jane's daily blah

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I need a nutcracker.
2007-10-29 18:53:00
Hiding in the grass, blending in with the fallen leaves,this is one tough nut to crack. But if you're patient...Pecans!
More About: Photography , Waycross , Cracker , Nutcracker

Carter Cemetery, Swamp Rd, Ware Co, GA
2007-10-29 02:45:00
(No, this isn't a Halloween decoration, this is a real headstone.)
More About: Photography , Ware , Waycross , Carter , Swamp

More Waycross architecture
2007-10-26 18:37:00
This house is barely over half a mile away from my house-in-the-ghetto.Can you believe that? (This one is not for sale.)This one is for sale. It's on the same street as the one above.It's going for $38,000, but it needs a LOT of work.The listing is here.Meanwhile, this is the house mom and I are fixing up:(You can see a tour of the inside here.)That hideous addition off the back is the laundry room.We're going to have to do something about that!
More About: Photography , Architecture , Waycross

Why buy a McMansion when you could have the real thing for less?
2007-10-26 05:01:00
The weather today was beautiful (the past several days have been dreary and drizzly), and as I was up early (gasp!), I decided to take a walk through the historic district along Gilmore Street. Gilmore Street is where the wealthiest of the railroad barons built their homes over a century ago, back when Waycross was in its heyday. While some of the houses on Gilmore have fallen into disrepair over the years, there are still many to gawk at... and several that are up for sale, if anyone is interested! The pictures below are of houses on Gilmore which are for sale. (No, I am NOT a realtor or affiliated with one in any way; I just feel like people should be aware of how far their money can go if they move to Waycross. Hint, hint.) Let's start with this house:Actually, it no longer looks anything like this picture,which I took in July 2006, as they've totally remodeled it.See the image below for its current look!It's hard to believe it's the same house as the one in the picture above...
More About: Photography , Real , Thing

I need a name!
2007-10-25 04:25:00
This is the cat that showed up on my doorstep on Sunday. Her paw was swollen and she couldn't put any weight on it, so I began calling her Limpy. I took her to the vet Monday. Her paw had an abcess which had to be drained, and now she's doing much better... and I can't keep calling her Limpy! Any suggestions? Also, know anyone who might be interested in a seven or eight month old frisky little kitty?
More About: Photography , Pets , Waycross

Learning about Kyrgyzstan
2007-10-24 21:52:00
This is the first time in a long while that I've planned an extended sojourn in a country about which I know next to nothing. I've been trying to educate myself on this topic, although I must admit that I'm finding it quite difficult to relate to Central Asia from Waycross, GA! Nonetheless, I've gathered a whole bunch of links which I've been perusing, and which perhaps you'll check out too. Here's some of what youtube has to offer:A nice introduction to the capital city Bishkek, where I'll be living.Photo and video clips set to musicDifferent photo and video clips set to music.Here are some English language Kyrgyzstan and Central Asiablogs and news sites:GenderStanEurasianet Kyrgyzstan Archiveneweurasia: kyrgyzstanneweurasia: central asiaTolkunistanKyrgyzstan's been in the news recently, although you might not have noticed if you weren't looking for it. As I know very little about Kyrgyzstan's politics at this point, I figure it will be better for me to link you to the a...
More About: Learning , Earning

Scantastic: Pass the baby the wine edition
2007-10-24 02:20:00
I've spent the past couple of days scanning in photos from family photo albums before the print copies finally disintegrate and vanish into dust. My mom kept photo albums from my birth in 1978 though 1988. When I was 10 I began to look ridiculously unphotogenic, and I'm somewhat convinced that this is why she stopped keeping albums. Post-1988 photos are all in a box in her house. I'm not sure I've got it in me to tackle the task of sorting through them! Anyway, I've uploaded sixty-nine of my childhood photos to a set in flickr. While they will probably only be of interest to family and childhood friends, you're all welcome to take a look. The photos can be seen by clicking here. This is my favorite of the photos, taken on Christmas 1979 - it looks like I'm asking someone to pass me the bottle of wine!Me, Christmas dinner 1979
More About: Baby , Wine , Pass , Edition

Justice, Moral Reasoning and Boredom
2007-10-23 03:37:00
I mentioned the other day that I'm covering local community college classes while the teacher is away. This involves little other than taking roll and showing movies. The classes that I covered at the college today got to watch a video on justice and morality in political philosophy. I expected it to be pretty dull. I majored in PolySci and know that it takes a very engaging professor to bring political philosophy to life; sadly many of the PolySci profs out there are lacking in the needed skill to prevent one from nodding off. This film turned out to be quite interesting. It consisted of excerpts from a lecture class at Harvard University. The professor doing the lecturing was quite witty, and I (and the Harvard students) frequently laughed out loud. Meanwhile, my classroom was filled with blank expressions. At one point in the film, pi was mentioned. One of the students, confused, looked at the one next to her and said, "Wha's he talkin' 'bout pie for?" to which the response w...
More About: Education , Justice , Waycross , Boredom , Moral

The gods must really want me to have an eleventh cat.
2007-10-22 01:56:00
After it turned out that Blue Eyed Brownie had a home, I felt quite relieved; eight cats plus two who stop by regularly for food is enough! Then this afternoon I heard children's voices shouting, "Miss Jane! Miss Jane!" I went outside and found three of the neighborhood girls pointing at a cat on my porch. "That your cat?" they asked. At first I said yes - as it was a calico tabby that looked just like Alley Cat. Then I realized that it was wearing a flea collar, which none of mine do. I'd actually seen it around recently, but figured that with the flea collar, it must have a home nearby. I told the girls it wasn't my cat and they said, "Oh. We thought it was yours. It's got a broke foot and was in the street crying." Sure enough Alley Cat's doppelganger had a swollen front paw which she was holding up off the ground. I figured I should bring her inside. She seemed very thin, and when I gave her some food, she inhaled more at one go than Daddy Cat does (which is a LOT, believe ...
More About: Pets , Waycross , Ally , Gods , The Go

Mia's Grand Adventure
2007-10-21 21:05:00
Mia noticed early on that the other cats merely had to go and stare forlornly at the door, and I would open it and allow them out into The Great Outdoors. Initially, she simply seemed relieved that Those Strange Beasts were out of Her New House. Then she began to get curious as to where they were going, and would watch from windows and through doors. Eventually, she began trying to go outside, and I figured it was time to take her out. Her first two trips outside weren't the best: Daddy Cat chased her back into the house the first time, and rain started pouring on us the next. Nonetheless, she still wanted to go outside. Both yesterday and today I've had her out for about an hour, during which she seems to have had a lot of fun exploring the yard and smelling everything. Several of the other cats - particularly Shady - have been fascinated by the fact that their foreign visitor has finally decided to join them outside. Today I took some photos:Gah! What's behind me?Ahh, it's onl...
More About: Photography , Pets , Adventure , Grand , Waycross

This land is OUR land :-)
2007-10-21 04:04:00
Well, we've finally closed on the eight acres, so this morning mom and I took the dogs out there for a run. I should explain that my mom owns three dogs: Ursa, a 12 year old near toothless chow suffering from congestive heart failure, Blix, a 5ish year old, well-behaved German Shephard and Shiva, a year old lab/pit-bull mix someone abandoned at my house as a puppy while I was in Korea. Shiva is beautiful and well meaning, but she has SO MUCH ENERGY and she is also incredibly strong. The dogs have about half an acre at mom's house to run around on. Blix and Ursa seem fine with that, but it's pretty obvious that Shiva has been dying to have the entire Ware County countryside to run around in. The dogs had an incredible amount of fun, rolling around in every mud-puddle and patch of swampland (not on our land, just nearby) that they could find. Shiva even found a rancid deer leg (she was very disappointed that we wouldn't let her bring it home). Ursa got tired out pretty quickly, bu...
More About: Photography , Pets , Land , Waycross

Escher... or a Korean backyard?
2007-10-20 18:55:00
One of the themes for the next issue of JPG Magazine is Bird's Eye View, and I've selected this image, taken from the rooftop of my apartment in Korea . I'd love it if you'd click here or on the image below and vote :-)
More About: Photography , Korean , Backyard , Escher

I'm going to Kyrgyzstan!
2007-10-20 03:57:00
In a fit of impracticality, I have chosen as my next destination the job which offered me the least in terms of salary, and have decided to head for Kyrgyzstan . The program only accepts teachers under 30, so I figured it was now or never. After all, when else will I get the opportunity to go to Kyrgyzstan? Assuming all goes as planned, I'll be leaving for Kyrgyzstan at the very beginning of January and staying for at least ten months. I'll be living in the capital city of Bishkek and teaching at The London School in Bishkek. In case you're scratching your head, wondering where the hell this Kyrgyzstan place might be, here are some maps to help you out:
More About: Central Asia , Going , Goin

Because what I really needed was an eleventh cat... (UPDATED)
2007-10-19 02:43:00
UPDATE: So several hours later, after the rain cleared out, I heard someone outside shouting "Blue Eyed Brownie! Blue Eyed Brownie!" over and over. Immediately the kitty jumped up and started looking for a way out. Not that I'm entirely thrilled about giving the obviously underfed and fleabitten cat (at least I Advantaged her) to her owner, but the woman seemed thrilled that I had her. Although she also said that I've probably spoiled her with fancy catfood, and if the cat wanders back down here, I can have her. I made a point of saying But I already have ten cats! although once you reach double digit felines, what's one more anyway?...look what showed up on my back porch this evening during a rainstorm:Anybody want a cat?I'd say she's 6-9 months old, and she's really sweet.
More About: Pets , Waycross , Ally

my life in waycross
2007-10-18 03:13:00
This week and next week I am "teaching" several classes at Waycross College while one of the instructors is out of town. I place "teaching" in quotes because what I'm actually doing is checking roll and showing movies. It's pretty boring - especially when I have to watch stultifying films such as Altered States: A History of Drug Use in America three times in a row. But it brings in some needed extra cash.Extra cash is definitely needed when one doesn't have health insurance. Lack of health insurance is probably the biggest drawback of my life plan, as health care costs in this country are ridiculous. I had minor surgery on Tuesday - an outpatient procedure to remove to moles from my left arm for biopsy. I also needed a tetanus shot. Not only did all of this amount to a whopping $335 (even with the cash discount - yes, they charge the insurance companies more than they charge those of us who pay out of our wallets) but if they come back malignant (no physical harm!), then I'm go...
More About: Education , Life , Photography , My Life

Floridian Road Trip Weekend
2007-10-17 00:38:00
Friday afternoon I left Waycross and headed south to visit Melissa and Alex, who live in Orlando. It was an excellent trip - especially since I hadn't seen Melissa and Alex since July 2006. While there, we went out for really delicious food: Indian, Mexican and Korean - heavenly! In addition to ethnic culinary pleasures, Alex has recently decided to take up baking, and his creations are fabulously scrumptious. We didn't merely eat our way through the weekend: we also went to Wekiwa Springs (which we were unable to get into back in July 06) and we saw King of California at the Enzian (we'd actually tried to go to the Enzian back in July 06 only to find the show sold out...) Wekiwa (also sometimes spelled Wekiva) was pretty, although I have to admit that I prefer Ichetucknee. At least at Ichetucknee you can hike along the river if you don't want to swim in the springs or canoe/tube the river. At Wekiwa, it seems that your options are limited to swimming in the springs, or hiking t...
More About: Photography , Florida , Weekend , Trip , Road Trip

Of slum lords, infernal beepings, and flower transplants
2007-10-12 00:00:00
I had yet another creepy-old-guy encounter today. And no, not with Ronnie. I guess first I should give you some background. Here in Waycross there are two people whom my mother and I consider to be Slum Lords . They own a lot of properties that are in terrible condition. Now, if you're planning to run a rental property, it has to be up to certain codes. If you're planning to sell a house, it doesn't. These two chaps offer people (generally very poor people) the opportunity to rent-to-own these houses. It seems that the general expectation is that eventually these people will miss a payment and get evicted, and they can turn around and set up a rent-to-own scenario with someone else. And getting the properties up to code? Hey, that's the responsibility of the new "owner." One of these slum lords is (outwardly at least) a fine upstanding pillar of the community, who lives in a big house in one of the nice neighborhoods. (He owns the houses located next to and behind me.) The other...
More About: Flower , Tran , Infernal

Reflective (yep, time to vote again!)
2007-10-11 03:51:00
One of the themes for JPG Magazine's Issue 14 is Emotion Capture, and I've selected Reflective, a shot of my friend Joanna, reflected in the window of the trans-Siberian as we chugged eastward across the plains of Russia. Either click here or on the image below to vote. Thank you so very, very much!
More About: Photography , Time , Vote

Fuzzy Blue Flowers
2007-10-11 03:50:00
(pererennial ageratum, aka foamflower)
More About: Flowers , Photography , Blue

Pension update :-)
2007-10-10 19:34:00
I wrote about my trip to the Daegu branch of the Korea n pension office back in early September. I was told to expect my pension money to appear in my bank account within two to three weeks. Well, after five weeks and no pension, I emailed my school and asked them to contact the pension office. Now I don't know if the two to three week estimate was really just a nice way of saying five to six weeks, or if the call placed to the pension office by my school kicked someone into gear... but my pension is here :-)
More About: Update , Pension

A book you must read. Now.
2007-10-09 04:39:00
For my birthday, my Aunt Mary sent me a book entitled Three Cups of Tea: One man?s mission to promote peace? one school at a time. It?s the biography of Greg Mortensen, a former mountain climber turned philanthropist. His tale is phenomenal: he had traveled to Pakistan to climb K2, but like many mountaineers, was defeated by the mountain. On his descent, lost, sick, and disoriented, he wandered into a tiny village called Korphe. The villagers nursed him back to health and in exchange, he promised to return and build a school for the village, as it had none. Now, it?s not as though Mortensen was a rich man, someone who could easily afford to finance such an endeavor; in fact, it was quite the opposite. However, he persevered in his goal, and not only succeeded in building the school in Korphe, but he established the Central Asia Institute, which has built nearly 60 schools across the rural areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, built libraries, trained and paid teachers, created women?s ...
More About: Education , Book Review , Book , Read

A weekend visit
2007-10-07 21:36:00
My dad and my brother Pressley drove up from Tampa this weekend for a visit. The weather was a bit dreary and rainy, so we didn't get to do too much... although we did make it to the Okefenokee Heritage Center in order to do some quality climbing about on the old train...I love the OHC, but I really wish they'd take the Christmas lights off the train.On the train's engineditto.Ghost Train Caboose!Dad & Pressley at one of the OHC exhibitsSuch a sibling photo.With my dad, brother and Alley Cat :-)
More About: Photography , Weekend , Visit , Waycross

"They're the people who are trying to kill us."
2007-10-05 16:04:00
Last night at the fair (see previous post), several local churches had set up booths. That in itself isn't surprising; we're in the Bible Belt after all. I'm certainly not a fan of people proselytizing to me, but I respect the beliefs of others enough that I usually just smile politely and try to extricate myself as quickly as possible. One kindly looking, grandfatherly old man approached me as I walked past one of the church booths, holding out what I assumed would simply be a Christain tract of some kind. As he handed it to me he asked, "Do you know about Islam? They're the people who are trying to kill us! Next Thursday, Dave Miller [this fellow] is coming to tell us all about them. You should come." Oh. My. God.
More About: People , The People , Kill , Waycross

Okefenokee Agricultural Fair
2007-10-05 02:34:00
Early this evening, my mom was scheduled to man the Waycross College booth at the Okefenokee Agri cultural Fair here in Waycross. (She teaches history at Waycross College, by the way.) I went with her (outfitted in a ridiculously large Waycross College t-shirt) and, in exchange for getting into the fair for free, helped her run the booth. This entailed spending an hour passing out Waycross College brochures, catalogues, bracelets, pens, balloons and t-shirts to those interested. For some reason, the t-shirts only came in size 2XL... although that didn't really seem to be a problem for most.Mom in the Waycross College boothMom and the Waycross College Swamp FoxMe and the Swamp FoxFor some reason, you could practice shooting things at theWildlife Resources Division booth. My mom really enjoyed it.Oh, America. Stop with the eating.Also, stop walking in front of the chick with the camera. Please.Infernal?Ferris Wheel Sky"Italian" SausageSugar BabesAlso: For an "agricultural" fair, the a...
More About: Photography

Housing Project
2007-10-05 01:47:00
No, not that kind of housing project. My mom recently purchased a house (located directly behind that green one I considered buying), with the intention of fixing it up and selling it at a profit. There's still a lot that needs to be done: painting, flooring, etc. I'm planning to start on painting the kitchen next week. I took a short video of the house for you to see. Several people have suggested that I move into this house, as it *is* located in a much better neighborhood than mine; however, you'll notice that this place is far from habitable at this point. Besides, my house is much better than this one, even if my neighborhood is lacking. Sadly, I don't have any photos of the exterior of our "extra house" - even though I *know* I've taken several, I can't find them anywhere! So for now the exterior of the house must remain a mystery to you. However, here's a complete tour of the inside. Enjoy!
More About: Project , Housing , Waycross , G Project

Know what I got in the mail today?
2007-10-04 00:28:00
A brand new passport complete with biometric chip! Wondering what I mean by biometrics? Click here.Aren't they pretty inside?In fact, there's a different picture on every page.
More About: Mail , Today

Practicing low-light photography
2007-10-03 02:28:00
(Click thumbnails to see large)
More About: Photography , Light

Scantastic! Costa Rica 1995
2007-10-03 00:38:00
Long before the annoying tourists of the world discovered and developed Costa Rica , Melissa and I were there. This was back in 1995. We were 16 years old, and spent three weeks traveling about Costa Rica with Melissa's older sister Brenda, who had just spent a semester there studying. Anybody remember the old 110 cameras? Well, I had one when I went to Costa Rica in 1995; it was turquoise. I just scannned in 22 of its pictures. You know you want to see them - not only do you get to see Costa Rica before every square inch was covered in condos, but you get to see how ridiculous I looked when I was 16. And what was with the Indiana Jones hat? Sigh. The things we do when we're young. Anyway, go here to check them out!
More About: Photography , Cant

So he looks like Dobby the House Elf. So what?
2007-10-02 22:44:00
Putin and democracy in Russia are the topics this week over at Blog Supergroup , with a little bit about Iran's Ahmadinejad thrown in for good measure. Give it a whirl, all this week at BlogSupergroup!
More About: Politics , House

Scantastic! Korea and the DMZ 2004
2007-10-02 05:33:00
More scanned photographs are on flickr! I've uploaded 42 pictures to my South Kore a 2004 set, and 11 photographs to my DMZ set. Enjoy :-)
More About: Photography , Cant