Wasn't it nice out just 48 hours ago?

My how the weather changes around here. After an absolutely fantastic Saturday, Sunday clouded up and today got grayer and grayer as the day wore on to finally end up with showers. Regardless of the weather outside, I stayed busy today with different clients and an impromptu photo shoot. What's nice is having a set of studio lights and rooms painted in light gray. That just works out great for what we need. The picture turned out good although it was just a mockup for a presentation. If the client likes it the way it is, I may stay in as the model. Who knows.

Today it was my turn for shipping frustration with UPS. I have stuff shipped to the office since someone is always there during business hours to sign for anything that comes in for me. Usually, you can avoid missed deliveries and such using this method. My office is on the "business" side of town just one block from the courthouse, police station and many banks. Why then does UPS not deliver to my area until AFTER 5:00PM?!?! Luckily, some of my co-workers had things to do after hours and hung around. Lynn called me at 6:40 to tell me the package I was expecting had arrived. To add to the fun, she told me the box was in rough shape. I finished dinner (New China with the usual) and then drove back across town to get my stuff. True, the box had split open on one side but the contents had been packed well and were intact. Still, this was a pain in the rump to have to deal with.

Met back up at BAM with Kev & Co. and Eric & Co. to sit and read for a bit. I did that for a little while then went on home. It's still raining out. Should be a good night to sleep well.

Supposed to hook up with some friends tomorrow for a seminar or something on worship being presented by the former lead singer of the band Sonic Flood. I'm looking forward to that.

A nice weekend.

I had a very enjoyable weekend... started Saturday off by getting up early so I could be off shooting pictures while the daylight was good. My initial plan was to go to Big Spring Park and take shots there. I also planned to go by Bernie's and see if could get some horse photos out on his farm. Lesa was going to go but she ended up having to stick around her place so I went solo. I did drop by and she loaned me the 70-200 lens and her tripod.

I decided to go on over to Bernie's first to see what sorts of pictures I could get there. It turned out to be a good decision as I later nixed the Big Spring idea. I had been to his place several times before but never really walked around the property to get a detailed look at things. There was so much stuff there it was perfect! I spent a few hours shooting the horses, cats, red-tailed hawks and a buzzard (hey, it looked good from where I was but as Bernie described it, it's an ugly mug). I tried to take some shots of a red robin, but when you're zoomed in and not using a tripod, that big lens had me shakin' like a Parkinson's sufferer. All the more reason to get the Image Stabilized version of Lesa's lens when I take THAT plunge. That will minimize the effects of camera shake. Anyway, I hung around for awhile then decided to head out as I hadn't had anything to eat yet. I was tired so instead of going to Huntsville, I headed back home where I made some lunch and download the pictures. I had over 1.4gb of pictures to move off the memory cards! I was very pleased with my shots. I'll probably take some time this week to sort through them to cull out what I don't like. A big thanks to Bernie and Kim for having me over. I'll have to go to one of Kim's dressage shows to take some photos of her and the other competitors. I don't know anything about horses or riding but it looks interesting.

I went over to The Brick later on to check out a performer but when I got there, there were very few cars out in the parking lot so I just turned around and headed back. Ended up meeting up with Kyle and Jeff over at BAM where I looked through a few magazines and went on home.

Sunday was good all around. Church went very well. Music did too. There were a few minor hiccups but nothing that was noticeable unless you really knew the songs so it wasn't a big deal. Afterwards, myself, Jordan and Kevin ate chicken parts at Zaxby's (I'll get you a picture V. LOL!) before heading home where I took a much needed nap. Woke up feeling... well, not good. I had that you're-in-the-process-of-getting-something feeling. After being up for a bit, I got to feeling better so I'm crossing my fingers that I'm okay.

Went over to the Superbowl party at Jack and Pam's. Big crowd over there! Plenty of good food, pool shooting and just general hanging out going on. Fun times. James busted out with his collection of pool cues and passed on some billiard tips. Good times.

Overall, it wasn't a very productive weekend for me as I usually like to get a lot of domestic stuff done but I ALWAYS do that so it was time for a break. You know, I really have to plan what activities I want to do instead of sitting around waiting for some kind of inspiration. The latter is what I usually do and usually results in a pretty blah agenda. With that in mind, it's been discussed that a trip to Nashville next Saturday may be in order. We'll see how that turns out.

A Picture for V

Veronica: As I was pulling out of the drive-thru at Captain D's the other night, I remembered you hadn't ever seen one before so I circled around front and snapped this shot.

Ah, Friday at last!

Another busy day at the office but that's fine, it's the end of the week, I have a full day, the weather's great - no complaints from me! Spent the morning getting prepared for a lunch meeting. Meeting went very well. Of course, we were at Macaroni Grill enjoying delicious food and drink so many things were going in the right direction. Accomplished all I set to do there. Ran a few errands and then stopped by the Space & Rocket Center to take a couple of product shots for another client.

Finished off the day helping to get some advertising copy down so Lesa could wrap things up. Time to take it to the crib.

Oh, I got my camera case in today! Looks like I made a good choice. FedEx rocks BTW. Also got a book in that I ordered from Amazon. I'm pretty beat from all the running around today so I think I'll take it easy tonight and then get out and about tomorrow to enjoy the predicted beautiful weather. Lesa wanted to go shoot some photos at a location in Huntsville tomorrow. If the weather's as nice as it's supposed to be, it'll be a great time to do that.

I was able to pick my shoes up today, one day early - the one's I mentioned that chewed up the clothing budget earlier this week. I don't buy shoes too often but when I do, I get some good ones that last for years. I've got shoes 10 years old that look like they just came out of the box. If you take care of them by keeping them clean and using shoe-trees and such, you can get an indefinite amount of use out of them.

Sorry, I kind of went off on a footwear tangent for a moment.

Almost the weekend!

Another busy day today at the office. Always good. Had to get my wig cut today which turned out to be quite a frustrating experience. First, had to reschedule last Tuesday. Tried to get a Wednesday appointment but couldn't so I ended up with a noon appointment for today. She called me at 10:00 to see about moving me to tomorrow - covered up Friday and couldn't do it then. She then tried to move me to 12:30, I again said no as I had something to do at 1:00. I get there right at noon. There's someone in her chair - "I'm about 20 mins behind". Fine I thought, I'll wait. I drove across town for this and my hair's too long so I'm getting my hair cut dang it. WELL AT 1:00 I'M FINALLY GETTING IN THE CHAIR. I'm a little peeved at this point. Doesn't help that she keeps trying to make small talk. Normally, I'm pretty friendly when I'm there but what happened today left a bad taste in my mouth. This has happened a little too often in the last few months so it may be time for a change. She's been cutting my hair for over 10 years but again, I only have so much patience left after these last few times.

Picked up some Mickey D's on the way back to the office coz I was starving. Sheesh. I didn't need that crap in the middle of my day.

After work I headed to band practice. I've been off drum duty for the past 2 weeks and the drums were out of position for the way I like them to be. I spent the first 15 minutes or so moving and adjusting everything to my liking. Having the time off was nice for sure though.

It was me, Kevin and Jack at Applebee's for dinner. Had a good chat with our server. Turns out she writes music and plays guitar! We talked at length about doing a few of her songs to see how that would turn out. She was very enthusiastic about it. Hopefully, we'll get something together in the next week or so we can get started. Very cool.

Once again, it's time for bed. You know, days seem to be going by faster as I get older. Supwifdat?

Rainy and cold.

The weather really sucked today - cold and rainy. At least I'm able to get good use from the parka my employer gave me and the rest of the team for Christmas. I don't know why I never got one of those for myself before.

Meetings dominated my day. Unfortunately, they are a necessary evil in order to understand what a client wants. It's also a time to assure the client that you're hearing them. In the middle of all this, I was able to nail down getting a new camera bag as the 2 I have were designed to fit the smaller Olympus cameras I had in the past and not the full-size SLR I have now. Ended up going with the Tenba D-12. I consulted with a guy at B&H Photo to make sure what I eventually planned to have would fit. It was between the Tenba and a Domke after I eliminated Tamrac and Lowepro from the mix. The Domke just ended up being too big for my needs.

L called today and wanted me to stop by the store she works at to look at suits and stuff that were on sale. Reluctantly, I did go by even though I would rather have gone home with the weather the way it was. There was nothing there that I really couldn't live without. I've got some $$$ shoes to pick up this weekend that kind of chewed up the clothing budget for the month so I really didn't need to be spending any more in that category. On a side note, we're supposed to have lunch one day next week. I'm all tied up the rest of this week.

Came home and made some dinner. Going to go drum for a bit now that Dubya's finished with his address.

NASCAR Home Depot #20 Tony Stewart Car

Okay... now that I'm getting the hang of putting albums up on the web as well as protecting my photos I can give this direct link out to the photos I took during last Saturday's garage work.

http://www.jonathanmoral.com/homedepot

If you're a NASCAR or Tony Stewart fan, enjoy!

It ain't easy being greasy.

Went into work late today as I woke up with some kind of headache malfunction. Took some drugs and went back to bed. I was much better the next time around and headed on into the office. I had a stack of messages on my desk when I arrived but anyone that called got the message that I was out and under the weather. I spent the afternoon working on some backup things and also getting info together for another project. Nothing too exciting today.

The train hosed me up on the way home. I had to drive up, down, and around just to get by. I had been meaning to go to the grocery store since late last week and finally was determined to make it. Got my goods then decided I didn't feel like cooking for dinner so I went to Captain D's. It's been a long time since I've been there. The lengthy wait in the drive-thru was still the same as I remembered but whoa! The food quality is WAY up! That was a pleasant surprise for sure and good timing too as I was very hungry.

All is quiet on the home front tonight. Probably just going to watch TV this evening.

To V: good luck with your toe!

Need some voting assistance.

I entered that photo I took of the red/white awning against a brilliant blue sky into a photography contest. If you've got a minute, click the link below and vote for my photo if you like it. Thanks!

Vote for my photo in this month’s DigitalCameraInfo.com photo contest.

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They were stiff.

If you hang around with me regularly, you know that I send most of my dressier clothes to the cleaners. A lot of my stuff is dry clean only so that's another reason I have to go a lot. Anyhow, one day last week, some new girl took my clothes in and I specified LIGHT starch like I always do. Just from looking at her, I had a feeling she wouldn't get it right. I was not to be disappointed - they came back with an obscene amount of starch in them. The most evident item were a pair of Polo khakis made of a thinner, lightweight cotton fabric. That's what I planned to wear today. I took them off the hangar and tried sticking my feet in. No go - got stuck just below the pockets. I had to flip them over and reach in through the bottom to separate each leg so I could get my feet through. Once I got them on I wasn't really "wearing" them, I was standing inside them. That was special to say the least. I managed to wedge my wallet into my back pocket as I walked out the door. When I sat down in the car, I heard a popping noise as each of the pleats separated. At this point I was laughing.

I was covered up at work today, but that was a good thing. I got plenty accomplished. I also hopped online and ordered some stuff for my Canon the biggest of which was a flash unit. I should have that soon and can begin experimenting with it. By the way, I have an extra camera I don't need anymore. If you're interested it's a Olympus C-5050 in perfect condition with all accessories and the original box. The LCD display has been protected since the day I unboxed it with a plastic film so there are NO scratches on it. In addition I have the B-300 Teleconverter ($150 lens), the adapter tube necessary to use it and several Tiffen filters one of which is a circular polarizer. All the accessories are in perfect condition as well, no scratches or dings. If I do sell it, I'll sell it as a unit as the individual items are of no use to me. If I have time, I may put it up on eBay.

Changed up the routine tonight and went to New China instead. Ivy was there and asked if I wanted "the usual". I did and it was good. The Burns and Kyle also were there. Afterwards we hung out over at BAM sipping drinks and reading. Eric and his larvae were there taking advantage of chess night. I saw a few friends of mine; Lisa, who I offered to buy a cappucino for but she declined and asked that I buy her a drink when I see her at the Brick. Allrighty then. Ellen, my date to the gala was also there with a friend of hers. Met a girl from Applebee's too. Talked with her a bit before heading home.

Kyle dropped by to pick up a CD. When he walked in he asked for a tape measure. After I gave him one he went back and was measuring the size of my drum room. It seems that several of us have got some sort of studio fever going on. Me, Kyle and Kevin all have the peices and parts to put together a recording studio. Big John also has several items so I'm sure we can get him into the mix somehow. For now, Kyle's probably going to rig up his laptop with recording software and his FirePod to do more portable recording. Kevin too is also going to get an interface, the Lexicon one I believe. He's got a laptop that he'll be using as well. I gave my old laptop to my dad. I may have to set my work laptop up so that I can lay down tracks also. When it's all said and done, someone can write a song and each of us can work on our parts separately and then assemble them together at the end. How cool is that?

Is it my turn yet?

Last night, I ended up over at BAM to see if I could read up on my color management malfunction. While I was there, I noticed it was pretty much a freakshow this evening. I looked around at all the kids there and had a flashback to high-school detention hall. Actually, I had another flashback as well - my freshman year in high school (way back in da day) my friends and I would arrive early because our bus picked us up at the crack of dawn. We would arrive at 7 AM and school didn't start till 8:30. What did we do? We ate breakfast and played Dungeons & Dragons. Those were some good times. What we all looked forward to everyday was our buddy Mike Phillips. He was a talented artist, but just really didn't apply himself at all. That's another story though. Anyway, every morning he opened his lunch sack to see what his mom packed him. 9 times out of 10, he didn't like what was in there and the comments he made about it had us all rolling. One morning, he had a sandwich of some sort that had cheese on it. Mike didn't like cheese so he flung it up at the ceiling - where it stuck. As the days, weeks and months passed, you could see the square of cheese shrink as it originally left an oily mark on the tile it was stuck to. As the cheese contracted you could see the oily outline of its original size.

I actually still have my D&D dice. Unfortuantely, I no longer have any of my books - monster manual, players reference guide, dungeon masters guide or any of the maps. I think I sold or traded them back many years ago. I wish I still had them. They would be quite a collectors item now as all my stuff was from the earlier printings.

Back to today. Sorry about chasing that rabbit.

Got a call from Kyle and met him and Jeff over at the Barrel of Crackers for dinner. Food was good. The only thing that might have made things better was if my first glass of water didn't taste like Clorox. You might be thinking "how does he know what Clorox tastes like?". A valid question. Back in my Boy Scout days, there was some Clorox usage in some water purification process we used. (Don't ask) It was a very small amount diluted in large quantities of water so there wasn't a high concentration. Anyway, that taste always stuck in my mind. So I was like "Ma'am, can I have another glass of water? This tastes like Clorox." That went over like a fart in a diving helmet as I probably said it too loudly and was heard by neighboring diners. I finally got a clean glass of water and was happy.

Swung by the house and picked up a few drinks then stopped in at Scott's to hang out with the crew over there. Good bunch of folks there - over a dozen. Watched them play trivial pursuit then went into a game of cranium. What was funny during the Cranium game was that the question was read (I wasn't paying attention) and then the card with the question on it was passed to us to look at. I saw a picture of Lyndon B. Johnson on the front (as Scott was yelling "DID YOU SAY BIG JOHNSON?" from the other side of the table) and I was all about saying "Yeah, that's Lyndon B. Johnson". As it turns out, who was in the picture wasn't the question (in my mind I'm thinking - Enough Corona, you're getting stupid)it was a TRUE or FALSE question. We guessed true and got it whatever the question was. What was funny to me is that I was smugly thinking I got the Lyndon Johnson part right when that wasn't even the question. I was laughing at myself.

Went on home after that and settled in for the evening. That was enough excitement for one day.

More #20 Home Depot car pictures

I posted a few more pictures from yesterday's activities for your enjoyment. The weather wasn't really cooperating - these shots would have been really nice on a clear sunny day.

The car gets hauled around in this trailer. Very nice.

SERIOUS brakes.

These huge blowers with hoses attached are to cool the brakes.

There's nothing "stock" about a stock car.

Can you say AIRFLOW?

The cockpit view from the passenger "window".

Cold, wet - but it's nice and warm inside!

Today was the day I finally got to go see (and work on) the Tony Stewart car some racing buddies of mine bought. Now, Brian and John are no newbies to racing - both have raced in the past in a variety of vehicles. John was who I pit crewed for last year at a local track. The Stewart car is a COMPLETELY different animal. Obviously, this is a professional race car built by a professional racing team. "WOW" is about the only way I can sum it up.

The tasks for today were to check the brakes, the steering box and to remove Tony's seat as it didn't fit Brian properly. He's much taller than Tony. I was the smallest guy there so I hopped in (the seat fit me fine) and did the wrenching inside. Sitting in the car was a unique experience - this exact car was the pole-sitter at the 2002 Watkins Glen race. It ended up finishing the race in 2nd place. So, if you're a NASCAR fan and watched that race, you saw this very car.

Back about 2 years ago, a group of my friends and I raced each other online in a NASCAR simulation. We all had way too much fun - so much fun that Bill's doctor told him to ease up on it because of his heart condition... THAT'S how exciting it got. The following day after racing the evening before was pretty entertaining as we talked about everything that transpired on the track. Good times I tell ya. I never thought that I'd be sitting in an ACTUAL race car though. I must say, the programmers at Electronic Arts (the former NASCAR simulation people) did a fantastic job modeling the car interior.

After we got done, Brian had to head out to go camping in a cave with his kid, Bill had to take his wife shopping and John and I headed to the BK lounge (Burger King for those who don't know) for a very late lunch. Headed back to Decatur afterwards and stopped over at Kyle's to check out his new FirePod and the DVD of our Riverfest performance last year.

I'm back home now. Was chatting with Jo for a bit talking about her first day at work. Now it's time for me to think about eating again. Sometimes eating is just an interruption to my day. Grrr...

Vroom! Vroom!