I Wanna Rock!

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!

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

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

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."

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?

January 13th, 2011 - Day 13

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

Regal

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

January 11, 2011 - Day 11

Nothing is more useful than silence.  ~Menander of Athens

Roped In

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?

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

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

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...

Another Collection I Shouldn't Start!

January 6, 2011 - Day 6

It has begun.  Ok, I am going to do my best to keep my collecting tendencies from going overboard, but I just got my first Disney Vinylmation.  These have been out for a couple of years, and what they are are different Mickey-shaped figures that are painted in all kinds of themes.  They have ones based on rides, characters, artistic ones, etc.  This month they have Star Wars based ones. Really, these things are awesome and my tendency to collect things is having a hard time staying away!  Thanks to my friend, JL, I have my first one.  And of course, it perfectly suits me... a cheeseburger one.  It was as if they  had me in mind when they made them.  Check out the site for them here.  They ROCK!

Photography Can Be a Tricky Thing Sometimes

January 5, 2011 - Day 5

Back up shot!  Yeah, so this was taken at the last minute as I worked on another shot for over and hour and just couldn't get it as well as I would have liked.  So, with very little time left in the day, I went for a quick, completely different, alternate shot and this is what I came up with.  I love the framing in this shot so in the end, I am not too upset.  Still, I need to come back to that other shot one day.  I promise you, if I can get the shot I want to do, it will be worth all the aches and pains it was and frustration that I encountered. 

Old Man Winter

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant:
if we did not sometimes taste of adversity,
prosperity would not be so welcome.

- Anne Bradstreet

This wasn't the original shot I intended.  I walked in my back yard without an idea in the world as to what to shoot.  I get that way sometimes after a long day of work; where my mind has been on anything other than what photograph to take for the day.  I walked outside though and had a pretty brilliant idea, but alas, the sun was too far down for the day.  As a secondary shot, I went with this instead.  Still, I am pretty happy.

And now, little man, I give the watch to you

Amazing that I took a picture of a watch today when technically, I barely had any time to take a picture today!  Today was the first Monday of the month which means it is my super busy time at work.  In fact, today was the busiest it has been in a while.  Over half of my clients that I work on throughout the month all decided to send their work on day 1 so I was jam packed with stuff to do and didn't even come close to finishing.  If all goes well though, later on in the month should be fairly light because of this hellish couple of days.  Fingers crossed!

We took Winston to the vet today and he is up to 8 pounds!  Even better, he has his last shot scheduled for three weeks from today as well as getting neutered.  So, in a little over three weeks, he is ready to go out and about into the world.  So exciting!  I know HE is looking forward to it and seeing more than the inside of the house and the backyard!  It has been a long TIME coming.  Like how I incorporated that picture again?!?!

For this picture, I wanted to take a picture that looked like a classy ad for a watch; something you would see in some upscale magazine for some overpriced watch.  I am actually really pleased with how it came out.

Drops from a Rainbow

Well, there ya go...two days of blogging in a row!  Yeah, the photography brings the creative juices back out in me!  Today's shot was a pain the ass.  I got the idea off a photography forum.  I thought I would give a try, but didn't realize how hard it is to find a perfect rainbow on a DVD.  I was twisting, turning, and even gave up and decided to try it another day.  But I came back to it and am fairly happy with it.  The only thing I would change is the clarity.  It was almost impossible to get the drop as clear as I wanted it by doing it hand held and I couldn't get the tripod close enough to do it the way I wanted.  I would have also liked to get the whole picture be rainbow colored instead of the white light on the left side, but could not get it just based on where the light was coming in from the window.  It is what it is.

And Here We Go Again...

Yup, I am back in full force.  I know the last couple of months have been VERY sporadic at best, but with my photo a day project back for year 2, blogging will return to normal, not just for photos, but for regular posts and comments on your blogs as well!  Yup, we now return you to your normally scheduled programming.  And I have to say, I couldn't be more excited!  I am excited to take more pictures.  I am excited to write more blog posts.  I am excited that 2010, which overall was pretty crappy, is done and we move on to a new beginning.  2011, I am fully counting on you to not suck this year.  Let's make it a good one - not just for me, but everyone.  2011.....here we go!

Seriously, I AM still blogging....

...I just haven't had the time or energy to do it.  Like I said before, I am not the type of blogger who posts daily about what my day was like.  Nothing against those, I just don't blog like that.  But when you don't blog for a few weeks, you almost DO have to catch up.

Things are going really well with our new boy, Winston.  We absolutely adore him and he is picking up things fairly well.  I actually think he has picked up things even better than he lets on, but he is just stubborn as hell and pretends he doesn't understand.  But he is a cutie!  And Leia is getting along so well with him!

In other good news, I got to play some soccer for the first time in long time, two years actually.  My friends and I played a pick up game on Thanksgiving morning and the the following night, I participated in the 5th(?) annual alumni soccer game at my high school.  The first game was pretty brutal, trying to get my soccer legs under me, but it was a GREAT time and we are even going to play again in two weeks. 

I spent a lot of time bent over sucking wind like the above picture.  But by the alumni game the next night, I somehow WAS able to get my soccer legs under me and played pretty well for an overweight, out of shape, ex-soccer player.  I even got my first goal in an alumni soccer game after 5 or so years of playing.  I was quite happy!  We shall see how soccer goes in  two weeks, but I am excited!

Other than that, there isn't much going on.  Christmas is just around the corner and we have very little shopping done so it is just about time to get started on that.  There is only a few more weeks until the picture a day returns and I am very excited about that!  I have seen a ton of movies since my last Manuel on Movies blog post so I am way behind on that and need to catch up.  That will take a few posts I am sure.  The end of the year, player of the year poker tournament at my house is in two short weeks.  I won the final tournament this past Saturday so hopefully I didn't blow all my luck the game before the final!  With that, hope you are all well and I will visit your blogs in a day or so.  I end with a few pics I took of a nice sunset the other day...

Just Too Much Fun

I have returned to the blog after a long three week break.  Contrary to popular belief, I did not spend the last three weeks playing Rock Band 3; something you may believe after blogging for over three weeks straight about the game.  No, I have just been too busy having fun and after blogging for so many days in a row, I took a little, though not entirely planned, break.

So first off, after blogging about Rock Band 3 for so long, did it live up to the excitement?  Oh hell yes!  The game is amazing.  The songs I anticipated playing are a blast, the keyboard, although I have only played it a little, is fun, and the new version has little new nuances that make the game fresh.  I haven't gotten a chance to play the game as much as I would like, but it is definitely a fun time!  And they just keep releasing great song after great song for download too.  This game just does not get old....to me at least.

So that kind of explains why I didn't blog for a few days after the release of the game, but what happened after that?  Well, that weekend, Jess and I went with our friends, Brandon and Yvette, to Tahoe for the weekend to celebrate Halloween.  As they would be the only two who would recognize our costumes from last year, we opted to do a repeat of our costumes from the previous year, Mario and Princess Peach.  I am so glad we did, too!  We were a hit!  I can't tell you how many people yelled out, "HEY MARIO!" and came over to give me a high five.  It was cool and I took a bunch pictures with various costumed folk.  There were some amazing costumes...people are so creative!

 After that amazingly fun weekend, we added a new member to the family.  As we loved our boy, Orko, so much, we decided after he passed away in April that our next dog would also be a schnauzer just like him.  And a couple of weeks ago, the time finally came.  Say hello to our new boy, Winston!









We absolutely LOVE him.  He is so cute and it feels complete again to have 2 dogs in the house.  Not that Leia liked him at first.  It took about a week and a half for her to warm up to him, but when she finally started playing with him, it absolutely warmed our hearts and has provided us with plenty of laughs!  I think he is going to be a great addition to our little family!

A few days after we got him, we took him over to Jessica's dad's house for a tamale making party!  I love making tamales with my family, not only because they are friggin' delicious, but because we have such a good time. We start right away in the morning and it is full of good times, good food, good family and friends, and good(mostly) tequila.








Some people, not me and not MentiOning any naMes, didn't even make it to the part where we actually eat all the food because they had too much tequila and were throwing up.  Amateurs just can't handle their tequila.  It was a great time though and possibly, the best tamales we have ever made. 

But the fun continues!  Yes, I told you it has been a busy, but fun three weeks since I last posted.  This past Wednesday, Jess I went to the central coast to visit some family of mine.  The whole area really is a favorite of ours and we would probably move there if we could!  But what a great time we had.  We stayed with my cousin Valerie and her husband Jeremy and just visited, talked, ate, visited the ocean, and generally just have a good time.  Jess even mentioned that in the few days we were there, the TV came on not one single time.  It was amazing.  Here are a few pictures and if you want to see the complete set, click here. 













Yeah, a lot going on with us the last three weeks.  I wasn't just being lazy and ignoring my blogging readers and fellow bloggers.  But man, it has been fun.  And with the holidays just around the corner, let the fun continue!  I am not usually one who likes to blog about, "I did this, then did this, and then I finished with this..." but man, there was just so much going on and with pictures to supplement, it always makes it more fun!