Saturday, January 02, 2010

Reboot 2010

This is sort of my “State of the Blog” address for the year.

I have to admit I am glad 2009 is over with. I started out the year with the death in the family. With all the trauma and emotion that went along with that I really had a hard time motivating myself to continue doing this. Some of that I am not sure will ever go away, but it has gotten a bit better. I will mention a little more of this in my next blog.

I just put up the “final video” in the old you tube channel to notify the subscribers on there that I have the two other channels now. The people that read this blog already knew this, but the people that are exclusively into videos probably did not know unless they were actively looking into the channel.

What I emphasized there is that I am doing somewhat of a “reboot” this year. I am going to start putting up HD versions of some of the old locations I have been to. A lot of the old videos were good for the time, but most of them could use the improvements HD will give them. There will be a bunch of new areas too that will show up on here.

I intend to continue visiting public areas I can give GPS coordinates or a street address to let you know where it is at. The GPS coordinates are to get you close to the area, but you have to know what you are looking for or you will not find what I have shown. Also, most of the time on here I do not give out locations for areas that are privately owned. There are a few exceptions to this, but if a place is private property or behind private gated communities they will not show up here. I do hope in any area that I show, that if you or others decide to visit, that you treat these areas with proper respect. One of the frustrating things I experience is going to some of my favorite areas and seeing a bunch of trash or graffiti. While in my lifetime I have always seen trash , graffiti, etc. it seems like I see more and more each year. Some areas I expect it, but in others I shake my head wondering why. Part of it seems the population just keeps getting bigger, but I tend to think the same type of appreciation or understanding of the outdoors is not out there.

Finally, as I have stated on here a few times in the past, the nature of my blog, pictures, and videos is not really so much about ME. While you will find out what I am thinking from time to time and what is going on in my life that is not the primary purpose of this. The emphasis is on what is out there in the world. What frustrates me on some of the forums I read to keep up with in regards to factual information I need there is always a few that feel they have to take over the forum with their personal messages. On one of the hiking forums I visit it gets really crazy with this. Sometimes I ask myself, “Are you really excited about the mountain you climbed, or is this just an excuse to post a picture of yourself?” When the narcissistic personality disorders compete against each other it gets even worse. While I do not think one can totally get rid of one’s ego when doing this, I do hope when people come here they can catch a glimpse of the real beauty out there in the world.

I wish you well in 2010.