Teach a Man

Hope you are having an enjoyable holiday weekend so far. Weather has been absolutely perfect.
I went for a little ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway yesterday. The temps were perfect. Up high it was cool and cloudy. The lower you were the sunnier and warmer it was. I wanted to take a nap out there someplace.

Went into Boone and went to the same bookstore, Dancing Moon, that I visited on Easter.
Picked up two books. One on meditation and one on yoga. Can't hurt to practice these at all.

I know the meditation is something I will be able to do. Yoga is another story.
But my doctor recommended both of these for my headaches so I will give them a shot.

Picture is from St. Pete Beach this past December. All I did was darken this a tad to lessen the brightness of the sun. Otherwise this is how it looked. It was insanely foggy and this was late in the afternoon. It was very odd.

Fuck you Republican haters

So now we are slowly working towards repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and I am getting sick and fucking tired of hearing asshole Republicans and the assholes from the Family Research Council attempting to put a stop to this legislation.

What the fuck are you afraid of, really. We all know your hatred of anybody who does not fit into your narrow description of what an American is. Why is our fighting force so different than the following fighting forces.

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Uruguay

I am quite sure that the army's of England and Israel are top notch forces and they have not suffered from having gays fight with them.

The people who do not want this to pass always say "Now is not the time". The thing is they always say that. You are fucking ignorant. We let people who are not even citizens fight as long as they have a U.S. passport. Well of course we let them fight. They are usually minorities and what the fuck do they count for anyhow. Maybe you should encourage gays to fight. Then they would get killed in battle and you would have less of them to be afraid of.

If any American who is physically healthy enough to go and fight and defend and kill in the name of freedom wants to do so then there is no acceptable reason for not letting them do so.

This is nothing more than a bunch of white Americans ,mainly men, trying in another weak attempt to keep the country from slipping out of their grasp.

You are a hateful and spiteful group of Americans and you quite obviously have never really read your trusted Bible.

Hose 2

Well it looks like Ken may be right and there is going to rain this weekend. Saturday looks like a bust. Now I am not sure what I am going to do. It all is up to the weather. I want to get out for a day or two, if possible.

I have many peppers on my plants right now. Pictures are coming soon.

Otherwise all is quiet. Talk with you later.

Hose

Why do we need a garden hose to fill the ocean? Maybe BP could use the hose to fix the oil leak.

The weather looks iffy for much of the weekend at this point. That's a bummer. Not sure where I am going or what I am doing. I do not want to stay home. I need to get out and take some pictures. Maybe a ride on the Blue Ridge down towards Asheville or some backroads looking for some junk that needs to be photographed. Indecision is at hand. Its all up in the air as of now.

We have some people from Jacksonville and Miami up for training. We are going to the Mellow Mushroom for some pizza after work. They have superb pizza and great beers.

That is all for now.

Front Row seat

I think I may do a photo book and enter it into a contest. I was looking through PDN magazine and saw that Photography Now and Blurb are having a contest where you can win $25,000 as the grand prize. You produce a photobook and submit it and it gets reviewed by a jury and they select a winner in three different categories. It is a long shot for me, but you never know.
I just need to figure out a theme and get going on this. Time is short.

The doctor thinks my headaches are tension headaches and wants me to try some different things to make them go away. He suggested meditation, yoga or therapy. No drugs.

One last thing. Fix that fucking oil leak, assholes. How can it be going on this long. Makes me wonder what type of oil leaks have happened on land away from prying eyes.

A streetside living room in Asheville. There was more than this but somebody saw something they like.

Monday Monday

Here is a little enlightenment for a Monday morning. I think these things are darn cool. Art or messages from another world.

Going to the doctors today for a little review from my first visit. Still getting headaches. Will be busy getting ready for grand opening next week.

Nice three day weekend coming up. What are your plans?

Did I here there might be a storm brewing in the Gulf. Wonder what that will do to the oil.

Festival Express

Well once again I could not sleep well. So I got up at 4a.m. and threw in the dvd "Festival Express". It is about 3 concerts in Canada in 1970 and the party the bands had. They took a train across Canada and partied along the way. It seems like they had a whole ton of fun. This is "The Band" playing a fantastic and very moving version of "I Shall Be Released". You can feel it in the vocals. Just close your eyes and listen the first time.

Music

This is a picture I took at the Suwannee SpringFest in 2006. I posted this picture on Flickr and got an email from this girl the other day. She wanted a copy of it. Of course I send it to her. She still plays. Later this day the manager of the park told her she had to stop playing. She did stop since her parents are food vendors who travel the music circuit and did not want to get them in trouble. Kind of a neat little thing.

I had a woman contact me on Yahoo and wanted to meet for coffee or dinner, I emailed her back and did not get an email back. I guess my answer back was wrong. Since my encounter with the Russian scammers I just wanted to be a little careful. Well that is just my luck.

Onward and upward for the weekend. Outside of going to the market and checking out the gallery's downtown I have no real plans. Need to figure out something. I have an urge to take a dip in a mountain stream.

Flight

I think this weekend I am going to see if I can get some gallery space and see if I can sell some photos. There are a couple downtown that I am going to go to on Saturday and visit. Time to put my hobby to work for me. I hope it works out for me.

Outside of that I really have nothing planned. The weather looks iffy on Saturday, so who knows.

I will go for a bike ride and get mt weight lose program on track. I really want to get in good enough shape to do some major riding on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Time to shake off some rust and get out and ride again.

Need to figure out what to do Memorial day weekend. Usually I go camping. Maybe I will do that for a night or two or maybe head down to Asheville. Any ideas people.

The photo was taken on a river bank. There were three of these guys zipping all over. I got a few more shots. I think they were mating.

Stunning Design

Although the picture is very grainy you will surely be able to see the stunning design ideas and bold use of color by Mr. Pez. This is the living room of my apt. I like how it looks and it feels like home for the most part. This is the only room that is "done". The others will not get completely finished since I will move when the lease is up. I get a house and some land for a garden.

Slept good last night. Had not been sleeping well lately. My sinus problems are better. Going back to the doc on Monday for a followup and will start to take care of other issues at that point.

Guess I need to look for flowers to shoot this weekend so I can enter the Megashot contest. Not my strongest area of shooting. But it will be worth a shot or two for sure.

Lots of rain the last few days. The plants like it and are responding well.

Gotta run. Going to work a little early. Very busy.

Shots of the day

I took these yesterday in downtown Greensboro. However I had forgotten to change to size of the shot, the only mode I had forgotten to do change the size of course. Now I'll need to go back and re-shoot these.

Huge thunderstorms Saturday night, rain late last night and most of the day today.

The Bluefield Steps

So I made a little journey up to Bluefield yesterday to see what my little piece of property looked like. I almost drove past it. I recognized the stairs and the house across the street otherwise it looked a little different. The used to be some type of pine tree on each side of the stairs. A few years ago the power company called me and asked if they could trim the trees from the power lines. They cut the damm things down and let the crap all over the yard. The whole length of the front along the wall is disgusting. However I hired the guy across the street to clean it up. I do not think he has a real job and is a jack of all trades type of guy. He is going to clean the whole front that you can see from the road. I told him if he clean/mowed the top level section of land he could use it for his kids swing set. So at least the property will be somewhat cleaned up.

Did not get a lot of great pictures yesterday. They just came out crappy looking, Did see some lovely countryside. Will head back up in a few weeks too see what it looks like when it is cleaned up a little. Temps very very nice in the mountains yesterday.

Fill er Up..........

Not sure what I am going to do this weekend except go to the farmers market in the morning.
I should take a trip and see my property and see what is going on there. Then maybe take the long way home through coal country and see what I can find to shoot. Outside of spending gas money it will be a no money weekend and that will be good. Get the bills paid so I can get a new camera soon.

I like how the oil mess is starting to get ugly between all the companies. Would not take much of a storm in the gulf to push this mess on to land. BP had best do better then the assholes at Exxon did in taking care of Prince William Sound.

I am out.....................

Oh so busy

Wow, am I ever busy at work. Things seem to be going very well. Working on getting things ready for our Grand Re-Opening on June 4th and 5th. Arranging things with vendors, getting ads ready for local papers, arranging the items we will be giving away as prizes and all the other things that go along with that. I think they are very happy with what I am doing. My input is actually valued. Amazing how that works.

Well I got another letter from Ekaterina, amazing how this goes on. From looking at the hits I received yesterday I see that she is out there scamming others and you see from Barry that she is working him and is using a different address. Crazy how well this a must actually work. Who is the next person to hit me up. I think one may already be in the work.

The picture is from a closed plant in Franklinville, North Carolina.
Not really sure if Hancock's country Hams even exists anymore.

Life is good my friends.

Ekaterina My Russian Love

So I told you it was a scam and she was going to ask me for money. It happened. Check out these emails. This is the end of the whole thing. They use form letters and fill in the blanks as needed.

Dear Mark
I do not wish to speak you farewell words!
It is very a pity to me, that so all has turned out with money!
But without your help I cannot arrive to you.
My relatives cannot help me any more.
Mum has given me almost all of money, that I would arrange to myself this travel.
If you cannot help me, I should come back to myself home.
But I do not want again loneliness. I do not wish to come back home.
I do not wish to remain in Moscow. I do not want anybody except for you.
Above all I wish to continue travel!Only help me with a trip!
I shall necessarily return to you of money as soon as I shall receive the first earnings!
I want to you! I want, that you have surrounded me with tenderness, heat, care.
I wish to think of tomorrow with confidence.I want, that you always were With me.
I wish to fall asleep and wake up with an idea on you (and it is better in your embraces).
I wish to be assured that is necessary to you everywhere and always, now and then.
I wish to look simply in your eyes.I want, that your warm breath warmed to me hands.
I wish to see your smile and the nobility, that it is intended to me.
I want, that every morning me you awoke, instead of an alarm clock. I wish to be your sun.
I want, that you heated hands in back pockets of my jeans.I want,
that you paid off with kisses for rent of pockets.
I wish to belong to you and the nobility, that yours, and you - mine.
I wish to trust you and to not doubt. I wish to hear your voice.
I want, that you missed me and did not find to yourself a place.
I wish to take hold completely of your soul, ideas, all your essence.
I wish to be for you all.I wish to know, that you know this all.
I want, that you loved me.I wish to sit down in the plane and to depart to you
I wish to love you.I grieve without you!
Thanks for your letters and warm words!
I wait from you for good news! I on former hope for your help!
I need 950 american dollars
Here is more info about Western Union. You find any local Western Union agent, go there and send money to my name.
Western Union will ask you for my full name and address in Moscow where I am staying at. Once you give them all the info they will initiate the transfer.
In just less than 10 minutes I will be able to pick the money up at any Western Union agent here in moscow.
You will send me transfer info and MTCN( money transfer control number )
I will get cash. So I will need your full name and your address + the control number of the transfer. (MTCN)
My address here (the flat i am renting)
19 Polikarpova street ap.37,
Moscow,
Russia
zip 124285
my full name Ekaterina (first name), Kovjazina (last name)

Your Ekaterina


My reply

My dearest Ekaterina


You and I are connected in a way that goes beyond romance, beyond friendship, beyond what we've ever had before.
If I had wings, I would fly to you and bring back to U.S. on my back, even though I've had a few back problems of late.
Our love has defied time, distance, and changes in ourselves and in our lives.
It has defied bank balances and internet scams.
It has defied every explanation.
My heart bleeds for your touch, your kisses and your plane ticket.
Since you no longer send me naughty girl pictures I am heartbroken.

I'm so excited, the local nurse has confined me to my bed.


With all my love and money still in my bank.
I wish I could fuck you and cum on your face,

Love, Mark

Her response

My dear Mark it is me againI’m very glad that you replied me so fast.I thought that telling about money, I have lost you. In Russia it’s often occurs with men. I suggest it is for hard economic situation in our country. Men don’t need women with their love.I don’t want to believe that the quantity of real men diminishes. I want to read your sensible and romantic letters. I know that it is difficult for men.My mum has written to me that it can send to me 100 more usd,It is all than it can help me now, now it is necessary to me 850 usdThere is no way to make new photo here because I have no camMy request for help from one hand is the opportunity to come to you,and from other hand is the approval of seriousness of your plans. I’m sorry that my confidence in our victory against the problems differs a bit from yours.Because you are a man and I am a woman. If everything were on contrary, the world would go upside down.I will back all money to the last cent without doubt, and if everything will be ok, I will stand for you forever. That’s why I ask you a question: are you serious in your intensions? If yes, write me soon. I hope very much that I provoked sympathy in you. Your Ekaterina

My reply back.

Dear beautiful Ekaterina,

When I recieved your first email I was very happy and thrilled that you contacted me.
Your are very lovely and I meant and mean all that I said. I want to be with a lovely, caring and compassionate women.
I thought you may be the one who I could share my life with forever.
I also knew that you were going to ask me for money because this is a well known trick that many men fall for.

I was hoping that you were going to one of those special women who were not going to do that and your intentions were true.
So even though I knew it was an internet scam you did break my heart. You have mad me very sad. I could have loved you and made you happy and we could have explored life and love together in your new home.

Of course I know that you never are going to come and stay with me and for that I am sad for both of us. You should know that I am kind and caring and compassionate and do have love in my heart. However that does not mean that I am going to give you money before we meet each in person. How I wish it did not come to this.

Please think about this and look inside your heart and see if what you asked is really the right thing to do. I know that you know it is not right. Please just come here on your own money and I will help you. I really do mean this.

Even though you have broken my heart I do have love for you.

I hope this is not the end for us. I want to be with you.

I am sorry if my last email was rude but you hurt me.

Take care my love and I hope that I do hear from you again.

Your soulmate,
Mark


One has to wonder if this gets an answer asking for less money. That is how this scam usually works. Half the time they do not answer once you refuse to give them money and then the other half they try to work the victim for less and less until they realize they have been getting scammed themselves. They have to work fast otherwise they are investing time and are getting nothing for their efforts.
I'll play this for all it worth and see what i need to do next. I'll post this to scam sites so she will out there so that others will not be be scammed by her. I suspect that this letter will get another request. Oh the joys of the web.

Review

Yesterday post needs a little a followup. Due to the way we are raised, the things we learn from people around us and what we learn through all sorts of media it is not easy to fight racist feelings, feelings of ill towards others not like you. These are not natural feelings and this is best viewed in the very young when you see kids play with other children of all different types.

We are all guilty of this. What we need to remember is that we are all human beings and we all deserve the same things. In the United States we do not even take care of our own anymore. How in this country is it acceptable for us to have so many homeless, so many living in unacceptable conditions, let people become sick and die because they can not get medical care, to let people go hungry, to have the largest population of its own citizens in prison. These things are not acceptable and much of this is due to no compassion for others, it is due to racism and ignorance.

Like I said it is not easy and it is a fight to try to stay on the right path. The external forces of media are very strong and one must fight to do what you know is right. A simple little test is what do you think when you see the same homeless guys at the intersection each and everyday.

Does it bother you, do you think they are faking it, do you wish they would just go away, do you look at them, give them some money once in a while. Do you think the same if you see a woman or child at that location instead of a man. Not so easy.

I bet if we all took time and gave some time to help some disadvantaged group of people that we would find a new piece in our heart and we would get as much out of it as the people we were helping.

It really is time for "We the people" to step up to the plate because the government will never do the things that need to get done because the people with money are the ones that are in control. Change starts from the bottom. Many voted for change with Obama and many are so silently dissapointed. We should have known better.

My Russian honey asked me to Western Union here $950.00 today so that she can come here.

She needs it by Thursday or else she can not come. She is taking everything right out of the scam playbook. I'll have to work on how this is going to end. I think I am going to send her all over Moscow to different offices. I will not fall for the scam and I need to make her get a little pissed since she thinks I am a damm fool. Then I am going to post her letters, pictures and her alleged passport on the internet. There will be no COMPASSION for her. Funny how that works.

THYNK

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6453537n&tag=contentMain;contentBody

Please watch the video in the link above. This is just plain wrong. I find it very disturbing that as Americans we accept things like this. We seem to forget that we are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We used to be respected as a nation, however it seems to me that as time marches on we have changed for the worse.

We show very little compassion for others and this is going to be our undoing. If we made any attempts to understand the people of other nations and acted in a manor that showed respect for their culture we would be much better off. The longer we are at war with assorted nations and religions, have things such as this canal, how are we going to be considered the leaders of the world.

Illegal immigration is NEVER going to change. Americans are NEVER going to go out to the fields and pick. Most Americans are NEVER going to be the maid in your hotel. Most Americans are NEVER going to be working in the slaughterhouses, be gardeners or the guy building your apartment complexes. The simple fact is that if we had wanted these jobs there never would had been the need to have other do these jobs. Do you think the U.S. gov't does not understand this. That is why there is no real action on immigration.

Remember without compassion for others not like you that you have closed your heart and mind to the many things that made America great.

Happy Mothers Day

To all the Moms of the world. The glue that holds the fabric of society together.

Volbeat Sad Man's Tongue

Some kick ass metal from Denmark. The guys are the real deal.

They could be the next big thing in the metal world. Hopefully the get there.

What is it with..........

The amount of baby cribs that are always getting recalled. Tylenol and other baby medicine getting recalled and the FDA saying the factory was filthy. Why are baby cribs not given better testing before the product hits the market and where was the FDA. It is all about profit and lack of care for the customer.

The lack of real and credible information about the oil spill. Why is the media not digging into where the oil is really going. It is not just going away or staying in place. Is that what they want us to believe and who is putting on the pressure to control this story.

Well my Russian girlfriend wants to know if I have a big bed and if good sex is important to a relationship. It will fun to play along with this scam for a while.

The picture is of a long closed textile factory in Franklinville, NC factory. Some of the machines were stopped midway through making whatever they were making. This was taken through a broken window.

Hey Fatass

I was talking to my Mom last night and she mentioned that my brother has dropped below 200 pounds. He has lost 120 pounds in just over a year. That means I am the fatass in the family. Time to get off my fatass and lose some weight for real. I can not be the heaviest one in the family. Actually I am glad he lost the weight. Going to the gym twice a day and eating right has made the difference, of course his new wife played a big part in helping him in the quest. Congratulations Brian.

I have a doctors appointment tomorrow. Found one by Googling "best doctors in Greensboro".

So now I can get my issues addressed. Onto healthy living.

So I have a Russian woman, maybe, trying to scam me through Yahoo personals. I set up a bs email through Hotmail so that I could play along for a little while and see how long it is before I get asked for money. She has already sent me two emails with some very attractive pictures.

It will be interesting to see how this goes. Fun with the internet.

Nothing happening

It's pretty quiet here. Nothing really happening this week. I did get my insurance card yesterday so the doctor hunt is on. Guess I 'll check the web and see if I can find some reviews.

That is it for now. See you later.

Hay

This is one of the baby goats at the diary. They would stick their head through the fence so you could feed them hay. They also have very interesting eyes. You could actually see they were thinking and wondering about what was going on.

I wonder how bad the oil spill is. Hard to gauge what is going on since there is really very little real news being given. It does seem that it might be as bad as has been expected.

My pepper plants have little flowers.

I want to get a golden retriever. There are a couple golden retriever rescues around here. I would get an older one. Something to think about.

Back to the grind

It was a fairly quiet weekend. Went to the market Saturday morning and bought some bread, coffee, goat cheese, mushrooms and lettuce. Came home with a migraine and took a nap.
After I woke I went for a little drive just to see how the cooling system is doing. I think all leaks are finally cured.

Yesterday was brutally hot and humid for this time of year. 87 degrees. I went to the Goat Lady Diary and spent a little over an hour there. They have goats, duh, and chickens and also tons of veggies on the property with their home. They also have more property that has pigs and three acres of veggies. All natural and organic. Lots of people and little kids. The baby goats and young goats are cool. Very friendly. The older goats seemed a little indifferent for the most part.
One of the things they feed the pigs is the "whey" they get from the cheese making process.

I f'd up a bid Thursday. It was for Hollywood, Florida. I forgot to send it out. Since our Miami store is 30 minutes from Hollywood I worked with the manager in Miami and got him the bid and had him redo everything I did. Cool. He left an hour before the bid so he could be there in plenty of time. Then he got stuck in a traffic jam on I-95 and ended up being too late to deliver the bid. FFFFFFFFFFFFFuck. Not good.

New pictures coming soon.