“At 7:30 am I arrive from cataract surgery. At 8:15 they are done. The prep takes longer than the 7 minute operation where they put a suck out my old lens, put in a new one perfectly matched to my site — like a little internal contact lens — to give me 20/20 vision.” [Halley’s Comment]
Why we take photographs
“Whatever else I’ve learned from going through boxes of old photographs, it’s clear to me now why people take pictures of people. It isn’t just to capture moments, to record history, to make art, or just to fool around, though it’s all those things and more. It’s to tell stories.”
— Doc Searls
Barb’s new Lexus
Barb’s Camry died (after ten years) so it was off to St. Louis to shop for a new one this weekend. I spent two very comfortable hours in the waiting area of the Lexus dealership while Barb talked herself into buying an RX330. Hard to call something this nice a sport utility vehicle. I confess to being pretty impressed with the Lexus “experience.” A greeter met us when we arrived and introduced Barb to her “sales and leasing consultant.” Apparently, you don’t have to sell the Lexus. The consultant is there to “assist you with your purchase.”
Lots of nice touches. If you have a breakdown on the road, Lexus sends out a flat-bed truck (“…we don’t tow”), puts you up in a hotel and provides you with a loaner. I watched the switchboard operator for a couple of hours. When she paged someone from the parts department, they arrived as quickly as they could. If they tagged on “…for a customer” to the page, the person arrived immediately. Just lots of little things like that. The dealership provided lunch for all employees. So, we started with a Tercel, then a Corolla, a Camry, 4 Runner and now, a Lexus. Well over a million miles in Toyota’s.
Two years.
I started working out with a trainer two years ago this month. My greatest extravagance and one with which I’m still a little uncomfortable. The lady is a sadist and quite willing to keep me doing crunches until I’m making pathetic little whimpering noises. But I’ve never felt better. I’m still a scrawny, middle-aged white guy but after 35 years at 155 pounds (6 feet), I’ve gained ten pounds of muscle mass. I view all this as my best investment. I’ll be able to do 100 push-ups while waiting for the OATS bus.
Photo Story
I really like this little add-on for Windows XP. Drop in a bunch of photos…put them in the order you want…add narration for any/all/none…lay some music under…and Photo Story squeezes it all down to a .wmv file that can be emailed. And my favorite part is the “Ken Burns” effect. Appears you’re panning or zooming the still images. Earlier this year a group from work toured Dallas Cowboys Stadium (or whatever the call it) and I took a wad of pictures. I did this little piece (2 minutes) in about half an hour. You’ll need latest version of Media Player to view (it’s a little over 2 meg). Part of the XP Digital Plus! package ($20)
Doug Howard
Doug Howard graduated from KHS a few years after I did. I knew he was doing well in some part of the music industry. According to Google, Doug was VP and general manager of Polygram Music Nashville before going over to head up Disney’s Lyric Street Recdords. Follow up: Dan Landrum did a great job of blogging his tour with Yanni.
Rush Limbaugh birth announcement
“Rush H. III has been selected as the name for a son, born to Mr. and Mrs. Rush H. Limbaugh Jr., 412 Sunset Boulevard, at 7:50 a.m. Friday at Southeast Missouri Hospital. The child is the first in the family and weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces. Mrs. Limbaugh was formerly Miss Mildred Armstrong, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. G. A. Armstrong of Kennett. Mr. Limbaugh is associated with his father in the law firm of Limbaugh & Limbaugh.”
From a Rush Limbaugh fan site. I can’t verify it, but I’m pretty sure Mildred worked at KBOA back in the early fifties.
Sons of the Western Boohteel
“In August of 1990, I received a call from the organizers of the Hornersville Sesquicentennial Celebration. They were looking for cheap entertainment and wanted my barbershop quartet. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), that quartet was defunct. What about cowboy songs instead?, I asked. Cowboy songs would be just fine.”
From The Secret Origins of The Sons of the Western Bootheel. I’ve created a little “fan page” although I’m not sure one performance qualifies me as a fan. Download and listen to some of the songs. The guys are pretty good and there’s a real honesty to thier music.
“Photo Phones”
A new report issued this week by Future Image predicts that “by mid-2004, sales of photo phones in the U.S. could exceed the combined total sales of digital and film cameras.” [Via Poynter Onlilne]
The Hanged Man’s Song
Counting the days till John Sandford‘s next novel (Kidd, not Lucas Davenport), due in November (for which I am thankful). From Amazon:
“In The Hanged Man’s Song, a super-hacker friend of Kidd’s named Bobby suddenly disappears from cyberspace, and Kidd knows that isn’t a good sign. Going over to his house, he finds him dead on the floor, his head bashed in and his laptop missing and Kidd knows that really isn’t a good sign. The secrets on that laptop are potent enough to hang Kidd and everybody else in Bobby’s circle just to start with so there’s no question that Kidd and LuEllen have to try to track it down, not to mention that Kidd would dearly love to get his hands on the man who killed Bobby. “