text:
Town Square
'Dilbert' cartoonist planning custom home here
Original post made on Mar 9, 2010
Read the full story here Web Link posted Friday, December 14, 2007, 12:00 AM
Comments (14)
on Mar 9, 2010 at 8:25 am
This article is from 2007...
on Mar 9, 2010 at 9:03 am
...and the house has turned out beautifully. Especially love the Dilbert roof treatment that tastefully appears about halfway back on the main house. Nice job!
on Mar 9, 2010 at 9:45 am
It's a nice house...except the side reminds me of a Taco Bell drivethrough! But don't tell Scott.
on Mar 9, 2010 at 10:25 am
I always watch Dilbert on Netflix,
I would like to meet this man. He is a very funny creative guy.
on Mar 15, 2010 at 7:35 pm
thank you so much!! i'm about to download from the site right now!
on Mar 18, 2010 at 5:57 pm
I find that the "Monster" house is very excessive, especially in this trying times. It is to big for the neighborhood and lot!!! Didn't he say it was going to be a "green" house. I think if he wanted to be enviromently concess he would have bulit it smaller!!
on May 5, 2010 at 1:18 am
Great article . Will definitely apply it to my blog.Thanks.
on May 11, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Benedict, it is a great post thanks for posting it!
on May 13, 2010 at 3:14 am
How much money has passed thru your hands in a lifetime?
on Jun 9, 2010 at 9:59 am
nice design!= and greate news
on Jun 14, 2010 at 12:51 am
How much money do you give as a wedding gift?
on Jun 15, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Great article . Will definitely copy it to my site.Thanks.
on Jun 16, 2010 at 2:06 pm
How do I put money on my paypal account without a bank account or credit card?
on Jun 17, 2010 at 8:37 pm
So why you do this?
If you were a member and logged in you could track comments from this story.
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Pagan stays hot; pitching stops Fish
Outfielder collects three hits; Maine sharp in second outing
at Jupiter, Fla.
Tuesday, March 4
Up next: The Marlins have a split-squad set for Wednesday. In a 1:05 p.m. ET start against the Orioles at Fort Lauderdale Stadium, Rick VandenHurk (0-0, 4.50 ERA) gets the start. Steve Trachsel (0-0, 0.00 ERA) gets the nod for Baltimore. And at 7:05 p.m., Ricky Nolasco (1-0, 0.00 ERA) starts for Florida against the Cardinals in Jupiter. Adam Wainwright (0-0, 6.00 ERA) goes for St. Louis.
The Mets will face the Dodgers in Port St. Lucie at 1:10 p.m. Johan Santana (0-0, 13.50 ERA) will make his second spring start for the Mets. Los Angeles will counter with Brad Penny (0-0, 0.00 ERA).
Joe Frisaro is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

subset: commoncrawl


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Sr. Electrical Engineer Jobs in Alabama
Currently, there are no Sr. Electrical Engineer jobs available in Alabama which match this search. You may wish to explore similar job titles on the Engineering jobs in Alabama page or view related jobs below.
This is a temporary position of undetermined length. There are opportunities to work all 3 shifts. Job Description: The candidate will participate on engineering teams performing design, development and integration of RMS test products within the Test Systems Solution Center (TSSC). As such, the candidate will contribute to the development of all stages of test product development of RMS produc...
This is a temporary position of undetermined length. There are opportunities to work all 3 shifts. Job Description: The candidate will participate on engineering teams performing design, development and integration of RMS test products within the Test Systems Solution Center (TSSC). The candidate must have experience and knowledge in test product development of all stages for missile and sub-as...
Overview: Candidate will supervise linemen who are members of local IBEW union. This person will plan and schedule maintenance to equipment and write/approve and execute utility procedures to lock-out and tag-out equipment to be maintained safely. Candidate will write the scope of work specifications for outside contractors to bid on installations or maintenance that can't be performed by the Lin...
Job ID ENP-00003382 Emerson Company Electrical Reliability Services Country United States State/Province Louisiana City Shreveport Publish Start Date Jan 30 2014 Job Level Experienced (Non-Manager) Job Description Electrical Reliability Services (ERS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Emerson, is an industry leader in electrical testing, maintenance and engineering services helping utilities, ...
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Company Confidential Lake Angelus, MI, 48326
A local Michigan company with several locations in Auburn Hills, Warren, and Farmington Hills are seeking several full time, long term, direct hire experienced Sr. Controls Engineers. The Michigan based company who are the leaders in balancing, diagnostic, automation equipment, Welding Systems, and special equipment for the Automotive industry and an engineering staff that offers a broad range of...
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Sr. Electrical Engineer
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Sr. Electrical Engineer
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Develops electrical products by studying customer requirements; researching and testing manufacturing and assembly methods and materials.
Develops manufacturing processes by designing and modifying equipment for building and assembling electrical components; soliciting observations from operators.
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Well that didn't take too long, but should have been foreseeable. In Ontario, weigh-ins are still on the same day as the fight, so it's a little tougher to drain enough anyway. Sonsona is huge for a super flyweight, and he'll likely be skipping bantamweight completely and moving up to super bantamweight, setting up a potential fight with Steve Molitor. Tonight, he'll still face Alejandro Hernandez on TSN at Casino Rama, but only Hernandez will be able to come home with a belt, if he wins. Molitor will be keeping busy on the undercard.
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Welcome to Green Swamp
Beautiful Trails
2011 Race Photos from SadlerShots.com
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DWD Green Swamp offers a flat fast trail experience in the cypress wilderness. You will love the strange and wonderful botanical experience. Less than an hour from Tampa, but it seems like a million miles away from the trappings of daily life. Join us for a laid back adventure that will chase away the mid winter blues.
The Dirt Crew is back here at Dirt Quarters workin' to make yer dirty dreams come true. The soul freein' magic of runnin' through nature with reckless abandon makes DWD day more than special, heck, it's almost spiritual. Life is short and we ain't got enough of such days.
Enough jabber. Grab the team and join the Dirt Crew for a winter break as we return with DWD in Florida's Green Swamp. By then, y'all will be ready for a run in the heat and you'll get a chance to join us! Ya may have been Boned in Indiana, Bloodied in Wisconsin and Burned in Hell, but it's time to run fast or get Bit in Florida!
Events include a 50 Mile Ultra, 50K Ultra, Full and Half Marathons, 10K and the 50 Mile Team Relay.


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Stunner: Renan Barao yanked from UFC 177 during difficult weight cutKevin Iole at Cagewriter1 day ago
Former bantamweight champion Renan Barao suffered some sort of incident while cutting weight in his hotel room in Sacramento, Calif., on Friday and was pulled from his title bout Saturday at Sleep Train Arena in the main event of UFC 177 against champion T.J. Dillashaw for medical reasons.
It remains unclear the nature of Barao's medical condition, but one UFC source said, "I know he's going to be fine, but he's definitely not fighting Saturday."
Nova Uniao, Barao's fight team, issued a statement to MMA Fighting . The statement said Barao was dizzy when getting out of the tub, slipped and hit his head against the wall. It said he passed out and was taken to the hospital.
UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta said Barao was taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons.
"Safety has to come first," Fertitta said. "We just wanted to make sure he was all right. My understanding is that he is [OK] and that everyone was being extra cautious, so he was taken to the hospital to be checked."
UFC's Donald Cerrone denies racism, sexism accusationsElias Cepeda at Cagewriter1 day ago
UFC lightweight Bobby Green recently recounted a series of incidents he says happened at a UFC Fan Expo where fellow lightweight Donald Cerrone harassed female fans and said racist remarks. In a newinterview with Sherdog, Cerrone dismissed the stories and the characterizations of him as a sexist, racist bully.
"That was two years ago, ya' know? Why didn't any of this come out?" Cerrone said of the alleged incidents.
"Why didn't a fan file a lawsuit or say, 'Yo, Cowboy is groping my wife,' c'mon. Or racist comments...I have three black guys that live with me. So if I was racist, I couldn't even let something like that.
"it's just funny to me. Talk all you want. If the fans want to believe him, go ahead. If you take Bobby Green's word, a guy who just wants to say dumb comments...I got nothing to say to the guy other than one day I'll see you Bobby Green."
Huerta, Askren, Aoki and Narantungalag win big at ONE FC 19Elias Cepeda at Cagewriter1 day ago
Former UFC star Roger Huerta snapped a four-year losing streak today in Dubai, with a first round TKO stoppage over Christian Holley. Huerta got the fight to the ground early and transitioned to the back of Holley, where he threw punches until the referee was forced to stop the fight.
"El Matador" had not fought in over two years. Post-fight, Huerta admitted that he very nearly walked away from the sport of MMA for good, though he credits his teammates to getting him back into competition.
"I owe it to them," he said.
"I almost hung it up. I almost retired I almost didn't want to do it. "
New champions at featherweight and welterweight
Later in the ONE FC 19 card, Jadamba Narantungalag stole the featherweight title from Koji Oishi via unanimous decision. Narantungalag was the more active fighter and, save for a scare in the third round where he was stunned by strikes, he managed to control the pace and do the most damage over five rounds.
Celebrity Head to Head: Joe Lauzon breaks down UFC 177Elias Cepeda at Cagewriter1 day ago
UFC lightweight star Joe Lauzon is hard at work to prepare for his Octagon return Sep. 5 but he took a break from training to sit down with Cagewriter editor Elias Cepeda to break down the main event and co-main event of this Saturday's UFC 177 card. In the main event, Renan Barao and champion TJ Dillashaw rematch their bantamweight title bout from last May.
In the co-main, Dillashaw's teammate Danny Castillo fights the red-hot Tony Ferguson. Check out Lauzon and Cepeda's picks and analysis below and then let us know who ya got, in the comments section!
Renan Barao vs. TJ Dillashaw
Elias Cepeda: I've already said it - I don't like this rematch. At least, not right now. into camp for the rematch, and there's no telling how much additional damage he's taken in camp.
Kamal Shalorus grabs for gold again at ONE FC 19Elias Cepeda at Cagewriter2 days ago
Kamal Shalorus (9-3) was born and raised with wrestling all around him. Growing up near the wrestling hot-bed of Azerbaijan, Shalorus had both the intense Iranian and Russian wrestling cultures pushing in on him as a young man.
The wrestling passion of the region became his, and he used it to lift himself up, professionally. He would go on to represent Britain's wrestling team at the 2004 summer games, and later become a top MMA fighter.
Kamal's parents had no problem accepting his career as a wrestler, but fighting in a cage with less rules seemed more foreign to them, at first. "Wrestling, they knew, so they were very supportive," he tells Cagewriter.
"But MMA, well, my mom was a lot more nervous about that (laughs). But now they see what it is and understand it a bit more."
It took Shalorus some time himself to begin to fully understand MMA. He first got into the sport as a training partner for MMA fighters to better their wrestling, but soon realize that he was good enough to step into a second career as well.
"The transition was definitely challenging, especially the striking, but I enjoyed it and it ultimately came natural to me," he says.
Muhammed 'King Mo' Lawal signs long-term extension with BellatorKevin Iole at Cagewriter2 days ago
It is no secret that Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal didn't care much for Bjorn Rebney, the Bellator founder and CEO.
But just two months after Rebney was forced out and replaced by ex-Strikeforce head honcho Scott Coker, Lawal has signed a contract extension with Bellator that could keep him with the company for life.
Terms of the deal were not announced, but Coker told Cagewriter in a telephone interview that it was for 28 months. Lawal, 33, said in a statement he is thrilled with the deal. He fights Dustin Jacoby on Sept. 5.
This was one of the easiest decisions I could have made. After everything that went down over the last six or seven months, I didn't think this was something that would ever happen, but when Coker came on board with Bellator, everything changed. This is where I want to be. I don't care who I fight, when it is, or where it is. I get paid to fight, and that's what I'm going to do for Bellator. That's it.
Lawal is 4-3 in Bellator and dropped a hotly disputed decision to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson in his last outing.
Coker had Lawal when both were in Strikeforce and said he was happy to lock him up.
UFC 180 in Mexico City needs just eight hours to sell all 21,000 ticketsKevin Iole at Cagewriter2 days ago
When Dana White bought the UFC in 2001, he said there were three countries that were "no brainers" where mixed martial arts would be huge: The U.S., England and Mexico.
It took a long time, but the UFC is finally putting an event in Mexico, and the response has been overwhelming.
All 21,000 tickets for UFC 180, which will be held Nov. 15 at the Mexico City Arena, sold out in just eight hours, White told Yahoo Sports on Thursday. The main event of the show will be a heavyweight title fight between Cain Velasquez and Fabricio Werdrum, who are coaching against each other on the first season of "The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America."
The first episode attracted seven milliion viewers on Televisa, Mexico's largest network, White said.
"I've been saying it for years that Mexico was going to be huge, and you're seeing that now," White said. "That's a massive number to pull [for the first episode] and this thing is going to be massive down there."
White said the UFC 'is heavily invested in Mexico," and will stage multiple shows there a year.
UFC contender Rory MacDonald only thinking bigElias Cepeda at Cagewriter2 days ago
Rory MacDonald will fight Tarec Saffiedine Oct. 4 in Canada in a match that was put together, in large part, because of Saffiedine's calling out of "Ares." MacDonald was happy to sign on the dotted line to fight Saffiedine, but he says he couldn't have cared less about getting called out.
"I don't really think about it, to be completely honest," MacDonald said in a recent MMA Fighting interview.
The Canadian contender says he's got bigger goals than opponents like Saffiedine. "My hope is just to be fighting for the championship," he explained.
"I don't really care about people who are ranked below me or whatever. I just want the belt. If other people are calling me out, that's OK. That's on them."
UFC president Dana White's best video blog ever?Elias Cepeda at Cagewriter2 days ago
UFC president Dana White just released the first of his video blogs (about UFC 175) that he's released in a long time, and it's a good 'un. Uncle Dana says that he thinks it's one of the "most powerful" vlogs he's ever released, and he may be right.
in this one you'll see heavyweights Matt Mitrione and Stefan Struve go from would-be foes to consoling friends, after Struve was forced by doctors to pull out of his fight against Mitrione because he nearly fainted back stage at UFC 175. You'll also see middleweight Uriah Hall deal with the pain of having his broken foot re-set and Ronda Rousey's hand looking darn near exploded after the wraps are taken off.
This blog is definitely not one to miss so check it out and let us know what you think was the most memorable moment in the comments section!
Ronda Rousey's main advantage is confidence, says Bethe CorreiaElias Cepeda at Cagewriter3 days ago
Bethe Correia believes that, sometimes, confidence is more important than physical ability. Take, for example, UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.
The Brazilian Correia is now 2-0 in the UFC's bantamweight division and will fight Rousey's friend and teammate Shayna Baszler Saturday at UFC 177. Though Correia respects Rousey's skills, she believes that the reason the "Rowdy" one has been able to dominate in MMA thus far is because she's simply more confident than her opponents.
"It's not that she's better than the opponents she's fought, but they don't believe in themselves," she said in arecent interview with Guilherme Cruz.
"Her look shows it. They don't feel they are better than Ronda. Ronda has this aura that she's unbeatable. She needs to face someone that looks into her eyes and says 'you can't beat me.'"


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Creativity unbound! There is nothing more pure than what children create themselves... the power of thought without limits. Our collection of creative toys provides a canvas, a stage, a song, and anything else you can imagine to help bring childhood creations to life.
Sorry, there are no products to display.
It's that time of year again! Gearing up for school and finding just the right backpack and all the coolest stuff to fill my pencil box was such a fun time for me growing up. A brand new
note book full of blank pages always felt like a fresh start, and brought to
mind a whole school year's worth of possibilities. This year we're sharing our
favourite finds to help bring FUN back to school…
read more...


text:
A two-alarm fire ripped through a home converted into apartments in Burlington County, New Jersey Tuesday evening.
Emergency responders reported heavy flames from the home on the 300 block of Lakehurst Road in Brown Mills.
Firefighters report seven units were affected by the fire.
Video from SkyFOX showed tall flames coming from two areas of the home at one point.
The cause of the fire is not yet clear. At this time, there have been no injuries reported.
Stay with myfoxphilly.com and FOX 29 News for updates.
WTXF-TV330 Market StreetPhiladelphia, PA 19106-2796Phone: (215) 925-2929Fax: (215) 982-5494


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impressions from the exhibition
On the 14th we travelled to Dresden to go to the vernissage of the exhibition No Time No Space No Soul in Dresden where you can still see a few of my pictures until the 21st of December. I had a great time and it was really fun to stand behind people and sneakily listen to their reactions to my pictures. I got quite a few nice compliments and it was quite an experience! I also used the opportunity to take some pictures as well.
On the left writer and artist Pierre Rochus, who also happens to be my brother.
Don't they look nice there? The one at the bottom didn't like the wall much and tried to make an early escape several times. Getting those Kapa boards to stick to the wall is about as much fun as cutting them (= nightmare).
In the background photographs by K. C. Wagner.
Sculpture by K. C. Wagner.
In the background photographs by Silvio Colditz.
Since the exhibition celebrated the publication of another issue of the literature and art magazine Der Maulkorb the vernissage was accompanied by author readings. I am not in touch with the German literature scene at all, so it was quite interesting for me. My pictures shown in the exhibition are also published in Der Maulkorb #12. You can get it over at Der Maulkorb blog.
Silvio Colditz reading. He did an amazing job organising the whole event. In the background a photograph by David Campesino and an artwork by Silke Rilke.
Sculpture by K. C. Wagner (the same as the one further up).
Katja Bohnet reading.
Stephan Zwerenz.
All pictures taken with: Canon EOS 450D and Canon EF 50mm f/1.4.
My favourites were definitely K. C. Wagner's work and the pictures of the flood by Silvio Colditz.
And you know what the best thing is? You still have the chance to see it until the 21st of December 2013! Go check it out at Hole of Fame, Königsbrücker Str. 39, Dresden. There will also be more events happening until the Finnisage on the 21st.
(s)hoe city
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
Excuse the title, but that's what it says! These pictures were mostly taken around Friedrichstraße, apart from the one in daylight which was next to the vocational school that is at the end of my street.
The last few days I've been busy developing and scanning film. Nothing to show yet, because I want to process them all before I edit the pictures further. I still have 5 rolls to develop and 7 to scan from my trip to Chemnitz. I hope I'll get it done before we go to Chemnitz again over Christmas. Theoretically that wouldn't be a problem, there are still 8 days to go, but the next 4 we will spend in Dresden. On that note, here a friendly reminder that there will be an exhibition starting in Dresden tomorrow which will also show some of my pictures. If you want to check it out, it's at the Hole of Fame in Königsbrücker Straße 39, Dresden. The vernissage starts at 7pm. So, the next few days will be spent with the exhibition, sightseeing and we also want to see a couple of museums. It's the first city trip in ages, so I'm excited already! Of course I'm taking a couple of cameras, so you'll probably see some Dresden impressions soon.
up we go
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
Occasionally I feel the need to document my neighbourhood here in Berlin as well. As you can see it's not too pretty actually. Of course it's winter already, which always makes a difference, but one has to remember that Berlin is one of those places with especially long and cold winters. This look is a reality for a substantial part of the year. Too bleak for my liking! This winter I will spend at least January and February in San Sebastian hoping that the winter won't go on much longer after that. Last time spring only came in April, so I'm hoping this winter will be a little shorter. Skipping at least a part of this dreadfully bleak season is already a start though, whatever happens.
Yesterday I had a breakthrough when developing film. I managed to push a roll of Ilford HP5+ to ISO 1600. I tried to push a couple of rolls to ISO 3200 once and somehow it really blew out the highlights. Considering that I was doing stand-development, this was actually an indication that I did something wrong. I researched stand development again and realised that I have been doing semi-stand so far. I usually agitate vigorously for half a minute and then invert once every 30 minutes. When developing film at box speed this actually works really well, but when pushing it was too much agitation. This time I did one minute of slow inversions – 6 in total – and then swirled carefully for 15 sec every half hour with 90 minutes development time in total (it was Rodinal 1:100 in a 500ml solution). I guess I will have to try pushing to 3200 down in the subway next. If I can manage to get decent results I can finally also start shooting in the subway with my Zorki.
As you can see, I'm still learning how to handle film. At ISO 400 I already feel rather confident, because I've shot and developed quite a few rolls of that. For box speed I have used D76, Rodinal and Ultrafin so far and I have the most experience (semi-)stand developing with Rodinal. Soon I will also try to develop in Caffenol, because I've seen so many nice results with it. However, when it comes to pushing or pulling I still have lots of room for improvement. At least I've now found one recipe that seems to work.
Something else I learned was that filtered water is not enough for the the wetting agent in Berlin. In San Sebastian it worked fine even unfiltered, but here I got some serious water stains which I only noticed after scanning. I will have to figure out how to rewash the cut negatives. Last time I tried it, it turned into a bit of a disaster, because I don't really know how to hang them. For now I got myself 5L of distilled water for the next 9 rolls I have to process.
let go of your ego
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
Another session for the 'Down below' project. I seem to have lost track of how many sessions I did, so I don't really know whether I should be shooting some more for it or not. In any case, this can probably wait until next year anyway.
Yesterday I realised that I should have researched my scanner a bit more thoroughly when I got it. In the past I was using Image Capture to scan the negatives and then I cut, inverted and sharpened the scans in Photoshop. Turns out that although the scanner did not come with software for the mac, it actually exists anyway to download from the Epson website! The software is not perfect, but way better than my previous approach. And of course I don't have to spend ages turning negatives into positives. I prefer to sharpen in Photoshop anyway, but other than that the Epson Software does a pretty decent job. Perfect timing to have found this software since I still have 5 rolls of film to scan and this does not even include the 8 remaining rolls from my trip to Chemnitz. With the new software the post-processing will go much faster.
Our trip to Dresden on the 14th for the vernissage of the exhibition is almost planned now. I missed the last exhibition where some of my pictures were shown, so it will actually be the first time I see them hanging on a wall. Should be a rather rewarding experience. We are also planning to go see the Old Masters gallery and the Mathematisch Physikalischer Salon, and of course I'm hoping to take some pictures around Dresden as well. I am already looking forward to the trip, since I did not get much opportunity for travelling like this in ages.
perfect fit
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
These pictures are from the new set of my 'down below' series. Although I was hoping that could finish it soon as well, I think this one will actually still take a while. I also wanted to have an analog part of the series, but so far I've been failing at pushing the film correctly in Rodinal stand-development. My only test roll was severely blown and I have since realised that I've been over-agitating the roll. Instead of inverting every half hour I should only swirl when pushing. At box-speed my semi-stand method seems to work well, but pushed it just didn't work at all. I will have to try another roll doing it correctly and maybe test Caffenol as well. This probably won't be happening this month though, because I am way too busy on another project.
A couple of days ago I arrived back in Berlin after my trip to Chemnitz to shoot for my 'Memory' project. Almost every day I went to places that are connected with my past and took pictures. It was a rather strange experience, because almost everything changed or is entirely gone. The apartment building where we lived until I was 7 or 8 is gone, my kindergarten, my primary school and my secondary school as well. The only two places left are the house where we lived until about half a year after I was born and the building where I lived until I was 17. One of these houses I can't even remember, because I could not even walk when we moved away. It almost doesn't count at all, since in a project called 'Memory' I should actually have a chance to remember. So, in the end only one place is left and I'm not sure whether they will demolish it as well. After all it's an ugly concrete block and they have demolished so many of them on the other side of the valley. However, I think this one is actually still rather inhabited and even quite central as far as the outskirts of town go. Maybe they will keep it for the time-being. The fact remains that four of five places where I spent my childhood and teenage years are gone. No wonder then that my encounter with the empty lawns or parking garages that took up these spaces instead was rather surreal.
Especially when I walked around the neighbourhood of my childhood I found myself confused and could neither remember in which entrance of the apartment block my best friend lived nor could I be sure whether my kindergarten was an older or a newer building. I think I remember a newer building and that it stood where now a lawn is. The internet confirmed my memories and apparently the kindergarten was demolished in August and September 2012. This happened so recently that Google Maps still shows an aerial view of the building. My primary school already disappeared a few years earlier. I already had the idea for this project several years ago and wanted to take pictures of the exact same places assuming that everything was still standing. I wanted to start with my primary school, but when I got there I had to realise that the building was gone. Since then my brother also had been in the neighbourhood and told me that our house had disappeared as well. Back when I realised that my primary school was gone I saw it as a reason to abandon the idea, but the longer I thought about it the more I grew convinced that I needed to try it anyway. It might be difficult to document something that is already gone, but I believe that this will add to the atmosphere of the project. It is strange that not even ruins remain, but this is what the planning authority of the city council seems to regard as progress. And besides, it helps to keep builders in work.
Although quite a number of places have changed considerably there are also aspects that were completely unchanged. The manhole cover next to the street where my best friend and I sat to count red cars, the hum of the electricity pylon which gives you a slight tingling sensation when you stand underneath, the winding path leading up from the tram stop, all remains the same. Somehow this combination of the familiar and unfamiliar added up to a rather eerie atmosphere. It probably did not help that the area seemed devoid of people, despite the curtains in the windows. Ironically I actually saw more crows than humans in the neighbourhood, which did not improve the atmosphere one bit. I tried to take some pictures of the birds, but when I got too close they all flew up into the air with indignant cawing that kept following me for minutes afterwards. There were so many of them! Let's just say that I have had nightmares in the past that started in just the same way …!
The crows kept following me even beyond the neighbourhood too, or at least that's what it seemed like when I was at the other end of town at my secondary school, well, where it used to be. Also there I got indignant caws and a lot of flapping wings at my attempts to take pictures and nevertheless they kept lurking around watching me intently. 'Surreal' hardly captures what it was like to be walking around in such eerie surroundings.
By now I almost finished the project. All that is left are precisely those places that are still there, the apartment block where we lived during my teenage years and the building where I only spent a few months. I will have these sessions when I am back in Chemnitz over Christmas and with this I will hopefully manage to finish the shooting part of the project. Next up are film development, scanning and post-processing. Of those I can hopefully manage to finish at least the development and scanning this month so that I can do the post-processing in San Sebastian over the winter. I can also develop and scan later, but I definitely need to finish the shooting part though or else I will have a break in atmosphere if the seasons change in the pictures. So far I only developed one roll. Pretty decent results I have to say at least from what I could gather by just looking at the negatives. I hope the other rolls turn out equally well.
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
Two weeks ago I was shooting for my 'down below' project and these pictures are from the first session. As you can see, I had quite a successful session, especially considering that this is the second post on the session. I had several of these sessions and it seems that I will be advancing on the project a lot once I edit the pictures. Since I've been considering to make a book project out of it, I will probably continue along these lines when I'm back in Berlin as well.
The last few days I have been so busy with my 'memory' project that I hardly had time to edit pictures though. I will have to try to catch up once I'm back in Berlin, although I see myself getting busy developing and scanning film as well. So far this second project is going really well and I will almost have covered all the places that I wanted to capture. I will probably have to go out for another couple of sessions when I'm here in Chemnitz over Christmas, but these will be nice places that should not involve any emotional turmoil. That certainly can't be said about all the places that I visited so far.
Among the more disturbing places was my primary school, or at least the place where it used to stand. I don't exactly have happy memories there so I was a bit afraid that it might affect me badly. Already years ago I wanted to try to take pictures there assuming that the school still stands, but when I got there the building was gone and I gave up the idea. After all, how do you capture something that is not there anymore? The school right next to mine still stands though and since it has the same architectural design it was actually almost like seeing the real thing. Also the sports ground and hall as well as the gardening plot still exist pretty much unchanged. Walking across the sports ground was really rather uncomfortable, but despite the fears I had in anticipation of confronting this part of my life, I actually managed to get on quite well and stay relatively unperturbed emotionally.
Today I will go back to the same neighbourhood to look at the spot where our house used to stand. Yes, they did a pretty good job at erasing my past. The house where we lived the first 7 or 8 years of my life, my primary school and my secondary school have all fallen victim to the rather ironic policy of demolishing buildings to improve the city. Sure, they're right that these buildings were rather bleak and ugly, but somehow it still feels wrong that they are gone. This city has a socialist past and sadly none of the architectural achievements of socialist modernity made it to Chemnitz. Architecturally socialism in Chemnitz produced rather bare and functionalist buildings – and still the city centre would be much nicer if they had reconstructed the existing buildings rather than to build these ugly modern buildings where none of them actually fit together. Albeit somewhat ugly at least the more functional socialist architecture was homogenous. The modern stuff they built instead seems out of place and is ugly nonetheless.
I myself feel rather out of place here at the moment as well because almost all the shops I knew have disappeared along with quite a number of buildings. The other day I wanted to warm up in the market hall when I was out shooting on a very cold day. When I got there I had to realise that it now was a bike shop. Every day I walk past some shop or building that had some meaning to me when I was little but which is now empty and abandoned or gone altogether. I don't know whether I should read this symbolically. For years I could not even remember my childhood and I have abandoned the city and my old life there as well. Maybe it is only fitting that all signs of my past are gradually being erased. I can't help finding it rather eerie though that my relationship to my hometown and the state of my memory should be reflected so appropriately by such city planning efforts. No wonder that I keep finding the experiences of re-visiting the places of my childhood so surreal. Maybe in reality I am actually in a padded cell somewhere only imagining my journey to my hometown. This sure would explain the strange resonance between my mental state and my current surroundings, because then the outside world would only be a product of my own making. That said, whenever I face such eerie doubts about reality I remind myself that it might just be my brain having problems to integrate my memories with all the changes that have obviously happened in Chemnitz in the last few years. Considering how much has changed it is rather unsurprising that I would feel rather odd about it. No matter how uncomfortable this feeling of derealisation might be, I have to say that it is at least rather inspiring with regard to my project. I hope that I will somehow manage to convey this feeling in the final images.
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
Last night I spent a few hours working on the first batch of pictures that I took recently in Berlin while working on my Down Below project. Every day I went down in the subway and spent some time exploring, getting off at every station and taking pictures. It seems to be a good strategy, because I got a lot of interesting pictures and only spent a little more than half an hour for each session. After about 5 stops with trains every 5 minutes and spending 10 minutes at some stations when it was interesting enough, I was already saturated and had taken a ton of pictures with a good results. Some stations are obviously more interesting than others. Usually those are the ones where several lines cross and where more people get off. However, even the stops where you would not expect to see anything interesting can be worth a try, since one might get lucky. After seeing the good results of my first session I'm really curious about the next ones.
The last couple of days I realised how very silly it was to choose November for my plan to come to my hometown to take pictures. Boy is it cold out here! On the first outing my hands were red and stiff when I took my gloves off. These gloves work fine when I have my hands in my coat pockets, but not when I'm holding a metal camera! You can imagine how much fun it is to rewind a roll of film when the camera is really cold and your hands are already freezing before touching the damn thing. So, the first order of business was to get some cold weather gear, which meant going to the mall and getting myself some mittens and leg warmers. And did I mention that taking pictures involves standing around too much in the snow, which is a guarantee for numb toes? I'm hoping that wool inlays for my shoes will help at least a little bit, but judging from experience it won't prevent cold feet entirely. Only walking helps with that and once the feet are cold they usually stay cold anyway. Somehow the gloves are still a problem as well. The mittens are really nice and warm and work fine with my Olympus, but they are actually a bit of a hassle while shooting with my Zorki. It works, but I tend to cover the rangefinder window while trying to focus, which is hugely annoying. Maybe I have to get some sports gloves instead.
The other problem while shooting analog in this weather is that the film tends to get a bit brittle. Yesterday I managed to break a roll of film in such a weird way that I still don't know how it could have happened. It basically sliced a bit of film off the long side while rewinding. I guess I can be lucky that this did not happen on the whole length of film or else I would have sliced the whole roll in half. Normally film rips on the short end and you only lose a few frames, but this could have easily ended up ruining the entire roll. The way it happened I only lost about 3 or 4 frames instead of one or two with a regular rip. Ah, the joys of photography in cold weather! No wonder that I'm trying to escape this madness by moving to Spain! At least there it snows just a few days if it snows at all, while here in Germany it's usually months of this weather! For this project there are only two ways of dealing with the cold though: Putting up with it now or re-scheduling the whole effort to happen in spring instead. I'm already here though, so I might as well try to get it done anyway even though it involves quite a bit of discomfort.
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
Although posting pictures in a delayed fashion is on some level good, because it allows me to distance myself emotionally from the shots, it also might be slightly confusing to you readers. After all my narrative happens mostly in the present while the accompanying pictures come from the past. Although travel pictures are somewhat appropriate for yesterday, Berlin was actually not my destination. Right now I am actually in Chemnitz and we arrived yesterday by car. If you ever spent an extended amount of time on the motorway you can probably imagine how very bored I was in the car on the passenger seat. There is only so much time you can spend eating and after a few initial shots around the Berlin city motorway the landscape quickly turned too boring to be enjoyable photographically. At least the journey from Berlin to Chemnitz is not long, so I only had to kill a few hours. Still, after arriving I realised that boredom and visual monotony leads to extreme tiredness. At least when you're driving yourself you need to pay attention, but as a passenger it turned out to be just mind-numbing grey-brown emptiness.
Whenever I arrive in Chemnitz I start to feel slightly off. It is the slightly restless trapped feeling that seemed to pervade my teenage years. Usually this is accompanied by the world lining up with my emotions by showing me something to underline this feeling of hopelessness and boredom. In the past I would step off the train and see a skinhead or already hear a completely idiotic conversation in our dialect on the train. Surprisingly even after a car journey the world managed to provide me with a similarly disturbing experience: The first person I saw arriving in Chemnitz was a guy in full camouflage gear hitting his shepherd dog with the leash. Well, thank you, dear universe, for reminding me why I do not live in this city anymore. Of course this is nothing more than selective perception – I chose to see this person instead of ignoring it – but still it illustrates how very strange it is for me to visit my hometown.
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
Before visiting the Meret Oppenheim exhibition in the Martin-Gropius-Bau yesterday I wanted to quickly shoot a test roll at the Ministry of War/Finance right next to our destination. I had abused the film by boiling it in water for 5 minutes and wanted to see how it turns out. The only problem was that at 3.30pm it was already starting to get dark. With this light I only managed to shoot about 30 pictures and knew that there was already too little light. Back home after the exhibition I didn't have the time to push the roll and so I was a bit worried that it might turn out a bit thin. Well, no reason to worry about light, since my film destruction efforts were a little too effective anyway. There were only 8 shots where the emulsion was not completely destroyed. Next time I'll try boiling it for one minute only. It was a fun experiment anyway and maybe I can save a couple of shots from the roll.
The exhibition was quite nice by the way. I already visited it once before, but that time we went there so late that we could not see everything. Yesterday with enough time I could appreciate it all a little more. I especially liked her early work and the pictures of her taken by Man Ray. Most of her newer work was a bit too overly conceptualised for my liking. It seemed to lack the immediacy of her earlier work. Still, it was interesting to see it anyway.
The pictures I am posting today are probably the last ones from San Sebastian until I manage to scan some film. Since I just arrived in Chemnitz and my scanner as well as my negatives are in Berlin this will probably only happen in about 2 weeks. Not to worry though, there are tons of shots from Berlin I can show you as well.
too much icecream
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
Somewhere between sleepless nights, writing and going out with the camera I somehow forgot to post some pictures. And no, these were not the fun kind of sleepless nights, but the ones where you toss and turn for all the wrong reasons. In any case, here are some pictures from San Sebastian. On that day I was having extremely good luck with the light and I'm really quite happy with the results.
Preparations for two projects are going fine, although I seem to be behind on both of them. Somehow trying to write 2000 words a day and working on two photography projects at the same time is a little too ambitious. Nevertheless I hope to get it all done in time anyway. Next time I will have to plan my November a little better so that I don't end up doing 3 or 4 projects at the same time while having my sleep wrecked by completely unrelated issues. Tomorrow I will also travel to my hometown as part of one of the projects. I hope my ability to sleep returns, or else the project might turn out a little too surrealist. Oh well, one has to work with the circumstances, right? After all, the project involves destroyed film, so surreal is actually the aim. I just hope I manage to shoot and develop my test roll later today, so that I don't end up going in there completely blind.
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
I love it when randomly unconnected people line up and perform for my camera. How else would 2 independent people be biting their finger at the same time? It is also an excellent example for the reason why you should shoot with narrow apertures on the street. You never know what might be happening in the background! That's also why MFT is a good format for street photography. It gives deep depth of field even at wider apertures. This might not be great for portraits because it's harder to isolate the subject, but for street photography this is exactly what is needed.
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
The last couple of days I have been looking through my archives and found a lot of completely forgotten pictures that I somehow never got around to sharing. Quite a number of them haven't even been edited. Two rolls of film are still sitting on my shelf undeveloped and I'm quite sure I could find even more pictures in my archives if I go further back in time. Of course I frantically continue shooting pictures anyway. Is it getting too much? I don't think so. I just need to find a better way of archiving them, so that I don't lose track of them all.
On that note, the order of editing the pictures of my last few days in San Sebastian sort of got confused, so I'll be posting somewhat randomly. These were actually already taken on the journey back. There are some more San Sebastian pictures still to come though and so time might be running backwards for a few days, at least on this blog.
beautiful failures
Since analog photography has much more creative opportunities to fail than "ran out of battery" or "ran out of space on my SD card" I thought it was time for a new category: Beautiful failures. In this category I will post all those shots that are interesting despite being quite obviously flawed:
My film clips for hanging the film to dry are somewhat destructive. They produce these 3 circular indentations. The shot looked too underexposed to save and was cut off anyway, so I thought I was not destroying anything salvageable. Well, I was wrong.
It was pouring down like crazy, so the film got wet. As a result the film was not transported anymore at the end of the roll and I had no indication that the roll was finished. I don't even know how many times I exposed this shot, multi-exposure deluxe.
Since my walk in the rain was like pre-soaking the film for half an hour the film ripped. There is also some sort of stain on the negative from who knows what.
All pictures taken with: Zorki 4K and Jupiter 12 35mm f/2.8.
Ilford HP5+ souped in Tetenal Ultrafin 1:20.
niche existence
All pictures taken with: Zorki 4K and Jupiter 12 35mm f/2.8.
Ilford HP5+ souped in Tetenal Ultrafin 1:20.
Scratches in my pictures? Well, I could either spend hours removing them or I could go out and take some more pictures. I chose not to give in to obsessive perfectionism (Yes, this is the point where you're supposed to say "Oh wow, well done!"). These pictures are from the roll that ripped in the camera because I got soaking wet. The scratches happened because I could not rewind the roll properly and instead had to get the film off the take up spool in the dark. Basically, whenever the film rips, scratched negatives are inevitable.
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
The last few days I didn't write as much as I planned. I'm behind on my NaNoWriMo project as a result. There is still a lot of time though, so I think I can catch up. The reason why I'm behind was that I had to go to doctor's appointments every afternoon and felt very tired afterwards. At least I managed to take pictures every day though. I've been working on my Down below series again and yesterday I received some gear in the post that I had ordered recently. I got a 35mm viewfinder for my Zorki – the internal one has 50mm – and I also got a ton of film. This time instead of my usual HP5+ I am trying some Kentmere, because I want to experiment a bit. HP5+ is too expensive for experiments. One thing I want to try is to shoot film on the subway. Since my Zorki lenses are rather soft wide open I need to shoot at ISO 3200 to get the pictures as sharp as possible, even though it's still only f/4.5. So, I'm going to push the Kentmere to 3200 and compare it to Ilford Delta 3200, which is actually a ISO 1600 film that can be pushed to 3200. It should be a rather interesting experiment.
Yesterday on the way to the doctor I had a roll of Kentmere in my Zorki and it was already getting dark. I'm really curious to see how they turned out! The only silly mistake I made was to leave the yellow filter on, which swallows at least a stop. Well, that's why I used the Kentmere for the first attempt and not the one single roll of Ilford Delta 3200. By the way, I have to say that my new viewfinder is fantastic! It's so much brighter than the internal one and it's basically in mint condition. It is an old Zorki finder which I ordered from Latvia and not a fancy brand. Any brand name finder costs 5 times the price and might not be in such a good condition, so I got a real bargain there!
The other experiment I want to make is to abuse the film in some way. Soak it in film soup, boil it or something like that. It should give some really interesting results. Of course I'm going to do this with my Zorki 3C, because I don't want to risk jamming the film forward mechanism of my 4K.
So, as you can see I was busy photographically, even though I've been falling behind on my NaNoWriMo project. That's what happens when you do too many things all at once. Now that I don't have as many doctor's appointments anymore – another one next week and that's that until December – I will hopefully find the time to catch up.
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
Today I went to the dentist. As a result I feel like someone was trying to break my jaw. Talking hurts, chewing hurts, drinking hurts, opening my mouth hurts, actually smiling hurts, maybe even being hurts? Anyone else would probably just pop a bunch of painkillers and get on with their day, but of course it's not that simple with my health. Painkillers don't agree with me and usually make things worse. So, I'm just here, trying not to grit my teeth and hoping that it will pass soon enough.
high above Berlin
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
On Friday I travelled from San Sebastian back to Berlin. Honestly, it was a journey from hell. I was supposed to land at Tegel airport, but just as we were approaching Berlin the pilot made an announcement that Tegel was closed due to an emergency landing. We were being diverted to Schönefeld airport which is in the far south of Berlin, at the other end of town. I already saw myself trying to figure out trains and wondered whether I should take a cab from somewhere, so that I wouldn't have to deal with luggage on the subway. However, I was being rather optimistic there. It turned out that Schönefeld airport just didn't have enough ground crew to deal with all those extra planes from Tegel. For one hour they couldn't even get stairs to the plane to let us get off. The planes to the left and right from ours were in the same predicament. My thoughts of trains and cabs inevitably shifted to the evacuation slide. Finally after one hour the pilot made another announcement. Apparently the best solution would be to refuel and fly to Tegel after all, because it would take at least another 1 1/2 hours to get us off the plane, not even thinking about luggage or transportation to Tegel yet. The announcement caused quite a bit of laughter. Imagine your plane lands at an airport and nobody comes to let you out! It's almost like a rather absurd hostage situation. Ironically for safety reasons refuelling is only permitted with the stairs in place, so after half an hour escape seemed finally possible. However, since there was nobody there to handle the luggage or even let us into the seemingly abandoned airport building, we were stuck anyway.
The whole situation was somewhat ridiculous and surreal, especially since the only food I had left was half a raw courgette meant to go with my dinner that apparently was still ages away. Then finally …
"We welcome you to our flight from Berlin Schönefeld to Berlin Tegel. [-applause-] The flight-time will be approximately 15 to 20 minutes. Please switch off your electronic devices now …"
[-20 minutes later-]
"… We are delighted to FINALLY have managed to bring you to your destination [-applause-] … and thank you for your patience."
In Tegel it was the fastest I ever got my luggage – it was basically already waiting for me when I entered the building – but of course that couldn't make up for lost time. And just as my thoughts started to revolve around cabs instead of the courgette one big problem manifested itself. There were no cabs and the queue for getting one looked about half an hour long. Swearing I made my way to the bus stop and waited another 15 minutes, while pondering why the 10°C lower temperature in Berlin seemed like it was approaching freezing. By now my mood was rather subterranean and the [expletive deleted] guy eating a kebab on the bus while my stomach was grumbling definitely didn't help matters, even though I would never eat kebab! Ah, believe me, there is no more appropriate way of arriving in Berlin than hearing a youth shouting Turkish insults into his mobile phone for 10 minutes followed by having someone else stink up the bus with kebab and then finally watching this same person drop something on the floor and eating it anyway.
Another 20 minutes later I finally arrived at the bus stop near my house. You can't imagine how very long a 10 minute walk can stretch when you're absolutely exhausted and have to drag two suitcases behind you while you're freezing off your bum. The first thing I did when I came home was to sit down on the sofa with a big sigh. And that's exactly where I stayed for the next hour or so, because I just couldn't face the thought of getting up on my feet again. At around 12pm I finally managed to drag myself to the kitchen to prepare some dinner and soon later I devoured a chicken leg with … dun dun dunnn … half a roasted courgette.
Well, the silliest part of the story is probably that the plane that had caused my journey to take 13 hours instead of 9 or 10 actually had no apparent fault at all. There had been smoke in the cockpit, which is why the emergency landing happened, but when the firefighters arrived, it was gone. They checked with heat sensors, but apparently there was no problem whatsoever.
You see, this is a story of absolute and utter incompetence, which one nowadays can easily associate with Berlin's airports after the disastrously failed attempt to open a new one last year – with some luck it might open 2015, but at some point I also heard talk of possibly tearing it down again because of its dismal fire safety arrangements. Oh the irony! Not without cause one of the stewardesses joked during one of the many announcements that we must have landed at the yet to be finished airport instead of Schönefeld.
Ah, Berlin, it's good to be home. (Translation: "I think it's time to move.")
PS: No, your eyes are not deceiving you, these pictures are actually in colour [Space for sufficiently exasperated gasps here]! In my defence, although it might seem rather out of character, this Stalkeresque display actually strikes me as a rather appropriate fit for this surreal experience.
the new generation
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
This year NaNoWriMo is going well for me. I'm already almost 12,000 words in and right on track. I think this time I can actually make it! For me this project is also a nice way to get back into the swing of writing. Although this writing project is at the moment just for me and not really meant for anyone else to see, it is still good practice and maybe it will inspire me to finally edit my first novel that I finished already last year. I will see how it goes.
In between writing and packing we also went out to the grocery shop. Apart from dinner and some fruit for the trip I also picked up a couple of cans of mussels, since I just haven't managed to find clean ones in Germany yet. Even here there was only one brand that sold the mussels just in brine, instead of having them in some kind of sauce. It is surprisingly difficult to find some foods without any additional processing, also around here. Bacon with sugar, ham with lactose or whatever else they think of throwing in there. What happened to just plain natural food with a bit of added salt maybe? One perk of being at the see I will definitely miss: always having fresh fish and seafood available. I wonder whether I can get some type of cephalopod somewhere in Berlin as well, even if it's frozen rather than fresh.
After having yesterday's roll of film dry over night I also had a look at the pictures and it looks as if there are some really nice ones on there as well. Should be interesting to see how my experiments with Tetenal Ultrafin developer actually look after I scanned them. My next developer experiment will involve Coffenol by the way. I've seen quite some amazing results online – for example a beautiful shot taken on Kentmere 400 pushed to 3200 and stand-developed in Coffenol -, which definitely make me eager to try this. Apart from it being one of those mad scientist experiments – fun already because of that -, it definitely beats using toxic chemicals as well. It's a shame that fixer can't really be replaced by non-toxic components. I've read that salt works as a temporary fix, but it's not enough for a long-term solution.
wait for me
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
This afternoon and evening was spent with photography. Since the weather was nice for a change, I decided to shoot a roll of film and so we went for a walk to the centre. Just as we reached the river my roll of film was finished and I took out my Olympus instead. For some reason I was exceptionally lucky with the light today and I'm already looking forward to posting some results. In the evening I first developed the roll of film, for once making sure not to get any of it on my skin. The AP developing tank is big enough and has nice spools, but it leaks a lot. My film roll seems to have some nice pictures on it as well, although I seem to have underexposed a little bit at the beginning of the roll. Especially on bright days I tend to overestimate the light that reaches the narrow streets around here. Finally I also edited some pictures which you can see here.
In the morning I spent a bit of time writing writing on my NaNoWriMo project, although not as much as I would have liked. I'm sure I'll catch up on another day.
Filling my days with creative things distracts me a little from the fact that I'm leaving in two days. This time it won't be a direct flight, so I have 2 take-offs and landings that I can document with my Zorki and I will also have the questionably joy of seeing three airports. Did I mention that I actually I hate airports?
wet days
Taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
A few days ago I went out with my Zorki and got really soaked. In the process the film roll ripped and I couldn't be quite sure whether there were still frames on the roll or not. This is why I took out my Olmypus to really make sure I get this shot. I'm so glad I did, because I actually had run out of film by that point! I guess this picture also illustrates how wet I got.
One piece of equipment I will have to invest in when I move permanently to San Sebastian will be a good umbrella. In San Sebastian the rain can get really annoying, which is why people around here have bigger and more sturdy umbrellas than in other places. It's also the reason why at the moment I'm not really that eager to go out. Good that it's NaNoWrMo and that I can do other creative things as well.
On Friday I will travel back to Germany. I'm not particularly looking forward to it – my time in Berlin is as always riddled with doctor's appointments -, but I'm trying to make the best of it anyway by lining up some projects for which I'm preparing already. I want to finally get some useable shots in the subway taken with my Zorki – either with pushed or high speed film -, try to make contact prints at home and at the end of the month I'm also planning to go to my hometown for a week to take some pictures there. I hope my health won't interfere too much with these plans.
yes, I'm grumpy
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
After a breeze of a start into NaNoWriMo yesterday I had much more of a difficult time today. It seemed as if the word counter wasn't advancing at all and more than once I felt like I was stuck. Somehow I just couldn't make it flow. I suspect it was because I was fleshing out the bits that I wrote yesterday instead of starting a new scene. Although it wasn't quite editing, it still wasn't a continuous narration I could just write down either. In fact I was adding bits and pieces all over the place and trying to make the scene flow more naturally, which can be quite difficult at times.
Maybe my difficulties also had to do with the fact that I didn't start to write in the morning. Instead we went out in the search of food and went for a cup of tea and a coffee before going to the shop. This way I also managed to take some pictures, but I think it made me lose a bit of momentum for writing. Although I'm absolutely not a morning person, writing during the early hours seems to work much better than later in the day.
In the end I'm quite happy with my progress though and I also reached my word goal for the day. 2 days down, 28 days to go. Tomorrow should be easier, since I am planning to continue the story in the morning before we go out for a little walk.
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
The month of November brings us the joys of frantic typing. Yes, I am talking of NaNoWriMo. Of course not all of us manage to reach our goal of 50,000 words, but we try oh so hard! Last year I realised after only a few days that I just wasn't going to be able to do it. I was in the middle of a major health crisis and, yes, it was the healthier choice to give up. This year things look different already. I managed to hit my word goal already before lunch and I feel inspired. Well, 29 days to go!
I hope you don't mind that I can't promise always to manage a blog post with new pictures on top of those 1667 words. I'll make up for it when the project is done though, since it will also involve pictures.
pure attitude
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
Slowly autumn is catching up with us as well. The temperatures are dropping and the incessant San Sebastian rain is threatening to pour down on us come Saturday. While San Sebastian is usually mild in summer and even in autumn, the rain here can be quite unbearable. Two or three weeks of uninterrupted rain are not unheard of and people around here carry huge umbrellas when the weather is bad. Here it usually doesn't only rain, it pours. I guess it has something to do with clouds from the sea meeting the mountains. My umbrella definitely decided to give up when it was facing the wind at seafront yesterday and of course I got caught in that weather in the wrong shoes as well. After these last sunny days I wasn't quite expecting the weather to be this bad. Next time when I decide to take my Zorki for a spin, I'll be better prepared for the weather.
By the way, handling the Zorki with one hand when you're holding an umbrella is actually quite difficult even when zone focussing. Especially forwarding the film is rather uncomfortable with one hand and of course focussing on eye level becomes rather impossible. And lets just say that water leaking into the camera isn't really that great even with a film camera. The humidity was probably what caused the film to rip in the end.
All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.
Today was an extremely successful day. I got soaking wet, broke my umbrella and tore a roll of film. Doesn't sound too successful yet? Well, I saved the roll of film and then successfully developed it with Tetenal Ultrafin, which arrived in the post today. Hooray! If I had known that the developer was supposed to be clear on opening the bottle, I wouldn't have ruined that last roll of film, since the liquid in the other bottle was actually of a reddish brown colour. That would have been enough to discourage me from trying if I had known what it's supposed to look like. By the way, developer often darkens over time, nothing surprising about that. My batch of Rodinal is already dark brown, but I've seen ones that are even quite black. Rodinal keeps forever though, unlike Tetenal Ultrafin as my experience with that last bottle shows.
The results of this new film and developer combination look quite promising so far: Contrasty, not too thin and even with guessing exposure times and unforgiving developer the pictures seem quite evenly exposed. There was only one underexposed shot on the roll as far as I can tell without a scanner. Now that I've proven that the developer works I can try to develop that roll where I opened the back of my Zorki before reversing the film. Maybe some of the shots are actually salvageable. Ah, analog photography provides so many opportunities to ruin your pictures, it's quite amazing. In any case, it's good practice.


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The Quarry House in Door County
- bedrooms 2
- baths 2
- sleeps 8
- pool no
- hot tub no
- pets allowed yes
- type House
- community
rates (USD)
/ night
$ 610 - $ 1,125 / week
vacation rental description
The Quarry House is built on the bed of a quarry. The attached Carriage House is an 1100 sq ft luxury accommodation in a second floor setting with private entrance. The main house is owner occupied. In the Carriage House, there is a master bedroom with a king size bed, gas fireplace and patio doors offering a beautiful wakeup view into the woods. The bath has a walk-in shower, air jet tub, vessel sink with vanity and a wooded view. It is accessible from the master bedroom and the main living area. There is a queen size sleeper sofa in the great room. A rollaway twin bed is also available. Full kitchen with cooktop, refrigerator, microwave and dishwasher. Unit has air-conditioning. A second bedroom suite is also available in the main house and has it's own entrance. This features a queen size bed and a trundle bed. Private bath with a walk-in shower. This second bedroom can be rented seperately or in conjunction with the Carriage House. The Quarry House has been featured in Door County Living Magazine and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel At Home section. To view pictures go to: doorcountyvisitor bureau - cottages/houses - Quarry House.
vacation rental location
property availability
- dates with deals
- unavailable dates
Last modified on 03-30-2014 at 9:37 AM.
email owner view full calendar
Mitchel Heinrichs 414 840-4800
house rental amenities
Also offered are a gas grill on a covered patio, campfire and private outdoor covered balcony. Linens and bath towels are provided. Interior is smoke free. The Carriage House has satellite TV, VCR and DVD with hundreds of movies. It also has a library of books.
activities and attractions in Door County Wisconsin
Come and enjoy all Door County has to offer - hiking, biking, shopping, live theatre, music, beaches and marina, parks, fishing, golf, cross country skiing and snowmobiling and wonderful restaurants - all with minutes from your door.
vacation rental rates
Call for off season rates. 2 nite minimum. Taxes additional.
Mitchel Heinrichs 414 840-4800
accepted payment methods
Prior to paying a reservation deposit, always verify payment instructions by calling the phone number displayed on this listing page. By contacting the owner directly and paying by an approved method - credit card, paypal, check or bank transfer - your reservation payment will be protected up to $1,000.Learn more in our Security Center
Top things to do in Door County
- Check out Peninsula State Park
- Plays at various theatres
- Golf
- Visit many art studios
- Shop at stores in each town
Top things to do on a budget
- Hike at parks
- Swim at beaches
- Bring your bikes
- Go fishing
- Enjoy local festivals
Top things to do with a family
- Enjoy the outdoors
- Go to a play
- Bike
- Hike
- Swim
Mitchel Heinrichs , owner


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Find more about friendship combined with these topics:
- social skills (5)
- behavior (4)
- parenting (3)
- preschoolers (2)
- school age (2)
- playdates (2)
- making friends (2)
- social interaction (2)
- Relationships (2)
All About "friendship"
Flowers-and-Ice Fairy Friendship Bracelet
When Tinker Bell sneaks over the border into the mysterious Winter Woods and meets a frost fairy named Periwinkle, the two make an amazing discovery. As a tribute to the special bond that forms between them, this friendship bracelet combines elements of summer and winter -- pretty purple flower blossoms and beads as clear as ice.Read More
Book Review: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Lena, Bridget, Tibby, and Carmen have been best friends
since birth. Now, just before they are about to spend their first
summer apart, they discover a pair of jeans that miraculously
fits all of them, despite their differing physiques. And not just
fit -- the Pants make each girl look, and feel, beautiful and
confident. They don't know it yet, but they'll need that
confidence during a summer that will test them, each in different
That's all the magic, if such it is, that comes from the Pants themselves -- the rest comes from the powerful love these girls share, which travels with the pants. In a solemn midnight ceremony, the kind of solemnity of which perhaps only teenage girls are capable, they make up a compact about the Pants, part of which is that they will send them back and forth among themselves throughout the summer. Thus they will be present during each girl's time of crisis and tie the strands of the story together engagingly, if somewhat artificially.
Book Review: Because of Winn-Dixie
When lonely India Opal Buloni takes home a stray dog she finds at the supermarket, her whole life changes in ways she couldn't have imagined. This soothing, poignant first novel, filled with the atmosphere of a dusty Southern town, is one of the best around.
India Opal Buloni has just moved to the small town of Naomi, Florida, with her father, a preacher who "reminded me of a turtle hiding inside its shell." Her mother abandoned them years before, and Opal feels alone and abandoned in her new town.
At the supermarket she rescues a stray dog who looks "like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in the rain," and names him Winn-Dixie, after the market. She soon discovers that he is great at making friends, and because of Winn-Dixie, Opal is learning to see beyond people's surfaces.
The ex-con who runs the pet shop plays music that mesmerizes animals. An woman rumored to be a witch is just an old lady who is half-blind, but can see with her heart. A pinched-faced girl harbors a tragic secret. And all are soon her friends.Read More
Book Review: Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
This classic story will have your kids cheering! Can Mike and his trusty steam shovel, Mary Anne, dig the cellar for the new town hall in just one day? This fun book, filled with energetic crayon illustrations, teaches kids important lessons about faith and friendship.Read More
Book Review: George and Martha
How big can a friendship be? Just imagine the friendship shared by two hippos! Five stories explore issues such as vanity, privacy, and honesty. Will Martha make fun of George's gold tooth? Will there be split-pea soup for lunch again? Lessons in behavior are included in these solid, simple stories.Read More
Review: Frog and Toad Are Friends
Once Frog convinces the sleepy Toad that winter is actually over, the two amphibian friends "run outside to see how the world was looking in spring." With each new season comes new journeys.Read More
Book Review: Bass Ackwards and Belly Up
Girls take a year off for plenty of iffy behavior.Read More
Choosing Healthy Friendships
Helping Your Tween Choose Healthy FriendshipsRead More
Siblings as Best Friends
How To Encourage Positive Connections Between SiblingsRead More
Is Your Child a Third Wheel?
How To Ensure Everyone Is Included In ActivitiesRead More


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The second part of the groundbreaking Keeper Of The Seven Keys! Now EXPANDED, containing 3 must-have Bonus Tracks and Remastered, providing an improved sound quality to the original release of 1988.
To be fair (without being influenced by the love and respect I have for this album) PartII wasn't as good as the first one, but it came pretty close and was also longer in length. Nevertheless, Keeper II is a record containing some of the most known power metal songs ever! The album continues with the same energy and atmosphere as PartI but with the majority of the songwriting coming from guitarist Weikath and a slightly more commercial feel. All in all a wonderful conclusion to the first part.
"Eagle Fly Free" is considered to be the best power metal song ever written. It is a fast paced number with thundering drums and comprises of dual guitar solos, melodic vocals and both a bass and a drum solo. "Dr. Stein" is a wonderful, melodic, funny (lyrics) and catchy heavy metal song. "March Of Time" is a technical, melodic and strong speed metal tune with an addictive and epic chorus. "I Want Out" is a catchy heavy metal song with a strong chorus that fulfills its purpose. "We Got The Right" is a strong power-ballad where Michael Kiske shines the most, delivering a breathtaking performance filled with melodic and high-pitched vocals.
The progressive title track is a musical journey into a fantasy world and a battle between good and evil. A balladry intro, a melodic chorus, many guitar solos, tempo changes, brilliant twin-guitar passages, one of Kiske's most varying and powerful vocal performances and an epic ending round off this 13 and a half minute song. Overall Keeper has some magnificent ideas but it sadly can't surpass the masterpiece "Halloween" from the previous album. "Save Us" is the perfect speed metal closer with some amazing guitar solos, intense drumming and an excellent Michael Kiske.
Bonus Tracks "Livin Ain't No Crime" and "Savage" are the best of the bunch. The first is a catchy and optimistic melodic metal tune and the second follows a thrash metal approach and is the fastest track on the album.
Musically the album is characterized by mid-tempo and fast double-bass drumming, melodic and speed metal riffs, mindblowing guitar solos, excellent bass lines and outstanding vocals.
The production is slightly better than the first part, as the album sounds tighter and kind of clearer. The band sounds a bit tighter too compared to their previous release. Michael Kiske has surely glued in the band and his charismatic voice gives you the chills throughout the whole album (he sings higher than ever, hitting all possible notes with great precision)!
The only minor drawbacks are the track "Rise and Fall" which cannot by any means be considered a bad song, but doesn't seem to fit here…and the fact that most of the song writing was done by Michael Weikath, who is an exceptional songwriter and guitarist but not as good as Kai Hansen.
This is a classic and groundbreaking record in the history shelves of metal, together with part I. A source of inspiration and influence to countless bands to follow. This is also the last chapter in the Hansen – Helloween (80's) glorious era, from where onwards the band went downhill (in my opinion).
A MUST HAVE for any power/speed,heavy metal and open-minded hard rock fan.
(Be sure to check out "Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part I" and "I Want Out: Live")


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"This is the second year I have ordered Christmas cards from TINY PRINTS. I LOVED BOTH CARDS. I also got a lot of compliments on them. Excellent quality. Excellent service. Excellent Customer Service. I have also bought thank you cards and return address labels. Everything has been of the highest quality. I will not shop anywhere else! Thank you TINY PRINTS!"
"I was impressed with the heavy weight of this card-nothing flimsy here! The print quality was great too, the card looked just like it did online when I made it. Thanks!"
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"When our cards came in the mail, they were better than we could have imagined. They were on heavy stock with a beautiful matte finish. And even more fun was that there was room to put pictures on the back when we designed it."
"I am a graphic designer and deal with professional printers frequently. I know what good printing is, and what good quality paper looks and feels like. I was very impressed with how crisp and colorful my family photo looked on the uncoated paper. The paper stock was thick and sturdy, but not overly so. Overall, very high quality printing. It was my first time ordering a photo card through tiny prints. I will most definitely do it again."


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New Zealand has made serious strides in women's football in recent years, but there's no doubt that they are the eighth best side in the quarterfinal round of the women's soccer tournament at the London 2012 Olympics. The United States became the first team to get through the group stage with a perfect record after they defeated North Korea on Tuesday, and they've been rewarded with a quarterfinal draw against a team they should beat.
In two very solid performances against gold medal contenders, New Zealand very narrowly lost 1-0 to both Great Britain and Brazil in the group stage. They then earned their way into the quarterfinal with a 3-1 win over Cameroon, which was good enough to see them through to the knockout stages over North Korea on goal difference.
The United States has been without defensive midfielder Shannon Boxx for the last two games, and she should return to the bench against New Zealand. Carli Lloyd and Lauren Cheney are expected to start in midfield, but Boxx should come off the bench to get some minutes and work on getting her fitness back in the second half of the match. Expect an unchanged first XI for the United States, and expect a victory as well. They'll be seriously tested by the Canada-Great Britain winner in the semifinals, but they shouldn't go out on Friday. If New Zealand can even push the match to penalties, it will be one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport.
Game Date/Time: Friday, 9:30 a.m. ET
Venue: St. James' Park, Newcastle, England
TV: NBC Sports Network
Streaming: NBCOlympics.com