Ker plunk

Well, well -- what a pretty little mess we have here. I have nothing new at all to add to the round-the-clock coverage of +/- 10% rollercoaster stock margins, or the insanely thin current issues of my favorite magazines on the newsstands, or the roiling political fire tended oh so artfully by well-timed "breaking news" pieces (Palin the maverick is corrupt, Ayers is back, McCain is a flame-thrower, McCain is a firefighter, Greenberg took a bad pic, Obama is muslim?, the Sky is Falling). But I did want to chime in because the airwaves have been pretty quiet from my little corner of the map and I know some of you do miss me so.

And sure, some of us are worried, even though most of us photographers haven't actually ever owned any stock, and therefore are only affected in a Reaganian sort of trickle-down way; Fat Cats > advertising/parties > publishing/corporate > Broke Cats. Regardless of the slowdown I'm having a big year, but nearly all of that "big" has already been reinvested into equipment, technology, and the like. It feels foolish now, but ultimately it'll probably just look like bad timing. Part of that capital investment was spent on the last "bit of kit" (thank you Dr. Hetherington for that gem) of 2008 yesterday, in the form of a new MacBook Pro (which I'm not even remotely excited about, I just need a damn laptop). Do you remember the days when you would place an order and really be excited about receiving it? (Mine now sit in the shipping box for a week or two before they are dispatched).

We have all tried to keep on our brave face and not talk about how slow its been for us or our friends. It's been slow, yeah. This type of slow is the kind that due to economic fears can rarely be parlayed into any personal work that costs more than $20, and that sucks. There is stuff I'd like to be working on for myself, but the summer was just bad enough that I'm not likely to fling $4,000 out the door on a helicopter ride or something. And when the calls do come in, its hard to start the engine because lets face it, its a bit cold and takes a little time to warm up. Most editors should know by now that the groove is where we do our best work.

So beyond the jobs here and there I've been taking it easy, trying to work out more and get healthier, re-reading Huck Finn (yes, again), spending time with The Fiancée back from the wilds of NYC (and straight back into the final march of her 4th year of med school), and crossing off to-do's for the wedding checklist (5 more months, yeesh!). So far the only casualties are 2 more Hensel Porty batteries that inexplicably died on me this week (that makes 3 total?!).

I'll wind up by wishing my rep Leah a successful and prosperous NYC trip next week armed with a yet again revamped portfolio from yours truly. For those of you who would like to schedule some face time, you can find Leah here.

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