Back last month I went on a trip to the Pathfinder Parkway, a 12-mile trail that runs throughout Bartlesville. I took a walk through only a small portion of the trail, but I enjoyed the time very much. I took many pictures of my walk, and have been posting the pictures on my Flickr profile. [flickr.com]

The picture I reserved for this site is of a small oil pump that I found along the trail. It wasn’t hidden from view or all that hard to find, so I’m sure many people have taken pictures of it throughout the years. I’m still not yet used to the oil industry residing so close to home, so these machines are still interesting to me.

I have been saving up money all this year for a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, and I was just recently able to purchase it. It arrived at my door today via UPS, and I am excited to start taking pictures and video with it. I haven’t taken a picture with it yet, as the battery is still charging, but I imagine the next picture I post here will be from the new camera.

I plan on keeping my EOS 30D as a backup camera, as it’s worth more to me to keep than for me to sell it. Average used prices on the 30D are only about $300, which was a shock for me to learn considering how much I had to spend to buy it new!

Now I need to start saving for a juicedLink CX231 [bhphotovideo.com] and a Rode NTG-2 [bhphotovideo.com] for any video work I want to do with the new camera.

Oklahoma recently broke its 24-hour snowfall record; on February 9, 2011, some parts of Oklahoma received 27 inches of snowfall. Where I live in Bartlesville, the city only had to deal with about 14 inches, but the smaller amount still proved to be difficult to handle for many residents. I personally have been enjoying the snow and cold, and wish it could stay here longer. It reminds me of winter in Michigan. Winter doesn’t feel like it truly exists as a season until the snow falls.

Because of the snowfall, I have had several snow days off from work. After a while, the charm of being “stuck” at home grew a little thin, so I took a trip outside to take some pictures.

For the full-size versions of these pictures, visit my Flickr page. [flickr.com]

Since my last update, I have moved to a new apartment, a new job, and a new office location. I now work on the other side of the city, in a room with four other people, all who work together to help accomplish the “creative” tasks for the organization. I work as the web guy now; I transitioned to the new position in July 2010. I moved to my new apartment in September 2010; I again live only a few minutes away from work. I moved to the new office building in late December 2010, which was why I moved to the new apartment. From the building where I work, I can see the apartment buildings where I once lived when I was a volunteer. It’s hard to realize that it has only been a couple of years since I moved to Oklahoma.

It’s taken me far too long to post my South Korea-related media, I know; I’ve been busy with other things, and have looked at these pictures and videos for so long, the thought of posting them again is a little tiring.

I still think it’s important to post my media here, so I will do so.

First, the pictures.

Here are a few HDR images.

Here are a few panoramic images.

You can other images on my Flickr feed [flickr.com].

My YouTube video playlist is available here [youtube.com]. Below is an example of what I posted.

Here’s my Vimeo video.

So, there you have it. My trip to South Korea. I apologize for the delay in posting this stuff; it took me longer than I expected to get all these pictures up on the site.

Happy New Year! I had a safe trip to and from South Korea, and enjoyed the time I spent with my old roommate. I took plenty of pictures, and regret I didn’t take more. I hope to one day return to South Korea to meet up with my friend again, and take triple the pictures, but that will be some time in the future.

I should have written this post when things were more fresh in my mind. Now that I’ve told so many people about the things I did and saw over there, typing it out here a month or so later feels like I’m bringing up tired news. I don’t mean to insinuate I dislike talking about South Korea; rather, I’m worried I’ve already said too much, and am annoying everyone.

Things were so strange for me in South Korea. I expected the business and lifestyle to mirror the United States in many ways, based on the information I could gather on the Internet. I was definitely wrong in my assumptions, and was quite shocked to see how different everything was in Seoul. I finally understood the stress my South Korean friend had when he volunteered for a year in Bartlesville. The differences went beyond those found between a small city like Bartlesville, and a huge city like Seoul. The way people act, the way business is done, the way traffic operates, and the way people live are just some of the way in which South Korea is different from the United States.

My friend showed me around many areas of Seoul for the five days I visited with him, and I was impressed by the amount of work he’d put into showing me the city. I learned more about South Korea in those five days than I had ever known before, and he wasn’t able to show me everything he wanted!

I don’t have much time left today to write out this post, so I’m not going to get into grand detail about all the things I saw over there: I’ll leave that information for another post. I wanted to post an update to show I haven’t forgotten about the site, and to let you all know the pictures I took are (eventually) going to be posted. I have a plan for what I want to do with the pictures, but that involves more effort and time.

For now, please enjoy one of the pictures I took in Seoul. The two buildings on the right are Samsung Gwangjin Trapalace Apartments. The picture was taken in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, South Korea, beside the Yeongdong Bridge. I think I took this picture on my third or fourth day in South Korea.

I can’t believe I took so long to post. So many things have been going on! I’ll leave that for another post.

Back a few months ago, I was in a conversation with a coworker about my hopes to one day travel to South Korea to visit my old roommate. At the time I was in the conversation, I had done a little saving, but not enough to cover the cost of the ticket. My coworker asked me about my progress, and said he would be willing to help me out once I figured out all the costs. I thought little of it, because I didn’t assume he was actually serious about that offer.

After a month or two, I was again asked by the same person about my progress, and this time I was able to provide a better answer on my savings for my trip to South Korea. It surprised me when he again repeated the offer, and shocked me even more when he then started working on getting a date set for my flight.

With the help of my coworker, I have set a tentative schedule of December 9-15 to fly out to visit my roommate in South Korea, provided I receive the necessary papers in time for the ticket to be affordable. I and my roommate are very excited, and I’m already anxious to start taking pictures of the area. I’ll have to buy another memory card to replace the one I lost (unfortunately, the pictures that were on the card will require me to wait for the leaves to return to reshoot), and purchase some sturdy luggage to carry all the stuff I hope to buy while I’m over there.

Life in Bartlesville remains the same, and I am feeling more comfortable with my job these days, or at least, I’m less nervous. My social life is social enough for my taste, and I am content with my daily routine. My car is still running, and I am continually thankful for the generosity from VOM executives to offer it to me.

I had plans on putting up a picture of a bridge near my house here in Bartlesville, but I discovered the memory card that I lost was the only placed I had stored the picture. In its place, you get a more recent picture of a tree from downtown Bartlesville, which has since lost nearly all its leaves.

As usual, I apologize for the delay between posts.