I Ain’t Got No Worries
Jan 16th
Today, Jocelyn & I took a long drive up to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in order to take advantage of the warm temperatures. We figured on taking a nice, long walk down one of their trails and hopefully spotting some birds who would also be out enjoying the weather.
What we learned, was that the crew at Blackwater have a talent for understatement. This is evidenced by the sign you see pictured off to the right. Now, any sensible person would take that to mean that the trails are muddy and a bit slippery. That was ok – we were prepared with extra shoes (boots, in Jocelyn’s case.) Mud wasn’t going to be an issue at all.
As it turns out, mud was the least of our worries.
This was not an easy hike to do while carrying the camera, lens and monopod. As you can see, the trail was positively flooded. In order to get anywhere, we had to make our own and try to keep the path in sight. The tennis shoes I chose were woefully inadequate and my reward was a pair of wet, dirty socks. Poor Jocelyn fell down trying to get over to a sign – we were hoping it might help us stay on the trail, but it only informed us that we were about to cross on to private property. That was our cue to backtrack and look for a drier trail. We never did see any critters.
I didn’t really mind, because all of the ducking and weaving through the woods reminded me of being young and wandering through the woods around where I grew up. Whenever we wander somewhere like that, it’s like having the shared childhood we never had.
After getting back to the car, it was time to slow down and do the “Wildlife Drive” instead. That’s where we got to see some birds, like this heron who was nice enough to sit still while I got the camera out.
As it were, the herons at Blackwater are much less flighty than the ones at Assateague. Those will fly away if you look at them wrong – these just sit there and wait for you to leave. I guess it’s normal for them, considering the amount of people who come through every day and stare.
It’s starting to get that way with me and tours at work – I just sit still for pictures, and wait for them to leave. 
There was a smaller walking trail that we found that was actually dry – and that’s where we found this little fella! This inchworm was sitting on top of an old exploded steam tractor – and he was also polite enough to pose for a picture.
I wasn’t sure he was alive at first, until Jocelyn got closer and he crept along…just a little bit! Then he just sat still, cursed us under his breath and waited for us to leave.
Once all that was done, we finished up the drive and got a few more pictures before heading to Target (of all places) for some errands. Oddly enough, nothing happened there that’s worth recounting here. Thankfully. So, enjoy some more pictures from the day.
It’s Friday, At Least
Jan 15th
I’ve not really got anything to say, but if I type out the words “Pants On The Ground” – I’m guaranteed at least one hit from a wayward Google search. Sigh. Here…watch this:
I posted this ’cause Craig Kilborn came up in conversation over yonder. The Wondermints currently serve as Brian Wilson’s backing band, and I challenge anyone to find a better one. Really – they are recreating what the Wrecking Crew did in the studio back in the 60’s, but live on stage while singing.
Want proof? Here they are doing my favorite cover of “Good Vibrations” featuring Heart doing lead vocals:
Reelin’ In the Years
Jan 9th
You’ll have to pardon what some might consider a bit of narcissism here, but this project is a bit fascinating. When I started loading up old photos into a new gallery, I was struck by the thought of trying to find a picture of myself from each year – just to get a quick snapshot of what time seems to be doing to me…and to perhaps see what’s to come.
Granted, I’m not one of those clever people who planned this out and took the exact same picture at the exact same time each year. That seems a bit…obsessive. This just seems a bit silly. It’s also getting tougher pre-1999, as I don’t think I had too many pictures taken between 1993 and 1998.
…and that’s the thing. This is almost a scavenger hunt. All these (ahem) kids nowadays have hundreds of pictures floating around on Facebook and MySpace because everyone is carrying around some sort of camera nowadays. The rest of us are stuck looking through these things called “photo albums” for pictures.
So, anyway – enjoy watching me age. Oh, and keep an eye out for my hair. It keeps sneaking off my head when I’m not looking…
He Should Have Worn A Name Tag
Jan 9th
It seems that one of the things that can whisk me off to sleep is perusing the Fark.com “Politics” tab. You may well be thinking to yourself – “Self? He doesn’t get involved in politics. Heck, he doesn’t even vote! Why is he reading the politics stories each night?”
That’s a good question. I may well answer it before this post is finished.
See, there’s one place where you’re guaranteed to see the crazies – and it’s the world of politics. There’s something I’ve recently heard of called “Poe’s Law” that sums up most political discourse nowadays. It is described thusly:
Poe’s Law points out that it is hard to tell parodies of fundamentalism (or, more generally, any crackpot theory) from the real thing, since they both seem equally insane. Conversely, real fundamentalism can easily be mistaken for a parody of fundamentalism.
So, when you read anything from the fringes of belief, it’s hard to tell if it’s real or someone completely sending it up. This is where the common internet troll is separated from the true masters of wordplay.
Take this comment from a thread discussing Sarah Palin’s inability to remember Joe Biden’s name:
Palin is smarter than (Katie) Couric and didn’t have to suck liberal staff like Couric to get were she is.
Now think to yourself – is this someone trying to wind people up, or is it someone who honestly believes that? Ten years ago, it would be an easy call. Nowadays, with the average level of political debate ranking somewhere below a 5th grade debate club – it’s quite plausible. People are really turning out to be that stupid, and proudly displaying it on protest signs!
…don’t steal from Medicare to support socialized medicine, indeed. Again, are they just that dumb?
I should point out, each side is equally guilty. There have been plenty of soundbites on talk radio full of people saying things like Obama was somehow going to pay all their bills. It’s hard to imagine someone believing that. You don’t want to believe that people believe that, but…it’s not a shock anymore.
So, this is why I spend my evenings scanning online political debate. It’s a fun game, trying to separate the partisan hacks from the teabag loonies from those who feel the Messiah is in office from the people who are actually trying to have a debate.
Will it ever get any better? Are we looking at even more of a circus for the next election cycle? Will people that make protest signs learn how to spell?
I don’t really know…and truth be told, I don’t really care. For presidential politics, it doesn’t matter one bit until the electoral college is done away with, and “we the people” can actually have a “one person, one vote” system.
…and so, I leave you with this nugget of wisdom, found on Fark. I feel that it’s the definitive word on why “Joe Biden” was such a hard name for Sarah Palin to remember:
That’s because he had a weird name like “Joe Biden” and not a RealAmerican name like Trig, Bristol, Talladega, Dristan or F-150.