Robert Pence

^It's what I call grass-roots justice. No sense waiting for government to do something at taxpayer expense, when you can take care of the problem yourself. :clap:

A few years ago I got a wakeup on a South Shore train. Most of the riders on those are regular commuters, and the trains don't carry passengers between points in Chicago's urban area. I always felt like the trains were just about the safest environment anywhere. I always carry my stuff in an old backpack when I go to Chicago; camera, lenses, foul-weather gear, etc. Sometimes I put my checkbook in it, too, although I always keep my wallet in my pocket. I was in the habit of leaving my backpack on my seat when I got up to walk to the front of the car; there's a glass in the door that separates the operator's cab from the passenger compartment, and sometimes one can stand up there and get a good view of the track ahead. After a stroll to the front, I came back to my seat and my backpack was gone. I looked under and around the seat and didn't see it, so I walked up and down the length of the car looking at overhead racks, seats, and the floor under seats. I found it under the seat behind me, and the guy sitting there was watching me out of the corner of his eye. I just reached in from behind and took it, and gave him a look that at least tried to say, "Don't give me another excuse, you SOB." Earlier in the ride he had been asking questions of the conductor, and was most concerned about how soon the next train returned to Chicago from Michigan City. He may have been going to Michigan City to pick up drugs; on previous rides I had seen a guy on the front steps of a house near the railroad, flashing what I assumed to be gang signs as the train passed. Maybe a connection there? The contents of the backpack were all still intact. I chose not to make a scene about it, and I sure learned a lesson about keeping track of my stuff even where I thought it was perfectly safe. Now, even if I have to go to the restroom on the train, the backpack goes with me.

Evansville is in the southwestern corner of Indiana, on the Ohio River not far from where the Wabash River joins the Ohio. It's an area rich in Indiana History, and among the earliest areas settled because of the access by river. The first territorial capitol building and William Henry Harrison's home, Grouseland, at nearby Vincennes, are only two of the many historic sites in that corner of the state. Also not far away is New Harmony, where restored buildings and homes from an early-1800s communal experiment are intermingled with structures of a contemporary current, attractive, functioning town. Here are the particulars on the old Vanderburgh County Courthouse in Evansville: Built 1887-1890 Architect: Henry Wolters (1845-1921), Louisville Construction: Charles Pearce & Co. Cost : $466,004 County offices moved in 1969 to a new Civic Center Campus comprised of six buildings on 40 acres. The old courthouse provides space now for specialty shops, public service organizations, meeting rooms, a theater, and law offices. Info from The Magnificent 92 - Indiana Courthouses ISBN 1-56469-002-4 Photos by Will Counts, text by John Dilts Published by Rose Bud Press P.O. Box 5713 Bloomington IN 47407

Beautiful photos. Advancements in mechanized lumbering in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries made possible the near-complete ravaging of West Virginia's once-vast red spruce forests during the first half of the twentieth century. Whole substantial communities had grown up around the lumber mills, and when the trees were gone, so were the mills and towns; if anything remains of most of the towns, it's just a few concrete foundations. Clear-cutting was universal. Smaller trees were destroyed in order to get access to mature trees, and where second-growth forest had developed by the time the old growth was logged out, it was often harvested wastefully and destructively.

Lee's Famous Recipe > KFC! :-) I thought Zicam was being recalled because it sometimes causes loss of smell in some people, sometimes temporary, sometimes permanent. I can relate. I had a job once that sucked so bad I actually looked forward to an afternoon off for a root canal. Or maybe it was the pain meds, but anyway... I should be OK so long as I stay away from the swine who claims to be my youngest brother, but I'm getting the H1N1 shot anyway, when it's available.

I'll second that on Lake Shore vs. Capitol Limited. Last December I took the Lake Shore from Waterloo to Chicago, and returned on the Capitol. The Lake Shore was running a couple of hours late, and the lounge car was tired and shabby and overdue for a rebuild. The attendant had already mostly shut down and stowed everything in preparation for going off duty when he arrived in Chicago and he was visibly annoyed when I showed up asking for a cup of coffee. The single-level Amfleet cars ride OK, although they're no match for the old Heritage Fleet rolling stock. They ride nicely on well-maintained track, but they're jiggly and rattly on much of the track Amtrak uses that is maintained for freight at 70mph or less. Departing Chicago, the Capitol was delayed boarding at Union Station because of an electrical problem, but once that was resolved everything went fairly well. The Superliners provide a smooth, quiet ride on the same track that is rattly on Amfleet cars. My only gripe with Superliners is that I've never been comfortably warm in them, either coaches or sleeprs, in winter. I think the heat must work via the HVAC system's circulating air; they always seem drafty and chilly to me. Last December, I wasn't the only one who was cold; everyone in the coach kept their coats on the entire time. A couple of robust-looking twenty-somethings across the aisle were wearing their coats and gloves, and one had taken off his shoes and was rubbing his feet to try to get them warm. The Amfleet cars, on the other hand, have radiant baseboard heat. They're always cozy in winter.

MTS would fire me in two weeks or less, but what fun it would be until then. After several years on a job I liked and did well, working for a manager who had mastered the delicate art of simultaneously maintaining good morale among subordinates and delivering stellar results to the higher-ups, I fell vicitim to a division restructuring. I was assigned to a department where the boss maintained control by keeping everyone on edge. If he had a major presentation coming up for division or corporate execs, he wouldn't give any of us a heads-up so that we could start preparing the data and presentation materials in advance. He'd spring it on us about two days before, so that we could pull consecutive all-nighters getting it all together. He'd involve us in long, drawn-out, unfocused, unproductive meetings for hours at a time in a small, poorly-ventilated conference room and blow smoke at us both literally and figuratively and put us behind schedule in important tasks. I didn't feel so bad about falling asleep in one of his meetings after I saw a visiting high-dollar corporate consultant doze off. Intra-company transfers were frozen for our division, so I started an outside job search; it took more than a year to turn up a solid, competitive offer, and whenever I tried to inform my boss in person of my impending departure, he didn't have time to see me. I typed up a letter of resignation giving my final day and put it in his inbox two weeks in advance, and it languished there until a couple of days before my leaving, when he picked it up and put it in his briefcase as he left for a week-long business trip. He read it on the airplane and by the time he got back, I was gone, taking with me a critical set of skills that he hadn't allotted time for me to transfer to anyone else. That job taught me another skill set that came in handy on a couple of subsequent jobs; I learned to gauge just how far I could go pushing buttons without crossing the line. I always exceeded expectations in job performance, but twice in a different corporate environment, I got bosses who messed with subordinates partly for control and partly for sadistic fun. One was so bad that numerous complaints to HR by subordinates got him transferred out, and the other finally gave up on me and just let me do my job. He also gave me first dibs on out-of-town assignments, just to get me out of his sight.

MTS, I'm SO glad I don't work for you. You should be glad, too. :evil: :evil:

Evansville is looking good. I haven't been there in manymany years, and that was before I was tuned in to the urban scene. I don't remember much from that pass-through trip, but the overall impression didn't measure up to what you show now. That courthouse is a beauty. As for Muncie tearing down theirs, well, it's Muncie. Whad'dya expect? Marion has a once-upon-a-time gem, too, that's been neglected and looks truncated because it lost its tower to fire long ago. They've been talking about restoring it, but I don't know how they propose to get enough money to do it right. Among Indiana courthouse exteriors, I think Tippecanoe County (Lafayette) takes the cake - as in "wedding cake."

^Seeing that structure as a whole and from a distance, one might think it interesting or not, but seeing it up close and in detail, my first reaction is "The once-predicted future is here and it's creepy-scary!" :-o

Dang! That must be some boyfriend, that you choose him over UO. I've had several boyfriends, and most of the time I find UO much less annoying. :roll: You're still young. Maybe you should shop around. :-D

^There's a copyright notice at the bottom of that linked page. Do you have permission to post that photo? If not, it probably should be taken down. There's no end of excellent photography on the internet, available to anyone who makes a small effort to find it. I had the impression (possibly mistaken?) that this thread is where we post our own work.

The topography at Blackwater Falls is something. Until I saw that gorge from the edge, I had no idea there was anything like that in the East. I saw the falls first and was impressed, and from the rim of the gorge the falls are just a tiny speck.

I have cut 'way back on my coffee consumption. I still buy Starbucks whole beans, and switch it up from time to time on the varieties. Always an extra-bold variety, though. I used to make a 10-cup pot every morning and consume the whole thing by about 2p.m. I still make the 10-cup pot, but it's every few days. I pour my morning cup, and then divide the rest into individual zip-loc containers and after they cool, I put them in the freezer. Each evening, I set one of the containers on the counter to thaw, and in the morning I pour the coffee into a cup and nuke it. Works fine for me, and the flavor holds up pretty nearly as well as fresh-perked. I suppose my satisfaction with it means I fail the princess test.

You need to call an insurance company NOW. Renters' insurance is one of the requirements stipulated in the lease on my rental property.

... and the transitions between those neighborhoods and areas of considerable affluence are sometimes quite abrupt.

I think West Virginia is beautiful. It has some of the most spectacular scenery east of the Mississippi, gorgeous and impeccably-maintained state parks, and friendly, hospitable people. Yes, it has lost a lot of its economic base and some of its towns and cities are definitely on hard times, but I've always enjoyed my visits there. It's a splendid place in Spring and in Fall.

As I noted in another thread, sometimes I ride the Green Line to the Loop from East 63rd. Along the way there are whole gutted out blocks where only small clusters of rows remain, sometimes gutted, somtimes recently rehabbed, sometimes recently rehabbed and more recently broken into, vandalized, and/or torched. The area definitely teeters on the brink, as concerns revitalization. It would take a lot of courage to invest there. Ogilvie. In its former incarnation as Northwestern Station that was one of the first places I got chastised for taking train photos, around 1980.

Because its a majority minority and depressed area. I took a trip to the last stop of the green line. I walked from 51 Street to Indiana and all I can say is that, that area of Chicago makes the worst area of Cleveland look like Beverly Hills! My staff was member said things like: "you walked? In that area? With that bag and a camera and you came back alive?" "Bitch...your crazy!" "Why the hell would you go down there?" And these are people of color, that are Chicago natives. Every few months I walk from the University of Chicago Hospitals campus (58th/Cottage Grove) to the Green Line at E63rd/Cottage Grove. That used to be a somewhat intimidating experience because of the clusters of young thugs hanging out and apparently dealing from curbside; I'd hear comments about "ol' honky." Sometimes I'd take the #4 bus either to the Green Line or all the way to the Loop, but that thing is always so packed that it's harder to get off it than it is to get on. Apparently the curbside retailing has been cleaned up, and I've noticed that some of the housing units have been boarded up with those big steel panels over the windows. The last few times, I haven't seen the former usual intimidating hangers-on. I don't feel any trepidation about walking there, although I probably wouldn't do it at night. Sometimes there are a few dodgy-looking characters hanging out under the L platform or on the steps, but nobody bothers me.

I've seen them selling the stuff on the #20 bus as well, and getting a lot of interest. I don't know if they sold much, but a lot of bus riders were curious.

In all my visits to Chicago, I haven't yet made it to Chinatown. I intended to go there last July, and then unexpectedly got a monkey wrench thrown in all my plans. Yep. Took too long, cost too much. But man, what a success as an attraction. The only time I've been there that there wasn't a crowd around the bean was at night in a howling snowstorm, and even then the ice rink, in a more sheltered location, was busy. The Loop has been popular as long as I can remember, but I think Millennium Park has drawn even more - significantly more - people to it. My only regret about Millennium Park is the loss of the views from the South Shore platforms. Day or night, rain, snow or shine, they always conveyed the essence of downtown. Now the platform area with its raw concrete and industrial lighting has all the ambience of a cellar. Day (1998) and Night (1991), before Millennium Park ...

I haven't actually tracked it. It's at least that, but could be a lot more. I do carry a fully-charged extra, anyway. I can't remember how much they wanted for a car charger, but it was excessive. I carry an inverter in my car that I can plug into the 12V power outlet and use my regular 110V chargers for any of my gadgets.

Sherman, I'm sorry to hear about your loss. It's easy to form an attachment to good hardware that goes beyond just the money you shelled out to buy it. I like my D700; it serves me well. At first I was concerned about how rapidly the EN-EL3e battery discharged, but it took just a few discharge-recharge cycles to condition it. Now, I can get 200 or more RAW shots to a charge. Unlike some of my previous cameras, too, the battery-charge indicator in the LCD screen gives a pretty good indication of its status. I don't change lenses often and have only had to use the sensor cleaner once, but it absolutely did the job on the first try.

Scandalous! How demeaning it must be for red-blooded Americans to work with their hands, actually producing some tangible product! I'll bet a closer examination of the situation would reveal that some of those sweat-shop laborers ride to work on public transportation, and there probably aren't many Hummers, Lexuses, or BMWs in the parking lot. Wal-Mart's managers and buyers should be ashamed for encouraging such exploitation. You should create one of those "outraged patriot" emails with big, bold type in bright colors and feed it into the tea-party-zealot network, and then watch the trailer parks empty out as howling mobs picket every Wal-Mart.

Your most recent addition is a good example of being in the right place at the right time. The combination of sunlight and sky, and having just the right angle for the shot, all come together to make a dramatic photo. Re the 2004 winter photo versus the same scene now, I'm always amazed at how quickly projects are carried out in Chicago, once they get rolling. It's a sharp contrast with what I'm used to; locally, such things move at a glacial pace. They're studied and discussed and argued and quibbled over endlessly, until what was conceived as cutting-edge becomes outdated before the first shovelful of dirt is turned. Then, endless change orders and the resultant delays and cost overruns result in the whole thing being watered down, completely unremarkable, and years late in completion. That's when the naysayers who caused all the problems step up and say, "See. I told you it wouldn't work."