Some Travel Photos

I have always enjoyed photography and try to take a camera with me wherever I travel, even if it is only my little point-n-shoot digital. Today I thought I'd share some of my favorite point-n-shoot photos with you. These first two were taken when I got to travel to the island of Terceira in the Azores on a business trip:
This next one is a sunset shot that I took in my front yard. Yea, it's not a travel photo, but it's one I like. I knew the light wouldn't hold for long and I didn't have time to set up my big camera and tripod, so I just grabbed the little camera and steadied it on the roof of my car.
These last two are from a cruise I went on last year. Once again I only took the little camera, mostly because if something happened to it I wouldn't be out too much money. But once again the little camera did OK. The moonlight photo was taken by holding the camera on the railing of the boat.

You don't need fancy equipment to take good photos, just open your eyes to the beauty of the world around you.

2008 Presidential Candidates

Last week I wrote about how disinterested I am in the national elections this year. This got me to thinking about who the candidates are and what choices we really have. For good or bad, the only candidates with a real chance of actually winning are the Democratic and Republican (I did that alphabetically only with no intended implication of one being better than the other) candidates. However, they aren’t the only guys running for our highest office. I did some checking and was really surprised at how many people were vying for the job. Vote Smart has the full list, check it out here.

Because the popular vote does not determine the winner in the Presidential election (it’s all done by the Electoral College) it is pretty useless to vote for anyone other than one of the two main candidates. The absolute best person for the office could be running under some other party and they have virtually no chance of winning the election, even if they get the most [popular] votes.

How does someone win the election? All they need is 270 Electoral College votes. It’s that simple. And you thought your vote mattered! Eight years ago we had an election where the popular vote went to one person and the office went to the other. Check out this link to find out what the current standings are.

Still want to vote for one of the two main candidates? Not sure which one? Take the quiz at the Washington Post to see which one of them is closest to you on important issues.

2008 Elections

I came across this while surfing through some of my favorite blogs the other day. It's a new word recommendation for the dictionary:

Elec-tile Dysfunction: The inability to become aroused over any of the choices for President put forth by either of the two political parties in the 2008 election year.

This really resonated with me. Back in January I wrote a blog about the primary elections going on in my state and why I felt disenfranchised by the whole mess. Well, I still don't feel any better about the whole process. Our nation is going through a series of very difficult 'economic corrections' right now and I, like many folks, have little faith in my elected officials being able to do anything constructive about the situation.

The local area of politics, and maybe the state level, is the only place I'm interested in. It is the only place that I feel I have any real control over my future and any real say in the outcome of the election. As for the national election, I'm still trying to decide who my write-in name should be for president.

Signed,
Looking for suggestions

A helping hand

What is one of the greatest gifts that one person can give another? Well, there was a song by the Beatles that had a line that went something like this: “I get by with a little help from my friends.” There are two phrases that come to mind also: “circle of friends” and “circle of life.” [which is also the title to a song by Elton John and Tim Rice]

Humans are, for the most part, very social. We live in groups, communities, cities, nations. We depend upon the work of others to survive. Imagine what your life would be like if you had to grow and process all of your food, generate all of your own energy, pump your own water, build your own shelter, manipulate fibers to create your own clothing, and do everything else you needed to survive on a daily basis. Do you think you could do it? I suspect that very, very few of us could.

It is a great shame that we – the human race that is – are unable to cooperate together to work towards the good of humanity. I wonder sometimes what we might have been able to achieve if we had not wasted so much time, energy, money, and lives on hate, violence and war. It makes me so very sad. My hopes and dreams of youth have been demolished by stupidity, corporate greed, and governmental waste.

Alas, all I can do is take care of my own little circle. That is what truly gives me satisfaction in my life. Until very recently friends were the only family that I had. I have been very fortunate to have some incredible people in my life (including the members of my new found family!). For this I am eternally grateful. I truly do not know where I would be without them.

My Summer Pictures

Guess you could call me a water person since I love to take pictures of rivers, lakes, and the ocean. Since the northern hemisphere is now officially in summer I thought I'd share some of my summer photos with you.
The lake photo above was taken on Lake Adair in Orlando, Florida. I took this in the morning on my way to work.
This creek (shown above) is behind my house. It's very peaceful back there.
If you read my blog last week you know that I've just recently been reunited with my birth family. I took the flower picture above when my sister and I were on a bike ride. The photo below was also taken during our ride. I find it interesting that she also has a creek behind her house.

Ah, the beach. A magical place. This was taken on Anastasia Island which is south of St. Augustine. The beach there is wide and the surf is perfect. It is my favorite beach in Florida. Just be careful driving there because the sand is soft - I've gotten stuck more than once! Guess I need a 4-wheel drive.

A most remarkable occurrence

There are moments in your life when the universe seems to smile on you with all of its glory. I do not know what I’ve done to deserve such an event (can such a thing be earned? I really have my doubts.), but recently I have been the beneficiary of something wonderful and truly remarkable. Let me explain.

As most of my friends know I was adopted at birth. The story I had of my birth mother was a sad one. It left me reluctant to search for my birth family after the death of the last member of my adoptive family. I did try contacting the state where I was born, but they basically told me to get lost. Later I found a document left to me by my adoptive family with a name on it. I used several internet search resources and located someone that I felt sure must have known my mother. However, thoughts of my birth story left me with the feeling that I would be the last person on the planet that they would want to hear from. Time passed, I never made that phone call.

Then with the suddenness of a bolt out of the blue my life changed forever. I received a call from a child welfare case worker from the state where I was born. Turns out I have a sister that I never knew about and she was looking for me! It’s a long story, but basically she was also adopted at birth and went looking for her birth family. She found a mother, father, and two brothers who told her about another missing sister. The search took several years, but find me they did.

We’ve had a ‘family reunion’ (that’s why I have not posted anything for a couple of weeks) and everything went well. We are geographically scattered (what family isn’t these days), but with e-mail and phone calls we can stay in touch. I now have health information on my parents and grandparents. I have a sister, brothers, mother, niece and nephews. What a wonderful gift.

We met with the case worker who did all the work. She asked that I let people know that there are services out there for families and individuals. If you were adopted, if you put someone up for adoption, or if someone in your family was put up for adoption, you can get help and information. I had talked to the wrong department but my sister did not. Every state has a child welfare department. That is the place to start. Even if all you want is some medical information, you should contact the state you were born or adopted in. While the search may take years (mine did), the majority of the cases have happy endings (like mine).

Believe me, I wish now I’d made that phone call years ago (I did have the right phone number as it turns out). I missed out on meeting my father and lost several years of knowing my family – these are things I will regret the rest of my life. If you or someone you know was adopted, please don’t wait. A couple of simple phone calls to a child welfare department could change your or their life forever.

One last thing: don’t bother with expensive and private search agencies. The case worker told us that most of those people contact the child welfare departments to find the person/family. Save the money for the reunion, just contact the state yourself.

Mars, God of War

One week ago an emissary from Earth landed near the north pole of Mars. The Phoenix Mars Mission has a primary goal of determining how much water ice is on Mars which will be a big factor in shaping how humans ultimately might be able to colonize the planet.

Planetary colonization is not just the stuff of science fiction. If we are to survive as a species then we must expand beyond planet Earth. Human population continues to rise; resources continue to dwindle here on Earth. But there are other planets in our solar system with mineral and water resources that we can utilize. Even the asteroid belt is full of chunks of water ice and metals.

But enough of our possible future, back to current events: Even though the lander has only been on Mars for a week there are a number of incredible images from this mission. One of my favorites was taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It captured an image of the Phoenix as it was descending towards the surface. This is the first time an image has been captured of a spaceship coming in to land on another planet. Check out the image here.

My other favorite image was first distributed yesterday and is shown as the current image on the Astronomy Picture of the day site. NASA had been hoping that they might be able to dig down through the soil with the lander’s robotic arm to reach water ice, but the braking rockets on the lander may have already exposed some ice under Phoenix. Check out an image from under the lander here. If you don't see the image, click on the archive link and look for June 2nd.

The artist’s rendering of the Phoenix lander shown at the top of this post is from this site.

Here’s an interesting fact you might not know: on Mars when the sun sets the sky turns blue but during the day the sky is pink - just the opposite of Earth.