Looks like that new camera of mine and I are going to be good friends, afterall.

Recently, I went to visit my neice who agreed to be my next victim... uh... subject I mean to say... on the business end of my camera.  She is a very pretty young lady who has a bit of a self-esteem problem, at times.  Of course, who doesn't in their early teen years, right?  Once we started shooting, she started feeling more comfortable in front of the lens. 

Meanwhile, I have downloaded a portrait-finishing program in its trial-version.  Of course, these trial versions place a stamp over the image until you purchase it.  I haven't purchased it, yet... and it might be awhile before I do so.  But, if you disregard the white letters across the face, the following link is the outcome. 

I swear my neice could be a model for a makeup company, or something... heh heh heh

It was a typical relationship that had come to the end of its usefulness.  I still found her to be beautiful, but her quirks were just too much to handle.  Not to mention, she developed certain behavioral issues that rendered any chances of salvaging the relationship impossible.  She had trouble focusing on the subjects that were important to me.  She promised me great visions, but none of them would develop.  She saw things through a thick haze.  And what really annoyed me is the fact that, at times, she wouldn't respond... even when I pushed her buttons.

Knowing that our relationship had come to an end, I did what any red-blooded American would do.  I sold her on eBay.  Even in this, she managed to deal me a dirty dead.  It cost more to ship her than what she was worth.

But, now that she's gone and I know that I will never see her again, I miss her.  Her awkward, boxy lines... her well-worn carcass that showed her loyalty, more than her age... I miss her.  No new relationship can replace that 1977 SLR Camera that I offloaded on eBay.  Sure, she had some problems, but all of those good times we shared...

Thankfully, I have a photographic memory where those good times will be stored in tidy little albums.

+ruined

The first roll of film with my newly aquired Canon have arrived.  Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the results.  The images are pretty clear, considering I didn't use a flash for any of the following pics (I used available sun light).  The subjects of the images were same as before (my children).  This time, the results were MUCH better than the previous post (see post from a few days ago).

This is my oldest daughter - the ham of the family.  Every time a camera is pointed her way, she turns into a fashion model.  She loves the camera.  I'd say the camera is pretty good to her, as well.

This is my middle daughter.  She's the artsy one.  She likes looking at life from varying angles.  This image captures that personality...

Finally, my youngest.  Her favorite thing on earth is playing "kick ball" with any kind of ball she can find.  At the moment, her favorite ball was the one she is holding in the pic:

I'm loving this camera.  I'm hoping to learn it a little better and put it to good use.  I'm giddy at the very thought!

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The big news story of today is, of course, the gas prices.  Four dollars per gallon.  We all knew it would happen.

Chrysler came up with a promotion to boost sales and ease the pain at the pump.  Guaranteed $2.99/gallon gas prices for 3 years.  Wow!  What a deal!  Right?

If you stop to think about it, it's not that special.  Let's think about this logically...

Assuming $4.00/gallon prices and a 15-gallon tank, you are going to save $1.01/gallon for each complete fill.  Now, let's assume one fill per week.  You are saving a whopping $15.15 per week ($1.01 x 15).  If you do this for a year, or 52 weeks, you have saved $787.80 in a year.  For the entire 3-year period, you only saved $2363.40 in gas.  Now, assuming that your new car cost no less than $12,000...tell me, how much did you REALLY save?

Let's make this interesting... let's say you fill up 3 times a week.  You're still only saving $7090.20 over the 3 year period.  That means, you're still out over $5000.  In fact, you'll have to fill your tank 6 times a week in order to come out ahead in this deal.  If you're filling your tanks 6 times a week for that 3 year period... guess what's going to happen after that 3 year period.  Of course... the demand is going to drive the prices up.

Don't be fooled by this promo.  It's just a way that a corporation is making it look like they're doing you a favor, just to make a buck.  I'm rather sickened by this.  What are your thoughts?

+ruined

By now, a lot of people would be blaming God for allowing all of this bad stuff to happen to them.  If God really exists, why isn't He blessing me for my year of living by nothing but faith, alone?  To me, however, this is only turning my ever growing doubt of God's existence to rubble.  It is only by the grace of God that we are where we are.  By all rights, things should be a lot worse than what they are.

What I find really interesting is the never ending stream of revolving doors I have passed.  By that, I mean, door after door have been opened to us.  Some of these doors seemed rather promising.  Some of them even promising us a return of millions of dollars in company share after a few years.  One by one, these doors have been slammed shut when we were about to step through them.  It was only after the doors were slammed shut that we saw the danger that lurked on the other side, had we been allowed to enter those doors.

Regarding tomorrow's interview in Chicago, I received a phone call.  That phone call was the recruiting agency that set up the interview.  The client had something come up during the time my interview was scheduled.  They, instead, wanted me to interview today at 2:00, local time.  In other words, an hour-and-a-half after I received the call.  The problem is, I'm from Michigan and the company is in the Western Suburbs of Chicago... at least a 4 hour drive.  There was no way I could have made the interview.  The deal was, however, either find a way to make it there in an hour-and-a-half, or no interview.  The answer was obvious... no interview it is.  Another door, slammed shut.

I am not going to pretend to know the ultimate plan God has for my family and me.  All I know is that I am taking some serious comfort in the book of Job, right about now.  I'm just trusting that someday soon, I'll get what I've lost returned to me... ten times over.

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A previously unemployed friend of mine once said, "If at first you don't succeed, but the hell out of them!".

This was in response to an employment agency my friend was registered with for several months.  Several dry months.  Months without a job, let alone an interview.  With the dry spell reaching its 8th month, my friend decided to live by the above mantra.

And it worked.

Maybe it didn't work on the first interview.  Probably not even the second.  But the fact that the interviews were starting to roll in was proof - if you want the job bad enough, be a jerk about it!  Call the recruiters until they are sick of hearing your voice.  Mention your intention to "contact management to expedite the job search" in an e-mail.  Do whatever it takes, get crazy.

I employed this method with my contact at my recruiter of choice.  I've been a registered client of thiers since January of this year, by the way, without so much a phone call from them.

As of Wednesday of last week, I've called my recruiter on a daily basis.  Each phone call, followed up closely with an e-mail.  Today, I received the reply I've been waiting for.  An interview.  Thursday at 11:00.  Dress business casual and bring 5 copies of my resume.  Oh... and be prepared to speak PHP and MySQL.

The interview is a good 4 hour drive from where I live.  This doesn't bother me, as I am prepared to move at a moment's notice.  I will use this long drive to prove to them that I am, indeed, a team player who will make personal sacrifices for the company. 

Wish me luck.  Even if I have pissed you off in the past (ok Surrogate? heh heh heh... seriously, I do appreciate you for what you have done!).

On another topic, look for more photos, soon.  I have a roll in for processing, as we speak with another roll half-taken.  This, with a new (to me, I got it on eBay) Canon Rebel Xs with a 35mm-80mm zoom lens (great for portraits... decent, but not great for macros).  With luck, I'll be getting a 500mm super telephoto lens, really soon...

+ruined

I'm not sure why I get my hopes up, anymore.  Afterall, this past year has been full of disappointments, when it comes to the job search, so why should right now be any different?

This coming Thursday, I was supposed to leave to begin working my new job.  Not really crazy about the idea of leaving my family for 3 1/2 weeks, I accepted this task to start bringing in some money.  Maybe even have a little money set aside for when I came back to pick my family up and bring them to our new home.

For some reason, I woke up, this morning, with a very bitter taste in my mouth.  Something just isn't quite right.

I e-mailed my soon-to-be boss, asking for a verification that there is, indeed, work waiting for me when I arrive on Thursday.  It was mentioned that the main job I will eventually be doing is not quite ready, but there will be some interim work that I can do to carry me over.  But, nothing was ever presented in writing.  No details were spoken.

That e-mail has been read - and ignored.  So has the e-mail I sent a week ago asking the same question.

My suspicions raised, I called a mutual friend.  This friend confirmed that there is currently nothing for me to do.  No real work that needs to be done.  No paycheck to be had.  All of my hopes for nothing. 

My home is up for foreclosure, soon.  Perhaps even this week.  My family has nowhere to go.  I have failed them.  The people that mean the most to me out of any other people in this vast universe... and I have failed them.

I have no idea what to do, now.

+ruined

The only thing I like more than stirring the crowd with my unpopular opinions is stirring my creativity.  In the past, my creativity has been limited to music.  One might say that creating music is my life.  Without it, I would simply cease to exist.

Something that has always held my interest, but I have never been able to afford to pursue is photography.  I have a great eye for composing shots - be it portrait photography, still life, or macros.  It's just, I don't have the cash to get into it.  Especially with digitals running as expensive as they are.

With a stroke of luck, I ran across a Canon EOS Rebel Xs (body only) on E-bay.  With only 13 seconds remaining in the auction, I threw my bid out there.  Time expired with me as the high bidder.  At the completely reasonable price of $10.50, I am now the proud owner of a good quality SLR camera! 

A camera body is useless without a lens, of course.  That said, I threw an extra $40 (earned by selling my old cell phone) toward a 35-80mm zoom lens.  This should be a good basic lens for taking portraits.  That'll start me out, at least.

In the coming days, if I take a pic worth sharing, I'll throw them on this blog.  I'm anticipating some good shots.  I just hope I can live up to my own expectations.  In the mean time, I'll share some very poor quality shots I took with a circa-1970's camera.  The exposure meter was broken, so it was hard to estimate the brightness.  The shots ended up over exposed... but still good memories were captured!

(my youngest daughter)

(my older daughters - very over exposed, but not bad for such an old camera)

More, better quality shots on the way in the coming months.  Stay tuned...

By the way... if anybody has any Canon EF-compatible lenses they want to donate or sell to me on the cheap, let me know! ;)

+ruined

On March 18, 2008, I signed a recording contract with a new, digital-media-only label.  Apparently, they had only been around for 2 weeks when I signed on.  They had already signed two other bands to the label, so I took comfort in knowing that I would not be the first musical artist they had dealings with.

Apparently, this recording label had a contract already drawn for their bands to sign.  Everything appeared to be very well organized and in order.  I signed the contract with great expectations!

Among the bands signed was a female-fronted electronic band.  Very good sound.  Highly creative.

It seems the founder of this record label was really interested in this female-fronted band, as he apparently though it would be a good idea to make sexual comments and advances toward her.  The problem with this is both, the label's founder and the female lead of this band are both married.

She did not take well to these advances.  In retaliation, the founder of the label decided to void the female-fronted band's contract.  The contract, however, did not have an exit clause for either party.  To avoid breach of contract, the label's founder sold the company to his wife... for $1.  All of the old contracts were nullified and the new owner of the label could pick and choose who to re-sign.  Of course, the new owner chose to re-sign all of the previous bands who had contracts - except for the female-fronted band.

Not wanting to be part of a label who thinks it good practise to sell the company and void contracts every time a band and the label have a problem, I chose not to re-sign.  But, this is only after I created an $800 web site for the company and sent all of my music covered under the contract to them. 

I have sent a letter through Certified Mail that I demand written notice that my contract is null and void and I demand return of ownership of all of my copyrights, as well as all music masters that I sent him.  I also demand the destruction of any copy of my music and artwork they have, be it on physical media, or in digital form.  They have until May 15 to comply.

If they fail to comply, I am considering suing them for the return of my music, as well as the $800 for the web site I created for them (by their request). 

All-in-all, this deal has screwed me out of a lot of money.  All because the founder of the label couldn't keep it in his pants...

+ruined