ZachIsHere

A lot of things cooking in the pot right now haven’t had time to post. Below is a cool set of songs from N.E.R.D. in San Fransisco. Run To The Sun \ Let’s Stay Together. Some language warnings at the end.

Couldn’t help the Bowie reference.

The look of this website is a bit different. I think I am sold on the change even though I really liked the previous look. I liked the idea of some form of visual header and the organized nature of the sidebar is an improvement. The navigation up top and the focus on the being able to get the feeds was a big reason for the switch. There is some tweaking to be done. An about\credits page as well as some weird things that are happening with the alignment of the images. This is just the start though, the huge overhaul will be ZCPhotography.com which will take some time and additional planning.

Hope everyone is enjoying the nice weather this week.

Didn’t have to work on Wednesday so I went out and did some photos. Didn’t have anything particular to shoot just went out to some spots and saw what came up. This particular method for taking photos has been good to me in the past but I am not sure it is working out anymore. I did a lot better finding photos in Springfield where there wasn’t as much to photograph. I know it sounds strange.

It is much easier for me to make something out of nothing than find that good shot out of a ton of interesting things that are flooding into my sight. Something I will need to work on and figure out. These are fairly abstract and artsy. I wanted to try out some new things Lightroom 2.0 beta brought to the table. I enjoyed the results.

Dan Imperiale passed away this week. He was going to turn 24 on Tuesday. I met Dan at a really crazy time. He lived next to me in the dorms at Missouri State. We became close really fast and spent most of our freshman year together in Springfield.

Dan always had something cooking, he was very active. The environment was very important to him you could usually see him going up and down the halls collecting recyclables or getting people together on campus to make more focused and organized recycling programs. He was also very involved in Greek life with the Theta Chi fraternity.

Dan cared about people. He always had time to listen and help. We were growing up and figuring out who we wanted to be, he was extremely supportive of me at a time when I needed support. His laugh was unique and almost maddening. You could hear it from anywhere. It didn’t take long to recognize if Dan was around 2 West Wing in Freddy Hall.

We lost touch over the years. Life just gets in the way of a lot of things and keeping up with people. I understand he was getting married in two months. Dan touched everyone in his path, he even introduced to me to one of my best friends in this world. My heart goes out to Jenn and his family.

Update:
Funeral arrangements have been made for Saturday, April 19th 2008, at St. Claire of Assisi Church in Ballwin MO. There will be a gathering at 9:00, and the mass with begin at 10:00

-Jenn

You have to love minor league baseball marketing. This is funny because Chris and I were talking about all the interesting things we could do if we owned a minor league team this past week.

(Via Deadspin)

The team that gave you the Redneck Olympics (featuring the grueling mullet competition) finally has an event that you can attend with your dog. Since Michael Vick is incarcerated very near their home field, the Kansas City T-Bones (Independent Northern League) have decided to throw a Michael Vick Welcome to the Neighborhood Night on May 28. The best part: The T-Bones will be wearing black and white striped jerseys, and the visiting Gary SouthShore RailCats will wear bright orange jumpsuit replica jerseys. (Note to Cincinnati Bengals: Do not steal this idea).

Because I have unlimited wireless minutes before 9 a.m., I called T-Bones media guy Tommy Thrall for details.

“We were sitting around brainstorming promotional ideas, and figured we should do something with Michael Vick, since he’s so close by at Leavenworth,” Thrall said. “Someone Mapquested it, and found that Leavenworth is only 16 miles from the park. So it seemed like a natural.”

The T-Bones are still throwing around ideas, but likely to be included in Michael Vick Night are:

• Players and/or coaches being introduced while wearing shackles.

• Relief pitchers to be shuttled from the bullpen via paddy wagon.

• On-field dog parade.

• Prison siren to celebrate runs scored by home team.

• Free tickets for fans who bring a picture of themselves with their dog.

“Also, I’m sure that the park will be appropriately decorated for the prison themed night,” Thrall said. “Most of all it’s an opportunity to raise awareness about animal abuse and pet adoption.” Several shelters and adoption agencies will be on hand, and fans can even start the paperwork if they’d like to adopt a dog. The prison replica jerseys will be auctioned off after the game with the proceeds benefiting the participating pet organizations.

I am a little late to the party getting this info out there. (Via KCChiefs.com)

09/07/08 at New England Patriots
09/14/08 Oakland Raiders
09/21/08 at Atlanta Falcons
09/28/08 Denver Broncos
10/05/08 at Carolina Panthers
10/12/08 Bye
10/19/08 Tennessee Titans
10/26/08 at New York Jets
11/02/08 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
11/09/08 at San Diego Chargers
11/16/08 New Orleans Saints
11/23/08 Buffalo Bills
11/30/08 at Oakland Raiders
12/07/08 at Denver Broncos
12/14/08 San Diego Chargers
12/21/08 Miami Dolphins
12/28/08 at Cincinnati Bengals

If you are looking for one of those little symbols that denotes a “national TV game” you won’t find any because the Chiefs won’t have a single one this year unless they are “flexed” into it. Even with the potential problems the Chiefs will have this year the ‘08 schedule is pretty easy. We have a buzzsaw starting off against the Patriots at their house but @Falcons @Jets @Bengals? Not too bad. I don’t think there are a weaker 3 divisions you could be matched up with. Our own in the AFC West is looking shaky, our AFC match up in the AFC East and the NFC South don’t really scare me that much.

(This is an actual exchange that took place between my friends on Tuesday.)

Guys,

I realize that none of us send a whole lot of letter via regular mail these days, but an increase in the price of a stamp is scheduled for May 12th. This price increase is only $0.01, bringing the new total to $0.42 for a first-class letter, but it also marks the last opportunity to purchase Forever Stamps (at $0.41).

The USPS has printed an estimated 5 billion Forever Stamps to meet their “expected demand”, and May 11th will be the last day you can purchase them.

http://www.usps.com/prices/

-Danny

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The moral of the story: For those of you who mail out (on average) 3 checks a month, get in your car and drive to the post office to get your forever stamps NOW! It’s a total savings of 36 cents per year! Also, please disregard the cost of the time you spent getting there and the gas you used.

This also goes to my aunt, who enjoys calling my mom to tell her that she saved 4 cents/gallon at XXXX gas station in Liberty, which is a good drive north and costs at least a gallon of gas just to get there…

-Cam

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Seriously, though. This isn’t a joke, Joel.

If I were you guys, I’d get on this fast. You might think it’s really funny now, but this reminds me of around 10-15 years ago. There were these things called the internets. Well, these internets came together to form this really big thing called ‘The Internet.’ A lot of people thought it’d get pretty crazy and actually save people money and at first it did. The problem was that people thought it would never get ‘too big.’ Unfortunately, the ‘proverbial’ bubble burst, and people lost millions of dollars because of their over-investing. Well, as it turns out, it hasn’t been that great for the economy or people in general. Just look how much people are spending nowadays. I mean, billions of dollars are spent on the internet?! If it didn’t exist, people wouldn’t have to shell out that much money!

I’m telling you, this may look really stupid, but as you know, history has a tendency to repeat itself. Get on this bandwagon NOW. Before you know it, the internet will be history and the crazy new thing will be parcel mail. Trust me, this industry isn’t going to crash like the internet. Hell, if the rising stamp prices are any indication, this thing is just getting started!

That being said, anyone want to carpool to the post office?

- Cam

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Ok, now that Cam has talked some sense into me I am ready to get on board. I am openly inviting all of you to invest in my new company. With all the money that we pool together, I will buy as many forever stamps as possible. I will store these stamps in a fire proof safe. Then in 20 to 30 years, I will sell these stamps for slightly less than their current price at that time. If history is to repeat itself, we should see the prices of stamps raise $.20 every 20 years*. So if we could only get $20,000 together we could buy 48,780 stamps. I will absorb the cost of maintenance on these stamps to keep them in like new condition. Then if history is on our side, the cost of a stamp in 2028 will be $.62. So in order to entice people to purchase our stamps, keeping in mind that at lease 2 of the stamps they buy will be used to ship the product, we will set our price $.05 less than the current price or $.57. That will net us a profit of $.16 per stamp. If we move all 48,780 units we will get a profit of $7804.80. This will give us a return on investment of 39%. But not so fast, this 20 year investment has a Compound Annual Growth Rate of only 1.6%**. In hind sight, you might want to just hold on to your money and invest it in something a little more lucrative.

-Joel

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pwn pwn pwn

-Chris

Hilairious.

Language Warning.