Tom – Page 73 – Random Connections

A Pilgrimage to Asheville for a Moog Music Tour

September 5, 2014September 5, 2014 Tom 1 Comment

It was 1982. Dr. Robert Moog (rhymes with “vogue”) was visiting the campus, giving master classes in the afternoon and presenting a lecture on music synthesis in the evening. I was a senior music major at Furman University, and a DJ with WPLS, our campus radio station. Somehow I landed (mostly by begging) the assignment of interviewing Dr. Moog for the radio.

Dr. Moog was gracious, and turned my bumbling, star-struck questions into a wonderful interview. He made me sound good. It’s now years later, and I wish I had a copy of that recording. Alas, with the ephemeral nature of magnetic tape, it’s probably long gone.

I’ve always held an appreciation for Dr. Moog, Ray Kurzweil, and other early pioneers of electronic music. Some years back I was amazed to learn that Dr. Moog had moved to Asheville, NC, and further still, had re-established his company, Moog Music, in the area. I knew that I would have to pay a visit. It was always on my list of “that’s something I’ve gotta do someday.” I finally made the pilgrimage yesterday with my friend, Ken Cothran.

Labor Day Week Rambles

September 3, 2014 Tom No Comments

Local, Photography, Rambling

Labor Day snuck up on me. First, it’s been so dad-blasted crazy around here, that it was upon me before I knew it. Secondly, I don’t seem to pay much attention to holidays anymore. However, a holiday means that my friends are more available for exploration, so there are more opportunities for joint exploration.

I had a couple such opportunities this week, so I’ll combine them into one post. On Labor Day proper, Keith and I headed up to Hendersonville for German food. After a nice lunch of sauerkraut and weisswurst, we took a circuitous route back home. One of our stops was Double Springs Baptist Church, located in a little hollow off of old US 25 (now NC 225.)

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Time Lapse at the Farmer’s Market

August 31, 2014August 31, 2014 Tom No Comments

Local, Photography

I’m slowly collecting my little snippits of time lapse video from around Greenville. So far I’ve been limited to 10-15 second bits. That might be enough if I string a bunch of them together.

Regardless, Saturday morning I decided to do a time lapse at the downtown Greenville Farmer’s Market. I headed down early before the crowds arrived so that I could get set up. I was armed with my larger tripod, and my newly acquired selfie stick, which has a tripod mount in the bottom of it. Extended, it would put my GoPro nearly twelve feet in the air. Not to shabby.

I set up toward the upper end of the farmer’s market so that I would have a view back down the hill toward the Poinsett Hotel. I found a great place right across from Port City Java, so I got a large cup of coffee, then set up the tripod, on the street where I thought it would be out of the way.

Paddling Boyd’s Mill Pond

August 30, 2014March 6, 2017 Tom 4 Comments

Paddling, Photography, Rambling

Boyds Mill Pond-17 — Paddling on Boyd’s Mill Pond

I’ve known about Boyd’s Mill Pond for most of my life. It was on the way from Gray Court to Greenwood (via short cut.) Visits to my dentist in Greenwood would take us on the road that curved by the pond, giving me glimpses of the small lake. Even back then, I longed to stop and explore.

Fast forward several decades and I finally have a chance to explore the area. In 2012 The Karl H. Dixon Park opened, and now provides the only public access to the lake with a playground and boat ramp. I had dropped by here to scout several weeks ago, and this morning I decided to haul my boat down and check it.

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Springwood Time Lapse

August 29, 2014 Tom No Comments

Photography

The clouds were perfect for time lapse. There was a slight breeze and they were moving nicely. I wanted to get some iconic Greenville buildings in the video, so I headed downtown to Springwood Cemetery.

I park out on main street and entered through the main decorative gate. I was looking for a spot where I could get a few of the monuments, along with several of Greenville’s buildings. Unfortunately, the department of corrections was doing grounds maintenance, so I had to find a spot where they weren’t trimming, etc.

I found what I thought was a suitable spot and set up the camera, settling in for a long haul with my little folding chair.

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Jupiter Inlet

August 21, 2014August 22, 2014 Tom No Comments

Family, Travel

Jupiter Inlet and Lighthouse-037 — Highway 1 Drawbridge over Jupiter Inlet

It’s been a stressful week. Laura’s mom fell on Friday and broke both legs. She had surgery on Saturday, and is looking at a long recovery time. Laura had flown down to Florida so she could drive back with Amy and her mom and some time with us. Her mother fell as they were getting ready to go to the airport to pick her up. So, with Laura in Florida with no way back and not enough supplies for an extended stay, I packed more gear for her and clothes for me and drove down Sunday.

Monday was spent in the hospital. Tuesday I had a bit of a break. Amy and Laura stayed with their mom, and I headed ab hour down the road to Jupiter, where my niece, Katie, and her husband, Aaron had just moved. My sister, Glynda, had come down to help them get settled in, and it was also their son, Jack’s first birthday.

Apparently first birthday cake smashing is a thing. If you buy the first birthday cake from Publix, they throw in a “smashing cake.” Katie thought that the small one was too small and wouldn’t show up in photographs well. She bought a larger one. She had a little set in place, so we put Jack in front of the cake…

Blogging Dilemma

August 19, 2014 Tom No Comments

Uncategorized

OK, I said I wasn’t going to do it, but here it goes… It’s been a crazy week. Heck, the last four YEARS have been crazy! The fact that I’m writing this on my phone should speak volumes. Anyway. This has left me with a bit of dilemma. I am FAR behind in my blogging. … Read More “Blogging Dilemma” »

LCU Does Lake Jocassee

August 16, 2014August 21, 2014 Tom 3 Comments

Paddling, Photography

We just got back from our grand west coast tour last Sunday, but we weren’t settling down. Stephen and I had made another mid-week trek to the Pickens Flea Market, and Friday morning I had taken Laura to the airport for a quick trip down to Florida so that she could drive back to our place with her sister and mother. That left me as the sole occupant of the house. So, what was I to do but throw a party?

The guys from Lowcountry Unfiltered had been wanting to paddle Lake Jocassee. Last Saturday was the second Saturday, the traditional LCU paddling day, but it was postponed a week so that we could get back from the west and organize the trip. Several of the guys were camping or staying other locations overnight. Matt, James, and Scott came up early and stayed at our house. We had chili, various imbibements, and Star Wars movies with an MST3K treatment.

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Local Skagit Discoveries

August 7, 2014September 6, 2014 Tom No Comments

Restaurants, Travel

August 7, 2014 We were enjoying our time on Samish Island. After driving many, many miles up the west coast from San Francisco, it was refreshing to hold still for awhile. We still had lots of chores around the house – sorting through some things, and packing up a few things to ship back east … Read More “Local Skagit Discoveries” »

Samish Time Lapses and Family Discoveries

August 6, 2014September 6, 2014 Tom No Comments

Family, Photography, Travel

August 6, 2014

It was another day on Samish Island, and we had a full day planned. Most of this involved taking care of some family business in town, but there were opportunities for shopping and photography.

One thing I wanted to do was try some time lapse photography on the island. I had done this before, but that was with limited equipment. I had an iPad, which I couldn’t leave outside for extended periods. Now, with the GoPro, I could set up a session and leave it for much longer.

My first attempt was actually yesterday evening. I set up the camera and let it run for a couple of hours over the late afternoon, evening. While the GoPro worked great and I like the overall view, the wide angle made it so that I couldn’t capture the incoming tide as I wanted.