Year: 2005

Sunrise

It has been a while since I photographed the sunrise. I did a lot of them at some point, but then I just couldn’t see anything new in them anymore. This was mostly due to the fact that I photographed all my sunrises from my office window.

Today I suddenly saw a slightly different view. It was there for about two minutes only, but luckily I wasn’t grumpy enough to miss it. I grabbed my camera and made the shot. At times like this I am really proud of myself.

Album location: /photos/2005/2005-03-23_POTD

Blogging anniversary

About one year ago I have installed Nucleus CMS and started blogging seriously. I haven’t missed a day. Every day during the last year I have posted at least one article. Sometimes I have posted as much as twelve!

I have learned a great deal about a number of topics. Mainly, of course, about blogging technology. I went from a total newbie level. I remember now how hard it was for me in the beginning to get ideas for postings. Than it became a routine. My writing got better. My vocabulary increased. Soon I had to introduce categories to maintain some order with the posts. Than I’ve learned about comments and comment SPAM. Than RSS feeds and blogrolling. That was really an eye openner. Than were trackbacks. Than a whole bunch of social software.

Daily blogging did wonders to the popularity of my website. I have jumped up in ranking tables of Google quiet a bit for a number of keywords. My posts were linked to from a number of high profile websites. My audience grew several times during this year. I am now getting about 1500 people daily. More than half of these are returning users.

My relationship with the Internet changed as well. It became closer to me. I became more open. I have learned myself better. I’ve got a better understanding of people on the Internet. I’ve discovered communities around topics that I have never thought existed.

Overall, blogging during the last year gave me much more than I ever thought it could have. I will surely continue the practice.

One month

Maxim is one month old today. Unbelievable!

I told Olga that last month was the longest month of my life. She replied that probably my first month was longer. After considering the point for about two seconds, I have to agree with her. So many things happen to an infant during his first month in this world! Getting out, breathing, meeting a bunch of people, bathing, eating, crapping and peeing, moving, listening, sleeping in bed, wearing clothes, etc.

Don’t take me wrong – parents also have a tough deal to live through, but they are under a way smaller stress than the baby. (Probably it is a good thing that people don’t remember their first monthes.) Parents have to process a tonne of information too. Books, articles and granma advices about feeding, bathing, changing, walking and taking care of other needs of the baby. They have to change their way of life to welcome a new creature to this world. They have to pass through a number of psychological stages.

Anyway, one month is a real milestone for both the child and the parents. And I am extremely glad that we’ve reached it. It gives me confidence that we are not screwing everything up and that there are at least few things that Olga and I can take care of properly.

Off for the second month…

Picture of the day

Today I was photographing Maxim (again). He was very calm and was looking towards the window, so I used it as my primary light source for most of the pictures. I have also tried flash, but Maxim didn’t responde well enough.

With these series I was trying to capture emotions and different faces that he was making. Unfortunately, most of the aethetically pleasing images went terribly wrong in the technical department.

Album location: /photos/2005/2005-03-22_POTD

Wall Street

Its not often that I get a chance to watch the movie these days, so I am really careful with my selections. Today I’ve got a moment, so I watched something that I should have watched a long time ago – “Wall Street“. 1987 classics that deserves to be on all those top lists.

IMDB rating: 7.2
My rating: 8.0
Celebrity highlights: directed and partially written by Oliver Stone; excellent acting on behalf of Charlie Sheen, Martin Sheen, and Michael Douglas.

Continue reading Wall Street