In my younger pre-internet days, we went to the local library when we needed to research something. We were usually limited to whatever encyclopedias, dictionaries, and magazine archives that were available. Cell phones, at this time, were still quite expensive, and not many people had portable cell phones at all. Text messaging via cell phone was not even an option. Time flies though…

Kids today don’t go to the library unless they don’t have computers at home. In my local library, they have a rather large bank of computers that may be accessed for internet use by patrons in one-hour-per-day increments at no cost. In my recent visits to the library, that’s where the activity is. You won’t find many people searching the stacks, but you will be lucky to find an empty seat in front of one of their computers.

I guess one good thing about my situation is that I don’t have any kids. I don’t have to worry about my children being preyed upon by social deviants on the internet. The only thing I would wish for is that parents would pay more attention to what their kids are doing online.

When I was 13 years old, my social relationships with girls happened at school and church only, and maybe through an occasional trip to the shopping mall with my parents. These relationships were face to face situations. I didn’t have to worry about whether or not the person I was communicating with was who they said they were. I could see for myself. Maybe I’m just more emotionally stable than some people, but I can’t even imagine how, at 13 years old, I could ever become suicidal over a relationship. I can, however, understand how something like that could happen if the person I thought to be my age was actually an experienced adult who was targeting me for harm.

The internet seems to provide security and self-esteem for those who have neither. It can give people the same sense of power and aggressiveness that causes road rage. Some people feel invulnerable behind the wheel of their car and behind the veil of their computer keyboard and monitor. They can be whoever they want to be, regardless of who they really are.

Dead horses… Deaf ears…

Maybe someday…

I don’t often find myself in firsts situations, but when I do, I try to make a special note of it. Tonight, I found myself at the Catawba County Sports Hall of Fame Banquet for the local newspaper. My first in this case was a set of photos of Jennifer Howard Wolgemuth. Jennifer is the first female to be inducted into the Catawba County Sports Hall of Fame. I’m fairly confident that she’s also the youngest person to be inducted as well. Here’s the biography that was printed in the program:

Jennifer Howard Wolgemuth

Jennifer Howard Wolgemuth won two national Elks Club foul-shooting contests while in grade school and went on to score 2,054 points during her career at Fred T. Foard High School. Those achievements helped to earn her recognition as a Kodak All-American and a six-time AAU All-American. During her junior year, she helped lead Foard to a 29-1 season and the 3A state basketball championship.

In addition, she was all-conference for four years in tennis and also ran track. As an outstanding student athlete at N.C. State, she was named second team All-ACC team twice and set a conference record for career foul shots and her three point average of 44 percent remains a conference record.

In 1997, she was awarded the Frances Naismith Award for a player 5′6″ or smaller and is enshrined into the National Basketball Hall of Fame as a recipient of this honor. In addition, her basketball jersey was retired and displayed in the gym at Fred T. Foard High School.

An Academic All-American with a 4.0 grade point average both in high school and college, Jennifer played one year of pro basketball with the Cleveland Rockers.

A resident of the Vale community, she and her husband, Wade, have two children.

Another stop on the trip to Georgia was in Atlanta. This short video clip shows some people messing around in the Fountain of Rings in Centennial Olympic Park.

I’m beginning to find more interest in video. I did not take a still camera with me on this excursion, and I’m glad I decided to shoot video instead. People watching with a video camera definitely adds some extra elements to the experience, but there are no great ’stills’ to be printed either…

This could possibly be my last excursion from my local area before this time next year when I graduate from Radiography school. I’m not sure if time or funds will permit another adventure. When I graduate and complete my registry exams, I’m planning to take a trip to Niagara Falls that will include plenty of stops along the way up and on the way back.

Who would have thought that the world’s largest kangaroo preserve outside of Australia is in Dawsonville, Georgia? Me either… Just outside of Dawsonville, you will find the Kangaroo Conservation Center. This site is home to over 300 kangaroos, as well as an interesting collection of Australian wildlife. The Kangaroo Conservation Center is also successful at breeding most of the species they have on hand. I didn’t shoot a lot of photos on this trip, but I did shoot plenty of video :)

The Hickory Crawdads played a noon game today against the Charleston RiverDogs at L.P. Frans Stadium in Hickory, North Carolina. The day was labeled as seniors day in the park. Mr. Bill Bass tossed the honorary first pitch prior to the start of the game. Bill is legendary in local sports… not as an athlete but as an announcer and commentator. Bill was the voice of the Lenoir-Rhyne bears for well over 40 years. He still announces Hickory High football and baseball as well as Hickory Post 48 American Legion baseball.

I was reading in Nathan Armes’ blog earlier today when I stumbled across this TED story on James Nachtwey. This 20-minute video is well worth the time to watch. Nachtwey makes several important points in this monologue that really make me think about the role of journalism in today’s society.

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m planning to add something to my camera bag during the month of May. After thinking about it at length, I have decided that it’s time to buy a really good point and shoot digital camera. I’m not very happy with the Olympus C-7000 Zoom that I have now, and not being happy with it makes me quite reluctant to ever use it for much of anything. It’s a decent camera, but it just isn’t intuitive in its operations, and I don’t use it enough to really become comfortable with it. My problem is that I want to use it a lot more than I do. A majority of the stuff I shoot can be easily done with one of these cameras, and it would eliminate a huge camera bag full of gear when I want to go out and shoot something other than sports.

The Canon G9 has several features that make it a much better option for me than what I have with the Olympus. One of the major benefits I see in the G9 is the hot-shoe flash adapter. With this feature, I can use one of my Canon external flash units on the camera if I choose. The on-cam winkers on these cameras are rarely any good, and they should only be used in a must-have photo situation. Even though it would look quite funny to put a Canon 550ex on top of this little camera, it would definitely provide adequate light when needed.

A second advantage of the G9 over my Olympus is the 12mp vs 7.1mp resolution advantage, if we can call it an advantage. 7.1 megapixels is usually enough resolution to print anything I want to print, but the additional 5 megapixels could be useful at some point. The G9 also offers RAW format, which I never use, but it would be there if I wanted it.

The G9 also offers internal image stabilization which can be a great benefit in lower light situations. Image stabilization can provide one or two stops of additional hand-holding capabilities when you would never get much more than blur without it.

One more feature that the G9 offers that my Olympus is lacking is the ability to add a lens adapter so I can put 58mm filters on the lens if I choose. The only filters I ever use on the camera are polarizers and neutral density filters, but I can’t use them effectively on the Olympus.

Last but not least, in my points of comparison that matter to me, the G9 has a monster 3″ LCD on the back. That’s huge compared to the 2″ LCD on the Olympus.

The Canon G9 has all the SLR functionality in terms of shooting modes and internal configuration. The Canon G9 and the Olympus C-7000 are basically the same size, so there is no real change there.

Someone should try to talk me out of buying this camera :)

My semester at school is finally over. The last few weeks have been difficult with the last set of tests and then the final exams. I don’t know what my grades are yet, but there is still a glimmer of hope that my 4.0 GPA will hold up. It’s gonna be close. Anyway, I’m off for two weeks now before I start back for the summer semester.

The photo above is one of the shots I made last spring when I went on the “Southwest Adventure” with a group of students who were participating in a “Native American History” and “Race and Ethnic Relations” class at school. I was thinking about these photos today because this year’s Southwest Adventure program is leaving early Saturday morning to embark on the same journey that we took last year. My group created a blog when we went on this trip and updated it from the road with photos and writings. There is a student in the current class who is supposedly going to keep this blog going by continuing it as they travel this year. I’ll be following it to see how they do.

HERE is a group of photographs that I shot on this trip. This trip really was a life-changing experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I hope the current group of students enjoys it as much as we did last year.

What am I going to do during my break?

I really need to make some opportunities for myself with my camera during the next two weeks. I’m going to have plenty of baseball work, but I need to find something to take me back to my other interests in photography while I have some time away from the books. My SoFoBoMo project is finished, but it’s not what I had hoped it to be. Maybe I’ll spend some time thinking about another book project that I can really sink my teeth into.

I’m considering buying a new point and shoot digital camera. I’m not very fond of the one I have and I have been drooling over the Canon G9 for a while now. I really need to make myself get back to shooting with a camera like this. I know I can’t use it for most of my sports and journalism requirements, but I could use it for just about everything else, especially people and street photography. My dad just bought one (and he’s a Nikon guy) so I have had the chance to get some real hands-on lust for this little jewel. I have a little extra money coming this month, so I will be adding something to my camera bag. I’m not sure if it will be the G9 just yet though. It could be an 85mm lens… maybe a LensBaby… maybe a new camera bag (which I really need cause mine is worn out)…

When I get out of school, I’ll have the money to fund my equipment wish list, but until then, I’ll have to settle for a few odds and ends here and there.

Oh well… All I know for sure about my 2-weeks off is that I’ll be sleeping late whenever possible…

After the 2007 Major League Baseball draft, Caldwell County’s Madison Bumgarner will be in Hickory this week. He won’t be carrying a bat though. Madison will be in the pitching rotation for the Augusta GreenJackets in this week’s series in Hickory against the Hickory Crawdads. Madison is scheduled to pitch in Thursday night’s game at L.P. Frans Stadium. It will be interesting to see what sort of crowd shows up at the game on Thursday night. I’m expecting a larger base of fans for Bumgarner than for the Hickory Crawdads :)

Welcome back Madison!

Milestones are always fun to note. Today provided an interesting opportunity for another entry into the My Town collection as a new milestone was set by the Hickory Crawdads at L.P. Frans Stadium. The Hickory Crawdads started play in the South Atlantic League in 1993 as a single-A farm club of the Chicago White Sox. They are now a single-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Today’s game against the Lexington Legends (single-A affiliate of the Houston Astros) was the 14th game of the 16th season, and during today’s game, Hickory first baseman Miles Durham scored the team’s 10,000th run.

During the bottom of the sixth inning, Miles Durham doubled on a line drive into right field. The next batter to the plate, Erik Huber, reaches on a fielding error and Miles Durham advanced to third base. Hickory’s Andrew Walker grounds out to Lexington’s shortstop, but Miles Durham scored on the play to bring Hickory to the 10,000 runs scored mark.

Hickory lost the game by a score of 5-4, but the milestone was still fun to witness!