Horse Country Plumas County, CA is horse country, here on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. You can't drive through the area without seeing horses or horse trailers carrying horses. I live in a well developed section of E. Quincy and horses walk by my front yard every day, occasionally even pulling a buggy. Horses live on 3…
Self Portrait in Computer Case Art One of the most interesting projects I have done, The Grump Case was designed to be a quiet and powerful computer system, as well as a handsome work of technological art. Its design, rather the side panel design, was created to depict the avatar I used on many forums around the Interweb - the…
A fellow member of a forum I have been a member of since 2005, asked the community for a website critique. I checked out her site and found it interesting, in that I could look at it with a critical eye and see, in my opinion, what works and what doesn't. Although I hope my post helps her and her…
A friend I have been emailing back and forth asked me for my website address to 1 Foot in the Grave, or as she put it, “1footinthegrave”. I thought that was odd until I realized there are still a lot of people that don’t understand how some of this IT (Internet Technology) stuff works. My hope was that my answer to her would be enlightening, but as it turns out, it revealed to me just how poorly I understand it. And I’m a so-called webmaster. In case you don’t know, that’s not a braggadocious term, it’s a job title. It means I should know, but apparently don’t, how to get my own website on the first page of Google results (more…)
This is a blast from the past. I wrote this article in June 2003. Case modding was relatively new at that time and I stumbled into it during my search for components to use in a new computer build. I wrote this about case cutting because there was so little information about it available at the time. This is presented…
For months now, I have been experiencing a definite lack of photo inspiration. It's like a fog hanging over me. Or maybe it's just laziness. The other day, I decided to go in search of some inspiration by visiting an area the railroad tracks run through. On a number of other occasions, railway lines have inspired me. It's easy to…
Facebook Sucks! It sucks up my time, it sucks up my energy and it sucks up my personal information and sells it to the highest bidder. I have to leave it just to protect my privacy, recover my zest for life and give me better control of what life I have left.
What’s ironic about this post is that I don’t like dramatic exit posts. I’ve been a moderator or administrator of forums and message boards for over 20 years, (more…)
For as many years as I have been writing, I never once thought I would write about my own Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Hell, I wouldn’t even discuss PTSD with the several counselors or shrinks I had seen over the years since my return from Vietnam. I didn’t even talk about PTSD in AA meetings. Not until I was diagnosed with emphysema in 2005 and after 3 years of serious depression, I sought out a shrink through the VA to help me battle my thoughts of dying, maybe by suicide. Even then, I found it very difficult to talk about PTSD (more…)
I was diagnosed with COPD (emphysema) in 2005. A couple years later, after I had lost my business, my home and much of my ability to do normal physical activities, I asked 2 different doctors to tell me how much time I had left. Both said (reluctantly) approximately the same thing: 2 or 3 years. Of all the meds and treatments prescribed to me, pulmonary rehab was not one of them.
That was 10 years ago. Yes, I’m very happy to still be alive. Very. But I also struggle every day, sometimes for every breath. The simplest things have become difficult – taking a shower, walking the isles of the grocery store, searching for my next great photograph. (more…)
This was my first photo contest. I entered 19 photos in the county fair and won 13 ribbons on twelve of them (one received 2 ribbons, one a Best of Division). Yes, I’m proud. But I am also humbled by all the beautiful pictures I was surrounded by from the enormous talent of many fine photographers here in Plumas County. It was an honor to be among them.
These photos, the exact same photos that were on display at the county fair, are for sale. (more…)