Postcards From Myself

Don’t really know why, but i love this song and it is a very cool video. Somehow this just speaks to where I am right now…

A few years back, back before hurricane Katrina, my wife and I drove down to New Orleans so that I could a conference. Just so happens that the conference was during the French Quarter Festival. How convenient! Anyway, it was a long trip and we actually ended up driving through severe storms with hail and tornados. Having never experienced this before, being woken up in the middle of the night in a hotel in Montgomery, Alabama, by the sound of tornado sirens was totally new. Hopefully that will be the last time too.

For me the entire trip was made a bit more enjoyable because we were in my 2002 MINI Cooper S. (Luckily it was not damaged by hail.) On the way back this little car really showed what ot could do. Let me just say that the speed limit was left far behind.

At that time there were not as many of these fine cars on the road as there are now, so there were quite a few enquiring looks and more than a couple of people making comments or asking question. But, that entire trip for me is wrapped up in a picture my wife took of the car sitting on Bourbon Street in front of Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop. This was taken early on Sunday morning just after a rain and before the sun had risen very high or the residents and tourists had started hitting the streets. The picture to me is very serene and conveys a great sense of the old and the new, and of two of my real loves - New Orleans and great cars.

Call me foolish and sentimental, but I love this picture.

Just a quick posting of two pictures I took. Out of all that I took last Sunday, I think these came out the best.

The first, here, is of the Charleston Unitarian Universalist Church. I took it from the back in the cemetery.

The second, here, is of the ceiling of the church from inside. I took this same basic picture numerous times with flash, without flash, and such. I think this one came out the best.

These were both taken with my new Nikon D40x and its standard kit lense.

Last week I had to go to a work conference, horrible life, up in the mountains of North Carolina. We stayed at The Grove Park Inn in Asheville, and enjoyed all the amenities they had to offer. One of the things we did, when I wasn’t berating vice presidents of telecommunications companies, was to drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway to visit Mount Mitchell. This is a beautiful place and even in the heat of the summer where Charleston was around 100 degrees and Asheville was around 93, up near the summit of Mount Mitchell the temperature was in the mid-60s. For those of us from the hot and humid low country, it almost called for a sweater.

I took a bunch of pictures with my new camera, and some of them even came out. Obviously I have a lot more work to do just to become even basically proficient with my new Nikon D40x, but I did have a good time. and for your viewing pleasure or horror I have posted some of those pictures to my gallery. Just check them out by clicking on the above thumbnail or here.

Also in that gallery are pictures I took at the antique auto museum that sits behind the Grove Park Inn. It is an interesting small museum with, unfortunately for me, only on MG. But there are some very nice example of early American big iron. Additionally there are a few pictures from the crafts museum that sits next to the car museum. Pictures of the grounds are also there.

Finally, take a close look at the very first pictures. Our education system at work! This was on the sign of a Holiday Inn across the street from the Fairfield Inn where we stayed on our way up. It was the Airport / Arden exit before Asheville. We were being cheap on our own money before spending the company money for the real business nights of the stay.

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.