Yesterday I was guarding at the city pool again. Yes, the same pool that I quit working at.

Mean Lisa’s boss told me, “If you guard on a one night contract you will get paid a ridiculous amount of money.” So I did it. I signed a paper that said I would get paid a ridiculous amount of money, and all I had to do was show up. The contract did not tell me what I was expected to do if someone started drowning though, so I figured it couldn’t hurt me too much.

A couple other guards were contracted to work, and they were all good guards that knew their job well. It wasn’t half bad. Mean Lisa’s boss even fed us.

Earlier in the summer, me and a couple other people discussed putting an ad in the classifides that would say we were available for hire to guard private pool parties. Think about it: if you were hosting a big party and you had a pool (granted, everyone in Arizona does), you won’t want to watch the kids in the pool. No one wants to be the adult out at the pool with the kids. If you had the option to hire a certified lifeguard for around $10 per hour, wouldn’t you do it? For a mere $30 plus travel expenses, you could get rid of a lot of stress. We never placed the ad, but a couple people did end up getting hired for a certain influential family’s private pool party.

I’ll work on a contract any day. It’s a good deal all around.

Say Anything - Alive With the Glory of Love

I wanted this photoset to be a little rough around the edges, because that’s how the skaters were. However, any sort of trick on ice is amazing to me (mostly because I can’t do it, and I can’t tell one type of jump from another). I also wanted it to be reminiscent of hand-tinted photographs from the early 1900’s. I remember reading a book when I was younger about Princess Anastasia Romanov, and in the back there were some pictures of her family that she had taken and hand-tinted. I think that was the first time that I learned you could do something like that.

Title | Artist in Training, i
Camera | Pentax Optio WP
Exposure | 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture | f/4
Focal Length | 18.9 mm
ISO Speed | 200

Title | Artist in Training, ii
Camera | Pentax Optio WP
Exposure | 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture | f/4
Focal Length | 18.9 mm
ISO Speed | 200

Title | Artist in Training, iii
Camera | Pentax Optio WP
Exposure | 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture | f/4
Focal Length | 18.9 mm
ISO Speed | 200

Last Monday (August 14th) I got a shiny, new MacBook in the mail. 1.83GHz, 80GB hard drive, and 1GB of RAM.

Quite a few people have asked me, “Was it hard to make the switch, or are Macs pretty easy to use?”

I usually tell them that making the switch was natural. The MacBook (whom I named Staplin) runs like a computer should run.

A computer should be ready to use out-of-the-box.

A computer should boot up in 30 seconds or less.

A computer should be able to be used without you having to worry that it will freeze up, restart, or shut down whenever it feels like it.

A computer should have accessories that plug in via USB 2.0 ports and be ready to use without finding drivers, registering, and restarting.

A computer should allow applications to be installed in under 20 seconds.

A computer should let you see all of the files that are on it without a hassle…it is your computer after all.

A computer should be a logical machine, so it’s only logical that it will keep all of its files organized in a logical manner.

A computer should be able to boot anything you want it to.

A computer should meet all of your standards, and more.

So yeah, I’d suggest that you should get a mac.

Bel Auburn is my new favorite Indie Band. They’re from Ohio. There isn’t much else to say about them, except they’ve been playing together for about 3 years. To quote from their biography:

“We love music, and love people who love music. We try to write good songs, and then play out as much as we can and sing them for good people. No frills, no ego, no hyperbole. Just a show and some songs that we hope you enjoy.”

Well, I’ve enjoyed their music, and I’m sure you will too.

Lullabies in A & C
Lullaby in A
Metropolitan (Watercolor)
Blind Ward
Good Night
Roses
Lullaby in C
Metropolitan (Oil)
Burn Unit
Just Love

“I don’t want you going out like there’s no tomorrow and then coming back the next day.”

–Jack (assistant swim coach), to the team on how he wants us to swim our races