We’re all okay here, situation normal…

Just thought I’d toss an awesome photo up to see if I am right or not about something else entirely….

BMW R1200GS Photo

Now, please, google… index away. Thanks in advance.

Heck, I’ll even add one more way to see if it works too…

What an incredible day…

First, I get to work to find out that a couple of the pictures I had left with Dad got submitted to the local paper ended up being one of the two published to cover the Ultimate Five Run in Dyersburg, TN, which was a run benefiting Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society in conjunction with the Boss Hoss Annual Rally got published on page 10 of the local paper in monday’s State Gazette with another photo by my dearly beloved. Wow. I’m now a published (if uncredited, silly paper…) photographer.

Then I’m going through my emails, and Randy Burns, a local artist in Dyersburg whom I met, for the second time, over the past weekend at a book sale in the Dyersburg public library, had left me a wonderful comment on my Terrawolf site. Now I know this may not seem like much on the surface, but if you take a few minutes to browse over to his site, you’ll see the incredible work he does. The checkout desk of the Dyersburg Library has several of his pieces behind the counter on their walls, including one on loan from my Dad, and I cannot tell you how much I wish I had a gift for raw creation like that. I may be good behind a camera, but cameras record… a painter creates. So having a complement from a talented creator like him just made my day 🙂 And he’s a spot-on nice guy, too.

I’ll have to find myself the pdf of the race article a bit later so I can repost myself :=) And I’m behiond on a few emails, so it may be a day or so before I get back here… be well, my adoring fans :=) All 3 of you 🙂

Mark

Man, this 40D sure feels nice!

Right now, going through the gyrations of installing software updates and registering the camera… can’t wait to…well.. use it 🙂 Short note… so best regards to all 2 of you who read my blog! 🙂

Oh boy… scheduling run amok…

Where to begin?

Nah, where to end: Jan 1.

There, now that that’s settled. Seems I need to be in 4-5 different places on Thanksgiving. Possibly. We’re not sure yet. Of course, once the idea is set, new information changes it.. so who knows. I’ll certainly be offering thanks when it’s in my rear view mirror…

Today is new camera day, if all goes well. I’ll be swinging by on my way into work (after jiffy lube, chiropractor, and packing) to pick up a new Canon 40D (not to be confused with a Nikon D40… I wonder how long calling it a 40D got debated… ) Hopefully my wonderful good luck will hold, God willing, and I’ll continue to be in the right place at the right time for some cool shots 🙂

In the meantime, still breathing, and currently contemplating various measures and breadths of site redesign in creative places. Amazing what resources one can play with.

Best to all,

Mark

PS.. maybe one of these days I’ll remember to tag the post befroe clicking PUBLISH! haha.

Nice weather… too bad I have to sleep through it!

By the temps outside ride right now, it’s gonna shape up to be a really, really nice day. I’m starting to get that itch again… Now, if I just knew the box dimensions on a 40D, maybe I could ride in today…. have to look that up… Hmmm :=) There -is- an advantage to Jesse bags :=) Of course, there’s also a nice advantage with that huge bestrest backplate I strapped the pelican cases onto… Lash ‘er down! Yarr!

Whelp, one of the advantages of having a cable modem, is that I have a cable connection… time to enjoy it for a bit.

PS… For those who have TS…

I know there’s a surprise factor out there for some (particularly some of my former players and coworkers) who have never once seen a symptom… but it’s for good reason.

I got lucky… I gave up the pills when I was 14, and after figuring out how to control them… or at least delay them.. they started to go away on their own. Sure, I still get em when I’m really, really tired.. or really, really stressed… or both 🙂 If it was anything that helped get it under control for me, it’s breathing and focus.

time to go get some sleep.

Some mornings just shock you..

I’m driving home listening to NPR, a show called The Infinite Mind and today’s episode was part II about a disease called Aspberger’s Syndrome. Oh, my God, what an uncanny sense of “Whoa…” it was. The link to the audio program (part II) is Here

Without repeating my comments, this sure sounds like a really plausable explanation for all the hassles I’ve had. It just strikes me as a voice from my past.

Sorry for the lack of updates the past few days. 12 hour shifts with no blog connectivity really don’t make for happy blogging love.

Take the time to listen to the program.

In a hole in the ground lived a hobbit.

Driving home this morning, listening to NPR on WAMU, The Writer’s Almanac pointed out that on this day in 1937, JRR Tolkien first published “The Hobbit”, and the title of this post were the first words written on the story in 1928.

What a marvelous, marvelous creation. source

Literary and Historical Notes:

It was on this day in 1937 that J.R.R. Tolkien published his first novel, The Hobbit. He was a professor at Oxford, and in the summer of 1928, he was in the middle of grading a stack of student papers when he wrote the sentence, “In a hole in the ground lived a hobbit.” He had no idea where the word “hobbit” came from. It had just popped into his head. He later wrote: “[Hobbits] are (or were) a little people … inclined to be fat in the stomach; they dress in bright colours (chiefly green and yellow); wear no shoes, because their feet grow naturally leathery soles and thick warm brown hair like the stuff on their heads (which is curly); have long clever brown fingers, good-natured faces, and laugh deep fruity laughs (especially after dinner, which they have twice a day when they can get it).”

Thank you, Mr Tolkien, may you look down and smile. Thank you, NPR, for the reminder 🙂

Wierd Weatherings… Wonderful Wonderings.. Wacky Website Widgets.

So I just get off the phone from my friend in Texas who informs me that Hot, Dry, and Dusty West Texas has not been such all summer long. Lots of rain, only 5 days over 100, and all expectations are for a snowy white winter.

Must…find… snow….thrower!!!!!

Life here in Virginia might get a bit interesting if it’s SNOWING IN TEXAS….

I managed to get at least one of my photos submitted to a contest sponsored by Canon. It was one of those surprise photos that I didn’t think would turn out just from the immediate take on it, but once I got them off the camera, knew what I had in front of me. I’m still waiting to hear back from the company running the contest on what qualifies for the other… If they don’t answer, I don’t know which I’ll send in…

Signed up for BlogRush last night…. having a few issues getting their widget to acknowledge install, though. I tried a dozen or more times, and no matter how many times or how many places I put it in the layout, it won’t ack and I have to click skip… but for a site less than a week old, they’re allowed a bug or two :=)

That’s life in a nutshell…