What bad luck!

     So, it's a rainy day.  You're late for whatever it is you happen to be in a hurry to get to, you're stuck in traffic, and now on top of everything, you've spilled your coffee on yourself.  How unlucky are you?  No, really, how unlucky are you?  Surely you've said it before, but have you ever taken the time to really consider it?  Well, lets see.  You've managed to spill coffee on yourself so, presumably, you had money to buy coffee.  You're stuck in traffic, but to be stuck in traffic implies that you're fortunate enough to have a car to use.  In order to be in a hurry to get somewhere, you must have woken up this morning; in order to wake up this morning you must have been born; in order to be born, you're parent's must have met and conceived you; in order for your parents to have met, they must each have family roots that extend back as far as you can trace; in order to have a family roots, life must have come into existence on the earth; in order for life to start on earth, the solar system must have formed just as it did; in order for the solar system to form just as it did, all the particles of milky way must have come together just as they did to form the galaxy; and in order for the milky way to come together, the universe had to start exactly how, and when it did.  Now, how unlucky were you to be able to spill your coffee?

Have an unlucky day.

Back to Wolf Rocks

     I revisited Wolf Rocks last weekend with Eva in hopes of using my new equipment and my one year sharper eye for videography to remake the wobbly video I made when this blog was just starting out.  Perhaps you remember me ranting about needing a glidecam and complaining about the shakiness of the shots?  This time I was equipped with not only my camping gear, but about fifteen extra pounds of camera gear to get the job done right.  We hiked in on friday expecting to stay for two to three days to film, but were once again prevented from completing the task -- this time weather was the enemy.  The snow on the ground wasn't much of a problem, but after a night of 24 degrees in my 45 degree rated sleeping and no sign of raising temperatures on the following evening, we left without a completed video.  I did, however, manage to snap a few good photos to share.  Another video will be up shortly, and hopefully sometime in the future I'll be able to show you wolf rocks in a movie that's up to my standards.  Until then enjoy these.      

Spring is finally here.  

Have a warm day.  

Here, have some photos.

     I've been spending more time in cities than in woods lately, so my photos aren't as green as usual, but it's winter, so even if I was in the woods they'd be mostly brown.  Here are a few pretty recent photos from around town.  

Spring's right around the corner.  I have a few videos waiting to be made then.
Have a beautiful day.

Better late than never

     Well, I'm right on time again--about a week late. . . I think bi-weekly is a reasonable timeframe for blog posts though.  Maybe I'll adopt that for now, and hopefully there will be some bonus blogs for you along the way too.

     The world didn't end (damn mayans), so I guess I owe you another post now.  In these past  snowy weeks, I've been putting my east coast BMX adventure to words in what I hope one day will be an entertaining book.  I've also started noting--each day--my accomplishments in a journal.  I haven't yet devised a penalty/award system for myself, but it is rewarding regardless.  Today's list included selling my old computer and (finally) putting together a (joke) slideshow using my pictures from Europe. Productive. Once I remove some faces that prefer to not be shown, I'll probably post it up here.  I've taken some pictures recently too, but haven't had time to do the editing on the majority of them, but here's what I have for you now.

  

Have a snowy, productive day.

Photo update

Photos? I got 'em.

     So, I haven't been writing a lot.  Nor have I had a lot of things to write about bouncing around my head, but I have been photographizing quite a bit.  Here's what I've come up with:

I guess from now on, if I don't have anything to say, I'll just show...
And if you can't wait for a photo update, you can check out my flickr page which I update periodically.

Have a visual day.

Lucy, loosey.

      More photos from Braddock for today.  Above you'll see a picture of a friend we met in one of the houses.  We'll call her lucy.  We were shooting photos in a garage on a small alley when we heard footsteps coming towards the garage door.  I didn't think much of it until I saw a pair of work boots in the doorway behind Dana.  A moment of panic later we heard a woman's voice kindly asking, "What are y'all doin' in here?"  We explained that we were just taking photos, which satisfied her inquiry, and soon after we went on our way, but we were interrupted again a few steps down the road when lucy yelled to us, "Hey! Do y'all have 75 cents so I could get a loosey down at the gas station?" (A loosey is a single loose cigarette to those unfamiliar with the term).  I, of course, gave her the change and she then offered to show us into the upstairs of the garage we were formerly in.  We went up and got a few more photos, and soon came across a jar of quarters.  We didn't much care to take it from the abandoned house, but it didn't take long for us to figure out what to do with it.

Have a loose day.

More abandoned places.

   
     I would have posted this sooner (on time), but after my recent trip to Braddock, PA and back to the carey blast furnace with my friend Dana I had about 400 photos to go through and edit before I could post them up here.  For those of you who don't know, Braddock is an all but abandoned ex-steel town about 10 miles outside of Pittsburgh.  At it's peak Braddock had a population of over 20,000 residents, but since the decline of the steel industry in the area the population has dropped to under 2,000 today.  The mayor is currently working hard to revitalize the area, but for now it remains a public exhibition of what becomes of a piece of the world when the people who claimed it step aside.  

Exploring the area, we found more houses abandoned than inhabited.  Some were holding up  reasonably well, some were in major disrepair, and some; although obviously neglected since the owners left; showed signs of not being so abandoned presently. I love places like this!  But I've told you all that before.  For now just take a look at these photos I came up with.  This is definitely somewhere I'm going to be visiting again soon.

Have an explorative day.

P.S.  If you didn't already click the link above, check out Dana's blog here.

The sky is falling!

   
     Run for the hills!  Natural disasters are rampant, terrorists are running loose, the economy's collapsing and the end of the world is just around the corner.  Even if those darn Maya were wrong in their apocalyptic calendar predictions, we'll all be living in a third world police state within a years time.  It seems there's nothing but bad news everywhere you look anymore.  At least that's the world presented to us on television, radio, and the other media outlets we're surrounded by today.  But what about in your world?  Open up the front door... no terrorists here.  Look out the window... I don't see any volcanos in my back yard.  The truth is, some of these things may be happening in the world, but for the most part it's not nearly as bad as the media makes it out to be.  It used to be that there were about 30-60 minutes each evening dedicated to the news of the day and that was sufficient to keep us all relatively informed, but now with multiple 24 hour news networks competing for our advertising dollars there's just too much time to fill up with 'news', and if a story on one station isn't as sensational as the one on the next, then the audience will simply change the channel and take those dollars with them.  In today's world police look like soldiers, their cars like tanks.  They used to be our friends, remember?  "To serve and protect", I believe it was.  Even the weather doesn't tell us how beautiful it's gonna be outside anymore, it tells us how likely a severe storm or natural disaster is.  Fear is a terrible way to live, but only when you let it take over.  So, next time someone calls for doom in the forecast, take a moment and look outside.

     The sky isn't falling at all!  And even if it was, worrying about it isn't gonna help.  If you're really that worried then get off your butt and do something about it.

Have a fearless day.

A test.

Heres a attempt at a time-lapse video of my fair city that I took the other day. (just a low quality version for now)  Its a little jittery, but I'm mostly happy with it for a first attempt.  I was moving the camera by hand between shots, so I guess some jumpiness is to be expected.

I'll get a high quality version up when I perfect the smoothness and timing.  

Have a fun day.