Journal Entries

I try to do or make interesting things on a regular basis. Here are some words and photos about my exploits.

Drone pilot for hire!

Since earning my FAA Part 107 sUAS Commercial Drone Pilot license I’ve registered on a couple of websites that connect drone pilots with various people who need aerial photography or videography. There is a wide...

I’m officially a pilot!

…but don’t let me actually fly a plane… I’d been thinking I should really look into getting my commercial drone license for several years, but never got around to it. The information about it is...

Tundra Storage Version 2.0

One of the first changes I made to my 2003 Toyota Tundra when I got it was to remove one of the rear seat pieces to give me more room. I only removed the bottom...

19th Century Photography with a 21st Century Nerd

What could be more 21st century than the selfie? How about “a selfie made using state-of-the-art 3D printing, some electronics hacking, and a touch of retro-cool 19th century photography”? As should be obvious from the...

Physical Computing Fun

Several years ago I found out about Arduinos and all of the amazing things you can do, relatively easily, with them and other microcontrollers, and the whole ecosystem built up around them. It is all...

I Finally Got a 3D Printer!

I recently used the pandemic quarantine as an excuse to get on the 3D printer bandwagon. I frequently need to make something, often something specific, but sometimes just anything at all. Being on the computer...

My most expensive piece of photo gear

That rumbling sound you hear is probably my dad rolling in his grave. Once I got addicted to traveling in the desert – and hauling all the gear necessary to make tintypes in the field – I...

Utah with Kari, Finally

Sothe trip started off great. Planned to leave at 7:00am, actually left about 7:15, so about 45 minutes early.  :-) Stopped at Horseshoe Bend. Because of the ‘rona, they weren’t collecting the entrance fees, and...

Jonathan’s 50th Birthday Expedition

For his recent 50th birthday my grad school friend Jonathan wanted to meet up with some friends and explore the southwest a little bit. The idea was to gather in Las Vegas, have some fun...

The Mojave

Winter is the time to explore the hot places. I had a few days open, so I decided to check out the Mojave. First day, headed out 93, turned right at Nothing. Heard about a...

Utah in February

I spent much of January trying to plan a trip tosomewhere. (Ok, in reality I spent most of January working, but anyhow) The original idea was to go to the Vermilion Cliffs, which, at over...

Great Tintype Adventure of 2018

At some point early in 2018 I decided I needed to be an adult for a while and get a regular job. That is a story for a very different post some day, but the...