Manuel'sView

Back To Normal

2012-01-31T19:28:00.000-08:00

I can't believe the time is finally here, but Jess is finally going back to work on Thursday. Yes, after seven and a half months of being off while she recovered from surgery, she has to return to the work force. Usually, a return to normalcy is a good thing, but in this situation, it is pretty depressing. We got to spend so much time together in the last seven and a half months and I can't say that I ever felt like I needed a break from her. In fact, I think I am going to instantly miss her and you wouldn't expect that when you have spent so much time together. Luckily, she is going back to work during my busy time of the month at work so I'll have plenty of other things to concentrate on.

What's amazing is looking back and realizing how much has happened in our lives during the recovery time. Let's see what has happened since the moment Jess went under the knife: she almost died, our nephew was born, her mom passed away, we took two trips to Disneyland, one of my pictures ALMOST made it on the cover of a phone book, and we took trips to Reno and Tahoe. All of this while recovering from surgery shows we did more than just sit at home for the last seven and a half months. Can the next seven and a half months, with a HEALTHY Jessica be as eventful? If it is, and hopefully we can avoid the deaths and near-death experiences, then we have exciting times up ahead in our lives!

In the end, this break from work was for recovery and as Jess goes back to work, I pray, cross fingers, think good thoughts, etc, that this surgery was successful and she will be able to work pain-free or at least mostly pain-free while she does her job. Her job as a nurse is taking care of people and making sure they are comfortable. It is only right that as she does her job, she is comfortable as well. Now we see if it was all worth it.

The Agony of the Feet

2012-01-10T21:57:00.000-08:00

As mentioned in the previous blog post, this past weekend included an overnight stay in Reno for us and group of friends. We had SUCH a great time (as I typed that, a friend just texted me asking me when we were going again) and will have plenty of stories to tell of the trip for years to come We didn't come home with gambling winnings as we had hoped, but hey, you can't win every time! Because of the wonderful creation of alcohol, even though almost all of us were losing money, we were happy the whole time. Some of the guys were drinking this:

Now, I am not much of a beer guy, but that has to be the coolest name for a beer ever! But still, I'll stick with tequila! Jess looked amazing (like always), but absolutely destroyed her feet with the heels she wore around the casino and walking out on the town. By the end of our great trip, her feet were covered in cuts, blisters, and sores. This was her the next day, poor girl.

Monday was a release for a new Vinylmation series, Furry Friends. Her feet hurt so much that she had me go on my own. I am sure that saddened her! I didn't get the ones I was looking for, but I did luck out and get the rare one (called a chaser). That one alone made the trip worth it and even though I am not keeping it (I have actually sold it already), it made for an awesome picture!

If we're going to talk about Furry Friends though, nothing compares to the one I picked out a little over 9 years ago.

Love that girl.

Contrast

2012-01-07T09:51:00.000-08:00

I survived another first week of the month, generally my busiest time of the month. Thankfully, I actually got a LOT done and look forward to hopefully having a somewhat relaxing January so I can complete some other projects I have been putting off because I have been so damn busy. Now that Jess is self-sufficient, I don't have to worry about splitting my time between my work and what she needs so time has become more readily available. I think we'll celebrate with a fun night in Reno with friends tonight. Yeah, that sounds like a plan.

I took two pictures this week that are so incredibly different. That is what I like about this project, I get so many different shots and from one day to the next, you can get something totally different
from the day before.

On Wednesday, I took this shot of this mandarin orange on our tree. So much color and life in this shot even though it is just a spot of color surrounded by the muted green.

The following day, I took the following shot and it couldn't be any different: dark, black and white, and grainy. Everything in the shot was intentional as I wanted a dirty, grungy look to go with the theme of the picture.

I didn't set out to make the two back to back pictures have such a contrast, but when I realized it, I was actually super happy. I mean, at this point I am happy when I can think of something different to photograph after all this time, but when it is something I really like and am proud of, it makes it that much better.

Yesterday, I went with something new again. Like I said, it is all about creating new ideas. When I created the Star Wars scene in the last post, I thought to myself how fun it would be to create other shots from movies in my photos. For some reason, I instantly thought of Kill Bill and thought it would be fun to create a scene inspired by the movie. I came up with this...

Kind of fun, kind of silly, I kind of need to shave more often. In the end though, I am really happy with how this came out.

2012?

2012-01-03T21:35:00.000-08:00

So we made it to 2012, so now what? Well, if you're a crackpot, you answer that question by saying, "Who gives a crap, the world is going to end in December anyways!" But since we are mostly all rational human beings and don't fall for crazy things like that, we can actually look to the future with some sense of hope. After a couple of years of misfortune for Jess and I, we are looking at 2012 as a chance for a new beginning and hopefully, nothing but good news. Sure, we had many great things happen in the last two years, but it was countered by so much grief that we want a year full of happiness. Hell, we don't want to be greedy, we'll go with mostly all happiness.

Enough of being all moody and philosophical for a while. The "now what" also applies to my photo a day project. I just finished up my second year of Project 365 and I just can't bring myself to stop. Sure, it is a pain at times and can be pretty stressful trying to think of something to photograph, but if I didn't do it, I might go weeks or even longer without picking up my camera and that is just no good at all. I'm excited to start working on my coffee table book of the second year of pictures, while simultaneously trying to keep year 3 just as fresh.

Like I said though, keeping it fresh and trying to come up with a new picture every day IS the hard part. Since I work from home, there are numerous days when I don't leave the house at all. Add that to the fact that I often work all day, then eat, then rest, and finally think of something to take a picture of, and I run out of things to take a picture of at 10pm. That is what last night's pic came down to - what can I see to take a picture of on the way to bed? I ended up with this:

Now, I lucked out because I really like this pic. It's simple, but I love all the lines, the black and white tone, etc. But for every one of these, there are 5 pictures of forks or a pair of shoes that are cool, but nothing special. This could be a problem this year, but we'll have to see how it goes.

Today I took this:

Now, I could take a ton of different pictures like this with all kinds of cool characters and funny scenes, but besides amusing me, I think this would bore the general population pretty quickly. Year 3 is going to be pretty damn hard. But let's keep our fingers crossed that the picture a day is the biggest thing I have to stress about this year.

2011

2011-12-31T19:00:00.000-08:00

2011 - Disneyland and a nephew. Death and surgery. How will I look back on 2011 years from now? Pretty tough to say right now, but I think I captured it all in one simple picture. Here is to nothing but happiness in 2012.

7 Years

2011-12-09T15:19:00.000-08:00

“If you keep a thing seven years, you are sure to find a use for it”
- Sir Walter Scot

I can't believe it, but my blog has hit the seven year mark today. Seven years. When I started this blog seven years ago, I never would have imagined that I would keep this blog this long. Hell, I personally can't even recall why I started the damn thing in the first place. Truthfully, I don't recall reading blogs before so what would possess me to want to start one of my own? I am guessing I just wanted an outlet to write shit and figured people would just flock to it and respond back. Because that is how the internet works, right? You just write whatever and people will just show up and write back? Ha! I was so wrong and I know it took a while to get a decent group of readers. I never did get a huge following, but I think I topped out at one point at getting 10-12 comments per post. That's really awesome, actually. It's great to know that people have something to say about something you wrote. Nowadays, it has really died down and I only get a couple family members to comment plus one or two others. I have considered quitting because really, who wants to write if there is no audience? Well, some people might enjoy that, but not me. But still, I find myself continuing to write in hopes that one day it will pick up again and frankly, I just can't give this blog up.

A few years ago I actually did write a post that said I was quitting. Guess how long I was away from the blog before I returned? TWO WEEKS. Yes, I could only stay away for two whole weeks. Shoot, this year I went two months without blogging and had no desire to actually quit the blog. If you have been keeping track of our lives the last 6 months, I was just tired. And sitting down and writing, even if it was just a quick note seemed like it would take too much out of me. But no, the desire to quit never popped in my head and I feel fairly renewed again and know that 2012 will be a good year for blogging, comments or not.

It is crazy to think of all that happened in our lives since the advent of this blog. Hell, when I first started this blog, I was still teaching. Remember those days? It's been a while but I sure as hell still do. Then there was the foolish move of jumping from teaching into the real estate field. Ok, leaving teaching wasn't really foolish as I didn't enjoy it and I knew I was already burnt out. Getting into real estate wasn't even foolish. I really wanted to do it, I thought I would be good at it, and the market was good. Then right when I started, the market took a gigantic dump of epic proportions. How was I supposed to know that? And I did plenty of blog posts in that year that expressed my disappointment on how things were going. It was actually a pretty damn depressing year and I bet there are some pretty solemn posts from that year. So I flamed out at real estate, but if I hadn't taken that risk, I might still be teaching instead of the home business I own now. Funny how things work out.

It's been a good seven years, but thinking back, I can only think of sad posts I have written instead of happy posts. In those seven years, I had to write about our infertility problems, the heartbreak of a miscarriage, the job issues, and the loss of both of Jessica's mothers. I am sure there was more, but what amazing things happened to us to counterbalance these awful things? Or is it more of a situation where we were consistently happy and there were just various tragedies that interrupted our lives? Tragedies that we will never forget and will affect us constantly, but speed bumps in our usually happy lives, nonetheless? I feel almost guilty for not being able to think of all the amazing things that I may have written about, but do fun vacations, good movies, cool photography, and winnings at poker make up for the bad stuff? They must because even though we had all these things happen, even though I can't think of something that made me as happy as the other things made me sad, I still feel blessed and happy with life.

Kind of ranting now, but this has been out last seven years and in that time, I am glad I had the blog to write it all down and record it. Before Facebook was created, this was THE place where I could share and you could find out what was going on in my life. Now that myself and all my readers have Facebook, nothing on this blog is really a surprise or breaking news. Why blog that I won $340 at the casino today when you already saw it on Facebook? Why post a new photo on here when you already saw it AND commented on it on Facebook? Maybe this is why my blog readership has gone down, you already know what is going on in my life? Regardless, this blog is a journal of my last 7 years and even though you already know what is going on in my life before you come to the blog, I have no intention of stopping now. I have to blog at least 7 more years so that I can post the Guns n Roses song, "14 Years." We'll see how it goes. Thank you to all...

Christmas, the Reason for the Insanity

2011-12-06T19:58:00.000-08:00

Not really sure what to blog about today, but wanted to get a blog post in. Being that it is the Christmas season, I think a holiday-themed post would be perfect. But this won't be a typical, God-bless everyone, things are awesome holiday post. No, this will be the opposite end of the spectrum, the Bah Humbug, You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch, type post. Now, don't think that this means that I am not a fan of Christmas. I LOVE Christmas. I love what it represents. Many a good things happen during the holiday season and it can bring out the best in certain parts of humanity. However, like most things, there is always a flip side. Here are the reasons why I hate the holiday season:

5) Christmas Music - I know I am WAY in the minority here, but I cannot stand Christmas music. In fact, while it soothes many people and brings a smile to their face, it actually makes my blood boil. There is just something about it that is just fake and frankly, almost depressing to me. The fact that we have to hear the same songs OVER and OVER again every single year probably adds to the madness. I'm just over these songs and I do whatever I can to avoid them.

4)Wrapping presents. Why? Just watch this video and it should explain my wrapping skills and why I try to avoid it at all costs.

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Yes, that is pretty much how all of my wrapping looks. I never really became a good wrapper of presents, and frankly, I don't care to. I rush when it comes to most things and the time and dedication that it takes to make a present look nice is just something I am not interested in. Oh I'll still wrap instead of gift bags because I know it is more fun to open presents this way, but I won't enjoy wrapping it and it sure as hell won't be pretty!

3) Having to create a Christmas list. I hate having to think of things I want. Of course, it may sound kind of selfish that people want to buy me things and I can't take the time to think of things for them to get me, but when you are put on the spot and asked what things people should buy me, it is hard. I think the main reason is that because of financial situation we currently find ourselves in, if there is something throughout the year that I want, I usually just go out and buy it. I don't see something in June and think to myself, "I want it now, but I'll hold off for 6 more months so somebody can get it for me." If it something rather expensive that I haven't bought myself, chances are, it is too damn expensive for anyone asking for my list to buy either. But still, I come up with a list every year even if I feel like I am scraping. The more aggravating thing is when I finally come up with a list and someone else can't return the favor with one of their own!

2) Setting up and taking down for Christmas. Ugh. It's like moving, but having to do it twice in the span of the month. You have to put your normal stuff away, the set out your Christmas stuff, then put your Christmas stuff away, and then finally, you put your house back to normal. Even if Jess does most of it, it's still horrendous. I mean, I do like the house decorated and I know that it is a necessary evil, but that doesn't mean that I have to like it. Hell, I hate putting my own clothes away when they are washed. You think I enjoy all of the above steps? Hell no.

1) An easy #1 choice is the shoppers. Christmas shopping brings out the worst in people. Hell, this would be #1 if all Christmas shopping was done on Black Friday alone. That day is full of people harming other shoppers, harming employees, and pretty much being despicable human beings. But that is just one day and it continues for a month. Instead of being happy for the season, everyone shopping seems in a bad mood, thinks they are the only important people out there, and are generally just inconsiderate of anyone else. There is pushing and shoving. There is craziness in the parking lot. There is yelling and screaming It is really just an unpleasant situation and it is no surprise that internet sales during the Christmas season are getting bigger and bigger. Great prices, the convenience of shopping home, and all without having to deal with the madness of these crazy shoppers? Count me in! Plus, I get to avoid hearing the same Christmas songs on the overhead speaker in every store.

Merry Christmas. ;-)

Body Art

2011-12-01T20:32:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I am going in for yet, another tattoo. For those of you who don't know (who am I kidding, all 4 of my readers know), I am doing a complete sleeve on my right arm full of nothing but movie-inspired tattoos. So far, I've gotten tattoos on the arm based on Alien v Predator, 3 Amigos, Karate Kid, From Dusk til Dawn, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Ghostbusters. Tomorrow I will be adding a Lost Boys tattoo and be one step closer to finishing this art project that I started early in the year.

I truly mean it when I use the word art to describe my tattoos. My tattoo artist is truly gifted and he uses a canvas just like every other artist. His canvas just happens to be my skin. I love that the stereotype of people with tattoos is quickly fading away and more and more recognize tattoos for the amazing works of art they are. Sure, there are still crappy tattoos out there - tattoos done by inexperienced inkers, tattoos done just to make a quick buck, and tattoos that really have no thought put into them. And this isn't even mentioning all those simple tattoos - somebody's initials, a little heart, etc. No, what my tattoo guy does as well as everyone in the shop, is art at its highest level. It takes a special talent and I am a walking canvas.

Deep down, I wonder if my friends and other people around me think. Yeah, tattoos are way more accepted now, but looking at how many I have now, do people think I have taken it too far? Am I now that freaky tattoo friend in the group or that guy with all the awesome tattoos? I guess I could be the freaky friend with all the awesome tattoos, but usually it is one or the other. I remember back when I was 18 or 19 and I got my first tattoo, a simple soccer ball, my mom gave me a death stare. Now she loves mine, can't wait to see what I get next, and even has one of her own. What changed? I think it really is the art involved in it all. One can appreciate it when you think of it that way instead of just simple ink on my body. It really is an art movement and I am proud to be part of it.

Unknown Pain

2011-11-29T21:08:00.000-08:00

One of the sad things about having a pet is that when they hurt, often times you have no idea what is wrong. The difficult part is that your pet really can't tell you where or why they hurt. Last night, Jess had unbearable pain and although she was able to tell me where she hurt, I had no idea what it was or what I could do to make it better. In a way, I felt just as helpless.

So last night, about 11:30, after dealing with some severe abominable pain, we went to the ER. One of the problems with the ER we go to is that part of the clientele that it serves is very poor without insurance and many use it as a walk in clinic. It seems like every time we use the ER's services, the place is jam packed with people, many looking like they simply have a case of the sniffles. This led to last night's trip being over 6 hours long. And we were given somewhat of a priority too. When we left around 6am, there were people in the waiting room still that I recognized as coming right after we did. I don't know how some people do it.

So what was wrong? Well, like I said, They give us a little bit of priority because lower right ab pain could me appendicitis and that isn't something you really want to mess with and take your time on. But still, we had labs drawn as well as an ultrasound and a CT scan and although the doctor originally thought we were on our way to having the appendix removed, it ended up not being that. He was actually confused at the end with what it could be and gave us several ideas. Since Jess was starting to feel better by the end of our stay, he didn't seem too concerned.

This afternoon, after getting a few hours of sleep, we did get a follow up appointment with her OBGYN and he seemed pretty convinced it was a paraovarian cyst. His explanation seemed pretty believable so that is what we will go with. After she posted about it on Facebook, others chimed in on having had that and how horrible it was, one friend even saying it hurt more than pregnancy contractions. Now, I have heard labor pretty much sucks on the pain scale so I can't imagine that this hurt even worse! Hopefully, this doesn't happen again, but if it does, I know she'll be able to handle it being the awesome trooper she is!

Another Month

2011-11-27T09:11:00.000-08:00

Another month gone, another month that went without a blog post. The good thing is, the bug to blog is back. It might start off a little slowly, but I think you'll start seeing more and more blog posts now. And life is almost back to normal now. Jess is walking more and more now and is making great progress She won't be going back to work in December as we first anticipated, but we think she'll be good to go by the end of January. We'll see. There is a big difference between walking around the grocery store and working for 12 hours and doing the things that a nurse needs to do.

Other than that, life is pretty much what it was a month ago. My nephew still is a cutie, we're going back to Disneyland in a couple of weeks, and I did another successful photo shoot. My second year of the photo a day year project is nearing the end. I have started to get questions as to whether or not I will do it for a third year. I am THINKING I will do it, but the only reason I hesitate is that it is getting harder and harder to come up with things to take pictures of. I enjoy the project, but there are many days where I don't leave the house and I am running out of household items I can take pictures of when I don't venture out of the house and I certainly don't want to fill an album of just pictures of me, Jess, and the dogs. Well, maybe of Jess, but I don't think she would like that. So, we'll see. Again, I am leaning towards yes, but it is still a we'll see.

Confession

2011-10-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

Forgive me father for I have sinned, it has been 2 months since my last blog confession. Seriously though, it HAS been that long. Wow, I suck. I guess I am just having too much fun. So what have we been up to? Well, we took another trip to Disneyland, our third trip this year. This time, we splurged a little and stayed 5 nights at the luxurious Grand Californian. It was an absolutely marvelous trip despite me getting sick on our last day in the park. We went on tons of rides, ate great, and bought a TON of Vinylmations. Oh, and of course, I took pictures. Lots of pictures. Here are a select few:

While in Disneyland, I received AWESOME news that didn't up working out, but was cool nonetheless. The Valley Yellow Pages contacted ME and told me they loved one of my photos and wanted to have it for consideration as their next cover. One of MY photos on the cover of a phone book distributed to thousands of people! And guess what? They DID choose it! But here is the bad news, the location that I took the picture of ended up not allowing the Yellow Pages to use the picture because of some contractual issue with their own advertising firm. So I was picked, was going to be on a cover, and it all came crashing down because of a technicality. I was so close to really achieving something cool with my photos, but it just wasn't meant to be. Oh well, what can you do be happy with knowing that they DID pick me and it just didn't work. Here is the picture:

Besides those pictures, I also did two other photo shoots. For some reason, I haven't uploaded them to Flickr so I can show you, but both came out great, Jessica's coworker's 4 month old and my lil' nephew at a pumpkin patch. I actually have to stop and think of how many photo shoots I have done now so I must be doing something right. I've even got more inquiries on my prices as well as selling a few pictures of the last couple of months. Feels pretty good to have fans like this!

On the home front, things are good. Jess is improving day by day and although she can't go too far, can now walk without a cane. It is a little less than 2 months until she goes back to work so time to step her rehab into high gear and make sure she is ready for those 12 hour days! I did another 5k and although my time was bad due to a lack of not being ready for it at all, I enjoyed it and am now training for another one at the end of February. Jess and I also just joined Weight Watchers so the hopeful weight loss coupled with the running should hopefully get me in some kind of better shape.

Other than that, life is good, work is work, and I keep on taking daily pictures of the whole experience!

A Light at the End of the Tunnel

2011-08-23T21:38:00.000-07:00

Today we did our yearly eye appointments. Over the years, my appointment has always consisted of the doctor telling me my eyes are getting worse and the prescription needed to be upped to some new ungodly number. Last year though, my numbers stayed about the same foe the first time, well, ever. As I mentioned earlier, today we went back and although I was hopeful for consistency in my prescription, I didn't expect it due to it not changing last year. But I was totally surprised to find out that not only had my prescription stayed the same, but my astigmatism had decreased, something she said happens rarely. This is great news and she said because of the last two visits, I am pretty much a candidate for corrective eye surgery. After 33 years of poor, declining eye sight, I might finally be able to have a surgery to correct my issues. Not doing it quite yet; I want to give it one more year of making sure my eyes stay the same, but I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel! Fingers crossed!

The last 3 days of pics including today's:

Out of Gas

2011-08-22T17:40:00.000-07:00

It's been a month and 8 days since my last post. Hell, that is even longer than the month I was gone when I said I was quitting blogging and ended up coming back. It wasn't from a lack of wanting to by any means; hell, I wanted to update the blog. But I just have had ZERO energy and then coupled with tragedy getting in the way, blogging just didn't win out in my list of things to do.

Last time I blogged, Jess was in recovery from her knee surgery and I was playing the part of caretaker. Fast forward over a month later and nothing has really changed. In fact, today is the very first day she can walk, but only at a 25% rate. 9 weeks later and she can only put 25% of her weight on that right leg!!! Like I mentioned last time, she has been a wonderful patient and I even bought her a ring to show her my appreciation for being a good patient. But good patient or not, I have still been responsible for almost everything in this house for the last 9 weeks. Little by little she has been able to do more and more (as much as you can possibly do without being able to walk), but the 9 weeks has certainly drained so much out of me. Work, make breakfast, work, make lunch, work, make dinner, and then start all over again. I don't mind because I am doing what needs to be done, but it doesn't make me any less exhausted. But the whole situation is getting better and more fun in our lives should follow.

If my lack of energy while Jess recovers was the only thing we had to worry about, I might have blogged sooner since the amount of stuff Jess has been able to do on her own has increased little by little. But that isn't the only challenge that has come our way since my last post. On August 7th, Jessica's mom passed away after a VERY long and VERY courageous battle with a disease that she battled for as long as I have known her. She had been in pain for so long and it finally became too much. In the end, it was the best for her, but it doesn't make things easier - especially for Jess. If you remember, Jess lost her stepmom to cancer just last year. How is it fair that she would lose her mom the very next year? How is that fair to anyone to lose two parents in back to back years? So, while we were already drained from this whole recovery process, the few days we were in the Bay Area for her final days just totally took the lack of energy to a whole new level.

The good news is we had a wonderful remembrance party for her mom on Saturday and we can now begin the healing process while simultaneously begin to slowly get our lives back to some semblance of a normal life. And speaking of normal, I AM still taking my daily pictures. As it has been so long since I have posted, I can't possibly post all of the missed pictures. Here are just a few of my favorites:

Fingers crossed normalcy is just around the corner.

He's ALIVE!

2011-07-13T20:13:00.000-07:00

Yup, it has been just over 2 weeks since I have last blogged. I have been fully aware of what a bad blogger I have been, both in posting and in visiting fellow bloggers' sites. Truthfully, I have barely had time to breathe. Between working during my busy work time of the month, catching up from when I took time off for Jessica's surgery, taking care of Jess, and doing everything around the house that needs to be done, my life is hectic as hell. I don't mind it and Jessica has been a wonderful patient, but it doesn't make me any less busy.

Not a whole lot has happened in the last couple of weeks. With Jess being pretty sedentary, we don't go out much and pretty much wit for people to come to us. People have been nice and brought us food now and then so that has been a big help when it happens. Jess is healing and rehabilitating well. The doctor is impressed by how well she is doing and we can see noticeable improvements in her range of motion! It is still around another 3-5 weeks until she is allowed to walk, but if she keeps this up, she'll be good to go in no time!

Jess and I are still infatuated with our new little nephew. He brings us so much joy when he comes over and he is the absolute cutest thing I have ever seen. We can't get enough of him!

The other exciting to happen was an engagement photo shoot I did for some family members last weekend. I had so much fun and I owe part of that to the fact that the they were both such good sports. They WANTED to be there and were receptive to everything I suggested while coming in with some great ideas of their own. I think it really translated into my best photo shoot yet. Check out the slideshow here, I am really proud of some of them!

With that, I'll just post the pics of the day from the last two weeks. Sorry, no explanation on all of them - too tired! :-)

Newness

2011-06-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

A lot of new things going on in my life. As reported last post, Jess had her surgery for her knee and hopefully, will be a new person once the recovery period is done. But it wasn't as straight forward as it may seem. This is what I wrote a little earlier today on Facebook about the situation.

Last Monday, Jess finally had her knee surgery. On Tuesday, she gave us quite a scare that many of you don't know about. Jess was having a lot of pain and not getting much relief from the pain medication she was being given. Rather than change meds, something she wanted to do, more of the same meds kept being given to her. While I ran home for a quick shower and my mom and sister looked over her, she hit rock bottom. Apparently while sleeping, she stopped breathing and started turning colors. My mom attempted to quick wake her up and with no luck, sent my overdue pregnant sister to run and get help. People ran in and a code blue was called. Again, I wasn't there, but a room full of people came in and they were able to finally get her to wake up and breathe again without the use of any kind of resuscitation techniques. She was lucky, but I shudder to think what would have happened if my mom and sister were not by her side at that moment. Would she have come out of it on her own or would she have simply passed away without anyone knowing? It is too scary to think about what ifs. They figured this happened because of being over medicated, so apparently, just giving her more of the same med was not the answer. To add further punishment, they took her off all pain meds for a few hours in order to make sure she was safe. Not something someone who just had surgery wants to hear. Moral of the story - you never know when something like this may happen, so be careful, be prepared, and don't think anything is just routine. She could have died....from recovering from knee surgery. It is too scary to think about. And be careful with those pain meds. They are not to be played with.

So yeah, scary stuff. Thankfully, she is home now and getting better day by day. It will be a long road ahead, but I'll do everything I can to accommodate her as best as I can and we'll get through this together. If it makes her pain free in the long run, it is all worth it.

But that is not all that happened with my family last week. Jess and I now have a nephew!!! Yup, my sister had her baby boy on Thursday morning and we are so in love with him already. The only bad part was that because of Jessica's surgery, we didn't get to see him until Saturday when she was released from the hospital and they stopped by on the way home. Of course, I had to take some PICTURES!!!

Isn't he adorable? Yeah, we love him...

And that has pretty much been it. Jess can't really do much at the moment and as her caretaker, I don't venture very far either so it has been a lot of days of just chillin'. I work and she chills on the bed or sofa. When I am not working, I chill with her. But again, all worth it in the end. Going to quick catch you up with pictures of the day, but will just post the pictures rather than try to explain each one. Enjoy...

Quick Post

2011-06-19T21:03:00.000-07:00

It's been a week, but this is a quick post. Life has been hectic, and most of it has been because we have an exciting event tomorrow. Tomorrow, bright and early, is Jess's knee surgery. A donor was finally found last week and tomorrow begins the hopeful beginning of a new life for her, one of being pain-free because of a stupid knee. Wish her luck!

Almost a Week?

2011-06-13T20:42:00.000-07:00

Wow, has it really been nearly a week since I blogged last? I am just NON STOP busy lately and when Jess and I finally took a day to ourselves on Sunday, nothing but vegging on the sofa, it was such a welcome relief. Nothing really too exciting the past week other than celebrating my mom's retirement. We had a wonderful party at our favorite Mexican restaurant and what was amazing was that 4 of the 5 bosses she had during her nearly 30 year career in the school district showed up to honor her. I had to mark the occasion with a picture.

Remember in my last post when I did a self portrait?

Well, I liked the concept so much that I did close portraits of the other three members of the family as well.

What a lovely family if I may say so myself. In fact, Jessica's turned into a quick, impromptu photo shoot. if you want to see the full set (less than 10) click here!

Saturday was also a close up shot, but not of the human variety. It was after 11PM, poker had ended, and I still didn't have a picture of the day. I went into my office to look for something simple and had no clue. But then I saw the perfect thing - since I had no clue, the question mark on my printer would be perfect!

Today was a pretty spontaneous picture as well, but one that required perfect timing to spot. While walking to the sofa, I peeked out the side window going into my backyard and saw beautiful beams of light hitting the leaves in just the right way. I quickly set up the camera before the light moved and snapped this leaf peaking out and illuminated in the right spot.

Untitled Mess

2011-06-07T21:18:00.000-07:00

Like my clever title above? That is what I came up with after realizing my post was really going to have no theme. So what have I been up to? Well, Jess worked Friday and Saturday so my two days were pretty uneventful. I think I stayed in most of the day on Friday and simply worked and by the end of the day, just took a quick picture of whatever I could find that would be interesting...

Saturday was more of the same during the day. I think I watched a bunch of soccer, but that is about it. The exciting part was that near the end of the day, the sun finally came out for the first time in a few days and it produced one of the most vividly colored rainbows I had ever seen. On cue, as I was taking the picture below, 4 or 5 other people posted pictures of the rainbow on Facebook. Yeah, we were pretty excited here in town.

The first half of Sunday was spent being even more of a bum because if Jess was off getting massages and pedicures, I should be able to plant my butt on the sofa. Plus, I was pretty tired from staying up 'til 3am the night before with friends doing tequila shots and relaxing in the spa. Once she finally got home, we went to my folks' house to celebrate my sister's birthday and had some pretty damn authentic Mexican food. I am so lucky to grow up Mexican!

Truthfully though, the highlight of the day was my sister and her husband asking Jess and I to be the godparents to their son who will be born later this month. What a touching honor. I love the upgrade from uncle to Godfather.

Monday was spent seeing the new X-Men movie (AWESOME) and then working in the afternoon. It was a cool remembrance day as the day marked the 15th anniversary of graduating from high school. Where has time gone? I marked the occasion by taking a vintage picture of my old letterman jacket.

Today? Work. That's it. But I did manage a self portrait.

Bunny Ears!!!

2011-06-02T21:31:00.001-07:00

June 2nd, 2011 - Day 153

The lavender plant had bunny ears!

What's Up With This Weather?

2011-06-01T22:03:00.000-07:00

So, last I checked, it is June now, right? And I live in the California Valley, right? Where it is supposed to be steaming hot by now? So explain to me why it was in the high 40s in the midday and we had hail of biblical proportions! It was UGLY! It started this weekend with the horrible weather for my birthday party on Saturday. Sunday and Monday were decent, but Tuesday started to look somewhat ugly by the end of the day. In the following picture, you can see that the clouds and sky were starting to darken by nightfall, but that didn't keep the sunset from giving off a beautiful orange hue on the roofs of the houses behind me.

And that would be the last sun I would see for a while as today was pretty ugly. But it wasn't until the afternoon that the sky really opened up with the already mentioned hail storm. When it finally broke for a few minutes, I ran outside with my camera to take a picture.

In a couple weeks, I'll be back complaining about the heat.

Best Weekend Ever?

2011-05-31T20:09:00.000-07:00

My amazingly awesome weekend is coming to an end and it could be considered one of the best weekends of my life. Last time I blogged was on Wednesday night and it has been non-stop since then. Thursday was full of work because I knew I probably wouldn't step inside my office for the next 5 days after. By the end of the busy day, all I had time for was this quick picture:

Friday began the preparations for the parties so that meant a TON of cleaning around the house and setting up. Luckily, the day ended with some actual fun as my out of town family started arriving and a bunch of us went out to dinner at Mas, my favorite Mexican restaurant, for some good food and mariachi music. By the time we got out of there, it was pretty late, and combined with the long day of work, I was exhausted. Not having taken a picture yet, I got a quick pic of C3PO.

Saturday was my big party! Although it was one day early, we celebrated my 33rd birthday in style with our 3rd annual tequila tasting party. We had somewhere around 30 friends and family show up and between the good company and great authentic Mexican food, we had an amazing time. And that is not even counting the 13 different tequilas we sampled and rated! Not even the rain kept a good time from happening. And once the party was finally over, all the tequila was mine!

Sunday was my actual birthday, but we celebrated by having my sister's baby shower! Lil' Dude is less than a month away from coming into the world and we are all so excited. I stayed behind to take pictures of the shower. Check out the baby carriage my dad made out of fruit!

Still, the day didn't go without some celebration of my birthday. Jess, my folks, and my cousins accompanied me to Tex Wasabi, one of my favorite restaurants in town. That made 3 birthday dinners for me in a row!!!

Monday, we continued the fun with lunch with my cousin before they went out of town and then a barbecue at the Matteonis! Prior to all the fun, I took a few pictures of a Guerrero statue my Grandparents own for my cousin. Guerrero is their surname and it means warrior in Spanish. The statue perfectly depicts that and it was fun to take pictures of.

And today, I guess I could have gone back to work, but Jess was also on her last day off so I opted to have a lazy day on the sofa with her. I still worked while we watched TV, but didn't get as much done as I could have. And tomorrow is also the 1st of the month so reality will really come crashing down tomorrow. Hell, I haven't even taken a picture of the day yet and I am already freaking out about tomorrow. But I wouldn't trade the fun I had the last few days for the world.

Oops

2011-05-25T20:40:00.000-07:00

Oops, I haven't blogged in almost a week! I bet you readers were afraid I was taken up in the Rapture, weren't you? All kidding aside, I had a tremendous amount of fun making fun of the whole situation on Friday and Saturday. Truthfully, I had zero percent of me that was worried it would happen and that allowed me to have a great deal of amusement. Late Friday night while partying over at a friends' house, I eagerly counted down the hours until 6PM in New Zealand to witness the failure. Well, that's not ALL I did. Brandon and I took out his old Hot Wheels to take pictures. I took a few, making them look like cars on a showroom floor. I was pretty happy with them!

Saturday, the Rapture jokes hit full force as time zone by time zone reached the zero hour. It is actually sad that some people can be so delusional when it comes to certain things. As my one last Rapture joke of the day, I took a photo pretending to be taken away as I was playing ball with Jess.

On Sunday, while Jess worked, my dad and I put up a bunch of shelves I had been wanting to do as well as some art work that we have had for nearly a year, but never got around to hanging up. Now that it is up, it looks even more amazing!

Monday was another installment of tequila tasting at Mas, the absolute best deal in town. Hell, it is probably the best deal in numerous towns. This month's tequila of choice was the wonderful, Patron.

Nothing really exciting of note the last two days: shopping, working, etc. That didn't keep me from taking some pictures I am very happy with...

Just counting down now until my big birthday bash on Saturday...

Screwed

2011-05-19T21:39:00.000-07:00

May 19th, 2011 - Day 139

I decided this rusty screw on my fence would make a pretty good picture of the day. The challenge was getting my tripod in a position so that I could get a crisp shot, but being right against the fence proved rather difficult. I had to open up the tripod ever so slightly so that it was basically standing straight up, but even then. I had to balance one leg on my foot. Because of that, it isn't quite as crisp as I would want, but I am still fairly happy with it.

Old Girl

2011-05-18T21:18:00.000-07:00

"Old dogs, like old shoes, are comfortable. They might be a bit out of shape and a little worn around the edges, but they fit well."
- Bonnie Wilcox 'Old Dogs, Old Friends'

I felt like Winston was getting too much of the love lately so I took Leia out to the field for some photos today. Here is a vintage looking Leia shot as the sun sets.

Little by little, I can see our Leia-Boo getting older and older. We adopted her about 8 and a half years ago from the SPCA where they estimated her to be about 2 years old. So this puts her roughly halfway to 11 years old. She has been the best dog that we could have ever asked for (despite her barking) and it saddens me to see her reaching old age. Mostly, she just lays and sleeps now, but the addition of Winston to the family has definitely added a little bit of energy to her doggy body. I don't feel she is anywhere near her final days or even years, but you can definitely see how old she has gotten.

An Interesting Choice

2011-05-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

May 17th, 2011 - Day 137

Saw this little guy today and I ran back inside to get my camera, crossing my fingers he would still be there. Thankfully, he was, but that was the easy part. The hard part was the fact that it was SO windy outside. Try using your macro to shoot something so small when it is so windy...all you get is blur and I WAS using a tripod. So yeah, I took over a hundred shots and this was the best that came out. It is still somewhat blurry and not as crisp as I would like, but I did the best I could with the conditions I was given.

Truthfully, I never get tired of photographing insects with my macro. Although flowers might look prettier with the macro, there is something cool about seeing an insect up close. Hell, I wish I had a better macro so I could get even closer. For now, what I have works awesome and I wish that there were more interesting insects (outside, of course) that I could photograph around here. I believe I have done bees, ladybugs, and a fly, but that is about it that I can remember.

But what about you, what do you prefer pictures of - insects or flowers?

Son and Green Moon

2011-05-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

Our son ready for bed...

This claw is the bottom part of one of my swords that I own. I thought it was pretty unique and since the ball was green, I went outside and took the picture in front of a tree to give it an additional green tint.

And Back to Reality...

2011-05-15T18:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I am back from Disneyland. Actually, I have been back since Thursday, but have been too busy to process pics and blog. Seems to be a recurring theme on this blog lately - too busy. And all this busy-ness has been with the Playstation network down for almost a month. I am not sure I would have even had time to play video games!

So, anyways, Disneyland was great as always. It was an awesome time and it truly is my happy place. I made my Sunday night picture a picture of our packed suitcase. Can you tell I was excited?

I didn't take many pictures this trip as we had just been to Disneyland a few months prior. Still, I made sure to get a picture of the day every day that was Disneyland related.

If you want to see a slideshow of all the pics(there aren't too many), click on this link. I have so pretty flower pictures that I love.

The last few days since my return have been pretty busy with a return to work and real life. Because of time constraints, a lack of imagination, and procrastination, my last three pictures of the day have been simple macro shots. Not the most exciting, but still came out decently.

Peace Out...

2011-05-08T14:06:00.000-07:00

Living for Disneyland tomorrow. Have to make this a quick one...

Saw Thor at the midnight premier on Thursday night. It was awesome; loved it. Right before we left, to get myself in the frame of mind for the film, I took a shot of my Thor bust. I am really happy with how it came out.

On Friday, Jess and I spent most of the day in the tattoo shop. I finished up two of my tattoos on my sleeve and did some more work on the third. The Star Wars one is going to have a little more work done because my guy has some more ideas. After that, Jess got her tattoo. Pictures another time though. While we were there, I saw the figure below and figured he would make a good picture.

Saturday, I worked all day long to get work under control for the week I am gone on vacation. Crappy way to spend a Saturday, but I was rewarded with a party that night to watch boxing, complete with some great food and some games of pool.

Smashed

2011-05-04T19:36:00.000-07:00

Both of these things can smash you...

In all seriousness, these are the last two pictures of the day, but it wasn't until I was uploading the second picture that I saw that there was a connection. Yesterday was a super busy day and when I was finally done around 8 or so, a simple picture like The Hulk toy was all I could manage. Still, I found it pretty cute. Today's pic represents what my dad brought home for me from his two week trip to Mexico. Can't wait to break that new bottle open. Although, maybe I will keep it unopened to torture him as he really can't wait to try it. Decisions, decisions...

Summer Movie Preview 2011

2011-05-03T20:05:00.000-07:00

As promised, here is your annual Summer movie preview; the time of year where the movies are usually not award-winning or original, but damnit, if you turn your mind off for a second, they can be damn entertaining. Sure, the occasional critically-acclaimed movie can come out in Summer (Inception, 2010), but usually, these are just for the fun of it. As usual, I will break down the highlights of the Summer by date, and then at the end, tell you my top 5 anticipated movies. At the end, you can tell me your top 5 if you wish, too! Well, the four or five you who still read this blog. Why didn't I start off the preview with last weekend's Fast Five, arguably the first hit of the season? I just have a hard time calling an April movie the beginning of Summer movie season. Just my preference. Here we go...

May 6th
Thor - Do I need to explain this movie. God of Thunder? Next Marvel movie after Iron Man 1 and 2 and Incredible Hulk before they combine them all next Summer in Avengers. Ring a bell? It should, because this movie is going to be all kinds of awesome. Marvel has been on fire since they took over the production rights of some of their characters and I don't expect anything less from this one.

May 13th
Priest - Looks like an action-packed, post-apocalyptic movie with humans against vampires. Although I won't be seeing it in the movies, this is a definite watch for me upon video release unless I hear it is downright horrible. Based on a graphic novel, this might make some dough as it has a bit of a following, but might find the season pretty crammed.

Bridesmaids - Ok, so I personally think this looks horrible, but I am thinking this could POTENTIALLY be a sleeper hit. If it gets some buzz and good reviews, I could see women flocking to this movie about hijinks of a bunch of bridesmaids. Maybe it is trying to be the Hangover for women. So, it could go either way - MAJOR bomb or sleep hit. We will see.

May 20th
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - Eh, so is it too soon to release another Pirates movie (and maybe the start of a new trilogy) so soon after the last trilogy kind of fizzled out there at the end. I just don't hear too many people getting excited about it and it has to be how the last one left a bad taste in our mouth. It will make money, just based on Depp's name alone, but this might not be the huge money-maker Disney wants. Then again, it could be once you combine international markets and stuff. At least the previews make it look like a return to the simple fun from the first one.

May 26th
The Hangover: Part 2 - The shenanigans continue with the same cast from the first one. Previews make it look like the EXACT same movie, just set in a different location. I thought the first one was pretty amusing, but nowhere near as funny as people made me believe it would be. When I saw the trailer in the theater, I chuckled once while the rest of the theater roared with laughter. I don't know. But yeah, this will make bank.

Kung-Fu Panda 2 - Another sequel, another movie that will make a bunch of movie. The first one was very successful (I never saw it), and I don't expect anything different with this second one as I assume they won't stray too far from what made the first one so profitable. Pretty interesting release date, too, a raunchy R comedy on the same weekend as a kid movie means there is plenty for everyone. Probably a huge weekend in the box office.

May 27th
The Tree of Life - This movie is only coming out in limited release, but I list it because it has had some Oscar buzz for some time. In fact, before it was delayed, people expected it could up for some Academy Awards LAST year. Not sure why it was delayed, but this Brad Pitt/Sean Penn movie is finally coming out. As for what it is about, Google the trailer and you tell me. Just looks....weird. But, as least this movie with a lots of pre-buzz is finally coming out.

June 3rd
X-Men: First Class - I was pretty hesitant about this movie, a prequel of sorts to all the X-Men movies; showing the early stages Professor X and Magneto. Just based on pictures and stuff, it looked downright horrible. But then the trailers started coming out and what do you know, I think it looks like it could be pretty damn good. Seems to have a serious tone to it and I will definitely go see it now, something I hadn't planned on doing a couple of months ago.

June 10th
Super 8 - Produced by Spielberg and directed by JJ Abrams. That should pretty much sell the movie right there. If you aren't sold, watch the trailer. This looks really cool and gives me a feel of an 80s kid buddy movie like Goonies, but sci-fi-ish and involving aliens...I think. The trailers do a good job of not revealing TOO much about the movie and that makes it that much more exciting.

June 17th
Green Lantern - Ryan Reynolds dons the costume of the DC Comics superhero. Looks like it could be decent and action-packed, but my boycott of almost everything DC will remain in effect. With Reynolds in the movie though, this should be pretty hilarious.

Mr. Popper's Penguins - Jim Carey takes on the role of a man who suddenly comes into possession of a bunch of penguins and is forced to live with them. Based on a children's book that I feel I read once, but have no recollection of, this could be successful or totally bomb. It is really hard to predict sometimes with kids movies. His kids movies usually make a decent amount so this could be a hit.

June 24th
Cars 2 - I think that Cars is the worst of all the Pixar films (although beautiful on Blu-Ray), and it is certainly not one that needed a sequel. On the flip side, this movie made SO much money for Disney from a merchandising point of view that it is not surprising that a sequel was made. I know I will be skipping the theater for this one. But yeah, tons of money.

Bad Teacher - Comedy starring Cameron Diaz as a foul-mouther junior high teacher also starring Justin Timberlake and Jason Segal. A lot of people thought the trailer was pretty damn funny and if it ends up getting some buzz, it could do pretty well. Of course, it could also crash and burn, which is what I would probably put my money on, but you never know.

July 1st
Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon - Here we go with the third film in the series. The first one I LOVED. The second one really disappointed me with how dumb the humor was, but got better after repeat viewings. This third one: I am cautiously optimistic. Hell, even Bay and Shia said the second one was garbage and that this one will be much better so that alone has to give one hope, right? Tough to tell from the trailers though - it was just a bunch of cool effects of shit blowing up. PLEASE be good!

July 15th
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 - It all ends here. This is more than just a tagline for a movie. This REALLY is it. After enjoying the great series both in book form and movie form, this is it. And what a finale this looks to be. Part 1, released in November, was phenomenal and I expect nothing less from this second part. This is both exciting and sad at the same time. It all ends here.

Winnie the Pooh - Wow, I didn't even know this was coming out. Yup, there is a new Winnie movie coming out this Summer. But the same day as Harry Potter? OUCH! Is Winnie the Pooh too dated now? DO young kids of today even like him? We shall see.

July 22nd
Captain America - The final Marvel superhero film before they combine the 4 heroes (Cap, Thor, Hulk, and Iron Man) as well the supporting cast in next Summer's Avengers. This looks great and although the last few weeks have been all about Thor, I expect the excitement for this one to build in the coming weeks. As long as they keep to the same pattern as the other gems they have had lately, this should be a winner.

July 29th
The Smurfs - Did anyone ask for this live-action adaptation of the 80s kids cartoon. This looks HORRIBLE. But hey, it could make a good amount of money. Still, Smurfs lost in the city...total pass on this one.

Cowboys and Aliens - Sci-Fi Western. Yeah, you don't hear that too often. But that is what we have here, a movie about an alien invasion in the Old West. Looks like a fun movie and the cast looks great. Plus, Jon Favreau makes some pretty damn good movies too. Will it make a ton of money or totally bomb? That is still up for discussion but I AM leaning towards a mild hit.

August 5th
The Change Up - Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman, a single stud and a married man, respectively, switch bodies. Give me a break. Ryan, you're better than this...

Rise of the Planet of the Apes - A reboot of the Apes series showcasing how the apes came to be intelligent in labs and their subsequent breakout from captivity. Can a movie be that good though when one of the selling points the trailer tried to make was who did the special effects? Looks cool, but I will wait for video.

August 12th
30 minutes or Less - Based on the cast and the relatively late place in the movie season, I think this could be a sleeper hit that could make a bunch of money. Starring Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari and Jesse Eisenberg, this action-comedy about a bank hold-up could do very well.

The Help - And on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, we have this movie set in the 60s about a white college girl who interviews the black help in her household. Or something. This is based on a very popular book and I expect it will make a few late season dollars. Other than the name though, that is really all I know. I know people love it though.

August 19th
Conan the Barbarian - Yup, they remade it. I am guessing not too many people knew that except for the folks like me who go to movie sites every day. I am guessing if you liked the original, you will be willing to give this one a try, no?

Spy Kids 4 - REALLY, Robert Rodriguez?!?! Sigh...

Fright Night - A remake of a cool 80s Vampire horror-comedy about a boy who lives next door to a vampire, except nobody believes him. This original is a cult classic and with Colin Farrel playing the vampire in this one, it could be fun. Hoping for something good, but still waiting for video.

August 26th
Final Destination 5 - STOP ALREADY!!!!

With that, we reach September and the Summer season comes to an end. Whew...

So, anything look worthwhile? Here is MY top 5.

#5 X-Men: First Class - What was once a ho-hum movie for me has now become something I am excited for. Hope I am not disappointed.

#4 Transformers 3 - Would probably be #1 if part 2 hadn't disappointed me slightly. I am so nervous for this one.

#3 Thor - Just a couple more days for the God of Thunder, just another year until it all comes together in Avengers!

#2 Captain America. I love Captain America. I think he is a cool character. The movie looks like a ton of fun, almost Indiana Jones like with action and comedy. I hope it is not TOO over the top funny, but as long as they don't mess this up too bad, we will be all set for the combined forces of the Avengers next year!

#1 Harry Potter - Yup, this looks awesome and the fact that it is the end of everything Harry Potter makes this more anticipated than any others.

Whew, that took forever. No way I am going back and checking for spelling and grammar.

Just Another Weekend Update

2011-05-02T22:04:00.000-07:00

I am not really good at this whole posting on the weekend thing, am I? Truth be told, I wasn't nearly as busy as I have been in the most recent weekends, but I still didn't get a chance to blog. Friday, I actually worked most of the day except for a brief step out to play 9 holes of disc golf. That day, a Vinylmation site I follow was having a contest for a free Vinylmation. All you had to do was post a picture of your favorite Vinylmation that you own. So, I came up with something pretty creative and recreated the, "Han shot first" shot from Star Wars. I was pretty happy with it, but I ended up losing as I found out that it was not a photography contest, but rather, anyone who entered would be randomly chosen to be the winner. So, despite my fun shot, I lost to someone who simply posted a stock photo of one from the internet. Oh well...

I actually spent most of the day on Saturday working while I watched TV. I guess I could have relaxed, but I chose to be productive at the same time, despite it being the weekend. Saturday night, we went to see one of my oldest friends perform a one-man play which ended up being absolutely outstanding. Really, there aren't enough adjectives to describe it. At the end of the night, I had to get a picture of him next to his poster.

Sunday started off with seeing Fast Five, which ended up being AWESOME and the best in the series yet. It was my last movie before the Summer Season officially begins this Friday. I think Jess and I spent the rest of the day relaxing and I ended up going with a pretty basic shot of a flower blooming in our garden. I actually like the shot, but it looks way cooler in person.

Today was a 12 hour work day. Well, 12 hours minus the hour when I had to take off and run some errands. I took my camera with a specific shot in mind on the way home and thankfully, it all worked out for me.

Summer Movie Preview, 2011, coming by Friday!

Underappreciated

2011-04-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

April 28th, 2011 - Day 118

Ever notice how in flower pictures it is almost always the actual flower that gets photographed. Nobody cares about the plain leaf, and it is often cast aside and ignored while the pretty flower gets all the praise when in fact, it the leaf and flower as a whole that make the whole thing so complete. It is time for the leaf to share the spotlight. This is for those cast aside.

A Tale of Two Computers

2011-04-27T20:41:00.000-07:00

Lately, my laptop has been randomly turning off on itself. I will be in the middle of work, usually processing pictures, and the darn thing just shuts off. Frustrated as hell, but dealing with it for over 6 months now, I finally gave in and decided to get a new laptop. Yesterday, I went and bought my first Sony laptop and was really happy with it...except it was broken. To be more specific, the sound was not working. I checked and everything seemed to be operational - it wasn't muted, it was turned up, it said the drivers were operation, etc. I figured it was just a lemon. So, out went my new Sony laptop...

And in came my new Toshiba laptop.

As expected, when I went to Best Buy they confirmed my suspicions and told me the Sony one must have had some internal hardware issue. I opted to get a new brand rather than just get a replacement. So far so good. I do like it and hope it gives me many years of happiness.

Workin' Man

2011-04-25T21:22:00.000-07:00

Hello again, hope everyone had a wonder Easter weekend! I had an awesome time filled with not one, but TWO photo shoots and the return of fast food and pizza to my diet after giving it up for Lent. It was all around awesome.

Friday, I did a photo shoot for an old friend from junior high and high school. I believe I might have talked about her on the blog before as her singing career has been taking off while living in L.A. She's been on Ellen, The Tonight Show, The Young and the Restless, and been a backup singer to countless big time acts. She asked me to take a few shots of her and I gladly obliged. When else do you get to photograph a celebrity?

There will be more coming from this photo shoot, but have to wait until she looks them all over and get the final approval. She wants to make sure she looks good. :-)

The next day, Saturday, I had a photo shoot for my little sister in order to do her pregnancy pictures. We went to Old Sacramento to take a bunch of them and then finished them off at the park and at my house. I am actually super proud of them and think they may be the best photo shoot I have done yet. Special thanks to Jess for helping with come up with poses and stuff. I had an extremely difficult time deciding which photo of the set would be used as photo of the day, but ended up going with this one...

When you love so many of them, it is way difficult. If you have the time, check out the slideshow of the rest here as I am really pleased with them.

Sunday was Easter and with Lent over and me able to eat yummy garbage food again, we opted for ordering pizza for Easter dinner. It was the best Easter dinner EVER! I took some Peeps from our friends' house for the picture of the day, but it didn't go like I wanted. I wanted to take a picture of a Peep on fire, but we tried and tried and the bugger just wouldn't catch on fire. Sure, he melted, but not good flames. I opted for a non-burnt Peep staring at the messed up Peep, wondering what the heck happened to him.

Today was a workday pretty much from the time it got sunny until the sun started to go down. I felt it was a good time to go outside and take a picture of the sun going down, but more from the angle of the field rather than the sun being the focal point.

Siesta Time

2011-04-21T22:36:00.000-07:00

This is going to be another busy three day weekend. Better get some rest before all the fun!

Up a Creek

2011-04-20T21:34:00.000-07:00

Yup, I jumped in the creek and straddled the mud. The lengths you go to for a picture you want.

On my Facebook fan page, I had three different shots of this one and I had people vote on which was their favorite because I was so torn. This is what won. I am happy with the fans' choice!

The Road To Nowhere

2011-04-19T20:15:00.000-07:00

Although the road below leads to nowhere, OUR road leads to Disneyland exactly three weeks from now! Boo-yeah!

Just Roll With It

2011-04-18T19:35:00.000-07:00

Another great weekend is in the books and the work week is already one day old! Friday started with another tattoo on my arm as part of my movie-themed sleeve. I haven't been posting pics on the blog as all of them need a little touch up work. When I finish the three of them up in a few weeks, I will post the pics then. Friday night was poker night at the house while Jess went off to Bunco. She brought home all the supplies at the end of the night in order to hand off to the next host and I took that opportunity to snap a shot of the dice.

Saturday, I lounged around, watched some soccer, relaxed, and then prepared for a birthday party for our friends Amanda and Yvette. They opted to have a prom themed birthday party so we got all dressed up and went and had ourselves a good time. We even had a places set up for prom pictures, taken by me of course. It was a total blast. Here is Jess - many drink and jello shots into the night.

Sunday, after getting to sleep in from the LATE night, we spent the day over at my parents' house to celebrate my Mom's birthday. We had a good time, ate good food, and had my mom watch a scary movie. It was fun indeed! When we got home Winston couldn't wait to go back in his backyard to play.

Today, it was back to the grind and it was actually a pretty busy day. I looked at a calendar though, and it is only about 3 weeks until we go back to Disneyland. This, however, was not the calendar I looked at...

Pretty, Pretty, Flower

2011-04-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

April 14th, 2011 - Day 104

Sorry, I know I took a flower picture just yesterday, but when I saw it and saw how bright it was, I had to take it.

Just Another Spring Picture

2011-04-13T20:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it rained for about 30 minutes today(at the most) and was generally cloudy this morning, but by midday, it was beautiful and we are expecting mid 70s and clear, sunny weather the rest of the week. So with that being said, it was nice day to go outside and take a picture of more signs that Spring is truly here.

Sunset

2011-04-12T20:24:00.001-07:00

The sun sets on an absolutely beautiful day.

Shades of Color

2011-04-11T20:41:00.000-07:00

Hello again, everyone, hope you all had a great weekend! Jess and I had an awesome weekend together - fun stuff on Saturday and relaxing on Sunday. After soccer on TV Saturday morning, we took Jessica's dad out for burgers at a place in town that we just found out about on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. It was awesome and we will definitely be back. On the way out, I snapped a picture of the Coca-Cola sign behind the bar. Thanks to them for letting me go behind and snap a quick shot!

On a side note, I have already sold one of these prints!

Saturday night, we went to a birthday party and as it was Jessica's turn to drink, I played the DD. She is so fun when she is drunk - just so lively (more than usual) and making everyone laugh. Of course, drinking a bunch of no-no juice on Saturday night and getting home around 2am led to a VERY lazy day on Sunday. It was cool though. We just relaxed on the sofa, watched 4 movies, and took it very easy. The most strenuous part of the day was probably walking from the sofa to the spa in the backyard before we went to bed where Jess proceeded to act out her favorite scene from Apocalypse Now.

Today, we were back to reality and both working. It was too bad that we were inside as it was a BEAUTIFUL day outside. I at least got a run in to start training for my next 5k! At the end of the day, I went outside to take a picture and saw that our friends are back for the pollinating season!

National Pride

2011-04-08T20:26:00.000-07:00

"...our flag was still there..."

I pass this run down and abandoned building almost every day. I am fascinated by the fact that despite how beat up this structure is, the American flag always looks in pristine condition. Someone has some national pride.

Beautiful Day

2011-04-07T19:22:00.000-07:00

Today, while going outside to run some errands (schedule ANOTHER tattoo), I decided it would be best to take my camera in case I saw something worth shooting. I didn't see too much, but saw the sky was pretty beautiful. I decided it would be a backup shot if I didn't find anything on the way home. I decided to stop and shoot something by my house I had been thinking of shooting, but when I passed it, people were in front of it, thus, making the shot impossible. Luckily, right before I got home, I got the inspiration to take the picture below as I thought the sky, the road, and the fields in front of it would make a cool composition. I took about 50 shots (have to be sure) and ended up going with the one below. Truthfully, I am in love with it!

Caged

2011-04-06T21:15:00.000-07:00

April 6th, 2011 - Day 96

A week ago, this monkey was so full of life, bright, and happy (See March 31st). Caged, he has a totally different expression. It is as if all life has been drained out of him.

It's a Beautiful Morning

2011-04-05T16:38:00.000-07:00

April 5th, 2011 - Day 95

I know it is pretty simple and cliche, but the sky was so pretty this morning with the streak of clouds, I opted to make it the picture of the day. Even the picture doesn't do it justice. I decided to frame the photo by keeping the overhang of my house and the roof of the other house in order to give the picture some depth.

Wanna Play?

2011-04-04T21:13:00.000-07:00

April 4th, 2011 - Day 94

Play Time

I thought about doing a picture today that was justice related as I had jury duty, but naw, this sounded like a lot more fun.

Mission Accomplished!

2011-04-03T19:28:00.000-07:00

This weekend was my 5k, the run I had been training for for a few months, and I am proud to report that that I accomplished my goal. Being out of shape and overweight makes me not the fastest runner in the world, but I set some realistic goals and, thankfully, met them! Now I am anxious to do another 5k because I actually really enjoyed it! Time to start looking at that calendar!

Now on my runs, these headphones come in quite handy! They block out the ugly sounds of my panting and wheezing!

Here are my running shoes with my number I had pinned to my shirt!

Today wasn't a picture that was run related, but it still shows that great sky that we have had now that the weather is finally better!

Monkey Business

2011-03-31T23:08:00.000-07:00

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.

Back-Up Plan

2011-03-30T23:10:00.000-07:00

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.

A Tale of Two Seasons

2011-03-29T22:26:00.000-07:00

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 27th, 2011 - Day 86

This little teeny bottle carries a fragrance in it that makes Jessica smell SO good! It is almost magical!

March 28th, 2011 - Day 87

I LOVE Dia De Los Muertos stuff. So colorful!

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!

Busy

2011-03-25T22:23:00.000-07:00

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.

Rain, Rain, Go the HELL Away!

2011-03-24T20:33:00.000-07:00

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.

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!

Pain Sucks

2011-03-22T21:49:00.000-07:00

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.

Under the Bed

2011-03-21T21:01:00.001-07:00

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.

Ready For My Close-Up

2011-03-20T22:12:00.000-07:00

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?

We got iPhones finally!!!

Looks better than it tasted...

Cactus on a red wall

Nobody Plans To Be Alone

2011-03-16T21:04:00.000-07:00

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 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.

Viewing Fear

2011-03-14T21:23:00.000-07:00

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?

Ideas for future entries?

Speed and Fear

2011-03-13T21:41:00.000-07:00

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!

"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.

Close Calls

2011-03-11T21:32:00.000-08:00

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.

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.

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!

Spring

2011-03-08T20:57:00.001-08:00

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.

Doors

2011-03-07T20:41:00.000-08:00

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.

Light

2011-03-06T22:26:00.000-08:00

March 6th, 2011 - Day 65

Let there be light

In Training

2011-03-05T14:38:00.000-08:00

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.

Young and Old

2011-03-04T17:49:00.000-08:00

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!

The Little Engine That Could No Longer

The Rain

2011-03-02T23:11:00.000-08:00

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

Face Your Fear

2011-03-01T21:17:00.000-08:00

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?

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.

The Happiest Place on Earth

2011-02-28T19:11:00.000-08:00

If you didn't know already, I am a Disneyland NUT! Seriously, it is totally my happy place and when I am there, all worries go away. Last week, we got to go again courtesy of my more than generous parents who treated us as a Christmas present. We left before dawn on Monday morning for the trek down to Southern California and were in the park by 2PM, I believe. We spent that first day in California Adventure as it is now tradition to go straight to Tower of Terror. It was also fun to go because it was sister's first time since they built California Adventure. Unfortunately, as a preggo, she couldn't go on some of the best rides! We were there all night and it was simply beautiful once the sun went down.

The next day was Jessica's 33rd birthday! How lucky for her to spend the day in the park and have everyone tell her Happy Birthday all day!

Even more fun was the fact that we got to eat in the VERY exclusive Club 33 in Disneyland, a member's only club that many people don't even know exists. The food and ambiance were AMAZING and it was once in a lifetime experience. How many others can do Club 33 on the day you turn 33?

Wednesday was out last day and we spent it in both parks, trying to get as much as we could in that final day. Trips go so fast! Of course, we had to go on Tower of Terror one more time!

Thursday was sad as we had to drive home, but guess what? Our next trip won't be too far in the future! Yes, with Jess about to go out on work leave for up to 6 months because of her knee surgery, we opted to buy a year pass as we figure we can get in a couple more trips while she is out. With her out and my flexible schedule, it should happen! This is so exciting! For the first time ever, I am a season pass holder!!!

We came home to an awesome sign created by our wonderful friend, Yvette, who watched the dogs for us while we were gone. As the dog lovers we are, this sign is absolutely perfect!

While in Disneyland, we bought a ton of memorabilia, including finally getting a toy of my favorite Disney character, the alien from Toy Story. I have been wanting one for a while and finally got one, no matter how overpriced it was. Yes, a few days after leaving Disneyland, I was still taking pictures that reminded me of the place! Here, the alien looks out for, "The PAW!"

My last two pictures of the day have been strawberry related! Last night, we made the most amazing strawberry shortcakes and today, I opted for something a little closer.

Yup, that should catch me up...

OH! Of course it was so hard to limit my picture of the day to just one Disney picture each day so if you like, check out the slideshow of all my pictures from the trip. There's some winners in there to see. Trust me! Click here!

Your Brief Oscar Rundown

2011-02-27T09:48:00.000-08:00

Well, I am back from vacation and the business in my life has just continued. I know I promised you a full Oscar rundown post, but vacations and work got the best of me. Here is a somewhat brief rundown of the movies so you can at least get my basic views of what will go down tonight.

Let me start off by saying that I genuinely liked all ten movies nominated. Sure, there have been years where all the movies ranged from good to decent, but this is the first time that I have really liked all the movies since the first year I made the effort to see all the movies nominated before the awards show. That year was 1997 when I enjoyed Titanic, As Good As It Gets, L.A. Confidential (which SHOULD have won), The Full Monty, and Good Will Hunting.

So, with that in mind, it makes it tough to rank the ten movies in order of preference because that means putting movies I liked on the bottom of a list. But, it has to be done so here we go. Keep in mind, this is NOT the order in which I believe the movies are deserving of the Best Picture award. This is simply the order in which I enjoyed the movies. So here we go with very brief reviews...

10. Winter's Bone - It is tough putting a movie you like in the bottom spot, but it had to happen to someone. It is even harder for me to put this in the bottom because it had two VERY good performances. Jennifer Lawrence was amazing in the lead role and I really felt her pain and struggle in trying to find her father while dealing with the shady characters around town. And John Hawkes in the supporting role was AMAZING. He truly deserves the supporting actor nomination that he received and is unlucky to get nominated in such a tough year full of outstanding performances. Not bad for a guy who, until this movie, was best known to me as liquor store clerk, Pete Bottoms, from my favorite film, From Dusk til Dawn!

9. Toy Story 3 - Pixar really did it again with another outstanding movie. The thing is though, I don't know if I would consider this one any better than the first two Toy Story films and certainly not better than Up from last year. The movie is a touching movie about growing up and moving on and it provided plenty of laughs to keep me entertained. But as for getting nominated for Best Picture, I am still not sure why it is getting so much love and in some cases, what people think should WIN the award. Again, don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I would have preferred if something else like The Town had taken its place.

8. 127 Hours - What a great one man show by James Franco. He put on an outstanding performance and is truly coming into his own as a top actor in the industry. I would have never predicted that when Jess and I used to be glued to the TV watching him on Freaks and Geeks. And visually, the movie is gorgeous, no doubt aided by the beautiful location in was filmed in. In the end though, I found myself waiting for the arm cutting scene and just wanted them to get to it, even if it signaled the end of the movie. Still, a very good movie about an amazing experience.

7. The Kids Are Alright - Now we are getting down to the truly difficult in the ranking of films. This movie only makes in to #7 and I LOVED it. With outstanding performances, great humor, and enough dilemmas to make you question what you would do if in the same situation of the characters, this movie really touched me. As Jess and I have discussed, it really did a great job of portraying just how awkward a meeting like this would be in real life. The faces and uncomfortable silences were so genuine and believable, no doubt aided by the great performances. I especially liked Mark Ruffalo in this film, but again, he is in that tough Supporting Actor class where the competition is more fierce than ever. I actually felt very sorry for him and found him to be the most likable character in the bunch. I really liked this film.

6. The Social Network - Now you are asking me to choose between my children! Wow, I never imagined this movie would be all the way down at #6. I mean, I loved this film and the writing on it may be the best out of all the nominees. The acting is top-notch (Timberlake can actually act!) and the story is full of so much humor, drama, and intrigue, it is easy to see why this is one of the front runners. It's a wonderful film. I also love the dark look the film had. Overall, this movie is just outstanding and it annoys me when I hear people say that they don't want to see it because "...a movie about Facebook is dumb." It is SO much more than that and the film could have been about any start up company. Top-class.

5. The Fighter - A feel good sports film that really delivers. In fact, this is my favorite sports film since Miracle. It is a wonderful story than is taken to a top level film by its wonderful performances. I have never seen Christian Bale do better. He literally WAS the character his role was based on as evidenced by the footage during the credits. If he ends up winning tonight, which I think he will, he truly deserves it. Leo and Adams were also amazing in the supporting female roles and Walhberg had one of his best performances as well. Everyone likes a good feel-good sports movie and this one took it to another level as it is much more than just a sports film. Much more.

4. Inception - Hard to believe that a movie that I rated a 10/10 back when I saw it would only make it to number 4 on my list. I mean, I LOVED this movie. Visually, this movie is something that needs to be seen to understand and the story and complexity of it (even if it may be based on a Scooge McDuck comic) are just beyond belief. The first half of the movie with the planning of the heist is full of intrigue and when the second half rolls around with the actual heist, I found myself on the edge of my seat the entire time. And that ending, that final scene, was one of the best I, personally, have ever experienced. A truly entertaining science fiction film.

3. True Grit - There really is something magical about a good Western film. Not any Western film, but a truly good one. This easily falls into the category. Although I have, unfortunately, never seen the original and have nothing to base it on, I feel like this was a perfect Western. The performances by Bridges and Steinfeld were absolutely outstanding and there was not one single moment in this film where I was bored or ready for them to move on. I am guessing the film was about two hours long and when the ending did come, it felt like one of the quickest two hours in recent memory. I wanted more and couldn't believe we were already at the end of the adventure.

2. The King's Speech - This was the last of the films that I saw (just saw it last night), and I almost saved the best for last. This is a truly outstanding film. For one, the performances are simply out of this world. Firth truly deserves the Oscar he is going to win tonight and Rush, while I don't feel he deserves it over Bale in The Fighter, also put in a top notch performance. The thing with Rush is, he is SO good, it almost looks effortless for him, like he isn't even acting but just being himself. I am still not sure why Carter was nominated for this film however as, while she was good, didn't think she did QUITE enough to warrant a nomination. Storyline-wise, I was drawn in from the beginning, an achievement for a simple film about a guy trying to get over his stutter. But it felt like a good sports film in terms of feel good achievement. At the end of the film when he is delivering his speech to the nation, I felt as on edge as I have with any good sports film. It was that great of a feel-good moment. A truly remarkable piece of filmmaking. And by the way, this is probably winning tonight.

1. Black Swan - Beautiful. Honestly, I could end the review there. That is a one work description of the film that totally gets the point across of how I feel about this film. I came out of this movie drained because it takes so much out of you. Portman was at her all-time best and makes this movie what it is, but the other supporting performances were also superb. The movie really messes with your mind and although it is obvious that so many of the visuals are simply symbolism and not what is actually happening, the film still oozes with WTF moments that both amaze and creep you out at the same time. And it all leads up to the finale which is one of the most beautiful scenes and endings that I have ever seen put on film. The music, the performance, and the story all came to a head that ended in a denouement that left me absolutely breathless and almost tired. It was just that powerful and has to be seen to believed.

And with that, there is my BRIEF Oscar rundown for tonight. When I started this post, I had every intention to predict every winner for each category, but I have gone on long enough. Jess and I always compete so I will simply let you know later how I did as I usually do pretty well. If you are still reading at this point, thanks for sticking along and ignoring any typos because at this point, I am not going back and proofreading this monster!

Quick, and I mean, QUICK post!

2011-02-20T20:53:00.000-08:00

Leaving for Disneyland in about 9 hours. Disneyland is SO my happy place! But first, the last two pictures of the day...

Spooky, but cool, antique clapping monkey. I want one!

Today was friggin' beautiful outside. And it was also much needed after being such an ugly week. A sign of things to come?

That's it...I am outta here!

The King of Bunco

2011-02-18T22:47:00.000-08:00

February 18th, 2011 - Day 49

I was a sub tonight for the ladies' Bunco night and guess what, I actually came out on top as the big winner! Technically, I won two of the four prizes, but as they have a rule that you can only win one, I took the prize that paid out the most money!

Scrappy and Scruffy

2011-02-17T20:42:00.000-08:00

Although that sounds like the title of a new kids show you might find on Nickelodeon, the title actually refers to the two new pictures of the day.

The first picture shows that one man's trash can end up being another person's treasure of a picture. Jess was busy making a cool autograph book for a child's first trip to Disneyland and was left with a ton of colorful scraps that were just going to go in the garbage. I wish I could take credit for coming up with the idea, but it was actually Jess who suggested that the scraps would look cool in a picture. She came up with it, and I made it happen!

For today, I chose to document Winston's first haircut. He's about 5 and a half months old and it was about time for a haircut. He was getting so scruffy and full of matted hair so it was pretty much a necessary thing. He looks like such a different dog! He's still cute, but a different kind of cute. Love that dog!

The Shire

2011-02-15T20:12:00.000-08:00

February 15th, 2011 - Day 46

"Do you remember the Shire, Mr. Frodo? It'll be spring soon. And the orchards will be in blossom. And the birds will be nesting in the hazel thicket. And they'll be sowing the summer barley in the lower fields... and eating the first of the strawberries with cream. Do you remember the taste of strawberries?"
— J.R.R. Tolkien

When I first saw this drainage area and thought to shoot it, I thought it would look like a cool, spooky photo. I figured it would come out looking creepy. Then I took the picture, came and looked at it on the laptop, and it gave me a COMPLETELY different feel. It looks almost peaceful like and it kind of even reminded me of the visuals from the Lord of the Rings movies of the Shire. I could almost picture a little Hobbit coming out of there like it was his home. Funny how the feel of a picture can change so much in just a short amount of time.

The Hectic Life

2011-02-14T18:50:00.000-08:00

First post in a week. Man, I am just SO busy lately. Granted, the first few days after my last post, I was out of town, but since returning, I have been one busy guy. Catching up on work, catching up on processing of photos, and catching up on life sure keeps me busy. But life is good so I can't complain. Plus, a week from now, I'll be in Disneyland!

So what have I been doing? Well, Tuesday, we went down to the Central Coast to go visit family. It is just so relaxing for us there and the added bonus of having such a great family down there makes it a doubly wonderful time. Really, if we could move there, we would. My cousin, Jeremy, likes to collect unique instruments so I took the opportunity to take a picture of his Oud, an Egyptian guitar. I could have taken a wide view of it so you could see the whole thing, but I felt this was more unique. I am pretty happy it came out like this since I was pretty tipsy on tequila when I took it!

The following day was ocean day. We went and had brunch on the pier - love me some fish 'n chips. We walked around Morro Bay and then followed it up with a drive to Pismo. We saw the Monarch butterflies and their yearly migration and then went to the beach. This was Winston's first time on a beach and he LOVED it! I took a bunch of pics that I absolutely love, but this one won out in the end for my favorite.

But like I said, I am in love with the pics I took and there was much more than just 1 good one. Check out the slideshow here. I promise you, you'll find some cool pics.

Thursday was the return trip home, but the fun continued a little upon our return when my folks came over so my dad could try my new tequila. While I was waiting for him to come over, I took a quick shot of the bottles. Looks like an advertisement should the company wish to contact me.

Friday was a reminder that vacation was over as I put in an extremely long day at work. I keep this up, I am going to need a recharge in my batteries.

Saturday was an awesome day. It started bright and early with a Manchester United game at 430am. Why didn't I just TIVO it? I have no will power not to look up a score of a game when I know it has already been completed. But they won this HUGE game and it made waking up SO worth it! The awesomeness continued throughout the day and concluded with a nice dinner downtown with Jess. It was Second Saturday so there were people everywhere, both normal and SO not normal. I went out of my box for the first time and photographed a complete stranger, with his permission, of course.

Sunday was filled with watching soccer and working on pictures. I finally got all the wedding pictures done and as a side note, the mother of the groom, called me to say she couldn't be happier with them. That made me feel so good. I still have a blog post coming on the experience. Anyways, time got the better of me and by the time I thought of taking a picture, I was in no mood for something artsy. I opted for something quick and fun instead. I call it, "Incognito."

Which brings us to today, Valentine's Day. I wanted to get Jessica's help so I woke up before six that why I could get her to help me before she left for her 12 hour shift at work. For being half asleep, I am happy with it!

Whew...sorry for the lengthy post, but I had to catch up!

Busy, busy, BUSY

2011-02-07T21:50:00.000-08:00

No posts for the past few days and this will be a fairly quick one as well. Why? What has kept me so busy? A little bit of everything!

Saturday, I was a wedding photographer for the very first time. There is too much to go into, but I will write a full blog post on it later. I am still working on developing the pictures and it might take me until the end of the week. For now, here is a preview picture which I used as my picture of the day for Saturday.

Sunday, I worked on developing some of the wedding pictures, and the went on to cleaning the house for our Super Bowl party. We had a great party, but it was exhausting after being so busy the day before as well. By the end of the day, Jess and I weren't the only ones in the house who were dead tired.

Today, I worked over 12 hours. It was a crazy day and I wanted to get as much done as I could as Jess and I are leaving tomorrow for a few days to the coast to get away and see family. I am going to need it too as today was crazy long and crazy stressful. This is how I felt at the end of the day.

Hopefully, the next few days give us the relaxation we need...at least until we go to Disneyland in a couple of weeks. :-)

The Darkness Below

2011-02-04T16:31:00.000-08:00

February 4th, 2011 - Day 35

"But she dreaded the dark, dreaded shadows, dreaded black things. Darkness to her was the one thing dreadful." -The Time Traveler, HG Wells

The calm before the storm and it has nothing to do with this picture. Tomorrow, I am photographing my first wedding and I am pretty nervous. I photograph for fun; I am no professional. Still, people trust me and like my work so it should be interesting. Please, wish me luck!

New Toys Are Fun At Any Age

2011-02-03T17:55:00.000-08:00

I got a new toy today! You may think that I may be too old to be getting excited about getting toys, but I am totally a kid at heart. Check it out!

Yup, I finally got an external flash for my camera! I am totally excited about it! I HATE using the flash on my camera because a direct flash gives such an unnatural, washed out effect. Now with this, I can aim the flash elsewhere and still get the desired effect. Heck, once I get a diffuser for it, I will be even more in business. Now I just need to learn how to use it! :-)

Straws Going Towards the Light

2011-02-02T21:33:00.000-08:00

Quick post as it is late. Pretty simple picture today, but I was happy with how it came out. I grabbed a bunch of straws and since it was nice and sunny, held it up to the glass slider. With one hand, I held the straws and with the other hand, held the camera. It might have come out a little clearer if someone else had held the straws, but it might not have mattered as I softened the pic anyways. Pretty happy with it.

Celebration Month!

2011-02-01T20:48:00.000-08:00

February 1st, 2011 - Day 32

Today is the beginning of what promises to be an amazingly awesome month. We have a trip to the Central Coast planned. We have a trip to Disneyland planned. And Jessica's birthday is this month. Heck, we will BE in Disneyland for Jessica's birthday. I thought to myself, why not start off a good month by eating a great food - burger stuff with bleu cheese and bacon. I know you are jealous.

What Lies Beneath

2011-01-31T20:32:00.000-08:00

January 31st, 2011 - Day 31

“Growth itself contains the germ of happiness.”
-Pearl S. Buck

Sometimes, when you are looking for something beautiful or worthy of a picture, you have to look way down on the ground, move aside a few dead leaves, and you just might end up finding beauty in the most unlikely of places.

And like that, we have finished the first month of my picture of the day, Year 2. January went so fast and I am totally happy with how my pictures came out for the month. I would have to think long and hard to decide on which one would be my favorite. Now, if you are a fan of my photography on Facebook, you have a chance to win a copy of your favorite picture of the month. Go there now! All you have to do is go to the post and tell me what your favorite picture of January was. If you are picked at random, you get that picture! Easy enough! I love my fans!

Catching Up On the Fun

2011-01-30T20:07:00.000-08:00

Have to catch up on three days works of pics and fun! Friday morning, I woke up and the fog was just unbelievably thick! Even though it wasn't even 7:30 in the morning yet, I quick threw on some clothes and went to the park to try to take some pics of the foggy park. My idea was that fog in a park with trees and stuff would give off a sort of creepy, eerie feel. It was sure nice to have my pic of the day done by 8:00am in the morning! However, I took a bunch of pics that I liked and wasn't sure which one to use as my pic of the day. On my photography site on Facebook (I am pretty sure everyone reading this is a fan of the page already), I elected to post all 8 and put it to a vote of which one to use. The following picture below was the overwhelming favorite. Although you can't see the fog as well in a sepia-type tone like this as opposed to my color ones where it is very apparent, people loved the clarity of this one:

Yesterday, I started work on my tattoo sleeve. I am planning on doing my whole arm in movie characters. We started with Alien and Predator and after about 6 hours, we still didn't finish. It is mostly done, but I have to go back in about 3 weeks for some shading and stuff like that. I elected to have the pic of the day be, obviously, something tattoo related. The following pic is the tool used to create my tattoos right before we "started" on the tattoo.

Why did I put "started" in quotations you may ask? Well, besides being the pic of the day, this picture did double duty for me! Some of my fellow bloggers have elected to bring back the Saturday Scavenger Hunt project. Every week, someone picks a word and the goal is to take a picture that represents that word. As this was the first week, the word, "start" was chosen. I think I got the job done.

Today, I had a few ideas for the picture of the day, but then Jess was being cute and made the gesture you will see below. I thought it was so cute, I asked her to do it one more time while I took a picture. I am so lucky that she is such a willing participant in my picture taking! Well, and lucky that I got to marry her!

Little Ones

2011-01-27T20:10:00.000-08:00

"I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive."
~Gilda Radner

What an exciting day! Today, we found out that my sister is going to be having a little boy. Going into it, I really had no preference to whether it would turn out to be a boy or a girl, but when we found out and saw the little guy on the ultrasound, it was still such an exciting time! I can not wait to be an uncle and spoil that little guy!

After that, as kind of a celebration, we went to Squeeze Inn for some good ol' burgers. Seriously, how can you not like a burger that looks like this:

It's heavenly.

After that, Jess and I took Winston (and Leia) for his first outing in the open. Prior to today, he has only been inside as he did not have all his shots. He finally got his last shot on Monday so today, he got to go see what the outside world was like. He LOVED it! He ran circles and circles at full speed at the park; playing with Leia like he just discovered what playing was. It was awesome and so fun to watch!

Alone

2011-01-26T20:15:00.000-08:00

January 26th, 2011 - Day 26

“To be alone is to be different, to be different is to be alone.”

- Suzanne Gordon

Something about this fallen mandarin on the ground that really struck me. So much color against a cold and desolate background. Again, like yesterday, I struggled with what I wanted. Do I want to take an up-close macro picture of the mandarin, seeing every little detail, but taking up most of the screen? Or do I zoom out and focus on the mandarin, but leave a lot of empty space around it? I decided in the end that to fully show the vast emptiness around the fallen mandarin, I needed to show as much around it as possible so it really did look lonely. I love it, truthfully.

Beauty?

2011-01-25T20:01:00.000-08:00

January 25th, 2011 - Day 25

"A weed is no more than a flower in disguise, Which is seen through at once, if love give a man eyes."
-James Russell Lowell

I was really torn on how to frame this one. I know I wanted empty space on the left hand side. That was the easy part. My dilemma was taking a picture semi-up close like this one with a decent amount of space on the left or zoom out a little farther so that the plant wasn't quite so close (and thus, not showing as much detail), but having the exaggerated empty space on the left be quite apparent. In the end, I went with a closer shot, but I still go back and forth.

In totally opposite news, the Oscar nominations came out today. The 4 or 5 of you who are reading this blog nowadays know how much Jess and I love this time of year and how we always go to see every movie nominated for Best Picture. I started this about 13 years ago and Jess a couple of years prior to that. It was fairly easy before when it was only 5 movies. Last year, they increased it to 10 movies and it became more difficult, especially since we only saw about 2 prior to the announcements. With the announcements today, we have seen exactly half of the movies nominated. 5 out of 10 to still see isn't too bad at all so there is very little stress this time. Once they have all been viewed, I'll be back to review them. I haven't done movie reviews in a while and at this point, it is too hard to go back and review all I have seen since the last one. But I promise to be better starting with the Oscar movies. Stay tuned...

An American Revolution

2011-01-24T19:26:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, I have to sit and wonder to myself, "What should I photograph today?" Then there are days like today where you see something, the inspiration just hits you, and you pray your camera is within a reasonable distance. Today, when coming home from picking up Winston from the vet (he got neutered today), I saw my neighbor's beat-up old Chevy in front of the house and was inspired to try taking a vintage looking shot. I am actually quite pleased with how it came out.

I Love It When a Good Weekend Comes Together

2011-01-23T21:07:00.000-08:00

I love good weekends. Truthfully, the large majority of our weekends are good, but when Jess has the whole weekend off and we have a good mixture of fun things to do and relaxing time, it makes it all better. Friday night, Jess and her friend Yvette had Bunco so Brandon and I had dinner and hung out until our wives were done. Jess even won the most money for the night so that was a plus. After, we all hung out and like most hang out nights, we were out pretty late. I think we finally went to bed about 1:30am. I was back up at 6:45 to watch Manchester play soccer. I tell ya, having your favorite team being about 8 time zones away really can be an issue at times!

Luckily, getting up that early and on a little over 5 hours of sleep turned out to be TOTALLY worth it as they ended up winning 5-0. The lack of sleep was forgotten right away. I followed that up with getting to play real soccer with my friends. I have missed playing real soccer so much. I played all my youth and then after high school, played on various adult teams both outdoor and indoor. Hell, I used to be in somewhat decent shape! But I hadn't played in over 5 years (except for the once a year alumni game) and I have missed it. If you remember, a group of us gathered and played on Thanksgiving and we finally did it again on Saturday. It was a tremendous amount of fun and I hope we occasionally keep doing this. So where are the pictures? Uh, yeah, I took the camera, but forgot the battery. Fail.

After that, we went to my parents' house for carnitas tacos. Seriously, watch soccer, play soccer, and then eat great food and all by 1pm. I can't think of any more of a perfect beginning to a morning. After that, we went and saw some friends' son play some youth basketball. It was fun to not only watch, but to photograph as well (remembered the battery this time!). Only tricky part was shooting high speed photography in a dark setting. Still, I got some decent photos and this one was one of my favorites, which ended up being my picture of the day.

Saturday night was poker, and well, that went pretty horrible, but there are nights like that. Today has been great as well. Most of the day has just been relaxing on the sofa. We spent the afternoon doing a little shopping for a secret craft project we are doing together and then going out to dinner. Overall, this has been a great weekend. Today's picture was kind of impromptu. I was originally practicing a different shot. I like how it came out, but a change of a few things can make it look a little better. Since I already had my camera out, I took a few snapshots of Leia who so graciously just sat there for me. Such a good girl.

In Rememberance

2011-01-21T18:31:00.001-08:00

January 21st, 2011 - Day 21

This picture has more sentimental value than artistic value. When I was a kid, my favorite cartoon was He-Man. This guy, Orko, was maybe my favorite character and I even went as him for Halloween once. I had the figure, but of course, sold him like all of my other toys long ago. I liked him so much though, that Jess and I named our Schnauzer after him. We loved that boy and were devastated when we had to put him to sleep last April. He was a great boy; our son. Sure, we have a new Schnauzer puppy, and he is wonderful, but we will never forget Orko. The other day, I decided to buy on Ebay, the original Orko figure so that I can remember our boy whenever I see it. I think it was a good decision.

Be One With the Laptop

2011-01-20T19:58:00.000-08:00

Today, I decided to do a little camera fun. Reach into that laptop!

You would think this is Photoshopped, but there is no Photoshop at all in this picture. Just a little trick photography. Kind of fun. Of course, the picture posted on Facebook was of lower quality like usual and you could see what I did, but thank goodness for Flickr posting higher quality images.

I Wanna Rock!

2011-01-19T15:36:00.000-08:00

January 19th, 2011 - Day 19

"If it's illegal to rock and roll, throw my ass in jail!"

-Kurt Cobain

In honor of the craptacular, good for nothing, piece of garbage show American Idol starting back up today, I present to you some REAL music. Simple, but it gets my point across. :-)

Bonus points if you can name every artist and CD in this picture. There are 21 of them.

The Tooth Fairy Cometh!

2011-01-18T21:20:00.000-08:00

January 18th, 2011 - Day 18

In this pocket you will find
A teensy, tiny tooth of mine.
So while I sleep where dreams are made,
Let's see if you can make a trade.
~Author Unknown

Yes, on top of that penny is a tooth. Obviously, we humans do not have teeth that small so where did it come from? Well, our boy Winston is starting to lose his baby teeth. He lost a few last week, but this is the first one we have been able to actually find. At that size, it is quite easy for it to disappear or even be eaten by him. Our boy is growing so fast!

Off the Beaten Path

2011-01-17T19:06:00.000-08:00

January 17th, 2011 -- Day 17

"Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.”

Henry David Thoreau

I went out to the field this evening with the intention of taking pretty much the exact shot you see below. Only thing I didn't count on was no matter what angle or direction I held the camera, I couldn't get a shot without houses in the background. I really wanted a path and ONLY a path, but sometimes, you have to go with what is in front of you. Perhaps another day, I can find the path I am looking for, no pun intended. I guess I could have edited the houses out, but it seemed like a little too much work and too much alteration. In the end, I am still happy with this picture of a path on a dreary day.

Two For the Price of One

2011-01-16T20:46:00.000-08:00

Got a little behind in posting pictures the last couple of days because of a couple of busy days and late nights. So, because of my busy life, you get two pictures in one post. Double the reading in half the time!

Yesterday's picture was taken right before bed last night. As Friday night was a late night that required some sleeping in and Saturday was a busy day, I didn't even think about taking pictures until late last night. Eager to take something quick, I somehow thought of the idea to take a picture of a screw with my macro. Something simple, but something that could look cool if done right.

Today, with more time to think about what to take, I went for something a little more complicated. It came to me today as I walked past the window after my jog. I loved the light coming in, but wanted to do something a little more complicated than a simple picture of the blinds. So I grabbed the tripod, thought of an idea to put myself in the picture, and came up with what you see below. I call it, "The Voyeur." Or, you could just call it, "The Nosy Neighbor."

2011-01-15T10:06:00.000-08:00

January 14th, 2011 - Day 14

The Beast by moonlight

This ended up being an alternate shot. Last night, Jess and her best bud, Yvette, had a girl night so Brandon and I decided to go out and have some fun as well. Originally, the plan was for some dinner and then a couple of games of bowling. I took the camera with the intention of my picture of the day being some kind of bowling shot. Unfortunately, Brandon's shoulder had been hurting him and the bowling plan was scrapped after dinner. Still needing a shot, I decided to take this shot of his new RC Car. Unlike most photo shoots, I only took about 5 shots and decided that would be good. This is quite the opposite of the usual 50+ shots I usually take for a picture of the day. In the end though, I am happy with this shot, nonetheless. I could have taken a bunch of different angles, but I like how this came out.

How Can the End Be So Beautiful?

2011-01-13T18:37:00.000-08:00

January 13th, 2011 - Day 13

The death-bed of a day, how beautiful!
- Philip James Bailey

Regal

2011-01-12T20:25:00.000-08:00

So here we go with the first, but probably not the last picture of the day featuring our boy Winston. When I first did this project, I took a handful of pictures of our dogs Leia and Orko. I even had to document the passing away of Orko near the end of the year-long project. But then again, I documented a lot of life changing events in that year. I guess that was one of the reasons that made that project so special and memorable.

But back to the picture at hand (sorry for going off on a sad tangent there). I went outside to take a picture, but with the light not right and Clan Night approaching, I snapped a quick picture on Winston. Somehow, I got him when he was still as he never is unless he is sleeping. Even here, I think he was slightly moving. We love that boy.

Mute

2011-01-11T19:39:00.000-08:00

January 11, 2011 - Day 11

Nothing is more useful than silence. ~Menander of Athens

Roped In

2011-01-10T18:14:00.000-08:00

January 10th, 2011 - Day 10

"We learn the rope of life by untying its knots.”

So, yeah, I love this picture. I originally went outside with a different shot in mind. I took a few shots, but wasn't happy with the lighting. It would have been a decent shot, but not exactly what I was looking for. I can try it again with the right lighting. As a backup, I took this shot right before I went back inside and instantly knew I was going to like it. Seeing it on the bigger screen, I am quite pleased.

A Cup of Bubbly?

2011-01-09T21:07:00.001-08:00

January 9th, 2011 - Day 9

This is the shot I was trying a few days ago that I finally gave up on. I just couldn't get it exactly as I wanted it to look. I decided to tackle it again today and I think this is PRETTY much what I wanted. It isn't perfect and again, I could have given up again, but I was pretty darn happy with it. But yeah, this was a pretty big pain.

Shuffle Up and Deal

2011-01-08T18:44:00.000-08:00

January 8th, 2011 - Day 8

Another year, another season of poker nights at the Valle house. The chips are out, the cards are shuffled; tonight, the fun begins again.

Heavenly

2011-01-07T21:39:00.000-08:00

January 7, 2011 - Day 7

In the Summer of 2003, Jessica and I went to New York to see relatives and do some sightseeing. It was an amazing 2 weeks and New York was every bit as amazing as I hoped it would be. One of the many places we went to was the, apparently, world famous Serendipity 3, a restaurant right in the heart of NYC. I guess celebrities always go there and one of their most famous dishes, the frozen hot chocolate, was absolutely to die for. Luckily, although not quite as good by any means, they sell a powdered mix of the product that you can order online. Today, we discovered that we still had a couple of packets left from a couple of years ago. Why did we STILL have them after this long? I was afraid to eat them so quickly and have them disappear from our cupboard. It was such a sweet surprise to find them today and knew the finished product would become the picture of the day. Yes, it tasted as good as it sounds and looks...