This day has sure turned out to be a thoroughly uninspiring, miserable day. After sleeping 12 hours last night [I literally fell asleep at 5:30 pm, got up once or twice to get water or whatever, and woke up around 5:15 am and went to work at 6], my day was pretty well decided for me. It was busy, wall to wall meetings and some uninspiring moments where I had to create things for others, and went home around 2:15 or so…no lunch break, no real time to take any photos, and came home exhausted and feeling defeated.

Of course it didn’t stop there; after watching a movie (to try and unwind from the day), I messed up the burgers on the grill—they were on for 25 minutes at medium heat and were VERY pink in the middle. So I threw them back on at HIGH for ten minutes and they were charred and rendered inedible. Not a great way to begin the wrap up of my day. It only made me feel worse about myself and impacted my feelings, that I just can’t get much right today and most things in my life are essentially being either decided for me or I have no reasonable say in the matter. Of course I have a choice—you always have a choice—but the choices I’d like to make just aren’t reasonable or rational.

I could go on, but I’d rather not my employer (current or prospective) reading about just how uninspired I feel.

In today’s Photo-A-Day, I just didn’t have the time to explore and take interesting exposures. I know that it’s not the end of the world and there’ll always be days like that—but this has become an important part of finding out how to express myself, to create (anything other than a friggin website), and to get some semblance of positive feedback to push me further along.

Creating nice-looking websites just doesn’t compel me like it used to. A friend of mine compared his job to being a janitor for his workplace network—cleaning up after all the network issues that come up. I feel that I’m creating things that: a) are highly subjective as to what’s “good”, b) don’t really matter all that much [as long as you can easily find the information, what difference does it make if it's nice-looking or not?], and c) I feel there are more important things in life that I could be doing and I feel like my life (and the potential of it) is just passing me by.

My lovely and supportive wife and I have had talks about this, and she knows how important it is for me as a creative-type, to feel fulfilled in what I do, get lots of positive reinforcement, and to be doing something that matters. In the end, will it really matter that I’ve built nice-looking websites? Probably not. I just feel there’s something more than the mundane—and at the moment it seems beyond my grasp. I know better than to think that going into photography as a career will not fix this problem; and I guess I haven’t quite yet figured out what is.

I’m also on this journey into Orthodoxy, exploring the roots of a faith that used to be strong and was central in my life. I’ve dealt with a dying faith, isolation from all-things-Church, and trying to somehow reconnect with the Creator in what I view as my last real hope of doing so—the Orthodox church. Of course I know the organization itself—and all organizations for that matter—is flawed and is imperfect. But in comparison with my disheartening experience (over the course of a decade or so) with the evangelical/protestant church, the Orthodox church has some distinct up-sides to what they believe and practice. And some of those things really appeal to me these days.

Anyway, I’m really tired and need to head to bed. It’s been a long and tiring day and need to get some rest. I hope tomorrow has some good things in store for me—today was just a bear.

Filed under: Awareness, General, Orthodoxy, Photography, Spirituality
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There are two things that seem to chap my hide and get my goat every time—pet peeves that annoy me to no end. The first is when people hop on the elevator at work (for example, the ground level) and press “1″ to go up one floor, while the stairs are literally just around the corner. Apparently one flight of stairs is just too much for them. BAH! They’re lazy.

The second thing that annoys me to no end is Christian testimonials that try to use “where they are now” as a means of amplifying said testimony. On KTIS this morning [I normally don't listen to the station; Natalie had it on] someone was sharing a testimony about someone coming to Christ and how they eventually went on to study law and became a professor at one of the “top universities” in America—I can only assume they implied Liberty University.

“Christian” testimonies that try to illustrate God’s hand in someone’s life, by telling of a status they’ve achieved or a place that they’ve arrived to assumes that God really cares about status or position. Equally, that implies that they were lesser of a person before they became that lawyer, the successful doctor, or a professor at a leading university—even moreso, that they have now become a “greater” person as a result of their change and “upgrade” in status. If I recall, Jesus once said (within Matthew 20) that the last shall be first and the first shall be last—he showed no prejudice to stature or their entry time into the Kingdom of Heaven.

He also once said, “…do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?…” I think career or status is included right along with that.

If a testimony is going to be given and accentuate anyone’s greater qualities, it ought to be of our Most Holy Triune God—it is HE who bothered to extend grace to us and it is HE who has saved us, IS saving us, and WILL save us. We’re still in process and ever changing—inherently unreliable and unsteady…shakeable. But GOD is unchanging, reliable, and not shaken. He’s the one worth testifying about—He’s the hero of the story, who has entered my realm to save a poor, wretched soul like mine.

Filed under: Christian Subculture, General
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It’s been pretty busy around here—between all the things going down with the house, the pace at work increasing, and my quest for more photo opportunities. I would be sleeping right now had I not taken an hour and a half-long nap this evening…I was zonked out. So instead, I thought I should probably take five minutes and update “the world” on what I’m up to.

I’ve been increasingly more interested in improving my photography skills, building up my portfolio, and positioning myself to someday integrating photography into a career. Admittedly, I’ve been becoming a bit bored with web design and it doesn’t keep me engaged like it used to—but hey, it pays the bills for now. Maybe someday I can get into portraiture and photojournalism. Anyway.

For a year or so, I’ve been using a program called Plogger—it’s okay but is marginal in terms of its claims. The gallery view is alright and the importing options decent, but other features like RSS feeds (which don’t work out of the box) just don’t cut it.

For the past couple months I’ve been looking at a service called SmugMug, which provides photo hosting services on three different scales—general consumers, “prosumers”, and professionals. I’ve held back because it’s a paid membership, and if I’m going to pay for something I want to be sure that it’s going to work and work well. But I’ve looked over their features and have been very impressed. With the base level, their features include:

• Easy interface for adding and sharing photos
• Unlimited storage!
• No ads or spam
• Crop the bad parts out of your photos EASILY
• Enhance the good parts of your photos
• You can personalize your galleries with themes
• Password-protect galleries you don’t want others to see
• Retrieve your high-res photos
• Buy professional prints & gifts
• Backup DVDs are available at your request
• Have your own URL
• Track unlimited traffic to your photos
• Be notified of comments
• Create private ShareGroups
• Create and join communities
• Tagging, RSS feeds, GoogleMaps API, and Ajax technology all support your photo site
• See photos on Google Maps (which will be fun for traveling vacations)
• Find your popular photos fast
• View your photos by timeline

But what I’ve been most impressed by is just how easy it is to use. There’s a few quirks to get used to—small things like figuring out what certain customization fields actually do, or probably more difficult…how best to organize photos that fall into so many different possible categories. But regardless, it’s a great web application and is easy to use. I hope to buy some prints soon and see how well those turn out. I’ll blog about that soon.

So related to that, I have moved my photo galleries over to this new domain: groundlevelphoto.com and have also set up a blog for handling more photography-specific posts over at groundlevelphotography.com. But the cool part is, with SmugMug galleries, you are given TWO RSS FEEDS: one for your recent photos and one for recent galleries.

Anyway, I’m going to try and actually get some sleep now. But if I piqued your interest in SmugMug, consider signing up. And if use this code: Pn5t71IAO8Ts8 or my e-mail address: michael.tangen (AT) gmail.com — you’ll get five bucks off your first year’s membership. Not much I know, but it’s something.

Filed under: General, Photography, Websites
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To date, we’ve replaced quite a few things in our house—why should now be any exception, particularly while we’re trying to sell our place? Apparently the hot water heater decided that it was time to go as well. That will make it the fourth major appliance we’ve replaced in our home. The current tally of replaced items in our home:

• New toilet and pedestal sink in 2005
• New furnace in 2005
• New dishwasher in 2006
• New washing machine in 2006 (simultaneously repaired our dryer, too)

…and of course we’ll be adding Hot Water Heater to that list. I really didn’t want to replace anything else while we’ve got the house up for sale. Looks like I don’t have much of a choice.

Filed under: Home Ownership
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Ah, it’s Wednesday, the sun is shining, and they’re calling for 80 degree temperatures today. Who could resist lunch on the patio at the ol’ standby. Certainly not I. Nearby there’ll also be the Worlds Largest Game of Catch going on at 7th Place—I’ll have to snag a few pictures of that.

I’m starting to get used to the idea of biking into work now—it’s getting warmer out, and though thoroughly sweaty and jelly-legged by the time I get here, it’s a more pleasant idea knowing that I’m saving on gas, getting some good exercise, and helping do a little bit more to reduce the emissions that I’m personally responsible for.

Though, I’m sure all that will change soon. We’ve had our second consecutive showing last night, and hopefully we’ll have a few more this week as well. If we’re able to sell soon, I might have to rethink my transportation options depending upon the distance. At this point, we’ve got a pretty wide search area that we’re covering—so we could stay in the area, we might end up in Fridley, maybe even Maplewood or North Saint Paul. The important thing is that we find a house that’s going to work well for us.

We’ve also got our for sale sign now, standing its ground like a bright red and white beacon shouting to the entire neighborhood, “yes, that’s right… we’ve only been here two years and we’re moving already.” For the most part, I’ve loved living in our house, this neighborhood, and being so close to everything. Aside from our house being too small for our near-future needs, the only thing I can’t stand is one of the guys in my neighborhood, who insists on using his leaf blower every day of the week—even if he only has a few blades of grass on his driveway. He thinks he has to use his leaf blower to display some sort of superior testosterone level over said blade of grass. Lame. If he only knew how many hydrocarbons he was emitting into the air every time he uses that damn thing.

And one last thing that annoys me—leaf blower guy’s pre-teen kid. He’s an awkward, lanky junior higher, but arrogant and disrespectful beyond reason. I don’t know what’s his problem, but he insists on pestering me, insulting me, making fun of me, calling me names, etc. I’ve never wanted to kick someone’s ass as much I have that punk kid. He has a way of getting under my skin and making my blood boil over. If I didn’t value my future—as in whether or not I prefer to spend my days in an 8′ x 8′ cell—I’d pound some manners into that kid. However, since I’m trying to live a more civilized existence, where violence doesn’t become me, I have to somehow just ignore the little brat.

There’s just no justice for that kid. And I don’t think his father cares either.

BUT it’s hump day—the week is nearly half over and it’s going to be gorgeous outside. Here’s to hoping we have a few more showings this week.

Filed under: General
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So I’ve been scheming some ideas for a street portraiture service, and of course have been searching GoDaddy for just the right domain to use. I think I’ve been searching for nearly an hour now—many of the domains that would have been absolutely stellar to have are all gone (no surprise) and over two-thirds of them are just parked and going to waste. Of course, I should really talk. But seriously. After all this searching, I’m realizing just how much CRAP there is out on the web.

Granted, this isn’t some sort of new revelation for me, but moreso just something that really dawned on me. While the web is relatively useful in some ways and does meet general business and consumer needs, it is equally a big dumping ground for the crap [holding back on the explicative] that people feel the need to share with the world two or three people that might check in on them from time to time.

Tired of the internet? Sure I am. Perhaps a bit burnt out.

I’ve lost a lot of desire to work on some of the web application service ideas I’ve had in the past. Desire to design and build creative sites (outside of my regular employment) has waned a lot. And for the most part these days, if I want something to handle something for me (by way of workflow or business process), I generally look for something inexpensive that will meet my needs instead of building it myself or customizing an open source script that I can download for free. I just don’t have the energy for it; nor the enthusiasm.

Anyway, I’m gonna get off my computer and do something totally analog…like drink some of my home brew and eat a slice of my wife’s wonderful, homemade apple pie. She’s the best damn baker that I know. Her pies have “blue ribbon material” written all over them.

Filed under: General, Photography, Websites
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It was an early morning—6 bells rang, waking me out of my slumber to get up and get ready to pick Natalie up from work, so she could finish baking her apple pie for our morning walk-through guests. After she finished baking her pie and the kitchen filled with the pleasing aroma of cinnamon and baked apple, we made our way to Stillwater so Natalie could sleep at my parents’ place and I could roam downtown Stillwater and take pictures.

I had a few things working against me—caffeine from the coffee making my hands shake and the utterly intense wind. I would have brought my tripod, but it’s so much to lug around, that I settled for my monopod. I think out of the hundred photos I took, there were a tiny handful that I’d actually show to anyone; and of those only six that I would eventually put up onto my gallery. All six can be found in my Objects & Abstracts gallery; my favorites being Steps to Smooth, The Fly (which did require a bit of post processing to get the rich contrast in color), and Playground in Motion.

After we got home from my parents’ place—around 3 in the afternoon—we noticed the gale winds were blowing in West Saint Paul as well. Unfortunately, some of the shingles barely could hold on throughout the 60 mile per hour wind gusts we were getting.

So guess what I got to do… I went to Home Depot to buy a ladder (I didn’t own one) and I got to nail down the shingles so that we wouldn’t have any blatant leaks… for now. SO…. I get to call the insurance company tomorrow and have a person take a look and survey the damage.

The last thing I need is to re-shingle our home. I guess we’ll deal with that bridge when we get there.

Oh… and the showing? Well, there was no sign of anyone having dropped by. No Realtor cards on the counter, no one ate any of the pie that Natalie worked on, and none of the info sheets were taken. What’s the deal? I felt like my time was wasted, having to leave the house for a few hours (and all the preparations I had to take to get the house ready for showing). But regardless, we hope that we’ll get some more showings in the days and weeks to come.

Filed under: Home Ownership, Photography
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We got the call Friday morning—our first showing will be Sunday morning at 11:30 am. I’m sure you can then appreciate how I went into hyper-drive to finish up my list of outstanding tasks that I wanted to complete before our first showing. Let’s just say that I’ve pretty much been working all day, nearly non-stop to get it all done.

I still have a few minor things that aren’t that big of a deal, but most of the major stuff is done, including cleaning the garage, doing some touch-up painting here and there, getting our garden (particularly the front yard) presentable, sweep the patio area, deal with our yard waste, put recessed light fixture trim back in, install new blinds, and a few other things.

So, yeah, I’m exhausted. A few things left to do and then I’m headed to bed. It’s been a good day—I hope that our guests fall in love with our home and decide to put down an offer. I’m quite proud with our house and how much we’ve improved it. If I were in the market all over again for the first time, there’s no way I would pass up our house with how nice and livable we’ve made our little home.

Filed under: Home Improvement, Home Ownership
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MLS# 3372005

Filed under: Home Ownership
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I was thinking about the photos I took when we first moved in—even before I did ANY work on the house. I thought I had lost them all to the great accidental reformatting of my hard drive back in the summer of ‘05. Apparently I didn’t.

I found on my website (doh!) a web gallery that I put up of photos of every single room in our house (save for the garage) before we moved in:

http://www.michaeltangen.com/home/index.html

I think I’m going to go through and take “after” pictures of some of the better shots that I captured and do like the whole morphing thing. We really did come a long way with that house—a loooong way. In fact, just thinking about the bathroom’s condition before I renovated it gives me a gag reflex.

Filed under: Home Ownership
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