I picked up an adapter on eBay, to use my old FD mount canon lenses on my current EF-S mount camera. It’s not perfect… it messes with the light and focus. But I did make sure to get one with the lens to compensate as much as possible. It also requires manual focus and aperture. I popped off a couple test shots while Abbey scowled at me. And I got a few with the modern version of the same lens, for comparison. Need to work on my focusing. But it will be fun to use the old glass, sometimes.
Today is World AIDS Day. It’s the first time in almost 40 years that the US government is not recognizing it. The justifying quote from the State Dept, that I heard this morning was that “An awareness day is not a strategy.” My well-considered response to the State Department is “Fuck you. You clearly have no idea of the power of people feeling seen.”
More than 700,000 people in the US — and over 44,000,000 in the world — have died of AIDS-related illness. Thousands of people are still dying every year. Hundreds of thousands of families here have a hole in them. And over 1,000,000 people are living with the disease in the US.
If the government can fund some of the batshit projects and events occurring at the White House this year, it can do whatever is necessary to also honor those lost to and those living with AIDS.
My first job when I moved to DC was at a studio that did a lot of work — before and during my time — with the AIDS community. I remember my boss’ work for the Names Project (organizers of the AIDS Quilt). I worked with AIDS Nutrition Services Alliance. I worked with AIDS National Interfaith Network. I remember coworker’s projects with the National Minority AIDS Council. So many people who made it their life’s work to help the people affected by this. So I think about and honor those people today, as well.
The government failing to recognize these people — it’s own citizens — is terrible.
Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us.
– Daniel Burnham
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 3 years old. Opinions change. Tastes change. Everything changes. I may still agree with this, or like this, or I may not. But everything is kept up here for archival purposes.
I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much.
– Mother Teresa
There is in every true woman’s heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.
– Washington Irving
Knowing Is Not Enough; We Must Apply. Wishing Is Not Enough; We Must Do.
– Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
You Don’t Have To Be Great To Start, But You Have To Start To Be Great.
– Zig Ziglar
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 3 years old. Opinions change. Tastes change. Everything changes. I may still agree with this, or like this, or I may not. But everything is kept up here for archival purposes.
Reading genealogy records. My 5x great grandmother was born in 1775 in South Carolina, moved to Texas at some point, and lived to her late 80s at least.
That means she was successively a British colonist, an American citizen, a Mexican colonist, a charter citizen of the Republic of Texas, an American citizen, a Confederate citizen & again an American citizen.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 3 years old. Opinions change. Tastes change. Everything changes. I may still agree with this, or like this, or I may not. But everything is kept up here for archival purposes.
A little while back, we stumbled across a table at a salvage yard (Community Forklift) that looked rough, but had a nice structure to it. It had seen better days, but I was sure I could fix it up.
And it was my favorite type of project. One that was so f’d up, that I was safe. It’s hard to be accused of ruining an antique when someone else already has. And someone else did: Someone had attacked the top of this table with a random orbit sander, and left long, distinct, spiral gouges, and large sections without finish. (You generally never use a power sander on an antique… and definitely not if you don’t know what you’re doing.) It looks like they probably then set it aside in a basement or storeroom, where it also picked up some scuffs and a little paint spatter. And then there was the dog chewing on one of the legs…
Over the course of fixing this up, I determined it has had a couple previous restorations. At least one from someone very skilled, and another from someone who probably wasn’t.
I did my best ‘sympathetic restorations’ on this. The color came out incredible, when you consider there is no stain on the piece at all.
My best guess at the age of the piece is that it’s 150, up to maybe 200 years old. This was never a piece of fine furniture. While it’s well built and beautiful, it shows rough handwork in several places. But this was fun, and it came out well, IMO.
EDIT: Forgot to mention: It’s a Pembroke Table, with Sheraton style legs.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 3 years old. Opinions change. Tastes change. Everything changes. I may still agree with this, or like this, or I may not. But everything is kept up here for archival purposes.
The latest project, that’s been floating around for a month or two. We found this table at Community Forklift, and thought it was great. At a glance, it looks old and very cool. (And very cheap).
A closer look at home already made me a little suspicious. I didn’t want to touch it until we checked with someone, who also confirmed that they didn’t think the table was a real antique either. While it means we weren’t going to make any money off it, I had said up front that if we didn’t sell it, I liked it for my own use.
In the end, I suspect it was a 1950s shop-class project, or maybe someone’s garage project. Most of the wood has some age to it. And there are signs of repairs, good and bad. So in the end, it’s still a reasonably old piece, with real people and an interesting story behind it. And I still think it looks cool.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 3 years old. Opinions change. Tastes change. Everything changes. I may still agree with this, or like this, or I may not. But everything is kept up here for archival purposes.
If Tuesday night on the streets near the white House was about every protest group wanting to spread their message, Saturday afternoon has become about every individual, every age, every gender, every ethnicity, coming out to sing and cheer and celebrate. Puppy dogs and rainbow flags, american flags and t-shirts, strollers and party tiaras, 50 languages and 50000 signs.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 3 years old. Opinions change. Tastes change. Everything changes. I may still agree with this, or like this, or I may not. But everything is kept up here for archival purposes.
For a long time, my dream job has been as a presidential photographer.
I think my best photos are the ‘capture the moment’ images. Wether it’s long slow periods with that one subtle moment, or finding a clear, distinct moment amidst utter chaos. I love it.
And can you imagine any place more in the moment, doing more important work, experiencing more unique moments, than the White House?
But the last 4 years, I couldn’t bring myself to even think about it. I don’t necessarily have to agree with those I work with, (though it helps), but I couldn’t even imagine working in this outgoing administration. They wasted everything… they wasted opportunities, they wasted the american reputation, they wasted political capitol, and in the end, they also wasted lives.
I don’t know what’s coming with this new administration. But I can always fantasize about my dream job again.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 3 years old. Opinions change. Tastes change. Everything changes. I may still agree with this, or like this, or I may not. But everything is kept up here for archival purposes.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 3 years old. Opinions change. Tastes change. Everything changes. I may still agree with this, or like this, or I may not. But everything is kept up here for archival purposes.
On the morning of January 20, 2016, I made a public post that upset some of my more liberal friends. I called out what I thought was unhelpful behavior of disavowing the incoming president, who hadn’t so much as walked in the building yet. Certainly his track record was bad, but I wanted to wait and see. He’d vacillated between parties his whole life, so what would he decide to do when he actually had the power to do something? Even if he went down the darker road, I still felt disengaging and disavowing him was the wrong approach. Breaking off all meaningful communication leaves no avenue for serious dissent or feedback. All you would be able to do is stand outside and yell. And on top of it all, his history led me to believe that he was playing the buffoon, to get attention, as he had for so much of his life. Surely when he took office, and the weight of that mantle fell upon him, he would be forced to at least behave like an adult.
Okay… so I may have been wrong on some of it.
He’s absolutely a buffoon. From interviews with people who knew him once upon a time, I think it *was* all an act, at some point in the past. But that age, experience, and probably mental infirmity have caught up with him, and he no longer can distinguish the act from himself. I don’t think he has any more force of will left than a petulant child. And we put the biggest gun in the world in the hands of that child.
Conservative family members and friends are a bit divided. Quite a lot of them actually do hate what Trump has and has not done.They hate that he’s done next to nothing to protect or help anyone, in any situation. They hate that he took a party of ideals (wether you agree with those ideals or not), and exposed a schism that will likely tear them apart. And they hate that their standard bearer is little more than an angry clown.
But of course there are still friends and family who whole-heartedly support him.
I’m sure a substantial portion of them do so, because “They’re Republicans”. They can’t bring themselves to vote anything but Republican. I think they still has some illusion that the party would really be in charge, so who cares who sat in the seat. And these people simply disappoint me. A party-line vote regardless of the candidate is how you end up with Trumps. We live in an incredibly complicated, dangerous world. You cannot allow yourselves to be gamed so easily.
A lot of Trump’s supporters said they wanted an outsider to go and change things in DC. Someone who wasn’t just another politician. And they could identify with Trump’s persona, so who better to go in and shake things up for them. And I don’t actually dispute the idea of sending in someone new, who might do new things, and try new ideas. But this isn’t a kids game. This isn’t just like your high school student council election. This isn’t your city councilman. Trump has proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that words can and do matter, and that the president sets a standard just by the way he lives his life. His administration’s plans have been ridiculously short-sighted and petulant. They literally have the power to help shape the world, and yet every leaked memo and private conversation revealed seems to indicate their highest priority is to have a petty idealogical slap-fight with a new random democrat every week. I applaud the goal of sending someone in to shake up DC… but you HAVE to send in someone who can do the job. Don’t send someone ‘just like you’. Send the person you look up to. Send the person who makes everything else around them better. Send the person who can accomplish great things.
A lot of those conservative family members of mine are very hard workers, They have worked hard their entire lives, and most of them haven’t even gotten to rest as they got older. Some of them run their own businesses, and “get shit done”. And I cannot imagine any of them actually wanting to work alongside a man like Trump. A man who’s word you cannot trust. A man guided by constantly changing whims. A man who won’t answer simple questions. A man with no loyalty to anyone. A man who has stabbed everyone in the back when their time came. That shouldn’t fly in any business.
And how do you personally identify with a man who has no morals or ethics. His administration tore kids from their families and locked them up in cages. And now they can’t even figure out to whom those children belong. His relationship with his own female family members is creepy at best, be it joking about dating his daughter, or his latest trophy-wife looking ready to stab him every time he turns around. He’s wandered the dressing rooms at Miss America pageants, and paid off porn stars for their silence. In the age of #metoo, he’s bragged about sexually assaulting women. If these were your wives, mothers, and daughters, how many of you would leave him bleeding in a cornfield somewhere? If these were your children he was after, how would you react?
There are friends who’ve supported Trump on religious grounds as well. His own aides say he’s mocked those supporters and religious leaders. There was no more clarifying moment of his opinion on religion, than when he had peaceful protestors teargassed, including forcing out priests who worked at a church, so that he could walk over, stand there fumbling a bible, and take the worst staged photo since your prom. It was a complete disregard for health, safety, and sanctity, in order to take an inept, pandering photo.
As I previously said… this is a big, complicated world. Stop sending us your trash. If D.C. is a sewer or swamp, I’d remind you that it’s not actually D.C. that’s made it that way. You sent us all these people. Please send us better. I have done things with my life that I never expected. I have friends who have done things so much more than I can even imagine. I promise you… no speech, no TV show, no movie, will ever convey the speed and complexity and ruthlessness of this place. We need better people…please send us better people.
Please be thoughtful with your comments or corrections. I will delete vitriol and exaggeration, without regard for political stance nor personal connection.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 3 years old. Opinions change. Tastes change. Everything changes. I may still agree with this, or like this, or I may not. But everything is kept up here for archival purposes.
In the vein of my posts about companies that have worked really well and/or really poorly for me:
I was a Bank of America customer for about 20 years. When I moved to D.C., I could no longer rely on my hometown bank account. At the time, the best option I could find was Nationsbank. Big company, plenty of locations near everywhere I was. Nationsbank eventually merged with BankAmerica and became Bank of America. And those early years were fine. The branches I was using were all in good neighborhoods, and provided decent service.
But when I started venturing out of the commercial core of DC, I found the smaller, neighborhood branches were very lacking. A branch in Adams Morgan that seemed to be little more than a dirty white room with bullet-proof glass windows along one wall. An abandoned branch on H Street that was mostly used by homeless people as a place to sleep, in it’s still functioning ATM vestibule. When I moved to the east side of town, my new local branch was at least superficially in better shape. But it was incredibly understaffed, resulting in regular 20-30 minute waits for anything. They started playing fast and loose with the promises as well. Agreements I worked out in person with a bank representative would suddenly disappear a year later, resulting in fees that had supposedly been waived. Services that they once marketed were suddenly gone, with no notice. Of course my own experience is nothing compared with what the people who held mortgages with Bank of America experienced during the sub-prime mortgage crisis. That really left me with no illusions about their ethical standards.
And one day they caught me when I was too close to the edge, after years of frustration with them. They refused to make a deposit until I filled out a deposit slip, (even though they regularly did so). But they couldn’t provide me with a pen to fill out the form. It was absolutely ridiculous, but I’d had enough. This is the second biggest bank in the country, in a branch that was always busy, and they couldn’t provide a pen. Straw… camel. I snapped at the teller, walked out, and never returned until I was ready to close my accounts.
I’d been looking for banks and/or credit unions for years, but this became a prime motivator. And after research, visits, and questions, I ended up at TD Bank. This was not a mega bank with a million options. They had set packages at a variety of levels. I was actually able to get better terms than I could from Bank of America. The service staff has been absolutely amazing, every time I’ve talked with them. They’ve always been ridiculously friendly, and well informed and well trained in their jobs. The wait for a live or automated teller has never been more than 2 people. And their branches — in every neighborhood I’ve visited — have all been incredibly well set-up and maintained. Figurative case-studies in branding and design. Their phone app has worked well. They have better security practices. And their relatively small number of locations/ATMs is made up for by reimbursements on 3rd party ATM fees. (And lest I make them sound too small and quaint… they are the #8 or #9 bank (by assets) in the US.) Six months on, and I really can’t believe how much better the experience is.
And yes, they always have pens available — a bin full. And lollipops. And dog treats.
Photo by maitree rimthong from Pexels
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
Abbey and I went to the Maryland Renn Faire a couple times again this summer. It’s always a fun day of hanging out with friends (in costume). Maryland’s faire has some good performers, and a very nice location.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
I recently went on vacation with Abbey and friends. An annual trek to a lakefront house in the wilds of Virginia, for a long weekend of swimming and cooking, music and drinking, talking and sleeping. The weather held up this year; so much of the days were spent on the lakefront. And evenings were spent consuming some truly wonderful dinners.
It’s a pleasant, little reminder to me, of growing up in quieter places with an abundance of trees, wildlife, and rednecks.
It comes at the end of most of my client’s busiest seasons, so it’s also a nice break, to keep me from saying something inappropriate that would surly jeopardize my relationship with the client. A chance to step back and remind myself that work is work, and nothing personal.
And to be able to climb into bed, at the end of the day, tired from doing absolutely nothing of importance… that is really wonderful.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
Last weekend, Abbey and I went out to Vanguard. I think it was the first club night we’d been to since Spellbound shut down. Nice seeing some friends, with friendly strangers and good music.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
Yesterday morning, my mother, Catherine Calder, passed away.
Although she was being treated for something at the time, I think it was all her health problems of the last few years finally coming together at once.
She was a Head Start teacher’s aide for roughly 25 years. I once calculated she had approximately 1,500 students in that time, in a town of only 17,000 people. You couldn’t step foot on the porch or out of the house without some young person coming up to hug her or say hello.
She deeply involved with her faith, her church, and her family. When I saw her less than 2 weeks ago, at a family reunion, she was still talking about working on church projects.
I’ve always felt like I was lucky enough to inherit the best traits of both my parents. And my mother has left me with compassion, optimism, creativity, and a good moral compass.
There will be calling hours (10am) and a memorial service (11am) for her at the 1st UMC in her home town, this coming Tuesday.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
Interesting …
Getty Images—probably the biggest supplier of stock photography—has updated their submission requirements to ban the retouching of photos for the sake of making the model look thinner or larger.
They cited a new french law requiring notification of such changes. But regardless of why they did it, I think it’s a good change.
It doesn’t stop the end user from making the same change to the image. But it does mean we have a supply of truthful body images from which we can work.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!