Saw this cartoon in the Wall Street Journal. Very appropriate.
Eye on the Ball
Let’s think about a sports analogy… as in your team has the ball. It doesn’t matter what the other team did with the ball. If you want to play the game, and score points, and ultimately win, you have to move the ball toward the goal. You can’t sit around whining about what the other team did. You can’t moan about the rules. You can’t blame the fans for not cheering you on. You can’t win on defense. You have to get out there and carry the ball before the other team takes it away from you.
Think about that when you’re reading the newspaper or watching television. Too many people are blabbering about nothing, about the past, about things that don’t matter. Too few are executing the job at hand. Maybe they’re incompetent. Maybe they’re out of their league. Maybe they should be replaced.
Just saying.
Proud Postage
Consistent with my use of fountain pens is my affection for written correspondence. Thus, there is the need for postage and lately I’ve found the stamps produced by the United States Postal Service to be less than inspired. They’re just in a rut; sooner or later they’ll deliver some good ones. In the mean time I have a source for great stamps. Here’s a shot of just a few of them:
Of course, my favorite is the Gadsden Flag in the upper left corner. (That’s the one that says, “Don’t Tread On Me.”) Don’t miss the George S. Patton one in the upper right, either. There are the ones with the American Revolution theme, space exploration, and nautical history. My supplier must have a deep well of these because I send approximately 50-60 pieces of mail to both US and international destinations each month. He’s never run out and I’m grateful.
These stamps are works of art and a sort of time capsule that capture history and the mood of the age. Compared to anemic email with it’s slang, shortcuts, silly animations, these stamps stand tall. And they should. The recipients of my letters and cards frequently comment on how they like the stamps. Drop someone a handwritten note once in a while to show your affection and appreciation. After all, that’s what friends are for.
Goodbye Kodachrome
Kodak announced that it is discontinuing it’s famous Kodachrome line of film. I greet this news with sadness. I remember using Kodachrome years ago, when I was in highschool and again in college. More recently, I’ve used Ektachrome, a film with which I’ve been able to achieve stunning results (in terms of color rendition, clarity, and so forth). However, the digital age has been upon us for some time now and sooner or later film will be a quaint thing of the past.
In some ways, this is a good thing. Film processing produces a bit of pollution and waste that digital photography virtually eliminates. Furthermore, digital manipulation can be less expensive and time consuming than the “old” way of chemicals and enlargers. No the results are not the same; they can’t be the same. The process is different. Thus, it is neither better nor worse in my opinion, simply different. I can accept that and adapt. Along the same lines, photography is open to more people due to reduced costs. This is another good thing as there are some sharp eyes out there who might otherwise not have a chance to practice the art.
Still, I miss days of winding film into a holder, exposing it, waiting until it came back from the lab and that thrill of getting a great shot. It’s sort of like Christmas morning every time with both the joy and disappointment of getting what you want or not.
The Bent Page 
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