We’re in a bit of an in-between stage at the moment – we’re half moved out from our flat, half packed up, and half getting ready to move back to Glasgow. In the meantime we’re hanging out in a wee house in the country, with J revising away for finals and me doing my best to act like a country husband..

(above: demonstrating the “tea bag box bounce” flash technique for on-camera flashes. I personally recommend using roiboosh – adds a little warmth with or without added hot water…)

So there I am dandering through a train, pulling my little coffee wagon, gently persuading business travelers to repent of their lack of purchases from me, and the explaining the difference between cafe creme from the machine (tasty lavazza goodness) and cappuccino (powdered nonsense with hot water), when after quizzing me on the coffee brand (industrial espionage, duh..! gave away all the secrets..!) and knocking back an espresso the operations manager for Switzerland and Austria hands me his card and slips me a sneaky look! Don’t think I’ll be jumping ship ( or train..) anytime soon though.. kinda getting used to my trusty steed..

“A giant inflatable dog turd brought down a power line after being blown away from a Swiss museum.”
(BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Inflatable faeces raises a stink )

Didn’t have any plans for this afternoon.. untill now..! Exhibited at the Zentrum Paul Klee till October…

UPDATE: In a stunning piece of undercover citizen journalism, and contrary to updates in foreign media updates, it was today uncovered that the large American doo-doo at the heart of switzerland is still looking rather deflated. The slightly swiss medicine student disguised as a foreign tourist managed to gain access to just behind the bicycle shed, a common site for dog excrement, and managed to get this exclusive snap of the beleaguered popped poop.

Looks like we missed a big party in Bern last night! Yakin, Zuberbühler and Behrami should get some extra toblerone this morning..!
Hopp Schwyz!

The swiss summer has most definately kicked off.. we headed to Murten last week and took a wee ferry all around the lake. I’m thoroughly impressed with my new camera (Canon 450d), although I don’t think i’ve owned anything with so many settings before! At least with film you’re pretty much stuck with the same ISO that you popped into it for 24/36 more shots, metering mode normally left in the same mode.. and all that’s left to think about is composition/aperture/shutter and maybe some exposure compensation if you’re feeling twiddly. I’m still a little overwhelmed at the transition to so many buttons and menu options – all of which have amazing artistic potential.. but also almost distract from the real banter of actually taking the photo.

It’s also been quite a while since I’ve tried carrying a camera around just for the craic, or tried going out intentionally to take photos. and it seems like the little photographer inside me has shrunk a little, or at least his eyes aren’t working as well as they were. At the moment it’s only every 10 shots that I take that I feel that I’ve actually taken something more than just the standard classic shot of face-on, two-thirds to the left, get the lines all lining up and don’t overexpose that beastie.. but hopefully that’ll come along soon again.

Flickr pro account coming soon I think!

Also.. all you dslr-brandishing people out there – what’s your workflow? How do handle the sheer volume of photos that you can produce? its the only part of this new experience that’s driving me crazy!

Theology is always a network; more precisely it is a network of many theological concepts. In this manner, a particular theology is seen as a name given to a particular configuration of these concepts. However, this network is in motion; the network always changes. Even the most systematic theology changes over time. This phenomenon is common in computer networks: Systems dislocate and reorganize: link. This is the same effect in the theological network where concepts move to have the optimal connection. For instance, Luther’s reformation reconfigured theology so that the concept of salvation was detached from any kind of deed—sola fide!

[From the church and postmodern culture: conversation: Theological Networks]

One thing i find fascinating about living in another country is finding out more and more that the little stars in the swiss cultural sky join up into slightly different constellations than they do back in NI / Glasgow.. There’s crazy little societal connections between things (patriotism and the economy, church and state, alp horns and cheese.. ) on so many levels, and just as you think you’ve got your head around the general swing of things here, then another wee factor appears that modifies your oh-so-perfect conceptualisation of how you think the inner workings of the great big cuckoo clock of Switzerland ticks..

which is actually more an Austrian thing..

A few days a week I go roaming around Switzerland in trains with my portable traveller satiator.