"They're the people who are trying to kill us."

Last night at the fair (see previous post), several local churches had set up booths. That in itself isn't surprising; we're in the Bible Belt after all. I'm certainly not a fan of people proselytizing to me, but I respect the beliefs of others enough that I usually just smile politely and try to extricate myself as quickly as possible. One kindly looking, grandfatherly old man approached me as I walked past one of the church booths, holding out what I assumed would simply be a Christain tract of some kind. As he handed it to me he asked, "Do you know about Islam? They're the people who are trying to kill us! Next Thursday, Dave Miller [this fellow] is coming to tell us all about them. You should come." Oh. My. God.

Okefenokee Agricultural Fair

Early this evening, my mom was scheduled to man the Waycross College booth at the Okefenokee Agricultural Fair here in Waycross. (She teaches history at Waycross College, by the way.) I went with her (outfitted in a ridiculously large Waycross College t-shirt) and, in exchange for getting into the fair for free, helped her run the booth. This entailed spending an hour passing out Waycross College brochures, catalogues, bracelets, pens, balloons and t-shirts to those interested. For some reason, the t-shirts only came in size 2XL... although that didn't really seem to be a problem for most.

Mom in the Waycross College booth


Mom and the Waycross College Swamp Fox


Me and the Swamp Fox


For some reason, you could practice shooting things at the
Wildlife Resources Division booth. My mom really enjoyed it.


Oh, America. Stop with the eating.
Also, stop walking in front of the chick with the camera. Please.


Infernal?


Ferris Wheel Sky


"Italian" Sausage


Sugar Babes

Also: For an "agricultural" fair, the agriculture was quite lacking. We found two downtrodden cows and a few other domestic beasts. Not that the Columbia County Fair (that being the fair in my hometown) was ever all that great, but it always had a huge agricultural display. This fair seemed to be pretty much rides and food. I did have a really delicious hamburger though, and that's kind of agricultural, being dead cow and all.

Housing Project

No, not that kind of housing project. My mom recently purchased a house (located directly behind that green one I considered buying), with the intention of fixing it up and selling it at a profit. There's still a lot that needs to be done: painting, flooring, etc. I'm planning to start on painting the kitchen next week. I took a short video of the house for you to see. Several people have suggested that I move into this house, as it *is* located in a much better neighborhood than mine; however, you'll notice that this place is far from habitable at this point. Besides, my house is much better than this one, even if my neighborhood is lacking. Sadly, I don't have any photos of the exterior of our "extra house" - even though I *know* I've taken several, I can't find them anywhere! So for now the exterior of the house must remain a mystery to you. However, here's a complete tour of the inside. Enjoy!

Know what I got in the mail today?

A brand new passport complete with biometric chip!

Wondering what I mean by biometrics? Click here.
Aren't they pretty inside?
In fact, there's a different picture on every page.

Practicing low-light photography

(Click thumbnails to see large)

Scantastic! Costa Rica 1995

Long before the annoying tourists of the world discovered and developed Costa Rica, Melissa and I were there. This was back in 1995. We were 16 years old, and spent three weeks traveling about Costa Rica with Melissa's older sister Brenda, who had just spent a semester there studying. Anybody remember the old 110 cameras? Well, I had one when I went to Costa Rica in 1995; it was turquoise. I just scannned in 22 of its pictures. You know you want to see them - not only do you get to see Costa Rica before every square inch was covered in condos, but you get to see how ridiculous I looked when I was 16. And what was with the Indiana Jones hat? Sigh. The things we do when we're young. Anyway, go here to check them out!

Scantastic! Korea and the DMZ 2004

More scanned photographs are on flickr! I've uploaded 42 pictures to my South Korea 2004 set, and 11 photographs to my DMZ set. Enjoy :-)

Fall Daisies

(click here to see it large)

Scantastic! Korea 2001

While no doubt you've heard the story of my abysmal first trip to Korea back in 2001, unless you're Melissa you probably haven't seen too many photos from that trip. I just scanned in 21, and while I haven't yet loaded them onto janekeeler.com, they *are* available for your viewing pleasure over on flickr. Just click here to check them out! (I like to think that my photography has improved a lot since then - both in terms of the camera I use and my own personal skill. Nonetheless, these photos are interesting to look at. Also, I'm currently working on scanning in photos from my 2004 trip to Korea; I'll let you know as soon as they're online.)

Short Grass

I got out of the shower yesterday morning (well, okay... so it was yesterday afternoon... but I'd just gotten up, which kind of makes it like yesterday morning) and I heard what sounded like a lawn mower. And it sounded like it was mowing my grass. Or possibly the grass of my neighbors. I got dressed and peeked out (surreptitiously, of course), and whaddyaknow: There's Ronnie (aka crazy naked old guy) mowing my lawn. Not like he'd asked to mow the lawn or anything, he'd just gone ahead and done it. Anyway, eventually he finished up mowing (and I must say, it looks quite nice) and knocked on my door. Hooray for the chain! He made no reference to the other day, asked how my mom was doing, and wanted to know if he could get paid for cutting the grass. Well, if you're in need of cash for your services, you should probably ask first; my wallet's bone dry. He asked if he could come by Monday to get paid. Well, he did mow my lawn, and as much as I think he should probably do it for free as penance for subjecting me to his naked old self, I suspect I'll give him the $10. After all, the lawn does look nice. And I can pay him across my lovely chain.

UPDATE: October 2: Just paid him across the chain, at which point he blew me a kiss and departed. Well, at least my lawn looks nice. And hooray for that chain.