Exercize Nazi

You might be addicted to exercise if.........it removes your bad mood.

That is what I learned today. I have been in a bad mood all day. Mostly because of some little things going on. Nothing big just little things that bother me. Should they bother me. No. But they did. Exercise relaxes me. I guess I like to sweat it out. Problems can be sweated. Not all problems. But it does help me to see them more clearly. To relax. The exercise it my time to just do what I like. I like exercise. Odd yes but I do. I have no idea why it relaxes me. But it does. Exercise helps me to get out of ruts. Maybe I should do blog exercises! I sure am in a rut with blogging.

This is a pitiful excuse for a post but it is all I have.

Ocean Photography

Hope is not strategy, but applying the fundamentals is.

Roughly 15 years ago, as one of my underwater photography seminars ended, a student pulled me aside and said something like "I understand the material you covered, but I really want to be good at underwater photography, so will you please tell me what you really do, you know, the things you don't usually share with others."As an instructor, I felt a little kick in the gut, as if I had been accused of holding back the most valuable information.
That incident caused me to make certain that early on in my in my seminars I get two very important points across to every student. Those points are that to consistently produce pleasing image, you must get a grasp of fundamentals of underwater image making, and the more often you apply those fundamentals, the more likely you are to be pleased with your photographs. in other words, the "secret" information us, do your best to apply the fundamentals, and when you can;t apply them, change something so you can. Don't just shoot and hope that because your mother loves you, a miracle will occur and your images will be great.
Below are five fundamentals concepts. In the two images that accompany this piece, you can see you can see that even though the subjects are different, and that one is wide-angle while the other is macro, the same concepts helped make each shot a winner.

1) Proper exposure and sharply focused subjects are musts. Don't just read about but be sure you learn how F-stops, shutter speed, ISO, strobe power and strobe-to-subject distance work together, to determine exposure. Those concepts are not difficult, but until they are mastered, your composition is usually irrelevant.

2) Get close to your subject. Getting close translates to sharper images and richer palette of colors in your images. When you think you are close, get closer.

3) Get low and shoot up. At least consider this approach. An upward angle often adds dramatic appeal and helps you separate your subjects from their background so your subjects stand out in your images.

4) Pay attention to the background. No matter how colorful marine creatures appear to us, in many cases they have evolved to blend into or "break up" in their immediate surroundings and background. Try to compose your images so subjects are separated from their surroundings. With small reef creatures, look for color contrast between subject and background. With bigger animals, try shooting them against blue (or green) water backgrounds, not dark reef or water.

5) When composing your shot, check the edges of your frame for potential problems. Too often unwanted intrusions such as other divers fins or a half of a fish often surprise and disappoint us with we review our pictures. Those surprises weren't seen wen composing the shot because we only concentrate on the center portion of the frame.
Applying these concepts will help you consistently get good result. More insights into the fundamentals will come your way in the future issues.

Article and images are from Dive Training August 2008

She's Back!

Most of my readers will remember me writing about Sydney.
She has come back to live with us. The Army will not let them keep her. My Baby is back! I was sad they could not keep her. But I am glad she is back. She is so big! She remembered me which made my day. I'm glad she is back.

How Do You Eat Cake?

Dear Miss Manners:
At home, I am a "dunker." I love to dunk everything (doughnuts, cakes, ect.) in my tea or coffee. It's the way I enjoy my milk and cookies. However, when I am in a restaurant or visiting someone, I "hold back" because I feel it is considered bad manners. Is it?
Gentle Reader:
In admitting that it is, Miss matters is tempted to add a word of consolation, indicating that she knows what fun you must be having at your home and is sorry to keep you from transporting it beyond your door. On second thought, it occurs to her that you wouldn't have nearly as much pleasure from dunking your cookies in your mild at home f you weren't aware that is was naughty.

Dear Miss Manners:
My mother-in-law has awful table manners. Not only does she not use serving forks, but she eats with her fingers, saying the food tastes better, and spits out the "skins", or anything she feels too tough, in a half-chewed wads onto her plate. We are going to visit her soon. Is there some polite way to tell her how unpleasant this is? She does not take criticism at all well.
Gentle Reader:
In the annals of crimes against etiquette, correcting one's elders and correcting other in their own house are not more heinous than expectorating food onto one's plate. Miss Manners suggest you direct your critical feelings toward your children's table manners. Children have no choice about taking criticism. If it will enliven your visit, you may correct then at their grandmother's table for doing the dame thing their grandmother is doing.


Dear Miss Manners:
How do you eat cake?
Gentle Reader:
So that you can have it, too. This is done by cutting a bite-sized piece with the end of the fork and lifting it up to mouth in such a way that crumbs drift down and lodge themselves in the shirtfront. These may be furtively picked up and eaten later.

Oh What To Say?

I have no idea what to post anymore. I have posted so many Hawaii pictures I am sure you are all tired of those. I don't really have anything to say. So what do I post? I have used pictures as a excuse not to post words. I have words to say, but when it comes to putting them down I freeze. I have so many posts I have started and not finished about a variety of subjects. Ranging from money matters to social matters. I think it all hinges from not being confident in my writing abilities. I tend to ramble and sound like an idiot. Sometimes I think and think about what I write and sometimes I just type and publish. I know the lack if my word posts hinges on my poor writing ability. To improve one must practice. I need to write about everything. I am publicly holding myself accountable for posting words. Improving my writing ability, word usage, vocabulary and grammar. You are all free to correct any errors you see in my posts. My typos are bad! I need to work on that too!

People!

Peoples cellphone habits amuse me. Last week I was in the grocery store and a man was walking around with his cellphone to his ear, not saying anything for a very long time. He must be talking to a very long winded person! Suddenly his phone rang. He blushed from the top of his head to the bottoms of his feet. I burst out laughing. I tried not to but it is hard to control.
After that a woman was walking through the store and ever time someone's phone rang she would frantically look at hers. I found that amusing also.

Yesterday I was at Wal-Mart and the checker I choose scrutinized every item and asked what I was going to use it for. I wanted to scream JUST PUT IT IN THE BAG! Finally she was looking at the last item I had. Which was a box of Dr. Peppers. On the box where the cardboard flaps over lap one flap was bent back. She asked me if I wanted another box. The dogs tear up the box after the drinks are gone. I'm really not concerned about having perfect box.

Later at the fitness center I was getting my stuff from my locker. And a woman shoves me out of the way to get her stuff out of the locker that is below mine. I stood my ground and just looked at her. She said Would you get out of the way and let me finish! I did the polite grown up thing and moved aside. She finished her business and left.

Thanks for reading another installment of my life!

Salsa!

You Are Salsa

You are an extremely outgoing and vivacious person. You are quite tolerant and open minded. You rather accept people than judge them. Adventurous and unpredictable, you have the reputation of a daredevil. Your taste in food leans toward very spicy and exotic dishes. Whether it's thai food or an extra spicy mexican meal, you're into the hot flavors. You get along with hot sauce personalities. Everyone else, not so much.

What Condiment Are You?

Pjs and Weddings

To some, nine o'clock s the morning man sound rather eccentric for a wedding, but to people of the Atlantic Coast it is not a bit more so than an evening hour--less so, if anything because the morning is unconventional anyway and etiquette, never being very strong at that hour, is not defied, but merely left quiescent. If, for any reason, such as taking an early morning train or ship--an early morning wedding might be good suggestion. The bride should, of course, not ear satin and lace; she could wear organdie ( let us hope that nine 0'clock wedding is in summer!), or she cold wear a very simple white crepe de chine. Her attendants could wear the simplest sort of morning dresses with garden hats; the groom a sack suit or flannels. And the breakfast--really breakfast--could consist of scrambled eggs and bacon and toast and coffee--and griddle cakes!
The above is not written in ridicule; the hour would be very "unusual," but simple early morning wedding where every one is dressed in morning clothes, and where breakfast is suggests the first mean of the day--could be perfectly adorable! The evening wedding on the other hand, lays itself open to criticism because it is a function--a function is formal, and the formal is always strictly in the province of that austere and inflexible lawmaker, Etiquette. And Etiquette at this moment says: "Weddings on the Atlantic seaboard are celebrates not later than four-thirty o'clock in the afternoon!"
---Etiquette by Emily Post, 1922

Pjs at a wedding! On my gosh! I would never wear my pjs to a wedding. I look like a homeless person in my pjs. Shorts and a holey tee shirt are not exactly wedding attire. Does that mean morning breath and bed head would also appropriate?

Dole Plantation 3

I want to paint this. It looks like some where you would sit and drink frilly fruity drinks.

Now before you go any further if you hate hibiscuses or you are already tired of all my hibiscus pictures, please stop now. If you like flowers you will have your fill for the day!















Did you ever know there were so many different kinds of Hibiscuses? Amazing huh!

This is the last segment in my Hawaii posts. :( The Dole Plantation was out list place to visit.

What am I going to post now? My life is pretty boring. I guess I will have to more creative. Use that think inside my cranium! If it has not evaporated!

Stupid Signs.

This sign was in our hotel room in Honolulu. It made me laugh. Where else is one going to bathe? The tiny sink? The toilet? Where? After reading this sign I got mental images of bathing in the sink. Or trying to. How, may I ask, am I going to fit in a sink no bigger than a volley ball?
That sign made me think about stupid signs and warning labels. I know that companies must put these kinds of warnings to protect themselves. But really do I need a sign telling me I should bathe in the tub?


I found this one in a Google search for stupid signs.

I would rather die of dehydration than drink out of a public toilet! EWWWWWWW!

Are people so stupid they need signs saying not to drink out of the toilet? I would hope not!
My dog does not even drink out of the toilet!

I hope humanity is smart enough not to drink out of toilets. If not we have serious problems.

Dole Plantation 2

Dole Plantation Maze ! Allisa and I completed it. It took us a little over an hour.
Walking thought the gates as we finished the maze. It was hard! But fun. Dad and my brother did not finish. My brother tried for three hours.

Red Silk Hibiscus

Pineapple
Bird of Paradise

Dole Plantation 1

Dole Plantation part one. Rainbow tree. I like this tree. It is very colorful.

This was our Dole Plantation garden guide. He made me laugh. He made the tour very entertaining.
The Dole Plantation was our last day in Hawaii. :(
We were there for hours and hours. Our flight did not leave until 10:59pm so we had many hours to kill.

The Warren

Yesterday Allisa Katharine and I went to the Warren theater in Moore. We went to see the Journey to the Center of the Earth. And yes it was rather silly but we were expecting that. If it had not been in 3D I would not have even gone. But we had fun. We ate at Johnny Carino's which was yummy! Then went to the movie. The is the inside of the theater. Sorry for the poor quality of the picture.
Me in the nerdy 3D glasses
Allisa and Kat in the nerdy 3D glasses.

Waikiki Aquarium

This is for Lou she said I had to write my name in the sand. The Waikiki Aquarium
Stingrays

Humuhumu-Nukunuku-Apua'a is fish that is in the center of the picture. The one with back brown and yellow stripes. The Humuhumu-Nukunuku-Apua'a is the Hawaiian state fish. What a name! I know! In the Wikipedia article it says that the Humu has the longest name in the in the English language. The fish in the left hand corner swimming towards me is the fish that stalked me while snorkeling, the goat eye fish.
Octopus


A boat at the Honolulu wharf.

Pearl Harbor I

Pearl Harbor

USS Arizona
The Sailor yelled at me for taking his picture.
USS Bowfin
Two Pearl Harbor survivors.

Why I Don't Take Drugs (even the pharmaceutical kind)

Prepare yourself for a long tale of my sleepless nights. If it sounds a bit whiny, thats because it is.

I have had a cold for a little bit over a week. The cold has turned into a cough, a long nagging cough. A cough that for the past 3 night has kept me up all night. The first night I was up until 5:00 finally being very desperate I took 4 tablespoons of cough medicine. I had already tried the regular dosage and it did not even touch the cough. The next night it kept me up until 4:30. Finally I sipped a little cough medicine at a time. You are now thinking she is a cough medicine druggie! To tell the truth I hate the stuff but I like sleep!And coughing so hard you are gagging is not fun! Last night I tried the cough medicine with codeine in it. During the day I took a half dosage so that I would not in a comma the whole day. My father recommended taking the full dosage before I went to bed. I did that and it had adverse affects on me! It relaxed me yes. But only my body. I was lying there incapacitated. It took so much energy just to move my arms. They felt weak and heavy. But my brain was racing. It was like a rolodex spinning and spinning around. It was kind of humorous here my body was just laying there barely able to move and my mind was furiously thinking about what I am not sure. To put the cherry on the sundae it made my whole body itch. Not rash itch it felt like when you sit on your foot and it goes to sleep, that feeling after the pins and needles, the tingling. That is how my whole body felt. I did not get to sleep until 6am but woke up at 8:30. Fully refreshed. I think I was still under the influence. At about noon I crashed and slept until 3. Now I have a cough medicine hangover. Powerful stuff! At least it stopped my cough!

From Diamond Head

These are pictures that I took while hiking up Diamond Head and on top of Diamond Head.

When we arrived in Honolulu and finally reached our hotel Dad did not want to drive to Diamond so we took the bus. What we did not know was that you had to walk a mile from where the bus drops you off to where you can actually begin your hike up Diamond Head.

This is a lovely lighthouse that I saw while climbing Diamond head. Sorry for the poor photo quality.
View of the city.
Honolulu

Honolulu and WakikiHonolulu is a gorgeous city. Architecture and the Ocean.