A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
I had an eye-opening discovery this week. One of our principals contacted me about an e-mail she was expecting that hadn’t arrived. I went into our district spam filter to see if it had been caught there. While looking for the e-mail, I noticed a lot of traffic from Facebook that had gotten caught in … Read More “Facebook and Professional Boundaries” »
One of the reasons I upgraded to an Android phone was my interest in Augmented Reality. I knew I would be doing some traveling this summer and wanted a way to check out items around me quickly, without having to bring my work Blackberry along. I got a chance to put the new smartphone through its paces last weekend in Washington DC, and here are some of my initial feelings about AR…
I had very good intentions. I had planned to write up a separate post for each of the interesting places we visited in DC. However, here it is Tuesday and I haven’t even begun to catch up at work, much less with blogging. So, here’s a somewhat shorter wrap-up of the trip… National Zoo We … Read More “Sight-Seeing in DC” »
After my trip to the National Cathedral I made my way back to our hotel. Having walked multiple miles, most of that in the heat, I was completely exhausted when I got back to the room. Laura, on the other hand, had just gotten out of her meetings, and was ready to explore. so, we found ourselves back on the Metro and headed toward the Mall and the Smithsonian museums.
On the way we stopped for lunch at the Pentagon City Mall. The area was overrun with middle-schoolers in matching T-shirts. This, apparently, was the week for school trips to DC, and we ran into crowds of students the entire time we were here.
We got off the Metro at the Smithsonian stop and waled out onto the mall. Large white tents were being set up for some activity, and we feared some big event on the mall for Saturday. Regardless, we walked across the Mall to the Museum of Natural History.
Friday morning Laura was still busy with her scientist friends, so I was on my own to explore D. C. until lunch. I decided to visit the National Cathedral, a place I’d not visited on any of trips to the city.
I boarded the Metro with the morning rush hour throngs. Even with my agoraphobia I managed to make it to the the Woodbury Park stop without freaking out. From the Metro stop it was about a mile hike to the cathedral through some really nice residential sections. I passed several nannies out walking their employer’s spawn.
As one flies into Washington D. C., the cathedral is just as imposing as any of the other national buildings. It’s perched on a high hill overlooking the rest of the city. However, it’s hardly visible as one approaches from the ground – at least, from the direction I was walking. The area is surrounded by wooded park lands and gardens, and it wasn’t until I was right on it that I could see the large structure.
Just a quick update, with more details to come later. Laura had a conference in Washington D. C. this week and headed up on Tuesday. Thursday I came up and joined her, and have been seeing the city’s sights. The tour has included the following: National Cathedral Natural History Museum American History Museum National Zoo … Read More “Touring Washington D. C.” »
This weekend the Greenville Scottish Games were held at Furman University. Laura and I decided to take we wanted to get in on all of the party, so we went to both the parade down Main Street on Friday and the games themselves on Saturday.
This year Prince Edward, youngest son of Queen Elizabeth, was special guest at the games. He was there ostensibly to present the Duke of Edinburgh award to the contestants of the Miss South Carolina Contest. In order to qualify for the award, the contests had to show some athletic skill. That’s where the Scottish Games come in – princess wannabees wearing tiaras and throwing axes and hammers. I’m not kidding.
The folks over at the Google Earth Design blog have been running a series on creating Google Earth tours. They have had some excellent suggestions for creating effective tours. (Part 1, Part 2). It was enough to get me to try creating a tour or two.
For some reason I haven’t done much with GE Tours. To me they seem passive in a constructivist classroom. If I’m doing a presentation, I prefer to use a series of placemarks that I access as needed, rather than a fixed tour. In fact, the GE Design Blog states the following:
If changes of scale and location are not important your narrative it is quicker and just as effective to use presentation software such as PowerPoint.
However, their blog posts inspired me to at least give it a shot. I won’t repeat all of their suggestions, but here are a few things I learned…
I stopped by our local sandwich shop for a quick lunch yesterday. The lady behind the counter is of Islamic descent, and wears a head scarf. She is always pleasant, if not a bit shy and deferential.
As I sat with my lunch, I thought about her attire. I’ll be up front and admit that my initial reaction is always one of cultural xenophobia. It brings to mind the treatment of women in general in Middle Eastern countries, and the lack of rights for so many of them.
About the time I’m ready to let loose with a round of mental condemnation, I pull up short. What really motivates someone in their choice of attire. Is it really a choice? I am concerned for this woman if she were forced to wear this by her husband, but it could just as easily have been a cultural choice of her own. She may simply feel more comfortable wearing that with which she is familiar.
The original plan for today was to paddle Sparkleberry Swamp at the upper end of Lake Marion. However, one of our fellow paddlers fell ill, and he was the one who had suggested the trip. While Sparkleberry would have been great, we used this as an excuse to stay a bit closer home, so Alan and I headed back up to Lake Jocassee.
The weather was not cooperating. I loaded the kayaks into the truck in a light sprinkling of rain, which increased to a downpour just after I got them tied in. It didn’t help that I found a bird’s nest in one of my boats. This is especially weird since I had used that same kayak just two weeks ago. This nest was complete, with broken eggs. Those birds must have been busy. Since the nest looked abandoned and broken I didn’t mind removing it.
It rained on us just a bit more as we drove up to Jocasee, but by the time we got there the rain had ended. There were clouds and fog, but it looked like we would be OK weather-wise.
