An Explanation

My goodness, I have been getting lazy here. And to go a little further with that thought: I will be getting lazier. Remember: there are only a couple of weeks left in the semester (crunch time), then a week of finals. So sorry to say, but there will not be a lot of posts for a while. In fact, crunch time has already begun, and as all the people I work with know, I have been on a bit of a marathon for a while with school.

You know, the 8 to 15 hours a day nonstop for weeks at a time. My buddy Steve-O called me the other day, and I’m sorry to say that I did not even notice until about an hour ago (his missed call was stacked up with all the other ones I miss on a regular basis- sorry buddy).

As a matter of fact, he left a comment on my last post. Here it is (to save you from scrolling down):

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I can't believe that you've abandoned the ranks of film users. I'm disgusted really!

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Naturally he is talking about the recent purchase of another digital camera. And I do feel that I have to explain my actions here, being as pro film as I am.
Yes, I do prefer film to digital. Here is why:

• There is no playing in the darkroom with digital. I love the dark room.
  
  
• With black and white photography, there are real problems with digital. First, if you want to use external filters, you have to mess with the white balance to get them to work. That is a pain in the ass. The contrast is hard as hell to control, unless you photoshop them after. And I don’t get to use the darkroom. Again.
  
  
• Film looks better when printed well. By me. In the darkroom.
  
  

There are a couple more reasons to put down, but I am going to just mention those here, so I can now justify why I have digital:

• Film is expensive. Both to purchase and more so to process. And I can’t justify the cost when I want to take pictures just for the hell of it (i.e. when I’m bored). And digital allows the ‘clicking away’ free of charge.
  

That is the only reason right? Well, no. I have others, but for the sake of the explanation here that will be sufficient to support my digital purchase. Now as for the SLR, mentioned in my last post. I have a very ‘pro’ type of point and shoot (as pro as you can get without going to an interchangeable lens system). But point and shoot has its issues too. I will not go into specifics in great detail now, just the biggest: lag time, battery life and lens limitations.

Those are the primary reasons I purchased the DSLR. I also wanted a back-up digital in case one bit the dust. And for the price I got it for, it was not a big investment for me by any means. So, sorry for the nausea Steve-O, but my digital acquisitions are merely a financial measure, and not a personal preference (like I would give up film! WTF! How long have you known me?!- hahaha!).

And if it makes you feel any better, here is my next purchase (if I can get the funds together, because this one is by no means cost effective (you know more than anyone)):

T

The Goings On Recently

Good afternoon everyone,


To be quite honest, not much exciting has happened. Except that on my way to work today I was listening to the BBC. They were playing some international music, and doing some stories on the regions they were from and such. And what did I learn you might ask? Well, the only thing that makes rap music worse is rap music in a foreign language.


It was awful. Really. You can not be a 'thug' and have a Russian or French accent. It's not hip or tough, it's just silly.

Oh, but I did get a new toy! And here it is (que 2001 Space Odyssey music):

Oooh yeah. Now if I just had time to use it…

T

On Prop 8

Good afternoon everyone,

Well, I think it is official: I have failed at NaBloPoMo. I will do it as much as I can, but alas, not every day. Anyway, this is something that I have found interesting in the news since the election. It has gotten about as much attention as the new president. And this is, of course, the passing of Proposition 8. Not just the passing of Prop. 8, but the protests that have followed. There was a massive protest outside of the LDS Temple yesterday, for their role in the passing of this. I found a story online here, but I did not put it up on this blog due to copyright requests. However, I do have a copy of the LDS church's statement regarding the protests:

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It is disturbing that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is being singled out for speaking up as part of its democratic right in a free election.

Members of the Church in California and millions of others from every faith, ethnicity and political affiliation who voted for Proposition 8 exercised the most sacrosanct and individual rights in the United States – that of free expression and voting.

While those who disagree with our position on Proposition 8 have the right to make their feelings known, it is wrong to target the Church and its sacred places of worship for being part of the democratic process.

Once again, we call on those involved in the debate over same sex marriage to act in a spirit of mutual respect and civility towards each other. No one on either side of the question should be vilified, harassed or subject to erroneous information.

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Yes, I am for gay marriage. No, I am not gay. The reason I am for this is because I believe it is a rights issue (and they are being denied unfairly), and I have yet to hear a convincing argument otherwise. The only arguments I have heard that are logical at all are religious ones, and last I checked we do not enforce religion by law here in America. It's just part who we are; you know- the whole "Separation of Church and State" thing? Remember that? And the fact that we have an ideal here that people can live free without religious persecution. Just the silly little fine print that makes us the great nation that we are. So if the only "logical" arguments that I have heard against gay marriage are religious, then why is it illegal? Granted, there are other reasons that are not religious in nature, but those problems can be solved without denying rights to others.

As far as the statements above in the article go, I disagree. It is absolutely appropriate to go to your "sacred places of worship" and protest, because your involvement in this issue invades the homes and lives of private citizens and their private and personal lifestyle choices, and if that is not sacred to you, then why should your "sacred places of worship" be off limits to us? And, yes, whatever rights you have in a democratic free election I respect, and the right to express your views I respect, your freedom of speech I respect, but that does not mean you do not have to answer for them- especially as an organization.

Some are calling for a complete boycott of the state of Utah. That is a little over the top, because as you can see there are plenty of other people here that are on the other side of the argument, and 'punishing' them is not sane at all, even though about half of the financial support for ProtectMarrage.com came from Utah.

I do also agree that it is unfair to single out the LDS church on their involvement on this, as any protests should include everyone involved. Here is a short list of them (just to be fair): The Roman Catholic Church, Knights of Columbus, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, the LDS Church, and various other evangelical Christians. Other organizations include, but not limited to: American Family Association and Focus on Family. That is of course, if you want to protest or boycott or do anything else of the like (peaceful please. Make your voice heard, not felt).

Sadly, I do not think that protests are not going to do any good, no matter how many of them are picketed and chanted at. The fact of the matter is, that most churches believe that homosexuality is a sin, and not a lot, if nothing, will change their mind. I am not against their preaching of that. They can say to their followers what ever they choose, and the followers can believe whatever they choose, and I will not hold that against them for believing that certain "activities" are wrong, unhealthy or immoral. But pushing that on others who do not follow that creed by any sort of law is absurd to me. I look at it like this: if you love someone and want to spend the rest of your life with them I have no problem with that. If they want to enjoy the legal benefits that come with marriage, I have no problem with that. I just don't like to see a couple who love each other very much denied rights and other privileges because of what is between their legs.

So protest, shout, picket (or in my case blog) if you must. Because the only thing that is going to change this is time. People will not stand for injustice long. That is another thing that makes our nation great, and I have full confidence that we will go the other direction in time. But if there is one message I would like to get across here, it that we need to be tolerant of other people. And remember: it's tolerance, not approval. Let others be as they will, as long as it is not causing you any harm.

T

Outcome

Well everyone, the results are in, and history has been made:


… and my favorite Waste-Of-Carbon person was also popped up in the news here.
The headline was:

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Diddy votes: 'It was a joyous moment'

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Voted? I did not know he could read?!?!? How is that news anyway?!?!

No one interviewed me after I voted. Then again, for him the fact that he can talk and walk at the same time is an achievement.

… or the fear of death. That has to be it. That is what was news worthy there. He has been saying so much about that for so long…

T

Nov. 4

“The stretch of North and South araou’d- sea board and inland- Texas to Maine- the Prairie States- Vermont, Virginia, California,

One final ballot-shower from East to West- the paradox and conflict, The countless snow flakes falling- the peaceful choice of all,

Or good or ill humanity- welcoming the Darker odds, the dross: -Foams and ferments the wine? It serves to purify- while the heart pants, life grows:

These stormy gusts and winds waft precious ships, Swell’d Washingston’s, Jefferson’s, Lincoln’s sails.”

~Walt Whitman

Lotto and NaBloPoMo

Good evening everyone,

Well, it is time for something called NaBloPoMo. What is that? It’s a phrase meaning ‘National Blog Post Month’. And apparently that phrase is constructed for people who don’t like entire words, or are just too lazy to finish them. The goal of this month is to do a post every day. That might be a challenge for me, but I have been making good so far (2 down, lots to go).

And what am I doing today?

...Working -till’ midnight. And unfortunately, I have to work for a living still, as I did not win the lottery. I had my parents pick me up a lotto ticket on their last trip to Idaho. Being a science minded person (and a sore loser), I thought maybe I will take a look at the last 45 results, sort them, and make a histogram of occurrences for the lottery. I will let you know the results (even though I already know them too: random.. I’m just curious).

I am going to spend the evening mostly waiting for From Russia with Love to return from her trip to Boulder, CO. that she took with some co-workers to party for Halloween, and hear the crazy stories of her travels.

Music today: "N.W.O". by Ministry

That will do it for me tonight folks.

T

A Saturday Night With Mom

The night started out slow. I went to GrayWhale C.D. Exchange and purchased a DVD collection of the three Die Hard movies (I know there are four, but I now own the three good ones). Observe:

Then Mom and I went to my cousin Len's place for a Halloween party. I know, it is technically the day after, but that's just how it worked out. First off, I am going to go over some events that will not be covered in this post:

a) Family controversy about adoption

b) A shouting match over Cheetos

c) The 'prick in the poncho'

First, I had about 20 minutes to come up with a costume (as my cousins party was a costume party), so I quickly went through my closet to find something. I eventually settled on a bad “Che” costume. We arrived at the party and when we realized they had only hard booze and no beer, Mom suggested that we went for a beer run.

After getting past all the odd stares that were noticeably the “Halloween was yesterday” kind, we purchased about $70 worth of beer from Smith's and headed back to the party. By the time we had got back more people had shown up, and all of them were friends of my cousin and not family, so I did not know any of them. So I hung with Mom and my cousin Jer, who dressed as a construction worker, and regretted it due to the frequent requests to sing “YMCA”. Observe:

Yes, Jer- “YMCA” indeed (he was obviously a bit camera shy). And here is Mom with cousin Len, both rather drunk at this point:

Notice cousin Len has a nurse costume. Part of her costume was some test tubes filled with shots (mostly vodka I think). Cousin Jer and another douche at the party had taken a few and said that they were quite good... until anther person arrived at the party and asked if cousin Len had washed tham out before she used them. Of course the answer was no, then the follow up question of why. Apperantly, the type of test tubes she had are factory coated with a chemical to keep them sterile, and that chemical can cause vomiting and diarrhea.

Naturally we started taking bets on how long it would take for those two poor souls to start oozing at both ends. But before we could observe the comical inevitability, my other cousin Chaz called Len and said he had been in a car wreck. Not bad though, in fact he had hit a parked car. Unfortunately, it was a rather nice Mustang. He said that his brakes had problems, he could not see it, it came out of nowhere etc. but really, he was probably playing with his iPod or texting or something. Here is the truck that he was driving (owned by cousin Len):

And here is the poor Mustang:

Sad to see, I know. The funniest part was her trying to be serious talking to the cops in a skimpy black nurses outfit; stethoscope, fishnets and all.

Then Mom wanted to see my recent widower Uncle K. On the way there, Mom wanted to go shake the shipping doors at her place of employment to set off the alarm, and thereby shaking her bosses nerves, because he is apparently quite paranoid of getting robbed. Fortunately, we drove on.

So I drove my intoxicated mother and about $70 worth of beer to uncle K's place. We then arrived at my uncle's place, more beer was consumed and I returned home, to type this post. And the best thing? Spending my entire night dressed like 'Che':

Awesome.

T