My 2011 Project

It's the end of the first month in 2011, so I thought I'd announce what I selected as my main 2011 "project".  2011 is the year I turn 70...in November. I'm not fully retired from working "for pay" just yet, but I'm not that far off...probably make that step in a couple of years. I read a blog late last year written by a very nice lady photographer, who suggested that no matter where you are in life, young or old, it's never a bad idea to select some sort of "project" to inspire you throughout the year...something in addition to what you do to make a living.

She came up with the idea at the beginning of 2010, to make photographs during the year, cataloged on a month-by-month basis, such that by the end of that year she would have collected a series of photos that could assembled digitally in "a book" and then printed professionally (MPIX does it for you, as does Apple, for a reasonable fee). What's so special about that you say...people do photo albums all the time. Well, here's the difference.

Her idea was to use photos that are about "things in your life". Common things you see all the time. Photos of scenes that change during the year, such as the grass in your yard, or the trees in your neighborhood. Photos of places you went, family you interacted with, people you saw, pets you fed, dentists who cleaned your teeth, doctors who took your blood pressure, FedEx and UPS men who delivered your special packages, repair people who replaced your broken hot water heater. Just common things and events, but stuff which would be interesting at the end of the year to revisit all over again. I thought this was a pretty cool idea, so I selected it as my 2011 "project". The photo at the left is one I'll use. A picture of a road in Martinsville, Virginia I drive all the time, but taken from atop a bridge crossing the highway. I might go back to this same vantage spot next summer when the grass will be greener and the trees and flowers will be in bloom. You get the idea.

Consider a "project" of your own in 2011. Especially if you're getting up there in years.

Dumbness...1st degree

I have this nice, reliable and very portable external hard drive made by Other World (OWC) Computing. I use it exclusively with my MacBook Pro. A few days ago I decided to back up some files and I noticed that the drive was no longer being recognized by my laptop...unlike it's state just hours earlier when it's icon was neatly placed on my screen's desktop indicating that all's well. What's up with this I wondered?

Messing around for several minutes plugging and unplugging the drive's USB cable, I got nothing in the way of recognition. Hummmm. I took it downstairs to my home office and plugged it into my desktop Mac Pro computer. Same thing...unrecognized. Another hummmm, but this time with much more concern. "Find the manual and read the troubleshooting section,"I muttered to myself. No mention of such a problem in the manual, other than to tell me to check the cables...are they properly inserted...yes they were, several times. Nada...must be broke.

Logic set in. External drives do fail., but OWC has a great reputation for this usually not happening. Maybe I got a bad one...even though it's less than a year old. Oh well, I was eye balling one with more capacity anyway, and besides, I'd paid just a tad above $100 for the one I had...the one that mysteriously died on me.

As I was placing said dead drive back into the box it came in, pondering whether or not I ought to send it in for repair under its warranty, I noticed this VERY small switch on the back panel of the drive. What's that do-dad? Looking at the manual, I see that do-dad is the "on-off" switch...pointed in the wrong direction...why, I had not a clue. Flipped that switch to the left and presto...all's well. Like I said in the post title, 1st degree dumbness.

Hard Choices

I did not watch the State of the Union address last night...not that I was uninterested. I've been reading and hearing all kinds of opinions from experts and non-experts who suggest that in order to get the sort of reduction in the budget deficit, there are going to have to be cuts in "hard choice" areas...defense being one of the biggies, along with Medicare and Social Security. We'll soon see just how serious our elected officials are about taking on this challenge. I wish them good luck.

I'm in the middle of a great book my Doris Kearns Goodwin, No Ordinary Time, about the "homefront" during WWII, and how FDR was able to make people understand how inseparable the "homefront" was in relation to the "war front." Like today, he was frustrated by budget issues related to spending. I guess time passes but the challenges of governing remain the same.

What "they" never taught me

My oldest granddaughter is scheduled to graduate from Virginia Tech in May. She recently sent me her first resume to review, which I did. I was not impressed by what I read and I told her so. Her response was, "they never taught me how to do this." While I understood her frustration, I told her "they" was actually "you", and that sometimes you have to learn things on your own. She got my point, and after I gave her some advice, she prepared a credible document.

My point is that I had the same problem Jennifer did when I wrote my first resume, but I was far older and more experienced at the time than my granddaughter is now. My first shot at a resume was about six months before I retired from the Army, and as I recall, the critique I received on that effort was similar to that I gave my granddaughter. In the Army, my professional standing was pretty much apparent based on my rank, positions held, awards received, and efficiency reports I'd accumulated over the years. Preparing a resume was not one of my higher priorities, so I never took the time to learn how to write an effective one, and of course my initial excuse when my first attempt went bust was, "they" never taught me how to do it.

Take heed and start learning early how to prepare an effective job history and professional background...in terms understood by those in the civilian workplace. Given today's tight job market, few things will be as important in making you stand out among hundreds of others seeking similar positions.

They know...

Over the past several months, I have noticed more and more that my web browser when displaying certain websites, will often have an advertisement for some product which I've recently searched the internet for. Amazon is especially good at keeping track at what I search for on their site. I was aware of massive "data mining" ongoing all over the internet by companies who collect data (how they do it is beyond my level of understanding) of what many of us look at while browsing around. Yes, I know I can delete "cookies" on my computer, but I'm not into that routine on a regular basis.

Today, while looking at one of the websites I read daily, I saw an ad for a specific item of photo gear I searched the internet for yesterday, and it's a product I know is not THAT popular with the masses. So, I can only conclude that "they know" what I'm looking at. Dastardly plot or what?

Beware those of you who are lazy

If you have a computer, and use it for anything important (and I qualify that word by saying that reading email, aimlessly surfing the internet, watching videos, and playing games are not what I mean as being important) and if you don't have some sort of back up plan for critical files (documents, photos, home movies, projects, and anything involved with making you some money) then you are a disaster waiting to happen.

I've been saved by my back-ups more than once, most recently last night. If you are a regular visitor to this blog, then you know I am an avid photographer. That means I have lots of photos stored on my computer, and I always back them up on external hard drives, and for the really important stuff, on DVDs. Long ago, I was burned by not having a back-up plan for important computer files, and when I did something dumb (which I seem to do more often these days) I lost everything due to an inability to boot my computer. So, I had to completely rebuild the system, albeit with none of the lost documents.

As I wrote above, attacks of "dumbness" lurk around every corner for me. What I did yesterday was to delete an important photo library/catalog file, which I incorrectly thought was outdated, and no longer needed. I have a habit of always trying to efficiently organize my document filing system (folders and subfolders) so when I see something I believe is no longer required, I dump it into the trash. Big mistake this time, because when I attempted to open Adobe Lightroom, which I use to both manage and process my photos, an alert message popped up telling me the program could not locate the necessary library/catalog file, and what would I like it to do. As panic slowly set in, I wondered if the file I'd deleted earlier in my attempt to better organize my folders, was the one Lightroom was searching for. It did not take long for me to confirm that this was the case. But then, I remembered that I had backed up those files on my external hard drive the day prior, and within a few minutes all was well again.

Take my advice, develop some sort of computer file back up system. If you are an Apple computer user, and have the latest operating system, then you are in luck because you have Time Machine always available (assuming you use it) to back up your entire hard drive to an external hard drive on a set schedule. It does this for you in the background. If you trash an important file, open up Time Machine, go back in time, find that file, and restore it. Easy fix. I'm not sure if Windows OS has a similar capability, but if it doesn't it should.

A "sea change" in diversity

The term "sea change" relates to transformation, and when one looks at recent discussions and decisions pertaining to the don't ask, don't tell (DADT) policy, coupled with the recently released results of a DoD study prepared by the Military Leadership Diversity Commission, I have to say, "times they are a-changin."

The study mentioned above recommends that women, who now make up roughly 14 percent of the military, be allowed to serve in combat units...front-line fighters. Like the DATD discussions before congress and elsewhere, there will no doubt be similar discussions, both positive and negative, about permitting an expanded role for women in the military.

Personally, I was fortunate to have served alongside lots of women in engineer units I commanded, up to and including brigade level. True, we were not "front-line fighters" in the strictest definition of the words; but we well could have been, given the circumstances...at least we trained hard for such eventualities.

One aspect of the DoD's current policy pertaining to military roles open to women that I've never understood, involves aviation. Piloting an aircraft, with weapons onboard (which is OK for women), always seemed hard for me to distinguish from Infantry ground combat with an M-16 in hand (which is not OK for women).

Maybe all this will be sorted out over the next few years. I hope so.

2011 To Do List

One of the items on a 2011 "things to do" list you have, might be to take time to learn more about history, to include visiting historical exhibits or displays near where you live. Maybe it's a sign of growing older and wanting to learn more about those things in our past, which we cared little about when we were younger, or any other reason to motivate us in this direction.

Of course you can continue to sit on your fat or skinny behind and watch movies, or play electronic games, and remain totally in the present, versus expanding your horizons toward your past. Your call.

OK, it's here...but the birds aren't

The "it"in my post title is the Verizon iPhone. It's official. Early February arrival, for those millions standing in line. My Verizon contract does not expire until March, so I have time to ponder whether or not to get an iPhone or a new Droid smart phone. Many reasons for me to do the latter, all beyond the scope of this post, and you really don't care anyway. Now, to the "birds" in this post title.

No doubt you heard the news around New Years about the dead Redwing Blackbirds falling from the sky in Arkansas and elsewhere. Many theories for this weirdness. I'll add my own bit of mystery to the bird situation. Every winter for as long as we've lived in SW Virginia, we have had hundreds of finches and other small birds wintering over, feasting on the seeds and thistle we place out for them. This year, they have mostly all gone missing. Colder than normal winter you say. True, but last winter was also colder than normal and we had the birds around all the time. Why are they gone this year? The mystery remains....

New Army Chief of Staff

This video is a good reason why the nomination of General Dempsey as the new Army Chief of Staff was a good move. Never worked for or with him, but from what I read, he's a common sense person, and perhaps a top-ten performer on American Idol. Check it out here.

Wait may be over

For a long time, technology rumor blogs have been predicting that Verizon will soon carry an iPhone. Big deal you say, who cares? Well, thousands, perhaps millions of potential customers have been sitting in anticipation of this happening, but it never does. All rumors and nothing more. Well, perhaps next week on Jan 11th, the rumor will be no more because Verizon plans "an event" to make an important announcement. Many believe that will involve a new iPhone coming to their network. And, isn't it just fine and dandy that my current Verizon phone contract expires at just about that time. So...

Not so fast. With all the Droid phones out there, and some newer versions on the near horizon, an iPhone (for me at least) is not the easy decision it once was, considering how much a fan of Apple products I am.

This has a serious relation to the Army too, because of the "test program" at select training bases involving the issuance of smart phones (iPhone or Droid) to recruits. I wonder which phone will rule in this regard.

Pursuing a hobby to where it takes you

I bought my first "serious" camera when I was in Vietnam in 1965. A new Nikon, Pentax or Canon camera, purchased from a base camp PX, if you could find one, was a very good deal. So, just about everyone was carrying around some sort of film camera to record what was going on around them. That was when I got the photo bug. After I came back from my second tour in Vietnam in 1969, I put my cameras in a closet and forgot about them. Sadly, because a lot happened in my life until I next picked one up.

The photo bug bit me hard again when I was in my last year of graduate school at Iowa State in 1973. Having completed all my prescribed courses, the Army said I needed to stay in school another semester because it was not my time to "move", so I was told to find something to fill my schedule. Thus, Fundamentals of Photography was one of my choices. That was a great class. Essentially, they assigned us each a Yashica Twin Lens Reflex B&W film camera, gave us a few weeks of classroom instruction and told us to go work...making photos all over campus or where ever, developing numerous rolls of film we shot in the darkroom...and then selecting our best prints for a photo essay about some subject, which would form the major portion of our grade. My essay was about Dugan's Deli, a local hangout all us Army students went to when we needed a stress reliever, usually every Friday afternoon. I got an "A".

After grad school, I stopped using my cameras again...and what a mistake that was, because we had a couple of tours to Germany and I saw all kinds of scenes I never recorded. Then, I retired from active duty, and eventually in 2002 I got hooked again on a top-notch Nikon single lens reflex (SLR) film camera. In 2004 I converted to my first Nikon digital SLR, and I have charged ahead full speed since, to where I am today. I have three "serious" digital cameras...one Nikon, one Canon and one Panasonic. I use them each several times a month, and my collection of photos has grown considerably, most residing on my computer's hard drive and other external hard drives. Favorites have been framed and printed, and our refrigerator door is a common display gallery of my work.

So, my hobby has taken me a long way, and in some respects I just let it happen. The neat thing about this, is that when I decide it's time to "retire-retire", I'll have something to keep me busy, happy and satisfied. If you would like to see some of what I do, I invite you to visit my photoblog. Yep, I had to get a commercial in here no matter what.

Smoke um if ya got um

It's been a long time for me...I quit in the mid 1970s. But, I used to smoke this brand (and Salem too later on). So, when I saw this sign on an old general store in rural North Carolina a few miles from our home in Virginia, I decided to capture it with my camera.

When I entered the Army, everyone smoked...at least it seemed that way. C-rations contained packets of five...or was it four...stale cigarettes, always unfiltered, and we used to trade them back and forth to get the brand we wanted. Lucky Strike was pretty popular then. Anyone remember how to field strip a butt?

Why people smoke today is beyond me, given the seious health issues. But, many still do...especially in the military.

FLW tornado news update

If you want to learn more about the FLW tornado, go here.