rustypants speaks

back in december of  ’05, lise & i came to pensacola for a week of relaxing, vacation, shell hunting, and catching our collective breaths.

the average daytime temp in december is around 65° – water temp in the Gulf is pretty close to that, too.

now, when we pulled out of cincinnati, the temperature was 22° and snow was on the ground. we know cold, right? coming to pensacola was like driving into summer – incredible! 43° difference – we may as well have been on another planet!

shorts, sandals, t-shirts all around. sure, we packed pants and pullovers for evening, but during the day? psh!

half way through the week we’re in our swimtrunks, out in the water, hunting for shells, amazed that we’re the only ones on the beach a mile in either direction. we’re drenched and loving every minute of it. pure heaven!

a lone figure appeared, shuffling across the sand in our direction. we didn’t think anything of it until the figure came closer: it was an older woman, dressed in multiple pairs of pants, a pair of winter boots, and a long winter coat with a fur lined cap pulled tightly over her head. on her hands were a thick, warm pair of gloves. it was obvious that she was quite cold.

it’s like the Far Side cartoon with the dinosaur and the walnut-sized brain somehow able to walk through an open field and bonk its head against the only tree visible in any direction – she was heading right for us. to be polite, i got out of the water and lise and i were ready for whatever she might be asking.

she approached us, looked us up and down, and stated in no uncertain terms, “Y’all Yankees.”

well, what could we do? lise and i looked at each other and got the giggles – not the rude kind, but the oh-darn-we-been-caught kind.

she looked us over again, shook her head and said, “Ain’t nobody here in Pensacola that’d be caught in the water this time o’ year. Y’all Yankees.”

and i turned to the woman and said, “well, i reckon so.”

i was so proud of myself! the dog and i were up @ 3am and out the door by 3:30am for our drive to cincinnati.

we were bookin’ on through and i started making a mental list of all the things i had needed to get together and put in the car before we left. things were going along just fine until i thought to myself, “hey, something doesn’t feel right here…” i looked down and said,

“hey! where the hell are my shoes??”

the trouble with living by the beach? being too comfortable with being barefoot all the time.

besides this minor snafu, the trip to cincy has been a good one.

lots going on, lots coming up – time for another stream of consciousness, eh?

• finished reading two good books in a row -Â The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon;Â Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. the first is a story told from the viewpoint of a fifteen year old with autism – fascinating to me after working with profoundly autistic students for many years in DC and Maryland. the second won the Pulitzer for fiction back in 2000 – it’s a series of short stories and very enjoyable.
• i’m currently reading Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost and Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake. both are good so far.
• my contract was renewed at PFHS for next year – this was FANTASTIC news, both because having a job = good, and because i have come to love working at this school! very excited for what next year will bring.
• as school finished up last week, i’ve been searching for things to keep me busy this summer. too much time off is dreadfully boring. have a meeting with a department at my district tomorrow to discuss my developing Moodle pages for this dept’s training sessions, and helping with other technology related things. couple days a week, couple hours a day, maybe.
• our beloved Canon S2 IS bit the dust a couple months ago. a stunning blow, as we rarely leave the house without a camera in tow. we knew we wanted to move up in the digital camera arena, but didn’t have the money to do so. after some scraping and a lot of research, we ended up getting a killer deal on a Canon SX10 IS and we’re having a blast with it. the pictures are crisp, the response time on the camera is quick, the 20x optical zoom is over the top, and the flexibility is great. we’re still learning the nuances of this camera, and i have difficulty in a couple areas that are probably lack of photography knowledge, but we’re working on that!
• i’m enjoying Twitter more as i’m finding professional uses for it (mostly networking and idea-sharing), but i have to admit: i’m getting very annoyed at folks who use twitter like text messaging and/or simply to show off. now, the beauty of twitter is: even though everyone and their mothers have a “how to use twitter” tutorial, the truth is, there are no rules. and my bitching about folks who use twitter one way or another – it comes down to this – i stop following them so i don’t have to partake in their pointless and excessive self-aggrandizing or all the silly personal chatter they produce. it’s been bothering me a bit – thanks for letting me blow off some steam about it (and no offense meant to anyone who has been un-followed or recognizes themselves in this description – i still love you, just not that much).
• and in the interest of full-disclosure: i don’t frequently have a lot of intelligent things to say on twitter – but i do keep the meaningless posts to a minimum.
• the juan sebastian elcano is docked at pensacola pier – we went down and took a stroll around – pretty impressive ship!

• the sunsets continue to blow our minds here in pensacola. the temperatures have been very pleasant (mid-80′s the last couple weeks). tonight we saw a black skimmer fly by just as we were about to leave – very pretty and graceful – this was the best i could get of this one as it flew by:

• recent new music discoveries include: Rosie Thomas; Booker T; and Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse’s Dark Night of the Soul.

be well and take me to task on some of this stuff, ya hear?

the view

as of june 3

Click the pic. Why?

Pensacola – Spring 2009

Some places, people, and things from spring 2009.

we’re in the season for big clouds and sunsets even more spectacular than usual. tonight we took big dog out for a 3 hour stroll on pensacola beach.

the way the sky changes so quickly and gives so many colors, shapes, hues, and focal points – it never ceases to amaze us.

there was a large cloud front moving in from the north – watching the sunset BEHIND that – it was multiple layer sunset goodness!

while we were sloshing around in the water, lise made a killer shell find – a large 3″ alphabet cone!

this is only the 2nd one we’ve found even close to the 3″ range – quite a find, let me tell you!

after a particularly strange day at school, this was a good way to end it: together, everyone happy, relaxed, and ready to come home and crash.

speaking of which…

on my way home from school i called the pensacola surf advisory hotline & found out that the water was calm on the Gulf and the flag was green – this was great news! lise and i grabbed our stuff and headed out.

not long after we arrived, the wind picked up and some pretty chunky looking clouds appeared.

we got in the car to drive around and investigate.

in some spots, the sky was clear. in others it was pitch black. and still in others it was yellow / pink / purple-ish.

it came through like a snake. pitch black up the middle, clear or colorful on either side.

after we’d hung about for a bit longer, we started to head back to the house for some dinner and playtime with dolby. along the bay (the “scenic tour” way home), i saw a HUGE bird in a tree – too big for a hawk, wrong neck for a heron, and pelicans don’t roost in trees.

we pulled a u-turn and then another, got out the camera and shot what i thought might’ve been an eagle or falcon at first glance. it was an osprey! a big boy, too!

a spectacular sunset was brewing after we saw the falcon. we pulled off into a cemetary by the bay and snapped some pretty cool shots. also got some rainbow shots that i’m having difficulty manipulating in the newest WordPress release. if i’m able, will update with that later.

we love nights like tonight – the time together, the variety of weather, the awe of creation. it’s good to be reminded of the insignificance that our puny lives represent when cast against everything else. crummy days at school melt away in times like these.

Download Crazy Dolby

i don’t know what he would do

if he ever caught one

but it sure is funny watching

as he runs pell mell

and at least tries.

reason #1

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reason #2Â

 reason #3

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