Insomnia

Can't sleep. Up again at 4:55. It's all so wonderfully quite. No sounds anywhere.

It rained hard yesterday evening and into the night. I vaguely remember waking briefly because of a thunder clap. The rain poured. It came in sheets and sheets of gushing water. It sounded like we were sleeping under a waterfall. And yet there is something soothing about the steady rain crashing atop the roof outside.

Last night I was in the shop building a frame rack for a friend. It was raining so hard it was difficult to hear my table saw. I opened the garage door and watched the water fall outside. The rainwater from the roof gushed out the downspouts. My driveway became the sluices for the downpour. The plants seemed happy. It's been hot here.

Spoke to a work associate earlier this week. He was calling into a conference from Pakistan. We asked how the weather was in Pakistan. Says it was it was cold there. I didn't know Pakistan got cold. "How cold?" I asked.

"Oh" he said "it's down to 70 right now."

"70? Cold? What was the temperature earlier then?" I pressed.

"It was 120 degrees at noon."

I can't even fathom 120 degrees. You might as well climb into an oven. Wait, you wouldn't need an oven. Just put your eggs out on the sidewalk. In three minutes they'd be done.

One hundred and twenty degrees? Is it possible to get that hot here on earth? Where is Pakistan anyway? Maybe that's not a place here on earth. Maybe it's on Venus? That planet gets pretty hot. Yeah, that must be it.

In 120 degree temperatures I can't imagine walking around much. Most of the folks would most likely melt if exposed to those temperatures for any length of time. I visualize a Far Side comic of melted people in the streets. Just faces staring up at you as you walk by.

I remember as a kid driving through Bakersfield California in an old Buick. No air conditioning in those days. It was so hot the air pressed in on my lungs, intent on suffocating me. There was no breeze. Even the air passing by the window outside felt like a blast furnace. I couldn't get any cooler putting my head out the window. I just risked singeing my eyebrows in the heat.

The old Buick had a bench seat. That was before bucket seats were popular. The good news was that you could fit an entire family in the front. That bad news was we did AND it was 110 degrees. Did I mention that it was hot?

For some reason our family of four was stuffed in the front driving through Bakersfield in 110 degree temperatures. There was another family in the back. We had it good in the front. There was four of us. They had six!

And that's all I know about Bakersfield. That's all I know about heat. That's all I know about anything.

So where was I? Oh, yeah. It's dark out. All's quite in the house. There's a few birds now waking up. Some are chirping in the backyard.

It's 6:07. Eric's alarm went off. The day has started. Time to make the coffee.

...dave
No vacation goes unpunished. -Karl A. Hakkarainen

Photo Collage

Since returning from our trip to China I've been wanting to get some of my pictures up on our wall. Our hallway now has track lighting which works well for a sort of gallery space. The idea is to have a theme for a wall. The left wall is dedicated to China.

So here it is: The China Photo Collage.

I bought four 20x30 black foam core boards and mounted three 10x12, seven 5x7, and nine 4x6 pictures to them. I then built up the pictures in various depths. The hardest thing is achieving three dementional balance. I had to balance the depth, the picture sizes, and their colors. Distributing the colors across the canvas of pictures is key. If I put all the grey colors in one side, it looked strange.

Now I'm ready to tackle a book.

...dave
Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.

Talking Candid Pictures

Here's a how-to on taking good candid pictures.

First: Use a camera that immediately responds to the press of the shutter release. The inexpensive point-and-shoot digitals usually have a delay that works against taking good candid pictures. The better digital SLRs (single lens reflex) cameras with interchangeable lenses work best. If you can't afford them, test the point-and-shoot's trigger delay before you buy.

Second: Keep your camera near your shooting eye. Keep shooting after the initial picture. Usually the first picture is posed and stiff. If you keep shooting, people will return to their discussion and ignore you altogether.

Third: Talk to them as you hold the camera up. Ask them questions about what's in front of them. This will help them relax and focus on the things they enjoy.

Here's a few pictures I've taken at several parties. The table discussion was happening as I walked up to the table. I walked up with my eye behind the camera and started shooting. Since they were in mid-conversation they continued on while I kept shooting.

The little boy covering his eyes was the second shot. The first shot was too bright and on reflex he covered his eyes. I still had the camera up to my eye and and quickly squeezed off another picture.

The third shot of little Erin doing the cutesy thing with her cheeks happened because I was talking with her as I walked up. I put the camera up to my eye and said: "What is it you want to eat first?" And rather randomly she posed for me. I wasn't expecting it. Sometimes you just have to be ready for anything.

...dave
A camera is just a mirror with a memory.

A View From The Top

I sit now at the top floor of our Enterprise Buildings. I'm at the 19th floor now. I've moved from a lower floor and to a better cube. The cube is next to the glass wall of windows that overlook Atlanta. It's a heady move. I also have a bigger cube with wrap around work surface. Which would have been fine in and of itself. The work surface I mean. But the view is grand.

I'm poised with my feet up on the window sill and glass coffee mug just a clutch away. This is the best part of the day. It's just 7:20. Few people have arrived. I've eaten my breakfast of eggs, potatoes, and a single strip of bacon. I have allocated another 20 minutes of writing before I start my day. It's a long day of meetings right through lunch and on into the afternoon. But for now, this is my time just before the craziness starts.

I glance up from my keyboard just past the notebook's screen and look north-eastward. I can see the orange circle raise from the horizon. The morning mist settles in the valleys like fluffy white cotton candy. It glistens in the morning sun.

The traffic below is a hum of bees streaming to work the city hives.

My coffee filters through the Sumatra grounds inside the brewing station. It's perched atop the small refrigerator that holds a small fortune of Peets coffee. (I'm a Peetnic. I get regular premium shipments of Peets coffee every other month. I stash them in my office fridge for fresh keeping.)

The phone is ringing. Time to start the day.

...dave
You can't leave footprints in the sands of time if you're sitting on your butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?