Chris Botti and I after a concert he played in town. Awesome musician and a good guy. Check out his stuff at www.chrisbotti.com

One day it's nice, next day it's not.

As I endure the ever changing weather here in the great state of Alabama I realize it's always a challenge to make plans involving the outdoors of any kind. I had big plans to work in the yard today and also to wash my car BUT, it's already started raining. I'm totally out on raking and bagging wet leaves so there's not a chance of that happening at all today. If it does dry out a bit I'll do the car thing coz' it's filthy.

Usually before washing the car I'll swing by a car wash bay to use the sprayer on the wheel wells and underside of the car. That's usually where all the mud and crap collects. I had some extra time on the meter so I started working on the top of the car. Well, I took off a few layers of grime only to reveal yet more grime. Yup... gonna have to hand wash it to get it sparkling again. Allegedly it will be sunny tomorrow so if I don't get to it today, I'll have a chance tomorrow.

Last night I got hungry but wasn't in the mood to go to a "sit-down" restaurant. I was already in a sweatshirt and pants looking more like a refugee than a fine-dining patron (not implying that we have any fine-dining establishments in town) so I opted to go to the Captain D's drive through. After slowly making my way up to the ordering microphone thingy, a girl's voice asks "Can I take your order?". "Two piece fish dinner." No response. "Hello?". Still no response. "ANYBODY THERE?!?"

Finally, I hear her say "Sorry Sir. Can I take your order?".

I'm thinking, you already took my order. Don't ask "Can I take your order?" then ignore someone. I place my order again (which she has trouble with) then pull up to the window - and wait. And wait. I'm trying to tell this girl that I need some malt vinegar packets as she tries to push a big bag through my window - "You had two 2-piece fish dinners, right?" I should have just taken them both and went on my way but instead I said "No, I only ordered one." Somehow, that announcement was like a disturbance in The Force as now there were two girls in the drive-through window both looking more confused than when all this started. "Do you have your ticket?" one girls asks. "No. You didn't give me one. You just gave me my change." Finally, I told them "Give me one of those dinners and some vinegar so I can go." One of the girls says "Oh, he's ready to go". Grrrr....

To top it off, the fish was undercooked.

On a completely different front, did you know MC Hammer now has a blog
?

Soaked to the ankle bone.

Ugh - I had an extremely soggy day today. After jumping through a few hurdles this morning, I finally hit the road to Birmingham with a co-worker to visit a client and then work on a video project for another. The drive down was rainy with on an off periods of light drizzle. At my first meeting, we're at my client's office which is on top of a tall hill on the 8th story. Clouds were hanging low and we were at cloud level. During the meeting, it was interesting to see other buildings and then watch them disappear into whiteness as the clouds engulfed us. I was so enthralled (I was easily entertained today) that I forgot what I was saying during my meeting more than once. Either that or I was having a senior moment.

Off to lunch. Headed to Bottega again but this time ordered the smoked salmon pizza. Mmmm... that was GOOD stuff. I was not looking forward to leaving as the bottom had fallen out of the sky and it was pouring. I had parked on an adjacent road on a steep incline. Water was cascading down the hill like a water slide. Even though I had a parka on and an umbrella, below my knees my pants and feet were soaked. Luckily since I knew I would be participating in the video I brought along an extra pair of pants and shoes in case something like this happened. Still, it was uncomfortable to have wet stuff on till I was able to get changed.

Everything went well with the project and we headed north back home. The rain was a lot worse on the way back with relentless sheets pouring down. Made it home safely though but I will say it's very tiring to me to drive in these conditions.

I'll sleep well tonight.

Olympics

I've never been a big fan of the Olympics in years past but for some reason, I've really enjoyed this winter session. Maybe it's because the media coverage lets you get to know the competitors in a more personal way. Whatever it may be, I've made an effort to watch as many of the events as I can. The downhill variants, the moguls, luge, skeleton, bobsled, skating, snowboarding, freestyle ski jumping... it's all been exciting to watch. I still can't get into the ice dancing or curling however. Of all the events, I prefer the individual versions the most over the team ones. Just knowing that an athlete put all that time into being able to do their very best when their time to compete came then to see their faces when they win is great. It's also painful to see when they come apart for the same reasons.

In other news, on a suggestion from Eric, I picked up the new John Mayer Trio CD while out shopping last Sunday. What a change from his last album! Grooving tunes and some great musicianship. I already have it loaded on my iPod getting some serious play. On the other end of the spectrum, I picked up Sevendust's "Next" album. So far I'm digging it too.

I need to hop in bed. Got a busy day tomorrow heading to the studio to shoot a new commercial for a client.

Have fun.

It's cold.

After the warm January we've had, we're paying for it now with the cold winds of February. I can't wait till I get my next utility bill.

Seriously, I hate being cold. I don't HATE the cold, I hate BEING cold. To that end, I try and take extra steps to keep that from happening. For one, I have gas heat at home. If I get cold, the gas unit warms things up QUICK. In the car, my seats are heated. I'm tellin ya, that's a requirement if you have leather upholstery. I first got to try heated seats out in Kevin's Expedition and made it a point to be sure the next car I got had them.

Anyway.

Last Thursday I headed to Huntsville for the Hsv. Young Professionals gathering being held this time at the Country Club there. Food was great and the event was well attended. I saw a few people I knew from last time but made many more new friends. At one point, I was discussing x-ray astronomy with an ex-NASA physicist. Ah... an actual intelligent conversation! That was refreshing. I was espcially interested in how the x-rays were finally converted into an image. Very cool stuff. Our welcome at the club expired so we moved it on to Humphrey's where we all reconvened on the outdoor patio. A live band was the providing a nice backgound groove that made the night that much more enjoyable. Took it to the cribizzle shortly therafter since there was another day of work ahead.

Friday kicked off with a photo session for a client in the morning while the afternoon was spent on paperwork and such. That evening I ventured out to the Brick where Tim Tucker and his band were celebrating a CD release. Several of my friends were there who subsequently picked up my bar tab. That was a pleasant surprise. After leaving though, I REEKED of smoke. That always happens there. I got home and tossed it all into the wash right away before crawling into bed.

I had all sorts of things planned for Saturday but the weather threw me a curve ball. I cancelled all the fun stuff and pretty much had a big day of domesticity. I didn't get out at all that day but kept myself entertained. I recall taking a nap or two also.

After church Sunday, Eric and I headed to Hsv. where I stopped in at Best Buy for a hard drive. I ended up getting a few other things as well before getting some lunch. Food was good, checking out was a nightmare.

1st round: My drink and Eric's food was on my check (which was rang up)
2nd round: Check was right but my check got put on Eric's credit card and vice versa
3rd round: Finally right but need to keep a close eye on my bank statement to make sure it comes out right.

Wrapped up the day taking a friend to dinner that was in town to visit her family. All in all, a good weekend.

Smells.

I am inundated with smells.

Yesterday I came home for lunch. As I was walking to the front door, I heard one of my neighbors trying to start a car and not having much luck at it. I didn't think about it anymore after I got inside and got some lunch ready. My programmable thermostat lets the house cool to 65 degrees when I'm away so I temporarily bumped it up to 70. I sat down to eat and smelled fumes of some sort. Hmmm... that's not natural gas. Grrr... Turns out my next door neighbor had someone over working on their car which is RIGHT NEXT TO my A/C unit outside. By turning on the heat, it the unit sucked in all the fumes from the car starting extravagaza outside. Great. JUST GREAT. When I got home later in the day, I opened several windows and cranked up the attic fan to clear out the house. That's a lot of fun when it's 32 degrees outside. Today, there's just a hint of the gas smell so hopefully it will continue to dissapate.

Went to Nashville today on business. While cruisin' on down the road, Mr. Smokey Smokerson up ahead of me flips what's left of his cigarette out his window which then lands on my radiator and burns itself out. I'm treated to the nice smell of burning tobacco and filter in the car.

Aside from that irritation, I had a good trip up there. Weather was beautiful and the sky was clear. I picked up several things I was needing while in town: cleaning swabs and fluid to clean the sensor on my "big" camera, a case to transport my kick drum pedals in and some extra snare drum heads since I'm on my last one.

Valentine's Day is a bit uneventful for us single folks.

Busy.

I know my posting frequency has dropped considerably this year. Last year I was posting almost daily! I'm still just as busy if not busier but one thing I'm trying to do differently is to actually spend LESS time on the computer. I already spend a good bit of time online for work things but I also spend lots of time in front of the PC doing photography related tasks. When I finally take a break, the idea of spending MORE time online blogging isn't that appealing.

At any rate, I've got plenty of things happening. Right now, I'm going through a bit of a black and white phase on the photography side of things. B&W shots just have a really nice feel to them and at times looks more appealing than their colored counterparts. That's been a lot of fun to experiment with. In other photography news, I went ahead and got a backpack for my gear so next time I head off into the woods, I won't be stumbling around with a heavy shoulder bag while wading across a stream. For those that are interested, I went with the Lowepro Mini-Trekker AW. The problem I had last time was on a trip to Bankhead forest, I had the shoulder bag on one side and carried my tripod in the other hand leaving only one hand semi-free to help me hang on or keep me steady. You REALLY need to have both hands free if you're gonna be scrambling around like that otherwise it'll be really easy to bust your ass if you slip and can't catch yourself.

Yesterday, I scouted out a location for a photo shoot with a local band. Originally, I was wanting to do the shoot in a "backstage" kind of location but the ideal spots weren't avaialable. Luckily, my friend Daniel had a friend that had a large garage that would possibly work. Headed over early in the morning and decided it would work out although it was a little narrower than I would have liked.

I left there and called Preston to let him know to get the band together and where to meet me before I headed to Cracker Barrel to meet up with Kyle for some breakfast. I had just brushed my teeth and put on a hat before heading out the door in what could best be described as "outdoor" clothes. If you had run into me on a hiking trail or something I would have fit in. In the city though, I looked like well... like I slept in my clothes and walked out the door with a had to hide the bed head - which would be accurate.

Got a table in front of the fireplace which was nice. A table next to my was filling up with a group of women that quickly ran out of room. I offered to slide our table over to give them more space (while Kyle and I were still using it) and made conversation with the woman next to me. Keeping in mind my appearance, she looks at me and says, "Hey! Didn't we go out before?". In that moment, several things went through my mind:

1. Who is this?
2. Why didn't I take a shower before going out this morning?
3. If she and I had gone out in the past, did something bad happen?

She told me what her maiden name was and I remebered her - from about 15 years ago! She was now married with two kids and is a teacher in a neighboring town. What a small world. Although I don't remember any details from when we went out, I do remember she was extremely attractive. Now I'm curious as to why we stopped seeing each other. She gave me her contact info so maybe I can ask sometime down the road.

That's about all the excitement this weekend... oh, except for the extremely bad service at Camino Real for lunch today. What a cluster that was. Now I recall why I haven't eaten there in years.

While wandering around Indianapolis during a break from the Formula One race festivities last year, I saw a bright yellow Ferrari 348 parked on the street. What caught my eye though was the nice colors and contrast of the wheel and brake caliper. I may enlarge this into a poster.

Also at Indy last year, these flags against the sky made for a beautiful view! This was just a few yards away from the pagoda.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to work with this girl. The black and white image made for a more striking photo than the same thing in color. Thanks to Tanya S. for doing hair and makeup and Kyle for assisting me on the set.

This is a photo from my session with a local band Saturday afternoon. They have a few new projects they're working on that needed fresh images for. Big thanks to Daniel H. for hooking me up with Jonathan L. for a location. It was cold but we were out of the wind at least.

Super Bowl Sunday

Today was a somewhat eventful one for me. Church went well this morning with the added THUMP from the subwoofer. We still need to do some tweaking but we're definitely heading in the right direction after being stalled for more than a year.

Ate lunch with a huge crowd at Quizno's where I tried their new triple Q sub. I highly recommend it. Very tasty. Made the obligatory stop at EB Games to see if there was anything new there I couldn't live without which there wasn't. Headed home for a bit to pick up my camera and to dig up the measurements of some windows in my livingroom I was wanting to get new blinds for. Got everything then popped into Lowe's. I found what I needed then stood around waiting on the blind-trimmer chick to get done with another customer. THEN SHE WENT ON BREAK OR SOMETHING while I was standing there obviously waiting on her. Back on the shelf went the blinds and out the door I went. I'll go to Home Depot next time.

It was a nice afternoon out so I drove over to the Mooresville area looking around for something to photograph. Eh.. I wasn't really "feeling it" there so I went the other direction and drove around Belle Mina. I found some great spots to shoot once some vegetation grows back but today, nothing stood out to me. Heading back into town I took some shots from under a bridge. While I was there next to the river, the coast guard pulled over and boarded a boat. I didn't have a long lens on me to get a better look so I just ignored them and went about my business. My friend Ty had shot a really cool picture of this bridge that I wanted to try and duplicate. The light just wasn't right today but at least now I know how to get where I need to be to take the shot.

In other news, I'm still trying to get rid of an irritating cough I've had all week. My chest has gotten a bit sore from all the coughing so I hope the coughing subsides soon. I picked up some "Mucinex" at the store which is supposed to help. We'll see.

Watched the Superbowl tonight with the church crowd. I was hoping that Seattle would win but it wasn't meant to be. I'm not a big NFL fan anyway.

Off to bed. Gotta work tomorrow.