“Needs Work” This week’s Photo Friday topic is work. This old Chinese junk resides under a canopy in the parking lot behind the small building where I work. It appears that it’s been there a while, and it needs a bit of fixing-up before it could take to the seas again. It’s been boxed in over the years, too, to the point that I think it would take a helicopter to move it. Also, remember that I don’t work in Taipei or someplace like that – this is Athens, Georgia, and I may work next to the only authentic junk in the region.

One of the stops we made on the way out of the state of New Mexico was at the White Sands National Monument. There, pure gypsum crystals have been beaten by the winds into dazzling white sands, which then have piled up into massive dunes that are slowly marching across the desert. It all seems so inhospitable, but like on the sands of Tatooine, an abundant array of plant and animal life has adapted to the conditions. It makes a great location for photography, too, with endless displays of light and shadow. Here are twenty of the best I took during our visit.

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 may have brought an end to the Great War, but the ending was merely the beginning of the aftermath.

The aftermath years were a time of paradox, where the men who returned from the horrors of the trenches wanted to forget, and where those who had stayed behind, and had lost husbands and brothers, and sons and fathers were equally determined never to forget. It was a time where remembrance of the dead became a way of life, and where it was somehow assumed that all the best, and the finest young men of a generation had died. The other side of that assumption was that those who had survived were somehow less than those who had died. . . The exploration of that time, that world, is thetheme of these pages.

[Listening to: The Ballad of Bill Hubbard - [Roger Waters](http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22Roger Waters%22) - Amused to Death]

“Downtown Tyuonyi, Frijoles Canyon, Bandolier National Monument, Los Alamos, New Mexico” This week’s Photo Friday topic is downtown.
[Listening to: Shower Curtain - [Ant Farmers](http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22Ant Farmers%22) - Trailer Park Music ]

On a Sunday evening, Lyson and Chris and I made it to the ruins of Abó just as the sun was setting, but moments before the entry gate was closed. These photos document the sunset, turning red with the first wafts of California fire smoke drifting into central New Mexico, playing with the rough red sandstone masonry of the ruins.

If you’re one of those types who are looking for volunteer opportunities in your communty, but don’t want to do something menial like feed the poor or shelter the homeless or teach the children, you may be interested to know that your local draft board is hiring.

“Night falls on Socorro” This week’s Photo Friday topic is night.

By 2am last night, I’d almost gotten us to Memphis, but then I got sleepy. But Chris was just waking up so we switched places and here it is 8:15am (local time) and we’ve just passed through Oklahoma City. The only item of note thus far is I’va actually been able to connect to the internet using my Handspring Visor – something Cingular has been tharting for some time now. Next on our path: Amarillo and then a turn northward to Capulin volcano in Northeast New Mexico.

Today Chris & I travel to a magical, far away place where the sun is always shining and the air smells like warm root beer and the towels are oh so fluffy where the shriners and the lepers play their ukuleles all day long and anyone on the street will glady shave your back for a nickel – Albuquerque. Though likely we’ll just be passing through as we visit the more interesting portions of New Mexico over the next two weeks.

We don’t want Mr. Peanut to be a crude huckster, using his monocled appearance to hit on chicks. . . . That would be scary. : The specific guidelines and rules of thumb that govern corporate fictional mascots. I like fonts. Did you see the goat? : See all your installed fonts using this cross-browser web application. To the average person they would seem like ordinary stones you would find on the beach : Archaeologists learning how to scuba dive discover preserved stone-age settlements. Nationally, two acres of farmland are lost every minute : But here in North Georgia, it’s disappearing much, much faster. Are you a Windows user who hates RealPlayer and QuickTime because of all their bloat and disrespect for the user (such as installing icons all over and constantly running “quickstart” programs when you tell them not to), but put up with them because you need to view the content? Rejoice! There are alternatives.