2015 Is Underway--Roll it!

In the course of traveling a little circuit looking for editorial-type images, I come across a lots. Some are downloaded to my Lexar where they stay for 90-days. If I have not re-uploaded for use in this blog by then, they become deleted files. Some good shots have gone away like that because there just wasn't any good use for them. That includes not even selling them as basic stock images. Well, such is life in the big city. Otherwise, I would be paying mega bucks for terabyte storage.

A little sidetrack (pardon this pun as you will see later) here. When I was in college the thing called "new math" was just being taught in schools at most levels through college. No one really got it except people like my brothers and my sister-in-law. She is a cum lade math major. but terabytes--well, the whole Mega, Giga,Tera thing-- is all based on that early "new math". Had some one said to me then, take a 1000 bucks and grow it by another 1000 and you have a million, math would have been so much easier for me instead of talking in terms of powers (i.e. terabyte 4 10 a large allocation of data storage capacity or 2 40 is really 1,099,511,627,776 bytes) gees, a professional star gazer uses those things daily. Any who, ever six months I check to see how many of those things I can get rid of on my computer. 

Back to the travel circuit. In the course of those travels, I have noticed on the BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) tracks over the Carpenter Freeway just south of Las Colinas, there are always tons of rail road tank cars sitting on the rail road across the Carpenter (we call it the 114). I also know that those tracks go into Carrollton to the rail yard just north of Beltline and Main.  That is also the home of the local short line railroad that is the workhorse of the rail traffic in, through and around Dallas. That would be the DGNO, or Dallas Garland and Northeastern Rail Road, a property of Genesee & Wyoming, the G&W.Those tracks spur off and come back south along Denton Road to Lombardi where a 5 or 6 siding track is always filled with tank cars bearing the ADM logo (Archer Daniels Midland). In the photo, the DGNO is switching out rail cars north of the Denton Road Siding several blocks. In trying to get a better light shot on a gloomy day, I made a turn to the right so that I could make the block and come back around to where I had seen the DGNO engine. In doing so, I came across the ADM building on the corner of the second right turn. There was a truck tanker backed up into the building. Beyond that was a double row of tracks with rows of tank cars and a hopper car. All along side the back walls of two neighboring buildings but most were  bulk tankers.  Know, that solved the mystery of where all those tank cars were going. The rail cars were bulk storage and the truck tankers were either loading a blended mixture or taking their cargo direct from the rail cars. Either way, the operation was all connected to the string of tankers both on the BNSF tracks over the Carpenter and the siding tracks along Denton drive.

The truck tanker was later spotted at a Raceway gas station. Ethanol? Was that a corn cob incorporated into their logo on some of those rail cars? 

Here's the thing: ADM is looking to move its headquarters out of Chicago. The company is listed on the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange). They operate on 6 of the 7 continents. They progressively grow in the right direction and work for a good environment, not a bad one.

In a past reported 10-K filing, they list as either owned or leased:

2,500 Barges

27,400 Rail cars

600 Trucks

52 Oceangoing vessels

So, when George A. Archer, John W. Daniels acquired the Midland Linseed Products Company and founded the company in 1902, later incorporating in 1923, moving to Texas was not in their immediate plans. I hope the board members are beginning to have dreams of moving to Texas!

Tank cars with the ADM logo are a beautiful sight.

Happy New Year from Dallas

Happy New Year 2015

Hope, Peace and Joy

Crossing the Trinity on the Skyline Trail

Every one that I have come across when discussing the new Trinity Skyline Trail noted as everyone  else did that there were trails on both sides of the Trinity but no one could state with any certainty where the bike trail would cross to the other side. Today, I found out.  The city parks and recreation guys are pretty knowledgeable about what's going on and with the aid of a supervisor from all-places, Burkburnett, Texas, could even provide more information since his company was the project contractor.  Burkburnett,Texas

The new ramp down to Trammel Crow Park off the new Sylvan  Avenue Bridge

is west of Wichita Falls just 2 miles off the I-44 bridge crossing into Oklahoma. That is right at 100 miles to go home or to come to work. Later, I was thinking that my uncle who was an electrician and driving that distance every day was just part of the job. He worked on Cobo Hall when it was being built with the Joe Arena. Now, the Joe is being torn down.Then, he worked for years upgrading Detroit Wayne County Airport. That's Metro. So distance like that isn't really a problem if  you want to work.

I had gone down to the Anatole to see if the Michigan Spartans were meeting the public but I had missed the events for the day. On the return, driving out Harry Hines to see if the new Parkland Hospital was clearing out the fences so a shot of the magnificent architecture could finally be taken. Usually, it takes five or six trips to check on the best times for sunlight--morning--afternoon--evening. During the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge build, it turned out that the best sun is afternoons between 3PM and 5PM in the winter months. This time of year when the angle of the sun is still low, even the morning shots can be more silhouette than morning sun normal. As I crossed the new Sylvan bridge, I saw a car at the new ramp that goes down to the boat docks and the parking lots of Trammel Crow Park. I turned around and came back and went down the new ramp. Later, the contractor super told me that he and the crew opened the ramp to traffic last night. Today, the crew was setting the post that blocks off all the areas of the new trail except the two parking lots and the boat ramp. He showed me where the crossing from the east bank over to the west bank would be made on the old Sylvan bridge which is at trail grade below the levees.

Now, it was clear where you could cross on the north end. For now, there must be a new crossing on the south end and I'm thinking that it will be the I-30 Maggie 2 bridge since it will have a pedestrian and bike way on the bridge. But, for now, if the weather ever comes back to normal for north Texas, I can park in the Continental Bridge parking lot or the lots at Trammel Crow and ride both sides of the river. It's marked as 6.2 miles from the old Sylvan bridge on the new trail.

There will be new wet lands north of Sylvan and the banks of the Trinity have really been cleaned up. The crews are still working and the estimated completion date is mid February, or about 6-weeks more work. The Trammel Crow lake is now drained but is being cleaned up and then will be re-flooded.

Special Post for Texans

 Texas Residents Special Notice. Big Bertha in London Live New Feed Images Are Showing Up In Post.

The University of Texas Alum Band and Big Bertha, James Bowie High School Marching Band and Dallas' Lake Highland High School Wranglers dance troupe are in Trafalgar Square, London, UK today pre-performing for London New Year's Day Parade.

Currently, and on a 48-hour rotating cycle, is showing 32 images on Alamy Live News Feed. On the cycle, they are already on page one, row 4 and middle image. As time passes and feed images are added, they will move right and drop down another row.

You can go to the link: http://www.dallaspaparazzo.com  or click on the "a" in a black square on the right hand column of this blog. Scroll down until you see the "a". Click the box and a window will open up. Click the same black box with "ALAMY" and then the "live new feed". Look for the image and headline and it will open up to all 32 images. You can click on those images  and  purchase an image. The London photographer gets full credit for the image.

I could not pass up letting people know that they can see the news feed. And, I would watch the feeds daily as other photographers may post live feeds from today or tomorrow or at the parade itself on New Year's Day.  Also remember that England is +6 hours ahead of our time as they are on  GMT.

Book Covers

Sometimes, I get blown away by the simple question. Then, it occurs to me that comfort zones for people limit their ability to expand their horizons. A recent experience was noted when someone who watched me photography various things around a fairly popular spot at White Rock Lake. She came up to me as I was getting ready to leave. "Can I ask you a question, sir", she called out. I stopped as she walked over to where I was standing. She ask her question. I tried to give her the best of answers and not be silly. Her reply was, "I would never have guessed that in a million years."

We talked for nearly a half hour about photography and landscapes but mostly about graphic arts in so many businesses. Book covers, CD covers, albums, e-books were just a few uses that she had never thought about. Then, as if another drive kicked in, under a head of auburn hair tied back in a pony tail with grey roots along her temple. At that moment everything began to fit together, she could see the full picture as it was intended. When I showed her the in-camera image, she said that she had done some writing but never did  much with it afterwards because she didn't understand the full process of the publishing process. Selecting an image and putting it together with her manuscript, she could complete the process of e-book publishing as a start with minor software additions to her computer.

An old Sycamore tree that is one of my favorites from year to year.

It was a reality check for me in that you think most people looking at a picture could relate it to how images are used, but they don't.

The Fickleness of Fettle

The title almost seems like an Arthur Gordon chapter title. Although it is not, I'll take credit for this one.
A morning that has already tickled the brain and tinkered with the memory.


Somewhere in time, I do remember who they were, but I can not tell you when or where in time I learned this fact.Probably as a child most likely. This morning, while reading articles and scanning the web for the state of the world affairs, I heard the names Caspar, Balthazar, Melchior. I'll come back to that later on.

On the Local Stage

Years ago, I spent a lot of time running around the office putting out fires. Someone would generate one here and there then set on it until it began to spread before coming to me and  telling me about the problem. I didn't enjoy those situations but along with the nice office came the firetruck, hose and nosels so to speak. The hat just morphed into what ever the situation was for the day. I was always glad when I could put that folder in the pile of closed problems.
However, that was then and this is now. Now, when Texas gets below 30 degrees F, I feel it even with a layer or two of clothing. And here is the fickled side of  human nature in that situation. I don't go out for the frosty sunrises and foggy mornings anymore. I blame it on the battery pack getting cold. Which it does, but is still a poor excuse to not go get those shots.

The Nations Struggles

We haven't found MH 370, have not totally cleared the flight that was shot down over the Ukraine.  Now there is another missing plane in the Java Sea to add to the list. But even more fickled in scope is how the world's number one retailer--Walmart-- could receive and sell PS4s filled with rocks rather than electronics when Walmart is known for its high-tech RIFD inventory scanners and in store wall of eyes everywhere but in the receiving area. Shrinkage starts at the distribution center level, continues down to the store receiving level, then to the in-store theft that goes out the front door. It can also go out the front door as a sold item, then the box is filled with weight and returned during the busy return season. All-in-all, it's another fine example of the Fickleness of Fettle. Inventory to and fro of boxed rocks. How fickle is that? I'll tell you. It's Fettled in Fickleness.

Have you come up with the answer to the three names yet? How about the names of the three Magi or Wise men of the East. Okay, a simple kiss my grits will do for the wise men of the East.

 Point with No Counterpoint

The point is..life will mix things up for those locked in their comfort zones. Never say never because it will come back on you. For those that prepare for that shift that will not come during this lifetime, it really didn't matter in the first place because when it comes around again, very few of us will ever be remembered in a hundred years. The preachers sermon or the commercial that brings a laugh about being careful what you ask for because you just might get it--from the good Lord or from a genie in a bottle-- is really a possibility of and/or in life. A million buck wish becomes a neighborhood of a million  reindeer bucks! The story about the guy who didn't like to fly and prayed he would never die in a plane crash retires and drives to Florida only to be hit and killed within the first hours of being there crossing a street.

 I see a younger generation growing up with their nose in a phone screen and I wonder what they will write about in their years when they look up from their screens and discover that life is just about to the final act because I really do not believe that they ever see that day in their future.

 There isn't an app for that. There isn't social media to bring back that lost time with family. There won't be a YouTube video that will draw six figure hits of the funeral director watching your casket settle into the vault and the lid being placed on before the grave diggers dump a load of dirt in on the vault lid. That's fettle my friends, nothing fickled about that.

Time to go eat some homemade vegetable and ham soup with a glass of red wine. I made it yesterday and it was good. Today it will have increased it flavor  10-fold. With the  first of three cold fronts already here, it's either chilli or soup time and I'm thinking soup to finish out 2014 and chilli in the new year. One thing about Texas is that we eat simple--but we eat good.

The was on the first day of Spring a couple of years back.

Christmas Day 2014

Well, the evil empire of Christmas Merchandising has raked in their haul for another year and some have even found ways to squeeze out even more dollars between now and the first weeks of the new year. The Dow average moved into uncharted waters again during the final days before Christmas.

The financial giants of the investment houses are getting ready to grab what little is left for the less than one-percent (notice how many one-percent  movie stars are dumping their multimillion-dollar homes for half-price lately). Warren Buffett is even reported as being concerned while answering questions for six hours at the Berkshire-Hathaway annual stockholders meeting this month in Nebraska. Payton Manning is using the Omaha at the moment.

The reading of the tea leaves isn't looking good, all-the-while, the economy is bustling according to Washington and some noted pundits of the blog-o-spheres that sometimes seem to be running up and down the pole like gale warning flags on the seashores marinas. Come on 2015!!

I've done something unusual this year. I cut the thermostat back to 60 degrees and put on a sweater. At night, the top sheet and a downed comforter makes for the best sleep that I have had in years. It's been worth it too. Checking my dashboard for my electric usage made me almost choke as I took a swig of coffee just before reading that normal usage for users was 1300 kWh and my like users were 650 kWh. The chocking swig came when the sea saw chart said that I was at 303 kWh for the month with only a few days to go in the billing cycle. That fact with gasoline prices at $1.84 at my last fill-up two days ago combined with my 10-percent senior citizens discount at K-rogers with their electronic coupons on featured items is fantastic. Also, being in or out of the donut hole at the pharmacist ( I can never remember which one--in or out- gets me free prescriptions during December). All that made me yump for joy (that's a Cuban thing from an old friend who called our  mutual friend Joyce--Yoyce ). Yes, Virginia, there really is a way to not give the Edison companies such easy money. I'm still rather put out that TXU built six new coal-gas generating power plants to "help" the grid then watch their parent company file Chapter 11. That left the consumer on the hook to pay for their infrastructure.Their profit-rich delivery system, Oncor, is ripe for some energy financial to pluck them up and make a few more millions, or billions, in the bottom-line of someone's financials. That will take more years to figure out who really did end up with the balance sheet rich with profits.

For many years, marketing put food on my table. For that, I am thankful. But, when you pull back on the zoom lens and see the wider picture as a whole, you begin to see that the education to learn the marketing game really only served to make me a better shopper than most of my peers. That's not the glorified, award-winning (though, I have won a few of those) career success story (and I have had a more successful career than most). In short-- it's all a big perception game. Last week pointed that out to me more than anything else of recent days.

While at Love Field shooting some live feed images of the Southwest pickets by the Local 555 of the Transport Workers Union, a situation developed right in front of me. I walked over and instinctively snapped a couple of shots of what had just happened. Almost immediately, a guy yells out-"We don't want any pictures".  I walked away going back to the pickets. Although, I was on public right-of-way of the public street where the guy was standing and yelling he didn't want pictures.

 The Southwest "ramp rats" (in the airport business that 's what they are called) even in their labor dispute still had some humor for not having a pay-increase in six years. They also had the humor to find a big inflatable rat as their mascot. Still, the image that I had just seen weighed on my mind. Deep down inside, I knew that I should have submitted the image to the live feeds because it was a  troubling image involving two big beautiful draft horses who were now suffering and in pain. It didn't help knowing that the vet said to me earlier last month that my cat was suffering with cancer. Since then, and just beginning to recover from my grieving was a situation that caused harm to big animals during transportation that were not even mine or me knowing anything about their history. Yet, they were animals hurt unnecessarily and suffered because of it.

Yes, it is a perception thing that swings the pendulum of the universe. First it's a flash of light for billions of light years away. Then, it's the birth of a new galaxy, then a star in that galaxy--you get the point......the end result is a view of a giant astroid heading straight at you. Not exactly what it was perceived as in the beginning. And yet, the bottom line is that it really doesn't matter in the end other than how you perceive yourself and your family, hopefully with a belief of a higher power who set this all in motion as an emotion or just having fun to see what we do with his curves in the road.

The first thing I thought about when I awoke this morning was how I miss the Dawg. This being the first Christmas without her, I did wish her a Merry Christmas where ever her spirit might be. As the morning progressed through the coffee pot markings, my favorite classical station filled the room with Christmas and post Christmas pieces. For me, that's a quasi-lethal combination. My mind, when combined with classical music and coffee, makes the most creative times for me. Albeit, coupled with a pen and paper or a computer program with Word or some such typewriter-like device. While I can write legiably very fast, I've always been able to type with accuracy at a three-digit wpm rate since high school. Still, my mind was processing the "what to do" question about the extra two or three shots from Love Field. They are not as graphic as the one that I will probably post here but from the perception point of view, it solves the issue of the first couple of shots for the moment. In fact, I will most likely make a posting totally on that event somewhere down the line in the new year. It is coming to a head, so-to-speak with the new reality show in January of transporting large animals as a business. Mostly, the show will feature people who transport zoo animals to and fro. My question immediately is why do they have to be transported at all? Unless for an emergency but certainly not creating an emergency in transporting an animal. It's money, mostly but that's a perception isn't it?

Well, two pictures for you this winter holiday afternoon.

The Ramp Rat Mascot from the Local 555 Transport Workers at Southwest Airlines.Even Herb would like the Mascot!

Residue from the animal accident (This is not the most graphic shot).

1] 12-26 Edited caption to remove duplicated word
2]  edited paragraph 4 for more clear word flow