...learnin' all the way.

I learn something new every single day. That's what's beautiful about what I do. It constantly challenges me to learn something new. For example, I learned today how to make snow in Flash, but haven't quite figured out how to control it. It's for and electronic holiday card here at work. Yeah, I'll admit. Most days I've got it pretty darn good.

I also learned that there's a whole community of folks around the Indy metro area still using CB radio to communicate. I put a CB in my truck a while ago, when I went to North Carolina. Nothing beats a CB for staying awake during a long trip, and even catching the latest news. You'd be surprised by what you hear - both informative and completely disturbing.

Anyway, I was tired of listening to the truckers and their filth, so I started scanning the channels this morning. On channel 6 I heard a bunch of very load and clear people talking. Just normal conversations. No filth or anything! They sounded like a bunch of old friends just talking.

I decided to be brave and try to make contact. Much to my surprise, they could hear me. I was probably 10 miles away. I guess that's the beauty of a base station. So I started talking to them, and now I have a bunch of people to talk to on my drive to and from work. Nifty! CB's aren't just for brain dead truckers and weirdos. That's what the Internet's for!

We are but sheep. Sheeple, to be exact.

My drive to Cleveland Ohio this last weekend proved to me that if the Midwest was to need to evacuate for some reason, there's no way it would happen.

Wednesday afternoon, around 1:00, we headed east. Things were going great until about 20 miles west of Columbus, then the bottom dropped out, and our hopes of getting to Lauren's parents house for dinner ended rather quickly.

Traffic literally came to a standstill. We sat for long periods of time just barely creeping along. From Columbus to where we needed to be it is about 120 miles. A solid hour and a half on a good day. Now, we were looking at the opportunity to drive 120 miles at 30 mph. Do the math...we were pissed.

I got on my little handheld CB and started asking for alternate routes. There were a few, but the exits were still some 70 miles up the road.

It got dark, and it started snowing heavily. We pulled off finally at a rest stop and it looked like a crowed bar. A line literally weaving around the lobby area and out the door for the womens room. There was even a line for the men, but only about 15 people deep. It was a disgusting reminder that society has overgrown it's own infrastructure, and if we all needed to get out of the area, people would die in the process.

It's a bleak outlook, I know, but I saw it with my own eyes. The roads were completely congested, nowhere to go.

Finally, after 8.5 hours (for what is usually a 4.5 hour drive) we arrived at the parent-in-law's house, road weary and tired.

The rest of the weekend was great. Good food, good company, and nice weather. It snowed about 4 inches up there, and it stayed on the ground until we were leaving on Sunday. It was a very good time for the snow to melt, so we could have a speedy trip back home. We were able to do the trip home in 4.5 hours... Go figure.

Me and the old Jeep.

I've had a 1974 Jeep CJ-5 for a very long time. Since about 1997, according to my calculations. My dad can probably pinpoint exactly when we got it, but I think it was '97. I was still in high school, and my dad and I used to get junk trucks and fix them up for fun. Sometimes they were tough, reliable trucks, and sometimes they were just fire hazards. They were always different, though.

One truck we built actually started life as a 2 wheel drive Chevy Suburban and turned into a 4 wheel drive flatbed pickup. It had 36 inch mud tires on it, and flowmaster exhaust. It was my transportation in the winter, when the roads around my house were too bad to get my daily driver out safely.

One day we decided to find a Jeep to fix up. Well, we found one, and we took the old flatbed up to look at it. My dad and the owner began bargaining, and before we knew it we'd traded evenly with the man. We drove off in the jeep.

When we first got it, it was all original - and it showed. I could see straight through the floorboard, and if I bounced on my seat, the whole body sort of shifted on the frame. Needless to say, she needed some work. We were cruising down Allisonville road (I think) when something very alarming happened. The hood latches were broken, and the hood flew up and crashed into the windshield. We were blind! My dad could see enough to crank it off in a driveway until we could get the hood back down and fastened properly.

I remember the first time I drove it. It didn't have power steering, and the transmission wouldn't stay in 1st or reverse, so you had to hold the gearshift in place or it would pop back to neutral. I was hooked right away, though, with the feel of driving a jeep. A go-anywhere-'cuz-you-wants-ta kind of attitude. I remember checking the articulation on the stock springs on the bank out front, and listening to the old rusty body coming unfastened from the frame.

We ended up putting an all new body on it, having the transmission and engine rebuilt, and knocking all of the rust off of everything. It turned out to be a great Jeep, and still runs to this day. Unfortunately, I don't have the time I'd like to drive it, and so it's started to need a rebuilding again - or perhaps just to finish what we started a little more. It needs disc brakes badly, as the old drums are unreliable and in constant need of adjustment. I need to pull off some parts and repaint them, and rebuild the axles.

My dad drove it the other day and told me I wasn't to drive it until I'd fixed the brakes. He also said he didn't know how I drove it, that he was all over the road with it. I never had a problem driving it. But then, I guess when you spend that much time building and driving something like that, you kind of get used to it's quirks and interesting things, and they don't bother you anymore.

26 years in the making.

Today I turn 26 years old, and I feel like I'm just getting started! This last year's been a year of firsts for me. Bought my first house, had my first (and last) wedding, stayed at my job for more than a year (going on 2.5 years now, another first!), welcomed the first niece to the family, and have started shooting photography as more than a hobby for the first time.

Turning 26 also puts me just 4 years away from 30...which is scary. Honestly, though, after turning 21, birthdays aren't a big deal to me anymore. I take the day and reflect on the year - then I try to figure out what I want for the next. Set some personal goals and such. Here's a few I've come up with so far.

By the time I'm 27 I want to:

• Get some photos published somewhere
• Create and submit some photos to galleries
• Begin making money (at least to cover expenses) with photography
• Hike another leg of the Appalachian Trail (Max Patch to Hot Springs in April...)
• Finish once and for all my photography course
• Enroll at the Indianapolis Art Center, attend group meetings, and develop my own black and white prints again
• Fix the fence in my back yard (sad, but true)
• Be a great husband to my wife
• Go fishing more with my dad
  
• and many more things to come!

For everyone who's with me on this journey, thank you.


Oh, and if you haven't checked it out yet, I'd highly recommend giving Sigur Ros' new album "Takk..." a listen. All of their work is amazing, but the new one takes the cake...in my humble opinion.

New Host!

I've switched hosting companies! I am now being hosted through Media Temple instead of ReadyHosting. After 4 days of not having email access, their phones being off the hook, and spotty outages with my site this year, I switched.

There shouldn't be any issues with the transition...hopefully!

An Ode to Me Ole' Hiking Boots

Poetry? Not quite. I am waiting on some things to finish a presentation for a huge meeting tommorrow, and I needed to take my mind off it for a minute. What do ya think?

An Ode to Me Ol’ Hiking Boots

Dear hiking boots, made of strong leather
Of a strong steer once roaming,
You’ll roam again on the feet of me.

We’ll go places ordinary and extra-ordinary, too.
For everyday can’t be an adventure
Unless we make it so.

You’ll wait quietly for me to awake
Each morning and put you on,
And the cat will grab at your laces as I tie them.

We’ll walk along the sidewalks and side streets,
Beside rich people and poor people,
The whole time thinking, “Are they judging me?”

We’ll take the high road when we can,
But sometimes the gutter is more fun.
We’ll create art and adventure like never before.

And in the end we’ll go home,
And we’ll both be worn a little more by the day.
But we’ll get right back up and do it again tomorrow.

Because that’s what we do.

Who killed Christmas?

I was handed a schedule today by someone in my office. I was instructed to highlight the days of the weeks surrounding Christmas and New Years this year with 1 of 3 colors. Red for "on call", blue for "on vacation", and black for "working from home". Nice to see that's an option this holiday season.

I didn't see a color for "leave me the Frick alone", or "I need this day off because I'll be too drunk from the night before to report to work," although it might have been there somewhere.

I don't care that we are all on call for the holidays. It's always been this way. Last year I worked right up until Christmas Eve, and then on Christmas day took off to Ohio for the weekend. I think I was one of the lucky ones who only had to work 3 days between Christmas and New Years. It's a price I pay to be involved in a fast paced, creative industry that never sleeps.

I do care, though, that EVERYONE in the U.S. has started working straight through holidays. There's no buffer, no time to be with friends and family. In 10 years, will Christmas just be another day the post offices and banks are closed? Just another Columbus Day on the calendar?

Who's killing Christmas? The economy? Bill Gates? Greed? I think the later did it, but Greed's a tricky one to catch. Always pointing the blame on some other sucker, like Hope, for instance - or maybe even Peace. They're two easy targets.

In Europe it's standard procedure to take months off for the holidays. MONTHS. In the US, most people work right through every holiday except Christmas, and only a few lucky ones get more than a couple days off. Seems to me that we should let people chill out for a while, catch their breath, then storm into 2006 rested and rewound with creativity.

Instead, though, people are pushed right back to the old grind, adding that much more resentment for a career they often wonder why they got into in the first place.

Baby Pictures

See more photos of Kasey at:
http://www.madflydesign.com/kaseyweb/

It took so long to get photos up here because I had to finish the ROLL of FILM that the pictures were on. Yes, that's right. I'm still in the 80's with my FILM cameras while all the new, hip kids run around with their digitals, snapping away and having instant feedback on whether or not they have the shot. Well, I'm not so lucky, and I'm stubborn.

But enough of that. I went out to the woods today doing some geochaching. It was a great day to be in the woods. Crisp air, lots of sunshine, and the deer were out in full force. I ran across one big dude standing on a hill and he just stared at me. I was probably 50 feet away and he acted like I didn't exist. He'd probably watched me pick my way through the leaf covered forest floor and figured he could out-run me with ease. I stood stared and he did the same. I counted 8 points on his rack before he walked away. That was worth the hike in itself!

Enjoy the pics of my new niece. She's a cute one!

If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.

I've started about 5 blog entries this morning, and I've come to the realization that 3 of them would potentially get me fired, another one would probably start a fight with someone in my office if they read it, and the other one just makes me sound like a big crying baby. So, today my stance is "If I can't blog something nice, don't blog at all".

So there you have it. Until I have something good and inspiring to post, I'm not posting anything. (or at least nothing today.)

Make-A-Wish, Butler fundraiser

On Monday night (Nov. 7), Butler held a fundraiser for Make-A-Wish. The money that was raised was going to go directly toward a wish child's wish, and they chose Katherine, one of Lauren and my wish kids to benefit from the fundraiser!

Here are some pictures from the event. Katherine is the girl in the pink sweater.

I guess I'm Schroeder?

You are Schroeder!


Which Peanuts Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Thats what the quiz said I was...see who you are.

Baby Update!

The niece has arrived. I don't have all of the official baby "stats" but I know I received the call around 1:05, and she had just been born. My mother was ecstatic on the phone...sometimes even uncomprehendable! I got:

"It's a GIRL!"

"She's SOOOO CUTE, and she HAS HAIR." - not on her back...I checked.

"We haven't seen her yet...but we will soon."

So, Lauren and I are plotting with our bosses to please please please let us leave early today so we can go and be ecstatic with the rest of the family. I've already been practicing yelling "Oh my god she's so cute!" and doing that crazy beauty queen hand fanning, you know...both hands flapping around like you're trying to fly but your arms are only "this tiny". It looks a little silly, but I guess that's what you do around new babies...I have a lot to learn.

Labor

Right now...at this very moment, November 8, 2005 at 8:44, I have a niece about to burst into the world. How exciting is that?

Lauren and I received "THE CALL" from my mom at 3:45AM. I was mostly asleep but I caught:

"Hello...."

(muffled talking on the other end of the line)

"Oh, Yeaaaa!"

(more muffled talking on the other end of the line)

"Ok, let us know if she progresses quickly!"

And then was told that my sister is in labor, and that Kasey, the niece, is coming today!

I'm very curious to see if she got Aaron's (the bro-in-law) hairy back.

Waking up at 2:30 AM in a thunderstorm and a cold sweat

Ok, I realize the last post about my Halloween bah-humbug-ness was a little dramatic...and I realize it was a really bad thing to do. I'll behave in the future...promise.

Saturday night I was dead tired. It had been a long day, after a long week, and I needed some sleep! During the day I had helped a friend from work paint and put up shelves in his house. He and his wife are expecting twins this winter, and there is a mad dash to get the whole room put together before they get here. She's not technically due till February, but since they are twins, apparently they will come early...possibly as early as the end of December. To add to that sense of urgency, she was put on bed rest last week...so he needed some help.

Well, 1 painted room, 2 shelves and 2 beers and 2 slices of pizza later, I was sitting on their couch with my wife watching "Bewitched" the movie remake with Will Ferrell (it's horrible....) and falling asleep. So, we packed up and Lauren drove me home where I promptly took a shower and went to bed.

CRASH!

Thunder and lightning and the sound of fury came from outside our bedroom window. The rain was pouring down, you could hear it on the roof it was raining so hard, and the wind was whipping around. Corn stalks were flying around and every now and then one would stray into the back yard and fly over the house. I was half asleep and it scared me half to death!

Finally, the storm ceased - after Lauren and I stumbled around unplugging everything (I have the worst luck with lightning. Everything I own gets hit, and I was even hit once, that might explain a few things to some of you....).

Sunday I got up and went over to Debby's house to review the photos from my first wedding assist. She was happy with them, and is even going to offer a lot of them to the bride for purchase. I did have a bit of a flash malfunction I need to address. It was really dark at the reception, and the flash was taking a long time to re-cycle, so it didn't fire a couple of times. That can be remedied with a power pack...the next thing on my wish list of things to buy. Other than that I was happy with the photos and she was too. I'm going with her again on December 10th, and she said she has a few more next year that I can go with her on.

After visiting with the photographer I came back to work on her website. I put all of the images in, and the only things left to do are add her contact info and bio. Then her site is done. Check it out if 'ye wants to.

Thats about it....pretty lame!

I've turned into "that guy".

You know "that guy". The guy down the street who always glares at the neighborhood kids playing baseball a little close to his truck. The guy next door who mows half of your lawn and sprays your dandelions with herbicide along with his because he's tired of looking at your mess of a lawn. The guy who tells the punk across the street to pick up the bottle rocket sticks from his front lawn. You all know him, and mostly hate him.

Well, somewhere along the line I have turned into that guy. I don't know when. Maybe it was this spring, when after spending all winter cooped up inside our new house I stepped outside and realized what a crappy neighborhood I bought a house in. Or maybe has just been a slow process, my frustrations from work carrying over into my personal life, turning me into a mean, prematurely "grumpy old man".

Anyway, on Monday - the dumbest day ever to have Halloween, I pulled into my neighborhood after a long, frustrating day at work (around 6:30pm) to find the street looking like the state fair....except everyone was in costume. I've never seen so many kids in my life. They must have bussed them in from the country to trick-o-treat in my neighborhood. Of course, I had no candy - a conscious effort on my part - and my plan was to hide out in the office and bust out a few new website designs. Well, there was some mail and a package on my front step, so I walked out of my garage and around to the front door. As I did this, a whole group of maybe 15 kids (as tall as me, mind you...not little kids) spotted me and started crossing the street in my direction, bags flung open with the intent of me putting candy in.

Now, I don't know if it was the box I was carrying from the front porch or what, but they thought I had candy for them. I swear to you, it looked like Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video - when all the zombies are walking down the street, arms outstretched as if to say "BRAINSSSS, BRAAAIINNSSSS! ERRRRR!".

So what did I do? What any self respecting grumpy old man would do. I stopped...waited for them to get within earshot and said "No one's home there", pointing at the front door of my own house. Then I walked into the garage and closed the door.

Yeah, I know. I told them no one was home, then I walked into the garage and closed the door. What kind of a person would do that? Well, I guess I would. I even surprised myself. The words just flowed from my mouth - like they were coming from somewhere else. Maybe, on Halloween, I have the ability to channel a long lost grumpy relative or something. You know, I am half Irish and half German - a combination that allows me to drink large amounts if I need to, but also the ability to stomach large amounts of sauerkraut and corned beef - and also to have what I like to call an "angry sense of humor".

Yep, I'm not proud of the fact. I might even try to change my grumpy old man demeanor around the neighborhood, but I fear that it may be to late. I'll forever be known by those kids as "they guy who told us no one was home, then walked into his own garage and closed the door."