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A little credit, please?

I take a ton of photos, and I freely email them out (or burn CDs!) for the people in the photos. Heck, I figure it's just a courtesy for taking the photos. I love to get photos that other people have taken of me, so I'm sure the reverse is true.

I know I should be flattered by the fact that people not only want but also use my photos (exhibits A, B, and C -- require myspace membership, I think -- and I can get more examples if people would like). Still, it really ticks me off that people can't even acknowledge or credit me for the photos I've taken. Obviously, their use means that I took some pretty good photos, and it'd be nice to get credit for photos that I freely gave to people. The exhibits I linked were photos of this guy from my university that played a show. I was reviewing the show for the paper, so I took photos too, and I burned him a copy of all the photos (not just the ones used for the brilliant photo collage I put together).

Is there anything I can do short of charging people a nominal fee to get my photos? Should I start burning the photos at really low res and saying, "oh, for $5, you can get decent, printable versions?" I don't want to be bitchy about it, and I suppose it doesn't matter all that much; I'm not exactly doing photography as a career . . . right now. I just need to figure out when and where to draw the line at giving my photos away for free. My dad suggested that I start carrying around model releases and business cards. I can give someone a card, and they can email me to get photos sent to them. In that case, I guess I could charge if they don't sign a model release and give the photos for free with a release.

Lots of ideas to ponder. Any thoughts out there?

Birthday

It's my birthday today. While I've already sort of celebrated with my wonderful trip up to Seattle (detailed later), I'd like to ask a small favor of all my readers. Please go save some rainforest. I want rainforest left so I can go do research there!

Fitting Welcome

I arrived in Seattle last night around midnight. It rained half the way home.

My trip home was wonderful, and I'll blog more about it. Pictures are assured.

Car Repair 101

Lesson 1: Transmission fluid is red. Oil is brown.

Lesson 2: Learn which pan under your car is which (ie oil or transmission fluid).

Lesson 3: As long as you don't (a) start your car or (b) put the fluids into the wrong hole, all draining problems can be remedied.

Lesson 4: Don't drop your wallet in oil. You'll be forced to put your credit cards in a ziploc bag until you manage to buy a new wallet.

Before my parents freak out and think I killed my new car, I'll explain. Today, my friend James and I changed my oil. We also inadvertently changed my transmission fluid. We thought we were emptying the oil pan. Once we had emptied it, we realized that the fluid was a little more red than it should be, and it smelled different than the oil that came out when we changed the oil filter. We also noticed that adding four quarts of oil made the oil dipstick read really high . . . like, really, really high.

I had the bright idea to check the transmission fluid dipstick. Dry as a freakin' bone. After a run to Chevron (since Napa was closed, it being after 3 pm on a Saturday in Gold Beach), we refilled the transmission fluid. With the help of James' dad, we also emptied the oil and refilled that.

Now, all my fluids are happy and pretty for the drive back up to Seattle (which starts tomorrow am and ends sometime on Thursday). The transmission fluid was really icky, so it's actually a good thing we changed it. James' dad is pretty car savvy, so I'm confident that everything is running well.

The best part? All this cost me just $12. That is much less than the $25-30 I pay to have my oil changed elsewhere. I still might go somewhere to change my oil (much easier, really), but it's nice to know that I can do it myself.

Side note: yes, my wallet did end up in oil (Jame wouldn't let my pay for the transmission fluid, since he considered the mistake his). It's nylon, so I washed it out. It's drying now, and we'll see how it looks in the morning. I think it's a darn good excuse to get a new wallet. I have had this one since I was 16.

Birthday Spending

from a post on Hip Domestics, a livejournal community I read.

In the community, they're discussing birthday present. A 4 yo daughter just got invited to her first birthday party, and the mom is trying to figure out how much to spend on the present. She gives a range of $15-20 and asks if that's appropriate. The crazy thing is that many people think that is a perfectly fine range.

Perhaps it's just me, but $15-20 seems like an awful lot for a gift for a 4 yo. Perhaps if it's a child you know very well, or your daughter's best friend for the past four years, it would be appropriate. But if her daughter starts getting invited to a slew of parties, the $20/party can easily amount to more than $200 spent per year.

In reading The Tightwad Gazette and other frugal living books I've gotten into, the authors point out that gifts can be made or found for not too much money. There's no need to go out and buy a decorator barbie. How many kids are going to this party? Can the child deal with 20 new toys?

I think that, when I have children, I want to encourge people to bring small gifts or no gifts to parties. If my children can learn, early on, that the presence of their friends in celebration is more important to them than receiving a slew of gifts, that seems like it would develop a health mentality towards friendship.

I also think that there are a lot of nifty presents one can make for a friend that would be appreciated. Perhaps four is too young for some of these, but a kid could make a tshirt for a friend (and this would be cool throughout the years -- heck, I'd love a handmade tshirt from a friend with some funny picture or slogan screenprinted on it). I suggested the mom buy a pot, have the daughter decorate it, then put a nice little plant in it (teaches kids about growth and responsibility without the stigma of a dying pet).

To my creative readers: what are some fun things that you might make for a friend's birthday? What about a kid's birthday? Any thoughts?

A Few Good Links

Sometimes, we just never get around to linking thoughtful blog posts that could provoke discussion. That said, here are a few I've been reading and enjoying recently:

Prayer In Schools
A convincing reason for not allowing prayer in school, since we do have a secular country with no official religion.

Legion
Excorcising the demons

Safety in Numbers for Pedestrians
Yet another reason why I love Portland. I love being able to walk, bike, or mass transit everywhere I need to go. Heck, Europe is like this too. I wish more cities would jump on the bandwagon (and let's start with Kansas City, the bastion of, "oh, you want to walk somewhere? too bad -- we like cars here.").

So much for more posting

I really do mean to post more often, I swear. It's been crazy busy the last few days. I volunteered to pull nets with ODFW on Wed and Fri (they seine the river to get a fish count, and you've got have people to help pull the nets up to the shore so we can count fish). I've also been painting a lot. The highlights:

- I met a cute ODFW guy. Of course, he's married.
- We caught a seal in our seine net! He was so beautiful. It's the closest I've ever been to a seal.
- We also caught a sturgeon. I think sturgeon are just awesome. Fish are so cool. I think I could do fisheries as a career and be content, but content isn't good enough for me.
- My friend is back from France, and he brought me a fossilized shell. Plus, he was excited about the painting and also the thorough cleaning job two of us girls did on his kitchen today. We cleaned every little piece of gunk off the stove that would come off (some was just too burned on). The stove is now white.

I'm off to sleep. We'll see how posting goes; I'm leaving Gold Beach on Sunday, and I won't be back in Seattle until Thursday. I'll be hitting up the Shakespeare Festival with a PDX friend, and I'll be spending some time in Corvallis and PDX being all urban (cities, how I miss thee). One of these days, I'll come up with some more witty stories.

Today

was a good, long, tiring day. I worked fifteen hours today (and at minimum wage, no less). It's not enough to buy a house, but it's a little way toward greater savings.

I worked the morning shift, which meant I laid out, supervised, and put away breakfast. I checked everyone out and got the housekeeper going. Then, when the owner showed up to take over front desk duties, I got my painting mojo on.

Happily, I managed not to get any paint on my jeans. There's paint on my shirt, but it's an old one I borrowed from the owner's wife. We've been painting a lot of stuff around the place, and it's so wonderful to see the improvement that even the coats of primer bring (we haven't gotten to the real stuff yet). I spent the whole day painting, spackling, caulking, and sanding (side note: caulking is actually lots of fun).

I'm continuing work on graduate school (the latest new idea: University of Georgia for a PhD in Ecology). I'm looking for insurance (just need to call the doctor's office and see how I'm covered under the plan I like). I'm trying to find moments to relax (but I started The Lion in Winter yesterday, and I haven't had a chance to finish it yet).

Tomorrow, I have a good chunk of the day off . . . but I volunteered to help out with fish and wildlife, and then I said I'd come back and clock in to paint. All I really want to do is sleep, but I keep reminding myself that these are opportunities (both paid and otherwise) that won't be around forever. I can sleep once I get back home.

All in all, a mundane day, but writing about it satisfies my wish to make at least one blog post a day. Plus, I'm proud of my newfound ability to caulk.

To Speak of October

To speak of October is to speak of my bithday. My thirteenth birthday was on a Friday, the 13th of October. Three years ago, just a day after my birthday, I ended up in the ER from an allergic reaction. In two different years, I went to concerts to celebrate my birthday: Incubus and Something Corporate. Those were two of the best concerts I ever went to.

To speak of October is to speak of magic. Many like spring because it speaks of new life. To me, the fall speaks of greater potential for new life and rebirth. The leaves turn and die as the chlorophyll leaves. Animals bed down for the winter. The skies darken, and the ocean crashes mightily upon the shore. The whole world is in a state of flux. Everything is succumbing to entropy, but, faithfully, I know the green will return again. The close of October brings Halloween and, more importantly, All Saint's Day; these, too, are a reminder of death, but they are also a celebration of those who have lived and left their mark. October reminds me, each year, to keep that faith and hope in new life and beauty coming forth from a world that appears to be falling apart.

To speak of October is to stir my heart into longing for crisp fall air and crunchy leaves. I have fond childhood memories of raking the lawn; while my parents might disagree, this is one chore that I don't remember whining about. I love pulling out warm sweaters and thinking about evenings spent with hot chocolate by the fire. October is the perfect month to spend cuddling after a good hike in cool air.

To speak of October is to speak of the beauty of this changing earth.

Yeah, I'm sure he's a terrorist

It's a sad, sad world when one is punished for writing a good satire. Heck, in middle school, we got A's for writing the funniest or most scathing satires.

We, as a populace, need to reexamine our priorities. Safety is one thing, but it's these sorts of actions that really let the terrorists win. They don't need to be blowing apart buildings to have a stranglehold on how we run our lives.