Vigil

Still in the same situation from all week so haven't been able to read anyone's blogs in a while and have been behind in posting pictures. I know you understand.


Vigil: A period of devotional watching

I had second thoughts about posting this picture, but I think it fully documents what we are going through right now. This has been Jessica for the last week; so incredibly strong.




Let me in Daddy!

-No animals were harmed in the taking of this photograph-

Snapshots

With everything going on (see the previous post) working on my photography has been few and far between. The pictures have really been after thoughts, mostly all taken at the end of the day. Fran is still hanging on, but can go at any moment. Poor Jess has been staying there every night and as Fran seems to be on some kind of night schedule, deciding to only sleep during the day, Jess has not been able to receive much sleep since about Friday night. I can tell this on heavily draining her and day by day, I see less and less energy behind her eyes. I am sad to be losing Fran and this is crushing to us all, but in then end, my first priority is my wife and I cannot wait until she is back to a normal life. With that, this is what I was able to take as pictures of the day for the last four days...


Spotlight


Birthday Dinner for Jess



Soft Beauty


With everything that is going on right now, it has really kept me on my toes. I figured a self portrait showing exactly that was warranted.

Waiting Game

It has been a rough couple of days. As you may remember, Jessica's stepmom, one of the healthiest persons I had ever met, was diagnosed with cancer a little over a year ago. Actually, it is closing in on a year and a half. Well, she is in the very final stages of it and her passing is going to come any day now. Friday, we thought she had hours left and I quickly rushed over there. As my photo of the day is always on my mind and I knew I had to take a quick picture in case I was there through the night, I snapped a quick pic of the golf tee on my counter from the previous day...



As it turns out, she didn't pass away on Friday and seems to be a little more stable now than when I first saw her on Friday. Jess has been over there most of the time and last night was the actual first good night of sleep in a few nights as a family friend agreed to take over her shift so she could come home for the night. We'll be going back over in just a bit. I did manage to take some photos while I was over at the house yesterday as well. Ironic how we play the waiting game for someone to pass on and I am taking pictures of the first signs of life from Spring.



If you want to see the rest of the flowers I took that day that didn't make the cut (and there are some good ones) click on this link. They are in my miscellaneous folder so there are some other ones in there as well, but they are at the end.

But now, all we can do is wait. It's horrible to go from, "I hope she can hang on as long as she can" to, "She has no quality of life anymore, she isn't herself anymore, it would just be better if she passed on." But that is where we are right now. The waiting game sucks...

I Am a Motherfucker!

I was just made aware of these videos that were taken of events from a couple of days ago. Check out this fight on a bus! Oh yeah, my title comes from the back of the guy's shirt.




Now check out this guy's response which is equally funny and satisfying in that I expected the guy to claim racism and instead, mentioned that the guy got what he deserved...





And now, because we live on the internet, the Mortal Kombat version!

On the Green

I went golfing today with my Uncle Skip, and my friends Brandon and Gary. It was a great time and like usual, I figured it would be a good opportunity to take photographs. I was correct...









These guys wouldn't move out of my way when it was my turn to hit.



Playing with some framing.

February 17th, 2010 - Day 265

February 17th, 2010 - Day 265
Originally uploaded by pokermanuel

'X" marks the spot

February 16th, 2010 - Day 264

February 16th, 2010 - Day 264
Originally uploaded by pokermanuel

"When words fail, the guitar speaks."
--George Szell

Ummm, oops....

I screwed up today...



Well, I guess accidents happen, right? Considering I would probably never let Jess live it down if she did this, I think she is being pretty good about it. Well, once she made the video. On to the pictures.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, but as Jess and I were so exhausted from our party the night before, we elected to just stay home and veg all day. Still, it was a nice day. Don't be tricked by my picture of the day though, there was no cooking and we sure as hell didn't use a fork. Popeye's Chicken chicken strips don't require forks, but still, I busted one out for the picture of the day...



As for today's picture of the day, Destro says, "Talk to the hand!"

SURPRISE!

Yesterday, we had a surprise birthday party for Jess. She has been telling me the last few years or so that she has never had one and always wanted to have one. So, about December or so, I decided to set the plans in order and contacted our friend, Yvette, to see if she could go in on the plans that way it would be easier for me to plan. Surprise parties always seem to work a lot better when they aren't at your house. I just seem to think they are less predictable that way. With that in mind, I asked Yvette if I could simply give her money and she could plan the whole thing, minus the invites that I would do.

In January, invites started going out on my end while all the rest of the arrangements were made on her end. Now, it became a task of how to get her to the party. I didn't want to do it the same weekend as her actual birthday as that makes it even more obvious what we are doing. So, I made up a story of how I planned something really special for Valentine's Day and it even included an overnight stay (which I used as an excuse to spend the night at the party so we could help clean up the next day).

The day finally came yesterday and when it was time to go, I drove around for 30 minutes, doing a complete circle since the house we were going to was really only 5 minutes away. She had her eyes closed the whole time so when we got out of the car and she opened her eyes, everyone was there to yell surprise. From there, the party began. And what a GREAT party it was. A special thanks to Brandon and Yvette for hosting and really doing all the work that went into throwing such a great party. They are such good friends and I really appreciate the work they did as everything was perfect. Jess was so happy!



For the rest of the set from the great party, just click here!

February 12th, 2010 - Day 260

February 12th, 2010 - Day 260
Originally uploaded by pokermanuel

Our son, Orko

February 11th, 2010 - Day 259

February 11th, 2010 - Day 259
Originally uploaded by pokermanuel

Battle on the edge of the world.

February 10th, 2010 - Day 258

February 10th, 2010 - Day 258
Originally uploaded by pokermanuel

Night Branches

Play Time

My new PS3 is sexy...



Any guesses on what this is?

Super Bowl Party!

Threw a Super Bowl party at the house today. Good times!


I start off with my picture of the day. I don't know what is better - the one handed catch or the fact he didn't spill his beer?

















We fried a bunch of food - tater tots, onion rings, mozzarella sticks, brownies, pizza, and rice krispie treats!











To keep the game interesting, we were making a LOT of different types of bets on the game.



All of these post it notes represent a bet on the game. We started off with what side the coin would land on in the coin toss. The final one? What color would the gatorade be that would be thrown on the coach.

Rain, death, and getting down low.

We had some pretty good rain on Thursday so after getting home from seeing Avatar at the movies, I decided to take a picture of the hood of the car.



Friday was a sad day. Friday, the PS3 in my living room finally died. As some of you may remember, I got my Playstation 3 on the day the day they came out, nearly 3 and a half years ago. I even camped two nights in front of Target to get it! It's always cool to get the first release of something, but then you run the risk of problems that haven't quite been figured out yet and an early death. In fact, I know many people whose version 1 systems died way before mine so I guess I should be thankful it lasted this long. I brought the PS3 from our bedroom into the living room until I get a new one, but I felt it would make a good photo opportunity to do a proper funeral.



Remember the other day when I mentioned I needed a tripod that could get really low to the ground? Well, my buddy read that post and gave me his mini tripod that he never uses. Cool! This will come in really handy!

February 3rd, 2010 - Day 251

February 3rd, 2010 - Day 251
Originally uploaded by pokermanuel

Our Leia, up close. She was such a good girl to just sit there while I took pictures.

More Macro

I have two more pictures of the day using the new trusty macro lens. The first was a candle in my house last night. I am pretty pleased with how this came out because of the decent clarity and the colors.




Today, I ventured out into the field by my house to find something interesting to photograph. I was almost about to turn back to the house to switch lenses that way I could take a picture of the ugly swamp (which I figured would look cool) when I came upon a ladybug. I figured this would be a good time to try my first insect macro picture. Only problem is the gal was so close to the ground, I had to go handheld to get the picture up close. That is something I am discovering with my tripod. The lowest I can get it is about 18 inches so anything lower to the ground than that has to be done without a tripod. Despite this, I think the ladybug still came out fairly crisp. Any ideas for a tripod that can get WAY low to the ground though would be appreciated.



She deserves a song for helping me with my picture of the day!

Well, I was strollin’ along one fine day in the spring,
When a little boy came over to me.
He said, “Look at that thing! Then he tickled my wing,
And I turn’d just as red as can be.
And then he took me to his home
He put me in a jar
Then he stuck me on a shelf on the wall; And I said,
That’s no way to treat a ladybug! No, no way at all.