wiredfool

Wind’s up, Power is flickering, so I’ve shut down the non-laptop computers in my office. I’d leave them on, but the power will probably drop when I’m not around to turn them off, so I’d just run down the ups for nothing. The router now has a fresh new ups, so we should have a good 12 hours or more of internet while the power is down before that one runs out.

We actually lost a few small dead trees with yesterday morning’s little wind. They were 6-8″ firs which appear to have been dead, judging from the rot around the base when they finally went over. But, helpfully enough, they didn’t fall cleanly. Each one was leaning somewhat precariously against another tree — mostly upright and retaining a lot of potential energy. Not the sort of thing that I want outside when there are kiddos running around. Some whacks with the axe, some pulling and shoving got them on the ground. They’ll do nicely in the wood stove one of these days.

Update — Oddly enough, we didn’t lose power.

I’m going to diverge from the recent string of pictures and the occasional words for some politics.

Barack Obama has my vote, and to make sure it counts, I’m going to the caucus this weekend. The caucus is a first — I don’t normally like associating closely with political parties, but this time, it’s just that important.

To start out, any of the Democratic candidates would be better than any of the Republicans. W and his ilk have spoiled the whole party, and they’re working on the country.

I think the Obama candidacy is a risk — he’s fresh meat for the political grinder. I don’t see him fighting as dirty as the others. Clinton has been through this to see the worst of what the Republicans can do. That experience may be useful.

But balancing that risk is an upside — I believe that we have a chance for a once in a generation sort of Presidency, and I think that Obama is the one who could pull that off. His win would be a mandate to undo the damage of the last 8 years. That would be more valuable than any years of what Clinton could give us.

Obama knows what is in the Constitution. He taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago. He agrees that the current administration has been overstepping it’s bounds. And he knows what a bubble sort is and when not to use it. That’s as good as playing the sax for geeks.

This is a country without kings and dynasties, I don’t believe that having another Clinton in the White House would be good for this country. There has been a Bush or Clinton as President or Vice President since I was in first grade. It’s time for that to change.

Hope is a choice, not a sum. You can have as much as you damn well feel like having, regardless of the actual circumstances. (Matt Ruff, Sewer, Gas and Electric)

So, chalk one up for hope. I’m going to be at the High School, 1pm on Saturday to be a part of the caucus.

I went to a Flickr Meetup a couple of weeks ago, 50 photographers, a couple of pros, a bunch of models, and one big aircrafe hangar for a studio. I took the new old film camera, shot a couple of rolls, and was happy with the outcome. It’s a different feeling shooting on film, both for me and the models. And the results are different too. Maybe less contrast, a different depth of field, and different grain.

This is Awan, one of the models there with a lighting setup that I jumped on from one of the other photographers.