boots of my historic past & prestent

There is a pebble I could not avoid floating in my boots; it seemed like with each shuffle in the dust of that morning walk I could not escape irritation. Upon return to the house I let the dog in and I took a close look at my foot wear. A stress mark of long ago finally wore through leaving not just a hole in the boot but a river of jagged edge near 2 inches long.

I'd bought these solid old leather hiking boots before I turned 19. I'm 36 now. They've graced my feet on more then an epic journey through the Wasatch Mountains. They've kicked up dust in Senegal and Ghana. They've courted a trail in Poland. I think I've even polished 'em up before to wear to a job interview. They held my feet on the deck of a pitching ship when coming into port.

My boots define me. I do have other trinkets from lands of distant eras of my life. I may seek to have 'em repaired. I may just wax 'em up one more time. I will though put them near my fire place to hang, a picture of who I am.

forgiveness and friendship

I am hoping that a message of peace would be conveyed with my last post. Please shut me out for a while but don't shut out others. I want peace and forgiveness.

I simply want to stand next to you as a friend. I will fight for friendship more then any other aspect of my life. Friendship for me cuts across ageless boundaries of culture and religion. If I invite you to stay at my place or say call me anytime - that means you mean something to me. There are very few people I've repealed this from.(only one couple in the thousands of people I know).

Forgiveness and grace go hand in hand with correction and discipline in the lines of friendship.

A few years back (now over 10) I began to hang out with a group that met in the dining room of the Anastasis at 10pm. We'd write letters, write in our journals, read books & the Bible. We did everything and anything together. However there was one individual I didn't get a long with nor liked, so when ever he showed up I left. As the seasons change and the group began to disperse because commitments were up or new people came in, little did I realize I shut out several close friends because I left when this individual came around. I recognize it as a mistake. I have not made this mistake since.

Though I don't like someone or someone doesn't like me these days I will not leave a group, but I will also not put up with that crap. It bugs me to no end that either the other individual will not come to me or will let me come to them to resolve the difference or resolve to let there be an issue between us. I can live with people hating me. What I can't live with is not knowing from them why they hate me.

Forgiveness and grace go hand in hand with correction and discipline in the lines of friendship.

foot in mouth flare up...

Words and stories can mix and be mixed up by close friends and those far off. They can be taken as stories or as shots to the heart. I recently told a story of a friend (fellow shipmate) in a group in which I tied it back into the group. What I thought was over and behind an 'us' who aren't close enough to call an 'us' of friends I retro-think my words is not. Instead of a funny antecedent about an untimely word and the repercussion there of; I fear I shot my friend in the heart with an arrow that bore down heavier then a ton of bricks crushing me out while damaging any vein of relationship beyond association. I've suffered from a cold shoulder before because I spoke out of turn. This time I simply ask, of my friend, give me a chance to dig myself deeper & grant me the grace to mess up again.

Lea & Rob

Just shot a wedding out at the University of Utah's Red Butte Gardens. It was simply fantastic. I'd recommend having Lea plan your wedding to. Not only is she a simply gorgeous bride, she kept everything simple. I'm working the images now. I'm going to post a few here then over to another site I use occasionally for sets. Stay tuned.

JDRF

If you don't recognize this pirate and you work for ORANGE, are you sure you are there?



The company that I do work with presently supports a wide range of non-profit organizations, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is one of the biggest organizations. Recently JDRF held a big awareness event at Salt Lake City's Wheeler Farm. I've posted a few images here to share but most of my images are found at PreyingJaws on Flickr. I choose flickr because you do not need to be a member to view the images.

Enjoy surfing my images.
Later
B

*the first image is VP Steve
** Pre-Walk warm ups

An afternoon Hike

A lame afternoon turned around as I decided to find a trail without cars parked at the base. Driving up Big Cottonwood Canyon every trail head I passed had 3 to a dozen vehicles. I pondered where could I go. Then passing the lower Solitude Ski Resort entry I saw not 3 but one and this guy was leaving. I pulled over. I've heard the Silver Fork hike begins at the western edge of this parking lot. I jumped the gate and headed for the forest service road. I got lost on private property of the Silver Fork summer residence road. Not wanting to chance anything I doubled back and hit the cat track that wraps around to the Honeycomb lift. Later when I read my guide book I could have stayed on the private road without trouble. Anyways I wanted something short and without people. That is what I got besides one group of mountain bikers coming down, two bull moose in velvet, and a dozen bald eagles flying out of camera range (I only had the 28-80). I passed by groves of quaky aspen still with summer green. I rounded the area by stopping at an abandon mining camp. On the way down caught a brilliant sunset of colors in the clouds and still made it down before dark.
Ah a lovely hike for my only day off this week.

Ready Set Run

Ready Set Run, originally uploaded by preyingjaws.

Two Mentos Reps at the Park City Kimbal Art's Festival demonstrate their product's ability to create a soda fountain. Unlike the rest of us who haven't done this, these gals avoided the ensuing soda eruption.

Obama Speaks

Obama_IGP_2007_08_5__8212, originally uploaded by preyingjaws.

Prez Canidate Obama make a honk-n-wave appearance at Park City's Kimbal Junction on Sunday Aug 5, 2007. He spoke briefly about what his campaign is about before dashing off to a fund raiser.

keys n cleaning

With the key given to me, I slowly insert it into the door.
Opening the door for the first time as my place,
I paused to savor the moment & take a pix.

The scent of the shampoo'd carpet greeted me,
the cool of the AC washed over me.
I flipped off my teva's
I felt the dried carpet.

Tromping up the stairs
I looked right, left, and straight
Three bedrooms.

I ducked back down the stairs,
I spun into the kitchen,
glanced into the 1/2 bath & laundry room.

Reaching into the garage
I felt for the opener
The door moaned upwards

Light flooded the townhouse,
I paused again.
God I want this place to be...

I grabbed somethings out of my car
The first things I set out were cleaning supplies
The most important things though
I grabbed
were three books
My Bible, EM Bounds Complete Works on Prayer and My Utmost for His Highest
Holiness, Prayerfulness, Devotion.

I set out to clean,
Carpets to vacuum, shelves to wipe down, drawers to wash out
Scrub scrub scrub
How could a seller, leave a place that they wouldn't want to move straight into?
All is well.

As a rule there are only two times a place is truly clean:
the day you move in
the day you move out
all other times are 'just tidy'

My place
My home to be...
Lord so much...
So far...
What possibilities...

Does this invalidate my goals, dreams, or plans?
Not a chance.
I do want to return to missions.
I do want to say I Do
I do want to finish what I've set out to do.
In my place.

The key it turns,
opening a new beginning for me.

My Ring...

My ring is fading in detail, over the years I've banged it against the steel hull of the ship I sailed with while watching dolphins in the Pacific, kneaded it through loaves of bread dough (yes, I washed my hands with a scrub brush before I did so), scrubbed my hands raw after working with paint. It's fading and broken.

This detail though remains, I bought it on the 4th of July from a biker booth at the Freedom Festival in Duluth MN while I was with my roomie & shipmate of the Caribbean Mercy. The original significance is still there too. John 15:5 (NIV) "I am the vine you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." I've since given up on wearing chains around my neck. I don't like how chains cut into me while I pack a camera. I am too frugal to get a tat. I do though want to share the bit of my life few people ask beyond "Nice ring, can I see it?" This is how I visually show what I believe. I wear this broken, fading ring with a grape vine.

Details of the pix. Taken with a cell phone. I played with positioning and a small flash light on my dinning room table.

Cancer Remains...

My evening seemed to be built around this one item. I kept looking for opportunities to see people pause by and look at it. I kept looking for pixs of people taking time to calibrate life and to remember life. I encourage everyone to slow down and build a relationship or two and keep them strong. I was close to her. I will by faith in Christ see her again, until then I have memories of our differences of which we were very similar...

Gas Price War

This is my response to the "Gas Price War" e-mail/movement that is going around at the current time...

Hey Dude,

Think about it...
Have you ever tried a 'spending fast' where you did not spend any money for a day or a week? What happened? Did you not spend more then what you expected to the day before or the day after because you needed an extra (what ever)?

The same thing goes with the Gas Price War thing you are promoting. People are going to spend more either the day before or the day after.

The only way to 'hurt' gas companies is to ditch the gas powered mechanics. Can you do that?

If I could find away not to ride my bike through a bad neighborhood to and from work, I'd do it. One season a few years ago I saved $100 in gas over a 2 (two) month period just because i did not drive to the short places, I only drove to those places that were over 10 miles away and only then did I go there once a week and that was actually 24 miles one way or 30 the other way (route depending).

IF you could convince people to ride their bikes everywhere or to take alternate transportation, then yes the Gas Price War would work. Take a look at history with the Civil Rights movement in the 50's & 60's where the 'Blacks" (I'm not trying to be racist here) chose to boycott the mass transit system in the USA. That hurt the companies, some folded & were bailed out by the local government. A boycott like that would hurt the Gas companies today & it would make the government look seriously at promoting alternate fuels & alternate sources of energy.


Later
B


-----Original Message-----

Subject: Gas Price War


GAS WAR - an idea that WILL work

Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going to hit close to $4.00 a
gallon by next summer and it might go higher!! Want gasoline prices to
comedown? We need to take some intelligent, united action. Phillip
Hollsworth offered this good idea.

This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain
day" campaign that was going around last April or May! The oil
companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to "hurt"
ourselves by refusing to buy gas. It was more of an inconvenience to us
than it was a problem for them.

BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that
can really work. Please read on and join with us! By now you're probably
thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super cheap. Me too! It
is currently $2.79 for regular unleaded in my town. Now that the oil
companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost
of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50 - $1.75, we need to take aggressive
action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace..... not sellers.
With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action.
The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in
the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And, we can do that
WITHOUT hurting ourselves. How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop
buying gas. But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act
together to force a price war.

Here's the idea:

For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY
gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL.
If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices.
If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow
suit. But to have an impact, we need to reach literally
millions of Exxon and Mobil gas buyers. It's really simple to do! Now, don't wimp
out at this point..... keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is
to reach millions of people.

I am sending this note to 30 people. if each person sends this to 10 people,
the that's 300 people ... and those 300 send it to
at least ten more (300 x 10 =3,000)..and so on, by the time the message
reaches the sixth group of people, we will have reached over THREE
MILLION consumers. If those three million get excited and pass this on to
ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If
it goes one level further, you guessed it..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!

How long would all that take? If each of us sends
this e-mail out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION
people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!!!

Acting together we can make a difference. If this makes
sense to you, please pass this message on. I suggest that we not buy
from EXXON/MOBIL UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND
KEEP THEM DOWN.
THIS CAN REALLY WORK.

Tour de Cure

American Diabetes Foundation will host it's annual Tour de Cure in various regions around the country this summer. Last summer my dad and I volunteered for the event with the Miata Club of Utah; half of the Miata Club rode the other half provided on the road support. Road Support is fun because I got to see the riders in various stages of excitement and exhaustion. In various places the Club would stand/park near various road hazards like Rail Road Crossings (one in experience rider lost it on a crossing & needed medical attention); sometimes provided directions at odd turns; provide a quick tire repair (I did a MacGyver on a sidewall repair near Golden Spike, which lasted the next 60 miles for the rider); and unfortunately provide road side medical support until EMTs can arrive in the case of one rider who took an unusually hard spill.
I also took pictures. Often over my shoulder as we drove past. Other Club members shot as well. The official images are here.

This event is for the support of finding a cure for Diabetes. Diabetes has inflicted its pain into my family both my Grandfather died from complications resulting from the disease and Aunt is dealing with it now. I also have friends who have it. I encourage you to look into your local ride or into supporting the American Diabetes Association.

Toxic

The toxic blare of sirens pierced the silent night above the lazy evening traffic. Gently I sat of all places here at my computer enjoying the night of surfing & pondering going to bed. The sirens continued. Damn there close, to close. I went to the window only to see a column of gray gas rising above the tree line thick, unwavering against the shadow of the night scape. Bubble gum wrapper lights danced between the trees and buildings I could see. The neighbor above stepped out onto her tiny deck talking on her cell saying I see flames looks like a house on the other side of the 'Street.' Do I grab my jacket & dodge traffic with my camera or do I just set here, I pondered. At last watching from my window the gray turned to white the sirens died down I stooped praying the family that just lost everything.
This morning an annoying fly drove me from my coffee. What the hell is this buzz going on. I did grab my shoes and headed out the door. A news 'choper flew circles around last nights fire scene. Damn buzzards, doesn't this family have enough hardship now without you pointing it out to everyone who watches your show, I cursed under my breath.

Fakers

I typically don't like to use this site as a repeater site but when I came across this article I wanted to share it. The reason being is I don't want my public stuff to be criticized as a fake by me or others. Now that a little bit of math can do some looking at the images well let it be known the geeks are at it again...

forgeries

Later
B

loss

I always feel like a coffee shop philosopher every time I pull out my pda to write in a coffee shop. My trusty mug of black and my danish along side - gulp - visor prism. This morning I am lazy. Just to not give a damn worthy to make my own coffee, heck, I even drove to the starbarfs around the corner.
What draws me into this state? What drew me into the state of passing out crying last night? Or the state of walking out of work yesterday? Death. Death. The loss of a close friend on Friday. The loss of innocence of others. The loss of dealing with emotions past. I've not looked at literally thousands of pictures both on my pc and in my head of the friend I lost yesterday, of the friend I lost in August, of those I lost six years ago.
I don't want your sympathy, I just don't want to hear it. I want you to sit by me. I want you to be quiet near by. Listen to my breathing. Listen to the quiver in my voice. Listen to the tears in my story. Cry, cry, cry, cry not for me, not for the family, not for them, cry for yourself, cry for your family, cry for your friends. Christ said 'weep not for me' as he was burdened with his execution minutes away from his own death.
Religion and philosophy don't help. Faith and hope don't put a stop to the void. Friends move away and others return. That is easy. The death though is complete separation. The end of the relationship is final. There are no more pictures. There are no more stories. No more smiles, hard times, big heart felt thanks, no more slap on the backs, jokes, nothing nothing else to look forward to. It's a complete END.
There are others who were closer to my friend. There are others who have known him longer, etc.
How many though know the intimacy of death? How many know love unearthly riped away? How many know how to 'keep it together' when it is all falling a part? How many know what falling a part is like when others say it's time to be together? It's a personal struggle. It's a family struggle. It's a community struggle. It's all messed up and yet every piece is exactly where it needs to be.
The wound need not heal. The perspective needs to change. If the answer sought not meets the question asked; change the question until the question gets the answer sought. If the treatment doesn't work, try another treatment. Re-examine the problem. Keep moving yet stop. Stop and yet keep moving.
What then do I want to take away? Definitely not coffee shop philosophy. Definitely not an empty cup of coffee. Honestly, what I want to take away is what I do to the next level. I want to step it up. Live life more by drawing closer into my friends. Live life more by giving closer to others. There is that next level I can go for with the things I already do.
Loss sucks no mater what. What I can do is glean from my friend's life those qualities I see as important to him and make them my own. What I can do is to challenge myself to take up those qualities I saw in him that I admire. What I can do is to step up to the next level those things we enjoyed together. That is that is the quiver in my voice I want to share. That is...

Micah

I know that getting things moving again isn't easy. I'm irritated. I'm pissed. I'm devistated. A vast range of emotions are running through my heart right now. I got a call this morning about Micah Coleman. He died yesterday in surgery. He was in the process of getting a new liver. I am going through my images now to find pictures of him. I've pulled a few images. I don't have many. It's like an unwritten rule for photogs; you don't take pixs of other photogs unless the situation warrent it.


What I am irritated most of is with the death. I want to raise my fist at GOD. I want to know why must the young die. I can understand the death of old people. Old people's bodies are worn out. They have lived life. It's time for them to move on. What I don't get is for young people to die. I've known one to many young people who've gotten sick and died. Up and Died. WHY?


Cheif Dave told me the story of his late wife Gigi - the lady who was a thorn in my side while on the Caribbean Mercy ages ago - I also gave her great respect and helped her out when ever I could. It was said of Gigi if you needed a wedding dress tell her and a few hours later she'd bring it to you. Cheif, he told me that every day he had with her was grace. His daughter feared that she'd loose her mom before she was 10. Gigi died when her daughter was 12. Cheif Dave also spoke of the fallen world that we live it. God created it to be perfect. He formed it for a place for us to dwell. He gave us a choice. We made the wrong choice. Now the world is corrupt. God did prepare an eternal place for us who believe and trust in the Blood of the Christ for Salavation. Those of us who trust and believe will be with HIM in eternity. Yeah, I took that message Cheif gave me to my sister's bed side 6 years ago... I took that message to another friend's grave over the summer. I take that message today with Micah's passing. It doesn't comfort me right now.


I am going through the images he made availble on line. Of the events that we were at together there are a lot of similar pictures. Micah's pixs Kinda cool. I wish I could spend more time shooting a long side of him...

New Shoes

I got new shoes today!
Okay? Snowshoes that is...
My old ones I've beat near to death. I've logged a hundred or close miles on them since getting them about this time last year. I broke down today to get a pair that would work well on both hard pack and powder. I find that going the extra mile gets me to the powder. The rest is hard pack.
Before heading out this morning, I did check the avalanche report, everthing should be sliding. Augh! Presently in the valley it is snowing and I've got to work the next few days. I hope I can find a little un-treaded trails on Sunday.
I found myself near the top of Granduer Peak on the north side of Mill Creek Canyon. Ah, wonderful, a clear day lots of scrub oak and animal tracks. I saw a small herd of deer on my way back down.

Nervous

I know that my God is a God of love and peace.

But when I read today's headlines I see people blowing themselves up. I can't figure it out...
Daily on Yahoo news there is more suicide bombers blowing up Mosques? Yes, terroists blowing up others of like belief. Hum?

Something is up here. I'm nervous...

I caught a special speaker last night at my church. The man is a former terrorist who became radically saved after a car accident a number of years ago. Today even while recieving numerous death threats each year he keeps speaking up...
I watched a video he promoted last night. I watched it today with my family and we talked about it. Yes, after seeing this video I am nervous. What I see is a radical way of life that is promoting killing yourself for peace. Huh? What gives? The speaker last night explained it is a way of life, a way of hatred that beings young.

Several of you know I've protested the first Gulf War and I've been to rallies since then. Some of you may not know that I've looked into Socialism and other philosophies of governance. I keep seeing in each of these something is missing.

What is missing is the human need of security. The ideologies I've looked into are not human, they miss a major point, the point of LOVE. When I'm not on my soap box of God as Holy, I do not pause to point out that because He is Holy, He shows it as LOVE.

I challange you to read up on this link. Browse it. Watch the trailers.
Obession the Movie

Yeah, I'm nervous. I really like my way of life. I like being able to worship my God of Heaven, and His only Son Jesus Christ, who died for ME, as I want. I like my life of freedom and the pursuit of debt and leasure. I like getting up into the mountians He created and I like gathering with others of like mind.

When this radicalism comes, I will not be able to participate in the activities I freely enjoy, nor will you...

Red FRIDAY

I don't know where my old man got this. As I read it though I got kicked back to '91, I was a little more hypie then in my thoughts towards 'Gulf War 1' and the crap that went on then. I also didn't know who to turn to to show that I supported our troops and yet did not agree with what our country was doing then. I still don't agree 100%. What pisses me off are those people who say they support the troops, who are of age, and don't go! I bite myself here because reflecting on this puts me in the hot seat. I didn't sign up either, now I'm too old.

If you support our troops, some of you have friends and family in the military do read on... do write them... do attend even the "Anti- (FitB)" protests (Ive attended a few & honestly they are hilarious these people don't know what's going on...) and get in the faces of those who don't give a FitB about freedom for everyone. Show your support every boisterous* way you can and even in ways you don't have to use words.

*write your government reps from the lowest levels to the highest levels of government, attend rallies, stick a flag in your window with your love one's pix, attend open houses, follow and follow up on the news, call/write to the editor, enlist.

To All....................

I normally do not forward unsolicited e-mail, but being ex-military and knowing what our troops are being asked to do, I felt compelled to forward the message. I am just sending the message. I have been moved to tears and hope this is not a joke. Too, many of our troops are coming home this way and they need to be honored. Please see below:

PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE EMAIL AND YOU SEE WHAT IS MEANT BY RED FRIDAY.
Last week, while traveling to Chicago on business, I noticed a Marine sergeant traveling with a folded flag, but did not put two and two together. After we boarded our flight, I turned to the sergeant, who'd been invited to sit in First Class (across from me), and inquired if he was heading home.

No, he responded.


Heading out I asked?


No. I'm escorting a soldier home.


Going to pick him up?


No. He is with me right now. He was killed in Iraq .

I'm taking him home to his family.



The realization of what he had been asked to do hit me like a punch to the gut. It was an honor for him. He told me that, although he didn't know the soldier, he had delivered the news of his passing to the soldier's family and felt as if he knew them after many co nversations in so few days. I turned back to him, extended my hand, and said, Thank you. Thank you for doing what you do so my family and I can do what we do.


Upon landing in Chicago the pilot stopped short of the gate and made the following announcement over the intercom.


"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to note that we have had the honor of having Sergeant Steeley of the United States Marine Corps join us on this flight. He is escorting a fallen comrade back home to his family. I ask that you please remain in your seats when we open the forward door to allow Sergeant Steeley to deplane and receive his fellow soldier. We will then turn off the seat belt sign."

Without a sound, all went as requested. I noticed the sergeant saluting the casket as it was brought off the plane, and his action made me realize that I am proud to be an American.


So here's a public Thank You to our military Men and
Women for what you do so we can live the way we do.

Red Fridays

Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing
Red every Friday. The reason? Americans who support
our troops used to be called the "silent majority." We
are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for
God, country and home in record breaking numbers. We
are not organized, boisterous or overbearing.

Many Americans, like you, me and all our friends,
simply want to recognize that the vast majority of
America supports our troops. Our idea of showing
solidarity and support for our troops with dignity and
respect starts this Friday -- and continues each and
every
Friday until the troops all come home, sending a
deafening message that .. every red-blooded American
who supports our men and women afar, will wear
something red.

By word of mouth, press, TV -- let's make the United States on every Friday a sea of red much like a homecoming football game in the bleachers. If every one of us who loves this country will share this with acquaintances, coworkers, friends, and family, it will not be long before the USA is covered in RED and it will let our troops know the once "silent" majority is on their side more than ever, certainly more than the media lets on.

The first thing a soldier says when asked "What can
we do to make things better for you?" is .."We need
your support and your prayers." Let's get the word out
and lead with class and dignity, by example, and wear
something red every Friday.

IF YOU AGREE -- THEN SEND THIS ON.
IF YOU COULDN'T CARE LESS -- THEN HIT THE DELETE BUTTON.
IT IS YOUR CHOICE.
WE LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE, ONLY BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE!!

-PN-
This does sound like an urban legend but it does have the necessary items in it to sound true. I would not be surprised if it is. If not it is an event that is taking place all to often these days.

Ray of Light

Dust hanging in the air above me caught my eye for this image. I couldn't quite capture the light as a moment before had. I tried. I shot a few more pixs trying. The dust still there but the brief moment of intense light wasn't. So I sought a different image.

Ensenada, my thoughts

YWAM Ensenada.
Wish you were here, rather I wish I'd be here longer, my vacation is hours away from being over. Last night after a walk on the beach during the day, hanging out with the leadership of this location - asking them a fist full of questions, and returning from doing laundry with the DTS I snapped a few pictures of this base at night. The gentle roar of the waves on the beach, tempted temperature, a quite evening, and most staff secure in their homes (not that this area is dangerous, it's not) I sought refuge behind the lens. The lens provides me an opportunity to touch without getting touched. The lens provides me an opportunity to connect you (& myself) with a moment in time of touch. I find a simple redirection of focus changes the perspective and meaning of a photograph. I find also the lens provides me the touch I want, the opportunity to get close, to grab life, to give life. Isn't it ironic how I use the lens?

Thoughts of returning quickly to this location tops my heart. I want to distinguish between the heart thump of coffee in my veins from the heart pull of GOD in my life. What would I do here? Easy come on staff as a photographer and mix it up with being on staff as builder. What does this mean? It means that my main purpose would be to take photographs for YWAM San Diego/Baja at this location with the different programs offered with Homes of Hope. The other purpose would be to assist in building homes when my skills as a photographer is not required. The little bit of construction I have played well last weekend. The experience in photography proved invaluable the weekend before.

Poverty is the lack of options, it no longer phases me to the extent in did 15 years ago when two men wrestled a bag of garbage from me when I brought it down the gang way of the Anastasis in Senigal west Africa. The poverty I see here is people without options wanting to provide for their children. They live in squalor but not the squalor of India. I see that with providing them a clean shelter as what Homes of Hope does their out look on life immediately changes to that of hope for their future and that of their children.

Christ commands us to shelter the poor, to help those in need. I feel that too on my life. I do have things I need to over come before returning here. I am earnestly praying about returning here.

Alonso Family Build

Some where a long the road from a hotel to a build site in a YWAM vehicle my nervous edge wore off as I introduced myself to those I piled in with. My meeting of the Alonso family and friends over the weekend is the result of my interest in finding out more about YWAM San Diego/Baja and their Homes of Hope program. I am considering my return to mission by joining this organization. I mentioned 'nervous edge' simply I don't like meeting new people without something solid to connect with.

Our arrival at the build site which lay half way up a hill - looking more like a surmounting mountain - greeted us with a chill of morning and encouragement. The crew of 22 people quickly pulled each other up the trail and back down again. This team's spirit is long lived and quick to make a chain gang. Everything seemed to be moved by chain gang. Everything in the tool van needed to be passed up the trail. Later we found out the family moved all of the building materials up to the concrete pad the night before. Before long the wood for different units too had moved via chain gang either up to be painted or down to become roof trusses.

The crew divided into three groups one for painting, one for framing, one for trusses. I found myself beating nails on the framing team. Admittedly there were set backs but these were over come in due process. I saw how the 'A' Builder, Austin, worked with each difficulty in turn. The walls came up shortly after lunch. Followed by dry wall nailed to and the trusses passing on to the walls. By dark the pad looked closer to a home then a bunch of materials. A lot of work yet needing to be done would be completed by the same time tomorrow.

The crack of dawn hit me early, my legs, let's not go there sore, did not wnt to move. My friend/photographer and I stayed in San Diego, we had to roll early to greet the Alonso family which stayed at a hotel in TJ. Starbucks is my friend and poison, it wakes me up when I want to sleep. The troops rallied at the hotel for breakfast at 7:30am. After a short devotion we folded into the cascade caravan of vans bound for the build site after a brief interlude to divide up the house warming gifts for our families.

I really loved seeing the site this morning. Something struck me as hope. Every duty I saw the mother participating in she wore a smile broader and wider then the canyon her home over looks.

The team jumped to. The set backs of yesterday a memory. The task of today would be completed soon enough - ok the last shingle nailed to minutes before giving the keys to the family. Not a sore muscle of mine regretted not coming at this moment. A tear formed in her eye as the keys were handed over. Her house, which she built. Her house which she labored for. Her house, her hope for her children. This is the hope of homes of hope.

I've posted my pictures at Flickr.

Twisted Coffee

Twisted Coffee by *PreyingJaws on deviantART

This looks like a photo-manipulation. It is but, it's not. It's done in-camera. While taking the picture I twisted the camera. I liked the result when I went through my images of the Baja Vision event I shot at last weekend*. This image falls into my misc. folder of staff and behind the scene images. What do you think of it?

*This link will take you to YWAM San Diego/Baja' home page.

Pentax K-10 D

The K-10 D by Pentax is my hit for the season. I picked one up just before leaving on vacation. Without much time to play with it, to learn the nuances of the beast I turned to the forums. I'll admit arrogance and assumptions in this, it was a mistake. The K10D is solid, rock solid with a plethora of intelligence with the design and buttons. Unlike its sibling I tote the *istDS it is not menu driven. The flip flop between focus/metering/format is a selection of the right button or dial. Most of my shots were with high saturation and over exposure settings which lead to a few to many blown out images (the forums were wrong). Besides not experimenting with exposure setting - my bag - I did a lot of fast action shots to capture emotion and the emphasis of the moment.

I shot this past weekend for YWAM Baja and their Baja Vision event. The intent of this is to bring a few people together to build houses for the poor in Ensenada Mexico. The other aspect is to raise funds to add to the ministry of YWAM Baja. This group wants to build a training center on 14 acers of land just south of Tijauna. One evening the Mayor of Ensenada gave Sean Lambert a plaque of recognition for the work his group does. I encourage you to follow the link and read the story.

I'll admit the image of Sean Lambert is not so sharp. I shot it with the *istDS and 28-80 f/2.8. The picture of Brett Curtis below was shot with the K10D and 12-28 f/4.

Back to my camera review. Go to figure the one day, the first day of the build, the weather chilled & wet. I fought of the rain while hiding the cameras under a jacket. The rain seemed not to affect the operation of the camera. The dust of the following day thou may yet haunt me. I cleaned both cameras thoroughly each night and the whole kit on my return to San Diego. I do really enjoy how fast the K-10 D focuses. One night I flip flopped the f/2.8 lens to the K-10 D. In low light shot after shot the camera focus proved dead on in low light & a hell of a lot faster then it ever was on the *ist DS. The most impressive item of all is the RAW button. I shot a lot of JPGs the RAW button lets me shoot RAW on those images I must capture without diving into the menus. The RAW can be either PEF or DNG with the inclusion of a JPG. The camera is taking me on a learning curve. I do need to watch what I do when I go from one Pentax to the next. They both have interesting nuances to work around.

Over all I found my weekend with the K-10 D a delight. I'll pack both cameras around until they die of over use.

Links:
Sean Lambert article: http://www.ywamsandiegobaja.org/articles.aspx?id=20893
YWAM Baja: http://www.ywamsandiegobaja.org/
Pentax K-10 D: http://www.pentax-k10d.jp/english/
*ist DS: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/pentaxistds/

Bill

A blast from my past, Bill, my chief cook from the M/V Caribbean Mercy (CbM). I worked with this jolly fellow for 2 1/2 years when I first joined the CbM. Bill's heart was for the Latinos and for providing high quality meals to the ship's crew. I still see it today.


When I arrived in Ensanda I jumped out to find my old friend. Sure enough he'd begun his prep for dinner. Potatoes and pork roast. The smell tickled my senses. He wove a story of Brett contacting him and his wife Misty about a year and a half ago to inquire if God was directing him back into missions. Shortly afterwards the natives of Sparks NV packed up the kids and headed to Mexico.

Cold

Did I not leave Utah to get warm?
Since heading to southern California and now in Mexico - Ensanada - I've been cold. Cold why? Because it is. Can I shoot the bastard who is advertizing Global Warming? If Global Warming means the whole world is getting warmer why then is California experiencing the coldest winter in near recorded weather history? Just because New York is hot does not mean the whole world is warm unless of course you are a New Yorker.

Wide Angle

I took a little time off today to walk around the CV Midway. A little of what I went there for is knowing it's compartments were tight I wanted to learn the 12-24mm wide angle lens I picked up.

Missions

1/9/2007

I'm sitting in the batcave (my friend's Dave office*) in San Diego/National City CA, not yet in Mexico. Reviewing images of past builds as recient as November 2006, I get the sense of the need of adequit housing for the poor. My hands yern for the warmth of a 32oz hammer while my eye scans each image I review in preperation for my journey this weekend. Part of today is to pull together a slide show for this weekend's event the other part of today is to connect with YWAM Baja . I'll be on the work sites (all four) to take pictures of the 'builds' happening this weekend. As soon as we leave the sites the rush to pull together the rest of the slide show will happen with close-ups, action, need, emotional, and dedication shots within the hour. I'm closing in on the 5000th photo looked at for content and application materials. I know now what is needed for me to capture.


I met an old friend last night at his new house for an hour. My visit wasn't so much of catching up on old times, we did that on the phone two weeks ago and in the office yesterday. My visit was more of what it will take to get me down here full time. My heart still beats for missions. My hands want to wrap around the work that needs to be done. I want do more. More though is not what is needed. I know from the past when work is to be done, work gets done. When the heart is behind then work is not work, it is done in love and this shows the Christ behind the work.


I ponder and pray, am I ready to commit to the known of the unknown again about volunteer work? I've written the list of things that are holding me back. The list includes junk from having 30 cases of books to my love of Utah's Back Country. The scariest on the lists is leaving family and fund raising again. Again? Yes, this is how I lived before as a missionary, I raised my own support. I honestly don't want to follow the jitters of coffee running through my veins. I want to be forward not only to myself but to others, where I see myself going and how can I get there from here.


Unguided over the last few years I've set myself on three things: get out of debt, get my Master's Degree, and get back into 'Missions.' Beyond writing these three things down the specifics aren't written down. They are expressed through long hours at work and pushing to get monthly incentives. Talk and the look towards attending SLTS again when I can afford it. Missions though, I don't talk much if any about it with others. I keep this to myself. I love my memories of travel and the seas. I miss the community feeling of getting to know others. Why do I count Dave and Lara as great friends? It's because of the times in the field, on the ship, and BD (before Dave). I met and worked with Lara in '94 until '95. Missions though means different things to different people. It no longer means packing your gear into a 6ft crate bound for India one way. Nor does it means getting speared by head hunters in the jungles. It means reaching out to those around with the Gospel of Christ. There are many ways we do this. For me I want to show something about the world that others are missing. I miss busting it out all day then going out to some one bench church to do a drama portraying the life of Christ.


Where is my calling? What is my desire? How am I going to walk it out? How is what I am doing at home going to forward this? Can I intergrate what I've learned to push beyond myself? Is my comfort zone way to restrictive? I've got questions. I've got ideas. I've got stability where I am at. What's next? What's the shake up?

Refrences

YWAM Baja

Homes of Hope

the batcave

Youth With A Mission

Salt Lake Theological Seminary

Snowshoes and Mountain Biking

Two of the things I enjoy the most is snowing and mountain biking. Yesterday I headed up Buttler Fork for a little time of R&R in the mountains. This area is very popular during the summer for hikers and mountain bikers. I've not mnt biked this trail, may be next summer. I do find the irony in this sign. Three day old powder graced my foot steps, thankful that my steps were shown by someone else.

Vacation

Utah's winter wonderland is bone chilling as I sit in my single pane'd appartment. The cold doesn't creap in - it walks straight through the doors & windows.

Several years and many yards back I sailed the seas with a brisk crew who strove to see others taught Christ by their lives & deeds. Comming soon I'll rejoin a few of these mighty men in a land much warmer then here. Excuse me while I step into the fridge to warm up. I'm talking with a good friend and her husband these days about joining them for a while at the first of the year to shoot & build. My goal between now and then is to get up to speed and beyond in journalistic skill to assist them with their organization (they have since moved on to work on shore). While there I'd like to push beyond what I do now & to get dirty & to get refocused on where I really really want to go.

A while (years) ago I set out to get my Master's of Arts in Theological Studies (MATS). Yes. I still want to journey that route. I find it difficult though to study when those around me dissagree with the course of higher learning under a teacher for a slip of paper. Ironic though in a book recently cover'd in the third chapter studied one goes into say there are many forms of worship & service (A Purpose Driven Life). Yet the group I run with found so much out of this work they lost sight of some of the details including that of which I journey to.

These three things tie in well together. How? Simple I am a return(and wana be) missionary (Utahans understand what this means) I shoot & I study. All three I belive are God guided & Christ ordained in my life. The hardest thing of these days is when I ask for feed back; I mean speak up for I do not understand your silence. I know silence is what I asked for after my sister passed away & you sat next to me. Now however I cry out, not for your attention but for your guidance. If I am to improve in the skills of a photographer I need not a hand on the back to pat me there. I need your hand to take mine to show me the way. I am blind in this area. A teacher judges the skills of the student by giving assignments & exams, then returns them with appropriate marks either right or wrong. Where applicable the teacher guides with comments on what can be improved upon and what can be left alone.

I do recognize that in my present course of day, religious involvement is scant. Three goals I do look at are: get out of debt, get my MATS, & get back to the field. I join not my work to fit but to meet the meat I need. Let not this stuff interfer please with the help I seek.

Powder

Utah is beneficial to those of us who enjoy the out doors, there's lots to do within half an hour or 6 if you want to extend your drive. A cold winter storm droped a knee full of white fluffy powder on SLC last night causing grid lock in the city but HEAVEN in the mountains. Unfortunately for me I didn't get up until 8 & by 9 I was out the door to experience gridlock just getting to the freeway that would take me to the mountains. Knowing my favorite stomping ground of BC would be shut down for avalanche control I routed to Neff's Canyon a little closer and accessed through an upper class neighborhood a short 10minutes away or so I thought 30 minutes later I arrived. & i forgot the camera. I didn't go far just enough to fill my lungs with moisture sucking cold air & enough to get bragging rights at the office that I bounced in fresh powder, now my 'boarder workmate may rub in the fact that she ditched school today to take a run or 3 at Brighton but hey I have litgitimate rights, I didn't ditch school.

S Curves

S curves are wonderful whether they are being carved into freshly fallen powd'r or zooming around them on a road. Many Utahian's will recognize this 'S' curve for others well it's up Big Cottonwood Canyon. I'm looking down on it (shivering my frozen fingers off) I took the opportunity for a late eveinging hike in fallen snow over boot tramped trails with a curs'd head lamp that' worked about as well as depleating batteries would go in ice forming weather. Coming down near the trail head I saw cars in the night. I scratched my head & decided the cold inconvience would be worth the while if I got one or two decient pixs. It was hit after I remembered even at night if one does not remove the lens cap no image will be taken. Without a tripod eternity is close to 40 seconds even with the camera was on a rock and socks. Of the 15 pix (two were with the lens cap on) I grabed 4 that are okay to show off. Okay so one is cut off - I liked it for someone drove into the parking lot for a moment adding intrest to the scene.

Long Early Winter Hike

Long Early Winter Hike
Originally uploaded by preyingjaws.

I wasn't planing on going this far but I am glad I did. It refreshed my sense of being out where few people dare go. This sign post is between Mill Creek Canyon and Big Cottonwood Canyon in a rather remote spot. Those who do go there set their mind to it even during the summer. The snow here is several days old and crusty which didn't bother me like it normally does. The crunch refreshed each step to keep going. I saw tracks of deer and squirls, a fox is in the area too. I looked down to the valley remembering life is just this. Packed with moments of pure extacy and a lot of blah. The rugedness of the terain around me catches me by surprise every time I journey this high. The trail I use sweeps around and over a few inches wide at times while the lower end is well marked the top end you need to know where you are going (and not be afraid to look down a steep slope).

hotair

Came up to PC for the moring hoping to catch some morning rays around the Hi Ute Barn off of I-80. Which I did. The colors behind on Eckard Hill are nto popping yet. Also caught some hot air balloon action.

PC Sept 2006

PC Sept '06

High Meadow Colors

Hey All.
Hiking over the weekend revealed the magical scent in the air known as fall. In the high Wasatch Mountains the fall colors are invading the meadows. It's time to retreat from the summer and into the mountains as the colors begin to fade to reds and yellows. You know where I'll be...

someone hit my car

one would think that parking is a safe activity. while I was baking chicken, my neighbor knocks on my door saying that my car had been hit by a drive through. what the *&^%$? sure enough I grabed a shirt and the camera, he and I headed out to the parking lot. my mirror dangling by the wires, we began to walk the neighborhood looking for the vehicle. we found it. took damage pixs of the truck he described to me. then I called the cops. the perp I'm told did not have insurance nor wanted to admit to the hit & run. I was told he'd been arrested (big whopie - who's gona pay for my muffed mirror? me no doubt) I'm also trying to get a hold of my apt manager to say what can be done about people cutting through? I've seen more people cut throught then who live in this building. I've also nearly been hit stepping out! to added to my vehicle demise of yeasterday in the morning my car was egged.

All Church Campout

 
This is just a clip of the Rock Church campout over July 28's weekend. More images can be found at Rock Pix and at my other website dotphoto .

later
B 

loss of a good friend

Nothing floors me more then to hear of the loss of a good friend. this morning while casually checking my e-amil, I recieved a message from the father of my good friend/brother Nathan Buzdor. His life reciently claimed by cancer. Nate and I became friends while we served on the M/V Caribbean Mercy a long number of years ago. He served alongside Mark & Paul in the computer lab. A techie to the core. I know there is the hope of Christ in our lives. It so floors me to hear of a life taken so soon. Please pray for his family and visit their family website, as of this posting there is no mention of his passing only that of his up coming wedding.

Recovery Trials

This is an adumendium to the post of earlier. The assumption I utlized and sold myself on when purchasing an external hard disk is/was this will be a 'live' back up system which I can off load my data while still being able to us it. I operated under this philosophy even until error did it part. Even when I got a DVD burner did I maintain that philosophy. The purpose of the DVD burner was to provide quality images to friends without spanning over multiple CDs. I did burn a few DVDs of important files and settings. I did as well burn a few back up pix disks however not of reciently off loaded data/pixs. The pixs I really want to recover are family images and of the immigration rally of two months ago. Pixs of fall colors and of winter soo activities are not all that important however they are vital to me for the process of developing my style.
What I am doing at this time is trying to find work arounds to regain 'read' access to the HD. If I can read it I can save it to another HD or burn to DVD. How I am doing this is by using Live Linux distro's. From these I've gained some info about the drive that I did not have under windows. I am also reading how others have sought to recover lost or deleted files. This info is invaluable and I will try the recovery programs.

7/11/06
Fast forward to this morning, I did not do anything last night with the drive. Today I bit a bite and bought a 250G HD to mirror if I can. My intention is to load a msos onto it, set the other drive up and run some recovery programs. {7/17/06 - I fore went the msos route} Using a file recovery program from I tested recovery on a 128M flash card. I retrieved 200M of deleted files! That was after I reformated the flash card. Is my math correct? Yes it is. I later tried a SD card. The only way I could get the program to recognize the SD card was through the camera interface. The 1gig card worked. The 2gig card did not. I paged the FAQs, some bios's do not recognize the larger cards.

7/13/06
I am still working on the work arounds. The PC tower I am using will not recognize the 250gig HD via Win98 (se). The linux live distro's will not either. This morning I turned on the faulty drive to my laptop, the recovery program did analize and recognize the logical partions. I also looked at the directories and files. Great relief sweapt my brow. I did start a limited recovery to verify that recovery is possible.
Next time to 'play' a little more with the 250gig before launching my recovery effort. I cycled on and off the 250gig trying to replicate the original error, So far no luck. My next thing to try is to recover the data by read & copy.

7/17/06
Yes, last night I ran a r&c program. This morning I hit random files of the some 50 thousand files it found. Of the images I viewed I saw what I went looking for, however, of doc's I saw very few that were readable while the txt's and html's were pretty much garbage. Therefore the conclusion of this trial and error week light to me: BACK UP ALL IRREPLACEABLE DATA! Some people get hit by viruses, some by trojan's, others by malware, me, I get hit by my own uh stupid mistakes.
If you have any image CD that I have given to you over the last 2 (two) years please give me a copy. My recovery effort I know will not be 100%. The more original image CDs I have the more stable my collection will be.
My next steps this week is to redo that which I did last night with refinement to my search pattern, followed by a sort (manually) of the images into folders on the 250G; do that again using another r&c recovery program; compare both results; finally with my images saved from the bad drive restore the partion table.

7/18/06
Yeah my images are salvagable. I ran one r&c last night saving all the jpg's and other images. Now, with those I have to sort them. The yeah transitions to an ugh with the thought of additional work.
The key to all of this is ensure your back up system is fool proof.
I am confident at this point to say I will survive. I do have a lot of work to do over the next few days before I claim this battle for my data is won.

7/19/06
And every time I say 'I am confident that I will survive' something else crops up. Last night I ran my second r&c program only to have it freeze up on me while I created directories to save my data to this morning. Choices and issuses which do I do; do I re-run that program to night or do I try the partion file replacement option of the first program? This is a trick question, I re-run the program.

Recovery Help Wanted

Hey, this is an urgent plea for help.
Over the weekend my backup system went south.

I've searched the lists of help pages and now it's time for me to scream HELP.
this is what I wrote to one of the help pages...
Yesterday, I turned on my external HD which is a Western Digital 160G in an ADS Tech case. I had it partioned into at least 3 ways. The thing had a way of cycling on and off during its first few minutes of power up while MSXP Autoplay would ask what did I want to do with this kind of multi-media device. Normally I click escape and let well enough alone; this time I clicked on open in folder, do always (for both drives that had stuff on them). I then proceded to copy over the new pixs from the week past. I left the room. When I came back there was a copy message error that I didn't read and clicked okay. I tried to access the drive. I couldn't. I reboted my laptop. Nothing. I cycled on and off the HD. Nothing. I examined the window control pannel info nothing. I could see the drive but not the data nor gain access to it.

I do not want to loose the data on this disk! I have nearly 40 Gigs of pictures I've taken in the last 2 years. Now some of the images are less then good, everything I look at I see as postive learning images. Many of these images I have taken for friends who will occassionally ask for additional copies.

If you want to see the specs of the error please contact me with resources I can use.

Thanks
B

PS
opt for alternate back up plans...
like DVDs & CDs

Irony of Feb 7

My friend picked up pixs from me (i work for UPS). He said he was on his way
to the post office to fedex them to the webmanager who will recieve them by
dhl. Hum? Any more carriers involved?
After havin refilling in a broken tooth I went for a drive. Where? Where
else to McD's in Evenston WY of course. Why there I don't know. I must
remember the junk yard I spoted near Castle Rock -exit 186. Covered with
some snow it looks to have some classic cars. Must remember. Either for an
early morning drive or afternoon shoot.
Had just enough down time between appointments to retroflect on what I want
to do.... travel to China and see that broad country.

Nite Drive Pixs

-put 3 thumbnail of hand held pixs w/links here-
Normally, I hold my camera in my hand, last night I read of a guy who uses a
tripod to snag the shots (ref. PopPhoto.com). Today, I put my tripod in my
passanger seat. Will it work for my morning commute? Will I get some cool
light trails of trucks comming up Parley's? I had to return to the valley
so I gave it a shot. Setting the camera isn't to hard - manual focus,
f/stop, and shutter speed. The wireless remote works well from the shifter.
What do you think of these shots?
-put 3 thumbnails of tripod w/links here-

Nite Drive Pixss 2

Continuing from yesterday, last afternoon -my evening- I set up my tripod in
the car, pre-set my camera with f/4 and 10 second exposure, and redied my
stuff. This morning I engaged the wireless remote and headed to work. This
should liven up the morning commute. A quick review on the lcd, before going
onto shift, showed a few keepers.
-insert 3 150pixel thumbs-
Comments? Tips/hints? Do overs?
Tomorrow I see a few more semi's - typical Friday morning. I might not be as
fortunate as to have someone to follow down the drive.

Random thoughts of April 1st

I want to say random thoughts, heck that's always a good way to phrase I've
been thinking about alot and not wanting to face the facts. In some ways
this is good yet, experience teaches me the exact opposite. Knowing this
last night I made up my mind to get out of the library once the coffee
perked. A Guinis, a flirt, a thought or two, I think I just plain slept on
my feet while Croswhite croned in the back ground (Steele isn't a croner nor
in the back ground, a talented performer he chose not fame but the Christ).
I had to get up to think, to pray.
Several steel eyes sat at the bar only the bar tenders speaking to them.
Several drivers and package handlers hung in the fore ground of my thoughts,
their words almost haunting, both reveal life unfullfilled. At times like
this I see a mirror of my life. I see unfullfillment of my own life. Sure
I don't know their journeys nor their whole story of the moment. Behind
Steele, a stephen ashbrook poster hung, another high school friend, where am
I now I thought.
'I can get into other people's faces' I said to one of the pastors on
Wednesday, 'but I can't get into my own. Some times I wish the mirror would
scream at me.' TV is escapism for me. I'll get lost on-line for hours after
work as most are heading to their jobs. My comon defintion for 'crazzy' is
someone asking the same question while expecting different results. The
other definition is one who talks alot without showing proof of effort or
support of those words. The mirror screams again. I meet both of those
definitions.
Several weaks ago I hurt my back at work. I got ugly in the face of the
supervisor filling out the paper work. UPS is a union shop so some (job)
protection is in place already. I'm in this super's face already pushing
for improvements to be made in my (former) work area. I am on the 'safety
committee.' Five months later still nothing is happening, what's baloney is
he once was the super in this area. Doesn't he care? Now, after some
healing time I've been transfered to another area. I am no longer loading
UPS delievery trucks. I'm routing which means I'm placing packages into
cages that go past the vehicles. I'll express the negative of this and
follow up with the positive. In short I could be called 'one of Tyler's
(who tyler is is not of consequence now) bitches'. Because I know how to do
most of the center's labor intensive tasks he can put me anywhere he needs
help at - say when someone calls in sick. The positive is I am a 'floater'
I can work anywhere thus giving me a variety, breaking up the monotomy of
SSDD which others phrase as daily FUBAR. One may say the influx of the
package flow through out the shift is baloney. I laugh, once upon a time
I'd cuse the 'belts' for not keeping up now I'm on the receving end. As I
floated at the end of the shift yesterday I asked one of my fellow former
un-loaders, now a pre-load super, if sup'in is worth it. His reply went a
long the lines of 'if you don't want to touch another package again it's
great.' The implications do have neg's and positives. My observed is union
due'rs aren't really going anywhere while supers, many whom are students,
have a goal or two in mind and are working towards it.
This brings me back to screaming mirrors. What do my goals look like? Uh,
what are my goals? How is what I'm doing today helping me achieve them or am
I driving with sticky brakes? Are sticky brakes a problem, a cause, a sign
of something deeper, or a symptom? In a lot of ways when my brakes smoked
coming down I-80 two weeks ago I had to check them out which revealed a
major problem developing which I can solve now with an in-expensive repair.
How now, when an where do I go? My church calls this revealation and change
of direction towards Christ 'flipping.' I don't want to flip, I just want to
go straight, get back on the path I started eons ago, and get there. My map
(goals) is crumpled in my ruck<sack> (life). I think I can get there and
add a little definition to what I think my destination should look like.
What should my first step look like?

Being Union

Being a Union member is great for I have job protection from minor mess ups.
Yet, I find that I get away from one of my foundational values. One of my
values is serving others. Being Union elevates the worker to and almost
above the supervisors. Our 'rights' are protected, which some take to
include clocking in on time without being ready to work on time. Granted
some 'stuff' is valid while other 'bunk' some grants are made. Our jobs are
dependant on ultimately serving the customer regardless of how removed from
them we are. Super's are in place to help us facilitate that service.
Being Union therefore should facilitate managment by quality personel
retention.

up on the jacks & dead

Half asleep in front of the TV yet, following the plot line, I was; when my
Dad walked in announcing the death of my car. His announcement inviting me
to get a full-time job. Knowing the argument I held back simultaniously
trying to follow the show. UPS does feel like a fool-time job. Today, beaten
by shift end, combined with early to non-existant evenings, the plumeting
intensified. The announcement of my car's demise on the lift punctuates the
on going screaming mirror theme. I can understand different messages from
the pulpit, from books, even my own strength/weakness there of. This,
however, hits the span of everything. I use my car as my force of economics
(getting to work), spiritual enlightenment (getting to church), and social
interaction (going to friend's flats). What is not effected?
My D200 fund instantly flipped into the four new wheels campaign. Now would
be a good time to set up my ideal ride however, I also include what I'll
settle for. My ideal would be the new Toyota Tundra TRO mid-size pickup,
deep gray, 15 inch rims, fully loaded, and a fishing rod rack in the back
window to show my red-neck side. I'll settle for any small to mid-size
pickup with 100,000 miles which still looks presentable. My browed wheels
will become a Ford f-150 -aka a tank- once my Mom returns from her trip.
My car, I'll say with its 131,000 miles, treated me well. My late Big-Sis
bought it with 50k. I got it from her with 70k. Yeah, 60k more would be nice
but, a new trany is $2,200; a used one is $400, then the install. The
vehicel is ladden with sentamental value, runs well, and is faded. Driven to
and from East Texas three times with skirmishes to St. Pet FL and to SD CA,
I've got some serious distance in the saddle. Thank God the AC never failed
and the gas tank didn't dry up. Traveling the lonely West Texas stretch of
I-10 in 2004, I counted the miles coinciding to a fateful October day in
'90. Damn! I looked to the sky praising God! I only totaled my chevett and
not my life. Yeah, I bought a section of guard rail. Since that day, I
seldom drive more then ten hours or when I'm fatigued.
My car does have other sentamental value, as for now I'll let my memories
rest. I must get busy finding alternate wheels and employment.

immigration rally

^I don't care if they come here, just don't make it legal for them to stay
here. And I've already told them (those who work here) so.^ a bk employee
expressed while he took my order. I'm 'union' I care about keeping American
jobs in American hands. Like Christians are responsible to pray so
Americians are responsible to become political active. Freelancers keep the
establishment in check. I'm calling on everyone - get off your ass and do
something. Trained on ship board fire fighting the last thing one wants to
do is show up empty handed. Today I represent myself and you for you haven't
shown up (my assumption is you didn't know about today). This entry will be
long. It will be pro-American - tighten imigration regulations. I will try
to present both sides of this arguement in positive light dispite my
'tainted' bias. PS I'm the son of a (Canadian) immigrant/US natralized
citizen. He paid a price for his citizenship, those gathering outside
escaped Mexico.

On the NE corner of Washington Square (Salt Lake City/County Building) the
Utah Minutemen began pulling their ranks together at 9am. The Immigrant
group would arrive later on the NW side. Both groups have permits to
assemble. Both groups expressed to yesterday's news the desire to keep
things civil while expressing their opinion. Time to split bk to see if this
is holding true. 10:11.

Civil? That may be questionable. 17:25 Thats the time right now I should be
in bed getting ready for work. I hadn't intended to stay for long just long
enough for some pixs. The draw of the assembly drew me in.

Seeing helmits turn in the confined spaces; adraline surged - yes conflict,
yes picts of fists, no but close. A few Latinos paused long enough to
warrent police interaction. Someone said 'we need some more neutrals over
here.' Thrusting my way through walls of chanting Latinos, camera firing, I
staged myself along a human chain between marchers, riot police, and the
Utah Minutemen. Keep moving, vamanous, smile and wave, we can do it; are
phrases I do not want to hear for time and a half. Some Latinos wanted to
give a piece of fist to the red faced Americans, most kept shuffling a long.
The Utah Minutemen were not an issue, they stayed back on an established
line. The Latinos were, personally, the trouble. Still, I wanted some
action, rather then see clashes between the groups, I'd prefer a fist my
way.

4/19/06
Has it been 10 days since I last wrote on this issue? Yes, emphatically, yes
it has. The local dailies printed various articles covering the march.
Saddly the Tribune printed some other city's rally on Monday's front page.
What is not your own city valuable enough to warrent the lead image?
Apparently not, and to their shame. State street with God only knows how
many people a mile long is truely impressive. And might I add a rush to be a
part of. The numbers reported on Monday were 20,000 by Friday the number
doubled.

At work almost everyone I talked with held the tighten the immigration
opinion slash enforce the laws already established. I'm with them however,
my cut to them, 'is where the *@@@ were you?' One guy replied,'Out skiing, I
have my priorities.' In that case, I thought, may no one stand by you.

I still stand by my original preface, keep American jobs in American hands.
Next to say, Your Daddy is a criminal, he knowingly broke our laws therefore
he needs to pay the said penalty. Should there be leeway to feed his hungry
family? No, the US foreign aid, trade agreements, and internation relief
agencies already provide for this. What to do? I say put up a fuss. Millions
of Illegals with some ligitement residents put up quite a show. The rest
honestly didn't need to be included in the ranks.

I guess my real bitch here isn't about the rally. It's about the complacency
of Americans. The rally kicked ass. I experienced more excitement there then
I've in a long time. Either that or I lead a boring life; please don't
comment on that statement.

the hidden life of ryck

It's not exactly hidden, the last time I wrote using my PDA I came close to
driving a hammer through it. Imagine writing the graffiti only not to
interpt what is written, easily solved by shaking the broken pieces out of
it. As with most of my stuff my PDA is valued by use not by value of cash.
Today, I settled a debt. My car's transmission went funky, needing to be
replaced, I took the shop keeper's cash. Value by kelly's blue book for a 95
prism: $0.00. The shop keeper is a proff of automechanics at SLCC. He'll
rebuild -aka have a student rebuild- the tranny then let his 'daughter' have
the car. Mechanically, to me, the car is in good shape. All the maintance
records were kept, including gas logs; I did get tired of logging oil use.
What's that use? Simple history of known problems or visual to predict
problems.
I wish I could make use of my nerves. On Friday, I'll toss my last package.
Yeah!!! Uh, wait. My last package? I'll be un-employed as my UPS id card is
turned in. Yes, this is sending me to sleepless nights. I see 7, 8, and 9 on
my early wake me up machine. This is not my schedule. It's the unknown and
bad experience of temp work that causes wide eyes at night.
The job I am taking is flip flopping my comfort zone. Not to many people can
be comfortable with waking at 2am, I am knowing the work is solid and the
pay is good. Comfortable, too, with knowing I can do physical labor.
Learning the UPS system is easy. The hardest thing about my job was not
letting myself get in the supervisor's face. Union protection is great. No,
I actually seldom get into anyone's face. I hold to my saying, 'I am the
stick in the mud; you will become stuck trying to move me.'

focus

Focus - I need to focus. It's a mater of task at this point. I just laid
down my signature on a $big loan - a car loan. I've looked since my prism
died near two months ago. The decision is not easy. Ed & Cg helped along
with the focus on my goals. My life style also plays a part as I want to
transport self, toys, and others around while not sacrificing economy. While
I did not get a truck or a wagon, I did get something that will get me
around for more then a couple of years. So I did bite it with the off the
lot deprecation. Considering the price for used with 30,000 miles is $11G
I'll take the immediate loss knowing all of my family's vehicles have
successfully navigated 100& more miles. I do need to focus for it's not
sticker shock that's got me, nor the fact that this vehicle is still ford's
for the next few years, for me it's the unsteady feeling of the what if's
that hold me in the state of stress.
The state that I weighed myself to includes economy, fuel consumption, toy
totin', practical expandablity, and coolness. Okay what does that mean? Uh,
I'd like to be able to live economically, enjoy the activities I partake in,
and be attractive to the girls while not atttractive to thieves. I just
added that one after talking to my neighbor who had his car
(proffessionally) hotwired. It's weird.
The vehicle chosen is the Ford Focus. Why? The initial stigma of the Focus
is cheap, poor quality, and problematic. I'll agree. The early Focus' were.
Since the early teething problems the Focus has risen in the ranks of
quality, durablity, and reliablity. Depends on who is reporting will say
other wise.

test gallery

top left	top right Just Do It Gallery
Bottom Left Hill Air Force Base Museum	test bottom right

With second thoughts on yesterday's post I've been playing with tables and the like trying to finnd something that will work with the idea of posting a simple gallery on my blog. Yesterday was not a failure, it is a learning experience. This is a sample gallery of test images. You are more then welcomed to copy the code for yourself.

shoot out at the wedding

Had another shoot out with Micah.

wedding pixs

Last weekend I shot at a friends wedding these are a sample of the images I took. I've posted the wedding images from MR&MRS S's wedding.
Ryno's Wedding


It was good to be there seeing these two dedicated friends dedicate themselves to each other for a life time.
These are unedited & uncroped.
PLEASE i PLEAD comment on these I do want to print the best for them. Comment even if you do not know them.

later
B

new technology

Photog's, pro & amatuers, snap happy, and P&S enthusiasts: did you see the new technology article where researchers have found a way to spoil our fun? In the name of 'national security' and 'copy right protection' they found a way to temporarily disable ccd's and cmos sensors using low visable white lazer light. There are draw backs to the technology first it is in effective against slr (film & digital) second it still requires human intervention in the form of computer analyists to double check the data. What it is good for is to spoil video recording devices and the P&S/evf digital cameras.
I want to draw your attention to this early therefor you will be aware just in case you come across a situation where your digital images are all 'blown out.' I think if I suspect a venu will be using this technology when it comes available I'll start packing a film body with my kit.
While I'm on the technology kick are you aware of the big guns decision not to produce any more film bodies or p&s'rs? A couple of the leading film manufacturers are also ceasing production on there well known products.

something just isn't right

something about this technology just doesn't sound right. how many times is the Golden Gate Bridge photographed by photography students or the local down town area? What stadium is going to let the geewize shooters with the 5mp point&shoot not take a picture that won't be worth while while those who make their living have to revert to (gulp) film so that they will know for sure if an image is or isn't at the same venu. some how blocking or jaming technologies just get in the way of the joe like you and me. of the millions of pictures available of our local municipalities who is going to take a fresh set for planing purposes?
If you want a good example of jaming technologies gone bad pull up cellphone jamers. these devices are illegal to use for it may prevent vital communication. yet they are used by some organizations. jaming radio signals in the archaic days of radio evangelism is another technology gone a foul... I've read of reports where the listeners wrote to the broadcasters saying keep the music playing while the teaching is going on for the jaming doesn't happen while music is playing.

this technology irxs me for I love to shoot & I love to play with my photgraphy. If I'm going to be limited then I better get a fair hearing after I get the shot not be lynched before I can even take one.

micah is free

micah is free
Originally uploaded by preyingjaws.

Yes, folks this is Micah of "Micah's Liver update Spot" Micah he was able to get out and enjoy a beautiful afternoon with friends and music at the recient Worship '06 event in Sandy UT. You've got to read his blog to understand why I think this is an entry for him.

later
B

Tour de Cure

I rode shot gun with the Utah Miata Club yesterday for the National Diabetes Foundation's Tour de Cure. This is a national bike riding event. The riders choose to ride either a 100 mile (Century) course or a 60 mile course. The century went out to the Golden Spike National Mounument from Bringham City UT. This was my first event. I grabed my camera and a bicycle repair kit. Both were used well by the day's end. A few people stoped a side with flats the trickist being a side wall wear out. A little MacGyver in me enabled this rider to complete the next 60 miles without incident.
Posted below is a flickr badge linking to some 105 images I've chosen from yesterday's event.

www.flickr.com preyingjaws' Tour de Cure photoset

1st day on the phones

Hey,
My transition from bcd hours to normalicy is moving along pretty good. I'm spending some brain cells on-line researching my new job's website. It's cool. I've helped many out already set up new accounts. Other's have helped me see where I lack, so on-line this morning I am. This new job is out of my comfort zone but is well worth while so far, more hours less back aches, no one yelling at me, etc. My first day on the phones were, well frustrating, at one point I wanted to beat my head against the desk; over whelmed I was.

Just a simple note.
Later
B


*BCD => Butt Crack of Dawn, at sometime or another we've all worked these hours