Another blast metformin 500 mg 500 tablets from the past!

This photo is something I really like because it shows some different things. This is my father from year’s ago at Farmlett’s Restaurant, which was outside of Delhi. Sometimes, he would go down there for some eats, coffee or whatever. Anyway, as a kid, I remember my father taking me down there. It was always so cool to sit on the stools and have breakfast with him. Made me feel like the “big boy.”

Shortly after he died, the lady who owned this place with her husband sent a bunch of photos they had of my father and this was one of them. Pretty cool stuff.

Getting some coffee?

Enjoy!

There are times when everything speaks to me in a photo sense -- such as this scene I drove past twice once day and realized it made for a cool shot.

I don’t know how all of you are with photography, but I kind of go in waves.

There are times where I look at almost anything and find a way to make it into a decent image. There are other times where I could be staring at the perfect photo opportunity and be absolutely stumped with what I should do.

It’s kind of like a peak-and-valley sort of thing.

Oh the days where one struggles to find a good shot...

Part of that also goes with the desire — or lack thereof — to carry my camera. While it’s true that the iPhone gives me a solid backup plan, the reality is when I want photos, I like to use my main gear. If I get too far out of habit carrying it, then I start relying on the iPhone way too much.

To be fair, the iPhone takes some amazing images. I’ve even had it capture some pretty crazy shots that were action-based. But it isn’t — and won’t ever be — a true replacement for my DSLR.

So what to do?

I’m currently in one of those valleys, or funks.

That’s normal when doing a project like the 366 though. Taking a photo every day and hoping it’s not some “mail-it-in” image is something I hope to do. But there are times when I just don’t want to take photos. Be it because of carrying stuff, the weather or something else. I love my camera, but it’s so tough when you just want to sometime blend in and be part of something.

When I completes my 2010 Project 365, I said I’d never do it again. Technically, that’s true because this year is a Project 366. However, knowing the struggles I am having, I think this will be the last time I do this project. I’ve come close to ending it this year, but I go out and get a photo because I want to see it to completion.

I’m not as diligent in posting daily or submitting to all the groups, but I have done each and every day and plan to complete it.

Anyway, off subject there.

I’m curious where photographers find inspiration?

I often find inspiration in old or odd signs.

For me, it depends on where I am. For now, I am in a small area. There’s not a lot of diverse things. By that, I mean street photography. If you are a nature photographer — and I do that at times — this area is amazing. Mountains and hills. All four (usually) seasons. Waterfalls (well, have to travel a little for them), rivers and streams and other nice things.

My town — and some surrounding towns — are somewhat picturesque villages and small hamlets, which can provide some wonderful things. I’m going to try and do a small series soon — once the college lets out of some things that local high school kids painted last year. Once the college kids are gone, it’s easier to just navigate the area and such on a bike and get a bunch of images.

But for the most part, I’ve photographed the town. I have to do it more with the Holga Project I’m involved in, so I will be seeing it from a different way.

But for a daily shot, sometimes I have to reach.

Too, there are days when you know things are rolling and shots just pop out at you. It’s almost like it was a form of destiny for you to be at a spot at the exact moment to shoot it. Whether for a project or just out shooting, the opportunity was there and you took it.

As I said, I’ve been struggling lately. I look at stuff and thing “meh.” The skies are blue, the weather has been beautiful and my new $20 Lowepro Messenger camera bag (extremely awesome and what I’ve been looking to find for years) gives me no reason to not have my camera and be ready to shoot.

So what kind of inspiration do you photographers use?

Sometimes inspiration comes from just watching a scene or situation unfold.

People?

Scenery?

Macro?

Wide-angle?

Subject?

I’m interested — and hoping this post will get some — in some comments from other photographers to let me know what they do to get out of a funk. I’m sure it will snap soon, I just need to do it. I’d love to get into a photo club or be involved in a photo walk sometime. I think that might help. There aren’t many photographers who I know that enjoy just going out and snapping photos all day anymore.

Let me know what you do and if you have any sites to check for said inspiration.

This weekend is supposed to be wonderful with weather. I plan on doing a little hiking and some geocaching. Hopefully by carrying the camera, I’ll get some good shots. I don’t know what of yet, but I’m hoping.

And next weekend is one of our area’s biggest events — a 70-mile one-day canoe regatta. I used to cover it for the paper and have always enjoyed it. This year is the 50th year the race has been held, so I plan on taking the day to shoot the event and kind of follow it a bit differently than I have done in the past. So the inspiration will hopefully be there!

So drop me your thoughts in the comments below on how you battle “photo blog” or get inspiration!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook! 

Getting closer to finishing the New York DeLorme Challenge.

As part of a way to find the love of geocaching, I’ve taken a page out of a fellow cacher’s book.

Challenge caches.

This is something a caching pal has done for a long time. It doesn’t matter if the challenges are many miles away and that he might never get to find the final, he still tries to fill in the requirements.

It’s not a bad idea. It gives you something to shoot for and, maybe, the chance to get a cache that not many other people have found.

So, I’ve started doing it some, too.

Again, it comes down to the reality of being able to maybe get the final cache, but it’s still something to work toward.

Let me make sure I’m straight with the challenge caches. These are actual geocaches that require you to do something else to be able to log them. It’s not those silly and worthless “challenges” that Groundspeak unveiled a while back to try and make people forget about the fight to bring virtuals back.

No, these are challenge caches.

Basically, the idea is to have done something in caching and then you get this bonus cache. So, maybe you’ve found 10 5/5 (difficulty/terrain) caches and a person has put out a cache where you need to have done 10 5/5 caches to be able to claim it.

Or the DeLorme Challenges.

Or a state County Challenge.

The list is endless.

Originally, the plan was to try and scratch off a couple of these challenges with a weekend trip to the Allegany GeoBash. However, plans have changed and Mr. Economy is kiboshing those plans, so I’ll be staying closer to home and hoping to just go out and do some caching and take advantage of a great weekend.

Still, the idea of challenge caches is something I’ve become intrigued with. They are listed as mystery/puzzle caches (something I know people love) and they require you to get geocaches in certain spots or certain makeups to be able to find this challenge cache.

For example, one of the challenge caches we had looked to do this weekend was the “Our First 100 Stars Challenge – When & Why.” The cool part to this  challenge is it brings you back to when you started caching.

You need to make a list of your first 100 stars. What are stars of which I speak? Each cache is listed with two sets of stars — difficulty and terrain. Each of these are ranked from 1 (easiest) to 5 (hardest). From these, you go back to when you started caching and you make a list of total stars. Once you reach 100, you have matched the requirements. Then you go find the cache and can log it.

Two of the biggest ones in many states are the DeLorme and County Challenges.

The DeLorme refers to the atlas. Each state is broken down into squares. You must find one cache in each of those squares. Once you do, you are eligible to go make the find. The plan had been to go get many of the squares I have left to find this weekend, but unfortunately, it didn’t work out. My hope is to finish the New York DeLorme by the end of 2012, but we’ll see.

The County Challenge is basically the same — find one cache in each county in New York.

I’m not too far from this, either. It basically lines up well to be able to get the counties when I get the DeLorme squares.

My County Challenge grid in New York.

There’s a couple more intense challenges out there, too. So much so that there are many of these “final” caches to get, so that when someone gets it done, they might not have to travel all over the place to claim a final. These include the Fizzy Challenge (getting all 81 combinations of the difficulty/terrain chart), the Jasmer Challenge (finding a cache placed in every month since caching began, which is May 2000), and the AlphaNumeric Challenge(s), which can include anything from having caches that start with letters A-Z, or cache finds where the owner’s name starts A-Z etc.

There are also challenges where you have to finds by placed date and finds by found date. There are also the most well-rounded days, which include days where you find the types of caches, sizes of caches and the most difficulty and terrain ratings.

Here are some of my challenges and where I stand with them:

My Fizzy Challenge.

Finds by placed date (got 'em all!)

Finds by found date (I have a long way to go!)

Jasmer Challenge

Some of my most well-rounded days.

My best difficulty/terrain day.

Challenges, as I’ve found, are a lot of fun in regard to being able to make caching fun in a different way. It makes you concentrate on the caches you find as it might help fill in a challenge.

There are so many of them, too. I have several I’ve already done the paperwork on and can claim, I just have to travel and get them. Hopefully, I’ll soon be able to get those final caches and claim the smileys. It’s been fun lining them up and hopefully there’s a few more!

If you have any that you’ve done or are working on, link them or leave the GC number in the comments below as I’ve love to bookmark some more and work on them on the chance that one day I can find a few of these excellent final caches!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook! 

As part of my Day Zero Project, I will be answering the 50 Questions That Free Your Mind. For each of these, I will blog an answer and then it will be linked here as well. Some of these will have longer responses, some will be extremely short. But by the end of the Day Zero Project, I will have answered all of these.

No. 25: What are you most grateful for?

Breathing.

I actually conemplated leaving the full post as the one-word answer, but I thought I should probably expand on it.

See, I’m grateful for breathing because it means I’m alive. And that, to me, is a good thing.

I often use one answer when people ask me “How are you doing?” That answer? “I’m breathing.”

I’ll use different ways of saying it — things like “I woke up on this side of the dirt” or “I didn’t see my name in the obits.” But, often, it’s just the “I’m still breathing.”

Life can suck. There’s no doubt about it.

My world isn’t great right now, as I’ve blogged about in the past. The employment world seems to be blocking me out, I’m not as active as I should be and I’m not in a situation I’m terribly happy about now.

But I’m breathing.

There are far worse alternatives.

Live is funny. It’ll throw you those awful pitches and you have to decide what to do with them. I’m trying and trying and trying to improve things. One day, it will happen. It has to. I’ll eventually look back on all of this and know I am stronger because of it. I can’d say all the feelings I’ve built toward some things and people will ever go away, but in the end, I’ll be stronger and better.

If I wasn’t breathing, that wouldn’t be possible.

I think of all the people who have it worse than me — and I don’t mean because of economics. Those who battle diseases. Those who have disabilities. Those who need help just to breathe. And I know, despite where I am in this world right now, it isn’t so bad.

So I’m grateful for a lot of things. But without one thing, everything else wouldn’t be possible.

Breathing.

Another blast from the past!

Oh, I’m going to be short on this one today because it’s quite the doozy.

This is one of those photos that’s worth 1,000 (or more) words. Have fun with this one!

Guess who?

My uncle (left) and cousin look over an RC plane in a Holga shot I took a few years ago.

Regular readers of the blog will remember a Foto Friday post I did a few weeks ago where I talked about a fellow photographer using film. I noted the lone film I used — and even that very rarely — is 120 film with my Holga camera.

A Holga is a plastic toy camera. Its lens isn’t glass and it takes “dreamy” and old-school images. These images can have all sorts of looks, from vignetting, to a blur to light leaks to distortions. It’s really quite wild.

According to Wikipedia, the Holga camera first appeared in 1981 as a low-cost camera. It was made in Hong Kong.

The thing is, with digital the way it is, film has become a secondary medium for photography. It’s almost nostalgia. That makes it a bit more interesting, too, when dealing with the “toy” cameras, such as a Holga or a Diana. Cameras like Polaroids have cult-like followings now.

After thinking about this for a while, I uncovered my Holga and dusted it off. I knew I wanted to use it a bit more. So I tweeted Mike (who was mentioned in the initial Holga post) asking him if he had a Holga, which he does. That led me to start thinking about a challenge. And, of course, I was thinking of a way to bring it to the readers of HooHaa Blog.

So, we came up with a “My town” sort of challenge.

I also decided to see what I could find on Twitter in regard to Holga shooters. When all was said and done, I ended up with six people (including myself and Mike) who are willing to take part in this challenge. We will cover different parts of the globe — from three places in the United States to Kuwait to Switzerland to the United Kingdom. This will be one fun challenge.

The rules of the challenge are simple enough:

• Two rolls of 120 film — one color, one black and white. ISO will be 400 for both.
• The participant takes two rolls of their home area — a radius of 15 miles from their home address.
• Each roll will have 12 exposures, thus 24 total photos.
• Of the 24 images, 12 will be chosen for this challenge. A minimum of three images must come from each roll.

The challenge starts this Monday — May 14. Photographers will have a month to get things done and all photos will be taken by June 11. Then, from June 17-22, each person will have a guest blog post on A ‘lil HooHaa talking about their images, their town and anything else they want to add. It will give readers a chance to see the views of other towns in this world — whether buildings, landscape, people, sports — anything — that shows the area.

I can’t express how I am excited for this challenge. We’re doing this in a friendly way — as a way to show this medium of photography and a way to learn and see how others do things. I’m stoked to see the images from this challenge as it seems like people live in different size places and I really think being able to see other parts of the world will be fun.

Also, I hope this won’t be the last time I run this challenge. In fact, I’m already starting to think of other challenges to do with Holgas and such that I can do on the site. But one at a time!

To start this challenge, I would like to introduce you to the five other people who are taking part in it, with one of their past Holga photos.

****

One of Jeff's favorite past Holga shots. Copyright and all rights reserved to the photographer.

Name: Jeff Soderquist
Location: Seattle, Washington
Holga used:  120N (for this challenge); Holga 120WPC.
Photo interests: Beyond shooting with my Holga 120N, I am an avid pinhole photographer. My photographic interests fall into two categories, encompassing urban and natural landscapes. Living and working in downtown Seattle I’m fascinated by the daily functions of a densely populated urban center, and strive to capture it on film. I wouldn’t classify my style as street, but it contains elements of it. I’m much more interested in capturing the human movement over time through long pinhole exposures and supplementing it with more intimate subject matter. Beyond the confines of the city, I’m an avid hiker and landscape photographer. Weekends are often spent out on the coast or in the mountains wandering alone along trails with my cameras. I find this time to be very relaxing and self-reflective and strive to convey that through my photographs and accompanied writing.
On the web: 

• Flickr
• Twitter

One of Becca's favorite past Holga shots. Copyright and all rights reserved to the photographer.

****

One of Nada's favorite past Holga shots. Copyright and all rights reserved to the photographer.

Name: Nada
Location: Kuwait City, Kuwait
Holga used: Holga CFN 120
Photo interests: I don’t like to limit myself to one style, but I find myself mostly doing either street photography or abstract.
On the web:

• Blog
• Tumblr
• Twitter
• Shoot-Film (contributing writer)

One of Shaima's favorite past Holga shots. Copyright and all rights reserved to the photographer.

Name: Shaima M (also known as Shayouma on some blogs)
Location: Versoix, Geneva, Switzerland
Holga used: 120N
Photo interests: Basically, I love Street Photography. I love photographing my kids as well. I would do nature on very rare occasions, when there’s a scene in front of me.
On the web:

• Blog
• Twitter
• Shoot-Film (contributing writer)
• Lomography

****

One of Mike's favorite past Holga shots. Copyright and all rights reserved to the photographer.

Name: Mike Davis
Location: Waco, Texas
Holga used: 120CFN
Photo interests: Instagram, Hipstamatic, DSLR, underwater or whatever.
On the web:

• Tumblr
• Flickr
• Twitter

**** 

I look forward to seeing what these photographers bring to this challenge. I think it will be a wonderful way to see other parts of the country and the world and am excited for the results!

The view of Montreal at night from Mont Royal.

I love Montreal.

To my close friends and family, this isn’t a surprise. They’ve known since my first trip in, oh, 1997 or 1998, that this love affair grows. I’ve been there about a dozen times, though I haven’t been since 2009.

That’s too long.

Why am I blogging about this now?

The 2005 crew at Mont Royal.

Probably because I am starting to organize photos. And with that comes seeing old photos from my Montreal trips. With so many people, too. Early on, there was a core of us who would venture up there each year. Usually for three days or so. Sometimes some new people would come. Other times, it would be a smaller group. In total, if I count right, there were 13 different people who made the trip up with me over the years. Thirteen! The groups changed here and there. Some went back more than others.

But I always found a way to go.

People have bagged on us at the last minute. There’s been times when we had groups come up at different times. But those trips were oh so fun.

Montreal Expos games. The Montreal Allouettes of the Canadian Football League. Trips to clubs and bars and find eating establishments. Being up there one year for Canada Day was quite the experience, too.

We’ve met more people than I can remember — some, however, I’ve kept in touch with.

Amazing experiences, strong beer and weekends of fun have always been the norm. One year, one of the guys going with us also noted that his grandmother had grown up in Montreal. After he did the research, we ended up finding the place and taking a few photos. We even talked him into knocking on the door. Alas, nobody answered.

There are stories upon stories from these trips. So many that it could probably fill a book. Instead, they hold a special place in my mind.

Over the years, I’ve tried to make Montreal a permanent place in my life. If given the chance, I’d move there in an instance and wouldn’t think twice about it. I love Montreal that much. I’ve applied for school there and jobs. Maybe some day.

The Expos were always fun, when they were still there!

We once went there when the exchange rate was so favorable to the US dollar that we almost doubled our money. Talk about feeling rich! I just looked at the exchange rate and the Canadian dollar is worth just a smidgen more than the US buck now. How times have changed.

Since the first trip, I’ve witnessed the change in “safe” travel. When we first went, we needed our licenses. A few times, our birth certificates. Now you need a passport. To drive into Canada. We also discovered the quicker ways in and out of Canada — the secondary border crossings. It’s easier because there are fewer cars. Though a few miles off the main path, it’s well worth it because we don’t get caught in the long lines at the main crossings.

One year, staying in the main crossing, it took us three hours to go about 2-3 miles and get through customs.

Three hours!

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve been there. A few of us went in 2009. I then went to Ireland in 2010, so that made me skip Montreal. Last year was tight on the wallet as it was the first part of my current situation. Who knows about this summer. I’d like to think it’s possible.

I’ve always said the best part about Montreal is it feels like you are going to Europe in North America. And, depending when you drive up, it’s a trip that can be done in about five hours. It feels longer because you go so many hours through the Adirondacks, but it’s a pretty easy trip.

Darren making friends at the Canada Day parade in 2006.

I’ve been there through many seasons, too. Winter, spring, summer. Never really in the fall, though. I bet that would be awesome with the colors. I’ve been there to ring in the New Year, celebrated Canada Day and the Fourth of July and have been there when major events were going on in the city. Montreal really is the city of festivals and the summer is quite wild.

And we always found different ways of having fun.

From sporting events to comedy clubs. From bars to clubs. From dressing up and hitting up “classier joints” to enjoying a beer down on the pier. From being told we couldn’t go into a bar because of our shoes to having one of the best steaks we’ve ever enjoyed (and cooked right next to us). From late-night chats on the balcony to the amazing views from Mont Royal. From the motocross action on the streets to all the entertainment we’ve seen.

These memories will never leave me.

Ever.

I enjoyed being there when my “little bro” took his first trip above the border. I still can’t believe the year we were bouncing from bar to bar on Crescent Street and ran into two people who we went to high school with. I’ve enjoyed every establishment we ever entered — from seedy to high class.

And the poutine. How can I forget about that?

The first time I ever had it was at Dundee’s. I’ll never forget it. One o’clock in the morning and on the outside deck, having some Labatt and poutine. Holy crap was it divine.

Don’t know what poutine is?

It’s french fries. With an amazing gravy. And cheese curds. Yes, it’s unhealthy as all hell. But it’s like heaven in a small dish. Amazing. I have it every time I return to Montreal.

There was once a time two of us went a day earlier than the others. See, one person backed out at the last minute. So I had a hotel for an extra night. Being I was stuck with it, me and another went up early. Well, not really early. At night. We went through a nasty storm, got through customs in less than a minute and arrived at the hotel at about 1 a.m. After parking, we went to check in and were told they were over-booked.

Montreal has the cleanest metro systems I've seen.

Uh, say what?

I produce all the paperwork and they are stuck. Deal with it, I say. Figure something out. I’m not paying a dime more, either. We got an executive suite for the weekend.

Talk about awesome.

We’ve stayed at many different hotels. Some with incredible views. Some with awesome locations. Some with all of the above.

One year, two of us went for five days. Three or four others came up a few days later. What an experience. And this is where stories and memories will always last. We ran into some guys from Europe who were involved with the F-1 race the week earlier. Needless to say, they can handle their drinks. Soon enough it was me and them as the other member of the crew headed to the hotel. The night went into the wee hours of the morning and we ended up at Burger King where a fella was begging for some cash. So we chatted for a while with him, bought him a burger and told him I’d give him 5 bucks, but he needed to take a photo with me.

Snapshot taken. Sheesh!

I always feel like a different person up there. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I can blend in. I can have fun. I can people watch. And nobody knows me.

Well, outside the time we ran into those two we went to college with. And the time we got pulled into customs and ran into a few people from our town (they were heading up for a baseball game).

But I enjoy it up there. I can kind of be in a different world. I can’t wait to go back. Maybe this summer. I can hope anyway, right?

Simply put, I can sum up Montreal in a few words.

I love Montreal. And that feeling won’t change anytime soon.