This is my friend Calvin Stockdale playing guitar at the Parents’ Weekend Coffeehouse. Calvin is very good on guitar, but his speciality is banjo, which he plays in his band, The Hilltop Moonshiners, and his family’s bluegrass band, the Stockdale Family Band. He is an excellent musician and entertaining to watch. Click the photo to view it larger.
For the past 5 or 6 years, my Dad has sent my cousins a photo of him holding a sign somewhere with their birthday present. This year, since I am away at college, I got one in my email! Here, Dad just finished snow-blowing the driveway after a big snow and is covered with snow and ice in the backyard. (By the way, the sign says “Aaron” because my family calls me by my middle name.)
While driving over the Great Plains with my parents a few years ago, I encountered a plot of land that had many large pieces of art like this. The only one I can distinctly remember is a large yellow hammer. To get an idea of the size of these all-metal objects, look at the tip of the bull’s horn. The little dot on top is a hawk sitting there. These objects were massive. I tried to find the artist who makes these creations, but my search efforts, though short-lived, were fruitless. Click on the photo to view it larger.
I turned my paper in today! I also listened to a speaker from the Koch foundation talk about applying market-based management to your person and career. He gave an interesting talk that made me think. In very-near future events in my life, my parents are coming up to Hillsdale tomorrow evening for Parents’ Weekend. I am excited to see them!
Time to get back to studying the Constitution and working on improper integrals (not necessarily at the same time…).
As many of you already know, Apple released the Safari 4 Beta yesterday. I will spare you all of my thoughts on it, but I like it a lot. Its design has changed slightly, but the big improvement is all of its back end additions that are really paving the way for new web standards. Check out Apple’s list of 150 Safari 4 features to see what I am talking about. Click the photo above to view a larger screenshot.
I have one grievance right now: the 1Password plugin is not supported right now. I am sure it will be as soon as Agile figures out how to make the plugin work with the new layout and back end. I should cut them some slack since it was released yesterday.
Today’s post is also going to be pretty short because I want to devote as much time as possible to working on my paper for Dr. Jackson and getting all of my reading done for my other classes.
There is no picture today because I was not back in Amherst to get the photo that fits today. Today is Fat Tuesday, the day before the start of Lent, the forty day liturgical season before Easter. The photo I had in mind today would have been of the lines of people at Kiedrowski’s Bakery at 6 a.m. waiting for one thing I think about when the beginning of Lent comes around: Paczki. For those of you who do not come from an area with lots of ethnic people around, paczki are deep-fried pieces of rich dough filled with fruit and other fillings. They are of Polish descent. Traditionally, the reason for making paczki was to use up all the lard, sugar, eggs and fruit in the house, which are (or at least were before Vatican II) forbidden during Lent. I am sure they are made now because people think they are tasty and bakeries can make a lot of money on them this time of year, but for whatever reason they exist, I am glad they do.
I was sad today because Hillsdale had cheap knockoffs of paczki which were more like jelly doughnuts. I wish I could have been in line waiting for Paczki this morning, or at least had a few paczki that someone else in my family picked up. I am not going to get to eat them for another couple years now, since they are only made during this time of year. How sad!
Earthquake Lake (also known as Quake Lake) is a lake within Gallatin National Forest in southwest Montana. It was created after a massive earthquake caused a landslide to block the Madison River on August 17, 1959. Click on the photo to view it larger. I took it in July 2007.
Oh, how I would like to be there right now, thinking, reading, and relaxing! The post is short tonight because I am busy writing a paper.
Hillsdale junior Allen Shoff is in the process of making a new film. He has made a few short films before and I hear they are very good. They have been writing scripts for weeks and I saw his group setting up a scene today, so I stopped by to take a couple shots. In this photo, Doug McAlister and Kellie Eder study their lines, while Aaron Mortier prepares to record audio.
Here is what Allen Shoff wrote about his film: “Stolen Fire Films today began its most ambitious project to date: the feature-length film ‘Roland’. The story of Roland James Payton, a young, newly-married police detective struggling to return law and order to a troubled city. When a enigmatic new criminal element enters the city, brilliantly seizing power and predicting every move by the police, Detective Payton faces an impossible situation. As his marriage and his career spiral into a morass of treachery and lies, the line between justice and vengeance begins to blur, and Detective Payton is forced to make the choice that could mean the difference between the salvation of the city and his own damnation.
The screenplay of Roland was finished in late January, and filming began on February 22nd after a lengthy pre-production process. The ensemble cast and dedicated crew put in their first afternoon and evening of filming, transforming the room of Niedfeldt’s house director Scott Henry into the loving home of Mr. and Mrs. Roland Payton.”
I had a pretty productive day so far. I did all of my laundry, shot some photos for the Collegian, and worked on my English paper. Later tonight I need to read Racine’s Phaedra and work on some calculus problems. Tomorrow I am going to go see Jim Shepard read a piece of his fiction and then on Tuesday he is going to talk about historical fiction. It should be interesting. I will not post a photo of him speaking because my cousin Hank D told me he is sick of seeing speaker photos since I did so many during the CCA week.
This afternoon, Richard, David, and I drove up to Ann Arbor to check out the city. We ended up eating at Chipotle (excellent), shopping at Briarwood mall, and then eating dessert at a neat little place downtown called The Chocolate House. They had great expresso and chocolate cake. At Briarwood, I bought two pairs of jeans that were on sale at American Eagle and Hollister, and a nice polo that was also a good price at Hollister. We looked at many other stores, but there were no great deals elsewhere. I took the photo above later in the evening when we were walking around downtown. It is not a great photo because I did not have my tripod to keep it steady and I had my ISO too high.
Oh, one neat thing about Ann Arbor is that all of their sidewalk lights were LEDs. Very cool.
Also, I finally posted the answer to the math problem from 12 days ago. It is the comment at the bottom.
My dorm has dance parties occasionally and tonight was one of those nights. There were strobe lights going, so I thought it would be an interesting long exposure (thought it was not that long… only 1/3 second). Click on the photo to view large.
One of my classes was cancelled today, so I had a nice nap after lunch. Later this evening, I went out to get pizza, then went to a discussion on intellectual property (or, more appropriately, the lack thereof). After that, I helped David Wagner with making an interview video to go with one of his job applications. Also, Sam Branchaw and I introduced Aubrey Annis to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Also, I scored 100% on the Calc II exam I took on Monday! I am still waiting to hear back on other exams I had in the last two weeks.
Now that I have a few exams out of the way, photography obligations taken care of, and strong ideas in place, it is time to hit the gas on this essay. I have a green light and the path ahead for the next couple days is clear. Time to go.
I took this photo in South Haven a few weeks ago. I saw it and thought it was appropriate for what I have to do in the next couple days.
Today’s post is rather short because I have an essay to get a head start on and an exam (being given tomorrow) to study for.
The above photo was taken at A.J.’s Cafe, a cafe in the student union at Hillsdale. It serves food late into the evening and serves as a hangout/study spot for students until 2 a.m. I had to take photos a few nights ago of students enjoying themselves in the student union for a book being made for the family who financed the building. While I took lots of nice photos of students studying, playing games, and relaxing, I also saw this neat little guy and took a picture of him. I wish there were students at the tables, though.
Here is a good article pertaining to my post yesterday. I suggest you read it:
Printing Like Mad by Frank Shostak
Today, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law in Denver. The final version was 132,974 words, cost $787 billion dollars, and the amended version was passed in a matter of days. The picture above says what I think – this is going to destroy the dollar. Inflation will continue to rise and even speed up. Before you know it, you will be better off burning dollar bills to keep warm than using the dollar bills to pay for natural gas heat. It is about time to pick a better medium of exchange than fiat currency (Federal Reserve Notes) backed by the “full faith and credit of the United States Government.” Want a stable currency?
The irony of the photo above is that if the government was burning money, the currency would essentially deflate. Luckily for us (not) the government is creating more money, which lowers the purchasing power of each dollar.
Tomorrow President Obama will sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in Denver, CO. I am sure the federal reserve already has their printing presses running non-stop and before the ink of Obama’s signature dries, Uncle Ben will start up his helicopters and fly around the nation dropping money. (Obviously I am joking here… what they are going to do is just add numbers into a database and make it seem like they have money instead of actually printing it. This has the same end as printing it, though.)
What does that have to do with elk? Rocky Mountain National Park (where I took this photo in 2007) is just outside of Denver. This was about 1000 ft above the tree line in the alpine tundra. I put on my telephoto lens and snapped this nice shot of these two bull elk.
On a lighter note than the nation’s coming fiscal crash, I am pretty sure I aced my Calc II exam today.
I am back in Hillsdale after a nice weekend at home. I had a little bit of a disappointment on the way back, though. To keep myself awake and alert for the trip (I left at 9:30 p.m.), I figured out in my head every couple of mile markers how far I had left on the highway and at what time I would reach Hillsdale if I maintained the speed at that time. As I came close, I realized that I was about a minute and a half off because I had been using the wrong exit the whole time. I get off at exit 13 and I had been calculating with exit 15 the whole time. (Exit 13 on the Ohio turnpike is Ohio State Route 15, so that is where I got confused.)
I returned to Hillsdale this evening to see the campus covered in snow again after having 60 degree weather last week. I took this photo at the beginning of January when I came back for second semester.
Today was the surprise party for my parents’ 25th anniversary. It was a fun event. Family came in from out of town and my grandma and aunt arranged for my parents to be sent on a cruise in May. It was nice to see lots of family again. Here my parents are, still wearing the “mock wedding” attire put on them, doing the ceremonial feeding of the cake to each other. Their actual anniversary is on Feb. 18, but today was a good day to have everyone get together.
Today was also Valentine’s Day. Before my parents’ party, I spent a wonderful late morning/early afternoon with Amanda.
I will be back up to Hillsdale Sunday night, after I go to the History and Current Events Seminar here at home that I used to be a part of. The group is discussing P. J. O’Rourke’s On the Wealth of Nations. It should be interesting. Since I have read Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, I will discuss some of my thoughts on the historic book and O’Rourke’s explanations.
During my exhausting studying for my history midterm yesterday, I took a break to take a few basketball shots. Here is Keith MacKenzie, number 11. My exam went very well, by the way. I felt prepared and I walked out of it feeling like I was on top of what I wrote.
I still have a little bit to work on with my basketball photos: perfecting lighting and possibly using an off-shoe mount, shooting at a higher shutter speed to stop motion (at least 1/320), and work on my positioning for shots around the hoop.
I am in Kendall Hall studying for my first American Heritage midterm (Dr. Birzer) with one of my classmates, Anna Saewert. Today was also her birthday, so Happy Birthday, Anna!
I took this photo with the low quality camera on my MacBook Pro. (Photo Booth) I apologize for not putting a lot of effort into this post. The studying is kind of consuming me. I am going to do my best to change that situation next week.
Also, thank you very much, Sean, for updating for me yesterday when Hillsdale’s internet was down. I appreciate it!
I’m sure all of you were expecting a post from Chuck this evening, however the internet connection at Hillsdale is unfortunately down. In a valiant effort to keep Project 365 not Project 364, he called on myself to write a guest post for day 42.
My name is Sean Nelson, a close friend of Chuck’s who is currently going to school in Ohio. I’ve known Chuck since when we both wore Rolling Stones T-Shirts and listened to Black Sabbath in Junior High (probably earlier). After junior high, we worked together in our high school’s technology department and shared quite a few good times (this was around the time he started listening to techno, something I still don’t understand). A few years later we started the successful light graffiti project Illum that continued up until graduation. Since then, we’ve kept in contact through iChat and emails (although I take forever to respond to the latter). That’s enough of a history lesson…
I wish I had embarrassing stories about Chuck to expose to the world (or at least his 10 subscribers on Feedburner), but nothing really comes to mind at the moment.
Anyway, best of luck with your Project 365 Chuck and thanks for all the help throughout the years.
Sean
50mm, f/1.8, focused on the pen. Click to see larger.
First, today (Feb. 10 for those of you checking at a later date) is my Dad’s birthday! Happy Birthday, Dad!
This was my layout of work that I was doing Tuesday night in Lane Hall. David brought my camera up to me so I could take a picture of a very neat drawing that Laura Wegmann drew on the board when she was studying in that room sometime Monday. I will post a photo of it sometime. Possibly a gallery if I get more. David also brought me a couple delicious chocolate chip peanut butter oatmeal cookies he just made. He is so nice!
I usually go to Lane Hall to study in the evenings, since the building is open until 2 a.m. I was pretty productive tonight. Right before I walked back to my dorm, I ended up having an hour long conversation about photography with someone I just met, which was wonderful. By the way, I kept up my exercising today. I got up at 7 and exercised for a half-hour again. I plan on doing it every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. I will skip Wednesdays because I have a few things to do in the mornings. After exercising, I have more energy throughout the day (without taking caffeine) and I feel better overall. It is a good thing. Also, it was almost 60 degrees here today. It was wonderful!
When I was in South Haven, I went to a used book store and bought a “Mathematical Games” book. It had all kinds of neat math games to play with shapes and simple everyday objects such as matches. There were riddles in the back of the book and one intrigued me. Let’s see if the people who read my blog can get it:
“A stranger walked into the local sweet shop and bought chocolates for six shillings. He paid with a ten-shilling note, which they could not change, and so the shopkeeper went next door to the tobacconist, who was able to change the note for him. The shopkeeper returned with the change, gave the four shillings change to the stranger, who then left. The tobacconist returned the next day with the note, which turned out to be counterfeit. The owner of the sweet shop was obliged to give him his ten shillings back. How much did the sweet shop lose altogether? Explain.”
It is not a trick question, there is a solution. Give your answer and provide support. I will post the answer in a few days in the comments.
My day today was wonderful. I got up at 7 a.m. and went to the sports complex to exercise, took a shower, then had time for breakfast before class. It felt great! I was awake and had lots of energy without drinking caffeine. I plan on doing that a few days a week. I expect to have more energy overall and sleep better (that is what people say exercising does for you). Also, it was a wonderful day outside here and people are cheerful because of it. It was overall just a pleasant day today.
