Me And Cars - Oil And Water

I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't be driving.  First was the speeding ticket .  Today ... well, nothing disastrous but my heart is still racing a little.

This is what happened.  It's been raining here most of the morning and I was out running errands.  I see the light up ahead turn red and I start to slow down - at least I try to slow down.  I obviously was going too fast for the road conditions and before I knew it the ol' Honda was hydroplaning and the bumper of the pickup in front of me was approaching at warp speed.  I braced myself for impact ... I think my eyes even closed for a second not being able to bear the approaching accident ... and was greatly relieved when the pickup changed lanes.  My guess is our bumpers missed by about 6 inches.  If he hadn't gotten out of my way It would have been crunch city.  My heart is still racing.

Have I learned my lesson yet?  I sure hope so.  I need to get myself out of California-crazy-driver mode and get myself into the slow-mid-west-driver mode.  I will never disparage Minnesota again.  I also need to get a new set of tires as my current ones have no traction on wet pavement and I don't expect them to be any better on snow and ice.  What sucks about that is my tires are only a year old.  They were fine in the dry California climate but here they suck.

Now I just need to slow the ol' ticker down before the Wife gets home and starts giggling again.

Hiking Iowa: Wilson Island State Park

My latest hike took me to Wilson Island State Park.  The park borders the Missouri River and DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge.  The highlights of this park are the Missouri River, a marshy chute, and large stands of cottonwood and dogwood.  Preparing for this hike I printed out a trail map and planned my path.  The limited length of most of the trails meant that I would have to combine some or all of the park's trails.

When I arrived I stopped at the kiosk to confirm my printed map with the one on display.  Confirming that they matched, I looked for trailheads.  Remarkably there was no parking near the two trailheads near the entrance.  After driving deeper into the park following the map and not finding trailhead parking, I found a place to park at a boat ramp that was near one of the trails.

I got my gear ready and walked over to check out the short dock next to the boat ramp.  As I approached a dozen or more frogs scrambled into the water.  I walked out on the dock and inspected the chute.  Unlike Boyer Chute, this chute has not been reconnected to the Missouri River.  This makes the chute look more like a boggy marsh dominated by water plants and lily pads.

I started north on the Chute trail, the longest trail in the park.  Like it's name suggests, this trail follows the western edge of the chute.  The trail is a wide grassy trail through tall trees and shorter bushes and dogwood. Some of the smaller trees were starting to change into fall colors.

The trail curves to the west and comes out close to the kiosk and park office.  I crossed the road and found the trailhead to the Mushroom trail.  This trail parallels the road and is flanked by more tall trees on both sides.  I came across the carcass of a small mole laying in the middle of the trail.  I poked it with my walking staff.  The Wife thinks that's so 10 year old.  She might be right.

The Mushroom trail exits into the campgrounds.  There were several RVs/Campers in the grounds but I didn't see anyone around.  I walked along the road to another boat ramp on the Missouri river.

From here I started on the Riverside trail.  The trail is flanked by trees and meadows on one side and the Missouri river on the other.  This part of the hike was a little noisy as there was an open gravel pit on the other side of the river.  The sound of large dump trucks and machinery drowned out most of the sound of nature.

I reached a small parking area and waved at a fisherman loading his fishing gear into his pickup.  I left the trail here and followed a road north until I reach a connector trail that lead to the Dogwood trail.  I followed this trail back to the campground.  There were numbered posts along this trail.  Unfortunately I didn't have a key. At the campground there was a box near the trailhead but it was empty.  This always seems to be the case.  Parks always seem to have trouble keeping trail maps and guides stocked.

I walked a short distance and followed another connector trail to the White-Tail trail.  I followed this loop around through trees and brush filled meadows until it reached the road.

Across the road the trail became the Chute trail once again and I followed it back south before turning north again along the chute before reaching the boat ramp and my car.

The hike was relatively flat and provided an easy but attractive series of trails.  The trails might be very interesting when the dogwood is blooming in the spring.

Pictures can be found here .  Total distance was 5.46 miles with an elevation change of 388 feet.

McCaptain And Mr. Spobama

I like Star Trek and I like politics, but this is going where no man should ever go.

From The New York Observer

Walking, Talking, And Meat

To celebrate the Wife's birthday (It's today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!) we drove up to Minneapolis and had some fun with the Best Man (BM), Matron of Honor (MoH), GodSon (GS), and the Altar Boy (AB).  The Altar Boy's wife was there as well but I don't have a witty pseudonym for her (All you out there who know her, suggest a pseudonym in the comments).

We drove up Friday evening - one of the longest 6 hour drives I've ever driven.  I really don't like driving in the dark.  It feels like you aren't making progress.  With the Wife's permission I drove 5 over the limit most of the way which still kind of felt slow.  I think I irritated her the entire way since I was having a bad allergy attack and I was sniffling and snorting all the way.  We got to the BM and MoH's just after midnight and we talked for another two hours before we decided that we needed sleep.

After a good five hours of sleep we got up and tried to make plans for the day.  The group was going to split up with the lady-folk going to get their faces rubbed (i.e. facials) while the men-folk were heading down to the Mississippi River to walk some trails.

The walk along the Mississippi was relaxing.  There are some pretty good walking and biking trails on both sides of the river.  The river runs in a shallow gorge so most of the surrounding buildings, old mills, condos, and museums, are a bit higher than the river.  This makes the place quite interesting.  The Missouri trough Omaha is flat and rather ordinary.  We did a 3 mile loop that took us by the locks and dams and several historic mill buildings.

By the time we got back to the car, the woman-folk had finished their facials and we arranged to meet them at the Happy Gnome for lunch.  This is one of the BM and MoH's favorite places for brunch and beer.  I have to say that the brunch was pretty good. The only downside was the late arrival of the hash brown truck  resulting in the substitution of breakfast potatoes and the lack of some of the desired beers.  Even with these shortages, we ended up quite satisfied.  In case you didn't know, the Happy Gnome is located at the Center Of The Universe so now I can say I've been at the center of the world and center of the Universe.

Since we were planning on a large dinner, we had to walk off the brunch so we did a walking tour of F. Scott Fitzgerald's various homes in the area.  While I didn't know much about F. Scott Fitzgerald, the tour was interesting taking you past some really cool looking old homes, gardens, and hotels.  Well worth it.

The walking tour was followed by a tour of the GS' new man cave.  This one actually has a bedroom with a door.  The Wife is proud that her GodSon has finally got a grownup apartment.  We all sat down, a few of us plopped down on the floor, imbibed some beverages, and relaxed a bit.  The guy-folk had already walked some 5 miles now and I, for one, was pretty wiped.  It's a nice apartment - good job GS.

Not wanting to leave out the AB, we piled back into the cars and went to the AB's school to see where he teaches.  He teaches English at an all boys military academy.  Very nice place. 

After the school tour, it was time for the birthday pièce de résistance: Meat.  We all converged on Gasthof zur Gemutlichkeit , an awesome German restaurant.  This place, frankly, is beyond belief.  The decor, the waitress clothing, the wandering accordion players, the food - totally German.  We started, of course, with a round of beers - served in 1 liter mugs.  The Wife needed both hands to lift it.  (My pathetic diet coke was in a half liter girlie-man mug.)  The MoH then ordered three platters full of every form of schnitzel and breaded meat product on the planet.  The seven of us managed to empty about 2 1/2  of the huge platters.  I was feeling like a schnitzel myself but it was soooo good.  Meat ... Meat ... Meat ... Beer.  Along with the meat, beer, and shots of German stuff, at your request the waitress would use a spring loaded teeter tooter kind of thing to shoot snuff up you nose.  While I didn't partake, several of our party did.  They all blew black snot for awhile (UGH!).

One of the wondering accordion players was called over and we all sang the family song - the schnitzelbank -  before he went into a long 10 minute rendition of personalized birthday songs for the Wife.  It was fun.

After finishing our food and beer, we went out to the huge tents out in the parking lot to drink more beer and talk loudly over the polka music.  The place was incredibly crowded.  We were jostled constantly as we formed a tight circle to talk and drink.  We were joined by the MoH's brother.  We had planned our own little beer game - everyone drank when they got her brother to say Maverick (It's a McCain-Palin joke).  They must of thought we were crazy talking about top gun, western TV shows, and other Maverick related stuff.  The MoH's brother caught on pretty quick so a lot of beer was consumed.

By the end of the night my feet and legs, with all the walking and the standing in the tent, were starting to ache.  We piled into the cars one more time and converged at the BM and Moh's condo for some more talking, drinking, and fun.

That was one of the fullest Saturdays I've had in a long time. I'm sure I left all sorts of things out of this post.  I'm also sure I'll be reminded about it by someone.

We slept in a little on Sunday.  We woke up to pouring rain.  We ate some light breakfast - No Meat Please - before we said our goodbyes and drove home.  The drive was better during the light of the day.  The leaves in Minnesota are starting to turn - the dark green trees are getting frosted in gold, orange, and red.

I've been really bla for the past few weeks (months ??) and, even though this weekend was the Wife's, it help my mood tremendously.   We had a great time spent with great people.  Can't wait for Thanksgiving when even more of the family gets together.

Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der gemütlichkeit

Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der gemütlichkeit

Eins, zwei, Drei gesoffe!

Zicke! zacke! zicke! zacke! hoi! hoi! hoi!

Zicke! zacke! zicke! zacke! hoi! hoi! hoi!

Prosit

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Honey!

Checking Out The Bridge

Thursday is usually my hiking day but I decided to skip it.  I'm not sure that was a smart thing since I only have six or seven weeks of hiking weather left before it starts getting colder.  Instead of hiking I mowed the backyard and went downtown to check out the pedestrian bridge that opened a week or so ago.

The bridge is pretty impressive.  The span snakes its way across the Missouri River in a large 'S'.  It's wide enough for bikes though the number of people walking across made it a little hazardous.  One couple crossed on skates which looked really fun.  Makes me wish that I knew how to skate.

I started across the bridge and was surprised to feel the bridge move under my feet.  The concrete bridge shifts around as people walk on it.  I assume this is to allow the bridge to expand and contract with the weather.  It would also make it more resistant to the wind I would think though I wouldn't want to be on the bridge during the hurricane force winds we had last June - what a ride that would be.

I took some pictures of the bridge.

I reached the Iowa side and saw that the bridge connects to a trail system that went both north and south.  Most of these trails seem more bicycle oriented than hiking.  I'll have to bring my bike to ride over the bridge and onto these trails.

I started back to the Nebraska side and came upon an older woman with a funny look on her face.  She looked at me and asked: "Is the bridge moving or is it just me?"  I assured her that it was the bridge.  We talked as we walked over the bridge talking about the bicycle hazards, the landscaping being done on the Nebraska side, and the lack of benches to sit on.  We said our goodbyes and I continued up the Riverwalk trail.

The trail continues north.  I turned at Miller's Landing and headed back to the old market area where I'd parked my car.  I'm guessing I walked around 4 1/2 miles.  I feel like I've walked the downtown area a lot in the last few weeks.

On the way home I took a picture of Saint Cecilia Cathedral .

Consider Myself Smacked

I like to think that I have a pretty good sense of humor.  I like making people smile, smirk, and laugh and I try to do this in my posts whenever I can.  Unfortunately I have a tendency to go a little (or in some cases a lot) too far.  It is a fine line between funny and mean spirited and I sometimes cross that line.  I think my filter, the one that most people have that tells them to keep your mouth shut, is a little leaky.  My mouth, and now my posting, has gotten me in trouble before.  My last two posts are cases in point.

My last hiking post had a paragraph about the Aeroplane Inn in Honey Creek, IA.  Looking back I said some pretty nasty things about a person and a place that I really had no right to say.  I was called out on the mat by a commenter and, since he/she was right,  I removed the offending words and apologized.  I just wish I'd done this before I'd posted.

The second instance was from my Walnut/Speeding Ticket post.  I implied that I'd got the ticket because of the Wife.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  While I did worry about missing the kick off of the Wife's game, she repeatedly and cleared told me that she wasn't worried about missing it and that it didn't really matter.  Didn't stop me from speeding and getting the ticket, events that were totally of my doing.

As an explanation, but not an excuse, I composed both of these posts after I'd got my ticket.  I was not in the best of moods and unfortunately I let this skew my judgment and writing.  Next time I should cool off before I write.  My sincerest apologises to both the Aeroplane Inn, its proprietor, and the Wife.

The Quest For Cambria ... And Me Without My Camera

When we lived in California, we had a favorite place to get away to when we just needed to get out of town - the town of Cambria.  Cambria was an artsy place with interesting stores and restaurants.  It was far enough ways that it took up the day to get there and back and the drive never seemed to disappoint.

Now that we've moved to the Midwest we find ourselves Cambria-less and I, for one, miss it.  So we decided to start looking for another Cambria.  Our first try: Walnut, IA.

Walnut is a small town of 780+ about an hour east of Omaha and is known for it's antique stores.  16 Antique stores to be exact.  We arrived to a small town scene that I haven't seen in a long time - a little boy on his bike riding to the corner bakery to buy a snack.  To make it better, he was wearing little light up devil horns.  It would have been a great picture IF I'D HAD MY !@#$%&! CAMERA.  We went into the bakery where there were two little girls, also decorated with horns, drinking root beer out of the bottle.  They payed for this treat with change that one of them kept in a plastic Easter egg.  How perfect is that?!? And me without my camera.  *sigh*

We walked through several antique shops.  In one the owner was giving out free homemade cookies and cider.  A little kitten was hunting and pouncing on a dead leaf in the courtyard of the store.  Too cute.  And me without my camera.

We ate some lunch at Aunt B's Kitchen.  Good, in-expensive food served by someone who was very likely an Aunt and who's name may actually start with the letter 'B'.  It doesn't get much more ... real than that.

After lunch and a few more antique stores, we headed south out of town.  I was going to take some country roads home instead of the interstate.  On the way out of town we passed several wind turbines being built.  Not sure how many but a few were numbered up in the 90s.  Why Nebraska doesn't have wind farms, I don't know.  Iowa, if I'm correct, is the third largest producers of wind energy after Texas and California.  Wind turbines always look so majestic.  And me without my camera.

I turn west and we noticed something alongside the road.  I stopped and backed up to see a flag flying next to a large B-24 bomber model on a pole.  The props of the model were spinning in the wind.  A plaque told of a mid-air collision of two B-24s near this point in 1942 and listed the crews that had not survived.  And me without my camera.

I was concerned that the Wife might miss the Notre Dame kick-off so I was zipping along on the empty country roads.  I was zipping along nicely until I passed a cop car.  Oh Pu-lease!  D'Oh!  I pulled over before he'd even completed turning around.  I had all my papers ready by the time he got to my window.  I was nice.  He was nice.  The Wife was giggling.  He gave me a ticket.  *sigh*  He was nice enough to knock 9 MPH off my actual speed to reduce the fine.  I pulled away and carefully sped up.  I was so careful that I didn't even noticed that I ran a stop sign.  Fortunately the cop car wasn't following me.  That would have really made my day.  I drove the speed limit the rest of the way home.  (I was disappointed to find out that Iowa doesn't allow you to take driving school to dismiss tickets as they do in California.  Great.  Higher insurance rates.  Wonderful.)

We made it home literally a minute before kick-off.  The Wife is happy.  Me ... I owe the state of Iowa $94.60.  There goes the money I earned off my pictures.  Poop.

Hiking Iowa: Hitchcock Nature Center

My latest foray into hiking took me for the first time into Iowa.  A parent of one of the Wife's students, a former employee of the Western Historic Trails Center ,  recommended the Hitchcock Nature Center.  The park is located about 45 minutes northeast of Omaha and is located in the Loess Hills of Iowa.  The Loess Hills are made of ... Loess , windblown sedimentary soil.  The hills in eastern Iowa are some of the largest examples of windblown sedimentary deposits in the world.  The Hitchcock Nature Center trails take you up to the top of some typical narrow ridges and into hidden valleys in between.

The hike starts at the lodge.  There was an observation tower similar to the one at Platte River State Park but I didn't climb it this time.  I'm saving it for later this fall when the leaves change.  The trailhead was surprisingly well stocked with trail maps.  I often find these kiosks empty.  I had a good idea where I was going as I'd studied the same map on-line the day before.  I decided to join 6 different trails into a couple of connected loops.

I left, this time well stocked with water and snacks, and headed out on the Fox Run Ridge trail.  This trail, like all other trails in this park, are old, grass covered dirt roads.  Actually, many of the trails were made by bulldozer by the former owner of the land who wanted to turn the area into a landfill.  The trail follows the southwest side of a ridge and gives the hiker a great view of the forest and meadow land of the park.

One interesting feature of this park that I did not partake in but I found interesting, were little orange signs with headphone icons placed along the trail. You can download podcasts ("Trailcasts ") to your MP3 player and get a guided tour of some of the trails around the park.  The signs indicate when to play the next segment of the podcast.  Since I enjoy listening to the sounds and silence of nature, I don't carry my MP3 player when I hike.  Having said this,this seems like an interesting and cheap way to introduce people to nature.

I left the Fox Run Ridge trail and followed the Dozer Cut off the ridge dropping down and connecting with the Bluestem Meander.  (Meander - I love the sound of this word.)  The Dozer Cut was a little muddy and covered in acorns, who yearned to be ball bearings, which made going down hill a little hazardous.  The Bluestem Meander meanders through a meadow of tall grass.  Meadows do not have to be flat and this one is no different as the trail climbed up and down the side of a hill.

Up to this point I was very impressed with the well marked trails and the accurate trail map.  The meander was supposed to connect up with the Hidden Valley trail.  I reached an unsigned junction and mistakenly thought it was the Hidden Valley Trail.  The unmarked trail, not on the map, took me back to the back gate of the park.  When I reach the gate I realized that I'd been mis-guided.  I backtracked to the junction and took the other branch which took me to a signed junction less than 50 feet down the trial.  The map and signage were pretty accurate after that.

The Hidden Valley trail takes you around the end of the eastern ridge and into a valley between tall, sharp ridge lines.  The trail, covered in dead leaves and more acorns, follows a little creek/wash.  At the Westridge trail junction I turned left and followed the trail on the other side of the creek/wash.  Before long the trail makes a turn and heads straight up the end of the ridge.  No wimpy switchbacks here.  Straight up.  It is a little reminiscent of Heartbreak Hill .

The trail eventually levels off and follows along the rather narrow ridge that is common for Loess formations.  The trail splits - one trail follows the top giving you a view of the Missouri River Valley, the other runs lower and on the forest side of the ridge.  Both branches connect up to form a long and narrow loop.  I took the right and admired the sweeping views.  I stopped at one of the two camp sites (the cottonwood site), rearranged some logs into a semi-comfortable bench and rested.  I cracked open some water and a protein bar.

Further down the trail is the High Point camp site where the trail connects with the other ridge trail.  I followed this trail back.  This trail is a little more strenuous as it went up and down like a roller coaster but the views of the forest were spectacular.

I returned to the main Westridge trail and walked back to a spur called, simply, the Shortcut.  This steep trail connects you back to the Hidden Valley Trail.  A left here takes you along a path through the middle of the narrow valley.  This was probably the nicer part of the hike.  The trail ends at a large American Elm tree.  The clearing around the tree was lit with sunlight filtering through the tree canopy.  Whenever the  breeze would pick up, a rain of dead leaves would flutter down from overhead.  A perfect setting for a picnic or something fun like that.

There were a couple of trails leading off past the tree that I thought might form a loop but after reaching a dead end on one of the trails I figured I was wrong.  I returned to the clearing around the Elm and backtracked to the Hidden Valley-Bluestem Meander junction and followed the other branch of the Hidden Valley trail.

The trails takes you through more forest and up a short steep trail before connecting with the Badger Ridge Trail.   The trail goes up the ridge line, skirting the edge of the forest on the west, and offering a beautiful vista of farmland and hills to the east.  There's a geocache along this trail but I decide to leave it for some other time.

The Badger Ridge trail takes you back to the lodge.  It was a very satisfying hike with interesting terrain and beautiful views.  I really enjoyed it.

By the time I'd reached the car, I was hungry.  I stopped in nearby Honey Creek at the Aeroplane Inn to see if I could get some lunch.  I pulled up and saw the For Sale sign next to the unlit Open sign.  Thinking it was closed, I started to back out when the Open sign lit up.  I parked and went in.  The proprietor asked me if I'd thought it was closed.  I said yes and asked if they served food.  She said no ... or rather, only at night.  I thanked her and left.  I settled for Arby's instead.

Pictures from the hike can be found here .  The hike was 6.38 Miles with about 380 feet of vertical (once again done several times).

[UPDATE: My original post had some disparaging remarks about the Aeroplane Inn.  Since I didn't even have a chance to sample the food, I should not have mentioned it at all.  My description of the proprietor were mean spirited and frankly I was a Jerk to include it in the post.  A commenter corrected me in a not so subtle way and I've removed the offensive remarks from the post.  My apologies to anyone this may have offended.]

Book: George R. Stewart's "Earth Abides"

I finished my fifth book of the year. Not the most impressive considering I haven't been working for the last 8 1/2 months and should have plenty of free time to dive into books. I think I'm a victim of cable TV and the Intertubes. Another thing that has happened this year is I seem to have a habit of clustering similar books together. Earlier this year I read "The World Is Flat " and soon afterward I read a similar book, "Three Billion New Capitalists: The Great Shift of Wealth and Power to the East ", that was a little less positive on the whole globalization thing but it was similar enough that I didn't even post about it. Another example was "The Road " and my current read, George R. Stewart's "Earth Abides".

Both "The Road" and "Earth Abides" tell the story of a post-apocalyptic world. "The Road" 's disaster is kept a mystery. "Earth Abides" 's begins with a virulent, flu-like disease that wipes out all but a handful of people. The main character, Isherwood "Ish" Williams is one of the survivors. He doesn't witness the chaos of the disaster as he is in an isolated cabin somewhere near his San Francisco home. The book follows Ish's trip across a dead United States and back before meeting a woman, Em, who becomes his wife. Soon afterward a small group comes together near Ish's home.

The small group of seven adults grows in size as children are born. Stewart follow's Ish's vain attempts at keeping civilization alive. As time goes by and systems, such as water distribution, breakdown, Ish despairs as the group, known as the Tribe, lose more and more. Eventually Ish realizes that this is a loosing battle and decides to use game playing to give the future generation basic tools for hunting (Bow and Arrow) and gives up on the old trappings of civilization.

While this could have been a dark, sad story similar to "The Road", it ends on a hopeful note. While the old civilization and all the knowledge that it was built upon is lost, the spark of a new one is seen being born.

I found the book to be a little bland. It seems all too easy for Ish and the Tribe. I expected more challenges and interesting solutions. I find it a little hard to believe that over 20 years after the disaster, there is still edible food in cans and bottles. I would think that canned food would go bad long before then. The one thing that kept me reading is the interesting perspective of the author. "Earth Abides" was published in 1949. This is one of the older science fiction books I have read. It was interesting to see a glimpse of a world before the interstate highway system (Route 66!) and birth control. Every now and then I would ask why they didn't do something or other and then realize that it hadn't been invented yet. I think the 'niceness' of the book and the ease of the survival of the tribe is a result of the times the book was written. The war is over and the United States is the strongest nation. It is at the beginning of a very prosperous period. At the same time the horror of Nuclear War is beginning to raise it's head. Makes you wonder what the dark, depressing "The Road" tells of our outlook today.

I've read better. I was surprised since many of the reviewers really liked it. I was entertained but it just wasn't exciting enough for me to recommend.

They Like Me. They Really, Really Like Me

I got excited a few weeks ago when one of my pictures was published. Well, now I've actually been paid to take some pictures.

I was contacted by the managing editor of WCities and asked if I could provide, for a fee, five panorama and/or wide-angle shots of Omaha that "make the city look like an exciting and inviting destination for travelers." That requirement seemed impossible - Omaha has a compact downtown and I was concerned about being repetitive. Armed with suggestions from the Wife and some ideas of my own, I went out on Tuesday and walked around the downtown area and took pictures from all angles. I discovered just about every parking structure in the downtown area looking for a higher vantage point. The next day I drove over to Council Bluffs looking for a long distance picture (a suggestion from my Mom) before returning to the downtown area for more walking around. I ended taking over 100 pictures. You can see many of the pictures I took in my Downtown Omaha Flickr Set. If you're wondering which pictures they chose, they picked these five pictures. (That last picture isn't really from Omaha but they seemed to want to use it anyway - it's the Platte River some 40 miles from Omaha.)

The amount I'm being payed isn't very much and I probably should have asked for more but I figured, being a beginner in this whole independent contractor business, I should just take the offer and ask for more next time ... if there is a next time. WCities sent a contract over and pretty much told me to change it any way I would like. I rewrote it with help from the Wife so that I would retain all copyrights and removing exclusivity clauses. They didn't seem to mind as they've transferred the funds via PayPal.

It's nice to receive some recognition. Maybe I need to look into this whole professional photographer thing.