Sunday, October 30
Winter In A Hurry
It seemed like we only had a couple of weeks of pleasant Fall weather. Winter showed up mighty early this year. I had to unwrap my peacoat from the plastic, baby suffocating garment bag today, but any excuse to break out The Hill-side gear is fine with me.
Batman, Snow, & Mint
As is usually the case, I'm not very active on here in the middle of the semester. Once I get into the school groove, it's just week after week of trying to keep my brain alive without anything interesting going on. This weekend is Halloween weekend, so presumably the entire contingent of able-bodied college partiers should be out in force tonight. It's also snowing. Winter showed up in a hurry and I don't think all the sexy-"something" costumed coeds are going to appreciate that tonight. I, on the other hand, have opted to stay inside today, rather than venture out. I've done nothing today except apply to jobs and play Batman: Arkham City (which is fantastic). I'm getting to the point where I care very little about school work and can only think about the unsettling prospect of long-term unemployment as I'm on the brink of reentering the job market. So, if you are in a position to get or help me get a job, now's your chance to be my best friend.
On a similar note, I was looking at my finances earlier and it's really nothing except horribly depressing and each time I look is even more depressing. I'm a Mint.com user so I have my data neatly arranged for the couple of years since I started using it. Here's a chart of my net worth for about two years. It starts close to a year after I started working and shows a basically symmetric rise and fall of my savings on either side of the start of grad school. For privacy's sake, I left out the actual values.
...
I NEED A JOB.
* - The chart does not include my student loans. If it did, it would be even more depressing.
On a similar note, I was looking at my finances earlier and it's really nothing except horribly depressing and each time I look is even more depressing. I'm a Mint.com user so I have my data neatly arranged for the couple of years since I started using it. Here's a chart of my net worth for about two years. It starts close to a year after I started working and shows a basically symmetric rise and fall of my savings on either side of the start of grad school. For privacy's sake, I left out the actual values.
...
I NEED A JOB.
* - The chart does not include my student loans. If it did, it would be even more depressing.
Thursday, October 6
Oak Street Bootmakers
I recently picked up a pair of Trail Oxfords from Oat Street Bootmakers in Chicago. In somewhat of a recent development, I've begun to be drawn to the appeal of high quality, American made goods. Denim, leather goods, shoes. The Hill-side, Tellason, Tanner Goods. This is in part thanks to guys like Ryan over at his Simple Threads blog. I've been on the lookout for a go-to, durable pair of shoes I can wear with anything and is not a sneaker. I stumbled on Oak Street and was immediately sold. Since I received them, they've rarely left my feet (except when Boston is being Boston and the weather is gross, which, admittedly, is fairly often). They're exceedingly comfortable and the Horween leather is like butter.
I'm not going to be attempting to break in to the fashion blogosphere, but I just thought I'd share in case any of you guys are looking for a handsome, comfortable shoe that can be dressed up or down. Definitely check out Oak Street. As an added bonus, before I pulled the trigger, I had a nice, extended email conversation with the owner/cobbler himself, George Vlagos. George answers all emails personally and is the kind of person you always want to speak with at a business.
I'm not going to be attempting to break in to the fashion blogosphere, but I just thought I'd share in case any of you guys are looking for a handsome, comfortable shoe that can be dressed up or down. Definitely check out Oak Street. As an added bonus, before I pulled the trigger, I had a nice, extended email conversation with the owner/cobbler himself, George Vlagos. George answers all emails personally and is the kind of person you always want to speak with at a business.
Monday, September 12
Nova Scotia (v): Halifax, Cape Breton, & Irene
From Peggys Cove, Halifax is less than an hour drive away. While following the coastal route was straightforward and more or less devoid of any opportunities to get lost, making my way into the city was a little trickier. Without my phone or a detailed map, I aimed myself toward Halifax and hoped for the best. I took a couple of wrong turns, but I made it to downtown Halifax before too long. Halifax is pretty small and actually not that interesting. I've been to cooler cities. I checked out a few major tourist sites, including a large fort-topped hill in the center of the town. I then went down to the boardwalk to grab something to eat. You can see the two snack shacks: beaver tails (?!) and fish and chips. Silly Canadians. I had previously considered spending more time in Halifax, but I didn't feel compelled to. After lunch, I got back in my car and headed out for Cape Breton.
Up until then I had been on the coastal route, but the road to Cape Breton crossed the interior of Nova Scotia. Most of the population seemed concentrated in the outer edges of Nova Scotia and the interior was mostly empty and pock marked by lakes. I didn't make any stops and got to the island a little before sunset. I got on the Cabot Trail, which is the road that loops around the park, and headed counter-clockwise. It was too late to attempt any hikes, so the next series is just views of the winding, cliff-top coastal roads and the sky and ocean in different stages of the sunset.
At the northern tip of the park, there is a small town with a couple of restaurants and an inn. I ate dinner there, which consisted of fish that had been caught that day, and then doubled back to where the trail hit some of the highest points in the park. I attempted to do some astrophotography, but my poor 40D is showing its age. It doesn't seem up to super long exposures anymore and was never really able to handle very high ISOs. I got a handful of too-noisy shots of the Milky Way and a couple of star trails, but they're not really usable. If you want to contribute to the "Buy Brian A New Camera" fund, please let me know.
After a couple of hours of wandering around in the dark, I made my way back to the mini-town and parked my car and slept until just before sunrise. I woke up and immediately made my way to the eastern coast to catch the sunrise. After a little while of making my way down the eastern loop, I turned off into a small fishing village that was just beginning to stir and the fishermen were preparing their boats for the day. At this point I'd accumulated more than enough pictures of lighthouses, but at the of the road was another lighthouse atop a low headland overlooking the water. The clouds and morning sun created a backdrop I couldn't leave unphotographed.
I continued south from the village for a bit and turned off again to follow a beach trail on foot. It led to a rocky outcropping that jutted out into the water. I went up onto the rocks and stood at the edge as the waves crashed violently on the darkened stones below me. The sun was climbing steadily in the sky and the clouds broke the fledgling sun-rays into light and dark, blue and red. The coast arced forward on either side of me and I wondered at what motivates me to drive thousands of miles just to be alone, surrounded by rocks, trees, and water.
From there I made my way to the trailhead of a hike I had planned on doing. Unfortunately, as soon as I parked my car, Irene crashed the party. The rain began lightly - a light mist that was almost imperceptible enough for me to still consider doing the hike - but Irene soon extinguished the clean light of the new day and cast it into the murky darkness of late evening. Storm clouds rolled in thick and unforgiving and the rain became hard and pelting. I had originally planned on staying the entire day in the park, but knowing that the rain wouldn't stop until Irene had passed, I decided to just start the drive back to Boston. There wouldn't be any point in staying. So, I dialed in and drove the 15 hours back to Boston straight, passing through the entirety of Hurricane Irene.
The return journey was pretty uninteresting - nothing but black skies, wiper blades, and the barely visible tail lights of the cars ahead of me. Just as I made it back into the city, the sky cleared. I got back to my apartment, plugged myself back into the internet and found out what had happened in the world in the previous five days, and passed out. Another road trip over, but as a bonus, here's a shot of what my passenger seat looks like during these things:
Up until then I had been on the coastal route, but the road to Cape Breton crossed the interior of Nova Scotia. Most of the population seemed concentrated in the outer edges of Nova Scotia and the interior was mostly empty and pock marked by lakes. I didn't make any stops and got to the island a little before sunset. I got on the Cabot Trail, which is the road that loops around the park, and headed counter-clockwise. It was too late to attempt any hikes, so the next series is just views of the winding, cliff-top coastal roads and the sky and ocean in different stages of the sunset.
At the northern tip of the park, there is a small town with a couple of restaurants and an inn. I ate dinner there, which consisted of fish that had been caught that day, and then doubled back to where the trail hit some of the highest points in the park. I attempted to do some astrophotography, but my poor 40D is showing its age. It doesn't seem up to super long exposures anymore and was never really able to handle very high ISOs. I got a handful of too-noisy shots of the Milky Way and a couple of star trails, but they're not really usable. If you want to contribute to the "Buy Brian A New Camera" fund, please let me know.
After a couple of hours of wandering around in the dark, I made my way back to the mini-town and parked my car and slept until just before sunrise. I woke up and immediately made my way to the eastern coast to catch the sunrise. After a little while of making my way down the eastern loop, I turned off into a small fishing village that was just beginning to stir and the fishermen were preparing their boats for the day. At this point I'd accumulated more than enough pictures of lighthouses, but at the of the road was another lighthouse atop a low headland overlooking the water. The clouds and morning sun created a backdrop I couldn't leave unphotographed.
I continued south from the village for a bit and turned off again to follow a beach trail on foot. It led to a rocky outcropping that jutted out into the water. I went up onto the rocks and stood at the edge as the waves crashed violently on the darkened stones below me. The sun was climbing steadily in the sky and the clouds broke the fledgling sun-rays into light and dark, blue and red. The coast arced forward on either side of me and I wondered at what motivates me to drive thousands of miles just to be alone, surrounded by rocks, trees, and water.
From there I made my way to the trailhead of a hike I had planned on doing. Unfortunately, as soon as I parked my car, Irene crashed the party. The rain began lightly - a light mist that was almost imperceptible enough for me to still consider doing the hike - but Irene soon extinguished the clean light of the new day and cast it into the murky darkness of late evening. Storm clouds rolled in thick and unforgiving and the rain became hard and pelting. I had originally planned on staying the entire day in the park, but knowing that the rain wouldn't stop until Irene had passed, I decided to just start the drive back to Boston. There wouldn't be any point in staying. So, I dialed in and drove the 15 hours back to Boston straight, passing through the entirety of Hurricane Irene.
The return journey was pretty uninteresting - nothing but black skies, wiper blades, and the barely visible tail lights of the cars ahead of me. Just as I made it back into the city, the sky cleared. I got back to my apartment, plugged myself back into the internet and found out what had happened in the world in the previous five days, and passed out. Another road trip over, but as a bonus, here's a shot of what my passenger seat looks like during these things:
Sunday, September 11
Ten Years Ago Today
I was in my tenth grade history class. Our room didn't have a TV and no one had come in to to tell us what had happened. My teacher finished his lecture and when we filed out into the hallway, it was eerily quiet and deserted. There was always an odd feeling of having done something wrong or being somewhere I wasn't supposed to be when I found myself in an empty hallway. Puzzling at the absence of the usual inter-period cacophony and gridlock, my classmates and I sidled down the hall, peering into the adjacent classrooms. It wasn't long before the solemn expressions and images of plumes of smoke told us what we had been so blithely ignorant of moments before. While we were engrossed in European history, other classes had been interrupted by news of events that would come to dominate the tone of the following ten years.
The next hours were spent silently watching coverage of the attacks in chemistry. The silence was broken periodically by parents nervously plucking their child out of class, someone quietly sobbing into their desk, or a cellphone ringing louder than any phone had ever rung before. School was eventually dismissed early and I went home knowing everyone I knew was safe, but not how profoundly the world had just changed.
The next hours were spent silently watching coverage of the attacks in chemistry. The silence was broken periodically by parents nervously plucking their child out of class, someone quietly sobbing into their desk, or a cellphone ringing louder than any phone had ever rung before. School was eventually dismissed early and I went home knowing everyone I knew was safe, but not how profoundly the world had just changed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)