Film go bye bye?

Say it ain't so!

Today I walked cheerfully into my favorite "pro" film processing lab to get my "special" black and white film developed for an outrageous fee because I don't want to invest in the chemicals to develop it myself. See, I could do it. I have the know-how. I took a class that was all about it in college. But that was college. I had more time then. These days I have to take extra time at lunch to get over and drop off or pick up film. Ahhh, I am getting off the subject.

So, as I said, I walked cheerfully into the lab and plopped my 2 rolls of Kodak Tri-X plus ASA 400, 36 exposure, black and white film in front of the smiling clerk at the desk. The same smiling clerk who dutifully takes my film every time I cheerfully plop it in front of her...weekly it seems.

This time it was different, though. This time she looked sadly back at me and said something that turned my otherwise cheerfull ritual into a scene that I will never forget.

"Opps, we're not processing film anymore."

"Opps?" I said with a stunned look, I'm sure...

"What do you mean? Is the machine broken? Have you run out of chemical? What do you mean?"

"No, we've discontinued our film processing service."

As I stood there, fighting back a tear, a few things started running through my mind:

A) if this is the case, where am I going to go to process this film?
B) what if everyone decides to discontinue their processing?
C) then what am I going to do with all of the film that's still in my freezer, unused!

I realized that I had just muttered these things to the lady behind the counter, who gave me a reassuring nod and said "Well, we're just following the trends of labs all over the country. We're actually behind the times in doing this..."

"Ok....thanks. Sorry I won't be seeing you guys anymore..." and I walked out into the brilliant sunshine...stunned at what I had just heard.

Paul was in the truck waiting, as he went along to get some fresh air. When I told him the news, he too had a stunned look on his face. "Then what DO they do?" he said. "Got me....print stuff for all the fancy smancy digi-folk out there, I guess" I said. Then I spit on the ground. (this part about spitting I added for drama...pretty good, huh?)

I jumped into my truck and drove down the street to Firehouse...my second favorite "pro" lab. Inside I found my favorite little sales guy, who always seems happy and "on the ball", even when being yelled at by an angry customer because some guy in the back cropped his negative wrong, or mounted his print on the wrong foam core.

"Hi! What can we do for you?" he asked.

"Well, I was just told by Matrix that they aren't processing film anymore, and I've come to see if you will...."

A sneaky grin came across his face.

"Of course we will. Especially if Matrix won't!"

"But are you going to quit anytime soon?" I asked, nervously awaiting his answer.

"Nope! That's about half of our business!"

Satisfied by this quantification, I handed over my film, to be developed for an outrageous fee because I don't want to invest in the chemicals to develop it myself.

I guess that will have to change.

Sorry for the delay...

I'm actually embarrassed that I haven't posted anything on this blog for a while. It has been an ENTIRE 10 DAYS! I started thinking this afternoon that I had done something horrible by not posting anything...like I'd forgotten to feed our poor kitties, or left my favorite pair of hiking boots out in the rain for a month. SOMETHING HORRIBLE!

But is it really horrible? No. Not very many people really read this, right? I mean...what is there to read anyways? Just daily thoughts about junk. I'm not half as entertaining as Colin and his "On Like Popcorn" blog...which I read religiously when I am sitting at work and trying to avoid the never ending bum-rush of deadlines, screaming salesmen and account executives, never ending websites, and ever-growing impatient clients. I pop open that blog, and every time (well, most of the time, when there is a new entry) I can escape and see how life is for someone else for a few minutes. It's nice. If you haven't checked it out...you should. The links right over there -> , on the right. On Like Popcorn...good stuff.

Today my buddy Paul sent me a link to a very informative website. http://www.solardeathray.com/ This one is a real doozy. It appears some guy has finally figured out how to harness the true power of the sun. Now, we're not talking magnifying glass frying ants on the sidewalk here. No sir. We're talking burning holes in your jeans, melting poor defenseless robot dogs, and even rubber ducky mutilation. This is serious stuff people. Just imagine if that technology landed in the wrong hands...

I don't know about you...but I won't sleep tonight.

Oh yeah...look for some new photos coming soon. I've been doing some street photog., so we'll see what we get when the lab is done with my film. Yes Jake...film.

Things found while out running...

I've been spending a lot of time running lately. Well, I guess I should say I've been spending a lot of time running *in the daylight* lately. Through the winter I would get home from work, bundle up in 8 or more layers, and go out to stomp out 2 or 3 miles at night. Lately, though, when I get home I have time to get the ritualistically run out of the way and it is still relatively light out. This lends itself perfectly to finding new things on the side of the sidewalk and streets. I'd like to take a moment to chronicle some of those things in the following list:

1. Dog Poop - and loads of it. I don't know what the people in my neighborhood feed their dogs, but by the looks of it...they are eating well. And why don't these people pick it up? Beyond me.
   
2. Gum - dried up, of course.
3. Gloves - several have been found...usually by themselves. It seems that gloves are only lost individually, because I have yet to see a *pair* or lost gloves.
   
4. Socks - see above comment.
5. Underwear - Yep, some poor soul accidentally lost his underpants while outside, it would seem. I had to wonder to myself how that would happen.
6. miscellaneous pieces of trash - usually Hardee's cups. Funny thing is that Hardee's is quite a long distance from my house. It prompted me to do a study. I went to Hardee's, purchased a large soft drink, and started driving. Seems that the precise time I ran out of soda was the area I find most of this garbage. Science says when you run out of soda, just toss it out your window. Right?
7. Beer bottles - always smashed into little bits on the sidewalks or in the gutter of the street. This tempted me to do another test, but the law forbids it. How many miles does 1 12oz bottle of beer last? I have a theory, but need data to know for sure. Pretty sure it depends on the amount of Nascar stickers the car has on it, the length of the driver and passenger(s) mullet(s), and the brand of cigarette smoked by each.
8. Muffler parts - This would explain my annoying neighbor's two rumbling vehicles. Every morning I get a 6:00 wake up call by this mullet wearing nascar fan who thinks the road in front of my house is IRP and he's about to break into the 5 second quarter mile times. One of these days.....
   

The sad thing is that my neighborhood doesn't "look" dirty. However, upon closer look, it is. It's all generated and selfishly discarded by humans. The very red-necks I live next to. Why would you trash your own neighborhood?

If I've learned anything from running, it is that you see a place for what it really is. You see it's beautiful parts as well as it's ugly side. It's clean spots and it's undeniably nasty spots. I know that before I purchase another home I will spend a LOT of time in the area. Go run it, drive through it at all times of the day. Even get out and ask some people what it's like. Don't go on the assumption that it "looks clean", because chances are...it isn't.

Photographic Relapse

I was sitting here tonight, after my nightly run, and I realized that I didn't have anything to write in my blog. I've been trying to come up with something, and I was on the verge of a big idea today, but then my creativity was crushed by some unforeseen, and very demoralizing events at work. Thus, the big idea died...or at least went away for a while. Funny how a bad day at work can really drain a person's spirit.

In light of that, I sat down here..as I said..after my run and started looking through my archive of images from this summer, fall, and winter. As spring comes back, slowly - but surely, I will begin to venture out more, taking more colorful photos to put up here. Until those arrive, why not post up some photos from days gone by? Some are funny, some are just nice to look at, and other's just mean something to me that maybe no one else will understand, but hey, it's just a photo...right? Without further adieu...





- these two are from a trip to Maine



- I looked at my altimeter and it read 2600 ft. above sea level.
North Carolina trip last summer.



- Our two kitties, vigilantly soaking up the early fall sunset.


- and this is the time my buddy Jason broke out of his holding cell...


- and we met up for a night on the town. We're just a couple of normal guys, don't you think?

I hope you enjoyed this random mix of photography. It was fun to relive them, especially on this cold, almost spring evening. It makes me just think it's going to be all right. Spring will come, then summer, then fall, and then winter again. Nothing is going to stop it. Life goes on. So get up, forget about the crap that happened today, and go on with it! And away I go!

Shoe Fetish?

I realized today that I may have a shoe problem.

People who know me are probably saying "Yeah, tell us something we don't know...." But this time it's different. It's not buying shoes, it's constantly looking at other people's, and making note of them.

This strange photographic shoe memory of mine has put this ability to good use on occasion, though. In public restrooms, for example, I can tell if I know you just be glancing over at your shoes. Creepy, I know, but it gets stranger. Going parties of the more homey kind, where folks take their shoes off at the door, I can see who has arrived before me just by checking out the shoes in the entry way.

Now, I don't usually like to admit this strange ability. Especially to strangers. I see them instantly become squeamish, as if I've just told them their fly is down, or they have a booger on their lip. They search their memory to see if they might have been doing something in their shoes that I may forever hold as blackmail over their heads.

So please humor me the next time you see me. If I say hello, then glance at your shoes, it's just me taking you in. Sort of like dogs like to smell eachother on the rear end on meeting. Speaking of sniffing butt, I have this friend who...


Just kidding. Wheew, had you going there...

Treadmills and such...

I've been training to run the Mini Marathon this year (again for some reason) and I've spent a lot of time on treadmills. I hate treadmills with a passion. Nothing is more frustrating than running for 30-45 minutes and going NOWHERE.

While running on these contraptions I often start to wonder how they came to be. Who invented the first treadmill. Was it some sort of ancient torture device that people caught stealing bread had to endure? What exactly was the first treadmill designed to do? I have a sneaky suspicion that it wasn't for training...but I may be wrong.

Also while running on these things I find myself wondering "What will these machines look like to someone 100 years from now?" I was visiting the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina last summer and they had the old gym area set up there. The machines looked very strange to me. I just wonder if treadmills will look that strange to the future's people. If people will think, as I did, "How in the world do you go about using that!"

Today I have to run for 45 minutes. As I sit here in my heated office and peer out the window, I think it looks sunny. It's probably freezing out, but it's bound to be better than running on the torture machine....right?

- inside my parents' cabin this winter -

My cat has a lisp.

MEEEOOWWPH!

I tell people that my cat Chachi has a lisp when he meows, and people think I'm crazy. But it's a fact, he does.



Perhaps I should take a step back and explain. See, my sister, who is a vet (the animal kind, not the Vietnam kind) found poor Chachi in a box on the doorstep of her practice. He was a little furry Mainecoon kitten in need of a home. So, the vet took him in, gave him his shots, neutered him, and asked me if I would take him. They said he was a "special needs" kitty. He had a harelip. His bottom lip isn't quite long enough, so it looks like he's smiling all the time, and when he meows he has a lisp. I'm not crazy...and I'm not joking either!

I've had him for almost 3 years now, and he's been a great cat. Quirky, yes. Would I give him up for a million bucks? NO! Is this a random story? Yes. But I am having creative block, have to design a web site by 4:00 this afternoon, and thought that a little fun writing would clear me out.

Gotta go. I feel a spark coming on!