dominic eidson: Category Historical

Veteran's Day

Dominic — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:33:00 -0600

Today is Veteran’s Day in the US. The day we thank and honor all the people who have fought for our freedom.

I have the honor of knowing several in person, and just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I have a voice

Dominic — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 12:46:00 -0500

One of my favorite scenes in a recent movie is in “The Kings Speech” when King George is pacing in Westminister Abbey while the speech therapist is sitting on the coronation throne:

Lionel Logue: Listen to you? By what right?
King George VI: By divine right if you must, I am your king.
Lionel Logue: No you’re not, you told me so yourself. You didn’t want it. Why should I waste my time listening?
King George VI: Because I have a right to be heard. I have a voice!

I have on occasion felt like King George in the scene above. Writing that used to come relatively easy, has been a bit slow lately. Very slow.

Several friends of mine asked me when I’ll start writing here again. I never had a good answer, other than “sometime soon.”

I am starting to crawl out of that hole, however. I miss writing. I miss the storytelling. Most of all, I miss my voice.

I have a lot of material in my head. Some of it is sadly not for public consumption, while some of it will be put here, in due time.

And photography. It took almost 6 months to get my equipment replaced from the break-in and theft earlier this spring. That also got in the way of a project I have in the works, which I’ll be picking up again as well.

Look forward to seeing more on here, both in writing and picture.

After all, I have a voice.

Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

Dominic — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 23:58:00 -0500

Once again, I realise that things are a bit too quiet here. In the weeks leading up to the last few blog posts, I had just sat down and revamped my blogging strategy (Is there such a thing) to cover such things as not letting the blog languish for too long at a time.

Also, I am trying to focus the blog more around my photography, with the occasional theology post thrown in - instead of having a theology blog with occasional photography posts thrown in.

Oh, and did I mention the first of several photography projects that I was ramping up? One was on a pretty tight timeline, as it was due to start showing… in 2 days?

And then Plan B happened: While at lunch one fateful Sunday, my truck was broken in to, and all my gear stolen.

Gone.

You read it right: Gone.

A kind gentleman in a white Chevy Tahoe drove through the parking lot, took a look around and helped me to what would ultimately result in a new truck window and a sizable claim with my insurance company.

The meantime has been bitter-sweet. I’ve realised exactly how much I use my camera on a daily basis, and at the same time not having it around, I’ve had to make due with what I have left: A 7.1MP Canon SD550 and my 3MP cell phone.

Both of which have been surprisingly useful. I think can be a good exercise for photographers to force themselves to have restrictive limits, as it brings out creativity that previously was ignored because there were no restrictions.

The flip side of the coin is that the pseudo-hiatus has fuelled my passion for photography greatly. I can’t wait to finish the projects I started and start on some of the other projects that I’ve come up with since this all started.

In the meantime, hang in there. I promise good things will come.

March 6th 2005

Dominic — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 16:19:00 -0600

I can’t believe it’s been 5 years. Since I got the email from a friend asking if I knew where John was. Since I got that nagging feeling in the back of my gut that something was wrong.

Later that day I received another email and the nagging feeling turned into pain. Anger. Sadness. Grief.

John was dead. He was swept away and buried 4 feet under by an avalanche while, ironically enough, taking an avalanche safety course.

He was one of my closest friends, a strong Christian brother and one of my earliest mentors, continually challenging me to grow and mature in my faith.

It would be a lie to say that time has healed all the pain, but I look forward to the day when we will meet again.

Friday morning Hangover

Dominic — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:32:00 -0600

LOUD ANNOYING SOUND. (stupid alarm clock. smash.)

Light. (why did I open my eyes?)

Pain. (ugh. what’s that all about?)

Yes. I woke up with a hangover this morning. After one glass of wine last night. (Clearly my tolerance is, well, non-existant.)

But I had a great time. Because last night was my 27th* birthday celebration — the invitation set the tone for the evening:

We’re celebrating Dominic’s 27th^* birthday with dinner at NoRTH!

Our friend is getting older,
It’s time for us to say:
“Happy Birthday, Dominic!”
In the nicest way.
So we’re taking him to dinner
Because we all like food-
NoRTH’s the place he’s picked to go
Because it tastes so good!
Our friend he has requested,
That rather than a gift,
You bring a piece of powetwy
To grace our dinner with!
So come meet us on Thursday next,
One half-hour before eight-
And please we ask you - for Dom’s sake -
Oh please, just don’t be late!

There was much merriment had — it was wonderful to spend the evening with some great friends. Several people also brought poems, just as Emily had requested in the invitation.

Kelly and Marianne spent the time waiting for us to be seated to write their own little impromptu poem:

Dom, you used to be my neighbor…
That’s so cool, did you play with light sabers?
But then you up and moved, and I was sad.
Ah man, why’d you have to make her feel so bad?
And then you went and bought a big-ass truck…
Whoa, you just made Kelly Kemp say “ass”… what the f….
… but I’m still glad you’re my friend.
Alas, this poem must come to an end.

The food was delicious. (If anyone wants to go back there again for dinner, please let me know. I’ll be happy to come along for company. ;) Since we had reservations and it still took a while to get us seated, we were given a number of free appetizers when we first sat down. the Bruschetta with whatever was on it was DELICIOUS! (As was pretty much everything else there. Yumm.)

Krista brought the next poem — Spring, by Gerard Manley Hopkins:

NOTHING is so beautiful as spring—
  When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
  Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
  The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
  The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.

What is all this juice and all this joy?
  A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden.—Have, get, before it cloy,
  Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
  Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.

Dessert was just as good as the meal — alas, the Tiramisu had too much caffeine in it, and I was unable to finish it without staying up all night.

All in all this goes down in history as one of the best birthdays I’ve had. Thank you so much all of you that came, it is truly a blessing to be surrounded by you guys.

(^* Actual age may vary.)

Meta-Job

Dominic — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:07:00 -0500

As of Monday last, I am now the Team lead for the Network Engineering team at work.

Go me. :)

Playing catch-up

Dominic — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:47:00 -0500

I am sorry, dear readers, for having neglected you as I have for the last few weeks.

Life has been rather busy and eventful - so it’s been difficult to find ways to express everything in a concise manner, without taking to run-on sentences, excessive blather, et cetera.

(Blah, blah, stop avoiding the subject, Dom)

Fine, fine.

Here goes:

I am getting closer on the house purchase. Against all odds, the government and the banks decided to approve my financing. After 10am tomorrow (Tuesday) I’ll have a house. My very own house.)

I spent an evening a few weeks ago with some fellow photographers making images. Surprisingly enough, the image I like the most, didn’t get popular. Another one did instead. Strange.

I was coerced to attend a wedding for Memorial Weekend (under duress.) Nah, it wasn’t really that bad, just hot, humid and sweaty. All ingredients in a Texas summer wedding. I happened to take some photographs while there, carefully avoiding upsetting the photographer they had hired. I think I did well— we ended up exchanging business cards and lighting/equipment tips at the end of the day.

In my own infinite wisdom, I spent Memorial Day outside in the heat sweating while looking for small hidden containers. This is also known as geocaching, and apparently a dangerous summer sport in Texas. (I spent the evening recovering from dehydration and heat exhaustion. (Despite having drank water - apparently not enough.)

Did I mention I’m closing on my house tomorrow?

(Yes, you did.)

I spent this last Saturday floating down the Guadalupe river in an inner tube. Being a very common Texas recreational activity, it was much fun. On the downside, I did lose my sunglasses— on the bright side, they weren’t my expensive prescription ones.

I did bring a camera on this trip, but it wasn’t without it’s own problems. The LCD on the back was broken (effectively shooting blind), and we briefly lost the camera + photos toward the end of the trip. I’ll let y’all know when those photos are up.

Busy busy busy

Dominic — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:36:00 -0500

The last few days have been pretty busy around here.

Friday night, I volunteered as Security for a Caedmon’s Call concert. It was fun, the concert great, meeting the band was awesome… but it was long hours standing on my feet.

Saturday, we moved Rebecca and her roommate, Rebecca (a.k.a. Bopling.)

this feat was accomplished by 17 people in about 2 hours. Many hands make light work, or somesuch.

That evening, I was invited to a coworker’s birthday/I-finally-sold-my-house party, which was great fun. The party (not I, I drank mostly water) emptied the margarita machine twice (6 gallons total), I got to see some other coworkers in a more “relaxed” setting.

I finally got home sometime after 4am (I know, my fault.) And crashed in bed. Yay.

All the above was fun, but exhausting, and that’s not all of it… more in the next entry. :)

Weekend recap

Dominic — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:07:00 -0500

As many of you have pointed out, this last weekend was Easter Weekend. So instead of spending the weekend sitting at home, I decided to join a bunch of geocachers at Lake Mineral Wells State Park for a weekend of running around the woods looking for small hidden containers.

The weekend was great - Rebecca and Rick came with. A great time was had by all, but boy was it tiring. 4.5 hours of hoofing it through the woods at high speed, only pausing briefly while searching for the caches.

Sunday morning we slept in (8am for me, hah!) and made hot dogs in biscuit-dough blankets. Most delicious, once you get the procedure down. Yumm.

I was oh-so-sore and oh-so-tired, but boy, was it worth it.

I love the outdoors.

Mental health Monday

Dominic — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 08:26:00 -0600

As some of you may know, the last few months have been rather busy here in Dominic-land. Between work (blech) and some bad time planning, I’ve felt like it’s all GO GO GO with very little downtime.

This last weekend was no exception - after a full week of work, I spent all day Saturday and Sunday in a photography workshop. 20 pages of notes and a thoroughly overloaded brain later, I was ready for some R&R.

Rick had sent out an email earlier in the week, wondering if anyone wanted to go spend some quality time at Enchanted Rock State Park on the following monday, it being MLK day and all.

So I concocted a notice to my boss, mentioning something about mental health or whatnot… and took the day off.

David, Rick, Rebecca and I got a late start Monday morning, which wasn’t too bad - by the time we arrived in the park, there was almost nobody else there - for a while, I swear we had the park to outselves. It was a bit overcast, and the occational drizzling rain, but that’s not going to stop someone with the mission of “Just wanting to spend the day not in Austin.”

And that we did. We hiked around parts of the park I’d never been to - in the past when I’ve gone out to Enchanted Rock, it’s been solely to climb - so you generally stick to the same parts of the park. This time we headed out on the long loop trail, did some bushwhacking, some shortcuts, some mudding… it was fun.

The drive home was relatively uneventful - we were all stiff and sore from hiking all day, and sitting in Rebecca’s CRV for the drive home didn’t help much….

But all in all, it was a great day to spend a Monday.