Words written, words said, words heard and words read.

It is sometimes very interesting the power of words. It has the ability to build up and break down, it can leave you feeling like your mind just opened up a new city complex with added parking and at other times you are lost in a jungle of unknown things closing in on you sapping the very glimmer of that known space you hold on to. Words, nothing but little squiggles on paper or in this digital age on the screen. How is it that these almost insignificant parts of our very existence can have such a great impact on us?

Words like Love, Hate, Loneliness, Passion have such strong emotional ties with the human race that sometimes the very words themselves become unable to describe. Take the word "Love". What does this really mean? We say that we love someone from the 'bottom of our hearts', but all you are going to find there is blood and guts.

What is love anyway? There are actions that we associate with love. But are the actions what the word describes? We say its a feeling. A way of describing how a person feels toward someone or something. But then what is this "feeling"that we are describing? Are we just using one word to replace the other.

What is a 'feeling'? To quote the wikipedia article on this "Feeling is the nominalization of "to feel" ". How does a word encapsulate what a feeling is? We often use words to describe feelings that in the first place we cannot themselves describe. Words are often seen as symbols that carry a message. When you understand the meaning you are rewarded with a bit of information that may or may not both lead you to the retrieval of the information stored in the next set of squiggly symbols and sometimes to a message that is greater than the sum of all the parts.

Words such funny things. They say so much but at the same time so little. A word in context can convey information and out of context simply be another squiggle or sound that passes along with time like water under a bridge.

TGIF and Balloons

Its another friday, glorious, sun shining, blue sky friday. And not just any friday mind you. This is the friday that heralds the start of the Walla Walla Balloon Festival. With the next three days of balloons, booths and general funness... this weekend is shaping up to be good. 

However this also brings up a notoriously naughty and deviously dichotomous question; should I use the weekend to rest, sleep and in general enjoy the pleasures of a comfy couch or even a blanket in the sun, with a good book or get out, be active, do as many fun things as possible? Or maybe the answer is a happy median between the two. A little bit 'o this, a little bit 'o that and spread the love around. 

In any case, for right now it seems like the best choice is to get out and enjoy the sun... and maybe have an adventure.... hey nowhere does it say that adventures only happen in books. Besides unless you get out and have an adventure there will not be anything to write about in books anyway... so maybe get out there and have an adventure. It might be even better than some one else's wildest imagination.

11 Lbs.

Just got back from the tri-cities area. I had the oppotunity to meet up with a friend from the wet side of the state as she was visiting friends and family over in the area. Bowling was fun and I have found that a 11 Lb ball is the ideal tool for me. 4 strikes in a row cant be wrong... its just too bad that I found this bowling ball on the 4th frame of the last game. Oh well at least I know what to look for next time. 

The weekend is here and as I am contemplating on what I would like to do this weekend I am also trying to think of the things that I should be doing... like cleaning up the mess in my living room... but that can wait. Its the weekend and its going to be sunny. Cant let something like this go by without taking full advantage of it. 

Life is too short to let days like this go by unused... 

Poisoned water; a PBS special

Over the last two days, I have in spurts and when I have time between other activities, been watching the PBS special "Poisoned Waters". This documentary just came out over the last couple days. This documentary while almost two hours long takes a hard look at the quality of two bodies of water, the Chesapeake bay and the Puget Sound, that bracket this country. 

Poisoned water shows the condition of the two bodies of water and if one were to read between the lines has a very powerful message for those of us living within the Pacific Northwest region. If we were to take the Chesapeake bay as a view of the sound as seen through a crystal ball 50 years into the future it is quite a dismal view. In its current state the bay is dying at a rapid pace due to the urban sprawl that is taking place in its watershed. Here in the Northwest we have not got to the stage where we are so over populated however looking at cities such as Seattle and Issaquah as we become more of an attraction and as the quality of life for those currently living their gets better, more and more people are going to want to get in on the action. What then and how will it affect the sound?

I cant say how the next several years will play out for these two bodies of water nor does this film attempt to do so which gives each one of us a role to play in it. Now as actors in this documentary what will we do to write the next phase, the next chapter or the next scene that future generations will be looking at? What will their reaction to our actions be? Will they say, "wow, thats the year, the month, the day when things were turned around and it started to get better". Will there be a holiday dedicated to us as the day when we took a stand to make our corner of the world be the tip of the spear in the movement to bring about a healthy world? Well I guess its time we do something about it.

Varieties of Apples

Last night I took part in an interesting experiment. With 10 dollars as a basic budget we visited the local Walmart, Safeway and SuperOne grocery stores in search of apples. We were able to procure 11 different varieties and coming home cut each of them up and had a side by side tasting experience. Now for those of you who like me had had an apple in the past and ate it for the sake of getting some nutrition and maybe enjoying the crispness, this is and was an interesting eye opener. 

Each variety of apple has a unique taste and texture. For those of you familiar with the concept this may not be such an earth shattering revelation. However even though I had expected some difference in perhaps taste and or texture the exercise its self was an eye opening experience. In some it was a subtle fluffiness in the texture. Others had a bolder crispness to them. Several had hints of other fruit flavors that seem to be infused and intermingles with the basic apple taste. 

With the weather turning warm and the coming growing season I am looking forward to exploring other local flavors and deluging my taste-buds with a stream of culinary delights both cooked and fresh. 

And as a side note I must also make note of the accompaniments to the apple experience which was a nice chilled glass of mango lemonade and a 40 oz stake that was cooked for 38 minuets. thats right 2.5 lb. of prime cow. its a good thing I had all those apples to balance me out.

A restful weekend

Its hard to imagine that the weekend has come and gone already. I cant confess to having much productive work done during this time but I can claim getting plenty of rest. I also had the pleasure of having people over on a couple occasions for meals. As a self proclaimed foodist I must confess that this is one aspect of my personal life that I find to be very satisfying. Food while at times consumed for the mere sake of obtaining nourishment can also be a remarkable journey that one can take in which sights, smells and taste are but a never-ending series of detours that results in a happy self. 

One of my personal ideologies is that food is the only aspect of a culture that can be experienced by someone outside that given culture and truly feel included. Unlike sights and sounds the mere act of which tends to reenforce the barrier of the two cultures, food transcends that and takes one to an equal playing field. This got me thinking further on this topic this weekend. What is it that in my construct of this idea of food and culture being tied together does the sense of taste take a role that is more important that that os any of the other senses? I feel that the answer is as simple as the thought process is long. With any of the other senses we can only get a memory that can be take away from the experience. This is not the case with food. Our bodies take in the nutrients which then become part of out very being. 

There is the saying that you are what you eat. As someone who enjoys trying new foods then you become more than just a person who can be stereotyped into one box or another. The more you are open to trying new foods the more you expand on who you are. Another saying that has become more and more common during the last several decades is that the world is growing smaller because the barriers of distance and communication are being broken all the time. In such a expanding world we have the opportunity to experience other cultures in the form of the different foods that are available. However I also see a black cloud on the horizon that one must keep a watch for. As with the melding of cultures we must also be vigilant to keep too much of a mix from diluting what are individual and unique cultures. Food once again plays a roll in this as an indicator. 

Driving down the road one would often times pass an ornate, ethnically oriental looking building that has the tag line, Chinese and american dishes. Why is it that we feel that we need to enter an establishment that is distinctly culturally oriented to serving dishes that are different from our own and expect to be served what is traditionally part of our own culture is a mystery. But then again sometimes you just need to make a buck and the food you serve is just another utilitarian aspect that will bring home the bacon to pay for the roof.

Weekend

Its a good thing that we have weekends to break up the monotony and stress of the week. I have to confess however that sometimes the weekend is as or more busy that the week its self however on the whole its a different kind of busy and thats good.

The weather here in the valley has been its usual grey overcast and has gone back to being cold. Makes me long for the warm days of summer even more and look forward to the spring when the sun will be out on a more consistent frequency. Till then think warm thoughts....

Inspired by cut grass.

This afternoon as I stood outside enjoying the balmy weather that the Chinook wind was bringing the valley and enjoying a moment of conversation with a colleague I was regaled with the sound of a gasoline lawn mower. As I looked towards the sound I saw a gentleman in the distance mowing a patch of grass no larger than my living room. This grass which had withstood the crushing grip of a couple feet of snow, locked in its icy cocoon without the light of day was freed from this only to be cut down as it raised its blades to the bright and warming sun that was shining today. 

I was recently listening to a talk by Michael Pollan on the Ted Talks site. While his talk had a distinctive Darwinistic twist to which I cant say I give much credence to I was nevertheless fascinated by his overall idea that we humans though we think of our selves as the king of the hill, top dog in the pound and such similar titles we may indeed be just being led along by the lowly grass, corn... other more intelligent ones.

Among other things though this brief encounter of sound and sight took me down memory lane it also inspired me to go out and spend some time further exploring my environment through the eye of the camera and see what other interesting encounters I might find.

More late night ramblings...

Well with the advent of the rain and the melting of the snow that for the past couple days had me holed up in my house gone it was a day to venture forth and once again see the world. I must say it was good to once again step out the door and smell the air though it still held a faint hint of the crispness the snow brought. The fields not encumbered by the mantle of snow was once again showing its rich soil in furrows and ridges. 

As I sit now back in my house, listening to the falling drops of water outside my window and contemplating my bed being as the hour is quite late... or early if you consider that this is the morn of the new day, my thought goes out what other aspects of this year came and went. To each of you out there this year has undoubtedly brought firsts, lasts and events in between. Having passed the winter solstice and the days getting longer as we hurtle on through time and space towards another long summer day what other new firsts, lasts and events in between will we encounter.

I once contemplated the usefulness of being able to see into the future. What fun, I could figure out what the daily jackpot numbers were going to be and be as rich as a pig with a field full of mud. I could know when danger was coming and save millions.... and I could also see into the far distance and read my own obituary and live every moment with the knowledge that I would die at a very set time and place and there would not be anything I could do to stop it. Because if the thought is that I could know the winning numbers to the lottery and that thought and knowledge did not change the course of events then why should I be able to change the time of such things as that which is bad and harmful. 

But I cannot see the future and in a way it is for the best I guess. Looking back though with the well known 20/20 vision that we all posses we can see the actions that we have taken over the course of the past year and I wonder how many I would have made had I known the outcome of them? How many such decisions are yet to come I cant say but what will I do with them in the future. But the drip, drip, dripping of the rain is slowing and so should I. Off to bed, rest relax and rejuvenate to face another day. And besides I got a few more days of 2008 to enjoy before it is but another memory to store in my collection of memories and I should make the most of it while I still can.

Finishing Finals and getting ready for more white stuff

After spending the last several weeks getting ready for finals and looking back over notes and handout it is finally over. To some extent it can be called anticlimactic just because once you hand it in and walk out well thats it. There is no real feeling of elation other than knowing that the quarter is officially over. 

On a unrelated but equally interesting note, because you know things are hopping in this end of the world... More Snow! I like snow... the white has a clean and fresh look and it makes the mountains look so pretty... but that does not mean it makes everything pretty. The sidewalks are festooned with patches of ice that make walking on it somewhat of an exercise in balance and agility... and humility if you have the great fortune of allowing your feet to get the best of you and tell your body to go one way while they go another... feet can be tricky like that... Specially when its so cold that the messages between your feet and your brain freeze up. Anyway the forecast is for more snow. Well I am sure children all over Walla Walla are looking forward to it as the snow we have to this point gave them a snow day today and I am sure if the weather gets bad they might be expecting another tomorrow... and then its vacation starting on the weekend so who thinks they are going to want to come in on friday anyway... I guess with it being a snow day today everyone is just going to hit the holiday mood early and kiss the next two days goodbye as far as getting any work done. 

This thought brings me to wonder about all the poor adults as it would seem who are wishing they were kids and got a snow day too. Isn't being an adult great? You get to do all the cool adult things like pay bills, worry about the economy, go to work in snow, hail, rain and all manner of crazy weather. And I am sure your boss is always looking over your shoulder just to make sure your not goofing off. 

Happy holidays.... No really... enjoy it... it could be worse... you could have an itch in the middle of your back from all the layers you are wearing because its so cold... Oops you have that too... Oh well I guess you are going to have to find a nice long ruler or stick or something and wont that be sooo good when you get that itch... see things are looking up already. 

More pictures and Joe

I have been working on processing a few more images from tuesdays impromptu photo-shoot. Today as I was working on these images I had one of those rare (for me;-) "ah Ha" moments that helped me to understand why the images look the way they do. I have been wanting to experiment with this look and have not quite understood why the images looked this way even though I knew the process of how to get them to look this way. But today for some strange reason things aligned and in my head there appeared a pictorial representation of the zone system and how the tones of these images stretched and squished that scale to look like what they do.... anyway it makes sense in my head even though it comes out as crazy babbling sounds when I try to explain it. 

But understanding is the first step... which reminds me of an old cartoon saying. 

If anyone remembers the cartoon G.I. Joe, soon to come out as a movie which is not to be confused with Joe the Plumber... but anyway, at the end of all the episodes one of the "Joe's" would advise a kid who was doing something "wrong" who would naturally see the light and the phrase "... and knowing is half the battle." would be uttered. Well what no one seems to get is that they just had a half an hour or 20 minuets of violent action with bullets flying and buildings exploding everywhere as the good guys battled the bad guys.... and the rest of the story is that knowing may be half the battle but the other half is bloody violence and mayham... Hmmm.... I am sure thats not it.... or is it? You tell me?

Parade

This evening Walla Walla celebrated its parade of lights. About 60 cars, truck, bicycles and other forms of colorfully lit floats paraded down main street and others in a loop that gave everyone present a eyeful of the brightly lit contraptions. The mood was one of merriment yet at the same time there was a sense of people doing their own thing. 

I am not sure if it is just the season that is bringing me to notice this but as I have mentioned in a previous post I am noticing the facade that society calls community. I recently re-watched the movie WALL•E and this may also have something to do with this tangent I seem to be on. But as in the movie everyone is so connected with everything that they don't even know each other or that they had a pool. 

Anyway back to the parade and the lights. Maybe we need more of these events so that people once again start coming out and mingling and maybe we will start to get back the sprit of the community back.

Playing with Pigs

Today was the last Biology lab of the quarter. While I am both happy and sad to see the quarter almost over the last lab being what it is was also a time for some fun. We have been studying the anatomy of a fetal pig for the last couple weeks and with the project coming to a close it was an opportune moment do do a little exploring and do some casual dissection. Liz, Chelsea and Brandon who I share a table with were quite voracious in the scalping and exploring of the remnants of our beloved specimens.

Frost and fishing

Another weekend has come and gone, and with each passing day the air gets colder as the march of winter comes close. Determined to get a few more days of fishing in before I must hang up my waders for the winter I set out to once again ply the waters of the Walla Walla river and discover what bounties of aquatic delights awaited me. 

Arriving at the parking lot to the area I spent a few minuets chatting with some of the locals who had bagged themselves a couple birds. We chatted about our fortune of having such an ideal accessible area so close to where we lived and the fortune it provided through the seasons. 

A few minuets later donning my gear I sally forth into the thicket that encompasses the river. I have on previous occasions traveled down stream so today I decided to explore upstream. During the last couple weeks heavy rains, well heavy for this end of the state, caused a rise in the river level and with it caused the bed of the river to be scoured in some places and the substrate to be deposited in others. But as this was relatively new area to me while I could see the effect of the rushing water the holes and lies of the trout were yet to be explored. 

I did not find the monster that broke me off when I was last here but my day was not a complete bust. One thing that I enjoy about the trout in these small streams are that they fight like they have something to prove and that no lure is a match for them. It may also be the case that being a smaller stream they need to be more opportunistic in their diet and feed on whatever may come their way.

After catching and releasing a couple my eye was drawn to the frosty leaves along the high water mark. Though clumped together, cottonwood and aspen leaves formed a intricate pattern with the crystals of ice heralding the end of Fall and the near arrival of winter.

Sitting at home feeling mellow

The weekend is here and for the most part well looked forward to. Its been a busy week and while there are many things that got accomplished there are a number that didn't. I guess this is true of all weeks. But, now the weekend is here. Do I stay active all weekend working on projects, exploring interesting places, catching up on all the fun things that I had to put off during the week or is this the weekend for relaxing, sleeping and the general veg-out? 

At this point though I am leaning more to the side of the latter I feel the need to be doing the former. For the last hour I have been reading the general blogs and sites that I try to follow and there have been a couple things that have caught my eye.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/wa/nwis/uv/?site_no=14018500&PARAmeter_cd=00060,00065

Looking at the most recent results the Walla Walla river might be in good shape tomorrow... Low and clear, however the wether report points it out to be a windy day with sunday being similar with less wind... I might have to put it off for a day or so. 

On the blog Canon Rumors the latest post talks about Canon holding off coming up with a new body till late 2009 while Nikon is planing on a body to be shown in a couple weeks or so... I don't know if I really believe that Canon will sit that long. While I believe the turn the economy has taken makes it harder for new equipment to be sold as everyone is penny-pinching, will the camera giant be allowed to be shown up for too long without coming back with a one up of their own. 

Looking back at the recent scuffle with video on a still body, Nikon was first to market, but Canon one-upped them with more impressive features. At the same time Canon did this to the mid range cameras which means it is either going to one-up them selves with even more features in the flagship model or not have this feature in the flagship model and really concentrate on making it a studio/ high image quality camera. Also with the latest breakthrough (now a couple weeks old) in reducing the space between the micro-lenses and developments of new forms of substrate such as black silicone the future looks interesting. Going back to the post that got me thinking about this, in the winter/spring (March) the photographic industry will be converging on Vegas for PMA 09, an ideal location me thinks for a one upping... 

Well we are going to have to be patient about it... but being as I am in a vegetative mood... I guess I can wait.

Just the words

They say a picture is worth a thousand words... well I guess that would be true if I had the chance to get the picture. Since I had about an hour and a half of free time this morning between classes and work I decided to be productive and go fishing... 

I headed down to the Walla Walla and spent about half an hour walking along the bank when I spotted a splash and the back of a monster trout. Quickly switching flies to one that I though would entice it I cast up stream and tried to get a natural as possible drift to the fish. Being a novice it took more times than I wish to confess to but in the end I was rewarded with a slash and a grab and the game was on. At first the fish was not fighting too hard as the river at that point was not very deep nor wide so it did not have much room to run and I was able to bring it towards me quite quickly. That was my first mistake.

Being that this was a beautiful steely that was glowing with color and if I had to guess several pounds... it was about 18 or 20 inches easy and definitely thicker than my shoe to which it got about 3 feet away from... well I guess my shoe was not to its liking and my 3wt, which was the second mistake, was not the beefiest rod... it did a flip, splash, slip and was off down stream, reel screaming for a couple seconds before the line managed to wrap its self around a snag and with a twang give back the fish its freedom. Man I was so close.... Next time I need to take the 6wt and someone else to carry the camera. That way I can just show you the picture and not have to worry about the thousand words, which in retrospect would not have done that picture justice anyway had I got it.

A day and today...

Well it is officially thursday which means a day and today till the weekend. Its been a busy week as all weeks around here tend to be. The weather has been on the wet side with gusts of wind bringing rain one moment and blowing it away the next. As it is the end of fall the rain is hastening the dropping of leaves creating giant piles which are tempting to go jumping in except for the fact that the whole pile is like a sponge soaking up the rain and would make for a wet landing. Not quite the idyllic situation. 

I hope the weather starts to get dryer as the forecast is predicting. It might be a good weekend to go dunk a fly with the hopes of pulling it back out of the water with a fish attached to it. But a day and today to get through till then.