(Josh) Edge Article 1

As promised, here's a scan of my first article for the Edge, along with links to the photo originals (since they don't scan all that well from the paper.)

Original text:
Wildlife Refuge Provides Birds and Beauty
OIT students don’t have far to go to visit a wonderful wildlife preserve. Just 21 miles south of campus, outside of Tulelake, is the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, open to the public from dawn until dusk every day free of charge (unless you elect to hunt in the area.)
It is an area of carefully maintained swampland that provides an intermittent home to a multitude of bird species, including the vibrant yellow-headed blackbird, red-tailed hawk and golden eagle.
Photographers and bird watchers may especially enjoy visiting the haven, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service has provided a number of established blinds to assist observation.
Even for those who aren’t a fan of avians, the sights offered along the 10 mile auto tour can take one’s breath away.
With Mount Shasta providing a dramatic backdrop to the southwest, the numerous waterways and ponds make for glorious landscapes, especially in the mornings and evenings, when slanting sunlight lights up the surrounding vegetation and gives mirror-like reflection in the various pools when the wind is still.
According to the Klamath Basin Audubon Society website (http://www.klamathaudubon.org), those who visit in the next few months may get a chance to see a Bald Eagle or two, as they tend to pass through the area in significant numbers during the winter months, peaking in mid-February, and have already started to arrive.
All in all, it’s a great place to visit and explore.
Visit online for more information about the refuge at: http://www.fws.gov/klamathbasinrefuges/lowerklamath/lowerklamath.html

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-27

"It's this Josh Byram guy, he's money with the pictures..." This is what I overheard this evening while providing moral support to Jennifer while she waited for a job interview. Talk about an ego stroke! Further commentary on "this Josh Byram guy" proceeded to issue forth from the Edge's newsroom as we waited for her turn at OTB, in the hall outside both offices, all of it quite nice to hear.

I'm not so sure about the new four part moniker, but I'll be more than happy to accept it in light of the staff's apparent enthusiasm. Very encouraging in light of my current thoughts on pursuing the matter of whether or not a paid position might be possible with Professor Matthies for next term. On the down side, if you can call it that, they already have a capable photographer on staff, which might put a crimp on that angle for the time being.

In any case, I'm pretty sure I'll be in a fine mood for at least the next day or so, thanks to this.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-27

"Article Review"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-26

Good results today in A&P lab, 14/15 on today's quiz. Unfortunately, that news was paired with the posting of last week's grades, which, as it turns out, pointed out two bits on the lecture quiz that I thought I had gotten right according to my comparison with my notes that were in fact wrong; the usual case of the selected answer being half right, but not the best answer. Bleh. So that score went from the expected 13/15 to 11/15.

Finally ended up figuring out what I wanted to do with my photography assignment in the afternoon, which worked out well, as the skies were more or less clear and the roads pretty drivable. Professor Becerra liked the results more than I did, praising all three submissions pretty effusively, while I really only liked the final frame. Ah well, I suppose that's better than the other way around.

Evening study group for A&P lecture was frustrating, as the other classes appear to have gotten even more out of phase with Torres; nearly everything brought up by Sierra didn't apply to what we'll be tested on tomorrow.

On the other hand, I did end up joining Jennifer in crashing Josh's meeting after study group, which was interesting. Turns out he has a number of friends that are trying to set up a gaming company together; kind of fascinating to watch. Tonight's subject was trying to come up with a company name (not already taken) and thematic orientation for logos and such. The primary business leader in the group, Abe, reminds me very strongly of an old friend of mine, Victor.

Oddly enough, he got quite excited when Roxanne happened to phone for assistance in getting some video codecs to work; apparently casual tech support scores points. Apparently now I'm a consultant for this as yet unnamed company, with negotiations as to what that might entail or imply yet to come. The guy seems to have his head on straight, so maybe this'll end up being a "very good thing" (TM). On the other hand, I wouldn't mind if it just landed as a good way to meet new friends to hang out with; the group had a vibe of my kind of people.

Speaking of which, I'm compelled to reflect on my incredibly rapidly growing friendship with my namesake, Josh. I see so much of myself in him (or perhaps project myself onto) that it's very hard not to like him. Same awful sense of humor, same techie immersion, same selective social awkwardness; same selective attention, for that matter. He does seem to have the edge on me in beard-growing, however.

Similar background, as well - we spent an almost embarassing portion of the evening trading boot camp horror stories, which were surprisingly alike, given that he's out of the Army and I'm from the Navy. Think we managed to stun most of the rest of the group, who seemed quite incredulous as to the truth of our tales.

Odd too that I should find this level of kinship with such young people - Jennifer is 14 years my junior, whereas Josh is only 12 years behind. I choose to believe this reflects their maturity; certainly Jen's schoolastic efforts far outstrip my own at her age. It's reassuring, in a way, to see them together; their relationship stability also seems to far outstrip their peers.

Ah well, regardless, I'm incredibly greatful to have found such good friends here - it makes being away from Eden slightly more palatable, and more immediately, edges me back towards a level of sanity that might be judged acceptable by community standards.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-26

"Lunchtime Companion"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-25

Very sloshy day today... all of the snow on campus has turned only semi-solid, which means terribly uncertain, wet footing. Annoying to slog around in it all day. Got back my first two medical terminology tests, finally, and found out I did just slightly better than expected, 90% and 87.5% respectively.

Journalism teach had a lot of good things to say about my article in front of class (I'll scan and post it the next time I have the energy and a few spare minutes when I'm home), which felt rather good. Submitted my article for this week on the OC&E Trail, but wasn't terribly happy with the pics I had on hand (since they weren't shot with the trail itself as the intended subject). Unfortunately, it had started raining by the time classes let out, so I didn't get a chance to go out and shoot specifically for the article... maybe tomorrow.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-25

"Study Circle"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-24

Lazy day today. Fierce, semi-horizontal snow canceled the trip to Crater Lake, and in fact quite discouraged even leaving the building. This ends up meaning I'm going to have to do this week's article on a later subject that I won't get to go out and shoot for specifically, in this case, the local OC&E trail. Fortunately, I'm well stocked on tostada fixings from yesterday's dinner, so I'm pretty happy with the situation, other than the article. Spent most of the day reading through a couple of novels in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga - darn good stuff.

I'll admit that the weather made Bailey's and Ghiardelli Hot Chocolate sound attractive, but I never got out long enough to get appreciably cold, and it's just not always a good idea to drink alone, especially on this anniversary. I try to keep it to social drinking only, excepting migraines that just won't bloody let me let go. All things considered, the day passed as close to comfortably as might be possible.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-24

"Safe Inside"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-23

Today did not go quite as I had planned it. Not that that's a bad thing. I had originally planned to drag Jennifer and Josh to Crater Lake to do an article for journalism, but that turned out to be a bust for the moment, since Jennifer is feeling fairly sickly. We've rescheduled for tomorrow and that should work out fine.

Instead, I took a few hours of the afternoon to check out the Klamath Wildlife area down by Miller's island, since I'd seen a sign for it from the highway the other day. As it turns out, this was just another approach to an area I'd already visited, that proved to be a decent spot for wild turkeys earlier in the year. Unfortunately, no one told the wildlife that they were supposed to still man the spot this late in the season, so the only wildlife I encountered was a feral cat stalking through the fields.

Since I was fairly close already, I went back to the Lower Klamath Wildlife Refuge to see about some more Bald Eagle pictures, but they weren't in the mood to fish and steadfastly positioned themselves for horribly mediocre silhouette style pics. I did get a couple more Swainson's Hawk pictures that turned out quite nice, but I've been seeing those guys everywhere for months, which probably means that they won't prove to be terribly fiscally viable. Ah well, sometimes you've got to shoot just for the sake of it.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-23

"Walking on Water"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-22

Terribly scary morning today - hit black ice at about 35 mph down at the Lava Beds National Monument and missed a turn. Somehow I managed not to do any significant damage to the car, other than donating a bit of paint and peeling back some of the plastic undercarriage airfoil.

Spent a good two hours plus waiting for triple A at the visitor's center and spent some time talking with a very nice ranger by the name of Travis that also happened to grow up in Minnesota. I actually spent a bit of (very theraputic) time shoveling snow with him while we waited; excellent way to work off excess adrenaline, and satisfyingly exhausting. In any case, I'll have to remember to thank Jon and Suzanne in person the next time I see them, since the only reason I have triple A at the moment is because they were kind enough to buy me a year's worth of service for Christmas.

Ironically, half the reason I was down there was to look into taking some shots of the caves and perhaps pulling together an interview of some of the tourists for Journalism. Unfortunately as it turns out, the caves were pretty much inaccessible and I was the only non-employee down there for the duration. Perhaps that will have to be a later article.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-22

"What could have been a very bad day...."

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-21

Not a whole lot of excitement to go around today. Bitterly cold outside, with flurries arriving in the evening and sticking - not too slick on the roads and sidewalks yet, but I bet they'll be treacherous by morning. We did have one unusual event during photography class; one of the girls fainted in the middle of Professor Becerra's light painting demonstration - apparently she hadn't gotten around to eating in a couple of days. Not good. I did get to spend the evening playing Munchkin with Jennifer and her boyfriend Josh; we had hoped for more players, but apparently everyone had studying to do. Perhaps next time.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-21

"Descending Mists"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-20

Seemed like a pretty successful day today; made my first article submission for Journalism and didn't get shredded too very badly by the teacher - he seemed fairly enthusiastic about the pics I submitted as well. Checking my answers against my notes would seem to indicate a score of 13/15 on the A&P lecture quiz, which I'm quite happy with, as there are an awful lot of similar processes to keep track of. Not too much else going on in the evening, so I elected to accept an invitation from the girls to join them during their math study session - I think I was at least a bit of help in clarifying concepts for them, and it was another chance to distract Ivy with the camera while they worked. I have to say - she's a cute subject, but it's a little distracting to have to show her the screen after every frame ;).

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-20

"Nature's Mark"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-19

Getting a 15 out of 15 on my A&P Lab quiz today was a wonderful way to get back in the school mindset. Not sure that my lecture quiz for tomorrow will go quite as smoothly, but I have hopes! Tonight's review session was more sparsely populated than last weeks, but still enlightening. Apparently Professors Li and McVeigh elected to focus almost entirely on sleep and alertness processes this week, while Dr. Torres, my teacher, focused on the spinal cord. I'm sure the lesson plans will catch up to one another by the end of the term, but I heard a lot of information that I wouldn't otherwise have been exposed to yet. Whether that will help me on the quiz or simply distract me from the stuff he concentrated on is up in the air.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-19

"Tuesday Night Crew"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-18

It seemed wise to head back to campus early today, given that the weather service predicted snow for the afternoon on my selected route. My trip was actually quite uneventful through the pass, though there were some impressive cross winds for the last hour stretch or so. Leaving Eden was, as always, difficult, but I'm eager to get back to studying. Seems as though this nervous system stuff is actually sticking, a bit.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-18

"Curvature"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-17

Very little sleep last night. Eden was feeling quite overheated and nauseous, and the dogs were quite demanding; I don't think either of us got more than an hour or two of continuous shut eye. Thus today has been very sedentary. Whatever bug Eden picked up, it seems to have been relatively short lived, letting up for the most part in the late afternoon. Tried to watch the new DVD, "The Hangover" with the girls, but we were compelled to give up after waiting a half hour for the movie to get interesting. Instead, we spent a good portion of the afternoon raiding Vicki and Kari's Tivo for girly movies. All in all, it was a relaxing way to finish up the visit. As a bonus, I think we'll have a number of good pictures of the dogs to leave behind. Didn't get much of a chance (or perhaps more accurately, didn't avail myself of the opportunities) to shoot Rikki, but spent a fair amount of time hanging out with her. She even came up to cuddle for a bit this morning while I was still in bed.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-17

"Exhausted"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-16

Cassie, Eden and I headed to the Gorge today, which was both wet and gorgeous. Got a few pictures that I think will work well for my photo class, illustrating time through the movement of water. Pretty sure my last long exposure won't turn out, however, as there was enough drizzle to make multi-minute shots iffy. That said, I think I got a few of the peaks surrounding Stevenson that should illustrate the adhereing mist quite beautifully.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-16

"World in his eyes"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-15

Today seemed actually pretty quick. Pretty much just woke up, packed up the last few things to go see Eden, then went down to the CU to study with Jennifer. I gotta say, it feels pretty good right now, like I'm actually putting in as much time as I should studying. The scores I'm getting might not reflect it as much as I'd like, but I'm studying harder and more often than I've ever done in my life.

Class with Dr. Torres seemed to go really quickly; in point of fact he finished up about 10 minutes early, which is almost unheard of. Then it was time to get on the road. The trip up seemed reasonably quick, even with the rain coming down in torrents from Eugene on, which made a lot of drivers scary at 80 miles an hour. I even made it in a bit earlier than I'd anticipated to meet the family at Pho Than. Unfortunately, Eden had already figured out the surprise, but it was still a great meeting.

Tonight we will be taking care of Jake, Teddy, and Rikki since our friends Vicki and Kari will be out of town. We had some time with them before Christmas, but we were so busy we didn't really get a chance to enjoy it.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-15

"Pho is Love"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-14

Good day today, spent most of it setting up for the trip up to Vancouver to see Eden. Obviously I'm not going to post this blog entry until after I've arrived, because that would just give it away. Cassie and Suzanne are in on the plan, which is pretty cool. There's only going to be so many times I can pull this trick, before Eden just assumes I'm coming up. Maybe I'll try reversing the trend. There was some possibility that Jennifer would be joining me on the trip up, which would have been awesome, as I've been wanting them to meet pretty much since I met Jennifer, since she and Eden have a massive amount in common, including a history in ceramics, although they come to it from different directions. Unfortunately, that didn't work out this time, but may the next time I head up.

That's a shame, because the evil part of me wanted to set up an prank for Eden, wherein she'd come across Jennifer posing as the "other woman" at a restaurant or somesuch. Fortunately, common sense and a conversation with Cassie pointed out that this might be a bad idea.

We did get a chance to go and see the new movie Daybreakers as part of the local student discount program, which was actually quite good, if a little conveninent in the selected resolution. At the least, it held up better than a lot of recent vampire movies, except perhaps "The Vampire's Assistant", which I enjoyed quite a bit as well. I ended up spending a good 20 minutes at the end of the movie looking frantically for my car keys, before realizing that I'd stashed them in my back pocket for some reason.

I spent most of the early afternoon down at the Lower Klamath Basin Wildlife Refuge shooting - I think I got some really excellent shots, including a few of Bald and Golden Eagles, which don't normally show up (according to this information I'd found) until mid-February. I'm hoping to use these shots for a potential article for my journalism class. I did end up making it to my photography class a touch late, as I misjudged the time it'd take to get back to class. Professor Becerra didn't ask for an excuse, but I think that being late due to shooting might be the best excuse I could have offered.

I am having a bit of trouble getting to sleep tonight, I think maybe that has something to do with the excitement of planning for this trip. I've been planning it ever since I looked at the schedule and saw MLK day off. I know it's a national holiday and I end up with it off pretty much every year, but somehow it always sneaks up on me.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-14

"Mirror Marsh"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-13

So I've been stressing out for the last several days because I didn't have a good idea for a "beat" for my journalism class, and the teacher wanted at least some level of commitment to one today. Halfway to class, I had the huge "duh" moment of writing about things to do around Klamath, which should be easier to make interesting than my fallback concept of dorm cooking, and should coincide with my photography interests quite nicely.

Classes felt pretty rough, as we had weekly quizzes in both A&P and medical terminology. While Roxanne was out today due to having to take care of a sick Ivy, I feel like Jennifer and I got a decent amount of learning done, using the hour before and the hour after A&P to work flashcards. Looks like it'll end up being a more reasonable study schedule than meeting once a week at Roxanne's, like we did last term. I might even try to talk the girls into maintaining the hour gap between classes for the same purpose next term. That said, I am also trying to talk them into making the A&P study group on Tuedsay nights that's run by Sierra Miller; I went to the first one of the term a few nights ago and it seemed beneficial, if only to get the perspective of other teachers' emphases for the final. We'll just have to see what kind of buy-in I can coax out of them .

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-13

"A Habitual Houseguest"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-12

Rough test today in A&P lab. Seems likely that my score of 10/15 is going to be my dropped test at the end of the semester; at least I hope it will be my lowest score of the term. Think I got a little confused when Torres started describing which structure he was looking for based on function, while illustrating the position of said structure on one of the models that didn't point out said structure in our study guide. Going to have to work more on relating names to functionality next time round.



These are the photos I decided to go with for my photography assignment. If you care to, you'll see a number of other candidates in my photostream. They're not as wonderful as I would have liked, but suitable, and honestly probably pretty decent if you judge based on the handicap of a nearly constant migraine for the last week or so. Hopeful news on that front; killer migraine today yet again, but we had some brief blue skies this afternoon, so perhaps the constant trigger of overcast days will break long enough for me to get rid of this cycle.

The photography class today was interesting again; for my own photos, the one of Jennifer was of course the popular choice for commentary from the class - given that I haven't really taken a bad picture of her yet, it's easy to see why. Other students submissions were revealing; there's a wide range of inherent ability within the class - some students had pretty amazing stuff, although not all of the wonderful photos technically fell within the assignment definition. Professor Becerra didn't seem to mind that at all; seemed like this was more for him to get a feel for the skill level within the class.

I did have a couple of revealing epiphanies today, the first of which being that since I moved my A&P lab to Tuesday, my week will have an abrupt downslope after Wednesday, with a single class meeting on Thursday and Friday. I'm looking forward to enjoying that. The second is that there's something going on this term in most of my classes. Not entirely sure what it is, or how to describe it, but it's almost a teacher's pet thing, only actually positive. Torres has taken to checking in with me almost every session to remind him where he left off in lecture, because he knows that I'm good about keeping notes, if not actually retaining the content therein. Becerra, my photography teacher, is leaning on me a bit to get him going on some of the flickr stuff and I've had a number of opportunities to help out the other students already. I guess the easiest way to put it is that I wouldn't be comfortable as a tutor in either subject (certainly not A&P!), but I like having people be able to rely on me. Here's hoping the feeling continues.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-12

"Posing"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-11

Looks like the fog has finally lifted, assisted quite forcefully by extremely stong winds in the area. No let up yet on the overcast skies; in fact we got quite a lot of rain towards the evening. Regardless, today was a bit better day for photography, even though I stayed on campus. Lots of overhanging branches and walkways forming decent frames, which made trying for shots appropriate to the assignment much easier. Think I'm going to end up changing the subject of my assignment to suit this.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-11

"Cloud Peaks"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-10

Spent most of the day running around town, looking for likely subjects for my photography assignment. Got a number of good shots, but I'm not sure I have what I need. The idea is to shoot a trio of pics with a theme that fit the current assignment, which is the concept of frame within a frame, i.e. using branches, walls, etc to establish edges around a central subject. I picked a few different concepts to play with, but I might have to go back out to make sure I get three along the same line that I'm happy with. It's not technically due until 5pm on Tuesday, so I'm all right there, but I'll have classes both days competing for my time. We'll see what things look like on the big screen shortly. If nothing else, I got to meet a few very nice horses along the way (not in relation to the project; they just happened to be local to a trail I was following and I had to go say hi.)

Unfortunately, with the skies being so overcast lately, migraines are never far away, and I was only able to push for three hours or so before it was just too much. I did notice a very peculiar weather phenomenon while I was out, though - the fog I mentioned on the way into town, which has been more or less covering the school for days, is still present. Going downtown, however, reveals that most of the center of the city is completely clear of it, while all of the mountains and elevated hills around are completely covered. I'm sure it'd be a fascinating shot from the right vantage point. Unfortunately, I don't have any friends with a pilot's license as yet... ah well.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-10

"Childhood to the Nth Degree"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-09

Lazy day today. I'm afraid I didn't manage to get anything of value accomplished today, electing instead to give in to the general malaise I've been feeling for the last week. The school has been surrounded by that same dense fog for a couple of days now and it just feels terribly oppressive. Still don't know what I'm going to do for my weekend photography and journalism assignments.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-09

"Lazy Day"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-08

It's the end of an era tomorrow, or so I hear. My favorite band, Circled by Hounds is splitting up, and will have their final show tomorrow night. Unfortunately, I only heard about it this evening, too late to make the run up to Portland this evening, and I just can't justify a run back for what will end up being essentially a few hours if I leave in the morning when finances are so unstable. I'll be there in spirit though, and all of our friends that can possibly get there will be attending to see them off the stage properly.

As for me, my day was pretty easy, school-wise - only an hour in A&P lecture today. Both Jennifer and I collected appropriate signatures to make the appropriate class schedule adjustments for our respective plans and turned them in successfully. Dr. Torres, as always, was more than understanding and supportive. I probably sound like a broken record, but he's just a good guy, and a great teacher. Nice to have around. More or less migraine free today, but the thin air is back to giving me nighttime nosebleeds and I just feel bloody well drained all day. Ah well.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-08

"Company"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-07

A&P lab was interesting today, not least because the teacher I signed up for (Torres) isn't teaching this section. Turns out he got bumped from that slot to make room for a new hire. Not to worry, though - he has a similar section on Tuesday that we should be able to move to; I have an appointment for a signature after class tomorrow. That's another bit of news - Jennifer had thought she wasn't going to be able to take A&P this term, which would have cost me half of my study buddies. She juggled a bit and talked with the department and it looks like she's good to go there. With the move to a Tuesday lab, we're already thinking of a study session as soon as Sunday or Monday night. Throwing things on the school blog has already helped a bit, in motivation. I had the flashcards for today's lab lecture done this morning before it was technically taught.

My photography course, in turn, was a bit astonishing, to be honest. Towards the end of the class the instructor mentioned a bit of agonizing about how to gather the classes' photos for efficient display, etc. Another student mentioned flickr as a possible vehicle, and the idea stuck, although said student had difficulty pulling up his own account. I was drafted to create a quick group and give the instructor a crash course in signing up and uploading to the service. I have to say, I think that this'll make things even more interesting for me in the class, as at the moment I'm the primary administrator for the group. If any of you get a wild hair and want to see the class submissions (please don't join the group unless you're in the class; right now it's unsecured so that students can join), have a look at http://www.flickr.com/groups/oitart207/ - there probably won't be much there until next week, as our first assignment isn't due until Tuesday.

The night finished out going to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie with Nick and Chad. I have to say that it wasn't quite what I expected, but it was very enjoyable. I think I can say without any fear of spoilage that the credit for costume designer given at the end of the film was absolutely perfect and honestly one of my favorite parts of the flick.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-07

"Committed"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-06

Another interesting day today, with yet more migraine time.... dizzy as heck all afternoon, but not horribly affecting my school time - seemed to mostly hit whenever I moved from a sedentary position. Regardless, I got a fair amount done. Started a new habit today, or at least something I'll try to make a habit - all of my notes and such that might be of use to classmates are hitting the school blog as soon as they're done - should help a bit to keep me on task, based on how that level of accountability helped me last term. Overall just a mediocre "hump" day.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-06

"Mud Bridge"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-05

Traveling at low impulse today - just can't seem to get going. Didn't actually get out of bed for any real length of time until noon. Just couldn't seem to find any energy. It worked out ok, given that Tuesday means just one class (my new digital photography course), but I just felt drained the whole day.

It looks like the course will be interesting (the instructor's website is here), but the technical side of things will likely land as pretty basic, from the feel of things. We'll also be spending a not-insignificant amount of time on learning Photoshop, which I honestly feel will be a bit of a waste of time, at least from the perspective of most of our students. The package is so expensive, even as an academic license, that most of our people won't see it again outside of the classroom. On the other hand, there are any number of other programs (GIMP comes to mind) that perform the same processes, and would be as useful. I guess my beef is that he seems to be teaching the program itself, rather than the concepts that are nearly universal in editing software. Perhaps I'm judging too harshly based on a single session. Probably so.

On the positive side, the class is jam-packed full, and I think there'll be a lot of chances to learn from one another. If nothing else, I've already been able to help a few other students when they can't quite grasp the procedure he's trying to teach. Early night tonight - falling asleep in front of the screen at 9.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-05

"Hole in the Sky"

Christmas Quicklink collection

Direct links to the various Christmases we had the privilege of attending this year.


Scheans Christmas 2009


Byram Christmas 2009


Snow Christmas 2009

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-04

Back to classes again. Journalism looks to be a bit different than I thought it would be. Our teacher is actually the sports columnist for the local Herald and News, so that'll be interesting. His oratory today wavered between encouraging and intimidating, often within the same sentence. A&P was refreshingly normal feeling - looks like we'll be hitting the brain and surrounding nerves this term, which I'm kind of looking forward to. I have kind of a premonition that they'll slot into making sense for me in the same way that physics does. We'll see how that goes.

Medical terminology on the other hand, also with Torres, was impressively amusing to start with. The class had something like 70-80 students signed up, and the classroom they stuck us in had a capacity of perhaps 20. Dr. Torres promptly decided to reclaim his A&P lecture hall for the afternoon - we'll see where we end up on Wednesday. The actual subject matter of the course seems almost impressively straightforward, perhaps thanks in part to my previous medical transcription experience. Whatever the source, I'm hoping the coursework is as easy in fact as it seems to be on first glance.

My migraine cycle continues, although it didn't really clamp down too hard until my final course of the day. Normal abatement strategies actually brought the pain level down to nearly imperceptible for most of the afternoon and evening, although aphasia and dizziness were pretty hardcore. Oh well, if this is a semi-normal cycle, I should be able to anticipate things letting up in a week or two since the cycle started in Minnesota.

Book buying for the term actually wasn't too vicious this time around, as my photography course doesn't have a text and I already have my A&P book. For the moment I'm holding off on the assigned medical terminology book, as it looks like I'll be generating nearly all of my own study materials for that anyway. We'll see what things look like when Dr. Torres actually remembers the syllabus.
On the plus side of things, I've finally caught up on processing my daily picture output - shooting nearly constantly while in Minnesota really put me behind. That said, at the current upload rate in the dorm, it still might take me a few days to get all of the pictures up. With that in mind, it's time to start posting the daily mini-blogs I started a few days ago, and throwing in placeholders for the posts that should land in between chronologically.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-04

"Book Buying Time"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-03

Today was the voyage "home" or perhaps more accurately, the passage back from home. Mercifully, the migraine I woke with retreated for the most part during the drive back, only occasionally peeking around corners to stab at untoward times. Parting with Eden was semi-sweet - I seem to repeatedly catch myself these days rather suddenly realizing how much I love her. While I already miss her, I am looking forward to resuming my studies tomorrow and my journey towards regaining a useful trade to support her and our eventual family.

Not much in the way of fun shooting today, as I was primarily focused on the trip, although I must mention the incredible fog Nick and I encountered 20 miles outside of Klamath, thick and viscous and nearly solid. Visibility dropped to perhaps 30 feet and stayed that way all the way back. The comedian that seems to live at the back of my brain couldn't help but remark that whatever deity was running the place had better get around to upgrading his rendering engine, because this was ridiculous!

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-03

"Perched"

Daily Post (Josh) 2010-01-02

Today was a good day to finish out my christmas vacation back home. Cassie and Eden and I decided to spend the day at the coast. We had intermittent rain all day and I had a mother of a migraine that swung wildly between agony, dizziness, and nausea, but it was still a good time. Our transit between Cannon Beach and Manzanita was especially memorable, as there was an incredible patch of sunlight just off the coast in the water, surrounded by various showers. I haven't looked at the results yet, other than on the camera LCD, but I think I ended up with a few spectacular shots.

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-02

"Sunlit showers"

Daily Pic (Josh) 2010-01-01

"Moose pants!"

Daily Pic (Josh) 2009-12-31

"Chilly Beach"

Daily Pic (Josh) 2009-12-30

"Time Portal"

Daily Pic (Josh) 2009-12-29

"Sunset view"

Daily Pic (Josh) 2009-12-28

"Sisters"

Daily Pic (Josh) 2009-12-27

"Peeking"