Chuck Grimmett

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Day 52 – Ann Arbor

Project 365

Feb 21

This afternoon, Richard, David, and I drove up to Ann Arbor to check out the city. We ended up eating at Chipotle (excellent), shopping at Briarwood mall, and then eating dessert at a neat little place downtown called The Chocolate House. They had great expresso and chocolate cake. At Briarwood, I bought two pairs of jeans that were on sale at American Eagle and Hollister, and a nice polo that was also a good price at Hollister. We looked at many other stores, but there were no great deals elsewhere. I took the photo above later in the evening when we were walking around downtown. It is not a great photo because I did not have my tripod to keep it steady and I had my ISO too high.

Oh, one neat thing about Ann Arbor is that all of their sidewalk lights were LEDs. Very cool.

Also, I finally posted the answer to the math problem from 12 days ago. It is the comment at the bottom.
Day 51 – Niedfeldt Dance Party

Project 365

Feb 20

My dorm has dance parties occasionally and tonight was one of those nights. There were strobe lights going, so I thought it would be an interesting long exposure (thought it was not that long… only 1/3 second). Click on the photo to view large.

One of my classes was cancelled today, so I had a nice nap after lunch. Later this evening, I went out to get pizza, then went to a discussion on intellectual property (or, more appropriately, the lack thereof). After that, I helped David Wagner with making an interview video to go with one of his job applications. Also, Sam Branchaw and I introduced Aubrey Annis to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Also, I scored 100% on the Calc II exam I took on Monday! I am still waiting to hear back on other exams I had in the last two weeks.
Day 50 – Green Light

Project 365

Feb 19

Now that I have a few exams out of the way, photography obligations taken care of, and strong ideas in place, it is time to hit the gas on this essay. I have a green light and the path ahead for the next couple days is clear. Time to go.

I took this photo in South Haven a few weeks ago. I saw it and thought it was appropriate for what I have to do in the next couple days.
Day 49 – A.J.’s Cafe

Project 365

Feb 18

Today’s post is rather short because I have an essay to get a head start on and an exam (being given tomorrow) to study for.

The above photo was taken at A.J.’s Cafe, a cafe in the student union at Hillsdale. It serves food late into the evening and serves as a hangout/study spot for students until 2 a.m. I had to take photos a few nights ago of students enjoying themselves in the student union for a book being made for the family who financed the building. While I took lots of nice photos of students studying, playing games, and relaxing, I also saw this neat little guy and took a picture of him. I wish there were students at the tables, though.

Here is a good article pertaining to my post yesterday. I suggest you read it:

Printing Like Mad by Frank Shostak
Day 48 – ARRA Signed Into Law

Politics, Project 365

Feb 17

Today, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law in Denver. The final version was 132,974 words, cost $787 billion dollars, and the amended version was passed in a matter of days. The picture above says what I think – this is going to destroy the dollar. Inflation will continue to rise and even speed up. Before you know it, you will be better off burning dollar bills to keep warm than using the dollar bills to pay for natural gas heat. It is about time to pick a better medium of exchange than fiat currency (Federal Reserve Notes) backed by the “full faith and credit of the United States Government.” Want a stable currency?

The irony of the photo above is that if the government was burning money, the currency would essentially deflate. Luckily for us (not) the government is creating more money, which lowers the purchasing power of each dollar.
Day 47 – Elk Photos and Stimulus Woes

Project 365

Feb 16

Tomorrow President Obama will sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in Denver, CO. I am sure the federal reserve already has their printing presses running non-stop and before the ink of Obama’s signature dries, Uncle Ben will start up his helicopters and fly around the nation dropping money. (Obviously I am joking here… what they are going to do is just add numbers into a database and make it seem like they have money instead of actually printing it. This has the same end as printing it, though.)

What does that have to do with elk? Rocky Mountain National Park (where I took this photo in 2007) is just outside of Denver. This was about 1000 ft above the tree line in the alpine tundra. I put on my telephoto lens and snapped this nice shot of these two bull elk.

On a lighter note than the nation’s coming fiscal crash, I am pretty sure I aced my Calc II exam today.
Day 46 – Back at Hillsdale

Project 365

Feb 15

I am back in Hillsdale after a nice weekend at home. I had a little bit of a disappointment on the way back, though. To keep myself awake and alert for the trip (I left at 9:30 p.m.), I figured out in my head every couple of mile markers how far I had left on the highway and at what time I would reach Hillsdale if I maintained the speed at that time. As I came close, I realized that I was about a minute and a half off because I had been using the wrong exit the whole time. I get off at exit 13 and I had been calculating with exit 15 the whole time. (Exit 13 on the Ohio turnpike is Ohio State Route 15, so that is where I got confused.)

I returned to Hillsdale this evening to see the campus covered in snow again after having 60 degree weather last week. I took this photo at the beginning of January when I came back for second semester.
Day 45 – Parents’ 25th Anniversary

Project 365

Feb 14

Today was the surprise party for my parents’ 25th anniversary. It was a fun event. Family came in from out of town and my grandma and aunt arranged for my parents to be sent on a cruise in May. It was nice to see lots of family again. Here my parents are, still wearing the “mock wedding” attire put on them, doing the ceremonial feeding of the cake to each other. Their actual anniversary is on Feb. 18, but today was a good day to have everyone get together.

Today was also Valentine’s Day. Before my parents’ party, I spent a wonderful late morning/early afternoon with Amanda.

I will be back up to Hillsdale Sunday night, after I go to the History and Current Events Seminar here at home that I used to be a part of. The group is discussing P. J. O’Rourke’s On the Wealth of Nations. It should be interesting. Since I have read Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, I will discuss some of my thoughts on the historic book and O’Rourke’s explanations.
Day 44 – Hillsdale Basketball

Project 365

Feb 13

During my exhausting studying for my history midterm yesterday, I took a break to take a few basketball shots. Here is Keith MacKenzie, number 11. My exam went very well, by the way. I felt prepared and I walked out of it feeling like I was on top of what I wrote.

I still have a little bit to work on with my basketball photos: perfecting lighting and possibly using an off-shoe mount, shooting at a higher shutter speed to stop motion (at least 1/320), and work on my positioning for shots around the hoop.
Day 43 – Studying

Hillsdale, Project 365

Feb 12

I am in Kendall Hall studying for my first American Heritage midterm (Dr. Birzer) with one of my classmates, Anna Saewert. Today was also her birthday, so Happy Birthday, Anna!

I took this photo with the low quality camera on my MacBook Pro. (Photo Booth) I apologize for not putting a lot of effort into this post. The studying is kind of consuming me. I am going to do my best to change that situation next week.

Also, thank you very much, Sean, for updating for me yesterday when Hillsdale’s internet was down. I appreciate it!
Day 42 – Guest Post

Project 365

Feb 11

I’m sure all of you were expecting a post from Chuck this evening, however the internet connection at Hillsdale is unfortunately down. In a valiant effort to keep Project 365 not Project 364, he called on myself to write a guest post for day 42.

My name is Sean Nelson, a close friend of Chuck’s who is currently going to school in Ohio. I’ve known Chuck since when we both wore Rolling Stones T-Shirts and listened to Black Sabbath in Junior High (probably earlier). After junior high, we worked together in our high school’s technology department and shared quite a few good times (this was around the time he started listening to techno, something I still don’t understand). A few years later we started the successful light graffiti project Illum that continued up until graduation. Since then, we’ve kept in contact through iChat and emails (although I take forever to respond to the latter). That’s enough of a history lesson…

I wish I had embarrassing stories about Chuck to expose to the world (or at least his 10 subscribers on Feedburner), but nothing really comes to mind at the moment.

Anyway, best of luck with your Project 365 Chuck and thanks for all the help throughout the years.

Sean
Day 41 – Much To Do

Life, Project 365

Feb 10

50mm, f/1.8, focused on the pen. Click to see larger.

First, today (Feb. 10 for those of you checking at a later date) is my Dad’s birthday! Happy Birthday, Dad!

This was my layout of work that I was doing Tuesday night in Lane Hall. David brought my camera up to me so I could take a picture of a very neat drawing that Laura Wegmann drew on the board when she was studying in that room sometime Monday. I will post a photo of it sometime. Possibly a gallery if I get more. David also brought me a couple delicious chocolate chip peanut butter oatmeal cookies he just made. He is so nice!

I usually go to Lane Hall to study in the evenings, since the building is open until 2 a.m. I was pretty productive tonight. Right before I walked back to my dorm, I ended up having an hour long conversation about photography with someone I just met, which was wonderful. By the way, I kept up my exercising today. I got up at 7 and exercised for a half-hour again. I plan on doing it every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. I will skip Wednesdays because I have a few things to do in the mornings. After exercising, I have more energy throughout the day (without taking caffeine) and I feel better overall. It is a good thing. Also, it was almost 60 degrees here today. It was wonderful!
Day 40 – Math Problem

Project 365

Feb 9

When I was in South Haven, I went to a used book store and bought a “Mathematical Games” book. It had all kinds of neat math games to play with shapes and simple everyday objects such as matches. There were riddles in the back of the book and one intrigued me. Let’s see if the people who read my blog can get it:

“A stranger walked into the local sweet shop and bought chocolates for six shillings. He paid with a ten-shilling note, which they could not change, and so the shopkeeper went next door to the tobacconist, who was able to change the note for him. The shopkeeper returned with the change, gave the four shillings change to the stranger, who then left. The tobacconist returned the next day with the note, which turned out to be counterfeit. The owner of the sweet shop was obliged to give him his ten shillings back. How much did the sweet shop lose altogether? Explain.”

It is not a trick question, there is a solution. Give your answer and provide support. I will post the answer in a few days in the comments.

My day today was wonderful. I got up at 7 a.m. and went to the sports complex to exercise, took a shower, then had time for breakfast before class. It felt great! I was awake and had lots of energy without drinking caffeine. I plan on doing that a few days a week. I expect to have more energy overall and sleep better (that is what people say exercising does for you). Also, it was a wonderful day outside here and people are cheerful because of it. It was overall just a pleasant day today.
Day 39 – Hillsdale Orchestra Concert

Project 365

Feb 8

I went to the orchestra concert today put on by the college orchestra at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. This is a photo of Tim Cook, one of the violin soloists during the concert (though this is not a photo of him playing a solo). The orchestra played pieces by Strauss, Bach, Gabrieli, and Tchaikovsky. Even to someone like me who is not a classical music person, they did a wonderful job. By the way, the strange blue outline around everything came from the massive stained glass window in the Sanctuary.

I am spending the rest of the evening finishing up work for the coming week.
Day 38 – Clever Snowmen

Project 365

Feb 7

A few people here at Hillsdale had extra time on their hands and made Calvin and Hobbes-esque snowmen outside of the student union.

There were some clever designs. There were four protesters with signs that read: “Extend Snowman Life!! Impose Global Warming Tax!”, “Support Coal Stimulus” (held by a snowman with only one coal eye), “Snowman casualities too high in Iraq; Bring our boys HOME!”, and “S.A.K.E. – Snowmen Against Keynesian Economics”. There was also a big snowman with a “Snowmen Crossing” sign and four little snowmen crossing the sidewalk.

Other than taking pictures of snowmen, I have been working on my CCA paper, reading, and working on math today. These things will probably continue through tomorrow as well.

Click the photos to view large versions.
Day 37 – Baw Beese Lake at Night

Photography, Project 365

Feb 6

David Wagner and I went to Baw Beese Lake tonight to walk around and take photos. He has never seen me to long exposures or light graffiti before, so I demonstrated with a few different shots. In a few of the shots we were walking around on the frozen lake.

Click the photos to view them larger. I recommend this to see all of the detail. Once you click on one, use your arrow keys or click on the right side of the photo to navigate to another one.

Also, please leave a comment with which one you like best!
Day 36 – Reading Hamlet

Project 365

Feb 5

Tonight, five friends and I started reading Shakespeare’s Hamlet aloud. We have to finish it by Tuesday. Click on the photo to view it large.
Day 35 – More Ice Sculpting

Photography, Project 365

Feb 4

Here is another photo of the ice sculpting from the weekend. Click the photo to view it larger.

The gallery from South Haven is now posted! Check it out! (It has four pages…make sure you look at all four!)

I have spent the evening so far finishing Don Quixote, working on math, working on econ, and now I am going to work on the weekly “Question to Think About” from Dr. Jackson. I am also planning my schedule for the weekend and next week, since I have a paper to write, two exams to study for, a play to read, and events to photograph. I will be busy!
Day 34 – Frozen Wasteland

Project 365

Feb 3

I slept pretty well last night and I had a nice day today. I had the chance today to go to a few of the off-campus facilities that the college runs to do some tech work. It was interesting. I especially liked the Hillsdale Academy, a model K-12 school Hillsdale College runs pioneering new methods in childhood education.

I apologize for the brevity of this post. I am pretty busy tonight. If you are looking for something to read, I suggest checking out LewRockwell.com. I am sure at least one, if not all, of the ten daily articles on there will be worth your time.
Day 33 – Portraits & Candids

Photography, Project 365

Feb 2

In South Haven over the weekend, I made a special point to work on my portrait and candid shots of people. This is an area where I had a great deal of difficulty in the past. I have a long way to go, but I think I am making progress. The photos above are some of the outcomes of practice on Saturday. Click on the photos to view them larger. Once you click one, you can navigate to the other three. Hover over the photos (once large) to see how.

The gallery will be posted on Wednesday. I made it and it is already uploaded, but I have a few more photos I want to display on the front page before I show all of them.
Day 32 – Ice Sculpting

Project 365

Feb 1

This is a continuation of the photos I took in South Haven on Saturday. This man was participating in the ice sculpting contest and he was actually using an iron (yes, an electric clothes iron), to make the ice smooth and shiny. Click on the photo to view it larger.

The gallery of the photos I took in South Haven will be up in a few days.
Day 31 – South Haven, MI

Photography, Project 365

Jan 31

South Pier Lighthouse, South Haven, MI. Click the photo to view it larger.

Today, my friends David, Hannah, Bethany, and I drove two and a half hours west to South Haven, MI. Our original intention was to photograph the lighthouse there and then explore the town, but when we arrived, we found a pleasant surprise. The town was hosting an ice sculpture contest in the main downtown area! It was spectacular. Many restaurants, bakeries, and coffee shops were open because all of the tourists (like us), and the town was very lively despite the cold weather. It was a beautiful, sunny day, which was excellent. Hannah (who is also a photographer) and I took a couple hundred photos around town and around the lighthouse. After enduring the piercing wind while out walking on the ice, we found a chocolate shop that serves hot dark chocolate. It was delicious!

I will post more photos from the trip in the coming days. I will then post a full gallery. Stay tuned!

More on what I did yesterday, since I did not include it with yesterday’s update:

I woke up at 7 after sleeping only three and a half hours. I read a few chapters in Don Quixote and then went to Poly-Econ with Dr. Wolfram at 9, then Calc II with Dr. Treloar. After class, I spent an hour taking to Dr. Jackson about Don Quixote, photography, and life in general. Dr. Jackson is so friendly. I really like him. I then went to lunch and Dr. Birzer’s American Heritage class, after which I worked at ITS for two hours.

The Honors Program hosted a dinner at College Baptist and Dr. Birzer’s family joined us and Dr. Birzer gave a lecture on Charles Carroll of Carrollton. After dinner, I went to a CLO (Classical Liberal Organization) meeting and discussed the upcoming lectures we are hosting and movies we want to show. I am pretty excited for this new club. We all agreed to do a few lectures for weekly meetings, so the first one I am going to do is on Seasteading. The date is TBA.
Day 30 – Good Intentions

Project 365

Jan 30

“The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.” ~ Louis D. Brandeis

I leave everyone with this quote for the weekend. After listening to lectures on the dangers of government intervention and the bailout of two major auto industries, I found that this quote is very relevant to what is happening. Keep in mind, though the government may have the best of intentions in what it is doing, ultimately, the legislator falls prey to the Broken Window Fallacy. The legislator takes into account the immediate seen consequences of acting or not acting, as the case may be; however, he fails to take into account the unseen and less immediate consequences of his actions. 19th century economist Frederic Bastiat wrote an essay about this in 1850, titled That Which Is Seen And That Which Is Not Seen.

When you are tempted to use your government to act in a way that might seem desirable, remember to look for “That Which Is Not Seen”. Also, before you act, or before you decide to support some sort of government legislation, remember that good intentions do not guarantee desirable outcomes. Make sure you look for and weigh all consequences that may arise from your action–the easily seen as well as the not-so-easily seen. This seems elementary, but an overwhelming number of people make this mistake very often. (Including a Nobel Prize winning economist who refers to WWII as an economic stimulus, entirely disregarding that the massive amount of resources spent on war and reconstruction could have been better spent elsewhere. Talk about falling prey to the Broken Window Fallacy!)
Day 29 – Dr. Jackson

Hillsdale, Project 365

Jan 29

This is Dr. Jackson, my English professor this semester. I took these photos in class on Tuesday, with his permission, of course. Click the photos to view them larger.

In the bottom photo, he was refuting an argument made by one of the students in class. He is a very entertaining lecturer and I really enjoy his class. You can visit his website to learn more about him.
Day 28 – Last CCA Lecture

Hillsdale, Project 365

Jan 28

The last speaker of the week was Paul Ingrassia, author, former journalist, and Pulitzer Prize winner. (Click on the photo to view larger.) He spoke about cars that helped define American culture. He is also writing a book on the subject, which will be published by HarperCollins. The faculty round-table discussions are tomorrow, but there are no additional speakers for the CCA. Students just talk over the lectures with professors from the college.

I will be very relieved when Friday gets here. I have a paper due, the CCA will be officially over, and I can relax a little this weekend.