Sunday, February 20, 2005
Escaped.
Saturday morning I got up and started working on the mountain of laundry I had amassed from the past week or so. I made a list of what I wanted to get done... laundry, wash dishes, dust and vacuum living room and finish changing the heads on my drums. My original plan was to head up to Nashville and shoot some photos but it was pretty dreary out so I was pretty much resigned to spending my day in domestic bliss... or something.
Getting a little closer to noon, the weather started improving and the trip to Nashville was back on. Gave Kyle a quick ring (he's always in on the Nashville trips) and he was in also. Jo was online while I was getting ready and she was happy to join in on all the fun - she would meet us on the way up. Got cleaned up and headed north - 2 Asians, 3 cameras, an iPod, tripod and a guitar (somewhere in there there's something funny).
Picked up Jo then made it to our first stop - Guitar Center. We all have different interests so we all took off on our own separate ways: Kyle to keyboards, me to percussion and Jo to guitars. Kevin called while I was there and phoned in a guitar string order for me to pick up for him. I walked out of there with several pairs of sticks, a clamp and a little ball-bearing chain thingy that I can use to make one of my ride cymbals "sizzle". On to Fork's! Chatted with Jenny for a bit and found out she was going to go try and see "Constantine" later that evening. I wasn't sure what my schedule was like but watching a movie there would put me coming home pretty late so didn't do anything with her this time. Gary Forkum came out and said hey to me - he's usually not there on Saturday's so that was a pleasant surprise. He's the owner and the guy I ordered by "serious" drums from. Super cool individual. Picked up a few things then gathered up the rest of the team over at Corner Music.
As we were on our way downtown, we ran across an excellent spot that had a good vantage point of the city. Unfortunately, it was in a seedy part of town. It was still daylight though and I was able to take several shots without being bothered. Jo was great and jumped right in to let me shoot her. We left there and then came upon a cemetary that looked to be a good photo op. Those shots didn't quite turn out how I wanted so I was a little disappointed. There were also some folks wandering nearby that looked a little iffy so we hopped back in the car and got back on our way.
Once downtown, we parked and headed out on foot. Took some shots at Buffalo Billiards then walked around on Broadway. Took a few shots there too then got our name on the list at Big River Brewery as it was dinner time. While we were waiting, we went over to the river where I snapped a few shots of the bridge and Jo being goofy.
Oh, we had an "incident" with an alarm. It was then I learned who my friends were. LOL! We were all looking in these windows at the lobby of an architectural firm when SOMEONE crossed a line or pressed on glass or something setting off this obnoxious klaxon. Jo and Kyle scattered like roaches under a bright light. FUH-nee. The best part is Jo went back and set it off again later.
Dinner was G O O D. I got everyone to try the jalapeno cheese dip that Scott turned me on to last time. That stuff is addictive. I got something called a Platinum Margarita which was just the thing I needed. My filet was delicious. Everyone else's food was good too from the looks on their faces.
After we were done eating, I noticed that Kyle was sitting there staring at the booth behind me like the Olsen Twins were there motioning him over. Evidently, the women sitting there looked like some women he had seen the night before at a billiards place in Huntsville. Anyway, he was babbling on and on about how they looked exactly like them (Kyle is not known for being observant so...). I finally prodded him to get up and go ask which suprisingly, he did! I was listening in to the conversation and after he found out that they weren't the ones he had seen, he got all tripped up when they asked about him and what brought him to Nashville. He was running out of material quick and probably would have had an awkward transition when he ran out of things to say. Luckily, Emily (one of the girls) mentioned photography and my ears perked up. I turned around and joined in the conversation at that point. Ended up making some new aquaintences and exchanged buisiness cards.
Found out from Jo that The Dabster was expecting us to come visit Murfreesboro before going home. Kyle was up for the drive so we followed Jo over to her place there where The Dabster, John, and Elizabeth joined us. Jo had her guitar there so I took several shots while she played and sang. Had a good time hanging out with all of them but it was already midnight and me and Kyle had band duty in the morning so we took off. Kudos to Kyle for driving. That was tough.
Getting a little closer to noon, the weather started improving and the trip to Nashville was back on. Gave Kyle a quick ring (he's always in on the Nashville trips) and he was in also. Jo was online while I was getting ready and she was happy to join in on all the fun - she would meet us on the way up. Got cleaned up and headed north - 2 Asians, 3 cameras, an iPod, tripod and a guitar (somewhere in there there's something funny).
Picked up Jo then made it to our first stop - Guitar Center. We all have different interests so we all took off on our own separate ways: Kyle to keyboards, me to percussion and Jo to guitars. Kevin called while I was there and phoned in a guitar string order for me to pick up for him. I walked out of there with several pairs of sticks, a clamp and a little ball-bearing chain thingy that I can use to make one of my ride cymbals "sizzle". On to Fork's! Chatted with Jenny for a bit and found out she was going to go try and see "Constantine" later that evening. I wasn't sure what my schedule was like but watching a movie there would put me coming home pretty late so didn't do anything with her this time. Gary Forkum came out and said hey to me - he's usually not there on Saturday's so that was a pleasant surprise. He's the owner and the guy I ordered by "serious" drums from. Super cool individual. Picked up a few things then gathered up the rest of the team over at Corner Music.
As we were on our way downtown, we ran across an excellent spot that had a good vantage point of the city. Unfortunately, it was in a seedy part of town. It was still daylight though and I was able to take several shots without being bothered. Jo was great and jumped right in to let me shoot her. We left there and then came upon a cemetary that looked to be a good photo op. Those shots didn't quite turn out how I wanted so I was a little disappointed. There were also some folks wandering nearby that looked a little iffy so we hopped back in the car and got back on our way.
Once downtown, we parked and headed out on foot. Took some shots at Buffalo Billiards then walked around on Broadway. Took a few shots there too then got our name on the list at Big River Brewery as it was dinner time. While we were waiting, we went over to the river where I snapped a few shots of the bridge and Jo being goofy.
Oh, we had an "incident" with an alarm. It was then I learned who my friends were. LOL! We were all looking in these windows at the lobby of an architectural firm when SOMEONE crossed a line or pressed on glass or something setting off this obnoxious klaxon. Jo and Kyle scattered like roaches under a bright light. FUH-nee. The best part is Jo went back and set it off again later.
Dinner was G O O D. I got everyone to try the jalapeno cheese dip that Scott turned me on to last time. That stuff is addictive. I got something called a Platinum Margarita which was just the thing I needed. My filet was delicious. Everyone else's food was good too from the looks on their faces.
After we were done eating, I noticed that Kyle was sitting there staring at the booth behind me like the Olsen Twins were there motioning him over. Evidently, the women sitting there looked like some women he had seen the night before at a billiards place in Huntsville. Anyway, he was babbling on and on about how they looked exactly like them (Kyle is not known for being observant so...). I finally prodded him to get up and go ask which suprisingly, he did! I was listening in to the conversation and after he found out that they weren't the ones he had seen, he got all tripped up when they asked about him and what brought him to Nashville. He was running out of material quick and probably would have had an awkward transition when he ran out of things to say. Luckily, Emily (one of the girls) mentioned photography and my ears perked up. I turned around and joined in the conversation at that point. Ended up making some new aquaintences and exchanged buisiness cards.
Found out from Jo that The Dabster was expecting us to come visit Murfreesboro before going home. Kyle was up for the drive so we followed Jo over to her place there where The Dabster, John, and Elizabeth joined us. Jo had her guitar there so I took several shots while she played and sang. Had a good time hanging out with all of them but it was already midnight and me and Kyle had band duty in the morning so we took off. Kudos to Kyle for driving. That was tough.
It's the devil I tell ya...
Let me start out again by mentioning that color management is of the devil - at least when it comes to using Photoshop. This is a hot topic for me again as I work on a batches of photos I took yesterday up in Tennessee. If I bypass Photoshop, all is well. I can print just fine. Unfortunately, I have to use Photoshop a lot so printing can turn out being a challenge. Let me break it down for you (as I understand it so far):
- When I take a photo, the photo is embeded with the color profile from my camera.
- When I bring it into my computer, the profile gets read and converted to a monitor profile so that technically, what I see on my monitor (it's calibrated) is the same as what the camera saw.
- When you mess with it in Photoshop, the profile gets converted into a "working" profile that PS uses.
- When you go to print, you specify the color profile of the printer AND media you're printing to.
- It's at this point when the print preview window comes up that I start with the ugly words.
Here's the thing, NOTHING I am using is weird or off-brand. Everything I have has factory color profiles associated with it. I don't need to use any generic settings...
Sigh.
Friday, February 18, 2005
At last...
... it's Friday!
Had a good night last night at a music store in Huntsville where Johnny Rabb was doing a demo for Roland on their electronic drums. Honestly, until I saw the demo, I had no idea how versatile and powerful the V-Drums were. I was very impressed.
Johnny played and talked for almost 2 hours. Good stuff. Got a chance to talk with him a little afterwards. He's a good guy. My old buddy Kusi was there as was Eric and his girls. I think we all had a good time. I did have one "incident" though. The one kid that was running amok ran into... MY CAMERA. Luckily, it was undamaged. The kid however was crying. His dad saw his kid being an idiot when it happened and actually asked if my camera was okay - I checked and it was. Probably taught that kid a lesson though...
Sigh.
Anyway, the pictures I took turned out GREAT. I'm extremely pleased with my flash unit. That makes me happy. I also took a bunch of video on my Sony pocket camera thingy. I had technology all over the place last night.
Later, Kusi and I headed to Hooters for some grub. Yum.
Today at work I had a meeting in Huntsville first thing. That went well. Ate a delicious lunch at Macaroni Grill before heading back to the office. Afternoon went by quickly as I wrapped up my week. Grabbed some dinner on the way home before sitting down to work on my drums. Changed out the heads and worked on re-arranging them differently. In the middle of all this, I got a headache. I'll work on it more tomorrow maybe.
Had a good night last night at a music store in Huntsville where Johnny Rabb was doing a demo for Roland on their electronic drums. Honestly, until I saw the demo, I had no idea how versatile and powerful the V-Drums were. I was very impressed.
Johnny played and talked for almost 2 hours. Good stuff. Got a chance to talk with him a little afterwards. He's a good guy. My old buddy Kusi was there as was Eric and his girls. I think we all had a good time. I did have one "incident" though. The one kid that was running amok ran into... MY CAMERA. Luckily, it was undamaged. The kid however was crying. His dad saw his kid being an idiot when it happened and actually asked if my camera was okay - I checked and it was. Probably taught that kid a lesson though...
Sigh.
Anyway, the pictures I took turned out GREAT. I'm extremely pleased with my flash unit. That makes me happy. I also took a bunch of video on my Sony pocket camera thingy. I had technology all over the place last night.
Later, Kusi and I headed to Hooters for some grub. Yum.
Today at work I had a meeting in Huntsville first thing. That went well. Ate a delicious lunch at Macaroni Grill before heading back to the office. Afternoon went by quickly as I wrapped up my week. Grabbed some dinner on the way home before sitting down to work on my drums. Changed out the heads and worked on re-arranging them differently. In the middle of all this, I got a headache. I'll work on it more tomorrow maybe.
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Bizzzay...
Wow, I think this has been the longest I've gone without a substantial bLog update. Not too much has happened in the interim though, nothing outside the ordinary at least.
Sunday, church was great! Had a guest speaker from the Gideon's come and talk to us. Normally, these presentations are pretty dry. Suprisingly, this guy was informative AND entertaining. He did a great job. On top of all that, I think we had the most people there EVER to date! I think we were all excited. The music went off without a hitch - minor things here and there but nothing the crowd would really notice. Ate lunch with the Jack S. and his family then went home for some nappage.
I forgot what I did that evening.
Monday night I spent working on music stuff. Also watched "The Bachelorette". As usual, the "nice" guy got screwed over. We'll see what happens in the final episode next week.
Tuesday - had an interesting day at the office. Hung out with friends after work then went over to another local eatery for dinner. Helped Kyle out by taking a picture of him with "The Shannamal". LOL! Hopefully he'll make some progress on that.
Band practice was Wednesday night this week as there's a drum clinic featuring my buddy Johnny Rabb tomorrow night in Huntsville. Should be a good time. We were supposed to get together last fall for some drum lessons but our schedules never worked out. He's a busy dude as he represents DW drums, Roland and Meinl cymbals. Those are just a few of his major endorsers.
Work will be hopping tomorrow as I've got a photo shoot in the morning then a big meeting in the afternoon then the clinic in the evening. Looking forward to it! I like busy.
Sunday, church was great! Had a guest speaker from the Gideon's come and talk to us. Normally, these presentations are pretty dry. Suprisingly, this guy was informative AND entertaining. He did a great job. On top of all that, I think we had the most people there EVER to date! I think we were all excited. The music went off without a hitch - minor things here and there but nothing the crowd would really notice. Ate lunch with the Jack S. and his family then went home for some nappage.
I forgot what I did that evening.
Monday night I spent working on music stuff. Also watched "The Bachelorette". As usual, the "nice" guy got screwed over. We'll see what happens in the final episode next week.
Tuesday - had an interesting day at the office. Hung out with friends after work then went over to another local eatery for dinner. Helped Kyle out by taking a picture of him with "The Shannamal". LOL! Hopefully he'll make some progress on that.
Band practice was Wednesday night this week as there's a drum clinic featuring my buddy Johnny Rabb tomorrow night in Huntsville. Should be a good time. We were supposed to get together last fall for some drum lessons but our schedules never worked out. He's a busy dude as he represents DW drums, Roland and Meinl cymbals. Those are just a few of his major endorsers.
Work will be hopping tomorrow as I've got a photo shoot in the morning then a big meeting in the afternoon then the clinic in the evening. Looking forward to it! I like busy.
Slackin'
Yes, I know - I've really fell off on my regular blogging. I've been covered up at work and then my evenings have been packed lately. I'll try to get a substantial update posted very soon.
On another note, weather's fixing to go to crap again.
On another note, weather's fixing to go to crap again.
Saturday, February 12, 2005
SO behind...
I'm SO behind on my blogging this week. Finally, I have some time to sit down and get all my thoughts together. Things have been hoppin' at the office as we've had all sorts of new business coming our way that's got us going wide open. No complaints from me though, I like this kind of busy.
Thursday night was band practice night. Kev had a family event that he had to go to Atlanta for so he wasn't there. Eric stepped up to the plate - talked through the songs, discussed possible trouble spots, prayed then hit it. We were a bit rusty on some of the songs as it had been awhile since we'd played them. By the end, we were all feeling pretty good about how it all came together. Big props to Pam for doing a great job as our soloist. A good group of us went over to Ruby Tuesday's for some grub afterwards. (pics to follow)
Friday after work I hooked up with Kyle to grab some dinner at O'Charleys. O'Riginally, we had tried getting into Logan's (which Kyle says he hates but it was his idea to go there - so uh...) but the wait was excessive and I was pretty hungry. O'Chucks has been doing pretty well on food quality and service so I think it might be safe to put them on the regular dinner rotation. Jeff joined the party and we took off to shoot pool at Bumpers in HSV. Pretty decent pool place. I expected to be in smoky places so I had taken my contacts out for the evening and had my glasses on instead. When playing pool I realized that I REALLY needed my contacts because the field of vision is MUCH better with them on. My game suffered as a result, but these things happen. Headed back to Decatur where I promptly took it to the crib.
I had one of those start, restart then start again days Saturday where you just enjoy laying in bed, get up for a bit then hop back in because it's so comfy. I finally jumped in the shower around 11 to kick my day off. I was going to try and do some photography stuff today but didn't because of the late start. Met up with Kyle and had lunch at Princeton's after Eric gave the "all clear" signal after his last visit there. It a pleasant surprise to find that the air and food quality there was much improved. Ran into Tonja there being too lazy to cook lunch also.
Trip to BAM was next where I got a mocha and a few magazines. Was trying to figure out what was going on with a girl there that seemed to be having issues. I was going to say something to her but decided against it. Maybe next time I see her I can ask her about it. We'll see. Stopped over next door and picked up 2 sets of cufflinks I had seen Thursday when I had been there with my co-workers after lunch. Ran into Shane, an old friend of mine that I learned manages the place. Probably going to get together with him for lunch and see what all's been happening with him. Plus... one of his employees may be of interest to me so I'll have to get the scoop on that. ;-)
Racing season's kicking off! Watched the Bud Shootout tonight on the tube. After sitting in the Home Depot car, my interest in NASCAR is renewed - a little. What I'm really waiting for is the start of the Formula One season the first of next month in Melbourne, Australia. With the new aero and engine rules, things should be mixing up a bit. Ferrari will still be strong of course but I think the gap to the other teams is less than before. We'll see.
Thursday night was band practice night. Kev had a family event that he had to go to Atlanta for so he wasn't there. Eric stepped up to the plate - talked through the songs, discussed possible trouble spots, prayed then hit it. We were a bit rusty on some of the songs as it had been awhile since we'd played them. By the end, we were all feeling pretty good about how it all came together. Big props to Pam for doing a great job as our soloist. A good group of us went over to Ruby Tuesday's for some grub afterwards. (pics to follow)
Friday after work I hooked up with Kyle to grab some dinner at O'Charleys. O'Riginally, we had tried getting into Logan's (which Kyle says he hates but it was his idea to go there - so uh...) but the wait was excessive and I was pretty hungry. O'Chucks has been doing pretty well on food quality and service so I think it might be safe to put them on the regular dinner rotation. Jeff joined the party and we took off to shoot pool at Bumpers in HSV. Pretty decent pool place. I expected to be in smoky places so I had taken my contacts out for the evening and had my glasses on instead. When playing pool I realized that I REALLY needed my contacts because the field of vision is MUCH better with them on. My game suffered as a result, but these things happen. Headed back to Decatur where I promptly took it to the crib.
I had one of those start, restart then start again days Saturday where you just enjoy laying in bed, get up for a bit then hop back in because it's so comfy. I finally jumped in the shower around 11 to kick my day off. I was going to try and do some photography stuff today but didn't because of the late start. Met up with Kyle and had lunch at Princeton's after Eric gave the "all clear" signal after his last visit there. It a pleasant surprise to find that the air and food quality there was much improved. Ran into Tonja there being too lazy to cook lunch also.
Trip to BAM was next where I got a mocha and a few magazines. Was trying to figure out what was going on with a girl there that seemed to be having issues. I was going to say something to her but decided against it. Maybe next time I see her I can ask her about it. We'll see. Stopped over next door and picked up 2 sets of cufflinks I had seen Thursday when I had been there with my co-workers after lunch. Ran into Shane, an old friend of mine that I learned manages the place. Probably going to get together with him for lunch and see what all's been happening with him. Plus... one of his employees may be of interest to me so I'll have to get the scoop on that. ;-)
Racing season's kicking off! Watched the Bud Shootout tonight on the tube. After sitting in the Home Depot car, my interest in NASCAR is renewed - a little. What I'm really waiting for is the start of the Formula One season the first of next month in Melbourne, Australia. With the new aero and engine rules, things should be mixing up a bit. Ferrari will still be strong of course but I think the gap to the other teams is less than before. We'll see.
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
I'm a little tired.
When I woke up this morning, it was 5 A.M. I have no idea why I got up then, but I was wide awake. I actually got up, sorted out some laundry and did two loads before going to work. How's THAT for some productivity?
Wore my new dress shoes to work today - this is the part I hate... breaking them in. It will be a little uncomfortable the first few times I wear them until the leather relaxes to fit me properly. Overall, I really like the way they look and feel. They should last me a few years.
Skipping back a day, the concert last night was REALLY good. It was refreshing to hear new music performed well. The church we were at was quite large and had a substantial sound system. It was cool to get a glimpse into what the future might hold for us at Crosspoint. Afterwards, a few of us went over to Cracker Barrel as we were starving before making the trip home.
Today though, I was draggin a little since I had a late night AND I got up early. Made it through the day regardless. Oh, filled the position at work that I have been trying to fil for the past few months!!! Got the person I wanted too. He's very talented and will add a lot of capabilities to our team. As an added bonus, he's a drummer and he's into photography - perfect huh? He's into some of that serious stuff though with the large format cameras most people are unaccustomed to. Things will be picking up now so I'm pretty excited.
After work swung by the cleaners to pick up some stuff I had dropped off earlier then came on home. It was time for a short nap as I was almost cross-eyed from sleepiness. Got up and made dinner than ran some errands. Saw "L" as you can see from the picture below then went over to Office Depot to get more photo paper where I ran into Wendy. Stopped over at BAM for a sec then came on home. That about wraps things up.
Looking forward to 3 photo shoots this Friday. Hopefully the weather will cooperate as these shoots will be outdoors. We'll see what happens.
Wore my new dress shoes to work today - this is the part I hate... breaking them in. It will be a little uncomfortable the first few times I wear them until the leather relaxes to fit me properly. Overall, I really like the way they look and feel. They should last me a few years.
Skipping back a day, the concert last night was REALLY good. It was refreshing to hear new music performed well. The church we were at was quite large and had a substantial sound system. It was cool to get a glimpse into what the future might hold for us at Crosspoint. Afterwards, a few of us went over to Cracker Barrel as we were starving before making the trip home.
Today though, I was draggin a little since I had a late night AND I got up early. Made it through the day regardless. Oh, filled the position at work that I have been trying to fil for the past few months!!! Got the person I wanted too. He's very talented and will add a lot of capabilities to our team. As an added bonus, he's a drummer and he's into photography - perfect huh? He's into some of that serious stuff though with the large format cameras most people are unaccustomed to. Things will be picking up now so I'm pretty excited.
After work swung by the cleaners to pick up some stuff I had dropped off earlier then came on home. It was time for a short nap as I was almost cross-eyed from sleepiness. Got up and made dinner than ran some errands. Saw "L" as you can see from the picture below then went over to Office Depot to get more photo paper where I ran into Wendy. Stopped over at BAM for a sec then came on home. That about wraps things up.
Looking forward to 3 photo shoots this Friday. Hopefully the weather will cooperate as these shoots will be outdoors. We'll see what happens.
Can you super-size this please?
Stopped to visit "L" at work. She was sporting some new, larger hair tonight.
Jeff Deyo (Sonic Flood) in concert.
Jeff sings during a worship time at a church in a neighboring town. He's the former lead singer of the band Sonic Flood. Spent the evening at this event along with others from our band and leadership.
