The Day Before

Tomorrow's the big day! Super Bowl XLI! Chicago Bears vs Indianapolis Colts, just in case you've been living in a cave the last 3 weeks. Dad's coming over to watch the game with me. I was invited to a Super Bowl party, but since I have to work tomorrow night, I opted to stay home. I'm also happy to spend some time with my Dad, even if he is a Packer fan. Work has been interesting the past two weeks. There are a lot of people who hail from Indianapolis, so a lot of smack talk has been thrown back and forth. It should be a whole lot quieter on Monday.

Holy crap, it's cold today. When we were in Rockford around 8 pm, all the bank signs read -5° or -6°. I'm pretty sure the wind chill is pushing -30°. We've had the thermostat set at 68° all day, but it hasn't even reached 64° yet, it's that cold. It doesn't help that our house is over 100 years old, and very poorly insulated.

Lofty Perch

I know I promised not too many "cat shots", but these two were just begging for it. They never sit still this long. Surprisingly, this shot was very challenging. I took approximately 20 shots before I got this one. The lighting situation was very poor, so I had to use a flash. Normally, I use a technique called "bounce lighting" or "bounce flash" for this kind of shot. You aim the flash to reflect off the ceiling, and it softens the light and gives the subject a very natural look. That way you avoid getting the very hard shadows directly behind the subject.

In this case, since Punkin was in the top of the shot very near the ceiling, so he was getting much more light than Cotton at the bottom. I was having difficulty lighting everything in a uniform way. In the end, I managed to get just the look I wanted with near-perfect lighting. I did get a slight shadow in the upper right corner of the shot, but overall I'm happy how it turned out. I'm really pleased how this blog has forced me to think again about composition, lighting, and all the other technical aspects of photography.

I know, a cat shot coupled with come technical nonsense.... Pretty riveting stuff, right?

Bean Burritos Baby!

This is what I generally eat when I get up late and I'm feeling a bit lazy. Coincidentally, this is also the type of photo I post when I get up late and I'm feeling a bit lazy. I really dig Mexican food. Even pseudo-Mexican food like this or Chipotle, I love it all.

Well, today is February 1st, and the year's looking like it's going to be a long one. I can't believe I've been doing this for a month already! Once again, I really appreciate all the great feedback I've received from everyone, and all the great comments. I'm looking forward to the next 11 months!

Third Shift Annoyance #3: Only Wal-mart is Open at 6 am!

I hate Wal-Mart. I really do. Unfortunately, when you get off work at 7 am, there is no other option. I did, however, get a kick out of this creative display that greeted me as I went in this morning. Made of milk crates and suspended from the ceiling, this display of Bears Pride really brightened my morning.

We had another loooooooong night. I literally sat from 3:30 until 6:00 without touching a car. Some major breakdown in the Body Shop sent a 3 hour gap through the assembly line. Kinda nice to do nothing and get paid for it, but being the fidgety dude that I am, it was certainly a long night. They finally sent us home an hour early, at 6 am.

Procrastination

pro·cras·ti·nate [proh-kras-tuh-neyt]
–verb
1.to defer action; delay: to procrastinate until an opportunity is lost.
2.to put off till another day or time; defer; delay.
Ex. Jason procrastinated taking over the recyclables.

If you were to open the dictionary right now, flip to the "p" section, and look up "procrastinate", you may see something very similar to this. This is what happens when you add these four factors together:

1. A very procrastinative husband
2. Very cold, harsh, Illinois winter weather
3. People tearing your home apart for 10 days
4. Excessive amounts of cardboard from the 11 new cabinets you just bought

We recycle. Unfortunately, due to high "energy costs", the garbage company does not pick this stuff up for recycling purposes. No problem, right? We have a recycling bin right down the street! Yeah, no problem in the balmy months, when the most you have to worry about is a gentle spring rain. Well, the winter is another story. I tend to procrastinate a bit more when it's 4° with a -16 ° wind chill. That's not taking into consideration the blowing, stinging 2 1/2" of snow we got last night. Enough excuses, right? In my defense, the majority of this stuff is from the kitchen cabinets, and we wouldn't have had so much other cardboard if we weren't forced to eat frozen dinners exclusively for 10 days. Meh. I'm ranting. There is a moral here, and I'm sure once my brain thaws out it'll come to me....

Cracked!

What you're looking at is a DS Lite, the latest handheld videogame system by Nintendo.
Now what you're looking at is a cracked hinge on said DS Lite. This is the second time this has happened to me. I wasn't too upset this time, since I was just going to return it, and now I can get a black one. Unfortunately, you can't find the freakin things anywhere! Much like the Nintendo Wii, the DS Lite is nearly impossible to find. Being the Nintendo fanboy that I am, this is great, but I really am annoyed with these hinge problems.

Vegetarian Delight

Stephanie's a vegetarian, and often spends Sunday night chopping veggies for her lunch throughout the week. Good stuff!

We've nearly got all the little details done in the Kitchen, so I may be posting one more kitchen photo of the finished product. I put the hardware on all the drawers and doors last night, and believe me, it's harder than you would think. We also put up some really nice bamboo window shades. It's funny how motivated we were to eliminate the brown from the kitchen, and now we're putting it right bak in....