The Queen and I have a full weekend of family activities. Tonight with her family and tomorrow with mine.
The Queen's aunt and uncle were very surprised tonight by a birthday party. They thought they were going to The Queen's parents' anniversary party.
My eyes have been opened to the problems within my company the last two months. I have been getting more involved in all aspects of the company and I do not like what I am seeing. I feel like I am overwhelmed by the number of changes that need to be made. I feel like I am powerless to make some of the changes and am encountering resistance with most of my recommendations. People fear change!
I keep debating how much I want to talk about with the owner of my company and how much I want to volunteer to take on myself. My work is suffering because of the number of items I am trying to juggle. I can't do this alone.
On a much better note, the family and I had a great time in Seattle over the Fourth of July. It was my third trip to the city and The Queen's second trip there. We were able to see a lot of the city and surrounding area. The only think on my list that we did not get to check off was a visit to the Hoh Rain Forrest. I really wanted to go, but it was just too far for this trip. Maybe on our next trip we can make a plan to visit for a few days.
Seattle made me realize again what is missing in the Central Valley. Other than the fact that I hate the heat here, there is no sense of community. I often wonder why my cities downtown does not have the things that other cities and towns I visit have. Don't get me wrong, our downtown is great and has a lot to offer. It is just missing things that would attract more people to the area.
The entire valley is way too conservative for my tastes. Everyone is afraid to do something quirky because of the people they might alienate. The great thing about a bigger city is that it doesn't matter if you turn some people off because there are enough people that will like what you are doing to support you.
I really loved the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. They have the famous troll under the Aurora Bridge, but they have a lot more to offer as well. There is a full sized rocket mounted on a building, a chocolate factory, a statue of Lenin and some dinosaur topiaries by the channel. It also has offices for Adobe, Getty Images and some other large offices. They claim they are the center of the universe and even have walking tour maps and funny signs posted around the area. They have created a community and I love it.
The Queen and I talked to our good friends about this and they agreed with us. They have not been to Seattle, but agreed that big cities have much more to offer. They even told us that they have contemplated moving to Portland, but that we were holding them back. They do not want to leave us. That made us feel good, but also got me thinking about a move to Portland as well. I have visited Portland once many years ago, but that was before it stated embracing technology and green industries. The city has changed for the better and I can't wait to visit again.
I want to start by saying happy birthday to The Queen. She is my best friend and a great mother to our children.
We went camping at Dinkey Creek this past weekend. I always going to this area and wonder why I don't more often. It is great to be in the mountains with creeks, rivers and a lake all nearby. It was also a refreshing change from the hot temperatures in the valley.
My only problem with camping with The Queen's family is that everything revolves around food, and lots of it. We had to take so much stuff with us, and most of it had to come back with us. We just take way too much stuff. Most of it never gets used or eaten, so we have to pack it back up when we leave.
I slept horribly for the two nights we were there, but it was still better than being home. I would gladly trade my good sleep for bad sleep if I could live in that area full time.
Tomorrow morning we are off to Seattle. I have been there twice before and really liked it the second time I visited. I can't wait to get there and show the girls all that the city has to offer. I have put together a pretty nice itinerary that takes all over the city, to the Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park and on a ferry to one of the islands to hopefully see some whales.
I can't wait until tomorrow!
I finished reading The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau. I really liked this book, but I don't know how practical it is for me. I would love to sell all my stuff and just take off to someplace in the world where I could volunteer and help people. I would love to not have to work a "normal" work day. The problem is that I have bills to pay and people to support.
After I finished the book I started thinking about what my perfect day would be. I think it would be great to start my day at eight o'clock in the morning. Wake up and drop Meg off at school. Come home and do some sort of exercise. I would prefer if I lived in the mountains on a lake. It would be great to take a kayak out on the lake every morning. A good jog or hike would also be spectacular in the morning.
After returning home and taking a shower it would then be time to get to work with whatever I would be doing. This is the part that gets a little fuzzy for me. I don't know what I am passionate about. I know that I want to do something that I love so work does not feel like work. I have thought about becoming a professional photographer, but I don't know if that is my passion. I really enjoy it when I am doing it, but I go weeks without picking up my camera. I also don't particluarly enjoy photographing people, but maybe that is because I am not good at posing people.
I would then pick Meg up from school and help her with her homework. At that point I would either do some more work or other projects that I like to do. I would exercise again in the evening after an early dinner and go to bed about midnight.
I know I have a lot of holes to fill in this perfect day, but it is a start.
The differences between each of us is what makes this world a great place. If we were all alike, then I would be bored. I enjoy learning about other people and cultures and how they live their lives. I don't always know why they make the decisions they do, but I try to appreciate them. Most of the time I do not even agree with the choices, but I respect them.
I really do try to no judge people, but sometimes people do make really bad decisions that affect others. In that instance, I believe that it is OK to pass judgement.
I think that the most glaring area where people make bad decisions is with parenting. The Queen and I are not perfect, but we have made every effort to raise our children right. When they were young, we followed them around and made sure they learned how to behave correctly in different situations. We did not allow them to behave inappropriately. If they did, we made sure we corrected that behavior.
It really drives me crazy when my kids are around kids who do not behave properly and their parents do not correct their behavior. I understand how my kids feel in this situation. They wonder why they are getting in trouble when they are just behaving like the other kids. So, the bad parenting does not just affect their own kids, but mine as well.
Again, I am not a perfect parent, but I believe that I try harder than most.
We all make choices in our lives. Some of us make bad choice after bad choice and some of us just move through life oblivious to other people. Those people make selfish choices. Choices that bring them enjoyment, but don't bring anything good to society.
I think about these choices all of the time. I made some pretty big choices several years ago. I chose to eliminate some people from my life. I chose to focus on improving myself every chance I get. I chose to make decisions that bring good to society and everyone in it. I don't regret any of those choices, but I am reminded of them a few times a year.
Some of the people I chose to eliminate from my life are still involved in the lives of other people I know. A few times a year The Queen and I are invited to parties where these people are also invited. We have both decided to make the sacrifice and not attend these parties. We don't want to be around these people and we definitely do not want our children exposed to these people. It is hard, but I do not regret it at all. I am comfortable.
I like to have fun just like everyone else, but I don't need to have fun all of the time. I don't need constant entertainment to be happy. I can entertain myself most of the time with some reading or internet browsing. I am thirsty for knowledge. I am pretty serious about life most of the time. I like to work on improving myself and my family.
Most people do not think this way. A lot of people just want to stay out late drinking with the guys and bad mouthing other people. Trying to forget their lives for that night. I think that is ridiculous! If I have to forget my life, then I better be doing something to change my life so I don't have to try to forget it any more. Why continue to live a life that you want to forget? That just does not make sense to me.
I spoke on a panel last night called "Building the Community's Work Force for the Future." I was asked to speak about the types of employees my company looks for and the problems we have with finding them. I discussed both the hard skills and soft skills we search for in a candidate. Hard skills being the experience and/or training that they need and soft skills being things like attendance, work ethic, etc.
I was on the panel with three other employers as well as a representative of our local community college. I was not that surprised that the biggest issues facing the other three employers were the soft skills. They just need to find people that will show up every day and work hard. Of course, they were looking for warehouse and production line people so they don't require many other skills. What I was surprised by was that one of the other employers mentioned that math skills were important for their employees. This company is a beer distributor, so I think a lot of young people would be surprised to learn that you have to have good math skills to stack cases of beer.
My company, on the other hand, does not have as many issues with attendance. We do have problems with work ethic. I think the most important assets for our employees are speed and accuracy. We need engineer, mechanics, electricians and machine operators who take pride in their work and have been doing the job long enough that they are fast. The lack of accuracy really bogs us down and costs us money with rework at all levels.
I don't have the answers to how we create a work force that has pride and a work ethic. That comes from your upbringing and early school years. Teachers today are so overwhelmed that it is not fair to blame them for this problem. It still must go back to home life. We have too many families with parents having to work more than one job to raise their family. This is even more problematic when you look at single parent households. It is almost impossible to raise a family today on one average income.
We left for LAX on Friday evening and got to our hotel, Hilton LAX, by about eight o'clock. There was some conference going on about aliens, UFOs, meditating and other odd things. We had dinner in one of the restaurants before heading up to bed.
We had to get an early start on Saturday morning. Our flight was set to depart at seven forty-five. We took the hotel shuttle to LAX. The Virgin America ticket counter was a pretty cool experience. It is separated from all of the others and has some nice mood lighting. When we boarded the plane, all of the window shades were down and it also had some cool lighting. It was a great experience. I expected some very attractive flight attendants like something out of the movie Catch Me If You Can to show up at our seats, but that didn't happen. The flight itself was pretty uneventful.
We arrived at JFK at about four o'clock in the afternoon. We found a cab and departed for our hotel near Times Square. The cab ride was not very exciting and took longer than I thought it would.
We stayed at the Hampton Inn Times Square North because I have had a lot of success with the chain when travelling for business. They are all clean and most of them are recently updated. You also can't beat a free breakfast. Once we arrived at the hotel we freshened up a bit and then asked the concierge where we should go to find some local restaurants. He suggested restaurant row on 46th Street, so we headed out.
There were a lot of different restaurants to choose from. We ended up eating at Ristorante Da Rosina. They packed people into every square foot of the restaurant. The Queen and I sat at a table that blocked access to another table, but nobody cared. The food was good, but the restaurant was just a normal big city restaurant.
From there we walked up the street to the Village Pour House for some drinks. I asked for a local beer and the waitress told me they stopped selling them. Two beers later when we were ready to go she came back with some Brooklyn Lager. It was an OK beer, but I had already had to Blue Moons. From there we walked to Times Square to take it all in. It was an amazing place. I have seen it on TV and in movies, but it is something you have to experience. When I was in NY the first time, Times Square was still a seedy place that you avoided so it was nice to see it like it is now.
We decided to stop in to Planet Hollywood and have a drink like tourists do. We sat at the bar and ordered a couple beers. We started talking to the bartender, Josh from NC, and I asked him if there was somewhere locals hung out near there. He recommended Bourbon Street Bar & Grill. We finished our drinks and Josh gave us a few more recommendations. He also put our ten year anniversary on all of the screens in the place. I got a picture of that with my iPhone.
We walked back to 46th Street to Bourbon Street Bar & Grill. The Queen found us a seat that was right behind a bachelorette party. We ordered some drinks and some food, alligator sausage and chicken wings. We ended up talking to the girls at the bachelorette party and having a good time. We left the bar very late and walked back to our hotel.
We woke up late the next morning after our long day. We decided to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We ended up taking the subway there. I had never ridden the NY subway, so I had to do it. We ate lunch in one of the restaurants in the museum and then started exploring. There was a lot of stuff to see. There are several building facades that are inside the museum as well as a complete Egyptian temple. I really liked the museum, but we were still exhausted. We took a taxi back to our hotel to rest before going to dinner and a Broadway show.
We headed out to eat and I really felt like a hamburger. We ended up at Chelsea Grill in Hell's Kitchen. The Queen and I both had gigantic hamburgers and fries. The food really hit the spot. We walked a short distance from there to the St. James Theatre to see Green Day's American Idiot.
It was a small theater, but the show was fantastic. We both really enjoyed the show. It was a short show, there was no intermission, but it was great. We bought some souvenirs before leaving the theater. A lot of people were gathered outside waiting for Billy Joe Armstrong to leave, so we decided to wait as well. After about forty five minutes he came out of the theater. I got some photos of him on my iPhone from a distance.
After the show we wondered around Times Square again and started looking for someplace to get dessert. We walked over to Rockefeller Plaza and still couldn't find anything. We started to walk back through Times Square to our hotel and found Junior's Bakery. We got a slice of NY cheesecake and red velvet cake and headed back to the hotel. The red velvet cake was better than the cheesecake because it did not have a graham cracker crust. I started planning for the next day at the hotel. We both knew it was going to be a busy day if we were going to see everything we wanted to see.
We started out early on Valentin's day and met with the concierge to map out our day. We walked to Central Park and took a carriage ride through the park. Our "driver" was Colim from Ireland. We told him we wanted a fun ride with lots of information and he did his best for us. It was a short ride and we did not get to see much of the park since it was covered with snow.
Next we headed east to Serendipity 3. The Queen had to have their Frozen Hot Chocolate. We got there about an hour before they opened for the day and decided to move on and come back at night. We walked back toward Central Park and ended up stopping in Bloomingdale's for a bathroom break. The Queen ended up shopping some before we left. We hit H&M next and The Queen did some more shopping. Our subway stop was right outside.
We took the subway to the Empire State Building. We waited in line to go to the Observation deck. It was very windy up there, but I managed to get some good photos and we even had an employee take a picture of The Queen and I with Manhattan in the background. From there we walked to another subway stop and headed to Greenwich Village to have lunch.
The Queen had to eat at Gray's Papaya, so we went to the original in the West Village. It has been in several movies. We both got hot dogs with everything on them. They were really good and the hot dogs snapped with every bite. We walked around the Village for a while and ended up at the arch in Washington Square Park. The arch has also been in many movies, so I took a picture of The Queen standing at it's base.
We caught a taxi and headed to the South Street Seaport. We bought tickets to a water taxi ride on Pier 70. We past ground zero on the taxi ride, but didn't even know it until we were on the water taxi. There was so much construction going on that you could not even tell what it was. The water taxi took us along Manhattan on the East River and then onto the Hudson River. We came back down on the New Jersey side of the Hudson and then past Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We then went back on the East River past Governor's Island and under the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges before returning to Pier 70.
When we got off the water taxi we walked to Wall Street and stopped briefly at Federal Hall and the The Stock Exchange before ending up at Trinity Church. We walked through the cemetery at the church and I took a lot of pictures. We then left and tried to catch a cab to SOHO for our dinner reservations. It was really windy that day and we had to walk for a long time before we found a cab.
Once in SOHO we realized it was early so we walked around some. We walked by DASH and decided not to stop in to shop. We ended up at some paper store and The Queen had a good time looking at stuff. We walked back to Osteria Morini just in time for our early reservation. The food tasted great, but the ambiance was a little lacking. The restaurant had rustic Italian decor and paper napkins and place mats. It also had some eighties music playing on the stereo. The food portions were small, but tasted great.
We caught another cab to Serendipity 3. We put our names in and had an hour to kill, so we went back to Bloomingdale's for another bathroom break and then walked around until we ended up at Urban Outfitters. The Queen shopped some and then it was time to head back to Serendipity 3. I ordered the peanut butter Frozen Hot Chocolate and The Queen ordered the regular. I am not a big fan of chocolate ice cream, but this tasted great. The Queen really loved it.
When we were done we walked back to the hotel and I picked up my tripod and we headed out to Times Square for some night photos. It was cold and windy outside and it was trying to rain. I got some nice photos and then we headed back to the hotel. When we got back we asked for some authentic NY pizza that would deliver to our room and got a recommendation from some of the employees at the hotel. When the pizza arrived I was disappointed that it was not the authentic thin crust. It was good, but not what I was looking for.
Tuesday morning we woke up really early and headed out to Rockefeller Plaza to try to get on the Today show. We succeeded! Al was the first to come out and shake our hands. He filmed some and then went back inside. About a half hour later, the whole group came out. Al, Meredith, Matt and Ann. I shook Matt's hand and got a photo of The Queen with him in the background. Meredith stayed outside and took photos with anyone who asked and shook hands with everyone. She was by far the nicest one on that day. I took a picture of The Queen with her and she told me that Meredith gripped her hand tightly and told her it was very nice to meet her. I didn't think she would have been the nicest one, but she was.
We went back to the hotel and had breakfast before packing and catching a cab to the JFK Airport. Our cab driver would not turn on the heat and even gave me a hard time about using my debit card to pay for the ride. He said if I used it I needed to give him a ten dollar tip and he watched me to make sure I did it.
The Virgin America ticket counter at JFK was not as cool as the one at LAX. We boarded the plane and headed back. Once at LAX we got our luggage pretty fast and went back to the Hilton to pick up our car. We were on the road about an hour after landing. Not bad at all.
When we got home, Chels and Meg were waiting for us. We gave them big hugs and started telling them all about our trip.
In hindsight, we packed a lot into this trip. We really only had two full days to see New York and we saw a lot. It was really fun and we both enjoyed it a lot. I would recommend a trip to New York to anyone.
I know I can come off as a negative person a lot of the time. I do not spend enough time telling people the positive things I like about them. I tend to focus on the areas that need to be improved. This is my focus on myself as well as others. I think other people sometimes tag me as being negative for this fact.
I am not a negative person, but I guess perception is reality.
One of my shortcomings is developing relationships with people. I have always been an observer. I am not the person that jumps right into a conversation. I would rather lay back and figure out exactly what is going on and try to determine what each person's motivation is. I enjoy listening more than I enjoy talking. I believe that this has made me a good judge of character.
I had a conversation with The Queen yesterday morning. She told me that she has not heard me say one positive thing about one of our girls in a long time. I got very defensive. I guess I have not been following my own advice of praising in public.
My only defense is that I have also not said one positive thing about our other daughter in a long time. I know that is not a very good defense, but it is all I have at this point. I really do need to work on building better relationships with people.
I think I do a pretty good job of this in my career. Although I have to have respect for a person before I build that relationship. I am not a two-faced person, so I cannot pretend to like someone. I can deal with them in a working relationship, but I will never pretend to like them.
National Signing Day for college football was on Wednesday. This day has really gotten to be rediculous for these high school athletes. We have to remember that these kids are only in high school yet they are already being treated like they are superstar athletes. Some of them are great athletes, but they are still just kids.
In the last ten years or so more and more of these kids have been commiting to a school and then switching their commitment at the last minute. They cannot officially commit until National Signing Day, but they commit verbally as much as a year before they can make it official. Many times these kids who commit early change their minds and end up signing with a different school. That is not a problem unless they wait until the last moments to make that change.
I know that many people call college football recruiting a game, but there is nothing worse than a coach counting on a player's commitment and not recruiting other kids for that position and then the player changing his commitment on signing day. That leaves a hole in the coaches recruiting class that he has to scramble to fill at the last moment. That is what makes this a game. We are letting this generation of kids run this process with their lack of commitment and honor.
These kids do not need to commit to a school before National Signing Day. They can wait to make a commitment until they are sure of their decision and then stick with it. We are creating a generation of kids who will grow up thinking that it is OK to commit to something and then later not follow through. We are babying them. We are creating monsters.
There are a lot of people to blame for this problem. The media who is looking to capitalize on the popularity of college football any way they can. The college coaches who keep allowing and encouraging this to happen. The people that bear the most blame are the parents. We all know that our parenting skills have diminished as a nation. But to buy into the hype of your seventeen or eighteen year old kid is the most rediculous thing. Parents are supposed to have the level heads and help their kids make the corrrect decisions. By allowing kids to drop their commitments we are teaching them a lesson that will haunt them their entire lives.
We need to take a stand and become parents again and not allow our kids to run our lives. We need to teach them the life skills that will allow them to be successful. We need to create the next great generation.
I read a blog post or article somewhere in which the author was talking about the number of photos he took last year. That prompted me to start digging into my own photo activity. This reminded me about my first digital photos that I lost due to a hard drive crash in 2002. I started taking digital photos in 2001.
That was the year Meg was born and the year I bought my first digital camera. It was a little HP point and shoot camera, but it did the job very well. That was the start of my photography journey.
When Meg was first born I took a photo of her every day wearing an outfit that was bought for her. I was in between jobs at the time, so I was home every day. That was actually a blessing in disguise as I was able to spend a lot of time with her and The Queen after her birth. I was also able to stay with her in the hospital when she went back in because of jaundice.
I am glad that I now back-up all of my photos to an external hard drive. I should really put it in my fire safe, but I don't do that yet. I was burning them all to DVD, but I stopped that when I got the external hard drive last year.
Here is a breakdown of the cameras I have used through the years:
2001-2003 - HP (Some more in 2005)(I also used my work FujiFilm in 2003)
2003-2006 - Sony DSC-F717
2006-2010 - Canon Digital Rebel XT
2008-2010 - iPhone 3G (3G, then 4 in 2010)
2010-Current - iPhone 4 (using Hipstamatic a lot)
2010-Current - Canon 7D
2010-Current - Diana F+ medium format film camera
Here is a chart of my photography numbers through the years (These numbers to not include all of the work photos I have taken using a FujiFilm and then Canon PowerShot G9):
I bought the 4-Hour Body at the end of last year. I started reading it as soon as I got it, but I was moving through it slowly. I read Tim's previous book and found it interesting, so I thought I would try this one.
Tim says that you should not read the entire book from cover to cover. Instead, you should focus on specific chapters based on your goals. My first goal is to lose weight so I read the chapters that deal with rapid fat loss. On Monday The Queen and I started our new eating plan, the slow carb diet.
We have drastically reduced our intake of sugar and carbs six days per week. On the seventh day, we can eat anything we want. We decided that our "cheat" day will be Sunday and we cannot wait. We have been thinking about what we will eat that day all week. It has really not been that difficult for me to stick to the plan, but The Queen has been struggling a bit. She is sticking to it, but she is not very happy about it.
I have been on this eating plan for three full days and as of this morning I have lost two pounds. At that rate I will be able to drop about sixteen pounds in a month. I have not even exercised at all this week and am still losing weight. That just goes to show you how damaging carbs are to your waist line. The only exercise Tim recommends at this point is the kettle bell swing. I hope to start that soon.
I will be travelling next week for business, so I am interested to see if both The Queen and I can stick to the plan while I am on the road. I have been cooking all of the meals this week and don't know if she will stick to it while I am gone. Our goal is the The Queen and I to both look good for our trip to New York next month. We need to stick to it!
This is the year that I turn forty. I never thought I would be this old, but alas it has happened. I don't feel old, but I guess I am by most people's accounts.
I decided a few years ago that I wanted to go out of my thirties with a bang. I fantasized about going to Machu Picchu, Chichen Itza, Tulum or even Europe. I wanted to do something big for my fortieth birthday. Well, I have come to the realization that I need to take it down a notch.
My company has had a rough twelve to eighteen months. My bonus last year was negligible and I most likely won't get on this year. That was the money I was hoping to use for my big adventure. This just means that I need to get more creative with what I am going to do.
We decided at the beginning of this week that we were going to go to Yosemite this weekend. Park admission is free and I have always wanted to go in the winter, so the timing is perfect. I have been doing some research to find out what I want to photograph in the park. I have read that everything is different when there is snow on the ground and I can't wait to find out.
We will drive up on Friday after school and stay the night at the Tenaya Lodge. Actually we will be staying in the cottages. That is where we stayed the night I proposed to The Queen way back when it was call Apple Tree Inn. Tenaya raised the prices substantially, but they say that they remodeled everything. I can't wait to find out if they are right. It was pretty nice before.
Next month The Queen and I are going to New York to see American Idiot on Broadway. Billie Joe Armstrong, lead singer of Green Day if you didn't know, will be playing the part of St. Jimmy. The Queen has been a big Green Day fan for as long as I have known her. We even went to see them in concert at Pac Bell Park in San Francisco for the American Idiot tour. It was perhaps the best concert I have been to.
In June we have a few trips planned. I want to go to Yosemite again around my birthday and hike Half Dome. I think that is something that I will remember for a long time. It is not Machu Picchu, but it will do just fine. At the end of the month we are going camping at Dinkey Creek. We did that last September and it was a lot of fun so we decided to do it again this year.
That is all we have planned at this point, but I may try to lobby to go to the biggest trade show in my industry this year in Dusseldorf, Germany in May. I will just have to wait and see how the company is doing as the show gets closer. It only happens every three years, so it is a big deal.
It would be great to go to Mexico again, but the drug wars that are currently going on are enough to keep me away this year. I love visiting, but I am not about to risk my life and the lives of my family. I with they would just get the situations under control.
I have been a little busy so far this year. I had a wisdom tooth removed Monday and have been out of commission a little so far. I really intend to be more regular in my postings for 2011
A few weeks ago my dad pulled out his old Polaroid Automatic 104 Land Camera. I ordered a battery and film for it online. I just got the film yesterday and decided to take my first photo. It is a black and white image as you can see below.
I ordered both black and white and color film for the camera, but decided to start with the black and white as an experiment. I think this photo turned out OK, but the second one I took turned out a little dark. I thought I adjusted for the darkness of the first photo, trying to make it a little lighter, but I failed. I will play with it some more soon to see if I can perfect my process before moving on to the color film.
I think this is just a continuation of my obsession with photography that started at the end of last year. I really like the results of using old film cameras. I am about to send off a bunch of the film that I have used in my Diana+ as well. I can't wait to see how those photos turn out.
I am offically obsessed. I cannot stop taking photographs. I think that my interest has been sparked again by my neice. She has really embraced the art form.
I find myself taking a lot of photos with my iPhone and especially the Hipstamatic app. It is quick, easy and gives me great lo-fi results. I even stick my phone out the sunroof of my car to take photos as I am driving. The good thing about this is that it does not distract me. I just hold it up, aim it and click the button. I don't even need to watch what I am photographing.
The day after Christmas we went to see my family again. I told The Queen I wanted to make a couple of pit stops. I ended up taking a lot of photos with my Canon 7D and iPhone. She got annoyed with me for taking so long, but I was having fun. Even Meg got into the act with her new video camera.
It is great seeing Meg's enthusiasm. She is not as obsessed as I am, but she is having some fun. I might have to put together a photography trip for Meg, my neice and me.
I think I failed miserably this year. In my post of January 7, 2010, I listed my personal goals for 2010 as follows:
1. Reed 1 Book a Month.
2. Run in 2 5K Races.
3. Volunteer.
4. Change a Child's Life.
Here is a recap of how I did:
1. Reed 1 Book a Month.
I did OK on this goal. I read eleven books, listened to one audio book and read three short ebooks or pamphlets. I learned a lot this year and I plan to keep on learning into 2011. I plan on keeping this goal as is this year.
2. Run in 2 5K Races.
I failed miserably at this goal. I not only did not run in any 5K races, but I stopped exercising and running the last quarter of the year. I have put on about five or six pounds since I stopped. I am slowly starting to get back into things again by using the Nordic Track, but I really need to start running again. I plan on keeping this as a goal for 2011.
3. Volunteer.
All I can say is epic fail! I did not volunteer for anything this year. My excuse is that this year has just passed me by, but that is only an excuse. I really need to volunteer in 2011. I want to volunteer again at the Visalia Rescue Mission and I would like to do some work for Habitat for Humanity. I also have the idea in the back of my mind of an afterschool photography program at The Queen's school. Maybe I can figure out how to get that started this year. I really need to focus on this goal for 2011.
4. Change a Child's Life.
I don't know what to say about this one. We ended up getting two foster children for a little over a month. I really think we did change their lives, but I feel bad that we could not make a permanent change in their lives. I don't think we will get any other foster children for some time as it was much different than we expected. It was a learning experience. I think we can change a child's life without actually have them as a foster child. We can do this with some volunteer work or we can find another way. I would like to keep this as a goal for 2011, but I don't think it is realistic any more.
Most people who grew up in Tulare County visited SCICON when they were in the sixth grade as I did. I remember it being a fun time, but don't remember many details. The Queen went this year for her second time as a teacher and I decided to take a day off work and visit her up there.
I looked at a map and finally remembered the cabin I stayed in when I visited the first time, Winterhaven. I have a horrible memory, especially when it comes to my childhood, but I finally remembered the name of my cabin.
When I decided to visit The Queen I really started thinking about what I was expecting to see at SCICON. I remember thinking it was a cool place when I was in sixth grade, but would it still be cool or would it be run down. After all, it is run by the office of education which is a government office. We all know that our schools can become run down, so I thought SCICON might be the same way.
When we arrived I met the principal of SCICON, Rick, and found him to be a really nice guy. I later found out that he has been the principal for twenty-three years. He works long days since the SCICON day starts around seven in the morning and goes until about nine at night. He has a house on site, so he can go home throughout the day. His wife is the nurse there which means they get to spend some time together every day.
We made our way to the cabin where the teachers stay and I surprised The Queen. She had no idea that I was coming up to visit her. It was great to see her after a few days apart.
I was really surprised that SCICON was in great shape and was still very cool. As I walked around the main area and hiked some of the trails I started to remember little bits and pieces about my trip there in 1983. I remembered the bell and the dining hall.
The Queen and I decided to take the Sky Trail hike. That is the longest hike offered at SCICON. I took the hike when I was in sixth grade, but The Queen never had. It was a great hike and half way up I remembered the spot were we stopped and had a sack lunch when I made the hike as a sixth grader. We continued all the way up to Hermit's Cabin. I found the rebuilt cabin there. When I made the trip the first time, it was just a pile of wood with some pots around it.
In the end the hike took us a little more than three hours. It was a long time, but I really enjoyed it and took a lot of pictures. I would really like to take the trip up there for the day every year that The Queen is there. I even told her that it would be great if she got her administrative credential and became the principal of SCICON when Rick retires.
I graduated from USC with a bachelor's degree in 1993, but I finally own my degree. It only took seventeen years and five months to pay for my college education, but it is now officially paid off. It was a struggle at times in the beginning, but I made it. I guess I can now say that my education has paid for itself.
I was not in a hurry to pay off my student loans because the interest rate was so low. There was always something else that took priority. It is a relief to be done with it though. Now I just need to work on The Queen's loans. She did not get a great rate on her student loans. I don't know why that is other than the fact that she graduated fourteen years after me.
I have done just fine in my career even with my student loan payments. My loans have not been much of a burden on my financially. I don't think student loans would be too much of a burden on any college graduate and I think they should be part of the financial aid package for everyone who attends college. You need to value your education and in my mind the only way you can is if you have to pay for it. You would think twice about all of your career decisions if you had loan payments to make every month.
I think this goes hand in hand with my belief that every teenager should work had. I worked in a fruit packing house stacking boxes every summer after I turned sixteen. It was long hours and difficult manual labor, but it made me appreciate college and my career after college. Even before I turned sixteen I worked one year picking up grape trays our in a grape vineyard. After that and working in the packing house, I did not want to end up having to do manual labor for the rest of my life.
The problem today is that it is difficult for teenagers to get those jobs. Most of them are having to work in fast food or retail jobs. Retail jobs to me are just too much fun. They are not hard work at all and are very social jobs. They do not teach the value of hard work and do not make you appreciate working hard for what you get.
Kids today also seem to have much more of a sense of entitlement. They feel like they should not have to do manual labor. It is beneath them. All they want to do is have a job that is fun. They don't know what a serious job is like and will be shocked when they enter the real world and work for their first difficult boss. Most of them will not be able to handle it.
My life has taught me some valuable life lessons and has shaped me into the person I am today. My parents helped me with my college expenses or else I would not have my loans paid off yet. I appreciate their support and believe that what they provided for me was appropriate. They did not give me too much help and I value that. I am planning to do the same thing with my kids and hope they turn out even better than me.
I am so proud of Meg for the way she finished the soccer season. She played very well in the play-offs, even though her team was eliminated. In her final game on Tuesday she was one of the best players on the field again. She did not score any goals, but that was because she only got the ball a few times in the game. She even moved all the back to help several times.
I have always known that she was a good player, but that she did not always try. I had a talk with her toward the end of the season and told her that coaches were watching to find all-star players. At that point she started playing like her self again.
It was disappointing that she did not make the all-star team. She had a bad tryout, but I still think she was one of the top players there. Politics can crush the hopes and dreams of kids. She has taken it well though and really wants to work on her skills in the off season. I am so glad that she has taken that attitude.
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