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For reasons beyond my control, the recent choices for lead and secondary photos for a sports story on strength training for football were switched.
I’m sorry; the lead photo choice was not used at all.

 Lead photo choice

Recently this switching has been an issue we hope is remedied by our new photo editor.

 Secondary photo choice 

This is a blatant hint if your viewing.

Today’s weather…….Party sunny with highs in the mid 60’s……LOL 

rlh 

When do I work?
Who can tell these days?
I know the photo gods are clueless.
Nights worked today, days tomorrow.
My internal clock is ticking and I’m not sure when I’m suppose to wind down.
Morning comes and then the call to shift to nights.
“We just gotta have that shot.”
Nights are a preference please just give notice in advance.
Poor planning keeps me from a morning beach walk or a ride on my bike.
Poor planning gives me two extra hours to think about work.
Candidates, house fires, concerts, football and basketball games, office politics, videos, slideshows…
And then there’s the driving, endless amounts of driving.
Finally homeward bound.
I can sleep late.
“Can you work days?”

rlh

I heard about the “one laptop per child” program a few months ago while watching 60 minutes and was reminded about it after viewing a post on Teaching Online Journalism.

I’m just spreading the word…….

This program brings these rugged open source laptops to children in developing countries.

rlh

I spent the better part of 4 hours adding this little logo to my blog. There are 20 different headers, so I had to dupe it for each of the photos. I ended up doing two different logo styles and chose this one for the simplicity. I really wanted to design the “0″ to look like the center of a focus screen diagram but I couldn’t find a reference image on the web.  

Was it worth the time? Maybe not……

I did learn some valuable lessons about coding and a few tricks about Photoshop text tools.

rlh 

Covering the 1A South Carolina state high school championship game yesterday against Carvers Bay High School and Chesterfield High, I was given all the usual visual elements to capture great photos for the paper and web. Good Action, a tight game and the tears and celebrations normal to any championship game. I have the latest technology to speed my images via a wireless card back to the office.

What was missing?

I remember a time in the not too distant past when there was a photo editor who I could show my 10 top images and work out their best use for the paper. A visual colleague that could challenge me to work a little harder to get the images the others were not seeing.

Back at the office, while I’m driving back to town, the photo editor was getting an extra column out of the designer for my photo coverage.

Now, I have Intellitune.

rlh

Although Thanksgiving is not an official Buddhist celebration, I asked Abbot Chao Khun of Wat Carolina Buddhajakra Vanara in Bolivia, N.C., if he would like to use this space as a way to give a message to those far from a quick drive to the Temple.

In the past I’ve tried without success to post audio clips of the Abbot’s dharma talks on the yahoo list serve “Jambudvipa”. Due to space limits, Yahoo will not allow these mp3 files. I will post them here and invite the jam list members to visit.

Abbot Chao Khun

Chao Khun’s Holiday Message in English

Chao Khun’s Holiday Message in Thai

rlh

Skip Yeager and Cindy Hedrick operate a non-profit animal rescue called SC-C.A.R.E.S. in rural Georgetown County, S.C. Their main goal is to save wild and exotic animals from black-market sellers or unknowing pet lovers who find an animal needs more care than they can handle. Started just over a year-ago, the rescue has grown to over 100 animals.

Yeager watches as a wolf named “Captain” runs to a transport fence Wednesday at the animal rescue and rehabilitation facility in Georgetown County.

On Wednesday, Writer Zane Wilson and I covered the transport of the rescue’s 5 timber wolves from a temporary area to a new 1/2-acre compound. The wolves, all from the same pack, were rescued from a now closed zoo in Charlotte, N.C.

It was an adrenalin rush to be in the same enclosed area with the wolves.

“Calypso” a 6-month-old timber wolf, watches as volunteers and operators at SC-C.A.R.E.S., prepare to move the wolf and 4 siblings to a new 1/2-acre compound

rlh 

I just noticed….. my house is a complete mess but my computer screen is clean as a whistle…..

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 rlh

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Last week I traveled home again to see my father.

In this self-assigned video, I documented my thoughts and used the opportunity to share my journey by the best way I know: through a camera.

All the video and audio was recorded during the 6-hour trip home. The audio was recorded in my car at a rest stop just outside of Raleigh, N.C.

This so, as I say in the audio, I could “just be with him” and not have any goals or responses from dad I would of expected in the past.

Our relationship has often been shaky, but lately, I’ve learned to accept him “as is” and not try to mold him into an ideal parent. As he gets older and more fragile, I think it will get easier to accept this change in my expectations of him.

Dad is great the way he is. It took me a long time to realize this…..

If you liked the music, I’ve included a music only track below.

If I had to name it, I’d call the instrumental “Father Gem”.

Father Gem ©2007 Hippiedog Produce

For more songs, click the music category on the sidebar or check out the Hippiedog Produce page at randallhill.org

rlh 

Sunday was the day I decided to tackle my first Wordpress upgrade. So far, version 2.3.1 is working like a champ and I’ve had no conflicts with plug-ins or themes. I hear this is not the norm with most code newbies.

Here’s some info for all those new to Wordpress like myself who are setting-up a contact form on your blog.

For several days I couldn’t figure out why my test mails were not going through. All the spam controls were turned off to both Wordpress and my outside account.

The solution…….

If you’re routing a contact form to an e-mail account outside of your web host provider, say like AOL or yahoo, most hosts will request you go through an e-mail alias. I patched the alias to my account and like magic I was getting the contact page info…

Now I have time for a walk on the beach.

rlh