Alls quiet

All is quiet this morning and I really do not have much too say. My parents will be here this afternoon and we are going to out for dinner. I think we will go to Smokey Bones. A national BBQ chain. Hopefully I can get some good Q. One thing I have learned since living here is that Carolina style bbq is not my favorite. In my opinion vinegar style bbq lacks the flavor that most of the other southern style q has. It really does not seem like bbq in my opinion.

So next year there will be no mail on Saturdays. Really it is a good thing and something that sound have been done years ago. All this means is get your important stuff out early. Do not wait with bills and now they can be really late. Especially your credit cards.

Adios

Oh yeah, I need a fan for my computer. Again.

Storm Front

We got hammered with some major thunderstorms last night. Tornado warnings all night long and some touched down just southwest of here. We had 4 inches of rain in Greensboro. Temps will be in the low 80's this weekend. Spring is here, leaves are popping out, lawns are getting mowed for the first time. Hooray.

Yesterday I stopped at the big state farmers market and it is still fairly quiet. I did by some homemade bread and then some farmer fresh eggs. I talked to a guy from the farm for a bit.
Here is the link the their website, http://www.petersonrealfood.com/ . They have a Facebook page and a Flickr site. I think I am going to go back and talk with the guy and see if they will let me do some photography of the farm. Maybe we can work out some type of deal and I can get some free food.

My parents will be here tomorrow night. Then they head back home. Quick little visit.

Neko Case---Don't Forget Me

Simply beautiful version of this song.

Lets Kill American Education

Now I am all for unions. However I really think the NEA, National Education Association, is the main force behind the disturbing spiral downward in American education. They wield lots of political power and shape the education system in the United States.

However it seems to me that as a union the really only care about keeping teachers employed and not educating students. They continually resist any attempts at reform. Maybe they need to step back a bit and look at what is going on with the kids they profess to love. Grades are poor across the country, we are being outshined by many other nations and they resist change. They need to realize there are many poor teachers and those teachers need to go away. Kids want to learn and they need teachers to engage them. I really believe that many teachers have no idea how to connect with kids.

Teachers, like students, need to held accountable for grades. How is it acceptable that teachers can have students fail or do poorly on a continual basis and they still keep their job. While there are many factors that play into this the ultimate measure is grades. A good teacher will have students that get good grades no matter how poor the school is.

The union needs to work on finding some programs that help eliminate bad teachers or else local governments will step up the firing of teachers at a whole school like they are starting to do. If this trend continues the union will itself in a continual spiral downwards and become just another weak and powerless force.

Trash or Treasure

So last Saturday I went to the North Carolina State fairgrounds in Raleigh and looked for a couple cheap things to put on a display shelf in the living room. There were lots of neat things and I did get a couple things. The guy selling these cameras had a couple boxes of cameras. They were all $5.00 a piece. Some were in pretty decent shape and many were in poor shape. There were some fairly neat cameras. If I was really still doing the Ebay thing i would have made an offer for all of them. I know there was money to be made by selling them on Ebay. I was tempted, but really I thought. Is this something I need to do. No was the final answer.

I found out today my health insurance will not start until May 1st. Shit. I would like to go soon and get things checked out. Thankfully my blood pressure meds will last until then. Hope I do.

Holy crap are the Republicans pissed or what. Fuck 'em I say. While the healthcare plan is about 90% less than perfect at least it is a start. Those fuckwads would rather have us die in the street before they actually decided to give a shit about most Americans. So I say fuck you. You and your president went to war with Iraq for no reason and got thousands of Americans killed, most likely tens of thousands of Iraqi's, wasted trillions of dollars and you did not give two shits about what most Americans thought. Of course most of the ones fighting are the ones whose families would not get any care if you had your way.

CK & KEY VICE

Last night I got to see William Christenberry, see last post for my review, and if I ever needed confirmation for my work that was it.

This photo was taken in downtown Greensboro, on one of the side streets. I need to back and shoot this again. Not completely happy with the results. But I like that places like this even exist in downtown. I like these old style storefronts. Much of downtown is really not in great shape. Like a lot of downtowns what you see on the main road is a facade really. I think much of the buildings are empty above street level. A place like this would make a great gallery.

Anyhow a dream for another day.

Have a good humpday.

Idols

Today I am leaving work early to go over to Winston-Salem. William Christenberry, who is having a show at Reynolda House is giving a speech tonight. I was able to get caught up at work and am going to hear him speak. It should be very interesting and a great learning experience.

The show is in the auditorium. Then I will have to go back and actually see the show. Maybe I'll get to meet him and not know what too say.

This past weekend I found some leads on places I may be able to show my work and also found a camera club near here. Things are looking up on that front.

The new camera needs to come soon.

Meet William Christenberry

Another of my photographic heros. He is good friends with that other William guy......

There is a show of his work in Winston-Salem. I am going to go this coming Saturday.
For me this is a not to be missed event.

William Eggleston Obervations and conversations

A couple of great clips here from William Eggleston and his son Winston.
I love his work and these are pretty interesting clips. Pay attention and see if you can learn anything. I know you will enjoy these.

Spring

Oh yeah, spring is here. It is going to be in the 70's here for the next couple days. I can actually were shorts again. Sweet.

The trees are budding and you can see changes every day. Pretty soon green will be bursting out all over the place and the world will look a little happier.

I think tomorrow I may head up to Boone and visit the mountains and just hang out a little bit.
I am going to bring aspirin as I have been getting headaches in some form everyday this week.
As long as I can keep the headache away all will be fine. I suspect that there will be a whole bunch of people out and about enjoying the weather. Should be a good picture day.

Enjoy your first day of spring. Take your Claritin and go outside.