Photography = A LOT of Me!!

Photography I (COM 315) is taught by Professor Duvall—an expert in the subject of photography who has developed a definitively performance-based grading system (vice the “normal” grading of papers, exams, etc.). He truly wants his students to work hard in order to succeed, and, in order to achieve this, grades students on a progressively stringent scale. The pace of the class is not to be taken lightly; while assignments may be turned in “late,” the late assignment must be turned in before the next assignment can be submitted.

At first, the class may be frustrating. Learning how to “reel” film in a pitch black environment is not an easy task. This act followed by the near 40-minute process of developing a roll of film (hint: develop 2 at the same time!) only achieves the most basic function: to see if your negatives turn out.

However, sight can be deceiving! In order to truly see if a print can be made out of the negatives, another 12 minutes or so is needed to develop a contact sheet.

Overwhelmed yet? Don’t be. The old adage “practice makes perfect” is essential to this class. Last week, I spent 8 hours in the darkroom making 4 prints (plus a couple extra “just-in-case” prints). Monday, I spent 6 hours making 6 prints plus a couple extra prints. Last night, I spent less than 4 hours making 8 prints.

Like I have told my friends and family, I learned more about my camera in one day of class than in the 7 years I have owned it. Sure I knew which setting “automatic” was, but you can do so much more by manipulating the camera yourself.

So, what is the ultimate benefit of taking this class? Knowing that the hard work you put in to shooting and developing a roll of film is all yours. On my kitchen counter sits my very first print in a frame. Is it perfect? Heck no! I know that I can either reprint or retake that shot much more effectively now. But I saw, took and developed that picture...and I will cherish it forever.

Of course, the journey doesn’t stop here! Oh Lord, no! It’s not even halfway through the semester! And what’s after this? Oh, you better believe that Photography II exists and that I will be taking it this summer!

Any questions, comments or concerns about this class? Please do feel free to ask away! Until next time...

Best,
~ N.

Update on New Year's Resolutions!

First off, I hope 2010 has been well for you all so far! I have a couple of updates for you.

1. Unfortunately, I did not make it to 1,000,000 steps by the end of the year like I wanted. Rather, I missed it by 35,697 steps. However, in my defense, I didn’t own my pedometer until March, meaning I missed 2 months of the year. Plus, I’m off to a good start so far with 98,270 steps for the month of January, and nearly 60,000 steps at the mid-way point in February! :)

2. With regard to my “saving change for a change” goal, I’ve amassed $7.40 in January. I think I’m going to make quarterly deposits in our savings account. The wife should be pleased. ;)

3. School has been quite hectic, but a blast!! I’m taking four classes—two of which are very hands-on and require significant lab time, the other two are text-heavy, yet interesting to learn about:

~ Photography I
~ Basic Video Production
~ Introduction to Radio
~ Cultural Geography

As I love Photography, if any of you would like to talk about the course, you can probably find me in the darkroom on the east-side of campus or around town shooting pictures!

Again, I hope you all are well! I'd be interested in knowing how the business management/economics courses UIS offer are if anyone out there wants to share...

~ N.

New Years Eve 2009!

It’s that time again to make MORE New Year’s Resolutions! This year however, I’m keeping it much simpler. So here are my two resolutions for the year:

1. I will not purchase soda. However, if it’s available and free, I’ll take it. But this also means that I can’t sneak 50 cents out to buy my secret soda while at work (I hope the wife doesn’t see this!).

My second resolution has a little story behind it. When I was stationed in San Diego during my time in the Navy, aside from hanging out with my best friend Matt and his friend/fiancée/wife Cherise, there wasn’t much else to do other than go shopping. For quite a while, I was hesitant to use my credit card and would only use cash for purchases. However, I hated change. It took up room, was impossible to manage, and was a pain in the butt to dig through pockets to find that perfect amount. So, when I got back to my car, I simply dropped my change on the ground and called it good. Somebody else would pick it up who would use it. Heck, maybe it was someone who actually needed it.

Fast forward to the first time I went shopping with my then-girlfriend Lori, when she witnessed my act of dropping money—being the C.P.A.’s daughter and financially savvy woman that she was (and still is)—she immediately questioned why I would do such a thing. Since then, I have saved the annoying small pieces of metal…but have never found out just how much money I wasted. Thus, I give you my second New Year’s resolution:

2. To save and keep track of all change received throughout the year. This should be an interesting experiment!

My wife and I have a joint-resolution to be able to run a half-marathon by year’s end. I think it’d be cooler to be able to run a full marathon! I mean, heck, I’ve already run a half-marathon on my own when I ran from our apartment in Everett to my dad’s house in Kenmore. Okay, fine… so by the time I got to the never-ending hill on Brier Way, my knee started to give out. Maybe a half-marathon would be a better way to go.

Wish us luck!

It is my hope that all of you set realistic goals and follow through with them! Go get ‘em!

A very Happy New Year to you all! :D

~ N.

Gettin' Healthy

Last year my wife received a gift she would treasure forever: a pedometer (or, as Lori’s cousin Tate would say, “nometer.”

Over the next month or so, I had it built in my head that I could get one as well to help keep her in check. Okay fine, so I viewed it as more like a race than anything. What can I say? I’m competitive. My wife approved the purchase and on March 18th, I received the very same pedometer.

Since then, there have been days where I only netted 50 steps all day. Of course, there have been days when I have forgotten to wear the gadget altogether. Over the past 282 days, I have accomplished the following:

Walked 429.62 miles
Burned 1,497.2 grams of fat
Burned 26,387 calories
Accumulated 2,210 minutes of “aerobic walking time” (at least 10 minutes per “session”)

I walk 3,842 steps per day according to my fancy-schmancy ‘nometer. So here’s my problem: I wanted to walk one million steps by year’s end. My total so far is 941,343. In short, this means I need to average 8,380 steps per day over the next 7 days (including today). Every day the goal is not accomplished compounds the dilemma significantly. If I walk my daily average today, that would mean I would need to get 9,135 steps per day over the following 6 days in order to achieve my goal.

For your information, my daily record is 30,815 steps… but that was accomplished on May 22nd—when it was WARM.

Those who know me know that I am as stubborn as a mule when it comes to accomplishing things. So…here goes nothing! I’ll let you know how it goes.

And, by the way, a very Merry Christmas to all of you!

The Time Is...NOW! :)

Over the past couple of weeks I have had a very gradual epiphany of life. This may sound very broad, and perhaps it is, but it is also all-encompassing. During Thanksgiving Break, I dabbled in some homework here and there and helped assist the family in packing up the house from time to time. Believe it or not, I even had time to play some video games…or did I?
A job application had to be submitted by Monday, along with an assignment for one class and an essay for another. Tuesday, in addition to spending nearly 6 hours tutoring, I need to make corrections to a previous assignment, submit suggestions to a classmate for a presentation that’s due on Wednesday. Moreover, I need to type up and submit a resume and a cover letter for a class on Wednesday. Come Thursday, I need to begin preparing a presentation for another class along with studying for 2 finals and writing 2 more essays.
Now I’ve spent the past 48 hours frantically running to and fro, stressed out beyond belief. I didn’t even take a deep breath…until now. I’ve realized that, rather than stressing out over challenges, they should be welcomed with open arms and then tackled. So…fellow students, I invite you as well to sit where you are for a good minute and take several deep breaths and view the impending challenges from a positive perspective. Seriously: breathe in through the nose, hold it for two seconds, and breathe out through your mouth. Repeat this process for an entire minute…you’ll be glad you did!
Best of luck to all! Now GO GET ‘EM!!! :D

~ N.

The Turnaround (Thank you, Matthew West!)

So this is it. Day 1 of getting myself back into gear. I figure I'll ration out my reading based on the number of pages per book per subject per day. Wish me luck in my endeavor... but it shall be done! It NEEDS to be done.

Hope you fall semester is going well (for you fellow college students)!

~N.

A Hard Lesson in Humility

And so it has come to be that Nick has fallen behind in all of his classes. Not one--not two, but all three of his classes.

As a near-30 year old man, it was extremely difficult and humiliating to tell my professor, "I'm sorry that I don't have my essay completed due to falling into habits formed back in high school." I'm 30 freakin' years old, I should KNOW better! Yet, here I am.

Of course, I never told her the specifics of the habits (they are rather irrelevant), but I shall tell you the story.

I started out high school great! I got excellent grades my freshman and sophomore years. Come junior year, I started to slack off a bit. And my senior year?! It was horrendous!! I almost didn't graduate! My problem was I would do anything to get me out of doing my homework. Be it by playing video games, watching TV or hanging out with friends... I would simply avoid it.

Now here I am in the same situation. I know I need to just buck up and do the work. As my mother would say, "The books aren't going to read themselves!" And Howard Kang's (see the other UIS bloggers) New Year's Vlog about not simply stating a resolution, but DOING it has had a lasting impression.

I'll let you know when I get all caught up. Hopefully it'll be sooner than later. Freshmen and sophomores be warned: DO YOUR HOMEWORK ON TIME!!!

For now, I'm off to do homework. I'll talk to y'all again soon.

~N.

I'm back and better than ever...or maybe just older!

Hey Everybody,

Okay, so fall semester 2009 has officially begun and, as I sipped my coffee and ate my blueberry bagel, I received word from the moderator in charge of us *UIS Bloggers* that I can do it again!

So far, I have two blogs to write up (which will be posted soon) and one event coming up on Thursday 8/27: an informational session on studying abroad in Japan where hopefully they will cover UNI460.

I'll keep you posted. Hope everybody's summer was lovely despite the unseasonably cooler temperatures!

~ N.

The Ride-Along

I recently had the opportunity to go on a ride-along with an officer from a local police department. For some reason, I just knew it was going to be an exciting evening; so much so, I left the American Legion early. Once my butt hit the sit of the officer’s patrol car, the lights and sirens were on for the next 3 hours straight.

It played out like a movie: It began action-packed with a couple of fights, there was a slight lull in the middle, and the ride-along climaxed (and subsequently ended) in a foot pursuit. By far, this has been the most exciting evening this year!

For those men in blue or brown protecting our neighborhoods and cities, I thank you for everything that you do!

Charlie Tango Lima!

Throughout the first half of my freshmen year, I heard many classmates express their disdain for the mandatory visits to the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) by describing it as unnecessary, boring or annoying—sometimes in combinations thereof. At the age of 28, even I initially found tutoring to be a bit degrading. However, over the course of the following two semesters, I have come to realize that every appointment has taught me something new; therefore, I conclude that the CTL is perhaps one of the most underutilized, best, free resources available to students.

It is not my intention to boast, but nearly all of the professors I have studied under have said that I am a good writer. And while I appreciate the compliments, I know that I still have much to learn, which is why I continue to visit the CTL. For example, my latest tutor, a graduate student named Lindsey, has taught me how to use more professional-sounding nouns (i.e., instead of ‘a blue-collared worker,’ ‘a blue-collared employee.’), eliminate ‘roadmapping’ (paragraph one says, “First…” paragraph two says, “Secondly…,” etc.), avoid ambiguous terms such as ‘they,’ or ‘it’ if ‘it’ isn’t mentioned earlier in the sentence, and explain topics in order to afford somebody who has no prior knowledge the ability to follow along. These tips are not only effective in the literal sense, but they also help provide an overall sense of direction for the paper. In order to effectively teach this, each tutor has their own methodology.

Lindsey has a very straightforward, no-nonsense approach. She will read the paper aloud, and if anything in the paper does not strictly pertain to the topic—even the tiniest item—consider it deleted. She despises clichés, cop-outs and fluff with a passion, but this passion does not compare to her unwavering devotion to her red pen! These are all remarkable qualities I am thankful she has, and I am certain the other tutors in the CTL share certain aspects of them. The tips the tutors provide may seem like simple, basic rules that should have already been noticed in the paper prior to the appointment, but they find these faults and teach students just how surprisingly easy it is to fall into traps in writing. Of course, procrastinating doesn’t help matters either.

Again, in typical Nick-fashion, I delayed writing my paper until approximately 4 days before the due date; thus, when I submitted my paper to Lindsey for review, she only had about half of the paper to look over. As it turned out, if I had received one half of one percent better overall in the class, my grade would have been 90% (A-) vice 89% (B+). Perhaps if the entire paper was reviewed, I might have received the 3 percentage points needed to achieve the higher grade. Partially because of this fact, my cumulative GPA was docked .06 points. O woe is me!

Time management continues to be my arch nemesis, but I am hopeful I can turn things around and manage my time more effectively this semester. Several appointments will be made by yours truly to visit the CTL this semester with the hope of becoming a more effective writer--I strongly encourage my fellow classmates to do the same. After all, we all attend UIS to learn.

Visit the CTL today!

The Headphones Saga (Part 2)

I am sorry I completely forgot to inform you all of the latest regarding my headphones dilemma. Well, I first purchased a pair of Nike in-ear headphones and a pair of Sony “ear clip/in-ear” headphones. Neither pair fit very well, so I took them both back and purchased an updated pair of Sony in-ear headphones and a pair of Bose in-ear headphones. The Sony pair was somewhat similar to the pair I had originally lost, and the Bose in-ear headphones were about 40 dollars cheaper than the Bose around-ear headphones I set my eyes on earlier. I had hoped that the smallest size of ear bud would work well enough so that I could still go running while wearing them. No dice. After taking both pair back, I broke down and purchased the Bose tri-port headphones which seemed to do the trick, until…

My gracious Uncle Mark e-mailed me asking if I was still searching for a pair of headphones, informing me that he had a pair he was looking to get rid of. After many hours of research, I concluded that the pair Uncle Mark offered to send was much better than the Bose pair I purchased, as made evident by reviews on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/BOSE-R-Triport-Headphone-Silver/dp/B00009MK3T/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1231456234&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-ATHM40FS-Precision-StudioPhones/dp/B0002D03ZW/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1231456348&sr=8-1

I returned the Bose pair on December 21^st, which allowed the $140 to go back into the birthday/Christmas money account. And on Monday the 29th, the blessed headphones arrived! Here are the pros and cons of the new pair:

The pros are:

- They sound just as good, if not better, as the Bose pair.

- They look and feel more sturdily constructed.

- The all-black color matches my iPod perfectly.

- They look more normal.

- The longer cord affords more maneuverability while wearing them.

And the cons:

- There are none!

While they are a little worn, it’s to be expected. Moreover, it’s an honor to own something that was once owned by my legendary uncle!! Uncle Mark, thank you very much!

My legendary Uncle Mark, Aunt Diane, and wifey Lori.

So now the question is, what do I do with all my extra coin? :D If it goes towards something extraordinarily awesome, I’ll let you all know…

Until next time,

~ N.

New Year's Eve 2008!

It’s that time again! Time for everyone to start making promises to and/or setting goals for themselves which will more than likely be broken and/or failed by the end of January. Hooray for New Year’s resolutions!

So what am I hoping to change? First and foremost, I want my wife and myself to join a church here in town and become much more intentional in our relationship with God. Another resolution, of course, is to get into better shape by exercising regularly. The equipment I have is minimal, but I can always visit the TRAC once classes start again. And to help me stay accountable, I shall blog about it occasionally! Still, this is most likely resolution to fail. We’ll see. I also intend to rate each day of this year on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being the crappiest day ever, and 10 being the most awesomest day! And I think it would be fun to take a picture of myself once a day, and then, by the end of the year, create a time-lapse video. While these are decent goals to make and keep, it doesn’t even come close to the ultimate sacrifice.

Though many of you may not believe it, I have less than one case of Mt. Dew left. After this case is gone, I will start drinking… *sigh*… diet soda. I can only imagine the looks on the faces of Maeda Sensei, Sean, Katie, Mat and Jae. Maeda Sensei is probably hopeful I can follow through with it!

God help me.

Right, so you know what my resolutions are… what are some of yours? I’d love to hear…

Until next time,
N.

Christmas 2008!

Indeed, Christmas 2008 has come and gone in our small town. I pray everyone had a wonderful holiday and that all continues to go well. For those of us in Central Illinois, it was a progressively chilly day that all began when…

*do-do-do-doooo do-DUM-duh-dooo* My eyes instantly opened. I thought and pondered for a moment… my alarm was sounding. Why? I pondered some more, and asked myself: “What day is it?” My eyes got as big as saucers when I realized IT WAS CHRISTMAS! I rolled over to see my wife sleeping soundly. Crap. I closed my eyes for a couple more hours.

Once my wife and I woke up, it was time to open the gifts from my family who were in Seattle. Thanks to Josh, my best friend since childhood, I am now the proud owner of everything Strong Bad—except for clothes. Every SBE-mail, teen girl squad, and Limozeen music video is sitting nicely in DVD form on my shrine to Strongbadia. Okay fine, so it’s really in my DVD’s-to-watch stack under my bed. Katie Salter, you may envy me now. :D

After opening the goodies from home, my wife’s parents, my wife and I all got ready to head over to my wife’s cousin’s house for Christmas dinner. It was a wonderful event with turkey, coleslaw, and mashed potatoes with an ocean of gravy… but the ultimate food offered were my mother-in-law’s amazing green bean bundles! Imagine, if you will, a pot full of whole green beans simmering on the stove. Now, take about 5 or 6 individual beans, and wrap a nice, thick strip of bacon around it. Put the bundles in a 13 by 9 casserole dish, sprinkle some minced garlic on each bundle, and toss it the oven long enough to cook the bacon. Once they’re done cooking and cooled off a bit, imagine all of the different, delectable tastes in your mouth as you slowly bite down into the bundle of awesomeness. There’s a bit more to it than this, and they are terrible for you… but it’s still so worth it!

After dinner, we all talked for awhile, watched my “movie” of “WFV 2008,” then talked some more. At around 3pm, we all headed back home with grandmother to rendezvous with my brother-in-law and his wife for another round of opening presents. Here’s an amusing anecdote for you:

About a week or two ago, our good friend Melody came to stay with us. She brought along one of our favorite board games called “Rummikub.” Well, she left her copy with us, as she was leaving the area to visit with her family in California during the holidays. Now, my brother-in-law and his wife got home before us. While separating the presents into piles, I saw my brother-in-law tilt one present in particular to one side and intently listened to the sound it made—rather suspicious behavior, eh? A couple minutes later, I picked up a package for Lori and me. While moving it, I heard a very familiar sound as well.

Brett opened up his package first, and whaddaya know… it was RUMMIKUB! When Lori and I opened our copy, the whole family burst into laughter. It was then that Brett admitted that he was upset when he saw Melody’s copy, mistakenly believing it was ours after being told by his mother that he should get it for us. He was relieved to find out just whose copy that was.

That’s about it, for the most part. Over the past couple of days, we have all struggled to find places to store our new gifts; thus, the house still isn’t near as tidy as it was prior to Christmas I’m afraid. We’ll get there one of these days.

I hope everyone out there had a fun and safe holiday! Take care of yourselves and I shall write again soon!

Until next time,
~N.

Black Friday and Mr. Snow

Thanksgiving came and went as family members returned to their respective homes to resume their lives – and just in the nick of time, too! Entre: Black Friday weekend and our good friend Mr. Snow.

Realizing just how insane shoppers would be, my wife adamantly refused to go shopping despite her “desperate” need for some new jeans. I found myself willing to tolerate her occasional mild to moderate vocalizations for new clothes for a few days longer and agreeing that shopping, at least on Friday, was out of the question.

Saturday, well, happened… there’s nothing new to report there. But Sunday was the day for the family to do some good ol’ fashioned shoppin’! Truth be told, the traffic wasn’t near as bad as I had expected it to be. Our first stop at Sam’s Club proved to be rather productive; we got enough Kleenex to last us the rest of the winter, that’s for darn sure, which is good for when the cold season comes around again—we’ll be prepared!

I was tremendously worried about our second stop: White Oaks Mall. Surely, as it’s the only mall in Springfield, it would be crammed with families scrounging for last minute deals on crap they want, but don't not need. Speaking of…this is where my personal dilemma lies.

I don’t know precisely how long it’s been, but around 2 weeks ago, I misplaced my headphones. They were the Sony headphones that went on top of your head, but inside your ear. This is especially helpful when going on jogs. They set me back about 15 to 20 bucks. So what’s the problem? Why don’t I just go out and get the same pair? WELL! My birthday was recently celebrated, and I ended up getting quite a bit of cash. This is the perfect opportunity to get the headphones I’ve always wanted: Bose around-ear headphones. Not the QC2’s: they’re much too expensive, but the basic around ear headphones from Bose. I can purchase this particular item and still have well over a hundred bucks left in my birthday fund. So what do I do? What should I do?

The electronics section of Sears was searched with no luck finding even a decent Sony pair. Our last stop, Target, had both. Crap. So what the heck was I to do? Fortunately or unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to make that decision. So throughout the rest of the trip, the stop in Meijer and the long drive back, I could only wonder.

So what should I do? I leave this question to those who took the time to read this. The sale on the “dream pair” ends on January 2nd, but I am looking to get them prior to Christmas, if ever. Screw it. I’ll give you guys until Thursday, the 11th. Hopefully at least one of you out there will respond. It would be greatly appreciated!

Black Friday weekend went fairly well for my family. I am curious: how was yours? Let me know, I’d love to hear!

Until next time…
~ N.

The Springfield Jr. Blues? More like, "It's time for a little snooze!"

This past weekend, my wife, her best friend Melody and I were finally able to meet our best friend Jessica’s new boyfriend, Mike. The evening started off great as we chowed down at our “usual” hangout – Buffalo Wild Wings!

Dinner was phenomenal as the Teriyaki and Honey BBQ wings RULED! The conversation was good as well; Mike seemed to hold up well against the bombardment of questions asked by Melody and me. As soon as we all felt ridiculously full, it was onto the main event of the evening: A Springfield Jr. Blues Hockey game!

Mind you, I’m not a hockey fan. Baseball, Football and NASCAR are laden with a multi-faceted coolness, but with hockey, I really only care about one thing: fighting. And what better way is there to catch a fight than by putting a bunch of just barely post-pubescent young men into an ice rink and letting them attempt to slap a puck around. You read that right: attempt.

The game itself was rather boring as the Jr. Blues really didn’t seem to have much team cohesion. There were many times when they would have a shot at the goal only to fall down while raising their stick up to shoot. There weren’t many passes, and they weren’t very aggressive on defense. What’s left to cheer for?

The announcer did an awesome job of trying to excite the audience; his voice was awesome! The music they played between whistle blows was really good, too. If it were not for these two auditory aspects, the game would have been much, much worse. Even so, there was little to no excitement on the ice.

I spent most of the third period looking for good photo opportunities rather than watching the game itself. But then, with a mere 3 minutes left in the game, the fights finally began!

Of course, the refs stopped any fights from really happening. Bummer. The Jr. Blues ended up losing 3-0, and all I got from it was this semi-decent picture. I've also determined the best place to watch a hockey game is from one end of the rink. It actually made that portion of the game somewhat more exciting because I was that much closer to the action.

The evening wasn't a total loss, though. After the game, we all headed to Starbucks for some hot chocolate which was absolutely delicious!

The moral of this story is: Instead of watching a hockey game to have fun, just hang out with good company! It's cheaper and there's more interaction.

~ N.