So I've ordered a Gorilla pod. After hearing a couple glowing reviews from fellow flickr buddies/co-workers. I got the zoom-slr model for my beastly kit. Which will hopefully and allegeldly be able to support my camera with one or two of my lenses but some how I doubt it will do so will with my 200mm f2.8L.
I almost didn't order it but I had a 15% discount and free fedex shipping taking the cost down to right about $40. I may not get good use out of it for a few months but I'm looking forward to playing with it.
So I'm feeling much better today than I did yesterday, or the days prior.
Tomorrow I return to work, then I have another day off for New Years. I've got no plans for New Years at this point. Not sure if I even care to make plans for it. Not that I wouldn't do something if something came up. But I don't want to make a big to do about it, I don't want to drive to Portland or Salem for something only to have to drive back very early in the morning or sleep on a floor someplace and wake up hung over...
I came down with a nasty stomach bug Wednesday evening. I'm still not quite better but I'm feeling far better than I did Wednesday night/Thursday morning where I was lucky if I got four hours of sleep total between 9pm and 9am. I was getting up multiple times an hour to use the bathroom. Before I went to bed I had the chills so I tried a hot shower which was working, but vomit has a way of wrecking a good shower. Then my kidneys and lower back were hurting so I started in on drinking water for the kidneys, which helped. Then I took a couple alive for the back and I managed to get a couple hours uninterrupted sleep.
Yesterday I subsided on vitamin water, regular water, and saltine crackers. Again many trips to the bathroom all day yesterday as well and spent a good 80% of my day in bed.
Today I'm feeling quite a bit better but still not great, trips to the bathroom are not quite as frequent but its the same stuff each time i go...
So I haven't done much of anything with my extra days off aside from lay around sick and miserable.
It's the day after Christmas. I'm off work for the rest of the weeek. It's nearly noon and I haven't done a damn thing today. I've had a few ideas but lack motivation.
Christmas was good. Did the visiting of the family units in Salem. Then headed back to home where I do a Christmas dinner with some friends and do a friendly gift exchange.
I really should get up and do something with my day. I need stop by the bank, wash my car, find places for my gifts. Among other things.
It's Christmas eve... Tomorrow is a drive to Salem to do the family things. Then I drive back to do a friends thing.....
I've also got the whole week off. I'm planning on doing something about the lack of photos taken over the past few weeks, if the weather allows.
According to my sister I'm getting a replacement part for my tripod so I can star using my tripod again, once it shows up. She had it sent to herself, somewhere over on the east coast. So who knows when it will actually be in my hands...
I'm quite looking forward to the friends event tomorrow evening with friends.
After I opened the fedex envelope and took a look at that the prints, being totally satisfied with the exception of a few, which is my fault anyway. But the rest were awesome. I went to get frames for the photos. I put a few in frames right away and took them to their intended recipients.
Christy kept one at home and decided to bring the other into work. Yesterday she sent me a instant message that she was looking at the photo and it's very nice. Then just this morning she told me she was walking around with it at work showing it to people. Which I was quite amused by. But it's nice to give a gift that someone is really excited about...
I've never watched c-span for more than two or three minutes in my life prior to today. But as far as I know I've never known something that I cared about like this to be on c-span, while I'm sure it happened I just didn't know of it or see it.
I've been watching the debate/filibuster for about an hour now, I'm honestly really into it. I never thought I'd be watching c-span with genuine interest, as I am now...
I was over at boingboing and saw that The EFF posted a call to
I found a live feed on c-span of the proceedings of the issue and tuned in just in time to see Ron Wyden (D - Oregon, my state). He voted no, on giving the communications company retroactive immunity for their participation in the illegal wiretapping programs. Wyden was quite impassioned about the issue. Kinda proud to have him representing me right now.
Wyden has also proposed amendments to the FISA rules to protect Americans while overseas from unwarranted wiretaps.
I enjoy my job. I can do my job pretty well. What I don't handle very well is when others don't do their jobs. This makes mine much much more difficult and annoying. It's when others don't do theirs that someone comes to me expecting me to do the job of the person who didn't do their job and often the job of someone else as well...
Then I become the responsible party, because someone screwed up I've got to do it. This doesn't usually sit too well with me. I didn't screw up but I am now responsible for it. This is take somewhat personally even though I shouldn't, but I do. If someone doesn't care enough to do their job how they said or how they are supposed to do it. I don't want to do it for them and a handful of others when, after someone drops the ball along the way. I can only do so much to ensure people do what they should and keep everything in process.
So if you have a job. Please do your job and don't make someone else do it. Because that someone else may already be doing their job and chances are your job isn't their job...
Got my kicker check from the state, it was a decent amount of money too. But I went to Vegas so it ended up covering rent and floating my account until payday so sadly I didn't get to do anything fun with it. But I will get to use my next pay check to buy Christmas gifts for my friends and family.
The trip was alright. Spent Saturday power walking through bunch of the hotels/casinos. Did pretty much nothing. Chris claimed it to be sight seeing but I didn't see much of anything other than faux this and faux that. I guess some people are impressed by kinda thing. Some of it was kinda neat but I'd rather see the real Pyramids, New York City, and Paris.
Sunday was better. After Getting vouchers to Penn & Teller we split up for breakfast. Then we hit the Rio to get our vouchers turned to tickets and then proceeded to find a place with go-karts, and exchange the rental car (the new one was paid for by Chris' work, as he was then on companyish dime/time) such before heading back to the Rio for dinner and Penn & Teller.
Pretty much as soon as you get off the strip you realize that most of the place is a wasteland. I find my self wondering the whys and hows that brought Las Vegas into existence. As near as I can tell there is nothing there aside from some Casino's and an Airport and lots of sprawling stucco homes. What brought people there originally? I'm pretty sure it wasn't the vast natural resources and the easy sustainability of a desert town.
A ancient IBM OS400 170 was found at work yesterday. Alex and I have been spending the bulk of the morning attempting to find out something about the damn thing to get it going. So far no dice. We have yet to get access to any kind of an interface other than the tiny LCD with 3 buttons on the front that seems to only know numbers, what the numbers do we have no idea. It doesn't appear to have network connectivity nor is there an option for a keyboard and monitor. I may have to build a null modem and see if it will let us in to a terminal type session over the serial port. But that will have to wait until next week sometime as I'm goin' to Vegas tomorrow and won't be back at work until Tuesday.