One of the things I love about working at a photo-lab is the glimpses into other people's lives that I get from their photos. People are usually photographing the happy things in their lives. Sometimes, though, it's not so happy.

Today I got to see the life of this talented young man, Joe Sodd III

A customer called at about 2:30 wondering how fast the turn around time would be on about 200 digital pictures. That late on a Friday the standard answer would be that we'd have them done on Monday. But she said they were for a memorial service this weekend, and I didn't have any other work that had to be done today, so I let her know that if she could have them there by 3:00 or so that I would make sure they got printed before the end of the day so they could be picked up on Saturday.

She was there about 15 minutes later with the CD that had the files. She had collected the photos from friends and family, and taken the time to scan them into the computer making sure that they looked as good as possible. In between apologizing for needing them done so last minute and thanking me for being willing to do them, she said that they were for a memorial on Sunday. She said that it was for the 20 yr. old who had been stabbed outside the Triple Rock last week. I hadn't heard about the stabbing.

I got started immediately with loading all the files into the printer. An entire all-too-short life, condensed into 200 images.

I'd never met Joseph Sodd III. I'd never even heard of him before today.

Now I know these things about him:
He was a cute baby.
He had a great smile, and he smiled a lot.
He had hair that if he let it grow out, it would explode into a riot of curls.
He had amazing beautiful grey eyes.
He was a dancer.
He had a younger brother.
He loved his parents and they loved him.
He had cousins close in age.
He wasn't shy.
He had lots of friends.
His nickname was Bougie.
His life was too damn short.

Yeah, the peeks into other people's lives aren't always sunshine and puppies. This one looked like a good life and it's sad to know that it has ended. I just hope that the photos I printed bring some smiles to the family and friends.

Tags: work
I'm feeling: sad
I'm listening to: Christian Kane- More Than I Deserve (single) -

I worked a full 8+ hours today. But it felt longer because over half of those hours were spent taking stuff apart, draining chemicals, and putting stuff back together. Urgh. Something had caused one of the tanks of chemicals on one of our photo printing machines to go funky. It REEKED! Smelled like rotten eggs/sulfer. And the filter wasn't pretty either. So yeah, long day...

Late yesterday afternoon I headed on down to take pictures of the eagle's nest by the 5-8 club. Unfortunately Mike, the guy I had met when out there on Friday, was there and said that he hadn't seen the baby eaglet at all on Sunday or yesterday, so he was figuring the worst. Poor little birdie. :( So no picture with the baby, but here's a pretty good shot of one of the parents.



hellbob & I have started making tentative plans to invade Chicago to visit us some Nibleys. It's been waaaay to long! We'll also be traveling for a wedding this month (in WI). And Brian from Coverville planted a seed of an idea in my head about going to the New Media Expo in Las Vegas this August. He's got some hella-cool plans for show #500. Of course, if we do go to the NME, I'll have to take Stunt Double Moose, since Real Moose will be off in the Galapagos Islands!!! I do so love to travel... Why can't I be independently wealthy??

Tags: birds, pics, work

OK, I knew I was out of shape. Didn't realize just how bad it was until I actually *gasp* exercised.

Last week I joined Snap Fitness with J. from work. They had a special going where there was no enrollment fee, and they have month to month contracts, so I figure if I end up not using it I'll only be out a few months fees.

I went to work out yesterday for the first time and barely made my 15 minutes on the elliptical machine.

but wow! am I ever achy today. Mostly my thighs. It's that sort of feels good ache you get from exercise, but it is definitely something I'm not used to!

In other news, I did horrible on my Spanish test. I got a B- which doesn't seem that bad except that I'd been getting A's on everything 'til now.

It was raining when I left school. When I got home the raindrops were looking a little white and solid. It was also windy as all fuck out there. Right now it looks like we've got about an inch out there and it's still coming down.

I expect that it will be absolutely GORGEOUS out by the time I get up tomorrow. And I can leisurely enjoy it & take some pictures before snowblowing because I'm working the afternoon shift instead of morning. Yay! Sleeping in *and* pretty snow!

Tags: exercise, school, snow, weather, work

If I am going to leave for work now I should probably put some pants on first, eh?

Tags: pants, work
Current Location: the HellHouse
I'm feeling: bleah
I'm listening to: Metamor City Podcast 012 - MAKING THE CUT: Chapter 04 - Chris Lester

There is a girl here at work who is single and has been out in the wonderful world of first dates.
Each new guy she meets ends up making her add a new question to the list of questions to screen out the ones that just won't work. The one she has been talking to lately (but hasn't met yet) has passed all the questions so far so we are trying to figure out what "the deal breaker" question that she just hasn't thought of yet is.
Some examples of previous deal breakers that have been added are: "Are you hygenically inclined?" and "Have you ever been in prison for crystal meth?"

So, oh LJ brain of mine. What are some questions she needs to ask this boy?

Tags: boys are dumb, dating, work
Current Location: The loony bin, aka work
I'm listening to: Who the hell knows what Jim's playing today!

Holy crap! I don't even remember the last time I went two weeks between updates.

How've y'all been? I've been trying to at least keep up with reading but I'm sure I've missed stuff.

So, what I've been up to:

West Photo's been pretty busy as we work to get caught up on weddings.

The General Mills assignment will most likely be done this week.

The last week of the semester is next week.

I'm still taking a picture every day for hundredpics, but I haven't uploaded them off the camera in about 2 weeks.

I need to have my web page ready by next Wednesday for HTML class.

I have to do a painting and a half by next Thursday for painting class.

I've been enjoying the heck out of painting class, and I'm even pretty good at it too.

I'm going to see Jonathan Coulton in two days!!

All you folks that I haven't met yet who will be at the JoCo show need to come say Hi to me! I'll be at the merch table. When you stop by you can't just ask for 'Sharon' though because Birdchick Sharon is gonna be working the table with me.

I'll make it easy on you for finding me.
This is what I look like and if I remember I'll even plan to wear my Beta Clone 131 shirt.


We have snow! Lots of snow! It took me 2 freaking hours to drive through downtown tonight. yuck.

Now, back to HTML land for me.

Tags: joco, life, school, work
I'm feeling: busy

Working at the photo store made me think that I really needed to get the sensor on my digital camera cleaned. Since I work there they would do it for free instead of charging the usual $50, so I got it done yesterday.
The way to check how dirty a sensor is is to open the aperature way up and take a shot of a blank light-colored wall. Then you take the picture and open it up in Photoshop. Open levels and hit auto levels. This will make any specks of dust on the sensor show up.
This was what mine looked like:


Now that it's been cleaned it looks like this:

Tags: camera, work

I was completely dressed when I left for work today.

No, this is not usually newsworthy. Yes, I am always dressed when I go to work.

I just felt the need to emphasize this fact today because as I was catching up on my flist from the last few days I noticed that not everyone on my flist could say the same thing.

One girl forgot to put on a bra, and another forgot to put on pants. I love my flist!

Tags: flist, work

I've hardly looked at LJ since I skimmed it on Wednesday. After a summer of super lots of free time I am now constantly busy! Luckily I like all the stuff I'm doing so I'm not feeling miserable about it!

The job at the photo store is going pretty good. This week I didn't feel lost for huge chunks of my time there! The girl who's training me, R, isn't working mornings anymore because she has a different part-time job. So my first week there she worked with me on Mon & Tues, and then I was on my own Wed & Thurs, and then she was in again on Fri. The manager there also knows how to run the machines so I did have someone to go to with questions.

Random observations after 2 weeks there:

~Stuff I did at Proex like plotting test strips and pretty much everything with the film processor came back to me pretty quickly.
~I'm pretty sure these machine print the photos faster than the one we used at Proex.
~There are two Fuji machines for doing prints on and since one is newer the printing screens/software is slightly different. This made learning them a smidge tougher than if there'd been just one machine.
~R is training me & there's a lot of stuff that is "I don't know why we do it like that, that's how Jenny trained me."
~I don't know Jenny, but she annoys me.
~The counter & shelves in the processing area are super disorganized. Eventually this will change. Oh yes, this will change!
~It's kinda tough getting used to a job where I'm on my feet for 4 hours. I am, after all, fat & lazy & out of shape.
~We're right next door to Surdyk's. They have awesome food in their deli.
~Surdyk's also has beer. There is some Young's Double Chocolate Stout chilling in my fridge right now. I went over to get lunch on my way from the photo store to GM and the line at the deli was too long, so I got beer instead.

After spending several hours running around busy and also often feeling like I don't know what I'm doing, it's kind of nice to then go to a job where all I have to do is enter numbers. I just sit back and listen to podcasts.

And, as if I wasn't tired enough, I've got class on 3 nights also. Painting is actually kind of relaxing, but the height of the stools and the height of the drawing table/easel combine to give me a sore lower back!

Much as I'm not hating any of my work or school, it does feel really damn good to be kicked back on the couch! Now to go rea what y'all have had to say... My flist is at skip 175. Oy.

Tags: life, work
I'm feeling: exhausted

Yeah, I know. I haven't done any real updates lately. I've been pretty darn busy lately. I've been working mornings at West Photo. I'm working in their mini lab developing film and printing photos. Except I haven't done any film yet because their C-41 machine has been down since sometime last week. The photo machine is way sweeter than the one I used at Proex way back in the day before digital.

After working a few hours there in the morning I head on over to General Mills to put in about 4 hours or so at the temp assignment there. I still don't have a badge to get in though so I have to call back to the girls in charge of the project to come let me in every day. I'm pretty much just using Excel & Access at that job. It's a good thing they hadn't asked about my Access experience before placing me in the job because I hadn't used it in about 8 years. The stuff I'm doing is easy enough though. I even taught the two girls I report to a trick they didn't know. Pretty simple, just the keyboard shortcut for Run Query, but they'd only been using the button you click w/the mouse. It made me feel all smart and stuff.

Then at about 5:00 I truck on over to school. On Tuesday & Thursday I have painting class. Nothing more exciting than color wheels and color exercises so far, but our next project will be an abstract kinda thing. If mine doesn't suck I'll post a picture when it's done.

And on Wednesdays my class is HTML. We had to pick a subject to do a web page on, so I am going to make Moose his own page.

And that is what I've been up to for the last few weeks. Not the most exciting life, but hey, at least I'm working steady. :)

Tags: life, school, work
I'm feeling: tired
I'm listening to: Fernando - ABBA

I got offered a job today! Yay!
It is only part time but it is a set schedule. I'll be working mornings M-F at West Photo running the mini-lab photo processer.
I'm hoping that I can work it out with Manpower and GM to stay with the assignment they have me on working there in the afternoons.
It's a nice change to have too many jobs though!

Tags: work
I'm feeling: happy

My "d" key still doesn't work as well as the others so at times I have to hit it really hard. I also have to really watch to make sure I spell things right, including my last name. Maybe I should just change the last name to Snyer.

I have no idea where the data I'm putting in Access goes or what they do with it at the GM temp job, but T. said I did really well yesterday and got a lot done. They also didn't come over to make sure I got all set up today, they just assumed I could do it on my own. (and I did!) From what I've seen of the average temp worker that does data entry, this is not something one should assume because most wouldn't be able to. Hopefully this bodes really well for them keeping me or for me getting future GM temp jobs.

Omegacon info: When hellbob & I were driving home from mom & dad's cabin a few weeks ago I noticed this wonderful bit of info on the Lodge at Crooked Lake's sign: "Free wireless internet." This is a change from last year and it makes me happy. :)

My podcast friends are at Dragon*Con. My James Marsters friends are at Dragon*Con. My ex-roomate and her man are at Dragon*Con. I am not at Dragon*Con. *pout* I want to be at Dragon*Con too!

I have no plans for today. I think I may paint in the backyard. :)

Tags: computer, jm, omegacon, pocast, work

I started my temp job at General Mills today. The work isn't exciting, just doing Access query stuff, but the people seem nice. The office is pretty casual because it's not on the main campus. Also, there's absolutely no issue with me listening to my iPod all day, so I will be able to stay sane (or at least as sane as is possible for me!) I don't use the internet at all for what I'm doing, and I ran to McDonalds during lunch today, so I don't know if I've got internet access at all or not. I do, however, have cell reception, so anyone who knows my cell # can get a hold of me via text messaging.

Hey, lucky13charm, this place is like NAMG used to be. Yup, that's right. Free tampons in the ladies room. :) Also, fancy schmancy toilets that flush by themselves and towel dispensers that you just wave your hands in front of.

And my chair is purple. I like purple.

Just the drive in makes me happier than the old job. It is sooooo wonderfully close to home. 10 minute drive, tops. Maybe 15 if I hit every light red and drove the speed limit. And when you turn into the drive for the building it winds up around a hill through woods. It's a really pretty location.

And right after work today I got to go in to school for my painting class. I'm about half done with my first project: the oh so exciting color wheel! I'm not sure if I'll post a pic when it's done or not. I think I'm gonna like painting.

Last night I had my HTML/XHTML class. Doesn't suck so far. At some point I have to figure out what I want the subject of my page to be. We decide what we want to do it on and as the semester goes on and we learn new things each week, we build on what we've gotten done already.

Common sense would have me redoing Rick's sister & her husband's business site. But... I'm already not a huge fan of web design, and frankly, the subject matter of it bores me. I think I'll just wait and apply what I learn in this class to redoing theirs afterwards.

Right now I am leaning towards the idea of doing a web page for Moose. I've got the photo gallery, but I think it would be much more fun to have a site for him. Especially now that he's going to go down to Antarctica. I can do all kinds of fun things like put a map with his travel locations marked.

I'll be dropping him in the mail shortly before flights to McMurdo resume. I saw my favoritest photoshop teacher, Will, last night and he was mightily impressed with Moose's next destination.

It's Labor Day weekend already! Eep! How'd that happen? I'm working only a half day tomorrow, cuz it's the last week of GM's summer flex hours. The only plans I've got so far for the Holiday weekend are me & hellbob babysitting the Monkeys on Saturday so that genevra & akdar can go see Stardust.

I'll probably also hit the zoo on Monday because that's traditionally not a busy day there. Even though it's a holiday, most people who have the day off and want to do something will either go to the State Fair or to the Renaissance Festival because they have set limited dates and the zoo is always there. Besides, Labor Day is the last day for the butterfly garden.

Tags: birds, moose, school, work, zoo
I'm feeling: happy