Zona

Thank you Chloe!!

Chloe is helping me with the blog since I'm so untalented with this stuff. Moni did the banner but all the new stuff you see/will see is Chloe.

 

I read about Google's Picasa in a digital camera mag. They said it was simple and recommended it as a starting place. This is my fave image so far. I think I'll take baby steps up to the fancier photo workshops. I figured out how to put my camera on B&W setting so you can say I'm back in and old friendly neighborhood. I'll get rolling along good once I start seeing in black and white again. 

 

 

 

And now back to our regularly scheduled blog tripe.

I was handed a small plastic cup last week and directed toward the nearest stall in the men's room.

I came back out and handed it to the man.

He looked at it and a look of shock came over his face.

He looked at me and said, "no no no. URINE!! it's for a URINE sample"!!

Post 759

The first blog I read is one I actually stumbled upon. It was the blog of Vancouver musician and human rights activist Matthew Good. I am a big fan of his music and when I finally met him at the airport we spoke a little about his blog. I logged into his blog to follow the adventures of his trip to Las Vegas. From Vegas he traveled to Los Angeles and Tony Pierce came into the picture. The rest is history.

Voix de Michele was the first blog to link me and naturally my first link.

Many many people have have entered my blogosphere. That will always amaze me.

My daughter stumbled onto the blog when she googled my grandson's name. It was a while before she would timidly tell me. She appreciated the chance to see the way I think. As a father I always tried to observe my kids doing simple things without their knowledge. I think any parent who does this begins to think "who is this kid"?

Now the tables were turned. Three of my kids read regularly and comment from time to time. It keeps me somewhat restrained in thinks I might say and post otherwise.

I hope to find a way to save the entire thing onto discs. I always wanted to grab a tape recorder and have my grandma and then my dad tell their live's stories but procrastination and now they're gone and it sucks that I didn't.

I want to thank you all for your kind comments and thoughts and for hanging around on this ride of mine as told in posts on a medium that did not exist when I was your age.

I want to thank Moni for helping with the banner and Chloe for her willingness to lend a hand to do other things that will soon be appearing. And finally a big thank to all you guys who will contribute to this adventure as it continues.

Zona Boy

I was in a discussion with Flickr people on when photographs of ordinary people in open spaces are appropriate. Here's what I won't shoot. (generally)

People passed out or sleeping on side walks.
People urinating.
People using drugs.
People pointing weapons at me or anybody else. (not with a camera anyway)
Children crying, bleeding, or dying.
People killing themselves.

There ARE exceptions to all of those. One would be if I were doing a photojournalistic piece on those subjects. Another would be when I took pictures of my infant nephew as he lay dying of a heart defect at my sister's request because they did not have any pictures of him. Those are some of the most touching and difficult shots I will ever take. I still have the negs and some prints somewhere but I don't know where. He passed away 20 minutes after I was done.

Everything else is fair game.

These street people are doing what the normally do. They are in no real distress. They are in a public place so I do not have to ask their permission to point my lens their way and click away. While I was shooting these people somebody in the crowd started yelling "no pictures!". At that point I was pretty much done with this group. I walked away to avoid trouble. Looking back at these photos now I think I shot a drug deal as it went down. No way to prove that though and in Vancouver, on Hastings, nobody would care. Not even the police.

You yell your order up. You put your money in the bucket they lower. They throw the booze out the window. You catch it. NO refunds!!

shrimp burger, shrimp kabob, shrimp sandwich, shrimp salad, shrimp creole, Pineapple shrimp. Forrest, I know everthing there is to know about the shrimpin business.

This was in the Korean section of downtown during the World Cup game involving Korea. I am glad that I am in Canada during the World Cup because I get to watch the BBC feed of the games. ESPN and ABC have the rights to the games in the US and what little I've seen of their coverage make me want to puke. The announcers are just morons. And what's sad is that one of them played for the US team in the past.

I DID hear one of the studio commetators throw a jab at US coach Bruce Arenas and thought that was good.

Do you know what I think would be really cool?

"Tell us ZB, TELL US!!"

I wish there was a cable package I could buy and have the options of seeing games broadcast to the countries of the teams playing. That way say, when Saudi Arabia played Japan I could watch the first half in Saudi and the second in Japanese.

I don't need to understand what's being said I just like hearing guys switch from their native tongue to the universal,

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!!

Check it missy. You have a TV station AND a bar in Vancouver!!

For some reason I don't think Che has anything to do with this restaurant. Just a hunch.

Spotted this lady on the bus and got all philosophical. Looking forward and ignoring what's behind can we find a comfort zone? Can we scrunch up and avoid contact with evil? Can we find a wardrobe to blend in with our surroundings and become cameleons?

I went out today to shoot pics. The weather cooperated. The light was right where I wanted it to be right. I was in a zone. I got home and uploaded them and went through the shots. I thrust both fists into the air. YES!!!

Check some out. Tell me what you think.

My daughter was seated behind me on the bus making faces at this little girl. And I've gotten pretty good at aiming my camera without looking through the lens. So you get to see these.

I gotta tell you boys and girls. I am very pleased about today's foto jaunt on Hastings street and Chinatown. They're on my Flickr page.

Chloe asked me what I wanted my blog to look like. JaG's look would be cool. Binsk's is good but let's start with this. Somebody teach me how to put a stretched photo in that banner that says ZONA BOY or to even make that banner different with different fonts.

Talk amongst yourselves while I shower and do various nothingness until it's time to go shoot.

If you love me you'll help me make my blog cool.

All hail a four day weekend!!!

Today it's relaxing until the sun angle is right and then down to shoot Chinatown and east Hastings street. Hastings is one of the more interesting streets in Vancouver. I'll explain in photos later.

Tomorrow it's SOCCER SOCCER SOCCER and a birthday party for a one year-old that my wife tends.

Sunday it's SOCCER SOCCER SOCCER and a Vancouver White Caps game. (soccer)

Monday. I'll let you know what Monday is on Monday.

Today's Blogorama set list is a short one.

Gustavo Santaolalla: De Ushuaia a La Quiaca
Mercedes Sosa: Alfonsina y El Marinero
Leon Gieco: Solo Le Pido a Dios
Jose Feliciano: Light My Fire
Jorge Drexler: Al Otro Lado del Rio

Numbers 1 and 5 are from The Motorcycle Diaries soundtrack.

Number two always makes my wife cry for reasons she can't tell me but I'm pretty sure has to do with the passing of her father. Mercedes Sosa is a legendary singer from Argentina.

Number three is my all time favorite protest song. I translated it on the blog some time ago.

Who doesn't like Jose Feliciano's rendition of the Doors' classic?

I'm so proud of my son.......okay JEALOUS. THERE I admitted it. Happy?

My son turns 21 on July first. On that day the band he plays drums for, www.ihatethejohnsons.com , plays two shows in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Then they come over to BC for some shows and dig THIS.

They play a series of shows on Vancouver Island and then head east playing all through Canada. All the way to Halifax, Nova Scotia. West to east. What an adventure.

They have some shows down in the US too before wrapping it all up on September 4th somewhere in Saskatchewan.

I would have given my left nut to do that when I was that age.

In case anybody wants to know.

Zona Boy's playlist for today

Gnarls Barkley: Crazy
Hall and Oates: She's gone
Howard Jones: Like to get to know you well
Jeffrey Osborne: Stay with me tonight
Kelly Clarkson: Walk away
Mariah Carey: We belong together
Ridley Bent: The devil and Coltrane Henry
Sneaker Pimps: 6 Underground
Ridley Bent: David Harley's son
Walter Becker: Girlfriend
Boz Scaggs: Lowdown


Boz WHO???? Wasn't he big in the 70's?

Ridley Bent is somebody you should check out. Kinda hip hop but he calls it HICK hop. Interesting stuff.

Shoeshine wager

I just walked down the concourse for a shoe shine. It had been a couple of months since the last time and I figured "what the hell". The shoe shine guy is from Somalia and we ended up talking about soccer. He likes the teams from Africa and France.

He was surprised to hear me say that the US team sucks. They do. I'm a fan of good soccer and the US team doesn't play good soccer.

So now we have a wager on today's match.

Ghana vs USA

If I win I get a free shine.

I have Ghana.

Go figure.

Here ya go Chloe

I don't know how to fix a toilet.
I don't know how to make my blog look like I want it to look.
I don't know how to properly hit a 60 degree wedge.
I don't know how to speak any other languages other than English and Spanish.
I don't know how to undo what's done.
I don't know how to do algebra problems.
I don't know how to play any musical instruments.
I don't know how to roller skate.
I don't know how to ride a horse.
I don't know how to ride a motorcycle.
I don't know how to make it up to them.
I don't know how to stop having arguments in my head.
I don't know how to hit an inside fast ball.
I don't know how to dance.

Canadians mourn as Edmonton loses game 7

Millions of people who shouted insults at the Edmonton Oilers during the season are now heart broken as "their" Oilers failed to bring the Stanley Cup back to Canada. Even though there are probably as many Canadians playing for the Carolina Hurricanes as play for the Oilers, Canadians are drowning their sorrow with gallons of Molson beer because an evil American based team is hoisting the Stanley Cup.

Be of good cheer Canada. For as I predicted an American team would win the cup, (see 2006 predictions post) I tell you now that in 2007 the cup will be hoisted in Canada...........

..........by the Vancouver Canucks

Then she threw the mimosa I just bought her in my face and told me to come back when I was twenty years younger.

On a sports note, I just watched Argentina throttle Serbia and Montenegro 6-0. Holy shite, they're playing two countries at once!!

Be afraid world, be very afraid.

It was breakfast time in Vancouver so I enjoyed a nice bowl of cereal. In 30 minutes the Holland game comes on. 9:00AM local time. BRUNCH. Sounds like a fine time for a bag of crunchy cheetos and a few coca colas. I took my lipitor so it's all good.

Go Big Orange! Win for JaG!

Father mine, father me












Mine:

My father was born on March 29th, 1927 in Evansville, Indiana. One of 13 brothers and sisters in a household where you worked as soon as you were able. He became interested in golf when he worked as a caddy for 25 cents a round at the Evansville Country Club. He was drafted into the Army and as soon as he had finished taking his oath somebody burst into the room to announce the war in Europe was over. He spent two years as a Military Policeman near Cologne, Germany. After the war he went out west to Phoenix, Arizona where his sister Hazel lived to see what he could find. He never went back to Indiana except for family funerals and his 50th high school reunion and the time we all went in 1977.

He met my mother while he was driving a truck on a route in southeastern Arizona. They were married on June 8th, 1957 and I was born a little over a year later.

I have very little memory of of my early childhood but I know that my father used to get up very early in the morning and walk 3 or 4 miles to his job as a bakery delivery man. Then he worked in a meat packing plant and finally in a small meat processing house in Tucson that delivered to local restaurants. My father was not a highly educated man and his high school was more like a school where boys would learn a trade.

He had a lot of common sense so he ended up being the plant manager for Tucson Prime Meats. He played golf and he loved to bowl. He also loved to bet on the horse and dog races. At the dog races he and his buddies would always play the same numbers. 1,2,5,8. One time they won a 1965 Mustang at the dog track.

My father also liked to drink beer and on weekends he went to his favorite bars. Sometimes he'd take us along and we'd sit in a booth and have sodas and hot dogs while he drank and made bets with the owner/bookie. Sometimes we'd go over to his best friend's house on Sundays and watch football while he drank. He was not an alcoholic but one time he scared me when he got home at night. I waited for him to come in the house but he never did. I finally went outside to find him passed out at the steering wheel.

There was the talk behind close doors and that kinda thing never happened again. He would eventually stop drinking except for a beer at lunch and then he'd have beer at home when my mother traveled. My father loved to drive but the last 10 years of his life he would stop traveling all together.

My father never said anything profound to me that I recall but his life was my example. He was a man who got up early everyday and went to work to feed his family. It's hard to explain but he just wasn't the "let's have a talk" kind of guy. He was very conservative in his life style and he was a life long Democrat. There was a time when he knew enough people in Tucson to where he could get a deal on anything he needed. EVERYBODY liked my father. He was very easy to get along with.

He raised me to treat people fairly.

When I left to the Border Patrol Academy my father stopped having lunch at the place he had eaten at for years. Instead he went over to have lunch at our apartment with my wife and our two small children. He did this everyday until I graduated and came home. He would take donuts and play with the kids and if my wife needed anything, he got it for her. Years later we were all in Tucson on vacation and I told those two kids who were then about 18 and 16 to give their grandfather a big hug and kiss goodbye because you never know......They did, and that ended up being the last time they would see him.

My father worked until the day he died. I still can't believe that he's gone because he was supposed to be there forever. But on that day that he most needed me to be there, I was. There were no parting words. We just aren't that way anyway. I imagine he knew what was going to happen and I hope it calmed him to know I was there. I know that's how I would feel in my last moments if I knew my son was there.

Me:

I was born on July 28th, 1958 in Tucson, Arizona. I grew up with what I think was a normal childhood. I had clothes, food, a roof over my head, and I was spanked when I was bad. I had friends, I did enough to get by in school, never had a steady girlfriend until I was 19, and wanted to be a rock star without having to learn how to play. I used to write a lot of poetry/songs, and have always been interested in photography.

I was never abused by anyone as a child. It was about 12 or so when I found out that my older brother and sister did not have the same father as me and it wasn't until much later that I found out how one of them felt about that and what it meant.

I went on a Mormon mission at age 19 to Bolivia where I met the woman I would risk everything familywise to marry. Our first daughter was born in June of 1983 in La Paz, Bolivia at a hospital that many in the States would find atrocious. Eleven children were born at that hospital that day. Six survived.

I brought my wife and daughter to the US in September 1984 and our son was born in July 1985. Another daughter in November 1988 and a son in December of 1990.

I was one of those fathers who would quietly step into the room where any of my children were sleeping and wait until I saw them breathe before quietly stepping out. They were a lot of fun to raise when they were young and I was always their hero, the man who could make it all better. They had it much easier than me and although I thought I was more involved with their lives than my father was with mine and I told them many more things than my father told me I know I made mistakes.

There came a time when I was competing with their friends to have a voice in shaping their lives. Others tell me that the battles are a normal part of raising kids but I relive so many of them to analyze where I misstepped. What did I say or do wrong and how did it turn them away. Was some of the intensity my fault and was my attempt to show my experience over their friends' naivete alienating to them?

I have regrets which I'm sure most fathers do and there's always the "big picture" that my kids will see when they get older and friends the looked to have long vanished. Then maybe they will know that their father wasn't all that bad. But there will still be scars. Maybe they will be minor scars compared to many others but scars that remind us of bad times none the less.

Did I do my best? Probably not always. But there's no book, there's no real path to follow. Things come into young people's lives that pull hard on them and fathers recognize dangers and try to put stop signs out but kids are indestructable and all knowing beings. It aint easy. Sure, it's a lot of fun being a father because you watch yourself grow up all over again.

Too bad you only get one shot at it and that it moves so fast.

Zona Boy post 06/14/76

Today I used my high school graduation present and flew to Portland, Oregon to stay with my brother. During a layover in Phoenix I watched the debut of a new game show called The Gong Show. Not too bad. People do off the wall acts in front of three judges and try to finish before the judges decide they really suck and hit a big gong. If they last the judges give them a score and the best score wins a gong trophy.

I was awed by the greeness of Portland.

Today was Monday and my brother goes over to the Kerr house for dinner every Monday. He's dating one of the four daughters. I met her and her parents and one of the other daughters. I instantly fell in love.

Since that date:

I ended up falling for two of the Kerr girls. Of course way back then I was incredibly shy and could not tell them. One was a year older than me and the other a year younger. I spent five months in Portland (Gresham) spinning my wheels and not really getting anywhere.

The two Kerr girls are now in what I've heard described as unhappy marriages from my brother who was told by the sister he used to date. That makes me sad because these girls were beautiful souls.

My brother went to half-brother and then nothing at all to me after he failed to show up to the funeral of the man who raised him, my father, after his father decided he wanted nothing to do with him.

I'd love to see Kathie Kerr and her sister Debbie Kerr again.

I want, I wish, I would (x5)

I want to write something clever or deep or funny but I'm just so damned tired.
I wish I could fly to Toronto on my 4 day weekend next weekend.
I would do it all over again but care less about the consequences.

I want everybody to do this post.
I wish I could shoot a portfolio of my links.
I would retire and move to Bolivia today if I were able.

I want a laptop.
I wish I could learn to do some of the tricks that other bloggers can do.
I would drive from Seattle to Miami to New York to Los Angeles if I had a convertible jag.

I want 4 or 5 more lenses for my canon.
I wish Jimi Hendrix was still alive.
I would hand my life jacket to a child if the boat was sinking and he/she didn't have one.

I want to always be able to walk into the house where I grew up.
I wish my niece was a normal, healthy child.
I would like to be able to fire my boss.

Zinn book on history losing appeal with area man.

Why do I buy books when I hate to read? Why is this guy published when he's so damned BORING? I know that lots of downtrodden people were steamrolled throughout history in this country but I don't want to be preached to.

ANYWHO, I'm skipping about 80 pages to the next chapter to see if it gets any better. If not, I'm tossing it in some book donation bin and starting on my son's The Complete Calvin and Hobbes.

The next book I buy will be a photog book. Maybe that Earth from Above book.

Sorry sports fans.

Team USA loses opening game in World Cup

Now that's no surprise to me since every time I see them play I scream "SHOOT THE BALL" at the TV. The US team has always suffered from chronic "one pass too many" disease.

I did not see the game but if they replay it I'll watch and give you a better opinion.

EDIT: I've just watched the first half. Lots of bad traps by the US and lazy play and that "one pass too many" I talk about. Instead of shooting from 25 yards or so they try to chip it in for a header. That just doesn't work guys. The second Czech goal was a cannon shot from........25 yards.

I'll watch the second half while falling asleep but I don't think I'll see any improvement.

BUMMED >:(

I was gonna go to a burlesque show downtown tonite but I got ordered to work 'til six.

The University of Arizona women's softball team won the National Championship for the SEVENTH time yesterday.

I'm reading a book.

Somebody run over to Michele's house and pick her up off the floor please.

Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States.

I wish he wasn't so preachy sometimes.

Nothing earth shattering yet. I've just started. The indians proved too clever for the euros to domesticate so they've started bringing in the blacks.

Interesting stuff on how the indians lived and how the africans lived and how the whites came in and decided fortune was the purpose of the exercise. Oh yeah, religious freedom stuff too but since neither the blacks nor the indians were determined to have any religion they were fair game.

I'm pacing myself on this one boys and girls. Note today's date and I'll tell you when I'm finished.

My night stand, my side of the bathroom, and my side of the makeup applying/tie straitening table outside the bathroom. (I use it for neither of those purposes)

STOP THE FUCKING WAR!!!

NOTICE: The next two posts reflect the Naughty Zona Boy as mentioned in his "N" word post.

May not be suitable for all viewers even though I'm pretty sure my kids will laugh when they see them.

That is, until they realize their DAD posted them.

Shame on me???

Shame on YOU for laughing.

Yesterday a Celebrity Cruise ship sailed from Vancouver under a rainbow flag. It was the annual gay men cruise to Alaska and I'm here to tell you that they are a fun crowd to deal with. A friend and I were discussing whether we would sail with the gay men on Celebrity or the "blue hairs" of the other ship that sailed.

"I'd go with the men" I said, and it kinda baffled him.

To me it was a no brainer and I compared the two ships.

The blue hairs are sailing on the SS God's Waiting Room. They walk slow through narrow hallways. The smell old. They wear black socks with shorts. They eat slow and they mumble a lot.

The gay men are sailing on the SS Dance Until You Drop. They strut. They wear good cologne. The discos are 100 times better. They insist on better food AND they have CHARO for entertainment two shows a night!

The only down thing for me about sailing with a group of about 500 gay men from all over the world is that I would have to dress nicer than I usually do.

So there I was joking with all the guys as they came up in pairs. Then a group of five stood before me.

"What's going on guys?" I said.

"Oh, we're a group of five" one responded.

I put a horrified look on my face and said, "POLYGAMISTS!!!"

You've never heard five guys laugh louder.

What a day.

The lesbian cruise goes in August or September.

I've upgraded my Flickr account to pro and am now uploading like a fool and putting them into sets.

I like the way you can slideshow the pics.

I have it linked.

Enjoy!

(Post #700)

Happy Birthday Jennifer!!

I love you!!

Dad

A funny thing happened today. I met the coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps soccer team. I actually sought him out because we have the same last name but spelled differently. We talked about soccer of course and the World Cup of course and I told him that Brasil would certainly win it all.

Later I got on their web site and low and behold there is a World Cup pool contest. Pick the winners of the groups and then second round games sort of thing. I go with my gut and pick very quickly based on hunches and pyschic quirks.

England will beat Italy in the final and win the cup according to what I predicted.

That last time I did this kind of pool for the World Cup I was living in Bolivia. I made my predictions and told my brother-in-law who laughed and told me I was crazy. I looked at him and told him that my predicted champ was going to beat both Argentina and Brasil along the way. He laughed louder.

The year was 1982.

Italy won the World Cup and beat Argentina and Brasil along the way.

Italy, the team that I told my brother-in-law would win it all.

Now I won't be cheering very loud for England because I think that European football sucks. But if they happen to win by beating Italy in the final I stand to win one million dollars. I will then will fly to London to kiss the first Union Jack I see that I can reach.

DC Comics announced that they are bringing back the Batwoman character. She was killed off years ago. So they are raising her from the grave, luring her out of the cave, AND bringing her out of the closet. That's right, she's a lesbian. How cool is THAT?

I can't wait to buy the action figure and set her next to my Ginger Spice figurine. Oh boy oh boy oh boy.

Then of course you know that in a year or so the MOVIE will be made. Oughta be interesting.