Blog Migration Complete

Posted on By Tom 3 Comments on Blog Migration Complete
Miscellaneous

It’s done. I now have more control over my online destiny. Today I migrated my domain name, randomconnections.com, to a host that gives me more flexibility and management – Godaddy, of all things.

First, the saga of the blog…

My old web hosting company was Accuwebhosting. It was an absolute pain in the posterior, as for as hosting was concerned. I was severely restricted as to what I could do with databases, and I could only allow uploads to one subdirectory. The first version of this blog was a home-grown ASP application. The blog kept crashing, and the host provider said it was my recursive ASP scripts. Yeah, right.

So, I switched over to WordPress. It was actually cleaner and much easier to use, but my blog still crashed and my hosts still complained. They wanted me to delete some of my content to make the site run more efficiently. Yeah, right.

WordPress kept upgrading their products. When version 2.5 came along I wanted to upgrade so that I could take advantage of some of the security features. My host informed me that I would have to upgrade my platform, which would mean deleting my current database and reconstructing everything from scratch. Yeah, right.

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Sparkleberry Perfection

Posted on By Tom 4 Comments on Sparkleberry Perfection
Paddling

Sparkleberry Landing Panorama

A second Saturday in May, and time for another Lowcountry Unfiltered trip. This time our group was heading back to Sparkleberry Swamp, and we had perfect weather and water levels for it. Unfortunately, because there was perfect weather, many of our group had other places to be. So, only four brave souls ventured further into the swamp than we’ve ever been. It was a nearly perfect day in the swamp. (Have I said the word “perfect” enough?)

Lowcountry Unfiltered at Sparkleberry Swamp

I got up early Saturday morning and made the drive down to the Sparkleberry Landing put-in. Initially I had the place to myself, with only a few boat trailers. As I unloaded the boats I brought, a couple of guys came up to me and asked about kayaking.

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O Freunde, nicht diese Töne

Posted on By Tom 1 Comment on O Freunde, nicht diese Töne
Entertainment, Music

To Joy

Joy, thou beauteous godly lighting,
Daughter of Elysium,
Fire drunken we are ent’ring
Heavenly, thy holy home!

Thy enchantments bind together,
What did custom stern divide;
Every man becomes a brother,
Where thy gentle wings abide.

Be embrac’d, ye millions yonder!
Take this kiss throughout the world!
Brothers—o’er the stars unfurl’d
Must reside a loving father.

–Friedrich Schiller, 1786

Last night the Greenville Chorale joined forces with the Greenville Symphony Orchestra for a performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.  The 9th is one of my favorite pieces, and I’ve had the privilege to perform it once before.  Last night’s performance, though was one of the most stirring I’ve ever experienced.

For the Chorale, the piece came together fairly quickly.  Many of us were familiar with the music, but also the chorus doesn’t sing that much in the concert.  We’re only there for the last half of the last movement of the piece – about 20 minutes worth. Bing Vick often let us out of rehearsals early, which was a nice change of pace.

However, that is a VERY challenging 20 minutes.  First there is the range.  The piece is written at the extreme upper vocal range for all parts.  I can’t think of another piece that has the basses singing a high F as many times and as long as this one does.  Then there was the tempo set by Maestro Tchivzhel – fast, then blindingly fast.  We had to squeeze a mouthful of German syllables into such a fast pace that I don’t think any of us got all of the words correct, even in the final performance.  Oh, yeah, they had to be on the right pitches and at the right dynamic, too.  It was a bear.

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Trestles to Trails

Posted on By Tom 3 Comments on Trestles to Trails
Local, Photography, Travel

Peak Trestle 4

Tuesday I had one of my quarterly meetings in Columbia with the South Carolina Association of School Administrators (SCASA) Tech Leaders’ Roundtable. I normally try to drop in to visit my mom on the way back from these trips, but this time she was out and about. So, instead, I decided to see if I could find a few spots to try out the new camera. There are a couple of neat places just off the interstate – just a quick detour away – that are full of history and scenery.

My first stop was to the west of I-26 between the towns of Little Mountain and Prosperity. I first spotted the old Wheeland School in the photo layer of Google Earth several years ago, and have made regular visits to it since then. I figured it would be a good test subject.

Wheeland School 1

Wheeland School 2

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A Stonecutter’s Tale

Posted on By Tom 11 Comments on A Stonecutter’s Tale
History and Genealogy

Headstone B&W with Texture

I first noticed this when we made our trek to the Promised Land with Glynda and Houston. At Cedar Springs ARP Church several of the more elaborate headstone slabs in the cemetery had the carver/artist’s name inscribed at the bottom.

Old Headstones at Cedar Springs

J Hall Signature

WT White

Then, when Dwight and his family traveled with me to Kingsville in Lower Richland County we stopped by the historic Congaree Baptist Church. There, on one of their headstones, was one of the names I had spotted at Cedar Springs – W. T. White.

W. T. White

Then, last Saturday on our way back from the Edisto River, Alan and I stopped by the old Pon Pon Chapel of Ease near Jacksonboro. There, at the bottom of one of the old slab stones, was the signature of J. White.

Signature Tombstone

I began to wonder if W. T. White and J. White were related, and also wondered how their work became so wide-spread across South Carolina’s historic churches. Turns out they were part of a dynasty of stone carvers that did much, much more than just carving headstones.

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Edisto River – The Jacksonboro Passage

Posted on By Tom 2 Comments on Edisto River – The Jacksonboro Passage
Geocaching and Maps, Paddling, Photography

Edisto River 11

This trip was supposed to have been last week. The second Saturday of the month is when our Lowcountry Unfiltered group normally hits the trail. However, an event last weekend involving most of our group caused us to postpone the trip. That freed me up to participate in the Tame the Tyger Race last weekend.

So, this weekend rolled around, and our group headed down to the Edisto River. This time we were headed to a new stretch that ended just shy of the ACE Basin. We were going to do a thirteen mile stretch from Martin’s Landing to West Bank Landing through the historic district of Jacksonboro.

I loaded up the boat and gear Thursday night and headed down as far as St. George after work Friday. The weather wasn’t looking promising, but I decided to take the chance. When I got up Saturday to head down to the river a thick fog covered the area. However, it looked like it was going to burn off later. Driving through this historic area I wanted to just stop and photograph everything, but knew I’d need to get on down to our rendezvous at the take-out. I drove on through Jacksonboro, and turned at the old Wesley United Methodist Church onto Hope Plantation Lane.

Wesley United Methodist ChurchHope Plantation Lane

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