Alex Cox Blog dot Com

2011 State of the Cox Address

2011-12-30T14:52:00.003-05:00

2011. Much has happened this year, and as I sit down to recall specific events and things I want to mention, I am in awe about what this year has brought. Like all things, let’s begin at the beginning.

I began 2011 like many people, with a resolution. My weight was higher than ever, my health was declining, and I had almost come to an acceptance of my condition as the way I would be for the rest of my life. I wasn’t looking for a serious transformation, but I wanted to do something seemingly small that would have a positive impact on my health. I made a New Year’s resolution to stop eating beef.

I know the arguments about this. “Beef is a good source of protein.” “Lean beef can be a good part of a healthy diet.” These are true statements. However, I had become a fast food carnivore. If you looked at the number of times I was going to McDonald’s, Cookout, Taco Bell, and several other fast food places, it was almost every day. I looked at what I was doing, and the single most effective, easy rule I could make and stick with was giving up beef.

After a couple of months without beef, I found I was eating out a little less, but still substituting the beef with other foods that weren’t good choices. I am not a very religious person anymore, but when Lent came around, it gave me an excuse to give up pork. This included giving up bacon (yes, it is pork), which has probably been the single most difficult thing I have done this year.

During the first few months of the year, I had still been living in the one bedroom apartment I had occupied for 3 years. Ashley, my girlfriend, was spending more time over, and in April we decided to make a run of it and get a new apartment together. We moved into a larger two bedroom apartment, where we plan on staying for at least another year. My experience living with women until now has been less than stellar, but we live a happy life, often complimenting each other’s foibles.

Around May, in keeping with the better health theme for the year, my doctor placed me on a fluid capsule to help reduce my blood pressure. This would later kick off what would become my major issue of 2011.

In June, Ashley and I took our first major vacation together, with her family to Rodanthe, NC. I love the ocean, and several days out in the sun and air was fantastic. The highlight of our trip was going to the Wright Brothers Museum, which I would suggest for anyone heading out that way.

Late August was when the rest of the year, and the rest of my life changed. To be honest, everything up until August is a distant memory, and everything since has been a blur. In August I had a follow up appointment for the fluid pill I was placed on in May/June for blood pressure. I was feeling ok, having lost about 25 pounds over the summer from what I thought was general activity and better eating thanks to giving up beef and pork. I had blood work done, then went off with Ashley for our Anniversary weekend.

My doctor left the message that Friday, but because we were gone celebrating, I didn’t check the voicemail until Monday. That was the day I found out I had diabetes. The news hit hard, probably as hard as finding out about my atrial fibrillation when I was 21. I took some time. I wallowed. I cried. I got angry. I hated myself. I hated my doctor. I hated the world.

A friend, one of the best I’ve ever had, told me this:

You’ll beat it. I’m not worried about it. In the 3 years I’ve known you, there isn’t anything I’ve seen you haven’t been able to do or accomplish.

I was 33 years old. Some people are lucky knowing what they do, what they’re good at and most gifted with right out of the gate. Others, it takes a lifetime. For me, I’ll look back at this year, and know that this is the year I learned what I do, what my true gift is. I think in many ways, I knew it all along. I just didn’t have the words for it. It has been what has made me good at almost every job I’ve ever had, and has guided me into the work I do now.

Some people make things. Some people can take an empty canvas and fill it with wonders using a brush and ink. Some people can take a slab of marble and turn it into a statue that will last forever. Some people can see an empty field, and through their knowledge, experience, and resources, turn it into a building that will serve millions.

Some people break things. Some people turn the world inside out. deconstructing their lives and the lives of those around them. Some people see a window and wonder what it looks like broken. Some people see a building and want to see it crumble.

I fix.

From the time I was 4, I have looked inside stuff to see how things work. When I was first diagnosed with atrial fibrilliation, I learned ways to maintain and control my condition as well as possible. As a police officer, I looked inside society and people to see how things could be better. As a technician, I literally see what is broken, and repair it. I have been a problem solver my entire life. I never saw how the links fit in my own life until late August.

I set about fixing me. I opened books, I went on the internet. I spoke with my doctor, and I worked with a nutritionist. I approached my own health as a problem I could find the solution to fix, like anything else I have ever set about doing in my life.

I found out the fluid pill I had started taking in May can cause blood sugar levels to rise. This, along with the loss of fluid, had most likely been the cause of my rapid weight loss over the summer. Ironically, my body was starving. I stopped taking the fluid pill, and was prescribed medication to begin controlling the diabetes. My doctor said that I had a chance of reversing the diagnosis if I meet certain conditions. I’ll always have to watch from slipping back into it, and may be on limited medication, but my goal has never been to maintain my diabetes. My goal is to be done with it.

My doctor told me to get a glucometer, but not start taking my blood sugar until after about two weeks. I started day one. I began feeding myself data on how my blood sugar was raising after meals, how it was responding after fasting, and what triggered what reaction. I also began monitoring my blood pressure daily. After the experience of the fluid pill, I also wanted to get my blood pressure under control.

I began packing my lunch to work, and walking during my breaks. I changed my diet, making the list of things I eat shorter than the list of things I don’t. I keep track of the calories I consume every day. I eat the same breakfast every day, I cycle through the same foods every week. It sounds boring, but it’s scientific, and it works. I go to the gym when I’m not working, and have no more than one to two rest days a week.

I saw immediate results. My blood sugar started above 300, within a week, it had crashed below 200. I haven’t had a reading above 180 since Labor Day weekend, about a week and a half after finding out my diagnosis. In November, we went ahead and ran another A1C, the test that checks your blood sugar over a three month range. When I was first diagnosed, it was 11. After two months, which includes one month I was unmedicated and uncontrolled. My doctor expected a 2 point drop. It dropped 4 points to 7. I get tested again in January, and I fully expect it to be in normal range. I’m well on my way to reversing the diagnosis and reducing the medication. That is the goal for 2012.

This is the first time I have written about this publicly. I haven’t said much of anything since this started. I have been angry, mostly with myself for letting it get to this point. However, I am at a place now where I feel strong. Stronger than I have ever been, in will, in mind, and in body. I’ve lost 60 pounds. My waist has gone from 48 to 42”. My shirt size from 3XL to 2XL. Someone recently asked me what I’m doing to lose weight. I do everything.

The rest of the year has been phenomenal. DragonCon in September. More vacations in October and November, including getting spend time with my father in Philadelphia. Parties, celebrations, and social events have been a great outlet. Work has been great; I’m very happy and feel appreciated for what I do. Ashley has supported me through the changes, and has been cooking several nights a week in support of my new diet. She’s lost 20 pounds in the process. I am thankful for my friends. They have been the backbone of keeping me sane as I have gone through this. My family, old and new, have been supportive.

For 2012, I plan to continue what I began in 2011. I can’t think of any new resolutions right now, but I still have a couple of days to come up with something. It promises to be an interesting year.

Loved as a child.

2011-02-19T11:48:00.001-05:00

This morning I recalled something about my childhood I haven't thought about in years.

I had a swingset.

Mind you, it was pretty simple by todays' standards. It had two swings, a seesaw mechanism, a bench swing, and a slide. There was no padding or wood chips underneath, just an ever wearing layer of grass followed by hard packed dirt. It wasn't set into the ground with concrete, so I remember if you got a couple of kids going just right, you could rock the whole thing back and forth. Today, I guess we'd all consider it a lawsuit from the neighbors waiting to happen, but the thing that sticks out in my mind the most about this swingset now wasn't its mere existence or how crazy hazardous it would be today, but its placement.

My swingset occupied the vast majority of the Cox family front yard from about 1983 to 1988. It wore down the grass. If you got going fast enough and fell the right way, I'm sure you could have gone through one of the front windows (maybe). HOAs would have a tirade about this now, but if you drove past 213 Miller Avenue at any time during those years, there could be no doubt that

a. A spoiled rotten child occupied that home.

b. That child was loved.

You can still see swingsets in neighborhoods now, and not much has changed in that time. Mostly now they occupy the back yards of subdivisions and are much more elaborate.

I don't complain about my childhood, but I'm pretty open there wasn't as much outward affection displayed by my family as what it seemed to me others showed. Looking back though, knowing my grandfather and mother now the way I do, I can only imagine the discussions and thought that went into putting it there. I've said before I had a great childhood, memories like this are the reason.

Rant: My Biggest Peeve, or, Another Way People Piss Me Off

2011-01-13T14:08:00.002-05:00

Pet Peeves. We all have them, those small annoyances we find in other people that produce a sickening response in our gut or a twinge of frustration in our brow. They remind us that not everyone is as awesome as ourselves, and can make or break friendships and relationships with others. Let's face it, generally, we tend to spend more time around those that rarely commit these infractions and avoid those that constantly violate these oft unspoken rules for behavior we hold toward others.

I have a few smaller ones:

-parking in handicapped spaces when you don't need it or have a permit for it

-popped collars on polo shirts

-starting any sentence with "I don't mean to be rude, but..." (nothing said after is ever polite)

The big one. The one that hits me like a sucker punch and ensures that I'm immediately looking to end the conversation as soon as possible, is frustratingly one that has worked itself into common vernacular.

The use of "I feel" in place of "I think" in statements that are clearly cognitive in nature.

This one is the big one. I encounter it no less than once a week, even more back when I actually sought conversations involving other people's opinions. This single phrase, and the true meaning behind it, is why I no longer have conversations about politics, religion, or any controversial topic requiring logic or reason with people that use it. I may even agree with the statement the person made, but I disagree with the use of this term to express it.

Why does it annoy me so?

The use of feel is an attempt to give greater weight to opinions on subjects where reason can be questioned, thereby giving the user a sense of greater authority. A thought can be challenged, discussed, reasoned, even changed, but a feeling has no logic, being rooted in the essence of the person. Let's look at some examples of this in action.

-I think Intelligent Design is a valid science.

-I feel Intelligent Design is a valid science.

-I think the Ford Mustang is a better car than the Dodge Challenger.

-I feel the Ford Mustang is a better car than the Dodge Challenger.

-I thought I had the right of way at that intersection.

-I felt I had the right of way at that intersection.

After the think statements, did you think there was a discussion to be had, reasoning to follow, and the topic could be engaged? After the feeling statements, did you feel shut out of the conversation, there was nothing to be challenged or discussed further with that person? After which of the two statements for each topic did you think the person would be more open to a different viewpoint?

Which brings me around to the point. The use of feel instead of think indicates the person does not want to have a true discussion, or have their opinions or views open to others to be reflected upon with reason. There is no room for improvement, no admission of potential fallibility. We have become so obsessed with our own opinions being right we have locked out within our own speech the potential for challenge, for growth, and for differing opinions. It is by having our thoughts challenged that we see our errors, our mistakes, and strive for better reasoning, better thoughts, and improvements in ourselves. Sometimes, we are right, and our logic or reasoning holds true. However, if everything is a feeling, our perceptions never change.

There is a place for the use of feel.

-I feel sickened by the disturbing images on the news.

-I feel happy for the flowers I just received.

-I feel worried about the future of human communication.

Just keep the feelings out of reasonable, logical discussion.

Right now some of you are thinking "have I done this lately?" Good. The reason for this article is to challenge the reader to think about what has now become a common usage in communication. Not to mention, it annoys me to no end.

Rant over.

Doppelganger (kinda)

2010-12-10T13:37:00.001-05:00

Read this today in a major news article and about crapped myself:

"said Alex Cox, a principal research analyst at Netwitness and a former police officer."

So, turns out this dude with my name is ANOTHER former cop from Virginia that works in Charlotte in the tech industry. So, after a little cyber stalking of the security researcher (he was actually easy enough to find, go figure), twitter and linkedin invites are pending. I think two Alex Cox's with similar backgrounds in similar fields in the same industry in the same city is something like crossing the streams in Ghostbusters; cataclysmic events may occur. Dude even likes my favorite beer :( Can anyone say Nega Alex?

Monday and a New Month

2010-11-01T11:53:00.001-04:00

Yes, it's Monday, and it's also November 1. I'm trying something new, which makes me think of all the people out there going into the world right now to make a living, reach their dreams, or maybe just be able to put a roof over their heads for another day. I have been fortunate. Many of the things I have set out for so far in life have been accomplished or are well on their way. I have a great family, including the father I didn't know for 32 years, excellent friends, I'm in a happy relationship, and I have what I think is a stable, successful career. I'm still working on my own set of personal goals, but those don't seem as unattainable as they once were.

Life hasn't always been like this. The first time I started blogging, it was when everything seemed to be crumbling apart. That was over five years ago, and the journey I started then, as rocky and seemingly crazy as it felt, has paid off in the life I live now. In that time, there were some things I did, some lessons learned, that changed the game for me, that took me from where I was to where I am now. This post is about sharing some of them. Whether you agree with them or not, they are what worked for me, what led me to where I am now, and what I use now to reach my goals.

Be bold. Do not be afraid of change. It will happen whether you want it or not, so let it happen on your terms, and make it your own.
Keep learning. Graduation does not mark the end of learning, and neither does getting that job/promotion you've been working toward. Read, talk, listen, share, and search out the things that interest you.
If you want a job and have no contacts, you have to pound ground. There is no substitute for suiting up and walking into the places you want to work, resume in hand. Research the company, learn a bit about them and who you need to talk to. If a company only has an online presence, try to find a phone number for a recruiter. Find a way to stand out, but keep it in moderation; no one likes a suck up.
Bad relationships are draining, but good relationships are powerful. Communication is the key to staying out of one and staying in the other. It let's you know when the time is right to get out of a bad one and hopefully keeps you in a good one.
Learn to speak clearly, write well, and spell properly. These are priceless skills, and will get you far in any walk of life.
Don't be a dick (courtesy Wil Wheaton), unless you have to (courtesy me). Some people take this to mean you have to be a dick all the time, which is totally missing the point. I can count on one finger the number of times I've had to be a dick in the last two years. If you're using the second part of this statement too often, you're not getting the first part right.
Get the right amount of quality sleep for you. I have a sleep disorder, which if untreated means I get very little real sleep no matter how long I'm in bed, so I was sleepy all the time. It also causes a heart arrhythmia. I cannot describe how life changing it has been to get this treated, to sleep well, and to not have had a major heart arrhythmia event for months.
Anger is destructive. As tempting as it is to try to use it for motivation or channel it to other things, feeding into anger is dangerous. It is better to be cold and calculating than angry and reckless, although I much prefer being warm and open.
Decide who you want to be, and become that person, even if they are someone completely different. You may never completely become that person, but a few steps in the right direction never hurt anyone. Much of what makes a person comes from what they do, what actions and decisions they make. Make decisions based on the person you want to be, and over time, you'll find that you are who you want to be.

That's all I have for right now, although I have quite a few more. I didn't even touch on politics and social stuff, which has been on my mind lately with the election coming up. Until then, happy Monday.

Bringing it to a close...for now.

2010-02-19T20:24:00.002-05:00

This post is long overdue. Overdue as in "I haven't written anything here in almost six months" kind of overdue. As I haven't written anything here in almost six months, I figure it is time to put this place away in mothballs and dust covers, and officially turn this into the archive and label us inactive for a while. For those of you coming by to check up on me, the best way to see what's going on is to find me on Twitter and Facebook; I'm still around. Life is good, work is good, and I really don't have much to complain about anymore that wouldn't sound like incessant whining from someone old enough to know better and get over it anyway.

I'm going to keep the blog live; if nothing else out of respect for where I have been, what I have been through, and the journey my writing has seen here. The words I have written here are irreplaceable to me, as are the feelings I have expressed and the road I have traveled to get where I am now, which, more or less, is happy and at peace. I found myself, my niche, and my place in this journey which I have posted here, and you can rest assured knowing that for now, it's a happy ending.

If one thing life has taught me, though, is never say never. I may eventually have something to say, or have some feeling that absolutely has to get out, and if that day comes, this may well be my forum to express it. Until then, take care, thanks for reading, and enjoy life.

Alex Cox

I'm back, baby!!!

2009-09-30T00:17:00.003-04:00

A friend of mine, Joe (@pseudojoe), one of the best I have in Charlotte, twittered earlier today about NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, which is in November. I would like to say it took him twisting my arm, much begging, pleading, and purchasing of fine Starbucks, but as soon as I saw the website (nanowrimo.org), I knew this was going to be my project for November. The premise of NaNoWriMo is to produce a 175 page; 50,000 word novel between Nov 1 and Nov 30. The focus is on quantity, not quality, but the plan is to create a relatively cohesive and developing story that will flesh itself out over the course of the month.
I haven't updated this blog in over a month, simply because I have had little to write about that hasn't been covered by Twitter or Facebook that I am interested in and free to write about. I'm going to work out if I want this blog to be a part of my NaNoWriMo submission. If so, I'll keep updates here; either way, I need to do something useful with this space.
I have over a month at this point to plan this out and have a start at writing in November. I'll keep posted here what I come up with, and will hopefully be ready by Halloween!

Letting go of anger...

2009-08-19T23:36:00.002-04:00

I have been holding on to anger for the last two years, and today was the day I finally let it go.

I look at my life, the life I have built since I've been here, the relationships and friends I have made, and this has been a barrier to my friends and family, a wall around the person I would be, should be, and somewhere inside, really am. I look at my own distrust, my fear of getting close and letting others hurt me, my vulnerability, and have been pretty disgusted that among the people I have met in Charlotte, I've seemed to be the one with the chip on my shoulder. Among friends in the past, I have been called the strongest one, the stable one, yet the last two years I have been weak in my fear, and for that, the next person I find I need to forgive is myself. This will not come overnight, but I hope in the weeks to come, the decisions I made today will manifest themselves positively in myself and how I deal with the people around me.

Days of summer...

2009-07-30T22:58:00.002-04:00

The summer is about halfway over, and I realized it has been a while since I have written anything for this blog. Again I am tempted to box it up and put it away, but my sentimental side just keeps going.

This summer has been pretty good so far. I work, and occasionally find things to do and get into to pass the time. I have adjusted to a routine, and hope to hold onto it for a while longer before I look to shake things up again. I love my work, and have thrown myself into my new career.

Personally, things are good as well. I have good friends, a loyal girlfriend, and I'm actually going to get to spend time with my family at our reunion this year. Overall, this is a peaceful life.

That also means it's a boring life, while fine by me, does not make for interesting reading.

When I have something more to say, I guess I'll write more.

I know this feeling...

2009-07-04T00:47:00.001-04:00

If you like this video, subscribe to the Dilbert Animated Cartoons podcast through iTunes.

Ode to the black 1991 to 2001 (or so) NSX

2009-06-21T23:53:00.001-04:00

Matt's NSX
Originally uploaded by Scooter Simpson

I saw one of these on the road today and it brought back memories of my car enthusiast days. Some guys are Ferrari, others Mercedes, for a time in the late 1990s, this was the supercar I dreamed about. Mid-engine six cylinder, pop-up headlights, and the handling characteristics of an Accord (until you push it), the Acura NSX was deemed the supercar you could drive every day. The car has angular lines I might have drawn in primary school, screaming "I am meant to go fast". Designed and built by Honda, it had a refinement and sensibility only a Japanese automaker to bring to the sports car market. That reliability is why you can still see many of these on the road today.

Thanks Flickr user Scooter Simpson for allowing use of this photo through Creative Commons. No attribution required, but I give it anyway.

Great speech by John Hodgman on geeks for President Obama...

2009-06-21T12:36:00.001-04:00

IMG00092.jpg

2009-06-10T17:07:00.000-04:00

It begins...
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Life sized Gundam fully assembled!!!

2009-06-10T02:52:00.001-04:00

From the totally awesome department, the Japanese have completed a life sized Gundam model for the 30th anniversary of the franchise. I have totally fallen in love with several of the newer anime such as Macross Frontier and Gundam 00, because they have a level of story telling and visual quality that American animation rarely reaches. Photos below from site Moé Passion.

Assembled Life Sized RX78 Gundam Part 1 MoePassion

*Link leads to an otaku fan site and may have images that are NSFW and/or disturbing to some viewers.

Side of beef at Ikea?

2009-06-01T16:32:00.000-04:00

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

On Proposition 8...

2009-05-26T23:41:00.003-04:00

I was in a discussion on Facebook tonight and wrote my own thoughts about Prop 8 and the CA Supreme Court decision today upholding it...

Above any of this people of all religions can agree that we were given free will to screw up our lives in any number of a multitude of ways. If homosexuals really want to try their hand at marriage, I say let them have it, maybe they can make something better of it than what straight people have. If not, nobody will be any worse off than what we are now.
How about this concept for you theologists out there? If you stay away from sin only because the law of your land is so consistent with the rules of your religion that you have no free choice but to be without sin, are you truly without sin?
The point is that if you are trying to legislate a country into alignment with your religious requirements, you might get a country where everyone is following the rules, but nobody wants to. Religion is much more effective when it changes the hearts of people through compassion, not through force. This isn't about bringing people closer to god, this is about imposing will upon others.

So what now???

2009-05-24T21:44:00.002-04:00

Obviously, I haven't written anything substantial in months. For those of you that have been reading this for years, well, it could be argued that I haven't written anything substantial, ever. I digress, the level of neglect that I have committed regarding this little piece of cyberspace is reaching that critical point of no return.

I guess the biggest part of it is that I just don't have anything to write about anymore. Many of the things that I needed to express have been expressed, and the things that truly interest me end up tying up my time in other ways. Working in tech now is absolutely fantastic, and that I am one of the lucky ones now that have turned a hobby into a passion into a career is something I am thankful for every day. In that respect, I'm deciding on what I should work toward next, and what I want this second, third, or fourth career (depending on how you count it) to become.

As far as writing, I have not given it much thought the last few months. I have a friend that wants to explore creative ideas, and even today he asked about collaborating on a story or book. We mesh well, and who knows, it might turn into something constructive. I think I'll nurture that.

On relationships, well, that is what it is. I am still angry to a large extent about things in my past, and I'm still not sure if that will fade like I would like it to. I have trust issues, and unfortunately that carries over to someone that definitely doesn't deserve it, which just makes me more angry both at myself and my history. For now, we both take that one day after another.

Now, I have my life, the one I have made, one that I can live with. For right now, that's enough... I guess that's why I haven't had much to say.

How to Survive an Alien Attack

2009-05-24T00:35:00.001-04:00

It's kind of funny, but it's worked out for me...

2009-05-17T12:15:00.000-04:00

So maybe the slackers had it right after all - The Boston Globe

But in retrospect, it's clear that we did something right. We lived a smaller life, a life we could afford. And as the country rebuilds the economy, as it tries to replace it with something more sustainable than a leaning tower of subprime mortgages and consumer binging, it is time to reevaluate that much-maligned Gen X archetype: the American Slacker.

Twitter, or, How I blow away my own creativity 140 characters at a time...

2009-05-03T00:13:00.003-04:00

As a couple of people have mentioned to me, I haven't written or posted anything in my blog for a few weeks. I haven't forgotten, nor been too busy, nor any of a number of reasons or excuses regarding why I haven't blogged, aside from one... Twitter.

I post on Twitter several times a day. I communicate with friends and co-workers, and see what some of my favorite people in the world are doing just by reading a few lines of text on a computer, iPod, or cell phone. I also convey whatever happens to pass through my mind, compressed into 140 character snippets of narcissistic goodness rather than the full-blown rants that I used to post semi-regularly here. As a result, when it comes time to write out what would normally be pent up throughout my day, I have nothing, because I've already pushed it out to the world.

So this particular rant is about Twitter. Thanks to Twitter, I now have something that I can check on any mobile device, even any regular cell phone thanks to its SMS text integration. Thanks to Twitter, I'm actually using some of the 400 text messages I'm paying for every month. Thanks to Twitter, I know all about what roughly 50 friends and celebs that I'm following are doing at any given second of the day, giving me an almost voyeuristic glance further into their lives than I ever wanted to know. Finally, thanks to Twitter, I can blindly yell out whatever is on my mind at any given time of day to my own random audience of whoever happens to be blindly watching in return...

Current, a new favorite TV channel, perhaps expressed Twitter best in this video from Supernews...

I was going to write a review, but this one is just about right...

2009-04-18T08:30:00.001-04:00

io9 - “Crank 2” Is An Epic of Sleazy Darwinism - Crank 2:

"This movie is some fucked up shit, yo. And it's glorious. This is the videogame-amped, YouTube-poisoned, porn-soaked, gang-controlled future that suburban America fears most. And so it's nothing short of cathartic to see every pop nightmare unscroll before our eyes in a lurid parody like the best dirty joke that Larry Flynt ever dreamed up. Crank 2 is thrilling because the filmmakers have blasted away their self-censorship mechanisms and let flow the unexpurgated contents of their blackest (and silliest) hearts."

In other words, I thought it was awesome.

A Charlotte based food blogger...

2009-04-13T14:35:00.000-04:00

Kath Eats Real Food - A Healthy Food Blog

Caught this video earlier today on current_

Your business card is CRAP!

2009-04-13T14:26:00.001-04:00

There's something about people that take themselves too seriously that amuses me...

Phoenix police seize computer equipment of blogger critical of the police department...

2009-04-04T16:56:00.000-04:00

Slashdot | Phoenix Police Seize PCs of a Blogger Critical of the Department: "raided his home and seized his computer hardware"

Ok, let's follow this...

1. Man has a bad separation and divorce from his ex-wife and from whatever happened, gets a poor opinion of the Phoenix Police Department. I've seen it happen. Emotions run high, people feel they got the bad end of whatever decision was made, but in the end, all charges against him were dismissed for lack of evidence, so maybe the enforcement was a bit one sided.

so...

2. Man forms blog website criticizing and and tracking unethical behavior on the Phoenix Police Department. It's a free country, with freedom of speech. He even went so far as cultivating sources within the department to provide information on police misconduct, so there certainly seems there is a problem there. So, sounds like he may be on to something...

also...

3. Man files lawsuit related to alleged police harassment during the aforementioned divorce proceedings.

later that week...

4. Phoenix police raid the man's home, seize all of his computer and networking equipment, along with backups of all of his files in a locked safe. The search warrant indicates an investigation for petty theft and computer tampering with the intent to harass, namely involving high level officers within the Phoenix Police Department.

Who is the Phoenix Police Department kidding?

I can say many things about my time in law enforcement, but I can say that this would not fly in an honest department. If they wanted the investigation to have been handled with relative objectivity and professionalism, they should have gotten another agency involved as soon as the lawsuit was filed. Instead, this has come off as a clumsy attempt to silence a critical voice of the department, one that sounds like he has at least a few things right.

If you want to keep up with what happens, you can follow this guy's blog at badphoenixcops.blogspot.com

The truest moment in IT...

2009-04-04T02:27:00.002-04:00

Initial post edited because some moron disabled embedding on the first clip.

Planet Earth...

2009-03-30T01:28:00.004-04:00

How in the world did I miss this a couple of years ago? I must have been stuck in some sort of media blackout that prevented me from getting to a television or something, because this is pure awesome...

Speaking of pure awesome, there is a new image taken of the International Space Station in its new current state... hi-res image below...

Closing out the night, I've been working on learnin' me some Photoshop, and that little project has come along a bit more quickly than I thought, so I should have some goodness to roll out soon.
Adidas!

What Battlestar Galactica Would Have Us Believe

2009-03-21T11:55:00.003-04:00

Warning: this article contains details about the final season and series finale of Battlestar Galactica. If you have not seen these episodes and are planning on watching, please do not read further.

Friday night, the final episode of Battlestar Galactica aired on the SciFi Channel. Providing a closing to what has been one of the most successful and complex television science fiction series must have seemed a large burden for the writers. While behind the scenes information will eventually leak about how far in advance the ending was planned, if it was part of the original plan or something that came out along the way, the final episode will leave its own statement of the theme for the entire series.

The ultimate theme of Battlestar Galactica, a science fiction series set mostly in space, is that we should all hate technology and science. From the moment the twelve colonies’ defense network was compromised, leaving all of humanity under the protection of the least advanced battleship in the fleet, to the last episode of the series, where the remaining humans (along with human-cylons) decide to send their ships packing into the sun to settle down for the agrarian life on Earth 2 (really, our Earth), the moral of the series is the end result of human technology will be self-destructive and bad for us. Our planets will be wiped out by psychotic killer robots we created, and we will be left to fend for ourselves all over again. In the last moments of the final episode, they skip ahead 150,000 years to modern Earth, and play a little video montage of robots we have today, as if warning us that we are creating cylons that will destroy us even now.

The writers and producers of Battlestar Galactica would have us believe there is no point to science, mathematics, physics, or any of the thousands of disciplines that have advanced humanity. They would have us believe that a prior society would become so frustrated, tired, and perhaps angry of such advancements, that they would unanimously decide to eschew all technological innovation and leave themselves stranded on a planet to forget all they know. They would have us believe this society would leave behind the things that any scientist, doctor, nurse, technician, artist, or practitioner of almost any trade had worked to learn and start all over again as farmers, hunters, and gatherers. They would have us believe there would be no sense of curiosity, exploration, and innovation, that they would be a people completely without hope within themselves and anything they had done in their lives.

As much as I still believe the show is one of the highest quality science fiction shows ever created, and I believe the writing has consistently been excellent, I am disappointed in the final ending to the story; that the surviving humans and cylons have turned out to be our ancestors. I think they had to take the show somewhere, and they had to leave it on a note that would give it closure, but pulling a “find Earth and they all lived happily ever after” and a “now you know the rest of the story” lacked creativity and failed to deliver upon the promise of an otherwise great show. The show needed hope for an ending, and to place that hope in modern society by making us the heirs of the cycle of violence that led to Battlestar's tragedy, and making the entire show a warning on the dangers of technology is just a bit too hokey.

Been a while...

2009-03-13T01:40:00.002-04:00

So a couple of years ago, I started going through these cycles of anti-social tendencies. Every few months, I will shut myself off from most of my friends, family, and the rest of the world, then wrap myself up for a few rounds of my own neurotic thoughts. I don't communicate, I tend to not even write, just fall into a state that is kind of like depression, except I don't get all emo and definitely don't have suicidal tendencies. I become a hermit.

The thing about these cycles is that I never know what I will emerge from them feeling. Sometimes I end up making major life choices. Others I just kind of fall back into old patterns. Whatever reasons cause me to have them, I still end up playing catch up for the next couple of weeks with friends and family just to let them know I'm alive, doing well, and no, nothing serious has happened to me.

So, this is my post saying, I'm alive, doing well, and no, nothing serious has happened to me.

This particular cycle was uneventful, save from a couple of strange dreams where I return to Marion and end up in the house I grew up in. Really strange stuff. Then I wake up and remember that none of it happened, and I'm back to normal. Maybe it is some sort of fear that if I end up going nowhere, I'll go back. I don't want to go back, and I can't imagine any circumstances under which I would return, but I have also learned to never say never.

This week did boost my spirits in terms of weather. It got back up to 80 degrees in Charlotte, which is great considering it snowed the week before, and now it's back down to the fifties. I'll be glad when summer gets here in force.

Well, there's your update. Now I'm going to bed.

Walking with Nike+iPod

2009-02-21T15:59:00.003-05:00

I added a new widget to the right column yesterday for my Nike+iPod walks (hopefully runs in the future). I didn't plan to get the Nike+ system, it just happened that way. I annually get the same type of Nike shoes; the previous year's Structure Triax, and the most recent version my mother gave me at Christmas, the Structure Triax 11 added the Nike+ module to the left sole. As a cost cutting measure in January, I got an iPod Touch so I could drop my Blackberry plan from T-Mobile, so I ended up with the two most expensive parts of the system there. Holly gave me the module to slip into my shoes for V-Day, and that rounded out the circle, or triangle, whatever.

The whole thing is pretty slick. When I get ready to go out on a walk, the module is already in the shoes, so I just press the Nike+ app on my iPod Touch. I then choose from one of four workout options; Basic, Time, Distance, or Calorie, to set what parameters I want my workout to follow. For the first three walks, I went with Basic, to see how it fits together. Then, I choose a playlist from what is already on my iPod Touch. I like listening to podcasts, so I have a smart playlist of my Leo Laporte podcasts loaded, then I'm off. A neat feature involving music is the option to select a power song. There is a button enabled during the workout that if you press it, it plays your chosen song to get through a tough portion of your run (in my case, walk). When I get back from my workout, I sync my iPod to iTunes, and it automatically uploads the workout information to Nike's website, where I can review the data graphically and share it with web widgets on this website and Facebook. The Nike site also has an interface with Google Maps to map run courses and distances.
The entire experience, like anything I have tried to do with my iPod, is really easy to use and simple to navigate.

Social Networks and Determining the "Next Big Thing"

2009-02-18T11:31:00.005-05:00

A friend in marketing sent this question:

Q: I have a question for you. You seem pretty in tune with the social networking world...FB, Twitter, etc. I am looking to integrate some of these elements at work (beyond just linkedin) and also wanted to try and stay ahead of the curve. Was wondering if you had any thoughts on what the Next Big Thing might be? Are there any new mediums that you think have some real potential to be the next FB? Just curious what your thoughts are. Thanks!!

A: I don't claim any special knowledge about social networking, aside from being what I consider an 'advanced user' of technology. Oddly enough, the real experts are the kids that are using them, the generation coming up behind us, which I think is the target market you're going for, right? The key to seeing what we will be using tomorrow are the tools they are using today. Facebook and Myspace are prime examples of this, starting out with niche groups in target markets, they have both expanded beyond college students and music groups.
Right now, though, there doesn't seem to be a 'next big thing' coming just yet, or in other words, there are several of them united around one key principle, integration. In the US (I'll get back to why this matters momentarily), Friendster and then, Myspace, had been the predominant social networks before Facebook. Facebook gained market share around college students and incoming college students, then young adults as those student graduated, and now, everyone. One of the factors that led to Facebook's domination of the medium was its ability to expand through open API's with applications that can be installed to user accounts. This has allowed integration with other services. Alongside Facebook's rise, Twitter began as a way to keep up with friends through short blurbs, and that it can be accessed using any SMS text enabled phone made it a boon to teens already using text messaging to keep up with friends. This created a synergy where SMS messages on cell networks updated through to the web with Twitter. Twitter can be integrated into Facebook through open API's, and Facebook can be integrated with numerous web services on it's own, like Youtube, Blogger, LiveJournal, etc.
So in short, the next big thing is not any one thing, but any online services that are open, can be integrated with others, and tied into an online "net presence" for the user. Facebook does a pretty good job of this right now, but you never know, something else may come along that moves it from the dominant spot. I use Facebook because of that integration; I can send a Twitter from my phone and it shows up there, then on my blog. I can write a blog post on my laptop, and it is noted on Facebook. I can post a video with youtube on my desktop, and it's posted on Facebook. I use it because it ties my other services and devices together.
Mobile devices are and will be the single most important part of anything new. If you develop the most awesome social networking site ever known, and it can't be accessed or used on a mobile device, it's dead. Game over.
Going back to the issue of locality mentioned before, I had stated that this is true in the US. Social networks have been very regionally specific. For one reason or another, if you live in different countries, you may have more friends on certain providers. For example, in Brazil, Orkut, Google's social networking site, is very popular, yet most people in the US have never heard of it. In southeast Asia I think MSN is popular, and in other places, Yahoo has a strong following. So what we're talking about is US specific.
As far as taking advantage of this in your field, if you were to ask me which social networking site to join, I would reply "all of them". The key is having the "net presence" I spoke of, and being able to watch the trends of what is more active, what isn't, and who is joining what. Less than half of my friends on Myspace overlap with my friends on Facebook, because they appeal to different people and different markets. I have a presence on LinkedIn, but I haven't touched it since the day my mother added me as a friend, because I now know that most things there are out of touch with where I want to be.

Let's break this down into three rules to finish up...
1. Don't be afraid to try new things you hear about.
2. If it's not on a mobile device, it will not succeed.
3. Different solutions will still appeal to different target demographics, but the key is drawing in as many as possible through open, cross-platform and device solutions.

This was written before Facebook's recent trip on their Terms of Use. That situation is still developing, so it will be interesting in the next few days to see if it will have any effect at all on usage.

NASCAR ain't got nothin' on F1...

2009-02-12T00:20:00.003-05:00

NASCAR, still stuck in the past, using old tech, antiquated ideology, and racing's equivalent of "professional wrestling", needs to get serious and start looking at what their European counterparts are doing. This is a video about the new cars for the F1 2009 season, showcasing a new tech, KERS (Kenetic Energy Recovery System). In short, KERS stores waste energy from braking much like production hybrids, then transforms it into a once per lap 6.5 second 85 horsepower boost, courtesy almost any racing video game ever made (except for NASCAR games, that is). I call that awesome.

Make no mistake about it, compared to this, the racing we get over here in the states might as well be with a horse and buggy.

An open letter to two old friends on Facebook…

2009-02-10T00:06:00.004-05:00

Dear Legs and Paradigm,

I am writing this letter because both of you are now on my Facebook friends list, and I have noticed that after all this time, you have again contacted each other through me. It has been almost 10 years since we left college, moving on to different parts of the US, different careers and lives, yet I still have vivid memories of our friendship and what our college experience was like. We all started as friends, meeting at about the same time. Legs, you were my wingman, my common adventurer through the absurdity of our college years. Paradigm, you were often the offbeat voice of compassion and reason. I could always count on you to provide a unique paradigm shift to any conversation. To each other, you were the major love of your time at college, and as both of your friend, I was happy in your happiness, and sad in your pain. That is what I want to talk about in this letter.

The two of you individually are similar. You both usually have a lot going on. You care about your families deeply, and are generally well-adjusted to life. There are little bits and pieces of drama that you deal with and move on. You both take life as it comes, and work your way through it well. Those are the qualities that attracted us all together in the first place. As a couple, somehow these similarities turned into some sort of painful, dramatic relationship that confused both yourselves and any onlookers. When times were good, they were great. When times were not so good, things were absolutely horrible.

When the two of you fought, the entire world was coming to an end. I cannot tell you the pain both of of you mutually put yourselves through, often for nothing. Being a good friend to both of you was challenging. I never took sides, I never judged, aside from the fact that both of you at times were batshit crazy for the things you would do to each other.

This being said, now that you two are back in touch, and I am finding myself at fault, or maybe a better word is responsible, for that, I want to pass on something I have learned over the years. Time changes people and people change in time. We grow and have experiences both good and bad that take us from what we were to what we are now. Sometimes, talking with people from our past can be good to reflect upon how far we have come, to remember the good times, and see how things left unsaid and unseen have turned out. Sometimes, however, they can drudge up memories of pain we have suppressed from long ago. Wherever your paths crossing now leads, I hope it is positive, helpful to you both, and helps to put away anything resentful that may be left over from years past. You two are both great people, and I hope that our friendship continues far into the future. Let what is bad stay where it was, in the past, and remember things that can make us all smile.

As always, anything you need, I am here.

Larry

Climbing back on the horse…

2009-02-05T23:37:00.003-05:00

January was not the most productive month of my life. Work was work, the weather was cold, and there really was not much going on. I started a couple of tutorials on Photoshop and Final Cut, which will hopefully help me out down the road. It has always surprised me how much learning small things helps with big things later on, but that’s kind of my life story.

The most disheartening thing for me has been watching the news of all the people getting laid off and becoming jobless. These are hard working people, many going through hard times not because of their own failure, or some personal shortcoming, but because the company they worked for has failed or trying to make it through a tough economy. These are scary times to live in, even for those of us still employed, and I really feel for those having to provide for their families and keep their homes.

Thankfully, things in the Cox apartment are still holding up well. I have had to cut back on some of the extra things I used to enjoy. No more weekly trips to the movie theater, or frequent meals at nice restaurants, but I am not missing much. I have been in the middle of a William Gibson kick that I am only now starting to break. As it turns out, he grew up mostly in Wytheville, VA, about 30 miles from my own hometown of Marion, VA. He has indicated that his own experience growing up in an area a bit caught in time was part of his own desire to explore science fiction writing. I am breaking away from his books for a time to re-read a Cory Doctorow novel, Eastern Standard Tribe, which asks the question; would you rather be smart, or be happy?

Work has been exciting with a few new products that are out, and I am getting into the swing of things. I love that each day is different, each customer is different, and there are constant challenges and problems to figure out. I think I have found something that I am well suited to do for a while.

I recently have become enthralled by another mainstay of the geek world; anime, particularly Macross Frontier. I have had the opportunity to watch the series in order, in the original Japanese with English subtitles, and it has a remarkably dynamic story. Macross Frontier is about Alto, a young pilot with a unique family history that is caught between the attentions of a famous pop star and a shy waitress while becoming involved with SMS, a private corporation providing military contract support in light of mysterious attacks on the massive space colony Frontier. If you kept up with all of that, you’re about a tenth of the way in the story, as it has that much depth. The animation is visually impressive, and a very important part of the series is the music in each episode. The music, after hearing several iterations of the core songs a few times, tends to stick with you, and I have found myself running through the upbeat pop in my head on a couple occasions. A scene clip is below.

That’s all for right now. Holly and I are off to see Push tomorrow night, and I hope to have a good review of that Saturday night. That is, if we go see Push. I have offered to go to the chick flick of the week in its stead at her discretion. I gotta start giving in at some point, right?

I scored in the 21-30 range...

2009-02-03T18:42:00.000-05:00

GSAT: The Geek Social Aptitude Test

Mushy goodness...

2009-02-01T23:56:00.001-05:00

As if teenage girls needed the help...

2009-02-01T10:18:00.000-05:00

Too much Facebook makes teenage girls depressed | Technically Incorrect - CNET News

They concluded that the more the girls discussed their romantic ups and downs with their friends online, the more they became candidates for Prozac. And the more extensive their romantic adventures, the more they wanted to talk about them. With depressing consequences.

New website in progress...

2009-01-23T21:42:00.003-05:00

After much delay and about a three month hiatus from anything resembling serious photography, the bug is catching me again and I am finally getting around to creating the photo website I had planned last year. Here is a first sneak preview for the front page. I am creating the page in iWeb '08, although it probably will not be published until iWeb '09 gets released so I can attempt to take advantage of some of the new features. It will be published to my Mobile Me account, and I'll be releasing the URL soon. I have yet to decide if I will be using a personal domain like this site.

In other news... I am finally giving up the Blackberry. B

efore you start thinking "but Alex, even Obama is keeping his", I will say this is a voluntary move to save money on my monthly cell phone bill. The overwhelming majority of the places I spend time have an open wifi connection available. Conversely, my Blackberry operates solely on a much slower EDGE connection, and has drifted behind a couple of years in technology as well. I don't get streaming video, I don't get automatic syncing of my contacts, calendars, bookmarks, etc., and the screen on the Pearl leaves much to be desired. After deliberation about switching carriers, I eventually decided to stay with my current carrier, drop the BB Plan, and get an iPod Touch. I looked at the T-Mobile G1 as well as other smartphone devices, and none really matched the features I could get from even using an iPod. Not to mention, in about six months it will have paid for itself.

So, here is a quick sneak preview of the new site. The name isn't out, and it is greyscale. I'll be announcing it soon...

Sometimes, you have to fight the crowd...

2009-01-22T23:43:00.000-05:00

ZOMG, CHARLOTTE SNOW!

2009-01-21T00:36:00.001-05:00

Proposed South Carolina bill makes swearing in public a felony...

2009-01-15T00:55:00.000-05:00

2009-2010 Bill 56: Profanity - South Carolina Legislature Online: "SECTION 1. Article 3, Chapter 15, Title 16 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:

'Section 16-15-370. (A) It is unlawful for a person in a public forum or place of public accommodation wilfully and knowingly to publish orally or in writing, exhibit, or otherwise make available material containing words, language, or actions of a profane, vulgar, lewd, lascivious, or indecent nature.

(B) A person who violates the provisions of this section is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than five thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.'"

I understand that as the world changes, and old social mores have given way to more acceptance of previously inappropriate vernacular, some people want to cling to standards of vocabulary that most no longer follow with an iron death grip. I myself am no fan of using malicious profanity in a public place, largely because of growing up in a small rural area where it was not tolerated. However, when a legislative body considers placing such a severe penalty upon speech that a great portion of society uses daily, it steps over into a realm of oppression rather than protection. There are additional facets of this bill that I can agree with, protecting children from exposure to obscenity, although I am sure these provisions already exist within SC law. However, the above section of law is absolutely out of line with appropriate punishment.

Living so close to South Carolina, I'll be watching this one to see what happens, and I sincerely hope it fails or is changed before a vote is taken. If it does pass, however, I am afraid I will not be able to resist standing at the edge of the state line and shouting "Fuck You, South Carolina" across the border.

I'm a TWIT...

2009-01-08T10:08:00.000-05:00

TV 101: Why Leo Laporte represents the future of TV (kinda) - VIDEO - TV Squad

So maybe you've read this far and you're not ready to believe that the future of TV is a 52 year-old former basic cable host who broadcasts himself taping his own podcasts. Well check this out: did I mention he does it out of his basement and that the average live viewership of his shows (according to Wikipedia) is around 2000 people?

Post #500: 2008 is over, 2009 begins...

2009-01-03T15:07:00.000-05:00

After much ado, thought, and planning, here is the big post #500. I'm going to be all over the place with this one, recapping what happened in 2008, and talking about some things coming up in 2009. Without any more preface, let's talk about:

2008

Top events in 2008

10. Saw The Offspring in concert. My favorite band for the last 10 years held a free concert sponsored by T-Mobile in Uptown Charlotte. I am usually not one to go to or even like live concerts; they're typically too loud, or I don't like fighting the crowds, but this outdoor concert just off the train line was awesome! I didn't realize how many of their songs I knew by heart.

9. Moved into my own apartment. I got my own place in southwest Charlotte, not too far from work, not too far from cheap gas in South Carolina, and fairly close to a nature preserve that has been the subject of much of my photography, which I'll mention later.

8. Broke into (and out of) management. Professionally, this was a big one, as I had never been in an official supervisor capacity before. Suddenly having 70 to 80 people under my direct management was an incredible experience that required me to learn quickly, and assess how I communicate with different types of people and adapt quickly to various situations. I left on a high note, though; after months of being on call nonstop, my decision to leave management wasn't because I didn't like it, or was unsuccessful, but because I was able to turn something I love into something I do professionally.

7. Movies, movies, movies! 2008 was a great year for movies; my top 3 are easily Iron Man, Wall-E, and The Dark Knight, although there are several others that are notable. Tropic Thunder, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Hellboy II, Quantum of Solace, Be Kind Rewind, Wanted, and You Don't Mess with the Zohan round out my top 10. I know some of them are quirky and a bit low-brow, but no one ever accused me of being a Cannes movie critic, I just know what I like.

6. Spent two weeks in California. I had never been further west than Oklahoma until this year, and the opportunity came with my new job to spend two weeks in Silicon Valley for training. After everything I had ever seen, read, or heard about California, from what I have seen, I only want to spend more time there. San Francisco is an incredible city, and being at the center of America's technology sector was like a dream. I have photos that I still have not sorted through, and the people I met were all intelligent, relaxed, and good-natured. If I spend too much time out there, I may end up being a west coast guy after all.

5. Read a lot of good books. I haven't even counted, but this year I read more sci-fi than ever, focusing on Robert Heinlein, Cory Doctorow, William Gibson, and other cyber age fiction authors. Their writing inspires me to think, to re-imagine the world we live in, and look at it with optimism and hope, although many of the stories show a future with neither. I just found out that Gibson grew up in a small town only 30 miles from my hometown, and that his frustration living in an area stuck in the past motivated him to write about the future. I can understand that concept completely, and it is most likely why his writing has appealed to me so much.

4. Discovered the joy of photography. I had a camera before, but this year I bought a Camera, and worked damn hard to learn how to use it. Through the lens, I have discovered a creative side of me that I did not know was there, and have found it to be an expressive release. After California, I have backed off a bit, but come spring you can bet there will be many more photos to come.

3. Turned a hobby (technology) into a profession. When I bought my first computer in 2002, just after I graduated the police academy, I had no idea that in just a few years, I would be making a living repairing them. Ironically, it was a hard drive failure in 2003 that started me on the path to learn more about computers, how they work, and how to use them better, that eventually brought me to work part time as a specialist and now full time as a technician. When I have a computer in front of me, I can almost feel how the electricity is running through it, how the hard drive is spinning, and how the bits of data are running in and out of memory. I am far from knowing everything there is to know, but I feel comfortable with them, coming a long way from that one and only call to a tech support center in fall of 2003 that frustrated me enough to learn how to do it myself. Being able to get paid for that is awesome, and one of the best things of 2008.

2. Built new friendships and strengthened relationships with my family. Through work and around Charlotte, I have been fortunate enough to meet many interesting people and build friendships I hope will develop further in 2009. Holly and I have been dating over a year now, as well, and we have a relationship that I value greatly. Living less than a mile from my aunt has also enabled me to be there for her when she and her husband went through a challenging time with a death in their family, and the trust I have built with them is irreplaceable to me. Seeing my mother and father recently become dog owners is warming to me, because I think the addition of Dash to our family will help them to be more complete in their own lives. Overall, I relish the people around me, and take joy in their happiness and success. I haven't always been this close to others, and I am working constantly to keep up socially, but I have learned the value in doing so.

1. Watched the sun set on the Pacific (and photographed it). Ever since I have watched the sun rise on the Atlantic, I have wanted to watch the sun set on the Pacific Ocean. You could call it one of my life goals; something I had to do before I died. While in California, I took a rental car on my own out to Half Moon Bay Beach on a perfect afternoon, and watched the sun set on the beach. Those hours spent are among the most peaceful and happy of my life, and to take it a step further, they are all recorded through photo and video. When the sun set too low to take any more photos, I hopped back in the rental car, kicked the moon roof back, and took a leisurely drive down Highway 1, the Pacific Coast highway, for the rest of the time the sun was setting. Overall, it was the perfect afternoon, and among the best days of my life, making it number one on this list from 2008.

2009

The year ahead:

After such a great year in 2008, how do I follow this up in 2009? I have some ideas for improvement:

1. Lose weight. Toward the end of 2008, I got sick, and even had to go to the hospital for a mild complication with my heart. I am still seeing a cardiologist, and we are going through a holter monitor, stress testing, and all of that good stuff, but all roads lead to one thing, I have to drop weight. I am already off to a good start from the last three weeks. I am exercising regularly, eating right, and have adjusted to a new diet and healthier eating habits. Mentally, I am back into a weight-loss mode, and I am beginning to feel better again. However, I have a long way to go. My weight has topped anything I had ever peaked at before, and I have made a solid promise to myself to never be near to what I am right now again when I get it off. Because the severity of my weight gain has been so much, I have equated it to death. If I stay at my current weight, I will die. In that spirit, as a sort of motivation to get it down, I thought about the most fun thing that I have always wanted to do, but have not done because of money, weight, or fear, because, if I stay at this weight and I die, I might as well die having fun if I lose it, right? Anyway, the idea is this, if I get below 220, I'm buying a motorcycle. I haven't decided what kind, but I have always wanted to ride a motorcycle, and this is an opportunity to fulfill two life dreams at once; to get back in shape, and to have a motorcycle. I will be writing more about this later, and may possibly have a website detailing the idea, talking about my actual weight loss process, but for now, you get the drift.

2. Learn as much as possible and gain experience at my job. This would seem like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised at how many people just go through their work lives and get complacent, reaching a level of competence and never pursuing more. I want this to be my career, what I'm doing now and beyond, whoever I work for and wherever it will lead. To do that, I am going to have to build upon the knowledge I already have and work even harder to take it to the next level, to be prepared down the road when I want to do something more. I don't think I will immediately pursue any more certifications aside from the ones I have already earned, because it would be spending money for nothing in my current position, but I am thinking about dabbling in a bit of programming and network systems architecture and management. I know that web development is also the wave of the future, so I would be amiss if I did not consider learning more about that. I have a friend pursuing his degree with online courses, and I have thought about taking a couple of online courses just to learn more in my current role.

3. Enjoy 2009 even more than 2008. I want to start enjoying each year better than the last, which I know is a tall order in the journey of life, but I do know that last year was better than the year before, and I want to keep the trend going. I can achieve this in large part by completing the first two goals of this year, but there are a couple more things I can do. I want to continue to build friendships and enjoy my family. I am considering adding a dog or cat to my own household. Finally, I want to continue enjoying my hobbies, photography, movies, and reading, which have consistently provided me with entertainment and satisfaction.

I'm still trying to figure out why I look so pissed in this picture...

Summation

Putting it all together, I have had a great 2008, and I am looking forward to seeing how 2009 comes together. I have a lot of great things happening, and plan to keep the ball rolling into the new year. Now that I am past this post, I am going to keep adding some additional content, links, and new photos/videos of what life brings. Thanks for reading, commenting, and being a part of my life.

Getting in a routine...

2008-12-15T20:33:00.003-05:00

It has been a very long time since I have had a routine.

Get up. Work. Sleep. Take two days off. Repeat.

I love it.

I am at the point I can finally say the transition is over, and I have recovered from the move from Michigan, having to start over again, and even the six months of craziness from being on call all the time. I am settling in to what most people would call a normal life, and I'm wrapping up in it like a warm blanket on a winter night. There will be time enough later if I want to spice things up a bit, but I am one person this holiday season that is not going crazy.

That being said, I have nothing unusual to report. I'm in a steady relationship, work is great, and my family is as stable as ever. I enjoy my science fiction novels, nerdy television shows, and the occasional movie. I chilled out a bit on photography after taking a ton of pictures in California, so I don't even have much to mention in that area. For all purposes, today is as peaceful as my life can get.

It is rare when you can look at your own life and have no drama, no discomfort, and have few problems that affect you dramatically. Granted, my life is not perfect, and there are some things I would improve. I would love to have more money, weigh a good deal less, and live in a sunny all drinks included resort, but barring that, I'm doing well here.

I guess you could say that I am happy. I know it is a temporary repreive before I am driven again to find something more. This is my real rest, the downtime before the next step. I do not know what that step will be, where it will take me, or what challenges I will face, but for now, I don't have to worry about it. I can enjoy just being me again for now.

Sticking around...

2008-12-11T00:51:00.002-05:00

It is almost 1am and I have to work tomorrow, but my mind has been running around on whether to continue with the blog or not. Coming to a decision, once I started, has been much easier than I thought it was going to be. I reviewed many of my posts from the last three and a half years, recalled some of the things I had written, and some I don't remember writing, and in the end, it is a no-brainer for me to continue writing.

The concept of a journal is not new, nor is it new to publish a journal for others to read. Traditionally, however, this has been done post-humously for people much more important and interesting than the average blogger today. What is new is the idea of self-publishing personal life thoughts and events, and contributing my own history into the blogosphere has given me new perspective on myself. After all, if you air all of your dirty laundry to the world, you have to consider first how the world is going to deal with it, and you, for doing so.

That being said, I have written some articles that have surprised me in their depth and clear perspective on some of the most difficult events of my life. Reading them now, knowing how things happened and what resulted from past decisions, I am proud of the things I have said on my blog, as I hope to be in the future.

In the last post, I had mentioned that life is pretty good right now, and there is nothing to write about. Perhaps that is the stereotype of the tormented artist coming into play, because what happens when the artist is tormented no more? Honestly, I have things pretty good, but while there is nothing to complain about particularly, there is still plenty to write about without delving into my no-zones of work or relationships. I will say that work is awesome and I am employed by the best company in the world. I've even had another awesome company try to steal me away already, but I have respectfully declined as I am enamored with what I do.

I want to expand my usage of video on the site. I already have some of my photography posted, and will continue to share my photos on this site as well as through my Flickr feed, but video is the way of the internet, and Youtube has some innovative new features, including higher quality video that I am dying to play around with.

I used to think when I worked for the security company that if I wasn't on call 24 hours a day I would get out and do a lot more. Well, I work exactly 40 hours a week now, and I'm staying in most of the time. It is time to change that, lest I become the anti-social sun-fearing hermit my ex-girlfriend used to make me out to be. Honestly, I do like the sun, but I tend to like the light from an LCD display backlight a bit more...

With that said, I am going to get to bed. This was post #498, so there is just one more before the big 5-0-0, which should hit about the beginning of next week!

Adios.

Image is everything...

2008-12-09T23:18:00.000-05:00

Penny Arcade! - The Crisis

Silence as post #500 approaches...

2008-12-09T22:31:00.004-05:00

This is post #496, and I have to admit that I have slowed posting down the last week, preparing for #500. Every time I hit a major milestone, I go through a process of evaluation which includes assessing whether I should continue blogging, what I should blog about, and if I really want to keep going. At this point, if I do stop, #500 is a good time for some closure, don't you think?

In all honesty, I do not need the outlet as much as when I first started. There is no major crisis that I am going through, and generally speaking life is pretty good. As a rule, I do not blog about work related subjects, which with my current employment, covers several of the subjects that interest me that I used to write about.

So, that is what I have been contemplating now, the very future of this blog. I think if I continue, I need to give it a solid direction, whether revamping it as a photography site, or reworking it to a specific theme, it needs to be tightened up into some sort of cohesive sanity.

I welcome any thoughts or comments, as always, and in the next few days I should be making a decision. Have a great week!

Alex

Five parenting tips for online social networks...

2008-11-29T11:43:00.006-05:00

For the last two years, my family has been going to the Thanksgiving dinners of other families they know, sharing in their holiday festivities, and being a part of something outside of our usual traditions. This inevitably leads to conversations I would not have during my normal family gatherings, as the majority of my family have little to no interest in technology and have miniscule internet presence aside from email and one LinkedIn page (my mother, which shocked me when I found out).
This year, I found myself sitting at a table with a concerned parent of a fourteen year old boy and a twelve year old girl, and at the mention that I work for a computer company, she immediately mentioned that her son has requested access to Facebook, and was very concerned about allowing him to get an account.

***Disclaimer***: I am not a parent. Although I have extensive experience working with teenagers as a police officer and houseparent at a children's home, and in my previous marriage was the stepfather to three teenagers, I do not claim to have any particular success at parenting, or know everything there is to know about parenting. What I have to say about this topic comes from a combination of those experiences and my own particular knowledge of technology, internet culture, and predator behavior, of which I will claim an above average amount of knowledge.

I suggested she let the fourteen year old son get an account, with rules attached, and to hold off on letting the daughter join a social network for a year or so, depending on her maturity.
I realize I may have lost some parents on this one, but I urge you to stay with me just a moment as I explain myself. We'll get back to the rules later. I know we have all seen the "To Catch a Predator" Dateline specials on TV, and the thought of letting little Sally or Bobby online to chat and converse with god knows who is scary, but I believe that restricting all social internet usage does almost as much damage and still leaves your child as vulnerable.
I am of the opinion that one of the duties of every parent is preparing their child for the world they will face when they leave the home. Traditionally, that has been done in the real world by allowing their child increasing responsibility, and providing a gradual introduction to the things they will face outside the home as they transition to adulthood. In the real world, most teenagers are limited by geography to the things they are exposed to, and you can somewhat control the places they go, things they do, and people they meet along the way.
The internet, conversely, is not limited by geography in a physical sense. You can meet thousands of people without leaving your home, see things that once upon a time you would have to go to the seediest places of the big city to see, and for the unwary, have as much potential to be victimized as a lamb in a wolf den.
Chances are, the internet will play a big role in your child's life. At the least, they will need basic email skills, if only for any job they are likely to get. For many of them, it will be a major part of their social interaction, career, and livelihood. If we spend so much time preparing children for the dangers and reality of the real world, I believe we should spend a substantial amount of time preparing them for the dangers and reality of the internet. The next big question is how.
Many of the things we do in the real world to prepare children for their lives apply on the internet for their virtual lives. We limit their interaction at first, slowly introduce them to controlled environments, and as they get older, gradually introduce them to what they will face when they are on their own. Just as you would not leave a ten year old unsupervised in the home, they should not be unsupervised on the internet. However, at fourteen, there may be times that you slowly give them more responsibility in their own care, while still being around to catch them if they have trouble.
It is in this spirit that I advised the mother to allow her fourteen year old son to have a Facebook account, provided there are rules involved. Here are the rules I suggested:

The parent should have the password to the account, and be able to log on and see all of his activity from time to time. At first this will be a very real measure, and she should log on to see what sort of activity her son is having on Facebook, and be able to openly discuss with him anything that is out of the ordinary or inappropriate. The child must understand that this is a condition of their access. There is much talk among parenting groups right now about the child's expectation of privacy, but at fourteen on the internet, the dangers outweigh the child's alleged right to privacy on an online account.
The child may not put any personal real life information online, i.e. address, phone number, social security number, and preferably not their full legal name. This is pretty obvious to adults, but chances are your child will not see the immediate danger of sharing such information online. They are not and should not be expected to know about identity theft, but this is a situation where you need to look out for their best interests later on. Their present safety from predators as well as their future credit score and ability to purchase a car or house are in danger on this one, so this is a big one to forget about.
The child may only have people on their friends list that they have met in real life. This can be a tough one for some children, because the value of the internet for some is they get to meet people they normally would not meet in real life; people with the same interests and hobbies. There will be time enough for that later, but right now we're focusing on developing good, safe, internet habits, and part of that is knowing who you are talking to. Their friends list should be a good mix of other children from school, church, family members about the same age, and to an extent some teachers, coaches, and adult role models in their lives. However, I urge caution on the presence of adults on your child's friends list, as many may not have the same online persona or presence they do in your child's real world interaction. I'm not saying they are bad people or predators, but the science teacher that is conservative during the school week may have pictures on their account your children are better off not knowing about. Hopefully, they will have kept this separate from an account your children are privy to anyway, but there are some school teachers in Mecklenburg County, NC, that are currently under investigation for content on their Facebook accounts that students had access to.
Anything the child creates that he or she wants to share online must be vetted by you first. The internet is an amazing place for creativity, and we are seeing an incredible boost in our culture because of the ability of the consumers of content to become content creators. Teenagers particularly love to use technology to find new ways to express themselves, whether through online videos, photos, or writing. The problem we face here is twofold; we want the child to express their creativity safely and appropriately, and we also want the content they produce to have if anything a positive effect on future college and career opportunities. As a general rule, anything your child publishes online is there for their lifetime or more, and search engines are only getting better at providing more accurate results for online content. At a previous job I used Google to search perspective employees (sometimes to their advantage, such as the case where I found a commendation from a federal prosecutor for a prospect in a Supreme Court case), and as a police officer I once used a social networking site to identify an assault suspect to another officer in a neighboring jurisdiction (it did not help him that his Myspace page was covered in marijuana images). The lesson is what your child publishes is as important as their name and reputation, because more and more it is their name and reputation. I am not even going to touch upon what happens when inappropriate videos of your child hit the internet, because the danger there is inherent within itself.
Monitor, monitor, monitor. All of these rules are difficult, and all of them are worthless unless you follow up with your child and discuss them on a regular basis. As your child gets older, there will be times to ease up and pass the responsibility on to them; a handing over of the keys, so to speak, but in the beginning, they need your guidance to get their start in the virtual world.

Shortly after I gave her this advice, the conversation went on to text messages, cell phones, and other mobile devices. I think she is at least considering what she is going to do when she allows him on Facebook, and in all reality, it is just a matter of time at this point. It is best she manages how it starts, how the account is used, and how he is introduced into this larger world.

For this post, I am sending it out to a friend that has a parenting blog, and posting it on a couple of sites, as it is a topic I think is useful to many parents facing the decision of whether to allow their children on Facebook. Feel free to leave comments and discuss anything I have mentioned. If you have your own tips, please leave them, as this is something I would like to address again further down the road.

This is why I stay in on Black Friday...

2008-11-28T17:48:00.000-05:00

Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death - NYTimes.com

People did not stop to help the employee as he lay on the ground, and they pushed against other Wal-Mart workers who were trying to aid Mr. Damour. The crowd kept running into the store even after the police arrived, jostling and pushing officers who were trying to perform CPR, the police said.

This is a particularly horrible breed of mob mentality that justifies the trampling of a man just to get the big "deal". Right now, the investigator in charge of the investigation is saying the store could have done more to protect their employee, but I'm calling this one on the crowd of greedy shoppers ready to save a buck and beat out the other guy to whatever cheapness Wal-Mart was hawking this morning. How about pulling the video to identify every person that came in that Wal-Mart and charge them with manslaughter?

Perhaps the worse part of it is that the victim wasn't even on Wal-Mart's payroll, but was there as a temp worker, probably with no benefits and definitely not making enough to have lost his life today. Whatever family he has left behind will spend years in legal battles trying to get some sort of compensatory justice for this meaningless loss of life, as those that are really at fault move on with their purchases to plague the world again next Black Friday. The fault in this is really our own for allowing the Black Friday obsession to degrade into this sort of insanity. Shame on us all.

Tropic Thunder - Ending (Tom Cruise Dance) HD 720p

2008-11-26T11:19:00.001-05:00

If you haven't seen this movie, rent it! It has the be the best Tom Cruise performance in years.

Britney Spears - Womanizer - Parody

2008-11-26T10:46:00.001-05:00

Weird Al would be proud...

New idea...

2008-11-24T12:16:00.002-05:00

Just had a new idea for a website and working on fleshing it out over the next few days...
If I decide to do it, it should be up and ready by post #500.

It is a big commitment, so excuse me while I work this out...

Make: A really cool video on the history of the LED (Light Emitting Diode)

2008-11-24T10:00:00.000-05:00

MAKE presents: The LED from make magazine on Vimeo.

Charlotte International Auto Show 2008

2008-11-20T23:12:00.002-05:00

Originally uploaded by lalexcox

This afternoon I went to the Charlotte International Auto Show at the Convention Center Uptown. We arrived before the doors opened, and were among the first to get in. I took about 200 photos, about 55 of which are in this Flickr Photostream.

Sometimes, the conversation goes like this...

2008-11-16T00:45:00.000-05:00

AppleGeeks 3.0

Internalizing...

2008-11-15T00:22:00.002-05:00

For the great majority of my adult life, from my third year of college all the way through my move to Charlotte, I think emotionally I have been been fairly expressive, and able to communicate those feelings pretty well. I learned early on that bottling up emotions and suppressing my feelings was counter-productive to the kind of person I wanted to be, and that it was important to communicate with those that are close to me to develop the relationships that I should have as an adult. Even in my marriage, communication was never really my particular issue. However, during the events that led to leaving Michigan, and the break up there, I think I lost a big part of what had made me open, and able to be close to people that I should be close to. I built walls again that I had worked hard to shut down in college during my exploration from what I was growing up into what I would become as an adult.

Even now, those walls are still up, and one of the few outlets I have left is writing. It's kind of ironic that I can't talk about how I feel and things that have happened to me in person, yet I can write about them online for anyone to read. I guess it is my own form of exhibitionism.

Until I get past this and take down the walls a little, I am still walking wounded from the Michigan experience. I got hurt very badly, and while I fear very little in this life, I do fear being hurt like that again, and losing what I have built since moving to Charlotte. That is important to me, and until I feel secure in it, I won't be able to open up.

I think the reason I can write so much about my feelings goes back to my thoughts about secrets. If something is a secret, and kept by one or few people, then there is that margin of trust that can be betrayed. There is a fear that exposure of those secrets can lead to negative things, and above anything else, I think I hate fear more than all. So to keep from being fearful of secrets, I have very few. There are few things that I will not share with anyone, as opposed to many things I will not share with only one person. As long as I have nothing to hide from the world, I have nothing to fear from exposure to it. I know, it is pretty messed up.

So what is the cost of an open life? To be honest, since I started writing this blog several years ago, to my knowledge I have not lost one friend, or made one enemy from it. The information I have shared here has never been used against me, or even brought up in a context that has offended me. It has allowed my family and friends a way of keeping up with me, seeing what is going on. In some cases, it has allowed those that are closer to me a way of finding out more without saying anything. On the other hand, it has started some good conversations, and I have become closer to some people through some topics I have written about. The greatest benefit has been having an outlet for the things I keep inside, rather than a single confidant, I open up to all.

Kristy was someone that above all people I thought I could trust, and it was hard to face that I was wrong. Pretty much everyone's credibility was shot with me after that, except for my mother and a couple of very old friends. What made it worse is that my caution actually saved me from a bad situation late last year. It was a situation I have not written about, but I will say that this person was among the most deceptive I have met in my life. I was rewarded for my mistrust, and that has made it easier to live inside my walls.

I hope I will get to a point where I will be able to trust people again, but to be honest, I won't be forgetting about what either of those people did anytime soon. Until then, I have my blog for the things I can be open with, and my own strength to get me through the rest.

Star Trek: Please be good...

2008-11-11T23:20:00.000-05:00

'Star Trek': An exclusive first look at the Enterprise | PopWatch Blog | EW.com

The thing about Star Trek that I loved the most growing up was optimism. Hope that humans would be able to get past our conflicts and advance far enough in science to explore worlds beyond our own. I grew up with The Next Generation, which was more reflective of the peaceful optimism found in the freshly post Cold War era.

However, the Original Series, as it is now known, took many social elements of the time and became a metaphor of those same notions. Look at the crew; a black communications officer, Japanese helmsman (played by a homosexual actor), and even a Soviet senior crew member. Another of the main characters was himself an alien, not only in appearance but in the absence of human emotion. The original Star Trek was also the first on screen interracial kiss (involving the main hero himself, James T. Kirk). Yet the story retained a reflection of the world at the time; the Klingons (Soviets) in a subtle war with the Federation (NATO).

As the world has evolved, Star Trek has, at its best, continued to reflect a metaphorical optimism of the best that we can become, encouraging us to seek out all that we can be under the circumstances we face. Although it has not always lived up to this ideal (I'm looking at you, Enterprise), I hope the new movie brings it back to encourage a new generation. Live long, and prosper.

If not, at least the set is looking cool...the internets is calling it the Apple Store bridge...

Election aftermath...

2008-11-11T15:39:00.003-05:00

Election day has now come and past, and by now everyone knows that Barack Obama will be the country's new President on January 20th. As polarized as the election was, the aftermath has proven to be almost as dramatic. The Secret Service is reporting they have already broken up one assassination attempt, and conversely I read a funny story on craiglist about a black man that demanded his employer start paying him in cash because he won't have to pay taxes anymore (since a black man was elected). The most funny satire of the public's reaction was the Southpark episode the night after the election, which showed McCain supporters bunkering up for the next four years and Obama supporters partying in the streets until they were sick.
As with most things, I tend to be a bit moderate about it, even though the man I voted in won. I am optimistic that we have chosen a good candidate for our nation, and hope that in four years we can say it was a good decision. However, I have been fooled before, eight years ago, when I first voted for George W. Bush.
There has been a lot of speculation about President-elect Obama. Some have said he is a Muslim in hiding, others the Anti-Christ himself. Others look upon him as a national savior ready to absolve us from the Bush administration. Perhaps it is best to look upon him now as a man that has been selected for a tough job, and time will tell now where things fall. Many people have to gain by nay-saying, and being pessimistic about what his presidency will bring, just as others cannot help but be overly optimistic about the future, bathing in the hope his election has provided.
Just remember that he is a human, exactly like all of us, and that there will be successes and failures, good decisions and bad, and that in his performance in office, his success will be ours, and his failures will be ours as well. For an example, look to the current administration, who, for all of their current disapproval, has done a bit of good for some in the past. I do not think Bush is a bad man, just a bad President, and I do not think all of his failures are necessarily his own fault, but also the fault of those around him, and in part ours as well. Pointing fingers only divides us further, and serves no other purpose than the exhaltation of the one or the few at the expense of the good for the many.
We will never be a nation at peace until we are a nation united. We will never have stability, long term prosperity, and peaceful international relations until we can have peaceful interactions among our own people. My hope is that the new administration will begin to be that movement to the center, where we can all come together and build something great.

Facebook. Sometimes, it is like this...

2008-11-08T08:08:00.000-05:00

Penny Arcade! - With Great Vengeance

Voting and race...

2008-11-04T11:45:00.007-05:00

I have written before about why I decided to vote for Barack Obama for President. It was a rational choice, made with patience and careful observation of the facts at hand. I am an independent voter, and will always make as objective decision as I am able regarding my choice to vote. With that said, there is something undeniable about this election, and profound about my voting opportunity today. I talk about race even less than I do politics, but now that I have voted, I do want to share this concept with you.

My great-great-grandfather was a slave. After the Civil War, he and his brother took on my family name, and worked as best we can tell as farm hands the rest of their lives.

My great-grandfather was a farm hand and coal miner. From all accounts a practical and conservative man, he instilled a strong work ethic and understanding of value to his children.

My grandfather was a grocery bagger (among other things). When I was younger, he would tell me stories of segregation, and gaining the right to vote. He told me of working hard, gaining the respect of the people around him that afforded him opportunities to achieve better things for his family. I recall going to vote with him as a young boy, and remember how important that was to him as I would drive him to the polls when I was older. His values are largely responsible for the success of his children, teaching that the only person that can hold you back is you. My grandfather saw changes within his lifetime that allowed him to create the opportunity for his own children to go to college, pursue their dreams, and find success.

My mother's generation in our family broke the remaining barriers. My uncle was the first black baby to be born in a regular wing in our town's hospital. My uncle, mother, and aunt were all in school as segregation ended, and were among the first to attend a mixed race school. My uncle and mother have both earned Master's degrees, and my aunt has found her own success in management through her hard work and dedication.

Thanks to them, I have had it easy. There were no real barriers for me to break, no challenges that I have seen that could not be overcome. My race was never an issue in terms of my own success. If I have wanted a job, I made sure that I was the best candidate and have gone out to get it. Attending college was never a question, option, or an "it would be nice". It was expected. I have been accepted socially most everywhere I have lived, and on the rare occasion that race has played a part in my relationship with someone, it has either been overcome or I did not need to be involved with that person in the first place. To my knowledge, I have never been turned down for a job because I was black, and if I had been, I would not have liked that work environment anyway. Compared to the trials of the generations in my family before me, mine have been nothing.

The most profound thing I have ever done in terms of race in my lifetime was today, voting for a black candidate for President. Again, I have made my points previously on why I think he was the best candidate for President, so do not mistake this entry to mean race was my motivation. However, to look at where my own family came from, what they have lived through, and to think that has culminated not only in race not being an issue to me, but race not being a barrier in a Presidential election; that is huge.

Whether Obama wins or not tonight, he has objectively proven the ability of the black race to succeed and achieve in America. There are those that disagree with me, that see racism and discrimination around every corner, and in every shadow. I argue that it is that very perception, not the reality, that is now the barrier to the achievement of blacks in America. "Yes we can" not only applies to this Presidential race, but to lesser successes, such as going to college, building a solid career, supporting a family, and reducing the proportion of blacks in prison.

I hope this election gives the same conviction to others that I have had my entire life, thanks to my family, that race is no longer a barrier. Were my grandfather alive today, I know that he would be proud and happy about this election.

I never got the evangelism by sign concept...

2008-11-04T08:43:00.005-05:00

This image is a screen cap from some video I took yesterday waiting for the bus to the Obama rally. It's a long story, and in the end I didn't make it to the rally, but I found it interesting that this guy felt the need to break out the sign and message for the people waiting in line for the bus. What does this accomplish? Are you making any sort of social connection with your target audience? Will one person's heart be affected positively by standing around with a pissed off look and a giant, poorly designed poster hanging from you?

My thought; God/Jesus needs a new marketing department. They need to take their image out from the untrained hands that are handling it right now and get some professionals in for a clean up job, because as long as it is in the hands of guys like this, it can only get worse. In fact, it is my understanding that a very experienced group of people will shortly be free to get started on this project. Their specialty is, in fact, reworking a previously grassroots image and turning it into a message of sophistication and beauty:

Or, maybe not... Happy Election Day and GO VOTE!!!

One more thing on politics...

2008-11-03T22:22:00.002-05:00

I have been working the last few days, so just now I have the opportunity to write a couple of responses to comments from the last post on politics here.

Brook at Mommy's Little Blog asked:

I have noticed our nation swaying very precariously between the brinks of two extremes and it seems both involve very isolating societies for the next 4 years. What are your thoughts?

I agree that our nation, particularly in the statutes that are written as well as the case law that comes from the courts swings back and forth in cycles. The 20th century was particularly illustrative of this: from isolationism before WWI, to the "roaring 20's" which led to the Great Depression, then the social policies of the New Deal, to again Pre WWII isolation, back to the conservative ideology of the 50's, to the revolutions of the 60's and 70's, back to Reagan era policies of the 80's, to the Clinton 90's, and finally the Bush millenium, it has been a wild ride. I think it is because we are a nation searching for what works, and neither side exclusively has the answer. Every time we move too far in one direction, we are pulled in another extreme to resolve a shortcoming of the current policies. That is why the two party system is not working; no one is willing to circumvent their own power base to truly meet in the middle, and find middle of the road answers to these social and economic answers we are seeking.

Mike from Sussex wrote:

Interesting post. I'm not sure where this notion of freedom came from though. Conversations and communications across many different mediums have been monitored for a long time.

Traditionally in the U.S., private person to person communications within our borders have held a reasonable expectation of privacy, that, absent a warrant, makes it unlawful for government entities to monitor or eavesdrop. It goes back to our Fourth Amendment right to be "...secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects..." that the government has to have probable cause as well as a warrant to violate that expectation of privacy. There are exceptions that have been granted by law and court decision, but recently, even more exceptions have been granted by the Patriot Act and other anti-terrorism measures that have eroded the privacy of all law abiding U.S. citizens to arguably catch a few more terrorists. We are not a nation that has closed circuit cameras on every corner (as of this writing, anyway), and the idea of that frightens me even more. I do not believe that all government is bad, I just think that the more power that is granted to the government creates a greater potential for that power to be abused.

Finally, thanks to liohi who recommended the Zeitgeist movie. I have not had a chance to watch it, but I hope to soon.

Tomorrow is Election Day, and very soon this heated contest will be over. Ultimately, I hope that whoever we as a people decide lives up to our expectations and does what is best for our country. The vast majority of us across party lines have been disappointed by the performance of our current President, and the world is watching to see what happens next. Our future as a country is in the hands of the people elected tomorrow, both in Presidential and Congressional elections, and much of our success or failure will depend upon their success or failure. I hope in four years we can all look back and see how we have come together as a country, and be stronger for it.

This blog is officially written by a man...

2008-11-03T13:37:00.002-05:00

According to Gender Analyzer

What a way to go...(Bowler dies after perfect 300 game)

2008-11-02T12:51:00.000-05:00

Michigan McCain-Palin supporter says no treats for Obama kids on Halloween

2008-11-02T12:42:00.001-05:00

Slashdot | Fictional Town "Eureka" To Become Real?

2008-10-27T20:15:00.000-04:00

Slashdot | Fictional Town "Eureka" To Become Real?

This article is totally awesome.

The fictional town of Eureka (from the TV series by the same name) is going to potentially become a real life town as the University of Queensland, in Australia, plans to build a multibillion-dollar 'brain city' dedicated to science and research.

Silly rabbit, Twitter is for terrorists...

2008-10-26T20:04:00.003-04:00

U.S. Army warns of Twittering terrorists

The U.S. intelligence community is concerned that terrorists might use micro-blogging tool Twitter to coordinate attacks, according to a purported draft Army intelligence report posted on the Web.
The report--present by the 304th Military Intelligence Battalion and posted to the Federation of the American Scientists Web site--examines the possible ways terrorists could use mobile and Web technologies such as the Global Positioning System, digital maps, and Twitter mashups to plan and execute terrorist attacks.

Technology has afforded us many advances, and is largely responsible for the quality of life many of us in the world enjoy today. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, each major breakthrough has made the world a little smaller place, enabling us to produce more, travel faster, and communicate with each other in ways previously unknown. These advances in communication have ultimately led to the Information Revolution, the internet age, which allows anyone to communicate with anyone else in the world, instantly, in any manner of ways. Thanks to circumstances such as Moore's Law, the advances of the information age have come more quickly than at any other time of human development, leaving behind any group or social institution who have difficulty keeping up with the changes in paradigm and thought that these inventions facilitate. For example, the U.S. military and the war on terror.

In a truly free society, communication and sharing ideas among citizens is not only free, but encouraged. Debate, reasoning, and discussion are unhampered among the people, and the expression of ideas, no matter how outside the norm is still exactly that; an expression of ideas. Our own Bill of Rights acknowledges this in our First Amendment, providing for among others, freedoms of speech, petition, and assembly. It does not specify speech agreeable to the government, or petition that agrees with the mainstream. Limitations on freedom of speech traditionally involve conspiracy to commit criminal acts, which would make true terrorist communications certainly unlawful.

The position that our government is increasingly taking, however, is that because the tools of the internet make communication among groups of people so quick, efficient, and private, authorities should have the power to monitor all such activity to determine for themselves what is and is not unlawful. ISPs should cooperate with government intrusion, encryption services should have backdoors, and any program that allows for potential terrorists to communicate with one another should be monitored and policed for any such illegal activity. On the surface, this could sound like a good thing. The government is helping us prevent another terrorist assault; they're watching the "bad guys" and doing their job of protecting us.

The problem is, do they think you're a bad guy? Let's see from the report:

Twitter has also become a social activism tool for socialists, human rights groups, communists, vegetarians, anarchists, religious communities, atheists, political enthusiasts, hacktivists and others to communicate with each other and to send messages to broader audiences

Going through that list, it seems like totally legitimate uses by groups that have no illegal intent at all. More profound, lets not forget about the vast majority of users of Twitter and other social network tools; people that want to keep up with their friends, family, and others. Sounds pretty much like it could be you or me there.

The question is, do we want to pay the price of the government monitoring all of our communications on the possibility of catching a handful of true terrorists and having J. Edgar Hoover style files on a large number of those they view as outside the mainstream?

I may be out of the mainstream now myself, but my answer is no. A free country has to be prepared to maintain those freedoms despite the threats that would otherwise cause it to close itself off, or else it can become every bit as tyrranical as what outsiders see it to be. If we succumb to the urges to spy upon our own people, as we have trended toward over the last seven years, then we are no longer a free country, and the very ideals that were passed down to us in the Constitution are lost. Terrorism does not destroy a government by occupying territory or killing the most people. Terrorism is effective by causing the victim to collapse upon itself in fear, twisting it into something it wasn't before. More has been done to destroy our freedoms in the last seven years by our own government than any terrorist group could accomplish on their own. In that, how can we say we are winning the war on terror?

Google ads are back up, comedy ensues...

2008-10-26T15:34:00.003-04:00

It has been a few months since I really checked the status of my Google Adwords account, and I had noticed that ads were no longer showing on my site. It isn't really a big deal, I put them on years ago, and I've never made much of anything off the site, but you never know when some random link you put up may be Slashdotted, Dugg, or when your own 5 nanoseconds of internet notoriety may pop up, so why not be ready to capitalize a little on it? I got the ads back up and running last night, and checked this afternoon to make sure they have linked back to the content on my site. Previously, I've had only text ads, but part of my update was to move to combination ads with images. Checking the site, I saw the face of none other than VP hopeful Mrs. Sarah Palin herself appearing in an ad, pictured below. I guess I should have known, given the proximity of election day, and my recent diatribe on the election, that the Goog would match my content to political ads, so now you the reader can enjoy these nice purdy McCain Palin ads right on my own site!

In the interest of moving the ads to a non-political subject matter, maybe I need to try a new tactic and write about other things. I'm sure that if I start mentioning things like erectile dysfunction or cheap prescription medications, that may get the adsense tracker to send me something else. We'll just wait and see, I guess.

Wassup 2008

2008-10-25T23:14:00.001-04:00

About the election...

2008-10-21T21:07:00.004-04:00

I have had a couple of questions about my own decisions this election season after the video I posted a couple of days ago. While I have been outspoken about my own political beliefs before, I have not said too much in the last year or so. I voted for Bush both in 2000 and 2004. I have also made a lot of mistakes in my adult life. Unfortunately, among the numerous mistakes I have made, voting for Bush the last two terms I count among my most heart breaking. I am a fan of small government; that which governs best governs least, at least in terms of the individual and the citizen's rights of freedom. I also believe that we need people of integrity in elected office. I believed that was what Bush would bring to the table, but what has actually happened has been the total opposite. What we have experienced the last eight years has been the raping of the American public, and I have been distraught that I was a proponent of that. We have been subject to larger government, irresponsible spending, and a culture that has bowed to corporate greed and corruption, finally exposed in our recent economic collapse. Our individual rights have deteriorated in the name of the war on terror, which has been used as a blank check to erode liberty for security. In the end, I don't believe we are even that much more secure. We are one bomb or jet crash away from having this false sense of security swept from beneath us again. Things have to change.
So again, we have two candidates for election. Eight years ago, in 2000, I really liked McCain. Had he been chosen as the Republican nominee, I would have enthusiastically voted for him, and preferred to do so over Bush even then. I believe he is a hero, and has spent his life working for the good of the country. Then, there is Obama. I recall the night he won his Senate seat; even then, he was the media darling, and it was clear there would be big things ahead, even though he suddenly appeared on the national scene. My decision to vote for Obama has come down to three things.
First, although McCain has always been the (God help me for saying this) "maverick" of the Senate, as soon as it became clear that he would be the Republican nominee for President, he was swarmed by handlers, and is now surrounded by the same people responsible for the last eight years under President Bush. Early in the campaign, it became evident the campaign was having to coach him on what to say, what not to say, and the process of reigning in McCain has turned him into the same figure head for the Republican party that Bush has been for years. The President can only do so much apart from the people that surround him, and as long as those are the same people that are working behind the scenes on the current administration, there would be no real change under McCain.
Second; Sarah Palin. The only reason I can fathom the choice of her as a VP running mate is that she is more easily manipulated behind the scenes than McCain. She gives a pretty face to the ticket, and with well crafted speeches, can rally the diehards to the cause, but it has been clear from her initial interviews that she is sorely lacking if circumstances ever made her President. Again, we have the coaches and handlers descending upon her, and her debate preparation was much longer than any of the other candidates...much longer. Then, her debate tactic was to tell her opponent and the moderator that she may not answer the questions the way they want her to, but she was there to tell the truth to the American people. That's like telling your high school math teacher that you may not be able to solve the math problems the way she wants you to, but you're ready for English. It was a total cop out. I find it very hard to believe that they could not find a more qualified female candidate within the Republican party than Sarah Palin. How can the McCain campaign honestly question if Obama is ready to become President with Palin on the ticket? I'd sooner vote for Dr. Laura.
Third; I believe that Obama represents real change from the last eight years. How can he not? Yes, he is a politician. Yes, he is also surrounded by handlers and others which will influence his decisions, but it is a completely different group of people that are in power now. He chose a solid running mate; one who is strong enough to have his own opinions, but no one questions Biden's qualifications to be there.
In the end, it comes down to one key concept; the Republican party is being fired this election. At this point, they will most likely lose the Presidential election, as well as control of Congress. We are all tired of the way things have gone the last eight years, and when most of us think of change, we think of putting in new people with fresh ideas, not just changing the labels on what we already have. So, for this election, I'm voting for Obama.

Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama for President

2008-10-19T22:43:00.001-04:00

WOW!

Recovering...

2008-10-13T23:12:00.002-04:00

Needless to say, my two weeks in California was simply awesome. It brought an entirely new definition of the word 'awesome' into my vocabulary, until the last four days or so, when I became ill. First, I had some chest pressure which I now attribute to something like an ulcer. Most likely that was my fault for exploring Indian food, then Thai, then Indian, washed down with some Mexican, all as spicy as can be made. Something about the stomach condition led to a sort of infection, so it was followed with a fever during my travel home. The fever affected my sleep, which in turn made me very weak and tired. When I'm weak and tired, the good old atrial fibrillation kicks up, so I had a nice fight with that all of Sunday and part of this morning. Finally, about 10am this morning, the fever broke, the a-fib converted, and the stomach eased off. Even the scratch on my lip from getting cut by a plastic bottle is healing nicely. So, I have been recovering, resting, and preparing to get back to work tomorrow.

As I was sick most of the weekend, I haven't had the opportunity to get through all of the remaining photos from the trip as I had planned. Hopefully I will be able to sort them out by the weekend, because my friend Peter called today, and we may go shooting fall foliage Saturday, so, more photos to go through! Either way, I hope everyone enjoyed seeing the video I posted last time, and I'll be back later in the week with more!

Sunset at Half Moon Bay Beach

2008-10-12T19:47:00.001-04:00

I've already posted some of the photos of this visit to Half Moon Bay, but I also wanted to share the video from the trip, so here it is!

Sunset on the Pacific...

2008-10-06T02:41:00.001-04:00

pacific sunset-6
Originally uploaded by lalexcox

It has been one of my life goals of the last few years to see the sun set on the Pacific Ocean. Years ago, I watched the sun rise on the Atlantic, and it seemed like a pretty good idea to complete that on the other coast. Today, I drove out to Half Moon Bay, California, to watch on the beach and take some pictures.

I know I still need to post some more photos from San Francisco, but considering I took almost 700 (yes, seven HUNDRED) photos yesterday, I am still working on going through all of them for the best 30 or so.

Dios mio!!!

2008-10-04T23:15:00.000-04:00

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Mohirito

2008-10-04T22:59:00.000-04:00

A mojito, just with tequila. We'll try it!
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Golden Gate!

2008-10-04T20:26:00.000-04:00

This is incredible!

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Apple Store San Francisco!!!

2008-10-04T13:32:00.000-04:00

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Sarasota

2008-10-03T22:21:00.000-04:00

Getting ready to eat dinner at the Blue Rock Shoot in Sarasota, CA. San Francisco is tomorrow!

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In and Out in San Jose...

2008-10-02T01:02:00.003-04:00

san jose city hall-2
Originally uploaded by lalexcox

This afternoon I went to the much lauded In and Out Burger in San Jose. As a chain, it looks like a really good place. The food is good and inexpensive, and the place is very clean. For those out east, the best way I can describe it is a cheaper Five Guy's Burgers with not quite as good fries.
After In and Out, it was up the Monterey

Highway into downtown San Jose. While driving through, I saw the really neat structure pictured here, which turned out to be San Jose City Hall. I have to add there is some incredibly different architecture here than on the east coast. It seems a lot more public funds are used for parks and beautification than back home. I could definitely get used to the scenery here.

After downtown San Jose, it was time to call it a day and head back to the hotel. I just realized I have not mentioned the hotel yet. It is a Townplace Suites by Marriott, and the room is great. Housekeeping has even gone as far as to carefully arrange my toiletries, as pictured here. A bit overboard for my tastes, but just another part of the experience here.

Googleplex

2008-10-01T01:42:00.001-04:00

mountainview-2
Originally uploaded by lalexcox

I drove up to Mountain View this afternoon to check out the incredible Googleplex. It is a beautiful building flanked by a couple of parks. Plenty of greenery around making for a feeling that you are not at a major technology company. After, I found a place called Crittenden Hill as the sun was setting, climbed up, and got a few pictures of the scenic Mountain View area. I didn't have my tripod with me (shame on me), so I had to adjust the exposure to allow for handheld shooting. So, my pictures definitely do not do it justice.

Aside from photos, I am doing very well. I am enjoying every moment to its fullest here, and I hope the rest of the trip continues this way.

Having a great time!!!

2008-09-30T01:33:00.001-04:00

1InfiniteLoop-23
Originally uploaded by lalexcox

Never thought I'd have a photo taken here...

Commercial flight taken too seriously...

2008-09-29T01:55:00.002-04:00

I survived the five hour flight from Charlotte to San Francisco, but flying US Airways has certainly changed since my last flight in April. They have taken the word 'commercial' to an entirely new level, I imagine greatly due to the economic difficulty the airline industry has suffered as of late. The first sign was the $17.00 fee to check one standard weight bag. So, on that next flight, unless you plan on living out of your carry on and one personal item, add that to the travel budget both ways.

I was on a full flight, and I had an aisle seat, which became a bit of an annoyance because they did drink service during the first hour of the five hour flight. So from hours three through five, I think I had the entire plane brush up against my arm. I did try to get a window seat, but as I stated before; full flight.

Moving on to the commercialism, they always hawk the skymall stuff, so that was to be expected. Next came the offer of a free flight (26,000 miles) if you'd only just apply for a Bank of America card; they pushed that one hard. They weren't quite done handing those applications out when the LCD screens dropped down, which, guess what, had more commercials! What better a captive audience than one after the pilot has already lit the 'please fasten safety belt' sign.

The drink service began, and the two dollar sodas and seven dollar alcoholic beverages were sold. I did the math in advance and figured to hold off until later in the flight (I ended up drinking nothing during the flight) because of the inevitable bathroom line. Finally, they advertised the movie for the flight (not interested), and I did my best to zone out as much as possible for the next five hours.

So, I'm here in my room. My body tells me it is 2am, but it's only 11 here. That will be my advantage tomorrow morning, but I hate what it will be like going back home in two weeks. It was dark by the time I arrived, so I haven't seen too much yet; a few palm trees, and my first In n Out Burger, which I have been urged to try. For now, though, I'm off to bed.

At the airport...

2008-09-28T16:03:00.002-04:00

Arrived a little early for my flight and already made it through security. Of course, if I had been running late, I'd still be waiting in line. My biggest surprise is that Charlotte International Airport has complimentary wi-fi; that's a total shocker, and probably about the best deal I'll see for the next two weeks.

I am a little nervous about going to San Francisco for the first time, particularly because my reason for going seems so surreal. If you had told me a couple of years ago why I would go to California for the first time, I would have never thought it would be for what I am doing. Aside from that, I have my trusty camera with me and probably more lenses and equipment than what I need, but I do not think I have overpacked.

Airports have always been interesting places for me. Everyone is going somewhere, everyone has a story, and it is kind of fun to watch and pick out what you think someone else may be going. One lady looks like she is off for a business trip, another off to see the grandkids. Of the thousands of people that go through here today, there are a thousand reasons for it.

Well, time to get up, check my stuff for the fiftieth time today, and start to make my way to the gate. I plan to update a little later, at least to let my family know that I made it all right, since it will be about midnight EST by the time I get to my hotel.

Adios.

Gas shortage and preparation for travel...

2008-09-27T20:46:00.004-04:00

If you've caught the news this week, you may have seen there is a gas shortage in western North Carolina, particularly affecting the Charlotte area. The clip I like is of the large woman in a brown shirt yelling at the top of her lungs out the driver's window of her car at someone she thought cut in line in front of her. We've had reports of violence, and the lines even at the most behaved places have been so long that people have run out of gas just waiting to get some. Through the midst of this shortage, one might think that people would pull together, be civilized and unite against the very companies that have caused this in the first place. Of course, the only blame that has been placed by anyone is on other people for "topping off", or getting gas when they don't really need it. I have a couple of problems with that statement, the way people are saying it on the news, and pointing fingers at each other when that is not so much the issue in the first place.

First, let me say this; I have been the luckiest guy in Charlotte throughout this shortage. I have been on a week of home study for my job, so, I have been at home. I have only had to go to a couple of places, and through all this I have watched my own gas consumption, hoping to avoid the lines. Tomorrow, I leave for two weeks for California, so in all likelihood, the shortage will be over and forgotten by the time I return, and I can get in my car, drive around the corner to the nearest station, fill up, and go about my business. That being said, I empathize for my friends and family that have had to deal with this.

As far as placing blame on people that are "topping off", and therefore "don't really need it", I have this to say. We all "really need gas." It is a product of our own lifestyles and the needs of our current culture that almost everyone in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area who is gainfully employed has some need for fuel. Charlotte is not a city that has been designed or set up properly for public transportation. Sure, we have CATS, and now the LYNX, but from what I've seen of the buses, they need some improvement, and the Lynx currently runs only in one straight line along South Blvd to Uptown. If you're working Uptown and live along South Blvd, that's great, otherwise, the LYNX won't be of help. Out of curiosity, I once checked the bus line to see how long it would take me to get from my apartment to SouthPark Mall, where I work. On paper, it is just over a one hour trip, that takes only 25 minutes if I drive. That may be good savings, but it is a cost/benefit measure now. However, the shortage has made me think again about trying it when I get back from California.

So, all of us in this area "need" gas right now to get to work, get food, transport children to education, get medical care, and all of the other little things that have become a part of our lifestyle. While my need seems more important to me, someone else's need seems just as important to them, so unless you're going to place an impartial judge at every gas pump in the city to decide who has the greatest "need" for gas, telling and assigning blame to someone else not to top off because they don't really "need" it is worthless. We are all in this together.

So who should we get angry with? I say, the people that run our infrastructure, and the companies that have claim to serve us yet do not have preparations in place to maintain a consistent flow of fuel in the course of a natural weather event. In years past, we have had storm and hurricanes hit the gulf region, and year after year there have been no problems, until now. The oil companies have been raking in major profits quarter after quarter since Katrina. It's time some of that money is put back into strengthening our logistic structure, and if not, we need to find new suppliers for new fuels. After all, if we're all dependent upon a resource that is not available, it is time to start looking at resources that are.

Now that my rant is finished, I just wanted to share another fun picture with you. I give Holly a hard time about her driving (fast), and she was gracious enough to give me a ride to the grocery the other day. On the way back, I got this shot that I really did not intend to turn out like it did, but I think it is funny that it looks like she was flying. Punch it!

Like some sort of field...

2008-09-25T22:36:00.002-04:00

Click pic to go to source: Penny Arcade

Birthday dinner for my mother and godmother...

2008-09-25T15:42:00.003-04:00

Last night we had a little birthday get-together for my mother and godmother, who was making a rare visit to the Charlotte area. It was the first time they had seen each other in a couple of years, and it was good to see old friends catch up. My aunt and I drove up from our area in southwest Charlotte to meet them at Chili's, and shortly after, mom insisted I break out the camera to get some pictures of her and Roslyn.

It also gave me the opportunity to use my new flash with some live people (as opposed to dead, but I digress), and the first couple of shots I made the mistake of using direct flash, as seen in the first photo. After checking the LCD and seeing how much the highlights were blowing out, I looked up and saw this great piece of rippled aluminum hanging overhead, which turned into a great bounce surface after I angled the flash head straight up, as seen in the next two photos of my aunt and mother.

My off camera shoe cord arrived last night when I got in, and I've already checked it out to make sure it works. Ebay has turned out to be a good source for used camera gear, even though I am very wary about sellers. I still have the Lensbaby to use more extensively.

Kick His Ask!

2008-09-23T09:59:00.001-04:00

Charlotte at night

2008-09-23T00:35:00.001-04:00

Charlotte at night
Originally uploaded by lalexcox

Went out with my friend Peter to get some photos around uptown and Freedom Park tonight. Had a great time, but it was a little odd getting there because none of the gas stations in my part of town had gas. I found some closer to uptown, but they had a $15.00 (roughly 3.75 gallon) limit. Glad I'm not driving anywhere this week...

The Offspring

2008-09-20T20:40:00.000-04:00

Come out and play !

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IMG00017.jpg

2008-09-20T18:54:00.000-04:00

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Good pic by Holly

2008-09-20T17:57:00.001-04:00

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Welcome to Americana...

2008-09-20T12:11:00.003-04:00

I realized this week that I am regaining a sense of normalcy in my life after the whirlwind of the last few months. Work has been great. Sure, there are days that are better than others, but being able to enjoy my job and not have to stress about it when I'm off the clock is priceless.

Just yesterday morning, I was relaxed and starting my day with a very positive attitude, when I was rear ended waiting in line at a red light. It was just a tap, I wasn't hurt and my car wasn't damaged, but I wasn't sure until I got out to check. After I was hit, I hopped out in time to see the lady that hit me set her cell phone in the passenger seat of her SUV. She rolled down her window (no need to get out to look, I guess) and asked if there was any damage. I told her no, but said she may want to watch talking on the cell phone while driving. The light I had already waited four minutes for had turned green, so I jumped back in my car and went on. After turning onto the four lane, she flew past me in the left lane...still talking on the cell phone!!! Then, it hit me that if I had been the one to rear end her, it would have been an ambulance call and police report, followed by months of dealing with insurance companies and probably a settlement, followed by higher insurance premiums for the next ten years. People suck. I had been given what some in our society consider a free ticket to the gravy train and I didn't so much as get her license plate. When it happened, all I could think about was how much I actually wanted to get to work. I didn't want my car to be damaged, I didn't want to be injured, I didn't want a drawn out battle with an insurance company and a medical settlement; I just wanted to get to work and enjoy the day I was looking forward to, when this cell phone absorbed ***** in her never seen a gravel road SUV couldn't tell the diff between a gas and brake pedal. Then, even after fucking up and hitting someone, being warned not to be on the fucking cell phone, she still doesn't waste a second before getting back on the damn yak box.

And she had a tail light out. (Sorry, that's the ex-cop speaking)

The rest of the day went as I hoped it would. I went to work, had a fantastic day, and came home to a night of rest. Today has been more of the same, getting ready for the rest of my day. I'm having dinner with Holly and her mom up in Concord, then tonight The Offspring (my favorite band for the last ten years) is having a FREE concert uptown. I'm still deciding if I want to take my camera or camcorder, but either way I'll have my cell and will be able to upload some pics from it.

Professor Wikipedia from College Humor...

2008-09-16T21:47:00.002-04:00

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Monday, Monday...

2008-09-15T21:00:00.003-04:00

It was back to work this morning, and I had another great day at the new job. The people are great, and I am taking in an incredible amount of knowledge very quickly. This is my last week before having a week of home study, then my trip for training, so I want to make sure that everything I need to understand or get help with I finish this week.

Aside from that, I am still fighting off the remains of the bug of the month for the Charlotte area. It is down to the sniffles and allergies now, so I hope I will be better tomorrow. The stock market took a large dive today, and I was in the elevator with a banker that looked like he was facing the end of the world. Maybe in my next life I will care.

Off to bed early tonight. Hope to heal and feel better in the morning.

Oh yeah, I went to Teavana for the first time today; kind of a like a Starbucks, but with tea. It was incredible! Definitely returning for that again.

Lazy Five Ranch

2008-09-14T22:46:00.001-04:00

Lazy Five Ranch
Originally uploaded by lalexcox

Had a great time shooting photos today at the Lazy Five Ranch in Mooresville, NC. It's the drive through safari kind of deal, where you can take your own vehicle through the park and see the animals roaming free. We paid a little more and rode in the back of an open horse drawn wagon, where we could see the animals a bit more and not have to worry about giraffe slobber on the windshield.

The above photo is of two wildebeests that were just hanging out and scoping the scene as two long horn cows were in a fight behind us. Something about this photo makes them look totally bad ass.

It was a great but long afternoon, and everything went well with the day pack. I wish I could say the same about my laptop. Two weeks ago when I got my new laptop the battery lasted over an hour. As we were leaving the park, I started to export a memory card into the laptop to start work in Lightroom 2 since I will be using it in San Francisco (I will miss my Aperture), and after five minutes it shut off. So, this week, I will be battery testing and re-calibrating.

Once I did get home to my Mac and loaded up all three of the memory cards I used today, I found that I had over 70 usable shots! I remember a time when I got maybe five in every hundred, so this is a windfall for me. Aperture made it easy as always to sort through and prep them to share, and even saved a couple I really wanted that did not turn out quite so well. One or two are even among the ones I have uploaded to flickr. The hardest part of post today was picking out the ones that made it to my photo sharing sites. I follow a suggestion I read once that advised not to have more than 30 (that's thirty) photos in a gallery. Any more than that and people lose interest. They don't want to sort through hundreds of tedious duplicates and mundane shots, they want your best 30. Today, since I had a best 70, I had a little bit of a time with who made the cut. I like the idea, though, of having shots I haven't shared yet. One series I saved is a group of action shots of a lemur jumping. Maybe tomorrow I'll load that one into Photoshop and turn it into a one shot collage.

Well, I'm tired and rambling, so it is time to bed. Tomorrow I'm doing a good cleanup on my gear from today, and prepping for the week ahead.

Photo day trip...

2008-09-14T11:29:00.005-04:00

I'm off on a photo day trip this afternoon to some sort of nature/wildlife refuge. I don't know all the details, just got a phone call from a friend of mine asking if I'd like to go. Of course I'd like to go!

This also gives me the chance to field test my early birthday present from Holly, the Tamrac Aero 80 photo/laptop backpack. She saw me eyeballing some bags for my upcoming trip to Cupertino, and surprised me with it the other night. I just got done packing for the day, and took a couple of pics with the setup:

There is plenty of space for all of my camera gear, and a bit more room when I add a couple of more lenses or get a larger body. The compartment above the camera section was even large enough to toss in my camcorder and gear vest. I'm really overpacked for today, but it will be nice to see how it all comes together through the trip, and see if I need to rearrange the setup for the trip.

I have to get going, but I'm hoping to have a lot of killer photos tonight.

Shooting at Copperhead Island...

2008-09-08T21:29:00.005-04:00

There can be times when even a hobby does not feel like a hobby. Lately, that is how I have felt about photography, largely because it feels like I am trying too hard to find original places to shoot that will not get me arrested or one some terrorist watch list. I had a discussion about the photos I took uptown with someone this week, and they even mentioned I was lucky not to have been interviewed by the police for taking photos of the buildings. If I had, I would have been polite, and honest. I remember what it was like to do that job, but now I take pictures for fun. As long as I am somewhere I have a legal right to be, pretty much anywhere in public, and I am taking images that do not constitute a serious threat to national security, pretty much any image I take does not, I'm really not worried too much about being interviewed by the police. If an officer for some reason suspects my images constitute a threat to national security, more power to him, it's more credit than most of my pictures deserve.

Today I went to Copperhead Island near Lake Wylie to take pictures. On an earlier trip, I did a little exercise and restricted myself to a 50mm prime lens, to focus on composition and adaptation without a zoom. Today, I let myself use the crappy 18-55mm kit lens and my 70-300mm zoom, and really enjoyed the day. It was really hot, and unbelievably humid, but I managed to work past it and look around. There were tons of mushrooms all over the island, and I got some neat shots of those, but the best part of the day was walking up on a heron perched on a post out on the lake.

It was a beautiful, peaceful moment, and the whole world was remarkably quiet and calm for the next few minutes as I took photos and got a bit closer. The heron stood so still at first I thought it was some sort of tree or fake designed to attract others. Even through the lens I could not make out much in terms of movement.

As I got even closer, I was coming around the back of a tree when I saw its wings unfurl, and its body begin to launch itself into the air. I knew I only had a couple of seconds to get in position to get a shot, but I was behind a tree that would block my view. I ran around the tree, and brought my camera up to my face as I was running. I had to trust the settings I had already put into the camera; I had been using a moderate aperture and a fast shutter for the long shots as I was approaching the heron, so I was hoping to get one or two that weren't blurred from my own movement. In the end, I only got one shot of the bird in flight, but it was incredible, and even more so that it isn't blurred beyond recognition. My only disappointment is that it is a bit blown out by the sun on the right hand side.

Overall, not too bad for a surprise shot taken while running. My equipment is not top of the line stuff, so I don't have image stabilization or anything so wonderful as that, but I'm glad I was able to capture this image despite its flaws. It makes me feel good about the money I have spent on what I own.

In other news, the new job is going great, and I am enjoying work again. It is challenging work, and hardly a dull moment, which makes the days pass by quickly. I will be going to the San Francisco area at the end of September for two weeks of training, and of course will be taking the camera to get plenty of great shots there. I'll have my new laptop with me, so I'll be able to upload anytime I get new pictures. I'm also looking at a speedlight for the Canon because I want to be able to take decent flash photos. The pop up is usable in a MacGyver sort of way, but I'm ready to move past improvising for every shot. I also think I may write a little about my own photo workflow in the next few weeks. Obviously I use a Mac with Aperture, but I think everyone does it a little differently; what works best for me may not for others. Until then, adios.

Happiness is an empty mojito glass...

2008-09-06T22:02:00.000-04:00

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Photos around Charlotte

2008-09-01T23:21:00.002-04:00

I had the opportunity to go into Uptown and take some photos this afternoon. On the way, I saw a location where I could get this decent shot at the Westin, one of my favorite buildings in the Charlotte area. I really like the architecture of the building, even though I doubt I will ever stay there...

Studio photography

2008-08-30T21:55:00.001-04:00

Over at a friend's using studio equipment for the first time. Pics later.
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