Friday Night Lights

After a break of five weeks, we finally had another home high school football game last night.  And because The Girl had finished her last Two-A-Day practices just a half hour before I wanted to leave to get seats, she chose not to come, but to rest and veg out.  Can't say that I blame her.  So I headed up the hill and met with my football game friends for a fun and worth-every-penny-of-my-$5-admission evening.

I think I have more fun at these games now than I did as a high school student.  Most of that feeling comes from the people I sit with during a game.  Most enjoyable, I must say.  They are PTA friends, football parents, HS alumni, church friends and community neighbors.

Plus it is fun to watch the kids I know from town as they experience the "see and be seen" attitude that is Friday night high school football games.  They crack me up.  I don't think we were ever as fun as students as the kids today are.  But I am certainly more obnoxious an adult than the adults were when I was in school too.  Everything evens out in the end.

Our boys in blue won last night by the way...with no help from the referees.  Final score: 14-10.

Finding Relief for Myself

I asked Genius Golfer to help me find a new driver for the computer to again recognize my camera, so I can peel off the photos from yesterday.  The Boy had a football game yesterday (they lost, but he caught a nice pass just before a touchdown scoring play) and then the boys went back to the field and watched the other B-Team play.  So no computer help.

So, I figured out how to bypass the computer's Plan-A and got the photos off using my own Plan B.  Not so bad.  Though I still wonder aboutt what the deal it with my lame "communication" between the camera and computer.  But at least I am back in business.

Here are some of the fall colors I saw yesterday.  Happy Fall, y'all!

Stop the World! I Wanna Get Off.

I just spent the most relaxing and enjoyable morning I have had in a long time.  I got everyone off to where they belonged today and headed up the canyon to photograph the colors of fall.  I left at 9:30 or so and got home about noon.  I shot over 150 photos.  That is where the relaxing and enjoyable part ended.  I shot over 150 photos that you cannot see.  Yet.

Here's the frustration of my day.  I have a digital SLR Canon D20 that I got for Christmas in 2004.  That makes it almost 6 years old, right?  Am I doing that math right?  Well, in the ensuing years since I got it, my computer operating system has been upgraded--maybe twice--and now the driver I have always used to peel the photos off the camera is no longer functional.  Not only that, but they no longer even make an upgrade for said driver that I need to access photos off my camera.

I am so irritated!

I am going to sound just like my mom here, so prepare yourselves:

How can these electronic things become so outdated so quickly, when I am taking very good care of things and could potentially have this same model camera forever?!?

My first SLR film camera I got when I was about 10.  I still have it.  It still works.  Assuming, of course, I can find somewhere that sells and then later processes film.  So it is thirty years old and works great!  In fact, the camera repair guy told me (when I took it in for a cleaning, about the time I got the new digital one), that I should hold on to the film camera as long as I can.  And if I ever thought to get rid of it to call him first--he'd buy it.  It is that good.

Now I have to wait for Genius Golfer to get home and have him figure out what to do next to locate another driver for this dumb camera.  This is the kind of stuff--I mean, electronic stuff--that makes me envy the pioneers just a little bit.  I don't mean I'd change places with them--uh, hello?  Indoor plumbing?!--but Ansel Adams did some amazing work with a very old fashion camera and I bet he never even thought of a "driver" for his camera, unless it was a pack mule operator to get that old heavy thing into Yosemite where he was shooting!

A Man With a Plan

The Boy is beginning to work on his Eagle Project plan.  He tentatively will be working in a local city park refurbishing four benches, repairing two small bridges and replacing two benches at a firepit.

It is a little crazy that he is already preparing for this project.  His scout shirt still only had a Star rank patch.  He has earned his Life already but our troop has still NOT held a court of honor since December last year--and it was our neighbor's Eagle Court of Honor.

For these boys who are still making progress, not being recognized and awarded what they have earned makes them feel that if their advancements are not important enough to recognize, they quit wanting to advance.  The Boy, however, has a mom (and a dad too) who insists he reach this milestone whether or not the Troop committee wants to do their jobs.

His goal is to get this project going and finished by the end of October, as the city asked if these projects can be done before winter hits.  Sounds good to me.  The sooner we are done, the sooner he'll be finished, and the sooner I can quit nagging.

Ignorance Isn't Bliss

Tonight our illustrious city council is voting on a measure to increase our utility bills 30%.  Their long term plan is to hike things 60% over the next four years.  I found out about it in the regional newspaper over the weekend.  I just had a friend call to ask me if I had heard of this.  Word of mouth is catching up, apparently.

We have a monthly city newsletter.  I never saw anything in there about this.  In fact, I just re-read the last three month's, and not a single mention of it among the announcements about the Heritage Festival, city recreation programs, lawn watering schedules, and City Promenade promotion.

Yet, I know the city knows where I live.  In addition to the monthly water/sewage/garbage bill we get each month, I've received at least two separately mailed notifications about a nearby empty field whose owners want to change the zoning.  That was nice to know about, but beyond The Boy dirt biking in the field as it is now, it doesn't really affect me directly.

A utility rate increase like this will directly affect me, and everyone else I know in town.  Yet, not really any direct notification.

This kind of irresponsible power-tripping leadership chaps my hide.  I can't stand all the shell games politicians play.  They must know people are too busy trying to make ends meet, serve in the community, and take care of each other to hunt down obscure information about the city council's voting plans.  If we are, then they are left to do as they please, without opposition.

It is bad enough that this happens at the national or state levels.  But a local, small town shell game might be the most exasperating of all.

Book Review

I just finished reading this little book this weekend.  Mr. Huntsman has been the head of a huge petrochemical company for many years.  He wasn't given that job by some rich uncle, or a dandy of a father.  He worked his way there and did it with integrity.

This is a little book; one easily read in a weekend.  The writing is conversational and motivational.  It is refreshing that something uplifting can also be considered a "business" book.

As I read it, I saw application for the suggestions given in my PTA work.  Obviously, PTA isn't out to make millions of dollars, but we follow a "corporate" structure, and the insights Mr. Huntsman gives for working with people, with integrity, with charity are useful in any situation,not just business.

I wish I could afford to purchase this little book for each one of the PTA presidents I work with this year.  It would be well worth their time to read it, as they each deal with situations and people that can be better as we apply these simple principles.  But at almost $20 a pop, it is a little out of my budget.  Still, it is worth the weekend time to read through it. 

It made me happier knowing there were some business people out there who are looking at more than just the bottom line.

Video Sunday

Hidden talents?  Someone has too much time on their hands...get it?  Hahaha.