i put another 360 miles on my car today.

i went for a long drive — another very theraputic drive. i started on 101 south. i decided to go a bit futher than last time. i caught a glimpse of a sign mentioning the san antonio mission, so i decided to turn west. what a great adventure it turned out ot be.

along jolon road i spotted three wine barrels next to a small shed situated in front of a large tree. i was having some bad luck trying to get the shot i wanted — in fact, my polaroid back jammed! i was fiddling with the back when a guy in a pickup truck pulled up from behind the fence. we struck up a conversation about the land and photos and wine. turns out he’s planning on building a house, where i was standing, for wine tasting. he told me about the barrels: how he leaves the old ones out and people pick them up, using them for planters, etc. he gave me a bottle of wine! a bottle of cabernet. the cork is from his neighbor’s vineyard — san bernabe. i gave him one of my polaroids of the barrels and tree, something for him to remember the day by.

later i passed a small historical site, the dutton hotel. it was built in 1849 and only a few pieces of it remain. it was along el camino real, one of the main routes to california’s gold country.

i made it onto hunter liggett military base. it’s an active training site, so you have to show your license, proof of insurance, and registration before you’re allowed on the property. once you’re in you can get to mission san antonio.

the mission is pretty interesting. it was built in 1771 as a place of rest and worshop between san diego and carmel. it was the first mission to use spanish tile roofs, and was also the first mission to hold a marriage ceremony. i wandered around, taking in deep california history. i later read, when mexico won its independence from spain, they sold the missions. this one became dilapidated and the indians who had remained couldn’t sustain themselves. abraham lincoln saved the missions by declaring them property of the catholic church.

i made my way out of hunter liggett and continued west towards the coast. i started seeing fog rolling over the mountains in the distance. i saw lots of wildlife — a young deer playing peek-a-boo with me from the side of the road, then darting across. i saw a huge spider.. its body was nearly the size of my palm! i’ve only ever seen spiders that large in zoos.

i made a stop in the woods to take in this beautiful waterfall. it framed in tall trees, some fallen, some moss covered.

shorly afte the waterfall, i saw something large in the road. i couldn’t tell what it was, so i slowed down. then it turned. it was an eagle! when it took off i saw it had a squirrel in its talons. it was awesome seeing an eagle and its catch so close up. the rest of the drive to the coast was fantastic.

i ended the day with dinner in monterrey. i walked around looking for a place and wandered into cibo. everything came one step at a time (which is really the right way to enjoy a meal). a glass of cabernet. a green salad. a ribeye steak with asparagus. a cappucino.

i took 68 back to salinas, then 101 north back up to home. i’m getting to know this long stretch of 101 between san jose and salinas.

today was so awesome. it was vacation. i had lots of fun driving, i listened to music all day, i got some some film, i had some interseting experiences, and i experienced more of nature’s diverse beauty.

you know i’ve seen a lot of what the world can do
and it’s breakin’ my heart in two
because i never wanna see you a sad girl
don’t be a bad girl
but if you wanna leave, take good care
i hope you make a lot of nice friends out there
but just remember there’s a lot of bad and beware..

this past weekend i listened to tea for the tillerman in light of cat stevens being banned from entering the united states. i remember listening to this album on vinyl a long time ago. i bought it on compact dics in college and i still listen to it.. but now it has a different meaning to me. listening to stevens sing about how the world is a scary place made me feel sad.

i’ve discovered the magic of scanning 4×5. i’m trading scanners with a friend of mine; his is capable of scanning sheet film. scans at 3200 dpi yield a 130+ million pixel image. after taking out dust, cloning out scratches, and unsharp masking, once you resize down to something manageable, the image turns out great.

i haven’t seen any plans or mock-ups of the future lobby at work. i think it’s going to follow our corporate logo colors. i think a LF image of it after completion would be a lot of fun.

today someone i work with passed away. one week, he was in our weekly staff meeting. he was in the hospital for a week and a half, and now he is gone. amid all our stresses and added processes due to financial audits, we have to take up more slack. not that we mind. this is the third person i’ve worked with that passed away. one to a congenital heart condition, and two quickly succumbed to cancer.

why oh why do people not pull up all the way when they stop on the road? they sit back so far from the white line they’d never trip the sensors. they leave two car-lengths ahead of them in traffic and inch up during the red light. it drives me nuts!!

when i bought my car, they couldn’t find the remotes for it. the customer service manager assured me they’d order some and that they would take a week to get here from japan. a week later, i called into the service department. they weren’t in. there was apparently a delay in shipping of all items from japan. i called several times over the next few days to find out it would take another week to get items but that they were on the way. the guy in the parts department took down my number and said they would call when the parts came in. i never got a phone call. i waited patiently for another week and decided to drop in. i went to the parts department, and sure enough the remotes were in stock. the parts guy gave me one and printed up a receipt. i talked to someone in service and was told that i’d have to wait until wednesday (four days) because the programming equipment was locked up on weekends and wednesday was the next available appointment. i waited again until wednesday. i got up extra early to be at the dealer at 7:30 when they opened. i waited in line wednesday morning, got all signed in, only to learn that not only does the receipt i have show i owe the dealership money for the remote, but the remote may be the wrong one (and i may need two and not one) and that i should get in touch with the customer service manager.. who doesn’t get in until noon.

i had to scan two halves of the negative this time — 6×12 — and put the two together in photoshop. this is from my second negative through the kodak. this is the EI100-on-3200 roll. next time i’ll develop it a bit more. the 6×12 format is pretty neato. just eyeing the negs, it looks like the focus guide on the camera isn’t that far off. but shooting wide open at infinity works like a champ. doing a portrait with this one looks relatively easy.

i accidentally shot a roll of delta 3200 at ei100. for ei 400 i 1+25 rodinol, the time is 5.5 minutes. i decided to try.. 1+50 at 6 minutes. the negative came out ok but i wished i’d developed it longer.. maybe the dilution/time for 400? i think the timing on the shutter i used is way off anyways. so much for being thinky about this.

i shot the roll in a kodak 1-a.

i should have the shutter worked on one of these days. it seems i now have something that shoots 6×12 (with taped quarters keeping the film inside the camera!)