Thursday, March 31, 2011

Monkey Business

March 31st, 2011 - Day 90

So, I LOVE this shot. It is a simple shot, but I love everything about it. I wanted a portrait shot up against a colorful wall and I felt the monkey would make a good off-set subject.

March 31st, 2011 - Day 90

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Back-Up Plan

March 30th, 2011 - Day 89

Back-up shot.  Tried a shot tonight that I had been wanting to do for a while and it didn't come out how I wanted.  Will have to do it another time.  So, I had to quick take something else.  I like the curves of this bench, especially in black and white.

March 30th, 2011 - Day 89

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

A Tale of Two Seasons

Catching up on the last 4 days of pics.  The title of the blog post comes from the fact that the first picture is from our last hard rain hopefully that we will have this season and the last picture is from today, our first absolutely beautiful day in a long while.  Spring is here!

March 26th, 2011 - Day 85

Saturday morning, I was feeling under the weather a bit and had to be out of the house by 8am. I also knew that it was also my last opportunity to take a picture for the day as I expected to not be home until after midnight. With that in mind, I took a quick shot, forgetting I had already done a leaf in March. Oh well, under the circumstances, I am still ok with it.
March 26th, 2011 - Day 85

March 27th, 2011 - Day 86
This little teeny bottle carries a fragrance in it that makes Jessica smell SO good! It is almost magical!
March 27th, 2011 - Day 86

March 28th, 2011 - Day 87
I LOVE Dia De Los Muertos stuff. So colorful!
March 28th, 2011 - Day 87
 
March 29th, 2011 - Day 88
I didn't think it would ever come, but the nice weather is finally here! Welcome, Spring, I have surely missed you!
March 29th, 2011 - Day 88
 

Friday, March 25, 2011

Busy

Tonight I had the idea to take a picture of the tree out front and instead of focusing on one subject, I opted to simply fill the frame up as much as I could. So, the busy-ness of the picture was very intentional. Taken with no flash and only the porch light used as lighting.
 March 25th, 2011 - Day 84

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Rain, Rain, Go the HELL Away!

I don't know about you and where you live (you three or so loyal readers who aren't family living in town), but we have been having some damn ugly weather here of late.  In fact, it is downright horrendous and it seems like it has been nonstop for weeks and weeks.  I am not one that minds cold because really, there is nothing better than curling up in a warm blanket.  It is comforting.  But add the nonstop rain and wind in and it is horrible.  I can appreciate a little bit, but when it persists for this long, it is a big nuisance.  It also leads to damage that can cost money.  Nothing fun in that.  So please, weather gods, make this garbage stop!  A couple of pictures for ya...

Winston sure does enjoy being on the sofa with us.  In fact, I think he is almost too spoiled as he almost ALWAYS wants to be up and this is not how things fly in this household!  But still, he is so darn cute and hard to turn down.

March 23rd, 2011 - Day 82

Despite the rain being annoying, it can sure make for some pretty pictures.  Still, I wish I could go outside with a rainstorm knocking me over!

March 24th, 2011 - Day 83

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Pain Sucks

As promised, here is the bad news I was talking about a couple of posts ago.  For those of you who don't know, Jessica has a horrible right knee.  To be more specific, she has a degenerative joint disorder.  Not much she could have done to prevent this, it's just part of genetics.  But this genetic misfortune has led to her having basically zero cartilage in her her knee so that she is bone on bone.  Imagine your bones rubbing against each other with nothing to cushion them and occasionally, they even catch on each other.  It's horrible just to type and she is the one that has to live with it, while working 12 hour shifts as a nurse who is always on her feet.  It sucks and she lives in constant pain.  She has been dealing with it for a couple of years now and even went to a couple of doctors who misdiagnosed her.  It wasn't until about a year and a half ago that we found a great doctor who found out the true cause and came up with a treatment plan.  So, a little over a year ago, she started the process towards a better knee.  Step one was a minor surgery where they went in and scraped some of the cells around her knee so that they could be shipped to Boston to grow.  That surgery kept her out of work for about 6 weeks. 

So, a little over a year later, she was ready for step two.  The cells were grown so that the cartilage being inserted into her knee were her own cells and not something they got from a cadaver.  After all, what better to insert in your body than your own cells, even if they were grown in a lab.  Why so long after the first surgery was the second?  Well, this second surgery was to keep her out of work for up to 6 months and it takes a long time to build up that much time off.  We were all ready to have the surgery, to start Jess on the road to living a pain-free life, even though the recovery promised to be long and arduous.  However, the day before surgery, we got a call that the cells, in their final step of growing, did not grow as needed in time (it was something that needed to be done right before surgery) and the surgery would have to be cancelled.  She was DEVASTATED.  Imagine constant pain, seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, and having it taken away at the last moment.  It was even hard for me to take so I can't imagine her feelings.

So where do we sit now?  Well, they are trying that last step a second time and seeing if it works this time.  The rep from the company talked to her on Monday and said in his 9 years with the company, he has never seen it not work so Jessica was a first for him.  I am sure she is not happy about having that distinction.  But for now, we keep fingers crossed that this second attempt works and in 11 more days, we are supposed to find out if we are on track to give this surgery a second try.  If we are on track in 11 days, we will have another 2-6 weeks for the actual surgery and in that time, we give it a go that nothing goes wrong.  Until then, we just sit, wait, and hope.  She doesn't deserve to be in pain like this.

Until then, I guess I will just keep kissing that knee and hope it does something to ease the pain.

March 22nd, 2011 - Day 81

Monday, March 21, 2011

Under the Bed

March 21st, 2011 - Day 80

"The thing under my bed waiting to grab my ankle isn't real. I know that, and I also know that if I'm careful to keep my foot under the covers, it will never be able to grab my ankle."
— Stephen King 

Another entry in my "Fear" series.

March 21st, 2011 - Day 80

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Ready For My Close-Up

Haven't had the time to blog or post pictures in a while.  All macro pictures the last 4 days.  Not going to write much as we got some pretty crappy news tonight.  Will talk more about it tomorrow.

Any guesses on what this is?
March 17th, 2011 - Day 76

We got iPhones finally!!!
March 18th, 2011 - Day 77

Looks better than it tasted...
March 19th, 2011 - Day 78

Cactus on a red wall
March 20th, 2011 - Day 79

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Nobody Plans To Be Alone

March 15th, 2011 - Day 74
In anticipation of Jessica's surgery next week, she made a gargantuan grocery list so that we will be fine on food for the next few weeks and have enough for countless meals I can cook. I shudder at the trip to go buy all of this.

March 15th, 2011 - Day 74

 
 
 
March 16th, 2011 - Day 75

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."
-Helen Keller

I opened the garage today and this tennis ball somehow rolled out of my garage and into the gutter.  Something about it screamed photo opportunity as it seemed so lonely and beaten in that gutter filled with water. 

March 16th, 2011 - Day 75

Monday, March 14, 2011

Viewing Fear

March 14th, 2011 - Day 73

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear."
--- H.P. Lovecraft

Another entry in my fear series.  Is it a scary movie she is watching or something much, much worse?

March 14th, 2011 - Day 73
Ideas for future entries?

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Speed and Fear

Just a quick post showing the last two days of pictures.  
 
My father-in-law just got himself a Harley so when he came by yesterday, I had to snap a picture.  I am sure I will take more when I have more time as it is a beauty!

March 12th, 2011 - Day 71



"Fear is contagious. You can catch it."
-Neil Gaiman

Marvel has a new epic storyline coming soon called "Fear Itself" that will run throughout many of the different comics. I'm going to try to do some fear related pictures in honor of the upcoming series.

March 13th, 2011 - Day 72

Friday, March 11, 2011

Close Calls

I don't know what I was thinking, but Wednesday night, I went to bed without taking a picture of the day.  It was only after I turned off the lights and started to doze that I realized that I had not taken a picture of the day.  I ran and grabbed the camera and took a quick snap of Jess. It wasn't until later that I realized I took a similar picture last year. Being that the day was already over when I realized this, I HAD to go with this picture.  So, in processing, I turned the image to black and white, turned up the red a little in her already reddish eyes, and there ya go, Jess is suddenly a vampire. Team Jessica. 

March 9th, 2011 - Day 68

The night would go on to be very short lived.  A little before midnight, we got a call from Jessica's stepdad that her mom was in the hospital and not expected to survive through the night.  She has been in poor health for a while, but it wasn't a call we were expecting.  And it was certainly not something Jessica needed having lost her stepmom a little less than a year ago.  So we quickly got ready and drove the two hour drive to the Bay Area in 90 minutes.  We stayed at the hospital until around 5am and then, with her mom looking somewhat stable, went to the house for a few hours of crappy sleep.  But in the morning, her mom was awake and talking, and breathing much more than the 2-3 times per minute she was breathing when she first got to the hospital.  We stayed with her until around 3:30 before leaving to go home, convinced and confident enough that she had taken a turn for the better and was going to pull through again.  One time while sitting in the waiting room, I took the shot below.  I think it captures the coldness that a hospital can bring out sometimes.  Cold and empty.

March 10th, 2011 - Day 69

We were in bed by 8PM upon arriving back home after a very long night/day.  Today was spent catching up  on work and taking it pretty easy.  Jess wasn't as lucky as she had to go to work.  I might have worked even more than I did, but I was glued to the TV a lot with everything going on in Japan.  While taking a shower today, I actually thought of today's shot.  It wasn't quite the angle I originally wanted, but I am still pleased with how it came out.  I do love playing!  Something tells me that Machete needed to bring more knives to the fight!

March 11th, 2011 - Day 70

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Spring

March 8th, 2011 - Day 67

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!"
~Robin Williams

I know the calendar says that it is still a couple of weeks until Spring comes, but try telling that to the trees and bushes in my neighborhood.

March 8th, 2011 - Day 67

Monday, March 07, 2011

Doors

March 7th, 2011 - Day 66

“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.”
-Flora Whittemore

I use this door to my house all the time, but I have never really noticed, until recently, how cool the handle looks with its worn and weathered look. It gives it some character.

March 7th, 2011 - Day 66

Sunday, March 06, 2011

Light

March 6th, 2011 - Day 65

Let there be light

March 6th, 2011 - Day 65

Saturday, March 05, 2011

In Training

March 5th, 2011 - Day 64

"Success isn't how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started.”


This quote is never more evident than in my training right now for my 5k. Sure, I am way out of shape and nowhere near a good runner, but 5 weeks into training, I sure have come far. Self portrait on tripod.  4 weeks left!  The white box around my pictures is not something I add, but something added when the pictures are put in the blog.  I would choose to do away with them.

March 5th, 2011 - Day 64

Friday, March 04, 2011

Young and Old

A few quick ones tonight...

Winston has now figured out how to jump on the steps of the spa and drink the water. We try to keep from doing it, but he can be persistent sometimes!

March 3rd, 2011 - Day 62



The Little Engine That Could No Longer

March 4th, 2011 - Day 63

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

The Rain

March 2nd, 2011 - Day 61

And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.

-G. K. Chesterton

March 2nd, 2011 - Day 61

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Face Your Fear

March 1st, 2011 - Day 60

“Fear is a habit; so is self-pity, defeat, anxiety, despair, hopelessness and resignation. You can eliminate all of these negative habits with two simple resolves: I can!! and I will!!”


Don't be afraid of the scale.  It's there to help you.  How many other friends will ALWAYS tell you the truth no matter what?

March 1st, 2011 - Day 60
I actually just bought this scale as I sold my Wii recently and that was the only scale in the house.  Truthfully, that is all we were using our Wii for so I got some money for it and bought this guy.  I know people have different views of weighing in...those who only like to do it weekly vs those who like daily.  I think with this, I would like to see the daily weight as I think it can keep ME more on track.  With my 5k a month away, I have to keep at it.