Author: Doug

Here are some photos of the wild dogs that chased me down while I was out chasing this year. I stopped on the side of the road in South Dakota to get a shot of a dying super cell and then these guys came out of nowhere from the house across the highway.

These guys were looking at me like I was their new chew toy and like some crazy horror movie, they kept following me around until I got back in my Jeep after fighting them off and got away with my life…

Okay, so they were not that dangerous, but they were fun to play with while waiting for the storm to do something.

After 3 years of work, sorting, video editing, reviewing, scanning, re scanning, touching up photos, the whole fucking project is almost done. After having a shitty holiday and just staying home to work vs being invited over for left overs at my brothers house, I was able to get a lot of stuff done.

The new WeatherPaparazzi.com will soon be up and running.

Just for the people wondering how many photos I have to review, I did a CHKDSK on my photo drives. Total number of files to be reviewed, 22,092.

This should keep me busy tomorrow.

It was the day before thanksgiving and the lakes were still open…

I did a solo scuba dive in Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis this morning. 

The water temp at 40 feet was 40 degrees.   The temp at the surface was 43 degrees. 

The two piece 5mm wet suit, hood and gloves kept me warm until I had to do the 2 minute safety stop at 15 feet  and could feel the start of hypothermia. 

Oh yeah, what does 40 degree water feel like at 40 feet on bare skin?  It feels like the parts of your face that are exposed are burning off with a blow torch.  Otherwise the space suit kept me warm as long as I kept moving around.

Next time I’m going to have to find a buddy to go diving with because this shit is getting dangerous at those temps.   I might do the Crosby Mine pits this weekend and go down to over 80 feet down but first I’m going to need a warmer hood!!!

After thinking I was done with all the scanning, I was not.  When I sat down to start reviewing the scans today, I found some huge streaks in some of the images.  It was nothing on the image itself but the film touching the glass base of the scanner.  I tried to fix it but it is not happening.  So I came up with an idea.  I have a bunch of old Pakon plastic slide mounts for the E6 I used to develop by hand.  So I’m cutting the C41 negs and putting them into slide mounts to try and flatten them out to scan them clean.

So far it looks to be working.  Just set me back by another day. 

On a good note, I heard back from the client today about the 19 hours of footage I sent them.  They will have it all reviewed by next week and let me know which shots they want.  Hoping to sell them at least 45 minutes of video…

Ok, the Pakon trick worked perfect to fix the scanning.  It has flattened the negs out to the point where they scan perfect.  The down side, I have to rescan the stuff and that will take some time.  But at least it looks cool.

Not sure why but I have not been able to sleep much. Maybe the stress of planning a move, maybe the whole going back to school thing, maybe this insane video project I have been working on for the last week to get it completed for the client in time along with wrapping up the storms of 2006 chapter for Verne but I have felt like shit for the last week and can’t sleep.  

On a good note, I’m down to 250 Lbs from 274 Lbs a few weeks ago (see prior post) and the weight keeps dropping off. Maybe I can’t sleep due to the coffee withdrawal and lack of caffeine. I’ll get maybe an hour of sleep then I’ll wake up. I think I should go and get checked out with the sharp pains I’ve been getting in my sides. Oh well, I’ll sleep when I’m dead…

Okay I was again doing a shoot at the Mall of America. for my agent for some people I had no idea who they were. If your on a TV show and I’m shooting video of you for another TV show on CNN or Inside Edition for archive footage, please don’t take it the wrong way I have no clue who you are. I work a lot, travel a lot and spend more time looking at weather charts and editing video then most people spend at a full time job or would care to know how much I work. But its my hobby and I love it.

Today I was doing a shoot at the MOA where their was some guys from One Tree Hill. Some girl was about ready to bitch slap me for not knowing who they were and every little detail about them. Um yeah, I go where people tell me to go and shoot what people tell me to shoot. The guy that created the show looked like he was having a blast and so did the younger guy but the other guy looked like he was upset about something.

It was pretty crazy and funny with security because their was this freaky old dude that just kept taking their picture right in front of the stage. Security was even checking on him to see what he was up to.

The other funny thing was their P.R. rep was there and she would freak out if any of the fans tried to give them a hug. Worried about lawsuits and such and I can’t blame her. All you need is one crazy fan and it becomes a nightmare.

Been working on a lot of stuff lately and I saw this quote today and thought I would pass it along.

“Mankind has a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it”

That sounds modern but it is from Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784. And people wonder why I’m such a history freak.

Been working on a lot of stuff lately and I saw this quote today and thought I would pass it along.  

“Mankind has a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it”.  

That sounds modern but it is from Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784. And people wonder why I’m such a history freak.