Marshed

Dawn, Dave, Melise

South Carolina was just about as good as I imagine a newly spring weekend could have mustered. Breaking away from the beautiful weather and trucking on back to Boone was hard for Melise and me, but the vacation's warmth lingered well enough to make it tolerable. We certainly missed a storm back here in North Carolina, apparently a tornnado or two ran amok over a 40 mile strip of the Peidmont and North Eastern flatlands. Not more than a drip spoiled our visit to Bluffton, we seemed to have picked a good couple of days to visit the coastal south east.

Dawn

It's always good to see family, especially when that family lives in a place substantially warmer than yourself. Good food adventures, Marsh Lunching, Sandbar Loitering, Dog Walking, and Picture Taking were among the endeavors undertaken while in SC, all very enjoyed. 

Molly

Molly, ever shy, was energized by her daily walk and sprinted in joyous exhilaration this was and that; sometimes too long a 'that', prompting a well meant fetching. The outside air and the grass between her pawtoes is a riveting pleasure on her doggy soul, I'm sure of it. 

I made a deal for a new camera, the Canon 50D. Not as well suited for coin photography as hoped, the deal was passed on to me and my equipment bag accepted an upgrade. Substantially more agressive, it will aide wonderfully in low light situations with its more fine tuned ISO capabilities (great for photos of music shows), shoots much faster (one full stop faster, great for shows and climbing), and has a good handful of very specific selections that I will spend a heck of a lot of time reviewing and practicing before I get it all right.

The Big Somethin' -- Boone Saloon April 7, 2011

Many of the operations are the same, but button configuration and interface and new settings are going to need researching. It's a good upgrade at a good deal with its included accoutrements, I look forward to the increased capability I will enjoy with this new body and lens. 


Melise and I had a great time. I am planning on heading down to the southern realm of NC during the 4th of July, sounds like it will be a good time.
 
The work in Boone begins again with Google AdWords, grooming keywords, researching new opportunities, and training another part of the team. We'll be using data from sales and customers in conjunction with advertising information and data to make things happen. Looking forward to the challenge and the experience, hopefully it turns out well. 

Spanish Moss

Other tasks on my to-do list include organizing and ordering prints for the upcoming show in Hendersonville. I have to get them mounted somehow and ready by June 1st. Coming along. I think I am going to have some photos in a couple more places around Boone.


Other than all else I am still climbing and trying to spend as much time outside as possible. The spring has come and, tame or treacherous, I believe the temperature has finally gotten off the escalator and is now walking amongst the flowers and foliage of Floor 2, Spring.

Words

Friend Austin on unnamed problem at secret
climbing spot.

Times are coming about. Not sure what times, but I suppose its safe to say that they're comin' 'round the bend. We'll start with climbing. As always its coming along quite nicely, lots of bouldering. As the season progresses and winter pretends to fade and then sneaks up with a frosted claw, each day yet brings closer to us in The High Country a sweet smell of spring. Today I got a fresh whiff of just cut grass, sweet and light. The mowers are abound and the days are longer, climbing routes is coming into focus. I have been working on technique and expanding my horizons, next weekend I am headed to the new river gorge for some epic climbing, and then I will be headed back for something called The New River Rendezvous; a climbing party-a-thon involving climbers from all over the east in a place that has rock conducive to all sorts of styles for the hardiest to the moderately lightest of climbers. Should be a blast. I am working on a series of night bouldering photos from the Boone area and hope to get them and an article published in a magazine. We'll see.

Dog out night bouldering

At work things have changed. I have moved positions and will be staying in Boone for another year. I will be handling the SEO (search engine optimization) and Google AdWords (Pay Per Click Advertising) accounts for about 6 companies. It's a daunting task for sure, but I'll be getting paid to learn and practice. I expect that I will come out a very marketable figure.... unless I get overwhelmed. I'm doing a lot of reading and studying, I should be able to wrap my mind around it all. I have a different office, and I am no longer working directly with the riff raff upsatairs, so I am able to get more done and really dive in. A new person will start monday to take over what I no longer will be primarily handling, the appointment and sales stats.