revjim.net

ytt

YTT: 2006-05-31

h3. Yesterday

Yesterday I was pretty swamped at work. As usual, I spent most of my day convincing people that others have found almost impossible to work with to do things that they previously felt were impossible to do. If I’ve learned anything at my current position it’s that a little bit of charity can go a long way toward establishing trust.

After work I headed over to “Justin’s”:http:/gentlenews.com/ place for dinner and to prepare for “the show”:http://gentlenews.com/theshow/. The show had a few glorious moments but, for the most part, it bombed. Technical difficulties really frustrated us and made it hard to concentrate on much else.

After the show, we went home and made it there just before 10:30pm. I went upstairs to try catch up on “business”:http://djamesphoto.com/ mail, finances, and other commitments. By the time 11:30pm rolled around, I was tired. I went down stairs assuming Jess would be sound asleep and instead found that she had cleaned the laundry room and cleaned the kitchen and was awake in bed reading a book.

h3. Today Until Now

This morning, the alarm went off at 5am. Jess asked me to get her up when my alarm went off so I did, and then promptly fell back asleep. At 6am, I got out of bed to find that Jess had already gotten up, showered, and preprepped a pot of chili for dinner tonight. Do I have the best wife in the world or what?

I jumped in the shower, got dressed, kissed my wife goodbye, and sat on our front steps eating a piece of fruit for breakfast. Then I made a pot of coffee and settled into my office for a day of work at home. However, before getting started I had another small business commitment to attend to.

Just before we left for vacation, a patron inquired about purchasing a digital version of “Golden Field with Low Hanging Moon”:http://revjim.net/2005/11/20/golden-field-with-low-hanging-moon-seashell-folded/. His intent was to put it through the “Rasterbator”:http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator/, print it, and then hang it on his wall. I haven’t really attempted to sell digital versions of any of my photographs before but, the idea was so cool I couldn’t say “no”. I didn’t have time to send it before we left so, before digging into my day job this morning, I cleaned up the image he ordered, prepared it for digital use, and sent it to him. He’s promised to send me a photograph when it’s done. When he does, I’ll show you.

Around 8:00am the appliance people showed up. Our dryer first broke a few months ago. At that time we called an independent repair man who came out and looked at it for “two $20 bills I can rub together”. He said the motor was bad and that we could still use it until it went. Well it went, which is why we called these appliance people this time. After looking at it, it turns out it wasn’t the motor at all. There was just a bolt loose and one part was rubbing on another part. They tightened the bolt, the noise stopped, and the dryer was fixed. Hooray!

About an hour ago I got a phone call from an old friend that I haven’t seen in a while. She wanted to meet me for lunch, but, my not being at the office meant meeting me for lunch would entail quite a long drive. We talked for a bit. I really miss hanging out with her and the friendship we used to have. But, things change and I’ve accepted that.

Aside from a few non-work related interruptions, my morning has been busy yet mind numbingly boring. At times, my job seems so simple and utterly mundane that any unskilled person could be trained to do it. Then I consider the fact that people who are far more trained than I am consult me on these matters on a daily basis and I realize that either the job is harder than I’m giving it credit, or people are a lot less trainable than I think they are. Regardless, the majority of my work is boring and mundane and I wish I could find something more interesting, more creative, and more important. At this point, I’d even consider a pay cut.

h3. The Rest of Today

The rest of today’s work day should prove to be just as busy and boring as the first half.

As soon as I “clock out” for the day, I’m hoping to either go take some photographs in the pastures behind our house or get a large chunk of photo editing done. I have quite a few images waiting to be edited: three clothed sessions, two nude sessions, seven or eight various outdoors sessions, photographs from my backyard, and all of the bayou photographs. Yeah… that’s a lot. Given all of that, I’ll probably stay inside and edit even though I’d much rather be outside photographing. I’m open for suggestions on where to start.

Once Jess gets home, we’ll have dinner, pull some weeds, do some housework, and then walk to the gym. After the gym, we’ll sit in the hot tub for a bit and then walk home. Then I’ll catch up on a bit more photography stuff and head off to bed. Friends are welcome to join us for any or all of the above, as long as you remember that I get the right side of the bed so I can be closest to the alarm clock and the last one in bed has to turn out the light.

h3. Tomorrow

Tomorrow two friends are paying a late visit to my studio for some maternity portraits. I’m quite honored that they’ve asked me to do the work. Aside from that, the rest of the day is much the same as today: Day job, housework, and photo editing.

h3. Beyond

This Friday there has been some talk about a photo session, but nothing is really set it stone. If that doesn’t work out, I’ll see what social activities I can get myself into.

Saturday morning Jess and I are meeting a friend of ours (that we don’t get to see nearly enough) and her two children at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens around 9am. We’ll goof off, I’ll take pictures (of course), and have a general good time. Afterwards, though they don’t know it yet, we’d like to spend some time with my parents, my brother, and his family.

Sunday morning will be designated for yard work, followed by garage cleaning, followed by car washing. Sunday evening Jess and I are meeting up with the “DFW Area Flickr Group”:http://www.flickr.com/groups/dallasareameetup/ at Sundance square for photographs and social stimulation. It should be a pretty big crowd of photographers and spectators alike. I keep trying to meet up with these folks but am always so busy. I’m glad it’s finally going to happen.

We’ve made some preliminary plans for a social gathering at our place next Saturday. Nothing’s entirely certain yet, but, if you’re interested in attending, let me know and I’ll include you in further details.

yesterday, today, and tomorrow

Friday, after saying “hello” to the newly hatched baby birds that live in the tree in our back yard and hello to the little bunny sitting in our back yard flower bed, we loaded up the truck and headed to the East Texas Bayou. The cabin we stayed in was very accommodating, clean, and suited us quite well. It was nice to not have to deal with living out of a tent. We explored the Bayou a bit, went on an alligator hunt where we gave passage and nourishment to far too many chiggers, secured ourselves a seat on a swamp tour by water the next day, made dinner, listen to the millions of frogs, played a few board games and called it a night.

Early Saturday morning we got up, made coffee, and headed out for a brisk early morning hike. Then we came back to the cabin, made some breakfast, and went on a guided nature hike. Afterwards, we went on a swamp tour by boat. That was followed by a trip to Uncertain, TX to see the lily pads in bloom, and then on the seemingly never ending hunt for Goat Island where we saw a beautiful white tailed deer, and Jess eventually climbed to the top of an abandoned oil derek. Then we came home, had dinner, and went out to the fishing pier in search of alligators. We played a few more board games, doctored our chigger bites, and went to bed.

Sunday morning we slept in late (7am.. haha) and decided to take a drive into the Sabine National Forest. For the most part, this was an utter waste of time though Jess and I did have lots of fun at a nice little picnic just on the Louisiana side of the Toledo Bend Reservoir. Eventually, we headed North again to Martin Creek State Park for a nice short walk on the Island. Then we drove through historic Jefferson, making a quick stop at the General Store for ice cream, and then on to Lake O’The Pines where we made our way on to an unregulated, unsupervised redneck beach. Those kids know how to party! We drove right out on the beach and enjoyed a great view. Afterwards, we drove back to Jefferson for dinner at the “Hamburger Store”. Don’t go there. Ever. Not worth it. at all. We made it home late, played trivial pursuit, doctored our chigger bites, and went to bed.

Monday morning we got up and cleaned out the cabin. We emptied our coolers, packed up the car, and checked out of the cabin. Then we headed to Daingerfield State Park. This was, by far, one of the most beautiful State Parks I’ve ever been to. (A camping trip is in order *soon*, before it gets too hot. I’m thinking this weekend or next.) Jess made a friend and then we went for a hike around a portion of the lake. We stopped in town for some Mexican food and then headed on to Bob Sandlin State Park. We just took a quick look around, there, and then headed on our way home. We got home around 4pm, unpacked the car, and called it a day.

I’m entirely skimmed up on my LiveJournal reading list with exception of “Josh”:http://xaminmo.livejoural.com/ and “Jenny”:http://lottasmiles.livejournal.com/ whose recent writing deserves some extra attention. If I missed anything important, please let me know. My BlogLines reading list is making some progress too. It’s a lot easier to determine where I left off with BlogLines, so, I can be sure I didn’t miss anything important there.

Tonight (Tuesday) is the “the show”:http://gentlenews.com/theshow/, so be sure to tune in at 8:31pm Central. Afterwards, I’ll head home and try to get some of the approximately 1,000 pictures I took this weekend edited.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) I’ll be working from home. Our dryer started making a terrible noise a few weeks ago. A repair man came out and said it was the motor and that our cheapest option was to buy a new dryer but that we could keep using the dryer until it broke. Well, it broke. Thankfully, through some social engineering on Jess’ part, a repairman will be coming tomorrow morning to repair it free of charge. After work, I intend to catch up on some house cleaning, spend an hour on the book, and edit down the photographs from our weekend trip.