I just put up a poll on my facebook page asking what you want to see on this blog. Some of the options are easier to do than others, but I would really like to hear your input on this: what works, what you like, what you don’t like, etc.

My very first blog post was on January 8th, 2005 on the beloved Xanga. Since then a lot has changed–with life, photography, location, friends, plans, and experiences. Life is a crazy, fast, and changing place, it’s to be expected. Writing or even creating work in general is an odd thing. You think of questions like: is anyone listening? What are people thinking? Why am I doing this?
I have considered that blogging for this long does create a pretty cool timeline of my life…but I want it to be something more than that.

If I could make someone’s day better, if I could inspire someone to create, if I could show you how beautiful the world around you is…even when you don’t see it, that’s when I’ve accomplished my goal.

~ Jon

Something I’ve always had a hard time with is deciding what all I should put on this blog. I’ve made a decision to make my photography business personal: avoiding the third person / removed commentary in favor of putting myself out there without apology.

But sometimes there’s things that are too random, too deep, or something that doesn’t seem to fit. I want this to be personal but also not all over the place.

So today I started a tumblr! I knew that having a facebook, a twitter, a google+, linked in, and this blog simply wasn’t enough, so I had to create a tumblr.  :-)  jonyoder.tumblr.com is the place.

My tumblr will feature more ramblings, more random quotes, more nerd-talk, more phone pics, et cetera.

~ Jon

I thought that was a pretty powerful message. We have so many opportunities to serve and the ability to create even more opportunities to serve. I want to live a life way beyond myself.

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I stopped by the tennis games today partly to watch my friend play, partly to take a walk because the weather is stinking awesome, and partly to take some photos. =)

This was fascinating to me…the stringing of a tennis racquet.

Then there’s the original picture.

For the most part I’ve stopped posting random cool things that I found online, but I’m bringing it back just this once. This is a great music video.  Just found it…and I like it.  If you’d prefer to listen to this song just by itself, here it is.

~ Jon

For all the cool world cup videos that I’ve been putting up, here’s some more:

• Introduction To World Cup Soccer (the Onion)
• South African Vuvuzela Philharmonic Angered By Soccer Games Breaking Out During Concerts (via the Onion, but I mainly just like the title. ;))

I think the Onion has been pretty good recently.  ;)  Also, there’s this:

My lovely mother, whom I love very much. :)

A flower, ehh no affection for this.

~ Jon

Well, the time has come, and I did a few additions:

• (home) Now includes my twitter feed on the right.  A good way to fill up the page  I guess. ;)
• (home) Removed all the different sidebar items (except recent posts).  I like them enough to keep them on the blog, but I didn’t think they fit on the home page.
• (home) Changed the picture from a random family picture to a collage of thumnails of a bunch of the pictures that I have posted on here.
• (blog) Facebook comments are a go. Now you’ll be able to comment on here without having to do long excessive tasks like typing your name or e-mail address before you add a comment. Whether or not it will get any more comments: unlikely.  But still, it’s now easier to comment.  Just a note.

I read this interesting article about blogs: How to Dominate Your NicheWithout Apology.  I sometimes notice when other people see a need to always apologize for what they say before they say it, and make sure things aren’t said in a definite way.  It’s good to be sensitive, but I also don’t want to have to make everything I do politically correct.  So I don’t know how this will incorporate into this blog, but I’m going to be looking out for my own over-apologizing.  :-)

While I’m posting random links, I’ll continue with some more things I found interesting:

• Buying a camera?  Here’s a narrative on what to buy: Dear George
• Some insight on deadlines: Six Things About Deadlines

And finally, here’s a sweet light painting video that I found:

~ Jon

Doing some light painting. My favorite of the bunch.

My brother fire burning on the dance floor.

Not sure what I like about this…but it’s a cool idea, well done, other people like it, and Ironman is super cool. ;)

~ Jon / obligatory

One thing that summer may or may not bring is being on the computer less.  Facebook less too, maybe.  So that brings me to my point that you should subscribe (ie: get e-mail updates).  Yep.

If you don’t want to miss out on blog updates, if you like anything you see read on here, if you want to get emails when I post new updates, or if you like Domino’s $4 large pizzas, you should subscribe.

The 2 current subscribers can’t be wrong.  Think about it.  ;)

Also, this form is always on the sidebar too.

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I thought this was super cool. I love visual effects, slow motion, lighting, and high definition, and I also like when all that is combined. :)

~ Jon

I hope that you liked the video as much as I did.  :)  I probably watched it about five times by now.

And then on a completely unrelated note, it’s formal season!  Here are a couple pictures from the ptp formal:

The friends that I came with. :)

~ Jon

I could go to the nurse and get excused for my other class, but I kinda don’t feel like it.  ;-)  I don’t have anything too specific to write about this time, but here are a few random things that are on my mind:

One Day, by Matisyahu, great song.

I’m kinda thinking of making a video to this song.  I have a few ideas.  I also never really make videos, so we’ll see where that goes.

Here’s another video that I discovered today.  It’s from the superbowl, and I think it’s pretty great.  It was also done in one take, which is amazing (take 57 on day 3).  The bathroom was a built container that was raised with a crane, the boat was also a set (it was actually just half a boat), then the ex-NFL player actor sad onto some sliding/roller type thing which slid him onto the horse.  Very few digital elements.  It’s pretty mind-boggling to me.  :)

Details on how it was made, where I found this, and an interview with the minds behind this commercial can be seen here (making of Old Spice commercial).

Finally, here are some pictures from our late mountain climb up Sugarloaf.  Just some snapshots.

This is a 20 second exposure. It was pretty dark out.

I like how this turned out. =)

Much love to all,

~ Jon