Popping up on Campus

I've been at Clemson quite a while. Family and Friends keep asking me if I'm planning on going somewhere else. My standard response is that I'm not planning on it. I like the town, the area and my job. I decided to start sharing some pictures of what I get to see every day to help illustrate that. I've been wanting to do it for a while, but I had to wait until I got a digital camera. Follow the link to see some of the pictures.


The screwwy weather around here has made the cherry trees outside my building start blooming. This picture was taken a couple of days ago. It got into the 20s last night. I haven't gone out to see what the trees look like now.

This picture was taken when I got to work the same day. A front was coming through displacing the temperate humid air with colder drier air.


I had to walk across campus to check on a classroom, and I had to pass the Cooper Library. I swear the picture doesn't do justice to te greenness of the grass.

I have wanted to take this shot for years, but I was never able to. This is from the 5th floor of the Library looking out towards Carillon Garden.
This is from right in front of the Library looking over the reflection pond towards Carillon Garden, the Amphitheater, Brackett, and Hardin.

This is a picture of the most recognized building on campus, Tillman. This was actually taken across campus behind the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts.

This shot was taken in front of Hardin. I love the number of trees we have on campus, and I've tried to look at interesting framings on my walks. In fact getting a tree cut down takes as much administrative work and meetings as getting a building taken down.
This shot was made much closer across the street in front of Brackett.
I devoted several shots to Tillman, because I think the building offers good angles, and because that's where I was walking. I'll try to put up other buildings as the opportunities present themselves. This shot is a little closer between Tillman and Brackett.


This is a shot right in front. In fact my cell phone has a very similar shot as it's wallpaper, but that day the sky had a much more interesting cloud formation that set off the blue. If you want to see a bad copy of it look at the picture beside the about me at the top right of the page.
Why would anyone give up views like that, a nice town, and a job you like just to move somewhere else?

Click for the rest of the rambling >>.

Timpani Roll

I've had the Child's Play Charity banner at the top of the blog for weeks now. The drive is over and the totals are in. This year the charity raised over $1 million for games and such for childrens' hospitals over the world. A last minute rally drove the number above $1 million. That's an outstanding achievement for such a young charity targeting specific audience. Here's hoping the number will bring more publicity to the charity and make next Christmas' drive even better. I congratulate the organizers and all those who gave so freely.

Click for the rest of the rambling >>.

Slow as… Well, you know.

Actually that should be “Slower than.” I’ve been remiss in updating this page. It was a combination of busy, lazy, and access limitations. So lets do a little run down of what’s happened recently.

First of all, my class ended, and I got an A. That was rather difficult considering that 40% of the grade was group work that you couldn’t get better than 95 on, 40% was from the midterm and final exams, and the last 20% was from homework you couldn’t get better than 95% on either. In total it was impossible to make better than 97 in the class, and I managed to squeak out a 92. I’m happy.

Work has changed since I got a new boss. We’ve been busy trying to get things done before spring semester starts. This has turned out harder than expected, per normal. We’ve got rooms that haven’t had anything done because the contractors have been pulled off for other jobs. It’s a mess, but it’s nothing we have control over. We’ll probably end up having to bust our asses to try to get things working as quickly as we can. Oh well.

I went to the wedding of a friend and performed as an Usher. A friend has also shown trepidation about some of the events as well, and she covered the wedding better than I can myself. I had a great time, and got to hang out with friends I get to see far too infrequently. We even got to see Smitty after is foray out of the country.

I took 2 days off work and went home to my parents’ for a week during Christmas. My Dad’s family came to visit for a afternoon before Christmas. We had dinner and a gift exchange. My mother’s family came over Christmas Eve evening for dinner and a small gift exchange. Christmas day we got up and made a solid day of it. We opened stockings and Santa presents and had brunch with my Mother’s sister and husband. We then finished opening presents and had a little lunch leftovers. Then following that our Christmas tradition of going to the movies. We saw Charlotte’s Web, a real tear jerker. Then we went home and my godparents and godsisters came over to finish out the gift exchange. It was a good day in all. I got an electric chainsaw with a 2 year full replacement warranty. At the time It was on sale at $80 including the warranty. That’s a good deal in my book. I also got a digital camera, something I’ve wanted quite a while, and a Nintendo DS.


I used the digital camera I got to take a picture of my parents’ house and tree.

I came back to my house Thursday after Christmas. Scanime, his wife and another friend came over for the afternoon and evening on Friday. We had a good time talking and playing around on Scanime’s XBox. On Saturday I went down to Atlanta to visit with another friend over New Years. I got to hear some people ring in the New Year by firing off some old ammo. That was nice. I also got introduced to some insulated glasses, which I bought. Of course I didn’t pay that price for them. Interestingly it’s the same company that made the French Press I offend the English with by using it to make hot tea.

Anyway, I had a full time of it, and I didn’t even get to finish a book. Oh well.

Click for the rest of the rambling >>.