October 28, 2004
picasso's ladies
while i was in lakeland with the kirby's we spent an afternoon at the polk museum of art. it really is quite an incredible museum for such a small city so i try to visit any time i'm in lakeland. this time it did not disappoint. their current exhibit is Picasso: 25 Years of Edition Ceramics from the Edward Weston Collection. i had no idea that picasso had gotten so interested in ceramics and its neat to see his style and his artistic approach brought to a different medium. there's a great write-up and more photos on their site.
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so the sox finally won the world series, and what a decisive win it was. a four-game sweep over the cardinals after a the 7-game trial against the yankees. it almost seems anti-climactic not to have had a longer series, but a sweep certainly puts to rest any doubts about the curse being broken. a friend sent me this article yesterday about the game last night. (i still haven't had a chance to read it, but supposedly it's excellent.)
announcement: stephen beck and ben horner will be hosting a halloween party on saturday night with an open invite for all. the only requirement is that you come in costome and either BYOB or bring cash for the community beverages.
October 27, 2004
...one year later
no, that title does not refer to my recent inactivity here on the blog. it was one year ago today that i began the daily photo on external monologue. what started as an experiment, an exercise in photography, has turned into something of a passion, bordering on an obsession, and at times even a burden. while at times i've been frustrated at forcing myself to get something online each day, the greatest part about it all is that it keeps me shooting, even when i don't feel like it. i want to thank everyone who reads and comments for the constant encouragement to keep at it and the compliments on my photos. i feel like i've learned so much in the last year and the eager audience certainly causes me to push my limits.
so, what's next? i'm not sure. i told myself i'd reevaluate after a year and decide if the project was worth continuing. at this point, i do plan to just keep things going at the rate i have but i would like to make some changes before long. the site is in dire need of a redesign and i'm hoping to work on that soon. i'd like to pitch one of my designer friends to help me come up with an interface more situated around the daily photo, but also add some features like the option to rate photos and even purchase them. so stick around, and keep reading and commenting.
today's photo is another one from my time in lakeland. we played poker one night over at richard's house and i got some pretty cool shots of the action at the table.
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in other news... my free ipod actually arrived in the mail yesterday! so thanks to everyone who signed up under me and for all of you still working on your referrals, keep at it. it actually works!
oh, and about my new job (for those of you still reading). i started this past monday at tricycle. my official title is "interactive systems developer" which is a fancy way of saying that i'll be doing flash development along with some .NET programming. so far it's just been a lot of paperwork, but i'm getting settled in and will report more as things progress.
October 26, 2004
the (southern) kirbys
okay, im' back... finally. sorry for the long break in posting. the final week of my vacation was spent up at my brother's house in pittsburgh which is currently a construction zone and doesn't have much in the way of internet access. i was there from wednesday to saturday and spent the days constructing and installing mill's pride cabinets, and the nights drinking good beer. this photo however is from lakeland and my time with the kirby's down there. cannon hams it up with their newest addition, fern caldwell kirby.
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now i'm back in chattanooga, and back to work. although, i have a new job now so i can't really say back to work. speaking of which, i've got loads to do right now so i'll try to give a more comprehensive update tomorrow. thanks for hanging in there everyone...
October 17, 2004
more of the bridge...
i think i could make pictures of bridges all day long and not run out of things to shoot...
and more...
this is my favorite picture of the bunch. this pier leads out to some more of the sailing clubs boats.
more catchup
this is the view from outside joel's dormitory. step out the door and down to the coastline and you see the new hope bay bridge, one of the many bridges onto this little island where RWU is situated, along with some of the sailing clubs boats.
catching up
sorry about the lack of pictures lately. i've had inconsistent access to the interenet lately which has made it hard to upload much. nevertheless, i have been making quite alot of photographs, 6 of which i'll upload now to get things caught up a bit.
i'm in rhode island presently - have been here since friday night. left the kirby's and lakeland on thursday and spent the night in gainesville at my parents house. after an early morning breakfast and attending their friday morning prayer group i got on the road to atlanta. brother tim and i flew out from there friday evening and landed in providence, RI, late that night. dad picked us up and we've been visiting with joel and touring around roger williams and various parts of rhode island the last few days. this afternoon we were in newport (home of the folk festival) for lunch and an afternoon guinness and have returned to RWU to pick up joel before we head into providence for the evening. i'm here until tuesday morning and then back to atlanta and chattanooga for a couple days.
this is one of many photos i've taken of sailboats since arriving here. the great number of them and the way they span the water lends itself well to panoramic shots, as does much of the scenery around here.
October 12, 2004
central florida panoramic
(this picture's going to screw up the layout on the site - yet another reason for me to revamp this thing soon. oh well...) i crested the rise in a hill on US98 headed south this afternoon on my way to lakeland and came upon this scene. i circled back and spent a few minutes photographing from the side of the road and trying not to get hit by passing semis.
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i'm down here in lakeland for a few days visiting the southern kirby's, cannon, leah and new addition fern caldwell kirby. i'll be here till friday and then head up to atlanta. (tommy - sorry i'll miss you while you're in gville. it would be fun to hang out at "our" old stomping grounds. jesse's marrying the fox girl i presume?) looks like we'll be playing some poker tomorrow night - the game is all the rage down here as it is in chattanooga. i'll probably get taken for another $10, but it is more fun than a movie. other than that i'm hoping to spend some time in the darkroom, and sit in on some of the classes at the cambridge study center.
October 11, 2004
back in gville
i arrived back in gainesville, florida for the beginning of a two week vacation. i've been staying at my parents house for the last few days trying to be as helpful here as possible. we've spent a good bit of time toting some of the hurricane debris off to the dump. today i worked around the house some and then carted some of my dad's stuff from the house over to his new offices. yesterday we went to church at faith, the church that i grew up in for the most part, and then spent a lazy afternoon at the house with the suttons ("Dan" from the comment column). all in all it's felt like a pretty productive few days. i suppose that sounds strange coming from someone on vacation, but when you spend 40+ hours a week behind a computer it feels good to do some manual labor. this is a close-up shot of some of the damage to my parents deck in the back.
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more tomorrow from lakeland...
October 06, 2004
lilypad flowers
an old picture from our family vacation down in atlanta this summer. this was taken while walking around in the botanical gardens there.
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i missed the vice-presidential debates last night so i'm just finishing up watching them on c-span.org. now this is a debate! the gloves are starting to come off and i only hope that the presidential candidates will follow suit on friday. its interesting to see cheney in this context as he's typically so behind the scenes, and i have to admit that i'm pretty impressed with his performance. granted, i still find this "man behind the curtain" pretty scary but i can't see how the media outlets are claiming that anyone but cheney walked away with this debate. he comes across as a disappointed parental figure to edward's scrambling and smarmy lawyer-ease. but at least they talked about something other than iraq and didn't spend the entire evening repeating themselves.
jim burer and i spent a few hours editing down the footage from last weekend. this little film is really starting to look good and i think we'll have something pretty solid once it's all done.
free-mp3: haven't done one of these in a while... this is how's it gonna end from the new tom waits album, real gone. man, i love this guy.
October 05, 2004
new skillz
last night bob demarco and i worked til 2am cutting and laying the last pieces of tile for his new bathroom. bob put me in front of the wetsaw and shouted out measurements all night long while i tried to keep up. but it was pretty fun and now i do know how to tile a bathroom - at least generally. bob has this great way of just trusting that you can handle whatever he throws at you and it always means that you learn alot and that you feel pretty satisfied by the end of the evening.
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man.. i'm really tired. sorry about not posting yesterday. i've got my hands pretty full at work these days - i'll elaborate more on that later.
in regards to the comment-discussion that's been going on about the format here. i don't have any plans to divide the blog into photos and "other stuff". i mean, that's kind of the whole point. the photos are the hook that get people to read my little musings and opinions on other issues, not to mention the community announcements. granted, i'd love more commentary on the photos but for the most part its just an exercise for me to keep my photo skillz developing.
saw maria full of grace last night and really enjoyed it. i think i was expecting it to be a more discomforting film, and not that it was exactly pleasant, but it was very tastefully done considering the subject matter and still pretty compelling on the whole. 2 thumbs up.
October 01, 2004
more accident photos
first off, if you missed yesterday's photo and post go back and read it now. it will give you a much better understanding of this photo. most of you will recognize josiah roe's truck, or what's left of it at least. i think i've taken quite a few pictures of this truck in the past year of blogging and it looks like an era may be coming to an end. i took this one after they hauled the dodge durango off on a towtruck. i still can't believe what a surreal experience the whole thing was. and only a half hour earlier a handfull of us were standing around chatting in that exact spot.
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a few things...
paul graham has a new article up (the guy who did the really good piece on the age of the essay previously). this one's about the stock market bust. i haven't finished it yet, but i can't imagine that it won't be worth reading.
more pictures up over on montyfam.org - there's a new gallery of photos from my parents house where the hurricane dropped a huge tree on the porch and roof.
i finally got to meet nick herndon or space city ramblin' - one of my favorite blogs of late. he was at the birthday party on saturday night and we spent some time chatting cameras, photography, school and life in general. he's got another great post on his blog that i think everyone should read.
i heart huckabees came out today, though not in chattanooga of course. i finally watched the trailer and it looks pretty good. i was a big fan of three kings so i hope huckabees makes it to chatt-town before long.
and last, and least, did anyone watch the debates last night? what an unsurprising disappointment... i think i feel worse about both candidates after watching the debate, and for someone who feels like there's not much of a good option in this election, that's bad. bush seems more and more blind to his own inability to change course even when the "facts" have changed and kerry seems more and more foolishly idealistic about a situation that's clearly not as simplistic as his rhetoric implies.