Ice Storm

Here are a few photos from campus today.   We were dismissed at 3:30 this afternoon and have had much more rain and freezing rain since then.   I snapped this images just as I headed to my car to brave the icy roads home.  Outside I hear branches snapping and crashing to the ground.

From c.heis

From c.heis

Now I am off to bed and hope that I'm lucky and can keep power throughout the night, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

From c.heis

The Campbell House

On New Year's Eve I packed up the car and headed out to St. Louis to visit one of my best friends. She lives in downtown St. Louis not too far from the Gateway Arch. In fact, she lives at the Campbell House Museum above the carriage house and gives tours for the museum on the weekends. On one of her tour days she let me walk around and photograph.

The house was built in the 1800's and for the most part owned my the Campbell family. What makes it special is that it retains 80%- 90% of the family's original contents. The furnishings are straight up Victorian opulence. I was actually taken back by all the grandeur.

The museum has staged the house so well, that as you walk through it, you feel as if you've stepped back in time and you half expect to bump into a man in a top hat and waist coat as you pass down the hall.

From c.heis

Photosynth

I finally found the Photosynth Inauguration Project. (Fair warning: MAC users need to download a plug-in to view it.) At first I thought it was a bit gimmicky but then I had to wonder, if this technology had been around 50 years ago, would we know if Oswald acted alone? Just something to ponder.

01.20.09

It seems somewhat fitting that my first post for 2009 be on the day that many see as the beginning of a new era. I've heard so many people refer to today as one of those days that you will always remember where you were. Most often, when I hear folks talking about such historic events, it's in reference to terrible events. Previous generations recall with clarity exactly where they were when Pearl Harbor was attacked; in Later years later when President Kennedy was assassinated. My generation all remembers where we were when the Challenger exploded, and of course within the last decade, 911. Today is special not just because it marks a new chapter in our nation's history, but because this landmark signifies a positive event.

I woke up this morning with a sense of today's importance. The media won't let you escape the fact that you're witnessing history in the making, but for me, the event was much more personal and for the first time I wanted to take part in it. I was completely awestruck at the first images of the nation's mall, flooded with nearly 2 million people. Around 11am we tried to stream the coverage only to get the message "You made it, however so did everyone else." One coworker managed to claim a bit of bandwidth, so her desk became our version of the mall. 

CNN was doing a special  asking for those in attendance of the inauguration to take a photo during the swearing in ceremony. The photos will become part of an interactive exhibit documenting the day.  I went to CNN.com looking for the link, but could not find it. Instead I found a special gallery of photos looking much like mine. Ordinary people in their homes and offices crowding around their TVs and computer screens. Whether  you voted for or against,  I think we can all agree that today was a special day. 

-c.