Thomas W.P. Slatin

first cup of the day

Originally uploaded by Thomas W.P. Slatin Photography

first cup of the day

Here are some interesting blog posts I’ve been reading through lately.

• Personal Blogging, Documentary, And History
  Finally! Someone who understands the real reasons why I blog; aside from the monetary contributions to my bank account, of course.
• Finding Authorship In Found Photography
  Someone just like me finds inspiration in finding discarded photographs. Of course, I’ve only been lucky enough to have found notes, never photos. This guy found an ultra-rare Polaroid photo of what I think is a topless female, but I can’t say for sure.
• The Future Of Photography
  Somehow I always seem to miss out on visiting events like this. It’s sad really.
• E-Speech: The (Uncertain) Future of Free Expression
  The government is trying to limit our free speech using modern technology. How can they do this? Because the constitution was written long before modern technology and politicians are trying to say that the constitution therefore doesn’t apply.
• Intellectual Snobbism
  This guy actually has a point that just because writing is sold, it doesn’t mean that it’s good!
• Social
  A self-described isolationist describes his/her mental avoidance behavior. This post describes a very good introspective look at the author.
• 80 20 Rule
  An interesting look into the 80/20 rule, named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. The article talks about how 80/20 can be applied not only to economics, but to everyday life.
• 10 Rules for Email Etiquette
  Everyone who uses email should read this. Especially after reading about this horrible letter I got not to long ago.
• Clarity… And Not The One You Think
  Thoughts on life, depression, and newly discovered success.
• Cool Sites I Found Today
  It sure would be really neat if my website was considered cool. Even this person has a cool layout for their blog featuring coffee!
• The Axis Of Incompetence
  Oh how I absolutely hate incompetence!

Got something to add? Did I miss something? Post a comment!

The past few weeks, blogs that I read have been filled with Election 2008 propaganda. It seems that everywhere you look, there’s some more dirt being dug up about the presidential candidates.

Last night I heard on the news that Daniel Cowart and Paul Schlesselman had some sort of problem with the idea an African-American running for president and planned to assassinate presidential candidate Barack Obama. I say may the best man win and give the guy a chance, you stupid prejudiced bastards.

Take a look at this post, Nazi Skinheads, Al Qaeda On The Campaign Trail. And while I’m at it, Don’t Taze Me Bro!

In the spirit of promoting blog posts that have absolutely nothing to do with politics, I have compiled a list of interesting blog posts I’ve come across lately.

• Tom Leppard Reintegrates Himself Back Into Society
  I’ve heard of this guy before, both in a documentary on television and in seeing pictures of him the last time I visited a Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. I’m sorry, but although his body is covered with leopard print tattoos, he’s got nothing on the Lizard Man.
• Mythbusters Accidently Give Life To “Buster”
  Yay! Another season of MythBusters is on the way! It’s my favorite show of all time. Well, except for the classic re-runs that aren’t on anymore. Unfortunately, this guy hates MythBusters almost as much as Angie does, but I can show my support for the show even if the rest of the world dislikes it. Hey, this is my blog!
• Utter Randomness
  I sometimes stumble upon a random blog by heading over to WordPress.com and clicking on a random word in their tag cloud. Sometimes I come across something cool, sometimes not. Well, this paticular time, I came up with something great. So it’s posted here.
• My Weird Facts
  As you might have already noticed, my About Me page has a bunch of random facts about me. What’s more, I recently added random facts about myself in the side bar under About The Author. I should mention that this blog was written quite well by a 17-year-old girl. Quite impressive!
• Little Dramas
  Finally I met someone who shares the same burden as me. That burden is the safekeeping of everyone else’s secrets. This one gives an interesting look into the lives of one persons co-workers.
• Vintage Flare
  A handful of impressive vintage-looking photographs taken using modern day equipment. A must-see!
• Ever Leave Notes Around The House? Share ‘Em With The World!
  A new(?) website, Spousenotes.com allows folks to share household notes over the internet. Don’t get me wrong, I think this is cool, but FOUND Magazine did it first.

Did I miss something? I’m trying to diversify these speedlinking posts as much as possible, but sometimes often I miss out on some really good stuff. Feel free (as always) to plug your blog by posting a comment.

laundry in a dryer

Originally uploaded by Thomas W.P. Slatin Photography

laundry in a dryer

I can’t believe that this photo is still around!  Apparently my friends from Camp Chateaugay posted this photo of me (on the right), and my friend Mitch Goldman (left) performing a skit entitled Pencils.  It’s really ironic that just two days ago, I was in the area and drove by Narrows Road in Merrill, NY, where camp is located.  I was in the area doing some photography.  By the way, photo credit goes to Justin Port.

This past weekend I went hiking somewhere in Upstate New York.  While exploring off-trail a little bit, I spotted this abandoned metal bucket hanging from a branch by a long wire.  Curiosity got the best of me and I went in for a closer look.  Upon closer inspection, I noticed that this bucket had been hanging here for quite some time, though I have no idea how long exactly, but the bottom was nowhere to be found.

Yesterday I saw snow on the ground in Upstate New York. Although it’s been officially fall time for well over a month, I still don’t acknowledge the end of summer until I see snow on the ground. This made me a little sad because as soon as spring comes around, I start making plans to do it all, everything, because after all, I have all summer long to do it.

So instead of writing about all the things I didn’t get to, and the handful of projects I started but never finished, I’m going to point out a few highlights and accomplishments of this past summer.

I took a business trip to Florida. Along the way, I stopped in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina (home of South of The Border). Of course, once I crossed the border into Florida, Angie reminded me that I promised her that some day I’d take her to Disney World (6 years ago!). So, after the business deals were done, we took a trip to Walt Disney World Florida. Good times. While I’m still on the subject of travel, I should mention that on the way home, we stopped in Richmond, Virginia to visit the Poe Museum. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of the Welcome To Virgina sign, so I will have to stop and do so next time I travel to Virginia for the 50-State Tour.

On a completely different trip (earlier in the summer), Angie and I took a trip to Mount Washington, New Hampshire.  I took a bunch of photos, a few of which are featured on the website.

As far as personal goals are concerned, I got my first book published, and I’m thinking of writing another, though I’m not even close to deciding on what genre I’m going to pursue, though it’s not going to be another book of poetry.

But above all else, I took a ton of photographs and one video of Oswald. Next summer, I plan on hiking a bunch of peaks in the Adirondacks, specifically checking out the Poke-O-Moonshine lookout tower and Mount Marcy. I’ve got all winter to walk around on snowshoes and get ready for the a summer filled with camping, hiking, and kayaking. Oh, and lots more photos and video.

Stay tuned for a lot of updates to the site during the cold winter months when traveling gets more difficult and the cold weather outside keeps folks like me inside because it’s sometimes too much of a hassle to get bundled up to do anything out in the cold.  A few minor improvements were made to the site during the summer months, more improvements are still in the planning & development stages.

got milk?

Originally uploaded by Thomas W.P. Slatin Photography

got milk?

The other day, I received the strangest email from someone whom I’d lost touch with about 10 years ago.  I’m not trying to hurt anyone’s feelings here, so I’ve decided not to include the letter or the name of the person who sent it.  Let me just say that it didn’t make any sense to me and that I spent quite some time reading through it trying to figure out what the person was trying to say.  It was so poorly written that it actually gave me a headache.  I thought that printing out a copy would help me be able to figure out what the person was trying to say.  Printing it only made the problem worse, so the email went into the trash.

I have seen a plethora of books out there that make an attempt to make people better writers.  A few handful of books actually deal with writing letters and correspondence.  What confused me the most is that the person in question just so happens to be an extremely intelligent individual with a college education and a very successful real estate business in New York City.  One would hope that if someone does posses a college degree that they might be able to write a friendly letter to someone that would be able to communicate at least one very simple idea.  Apparently, a degree does not always include basic written communication skills.

This letter, amoung a few others that come to mind that have been sent to me over the years make me wonder if I should write a book of templates on how to write letters.  For example, how to write a break-up letter, how to write a ransom note, or how to write a letter to someone to let them know that you’re not going to pay off your enormous gambling debt and at the same time ask them not to get too irate over it.

The future is wide open for me and my book-writing career thanks to this very odd letter I read the other day.  So, thanks to LJ from NYC for the inspiration!