War Correspondent

Cameras Cost Too Much
I went through the store and looked at the cameras yesterday. They all look expensive, especially the good ones. And really especially the really good ones. Just any old cell phone won't cut it for 2mm especially; that cries out for a macro lens.

What About Using Somebody Else's Then
But I also started to call in IOUs, especially from my new Correspondent in the field, who was heading down the Pennsylvania Turnpike at the time, and heading east. He'll be going south after that to Virginia, and specifically to the Peninsula area around Jamestown and Yorktown, Williamsburg and the like, where the Virginia colony had its start from 1607 onwards. Meanwhile I am stuck at the Salt Mines, and even worse than usual.

This gentleman tried to steal my days off in 2007, and now here he is again robbing me of my rest because I have to cover for him while he is on vacation. But his shift is the opposite hours of the day from mine, so it requires loss of sleep for two days at each end. That doubles the misery above having the wrong days too, which costs me at least two days off, and maybe more I haven't realized yet for next week.

This is because he decided to start his vacation on Thursday, unlike normal people, and furthermore he will continue to be gone while he goes to the Sexual Harassment class even when he gets back. Real men take the 6-hour class between shifts, and don't take a special day off for it. So when he does finally come back, that bumps me into further suffering to readjust and make up the hours.

About a year and a half ago I kicked his -- well I beat him up, during the Riot Baton and Chemical Weapons class, when the teacher was focusing on other things, and there is still a big streak from his shoe on the door there, but that was not enough compensation.  It was part of the training.


So in Short

He owes me big for all these infractions.

But instead I am going to advance his career and try my best to make him famous. As a publisher I am in a unique position to make him not just an ordinary photographer, but a Photojournalist.

So I have negotiated a verbal agreement to give me written permission to use his images, free of copyright entanglements for me,  on the blogs respectively, depending on whether the pics are closer to the 18th Century or 19th Century.

He already has thousands of good images, and every six months or so he goes and gets more like this, now that he has grandchildren there. It's always me who replaces him, because really it should have been my job in the first place back in 2009 when he grabbed it out from under me while I was sleeping. That's all the more reason. I didn't even mention that car he sold me and all the repairs.