Scott Fillmer Photography

Learning About Yourself Through Twitter and a Word Cloud?

Scott Fillmer — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:15:12 +0000

Anyone else besides me love word clouds? I like them for many reasons but if they are not contrived of a set of words you put in manually, it may actually tell us something about ourselves. These of course are not scientific, but there are many API applications that will put data from parts of your online life that will automatically generate words from your own networking. Wordle is one popular one that I have posted here before but this morning I visited HubSpot’s Twitter Grader for @scottfillmer and forgot they had a word cloud for your tweets. If you haven’t checked out HubSpot, they have some really neat tools for blogs and all things online. My HubSpot word cloud went something like this.

This word cloud is specific to my Twitter posts. Funny if picked up the smilee, which I use far to often, but most of the time that is part of who I am. What fascinated me about this list is how big the word CAN’T is on my list. I think that is probably referring to other posts because I am all about the CAN so it was wild to see that in the list.

Taking a look at my Wordle which I do from time to time is a little more of an eye opener. The wordle cloud takes the text from your blog or other related feed site. I have a little twist on this wordle. I did the cloud in black and white and then went in and did a bit of personal evaluation and circled or underlined some words in red. How small have I made God on my blog? Small enough to have to use an arrow to show where it shows up on my cloud. Same thing with my wife (Deb) up near the top of my blog.

How about Christ, or Jesus? Couldn’t find them on the word cloud other than the word Christmas, amazing. Some would argue that it’s a blog, it doesn’t have to be about my wife, or Jesus, or God, or Ministry, but it is what we make it. A blog can serve many purposes and focus on many subjects. The words below are obviously what my blog has focused on recently (it takes the words from the last 10 posts I believe). I don’t think it shows a right or wrong, but a way to look at what is important on this particular blog. If my wife, or God is important for me on this blog I guess I have work to do.

Some other observations about the wordle are things I didn’t think about. The word children’s and children are pretty prominent, have no idea why, we have no kids at home and don’t really do much with kids, but there it is.

Of course you may be asking why post this anyway. Well, the focus of my blog changes from time to time. I realized the only thing that stays the same is who I am, Scott Fillmer, and that is not something I can do anything about, after all, I am me, but to evaluate and refocus on a blog once in a while is a good thing. Over the next few weeks I will have a few posts to show and explain the direction I am looking at taking my blog (it’s not to different than it is now) and hopefully I can get more personal with what is important in my life, many of which are the small words on the screen above.

Doing Simple Christmas with Living Water International

Scott Fillmer — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:05:18 +0000

Our church started a new series yesterday called Simple Christmas (see Advent and A Christmas thought) marking the beginning of the Advent season, and what started on Black Friday as the Christmas shopping season.

Today is Cyber Monday as it has been called, the day when online retailers do their big sales and discounts that the B&M stores did on Friday. One of the ways Deb and I are going to celebrate Christmas this year is In keeping with the series theme we started on Sunday we are going to make a few donations to Living Water. So, if you were expecting to get an actual physical Christmas present from us this year, this might be it. Our church already knows the impact a well can have (see Day 1 and Creative Chaos 14 // Allowing God to Work in Your Church), when our church raised over $30,000 to dig a well (and much more) for a sister plant church in Uganda. Anyone involved will tell you it was an incredible experience, and it doesn’t take much to make a difference.

This of course isn’t the only way to make Christmas simple again. The idea is to keep our focus on Jesus this Christmas and not the chaos and craziness that goes along with the Christmas shopping frenzy and that might be something totally different to your family than it is to my family. Since Deb and I are in a house of two (minus the dogs), we don’t normally go nuts for any holiday, but our focus is not always on Jesus either.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Some Thanksgiving Photos for a Christmas Card

Scott Fillmer — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 01:30:39 +0000

Thanksgiving weekend is just about to wind down and move into the 25 day rush to Christmas. It was a nice weekend with some nice rain showers and lots of food. I just finished watching one of the more lousy versions of the Iron bowl (if you are an Auburn fan) over the last few years and it ended in an Alabama romp. Alabama played well and will have a full plate next week coming up against Florida in the SEC Championship game.

Early on Thursday I did a quick photo shoot for Dale and Larry Fillmer (that would be mom and dad) for their Christmas card. Here are a few from the shoot that were my favorites (don’t think any of these made it on the card, but these were the ones I liked). Looking forward to the new series that starts tomorrow at cumc called Simple Christmas. Something we can all take to heart, focusing on what is important at Christmas and why we celebrate the holiday in the first place, can’t wait. If you are in the Auburn area, come by at 9am or 11am and see what it’s all about.

I am really looking forward to this Christmas season and all the possibilities of the upcoming new year. I always look forward to the changing of the new year. It always seems to bring change and a new time of growth for my family, as it is with many, and I can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store for us in 2009. Celebrating a Simple Christmas is going to be a great place for my family to transition into the new year.

And the Winner of the Dell Desktop Giveaway is…

Scott Fillmer — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 07:01:36 +0000

Wow this month went by fast. Yes, today is the day we are giving away the Dell Desktop that we originally posted on November 1st (see I am Giving Away a Free Dell Dimension Computer and 17″ Flat Panel in 29 Days) and we waited all the way until 12:01am on November 29th to announce the winner. All in all we had about 100 responses on the blog directly, with approximately 5-10 of those being qualified entries. I really appreciate all the people who have contacted me directly and I wish I had enough spare computers laying around to give one to everyone, but I only have one.

The Winner is Lisa Pierce with Alabama Rural Ministries (ARM)

Alabama Rural Ministries has a great program and their post (seen here Not Thinking of Myself Today!) is the winning entry. The mission work for ARM is shown on their website as:

Our Mission

We believe Christ’s love must be expressed in action to people in need. ARM is a hands on ministry, responding to people through Christian love with an emphasis in housing repair and children’s ministry.

Alabama Rural Ministry coordinates home repair efforts and children’s day camps in rural parts of Alabama. We are interdenominational but are connected to the United Methodist Church. All denominations are welcome to come and serve!

“For the service that you give is not only supplying the needs of everyone but is an expression of many thanks to God.” 2 Corinthians 9:11-12

ARM has focused its efforts in sharing God’s love in two primary areas:

Home Repair - The ARM staff assists teams coming to do home repair by purchasing materials, introducing teams to their families, and serving as technical assistants. Typical ARM projects include repairing and/or replacing roofs, ceilings, floors and walls. We also build steps and wheelchair ramps for elderly or disabled individuals. We match our projects with the skills of our volunteers, maximizing the services we are able to provide. Our service extends to plumbing and electrical work when our volunteers are able to do such work. If you are involved in a group with any of these skills, please consider a trip to ARM to help the elderly and disabled families of rural Alabama.

Day Camps - Teams working with the day camp work with the ARM day camp staff to plan Bible studies, songs, recreation activities and much more! Day camps are run similarly to Vacation Bible Schools and other day camp programs. Our volunteers are able to enhance the children’s experiences through interaction, whether it be fellowship, playing games, going on field trips, or presenting Bible stories and devotions. The children of the Sonshine Day Camp are truly remarkable in their ability to show love to so many volunteers that come in and out of their lives each summer. We invite anyone with a love for children to join us for this amazing experience this summer.

Volunteer teams come from all over the country to do either home repair and/or work with day camps for area children. At select sites, groups may choose to do both types of ministries at the same time!

If anyone has a desire to get involved with them I am sure they would love to receive as much help as they can get, and it is a very worth ministry.

The Chair of Simplicity

Scott Fillmer — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 14:00:24 +0000

Giving Up Thanksgiving For Christmas This Year?

Scott Fillmer — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:29:44 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I am sitting here about to turn on the Macy’s Day Parade and for some reason thinking about Christmas and New Years Day and beyond. For some reason this year it seems like we have skipped over Thanksgiving and are bolting ourselves into the Christmas day time. Retail stores are probably trying desperately to bring in people early this year, and around town I started seeing Christmas displays and hearing Christmas music over the intercoms before Halloween was over.

I don’t remember Christmas coming right after Halloween last year but it seems to have creeped its way farther up the calendar this year. I like Thanksgiving and would like to take one of these at a time before we go on to the next one, but I realize that Thanksgiving is not a real big commercial season and no one gives presents from Best Buy at Thanksgiving (thank goodness). If there is no commercial purpose for the holiday, it seems that most businesses, TV and radio will just skip over day now. I hate rushing through life. We rush here and there all day every day and I would like to celebrate one holiday at a time. Deb and I are not real big fans of holiday days anyway, it always disrupts the routines of everything, but I would like to enjoy one before going on to the next.

So, today being Thanksgiving I figured I would do the typical what I am thankful for post. A few things I am thankful for.

My Savior
My wife, family, friends
that I have food to eat, a place to live
I am able to live in a free country
clean water and shoes

Those are nothing earth shattering of course, but still something I am continually aware of and thankful for. Early this week on Tuesday a friend of mine, Josh, did a great explanation of why we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, why it is important, and what was going on at the time. It was during the Passover Celebration as explained in Exodus, but when Jesus and the disciples celebrated passover supper, Jesus spoke and said:

Matthew 26: 26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” 27 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom.” 30 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Jesus “gave thanks” during this celebration dinner, and today we give thanks as well. I do like to remember that this is generally an American holiday (see Thanksgiving is a U.S. Holiday, Think Global) and we should not forget that this is not a world wide holiday. Last year, Deb and I spent the holiday on our boat (sort of) for a few hours and ended up coming back home after their wifi went down (see here). It’s a year later and we are going to spend the day here at the house with my father-in-law David, (see Deb’s mom’s blog) and watching some football.

Star Trails, the North Star, and a Cold Night with the Tree Swing

Scott Fillmer — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:48:51 +0000

If you have been following the progress of our tree and tree swing, it now has just about no leaves on it at all, so last night I decided to take advantage of the very dark night out here and do a long exposure of the tree showing the North Star. This shot was a single frame, 3 hour exposure with another 3 hour noise reduction process. I started the exposure when I went to bed and it finished around 4am. Showing star trails are a little easier with a film exposure but this one turned out pretty good. The tree looks like it is leaning over to the side because it was shot with a 14mm lens pointed almost straight up at the sky. I am actually standing about 5 feet or so from the tree.

You can just see the North Star behind the right side of the tree. I couldn’t actually see it when I setup the tripod and I was just shooting for somewhere close to the center of the frame. Missed it to the left by a little but close enough.

The tree is the same one you see in the previous posts, here, here, here, here, and even here. Some day I will put all the tree shots together in one post. It is pretty neat to me to see the changes in one single location, sort of like a very long time lapse. For those of you still wondering, no, I did not sit out there all night with the camera, I just set the exposure time to 3 hours and hoped that a deer or other large animal didn’t tip over my tripod.

Epson Perfection V500 Scanner and Some Velvia Film

Scott Fillmer — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:24:15 +0000

I have a hate hate relationship with scanners. I have had scanners of all types and none have been anything worth keeping and not throwing out the window at any nearby target. I started long ago with an HP slide scanner, actually one of the better performing scanners specifically designed to scan slides. Since I shot almost all Fuji Velvia 50 or a Kodak 100 positive film back then, the slide scanner was something I was really excited about. It cost a fortune, worked ok, for a while, game mediocre results, and I ended up scanning only a hand full of slides.

Fast forward about 10 years and 5 scanners. My current scanner, the Epson Perfection V500 Photo scanner, is supposed to be a great one for scanning all kinds of film, 35mm negatives, positives, 120, just about the only thing it can’t do is wet scans. But, results, up to this point (I have had this scanner almost a year now) have been dismal, until yesterday when a friend and fellow photographer (Jak) told me to try a few different settings and software. I do this every so often, try again and get lousy results but this time I started messing with the color profiles and other areas and it didn’t turn out so bad.

This was a scan of an original Velvia 50 transparency taken back in May 2002 of Deb kayaking on Lake Erie in Ohio exploring the coves. Contrast is a little bit high but this is how it came out of my scanner, far better than any I have tried before. The shot below shows the sharpness at 100%, not bad for a scan on a scanner I thought didn’t work.

Like most things, it takes practice to get it right. This scan was straight out of the scanner, no post processing corrections (hense the artifact above Deb’s head). A polorizer would have also helped here but as I remember, I was in my kayak trying to hand hold a very expensive camera while trying not to tip over like a turtle thus ending my photography as I knew it at the time. I will try to get some other dated scans done and post them periodically.

Thanksgiving Week on the Farm with Dad and John Deere

Scott Fillmer — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:15:10 +0000

It’s Thanksgiving week and that means that Auburn University classes are over for the holiday break. For the last few years this week has been the time which my dad takes a few days off from work and gets on the John Deere tractor and cuts the pasture grass for the winter. There is around 20-30 acres of actual grass to cut, so it usually takes most of the week. Today was a bit cloudy and cold, but, it’s November. I think there are a few people in his office that read my blog so I thought I would let you know what Larry Fillmer looks like when he is not in a suit and tie on campus.

I would love to hear from those who know Larry but don’t normally comment on my blog. Can I have a caption for the photo below??

Coldplay Releases Prospekt’s March [EP] in the U.S. Today

Scott Fillmer — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:33:37 +0000

Have you ever heard of Coldplay? I am guessing even if you don’t listen to them, you have heard of the band. I am truly amazed by this band. Not only are they a darn good band, (even if you just think they are just a poppy, trendy U2, their success is obvious) but they very well could be the best marketed band ever. They time their release dates perfectly, show up on all the popular shows just before the album hits the market, gives away free downloads of their songs, does free concerts in London and probably the most commonly played total set of songs from a secular band, currently being played in churches I have heard. They have transcended most cultural lines, political boundaries, and music genres.

On June 15 2008, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends topped the UK album chart, despite having been on sale for only three days. In that time, it sold 302,000 copies; the BBC called it “one of the fastest-selling records in UK history”. By the end of June, it had set a new record for most-downloaded album ever.

They release one album in April of this year (see also Coldplay’s New Viva La Vida Cover Art Released), Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, after working on it since 2006, and today they have released an EP version of the album, but with 6 new songs and 2 good remakes. Viva became Amazon’s number one selling album BEFORE it is released, just on pre-orders and today (without pre-orders) it is ranked #14 in rock and moving up.

Today, they released Prospekt’s March [EP], which was completed at the same time as Viva la Vida, and scheduled for release around this time. It has 8 songs, 6 news ones, and a cover similar to Viva la Vida.

Scott Fillmer Photography

Learning About Yourself Through Twitter and a Word Cloud?

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Doing Simple Christmas with Living Water International

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Some Thanksgiving Photos for a Christmas Card

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And the Winner of the Dell Desktop Giveaway is…

The Winner is Lisa Pierce with Alabama Rural Ministries (ARM)

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The Chair of Simplicity

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Giving Up Thanksgiving For Christmas This Year?

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Star Trails, the North Star, and a Cold Night with the Tree Swing

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Epson Perfection V500 Scanner and Some Velvia Film

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Thanksgiving Week on the Farm with Dad and John Deere

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Coldplay Releases Prospekt’s March [EP] in the U.S. Today

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