A little free association
I had a really good idea for a post, but completely forgot it, so I'm going to try a little free association. I'm just going to put my brain in gear and let my fingers put it down on paper (so to speak). I'm going to try to edit it as little as possible - I'll fix typo's but probably leave spelling mistakes and stuff. And maybe my original post idea will pop up somewheres.
I been doin panorama scenes with a photo stitching program and my Kodak 6?0 camera. I think it's 670 zoom or something - anyhow it's a pretty good consumer level camera - it doesn't have some features that consumers generally want, but I like the results I get with it - for its price range. I need to learn more about photography. I'd like to become a professional photographer some day. I don't think I need to go to school for this - just absorb as much information as I can by talking to other people, reading, and by doing it - you know, trying different things.
I'm planning to go to Hawaii in November - as most of my family knows by now. I've been planning to take a lot of pictures while I'm there. The place I'll be staying is off the power grid, but uses solar energy to power the few things they need electricity for. They have a computer to get on the internet and stuff, but must limit their time on it because of the limited electricity availability. So I'm planning to stock up on batteries for my camera. I got a 2 gig camera card. I'll have my laptop with me. I might keep the pictures on the card until it's full, then transfer them to the laptop, using the computer for nothing else so as to conserve its battery charge. I plan to take my bicycle - I'll make a cover for it to take it on the airplane. And I should be able to take my bike into town once in a while - with my computer and camera (of course). To charge it and maybe get some internet access somewhere that I can take my time - chat and so forth.
Photo stitching came to me at a very convenient time. I will have enough time in Wyoming to play with it and get good at it so that I can get some really good shots in Hawaii.
No. I am not at all concerned with the recent earthquake in Hawaii. I am not afraid of earthquakes. So long as the place wants me, there is little that will keep me from going.
My motivation for going to Hawaii is quite extensive. It's something I've been thinking about for probably more than a year now - what was the date of my post titled "Yup, they have a webpage" or something like that. that's how long I've been thinking about it.
I almost gave up the idea earlier this summer. I was working in Kentucky on a water park. My biggest goal right now is to become a commercial diver (deep sea and the like - it's technically not SCUBA though it uses some similar equipment). While working in Kentucky, I was overcome by the desire to pursue this goal - and other lesser, but still very significant goals. This desire was mostly subconscious and I didn't really understand it at the time. It was making me crazy (er... crazier) - if you could have observed me at this time (and if you already knew me), you would likely be shocked at my very uncharacteristic behavior. Not that my behavior was really "bad" just very different for me. And I was very at ease about it. I did not know what was causing it or how or why. Now I believe that it was a combination of many factors which were all converging in that one period. It's over now, but the change is done. I am set on a course to reach my goals. But the need to pursue diving was so strong that I did not want to take the time to go to Hawaii first - and after diving school, it would be very impractical to go because I'd have loans to pay off and I'd have to work to do so. So I was resigned to the fact that I would not get to live in Hawaii for any significant length of time.
At the peak of my craziness, I quit my job, borrowed my (ex)boss's car, went to a water park with some former coworkers (had the time of my life there), returned my boss's car, drove a friend's camero to a car dealership and bought a car, and then went back to the water park. The job, building water slides, was definitely the best job I've had so far. And I stayed at it far longer than any job I'd ever had. I think my record before the water slides was 4 months - when I was at the Air Force Base in Alaska. I may have worked at the machine shop longer than that though - but it definitely wasn't more than 6 months. I built water slides for something like 20 months. There were lots of people doing it who didn't like it for various reasons. Some people quit. Some people quit, then came back, then quit again. I did not agree with any of their reasons for leaving and I did not leave for any of the same reasons. Instead of my reasons for leaving, I'm going to discuss the reasons that I stayed as long as I did. Within 3 months of starting the job, I was already feeling the urge to move on. It would have come sooner except that this job was totally unlike any I'd had before - living in hotels, eating in restaurants 2 or 3 meals a day, building waterslides (the work itself is quite unique). A big reason that I did not leave sooner was the travel. I have the wanderlust, the need to travel, absolutely no connection to any particular geographic location and no want of one. I need change - I quickly get bored and start becoming depressed with prolonged routine. When I'm on the move, I feel alive - life is good, worth living, exciting! The job provided that, if not at the pace that I would like - and work left little time for anything else, but work was rewarding, often exciting, often fun. I liked it. Also, I liked the people I worked for and with - my boss, his brother and their family(ies), and my other coworkers. Some people were irritated by the workings of the company - pay schedules and the like, but none of that bothered me as long as I got paid none of the other stuff mattered - though I could sympathize with those who were irritated by it. Some people experienced a great deal of stress in their personal lives because of our work schedules and being away from family for extended periods - there was one divorce and threats of at least two others, but being absolutely single I did not experience such problems - though it did contribute to less serious family problems for me - but it was often also an escape from some such problems. So I stayed longer than many of my coworkers. I hated to quit, but could see no alternative. Due to my mental state, my performance was really starting to slide and my motivation was nearly non existant. If I did not quit, it would rapidly get worse. I had to will myself to hold onto some degree of sanity long enough to complete the Kentucky job, of which I was in charge. My boss became concerned with the progress of the job and came down for a few days - I felt terrible for making him have to do that. And I felt terrible for quitting, but I saw no alternative.
So now I'm working, temporarily, for a guy in Wyoming doing some stick-framing construction. My boss left for a few days. He left me in charge of the crew. Why me? I don't want to be in charge of anybody but me. It's not my fault that none of the others are very compitent. I don't think that I am. So I'm just trying not to mess it up too bad. Fortunately I only have one day left of this. I told my boss, before I even started working for him, that I am leaving in November. My second day on the job he was trying to talk me out of it.
My typing with the Colemak layout is getting faster. I really like it. I still have to work on a few keys - like ":/;". And my fingers need more practice on all the rest, but my speed is now tolerable - still making too many mistakes though. I would fail high school word processing with this many mistakes.
I need to get some better photography equipment - a professional digital camera (Nikon's look good), a professional tripod with panorama head, dual camera head, various lenses and lense filters, etc. A fisheye lense would be nice - they have up to 180 deg field of view - could stitch some 360 deg spherical projection scenes with one of those.
If I won the lottery (impossible since I don't play), I would probably spend a large chunk of it on camera and computer equipment. If someone handed me a million dollars and said I had to spend it on camera equipment, I could easily do it.
I may be going down to the Gros Ventre (Grow-Vaunt) this weekend with my dad. He's going down to try to find an elk rack that he left down there - I'm hoping for some decent weather so I can shoot some panoramas.
Well, I'm quite tired now. I don't think that my original post idea came up. I'd like to keep going in hopes that it will, but don't think that my brain is functioning well enough anymore. Sorry about the long spiel in there.
My phone service has been cancelled because I didn't pay the bill last month - I am not sure if it is worth re-activating it or not. If the early termination fee is less than $150, then I think that I am going to go that route because it would be cheaper in the long run since I probably won't be using the phone much in Hawaii.
maybe next time I do this I'll go into another long spiel about my reasons for wanting to go to Hawaii - besides the everyday desire to visit Hawaii that everyone must have. My real reasons actually have nothing to do with "Hawaii".
I been doin panorama scenes with a photo stitching program and my Kodak 6?0 camera. I think it's 670 zoom or something - anyhow it's a pretty good consumer level camera - it doesn't have some features that consumers generally want, but I like the results I get with it - for its price range. I need to learn more about photography. I'd like to become a professional photographer some day. I don't think I need to go to school for this - just absorb as much information as I can by talking to other people, reading, and by doing it - you know, trying different things.
I'm planning to go to Hawaii in November - as most of my family knows by now. I've been planning to take a lot of pictures while I'm there. The place I'll be staying is off the power grid, but uses solar energy to power the few things they need electricity for. They have a computer to get on the internet and stuff, but must limit their time on it because of the limited electricity availability. So I'm planning to stock up on batteries for my camera. I got a 2 gig camera card. I'll have my laptop with me. I might keep the pictures on the card until it's full, then transfer them to the laptop, using the computer for nothing else so as to conserve its battery charge. I plan to take my bicycle - I'll make a cover for it to take it on the airplane. And I should be able to take my bike into town once in a while - with my computer and camera (of course). To charge it and maybe get some internet access somewhere that I can take my time - chat and so forth.
Photo stitching came to me at a very convenient time. I will have enough time in Wyoming to play with it and get good at it so that I can get some really good shots in Hawaii.
No. I am not at all concerned with the recent earthquake in Hawaii. I am not afraid of earthquakes. So long as the place wants me, there is little that will keep me from going.
My motivation for going to Hawaii is quite extensive. It's something I've been thinking about for probably more than a year now - what was the date of my post titled "Yup, they have a webpage" or something like that. that's how long I've been thinking about it.
I almost gave up the idea earlier this summer. I was working in Kentucky on a water park. My biggest goal right now is to become a commercial diver (deep sea and the like - it's technically not SCUBA though it uses some similar equipment). While working in Kentucky, I was overcome by the desire to pursue this goal - and other lesser, but still very significant goals. This desire was mostly subconscious and I didn't really understand it at the time. It was making me crazy (er... crazier) - if you could have observed me at this time (and if you already knew me), you would likely be shocked at my very uncharacteristic behavior. Not that my behavior was really "bad" just very different for me. And I was very at ease about it. I did not know what was causing it or how or why. Now I believe that it was a combination of many factors which were all converging in that one period. It's over now, but the change is done. I am set on a course to reach my goals. But the need to pursue diving was so strong that I did not want to take the time to go to Hawaii first - and after diving school, it would be very impractical to go because I'd have loans to pay off and I'd have to work to do so. So I was resigned to the fact that I would not get to live in Hawaii for any significant length of time.
At the peak of my craziness, I quit my job, borrowed my (ex)boss's car, went to a water park with some former coworkers (had the time of my life there), returned my boss's car, drove a friend's camero to a car dealership and bought a car, and then went back to the water park. The job, building water slides, was definitely the best job I've had so far. And I stayed at it far longer than any job I'd ever had. I think my record before the water slides was 4 months - when I was at the Air Force Base in Alaska. I may have worked at the machine shop longer than that though - but it definitely wasn't more than 6 months. I built water slides for something like 20 months. There were lots of people doing it who didn't like it for various reasons. Some people quit. Some people quit, then came back, then quit again. I did not agree with any of their reasons for leaving and I did not leave for any of the same reasons. Instead of my reasons for leaving, I'm going to discuss the reasons that I stayed as long as I did. Within 3 months of starting the job, I was already feeling the urge to move on. It would have come sooner except that this job was totally unlike any I'd had before - living in hotels, eating in restaurants 2 or 3 meals a day, building waterslides (the work itself is quite unique). A big reason that I did not leave sooner was the travel. I have the wanderlust, the need to travel, absolutely no connection to any particular geographic location and no want of one. I need change - I quickly get bored and start becoming depressed with prolonged routine. When I'm on the move, I feel alive - life is good, worth living, exciting! The job provided that, if not at the pace that I would like - and work left little time for anything else, but work was rewarding, often exciting, often fun. I liked it. Also, I liked the people I worked for and with - my boss, his brother and their family(ies), and my other coworkers. Some people were irritated by the workings of the company - pay schedules and the like, but none of that bothered me as long as I got paid none of the other stuff mattered - though I could sympathize with those who were irritated by it. Some people experienced a great deal of stress in their personal lives because of our work schedules and being away from family for extended periods - there was one divorce and threats of at least two others, but being absolutely single I did not experience such problems - though it did contribute to less serious family problems for me - but it was often also an escape from some such problems. So I stayed longer than many of my coworkers. I hated to quit, but could see no alternative. Due to my mental state, my performance was really starting to slide and my motivation was nearly non existant. If I did not quit, it would rapidly get worse. I had to will myself to hold onto some degree of sanity long enough to complete the Kentucky job, of which I was in charge. My boss became concerned with the progress of the job and came down for a few days - I felt terrible for making him have to do that. And I felt terrible for quitting, but I saw no alternative.
So now I'm working, temporarily, for a guy in Wyoming doing some stick-framing construction. My boss left for a few days. He left me in charge of the crew. Why me? I don't want to be in charge of anybody but me. It's not my fault that none of the others are very compitent. I don't think that I am. So I'm just trying not to mess it up too bad. Fortunately I only have one day left of this. I told my boss, before I even started working for him, that I am leaving in November. My second day on the job he was trying to talk me out of it.
My typing with the Colemak layout is getting faster. I really like it. I still have to work on a few keys - like ":/;". And my fingers need more practice on all the rest, but my speed is now tolerable - still making too many mistakes though. I would fail high school word processing with this many mistakes.
I need to get some better photography equipment - a professional digital camera (Nikon's look good), a professional tripod with panorama head, dual camera head, various lenses and lense filters, etc. A fisheye lense would be nice - they have up to 180 deg field of view - could stitch some 360 deg spherical projection scenes with one of those.
If I won the lottery (impossible since I don't play), I would probably spend a large chunk of it on camera and computer equipment. If someone handed me a million dollars and said I had to spend it on camera equipment, I could easily do it.
I may be going down to the Gros Ventre (Grow-Vaunt) this weekend with my dad. He's going down to try to find an elk rack that he left down there - I'm hoping for some decent weather so I can shoot some panoramas.
Well, I'm quite tired now. I don't think that my original post idea came up. I'd like to keep going in hopes that it will, but don't think that my brain is functioning well enough anymore. Sorry about the long spiel in there.
My phone service has been cancelled because I didn't pay the bill last month - I am not sure if it is worth re-activating it or not. If the early termination fee is less than $150, then I think that I am going to go that route because it would be cheaper in the long run since I probably won't be using the phone much in Hawaii.
maybe next time I do this I'll go into another long spiel about my reasons for wanting to go to Hawaii - besides the everyday desire to visit Hawaii that everyone must have. My real reasons actually have nothing to do with "Hawaii".
posted by phil at 7:56 PM
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