Actually.... TerminalHotness.com

I'm hyping this all over hell and back, and I'm getting a bit of a mental blind spot, so if it sounds like there's something missing in my explanation, just go to the site and check it out. 

This past weekend, a confluence of events created something worthwhile and important:

• A photo of a hot redhead sent from a friend
• A discussion in which it was revealed she has serious medical issues
• The realization of just how many of my friends are in the same boat
• A significant amount of wine
• Ownership of a web-hosting company
• The ability to create web-sites on a whim

Hey...  some people get drunk and create babies... I get drunk and create websites. 

This one looks like it just might grow up and be something important.

I'm a photographer.  I know lots of other photographers and models.   As I said, I've been hyping this where ever I can... and it's picking up some steam.  Whether it's enough to sustain itself or not, I don't know.  I can only hope.

Go to the site.  Read the info.

If you know of anyone who might qualify and be interested, let them know.  If they need a photographer, point them in my direction:   I know photographers all over the world who would be more than happy to donate their services to the project.

Go!  Look!  Read!  Spread the word!

Shoo!

I haven't posted here in a very long time.  I've been busy with other stuff, and I know that nobody really reads this.

Tonight I started something.

Terminal Hotness

Almost every campaign I've seen dealing with debilitating or terminal diseases has shown "sick" people in an attempt to  get our sympathy.

That's absolutely the wrong approach. The average person isn't sick; they can't identify with that person lying in a hospital bed.   Yeah, sure, it makes us all feel a little bit guilty.  But we don't want people to feel guilty.  We want them to be scared. People are really really good at rationalizing guilt.  They  suck at confronting their fears.

Terminal Hotness approaches the issue from two vectors.

1. This doesn't happen to "other people".  This doesn't just happen to people who are poor, or elsewhere, or (let's be honest) not pretty.
2. These people are stronger than you, healthier than you, prettier than you... They're doing everything right and it still hit them.   What chance do you have?

If you  have something to contribute, please do.  If you know someone that qualifies as a model, please refer them.

This is grassroots.  The  soil is tilled and ready.

Yep.   Still alive.

Not much new.  I'm living the same old life I have been.  Money is tight, the house needs lots of work, and I'm still a hermit.

I got the last of the garden planted this afternoon.  I have a little space available if I decide I want something else (maybe some bell peppers), but it's essentially done.  The radishes are already sprouting.  Oh... and if anyone needs/wants chives, just let me know.  They're expanding all over the place.

As some of you know, I've added a new phone line.  I bought a Droid Incredible and put it on a new line.  This way I can try to separate my business stuff from my personal stuff.  Besides... I feel completely comfortable taking my G'Zone phone out with me when I'm on the lake or climbing rocks; I get mildly paranoid putting my Droid in my pocket when I go to work.

Hmm.... Since I've posted here last, I've created a new website for my photography:  Studio 142. If you (or someone you know) is looking for some atypical portraits, send them my way.

And... that's pretty much the extent of the excitement in my life.

Last night, I had a very vivid, strange, and oddly realistic dream.

I was a photographer doing a shoot in South America.  I can't remember what I was shooting, but it wasn't anything major (girls on the beach, guys with palm trees... that kind of stuff).

For some reason, I needed to get out of the country without anyone knowing.  I managed to sneak onto a ship with another photographer.  He was a journalist--he was reporting on government corruption, human rights violations, deplorable living conditions; the kinds of things that dictatorial governments don't like publicized.

He'd run this game before.  The ship we were on was a smuggler ship, and everyone there knew him.  And he knew the rules of the ship--and the smuggler sub-culture.

We hid in boxes to get past customs.  That was the easy part.  The smuggler ships were old WWII naval vessels; destroyers, cutters, and other battle-ready ships.  After leaving the harbor, our captain had to fight his way past other smuggler ships intent on capturing his cargo.

Once underway, I was allowed a degree of freedom in the ship.  But every minor social transaction required a bribe.  A candy bar was the typical payment.

The majority of the dream dealt with the minor interactions between myself and the crew.   I was in an ancient--and poorly-maintained--war vessel, in the open seas, with a crew of outlaws who had created their own culture.  The intricacies were fascinating.  The details were precise.  If I had the resources, this could be the basis for an intense movie.

As it is...  it's just another world created and forgotten by my mind.

I know I haven't been posting here.  Sorry.

I've been busy with work.  And the other work.  And the other other work.  And the stuff that's kind of like work but doesn't actually pay me anything.

Trust me:  If there was anything exciting going on, I'd be bragging about it.  :)   The most exciting thing that's happened in the past 6 months is that I stripped all the ugly wallpaper off of my dining room and put on a fresh coat of paint.

Yep.  Pretty snore-worthy.

A couple months ago, I hit the point where I became officially disgusted by my body.   I came up with a plan to get myself back in shape.

Last weekend I did a photoshoot with a professional athlete.  That really made me realize how out of shape I am.

So... on Monday I started implementing my plan.

I will, a couple days a week, be driving to Devil's Lake State Park.  To start (what I've done Monday and today) I'll be climbing the rocks along the south shore--not the paths, but the actual rocks.  It's called "bouldering".

Now... keep in mind a few things:  I'm 40 years old, I'm significantly overweight, I'm seriously out of shape, and I'm (mildly) arthritic.

Today I took my (very ancient) GPS.  Starting altitude: 844.   Peak altitude: 1284.  That's 440 vertical feet.   The round trip took about 45 minutes.

Honestly?  I think that's pretty good for an old, fat, arthritic man. 

This comes up often: Evolution can't explain the eye.

Seriously? Trained biologists aren't able to figure this one out? Seems pretty logical to me.

There are, right now, animals (worms and such) which have photo-sensitive nerve clusters. This is where the eye starts. Those who have these clusters protected by a thin layer of cells have an advantage. The covering grows more transparent, and therefore may grow thicker--the lens starts. With the added thickness of the lens, the nerve cluster--the newly-forming retina--can recede for more protection. Musculature in the face grows around the lens.... From there it's all just a matter of refinement.

Is it amazing? Yes.

But it's hardly "unexplainable" in evolutionary terms.

Hello? Is this thing still on?

Just letting people know I'm still alive.

And taking the opportunity to point out something I just noticed. The ankle-biters are walking past the house on their way home right now. I see them go by every day, and I've noticed this before, but never really thought about how much I see it.

An amazingly large number of the kids are being walked home by a parent (usually mom). There are a whole bunch of moms that wait at the 4-way intersection downtown for their kids (it's one block from the school).

Nobody ever had a parent walk them home when I was in grade school. There might be a car waiting on rainy days, but being walked home every day? No way.

It's just one more symptom of our sissy nation.

Yes. I have been absent for several months. Let me assure you that this has nothing to do with federal prosecutors or South American dictators. For personal reasons, I have removed myself from the public spotlight (okay... public flashlight) and refrained from posting--particularly in the political categories of this blog.

Currently, most of my writing and creativity is going into work. Since the things I'm doing there actually pay the bills, they have to take precedence. I'm encouraged, however, by the fact that several respected professionals in marketing, advertising, and production have been impressed with the work I'm doing. I've never had any formal training in web design, marketing, or advertising, so even in a relatively small market like Madison, getting compliments feels really good.

Yes. I'm alive.
No. I haven't been posting--at least not here.

I've been busy with all the other projects I have going, and there hasn't been a whole lot to write about. My political writings are going on in other forums and blogs. My personal life amounts to little more than going to work and coming home to work on projects, so there's not much to talk about there.

I had a little time this weekend, so I did some maintenance to this site. My gallery hasn't worked for almost 2 years. So. I fixed it (Are you happy now, Heidi?). Well.. I sorta fixed it. Actually... I didn't fix it at all. What I did was install a whole new gallery and transfered the photos over to it. The existing one will vanish shortly (if it's not gone already when you read this).

This is my new gallery

There's even some new photos in there. I've uploaded the photos from my trip to the Dominican Republic over New Years. There's even a whole album from my SCUBA dive.