Photos

Here are three pictures. These photos were shot for the annual Race for the Cure. It's a fundraiser to help 'fight' breast cancer. It starts at the NIC campus and then works it's way around Coeur d'Alene. Quite a lot of people were there this year.

A few things

Well I don't really have any one coherent theme for this post. So here are just some random topics (well not just random, how about just unrelated to one another).

Weather

The weather is changing. I love summer and each year I look toward the changing of the seasons with a something bordering on dread. I don't want to be cold, locked up inside etc.

And then the weather changes... and well it's great. Today was the first 'real' fall day in Couer d'Alene and I loved it. I biked a lot (to get to various places) and it was wonderful to be outside in the cold and just feel the crispness of the air.

I think my deep rooted dislike of colder weather goes back to my high school days. I liked high school, actually I think it would be fair to say I loved it (well parts of it). However, it prevented me from doing quite a lot of things. Instead of being out side I was forced to be inside, sitting at a desk. So, I never really got to enjoy the nuances of the colder seasons.

Now that I'm emancipated things are changing. Yes, technically I'm in school, but college is a different beast (well at least for me). I have more free time. I can actually go outside and enjoy the cold weather. So, I'm all ready for the Northwest Winter. It's going to be a good one.

Biking

The last week or so has been an excellent bike week. Unlike today the weather has been warm (actually hot) and the sun has been shining. I've been putting in a lot of miles, going on 40 mile rides every other day or so.

There is something about road biking that is so amazing for me. It's so peaceful, so quite. I'm able to go places and see the natural beauty of this area in way that I never would be able to, if it weren't for my bike.

Plus it is such a clean way of moving. I don't mean environmentally clean (although it is), I mean just clean feeling. It's just you, the bike and the road. If you have a bike that is efficient and tuned up... oh boy, what a great feeling.

The Sentinel

And finally, and definitely not least, the Sentinel. It's production week, so starting yesterday I've been working fairly non-stop. It's a shorter issue, so not as much to do. However, there is still plenty of things going on. I think I said it in my last post but putting out a paper is a pretty amazing process. It's just this huge outburst of energy. When you finish you feel drained, but so good.

And I really love it. Honestly, all the work and frustration aside I love working on the paper.

Well, that is it. I think I'll post a few photos I took last weekend for some college events. I'll throw up the PDF's of the Sentinel when it's all done Sunday at noon. And until then, adios.

The NIC Sentinel (Issue One)

Well, it has happened. The first issue of the Sentinel is coming out tomorrow morning. It was a long weekend, but overall things went pretty well. There are a lot of things to improve on (no doubt there) but I think that the staff is willing and capable of stepping up to that challenge.

I'm heartened.

Personally I love production weekends. These weekends are such a high of creativity, energy and chaos. I feel like I disappear for two or three days. I don't think about anything but the paper.

All that being said, Oh my god I'm glad it's over. This one was stressful, I'm not going to lie. My first time ever as the Managing Editor. It was all of the editors (mostly) first time designing or doing anything like that. So, there was a lot of stress and last minute decisions/designs.

Anyways here are some selected PDFs of the paper. Selected meaning the pages I designed.


Front page, A1...

...second opinion page...

... back page of A section...

...and the back page of the B section. This is possibly the only whitewater rafting page ever created with no (that's right) no actual rafting photos. But it looks OK, other than that huge problem.

Guest Writer

Well hey, like I just said in my last post I haven't been writing much. So I decided to introduce a 'guest writer'. His name is Leo Francovich (no relation) and he is an up-and-coming writer. Check it out, it's worth your time.

Procrasti-nahilldoitlater

This will be shoddy.

It is 11:24 PM on a Monday night. I have just returned from working at Rogers Ice Cream and Burgers. While there, I scoop ice cream, and flip (guess it) burgers. I have just realized that I have an article due for the Illuminati Wednesday. P.S. for anyone who can write, you can do this too. But wait, the article is due Wednesday and I am writing it Monday night. Now, what would you call that? That is called motivation, but that is, fortunately, not what this article is about. This article is about procrastination, my other skill. Now, don’t get me wrong. I am very good at what I do, and procrastination is one of the things I do. So, have no qualms about my qualifications in this subject, but before I get sidetracked, let’s dive in.

To better describe the complex and vast field that is procrastination, I will examine its affect on my own life, starting in fourth grade. Now, as you all know, fourth grade was a great time for me, I would consider it my peak. I had straight A’s, a scooter, lots of fourth grade friends, and a bowl cut. Now, you may ask, “What happened?” I’ll tell you what happened, I ate the fruit of knowledge. I did not eat this fruit in fifth or sixth grade; I merely eyed it warily, wondering how it got into my life and when it would leave. However, in seventh grade, after years of curiosity and confusion, I sank my teeth deep into the fruit and discovered my lack of purpose. What I discovered is a simple cause for procrastination: There are so many better things to be doing than homework. You have no idea.

After I ate the fruit of knowledge I started to devote myself to my new faith, missing some deadlines and barely scraping by others. I had started down the path. Perhaps this was the reason for my straight D average I achieved that year, or perhaps, as I suspect, I was simply wronged. Either way, I had stopped turning things in on time, and I was consistently coming up short of expectations. Now, many of my well-adjusted, mature, seventh grade colleagues decided that they would postpone gratification. If they wanted to do something, they would do their homework first. Favorite TV show? How about some English? Local rodeo? Let’s see if you can buck that pre-algebra! Mother in hospital? That is just the science of life, my friend. I could not achieve this academic foresight, however, and I lived a life of instant gratification. Once I started I could not stop.

This brings me to my next point: procrastination is like freight train, a late one, but more importantly, something that does not stop easily. Once you lose one assignment, you lose them all, and you find yourself pushing a vacuum for Carl. If I remembered anything from my math classes, I would tell you that it builds exponentially, but I don’t think I read that chapter. The beginning of each school year for the last six years started the same for me, I would try to work hard for about a week or so, I’d lose steam and stop turning things in, and then I’d be fighting an uphill battle, which is not something you want to be doing.

So, forgive me for growing up a little, but this article is here to warn you against procrastinating, which is probably what several worried teachers (the ones that aren’t from Indiana) reading this article are waiting for me to say. Control the freight train, do your homework, and visit your mother in the ER later, there will always be another accident. Don’t do it for glory, for GPA, or even for God, do your homework for self-respect and a dedication to education. Do all of this and do it on time, and you will become whatever you want to be: an accountant, an ornithologist, or a gladiator. Hopefully the latter.

P.S. If you were wondering what sort of fruit it was, the fruit of knowledge I mentioned earlier. It wasn’t an apple or anything like that. It was a kiwi.

More Photos

Well, I've been doing a lot of photo posts. I like these, but I think it's important to write too. So, hopefully I get back to that. But honestly photo posts are quite a bit quicker to do, so for now this is what I'm going with...

... here is a photo of Heidi Groover (I took this almost a year ago)...

... and here is the same photo that I posted a few days ago, but in color. I didn't really realize that it worked in color too, so that is kind of neat.

Yoga Photo

Hey, well I've been taking some photos for my mother of her yoga classes. I've taken a lot, and some have turned out, while others haven't (as usual, thank god for digital). Anyways, this is one of my favorites.

Stealing. An effective way of making change.

Well, I've done it. For a long time I've lusted after this program. It's the premier photo editing program. It gives you the power to do anything, more or less. But it also comes at a hefty price. 1,000 dollars a pop is kind of a lot of money.

And then I discovered the student edition. It's the same program. As far as I know. And it only cost 200 dollars. Quite a deal, if you ask me.

I'm not a hundred percent sure why Adobe would offer their software at an 80 percent discount. I was thinking about it and I decided that it probably had to do with stealing. I imagine that students are the primary 'stealers' of programs (like Photoshop). So, I guess it would make sense for Adobe to try and incite us students to go through the proper channels.

Basically, I think that the rampant downloading of programs from sites like BitTorrent, encouraged Adobe to lower their prices, for some. So, stealing can be a form of protest, yes? I think these kind of programs are worth a lot of money, but asking a college kid to spend 1,000 dollars is kind of ridiculous. So, keep stealing, maybe the price will go down even farther. Or listen to your conscience and let others do the stealing for you.

Some good old color replacement.

I know color replacement is kind of old hat if you will, however, I still think it's one of the coolest things you can do. So, I took this photo of two 'bucket drummers' that I took while in Chicago, and messed with its color...

... so here is the original...

... and here it is with a B&W mask on it...

... and here is the good old replaced color.

NIC Soccer

Here are some photos I took from a recent NIC soccer game. I've never shot soccer before, I thought it was pretty fun. It's hard though. I can imagine what an amazing shot would look like, however, actually taking that shot is a different story. Anyways here they are.

Biking into the future

Well, it has finally happened. I've gotten clip in bike pedals. Wonders of wonder, I'm in love. You might ask "What took you so long to make this happen?" And I would respond, "Well, it was a combination of inertia, monetary ineptitude and just plain old fashioned conservatism." Overall very misguided.

For those of you who don't bike, clip in bike pedals are just pedals that you clip your bike shoes into. They have clips that connect with your shoe, thus the name 'Clip in bike pedal' (Wow). So, what is the big advantage? Well it's in the pull. You see when you bike with clips you can both push and pull. Pushing and pulling makes you go faster, which is the only important thing when you bike (just kidding).

So, how did I happen to get myself a pair of 'clips'? You see a few weeks ago I thought to myself, 'Wow, I need some clips.' So I went price shopping. Boy did that change my mind. They are way too expensive. So, I decided I didn't need them. I make an awful lot decisions this way.

Anyways a few days ago I was poking around in my bike stuff. The brakes on my bike have been a little shaky, which is kind of scary. I'll find myself going down a hill, just hoping to god my brakes come through and slow me down before I fly into a busy road or something similar.

Anyways, I was looking into this, trying to fix it, when I came across them. Yes, clips. I couldn't believe it. So, I ran inside to our shoe rack. And sure enough, there they were, bike shoes. All this time! The deal was a good friend of mine, John Sahlin, gave me these shoes and clips almost a year ago. I don't know why I didn't put them on my bike immediately, but I didn't.

So, now I have bike clips. Now I've joined the 21st century biking culture. Well, not exactly. These clips are probably 15 years old, but hey, who cares, they're new to me. That is the great thing about coming late to a fad or technology, the old, outdated stuff seems brand new to you. Plus it's cheap (or free, in my case).

Anyways, I inaugurated them with a nice 30 mile ride. I'll tell you what, it makes a huge difference, gone are the days of just pushing, welcome pull!


Look! Clip in pedals...

... and the bike itself...
... and finally, the inaugural ride.

Hundredth Post

Well, I'm home from my Chicago adventures. It's good to be back. I've been incredibly busy with my new job as the managing editor of NIC's newspaper, The Sentinel. Basically the impetus for creating this post is that I just want to be able to join the hundred post club. I don't know if there is such a thing, but if there is, you can count me in. Because this is my hundredth post!

When I first started blogging. I kind of felt like it had no purpose. Sometimes I still feel like that (like right now, for instance). But generally speaking I feel like blogging is a great way to express what you are seeing and thinking. Everyone has a different perspective, on everything. So, being able to easily publish that on the web is wonderful. Gone are the days of newspapers having hegemonic control over our media consumption.

It also helps to know that you have readers. When I first started blogging I installed a program called Google Analytics. It lets me know when people are looking at my blog, where they are looking at it from (just a general region, no specific addresses), how long they are looking at it and a slew of other things that I don't really understand. It keeps me motivated, so thanks to everyone who has followed this blog.

Speaking of blogging (because that is of what we are speaking) you all should check out my good friend Heidi Groover's blog. She is spending the semester/year in Ghana. She is an amazing writer and is obviously seeing some amazing stuff. So check it out here.

Anyways, I'm going to sign off now. Again, thank you all, your readership means a lot to me. I will post again soon, hopefully it will deal with biking our journalism. We will see!