One reason for not spending much time here is that I started working at the library on Monday. As jobs go, it's OK; I show up, I do my list, I barely talk to anyone, I go home, I get a check every other Thursday, and I'm not stuck in a cubicle staring at a computer. It's the perfect job, as far as I can tell. Like any government entity, there is plenty of things that make you go, "Huh?!?!", but I'm so far down the food chain that it really doesn't matter. It's only part-time, but at least it's permanent (or at least as permanent as anything these days).
I'm still working on the Tax Geek thing, mostly trying to cram enough tax code into my head to get past the testing. I'm scheduling the second test for the first Friday in December, which is about a month later than I had hoped, but I'd prefer to take it later than planned and pass, rather than rush things and waste $100. The downside is that I'm unlikely to have my Enrolled Agent status solid for tax season. In any case, my hours at the library are very unsettled at this point and will likely remain so for the next few months, so we decided that instead of spending $6,000 or so on rent plus another $3,000 for furnishings, computer, etc. so I can have an office that is empty most of the time, we will hold off for a tax season. By next year, we will be in a better financial position plus I will have a more predictable schedule (or no schedule given how long most of my jobs last...). So that's the plan for now. It may be different next week.
We didn't bother going down to Animal Kingdom last Friday because it rained the entire day. So we sat around the apartment getting caught up on the bookkeeping, clearing out the Hulu queue, doing some reading, etc. Sunday, the weather was perfect, so we made a run down there and got what we went for:
His name is Jabali ("strong as a rock" in Swahili) and he was born on August 24 and weighed 311 pounds at birth. We had to do the safari ride three times to get that shot. The first time, Jabali was playing hide-and-seek:
The little dude went bookin' behind that rock as soon as our vehicle came around the curve. This was only a few minutes after the park opened and most of the animals were still eating breakfast, so he may have been heading for some food. Our second time through, he was standing in a group with strong back-lighting, so you can't really see him:
Anyway, that was what we did all day Sunday. I have more photos that I'm still sorting and touching up, then I'll toss them up on Flickr. I also had the chance to play with the camera in low light. I've never used the higher ISO settings, so while we were watching the Lion King show, I cranked the ISO up to 3200 and gave it a go. Most didn't turn out because of the wide range and rapid changes in light intensity, but these weren't bad for hand-held shots with our glorified point-and-shoot:
Those are straight from the camera with no processing. I normally don't do much low-light photography other than sunsets (and I have a preset for that), mainly because I've not been impressed with the results I've seen from point-and-shoot digital cameras. But I may have to invest some time playing with our current camera and see what I can get out of it.
And the federal tax code is calling me.
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