Marc's Thoughts

Politics, Finances, and Conspiracy Theories

2011-11-21T12:24:00.001-05:00

I have been trying to keep up on the news, particularly about the financial health of the nation. And lately, things don't look good. Things don't look good in a lot of places, most, if not all of Europe as well.

It seems odd to the untrained eye that both the US and Europe are in the same trouble. But thinking back to the '08 financiial/banking problems, they started with the selling of the mortgage-backed securities and derivatives, etc. in the US and went to Europe, so now they have come to more fruition and affected both our economies.

The other thing that is making me wonder, and bothering me, is that those who believe in conspiracy theories think that the corporations have gotten so big an powerful that they own a lot of influence and can buy anything they want. What they want is control. Control of us, and control of the planet. This can be accomplished by controlling the politicians. So the elections mean very little if anything. The theorists think, and have some proof that the corporations that control so much of what goes on in the world are run in part by some very powerful families, some tied to shadowy organizations.

2011-10-08T05:45:00.004-04:00

Okay, first post with the new interface on Blogger. Not bad, it'll work for now.

Lately, I've been hit up side the head with some reality that I thought I could keep in the background. That reality comes under the heading of conspiracy theories. In a nutshell the world as we know it is not the world in reality. The reality is quite different and frightening. Think of "The Matrix' and 'Enemy of the State' movies, and you get the idea.

There is a YouTube clip of George Carlin titles "Nobody Cares About You". It's a little bit funny but it's more true than funny. In recent years I had been keeping track of websites that kept track of those sorts of things, Alex Jones and Vigilant Citizen are two of them.

On the radio I listen to talk radio, conservative in nature, of course. I don't have faith in the political system anymore, the things they say and do don't make sense. There's something else going on. If the conspiracy theories are close to true, then that seems to give the lawmakers some rational for their irrational behavior. They have an agenda. They are part of a bigger plan, they are working to enact a agenda of global proportions. They are not working for we the people, or for themselves, but for another cause. Maybe there is something to the Illuminati and the Freemasons and all that other stuff.

Birthday and conspiracy theories

2011-07-11T09:58:00.000-04:00

So today is my birthday, all of 54 years. That seems like a lot to me, and it doesn't. Google gave me a nice little birthday greeting when I logged in, thank you Google.

Lately, I have been looking at websites that come under the category of conspiracy theory; global conspiracy and all that. Interesting stuff, at times depressing, but still, I have to say that there may be something to them.

Looking at them in light of Biblical prophecy it gets more interesting.

As I have mentioned before, I have departed from evangelical Christianity to figure things out on my own. My own being, apart from the group think of a church. Looking at what some say in the conspiracy world and what the Bible says in its prophecy parts I can see how the two might fit together. Or maybe what the Bible writers were trying to say.

Also, the way world events are unfolding and how some people have knowledge of what is going on, what it means and who is behind it, make some things that are stated in the Bible more plausible.

One fellow I have come across; Max Igan, is very well versed on global conspiracy theories. More than well versed, he knows pretty much what is going on who is responsible and why. To hear him lay out the whole scenario is pretty scary. His website is; thecrowhouse.com. Very interesting stuff. More on this later.

Mat 21st Update

2011-05-22T20:33:00.000-04:00

Well time is marching on. I've seen a few things online about the May 21st deadline for the beginning of the end of the world. Not much else. Just an article from a Bible scholar, who said that about half of the New Testament was forged. Maybe not made up, but written by people other than who they said they were. Interesting timing on that.

I was writing this as an update thing, keeping track of what was going on with the rapture story. But, I haven't done a very good job of keeping up with it, and now it is a day after the "fact".

Well, the "fact" never happened. No rapture or anything. And as with all before who have said the world was going to end on a certain day, nothing happened. Followers were and still are confused. Nothing has been heard from the man who made the prediction; Harold Camping. He made a similar prediction back in 1994 and then too, nothing happened.

Following the comments on the articles, most of the people made fun of him and his followers. It's an easy thing to do, he looks silly. His followers look silly for making a spectacle of themselves. I feel sorry for them and wonder how they could let themselves get taken in. I mean, these people seem intelligent, they have jobs and families, that really puzzles me. Are they really so committed to following one man and his crazy ramblings that they check in their brains and common sense?

For some people, I think religion can be a dangerous thing. For example; the Jonestown folks who drank the Kool-aide, the Branch Davidians in Waco Texas, and the followers of the guy who wanted to be a Mormon prophet. Can't think of his name now. But they all lost something really important, their lives. All for religion, to belong to something. Then, as now, I still don't get it.

Bin Laden & May 21st

2011-05-14T10:51:00.000-04:00

So, we finally got Bin Laden? Good for us. Funny thing is that Obama actually got him. Bush set 'em up and Obama knocked 'em down. For all the talk about ending the wars and pulling troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq, in some ways Obama is just like Bush, or at least walking in his footsteps. Then he goes and does his more expected un-Bush things like talk about raising taxes, or spending another trillion on something or another. I'm persuaded he's a true liberal at heart, so for him to do these conservative things, like exerting our military muscle overseas, must grate him to some degree. Talk about conflicted.

I found out recently that another Christian sect has supposedly figured out that May 21st is going to be the end of the world. At a glance of the group it seems the person in charge has done this before, back in 1994. I haven't read the details of the theory yet, but it involves some sort of calculations based on dates and quirks thereof. Hmmm, a week from today. The day after payday. Religion can do some strange things to people, like aggravate the idea of their own self-impotence. It happens in cults a lot, the leader thinks only he can hear from God...or the he is God. Unfortunately there will easily persuaded people eager to follow him/her. It's sad because I think it makes the genuine believers harder to take seriously.
I will try and keep up on this one through the week, and after...

Things are Changing

2011-03-23T21:59:00.000-04:00

It has been a while since I last posted anything. The usual suspects have gotten in the way; life, busyness, other aspects of internet life...and a little thing called Second Life has taken up a bit of my time.

Since then other things have happened, my youngest has gone to college, and become a vocal performance major, my oldest has graduated from college, we went to her graduation last weekend. That is mind boggling, having a child that is a college graduate...where did the time go? It is truly surreal.

In the past few years, I have abandoned church, mostly because I thought I was too dysfunctional to keep doing it properly, so the blame is on me, not them, but I can see problems. Anyways. I have kept an ear to conservative talk-radio and have tried to keep an open mind, remembering that they too have an agenda. In most cases I would say it makes more sense then the opposition.

Since leaving church, I thought I have looked at life objectively. From my observation it seems that political things have gotten more intense, more almost desperate. Like they've painted themselves into a corner and are fighting about how to get out of it, when there is no way out.

We've painted ourselves into a corner with issues like, abortion, gay-rights, immigration, and the national debt. And there are more issues that I can think of right, actually, almost everything is an issue that our congressman and senators take opposite sides with and make hay.

Conspiracy theorists are saying that things are really taking a turn for the worst. It's a geo-political financial cabal that is in control and exerting itself to make the world the way they want it. It's vague, but there might be something to it, I don't know for sure.

I hear the news and some talk-radio and I wonder if our government is screwing us up on purpose or do they think we can actually get out of this financial mess we are in. Our debt is staggering, basically, I think we're broke, a lot of the states are. I don't know everything, but I don't see how this is going to end well. Should we start preparing for the unthinkable?

Living and Dying, and living and dying...

2010-08-05T09:38:00.001-04:00

Lately I've been thinking a lot about life and death. Wondering about other perspectives on the topic other than the Christian one I have known so long. Becoming of a skeptical mind and questioning everything, I am exploring other worldviews. I want to write more but I am very tired, more sleep is needed.

Okay, fresher now, and trying to remember what exactly I was thinking when I first started to write this. I think it was a contrast to the Christian world view, that you have this one life and then you spend the rest of eternity with the Lord. The contrast being that our existence on this planet is a small part of a larger existence, maybe one of many lifetimes on this planet, or others. Who knows? So my question is, at this point, what is the nature of our existence? Does Christianity have it right? Or the eastern religions with reincarnation? Or does the New Age free thinkers have some valid points? Or do they all have a part of the truth?

That has become my quest of the past few months. If I get around to it, I would like to publish my findings and ideas here in the weeks and months ahead.

A random post

2010-06-19T10:37:00.000-04:00

Okay, this showed up as a draft. I thought there was something here, but when I looked, it was empty. So I'll write about 2012.

Recently I saw a History Channel program on Nostradamus. Very interesting because it was about the lost book of Nostradamus and how it relates to 2012. The only exposure I've had to Nostradamus is through the History Channel. Good for a start but I'd like to do some more research on my own. I found a few websites for starters and we'll see how it goes.

Changes

2010-06-19T10:30:00.000-04:00

Since I've decided to not be so religious, making sense of the world and world events is much more challenging, and frightening. Wondering what is going on with our government. Is he/are they doing this deliberately, or are they just being idealistic and not knowing what the consequences might be given the economic environment? Do they really care, or are they really trying to destroy the US as we know it?

Writing and Stuff

2010-04-28T08:20:00.001-04:00

I am going to try and practice writing every day as much as I can. Whether it's a blog post, or working on my creative writing or something else, I will consciously do something about writing. The whole idea of communicating, expressing myself in a meaningful way, has always been important to me. I just haven't had the confidence to follow through and really believe that what I have to say is worthwhile, even to myself. Now that's an issue.

Others can benefit from my insights, as I have benefited from others' insights. We all have to share because all of us learn at different rates and in different ways. So rephrasing the same information will catch on to 4 to 5 out of 10 people the first time. The second time, maybe two to three, and the third time, maybe one more. So far at best we have 9 out of 10. Probably one more time will catch that last person. And then the cycle will begin all over again.

So writers, and I say this to myself as well as to those reading this. Don't give up on yourself. If you have a dream, pursue it. If it's working in the realm of ideas and concepts, keep working at it, practice writing in the area you want to follow, whether creative writing or journalism. Go for it with everything you've got and get better. Participate, compete and be heard, or read.

2010-04-27T06:37:00.001-04:00

It's been a while. I've been thinking of things to blog about, and struggling to think of things to blog about. I get a lot of ideas when I'm not at the computer, and when I do get in front of the computer, my mind goes blank and I'm staring at this thing trying to figure out what I wanted to do. It's quite frustrating you know.

I seem to have this problem of doing something productive on the computer. All of my life I've been interested in writing. About four years ago I discovered fan fiction.net, where you can write stories using your favorite media. Everything from books to TV to anime. Take your favorite characters and make up a new story for them. A lot of people have done a lot of creative things with this. So I decided to give it a try.

I started to write a story based on the TV show; Law and Order. Jack McCoy solves a case with some unconventional methods. If interested, look under the author name of MrTax57. The name of the story is Jack's Halloween. I wrote the first three chapters three and a half years ago. Then life got in the way, or writers block or I got scared of the feedback I was getting, it was good feedback too. Go figure.

So finally, last night I posted chapter four. But now its treating chapter four like a new story instead of a continuation of the old story so it seems like its in a different place or something. But so far chapter four is not with the other three. But I will post chapter five soon, and be finished with this story for now. I may leave it open to continue later or close it and be done with it, I don't know yet.

One of the problems I've noticed about myself is I don't take myself seriously, and if I do, it doesn't last long, or I let myself get distracted by other stuff on the internet. Second life has been a distraction for the past two years. I'm finally using that to try and get some writing done. We'll see how that goes.

Can It Be?

2010-03-30T20:30:00.000-04:00

For the last several months I have been listening to 'talk-radio' here on Cleveland. A very conservative lot. As most conservatives go, they don't like President Obama. They are afraid of his policies, as well as his philosophy. Socialist, they say. It's all that 'change' you know that he was talking about before the election. He wanted to transform America they remind us. And to them, he's doing just that, in the worst possible way.

With the passage of the health care bill at almost $1 trillion, it does make one wonder what's going on. Do the math, or if you let the conservatives do the math, they might say something like our country is at about $60 trillion negative net worth. That's with a $10 trillion net income. If that's true, that seems like a real problem.

Now I'm confused between what the consevatives say about Obama and his motives. Now granted, I am not a poly-sci major or anything like that. What I have heard the conservatives say is that the democrates want power and control. By passing this health it gives the government control over one fifth of the economy and they can expand it from there. Well, okay, if that's how they want to move us out of a free market system and into a european-style, more govenment controlled system, I guess that's one way. The big thing is that it seems like they're spending money we don't have. Or that we're not making because we're loosing jobs like crazy, still.

So, if they want that power and control so badly, why ruin the country to get it, or once you get it? A big problem is that China owns a lot of our debt. It seems possible that they could call in the debt, then what? Who will have control? Did the democrats get control just to ruin the country so we cant be the worlds policeman anymore? So we can't afford to do anything on a global scale anymore? We'll be reduced to something like, The Czech Republic, or an African country that can barely protect its borders? How's all that power and control workin' for you now? I don't quite get it, but as time goes by, we shall see.

Times What They Are

2010-02-19T13:34:00.000-05:00

I've been hearing a lot lately about how hard times are for some people and I got to thinking. Since people are having such a hard time, being laid off and the like, loosing their homes etc. Would it do any good to band together in out neighbourhoods and develop a commune style of living model? Like several families living under one roof?

I'm not proposing a communal living style associated with the hippies, free love and all that. But more like people grouping together to pool their resources. Maybe for suvivals sake their financial resources as well as their material resources. I don't know how this would look, but I just thought I'd throw the idea out there and see how it would fly. Maybe someone with some more details could pick it up and run with it. I will try to add some more meat to this idea later.

Getting Around - Bicycling

2010-01-28T07:43:00.000-05:00

Well, apparently I was going write something here. Thats ok, I will. I recently dusted off my old Huffy 10-speed and decided to try and use it again. I came across some info on the web about riding in the winter that interested me and thought I'd try the idea out. It worked for about a week. That was a month ago. I haven't tried it since. Too busy, too put off by the cold and snow to venture out again in the elements. I guess I'm not that much of an enthusiast to go bicycling in winter on a regular basis, guess I'll have to work on that.

Otherwise, bicycling is a great idea, very practical and good for you too. I would advise anyone to try it for recreation. However it's not as practical as having a car in today's society. To be really practical would take a big readjustment.

2009-11-24T12:01:00.004-05:00

Lately, some movies, based on some books by Dan Brown have probably got a lot of people thinking about who, or what is in control of our country. At least it has for me. A friend at work has lent me a book that talks about conspiracies based on the movie "Angels and Demons".

In the movie, the Illuminati, the Freemasons, and maybe some others are mentioned. I read the book years ago and only remember a little of it. I do remember that I was more interested in the storyline than the ideas about conspiracies.

About the conspiracy book. It has gotten me thinking more about conspiracies. With the way things are going, it seems to make a little more sense. At least it seems a little more plausible.

I listen to talk radio, and they talk about how the liberals just want control. They also talk about how the things that they are doing are putting our country deeper into debt. It seems to me that at some point, everything will come to a halt because we can't get the money to do anything anymore, or the value of our money will be worthless and getting paid with it will be pointless. My question becomes what is it the liberals will have control of? An absolutely financially ruined country. Is that what they really want?

Parenthood

2009-08-19T22:43:00.003-04:00

We're at Marietta getting ready to drop our youngest student off for her first year at college. We will be empty-nesters. How did that happen? Between both girls we have invested about 20 years into parenting. Twenty years! And now it comes to this. We came as three and leave as two. *sigh*

Now I feel forced to look at my life as an older person. The parenting years are over and now it's time to watch our children, grown up, get on with their lives. While the kids were around it was easy to get older and not let it bother me. Since turning 50 it was harder to do. Now that the kids are going to be gone most of the time it will be even harder. It's just us and our thoughts. That can be really scary. But time marches on and we will make the best of it and who knows, even enjoy it.

Health Care: What Did They Mean?

2009-08-18T07:00:00.003-04:00

In a New York Times Op-Ed column by Richard Dooling; http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/opinion/17dooling.html, it was pointed out that there is a large amount of money spent on senior care. This includes housing, not so bad, and goes all the way to major medical interventions with small degrees of success, given the individual's age. Success being that the individual leaves the hospital. The thought he put out was that we should spend more, or shift our spending from advanced health care for seniors, who may not survive the procedures to 'prolong their lives' to the other end of the spectrum, obstetricians and pediatricians. An idea worht concideration.

Now that was put down crudely but when I heard an interview by the author, I found myself in agreement with the concept. Maybe we could prepare better for the end of our lives. When we get older and slower, and need more attention, about that time maybe we should think about whether we want to be kept alive at all costs, or go easily. What would our quality of life be like? At all costs hooked up to all sorts of machines for who knows how long? With an outcome of...?

For a long time, I thought I wanted to live as long as I could. So I try to take care of myself as best I can. Stay fit, eat healthy etc. But lately I've been thinking about how do I want to die. How much effort should be expended to keep me going? I'm thinking of how to have this discussion with my family. Do I even know what I want? This may take some time, but I believe it will be for the best.

I guess the point of the Op-Ed column is that maybe we should concider the possiblity that letter our elderly family relative pass on when medical intervention is no longer productive. This of course should be discussed with all pertenant family members, and the topic is very subjective and not all solutions are for everybody. I don't know that I've expressed myself as best I could, so I would ask that you take this entry with a wide view so to speak.

The Bill

2009-08-12T11:01:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I did a search online for the 'Health Care Bill', and found it. It was in response to someone posting, claiming that a certain portion of it advocated euthanasia. A part of me couldn't believe that there would be legislation so blatant and seemingly barbaric as to use that kind of language. I didn't know what to expect and so I found the portion of the bill in question, and read it.

The term 'euthanasia' never comes up. Rather, it sounds somewhat reasonable, in that, and I'm paraphrasing; every five years you should talk to your physician about end-of-life matters, like Living Will type stuff. Fairly benign. But then upon reflection, a question comes to mind; why should that even have to be in a piece of government legislation? Shouldn't it be common sense? Or at least left up to the individual and family, and brought to the doctor? The government should not be a part of that discussion, let alone telling doctors how to do their jobs.

I think that is the nose of the camel in the tent. Next, there may be 'guidelines' as to how to determine if a patient is a candidate for what kind of 'end-of-life' options. and so it goes, until who knows where it will end up. Now I could be somewhat paranoid, and so could a whole bunch of other people. But history can teach us a thing or two about how governments work when they want more power. They work for it gradually, a little bit at a time. We need to be vigilant and alert, and civilized. Please, lets be civilized.

And another thing...

2009-08-08T10:50:00.002-04:00

Well, here's an article on something I had thought about with Mr. Obama's idea of healthcare; end-of-life issues. That whole concept will change, if this thing becomes a reality I'm afraid.

'End-of-Life' Counseling Intensifies Health Care Debate

FOXNews - Wendell Goler, Stephen Clark - ‎55 minutes ago‎

A provision in the House health care bill would provide Medicare coverage for an end-of-life consultation, leading some to believe that the Obama administration is looking to save money by pressuring insurers to provide less coverage to seniors in the ...

Video: President Obama's Health Care Reform - Bloomberg Bloomberg

Obama says `worst may be behind us' on recession The Associated Press

Reuters - Washington Post - Bloomberg - Voice of America

all 2,426 news articles »

Email this story

This headline was pulled from the Google news page. I don't know if the links will be live or not. Anyways, take a look and see how you feel about the idea. Then maybe you can try and tell your congress person or senator, if they'll listen, if they care or they just want to tow the line and do what Mr. Obama, Ms. Pelosi, and Mr Ried tell them to.

Health Care?

2009-08-08T08:50:00.002-04:00

Mr. Obama has been in office around six months and has stirred up some controversy with his 'health care' plan. At this point, a lot of people don't like it, apparently.

The idea is to make it affordable for more people, as many as possible, to have health care. To do this, as I understand it, the government seems to want to fashion our health plan to something like England's or Canada's health plan. Something they call, 'single payer'. With the government being the single payer.

Now conservative radio talk show hosts think its a bad idea. They talk about health rationing. For a while, this confused me because I didn't know how they meant it. Then I finally asked a health care professional who worked on the financial end of health care, and she explained it like this; the program works well for maintenance type doctor visits, annual check-ups and things like that, but it won't allow for prolong types of treatment, say for cancer, or kidney issues. That, apparently is where the rationing comes into play.

Now once you get to that point, I don't know if you can pay with you own money, if you can afford it, or not. I know that there are people from other countries, England and Canada, who come here for certain types of treatments that they cannot get in their own countries. If they come to us for their treatments, and we become like them, health-care wise, then where would we go? Where would everyone else go that would have come to us?

So to take this situation, that the government wants to hoist upon us, to a logical conclusion, if the government won't take care of us once we become a shall we say chronic maintenance case, do we just wait to die? Is that what they expect us to do? Are we ready for that? How can anybody be ready for that?

Based on the responses to some of the congresspeoples little hometown meetings about it, it hasen't gone well for them. People, congressional constituants, aren't happy about it. They're protesting and complaining, loudly. Resisting the ideas, and the Democrates don't like it. They're saying it's organized right wing protesters. But, if it's the governments idea, and the people don't like it, shouldn't the government listen to us? Don't we have a representitive government, of the people, by the people, and for the people?

There are also allegations that the congress-people have not read this bill, or even know what's in it. And they want to put it into action, against our wishes? Also, the protests have gotten louder, if you will, because time has gone by and people have found out what this bill would entail, and they don't like it. So they're not just complaining to complain. there's something seriously wrong with this health care plan.

Six months now

2009-07-25T07:15:00.002-04:00

Well, we've had more time with our 'new' president. Some radio people say his ratings are falling. With the things he's trying to do, fix the economy by spending billions and billions, change the healthcare system and working out his foriegn policies, people are getting a better picture of what he is doing. Some of it may be ok, and some of it is scary.

I listen to conservative talk radio and they don't like a thing the president is doing, way too far to the left. But there's a part of me that wants to give him a chance. I'm not sure that left is all bad. Now I've had some ideas about the healthcare polices he wants to introduce, I'm a little concerned about those but I'm a little too tired to get into it right now. So I'll save it for later. But one thing keeps coming to my mind when I here about him spending so much money for things, bailouts, stimulus package(s), healthcare proposals, and other stuff I can't recall right now. Where's all the money coming from to pay for all this? Borrowing and taxation are the obvious answers, but how will that impact the future of this country? Somewhere in my mind, it doesn't add up anymore, it is illogical and doesn't make sense. I wonder about the future.

2009-03-08T09:54:00.002-04:00

Time has gone by and some say that the president and cabinet don't know what they're doing. It seems they're scrambling to try and fix things, and they're also trying to enact some really left-wing stuff in the mean time.

A lot of this is second hand info, but I had heard in the media that Obama is going to delay some of the tax hikes he was planning for the economy. A lot of people think that's a good idea. Nancy Pelosi doesn't think so, she would have put the tax hikes into effect much sooner. There's an insight to what her agenda is.

A New Year, A New President

2009-01-17T22:34:00.002-05:00

Well, here we are, a new president at the beginning of a new year. I'm glad I'm not in his shoes. It will be interesting to see what he does with all that power. So far it seems as though he's treading a path that's pretty centrist. Interesting as all the talk-radio people thinking he's going to go off to the left. Time will tell, as they say.

Politics and Finances

2008-12-22T11:18:00.004-05:00

In the financial world there has been another stunning scandal; Bernie Madoff, scamming people and institutions to the tune of $50 billion. It boggles my mind that he could get away with that much and that he would try it at all, given his background. I wonder, was he desperate, crazy, or stupid?

There has also been a lot of talk about the government bailouts; mainly that we're not allowing the market to take care of itself, also known as free-market capitalism. A lot of conservatives like the idea almost to the point of religion. The other side, mostly liberals think that the government should have more involvement in the running of the country. Be bigger and more controlling, aka socialism. Though they haven't come out and called it that formally.

Anyways, I was thinking that one would seem to prevent the abuse from the other, but then it could be abused itself. What I meant by that is that the capitalism model is prone to the type of abuse we've seen, people abusing the system to try and get more money out of it than they should at the expense of other investors. And usually the other investors loose, as in with Enron and the accounting scandals and Mr. Madoff most recently. On the other side, if the market were regulated and the economy as with a central government model, then you might get abuse by the government. like excessive regulation or outright oppression. Unfortunately, corruption can occur anywhere.

So will people ever treat each other better? With or without religion people are going to get greedy in some fashion, for money or power, or both and sometimes other will suffer. It seems to be the human condition and probably will go on till the end of time. Right now I think all we can do is hope for the best and be careful.

One a month

2008-12-01T16:17:00.009-05:00

Well, I'm going to try and post once a month. Hopefully it will keep me in the mindset and I"ll remember to post more often.

I think blogging is hard to do if you're ADD. Some many thoughts, so little time. Thoughts come in a flash, and go in a flash. One minute you get an idea and by the time you sit down to write about it, you can't remember it. Damn frustrating. Anyway, I try.

In the future I might try blogging about various topics; politics, consipacy theories, UFOs and the paranormal. I hope it will be as fun for you as for me. Of course it could become just a bit more stressful for me than you, but fun nonetheless.

Well, of my a fore mentioned topics, to ad-lib about something off the top of my head, it will be...politics.

Much has been made of President-Elect Barack Obama's success in the election. How he'll take the country in a new direction and do wonderful things. I think that will be a challenge given the situation he has inherited. What will he be able to do and who will he do it for? A lot people felt that President Bush was for big corporations, particularly big oil. And Vice-President Cheney was in a similar field of interest. Now who is President-Elect Obama aligned with? Some feel it is the unions. The worker verses the corporate elite. A classic democrat-republican tug-of-war. That is why Speaker-of-the-House Nancy Pelocy is promising that the big 3 won't fail. She owes them something.

Listening to talk-radio, much has been said about how they are afraid of Barack Obama's liberal-leanings, if not socialistic tendencies. We shall see how things pan out.

I have sometimes wondered about the value of capitalism verses socialism. Recently it seems that capitalism is a real good idea until it all falls apart big time, like now. Then the government steps in and props everything up so it won't fail, and it looks more like socialism than capitalism. That does seem a bit odd. So I guess we're not really truley capitalists? Maybe fair-weather capitalists? Hmmm.

It seems any ideology cannot be enacted and carried out because it will be corrupted by the people that are enacting it. Capitalism is corrupted by greed, (notice Wall Street of late) and socialism is also corrupted by greed and selfishness, (see N. Korea, China and Russia).

On the surface, socialism is interesting because nobody seems to get left out, all the wealth gets 'spread around'. So you don't have grinding poverty, but you also may not have extreme wealth.

Capitalism on the other hand doesn't have the boundaries, if you will, of socialism so you do have grinding poverty and extreme wealth. Which one's better? Does it depend on if you're wealthy or poor? I'm not sure, but I'd like to explore it further at a later time.

Gaining momentum

2008-11-09T10:40:00.002-05:00

More time has passed, too much time between posts.

I decided to take a look at my blog and see what was going on. Not much as usual lately to my regret. I started scrolling down the list of posts from the favorite blogs list and came across one titled "why do we blog?" I read through the responses and realized what I'd been missing. At the very least its would be for the joy of writing and self expression. And if I'm lucky, there will be more benefits, like better command of words, thoughts, etc., I might even make some friends and extra income. What's not to like?

My problem is that I'm easily distracted and discouraged. Afflicted with a degree of ADD. The discouragement part could be looking for a certain result and not getting it as soon as hoped and thinking it's not working and giving up. Or becoming overwhelmed by all the blogs and posts and information, and not having a method of handling it all. So it becomes on big mass of stuff and I get overwhelmed and discouraged.

Having realized this I want to try and manage it better. Try and keep better focus and follow a written list of priorities so I don't get so easily overwhelmed.

Does anyone else have issues with ADD? If so, how do you handle blogging or trying to blog with all the information that can come at you? Thanks for your response.

FYI I'm not doing the vampire thing in SL anymore.

Back to Blogging

2008-09-04T00:07:00.002-04:00

I started out blogging because I thought i might have something to say about parenting. But I ran out of material pretty quickly, it seemed. I didn't have the patience for it.

But I want to try and keep blogging for you, whoever you are. Thank you for your patience and readership.

One of the things that has distracted me in recent months is Second Life. Yes, Second Life.

I had tried a virtual life kind of thing called "There". I was pretty good but it seemed awkward in some ways and I never quite got used to it. Second Life, by comparison, was easy to get into and do things with. Much more comprehensive and engulfing. There is so much to see and do and its a wonderful experience.

I got caught up in it and became rather obsessed with it, logging on every day that i possibly could. Eagerly anticipating who and what I would see that day. As time went by, I met people and made friends. Some of those friends now are very special to me. Second Life has shown me a lot. And I'm not done yet.

The latest thing in SL that I have gotten into is vampires. There is a role-playing game in SL about vampires called: Bloodlines. You become a vampire by being bitten and you accumulate 'wealth' by gathering blood and souls of others. The one with the most of each is king of the clan, so to speak.

I've also been interested in vampires in general for a while now. At one point I thought I could read through the Ann Rice vampire chronicles. I have yet to finish Lestat. Well, I needed a break.

I shall elaborate on these ideas more later on. Right now I'm pretty tired and easily loosing my thoughts. So good night for now.

2008-07-31T09:54:00.002-04:00

A quick post to let you know im still here. My apologies for the lag in posting. I know nobody's reading this anymore, but I will press on.

Latley I've been sidetracked by Second Life. It has quite gotten my attention. Fun little sim.

Work has been good. Sometimes busy, sometimes not. Thats ok. The people are nice and the work is rewarding.

I might come up with a more structured theme in the days to come for this blog, i will try.

Until then, I will see you later.

What's New

2008-02-29T08:27:00.004-05:00

More of the new year. A new routine and possibly a new house to live in.

January and February have been more promising than originally thought. A new job. Actually it's a very familiar job with a new compnay. The job is driving passengers, the compnay is Company Car in Cleveland, Ohio. I do enjoy it. The hours are a bit long sometimes, but that comes with the territory. Last Tuesday we had the Democratic debates and I think most of the livery companies were kept busy running people around. One of my co-workers had an 18 hour day.

We might be moving in the near future. We want to stay in the same school system so our youngest can graduate high school with her friends. After that we can move anywhere. After that the majority of our childrearing will be done.

It has gone so fast. Yesterday I was standing in a line and nearby was a mom and a newborn. The baby was crying that said I want some activity here! Mom gently rolled the shopping cart back and forth and baby seemed placated for the most part.

I can remember those days like yesterday. You just live your life for your children. It seems like you'll be there forever. But it does pass, they get bigger, different issues to think about. Suddenly they're in high school and graduating! No more Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! I made you a picture! or Mommy! I got you some flowers! Now it's all memories. *sigh*

More adventures lay ahead.

New Year...New...?

2008-01-14T07:39:00.000-05:00

New Year's resolutions. Eveybody makes 'em. Nobody keeps 'em. Self-improvement tapes and CD's, exercise equipment, etc. Why do so many resolutions seemingly fail? Maybe the goals are too high as well as the expectations. People have the end result in mind, not the journey. The end result is the new improved you, the ripped abs or whatever. The journey is days and weeks of possibly painful self-discovery or push-ups, sit-ups, sweat, aching muscles. The hard stuff. The hundreds of steps that make up a mile.

Maybe a resolution should be to do something different that will make me a better person. Just one thing. Then keep doing that, every day or every other day. Focus on small measurable stuff.

I got a push-up device advertised on TV. I've been at it for about 21 days according to the schedule that came with the equipment. I don't look like the guy on the box, yet. But I look better than I did before I started. One day at a time, one small step after another. That's how I'll get there. How about you?

The Day After

2007-12-26T12:11:00.000-05:00

After a flurry of activity, running around, looking, buying and a marathon of wrapping, the big day arrived. But we also had to make preperations as the hosts for the family Christmas party. Then the guests arrived, an aunt, uncles and four cousins, three under age 12. Sounds of paper tearing and excited squeals. Then the food, relative calm, relaxed conversation. A few hours of fun. Time to leave, divy up the food and pack up the rest and the aunt, uncles, and cousins head home to finally collaspe. We do the same. Wow, it's over.

Merry Christmas.

December's entry?

2007-12-19T14:49:00.000-05:00

It's been a while and I apologize for not posting anything sooner. It's been busy and I lost my focus for a while. That can be a problem for bloggers I suppose.

So far my holidays are going okay, all things concidered. Our college student is home for the holidays and our high schooler finished her last day, so now we're all home for the holidays! Lately, I've been wanteing to take pictures of lawn decorations. So far I've only gotten a few. I'm still learning how to use all the settings on my point and shoot Sony S650. It's fun.

One of the things I've done with my camera's settings is to set the megapixels from 7 to 5 so the images aren't so big and therefore can load a bit faster. The image quality doesn't suffer because I'm not enlarging the pics to a size that matters. They won't be any bigger than 4x6 on the computer screen.

There seems to be a cold wanting to rear is ugly head during the holidays. With medicine I could be such a space case and there are so many decisions to be made I don't know how I will get through these days. Rest and fluids.

When we had that snow storm that came through the midwest, there were partial white conditions, and there were people driving around without their headlights! Amazing.

I may be driving for a limo company soon. I have an interview this Friday. Having a CDL helps, you get to drive the big coaches and get bigger tips (I hope).

Well if I don't write again, I hope you all have a happy and blessed holiday season. Stay safe and God Bless.

Things going on

2007-11-30T11:03:00.000-05:00

Some time has gone by and I've had some time to think about things. As you know I was laid off from my driving instructor job. It just so happened that I was having second thoughts about it myself. So I guess it all worked out anyway.

I've been putting out applications at some different places, mostly dealing with retail, which is where I did a lot my early work so I'm familiar with the routine. I've been working a bit more on my photography, that's been fun.

I've also found a way to set up my best photos to try and sell them and get paid via PayPal. Actually you can do quite a few things at this place. It's called Freewebs.com. I'll keep you posted on how things go. Right now I'm cautiously optimistic.

Thanksgiving went pretty well, had the relatives over to our house because we have the most room for everybody. On Thanksgiving I was doing some last minute shopping, like so many other people, and I noticed that they turned up the volume on the Christmas music. Before I could hear it faintly in the background. Hmmm.

I think they're pushing the season real hard this year because there are so many bad things going on they have to work extra hard to get peoples attention.

I don't know if it is just me or did it take forever to get to the end of November? December will probably go real fast.

Happy Shopping!

Parenting Rewards

2007-11-19T06:56:00.000-05:00

Before I tackle my main topic, I would like to address the issue of the previous post, work and such. In my quest for 'quick work', that is work that can be done without a lot of prep or being hired and such, I have come back to an old favorite of portrait photography. I've got the equipment and skills (technically). The thing that I lack is enough confidence and successful marketing. In this case it seems like I will have to muster determination and apply the saying of; If you don't succeed at first, try, try again. More on this later.

Now to the main topic. One of the early rewards of parenting are the smiles, giggles and laughter that one inevitably sees and hears in the early years of child-rearing. Children like to play and have fun. Being a major contributor to creating an environment where they can play and have fun safely is a great reward. For me when my kids were little , that was my my goal as a parent, to give them that safe happy environment. It wasn't the physical surroundings like house and neighborhood, it was the emotional surroundings. They knew Mom and Dad were okay and would love and protect them. Being a part of their play and laughter was key too, serious bonding going on here.

As they got older I was always there for them, involved in their world through elementary and middle school right up to high school. All the sports, and plays and family activities, I was there as much as I could be. Occasionally I would miss something for work but my heart was always with the family. Being there was easier for me than some as I never got far up any corporate ladder. Anyway, the older the kids got I never let myself feel afraid that they'd find out I was human and flawed. Actually, I did think of that from time to time, but I didn't let it stop me from interacting with them. I say that because I suspect that it is a temptation with a lot of men. Stay with them Dads!

When your children are older you still need to bond with them and maintain it. Be their best friend, do things together. When girls get older they won't need to find boyfriends until later, and boys will have a healthy role model as to what a man is and does. Also you will see them flourish in the things they love whether it's sports, music, theater, arts, whatever it is, you can remember that you gave them than environment to flourish in. That can be more satisfying than anything done for a corporation and can last a whole lot longer, generations longer.

A Change of Plans

2007-11-13T09:23:00.000-05:00

It seems that my vocation may be changing in the near future. The driver ed company I worked for is going through a re-structuring, or reorganization of some sort. This involves trimming the staff and so I will be laid off at the end of the year.

I wondered about something like that because I have been getting less and less hours. Making me think about looking to a different vocation anyway. Right now I don't know what that is but I will definitively keep you posted.

In the mean time I thought I might try and perk thing up around here by maybe adding a few appropriate photos or something.

The Parental Marathon

2007-11-08T07:44:00.000-05:00

Having kids is the first step. I remember being scared of all the things that could go wrong before the birth. When the birth is over and everyone id fine, such elation and relief.

Then the marathon begins, keeping up with the behaviors, learning the language and trying to get enough rest. My wife read books and articles on child development so we knew what was coming. That helped an awful lot. My biggest concern was to make sure that they were happy. I didn't want to have them worrying at all about things at home. That was to be a safe haven, a refuge from the outside world.

Having two daughters I learned that my presence and involvement in their lives was very important. My wife and I would teach them about the world, I would teach them about all things men. To do that I would 1) have to be there. Be involved, engaged, an active part of their lives. Do things with them, go places and communicate with them. 2) somehow put aside my fears, anxieties and self-doubts and lead by example. They would observe and 'catch' what being a man meant by watching me day to day.

Dads, if you are there for your daughters, be there in body and mind. Don't be afraid to be vulnerable. Mistakes will happen, just keep going. Be involved in their world. Let them know you love them unconditionally and they are important to you. Giving them that knowledge will carry them far in life. When you give them the love they need growing up, they won't go looking for it from another man when they're older.

I hope this is an encouragement along the way.

Automobile Visibility

2007-10-29T10:46:00.000-04:00

This is a topic that has popped in my head from time to time. Mostly because I see it when I'm driving. That is people not using their headlights when they should;

between sunset and sunrise - even before the sun goes down below the horizon, sometimes it can get pretty dark in some situations, heavily shaded areas. You're safer if you're seen.
any unfavorable atmospheric condition; rain, fog, snow. One day I was out and there were snow squalls, I saw someone driving a white van with no headlights. A snowsquall hit and he disappeared withing 50 feet of me!
any situation where you can't see beyond 1000 feet clearly. Even at 35mph you're covering a lot of ground.

One last thing; sometimes your car color can make it difficult for other drivers to see you in certain situations. A dark car on a dark road in shade, or a light colored car on a concrete highway can be hard to spot by some other drivers. Remember, not everyone is paying attention like they should.

All kidding aside, let's not meet by accident.

Common Sense for Driving

2007-10-24T14:24:00.000-04:00

This will be a brief introduction for my future posts on driving. Suffice it to say that I have seen my share of strange things on the road. For ten years I have driven professionally (local livery) and now am a driving instructor. I still see strange things.

If I could make a suggestion to the on road community it would be this; use your turn indicators. I love driving behind someone when they suddenly slow down for no reason, only to turn off the road somewhere. Folks, I can't read your mind. Plus it would protect you by making you more visible. If I'm driving along and I'm distracted or zoned out, your blinking turn signal might catch my attention and I'd be able to slow down in time. Otherwise I might rear-end you.

Just a little something to think about from your friendly road warrior.

Our Children

2007-10-20T06:38:00.000-04:00

By "our children", I mean it collectively, as in all our children. Recently, I was helping out our daughter by getting signatures for a National Honors Society application. She was invited to join, yea, she's that good. The people I got the signatures from all said nice things about her and wished her well. It felt good to know that she had a positive effect on people. Her life is so different from mine, academically and personally.

When I was growing up I had issues that kept me from fulfilling my potential. Family issues that impacted me and caused me emotional pain on a subconscious level. Pain that I tried to mask with sex, drugs and rock n' roll. As far as school went, I was there because I had to be and I did what I had to to get by, and I got by, that was it. College was pretty much the same thing, just get through.

Since I've gotten married and had children, I've had a lot of time to reflect on my life. I've noticed some patterns and made some decisions in regards to child raising. The main one being that I would give my kids what I didn't get. By this time I had talked to a few therapists and realized some things about my life. One, that a lot of my issues started when I was really little with the decisions my parents made about raising me and two, I didn't want my kids to have those issues in there lives.

What I did want was for them to grow up happy and secure. That decision would take and did take a lot of love, attention, and interaction. For the next eighteen years I did all that I could to make sure they knew they were loved and had nothing to worry about at home. It worked, today, they are well adjusted and doing well, much better than I did at that age with a wonderful world of possibilities ahead of them.

If there's one thing I want to say in this post it's that parenting takes a lot of energy and active involvement. Be there for your children. They really want you more than toys and things. Time with Mom & Dad are the precious moments that will last forever.

Environmental Thoughts

2007-10-15T17:26:00.000-04:00

Since today is Blog Action Day for the environment, I wanted to throw some ideas out there that I had been thinking through throuout the day.

Solar power has been of interest to me for a while. Solar panels on houses covering the southern-facing roofs made sense but is expensive to do, at least initially. What if the solar panel idea could be done in smaller increments, and added to as funds are available?

Now the reason I am saying this is because I read some comments about how to conserve energy. They were good but they were all related to computer usage; don't use speakers unnessessarily, get energy saving monitors, etc. Good ideas. Then I got to thinking couldn't we move toward doing more? That's where the solar power came to mind.

Other ideas were like this; developing adapters to attach solar panels to that are affordable for more people to use. Easy to set up like a lawn sprinkler. Maybe a mobil unit that could be moved around if you have a lot of trees in your yard. Or how about developing a stationary bicycle type thing to generate some power and loose weight at the same time?

My thoughts were to start small, replace the power used by a computer one day a week, then move up from there. That is where the solar power would work best, start small and work up to something the size of a roof and really make a difference.

If anybody can develope these ideas futher, take it and run. Lots of potential to be tapped here. In the mean time use only what you need and don't waste it.

I will be searching for sites, articles and the like to add to the "Green Things" section, so check back from time to time.

Time-bomb kids

2007-10-12T10:01:00.000-04:00

Something has occured to me and I want to try and get this idea out there before something else happens. It's regarding the latest school shooting incident in Cleveland, Ohio. The names and locations change; Asa Coon in Cleveland, Dylan Klebold in Columbine, Cho Seung-Hui at Virgina Tech. They were all disturbed, picked on, outcasts. In school and in life. I believe this can be avoided.

We need to be able to spot these kids who are in such distress that they want to kill people, before they do it. Somebody must come in contact with these kids and get an idea that somethings wrong. The thing seems to be, what to do next. Who to tell?

What if there could be a few trained individuals who could take some time and interact with these kids, and hopefully steer them away from their destructive desires. I'm thinking something on a very small, community by community level. Maybe a church ministry kind of thing.

These are rough ideas. I want to put them out there and maybe someone can pick them up and build on them, put together a task force where you live. Organize something. Maybe befriending one of these troubled, unpopular kids would help. Know who to call in case you need help. Develop a network that can jump into action when needed, and know when to involve the authorities.

Sometimes the parents share a big part of the blame. Sometimes they may have an idea of trouble brewing and don't want to deal with it and don't know who to turn to. Can we help them?

My hope and prayer is that these few ideas will spark more ideas that will turn into action that will stop these time-bomb kids from going off.

Thanks and God Bless.

Kids Growing Up

2007-10-09T08:25:00.000-04:00

We spent last weekend with our daughter and my parents at her college. For me at least, it was strange. Seeing her as her own person, making her own decisions and charting her own path apart from us. Everyone who has kids in college goes through something similar. The child you invested 18 years into raising so you could get to this point, now it has happened, now they're out of the house. Now there's that strange void where they used to be. It's different when they're away for the day at high school. You know they'll be back later in the day. Now it's stretched out to weeks at a time, maybe months, with just a phone call every so often. And all you can do is wait, and adapt.

But they are standing on they're own two feet. Your parenting role is different, you are the sideline coach, still important, but in a different way. There's still memories to be made and fun to be had. And a wonderful future to look forward to.

Death in the Funnies

2007-10-04T17:28:00.000-04:00

In the comic strip FunkyWinkerbean, one of the long time, main characters died off today from breast cancer. That doesn't happen very much, if at all, in the comics.

Funky Winkerbean wasn't one of my favorite comics, but I kept an eye on it from time to time. Within the last year, I knew that Lisa was diagnosed with breast cancer. Every so often I would check in and noticed that she seemed to be getting worse as she went through her treatment. I wondered how it was going to end, would she recover and be a cancer survivor? Or would she die?

Several months ago, I think, one of the news stations covered the decision of the creator, Tom Batiuk, to have the character die. So even though I knew it was coming, it was sad then. Today it has hit me harder than I thought. Maybe I'm thinking about this way too much, I don't know. One thing I thought was touching was how he depicted her crossing over, switching from the present day hospice to the all white environment of...eternity, I suppose. There the host, if you will, comes for her and guides her away. As she's walking away from Les, she says “I Love You”. Back in the hospice Les asks, did she say something? The nurse says “She's Gone.”

It was very touching and very well done. I applaud Tom Batiuk on his handling of the topic and courage having one of his characters die.

Here Goes

2007-09-29T09:00:00.000-04:00

Well, here I go on a bit of a adventure. I'm using Blogger as my "real" blog. That being my main blog, the one that holds the really important ideas.

I had recently, in the last month or so decided to get into blogging as a more serious venture instead of a "this is what I did today" kind of thing. Although there's nothing wrong with that, it serves a purpose. I've done it with three different blogs on AOL, MSN, and Yahoo!360.

My hope is that this blog will be worth reading and have some useful information. What I want to blog about, and share with you, things near and dear to my heart are; parenting, self-esteem, psychology, pop culture to name a few. If I come across any useful onformation or links, I'll make those available one way or another. Also things on the format may change from time to time as I figure out how to organize the look an feel of the layout.

Right now I don't know how I am going to do this. One day at a time, one post at a time. You build a wall one brick at a time, you take a journey one step at a time. So this is my first step. Come with me, I appreciate your company.

Parenting Resources

2007-09-19T08:46:00.000-04:00

Parenting Resources Page

Are you a new parent? Or been at it for a while and are running out of motivation? I know, I’ve been there. As of the writing of this, my wife and I dropped off our oldest at college. We have two more years with our youngest, then she’s off to college.

Parenting is the biggest project you’ll ever do, because the legacy you create in your child will live longer than you. Getting it right is so important. With that in mind I’d like to point out to you two resources that will give you motivation and information on your parenting journey.

The first one is called “The Secret” by Martha Stevens, mother of five. Some of the things she talks about are; giving children what they need to know to navigate life and be successful, educate their heart with wisdom and not just their brain with knowledge, and giving them values they can live for.

Parenting is a lifelong endeavor, but the basic core part is only 18 years long. Ideally, by 22 they should be on their own. But if parenting isn’t done right, then it can take a lifetime to undo.

Now this resource is only $19.95. At least worth a look considering what’s at stake.

For more information; CLICK HERE

Here’s another parenting resource that may be of value to you. It’s called “The Parenting Toolbox”. This one is a different in that it covers all parenting situations; married, divorced, single, grandparent parenting, (insert your own situation here).

One aspect that I think is really valuable, is that this is a continuous resource, you join with other parents and learn from them. So you have advice and help at all stages of life. I know that it was always a challenge when our children would change likes/dislikes, or their routines would shift as they got older. Having some parental commrodery was always wonderful. It sure was better than feeling tired, alone and overwhelmed. As they say, People Make the Difference.

This resource is available for a one-time fee of $59.95.

To check this out; CLICK HERE

A new back to school

2007-09-10T09:07:00.000-04:00

It’s been the “Back to School” season since mid-July. We’ve been doing this for about 13 – 14 years, actually, we still are. For us now, we are at the tail end of it. Now there’s a new component, we have a freshman college student. Our little girl will be going away for a significant amount of time.

In the past she had gone to summer camp, for a week. Then she went on a trip with her Aunt and Uncle and cousins, for about a week. This last summer she, her sister and her cousin went on a driving trip out to the East coast. That took three weeks and was a strange experience for my wife and I, the house was so quiet for so long even though we heard from them a couple times a week. It was so good to have them back safe and sound. They had a wonderful time and would do it again in heartbeat.

Now she will be going to college and staying away for a much longer time, visiting occasionally. It will take some getting used to as she becomes more and more independent. Slowly but surely we will adjust, and look forward to becoming “empty nesters” when our youngest goes off in two years. Wait, I’m not sure about that looking forward part.

Transitions are a challenge we all face. Time goes by, things change, routines, relationships, situations. As a parent that seemed to happen every 3 or 4 months as the girls grew up. They’d learn a new skill, grow, develop, change something. From infancy on most of the time I felt like I was playing a game of catch-up. I get used to one way of dealing with them and then they do something different, like a new food or whatever. The learning curve starts all over again. *sigh* When the girls were growing up, one of my favorite routines was when they were into the cheeseburger macaroni skillet meals. It was easy for me because I was the main cook in the house, but it was also a special time when we could be together and have fun. That lasted about 6 – 8 months, then they’re tastes changed.

Now that one is leaving and another will be leaving soon enough, we have some big adjustments to go through. I wanted to share this with you, if you find this, and put together some other resources for you to check out that might make the transition a little easier.

Some Links:

Letting go

Cleaver Words

Google at College

Hope you found this helpful, maybe just a little something to take the edge off of your anxiety or something. I’ll be back with some more stuff from time to time so stop by again and until then , take care. Thanks.

My Early Photography

2007-09-04T12:56:00.000-04:00

Most of my photographic career, if you will, was in the days of film. When I worked at the college paper and yearbook it was all black and white. I have liked B&W film because it dosn't show everything that color does. It seemed more artistic.

One of the things about black & white film, particularly Tri-X, is that it had a good exposure latitude. That is, in the proper exposure, it would use all the values from black to white, as in this photo. Note: unfortunately any example I use are taken from digital originals, this one included. I will have this photo and others in my Google Photos section. This one may look different as it will have another effect added to it, film grain, to more simulate the look of Tri-X.

During those days Tri-X was the film of choice by photojournalists. It had lots of exposure latitude. It could be pushe; underexposed and over developed and you could get a decent print out of it. It didn't get too grainy, the photogrphers worst enemy.

As time went on I understood more about things like reciprocity failure; when the relationship between the shutter speed and apeture don't deliver a good exposure. Usually in low light situations, if I remember correctly.

Generally the faster the film, or higher the ASA number, the grainier the picture. The lower ASA numbers were usually the chrome films, or slides. The lowest being 25, which was known for it's fine grain. Reciprocity failure was an issue if you tried to do longer exposeres in low light with the chrome films. Although it could happen withhigher ASA print films as well.

I've been thinking about how to develope this photography blog and I thought a few links to info on film cameras might be helpful. If I find any I will let you know and include them here somewhere on this page.

Start Here

2007-09-02T11:41:00.000-04:00

Hi, this is my first blog here on Blogger with Google. I've never done anything with Google until now and found out there's a lot of cool stuff here. Anyways I hope to share some thoughts and ideas about things in my life and things that readers will find useful. I really want this to be more than me just blathering on about my day to day life.

I'll keep working on this blog site to keep it interesting. One of the things I'll be sharing with you is my photography. It's been a part of my life since I was a teenager. I have lots of relatively current photos at flickr.com under vhtman. That ID was from a time when I photographed homes for a real estate company and the images would get posted on their website. The company was called Video Home Tours.

During my college days I used to take photos for the school paper and yearbook. It was a fun, busy time.

In my recent past I used to be Limo Driver for about 10 years. Currently I'm working as a Driver Education teacher in Ohio. So I'll be talking a bit about driving ettiquete and such. This stuff I hope you do take to heart when you're out on the road. People seem to forget so much when their driving.

I'll also be sharing some things from life that I've learned from that maybe could be beneficial to those reading this blog; parenting, marriage, aging. Little life lessons stuff. Also I'll try and gather some useful information for as you read.

Anyways, I think that'll be all for now. I'll go work on making this a more interesting place.