Chuck Grimmett

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Author: Chuck Grimmett

  • Day 17 – Hannah and David’s Cookies

    Hannah and David's Delicious Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies 

    I awoke this morning to the wonderful smell of cookies baking in Niedfeldt. After I took a shower, I went to explore. Hannah M. and David W. were baking in the house director’s kitchen, so I took a few photos and sampled a cookie. It was delicious! (Click the photo to view it large.)

     

    Here is the recipe they used (originally out of the Nestle Toll House Best-Ever Cookies book): 

    Choc-Oat-Chip Cookies

    1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

    1 tsp baking soda

    1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)

    1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar

    1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

    1/2 cup granulated sugar

    2 eggs

    2 tbsp milk

    2 tsp vanilla extract

    2 1/2 cups oats

    2 cups (12 oz package) chocolate chips

     

    Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in small bowl. Beat brown sugar, butter, and granulated sugar in large mixing bowl until creamy. Beat in eggs, milk, and vanilla extract. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats and chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

     

    Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 9 to 10 minutes for chewy cookies or 12 to 13 minutes for crispy cookies. Let stand for 1 minute; move to wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

  • Day 16 – Memory from High School

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    This video is from the beginning of my senior  year in high school. My friends Tyler, Dylan, and I decided it would be fun to eat Kool-Aid powder and record it. All three of us had a free two hour block where we hung out in Mrs. Opel’s room and were for the most part unproductive.

    Have you ever breathed in through your nose in cold weather and froze the inside of it? That is what happens when you walk to class in the morning and it is -13 degrees without the windchill. With the windchill, it is -21 degrees. 

     
    Tonight I volunteered at the Hillsdale County Senior Center to get my HTA hours for my scholarship (so it is not actually volunteering… just exchanging my labor for something else). I had to dress in a white shirt, black pants, dress shoes, and a tie. They had their large 25th Anniversary Banquet. Their donors were all invited.0 We were serving food and wine, as well as cleaning up and tearing down after everyone left. I was there for four hours, from 6-10. The good thing is that we had a break after everyone ate we got to eat as much of the delicious food as we wanted. Hors d’oeuvres, steak, and wonderful chocolate mousse were just a sample of the tasty fare. 

     

    I will have a busy weekend of reading and starting my first paper (already) on Virtue in Joseph Addison’s Cato, A Tragedy.

  • Day 15 – Charger Basketball

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    Foul! 

    Tonight I took photos for both the men and women Charger Basketball teams. I caught a nice shot of this foul. The lighting in the sports complex is not optimal, so I had to shoot on 1600 ISO and f/2.8 to get enough light, so I apologize for the graininess. I need to invest in another flash unit since I have one already and a wireless transmitter for it. Two wireless flashes set up in the basketball area would give me plenty of light. I saw another photographer tonight that had that setup. Next time I shoot, I think I will try it with the one I have. Even one unit will give me more light.

     

    Today was the second first day of classes (I have different classes on T-Th than MWF). So far, I am very excited for this semester. My first impression of my professors is that they are all very intelligent and on-top of their jobs. Instead of just handing out their syllabi, briefly explaining the course, then releasing everyone, my professors gave a full lecture in their first classes. I learned a lot from them on the first day, so I am very hopeful for the rest of the semester. Also, many upperclassmen told me that I have some of the best professors at Hillsdale for the courses I am taking; that also makes me excited for the semester. As I began reading the introductory material and first reading assignments, I found the works thought-provoking, yet not so difficult that I could not get through them. I will have a lot on my plate this semester as far as reading and writing go, but I think I can manage it without getting too stressed. I am looking forward to a great semester!

  • Day 14 – Disk Warrior

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    Disk Warrior

    Disk Warrior, produced by Alsoft, has saved me and hard drives that I have worked on multiple times. Corrupt catalogue on your drive?  Lost file directory data? Corrupt sectors on your startup disk? Disk does not mount? Disk Warrior will fix it. I keep my CD in my bag just incase something happens. You never know when disaster will strike your hard disk, so when it does, save your files with Disk Warrior. (Of course, I still recommend frequent backups…)

     

    Here is some praise from Macworld on Disk Warrior:

    Few utilities are as important and as reliable as DiskWarrior 4. Throughout many years, this program has showed its value as a data and bacon saver, and this new version continues to provide essential maintenance and repair features. This may be one of the few programs that every Mac user should own.

     

    Today was my first day of classes. I think this semester is going to be great! After my first English and Microecon classes tomorrow, I will write my initial thoughts on my classes. I also got my Vibram Five Finger shoes today! I wore them around for a few hours; they are pretty comfortable!

  • Day 13 – Reflections

    Sean Nelson in my sunglasses 

    I took this photo two summers ago. The figure in the glasses is my great friend Sean Nelson. The warm summer sun shining on this picnic table is a big change from the cold, windy, snowy weather Hillsdale has been having the last few days. It is 3 degrees as I write this.

     

    Today was a nice day overall. I sold yearbooks at registration all morning until lunchtime, and did some preparation for my classes after lunch (getting binders together and printing out documents, including over 200 pages for Dr. Birzer for the semester). I also relaxed a little by watching Rainman with some friends and then went to Tuesday Tea at Waterman for two hours, where everyone stood around and caught up about finals and the break and what classes everyone is taking. 

     

    Tomorrow I start classes! (If you are reading the email notification, since it goes out the day after I post, I start today!)

  • Day 12 – Snowy Day at Hillsdale

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    East Lawn of Campus

    I hiked through the 12 inches of snow around campus today to take photos. View the full gallery.

     

    Last night after I unpacked and caught up with some of my friends, I decided to ride with Matt Stone to Detroit to pick up our friend Adam Peterson at the airport. The roads were pretty slick, so we had to drive pretty slowly, but we made it there and back just fine. We left at 10:00 p.m. and arrived at 12:30. I then went in to find Adam at the baggage claim and helped him carry his bags back to Matt’s car. We stopped to eat at Steak ‘n Shake in Jackson (about 45 minutes outside of Hillsdale), then finally got back at 3:30 a.m. 

     

    I went to the store today to pick up a few things, then went through registration, and then took photos. My history professor emailed my class over 200 pages of documents to print out for this semester, so tonight I am printing those off, hole-punching them, then relaxing and catching up with more friends for the rest of the night.

  • Day 11 – Back at Hillsdale

    Today I drove back to Hillsdale after a nice break at home. The new semester starts on Wednesday.

     

    Here is my schedule for this coming semester:
    MWF, 9:00-9:50, Intro to Political Economy with Dr. Wolfram
    MTWF, 10:00-10:50, Calculus 2 with Dr. Treloar
    MWF, 2:00-2:50, American Heritage (H) with Dr. Birzer
    T TH, 11:00-12:15, Rhetoric & Great Books II (H) with Dr. Jackson
    T TH, 1:00-2:15, Microeconomics with Dr. Steele
    Also, I work at ITS on MWF from 3-5 and on T TH from 2:30-5.

     

    There is over a foot of snow on the ground here. It is beautiful! I will try to get out tomorrow to take some photos.

  • Day 10 – Snowstorm

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    10 inches of snow over everything 

    The large snowstorm that hit the midwest and northeast dumped 10 inches on Amherst, Ohio from 1 p.m. on Friday through 1 p.m. on Saturday (when that photo was taken) and the snow continues to fall. I measured at multiple points in the backyard and found an average of 10 inches everywhere. 

     

    I am on my way back to Hillsdale tomorrow afternoon.

  • Day 9 – I, Pencil

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    I, Pencil

    The Foundation for Economic Education released the 50th Anniversary Edition of I, Pencil in late 2008. Written by Leonard E. Read in 1958, I, Pencil illustrates the importance of markets and dispersed knowledge and shows why centralized economic planning cannot work.

     

    In the afterword, Milton Friedman writes:

    Leonard E. Read’s delightful story, “I, Pencil,” has become a classic, and deservedly so. I know of no other piece of literature that so succinctly, persuasively, and effectively illustrates the meaning of both Adam Smith’s invisible hand — the possibility of cooperation without coercion — and Friedrich Hayek’s emphasis on the importance of dispersed knowledge and the role of the price system in communicating information that “will make the individuals do the desirable things without anyone having to tell them what to do.”

    If you have not read it, you should. It is short, but powerful.

    Download the 50th Anniversary Edition of I, Pencil (PDF).

    Today was a great day. It started out a little rough with going to work at the high school at 7 a.m. and confronting Radius wireless issues, both server- and client-side, but after lots of headaches in Joe, Sean, Mr. Strohm, Gary, and me, those were finally taken care of.

     

     

    I attended Sean Nelson‘s web design class at AJH in the afternoon to see how things were going. It looks to me like he is teaching his students quality tips on web design and he is doing a great job at it. He explains what he is doing in words, shows how to write the code, then shows the final result all while explaining how and why what he is doing works. He teaches very valuable lessons. Great job, Sean!

     

    Later in the evening, Amanda went to dinner with my parents and me, then we came back home and watched a movie then finished one she started previously but never had the time to finish. It was nice to spend time with her. When I drove her home, the roads were terrible! The roads had at least two inches of snow on them and they had not been cleared. Luckily I drove my parents’ Suburban which has four-wheel drive. While other people were sliding all over the road, I had no issues. Overall, I had a wonderful day today.

  • Day 8 – Vibram FiveFingers

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    Vibram FiveFinger FlowArchived Link

    Today I decided to order these awesome shoes made by Vibram. In addition to looking cool, these unique shoes provide health benefits, including improved balance, stronger foot muscles, and reduced back pain. They have a neoprene body and rubber sole; and yes, they have individual toes.  Check out Vibram’s seven reasons to wear their shoes.Archived Link

     

    I first saw these shoes at the Foundation for Economic Education when someone else attending the seminars wore them. He told me all about them and vouched for their comfort, so I decided to check them out. I temporarily forgot about them, but I remembered today and wanted to order a pair before I forgot about them. I am excited for them to get shipped!

     

    Besides ordering shoes, I worked today and helped setup RADIUS service up and running at Amherst High School and tomorrow we are setting it up for the rest of the district, which should be easy since the server is already set up. I also held the second calculus and physics study session tonight. I think it was pretty productive. Then I visited Amanda for a little while. She reminded me of the Vibram FiveFingers (by making fun of them, but she still reminded me). I think they are very neat and should be comfortable. I will review them when they come in.

  • Day 7 – Mom’s Birthday

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    My Wonderful Parents 

    Today is my Mom’s birthday! Happy Birthday, Mom! (Most of you reading this are probably reading it on Thursday, Jan. 8. If so, my Mom’s birthday was yesterday, Jan. 7.) 

     

    I have very few pictures of just Mom, so I posted this photo of my parents that I took in December 2007 while we were walking around by the Vermilion River in Ohio. It was a cold but beautiful day, so I convinced them to go hiking and photo-taking with me. I love my parents, they have been wonderful in every respect. I can not ask for better.

     

    After taking Mom out to dinner tonight, I spent a few hours running a calculus review session for the AP Calc class that I was a part of in high school. Their mid-term is next week (the course is combined with AP Physics also, so it is a year long course), so I wanted to help them review and also review a little math for myself before I start again at Hillsdale next week, since I was out of math for a semester. I have a second session tomorrow, too. I hope I was somewhat of a help to them.

  • Day 6 – Long Exposures in Oberlin

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    Route 58, Oberlin, Ohio 
    Apollo Theatre, Oberlin - Long Exposure with zooming 

    Last night around 8:30, I decided to drive down to Oberlin and take a few long exposures. This is kind of new ground for me since the only type of long exposures I have done are the Illum light art photos. Even though it was pretty cold and kind of windy, I stayed out for almost three hours. Here are two of the multiple shots that I took. (Click on the photos to view larger.)

     

    The top photo is a shot of trees with red berries and lights in them with cars driving by on the edge of SR 58. The bottom photo is a zoom-shot of the Apollo Theatre’s neon sign. This is the first time I have tried zooming during a long exposure. I just opened the shutter, waited a second, zoomed, waited a second, zoomed, etc. I believe I did this 8 times. I am pleased with how it came out, since I have never done that before. There is definitely some room for improvement, though. In the future I am going to do some tests to see if I can work that into light graffiti. I have a few ideas of what I can do.

  • Day 5 – “Free” Country

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    Thank goodness we live in a free country where we can live the way we want and the government does not control us!

     

    …yeah right.

     

    Don Cooper, an economist in Atlanta, Georgia, gets it right. In an article at LRC, he explains a normal day in statist America. I suggest reading it.

     

    (I updated from my iPod today!)

  • Day 4 – Spring Schedule

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    Day 4 - Swimming Across the Sky

     

    I took this photo at Barber Lake, outside of Hillsdale on State Street. It looked like they were swimming across the sky!
     
    Here is my schedule for this coming semester:

    MWF, 9:00-9:50, Intro to Political Economy with Dr. Wolfram
    MTWF, 10:00-10:50, Calculus 2 with Dr. Treloar
    MWF, 2:00-2:50, American Heritage (H) with Dr. Birzer
    T TH, 11:00-12:15, Rhetoric & Great Books II (H) with Dr. Jackson
    T TH, 1:00-2:15, Microeconomics with Dr. Steele

  • Day 3 – Dr. Freeh

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    Day 3 - Dr. Freeh 

    This is a photo that I took on Guy Fawkes Day when my English class had its lecture in the amphitheater. I like this shot of Dr. Freeh. I really enjoyed his English class.

     

    In other news, I had a great day today. I had lunch with a long-time friend, edited some photos of Hillsdale’s swing club (finally), and went to dinner with my girlfriend Amanda and my cousins Henry and Jackie. After dinner we went back to Henry and Jackie’s house and played Cranium (Amanda and I won) and two games of Pictureka (Henry won both!). I had fun.

     

    Oh, a note on comments: I was getting an insane amount of spam in the comments, so I installed Akismet and set the comments so that someone must have a previously approved comment or have the comment approved by me before it appears. Don’t worry, I do not delete comments at will, I just wanted to cut down on the spam. So far, Akismet has done a great job and only a few spam comments have shown up in the pending queue. If you are an actual person posting a legitimate comment and not spam, I will approve your comment and once you have an approved comment, your comments will not need to be approved, they will show up automatically.

  • Day 2 – Illum in 2008

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    Day 2 - Illum Stencil 

    I was thinking about 2008 today. Among other things like graduating from high school and starting college, 2008 was a big year for Illum, Sean Nelson and my long exposure project. Some of our achievements: Two of our photos were selected to appear in the New Internationalist 2010 planner, some of our photos were shown by video in an exhibit on light writing at Museum le CompaArchived Link in Chartres, France, and CultCase (Culture & Art Online Magazine) included us with 6 other groups in a write-up on light graffiti. 

     

    In 2008 we also learned how to work with stencils to create different effects. This opened up many new possibilities for us. The original stencil I made is seen in the photo above. (Click the photo to view large.) You can also view more of our work on our Flickr account.

     

    By the way, if you were reminiscent about 2008 as well and made some resolutions for 2009, check out Anthony Gregory’s article at LRC about New Year’s resolutions. He suggests that all of our resolutions should be lowering our time preference. I agree with him.

  • Day 1 – Lorain Lighthouse

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    Day 1 - Lorain Lighthouse 

    This is the first post of my 365! I took this photo on Christmas Day. The sun was shining and I wanted to go out and take a few photos. I drove up to Lake Erie and took some photos of various places. This picture of the Lorain Lighthouse is a sample of what I took that day. (Click the photo to view it larger.)

  • Year 2009

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    For 2009, I decided to start posting more. I posted regularly last year until I went to college and all of my time went to reading, writing, calculating, and thinking. To get in the habit of putting time aside each day to update my blog or work on my website, I decided that in 2009 I will do a “Project 365”. 

     

    Typically a project 365 is entirely about photography–someone posts a photo taken that day to their blog with a little caption or explanation. Well, I am bending the rules a little bit. For my project 365, each day I will post a photo that I have taken (not necessarily that day, but just a nice photo so that I can display some of my work), a short opinion (mine, of course) on something that is happening, an update on what has been going on in my life, or an interesting article that I found that day. I will post something every day, and the last day will be December 31, 2009.

     

    Happy New Year! I hope you enjoy what I post for the next 365 days! Comments and feedback are welcome! (I had comments turned off for a while because I was getting lots of spam, but I think I took care of that problem, so I turned commenting back on.)

  • Fear for America

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    I have heard many people, especially here at Hillsdale, say they are afraid for America today. Most of them say this because they fear Obama getting elected. I believe it does not matter who has more votes when the polls close tonight. My fear for America will go on, no matter who gets elected. Things made a change for the worse before any of us, or our parents, were born. Until people in America embrace freedom and realize the coercive state is feeding them nonsense, things will be no better. 

     

    “There was once a dream that was America. And friends, this is not it. This is not it.”

     

    I will leave you with what Anthony Gregory, a research analyst from the Independent Institute, wrote today:

    You might think you’re voting against the war or tax hikes, but it will instead be counted as just another voice of unity behind the dictatorial mandates of the chosen leader. There is an awful lot to complain about. If you have fundamental disagreements with American politics, reject the whole system. So long as most Americans are swindled by the promises of mass democracy and distracted by its insanities, we cannot be free. So long as national unity is seen as a goal to be pursued through nationalism and the coercive central state, we will be needlessly divided.

    Read the rest of his article:

    http://www.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory170.html

  • Photo Portfolio

    http://cagrimmett.com/portfolio/

     

    My photo portfolio is now online. There are three pages to it (there is a black arrow under the thumbnails to go to the next page). Check it out and let me know what you think.