Last night, I had a conversation that got me thinking – really thinking. I was talking with an individual (we’ll call him Ken) about how his grandfather was passing away, and how it was good that his grandfather was home and was resting in peace and quiet. As I was making the point that it was good that he was not in pain and was resting, I was greatly challenged by the Ken’s response. He said he wished he wasn’t resting in peace and quiet. I was confused, as this was a completely radical thought to me.
Ken’s point was that it was very difficult because his grandfather was resting in peace and quiet. Because of this Ken wasn’t able to talk to him or interact with his otherwise very strong grandfather. He wanted to be able to communicate and interact with his grandfather. The more I thought about his position, the more it contrasted with my position, and the more it contrasted, the more I began to realize I don’t necessarily want to die in peace and quiet.
Yes, I’d like to die peacefully and without pain. However, Ken has a point. I don’t think I want to die quietly. I want to die loudly, living life to the fullest. To me, that means spending my last days, and hours interacting with those around me. I want to be able to share my last moments laughing, crying, and reflecting with my family and friends. While rest is important, in my true last days, I’d rather sacrifice the rest for time with family and friends. Now, I know that it’s a luxury to decide how and when I’ll die. That’s not the point. The point is I want to live my life to the fullest right to the end.
Simply put: when I die, I want to die peacefully and loud!
In my spare time, I’ve been trying to teach myself some new tricks. I’ve had Photoshop Elements for the better part of a year or more. I’ve toyed with it, and learned how to do the basic editing of photos. With my new camera, and some of the newer photo editing that’s going on in the world – specifically tone mapped HDR images (examples here) – I’ve been trying to pick up some of the skills to make my photos look awesome.
Today, I hung out on the couch, listened to the football games, and learned a new trick. I figured out through several tutorials, and some trial and error, how to change the colors of parts of a photograph while leaving other parts alone. My first attempt was of a photo taken for some of our company promotion. In the photograph, we are wearing red jackets. I attempted to remove the color from the photo leaving just the color in the jackets. For my first attempt, I think I did a pretty good job.
In fact, I think the black and white color photo looks pretty cool. I’m going to start watching for photo opportunities where I can accent one particular color, and drop the other color in the photo. I showed the new photo to one of my cousins, and he said it looked pretty cool. In fact, I think it looks cool enough that it might be a fun photo to run in some of our advertising or on our website.
It’s Sunday, and I normally am out spending time with family or friends. However, this week is going to be a very busy week for me. As a result, I’m laying a little low today. As some of my regular readers have commented, this site undergoes a cosmetic change fairly often. It had been a few weeks since the last change, and I was trying to make it last longer. However, I came across a cool Photoshop tutorial on how to make smooth glass letters, and thought it would fit nicely on my site. So, without further ado, I present my new header.
