Getting back to this blog thing

Blue Van Dyke print

Like so many of these posts, I'm writing to explain why I'm not writing much. After San Francisco, I spent a week in Long Beach with the ASU Sailing Team doing an intensive summer training camp (rhymes with pics to come). I've also been working on the ASU Sailing website, asusailing.org. After getting back from that I've been plunged into some rather intense summer courses, including an art history and alternative photographic processes. Also, I spent a week at and in the Grand Canyon for a couple of friends' wedding on the North Rim. The Gila Monster blew a rear shaft seal outside of Flagstaff, so I got an extra night there on the way up.

Cartel Rapping

After hours, odd things may happen at the local coffe spot.

Including myself trying to rap. My original lyrics are forgotten, but I recorded what I could remember below.

I went to Cartel where they had a little party/
I took a moment to remember Marty./
They asked for a rapper but I ain't that dapper/
Anyway I grabbed the mic like I was riding my bike/
"I sure as hell ain't Bobby G/
I'm Gerald B, the EMT./
Here I am, Tempe, Arizona,/
I'm gonna save you, when your in a coma./
Heart attack, call 9-1-1,/
they dispatch me to have some fun./
Hook up that old EKG/
'Oh my god, look what I see!'/
Pack you up for the helicopter,/
We're gonna getcha to the doctor."/
That was my rhyme,/
but I ran out of time./
Remember my name,/
'cause it's part of the game./
Please take a moment now to observe,/
the people who are a-willing to serve,/
keeping you alive whether you deserve/
saving your ass when nobody swerves./
Paramedics come; they don't take you home,/
they start the I-O into your bone./
Poor boy stopped breathin',/
His heart ain't beatin'/
A-L-S, come compress his chest/
So he can look his best/
On his wedding day,/
so he can pray,/
"Thank you God for EMS."/
But now of course, I must digress/
'Cause its the fire fighter who opens your car,/
to save your skin from being charred,/
and the nurses at the ER,/
that respond when they hear you crashed your car/
who kept you from being another denizen/
stuck in the world of sin./
Oops, you totaled your Mercedes,/
We'll keep you outa Hades./
Please give us thanks,/
'cause we ain't makin' bank/
This shit is dank and I'll be frank,/
the life is hard; it sure ain't easy/
no one says it'll be breezy/
Don't get queazy with all the bleedin',/
Just a little patch and that's all you're needin'./
Next time you have trouble,/
remember to thank the gentlemen,/
who pulled you outa rubble,/
just to save your precious skin./
I'm Gerald B, it's been a pleasure,/
thanks for listening through my last measure.

Another General Life Update, brought to you by…Caffeine!

As mentioned in the last post, I'm still working out how to get some software from the disks it ships on to my disk-driveless computer. I have a Mac that has a drive but is gradually fading because its hard drive is dying. I have a PC that has a disk drive, but no network to use the drive remotely, and no means of creating a disk image on a flash drive. Also, we've got a laptop with a disk drive that runs Vista, but it also won't burn a disk image, and seems to be incompatible with using the drive remotely. I'm almost think of going to the Apple store to use one of the display machines to copy the DVDs. The other option would be to spend a little dough on getting a compatible external drive. I'd really like to hear any ideas or suggestions from the audience.

In other news, I found out today that my mail to the post office (change of address form) got lost in the mail. Irony or just bad luck?

Stay tuned to the Flickr gadget, new uploads will be coming online soon. Good news is that these are all going to be straight from the camera, no tweaking. Bad news is that these will all be straight from the camera, no tweaking.

Good News, Bad News

Good news: The Dell mini 10 v is working, for the most part.

Bad news: My real mac has a failing hard drive. Meh.

A new post, after weeks of moderate busyness

It's been several weeks since my last post, and I've been neglecting the blog and you readers out there. 

I've been keeping myself busy with an EMT class I'm taking at UNM School of Medicine's EMS Academy. The course is rather fast paced (it's sixteen weeks of material in eight weeks time), but it has enough hours to qualify me for passing the state EMT licensing exam. The downside being that I spend twenty-four hours a week in class and more doing homework and studying.

The other thing is of course my little photography habit. Now that I have Sputnik, and I can develop 120 format black and white film, I'll have to get a good set of shots with it, test reverse developing, and mount and view the slides. At the moment all I need to get is a reverse-developer, a slide viewer and slide mounts (and a little spare time to get everything together and do it).

Tardis

Tardis, originally uploaded by Gerald5970.

As I'm sure all two of the regular readers have noticed, I haven't kept up with my idea of shooting interesting things daily to post on this blog. I've even spent the past few days with fast internet and the camera have all been on standby, but the shootingI have done was totally mundane, and I haven't even done much of that. I've been taking it easy with lots of tea and a bit of coffee, added to a diet rich in cookies and turkey. Throw in some extra family, computer stuffs and a house full of good reading, and you see where I'm at. I should be doing better with a return to 'burque and a leave from reliable internet.

Mini me works!

So, now that christmas is here, I can talk about the Dell Mini 10v that I now have running on Mac OS X 10.6. I used Network Boot Maker and EP45UD3P to make a bootable USB stick with an image of Snow Leopard. Gizmodo and Lifehacker both have clear guides for the process, and they probably are better explainers than I. Anyhows, it seems to be a decent stable build, and there haven't been any problems, yet.

Last month's sailing in San Diego

Last month's photos are sitting comfortably on my hard drive, and I think it's been time to put them online. Our hosts were UC San Diego and the Mission Bay Yacht Club, and both were very hospitable, as usual. The weather was generally unseasonable, overcast, cool and rather foggy. Fortunately, the fog wore off to a thin veil and at time was completely gone. Since we are coming from Arizona, it was a bit different for us. There was very light wind, which we found was to our advantage.

Now for the photos:

This bell came from the U.S.S. Mission Bay, and now it hangs in front of the Mission Bay Yacht Club, in Mission Bay.

So we set sail, in the very light shifty wind-like fog. Oh yeah, most of the distance shots came through Andy's 80-400 mm VR lens. So objects are not anywhere near as close as they appear. Anyway, clicking on the larger photos up there will take you to the Flickr page for each one. From there, go explore. Also, look in the top of the sidebar for the photo slideshow, which always gets the freshest pics.

Happenings and Goings On

Not too many happenings actually, but there has been constant wind at the lake for the past couple weeks. Unfortunately, it's been an even 0.2-1.6 mph wind that comes consistently from any direction it pleases. None the less, I've gotten practice launching, sailing and drifting around TTL with a minimum of wind. Coming up this weekend is the regatta in Santa Barbara, where we will probably not face this kind of light air that we've been used to drifting through. So, between studying for that and trying to Blogger's layout tool to work not much has happened today.

EDIT:

Well, I've been trying to upload this to the interwebs, but that's just not happening. Meh.

Bonus!

I don't know why, but this group in my ads just made me smile, so I snapped it just to put into a post.

One more for the critiques

Yes, uno mas! Two in one day! I'm going post crazy! I'm using exclamation points like nobody's business! Sweet!

Ok, so normal, indoor voices now. I've been shooting just as much if not more than usual, but it's been pretty heavily film, and I have no means of digitizing the awesomeness that can come from full manual 35 mm printing. And, since I don't even have enough chemistry to develop my films from the 4x5, I have absolutely no idea how that's working out. I have done some digital stuff, even with the speedlight now and then, and some of that will get here in time. In time for what, I'm not sure yet.

Writing: I've been doing lots of it, but again, it's in an analog format. No software is anywhere near powerful enough to break my cacography into text. I am pouring all kinds of thinking and thought into my Molskine, but now I have to break it out into the 0 and 1 world. Oh boy.

IDM 194 photomontage

This is what I get to do for class. Isn't CS4 awesome?

Updates coming…

So it's been a while since I've updated this blog. That will be changing. I moved from Tempe to Albuquerque over the summer, which means I now have to hunt for places with wifi. Right now that means I'm in front of the Apple store, but i may not be for long. These security guys are forming a big clump across the way. I've got the window down and a light on, but they aren't to interested in talking to me. So, yeah, anyone who has internet I can use, I'd really appreciate it. My mom is also looking for the stuff.

Goog Time!

Filling up space with links to the outside world

So I haven't really written much, so I'll be writing about what my blog's been doing google wise. So I'll have plenty of gratuitous links, like this one. I'll be going over referrals to the blog, and I'll be adding links to photos and stuff.

Referrals from Blogs:

Most of my referrals come from blogs. It's Five O'Clock Somewhere provides quite a few of them, and another bunch come from Tillerman over at Proper Course. This particular post of his even links straight to this blog. Desert Sea provides a few visitors, but not too many. Muddled Ramblings has moved, but I got a referal through the comments there.

Referals from Search Engines:

I get a few odd searches, and some not so odd ones.

• This one from Oz goes to a post like this one about my googlieness.

• Rocky Jeep is still a poular one where I'm second usually, but I've moved down to the third position in google.pk. It goes to this post. It is still number one on the image search. I got to find out who .tt is through this search: Trinidad and Tobago. I'm Numero Uno there too. I got a varient of things from Sri Lanka's google: rockyjeep! Rocky Jeep is also on top in images (rhymes with gambar) for Indonesia's google.

• I got a new one for an old post: Wow jeff.

I think my next post will have links to goodies for the jeep, or maybe I'll have an extensive list of blogs. Who knows, I might even write something thoughtful.

Well, time to check out the ole google stuffs.

I remember years ago that Muddled Ramblings featured blurbs(scroll down to christmas eve) about what searches hit frequently, or with odd queries. Since I'm just waiting for the laundry machines to be free, I'll just try to reproduce something along those lines, with lot's o those shiny links to click on!

So, we have a search that is appearing frequently this week: Real Turkeys. Those clicks must be from determined googlers, I'm not on the first page! I'm not even on the first 5 pages. I can only guess that they land on this page.

Next up is the search on Murphy's Mule Barn, which is a great little joint in north Albuquerque. Try it if you're in the area and hugry for good comfort eats. My little rave is number one in the search rankings! How awesome.

Now, another one that comes up often is a search for a Philmont Skit. The funny thing is that I haven't been there in years and I'm still seventh in the rankings! I guess that means that the traditions haven't changed much since I was there. Here's where I posted things about it.

I also get hit with a particular multi-media search time and time again. It even fits the car I own and the loaner I had before it. I am number one for the image search for Rocky Jeep, and, get this, I am number two for the web search for Rocky Jeep! Both searches lead to this page featuring Grandma's jeep. I am also number four in the google.com.tr search for racky jeep.

I could also get the typos coming, but I haven't yet. I typed (2 hlurs) in the recent post abouth getting to santa barbara with teh Arizona State University sailing club. So, I found that when I search for (2 hlurs) santa barbara, I come up in second! Now, why would anyone be searchoing for (2 hlurs) santa barbara? I don't know, but I might jump to number one sometime after this post goes up. In the same vein, I come up in second for (2 hlurs) weget, since that was another typo in that post.

Special assignment: tell me what a weget is, and what it has to do with (2 hlurs) or Santa Barbara.

Of course, in addition to the google searches, I do get referals from places that happen to feature a link to here. These include It's Five O'Clock Somewhere, Desert Sea, Fuego's Place and, of course, Myspace and Facebook,(who really don't need links on thier own, but get them anyway).

Well, so much for all the googlieness of this. I'm flying home on thanksgiving day, wich is in this very week, so I might or might not post before then. Who knows, I might have more photos of New Mexico or the Gila Monster. I might even have pictures of a cat sedated by quantities of turkey.

geraldo
Alltel has no control over, and is not responsible for, the content or use of this picture or the accompanying personal message.

Does this hair... geraldo
Alltel has no control over, and is not responsible for, the content or use of this picture or the accompanying personal message.

geraldo
Alltel has no control over, and is not responsible for, the content or use of this picture or the accompanying personal message.