Poetry I hope Jon Hillenbrand, September 26, 2008December 30, 2015 I hope the human world gets better but not at the expense of human greatness. I hope peace and happiness spring up like flowers from the seeds of democracy being sewn in the Middle East, but not at the expense of culture. I hope cynicism doesn’t take over America, but…
Photography Just Do It! Jon Hillenbrand, September 25, 2008October 17, 2019 We all know the Nike slogan, Just Do It. Speaks volumes. It’s as good a mantra for companies as it is for people. I’ve worked for companies that I’ve wanted to scream this at. I used to work for a company that hired me to help them enter the web-based…
Photography Heads down, thumbs up Jon Hillenbrand, September 24, 2008October 17, 2019 Back in good ol’ grade school, we used to play this game. But I can only remember half of it. The teacher would choose two kids to be “it” and then she would say, “Heads down, thumbs up.” We would all hide our heads in our arms atop our desks…
Photography Sleep Deprivation Jon Hillenbrand, September 23, 2008October 17, 2019 Today while discussing the irony of second-hand wedding decorations, my friend laughed and said that I was one of the most cynical people she knew. I’m not sure if her comment bothered me because I like to stay in the middle, the ever-moderate, or if it bothered me because I’m…
Photography You are sheep among wolves. Jon Hillenbrand, September 22, 2008October 17, 2019 “Be as wise as serpents, yet innocent as doves.” Good advice. There are things that happen in our lives that help define our nature. Through adversity, some find fertile soil, some arsenic. The fertile soil was under my feet after the flood waters in my life subsided and I have…
Photography I may be a transdimensional being Jon Hillenbrand, September 20, 2008October 17, 2019 OK, so if the Catholics I grew up with are correct, I will one day be a transdimensional being. I will at some point unlock the cage and leave the plane of existence that I know of as “the universe” and be transported or, by will of my own, transport…
Photography Virtual Photography Jon Hillenbrand, September 4, 2008October 17, 2019 In my spare time, to hone my Photoshop skills and to have a little fun, I work with video game graphics. I thought I would show you some of the things I’ve been working on lately. On some of the video game forums, there are places where you can post…
Photography Chinatown Jon Hillenbrand, August 13, 2008October 17, 2019 My annual review is coming up next week. I believe that my immediate boss likes me and will give me a fair and honest review. That’s really all I hope to get. In the end, the raises that my company gives are based not on merit but on the “3%…
Photography Blessed are those who have music to listen to Jon Hillenbrand, July 31, 2008October 17, 2019 (By the way, there are more hyphenated-words in this blog post than normal. Please use caution when reading.) This is a good time to be alive. Despite the money grab from most music artists nowadays, you can still get DRM-free music on Amazon.com. Find a song you like, and almost…
Photography The Revenge Insanity Jon Hillenbrand, July 28, 2008October 17, 2019 Today some random nurse charged into me with the full voice of whatever crap is going on in her life. I did my best to use the, “Service Values Recovery Behavior Training,” to steer her back toward a constructive conversation. The situation was, I agreed to encode three videos by…
Poetry The Land and the Sky Jon Hillenbrand, July 2, 2008December 30, 2015 There is a legend of a man and a woman who lived long ago. The man loved the woman more than anything and she loved him in return. He was a calm man, someone who knew the purpose of it all, who could see the wide view. But his love…
Photography How to Survive a Bank Robbery Jon Hillenbrand, July 1, 2008October 17, 2019 I’m a man of action. I don’t wear suits to work, I wear cargo pants and roomy shirts so that I can slide across car hoods comfortably. My footwear enables me to chase down perps and run two or three steps up a vertical wall. That way I can grab…
Photography Circling Jon Hillenbrand, June 27, 2008October 17, 2019 Today I was tasked with capturing all of the new topiary at one of the hospitals I am responsible for photographing. It was a hot day and I took my time concentrating on getting nice shots despite the highness of the sun in the mid-morning sky. Forty-five minutes in, I…
Poetry Delta Delta Delta Jon Hillenbrand, June 26, 2008December 30, 2015 Last night, I walked past my bookshelf and glanced at one of the two spiral-bound notebooks leaning against the oversized Dan Eldon book. One notebook has a collection of terrible charcoal drawings I made in a period when I imagined I could practice my way into talented charcoal artistry. The…
Photography Endless Generosity: How to Train a Cat to Do Your Taxes Jon Hillenbrand, June 23, 2008October 17, 2019 So, the old phrase, “It was like herding cats,” tends to bring either a smile or a grimace of understanding to my face. My affinity for that phrase stems from its daily applicability here at my workplace. If any of my millions of readers have ever owned a cat, you…