I know many people that have become photographers professionally, as their main or side business. My father keeps asking me when will I do the same.

I tell him never.

I do not want to become a professional photographer. Never have had the passion. I enjoy photography as a hobby. At the moment, I feel shackled by committing myself to Project 365. I can’t stand feeling shackled. I’m shackled enough as is. Why turn something I enjoy into something I hate?

Besides, I have seen so many people turn to photography as a side business. I feel the market is saturated. Why devote all my skills to something anyone can do now when I can use my skills in a business that not everyone can do? That’s why I’m content with my job at the moment.

That’s not to say I don’t like to take photos. I do. I’m also going through my family archives and trying to scan the photos for later. I took a digital photography class as an elective in college to learn more techniques. I have all one camera in the shop and as soon as I can afford it, another one will be in the shop to be repaired. I’m having trouble getting down the Bokeh concept, but I want to learn to do it with different shapes. I also have 2 photos that have been selected to be featured in some books that will be printed this year.  Both photos chosen were ones I took as part of a hobby and not a profession.

I recently had some of my photos printed into 6″ x 4″ for a frame I need to put on the wall in my living room. The photo in this post is one I chose to print. My dad loved it. He feels I should get a bigger print of it. It was one of the photos that spurred this discussion.

I’m talking about the Georgia state government.

Back in 2002/2003, there was talk that DaimlerChrysler wanted to build a plant in the Savannah area. So, what did my state government do? They decided to spend nearly $60 million in infrastructure at a tract of land at the corner of I-16 and I-95 to lure DaimlerChrysler to the site. Now, I know, that would make a huge impact on Savannah? How huge? Well, the state and local governments expected $750 million in investment!

Just one problem with that little plan. The government pushed too hard and demanded a deadline from DaimlerChrysler. They cleared the land before DaimlerChrysler committed to moving to Savannah. Finally, after all was said and done, DaimlerChrysler decided not to build a plant in Savannah.

You know when the land was finally decided upon to be used for a plant? September 2009. Mitsubishi Power Systems will invest $325 million into the site for a new plant.

Now, think of the $60 million spent on the site. $60 million spent to allow a tract of land to lay fallow for about 7 years. Why? Why couldn’t that $60 million be used on something more important at the time? Why not wait until DaimlerChrysler had committed to using the land? I liken how the government wooed DaimlerChrysler to this: spending money on a wedding, setting a date for the wedding, all while the prospective bride is still deciding to date you. When the prospective bride decides she doesn’t want to date you anymore and will not commit to your chosen wedding date, you’re left with a useless wedding that no one will use in your place. Sure, the money was going to be spent on developing the land, but why not wait until you have an agreement in place?

Would any reasonable person do the same in their life as what the government did in the DaimlerChrysler case? No. What’s wrong with expecting our government to do the same?

So, yeah, now that I have the DaimlerChrysler case explained, I use it as reference in bone headed moves by the government. A case study in not spending wisely.

At the moment, the state government is proposing budget cuts in University of Georgia system for fiscal year 2011. I decided to look at the ones affecting my alma mater, Armstrong Atlantic State University. I am proud to be an aluma of Armstrong. The school, for the most part, did me well. Part of the proposed cuts is the elimination of 5 academic programs/departments. The expect savings on this measure is $3.8 million. Surely, I know the Department of Information, Computing, and Engineering will be affected.

To be honest with you, the School of Computing, as it was known in my time at Armstrong, wasn’t the most state of the art. However, the professors did the best they could with what they had. The semester after I graduated, the school decided not to keep its one of its professors in the IT department. That infuriated many of the students in the IT program. The professor was one of the most liked in the program, taught relevant information, and get this, was a graduate of Armstrong’s own Masters Program with a degree in Computer Science. This professor not only understood the technology, but the both sides of the school – the students’ and the faculty. In my eyes, and in the eyes of many of my classmates, this was a plus. However, the school decided they could not keep him financially. After the student outrage, I heard the school offered him his job again, but he decided to leave Armstrong for another college. Armstrong’s loss. Actually, I don’t think Armstrong loss out, but the students of the IT program did. At the moment, the IT department only has 4 professors.

If that happened to one of my professors, surely the IT program at Armstrong is a target for cuts. When I graduated, only 9 of us graduated from the program. The program keeps getting bigger in terms of enrollment, but the technology just wasn’t there. And to be honest, I feel like I didn’t learn half the skills I needed for an IT major. I couldn’t do anything with networking. Figuring out subnetting? HA! I lucked out and understood databases and got a job related to databases.

So here how I link to $60 million DaimlerChrysler case to the $3.8 million in budget cuts to Armstrong. Let’s do some math. $3.8 million/$60 million is about 15.79. Barring inflation, that $60 million used to create a fallow tract of land could fund the Armstrong cuts for about 15 years!

In my view, our government doesn’t know how to spend money. They act like a little Veruca Salts – they want it now and don’t know how to weight the present to the short term future AND the long term future.

Once this current prod load at work is complete, I should be more active in my life.  That, and there will be more sunlight in the day.  Baseball season will be here soon!  I can’t wait to be more active.

This weekend, it snowed in most of the state of Georgia. They even got snow in Savannah! According to my sources in Savannah, seems like the whole town went outside when the snow came – it was after dark. Snow came earlier in Atlanta. I worked most of Friday until my boss said we could finally go home. While at work, I took a picture of outside at 9:19 AM, 1:26 PM, 1:46 PM, and 2:27 PM Friday. You can see how the weather progressed in Atlanta. Now, there is a threat of more snow overnight! I spent the rest of Friday taking photos of the snow.

I removed the log in required for comments on my site. I hope that works for people wanting to comment but didn’t want to register. I just hate SPAM.

Until February 28, 2010, Callaway Gardens has free admission. So, Nicki and I took advantage of this offer this past week. I grabbed my camera and took some photos. The picture above is a random shot of a stained glass window at the Ida Cason Callaway Memorial Chapel. I would have loved to have stayed longer if Nicki didn’t have to return to Atlanta by 4.   She joked I was taking her to the boonies to drop her off. It’s been a while since she’s been in that part of the state.

I’ve got to start looking into a new zoom lens for my Canon camera. I need to get my Fujiflim camera fixed. I’ve still been active at the 365 Days – 2010 set. Most of the photos have been taken with the Polaroid i1037 camera.

Since my last personal post, I’ve been busy with work. This time of the year when work is busy and all the big money projects are sent to my team. I’m usually put on the big money projects. I’ve been spending my free time with my family. Nicki, Daddy, and I watched the Super Bowl. It was a good game. My favorite commercial was the Snickers ad. 

My site has gotten a boom in hits from people wanting to know more about him since I posted a tweet about it.

I hope they find this fellow Pirate and God Bless his family.

Wayward Shoe by peachy92

At the moment, I am attempting to take a photo a day this year. So far, I’m 22 for 22. My Flickr set is called 365 Days – 2010

Today’s photo is of a wayward shoe.  I was leaving work today and saw this shoe as pictured.  Because it was so puzzling, I had to take a photo. How do you lose a shoe?  Anyone want to guess as to how this happened?

So how is my 365 set so far?

• 3 pictures of Graysie
• 2 pictures of Harri
• 1 picture of Scooter
• 2 pictures of graveyards
• 1 historical marker
• 1 photo of Darth Vader
• 11 various other photos

Yesterday, my father and I each were able to take some time off from work. He was told not to return until Tuesday. My boss, knowing the day was going to be slow, let me take the day off as well. After getting a new tire rim for my car, we went to the US Space & Rocket Center.

It was a nice day.  Not only did we get to see many items used in space exploration, we got a nice view of Alabama.  To get to Huntsvile, we drove on I-20 over to Birmingham and then took I-65 and I-565 to Huntsville.  We took a different way home.  We took US 72 east to South Pittsburg, TN to I-24.  From I-24, we took it to I-75 back to my apartment.  We both agreed that the way home felt faster between Hunstville and Atlanta.  There is no direct route between the two cities.

On our way home, I spotted a small cemetery on the side of the road. I took a few photos of it, along with photos from our visit of the US Space & Rocket Center.

I enjoyed the trip.  I would like to go back to North Alabama.  I want to see the Unclaimed Baggage Center, revisit the Helen Keller Birthplace, and revisit Ave Maria Grotto. So, does anyone want to go to Alabama with me?

Today on Fark, there was a discussion about an LA Times article about History getting into reality programming.  In the discussion was this gem of a pie chart:

It actually prompted me to write the History Channel a letter:

I just read enough of an LA Times article titled “History channel pursues updated look”.  I stopped at the part about an Annie Oakley related reality show.

What has happened to the History Channel?  I am barely watching the channel I used to love because they have removed the element that caused me to watch it: HISTORY!

I do not come to History to watch reality TV.  When I do have Ice Truckers on, it’s usually for background noise to fall asleep to.  I have no interest in it other wise. I don’t watch Pawn Stars, either.

I hardly see Modern Marvels on anymore, which was the show I enjoyed the most.  It showed discoveries and observations of the past that people used to improve things of the present.

And what is up with the UFO stuff?  Not everyone believes in UFOs.  That stuff should belong on Sci-Fi (excuse me, that’s SyFy now, which is another example of a cable channel abandoning its roots).  Same goes with all the Nostradamus and other guessing games of the Bible and physics.  Half of Nostradamus’s predictions haven’t even come true.

If A&E wants a Discovery Channel clone, turning the History Channel to that clone is not the way to go.

And believe it or not, I am a 31 year old female.  I have always enjoyed history. I had a professor in college beg me to become a history major because of my love of history.  I have learned a lot from the OLD History channel, and not this new impostor.  I come to History to watch documentaries.

I may be one viewer with a small voice, but many of your old fans feel like I do.  Abandoning the History may bring you higher ratings now, but who’s to say it will in the long run.  As it is now, your advertisers are loosing one set of eyeballs with me choosing not to watch you any more.

I doubt I’ll get a reply, but at least I got my opinion of my chest. I’m getting sick of all these cable channels becoming clones of each other.

Today, my father, Beth, Ben, and I went to see Avatar today. In 3-D. At the IMAX. For those in the Atlanta area, seems there is a new IMAX screen at the AMC Barrett Commons 24 in Kennesaw. The screening we went to was sold out. We bought our tickets yesterday for today’s show.

It was a nice movie.  It is one you have to see to understand.  No words I can use to describe the experience of the art in the film.  My family joked that they will never be able to see another movie in the standard way again. I enjoyed the night scenes on Pandora.  Pure eye candy for me.  I wanted to kill Giovanni Ribisi’s character, Parker Selfridge, with a bullet straight in the forehead.  Everytime Colonel Miles Quaritch was on the screen without a mask, I kept waiting for 4 minutes to pass by.  I could recognize CCH Pounder as Mo’at, but I couldn’t remember the actress’s name.  Michelle Rodriguez was actually likable in the film.  I never did care for her in other things I saw her in.  Sam Worthington needs to lose the standard military hair cut. Just not flattering to him.  They also did a good job of making him look like he lost use of his legs.  My dad asked was he really crippled. I had to remind my dad that Terminator Salvation was shot after Avatar.  Sigourney Weaver’s Avatar looked like her.

While not a life altering movie, I am speechless in describing it more without spoiling it.