Jack's Mannequin

See What Enthusiasm Does

My ode to Macintosh computers.

I felt that if I was going to be an Apple enthusiast I should at least represent well. Plus this gave me the chance to try something I've been wanting to play with. I'm going to work on this a little bit and figure out how to get rid of the flare at the bottom. I did this using a sync cord on top of my hot shoe with the flash lying directly behind the apple on the base the apple was resting on. It probably would have been a much better photo had I used a bigger apple. The apple I was using was only about 2 in. tall and the flash was slightly taller and wider than the apple. If I get bored tonight, maybe that's what I'll mess with.

I'm planning on reading a little bit more in my book "27 Men Out: Baseball's Perfect Games" tonight if I get the chance. I'm through the third disc of Ken Burn's "Baseball" as of today. I'm not sure if I'll go get the fourth disc tonight or wait until tomorrow. I'm planning on watching "The Office" with Derek tonight if he's home and probably playing a little online poker.

I also got a 2-mile-run in tonight. I haven't ran since Sunday when I did a 4 mile trek that took me much longer because of the snow and ice that started forming. Hopefully I can get a quick 2 miles in tomorrow either on my lunch break or before I go to work at the Hut.

As can be expected, blogging will increase due to my accessibility to doing it now. The only thing I really need is a laptop carrying case now. Well that and a mouse. I hate these little thumb pads. Steph has one, but I need one sooner than she'll be able to get me one. I also found out that my internship ends a week earlier than I expected and a week longer than my boss had anticipated. Either way, this means an extra week to finding a job up north and a week longer for more hours at Pizza Hut.

Entering the Age of Macintosh

This is my blog from my laptop that my grandma bought me for a graduation gift. I was so ecstatic to go pick it up today. I couldn't believe when my grandma called me on Saturday and told I would be getting a new laptop for my gift. She told me to research it and tell her how much it costs. Thinking I would be nice and try to save her as much money as possible I first looked into Dell machines. After realizing it was going to be expensive as hell no matter what I decided to check out some Mac deals. I knew Apple had an education discount, but it wasn't that much ordering online so I decided to stop in the University of Illinois computer store in the union and found out they had overstocked them from Christmas. In fact, the 14 in. iBook G4 in the store was the same price as the 12 in. was online. This one has a slightly faster processor and a much bigger screen for seeing photos much better. After seeing that I could get this laptop for essentially about $200 more than what the Dell's were I decided to ask my grandma about it. She didn't think the price was bad at all. She almost sound suprised at how low. (Almost!) Anyway, I also got it upgraded with another 512 MB of RAM for $60. I actually have a photo to shoot for the blog tomorrow that I'll try to do if I get the time. I feel so lazy because I haven't run in like 3 days, but so running will be first on my list. I do have to mention one thing before I forget. I did reach my first goal of my New Year's resolution. I was 164 lbs. when I woke up on my birthday. I was very excited. I haven't weighed this much since my first semester of college. I'm also in the process of gathering all my old photos to put on flickr. I will begin posting them next week and they will be finished whenever I get them done. Which basically means anywher from 2 weeks to 2 years. I will eventually scan all my old family photos in as well. That way they're preserved in case of an accident. (Or because Dad gets o a Spring cleaning trip).

In other Daniel Williams news, I've been kind of a nut lately. I realize it, but there is nothing I can do about it. I'm trying to figure out how to pay for all my college loans. $43,000 is not an easy debt to erase. Especially when it looks like I'll be spending about $400/month for the next 15 years. I've been talking with Steph all week about it, but have felt really down still. Today has been fine, but best of all I talked to my dad tonight. The saddest part is he didn't really tell me anything different from what Steph told me, but hearing it come from my father made me feel a little bit better. It's conversations like the one's tonight that really make me proud to be son though. There were no, "I told you so's" or "Well you should have done this," which he would have been more than fair in saying. Just simply encouragement. No dramatic fashion or over extended bits about life. It was exactly what I needed. I just hope when I have a son or daughter that I know to say the right thing in these situations.

I think the most profound thing he said tonight was "Well, you just go to work everyday and you do the best job you can possibly do and at the end of the day it's worth it." Those may not have been the exact words, but something very similar, and it makes sense. We can't spend our lives worrying about things we don't have control over. I don't have 100% control over whether I'll have a photography job when I graduate in May. I most likely won't, but I will still go to whatever job and at the end of the day be proud of the work I've done.