because a Reverend can't be wrong.
My 11:52am departure time with USAirways has been delayed to 2:42pm due to storms near DCA (Regan National Airport, Washington, DC). Of course, this means I’ll totally miss my 1:35pm flight out of DCA (which would have gotten me home at 4:43pm).
Right now, it looks like all other options out of Syracuse on any airline are booked. So, we’re checking two options. One of them leaves me has me taking a United flight out of DCA getting to Dallas around 10:55pm. The other option will require that I buy a ticket on Jetblue to Fort Lauderdale at 2:15pm and then pick up an American flight from there getting in around 8:15pm.
Wait… wait… wait. Nope. Cancel all that. There are no more flights out today. My next option is a 5:35am flight leaving tomorrow morning through PHL getting me in to Dallas at 10:15am. Looks like my plans for picking blueberries in Tyler tomorrow are shot. And this was the last weekend too. Damn.
They are still trying to book this. It might be entirely different before she’s done.
Despite my best efforts, I never did see any beavers last night. To be honest, I’ve only ever seen a beaver in the wild once, so I’m not entirely certain what their habits are, or where the best places to wait out to see them are. I saw a few structures that might have been lodges. But they were not clearly being used as other beaver lodges I have seen are. Perhaps I should try again at sunrise instead of sunset.
Regardless, I had a nice walk around the lake, met a few nice people, saw some beautiful birds, a snake, a bunch of squirrels, and a few frogs. At night, the lightning bugs just fill the old growth forests. It’s magical.
Back in March, Jess and I went hiking in Green Lakes State Park near Syracuse. I couldn’t help but notice all of the fallen cottonwoods boarding the lake, the tell tale signs of beaver incisors indicating their demise. While we never actually saw any of the living creatures, I knew that heading there at the right time of day might solve that.
So yesterday after work I went to my hotel, prepared myself for the adventure, stopped by for a quick salad for dinner and then headed out to the park. I got there at about 8:00pm, just enough time to get in place around sunset, when I’m most likely to see them. I quickly realized that, in my efforts to lighten my camera bag, I left out one critical piece of equipment: my flash card wallet. By the time I got back to the hotel to retrieve it I wasn’t willing to consider going back out.
So, I’m trying again tonight. I’ll pack up my stuff, stop by the store for something to drink, and head back out there again. I’m hoping to arrive just around 7:45. That’ll give me an hour before the sun sets.
Someone remind me grab my flash cards, will ya?
I don’t know what I did to deserve it, but I’m usually plagued with pretty terrible neighbors on airplanes.
Like the guy who took up at least a seat and a half forcing me to spill out into the aisle therefore getting jabbed in the elbows by every passing person and beverage cart. And then he drops his cheese knife and can’t quite reach so he asks me to retrieve it.
Or the guy who has some strange body odor that isn’t exactly terrible but when combined with his halitosis and a fart every thirty seconds or so becomes nearly unbearable.
And countless numbers of older men who fall asleep almost immediately and then no matter how many jabs, pokes, prods, and coughs you give them, insist on sleeping and drooling on my shoulder.
But something must have turned in my favor. For the second leg of my last flight I sat against the window with no one occupying the seat next to me. It was heaven.
On the first leg I sat in the aisle seat. In the middle sat a blue eyed, dark haired “au pair” from Germany traveling from her last job in Dallas to her new job in Manhattan. She spent the majority of the flight reading some celebrity magazine and doing what she could to avoid the snoring, bobbing head, shoulder sleeping tendencies of the older guy against the window. I guess the fact that I always sit down in my seat and immediately pull out a book is a bit put-offish. As soon as I put it away she became quite talkative. We discussed the finer points of the pronunciation of the names of the horoscope signs in English and German (that was the conversation starter; “how do you say this word?”), being a nanny from overseas, her travels, and her proclivity for shopping. If I have to have someone sitting next to me that I don’t know then this is the way to go.
Even considering the 2.5 hour layover I had in Charlotte, the 1.5 hour additional delay that I had when the Charlotte plane was late, and the whole “your bag is overweight so you’ll have to rearrange it or pay a fee” thing, it was the best flight I’ve had in a long time.
Exploration and a thirst for knowledge, coupled with general openness is what makes me who I am. While my interest has great range, all aspects of humanity are of a particular interest. This includes, but is certainly not limited to, our sensuality. I have an intense interest in the primal aspects of what make us fully, truly, human, and what connects us, in part, to the rest of the animal kingdom. Yeah. That’s me.
Human beings draw lines and boundaries around themselves for various reasons. Sometimes it’s out of fear, frustration, or a painful memory. Sometimes it’s for comfort or to acquire personal freedoms. Still other times the lines around us are superceded by the larger circles drawn around those we choose to stand so close to.
These lines aren’t always drawn in bright white paint — it’s not always obvious where they are, or how far they run. My interest is in rubbing up against them as hard as I can to feel every aspect of them. My interest is in tracing those lines and then seeing what it takes to move them. My interest is in seeing if there is some uncharted territory — a difference between where we openly say the lines are and where they actually exist.
Let there not be a misunderstanding. I do NOT advocate cross anyone’s boundaries and would never intentionally do so. Especially not with anyone that I cared about or respected. I don’t take interest in upsetting people, or causing them to do things they don’t want to do. That’s silly, and hurtful, and mean, and doesn’t get anyone anywhere.
My interest is in enjoying the time that I spend in the relationships I keep, and enjoying exploring that friendship and the human element that exists between any two people in any kind of relationship, romantic or otherwise. I feel that the closer we stand on both sides of the lines we’ve drawn, the more powerful and meaningful that relationship will be. In order to get that close, we’ve got to do a little looking around.
Exploration is all about boundaries, and lines, and new frontiers. All of this as an attempt to be as close and connected in every way possible to the people I care about. But never, never, ever to cross those lines.
These days, however, I’m seeking this particular closeness less and less and with fewer and fewer people. Not because I’m any less interested in making those bonds and exploring those boundaries. I just realize that being that person — stepping on those boundaries, pushing those lines, pushing others to explore themselves and their own lines — can cause more problems than it generates freedom or closeness. Maybe I push too hard. Perhaps others are unwilling to admit to themselves where their lines are drawn. Maybe we misunderstand the lines that have been drawn for us and cross them mistakenly. Regardless of the reason, I’m learning that with most people these days, the exploration isn’t worth the cost and rarely presents a reward. But when it does, it’s amazing.
I know webcams are selling quite strong these days. The sheer variety of them and their inclusion in the screen of almost every laptop in production today is evidence of this. But, what are people using them for?
Does anyone still operate the traditional 30-second, continuously refreshing, whether I’m home or not webcam any more? I don’t think so. With today’s technology, that’d almost be silly. I’m sure many people use them primarily for making new MySpace profile pictures. But what about everyone else?
My guess is that they are being used for more “live” forms of webcam use. I’m sure some segment of webcam users are engaged in one-on-one video chat sessions using Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Chat or something similar. But that doesn’t really appeal to the “see and be seen” atmosphere that surrounded the webcam communities of days of yore. Where are those people. Is the entire group of people sharing this mindset now relegated to making videos to post on YouTube, or are there more live alternatives. Stickam is a service that allows any user to broadcast a live feed with access control to whomever wants to look and talk and type. Are there other services like this, or is Stickam the only one?
Do you have a webcam? How do you use it?
| Express Yourself LIVE |
It’s supposed to rain all day tomorrow. I had scheduled a photo session in the rain for Saturday evening with a great subject, but she forgot that she already had made plans for the day and had to cancel.
Anyone else want to give it a shot? We’ll meet near-ish to Denton around 6:30pm Saturday evening. The session will last about 3 hours. You will get wet. Contact me ASAP for details.
In similar news, as I mentioned earlier, I’m heading to the Fort Worth Nature preserve early Saturday morning. I’m aiming to arrive around 6:30am. If you’re interested in coming a long for the hike or to be photographed, let me know, ASAP.
An interesting set of questions for a Friday, stolen from Jet.
If you had the power, what would your ideal weather be today?
My ideal weather for today is the same as it would be on any day. I like temperatures between 65 and 75 with a cool breeze. I like the sky to be partially cloudy. Every now and then, a nice rain is good. I can do without the hot sunny days unless the come with very low dew points — somewhere in the 30s would be great. Really, I can find something to enjoy in almost any climate as long as dew point is low. I can’t handle it hot and humid. I find it’s the quickest way to turn me into a recluse.
“Download This:” What songs are you happy to put on repeat these days?
I actually have a play list called “Right Now” that rarely contains more than 10 tracks. If I’m in the mood for repeating music I use that playlist and I change the tracks in it regularly. It’s not always the most complex music. Often the songs aren’t even “good” except that I somehow can’t seem to get enough of them. “Since U Been Gone” is probably the strongest occurrence of this in the history of me.
Currently, the list contains the following:
What’s your worst dumping experience?
Oddly enough, I’ve, technically, never been dumped as in had an official boyfriend-girlfriend relationship ended by the other party. However, I’ve had a few unofficial relationships ended. The worst of all of these has to be Ashley.
Ashley was a stripper and a coke addict and, despite many warnings from many people, I just couldn’t get enough of her. To this day, strangely enough, I still think fondly on the good times that we had.
She started growing distant after a while and the only explanation I was ever given was that she still really liked me but she was just really confused and not sure what she wanted and wasn’t even sure she wanted to date MEN any more. That hurt quite a bit, but I let her have whatever freedom she felt she needed. Eventually, we talked less and less until we hardly talked at all. Then, one day I heard through the grapevine that she had started seeing someone else. I was truly heart broken. I decided to just stop contacting her altogether. About a month or so later, out of the blue, my phone was ringing and her name was on the display. My heart jumped with excitement as I answered the phone.
Hello. “Hi, Daniel, it’s Ashley.” Oh! Hi! How are you? “Good. Listen I wanted to ask you a favor?” Um… sure okay, what’s up? “My boyfriend and I are thinking about starting a porn site starring me and I was hoping you could give him some pointers on the technical side of it all?” … “Daniel?” … “Are you there?” … Um. Yeah. Um. Sure… I’d be happy to. I’m busy now, though, can you call back later?
I never answered the phone again.
What quirks/annoying qualities/pet peeves do you have in a car – either driving or passenger side?
My biggest pet peeve is people who are doing something to block traffic, put lives in jeopardy, or otherwise cause strife to other road sharers while, at the same time, holding a mobile phone to their face. I’ve been known to go out of my way to humiliate and reprimand people who do this.
I don’t have a problem with people using the phone when they drive as long as they can do it without causing a disturbance or putting any lives at risk. As drivers, we all have the safety of one another in our hands. When the phone interferes with your ability to drive, you’re basically saying that your phone is more important than your life or the lives of the other people sharing the road with you. If that’s how you feel about me, then I have no reason to hold you in any higher regard.
My second biggest pet peeve is people who eat inappropriate car food in the car – especially the driver. French fries are easy. Potato chips, fine. A granola bar, great. A messy, dripping hamburger that you have to cram into your face in order to bite, an ear of butter dripping corn, or barbequed pork ribs are all absolutely out of the question. Looking over and seeing someone with one hand on the wheel and the other hand cramming something into, and all over their face absolutely disgusts me.
One time, while on a road trip, my mom actually purchased clam chowder at a restaurant to feed my dad by the spoonful as we drove, at night, in the ice, over a windy treacherous mountain. I thought I was going to be sick. Jess and I have discussed this at length and we’ve decided that, most likely, the worst possible food one could be seen eating in a car would be a big plate of spaghetti with marina sauce. I can picture now the slurping of each subsequent noodle causing even more red spots to appear on the back side of the windshield and all over the eaters face.
Best and Worst Things of The Week
Best: Feeling a sense of pride in myself for the work that I perform in my day job as well as my growing abilities as an artistic photographer.
Worst: Knowing that something I did hurt Jess and wanting so badly to somehow make life right and still be able to take it all back.
Erica does it on Thursdays. But now it’s Friday and I’ve decided I should do it too. I’m not going to let that stop me. So, without further delay, here is T^4 (Three Terrific Things Thursday Friday).
* I am very fortunate to have a wife that stands by me and our marriage even during the hard times when it might just be easier to run.
* We may still be moving to Syracuse! I know that in some ways that isn’t a terrific thing and for many of you it isn’t at all a terrific thing, but Jess and I both had some really big pieces of ourselves on the line for that, and some really big plans because of it and to know that it is now a highly probable event means a lot. Of course we’re still deciding if we want to move at all and, if we do, my employer would have to do something to allow it happen now instead of in two or three months because there’s no way I want to even consider moving then.
* It’s Friday and I have an entire weekend ahead of me where I can relax and do things that I enjoy. Starting with some time at a Nature Preserve Saturday morning hopefully photographing beavers if I can manage to find any.