That Time of Year

Last year's posts from Thailand are a lot of the reason people keep reading this damn blog. Well, the coming two months are for you - people who read this damn blog.

I'm headed off to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for two weeks starting next Thursday. I'll be doing much of what I was doing around this time last year - shooting photos and writing stories for the Navy while having my perspective changed at one of the most fascinating places on earth. Lucky? You don't even know.

I value these trips so much and have promised not just myself, but everyone who's not fortunate enough to make these trips. I promise to make the most of it. Part of making the most is visiting Angkor Wat.

On that note, I have a ton of preparation. Thanks to Serene Pelletier at Dakine for my new KILLER photo pack. Dakine is the shit! No more lugging around multiple bags just to shoot and publish my photos - all-in-one now. Next is getting the uniforms and orders ready and I'm outta here!!

First stop is Cambodia and then a month in Singapore.

ReKindling Things

I am a journalist.

Whether it's on reporting side or the delivering side (PR), I love it!

Novels are boring, text books terrorize me and anything aside from a newspaper or magazine hasn't held my attention for more than a few hours at a time with little exception. Then came along the interweb.

It certainly appeared my style of reading was the way of the future as news and condensed information became the way of the web and how people not only got their information, but began to prefer the information. The pinnacle (thus far) is Twitter. But that's probably only till people get good enough at graphic art to skip language as a whole. Just looking down the line a bit.

In the meantime, I've found Kindle and other ebooks. I think this could be the meeting ground.

I prefer to read my news and such online or a computer and now I can subscribe like I used to. I can also download information to my computer and phone and kill time learning. This is the most exciting thing for me since even getting my iPhone.

Let's put it this way - I just bought my first real book outside classroom requirements in five years. Bring it!

Big (geek) Things

Thanks Steve - even though I was cursing your name earlier today. Thanks for making a laptop so simple a neanderthal, or me, could tear it apart and put it back together.

Here's how the day started - me tearing apart three Mac laptop computers in the hopes of putting together one machine which has all of the following working parts: screen, battery, DVD/CD drive, wifi card and built-in camera. Well I'm a bit closer now having repaired Lindsay's MacBook optical drive. However, it still needs a battery. I also fixed the noisy fan in my MacBook Pro, but was unable to repair the internal AirPort Extreme wifi card. Looks like I'm gonna have to buy a new card.

Lastly, I scoured through my isssued PowerBook G4 to make sure everything was maxed out in terms of memory. And it certainly is. I think Hannah needs one of those computers. They're pretty cool. Anyhow, I feel pretty comfortable replacing these parts as they come in.

Between yesterday's breakthroughs w/ Charlie Brown's fuel delivery issues and today's personal record-breaking computer work, I'm thinking a bit more like an engineer. And that has some relevance to current life.

One of the nice things about today's work was using online videos and downloading killer manuals. I think someone should make one about starting a business. It's not really that difficult. Anyone can do it. Just because it can be done by anyone, doesn't mean anyone who does it is doing it right though.

I enjoyed the process of reversing my steps while putting things back together. It helped me realize that everything I'm doing right now comes in steps and it can't be rushed. Each phase needs to have the appropriate amount of time and energy dedicated to it in order to come out well. It all matters once you put the machine back together and start relying on it. After all, I certainly hope I can rely on my own work to sustain my lifestyle.

The business plan is the engineering of a business. I could go on forever, but I'm sure you get the message. Plus I'm really tired.

The Big Chill

I spent at least 20 minutes slowly rocking with Hannah in a hammock under the trees in my backyard yesterday afternoon. Right then, while having a casual chat w/ Hannah, I haven't relaxed more than a year.

From UrbanDictionary.com

1.	chillin	587 up, 73 down
	buy chillin mugs, tshirts and magnets relaxing doing nothing special. a:whut chu doin? b:chillin

This really affects consciousness and the way I respond to day-to-day life. So rather than drink a beer, smoke a cigarette, scream or do any of the other activities we all do to "decompress" or "blow off steam," I just relaxed on a sunny mother's day w/ my family.

Lindsay and I brought Hannah to her first real birthday party for a friend - Bella. The girls had a fantastic time while we just sat back and watched her be herself. After the party Mor Mor took her for a girl's night and Lindsay finally got the time alone we've been starving for.

We checked in w/ some friends at a house-warming party for a few hours before driving our new (new to us) car around w/ late-night lattes followed by engaging conversation about us, real life and how we want things to be. We came away w/ some great direction and mutual understanding. It's nice to be on the same page again.

More of the same today and I'm still feeling very here and very in the moment. This has been missing for a very long time and I'm the one who's been missing it the whole time.