Candid Cypher

Change of Directions

2010-11-07T13:59:00.001-08:00

Hey, nothing really to post today other than making sure y'all know to also check out the main site www.candidcypher.com

Tattoos and Body Piercings

2009-05-28T23:32:00.000-07:00

So, it's 11:32 PM (Eastern non daylight savings time here in AZ) and I can't quite fall asleep and like most American's out there I turned my attention to Google and just searched for random stupid stuff and I came across a whole slew of ridiculousness. For those of you whom are curious enough to try it just do a search of "worlds worst tattoos" or "strange body piercings" and you are bound to find images that will shock you of the sheer stupidity of some people out there.
Now, don't get me wrong. There are some tattoos out there that are pretty cool and quite artistic that I give kudos to those who have them (I'll most likely never have one because in 20 years are you still going to want that thing on your body? Let your life be a tattoo on people's lives.) But, just give it a try and see if you can top this one that I found.

I am surrounded by total incompetence!

2009-05-27T22:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know that it's been like forever since I have commented on this but it's been like purging experience hoping that the trendy followers would just give up and the die hard readers would stick with it for a while still holding on the little bit of hope that is embedded into all human beings with the hope of a better world. Well, sorry to burst your bubble but that better world isn't quite here yet. I have some ranting and raving about my job to show you how effed-up the people are who surround us truly are..

For some of you that are aware, I'm a Apple Certified Technician (ACMT) among other things at the iStore, which means that I put up with loads of just total fail. Today seemed to be the worst of all of them. (It quite possibly could have been related to things which happened earlier today but that is a totally different story; I HATE girls now.)
1) The first episodes of epic fail were related to having to fufill my usual duties of fixing stuff. I am the one that migrates information and data from PC's to Mac's to ensure "customer satisfaction" with their new purchases. So, there were these two old guys that brought in their old PC's and upgraded their lives as my friend Bill Harding refers to it. This of which isn't much of a problem and is quite easy. The part of fail in this story is that they old, ignorant men forgot to mention was that neither of their PC's worked... "Ok how in the WORLD am I supposed to get data from a PEICE of CRAP to your new Mac when the PC doesn't work.... Now, I can pull HD's and that's not a problem. It's just far to much work and effort than it is worth to manually pull the drive from the machine, connect it to the Mac, and manually have to go through file by file and convert them to a format that is even remotely helpful to import on to the Mac. It's something that can be done but in days NOT hours.... Thanks for letting me know that the machines were dead guys... Do I look like someone who loves to solve your PC problems. Not really.
2) Now there were numerable other instances of fail that I could rattle off like people walking in after 9:00 pm (Store closing hours) to the sight of seeing my friend Chris Hudson and I closing up shop to come in and hang out but that would be a waste of time... Just like it was to type it.. But, one of these poor excuses for a Homo Sapien had the audacity to ask by far one of the DUMBEST questions I have ever heard from a customer who steps foot into any Apple Specialist store or Apple Store, "Are you familiar with Windows Remote Desktop?"
All I could say is "Do you know who we are and what we do?!?" Why would I, a Pro Apple user since conception be familiar with Windows Remote Desktop? It is people like this that make me stop questioning why the human race hasn't found a cure for cancer and AIDS. It's because the more intelligent people out there are preoccupied having to try and answer completely dumb and ridiculous questions posed by lesser beings than themselves instead of having time to ponder the more important things of life. I just wish that people would actually use that 3.5 pound piece of gray matter that is found within their skulls before they chose to open their mouths and inadvertently proclaim to the world their level of inteligence or the extreme lack there of.

Thanks for the Comments

2008-12-08T02:56:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone, thanks for the comments. They really do mean a lot to me. So I took them all into consideration and to be honest, part of the reason that I changed the logo is because it all felt very out of date to me (excluding the circle for the flame). There was just something about the font that drove me crazy. I really like this new font and I think that I have realized what was wrong. I was breaking up candle and light into two different words which made it look unbalanced. Now, revising this typo, the two words have become one, which is proper grammar. So, here is phase three of the new logo. I have included all three of them so that you can still put some input on the topic and so that you can see the evolution of the whole process.

Here is the original:

This is phase two:

Here is phase three:

Now, if those of you who do comment still say that I should stick with the original (most people do enjoy the originals of things like Coke for example) I'll concede, and stick with the original but will just change the flame to something other than a ellipse.

NEW image for Candle Light

2008-12-07T05:20:00.000-08:00

Hey, as some of you know, I am wanting to get a little part time business doing wedding video and photography. (www.candlelightstudios.blogspot.com) PLEASE share the word because I am a student and so I don't really have much of an advertising budget and I'm depending on word of mouth.

Well, instead of taking a Sunday afternoon nap because I couldn't really sleep, today I have updated the logo in preparation for an up and coming gig. It was something that was in definite need of repair because it was completely unfinished. The new one isn't quite done but it's a big improvement I think.

Here is the old one: Lame I know

Then, here is the new one: still slightly lame.

Something that would be a great deal of help for me and something that I would totaly love is if you guys could post some comments on which of the two look the best. There are some things that I like about each but, I'll let you know later what they are.

2008-12-04T00:18:00.000-08:00

Hey sorry that it has taken me so long to upload stuff from my trip to Huangzho last weekend. Things have been quite crazy lately. Luckily there are many wonderful people who I love who are helping me handle the stuff that's off the wall, my mother who I love and Demi.. who you know I love too. Things have been quite crazy with me trying to get home. Unfortunately, I have encountered issues regarding my visa which have costed me an ARM and a LEG. Oh well, I get to spend some extra time with Demi, we're going to be going to Souzhou next week. It's only an hour out side of Shanghai, and both of us LOVE adventures so this will be quite exciting. Well I gotta jet. Later. I'll keep y'all posted.

New Art Photos

2008-11-23T06:20:00.000-08:00

Hey, sorry that it has been a while since it has been a while since I have updated my blog with some art stuff. So here it is.

1 New Follower!?!

2008-11-19T22:27:00.000-08:00

Well I just logged onto this thing because I have felt quite guilty for not being a better news provider with my life. So, please do take these apologies as sincere.

A lot has happened within the past couple of weeks that it's hard to decide where to start. I guess I'll start with the CAH-RAZY fun stuff. Last Tuesday, for those of you in the States, Monday afternoon, Demi (Chen Chun) and I had the morning off from work and so we decided to go to the Bund. It's like the most famous thing here in Shanghai, next to the World Expo center once it's done. What it is, is this street that is water front property for Huangpu River that has this really cool architecture along it and it's just the stereotypical tourist thing. Well we went just for fun and we found the COOLEST things ever. The first of which was this little SpiderMan-like action figure that you throw against a window and he sticks for a couple of seconds and then goes down. Pretty cool but, not the coolest. The Coolest was this:

(The SpiderMan thingy)

Don't I just look like Sherlock Holmes?

A while ago I was listening to this interview from a photographer about interesting ways to keep your portraits exciting and he talked about carrying goofy stuff around in his camera bag. When I saw these I knew that I had to buy them. I think that they are just pure genius. We had some fun just hanging out but unfortunately, when we went out for lunch, I was feeling quite horrible because of something that I ate for breakfast so I ended up leaving. I was bummed because the lunch was quite nice but I was not feeling even in the mood to eat. I came home and just crashed on the couch for about an hour and then was able to eat. The short story, be careful to make sure that the eggs you use are still good.

Today, right now I'm stressing about what to teach the people that I consult for privately. I'm getting so tired of my job. It's fun when they are contributing but right now for both places the students are still new and they are getting used to the idea of being able to answer questions. From what I understand, most teachers just ask rhetorical questions because they just love to hear themselves talk. Sometimes I just sit there for 2 minutes straight waiting for a response to simple questions. I don't know what the problem is. When you ask them directly, they answer, but when you don't direct it to anyone they just sit there like deer stuck in the headlights. They're smart people, just not used to western styles of education. One of the many reasons that I am glad to have grown up in the States.

2008-11-09T08:01:00.000-08:00

Hey, it's late and I'm tired so just check out the pictures and I'll explain later.

Edit Phase 2

2008-10-19T18:52:00.000-07:00

Hey, I keep on playing around with Photoshop and here's is something else that I came up with from the same pic. I figured this one out while laying in bed trying to figure out the easiest way of creating the classic vignetting that most portrait photographers do these days when doing family portraits.

Photos since I have been Gone

2008-10-16T17:55:00.000-07:00

Hey. Well, I don't know what has happened lately but the creativity boat seems to have been out to sea and hasn't come back for the last couple of days so I haven't been all that inspired to do much of anything artistic. I did do a portrait shoot yesterday that there was some art and fashion styling done in it. It wasn't anything all that big, just my niece, but the shots were amazing. Today hopefully I'll get some good stuff because I'm going to be taking a bike ride with one of my very good Chinese friends, Chun Cuin, (she goes by Demi). Then tonight I have this part at the school which I teach. Apparently I'm the most fun teacher they have and they want me to be in charge of the English portion. I just hope that it will be fun and not lamo.

My boss asleep on the job. It's a good thing that he doesn't speak much English and has no idea about my blog. He's a way cool guy and he actually doubles as my driver and when I have to go all the way out to this one company that I do for company training and we party all the way pounding down a RedBull and listening to club music on the way.

NEW LENS!!

2008-10-13T20:29:00.001-07:00

What can make a camera seem like new? Simple, a new lens. Yesterday I went down to the photomarket with my friend Maria because she needed to pick up some paper to print a project of hers for school and somehow I ended up walking out of one of the Canon stores with a new lens. How did that happen? Well here is what it is. The Canon 24mm f/2.8 For those of you that are unfamiliar with photographic lens terminology what all of that means is that it's a fixed zoom lens (meaning that I can't zoom in or out. Now you must be saying, "Why would anyone in their right mind want to do that?" Other than making the lens cheaper, it also allows larger apertures as well as better clarity.) Then the f/2.8 means that it can be stopped way down to a huge aperature or f/stop of 2.8, this means that you can make the background quite blurry and out of focus while keeping the foreground sharp and in focus. Translation: this is a portraiture lens. That's the whole main reason of why I bought this lens. As some of you might know, I'm in the process of redoing what I started when I first got my camera, Candle Light Studios. It is what I hope to turn into a part time job of doing wedding photography and video, stock work, and portraits while I'm also going to be going to school and working full time. It's going to be quite an a handful but hopefully it will all pay off. So right now I'm in the process of accuiring all of the extra gear that I am going to need. Things such as Lenses, extra camera bodies, another GL2, a decked out Drobo, and a pimped my ride MacPro. Right now I'm working on the lenses because I don't exactly need the other stuff right away. Well here are all of the new photos taken with my new lens. ALL OF THEM HAVE NOT BEEN EDITED AND WERE SHOT WITHOUT A TRIPOD. I am totally enjoying this new lens. At first I was frustrated that I spent too much on it but hopefully it will be a good investment.

Sorry that all of the images are so FLAT. I just noticed that when I posted them and will hopefully figure out what the problem is. The originals are not even close to being that flat and dull. Darn you Blogger.com

Playing around on Saturday Night

2008-10-12T19:22:00.000-07:00

Hey, my sister in law was organizing the toys and I decided to play around. I took some pictures and that was when the dark humor in me started to come out. Well enjoy

Tinkering Around with Photoshop

2008-10-10T18:11:00.000-07:00

Hey, here is a little something that I was playing around with in Photoshop. It took forever to figure out how to make the rattle can. Enjoy, I'm off to find my favorite photographer on facebook.

Bicycles on my Mind

2008-10-08T20:55:00.000-07:00

Sorry that this has been too long in the coming but things have been a little crazy lately. Luckily things have slowed back down. Yesterday was the first time that I really had time to go and do a photo walk about. Unfortunately, I am stuck doing catch up on all of my HW and studying so I'll be stuck indoors all day today. Yesterday I had time because I have about a 2 hour break in between classes on Wednesdays and I didn't take my textbooks because that never really works out. I decided to only post these photos because as I was taking the bus home, I was thinking about what do I want to say about China when I go home and put all of these photos together and the only thing that I could think about was bicycles. They're everywhere and that's what I feel like describes the Chinese people, their bikes. Everyone here has one. It's like Americans and our cars. We have car shows, if people here had something similar it would be a bike show. Well Iyee has finished making Mien (noodles) and it's lunch time here.

Going Back to Basics

2008-10-02T19:07:00.001-07:00

So, yesterday I was pretty much turned on my head with truly thinking about going all out into this photo thing. Doing stuff like advertising my work, iStock stuff, and whatever else I can do with photography. I am now going to try and give myself a topic and challenge everyday so hopefully I'm going to get better at posting. Yesterday was my Macro challenge, hence all of the super close ups with the distortion of stuff. I'm planning on buying a real macro lens so that there is less distortion. Having a HOLGA up bringing, I love the strange, mystical distortion that happens with cheap lenses. So late last night/early this morning I wasn't able to sleep and I was up around 3am just goofing around teaching myself how to use my flash and I'm very pleased with now understanding what it does. SUPER EXCITED now that I have figured it out. I have now entered into the way of Zack Arias of only learning how to use one source of light. Without further ado, here is the evolution of my pictures. (NONE OF THESE ARE POST-EDITED).
I'm not angry I promise. I was trying to do a certain effect that would create drama.

Ahh, my new notebook. It's the center of my photography world. My notes, sketches for concepts, and shot lists are all found in there.

Macro Monday on Thursday

2008-10-02T04:59:00.000-07:00

Hey, sorry that I haven't been updating this little pet project as often as I have been updating the other, www.candlelightstudios.blogspot.com. I've been working on that one because I'm really considering turning that into a real job for me on the weekends. Today I first started goofing around with these little apple/cherry things taking pictures of them because I got bored. Over here in China, it's National Holiday (4th of July for the Chinese) so I don't have work and everything here shuts down for like a week. I was supposed to go on this tour with some co-workers, their all girls, but Garrett didn't want me to go and because I'm living in his house so I can't go and do something that would piss him off. I'm just tired of being the "Buster" of the Family. Being the youngest can really be hard. I don't care what others may say about them being the spoiled rotten brats of the family, though that may be true. But, the thing is is that the rest of the siblings were allowed to go and live their lives and make some mistakes along the way and when the youngest grows up everyone is afraid of them making the same mistakes so they're not allowed to do anything. When I say anything, I mean ANYTHING. Older siblings don't want them to scrape their knees, no running in the rain, and no doing the crazy things that they have done. Well here are my photos.

PS: I forgot to talk about these chery apple things. So down the street are these little market stores. At one of them is this guy who sells fruit out o a shop that is about the size of a walk-in closet. He is the nicest guy in the world. He' is always making me try new stuff when I come and buy the usual things like bananas, peaches, and grapes. Well the last time that I walked on by which was last night, he handed me one of these little bad boys and just laughed. I looked at it and then popped it into my mouth. Luckily I didn't bite too hard because there is a pit to them but they are the best little things I think that I have ever had. It's hard not to eat too many of them because if you were to, I bet you could have a horrible case of the runs.

Canon's New Wonder Camera

2008-09-24T07:34:00.000-07:00

Do any of you enjoy BOTH photography as well as cinematography (movie making)? For me, I fall into that category. The two art forms are just so similar and appealing for someone like me who isn't all that great with any other medium. For years, the only down side to being involved with both was having to carry around so much equipment. Your SLR, lenses, cards, batteries, then the video camera, tapes or DVD's or memory cards, then lenses for that camera, batteries, and then tripods and all of the rest of your toys and gear. It can just be such a hassle at times. Well, the beloved people at Canon, oh how I love Canon, have solved that issue with combining both into a single SLR body. There was quite a bit of talk from the people at RED CAMERA. that they have been toying around with doing the same concept with their new camera. Canon's new toy is their EOS 5D Mark II. What makes this new exciting is that it has inally been reviewed by an amazing photographer Vincent Laforet. He actually made a video with the movie which is quite amazing. So go and check it out.

Addendum to Previous Post

2008-09-24T07:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the abruptness of the last post. I did it while I was at work preparing my lesson plan for class and the internet went down half way through my closing remarks and when I went to go and post it, the last half was not saved and consequently was lost. I quickly wanted to get the post up because I was so horrified with what I had learned that I wanted to voice my disgust I quickly wrapped it up and posted again when the internet was back up. I think that it is horrible what not just the American public rationalizes but a great deal of the rest of the world. There used to be a time in which people respected the treaties and agreements that they signed. Now, it seems like people are taking international law and using it for toilet paper. What has happened to our world? It used to be that the UN once had some say in things pertaining to the world and would actually enter into conflict. Now it is the laughing stock of the international community, "Stop it or we will be upset with you and give you the dirty look!!!" People used to have morals, ethics, and honor. Now what has happened to it? During WWII the US once had the policy of treating prisoners of war with some amount of decent respect. Sure they were the enemy but they were not tortured nigh unto death for no reason or even at all. Now Donald Rumsfield says to HELL with ethics, lets get some untrained volunteer soldiers, put them into a jail and encourage them to do what ever they deem necessary to dehumanize and torture innocent people so that we can twist the American public into believing that we are doing something to keep the United States safe. I don't know about you, but I have no desire to even be associated with a nation that legalizes such behavior and does nothing about human rights. What has sickened me perhaps most of all, is that the Presidential candidate whom I once supported, John McCain, has actually voted in favor of legalizing water boarding. A POW himself who knows how inhumane the practice is and how INEFFECTIVE IT IS. NO AMOUNT OF TERRORIST INFORMATION HAS EVER COME OUT OF ABU GRAV BUT YET THEY USE IT AS A PREMISE FOR ESCALATING HOW AMERICANS RESPOND TO THREATS. Here's some food for though, in the Military handbook, did you know that it says to follow the Geneva Convention over US legislation when it comes to human rights and handling POW's? Why is it that a majority of the US military has adopted the new legislation for human torture and no longer follow the Geneva Convention? Is it because they know that they American public of even the rest of the world will do nothing to prosecute them for violations of international human rights laws? It is a sad thing when the people we put into office and expect to follow higher standards than the rest of the public go off and become the villains of society and get of "Scott Free."

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

2008-09-22T20:42:00.000-07:00

For most of us, when things are not constantly before us, we are most likely not going to think about it all that often. Such is the case with Abugrab and Guantanamo Bay. One of my favorite podcasts, Open Souce, this week has brough to my attention many things which I was unaware of that was truly happening there and the current policy which has been put into place. Things such as the legalization of human torture and practices that are deemed by the International Geneva convention as war crimes. Actions such as waterboarding, the dehumanizing of detainees, and the illegal detention of indivuduals who were just at the wrong place or wrong time. NOW I AM NOT ARGUING THAT IT SHOULD BECOME US POLICY TO NOT INTERROGATE INDIVIDUALS, I AM ONLY QUESTION AT WHAT COST THESE ACTI0NS SHOULD BE PERSUED.
As of May of this year, President Bush vetoed the bill which would have made it illegal to continue the practice of waterboarding. This is what the president had to say in an interview with NBC, "This is no time for Congress to abandon practices that have a proven track record of keeping America safe." What information was obtained by the "CIA" through the practice of waterboarding. (Waterboarding is a form of torture that consists of immobilizing a person on their back with the head inclined downward and pouring water over the face and into the breathing passages.[1][2] Through forced suffocation and inhalation of water, the subject experiences the process of drowning and is made to believe that death is imminent.[3] In contrast to merely submerging the head face-forward, waterboarding almost immediately elicits the gag reflex.[4] Although waterboarding does not always cause lasting physical damage, it carries the risks of extreme pain, damage to the lungs, brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation, injuries (including broken bones) due to struggling against restraints, psychological injury, and death.[5] The psychological effects on victims of waterboarding can last for years after the procedure.[6). It is known fact that there was no, NONE, ZILCH, or NADA, evidence that was ever obtained from perhaps the most disturbing of US prisons, Abu Grab.
There is an amazing book titled "Standard Operating Proceedure," by Philip Gourevitch. It is a book that discusses what went wrong and what is going wrong. How torture has been legalized in the US and so forth. There comes a point and time when certain things become acceptable but there is also a line that has definately been crossed here by the US government. Innocent people are being tortured and abused beyond what is reasonable only to find out that they are innocent and only are guilty of being in Iraq. Something must be done about this.

New Jeans and New Kicks

2008-09-21T02:38:00.000-07:00

Hey Y'all
So last night I went the market to pick up some new jeans and new shoes just so that I could have something that was a little bit more style just for hanging out so that I'm not always so formal all the time. I picked it all up for about 50 bucks for three pairs of pants and the shoes. Not bad huh considering that they are about the best fitting pairs of jeans that I have ever had. Then later that night I went and hung out around Jing'an Temple where I snaped the self portraits. I have been planning on going down the the basement of the apt complex here to play around there because it is super secluded and nice and dark, just like me.
The Blogging world sure can be frustrating at times, especially when people don't really understand what a blog is supposed to be. It's like a live journal of people's opinions and as I tell my students, "The great thing about opinions is that they are neither right nor are they wrong so we should just accept the fact that some people may say things which we may not agree with but we still must respect their viewpoints and try to see things from their perspective." Is that really to hard to understand? Isn't that pretty much the American philosophy that the United States was founded upon? I don't know, but that's just my belief about the first Amendment and that whole part about free speech part.

Chinese Lesson's with "Iyee"

2008-09-19T02:18:00.000-07:00

So, here in China, because labor is so incredibly cheap, my brother has a maid that is here everyday except for Sundays who cooks, cleans, and even willingly does the shopping because she knows that she can get cheaper prices because most stores sell things at higher prices when they see people with fair skin and completely round eyes. Usually she and I will sit at the table having lunch together and teaching each other new words. "Jao she ma?" (What's this called) and that goes back and forth with her reply in Chinese and then asks question "Yin wen (ma)?" (In English?). Well she's making dinner right now and the new word that I just learned cucumber which is "Hwuang-gua." The thing that makes the least amount of sense is that hwuang means yellow. There is nothing yellow about a cucumber. I guess there must be some reasoning about it. I love this lady. We're always going back and forth with stuff. Just now she came to me asking me what salt was. Here in this house, like good ol Openshaw tradition, we're food snobs and so we have normal salt and sea salt. So, I had to explain the difference. Thank goodness for pictures and drawings.
Sijen

It's late at night here and I'm off to bed.

2008-09-15T09:40:00.000-07:00

Another Rainy Day

2008-09-13T07:02:00.000-07:00

Sorry that I have not quite been in the mood to post lately. I don't know what it has been but the Muses of my life seem to have left me and gone on vacation leaving me without even a ray of sunshine in my dark and dismal life. Things here in Shanghai have been quite rainy but still beautiful in its own Chinese way.
Now you just might be asking yourself, "what is it to be beautiful in their own Chinese way?" Well here is an example:

Unfortunately I wasn't quite ready when I saw this one comming. It was this lady who came around the corner riding this bike/tricycle thing loaded with these boxes. I'm not sure what they were made out of but what ever they were they must have been quite heavy seeing how hard this woman was pedaling the bike. The bike/tricycle things here are geared low so it must have been heavy.
The sad thing about me sitting here and typing away while watching a movie with Garrett and Kellie, I am noticing how bad my English has become. Obviously, being here in China, everyone speaks Chinese but there are those few who do speak English but their English is so broken that it is more of a cross between a grammatical piglatin and Liberian. I hope that you understand and comprehend what I am trying to convey. It can actually be quite comical at times. When I say grammatical piglatin, it is the reversing of sentence structure so that it sounds like a literal translation of some latin based language. The strange thing is that, for the most part, Chinese is not spoken like that It's spoken just like English, so I don't see what the problem is. I might figure it out sometime.

New Photos and a new bike

2008-09-11T21:49:00.000-07:00

Not in much of a mood to really post but I just wanted to throw these photos up. Gotta run to get my paycheck from work so later.

New Housing Philosophy

2008-09-10T18:22:00.001-07:00

Well, this morning as I was reading the paper, and by reading I mean browsing through the NY times on my iPod (this is a subject for an entirely different post), I saw this article. NY Times Article. It's an article about a new housing philosophy. Making new homes that are much smaller than your average American Home. In all seriousness these homes are about 1/10th the size of you Average American home, 100 square ft. For those of us that aren't that conceptual, imagine a square that is twice your height on each side and that would give you about 100 sq ft plus depending on how tall you are. That's not all that big when you put it into those terms, but there is an increasing market for them. I actually think that they're quite cool I mean just look at this model. The only thing that I find absurd about them is the sheer cost of them. Most of them are in the $90,000 range. That's quite a chunk of change for just a shed that is on a trailer frame if you ask me because that's just about all they are. Perhaps I would need to take a walk through to truly inspect how well built they are and luxuriant they would be.
To me they really do make so much sense when you think about it. How many of us really use all of the space of our homes? For some of us we use more than others and there are some of us that truly do use all of it. But, a vast majority of us just have these big homes with big yards and consequently big bills to pay. The movement to these new homes was inspired by the idea of reducing humans footprint. Both actual floor plan as well as carbon and from what I understand they do just that. So, just head on over to the NY Times link and read the article yourself. Also here are the links to some other places that are talking about them Small House Style Tumbleweed Houses
Just a note, you may experience some slight dificulties with Small House Style just because they are getting a lot more attention that their server is used to and using more bandwidth than they have purchased so the sight may be down for a while.

Jade Buddhist Temple

2008-09-09T07:02:00.000-07:00

Today, after getting bored out of my mind, my sister-in-law told me to go and check out a place that they want me to take some family portraits. It was the Jade Buddha Temple. Sounds pretty intense right? Well to be completely honest, even though it is a fully functional buddhist temple, it is a total tourist site. The funniest thing that I saw there was one of the monks sitting in a little booth, right next to the main entrance, texting on his cell phone bored as can be. I just had about 20 minutes to walk around because the batteries of my camera were low. On top of that, I wasn't about to pay 20 yuan to get inside.

Hanging around People's Square Last Night

2008-09-07T22:49:00.000-07:00

Hey, Last night I met up with some friends to just hang out and stuff which was a lot of fun. We just walked around checking stuff out. The coolest parts were one, there were these guys with HUGE kites that lite up and had lights on them that could change colors and patterns and then second was this art shop that had all of this amazing Chinese art.
Now these kites, when I say huge, I'm talking like 5ft wingspans. Hopefully I will be able to find out where to buy them. My Chinese friend, Vivan, tried to figure out where these guys got them but the place they bought them from is now closed down or moved and they didn't know where else. Besides just being super cool, they were so big that you had to wear this whole belt thing that the rigging were attached to. It looked like the gears and pulleys from a small sail boat or something.
Unfortunately I think that my whole adventure made me more sick. Saturday I woke up with a sore throat and now it has escalated to a runny nose, cough and even more sore throat. Well here are the picture from the adventure. I didn't take too many because I was the only one with the camera and didn't want to bore everyone.

New Header

2008-09-05T08:25:00.000-07:00

Hey for all of those of you that check this thing, I have put up a new header. It's a compilation of images that I have taken while here in China. Things are going well. The ankle is on the mend.
Today I had lunch with one of the coolest people that I have made the aquantance of while here in China. It was with one of my coworkers at the place I work at. Her name is Vivian, well that's her English name because I can't pronounce her Chinese name. She's way cool and is very down to earth. After lunch I got caught in the rain walking around who knows where. That's the thing that I hate about here in China, everything looks so much alike and I get so turned around so easily. Well I have to teach tomorrow so I best be off mates. Cheers.

Some how it's always me who is the one that gets hurt.

2008-09-04T08:14:00.001-07:00

Right now it's Thursday night here in Shanghai which means that it's 8 AM back home in Mesa, AZ. Tonight is the night that all the guys from the LDS branch here in Shanghai get together to play the all time church's favorite game, Church Basketball. Now it's usually not my thing but I go just to have some fun and meet the guys. I'm more of the type of person that is into just watching college basketball rather than actually the one participating in it.
Where we play is in the housing complex where the branch is. There is a Chinese size basketball court, meaning that the free-throw line is about 8 feet from the hoop, so it's small. The lighting is okay to play in but beggars can't be much of choosers. Well we were having a fun game until it became very un-fun for me. I some how ended up rolling my bad ankle once again. No one was guarding me, I was just dribbling up the court, put it through my legs and it, the ball, went a little too far so I tried to side step really quick but I guess my right leg didn't get the memo. My whole ankle went about 90˙ or more and I went down immediately.
I don't know what it is, but somehow, if anyone is ever to get hurt doing something, it is usually me. Maybe that's why my mom would never let me play pop-warner football or do anything like that. I'm just so darn accident prone. So, right now I'm just chilling with my right ankle about the size of a grapefruit bummed that I can't go running tamalé. Chao

Photo Updates

2008-09-01T09:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry, the internet has been down for the last couple of days and that's why I haven't been able to post anything. So these two last post have been all one big post but since blogger doesn't let you post more than a gazillion photos at once, it had to be split into two posts.
Things have been absolutely awesome here in China. I LOVE IT. It almost makes me want to move here. Everything is just perfect. Imagine this. Take NY and make it about 10 times bigger and slightly cleaner. The only down side is that you can't drink the water straight out of the faucet.
Right now I have a job teaching English at a small private school making about $20 and hour. That's about 150 RMB an hour. Pretty sweet eh? On top of that, it's part time. So, the only thing making me want to go back is to receive and American education and then come back. WHOA, that sounds pretty sweet. Jobs here ex-patriots are pretty sweet I must admit. I have talked to quite a few of the guys that are in the LDS branch and they have some pretty sweet set ups. Well anywho, it's late here. Cheers.

Photo Updates

2008-09-01T09:34:00.000-07:00

"Leaving on a Jet Plane..."

2008-08-27T17:59:00.000-07:00

Actually to be completely correct, it should have been, "Left on a Jet Plane," because I have been here for about 36 hours in China and left my house in Arizona 48 hours plus. It was quite the day of traveling and by the time that it was all through, what I wanted most was just to brush my teeth. If I was thinking straight when I packed my travel on bag, I would have packed a toothbrush and some toothpaste. I should have thought about the fact that it was about 18 hours of travel time with all kinds of eating along the way. It seemed like the last time that I came here to the beloved country of China where the only things that we did was sit on a bus, sleep, and eat. My flight over here was the exact same thing.
I left home about 5 AM where one of my closest friends, Clint, came and took me to the airport because my mom is still unable to drive, Dr.'s orders. So I woke up at about 4:30, had a bowl of cereal and then brushed my teeth for the last time that day. Flew to San Fransisco. (Almost didn't make my flight because I was thinking that I was going to be flying via American instead of United which is at a completely different terminal at Sky Harbor.) Sat on a plane for about 2 hours trying to do some Calculus homework but still wasn't quite awake enough to really want to do anything. Once I got to SFO, I found out that my flight to China was delayed 2 hours, turning my 3 hour layover to a 5 hour one. It was SO BORING. Luckily I was able to get quite a bit of reading and other stuff done to catch up with what I should have done on my way to SFO.
Finally, the plane arrived. I ended up sharing a 3 seater isle with just another gentleman who was in the US doing business for his company. Mr. Yuan was his name. Quite cool guy. I have his e-mail and plan on getting in touch with him and maybe do some lunch or something. It was nice because I had the isle seat and no one was sitting behind me. Needless to say I slept a good deal of the way. The funny thing was, that I seemed to always wake up right as the flight attendants were coming through with the meals. Pretty nice huh? Go to sleep and wake up with a meal in front of you then repeat the whole process by going to sleep again. BAM! Another meal right in front of you. Oh such a stressful flight.
By the time that I finally got to Shanghai, I was glad to be here. I was starting to get excited to see my brother Garret whom I haven't seen for over 3 years. Just waiting for my baggage seemed like forever just because I wanted to get through and see him, but in reality it was only 10 min or so. Walking through customs we met up and then headed to his place.
Our travels began by riding an engineers dream, the MagLev train. A train that is completely frictionless because it floats on magnets. It was an incredibly smooth ride cruising along at 300km, about 180 mph. Then we went through the subways which was slightly difficult because of my large bags. Then we took a cab and before I knew it I was home.
It's so good to be here. Unfortunatly I didn't take as many pictures as some of you may wish, but a lot of them are on my phone and I forgot my cable to connect it to my laptop so I will have to a couple of tricks to get them off.

TWO DAYS

2008-08-23T11:39:00.000-07:00

Wow, I feel like it should be in the ring or something with this psycho like countdown that's happening. I can't believe it, within two days from now I will be on an airplane for 12 hours heading over the arctic circle to Shanghai, China. So, I plan on taking a couple of books in addition to my Calculus and introduction to Logic books, my laptop with some movies on it, and my iPod with music and movies. Any ideas of what else I should take with me? I plan on staying up all night Sunday so that I will be able to sleep for a large portion f the flight to try and get myself in sync with the time change of being 15 hours ahead of normal AZ time. This is going to be one crazy adventure of an adventure. As you can see, I have started my packing list and have already started packing my bags. I don't want to forget something important like deodorant because it's $10 a stick over there. Now that's crazy if I have ever heard it.
I hope that it's going to be a lot of fun, being one of the natives riding around on a bike getting to and from work. Right now I have 4 interviews with a couple of companies to be teaching English to children. Hopefully it all works out because I can't go any time without having jorb. (Homestarrunner inside joke with coachZ). Well I'm here at work so I must be off. Cheers.

Saturday Night Car Show

2008-08-17T21:22:00.000-07:00

I really wish that I was much better at using a flash unit because of things like this at night. Some of the pest times to make photographs are at night. The other day, Sean, Clint, Trevor, and I went to a car show that happens every Saturday night in Scottsdale near the Pavilions and the McDonald on Indian School. There were some pretty amazing autos there and I would have had some even better shots if I would have been much better at using a flash unit. So here are some pictures.

Getting Bored working at Re-Mac

2008-08-17T21:05:00.000-07:00

Saturdays at Re-mac are notorious for being HORRIDLY slow and just wastes of days where one person is baby sitting the store pretty much there just to let people pick up their repaired computers. By the time 3:30 rolled around I decided to pull my camera and tripod out and take some self portraits just to play around in the back with just a single light and a tech bench. Most of these are some elongated exposures ranging from one second to about 10. I guess this is what happens when someone who wished that they were much more creative and recognizes that they need some practice. So, if you're here in the Valley (Phoenix area) and want some portraits of yourself, just let me know because I would love the practice, and desperately need it.

New Card + My Really nice tripod= Night Photos

2008-08-11T23:18:00.001-07:00

Well, beggars can't be much of choosers when it comes to time for making pictures. The only time that I had was late this night and so I loaded up my bike with my stuff and tried to find some inspiration to actually go and do something. Mesa is just so very unphotogenic and uninspiring to say the least. Everything around pretty much looks the same but I just might be saying that because I'm so horrible at night photography and can often find myself reasons and excuses to get myself out of making pictures. In fact I'm just horrible all around and don't feel that all the practice in the world won't make me much better. That doesn't mean that I can't keep telling myself that I may be good one day though, or does it?

The Countdown has officially begun....

2008-08-09T23:45:00.000-07:00

!6 days and counting. Today after I got home from work and from being out playing with long missed friends my mother, who I truly do love but just disagree with quite strongly at times, told me to check my e-mail. That was when my stomach dropped slightly for a moment and then excitement took hold once again because I knew what it was about. It was concerning my adventure to China. It is official, my tickets have been booked! Isn't that a little scary?! By this time three weeks from now, I will be LIVING IN CHINA. Not just in some other state, nor some other part of the United States, but on the OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD in a country where I don't even speak the language but am so unfamiliar with. This is so.... such a thing of mixed feelings. I'm excited yet nervous because after looking online for some courses for the coming semester for school I haven't found quite what I feel that I should be taking. I was hoping on taking a Chemistry, Physics, and Calculus course but, since I don't speak Chinese and MCC isn't offering much online, I'm a little up a creek without even a paddle.... EEEKK. I might not even have a job too so I hope that I don't end up just taking photos all day everyday which could be so very nice but would get old very fast.
I guess that I would describe it like that feeling one gets when they are going rappelling and are standing on the edge starting the decent. With my fairly extensive experience, I still get slightly uneasy coming off those two inches of the edge. It's just like that feeling because I know that I will have an experience much grander than anything I have ever experienced and it is a once in a lifetime thing. I am also excited about the fact that I will be able to see my brother Garrett and his family who I haven't seen for 3 years. There's a lot of preparation work that I will have to try and get ready for within the next three weeks. CAH-RAZY!.

NEW CARD!!

2008-08-09T23:21:00.000-07:00

Today I decided to bite the bullet and bought a brand new 4 gig CF card from good ole Wally-World. I just felt so, unable to do what I really liked doing without my camera. I'm pretty sure that I could have learned a whole lot having to go back to basics and try to make my photography more simple and easier to put together and shoot with my handy-dandy Sony CyberShot T-1 . I am so lazy and spoiled with my bigger camera. I was about to say my "nicer" camera but I don't feel that that would be correct because a camera's size and high definition isn't what would make it "nicer" per say because if I wasn't shooting digital I would much rather choose my $20 Holga over my much more expensive Canon Elan II because of it's such unique and amazing images that someone can create with it. Some of my best pictures that I have ever taken were taken with my Holga. Here is an image, NOT MINE, but from another photographer Giovanni Battisti. I found his images by just doing a regular google search for Holga images.

Ultimately it comes down to ones ability to control their tools in which they work with their medium. Some of the most famous and iconic images have been taken with less than expensive cameras. It all comes from the person wielding the tool and how familiar they are with it.
What happened to me talking about the new CF card that I bought? It's a new 4gb card from Sandisk so hopefully it will be a much better card and have a slightly longer life compared to the one that just died on me who is still being mourned, oh how we will miss her. She was a good memory card who tried to do her best....

The Drive Home

2008-08-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I drove home from Provo, Utah to good ole Mesa, Arizona. I it was an adventure of mixed feelings. I loved being in Provo for the fact that it was a college town that was so alive with so many people my age who had the same outlooks of life and most people knew what they were talking about. (As you can probably tell, I'm at my old place of work, Re-Mac. The store where all cheapskates come looking for super old Apple Hardware hoping that they'll find what they're looking for only to have their hopes dashed by the fact that what they are looking for is only going to be found in a museum or the dump because it's 15 years old). I loved my job working at MacDocs because 98% of the people that came through there were all using equipment that was two years old at the oldest and sometimes even were more aware of things than I was. Unfortunately, everything that I hate about Arizona, has been brought to my attention and I haven't even been here for 24 hours.
Last night, it was brought to my attention how biased my mother is and how twisted her own generation is. As we were watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and there was just something that came over her when she saw the soldiers hoisting both the Olympic flag and the Chinese flag that she just had to make such arrogant and appalling comments about how frightening the Chinese are, how intimidating they are, how these Olympics are so frightening, and how The Americans are the only ones that can really do documentaries and all other nations are are the ones that are so biased and censored. It got to the point that I just got up and left the room without even saying anything to prevent any arguments and walked out because I could stand what she was saying but I was not going to oppose her in her own home. I think that she realized that what she said offended me but didn't even bother to understand what it was that caused me to leave or even understand why I was offended. She just became infuriated with me and is now not even speaking with me nor even recognizes my presence. I don't deny the fact that there have been great atrocities that have been committed by the Chinese such as the students in Tienanmen Square but one, that was in the past and it was during a time in which China had to show to the world and its citizens that it was strong and would not tolerate anarchy and open opposition to the government, something that EVERY nation has done. If I were to rebel against the police here in my own nation, I would attest the fact that I would most likely be arrested and probably beaten up in the process. I guess the thing that I found most disturbing was the arrogance in which comments were made that went from not just national pride to complete 1950-1980's ultra right wing conservatism rhetoric of how biased that all other nations are and it's only the United States who is in right. Sure, I love the Bill of Rights here in the United States, everyone has the right to free speech, which is what protects us all. But, just because people have the right to free speech doesn't mean that everything they say is going to be true or even correct. The United States is a commercialized nation meaning that everything has its connections to the making money, even the news. That fact trickles down into using current events to one persons gain. For example, most American news sources claim that the recent turmoil in the Zimbabwean elections, it was said that the whole conflict was over tribal conflicts claiming that the outside sources of foreign reporters were more of an authority than the citizens of the nation who claimed that the real conflict was over the fact that the elections were rigged and hand very little o do with tribal issues. So who's perspective are you going to take? Someone that has very little to do with a nation, that is being paid by an organization to get a story across, and that has the same views as their peers and supervisors so that they are going to be influenced by them or the person who is in the midst of the issue, who is there, and who has no connections with anyone who is paying them to voice their opinion? The same goes with documentaries. There are a lot of people who have very independent views and who have made documentaries but who is going to publish or televise their documentary when they don't exactly agree with their perspectives or their isn't any profit or gain from it? It's a very well known fact that the NY times is going to be a little bit more liberal than than per say Bill O'Reily. Not that either side is bad, it is just an example that everyone has their own bias. Heck, even I have my own bias. It is inevitable because we all have our own personal interests, and preferences.
What I am trying to say is that it is completely arrogant to go and make a comment about how American Media is the top dog of the unbiased documentary because it is almost a proven opinion that we are not. pre-Iraqi freedom we were all under the impression that Iraq had WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction). We went in and found that there was nothing but just what we already knew, oil fields. I am not condemning the action because I think that in the long run what we have done for the Iraqi people is far better for them than living in such third world circumstances as they were and there is much good that is happening there. But, I question the rational of why we went in. We were under the assumption that it was for the greater good, but what really is it because all I see is a whole lot of people making a lot of money from the deal, oil refineries, private security businesses, and construction businesses whom Dick Cheney has connections with. There are a lot of horrible dictators out there and genocide going on all around the world, mainly what happened in Darfur and Rwanda. Why didn't we go in with guns blazing to stop that? Is it that both areas have very few resources and very little to contribute to the global economy? Just maybe.
Now back to the whole fear of the communist states. I'm sad to say, but the United States has produced just as much anti-communism rhetoric as the communist nations have told their citizens to fear the United States. There is nothing to fear from either side because by just pointing out all of our differences and by teaching that we should remain in fear of the other only promotes haltered. I have to spoken with people who have served in several branches of the military who were part of that generation that feared communism and then later in life spent time in either Russia or China and came to realization that they are just people too. It's just that they have a different system of government than we do. There is nothing wrong with that. Just because a select few are placed in power to govern many doesn't instantly make a country "EVIL." Let's take a look into history. The Romans, during times of war would put sole authority into the hands of Cesar for the protection of the state of Rome which is something that actually preserved Rome for centuries, George Washington was practically the head of the rebelling colonies during the United States revolution, and it is a practice still in effect throughout the world ie George Bush. So to say that a group of people that are unified in a manner different than yours, who may look different, and even have different philosophies doesn't give any one the right to fear them or hold anything against them. Taking the very word of Master Yoda, "Fear leads to hatred." Besides, if you really want to fight something that you don't agree with, then stop buying things from them and supporting their economy, stop taking advantage of their contributions to society, and don't take in any part of their culture. But, don't talk bad about anyone or anything unless you are first willing to accept the very faults of what you support in front of me.

Passenger

2008-08-09T10:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the big drive home to Mesa, AZ. It was quite the adventure. I laughed, I cried, and I even found a new favorite band, Passenger. Don't get them confused with the American band Passenger, some acoustic guitar, one man band from Utah or something like that. I didn't care too much about searching them out, I was a little pre-occupied with looking up the Real McCoy from Brighton, UK. They're a little conspicuous and hard to find information about them but, I found them on myspace at http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=35885321 (Sorry that it's not a link, I can't format it correctly so that it is). I found them on the indieFeed podcast under indiePop. It's hard to classify them into one exact genre because their sound is so flavorful and wide. It is as if they range from more of a Pop feel all the way to an almost alternative feel. All I can say is to go check them out for yourself. My personal favorite track of theirs is "Night Vision Binoculars." Check them out, your motha told ya!

Signs

2008-08-06T22:26:00.000-07:00

Signs have their very special purposes in life. They tell us where to go. Where not to go. What to watch out for. What is safe and what is not. What can kill us and what we need. Everyday we look at signs to give us direction and guidance in our lives. Some signs might be more important to read than others at times depending on the circumstances. Then again, some signs are all to often just over looked. Take this one for example. It's on the dumpster right outside of my apartment.

Pretty interesting no? Just tells you what is and what is not safe to dump. My personal favorite is the "No Dumping Radioactive material" part. Who is one, going to have radioactive material just laying around their houses and two, what student is going to be dumping radioactive material into a dumpster near their apartment? I thought it was pretty funny.

Artist without his usual Paints

2008-08-06T22:19:00.000-07:00

Since my BIG camera is temporarily out of commission and I don't want to stop taking pictures I have resorted to using my little T-1. Not that it's a bad camera, it's just that I have so much more control with my other one, it has a view finder, and there is just something special about holding a big piece of equipment that just makes you feel like you're a photographer. I have taken a couple of cool ones on my phone but I don't have any way of transferring them to my computer to put on here. Once I do, I'll get them on here ASAP. Well here are a couple of pictures that I have chosen to put up on here.

This one is my favorite. It's me just chilling with Albert pondering the deep perplexities of space and time.

All that remains from the Salt Lake Tour

2008-08-06T21:53:00.000-07:00

So I went through my other hand held little Sony T-1 camera that I had on my mission and found these pictures and videos from my little Salt Lake Adventure

I might be leaving on a Jet Plane....

2008-08-05T00:03:00.000-07:00

So, Sunday night I'm just hanging out with some friends at my apartment here in Provo, Utah and my pants started to whistle at me and vibrate. At first I was shocked by such a thing and then I realized that it wasn't my pants but instead my phone. I am so un-used to such things because rarely does anyone ever call. I checked it out and saw that it was a strange number that I didn't recognize and answered it with a vacillating "hello" and to my greatest supprise it was my brother Garrett Openshaw who is living in Shanghai, China. I was absolutely blown away with the fact that he was calling me because it is so expensive for someone to call from China to the US. The biggest supprise was the frankness in which he said that he wants me to go and live with him and his family for several months in Shanghai (www.openshawsinasia.blogspot.com). I think that I would have to be a fool to pass up such an opportunity. If all turns out well then I will be going to live in China for 3-4 months teaching English for a little break in normal daily life and living with my brothers family. It has been three years since I have had the opportunity to see him and his family; Kellie, Amaya, and Avie. Stay tuned in to see if I will be able to beat the race against time to be able to get my visa, passport, and flight information all straightened out.

Shout out To Support one of my favorite Artist

2008-08-03T15:34:00.000-07:00

This past Friday not only did I go all the way up to Salt Lake City by bus, but I also attended Veloure which is a concert hall for upcomming indie artist where one of my good associates, Katie Brandeburg played (She's on facebook and Myspace). While waiting for the show to start there was a free art show in one of the store spaces. I have never really been a fan of the genre of "Modern Art" and post modernism and that's what the showing was unfortunately. All the paintings were, were areal views of towns which was the parts of the painting that I liked, but in addition the the views of the towns, there were just straight lines originating from one point making a 3-D geometric shape. Very strange to say the least. I don't know why anyone would actually spend time and effort into showcasing things like that. On my way out of the showcase I noticed a book with peoples comments and I wasn't the only one that had same views. Sometimes people just try to be too far out there that they make total fools of themselves. Now to offer some hope for the art scene, I'm putting this up to direct some of you all to check out one of my favorite artists of today. He has a website which is on the side bar of my blog (http://philinthecircle.com/) but he is also on youtube and myspace with some of the making of his art. He does some really amazing stuff with anything that he can get his hands on. Painting with a tricycle, sidewalk chalk, drawing with McDonald's fry grease, a can of cheese, matches, and even oreos. So I recommend checking him out and if anyone else has any artists of their own they would like people to check out please just leave their names in the comments section.

Last Photo's You'll be Seeing for A while

2008-08-01T23:58:00.000-07:00

Today has turned out to be more about the adventure that the actual result because there are no results. For about the last 3 weeks I have been wanting to take a bus all the way up to SLC and go take some picture of the down town area and today was the first day that I have the opportunity to do it. So I took my bike and my camera and made the 2 hour adventure up there taking some pictures along the way. Some of them I must say were quite impressive too. But, about the time that I got home and hooked my camera up to my computer, the CF card was not readable and I couldn't even access the files from my camera. It's like a total HD failure for a camera. Everything that I shot today is just a memory in my mind because I don't have the $100 to try and have a company try to strip the photos off the card nor do I have $70 for a new card. I should have it soon but not by the time that I go home unfortunately. Luckily I did download all of the photos that I took last night when I was up reading because I couldn't sleep, as usual, and those are the last ones that I have. When it rains it pours. Sometimes in life we just aren't dealt the best cards and no matter how good we are at bluffing, we can't even come close to winning.
Today was a lot of fun, besides the fact that there is nothing to show for it. Part of the day was wasted though because of a lack of planning. When I got up there I didn't have a lock and figured that I should be okay but, once I got up there I felt different about it so I had to go to a bike shop and spent $12 to buy a cheap lock which means that I can now ride my bike around more. I guess that's a plus. Then I was thirsty and new of a CVS that was a little ways out of the way of where I was headed. All in all, it was a bunch of running around.
Public Transportation has its pros and its cons. Interesting people to say the least. Some of them are more delightful than others but, it all adds to the adventure. Whenever I go to places or ride public transportation, I can't but feel/realize how small I am in the world. It's a strangely wonderful experience that I feel everyone should experience.

A little information about Photo Adventures

2008-07-31T15:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, let me expound upon my photo sharing policy. I shoot and take pictures for fun and just as a hobby and this is just where I post them as well as flickr.com. I hope to become a much better photographer but until then I'll keep on practicing, and even when you get to that kind of level you still continue to practice. My photos are free for anyone to have just as long as they are not being used to make money. Unfortunately there are people out there who do plagiarize photos and use them in advertisements unbeknown to the photographers who shot them and there are several lawsuits still going on out there about the issue. If you want a copy of any of my images and just let me know and I will send you the original without the "Candid Cypher" stamp. Just let me know your e-mail and you should get it about 24 hours from the time that I find out what you want.

Bike Ride Through Town

2008-07-31T13:02:00.000-07:00

So, as I mentioned in a previous post, it was difficult finding any motivation to do just about anything which is pretty disgusting when I'm passing up playing soccer and other activities that I love. Last night I don't know what it was, maybe something that I read, something that I heard, or maybe something I ate... Well this morning I decided to try it again and go make some pictures to burn up a morning. I hopped onto my bike and headed north. I know that I may not be all that great but here's what I came up with. Also, if you want the original files, just let me know and I will e-mail them to you so that you can take them to a printer and print them up to 3ft by 5ft.

Still Sorting things out for this Blog

2008-07-31T09:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry everyone that has left comment on my blog and me not getting back to you guys and thanking you all, Sheri, Amanda, Trevor, and Tara. Thanks so much. I just love getting comments. Normally for my old blog, www.thecameronowensexperience.blogspot.com, I would receive e-mail notification so that was the way that I knew, but with this new one I hadn't quite turned it on. Now it is on and I will be getting back to all of you who post comments on my blog. Thanks again.

Get Ready, sources of New Information

2008-07-30T23:34:00.001-07:00

Well, I think that I just needed to get out of this slump was some change up in my life and I found it! I was searching through the podcasts of iTunes as well as watched some videos of the school that I will be attending in the coming months checking out their engineering school and reassuring myself that I was making the right choice about coming home. Needless to say, I have new sources for information to stay better connected and to provide some inspiration for making this blog interesting and up beat.

Finding the Desire

2008-07-30T21:18:00.000-07:00

Have you ever gone out to do something that usually brought you pleasure but, in the end you had to force yourself to do it? For the last couple of days, that's what it's been like, especially today. After doing homework for about 2 hours this morning I decided to take a break and go on a run through downtown Provo. To be honest, by the time that I put my shorts and shoes on I didn't even want to leave the house but I knew that it was for my own good. It was like running up hill the WHOLE WAY. I don't think that I have ever run 3 miles so slow. I was tired before I was even half way, I was bored, and I just wanted to stop. I went to school and was fighting myself from falling asleep as Bruce was lecturing on a new section in Math1060 and I had to just get up and leave the classroom just to run up some stairs and re-energize myself. When I got home I was supposed to go and play soccer with some guys but I didn't go because it didn't even sound entertaining (For those of you know that something must really be wrong with me when I pass up playing soccer). I rationalized that it was probably best because the indoor team can't afford having me injured for our tournament tomorrow. Trying to find something else, I thought of going on one of my picture adventures but by the time that I was out and about on my bike I didn't even want to stop and snap off some pictures. It all seemed so lifeless, "Where have all the flowers gone?" Not only is it that activity has lost all atractiveness but so has eating and doing just about anything else. What is wrong with me? I fear that I'm just going to turn into a giant puddle of H2O just like in X-Men 2 where the politician, Senator Kelly (Bruce Davidson), demolecurizes I guess you would say and just turns into nothing but water

Unsportsman-like Behavior

2008-07-29T23:43:00.000-07:00

So, I am part of this indoor soccer league here in Provo, Utah at "The Peaks," more formally known as, "Seven Peaks." (Sorry couldn't find a logo to insert as an image here.) Games are on Tuesdays and Thursdays from about 8:30 to midnight, just a whole lot of fun only if the players are willing to have some fun. Unfortunately there are the college punks that think that they are so damn tough and big shots, they're usually the ones that lose all of their games because they're too busy being cool and lose their tempers. Tonight was a game against such team.
It all started when Chris, this older, heavy set, hispanic on our team that has really good ball control and likes to play with the other players that are getting a little full of themselves but just doing little cuts and letting them use their speed against themselves. So, Chris did his little pull back and got on a run and the player from the other team wasn't going to take any of it and tried to push Chris over and was really being a poor sport about it all. From there all HELL broke out. The whistle was blown and the other guys just started yelling and being quite childish about a lot of stuff and nearly they resorted to fighting. So very un... Christian. That's the problem I have with so many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. So many of them don't even live nearly what they preach. Now I'm not saying that it is not a Christian Faith by any means because, as serving as a missionary for two years I think that I would know what I was talking about. The doctrine is very Christian, but the actual practices by its members are not what is preached. Now they say that you can't judge a congregation by its members but... if I remember correctly Jesus said "by their fruits ye shall know them" and also to his apostles "and if ye shall show love one to another, all men shall know ye are my disciples." So.. I'll let you do the pondering on that one. I just wish that people would realize how pathetic and pitiful they are acting at times over such inconsequential matters.
As fore mentioned, those types of players who lose their cools and start getting a little full of themselves usually lose and that's what happened. They lost 2-1. The finishing goal was most amazing. I assisted both goal with fabulous passes that set our players up so well just schooling their fulbacks out of their underwear. The last was most impressive though. So I got the ball from a medium length pass and turned up, saw that my good buddy Nick Rampton was on a run and put it through the defenders legs, right at Nicks feet a short distance from the goal with only him and the keeper. He, as usual, exhibited magnificent skill and put the ball into net with only 10 min left in the last half. It was like something straight out of a world cup highlight film.

A message to a friend.

2008-07-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

Sorry that things don't seem to be going right for ya right now. That is something that I struggle with too. Sometimes it seems like I put so much effort int trying to make something happen or put something together and in the end, it is nothing like what I expected or sometimes everyone just craps out. I have been reading a lot of Taoist philosophy and it has expanded my mind to just take things as they come because nothing will last forever. Our lives are like the seasons. Sometimes winter comes a little early or late but it doesn't last all year. Sometimes things just happen and we can't do anything about it because there is so much out of our control. All we can do is our little part. A farmer can only weed, water, and plant so much, the rest is just on it's own. Occasionally winter will come early or he/she may have an exceptionally good year, that's just what happens and no one individual had anything to do with it. Those were just the cards that were dealt. But, sooner or later we're bound to end up with a full house, it's a game of probability. "Bend and you will be whole, Curl and you will be straight, Keep empty and you will be filled." (Lao Tzu, "Tao Teh Ching") By remaining so rigid and determined, we can sometimes be the saboteurs of our own plans by not being flexible enough to allow just the slightest degree of variance to allow it to survive in the given conditions and consequently we are so rigid that we do not allow any change which can cause it to shatter. Skyscrapers for instance, if they were built to stand completely firm and immovable, then the smallest gust of wind would cause them to come crashing down, but because they are made to flex and bend just 15 degrees or so, they can withstand hurricane winds and earthquakes.

Let's get this show started!

2008-07-28T23:25:00.000-07:00

So here's my new home! Sorry that it's not quite up to par with my old place but, give me some time. It took me a while to figure out the title. Cypher is not in reference to code but a synonym to it meaning "no one" or "not of importance." Candid meaning, straight forward. Stay tuned to see what will be coming. Photos will always play a huge roll in this but I think that I'm going to want to take this one more step and try to make it a news feed about anything that I esteem as important. Everything under the sun that I like, books, electronics, stuff that's going on, music, and art. Well, Chao!