Halloween or whatever you call it

One of my favorite holidays, which is not really a holiday at all, is Halloween. There are so many perceptions of this holiday that range from satanic to a celebration of those who have passed on. It is unfortunate that Halloween, much like any other commercially marketable holiday has lost it's meaning to capitalism and the retail industry. It has surprised me how popular it has become over the years. This might be due to its non religious affiliation, it is now taboo to celebrate anything that affiliates it's self with Christianity. However, it can be said that this holiday directly affiliates itself directly with Christianity even if it is unsponsored by the different sects of religion.

All Hollow's Eve, Halloween, Day of the Dead, Samhain... By whatever name it has been called, this special night preceding All Hallows day (November 1st) has been considered for centuries as one of the most magical nights of the year. A night of power, when the veil that separates our world from the "Otherworld" is at its thinnest.As ubiquitous as Halloween celebrations are throughout the world and in the U.S. as well, few know that the true origin of Halloween is a ceremony of honoring our ancestors and the day of the dead. A time when the veils between Heaven and Earth are thinner, and so it is believed that many could "see" the other side of life. The night is one very special night and time in the year when the spiritual and material worlds touch for a moment, and a greater potential exists for magical creation. In the Celtic calendar, it was one of the most important days of the year, representing a mid point in the year, Samhain, or "summer's end". And while celebrated by the Celts, the origin of this day has connections to other cultures as well, such as Egypt, and in Mexico as Dia de la Muerta, or the day of the dead. This should come as no surprise considering how advanced the Mayan cultures were when it came to the calendar, season changes, times of harvest, astronomy and mathematics. Anna and I really enjoyed Chichen-itza can you tell?The Celts believed that the normal laws of space and time were held in abeyance during this time, allowing a special window where the spirit world could intermingle with the living. It was a night when the dead could cross the veils and return to the land of the living to celebrate with their families.

Though the beliefs are different the end result is the same, belief in an afterlife, the existence of some form of Heaven, and the importance of families. That seems pretty parallel to a certain religion that I am sure most of you are aware of. :-) As Christianity began to take hold in Europe the ancient Pagan rituals were co-opted into festivals of the Church. While the Church could not support a general feast for all the dead, it created a festival for the blessed dead, all those hallowed so, All Hallow's, was transformed into All Saints and All Souls day.That is not to say that all religions believe in this, there are sects of Christianity that believe this day to be satanic and do not celebrate it. I say phooey, I love the magic of this night. Sinse my childhood; I have always felt a sense of magic and wonder during this time. The smell of fall in the air, pumpkins, leaves blowing on the ground. I don't necessary feel the veil is thinner, but like Christmas, there is defiantly an indiscernible magic that can be felt during this time.

Today, as mentioned above, we have lost the significance of this time of year which has turned into a candy fest with kids dressing up. Don't get me wrong, I love this practice as well, I feel that a balance can be reached, especially sense it is so much fun for the kids. Anna and I got to participate in a truck or treat at the church and had a wonderful time decorating our truck and getting dressed up. Anna has also been busy making themed cakes for friends and co-workers... I have yet to see one for husbands. :-)The house has been overly decorated and from our understanding, our neighborhood gets a ton of trick or treaters. Much to my dismay, I just learned it is going to rain. This is another popular occurrence in the Bay Area. I know it happens more than often, and it bugs me. We are in a drought up here, and have not seen rain forever, until now... and probably wont again after the night is over. Grrrrrr

Mezo

Open mouth, insert disk...

I want to clarify a couple of points that were brought to my attention last night by BanAnna in regards to my last post about Apple. First, I knew that discussing the topic of Apple would be a sensitive one, mis-stepping or over stepping boundaries could have consequences in regards to my position with family. Knowing this, I tried early in the article to mention that I was not classifying a “normal”, proficient, Apple user, or even Apple users that like or even love their product. After the article was reviewed it was decided that some feeling might be hurt. Instead of trying to go in and edit the piece, mostly due to the fact it was unknown who had read it, I decided to add this note. Again, I want to make sure that it is understood that the people I am classifying in the first couple of paragraphs fall into a sub-culture that probably comprises a small percentage of all Apple users. I have no issue nor do I feel the need to make fun of those that just enjoy and like Apple… that is why there are 31 flavors. I myself learned to use a computer on a Macintosh, and I understand that some prefer one and some the other. My issue is in relation to the sub-culture or “click” that occasionally has rubbed me the wrong way. Having had experience with both systems, I can honestly say that I prefer using a PC over a Mac. That does not mean that I feel Mac is inferior, nor do I feel that one is better than the other. I guess what I am trying to say is, they both have their strengths and weaknesses, and honestly I find them to be comparable to one another…with the exception of Vista... Time for Crow! That said; I hope that I have not offended anyone, nor do I wish to hurt the feelings of the passionate Apple user. My dealings with close friends and family members who use Apple have never left me feeling the way I described in the post below. In no way are my statements below to be misconstrued or interpreted that I am, in anyway, relating to a particular person or persons; it is more along the lines of an indirect group of people. Can’t we all just get along? This might be more drama than what it is worth, but having the coin flipped by BanAnna I would hate to ever find out I offended someone that was unintentional… :-)
Mezo

An Apple a day, keeps Steve Jobs rich.

(Warning; this is a very long, make Andy angry blog!)

For those who know me well; when I say Apple, what comes to mind? It is not that I necessarily dislike the company; in fact this post will probably contradict your feelings towards my “Mac point of view”. But before I start the good, let’s just get the bad out of the way so I can feel better about myself. The first and fore most distain for Apple does not have anything to do with its technology at all, it is its users. Now I know I am going to be rubbing some fur the wrong way with my family, but let me further explain. The average Mac user and I get along great. If you haven’t already guessed, I am a Windows man. It is the cult underground of Mac users that I can not stand.

You know the types, the people that like to sit and talk about how much better Mac is in comparison to pc. They will usually quote some statistic about the speed of a Mac’s processor in comparison; or how much more secure a Mac is, or maybe something along the lines of “My Mac never freezes” which I can honestly say is not true. BanAnna has experienced many melt downs, and do not even get me started about my iPod. I found this “stat” on one of many websites devoted to proving Mac is superior. (Note, this comparison is pretty old in comparison to the processor's of today, but ilustrates the point no less.)Of course this “performance” is almost unnoticeable unless you are doing some major photo rendering or other very demanding processor crunching. The average user browses, checks email, uses some form of word documenting software, watches movies, etc. None of these processes are demanding on computers resources now-a-days. Not to mention that the difference in speed mentioned above is in milliseconds. So why all the yelling militant Apple people, or “Genius” users? For those of you who are unfamiliar with this term; go to an Apple store for tech support, you will find the tech area is called, “The Genius Bar”… more on this latter. Experience has taught me that those who yell the loudest, not only get the squeaky wheel oiled, but they also have something to hide, or are compensating for something they feel inferior about. Ever heard of the old adage, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”? If this is such a superior product, wouldn’t the capitalist market we live in dictate this? Why can’t the superior product use its own accolades to defend its self, why the need to sit in your Mom’s basement blogging about how much better Mac is?... Ok that was a cheap shot. Still, I have always been surprised at how vocal these “power users” are. Maybe they are compassionate, and pc users could care less because they are disenchanted by using such a lack luster inferior product. Possible… I was IT and left because I got tired of it, maybe if I had spent more time with Mac, I would have enjoyed it more. I digress. It is this sub-culture of Mac users that makes me despise the product, and it is unfortunate that I have been influenced and tainted because of them. I find it a little ironic that it is because of their efforts to convince me, and the world that has left me turned off from Mac while leaving a bad taste in my mouth. The whole “I”mentality of the Mac “die hard” is a little pompous… ok they are just down right “I”arrogant. This is the other area of the culture I despise.

Look at the programming that is going on, all techs that work for Mac are geniuses, in accordance with the corporate design of their stores and online tech support. If you use iTunes, and yes I do too, you will notice the latest updated iTunes, version 8 point something, has a new music randomizer engine. Click a song, select genius and it creates a playlist that is catered to that particular genre. Though I am inclined to believe that it is built more around the year that particular song was released, instead of the songs sound, and type. But it is obvious why Apple has embarked down this road, Pandora has become very popular. Pandora is a music streaming website that builds playlists catered to your favorite type of music. You give it songs you like and it finds other songs that match it. There are over 128 different genres linked to each song, and it is very good at what it does. Plus you can hear music that you might never have heard before, and it is FREE. Check them out at www.Pandora.com.

So what is my point, do I hate Apple? Not at all. I admire their designs, I love my iPod; at least when it is not frozen. I have an iphone that kind of does what it is supposed to. But they keep releasing updates that fix some problems, and create others… sound familiar? Think Microsoft. I have found that as Apple has become more main stream, they are starting to feel the pains that Microsoft knows all to well. That really is the case with any large company that starts to appeal to the masses. The more people that use it, the more vulnerable it is to hackers. One thing that has helped and hurt Apple has been its proprietary hardware. Owning a pc is like owning a mutt. It is comprised of several different hardware devices designed by many different companies. Of course, these products have to be Windows ready, but it creates a problem when it comes to reliability and stability. You never know if the device is failing because its driver is not completely compatible with Windows, or if Windows software cannot manage the device properly. Hence the phrase, “plug and pray”. Apple has avoided this mess by making there own systems and contracting with hardware companies that have to go through certification to be used on a Mac. This also has hurt them at the same time. Mac hardware tends to be more expensive and you do not have the ability to shop for cheaper stuff, because the hardware is proprietary only to Apple. This particular topic has created intense debates with users and designers. By not giving the end user a choice, there is very little competition for the hardware designers to battle, or be motivated to design bigger and better hardware. This in turn means that there is no driving force behind the hardware manufactures to create new and more innovative products. Intel, whose chips are now used in Macs, comes out with a new and faster processor every couple of months, why? One theory is it creates a form of job security, when you buy a computer; it is out of date in about a month; therefore it drives the consumer to want to upgrade to the latest and greatest. The other reason is because they are competing for market share, one of their leading competitors is AMD; who also wants your business, so they are going to try and release a better chip to compete with Intel. Both of these companies’ chips, I might add, can be used in a PC.

Apple has done some great things over the years; I never believed I would ever switch from winamp to iTunes. Winamp was the software to have way back in the day for mp3 listening. It might be said that they were the direct reason iTunes is free, Winamp was free. Once I made the switch, I never looked back. I still today believe that iTunes, by far, is the best software for mp3s. Again, I love my iPod, I love the design of the PowerBooks, and for a company that was in danger of going under a very long time ago, they have created a foothold in the market that is not going anywhere… for now. Steve Jobs has lead the company to great success, and most of it has been built on the back of the iPod. I am embarrassed to admit that I have owned 8 iPods since its initial premier to Windows users. I owned the first generation, which actually was Windows specific. Would you believe there was a time when Apple only intended on making iPods for just Mac users? That would have been the end for the iPod. Over time I have sold old ones to buy the latest and greatest, one with more space, better designs, etc. Which leads me to the initial point of this article, or at least part of it? The iphone. This device has raised the bar in phone design. Their efforts obviously have paid off; I think almost one third of AT&T’s entire network is comprised of iphone users… under 2 year contracts of course. And with the popularity, comes the law suites. Supposedly there are some class action suits being filed, and as apple continues to release updates at an unprecedented rate, more problems emerge. This, in part, is due to popularity and third party applications, which expose them even more to hackers. And then the "ad on" fees, oh how I love those. It is almost enough to make one rethink owning a Blackberry. It’s these applications that bring me to my point, again. Apple released its own piece of ad on software for the iPhone that just impressed me beyond belief. Remote.

Remote is a piece of software that operates on the iphone wile connected to your home Wi-Fi. I need to back up a little. Itunes has a built in feature that allows you to share your music library over a local network. Basically it shares your music over your local home network, allowing any Mac or PC running iTunes to see your libraries, and there in play the music from the host computer. Not a bad idea for a home with multiple computers. But it gets better; they have also created a broadcast agent called Airtunes. Airtunes allows a user to broadcast what ever they are playing on their local machine to remote speakers. The idea is that you can have speakers anywhere in the house play what ever iTunes is playing on your computer. Neat idea eh? There is a catch, as there always is. You need a device to be able to receive this Wi-Fi broadcast, and then play it through your remote speakers. Enter Airport, or Airport Express. These devices are literally network hubs and routers with a couple of special features. They basically plug into the wall, and allow a computer to connect to the internet via LAN cable. But what sets them apart from any other network hub, is the capability to plug a mini jack into them for sound that can in turn plug into a stereo receiver that runs speakers. I also want to note that Airport or Airport Express also has a USB slot to plug in a remote printer.As you can see, the mini jack connection splits into a pair of RCA cables that plug into a stereo receiver. This allows Airtunes to broadcast the music that is playing on your computer to a set of remote speakers. That way you can listen to the music on your PC or Mac, and at the same time, play the same song in any room of the house. If you have more than one room with speakers, get another Express at 100 bucks a crack. You can essentially run as many of them as your router can handle. But wait, what if I am enjoying the music in my living room, while the computer that is running iTunes and broadcasting the signal is in another room of the house? What if I want to change the song, or even change the playlist? What if I am running multiple Airports and I want to turn off one room, or activate another? Enter the whole reason I decided to talk about Apple and some of their great innovations in the first place.

The iphone or an iPod touch can run a little piece of software you can download from Apple (for free) that is called Remote. It allows you to connect to your computer that is running iTunes and change the song, playlist, adjust the volume, or even turn off and on different rooms. Not to mention that this software requires no configuration, and as most avid Apple users will tell you, it just works. Carrying your phone allows you to carry a remote to your homes sound system. This little ad-on sold me when it comes to Apple and some of their very forward thinking, now if they would only just come up with a router that can run iTunes so you don’t have to leave a computer running at all times. So, to sum up a very long and somewhat unorganized post, I think Apple has a lot to offer… Am I sold on their operating platform, not really. But ultimately I feel that both companies can co-exist and both have likes and dislikes. Not to mention, I love Apples forward thinking, it defiantly keeps the market from becoming anything but stagnant. Co-existing might be understating what I am thinking, I think there is a place for both companies in such a vast techno world. I also want to add that I personally am running a couple Airports through out my own home; I have speakers in the bathroom… I have always longed to be able to listen to music in the shower. Can you find the speakers?What would I like to see, I would like to see Apple merge with Microsoft. I know what you are thinking, and you might be right. But the unforeseen giant is biding it’s time, and waiting for the moment to put both companies to shame. Google scares me, and for those of you who keep up on the news; if they have it their way, the industry will be reinvented making the Mac or PC obsolete.
Mezo

Still Alive

I'm not dead yet, I don't want to go in the cart... Anyone get this? Search for the Holly Grail? Anyway, I want to apologize for our long absence. Anna and I have been really busy for the last couple of weeks, we just bought a house and it has consumed most of our spare time. I am happy to announce that we are settled and should be able to resume normal activities... such as blogging. First off, I want to apologize for not getting the pictures of the reunion up sooner; I know everyone has been waiting. They are now available online and can be downloaded from the site. The resolution should be fine for any printing, but if there are any special ones that you would like the original resolution of, please let me know and I can send the originals via email. The site where they can be found is www.clarephotography.com, click the Anderson link. Once there, you right click the picture, or hold down the CTRL key and click the unno button if you have a Mac, and save the picture to your computer. I am sure Anna will be posting an update soon bringing everyone up to speed on our big doins so I will close. We had a wonderful time at the reunion, and really enjoyed getting to know everyone; it was a little overwhelming trying to remember names... I come from a very small family.

Captain's Log... Supplemental

Here we are almost at the beginning of another week. I know I talk a lot about time and the perception of it, but seriously; it creeps by so slowly when you watch it and when you are not looking it speeds right past you. It feels like it has been an eternity since Anna and I got engaged, even longer since we first met. These times are so fleeting in my memory, and time has a way of deteriorate memories to mere still images that flash through my mind. I can not blame time alone for this; my memory is not that sharp either… It has not helped that a lot of good memories have been crammed into a small space of time these last couple of months. It seems like there is always something going on. To preserve my memories and keep an accurate time line, I dedicated myself long ago with keeping a journal. Yes, I know we are supposed to do this anyway, regardless of ones own ability to rehash and reconcile the past. But seriously, how many of you out there actually are diligent about writing everyday, or month for that matter?

I found the best way to remain diligent was to keep an electronic journal, I used to keep a copy of it on my computer at work and computer at home, and then on my laptop as well. This allowed me to access it anytime I had a spare moment to record happenings, or as people from Texas would say “Big Do’ins”, in my life. This, of course, has its drawbacks. For one, it was hard to keep the most current copy up to date in all the locations I stored it. Second, it is kind of stupid putting something personal like that on a work computer. As technology improved, and the invention of the flash drive came to be, I solved the problem by keeping my journal on my flash drive, which stays on my keys, that way it was only in one location, and it would always be with me. Plus there was a smaller risk of it being viewed by unwelcome eyes. Now one might say, what happens if you loose your keys… this would be a good question. The file itself is password protected, which does not provide much security in today’s tech savvy world. There was a space of a year were I did not write, and when I went to make an entry I forgot the password… Needless to say I was able hack into the file and retrieve the entries. It does, however, detour the common snooper. You have to really want to see what is inside the file to get in it, and if someone actually does go through the process of hacking into it, I say, enjoy. Hundreds of pages of my own wandering meanderings are all you’re going to get. Rats, I got side tracked again. Anyway, I back up the file every other week so if I did lose my keys, the loss would not be that great…. Well, except for the fact that I would have lost my keys at the same time. Car keys are extremely expensive to replace now-a-days. The remote and key set costs over a hundred bucks to replace. So I guess that would be a big loss, that and if I lost my keys and I was in the middle of nowhere.

The point! The point is that keeping an electronic journal on me at all times has helped me keep track of my past, and stayed the deteriorate process of time. As I have reflected back on my entries, I am grateful to have records of what was going on, and how the events of life have played out. It is amazing how far back it seems now; kind of funny to read how I was feeling at the time. So a message to everyone, keep a journal, especially during the eventful times of your lives. Good or bad, you will appreciate going back and seeing how you felt at the time. Either you will strive to feel like that again, or you will be grateful that you are not feeling that way now.

I miss...

Things I miss
I miss that everything used to taste better when I was a kid. I swear, Tricks, Capt’n Crunch, all cereal tasted better back then.
I miss the summer, and by that I mean summer break. As a child I couldn’t fathom not getting 3 months off.
I miss Saturday morning cartoons, WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO THEM?
Speaking of which, I miss good cartoons in general. Have you seen what passes for entertainment these days? Half thought out plots with no story line, mindless sloppy animation that barley can pass for cartoons. And don’t get me started on live kid shows, kid sitcoms are even worse, and the whole Mighty Morphing Power flavor of the week needs to die! Can you see what I am truly passionate about? I miss the old Looney Tunes, you had an orchestra playing in the background with smart humor both adults and children could enjoy. And I bet you are now wondering, “Hey, why don’t I see those cartoons anymore?” Because they are too violent and not ethically sterile and pc… grrrrrrrrrrrr. The world is going to pc itself to extinction. I will admit that I enjoy Sponge Bob Square Pants, but that is a whole other blog all by itself.
I miss Chocolate; this is not a deterioration of society, but a deterioration of my own body’s ability to digest chocolate. What I would give to be able to eat a symphony bar, or a Reese’s pieces peanut butter cup. A Nestles crunch bar or 3 musketeers.
I miss regular soda, though I have become accustomed to diet, I lament the days of carefree soda consumption, back when my body could fight high calories more efficiently.
I miss good TV, shows like Happy Days, I Love Lucy, The Brady Bunch, and many more.
I miss movies that were good on their own merit and story line, and did not need to be infused with cheap marketing ploys that glamorize sex and violence.
I miss being able to super size at McDonalds.
I miss the simplicity of life.
I miss Music on MTV
I miss music on the radio in the mornings
I miss going to San Diego every summer to visit my grandma
I miss Andy's Mezo "isms"
I missed mentioning that I missed Cadbury eggs for Easter under my chocolate lament.
I miss going to the movies for less than 10 bucks, I miss matinee’s for under 5
I miss Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables performing full time in SF
I miss how good things used to taste
I miss tart n tinies… the un-sugar coated kind… the original
I miss the people mover and skyway at Disneyland
I miss Horizon’s in Epcot Center
I miss the days when I did not have to pay taxes
I miss my tree fort
I miss recess
I miss primary
I miss my building blocks
I miss being able to ride in a car without paying any attention to the road
I miss Calvin and Hobbes
I miss Santa… nough said
I miss my bike that got stolen when I was 10
I miss going to Disneyland without a care in the world
I miss my old CRX that got 43 miles to the gallon
I miss waking up at the crack of dawn for Christmas
I miss gas being just under a dollar… yes I can remember that.
I miss my pets; their lives are too short in comparison to our own. We spend years growing attached, and then they are gone. I guess this does not hold true if you own a bird, but if you do, you are already crazy and you have no perception of time.
I especially miss my ferrets… I can’t say anything else right now…
After just inducing that sad memory… I miss Anna, and wish she was here to hug me and tell me it is going to be alright.
I miss the innocence of my youth when these kinds of losses could be made better with my mom’s embrace.
I miss not having things to miss…
I miss Dexter; I miss his little pink nose. I miss coming home and seeing his head bobbing up and down in the cage, excited to be let out. I miss seeing his head pop out of the cube when he would lazily look at me. I miss his legs hanging out of the cube when he sleeps. I miss seeing him roam the yard looking for things that captured his interest. I miss his little inquisitive eyes that would peer out of the tube, looking at me. I miss the noise he would make when he would eat, I miss that I missed seeing him one last time, and I wish I could have missed seeing him cuddled up next to his brother in the cage…for the last time.
I miss Scout; I miss his little raccoon looking face. I miss seeing him get angry when Dexter would have his entire head in the food dish. I miss feeling him run around my legs, and getting so excited that he would fall sideways. I miss his little brown nose, and the barking noise he would make when he slept. I miss watching him sleep on top of his brother. I miss watching him learn day to day patience with his brother when Dexter went blind. I miss seeing him under the bush sleeping in his favorite spot. I miss trying to quickly close the door to the house before he would sneak inside. I miss those days when I did'nt have to cry, because I missed them. I wish that I could miss them and not have to cry uncontrollably.
I miss my original point to this post.
Again, right now I miss Anna
I miss you guys...

Leaving a legacy

Have you ever considered your own mortality, I mean really considered what a short time we are here on the earth? The average life span of an American right now is around 75, of course a lot of factors need to be weighed in to this, but for simplicity we will say 75. So 75 years, that sounds like a long time, but looking more closely can show how short that really is. 657,000 hours... that is how long we have from day one. Still seem like a lot? OK, take out 218,976 hours for sleep, we are not conscious during that period, therefore time has no effect. That leaves a good 438,024; alright that is about 50 years. Now lets throw in the fact that most of you that are reading this are over 30, meaning 196,076 have already been lost, excluding sleep because we deducted that from the overall aggregate. That now leaves us with 241,948 hours, or 27.62 years of living consciousness left. Scary isn't it? Don't forget I am basing this number at 30. Now according to the Foundation for Infinite Survival, Inc., once I hit the age of thirty, my life expectancy raises, this do to the fact that I survived thus far, giving me greater odds of surviving further. I am now estimated to hit 76.5... Keep in mind that I have no desire to get old, I think I mentioned before that once I get old and funny, my children will be instructed to take me out into a field and shoot me like a horse. Furthermore, when I hit the age of 50, my life expectancy increases even more, 78.3. That is 3 years past the initial average I had when I was 20, ah the good 'ol' days. If I make it to 74, my life span expectancy hits almost 10 more years than the national average, 85. This equation is not exponential mind you, it peeks and then drops like a chin. Making it to 100 only guarantees me an additional 2.5 years... of life. And really there are no guarantees, depressed yet? It gets better... well I guess it doesn't. We basically peak in our 20's and it is all down hill from there. I myself have been feeling my own mortality. I am not as agile, nor do I recover from battle wounds as quickly, I have a bruise that I swear has been on my leg for at least 2 weeks... those kinds of things use to heal up overnight. Youth is wasted on the youth; one never laments these things, until they are gone. Perception of time as a child is vastly different; we are in such a hurry to grow up. There is nothing that can be done about this, no value or lesson can teach one to appreciate the time they have, until they experience the loss for themselves. There is a guy that has a website devoted to his life span, everyday he takes a picture of himself on his computer, and he has done this for the last 6 years. He stitches the day to day pictures together and has made a movie out of it, it is fascinating.

I think this might be one of the reasons I love photography; the art has a way of capturing time like no other, if only for an instant... time stands still. Photography, I believe, is more pure than any other form of art medium, remember I said it is my opinion... A painter, sculptor, illustrator, etc., creates what "they" see, the finished product is a result of their perception, mood, and agenda. Obviously art is subjective, what one considers art, the other might consider crap, and I have seen a lot of that. Photography is different, it can not change what is real, all it can do is capture and freeze time. If a painter doesn't like the background of whatever piece they create, they can change it to their liking. If a sculptor is creating a bust of someone, and doesn't want the person to have a divot in their chin... gone. I guess the point I am making is that when it comes to accurately capturing imagery, one can not trust anything except a photograph... To be fair, Photoshop has changed this rule, but you get what I mean. An Illustrator or whatever can lie about what they saw when they created it, a photographer can't. It is either good or not, there is no middle ground.

Looking at my own life, and looking back at old photos, not of myself as a youth, but mostly the last 10 years, I can see the changes, hair, eyes, face. I am jealous I didn't think of taking a picture everyday, but do you really want to see yourself age 10 years in 2 minutes, it would make my heart weep.
I thought it might be fun to go through all my photographs since I started keeping digital copies, I can date back to 2001, anything before that I either don’t have and was pre digital camera. I was able to find a picture of me from year to year, though it is never the same look, angle, situation, so it is very ineffective. But here ya go the summer of 2001 below The Fall of 2001The year would be 2002 below2002 the summer I believeThe fall of 2003The summer of 2004The winter of 2004 or 2005The summer of 2005The summer of 2006The winter of 2006The Fall of 2007The winter of 2008Time is precious, and I am beginning to see why holding onto it is so difficult. For the moment we are here, it seems like an eternity, and then we are gone. I guess that is why there is such a driving force to produce offspring, to leave a legacy, to leave something when we are gone. Maybe the best way to hold on to the past, is to take it with you in the future. There will always be pictures, in some form or another, and they will remain our ties to the past. Takecare everyone...

This and That (April 2008)

Well I have hit a landmark, sort of. This is my 20th post this year; I thought that there would be more fan-fair... oh well. So I have been wondering what to post about today. There has been a lot going on, a catch up would be nice. And then I thought; maybe a review of the previous posts, capitalizing on previous works; but then I thought, leave that for sitcoms. Anyway, I think today will be a catch up on what has been going on over the last week or two. Plans for the wedding are moving along; we got the invitations and are now in the process of addressing, printing out the engagement photo insert, (this is the one we decided on... like it???) j/k and getting them in the mail. We also took a look at the event center on temple square; we both were very surprised at how big the room was. I think the on going thought between both of us was, to bad we don't have a lot of friends... "chuckle".

Speaking of temple square, I think it is so neat that we get to have the reception there, what a spectacular place to get married. I have posted some pictures of it before, but none truly do it justice. This weekend was no exception, we had stake conference on temple hill, and the weather could not have been more perfect. The view and visibility were absolutely breathtaking.I wish I had my camera on me, the one time I don't bring it... grrrrr. The rest of the weekend was spent taking care of errands that had been lingering. Anna discovered a craft store, the name fails me, near by and she is more excited than ever to be relocating. Speaking of relocating, that is another task that we have to start working on. There is so much to do, and the days keep slipping away. The last I looked, the countdown clock was on 43 days??Anna has adapted quite nicely to life in Concord, she loves the location and is very excited to make a home. She has taken to mothering my ferrets; thank goodness she has a kind heart and loves animals.Dexter and Scout are no spring chickens, and ferrets are not nearly as much fun in the latter years. Never the less; she loves them anyway, and is very excited to adopt them as her own. I took some pictures of them a couple of weeks ago, as you can see below, the days of high energy exploration are long gone. I am lucky if they make it to the litter box. Crazy little ferrets.

Scout still has some fight left in him, especially when the door to the inside of the house is open... he is still quick.The upcoming weekend will take me back to Chico, Anna has a couple more field trips to go on, and this will give me a chance to take more photos... and discover more things to complain about, regarding Chico. I honestly am looking forward to the end of the commute, gas prices are killing us. According to AAA, California has the highest gas prices in the nation, go us. Not to mention that the highest average can be found right here in the Bay Area. I don't get it, the refineries are here, you would think that the cost of transporting it would be cheap... Tourist are coming to visit and are so shocked they can be seen taking pictures of the prices, true story. I took this picture a couple of weeks ago, thinking we had peaked, I was wrong. I paid $4.05 this morning.A NYC newspaper which we will call, the "New York Rymes", was whining saying that they had the highest prices in the nation, take a seat big apple... or should I say big faker. Why do New Yuckers always have to be the most extreme in what ever the case is; if it is hot somewhere, it is hotter there. If it is cold in South Dakota, some one from NY will say it is colder in the city. A friend told me an interesting joke the other day, it was so true. What does a Vegan, a person who does not own a TV, and a person from New York have in common??? With in five minutes of meeting them, they have to announce to you that they are from NYC, that they don't own a TV, or that they are a vegan... so true. Anyway, I think that is it for now... thanks for reading.

J

I was on my way to post, when suddenly...

Ok, I had a new thread already to go, but instead I was trumped. I will post tomorrow; in the mean time, see who stole my thunder. Go to Anna's blog, CountingClare, to see what I am talking about.

Creatures of habit

Now I am not one to initiate a conversation about wired habits… I am not even one to mock those that have more of the extreme ones. Notice I say more of the extreme; I do this only because we all have them in some way or another, but that isn’t what I am writing about. I am digging more for the weird ones, and the ones that we all do subconsciously. Again, I know better than to throw rocks, especially since my house is not just made with glass, it is made with non tempered glass… the type of glass that shatters and explodes all over the place, the kind that can impale… remember ghost and the window scene… “Shiver”, yikes. I digress, on with the post.

How many of you out can remember a time when you felt inclined to do something, only because it was something you do every time you face that particular situation. For example, a good habit or tendency would be to buckle your seat belt every time you get in a car. This unfortunately is not one of my own. This is a great habit that just about everyone that rides or drives in a car does. I have noticed people buckle up, without thinking of course, even when the car is not going anywhere. Another good habit would be switching off a light when you leave a room. Now I know I said that I was not going to talk about the common habits, but bear with me here, I am illustrating a point. We all are, to a degree, “creatures of habit”. I feel we all have the tendency to do what we feel comfortable doing regardless if it makes logical sense or not. Take online banking, I still know some people today that still get their paycheck, in the form of a check. They take the check to the bank, wait in line, waste the gas, and then get a receipt… confirming their transaction. These people like to pay bills with checks, then they go and mail the payment, and they can only mail it in a certified post office mail box… you know the ones… they are blue with the flying eagle. Now this particular example is not one of my own, my stories come latter, I do however feel the need to balance my check book twice, I have money management software, and yet I still keep a physical check log in my check book, which rarely gets used.

These habits are everywhere, I see the smokers in the office building where I work go out at the same time everyday. I think humans find comfort and security in redundancy, knowing that they will do the same thing over and over again gives one a sense of comfort and control. The real trick here is maintaining a healthy balance between habit, and compulsion. Some people just don’t want to change, some people can’t, and others choose not to. As mentioned above, smokers go out at the same time everyday, not only is going out at the same time a habit, but the smoking is another form of addiction that brings the comfort described above.That is the compulsive state that I define as not being healthy, along with the action. One compulsion that seems to always fall under the wire as being unhealthy is overeating. This has become an epidemic in the USA. What I find interesting is that smoking, drinking, and drug abuse are looked at by the general population as disgusting and wrong. Smokers are considered outcasts and are treated as such, and yet overeating has been widely excepted and looked at as a horrible debilitating disease that can not be helped, it is an industry that receives millions of dollars in research to find a cure... I seem to find it just as bad as smoking. It is addictive, it is something that costs the Health Care Industry billions of dollars each year, it causes similar forms of diseases, and much like everyone’s point of view towards smoking, overeating also is a choice, and can be stopped if the desire is there. On a side note, I am aware that this problem has received a lot more attention over the past couple of years, but it is treated with compassion, unlike the other addictions mentioned above. I also want to note that I am not referring to the average human being who could stand to loose a few pounds, I am referring to the obese and morbidly obese. (I honestly hope that I have given enough disclaimers to avoid some hateful emails...oh well) Changing the way we do things is hard; we all fight it to a certain degree. No one likes change; there is no stability in it. Breaking the cycle can be the hardest thing we face in life sometimes, but proving we can do it, also has its rewards.

As I mentioned, I want to discuss the extremes when it comes to being a creature of habit. I, myself, have some habits of my own that… well lets just say could be viewed as a little eccentric. I don’t feel the need to lock the door every time I go outside, even if it is for a minute, but I do feel the need to vacuum the floor when I have had a lot of company over… even if it is 2 in the morning. Anytime there is a spot on the kitchen floor, I wipe it up, why? By doing this I feel like it will prevent me from having to mop it. Cleanliness is next to godliness that is what I keep telling myself. I will just come out with it, I am a neat freak. (This drove me nuts one night)

Borderline compulsive. I can not stand chaos, disarray, or un-organization. I don’t know what it is, but I feel much calmer in an orderly environment instead of dwelling in a space where everything is strewn out on the floor. This is just one of my own weaknesses, and though I know it can be seen as weird, I have learned to embrace and laugh about it.

One of my other habits is to go off on tangents when I write, have ya noticed? I am not sure if this post will have much clout, or even scope, but it does feel good to get it all out into the open… that and realize that I am not the only one who is crazy. For further information about the more extreme characterized habits, mainly the Obsessive Compulsive Behavioral type, click link. OCD

Al Gore's Easter

Happy Easter:
Is it just me, or Easter coming earlier and earlier… must be because of global warming. Get Good ‘ol’ Al to scissor up his construction lift and show us a graph that is the size of the hole in the ozone layer explaining why Easter is occurring earlier and earlier every year. Rise in temperature of .5 degrees has caused a shift in the global weather to make the Easter Bunny get up 5 days earlier every decade. In about 2 millenniums we are going to be celebrating Easter before Christmas. Ironically, Christ was born near Easter, so this might just figure itself out. If it was not for peeps, Easter would be spoiled, but thankfully they keep for about a decade… or two. What are peeps, certainly you have heard of them. Candy that comes in the shapes of chicks… the baby chicken kind, and are filled with marshmallow. I think peeps and Twinkies are in competition with each other to see who can last the longest. I predict after the nuclear holocaust comes, notice it is pronounced nuclear, not “nuke” clear, and yes it is coming people… don’t be naive. The only survivors will be Cockroaches that will survive on uneaten Twinkies and peeps.

Every left wing militant hippie will confirm this theory, just go ask one… I DARE YOU. Not only will you get an ear full of granola, disagree with them and they will run you over with their Subaru Wagon. I hate hippies, doggone whining full of contradictions, looking for evolutionary growth from living a life like a vagabond with their head in the biodegradable MTBE that ended up being more damaging than the previous additive to fuel… ARGGG. Why does it smell like sandal wood? Definition of a liberal, someone who is so open minded their brain fell out. Speaking of marshmallow goo, when did Al Gore eat Al gore? Seriously, you want to talk about waste, the man has gotten huge. He needs to go and do a few laps on the information supper highway… he “invented”. All the while, Easter is still coming early; I can not remember celebrating Easter and Saint Patties in the same week. Crazy eh?

Ok, I originally was going to start this post out friendly, nice and happy. And for some, maybe it has kept that tone, and for others, I might have just lost viewer ship. Anyway, Easter is a nice time to spend with family, remember the ones we love… and eat ham. Didn’t we just do this about 2 or 3 months ago? But this will be the first Easter in a long time where not only will I be able to spend it with the one I love, but I will not be alone and unhappy. Seriously, I looked back over the last 4 years, and every Easter I have been alone, or been miserable. So I am turning a new leaf. So again, happy Easter everyone and I will see ya’ll next week.

Traffic (not the movie that stunk)

So I am resolved to post everyday this week or at least everyday until I leave… which is Wednesday… so really there will only be 3 posts… never mind.

I sometimes fear the future, and it is not always for the same thing. I fear for my children, I fear for myself, and then sometimes I fear for a specific reason. Today, it is traffic. I just spent the last 1.5 hours in traffic, in what normally takes me about 45 minutes to get to work. And what is more maddening, was that it was at the Richmond Bridge, the last leg of my commute... which should take 7 minutes max!

So why do I fear traffic, it is not so much that I would ever act out or suffer from road rage; though I think I might have brushed with a couple of people today who had it. No, I fear how much worse it is going to get, especially in my life time. I have never seen it get better, from the time I started driving until now, and it has never gotten any better. What has happened since I started driving…the tolls on the bridges have gone from $1 to $4. Gas has gone from $1.50 to $3.75, car insurance, ironically has also risen, and yes I have seen no improvement in the traffic. Any improvements that Cal-trans makes, are at least 10 years over due, and all it does it put a band aid on the problem. It seems when ever a plan for road and traffic congestion improvement goes into effect, it is obsolete by the time it goes through the bureaucracy that all planning and construction has to go through in California. Once the 1000's permits are acquired, all animals and species that stands to be effected by the improvements are relocated into a new habitat (note, they also have to not be in their matting season), and the environmentalists are appeased by some extreme measure that will only counter act any good effects that the project will bring in the first place; then the project can move forward. I hate hippies. (Do not even get me started on the salamander protection that delayed the Bart expansion to SFO, which cost us 500 million and delayed the project by almost a year.) So after making it over all these hurdles, lining the unions and agencies with green so that the project can move forward, hiring the required number of minority business and construction owners to meet the affirmative action requirement that supposedly doesn’t exist… you end up with a project that no longer will effectively fix the problem, it is 10 + more years too late.

This fear is for the future of traffic, it can not get any better, only worse. The population is exploding, it is too expensive to make major improvements effectively and at a justifiable cost, see comments above. But it more than just that, as I looked at what caused the problem today, which ironically was road construction, I have decided that the days of traffic are only going to get worse. It used to be that an accident or some small incursion on the highway during commute time would cause a small disruption, maybe a small back up and delay. Now, if there is someone getting a ticket, it can cause a 45 minute back up. Why is this? Simple, more cars on the road; all moving at high speed, one person hitting their brakes causes more of a disruption to the people following behind. The cars are closer together, all trying to get to the same place, meanwhile the amount of road has not improved so compacting more cars into the same amount of space that was there 20 years ago, leaves little margin for error. One small screw up can create more havoc than ever before. And then there is road rage... (Try and remain calm with this soothing picture of a leisure drive through the Bay Area at dusk.)

Just a quick note, I was the victim of road rage today. In the process of trying to merge onto the bridge I found myself getting in front of a car that believed I shouldn’t. He laid into his horn for the entire length of the traffic light, almost 2 minutes, I timed him. What makes this story great??? While he was doing this, I rolled down my window, grinned… all the while having my earphones in so it looked like I could not hear him, or barely hear him. I love pissing off already pissed of people. It is funny to see them get more enraged.

Chill'n in Chico

I must admit, I am not all that geographically savvy. Too often I overhear people talk about small towns in Northern California that I have never heard of, but instead of looking it up, or expanding my knowledge of the diverse communities we have here in Cali… I just brush it off and forget about it. Chico, for instance, was one of those college towns I had heard about while I was in high school. Party school! That was the first thing that came to mind when Anna mentioned she lived there and was getting her masters. After spending some time there myself, I was hoping to discover that the rumors were overly exaggerated. To my dismay, unfortunately, the stories and rumors ended up being an understatement of the truth. It is quite an interesting town, but that is not to say it doesn’t have some good qualities as well. There are a lot of tress, and if the haze does clear out of the valley, it can be sometimes beautiful. All you have to do is look past the drunken college kid puking in the bushes.

Anna is in one of the masters programs, and she by no means could be classified as meeting the normal expectations of a grad student... in Chico or otherwise. Not only is she a good student, but she has also taken on more responsibilities outside of what the curriculum requires of her. One responsibility is to design a website for the community to go to give feed back and check the status of a community project her class is involved in. This not only required more of her time than what the curriculum accounted for, but it also required her to learn new software. She took to Dreamweaver like a fish to water… what a girl. Anyway, I am once again off topic. Anna’s curriculum consists of a wide variety of classes this year; she is in an orientation class, and is also taking a yoga class. Keep in mind that she also has a full load of required classes for her masters program. She plans on finishing up by the fall, so obviously there is no screwing around here. She also works as a T/A… maybe this article should have been about her. Anyway, she is taking a class that as part of the curriculum; it requires the students to go on multiple field trips around the campus and around the town. It was this “trip around town”, that exposed me to the wonders in the outskirts of Chico. These field trips normally reflect the dynamic geological differences between the valley and the mountains that make upon the landscape of the city. (See above)

First off, this was no small jaunt around the town; the requirements for these field trips are quite lengthy, almost intolerable.

(This is Anna's Teacher... this shot was not intentional...

However it came out kind of cool. You are actually looking

at him directly on, not his shadow, neat lighting eh?)

I honestly wondered how a teacher expected an entire class to fulfill the obligations, 4 field trips are mandatory to pass the class. Most of the kids where still waking up and it was almost noon. The shot below is one of the stops in the mountains... hence the snow. So far I have only been on one of these. This particular trip that I went on ended up being almost 160 miles. Keep in mind; it is a 170 miles from Chico to where I live in Concord. Also bear in mind that the trip takes me about 2.25 hours… going very fast, which you could not do on this particular field trip... or anytime I guess. Needless to say, the day was shot completing this requirement. The day was not wasted, by no means. There were a lot of things to see, and a lot of scenery to be viewed.What I didn’t realize was how close the mountains were to Chico, it actually is surrounded on both sides. What surprised me the most was, there be snow in “dem dar hills”.Once we got above the smog level, the scenery and view becomes very beautiful. I never would have guessed that Chico had a softer side, a side of beauty… now that I think about it; I don’t think Chico encompasses the hills, but you get my point.

(This shot is reflects the valley facing East, Chico in directly in front of you)

Chico does have its "rustic" charm as well, and I was not all that surprised to find remnants of it through out my journey. (Note, all cities have there problems with pollution, and guns.)

(This is a road sign in the remote hills of the valley,

note the bullet hole blown through the metal sign in the picture above.)

("Man is in the forest Bambie")

Overall, Chico is not so bad, it is in the middle of now where, and if you need to get to an airport, you’re driving for 2 hours to Sac. The town is growing; it has all the luxuries of home, plenty of fast food, lots of malls, and it’s very own Movie Theater. It does have an Olive Garden… Very

Nice! Though I might be exposing my pallets lack of culinary refinement, I love this place, and sadly the closet one to me is 45 minutes. Here that Olive Garden, do some demographic research and plant one back in the East Bay… preferably Concord. The town also has its unique color, and I mean this in a good way, there is defiantly something there that can not be found in the bay area. A slower, more quite way of living. The affordable housing is also a plus. Lots of nice people, Anna’s ward is full of great people, and everyone I meet seems to feel the same about Chico, they love it! All in all, I would have to say that it might not be a vacation destination, but it does have a local charm all its own.On the other hand, I might not be a non biased person to judge it anymore; it is where Anna lives so of course it holds a special place in my heart. Not to mention she threatened me if I spoke ill about it.
Cheers Chico.