So let me introduce you to ISOpeg.com.  The content on this site will be only about work.  The trips I take, some of the shoots I do, and any other observations about being either part of the feds or otherwise.

The Nikon D3, Sweet!

Just wanted to check in to say that the new job was started today.  I was in the building yesterday enjoying my orientation.  I always thought that orientation was to give you insight to the place you are starting to and go over the rules (ethics) and benefits you have.  I was let down in the lack of details given to us on the benefits and instead were shown a video (which looked like it was made in the early 90s) and told to either go to the website or view the CD in our “Welcome Packet.”  All in all it was a 8 hours that could have been condensed to about 4-5.

That said, my second day was quite different.  Instead of starting the day with folders full of paper I was welcomed with a laptop, D2X*, multiple lenses, SB-800 flash and SB-900 (not out of the box yet), many CF cards, blackberry, and access to a nice FCP station and full studio - complete with HD cams, lighting, etc.  A couple of camera bags were handed over to me as well, one for walking around and a travel case.  Not a bad day eh?

* Two new D3 bodies were delivered but one was not functioning, so back it went and me being the new guy means I have to wait for the replacement to come to us.

I predict that what I wrote above will be stated in some shape or form from this point on from all the right leaning talking heads. Do I believe the words above? Not everything. I do think that she did a decent job during the debate last night. Of course calling last night a debate is a little of a stretch. Sure there was a little back and forth but a full on debate? Not in my opinion. I really didn’t like the moderation that was going on. The moderator did not hammer on Biden or Palin when they dodged answering questions and went to their safe room by attacking the other side. If statements were either unclear - during a political debate?!? - or needed some elaboration there was nothing to follow up on them. I don’t know if the impotence of the moderator was due to rules set out by the campaigns or not - the Obama/McCain debate was not like this - but if that is the case then shame on the campaigns.

Last night I was able to put my finger on something that had been bothering me about Palin. One of the chants vocalized by the left is that a McCain administration will be a Bush III. Last night I saw how that will be so - Palin=Bush. Policies aside and faith/religion aside, Palin is a female version of Chimpy Flight-suit. It is obvious that Palin was well prepared for the debate last night. But you could tell where the preparations ended and the off the cuff began just like with Chimpy. Her laid back talking and disjointed speech let you know she was off script. Suddenly while talking she would go from a lounging colloquium speaking person to a snap to attention, overly starched shirt statue with the right hand dancing in the air to emphasize her points. Gone were the colloquiums and the ‘I’m just like you’ attitude and in were the motions one would expect on the Hill. Don’t all politicians do this? Yes, but the extreme Jeckyl/Hyde vision given to us is a little unnerving. Petty points? Maybe, but that is only because if I focused on her beliefs it would not make my Friday pleasant.

I do think that she did a decent job during the debate. There were a few moments where you could tell she was getting flustered. Her voice and mannerisms showed that she wanted to shout at Biden. But, to her credit she kept it together. I wasn’t blown away by her performance but I can’t say that she failed either. Her side-stepping certain questions would make Baryshnikov jealous - especially her response to the question “Do you agree with Biden on same-sex couples having full legal rights just like married couples.” But what I didn’t get from her were the ‘how’ on the promises that have been put forth from the McCain/Palin camp.

On to Biden.

I think Biden did a decent job as well. There were places he was able to turn things around on Palin and throw out some numbers and facts that halted things Palin was saying. Facts and numbers grab my attention. I want to hear specifics. Biden brought out some specifics but I think he could have held Palins feet to the fire a little more. I’m sure some of this desire from me is because of my political stance, I’m willing to accept that bias. There were times where Biden hit it out of the park but there were other times I was hoping he would put away the stump speech rhetoric and and just tear her down. He didn’t do this and what that did was help her look better and not force her to talk from the top of her head. He could have done so much more but didn’t Bias aside I also think that all the hype for the debate might have raised expectations a little higher than they should have been.

I heard a lot of rhetoric - big surprise - but little actual substance. I look at the debates as a way for the candidates to put away the bumper sticker/30 second commercial slogans and respond unscripted to questions people want answers to. I know this is a pipe dream and that they are always hunting for the next sound byte to spread on the airways, but a guy can dream can’t he?

Oh and by the way, I won in playing Palingo - Palin Bingo. Go me!

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I know this because one of the asshats from Media Research Center (MRC) just told me that - via Fox and Friends.  Apparently no other media outlet is spending time reporting this and that their focus is more on Enron this year then Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac/Wall Street meltdown.

Who would have guessed.

Some of the arguments on Palin are common in the media and other places while others are more directly tied to her religion and faith - which seems to be mostly off limits by the media…kid gloves much there people?

Harris states:

In the churches where Palin has worshiped for decades, parishioners enjoy “baptism in the Holy Spirit,” “miraculous healings” and “the gift of tongues.” Invariably, they offer astonishingly irrational accounts of this behavior and of its significance for the entire cosmos. Palin’s spiritual colleagues describe themselves as part of “the final generation,” engaged in “spiritual warfare” to purge the earth of “demonic strongholds.” Palin has spent her entire adult life immersed in this apocalyptic hysteria.

The other bit of the article that resonated with me, and in face-to-face discussions I have defended, was the inappropriate use and abuse of the term ‘elite.”  I have defended and embraced the term ‘liberal’ as a way to describe my political leanings.  Liberal is not a bad, 4-letter (plus 3) word.  And the more we allow the GOP to self-define that word as bad the more people will use it as a derogatory term we will never prevail.  Just as we should embrace - or as I like to say, ‘own’ - the term liberal, we should defend and turn the tables on those who try to paint liberals as elite.  Harris writes:

Ask yourself: how has “elitism” become a bad word in American politics? There is simply no other walk of life in which extraordinary talent and rigorous training are denigrated. We want elite pilots to fly our planes, elite troops to undertake our most critical missions, elite athletes to represent us in competition and elite scientists to devote the most productive years of their lives to curing our diseases. And yet, when it comes time to vest people with even greater responsibilities, we consider it a virtue to shun any and all standards of excellence. When it comes to choosing the people whose thoughts and actions will decide the fates of millions, then we suddenly want someone just like us, someone fit to have a beer with, someone down-to-earth—in fact, almost anyone, provided that he or she doesn’t seem too intelligent or well educated.

These are the points I wish I was hearing from the campaign.

You can read Sam Harris’ article here.

“I just quit my job to be a full-time photographer.”

-I don’t know if that is exact Renee, but I think it is close - I hope you don’t mind my unoriginality in using your words ;)   -

To be more precise I just turned in my 3-week notice.  Starting October 14th I will start my new job as a photographer (both video and still) for the government.

Just before going to bed last night I was pulling off the painters tape from the walls of the freshly painted, soon-to-be, library at the house when I noticed the driveway light was on.  This light has a motion sensor on it so of course my curiosity was aroused.  Looking around I couldn’t see anything.  I figured it was just a squirrel that tripped it - maybe was walking on the car or something.  After looking out the window a little more I notticed a shadow moving behind the tree.  The shadow I saw was far bigger than a squirrel.   I moved to the other window to see what was behind the tree.  Standing there making a nice snack of one of our sedums was a deer.

If we lived near a nature reserve I could expect this and not think anything of it, but there are in a neighborhood that, until recently, I didn’t think was close enough to dense woods to support deer.  What is cool and suck is that we had a deer on our front lawn not someone else’s, however the sucky part is that the little foliage we have in the front is enough to draw a deer for a nighttime snack, just imagine what it will be like when we get the front yard how we want it.

I have to say though, it is pretty cool to look out and see nature ‘right there.’

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