Today sucked for a variety of reasons. I had a court appointment for a speeding ticket at 9am at the Walla Walla District Court that didn’t turn out like I had hoped, spent more than 6 hours driving in my car, got ambushed with presentation duties in a meeting upon returning to work, and to top it off there were several accidents on 520 on the way home making my commute worse than normal. I’m tired, hungry, very glad to be home.
That being said I feel pretty damn good about myself! Sitting in court for 2 hours waiting my turn at justice roulette gave me an opportunity to see a stream of inmates from the state penitentiary, and various other dregs of society parade before the judge all with problems far worse than my own. There is something highly sobering about seeing a man brought to court for a list of charges so long that it actually made sense to alphabetize them, and see the ridiculous scuffles neighbors get into aired out for the world to see in public court.
It’s days like today that remind me that I really do have a good life - I might get stressed out from time to time, but when it comes right down to it I’m a productive member of society, I have a decently paying job, I’m father to the worlds coolest dog, a ton of great passions, a mortgage, car payment, and in general have my life together. Things could be worse - much worse, and it’s good to be reminded of that from time to time.
To whomever put the deliciously tempting German chocolate and cream cheese cake topped with cherries in the break room at work with a “take a piece” sign: my diet hates you. I don’t hate you, I love you in fact, but the case is clear: my waistline suffers for your gastric generosity.
Regards,
Sparky
P.S. Getting ready for trips sucks.
This last weekend brought me home to Walla Walla for Mothers day. It’s always nice to see her, and after the tragic death of a close friend of hers several years ago on Mothers day I try to be with her on that weekend to help support her. After gliding down in the A6 (sweltering in the heat of Eastern Washington as a result of my broken AC - I toyed with naming this post ‘Gliding through the heat’) on Friday night I got to spend the weekend with them and some old friends.
Saturday morning the Wheatland Wheelers held their annual ride to memorialize Ann Weatherill up Mill Creek to Kooskooskie near Walla Walla to drink a toast to Anne’s memory. It’s good to see that my former teacher, and my moms best friend is remembered well by her community.
The above shot I got on the way back from the ride of my mom. I was pacing her in my car and ended up being not quite happy with the composition (the light upper left corner is the doorframe of my car - cropping it out fails to help the rest of the composition sadly), but while driving a car and trying desperately not to hit a tree, biker, or drive into a ditch while taking photos is surprisingly tricky. I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone unless you are in a very remote location like we were - it could be quite dangerous. I took some other shots at the mid-point of the ride that can be viewed here.
I’m glad to be back from Walla Walla - I’m such a homebody that I really do appreciate being home no matter where I’ve gone, or how long I was gone. I was a bit stressed out last week with packing and keeping up with work, but now that it’s all behind me I’m ready for one heck of a week. The ride home had a few surprises as well which added to my relief at getting home, but I won’t go into those here and now.
Happy Mothers day Mom!
“Back bikers line” by sparktography
“Mom rolling shot on bike” by sparktography
Today I drove up to Abbotsford, BC to join the rest of the family with my Grandpa Vernon for dinner. I don’t see him as often as I would like, and it troubles me. I love my Grandpa for many good reasons, and hate being around him for equally good reasons.
He’s a genius - speaks 7 languages, understands fine art, and grew up a professor of language as an open man - embracing of all cultures and walks of life. Grandpa was a role model to many of his students, and as well for his two children.
Sadly when he retired he moved back to the Mennonite community in Abbotsford and has been gradually becoming bitter, bigoted, racist, and homophobic. His Christian moral values are becoming more extreme, and his world view is becoming more and more negative.
Losing Grandma last year was very hard on him. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be married to someone for 60 years - it’s so much longer than I’ve been alive - let alone lived with someone. I sympathize for him and have appreciation for he’s lived through - he’s experience everything from WW2 and the great depression to losing Grandma after a life of pain.
I love him and realize that he’s lonely and should visit more often, but it’s really hard to do when everything around him seems to center around negativity and hate. The decline I’ve seen in both his outlook on life, as well as and end to his feeling of swamped and love for all human being fade has left feeling that It’s simply no longer fun to be around him.
“Grandpa” by sparktography
My cousin Heather was in town this evening with one of her friends so we went out to hit the town. Her 23rd birthday is tomorrow so I took her out for some Sushi and a birthday drink at Blue C. It was good to see her, and a good start to a family-tastic weekend: tomorrow morning I’m headed up to Abbotsford to see my Grandpa, Uncle, Aunts, and other cousins. Sadly Grandpa has not been doing as well, so I think it will be good for the family to get to hang out with him for a while.
In technology news I’ve been on one heck of a spending spree - I need to stop! In two days I’ve purchased both a GPS unit for my car, and one of the new Apple TV’s. The GPS unit is cool (and might help keep me from getting lost), and makes up for one of the two missing features in the A6. The other missing feature is rain sensor wipers and I doubt if there is a way to hack that in after market.
In a way I’m looking forward to the drive tomorrow as it will be my first long haul in the A6 (now affectionately named the PimpMobile (in honor of Bender)), and a great chance to play with the GPS unit. I already asked it to calculate the route up to Abbotsford and it is a different one than I’m familiar with. Looking at the details in Google Earth it actually looks to be a faster and shorter way there so I think I’ll give it a go.
The Apple TV is great so far. Exceptional and simple out of box experience (like all Apple products in recent years), and the initial setup was a breeze. I plugged it in to the wall and to HDMI and I was off. After selecting my 802.11n network, entering the WPA password, and selecting the computer I wanted to sync with it was ready to use. Total time from plugging it in to me watching an episode of the Colbert Report: 2 minutes.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
A shot of the main fountain display outside of the Caesar’s Palace casino in Las Vegas, NV. I like how with a little bit of photoshop tweaking the wing caught in the mist looks like it’s radiating energy.
“Dragon mist” by sparktography
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Another Lensbaby 2.0 shot from my CES 2007 trip to Las Vegas. This one is of the front fountain facade in front of the Treasure Island casino and hotel. I like how the Lensbaby gives it a miniature look akin to some of the tilt-shift miniature fakes I’ve seen.
“Cascade” by sparktography
