Out the top of the tubes and into the collection bin.

View of the heads from standing on the deck beside the cockpit.

Okay - on the picker, cotton gets picked up by the heads in front - the heads have these spinning spikes with teeth that pull the cotton off the plant then push it into what I would call an airway where it gets blown up the two tubes the the left (in the picture) of the cockpit and out into the bin in the back.

Cotton about to be pulled into the heads of the picker.

Okay, Brian's heading my direction now. I actually was riding around on the picker but hopped off so I could get some shots of it coming and going. I was actually tough to get around. The cotton stalks are stiff and a little over waist-high.

Cotton EVERYWHERE.

Parting shot of a cotton picker humming along at about 3 miles per hour.

My morning started out with this plant... COTTON!

A fantastic day!

Ever since the Gala last year, my friend Brian L. had invited me out to their cotton farming operation when he learned I was interested in it. I've been living in the South most of my life so it wouldn't hurt me to learn more about the crops that grow so plentifully around here. Today was the very last day of their harvest. We had been missing each other when we tried doing something earlier but as luck would have it, I needed a cotton field shot for a work project so things worked out perfectly. Weather was superb too! I needed to enjoy the weather as much as possible as things are supposed to go downhill by the end of the week.

Enjoy some of the pictures from today.

Rested.

Ended yesterday not feeling all that great. Woke up this morning not feeling much better so I took the day off to rest - which is exactly what I did. Sometimes I just have to force myself to take it easy and just lay around because I always end up doing SOMETHING.

Here's one of the reasons it's hard to not get sick in this weather, it's forecast to hit 90 degrees tomorrow... on freakin October 19th! Good grief. I went ahead and turned my attic vent back on again since the temperatures went back up. Oh well.

Funny story today about Danica Patrick. She races in the Indy Racing League for the Rahal/Letterman team. Seem she and Jaques Lazier had a wreck and they both rode back in on the same ambulance. Apparently Danica poked him on the temple repeatedly saying "YA GOTTA USE THIS!!!!". LOL! Too funny. You go girl.

In other racing news, my favorite team (Renault) and driver (Fernando Alonso) won both the Constructors and Drivers championships in Formula One. The constructors championship is for the car builders and the drivers is for, well, the driver. Congrats to them. It'll give me more reason to wear my Renault stuff when I get the chance.

This weekend, it looks like me and my sister are going to get together and do some cooking. It's been quite awhile since we've cooked anything from our native country of the Philippines so we're gonna take it upon ourselves to whip up a good meal or two. I'm kinda looking forward to that as she and I don't get a chance to hang out as much these days. With my brother in law down in Louisiana with his tree crew helping with the hurricane clean up, now's a good time for us to catch up. Gotta come up with a list of dishes though so I can be sure to gather up all the ingredients in time. Some stuff ya' gotta track down.

A minor change.

After people have asked me for a link to my blog a bazillion times, I finally got tired of having to explain the old link to them... "www.jonathanmoral.com/web/weblog/blogger.html" not only was that a pain to tell someone about, it's even tougher to remember. Now, blog.jonathanmoral.com does it. MUCH easier.

Now for a small rant. I've been reminded in the past few days as to how many people don't have a clue how a 4-way stop works. Case in-point, this woman in a pickup truck pulls up to the stop first and everyone in-turn pulls up and stops as well. It's her turn to go. She doesn't. She's busy yakkin to someone in the truck. One cycle of people go through the intersection. It's my turn to go - she pulls into the MIDDLE of the intersection and stops. Everyone now is stopped just waiting to see what she's gonna do. Finally she turns. What an idiot.

In other news, I'm still having that "I'm gettin a cold or something" feeling. Instead of going out to eat tonight, I actually stayed in and had some chicken soup... and animal crackers. Mmmmm.

I need to get busy straightening up my place this week in preparation for guests. More on that later.

I'm finally awake.

I woke up this morning uncharacteristically early - 5:30. I was WIDE awake so I decided to get going on a load of laundry and watch the Formula 1 race I taped the previous night. The newspaper showed up around 7 so I got it and read through to see what was going on in town. Draft beer can FINALLY be served here starting Nov. 1st. Geez. After all that fun, climbing back into bed sounded like a good idea - so I did. Woke up a little after noon and missed church. Whoops. I had all kinds of weird dreams during that last sleeping session. Freaky.

Ate lunch then stopped in at EB Games to see what was new. I tried out Virtua Tennis for the PSP. I may have to get that one. Graphics were really nice and gameplay was smooth.

Speaking of gameplay, stopped in at Kevin's where the youth group was getting together for video games. He's got ALL the stuff over there... X-Box, PS2, (sonn XBOX 360), Nintendo 64, plasma TV, etc. Anyway, the funniest part of the night was when I mentioned playing Super Mario Kart and Kevin hopped in to play with 3 other kids.

Kevin: Let's put it on the DK Mountain track.
Teen #1: You sure you wanna do that? (arrogant)
Me: Uh oh, I hear some trash talk...

The unsuspecting teen did not know that Kevin is 30-something and has no job - playing video games IS his job. Kev obliterated the kids with ease while I laughed my hiney off in the foyer. That's just some funny stuff right there.

(Actually, Kevin has a job but it leaves him plenty of time to do other stuff - heh.)

Just passin' through.

Remember my day of not really doing anything? Well, it got busy kinda abruptly. I was enjoying my morning by sleeping in but finally decided to get up and moving around 10. I watched some TV then hopped in the shower. I decided that I'd run up to Tennessee and pick up some Powerball Lotto tickets since the jackpot is up to $300 Million. That's quite a chunk of change. Despite astronomical odds, I figured I stood a better chance of winning if I HAD tickets instead of didn't. Kyle went along also to throw his hat into the ring. On the way to Tennessee, he gets a call from Shane regarding a wedding Shane was supposed to be filming at 2. He's running late and wonders if Kyle can cover for him. Kyle already has to be at another wedding at 3. We keep on going to TN and get our tickets since that was the plan. On the way back (and it's around 1:00 and we're 20 miles from home) Kyle's phone rings again...

Seems that Shane was also supposed to take some photos at the wedding. Kyle reluctantly asks if I could shoot the wedding. Let's see here:

1. I'm 20 miles from home.
2. It's 1:10 and I have to be there at 1:45.
3. I'm in cargo shorts, a t-shirt and flip-flops
4. I have to run Kyle by his house

Luckily, I have a few things going for me:

1. I've had a shower
2. All my photo gear is with me - charged and ready

Kyle suffers from some mild dementia as he tells me I can just go like I am. I look like I'm about to pick rice in an Asian rice paddy. I drop Kyle off then rush home and at least get on a pair of jeans and some tennis shoes before I'm out the door. Still, one old woman looked me up and down and rolled her eyes as I walked up. I felt like telling her to kiss both butt cheeks but I thought better of it. I did the best I could given the short notice I had. "Notice" is probably too strong a word in this case.

Next, it was off to Trinity for another wedding. I was helping on the video duties this time. That went off without a hitch suprisingly. Afterwards, the reception was lit by candelight and was extremely dark. The video camera I was using was wortless in the lighting conditions. I was asked if I could take some photos - I politely refused this time.

Lesa and I hangin out at Simps after a long day.

 
 

Long week.

I've had one heck of a week this week. I did get to spend a good bit of time out of the office meeting with clients which I enjoy. The weather was fantastic for the most part so no complaints there. Ended the week with photo shoots. I worked with Ty Cole, a photographer from New York. Great guy. Cool to hang with.

Lesa and I also got to hang out some. That's something we haven't had a chance to do in a while. Had a few drinks over at Simp's Thursday night before I took off elsewhere for dinner.

This morning I stopped at the cleaners and dropped off a load of clothes including a few dress shirts I needed done for a wedding video job I'm helping Kyle on Saturday night. I don't have much call to wear suits very often any more but I do have several to choose from when the occasion arises. That's always nice.

I actually have NO other plans for this weekend which is very liberating! I'm not drumming this weekend, no yard work that's mandatory, and my house is reasonably clean. Other than washing my car and doing the odd load of laundry, I'm completely FREE!!!!

I'm excited.

The cab of the tractor trailer burned.

 
 

Traffic in the mirror.

 
 

Getting closer.

 

As I approached, they had diverted traffic over on to one side of the highway. 

Oooo... deadly wreck yesterday.

 

As I was returning from Huntsville Thursday afternoon, I ran across this. 

POOF! Weekend's over.

I had a SLOW start to Saturday morning. I got up at my usual time around 6 and fiddled around a little, not really getting anything accomplished. I was still sleepy and it was a gray day outside so I crawled back in bed. Around noon, I finally got up. I was on the fence about washing my car as it looked as though it could rain at any time. I DID however get busy trimming the holly bushes in front of my porch. Yet again, I filled up my yard waste bin.

I ended up washing my car after all. It was a bit dingy from all the driving I had been doing the past week or so. I also took the time to check tire pressures - ALL of which were low to some degree. Everything's back to a recommended 32 PSI now though so hopefully, my gas mileage will also improve slightly.

Went over to Jack's place to hang out and jam. He's got a nice multi-level patio in his back yard under a canopy of trees. A nice touch is that there's a fire pit right there next to one of the platforms. Roasted some marshmallows before getting a few instruments out to jam in the cool evening air. It was nice. I had flashbacks to my days as a boy scout in my younger years - sitting by the campfire with friends just talking about stuff and not having a care in the world. Very therapeutic.

Got up at 6 Sunday morning and STILL was late to church for band warm up. Good grief, I live about the closest to the building yet have been getting there late. I gotta work on that. The music went well today from what I could tell. Other than me losing count and coming in too early after a break (but I covered it up so it looked like I meant to do it - heh.), it was uneventful.

Had lunch with friends then afterward, saw that a bird had crapped on my car. Ahhh... can't keep it clean for 24 hours. I did clean that up when I had a chance to. During lunch, Kevin mentioned something about one of my eyes looking, well, different. I thought nothing of it till I looked in the mirror and saw my bottom eyelid swelling just slightly. I looked again a bit later and it was pretty puffy. Just great. Anyway, turns out I had some kind of allergic reaction I think. To what, I'm not sure yet but it's all better now. Geez.

For dinner tonight, I tried out a new steak house opened up by Jody Witt, a friend of Kyle's and my sister. Food was so-so, but they've only been open a few days so maybe it's just some start up hiccups. We'll see when we go back after a few weeks.

Friday Funk

Why I scheduled so many appointments on a Friday is beyond me. Several meetings looked very promising so at least it's not a wasted effort. Got a big photo shoot at the end of next week so I'm needing to get all that arranged to be sure I have locations and talent for the shots. I'll be back in Florence on Monday to re-shoot a photo or two for a client there.

Took Stephanie to lunch today over at Westside Grill. I'm involved in a project for her organization. After eating, I swung by the Joe Muggs for a mocha before going back to the office. One suprising thing is that I was talking about my trip to Indy for the Formula 1 race earlier this year. She asked "Isn't that the one where only 4 cars started?" Whoa. I was amazed she knew that.

Stayed home tonight as I had that "feeling" you get when you're about to be sick with a cold or something. Like I've mentioned before, I don't get sick very often but when I do, it's usually during the season change when temperatures go from hot to cold or vice versa. I'm feeling a little better now so maybe I'll be okay. I sure hope so. All I know is that staying in tonight was better than sitting in a smoke-filled room for a few hours.

I watched qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix tonight. Very rainy session which really makes the starting grid kinda weird. It should make for an interesting race though.

This was the weekend I was supposed to go deep sea fishing with a few friends. Due to the hurricanes, the trip was cancelled. I need to plan on taking some time off soon as I really haven't had a proper vacation this year.

A photo shoot? Today?

I know it's the first week of October but with the high getting up to 88, it might as well still be summer. I wore a linen shirt and slacks today, violating some sort of fashion code. Before Kay could comment, I did let her know I was aware it was fall and I shouldn't be in linen, blah blah blah. She got a good laugh outta that.

I thought that I would just be meeting with a client today for a consultation. I didn't know I was needing to do some photography today. After climbing around on a ladder and moving stuff around then realizing I'd need the studio lights, it quickly became a linen-unfriendly environment. Had to make a run to the house to change into jeans. Eventually got the shoot done. Whew!

This afternoon, I idly rubbed one of my eyes. For the first time ever, one of my contact lenses went on an excursion around my eye. It was gone... up underneath my brain somewhere. I didn't panic at first, but after a few minutes of it not coming back to the visible part of my eye, I started to freak. Mainly, I was thinking "gee, even if I go to the Dr. what are they gonna do to get it out?" Luckily, the lens did show up and things returned back to normal.

My car is dirty again and needs a wash. It's supposed to rain Friday so I think I'll put that off until Saturday morning. It should be cooler then too. My other plan is to also finish up the hedge trimming since the city will be emptying my yard waste bin tomorrow morning. Round here, we have 2 trash bins - one for trash and one for yard waste. I also have a recycling bin.

Completely changing the subject, anyone reading this have an iPod Nano? I saw one in person the other day. Wow that was small. Still, I'm happy with my regular iPod. I still need to find the best solution for connecting it to my car stereo. FM transmitters SUCK. Especially the Griffin iTrip.

Bumpy week.

Last week was one for the books. It's reminded me of why I decided a while back that being single isn't all that bad. Dating can be a frustrating pain in the ass.

Aside from the social issues, my week ended on a good note. Made a guest appearance on the Jeff & Kyle show Friday night. When that was over, I headed on home as I was tired. On Saturday, I *finally* got a chance to try my hedge trimmer out on the holly bushes. I started off with the ones beside my house around the central air unit. My gas meter is located over there as well. I need to keep that area clear coz' the meter reader starts whining if the bushes scratch them up when they make their monthly visit. In no time, I had amassed enough clippings to fill my city-provided yard waste can to overflowing. That signified the end of the bush trimming. I could have bagged additional clippings but the bags I had were the cheap ones mainly for leaves and the holly branches would rip through it and make a mess. That'll give me something to do later on in the week.

I wish the weather would hurry up and cool off more so I can sell my old car. If you'll remember, the A/C in it died (on my birthday no less) so I'd have a better chance of getting a good price on it when the lack of A/C isn't such a deal breaker. It got nice and cool briefly last Thursday. I remember because I ate lunch outdoors at a cafe... and froze my hiney off. I had to turn the seat heater on when I got back in the car to thaw everything out and also to get "stuff" back to their normal dimensions. Geez. We were back in the high 80's for the weekend so Thursday was just a fluke.

I can't believe the weekend's over again already. I ended it by watching most of this week's Desperate Housewives episode. They'll be talking about it at work tomorrow so I might as well have some sort of clue what's going on. Oh, I also caught Extreme Makeover Home Edition. I love that show.

Nice day out.

It was a pleasant day today - glad I get to spend most of it out and about. Started off my day by fixing a printer at work. The lights were flashing with the message "call for factory repair" - not good. I searched a good bit and finally found a copy of the service manual online. That did the trick. I was able to diagnose and fix the problem easily at that point. I've still got the skillz to pay da' billz. :D

Went over to a friend's photo studio over in Madison. Nice setup! HUGE studio with garage door access to photograph cars or other large objects. I also got an interesting lesson on how large-format cameras are used. Very cool stuff.

While I was over there, I stopped over at Edo's to see my old friends there and have some sushi. Ahh... that was nice. On the way back to the office, I realized I was supposed to do a photo shoot for a local politician sometime before Wednesday. Hopped on the phone and set all that up then drove over to the photo locations to scout them out. Looks like I can handle it without needing the studio lights. I hope so at least.

Had band practice tonight. It's usually on Thursdays but some scheduling issues came up and it got moved. One of the other drummers that was supposed to play also had a snafu so I'll be playing this week instead. No worries - it was an easy set. Looking forward to the get-together at Jack's on Saturday night. I think just about everyone that plays an instrument (among our friends) will be there for a jam session. Maybe we'll have some pictures, we'll see.

After practice, Kev and I went enjoyed some good eatin at Dead Lobster. Woot!

Wardrobe malfunction.

My usual routine in the morning is to get up, turn the TV on for news, make and eat breakfast, brush teeth, shower, put on "work" clothes then head out. I got all the way to the clothes stage and did not have any socks to go with the pants I had picked out. You see, I typically wear business casual attire nowdays. And that's only when I plan on seeing clients. Other days I'm fine in jeans. Anyway, I've got several pairs of slacks that aren't true khakis but are have more of a golden tan color to them. I only have one pair of socks that match that color - and they were in the laundry basket. Re-wearing the socks was out of the question without laundering them. That's just nasty. Swapped out the pants for a dark navy pair. I've got socks to go with blue for days. After work, I made a stop at TJ Maxx and got 9 pairs of socks that will go with the pants now. I'm happy.

So much for my sock saga.

Oh - in other fun news, one of my termite people called. They found termites in 3 stations around the perimeter of my house. I think I have 25 stations in all. I've got that Sentricon system going on so now they've changed the substance in the affected stations to bait and installed extra stations right around them to eliminate the colony. I should probably say something to my neighbor on the driveway side because the termites were coming from his direction.

That does it for my bug saga.

My plan was to get my hedge trimmer out tonight and get work done with that. My sock shopping adventure changed that plan as it was getting dark when I finally arrived home. Hedge trimmer in the dark = jacked up hedges and possibly a cut power cord. I'll put that off till later in the week when it's supposed to get getting cooler anyway... highs by the end of the week are in the mid 70's. With the weather changing, I have to be extra careful to try and not get sick because traditionally, I get some kind of sickness on the season change. Being sick sucks. Especially when you have to take care of yourself. Luckily, my sister lives here in town and helps me out sometimes. She's ran to the store for me for stuff and for medicines.

I'm off to bed.

Soggy.

The Remnants of Rita are in the valley and she's making her presence known with some heavy rain. We need it though coz' it's been pretty dry around here the past few weeks. This will also help with that aphid problem I mentioned a couple of posts back - knock 'em out of the trees and keep them from getting that honeydew crap all over everything.

Last Friday night I headed over to Big Spring Jam. Through work I get a pass for the whole weekend and access to the hospitality tent for food and a place to kick back. Despite the heavy traffic, I was able to get a good parking place in a public lot. Made my way over to the stage where Theory of a Deadman was playing and met up with some friends. When they got done, I moved over to the middle of the crowd and scrunched up with some more friends of mine along with a bunch of teeny-boppers to catch the Alterbridge show. I'm glad I had seen them before at the Roxy over in Atlanta and at the VonBraun center in town because the sound where I was standing sucked. I had my earplugs with me so that made it better but despite that, I had a good time anyway.

Saturday morning I had committed to take photos of a friend's family that's a missionary. Called and woke Kyle up because I needed him for lighting help. Got through the first shoot then was on to the next with Wendy. She needed some new shots for her theatrical stuff. Ended up shooting over at the Old State Bank. It was a good backdrop for the kinds of shots we were doing.

I spent the remainder of the day on domestic stuff. I wanted to go back to Big Spring Jam to check out The Black Crows but I was tired and didn't feel like driving to Huntsville and back.

The music at church was good today. I was off duty this week so I got to enjoy things from off the stage for a change. I did bring in my sound meter and MD recorder though. I had been meaning to check on some sound levels for awhile and had time to get my stuff together and "git 'er done" today. On the high end, we hit around 110db a few times in the middle of the room. In the back, there was about a 9db decrease. Took some notes for reference that might help us in the future.

Made a trip to Home Depot after lunch. I was still looking at gas grills. While there, I went ahead and picked up a strong electric hedge trimmer so I could whip the holly bushes around my front porch and around the side of the house into shape. Those things are a BITCH to trim with hand clippers. I also got some dryer ductwork. There's a pretty sharp bend in the existing ductwork that if I get straightened out, I think my dryer will work significantly faster. We'll see.

Oooo.... congrats to Fernando Alonso of Renault for clinching the 2005 F1 World Champion title in todays Brazilian Grand Prix. Exciting race to watch. Speaking of F1, I got my refund check from Michelin for the mess at this year's US Grand Prix. I also found out that I get 2 extra tickets for next year's race! I've already renewed my tickets for next year AND gotten my hotel reservations - I'll have 4 tickets total. Might be able to bring along some F1 newbies!

On another note, I've been eating with a group of people on Thursdays at a local Mexican restaurant. It's just different folks - friends and clients. Remember back last fall when I had a problem with my heating system? The guy that owns the service company that worked on my heating unit is a lunch buddy now. So, if any of of you local folks need good people to call for HVAC service, I've got someone to recommend to you.

Completely random shot of my car's odometer with 100 miles on it. It had 37 miles on it when I picked it up.

Decent shot of Scott Phillip's drum kit.

Here's a shot showing how far I was from the stage.

Myles on-stage in front of Scott's drums.

Mark Tremonti on guitar.

Myles Kennedy of Alterbridge. He had come down off the stage into the tunnel for the sound cables. Snapped these shots with my little Sony camera.

Hot n' nasty.

That would be how I would describe the photo shoot yesterday at the rubber mill. One thing that is a nice benefit of my job is that I'm exposed to plenty of different industries and processes that you don't normally just run across. Rubber manufacturing for example. You can't stay clean in that environment. Natural rubber is kind of taupe in color. A product called carbon black is added to it to give it the characteristic black color we're used to seeing. I saw how raw materials are mixed and processed to yield products with different properties. I also saw how compounds were formulated and how they are tested in the lab. Very interesting learning experience.

On the photography side of things, a lot of powerful lighting was needed to light up machinery up to 3 stories tall. From the preliminary samples I looked at, we've got some good shots. That's a relief. It was hard work getting those.

Dilated.

I went to the eye doctor yesterday for my annual checkup. Without contacts or glasses, my vision is pretty crappy - like about a -6.5 in each eye. Corrected though, I'm very close to 20/20 so it's all good. Everything checked out fine, but as usual, the Dr. dilated my pupils to take a good look around the insides of my eyes. If you've never had that done before, it's a bit bizarre. Look in the mirror once everything has taken effect and your pupil takes up most of the colored part of your eye. It's weird to see. Well, with that going on, your eye can't regulate the amount of light coming in so you're EXTREMELY light-sensitive. Not to mention that your close up vision is completely hosed.

Nice way to spend the evening I assure you.

My car WAS clean yesterday.

It was spotless. I was putting some of my drum stuff in the trunk when I noticed I had all these light brown blotches on the paint. I thought it was tree sap at first. No... it's aphid crap. Yes, aphids. Apparently there are aphids in the tree above my driveway. They eat and then secreet this sugary substance that then splatters on things below. As Yoda would say - "Pissed, I am". Time to look into a carport or something I guess.

Music at church went well today. That's always good.

Tonight, ran over to Wal-Mart becaue I needed to get dog food and water. Kelsey seems to like their "Ol' Roy" brand so I brave the whole Wal-Mart experience for her. Why is it that my local Wal-Mart seems so much worse than others? The one in Madison is LOTS better. Again, I can't wait till we get our Target built over here.

Saturday... in the park...

Well, not really. :D

I've had quite a busy week with something going on pretty much every night. Thursday I started off the day at the office then went to Huntsville to visit some clients. While there, I had lunch over at Mama Fu's - a chinese fast food joint. I was pleasantly suprised at how good the shrimp terriyaki bowl I had was. The bad thing is that they're on University drive right in the middle of all that road construction making getting in and out of the parking lot a hassle. Also, some friends of mine started up a franchise of Batteries Plus in the same center as Mama Fu's. They stock and repair/recondition just about any type of battery you can think of. I've got this big UPS at home that supplies power to my main computer. It's an APC Smart UPS 1400. They built a replacement battery for me while I was there. It was a bit pricey. To get the replacment from APC would have cost $125 plus shipping. I was able to get this other battery for $116 including tax so I probably saved about $20.

My next destination was Florence, over in the north west corner of the state. Stopped by the office on my way by then continued to the client. After that was done, it was back to Decatur in time to wrap things up at the office and head to band practice. That made for a long day.

Friday was the start of Riverfest. Our band played in it last year. Went over there for lunch and met up with some friends from the convention and visitors bureau. Had fun talking about old times with Sharon. She and I unsed to run around together about 12+ years ago when we worked at the mall. Great memories.

After work, I went to Cafe 113 to help Lesa with some photos she was going to use the studio lights for. Got her set up and going before I took off for Humphrey's in Huntsville. I was meeting my buddy Ben and his wife (and in-laws) for dinner. Back when I was at Intergraph, Ben was my primary contact at NetSolve - the partner we used for network management. He and I spent several hours on dozens of conference calls regarding client networks. He also saved my butt plenty of times when networks went haywire. I had been to NetSolve in Austin, TX before but never met Ben in person until last night. We all had a great time. Dinner was delicious. Had a big hunk of meat, mashed potatos and green beans. When we were done there, we walked over to the Kaffe Klatch for some after dinner drinks. I had been there before but there's a "different" kind of crowd there. Came on home after that.

Been Mr. Domestic today - washed the car, worked on the shrubs up front, ironed clothes... yee ha fun stuff. Time for dinner now then I'll probably work on some of my photos from last weekend.

Grrr.

First off, Blogger ate my post from last night. I definitely wasn't too happy about that at all. (EDIT: GEEZ! Now it's back. I don't know what the heck happened)

I spent a large part of yesterday and today doing product photography at work. I have to use the studio lights which takes some planning to get right. The product I was shooting is packed in white plastic containers which presented the challenge of minimizing reflections off of them into the camera. The was a tall dispplay I was shooting, close to 6ft high. I ended up using softboxes pointed up at the ceiling and 2 people holding up flags to block the part of the light that was causing the reflections. Anyway, I was pleased when I finally got that done.

Last night I headed over to Cameron's place to see how he's improved the performance of his tesla coil since I last saw it several weeks ago. Kyle was interested in seeing it so I picked he and his video camera up on the way. Cameron's got his coil working great! He's getting some 10' to 12' arcs jumping off it now. Kyle was able to get SOME VIDEO that you can check out. Be sure to turn up your sound too.

Tonight, I hung out with a photographer friend of mine and looked at some of his work. Lots of fantastic nature panoramas. I can learn a lot from him. One of his prints is hanging in my living room.

Start of the week.

Whew! Was busy at work most of the day working on a product photo shoot. Not nearly as fun or exciting as a photographing people but you learn a lot which is never a bad thing.

Had lunch with Jason over at the Bank Street Deli then walked around old Decatur a bit checking out some of the shops. This is the same area where the art auction was held last Saturday.

After work, I did some laundry at home then headed over to Cameron's house with Kyle to see how his tesla coil was working after he's had a few weeks to fine tune it. WOW. It's throwing out 10-12' arcs of lightning now. Kyle had a video camera with him and recorded the event. Hopefully, he'll have that posted somewhere and you can see it. It's pretty cool.

Dani from this afternoon.

Mooresville post office shot from Saturday morning.

The weekend just BLEW by!

I barely had a chance to enjoy it.

My Saturday started with me watching qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix race. I was all pumped up about that as Fernando Alonso might be able to wrap up the championship this weekend.

Grabbed some breakfast and went to pick up Dani for a photo shoot... no answer at her door. To make a long story short, ended up making other plans. Lesa was going to help out with the shoot and she was all ready to go. Since I had all my photo gear with me, I picked Lesa up determined to find something to take shots of. We made it over to nearby Mooresville - a historic town not too far from here. Nothing too extravagant, but some very nice rustic buildings. There was an old church there and a quaint post office which I photographed. We also stopped at a restaurant there that was closed but had some great ambiance. The owner saw us and opened up so we could come inside and shoot in there also. Her name was Dee. She was very gracious and told us a lot about the history of the town and of her restaurant. They are about to celebrate the restaurant's 100th anniversary! Wow.

Later on that day, Kyle and I headed to a benefit art auction being held where Tracy had been working on that mural downtown (I blogged about it a few months ago). Saw plenty of people I knew there. After that was over and I had grabbed some dinner, we went over to the Brick for some pool and also to benefit the same thing as the art auction. PLENTY of people I knew were there. I ended up talking with Maria and Lisa a good bit. Maria had some SERIOUS cleavage going on. Had lots of fun with that.

Sunday morning came early. I watched part of the Belgian race then taped the remainder (no TiVo yet... waaaahhh!). Got to church a few minutes late as the rest of the band was waiting on me. I brought along more stuff than I usually do since I was going to be playing for a lot longer than normal. In addition to my snare drum, stick bag and cymbals, I brought my throne (I gotta be comfy you know) and my double-pedals. Everything went well from a musical standpoint. During the second service, I dropped a stick during the first song, but I was able to grab another one to prevent a train wreck (I have spares nearby for just such an event).

Ate a quick lunch then FINALLY got with Dani for her photo session. Lesa, who did have a location for me to use AND was going to assist me couldn't make it. I was kinda irritated at that point because I really didn't feel like doing the shoot today and would have rather been taking a nap. I also had some kind of pulled muscle in my neck making me uncomfotable already anyway. I finally decided to go through with it - Kyle was available to help and Mooresville was to be the location.

The shoot went well but it was freakin' hot! Got some good shots that I think will turn out nicely.

Time for bed. Gotta work tomorrow.

Sporadic update.

This week's been a pretty eventful one for me so far. Work's been going well which is always nice. Band practice was last night. That wasn't so hot. My in-ear mix was goofed up and the drums sounded like poo. We all muddled through but I think we all agreed that things were very "off" last night. After work today, I stopped by to tune the drums. They are MUCH improved now. I'm happy.

Used up the batteries in two iPod's today. We're using ours for the overhead music and the phone on-hold music instead of a CD carousle that's been locking up on us. When the iPod mini ran out of juice, I swapped in my iPod. It didn't have much of a charge on it so it quit after a few hours. The mini should have a charging base by Monday so that'll fix that problem.

Lesa and I had lunch today over at Bank St. Deli. Full house in there. I ran into Sarah from the Princess there with her friends. When we were through, we scouted out a place for the photoshoot tomorrow. Got a cool spot I think will work out.

Sprayin' on the concrete.

Early times.

It's been awhile since I've left the house in the morning when it was still dark. I really didn't have too much trouble waking up. Loaded up the car with all my photography gear and also a video camera. Packed a cooler with water and Mt. Dew also. On the way up, I did get a little groggy so I cranked up some tunes on my iPod - I cued up a Bobby Brown CD that Bone loaned me and was jammin' to that old school stuff. That woke me up.

Got to Franklin right at 7. Called and found out that the first cement truck got pushed back 2 hours... WTF?!?! I could have slept till a decent hour. Made a pit stop at McDonalds for more breakfast before going to the construction site. Finally, everything came together and things started happening. Lot's of hardware running when things were going - cement truck, cement pump, air compressor...

Spraying cement is a tough job. You got one guy running the pump and talking with the cement truck dude making sure the contents of the truck feed properly. This guy also has a wireless remote control to start and stop the pump (very cool btw). Then, you've got 2 hoses - one from the air compressor and one from the cement pump that end in a nozzle with flow controls on it. This nozzle and pair of hoses weighs about 90 lbs. by itself WITHOUT concrete flowing through it. So, ya got this one dude working the nozzle and the other guys move the hoses around as the nozzle dude works. Interesting stuff. Got all the shots I could before taking a break for lunch.

For lunch, I made it over to Famous Dave's for some chicken tenders. Good eatin. Then I went over to this outdoor shop to find a hat I had been looking for. Luckily they had what I wanted. (Eric - its Blue Ridge Mtn. Sports, thought you might be interested) While I was out, I got a call from the construction site that they were done for the day. There were some other shots I needed but the crew didn't get to it today. I am not planning on going back tomorrow. I'll make what I have work.

On the way home, I ran into some mutant bugs. I swear, when these things hit, they splattered like a water balloon. Bug guts everywhere. I even got one that hit right in front of my drivers door handle!?!?

Oh, speaking of car stuff - when%

Yeah, I'm up.

Looks like the photo shoot in Nashville is finally happening. Got up a little before 4 AM this morning and am getting ready to head out. Gotta be there around 6:30. Yikes!

Are ya bored and wanna look at stuff?

I added a link to one of my photo galleries (there on the right) awhile back but never really drew attention to it. I'm behind the camera a good bit whenever I get the chance. Check it out!

Click HERE to go take a peek!

Beautimus weather

I must say, the weather we've had the past few days has been a pleasant change. It still gets a little hot in the afternoon but the mornings and evenings are pretty nice! The humidity being low really helps too.

Got up this morning to watch the Italian Grand Prix as I had planned. The McLaren of Juan Pablo won followed by the 2 Renaults. Michael Schumacher is out of contention to retain his title and unless something goes horribly wrong, Renault's Fernando Alonso should win it this year. It was an exciting race - everyone actually made it to the end without blowing up or crashing out.

Ran sound today at church. I also brought along my isolation headphones so you could hear the sound without the room's influence. Wow. The room sux. Music was good albeit some tempo issues - Jack had a nice solo in the last song he did a great job on. His LesPaul has a warm tone to it.

Watched Maria Sharapova do her thing today, putting out Mizrah handily in less than an hour. That girl can play some tennis! I think she plays again tomorrow. I have to be sure and tune in. Later in the evening, I watched the NASCAR race in California. Congrats to Kyle Busch, the youngest NEXTEL Cup winner at 20 years old! That's gotta be exciting for that kid. I still hate the goofy drama in NASCAR though... caution flags coming out bunching up the cars any time someone gets too far ahead or for a ball of duct tape on the pavement. Oh, and I do NOT like the new paint scheme on the #20 Home Depot car. In the post race comments, several racers were very unhappy with the performance of their cars. Many had problems with getting the cars adjusted to handle with any sort of confidence. Oh well.

Random pic - getting ready to get on stage at Riverfest last year. Those sound people were goobs. Thank God Phillip showed up to get things "fixed"!

Ahhh... a 3-day weekend

Wrapped up a good week at the office. Thursday evening, Lesa joined me at an event over at Point Mallard hosted by my buddy Jeremy's organization. Great food! I also saw several old friends there and spent time getting caught up a little with them. When that finished, we headed over to Applebee's for drinks. Belinda was working the bar so the drinks were GOOD. The band showed up while we were there (I'm not drumming this week)- Kevin, Eric and Jack & Co. Anyway, Belinda showed me some pictures from a friends bachelorette party and wedding with many folks I knew doing some pratty racy things. Funny stuff especially with the penis cake and penis straws. Martha Stewart would be proud.

Last night was the first time in a LONG time I ate over at Ruby Tuesday. Tonya was there working and she chatted with us. My food was very good - coconut shrimp. Mmmm... Later we went over to The Brick for some pool and to listen to the sounds of Toy Shop. Their drummer had a really nice maple Ayotte kit. You don't see many of those around. He was happy to let me come check it out and take a close look at it. Oooo! They have a Galaga machine over there! I wasted no time and set the high score on that baby!!! That's by far my favorite video game.

Today was domestic day for me. Washed my car in the morning then spent some time in the back yard pruning crepe myrtles and rose bushes. I think I'm going to get rid of the roses. They are only nice to look at for a very brief time and are pretty much an eyesore the rest. My crepe myrtles are outta hand though. I filled up my yard trash bin and called it quits but there's plenty more to do. I'll probably work on those more on Monday.

Oh yeah, I got up this morning to watch qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix. The McLaren-Mercedes cars are haulin' ass. My boy Fernando is gonna have a tough time keeping up in his Renault. The Honda's are looking good too. Should be a great race tomorrow.

Bummed

I really can't tear myself away from the news. With all the destruction and loss of life just a few hundred miles away, it was a surreal feeling to have had a nice day outside here in town. By all accounts, things around here in north Alabama are normal. If it wasn't for the news, you wouldn't have known anything was wrong. My day was pretty normal - work at the office, lunch with my sister, visit some clients and then run some errands after work. Somehow, I just appreciated evertyhing just a little bit more today.

Some of my family called in to check on me. My parents sent me an email from the other side of the world checking in as well. I assured everyone that I was okay. Kelsey (my dog) is fine too. She still doesn't have the sense to go in her doghouse to stay dry but insists on sitting out in the rain getting soaked. Whatever makes her happy I guess.

Oh... here's something interesting that happened today - as I was heading to Huntsville, I thought I'd fill my car up with gas. I still had 3/4 of a tank but filled it up anyway. I paid $2.49 per gallon at the Texaco near my office. This was at 1:00. By the time I got back in town around 4:30, the price at the SAME STATION was $2.79!?!? Glad I filled up earlier!

Sheesh. I was ALMOST an SUV owner last year around this time. While I wouldn't mind having a large vehicle, fuel prices just make them too expensive to drive. One of my friends wives drives a Ford Excursion... with a V-10 in it. That's gotta be painful. My car holds a tad over 17 gallons of fuel. At $2.79 a gallon, that's $47.43 for a full tank. Holy crap. My friend's Excursion has a 44 gallon tank... $122.76 for a fill-up.

That's crazy stuff right there I tell ya.

Leaves, limbs and crap.

I went to bed last night with a whopper of a headache. Ugh! I did hear the wind howling outside and got back UP out of bed to move my trash bins inside the gate and up against the house so there would be less of a chance for them to blow over.

Woke up this morning with no real damage to the house I could see. There were lots of leaves and small branches everywhere though. There was crap all over the car too - I spent several minutes picking off leaves and acorns before heading to the office. Big props go out to my local utility company - even in last night's high winds, my power never blinked off.

On the way to the office, I did see lots of downed trees and much larger limbs. I really did luck out at my place.

I have nothing to complain about though. I've been watching the news all evening taking in all the destruction to my south. I'm in shock over how bad things were and even more, how much worse things are getting.

Busy past few days.

Today was the day of the event our agency put on for a large auto manufacturer. I spent Saturday, Sunday and of course today photographing the process of setting it all up. Stage, trusses, lights, video, sound, projection screens, flat panels - it was quite an operation. Thankfully, it all went off without a hitch. Our client was pleased with how everything went. Made some new friends in the process also so that's another plus.

One thing I learned is that shooting photos under stage lights can be tough! I was having to make all sorts of adjustments to keep up with the changing light conditions. Got lots of practice in though.

On the weather side of things, Katrina is kicking up the wind a bit here now. I suspect that as we go into the night, it'll pick up even more. I hope it doesn't get too bad though.

Oh THAT'S what I was supposed to be doing...

It's late Friday night and I just realized what I completely forgot... I was supposed to join up with rest of the fellas at Jack's for music and good times. See? This is what happens when I don't write things in my planner. All my work stuff is in there but I neglect to write in my personal things... now I've pissed away a Friday evening. Grrr.

I've got some photo work to do this weekend. Monday, our agency is putting on a sizeable event at a facility in Huntsville. There are several elements involved that will need to be set up and tested beforehand: stage, lighting, backdrops, projection screens, food service, etc. I'll be on hand to photograph the process leading up to the event. Should be interesting. I've got to be be there at two different times tomorrow so I'll probably end up finding something to do in between. I may look around for other photo ops to add to my portfolio if the weather cooperates.

And another....

MORE POWER!

POWER UP!

Stand by for power...

Playin with 'tricity.

First off, my photo shoot in Tennessee got pushed to next week so I was able to sleep normally last night. Whew!

Now then to this evenings events. My buddy Cameron has always been tinkering around with electricity and electronics ever since I met him years ago. The latest project he's been working on much to the chagrin of his wife - is a tesla coil. Why? "Because". He's been working with other people he's met online that have successfully built coils for quite some time. Tonight, he joined their ranks and I was there to record the event.

Miscellaneous ramblings.

Remember a few weeks ago when I did a photo shoot at a swimming pool under construction? The next big step where I'll be involved is this Thursday when they spray the gunite on the rebar. What's NOT going to be fun is that the gunite crew will be starting at 5:30AM to prepare for the first concrete truck's arrival at 7:00AM. I figured I'd get there a bit before the concrete does... I live a little under 2 hours away. You do the math. That's EARLY. I sincerely hope the weather cooperates. It would be a shame to go to all that trouble and not have anything to shoot.

I'll be clicking away this weekend too. Our agency is putting on an event for a large company over in Huntsville this coming Monday. Setup for it will start Saturday and run through Sunday. I'll be taking pictures of things as the workers take the empty area and transform it with a stage, trusses, lights, huge projection screens, sound systems and seating. At the actual event, I'll be sitting in the press area photographing all the activities. I'll be behind my camera a lot for the next few days. Looking forward to it though!

There's a possibility I'll be involved in some aerial photography sometime soon. A client of mine owns (and flys) a twin turbo-prop plane. I also found out that when he's not using it, it's leased out two 2 NASCAR drivers to use to get from home to the tracks. This might lead to some other cool possibilities, we'll see.

On another note, this is the THIRD month in a row I have gone over on my cellphone minutes. They really stick it to ya when you go over. As such, I've been trying to find a cell plan that fits me better. Right now I've got a Blackberry 7100. I like it for it's email and web connectivity. I was considering getting a Motorola RAZR because of it's size but I'm afraid it doesn't have the functionality I need. T-Mobile gave me a deal on the phone but I told them I'd think it over and didn't make the change. Decisions...

Sunday fun and games.

I was up in time to watch the Turkish Grand Prix. Wow! That's a nice track. It's brand new and reportedly cost around $120M to build. Great looking facility for sure. The race was another exciting one. Kimi's McLaren held together and he finished in 1st while Alonso who was destined to be 3rd actually popped into 2nd when Montoya (who was in 2nd at the time with just a lap or so to go)had braking problems and let him slip by. In two weeks they will be racing in Italy where Ferrari hopes to put on a good show. They sucked today.

Church today was centered around the children's ministry. Kids were everywhere. I had my camera along of course and got several good shots. The band was minimal - just me on the djembe and Kevin doing guitar and vocals. It was a good time.

Sushi. I was hopeful that with the opening of Kyoto here in town, I'd have a place to go for good sushi. After my last dining experience there, I'll have to stick with Edo's over in Madison or preferable Miwon over in Huntsville. I keep hearing good things about Surin in Huntsville as well so I'm going to have to give that a try. I'll need to get my "sushi friends" together for that one.

It's about dang time.

Originally I had plans to do stuff today but luckily, that didn't materialize so I had my Saturday ALL to myself! Started off by washing the new car while my elderly neighbors watched from their porches. I think I provide the entertainment for those guys sometimes.

I was hungry afterwards and met up with Bubonic Root for breakfast at Cracker Barrel. He's forgotten to wash his hands after using the bathroom and now has some sort of disease to get over. Food was good as usual.

Later on, I needed to pick up something at the auto parts store so I thought I'd drive the old car. It was uncomfortably hot with no A/C but not unbearable with the windows down and a breeze blowing. Granted, I would have been more comfortable with the windows down and going 80 but they kind of frown on that here in the city. Finally made it home and parked the hooptie.

It's actually so hot and humid out that my house feels downright freezing when you go in even though my thermostat says it's 76. I'm not complaining though. I'm all about some A/C.

I ventured out late in the afternoon over to Home Depot to try and find one of those plastic bins with a handle on top, kinda like an open-top tool box but they didn't have any. Went over to Lowe's next and still had no luck. I did check out some gas grills though. Heh.

It was nice having a day with no schedule... very therapeutic. I think I'll kick back with a Corona or three and finish off the evening in front of the tube. Yeah, that's what I'll do.

Whew!

What a week! I think I've been running close to non-stop since last Friday. I'm SO glad it's the weekend...

Last night, Dave and I checked out this singles get-together thing over at Java Jaay on the Beltline. There were 2 church bands and one independent one there. Eh... it was okay but nothing to write home about. One thing I did like was the guitarists were putting their effects to good use giving the music a nice texture besides simply "clean" and "distorted". Sitting there listening, I kinda got the feeling that contemporary Christian music does seem a bit hokey. It's like the genre is trying so hard to sound like secular music but it falls just a hair short. This is just an observation though, I'm not particularly soliciting a solution. One thing though, is that if you're going to be playing this type of music, play it well. If you're out in public, you've got a skeptical audience already so don't make things worse by taking a pseudo-genre and pairing it with bad playing. That would suck.

Switching gears to Formula 1 now.

This weekend's race is in Istanbul, Turkey. It's a brand new track that's incredibly nice! The downside is that to watch it live on satellite, I have to get up earlier than for the European races which already are at the crack of Dawn. For the Turkish race, I gotta get up at her sister Betty's crack. I may end up taping it if I can find some blank tapes today. Tivo would be nice, but I don't need another subscription in my life. Anyway, I saw the last bit of qualifying this morning: Kimi in his McLaren Mercedes is on pole, Giancarlo Fisichella is 2nd and Fernando is in 3rd. The last two are the Renault guys - my favorite team. Should once again be a new race. Michael Schumacher hosed up and somehow starts in 17th position. Yikes!

Looks like I'll have my day to myself. Originally, me and the band were going to record a track with Charity today but the plans just didn't materialize. She really needs to pick up the ball on her end and drive this project. I'm not going to coordinate things for her. I was happy to help the first time, but it's time for her to step up.

HNT was spiced up this week by Mel's entry. JaB and Heather also had some shots up on their blogs as well. None of the locals here has come up with anything yet - I'm not holding my breath either. We southerners can be duds sometimes. LOL!

Finally!

After a long and arduous process, my decision finally came down to my experience with Honda and gas mileage. The latter is pretty significant as there's talk of gas hitting $3 a gallon soon. If I had bought the Armada I was looking at last fall, I would be kicking myself now!

Anyway, I went with a new Accord. Picked up my tag today and also made sure all my insurance information is accurate. I get a multi-car discount now! Whee! Seriously though, I'm relieved that all this is over. I hate car shopping.

AND THE WINNER IS...

The shopping continues.

Okay... I got a quote on the '05 Honda from a dealer up in TN. It's a good bit less than what I got quoted here in town but I can't get a copy of their quote without going to see them. Grrr. Anyway, I used their info to get the local store to knock off about $600 off of what they gave me Saturday. I still stand to save a few hundred by going to Tennessee though so we'll see.

I drove a silver '05 Maxima but I just wasn't feeling it. Something about those orange lights and funky console design didn't sit well with me. Oh, add to the mix an '04 Pathfinder.

That's where I'm at... it's between the 05 Accord or an 04 Pathfinder. If I get the Pathfinder, it will be one of 3 at the office.

I hate car shopping.

Another HOT day.

SMOKIN' hot outside - that's why I'm inside.

Man... Eric's new bass is a looker. Nice antique sunburst finish - very classy. After church, a whole bunch of us ate lunch at Quizno's. I ended up riding around looking an photographing some of the cars I looked at yesterday to give me more to think about. I *did* discover that Honda has a dealer promotion going on where they have a cash to dealer incentive of $1250 through September 6. I didn't know that yesterday when I was talking to them so I'm glad I found that out. Hopefully, I'll have decided on something by mid-week. I should also know what the deal is with my A/C on my current Honda.

At least while I was spending the remainder of the afternoon inside there was a race on TV. The NASCAR Watkins Glen one. That's more exciting to me than the regular oval track stuff.

Have I mentioned how much I dislike car shopping?

My car thought that the best way to start my day Friday was to have the A/C stop working. Ah... and the forecast high was 95 to boot! The folks that usually work on my car can't get to it till Monday so I rented a nice '05 Camry for the weekend. I can't complain though, it's been time for me to get a new vehicle but until my Honda started giving me problems, I was fine with keeping it. Now the time has come to shop for a new car. It's not something I look forward to, that's for sure. Here's what I've got on the table to consider so far:

2005 Honda Accord EX V6 (White)
2002 Cadillac Deville (Red)
2002 Cadillac Deville (Pearl White)
2004 Nissan Armada (Grey)
2004 Nissan Armada (Silver)
2003 Nissan Murano (Silver)
2003 Nissan Murano (Dk. Blue)
2003 Cadillac CTS (Silver)
2004-2005 Toyota Camry

At this point, the Armada's are most likely out since gas prices are ridiculous. I just though since I almost bought one last fall that I'd check into them. The Deville's have a SUPERB ride to them. The Honda was nice, plus it was the only new one I drove today. All the other cars are used. My last Honda I bought new and have had no trouble with it up to now. It's a 92 so 13 years without any big problems is nothing to sneeze at.

Decisions, decisions....

What I REALLY would like is a Lexus LS430 - used prices are more than I want to pay though right now. Sigh.

Happy birthday...

to my mom! I called her this morning over on the other side of the globe to wish her a great day. It's time's like this that I think about the distance between me and my parents. Lots of you live close by yours some even in the same house with them (LOL). I can't just hop in a car and go see them. It's a major operation plus almost 20-24 hours of flying time. Anyway, they're doing great which is always good news. I wish my dad would use his digital camera more. I'd like to see more of what's going on there.

Mom clicked up another year today... I click up another year tomorrow. Sigh. I can't believe how quickly time seems to be going by!

Today was HOT. I had to do a lot of running around again but I got plenty accomplished. After a meeting this morning had to take a photo of a building for one of our artists to use. I couldn't find a good spot on the ground to take a shot from so I called a friend over at the Museum of Art. She let shoot from one of their upper-level private rooms that face the building I was shooting. That did the trick. Next, met up with Dave and Donovan for lunch at a hole in the wall diner. That was a different experience. Next stopped in over at a company we use for lighting and sound productions to tour their facility. LOADS of concert lighting gear. It was cool to see all that equipment getting staged for upcoming productions. The rest of the day was spent back here in town.

Shifting gears, it looks like we might be getting together with Charity to record a song or two next weekend. I talked to Belinda also and she was interested in singing as well. Hopefully everyone's schedules will work out and it'll happen. I'm gonna try and use part of my acoustic kit as playing on the pad (like I used last time) just doesn't "feel" right.

Rackin' up the miles...

I have been all over the place the past few days. Very little time has been spent in the office which in my case, is a good thing. Unfortunately, going off to client meetings gets tiring when it's one after another so by the end of the day, I'm worn out. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so hot and humid out.

I finally went back over to my friend's place and got her wireless router working with her DSL service. What a pain in the ass that was. The key piece was setting the Westell DSL router to "Bridged Ethernet" then connecting it to the Linksys wireless router and let it handle all the authentication and DHCP stuff. Oh, she uses a Mac laptop so I had the added fun of learning how all that is setup. It's a no-brainer if you're a Mac person but as a PC guy, things look a little different than what I'm used to. I didn't have any success with the wireless print server though. Of course there's also no information from Linksys on how to set it up for a Mac but I'm sure I'll Google something up that will help.

On the upside, it's HNT tomorrow! Hopefully there will be some things posted out there. I can't wait to see what Mel and Grace to unleash on us this week!

Ugh.

I had the most horrible time sleeping last night. I spent most of it tossing and turning and could never get comfortable. I rolled over and saw the clock - 4:30am. As I expected, I had a splitting headache when my alarm went off at 6. Things FINALLY got better around lunchtime.

Spent the afternoon working with a light meter a friend loaned me. I have an important photo shoot at the crack of dawn tomorrow using studio lights and this meter will save me lots of time getting everything right without a whole lot of trial and error. Eventually I'll get one for myself but as with most things of high-quality, it ain't cheap so I have to work it into the budget.

After I left the office I went and took care of a double-charge that happened at CVS Pharmacy. I was in there a week or two ago picking up some Mt. Dew that was on sale when the first register I was on messed up (or so they said) and they rang me up on another one. Guess what? I got charged twice. It was a bit of a hassle, but I got my money back. Is there a lesson to be learned here? Yeah - check your bank statements closely. As much as I use my debit card, there's plenty of chances for errors.

Gotta go to bed. I have to be at the office at 6:00am!?!?!

Sunday Follies

Had a mad rush to get to church this morning because I tried to do all the little things I had promised people at the last minute... copy some media for Sharon, print out a picture for Dana and make a CD of photos for Eric. In addition to that, I had to bring a bunch of extra hardware along as I was adding two smaller toms to my drums that morning so my arms were full as I went out the door. After getting there, I had to carry all my crap in then shift the rest of my drums around to make room for what I was adding. FINALLY I got everything in place. I was really diggin having the smaller toms on there. They cut through a little better than the bigger ones do tone-wise. All the music went off without a hitch. Even "Carl's" solo. ;-)

Today was the day I had to make my dreaded trip to Wal-Mart. What a cluster that always is. My main business there was to pick up photos but while I was already in there, I went ahead and bit the bullet and suffered through the shopping experience. Again, I can't wait till we get our Target store built.

Next stop was Publix for groceries. A much more pleasant experience all-around... till I got home and realized the checkout girl didn't apply my coupons. Grrr! To their credit, I stopped in later and pointed out the problem and they made it right, even doubling the value of the coupons. Sweet!

This week looks to be a busy one. I'm ready... bring it on.

Day of domestication.

Had some rough weather last night! I woke up to thunder and heavy rain around 3 this morning. I was doing that counting thing measuring the time of the lightning flash till the sound of the thunder (geeky I know - and I was halfway asleep) and realized the storm was moving closer. Reluctantly, I got out of bed and unplugged all my important stuff: entertainment center, subwoofer, computers and the sound gear in my drum room. I flopped back down in bed and just a few minutes later there was a HUGE clap of thunder and the power went out. Looks like I did all my unplugging just in time. Slept through the rest of the night. Power was back on when I woke up. Lots of laundry to do today so I got started on that. I kinda wanted to get out on my bike for a ride this morning but I was groggy from being up in the middle of the night so I didn't. Luke called later asking if I wanted to go riding at Point Mallard but I was already into all my domestic stuff.

While I was trying to get my house back in order, I was amazed by just how much paper stuff I have... junk mail mainly but still, catalogs, magazines, coupons... I'm just inundated with stuff! BTW, I wanted to get your opinions. If you have a magazine subscription - how long do you keep your back issues? Do you chunk them when the next one comes in? I throw a lot away but I keep all the ones that have useful info in them. For example, my Bon Appetit and Food & Wine mags. They've got all kinds of great recipies and entertainment ideas in them. Anyway, I just have to start getting rid of more stuff or I'll run out of room. Another thing, how long do you keep boxes for stuff you've bought?

Enough of that.

Spent the afternoon on the drums working on different things. Got sleepy and took a nap. Then it stormed again. Sigh. Despite that, it's nice to be able to just conk out in the middle of the day.

Ate a late dinner at Logan's with Jeff and Kyle. There was some fat drunk guy there that kept talking too loud. His friends were getting embarassed by his actions and were "shushing" him a good bit. Finally the manager came over and said something. I also got a visit from the manager but for another reason. It's been awhile since I've had a jacked up meal so tonight it was my turn. I ordered a filet done medium and a few skewers of grilled shrimp. My filet came out almost well-done and my shrimp were room temperature. I wasn't happy but I did get them to re-do my whole order. I eventually got things done the way I wanted but now I spent a whole lot more time at the restaurant than I meant to. Such is life.

Once again, it's time for bed.

Friday at last!

After an event-filled week, I couldn't be happier that it was finally Friday. After leaving the office, I picked up laundry then headed home. As I was sitting around trying to decide what to do, I remembered that Eric was going to be getting inked this afternoon. I had promised to go by and take some pictures of it for his blog so back in the car I go and head to the tattoo parlor. When I arrive, Eric's in back chair about 2 hours into it. I meet Adam, the artist that was doing today's work. I also got a close look at the tattoo guns. They are a lot simpler than I thought but have a distinct look of something made out of old machine parts. I learned a lot though from observing what was going on. Pics posted below.

I thought this was funny.

Words to live by at the shop!

Adam at work.

Inking it up!

The tools.

How Eric spent his afternoon.

Hangin out by the pool on a hot day....

Not as refreshing as it sounds when the pool's under construction and nothing but a gravel pit with rebar all around. Wednesday started early for me as I headed out for a 9:00am shoot in Franklin, TN - about 15 miles south of Nashville. On the way up there I was driving along going pretty fast but nothing crazy. Got up behind these 2 trucks that were going my same speed so I sped up to pass them. Well... Ms. Speedy Speederson gets all on my bumper in her BMW and is all bent out of shape that I'm going too slow or something. I'm running around 86 or so to pass at the time. I clear the trucks then move over as Speedy shoots on by me. About 2 miles down the road we have THIS SCENE (3.5mb download). Heh. I actually would have had more video if my small camera wasn't down in by briefcase. I had to dig it out while not looking suspicious as a certain car was passing me (not wanting to give away what's on the video).

Spent all dang day at the pool with a short break for lunch. I did get to go to Joe's Crab Shack and at least have a proper lunch. Melted the rest of the afternoon away before calling it a day around 4. Since I was there anyway, I stopped in to see my friends at Fork's to pick up a few things I was needing. Along the way, I called up my friend Johnny to see if he was in town so we could grab some dinner or just hang out. No dice. He was in Dayton, OH. Found out he's touring with Deana Carter right now. Cool. We'll catch up next time he's in town though.

Made the almost 2 hour drive home. Lesa sent me a text to come join the fun at Simp's. I stopped in and had a drink with them before heading over to Applebee's for dinner. Charity was there hanging out with her friends. Talked to her about finishing up recording another of her songs. I hope that happens soon. That last song turned out pretty good.

Today I was running all around town. I was at the printer several times checking on the progress of a sizeable print job they were doing for me. We're about there now so I think they'll be able to run it first thing tomorrow. I sure hope so.

Band practice was tonight. It was fun playing again but I definitely enjoyed my 3 weeks off of drumming duties. It was hot in our building though. That sucked. Ate dinner later with a few friends before coming home finally. Ah... almost time for bed.

Tracy and Charity at dinner Wednesday night.

Me checking out a printing job today. One time of many.

Here's what I spent all day in Nashville photographing Wednesday. It was hot.

Almost the middle of the week already?

I fianlly had time to post a few shots from my Sunday excursion to the track. I've got plenty more posted HERE in my regular galleries if you'd like to check that out.

Nothing too exciting going on the past 2 days, just been really busy. I've got to get up early to do a photoshoot in Nashville tomorrow morning so I best be getting in bed. I hope the weather turns out decent tomorrow or I'll have a whole lot of nothin' going on.

Lamborghini Murcilago making its way into the parking lot.

Red Bull Porsche #58

One of the BMW's at the track Sunday.

Event access.

Reader's Digest version of my day

Up early.
Watch part of Hungarian Grand Prix.
Head to Jason's.
Head to Birmingham to the Barber Motorsports Park.
Watch racing.
Take pictures.
Sweat like a dog.
Meet cool people.
See fast cars.
Eat at P.F. Changs.
Drive home (Jason's Lancer Evolution is WAAAY fast).
Shower.
Bed.

All done!

Took the bike out and rode for a few miles. Everything looks to be in order - new tires worked well. I was also MUCH more comfortable wearing the padded cycling shorts. That's the ticket right there.

After killing a few ants and spiders, I was able to get out my big ladder to get up on the roof. The ladder's in a storage shed on the back of my property. I don't have a need to get in there much so all the little bugs have time to settle in a little. I think I'll just get my bug guy to spray back there and keep all the wildlife under control from now on.

Clambered up on the roof to see what the deal was. Yep, this one panel up there was warping on one side. Luckily, I was able to hammer it down but unfortunately, that's only going to be a temporary fix. I'm going to have replace that board. What I did will buy some time but I need to plan on doing that in the next few weekends.

While I was all nastified from being outside, I went ahead and trimmed back some bushes. My crepe myrtle plants got a little out of control and needed a lot of work. I also cleaned up around some rose bushes in the back yard. The other big task was to trim off all the crap growing through the fence from my neighbor's yard. Things look a lot better now.

To wrap things up, I gave Kelsey a much needed bath. She had been following me all over the yard wanting to play fetch but I was busy trying to get done and back into the comfort of the A/C. She was happy to get cooled off and clean. I let her have a big honkin' doggie biscuit for behaving well. It's funny, she's considerate enough to walk far from me before she shakes the water off so I don't get wet. How cool is that?

2 Down

K, I had 3 things I wanted to accomplish today - working on my bike, watching F1 qualifying to the Hungarisan G.P. and doing that roof repair. I've watched the qualifying and got the tires changed and wheels re-mounted on my bike. That was easier than I expected. The tires I got were these. I also replaced the tubes. The other thing that was different on these from the old tires was that the new tubes use presta valves instead of the schrader valves. I ordered some adapters though so I can use my regular air pump with the presta's. I'm gonna go for a spin around the 'hood to make sure all is in order then start on the roof thing.

Just as I predicted.

I was draggin most of the day because I didn't sleep well last night. Luckily, I had a lot of running around to do all day so there was really not much time for me to get too comfortable - except for the ride to and from lunch. Kay drove today, she and Lesa up front and me trying to get comfy in the back. Logan's Roadhouse was where we went today. My food was good... the girls' steaks however were overcooked. Subsequently, they got their meals free. Mine was fine so I didn't care that I had to pay.

Meeting, meetings and more meetings. There was a point to them though! Got several projects signed off on which is the goal of my existence. Kinda.

Oh, that bike stuff I ordered the other day arrived right on time. Hopefully, I'll be able to get my new tires mounted up tomorrow and ride a little. I also got the padded shorts in. I tried them on and thought, this must be what it feels like to have one of those ultra-mega maxi pads on. Kinda like having a sofa cushion between your legs. That's new. By the looks of it though, riding will be much more comfortable.

I've got to take a look at my roof tomorrow. There's a spot above my porch where the plywood is warping a little. Hopefully, I can just get up there and nail things down. If not, then I'll be picking up some felt paper, shingles and some new plywood which will turn out to be a big chore for the day. I'll just hope for the best.

Sunday should be good. I'll be heading to Barber Motorsports Park for a racing event. My buddy from Inday, Reed Stevens will be there racing in Formula BMW. Be good to hang with him for a bit and see what's been going on with him for the last month.

More HNT participants...

I had to poke around a little more on other people's blogs but I did find more folks getting into the HNT groove. Grace, Mel's friend had this. Another girl had her first attempt at this here.

I probably need to just add a list of blog links on the side for all the HNT participants I run across. Yeah, that's what I'll do.

In other news, today's probably going to suck just a little bit. I drank 3 or 4 Mt. Dews yesterday and got the boneheaded idea to have a mocha latte at about 4:30PM. Guess what? I slept like crap. At least it's Friday though!

I have come to realize...

That I have ZERO pictures of me involved in anything scandalous to contribute to HNT. Sigh. I must be slowing down in my old age.

As I mentioned before, props to Mel for upping the ante from the foot shots last week. I'm not sure what she's got up her sleeve(?) for next week but something tells me it involves 2 things... Alcohol and - Grace. See? Anywhere you have Asians, something fun breaks out. And pictures get taken. How ironic.

For lunch today, I talked Lesa and Luke into sushi over at Miwon. Yum! I got my fill. I also had a little TOO much wasabi in one bite and almost choked. Nice. After I wiped away the tears, things were okay. I was kinda laughing at myself but holy smokes... that got hot FAST.

After work, I went over to a friends to set up her wireless network with her new DSL connection. Normally, it only takes me a few minutes to get going but there was something f*'d up about this and I was unsuccessful. I was pretty frustrated. My friend invited me to dinner instead where I was glad to have a drink and some good food. I'm still stumped as to what the problem with the network was. I'm going to have to figure that out or it'll bug me.

While I was getting frustrated working on the network, I get a call from Kevin. I was supposed to loan him my in-ear monitor for band practice tonight. Crap. Sorry dude. Next, I get a call from Jeremy. He's drumming in my place this week. He wanted to borrow my tambourine. Can't do it, I'm on the other side of town. I feel like a heel now. Sorry guys.

Did I miss any other good HNT shots? JaB had her usual style of photo up today which was cool. Veronica has dropped off the face of the planet I think, and none of my local friends stepped up to the plate.

I need more friends.

You GO Mel!

Okay, Mel has upped the ante on HNT. Check her photo for today's event HERE.

Got the electric bill today

As I was suspecting, it was higher than normal because of the oppressive heat we've been having. That's PERFECTLY fine with me as I like the house nice and cool, even cooler when I go to bed.

Last night for dinner, myself, Kyle, Kevin, Phillip and Leslie met up at Aldoria's - a local Mexican restaurant.

Me: How much are your top-shelf margaritas?
Waitress: $4 I think
Me: Can you check on that? (seemed too low)
W: Oh, they're $8
Me: Geez... I'll have a Corona I guess.
W: We're out of Corona
Me: How about Negra Modelo?
W: We're out of that too.
Me: I'm sorry, is this a Mexican restaurant?
W: Uh.
Me: How about a Dos Equis?
W: We have those!
Me: Are you sure?

Sigh.

Anyway, we discovered it was Phillip's birthday so we celebrated that. Another aquaintance of mine, Jessica, was celebrating her birthday too. She was there with someone or else I would have spent more time with her. After all the eating was over, I swung by the grocery store to pick up a few things I was needing.

Today, MelMega has started a new trend in the spirit of HNT... what I call TTT or Totally Trashed Tuesdays. I can't wait for Thursday though. Hopefully she's have something more JaG-like hehe!

Oh, in other news, I'm gonna try and get out on my bike soon and go riding trails with some friends. I need to get some biking shorts though as I've got to be sure I don't damage "the boys". That would be a bad thing.

Lastly, I finished my Harry Potter book today. Crap. Now I can't wait till the next one comes out. Shazbot.

WHOA! 70's flashback.

It's broiling outside...

According to the weather gadget on my desktop, it's 94 degrees outside with humidity in the 80% vicinity. That's HOT. It's not in the triple-digits like some other parts of the nation but it's definitely not comfortable by any means. I'm glad that on days like today my central air is working like a champ and my cable and satellite TV feeds bring in hundreds of channels of entertainment to choose from.

Speaking of hot, yesterday's outing was quite warm. Luckily, we were on the banks of a river underneath a canopy of trees. It was still warm but nothing like being in the direct sun - that's for sure. There was a great turn-out of folks! It was great seeing all the people, both old friends and new coming out to participate. I took advantage of the crowd and took several hundred pictures.

The food was beyond delicious. It was your regular picnic fare plus a whole lot more! Drinks were provided free of charge from our local Pepsi product dealer. Since I'm a big Mt. Dew fan, I wasn't disappointed. As hot as it was though, bottled water was my preferred drink.

The highlight of the day was the baptism in the river of a couple, who incidentally were hosting the party. Nice folks. I'm sure it was encouraging for them to have just about everyone there at their place to witness it.

Off the dock they go!

Family time...