Michal Checks Out His Bag at the Birthday Party

Michal Checks Out His Bag at the Birthday Party
Originally uploaded by scottjbaxter.

Today Michal and I went to Josh's birthday party. Josh is a kid in Michal's kindergarden class. Here you can see Michal looking at the gifts he got at the party.

Job Search

Reading and sorting ads is the most time consuming part. Then there's the writing letters, stuffing envelopes, contacting various offices about having letters or transcripts sent. All very overwhelming. And I want to have 50 in the mail say by Nov 1.

Marta Pointing at the Library

Marta Pointing at the Library
Originally uploaded by scottjbaxter.

Stopped at the library yesterday with the family after Michal's play practice.

Photo Developing and Film

Perhaps it's no surprise, but I started noticing that there are dramatically fewer places on or near the Purdue campus for developing film compared to the number there used to be three or four years ago. I also noticed that fewer stores sell film and the big stores like Target, Wal-Mart, and Walgreens have dramatically smaller film selections. All this helps to explain why Kodak laid off about two thirds of their work force -- they now have about 50,000 employees, compared with about 150,000 just a few years ago. Agfa seems to have similar problems.

Point and Shoot Pictures

Since my computer is down for a while I thought I'd try taking a roll of pictures on my old point and shoot 35 mm Canon camera. I picked up the prints today at Walgreens ... and they suck. People are out of focus, the flash is too bright, the outdoor pictures are grainy (and this is ISO 800 film). If I ever buy another film camera, it will be an SLR. (This is a nice one that I put on my amazon wish list.) I hate taking pictures and finding out that what I saw in the viewfinder is not the image I recorded. I didn't realize how much more enjoyable my picture taking hobby has been since buying my Nikon Coolpix camera last year. I am also amazed to see that the 4600 (similar to my 4200) is $150 to $200 less than what I paid for an model with fewer bells and whistles. Maybe the digital SLRs will come down to $200 in a year? One can hope, right?

iBook in for Repair

So I went to the Apple store in Indianapolis today to bring in my computer while my family checked out the haunted house at the Children's Museum. It turns out that my problem is a known issue (details here) and I may be able to have it fixed for free. They are sending it in to get the logic board repaired. Either I get it repaired for free, including shipping, or I pay about $300. Here's hoping.

Computer Trouble

I suppose it was inevitable that my computer would have major problems one day. That day is now. The monitor or the video card on my iBook is dying. Tomorrow I'll be taking it to the apple store in Indianapolis while the rest of the family goes to the children's museum to check out the haunted house. I just hope I don't have to figure out how to back up everything.

Michal with Pumpkin

Michal with Pumpkin
Originally uploaded by scottjbaxter.

Yesterday, Michal and I carved our pumpkin and put a candle in it. More pictures are available here (hosted on flickr.com).

Conference Proposal

I submitted a proposal about my research to the American Association for Applied Linguistics today. If they like it, I might be able to visit Montreal in the summer.

Visitor

My wife's mother, Osusia, came in from Warsaw on Thursday last week to visit us for a few months. She should enjoy herself and her being around will probably give us a little more time to work.

Scott Baxter, Photographer

Today I discovered flickr, a way to post photos. And I put a few up here.

Recently, when listening to the podcast, tips from the top floor, I heard a show (.mp3) about turning your hobby into a business. It seemed like a good idea to me. So, I did a little looking on the Internet and found much more advanced stuff than I need. I don't need to worry about IRS, copyrighting images, or most of that other business stuff. I'd just like to get someone to pay me to take their picture once in a while. My big dream would be to make enough to buy another camera -- like this one, or this one, or maybe photoshop elements. Not enough to make any real money.

I was walking around campus this week and saw they have these posters up for people running for homecoming court with a face, info about the student, and what number to vote for. Some of the pictures really weren't that good. I figure I could charge a couple fraternities or sororities to take pictures that were at least as good as the ones I saw.

Anyway, the goal might be to get someone to want me to take their picture and for me to say, OK, but I'll have to charge you.