Ugly Up Close

I took some snaps of this thing this morning.

It's some sort of potpourri thing. I was interested in it because they look like little flowers, but are spiny and hard. They seem like the fossils of flowers or something.

Well, the point is the above shot is about what it looks like sitting on my table or in the viewfinder of the camera. Pleasant enough, good lines and nice way it scoops light to show the form.

Well, this is what it looks like close up at f42

The bone texture of the plant is more apparent, and so is every speck, mote and crack.

One of the things I like about photography is seeing what things will look like photographed. Sometimes it's fantastic, other times not as much. It's hard to know where to go when you get these kinds of results, because you didn't really have a goal in mind in when you started. You did it to see what would happen, and then were disappointed that what happened wasn't great on its own.

So then you get to the point where the experiment becomes more directed. Your results force you to recognize that you weren't really a dispassionate scientist, you had something in mind that was cooler, but you still don't really know what it was, so you just play around with different things. I like that the thing has a little beak in the center, I just want it to look less like paper pulp.

I need something more in the middle, something more like this.
There's still so much I don't understand at all. I need to get shooting more

Karma is Currency

So, I usually work 10 hours a day. Sometimes, less, often more. Today I was there 12 and they were tough hours. We had some problems and I have a bad story to tell tomorrow. I tell you this to set the stage for the fact that as I go home, I'm tired and possibly even a tiny bit crabby.

Nah, scratch that: I didn't feel crabby, just sort of tired enough to be less-guarded in my thoughts. The point is, on the way home I decide to stop at my local corner quickie mart deal and buy a cold drink. So, I do just that, navigating the aggressive drivers in around the gas pumps, find my parking spot and leg it in to the store.

I get my beverage and step in line. After a few moments of the line not moving, I step out of my brain fog to assess the cause. It's the gentleman in front of me. He's trying to buy a bottle of wine with his buddy and is having some sort of hold up. With nothing to do but wait, I have plenty of time to take stock of his attire.

The first thing I notice is that he is chewing one of those sword-style toothpicks. You know the kind- with the U-shaped end with the dental floss on it? Well enough. Then I notice that in case he needs another toothpick he has a dozen others on standby.

Sticking out of his hair.

He asks the counter-guy again how much his purchase is. $7.35. He counts out some change on the counter. And counts again. How much was the wine again? $7.35. More counting.

Now my uncharitable-side comes out. Look at this scum, I think. With his dirty, sweaty bills wadded on the counter into a tiny ball. Counting out his pennies to buy booze. Pah! When it's MY turn, I'm going to pay with a crisp 20 that is nice and neat. I'm much neater and cleaner than this fellow and his buddy who has taken a bunch of free coffee cups from the store to drink the wine with. Pah!

So, the dude figures out his (exact) change and it's my turn.

One six pack of imported fancy beer. $9 or so.

Here's your change, mister: a wad of grubby completely-unflattened out singles that 30 seconds ago were in the sweatpants of the dude with toothpick swords in his hair.

They never even made it all the way into the register.

Thanks for the comeuppance, Universe.

The teen behind the bar wishes me Peace on my way out, holding up the two fingers. Good advice.

Yankee Pride, or the Blizzard of 2011

It snowed last night.

It started as a thunderstorm that turned into hail. The hail woke up me, the thunder kept me up. Weird to see thunder and lightning in a snowstorm.

But I fell back to sleep and woke up to the news that there was a giant, very dangerous storm that is ransacking the state. Actually, the word the liked to use best was treacherous. That, evil, deceitful storm! Such treacherous travel! Deceiving the wayfarer with its untold danger! Doesn't seem that underhanded to me; you drive on ice, you're going to slide.

But anyway, the news urges us all to stay inside at all costs and now I have to decide what to do. I've been in one traffic accident caused by icy conditions and I have no desire to share the road with panicky Texans dealing with a rare storm. But the office is open, and so there isn't much choice so off I go.

First: let me say that as a new garage owner, what a delight it is having that. Warm, dry car and hands. No chiseling and scraping, very nice.

Second: there was maybe an inch and half of snow on the ground. You can see how much made it onto my deck above. Nothing. The drive in was delightful. One of my best drives to work yet, in fact. There were a couple of minor spots (you cant go that slow up the hill, dude! Don't get on the bumper of the guy stopped at the top of the hill on the ice! If you are stuck on the ice in traffic, put your hazards on! Correct that fishtail!) but for the most part the roads were very clear of other motorists and I liked the peace. And it had pretty much stopped. I didn't even need my wipers.

I will give them this, though; it's not the snow, it's the ice and they are nearly completely unprepared for it. Big stretches of icy roadway were actually worse on the drive home, even though they had all day to salt them. I can understand why there are lots of accidents and people stay home.

But if Santa Anna had wanted to take over this place, he could have beaten them by fighting for it in Canada. Big bad Texas went running from an inch of powder.

Work was also peaceful. Pretty much everybody called in as a "work from home day".

But who sucked it up and actually went in?

Who braved the treacherous drive and showed up to keep the place going?

Northerners.

Well, Northerners without children who were set home from school, but Northerners.

Yee haw.