The toilet drain in the RV seals — the vinegar J put in the toilet last night worked! :) The snow that was falling through the night has drifted, and some drifts are about 2 ft (60cm) high. I delayed showering to let the hot water heater operate longer, and while doing so I checked my email. I still hadn't gotten a response or payment from the winner of my Canon EOS 1Ds Mk II, who hasn't completed the eBay transaction. I looked through the eBay site to find out how long I have to wait until I can open up a case with the resolution center, and one page says 4 days and another says 7 days — boy are they helpful. I took a shower, and the water was really chilly when I got in, and was just starting to get warm as I was rinsing off. :( I opened a live chat session with eBay help to find out when I could open a case with the Resolution Center, and found out that I can do so after 4 business days — bingo! I worked up a message to the winner summarizing our communication and gave him a deadline of 5:00 pm MDT today to pay or I'd open a case with the Resolution Center.

J's son J (SJ) called J, and he wasn't working today because of the snow. He wanted to come by this afternoon to register a domain name for the business he's going to launch next year.

While I was looking at the Go Daddy website, I followed a link to the personal web site for Go Daddy's Founder and CEO, Bob Parsons. I was quite intrigued by his 16 Rules for success in business and life in general. I found the first three rules to be particularly interesting:

• Get and stay out of your comfort zone.
  I believe that not much happens of any significance when we're in our comfort zone. I hear people say, "But I'm concerned about security." My response to that is simple: "Security is for cadavers."
• Never give up.
  Almost nothing works the first time it's attempted. Just because what you're doing does not seem to be working, doesn't mean it won't work. It just means that it might not work the way you're doing it. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and you wouldn't have an opportunity.
• When you're ready to quit, you're closer than you think.
  There's an old Chinese saying that I just love, and I believe it is so true. It goes like this: "The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed."

J called SJ back to see if he and DilK (daughter-in-law K) would like to use some coupons to get a free lunch at Ted's Montana Grill to go for a date while J watches the grandkids — he said sure. He also said he just finished digging out my packages from the snow — the packages that were delivered yesterday! I worked up a blog entry.

Had lunch around 12:25, and J left around 12:45 to go watch the grandkids while SJ&DilK went on their lunch date. J took a load of laundry with her to do while there. I did a lot of computer work, then I started to process some RAW images in Capture One (C1). C1 has been the leading RAW converter for years because it could generate higher-quality images than Adobe's or Canon's Raw converters. I also like C1 to do image sorting and down-selecting because it's possible to zoom into the pixel level of the RAW file to determine sharpness. The work I was doing in C1 is part of my normal work flow where I assign a final file name, adjust exposure and white balance, and create a 16-bit TIFF file in ProPhoto color space. (You can learn more about the ProPhoto color space on Luminous Landscape.) J returned around 4:15, and brought the clean laundry and my packages with her. Because I hadn't heard from the winner of my Canon EOS 1Ds Mk II who hasn't completed the eBay transaction, I opened a case with the Resolution Center around 6:10.

I made dinner at 6:20 of Bertolli Chicken Florentine & Farfalle and homemade garlic bread using a loaf of bread from Carino's.

SJ came by as we were finishing dinner to register a domain name for the business he's going to launch next year. The domain he really wanted was already taken, so he and J had to find a suitable alternative.

I heard back from the winner of my Canon EOS 1Ds Mk II who hasn't completed the eBay transaction: "So busy these days, will pay but the way you raised unpaid dispute forced me hard to leave a nice feedback." Bloody idiot!

I called my mother and we talked for a while. I processed more images in C1 before going to bed.

Good News for J

J received some good news today. First, her image Fox Kit With Coot (below left) was selected to be a Semi-Finalist in the 2009 Refuge Photo Contest sponsored by the National Wildlife Refuge Association. The red fox kit was playing with a dead American coot in the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Utah, USA, in May 2009.

Second, her image Beginning to Weave the Nest (below right) was selected to be a Finalist (Honorable Mention) in the 2009 National Wildlife Photo Contest. The village weaver was starting to build a nest by weaving the first strands of grass onto a tree branch in Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve, South Africa, in November 2007.