So last night was fun. Urs, Ted, and I rolled over to Baker Street for music and drinks. Harry was supposed to be gigging, but it was unexpectedly Ruby Star Bone (or something to that effect). The beer and Jager shots were just as good regardless. I hadn't eaten since lunch, so I sincerely appreciated the extra-greasy pub food as well. Today is the day my replacement body is supposed to arrive. I sold my camera last week and shipped it out on Saturday. I've been sad ever since. Jonezin. I can hear the lawn service making chop suey out of my yard right now. Other than that, the house is so quiet. EL is at work and I'm working from home. The pets are napping. It's peaceful. The only thing really missing is about 35 acres and a mountain outside my window. You could throw in a bubbling brook, but I'm not going to be pushy. Heh. Anyhoo, I have work to do... ciao.
It was a sunny morning, a little after 8:00 am, on the first hole of a busy course and I was beginning my pre-shot routine, visualizing my upcoming shot when a piercing voice came over the club house loud speaker:
"Would the gentleman on the woman's tee back up to the men's tee please!!"
I could feel every eye on the course looking at me.
I was still deep in my routine, seemingly impervious to the interruption.
Again the announcement, "Would the MAN on the WOMAN'S tee kindly back up to the men's tee."
I simply ignored the guy and kept concentrating, when once more, the man yelled: "WOULD THE MAN ON THE WOMAN'S TEE BACK UP TO THE MEN'S TEE, PLEASE!!!"
I finally stopped, turned, cupped my hands and shouted back... "WOULD THE ASSHOLE WITH THE MICROPHONE KINDLY KEEP QUIET AND LET ME PLAY MY SECOND SHOT!!"
Well, the EntoBlitz was a success. I headed to
Anahuac for an entomology expedition this weekend as the "macro guy". I knew I'd hit the boonies when I stopped for a rest break and mentioned to the register attendant that the men's room was out of hand soap and received the most alien look imaginable. Why would anyone need hand soap in the bathroom? The actual site I was at holds the world record mosquito capture. Some biologists came out last year and hung a mosquito trap from a tree at 9:00 pee emm the day after Thanksgiving. They returned at 7:00 aye emm to find it on the ground and thus don't know at what time it stopped "trapping". It was on the ground because the rope suspending it snapped under the weight of the 45 pounds of mosquitoes in the trap. True story. I was slathered in DEET for the duration of my brief stay. One of the primary goals of the trip was achieved in that
Automeris Louisiana (a.k.a. Louisiana Silk Moth) was proven to exist on the refuge as two adult females were captured alive. The intent is to raise their eggs to maturity for further study or release. They only live about 4 or 5 days as adults anyway, so I'm not sure about the release part. I sold my camera and shipped it Monday. The replacement is in process and I hope to have it by the end of the week. EL had a terrible experience late in the week that she describes in her blog, so those that have the URL can check it out. I didn't take my truck out of four wheel drive all weekend. It was blissful. I have a lot of work to do today and an agenda of items to take care of this week before the new tools arrive. I hope everyone has a great week and if you haven't checked it out yet, go
download Google Earth. It rocks.
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If you woke up breathing, Congratulations - You get another chance.
A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.
Sometimes, we need to remember that only two tools are required for success in life - WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tape.
Avoid arguments with the Mrs. about lifting the toilet seat by simply using the sink; however, you may want to relocate the toothbrush holder first.
Clumsy? Avoid cutting yourself while slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them while you chop away.
For high blood pressure sufferers: simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure in your veins; however, you might want to use a timer. PS. The act of chopping vegetables has been known to lower ones blood pressure naturally.
Remember: Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.
And finally, be really nice to your family and friends. You never know when you might need them to empty your bedpan.
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between 2 'wolves' inside us all.
One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then
asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."
Well, well, well. The previously planned
Fogo de Chao trip was postponed until further notice due to the
honored guest not being back from a drinking binge in New Orleans in time. Instead, EL and I took Urs and Sandra for dinner/drinks in The Woodlands. We ended up at
The Glass Menagerie enjoying fantabulous deserts and some coffee diablo to die for. My wife describes this in her blog... "
And then there was the tableside flambé coffee... oh my. After caramelizing the cinnamon and sugar, they poured in the French Press coffee. Each liquor was then individually lit ablaze and drizzled over a full spiraled lemon rind speckled with cloves which was suspended above the coffee. The Grand Marnier, Kahlua and Courvoisier swirled down the lemon rind, picking up just enough of the oil and flavor to create a spectacular coffee experience." She left out the part where they sprinkled cinnamon into the river of fire pouring over the cloved rind that instantly ignited like a tiny fireworks display over the event. We had a relaxing Sunday after the previous night of excess. Lunch at
Pei Wei was probably our only real venture away from the house. I ended up
raiding last night when EL went to bed early. I couldn't sleep despite being done by 11:00 or so. I think I managed to doze off somewhere around 2:30, so I'm really tired today. The guys are supposed to be hooking up after work for a
Reel Big Fish show that Sam is itching to attend. It should be fun regardless of the specifics. I heard on the radio this morning that the new
Harry Potter book made $100 million in the first day of sales this weekend. Of that, the author is alleged to get about $36 million for
her pocket. Not too shabby a turn around for a single, poor mom trying to find a way to scrape by just a few years ago. I need to get ready for a conference call at 9:00. Have a great day!
I've been on a training conference call all morning. I'm still there now. Lovely. It's pretty cool, but at this point I'm tired and would rather be spending time with
EL or following some road on the
bike. I need to grab a beer, sit down at the 'ole Google-brain-interface, and find some live music. I know it can be done damnit. I'm going to go on a photo-binge this year. You watch. I'm a clicky click guy.
So, don't we all need a
Turbo Tap at home? I mean... really... especially when you can pour Guinness
like this. When great advertising and great golf collide, you get
this. Adult shopping with a cool
website.
Danny Way jumped the Great Wall of China on his
skateboard. Jada Pinkett Smith fronts an R&B metal
band on the down low. The next step in
men's entertainment.
WTF!? Pure effin'
genius. Tommy
gets wet.
Stuff coming to a city redneck near you. Education for the youngins' at
the zoo. I'm sleepy.
let it flow, let yourself go
slow and low, that is the tempo
Other than a nice lunch with EL, today has been a big bag of paperwork suck. I have a potential customer that has pre-fab inspection test write-ups that have to be completed prior to CapEx release. No problem when they do them... big bunch of doo doo when I am holding the pen. I don't mind really. It's just tedious. It makes the day drag on and on... *sigh*. I have all eleven pages of the document completed except for some tech specs buried deep in the land of who-gives-a-crap that I still haven't managed to find. I think my brain is in need of some recoup. At least the coffee is hot.
The baptism when well. Sam's family turned out a nice showing and his little son was done up right. The afternoon was mostly beer, bar-b-que, and more beer. The skies opened up around six and the bucket was emptied. Torrential would be mild. I slept poorly last night and today has been a struggle. I spent my afternoon in presentation and, as the workday closes, I find myself nap-worthy. I am sitting here at Blanco's Bar and Grill with a 384k cellular uplink and a cold beer. Work isn't always bad. I'm meeting some old friends to talk more shop... and catch up. My schedule is compressing over the next month or two. I was selected to officially photo-journalize a scientific expedition in a few weeks. Identification/Classification and cataloging of indigenous insect species to Eastern Texas in the Anahuac Refuge region. I'm a little out of my league with all the biologists and scientist types attending, but honored just the same to snippety snap. There's more too it than that, but that's the gist. Here is one of the shots from yesterday that I particularly like... I've been to busy to really develop the others. I need to get back to some work email before the sands slip through the neck and I have to wait until tomorrow to flip the hourglass.
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Although my choice of first person shooter has changed over the year, Quake 3 has always been a competitor far in the lead. I have to admit however, that for as little I cared for UT 2003,
Unreal Tournament 2004 has grown on me and is a strong rival. I especially enjoy the team onslaught maps where each team must destroy the opposing team's power core through a chess like game of linking their power nodes to unlock access to the core. I put some purdy pictures in the "
more" section of this post for clarification. The thing it really has going for it is F-U-N. Fun is something a lot of gaming companies lose sight of in the race to put out the most graphics crippling effects possibly at 30fps on the dream gaming systems of today that only the few fortunate can actually comfortably purchase. It is sad... but true. So the LAN party I attended yesterday was a big success. I got to see some old friends that I used to work with and generally had a great time. The only suck factor was that the host lives 53 miles from my house in traffic. But hey, I knew the risks. Today, I'm attending (and shooting) Sam's new son's baptism. I need to go get ready for that, so I'll bow out for now. I hope everyone has an incredibly lazy day.
Yesterday afternoon became last night. It didn't happen in a premeditated or strategic methodology. It just was. Dinner in a sports bar is not my favorite spot to dine, but when it isn't your choice and the primary entrée is beer, it has to just do sometimes. A few hundred dollars in liquor later, we were at yet another sports bar. This one had a live band, so it was a step up. They attempted to cover vintage Toadies. "A" for effort is about as far as I can go. There can be only one. Like any native Texan, the obligatory drunken Whataburger ended the evening at late-thirty. I was/am hanging this morning in a not so happy way. My boss's boss called me an asshole before he said good morning when he arrived today. I guess that's what you get when you book an overnight stay at a remote site. TGIF peops... I'm ready for some weekend lovin'
After the long holiday weekend and a slow ramp into work yesterday, everyone seems to be hitting the ground running this morning. My boss's boss is flying in today... plane probably landing about now. A new engineer on the team is flying in for this, that, or the other. I have booked meetings through mid-week next week and have a laundry list of things to-do that goes on for miles. There's nothing like combining an extended weekend with the start of a new quarter to give people a feeling of renewed vigor in the vendor marketspace. I watched High Fidelity again the other night. It's a good "guy's movie" that somehow swims just below the surface of the sea of "chick flicks"... dangerous, mind sucking waters chummed with cheesy romantic comedies and overtly dramatic tear-jerkers. My coffee is running low and I would kill for a bacon, egg, bean, potato, and cheese breakfast taquito right now.
I think about posting here in erratic bits and pieces. Often these days, it will be a week before I remember that I forgot. If that makes any sense at all. I was leading the way to Jesse Jones Nature Center the other day for EL and the kids. I was on my bike and they were following in her car. As we progressed through the lights along the stretch of 1960 between Interstate 45 and the Deerpark area, I was continually getting pelted with debris from the road. It was getting old fast. Just as my irritation was peaking, I found myself at the pole position of a particularly straight section of road when the light turned red. As I watched the pelters fade away in the distance, I knew that (at least for the immediate future) the sandblasting would remain missing in action subsequent to the changing of the colors. Eagerly, I waited on the light. I knew it was coming soon. Tick tock. Green.
I can't speak to the accuracy of my bikes stated stock configuration achieving 60 mph from a dead stop in less than three seconds because I wasn't counting. I can however state without a shadow of doubt that when you shift into second while in the power band, the 630 pound beast will rear it's ugly head off the pavement from the sheer torque. My first wheelie and I didn't even mean it.
After a brief stop at the park, I went on to the Yamaha dealer for an oil change and diagnostic. There was a short in the high beam switch that was preventing the headlight from illuminating. Nothing like $62.00/hr labor to get your juices flowing when there isn't any coffee handy, eh? As I waited for the work to be completed, I sat and watched this man caress a small enduro style motorcycle from knobby front wheel to rear. He touched every exposed inch of the bike as he discussed features and price with the salesman. He inserted his finger into the exhaust orifice and smelled it as if to check for the leanness of recent operation. He gauged the tread height and sidewall thickness. He sized the engine with his hands in every orientation. He spoke of how he'd been wanting this bike for some time and how "today was the day if the numbers were right". They worked a deal to put slightly bigger tires on the bike to improve handling at no charge as they had them in stock. He was elated. He was taking this motorcycle home! It wasn't until the deal was done and delivery was being arranged that I noticed the collapsed white cane at his feet. You can do anything if you put your mind to it.
The fourth of July was a day like any other. I didn't wear red, white, and blue... but it was in my heart. I'm not a big fireworks fan. Don't get me wrong, I like the pretty colors and the rumbles and booms, but they misrepresent the meaning of the day in my opinion. They create litter for the environment to deal with and atmospherically damaging combustion byproducts. They are expensive, toxic, and generally misused by the majority which makes them inherently dangerous. All that aside, EL and I took Urs and Sandra to The Woodlands for the display. It was fun to get out and do something different. Downtown Houston claimed to have the largest fireworks display in the United Stated this year. I don't know if there is any truth to that, but I'm sure it was significantly larger than the already overdone bit we saw up north. Happy Independence Day... it really was. I get all emotional around the flag anyway, but the inspirational music enveloping a magnificent pyrotechnic event staged behind a waving flag illuminated in the foreground. It was nearly too much for me.
I'm working from home this afternoon after squandering my lunch break at the tax assessor's office. Oh joy. What a kooky place wait in line. I hope your days is going better... ciao.
I went to the open jam after all. Sam provided a couple of fine Dominican cigars for the evening and the music was a fine as ever. There was young talent in the house that brought smiles to throughout the room. This one kid couldn't have been more than 12 or so and he absolutely wailed. Amazing. The days between then and now have been mostly lazy. I have been riding the bike when not soaking up R&R at the house. EL and I met Urs and Sandra at Papa's last night for cocktails before I went out with "the guys" for additional libations. The night went something like beer, beer, beer, Jager, beer, beer, Karaoke, beer. Nothing exciting. My Lensbaby arrived recently and I took it for a spin this afternoon. I have
v2.0 and so far it is a lot of fun. The results are scoped in range, but it allows you to do a lot of "that sort of effect" in-camera with no post processing. This shot of my bike's air intake and engine (
in the "continue reading" section) was not tampered with in post other than desaturation through a B&W conversion process. The selective focus and positioning of the focal plane was all done with optics at the time of exposure. Fun!
I think we're going for fireworks observation a little later.
Happy Independence Day!!
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