Vince M. Camiolo's Blog

One-hundred-year-old Magdalena “Helen” Moser.

The following post serves to provide easy access to a few of my writing samples. Some samples were originally accompanied by photographs or even video, and have been published in a variety of venues.

Family Circus

A Small, Family-Owned Sign Shop

Banacom Signs colorfully epitomizes the terms “small” and “family-owned” business. The small, cramped, yet ever busy, sign and graphics shop typically consists of owner Susan Curtis, 46, her daughter Jill, 19, and sole employee Chris Schulz, 27. Curtis’s husband, Rick, 52, a construction contractor, son, Ricky, 16 and daughter, Heather, 22, make their appearances felt on a daily basis, not through typical business operations, but through family obligations and crises.

Located in Warminster, a south-central Bucks County suburb of Philadelphia, Banacom Signs has awkwardly sat along York Road for nearly two decades. The past five years Curtis has owned and operated the business, with a little help and arguably equally as much hindrance from her always animated family. Her enthusiastic attitude and far-reaching involvement in the community has boosted the business far beyond what it has ever achieved, yet constant family obligations, between township sports and the frequent typical suburban child’s crisis, keep Curtis from keeping up with the workload. Her hands wade through a pool of papers to find her mouse and keyboard. Customers return two and three times, only to leave empty handed, with the promise their signs will be done in the near future. Somehow she maintains a friendly and mutually respectful relationship with most of them. Schulz and Jill jokingly wonder why anyone comes back.

The atmosphere in the shop is rarely calm. Although the business has clearly outgrown the small shop, Curtis refuses to relinquish the location of high visibility, cramping the space the trio has to work in. Screaming matches between Curtis and petite but fiery Jill are almost daily occurrences. Boisterous laughter, dancing and trivia contests are certain daily occurrences. Occasionally it appears as though some real work is being performed.

_____________

Two people and their things.

Maria Magdelena “Helen” Moser, a spry centurion, crochets like it’s her job — literally. The suburban Philadelphia resident dedicates more than six hours a day, every day, to crocheting. Some variation of a blanket, hat, slipper or other item may be dangling from her perpetually tapping crocheting needles, depending on what’s in demand from family and friends. Impending weddings and births keep her busy with white afghans and blue or pink baby blankets.

But most of the time she’s crocheting tiny hats for infants in the neo-natal intensive care unit of St. Christopher’s and Temple children’s hospitals in Philadelphia. She even crochets blankets for infants, not fortunate enough to overcome their initial challenges, to be laid to rest in.

Moser has been wielding a pair of crocheting needles for more than 90 years, since she was a second grader in Ludwigshafen, Germany. She learned the skill from the nuns.

“I was always hanging around the nuns,” she says. “My mother was afraid I was going to become a nun.” Moser gently laughs and takes a few seconds gaze into her childhood.

It wasn’t simply a recreational activity then, though. The First World War was being fought cacophonously overhead. Her father, a medic, had been killed on a battlefield in France. Moser and her sister, two years her junior, were forced to crochet black stockings to supplement to their sparse wardrobe. “My sister and I hated them!” She said with vehemence, before offering a warm smile.

About six years later, shortly after her mother remarried, Moser and her family emigrated from Germany and arrived at Ellis Island, her crocheting needles securely packed in her steamer trunk. Although she’s gone through countless pair since then, Moser rarely goes anywhere without her small tote bag containing, in the least, a skein of yarn and a pair of crocheting needles.

Once a week at the retirement community in which she now resides in the Philadelphia suburb of Hatboro, Penn., Moser leads a crocheting club of “about 14″ women. Next week they will meet with a woman to make arrangements for the club to crochet hats for cancer patients.
When asked why crocheting is such an integral part of her life now, she immediately fires off, “It kills time!”

After a few seconds of thought she admits that it also relaxes her. “And I like to do for sick people,” she adds, her German accent obvious for the first time since we began talking, “especially the babies.”

–

Tens of thousands have gotten a charge out of music that, in one way or another, originated from Matt Hanemann’s guitar.

Through bands like Krhissy, The Deadly and Metroplex, Hanemann has been filling ears in a wide variety of venues — from dank, crowded basements to decadent ballrooms – with his crunching distorted chords and screaming notes all over the US for nearly two decades. And they can all thank the early 1980s hardcore punk band Minor Threat; but not because of their high level of influence (which they have) or their innovative and complex song writing (which they did not have). Yet they were the reason Hanemann initially picked up a guitar when he was in 8th grade.

“There was always a classical guitar of my dad’s kicking around the house, and one day I was inspired to try to figure out a tune stuck in my head. I was listening to Minor Threat at the time, and thankfully, those songs weren’t all that hard to figure out.”

The ease of cracking the tune gave Hanemann a sense of accomplishment, yet the vast capabilities of the instrument presented the level of challenge he thrived on.

Like a biologically predisposed addict, Hanemann was hooked from that very moment. The next 18 years would be a path of exploration and self-discovery, never taking a guitar lesson. “I think because I was self-taught it made it easy for me to innovate within the boundaries of my scope of knowledge, rather than be limited by what was being taught, or what had been previously written.”

To many a musical instrument is simply a hobby, or pastime. To others, like Hanemann, the instrument is a bodily organ, communicating with the brain in both chemical and electrical impulse.

“It does many things for me. It’s simultaneously my therapy, comfort in solitude, as well as a tool in social and creative situations, and it represents a simple little breakdown of how to learn or teach myself anything in life.”

When asked what he gets out of performing on stage, the mild-mannered Hanemann simply points to what I had just scribbled in my notebook and with a crooked, shy smile and says, “See above.”

_______________________

Another CES Hype: Superzooms

Another Consumer Electronics Show has passed, and spread out before us are all the hyped product and feature announcements that we will likely have to wait months to indulge in. As much as innovation is the focus, so is upping the technological ante. One of those antes this year was lens zoom, once again redefining the term “superzoom.” I see your 18x, and raise you (at least) 6x.

Superzoom defines any camera or lens with a focal length range exceeding convention. As one would imagine, what may be considered superzoom one year can easily fall into the category of convention the next, with the introduction of a more impressive range. While SLR-toting pros have been left out of the zoom range race — due to the sacrifice in optic quality – consumers have been treated to a progressive increase in focal length range over the years. Five years ago focal range topped out at about 10x (12x if you count the seldom seen Konica Minolta Dimage Z5). In October of 2007 Olympus released the SP-560 UZ (Ultra Zoom) with an industry-leading 18x range. March of the following year Olympus released the SP-570 with a formidable 20x zoom. Of comparable cameras only the Nikon Coolpix P80 came close with a range of 18x.

The 4x “superzoom” of the early 2000s seems laughable compared to the 18x-20x of today’s standards.

Today’s standards, however, are about to change significantly. At CES, Kodak announced the April 2009 release of its 12MP EasyShare Z980, armed with a 24x Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon Image Stabilized Optical Zoom Lens (26mm-624mm).

Unfortunately for Kodak, the Z980 won’t have the opportunity to bask in the shine of superiority. Olympus announced that one year after the release of the 20x Olympus SP-570 – and one month before the release Kodak’s 24x – it will continue its focal length range dominance in March of 2008 and let loose the 12MP SP-590, armed with a 26x superzoom (26mm-676mm).
_________________

House Swapping

Congratulations! By choosing to live or own a home in Lake Tahoe you have gained membership into an exclusive club that provides you with free accommodations in such coveted travel destinations as Australia and Hawaii. No catch – unless you consider letting strangers stay in your home free of charge a catch.

“House swapping,” a term that is believed to have entered the U.S. vernacular in the 1950s, is a phenomenon in which two sets of vacationers from separate locales will arrange to stay in each other’s homes in lieu of hotels. The obvious appeal is the economic advantages, but many cite the experience of living in someone else’s home is of equal appeal. It gives one the perspective of an inhabitant of that area and an immersion into the area’s culture, something a hotel cannot afford. A swapper often finds a refridgerator full of food, a car to utilize, and occassionally even the friends with which their counterparts keep company.

House swapping reached mainstream appeal in the 1970s. Interested vacationers payed a fee to be included on a mailing list which listed all potential swappers, specifications of their home and desired locations they’d like to travel. Members were all over the globe. In the late 1990s house swapping spiked in popularity again. With the networking capabilities of the Internet nearly ubiquitous, house swapping was easier and more accessible than ever before. Multiple online services cropped up. HomeExchange.com, one of the most popular services today, was started in 1992 by four experienced swappers and has steadily grown ever since. Today HomeExhange.com boasts more than 24,000 listings in 124 countries and territories.

Despite the abundance of potential swappers, the ease of finding a suitable swap ranges significantly, depending on where one lives.

Incline Village residents Grace and Bill Deters are quite familiar with this reality. The Deters first attempted house swapping while living in Wayzata, Minnesota. As seasoned travelers they were excited by the concept as soon as they heard about it, and jumped right in. But no one wanted to come to Wayzata.

Six years ago, after the Deters relocated Incline, Grace received a promotional email from HomeExchange.com. Their change in setting led Grace to believe they might have more success with house swapping this time around. “I thought Tahoe would be different and it certainly was. We had more requests for exchanges than we used.”

Not surprisingly, Lake Tahoe appeals to travelers from all over the world. More than 70 members of HomeExchange.com list Lake Tahoe as one of their four most desired destinations. As a HomeExchange.com member living or owning a home in Lake Tahoe one would have a choice of destinations ranging from Australia to Austria, Hawaii to Southern California. And there’s no telling how many of the 23,925 remaining members would jump at the chance to stay in Lake Tahoe.

At this point you may be sold on the appeals of house swapping, but it is not hard to imagine you might be thinking about, “one of the big fears people have in exchanging. What about my stuff?” As Grace puts it.

But Grace will assure you, your stuff should be the least of your worries. The Deters erred on the side of human decency and were not disappointed. In both of their swaps “people took wonderful care of my house … I didn’t lock up anything. I had china, sterling, everything out, and my house was very well taken care of … nothing missing. It was clean when I returned.”

What you should be worried about are the details that may have been strategically left out of the listing. On the Deters’ Christmas swap to the Hawaiian island of O’ahu two years ago, the home owners left out a few details some would deem important. “The people failed to mention that they had three dogs, three birds and about 10 fish and turtles in an aviary. And when the sun went up, the birds started squealing. When there was any noise outside one of the dogs started barking and then they all barked,” Grace lamented.

To make matters worse, one of the dogs was not house broken, doing “her stuff all over the house” and ruining the Deters’ plans to island hop.

The Deters were not deterred, however, and decided to make a second swap to the Southern California beach town of Coronado. Once again, a small detail some, like Grace, may consider to be quite important, was omitted. “They didn’t tell us they had a cat, and I’m allergic to cats.”

That and the fact that every inch of storage space, including the garage, closets and drawers were “jam packed” has led Grace to the decision to allow her HomeExchange.com annual membership to expire. “I’m not going to do swaps again.” The Deters do, however, still very much prefer to stay in other’s homes versus hotels, and have had much success with VRBO.com (Vacation Rental By Owner).

While Grace does not condemn house swapping, she does have a few words of advice for potential swappers like the Duggans. The Duggans, a retired couple from Truckee, decided to give house swapping a try when the global devaluation of the U.S. dollar put a strain on their European and Canadian RV trips.

To the Duggans, Grace warns, “Ask a lot of questions before you do it. Because when you look on the Internet … you think you really know, but when you get there, [it can be] quite shocking.”

This coming Sunday is the Livestrong Challenge Philly event. I registered yesterday for the 45-mile bike ride, to fill in for a drop-out, giving me the added challenge of raising the minimum $250 donation in only four days.

As I began to employ the typical begging for donations via a few social media outlets (Facebook and Twitter) I realized I was just another charity biker/walker/runner with the same old line. I needed a different approach.

When Nicci Nesmith Hammerel emerged with the first donation, I found it interesting that my Tahoe friends were the first to come through. Then it struck me. I need to take an anti-hippie approach to raising money:  Distinguish people by superficial differences, separate them into groups and incite some healthy competition among them.

The groups have been determined so far as: Tahoe friends (my home for the past three years), Philly friends (my home for the first 27 years), family, and Twitter. More groups may emerge; maybe I’ll listen to some Rush Limbaugh for inspiration.

What does the winning group get? Pride, a sense of superiority over all other groups, and title of “The Master Group.”

If you feel generous, or simply superior to another group of people, please donate whatever you can to Livestrong to help battle the worldwide cancer epidemic, and improve the lives of the 28 million affected. Chances are, you know a few of them.

http://philly2010.livestrong.org/runvmc

Thanks!

If I manage to raise more than $100 today, I’ll celebrate by purchasing a GoPro camera to mount on my handlebars to document my ride (haven’t decided if I’ll be lugging my 7D and other equipment).

Current standings:

Tahoe Friends: 1, Philly Friends: 12, Family: 4, Twitter: 0

A note about charity bike rides/walks/runs, etc.

The idea behind these events, as I understand it, is the sacrifice and challenge the participant is taking on in honor of those who face the challenge of battling whichever disease the event represents. This is not for leisure. The ride/walk/run should be hard, even painful. Some bicycle advocates, namely the late Sheldon Brown, have mixed feelings about charity bike rides. Brown felt that charity bike rides, “send a message that cycling is a painful, unpleasant chore that you should do because it is good for you, or because it benefits some charitable organization. Too many well-meaning people sign up for a long pledge ride without an adequate mileage base, with substandard cycling skills and equipment. These people will “learn” that bicycling is about pain and exhaustion, saddle sores and sunburn, aching knees and stiff necks.”

As a staunch advocate of bicycles as viable transportation, I tend to agree with Brown.

In light of this, I decided to ensure that I am being challenged and sacrificing in a way that will in no way reflect poorly on cycling. I will be riding the 45-mile hilly course on a single speed road bike, with a gear ratio of 46×16. It will be a challenge, but only to my legs and lungs, not to my perspective on bicycling as a whole.

Once a week I will decipher an obscure cultural reference or fifty-cent vocabulary word slipped into a Seinfeld script.

Episode 35 | “The Boyfriend (Part II)” | Original Air Date: February 12, 1992

After bumping into one if his “favorite ballplayers of all-time,” Keith Hernandez, Jerry enters into a bizarre social triangle between himself, Elaine and Hernandez.

As Jerry and Hernandez embark on a fresh male relationship, Hernandez enters into a romantic relationship with Elaine (Jerry and Elaine used to date, but it didn’t work out). When Hernandez starts to prematurely advance his relationship with Jerry (a request for assistance with moving), Jerry decides to “break up” with him.

Elaine, while making a similar move, has an entirely different motive: Hernandez smokes.

As Jerry and Elaine rejoice in their simultaneous decision to end their relationships with Hernandez, Elaine reveals her reason, to which Jerry replies, “Oh, smoking. You know, you’re like going out with C. Everett Koop.”

So what is the meaning of the reference to C. Everett Koop?

C. Everett Koop served as Surgeon General of the United States from January 21, 1981 to October 1, 1989 (administrations of Reagan and H. W. Bush). One of his most notable acts as Surgeon General — and the reason for the Seinfeld reference — is his militant stance on tobacco products, instituting the required revolving warning labels on tobacco products and advertisements. Koop also stated that nicotine’s addictiveness was similar to that of cocaine and heroine.

My being a native of Philadelphia, it’s also worth noting that Koop first rose to prominence as a pioneer in the field of pediatric surgery while surgeon-in-chief at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), establishing the nation’s first neonatal surgical intensive care unit, developing techniques in separating conjoined twins and many more ground breaking procedures.

Although my blog has sat idle for the better part of a month, I’d like to think I had a valid reason; between my responsibilities with Corey Rich Photography, shooting the Tahoe Adventure Film Festival documentary and kicking off the mountain biking season with a trip to Morro Bay, Calif., I’ve been busy.

While that may be precisely the reason for some to keep up with a blog, until I work blog posts into my daily/semi-daily workflow (an immediate goal), the blog gets pushed to the back burner.

Here’s a short recap of the past few weeks:

Alex Honnold working on a boulder problem at "The Sads."

The last weekend in January, Shawn Corrigan and I headed south on US395 along the eastern edge of the Sierras to the climbing mecca of Bishop, Calif. There we met up with professional climber, Alex Honnold, most notable for his impressive free solos, and recipient of the 2009 Golden Camalot Award (Tahoe Adventure Film Festival). We made the trip to film an interview with Alex for our Tahoe Adventure Film Festival documentary.

A missed connection on Saturday gave us the chance to do a little climbing of our own.

Shawn works on a boulder problem at The Happy Boulders.

We found Alex and his friend Kenny in the parking lot, grabbed some dinner with them and shot the interview early Sunday morning. We had a couple hours to spare following the interview, so we tagged along with Alex and Kenny to shoot some still images. Click here for a lightbox of our images of Alex.

We have the three primary interviews down for the TAFF documentary. Now it’s time to really dive into the edit. Here is a screen shot from each interview (Todd Offenbacher, Corey Rich and Alex Honnold):

TAFF doc screen shots.

Last weekend long-time friend Dennis Lui and I partook in our annual mid-winter mountain bike trip. Primarily to snap me out of my season of relative sedentary-ness (Dennis lives in San Diego, so his riding season never ends), this also served as the kick-off to my preparation to the Sea Otter Classic, a short two months away, not to mention my escape from the winter wonderland of Lake Tahoe. We selected the Central Coast town of Morro Bay, an area we had ridden in two years before. We knew what to expect, and we expected great riding; pastoral-set singletrack with expansive ocean views; demanding climbs with rewarding downhills.  And one of the more luxurious state park campgrounds I’ve stayed at.

Dennis Lui in Morro Bay State Park.

Here’s to more regular posts from here on out!

Historian, author, civil rights activist and personal hero of mine, Howard Zinn, passed away on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 of an apparent heart attack. He was 87.

Zinn is best known for his history-from-another-perspective book, “A People’s History of the United States“. He authored more than 20 books and three plays.

Here’s a New York Times article about his life, including his controversial role as a college professor and historian.

I plan to write more about him tomorrow after watching the biographical movie, “Howard Zinn: You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train,” (narrated by Matt Damon) based on his memoir, “You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train”.

For those of you who have been follow the video-capable DSLR developments, I’d like to see Vincent Laforet do something like this.

The five “Tawoche 2K10 Dispatches” produced by climbers/filmmakers/photographers Renan Ozturk and Cory Richards are nothing short of impressive and superb examples of visual storytelling. Ozturk’s and Richards’ videos exemplify the true capabilities of video-enabled DSLR cameras (when combined with some talent and skill in the visual arts).

But what is even more impressive is that these exquisitely-edited projects have all been produced on-the-fly by a pair of globe-trotting climbers, often while suffering altitude sickness, dehydration and other elements-related obstacles to filmmaking,  and battling spotting communication signals. Many filmmakers dream of producing projects of this quality as they sit bathed in the glow of multiple displays from an elaborate editing suite in a cushy climate-controlled studio.

I was lucky enough to discover Ozturk’s blog, “Vertical Carnival,” just before their trip began. After “Dispatch #1″ posted I was anxiously awaiting the next video, checking in multiple times a day. I felt like I could relate to my Facebook friends whose statuses expressed their jonesing for a new episode of “24″ or “Lost”.

The five several minute videos (now all available to view) chronicle Ozturk’s and Richard’s first ascent attempt on the 6000-meter (that’s about 21,000 feet!) Tawoche Himal in the Nepalese Himalaya. I won’t tell you how it ends. Check them out for yourself (an interest in climbing is not required).

Once a week I will decipher an obscure cultural reference or fifty-cent vocabulary word slipped into a Seinfeld script.

Episode 32 | “The Suicide” | Original Air Date: January 29, 1992

As Jerry’s next-door neighbor, Martin — with whose girlfriend he is having an affair — lies in a drug-overdose-induced coma, Kramer laments to Newman that Martin borrowed his vacuum cleaner and never returned it. His mother is coming to visit, and when she sees his rug she’s going to kill him.

Newman offers to lend Kramer his antiquated, mechanical carpet sweeper. Kramer rebuffed, with extreme prejudice.

“I don’t want a carpet sweeper. They don’t do anything.” Kramer proclaims.

To which Newman defends, “It gets my rug clean.”

That brings us to the Seinfeld line at hand:

Kramer arrogantly states, “The carpet sweeper is the biggest scam perpetrated on the American public since One-Hour Martinizing.”

What is this public offering to which Kramer’s sense of consumer value is so offensive?

Martinizing Dry Cleaning, the largest dry cleaning franchise in the US, was established in 1949. The process employed, “Martinizing,” promises an unusually quick, one-hour turnaround. The process was developed when, “chemist Henry Martin revolutionized the industry by introducing the concept of on-premise dry cleaning using a newly developed, non-flammable chemical. Previously, it was standard for dry cleaning stores to be used only for pick-up of orders. The actual dry cleaning was done only in industrial areas because of the high flammability of the petroleum solvent used to clean garments.” (Martinizing.com)

The reason for Kramer’s distrust in Martinizing is not immediately clear. One can only assume that a Martinizing Dry Cleaner location was unable to adequately perform the service on a selection of Rudy’s vintage shirts, or perhaps even an Executive raincoat.

First, I would like to acknowledge that today is the observance of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday; a day most of us embrace as relief from a Monday workday. What many probably don’t know is that in 1996 President Clinton signed federal legislation called, “Martin Luther King Day of Service,” challenging citizens to honor Dr. King’s legacy with volunteer service.

I’m ashamed to say I only participated in such service for MLK Jr., Day once, but like any self-respecting stereotypical American citizen I pledge, “I’ll do it next year.”

Early this winter I was asked by Mr. Tahoe Outdoors himself, Todd Offenbacher, to photograph the Tahoe Adventure Film Festival (TAFF) for the second consecutive year.

The TAFF — a celebration of the year’s best adventure-oriented films — is one of Tahoe and the surrounding area’s largest and most anticipated events. I was more than happy to immediately agree, and enlisted the help of friend and fellow photog, Shawn Corrigan.

The TAFF is unique to other film festivals in that it is a true celebration of the films. The audience, in addition to the raffles, DJ, dancing and other entertainment, is exposed to the best segments (usually 10-20 minutes) of the best adventure films (there is no jury or judging). There is also the presentation of the annual Golden Camalot Award, presented to the adventure athlete of the year. The 2009 recipient was Alex Honnold, a talented young climber (free-soloist, specifically).

Here’s Todd, explaining the event:

The event, as usual, was a blast. Shawn and I — not typically event photographers — roamed the theater inside the MontBleu casino in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., aiming to capture traditional and non-traditional angles to document the event. Utilizing the amazing low-light sensitivity of our cameras we were able to come away with some unique perspectives. Check out our shots in this lightbox.

Speaking of amazing capabilities of our cameras, Shawn and I both run armed with HD video-capable DSLRs (Shawn shoots with a Canon 5D Mk II; I, a Canon 7D), greatly expanding the level of documentation we are able to collect while shooting. As a result, we will be producing a short documentary of the event to be included with the films as the TAFF makes its way around the country and world. Be on the lookout for that, soon.

If you’re in the Reno-Tahoe area and missed the main event a second showing is occurring at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno on January 23, 2010.

This is the official announcement of the return of my blog.

If you’ll notice the date of my previous article, it’s been more than a year since I last updated the blog. It wasn’t long after that article in October of 2008 that I turned my attention away from independent endeavors. I lost focus, mainly due to an uncertainty on what my focus should be on. I had a couple projects that were not developing as I had hoped. At the time I was working three days a week for renowned adventure photographer Corey Rich as a post-production artist and assisting with digital asset management.

As I stood at a psychological crossroads two major events transpired in late winter of 2009 that allowed me to take a step in a particular direction: First, more than half of my photo equipment was stolen out of my car in San Diego following a mountain biking trip in Arizona. Second, Corey informed me that there would be opportunity for me to grow within the operation, including going full-time. It was time to focus on my role in the photo industry from the perspective of Corey Rich Photography, an experience I knew would prove invaluable.

We’re just a few months away from a year since I became the full-time digital manager at Corey Rich Photography (CRP). An enormous amount of change has taken place in that short period of time; personally, within CRP and within the photo industry as a whole. The way in which all of this has impacted me is what you can expect from the blog. It will be reflected in the type of work I choose to pursue and more literally in the musings that will be posted.

To brake it down in more literal terms, expect this blog to contain articles highlighting my work as a photographer, filmmaker, writer and marketing consultant — as I re-endeavor to become a freelance professional — as well as my experience as a mountain biker and racer, and general outdoor enthusiast.

I love getting feedback, so please comment on my blog posts (it will make me feel important), and feel free to connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn (please send me a note when adding me to your network).

Thanks for reading!