Just a little story I thought I'd pass on...
The other night I went to my photography group. We gather in a local public library that has meeting rooms. About 20 minutes into the presentation, a man walked in and apologized for being late. He was new and got lost. We had a rather large turnout that night of about 17 people, so the seating was limited. He ended up sitting up front near the presenter. The presenter was doing a presentation on lighting and using flashes, and bounce flashes, etc... Well, he needed a "model" so he could illustrate the various lighting techniques. As it turns out the new guy (I'll call him Lou because he looked like a Lou - I forget his real name.) Lou was sitting in a good spot that made him an easy target for being the model. He was about 50-ish with a strong build. Lou sort of smiled and jokingly said "actually I am a model". I didn't think there was anything special about his looks to qualify him as a model but just assumed he was one of these "average joe" models like you might see in a catalog. After a few shots later, he joked again about being a model and then took his business card out and handed it to the presenter. The presenter sort of laughed and chuckled and asked if he could pass his card around, and Lou shrugged his shoulders and said sure. I was sitting about 3/4 way around the table and I started noticing the reaction to the business card as it was being passed around. It usually got a chuckle, or a small gasp, or a raised eyebrow. Hmm, I thought... that was a strange reaction to a business card. Well, eventually the card made it's way around to me... I had to chuckle also :) Here, Lou was a female impersonator. I just passed the card along and continued to watch the surprised looks, and raised eyebrows, etc... What I found interesting was that once the initial reaction, everyone accepted Lou and didn't make a big deal about it. It was all so "matter-of-fact". I just thought it a nice little story, and to notice the "nuances" of the various reactions was interesting to me. As I told this story to a friend she said, "It's not everyday one gets to meet a female impersonator"... I never thought of it like that.
Friday, August 04, 2006
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Random thoughts...
I know, I shouldn't blog with a title called random thoughts, but, that is what this post will be...
First off, I missed Rock Star Supernova last night! My family got me hooked on this show. I've only seen a handful of episodes, but now I need to know who will win this thing. It's pure "reality TV" at it's mindnumbing best :) I was watching Tuesday night's episode and flipped away during a commercial break... apparently I was sidetracked for just a bit to long because I missed the "perfomance" by Zayra but I was able to watch it on the web last night. Doh... I just went to their website to look up how to spell "Zayra" and saw who was voted off last night. Oh well, I'll still have to watch the webcast. I did want to comment though on the two really great performances on Tuesday night by Ryan and Storm.
Oh... great... Now I forgot what my other random thoughts were!
ok... here's one...
Photography>
I went to my photography meeting last night. It was very good. I'm learning a lot and being inspired by other creative people. Last night we were given a demonstration on various lighting effects by using 1 and 2 flashes. I knew all of this in theory but it was neat to see it first hand. We also had a rather large turnout of about 17 people. Many of whom entered the photo contest. I did not win this week, but that's fine because the photos that did win were really great. I will post mine anyway (if blogger will allow me) - nope... I had to manually figure out how to code the image myself - Grrr.
DVD>
I am watching a new series that was on HBO. It's called "Carnivale". It's a strange one. I still am not sure if I like it or not, but I made it through episode 2 last night and now I'm going to watch episode 3 next. There's just enough drama and "strangeness" to keep me hooked.
ok, that's enough for now...
First off, I missed Rock Star Supernova last night! My family got me hooked on this show. I've only seen a handful of episodes, but now I need to know who will win this thing. It's pure "reality TV" at it's mindnumbing best :) I was watching Tuesday night's episode and flipped away during a commercial break... apparently I was sidetracked for just a bit to long because I missed the "perfomance" by Zayra but I was able to watch it on the web last night. Doh... I just went to their website to look up how to spell "Zayra" and saw who was voted off last night. Oh well, I'll still have to watch the webcast. I did want to comment though on the two really great performances on Tuesday night by Ryan and Storm.
Oh... great... Now I forgot what my other random thoughts were!
ok... here's one...
Photography>
I went to my photography meeting last night. It was very good. I'm learning a lot and being inspired by other creative people. Last night we were given a demonstration on various lighting effects by using 1 and 2 flashes. I knew all of this in theory but it was neat to see it first hand. We also had a rather large turnout of about 17 people. Many of whom entered the photo contest. I did not win this week, but that's fine because the photos that did win were really great. I will post mine anyway (if blogger will allow me) - nope... I had to manually figure out how to code the image myself - Grrr.
DVD>
I am watching a new series that was on HBO. It's called "Carnivale". It's a strange one. I still am not sure if I like it or not, but I made it through episode 2 last night and now I'm going to watch episode 3 next. There's just enough drama and "strangeness" to keep me hooked.
ok, that's enough for now...
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Toilet Paper Caper
Just found this news item on Yahoo (via digg)... What a great story of "revenge" - revenge in the sense of "justice" not "vigilante-ism". Kudos to Mrs. Base!
link: yahoo news
---
And... after just reading about the new AOL pricing plan (and posting about it below), I decided to jump on the FREE plan asap. I wanted to wait until I got home so I could tape my call to customer service, but thought If I wait longer they might be overwhelemd. So, after several attemps on their automated system, I finally got through to a real person (with a funny accent). He was very polite, he treated me fairly, and was able to help me (I hope). It was kinda funny, because when I asked him if all I need to do is "cancel" my aol account he responded "oh no..." it was the way in which he responded that made my laugh, like "how dare you say that" :)
But, it was a good experience (once I got past the automated services).
Now, I'll just monitor my credit card to make sure they don't continue to bill me (as they are known for).
Teenagers who toilet-papered and damaged a home now face felony vandalism charges because of a mother's extraordinary sleuthing.
link: yahoo news
---
And... after just reading about the new AOL pricing plan (and posting about it below), I decided to jump on the FREE plan asap. I wanted to wait until I got home so I could tape my call to customer service, but thought If I wait longer they might be overwhelemd. So, after several attemps on their automated system, I finally got through to a real person (with a funny accent). He was very polite, he treated me fairly, and was able to help me (I hope). It was kinda funny, because when I asked him if all I need to do is "cancel" my aol account he responded "oh no..." it was the way in which he responded that made my laugh, like "how dare you say that" :)
But, it was a good experience (once I got past the automated services).
Now, I'll just monitor my credit card to make sure they don't continue to bill me (as they are known for).
Two more quick items...
JWD - Stop reading this blog and get back to studying ;)
good luck with your upcoming exam!
And I just checked my little map at the bottom and I got a hit from Africa!! Yes!
good luck with your upcoming exam!
And I just checked my little map at the bottom and I got a hit from Africa!! Yes!
Blogger photos not working
I've been trying all morning to post this but have been having trouble posting the photos. Well, turns out after a little digging that Blogger is experiencing problems with this since July 25th. So, I'm just going to post without using photos for the next day (or more?). This stinks because I like putting the photos up with my posts. I hope blogger fixes this soon. It looks like they were having computer problems so they "upgraded" and now they are trying to sort out all the bugs. One of which was that they estimate 10% of their blog pages are having trouble loading.
To find out about their problems here's the link:
http://status.blogger.com/
ok, onto my posts:
These two items are from the Make Magazine Blog. Issue 7 is at the printing press now! Yes!
A "walking" robot!
Check out this video on YouTube!
Imagine this thing walking along as you drive by.
There is a father/son project posted over on the popular mechanics site... an underwater spy submarine! Cool! Though I think this would take ME much longer than 4 days! Not to mention having all the gizmos.
and a bit of news about AOL!
I've been getting ready to quit AOL. I've bought my own domain name to have my new email address, and have been trying to update all my old AOL contacts. I fear making this switch because I'm sure I've forgotten something important. So for the past few months (I was going to wait a year) I've been monitoring my email to see if I've forgotten anyone. Well, looks like I can rest a little easier. AOL has finally announced (today) that it will change their prices and offer many of it's services for FREE! (Including email!) Finally AOL is seeing the light. I have been a loyal customer since 1993! But over the past 2-3 years they have really gone down hill.
AOL used to be a community, and long the lines it lost this. So, I wish AOL all the luck as I think they will need it. I hope they don't screw over the customers who still need dial up access (most of America!). If they play their cards right they will survive.
Cnet news item
To find out about their problems here's the link:
http://status.blogger.com/
ok, onto my posts:
These two items are from the Make Magazine Blog. Issue 7 is at the printing press now! Yes!
A "walking" robot!
Check out this video on YouTube!
Imagine this thing walking along as you drive by.
There is a father/son project posted over on the popular mechanics site... an underwater spy submarine! Cool! Though I think this would take ME much longer than 4 days! Not to mention having all the gizmos.
and a bit of news about AOL!
I've been getting ready to quit AOL. I've bought my own domain name to have my new email address, and have been trying to update all my old AOL contacts. I fear making this switch because I'm sure I've forgotten something important. So for the past few months (I was going to wait a year) I've been monitoring my email to see if I've forgotten anyone. Well, looks like I can rest a little easier. AOL has finally announced (today) that it will change their prices and offer many of it's services for FREE! (Including email!) Finally AOL is seeing the light. I have been a loyal customer since 1993! But over the past 2-3 years they have really gone down hill.
AOL used to be a community, and long the lines it lost this. So, I wish AOL all the luck as I think they will need it. I hope they don't screw over the customers who still need dial up access (most of America!). If they play their cards right they will survive.
Cnet news item
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Stephen Colbert Wikiality
I was up late last night and happened to catch the first part of the Stephen Colbert Report. (I usually don't make it past the first commercial break). He did a short piece on Wikipedia. I am a fan of wikipedia but I too question it's "truthiness" as Stephen points out. Well, this morning I signed on and my small "tech news" filter found this article...
"How Truthiness and Wikiality helped Colbert Take Down Wikipedia"
Interesting short read. Check it out.
Here is Stephen's Wiki page.
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