Down the Road

Photographs and stories by Jim Grey

Recommended reading

Jim Grey
9 comments on Recommended reading
Coffee out
Pentax ME, 50mm f/1.4 SMC Pentax-M, Agfa APX 100 (expired 7/98), 2018

💻 N tried her hand at roasting her own coffee beans, and shares her experience. Read Home Roasted Coffee Beans

📰 Marriages can certainly end over major crimes like infidelity. But most marriages end after years of very small evidence of lack of respect. So says Matthew Fray, writing for The Atlantic. Read The Marriage Lesson That I Learned Too Late

📷 Marc Beebe offers up a good rant: it’s not film vs. digital, but film alongside digital. Read Believe you can’t fly

📷 The Canon PowerShot G5 was the top Canon digital point and shoot in its day. Peggy Marsh puts one through its paces and comments on how it performs in the face of so much advancement in digital imaging since then. Read Looking back at the Canon PowerShot G5

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Comments

9 responses to “Recommended reading”

  1. Andy Umbo Avatar
    Andy Umbo

    Peggy Marsh on the G5 is an interesting read, mostly because I believe somewhere out there, there is a “pro level” point-and-shoot that will fulfill all my needs now, and be easy to operate and carry, while giving me professional results. I lust after the Panasonic LX-100 II, but at a price point of 800 bucks, it just doesn’t seem do-able (that would be a couple of more lenses for my Olympus M4/3rds). In retirement,, tho, I think something like that would cover all my needs, including professional quality of image. If people are doing professional work with cell phone cameras, this would seem like a real no-brainer for a pro.

    The Marriage Lesson I learned too late, by Fray, is also interesting, but only because I think he’s missing his own point. His marriage didn’t die from a 1000 small cuts, it died because he was a major jerk, and it comes across in his writing. Anyone with half a mature adult brain, in a long term relationship with someone they love, KNOWS, that doing something like putting his glass in the dishwasher instead of leaving it out is a small and inconsequential thing to do that has no personal impact on yourself, except for the fact that you’re doing it just to be a jerk, and subconsciously, or even consciously you’re getting pleasure trying to keep some level of superiority over someone or to “prove a point” know one needs to prove.

    Fray thinks that it should have been obvious that a major infraction like infidelity might not be recoverable from, but everything else is a “slide”; whereas stuff like his “dirty glass war” is a daily reminder to his spouse that he’s either feeble, or a jerk, and from his writing, I think we can guess which.

    Reply
    1. Jim Grey Avatar
      Jim Grey

      What an interesting point about Fray. Yeah, you’d think that putting the glass in the dishwasher — even if he will never care about that — is inconsequential and just something he should have done, rather than dig in his heels.

      Reply
  2. brandib1977 Avatar
    brandib1977

    The story about marriage rings true for me. I’m convinced my eight year relationship ended because I couldn’t load the dishwasher correctly.

    Reply
    1. Jim Grey Avatar
      Jim Grey

      My first wife used to get up in my grill about how I loaded the dishwasher. When I finally had enough, I said, “Congratulations, this job is now permanently yours.”

      My current wife has her preferences about how the dishwasher is loaded, but she never says Word One about how I do it. Because guess what, the dishes always come out clean when I load it.

      I wish my first wife had been able to take that perspective.

      Reply
      1. brandib1977 Avatar
        brandib1977

        Ugh. I’m pretty relaxed about things and don’t think that dish placement in a dishwasher is worth fighting over. I always end up rearranging things a bit at the end to fit more in so it’s not a big deal.

        Of course, I used to get mad at my ex husband because he emptied his pockets on the kitchen table. He stacked all his coin and arranged them by size. It was a little OCD and really annoying.

        Reply
        1. Jim Grey Avatar
          Jim Grey

          My family all tend to dump whatever they brought in with them onto the dining room table. I really hate that. Take your stuff up to your room where it belongs. I didn’t want to be a harpie about it, so over the first few years I lived here I asked as gently as I could manage enough times until everyone got the picture. There’s usually one or two things on the table now and that feels like compromise and about as good as I’m likely going to get.

          I’m a tidy freak. I know it about myself. Most people aren’t coming up to my standard. I have done the best I can to not be a jerk about my need for tidy. But the whole family has had to learn some habits around putting things away that they didn’t have before, so that I can be not uncomfortable in my own home.

          Reply
          1. brandib1977 Avatar
            brandib1977

            It’s hard when opposites live together. There’s stuff on my kitchen table right now because I have been too tired to deal. But I usually keep a tablecloth and something pretty in the middle to discourage me from cluttering it up. At least they are sort of trying to adapt to your needs.

            Reply
        2. Andy Umbo Avatar
          Andy Umbo

          …sounds like a lot of dishwasher related problems here! Makes me glad I never had one, and when one was in my apartment, I never used it! I view hand dishwashing and bathroom cleaning as opportunities for Zen meditation and thinking…

          Reply
          1. brandib1977 Avatar
            brandib1977

            I love washing dishes. It gives you a tremendous sense of accomplishment when it’s done and it is relaxing. I do use my dishwasher once a week just to keep the seals in good working order. I know people who mercilessly brow beat their spouses for not loading it their way or for not loading it at all. That’s no way to live.

            Reply

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