Greetings Citizens. Today is one of sadness. At 1 o'clock today, Doctor Wu died of an apparent heart attack. He was 25 years old. He will always be remember for his spunk. He enjoyed singing with the vacuum cleaner running. His favorite foods were Wheat Thins and hard Chinese noodles. He will be missed.

Greetings Citizens. I went with Ji Soo to Rainer to pick up some darkroom equipment today. We made a few images too. What I got was 4 enlargers (2 De Jur, 1 Omega Colorhead and a Vivitar Colorhead), a timer, and some contact printing frames. There's some other crap too but that's the good stuff. I figure I sell one enlarger to Big Mike, see if I can get reimbursed for the price of the De Jur's from PCC and maybe keep the Omega for myself. The printing frames will be handy since I'm showing the intermediate kids how to make cyanotypes from their Holga negatives this term.

This evening Mark N and I went to Stanich's for a burger and a (root) beer.

Greetings Citizens. Today I spent some time up at the lab. I did some cleaning and reorganizing. How long it will last is beyond me but it looks good now. I also picked up some RC paper for the pinhole assignment. The cost is part of their lab fee. We use the paper they are going to print on throughout the term. And this gives them time to order their supplies from Calumet and have it delivered on time.

Tomorrow I'm going to check out the enlargers and other photo gear some guy has for sale. I was supposed to go out shooting with JS but it'll have to wait. Big Mike is supposed to be going along for the ride but I haven't heard from him yet.

Greetings Citizens. I'm back from a short stay at the folk's house. Saturday was my Dad's birthday. We went to the Cloverleaf Tavern for pizza & beer (mine being 7-Up). Mom had a mushroom pizza... her favorite.

We also had our taxes done and it actually looks like I might get something back this year!

Sunday, I went and photographed in Seattle. This image is near Pioneer Square. I tried to visit Sabrina but she was too busy trying to get into the Peace Corps. I stopped by Psycho Dave's house in Magnolia but he wasn't home.

Today I took the scenic route home. Out through Eatonville and Morton down to Toledo and Castle Rock. Nothing like a nice 5 hour ride to clear the head and do some serious thinking.

Tomorrow has Linn-Benton written all over it. I need to get my images back from a show there. I think I'll pull the 356B out of the garage and take the scenic route down & back.

Then I'll spend some time revamping my syllabus... most definitely adding an attendance policy.

Greetings Citizens. Today is grading day! Fun times are a comin'. My Jeckle & Hyde classes are over and I am relieved. The afternoon kids had some terrific work! I think they may have become my "favorite class ever". As a group, they were always in class and always working. Perhaps that's why there work was so damned good. Anyway, I was very impressed by the quality of their work. There was one student whose work makes me suspicious. This student rarely came to class.... always had the cheezy excuses. Anyway, they came in yesterday with this well printed portfolio that was about 100 times better than anything they had shown me previously. I really don't think they made the prints. I was tempted to have the student make one in front of me but I won't do that. I talked to Jen and she told me about a similar situation she had in the past. She asked John N (her major professor) and he said to let it ride. He said there will always be people who will cheat themselves through life and there isn't much you can do about. So I'll grade the work as normal. The morning kids produced some good work too. Only half of them showed up but they represented themselves well.

Okay, I'm off to do my grading. Tomorrow I'm going to Seattle for a few days.

Greetings Citizens. A stressful day for your protagonist. "The Questions" were due today at 5 PM and I got up early for my final attempts at revision. By 1 PM I could stand it no longer and shipped them off. So now it's the waiting game for awhile. Tomorrow Big Mike and I are supposed to meet some tweeker and head to Rainer, Oregon to pick up some enlargers and miscellaneous darkroom supplies from the tweeker's grandma. I think grandpa died and the stuff is sitting in boxes. Big Mike is looking to get one of the enlargers and I'm hoping to get some new equipment for the school darkroom. Right now we have 16 beat-to-shit enlargers and one Zone VI enlarger worth about $2K that a basic student is using. We got to get that thing out of the gang darkroom!

Yesterday I was going to go for a motorcycle ride. But when I went to open the garage, the key broke off in the lock! I was major-league pissed off. It was such a nice day. Maybe tomorrow we'll get back in time that I can sneak a ride in.

Greetings Citizens. Well, I guess I have the questions answered for my job application. Tomorrow i will get up early and proofread it again before I head into school. I told some of the students from mine and Smith's class that I'd be there tomorrow so they could finish up their work. I'll do another proofreading then too. After the 2 PM critique of the advanced students, I'll race home and get the paper sent out before the 5 PM deadline. I'm taking it down to the wire! But I'm a winner; I'm a driver. And I am hellbent and determined to get this job. Otherwise I'll become a sales clerk at a porn shop.

Greetings Citizens. Well, today is basically the last day for my kids to get their work done. I'm staying away! I stopped by yesterday to see how things were going and it was crazy. Today will be worse because it's the weekend. Actually, I'll probably pop in just to make sure everyone is finding the stuff they need and then I'll get the hell out of there.

Stopped by Big Mike and Val's pad last night. It was good to visit... and gossip. They were heading out to party somewhere, I think, so I went home and ordered a corned beef and cabbage pizza with extra cheese. Yummy!

Today is the second-to-last day to work on my questions, so it's the NCAA and me locked in the homestead today.

Greetings Citizens. What does diversity mean to you? That is the question that I am hung up on for the job. It's a tough one, if you ask me. But I'll knock it out. I have to get my images into a Powerpoint presentation too. So I have my work cut out for me today. Plus I need to go visit the other digital photographer at Clackamas CC. He's going to show me how he teaches his class. It will be good to see how he does things so we're on the same page.

The afternoon students are making some excellent portfolios for their final projects. I think I have four kids turning in work in the morning session. I talked to a ceramics teacher yesterday and she said her morning class at another school is the same way. Never show up, don't do any work. It's nice to know I am not alone!

Greetings Citizens. Well the snow has melted and things have returned to normal. Went to a concert with Mark N of Friday. We saw the Greyboy Allstars at the Crystal Ballroom. The ballroom has ball bearings under the floor so it bounces around when you walk (dance) on it. Given the beats the band was laying down, the place was hopping. Aimee was going to come along too but her brother and girlfriend were in town. So we sold off her ticket and Mark and I had a boys night out.

Yesterday, I spent time at the lab... like I did on Friday afternoon too. Those who were there are making some nice work. Rhonda especially is impressing me. She's started a series photographing homeless people. She brings her subjects a sandwich and a pair of socks for helping her out. She also asks them to write something on mat board, which she'll mount the print onto. It is a very ambitious project for a beginning student. She'll be continuing on into my Photo II class Spring Quarter. I also got to meet two of her kids. They were very nice... a chip off the block, I guess.

Today I'm meeting Mel. She was a roomie at USU and hails from Brisbane, Australia. She's in town for a ceramics convention that ended last night. So we'll go around and see the sights and eat some vittles. I'm going to try and get some photography in too. I have to make a couple of composite images for the class I am taking. I either have to make a panoramic that is seamed together or a composite ala David Hockney.

And my guts are churning over the questions I have to respond to for the full-time job. As a friend told me, "You have the answers in your head you just need to get them down on paper." Well, easier said than done! Okay, maybe I should start the process....

Greetings Citizens. Last night's affair at Le Happy was great fun! It was good to see Junko again. Mel wasn't there but Laura M was with us. She was probably the best roommate I ever had in Logan. By the time we finished dining and catching up, it was 1 AM. And it was snowing! By the time I got to my apartment there was three inches of snow on the ground. I was lucky to get back to the complex! And it is snowing out right now. They are predicting another three or four inches of the white stuff.

I found out today that I made the first cut for the full-time photo job here at PCC. Now I have to answer some questions and submit some of my images along with some student work. I'm nervous, needless to say.

Tomorrow I'm helping the kids out in the lab. Their final projects seem to be coming along nicely. Lab time is at a premium. Then I'll go to an gallery opening for ceramic artists from USU. I'll see Mel there along with John N and the rest of the gang. I've got to leave early though. Me and Mark N are going to Greyboy at the Crystal Ballroom. That'll be fun.

Greetings Citizens. I just took a load of trash out to the dumpster and it is snowing! Brrrrrr.

I'm getting ready to head out the door to see some old friends from USU. They are here for a clay convention. I'll bet that four or five of my former roommates will be there. We're going to go to Le Happy for crepes. I love that place as I have mentioned in prior posts. Luckily, I don't have much to do tomorrow. So I can chug some coffee and stay out late tonight. Those expected to make an appearance are: Junko, Karin, Mel, Mark, and Tom. Add Jen & Aaron into the mix and it should be a fine evening.

Greetings Citizens. So yesterday I was in Salem teaching the non-credit digital class. I had a full class and it went well. However, I think it was too much information for the little old ladies to handle. To have to gather all the information in one day versus four weeks is a little too much. I have one more all-day session in April that I can modify. But how? My personal opinion is that I'm showing them the things that they need to know to work on their images at home. There isn't anything that I feel is fluff. Maybe they just need more time to work independently and exclude the part where they learn to make captivating nude self-portraits.

Today. I'm laying low. I might go out and shoot some anti-graffiti with my Graflex camera and 6x12 back. Big Mike might be up for some shooting too.

Greetings Citizens. Yesterday my horoscope told me to take care of matters that needed taking care of... so I went and had coffee with Mark N.. Then I came home and took my camera backpack to Johann's Mountain Shop for fixing. The zipper on it has been broken for years and has provided a great excuse to not shoot with my 5x7 Deardorff. As luck would have it, the zipper on my riding suit decided to break when I went to take it off in the parking lot. So that will be repaired too. It made for a chilly ride home but Gary will be putting in a heavier zipper that will handle the stress of everyday use.

When I got home I was going to clean up the homestead but instead talked to Jack D. and Tim W. (both of which just returned from Mexico). Jack is a great source of camera equipment and has provided me and my students with great deals for years. He hooked a student up recently with a sweet Rolleiflex twin lens. But there's something wrong with the film counter, so I'll be sending it back for repairs today. He's sending out a 'user' for her to use in the meantime. I asked him to start looking for another Domke back and point-and-shoot digital camera to replace the one stolen from me earlier last month. After the phone calls, I made chicken strips with mashed potatoes and gravy for dinner.

So today's agenda includes cleaning my apartment. (This time for reals)! I also need to make new notes for my digital non-credit class. I have an all-day session tomorrow and my notes were in my stolen Domke bag. I also think I'll ride over to Vancouver and turn in my submissions for the 'man show' at the Sixth Street Gallery. If I'm lucky, Leah will be there and we'll be able to sneak out for a cup of coffee.

Greetings Citizens. I'm sitting here dreading my morning class. They are the worst group of students I have ever seen! They show up late (if at all), don't turn in their work on time (again, if at all), and make no attempt to make anything of merit. Of course there are a couple of exceptions to this group and, happily, they strive on without the support of their peers. They are both signed up for the intermediate class in the spring too.

Yesterday, I went to Clackamas Community College to visit the department head and sign all the paper work for my assignment to teach digital photography for them next term. Their art program is significantly smaller. I liked it.

After CCC, I went to Albany to see the Community College Art Faculty Show at Linn-Benton CC. The work was pretty damned good. There was some good photography. Jen's birdhouses looked good! My images were right next to someone who is photographing metal in black & white. It was interesting to me to see my Metalscapes next to them.

Today the intermediate kids learn how to cut mats. The basic students (including the morning bunch) are starting to work on their final projects.