The Sheila Variations

I have to tell you what's so great about your manic updating, I mean besides the manic updating itself which I love:

I sent a link to your photos to my dad because he loves photos of the city. He was born and raised there and still misses it from time to time.

And I get back from him in email, "These are great! Looked through about 35 pages so far. Will get through the rest this weekend." Like I'd given him a HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT or something.

So I almost wrote back to say, "Dad, Dad, it's not an assignment. There will not be a test. I just thought you'd like the skyline and the memorial shots," etc. But then I got distracted and never replied, and now my mean half has taken over, and I am killing myself imagining him trying to get through all these photos and going, "Wait, WAIT--did she add more? It seems like they're multiplying. I will never be done!"

Okay, maybe I'd better call him.

hahahaha Oh no!!! Please tell him I am rather manic and there is NO pressure! I'm just in an obsessive mode.

But I love that he likes the photos! I am enjoying "seeing" my home through the camera - makes you see things differently.

But seriously - he should not suffer for my mania.

Ha!!

OH OH THOSE AFRICAN MASKS!!! - and they're just HANGING out there, on a display in the street!!! Down here they're put up on galleries as though some type of museum and one is afraid to ask how much they cost!! I used to work for an African art gallery.

I love African masks like you wouldn't know!!

I love the pictures too! I want so badly to join in with my own picture taking...but our digital camera is a dinosaur compared to whats out there today, and since we've switched to Mac computers, we have to be real careful what we get...

I am enjoying "seeing" my home through the camera - makes you see things differently.

It does do that! That's what I love about it. Flickr is 100% fun.

I want so badly to join in with my own picture taking...but our digital camera is a dinosaur compared to whats out there today,

Sharon, I don't even know you, but please, don't let camera age or type stop you. My camera is like what they give to disabled kids in Liechtenstein, but it's still so enjoyable to share pictures that I just pretend my camera's a decent one, even though it isn't. Flickr doesn't have to be a photography snob thing at all. At least, I hope it doesn't. I pretend it doesn't! I refuse to believe that it does. I believe in the power of denial.

I love the shot of the Army/Navy store with the coins and badges. There is a lot of history behind military coins.

Sharon - I do wonder how much those masks cost - I walk by there every day. They're tacked up to a side of one of those kiosks where you can buy cigarettes or gum, and the dude who owns the masks sits on a folding chair, leaned up against a buiding, all day - waiting to make a sale.

If you want, I can do a little scouting for you if you like!

Cullen - wow, fascinating link - I'm tearing through it. Love the story about the pilot who ended up behind enemy lines.

The window was so chockfull of stuff. The store is in between a peep show and an ice cream store. God bless America!

I'm glad you found it interesting.

There are many ... many variations of the challenge coin.

A variation is in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where instead of buying someone a drink, if you're "coined" and don't have your coin, you owe the person 10 push-ups.

I have a very good friend who was stationed at Fort Campbell and was there for his promotion to sergeant. When you are going for sergeant, part of the process it to appear before a promotion board. You have to get into your dress uniform, execute different facing movements (left face, right face, at ease, etc.) and then sit and answer questions from a board of 5 or 6 senior NCOs.

Traditionally, at the end of a board, you are asked if you have any questions of the board. Traditionally, this is the time you would address any questions that you know you missed during normal questioning or if you want further clarity on any qestions that were asked.

However, when my friend was asked if he had any more questions, he coined his board. The only person who didn't have their coin was the sergeant major of his battalion (highest ranking NCO of the battalion). He told my friend that he'd get back to him on the push-ups.

where is the 29th floor??? whose place is that?