The Daily - September 11, 2023 - Monday - Embrace Life

Scott went back to work today and started a three month contracting stint. I worked out but felt sluggish throughout the bike ride I chose. All of yesterday’s walking (at least 6 miles) had me feeling lethargic. Swimming felt decent although I only had time for 20 laps. I also spent 16 minutes in the sauna.

 

 
Arrived home to shocking news - an explosion at ADM - (not so shocking) - but this was a bad one and Janice’s son Joe was injured in the blast. It has taken me two days write this as I was filled with shock then sadness and finally anger. I’ve always been wary of ADM’s manufacturing culture - based on accounts from previous employees who worked there as young engineers out of college. Feedback from tradespeople (contractors in construction, pipe fitters, electricians) was never glowing. No company is perfect, Cabot included, but everyone always preferred our company over ADM. Then there are the two other explosions / fires since April at ADM under OSHA investigation. One in April and another one in August. Red flags abound. The general public doesn’t realize the hazards abound in any processing facility. Flammables, gases, caustics, processing agents in large quantities are used. The work and more importantly, safety culture is critical to keeping all those hazards contained.

 

 
The good news is Joe’s prognosis is positive, he is a young, strong man. I worry about the mental impacts a trauma like this experience could have on him, a newly minted college graduate. I know his family is rooted in faith which will help.

 

 
Janice and walked together Sunday afternoon right before everything changed. She talked about how Joe and his girlfriend had recently adopted a kitten. Life can change in an instant - we must all embrace it fully and not take it for granted.

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Along My Run | 1

I often take photos with my iPhone when I'm out running – running serves not only as means to stay fit, but a way for me to commune with my surroundings. I’m always looking, listening, observing. Sometimes I do this to keep my mind off the monotony that might accompany the run, but mostly these observations serve as acts of gratitude - to acknowledge the wonderful things around me. I then attach the photo to my RunKeeper's record of the activity, which serves as a great reminder of that run.

I have almost three years of running records on RunKeeper. I started tracking my runs via their GPS app in October, 2011 when I upgraded to the iPhone 4s, and I find it interesting to see the accumulation of that information over time (I am an engineering geek afterall). I can see the gaps when I was injured, I can see the progression of mileage increases as I ramped up. Data can be a positive motivator.

With the purchase of a Garmin Forerunner GPS watch in February, I no longer use RunKeeper's real time GPS tracking functionality. However, I still upload my Garmin data to Run Keeper. It's an extra step in the overall process, but for now, I think it is worth having all my data in one database.

Onto the real reason for this post – what I’ve captured during my recent runs, taken over the past 4 weeks:


1. Along the Edge. It was my 2nd run today. I'm taking tomorrow off., 2. A Run in the Rain, 3. Mother's Day Gift, 4. Wind and Wisp , 5. Love never stops, it never gives up, it never runs out on me, 6. Spring Dream - Sorry for the numerous photos this morning - it's a perfect day for a run and I had to share it., 7. Wander and Wonder, 8. Heavenly Fragrant , 9. Blessed Assurance , 10. Grant Me Solace Today , 11. Good Morning! , 12. Off Roading - Not taken by me but I was there, 13. Shimmer , 14. Blood Moon Setting , 15. From The High Point of the Bridge

I'll close with a group photo from work - all the people who participated in the local marathon race events. Everyone at work knows I'm a rabid photographer, so I get to coordinate these photo shoots, pick the locale and tell everyone where to stand. Hey, it works for me!


Hope you get to enjoy the great outdoors this weekend!

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Throwback Thursday - Windsor Castle

Last week's training session brought back memories of the last time I ran the class, way back in January, 2008, in the decidedly "cooler" location of Wales, UK. Friend Mark had just started in the role of IT Project manager for the system we were training on and the training torch was being passed from cohort number three, Anthony. Each training session brings along with it interesting travel adventures that serve as great fodder when reminiscing.

When Mark visited last week, I walked him through my LightRoom work flow and re-edited some photos I took from that 2008 trip. We both agreed that my new edit of Windsor Castle surpasses my 2008 edit when I was using Nikon View NX.



I wrote up a detailed blog post on our visit to Windsor Castle and Stonehenge, which may be read here: Visit to Windsor Castle and Stonehenge, 2008.

Here's another throwback photo from that visit - the training group participants. It's always fun to go back in the past.


I've been [slowly] going through my previous years' photos and incorporating them into my Lightroom catalog. This is quite a task as I have digital photos spanning back from 2003 and only started using Lightroom in 2011. Hopefully, I'll be able to incorporate more Throwback posts here in the blog.

Have a great Thursday!

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Workin' It

With last week's busy work week behind me, I am now playing catch up with all the daily tasks I didn't get to complete. Although presenting training material to a group of adults was tiring, I now miss the group setting and interaction as I sit in my (thankfully warm) office analyzing data as always.

I took a few photos during last week's session, mainly during the breakout exercises and the evening events. I normally don't fill the role of "event photographer" at work, but in this case, my camera was already out in use by my co-worker/friend, Mark. Mark executed last week's training session with me and is also photography hobbyist. His visit from out of town was an opportunity to check out some of my lenses.

If the weather had been nice, we would have embarked on a proper "photowalk" around town, but the classroom was definitely warmer.

Two of the gentlemen from Mexico, who had never seen snow until last week. Juan, on the right, never stopped smiling the entire time he was here.




We don't spend all our time in the classroom - evening events allow the participants to relax and get to know each other better.




The group attended the local NCAA Basketball game - amidst a snowstorm - and had a great time, even though the home team lost.

Who knows, our small prairie town may become the "destination of choice" for future training sessions. We delivered unique experiences (big snow, possibility for tornadoes), collegiate sporting events, good restaurants, and lovely prairie sunsets.



Note - non watermarked photos in this post were taken by others

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Busy Week Randomness

I'm finishing up a busy work week - I ran a training session for 15 people, which included 9 out of town visitors. Here are my random observations from the week.

1. Who knew standing in front of a group for 6 hours and talking could be so exhausting? While I didn't talk for 6 hours straight, it felt like 8 hours. And I have presented this same training class before - the last time was in 2008. Maybe I'm just getting old.

2. Every opportunity to travel is an opportunity to experience new things - make the most out of it. Three of the attendees traveled here from Tampico, Mexico. I'm sure the flat prairie of Illinois has never made their "must visit" list. But these three embraced the opportunity. Always smiling, they didn't complain about the cold and windy conditions. They had never seen snow before. That is, until Tuesday, when it started falling from the sky. All three ran outside and took photos in the snow. I watched as one of them built a snowman in the parking lot. Even though the big storm caused a disturbance to the session, I'm glad our visitors got to experience something special that they won't soon forget.

3. Meeting face to face reaps benefits that can't be measured in bottom line dollars. Travel dollars in our industry are hard to come by at the individual contributor / engineering level. I was floored when two team members were given approval to travel here from Europe. While we've talked and "met" over numerous teleconferences over the years, it was great to finally meet in person.

4. A last minute change in plans doesn't always spell disaster. I'll admit to being a bit of a control freak - I like to have things well planned. When Tuesday's snow storm became eminent, we had to change plans and reschedule Wednesday's session. It all worked out in the end, perhaps for the better.

5. Running in freshly fallen snow rocks. I've probably mentioned that before, but I got a reminder of that experience on Wednesday morning.

This week's photo - a hotel atrium - we moved our training session to this location due to the storm. It was much nicer than the 70's era conference room we were originally scheduled to use.

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P365+1 - Week One: Starts

So far, 2012's P365+1 has been pretty easy - 6 days down, 300 to go!

I really like using my iPhone for this project. It's so convenient to snap a capture, process it a little and upload it to my flickr and Instagram streams.

Day 1, Sunday Jan 1:
A windy afternoon visit to the stable. The strong wind was coming from the North, so you know it was a cold wind! I could barely keep from blowing over as I took this picture.

Processed using Photogene2 - I think I used the bleach preset as a starting point. Then in Instagram, added the Early bird filter

Day 2, Monday Jan 2:
It was another COLD and windy day - like gusts up to 40 mph. I managed my first run of 2012 - 6 miles in the crazy weather. We received a dusting of snow - enough to cover the front porch. Even Sam, who loves to go outside didn't venture past the refuge of the front porch.

I lightened Sam's face using Photogene2 (yes, you can dodge and burn using the app), created the diptych using PicFrame and added the drop shadow using Photogene2 again.

Day 3, Tuesday Jan 3:
Single digits in the morning as we started the work week. Brrr!! The cold temperatures really emphasize the steam coming from this unit at work.

A simple Instagram Filter applied - Sutro

Day 4, Wednesday Jan 4:
After almost two weeks off, I had to get back to violin practice. As a result of my daughter re-arranging her bedroom, the furniture here is "new to this room", but with the late afternoon sun, it makes for a nice, airy music room.

I applied the Rise Instagram Filter

Day 5, Thursday Jan 5:
It's back to school for the kids! Two weeks of staying up late and sleeping to noon are over. They were dragging a bit this morning, but heck, it's Thursday already, so I think they are getting off easy....

Instagram again, Hefe Filter

Day 6, Friday Jan 6:
A warm end to the week - it hit 60 degF this afternoon. The sunrises and sunsets have been beautiful all week long and today was no exception. Taken at the stable, the girl was taking advantage of the warm weather with the horses.

I had an Instagram version of this, but I messed up the transfer to flickr, so this is pretty much the original photo.

Bonus iPhone photos! Because sometimes you can't stop taking photos....
After this morning's sunrise - contrails in the sky


Spotted at lunch, outside a restaurant. Actually, I didn't spot the pair of boxers in the truck - an observant co-worker did. But I was the only one who took their picture.

I had to lighten up the doggie in the driver's side (Photogene2) and then I brought the adjusted picture into Camera+ and applied the Clarity enhancement to cut away the haze from the windshield.

I hope you enjoyed this week's photos!

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Canon PowerShot XS40 HS

One of the advantages for being known as the "hobbyist photographer" at work - sometimes the folks at work give you fun photography-centered assignments outside your normal job scope. Case in point - I was asked to spec out a replacement for the facility's aging point and shoot camera. Aging, indeed - the current camera is a circa 2003 Kodak Easy Share model.

The requirements - something that wasn't too small, with a decent zoom and low light capabilities.

I chose the new Canon Powershot XS40 HS with 35x zoom, IS stabilization and sized smaller than a compact DSLR.

They even let me play with it first.



The handling is decent, with an articulating live display screen and an electronic view finder.
In addition to full Auto, there is a command dial, with DSLR modes - P, Av, Tv (Shutter priority in Nikon speak), even Manual Mode and some User Defined modes.
I tried to use some of these modes, but found myself extremely constrained due to the lens capability, especially in Av mode.


But I'm not the main user of this camera - the engineers in the plant are, and they don't care about having shallow depth of field!

They want the zoom and this is where this one shines.

The view of the bookcase in my office, as I stand behind the desk, using the camera's widest setting:


A mid-zoomed view, still standing behind the desk:


Zoomed all the way in:


All photos SOOC, taken in AUTO mode and no flash.

I also tested out the camera's Macro Mode:

Meh, it didn't do much for me - I couldn't zoom in to get the detail I wanted.

So this work assignment was a fun change of pace from my normal every day work duties. I also learned a bit about myself and my camera preferences. See, I've been considering a more compact camera to take with me when I can't take my DSLR. I learned that these pseudo-DSLRs aren't a fit for me.

In summary, the camera is great for those who desire a wide zoom capability, decent low light capability in an easy to use package.

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What's The Buzz

I did something I normally don't do - I stalked a honeybee.

My daughter would be running, screaming from the tree, but the bee isn't hurting anyone and needs to get pollen.

I just wish he would steadily hover above the flower, thank you.
[The picture I got of the bee hovering was out of focus. Into the delete bin it went]

I had to settle for this one instead - the only slightly sharp keeper of the 5 or so pictures I snapped.


Next time, I'll try 3D tracking with my focus point. Maybe it will yield a more accurate focus with the moving bee.

Fortunately, static flowers are not a problem:


Shot during my lunch hour at work. Yes, they are somewhat used to the fact that I randomly wander around with my camera in tow.

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Camera Phone Friday - Remnants

I'm not sure why, but I tend to find things to photograph with my iPhone when I venture out to the manufacturing area where Scott works. Oops, clarification - the manufacturing area that Scott is responsible for. He actually has a comfy office, like me, in the office area, across the street from the manufacturing area.

Remember, Scott and I work at the same plant. We have tons to talk about at home. And our kids just roll their eyes when we start talking about burners and silica and stuff related to work.

The stiff prairie wind were back today, making it impossible to photograph the flowers and budding trees. The winds rustled up some remnant leaves and splayed them across the sidewalk.



The sun came out just a bit to cast the shadow of the chained link fence across the scene. Taken with my iPhone using the Hipstamatic App.

Wishing you a wonderful Friday evening.

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Camera Phone Friday - Blast of Snow

As I wind down for the weekend, I thought I would start a new Friday series - Camera Phone Fridays - something easy and fun to start the weekend. When Friday rolls around, I don't want to spend a lot of time downloading / processing / uploading /linking and all that stuff related to getting a photo on to the blog. That's why I generally don't post anything on Fridays!

By using my camera phone (in my case, a 3G iPhone, really old by most camera phone standards) and various camera phone apps, I can easily capture something and have it uploaded to flickr, ready to be linked here.

I use the Hipstamatic and Instagram apps the most, and through this series, I plan to check out some others.

Today's pictures:

Proof that winter is still with us, we got blasted with wet snow that stuck to everything. Pretty, yes. A welcome sight, no. Processed using Instagram's Hefe filter.


A lonely gas cylinder on the racks at work. Processed using Instagram's X-Pro filter

So I'll be here on Fridays with a new camera phone picture. If you care to join me, just add your link in the comments. TGIF!

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Bring In the Railcars

Every 3 weeks or so, I am scheduled to go to work early to perform safety reviews of the jobs scheduled for the day. I find these reviews interesting because I get to see parts of the plant I normally don't see.

Friday, I was sent up to the top floor of one of our production units and was treated to a bird's eye view of the surrounding area.



Another beautiful morning on the prairie. Just a week ago, all this area was covered in snow and ice. With the warmer temperatures, the snow is just about gone.

Edited to add: this was the sunrise I viewed on the way into work for my early shift:

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Mosaic Monday - Ice

This past week, instead of two feet of snow, we received a lot of ice and just a little snow. Fortunately, no major ice damage was incurred and the ice is pretty on the trees.



It's Sunday night and we're watching the Superbowl. OK, really the Superbowl ads. But it's also Mosaic Monday time - so be sure to visit Mary at This Little Red House and the collection of mosaics there.

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The Barn

What started out as a cloudy day still ended up with some sun.

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The Winter Sun

My coffee mug, on the conference room table, with the sunlight streaming in.



The angle of the winter sun really makes the cold winter days bearable. I think it has been sunny every day so far this year - and for that, I am grateful!

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Touch Up Tuesday - Exposure Fix - Frosty Pines

Here's another reason to shoot RAW. You can take a terribly exposed photo and still salvage it.

This morning's frost covered much of the landscape and we had the added bonus of actual sunshine to add that sparkle. Unfortunately, I completely over exposed this scene - rows of pine trees at work. I shot it from the car and didn't have time to re-adjust the exposure.



But since I shot it RAW, I can adjust the exposure. This one was really blown - I adjusted the exposure -1.2 from the original. I then converted the RAW file to .JPG and finished things up in PSE - simply cropping and adding a slight vignette.



For RAW processing, I am currently using Nikon's free ViewNX2, which gives the user the basic adjustments of exposure and white balance (basic, but essential!). I like that it is really pretty easy to use and reads in any custom settings I have set up in the camera. And you can't beat the price.

Even so, I am currently learning Lightroom 3 - I think that it will speed up the processing and add some functionality not available through ViewNX2.

And I am sharing another capture from this morning - the same pine trees, just a little different perspective.



I am linking up today to Paper Heart Camera's Touch Up Tuesday. I hope you found today's touch up information helpful!

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Patio Seating

Not too welcoming right now, but it's warm inside.

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350/365 - Magic Time

Tonight's event - the annual work holiday party, complete with Magician.

He even visited the tables before dinner and ran through some cool tricks:


Changing two silver coins into five:


Then working with doves during the official show:


And picking on the HR Manager:


A fun and entertaining night.

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326/365 - The First Ice Storm of the Season

Yup, this morning, completely out of the blue.

Because it was 75 degF on Monday, I think we were caught off guard.

After all, I ran outside in shorts on Monday. Today, I'm bundled up in my winter coat with a hood and I was still cold.



Fortunately, the temperatures have warmed up since this morning and the sheeting of ice that covered the cars at work. But it's still cold and rainy out there, so please slow down on the roads when traveling tonight!

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Early Morning at Work

I had to go into work early this morning. I love the color of the sky right before the sun rises.

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Team Up Thursday On Friday - Signs of Change

While Megan and Melody are Flying today - oops I mean yesterday, Lee and I chose the theme "Signs of Change".

Not really a congruent diptych today - Lee's beautiful hydrangea blooms are about to enter stage 3 where they'll turn a glorious shade of rust, red and purple. I took the picture of wires at work, where we are currently changing over our automation system from an old, circa 1990's system to a modern one. All of those wires were pulled from the old system and need to be reconnected to the new system. I'm glad I'm not the electrician who has to sort through that tangled mess.



Megan and Melody's Flying theme is very cool, modeled after Jan Von Hollenben's "Dreams of Flying". They really rocked this theme. Lee and I will have to pick a week to execute it too.

Each Thursday, Lee and I create a diptych based on a theme. You can view the other great diptychs at the Team Up Thursday Flickr group.

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