Cloudy Week Ain't Over Yet

It's Friday. Then end of the work week. And as much as I would love to rejoice in parting of the clouds and the sunshine breaking through to end this week of misery, I still cannot get past the storm.

I flew back home to Kentucky last night. It was quite the experience. Normally I have decent flights. Sure, there are some kids on there who scream and yell about the air pressure hurting their ears or the fact that the Southwest person won't stop singing over the intercom, which insights everyone to sing as well. I hate that crap. Most of the time I can put up with it all, but there are some flights which defy reason. Last night was such a flight.

First, at BWI, we sat next to a poor chap who was on his way home to Nashville. I know a lot about this guy's life since we heard the whole thing as he fought with his wife on his phone. Seems he travels 20-22 days out of every month, and the wife is not pleased about it, but what can he do, he constantly asks her? I'll get a new job if you want, but right now the openings are sparse and the pay he gets is good for the family. Then, just when you think he's won her over ... she apparently some random woman named Michelle keeps calling and asking for him. He doesn't know any Michelle, so clearly instead of letting it go the wife now thinks (and apparently this is not the first time for this accusation) that he is having an affair.

I will admit to giving the guy the benefit of the doubt. Not because he's a man, but because based on the one-sided conversation we overheard, his wife is clearly insane. He said goodnight to his children and told them he loved them. Then the evil wench got back on and ran all over the poor guy. At one point, "Fine, if you want when I get home I'll pack up and be gone by Sunday" was uttered. We were watching a marriage dissolve at BWI, out loud, within 30 feet of a McDonald's, Quizno's, other eateries and a crap jewelry store called Fire & Ice (who the hell buys shit from a place with that kind of name?). Needless to say, the situation for him was dire. Don't know if he's still married or not, but here's to hoping you at least have your sanity, dude.

Lastly, we got on the plane and sat in front of three people who didn't know each other but decided to become BFFs for the next 96 minutes on the flight. This was a 11 p.m. flight, the entire plane was asleep except for these three jackasses describing every job they've each held, from cutting plastic to cleaning oil residue out of old Chrysler engines. I have best friends I don't know this much about. And they kept sychronizing their volume to the airplane's engine, so no matter what, anyone within four rows could hear about the time Dude Sitting In the Middle Seat dropped a wrench on his co-worker's foot. Hilarious times, let me tell you.

I need this week to end. Fast. Here's to hoping bad things will avoid me on Halloween.

A Silver Lining In The Clouds

I love The Office. It's just a great show, and it's black comedy is of the highest order. And the new HR chief they brought in is fantastic, just for the fact that she's Michael only with breasts. It's great. I'm just posting one of the deleted scenes because it is just too damn funny and I had to share.

Dark Cloud of Shame

There are times when my friend Kelly bags on me for being from Kentucky. Most of the time he's just a petty child who hates that his Cincinnati Bearcats suck. Plus, all Cincinnati residents are weaned to believe that Kentucky is the seventh circle of hell (for Kentuckians, its Indiana).

But today is just another one of those signs that my week is destined to be terrible (and it's Thursday already ... this week just won't let up on me). I went to UK and still have some of my best friends from there. I love UK basketball and will argue to death about how Wayne Turner was one of the best players in team history even if the numbers don't show it.

Anyway, despite that, there is no doubt that my state has its flaws. They vote Republican despite everything they believe in saying they should vote Democrat. They could be highly investing in green technology and become a midwest/southeast center for green jobs, but they won't because they're fools. Our governors love to sleep with staffmembers and hand our tons of government contracts to their hunting/drinking pals. There are others, but I'm starting to get sad.

Making me more sad is events like this. It stains the university, the students and staff, and whether they truly acknowledge it or not, it stains people like me, who went there and have always thought the school could be taken seriously. I have a hard enough time talking to my coworkers (who all went to Ivy League schools or somewhere much fancier than me) and friends who went to other SEC or high-minded schools. It's a sad day for UK and alums like myself. And this is not the first time crap like this has happened, and I'm getting sick of it.

Clouds Still Here

The week is continuing its downward spiral. Today came word that someone stole laptops and possibly other things from my office. As far as I know nothing of mine was taken, but two people from my team had their laptops snatched. Not cool.

I'm not saying that our office is Fort Knox, but it's not exactly an open store with a daily giveaway, either. We have key cards to get in the building, ride the elevators and then enter our actual floor offices. Not sure what the status of the investigation is, but I'm definitely hoping it's not an inside job.

No matter, it's just yet another sign of a week gone sour. I need a pick-me-up. Just something to show me that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Showing a Different Side

This week I decided to show you a different direction of some of my photography. Up to this point I have only been sharing with you all my HDR slideshows, but I want to reassure the viewing public that I am not a one-trick pony. Because there is nothing more boring than a pony who only has one trick. That pony has glue stick in its future, for sure.

Anyway, enough with the damn ponies. As I am rather new to photography, I am always trying some new styles. I took my first photography class at the Smithsonian, and one of our first assignments was to go around the neighborhood and take pics of flowers. I think this started my initial enjoyment of photographing flowers, because as a beginner it was easy to take pictures of something that didn't run away, try to bite me or smack me for not getting their good side.

Once the class was through after a few months, I got tired of taking flower pictures. Then last year during the winter I picked up some flowers and brought them home for the goddess of my life. But before she could enjoy them I decided to attempt some black and white studio-style shots. With the recent purchase of a close-up lens that allows a shallow depth of field, I really like the way the photos turned out and the tight focus I could get on the smallest of objects.

Hope you enjoy the gallery. If you missed any previous ones, select it from the menu in the top-right of the blog.

Dress Like Palin

Lord knows I don't need any of the women I know to start resembling the "diva" and "whack job" as McCain advisors are declaring her, but if you would like to see how much that $150K can get you, head over to this site. There, you can dress like Sarah Palin. A fun site to dabble in for a few minutes, before you remember that this woman is trying to be the vice president of the nation.

Cloud Moving In?

Sometimes you can just feel a bad week coming.

Started this morning when I was talking to a co-worker and someone came into the kitchen and said the infamously shite line, "Looks like you have a case of the Mondays." I only wished I had a bobcat to sic on her.

Then, when going to lunch, a guy walked right across me on the sidewalk and spit on my shoe. He looked at me with the, "So, what the eff?"

When I got back to my office, the sandwich I had ordered was lacking meat. It was a turkey sandwich. With no effing turkey. I was starting to lose patience.

My umbrella broke while I was walking in the rain.

I got two robocalls from politicians I have never heard of. I don't even think they were running for a legit office. Could have been for parking attendant and magazine page turner. They sounded that level of incompetent.

Then, to make matters worse, my iPhone crashed. Not the end of the world, because luckily Apple made it easy to re-install the software and restore the phone to what it was. Runs better than ever now. So that's OK, but it seemed really depressing at the time when it happened.

Got a feeling a bad week may be in the offing. Hopefully not. I'll keep you posted.

Nice 'Scar' Dumbass

OK, now this is getting a little ridiculous. This girl from Texas (big effing surprise) who worked for the McCain campaign in New York before volunteering for its efforts in Pennsylvania, reported that she had been mugged a couple days ago by a tall, lurking black man while going to a local ATM.

She had lots of details, and so the cops initially took her seriously. And then things went south, because the details turned out of be a tad shaky. And by a tad shaky, I mean she made the whole effing thing up. She even included a scar that apparently was self-inflicted and might have been the first giveaway that the mugger didn't exist (or else he was awfully careful to carve that 'B' baskwards to make some kind of point). I think it stands for bonehead.

Well done, moron. Instead of stoking racial fears to heighten up the scare in Pennsylvania and shove a few more white votes into McCain's corner, now she's stoked up racial fears of the racist, prejudiced kind. Seems the girl also has some questionable control over her mental faculties. Just the kind of foot soldier the McCain folks need to have running around the streets drumming up support for the campaign.

You can read all about this fool here. If shit like this gets McCain elected, I'm leaving the country with Tina Fey.

April in Paris, Part 2

So spending a week in Paris means I spent a lot of time behind the camera. It's just such a wonderful city to get to photograph, meaning I had a lot to choose from when editing down my photos. I liked so much from what I did, this week I am giving you a bonus gallery of some photos from Paris.

This time around, you'll get a bonus look from one of the cathedrals. You will also see a wonderful, cheery girl who had I captured having fun with a bunch of pigeons (Parisians seem to be OK with the pigeon, while in DC and NY everyone refers to them as rats with wings, which is true). Additionally there is a also a photo from Rue de Mouffetard, where my good friend Leigh lived for a year (I purposefully went and spent some time shooting the street so I would have some photos to give her). I also included an interesting photo I took of Moulin Rouge (initially I didn't warm to it, but the way the reds stand out on the most important focal points sold me as I looked at it longer). And one of the photos from the first Paris gallery actually looked very strong to me in B&W, so I am including that one also.

Lastly there is a photo of the Eiffel Tower at night. I shot this from the top of the Arc de Triomph, and it was very gusty and cold, and the high winds made it very difficult to pull of this shot at night without getting camera shake. Yet once the lights started twinkling, I snapped as many as I could, bracing my camera against the edge of the Arc, which did not make my goddess very happy, because she knows the killing spree I would have gone on had the wind whipped the camera from my hand and sent it spiraling to the ground, probably killing someone (had it been a pigeon, she probably would have been OK with it).

Click here to see the newest gallery. If you missed the first one, you can see it here.

Good Thinking, Kid

My neighborhood is constantly crawling with families. I'm not a big kid person myself, but when you live a couple hundred yards from the National Zoo, you can barely open your mouth to utter a curse word without a kid being with in earshot.

Today was a bit different, though. While walking my dog, a family of four was making their way to the zoo when they stopped to remark about a neighbor's car who is littered with bumper stickers. Their car is sticker free, and the youngest son, who I'll peg at around 10, said he wanted a bumper sticker on their car. Mom turned and asked, "What do you want it to say? The soccer team? A Redskins one?"

His quick reply, "Obama in '08!"

Is he an 10-year-old socialist? Doubtful. He's a kid who, when posed with a innocuous question, threw out an honest answer, and one that was at once poignant, truthful, natural and bizarrely mature for someone who could have thrown out the Redskins or something else and no one would have thought twice. Instead, he said "Obama in '08" and now my day is a lot better. I'm hoping that kid runs for something someday. He's got a good head on his shoulders already.

Good thinking, kid.

What I've Watched: My Blueberry Nights

Some nights are just going to be bummer nights. Maybe the food you cooked didn't turn out right. Or perhaps your day at the office was rough so there's just nothing better than to have a few drinks and hope you sleep until the following week. I was having a particularly 'off' day when I came home and started watching My Blueberry Nights.

The movie, the first American film by famed director Wong Kar Wai, can be perceived in many ways. Maybe it was my bad day before it, but I really felt like the movie was about missed opportunities. The main character, played by bluesy singer Norah Jones, is trying to forget about an ex-boyfriend who has broken her heart. The story is a series of vignettes (yeah, big words from me) that help push everything along. First there is the diner owner (played by an improbable Jude Law); then you've got an estranged couple (the drunk cop, an excellent David Strathairn, and his slut/evil wife, by a personal favorite of mine, Rachel Weisz); finally you have a wacko gambler (the most delicious Natalie Portman).

In all of their tales, it's all about the moments they have to make better choices and how they let those moments pass and things continue to deteriorate. Jude apparently wanted to be an athlete but instead is a sad-sack cafe owner (totally unbelievable), so that's a shame. Strathairn can't bring himself to confront his wife's promiscuity (see, more big words) and can't even write her an honest letter to admit his feelings. Wiesz is just an all-out whore, which sucks because of how hot she is. And Portman just doesn't see herself as a desperate gambler, and a poor Texas/Florida dye job in the hair won't convince me.

Sadly, it's not like the movie was bad. I actually liked it quite a bit. Great camera work, good use of color palette to evoke emotions and convey meanings. The dialogue (written by Kar Wai) is solid, but it's the people the actors who I just don't take seriously (lone exception being Strathairn, who's great). Outside of Mr. Law and Ms. Jones I love all these actors. There was just something off, and in the end the movie didn't reach the heights of Kar Wai's previous efforts. Not the end of the world, but I had higher hopes. Until the next flick ...

Not Really Virginia Reporting Live

OK, what's getting on my nerves even more than how awful and racist and divisive some of the new ads and language the McCain camp keeps churning out is the actual PEOPLE they are throwing out there to spew it. There are many smart, intelligent and well-reasoned republican women out there. I know many of them. I work with some of them, and I am friends with others. But the McCain campaign seems to enjoy trotting out the stupid ones. Maybe this is their rationale to make Palin look more sane.

She's A Real Smartie, Yah

So I have some friends from Minnesota, and I got to say there may be a reason I have never previously heard of Rep. Michele Bachmann, a Republican.

Maybe we haven't heard of her, until Friday, until she decided to unveil herself on TV and show off her McCarthyism techniques. They are pulling out all the punches, and pulling out any remaining Republican they can who will spout some ignorant shite. Let's stay positive that people are seeing through this stuff.

What I've Watched: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

We all have heroes of one kind or another when growing up. A good deal of my own were pop culture based. And of course, we're talking late-70s, early-80s stuff here, so it's not like I had Michael Jordan or something profound here. And to add to that, most of them were based in TV and film, because that's what we did in the Campbell household when we weren't constantly racing off to sporting events (where the rest of our lives were spent those days). So my heroes had familiar names to many. Ferris Bueller. Ted Stryker. Ralph Hinkley. Dr. Peter Venkman. James Bond. David Addison. These are just a few. But they meant a lot at the time.

One of the other prominent ones was Indiana Jones. Good lord, my mother can watch Harrison Ford watch paint dry. She doesn't care. And when he puts on that damn hat and gives that crooked grin, she's lost for hours. So when a new Indiana Jones movie came out for the first time in who only knows when, it was a big deal. I missed it in the theaters because of travel and honest fear of what a present-day Hollywood would do to neuter one of my beloved heroes. I still remember being wholly satisfied with The Last Crusade movie because it was a fun father-son movie, it began and ended strong and to this day I still tell people whether they have chosen wisely or poorly. Great stuff, I tell ya.


Sadly they put a humongous postage stamp on this latest movie, and it shows at every turn. The characters are weak (waste of Cate Blanchett if I ever saw one, and don't get me started on the overall waste of human tissue that is Shia). The plot makes absolutely no sense. Russians want to harness the power of alien heads to plant thoughts in the minds of the world's population? What? And this all kicking around in some Amazonian jungle? What? And they found this city (hidden for hundreds of years, mind you) in about 15 seconds. Fine, I give up. Even the soundtrack wasn't strong. John Williams' iconic theme has a jazzy vibe to it and it lacks the strength it showed in all the previous films.

The witty slaptick humor and corny lines are gone. It's just a shame. Those movies are not supposed to be Bourne or Bond or anything resembling high-pack tension. What they are is a remarkably fun journey of an archaeologist and his comrades, who gets the girl and always looks good doing it. Having Karen Allen return as Marion, but she was not the feisty drunkard we loved in Raiders. Nods to Marcus Brody and Papa Indy were there, but Sallah was left behind. The oddest part (if you can rank them all ... and big spoiler alert to those who have not seen the movie yet) was showing the Ark of the Convenant in a brief wink at the beginning of the movie. Seriously? The Russians are passing up the mighty power of god (he can melt faces, after all) for some mind-numbing alien technology that no one knows even exists? Five minutes into the movie and they already lost me. What a bummer.

There is more I could say, but I'll just leave it to myself to be bummed that in bringing back a childhood hero, they left me eagerly finding the original films to cleanse my mind of what I had seen. I'll leave you with a scene that had all the makings of classic Indy, something that's never even remotely approached in the Crystal Skull.

Hey John, Remember These Folks?

The nonprofit I work for deals a lot with local organizations all over the country. One of those orgs we work with is ACORN. These people have had a rough go of it lately, some of it justified, but a lot of it from the McCain campaign is complete horseshit. I'm really getting tired of hearing about how ACORN is ruining the fabric of democracy (I think the Patriot Act has taken care of that for us, thanks Bush) and also how the CRA caused the current economic crisis (one of the biggest lies perpetrated right now by right-wingers). It's just ludicrous watching them grasp for anything that might move five ignorant voters to vote for McCain.

Well, in classic Rove-ian style, I shall paint McCain as FOR ACORN before he was AGAINST it. And I'm not talking about him palling around with ACORN 21 frickin years ago, either. Um, I'm talking about him supporting ACORN a whopping TWO years ago.



But that was when McCain used to trumpet half-decent policies, like comprehensive immigration reform. Shame he isn't talking with a clear head anymore.

April in Paris

Back in April the lady in my life and I went to Paris for a week. She's been there several times (her grandfather flew paratrooper planes during D-Day and throughout WWII, so her family attends reunions in Europe all the time). It was my first time to Paris, and I instantly dug it in a big way. I've always been into urban locales and given its huge history and how dense the city is, the whole area was amazing and I loved it.

I did sleep well each night, because lugging a heavy-ass camera bag around was not the best thing for my feet, back and energy level. But after checking out the photos I took, I definitely think the pain was worth it. Luckily, checking out the neighborhoods and museums was not like this:



Anyway, here's another photo gallery of some of my photos from Paris. This is just one set. I will have another gallery up soon. Also, for those who may have missed my first two galleries I posted, you can choose them from the menu on the right.

Son of a Buckley

I'm just making a quick post on something I read today. For those new to the political scene, there was this guy named William F. Buckley, who was the very definition of conservative. I am sure there are statues of this guy somewhere, even if they probably deserve to the be spray-painted over. But he was in favor of legalizing all drugs (how about that from a conservative?) because he thought the War on Drugs was a complete joke (ummm, no kidding).

Anyway, he also founded the National Review, a super-conservative magazine, in 1955. His son, Christopher, is a columnist for them and a new figurehead for the conservative movement.

Well, he's updating his resume.

You see, he decided that McCain is running a moron's campaign and that Palin is the biggest joke of a VP nom in history. Not modern history, mind you. But history in its entirety. So making a well-informed and logical judgment, he decided to write a column for The Daily Beast explaining that he's voting for Obama.

You can imagine what happened next.

After receiving the full brunt of hellfire and brimstone from the right, he resigned his column from the magazine his frickin dad founded. Luckily for us curious folk, he wrote a follow-up explaining the whole thing, which is really quite sad that he had to abandon a job all because of an opinion that didn't meet the status quo of his party. I even checked out the comments section of the original posts, and there is some scary stuff out there, and some beyond-stupid people who i am ashamed to see can functionally use a computer and type out this stuff.

I can easily imagine liberals doing the same to their own, which is sad, and just another reminder to me how fractured this country has become, and how impossible it seems for progress to ever move in this city and this nation. When a mainstay of the conservative movement can't even share an open opinion without being threatened with his own life, what do you do?

Simple Shoes

OK, so I have found a new shoe store that I like. Normally I clad myself in adidas shoes, because I find them really, really comfortable ever since my outdoor and indoor soccer days from my teen years. Adidas even did me a huge favor by releasing a line of eco green shoes, which I have happily made a purchase since I am trying to convert my life into a more eco-preferred existence.

This post is about Simple Shoes, which makes great shoes out of recycled materials, from car tires to organic hemp. I bought a pair about three weeks ago and they are remarkably comfortable, as I have sometimes found that eco-preferred/recycled shoes can be rough on the feet depending on construction. 

Anyway, I'm posting these two movies to show what they are about. Plus, by doing so, I get entered in a contest for some free kicks. You get some knowledge, I get a chance at new shoes. Win, win for everyone.

Phallic Friday Continues

Thank god Friday is almost over. Not long after the run-in with Naked Co-Worker, I had yet another moment that was just a bit too much for one day.

One of the new areas I have explored at work is taping instructional videos to help staffers learn how to do certain tasks in our office. Using the printers, teaching some specific techniques in PowerPoint, Word, etc., and filling out various forms in our office like timesheets and whatever else HR has trouble properly explaining. Sure, my main reason for all of this is to reduce inane questions rolling my way on a daily basis. But the bonus goal is getting to learn some new software and try something new to keep the workday interesting.

As part of this, my IT guy got me the software I needed and a fancy microphone from Plantronics. It works great and also looks oddly like the Bird of Prey. When I first got the package, everything was fine. But it was upon opening it and removing the mic that the package backing was just a tad too much. I mean, really? Was this necessary in the product's packaging design in order to sell it? Was there a meeting to discuss this? ("Jimbo, I think I'd like to see the penis-inspired background at least twice as large. I want it really coming at the customer"). It's not like this was something you could miss.

I just had to hold onto it because some co-workers would have gotten a huge laugh out of it, and they did. But this day just needs to end. I'm done with it.

Uh, Thanks for the Show, Bro?

I work in a great office. Not long after starting at CFED, we moved from shite office space over at Union Station to more professional digs at Metro Center. Hell, I even got an office (with a door) out of the deal.

While we have our own floor, we sublet it out to two other nonprofits, which is great since they share a similar mission. But today things went a tad kooky when I made a pitstop to use the bathroom. Upon opening the door, here was one of the guys from another organization standing there kickin it in his light blue BVDs.

Well, hello there Naked McNakedson.

Holy crap. I didn't need that at 2:30 in the afternoon. Shit, I didn't need that at anytime of day, let alone in an office setting. The fellas on our floor have it better than normal, because it's a woman-dominated office space so we have unaccustomed privacy that is in stark contrast to sports stadium atmosphere we're normally used to on a daily basis. As I quickly blew past him, I noticed he was changing clothes. Not from jeans to a tux for some event or vice versa which I could understand, but he was just changing from one normal everyday outfit to another. So I was already stumped.

Frankly, we have a rather large men's bathroom. Toward the back, if the guy had any sense, is enough space to damn near field a 3-on-3 basketball game. It's larger than my damn apartment. OK, not really. But instead McNakenson decides to park his bulbous, banana-hammock body in front of the door where anyone (including those entering and exiting the women's restroom RIGHT NEXT DOOR) can see. If this was his plan all along, he's more desperate for attention than a Lohan at a cocaine plant.

I was now clearly in a rush to not be anywhere near this scene in the event someone cranked open the door and some co-worker saw me in the bathroom with a nearly ass-out dufus. So I made my way to the sink, which he instantly blocked. He then made a move to block the paper towels to dry my hands, but luckily the clothed were swifter than the naked, and I got there first. As I left, he then began an intricate dance with tucking his shirt which I can only describe as something closely resembling this. Dude, just tuck and go, man. Just a word, fellas: I don't need this shit at the office. Or anywhere. Thanks.

Quiet in the Cathedral

Thought it was time to share another set of photos that I have taken as part of my exploration into HDR photography. This slideshow is actually the first time I have ever attempted HDR, so it's cool to revisit these photos and see how my technique began and where I have come from then.

The things I notice most is my initial fear of shooting anything with people in it. I have gotten better and more comfortable with it, but it's something I definitely am constantly working at. Of course, it's not like these photos are the first photos I have ever taken. Luckily, I had been at the photography thing for a year or two before that. Yet I feel like these photos are the first time two things collided at once.

First was my desire to try a new technique with the HDR thing. The second was just feeling more comfortable behind the camera and taking my time to get the shots I wanted. Most of the time I still rush myself thinking something else is out there, but at least I notice it more often and can slow down to make sure I'm doing all the right steps to get the shot right and sharp. Anyway, enough rambling. Enjoy my first ever foray into HDR at the National Cathedral down the street from my home.

This Exhausted Body

For most of the summer my running/exercise schedule was completely shot to hell. My organization put on a national conference here in DC last month, so I spent the entire summer busting my ass getting posters, signs, flyers, brochures, post cards, programs, powerpoints, banners and all manner of shite put together in time. At last count, our conference director said I designed somewhere around 650 pages of original content in just over seven weeks.

So I was a wee tired by the time the conference ended.

Now that I have recovered, I have decided to resume my running schedule, but with a new twist. Trying to find time to run after work each night was a real pain. Not a lot of time at night. Sometimes I'm running errands after leaving the office. I'm not in the mood to get mugged by the homeless dude who knows my daily schedule since he lives on the bridge outside my apartment. Plus, sometimes I just want to come home a veg.

The new twist has been waking up at 6:30 in the morning and running in the morning before I shower and go to work. For those who know me and my disdain for being conscious in the morning, it was a daunting task. This morning was the first go at it, and I was like a zombie all day at the office (that's not me in the photo, but it's emblematic of my physical state). No fewer than seven people noticed my lethargic nature. It's clearly going to take some for my body to get used to running that early in the morning.

I can (thankfully) report that my morning running/exercise routine is at least clothed, unlike these wackos.

Pleasing the Crowd

Have to quickly give props to my new band, who rose the occasion last night. After chowing down on some homemade vittles, I was stunned by everyone's giddy desire to fire up Rock Band 2 and thrash the night away. Reviewing video games is fun, and some of my late-night Gears of War sessions with my friends back in Cincy and Lexington are always a pleasure (and when is halving locusts with a chainsaw not?). But this was different, because now we had the ladies eagerly joining in.

We all took turns at various instruments. Dr. Dan struggled throughout with the guitar but found some comfort in vocals (at least when he was wailing out Man in the Box). K-Martin was solid all around, having no trouble either at drums or lead guitar. The main ladies behind the mic were Ashley and Sheri, who certainly enjoyed the evening even if they failed to hit a single note unless it was a spoken-word song. I always fare well in the guitar department, and for the first time I pick up the drumsticks and learned that with some more practice I won't be half-bad at it. But the big ups for the evening had to go to my goddess divine, who has always jokingly shunned my reviewing of video games. Normally she moans about the space they take up, the joy I get from shooting aliens or defeating U of L in football. Yet there she was, banging away like my own little Keith Moon. And she loved it. So now I've got her right where I want her.

By the end of the evening, after several encore performances, everyone agreed a national tour was in order. First we take IHOP, then we take the world!

Can't Make Heads or Tails of Her Either?

Well maybe this will help. While Buchanan and the lot of fools were gushing over Palin's debate performance, I was sitting there in a local hotel bar with some co-workers trying to make heads or tails over some of her bizarro comments. Seriously, the lassie barely answered the questions asked. Just the simple fact she had no idea of the impact of Crazy Dick Cheney on the VP's office. I don't know how we can make it as a country with this woman as VP. She's a disgrace to everything Hillary had accomplished.

In the meantime, here is a flow chart (courtesy of our friends at the Huff Post, who got it from another source) in case you were searching, like me, for a map to Palin's speaking manner.

5 Minutes Makes a Big Difference

Check this out. Pretty people telling important things. I don't care which side you like, but this is no joke. Watch for 5 minutes, then make an impact with 5 others. Along with this blog, I've contacted 5 others. I feel better already.

Register to vote!

A Few Days In Cali

As I said in my initial post, part of the reason I set this blog up is to share my photography with the masses (all 8 of you who read it ... but believe me, I love your support). I don't claim to be some kind of photo savant, but I do really enjoy it. I've always loved photography, and while he may not like it, a good deal of my new motivation and desire to be good at it was working with my buddy Bill. He's a damn good photographer, and has always been willing to share his advice on my techniques and suggestion new ways to look at things. He's the silent type, so the first time he started a conversation with me was a shocker. I think it had to do with the GBH album I was listening to, but now I've digressed.

So click here or the main image above for the slideshow of photos I took during a recent trip to Napa. The weather was amazing, the wine flowed and tasted as great as I could expect, and even the food was outstanding. I don't entirely know where on the cow the wagyu beef comes from, but I hope it's relatively decent spot where I won't feel weird loving it so much.

I will probably explain in a later post how I go about creating my images. But I really like the way HDR comes out. I see the world in a different way than the next person, and while I love black and white photography, for the time being I have really attached myself to the way HDR presents itself. I dig the competition each photo has between the real-life image that I captured and the digital, almost-painted look my final images show. Hope you enjoy.