RMC Photo Essays
Monday, January 31, 2005
Mondays
Anymore it seems that when Monday's gone, so is half the week. After a busy weekend of traveling and visiting, today was a recovery day. After a brief family reunion on Saturday,I made DVD slideshows and photographs for the families involved. Making DVD's that will play on most machines is still a primitive art involving guesswork and irritating events.
The Iraqi election was held over the weekend and Bush is now taking credit for it and everything else he can. Only had two political discussions today. Didn't get much work done until tonight when I should have been sleeping. Seems like a good idea now so away I go. ¶ 11:20 PM 0 comments
The Iraqi election was held over the weekend and Bush is now taking credit for it and everything else he can. Only had two political discussions today. Didn't get much work done until tonight when I should have been sleeping. Seems like a good idea now so away I go. ¶ 11:20 PM 0 comments
Thursday, January 27, 2005
News and Routines
Today's Haiku
Turn on computer
Then turn on cable news shows
Wait and watch for change
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Every day the routine is the same. Try to remember dreams, get coffee, see wife off to work, turn on computer and read email then go to NYT, USA Today, C-Span and other quality information places on the internet. Check temp on porch and weather on local channel and then watch C-Span mostly, CNN some and Imus a little. Then see what's on the History Channel, Discovery Science, History International. Plan day, Pay any bills that are due, and take care of other tasks that need to be done for the day. Make a few phone calls like one to my brother who has a heart cath today. Do some in-home walking while watching TV shows. Make low carb breakfast. Earlier in my life I was either returning from a night combat patrol, night combat flight or getting ready to go one one. Life's a little slower and much safer now, but not as exciting.
I'm making more DVD's and fewer VHS tapes these days. VHS tapes degrade in Florida's humid, hot climate and I have many of them. Will be transferring some to DVD's now and hope DVD's will last longer. DVD's are also much smaller and easier to store and carry around. ¶ 8:25 AM 0 comments
Today's Haiku
Turn on computer
Then turn on cable news shows
Wait and watch for change
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Every day the routine is the same. Try to remember dreams, get coffee, see wife off to work, turn on computer and read email then go to NYT, USA Today, C-Span and other quality information places on the internet. Check temp on porch and weather on local channel and then watch C-Span mostly, CNN some and Imus a little. Then see what's on the History Channel, Discovery Science, History International. Plan day, Pay any bills that are due, and take care of other tasks that need to be done for the day. Make a few phone calls like one to my brother who has a heart cath today. Do some in-home walking while watching TV shows. Make low carb breakfast. Earlier in my life I was either returning from a night combat patrol, night combat flight or getting ready to go one one. Life's a little slower and much safer now, but not as exciting.
I'm making more DVD's and fewer VHS tapes these days. VHS tapes degrade in Florida's humid, hot climate and I have many of them. Will be transferring some to DVD's now and hope DVD's will last longer. DVD's are also much smaller and easier to store and carry around. ¶ 8:25 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Birthday Reprise
Yep, it happened again. Another year dissolved into memories. I was one year older yesterday. It seems to me that as we move into a new decade of our lives we don't fully realize and feel it until a few years later. I know better than that, but it also seems to me that the years get shorter as we get older. A day feels like a few hours now, weeks seem like days, months like weeks and years like a few months. When I was younger, a day seemed to last a lifetime but now I hardly wake up before it's bedtime again.
¶ 8:08 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Turtle on a log.
Why do we think we're so much better than this turtle? It has pride, dignity and self respect and probably does not drink or smoke.
¶ 10:50 PM 2 comments
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Anhinga sunning itself.
Anhingas rarely get melanomas so they can really soak up the rays.
¶ 1:10 AM 0 comments
Saturday, January 15, 2005
LONG DAY It was a long, quiet, damp and cool day. It was also a learning day as usual. Just watched MI-5 on the A&E Channel, and it's time to get some sleep.
¶ 11:12 PM 0 comments
Friday, January 14, 2005
Rainy Friday
RAINY FRIDAY We've been in another drought since the four hurricanes of last summer brought a deluge of rain It's finally raining today and we sure need it. At 8:30 it's still very dark outside. We've had very warm temperatures this fall and winter which I think is due to global warming. Most of the idiots who do not believe in evolution also don't accept the fact of global warming. I am amazed at people who choose, in the face of reality, to live in superstition. Never have we had so much knowledge and so many opportunities, such as stem cell research, to cure and prevent diseases. But, far too many people choose to live in fear and ignorance. They diminish the chances for better lives for all of us.
¶ 8:32 AM 0 comments
Thursday, January 13, 2005
FAST FOOD This is about playing a "russian roulette" guessing game when looking for the best line in fast food places. Went to a well known fast food place this morning for a breakfast fix. Noticed no signs on the registers telling which were open. Only one clerk was at a register although, as usual, there were many employees in the area. All of a sudden a woman went to a register, and asked if she could help anyone. She did not ask for the next person in line, but since I had been in line for awhile I spoke up and said I was next. No one disagreed, and I made my order. Then I asked where the signs were that I had been proudly told would be on all the registers. My question seemed to annoy her and, at first, she did not answer but, when I persisted, she muttered that they were all gone.
I had been told by a management team member a few weeks ago that this was a new "customer friendly" thing that would be done from then on. I told the management team member that I was glad to see their business being more helpful so customers would not have to stand in line guessing which registers might be open. Then I asked to speak to a manager, and the unfriendly woman said she was a manager. So, I asked to speak to THE manager (I had seen him earlier). The woman went and got him and I asked him where the signs were, and he said at the very moment we were talking that a national management meeting was being held which was making major changes in the whole customer service system. The changes he mentioned seemed good, and I told him that I had been treated rudely by the clerk for asking my question He smiled, threw up his hands, and said he had to work with what he had. I agreed, thanked him and ate my breakfast.
¶ 11:27 PM 0 comments
I had been told by a management team member a few weeks ago that this was a new "customer friendly" thing that would be done from then on. I told the management team member that I was glad to see their business being more helpful so customers would not have to stand in line guessing which registers might be open. Then I asked to speak to a manager, and the unfriendly woman said she was a manager. So, I asked to speak to THE manager (I had seen him earlier). The woman went and got him and I asked him where the signs were, and he said at the very moment we were talking that a national management meeting was being held which was making major changes in the whole customer service system. The changes he mentioned seemed good, and I told him that I had been treated rudely by the clerk for asking my question He smiled, threw up his hands, and said he had to work with what he had. I agreed, thanked him and ate my breakfast.
¶ 11:27 PM 0 comments
CABLE TV FLUX Woke up this morning to find C-Span disappeared during the night. Looks like my cable company is realigning channels again, and it's a mess. Just called them, and was told that it should be fixed by this afternoon. The tech I spoke with seemed about as confused as I am, and was asking me questions. I had to punch many numbers, and listen to a litany of possibilities before I was able to speak with a live, breathing human being, but at least he was not in India or Jamaica like many people I've spoken about technical problems with my computers.
Luckily I can also get all C-Span channels, BBC, Air America Radio and many, many other media outlets on the internet, and from my XM satellite radio. I like the redundancy and opportunity in the media rich environment I have created. It's hard to read my area newspaper anymore with all the electronic access. Besides watching C-Span from 7 AM, I go to my internet start page which has AP news and to the New York Times to read headlines, op-ed, editorials, and any interesting articles of the day. Then, there's always NPR's morning programming. It long ago became a matter of making constant qualitative, media choices as there are also educational and informational programs on the History and Discovery Channels. Last, but not least, WMNF (88.5) has excellent programming from 10 AM until 2 PM, every day beginning with NPR's Fresh Air at 10 AM.
There are many ways to get specific, filtered news from the internet now with podcast RSS feeds, and other methods, but I'm a generalist and like to explore a lot. Media access will certainly get better and better, but if it never does, I'll still be satisfied and, hopefully, well informed. ¶ 1:24 AM 0 comments
Luckily I can also get all C-Span channels, BBC, Air America Radio and many, many other media outlets on the internet, and from my XM satellite radio. I like the redundancy and opportunity in the media rich environment I have created. It's hard to read my area newspaper anymore with all the electronic access. Besides watching C-Span from 7 AM, I go to my internet start page which has AP news and to the New York Times to read headlines, op-ed, editorials, and any interesting articles of the day. Then, there's always NPR's morning programming. It long ago became a matter of making constant qualitative, media choices as there are also educational and informational programs on the History and Discovery Channels. Last, but not least, WMNF (88.5) has excellent programming from 10 AM until 2 PM, every day beginning with NPR's Fresh Air at 10 AM.
There are many ways to get specific, filtered news from the internet now with podcast RSS feeds, and other methods, but I'm a generalist and like to explore a lot. Media access will certainly get better and better, but if it never does, I'll still be satisfied and, hopefully, well informed. ¶ 1:24 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
WHERE DO THE WORDS GO?
Wish I could say I'm writing but, if I am, it's not much to brag about. I think about many things all the time, but when I sit down to write, the words just seem to disappear. Somehow, between my brain and fingers, the thoughts, ideas and words in my head get lost, and I get impatient and frustrated. I'm using free wi-fi internet at a restaurant, and listening to Al Franken on Air America Radio. Had lunch here with a friend I've known for nearly thirty years. We're both Vietnam veterans. He flew in the Air Force, and I flew in the Army. He got an MA in Rehabilitation Counseling, and I got mine in Aging Studies (gerontology). He became a marriage and family counselor, and I did social work. We know each other very well, and we have found in the past few years of discussing politics that our views are different. Ask me if I'm surprised.
I'm using electricity for my laptop, and sitting at a table so I decide to go buy a pastry and coffee to even things out. This place has many excellent sweet things to eat so I ask the clerk what she likes and she, of course, says all of them and often, but then she mentions a few specific ones. I tell her I don't know how she manages to be so thin if she eats so much, and she says she works out everyday and has to be on her feet at work. I ask her what's fresh and she says "everything is baked fresh daily and that old stuff is given to charities". I ask her which one(s) and she answers by saying every store gives its leftovers to different charities. Enough chit chat so I decide to get a shortbread cookie because I've never tried one here.
When I go to get my cup of coffee there's a man ahead of me who is getting a cup who suddenly whirls around, takes a step and sneezes. I say gesundheit, and jokingly ask him if he's allergic to coffee. He says no, but that he comes from a "family of sneezers", that his father and grandfather sneezed like he does, and that his uncle "Ebenezer" sneezed too. I remark that his relatives must have taught him how to sneeze, and our brief interaction is over. Then, I ask a female employee who is cleaning up around the trash bin what has been the most interesting thing that has ever happened to her at work. She seems puzzled by the question, and does not give me an answer. I mention blogs and ask her if she knows what a blog is, and she says "no". Actually, I've asked a number of folks about blogs lately, and get blank looks back. And, here I thought blogging was the big thing on the internet. Hmmmm.
So, I return to my table and start blogging because suddenly I have something to write about. I've lived long enough to understand that most of our lives are lived between events and activities - in the spaces and even on the margins at times. I constantly want to write about the merest, smallest and most mundane, boring minutiae which make the matrices of our lives, because I actually think these can be very interesting. We may seek, and wish for ,exciting events and activities but, if we ignore the small things along the way, we miss some of the best parts of our brief lives.
Well ... Maybe the cookie I bought was baked today but, if so, it sure didn't taste like it. After a little thought I decide not to make an issue of it, but to blog about it. Ergo ... I'm looking for reasons, rhythm and pace for my "work" and want my readers to be drawn into my writing and even - hopefully - find it mildly entertaining, informative and interesting. Still have a long way to go, but may just get there soon.
P.S. The manager walked by, and I told him the cookie did not taste fresh, but he did not seem to give a damn. I tell him I'm blogging about being here, and get a blank stare and no comment. Oh well. It's 3 PM now and they're cleaning up after the lunch time crowd. Got some quizzical looks and smiles from some women here today, and this was sort of fun - I think. And, here I was thinking I had nothing to write about. ¶ 1:55 PM 0 comments
Wish I could say I'm writing but, if I am, it's not much to brag about. I think about many things all the time, but when I sit down to write, the words just seem to disappear. Somehow, between my brain and fingers, the thoughts, ideas and words in my head get lost, and I get impatient and frustrated. I'm using free wi-fi internet at a restaurant, and listening to Al Franken on Air America Radio. Had lunch here with a friend I've known for nearly thirty years. We're both Vietnam veterans. He flew in the Air Force, and I flew in the Army. He got an MA in Rehabilitation Counseling, and I got mine in Aging Studies (gerontology). He became a marriage and family counselor, and I did social work. We know each other very well, and we have found in the past few years of discussing politics that our views are different. Ask me if I'm surprised.
I'm using electricity for my laptop, and sitting at a table so I decide to go buy a pastry and coffee to even things out. This place has many excellent sweet things to eat so I ask the clerk what she likes and she, of course, says all of them and often, but then she mentions a few specific ones. I tell her I don't know how she manages to be so thin if she eats so much, and she says she works out everyday and has to be on her feet at work. I ask her what's fresh and she says "everything is baked fresh daily and that old stuff is given to charities". I ask her which one(s) and she answers by saying every store gives its leftovers to different charities. Enough chit chat so I decide to get a shortbread cookie because I've never tried one here.
When I go to get my cup of coffee there's a man ahead of me who is getting a cup who suddenly whirls around, takes a step and sneezes. I say gesundheit, and jokingly ask him if he's allergic to coffee. He says no, but that he comes from a "family of sneezers", that his father and grandfather sneezed like he does, and that his uncle "Ebenezer" sneezed too. I remark that his relatives must have taught him how to sneeze, and our brief interaction is over. Then, I ask a female employee who is cleaning up around the trash bin what has been the most interesting thing that has ever happened to her at work. She seems puzzled by the question, and does not give me an answer. I mention blogs and ask her if she knows what a blog is, and she says "no". Actually, I've asked a number of folks about blogs lately, and get blank looks back. And, here I thought blogging was the big thing on the internet. Hmmmm.
So, I return to my table and start blogging because suddenly I have something to write about. I've lived long enough to understand that most of our lives are lived between events and activities - in the spaces and even on the margins at times. I constantly want to write about the merest, smallest and most mundane, boring minutiae which make the matrices of our lives, because I actually think these can be very interesting. We may seek, and wish for ,exciting events and activities but, if we ignore the small things along the way, we miss some of the best parts of our brief lives.
Well ... Maybe the cookie I bought was baked today but, if so, it sure didn't taste like it. After a little thought I decide not to make an issue of it, but to blog about it. Ergo ... I'm looking for reasons, rhythm and pace for my "work" and want my readers to be drawn into my writing and even - hopefully - find it mildly entertaining, informative and interesting. Still have a long way to go, but may just get there soon.
P.S. The manager walked by, and I told him the cookie did not taste fresh, but he did not seem to give a damn. I tell him I'm blogging about being here, and get a blank stare and no comment. Oh well. It's 3 PM now and they're cleaning up after the lunch time crowd. Got some quizzical looks and smiles from some women here today, and this was sort of fun - I think. And, here I was thinking I had nothing to write about. ¶ 1:55 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Monday, January 10, 2005
Boogie Woogie
Yesterday, Sunday, I heard some of the best blues and boogie woogie music I've heard in a long time. The warm up duo was almost as good as the main act, but Ann Rabson from Virginia was smoother. She played guitar, sang and wrote music before she taught herself how to play the piano at the age of 35. She's 60 now and performs, travels and writes music. She has a friendly engaging personality so we talked awhile, and I took some photos of her. Later this month, a great guitarist, singer and music writer, Jack Williams, will be in town, and I'm looking forward to his performance. Music has always been an important part of my life, and I play trumpet, sax and sing.
¶ 9:59 PM 1 comments
Early Monday Morning
Went to bed early last night but woke up feeling anxious about life and writing so I got up. Sunday morning I went for a neighborhood walk and then to Methodist Sunday School Class at 9:30 AM. Good class and very open and frank discussion of merely observing religious rules as opposed to living religious life - whatever that is.
We talked about being critical and judgmental. Left there and went to Unitarian Church just down the road where a woman spoke about something for about thirty long minutes. The choir was larger than usual and sang a good song. Then went to good sub place and had good tuna sandwich and then to Starbucks where I bought two coffee mugs and some other things. That episode cost me nearly fifty dollars. Then went to local park to walk and take a few photos. Then went to a blues and boogie woogie concert at UU Church. It was a very good concert which I enjoyed with a friend. Then went to daughter's home and had meatloaf, string bean casserole and mashed potatos.
Finally, back home and watched a suspense movie about a woman who is accused of killing her husband. Sam Elliott and Randy Quaid were in the movie which made it better than it really was. That's all the blog news I have for now and better get some sleep - if I can. ¶ 1:44 AM 0 comments
We talked about being critical and judgmental. Left there and went to Unitarian Church just down the road where a woman spoke about something for about thirty long minutes. The choir was larger than usual and sang a good song. Then went to good sub place and had good tuna sandwich and then to Starbucks where I bought two coffee mugs and some other things. That episode cost me nearly fifty dollars. Then went to local park to walk and take a few photos. Then went to a blues and boogie woogie concert at UU Church. It was a very good concert which I enjoyed with a friend. Then went to daughter's home and had meatloaf, string bean casserole and mashed potatos.
Finally, back home and watched a suspense movie about a woman who is accused of killing her husband. Sam Elliott and Randy Quaid were in the movie which made it better than it really was. That's all the blog news I have for now and better get some sleep - if I can. ¶ 1:44 AM 0 comments
Saturday, January 08, 2005
Saturday Stuff
Just wrote a fairly good blog piece, and accidentally lost it. Oh well. Too tired to re-write tonight so, will do it tomorrow. Will also do some more photo essays. Watch MI-5 on A&E tonight. It reminds me of my intelligence working years. Or, watch the real MI-6 on History Int'l at 10. Hell, watch anything and enjoy this summer weather. Global warming? Naw, how about global heating? Sleep well Mrs. Calabash wherever you are.
¶ 9:28 PM 0 comments
¶ 9:28 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Mea Culpa
OK, OK it was the holidays, etc. Now, I'll write some more and sure do have lots to write about. Our country is still in a mess with no improvement in sight.
¶ 10:06 PM 1 comments
¶ 10:06 PM 1 comments
