I'm Back

Well it's been three years since I've written in this blog. I write in another blog with wordpress at ericfehr.wordpress.com, but have decided to write on digital photography. I am a 'canonite', that is I shoot with a Canon Rebel XS DSLR. My gear consists of the kit lens - EF-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS and a Canon EF 75-300 mm f/4-5.6 USM III. I also have a Remote Switch RS-60E3 for tripod work, a Manfrotto 190XDB tripod with ball head mount and a Lowepro Slingshot 200AW (this is a great gear bag for a beginner). I don't have an external flash yet. The one lens I am saving up for is the 'Nifty 50' - a canon EF 50 mm f/1.8 USM.Great for low light photo's or many other applications. Another lens I would like to own is a 11-24 mm for landscape photography.

you can see photo's on my flickr page at www.flickr.com/photos/ericfehr/

Until next time, happy shooting!

School is back in session!

The above 5 words create quite the opposite reactions in our household. Where I await school with eager anticipation, my wife dreads the first day as if she is trying to avoid the Bubonic plague. I love the atmosphere of higher education, cracking open the books and walking on campus everyday. (It sure beats working a full-time job; for now anyways).

Summer is gone and the rain is here (did it ever leave?). I glance over at my assignment list and I wonder how am I going to get everything done on time? I love graduate studies but it comes with a hefty price - pages and pages of writing, presentations and research. The end is approaching but not quite yet.

The Pool is Down!

Well the pool was set up wrong. We set it up so that it was leaning to the left and now it was leaning about 4 inches off of vertical. Multiply that with thousands of gallons of water = recipe for disaster. So now it drains and after I put a weeks worth of chemicals in it. Go figure!
Life is good at the Starbucks and I'm still enjoying my free pound of coffee a week!

The pool is up!

I love this time of the year. Its getting hotter, summer time is near and I get to put up the pool. I think nothing beats sitting in the pool when its 25 degrees outside, and it's too hot in the house to think.
Yesterday I received my first publishing company rejection letter for work I submitted about a month ago. I'll have the slip scanned and put into my blog. I didn't take it to hard, but its easy to doubt yourself because someone doesn't accept your work. Is my writing lame? What's wrong with it? These type of questions ring through my head, but I have to put them aside and continue writing less they overwhelm and deter me from what I love doing. Also, I do realize that there is a 2-4% acceptance rate in the publishing world, so I have a small chance. That just means I have to keep sending the material out there. Eventually a market will take notice.

NO major updates

NOthing super going on at the moment for J and I. School is beginning to wind down for her and she is looking forward to summer holidays. I'm just working at Starbucks, getting hours and hanging out at home. Today I mail out the first batch of material to publishers throughout Canada. I have a small hope that a magazine will consider my work - actually about a 2% chance, but you have to try.

Go 'Nucks

I thought that I would catch a quick, good game of hockey two nights ago. Two hours of hockey, then back to my last school assignment. But nooooo, the Canucks have to play in the 6th longest NHL game ever. 5.5 hours later I'm crawling into bed. phew! what an exciting game and an even more exciting win!

I can't waitfor my my paper to be done and the spring semester to finally be over so I can rest my brain for a month. (Since I'm a sucker for punishment i'm taking a class in June for a week. It looks like a fairly intense course. - BIE 734A Exposition of Ephesians). Go Canucks Go!!!

Starbucks, School and Running

So far working at Starbucks is great. I'm enjoying the free coffee, the partners and time to catch up on my studies.

School is almost done for the semester (finally), though I do have 2 more assignments. A 5 page response paper and a 12-15 page theology paper. Then I have a few weeks off before my modular course in June. (Exegesis of the Book of Ephesians).

On a different note, I ran a 5km race in Mission on April 1 (Spring Ahead Run). I was surprised to find out that I got third place in my age category (30-34) for my time of 31.04 minutes. Woo Hoo.

The first picture is me getting a thermal blanket because it was super cold standing around for the prize draw and medal's. The second photo is me getting my first ever running medal (a nice shiny bronze!). To put everything into perspective though; a 20 yr old ran the 5K in 16:44 minutes and a 50-54 yr old man ran it in 16:30 minutes. SO if I think I'm all that, I'm not. However, I did o.k. for myself.