Does Whatever A Spider Can...

Posting two pics of the day today plus an alternate.

Yesterday's pic of the day was kind of a last minute thing. Jess was feeling pretty tired yesterday and wanted to just veg in bed in front of the tv pretty early. So, we were in bed watching tv by 8 and I hadn't taken a pic yet, so I took the camera to bed and just looked around the bedroom for things to shoot. The lamp on my bedside table looked to be the best option at that moment.




Today I decided to photograph one of my Bowen statues as I hadn't done that in a LONG while. I decided to go with Spiderman. I took 2 shots with alternate views and although I had to go with one for pic of the day, I LOVE both of them.






In other news, today I ordered my first Macro lens for my camera using money I got for Christmas. It is supposed to get here next Thursday and I could not be more excited. The amount of things I am able to shoot just went up exponentially!

The Final Tally

Ok, it has been a few months since the last update and now, we can call this the official results as the year is now over. So, the last burgers of the year were...

Wendy's - forgot what they call it


Ultimate Bacon Cheeseburger - Jack n the box

Mel's Diner - Crappy!



Big Carl from Carl's. Jess and I split this so this is only 0.5 of a burger


Burger at a local diner after disc golf with the guys - Joe's Cafe maybe?


Breakfast burger from Carl's


In n Out!


Double quarter pounder - McD's


Burger from Dairy Queen on way to Oregon


That Wendy's burger again


Double Western - Carl's


Squeeze Inn in all it's glory!


Burger at Center Court restaurant - it would close soon after


Double Quarter Pounder


Double Western

Burger at Burger King



Mel's Diner and again, not good. I won't eat there again.


Double Quarter Pounder


Ultimate Bacon Cheeseburger


Double Western


Barbecued burgers at home, they were AWESOME! Made a regular and one w/ blue cheese


Leftovers from the barbecued burgers!


But the final burger of the year...well, wouldn't you know it, I have NO picture. I ate a Double Western right before I went on my Mexico trip and I didn't take my phone and didn't feel like dragging out the camera. My mom took the pic with her phone and texted it to my phone, but I never got it. But, there are enough pics of Double Westerns above to know what they look like. So the final tally....

90.5 burgers or roughly, one every FOUR days! Yowza!

And who wins? Val! She guessed 88 burgers making her only off by two and a half burgers! Way to go Val! Send me your address by email or Facebook if you want to claim your prize!


And now on to Jess...

Bowl of ice cream


Ice cream bar at Yvette and Brandon's


Leftover ice cream from her Ben n Jerrys


DIBS!


Little ice cream dessert cup


Drumstick!


The first day of the Ben n Jerry's from above


McFlurry


Shake from Carl's



Apple Pie a la mode on Christmas Day


Her last Blizzard of the year!


And Jess, how did she finish? 71 ice cream treats for the year, well below what I did. My Nani was only 4 off with 75 guesses so she wins the prize! I will give it to you next time I see you!

Thanks for playing everyone! Curious as to how you guessed? Check out this post, both the post and the comments...

January 5th, 2010

January 5th, 2010
Originally uploaded by pokermanuel

Plenty of this lately...so tired of this cough.

January 4th, 2009 - Day 221

January 4th, 2009 - Day 221
Originally uploaded by pokermanuel

What could she be hiding?

A Missed Opportunity

I just realized that I missed an important date last month. Last month was the 5 year anniversary of this blog! I have been so focused on this photo project that the date completely slipped my mind. I can hardly believe I have lasted this long. In fact, as probably all of you know, I even quit sometime in 2008(?) for about a month before I came crawling back. It has been a great ride and I have met some truly amazing people along the way! Thanks to you all!

The last two days of pictures are some Christmas gifts Jess and I both got. In fact, there are a few more gifts I received that I know will make it on to the picture of the day as well. For now, here are the last two days...

I got Jess a new, colorful lunch bag for Christmas!



We got a GPS for Christmas! We usually just use Mapquest, but there have been a few opportunities where we didn't plan to look it up ahead of time and it just seems easier to use a GPS than looking it up on the cell phone. So, we asked, and we received. Today, I gave it a try...

Guess Who's Back.....

Hey everyone, I'm back. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas holiday and New Years Eve/Day. I had a great time in Mexico and a wonderful New Years party. As you know, I left for Mexico on Saturday night at Midnight, got there about 530am on Sunday and went straight to walking about town after a quick 30 minute power nap. I got to see all my family that I haven't been able to see since November of 1995, or, when I was a senior in high school! It was great to see them all and it really made me realize how much I had missed them. It was also good to see my dad's hometown again. It really did look pretty much the same, just a lot more cars instead of people walking. The only downfall is I wasn't able to sleep much and I also picked up a nasty nasal, throat, etc, infection from being in the bad air quality. My dad's town isn't really that bad, but one town we went to is like marinading in a smoker's esophagus. The smell of smoke alone can get me pretty bad so being in a town like this nearly the whole day really wiped me out for the second half of my trip. Still, I was able to take some great pictures. The following 5 pictures were chosen as my pictures of the day for my trip, but of course, they are only a small portion of what I took...

Have the passport ready...



My abuelita cooking...



My abuelito resting



How much is that doggy in the window?



My dad's cleats from when he was a kid




Here are the rest of the pics...

Mexico


I got back from my trip and into the door of my house at 8:10 PM New Years Eve. The party at my house started at 8PM. So, there was no rest at all. I got home, jumped in the shower, and then joined the party. Surprisingly, once I got a few drinks in me, I woke right up and was ready to party. Jess has the hat on already when I got home!

This picture of the day is slightly blurry because I believe I had a few drinks already...



And once midnight hit, I had what had to be the fastest picture of the day once the clock hit midnight that will happen in this 365 day project. The January 1st pic became this...



For the rest of the drunken night, you can go here:

Drunk

I have a couple of videos too, but I have yet to upload those. Maybe in the next post or so.

So what now? Well, it is officially 2010 so the burger and ice cream project is done. I'll see if I can get that up tomorrow. Resolutions? I don't know. Besides, the usual get skinnier/healthier, I am not sure I have any I can think of. As we are now in a new decade, I am currently working on a post where I talk about my favorite movies of the past decade. That will be coming really soon too! With that, enough for now...

Merry Christmas Everyone...

Hello everyone, I hope the holiday season is treating you well. It has been a busy last few days. Wednesday, my parents and I went over to my grandparents' house for our annual tradition of making tamales for the whole family for Christmas Eve. They are actually pretty easy to do with a group of people and it is fun to keep this tradition going year after year. I love our tamales and in fact, I love them so much that I refuse to get tamales at any restaurant for fear they just won't live up to how good ours are. I have tried a few in the past and they don't even compare. With this in mind, it is no surprise that the tamales made it as my picture of the day:



Yesterday was Christmas Eve. Jess and I planned for it to be our actual Christmas since she was scheduled to work on Christmas day. So, on Christmas Eve, we woke up in the morning and had our own Christmas morning. We exchanged gifts and had a great "Christmas morning" together. We had to make a few last minute purchases at the stores after (something we have never had to do), and were pleasantly surprised at how easy the shopping was. We were expecting a madhouse at the stores and found quite the opposite. Christmas Eve was spent at my grandparents' as usual for the tamale chow down and then after, we went to my folks' so we could exchange gifts with them. It was a great day. Jess was sure in the Christmas spirit. Earlier in the day, she not only let Orko on the bed, she let him cuddle with her teddy. If you know Jess personally and how much she values her teddy, you know this is a HUGE deal!



Today, Jess had to work as babies don't really care that today is a holiday. I went over to my parents' house pretty early and spent the day, and luckily, the day was slow enough at work that Jess got to come home after about half a day as well! Mom made a great dinner that I am still feeling about 5 hours later! Overall, a great holiday season!



With that, I am gone for about a week! Tomorrow, I leave for Mexico with my dad until New Years Eve. He goes every year, but I haven;t gone to visit my family there in about 14 years, or my senior year in high school! It will be a fairly quick trip, get there Sunday morning and leave on Thursday, but I know we will be really busy the whole and make great use of all our time! I get home New Years Eve only to have a party at my house about 2 hours after I land. So, I am sure New Years Day will be spent recovering and hopefully going through pictures. I can't promise pictures that day, but at least that weekend. In addition, the year will be over so you will get the final update on the burger and ice creams for the year!

With that, I am out! See everyone in 2010!

A Blogging Loss

I was about to post my picture of the day, but then I got an email from a fellow blogger that floored me. Jose, one of my long time blogger buddies, just lost his wife of 28 years to a sudden heart attack. He always spoke so lovingly of her and they seemed to be a wonderfully loving couple. I can't imagine what he must be going through. My condolences my friend. You are in mine and Jessica's prayers...

December 22, 2009 - Day 209

December 22, 2009 - Day 209
Originally uploaded by pokermanuel

Getting a handle of the situation