called Virtual Insanity that will feature networked PCs, console systems, and internet access. I've been to places like this before, and I have to honestly say that the experience wasn't all that great. Hopefully they'll do a much better job.

Sticker Shock

This morning after work, I made my return trip to see Dr. Flynn about the issues I've been having lately. Based on the moderate success I've been having with the Albuterol inhaler, he decided to prescribe an inhaler that had a more long lasting effect. Albuterol is more of an "emergency" inhaler, that is really only used when one is having serious breathing problems. He wanted me to try something that was more of a daily medication, while still having the Albuterol when I'm feeling bad. When I went to pick this inhaler up, my complete lack of prescription drug insurance really hit me hard. I was stunned when the pharmacist told me the total of $133.00. What can you do? I had to pay for it. Hopefully this expensive little bottle of powder will do the trick.

Favorite Shots #10 / Vacation Planning

This shot was taken a few years back in Morro Bay, California. There is a giant rock formation in the middle of the bay that is really amazing. You can see odd formations like this all over it's surface. Morro Bay is where my sister Kathie lives, and it's also where Steph and I are going in about 3 weeks.

Chrysler scheduled a week shut down in July, and Steph took that week off as well. We decided that it would be a good time to take a trip out to California and visit Kathie, Josh, and my nephew Noah. Kathie and Noah will be here in Illinois for a couple weeks in July, but Josh won't. We'd love to see him too, and it will be great to go away for a while. We'll be staying ath La Serena Inn in Morro Bay. It has really good rates, even better reviews, and lots of amenities.

I have some other news regarding Chrysler. I just found out last night that all the people in my situation, the so called "Enhanced Temporary Employees", will be moved from the Paint and Body Shop areas to Assembly. This sucks. All the full time people in Assembly really want our jobs because Assembly rarely works a full 8 hours a day. The unfortunate reality of an assembly line is if one piece breaks, everyone downstream is in trouble. Basically, if Body or Paint has any problems throughout the night, Assembly gets sent home early. I guess it's not a big deal, as long as I'm still on 3rd shift, but I realy have no idea right now how this will all shake down.

Seas of Green

I really enjoy this time of year. For those of you who are not from Illinois, the area I live in is pretty flat and is populated by corn and soybean fields. This time of year, the corn is getting to about head height, and when you look over the landscape, all you can see is green. It's something that those of us who live here really take for granted. We see it every day, so the beauty of it can be lost on us. This photo really doesn't do it justice. It's also really cool to drive down the backroads late summer, when the corn is over the top of your car. It's like driving down green corridors, and it feels like you're in the middle of nowhere.

Defective

About 5 months ago, I invested in some really good earbuds for use with my iPod. I work in a really loud environment, and I wanted something that sounded good and blocked out a lot of background noise. After pretty extensive research, I decided to buy a pair from a company named Etymotic. The headphones sound fantastic, and they block out more decibels than the earplugs provided to us. Unfortunately, about 2 weeks ago, the right ear piece started buzzing. It has gradually gotten worse over the last week, and today it was completely unusable. Lucky for me they have a one year warranty, but it is still a pain to have to send them back. It's really frustrating to spend $70 on something and have it only last about 5 months! The customer service rep I talked to was very polite, and everything I've read suggests their customer service track record is pretty good. I just hope they get them turned around quickly. I'm really spoiled now, and I'm not looking forward to using bad headphones!