My first atempt at an HDR image. Because I only had two exposures, not necessarily shot with this process in mind, and one was really washed out (more of an accidental wrong exposure) there is no detail in the sky. I’m sure things will improve when I shoot 3 exposures 2 stops apart either way from normal with the camera on a tripod.
We are getting a front office update, no new cubical panels or furniture, just some new carpet, wallpaper and the trim painted a different color. They did Human Resources first and now they are continuing through the plant from right to left.
<sarcasm>Yippee my area will be second.</sarcasm> There really is nothing wrong with the way it looks now, sure there are a few places where the existing stuff is stained from use and there are a few holes, but we are a manufacturing facility, not a lawyer’s office. Six months from now the place will look nearly as well used as it does now.
I guess I should go pay attention to how HR looks to see what is in store for me, but it has got to be fairly blah, because I have been in there several times since their update and cannot bring to mind what it looks like.
I know no one else in the office is sure what the new wallpaper looks like! The room next door is first to get the rework, last night the contractor came in and removed the old two-tone gray wallpaper. All that was up this morning was the white liner paper covering the still older paneling. For giggles I printed out two colors of ‘wallpaper samples’ and tacked them to wall next to the door into my area.
I snagged the background from the Boston Red Sox home page on MLB.com. The idea came from my fellow front office FRS fan (thanks Gerry) and got the expected reaction from my MFY loving manager. The best part was the reactions from all the other people that pass that way each day. Quite a bit of them are obviously not baseball fans because hardly anyone noticed the real connection. I bet about half of them were actual arguing the merits of the all blue paper vs. the blue with red in it. Some noticed the socks in the pattern, but couldn’t figure out why they might be there.
The folks in the room that is all tore up, that the “samples” are in, were good sports about it and with as straight a face as they could muster, explained that that really is the choice of paper for the office remodel. Sometime in the afternoon one of the USC fans had made up a small sample with Gamecock logos all over it to add to the mix.
At the end of the day they must have tired of all the people asking about the redo because they published an FAQ and pinned it to the wall as well. It consisted of one question and one answer:
Q. Are y’all remodeling?
A. Yes
On our Sunday travels, besides an old Post Office, we also stumbled on another Revolutionary War site – Musgrove Mill State Historic Site. Being a gol’ durn Yankee my conception of South Carolina was that the only war fought here was the Civil, but turns out there was much more. Must not have been awake that day in class.
And I was definitely guilty of not paying attention to history back in my school days, so this stuff would have barely rated a mention and a drive by before, but now Donna and stop when we have time. Unfortunately we were early when we got to this site. The gates had opened at 9, but the visitor center didn’t open until 10, more than 45 minutes away, so we didn’t stay. A return visit is in the offing though. Maybe after the Post Office Peregrination we will do a tour of the state’s Revolutionary War sites.
We did get those two stray Post Offices, 8 more official ones and a historic no longer used one. In just a random happenstance on our drive we stumbled on a small post office in a place we didn’t expect. A quick u-turn and we found out it wasn’t a currently active PO, but a restored building from the old days in Glenn Springs.
You can no longer search for the term gafinkleforp on Google and not get any results. There are two, yesterday’s post and the front page here. Not bad, less than 24 hours. Yahoo is still behind the times, they return no hits — yet.
We had breakfast in Saluda (BK’s French Toast Sticks are the greatest food invention since, well, ever.) Lunch today was in downtown Chester at Annie’s Arbor, whose buffet paled in comparison to the Kings morning offerings. Dinner was at home, thank goodness.
Just in time for Christmas, all nine seasons of the X-files, plus the movie all in one jumbo box for just $246.99. I’ve added it to my Amazon Wishlist in case anyone is feeling generous.
More realistically, the new Blade Runner (Five-Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition) has been added to the wishlist as well and it is only $54.99. This looks like the only way to get a copy of the 1982 Theatrical Release with the Harrison Ford narration. But to get it to me in time you will have to use expedited shipping as it is not going to be released until 12/18. Happy Shopping.
Only a real die-hard Miata nut would have recognized the car in last night’s picture as a Miata. And only the Uber Miata Geek subset of that group would have been able to tell you that the car could only be either a 2004 or 2005 because of the speakers built into the windblocker behind the seats.
Ah, Friday night. Donna and I drove to Augusta right after work to meet with MMC‘s Fine Dining Subset for a nice evening out. This month’s pick was Calvert’s. All three of the couples like to eat diner early so we took advantage of Calvert’s Sunset Special which includes salad, entree and desert for $28.95 a couple. Donna had a seafood crepe; shrimp, scallops and crab meat served in a light French crepe and covered with a lobster champagne sauce and I opted for the pecan-encrusted pork.
Tomorrow will be a hike in the woods in the morning and the ASCO Management Club’s annual Christmas meeting in the evening. The Management Club is a subset of the company’s employees that consist of the salaried folks and we get together four times a year for a buffet dinner at a local country club or restaurant and sometimes there is a speaker. The year end one is different in that spouses (or a guest) are allowed to attend and instead of a speaker there is music and dancing. The HR department waited too long to book a place, so instead of the usual middle of December date we are having it in early November. To make up for it we are going to have our office Thanksgiving dinner at work the second week of December.
Sunday is possibly a quick drive northwest to get the Post Offices in Clifton and White Stone, they are the last ones in the Spartanburg subset.
I wasn’t so sure I was going to like this movie, but “A Scanner Darkly” pleasantly surprised me on two accounts.
First, I remember seeing a clip of the bicycle scene when the actors were making the talk show circuit to promote this movie when it first came out in theaters. Taken out of context it seemed kind of stupid, but now in the total of the movie it seemed humorous and perfectly captured that feel of the conversation of a group of stoned people. The rotoscope process seemed gimmicky in the clip and again for the full hour and a half of the movie it enhanced the ambiance.
Oh, and secondly, Winona Ryder’s character drove a Miata.
…The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming.
Walt Whittaker: Look, can I give you some advice? You’ll never make it down to the harbor. Why don’t you all give yourselves up? Either you’ll kill somebody, or you’ll get killed. Either way – you could start a war!
Lieutenant Rozanov: What is your name?
Walt Whittaker: Whittaker. Walt …
Lieutenant Rozanov: Remark to this, Whittaker Walt. We must have boat. Even now may be too late. This is your island, I make your responsibility you help us get boat quickly, otherwise there is World War III, and everybody is blaming YOU!
Cute little Cold War parable from 1966. Very funny in spots and kind of lame (in 60’s sort of way), but we watched the whole darn thing on TCM tonight which is more than I can say or a lot of the newer movies I’ve been getting from Netflix lately.