Category Archives: commentary

RESOLUTIONS

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Last year I kind of let my photography slide. I made a commitment to myself to do a better job of getting out in the field for pictures. I got energized when an advertising agency contacted me on behalf of one of their clients.  They want to use one of my photos for the lobby of a regional bank in the Seattle area.  They plan to enlarge it to 4.5 ft by 8 ft. How awesome is that!?

Right after that friends started asking about Holiday Cards. I explained about my website www.dustyroadsphiotos.zenfolio.com so maybe next year I’ll finally have some orders from there. I started updating my vendor links and found that the most popular links, for single cards, was discontinued.  Plus the birthday cards have been changed to party invitations only. I can still make my handcrafted ones but I’m trying to get as much through the website as possible. I guess I’ll need to reach out to my vendors over the summer.

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So with that out of the way, how many if you have fallen off the wagon already? Old habits are hard to change.

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Aside from the photography resolution above, the only resolution I made was work related. Oh don’t get me wrong, I’d love to lose 10-even 20 lbs but if I do I do, I’m not going to concentrate on it.

The “resolution” I made was a promise to myself to keep a positive attitude at work. After all complaining is just a bad habit, right?

Yes, there are a lot of changes going on around me right now and no I don’t like a lot of them. They make me very nervous.  But I’m not the boss. As long as I keep that in mind I should be fine right?

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So back to work after the holiday and my boss stops by my desk. “How’s it going” she asks. “How do you like your new responsibilities.”

Immediately I found myself telling her how much I hated the new job and why.  So much for not complaining! I started to laugh and told her that the only resolution I’d made was no more complaining and the first time she asks me about the new changes I hit her with a long list of why I don’t like it.

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Luckily she has a sense of humor.

I guess I’ll just keep plugging along. Maybe I’ll get used to the changes. I certainly hope so or it will be a long 10 years to retirement.

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One thing you can always count on is that there will be change, for better or worse, and you will have to learn to deal with it. I can accept my fate and apply myself cheerfully or I can be miserable and make everyone around me miserable too. Not the way I want to be.

So I guess I’d better suck it up and get back on the resolution bandwagon.  My theme song for 2017…Let it Go, Let it Go (the changes never bothered me anyway)

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Bye Bye Maui

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Every Hawaiian Island has its own flavor. Different paces and feelings.

The Big Island will always hold a special place in my heart. Maybe because it was the first Island we visited?

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But Oahu was special too. It was a much more urban Island. After all, it’s the “Gathering Place.” But Oahu will always be linked to Pearl Harbor for me. Very emotional. Everyone should visit the Arizona Memorial. Watching the History Channel specials about the Pearl Harbor attacks took me right back to the feeling I experienced the day of my visit.

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Maui falls somewhere in between. It seemed to have more commercial/urban areas but there was a lot of unspoiled area too. Of the 3 islands Maui was the hardest to drive around. The “Road to Hana” was without question the most dangerous and challenging. Its the only island I did not drive around completely myself. We took the tour.

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We didn’t get into the interior too much. That area is the wet section and is probably similar to the Hilo area on the Big Island. The road to the interior was washed out and closed. I hope to explore it more when I go back in February.

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Maui was filled with things to do. We kept busy on the sea , in the air and under sea. We filled our days with sunset dinner cruises and luaus, helicopter rides over  Haleakala and a submarine journey 127 ft under the sea. Great adventures all. And all in a tropical paradise.

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So which Island do I like the best now? I’m still not sure. I’m beginning to think it depends on what I want out of the trip.

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Its interesting that Sandy said the one regret she had about this vacation was that we didn’t go on the whale watch. That had been high on our must do list but the whales were just arriving while we were there. We probably would have seen some but the general scuttlebutt when i asked was that it would be a blow or a tail here or there. Not the wild antics Hawaii is known for. That comes later in the season. So we, or maybe it was me, made the decision not to include a whale watch trip this time. Maybe with the wisdom of hindsight, that was a mistake.

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We’ll just have to time it better next time we go. And there will be a next time!

aloha

Election 2016

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I think we all know there’s a big election coming up. Trump v Hillary; boys locker room v email scandal.; hyper bully V “old Lady” and on and on. This year is really a choice of  who you like the least. The choices are scary no matter what. I may just flip a coin. (sorry strong supporters of either candidate. It’s my blog and its how I feel.)

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But I didn’t start this post to discuss who I think should win this travesty of an election. (Remember , it’s rigged)  No I just realized that I’ll be away on election day so I have to see if I can either vote early or by absentee ballot.

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Have any of you been traveling when an election rolled around? How did you handle it?

I think I’ll start by calling my local registration office at city hall. I’ll let you know how it works out.

So light up that joint ( You can make the hard choice and be really mellow about it)img-2883717-1-marijuana

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Remember…Vote Early, Vote Often!

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Bad Blogger

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Yep, that’s me. I’m a bad blogger. Is there a bad blogger award? I certainly would have earned it!

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I should be making the effort and commitment to post regularly. That’s what all the “how to blog” books and posts say and I used to do it too. But then I started working full time. Well I always worked full time. It’s just that some of my work didn’t keep me busy all day. Not true of where I work now.

When I first started this job it was seasonal. I’d work 10-12 hour days for 3-5 months then things would slow down but things are changing in my work day world. The work load is being redistributed so that we’re busy all the time. My work load is a 12 hour day but there is no overtime so it’s crammed into 8 hours.

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That means it is non stop go! go! go!  all day. Plus I have to work from the  office so I’ve added a commute to my daily duties. By the time I get home my poor brain is mush and the thought of facing a computer is overwhelming. I become a couch potato. I can’t even stay awake to watch mindless TV!

Well, a vacation is coming and boy do I need it. But that also should give me time to find interesting things to share with you.

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I feel a stirring of excitement to get back to the printed page, the blank screen and put something there.

Soon, very soon!

Fifteen Years Later

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It’s been 15 years since the planes hit the World Trade Center, 15 years since the plane slammed into the Pentagon, 15 years since flight 93 crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.

Are we any safer today that on 9/11? That is a question for another day. Today we remember.

I still remember the images as if I am just seeing them. I remember the feelings. It was surreal. It can’t be happening. This is America, my home. Wars don’t come to our shores and yet there was the black smoke billowing from the tower, there was the plane, seeming to be in slow motion, crashing into the 2nd tower.  For me it is like yesterday. I will never forget.

So it came as another shock to realize that there are children that have no memory of the events that day. Children that were born after that tragic event. Of course when I stop and think about it logically, there will be young people that read about 911 as history like I studied Pearl Harbor.

And as we remember Pearl Harbor we must remember 911. Never Forget!

NEVER FORGET!

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