Do you ever find yourself caught up in a sea of “busy-ness”? I know I do. I have this burning need to always be doing something – it may be some mundane task, but I really want to have the feeling that I’ve accomplished something. What I want to try and do is slow down and appreciate where I am from time to time and not be so concerned with getting something done. The problem is, I’ll try to take a break and get time to simply do nothing and I’ll end up thinking about things I could (or should) be doing and the whole thing turns into an exercise in futility. I find myself moving constantly from one task to another on a seemingly never ending list of things to do. For example, on a typical Saturday I start with sorting laundry then getting a load going. Fix myself breakfast. Move load one from the washer to the dryer and get load two started. It’s usually not even 8 yet so I may snooze a little bit more but then the dryer buzzer goes off and I’m up again. I unload the dryer, move another load over from the washer and get a possible third load going and fold up/hang what just got dried. I have to do that right away or things turn into a wrinkled mess needing ironing. Next I get started on the yard if its weather permitting. Somewhere in here I take a break for lunch then go back to the yard until that’s done. After cleaning up my yard stuff (particularly the mower – i hose that off and keep it sanitzed), it’s time for a shower then maybe take in a football game or race on TV. At some point, I’ve got to make a run to the grocery store for whatever I’m needing then its time to do something about dinner. Also somewhere in the mix is the folding and hanging of any other loads of laundry I do. Vacuuming and dishwashing also happen. I make it a point to be sure the sink is clear before going to bed at night. It’s too easy to let dishes collect and not only be a mess to clean, but a smelly mess to boot. Yuck.

So – what can I leave out doing? The TV watching would be the easiest to eliminate, but that’s the only bit of recreation in my day. Without that, I’d be kinda bummed that I didn’t do anything to at least enjoy my Saturday. I also try and spend time with friends. Looking at this now, its easy to see why at the end of the weekend, I don’t feel like I’ve had a weekend at all. Now that we’ve gone to 2 services at church, I’m up even earlier on Sunday (5:30am) than I am during the week!

Where does your weekend go?

A couple of things. Yes, it was a failing hard drive. No, I couldn’t clone the failing drive. It’s part of a stripe set and if I could get the drive ID’s to work with replacement drives, I could have been up and running in an afternoon. No such luck. Yes, non-Apple drives will work in the server. I’ve got some Seagate Barracudas (enterprise class) drives on order that should be here tomorrow. I’ll get those installed then restore the data from tape (I have an Exabyte (Tandberg) tape carousel using VXA V23 media). It’ll take awhile but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Jason – sorry, somtimes the geek just leaks out like that.

then promptly went down the tubes. I’m talking about my Monday morning of course. Everything was going along nicely till some of my office mates started having difficulty accessing the storage drives on our server. I stuck my head in the server closet and noticed something strange going on with the lights on one of the drive bays. I also noticed a high-pitched whine – really high, almost inaudible. My first thought was that the bearings on one of the drives was failing. Turns out I’m probably right. Thankfully, the drive hadn’t totally failed. From time to time, you could successfully access data for brief periods and I was able to move the time sensitive project files over to a healthy drive. The rest of my data is on tape. I can restore that (that’s what it’s there for) but its a bit time consuming. Right now I’m trying to figure out what model of replacement drive I need to go with and if I should go ahead and look at replacing them all since they are the same age.

Rather than hassling with a tape restore, I may use an external drive with a Firewire interface to move the data off the failing drive. That will be a quicker restore – I hope.

Friday last week ended a busy few days for me. The big news is that my parents are in town for a visit. Picked them up from the airport Thursday without incident, but had to put up with the minor inconvenience of VP Dick Cheney’s motorcade returning to Air Force Two – they temporarily shut down a few roads which caused some delay but nothing unreasonable. Anyway, I spent Friday evening with friends relaxing at Maria Bonita. Megan was under the weather and stayed in that evening to get some much needed rest.

Saturday was a big day of football. Alabama won, the Vols got smushed (I am NOT at all happy with that NOR am I impressed with our new QB) and Auburn fell to LSU. A mixed bag for sure. I spent the evening photographing a surprise birthday party for my friend David’s 30th. His wife did a great job of planning things out and keeping it all under wraps. I was pleased with my photos although the more I look at the images coming from my 5D, I really only turn to my old 20D for backup purposes as the quality difference is monumental. Speaking of 5D, Canon announced the newest iteration of the 5D, the 5D Mark II. Full-frame and 21 megapixels has me (and plenty others) drooling. It’s got a spot on my wish list for sure.

Sunday morning came early. I was on drum duty so that meant I needed to get there by 6:30 am. Due to some logistical challenges, the mood was not its normal cheery albeit groggy self. It was crotchety. Not one to let other people’s moods influence mine too much, I went about my normal setup routine which went off without a hitch. My audio setup was even smooth which was a pleasant surprise. Almost as quickly as it began, church was over and it was time to pack up and leave. Our lunch crowd avoided the regular restaurant choices and instead opted for Pizza Hut. As a result, we had food in front of us after only a few minutes then were headed home in no time. MUCH better than burning 2+ hours at most other places.

Ended the evening having a nice cookout with the family.

Thanks to a buddy of mine, I had the opportunity to sample Canon’s current pro-body and the go-to lens of most sports shooters. The combination of Canon 1D Mark III and 300/2.8 IS lens is a common sight along the sidelines of most professional sporting events. Since we didn’t happen to have any pro events going on here in the big city, I had to opt for the next best thing – local high school football.  Keep in mind that while the camera is a Canon and I was somewhat familiar with the controls, it’s a whole ‘nother ballgame with this body. 45 focus points (as opposed to the 9 I’m used to) plus a top speed of 10 frames per second makes this the right tool for the job. The whole rig is a bit large, especially when you have the hood on the lens. The weight is still manageable although I;m sure I would be reaching for a monopod if I was shooting for an extended period. I ended up tinkering around for a little over a quarter and got a good feel for the camera. I didn’t get anything spectacular but I think with practice, I could get some good stuff.

Some of you have met my friend Jonathan Palmer and his wife Danielle. I have a link to his blog in my blogroll. Whether he knows it or not, his insight and approach to photography has given me more to think about when making a image. Jonathan’s background as a photo journalist exposed me to a different type of mindset when shooting. You see, my world is dominated with imagery that may or may not stand on it’s own – an image I shoot may be used in whole or in part after some degree of manipulation (more so than simple color or contrast adjustments). As a photojournalist, Jonathan’s images have to stay “purer”, for lack of a better word. Whether that is better or not is immaterial – to me, the intended use of the image drives the process. Is it for news? Advertising? Fun? Satire? Looks? Each case is different so the same set of rules doesn’t apply equally across the board.

Anyway.

Jonathan helped point me in new directions with off-camera lighting. You know when you look at a photo and the subject has been blasted with flash? That’s pretty much the most unflattering kind of light out there and is what you need to avoid to take your images to the next level. That being said, your point and shoot cameras have a fixed flash on it so you’re stuck with that. But, if you can get your light off camera, the quality of your shots increases. After seeing how Jonathan lights things and also doing research of my own (at www.strobist.com), I could pick out his photos in the newspaper without even seeing the photo credits. If he can, he really strives to make an image from a different perspective that what you would expect. It’s almost as if he figures out what the “walk-up” shot would be (the shot that most folks would just walk-up to the scene and take) and avoids it like the plague. That alone is a huge factor in making a bland subject more visually interesting.  Recently, there was a news story involving a crocodile that was in the area that had to be moved by some local wildlife handlers. The photo of the ‘gator I INSTANTLY knew was Jonathan’s as it was needing flash and I noticed that the flash didn’t come from the camera’s position… it was off to the side. I laughed to myself as I imagined Jonathan positioning a light off to the side of the gator then getting into a different position to take the shot – all the while with people standing around wondering what the heck he was doing. But the extra effort was worth it (and it usually is).

Life happens and for Jonathan and Danielle, it will be happening back in Kentucky, where they’re from. I know they miss home where family and old friends are. I’m sure we’ll stay in touch though as the internet has a way of making miles between friends and family disappear. Oh, and thanks for being a good friend.

So I’m driving down the road the other day minding my own business (as I often do). I reach down to open my armrest console to get some sunglasses out and guess what? The armrest opens and comes off in my hand. I guess my visits to the gym are working as I apparently don’t know my own strength. Upon closer examination, the hinge, which is metal, sheared off not at the hinge part, but where the hinge bracket bends.

The part, which is in Atlanta at the moment, should be in my sweaty little hand tomorrow.

Random I know.

UPDATE 9/10: I picked up the hinge and replaced the busted one. Back in bidness now.

After a short week that still seemed like it was a full one, Saturday was a welcome break. The overcast morning made sleeping in even that more enjoyable. I did get up to watch qualifying for the Belgian grand prix then snoozed a little more before REALLY getting up and making breakfast. My big acheivements for the day were vacuuming my car and checking the tire pressures (all were about a half-lb. down). Oh, I also picked about 2 lbs. of mushrooms growing in my front yard. Nothing exotic like Morels or anything so everything went in the trash.

Later that evening, Megan’s class reunion was going on. I got a chance to meet several of her old classmates and make new friends. Afterwards, we and another couple headed over to Cafe 113 for a little more to eat and a few drinks. We called it an evening before too long though as an early morning was coming up.

I woke up around 4 AM for some reason and dozed on and off till I finally got up at 5:30, made breakfast and loaded up my drums stuff. I played the same setup as last week. so no changes there. Once I got going things were business as usual. Everything went extremely smoothly today which unfortunately, is surprising (LOL). Musically, things went great too – everything was on and there weren’t any noticeable bobbles. With the 2 meeting times Sunday, we do now have room to grow once again. Attendance overall was up too! We weren’t sure how many folks would show up for the new 9 AM service but there was a good group there.

Afterwards, it was off to Logan’s for lunch. That’s when getting up as early as I did really started weighing on me. I was spent. Megan was too. Had a moment of comic relief though when Layla, Alison and Jeremy’s infant daughter, spit up all over Alison after a bottle. The first wave (heh) saw about a mouthful of formula come up and hit her on the shoulder – moments later, even before she could do something about her shoulder, about a HALF CUP comes up and hits her on the neck and runs down… well… everywhere. I couldn’t stop laughing. Now, while I’m laughing, the other girls there are trying to help and not laugh too hard either but the way it all played out was just hilarious. In the meantime, the other kids are running amok. Good times.

I went home and tried to watch the Belgian race I recorded from the morning but my bed won out and I soon found myself asleep without setting an alarm. About 5 hours later I wake up. Great.

I have a simple question that I’ve been meaning to ask. When you drive in at Sonic and place an order from your car (I say that because some Sonic’s have a drive-thru), do you tip the person that brings you your food?

If you don’t have a Sonic where you’re from, it’s a fast food place where you park and order from your car. The food is brought to your car.

It’s no big secret that I get up at the same time every day, even on weekends. On some days – like the weekends, I may go back to be afterwards but I’m up and about at 6 am everyday. It sure makes Monday mornings a non-issue. Well… that’s about to change. Starting this Sunday, my church goes to 2 services: 9:00am and 10:15am. What that means is that on the Sunday’s I’m scheduled to play, I have to be there at 6:30′ish. To be honest, that’s a little early to be thinking about banging on some drums. With this challenge though comes the realization that we’re growing – to continue that growth, things have to be done to accommodate it, in this case, going to a second service.

If technical gremlins can be kept to a minimum, mornings usually go well. It’s when things go south that things get interesting. Yesterday things went pretty smoothly for the most part, at least from my perspective. We were actually done with warm-up with almost 45 minutes to spare. That was a nice change. I played my full kit this go around… 2 rack toms, 2 floor toms and of course my kick and snare. I went with my birch/maple Masterworks snare for today. Depending on what we’re doing I can pick from the latter or my Steve Ferrone, copper piccolo or my Dunnett titanium snare. Each has its own “voice” so it’s nice to have the flexibility to pick from a couple. Honestly though, sometimes I just bring whatever is in a case as I head out the door. Cymbal-wise, I had my usual crashes but went with my 14″ Zildjian A Custom hats and 21″ K heavy ride mainly for the Decemberadio tune (it was a little on the heavy side). When I want a “crisper” sound, I turn to my 13″ K/Z custom hats instead. The 14 inchers just “slosh” better. My mic setup stays the same in any case – Shure Beta 98’s on the toms, Beta 91 in the kick, KSM 137’s for overheads and of course the venerable SM57 on the snare.

All the above has to be unpacked, set up, mic’d up and plugged up before we’re ready to go. Mix that in with a groggy drummer and you’re in for some fun. I wouldn’t have it any other way.