Moto in the sand!

Profile: Cal Hooley

Profile: Cal Hooley

Cal Hooley was a 19-year-old high school graduate living in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. Working as a bartender at the local pub, while playing his passion, baseball.

Cal now lives 8,000 miles away from home here in Albany, as a starting pitcher for the LBCC Road Runners.

Hooley decided to he wanted to travel to follow his dream of professional baseball, “After moving to southern Australia to play baseball for two years, livin’ two thousand miles from home, I got a passion for traveling for baseball.” Since moving out of his parents at age 16, Hooley has spent a total of eight months actually living in his home territory. “It became more than going places to play, it started being about meeting new people, and experiencing new places.” After four years of traveling, it became obvious that there was one place he needed to go, “America was an easy choice, the main hub for baseball in the world, I figured I’d have the best opportunity here to take advantage of coaching and play in the major leagues.”

After playing in Guam for a little over a month, Hooley’s coach asked him to come play for the team in the U.S., in Kansas. Three months before he was planning to be in Kansas, the coach changed teams and states. “After talking to another coach I’ve known my whole life, he said that Linn Benton had a good program, and would be a good way to get my feet wet with American baseball.” Hooley made it to the U.S. for his first stay in Fall of 2011.

Being an exchange student, and an athlete presented its challenges. “The scariest part was crossing the street, you blokes drive on the wrong side of the street!” (Laughs) “My financial situation was always a concern, not being able to work on my visa makes it hard.” With no financial aid available, Hooley pays his own way with money he saved from working back home. Finances weren’t the only concern, “I always have to be full time, and obviously pass all my classes.” With 14 credit hours, and an additional 25 hours of baseball a week, his schedule is a busy one. “I’ve invested a lot being here, there’s a lot of pressure to do good,” he says. Beyond wanting to make his parents proud, Hooley wants to both succeed in school with his degree in biological science, and his dreams of professional baseball.

Hooley is a starting pitcher for the LBCC baseball team, it seems all his hard work and dedication has paid off. His visa expires in summer of this year, but he has plans in place when moving back home, "I'm going to try out for the Australia Professional League when I get home, there's a good chance I'll make it in." 

“It’s definitely been an interesting experience, not nearly as many of you wear cowboy hats as I thought.” Hooley leaves for Australia in June of this year, after two years in the U.S. Hooley plans to come at some point. “If I could do it over again, I would have saved up some more money, it’s expensive over here.” Hooley’s happy with experience here, “I’ve met a lot of new people, and made a lot of new really good friends, the whole experience has just been pretty ******* awesome!”

At A Glance:
Cal Hooley
Age: 22
Hometown: Darwin, Australia
Position: Pitcher
Goals: To play in the Australian Professional League
Area of Study: Biological Sciences
LBCC Baseball
Australia Professional League

Photo Credit: Unknown

What DSLR should I buy?

What DSLR should I buy?

A daunting question so many are faced with when deciding to take the leap in to the world of DSLRs, and photography. I'd like to attempt to ease the stress of that question for you new and or possibly future photographers. For the sake of keeping this short and somewhat simple, I will confine my recommendations to Nikon cameras, but don't let that stop you from investigating all the options out there: Canon, Sony, Pentax, Sigma, etc.

Those who buy and use DSLRs can really be broken into three groups: consumers, pro-sumers, and professionals.

The “consumer” being the average user, using the camera solely for personal enjoyment, and the enjoyment of others when looking through their dazzling photos. The consumer level purchaser is generally looking for a simple and easy to use camera that will provide high quality results, with little effort.

The D3100 is Nikon’s answer to the consumer’s demands. With very few easily decipherable buttons, the camera appeals to the “point and shoot” mentality of many consumers. Although simple, this camera is no slouch. With 14 megapixels, modest autofocus system, and modest 3 frames per second shooting speed, the little D3100 is bound to provide plenty of big smiles on the operators face when viewing their success on the three inch high definition screen. With several on the fly scene modes to choose from, such as sports, landscape, and low-light, choosing the right settings for the job is a cinch, and nearly dummy proof. "It's a solid entry-level DSLR, easily the best Nikon has made," says Thom Hogan of ByThom.com. At $499 MSRP, this modestly priced camera is well within in reach of many, college students and soccer moms alike.

Those a little more serious about photography, much more interested in the actual art of taking photographs, maybe even selling a couple pictures here and there, would be part of the “pro-sumer” market.

The go-to camera in Nikon’s lineup for many pro-sumers is the Nikon D7000, Nikon’s crop sensor flagship. With it’s largely magnesium alloy body, 16 megapixels, high performance autofocus system, and 6400 max ISO, this camera is ready to perform. A multitude of new features sit at the users finger tips: the ability to autofocus with every AF lens Nikon has ever produced, lens fine-tuning adjustment, auto-bracketing, among many more. Many more setting specific shortcut buttons appeal to the pro-sumers ability to dictate all of the cameras settings before clicking that shutter button. With an MSRP of $1199 body only, the D7000 is quite a jump in price, the old adage “you get what you pay for,” could be inserted here, Hogan goes as far to say "the performance you can obtain puts you in a different league!"

Professional shooters are just that, professional picture takers, or photographers. The people in this segment market their work, and sell it to make a living. Someone that depends on their camera, demands the best.

Nikon answered the call for professional equipment with their D700. An all out pro-body, with no sacrifices made. With it’s massive viewfinder, staggeringly accurate and fast autofocus system, 100% alloy body, massive 36x23.9mm full frame sensor, and ultra clean high-ISO abilities, the D700 is the definition of performance. All this comes at a steep price, with an original MSRP of $2999, one easily justified. The easy-to-use Nikon Scene Modes are gone, replaced with easy to reach ISO, File Quality, and White Balance buttons. Although easy to use, the D700 requires some skill and previous photographical knowledge to operate, no problem for the cameras target market. The D700 "No doubt it sets a benchmark in the 'compact' Pro bracket of the market," as stated by editors at DPReview.

What do you want out of your camera? What do you plan to use your camera for? How much camera can you handle? How much are you willing to spend? All great questions to ask yourself before settling with one for yourself. By no means are these your only three options, there are literally 100 of cameras to choose from, from more than a handful of DSLR manufacturers, but in general all manufacturers have a market that can be broken down into three main tiers. Which one do you fall into?

Don't know? That's a great indication that you should go do some more research! There is a plethora of information available online; DPReview, Photozone, ByThom, are all great sources.

Photo Credit: MING THEIN

At A Glance:

Nikon Imaging Products

-D3100

-D7000

-D700

A Slice of Life - Column

The sign on the side of the building says “Bronco Billys,” Cooper calls it the hotel. The town of Sisters is small but it was once even smaller. Locals remember when the town consisted of several buildings lining a small gravel road, the center of town marked by the old hotel.

The once old hotel now converted into the most popular restaurant and bar in town, looks no different than it did in the days of an unpaved main street save for a new coat of paint and a few other maintenance necessities. 

The dusty saloon smells of old leather, the lighting is yellow and dim. Even the door to the bar is nothing but a swinging piece of wood, hanging from the frame by two hinges in desperate need of a good oiling. They squeaked as Cooper pushed the door open and walked into the bar.

Although his head was nowhere near the ceiling he hunched over slightly when stepping through the doorway. At six foot five inches tall, Cooper is a tall man. His white hair, slow step and slightly labored breathing show his age, but once his gaze caught me at my high seated table the corners of his mouth turned and his eyes gleamed. I was reminded he is a young man at heart.

Cooper made his way to the chair across from mine, the bartender was already walking over with the old mans drink of choice, a cold Bud Light. I stood, reaching out with my right hand, his gripped mine for a firm enough handshake to take you off guard if you weren’t prepared.

I waited for him to talk, he would have a lot to say. Cooper likes to share stories, every one of his words demand attention. Like most born and raised in a small town he uses very few of them, but he can say more with 10 words than most can with 100. Before his empty glass could clang on the hardwood table top, the bartender had already sat down another.

It was getting late, Coopers wife gets uneasy coming into town after dark to give him a ride home. He knew I’d be leaving town the next day, and knew that I also had a weakness for cold barley beverages. He asked me what time I would be by Sunday, I told him 2 o’clock. He reminded me that the big Nascar race would be on, I knew I’d find him sitting in his recliner, the front door barely open.

The swinging bar door squeaked again as Cooper pushed through it, his head no closer to the ceiling than his first time through. It was barely above freezing outside, grumbling out loud Cooper made sure I was aware of that fact, his breath visible in the dry, cold high desert air. Before he got in his wife’s car, he reached for my hand again.

Cooper was a Chevy guy, his home built 1950’s dragster still sat in his garage collecting dust. My Ford came to a stop beside his Chevy pickup just before 2 p.m. From the driveway I could see the front door hanging open by just a few inches. I pulled open the screen and pushed through the open door into the house, it looked like C. Edwards was leading with 76 laps to go, the T.V. was easily audible over Coopers loud snoring.

I left the 6-pack on the welcome mat before walking back to my truck, I knew Cooper would give me a hard time for being late next weekend.

-Max Jacobsen

At A Glance:

Ron Cooper

Sisters, Oregon

Born August, 19th 1941

broncobillysranchgrill.com