Strangely stressful day today. Ever have one of thos knock-down crazy fights, where no one actually knows why they're fighting, but by golly, they're going to win! Yeah... Apparently that healthy fighting spirit is making the rounds.
I'm afraid not much else has gotten done. Eden and I drove Cassie down to the Max to take off for work, and only had time for a quick pit stop at Target before it was time to pick her up again. Turns out that Sylvan had lost heat entirely and had cancelled classes for the day. Much to the horror of Cassie's boss, no one had thought to call her to tell her not to come in!
Ah well, Eden's actual birthday tomorrow, and Turkey day to boot!
Friday, November 26, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-11-23
Chilly! Woke up to 18 degrees today, which didn't rise much at all. Classes were delayed, but not canceled, which ended up meaning that I only missed my photography class, no real loss, as it was due to be a work day for the final project anyway.
Fortunately, the weather managed to dump all of the snow and ice it was going to last night, leaving the humidity extremely low for the first time in a long while. This meant that just as soon as the sun cleared the streets a bit, driving was fine as long as caution was used. Eden and Cassie also took advantage of the break in weather to do some experimentation for Fairy Floss; it looks like we'll have more delicious new flavors ready for the weekend, which our fans are sure to appreciate.
Also, bonus round: Not only did I have my last Chemistry lab of the semester, but I took the time to confer with the teacher and it looks like landing with an 'A' is a very real possibility. I'm more than a little pumped about that.
Fortunately, the weather managed to dump all of the snow and ice it was going to last night, leaving the humidity extremely low for the first time in a long while. This meant that just as soon as the sun cleared the streets a bit, driving was fine as long as caution was used. Eden and Cassie also took advantage of the break in weather to do some experimentation for Fairy Floss; it looks like we'll have more delicious new flavors ready for the weekend, which our fans are sure to appreciate.
Also, bonus round: Not only did I have my last Chemistry lab of the semester, but I took the time to confer with the teacher and it looks like landing with an 'A' is a very real possibility. I'm more than a little pumped about that.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-11-22
Interesting day today, to be honest. We've been having some health issues with our eldest cat, Piranha, over the past month or so, that culminated this morning. Long story short, we got him into a local vet, who clued us in that he may end up being allergic to fish. Astonishingly, apparently somewhere around 70% of cats are, to some degree. Stunned the heck out of us. It'll take some time to play out and see if this suspicion is accurate, but at least it's a direction. The doc also started him on an antibiotic for an ear infection, which seems to have some immediate effect.
For the larger portion of the afternoon, Piranha more or less danced around the room like a kitten, playing fiercely with bits of fluff. Suffice to say, we're absolutely thrilled, and have some good hopes for the next couple of weeks. We'll see what happens.
This evening brought a heck of a cold snap to the area, snow and all. Looks very likely that tomorrow's school day will be canceled, though as of the moment, only this evening's classes have been canceled. I have to admit, I'm kind of hoping for an official snow day; while it's a bit bitter out, I can't help but hope for some time to play in the snow.
For the larger portion of the afternoon, Piranha more or less danced around the room like a kitten, playing fiercely with bits of fluff. Suffice to say, we're absolutely thrilled, and have some good hopes for the next couple of weeks. We'll see what happens.
This evening brought a heck of a cold snap to the area, snow and all. Looks very likely that tomorrow's school day will be canceled, though as of the moment, only this evening's classes have been canceled. I have to admit, I'm kind of hoping for an official snow day; while it's a bit bitter out, I can't help but hope for some time to play in the snow.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Updates: 9-23-10 to today... (Josh)
So no, I haven't forgotten about this blog. In point of fact, it's been haunting me a bit.
As you may have noticed, I'd gotten into the habit of interleaving the picture of the day with the blog entry for that day, which in turn led to the habit of updating the blog on a text file on my laptop and batch updating both the text and the pics when I managed to get my photo stream up to date. Given that photo processing takes a fair amount of time, the instances where I'm actually caught up to date on the date of posting are rather rare indeed.
So, long story short, one of those rare instances actually occurred about a month ago - I had photos uploaded up to date on both Flickr and Smugmug, and had just finished updating that day's blog... and then I managed to drop my netbook and destroy the hard drive not 3 minutes later (I was actually only moving from the hallway to my next classroom; what should have been a safe move of maybe 15 feet!). Needless to say, I just about cried.
The gap since then has been due largely to simply not wanting to go through re-creating a full month of posts from my cruddy memory (since this posting habit has largely grown out of a desire to remember things I can't seem to keep in my brain.) There have also been some hugely emotional days in that span that I just can't deal with re-living in too much depth right now.
All that aside, I've miss posting here. The funkiness that resides in my brain means that without this record, time just seems to slip by without any impact, or worse yet, with only the hard bits sticking in my brain, which doesn't help my outlook anyway.
Bottom line, this is going to be a single monster post summarizing a few of the big events, and then we'll move on. I'm going to try to worry less about getting the order of posts right and just do it. Also, I finished my Project365 a while ago, and my photo habits have changed a bit in response. While it was a good project, and did a lot to help me actually put work into photography, there were times where I just felt forced to try to find something, _anything_ to shoot, just to try to make the day's quota - which leaves me posting pictures I'm not actually proud of. So daily pictures may happen, and may be posted, but aren't likely to be actually daily in frequency. I have some thoughts for other long term photo projects that may get taken up, but no decisions yet, and they'll probably wait until after this term is over to get started. I'll be posting that 365 project in a way that you folks can access all at once, as well as the missing month/chunk summaries, but probably not today - I have the feeling that getting through all of this is going to be all I can manage for the day.
Hrmmm... I'm looking back at what's actually made it to the web, and realizing that my posts cut off almost immediately after the term starts, so perhaps the thing to do is to address each class as a whole, rather than try to proceed chronologically, at least for that chunk of things.
First off is my Photography class, which I'm afraid has turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment, at least in terms of fulfilling my expectations. The teacher is definitely an art teacher forced into teaching a photography class, rather than a photographer by choice - we're almost done with the course and still haven't seen a single shot she's made, for instance. Most of the class has revolved around watching netflix instant watch pieces on incredibly abstract artists; many of whom are not photographers and have little to do with our subject matter. The teacher's instruction on actual photography has amounted to assigning a few chapters in the assigned book in the first session or two (amazingly, the book is actually quite good, and would be worth picking up outside the class) and about 20 minutes of commentary on exposure times.
Assignments thus far have been frustrating; ranging from attempting to imitate a photo by one of her selected photographers (almost entirely abstract pieces, or photo journalistic pieces that I actually quite admired in many cases... but those were always set with countries or celebrities that were just a bit out of reach) to an assignment that amounted to simply running around with a camera and taking 200 photos... without looking at what you might be shooting. All that aside, I started on the final project today with Cassie, which is much more self driven, and I'm really pleased with what's turning out so far, so there's a bit of hope for getting something out of the class for the long term.
Chemistry has turned out somewhat interesting; the last time I took it, I felt like the subject just wasn't snapping into place like I'd hoped - after the first week or so, my brain just get a bit of a glaze on it and couldn't seem to fit the concepts quite right. This time around, things seem to be going much smoother. The instructor is knowledgeable and reasonably funny, and just seems like a pretty good guy. There was a bit of a booddoggle with the online homework company for the first few weeks, but things are up and running now and the only issue there is just how very much homework there is per chapter.
I've actually made a few friends, or at least strong acquaintances, in the lab portion, that may even stick after the class has finished. Having been through this before, even if it wasn't amazingly clear at the time, means that I'm able to explain some confusing points, and my habit of getting through the algebra of the day's assignment before lab has meant that I've been free to work through why the math works out that way with my lab partners without any real time issues. It's a pretty good feeling, and I think that I may be able to nudge things into the A range that I need before the term peters out.
Anatomy, on the other hand, has been nothing short of a living nightmare. The instructor is a good guy, if a little brusque, and has real world experience both as an MD and a radiologist, but it just feels like I'm storing less and less of what I need, despite studying and worrying like a fiend between migraines (the ritual panic attack that I've been getting before each quiz and test in this class REALLY haven't helped those). Basically, I've just felt absolutely lost, and a bit like having been through this before is actually working against me; my expectations are way off.
On the plus side, I did take the time to talk in depth with my instructor last period, both about the radiology program (which does indeed focus more on principles and procedures than rote memorization - much more of a strong point for me. The instructor even commented that an understanding of physics was what really counted there, and that's a subject that I absolutely love!) and about the class itself. Turns out that if I keep on showing the same numbers that I've been getting, I should land at a 79.51% for the class, which he said he would tip to a "B" as a matter of policy. I had actually been feeling like I'd done bad enough to have to worry about failing and threatening my school funding. Just goes to show what a perception filter can do, eh? Won't do anything to improve my previous "B" on record for the OIT review committee, but it won't hurt it either.
My online C programming course has been interesting, at least a bit. Not a huge amount of learning in terms of principles there, other than pointers and memory management, but the material is understandable and I've been keeping up without any problems - I'm actually showing in excess of 100% for a grade due to extra credit. It pretty much works out that this'll give me a baseline knowledge in the language and it is something that I'll probably explore more after the class, but I just don't have time to do anything beyond the coursework right now.
On to more personal life. Having stopped the beta blockers I mentioned in my last few posts helped quite a bit, both in terms of migraine intensity and in terms of medication side effects (deep, dark, black depression being the most threatening of those). I'm still having the migraines pretty regularly; near daily, but usually staying in the 4-7 pain range and fairly manageable through energy drinks, ibuprofen, and Head On. I'd love to be rid of em, and hopefully will be soon, but it's not a crisis yet. On that note, I've finally gotten all my ducks in a row to get medical coverage through the VA, and will hopefully be seeing someone in the next few weeks to address both migraines and ADD.
I actually ended up seeing one of Dad's coworkers as an interim solution out of pocket and doubled up on my ADD meds, which seems to help a bit. Less issues outright forgetting stuff, though it's frustratingly sporadic in terms of being able to access stuff. It's hard to describe adequately; it's like I can't remember what I had for breakfast if someone asks me that point blank, but if someone mentions pancakes or somesuch, I can remember the entire incident based on that trigger. It's just hard to find the keys myself, I guess. Also still having a lot of issues with maintaining concentration, but my understanding is that that's not something that's addressed as much by these meds. Ideally it'll be something to work through when I have a more regular doctor.
I did end up with the Flu or something in late September, bad enough that I missed a day of school and spent about half a week in bed, miserable. Not much else to say on that subject, other than that I survived it with no real after effects other than a recurrent sore throat.
The girls' new business, Fairy Floss, has had a hard time of it this fall. Since the product is highly susceptible to humidity, being hydroscopic, we haven't been able to get out and spin most weekends lately, which has introduced a lot of stress. We're bulling through it, but may have to consider changes in our structure for next year to account for it.
On a much more somber note, my maternal grandfather, Bob Snow, passed away on October 4th - part of the reason I didn't want to go through re-writing all of these entries. I don't cry often, and have a hard time dealing with such emotional issues. Suffice to say that he was an amazing man, and that the world, and my life, is poorer without him in it. He is missed.
Mid-October brought Craft-o-rama, a local family event through the Scheans/Martin side that simply must been seen to be believed. J. J. Martin, a dear friend, and an ex-in-law through Eden's aunt Pat, throws what amounts to a multi-day crafting party every year, inviting friends, family, and neighborhood kids to take advantage of her amazing house, which is simply filled (and over-filled!) with crafting detritus in every room. This year we even got an informal belly-dancing show! More recently, J.J. asked Eden and I to take care of her house and cat, Spooky, for a few weeks while she was out of the country, so Eden got a chance to do Craft-o-rama mark II!
The end of October brought birthday parties both for my father, Bruce, and for Eden's aunt Carol - we had a lot of fun celebrating with family on both occasions, and just generally catching up with everyone. Actually, just this past Friday, I had a chance to throw a surprise birthday party for Eden, which was an amazing amount of fun, and almost amusingly frustrating to put together, as she almost caught me in the act perhaps a half dozen times along the way, while I was setting reservations and wrapping presents and such - good times, and good friends - we had a lot of people show up to celebrate our girl this year!
At this point, we're pretty much just unwinding the slightest bit from midterms, studying madly for finals, and looking forward to tasty tasty turkey in just a few days, which will give us another chance to bring the Byram and Scheans clans together. I can't wait!
As you may have noticed, I'd gotten into the habit of interleaving the picture of the day with the blog entry for that day, which in turn led to the habit of updating the blog on a text file on my laptop and batch updating both the text and the pics when I managed to get my photo stream up to date. Given that photo processing takes a fair amount of time, the instances where I'm actually caught up to date on the date of posting are rather rare indeed.
So, long story short, one of those rare instances actually occurred about a month ago - I had photos uploaded up to date on both Flickr and Smugmug, and had just finished updating that day's blog... and then I managed to drop my netbook and destroy the hard drive not 3 minutes later (I was actually only moving from the hallway to my next classroom; what should have been a safe move of maybe 15 feet!). Needless to say, I just about cried.
The gap since then has been due largely to simply not wanting to go through re-creating a full month of posts from my cruddy memory (since this posting habit has largely grown out of a desire to remember things I can't seem to keep in my brain.) There have also been some hugely emotional days in that span that I just can't deal with re-living in too much depth right now.
All that aside, I've miss posting here. The funkiness that resides in my brain means that without this record, time just seems to slip by without any impact, or worse yet, with only the hard bits sticking in my brain, which doesn't help my outlook anyway.
Bottom line, this is going to be a single monster post summarizing a few of the big events, and then we'll move on. I'm going to try to worry less about getting the order of posts right and just do it. Also, I finished my Project365 a while ago, and my photo habits have changed a bit in response. While it was a good project, and did a lot to help me actually put work into photography, there were times where I just felt forced to try to find something, _anything_ to shoot, just to try to make the day's quota - which leaves me posting pictures I'm not actually proud of. So daily pictures may happen, and may be posted, but aren't likely to be actually daily in frequency. I have some thoughts for other long term photo projects that may get taken up, but no decisions yet, and they'll probably wait until after this term is over to get started. I'll be posting that 365 project in a way that you folks can access all at once, as well as the missing month/chunk summaries, but probably not today - I have the feeling that getting through all of this is going to be all I can manage for the day.
Hrmmm... I'm looking back at what's actually made it to the web, and realizing that my posts cut off almost immediately after the term starts, so perhaps the thing to do is to address each class as a whole, rather than try to proceed chronologically, at least for that chunk of things.
First off is my Photography class, which I'm afraid has turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment, at least in terms of fulfilling my expectations. The teacher is definitely an art teacher forced into teaching a photography class, rather than a photographer by choice - we're almost done with the course and still haven't seen a single shot she's made, for instance. Most of the class has revolved around watching netflix instant watch pieces on incredibly abstract artists; many of whom are not photographers and have little to do with our subject matter. The teacher's instruction on actual photography has amounted to assigning a few chapters in the assigned book in the first session or two (amazingly, the book is actually quite good, and would be worth picking up outside the class) and about 20 minutes of commentary on exposure times.
Assignments thus far have been frustrating; ranging from attempting to imitate a photo by one of her selected photographers (almost entirely abstract pieces, or photo journalistic pieces that I actually quite admired in many cases... but those were always set with countries or celebrities that were just a bit out of reach) to an assignment that amounted to simply running around with a camera and taking 200 photos... without looking at what you might be shooting. All that aside, I started on the final project today with Cassie, which is much more self driven, and I'm really pleased with what's turning out so far, so there's a bit of hope for getting something out of the class for the long term.
Chemistry has turned out somewhat interesting; the last time I took it, I felt like the subject just wasn't snapping into place like I'd hoped - after the first week or so, my brain just get a bit of a glaze on it and couldn't seem to fit the concepts quite right. This time around, things seem to be going much smoother. The instructor is knowledgeable and reasonably funny, and just seems like a pretty good guy. There was a bit of a booddoggle with the online homework company for the first few weeks, but things are up and running now and the only issue there is just how very much homework there is per chapter.
I've actually made a few friends, or at least strong acquaintances, in the lab portion, that may even stick after the class has finished. Having been through this before, even if it wasn't amazingly clear at the time, means that I'm able to explain some confusing points, and my habit of getting through the algebra of the day's assignment before lab has meant that I've been free to work through why the math works out that way with my lab partners without any real time issues. It's a pretty good feeling, and I think that I may be able to nudge things into the A range that I need before the term peters out.
Anatomy, on the other hand, has been nothing short of a living nightmare. The instructor is a good guy, if a little brusque, and has real world experience both as an MD and a radiologist, but it just feels like I'm storing less and less of what I need, despite studying and worrying like a fiend between migraines (the ritual panic attack that I've been getting before each quiz and test in this class REALLY haven't helped those). Basically, I've just felt absolutely lost, and a bit like having been through this before is actually working against me; my expectations are way off.
On the plus side, I did take the time to talk in depth with my instructor last period, both about the radiology program (which does indeed focus more on principles and procedures than rote memorization - much more of a strong point for me. The instructor even commented that an understanding of physics was what really counted there, and that's a subject that I absolutely love!) and about the class itself. Turns out that if I keep on showing the same numbers that I've been getting, I should land at a 79.51% for the class, which he said he would tip to a "B" as a matter of policy. I had actually been feeling like I'd done bad enough to have to worry about failing and threatening my school funding. Just goes to show what a perception filter can do, eh? Won't do anything to improve my previous "B" on record for the OIT review committee, but it won't hurt it either.
My online C programming course has been interesting, at least a bit. Not a huge amount of learning in terms of principles there, other than pointers and memory management, but the material is understandable and I've been keeping up without any problems - I'm actually showing in excess of 100% for a grade due to extra credit. It pretty much works out that this'll give me a baseline knowledge in the language and it is something that I'll probably explore more after the class, but I just don't have time to do anything beyond the coursework right now.
On to more personal life. Having stopped the beta blockers I mentioned in my last few posts helped quite a bit, both in terms of migraine intensity and in terms of medication side effects (deep, dark, black depression being the most threatening of those). I'm still having the migraines pretty regularly; near daily, but usually staying in the 4-7 pain range and fairly manageable through energy drinks, ibuprofen, and Head On. I'd love to be rid of em, and hopefully will be soon, but it's not a crisis yet. On that note, I've finally gotten all my ducks in a row to get medical coverage through the VA, and will hopefully be seeing someone in the next few weeks to address both migraines and ADD.
I actually ended up seeing one of Dad's coworkers as an interim solution out of pocket and doubled up on my ADD meds, which seems to help a bit. Less issues outright forgetting stuff, though it's frustratingly sporadic in terms of being able to access stuff. It's hard to describe adequately; it's like I can't remember what I had for breakfast if someone asks me that point blank, but if someone mentions pancakes or somesuch, I can remember the entire incident based on that trigger. It's just hard to find the keys myself, I guess. Also still having a lot of issues with maintaining concentration, but my understanding is that that's not something that's addressed as much by these meds. Ideally it'll be something to work through when I have a more regular doctor.
I did end up with the Flu or something in late September, bad enough that I missed a day of school and spent about half a week in bed, miserable. Not much else to say on that subject, other than that I survived it with no real after effects other than a recurrent sore throat.
The girls' new business, Fairy Floss, has had a hard time of it this fall. Since the product is highly susceptible to humidity, being hydroscopic, we haven't been able to get out and spin most weekends lately, which has introduced a lot of stress. We're bulling through it, but may have to consider changes in our structure for next year to account for it.
On a much more somber note, my maternal grandfather, Bob Snow, passed away on October 4th - part of the reason I didn't want to go through re-writing all of these entries. I don't cry often, and have a hard time dealing with such emotional issues. Suffice to say that he was an amazing man, and that the world, and my life, is poorer without him in it. He is missed.
Mid-October brought Craft-o-rama, a local family event through the Scheans/Martin side that simply must been seen to be believed. J. J. Martin, a dear friend, and an ex-in-law through Eden's aunt Pat, throws what amounts to a multi-day crafting party every year, inviting friends, family, and neighborhood kids to take advantage of her amazing house, which is simply filled (and over-filled!) with crafting detritus in every room. This year we even got an informal belly-dancing show! More recently, J.J. asked Eden and I to take care of her house and cat, Spooky, for a few weeks while she was out of the country, so Eden got a chance to do Craft-o-rama mark II!
The end of October brought birthday parties both for my father, Bruce, and for Eden's aunt Carol - we had a lot of fun celebrating with family on both occasions, and just generally catching up with everyone. Actually, just this past Friday, I had a chance to throw a surprise birthday party for Eden, which was an amazing amount of fun, and almost amusingly frustrating to put together, as she almost caught me in the act perhaps a half dozen times along the way, while I was setting reservations and wrapping presents and such - good times, and good friends - we had a lot of people show up to celebrate our girl this year!
At this point, we're pretty much just unwinding the slightest bit from midterms, studying madly for finals, and looking forward to tasty tasty turkey in just a few days, which will give us another chance to bring the Byram and Scheans clans together. I can't wait!
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-09-22
Dizzy, dizzy day today. After talking with dad last night about how much my migraines have ramped up, I've stopped the new beta blocker, but of course the thing is still in my system and will probably take a few days to get out.
Since I didn't have anything strenuous that absolutely needed doing today, I'm afraid I spent most of it in bed, save for an hour or so spent outside walking around and shooting interesting bits in the neighborhood - lots and lots of outside cats seem to live around here, and every one of em is chock full of personality. Insofar as schoolwork was concerned, only a critique of an art piece is due tomorrow for photography. I must say, I felt a little uncomfortable doing it, as I really don't feel knowledgeable enough to offer a meaningful critique of anyone else's work, but hey - I'm not going to ever get there without working at it.
Since I didn't have anything strenuous that absolutely needed doing today, I'm afraid I spent most of it in bed, save for an hour or so spent outside walking around and shooting interesting bits in the neighborhood - lots and lots of outside cats seem to live around here, and every one of em is chock full of personality. Insofar as schoolwork was concerned, only a critique of an art piece is due tomorrow for photography. I must say, I felt a little uncomfortable doing it, as I really don't feel knowledgeable enough to offer a meaningful critique of anyone else's work, but hey - I'm not going to ever get there without working at it.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-09-21
Rough first day, I'm afraid. Spent an awfully large portion of the morning hopelessly distracted by migraine and nausea, and the last few hours of the evening almost watching my attention wander as the ADD meds petered out. The ones I'm taking are already designed for "extended release", but in practice, my final class doesn't end until about 14 hours after I've taken 'em. Since they seem to be losing efficacy overall, I think I'm going to talk to the doc, once I get coverage, about maybe taking the same dose (or slightly less) twice a day, perhaps 8 hours apart, so that I can keep focused in all of my classes.
Also got a few abrupt surprises out of the gate; my first two classes had swapped instructors and texts, and my chemistry class now requires an online homework component that in turn requires a fee per term. My plans of skating by, financially, with only a lab book as an absolutely necessary purchase, are shattered. On the plus side, I emailed my parents about a short term loan while financial aid catches up, and they we almost eager to help me out - I think perhaps they've felt a little cut off from being able to contribute to this scholastic effort. In any case, my textbook needs will be taken care of and things should work out, there.
I'm fairly impressed by the teachers I met today, as well - my chemistry teacher comes off as very friendly and personable, which has not been my average experience with teachers in the science realm, with the notable exception of Dr. Torres at OIT. Anatomy looks interesting as well - the instructor may be slightly brusque, but he's knowledgeable and vivacious; apparently he's spent a number of years as both a MD and an ultrasound tech before coming to the teaching profession. Once you get past his slight accent, he's obviously got a lot of good stuff to say.
Also got a few abrupt surprises out of the gate; my first two classes had swapped instructors and texts, and my chemistry class now requires an online homework component that in turn requires a fee per term. My plans of skating by, financially, with only a lab book as an absolutely necessary purchase, are shattered. On the plus side, I emailed my parents about a short term loan while financial aid catches up, and they we almost eager to help me out - I think perhaps they've felt a little cut off from being able to contribute to this scholastic effort. In any case, my textbook needs will be taken care of and things should work out, there.
I'm fairly impressed by the teachers I met today, as well - my chemistry teacher comes off as very friendly and personable, which has not been my average experience with teachers in the science realm, with the notable exception of Dr. Torres at OIT. Anatomy looks interesting as well - the instructor may be slightly brusque, but he's knowledgeable and vivacious; apparently he's spent a number of years as both a MD and an ultrasound tech before coming to the teaching profession. Once you get past his slight accent, he's obviously got a lot of good stuff to say.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-09-20
Buh. I don't want to prejudice myself after just a few days of taking the new meds, but I think I'm getting the same effect out of the alternative beta blockers that I did out of the ones that the nurse practitioner gave me down in Klamath Falls - long, intense migraines with horrible dizziness and nausea.
Spent most of the day just huddled in bed, although I did take the time to check in on all of my classes online; only C and Anatomy have any content there yet, but I'm pretty encouraged by what I've found so far. C looks like it's not going to be too very intense; the concepts that are in the outline are ones that I've explored in other languages, so it should be ok there, although it seems that the workload is going to be a bit higher than I projected.
Anatomy, on the other hand, looks like a mixed bag. The instructor sent out an email saying only "download the files from the website" without giving any indication of what website (his stuff turned out to be on my.pcc instead of the normal blackboard app) or even an indication of who he was/what class he was attached to. Interestingly, though, once I found his stuff, I was quite impressed - all of his powerpoints for the entire term are already up, with extensive review questions that he's written for each chapter. Bodes well, I think.
Spent most of the day just huddled in bed, although I did take the time to check in on all of my classes online; only C and Anatomy have any content there yet, but I'm pretty encouraged by what I've found so far. C looks like it's not going to be too very intense; the concepts that are in the outline are ones that I've explored in other languages, so it should be ok there, although it seems that the workload is going to be a bit higher than I projected.
Anatomy, on the other hand, looks like a mixed bag. The instructor sent out an email saying only "download the files from the website" without giving any indication of what website (his stuff turned out to be on my.pcc instead of the normal blackboard app) or even an indication of who he was/what class he was attached to. Interestingly, though, once I found his stuff, I was quite impressed - all of his powerpoints for the entire term are already up, with extensive review questions that he's written for each chapter. Bodes well, I think.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-09-19
Nothing like a little early morning stupidity to blacken the edges of your day. I managed to break my most expensive flash this morning while doing a quick shoot for some chairs that Suzanne will be giving away on Craigslist. Completely my own fault for inattention; the wind caught the flash umbrella and the thing was already falling and mere inches from the ground by the time I even noticed.
With luck, at least some of the functionality can be restored with some superglue and ingenuity (I can at least hear the capacitors _trying_ to charge up when I turn it on), but it's just vexing. Oh well. Back to shooting with natural light more often.
With luck, at least some of the functionality can be restored with some superglue and ingenuity (I can at least hear the capacitors _trying_ to charge up when I turn it on), but it's just vexing. Oh well. Back to shooting with natural light more often.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-09-18
Near-constant rain and a humidity of 93% today means that the market was not blessed with Fairy Floss treats. The air just felt muggy and sticky all day, and given how the stuff spins up when humidity is in the 70s (read: not well), we just weren't willing to spend the money to be there.
Just as well, as the day's migraine showed up early and stayed for coffee, so to speak. On the other hand, new meds today; hopefully they'll overtake this cycle sometime soon.
Just as well, as the day's migraine showed up early and stayed for coffee, so to speak. On the other hand, new meds today; hopefully they'll overtake this cycle sometime soon.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-09-17
We headed down to Philomath today to celebrate Tim's birthday with the parents, which was a lot of fun! Homemade veggie lasagna, fresh salad, and artisan bread made for a tasty gathering, and we had a good time hearing about their recent trip to Minnesota to gather with all of our relatives.
As it turns out, Tim has been experimenting with silk screening recently, which is actually something I've been interested in experimenting with for a while now. I'm really looking forward to talking with him about his explorations, and the stuff he's got so far is pretty cool.
I also got a chance to talk with Dad for a while about the way my migraines have been changing lately, which led to a few new meds - I have high hopes that we'll make some progress in reining them in a bit. We'll see, soon, I suppose.
As it turns out, Tim has been experimenting with silk screening recently, which is actually something I've been interested in experimenting with for a while now. I'm really looking forward to talking with him about his explorations, and the stuff he's got so far is pretty cool.
I also got a chance to talk with Dad for a while about the way my migraines have been changing lately, which led to a few new meds - I have high hopes that we'll make some progress in reining them in a bit. We'll see, soon, I suppose.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-09-16
Good day today, though it did seem to involve a heck of a lot of waiting around - our Costco run for ADD meds and supplies, for instance, involved no less than 45 minutes of pharmacy techs insisting that it would be just "5 more minutes" to count out 30 pills. Not that big a deal in and of itself, but vexing all the same to see scads of other customers flow by, getting their own prescriptions without any delay.
Good news tonight as well; Cassie finished off her last interview with the Sylvan Learning center and they were so taken with her that they asked her to stay on for the next five hours to work immediately!
Good news tonight as well; Cassie finished off her last interview with the Sylvan Learning center and they were so taken with her that they asked her to stay on for the next five hours to work immediately!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-09-15
Strange day today. Started out by going to PCC to try to track down my financial aid status, as it has been almost two months since I turned in my application and trying to check in online or via email turned up nothing. Glad that Cassie and I went in today, as there were no fewer than 46 people in line ahead of us when we got there, and the gal manning the desk simply stopped issuing numbers shortly after we arrived.
Long story short, no one in the financial aid office knows how to access the financial aid email(!), so my queries may as well have gone into the ether. As a secondary bit, my FAFSA application should have had a single line changed when I changed from OIT to PCC; as I was not advised of this, even after explicitly asking if everything was in good order and providing paper copies of everything to the office, my application will not officially even start being processed until next week and will likely not be paid out until late October. Bleh. I'm just really annoyed, and frustrated, because it feels like I've been doing everything that could be reasonably expected to get this going, and it still didn't help.
On the plus side, I did get confirmation from the Clemen's foundation that their contribution towards my tuition will not be impaired by the change of locale, which is awesome, as it was a source of some concern.
The final tidbit of today's confusion arrived just a few hours ago - a notice from the national archives that they don't have a copy of my DD-214 to send so that I can see about some veteran's healthcare; apparently the Navy never sent the records over. So the request has been passed on to naval command, and we'll see how long that takes. At least it explains how long it's taken to get a response from these folks so far... Need to get a response soonish, though - migraines are headed back to worse (though the duration of each attack is back down to perhaps a few hours, which is good), and I'd love to get a medical opinion on increasing my ADD meds to compensate for my apparent adaptation to current levels. We'll just have to see what the future brings, in this regard.
Long story short, no one in the financial aid office knows how to access the financial aid email(!), so my queries may as well have gone into the ether. As a secondary bit, my FAFSA application should have had a single line changed when I changed from OIT to PCC; as I was not advised of this, even after explicitly asking if everything was in good order and providing paper copies of everything to the office, my application will not officially even start being processed until next week and will likely not be paid out until late October. Bleh. I'm just really annoyed, and frustrated, because it feels like I've been doing everything that could be reasonably expected to get this going, and it still didn't help.
On the plus side, I did get confirmation from the Clemen's foundation that their contribution towards my tuition will not be impaired by the change of locale, which is awesome, as it was a source of some concern.
The final tidbit of today's confusion arrived just a few hours ago - a notice from the national archives that they don't have a copy of my DD-214 to send so that I can see about some veteran's healthcare; apparently the Navy never sent the records over. So the request has been passed on to naval command, and we'll see how long that takes. At least it explains how long it's taken to get a response from these folks so far... Need to get a response soonish, though - migraines are headed back to worse (though the duration of each attack is back down to perhaps a few hours, which is good), and I'd love to get a medical opinion on increasing my ADD meds to compensate for my apparent adaptation to current levels. We'll just have to see what the future brings, in this regard.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-09-14
Much more productive day today, more so than any we've had in a solid week! We more or less started off with a positive response from the Clemen's foundation, confirming that there will be no problem in continuing their portion of my scholarship up her in Portland over the next year - as long as I'm still working towards the medical field, I still qualify. Still working on figuring out the rest of our finances, but that's a huge worry at least mostly out of the way.
Towards noon we headed down to the Portland Airport to pick up Cassie on her return from New York; she's been gone pretty much the entire time we've been sick. Her plane was almost a half hour late, which actually wasn't all that bad for me; spent the time taking pictures of jets and planes as they landed, which was at least interesting. Not so much so that I'd make a trip down just to shoot; perhaps a smaller airport where I could get closer to the landing strip would be appropriate there - here it's just relatively close air shots - no real angle for touchdown and takeoff.
Our evening was spend down at Pat's, celebrating Connor's birthday (which will actually be tomorrow, but he'll be down in Corvallis, then.) It was quite a nice family gathering, and Pat made up some delicious chicken adobo... definitely a different recipe than my lovely wife uses, but quite good all the same.
All in all, it felt really good to get out of the house for a significant amount of time, and seemed like we got a lot accomplished.
Towards noon we headed down to the Portland Airport to pick up Cassie on her return from New York; she's been gone pretty much the entire time we've been sick. Her plane was almost a half hour late, which actually wasn't all that bad for me; spent the time taking pictures of jets and planes as they landed, which was at least interesting. Not so much so that I'd make a trip down just to shoot; perhaps a smaller airport where I could get closer to the landing strip would be appropriate there - here it's just relatively close air shots - no real angle for touchdown and takeoff.
Our evening was spend down at Pat's, celebrating Connor's birthday (which will actually be tomorrow, but he'll be down in Corvallis, then.) It was quite a nice family gathering, and Pat made up some delicious chicken adobo... definitely a different recipe than my lovely wife uses, but quite good all the same.
All in all, it felt really good to get out of the house for a significant amount of time, and seemed like we got a lot accomplished.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-09-13
Ah well; so much for that idea. Our intent was to use the day's energy to make it out of bed and get some grocery shopping done, but we've landed completely drained after a making a significant effort to clean the room of the debris and disorder that has encroached over the past week. At least we've made some progress, and have enough energy to sit up and play with the cats a bit. Got some wonderful Mikey shots, with Eden's help! Now if only this silly delivery helicopter that's running back and forth to the power station immediately below us would just blow off and let us get some rest, we'd be able to recharge a little...
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-09-12
Both Eden and I are getting to the point of extreme impatience with the sheer amount of time it's taking to get over this bug, which I suppose is just the normal tail end of sickness; if we at least have enough energy to _want_ to be out of bed, that's an improvement, right?
If nothing else, we're getting a little thin on fresh superhero movies to watch; we just finished re-watching Superman Returns, and I've got to say, I had remembered it being much better last time. The whole flick is just supremely comical without any of it being intentional. Guess it's time to move on to more recent films, perhaps.
If nothing else, we're getting a little thin on fresh superhero movies to watch; we just finished re-watching Superman Returns, and I've got to say, I had remembered it being much better last time. The whole flick is just supremely comical without any of it being intentional. Guess it's time to move on to more recent films, perhaps.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-09-11
Only a slight variation from our firmly established sicko routine today; while we're both feeling like we might be on the mend, it's certainly not time for anything strenuous. With that in mind, we pretty much limited our excursions to a very quick run down to the Portland Saturday Market to deliver Eden's work over the last week for Lizzy, then hit up the new Vancouver Saturday Market on the way back for Eden to get a treat of Hawaiian shave ice. Oddly enough, this is a product that is currently lacking at the Portland market, which is kind of amazing, really. Honesty, Eden's been subsisting almost entirely on popsicles and fudgesicles over the past week due to the sore throat portion of her sickness, I can't believe she still sees any ice product as a treat. Ah well, whatever makes her happy, eh?
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-09-10
Funky morning today. I realize that a good portion of this is a change in perception, since I've been reading about ADD lately, but it just really seems like my symptoms are getting worse. I know, too, that my body has probably adapted, a bit, to the level of medication that I'm on. All the same, for a couple of hours straight, at least, it felt like I couldn't keep a thought in my head.
Ah well. It could also be a funky interaction with sickness, as I'm well into picking up Eden's bug. We sent out notice that Fairy Floss will not be at market for the weekend, since we're both sick and likely communicable (not the best situation, as a food vendor), and spent the day largely in bed, watching movies. Apparently, superheroes were the order of the day, as we plowed through all three Xmen movies and both of the Fantastic Fours... I guess there's just a bit of empowerment desire there; something like "if I can't be out of bed, at least the characters on screen are getting stuff done!"
Ah well. It could also be a funky interaction with sickness, as I'm well into picking up Eden's bug. We sent out notice that Fairy Floss will not be at market for the weekend, since we're both sick and likely communicable (not the best situation, as a food vendor), and spent the day largely in bed, watching movies. Apparently, superheroes were the order of the day, as we plowed through all three Xmen movies and both of the Fantastic Fours... I guess there's just a bit of empowerment desire there; something like "if I can't be out of bed, at least the characters on screen are getting stuff done!"
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-09-09
Lots of sky shots lately, but the weather has been making for interesting skyscapes lately, and I seem to be stepping outside right as the lighting changes lately. Today the solid cloudscape suddenly began to break apart just as I headed out to pick up a meal for Eden. I'm actually kind of hoping it ends up being an appropriate metaphor for the day. We'll see, though.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-09-08
Eden's down with a sinus infection today, as well as a nasty sore throat, so I'm on duty today heading down to Portland to pick up work from Lizzy and supplies for Fairy Floss. I actually found a couple of interesting buildings to shoot near 82nd street, that I think are going to be pretty neat, once I get the hang of processing them in HDR. I guess we'll see, though.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-09-07
Back to days in the dark, hiding from painful light. Buh.
On the plus side, over the last two days I've been digging into "Delivered from Distraction", a book on ADD/ADHD (ironically, something I've been meaning to read for months) and came across a thought today that rings true. To paraphrase: "Many people with ADD have trouble with time delineation; for them, there is only now and not now."... Too very, very true for me - if it's not immediately relevant, it's not relevant at all....
If nothing else, it's kind of nice to see that there are other people out there with brains as weird as mine.
On the plus side, over the last two days I've been digging into "Delivered from Distraction", a book on ADD/ADHD (ironically, something I've been meaning to read for months) and came across a thought today that rings true. To paraphrase: "Many people with ADD have trouble with time delineation; for them, there is only now and not now."... Too very, very true for me - if it's not immediately relevant, it's not relevant at all....
If nothing else, it's kind of nice to see that there are other people out there with brains as weird as mine.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-09-06
Beautiful clouds outside today; absolutely picturesque. Got some feedback from Abe on the earlier shoot, which meant more time working on macro shots before heading out for the evening.
Pat brought the family over for a labor day cookout this evening, which gave me an excuse to bring out some homemade bread, which everyone seemed to enjoy, rather vocally, actually. Makes me feel rather good, really. On the plus side, migraines actually seemed to have taken the day off, at least until we drove home (the halogen glare from headlights seems to be a steady way to trigger em). Good day though, and a tasty dinner.
Also, I know I've posted this before, but the bread is just too tasty not to share! For everyone who asked at Pat's Labor Day gathering, here's a link to the recipe for the bread I brought. It's really easy! http://jbschool.blogspot.com/2009/03/neglected.html
Pat brought the family over for a labor day cookout this evening, which gave me an excuse to bring out some homemade bread, which everyone seemed to enjoy, rather vocally, actually. Makes me feel rather good, really. On the plus side, migraines actually seemed to have taken the day off, at least until we drove home (the halogen glare from headlights seems to be a steady way to trigger em). Good day though, and a tasty dinner.
Also, I know I've posted this before, but the bread is just too tasty not to share! For everyone who asked at Pat's Labor Day gathering, here's a link to the recipe for the bread I brought. It's really easy! http://jbschool.blogspot.com/2009/03/neglected.html
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-09-05
More record-breaking today; our best Sunday yet! We took Eden's parents out to our favorite Vietnamese place to celebrate, which let me throw an order of General Tso's and a Cafe su da at an incandescently painful head. Tasty, and at least a little effective; enough at least to get me home safe afterward.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-09-04
Record day at market today! Cassie topped her previous sales record by another 20%, which is more than amazing. The entire day was pretty much just running to keep up with her, which is actually good, since it helped to distract from the daily migraine. I'm afraid these things are headed back to horribly regular, which is concerning, but what can you do, eh?
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-09-03
Market tomorrow, which means I spent the day down in Portland, grabbing supplies and thinking about changes to the booth layout. Not too much to report, other than a lot of time on the road.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-09-02
Yipes! Both Eden and I had epic levels of migraine all day today, which meant that we stayed in our basement room all day, with the curtains bolstered by spare blankets against light leakage. Not good.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-09-01
Out and about today, looking around Powell's and Utrecht. It was just time to get out of the house, really. We actually ended up down at the international rose test garden for a while, which gave me a chance to just wander around looking for interesting subjects, which was kind of nice.
The girls even found me an interesting little spider to practice my macro work on!
The girls even found me an interesting little spider to practice my macro work on!
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-31
Rainy day today, which has kept us inside for the bulk of the day. The overcast clouds have of course produced their regular unwelcome migrainey effects, and I'm afraid I haven't been the perkiest of fellows.
On the plus side, we did get out for a little while to take Cassie to an interview with the Sylvan learning center down by Pat's house. She dressed up quite nicely and I think she made a good impression. If she does get the job, it'll be nearly an ideal fit for gaining experience in her field while at school.
On the plus side, we did get out for a little while to take Cassie to an interview with the Sylvan learning center down by Pat's house. She dressed up quite nicely and I think she made a good impression. If she does get the job, it'll be nearly an ideal fit for gaining experience in her field while at school.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-30
Today marks a first, of sorts. That is to say, today I was actually asked to do a paid photography gig by one of my former roommates, Abe. He's made a connection with a local business by the name of Peppercorn point of sale, and has set me up as the photographer for the peppercorns that will be their logo.
I've got to say, it's been an exciting, and frustrating, day. I've pulled out all of the tricks that I know of to provide the greatest amount of magnification out of the lenses I have to work with such a small subject, and it's just been an incredible amount of effort to get a clear picture. Unfortunately, the proportion of the picture that's in focus is just one of the many things in physics that's subject to an inverse square rule; as you get smaller and closer to the lens, the part that's sharp gets less than paper thin darn fast!
I've got to say, it's been an exciting, and frustrating, day. I've pulled out all of the tricks that I know of to provide the greatest amount of magnification out of the lenses I have to work with such a small subject, and it's just been an incredible amount of effort to get a clear picture. Unfortunately, the proportion of the picture that's in focus is just one of the many things in physics that's subject to an inverse square rule; as you get smaller and closer to the lens, the part that's sharp gets less than paper thin darn fast!
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-29
It's kind of amazing to me that our business actually has a bit of a following, now. We have people coming in and actually saying things like "They have Strawberry Daquiri this week!" or "This is the only one I haven't tried yet!" We even have a fairly steady stream of vendors coming by. Lizzy's girls and their cohorts come by pretty much every day (sometimes multiple times per day), and we have something of an informal arrangement with the Kandy Korn group, regularly trading our newest flavors for theirs. It's pretty cool, really.
Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-07-28
Back at market again today, getting sugary and sticky while delivering an unprecedented number of smiles. For all that it's not my line of work or something I'd care to do if I weren't covering for Eden, there is some satisfaction there. It makes up for the screaming migraines that I've been working through, just a little.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-27
Last day in the USA for Eden's cousin Nicky today; he'll be heading home to his mom until next summer tomorrow. As such, the family decided to celebrate by heading out for dinner at Buster's barbecue. Delicious food, for being cooked in huge batches, and wonderful barbecue sauce!
I happened to be heading home alone after the gathering, as my car was still loaded up for market, and came across a beautiful view of mount hood just as the sun was going down; the mountain was lit up by the last few rays as the rest of the scenery was shaded by the mountains behind me. Of course, I had to stop and try to capture it!
I happened to be heading home alone after the gathering, as my car was still loaded up for market, and came across a beautiful view of mount hood just as the sun was going down; the mountain was lit up by the last few rays as the rest of the scenery was shaded by the mountains behind me. Of course, I had to stop and try to capture it!
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-26
Tonight Cassie and I headed out for our second run at Last Thursday on Alberta street. I could definitely tell that I'd gained a significant amount of experience and technique since the last time we did this, as I had our stock of 52 bags of cotton candy spun up in perhaps an hour.
Unfortunately, what we didn't anticipate was how many of our potential customers were out of town at the Burning Man gathering, meaning that we'd made rather more product that was going to sell. That's ok though, as it allowed us to make a few more friends with freebies at the end of the night!
Unfortunately, what we didn't anticipate was how many of our potential customers were out of town at the Burning Man gathering, meaning that we'd made rather more product that was going to sell. That's ok though, as it allowed us to make a few more friends with freebies at the end of the night!
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-25
What do you get when you have a migraine, idle time, a bunch of old cell phone chargers and a few manual flashes? Apparently, if you're me, you get the itch to convert a few of those chargers to taking the place of batteries in some of my older flashes. I'd read about a somewhat similar project somewhere last night, and just couldn't resist trying it, as it seems like the batteries I have for my flashes are always dead. The results aren't pretty, cosmetically, but they're working fine! Now I have some options for studio work, when it comes up.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-24
For the record, Mikey has the biggest eyes of any cat, ever. At least that's what today's pictures seem to infer - I'd guess it's a combination of the catnip and the difference in lighting between ambient and the flashes I was using. I'm much happier with today's results than yesterday's, and I hope that Carla will be too!
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-23
Home again, home again, jiggity jig. Since Rikki didn't take so kindly to her catnip treat, I tried sharing it with our boys this afternoon, in hopes of getting a few good pictures for Carla's booth. Unfortunately, the batteries for my flash were flat and I wasn't able to come up with anything I really liked with just natural lighting. Guess I'll just have to try again with flash tomorrow.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-22
Today was our last day of pet-sitting, and you could tell that the boys knew we were leaving. They looked absolutely forlorn as I headed out of the garage to make it to market this morning.
We had an amazing day at Fairy Floss, totally selling out of 3 of the 4 flavors we had on site. We even tried running a special through facebook and twitter during the last hour to try and kill off the last flavor, but didn't quite manage it. Oh well, even if people weren't able to come down, the announcement probably helped to increase our visibility in any case.
We had an amazing day at Fairy Floss, totally selling out of 3 of the 4 flavors we had on site. We even tried running a special through facebook and twitter during the last hour to try and kill off the last flavor, but didn't quite manage it. Oh well, even if people weren't able to come down, the announcement probably helped to increase our visibility in any case.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-21
Since Eden is sick, I was back at the booth with Cassie today in rather hot weather. As has become the habit, Cassie sold like crazy, and we made a few new friends distributing "vendor specials" amongst our neighbors. Interesting pets out in the market today, as well - among others, a white parakeet riding someone's shoulder, a rabbit in a jean jacket, and a pug in a dress! Strange, to be sure.
Carla gave me a fresh catnip pillow in trade for some cotton candy today, so I thought I'd try using it to entice Rikki for some photos. Turns out, Rikki's one of those cats that doesn't react so nicely to it, becoming rather aggressive and mean. Oh well, guess that means our guys have a new toy!
Carla gave me a fresh catnip pillow in trade for some cotton candy today, so I thought I'd try using it to entice Rikki for some photos. Turns out, Rikki's one of those cats that doesn't react so nicely to it, becoming rather aggressive and mean. Oh well, guess that means our guys have a new toy!
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-20
Eden's feeling a bit under the weather today, which is a pity, as the clarity of the sky has been amazing! Mt. Hood has made a stellar appearance, as viewed from Vicki and Kari's porch, resulting in a rather satisfying picture of the day. The heat has put the dogs into solar mode, and they've spent most of the day just sleeping and soaking up the rays. A good role model to follow, to be sure.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-19
Teddy and Jake are both good dogs, and usually a wonderful pair to care for, but Teddy does have one steady, annoying habit. Both dogs are well trained and have shock collars that establish limits as to how far they can roam outside. Unfortunately, there is a stand of hedges that is within their range and largely inaccessible to humans. Teddy has made this his hiding place for when he just doesn't want to come in, and it's just not worth arguing with him. Adjacent to this is a large tree that he tends to stand under to check on our patience level. Over time, this has become "Teddy's tree", and he actually tends to look fairly cute, standing watch under it.
Of course, since he's a dog and just a bit stubborn, it's been a long time (unfulfilled) desire of mine to get a few pictures of him under his tree, and he just hasn't cooperated, until today. Jake even let me have a few good pics of him too!
Of course, since he's a dog and just a bit stubborn, it's been a long time (unfulfilled) desire of mine to get a few pictures of him under his tree, and he just hasn't cooperated, until today. Jake even let me have a few good pics of him too!
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-18
Among the other wonderful amenities at Vicki and Kari's (their tub is to die for!), there is a tetherball set off of the front porch. It's been decades, at least, since I've had access to such gear, and it was quite amusing to see the girls face off against one another, with the neon yellow ball flying past at near orbital speeds, just inches from impacting with random body parts.
Setting the possible athletic virtues aside, it seemed to lift everyone's spirits immensely, producing giggles, snorts, and outright guffaws with astonishing regularity. I think we'll have to include a set in the master plans for our dream home, someday. Good therapy, and darn fun too!
Setting the possible athletic virtues aside, it seemed to lift everyone's spirits immensely, producing giggles, snorts, and outright guffaws with astonishing regularity. I think we'll have to include a set in the master plans for our dream home, someday. Good therapy, and darn fun too!
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-17
Today we started pet-sitting at Vicki and Kari's again, and have the next five days to look forward to with Jake, Teddy, and Rikki. It's an event that we've come to look forward to, not just because of the money it brings, but because it also represents a break of sorts. Their house is just up the hill from downtown Portland, but it feels pleasantly isolated and peaceful, even so.
Their view of the Portland skyline is nothing less than breathtaking, especially when it's a smoggy day - bad for the environment, but wonderful vistas.
All in all, it's been a very pleasant day, with just one unfortunate incident. Somehow I managed to trip on the very last step of their stairs and come down rather horribly wrong on my left big toe - not sure if it's anything serious (doesn't feel broken, at least), but it hurts something awful! Guess that'll teach me to pay attention, perhaps.
Their view of the Portland skyline is nothing less than breathtaking, especially when it's a smoggy day - bad for the environment, but wonderful vistas.
All in all, it's been a very pleasant day, with just one unfortunate incident. Somehow I managed to trip on the very last step of their stairs and come down rather horribly wrong on my left big toe - not sure if it's anything serious (doesn't feel broken, at least), but it hurts something awful! Guess that'll teach me to pay attention, perhaps.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-16
Today was intended as an escape, of sorts. Turns out that it was, in so many ways, not the least of which being a narrow escape with our lives, or at least our health. Some trucker apparently decided that we were a threat of some sort to him; he swung around us as we entered the 205 (from the same on-ramp) and passed us at nearly 80 mph, then slammed on the brakes just in front of us. Don't know what we did to piss this guy off, but he tried to run us off the road (on a three lane highway) half a dozen times in the space of the next 5 or 6 miles. Truly a stellar level of jerkdom, and a wonderful impression for the company he represents. Honestly, we were just glad to be done with him, when he finally pulled back off the highway.
Our escape from the heat, on the other hand, went much better. We went to one of our favorite swimming holes, in Stevenson, Washington, and then grabbed delicious ice cream at Granny's Gedunk, in town. Seriously tasty strawberry, there.
Our escape from the heat, on the other hand, went much better. We went to one of our favorite swimming holes, in Stevenson, Washington, and then grabbed delicious ice cream at Granny's Gedunk, in town. Seriously tasty strawberry, there.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-15
Eden's normal stint working for Lizzy today wasn't necessary, thanks to a scheduling conflict for them that canceled a planned picnic. Accordingly, I tried to take advantage of this respite to allow Eden to sleep in, as she's had quite a lot of trouble maintaining anything approaching a regular sleep pattern lately. This turned out to be a mistake. Suffice to say, we wound up arguing about it for quite some time, and the mood of the morning was strained, at best. Ah well.
I did have an interesting encounter with another photographer in the morning, by the name of David. Turns out he'd just come into town to document the bridge pedal, using a homemade mount for his handlebars. He'd managed to smudge the lens of his camera, and didn't have a lens cloth handy. He wound up giving me $2 for a $0.50 microfiber, despite my protests. In any case, if he emails me as promised, I'll at least see the results of his endeavor, which should prove interesting.
I did have an interesting encounter with another photographer in the morning, by the name of David. Turns out he'd just come into town to document the bridge pedal, using a homemade mount for his handlebars. He'd managed to smudge the lens of his camera, and didn't have a lens cloth handy. He wound up giving me $2 for a $0.50 microfiber, despite my protests. In any case, if he emails me as promised, I'll at least see the results of his endeavor, which should prove interesting.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-14
Incredibly hot day today at market. To give an idea, I shed 4 pounds between my morning shower and my evening shower, according to the scale, sure to be almost entirely water, even with Cassie passing me a new water bottle every hour, on the hour. We did get a rather choice spot in the market, however, thanks to one of the vendors with a permanent spot taking Saturday off. We ended up being right on the endcap facing the Skidmore fountain, and had some pretty brisk business, especially around noon. It got to the point where Cassie was selling most flavors faster than I could spin and bag them; if we'd had the room for Eden in the booth as well, we could have used her just to bag for us!
We also sold almost a hundred dollars worth of water alone, as we weren't the only ones sweating out there. Suzanne made sure we knew it was all worth it, though, when we got home, greeting us with delicious homemade burgers and roasted yukon gold fingerlings. Yum!
We also sold almost a hundred dollars worth of water alone, as we weren't the only ones sweating out there. Suzanne made sure we knew it was all worth it, though, when we got home, greeting us with delicious homemade burgers and roasted yukon gold fingerlings. Yum!
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-13
And so ends the camping trek. Today we headed home, with me in the driver's seat, thanks to a third day in a row migraine free. Or, more accurately, with me being migraine free - Eden has been feeling a bit "punky", thanks to her PCOS. The trip back was largely uneventful, save for a bit of disappointment in Aberdeen - we'd had our hearts set on a nice, _warm_ breakfast at Denny's. Unfortunately, the Denny's in Aberdeen no longer exists, as it was shut down a while ago, apparently.
This meant that breakfast consisted of Taco Bell, as this was the next edible restaurant we saw along the way. We got a chance to try out the new cantina tacos, which are actually a remarkable impression of the real thing, and fairly edible.
All told, it's good to be home, with showers and washing machines available.
This meant that breakfast consisted of Taco Bell, as this was the next edible restaurant we saw along the way. We got a chance to try out the new cantina tacos, which are actually a remarkable impression of the real thing, and fairly edible.
All told, it's good to be home, with showers and washing machines available.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-12
We were close enough and we had so much fun yesterday at La Poel, Eden talked me into heading back for another dip to start the morning. It turned out to be a good idea, because it put her in a phenomenal mood all morning! Even when a deer decided she didn't want to live any more and practically dove into our car, missing it by perhaps inches, it didn't shake the elation that she'd found.
Today's scheduled exploration was the Hoh forest. We didn't get a chance to stop last year, but this year the pass we'd already bought for camping covered the entrance fees, so we couldn't skip what was supposed to be an amazing sight. I do have to say, the trees were very impressive, but the whole experience did feel a bit cheap and commercial. Even with the entrance fee, it was crowded as heck, and just not as fun as we'd hoped. I guess we tend to get spoiled in the Northwest, expecting our national parks to be relatively deserted so that we can enjoy them in peace. This felt a bit more like Disneyland without the rides, I'm afraid.
We passed through Forks in the afternoon, and I'm pleased to report that the Twilight sensation that seemed to dominate the town to the point of drowning seems to have died down considerably. Instead of every corner being dominated by sparkly vampire kitch, only two or three "twilight" businesses remained. I'm afraid that "twilight firewood" was one of them. Really, people. Really?
Our evening camping at Kalaloch was a bit different than expected, as well. The campsite that had enthralled us last year with it's remarkable isolation and thoroughly impressive driftwood beaches was completely gone. And I mean that literally. The driftwood was a solid layer at least 20 to 30 feet across last year as far as the eye could see. This year, that driftwood is very nearly completely gone, save for shards of a few inches and huge logs that would take an entire family to move (and were being moved by families, as I watched). The campsite itself was swarming with people, hundreds of them. And unfortunately, the wonderfully clear skies we were looking forward to for the meteor shower never showed. Instead we had a tremendously deep fog bank swallowing the sky for miles around.
Ah well, despite missing the meteor shower entirely, it was a good night, if a bit chilly. We had visitors at the campsite, in the form of a very brave and pregnant squirrel, and a small flock of scrub jays, both of whom gave me a number of great shots. I'll admit, I did bribe the models a bit with some peanuts I'd brought for a snack, but I have the feeling that's going to end up being a more common habit for me in the photography world anyway, in the coming years.
Today's scheduled exploration was the Hoh forest. We didn't get a chance to stop last year, but this year the pass we'd already bought for camping covered the entrance fees, so we couldn't skip what was supposed to be an amazing sight. I do have to say, the trees were very impressive, but the whole experience did feel a bit cheap and commercial. Even with the entrance fee, it was crowded as heck, and just not as fun as we'd hoped. I guess we tend to get spoiled in the Northwest, expecting our national parks to be relatively deserted so that we can enjoy them in peace. This felt a bit more like Disneyland without the rides, I'm afraid.
We passed through Forks in the afternoon, and I'm pleased to report that the Twilight sensation that seemed to dominate the town to the point of drowning seems to have died down considerably. Instead of every corner being dominated by sparkly vampire kitch, only two or three "twilight" businesses remained. I'm afraid that "twilight firewood" was one of them. Really, people. Really?
Our evening camping at Kalaloch was a bit different than expected, as well. The campsite that had enthralled us last year with it's remarkable isolation and thoroughly impressive driftwood beaches was completely gone. And I mean that literally. The driftwood was a solid layer at least 20 to 30 feet across last year as far as the eye could see. This year, that driftwood is very nearly completely gone, save for shards of a few inches and huge logs that would take an entire family to move (and were being moved by families, as I watched). The campsite itself was swarming with people, hundreds of them. And unfortunately, the wonderfully clear skies we were looking forward to for the meteor shower never showed. Instead we had a tremendously deep fog bank swallowing the sky for miles around.
Ah well, despite missing the meteor shower entirely, it was a good night, if a bit chilly. We had visitors at the campsite, in the form of a very brave and pregnant squirrel, and a small flock of scrub jays, both of whom gave me a number of great shots. I'll admit, I did bribe the models a bit with some peanuts I'd brought for a snack, but I have the feeling that's going to end up being a more common habit for me in the photography world anyway, in the coming years.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-11
Seems as though the migraine cycle I've been working on for the last little while was just trying to finish with a bang. I'm beyond thrilled to be able to report that I was completely without head pain today!
On top of that, we had a great day today! We started out taking a bit of a look around the Staircase area. Seems as though there was some severe flooding that expanded the local river rather dramatically not so long ago, leaving a huge portion of the landscape just a few meters below crystal clear water. Pretty cool to see.
We then moved on to Ellewa Dam, which is actually due to be destroyed shortly, in an effort to return some breeding territory to wild salmon, as I understand it. It was worth seeing, before things change dramatically. I can't wait to see what things look like next year, as the drop off from the dam has to be at least a hundred feet or so; I have no idea what losing that is going to do to the local water levels.
In the afternoon we stopped by La Poel campground, which has turned into a day use only area in the last year or so due to erosion and such. That's ok though, as it's still beautiful, and somewhat more isolated this year. So much so, in fact, that we decided to take advantage of the chilly, clear waters to clean up a bit, since none of our stops this year offers shower facilities. It was rather amazing to see and hear just how much fun Eden was having in the water.
The evening's campsite was Klahowya, which pretty much defined exactly what we love about camping. Semi-private sites, right along the river, wonderful scenery, and neighbors that actually keep fairly quiet after dark. Beyond all that, and perhaps this is a shallow measure, their bathroom facilities, even the drop toilets, damn near sparkled. There's a lot to be said for that kind of effort.
On top of that, we had a great day today! We started out taking a bit of a look around the Staircase area. Seems as though there was some severe flooding that expanded the local river rather dramatically not so long ago, leaving a huge portion of the landscape just a few meters below crystal clear water. Pretty cool to see.
We then moved on to Ellewa Dam, which is actually due to be destroyed shortly, in an effort to return some breeding territory to wild salmon, as I understand it. It was worth seeing, before things change dramatically. I can't wait to see what things look like next year, as the drop off from the dam has to be at least a hundred feet or so; I have no idea what losing that is going to do to the local water levels.
In the afternoon we stopped by La Poel campground, which has turned into a day use only area in the last year or so due to erosion and such. That's ok though, as it's still beautiful, and somewhat more isolated this year. So much so, in fact, that we decided to take advantage of the chilly, clear waters to clean up a bit, since none of our stops this year offers shower facilities. It was rather amazing to see and hear just how much fun Eden was having in the water.
The evening's campsite was Klahowya, which pretty much defined exactly what we love about camping. Semi-private sites, right along the river, wonderful scenery, and neighbors that actually keep fairly quiet after dark. Beyond all that, and perhaps this is a shallow measure, their bathroom facilities, even the drop toilets, damn near sparkled. There's a lot to be said for that kind of effort.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-10
Today we left for this year's camping trip in the Olympic Pennisula, an occasion which looks to be heading towards a welcome annual tradition. The end goal is to make it to Kalaloch this Thursday for the Persied Meteor shower. Last year was remarkably clear there, and we've been looking forward to it for a months now.
The trip up was a bit of a pain, I'm afraid. Not one, not two, but three separate migraine attacks throughout the day, leaving me nearly gasping with horrible dizziness and nausea. Eden was a real trooper, putting up with my discomfort and relative lack of communication on the way. Honestly, arriving at Staircase Falls, our destination for the evening, was almost the worst part. Absolutely stellar views, magically blue waters, and waterfalls along the road called out to me like crazy over the last 15 twisty miles or so, just begging to be photographed, and all I could manage to think was that I couldn't wait for the car to stop moving.
All that aside, once we did get to the campsite, we had an absolutely fabulous time. Dinner turned out to be a bit different than expected, as the flounder we picked up turned into paste once it was over the fire. Neither of us had ever had flounder before - I guess it's just not our cup of tea. The Hillshire farms dogs we're quite excellent, though, as were the Limeade and Gin mixers that Eden whipped up. Eden's aunt Pat gave us a phenomenal bottle of Gin for my birthday, and just a little goes a long way. All in all, not a bad day, for having a poor beginning.
The trip up was a bit of a pain, I'm afraid. Not one, not two, but three separate migraine attacks throughout the day, leaving me nearly gasping with horrible dizziness and nausea. Eden was a real trooper, putting up with my discomfort and relative lack of communication on the way. Honestly, arriving at Staircase Falls, our destination for the evening, was almost the worst part. Absolutely stellar views, magically blue waters, and waterfalls along the road called out to me like crazy over the last 15 twisty miles or so, just begging to be photographed, and all I could manage to think was that I couldn't wait for the car to stop moving.
All that aside, once we did get to the campsite, we had an absolutely fabulous time. Dinner turned out to be a bit different than expected, as the flounder we picked up turned into paste once it was over the fire. Neither of us had ever had flounder before - I guess it's just not our cup of tea. The Hillshire farms dogs we're quite excellent, though, as were the Limeade and Gin mixers that Eden whipped up. Eden's aunt Pat gave us a phenomenal bottle of Gin for my birthday, and just a little goes a long way. All in all, not a bad day, for having a poor beginning.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-09
Today was an un-birthday celebration for Eden's cousin Nicky, since he'll be heading back to Prague at the end of the month and we won't be around for his actual birthday. Unfortunately, I had set my original Canon camera battery on the charger in anticipation of our upcoming camping trip and had put my off-brand backup battery in the camera, assuming that it would carry me through the event while my main charged. Silly me. Apparently it had self-discharged from full to 0 without having fired a single shot, as the camera had just enough oomph to close the shutter and lock.
This of course meant that I had to talk Eden out of her point and shoot for the evening, which takes phenomenal macro photos and quite decent snapshots in good lighting, but has radically different definitions of high speed and low lighting than the equipment I've become used to. Just goes to show that I need to not let myself get in a rut, I guess.
In any case, it was a nice gathering, and everyone seemed to have a good time. Eden's uncle Tom even showed up, which was great, as we rarely get a chance to see him since he and Pat separated.
This of course meant that I had to talk Eden out of her point and shoot for the evening, which takes phenomenal macro photos and quite decent snapshots in good lighting, but has radically different definitions of high speed and low lighting than the equipment I've become used to. Just goes to show that I need to not let myself get in a rut, I guess.
In any case, it was a nice gathering, and everyone seemed to have a good time. Eden's uncle Tom even showed up, which was great, as we rarely get a chance to see him since he and Pat separated.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-08
Morning migraine kept me from following the girls down to market today. Actually, it wasn't that horrible of an episode, but I figured that since I didn't HAVE to be down there, I should probably take the novel step of not forcing myself to hold together and go. In a terribly weird way, this made the morning just a touch relaxing, even if it was painful.
After touching base with my parents today, it looks like Eden and I will be rejoining clan Byram and clan Snow in Minnesota this year for Christmas. I've got to say, I had a wonderful time last year, and I'm really looking forward to it again! (Among other things, I got great photos then, and I've picked up quite a few tricks since that I can't wait to try out!)
After touching base with my parents today, it looks like Eden and I will be rejoining clan Byram and clan Snow in Minnesota this year for Christmas. I've got to say, I had a wonderful time last year, and I'm really looking forward to it again! (Among other things, I got great photos then, and I've picked up quite a few tricks since that I can't wait to try out!)
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-07
Another wonderful day for market! At least mostly ;)
The temperature was at least well within the bearable range, which really helped. Unfortunately, the humidity today was at 87% locally, which makes spinning cotton candy very nearly an exercise in futility - the end product is much much denser than normal, and has an annoying tendency to build up within the bowl considerably more than usual. Something we'll have to see about engineering a solution of some sort for in the future, I think.
Between the "Bite of Oregon" and the annual bridge pedal, it's not going to be worth coming back tomorrow to sell, as getting our equipment close enough to unload is sure to be a nightmare, and our customer base is likely to be elsewhere. That said, Eden will be heading down to run Lizzy's booth again, and I think I'll join her on the Max to see about photographing the event - should be fun.
We did take the opportunity for a bit of self-spoilage after work, as both Eden and Cassie had a free movie ticket earned on their respective Regal Club cards. We decided to head out to the new flick "Despicable Me", which was almost painfully cute, and quite watchable, despite a predictable plot line. It was just a little short of awkwardly blatant about broadcasting where the story would end up, allowing the audience to congratulate themselves on being so very smart for figuring it out. Good stuff, all around.
The temperature was at least well within the bearable range, which really helped. Unfortunately, the humidity today was at 87% locally, which makes spinning cotton candy very nearly an exercise in futility - the end product is much much denser than normal, and has an annoying tendency to build up within the bowl considerably more than usual. Something we'll have to see about engineering a solution of some sort for in the future, I think.
Between the "Bite of Oregon" and the annual bridge pedal, it's not going to be worth coming back tomorrow to sell, as getting our equipment close enough to unload is sure to be a nightmare, and our customer base is likely to be elsewhere. That said, Eden will be heading down to run Lizzy's booth again, and I think I'll join her on the Max to see about photographing the event - should be fun.
We did take the opportunity for a bit of self-spoilage after work, as both Eden and Cassie had a free movie ticket earned on their respective Regal Club cards. We decided to head out to the new flick "Despicable Me", which was almost painfully cute, and quite watchable, despite a predictable plot line. It was just a little short of awkwardly blatant about broadcasting where the story would end up, allowing the audience to congratulate themselves on being so very smart for figuring it out. Good stuff, all around.
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-06
Minimally productive day today, I'm afraid. I spent a good 6-7 hours on the road between errands, thanks to nasty traffic. Not good stuff, since my car lacks in a few essentials, such as AC.
The two primary tasks of the day were refilling a few supplies for Fairy Floss for the weekend, and investigating Veteran's benefits, since Jon had turned me on to the fact that the Obama administration had made a few changes in qualifications.
As it turns out, I was right about educational benefits, as the clerk told me rather brusquely. "You're screwed." I'm all for being straight forward, but that's a whole new level of government clarity. Since I didn't pay the $100 per month for my first year of service, I get nothing from them. Not a surprise, but really something I regret. Back in the first few days of the service, when this decision was made, the incredible financial benefits offered by the GI Bill weren't even mentioned, and the spin was essentially that if you didn't sign this paper, they'd cut your pay by $100. Wonderful cost saving measure by the government, and just the right thing to say to someone who hasn't had time to sleep in days, and who thinks he has college funding perfectly figured out, thanks to the Clemens scholarship.
Not that the tuition offered by that scholarship hasn't helped a ton, but it's not enough to live on. Ah well, youth offers so many chances to screw up....
As to health benefits, it at least looks like a possibility. Unfortunately, I only have a one page DD-214 (the exit papers for getting out of the Navy). Apparently, I need to request the 4 page version before I can apply for benefits. No worries - I'm expecting this to be a fairly long evolution anyway before I see anything out of it.
The two primary tasks of the day were refilling a few supplies for Fairy Floss for the weekend, and investigating Veteran's benefits, since Jon had turned me on to the fact that the Obama administration had made a few changes in qualifications.
As it turns out, I was right about educational benefits, as the clerk told me rather brusquely. "You're screwed." I'm all for being straight forward, but that's a whole new level of government clarity. Since I didn't pay the $100 per month for my first year of service, I get nothing from them. Not a surprise, but really something I regret. Back in the first few days of the service, when this decision was made, the incredible financial benefits offered by the GI Bill weren't even mentioned, and the spin was essentially that if you didn't sign this paper, they'd cut your pay by $100. Wonderful cost saving measure by the government, and just the right thing to say to someone who hasn't had time to sleep in days, and who thinks he has college funding perfectly figured out, thanks to the Clemens scholarship.
Not that the tuition offered by that scholarship hasn't helped a ton, but it's not enough to live on. Ah well, youth offers so many chances to screw up....
As to health benefits, it at least looks like a possibility. Unfortunately, I only have a one page DD-214 (the exit papers for getting out of the Navy). Apparently, I need to request the 4 page version before I can apply for benefits. No worries - I'm expecting this to be a fairly long evolution anyway before I see anything out of it.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-05
Excellent party this evening for Jon's birthday! Homemade potato salad, brats from a local meat producer, and sinfully good cake, for having been store bought. A few good pics of Lucky and Lucy (although Lucy appears to have been in a nasty fight recently and is favoring her left eye), and many, many great pics of Eden's nephew Nicky!
It's just great to be around a photo subject that's not at all self conscious, and has a quick, friendly grin. I need to see about training the rest of the family to ignore the lens more...
It's just great to be around a photo subject that's not at all self conscious, and has a quick, friendly grin. I need to see about training the rest of the family to ignore the lens more...
Daily Post (Josh) 2010-08-04
Surprisingly satisfying day today. Among other things, we took advantage of the local $3 theater to see the latest Shrek movie, which was really quite watchable. Eden, Cassie, and I had actually seen all three of the previous films, but it's a struggle to remember exactly what the third one was about. It just didn't make much of an impression. In contrast, this one wasn't epic, but it was quite amusing. The alternate universe Puss-in-boots (if you've seen the movie, you know what I mean) was a spot on impression of our cat Amber, save for the fur coloring. She's just a bit more ungainly than is quite right.
Eden had planned some homemade chili for the evening, which we were quite looking forward to, but we were actually surprised by Eden's mom having made marinated flank steak with lettuce wedges. Awesome! And tasty!
Eden had planned some homemade chili for the evening, which we were quite looking forward to, but we were actually surprised by Eden's mom having made marinated flank steak with lettuce wedges. Awesome! And tasty!
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