opportunity to travel into victoria crater

This composite picture was taken by the Mars Rover Opportunity along the rim of the Victoria Crater. Opportunity is set to begin a risky descent down the rock-paved slope of this crater. NASA is prepared to take the risk because of the valuable information about Mars the scientists are expecting to gain.

Opportunity has already been exploring along the rim of this crater and future plans include an eventual exit from the crater. Opportunity could become trapped in the crater or it's power could become substantially weakened, but that's OK. The little rover has already performed far beyond it's expectations. It was scheduled to operate for 90 days. It has been going strong for more than 1200 days. What an incredible accomplishment.

Opportunity began it's path to Victoria Crater over 30 months ago and has been exploring the rim of the crater for more than 9 months, examining the rock layers and looking for possible entry points into the crater. It has returned to the most favorable entry point, called Duck Bay. The slope at Duck Bay is only about 15-20 degrees with a relatively smooth rock ramp descending into the crater.

I am anxious to read about and see the results of Opportunity's adventure into the crater.
--------------------------------------------------
Song 098: Dance To The Music
Artist: Sly and the Family Stone
Album: Dance to the Music
Year: 1968
--------------------------------------------------
Get up and dance to the music!
Get on up and dance to the fonky music!
Dance to the Music, Dance to the Music
Hey Greg!
What?
All we need is a drummer,
for people who only need a beat
I'm gonna add a little guitar
and make it easy to move your feet
I'm gonna add some bottom,
so that the dancers just won't hide
You might like to hear my organ
playing "Ride Sally Ride"
You might like to hear the horns blowin',
Cynthia on the throne, yeah!
Cynthia & Jerry got a message they're sayin':
All the squares, go home!
Dance to the Music, Dance to the Music

I think the words to this song changed a little bit every time Sly and the Family Stone did it live, but who listened to the words back then anyway. The song was definitely high energy. You could not sit still while Sly was playing. I saw Sly twice in concert, and this was my favorite Sly song then and it is still my favorite Sly song today.

crystal blue persuasion

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Song 097: Crystal Blue Persuasion
Artist: Tommy James and the Shondells
Album: Crimson and Clover
Year: 1968
--------------------------------------------------
Look over yonder what do you see
The sun is a-risin' most definitely
A new day is comin' people are changin'
Ain't it beautiful crystal blue persuasion

Better get ready gonna see the light
Love, love is the answer and that's all right
So don't you give up now so easy to find
Just look to your soul and open your mind

Crystal blue persuasion, mm-hmm
It's a new vibration
Crystal blue persuasion, crystal
Blue persuasion
Maybe tomorrow when He looks down
Every green field and every town
All of his children every nation
There'll be peace and good brotherhood
Crystal blue persuasion
Crystal blue persuasion.....

Crystal Blue Persuasion holds a special place in my memory. As a young man in high school, a certain young lady asked me to a Sadie Hawkins Valentine's dance (that's when the girls ask the guys out) and I accepted. That was my first date. When she came by to pick me up, she looked so beautiful and I was really nervous. The evening was filled with music and I can still see the light shimmering off of the crystal ball hanging from the ceiling . . . twisted crepe paper streamers radiating out from it to the corners of the room. Then the deejay put on the first slow song of the evening. She looked at me and I asked if she wanted to dance. She said yes and the result is an unforgetable memory. The song was Crystal Blue Persuasion, and reflected light from the crystal ball danced across her blue evening gown. I know there were other people on the dance floor . . . dozens of other people, but I don't remember actually seeing them. We were in our own little world. At the end of the song, I got my first kiss.

aloha kilauea

At 2:00am in the morning, as I flew over the big island of Hawaii for the first time in 1974, I looked out the window of the airplane and saw one of the big island volcanoes erupting. It wasn't a spewing, nasty-looking eruption like you might imagine. It was actually very colorful and artistic. The lava was glowing red, orange and yellow as it flowed in streams toward the ocean. I wondered as I watched the lava flow beneath me if it had actually been a good idea to move to Hawaii. All my worries were silenced as soon as the plane landed and I stepped into the tropical breeze of Oahu. After all, I would be living on Oahu, not the big island, so I was safe.

I mention the above story because the events of this past weekend brought back my memories of Hawaii. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the island of Hawaii experienced a series of more than 260 small earthquakes over Father's Day weekend. The earthquakes started at about 2:15am Sunday morning and continued at a rate of about one every minute. Most of the quakes have been one to two miles deep. Ten of them have been larger than magnitude 3.

The rift beneath the Kilauea (pronounced kill-ah-way' ah) Volcano has expanded a bit, perhaps to accommodate an expanded flow of magma. Scientists are keeping an eye on the siesmic activity, noting that lava flowing into new underground cavities beneath Kilauea could result in the magma oozing to the surface in unexpected areas of the park.

Tourists and campers have been evacuated from the park until scientists at the US Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory can determine that it is safe to return. In the last 24 hours, 12 small earthquakes have been recorded in the East Rift Zone of Kilauea.

-------------------------------------------------
Song 096: Crimson and Clover
Artist: Tommy James and the Shondells
Album: Crimson and Clover
Year: 1968
-------------------------------------------------
Now I don't hardly know her
But I think I could love her
Crimson and clover

Ah
Well if she come walkin' over
Now I been waitin' to show her
Crimson and clover
Over and over

Yeah
My mind's such a sweet thing
I wanna do everything
What a beautiful feeling
Crimson and clover
Over and over

Crimson and clover, over and over

atlantis is home safely

The Space Shuttle Atlantis touched down in California on Saturday, June 23. The STS-117 mission astronauts returned to Johnson Space Center on Saturday, June 23. Their return was marked by a traditional welcome home ceremony at Ellington Field in Houston.

On Friday, June 29, Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to begin its journey back to Kennedy Space Center "piggy-backed" on top of a modified 747 jetliner called the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.

Known as a ferry-flight, the orbiter will make the trip from Edwards Air Force Base in California to Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility soemtime this week, depending on weather conditions.

Atlantis landed at Edwards concluding a successful assembly mission to the International Space Station with Commander Rick Sturckow and Pilot Lee Archambault at the controls. Atlantis landed at 3:49 p.m. EDT on June 22.

The STS-117 crew began its mission June 8 and arrived at the station June 10. They quickly began work to install the Starboard 3 and 4 (S3/S4) truss structure to the outpost and retracted a set of arrays on the Port 6 (P6) truss. The (S3/S4) contains a new set of solar arrays that increases station power-generation capabilities. The P6 will be relocated during a future assembly mission.

Mission Specialists Patrick Forrester, John "Danny" Olivas, Jim Reilly and Steven Swanson conducted a total of four spacewalks to activate the S3/S4 and to retract the P6 arrays. During the third spacewalk, Olivas repaired an out of position thermal blanket on the left orbital maneuvering system pod.

Landing also marked the end of a record-setting spaceflight by Mission Specialist Suni Williams. She broke the record for the longest spaceflight by a woman early in the morning on June 16.

Williams' journey began in December with the launch of STS-116. She lived on the space station for six months before switching places on the STS-117 crew with Clayton Anderson, who is now a flight engineer on the station. When Atlantis landed, she had accumulated 194 days, 18 hours and 58 minutes during her spaceflight.

STS-117 is the 118th shuttle mission and 21st mission to visit the space station. The next mission, STS-118, is slated to launch in August.

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Song 095: Cherish
Artist: The Association
Album: Then Along Comes The Association
Year: 1968
--------------------------------------------------
Cherish is the word I use to describe
All the feeling that I have hiding here for you inside
You don't know how many times I've wished that I had told you
You don't know how many times I've wished that I could hold you
You don't know how many times I've wished that I could
Mold you into someone who could
Cherish me as much as I cherish you

the weekend from how

I spent almost all weekend working on a Powerpoint presentation -- an overview of the HOW Design Conference, which I presented this morning. Who would have thought one little 40-page presentation could take so much time to produce. Anyway, I think it went well. I actually enjoyed putting it together, although I am yawning a bit today. There are graphic designers who do nothing but Powerpoint presentations. I think I would go crazy if that's all I did all day long. [{scream}] The picutre above is one from the HOW deck.

My wife will be conducting an art camp for pre-teens all this week. She spent most of her weekend preparing for that. Between her art supplies lying everywhere, and my books scattered all over the kitchen table, and our youngest packing to go on another summer adventure (this time a Christian Leadership camp), I am surprised we could get through our house at all. But when I came into the den this morning before work, it looked pretty good. I think we all did a nice job of cleaning up our areas after we were finished. Yeah for us!

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Song 094: Carolina In My Mind
Artist: James Taylor
Album: James Taylor
Year: 1968
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In my mind Im goin to carolina
Cant you see the sunshine
Cant you just feel the moonshine
Maybe just like a friend of mine
It hit me from behind
Yes Im goin to carolina in my mind

how many of me

Right now, at this very moment, there are 1277 people in the United States that have the same first and last name as me. And I thought I was unique. Guess again. I would also guess that there are lots of people with your first and last name. Check out HowManyOfMe.com. After you check your name out, drop me a comment and let me know just how unique you are.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 1,277 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

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Song 093: Born Under A Bad Sign
Artist: Cream
Album: Wheels of Fire
Year: 1968
--------------------------------------------------
Born under a bad sign.
Ive been down since I began to crawl.
If it wasnt for bad luck,
I wouldnt have no luck at all.

Bad luck and troubles my only friend.
Ive been down ever since I was ten.

in the summertime

Today is the first day of summer. Thinking about summer as I drove in to work this morning, I came up with my top ten favorite summer memories. Here goes!

10 Thursdays at the Square. Live music abounds and friends and families gather every Thursday evening during the summer on the square in Collierville. We take a picnic dinner, chairs and a blanket and enjoy the atmosphere.

09 Damming up the creek. When I was a boy one of my favorite things to do during the summer was get together with a bunch of neighborhood kids, dam up the creek, and play in it all day long.

08 Making ice cream. I love ice cream anytime, but making your own is the best. One particular memory is of a family reunion with lots of watermelon and home-made ice cream with freshly picked strawberries. It doesn't get much better than hand-cranked ice cream. I've had my share of turning the crank over the years. It makes the ice cream even better when you know how much work went into it.

07 The zoo. Almost any zoo will do, but I have four favorites: Grassmire in Nashville, the Memphis Zoo, the St. Louis Zoo, and my all-time favorite . . . the North Carolina Zoo in Ashboro. What an incredible experience. My family and I visited there about eight years ago and we still talk about it.

06 The Fourth of July. I look forward to the 4th every year. Some celebrations have been better than others over the years, but several stand out as memorable: watching the fireworks over the water from the Tampa Bay Bridge; sitting with my family watching the fireworks over the water from the harbor at Amelia Island; and my favorite memory of the 4th of July . . . going to a rodeo on Maui and later that evening celebrating the 4th at a shrine as thousands of paper boats (with a single white candle in each of them) were released into the ocean to honor the men and women who have died over the years to preserve our freedoms.

05 Canoeing. Fighting the eddies of the Buffalo River in Tennessee; plunging down a 15-foot waterfall in an aluminum canoe on the Spring River in Arkansas; and my favorite canoeing memory . . . waking up to see the early morning mist rising from the waters of the Eleven Point River in northeastern Arkansas, then heading out into the mist for a quiet, peaceful float down the river.

04 The Beach. The rocky cliffs and grey sand beaches near Monterrey, California; the white sand and gentle waves of Perdido Key, Florida; strolling along the beach searching for carcharodon shark teeth on Amelia Island, Florida; flying kites with my family along the Outer Banks of North Carolina; sifting and searching for shark teeth, strolling along the main street and stopping for ice cream in Venice Beach, Florida; and my number one set of beach memories . . . the beaches of Hawaii (the colorful sands of Maui, the black sand of Hawaii, the rocky trail to Hanauma Bay, Blow Hole, watching the surfers battle huge waves on the North Shore of Oahu, and war canoeing from the shores of Waikiki).

03 Hiking. Hiking up to the Appalachian Trail by way of Alum Cave Trail and Mount Le Conte; crossing Sawteeth with dropoffs on either side of the trail; looking out over the Smokies from Charlie's Bunion; sitting with my feet dangling over the edge at Lover's Leap; climbing hand-over-hand up a rock ledge for a better view of the mountains and staring face-to-face into the eyes of a rattlesnake under one of the rock ledges; and my favorite summertime hiking memory . . . hiking through a thunderstorm on Thunderhead Mountain, north from Spence Field Shelter on the Appalachian Trail. The air was so electrified that the hair on my arms and legs were standing out. There was no place to go to escape the storm, so my crew and I kept hiking through the clouds until we were hiking above them and looking down at the storm as it made it's way through the valley. What a scary feeling . . . but what a memory!

02 Music Festivals. I love music. In my younger days, summer meant concerts and music festivals. I would go to as many as I possibly could. A couple of them stand out in my memory: the Diamond Head Crater Festivals, Oahu, Hawaii. For two years in a row I got to go to the Crater Festival . . . three days of rock and roll music featuring local bands and mainstream bands like Santana, Fleetwood Mac and Boz Scaggs. Now that I think harder about the Crater Festivals, I think they were around the first of the year (not summer), but it's summer in Hawaii all the time, so I still think they count for the summertime memory. I know my favorite summertime festival memory WAS in the summer. August to be exact. Woodstock. Santana was there. So were Mountain, Canned Heat, Richie Havens, Arlo Guthrie, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Joan Baez, Sly and the Family Stone, Joe Cocker, The Who, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Blood Sweat and Tears and tons of other musicians. What a time!

01 Frisbee in the Rain. After looking back over all my summertime memories, the memory that always coming back to me during the rainy days of summer is one of my daughters and me seizing the day and playing frisbee in the middle of a pouring rain. The day was hot and muggy and the clouds were really full. The rain started. It wasn't thundering or lightning at all. The rain was coming down hard but it was not a driving rain or a cold rain. It felt really good. My daughters and I were watching it rain from our porch and one of them suggested that we go out and play in it. We grabbed a frisbee and had a fantastic time, throwing to each other and enjoying the rain pouring down our faces. We were totally soaked from head to foot . . . not a dry spot anywhere, but that's one that we still talk about today.

Tell me your best summertime memories.

--------------------------------------------------
Song 092: Born To Be Wild
Artist: Steppenwolf
Album: Steppenwolf
Year: 1968
--------------------------------------------------
Get your motor running
Head out on the highway
Looking for adventure
In whatever comes our way

Yeah, darling
Gonna make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once and
Explode into space

I like smoke and lightning
Heavy metal thunder
Racing in the wind
And the feeling that I'm under

Yeah, darling
Gonna make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once and
Explode into space

Like a true nature child
We were born
Born to be wild
We have climbed so high
Never want to die
Born to be wild
Born to be wild

toast

One of the tidbits that I rediscovered during the HOW Design Conference was the art of listening to a presentation. Do not prejudge the presenter or the subject matter. Do not think ahead of the material that is being presented. Do not over analyze the presenter or the subject matter. Pay attention. Focus on the subject matter and not on the surroundings. All these factors came into play as I attended the Toast: How to Make Burnout Delicious session. After the first few minutes of the presentation, I just had to take a deep breath and concentrate on the material and not the presenter. As a result, I came away from that session with several valuable tips.

Release Hostility. Most of us work in a fast forward environment. Everything is wanted while-you-wait. Tons of work. No time. Multiple proofs. Accelerated deadlines. We can't change those factors. What we can change is the way we reacte to them. Instead of getting frustrated and anger with tight deadlines and almost unreasonable demands, embrace them. I obviously love my job, or I wouldn't be here, pouring my heart and soul into it. Analyze the situation, devise a plan, execute it. But along the way take a break now and then to release the frustrations. I take a short hike about three times a week at lunchtime. It does wonders for me. Find your own release and work it.

Focus and Make a List. I don't know how I could operate without a list. A list serves a couple of really good functions. It shows progress and it shows process. My wife makes lists of everything. It keeps her on task. Lists keep me on task. I did learn a new way to list during the conference . . . doodles. Lists don't have to be long, numbered entries on a lined sheet of paper. Lists can be a doodle with a note off to the side. I like that approach. I've already started using it.

Underpromise. I have long been a fan of this approach. Give your clients a tiemline of when they can expect results from you. Make it a reasonable timeline that you can both live with . . . and then get the finished product to them ahead of schedule. They will love you for getting the work to them ahead of the requested time, and you will feel good about delivering early. I try to put two dates on my list . . . one is the actually date needed and the second is the time that I target as my time to get it to them (of course they don't see my list, it's just for me).

Volunteer. One of the best ways to reinforce how lucky you are to have the job that you have is to volunteer. Work in a soup kitchen. Deliver food to shut-ins. Spend a week with Habitat for Humanity or World Changers. Collect food or clothing for a homeless shelter. Mow a widow's lawn on a regular basis. Visit St. Jude and spend time reading stories to the children there. Find your niche and volunteer. You will feel great and so will the people you help.

Perspective. Focus on the important things in life. God. Family. Friends. Community. These are the things that fuel our creativity. These are the reasons we get up in the morning, put on our business faces, and deal with the demands of our jobs. It helps if you enjoy the job you are performing. I feel fortunate to have the best of both aspects. I love the career that I have chosen. I love the people that I work with and the company that employs me, and that makes it so much better when I get home in the evening. I'm already smiling when I enter the house.

Smile and Laugh. It is contagious!

--------------------------------------------------
Song 091: With A Little Help From My Friends
Artist: The Beatles
Album: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Year: 1967
--------------------------------------------------
What would you think if I sang out of tune,
Would you stand up and walk out on me.
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song,
And I'll try not to sing out of key.
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,
Mmm I get high with a little help from my friends,
Mmm I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends.

What do I do when my love is away.
(Does it worry you to be alone)
How do I feel by the end of the day
(Are you sad because you're on your own)
No, I get by with a little help from my friends,
Mmm I get high with a little help from my friends,
Mmm I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends

Do you need anybody?
I need somebody to love.
Could it be anybody?
I want somebody to love.

Would you believe in a love at first sight?
Yes I'm certain that it happens all the time.
What do you see when you turn out the light?
I can't tell you, but I know it's mine.
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,
Mmm I get high with a little help from my friends,
Oh I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends

Do you need anybody?
I just need someone to love.
Could it be anybody?
I want somebody to love.
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,
Mmm gonna try with a little help from my friends
Oh I get high with a little help from my friends
Yes I get by with a little help from my friends,
With a little help from my friends!

wacom tablet

The monitors in this picture look pretty much like normal monitors when you first look at them . . . and then you sit down in front of them and realize that these are art tablets. I happened upon them in a vendor booth at the HOW Design Conference last week. The booth was jointly sponsored by Adobe and Wacom. Wacom makes these great art tablets. I have a small tablet that I use at home. You use a stylus pen to draw or navigate menus. It's a totally cool way to use your Mac. I suppose a PC could use an art tablet too, but it's so much cooler on a Mac. I'm just kidding. Don't send me any mad mail about Macs. it's just that I have been using Macs since 1984 and I would be a bit uncomforatable working on a PC right about now, as I am sure those of you that use a PC would be a bit uncomfortable using a Mac. Both platforms have their pluses and minuses.

Anyway . . . the Wacom tablets pictured above are actually touch-screen monitors. You can touch the screen with your fingertip to navigate the menus, or you can use a stylus to draw directly on the screen. They can be tilted horizontal if you what to use them like a drawing table. This was just one of the cool elements of the HOW conference. If you haven't been, and if you are in any way involved in design, print production, or management of a creative firm, you should think about this conference. It is incredible.

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Song 090: Whiter Shade of Pale
Artist: Procol Harum
Album: Procol Harum
Year: 1967
--------------------------------------------------
We skipped the light fandango
Turned cartwheels cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick
But the crowd called out for more
The room was humming harder
As the ceiling flew away
When we called out for another drink
The waiter brought a tray

And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale
She said, there is no reason
And the truth is plain to see.
But I wandered through my playing cards
And would not let her be
One of sixteen vestal virgins
Who were leaving for the coast
And although my eyes were open
They might have just as wellve been closed
She said, Im home on shore leave,
Though in truth we were at sea
So I took her by the looking glass
And forced her to agree
Saying, you must be the mermaid
Who took neptune for a ride.
But she smiled at me so sadly
That my anger straightway died

If music be the food of love
Then laughter is its queen
And likewise if behind is in front
Then dirt in truth is clean
My mouth by then like cardboard
Seemed to slip straight through my head
So we crash-dived straightway quickly
And attacked the ocean bed

for the love of type

I love type. At the beginning of my graphic design career, my official title was typographer. Typographer is different from typesetter. A typesetter simply puts words on paper, but a typographer designs with type. I loved it! I learned so much about type design and the elements of type that what I learned has rubbed off on my entire family. My wife and both my daughters love type. If you use it the way it should be used, the words on the page become as important (if not more important) than the colors and photographs incorporated into the piece. Type is a beautiful thing!

I took the picture above during the HOW Design Conference last week in Atlanta. During one of my breaks between sessions, I was cruising through the Resource Center (exhibitors' hall) when I saw the Linotype booth off in the distance. I immediately lost focus of all the dozens of other vendor booths between me and Linotype and fought my way through the crowd to their booth. It was a small booth with two people working it and the first thing that caught my eye was a book about an inch and a half thick laying open on the counter. It was a book of type . . . nothing but type . . . all the type currently in the Linotype repertoire. I started thumbing through it and taking pictures. I noticed that one of the Linotype people kept watching me taking pictures, so I decided that maybe they didn't want me taking pictures of their type and I stopped. I continued to admire the type in the book and when one of the Linotype folks finished talking to the person she had been engaged in conversation with, she came over to me. She said that she had noticed that I loved type and wanted to know if I would be interested in working on a project with Linotype. They are currently launching a brand new typeface and she wanted to know if I would be interested in perhaps designing a calendar or a poster using the new typeface. I am all over that! Since I work for a paper company, and since my company had a booth at HOW, I quickly dashed off to our booth and brought back a swatch book of our paper offerings. It is in the preliminary planning stages now, but I believe that Linotype and I will be doing this project on our paper. I am very excited about the possibilities.

By the way, the folks from Linotype gave me the book of type after the conference ended! If you see this post . . . thank you Nadine!
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Song 089: When I'm Sixty Four
Artist: The Beatles
Album: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Year: 1967
---------------------------------------------------
When I get older losing my hair,
Many years from now.
Will you still be sending me a valentine
Birthday greetings bottle of wine.
If I'd been out till quarter to three
Would you lock the door,
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty-four.
You'll be older too,
And if you say the word,
I could stay with you.
I could be handy, mending a fuse
When your lights have gone.
You can knit a sweater by the fireside
Sunday mornings go for a ride,
Doing the garden, digging the weeds,
Who could ask for more.
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty-four.
Every summer we can rent a cottage,
In the Isle of Wight, if it's not too dear
We shall scrimp and save
Grandchildren on your knee
Vera Chuck & Dave
Send me a postcard, drop me a line,
Stating point of view
Indicate precisely what you mean to say
Yours sincerely, wasting away
Give me your answer, fill in a form
Mine for evermore
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty-four.

how: day three

That’s me there in the crowd . . . except I’m the one behind the camera. I have never seen so many Mac-using-people since last year’s HOW design conference. It’s great. These folks talk my language. It’s almost like going on vacation in a foreign land and discovering that you can understand everything they’re saying.

Outside one of the sessions yesterday (the one called Perfect Imperfection) I had a conversation with a letterpress artist. I had never meet a letterpress artist before. How incredibly strange it was that the first comment made by the session presenter was one about how much he enjoyed letterpresses and art designed to be printed specifically on a letterpress. Perfect Imperfection was all about using hand crafted art to enhance printed and web graphics. Things like collage and hand-drawn illustrations fall into that category. Scans of old magazines and black and white photographs from old family albums and flea markets work well as hand crafted backgrounds and enhancements. Rubylith, handwritten messages and fabric stitched into the design can all turn a design into a creation. It might take a bit longer to create a design which incorporates these techniques, but chances are the attention to detail behind the process will show through. It’s easy to spot a unique design.

Fueled by yesterday’s inspiration, there are two things I want to do . . . I want to scan the boxes full of old family photographs my mother has stored away in shoe boxes . . . and I want to scan years of doodles. My doodles, my wife’s doodles, my daughters’ doodles. I can hardly wait to get home and start scanning.

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Song 088: Up, Up, And Away
Artist: The Fifth Dimension
Album: Up, Up and Away
Year: 1967
--------------------------------------------------
Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon
Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon
We could float among the stars together, you and I
For we can fly we can fly
Up, up and away
My beautiful, my beautiful balloon
The world's a nicer place in my beautiful balloon
It wears a nicer face in my beautiful balloon
We can sing a song and sail along the silver sky
For we can fly we can fly
Up, up and away
My beautiful, my beautiful balloon
Suspended under a twilight canopy
We'll search the clouds for a star to guide us
If by some chance you find yourself loving me
We'll find a cloud to hide us
We'll keep the moon beside us
Love is waiting there in my beautiful balloon
Way up in the air in my beautiful balloon
If you'll hold my hand we'll chase your dream across the sky
For we can fly we can fly
Up, up and away
My beautiful, my beautiful balloon
Balloon...
Up, up, and away.....

how: day two

This is a picture I took yesterday on one of the photography field trips during the Smashing Photography Workshop. The speaker gave us a bag full of toys to photograph. This is a set of little rubber balls being viewed through a toy kaleidoscope. I took 140 pictures during that one workshop yesterday.

I love this conference. It’s like an infusion of energy. There are about 4000 graphic designers here from all over the country. I have met a couple of art professors from Knoxville, an industrial packaging designer from Toronto, magazine and newspaper layout artists, free-lance photographers who actually make money selling their stock photographs, young designers fresh out of art school, in-house artists, and thousands more that I haven’t met . . . yet!

I’m having a great time. Wish you were here!

--------------------------------------------------
Song 087: Sunshine Of Your Love
Artist: Cream
Album: Disreali Gears
Year: 1967
--------------------------------------------------
Its getting near dawn,
When lights close their tired eyes.
Ill soon be with you my love,
To give you my dawn surprise.
Ill be with you darling soon,
Ill be with you when the stars start falling.

Ive been waiting so long
To be where Im going
In the sunshine of your love.

Im with you my love,
The lights shining through on you.
Yes, Im with you my love,
Its the morning and just we two.
Ill stay with you darling now,
Ill stay with you till my seas are dried up.

how

I am in Atlanta for the next few days, attending the HOW Design Conference. I just finished the Smashing Photography workshop . . . fun! I've got lots of pictures already. I'll work on them a bit tonight and post some of them throughout the week.
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Song 086: Strawberry Fields Forever
Artist: The Beatles
Album: Magical Mystery Tour
Year: 1967
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Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields.
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry Fields forever.

Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.
It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out.
It doesn't matter much to me.

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields.
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry Fields forever.

No one I think is in my tree, I mean it must be high or low.
That is you can't you know tune in but it's all right.
That is I think it's not too bad.

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields.
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry Fields forever.

Always no sometimes think it's me, but you know I know when it's a dream.
I think I know I mean "Yes," but it's all wrong.
That is I think I disagree.

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields.
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry Fields forever.
Strawberry Fields forever.
Strawberry Fields forever.

a piece of history will fly in space tonight

The STS-117 space shuttle mission is scheduled to liftoff tonight at 7:38pm EDT from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Since 1961, 400 people have ventured into space. Tonight, the space shuttle Atlantis will carry a small piece of early American history with it to the International Space Station.

A nearly 400-year-old metal cargo tag bearing the words "Yames Towne" and some commemorative mementoes are packed in Atlantis' middeck floor cargo space for the roundtrip flight to the International Space Station. Their hitchhike through the galaxy honors this year's 400th anniversary of Jamestown, Va., the first permanent English settlement in North America.

NASA has teamed with Jamestown 2007 to promote the spirit of exploration then, now and in the future. The artifacts' out-of-this-world trip is just one of a number of events held during the last 18 months that have commemorated the nation's pioneering spirit.

When the one-inch in diameter artifact lands back on Earth, it will have logged more than four million miles spanning four centuries. It will have traveled from England to Jamestown, then to and from the space station. Two sets of Jamestown commemorative coins, authorized by Congress and issued by the U.S. Mint, are also on Atlantis.

A $5 gold piece and a silver dollar, both of which depict Jamestown symbols, make up each commemorative coin set. When returned from space, NASA will present one set to Virginia Governor Tim Kaine for display at Jamestown Settlement, a 17th century living history museum. The second set will be displayed at the National Park Service's Historic Jamestowne Visitor Center.

NASA will return the shipping tag to Historic Jamestowne where it will join hundreds of other artifacts in a new archaeological museum called the Archaearium. Since 1994, archaeologists at the Jamestown Rediscovery project have dug up more than a million items, including the long-lost remains of James Fort. For centuries, the fort was believed to have eroded into the James River.

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Song 085: Strange Brew
Artist: Cream
Album: Disraeli Gears
Year: 1967
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Strange brew -- kill whats inside of you.

Shes a witch of trouble in electric blue,
In her own mad mind shes in love with you.
With you.
Now what you gonna do?
Strange brew -- kill whats inside of you.

By Eric Clapton, Gail Collins and Felix Pappalardi

rain and thunder

The sky was filled with dark clouds this morning, but they didn't look like rain clouds to me, so I started thinking about rain and thunder and how it all happens.

Rain falls due to a natural phenomenon -- the accumulation of water (in the form of clouds) being vaporised from the ground surface of the earth by heat from the sun. When the accumulation of water in the clouds reaches saturation point, it comes back towards earth as rain.

Thunder (discharges of enormous electrical voltage) happens due to the electrostatic discharges (static electricity) amongst dust particles [belonging to opposite charges i.e. positive (+) or negative (-)] rubbing against eachother (friction) as they are flown upwards from the earth's surface due to the upward air movement caused by a storm system. This air flow also forces clouds to accumulate, making the chances for thunder greater. Some storm systems may be very large. The by-product of this forced cloud movement and thunder is lightning (discharge of huge electrical voltage from the friction).

Both thunder and rainfall happen together because they both belong to the same storm system. A huge air flow accumulates a host of clouds together suitable for rainfall; the air flow carries a huge volume of electrostatically charged dust from the earth's surface in the upper strata; and thunder happens.

Hence it appears that thunder promotes rainfall, but it is purely coincidental.
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Song 084: Spooky
Artist: Classics IV
Album: Traces
Year: 1967
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In the cool of the evening when ev'rything is gettin' kind of groovy,
I call you up and ask you if you want to go and meet and see a movie,
First you say no, you've got some plans for the night,
And then you stop, and say, "All right."
Love is kinda crazy with a spooky little girl like you.

I love the rythmn of this song. It's going to be stuck in my head all day long, but I can't think of a better song to be stuck there. I didn't listen to a lot of music by the Classics IV, but this one is great. I can remember two others by the Classics IV that were popular back in my day . . . Stormy in 68 and Every Day With You Girl in 69.

After moving to Atlanta from Jacksonville, Florida, the Classics IV had their first national hit in 1968 with Spooky, which they recorded in 1967 on the Imperial Records label. The song made it to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the U.S., and #46 in the UK.

sgt peppers lonely hearts club band

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Song 083: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Artist: The Beatles
Album: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Year: 1967
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It was twenty years ago today,
Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play
They've been going in and out of style
But they're guaranteed to raise a smile.
So may I introduce to you
The act you've known for all these years,
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
We're Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,
We hope you will enjoy the show,
We're Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,
Sit back and let the evening go.
Sgt. Pepper's lonely, Sgt. Pepper's lonely,
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
It's wonderful to be here,
It's certainly a thrill.
You're such a lovely audience,
We'd like to take you home with us,
We'd love to take you home.
I don't really want to stop the show,
But I thought that you might like to know,
That the singer's going to sing a song,
And he wants you all to sing along.
So let me introduce to you
The one and only Billy Shears
And Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The Beatles stopped touring in 1966. They surmised that they would never meet their full potential as musicians if they continued to tour at the furious pace they were going. So began their musical experimentation. This album was the first one released after the Beatles announced thier decision, and it was anxiously anticipated. My friends and I had heard rumors that the Beatles weren't going to record anymore. We were very excited when the album came out in June 1967.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth album by The Beatles. It is often said that this is the most influential album of all time, ranking number 1 on Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003. It was recorded by the Beatles over a 129-day period beginning on December 6, 1966. The album was released on June 1, 1967 in the United Kingdom and on June 3, 1967 in the United States.

Upon release the album was an immediate critical and popular sensation. Innovative in every sense, from structure to recording techniques to the cover artwork, the artistic effect was felt immediately.

iPhone

Apple's iPhone is scheduled to begin shipping June 29. When it is time to replace my current cell phone, I plan on getting an iPhone. I want to give it a try, just because I have enjoyed iPods the past few years and Macintosh computers since 1984. I think iPhone is going to be awesome. Click on the headline of this post to visit the Apple iPhone website for more information.

iPhone is a revolutionary new mobile phone that allows you to make a call by simply pointing your finger at a name or number in your address book, a favorites list, or a call log. It also automatically syncs all your contacts from a PC, Mac, or Internet service. And it lets you select and listen to voicemail messages in whatever order you want — just like email.

iPhone features a 2-megapixel camera and a photo management application that goes far beyond anything on a phone today. Sync photos from your PC or Mac, and you’re ready to browse, resize or email them with the flick of a finger.

iPhone is a widescreen iPod with touch controls that lets you enjoy all your content — including music, audiobooks, videos, TV shows, and movies — on a beautiful 3.5-inch widescreen display. It also lets you sync your content from the iTunes library on your PC or Mac. And then you can access it all with just the touch of a finger.

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Song 082: Ruby Tuesday
Artist: The Rolling Stones
Album: Flowers
Year: 1967
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She would never say where she came from
Yesterday dont matter if its gone
While the sun is bright
Or in the darkest night
No one knows
She comes and goes

Goodbye, ruby tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still Im gonna miss you...

This song was written by Keith Richards, but is credited to Jagger and Richards. It was a number-one hit in the U.S. and a number three in the UK, and remains a favorite of both fans and casual Rolling Stones listeners. Supposedly, it was written about a Rolling Stones groupie. Interestingly, the song title was the source of the restaurant chain of the same name.

big sunspot emerging

A big sunspot is emerging over the sun's eastern limb, posing a threat for significant solar activity. It has already unleashed several M-class solar flares. One of the eruptions, an M3-flare on June 1, caused a shortwave radio fadeout over Europe. Amateur astronomers with solar telescopes should keep an eye on this photogenic sunspot, while shortwave radio listeners should be alert for flare-triggered fadeouts. The picture of the current sunspot activity was taken by an amateur astronomer in Buffalo, New York. The two larger spots are bigger than the Earth.

A sunspot of this magnitude could trigger ion storms. Solar radiation storms are swarms of electrons, protons and heavy ions accelerated to high speed by explosions on the sun. Here on Earth we are protected from these particles by our planet's atmosphere and magnetic field. Astronauts in Earth orbit are fairly safe, too. Earth's magnetic field extends out far enough to shield them.

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Song 081: Purple Haze
Artist: Jimi Hendrix
Album: Are You Experienced?
Year: 1967
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Purple haze all in my brain
Lately things just dont seem the same
Actin funny, but I dont know why
scuse me while I kiss the sky

Purple Haze is often cited as one of Jimi Hendrix's greatest songs, and his first international hit. For many, it is his signature work. The single peaked at number three in the UK but only number 65 in the US, where it was released in August 1967, three months after Are You Experienced? and five months after the UK single. In March 2005, Q magazine ranked Purple Haze at number one in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. The Rolling Stone magazine placed the song at No. 17 in their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

how to stay healthy on a plane

With the TB scare this past week, I thought this would be a good time to list the main problems with air travel and provide some solutions.

Dry Cabin Air
01 Keep drinking--8 ounces of fluid for every hour on the plane
02 Stick to bottled or canned water or juice
03 Skip drinks that may be made from airline tap water
04 Ask for drinks without ice

Blood Clots
01 Stretch or walk around every hour or so
02 Do in-seat ankle extensions and flexes--wiggle your toes; move your arms and legs around
03 Get your legs above your heart, if possible--easiest done if you are in a first-class sleeper
04 Avoid sitting with your legs crossed
05 Avoid sleeping for long periods of time
06 Ask your doctor about prescribing medical graduated compression socks if you are at risk for blood clots

Germs in Close Quarters
01 Bring your own lightweight microfiber travel blanket and pillow cover
02 Wash, wash, wash your hands
03 If you can't get to soap and water, use anitbacterial gel cleaner
04 Use bottled water--not tap water

Blocked Ears
01 Chew gum or suck on candy and keep swallowing
02 Consider depressurizing ear inserts
03 If you have a cold, ask your doctor if decongestant medication would help
04 Don't hold your nose and blow hard--this could potentially damage your eardrums

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Song 080: People Are Strange
Artist: The Doors
Album: Strange Days
Year: 1967
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People are strange when youre a stranger
Faces look ugly when youre alone
Women seem wicked when youre unwanted
Streets are uneven when youre down
When youre strange
Faces come out of the rain
When youre strange
No one remembers your name
When youre strange
When youre strange
When youre strange
People are strange when youre a stranger
Faces look ugly when youre alone
Women seem wicked when youre unwanted
Streets are uneven when youre down
When youre strange
Faces come out of the rain
When youre strange
No one remembers your name
When youre strange
When youre strange
When youre strange
Faces come out of the rain
When youre strange
No one remembers your name
When youre strange
When youre strange
When youre strange

pouring rain . . . I wish

The lyrics of today's featured song, Penny Lane, inspired today's post. I just came back in this morning from my monthly visit to the barber. There's this great little barber shop in our hometown. It is reminiscent of the barber shop I frequented in the days of my youth. It's a community gathering place. There's a couple of checker boards out on the small tables in the center of the shop. People gather and play checkers or watch television or read magazines while waiting for their turn in the barber chair. At seven this morning there were already six people there for haircuts. I've tried other places over the past few years. I've tried salons and haircutting chains like Sport Clips and Fantastic Sam's but I always wind up coming back to this little barber shop. I like it there. The atmosphere is great, the prices are cheap, and the haircut is always good. Oh yeah . . . and it is right across the street from Fire Station Number One.

Penny Lane was written about a barber shop, local characters and the pouring rain. I wish it would rain in our part of the country. We get clouds every once in a while but no rain. I think it sprinkled for a few minutes one day this week, but it evaporated away almost as soon as it hit the ground. This is the driest spring on record. In the March-May period our area has only received 6.73 inches of rain. We normally get an average of 16.52 inches of rain during that time period. Here's a list of the 10 driest springs in the Memphis area:

01 -- 2007 -- 6.73 inches
02 -- 1931 -- 6.82 inches
03 -- 1936 -- 7.24 inches
04 -- 1932 -- 7.39 inches
05 -- 1941 -- 8.13 inches
06 -- 1951 -- 8.58 inches
07 -- 1959 -- 9.14 inches
08 -- 1962 -- 9.26 inches
09 -- 1988 -- 9.43 inches
10 -- 1989 -- 9.99 inches

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Song 079: Penny Lane
Artist: The Beatles
Album: Magical Mystery Tour
Year: 1967
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In Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs
Of every head he's had the pleasure to know.
And all the people that come and go
Stop and say hello.

On the corner is a banker with a motorcar,
The little children laugh at him behind his back.
And the banker never wears a mac
In the pouring rain, very strange.

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes.
There beneath the blue suburban skies
I sit, and mean while back

In Penny Lane there is a fireman with an hourglass
And in his pocket is a portrait of the Queen.
He likes to keep his fire engine clean,
It's a clean machine.

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes.
A four of fish and finger pies
In summer, meanwhile back

Behind the shelter in the middle of a roundabout
The pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray
And tho' she feels as if she's in a play
She is anyway.

In Penny Lane the barber shaves another customer,
We see the banker sitting waiting for a trim.
And then the fireman rushes in
From the pouring rain, very strange.

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes.
There beneath the blue suburban skies
I sit, and meanwhile back.
Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes.
There beneath the blue suburban skies,
Penny Lane.

Penny Lane was written by Paul McCartney, recorded during the Sgt. Pepper sessions, and released in February 1967 as one side of a double A-sided single, along with Lennon's Strawberry Fields Forever. Beatles producer George Martin has stated he believes the pairing of these songs resulted in probably the greatest single ever released by the group. Both songs were later released on the US Magical Mystery Tour album in November 1967.

The song features contrasting verse-chorus form and was credited Lennon-McCartney, although McCartney was the main contributor to the song (Lennon reportedly helped with one of the verses). The song's title is derived from the name of a street in the band's hometown, Liverpool. The area that surrounds its junction with Smithdown Road is also commonly called Penny Lane. Locally the term Penny Lane was the name given to Allerton Road and Smithdown Road and its busy shopping area. Penny Lane is named after James Penny, an 18th century slave trader.

McCartney and John Lennon grew up in the area and they would meet at Penny Lane junction to catch a bus into the center of the city. The street is an important landmark, sought out by most Beatles fans touring Liverpool. In the past, street signs saying Penny Lane were constant targets of tourist theft and had to be continually replaced. Eventually, city officials gave up and simply began painting the street name on the sides of buildings. This practice has now stopped and more thief resistant Penny Lane street signs have been installed.

national donut day

Today is National Donut Day. The three best donuts in town donut shops featured in today's Commercial Appeal are: Gibson's, Oh Susannah's, and Sam's. Gibson's is a great place to get donuts. The donuts are great. The owners are great. And it's almost like a party atmosphere. There are tables around the shop if you want to eat-in and there's one long table for the morning donut club where all the regulars gather to spread their good will and talk politics . . . or whatever.

Oh Susannah's has a Down South feel to it. It is brightly decorated and very quiet. The donuts are not my favorite, but they are very good. I think their specialty donuts are better than their glazed, but that's just one man's opinion. I know several people who declare that these are the best donuts anywhere. I think Oh Susannah's caters to the ladies and children with all the pastel colors and birthday make-your-own-donut parties.

Now my favorite is Sam's Donuts. I love stopping by this little shop on my way in to work occasionally (too often I'm afraid) and grabbing a fresh, hot, glazed donut or two. They are melt-in-your-mouth good. There's only one table for dine-in patrons, but then most of the folks who stop by Sam's are coming in for donuts-on-the-go. The prices are great and the people are very friendly. The picture of donuts at the top of this post is one of donuts at Sam's. I took it about a year ago for a feature story in a newsletter that I design.

As a National Donut Day treat, I brought donuts from Sam's this morning. After you read this post, drop by my office for a donut. But you better hurry . . . I have a feeling they'll all be gone very soon.

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Song 078: Nights in White Satin
Artist: Moody Blues
Album: Days of Future Passed
Year: 1967
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Nights in white satin,
Never reaching the end,
Letters Ive written,
Never meaning to send.

Beauty Id always missed
With these eyes before,
Just what the truth is
I cant say anymore.

cause I love you,
Yes, I love you,
Oh, how, I love you.

Gazing at people,
Some hand in hand,
Just what Im going thru
They can understand.

Some try to tell me
Thoughts they cannot defend,
Just what you want to be
You will be in the end,

And I love you,
Yes, I love you,
Oh, how, I love you.
Oh, how, I love you.

Nights in white satin,
Never reaching the end,
Letters Ive written,
Never meaning to send.

Beauty Id always missed
With these eyes before,
Just what the truth is
I cant say anymore.

cause I love you,
Yes, I love you,
Oh, how, I love you.
Oh, how, I love you.

cause I love you,
Yes, I love you,
Oh, how, I love you.
Oh, how, I love you.

The Moody Blues recorded this song with The London Festival Orchestra, which never actually existed. It is the name given to the musicians put together to make this album. It was written by Justin Hayward (then 19 years old), who joined the band in 1966. He got the idea for the song after one of his friends gave him a set of white satin sheets. Days of Future Passed is a concept album based around different times of day. For example, Dawn Is a Feeling and Tuesday Afternoon. Nights in White Satin was last on the album because it represented nighttime.

Nights in White Satin never made it big on the US charts because on it's length (7 minutes and 38 seconds). It entered the Top 100 at number 17 and dropped completely off the Top 100 in one week. The song was re-released in 1972, after songs like Hey Jude and Layla paved the way for longer songs. It charted at number 2 in the US in 1972. The Moody Blues became well-known and respected as a band after that re-release.

The Moody Blues have always been favorites for both my wife and I.