Halloween Makes For a Freaky Friday

Let's compare a couple of photos of the color from Southwest Colorado. First, a shot from Last Dollar Road that includes some blue sky.

And next, a shot from a few minutes later that does NOT include sky.

Which do you prefer? Does the blue help you focus on the intense colors below or do the colors pop more without the sky? I think I like the blue.

OK, what do you think about this next photo? I chose to make the remaining logs from an old house as the primary focus and let the colors in the background be just that...the background. Would it have worked better if I had focused on the trees and let the log be out of focus? I played with both options as I was deciding what to do and liked this better. Which do you think would work better?

According to this page out of this book, I did good using the foreground to point to the background because the topmost log points up towards the colors. Well, that is how I choose to interpret it.

Of course, Colorado is not only fun in the Summer and Fall, which is when we go. Here is a Yahoo! story about 20 Colorado mountain towns that are paradise in the winter. Check out number 4. I am sure you have heard of it in this blog.

D-I-L's mother has been our hair cutter for quite a while now. She recently moved over 45 miles away, so we have gone for too long without a trim. Luckily, we will be both be at SS's house tonight to trick-or-treat with the GRANDS, so she will give us cuts. My hair has been looking like a toupee for a couple of weeks, so we are glad she is back on our side of town for the evening.

Here's a treat, and that's no trick. It's today's Clarity of Vision.

Have your feelings toward receiving gift cards at Christmas changed over the years? For the general public, it seems the answer is yes. It has gone from 69% saying the would like one in 2007 to 37% this year. For me, I am fine either way (unless you give me one to a place that has gone out of business like Borders). Consumerist tells the whole story.

Don't you wish you knew someone who worked at Area 51 in Nevada? On his deathbed, one of their scientists reveals that we worked with alien technology and that 18 of the aliens work(ed) for the US government. Check out the story here. Do you believe it?

I cannot handle heights. So, do not look for me to ride this new coaster being built in the Carolinas. 325 feet straight down? No, thank you.

Let me explain that last comment. I might could handle the heights attained by a sit/stand desk. This guy thinks the Ikea one is pretty cool.

It's late. I forgot to post this before I got pulled into a discussion with a vendor, so I will stop now. have a good weekend and a spoooooky Halloween.

Will You Be a *Survivor* of *Halloween* *Photos*?

Clever how I highlighted keywords from today's post in today's title, right? I'm clever that way.

Do you wonder what Indiana "Preacher Bro" Jones is taking a picture of?

It is this pleasant valley with the pretty colors.

Did you see the small hill on which PB was standing in the first photo? We walked over to it, but probably should have driven onto it. Look at this next photo with the Jeep up on the hill. I pulled it from this website. I think we talked about it, but decided to drive on down the road rather than take the shot. What would you have done?

MBH showed me a list of actual sentences from patient's hospital charts that, while they may or may not be real, are funny. Let's look at a couple of them.
She has no rigors or shaking chills, but her husband states she was very hot in bed last night
Since she can't get pregnant with her husband, I thought you might like to work her up.

No one responded about the Halloween plans, so I thought I would help you with your ideas for costumes. Here is a chart showing what costumes have stayed as top ideas over the last five years.

For some of you, Halloween would not be complete without jack-o-lanterns. From Facebook, here are a couple of them made by Daughter-In-Love. You have to guess what they are (if you cannot immediately tell, you must turn in your Disney Fan Club Card.

It also would not be Halloween without a Clarity of Vision comic on my costume.

SPOILER ALERT - If you have not watched the last Survivor, do not read this section.


ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: This is kind of a new one for you guys in terms of a tribe recklessly devouring all of their food supply. Tell us about how you came up with the decision to take all the comfort items back from Hunahpu for more rice. Are there any other options you and the producers discussed before settling on that?
JEFF PROBST: Having a tribe eat through or lose their entire staple of rice is one of the greatest gifts the reality gods can bestow upon a show like Survivor because it creates story. Big story. Once I heard they were low on rice and we were still very early in the game there really wasn’t any other consideration than to take every single thing at camp — other than the most bare essentials. In this case, it was easily justified because there were no mitigating circumstances — they simply ate it all. There has to be a big check for that kind of indulgence. But the big idea I am still circling is this: If you make the assumption that you can always trade for more rice (even if it’s your entire shelter) is eating all your rice so you can stay strong for challenges actually a decent strategy? I would not be surprised to see another tribe take the risk and employ this strategy in future seasons. So in my subconscious I am already thinking of how we might handle this same situation if a tribe didn’t have enough supplies to make a fair trade. Say for instance a tribe that had won no rewards, had only the barest of shelter, but like Hunahpu, also ate all their rice. What is the appropriate invoice at that point?
Jeremy seemed upset about the trade, saying that they could have made do with what they had food-wise, but shish kebob reward or not, that doesn’t seem possible. They didn’t really have any choice but to make that trade, did they?
I think Jeremy was just frustrated in general. He ended up on a tribe of people, some of whom didn’t regard the game in the same way he did. Jeremy is very disciplined. He could have made do on much less and if he had been in charge of that rice from day one they probably wouldn’t be in that situation. But no, I do not see any way they could have survived without making a trade. Zero.
We saw Natalie volunteer to go to Exile Island instead of Julie. If you’re on her tribe, do you view that as a selfless act, or does that make you immediately suspicious?
I’d be watching Natalie like a hawk. She is an experienced competition reality show contestant. Nothing in Survivor is selfless. Ever. Whether it’s because you want to search for an idol or buy some good will or break up an alliance or keep an alliance together or any of the other myriad possibilities — every move in Survivor is game play. The good players (of which Natalie is starting to make a case) endeavor to make every move a win-win.
BONUS QUESTION! We heard the howler monkeys come out again at Tribal Council. I remember them making their presence felt when I was out there at the first Tribal. It’s nice to hear them howl a bit to give a taste of the ambience but my question is whether there has ever been an occasion — either this season or any one other one — where howler monkeys or some other animal or extreme weather has forced you to stop or pause because the sound became too overwhelming or went on too long?
Nope. I LOVE when the environment makes itself known. It’s really amazing how many times it will just break into rain in the middle of a challenge or a massive bolt of lightning will crack behind their heads at Tribal Council. People ask me all the time — is that real? Yes. And that night the howler monkeys were on fire! It was fun and funny and a great reminder to the players — you really are living in the jungle.
Looks like merge time next week. What else can you tell us about next week’s episode?
One move will really annoy most of our audience and most of the players.

END SPOILER ALERT

It is not only the end of the spoiler, but the end of today's blog post. Let's go out for a drink, OK? "Waiter! Water for everybody!"

Colors and Cops and Cells in Concert

As we were driving through the mountain roads one day, we came upon a photographer capturing the road winding through the trees. Just like we did one day a few years ago when we came upon a man shooting stock photos at Silverjack Reservoir, we stopped and took the same shot. Here is the view form behind the man, and then the shot near where he was shooting.

Since Preacher Bro and I were taking so long to find the best photos, Granddad decided to walk on down the road and see what beauty was around the next corner. Wouldn't you like to be walking that road right now? I know that I would like that.

Looking back through the photos, I decided to see what photos were for sale from 500px for Last Dollar Road. Here is a screenshot of a few. I actually feel Preacher Bro and I stand up well even against these shots.

Are you ready for Halloween? Are you going trick-or-treating or staying home with candy or staying home and hiding? I know which one I plan to do. In previous years, we have carved pumpkins with the GRANDS, but not this year. None of our pumpkins ever looked like any of these 10 carvings, though.

Speaking of dressing up...

I see OK Go has released a new video and it is intriguing, as always, utilizing drone shots, umbrellas, and some kind of motorized 1 or 2 wheeled scooters. Did you enjoy that? Check out this video where they employ hand bells and the audience during a concert using their cell phones to make the music.

Remember the year of the Granddaddy Caddy and the Cheap Jeep? Ahh, good times.

Do you like beets? Sweet potatoes? This One Green Planet article shows you why they are a good, healthy choice to help you reduce gluten and grain in your diet. I am not much of a beet person, but maybe I will try this roasting thing.

Hawaii 5-0 SPOILER ALERT. Do not read the next paragraph if you haven't seen the most recent episodes.

5-0 #2's brother is kidnapped because he owes a bad guy $12.5 million. The bad guy comes to #2 and says he must give bad guy money if he wants his brother back. The other 5-0 team members help him get money. The top 2 5-0 cops fly to Colombia with the $12.5M in four duffel bags. They give money to bad guy, who brings in the brother, dead, in a 50-gallon drum. Top 2 are escorted out and told to never return to Colombia. #2 says bad guy should kill him now because next time he sees bad guy, he will kill him. Bad guy scoffs. Off-screen, we hear screaming and fighting and shooting. Top 2 return to room and #2 says he told bad guy to kill him and he should have. #2 shoots bad guy in head and good guys return to USA.

OK, I know TV programs are not real, and most do not teach values any should follow, but this is a formula cop show. Can/should anyone travel with that amount of money and not get caught? Do we want good guys to kill anyone, especially because of a personal vendetta? I felt uncomfortable with that story arc and am glad it is over.

END SPOILER ALERT

Do any of y'all have a Chromecast dongle? What do you do with it and why would a person want to own one? I looked it up on the interweb this morning and it looks like it lets you display web content on your TV. Is there anything else it does?

Did you say you were tired of reading and want to go do something? Fine, go do it. If you are leaving, though, I am going to stop writing. I'm serious. Do not test me. OK, I'm done.

Tell Me You Didn't

Yes, I did. I have a headache the size of a small mound of spaghetti, but without the sauce. I have no clue what that means, but I DO have a heavy headache today. So, I skipped out on creating a Clarity of Vision comic today. The rest of today's blog post was written last night.

These types of views were everywhere during our recent trip to Colorado. I would stop the car around EVERY corner to catch another shot like this.

I thought it would be an interesting take on the shot if I showed the same view through Preacher Bro's camera LCD.

It's an OK shot, but not as cool as the actual shot. Anyway, I also like these views where there are layers of colors spread out in front of you.

Yesterday, with the free library music downloads, I pulled some Bill Withers songs (Ain't No Sunshine and Lean on Me and Use Me) and Lobo singing Me And You (And a Dog Named Boo). Those should all be fun. More than once, I have counted how many times Bill sings "I know" in Ain't No Sunshine. Do you know? I am fairly certain it is 26 times. Why don't you listen to it and let me know.

Do you remember vent windows, having to roll down windows by hand, actually using an ashtray for smoking while driving (maybe you don't remember doing that but just the fact that they existed), rear-facing seats in station wagons (we had one like that). There are a few other lost car accoutrements in this article.

Another fried fair-food restaurant is opening in San Diego. So now, we can enjoy deep-fried Oreos while watching a beautiful sunset over the Pacific Ocean. Sounds yummy in every way, right?

And that should hold you until our next installment. I'm glad you stopped by.

I Do Not Like It, Sam I Am (Not)

I just now got control of my laptop back after being forced to install Microsoft Office 2013. So, it replaced all the Office apps, including Outlook, and I do not like the look OR feel of anything yet. One thing they changed was that all the apps have a similar iconography. I now need to look at the letter in the symbol to see which program is it on the taskbar. And on Outlook, they also changed the way the message preview looks, so it is more difficult for me to quickly scan the From and Subject information. I suppose I will get used to it, but for today, I can fuss.

I told you that MBH and I took a walk each morning. One day, I noticed these flowers in a front yard and grabbed this shot. I do not know what type of flower it is. Sorry.

The same day that I caught the flower photo, we drove down Last Dollar Road. I learned a couple of things when seeking the link. First, that is Wilson Peak in the background. Take a look at a Coors can and see if the icon looks familiar.

Second, there is a ranch along the road where some of the scenes from True Grit were filmed, and that is in this following photo.

Here are some other facts I found about the movie.
Spectacular scenery around Ridgway caught the attention of the director of the 1969 film True Grit, starring Academy Award winner John Wayne as U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn. In 6 weeks, the film crew turned the center of this old railroad town into 1880’s Fort Smith, Arkansas, complete with Hanging Judge Parker’s 3-man gallows. The firehouse now survives as an artist studio, and the livery stable became the post office.

The paddy wagon from the movie sits in Heritage Park on the southwest corner of Hwy 550 and 62. A short walk up Clinton Street, past the Sherbino Theater, leads you to the living quarters of Rooster Cogburn. Be sure to visit the John Wayne themed True Grit Cafe and check out the actor and movie memorabilia.

Head on out on a day trip to find some of the famous movie sites as well as the state’s most photographed mountain scenery. Ten miles west of Ridgway, on Last Dollar Road are the remains of the movie’s family ranch of Mattie Ross (Kim Darby). And to the East, towards Owl Creek Pass, sits the aspen lined valley of Katie’s Meadow – one of the most memorable scenes from True Grit. Pick up your free Movie Locations Guide at the Visitors Center.

Which then led me to a page talking about a 'hanging flume' not far from Ridgway.
From Ridgway, head west on Highway 62 to Placerville. There, the highway becomes 145 – continue to the right to Naturita. Highway 145 becomes 141. Continue on Highway 141 to Uravan and learn about the uranium from this area. Watch for the pull-off and sign for the “Hanging Flume” above the Dolores River. Highway 141 continues to Gateway then drives through the Unaweep Canyon, past the “Unaweep Seep” and the remains of Drigg’s mansion at the foot of Thimble Rock.

And I read about a place called St. Elmo. The folks have seen it, but I don't think I ever have. There seems to be a lot of things in the area that we have not seen. We will need to go back.

You know what else I learned? Plants can tell when they are being eaten, and they don't like it. How could anyone even measure or determine that? The specifics are here.

For now, though, it is back to the daily helping of Clarity of Vision.

The other day, I shared a story that the director of our multi-church singing group often tells between songs in a concert. Today, I found one that he used a few years ago about Chirpy. You can see the whole story here.

I don't have anything else today. This dumb update of my software started me off in a bad way and i don't want to contaminate y'alls mornings. Go. Be happy. Have a good day. Go on, I'll be fine by tomorrow.

22 Degrees?

No, not the ambient temperature right now. 22 degrees is the distance from the sun that a sun dog appears. Here, you can see the sun dog we saw on the left of the sun.

And here is the right one. Notice that you can also see part of the parhelic circle (no, I had never heard that word until I was working on the blog).

We will end the week's photo with a view of Chimney Rock near Owl Creek Pass. When I was looking up the link to share, I saw the article mentions John Wayne, True Grit, How the West Was Won, and this is an 1885 cattle trail. We all learned something today.

How can you not appreciate a cleverly worded announcement like this?

And another oddly-worded news story. I saw this last night on the news and mentioned my interpretation to MBH. Now, I will mention it to you. Can machetes shoot?

Speaking of misinterpreting things, who remembers Emily Litella? Whether you do or not, she is a character that misinterpreted news stories and backed down once she learned what the story was actually about. She makes a return in today's CoV.

Does your watch have any secret messages inside of it? Abraham Lincoln's did, and apparently from multiple sources. One even mentions Jeff Davis. It is a short read with several pictures so go to Mashable and read about it.

This is a cool-looking hack of an Ikea Expedit into a card catalog. It reminds me to be upset with Ikea for getting rid of the Expedit unit. However, you could still convert their Moppe drawers into an apothecary. Or the Lack shelf into an apothecary. Of course, I read about these things, but then leave the units in their original form. Still, it is nice to dream about.

I have for sure been dreaming about a weekend, and one is upon us. Let's get it started soon, OK?

Is Jack Really Silver?

Yesterday, we saw a photo taken at Silverjack Reservoir just northeast of Ridgway. Today, we will take a look at some shots around the water. First, this is the view along the road out to the reservoir.

Next, we look out over the water to the south.

And finally, a view to the west.

And even more finally, today's Clarity of Vision.

And unfortunately, school lunches continue to shrink so we won't give our kids anything remotely unhealthy. I saw this on Drudge Report today.

This was an interesting interview with Jeff Probst about what happens if a player leaves an idol at a site and they move to a new team and site...

I get this question a lot when surprise tribe switches happen so I pass that question on to you, sir: Since contestants like Keith don’t carry around their hidden immunity idols with them and instead leave them back at their old camp, how do they get it when they get swapped over to a different tribe? Is it returned to them along with any other items they left back at their previous beach?
Great question. Depends on the situation. If you took your idol out of your bag and “hid” it under a rock and left without it, then the rules of Survivor don’t allow for any “help” for you to get it back. So, in that sense, it is your responsibility to have it with you. But if you left it in your personal bag and just didn’t bring your bag with you, then yes, we always move all of their personal items (clothes, water container, bag, etc) to their new island. So if you had it with your possessions, you are fine; if you hid it, you are not. We always remind the players at the start of the game of one big idea: Survivor is unpredictable. No matter how well you know it, you can’t be certain that it is going to go the way you think it is — so be prepared at all times.

Remember when I shared some info about real and fake Oreo flavors? I have another one today. Is Red Velvet Oreo real or fake? I cannot tell.

Speaking of real or fake, are the deals on Shark Tank real? You bet. Here is a quick update on some that panned out, and others that did not.

Do workers at tobacco companies smoke more than the general public? Reynolds American says no, and beginning next year, employees can no longer smoke in their buildings. I remember when I hated to go to some peoples offices for a meeting because I knew they would smoke. Those days are long gone, and this change reflects the new business environment.

Sorry for the delay in publishing today's post. I got distracted by actual work stuff. Can you believe it? In fact, I am heading back into it as soon as I send this to all of you. Have a thankful Thursday.

Here's Looking At You, Kid, and Me, Too

Stupid dog woke me up at 3am. However, I did remember what was on my mind to tell y'all. I was wondering about the difference in meanings between 'greed' and 'avarice'. Do you know? Isn't that the type of thought you have upon waking up?

Hang on, I want to look them up. Greed is 'An excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material wealth'. Avarice is 'the inordinate desire to possess wealth, goods, or objects of abstract value with the intention to keep it for one's self, far beyond the dictates of basic survival and comfort'. Sounds like the same thing, right? I have an idea. Let's search for the difference between the words. There we go. 'The word “avarice” comes from a Latin root meaning to crave (we get “avid” from the same root), and what’s being craved by an avaricious person is wealth or material gain. The term “greed” refers to another excessive desire for more than you need, but the desire can be for almost anything (food and sex come to mind, but if your aunt collects salt-and-pepper shakers, she could be greedy for ever more salt-and-pepper shakers). So the phrase “avarice and greed” isn’t redundant.' Thanks, Grammarphobia.

If you notice that I more often post photos of landscapes than people, you are correct. MBH usually posts these types of shots in Facebook. Today, though, I decided to give you the group from our CO trip. First, the parental units walking a trail at Silverjack Reservoir.

And Preacher Bro and his BH at the CO62 photo spot.

Finally, the blog author and MBH in Mountain Village.

Hoverboards are real? Well, a first step towards them, anyway. I will not be investing in them via kickstarter, but maybe one of you would want to. I will not judge you, I promise.

The story of how they were discovered does not make me feel any better about dirty-fingered chemists deciding what is safe to put in my body. Here is the story behind three artificial sweeteners.

Let's continue the bad jokes from yesterday's CoV in another one.

When the alarm went off, the song in my head was 'Boy From New York City' by Manhattan Transfer. I was probably thinking of that because I read that the lead singer and founder of the group, Tim Hauser, died last week. It is also possible that I am just weird and my brain is like an MP3 player on shuffle.

How many of you are wearing 'holey' underwear? How many are wearing 'holy' underwear? The Mormons say they are not, either. It is simply a part of their reminder that they serve God daily. Read the specifics here.

I am out of ideas for the post, so I will go to work and try to survive another day. If I am a survivor this evening, I will watch Survivor with the family. I hope you survive, too. See you soon.

CSN, WWWW, and Me

You know, one of my favorite albums ever is Crosby, Still and Nash. Here is the famous cover art from 1969, taken at 815 Palm Avenue, West Hollywood. The photo shows them in a different order than the name of the group. They went back a week or two later to retake the shot and found the building had subsequently been demolished. You can learn more history and see a number of outtake photos here.

That shot reminds me of a certain group that I saw near Ouray, CO, earlier this summer. Have you heard of them? That building IS still there.

Now that we have returned to Ouray, let's check out shot from our photo place along Hwy 62. I like the contrast of the rustic fence in front of the colors and mountains. Those mountains and the fence are also still there.

That fence is also handy for holding photographer's assistants like MBH helping me shoot Preacher Bro and his better half.

I think I saw something about China monitoring use of Apple's iCloud and using a great firewall. Of course, the comparison to another wall in China was inevitable.

Oh, if I could only count the number of times people have commented on my gladiator-like appearance. Actually, I can. Zero. Findings on the gladiators diet, though, show they were primarily vegetarians, so I kind of eat the same things. Does that count?

I read this headline earlier, "Music sales down as more consumers turn to online music streaming". What do you think? Are you more likely to listen to a song online or purchase it? I want to somehow own my music, whether it is a download or a CD that I purchase. After all, if it is not yours, it could go away or the streamer could change their format and you would not hear the music anymore. And even as a download, Apple could have a contract dispute of some kind and block me there (at least for anything purchased from them).

In a similar vein, I have a Kindle Fire and read the majority of my books online now. However, it could be a similar situation in that Amazon could make it so I can no longer access my books, even if I purchased them.

There is a lawsuit that Led Zeppelin stole the opening riff of Stairway to Heaven from Spirit. So, I broke out youtube and am listening to Spirit as I write this. Yeah, I can hear some influence, but I am not confident it is a copyright issue. Probably, Zep will pay some bucks to make it go away.

I am struggling to find anything else to share today, so I am throwing in the towel. Maybe tomorrow will find me with new opportunities to search. Until then, have a Tremendous Tuesday.

A Swing and a Mrs. (a take on a baseball call in case you missed the reference)

There was a whole pile of us swinging all weekend long. Between rehearsals and flights for out-of-town family and meals and a wedding, there was never a dull moment the whole time. And now, there is a new Sadie, Sadie, Married Lady (a song from Funny Girl in case you missed the reference) in the family. Congrats, J&L.

OK, what about photographs? Well, I got nothing for ya (a quote from Survivor, in case you missed the reference). I meant to upload some, but we were tired last night and I just forgot.

I already need to amend that last paragraph. I snapped a shot from here in my cubicle, and I got onto Facebook on my phone and finally figured out how to pull a shot from there onto my phone and then sent it to me email by logging onto Gmail. So, Yippee Ky Yi Ya (a quote from Die Hard, in case you missed the reference).

I have mentioned before that I have a Southwestern Colorado calendar on my cube wall. I purchase one every year up in Ouray, and I do have my 2015 one ready. This show, though, is from October of this year, and it is a place we went to. I will share our photos of Ironton Township another day, but this is the shot that author Bruce Gulde captured for his calendar.

What do you think? He does have some nice light captured, but I think we can at least keep up with him. I will remind you when the time comes. My second photo was actually taken by MBH on her iPhone. I also have my version of her phone from my DSLR, but in this case, I DO NOT think I kept up with her. I may or may not remind you of her shot when I upload mine. Hers is really good. Take a look.

Do you read much? Are there any scenes from books that stick in your mind? Is that easier if there was a movie made from the book? OK, to help us both, someone has taken to capturing those in Legos. You will find scenes from Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Moby Dick, 20,000 League Under the Sea. It will only take a couple of minutes to look through them, so do it now before you finish today's blog post.

Do you suffer from mood swings? It may not be your fault. "Babies born in the summer are much more likely to suffer from mood swings when they grow up while those born in the winter are less likely to become irritable adults, scientists claim." You can see more about the research here.

Look at the middle headline below. If the smugglers can get a system like this worked out, they can really CLEAN UP. Get it? Washing machine? Clean up?  Fine, let's move on.

Let's take a break. More like a breakdance. Watch this breakdance conversation between Jimmy Fallon and Brad Pitt. It is very clever.

Most of you know that there are very few topics that do not provide fodder for Clarity of Vision. How about ebola? No, not exactly as it is being reported. More like how my mind interprets the letter that make up the word.

The post looks long enough for one sitting, so I will stop for now. Have a magnificent Monday.

Another Week Flies By

Does time seem to be flying by quicker than ever? We are already coming up on November. And then Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here. Wow.

Let's stay with the flying theme and its intersection with our trip up to the colors of Colorado. These next three photos are along CO 5 south of Ridgway as I tried to catch a hawk circling over the trees.

So while the hawk is seen near the center of the shot, seeing it in front of the colors really makes it dynamic.

I like the mix of green to yellow to orange.

I am lucky to have a nice DSLR camera that is not too bulky. I am very glad cameras got smaller instead of larger. Just think of packing this camera that took negatives of 8x4.5 ft (this monstrosity was only used once, BTW). "Push it to the left, hon. The bird is still flying. Hurry!"

Tomorrow night, we have a niece getting married. She is marrying a great guy who is in a wheelchair. As my way of welcoming him to the family, I imagined pimping his chair and giving him his own Clarity of Vision. Might this make him change his mind? We will see later this weekend.

I'm going to take a few photos at the reception. However, I only have the regular attached flash on the camera and not a separate flash unit. I looked up how to attach something to the camera to allow me to bounce the flash off a wall or a ceiling. It says I can use a business card to simulate that, so I will carry one with me. However, I took some shots at SS and D-I-L's reception using the same setup and they seemed OK. I will probably try some of both and see what I like.

I will freely admit that I am not an artist. I have tentatively inserted myself into the world of photography to share the images like those above, but I know my mind is more logical. In 1949, a photographer convinced Picasso to use a light pen to draw paintings in the air that would not exist anywhere except as captured by a time-lapse photo. He agreed to 15 minutes, but liked the results well enough to do additional sessions. You can see some of the shots here.

What are the 20 best inventions of the year (and some of them ARE pretty cool)? Dyson Foundation says these are.

Yes, I am a vegan now, but in my schooldays, I wanted to eat normal kinds of food. You know. Pizza. Friend chicken. French fries. Not back then, and not even now, would this suffice for my noon meal. It is an actual photo of a school lunch in OK. I'm glad Michelle Obama's dietary rules don't affect me.

Growing up, a Sizzler restaurant made an impression on our family (or maybe just me) when I heard the cook place an order in the window and call out "Number 7!" "Number 7" "Throw it away!" Yes, it seemed like the progression of comments happened about as fast as you just read them. We made a joke about it that we repeated for years. Why did I remember that? I was looking at a TV-related site talking about shows that are being cancelled after just two showings (Bad Judge on NBC). I didn't even know it was on (have you even heard of it?), so how can they grow an audience if you don't give something a chance to make it?

Thanks for dropping by so often this week. It is people like you that have driven my visitor count up into the tens. Have a good weekend. Maybe I will see you at the wedding?