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Last dragonfly

Posted by Photonstopper on August 28, 2010
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Last Dragonfly? #0479
Last Dragonfly? #0479

Driving home Thursday evening I stopped at the wetland area (Baldwin Lake) in Berea and unpacked my camera. I'd seen a Great Blue Heron there but couldn't get close enough to photograph the bird. While standing on the bank of the shallow stream, however, I watched a lone dragonfly flitting about. The insect would occasionally stop on a rock near me. I would draw near, camera at the ready, but the shy dragonfly would wing off to another location eluding most of my photo efforts. Looking around I realized there were no other dragonflies within my sight, no others to join this one in their aerial mating dance. It seemed to be the summer's last dragonfly.

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Fun-looking new hybrid

Posted by Photonstopper on August 26, 2010
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2011 Honda CR-Z
2011 Honda CR-Z

I saw the new 2011 Honda CR-Z sports hybrid the other day when we stopped in at our Honda dealer. Three of them were sitting in the lot and, not looking very photogenic where they were, I skipped photographing them. We're not in the market for a $20K two-seater but this one looks like it would be loads fun to drive and a great little commuter and runabout. EPA estimates put it at 35 MPG city, 39 MPG highway, and 37 MPG combined. Not that I trust EPA estimates. I don't know how they changed their testing –EPA used to be pretty accurate– but now, well my 2010 Insight was estimated to get 41 MPG combined. I regularly get 55+ MPG combined (real world) in the summertime and the worst mileage (in winter with lights and heat going all the time) was 41 MPG. In short, I think the CR-Z will get much better fuel economy than advertised and deliver lots of FPG (Fun Per Gallon). Link: Honda's Web Site

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River respite

Posted by Photonstopper on August 20, 2010
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River Respite_0446a
River Respite_0446a

I spotted this scene in the last half of my commute to work this morning. I hadn't much time but actually turned the car around, parked, and took a few moments to enjoy and photograph the view from a roadway bridge. A river respite.

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Thank you, Marco!

Posted by Photonstopper on August 20, 2010
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My new cell phone arrived before 3:00 PM yesterday as promised by FedEx. (Still disappointing that TracFone didn't ship when promised.) When I received the phone I immediately initiated the process of "porting" or moving my phone number from my malfunctioning phone at Verizon to my new device at TracFone. I quickly found out how difficult it was to deal with Verizon and have yet another tale of the meaning of customer service.

Last night I received an email from TracFone telling me they needed an account number from Verizon in order to complete the porting process. To the best of my knowledge Alltel / Verizon never issued me an account number outside of my telephone number — another way they treat pay-as-you-go customers differently from contract customers. So I set about trying to find an account number. I found nothing in my Alltel / Verizon records. Next step, look online at "My Account" on Verizonwireless.com. Uh-uh. No such luck. So, checking on how to contact them, I found a "Customer Service" phone number and –lucky!– I was calling within service hours! Verizon's customer service contact, as it turned out, consists of a phone-answering robot that offers no possibility of reaching a live person to ask a simple question like "what is my account number." Push the "wrong" key too many times and it hangs up on you! Now, instead of having a few regrets, I'm happy to be dropping them!

So, extremely angry and frustrated at dealing with Verizon, I telephoned TracFone customer service and told the rep that I wished to terminate the porting and activate my new phone with a new number. I was told it would be 24 to 48 hours. Oh well, it's better than a protracted battle between a company that won't help me and a company that can't. Yes, please, cancel the porting and activate my phone as soon as you can; Monday won't be too bad. I shut down my computer and got ready to head off to bed. Surprise! Marco at TracFone, called my land line at 11:00 PM and not only terminated the porting process for me but activated my phone. Took 20 minutes or so. So after wrestling with Verizon's stupid robot and nasty Web site for about an hour, I left that company feeling ignored and abused. TracFone, on the other hand, was easy to reach, did what I asked as best they could, and delivered service much faster than expected.

Thank you, Marco!

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Time for a new phone

Posted by Photonstopper on August 18, 2010
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It's time for a new phone. My little Alltel/Verizon LG AX275 cell phone has been acting up. Lately the LG will sit quietly at home in its overnight resting spot with everything seeming just fine. Then it emits a strange tone, another, finally shutting down because its formerly well-charged battery is extremely low! If I sneak up on it while it is sleeping and press the button that lights it's front panel, the time may be way off (several hours ahead), the signal low, and the battery charge on its way down. Same thing happened this morning when I was out on a walk, phone in pocket. Swapping out and charging batteries has no corrective effect. (It's probably an internal antenna connection problem or maybe intermittent signal for the local tower resulting in the phone endlessly seeking a signal.) So far the phone has made it through my commute and the day at the office just fine though checking, just now, I see the battery is down as is signal strength. The misbehavior began over the weekend and so I began shopping for new phones and a new provider.

I settled on TracFone and their Motorola TFW376-4 flip-style phone, ordered it online, and paid for overnight FedEx delivery. That was Monday. TracFone said they would ship on Tuesday so, naturally enough, I expected to receive the new hardware today. Uh-uh! Checking order status I found they shipped today and FedEx promises to have it in my hot little hands by 3:00 PM tomorrow. To TracFone: that's not the right way to treat a new customer; FedEx overnight delivery cost nearly as much as the phone!

Cell Phones: Present and Future
Cell Phones: Present and Future

So as a consumer more in a hurry than a wise shopper, I now had time to second-guess my snap decision. Oh boy! The Motorola gets decidedly mixed reviews, everything from "great phone" and "good build" to "crappy camera" and "it literally falls apart." Add to that, I consciously ordered a GSM network phone instead of the more widely-usable (in the U.S.) CDMA standard. Now I'm hoping I'll still get coverage in the places I travel. {sigh} Well, I guess the good thing is the new phone only cost me (sans shipping) about $20 so if it doesn't work I can pick up a CDMA phone for a song (or invest a bit more) and stick with TracFone — which my sister tells me is a very good provider.

By this time tomorrow night, I ought to have some idea of how things will be with my new communication tool. I'm hoping I don't have to make a quick trip to Target to replace it within the first week!

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Cirrus for decoration

Posted by Photonstopper on August 17, 2010
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Cirrus #0424
Cirrus #0424

The night before last, the humidity of the past week finally blew away. The air is clear and light again and, when the clouds part, we can see lovely, deep blue sky in place of a hazy mess. This morning that deep blue sky played host to a nice display of whispy cirrus clouds. Taking an opportunity to pull into a park on during my commute, I spent a few minutes enjoying and photographing the sky with cirrus for decoration.

Cirrus #0429
Cirrus #0429

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A pleasant, aimless day

Posted by Photonstopper on August 15, 2010
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Atrium #0421
Atrium #0421

Too hot to do much outdoors but too nice a day to stay in, we made an early visit to the Cleveland Museum of Art. It was not a rushed visit and, with that early morning arrival, we received easy parking and quiet surroundings; often it was just us and the museum floor staff. The grand renovation is in full force so confusing detours still rule. While much of the CMA's permanent collection is off-exhibit (in storage) there is still much to be seen. It was a lovely spending the morning visiting old "friends," missing some others, and discovering new works. It was somehow reassuring to see some of the galleries of the 1916 portion of the building. For now, and unless I contact a curator with my avatar (profile) photo, the exact identity of the Asian sculpture will remain unknown to me… at least until the excellent Southeast Asian collection is once again put on exhibit. I viewed a local photographer's work in another gallery. He received a commission from a big local development foundation. Seeing those works hanging in a major museum, images which, to my eye, lacked composition, delivered no feeling, and were printed irritatingly flat (contrast-wise). Simply put, they were snapshots. Then my mind shot back to an earlier photographic exhibit I'd seen at the museum… a fellow got a grant from some organization and shot photos of fields of weeds. No composition. No message. No art (to my eye). Just overgrown fields, and possibly only a single field, picture after picture. High concept justified with many words explaining how it's art. Made me very jealous, even angry that my own work wasn't hanging there. Also disappointed in myself for not putting myself out there; how can it be in a gallery if one's art isn't put out for consideration? Much the way I felt today. I've been taking pretty pictures lately but I used to make art. I've got to get back to that place. Maybe I need an agent. Fortunately there were far more beautiful and inspired works of art to be seen and enjoyed, which we did. After the museum, a delicious lunch at the deli in Mustard Seed Market, Solon, then on to Hudson for a visit to a couple of favorite shops. Relaxed. Then home. A pleasant, aimless day.

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