My computer is psychic

I wrote an entry just now. Not a very good entry, but an entry. I wouldn't even say it was honest since it obviously was skirting many issues that I'm dealing with right now without having the courage to come out and just expose them. Not that I'm comfortable doing that here in the public domain It might be cathartic. I don't know.

But I wrote the entry and realized that it was neither useful to myself nor entertaining to anyone else. Who wants to read something vague and uninteresting? Not myself. I decided to erase it. Apparantly so did my computer because before I even got a chance to hit the delete key the text disappeared from the screen.

It's good to know that there's at least one thing out there that I can connect with.

Into the ether

Perhaps I was imagining the whole thing. The fat lady never showed up because apparantly there never was anything to see...

Like a duck in hunting season...

...I was shot down. At least, I'm 90% sure I was. The other 10% is just unquenching optimism that I'm reading this all wrong. In other words, it's denial. Not very happy about it, really. Not at all.

I'm sure I'll have more to say about this later, with a Rube-induced philosophical twist, but right now I'm still letting things play out. No fat ladies have sung yet...

Subtlety

You ever try to be subtle about something even when you want to be blatantly obvious about it but then you realize that you don't want it unnoticed so you try to be obvious but in a sly kind of way because you don't want to be too obvious but you don't want to be so subtle that no one can tell what you're trying to do?

Yeah, I feel like that all the time. Especially tonight. Ugh.

Selectivity is not my proclivity

In my new found desire to explore and improve my photography skills I've discovered the (not so hidden) cost of this wonderful hobby. Apart from the time required to take the photos, sort through the raw material, make any appropriate edits, and head down to the local developer, photography comes with a large price tag. First, there's the equipment itself. I have a Canon G3 which is somewhere between a point-and-click and a full-blown digital SLR. Ok, it's closer to the point-and-click than the SLR. If cameras were cars, the point-and-click would be a shiny Geo Metro and the digital SLR would be the bad ass Porsche 911. My camera would be a Honda Civic. The analogy made more sense before I wrote it.

My point is, that by all methods of comparision, I have a fairly simple and relatively inexpensive camera. I say "relativey" because in the world of electronic goods nothing is cheap. But I'm happy (for now) despite my intense longing for the Nikon D50, the entry level digital SLR that would make me the photographer I've always wished to be. In the meantime I'll have to salivate over the photos my friend Fiasco captures with her bitchin' digital SLR. But I digress. Of course, the greatest advantage of the digital camera of its film-based predecessors is the lack of film and cost thereof. I love this aspect. No more film. No more paying for film. No more conserving my shots because of the prohibitive cost of purchasing and then developing film. I can now take photos with reckless abandon with absolutely no concern for what is located in my viewfinder/viewscreen. And I do, which only leads me to my current situation: way too many photos.

I know what you're thinking: "But Rube, we love your photos! The more the better!" You're too kind, really. The truth is, though, like most people in this world of digitization, I am losing my discrimination when it comes to choosing subjects. It doesn't cost me anymore to take that extra shot of the mountain top or the car driving down the street even though it's virtually identical to the previous shots. But what's the harm!?!? First, when it's that easy to take a photo there's no reason to choose your subjects wisely and when I say "your" I mean "my" because I'm the one taking the shot. So I end up with a couple of extra image files on my memory card. Big frickin' deal.

Yes, big frickin' deal. The reason why is that I just learend that I have absolutely no restraint when it comes to printing out my photos. I just got my photos back from the Big Bend trip. All 120 of them. I'd say out of the bunch there are 40 unique shots. Out of those there are 20 decent shots and of those, 10 that I really like. I've already posted three of them. Although the price of printing shots has decreased it's still not free. Not that this is breaking the bank just yet but I can see that may eventually be a problem.

So, dear reader, I want to make a promise to you and to myself: from now on I will show more discrimination when it comes to which photos I deem "print worthy" and I will be more honest when designating certain photos as "crap". Yes, it's true, even I, the Great Rube, have the tendency to produce crap every now and then. For those of you who don't believe me, try reading some of my older posts. In the meantime, below you'll find a photo which I feel whole-heartedly deserves to remain in the "hey, that's not too bad" category. I hope you agree. If not, feel feel to leave a comment or write your opinion on the back of a Nikon D50 6.1-megapixel digital SLR camera with 18-55mm and 55-200mm DX Zoom Nikkor lenses, complete with circular polarizer and haze reducer filters and a 1Gig Compact Flash memory card and send it to my apartment.

Too late to be thinking

But I do it anyway. I'm kind of stupid that way. I have to admit, though, that my brain activity is at a minimum right now. The shift is almost over and I really couldn't tell you where all the time went. All I know is that I'm feeling pretty good (I couldn't say the same for last night) and I'm calm. The kind of calm you can only feel when you've just spent the past six hours barely saying a word with only the thoughts in your head to keep you awake. Calm is good. Let's see if the rest of the day goes this smoothly.

Normalcy is good. Not exciting, but good. Sometimes that's all I'm looking for.

The midnight shift strikes again!

Yes, it is once again 3am and I am not where I should be: in my big, comfortable bed dreaming of sugar plums and beautiful women (not necessary in that order). Instead, I am fulfilling my NASA-born duties as a Flight Controller and working the midnight shift here in Mission Control. Quick, turn on your TVs to the NASA channel and maybe you can see me. Or, better yet, remain sleeping and don't bother with any of this. You decide.

I always feel like there's more to write here than I have time to actually do it. Most of it's the boring day-to-day activities of a humdrum life (I've never used the word "humdrum" in a sentence before...it may never happen again). Buried within, though, I can usually uncover some nuggets of wisdom or entertainment for your reading pleasure. What you're reading how is what is usually referred to in the publishing industry as "filler". No real substance yet I'm still retaining your attention. Scary, huh? Consider a side-effect of our TV-driven society in which you can spend six hours in front of the television and still only get about 5 minutes of real content. I sometimes think my life would be so much better without television, but that requires missing Smallville and there are only so many sacrifices I'm willing to make.

Here's a little tidbit I just learned while writing this post: It may be a bad idea to use alchohol-based hand santizer on hands with newly opened blisters. My excursion to the rock gym today was a bit brutal on my hands and that apparantly did not agree with my desire to sanitize. Live and learn.

On another totally random note for all you fans of "The Rube's strange nocturnal habits", I thought I experienced another "episode" the other night. I woke up in bed, laying on my back, with a couple of t-shirts and a pillow case in the area of my body that would be considered my lap if I was sitting down. Of course, reaching behind my head I noticed that the pillow I was using was missing its pillow case. Now, I know all you loyal readers are thinking that I've once again performed some unnatural feat in my sleep that should be followed up with nothing short of an exorcism. Have no fear. I quickly realized that the pillow I was using actually started the night without a pillow case (I don't know either) so I did not, in fact, remove it while sleeping. And the t-shirts? Well, I think I had just dumped a load of clean laundry on my bed and I must have missed a couple items while putting it all away. This only leaves us to ponder the facts that the pillow I started the night with was different from the one I woke up with and, for some reason, I felt the need to place a bundle of t-shirts on my body while sleeping. I knew you'd enjoy that.

I think I had mentioned before that I went on a camping trip to Big Bend National Park a couple of weekends ago. Well, it's true. I don't know what to say about it other than Texas does have it's beautiful areas, contrary to popular opinion. I went with three friends of mine from or related-to work. The details of the trip are quite inconsequential and not very entertaining. All I know is that my feet were done at the end of our hike. That, and we came up with a great screenplay for a film tentatively titled "Attack of the Killer Caterpillars". Eerily enough, while discussing this future epic masterpiece we were being followed by a butterfly. We hiked for miles and we could not lose this one butterfly. Spooky.

On our last evening there we visited the hot spring which, as it's name implies, is actually quite hot. After all that hiking, though, it felt good on our weary muscles. We also got to swim in the Rio Grande at the risk of accidently crossing over to Mexico. My friend Kenny was a Mexican citizen for just about five seconds. I almost had to call the border patrol on him. Fortunately, he was able to recite the national anthem and could name the first president so I welcomed him back to the U.S.A. with opened arms.
Anyway, after 20+ miles of hiking and just as many hours in a rented minivan we found ourselves back in Houston. On behalf of the four of us, I'd like to formally apologize to whoever rents the van after us. We hadn't showered in days and by the time we returned home the vehicle acquired a permanent reek of sweat, feet, and stale cheetos. Along the way we stopped at the most ridiculous gas station/rest stop I have ever been to called Buc-ees which you can find an immense assortment of jerky along with all kinds of unnecessary Texas paraphernalia. Good stuff, really.

All in all, I'm just happy that we survived. The sun was hot, the air was dry, and the blisters were hurting. The trails were steep, both up and down, though I know we welcomed the drastic elevation changes as a great departure from the Houston landscape. Yes, it's a great national park and probably one that doesn't get nearly enough attention, though that surely keeps it relatively pristine. I recommend it to everyone who's looking for a change of scenery. Just watch out for those caterpillars.

Sunset at Big Bend

Texas can be beautiful...go figure

Just got back from a four day trip to gorgeous Big Bend National Park in west Texas. I'm exhausted and dirty and still in awe over the beauty of the desert mountains. Many photos to come but I wanted to check in with everyone and say hello and promise you that I'll be sharing the highlights of this trip when I get the chance.

I also want to thank everyone for their advice from my last post. As generic as I tried to make it sound it seems like many of you are very perceptive. That fact doesn't necessarily make my life any easier as I've been able to do some thinking this weekend and realized how ridiculous the whole situation may or may not be, but it's definitely nice to know everyone's listening.

Have a great night and I'll get back to you soon.

-The Rube

Because I know how much you worry...

...I wanted to check in with everyone. It's been a strange couple of weeks and I won't do you the disservice of actually accounting for them. All you need to know is that they involved a horrible cold, a painful plane ride, and ear infection (my first in twenty years), and many, many tissues.

Scattered in there you'll find a trip to Boston to see some friends and do a little recruiting and a side trip to NY to see my family which includes what might possibly be the cutest three year old ever to be born (I haven't downloaded the photos yet).

I'll write about those later...maybe. What actually prompted me to write is, well, let's just say something prompted me to write. I'll leave out the details for now to protect my own interests. I have a question to pose and perhaps my four faithful readers will have to some thoughts to share: have you ever been in a situation in which you wanted something despite the fact that you know it could possible be a bad idea to begin with? And, if the answer is 'yes', what did you do about it?

I expect very few people, if any, to understand the reason for that question but I have a feeling that many of you have faced that question in your own individual pasts. Discuss.