Say cheese

Marci bought me a new digital SLR for my upcoming birthday, actually I bought it and told her about it. For years I have been wanting to make the switch from film to a digital SLR, but have been patiently waiting for prices to get down to a reasonable level. Not to mention the fact I have a lot of money invested in my older and now mostly obsolete film equipment makes the transition even more difficult.
I have finally faced the fact that the digital medium has now come of age, and its usefulness, speed and image quality have surpassed that of film.
Many rolls of film have been sent through my old camera, capturing everything from weddings, trips abroad, family, black and white portraits. Oh well.

I have long had a passion for photography - I'm sure I get it from my Dad.

Anyway, so I made the plunge, and invested in a nice Canon 30D. Now, I cant put it down.
No looking back for me!! I love the fact I can shoot, and view instantly. No more dropping off film, paying for developing, changing rolls midstream or arguing with the 17 year old kid behind the counter who printed my pictures with the color completely wrong.

I get home and edit, crop and adjust to my hearts content on our Mac. Also, the added benefit of being able to fit hundreds of shots onto one card is pretty sweet.

So, today I dragged Marci up to the butterfly garden in Hershey to take a few pictures. At first I could tell she didn't want to go. Highlighted by the fact she told me "Sean, there's nothing but beautiful flowers up there!!" I know, why would anyone want to see that right?
She ended up loving it, and we had a great time. I took a few pictures of some butterfly's
Here they are for your viewing pleasure..Click on the link below.

Sean.

Butterfly Garden.

In memoriam

Marci and I are spending this lovely weekend enjoying the freedoms that we are so privileged to enjoy in this country.
How often we take for granted the little things in life that seem so insignificant.
Like the fact that yesterday we had a great time just spending some time together with good friends at a local park, or celebrating our neighbors' daughter's confirmation on Saturday.

Usually every year the arrival of memorial day brings a host of documentaries on TV, detailing the horrors of World War 2. I watched a few of these this weekend. This morning I told Marci that we really cannot comprehend the price that was paid for our freedom. How can one possibly wrap your mind around the fact that 405,399 American soldiers gave their lives during those dark days? How many generations of families were extinguished in the blink of an eye.

So when you are sick of all the media hype, and the commercial, advertising, and political information barrage, that we are all subject to each day, stop for a moment and think about the price that has been paid for you. Think about what really matters.

These things speak to the true ideals at the very heart and core of this country.
Integrity, honor, and freedom.

God bless America.

Sean.

Gas Pain

Are you suffering from gas pain? And I don't meant the kind you get after eating a can of beans.
I mean the kind you get when you fill up your car.
My time to comment on this topic has come. I have reached my limit people.
The start of the discomfort we are all now feeling at the pump, comes from the price of a barrel of crude oil. Oil is refined to produce (amongst many other useful things) gasoline.
The higher the price of oil, the more you pay for gas. Its that simple.
This week, oil reached a new price of $126 per barrel. To put this is perspective, a year ago it was half that price. In the 90's it was roughly $23 per barrel. To put it in Sean's words, "ridiculous price."
What is causing upward push in prices? Sad news for some of you - not the "evil oil companies."
The truth is that oil is traded on the free market. The price is not set by any oil company. They just pump it out of the ground and sell it. Much like a farmer takes his harvest to market, and the price is determined on the selling floor. So, there are 2 theories out there.
1: World demand for oil is outstripping supply. Economies in countries like China and India are booming, and as a result so is their appetite for crude oil.
2: Market speculation. What this? If I buy a widget for $2, and sell it for $4, I make a $2 profit on each widget. If I sense that in 6 months there is going to be a shortage of widgets, and they will sell for $8, I am going to buy as many widgets today for $2 as I can. That way, later on, I can sell them at a much higher profit. I am "speculating" that the price will go up. It's basically a calculated gamble. Now, what if a lot of people sense the same thing? They are all going to have the same idea as me, and buy up all the widgets they can now. And so, the price immediately goes up, as now widgets suddenly have more "perceived" value. It's the same with oil. Traders are betting that the price will go up in the future, and they will be able to bank the profits. So everyone scrambles to buy as much as they can, and you have a market rally.

What is my opinion? Which camp do I belong to?
I think its a combination of both. Yes, the world is using more oil, demand has increased. All those American jobs we "outsourced" in the 90's into India and China (you can thank unions for a lot of that) are coming back to bite us in the rear. As we exported our jobs, we spread the wealth. Now there are millions of people in once poor economies who have more money and want to live like we Americans do. They want cars, and material goods that are made from, and consume oil. Don't believe me? - next time you go to Walmart, have a look at how many products are "made in China." The upside of this is the emergence of a global economy, that is going to help more of the world's population move out of poverty into prosperity.

On the other hand, rampant speculation in the Commodities markets (particularly oil)
is pushing the price of oil beyond what it is worth. The NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange - where oil is traded) has become a casino. Hedge funds, and investment companies like Goldman Sachs - who trade heavily in the energy markets - are pouring billions of dollars into buying crude oil, because they predict demand will continue to rise, and they will lock in huge profits. As more people want in, up goes the price. Just like the widgets.
It has become a new "Gold Rush." The problem with this is that true basic market fundamentals, like laws of supply and demand are being completely ignored as everyone rushes in. Have we seen this before? Remember the Dot-Com boom in the late 90's? Look at current state of the housing market - that was a boom as well. In my opinion, the market is currently in a complete state of panic, irrational thinking, and greed. Just type in "crude oil" into google news at the end of the day, and try to follow the rationale for the "Skyrocketing, soaring, new record oil price" presented by our dramatic friends in the media. Any excuse is used to drive prices up.
One day it's this reason, the next day it's completely opposite.
You cannot tell any rational thinker that the world is using so much more oil than a year ago to justify the price doubling in 12 months. If that were true, we would have to be using twice as much oil globally. Has that happened? No.

We also got ourselves into this predicament by somehow believing that cheap gas is our "right"
It's not, as many of those who currently own a Ford Expedition (rated at 17MPG are suddenly discovering). Don't even get me started on ANWR - you know, the place where we have millions of barrels of our own oil we can't use.

Conclusion, and end of rant.
The days of cheap oil are over, however the market is currently way, way overbought, and due for a correction. We also need to get ourselves off of the "black crack" we have become addicted to - happily supplied to us from countries that hate our way of life, but love the color of our money.

Enough said.

Read this article for some perspective:


http://www.domain-b.com/industry/oil_gas/20080425_oil_boom.html

Update on the war against cholesterol

Here is a quick statistical update in my battle "of the bulge"
1. Lbs lost: 6
2. Days craving bacon: 26
3. Days craving bacon and eggs: 26
4. Days with no bacon: 26
5. Total Medical bills from various lab tests to tell me I have high Cholestorol: Approx $3200.00
6. Days spent thinking that the cost of medicine in this country is daylight robbery: 26
7. Days spent enjoying the newer "slimmer me": hmmm, about 10.
8. Number of times Marci has told me she doesn't want to hear how fast I have lost weight, because I am a guy and its "not fair:" at least 4
9. Number of Lbs to go: About 3
10. Inches lost on waistline: 1.74
11. Cholesterol score: Hopefully dropping.

Sean.

Trans Fat

"High cholestrol?"
"What?"
"Me?"
"Yes, you.." said the doctor as he sailed the news, smoothly over his desk.
"How high is it?"
"It's high."
I sat back into the chair, and started a mental replay of all the junk I eat while I'm out running around in my car during the week. Hmmm. Yesterday a co-worker and I devoured a box of Krispy Creme doughnuts in less than 3 miles. Later that afternoon, a bag of chips and a Dr. Pepper for lunch. This can't be good. Business lunches mean usually a burger and fries, plus last week we went to the local diner twice to eat breakfast at 12 noon. That means bacon and eggs - both times.
My heart, and my head, sink.
I turned my head to Marci for some sympathy, and all I get is cold stare followed by a look that plainly says, "You idiot."
Well, that was a quiet ride home, folks. All I wanted to do was yell out "Are you kidding me!"
The kind of yell you save for when someone pulls out in front of you.
Apparently, my cholesterol just pulled out in front of me.

So my new diet consists of everything I don't want to eat. Which includes severe restrictions on sugar, fattening food, soda, sodium, potato chips, krispy kreme's, and worst of all bacon and eggs. I feel like I am on some sort of 1943 war time rationing. And the only war I am fighting is against some little chemical called "cholesterol."

I sat down for a business lunch last week and looked at the menu thinking, "I can't have that, that, this or any of this, no, no, not that. I told the waitress to just bring me a chicken wrap, and "go easy on the salt."

I called my friend Mike, who has the same problem, perhaps to see if I could get some sympathy. His answer, "You're screwed."

Grocery shopping is much more fun these days too. I guess that they put that little label on there for good reason. Not all is lost however, I have already dropped a few pounds from my once slowly expanding midsection. I feel better, and I don't seem to suffer any more from sugar highs and the impending crash shortly after. I eat tangerines, and yogurt like crazy now (and yes, it's low fat yogurt.)
The other good news (I am being told) is that I caught this early enough to deal with it.

I still miss the eggs and bacon though.....

American Heart Association

Old Friends

This weekend marked the annual Maynard and Friends "retreat" and it was the first year that Sean and I were able to attend. My cousin Daryl (a.k.a Maynard, not that interesting of a story really) has been organizing this little get together for the past 5 years or so. A crew of old friends from the big town of Chambersburg get together at Cove Valley Camp for a weekend of relaxation, hiking, boating, fishing, running after a passel of kiddos, eating and reminiscing. I subjected Sean to this crowd and he thoroughly enjoyed himself. I haven't seen some of these folks for quite a few years, so it was fantastic to catch up with them.

So, thanks, Old Friends, for a great time. Daryl, put us on the list for next year.

Enjoy the photos (mostly of the cute kids). . . Cove Valley Photos

Springtime

Spring is almost here.
We made it.
This winter officially goes down as one of the wettest, and windiest on record.
I'm glad its almost over. It seemed like every morning, the few steps I would take to get from our backdoor to the garage were greeted by icy cold, sharp, and stinging winds.
The kind of wind that just sucks all the warmth from your body. The kind of wind that makes you dread getting out of you nice warm car, to fill up the tank.
I've watched those warnings over and over on TV where they warn you not to get back in the car, lest the static electricity you create when returning to the pump handle could ignite and start your vehicle, and your person on fire. My answer to that? The same as everyone else at the gas station.
Screw it.
It is freezing out here, and the car is warm inside. I guess a cold winter makes me want to live on the edge of life. How invigorating.

Marci's plants are starting to emerge from the frozen tundra we now call our yard. They look nice outside. The daffodils are going to look lovely when they bloom. Our lawn is waking up from a deep slumber, just like when you wake up on a saturday morning at 8:30 and lazily stretch yourself out of bed. I can't wait to start mowing again. Marci thinks I am mad. Just for fun yesterday I pulled my mower from its dark, dormant corner in the garage and fired it up. A few pulls of the old rope and she sprung to life, as if it had been waiting all winter for my return. The grassy smell of the engine whirring brought a smile to my face (it also made my clothes stink like fumes)
I have had the Tru-Green guys pre-treat the grass for weeds. Last year, they were the bane of my existence. This year, they are all going to die.
I bought in the professionals this time. "Weed B Gone" be gone with you. Last year you did nothing for me. This year, I shall be crowned "King of the Lawn"

On Tuesday the weather tricked me into thinking I could bring my nice grill out onto the patio.
So I rolled it out, cleaned it up and positioned it in its place, ready to cook.
Two hours later, a 20 knot wind kicked up, and I was sitting at our kitchen table when I saw it rolling across the cement outside, followed by a mighty crash.
That ended up with some very special language, and a nice dent in the metal.
I can fix it, but still...

Sean's American Idol predictions:
1: The winner is going to be either David Cook, or David Archuletta
2: The final three will be those two, and the irish chick.
3: Kristy Lee Cook is going home very soon - she may be easy on the eyes, but her voice cant get any better.
4: Jason Castro is cool, but he has an average voice, he wont be around too much longer
5: The hippie girl (Brook) is going to have to step up her game if she wants to get any further
6: Watch out for Sayeesha (is that how you spell her name) She can really sing, and she looks like a star. However if she tries to sing another Whitney Houston song, its all over. This goes against cardinal rule #1 for American Idol: NEVER ATTEMPT TO SING A WHITNEY HOUSTON SONG. You will always be compared to one of the best singers that ever lived, and you will never sing as well as her.
For that matter - don't attempt any of Celine's songs as well.
7: Simon will continue to be arrogant, but right 97% of the time.
8: Paula will continue to attend the space cadet academy, and live on planet Paula.
9: Randy will continue to tell everyone who he has "worked with" in the industry.

Anyway,
Feel free to add your predictions in the comment section.

Sean.

Return to the Motherland

Marci and I will be traveling to South Africa this summer.
YAAAAY for us!
It's been a good 15 years since my family left, and I decided that it was now or never.
(The other motivating factor was that I found airfares really cheap)
The best part is that I get to plan the whole trip. Marci told me last week that she just wants to go, and have it all organized.
This is awesome!
And so I have planned a week long trip across the Karoo desert on camelback.
(Don't tell her it is going to be a big surprise.)
Yeah right. Can you imagine? "We are doing what?" Followed by the look of death.
You know, the one all wives give their husbands when what they are trying to say is - "Have you lost your mind"
I used to get that look a lot when we first got married. Now I know when it is coming and I just start to laugh nervously, or do what all guys do and say "ha, ha, just joking" in the nick of time.

I have discovered that ladies like traveling away from home only on the following conditions:
1: Proximity to a working electrical outlet must be maintained.
2: Proximity to a working toilet, must also be maintained
3: An entire country must ensure that their electrical system will function with the grooming tools of choice - namely hairdryer, and curling iron. (Works in conjunction with rule #1)
4: A much larger then necessary suitcase is required, and non-negotiable.
5: Any overflow of luggage will require additional space in your luggage, also non-negotiable (see section a/addendum B "using sex as a bargaining tool")
6: Proximity to running water must be maintained at all times
7: Running water MUST be available in a heated configuration.

Men have few rules for travel. In fact, these are some of Sean's rules and tips.
1: Always carry on luggage. They cant lose it that way, and no checking baggage!!
2: Travel light - underwear can be turned inside out if necessary
3: If I forget it here, I can buy it there.
4: I don't want to talk to anyone on the plane, even pleasant old ladies. I just want to sit and be quiet and miserable like everyone else
5: Don't take shampoo or soap, the hotel will have plenty of that stuff. Then you don't have to put it in those little bags for security.
6: Always get the aisle seat, that way you can get up when you need to.
7: Check in online at home, print your boarding pass, and go right to security. No checking in. This has saved my butt from missing a flight countless times.
8: Always travel with earplugs. You never know when that broken old A/C in your hotel room is going to go click, click, click all night.
9: Essentials for any trip - your most comfy jeans, and an I-pod
10: Leave your parking stub in your car, under the visor. Once you get into the airport put your car keys in a secure place - for me usually in a pocket in my suitcase.
11: Remember your parking spot!! A handy trick I use is to send myself a text message with the space number. Nothing is worse than getting into a dark parking lot after a long flight and not remembering where you parked the car. I did this once on a cold, snowy night, and walked the lot for 45 mins in my business shoes and dress pants. Never again. This way you store the number on your cell phone and voila.

There you go.
I am looking forward to spending time just with my wife. Once we see all our family, Marci and I are going to head out in to the eastern cape for 3 days, just us.
We are going up the garden route (google it if you want) after we spend some treasured time with my grandparents, and my family.

I will be sure to post a very informative blog after our trip!

Sean.

Some info on Cape Town
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Town

Go green

Marci and I have been on this kick recently, that we need to do our part to help "be good stewards of the environment"

What does this mean? Are we suddenly joining Greenpeace? Are we going to support community screenings of Al Gore's movie? Are we going to grow our own family of trees, and start hugging them at least once a week? No.
None of that nonsense.
For a while now, I've secretly been feeling that I need to be more conscious of the things I do on a daily basis that affect the environment around me. We in America are so used to living in a disposable society, we use stuff and then just throw it away. Its easy, its guiltless, its convenient.
Use, dispose. Use, dispose. Do you ever stop to wonder what happens to the things we just discard?
It has to go somewhere, it doesn't just cease to exist when you dont see it anymore in the bottom of the trash can. The space it occupies isn't just voided out underneath the garbage pile.

There used to be a lady at my old job who brought a big box into work every week. Her goal in life was to collect the used soda bottles from the lunchroom. She would take the box down to her local recycling center, and make sure that all that plastic was recycled, and re-used.
She never said anything, she just did it. No-one paid her for the extra gas she used in her car, or for her time. Why did she do it? I would often asked myself. What did she care? If I wanted to throw my used bottle in the trash and choose not to recycle that was my right! We didn't even get along, she used to call me "Mr big stuff" and she would sing that annoying song around me - probably because I thought I actually was "Mr big stuff" in my youthful arrogance.
I finally realized one day after I offered to help her carry the full box out to her car why she did this.
Every time she drove down to the recycling center, it gave her a good feeling inside to know that she was not being part of the common mentality that is used to simply wasting, and discarding. It didn't make her a better person. It just felt good.

Marci bought this book recently by Ed Begley Jr. He is passionate about energy efficiency, conservation, and going green. I must admit at first I thought it was another book by a tree hugger, bashing the Bush administration about global warming blah, blah, blah.
Well after I started reading it, I couldn't put it down.
Not a word about any of that stuff. Just really great ideas on how to be more environmentally friendly and frankly, save money. (I like that part!!!)
Save money? Huh?
Yes.
So, in the past few weeks I have installed a programmable thermostat, changed most of our light bulbs to the new CFL (compact fluorescent light) and paid much more attention to what we throw into the trash, and what we recycle.
And to be honest, it feels good. Not only do I feel less like and all consuming, disposing, human being - we are actually saving money.
The effort required is minimal, and yes the new light bulbs were a little more expensive. But 1 regular light bulb uses the same energy as 5 CFL bulbs. And they last up to 12 years. 12 YEARS!!! Do you know how much it irritates me when I have to change a light bulb and we don't have any left? But lighting 5 bulbs for one? And I get the same amount of light?
Hello - no brainer.

Simple things like running the dishwasher after 8pm (after peak demand) help save energy.
When we bought our new washer and dryer, the salesman convinced us to buy the fancy new (and much more expensive) Bosch models. His claim was that the washer only used 10 gallons of water per cycle instead of 40 gallons per cycle like a regular washer. His other claim that we only need "a tablespoon of detergent per load" seemed like a good sales pitch to me, but its true. Since we moved here in August last year, we are literally still on the same container of detergent, and yes, our clothes are clean and fresh every time. Our water consumption is very low as well.
The dryer has a moisture sensor in it that shuts the machine off when the clothes are dry.
Brilliant!!! No more just setting the timer to 60 mins, when you only need 25 mins to dry your jeans. That is wasteful, and we pay the electric bill.

Naysayers will say, "So what, there is plenty of fresh water, who cares?"
Sure there is. But it takes energy and more petrochemicals to clean every extra gallon of dirty water. So who does care - well at the moment everyone does, since a barrel of oil hit $100, up from 30 only 3 years ago.
Like paying over $3.00 for a gallon of gas?

I was watching a documentary on the Exxon Valdez oil spill last night. I remember the absolute outrage, and anger this created about the affect this would have on the environment. How many Americans watched the news that night with utter disgust at the negligence of the "evil oil company" and then threw away their plastic tv dinner tray without even thinking about what affect that would have on the environment. The sad truth, is that all that oil was actually on its way to America to power our SUV's and cars, and make little plastic tv dinner trays.
So we are all part of the process. Now I know, we need cars, we need dinner, we all watch TV's.
But still - it made me think. Oil companies exist because we all use oil, and energy.
There would be no Exxon Valdez without the need we have created for oil, and all of the useful things it produces. I'm not condoning their actions, what happened was an accident, and a subsequent investigation blamed the spill on the inexperienced sailor who ran the ship aground and the captain who left the bridge unsupervised.
Oil is in everything. Like your new cell-phone? Plastic made from Crude oil. Like that new carpet in your house? Yep, from crude oil. Like that new salon shampoo you just bought for $14 bucks - you guessed it the container ultimately comes from crude oil. And it is very likely many of the chemicals in the shampoo are an oil by product.
So there are many factors as to why the price of oil is so high, but that is another discussion.
We can all still contribute to saving it, by recycling, driving a little slower, and choosing what products we buy.

Anyway, I digress.

We discovered that Lancaster County has a fantastic program just for recycling. I won't bore you with the details, but they take everything from old paint, to old TV's and computers, old household chemicals. My Dad recently recycled and old TV that he had for years (and was partially in love with) Way to go Dad!!
I also read that Lancaster burns 80% of the household trash they collect to create electricity.
This means that only 20% goes into a landfill. (And yes, they do treat the emissions this creates before releasing it into the atmosphere)
At the local Giant that we shop at, they offer these neat reusable fabric shopping bags.
You can use them as much as you want. 1 Bag hold up to $30 in groceries. We love them.
No more old plastic bags clogging up our trash and laundry closet, no more cereal boxes tearing through the side. No more multiple bagging for the gallon of milk, or big cans. No more of the handles stretching and cutting a line in your hand. When we are done shopping, they go back into the trunk.

So here are some helpful links that you can check out to help reduce your energy consumption.
You don't need to join the Sierra club, or Greenpeace. If you feel like hugging a tree then go ahead. You dont need to become a hippie, or a crazy environmentalist - but if the thought of saving money, and feeling better about the impact you have on the environment appeals to you than check these out.

Energy Star - Great for tips on saving electricity
http://www.energystar.gov/

Lancaster County recycling
http://www.lcswma.org/recyclingInfo.asp

Vegas, Baby!!

I spent a few days last week in Las Vegas. A group of us from work attended Conexpo 2008 Basically the largest construction equipment convention in the galaxy. We flew out last wednesday, and I came home on saturday. To say that the convention was rather large would be a complete understatement. Massive, gargantuan, completely impressive would be words better suited to describe the show, it was awesome. It took 2 days of solid walking to see everything I needed to see, and I still didn't see everything.
Needles to say that by the end of it, I was pretty tired.

We also had an opportunity to spend some time walking around 'Vegas.
What an experience that was, so here are my observations.

1: Las Vegas was built by an alien civilization, determined to extract as much money as possible from the human race. They needed this money to help re-finance the unfolding sub-prime mortgage disaster on their own planet.
2: The aliens have also constructed some kind of time altering mechanisim flux capacitor thingy that makes time, well, irrelevant. (That way you spend more money)
3: Elvis apparently has many brethren that look just like him. My opinion is that they are undercover alien FBI agents, keeping an eye on us humans.
4: The alien logistics, and zoning committee that picked the site for Las Vegas construction did a lousy job. Somehow, they picked the middle of the desert. Don't they know we humans require large amounts of water for survival?
5: After the Chief of the zoning committee was fired for this mistake, they just built Hoover dam, and solved that problem. Ah - free electricity too!!! Brilliant!!!
6: During the test and market research phase of their project, they also discovered that as long as you have cocktail waitresses feeding the humans free alcohol, they tend to keep putting more and more money into their slot machine-money collection systems.
7: Make it big and shiny, with lots of sparkly lights and neon, and the humans just keep coming back!!! Moohahahah.....

Well, it seems to be working - quite well actually.
I was almost suckered in, until I hit a 777 on the 25c slot machine, and took them for $12.50.
HAHAHAHA.
I got my money out before they could get any more of it. Take that you freaks.

So, also thanks to my company for putting us up in a very swanky hotel. I have vowed to return someday, I just find those big neon lights strangely attractive.....

Sean.

The Venetian, outside




Caesars Palace (E.T. HQ)