revjim.net

September 14th, 2006:

cryptic answers: answer set #1

Sep 14th, 2006
by Jim Reverend.
No comments yet

Here are the first set of answers to the “Cryptic Answers”:http://revjim.net/2006/09/13/meme-cryptic-answers/ meme.

* 8 or 9, I think. I didn’t really subscribe to the whole fire and brimstone thing, though, and I certainly wasn’t worried about looking like bigfoot.

* You’d have fallen asleep eventually, I’m sure. We’d have made sure you worked hard enough to be exhausted.

* What? Are you trying to figure out if it’s old enough to fuck? Ha. No really. I’m not sure how this works but if I had to come up with an answer I’d use average life ratios. This means you’d multiply by 80 and then divide by 15, give or take.

“Ask some more!”:http://revjim.net/2006/09/13/meme-cryptic-answers/

love vs. ego

Sep 14th, 2006
by Jim Reverend.
1 comment

As much as I didn’t want to, I decided I would just eat the $20 that I put into “the mis-prints”:http://revjim.net/2006/09/13/making-a-bad-day-worse/. So, I reordered them yesterday morning and had Jess watch me do it to ensure I didn’t press any of the wrong buttons and to make sure that I pushed all of the right buttons. We both felt confident that I did it right, so I had no reason to believe I wouldn’t get prints of the sane quality I’m used to seeing from CostCo.

Without telling me she was going to do so, Jess called CostCo later that morning and arranged to have the reordered prints provided at no charge as a replacement for the ones that didn’t come out as I had wanted. I hadn’t been willing to take this step because, despite the fact that the user interface undoubtedly sucks, I couldn’t be certain that CostCo was in any way to blame for the poor results. She also arranged to use her lunch break today to make the exchange herself since I left the bad prints at home.

So Jess went out of her way to save us $20 and she arranged to pick them up for me so that I wouldn’t have to deal with it. That’s a very sweet, generous, and thoughtful thing to do for me. I am elated that Jess would want so badly to make me happy that she would go through all of this trouble to do so. I’m also grateful for the assistance and happy for the favor. But I wasn’t at first.

For some stupid reason that I have yet to be able to pinpoint, her doing this bruised my ego and left me feeling incompetent and even more angry. I was angry with myself for not taking care of it in the first place. I was angry that I wasted all afternoon yesterday frustrated about the situation and confused with how to deal with it. I was angry that I couldn’t just shake it off and more forward. I eventually got over myself, swallowed my pride, and even met her at CostCo, mostly just to give her a hug, but under the safe guise of having lunch together. Sometimes I’m just plain silly.

The rest of my work day went mostly without a hitch. The “frames I ordered”:http://revjim.net/2006/09/12/frames-by-mail/ were on my doorstep when I got home as were a new set of Expan Drive Kits to replace the ones that collapsed and snapped in my studio while photographing Gloria a while back. I didn’t order any matboard because we still have a ton of it from a combination of the “hey daniel more people will buy your prints if you sell them framed and matted” extravaganza as well as the “name your own price” print sale. I did, however, forget to order the anti-glare plexiglass fronts that I usually mount prints behind so it looks like I get to go to a craft store and pick some up.

Around 8pm Jess and I met for the usual Wednesday dinner with “Pegleg”:http://peglegpete.livejournal.com/ and friends. We ate pizza, drank beer, talked about “Portable Media Players”:http://revjim.net/2006/09/14/ipod-nano-vs-the-world/, “Myschievia”:http://revjim.net/2006/09/14/attending-myschievia/, and monkey’s with expired sausage in thier butts. Then we headed home, I edited some pictures, bid on more eBay crap, and then went to bed.

*Her*: But your names rhyme, how cute would that be?!

*Me*: Sure, the rhyming names are adorable… it’s thinking about the butt sex that makes me a little queasy.

*Her*: Ew ew ew! Alright, you win.

– A conversation yesterday between a friend and I in regard to her husband.

I’m working from home today in an effort to lengthen the day by as many hours as possible. With these extra hours I intend to finish work on the “PhotoBlog”:http://djamesphoto.com/arranginglight/ (yes, that’s a real, working, honest-to-god link, though the content behind it isn’t 100% ready yet), and put up *something* on the “Main Site”:http://djamesphoto.com/. And I have to get to a craft store. I’ve also squared away a chunk of time to finishing signing the prints and packaging the books so I can put them in the mail tomorrow. Then there’s another slice of time allotted once Jess gets home for building frames, cutting matboard, and mounting the prints for “the Exhibit this weekend”:http://revjim.net/2006/09/05/exposure-dallas-presents-ambiance/. Jess offered to help which is good because I really suck at cutting matboard.

A true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words.

– Ansel Adams

Myschievia: never asked questions

Sep 14th, 2006
by Jim Reverend.
2 comments

“Bonnie’s comment”:http://revjim.net/2006/09/14/attending-myschievia/#comment-17162 got me wondering how many other people look at an event like “Myschievia”:http://revjim.net/2006/09/14/attending-myschievia/ and say “That’s not Burning Man!”.

So, I’ve compiled a list of Never Asked Questions about Myschievia to help keep that reaction at bay.

* Are there a lot of burners that attend? *Yes.*
* Does it share the concept of a Gift Economy with Burning Man? *Yes.*
* Is it a Temporary Community like Burning Man? *Yes.*
* Does it require participation? *Yes.*
* Are you welcome to be yourself, whoever that may be? *Yes.*
* Are you welcome to express yourself however you see fit? *Yes.*
* Will they burn something? *I think so.*
* Will there be art? *All around.*
* Friendly people? *Uh huh.*
* Debauchery? *Probably.*
* Camping? *Yup.*
* Community? *You betcha.*
* Do people get nekkid? *I don’t know, I’ve never been. But, from what I’ve heard, yeah… it happens.*
* Are there ferrel hogs? *Out there somewhere.*
* Fire Ants? *Most likely.*
* Snakes? *It is the woods!*
* Spiders? *They live there too!*
* Do you need goggles because of playa dust? *No.*
* Do you need a medical mask to breathe at some times? *Nope.*
* Will it be over 100 degrees during the day and near freezing in the morning? *Not quite. Between 55 and 85, give or take.*
* Will there be dust storms? *Probably not.*
* Is it in Nevada? *Nope. East Texas.*
* Even in a desert climate? *Nope.*
* Is it Burning Man? *No.*
* Does it claim to be Burning Man? *No.*
* Does it want to be Burning Man? *No.*
* So it’s not burning man? *Abso-fuckin-lutely Not.*
* Is Burning Man fun? *I don’t know. I’ve never been. It sure sounds like it is. I’d like to go. Maybe next year.*
* Is Myschievia fun? *I don’t know. I’ve never been. It sure sounds like it is. That’s why I’m going.*

Myschievia is not, nor, from what I can tell, does it intend to be, Burning Man. Much like San Francisco is not, nor does it ever intend to be, New York City. And if Burning Man is “New York City” then we can’t even call Myschievia “San Francisco” yet. It’s just a little baby town. Nothing compared to the 40,000+ that attend Burning Man.

I hope this helps.

Attending Myschievia!

Sep 14th, 2006
by Jim Reverend.
2 comments

After talking with “Johnny”:http://peglegpete.livejournal.com/, I’ve decided I’ll be attending “Myschievia”:http://ntxb.org/ this year. You should too.

For those of you unfamiliar with the event, it is a weekend of “Leave No Trace”:http://www.lnt.org/programs/lnt7/index.html camping in the “Piney Woods”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piney_Woods of East Texas combined with a forum for creativity and expression inside of a temporary community with a “gift economy”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_economy. If you’re familiar with “Burning Man”:http://burningman.com/ it is the same basic idea only not at all the same event.

If you like camping and enjoy artistic expression and creativity, and are open to new experiences, you’re likely to have a very good time at Myschievia.

It will take place October 6th through the 9th (real soon now). As this is only it’s second year, there should be somewhere between 250-500 participants. Admission is only $35 but must be purchased before October 3rd. Next Friday, the price jumps to $45, so get in now.

If you’re going, let me know.

iPod Nano vs. the World

Sep 14th, 2006
by Jim Reverend.
10 comments

I’ve been considering purchasing a portable music player for quite some time now. “Skwid”:http://www.thehumblest.net/?author=2 pretty much sold me last night on the “iPod Nano”:http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/.

I had previously been considering the “Frontier NEXBlack”:http://frontierstore.stores.yahoo.net/nexblackbare.html. However, according to Skwid, “iTunes”:http://www.apple.com/itunes/ is, by far, the best music management software available and, despite being free to all, it only fully integrates with iPod products. All told, comparing the 8GB models, I’d be losing the flexibility of using swappable Compact Flash Cards, the voice recorder, the use of AA batteries, and $25 extra in exchange for *much* better software, and proven usability. Seems like a pretty fair swap. I just wish I could have the best of both worlds.

If you have any other advice to offer on this matter, speak now or forever hold your peace (or piece, if you pack).