Baby I'm a Star!

Well, not really. That's the title of a Prince song (look it up if you don't beleive me).

I got an email from within Flickr this morning from some dude who said that one of my photos made Flickr's 10 most viewed list for yesterday. I didn't even know that there was such a thing!

His message:
"Congratulations! This image is currently one of Flickr's most interesting photos for 27 may 2006. (It is on page one of the calendar view.) Would you please add it to the Interestingness pool? It would be a great addition!"

So this is basically a photo that I shot with my trusty old 35mm SLR in 1992 and had decided, on a whim, to scan a couple days ago and post to Flickr. Makes me wonder what else I should dig out of that shoe box of pix.

Memorial Day Weekend

Hi there. It's been an interesting week of lows and ... not so lows. (note the absence of the work 'highs'). Jul's sister came up for a visit last week. When she left, Jul went with her for a two week Oregon vacation of her own. This leaves me with a teen daughter that happens to be going through a rough patch lately. So I have been riding an emotional rollercoaster as well. Stretched pretty thin, to tell you the truth. In between all this, I did a short 3 day work week before having another 5-day string of days 'off'. Memorial Day Weekend. Due to circumstances that have only to do with me and my family, I have been in the purgatory of Anchorage this weekend, instead of going out of town to camp, drink, play, and be merry. And to top it off, the best digital cam in the family is in Oregon, and I am just not motivated to go out and shoot. I do find it amusing that my mind insists on pointing out one excellent shot after another while my cam is on holiday. Take this evening for instance. And I am not talking about the smoke from Point Mackenzie. The air in my neighborhood has been clear all day. So this evening, I decided to take a walk to Carrs for a few grocs. I take all the good neighborhood shortcuts too. Through the elementary schoolyard. Through the winding dirt path in the birch forest adjacent to the school. Nice shot. It pop's me out behind Carrs. A cinderblock brick wall painted brown many many times over. A loading dock door. Two 'people' doors cryptically labeled Unit A and Unit B. They share a fire escape-like staircase that has been allowed to rust and was definitely NOT painted on the same schedule as the brick wall behind it. Grungy. Nice shot.

Whatever. Boo hoo for me, right? :)

On the upside, I did get a lot done today. Did two loads of laundry. I got the lawnmower started after a long winter outside, and mowed the lawn for the first time in 06. I gassed-up the car. Washed it in the driveway. Got caught up on some podcasts at the same time. Then, i went shopping for some shorts and T's. Oh, and picked up a new cell phone. Basically, I managed to fill the day. And joy! The weekend is only half over!

Oh, and I tried my first Bloody Mary. Don't think I liked it.

Currently, other than writing this, I'm working on my Flickr page. It seems that my viewers have a taste for Macintosh and iPod photography. No likee the Alakanana? Okay. Give the people what they want. More Mac stuff.

Okay. I'm out for now.

Life list item .274 - complete.

Okay, I don't really have a life list. But if changing out of work pants and into jeans, parked in the Arrivals loading zone at the airport while waiting for my wife and sis-in-law, was on the list... CHECK!

Hope there wasn't a camera on me.

Vegan tip of the Day

It's been a good month-and-a-half since I've had this particular 'vegan' treat! Had a nice cold one on the deck yesterday evening. Ahhhhhhh.

In a word... vacation.

It's been a few day's since I've posted; and the reason, in a word, is vacation.

My sis-in-law arrived last Thursday and it's been non-stop activity since then. She and my wife grew up in Eagle River, so it's not like she's never seen Alaska; but she's lived Outside for over 15 years, so it's still a novilty (or maybe a nostalgia trip) whenever she makes it home.

Besides doing all the usual tourist things, she shares a love for photography. Those of you who follow me online will notice that my Flickr posts have gone up in proportion to my Blogger ones dropping. What's cool is that I'm learning new technique. For example, I tend to compose a shot based on 'feel' (although I do try to obey the 'rule of thirds') she's into paying close attention to sight-lines when composing. Also one or the other of us will see something photo-worthy that the other missed.

Yep, it's been a non-stop shoot-fest for the last 5 days straight! I went back to work for 1/2 week this week and I WAS SO TIRED yesterday. Work is a vacation from vacation, it seems.

I'll try not to keep it so long between posts. In the meantime:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/somewhereinak

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The day I have dreaded for 3 years had come.

Let me preamble this by saying that this post would fall under the category of TMI. Be warned.

I have never had an operation. No tonsils out. No appendix or gallbladder either. No general anesthesia. No IV's No blood work (up to age 36 on that last point).

Early winter 2003. I get 'sick' somehow. My lower abdomen is starting to get sore. Later it's killing me and I go see the doctor. He runs some tests, tells me what he thinks it is and refers me to a specialist. The specialist agrees, but schedules me to go into AK Regional for (dramatic music here, please) ... a colonoscopy! And man, at age 37, no less. Let me tell you what a treat that is! Ugh!! It turned out that I have diverticulosis (change suffix to 'itis' if infected). And I was directed to do a follow-up in three years. Oh, and they also removed a polyp that wasn't cancer, but very likely would have become so if given enough years.

Do you think that 3 year timer has been, on some level, running in my head every day since then? You fucking bet it has.

So the timer ran out last November. And I thought of some excuse or other to delay coming back in for my follow-up. Go figure. And about a month ago I catch the flu and was down and out for a week. I get better and then a familiar sore spot shows up. Left side. Just below the rubs. Uh oh. So I tried calling the specialist. No good. He's on jury duty for that week. I am advised to see my 'regular doctor'. I don't really have one currently, so I go into the med center that my insurer has a deal with. Get 10-days worth of really really strong antibiotics. This seems to start working from about day 2. Knocks it out. Then a couple days after the Rx is finished, that feeling resurfaces and goes away on it's own. The specialist's office schedules me for an appointment a week later. And I have a date with the hospital in a month.

Which brings us to my weekend and a photocopied sheet of instructions. Buy 'prep kit'. Check. Saturday night... begin 'clear fluids only'. Sunday... more fasting except for clear fluids. This means jello (and lots of it), clear soup broth, juices, water, coffee, etc.

Saturday is pretty normal. Wifey and I do some errands around town. Take two walks during the day. One in the neighborhood, the other at Kinkaid. I take some photos (and upload later to Flickr). We have lunch. Do some shopping, etc. Saturday night is normal except for the 'no food' caveat.

Sunday AM. Mother's Day. Hungry. Solly Cholly. But at least I can have coffee. I give my mom a card and little gift. She's in her early 60's and has been quite the couch potato for the past couple of years. Her work had made an offer to it's employees. A free one year membership to the Alaska Club. The catch? That you have to be actively using it for that whole year. I have no idea how they'd track that, but mom has been going to the gym faithfully 4 or 5 times a week ever since (so far it's been a couple months). So the mother's day gift was an ipod shuffle to take for workouts. And as of today (tues) she seems to be packing it into her gym bag. This is a nice change. She always loves the tech toys for presents, but they usually end up collecting dust. Early evening on Sunday, we make a food run for the fam. Pick up Beartooth for my mom and wife, and Arby's for my daughter. I almost snitch a curly fry from her bag before realizing that i can't.

Sunday evening... prep kit (first of two clear little plastic bottles). Huh, I think to myself while tilting and watching the liquid, it looks like dish soap. Instructions: pour a third of bottle into whatever, mix and drink. Wait an hour and repeat. "goes down better if chilled"? can't be a good sign. I mix it with peach Propel. It looks strange as it pours in and mixes. And drinking from an Alaskan Amber beer glass, I glug a sip down. UGHHHHHHH!!! Good god! I think it IS dish soap. Just without the suds. I choke it all down at once. Set the stove timer. One hour. You know what this is for, right?? I wonder how long it takes to start working, and go back to my laptop to surf. About 45 min later (and for the next four hours) I need to stay within close distance of a bathroom at all times... by 11pm I am still going at it, and fighting sleep. And hungry. A friend pop's onto chat - thank god for small favors - and keeps me company for a couple hours. I finally go to bed.

... Monday morning. No coffee. Poor sleep. Shaky. I keep having a looping thought: hungry! what's in the kitchen? Oh. yeah. right, no food.... Hungry! what's in..

Later: Prep kit - bottle #2. My fridge is stocked with Propel. I pick a flavor and begin...

... and by 11am am 'done'. Shower and dress for my engagement with AK Regional. My wife and I discuss how we think everything will go down afterwards. You see, a colonoscopy is where they stick 5 feet of smallish black garden hose up your ass. Tipped with an assortment of go go gadget tools. Olympus color digital cam. Niiiiice. :) Water sprayer. Suction thing. Loop of heated wire to cut/cauterize polyps. Little pincher thing to take said polyps. So needless to say, they sedate the fuck out of you via IV. The weird part is that you're conscious throughout, but the drugs keep memories from forming. So I actually get to experience the whole thing, but am forgetting as it happens. That way if they need me to move or turn, I can comply. ... now back to where we're making plans for afterwards. Back 3 years ago it went like this. I come-to in a recovery room, so groggy that I can't dress myself. They get my wife to come and help. I am wheel-chaired to the front door. Wife had brought the car around. She asks if I'm hungry and I say 'home'. When she pulls into the garage I (through what must have been a supreme effort of focus and will) get out of the car, practically run up the stairs, down the hall, and into our room. She catches up with me less than a minute later. I'm on the bed asleep. Clothes on. Shoes on. Snoring. It's 11am...
... I awaken 18 hours later. Look at watch - 5:00. Look outside. Dark (november). Wonder if it's AM or PM. Turns out the first one - the next day. I am determined to better this record. I think we're getting food afterwards. She thinks it'll be the same thing as last time and reminds me that i said back THEN that I wanted to do food after...

Monday. Yesterday. Game time.

It amazes me. The whole process of being transformed from the normal 'street clothes' world of outside, into the 'hospital gown' world within. And standing at the gateway? Michelle from Admissions. Michelle is good at forms. Michelle is good at charging my Visa card. Michelle has a wicked-good sense of humor. And she basically has the task of taking me off the street. Out of the real world, if you will. Has me sign. Here and here and here. And initial: here, here, herehere, and here. And leads me back. Really big doors open slowly when Michelle pushes a palm sized button on the wall. They say the words SURGERY. [gulp]. Shiny floors. Florescent lights. Glimpses of other patients as gaps in the curtains pass when we walk by. Ahhh. My own little room. Well, stall actually. Michelle presents me with a gown, little green paper-ish footies, little green matching paper-ish cap. Folded white blanket - heated. Nice. I change and climb onto the bed. Examine my surroundings. Sink. Cupboard with door ajar. Lots of hypodermic needles with stuff in them. Gloves (two varieties : green and white). Computer terminal. Monitor thing on a stand for vitals. It's on but not attached to me. A little red LED number zero marches from left to right. Under bed? Oxygen tank. Back wall? O2 and Air hookups. Ethernet plug. Chair. Waste basket. Hmm. With the last patients IV stint lolling out. Nice. Next up - waiting. Turns out that my doctor is still at a gig at Providence and is running late. My wife is still here and we talk. Finally the nurse comes in to take my vitals and stick me with an IV. I'm the worlds biggest pussy about this and begin to feel clammy when I look down at my hand. I'm given a cold wet washcloth for my forehead. Helps. Finally, they wheel me in. Then it's Finger thingy for pulse, giant sticker with cable for my back for EKG, O2 hose up my nostrils, BP cuff, lay on side, the drugs .... start...... to drip ...................... nurses make chitchat with each other.....

........... and I'm in another little room like the first one. I am determined. I sit up (room is not too spinney). I sit there for a minute. A nurse comes in. Pulls out the IV. Starts at giant sensor sticker on my back. I'm still doped up and tell her to just rip it. This approach seemed best the last time too. She gets my bag and I manage to dress and walk to where my wife is waiting. They ask me if I want a chair. I really don't but I'm swaying a bit so agree. I get wheeled out to the front door where wifey has brought the car and get in. Wife asks where to? "5th Avenue Mall", I say.

You have never experienced the mall unless you've tried it on percocet and valium. Let me tell you! I'm better to walk so we go up to the food court. I'm told that I'm allowed soft foods now and solid foods by evening. I opt for Souper Bowl. It was great. We head home. I actually check email before taking a nap. Up for awhile. Sleep a bit. Up again. Then down for the night.

Today feels pretty normal. The 3 yr timer is restarted but is WAY back in my mind. I feel good.

Mac-Curious?

TONIGHT

2nd Wednesday of each month is when the Alaskan Apple User's Group meets. 6:45-9pm at the Anchorage Art Museum - 7th & A.

Hors D'oeuvres, Wi-Fi, Tech Q&A, Guest Speakers...

... and for members, Door Prizes, Review Items, DVD Learning Library, more.

http://www.akappleug.org/

Snack time!

Mmmmmmmm

Black licorice made with all natural stuff. And I just remembered that I had (note past-tense) two of these in my backpack!

So THATS how Flickr works!

I have finally taken the time to develop (sorry, not a pun honest!) my Flickr page. It seems that I had missed a couple of key features that, when used, really get my photos SEEN. The first discovery was the use of Tags. By tagging my photos with keywords, it allows my stuff to be found when someone does a search. I went through and batch-edited most of them first to add common keywords like Alaska, Glacier, Mountains, Anchorage etc., and then went back to each photo individually and tried to add as many tags as possible for each. Within hours, my viewed count started to rise.

And this morning, another discovery Groups! Starting with care, I joined four. Black & White photography; a best of Flickr type of group; one focusing (again no pun!!) on the use of bright color; and a fun one just about Macintosh photography (which, upon examination, seems to extend to iPod photog.).

And OMG, you should see the viewed counts skyrocketing now! Its like I turned a faucet on. My previous viewed counts would be analogous to a drip.

I was chatting with a photo-hobbyist buddy who also wants to go pro with his work. He was less than enthused about the idea of opening up such a large library to the public on Flickr. But heres my take: First-off, everything that I posted to date have either been old scans from my 135, or digitals taken from mid to high-end pocket cams! Were I to make prints to sell, I might get good, tight resolution up to a size 11x14. Could I mat and show smaller work at a gallery? I guess. But a digital SLR would produce enlarged prints of 16x20 or larger. Second point: my Flickr images are copyright protected. Third: When I start selling my work, those buying wont necessarily know that theyre up for download on Flickr.

Once I have a new camera and start taking photos in really high resolution, Ill probably start watermarking, and adding copyrights to the meta-data in each photo. At that point, Ill still upload to Flickr, but maybe at a lesser size and resolution. In any case, Im really stoked about the whole prospect of my photos getting out there and seen.

W for Wendetta

My wife found this. Gotta love it:

Remember, remember the eleventh of September,
Executive treason and plot.
I know of no reason why Bush and his treason
Should ever be forgot.

Do I have to be totally vegan to drop healthy vegan food tips??

It’s been the better part of a week since I dropped a vegan food tip, so I’ll start this week of right. The taste of butter was hard for us to give up when going vegan. Not to mention butter’s use in recipes. And big name brand margarines are in many ways worse for you than real butter. Thanks to my friend Sean, we now have a healthy alternative to butter and mainstream margarine for our toast.



Earth Balance ‘Natural Buttery Spread’. Basically tastes just like butter. Find it in the fridge case at Freddies health food dept. Another butter alternative that we love is almond butter (our favorite brand: Kettle Foods).

Come check out my new store!!

You can now buy shirts, hoodies, coffee mugs, and more. All featuring my photography. Come check out my store!

Turning Pro?

My friends will tell you that I love Kaladi Brothers Coffee shops. I'm a regular at three or four locations. Aside from having the best coffee in Anchorage, and the free wi-fi; their cafe walls are always adorned with excellent local art! I've seen sculpture, oils, and photography pass through priced anywhere from sub $100 to almost $1000 per work.

I've been a hobbyist photographer for about 25 years and have only begun to share my photos (through online venues like Flickr) for the past few months. It dawned on my this week that it wouldn’t be difficult to get some high-end prints made at Photowright Labs and do some framing myself. (side note: I ran a picture frame shop in Oregon for 5 years) And maybe put my work out there at KBC or Cafe Felix. I’ve been all-digital since 2002 and I’d have to see how large I could safely print. I’m thinking 11x14 ish plus a generous with of archival ‘rag mat’ would give a finished product of about 18x24. My next cam will have higher resolution, hence larger prints.

Have any of you had showings of your art? Is it hard to get shown?? You've seen my stuff on Flickr... should I go for it, or am I deluding myself? I would love comments or private email on this!



(if you haven't seen my photos, click on the Flickr badge on the right margin of this blog ).

Summer is on the radar

Is it a sign of depression when I go most of a week without posting? Ha! Maybe. It’s been a long winter and my batteries are in need of a summer recharge.

Anyway. In most ways it's been quite an average week for me. At work, we're entering the busy season. Combine that with the fact that quite a few people were out sick an a couple were starting vacations, means that it was a BUSY work week. That's okay - I have nothing against working my ass off. And by all rights, this should have made the week fly by. I think that the only reason it didn't was because I had been out sick at least a day or two out of the past several weeks; so I'm not used to working 5 days in a row! And as I had previously stated, the board election went favorably so the prospect of being unemployed by fall is no longer looming.

In other corners of my life... I'm more-or-less on course with my new dietary choices. I do slip a bit sometimes, but the line is drawn firmly at BEEF and DAIRY. I'll get back on the health food recommendations soon. Promise. I know somebody out there likes 'em, you should see my blog stats. So let's see... what else. Summer is looming. My daughter's birthday is almost on top of us and we still need to shop. She, of course, 'doesn't want anything,' which makes it all the harder. And my (favorite) sister-in-law is coming to AK for a visit. The only bad timing is that her flight arrives on kiddo's B-day. I'm sure my daughter will be happy to see her aunt, but I don't like the event of her arrival upstaging any birthday limelight. Probably a non-issue since my teen says she doesn't want to celebrate. I will also be on vacation for the last two weeks of may to act as tour guide/ chauffer during sis-n-law's stay. Actually 'activity director' would be closer to it. She grew up in Eagle River and hardly needs a tour. At the conclusion of her trip, my wife is following her down to Oregon to help her settle into her newly built house; and to get a bit more vacation time. I will play Mr. Mom to my daughter for a week or two. After THAT, my daughter (unknown to her at this time) may also be invited down to sis-n-laws for a month. She and her mom have been head-butting lately and the offer is meant to offer a breather for both of them. Luckily, my daughter doesn't read my blogs. And finally, I'm looking forward to a week off for July 4th weekend in beautiful Seward, AK. I plan to camp it and partake in all that Seward has to offer. No, I am not running the Mt. Marathon race! lol.

That's my summer calendar in a snapshot. I need to get off my lazy winter ass and do some hiking, biking, and (according to two friends) geocashing.

Things are fine.

Sorry that I haven't posted in a few days. I think that I tend to post more when things are weighing on my mind. Sometimes I write about exactly those things; or sometimes the topic is more whimsical. But I think that the fact is, I write less when 'things are cool' in my life. And basically... right now they are. Aside from the small stuff, my family and friends are mostly okay; and the same applies to me.

If you still want something... well, my lunch hour today sucked. I could tell you about that? I got a late start due to work and was stuck in the thick of traffic. I tried going to Organic Oasis, but couldn't log on to their wireless for some reason, and wasn't being seen by the server staff. So I bailed and drove a block away to Middle Way Cafe. Wi-fi was good there; but the line of customers was out the door! I sat at a table and surfed. When the line was gone, so was most of my lunch break.

My lunch: coffee and banana bread.