McJob

Sterling Renaissance Faire, McJob Wikipedia definition

Well, I still have a job. I guess being transferred for no given reason, no phone or desk for three weeks, and being asked several times if I’m the new temporary guy didn’t mean what I thought. I don’t get it. I was doing a great job last fall, but not good enough to keep my position or get any positive feedback. Now I’m just mailing it in, and they think I’m doing a great job. My contract director said so in the meeting. Then why do I still feel like I failed?

Lollypop Favorites

 It’s a slow time at the shelter these days.  I like going there when there are a lot of empty cages.  When the shelter has no empty cages, an under current of stress runs through everything.  Today, I only had one picture to take in the Owner Surrenders, and that cat had already been adopted when I got there.  Good times at Lollypop.

 Too bad that’s all that’s going good.  The lady I’m interested in said that she’s not looking for a relationship right now.  That’s code for something…  Blech.  It looks like they’re going to let me go tomorrow, too.  I figure they transferred me so it would be easier to eliminate my position.

Lollypop Farm Website

My Lollypop Photo Collection

Dear Barack

One of your volunteers called me yesterday to see if I would be interested in having a lawn sign on my yard. I said yes, of course. I asked him if the campaign needed a volunteer photographer. I’ve volunteered as a photographer for other campaigns. I emailed the 25th and 29th congressional district volunteer director. I made it clear that I wanted to volunteer. He wrote back a couple hours later with a curt email saying that they didn’t need any photographers. What?! I’m a good photographer, maybe not as good as the ones you have, but what harm could one more lens at upstate events possibly have? I’m taking that sign down. I still believe in your message, I still support you, but you’ll get no free advertisement out of me.

Eric Massa doesn’t mind me taking pictures at his events, hes’ even used one or two pictures.

Flying Rods

Mentioning UFOs gets a strong reaction from most people.  It’s like talking politics.  Nobody really knows much about it, but they all seem to have very strong opinions about it.  I saw Dennis Kucinich the other day… on tv   Flying rods, or sky swimmers, are definitely unidentified.  There has been some video and photographic evidence that there are… things… flying around out there.  On film, they look like rods with manta ray wings.  People have theorized that they can swim through water or air.  They seem to travel at amazing speeds, 100 miles per hour by some accounts.  they zip past the lens in a blur, leaving just a ghostly image to analyze.

 

Flying rods have been compared to dragon flies and other multi winged insects.  Who knows?  Skeptics say that flying rods are nothing more than regular insects, distorted by the cameras used to record them.   The cave of swallows in Mexico is the most famous home of the skyfish.  It’s an amazing formation.  The cave is really a hole 1300 feet deep, carved out of the jungle by erosion.  Base jumpers travel there to parachute under ground.

I’m not sure what to make of the flying rods.  The explanations seem plausible.  Slow shutter speeds could turn a regular insect into an elongated, undulating skyfish.  On the other hand, we discover new species every day.  there’s no reason why there couldn’t be some new species or genus of insect out there.  Take J. Craig Ventner’s voyage aboard the Sorcerer II.  He traveled around the world in a sailboat, taking water samples every 200 miles.  They discovered almost 7,000 new species of microscopic animals.  there’s a lot more about the world that we don’t know…  I guess that’s why it’s called cryptozoology.

J. Craig Ventner’s voyage

Lollypop Favorites

These two pit bulls were in an office when Amber and I got there.  We stayed for a few minutes to say hello.  The puppy is in foster care right now.  All of her litter mates have been adopted.  She’s super friendly, so I’m sure she’ll find a good home.  The older one is still a puppy herself.  She’s just 7 months old and belongs to one of the staff members.

 I don’t post too many critter pictures from Lollypop here.  I had 5 or 6 pictures to take in the small animal room today.  I kind of like the way this hamster shot came out.

 

  My Lollypop Photo Collection

  http://www.lollypop.org

Swarming

 

Tag Cloud

Flickr has a feature that will express your pictures in a tag cloud. Tags that get used more often appear larger. Here’s my cloud: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jheaney1/tags/

Lollypop Favorites

This guy was my favorite.  I went back to his cage to play for a while when I finished my other pictures.  He was friendly and confident.  A great lap cat.  He’s still under evaluation, but I’m sure he’ll find a home when he moves up front.  I really like the over exposed quality of the top right picture.  Eventually, I had to go, and put him back in his cage.  He was not very happy to see me leave.  It was hard to walk away, but no harder than last time, or the time before…

 

I was a distracted photographer today. I left my ISO at 1600 from last week’s basketball game, and forgot to set my usual +1 EV. Alas, if only my distraction was caused by the amor, but it doesn’t seem like she’s interested. Too bad, I had butterflies and was all nervous at dinner, felt good.

 

I know a couple people who have had tougher times lately, but I’m really starting to think that I’m caught in this nexus of bad karma. I guess it has to swing back again, but I’m impatient… and wondering what’s next…

  http://www.lollypop.org My Lollypop Collection

  Hey, watch me saw a cat in half!  lol

Dominican Coffee and Chocolate

I couldn’t resist taking the picture of the rooster on the coffee drying platform. Dominican coffee is really excellent, especially when it’s brewed as a dense little shot of energy. One day on vacation, I took a tour of the mountainous part of the Dominican Republic. Our tour guide, Eros, took us to a “typical” country home. It was staged, but it was still really interesting to see the traditional way of making coffee and chocolate.

  Cocoa beans are tamped and then husked.

After some cooking and grinding, cocoa powder comes out.  It’s not sweet, but has a very strong chocolate flavor.  It can be brewed into a coffee like drink, or processed into milk chocolate.

Natura Park Set 

Brahma Bulls

 The Dominican has strict rules about the treatment of Brahma Bulls.  They are only used for competition.  the country has recently outlawed selling them as labor after their competition days are done.  A farmer with a prize winning bull can make a year’s worth of money in one weekend.

I have a date tomorrow, too