Visit to Heritage Park

I have no idea how I missed this tree considering I have been to this park a few times now.  This tree I encountered is massive.  I have got to believe it is at least 100 years old, not that I am an expert in these sorts of matters.  I tried to capture it in all of its glory, but I believe that I have failed.  Here is the best of the bunch.  Captured with the Canon 50D and the Tamron 11-16 lens.

First Post of the New Year!!!!! - Panola Bike Path

Well, the weather finally broke yesterday.  After a month of overcast skies on the weekends, Sunday was a simply marvelous day.  My wife, being the saintly woman she is, told me I should go and shoot some photos.

I have passed by the new bike path near Panola road everyday on the way to and from work.  I have visited the area before and took some grafitti shots under the bridge.  So, I decided to make this my visit for the day.

I have to say I was a bit disappointed.  The path that I thought would be a hiking trail is actually a bike path (hence the title of the post).  The path is nice for bicyclists, but not for photographers.  The path is so far away from the South River at most times that there is not much to shoot.  In fact, the only "keeper", in my opinion, was captured because I was willing to stray off the paved pathway.

The attached shot is of a rope swing, hanging lifeless, waiting for summer and a new crop of children to use it to launch themselves into the cool river.  The makeshift ladder does not look strong enough to support much weight, but I am not an expert in these matters.  The photo was difficult to capture due to many distracting elements that I did my best to eliminate.  You cannot see it, but there is a big tree just to the left of the swing.  Also, there was no vantage point to the right of the swing, so the left view was the only one available.  I choose the use Lightroom's "Antique Photo" preset because I felt it suited the mood of the shot.

I hope you enjoy this shot, and feel free to offer any suggestions to make it better!!!!

Okay, I finally got around to taking some photos. If there is actually anyone reading this, I have been crying in my beer about being screwed over at my last job. All of these were taken with my Canon AE-1 on Kodak TMax 400.

This is the camera that I took the photos with

Here we go again

Well, I have decided that I am either selfish or my life is too full.

Case in point. This weekend, I had no time for myself. This is no one fault, per se, but them's the facts nonetheless. From the time I woke up on Saturday until I went to bed Sunday night I was involved in something. Does that mean that someone was with me 24/7? Of course not. For instance, I was able to watch 30 minutes of the football game last night when my wife went to bed early. There wasn't, however, that 2 to 3 hour block of time where I was doing what I wanted to do, by myself.

I also want to be clear about something else. The above statements do not mean that I was unhappy. I spent some wonderful time with my daughter early Sunday, and with my daughter and wife Sunday afternoon. There are just times when a person needs to be alone, and I do not have that time anymore.

Working for the Weekend

Gotta love a "Loverboy" reference.

The title should have been, "Time to work on the weekend".

Here is the deal. I spend most of my time during the week either driving, working or sleeping. My personal time at home adds up to about an hour and a half, of which, 30 minutes of that is eating dinner. I keep telling myself to get things done during the week, but after 90 minutes of fighting Atlanta traffic, I'm just not up for it. So, what does that mean for me? It means that I get to do all the stuff most normal humans do during the week on my weekend. That includes laundry, cleaning the house, maintaining the exterior, projects etcetra. That, along with trying to reconnect with my family leaves precious little time to do anything on a personal level.

Well, work is starting, so I will see ya tomorrow....

Thursday.......

It is nearing the end of the week. I can tell you that I have never experienced anything in my life quite like this. It feels as if my life is completely on hold during the week and I have to cram all my living into Saturday and Sunday.

My typical week day starts at 4:30 in the morning. I get up and ram down a cup of coffee down my throat. Thank you to whomever invented the coffee maker with a timer on it. Without that, I would have to get up at 4:15 so I could make coffee.

During that time I hope I need to use the restroom. I know it is silly, but when I have to use the restroom my lower abdomen hurts like crazy. Since I have an hour commute in the morning, have abdominal cramps can make for a long, miserable ride.

At 4:45 am I start getting ready for work. I do the typical stuff, shave, shower, get dressed, etc. That takes about 20 to 25 minutes. I then go downstairs, kiss my wife, who is now up, and make myself a cup of coffee to go and then I am off. I have to get on the road by 5:15 to 5:20 am to avoid all of the downtown Atlanta traffic. It takes about an hour to get to work. It should take 1 hour and 15 minutes, but I travel at about 80 mph on the freeway.

I typically get to work at 6:20 to 6:30 am. The owner doesn't seem to mind if we do personal things on the computer, so I check facebook, play Mafia Wars, and type this stupid blog. My work day starts at 7:00 am.

I work in the car business as a Service Manager. Well, really as a Service Consultant. The great thing about the car business is that it pays more than most, the bad thing is that the hours are long. I work Monday through Friday, 7:00 am to 6:00 pm. That is a long day, my friends.

I try to get out of work as close to 6:00 as possible to start the ride home. My typical evening commute is 1 hour and 30 minutes. I have only experienced one accident backing up traffic. The extra 30 minutes in the evening is just due to freeway congestion. I would carpool if I could, but no one around me is crazy enough to commute 60 miles one way to work.

I arrive home at about 7:30 pm and my back and left hip are screaming at me. I stretch out a bit and sit down for dinner. Now, my wife works as well, and she has a very demanding job. She works from 6:30 to 2:30 in the afternoon. Because it is physically demanding, when she comes home, she needs to take a shower, take a nap, and then sit and relax. I am okay with this, but it does mean that on the majority of the evenings I am either fending for myself or eating some sort of one pan meal. I cannot remember the last time I had a traditional meat, starch, and vegetable dinner during the week.

So, I eat until 8:00pm and then watch one hour of television. It is now 9:00 pm and it is time for me to start getting ready for the next day. This entails getting the coffee maker ready for tomorrow and making my lunch. All this takes about 20 minutes, and then it is time for bed.

Yep, life's an adventure........

Quiet Desparation

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desparation" - Henry David Thoreau

Well, if there was a quote that encapsulated my life, that is it. I will fill you in during the next few days, more of a cathartic experience for me and an educational experience for you.

I currently work 60 miles away from where I live. The job is okay, and the people are wonderful, but it doesn't change that I spend two and a half hours on the road Monday through Friday. Why do I work 60 miles away from where I live? Simple. I was fired from the job for which I originally relocated to Atlanta. I lived 15 miles away from that job. However, life moves on and time and tide wait for no man, so I had to find a job. The Lord blessed me with this job two days after I was fired. You can't beat that. The bad news was that my new job pays me half of what my old job paid me.

I work in the car business. The good news about the car business is that the pay is very good. The bad news about the car business is that the hours are very long. I currently work Monday through Friday, 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM. If it is slow, I can take a lunch. If it is busy, I work through lunch. Didn't we make fun of the Japanese culture for over-working? Well, I guess the joke is on us now. So, let's do the math. 2.5 hour commute per day. 10 hours working per day. 30 minutes getting ready in the morning and 15 minutes making lunch and coffee the night before. 7 hours of sleep per night. 24x5=120 hours. I spend 101.25 hours either sleeping, getting ready for work, travelling to work or working. That leaves 18.75 hours per week awake for personal endeavors. Now, 5 of those hours are lunch at work, so what I can do is limited at best. That leaves 13.75 hours during the work week for me. Also consider that my personal time in the morning is 20 minutes choking down coffee. That leaves 12 hours a week during the evening for me, or 2.4 hours. Woohoo. Hold back the excitement.

I will write more tomorrow.