Jonzer & The Tubes Between

Stagnant

I hate having this blog stagnant. I have been way too busy to post anything lately. Baseball, running marathons, and a four year old daughter who only stops if she hits a wall have been keeping me in a sort of writer’s funk.

I do have a post in the works regarding my 3-tier backup strategy (by request) and hopefully soon I will have more info about Mission : Photographable! My new Photo Tips blog for the camera newbies.

Anyway, sorry for the pond scum of late. As I get more active with the blog, the stink should go away!

Fairy, Fairy, Fairy…I will not suck my thumb!!

We all have a security blanket of some sort. Over the years we may have changed our blankets to more socially accepted things, but we all have them; humans are more like the Peanuts’ character Linus in more ways than we would probably care to admit.

My four year old daughter’s Linus trait is sucking her thumb; a disposition that I am sure she had even in the womb and one that has been extremely hard to break. If she had been sold on the pacifier I kept trying to stick in her face as an infant, I would be in the process right now of simply denying her said device (easy). But since I cannot remove her thumbs (legally), my daughter and I seem to be at a standstill.

So, in the war of the digits….think like your enemy.

My opportunity to gain advancing ground in this war was when she had a slight accident that caused her to have a loose front tooth. The dentist explained carefully to her that she could no longer suck her thumb. This violation of her first amendment rights did not sit well at first, but she agreed to comply in the end. It did not take long however to break the law of the Dictator Dentist, and she reverted back to her underground movement of thumb sucking.

Then it hit me. I need to make a game out of it.

Since my daughter has been enamored by fairys and fairy-land stories lately I decided that I would use her love of them as a weapon. The next time I saw her sucking her thumb I took her aside and convinced my daughter that a fairy cannot suck her thumb and fly at the same time. I also told her that every time I said the phrase “Fairy, Fairy, Fairy” she would have to take her thumb out of her mouth and say to me loudly “I WILL NOT SUCK MY THUMB!” This worked so well that we repeated the phrase/game for about a half-hour at her request. By the end if that thirty minute brainwashing session, she was fully trained to stop sucking her thumb at my magic phrase.

It has been months since I struck the final blow in this battle. Every once in a while I will catch my daughter with her thumb in her mouth trying to start the war all over again. Still, all I have to do is say my Napalm phrase and her thumb is right out of her mouth as if it were poisonous. Now, if only I could figure out a phrase to stop her from dating when she is older…..

Using TwitterFeed now

So this is just a test, this is only a test. If this had been a real blog post there would be something interesting to read here…maybe that part is up for debate…the interesting part that is.

Anyway, as I continue to try and figure out the best way to post in my social media network I will be trying new things once in a while…so bear with me.

Kicking the Nintendo DS in the butt

There is a Nintendo DSLite in my garbage can today. It works (mostly). It was put there by my ten year old son, on purpose.

We have always believed that outside time, family time, any kind of activity is far better for our kids than an XBox, Nintendo, Wii or Playstation. I think most people would agree, yet I see far too many kids active on these systems more than they are outside. With many forces against us and peer pressure from friends, we had stayed the course and not bought one of these systems for my son.

Until recently….

My wife was scheduled to have major surgery last December and she knew she would be mostly unable to entertain our son through these winter months during her long recovery period. At the same time, my son, seeing what must have been a very rare chink in his mother’s armor, happened to mention that not having a game system was, among the status of his friends, like bringing a BB-gun to a war with real bullets. It was at this point that my wife caved. I am not sure if it was because my son slayed the dragon with his logic or if she actually realized that this would help keep him occupied when he could do nothing else.

But we had to compromise. If we were going to let one of these machines that eat valuable time in the house, it was going to be the one that would eat up your time but keep you somewhat active while the electronic monster gobbled up your brain cells. So, I told my son the only system we would let in the house would be the Wii. We enjoyed (and still do enjoy) the Wii but it has not really changed my son in any way and we do not play it as much as I thought we would. In short, the white wonder that is the Wii has not become a problem.

A few months ago my son received a Nintendo DS-Lite for free. It was an older version and had a broken touch screen but it could still play games. It was really not worth much but to my son it was like gold. We were reluctant to let him have this new toy because we have seen his friends and other kids become totally engrossed in these portable demons. But we gave him some strict rules and he assured us that it would not be an issue for him. After about a month of owning this contraption, my son saved up some precious allowance to buy a Pokemon game for this DS-Lite so he could play and trade digital Pokemon’s with the neighbor kids and his friends, and I believe this is where it reached out it’s digital claw and clutched him.

We started noticing that certain friends were always coming over with their little portable boxes of digital cocaine and they would sit in my son’s room playing Pokemon and having battles and trading and whatever else you do with Pokemons (the whole Pokemon thing confuses me as an adult). Instead of going outside or having Nerf gun battles, they were getting a LCD suntans on their faces.

Last night, I was thinking about having a “conversation” with my son regarding the DS-Lite and what I am witnessing with his friends. We have preached the dangers of this digital addiction to him before he even got the device but it seemed to me that he needed a reminder. It was then that he surprised me by coming upstairs and throwing his DS-Lite in the trash can. His statement was that it had control of him and that by throwing it away he feels like a great weight has been lifted from him. When asked why he did not give it to a friend or try to sell it he stated that he did not want to have some other kid addicted to this thing and that it was better off to throw it away.

So, wow! The smile on his face and the sense of relief I saw in him made me a proud and happy father. I am still waiting for the shock to wear off from realizing that my 10 year old son was able to notice something about himself that most adults are unwilling to admit or even face in their entire lives.

Ohh, and no digging through my garbage for a free DS….that is just Section-8

Pushing Ahead

In January of 2009 my wife looked at me from across the couch and said, “Let’s start running and train for a full marathon”. My response, being the 40-something semi-gadget laden couch potato, was one of surprise followed by an inconsiderate chuckle. No way was I going to: A. run in this weather and B. run in any weather because a marathon seemed like a silly goal to me. After some scowls from my wife and more conversation that pointed me to the fact that she was indeed serious, she also reminded me that I had elevated cholesterol lately and need to get into shape. And of course that I would someday thank her for pushing me in this direction. I acquiesced to at least give it a try and keep her company while she trained.

I am glad I did!

So it is now 2010, I intended to write this post AFTER the first marathon, but time has gotten away from me and little things have been getting in the way of blogging, which is OK. The little things in life are sometimes a lot bigger to someone else and we give them less credit than they probably deserve.  So, again it is many months later and the lesson I got out of running this thing that I originally thought was a hare-brained idea is: Push ahead no matter what!

I will explain: My wife and I were running the Twin Cities Marathon together with our intention being to cross the finish line as a couple. At about 20 miles into the race, I suffered a pulled IT-Band. At the time I had no idea what I had just pulled, I just knew it hurt like heck and that I had to stop. My wife was devastated because she really wanted to finish this with me but I prodded her on stating that we have trained for several months, sweated, bled and cried in the process and that one of us has to finish! My wife slowly started running again and I assured her I would be OK and I would see her at the finish line either by crossing it or being wheeled there.

After she had turned the corner I began stretching my leg hoping that I could work out the strain and catch up to her. But as I continued to try and run the pain got worse and I knew I was not going to be able to run this marathon any longer.  After a few more experiments in stretching, I discovered that I could walk on the leg at a rather fast pace with only minimal pain. I did some quick calculations in my head and started to fast-walk the remaining six miles that I had left knowing that if I kept a steady pace I would finish the marathon just in time.

And I did finish in time, with about 20 minutes to spare. Along the way I had a lot of encouragement from people I did not know and who I will never meet again. But it was those people and my desire to finish the race that got me pushing ahead to my goal, no matter what. When I crossed the line, my name was called out by the line announcer. My wife heard  this and began crying because she then knew that I had earned the right to say I finished. Seeing her run to me with her smile mixed with tears was worth the 6 miles of pain.

It should be noted that I ran the last two-tenths of a mile of this race. It hurt like nothing I ever felt before, but in my mind I was thinking that only weaklings walk across a marathon finish line. True or not, I earned this: See my medal

In 2010 we are running Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth and the Twin Cities Marathon again. I will be running my own race this time and will be once again “Pushing Ahead” as I try to finish with the 4:45 group. I am sure there will be another blog post after these marathons and hopefully more pictures of medals too!

Proof that I actually finished the marathon and did not mug a runner for my medal

Yeah, I posted pictures but what if I mugged a winner and took his reward because I was jealous?? I mean after all, at mile 20 I did suffer a minor knee issue that prevented me form running and I had to fast-walk the rest of the way. Maybe I just bugged out and stole a medal??

Well, the link below is proof. I made it baby…and that grimace you see in one of those pics is me suffering all kinds of pain as I decide that I will not just walk the last .2 miles across the finish…I am going to run it no matter what.

So here you go to any doubters out there: http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=49563&BIB=5209&S=230&PWD=

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10 Things I will Never Do (even though they may be fun)

1. Skydive—This is something my wife wants to do  because either she has lost all common sense or has an extreme hate for staying planted on the ground. For me, this is akin to letting gravity say to you: “Sure, you will fall at a constant rate, and if I have my way it will be constant until you hit the flipping ground with a loud thud”.  I have told my wife she is more than free to fall from the sky at gravity’s will while I watch from the very stationary ground sipping tea and listening to the Black Crowes.

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Wow! I need to update more…right!

So I still struggle on what I want jonzer.com to become. Should it just be a blog? Should it be a photo-blog (would make sense)? Should it be a repository? Should it go away? Should it be over-run by 12 dozen monkeys who probably can find a better use for it with no opposable thumbs and 6 dozen bananas?

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This should scare you

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Turning our childhood toys into childhood nightmare’s

<rant>

I took my 10 year old son to see G.I. Joe. He did not last ten minutes into and said he wanted to go home; he was scared. I really wanted to see it but it would mean nothing to me if he did not enjoy it with me. Besides, from what I could tell of the first 10 minutes it did seem a little intense and violent. My son has a pretty good moral compass and a self guided ratings system, he can tell if something feel too intense for him and will immediately walk away or express his desire to do so. This is an excellent tool to have in a society whose moral fabric has been decaying for decades.

So here I am thinking to myself about all this when I realize that the toys and imaginations of my childhood are being turned into vicious, obnoxious, sexualized and overtly violent nightmares for children that are the same age as when I played with them. I guess I should not be surprised, Hollywood had lost its way many years ago; maybe even before I was aware that Hollywood existed. But it still angers me nonetheless.

When the first Transformers movie came out I was excited because I thought it would be super cool to see these robots who ‘more than meet the eye’ come to life on the big screen and blow us out of our seats. While the first movie was mediocre, my preview of it suggested that I should not bring my eight year old son to it because it was pretty intense, the language was a little vulgar and it could have done without the adult overtones; bummer, he would have liked seeing something this cool. Then the new Transformers movie came out this year. My son being two years older suggests he might be able to handle it now. Like a good dad, I pre-screened the movie and within the first 20 minutes I was certain I was not taking him. The Transformers were certainly more than meets the eye, ear and sensibilities at this point; the vulgarity just got worse as the movie went on. Disgusting!

And now G.I.Joe. To be fair, I have only seen the first 10 minutes, if that (and to be even more fair, I did not pre-screen like I did with Transformers…my bad). Of what I saw, it was pretty intense as well, and a bit geared to an older audience I think (I realize that the movie is PG-13, I realize this about Transformers as well). I am sure it will do well at the box office and have a good run; I will likely rent it at Red Box for one dollar.

Here is what disturbs me: The marketing of these movies goes well beyond previews and posters, it’s the happy meals and the toys too. My son sees all this cool new stuff coming out and sees that it is tied to a new movie and gets pumped. I get excited with him because I see my childhood memories FINALLY being made into the movies that I enacted out in my head and visualized through my toys; these are my finest memories coming alive! Then my son sees the rating and I think his heart sinks because he intrinsically knows that this will be too much for him. My heart sinks too because it is one less thing that I can share with him in this cool visual way.

When I think back to when I played with my G.I. Joes, I do not remember having PG-13 scenarios in my head with them. I remember shooting at the enemy, sure. I remember a few Joes dying from a long fall from the window and I remember Destro having a severe issue controlling his Kung-Fu grip on the Joes. But I do not remember burning someone’s face-off, terrorizing a whole city and having attitude, stereotypes or bad language with my Joes; I had not lost my innocence as of yet.

I ask THIS of Hollywood: Why should I let YOU take my son’s innocence away through what were so cherished memories for me???

</rant>

<addendum> It occurs to me that rather than sharing with my son about these memories in a visual and media related way, I should be more open to sharing them in the same way that I played with them, imaganitively! I should try to encourage him to use HIS imagination more and not rely on the monster that is Hollywood to do this for him. </addendum>

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Berry Cool Croquet..Please critique

Let me know what you think. Does it work in black and white?

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Getting more serious about Photography

Most people already know that I like photography. Sometimes it is all I can talk about; what new gadgets, lenses, camera bodies or flash accessories are available. I also really enjoy teaching other people what I know about photography, and sometimes I teach those who don’t want to know about it. Yeah, I get annoying about my hobby sometimes.

Lately, I have committed to getting more serious about it though. Not more serious in the way where I wil be come completely annoying and be the guy that will talk endlessly about nothing else. But more serious in getting the two-thousand or so photographs I have waiting to be run through post-processing into my ‘DONE’ pile. And to extend my seriousness even further, I have committed to THINKING about my shots as I take them: double-checking for distractions in my background, protecting my highlights, using the rule of thirds, all the things I already know but have been kind of lazy about deploying.

I think this sudden change has something to do with a new can-do attitude I have that has developed by way of my running (see my previous post Being 42 and feeling 29 again). It may sound strange but ever since I have started this endeavor, I have felt more creative, more willing to concentrate harder on my hobby.

Now, some of what has grown my queue of photos waiting to be tweaked to two-thousand is the fact that I have other pressing priorities and smaller creatures around the house called ‘children’ (sometimes I like to call them ‘serious distractions form my dream state’). And some of what has taken my concentration away from photography has been other distractions, some good, some not so good. But I have gone back to taking my camera with me when I go to work in case I see a shot on my way. I have also started “seeing” with that photographers’ eye again.

So, getting serious is not me starting a new business, although it is on the back of my mind. Getting serious is really just getting back to basics for me and trying to stick with it from now on.

Being 42 and feeling 29 again

Yes, it is true. Today I am a big, whopping, nearing the black balloon party 42. My hair is all there but I have the salt & pepper markings that come with age, stress and lethargy. Despite all this, I do not feel 42. I feel.. .young!

Why this sudden change? It was not but a few months ago that I felt tired, worn out and ready to be put to pasture. Something happened, something good.

My wonderful wife grasps on to a goal and seemingly never lets go (this is a good thing). Hence I tend to go along for these rides with her whether I want to or not (probably also a good thing). Her latest goal was to run a full marathon this year; a decision she made in the dead of winter. “Pashaww!” I decried, never would I be so energized enough to start running, especially when it was cold outside like it was this year.

But something inside my head, that little voice that is hardly perceptible unless you block out all the other white noise of life said: “Paul, YOU NEED TO DO THIS”. And so, I acquiesced to my wife’s desires, bought some running shoes and some warm weather gear and started this crazy endeavor with her. I will not say that right off the bat I was a dedicated runner and that I was sold on this marathon idea. It was flippin’ painful at first and I lacked a runners’ desire (and stamina). But facing the cold was not as bad as I thought and I kept up with my wife. I was still not mentally prepared for running any further than a few miles though.

Then I stopped, I stopped it all.

I cannot remember why we stopped running but the Spring came and the marathon, let a lone running, was the furthest thing from my mind. Then my wife brought up the marathon again (remember, she never lets go) and asked if I was going to run with her. My first reaction was to ‘Pashaww!’ the whole thing again, but that voice came back and whispered in those deep, deep recesses of my gray matter. Before I could control my actions, I had paid for two entrances to the Twin Cities Marathon. Maybe THAT is how I got committed to this, if I buy it I darn well better use it!

So, suddenly I had a new lease on running. We started following a schedule that my wife got from a friend that helps train us up to Marathon day. The first few runs were hard but after awhile it got easier and I felt better after every run.

Now we still have a long way to go. The Marathon is not until October and my own furthest run has been 13 miles. I have a 5k that I am running in August with a friend and there is still training to do; the ultimate goal has not yet been reached. But we will make it and we will both feel better doing it along the way.

Yes, I am 42…but I feel like 29, thanks to my wife who has encouraged me, feeds me healthier food than I am used to, and simply loves me for who I am