05.19.10
Posted in General, family at 8:12 am by heidihoho7
So it’s a day before my sister Tiffany’s birthday this past Friday and she happens to get a newsletter about Tibetan festivities. Normally she doesn’t read them, but for some reason she did that day. In it she noticed that the Dalai Lama was coming to both Madison and Cedar Falls the coming weekend and into the next week. She tells me, “wouldn’t it have been cool to go?” and I said “let’s try, it is your birthday!”. So we start looking around and of course tickets were sold out, BUT there’s a handy thing called craig’s list. Thanks to Andra in Kansas and some quick postal work we had tickets secured by lunch!
I took the day off of work and joined up with my family for a quick birthday celebration Monday night. In preparation to see His Holiness on Tuesday in Cedar Falls, we went to bed early knowing we still had a 90 minute drive in the morning with the doors opening at 8:15.
The drive went quickly, but as we got closer to the university of Iowa, we noticed a long line of cars and time started ticking by and the cutoff for closing the doors got closer and closer. It seemed everyone arrived right when we did. I opted to go the sneaky route and hopped in the quicker moving right lane. I was able to sneak in further ahead after getting through a yellow light that got us to the turn for the parking much quicker. I let Tiff hop out to get in the quickly growing entry lines and I went to find parking. I somehow lucked out and found a super close spot in the lot right next to the building – not sure how everyone else didn’t figure this out but I was ecstatic!
I eventually find Tiff in line and we start working our way forward. It was fun noticing the variety of people attending – young and old, hippies and conservatives (at least conservatively dressed), all colors and religions (we were guessing). There were a few tv crews there and tiff made clear her opinion of Fox…
The lines moved pretty quickly and we made it through the metal detectors with no problems, even with my camera and tiff’s purse. (this was much better than when we saw His Holiness in Chicago of 07 – that was crazy!) We found our seats and watched as the 1,000s more people filled in the stadium.
Eventually the festivities began and the panel, along with the Dalai Lama, were introduced. He informed us that he was late due to a discussion with a chinese journalist (which it sounds like that was interesting) and giggled as he always does. He then got comfortable on his cream loveseat by taking off his shoes, sitting indian style, and pulling out an Indiana visor from his matching robe (which is maybe why he chose that specific visor in the first place).
Discussions started by each panelists giving a quick introduction and talk on their focus whether it be the university’s activities, religious focus, protection from violence, or thoughts on violence and education in general. After each the Dalai Lama would give his thoughts on the discussion topic which most of the time reverted back to his usual message of compassion, respect, and kindness.
A few things i specifically remember were his emphasis on de-emphasizing specific religions but instead focusing on the more basic need of moral ethics in both education and in life. He said do not disrespect religion but rather respect all religions. He said “My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.” Later he continued with “Respect a citizen, respect entire member of society” and said to ignore money, gender, race etc we are “one human family.”
In regards to education he said we have “education for brain” but need “education for heart”. That was one of my favorite quotes of the day and I think that is something that everyone can take away. As always he made jokes, though I think sometimes just to himself and giggled and laughed throughout. His laugh always makes me smile as does his openness to everyone. We left with light hearts.
And lighter wallets… haha! Outside were vendors of various tibetan goods. A few postcards, bumber stickers, scarves and figures called to us. Our stomachs argued and eventually won out – so we left to get a quick lunch.
As part of the festivities a sand mandala was created and put on display during the visit. A sand mandala is a temporary piece of art created out of tiny granules of colored sand intricately laid out to create complex designs typically on a table or flat surface. Tibetan monks train for a long time to design these and 3 Tibetan scholars in the US came together to create this one at UNI. Traditionally these are destroyed shortly after completion as will this one on the 19th.
We were amazed at the design and wandered around it multiple times to catch the small details… the pink people, a tiger, a large lotus, mountains, trees… just awe inspiring. Outside stood a Tibetan tent of some sort so we hopped inside. Tiff showed off her yoga skills while i took a nice break and enjoyed the breeze.
It was a great day to be out and about and we headed home with thoughts on the world, religion, and peace in our minds.
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05.03.10
Posted in photo at 7:46 am by heidihoho7
It was a busy weekend for both Bela and myself – his story will come next once he arrives home… As for me I signed up for a photography workshop with Nels Akerlund and his wife Anna at the Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, IL.
It’s a beautiful time of year with flowers blooming, trees with blossoms and fresh leaves, big hostas already grown, and rain showers at night which left wonderful drops of water over much of the flora. In other words the perfect time to be taking photos in the gardens.
Our weekend started off with an orientation on Friday night where we met Nels, Anna, and most participants. We talked about the plan for the next 2 days then took a quick tour of the gardens with a light rain misting on us and what would have been perfect conditions for photography; but alas it was just a walk though. Our real fun was to begin at 5AM on Saturday, which meant a 3:15 wake up for me! So after a short night’s rest I was back in Rockford ready for some great photo fun with tripod in hand.
Now i know most of you will be like what? heidi used her tripod almost exclusively?? I know, hard to believe! But there were many wonderful waterfalls and water features and we were out at sunrise so I took advantage of the great light and location and took some nice long shots for my fave velvety water.
We had 4 hours each morning to explore the gardens and see what we could find. Many of us hit the main “money shot” areas: main falls, the south falls with the lantern surrounded by blooms and maples, and the 2 big ponds with koi and bridges. But what was more fun was looking for the small details – the drops of water on the hostas, the inchworm on the Japanese maples, the patterns of rocks and stone gardens, or the textures of the maple leaves or reflections in the water. The small details ended up being my favorite images from the 2 days.
Each morning after our shooting time we’d head back into the basement of the Visitor Center where we’d start downloading our images. Nels and Anna would give a short lecture either on the basics of editing/ file management or give us a demo on Lightroom. This is where i got in trouble (not real trouble I don’t think, but i can be a smart ass)…
Our classroom was set up before we got there and it just so ended up that the 4 nikon users were all in the back row, i have no idea how that happened but i found it quite ironic seeing as how Nels is a Canon user… so some fun was had with that fact … then we go around and find out who are Mac users and who are Windows users… and of course I get strike two with my Win 7 machine… and to finish off the trifecta, i mention that i’m a Bridge user. (Gasps were heard)
So the whole weekend a friendly banter went back and forth in regards to all of my “evils” and a “we’ll convert you to Lightroom just wait”! Of course when something went wrong with the canon/mac/lightroom i was sure to pipe up 
of course the same could be said for whenever i had issue… like when Lightroom decided it wouldn’t work for me on sunday. (I figured it knew i really wanted to use Bridge so it just helped me convince Nels since i couldnt get it even open or the beta version either and ended up having to use Bridge anyways.)
I don’t think i’ve completely convinced them that bridge isn’t truly evil but at least i was able to show them that it does match lightroom for the basic functionality that they were showing the group (so stop badmouthing Br you Lr users hahahah!!!). And no i’m not sold on Lr yet, yes it’s prettier, fancier and has a nice WB picker but i’m not digging the fact that everything is tied into the library – like when LR wouldn’t open and i figured i’d just use Br – well all my ratings and edits were tied into Lr so I’d have to start all over. I like that Br ties it to the file so no matter where it goes – the ratings and edits go with it! I need to see of Lr has that option but until i find that option i’m sticking with my beloved (and FREE with PS) Br
Ok i digress! after our lectures we’d have time to edit our photos and submit them for a group critique and slideshow. This ended up being the fun part (besides actually taking the photos which of course was the best part of the weekend) – I always love seeing what everyone comes up with at workshops. I am always asking myself – where was that photo taken? Why didn’t I see that? It helps to broaden my horizons and constantly reminds me to look closer, wider, up and down, and look beyond the obvious photos – try to get creative! Ok, and i steal photo ideas too – on sunday i tried to recreate a few that i’d seen on saturday as well as try to do some shots that i hadn’t seen.
I’d been using my 18-200 lens (i know not the best lens in the world but i love it so) and my 50mm macro. But on the 2nd day i ended up breaking out my ultra wide 11-16 tokina so i could do some hand holding. With the bright skies later in the morning, not a ton of them turned out great but i did end up liking a few of them – it gave a totally different feel from the previous photos. One thing that i did see in the slidehow that got me interested was some ultra violet photos another woman had taken – I’m quite tempted i have to admit – they ended up being beautiful and super fun. just another option in the never ending world of photography!
So overall I’m super pleased with my weekend at the gardens. I got some shots that i’m proud to call my own and made a friend or two in the process 
My only hope is that Nels and Anna don’t ban me from attending more workshops haha!
For a few more images please visit my picasa Anderson Gardens album
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03.05.10
Posted in travel, vacation at 7:42 pm by heidihoho7
Oddities, inconsistencies, and casualties
So we’re sitting at LAX and already thinking fondly back on our trip. We’ve been debating which parts were our favorite and we’ve dwindled it down to 1 day at each location… canyoning in the blue mountains (which might actually take the gold), diving/snorkeling the great barrier reef with the heli ride back, and off-roading on Moreton Island. You’ll notice our faves tended to be off the beaten path – literally
While reminiscing we were also remembering some of the fun (or not so fun) things from our trip… starting with the unlimited movies on the V Australia flights (a 6 movie marathon on the way back), the “Virgin Loo” at the Brisbane Airport, the 18% grade hills going up to Tamborine Mtn (with the flood detours). We thoroughly loved the people watching and have determined we are definitely not in style, but don’t necessarily want to be.
We also determined that if you are planning a visit to Australia make sure you are early for everything! Even our flights were early… for our return flight from brissy the info boards all said boarding in 15minutes – which in the states means it actually might start boarding 15 minutes from then… NOPE! We get up to the counter and almost all 400+ people are already boarded and they were making final call! Similar scenarios for shuttle pickups and most things in general, always plan ahead!!
While making our final way through security we also were thinking back on the inconsistencies of the security in all airports. Shoes off, boarding pass in hand, no boarding pass in the bin, no wait shoes are ok, no dumbbells (i had a weight similar to a dumbbell), no water or other liquids, water ok (or at least it made it through), umbrellas out, umbrellas in, under 7 Kilos, no weight limits (think goodness they didn’t check this for us). Nothing was the same, but it definitely made it interesting!
And finally our casualties… my waterproof camera that stopped working but might now be functioning again, my 18-200 lens that fell apart (warranty to be checked), my SD card that failed (recovery TBD), and the flat stanley that never got placed… nothing that couldn’t be dealt with, just makes the trip more interesting!
In summary, a super trip! Thanks Jess for being my “partner” – in crime of course Now back to reality, real shoes, sweaters, and our hubbies – now that part was nice to come home to 
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