Postcards From Myself

My friend Pat Stuckart wrote this to our local newspaper. I am posting it here, just as he wrote it. I am posting it because I agree entirely with what he says.

Too Much Reality

Those devious little rapscallions at the TV networks have managed to slip another one past us. While we were passionately and vociferously lamenting the loss of fictional cavemen and talking birds in the comic pages of the newspaper they introduced one more brick in the wall that separates us from the higher ideal to which we should be aspiring. On Monday, August 6, television viewers were invited to witness the launch of Fat March, right after Wife Swap and before Supernanny. If I understand correctly it is a reality program in which 12 grossly overweight people are challenged to walk 500 miles. The more of them who finish the march the more money each will receive. I declined the invitation. Sadly though there are many who will feel compelled to reserve that time slot every Monday hence to revel in the plight of this hapless band of corpulent competitors whose 15 minutes of fame have arrived. Another hour of productive potential lost to the hypnotic siren call of what has euphemistically been termed prime-time entertainment. Don’t get me wrong, I admire anyone who makes a sincere effort to improve their condition. In this case however, I find the nobility of the effort highly suspect. Fat March is perfectly situated between those other must-see spectacles of today’s urban society; Wife Swap (my wife doesn’t know what she’s doing, let me try yours), and Supernanny (we are clueless in raising our own children, you take a shot at it). I can’t say that Fat March actually making prime time TV surprises me. We have a rich legacy of having our sensibilities bludgeoned in unconsciousness with this kind of baseless drivel. We no longer sympathize with victims who suffer emotional or physical trauma, rather we are encouraged to celebrate the event and even find great humor in it. Jackass taught us that. Our children are not learning to know better. They are being desensitized into feeling nothing.

One of the most gifted commentators of the human condition that I ever encountered was a newspaper cartoonist named Walt Kelly. He created a cartoon strip called “Pogo” which ran in newspapers from 1948 to 1975. He once penned the following line; “We have met the enemy and he is us”. Indeed.

Pat Stuckart

All I can say Pat is “amen brother.” Amen.

Travel writing. Now there is a line of work I could sink my teeth into. It is not writing, but have you ever watched Samantha Brown on The Travel Channel? I mean how do you get the gig of traveling to all the cool places on the earth, staying in all the great hotels, and getting paid for it? If you have to go to work in the morning, that is the way to go.

But anyway, back to writing. If you are interested in travel writing like I am, you might want to visit Written Road. This is a sited dedicated to travel writing and writer’s resources. There is information on market, events, and resources for the general lifestyle. Truly a good place to spend a few hours. And don’t forget to look at some of the sites they link too. More and more valuable resources.

Not “Miss” New Orleans, but “miss” New Orleans. I haven’t been back in a number of years and I am missing the city. I hear different people talk about what has or hasn’t changed, and I realize that I need to go back and check it out for myself. For example, at this point I don’t even know if the St. Charles streetcar is running again.

Part of my problem in getting back is a clear sign that at least one this is still not working, and that is the convention business. I am one of those people who takes most of my trips, at least on the surface, to attend conventions and conferences. I may spend more time in the town and do a lot of other things, but by picking and choosing my trips carefully I can make at least the airfare and some of the lodgings be a business expense. Well, it has been quite some time since I have been able to do this with New Orleans.

Microsoft had planned the 2007 Tech-Ed conference for the convention center in New Orleans, but either the infrastructure wasn’t ready or the powers-that-be at Microsoft thought they weren’t. Or perhaps they just thought that people weren’t ready to see the city again. Or, and this is very likely, perhaps the hotels and restaurants are not yet capable of handing a 10,000 to 15,000 person influx yet.

Whatever the reason, the conference was moved to Orlando and New Orleans lost the publicity and revenue. And I lost an easy chance to get back to the streets that I love so much. I am going to make sure that is not the case over the next year though. I need to get back and see for myself. I need to see the people and hear the tales. So yes, I do not what it is like to miss New Orleans.

Why you ask? Well sorry, but it isn’t because you are so downright beautiful. Well, actually it might be if I knew who you were or if you are who I hope you are? (Geez, that was awkward.) Back to the point though, it is actually because I finally bought my new camera.

I am now the very proud owner of a Nikon D40x digital SLR. This is a very cool camera that came highly recommended by many sources. So far, it is living up to those recommendations. The picture of Oreo the hamster below was taken with this camera. Unfortunately I have been working too much to get out and test it out. And now, just in time for the weekend that I was going to use to really give the thing a workout, it starts to rain. And rain. And pour.

Hopefully the weather will clear up either later Saturday or Sunday, but in the meantime I will content myself with reading the manual, taking a few indoor shots, and browsing the Nikonians newsgroups and old issues of their on-line magazine.

No, not the cookie! This Oreo is small and furry with black fur and little white feet. This Oreo is a little black bear hamster that my son just got. The little guy already fits right in see that he is a little on the chubby side and also a bit odd. He took a nap today in a vertical tube! Yup, there he was with his not so little rump in the air, his head down, and I would imagine all the blood rushing to his nose. At first we thought he was stuck, but when we checked on him and awoke he proceeded to back up out of the tube and look at us with utter disdain. You know, I really kinda like this guy.