Marathon Man

During the period of the 1980s and 90s I was a runner. Well, maybe it would be more accurate to say I was a jogger, but I actually did participate in several “races” during that time (namely 5Ks, 8Ks and some 10Ks). (And, really, I, myself, never actually raced anyone…) I think the largest event I ever participated in (on one hot August night in the late 80s) was when the Seattle SEAFAIR 10K race drew over 10,000 runners. (That’s the memory I have of it now, anyway). I see that, these days, the SEAFAIR event is an 8K run, and that last year it drew a mere 2,700 participants. Ah, I guess the glory days of running are over…

But, why do I speak of this?!

Because: during the last several days, I’ve been feeling healthy enough to think about running again. It has been almost ten years since I’ve done this, having severely aggravated my left knee during an intense August 1997 hike in Glacier National Park. The arthritis that was discovered in the aftermath of that vacation led me to, practically immediately, drastically curtail my running activities. Lately, however, with this renewed path to health that I’ve been on, I’m toying with the idea that my body may be able to tolerate this kind of exercise again. Even to be THINKING of this, of course, feels great. And, during three of my walks in the last few days, I’ve broken into a jog (for, like, a quarter mile or so).

Now, I don’t really have the stuff of a marathon man, but… can't I dream?

Lack of Focus

Where is my head at these days? All over the place, it seems. I’ve been finding it difficult to find a focus, what with multiple areas of life all demanding my attention. I’ve been so scattered that even to sit down and compose a little blog entry has been an over-the-top challenge.

I guess I have to admit that my primary mission in life lately (given that I’ve returned to, and am maintaining, an acceptable level of health) is conducting my job search. It goes on and on and on…

For example, I interviewed at another Oregon community college just over two weeks ago. This happens to be a position and a place that, at least on the surface, feels like the perfect fit for me. I thought the interview day went quite well and had hoped to hear something (e.g., a job offer!) by now. No such luck. I received an email from the college’s VP a couple of days ago informing me that the search committee was “gathering more information” and that she hoped there would be a decision sometime in the next three weeks.

Holy Ambivalence, Batman! Three WEEKS more!

It sure has me wondering what’s up, up there!

For now, all I can do is continue with the process and, to the best of my ability, trust it. I had a phone interview with a college in the Northeast U.S. this morning, and have another one with a campus in the Southwest next week. I feel like a politician repeating his stump speech over and over and over again. I need to keep reminding myself no matter how familiar my stories are to me, that this next interview group has never heard them before.

Another thing constantly on my mind, that is when I’m not obsessing over the fact that I don’t know where I’m going to be working in the near future, is my photography. As you have learned, I have an entirely new primary camera body and lens these days and new software to go along with it. I’m trying to be patient and teach myself Nikon Capture NX, which actually seems to be going well. However, my patience with the other Nikon product, PictureProject, totally ran out some time back. I think that, basically, it’s pretty worthless. Fortunately, I found a replacement that I’m entirely delighted with, namely Photo Mechanic. This is an incredible piece of software that is going to make managing my ever-growing collection of digital photos much easier.

And, then there’s getting out of the house to actually take photographs. I’m continuing to make time for that, and though I’m tightly scheduled, it feels really good to be back “out there.”

Of course, I haven’t even mentioned that I still am required to show up at a real job every day and expected to make a difference. To the best of my ability, I’m attempting to do that. Just today we finished the first week of spring term, my last full academic term in this location…and it was intense. There were lots and lots of fires to put out, so I ran from one to the other as best I could. Whew, am I glad this week is over with!

Spring Break

This student was busily working away two whole days before the beginning of spring term. What is it they say about the early bird?

And, yes, today was the first day after Spring Break. Not that I really had one. A break that is. I’m still conserving my precious vacation time for much-anticipated interview trips.

However, I’m continuing to find opportunities to test out the new camera gear I’ve invested in. A trip to Eugene over the weekend yielded some colorful springtime shots, such as the one above, of the University of Oregon campus.

Inspiration

A little while back, I wrote about my experience watching presidential candidate John Edwards on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher. I had been tremendously impressed with Edwards’ obvious forthrightness and honesty during that interview.

Yes. You’ve got that right: a politician’s name and the word “honesty” used in the same sentence. Is that amazing, or what?

After having been greatly disappointed with the choices in presidential elections in recent times (well, like, since 1972), I found myself intrigued and curiously excited about Edwards’ 2008 candidacy.

Now we have the news, in the last week, that Elizabeth Edwards has had her breast cancer return. Pundits, bloggers, and just about anyone else in the politically-aware world, are examining the couple’s choice to remain in the race. Every person with a camera, microphone or a website has felt the obligation to weigh in.

And so will I.

I was very moved by the Sixty Minutes interview with the Edwards’ last Sunday. If they’re in denial about the seriousness of their situation, well, that’s where they need to be at the moment. If, on the other hand, they’re being “realistic,” then they’re simply a tremendously gutsy duo. Whatever they are, they continue to be “real” (authentic) people in my eyes…the kind of couple that, personally, I’d like to see occupy that big light-colored dwelling on Pennsylvania Avenue.

People pursuing their passion. Living in the moment. Knowing that “we’re all going to die” – and proceeding to go about the business of living anyway. My kind of people.

Thanks, John and Elizabeth, for being an inspiration.

Photo Mania

You might recall that, just last month, I ’fessed up to my tendency to lust over some silly pieces of camera equipment. I subsequently admitted that I’d surrendered to temptation and acquired the Nikon D80 camera body.

Well, the disease (syndrome? affliction? addiction?) did not end there. Remember that I had expressed an interest in a new and very popular lens as well: the 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor? I had been on a waiting list at B & H Photovideo (in New York ) for about three months, and was pretty convinced that this particular lens was, indeed, a rare beast and I would not be seeing one anytime soon.

Well, except…of course…I took that trip to San Francisco recently.

Ah, yes. Within an hour of checking into my hotel on March 17, I was walking along Fisherman’s Wharf and visiting that (seemingly endless) line of gaudy electronics stores on Jefferson Street. The second shop I entered had one of these lenses in stock! Unheard of!

Yup. It’s now mine. In addition to this shot, see some more taken with this lens at my flickr site.