Yet another new server!

This time, Athlon XP 2100+, 1Gb PC2700 memory, drives galore, SuSE 8.2, Apache, etc., etc., ad nauseum.

And, a change of focus — no pun intended. (OK, so maybe there was!)

Photography. Those who read the old stuff (which is still accessible on the side menu until I figure out how to get it into this blog), know that my passion has been turning to photography. And, that I was getting tired of getting riled up like a cranky old man every time something in the world didn’t happen the way I liked.

This blog is the culmination of the lighting of one passion, and the dousing of the grousing. Enjoy!

The new camera has arrived! (Well, actually, I got it Thursday.) Two lenses, a polarizing filter and a backpack later, I’m set for shooting with the little guy.

My first impression is that this camera is sweeeeet. It feels good, it shoots well, and is complicated. I never released just how much I relied on the automated features of the Olympus — I am going to have to think about what I’m doing.

Darla and I went to the arch grounds today to shoot some pictures of great arch at the river. The nugget that I came away from that exercise with is to account for the darkness of the polarizing filter, and open things up a bit.

BTW, I feel like I’ve had just a little too much rhetoric on here of late. I feel like I’m turning into a grumpy old man way before my time. So, I’ll probably still have some things on here about the world (the gas pumps, for example), but not so much yelling and screaming. There’s enough of that going on right now without my adding to the cacophony.

Slightly more than an hour until the President’s deadline for Saddam Hussein arrives. It seems that no one expects the campaign to start right then, but there is an awful lot of countdown activity related to 7PM.

I’m curious to see what happens with gas prices when the war starts. It has gone down quite a bit in the last week. I would’ve expected the fickle gas prices to move the other direction as we move closer to war.

I’m curious to see what happens to the stock markets when the war starts. The Dow is up almost 10% over the last week. Amazingly, the panicky market seems to like the fact that we’re finally moving, and there is less uncertainty about if war will happen. There’s still the question of when….

After the president spoke on Monday, the Homeland Security threat risk went once again to “high”. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it go to to “severe” when the war begins.

Today is the day on which Iraq is supposed to come clean with its weapons programs, and disarm. Instead of this, though, it appears that the terms of the 10+ year old UN resolutions are not going to be met, and we will go to war…. without the UN, without allies, and without much chance of losing.

The President is speaking to the country tonight, and I have to believe that, much like his father before him, he will announce that the day is at hand, and that the attack could begin at any time. The UN pulled all its workers out of Iraq today — I have to wonder if that was because of this being the deadline day, or if Kofi Anan was tipped off that something was coming. Surprise would buy the US little advantage, I suspect, so telling the UN that something is coming doesn’t seem like it would impact the outcome very much.

History has 20/20 vision, however. I wonder if history will view this as the liberation of the Iraqi people (as President Bush would have us believe), another bullying action by a defunct superpower (as the French and others believe), or an excuse for the beginning of a governmental oppression of people living in America (as some extremists seem to believe).

My view? Well, I don’t like war. I especially don’t like a war that has promised to bring its horrid consequences to our shores. However, I believe Saddam Hussein is evil (some have called him the antichrist — I don’t know if that’s true or not), and should no longer be allowed to be in power. It appears that political, economical and diplomatic solutions aren’t bearing fruit, so I guess I’m resigned to supporting this effort.

God bless our troops, leaders and citizens. May this be a short conflict, with few casualties.

Spring has finally sprung in the Midwest. With that come the pilgrimages to Missouri’s wine country.

Today, Darla, Molly and I loaded up, and went out to enjoy the hill at Mount Pleasant Winery in Augusta. Just about a year ago, we took Molly there for one of her first trips, and it seemed right to take her again. Kelly, Mary and Chia joined us, and we had a great time. No chess, no cards, but plenty of fun enjoying the 72 degree weather.

I really enjoy Stone Hill’s Concord the best of all the Missouri wines. Mount Pleasant has a nice white port, and a spunky tawny port. We ended up drinking their sweet red wine throughout the afternoon.

In this kind of weather, any wine would be tasty!

Out of Dad’s death last year, Mom decided to give Kevio and me a modest sum with which to do something for ourselves.

Both of us have honored Dad in our own ways, by carrying forth his legacy.

For Kevio, it was the gift of music. Dad was a musician, a saxophone player long, long ago. Kevio has been continuing that legacy with his music for two decades. He has elected to bring a new guitar into the fold, and with that, he carries Dad’s legacy of music forward.

For me, photography has become quite a passion. There’s always ham radio, of course, but lately photography has the hot burner. Dad always enjoyed photography, and he passed that down to both Kevio and I. In fact, one of Dad’s first jobs was recording the Gemini missions using very high speed cameras on Ascension Island. All through his life, he shot photo after photo after photo. I don’t know that any of them are “art” photos, or anything that would mean much to anyone who wasn’t family, but he loved shooting film, and I’m glad to have found this same voice in my life.

I think I got bit a long time ago, when I first shot some film with Dad’s Edixa model C that he bought while in Germany in the early 60s. I can remember still what it was like to shoot film and slides with that old camera. If I could find another, I might be tempted to put it in my collection, if only for nostalgia.

Anyway, today, I ordered a new Canon EOS-10D semi-pro digital SLR camera. They’ve just been released, and I expect I should have it before travelling to Talladega in early April. I still need lenses, filters, and all manner of other accessories. They’ll come, in time. I am looking forward to getting the Canon here, though, and expect I’ll be turning out some fantastic photos with it.

Today, six days before a possible invasion of Iraq, the local Amoco (owned by BP) stations started speculating on gas prices again.

Yesterday, $1.639 (while everyone else was around $1.589). This morning, $1.759 (while everyone else was still around $1.589). This afternoon, $1.699 (while many stations were still around $1.589). I expect everyone will be around $1.689 in the morning.

And we’re told that there’s no speculation going on out there on our fuel prices, and no collusion among gas companies.

Personally, I think gas will near $2/gal come Monday’s deadline to Iraq.

A week from today. St. Patrick’s Day.

One week until the US imposed deadline for Iraq to come clean on its weapons of mass destruction, and to disarm.

Today seemed filled with jockeying for political position, mostly focused on the UN. While I recognize the usefulness of the UN, there are times when they seem utterly inept. Now seems to be one of those times. With the inspectors seemingly on an “avoid war at all costs” vendetta, their credibility — along with that of the UN — is waning.

One week. We’ll see what one week brings.

Tonight, our President spoke to the nation, and frankly, the world.

One thing of note was that he is pushing hard to get a resolution voted on by the security council. He wants the nations of the world to stand up and be counted, to “show their cards.”

I think this is a wise, wise move. Let’s find out who’s with us, and who’s standing in the way.

I still think we should be showing more of our case, but short of doing that, this seems to be the best idea on the block.

War? I’d rather not. But, if forced into it, I’d want to know who’s gonna be standing beside me.

It appears that we are ever so much closer to an invasion of Iraq. I’ve heard things on the radio that some newsfolk believe it is just a matter of days. I’ve heard that the US will not try another UN resolution, because it doesn’t make any sense to do that just to have it vetoed by the permanent members of the UN. And everyone seems to just accept that we will be in Baghdad for years — maybe a decade — to ensure that peace is maintained.

While I tend to belive that Hussein is a destabilizing force, and that he probably does have the weapons of mass destruction so often touted by the administration, I grow weary of the posturing and positioning. If we’re going to go to war, let’s get on with it, have a well-defined goal, and achieve it. This monkeying around is doing nothing but messing about with the economy, and increasing the general anxiousness of folks.

Listen; the beat goes on…