Day One - P365

Today marks the launch of my own Project 365.  A personal challenge to take at least one photograph a day, to be posted online as a record to myself and others.  Why February 20?  Why not?  Symbolic days seem to have come and go without much action on my part, so perhaps a softer grand opening is in order.    My goal is to force both the creative and technical sides of my brain into a daily workout on my new (to me) Canon Rebel XS SLR, rather than my daily workhouse (Monsieur iPhone) which gets fairly hard use but is less capable or flexible.

One important note.  I'm still deciding upon where to deposit all 365 of these.  Flickr.com and 500px.com seem to be the front runners, with deviantArt.com a distant third.  Stay posted for a decision.

Sometimes you need a headrest.

Goodbye to Swill

You can't hear it, but I certainly can.  That's the sound of six gallons of syrah being drained down the kitchen sink.  More specifically, six gallons of home-fermented 2010 Wall-Walla syrah that presents a great bouquet, but is followed by a discordant and impressively funky flavor.

I'm a little sad  that it didn't turn out as planned.  There goes a few hundred dollars, hours of labor, and not a small amount of my wife's patience.  That said, I'm still proud of my efforts and apprenticeship in the basics of oenology.  Now when we visit wineries I'm less mystified by winemakers. Heck, I almost feel a little clubby when talking techniques.  Fortuantely I remain in awe of their professional and artistic abilities and don't get ahead of myself. Perhaps more so of those fine souls who produce exceptional bottles time and time again.

If there's a next time I'll be more aggressive in fighting contamination (I might have skimped on the sulfites).  I'll also be inviting the grapes to ferment in a basement that I have 100% control over.   Alas the life of a condo owner, having to fight with neighbors over the use, configuration, and cleanliness of the forgotten corners of the building.  During the hottest months of the year I snuck my syrah into a dark corner of the bike storage room, right behind an old chimney, and I believe a nearby water leak invited mold to take root on the stopper of the carboy.  I tried to clean if off and resterilize everything, but the damage may have been done.  Ah well.   As in all things, one must look to the next harvest and learn from the past.

Iowa Nice

Think about it.  (NSFW)

Boots

As R will attest I'm a big fan of the colder seasons, mostly because of a particular change in fashion.  A change not without its price.  I suspect a similar event happened when i first met my wife, too bad the concussion wiped it from my memory.

The author in Southwark, London, UK

It’s been a long and surreal day of suburban planning.   What I wouldn’t give for a pint of real ale in a truly ancient pub.  Perhaps a fire and only a short stroll from home.

Homelessness Sucks

It's 4am and I just had a homeless person evicted from my porch.  First time in over four years of living at this address.  I feel bad because the man was sleeping rather soundly in a tidy arrangement of blankets and tarps, trying not to disturb anyone or be a burden, though his snoring was so loud it woke me up on the other side of a closed window.

At first we thought it was the cat, not entirely out of the question if you know the beast, but time and volume proved otherwise. After 30 minutes of internal debate with myself and my half-awake wife, I called the police and guiltily requested an eviction.

As with any temperately weathered city we have our share of homeless and destitute.  A few are junkies, a fair number are psychotic or delusional, but most are harmless in my experience.  It is hard to witness their suffering, even on the best of days, and one learns to live with a certain hardness of the heart.  Unfortunately my porch is neither a shelter nor a refuge.  There is also the question of safety and sanitation.  If the adjacent Catholic and Anglican cathedrals actively evict homeless sleepers from their porches, why shouldn't I?

The best I can do is hope he finds himself help at the new Bud Clark Commons or one of the other homeless shelters and kitchens down in Oldtown.  If you're unfamiliar with BCC, it's a fabulous piece of architecture that assembles a shelter, transitional housing, and social services all in one building. The idea is provide a unified center to deliver basic daily needs (showers and laundry), access to social services like mental health and addiction treatment, and 130 studio apartments for those ready to move off the street.  If you weren't aware of the building's purpose, it would be hard to mistake it for anything other than one of the swank new office or condominium projects going up in the neighborhood.  Just blocks aware are other shelters run by the Catholic Church and other nonprofits, all are well used and overburdened given the lines one sees on the sidewalks.

I happen to know at least one person who resides at one of the shelters in Oldtown.  A pleasant and gentle man who cleans my office but has obviously known hard living in another life.  I don't ask about his past, but am happy to see he's got a future.  Let's hope there are more stories like his.