Feb18
The Newness
Yup. I’ve gone and done it again. The site is redesigned – only this time it’s not just a redesign, I’ve combined my blog with my photography site (formerly http://jgardnerphoto.com). Why, you ask? A good question. (more…)
Jeff Gardner
photography, technology & wordology
Archive for the ‘Images’ Category
Sep4
The virtues of living out of a bag
It’s been 4 years since I spent any significant chunk of time traveling. I’m back on the road again, with Gina this time, living out of a bag and loving every minute of it. It’s been a wonderful reminder that life becomes more simple when we strip things away. The stuff that we “can’t live without” quickly becomes superfluous and even the small amount that you are carrying with you in your bag seems to become grossly unnecessary. Point in case – I just went rifled through my bag looking for something and found that I hadn’t even worn half the clothes that I brought with me. Half! It’s good to reset your idea of what is necessary every now and then. (more…)
Jun6
The moon in HD
Via Kottke
HD video of the Moon from 13 miles above the surface taken by Japan’s KAGUYA probe. The probe’s orbit has been decaying since it began circling the Moon and will crash on the surface at 18:30 GMT on June 10.
Feb3
Whitegrass Round 2
Perfect weather, perfect snow (at least until about lunch on sunday) and perfect company. It was a great weekend!
Jan12
‘Tis the Season
As I sit down to write this, in the aftermath of Christmas and New Years, I feel I may be quite late. By this time of the year, most people have forgotten Christmas, forgotten which gift was from whom, forgotten the family squabbles (of which I’m happy to report, there were none), and forgotten the raging hangover that accompanied New Years. All the same, I am going to write a little bit about it. I had two Christmases this year. I am lucky enough to be blessed with a family that understands that I will probably never spend December 25th at home again. Which, I know, is a sad thought. But Christmas is the one time of year when both Gina and I can get time off to go to Dublin to see the Smyths and all of our friends. Last year we only had five days, into which we jammed far too much. This year we had 11 days (it was supposed to be 12 except that our outbound flight was cancelled), into which we jammed far too much. It was a great trip, as they usually are. We were blessed with beautiful weather and a few hikes. We were also blessed with a wedding while we were there. Which is a great way to see the people that you are over to see. Two people decide they are going to get married and then gather all the people you are dying to hang out with in one place for you. Very nice of them, don’t you think? I’m not going to bore you through the details of the entire trip, I’ll just post a few photos for you to help you waste a little more of your day.
Dec8
50,000 words, a new job and skiing before Thanksgiving
Yeah you could say that I’ve been busy.
Let’s start with the novel. I posted here before say that I was taking part in NanoWriMo this year. First off, it was great fun overall and I did finish make my 50,000 word goal by the end of the month. Having a deadline on something as large as a novel (even a small one like 50k) is such a good thing, it forces you to just pour the words out onto the page. No matter how bad they are, and believe me, they are bad. Everyone writes crap for a first draft, especially under a deadline, but as many writers that chimed in on the NanoWriMo pep talks each week said, “A shitty finished novel will always beat an unfinished great novel.” I am inclined to believe them if only to stroke me ego a little. So make your plans now, signup for NanoWriMo 2009 and write yourself a novel!
The new employment situation: I am the new front-end web developer for Entermotion. They are a Kansas based company that builds webpages for clients and also develops web apps under the moniker Paste Interactive. It’s, so far, been a fantastic gig. I am super busy day to day and I am now working from home. It is a remote job, meaning that I can work from wherever – this is going to be pretty key for the impending move to Italy next winter.
And no, I haven’t moved to Colorado. I’m not sure who did the snow dance so well this fall but I’ve already skiied 4 days this year. Three at Whitegrass on the xc sticks and then yesterday at Snowshoe on the tele skis. It’s been all beautiful snow and soft powder (east-coast style, no cold-smoke). Here’s to the wonders of winter and the beauty of sliding down a hill really fast with sticks attached to your feet!
A few images of the xc at Whitegrass from the last few weeks for your viewing pleasure.
Oct6
James Nachtwey on XDR-TB
A very haunting three and a half minutes. James Nachtwey is a photojournalist that has been working in some of the most destroyed places on the plant. Wars, famine and disease are all old hat. He’s recently been shooting and reporting on Extreme Drug Resistant (XDR) Tuberculosis.
Check out the XDR-TB org site and see what you can do to help. http://www.xdrtb.org
Sep6
Italy, properly.
Ok, as one of my dear readers pointed out, I have been lax in getting a post with photos out about our trip to Italy. As you may, or may not, know, Gina and myself were in Italy for two weeks at the beginning of August. We had a great time, especially getting to see Gina’s parents and two brothers at the family house in Liguria.
The main reason for the trip though was to scout places that we would conceivably want to live when we move to Europe in the future. We spent the first whole week blasting around up north trying to do way too many things and talk to way too many people in a language in which we can only barely communicate. Great fun.
The quick run-down of where and what.
- -Flew into Milan, drove north to Colico (next to Lake Como).
- -Checked out Sondrio (too big), Morbegno (too big), Chiavenna (just right) as possible towns to relocate to.
- -Hiked in Val di Mello, Val di Codera, Madesimo (ski area above Chiavenna).
- -Swam twice per day in Lake Como and Lake Mezzola, very nice but cold.
- -Checked out many physio clinics, hospitals, social services, town facilities, bike shops and climbing shops.
- -Drove to Zucchello (Gina’s parents place).
- -Went swimming in the sea at San Fruttuoso (requires a hike in, only accessible by foot or boat).
So in the end, we were really tired, and had only somewhat figured out what we wanted to do. Isn’t that always the way. Enough words, lets see photos.
Our bags, yes this is it. We carried on everything because of out 3 flights. These contained sleeping bags, a tent and cooking stuff.
The view from our campsite in Colico, that is Lake Como and those are the alps.
Val di Mello, many compare it to Yosemite. There is lots of granite and lots boulders, thankfully there are no cars.
Looking back at Lago di Mezzola and Lago di Como from Val di Codera.
The main piazza in Chiavenna.
Madesimo, Ski area above Chiavenna.
At Zucchello and put straight to work!
San Fruttuoso from the hike in.
So that is the basics. If you want to see more photos definitely go and check out the gallery on my website. Just a note, the gallery is a little hidden so you can only get to it by the link, not by surfing around and looking for it.