We’ve finally been getting that germ killing cold weather that usually helps to sterilize things this time of year. Ironically, we are also moving through what looks to be a family run of cold/flu that includes a throbbing fever and a barking cough. Si, the most impervious to illness, got it first. Now we’ll have to see how it will play out. Carol is on deck. Maybe I’ll get my turn…
In the coming days we are slated to have a day with a high temp of 4F, and wind… So, that mild December and January was just a prelude, we didn’t bypass winter after all… the tiny gaps in the house become much more pronounced as the cold drafts seek out paths to get inside.
The snow is so dry and cold it looks like diamonds.
The Fox River has frozen over, in a few days the daring snowmobilers will start zipping across it, reveling in a brief period when the landscape is an undivided playground for them. When I parked my car near the river to get this photo I pulled up next to another car. I think I startled the people in the car next to mine. I saw a flurry of wardrobe in my peripheral vision and they revved up the vehicle and drove away. I guess it’s never too cold for a little mid-morning romance.
This is finals week. Students are calmly or frantically ending their semester. I’m grading portfolios, calmly… and later it’ll be more of a frenzy. This time is a bit different, however. Normally, at this busy time of the year, I am mentally kissing my free-time goodbye. For the past 6 years I have always begun the track season on the 3rd week in January. From that point on, I was primarily doing that when not in the classroom. The season would start on the same day that I met my second semester classes and done the all day oration about the class requirements. Always a dreaded and exhausting marathon of a day… I wouldn’t emerge back into the world of free-time until the second week of May. By that time you have passed up all the collective celebrations of Spring… like when you and all your neighbors mow your lawn on the same Saturday.
This clear and cold weekend I’m working on a DVD to promote the electives in the Humanities Department, which includes our Visual Arts area. Last year we did it and it seems like we filled our classes to over capacity. Our goal is really to add actual courses, not just pack the rooms… but time will tell if that can happen.
Video editing is tedious and fun. Small changes can make a big difference and everything needs to be paced properly, and balanced in order for it to flow well. Making an amateur video is easy, but making something that really works well is rather hard. I hope to land somewhere in the middle. I’ll link some results if I’m successful.
Phase 2 of this project is to make a master DVD and then copy it about 30 times so that all the English teachers can show it to their students. That should reach the whole student population on Monday as they register for classes. So you could say I have a lot of work to do before Monday…
Earlier this week my “server” on my computer was hacked by someone and I lost access to my blog’s control panel. I became just like everyone else on the web, I could see in but could not get in to make changes. Probably most people thought I was too busy to blog, but really I was busy trying to break into my web home. Finally, this morning, after several days of tinkering, Brother Dan gave me a boost to help me reach a back window, and now I’m back in. Now, from my several nights spent out in the cold I can tell you that even tiny servers have to be secure. Every night Carol asks if I can lock all the doors, and I do… now I’ll keep an eye on the virtual portals too.
Note: Dan really did all the work, I’d have to start a new one if it weren’t for him. He’s a wizard.
These are thumbnails, you can click them to see them larger.
These images were also shown in my class critiques. Low-light, slow shutter speeds with 120mm film. It was surprisingly hard to get a crisp one with a hand-held camera and subjects on the move. Window light during a dim part of November made for 1/2 sec. shutter speeds. Unfortunately, you can do a lot in that period of time, even in Winter…. I’m looking forward to doing more of these types of shots. The low-light makes them interesting at the same time as making them difficult.
