Losing Important people

This week has been a great shock in terms of two leaders that we have lost. The first one was Senator Edward Kennedy; Despite the cloud of controversy that hung over his political and personal life with regard to the incident at Chappaquiddick, He still championed the causes initiated by both his brothers, John and Robert. His life served as a testimony to valiant liberal causes. He was a very effective politician and spokesperson for liberal ideals like human rights and civil liberties. He, along with the other Kennedy brothers have left an unerring legacy in this country. The other leader that will be sorely missed is Deacon Bob Little of the St. Helena Catholic Church. He was killed in a motorcycle accident over in Sonoma county, not far from his home.This man was a great orator and inspirational person. He also was a great guide to people who weren't always forthcoming with their religious beliefs. He will be missed in the community, especially by Father Brinkle, who is getting older and was very dependent on Bob to assist him with a lot of the parish duties. We shall see very quickly how much the legacy of these to men will be carried out in the days to come.

A New Semester

Today a whole new crop of students checked into Vineyard lodge. And... a whole bunch more were moved off campus to Pacific Union College to stay in those dormitories temporarly, because Vineyard Lodge 2 has not been completed. Sure it is Leed (i.e. Green, sustainable ) Certified, but these students preferred making just one move in this semester. Thankfully, it is a good group and they all look eager and willing to do whatever it takes to have their experience at Greystone be one of the most valuable of their lives.Besides in a week or two they will be able to transition into the brand new dorm only a mile away from campus. A car pool was set up so even our shuttle system won't be taxed too heavily. The image above is called "Starborn" to signify the talent that comes from adverse conditions. It is my hope that there will be whole group of students that will shine as the new classes get underway.

Sunny Sunday

The drawing above is of a dagger that I reinterpreted from some clip art that I saw today. I am switching around to drawing objects for awhile, just to see how well I can embellish them. It is enjoyable to add a lot of "filigree" surrounding the outside of the object itself. The image was modified quite a bit in Photoshop as any seasoned user might be able to tell.Today I went to mass at O.L.P.H. which I haven't been to in awhile since they consolidated the 8am and 10am masses. I have been going to mass in St. Helena since that time, and I actually prefer St. Helena for Sunday services. The Calistoga church needs a more articulate orator to better serve the English speaking parishoners. Fr. Manuel means well, but cannot be heard past the first or second row of pews. Even with the microphone on, he does not get is message across.It was nice however, to connect with old friends from the men's club, even though I haven't attended meetings after stepping down as president. Also, the church needs the new energy efficient lightbulbs and to have ones that are burnt out, replaced. Okay, enough of my griping.

Keeping up the drawing

Stardate: Friday, August 14th, 2009. Today I stayed at home most of the day. I drew the picture you see above. I got the image from an old book which had a poster that i wanted to re-create in my own style. I enjoy the "tooth" of the Canson paper that I used to color this picture. The prismacolor pencils are one of my favorite mediums for coloring and drawing. The paper destroys fine lines and makes everything more uniform whether you like it or not.I am still exploring doing landscapes. I am not drawing from life lately, even though I will sometimes do that just for practise. Even when I am drawing from life, I am also drawing from my interpretation. This style is more illustrative and something I am not sure I will stick with... we shall see.

In too deep

Today I went to purchase a DVI to VGA adapter plug to enable my monitor to be used on my new Mac Mini. Now I find out that I need a USB 2 Firewire cable to transport all my files and folders from the old Mac to the new computer. You would think one of the Apple Genius'at the Apple Store would have thought of asking me if I needed any of this stuff before I travelled forty miles over the hill to downtown Santa Rosa from Calistoga, three times! This whole digital world has gotten out of control. I have been a Mac user since 1998 and have owned a Powercomputer,Powercenter 132 (a Mac Clone),a Performa, An Emac, a Titanium Powerbook, a MacBook, a Power PC Mac Mini and now an Intel Mac Mini with a whole assortment of Epson Printers, Scanners, External hard- drives,Flash drives, Digital cameras, Video cams, Speakers, Mics, DVD/CD burners, FIVE IPods a Cell Phone and now an IPhone. I have had accounts with ATT,COVAD,METRONET,AOL,EARTHLINK and now COMCAST. I have purchased heaps of software from all the big companies and I am not really happy being chained to all this crapola. I know a woman who doesn't own a digital thermometer and doesn't really want to go this route ...who can blame her?

Have you been to the local coffee shop lately? It should be sectioned off into cubicles there are so many laptops, blackberries, cell phones and Iphones. It is sad how these things have dramatically affected our lives... and unfortunately people like my friend is getting steam rolled. Where have all the public phones gone? The fine art of letter writing? Penmanship...ahem! Too bad for her though, for not jumping on board with Online Banking, Blogging, Facebook and Twitter, and me for being unable to shun all this supposed wonderful digital "inovation". I want to walk away from all this crap but I can't now... I am in too deep and it has destroyed my ability to have sustainable relationships with family and friends because I am interacting with MACHINES and not people. This society is just becoming a swarm of technological servo-mechanics. Our minds have been molded to offer endless opinions and observations about pretty much anything and everything. This practise alone has trained us also to become editors in our own right, who would'nt dare utter a word of discouragement lest we be read, and brought to task by landlords, employers, ministers, family doctors, therapists and love interests and co-workers! Thanks a load for this grandiose Internet Tower of Babel and this digital groupthink monstrosity called "Social Networking", (damn you, Facebook, Twitter and every digital camera anyone has ever used to post images to the Net !)But hey, isn't this a nice little logo I designed in Adobe Illustrator, for the Bakery dream of one of our CIA Baking and Pastry graduates? I just HAD to post it to my blog, dontchaknow? ;-}