My Latest Peeve

Today, My Friend Flickr was scheduled to be down for the purposes of physically moving their servers in anticipation of an expansion. Leading up to the downtime, they had posted a message at the top of the website that indicated that the outage would be from "12pm to 5pm"...

I sent them an email informing them that there is no such thing as 12pm (or 12am for that matter) and I got the following response:

"12 p.m. exists as far as I know. It means 12 noon - 5 p.m. PST on Sunday (5 hours total)."

This evening, I walked up to the corner store and there was a sign posted on the door with their new hours: "6am to 12pm". As I walked out, I mentioned to the woman, "There's no such thing as 12pm, you know." She chuckled, but I don't think she understood...

There is a 12 Noon and a 12 Midnight — there is no 12am or 12pm.

It appears, however, that Blogger is deserving of an email as well! (see below)

Edit to add (19 June 2024):Now that I live on the West Coast, the time stamp on this post is 9:00 p.m. versus the original 12:00 a.m. (!!!)

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Liberty

Statue of Liberty (by O Caritas)

Are we losing our face as a nation? Has the United States of America become such a melting pot that we have lost any sort of identity?

Are we the self-centered, bombastic bastards that mock the country of France for taking a moralistic stand against aggression or are we the charitable people that are ready to lend a hand in time of need, regardless of political or religious persuasion?

It's unclear to me why we can't always (or at least more often) be the latter.

It's unclear to me why our so-called leaders feel the need to denigrate and belittle such countries as France. What has the United States—as a nation, as a people, as a picture of democracy—gained by mocking the French as the miserable failure did with his reference to french fries as "freedom fries"?

Why didn't he simply look out to the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbour and say, "Send it back! We don't need it anymore."?

No doubt Bush's intent was to light the fire under the worst element in this country – those whose deepest thoughts would have trouble filling even one of the bumperstickers on their gas-guzzling cars and SUVs; those who think Toby Keith's songwriting poses are an act of patiotism and heroism.

George W. Bush is all about polarization: "You're either with us or you're against us." He appeals to the baser instincts in people—instead of appealing to the more charitable, side.

As always, Sydney J. Harris had something to say about this...

Hate Is Simple, Love Complex

WE THINK OF OUR EMOTIONS as being either positive or negative — love, on the one hand, or hate, on the other. But there is another important way in which emotions divide: They are also simple or complex. And this is what creates much of the trouble in the world.

Love, for example, is difficult to sustain not because it is a positive emotion, but because it is a complex one. Hate is easy to maintain for a lifetime, because it is a simple one.

That is, love requires the addition of other elements in order to play its proper role; it needs understanding, patience, tact, the willingness to be hurt or disappointed from time to time. Love alone, in its simplicity, is not enough to carry the burden of relationship.

Hate is a totally different matter; it is not the opposite of love. (As St. Augustine pointed out long ago, indifference is the opposite of love.) Hate is a supremely simple emotion that makes it enormously attractive to a certain type of mind and personality.

First, hate makes no demand on our mental processes, and doesn't call on us to expand or change our views. In fact, it tends to remove doubt, and gives us a sense of decision and a feeling of righteous well-being.

It doesn't call on any of the other emotions for support; in-deed, it puts them quite out of court. It rejects understanding, despises tact, condemns patience, and will endure no hurt or disappointment without quick revenge.

Besides being the simplest of emotions, hate can also be the most fulfilling for a certain kind of person, because it provides him or her with a meaning to life, something to oppose, to blame, to relieve the sense of frustration or failure.

Most of all, because of its seductive simplicity, hate seems to remove the need for reasoning (an intolerable burden to many people) and for any of its auxiliary efforts, such as reading, analyzing, estimating, and judging. Hate has only one function and only one object.

Love might be compared to the building of a tall and elaborate sandcastle, taking many hours of painstaking effort, cooperation, balance, and persistence; and hate might be compared to the foot that comes along and with one vicious or thoughtless kick destroys in a moment what has been built up.

There is so little love in the world compared with the amount of hate — both expressed and latent — not because it is harder for us to be positive than negative, but because it is harder to combine and coordinate a complex emotion in a creative act than to live blindly by blaming and attacking some "enemy" for our dissatisfactions and disappointments. It takes a dedicated genius years to build a great cathedral; any desperado can bomb it to obliteration in a second. Why shouldn't hate, being so much easier, be so much more popular?

Somehow, "dedicated genius" is not a phrase I would use in describing George Bush; miserable failure, yes.

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Downtime

Snow Shower — ©2025 Patrick T. Power

This blog has been down for a day or so due to something going on with my webhost... They've not been at all responsive to my emails about this or any other of my sites, so I'm thinking of changing webhosts.

I have a friend in California who sells hosting, but I'm not so sure I'll be able to pay him a fair price. He's offered to give me a break, but I'm still not so sure I can make it fair for him. I got a tip from another friend last night about a reasonably-priced hosting service; a responsive one at that. I'll have to seriously consider it.

Because of the black-out blog-wise, I lost whatever urges I might have had to write. I've taken a lot of photographs recently, so I've been spending a lot of time editing them and posting them at Flickr. I've also recently figured out how to get reasonably good scans of slides using my flat-bed scanner and its backlight adapter for transmission scans.

I interviewed for a job on Monday but tanked it, I'm quite sure. During the interview, I sort of realized that the job wasn't quite suited for me anyway as it seemed to have a bit too much administrative work to tend to... In the last couple of years, I've begun to lose the best of my organizational skills (probably not very strong at best anyway!), and I'm not the detail-oriented person I once was. At least, I don't feel like I am. Too many cracks have developed in my life and I somehow keep finding every one of them into which to lose stuff.

Anyway... I doubt I'll get called back for a second interview and, frankly, I'm not so sure I'd accept the offer to interview if it came. I'd prefer to not pose as something I'm not just to get a job (despite my serious need for cash these days), but jobs that are perfect matches for me seem to be fewer and further between these days.

The weather has been rather goofy... We had a couple of days of 50-ish weather and the almost two feet of snow we recently had dumped on us completely melted. Yesterday, as I came home from snapping a few pictures and picking up some groceries, the snow started coming down like crazy and we've got an inch or two on the ground again. The photo above was taken from my balcony and I was thrilled with the way it turned out. I was dinking around, taking a photo of line patterns on the balcony when the fellow apartment dweller happened by.

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Smell

For as long as I can recall, I have had little or no sense of smell. I can smell but two things – a freshly opened can of coffee and a freshly opened jar of peanut butter. Once, while driving – and this is somewhat surprising for reasons I'll get into later – I smelled smoke from burning leaves as it wafted over the highway.

This apparent lack of a sense (don't say it!) has for the most part, not been a huge issue for me. I've had friends tell me that I should "get that checked out," and I suppose I've considered it from time to time, but I've not ever felt that disabled by my inability to smell – to detect odors, that is.

I have, unfortunately, had the ability to smell.

Perhaps the former led to the latter...

Sometimes the most difficult lessons we learn present themselves to us during the four years we spend in high school. I'm probably lucky that I went to high school when I did, as even the tiniest pimple seems to create extreme psychological distress for teenagers these days, sending them into fits of depression and suicidal behaviour.

For me, I recall it almost as if it were yesterday: It was my sophomore year; it was almost time to go to class. It was near the east stairs of the school's cafeteria when (the late) Warren Stacy decided he needed to say, "Why don't you take a bath!" No... it wasn't a question.

At that instant, I didn't quite know what he meant. But then it began to roll over me like a wave.

Of course, I didn't get it. I had bathed the night before. (At the time, we didn't have a shower in our house, so I'd take baths every night.) I recall that in my battle with acne, I'd washed my face that morning and left the soap to dry on my face (the ideas we come up with to fight that bastard acne!) – perhaps that was what prompted Warren's attack...

No... it could mean only one thing — I had body odor. B-O!

I recall the deodorant commercials at the time that were pretty malevolent towards those with (imagine the thundering deific voice echoing in your ear) "B-O" and it became very clear to me that those commercials had me as their target market.

It's funny how one tiny incident can change so much. It turned me into a fairly paranoid kid, thinking that every little whisper might be about me and my problem. In a time in which fitting in is about the only concern for most teenagers, I was not fitting in in the worst possible way.

I remain surprised to this day, actually, that if I'd had a body odor problem that my mother wouldn't have said something. She has always had the nose of a bloodhound and didn't have any qualms about telling me (or my brothers) what was wrong with us.

When I look back on Warren's lack of tact, I always wish – with the ability to turn back time – that my best friend from grade school, Bob Gladieux, would have taken me aside and said, "Listen, Pat..." I suppose that guilt by association might have had something to do with his decision to not reach out. Maybe it was awkward for him. Or, maybe Bob really didn't like me much after all.

While Warren's wake-up call got me to using deodorant (and boy, did I spray, paint and roll it on!), it didn't do much to change the treatment I got. Later that year, Tim Wiegand made an Oh-my-gawd-you-reek sound as we headed down the stairs toward the library one day.

But then, I had no way of knowing if he was being truthful or being hurtful (though I suspected the latter)... I didn't know what B-O smelled like on anyone else, much less myself, so it's not like I could take a whiff under my arm to meter my offensive levels. No doubt, I layered the deodorant on even thicker the next day. For me, fighting body odor was like being blindfolded and given a stick to swing at a piñata that I'd been told was hanging right in front of me.

Somehow I weathered the storm and made it to graduation without further incident, although I still panic a bit if I leave home in the morning without remembering to apply deodorant. Thanks, Warren!

As for my sense of smell, I have three regrets about not having a keen one.

One, I have often heard how memories are keyed by smells and with my seemingly endless interest in recalling my past, I wish I had one more device for helping my ever-thinning memory reach back in time.

Two, once – just once – I'd like to smell the nape of a woman's neck.

Three, I wish I had the ability to recognize when something is burning – it scares me to think that my home could be going up in flames and that I have to rely on smoke detectors to know it.

"But Pat," you say... "you already said you could smell smoke!"

I smelled smoke once and once only – as related back at the beginning of this meaandering post. When it comes to safety, however, I wouldn't trust my nose to be of much help.

While I was in college, I would often bake potatoes using a toaster oven, and one day while preparing to work on a term paper, I turned on the toaster oven, tossed in the potato and got to work. In an hour or so the potato would be ready, right? The oven's timer would let me know, so I didn't think much about it once into the thick of my paper.

From time to time, I'd look up from the typewriter and gaze out the sliding glass door of our apartment, either to ponder an idea or merely to give myself a break. At one point, something looked different. The view out the window, for some reason, looked a little hazy. I paid it little mind, however, and plodded on.

Eventually, I had to go to my room for something and as I entered, I found an even hazier appearance there, but still thought I was just seeing things. As I returned to my chair in the living room, however, I quickly noticed what the problem was – smoke was billowing – rippling from the toaster oven. I (or my roommate) had inadvertently left the on-off light timer (which we used for turning the coffeemaker on in the morning) on top of the oven. It was plastic and didn't do a very good job of holding up to the heat.

I can't recall much else, except that my upstairs neightbor came home shortly after I took care of the disaster. I'm guessing that she and her roommate smelled it for a while after that. I don't know how long my roomie continued to smell it.

Smell.

Yes!

Kerri by KitschKat.

For years, I have thought that something like this was necessary in order to communicate with the lower intelligent life forms!

Photo Weekend

Shadow White Blue #1

Not much blogging for the last couple of days as I've been keeping myself busy in other unproductive ways...

I spent about four hours last Friday taking photographs with my new digital camera. I left home and started out on Trowbridge, photographing the ridiculously-designed "turnaround" pattern. At nearly every juncture at which cars and trucks are supposed to make turnarounds from eastbound to westbound Trowbridge, there are tire tracks (some deeper than others) on the grass where trucks have driven up over curbs in order to complete their turns.

I'm intending on emailing my photos to the city manager and suggest that the planner for that project either be fired or that the city get its (our!) money back.

Okay, so...

I headed north on Harrison and was happy to find my "Snow Job" project still intact in front of the Methodist church... I was afraid that someone had picked up the paper before the last snow that we had but was happy to see otherwise. (Hmmm... now what kind of a life does that indicate I have when a piece of paper lying on the ground makes me happy?!?) I'm hoping to document the decay of the paper from now until, well, it decays beyond visibility, I guess.

As I walked, I kept a few of my Flickr groups in mind – I was looking for opposites for the Photographer's Block (Assignment) group, and numbers for the In Numerical Order group. I found plenty of the latter but I got distracted yesterday and forgot to keep up with the group... I managed to contribute 58 and had 98 ready to go, but lost out.

I spent a lot of time near Brody complex, taking a couple of panoramic shots that didn't quiet, um... pan out.

I struck gold (or shall I say, blue and white?) at the old Bud Kouts Honda dealership. I hadn't been aware they'd closed up – I'd bought my Honda Civic Wagon there shortly after Zachary was born a little under twenty years ago and I'd often fantasized about buying another Honda from them... seeing an empty showroom and parking lot was odd. I loved exploring the shapes and patterns and textures of the used car trailer that sits in the middle of the parking lot, and I must have shot a hundred frames around that lot.

I spent the better part of the rest of the evening sorting through and editing images for uploading to the Flickr site and was quite excited about a lot of the results – disappointed in others.


Last evening, I tried catching up on some DVDs I'd rented last Thursday night... I need to get them back tonight, so I crammed three-and-a-half in last night: Dirty Pretty Things, a good but frightful film about people involved with selling their bodily organs for passports (ugh!). Audrey Tatou is in it, and I rarely pass up a chance to see one of her films!

I also watched an old, old one... The Heartbreak Kid with Cybill Shepherd and Charles Grodin. Grodin plays a newlywed who is in Miami Beach on his honeymoon, meets Kelly (Shepherd), then dumps his wife (he'd realized marrying her was a mistake mid-way to Florida) to pursue the amazingly gorgeous Kelly. Eddie Alberts (Green Acres) plays Shepard's surly father wonderfully.

Sylvia was nect on the agenda and Gwyneth Paltrow played what I thought was a pretty good version of poet/novelist Sylvia Plath. There seemed to be so much of the story of her life that was left out (not that I know that much about her), and I think that her relationship with her husband was far too surface-scratching. I recently began reading The Bell Jar and have really enjoyed her use of language so far.

I wrapped up the evening with a surprisingly wicked House Of Sand And Fog. I'd known the concept of the film but didn't realize that it would get as intense as it did. It's a good film, I think, that gets you to take sides with both sides of a story, and i found myself being empathetic for both Ben Kingsley's character as well as Jennifer Connelly's.

Happy New Year!

2005 Balcony Sunrise.

Well, I began posting this once, but my browser crashed while I was trying to upload a photograph. One of these days...

I had a rather uneventful New Year's Eve... I stayed home and edited the photographs I took yesterday while out for a four-hour Walk-n-Shoot™.

I was pleased to see that the paper I photographed on December 1st was still in its place awaiting the third installment of a series I hope will last until the spring (which yesterday resembled by the way).

I kept the television off all night, wanting to have nothing to do with the ever-burgeoning foolishness that television has become. No doubt everybody missed Dick Clark... Fuh!

As sunrise came this morning, I woke to it beaming in my windows and had to grab a shot quickly – my first photograph of 2005 isn't the best, but it's my first. A year ago, I probably wouldn't have thought to run grab a camera; neither would I have done it many years before that. This must be a sign of something!

With a very strange year behind me – one in which I've re-invigorated my interest in photography, got inspired to become a bit more vocal politically (albeit mostly in the form of blogging), experienced the hell known as "raging teenage hormones", lost my full-time job thanks to the state having yanked 50% of its funding to the arts...

Doors close. Doors open.

Some open for a second time... Last year, I created an alumni website for my high school (currently down due to problems with hosting), and in the process I was inspired to look up people I'd known long ago.

I found Mike Baird – one of my best friends as a kid – by doing a Google search, and finding so many results that I chose to click on Google's image search link. One of the first images that came up was one in which I recognized Mike after not having seen him in close to thirty years. He's a web developer in California. He has overcome a lot to become a successful businessman.

Alice Wilkinson – a teenage romance that never seemed to quite find its flame – lives near Chicago, two marriages and a couple of children (and step-children) later.

I located Sandy Harley, a woman I'd worked with (and fell for) when I lived in Minneapolis one summer – she's also in California and working on a Masters degree.

Sandy Pfefferle. I met her in the summer of 1978 in the parking lot of Bloomington, Minnesota's Metropolitan Stadium (where the Mall of America now sits, I believe) where I was tailgating (my first time) prior to a Minnesota Kicks (NASL) game. She gave her phone number to me and I must have dialed six of the seven numbers a dozen times – I was seeing the other Sandy at the time (or so I thought), so I couldn't quite get myself to dial the seventh. However, we talked and corresponded for a year or so after I left Minnesota; that I lived in Ohio and she in Minnesota was too difficult a commute to imagine, however, so things just petered out. She's happily married with three boys.

2004 has no doubt been an interesting year for my friends, as they've seen me become a bit more reclusive. I guess that so much of my vocation and avocation are computer-related that I find myself mercilessly tied to one. I am hoping to rectify that this year, as well as loosening up on other commitments.

I have been very lucky to know the people I call my friends; even luckier that they call me their friend. For fear of leaving someone out, I'm just going to say, "You know who you are!" and sincerely hope that covers it.

Here's to a great 2005!

Que 2005 seja melhor!

É português.

2004 (by *L)

Persons Of The Year (U.S. Edition)

846 people who put their fate in the hands of their Commander-In-Chief had their lives taken from them this year in Iraq. Many of them no doubt answered a personal call to defend their country from terrorism after the events of September 11, 2001. Many of them no doubt had joined the military for benefit of a college education. Many no doubt joined for the purposes of gaining skills they could use later in life — a later that will never come.

According to CNN, 60,608,582 people felt that these lives were insignificant enough to re-elect the miserable failure, giving tacit (if not explicit) approval of what he has done to ruin the lives of so many people; that there is no room for diplomacy in the world.

Many of these people are were under twenty-five years of age; many of these people weren't even old enough to drink alcohol in their respective states.

Many of these people will never know the feeling of holding a newborn child — a moment that – at least for me – is the ultimate moment of recognizing what a miracle life is. (All names are current as of 31 December 2004, 9:20am.)

Nelson, Craig L.
Sanchez, Oscar
Briones Jr., Pablito Pena
Lehto, Jason A.
Nyren, Nathaniel J.
Olson, Todd D.
Rivera-Serrano, Jose A.
Barnett, Christopher W.
Hillenburg, Eric
Phillips, James R.
Smith, Raleigh C.
O'Dell, Robert D.
Poulin Sr., Lynn Robert
Mason, Nicholas C. "Nick"
Baldwin, Joel Egan
Melo, Julian S.
Petsche, Neil D.
Dostie, Thomas John
Ruhren, David A.
Karpowich, Paul D.
Hewitt, Cory Michael
Ayro, Lionel
Castro, Jonathan
Jacobsen Jr., William W.
Johnson, Robert S.
VanKomen, Darren D.
Meza, Barry K.
Farmer, Donald B.
Sweger, Franklin A.
Martinez, Victor A.
Anderson, Michael D.
Time, Tina Safaira
Warner, Richard D.
Vroman, Brent T.
Blanton, Jeffery S.
Blazer, Melvin L.
Lopez, Hilario F.
Clairday, Jason S.
Stewart, Ian W.
Kirk, Jeffrey L.
Dickinson, Joshua W.
Ramsey, Joshua A.
Rund, Gregory P.
Hoyt, Robert W.
Adlesperger, Christopher S.
Shields, Andrew C.
Leach, Patrick D.
Renehan, Kyle J.
Williams IV, Arthur C.
Kim, In C.
Stubenhofer, Mark N.
Gibbs, Todd Clayton
Trost III, Marvin Lee
Eggers, Kyle A.
Roodhouse, Edwin William
Ward, Andrew M.
Boatright, Michael L.
Gasiewicz, Cari Anne
Tuialuuluu, Salamo J.
Mitts, David A.
Behnke, Joseph O.
Mahlenbrock, David P.
Irizarry, Henry E.
Le, Binh N.
Wyatt, Matthew A.
Harrison, George Daniel
Fisher, David M.
Pena, Javier Obleas-Prado
Kolda, Zachary A.
Wilson, Bryan S.
Guereca Jr., Jose
Calderon, Pablo A.
Urbina, Wilfredo F.
Davis, Daryl A.
Hayes, Erik W.
Magaoay, Blake A.
Engeldrum, Christian P.
Brooks, Adam R.
Hanson Jr., Charles A.
Martinezluis, Trinidad R.
Shackelford, Michael B.
Lee, Carl W.
Benish, Stephen C.
Bosselmann, Kirk J.
Smith, Michael A.
Christensen, Jeremy E.
Lucero, Joshua E.
Grant, Brian K.
Meyer, Harrison J.
Winkler, Jordan D.
Faircloth, Bradley M.
Houck, David B.
Cantafio, Ryan J.
Holmes, Jeffery Scott
Marku, Gentian
Nolte, Nicholas S.
Diaz Varela, Sergio R.
Edinger, Benjamin C.
Ebert, Blain M.
Cohen, Michael R.
Roustum, David L.
Welke, Joseph T.
Bryant Jr., Jack
Heredia, Joseph J.
Downey, Michael A.
Gavriel, Dimitrios
West, Phillip G.
Arms, Bradley Thomas
Brown, Demarkus D.
Figueroa, Luis A.
Nolan, Joseph M.
Hanks, Michael Wayne
Flores-Mejia, Jose Ricardo
McConnell, Daniel James
Caddy, Marshall H.
Wullenwaber, Luke C.
Heflin, Christopher T.
Qualls, Louis W.
Hunt, Isaiah R.
Desiato, Travis R.
Parker, Bradley L.
Kielion, Shane E.
Ryan, Marc T.
Ailes, Jeramy A.
Peralta, Rafael
Swain, James E.
Rapicault, Patrick Marc M.
Smith, Antoine D.
Thompson, Lance M.
Miller, William L.
Ziolkowski, Nicholas L.
Perez, Andres H.
Burger Jr., Dale A.
Payton, George J.
Dima, Catalin D.
Dempsey, Kevin J.
Ellsworth, Justin M.
Norwood, Byron W.
Velez, Jose A.
Bryan, Benjamin S.
McLeese, Justin D.
Lu, Victor R.
Sims, Sean P.
Larsen, Cole W.
White, Raymond L.
Maher, Jarrod L.
Strader, Morgan W.
Anderson, Nathan R.
Prening, Brian P.
Iwan, Edward D.
Shields, Jonathan B.
Branning, David M.
Medina, Brian A.
Matteson, James C. "J.C."
Anderson, Nicholas H.
Bowling, Theodore A.
Holder II, Theodore S. "Sam"
Blecksmith, James P. "JP"
Burns, Kyle W.
Reppuhn, Justin D.
Giannopoulos, Peter J.
Huey, Sean P.
Doerflinger, Thomas K.
Woods, Julian
Malcom Jr., Dan T.
Hodges, Erick J.
Ramirez, Gene
Pickering, Aaron C.
Jimenez II, Romulo J.
Ottolini, Michael C.
Miller Jr., Dennis J.
Canning, Wesley J.
Moore, Horst Gerhard "Gary"
Auchman, Steven E.
Babbitt, Travis A.
Faulkenburg, Steven W.
Wells, Lonny D.
Segura, Juan E.
James, William C.
Larson, Nicholas D.
Wood, Nathan R.
Slay, Russell L.
Cornell, Todd R.
Trotter, John Byron
Caruso, David M.
Simpson, Abraham
Lam, Jeffrey
Palmer, Joshua D.
Freeman, Bryan L.
Hammond, Nathaniel T.
O'Donnell, Shane K.
Ramey, Branden P.
Ries, David G.
Wisdom, Clinton Lee
Clary, Don Allen
Warns II, Robert P.
Zapp, Thomas J.
Baker, Brian K.
Langley, Sean M.
Tran, Quoc Binh
Mcvey, Otie Joseph
Yoemans, Justin R.
Camacho-Rivera, Carlos M.
Wentz, Cody L.
Baro, Jeremiah A.
Hubbard, Jared P.
Webb, Charles Joseph
Lynch, Matthew D.
Bow, Jeremy D.
Scarborough, Michael P.
Fox, Travis A.
Lapka, Christopher J.
Byrd II, John T.
Riedel, Andrew G.
Courtney, Kelley L.
Lukac, John
Fortune, Maurice Keith
Battles Sr., Michael
Akintade, Segun Frederick
Downing II, Stephen P.
Lemon, Jerome
Oliveira, Brian
Slocum, Richard Patrick
Boles, Dennis J.
Gadsden, Jonathan E.
Bascom, Douglas E.
Ehrlich, Andrew C.
Johnson, Christopher B.
Brennan, William I.
Schramm, Brian K.
Burgess, Alan J.
Salazar, William I.
Santos, Jonathan J.
Owen, Michael G.
Hawkins II, Omer T.
Beard, Bradley S.
Barbret, Mark A.
Vandertulip, Josiah H.
Waters, David L.
Moreno, Jaime
Regnier, Jeremy F.
Phelan, Mark P.
Soltes Jr., Charles R.
Felsberg, Paul M.
Gonzalez, Victor A.
Baker, Ronald W.
Martinez, Oscar A.
Zook, Ian T.
Merville, Christopher A.
Wyatt, Daniel R.
Pintor, Dennis L.
Weger, Michael S.
Osbourne, Pamela G.
Monroe, Anthony W.
Burbank, Michael Lee
Rusin, Aaron J.
Ramsey, Carson J.
Prevete, James E.
Halverson, Andrew
Voss, Michael S.
Brown, Andrew W.
Jacobs, Morgen N.
Cawvey, Jessica L.
Kim, Jeungjin Na "Nikky"
Morgan Jr., Richard L.
Potts, Christopher S.
Collier, Russell L.
Pettaway Jr., James L.
Uvanni, Michael A.
Hennessy, Jack Taft
Jones, Rodney A.
Cunningham, Darren J.
Nolan, Allen
Titcomb, Joshua K.
Dennie, Mike A.
Prewitt, Tyler D.
Cox, Gregory A.
Villanueva, Joselito O.
Sickels, Kenneth L.
Allton, Eric L.
Johnson, David W.
Moxley Jr., Clifford L.
Unruh, Robert Oliver
Boyles, Aaron
Mateo, Ramon
Folmar, Timothy
Leduc, Ryan
Koenig, Lance J.
Harris, Adam J.
Soram, Skipper
Smith, Benjamin K.
Stahl, Nathan E.
Henry, Joshua J.
Cates, Steven C. T.
Harrington, Foster L.
Adams, Brandon E.
Rosenbaum, Thomas Chad
Price, James W.
Ebert, Christopher S.
Stern, Andrew K.
Rintamaki, Steven A.
Uhles, Drew M.
Howman, Gregory C.
Demand, Jacob H.
Shea, Kevin M.
Brown, Tyler Hall
Isenberg, Benjamin W.
Weisenburg, David J.
Machado-Olmos, Cesar F.
Halal, Michael J.
Brown, Dominic C.
Hagy Jr., Guy Stanley
Thomas, Carl
Puckett, Mathew D.
Soltau, Adrian V.
Meluat, Jaygee Ngirmidol
Wetherbee, Alexander E.
Poindexter, Jason T.
Cedergren, David A.
Daclan Jr., Edgar P.
DeLeon Jr., Lauro G.
Faulkner, James Daniel
Martinez, Michael A.
Sparks, Jason L.
Adams III, Clarence
Aneiros, Yoe M.
Price, Timothy E.
Drake, Chad H.
Allred, Michael J.
Burridge, David Paul
Gardner, Derek L.
Keith, Quinn A.
McCarthy, Joseph C.
Nygardbekowsky, Mick R.
Wilson, Lamont N.
Read, Brandon Michael
Bourdon, Elvis
Garces, Tomas
Boria, John J.
Grella, Devin J.
Morrison, Shawna M.
Lamb, Charles R.
Vaillant, Gary A.
McCauley, Ryan Michael
Knott, Eric L.
Perez, Nicholas
Rowe, Alan
Winchester, Ronald
Wilt, Nicholas
Thibodeaux III, Joseph C.
Holleyman, Aaron N.
Anderson Jr., Carl L.
Lopez, Edgar E.
Perez, Luis A.
Razani, Omead H.
Aldrich, Nickalous N.
Humlhanz, Barton R.
Skinner, Nicholas M.
Arredondo, Alexander S.
Neeley, Charles L.
Ross, Marco D.
Davis, Donald N.
Lugo, Jacob R.
Thornton Jr., Robert C.
Stovall, Matthew R.
Belchik, Christopher
Cuming, Kevin A.
Alvarez, Nicanor
Cook, Jason
Huston, Seth
Washalanta, Nachez
Reeder, Edward T.
Wilkins III, Charles L.
Martin, Ryan A.
McCormick, Brad Preston
Risner, Henry C.
Parkerson III, Harvey Emmett
Fitzgerald, Dustin R.
Martir, Jacob D.
Lord, Richard M.
Powers, Caleb J.
Titus, Brandon T.
Heath, David M.
Sapp, Brandon R.
Zapata, Mark Anthony
Goins, James Michael
Shepherd, Daniel Michael
Hannon, Fernando B.
Perez, Geoffrey
Funke, Kane M.
Morrison, Nicholas B.
Santoriello, Neil Anthony
Tarlavsky, Michael Yury
Howard, John R.
Hubbard, Tavon L.
Houghton, Andrew R.
Collins, Jonathan W.
Ulbright, Rick A.
Potter, David L.
Wells, Larry L.
Abad, Roberto
Bunch, Joshua I.
Faulstich Jr., Raymond J.
Rocha, Moses Daniel
Reynoso, Yadir G.
McCune, Donald R.
Fontecchio, Elia P.
Nice, Joseph L.
Shondee Jr., Harry N.
Ratzlaff, Gregory A.
Gray, Tommy L.
Onwordi, Justin B.
Calderon Jr., Juan
Pratt, Dean P.
Dixon, Anthony J.
Hernandez, Armando
Herndon II, Joseph F.
Leisten, Ken W.
Greene, David S.
Lane, Shawn A.
Talbert, DeForest L. "Dee"
Sullivan, Vincent M.
Zangara, Nicholas J.
Dantzler, Torey J.
Reed, Tatjana
Blodgett, Nicholas H.
Engel, Mark E.
Godwin, Todd J.
Clark, Michael J.
Daniels II, Danny B.
Lloyd, Dale Thomas
Persing, Charles C. "C.C."
Frank, Craig S.
Hartman, David A.
Kelly, Bryan P.
Mardis Jr., Paul C.
Rice, Demetrius Lamont
Martinez, Jesse J.
Harris, Torry D.
Peters, Dustin W.
Tarango-Griess, Linda Ann
Fischer, Jeremy J.
West, James G.
Wilson, Dana N.
Holmes Ordóñez, Terry
Spink, Trevor
Nachampassak, Krisna
Reed, Christopher J.
Emanuel IV, William River
Sampler, Sonny Gene
Colvill Jr., Robert E.
Barcus, Collier Edwin
Garmback Jr., Joseph M.
Davies, Shawn M.
Schmunk, Jeremiah W.
Barkey, Michael C.
Bowen, Samuel R.
Hunt, Justin T.
Lawrence, Jeffrey D.
Dougherty, Scott Eugene
Youmans, Rodricka Antwan
Torres, Michael S.
Vangyzen IV, John J.
Kerns, Dallas L.
Huston Jr., James B.
Smith, Brian D.
Martin, Stephen G.
Wagener, Christopher A.
Conde Jr., Kenneth
Creager, Timothy R.
DuSang, Robert L.
Sherman, Alan David
Todd III, John H.
Adle, Patrick R.
Utt, Ernest E.
Heines, Jeremy M.
Ceniceros, Manuel A.
Cash, Christopher S.
Desens, Daniel A.
Kiser, Charles A.
Tyson, Andre D.
McCaffrey Sr., Patrick R.
Parker Jr., Tommy L.
Contreras, Pedro
Lopez, Juan
Otey, Deshon E.
Pennington, Gregory V.
Best, Marvin
Horn, Sean
Vue, Thai
Lynch, Jason N.
Syverson III, Paul R.
Mastrapa, Arthur S. (Stacey)
Dimaranan, Jeremy M.
Atkins, Shawn M.
McKinley, Eric S.
Caughman, Thomas D.
Khan, Humayun S. M.
Gray, Jamie A.
Bohlman, Jeremy L.
Mora Lopez, Melvin Y.
Hobart, Melissa J.
Doltz, Ryan E.
Timoteo, Humberto F.
McCrae, Erik S.
Linden, Justin W.
Eyerly, Justin L.
Carvill, Frank T.
Duffy, Christopher M.
Bolding, Todd J.
Lee, Bumrok
Johnson, Markus J.
Sides, Dustin L.
Scheetz Jr., Robert C.
Elandt, Aaron C.
Ballard, Kenneth Michael
Zimmer, Nicholaus E.
Coleman, Bradli N.
Odums II, Charles E.
Gonzalez, Benjamin R.
Calavan, Cody S.
Reynosasuarez, Rafael
Wiesemann, Michael J.
Codner, Kyle W.
Henderson, Matthew C.
Nicolas, Dominique J.
Sheehan, Kevin F.
Bean Jr., Alan N.
Unger, Daniel Paul
Rosas, Richard H.
Lambert, James P.
Beaulieu, Beau R.
Witt, Owen D.
Ridlen, Jeremy L.
Molina Bautista, Jorge A.
Horton, Jeremy R.
Zabierek, Andrew J.
Miranda, Troy "Leon"
Salas, Rudy
Jackson, Leslie D.
Campbell, Michael C.
Carey, Michael M.
Garyantes, Joseph P.
Nolasco, Marcos O.
Chaney, William D.
Kasecky, Mark Joseph
Curran, Carl F.
Roberts, Bob W.
Cowherd Jr., Leonard M.
Ledesma, Rene
Espaillat Jr., Pedro I.
Barnhill, Edward C.
Spakosky, Philip I.
Harlan, James William
Cronkrite, Brud J.
Mora, Michael A.
Sturdy, Brandon C.
Cutter, Brian K.
Shaver, Jeffrey R.
Savage, Jeremiah E.
Brinlee, Kyle A.
Tuazon, Andrew L.
Murray, Rodney A.
Whitman, Chase R.
Rubalcava, Isela
Holmes, James J.
Brown, Philip D.
Box Jr., Hesley
Schrage, Dustin H.
Buryj, Jesse R.
Marshall, James E.
Kritzer, Bradley G.
Green, Jeffrey G.
Petty, Erickson H.
Baum, Ronald E.
Kenny, Christopher J.
Sprayberry III, Marvin R.
Wahl, Gregory L.
Marcus Jr., Lyndon A.
Caradine Jr., Ervin
Drexler, Jeremy L.
Nunes, Todd E.
Anderson, Michael C.
Dossett, Trace W.
Mchugh, Scott R.
Jenkins, Robert B.
Ginther, Ronald A.
Tipton, John E.
Wine, Trevor A.
Ladd, Joshua S.
Vargas-Medina, Oscar D.
Ojeda, Ramon C.
Vincent, Scott M.
Wilfong, Joshua S.
Dwelley, Jason B.
Dickerson, Christopher M.
Estep, Adam W.
Kondor, Martin W.
Patterson Jr., Esau G.
Dayton, Jeffrey F.
Campbell, Ryan M.
Beckstrand, James L.
Schmidt, Justin B.
Reed, Ryan E.
Darling, Norman
Ewing, Jeremy Ricardo
Garrison, Landis W.
Herring, Jacob R.
Thomas, Kendall
Penamedina, Abraham D.
Whitaker, Marquis A.
Baker, Sherwood R.
Roukey, Lawrence A.
Austin, Aaron C.
Melton, Kenneth A.
Bruckenthal, Nathan B.
Brandon, Stacey C.
Pernaselli, Michael J.
Watts, Christopher E.
Brooks, Cory W.
Kordsmeier, Patrick W.
Felder, Arthur L. "Bo"
Orton, Billy J.
Edwards, Shawn C.
Dunham, Jason L.
Gelineau, Christopher D.
Fox, Bradley C.
Harris-Kelly, Leroy
McGlothin, Michael A.
Henderson II, Robert L.
Henson, Clayton Welch
Hartman, Jonathan N.
Gannon II, Richard J.
Smith Jr., Michael J.
Valdez Jr., Ruben
Van Leuven, Gary F.
Gibson, Christopher A.
Carman, Edward W.
Camposiles, Marvin A.
Morgan, Dennis B.
Wood, Brian M.
Arroyave, Jimmy J.
Rivers Jr., Frank K.
Trevithick, Richard K.
Ramirez, Christopher
Rosaleslomeli, Victor A.
Boye, Noah L.
Kolm, Kevin T.
Zurheide Jr., Robert Paul
Shuder, Brad S.
Fortenberry, Wesley C.
Colton, Lawrence S.
Jimenez, Oscar
Amaya, Daniel R.
Gray, Torrey L.
Torres, George D.
Johnson, Justin W.
Brown, Nathan P.
Stack, Michael Boyd
Holt, Antoine J.
Sims Jr., John T.
Eckhart, William C.
Carballo, Adolf C.
Delgreco, Felix M.
Goodrich, Gregory R.
Krause, Elmer C.
Kephart, Jonathan Roy
Matula, Matthew E.
Torrez III, Elias
Speer, Michael Raymond
McMahan, Don Steven
Enos, Peter G.
Mallet, Toby W.
Jones Jr., Raymond Edison
Witmer, Michelle M.
Vandayburg, Allen Jeffrey "A.J."
Ayon, Eric A.
Phelps, Chance R.
Nieves, Isaac Michael
Angell, Levi T.
Harrell, William M.
Palmer, Joshua M.
Wafford, Michael B.
Dieruf, Nicholas J.
Wasser, Christopher B.
Frank, Phillip E.
Labadie Jr., William W.
Miller, Marvin Lee
Morel, Brent L.
Wroblewski, John Thomas "J.T."
Rentschler, George S.
Felder, Tyanna S.
Moreno, Gerardo
Cobb, Christopher R.
Jerabek, Ryan M.
Layfield, Travis J.
Walker, Allan K.
Crowley, Kyle D.
Roberts, Anthony P.
Cherry, Marcus M.
Carman, Benjamin R.
Mendez-Aceves, Fernando A.
Mabry, Christopher D.
Todacheene, Lee Duane
Hallal, Deryk L.
Langhorst, Moises A.
Serio, Matthew K.
Ramos, Christopher
Thiry, Jesse L.
Goldman, Shane Lee
McKeever, David M.
Larson Jr., Scott Quentin
Barr, Aric J.
Fey, Tyler R.
Arsiaga, Robert R.
Garza, Israel
Jostes, Forest Joseph
Sheehan, Casey
Cason, Ahmed Akil "Mel"
Hiller, Stephen D. "Dusty"
Chen, Yihiyh L.
Mitchell, Michael W.
Amos II, John D.
Rogers, Philip G.
Morris, Geoffrey S.
Strange, William R.
Sekula, Dustin M.
Hufstedler, Doyle M.
Mitchell, Sean R.
Karr Jr., Michael G.
Raney, Cleston C.
Davis, Brandon L.
Wiscowiche, William J.
Ferguson, Richard L.
Schneider, Sean M.
Holmes, Jeremiah J.
Toney, Timothy
Sandoval Jr., Leroy
Froehlich, Adam D.
Burgess, Jeffrey C.
Casper, James A.
Shanaberger III, Wentz Jerome Henry
Dang, Andrew S.
Miller Jr., Bruce
Kreider, Dustin L.
Hudson, Christopher E.
Sandri, Matthew J.
Taylor, Mark D.
Vega, Michael W.
Matthews, Clint Richard "Bones"
Ludlam, Jason C.
Vicente, David M.
Smith, Brandon C.
Morris Jr., Ricky A.
Sutphin, Ernest Harold
Brownfield, Andrew D.
Chan, Doron
Laramore, Tracy L.
Phipps, Ivory L.
Adams, Michael R.
Thigpen Sr., Thomas R.
Carrasquillo, Jocelyn "Joce" L.
Normandy, William J.
Kurth, John F. "Hans"
Ford, Jason C.
Ferrin, Clint D.
Londono, Daniel J.
Brattain, Joel K.
Dunigan Jr., Joe L.
Hill, Christopher K.
Hoyer, Bert Edward
Gottfried, Richard S.
Brabazon, Edward W.
Holland, Fern L.
Zangas, Robert J.
Milczark, Matthew G.
Jones, Gussie M.
Gray, Michael J.
Woodliff, Michael R.
Wells, Stephen M.
Laskowski, Matthew C.
Bacon, Henry A.
Graham, Jeffrey C.
Ling, Roger G.
Frye, Nichole M.
Taylor, Christopher M.
Merila, Michael M.
Spry, Bryan N.
Ramirez, Eric U.
Tainsh, Patrick S.
Ramirez, William C.
Mariano, Jude C.
Robbins, Thomas D.
Wong, Elijah Tai Wah
Ramey, Richard P.
Knowles, Joshua L.
Dvorin, Seth J.
Turner Jr., Roger C.
Soriano, Armando
Miersandoval, Eliu A.
Cabralbanuelos, Juan C.
McGeogh, Holly J.
Landrus, Sean G.
Moreno, Luis A.
August, Matthew J.
Mracek, Cory R.
James, Luke S.
Hoffman, James T.
Kinney II, Lester O.
Moothart, Travis A.
Dervishi, Ervin
Dorff, Patrick D.
Bunda, Christopher
Mooney, Adam G.
Hendrickson, Kenneth W.
Smette, Keith L.
Chappell, Jason K.
Sturges Jr., William R.
Rosenberg, Randy S.
Blaise, Michael T.
Hazelgrove, Brian D.
Palacios, Gabriel T.
Parker, James D.
Hornbeck, Kelly L.
Randle Jr., Edmond Lee
Polley Jr., Larry E.
Orr, Cody J.
Castro, Roland L.
Hines, Keicia M.
Crockett, Ricky L.
Weaver, Aaron A.
Walker, Jeffrey C.
Diraimondo, Michael A.
Hicks, Gregory B.
Johnson, Nathaniel H.
Golby, Christopher A.
Davis, Craig
Johnson Jr., Philip A.
Manuel, Ian D.
Mizener, Jesse D.
Frist, Luke P.
Corral, Dennis A.
Hampton, Kimberly N.
Paliwoda, Eric Thomas
Bangayan, Solomon C. "Kelly"
Seiden, Marc S.

And because I don't want to slight those who had their lives taken from them in in 2003...

Pollard, Justin W.
Cuervo, Rey D.
Blanco, Ernesto M.
Jordan Jr., Curt E.
Haight, Charles G.
Sutter, Michael J.
Mihalakis, Michael G.
Christensen, Thomas W.
Hattamer, Stephen C.
Splinter, Christopher J.
Soelzer, Christopher F.
Biskie, Benjamin W.
Cooke, Eric F.
Yashinski, Michael E.
Saltz, Edward M.
Moore, Stuart W.
Bush Jr., Charles E.
Allison, Glenn R.
Holland, Christopher J.
Souslin, Kenneth C.
Nakis, Nathan W.
Ferguson, Rian C.
Voelz, Kimberly A.
Braun, Jeffrey F.
Black, Jarrod W.
Edgerton, Marshall L.
Petty, Jerrick M.
Burdick, Richard A.
Reese, Aaron T.
Bates, Todd M.
Wright, Jason G.
Bridges, Steven H.
Blickenstaff, Joseph M.
Wesley, Christopher Jude Rivera
Hutchinson, Ray J.
Clark, Arron R.
Davis, Raphael S.
Young, Ryan C.
Boone, Clarence E.
Singh, Uday
Sissel, Aaron J.
Bertolino, Stephen A.
Rico, Ariel
Sweet II, Thomas J.
Goldberg, David J.
Wilson, Jerry L.
Ravago IV, Rel A.
Menyweather, Eddie E.
Smith, Darrell L.
Nason, Christopher G.
Bushart, Damian S.
Roberts, Robert D.
Coleman, Gary B.
Lister, Joseph L.
Wood, George A.
Tyrrell, Scott Matthew
Panchot, Dale A.
Coulter, Alexander S.
Shull, James A.
Dalley, Nathan S.
Hayslett, Timothy L.
Acklin II, Michael D.
Baker, Ryan T.
Dusenbery, William D.
Hansen, Warren S.
Uhl III, Eugene A.
Hawk Eagle, Sheldon R.
Kesterson, Erik C.
Sullivan, John R.
Wolfe, Jeremy L.
Bolor, Kelly
Russell, John W.
Saboe, Scott A.
Heidelberg, Damian L.
DiGiovanni, Jeremiah J.
Hafer, Richard W.
Piche, Pierre E.
Whitener, Joey D.
Medina, Irving
Minucci II, Joseph
Fletcher, Jacob S.
Wise, Robert A.
Bailey, Nathan J.
Acosta, Genaro
Jackson, Marlon P.
Tomko, Nicholas A.
Vasquez, Mark D.
Collins, Gary L.
Frosheiser, Kurt R.
Jimenez, Linda C.
Swartworth, Sharon T.
Kennedy, Kyran E.
Neff II, Paul M.
Rose, Scott C.
Smith, Benedict J.
Gilmore I, Cornell W.
Kennon, Morgan DeShawn
Fisher, Paul F.
Wolf, James R.
Chance III, James A.
Rivera, Jose A.
Martinez, Francisco
Benson, Robert T.
Johnson, Rayshawn S.
Colgan, Benjamin J.
Velasquez, Paul A.
Bucklew, Ernest G.
Dagostino, Anthony D.
Lau, Karina S.
Moss, Keelan L.
Pennanen, Ross A.
Slavenas, Brian D.
Vega, Frances M.
Wilson, Joe Nathan
Jennings, Darius T.
Bader, Daniel A.
Conover, Steven Daniel
Penisten, Brian H.
Perez, Joel
Smith, Bruce A.
Hurley, Joshua C.
Johnson, Maurice J.
Bryant, Todd J.
Adams, Algernon
Barrera, Michael Paul
Campoy, Isaac
Bell, Aubrey D.
Falaniko, Jonathan I.
Guerrera, Joseph R.
Bosveld, Rachel K.
Buehring, Charles H.
Huggins, Jamie L.
Acosta, Steven
Cannon, Jakia Sheree
Brassfield, Artimus D.
Mora, Jose L.
Hancock, Michael S.
Teal, John R.
Ward, Jason M.
Johnson, John P.
Bueche, Paul J.
Johnson, Paul J.
Hart, John D.
Bernstein, David R.
Williams, Michael L.
Orlando, Kim S.
Bellavia, Joseph P.
Grilley, Sean R.
Casanova, Jose
Wyatt, Stephen E.
Wheeler, Donald L.
Weismantle, Douglas J.
Freeman, Benjamin L.
Powell, James E.
Norquist, Joseph C.
Swisher, Christopher W.
Silva, Sean A.
Scott, Kerry D.
Karol, Spencer Timothy
Torres, Richard
Sims, Charles M.
Pirtle, James H.
Ramos, Tamarra J.
Hunte, Simeon
Gutierrez, Analaura Esparza
Blankenbecler, James D.
McGaugh, Dustin K.
Cutchall, Christopher E.
Baddick, Andrew Joseph
Potter, Darrin K.
Lucero, Robert L.
Thomas, Kyle G.
Rooney, Robert E.
Andrade, Michael
Sturino, Paul J.
Friedrich, David Travis
Brown II, Lunsford B.
Miller Jr., Frederick L.
Wright, James C
Faunce, Brian R.
Thompson, Anthony O.
Arriaga, Richard
Foster, Pinkston
Kimmerly, Kevin C.
Peterson, Alyssa R.
Blumberg, Trevor A.
Bennett, William M.
Morehead, Kevin N.
Ybarra III, Henry
Robsky Jr., Joseph E.
Carlock, Ryan G.
Thompson, Jarrett B.
Brown, Bruce E.
Sisson, Christopher A.
Sarno, Cameron B.
Camara, Joseph
Caldwell, Charles Todd
Cataudella, Sean K.
Lawton, Mark A.
Navea, Rafael L.
Belanger, Gregory A.
Sherman, Anthony L.
Dent, Darryl T.
Allen Jr., Ronald D.
Manzano, Pablo
Mack, Vorn J.
Scott, Stephen M.
Adams, Michael S.
Jones-Huffman, Kylan A.
Harris Jr., Kenneth W.
Franklin, Bobby C.
Hull, Eric R.
Ivory, Craig S.
Kirchhoff, David M.
White, Steven W.
Williams, Taft V.
Eaton Jr., Richard S.
Brown Jr., Timmy R.
Parker, Daniel R.
Perry, David S.
Knighten Jr., Floyd G.
Kinchen, Levi B.
Bush, Matthew D.
Ramsey, Brandon
Longstreth, Duane E.
Gilbert, Kyle C.
Colunga, Zeferino E.
Simmons, Leonard D.
Hellerman, Brian R.
Loyd, David L.
Letufuga, Farao K.
Hebert, Justin W.
Deutsch, Michael J.
Lambert III, James I.
Nott, Leif E.
Maher III, William J.
Hart Jr., Nathaniel
McMillin, Heath A.
Barnes, Jonathan P.
Methvin, Daniel K.
Perez Jr., Wilfredo
Cheatham, Jonathan M.
Perez, Hector R.
Serrano, Juan M.
Heighter, Raheen Tyson
Ashcraft, Evan Asa
Christian, Brett T.
Byers, Joshua T.
Fettig, Jon P.
Bibby, Mark Anthony
Jordan, Jason D.
Garvey, Justin W.
Willoughby, Christopher R.
Scott, David A.
Rozier, Jonathan D.
Bertoldie, Joel L.
Moreno, David J.
Whetstone, Mason Douglas
Torres, Ramon Reyes
Geurin, Cory Ryan
Crockett, Michael T.
Cassidy, Paul J.
Puello-Coronado, Jaror C.
Neusche, Joshua M.
Schultz, Christian C.
Rowe, Roger Dale
Tetrault, Jason
Valles, Melissa
Gabrielson, Dan H.
Boling, Craig A.
McKinley, Robert L.
Keith, Chad L.
Sanford Sr., Barry
Wershow, Jeffrey M.
Parson, David B.
Small, Corey L.
Herrgott, Edward J.
Bradachnall, Travis J.
Coffin, Christopher D.
Conneway, Timothy M.
Sotelo Jr., Tomas
Orengo, Richard P.
Hubbell, Corey A.
McIntosh, Joshua
MacDonald, Gregory E.
Chris, Andrew F.
Philippe, Gladimir
Ott, Kevin C.
Lennon, Cedric Lamont
Smith, Orenthial Javon
Nakamura, Paul T.
Deuel, Michael R.
Latham, William T.
Frantz, Robert L.
Tosto, Michael L.
Suell, Joseph D.
Pahnke, Shawn D.
Cox, Ryan R.
Pokorny, Andrew R.
Klinesmith Jr., John K.
Neighbor, Gavin L.
Dooley, Michael E.
Halling, Jesse M.
Bollinger Jr., Doyle W.
Burkhardt, Travis L.
Sisung, David
Oberleitner, Branden F.
Haro Marin Jr., Atanasio
Lambert, Jonathan W.
Gleason, Michael T.
Griffin, Kyle A.
Long, Zachariah W.
Bradley, Kenneth R.
Perez III, Jose A.
Broomhead, Thomas F.
Quinn, Michael B.
Mitchell, Keman L.
Nalley, Kenneth A.
Petriken, Brett J.
Smith, Jeremiah D.
Schram, Matthew E.
Evans Jr., David
Caldwell, Nathaniel A.
Ryan, Timothy Louis
White, Aaron Dean
Straseskie, Kirk Allen
Moore, Jason William
Baragona, Dominic Rocco
LaMont, Andrew David
Marencoreyes, Douglas Jose
Sahib, Rasheed
Payne, William L.
Nutt, David T.
Griffin Jr., Patrick Lee
Kleiboeker, Nicholas Brian
Kowalik, Jakub Henryk
Rodriguez, Jose F. Gonzalez
Smith, Matthew R.
Bruns, Cedric E.
Carl, Richard P.
Gukeisen, Hans N.
Van Dusen, Brian K.
Rockhold, Marlin T.
Deibler, Jason L.
Reynolds, Sean C.
Givens, Jesse Alan
Garza, Joe Jesus
Orozco, Osbaldo
Sullivan, Narson Bertil
Jenkins, Troy David
Arnold, Andrew Todd
Channell Jr., Robert William
Lam, Alan Dinh
Buckley, Roy Russell
Rivero, John Travis
Foley III, Thomas Arthur
Mayek, Joseph Patrick
Gonzalez, Armando Ariel
Goward, Richard Allen
Mileo, Jason David
Brown, John Eli
Mercado, Gil
Acevedo, Joseph
Gonzalez, Jesus Angel
Owens Jr., David Edward
Tejeda, Riayan Augusto
Bohr Jr., Jeffrey Edward
Hemingway, Terry Wayne
Brown, Henry Levon
Garza Jr., Juan Guadalupe
Marshall, John Winston
Meyer, Jason Michael
Stever, Robert Anthony
Sather, Scott Douglas
Aviles, Andrew Julian
Medellin, Jesus Martin Antonio
Hollinsaid, Lincoln Daniel
Kaylor, Jeffrey Joseph
Miller, Anthony Scott
Mitchell Jr., George Arthur
Watkins III, William Randolph
Das, Eric Bruce
Huxley Jr., Gregory Paul
Prewitt, Kelley Stephen
Booker, Stevon Alexander
Brown, Larry Kenyatta
Smith, Edward
Ford, Travis Allen
Sammis, Benjamin Wilson
Aitken, Tristan Neil
Bellard, Wilfred Davyrussell
Cunningham Jr., Daniel Francis
Jones, Devon Demilo
Smith, Paul Ray
Gooden, Bernard George
McPhillips, Brian Michael
Rios, Duane Roy
Bales, Chad Eric
Oaks Jr., Donald Samuel
Rehn, Randall Scott
Robbins, Todd James
Livaudais, Nino Dugue
Long, Ryan Patrick
Rippetoe, Russell Brian
Evnin, Mark Asher
Silva, Erik Hernandez
Davis, Wilbert
Korn, Edward Jason
Halvorsen, Erik Anders
Jamar, Scott
Pedersen, Michael Francis
Smith, Eric Allen
Boule, Matthew George
Anderson, Brian Edward
Gurtner, Christian Daniel
Fernandez, George Andrew
White, Nathan Dennis
Adamouski, James Francis
Butler, Jacob Lee
Maglione III, Joseph Basil
Jeffries, William Andrew
Rowe, Brandon Jacob
Lalush, Michael Vernon
McGinnis, Brian Daniel
Contreras, Aaron Joseph
Cawley, James Wilford
Creighton-Weldon, Michael Russell
Curtin, Michael Edward
Rincon, Diego Fernando
Williams, Eugene
White, William Wayne
Padilla-Ramirez, Fernando
Solomon, Roderic Antoine
May Jr., Donald Charles
O'Day, Patrick Terence
Martinez-Flores, Francisco Abraham
Rodriguez, Robert Marcus
Menusa, Joseph
Suarez del Solar, Jesus Alberto
Nave, Kevin Gerard
Stone, Gregory Lewis
Johnson Jr., Michael Vann
James, Evan Tyler
Korthaus, Bradley Steven
Sanders, Gregory Paul
Blair, Thomas Alan
Hodson, Nicolas Michael
Seifert, Christopher Scott
Addison, Jamaal Rashard
Pokorney Jr., Frederick Eben
Buggs, George Edward
Dowdy, Robert John
Estrella-Soto, Ruben
Johnson II, Howard
Kiehl, James Michael
Mata, Johnny Villareal
Piestewa, Lori Ann
Sloan, Brandon Ulysses
Walters, Donald Ralph
Anguiano, Edward John
Bitz, Michael Edward
Fribley, David Keith
Garibay, Jose Angel
Gonzalez, Jorge Alonso
Jordan, Phillip Andrew
Slocum, Thomas Jonathan
Buesing, Brian Rory
Rosacker, Randal Kent
Williams, Michael Jason
Nixon, Patrick Ray
Reiss, Brendon Curtis
Burkett, Tamario Demetrice
Cline Jr., Donald John
Hutchings, Nolen Ryan
Gifford, Jonathan Lee
Chanawongse, Kemaphoom "Ahn"
Orlowski, Eric James
Tobler, Brandon Scott
Adams, Thomas Mullen
Childers, Therrel Shane
Aubin, Jay Thomas
Beaupre, Ryan Anthony
Kennedy, Brian Matthew
Waters-Bey, Kendall Damon
Gutierrez, Jose Antonio

*       *       *

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Free Cat

freecat.

I had to laugh when I saw this photo at Flickr. (It appears to have been lifted from another website as opposed to having been taken by the Flickr member that uploaded it.)

Dan, my roommate at Bowling Green for a year, hated cats. He'd always been a dog owner and had no interest whatsoever in felines.

I laugh at the photo because any time we happened to see a dead dog along the side of a road, Dan would go into denial mode: "That's not a dog, it's a cat!"

Dan and our classmate-pal Martha Dannery

Dan and I haven't been in touch in close to ten years, but I happened across his website tonight when I did a Google search for his name (imagine that!). One of the funniest guys I've ever known. Fine artist. Pretty good golfer. He told me once that he loved salt so much that he wanted to die of it.

Susan Sontag

Susan Sontag

I'm saddened to hear that Susan Sontag died... While I didn't read much of her work, I own one of her books – On Photography – which Sontag described as "a progress of essays about the meaning and career of photographs."

It seems to me that Sontag has taken a lot of flack over the years for her writing, but I found On Photography wonderful – engaging, insightful and inspiring.

James Wolcott so eloquently writes:

"One by one the lights go out. First, Edward Said and now Susan Sontag, dead at 71. Both were engaged intellectuals and cosmopolitan sensibilities, committed to art and justice with consciences that seldom slept, and with their loss the cultural life of the city becomes even more pallid and gray."

Jen Bernard and Songwriting

Wendy and Jen Bernard

The first time I came across Jen Bernard, she was singing with a friend of hers at the Hearthstone, a now-defunct bakery in Lansing, Michigan that hosted a weekly "coffeehouse" on Saturday nights.

That evening was the first time Penny and I had been to one of Hearthstone's coffeehouse nights (at Penny's behest) and because the bakery moved to East Lansing not long after, it was the only one we'd attend.

I recall that it was quite a cold winter night and that it was a fairly decent crowd – mostly friends of the two singers. The room was in its usual configuration – tables and chairs – and I believe that light snacks or soups were available in addition to tea and coffee.

The women were quite young. I guessed at the time that they were perhaps twenty at best; Jen's hair was long and flowing and her partner's was a shorter bright orange-red. They were dressed as – what I referred to at the time – neo-hippies. Their clothes were throw-backs (perhaps even hand-me-downs!) to the 60s, no doubt a time in which their parents had grown up.

They had lovely voices, though Jen appeared to be the force within the duo. She did most of the lead vocals, most of the song introductions and played guitar. I don't recall much else about their music that night except for the impact it was soon to have on me.

One of the songs that Jen sang toward the end of the evening was Michael Smith's "Spoon River" – one of my favorite songs of all time.

Spoon River

© by Michael P. Smith

All of the riverboat gamblers are losing their shirts
All of the brave Union soldier boys sleep in the dirt
You know and I know there never was reason to hurt
When all of our lives were entwined to begin with
Here in Spoon River

All of the calico dresses, the gingham and lace
Are up in the attic with grandfather's derringer case
There's words whispered down in the hallway, a shadowy face
The morning is heavy with one more beginning
Here in Spoon River

Come to the dance, Mary Perkins, I like you right well
The Union's preserved, if you listen, you'll hear all the bells
There must be a heaven, the Lord knows I've seen mostly hell
My rig is outside, let us ride through the morning
Here in Spoon River

I recall that when she introduced the song, she warned us that she didn't quite know the chord progression, and asked that we bear with her. In my seat, I thought to myself, "Ooh! Ooh! I know it! I know it!" and I wished I could leap from my seat to the rescue. I didn't, of course. I sat along with everyone else and enjoyed the song, although I think that I enjoyed it on a couple different levels.

First, she did a fine rendition of the song, so I enjoyed it in that sense. More importantly, however, I was elated that someone so young was performing a song that was not only one of my favorites, but was fairly obscure – even as folk music goes. Michael Smith is hardly a household name, and I suppose that had I not been a Steve Goodman fan, I'd probably not have heard of Smith myself, as Goodman's version of this song (as well as Smith's "The Dutchman") were my introduction to Smith's writing.

At the end of the evening, we came home and I – still in my "Ooh! Ooh! I know it! I know it!" frame of mind – got out my guitar for the mere purpose of proving to myself that I did know how to play the song.

My guitar was one that Penny had given to me as an anniversary gift a few years earlier. She had picked it up from her cartoon instructor/friend Dennis Preston for $75 as a matter of trying to encourage me to play again. I had sold the first guitar I'd ever owned a number of years earlier because I'd lost interest in playing it – mostly because it was a piece-o-crap Ovation guitar that just didn't sound to me like a guitar should sound. (Hey, what can I say?!? I was young and stupid when I bought it!)

The guitar had seen its day. It was a twelve-string model – not something I would have purchased for myself, although I think that Penny must have heard me talk about having played a twelve-string at one time and that – at the time – I'd liked the sound it made. The biggest problem with the guitar was its action (basically the distance between the strings and the fretboard) which made for a difficult time playing it. That there were two sets of strings to press down on didn't make it any easier.

Still, despite the guitar's deficiencies, I picked it up that night and I haven't stopped playing since. I got used to the bad action and began playing the guitar much like a six-string, picking individual strings a la Bob Dylan, John Prine or Loudon Wainwright III.

Jen, of course, wouldn't have known that night the role she'd played in my little personal renaissance. But later that year, I met her in one of those "colliding world" moments when she showed up at a Ten Pound Fiddle Coffeehouse concert (Eileen McGann) with her parents and her sister Wendy (I can't recall if her brother Seth was with them that night), whom I met that night as well. Penny had met her parents (Bob and Chris) earlier that year at the East Lansing Art Festival while drawing caricatures at Jane Rosemont's Toomuchfun Rubber Stamps store. They kept in touch and had let Penny know they'd be driving down from Lake City that night for the show as they were big fans of McGann's music.

Coincidences (or perhaps more fittingly, "conspiring incidents") continued to dominate my days as the Bernards told us about Blissfest, a music festival that they'd been attending for years. The first year Penny I attended (1991, I believe), Loudon was one of the headliners. I had been a fan of his since high school but had never seen him perform. Upon our return from the festival, I ran out and bought up every recording of his I'd neglected to buy since 1978. I continued to play guitar, mostly learning Loudon Wainwright III songs.

In the spring of 1992, my dad died, and after attending another Ten Pound Fiddle concert (Carla Sciaky), I came home and wrote what was probably only the second or third song I'd ever written. It dealt with the nonsense that occurred the week my dad died. Apparently, he'd requested that his grandchildren not see him while he was in the hospital. He often had a respirator covering much of his face and he supposedly didn't want them to remember him that way.

Ever the free-thinker, Penny ignored the request and we took Zachary and Allison in to see him. I'm glad we did but it really pissed off a few people in my family. It was a good thing – I could tell that my dad enjoyed their company more than he might ever have let on, and the kids, of course, never mentioned the respirator after that.

Coming Of Age

© 1992 by Patrick T. Power

We sit across from each other
At the trough – a hungry herd
We gobble up all our dinner
And we hardly say a word
This life is such a mystery
Can we turn another page
To the best part, our later years
When we'll have come of age

We sit cross from each other
With beer cans in our hands
Our eyes on the television
(Ain't it great to be a man!)
I suppose this ritual
Has trapped us in a cage
Where we pace around in circles
Until we've come of age

We sit across from each other
In the hospital crying tears
For all the time we never shared
Through all our growing years
Now Dad is dead and so begin
The battles we must wage
We watch our children growing up
Before we've come of age

While I don't subscribe to the "everything happens for a reason" way of thinking, it sure seems as if there was some grand collusion that had brought me to something I'd always wanted to do – songwriting.

Of course, there are many things in our lives which affect our paths from one day to the next; from one year to the next. Still, when I think of songwriting and how it came to be something that I consider a vital aspect of my life, I remember a cold night on Michigan Avenue in Lansing, listening to some young woman singing "Spoon River"...

Calling Me Home (Jen's Song)

© 1992 by Patrick T. Power

On a cold night in a very cold year
An old familiar tune came to my ear
And like the winter wind it chilled me to the bone
To hear an angel calling me home

     You didn't see, you couldn't have known
     You were an angel calling me home

There are some things we hardly ever see
And there are ways we just don't know how to be
We're so weak when we try to stand alone
Until an angel calls us home

     You didn't see, you couldn't have known
     You were an angel calling me home

It was a cold night in a very cold year
When your voice drifted out to me so clear
And this heart that I thought had turned to stone
Heard an angel calling me home

     You didn't see, you couldn't have known
     You were an angel calling me home

     You didn't see, you couldn't have known
     You were an angel calling me home

New Song

Funny how I won't write a song for a while, then all of a sudden two of them pop up almost out of nowhere.

Parts of this are based on fact (involving a friend of mine) – the rest of it is my active imagination at work (play?). It's sort of a companion song to one I wrote a few years ago.

James

© 2004 by Patrick T. Power

James has asked about you
He wonders who you are
He sees you in the pictures
Next to me with your guitar
And only for a moment
Do I think to speak your name
But I bite my tongue and stop myself
I'm just not ready to explain

James and I are happy
We call each other pal
He knows that he's my favorite guy
And I'm his favorite gal
We wake up in the morning
It's breakfast in the nook
Sometimes he sits up on my lap
And we read his favorite book

James and I love walking
We never get too far
He stops to pick up everything
He waves at ev'ry car
If we make it to the corner
Of 38th and Lake
I'll lift him to my shoulders
And my heart begins to ache
The last time that I saw you
You said you'd keep in touch
I should have known much better –
That your word ain't good for much

James has asked about you
He wonders where you are
He sees you in the pictures
Next to me – not your guitar

Download mp3 (please right-click and save to disc!)

Rilke

"So you must not be frightened... if a sadness rises up before you larger than any you have ever seen; if a restiveness, like light and cloud-shadows, passes over your hands and over all you do. You must think that something is happening with you, that life has not forgotten you, that it holds you in its hand; it will not let you fall."

— Rainer Maria Rilke (Letters to a Young Poet)

World Peace

peace (Originally uploaded by slogrl)

Everyone says they want it... there's really only one way to bring it on.

War On Alcohol

I've not been watching very much television of late – neither the news nor regular programming – but last night I happened to watch (tried to watch, I should say) a DVD before nodding off. After waking, I decided just to flip the TV back to local programming and watched a series of Spin City re-runs – all of them Christmas related.

Several times throughout the evening (and into early morning), a commercial caught my eye. The first time I saw it, the opening imagery of (and narration about) the September 11, 2001 attacks made me think I was in store for something entirely different. What followed in the next twenty seconds or so about knocked me off my chair, though, as the ad contrasted the approximately 3,000 deaths from September 11 to the nearly 8,000 alcoholism-related deaths a year in the United States.

Bravo!

It's about time that someone started putting the events of that day (horrible though they were) into perspective. It's about time that people stopped worrying about what someone else is going to do to us and start recognizing what it is that we're doing to ourselves.

The commercial is one of several that have been submitted to a project called Courageous Persuaders.

While its website has the rather dubious header which reads

Make a Commercial
Win Scholarship Money
Get Famous

it seems as though the project has good intentions. The project – a co-partnership between a Detroit-area judge and marketing firm ("the Detroit, Michigan office of the world's largest multinational advertising agency system") – solicits ads "targeted at middle school students to warn them about the dangers of underage drinking."

Ten winning entrants are posted at the Courageous Persuaders website, including the above-mentioned Grand Prize winner (which is entitled, "Why Haven't We Declared War?").

Christmas Morning

Allison is was asleep and Zachary is spending his first Christmas in his own place, and I couldn't help but pick up the guitar this morning. I was thinking of posting the lyrics to John Prine's "Souvenirs", but I thought, "Nah... it would appear as if I'm melancholy" – which I'm not. Then I thought about posting the lyrics to another Prine song, "Christmas In Prison", but I thought, "Nah... better not."

I've been thinking lately how for a number of years I'd written a Christmas-related song – thanks to the impetus created by my participation in my friend Oscar's A Winter's Tune shows in Grand Rapids (which I haven't been invited to participate in for a couple of years now, thankyouverymuch!). Every November, I'd begin thinking about what I would write, but my muse was often stubborn, not bestowing a song upon me until a day or two before I was to perform it.

Because of my inclination to look for a slightly askew view of Christmas, my songs have mostly dealt with a little darker or cynical side of the season – the last time I sang at Oscar's event, my song – "Home For Christmas (Raise Your Glass)" – dealt with two wayward brothers who bump into each other at a bar on Christmas Eve.

So, this morning, I noodled a bit more on the guitar, singing the aformentioned John Prine songs to myself when I looked out my window and saw the snow on the balcony, an overcast sky and, well... words started popping out.

Now, before you jump to conclusions, you need to know that as a songwriter, I make stuff up in my head. Sort of like mini-movies. Sometimes the stuff I make up is based on personal experiences; sometimes it's based on my imagination; sometimes it's a combination of the two (actually, most times it is). When the ideas start flowing, I generally don't stop them. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't read too much into this...

Merry Christmas Darlin'

by Patrick T. Power

Just look at that falling snow
Just look at that grey morning sky
Just look at those Christmas lights
I see reflecting in your eye
I promise I'll love you
Just as long as you never say goodbye...
Merry Christmas, darlin'

Just look as those shiny bows
Just look at those presents under the tree
Just look at those angels' eyes
Ain't this the way it oughta be?
I promise I'll love you
Just as long as you promise you'll love me...
Merry Christmas, darlin'

All around the living room
Is music, light and laughter
Fun from wall to wall to wall to wall
      (Wall to wall to wall)
Does anyone anticipate the
The dark days that come after
Could anyone imagine it at all?
      (Not at all)

Just look at the kids, dear
Just look at those faces we adore
Just look at this mess dear
Just look at the paper all over the floor
I promise I'll love you
Just as long as you never walk out that door...
Merry Christmas, darlin'
Merry Christmas, darlin'
Merry Christmas, darlin'

Download mp3 (please right-click and save to disc)

Balancing Act

I had an email discussion with a friend the other day about the turn this blog has taken lately, which has been more to the personal side from what was predominantly political only a few months ago.

I suppose it comes more out of my need to write than anything else... I don't have a particular need to bare anything about my life, or to work out issues; I do have a need to create, however, whether the creation comes in the form of a song, a story or a photograph.

I guess it was rather synchronistic, then, that I happened across an article (no longer online) about one of my favorite songwriters, Loudon Wainwright III, in which he talks about his songs and their often very revealing nature.

"In songwriting, it's a balancing act as to how much you reveal," he says.

"You don't wanna gross an audience out. But on the other hand, sometimes you do. I like to affect an audience. I don't mind making them a bit uncomfortable," he says. "The idea is to engage a group of people for 75 minutes and make them squirm a little bit. Make 'em laugh. Think a bit. . . . There's no limitation on how far you can go. The songs have to be good at the end of the day."

So, I guess I feel a bit the same way—both with the songs I write as well as whatever I post here. I figure that if it happens to me, it's fair game for a song, a blog post, poem or whatever.

I've never really thought I was much of a storyteller—as classic storytellers go, that is—but I do believe I have some sort of a knack for it (or perhaps it's just an urge), wending my way from what is a very specific incident to a bigger, broader pool of thought. Sort of like a river.

Yeah, that's it... like a river.

Ballad Of Easy Rider

by Roger McGuinn*

The river flows, it flows to the sea
Wherever that river goes that's where I want to be
Flow river flow, let your waters wash down
Take me from this road to some other town

All he wanted was to be free
And that's the way it turned out to be
Flow river flow, let your waters wash down
Take me from this road to some other town

Flow river flow, past the shady trees
Go river go, go to the sea
Flow to the sea

The river flows, it flows to the sea
Wherever it goes that's where I want to be
Flow river flow, let your waters wash down
Take me from this road to some other town

*Supposedly, Bob Dylan wrote this and gave it to McGuinn

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Is It Just Me...

Or did today seem a tad longer than yesterday?

Day In The Life Of...

Munn Trees, 21 December 2004  (See entire set).

Over at Flickr yesterday, the arrival of Winter Solstice was commemorated with a picture project: A Day In The Life Of...

I had forgotten about it until about 10:00 in the morning, but then took a couple of quick shots around the apartment, cleaned up and headed in to East Lansing. My plan was to shoot all the way to the CVS store at the corner of Albert Street and M.A.C. Avenue, drop off the film, grab something to eat, pick up the film, then come home to post the photos at Flickr.

I also planned on shooting only things that I might not have come in contact of an average day, although in the end, I didn't hold myself to that.

I made it to the Red Cedar River and decided to capture a bit of what winter in East Lansing can look like now that it seems to have finally arrived. Carefully sliding down the river bank to water's edge, I found that the river has finally begun to freeze at its edges, and that the rocks are becoming glazed with the spray of the rapids just south of MSU's Administration Building.

I also noticed – almost immediately – a dead crawfish partially buried in the fairly fresh snow. I don't know much about the creatures (is it a crawdad? crayfish? what?), so I don't know if its presence was a natural phenomenom or a result of some drunken student having fun.

The rapids are (is?) an oft-photographed area of campus, no doubt, so I was looking for something a little less common to photograph. I was looking for something a little less "oh, isn't that pretty!" but wasn't all too successful (if you don't include the crawfish). I was actually running short of film so I held off on doing another panoramic at river's edge, so I tried to find an interesting view of the ducks that hang around that area. I was happy to have a couple of them walk toward me as if they were going to check me out, but they stopped short of advancing far enough toward me to where I could shoot without a tree branch getting being between us. I eventually made my way closer to them and got a decent shot of a female at an angle that displayed her speckled breast.

Wrapping up there, I headed in to town and dropped off my film. While at the CVS I bought another roll, stepped outside the store and shot a panoramic of Ann Street Plaza. I took that back into the store and off I went to Georgio's for a couple of slices of pie (pepperoni/mushroom and potato with bacon and onion – no sour cream, as much as I would have wanted it!).

Heading back home, I took the sidewalk that makes its way through the above trees and passed by Breslin Center. I had my Holga plastic camera with me and I thought about taking a shot of the Magic Johnson statue (Ugh!) with it, but it was too dark for a decent shot. I crossed paths with MSU's basketball coach, Tom Izzo, as he walked out to his car and we exchanged hellos (Actually, I said, "Hi, coach!"). That's probably as close as I'll ever get to a millionaire, so it was worth noting here. Hah!

I made my way home to edit and post my photos and check out what the rest of the Flickr world had done.

I noticed that there is a vast preponderance of non-people images. I would have preferred shooting people, but I guess I wasn't quite in the mood. Early on, I had the chance to photograph my apartment complex's manager and opted not to – I should have. Ah, well...

No day in this life is ever really perfect, is it?