Why do we go overboard?

Sitrep: Zero

A coworkers father died last Saturday. His health had been getting progressively worse for months, and the last few weeks were pretty bad for J.G. She asked me to come over last night and help her put together a poster board layout/collage of pictures. So I packed up a bunch of my scrapbooking materials and headed out. When I got there, she had all these old pictures from when her Dad was a kid. Not wanting to use the originals, we headed out to find a scan & print kiosk. It took 3 hours to get them scanned (four shops before finding one that worked and was free). We were just about done when the guy working the photo counter comes over, takes one look, and says "You know at the beginning you have to agree about the copyright restrictions. You can't copy those without a release."

ExCUse me? A picture from freakin' 1935?

Copyright apparently goes for 75 years. Which means 1933 to today. So no copies, folks. Unless, of course, you have your own high-quality scanner and photo printer.

J.G. turned to him and for a second I thought she was going to collapse. (These last few weeks have been extremely hard for her!) Then she goes "But it's for my father's funeral!" Poor guy...he had no idea what to say to that. I explained we were printing them out to put on a poster board for the service. He relented, and let us. A very nice guy, really. Then he stuck around and tried to cheer up my friend.

I understand copyright protection and everything. Even agree it is necessary. But why do we have to go overboard on this? Realistically, most pictures people have that are from the 30's and 40's are going to be "studio" pictures. Yet how many of them actually have the photographer or studio's name on the back? Not very many. And even if they did, what are the odds you'd be able to find them to either buy more prints (if they even had the negatives) or to get a release?

And what about all those school pictures? What if I wanted to do a scrapbook of my sister or brother or myself using school pictures? That's from the 70's onward...Wouldn't be able to copy those, and the thought of even trying to track down the photographers...well, that would be a fun job. I'm just glad I have a very nice color scanner. Now I just need to get that printer I want that will print pages up to 12" x 12" paper size. :)

I just want to scream sometimes with how overboard we go in trying to be "protective" and "fair". What the heck ever happened to common sense?

Anyway. We did an awesome layout for her Dad's Navy years...1943-1946. He joined straight out of High School. She has pictures of his ship heading out to sea, on leave somewhere in Japan or the Philippines, his "office" on board ship (complete with pinup girls on the wall!). We found a poster board with a flag/red, white & blue graphic faded into the background. Matted the pictures on black paper, and then used a bunch of Navy themed stickers from the scrapbook store. We also put pictures from his Smoke jumper days (he was one of the original Smoke jumpers) on there as well. It turned out fabulous. Then we did another poster of family pictures - his parents on through to his grand kids. Made for a long day, but it turned out pretty darned good, if I do say so myself.

Oba.ma/Clin.ton Photos

I know I said I'd blog about my choice between the two today, but I'm exhausted (too many dreams the last few nights) and can't think straight. Also a little stressed as my annual board meeting is tomorrow. I desperately need to get ready for that and am mostly working through lunch today.

But here are a few pictures. I took several hundred, but since I was using my zoom lens without a tripod in low lighting, many of the shots came out blurry. They should not have had a bright red background in my opinion...Very hard time using the autofocus, but was too paranoid to use the manual focus. Kept the camera on auto settings most of the time, played with some settings once I had plenty of supposedly good automatic shots. :) Still, thank goodness they're digital and I could adjust the saturation & hue of the red tones, and adjust the lighting levels. These are grainy because they're small. I took the originals at the maximum size/quality my camera can handle. Good thing I have a 2GB memory card. [g].




And here's a picture of my most favorite politician in all the world:

Jag, our Governor's dog. Who accompanies him just about everywhere, including the state capital building during work, and to this fancy
fund-raising dinner!

He was restless on stage, though. It was way too hot. Felt like yelling down at them to give the poor dog some water!

He reminds me of my Scully, and Roadie, who belongs to one of the ladies on the bulletin board.

And here he is again with the Governor:

And because I know Mom'll get upset if I don't share it, here's a pic of me and also a group shot:



Geez I look young. And no, it's not edited. It's the lighting...and makeup! Maybe the shade I'm using is a bit too light. Or I'm really just that pale in winter!

P.S. Hey, Tomara! Recognize the green shirt? That's the one you had me try on...I found another shirt I can wear with it! Whaddaya know...I might have some girl genes after all. ;)

Halfway There - Hoo Yah!

Goals: 2x each Arms, Legs, Cardio + Daily Abs
Sitrep: 1x Arms, 1x Legs, 1x Cardio, 3x Abs

Well, I did it! I've completed 30 minutes of REVing for 3 days straight now. Hoo yah! Feels good. I did the cardio as soon as I got home last night, and then had dinner because I was starving. Exercising makes me hungrier. I'd always heard it's supposed to do the opposite, but that's never worked for me. Anyway. Did the Abs later in the evening, around 8pm. I think it was Alden's - and everyone else's - wonderful replies to my post yesterday that kept me going. I just focused on how good I feel after doing Abs, and how much I actually like abs. And I kept picturing myself with a flat stomach. Now there's some motivation.

I also got outside yesterday with my camera. I've completely spaced on the manual settings, it's been so long. I didn't get very many good shots in the end. Sigh. Now I remember why I stopped. My unreasonable perfectionism ruined it for me.

The important thing is, I had a great time just tooling around in my yard, trying to capture the trees and the light and the clouds, etc., on film. Trying to capture what I was "feeling" with the camera. I had fun. So I'm just going to keep plugging away at it. Because that's what matters. That I enjoyed myself, not how many "good" photos I got.

And that's something I need to apply to working out. Doing these exercises is what gives me the physical and mental energy to get out there and do things I enjoy. Today, Thursday, is generally the day that I let the friction stop me; that I let inertia grab hold once more. Well, not today.

So here's a Shout-Out to everyone that reads this: I'm challenging you to exercise today. Any exercise. Walking, running, hiking, weights, going to the gym, BodyRev - whatever you like. Just get out there and exercise today. And I will do Arms & Abs tonight.

I will come back here tomorrow and post my success. Because this unbalanced force is gonna annihilate that inertia!

I am an elephant on roller skates heading down hill. ;)

[And no, that's not a reference to my weight or size. It's just how powerful I feel!]

The wonders of modern medicine...not

So, I'm on my second round of antibiotics, since after 6 days on the first one I was not feeling any better. I think the doctor might have made me wait the full 14 days, but really. Six days, I should be feeling better. I should not be needing 4 ibuprofen at a time, every 4 hours. On top of the Sudafed every 4 hours. And I should not be able to be next door to Barnes & Noble and not go in. What's worse, I wasn't even tempted to! And Waldenbooks was just up the road and I had a 25% off coupon! The only thing that makes these business trips bearable, is the chance to go to a real bookstore!

Anyway. The doc says my left ear is getting better. Apparently my right ear got slightly worse. And it's heading into my sinuses. And she mentioned staying on the first antibiotic? I don't know why they don't listen to me and just give me a Z-pak straight out of the gate. When I'm this sick, it's all that works...Hopefully the new drug will kick in. So far so good. I'm at work and functioning. Can't hear anything much, but I'm here. Because I feel totally wrapped in cotton, the day is dragging unbelievably. (And yes, CO, I'm getting that sinus rinse...WalMart didn't have any yesterday when I went to the pharmacy.)

I did get almost an entire book read while out of town last week. My work computer was acting - irrationally, shall we say? - and while attempting all sorts of troubleshooting, I got to read. No internet time, which is bad, but good as apparently I missed a big brouhaha on the BB. I'd've waded right in, no doubt, and not feeling good would probably have been a real b###h.

If you're at all interested in politics and religion...even if you're not, for that matter, read "The Mighty and the Almighty" by Madeleine Albright. Very well written, even if I didn't always agree with her, and a very interesting viewpoint. I inhaled this book, which is hard for even me to say of a non-fiction political/religious book.

Photo Contest:

Our local newspaper is having a photo contest and my little sister's mom has entered. Here are links to the spots where her pictures are. Look for pictures by Michelle Boone. If you're so inclined, please vote! She could use the encouragement (as well as the cash prize.) She's trying to start her own photography business. She takes the most amazing people shots. I think she has better pictures than the ones entered, but these are the ones she chose.

http://www.helenair.com/photo_contest/gallery.php?category=People (on page 20 - links at bottom)

http://www.helenair.com/photo_contest/gallery.php?category=Scenery (on page 30 - links at bottom)

http://www.helenair.com/photo_contest/gallery.php?category=Animals (on page 23 - links at bottom)

http://www.helenair.com/photo_contest/gallery.php?category=Objects (on page 15 - links at bottom)