About Renton's Benson Hill

Okay, I’m feeling like a dinosaur this week. I’ve had it! I have to get a new smartphone and soon. My cellphone is now officially the oldest piece of equipment I have in my arsenal and it's showing its age. I’m almost embarrassed to admit, I have an old Blackberry 8330. Not that it’s a bad phone. Actually, it’s been very good to me.

But all my friends, my cool social media aficionados have the latest wiz-bang toys.
Am I suffering from peer pressure?

Believe it or not, most of the photos I use in my blogs I took with my trusty Curve 8330. The camera is only 2 mega pixels, yet that’s plenty good for the web. I usually upload the photos to Picnik.com for a little touch up to get them ready for primetime.

I have Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare on it and I couldn’t live without my Google apps like Gmail, the calendar, maps, and alerts. I added a 16 gig memory chip so I can store 100’s of pictures and I use it like a thumb drive.

With all these accolades you may be thinking, “so what’s your point?” Well it’s choking a lot. Foursquare is the biggest culprit. It’s a matter of timing but if a check-in notice pops up at the same time I get a call or I'm trying to take a photo it’ll freeze up and I have to take the battery out and reboot. Yes, I have the memory to store a thousand pictures, but if I have more than 50 stored the camera takes forever to fire up or save. I’ve lost a lot of great photo opportunites this way.

Is this screen getting smaller or is it just my eyesight?

The new smartphone screens look like Cinerama in comparison to my 8330 and video has certainly improved 1000%.

Funny but there’s a part of me that feels a little guilty for thinking, “You gotta go! You’re just not cutting it anymore. Yes, you did a great job but things are different now. Time is everything. I got work to do and it’s got to get done now, in the field, on the spot. I can’t afford to wait anymore until I get home at night to finish up.”

Hm-mm... This is kind of reminiscent of the last meeting I had with an old boss a couple of years ago,
but she was talking about me! ;O)

Anyway, I researched smartphones so much I paralyzed my brain. And to make matters worse (or maybe better?) I have an Apple iPad 2 and after only a few weeks, I'm totally in love.

So help me out here... DROID or an iPhone?

Which one do you suggest?

The Nielsen report (11/29/2011) notes that 71% of all U.S. smartphone users and 83% of all app’s downloaded were either for an iPhone® or an Android smartphone.

I had to make a run to the grocery store this afternoon. I’m out of just about everything, except canned food.

I’ve been busy working on projects the last couple of weeks (and admittedly over obsessed about getting my laptop rebuilt because it got taken down with a lethal virus forcing me to opt for the last resort total nuke restore back to the original factory W7 2009 install) that I procrastinated shopping and several other chores.

As I was getting into my truck I looked up and there was Blackie.

Now Blackie I’m sure has an owner somewhere in our condo complex. I know this as a long time resident of the community. Cats get abandoned around here all the time. They may continue on the grounds for quite a while, several months maybe, but sooner more than later they get disappeared.

I nicknamed him/her Blackie, well because him/her Blackie is a black cat! It’s simple, without prejudice, and a throwback to my childhood. As kids we played in the woods, especially on Saturdays after the chores were done.

Unbeknownst to mom we weren’t just across the street in the little woods, we’d head from there down past Taylor’s pasture to the end of the alley around the old Hoffmeister home and catch the trail into the big woods.

Soon we’d pass Big Tree, palatine maple, and we're now deep under the wooded canopy. Then up and over Indian Grounds plateau above the high cliff we’d work our way to the railroad tracks past the big pond to the little hobo village. It seemed everyone there had a short name and all of us kids knew them as Whitey, Blackie, or Red.

But my point here is Blackie often shows up when I least expect it and I totally get it; "You’re not looking for me." I can tell by your cautious body language and your darting shinny eyes. "You’re looking for Charlie."

I’m deeply moved. I’ve never been a cat person, per say, but I’ve owned a few way back. I’ve always considered myself a dog person and I’ve heard all the arguments through the years about animals.

Do they really think? Do they really feel?

My Grandmother said it so many times when I was a child I'll never forget...

“They’re just little people too, you know. They have feelings just like you and me.”

I’m touched because I know Blackie remembers and still comes by to look for Charlie even though it’s been almost a year since he's been gone. Charlie was my daughter Shannon’s cat and as with all young people when life suddenly changes, Charlie needed a place to stay for awhile so he hung out with my son Jeff and I. We fondly referred to it as, we three bachelors.

I wrote a post about my friend Charlie back in February. As my personal coach, he taught me a lot.

Coach Charlie

I’m happy to report that Charlie now lives with a wonderful family including kids in a home on acreage. He’s a very social creature so this is awesome and it also gives him space for adventure and time alone to roam.

I just wish I could text him
to let him know Blackie stopped by to say hello and misses you.

Hope you’re well. Take care.

I’m heading home this evening, it’s Monday. I’m leaving the office late and I'm really looking forward to being at home. There’s a storm brewing. The wind has picked up and it's beginning to rain. It’s downright nasty out. I’m listening to Russian composers on the CD in my truck; Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, somehow it seems appropriate in November.

I think about my “great idea”, The Blackberry Chronicles. It was cool back in summer when the days were long and bright. Now it’s dark when I leave for work and it’s dark when I get off work. "How will I ever get a shot now?"

Of course doubt has a visit and I question myself. It’s a Blackberry, no fancy shutter speeds, zoom, or focus. Just point and shoot. I remind myself that the purpose of this exercise is more of a reporter than a fine arts photographer. Regardless I hail my imaginary audience with a, "take your art and shove it!". It’s not a picture, it’s a photograph. I took the shot and you got to be there, right?

I drove my usual route totally absorbed about being at home. Visibility totally sucked and the lights glared off the dark wet streets. It was hard to see and challenged my patience.

Okay, a little poetic license is in order here. It’s not really a Knight’s Vigil, nor was it a vision, but it did appear as I drove up Benson Road not expecting to stop for road construction. Who works on a night like this?

Then... there he was, standing tall with stop sign in hand like a medieval lance. On the walkie talkie with a coworker a ¼ mile up the road.

The wind rocks my truck side to side as it begins to pour. I'm thinking, "Now there's a guy who wishes he were home right now." Yet, here he stands guiding impatient commuters up and down this dark hill, on a dreary night. My angst follows the wind.

Thank you my Knight this stormy eve. Thanks for being vigil and guiding me safely home.

The Blackberry Chronicles
© ARFCO MEDIA 2010