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As I’ve said in the past, I’m not a big fan of blogging about you’re life when you can’t think of anything else to write on. But what is a blog other than an exercise in self-aggrandizement? That said, here’s some idea’s I’ve been kicking around for the last week or so. . .
I decided today that I’m going to use my 20% membership discount at REI to buy a bicycle. I’m leaning more toward the “commuter bike” category since I don’t need all the bells and whistles of a mountain bike but I need something a little more rugged than a road bike in case I happen to move off the pavement. I can get a lot of use out of it during the summer as my means of transportation back and forth from the office. I could even take rides down into Santa Cruz if I find a route on the way back that doesn’t kill me. 
Summer is going to be really fun at Vintage. I have a couple meetings in the coming months to go over what it’s going to look like for the photo team but there should at least be a photo show and maybe some other opportunities also. We have a photo walk coming up at the end of this month that will be down at the Wharf. There will be one more before the start of summer and it will be photos from that shoot we will use for the show.
On a related note, it was fun to get back from Uganda and look through my photos. I feel like I really did take a step forward in the overall quality of my photography while I was there. I have a couple of series I’m very happy with.
I’m a little frustrated my old laptop hasn’t sold yet. I don’t feel like I’m asking more than it’s worth but I’m obviously asking more than the market will pay for it. I need to sell my old zune and the dock too. Hopefully I can clean out some of that stuff and get a little extra cash.
Anyway, I think that’s about it for tonight. Nothing too profound or shocking (or shockingly profound, harharhar ).
All my Uganda pics are finally up and on flickr. I just finished going through tagging and adding descriptions to them. All total there ended up being like 316 photos. It takes a while to upload that many to flickr even on my fast cable connection. Anyway, I hope you enjoy them!
I’ve felt a little weird since coming back but I’m not sure it is really reverse culture shock. It is almost the lack of it that has me feeling strange. In some ways, I feel like I should feel different now that I’m back in the US after going to Otino Waa and the fact that I don’t feel terribly different feels weird. I think part of what makes trips like this one a little different for me is the fact that I’m not really shocked to encounter suffering. Between my general world view and my knowledge of current events, I realize that most of the rest of the world leads a truly horrible existence between wars, famine, and disease. Now, Otino Waa struck me as exciting because of the fact that most of those things exist outside of the school. The kids are all well fed, well educated, and sleep in relatively nice accommodations. Still, the way that everyone was telling me about how different I would be after coming back I think has thrown me a little.
Even while we were in Africa I was telling someone that it is kind of funny that I ended up on the trip considering I don’t really have any interest or sense of calling when it comes to global missions. I just like to travel and take pictures. I should point out that I’m grateful for the chance I had to go and I believe we did a really great thing while we were there (building the house). Yet, I also feel oddly “normal.” I’m not really any more or less passionate about missions than I was before we left.
Anyway, I guess all of that is to say that I’m still mulling over how I feel about the trip and what God was trying to teach me now that I’m back stateside. I haven’t had much time to do any thinking though as I’ve been terribly busy with work since getting back. Hopefully after this next week things will calm back down just a little and I can take stock of life. Getting together to share photos this Friday will be good too. Well, I think that is it for now. I hope you enjoy the photos. Later!
I’ve got the first 50 pics up on flickr. I have 311 total to upload which is about 10% of the 3000 or so that I took. That puts me right about where I thought I would be. I still have a few to go through so the 311 number may grow a little but it will be right around there. I’ve got a few pics to edit in Gimp before they are completely finished and I’m running everything through neat image (which only handles batches of 50 photos at a time) so it might be Tuesday or Wednesday before I’ve got them all up there but they’ll be there for sure by mid-week. Hope you enjoy!
