Lila Perry Steinhoff Archives

December 30, 2012

2012 Top 10 Posts

News outlets always run Top 10 stories at the end of the year because (a) they are usually short-staffed; (b) readers and viewers are busy with family activities and drop off; (c) it’s easy and can be done in advance, and (d) it’s traditional. So, for all of those reasons, except (c), here are the highest-read pages of 2012.

A 2010 post about the old gym uniforms topped the 2012 list because it went viral on another site. It was viewed 3,576 times.

#2 Simon and Garfunkel

I covered Simon and Garfunkel at Ohio University in 1968. This story was seen by 1,736 readers.

#3 Johnson’s Shut-ins

I was hoping to get back to update my Johnson Shut-Ins photos last summer but didn’t make it. Still, 1,674 folks looked at my old pictures.

#4 Queen Elizabeth II

My tale of getting to cover Queen Elizabeth II in the Bahamas because I was the only guy on the staff with a suit ranked 4th, with 1,462 views.

#5 David Holley’s obituary

David Holley, the last man living in Wittenberg and a storyteller supreme died April 11 of lung cancer. I only talked with the man twice, but he’s a character I’ll remember forever. His wife, Joanne, lives in one of only two buildings left in the once-vibrant Mississippi River town

#6 Low water exposed Tower Rock Quarry

Low river levels has put Tower Rock in the news. A November 2011 story on the abandoned quarry south of The Rock was viewed 1,193 times.

#7 Geocachers conquer Tower Rock

I was hoping the river would drop low enough for me to walk over to Tower Rock like Brother Mark and I did in 2003. It didn’t quite make it, and I didn’t want to take my inaugural kayak ride solo in the Mississippi River when these geocachers made the climb. The page was viewed 1,120 times, and 407 people clicked through to watch the video I produced about the day.

#8 “Rush Limbaugh is a horse’s patootie”

I was interviewing Wife Lila’s Uncle Ray Seyer on a wide-ranging number of topics. Somehow or another, Rush Limbaugh came up. He described the high school Rush as a “horse’s patootie” for the way he monopolized the CB radio channels even when truckers were trying to get directions to local businesses. The page had 1,104 visitors.

#9 Terry Jones and Rush Limbaugh

A 2010 story pointing out the coincidence of Koran burner Terry Jones and Rush Limbaugh both being members of the Cape Central Class of 1969 is still getting hits. It came in 9th with 1,099 readers.

#10 Lila turns fire photographer

I was running some errands when a warehouse across the street from our house exploded into flames. Wife Lila dialed 9-1-1, then grabbed her camera and started shooting. The West Palm Beach Fire Marshall and 1,099 other readers were interested in her handiwork.

Remember my Amazon link

If you were one of the folks who stopped by 357,930 times during the year, don’t forget to place your Amazon orders by clicking on this big button or on the links at the top left of the page. I get a small percentage to keep the lights on and it doesn’t cost you anything extra.

December 25, 2012

Steinhoff Christmas 2000

Since the world didn’t end at midnight on December 31,1999, all of the Steinhoffs were able to converge on Missouri for Christmas 2000. The group shot was taken at Brother Mark’s house in St. Louis on Christmas Eve. The Tulsa branch consisting of David, Diane, Kim and Amy, had to blast out on Christmas Day to beat a snow storm headed our way, so they aren’t in as many photos. The Florida Clan was represented by Ken, Lila, Matt, Sarah and Adam. Mother, front left and looking younger than most of us, is the glue that binds us together.

Since all of our readers will be busy with their own families, this photo gallery is for us. Y’all are welcome to look at it, but there won’t be a final exam later.

Sarah’s a Floridian

Snow was a new experience for Matt’s wife, Sarah. She had lots of catching up to do. We were coming up from Florida in separate cars linked together by CB radios. When we got the first glimpse of the St. Louis Arch, Matt and I tried to convince Sarah that it’s a tradition for first-timers give it a healthy lick, but she wasn’t buying it. We even explained that it was perfectly sanitary: vendors sell alcohol wipes to protect you from germs.

Mother never throws anything away

Mother dug out Mark and David’s graduation robes and Mark’s high school diploma. She found my white lab coat stolen from the Central High School darkroom. It had a neat NRA patch from one of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s alphabet soup agencies on one shoulder, but Mother carefully removed it, much to my disappointment.

My prom jacket

Adam looks a lot better in my old prom jacket than I did in 1965.

Photo gallery of the 2000 Steinhoff family Christmas

I hope your families have as much fun in 2012 as we did in 2000. Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the image to move through the gallery.

December 21, 2012

Graham and the Christmas Lights

There’s a neighborhood around Gabriel Lane, just down the road from us that has been known for its holiday decorations for decades. Wife Lila wanted to walk Grandson Graham through it in his stroller like she had done with our boys.

Unfortunately, she picked the first night of the winter when we were under a Wind Chill Advisory. Temps in the low 50s don’t sound cold to you folks who experience wind chills in the negative 50 range, but this is FLORIDA.

Traffic is usually heavy in the neighborhood, so the game plan was for me to drive to a side road where Lila, Adam, Carly, Graham and all the paraphernalia a nearly-two-year-old needs would be off-loaded. When they were through walking around, I’d swing by and load up the survivors.

As it turned out, we found a parking spot close enough that we could all go. That’s when I realized that I had dressed to sit in a nice, warm car, not face Arctic blasts. It’s hard to hold your camera steady when you’re shivering.

Photo gallery of Christmas walk

I shot everything available light (available dark?). From time to time, I’d try to time my shot for when a car headlight would throw some fill onto Graham, but it generally made for an ugly effect. Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the photo to move through the gallery.

We’re getting into a few days when folks are going to be busy with family activities, so I’ll probably post some light-weight topics until after the holiday. Since the Mayans didn’t get us, our family wishes your family a Merry and a Happy.

November 21, 2012

Looking for Presents?

Wife Lila was honored at a retirement party Sunday night. She is part owner with Son Adam of DedicatedIT, and has been working in the company for the past nine years.

She was given a plaque recognizing her service: In Appreciation of Nine Years of Service and Corporate Mothering… Invoices processed: 5,799; Bills Entered: 4,154; Trips to the Bank: 1,854; Countless Errands; Being a Second Mom to All of Us; Nice as Pie at All Times.

The photo shows her holding her retirement package.

Click Here

Son Matt explained yesterday how clicking on this button to do your Amazon shopping will put a little money in my pocket (in case Lila’s Lotto ticket doesn’t pay off) without adding to your cost. I hate to sound like a PBS fund drive, but this site costs a bunch of money to maintain.

I burn more than $500 bucks in gas for each trip to Cape; that doesn’t include lodging on the road and meals. If Mother didn’t put me up at home, I couldn’t afford to spend a month or more at a time in town. My Nikon film scanner cost $1,800. Last month I had to replace a $500+ drive array and populate it with another $600 worth of drives. My desktop computer needed upgrading about 18 months ago and one of my two monitors died recently. I don’t mind donating my time, but it hurts to reach for the old checkbook to pay out real money for hardware, supplies, travel and services. The only solace I can take is that it’s cheaper than being owned by a boat.

Looking for photo equipment?

If you come to this site, you’re probably coming to look at photographs. Here are some links to equipment I’ve used to produce the contemporary photos, plus some less expensive cameras.

Nikon D40 – my first digital single lens reflex camera. I shot close to 40,000 photos with it before trading it to Son Adam.
Nikon D3100 – Adam bought this on eBay and thought it was more camera than he needed, so he traded it to me for my D40. It’s a better camera than the D40 and it’s actually cheaper.
Fujifilm FinePix JX500 Digital Camera – The battery compartment on the Kodak digital camera I bought for Mother a few years ago was broken, so I went looking for the easiest no-frills camera I could find. It takes good pictures for way under $100.
Canon PowerShot D10 12.1 MP Waterproof Digital Camera – Grandson Malcolm has one of these. I sure wish I had one when I was covering hurricanes. It’s waterproof, shockproof and takes great pictures.
Hoya Super Multicoated Ultrathin circular polarizing filter – There’s probably no accessory that will make your photographs more dramatic. I keep it on the lens to protect the front element and to remove reflections and to darken skies. Make sure you pick on that fits your lens. (My Nikon lens takes a 52mm.)
Domke PhoTOGS Vest – I used fishing vests to hold film and gear for years. A professional newspaper photographer named Domke developed a camera bag in 1976 that became the industry standard. I like working from a vest, so I was glad to see him design one with the right kinds of pockets and made of heavy cotton.

Finding your way

Mother and I like to say the day’s not complete until we’ve found a road we’ve never been on before. Sometimes, it’s nice to know where you are and how you’re going to get back home. I’ve had several flavors of Garmin GPS units on my bike and car.

Here’s the one I’ve found does a good job in my van – the Garmin Nuvi 760. It’s large enough to read, is generally accurate and has been dependable. Its beanbag mount rides very comfortably on my steering column.

Electronic Toys

About 10 years ago, we hooked Mother up with WebTV, a klugy way to connect with the Internet using a keyboard and her TV. It was a slow dial-up connection that used an obsolete browser. One of the guys at work won one of the first iPads and sold it to me for a fair price. We gave it to Mother for her Birthday Season three or four years ago, not sure she would adapt to it. Now, I think she’d give up her TV before she gave up her iPad. It’s been a great way for her to keep up with her extended family. If you have an elderly relative, open up a new world for them. They may adapt to the digital world faster than you think.

This is the latest flavor of iPad.

Wife Lila wanted a new, lighter, faster laptop to take on her cruise to Alaska. After consulting with The Boys, I ordered a Toshiba Satellite P775-S7368 17.3-Inch LED Laptop, which was a really sweet machine.

When it came in, though, she thought the 17.3″ screen made it too large for her to carry easily. Adam sold it to a client, and I ordered a Toshiba Satellite P775-S7368 17.3-Inch LED Laptop to replace it. I liked the bigger screen of the other laptop, but I borrowed this to take back to Cape to power my presentations. It was a lot faster than my 4-year-old computer and had an HDMI port.

I always hate to rely on equipment provided by others, so I bought an Epson EX7210 Projector. It was easy to set up, light and performed flawlessly. If you have to do formal presentations, I recommend this highly.

Very few of you need as much redundant data storage as I do, but I’ve been very impressed by my Drobo S 5-Bay Storage Array. If you look at the price, you can see why I’m hoping you click on the Amazon link for your shopping.