Saturday, April 21, 2012

COOKIES!


GRANDMA'S COCONUT OATMEAL COOKIES! YUM!

Ingredients:
2 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 cup butter (two sticks)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 cups coconut
2 eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup pecans
Allergic reaction waiting to happen?
DO NOT EAT

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Billy and Sue Who?

I interviewed my parents and got both of their life stories on video.
My favorite story is the story of their first marriages and how they got together so I took those portions of my interview and made this video.
They have what I like to call a Tennessee romance.
Don't be surprised when they seem a little....strange......
I love them anyways =)


Tuesday, April 10, 2012

We Didn't Start the Fire...But We Tried



My dad and I used THREE Methods to build a fire, aside from the old 
Gasoline and a Bic Lighter Method. 

Stick and a Cracked Board Method!
Two Hands and a Stick Method!
Bow Method

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Holocaust Museum


       I visited the museum with a friend of mine recently and almost immediately we were welcomed in by an older gentleman that gave us the run down of the place. He spoke softly, almost as though the museum itself was a grave site. He told us what we should expect to see as we walked through the building. He also told us to pay special attention to the plaque that defined what the Holocaust was just outside of the glass doors that would lead us into the exhibit.
       Obviously we both had a basic knowledge of what the Holocaust was and what we would see in the exhibit, but we respected the mans wishes and read the plaque carefully. The plaque set the tone of the occasion and caused a new found respect to wash over us.
        The first thing we saw when we walked in was a multitude of pictures adorning the wall to our left. They were pictures of Jewish families and children that most likely died as a result of the Holocaust and already I became emotional. On this same wall were more plaques that told the experiences of a handful of Holocaust survivors. It was odd to see a wall that memorialized death but also showed a brighter side---> That people actually survived.
        The rest of the exhibit seemed to be in chronological order starting where Hitler took over and ending in Liberation. Throughout this excursion I came across alot of disturbing things--The kind of things they don't teach you in history books and images you wish you had never seen.
        Nothing really surprised me until just before the liberation portion of the exhibit where we came upon pictures and information on the medical experiments done by German physicians during the Holocaust. The one picture I remeber the most was a picture of about four or five children with burns all over their bodies. well a "burn" is not what these children suffered from really; they were completely covered--up to the neck-- in black, their bodies already heavily malnourished. I was--and there's really no other world for it-- pissed. I just couldn't believe that they would intentionally BURN children. What purpose could they possibly have had? I just imagined some random german physician sitting around one day asking himself "Are Jewish children fire retardant?". NO THEY ARE NOT. WOAH! Scientific breakthrough.
         After walking through the Liberation and Nuremberg trials exhibit, we stuck around to watch a thirty minute documentary of a few Holocaust survivors. These experiences would traumatize even the strongest among us. One women recalled a day when she witnessed an SS officer literally throwing a womens baby to the ground, picking it up, and putting it in a sack. It was strange how shocked I was at this. I knew Nazis were evil but that was just too much. I'm an agnostic, and yet for those few moments I believed in Satan and in Hell...apparently both have resided in one form or another on this Earth.   

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Before The Electronic Calculator....

THE SLIDE RULE!!!


What is a slide rule?
        It's a tool used to perform mathematical calculations. Tools similar to this one (but not nearly as advanced) date back to the seventeenth century. It became increasingly important for us during the space race. Engineers were using the slide rule for a multitude of  calculations, eventually leading to the success of Apollo 11.
        Using the slide rule is actually more complicated than you would think. Using a slide rule was at one point very effective. Older generations (including my grandparents) will probably tell you that they know how to use a slide rule, and maybe even say that they had used one in school. So in general, this slide rule functioned just as well as the electronic calculators seen today.
        My dad found this particular slide rule at a garage sale and what I found very interesting about this was that there is actually a name etched into the leather case.  The former owner's name is Saul Vela. Obviously I didn't go looking for him considering how many people have that same name, but it was very interesting to imagine what this person used the slide rule for and it was exciting to know that someone had put this object to good use.
        I honestly have no earthly idea how to use a slide rule but I plan on asking my grandfather, my grandmother, my dad, and the good old internet to help me figure it out. I believe that knowing how to use the slide rule would be an interesting skill to have.


BROWNIE JUNIOR!....A small brownie? NO!!!



Brownie Junior Six-20




         This is my dads old Brownie Junior six-20. He found it at a garage sale about two years ago and has been saving it in a glass case ever since. The finders of the camera are rusting on the edges and foggy but still you can see a rather faint image through them. The vinyl on the outside of the camera is actually intact but the leather strap on the top is deteriorating. This camera isn't really worth much today and I doubt it will be worth very much to many people in the near future, but I just fell in love with it. It's such a simple camera and although I'm the only one who cares about it, I would like to some day restore it to the best of my abilities.
          First I guess I would look for a camera (Ebay) of the same model that has at least the strap in tact and replace that strap onto my camera. I would take my camera apart (which my dad can't wait to do) and see if I can find a non abrasive solution with which to clean the lens and the horizontal and vertical finders. The face plate also has a few abrasion on it, but it's held onto the camera by only four small screws so I'm sure that can also be easily replaced. I know that with all of the imperfections of my camera, that it would be easier just to by another Six-20 in better condition but the case of this brownie is so well intact and the cameras that I've seen online have the most imperfections on the case. In the long run, it's going to be easier for me to clean the internal parts of this camera and add a new face plate and strap. Hopefully, I will find some film for the restored camera and take a picture. That, to me, will be the most satisfying part of the restoration. 
     

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Grand Canyon




My brother and I made a trip to the Grand Canyon and back. We got there at about seven or eight in the morning, looked at the Canyon for about half an hour, took some pictures in front of it, and then headed back home. My brother was not a big fan of staring at "a big hole in the ground", as my dad so lovingly describes it.




I had never been to the Grand Canyon or out of the state of Texas really and I just couldn't fathom that the images seen on TV really were real somewhere, untainted by (much) smog and noise from bustling city life. I absolutely loved it...and if I had it my way, I would still be out there by the railings of the canyon, watching the sun rise.