Despite today being Monday...

...there was no school today. It snowed over the weekend and even though some of it started to melt, the refreezing overnight left roads in no conditions on which to drive. The school district I work for has this incomprehensible practice of claiming such days "optional teacher workdays." A workday is simply a day where students don't have to come in but teachers do. In most cases, it's a nice opportunity to catch up on some things. In cases like this, it's the district saying, "We won't risk the children being injured on the way to school, but we could care less about the teachers." You may be asking yourself, "Well, isn't the day optional?" In a way, yes; however, if I don't report to work I lose a day I can use on another and completely scheduled optional workday. Anyway, I used the day to catch up on some grading and make some copies. And I even took a few pictures.

I know I'm late, but I am just now starting to use Stumbleupon. It's pretty fun. Of course, I picked photography as one of my interests. In my internet stumbling I've come across some pretty amazing pictures. Recently, I found some great slow shutter shots. I've always associated slow shutter with and time-lapsing or getting that blurry effect of objects in constant motion. I never thought of it as capturing a subjecting multiple times in one shot. The second picture is the beginnings of my experimenting with this technique. At present, I can only slow my shutter down to take in a scene for about 30 seconds. I may have to read the manual to see if I can increase the time. If not, I will have to start saving again to buy an even fancier camera that can. I took a bunch of pictures before I started to get it right and this picture was the best product. Things just got a bit more interesting.

Had it been a weekday...

...children all across Charlotte would've celebrated the Snow Day. Half of the city would've been shut down and hermitude would've soon followed. Growing up in Chicago there was no such thing as a Snow Day. School was never canceled because of inclement weather. Two feet of snow? Go to school. Sub-zero temperatures? Go to school. Onslaught of a blizzard? Go to school. New Ice Age ushered in? Go to school. I remember many mornings bundled up at the bus stop angry because it was so cold. If my face were not frozen solid, the look on it would've almost certainly conveyed that anger.

Since this particular Snow Day was on a Saturday, I wondered how the people of Charlotte would embrace it. My wife and I went to the park to find out. After about two hundred feet into our walk through park, I was abandoned by said wife who decided to wait out the 28 degree weather in the car. I gave up walking on the sidewalk because of all the ice accumulation and just decided to walk in the adjacent snow-covered grass. I made it to the hill towards the rear of the park, and sure enough, there were sledders. I was glad to see some people actually embracing this Charlotte winter rarity and decided to document the event. Here are some shots. This was not really for photographic artistic purposes, just some good ol' fashioned point and shoot.

These pictures were taken...

...in a New Orleans cemetery. I love cemeteries in New Orleans. The above ground tombs and mausoleums are so beautiful. I snapped these shots during my Thanksgiving trip. It may be a bit morbid, but it was a great experience. The quiet reverence that emanates from cemeteries is so humbling. The acknowledgement of past lives, the reminder or mortality. It really makes you take things into consideration and ponder how you'll leave your mark on this world.

My opinion of death has been a varying one over the years. I've never fully embraced the religious view set forth by the big three spiritual practices, yet I do feel that there is some kind of afterlife. The odd thing is, I don't accept that belief as an absolute. I think there is validity in the "heaven/hell" concept. I also think there is validity in the reincarnation concept. Still, there is even the possibility that nothing happens. I've accepted all of things as possible after-death scenarios. That doesn't stop me from my spiritual practice. I still believe there is a power/energy greater than ourselves and I do my best to acknowledge it. My most domineering belief is that while we spend our lives trying to figure these things out, we die as soon as the epiphany hits us. I just hope by then I would have done some stuff in between that someone remembers.