EngelFish.Net

January in Kwa Zulu-Natal, South Africa is hot. As we were leaving the Tala Valley Game Reserve, we saw these Eland and this Rhino lounging about. It had rained like the end of the world the night before, and the heat was on, so they were resting through the worst of the midday humidity. If you’ve never been up close to these animals it’s hard to imagine just how big they really are. I mean huge. It would be easy to spend a whole day just watching them run and go about their lives. I tried to imagine what it would be like to live in their world prior to the coming of fences, rifles, and the protections of civilization. How humbling would it be to live *in* their world, where you were just another animal trying to avoid the predators. And compete with beasts like this for survival. Sobering stuff.

A Norfolk and Southern rail line siding near our apartment, viewed from the Boylan Bridge.

I haven’t quite figured out how to do surveys/polls in WordPress yet, so I’ll ask the question in a post instead.  What is your daily “online life” like?  How often to you get on the web, and what do you do when you’re there?  What kinds of blogs, sites, etc, do you go to… and why?  Personally, I check probably 20 sites/blogs daily, and spend anywhere from 20 minute to an hour plus reading them.  Another question I have is, what motivates you to leave a comment?  I can see from my hits-map that I’m getting daily hits from around the world, but I get very few comments.  Why is that?  Just like my post from a few days ago, I’m thinking about what I can do to make this site more dynamic, interactive, and interesting.  Thanks!

 Today’s Photo: To celebrate finishing her exam’s, Taryn and rode up to to Dalat for dinner… with her shiney new helmet!   And I got a Flickr Gang Sign out of her too!

They say that you never stop learning.  I think that’s true, but if all you ever do is watch TV and order Papa John’s pizza you’ll only be learning how to be a better vegetable.  If you have a hobby or are at least mildly interested in something, then it’s a good idea to take classes and improve your skills.  So, if you are at all interested in photography, then you might want to consider going back to school, if only for a week.  The Professional Photographer’s of North Carolina is having it’s East Coast School at the end of the month, with some seriously talented folks slated to teach.  Two of the six courses are already full, but the remaining 4 are all sounding great.  It is kind of last minute to be signing up, but I think it would really be worth it.  I’ll be checking my bank account and seeing about days off… maybe I’ll see you there!