Random Stuff

last month

For income tax and social security I paid $1688.00
I paid about  $60 in gas taxes based on about $.544 per gallon.
I paid about $200 in sales tax
I paid $204 in property taxes
Dividing my car tabs over a year, I paid $16.00
I paid $7.10 in taxes on my cell phone.
My home phone had $2.79 in taxes and fees

So I pay about $2200 in taxes per month. About $26,000 a year. And this is just a rough estimate. I’m sure there are plenty that I am not accounting for. I haven’t looked at my power bill, or my garbage bill, or any of the other utilities I may be paying for.

“Great tits cope well with warming.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7390109.stm

Someone, somewhere has got to be laughing that they got that headline past the editor.

I’m still angry. Not in the blatently pissed off, want to yell and swear, kind of way like I was yesterday. But a gnawing upset, pit of the stomach kind of angry.

Angry. Plain and simple. Just got off the phone with my ex-wife. Now I am downright pissed off. I’m at work, so there’s nothing I can do about it other than swear under my breath and perhaps blog a bit.

I wonder if she truly understands the legal ramifications of what she is about to try.

It seems that Battlestar Galactica has taken an interesting turn and building on a familiar theme with respect to religion. Specifically it seems that a character who has always been a bad guy is slowly turning into a religious leader. A religious leader preaching one God. Instead of the status quo of many gods.

Despite my  ambivilance about religion, I find their approach interesting. A different view of how Jesus came about.

Grand Theft Auto IV came out today. This is the end all be all to violence, crime, and sex in a video game. I’ve played earlier versions of it. And I liked it. And yes, I would let my youngest son play it. I also wouldn’t say no to my oldest son, even if he was under 18. I have also taken my kids to “R” rated movies. I have let them see movies on cable that had nudity in them.

I’m sure there are some parents out there who shudder at the thought. The first thing to do would be to conclude I must be an awful parent for exposing my kids to such thing. That my kids must be, or will be, violent boys. My response would be to get to know my kids and me before you make up your mind about that. But I doubt that will happen if you’ve already made up your mind.

The simple fact of the matter is that I trust my children’s judgement when it comes to telling the difference between what is real and what is not. As well as what is acceptable and what is not. I’ve taken the time to teach them that there are consequences for actions. To think before acting. While I do have some of the typical problems associated with raising kids,  I have on a regular basis been made proud by either choices or direct actions made by my kids.

It is easy to blame video games, television shows, the internet, movies, and even music for the way children behave and how they behave when they grow into adulthood. But the simple fact of the matter is that if your children are behaving badly because of any of those influences, then you are the one who are letting your children down.

Talk to your kids. Talk to them. Ask them what they think. Let them know what you think.  Give them the freedom to make choices. Praise them for good, punish them for bad. Be an example.
Step up and be a parent. Don’t let a video game fill in the holes for you.

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Originally uploaded by jesse_hires

I love fast cars. Sunday I spent the day out at Pacific Raceway enjoying all of the smoke, exhaust, and noise of cars having several hundred horsepower making their way down the track. I love it! I haven’t been to a track in close to 20 years. I think it was more fun this time than the last time I went.

Today…
Seattlest used one of my Snoqualmie Falls pictures in an article.
Total Performance Racing let me know they want to use my pictures of their 222mph truck on their website.

No money, just fun.
Just how I want it.

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Originally uploaded by jesse_hires

Why?
Because you stand out.
Because you are special.
Because you are different from all the rest.

Photograph Taken by Debbie at the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. April 19, 2008

I just stumbled on an irritating feature of my camera. I spent today at Pacific Raceway watching drag races. Because I’ve had my camera set on “fine + raw + large” format, I actually ran out of room on my 4 gig flash card for it.

I spent time between races deleting unwanted pictures. (not hard to find when you’ve taken 800+ pictures, gotta love digital cameras). It’s not a big deal, but now that I am downloading the pictures to my computer, I found that rather than continuing on the order numbering, it went back and filled in the holes. So pictures 800 through 900 may have my 924th picture burried in there somewhere.

It’s not a horrible thing, but I’d like the numbers to continue on upward regardless of any holes in the numbering sequence.

I’d say it’s a pretty high compliment when someone you know marks one of your pictures on Flickr as a favorite without knowing it’s you.

I took some time last night and watched the Dalai Lama on TV last night. He was answering questions in front of an audience at the UW.

It was interesting. But nothing he said was new. I’ve heard pretty much everything he’s said before. I’ve read it in philosophy books, and heard it from discussions with other people about religion, peace (or war), or in some cases my own thoughts.

I’m not saying I am great, and I am also not trying to make light of the Dali Lama. Rather, everything he said was, I believe, absolutely correct. It was grounded in common sense, logic, and understanding human nature. I have a great deal of respect for him because of that.

I find it amazing that people ask questions and look at what His Holiness’ answer is like it is a revelation.  Perhaps I shouldn’t.  I know it is some people’s dream to meet a spiritual leader such as him, and that is the entire reason for asking a question in itself. But I would think that would only be self serving. Why not ask a question you really want to know the answer for, or a question that is truly causing conflict in you. Not ask a question you already know the answer and are just looking for validation, or worse, just having a chance to just ask any question.  Or maybe they really don’t know that if you thought about things for a minute.

I was asked by a coworker if I would like to meet him. I would. In a heartbeat. What would I ask him? “Would you be my friend?” Probably followed by asking for his email address so we could chat.

Today was an amazing day. I’m too tired right now to go into too many details, but I’ll give a few now before I hit the sack.

We took Debbie’s Jeep for some light offroading today up at Rieter pit. Top down, it was  a bit chilly this morning, but  things warmed up quite a bit. By around Lunch time we were several hundred feet in elevation driving through about a foot of snow spinning tires and throwing mud all the way up to some of the most spectacular scenery this area has to offer.

Back down, then to the house, then out to Lake union into Ivars for dinner (not the fast food, but the restaurant on the north end). From there we headed out to Alki and watched the sun go down amidst the hundred of cars and motorcycles out cruising around.  Around Alki point and back home again.

We have a few pictures from the mountains, but to be frank, I’m just too tired to upload them right now. Maybe tomorrow.

I’ve been using Flickr more and more. I was reluctant at first to use it because I could just as easily write my own web page to host my own pictures. But as I began to take more photos, it became cumbersome and the utility of Flickr became apparent. It wasn’t until I reach my limit as a free user that I decided to pony up for a pro account. I think this was the first service on the internet that I actually paid for. I’ve come to a point where I really rely on it.

I’ve mentioned before my opinion on Microsoft buying Yahoo. Regardless of my opinion on why or why not that deal should happen, I worry about what will become of Flickr. I like it just the way it is. It is exceptionally clean, easy to use, reliable, and powerful. A rare combination.

Knowing what I do about Microsoft from working there for ten years, is that if they do wind up owning it, they will not be able to leave it alone. I can imagine it being clumped into the mess that is MS-Live. Worse yet, I could imagine it requiring MS-Silverlight (MS answer to flash) making it incompatible with any operating system other than Windows.

Both of these would be a tragedy to a wonderful service.

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Originally uploaded by jesse_hires

One more for today. These little guys were under the trees in the previous post. It may not look like it, but there was no processing on this picture. They really were that purple and that brilliant!

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Originally uploaded by jesse_hires

I saw this on the way home from work today. That’s a single cherry tree almost wrapping completely around the fir tree. As I was taking pictures, I heard a “Thankyou!” from the building to the left.

It turns it was the owner of the building. Her and her husband had built the condo and had planted both of these trees 23 years ago. She this was the most beautiful it had ever looked. In my 10 years of driving this way, I can say I’ve never seen it like this.

Click on the picture for a few more taken of the same trees.

DSC01189

Originally uploaded by jesse_hires

This is a photo I took last summer. Can you tell that warmer days are on my mind?

There is something sobering about reading this living will document I have sitting here in front of me. The questions are simple, but the answers are not. In addition to talking to my family, I think I may need to consult a medical professional as well. I want to know exactly what I am answering yes and no to before doing so.

I do think about my death from time to time, but it is in terms of how it will affect those closest to me. So as such I owe it to them to talk about this.

Snoqualmie Falls 3
Originally uploaded by jesse_hires

Moving water pictures have always fascinated me. I finally took some time this morning while everyone was still asleep to head out to Snoqualmie Falls. This is one of about 50 that I took while trying out different settings on my camera.

It’s wonderful to have a tripod, a camera with a lot of control, and a remote.

I’ll have to head back there when the water is really flowing. During flood season, the entire wall you see in the picture is covered with waterfall.

Not enough coffee? Not enough sleep? Not sure what it is, but I woke up this morning in a somewhat bad mood, and the way the rest of my morning has been going, my mood is not improving.

The default Wordpress template is beginning to get old. Although it is a brilliant design by any standard, I am finding that I am getting more and more limited. Mostly because lately I’ve been posting pictures as well as writing. I need to get one that is a little more suited to this.

I’m open to suggestions if you’ve seen a decent template out there.

Hail in my hand, originally uploaded by jesse_hires.

The hailstorm we had the other day was quite spectacular, as well as very wet. I’ve never seen a hail storm last for 30 minutes. No damage (at least to any of my stuff) but it was coming down hard enough I thought I might need to pull off the road.

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Having fun and playing around with settings on my camera.

Enjoy

Nothing to see here, please move along. Actually I am testing to see if items after the jump show up in the rss feed. My main motivation for this is that I stumbled on a couple of very powerful photos I’d like to post links to, but they have nudity in them and are definitely not safe for work. But the situation portrayed in both of them speak volumes, so I believe it would be worth the risk of offending people.

Read the rest of this entry »

This happened just three blocks from where I live. As the story says, two men were shot by another in the drive through here in Renton highlands. It’s a story that as a parent, it makes me very worried. This time though, even more so than usual. What the story does not say is that my son and his best friend were in the car directly behind the men who got shot. They were the first to call police.

My son.

He witnessed it first hand.  Something you never want to see, much less have your children see. It terrifies me that he would be so close to something like this. What if the person with the gun decided he didn’t want any witnesses? What if the dispute was over something as little as who got in line at the drive through first?

Both him and his friend kept their cool. They didn’t panic, they didn’t run. They called the police, they got out to help two men who had been shot, one of them several times, the other twice. They tended to their wounds as best they could and actually comforted them until aid arrived as no one in the restaurant would come out. They then hung around to talk to the police and give the details as best they could.

That’s the kind of thing makes me think I am doing something right. Scary just the same.

Nothing was open. It was pouring down rain. No family around. Didn’t fee like programming. I was bored. So I just made the best of it.

I just set my camera up on my $10 tripod, took a few pictures to get the alignment and settings close, then set the timer for 10 seconds and “posed”.

I then downloaded and installed “Gimp” which is a free photo editing program similar to Photoshop and pasted the pictures together. Really anyone with a cheap camera and a computer could do this. It took me maybe 20 minutes from the time I had decided to do it, until I was done editing the picture.

Have fun, and happy Easter.

In an effort to learn more about photography I began to subscribe to a number of photography related blogs. Most of them are for providing hints and tips. A couple are actually lesson based and have exercises for you to try on your own. And a few are current news as it relates to photography as either a hobby or profession.

One common theme that seems to come up on all of them is about your rights as a photographer and how the government has managed to put a fear into the general public that photographers may actually be terrorists gathering intelligence for an attack of some sort.

“See somebody taking a picture of a building or a bridge? Do they look suspicious? Report them.” Never mind that buildings and bridges are some of the most majestic objects you can take pictures of. But what makes someone look suspicious? It’s never really specified.

I often wondered what would happen if I were to test this out.

What if I went one weekend and wondered around some of the major sights of Seattle with my camera in hand dressed as I normally am and take a bunch of pictures. Have someone along with me taking pictures of me while I am doing this. I’d be taking pictures of things like the tallest building in Seattle, the Space Needle, the Ballard Locks, Pike Place Market, and the ferry boats.

Then I would let my facial hair grow for a couple of months, khaki pants, sandals, a long sleeve white button up shirt, and a turban. Then my companion and I would go do the same thing and see what happens.

I really am curious. Right now, however, I fear something really would happen. Being a responsible parent I cannot justify taking the risk of confrontation or even detainment. Perhaps some other time.

Well, actually, it was pretty hard to beat the view I had on my ski day, but a friend of mine just posted all of her pictures from a recent trip snowboarding. Here’s one.
No, that’s not Mt Hood.
It’s Mt Fuji

Brick walls are merely there to keep those out who don’t really want it. –Randy Pausch

I just got done watching the “Last Lecture” given by Randy Pausch and it was brilliant, emotional, and inspiring. He is fighting pancreatic cancer.

Here is the video. Be warned. It is almost two hours long, and towards the end gets emotional, but it is worth every minute of it.

Today was another great day. The team I am a member of at VoiceBox Technologies was rewarded with a day off to go skiing. So we did. It couldn’t have been a better day for it. Temperature was just below freezing so the snow stayed good, no wind, bright sunshine, spectacular views, and great people.

In this first picture is the top of a blue (intermediate) run. Here you see Roman at the map, Philippe looking at the camera, and Michael taking a picture. This is probably our third run of the day.

Mt Rainier just one hilltop away. This was taken from the top of a double black diamond run. You could also see Mt Adams and Mt Hood from here. The run was exhausting but a lot of fun. I wish I knew my new phone could take such good pictures, I would have taken more.

The Double Black Diamond run, the top of which the picture of Mt Rainier was taken from. I almost took a dive here but save it. I hit a mogul hard enough to push my knees to my chest and knock the wind out of me.

I used to ski a lot as a kid. From 8 years old until I turned 19 or so I was skiing almost every weekend of the winter. Mostly at Red Mountain by Trail, B.C. and at 49 Degrees North by Chewelah, WA. After 19 I had to pay for it myself and then I realized it was expensive, so my I was limited to every once in a while. I haven’t been skiing in at least 6 years.

Still with all of the years I have been skiing, I have only seen a few days like today. They are few and far between.

Today was not only great because of the scenery and weather. I was also there with some great people. It’s not often that you find so many people all in one place who you enjoy working with and spending free time with. Rare indeed.

As a side note, we were from USA, Russia, Japan, China, France, and Norway. This led to quite a few discussions about how things are here, there, and elsewhere.