No room, thanks

Me picking up the gauntlet

2009-04-05T23:13:00.002-04:00

This performance today won me a $100 gift card to the Italian restaurant, Stella, in Grant Park. Another guy poured beer on himself, so I knew I had to ante up. We both won.

Pretty sweet return for 30 seconds of work. Becky gets the credit for the stellar video.

This is also viewable in my Facebook links.

The continuing decline of my blogging

2009-01-24T09:14:00.004-05:00

1. Facebook, the enabler of keeping thoughts to quips and status updates.

2. Thinh cannot think of anything else.

3. Thinh is a little sad.

Where has the blog gone? I've noted the work and Facebook thing before, but I see that I have no posts in December. I used to come back to this blog multiple times a day and put some real thought into it. Now I am addicted to Facebook Mobile via text messaging.

I need a focus, and added topic or interest, rather than just my life in general. I guess that is what post labels are for, but another blog could be a new start.

But I am enjoying sitting on our new sofa we just got yesterday, with the laptop, a cup coffee and Galactic on Pandora Radio.

Fall color

2008-11-18T23:46:00.002-05:00

Multimedia message

2008-11-18T13:30:00.000-05:00

Intruder false alarm

2008-09-19T07:57:00.007-04:00

We had a little drama Wednesday night.

While we are at the dinner table finishing our pasta and asparagus, someone started wrestling with the backdoor doorknob and pushing on the locked door. Fiercely.

I immediately went for the door while yelling "Hey!" to scare anyone off while grabbing the bar stool in my path, raising it to pound it through the window in the door at the guy outside. After seeing the angry Asian approaching, the guy stopped and said he was trying to get into "Sherry's" door (our favorite neighbor next door in our condo building), and I put the bar stool down.

This all happened in about 5 seconds.

Whew. I was about to have to hurt someone.

Yeah, boyz! Don't mess with Nuge. I bust you up. Crack a chair over your head.

Not enough blogging: Facebook

2008-09-19T07:57:00.004-04:00

I haven't been blogging any grand thoughts lately.

1) I've been busy with house stuff and work.

2) Facebook.

Details:

1) We did get the house, and we love it! But we haven't really moved because we are painting on weekends and planning other stuff for it. We did have a pizza and wine dinner (without working on the house that day) on the floor on our anniversary recently. There are two porches and a deck, so we will be enjoying those this fall, for sure.

Work is still crazy, but better. Football season is back, so wandering home at 1-2-3 a.m. Saturday morning is back. The enjoyable Saturday morning coffee with the wife is shot.

2) Yes, Facebook.com. It has me hooked, and it has the wife hooked. Go there to find out more. I have not looked at my MySpace in months since I joined Facebook. It's not as ugly, easier to read, and there are more people I know there.

But I don't do this kind of typing on Facebook. I could. But this is a better blogging tool. I haven't figured out how I want to integrate this blog with Facebook. There are all kinds of ways to do it, but I haven't taken the time to experiment with what works for me.

Coffee is for closers

2008-08-28T21:06:00.002-04:00

We are closing on the house tomorrow morning!!!

This has all happened really fast. Our mortgage guy kicked ass and basically had the whole thing done - appraised, approved, moved to the attorney - in, like, five business days.

There is still a lot to do, but tomorrow is a milestone.

Inspection and lender hunt

2008-08-19T22:24:00.006-04:00

I have been on the phone for days talking about rates and fees, and today it all came to a head having four lenders in the mix, with three actually returning my phone calls.

By this afternoon, two were in real competition, and I was juggling phone calls and numbers right in the middle of my filing deadlines.

But now we have just one lender. Such a relief. AAAAAAHHHH.

The inspection yesterday was not as big a deal. In fact, my friend, Mike, did it, so it was thorough and, of course, he was easy to hang out with. We have things to fix, but no deal breaker.

Contract, finally

2008-08-14T02:41:00.004-04:00

Our offer on the house we have been after since June was finally accepted. Now the clock starts ticking on the inspection period. We found out last night, so yesterday was day zero, technically, and we are on day one now.

I've already set up an inspector to be out on Monday. That was pretty easy since one of my long-time friends is an inspector in metro-Atlanta.

By my infrequent posts, you can see that it's been a long month.

It's about to get even longer.

Happy 4th!

2008-07-04T20:43:00.001-04:00

Outside Turner Field

Rooftop assignment

2008-06-20T23:59:00.001-04:00

This assignment will run as a pretty mundane shot of a bunch of garbage, but the average person will have no idea what it took to get it.

I took a shot from the street yesterday for today's story. Long story short, as with any heavy industrial zoned adjacent to residential, there will be complaints, but there are political ties that make the recycling center interesting here as well. So this is why I am working so hard to take pictures of garbage.

Today I went back for the follow up.

Problems:
I could not shoot from the only ground level vantage point from the street again and get the same lame shot.
The recycling center owner, to put it nicely, did not allow me to shoot on the property.

Solution:
I had to find another another vantage point.

I drove around a little and found a warehouse on one side of the property with a caged ladder going up. It was locked. Not interested in trespassing at this point, I asked permission. The company owner was not there, so I left my cell phone number and left. Still no shot.

While shooting some other art and a bad accident that unfolded practically in front of me, I got a call from the warehouse owner who was happy to unlock the ladder for me. Great!

Then I got under the ladder. Uh, it was really high.

Heights make me dizzy. But they also give me a rush. It's a contradiction I often find myself in, and I can never resolve it in the moment, so I just put one hand over the other and don't look down.

I got some shots from the roof, but hey, it's garbage, so nothing really exciting. I ran that ladder four times. Up, down, up, down.

Well, it's after midnight, so I checked the web site. The story didn't even run.

All in a day's work.

Goodbye, old hardware

2008-06-15T02:28:00.009-04:00

Y'all gave me hours of fun.

I hauled all this stuff from Washington state thinking I would continue my projects in Atlanta, but I have had neither the time nor the space for them.

The thing wrapped in green is a super-old Mac (pre-PowerPC) case that I ripped to pieces hoping to put some modern guts into it. Maybe even PC guts. Running something new in a vintage case is somehow appealing to me. I can't remember why I had the beige PowerPC (the one with the "x" on it). That monitor is just a damn good monitor with great color and sharpness, but it liked to turn off randomly - sometimes in 30 minutes, sometimes never in a sitting. The quality was worth the annoyance for me. But it has no use right now, and it is too big (and freakin' heavy) for urban living these days.

So the parts went to a computer recycling event today. I got some decent feature art out of it for work, too. As a side note to anyone reading, please do not put your old electronics in the trash and subsequently in the landfill. Please seek out computer recycling events, which are generally free or low-cost to you. This one in Kennesaw was free and actually was going to make a little money for the city environmental group, which I did not know was possible. Recycling a large computer part like a CPU or monitor usually costs $5-$10.

My longtime readers, all three of you, might remember the Compaq laptop in the top photo that gave me much headache and foaming at the mouth. But I learned a lot from tinkering with it. Whether I can remember any of it is another thing.

When I told the volunteers at the collection site the laptop still runs, one of them took it. At least it has found a new home.

Top photo is from my cell phone, bottom with my SLR.

Going in circles

2008-06-15T01:31:00.007-04:00

I was on-assignment at the race track today. Or, uh, yesterday, since it is Sunday now. Well, I haven't gone to bed, yet, so it's still Saturday.

I hadn't been to a track this small since I was a kid. At that time, someone had given my parents some tickets, so they took me. Imagine three nerdy Asians at a quarter-mile race track in north Alabama. I was not hooked as a race fan that day.

But at least that one had pavement, unlike the Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, Ga.

Here are a couple of shots:

(Wow. Something actually happened while I was there.)

1/80 of second pan

1/160 of second pan

At my working distance above and behind the stands and with the speed of the cars, I found 1/100 to 1/125 of a second exposure to be manageable on the far side and 1/160 to 1/200 to be good on the near side of the track for panning.

The 1/80 of second shot came out usable, but it was a bit tough to get a decent one. When I saw the little wreck happening, I clicked all the way up to 1/250 just to ensure I got the shot.

Street View in Atlanta

2008-06-10T23:17:00.004-04:00

Google Maps just added Street View to the Atlanta metro area. SWEET.

(Street View is a function that gives you 360-degree views at the street level with actual images/photos.)

A house hunter's dream!

Dammit. I was just about to go to bed . . . .

2008-06-10T07:46:00.002-04:00

I've been messing around with Facebook lately. Lots of stuff I don't quite get, yet. There are more than 200 search returns for my name, so I did put up some photos.

Familiar music

2008-06-07T19:06:00.001-04:00

Shawn Mullins at Summerfest in the Highlands, Atlanta. We like Atlanta today.

Fingers crossed

2008-06-06T23:25:00.002-04:00

We put in an offer on a house we viewed this week. A strong one. Gave me that tingling sensation.

Oh, yeah? I get better gas mileage

2008-05-28T23:33:00.004-04:00

That's my Civic on the left, someone's NSX on the right.

Atlanta Country Club, Marietta, Ga. ( I was here for a shoot.)

Sunday at the park

2008-05-25T16:05:00.001-04:00

My first Braves game

No good pictures of myself

2008-05-24T01:40:00.004-04:00

I just created a Facebook profile for the heck of it (same reason why I started blogging) and have been trying to find a decent photo of myself to upload to my profile.

Most photos of myself are like the one above, so it's been a struggle.

This is now a note to self to take a picture of myself that is not so silly. It's useful to update one's photo every once in a while.

I mean, if I were to go missing tomorrow, this might have to be my portrait.

QT hot dog

2008-05-21T00:01:00.005-04:00

I didn't eat lunch, and I was ravenous by 7 p.m. when I left work for band practice. For those who don't know, QT is for QuikTrip - a gas station and quickie mart.

I'm telling ya, it was a pretty damn good hot dog.

Multimedia message

2008-05-15T22:29:00.001-04:00

Lambo driver shops Kroger

Helicopter takeoff

2008-05-14T00:14:00.004-04:00

I shot this a couple of weeks ago, and I'm still picking the debris out of my camera bag. This little kindergartener was standing at the front of an assembly at a school where some visiting Marines were taking off in helicopters.

Whoever set up this takeoff picked a really bad spot for the crowd (playground dirt and wood chips tend to move around in high winds), but it made for an interesting capture.

2008-05-13T23:57:00.002-04:00

This Marietta tavern owner is selling these T-shirts. There was a small protest today.

2008-05-08T01:53:00.003-04:00

I hate it when your Girl Scout Thin Mints get stuck together out of the freezer and you have no choice but to eat four at once.

Rice Krispies

2008-05-03T07:14:00.002-04:00

I can't remember the last time I had a bowl of these, but I was just reminded they snap, crackle and pop when I poured in the milk. Made me laugh a little.

Worst table service ever

2008-04-30T22:50:00.002-04:00

This is a continuation of last weekend's wrap-up, as the worst table service ever deserves its own post. Plus, it gives my friends the ability to fill in the gaps or correct me where I am wrong.

So it was Kris with his wife, Avery; Karen and her sister, Tracie; and Becky and me at Joey D's Oakroom in the Perimeter Mall area of Atlanta on Saturday night.

The waiter started off very animated and excited, not as over-the-top as the guy from Chotchke's in "Office Space," but he was pushing the honey croissants a little hard.

He got so many things wrong and did so many strange things in the course of our 3-hour stay that it would take that long to read, so I'll touch on the highlights.

But let me start with, to me, the first sign of weirdness. The waiter repeatedly asked Karen what she wanted to drink after she clearly said she was undecided. She had asked for martini suggestions, which the waiter said he would get from the bartender.

He never came back with any, but asked her what she wanted to drink again. This doesn't sound like a big deal, but I heard him ask her more than once in the same visit.

His short-term memory held about 5 seconds. We guessed he was totally baked.

Karen ordered her drink after the rest of us, but never got it until Avery had already finished her first cosmopolitan. Kris and Avery ordered an appetizer along with another cosmo for Avery, but now after about an hour after sitting down, Kris told him not to bring out the appetizer, and Avery was still waiting on her second drink.

Salads came out, but all of them were wrong, and they all had to go back. The waiter came back to correct them. More waiting. Then only half of them came out. More waiting. Kris got the attention of the manager and asked what was going on because we had been there for an hour and a half, we had but half the salad orders. The others didn't seem to be coming out anytime soon, and Avery was still waiting on a cosmo.

I think the waiter came out again, more subdued now, to double-check our dinner order and re-wrote it down. We think that was totally screwed up, too, because the manager came out and said there was a mix-up. Our dinner was coming, but everything would be on the house. OK, great. The head chef came out and apologized, too.

The waiter, who had been apologizing for a while, apologized some more and gave us a story about how this has never happened, etc. He got down, put his elbows on the table and was getting heart to heart and sorry. Becky likened it to him trying to get us back after we had broken up with him. We appreciated his apology, but it was a little weird.

We ordered some more beer, and we finally got our food. Becky ordered another glass of red wine when there was still a hint of it in her glass. The waiter came back with a small carafe of white wine and almost began pouring it into Becky's glass (still containing the visible red), but Becky put her hand over her glass to stop him. Apparently his vision was going the way of his memory.

The food was good overall, except for Kris' blackened mahi mahi, which had the consistency of dry chicken with the flavor of cotton. I know because I tried it. It was one of times when something was so bad you had to share it. "This is horrible, try it!" My fork couldn't break it, and I had to rip a piece off like I was tearing bread. He told the manager how bad it was. More apologies.

Another short-term memory moment: Tracie asked for a honey croissant, and the waiter came back two minutes later (the fastest he ever returned) and gave it to Karen. This is another little thing, but he did these little things all night, and it just became surreal. Were we in an alternate universe, or was he?

I hadn't noticed the near-foul on Becky's wine because I had gotten up to go to the men's room. But on my way I passed the kitchen, and the nice head chef who visited us - she was yelling all kinds of noise at the staff. I couldn't make it out, but I did hear "mahi mahi" punctuated by the smacking of kitchen metals.

We ate our dinner, enjoyed each other's company, but our conversation was completely on the service at this point and the disturbing situation that had transpired next to us.

So just to round out the atmosphere of this story, the table of three next to us also had problems, bigger problems than ours. Not only did they have poor table service (same waiter), they had an abusive relationship.

When the woman, who was having a birthday dinner, politely complained, the jerk she was apparently with raised his voice, repeatedly, and very loudly told her to shut up. We thought he might escalate to violence if we intervened. She finally walked out on the table, but the two guys followed her out shortly thereafter.

The waiter continued to wait on us (poorly - he should have been sent home). He came out with his head lowered a little as he was crying while taking our plates. Maybe the head chef got to him. Apparently the hostess was crying, too.

He came back and said he would bring us a dessert menu. Never did. Still high, we figured. (Could we have what he was having?) The manager came out, apologized some more and gave us gift certificates. And that was that.

It was strange to have a full meal and drinks just to get up and not pay. We ordered at least $200 in food and drinks. No tip was deserved, for sure. It was worth the experience and the story, though.

All in all, the management handled the situation well and professionally. My only complaint is that she didn't immediately replace the server. But I think I'd go back, especially with the gift certificates offered.

Any additions are welcome.

Kris, Karen with trash heap

2008-04-30T11:06:00.001-04:00

How did we end up here?

Amy with trash heap

2008-04-30T11:04:00.001-04:00

She's not liking it.

2008-04-28T07:48:00.002-04:00

This weekend went by fast, but we had a lot of fun.

A quick recap as I hurry to finish my morning coffee.

Friday night:

Drinks and appetizers with Kim and Tad at Django Gypsy Kitchen and Saloon. We didn't stay long, so we'll have to come back. We a show to catch! RENT!

We met up at the Fox Theatre with Karen from Nashville and her sister, Tracie, from Tuscaloosa, who barely made it through I-20 from Birmingham through NASCAR traffic in Talledega. I was holding their tickets. Whew!

RENT - Opening show in Atlanta. The best musical ever, of course. We had suh-weet seats, sixth row, orchestra, as pictured below. I can't say enough about how much I love this show. It always inspires me to be more than I am.

Post show drinks and munchies at Baraonda. I'd been here before. Fun. But getting late. Late ride on the MARTA rail.

Saturday:

Slow getting up. But I got up at 7:30, set up this DSL line and piddled around with coffee probably until noon. We made it the Inman Park Festival just in time to hear a couple of numbers with Ike Stubblefield again. Always a pleasure. We met up with Kris, Avery, Amy, Karen and Tracie and just hung out. There was a crazy marching band playing, having all kinds of crazy fun, so we decided we needed to audition. I think Karen has pictures of them, so I'll link to them later or ask her for one.

We somehow we managed to hang out with a trash heap, too.

Dinner: Oh, Lord. This might have to be a separate post because I have to get to work. But hands down, the worst and most bizarre table service I have ever experienced mingled with other odd happenings the table next to us.

Here's a taste. The service was so bad, dinner and drinks at this white tablecloth, steak and seafood restaurant diner was not charged, and we all got gift certificates to give them a second chance. People in the kitchen were being yelled at. Our waiter cried.

Inman Park Festival trash

2008-04-26T18:15:00.002-04:00

It's all fun and games until it spills over. -Amy

Becky on the MARTA

2008-04-26T01:12:00.001-04:00

Fox Theatre

2008-04-26T01:04:00.001-04:00

No day but today

RENT stage!

2008-04-25T19:55:00.000-04:00

Pumped for the show

Not an excuse

2008-04-25T08:11:00.002-04:00

I can only post from my phone right now because the home Internet is crap. I'm trying to setup a new DSL line but our phone jacks aren't well placed. Stupid.

Popeyes Chicken

2008-04-17T21:52:00.003-04:00

I'm not too sure about this one.

Taxes

2008-04-15T08:45:00.002-04:00

I owe a buttload. Sucks.

Giddyup

2008-04-11T21:16:00.001-04:00

Grandpa Greene, the reason behind the reunion. He turns 90 tomorrow. With Becky, cowgirl.

Name tag

2008-04-11T16:41:00.001-04:00

I'm at a family reunion with the wife's family. This is what I was given to wear.

Baggage claim, Houston

2008-04-11T14:10:00.001-04:00

Chilling out is good anywhere.

Big Chicken

2008-04-06T15:27:00.000-04:00

This was a stop at the Big Chicken on St. Paddy's Day a few weeks ago in Marietta. I drive by it all the time, but I never get to pose with it. Pretty big, huh? Photo by Kris.

2008-03-25T23:50:00.004-04:00

My courtroom photos from yesterday were in the Seattle P-I daily photo roundup on the its web site. There are a total of four in the slide show.

They showed up in other places, too, but showing up on the P-I site just reconnected me with Seattle and Washington state.

Bloodroot

2008-03-20T00:16:00.003-04:00

Happy first day of spring! Cheers to the small things in life.

I took this at an arboretum in Kennesaw, Ga., Tuesday. These little flowers are native, so they are all over the place around here. Of course, I didn't know this until my guide said so. I'm not much into flowers, but I do like learning things.

These two were next to a small pine cone, so I used it as a size reference. Of course, I did not plant it there because I was on assignment for spring blooms, and I am a hard-core flower shooting photojournalist mutha!

Remedy: Coffee

2008-03-17T08:32:00.004-04:00

I've almost shaken a mild, annoying cold that has been with me for a little over a week. I think today is the last day I will feel any remnants.

I think the only drug that made me feel any better was my morning coffee. It helped me face the day.

Even when my sinus pressure was bad and I could barely taste anything, I could taste a strong cup of coffee. It gave me hope I was getting better.

Nothing from the drug store ever gave me hope.

Happy St. Paddy's

2008-03-15T14:39:00.001-04:00

Latest TV hook

2008-03-11T08:33:00.003-04:00

Two weekends ago, we managed to get hooked on the show "Dexter." Well, I did first, then I dragged the wife into it, who was a little squeamish at first. I re-watched the six or seven episodes I had already seen to catch her up with me.

It's a much needed escape from HGTV and reality shows that are clogging up the channels.

Lunar eclipse

2008-02-28T08:21:00.001-05:00

This was at the end of the total eclipse and at the start of the partial, around 10:56 p.m., Feb. 20. The total eclipse passed me by as I was drinking a Bud with a pork burrito up the street with the wife.

I'm sure there are a million photos just like this, but here's mine. This was taken outside my back door through all the city interferences. Regulus at the top, Saturn to the left.

I think this was a 2-second exposure. Maybe 1 second would have been better because you can notice a little drag in the celestial motion. But I was cursing my tripod for being busted as I was fumbling with it in the dark. A little spring thingy came loose in the quick-release mount. Good thing I dealt with it then rather than on assignment though.

Oh, well, there's another total lunar eclipse visible here in 2010.

2008-02-28T07:54:00.003-05:00

I finally found my compact flash reader. Maybe I'll get motivated to post some pictures again. I hate losing things.

Pizza bookmark

2008-02-20T20:32:00.002-05:00

I haven't made pizza in a while, so I just wanted to bookmark this page for myself and share it at the same time. Link is in the title.

I wonder what an okra pizza would taste like.

House hunt: first offer

2008-02-19T07:35:00.003-05:00

And so the paperwork has begun.

We have been trying to find our first house since around October. After walking into dozens (and dozens) of houses, we put in our first offer yesterday.

We wait till 5 p.m. today for an answer. Anxious. Eager.

Beef: hard to stomach

2008-02-19T07:12:00.003-05:00

I awoke this morning thinking about the beef recall story from yesterday. And the hidden camera video of the sick cow being pushed with a forklift.

Gross.

Think I'll be eating tofu for a while.

Not the usual Valentine

2008-02-14T22:35:00.001-05:00

She said if I got her this table, I'd be off the hook for anything else.

Might as well jump!

2008-02-10T22:50:00.001-05:00

Eddie Van Halen's sound . . . thick as quicksand. I'm drownin'.

Van Halen!

2008-02-10T20:34:00.001-05:00

When vitamins aren't good

2008-02-08T13:10:00.001-05:00

I just tried a Diet Coke Plus. It has a faint aftertaste reminiscent of Play-doh. If I could shape it into a lit

(The last sentence should read: If I could shape it into a little ball or something, Coke might compete here. Sorry. Glitch in the mobile phone posting.)

2008-01-27T09:43:00.000-05:00

My blog has been pretty dull lately, so I thought I would post some stuff that has been on my mobile phone for a while, since I have a little free time. The wife cleaned up a lot downstairs Friday, so our weekend has been relatively chore-free. But I did do some manly stuff and change out her car battery and seal up a drafty door. I have to work on the upstairs today.

Anyhow, thanks to her, I am drinking coffee now and am able to blog this Sunday morning while she is reading a book.

There are some old photos, so I might back date them later, since I am sort of an organizing nut for time stamping photos.

On a side note, I have lost my Canon point-and-shoot, and I have misplaced my compact flash card reader I need to get stuff off my SLR at home, so I still have a lot of other old stuff missing.

Us, my sister's wedding

2008-01-27T09:39:00.001-05:00

Dec. 1, 2007

Becky was a bridesmaid with all the other sisters-in-law. I was a brother, with all the other brothers.

Ouch

2008-01-27T09:22:00.000-05:00

Just because there is a handle on a pan, doesn't mean I should grab it, especially if the whole pan had been in the oven at 400 F.

No, I didn't grab it right out of the oven, but it was on the counter, and in my haste between preparing some food, I did the stupid thing that resulted in this bandage.

The hole at the end of the handle left a visible imprint-burn on my palm. I shook my hand so hard after I let go, my wedding ring flew off.

McDonald's sausage biscuit

2008-01-27T09:14:00.001-05:00

I ate my first McDonald's sandwich since I watched "Super Size Me" in the fall of 2004. I was desperate. I should not allow desperation to cloud my judgment.

The photo makes me want to hurl. I had to make it small as to not gross me out any more.

Photo taken Nov. 30, during the drive down to Orlando to my sister's wedding.

Escalator

2008-01-27T09:10:00.000-05:00

Escalator, Peachtree MARTA station, Jan. 12.

I took the MARTA rail downtown to meet Josh, Meagan and Trina. Anyway, this has to be the longest escalator I have ever been on.

Out of towners

2008-01-27T08:47:00.000-05:00

Josh, Meagan, Trina and me, outside Max Lagers, downtown Atlanta, Jan. 12.

We all lived in the same town, Montgomery, in the earlier part of this decade, in a more zany era of my life. I hadn't seen Trina since I left Montgomery in 2003. Josh was my best man at our Spokane wedding in 2005, and I've seen him a few times since I have been in Atlanta, since he and Meagan are up in Athens.

No fountain diving or kite flying at 4 a.m., but we had a good time catching up over drinks and dinner.

Snow!

2008-01-16T20:49:00.001-05:00

Well, slush, actually.

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T00:08:00.001-05:00

Cheers!

Am I living it right?

2007-12-31T13:25:00.001-05:00

As I think about 2007, "Why Georgia" by John Mayer comes over the air. It's played a lot here, but 2008 is the year to answer that same question.

Late night nutrition

2007-12-30T02:23:00.000-05:00

I did pretty well earlier, having cooked steamed rice and chicken and veggie stir fry.

But in the past two hours, I've had

a gingerbread cookie
a chocolate chip cookie
a Coke Zero
a chocolate chip toffee cookie
some peanut brittle
a chocolate chip peanut butter bar
a bunch of wheat crackers with roasted garlic hummus
a bunch of Thai lime and chili cashews (super-addictive, from Trader Joe's)
some corn chips
a square of peanut butter fudge

All pretty much in that order.

I almost broke out the beef jerky, which would have been the most nutritious out of the bunch.

But I am back at the cashews. I have to stop and eat some corn chips to soften the heat.

Good night.

"Once"

2007-12-29T23:33:00.000-05:00

I love movies with a strong score or soundtrack. I especially love movies where the music is part of the story.

I will have to get the soundtrack to "Once." We watched it last night, and I have been humming the songs all day.

Anyhow, the skinny is that a Czech girl, who sings and plays piano, meets an Irish singer-songwriter guitar player on a Dublin street, and they make some music together while developing a thing. You know, a thing.

At the "Once" movie web site, there is a free download of what seems to be the main song of the movie, "Falling Slowly." It's from a scene early in the script where the Guy teaches the Girl one of his songs, and they play through it for the first time. The setting is a music store where the store owner lets the Girl practice during her lunch.

You can actually see the scene at the movie website, by clicking on "videos" on the right side of the screen (there are two "video" buttons, so not the one on the left side), which takes you to the trailer and the "Falling Slowly" scene. It picks up after the Guy has given her the chord road map and gone through the melody with her. A simple, but moving scene, given that it is their second meeting, I believe.

The movie has a home movie feel to it, but it's part of the overall tone, like the organic, acoustic performances. I highly recommend a viewing.

In the middle of the movie, I remembered that months ago a friend recommended I watch this movie, but I totally forgot about it. She thought I might like it even though she wasn't so sure about it for herself, so it was kind of funny I picked it out on my own. I was just browsing Blockbuster, and it looked like something we would like.

Under the tree

2007-12-25T23:52:00.001-05:00

Santa was good to us.

Long shot

2007-12-20T23:30:00.000-05:00

Can there be anything more delicious?

This was sooooooo good.

This was from a little French bakery/cafe down the street from where I work in Marietta called Douceur de France.

I might have said something offensive when I asked for an Americano. It's a habit for me to order one, but I know it's a wuss drink to the French.

The Frenchman said, "You want a long shot."

I agreed. I had to. French people don't make Americanos, you stupid fool!

Morning traffic report

2007-12-20T09:11:00.001-05:00

I-75 north right now

Nice, but wrong

2007-12-07T00:58:00.000-05:00

Wrestling: another fast-moving sport in dim light. Also, there is the challenge of getting a clear shot of the faces without them being in some position unsuitable for publication.

This shot is from Wednesday night. I did not have long to do this shoot, but I hit this usable one in the first few moments of being there. Great! One down. One or two more, and I can split.

Then I realized this was junior varsity, and I was at the wrong mat. Crap!

I got enough varsity shots for the assignment, but it took me longer, and I didn't get one as nicely lit as this one.

1/250s, f/5, ISO 1600, Vivitar 285HV at 1/16the power with optical peanut slave at camera-left triggered by hotshoe flash dialed down and turned away from subject toward slave. Why all this silliness? My wireless triggers are busted.

By the way, the shot that ran was a shot where my flash did not fire, so I had to push the exposure in processing. All the silliness was for nothing, but it was fun anyway.

2007-12-05T23:10:00.000-05:00

I've been working here for a year. That's all I have to say right now because I am too busy to say anything else.

My sister, hitched

2007-12-01T15:36:00.001-05:00

Posed kiss

Thanksgiving

2007-11-23T08:36:00.000-05:00

We had dinner at Kim and Tad's last night. So stuffed . . . still.

Kim, cooking

Tad, carving

Becky, wifing

Table, sitting

Food, waiting

Fried cheese grits, OK Cafe

2007-11-23T08:27:00.000-05:00

With jalapeño cheese dip. Dripping with goodness and badness at the same time. I haven't had anything like these in a while. How do you fry grits? Do you just refrigerate them in a mold first?

We ate at the OK Cafe at Hwy. 41 and West Paces Ferry in Atlanta a few days ago. I had meatloaf for dinner with collard greens and macaroni and cheese. Good ol' Southern eatin'. The collard greens were awesome.

Band photos and stuff

2007-11-23T08:01:00.000-05:00

I finally added photos to the post on the band from the house show.

I haven't made a practice since the show. We all have crazy work schedules right now, so we will be picking this up again at the beginning of the year. Stay tuned.

Emergency Room Curtains

2007-11-15T19:29:00.000-05:00

From the ER bed today waiting to get a CAT scan.
I got rear ended. I'm fine. Car's fine. But my head is still a bit wonky, and I'm starting to feel the bonus muscle aches.

2007-11-09T00:49:00.000-05:00

I should be a clock.

24/7

The band

2007-11-06T07:58:00.000-05:00

The band: Rebekah, Dave, Tad, Nick, Walt, Thinh

(Photo update Nov.23. Photos by ?)

Buckup. That's the name for the band we picked for the party.

We had a lot of fun at the show, and we got a lot of positive feedback. It was pretty loose, honestly. We made a lot of mistakes, but we plowed through them, and it was a blast. (When I had the mike for vocals on "Am I Evil?" I was playing the rock star, jumping around and screaming. Pretty different from my coffeehouse shows. The wife was there, and she said it was "cute.")

I've said very little about the band here because I have been so busy. Someone took snapshots at the show, so I will introduce everyone when I get the photos.

Anyway, there are six of us. Nick (bass and vocals), Tad (drums), Walt (electric guitar), Dave (acoustic guitar and vocals), Rebekah (vocals and various noise makers) and me (acoustic guitar and vocals). Everyone is very talented, and I am honored to be a part of this group.

We've been playing together for about two months, twice a week, with an occasional missing member. During that time, we flushed out about 18 covers to play, but we really were learning a lot about playing with each other.

Everyone contributed to the set list along the way, so I was being introduced to a lot of music I had never heard, which is always exciting to me. (Living on the Palouse with dial-up Internet made me void of new music for almost three years, as I completely missed the iPod explosion living next to Napoleon Dynamite. So being back around a group of musicians regularly is awesome.)

The show was outside as shown in the picture in the last post. We are used to playing indoors, so the sound was unusual, and I think that contributed to some of our timing issues. We were just playing through our respective amps with no monitors, so we had to listen really closely to hear each other, and that didn't always happen.

I think everyone who showed up had fun, though. We had two kegs of Sweetwater 420. Been a while since I've been to a kegger.

The setup

2007-11-03T15:23:00.001-04:00

Getting ready for our first show!

Earliest

2007-10-27T01:36:00.000-04:00

I left the office at 1 a.m. I think it is the earliest football Friday night for me since the beginning of the season. It's so early - I am ready to PARTAY.

Well, as much as I can with my leftover fried chicken, mashed potatoes and slaw.

Warm fuzzy surprise

2007-10-20T03:15:00.001-04:00

I just came home from a late day/night at work to this. I am so loved. And I so love cookies.

Like never developing film

2007-10-05T08:42:00.000-04:00

Having a small digital point and shoot has made into one of those consumer picture takers that back in the film days would leave film in the camera for months, even years.

I just downloaded photos from the point and shoot, and some of them go back to May.

Wow. I imported them into Google Picasa2, and when I scrolled to a video, it played back. An unexpected surprise.

Anyhow, I'll try to post some stuff this weekend. I have been super-busy with work and stuff.

A year ago

2007-10-04T23:46:00.000-04:00

Window shots taken Oct. 4, 2006, U.S. 195 en route to Spokane to see a Lucero show.

I was looking at some old photos and came across these.

2007-09-29T03:17:00.001-04:00

I'm experiencing jacket weather for the first time this season! But it doesn't really count at 3:15 a.m. And I don't have on a jacket anyway.

Fun with flash

2007-09-22T03:00:00.000-04:00

I decided to shoot the ball game with my non-dedicated Vivitar 285HV flash on manual settings and exploit my Canon 20Ds flash sync to 1/400 second. It's actual sync is 1/250s, but with the 285, I can get 1/400s with a very thin dark line at the bottom of the frame from the mis-timed shutter, but that can be cropped out.

I love a good exploit.

(On a side note, I got Damien's Canon 1D, which I had borrowed when my camera was in the shop for a blown shutter, to sync at 1/4000s with the Vivitar 285HV. Ridiculous!)

Light levels are dropping fast now at week four of football season, so I need a powerful flash with fast recycling on these dim high school fields. With the 285, I can pump out 10 shots at 1/16 power at 5 frames per second before it skips a frame.

Shooting with the flash on manual also requires shifting the aperture on the fly to adjust flash exposure as the running back gets bigger of if the action moves toward you quickly during the play. This isn't the easiest thing to do if you don't shoot like this a lot. It requires your own judgment of distance and the throw of the flash within split seconds.

1/400s, f/4.5, ISO 1600. I think the Vivitar was at 1/4 power.

The flash exposure here was a bit hot as you can see from some blown out highlights, but still very usable. My setting of f/4.5 was better about four running strides back, which a high school kid can clear in zero point nothing seconds.

I probably should have flicked the aperture to f/5 for f/5.6 here, but I'm sure my next shot was in the ground as I was running for cover.

I also could have used the Vivitar's built in auto range for exposure, but how much fun would that be?

So it was a nice little mix up/challenge for me tonight to relieve myself of my work pressure and focus on technique. I think that makes me geek.

2007-09-22T02:27:00.000-04:00

I just left the office at 2 a.m. My first assignment was Friday at 8:15 a.m., and I went pretty much non-stop.

I had photographers at 18 football games tonight, myself included.

I did manage to grab a sandwich in the afternoon from Sonny's BBQ. Sam & Dave's is much better although I do like the classic crinkle cut fries from Sonny's. Who knew that the fries we got in the grade school cafeteria were the bomb?

Tourist weekend 2

2007-09-17T07:17:00.000-04:00

We continued our tourist weekend of Atlanta with the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, High Museum of Art and the Georgia Aquarium.

The gardens were serene, but not in full bloom, so we will likely be back in the spring. The orchids were cool. And we liked the Japanese garden. I want a Japanese garden.

After two floors at the High Museum, I was bored. I told Becky this, and she couldn't stop laughing. She said that I, of all people, was supposed to like art. OK, some of it was neat, but for the most part, I was bored. I will be the first to admit that I am uncultured with most things in museums. I like art that is more directly moody. Color combinations, shapes, bold social/political statements.

But I was determined to see all four floors of exhibits, so we went straight to the fourth floor for the more contemporary and folk pieces. Those were more enjoyable to me. Then we speed walked through the third floor past early American stuff. I thought the two walls of kid drawings were more impressive.

The aquarium was a whirlwind because we didn't have much time. There was a animated short on ocean life that required 3-D glasses that was really cool. We spotted a few swimmy, bizarre creatures we had never seen before, but the penguins and otters weren't out.

Becky commented through the two weekends we got to see the animals and plants of the earth and creatures of the sea. It was a real treat to be able to get out of the city in our imagination and be reminded of what is beyond the traffic and skyscrapers.

Anniversary wishes

2007-09-12T09:00:00.000-04:00

Thanks to everyone for the anniversary wishes via phone, cards, text, email, blog and any other form of communication we have these days.

We have been blessed with a happy marriage for two years and with family and friends that love and support us.

Here is a photo never seen before from the archives, taken Sept. 10, 2005.

Over the weekend, we got out and pretended we were tourists. Adjusting to Atlanta has been a challenge, and since we didn't have time to escape it, we did things new to us like we were visitors. We went to Zoo Atlanta, dinner at Feast in Decatur, toured CNN and the World of Coke.

We haven't done a lot of this kind of tour stuff together, and it was fun to see what Becky gets fascinated with. Who knew she would be mesmerized by wild boars sitting in mud? And we still haven't figured out the role of elephants, so slow, majestic and vulnerable.

Recent pictures of us will have to come later because I can't find the little card reader for the camera. But here are a few from my phone.

Bloody Mary's at Carrol Street Cafe.

Becky at the World of Coke tasting room. My favorite was Vegita Beta from Japan. Becky liked regular Coke.

Bottled souvenir Cokes.

2007-09-08T01:58:00.001-04:00

My camera died right before kickoff tonight. Arrgh.

Doesn't Zeus know I have deadlines?

2007-09-01T12:02:00.000-04:00

On my first night of high school football as photo chief and air traffic control for covering 13 simultaneous football games in several Metro Atlanta counties, 10 of them had intermittent lightning delays. TEN.

Despite the circumstances, we all shot the hell out of them, as that was our assignment.

The way we cover a game is in and out. We don't hang around for the big play because every minute counts on deadline, and lighting is a big factor in the evening at these dim high school fields. At the 7:30 kickoff, I was at a comfortable 1/640 second, f/5 at ISO 1600.

By 7:45, the light had already been cut in half.

I was off the field before the end of the first quarter with half a dozen usable action shots for print and about 20 usable mixed action and feature shots for the web gallery.

My game went into a weather delay at the end of the first quarter as I was making my exit through the crowd, so I was proud of myself for getting the assignment in the bag before the delay. Several of the other photogs weren't so lucky.

GA plate

2007-08-31T09:41:00.001-04:00

Working in a different county than the one I live in made of lazy about going to the DMV for my peach state plate. I am legit now.

I'm in a band

2007-08-28T23:56:00.000-04:00

Six members. This is a huge change from the solo playing I have been doing for years. I'm just noting this because I got back from my third rehearsal with the group tonight, and everyone thinks things are coming together.

I'll have more to say about it later, but right now, I'm beat.

2007-08-28T23:51:00.000-04:00

A sign I have been busy: I think I've eaten from Krystal twice in five days. Kinda yum, kinda yuck.

It's the only thing nearby that is open at 11 p.m.

Winding down

2007-08-24T01:52:00.000-04:00

Why can't I sleep even though I slept but five hours last night and today worked 11? It takes me a while to wind down. Drinking is no good. I've been down that road.

I need a nightly routine. It cannot involve reruns of "Law & Order." Damn that show.

Rewind: Shoveling snow

2007-08-23T00:50:00.000-04:00

I dug this up recently to make someone laugh. It worked.

Taken February 2004, Palouse, Wash. This was shot on film, so I don't have an exact date. I actually took the time to set up a tripod for this self portrait. I call it "Palouse Gothic."

"Premonition" the movie

2007-08-21T23:03:00.000-04:00

Dumb.

Saturday night out

2007-08-19T08:47:00.000-04:00

Last night Tad, Kim, Becky and I packed up coolers full of food, wine and beer and went to Mable House Amphitheatre in Mableton for an evening of jazz with Jane Monheit and John Pizzarelli. Two very good shows back to back.

We haven't been out much lately for music, so I'm glad we did that. It was so much fun.

City air

2007-08-18T08:35:00.000-04:00

I've never had to check the air quality before going out to play until now.

Today the ozone level here is supposed to reach levels "unhealthy to sensitive groups" with "moderate" particle pollution in the 2.5 micrometer, or coarse, category.

Today is Ozone Action Day here.

Maybe I should get my car's exhaust manifold fixed.

Oh, damn!

2007-08-16T12:16:00.001-04:00

First words out of my mouth after my first taste of Sam & Dave's BBQ, Marietta. I was sitting alone but still said it out loud without thinking.

Chief

2007-08-13T22:56:00.000-04:00

This is the Marietta Daily Journal's new chief photog.

Photo by Becky at 5 Seasons Brewery in Sandy Springs