Time is dwindling...and other observations

My time here at my current employer is dwindling....today and tomorrow is all I have left before starting my new position Monday. Making the rounds of goodbyes and see-ya-laters is bitter sweet. I will miss a lot of people here but this is a small town and I am sure I will see a lot of folks again. Heck, I even hear from some people that have moved away after switching jobs (shout out to you in Indy).

Since I have been working to a close with my old employer I have had a little extra time to focus on some other things. Working around the house more...landscaping and such. And my new hobby/focus/obsession....taking pictures with my D40. I have joined a bunch of groups online along with reading many forum posts as well as adding a few of my own. There are tons of sites out there to help newbies out such as myself. The information is invaluable. Now all I need is the money to get some new lenses and accessories (much to the contrary of some other folks, my income is still limited....that 401K plan of winning the lottery is not paying off....mostly due to the fact that I don't play the lottery).

Anyway, I have posted some things out on flickr as well as a few yahoo groups. I am still learning and will use this blog to link over from time to time when I feel comfortable with my end results. Although one can goto flickr.com and do a creative search using my email address here and probably fine my photostream fairly quickly.

Thats all for now...more to come soon enough....

Greener pastures

There has been something in the works over the last couple of weeks...I would say that is the reason that I haven't been posting a lot lately but that would be a lie. Summertime tends to revolve around my sons' and their pursuits of all things sports. This year's only difference is that my oldest is now finding out how much he might enjoy a paycheck.

Onto the point of this little post. At the end of the month I will be switching employers. This is a change that is necessary for quite a few reasons (which I will get to later in another post). Suffice to say that it was just necessary. As to who I might be going to? An automaker is all I venture to say right now.

More to come....

Misc....

Just some random thoughts....I am in the middle of a big decision and needing to put some things down on paper (so to speak). Not that I can keep the topic of this decision very transparent but I will try not to blurt out exactly what it is I am thinking about. This decision is a big one. Lots of pros and not many cons for those of you who do the lists. But there are pros on both sides of the decision and that is what makes it difficult.

I have taken to snapping pictures more than I thought I would when I got my D40. I have taken over 1500 pictures all in all. Pared them back down to a more manageable 1000 or so in storage now. I can't get over the quality and freedom that a DSLR provides. Its no wonder so many get hooked into this hobby. I will branch out to some nicer glass soon, I hope, but I think that outside of that I will refine what I know until such time as I feel it necessary to upgrade the body or add to the body count.

Cicadas have invaded our side of town this year....not quite like '87 (yes I remember that invasion I was 1 year removed from high school) or '04 but they are out and loud.

Summer is semi-officially here with the pools being open but that water is way too cold for my taste. Joey jumps in with no fear and I suppose I did the same at his age...I suppose.

Outside of our wonderful ECHL Cyclones, its another in a line of boring sports seasons here in Cincy. The Reds are losing (although Jay Bruce is a ray of hope for the future) and the Bengals are causing the wrong kind of press (thank YOU Ocho Cinco). It seems the only bright spots are the semi pro leagues. Florence Freedom games are a blast to attend and as mentioned before the Cyclones are up 3-2 in the finals.

Oh, almost forgot....the Certified Ethical Hacker training aftermath. It truly was drinking from a firehose. I have spent the last couple of weeks re-reading the material and still I feel the need to investigate more, download the utilities and test. And by test I mean hack...but only MY stuff. It is the "ethical" hacking.

All for now....