Spring Ahead

Tonight we set the clocks ahead. This, to me, is one of the "unofficial" starts to spring. The picture above is another. I love seeing the first of the perennials start to push through the frozen soil. I'm a big fan of tulips, and while I know these are daffodils, I still get pretty excited. The post office in our town is usually the first to have stuff like this, but we do have some ourselves. We have some tulips around our house, but mostly our perennials are lilies and irises. We also planted a lilac bush in our first (or second?) year living here. I love lilacs, but the blooms never stay around long enough. Oh, and in case you're wondering, the official start of spring is April 2nd, the home opener for the Chicago White Sox.

Packing My Wii

Well, I'm sending my Wii off for service. I bought my Wii on launch day, November 19th. The unfortunate reality of buying a launch system is that at some point, there's a good chance it may malfunction. Just ask any long time Xbox 360 owner! Luckily, Nintendo provides a 1 year warranty on all its hardware, so I'm not paying a dime to have it fixed. I'm also sending my DS Lite for the problem I mentioned previously. I'm already having Nintendo withdrawals!

New Growth

I really don't know what to write about today. Today was one of those average days that just go by without notice. I went to work, I came home, I slept, I ate, now I'll go to work again. In ten years I won't remember today. It amazes me the simple fact that as you go on, days like this slip in to obscurity, simply because they were not extraordinary. I suppose it's a function of the mind to forget these days so the important ones are remembered. It just seems a little sad to me.

You can add this shot to the daily growing series, "Random Stuff In My House". I'm actually pleased how this shot turned out. I'm a big fan of onions....

There has to be a change, I'm sure
Today was just a day fading into another
And that can't be what a life is for....

A.Duritz, Counting Crows
Amy Hit the Atmosphere
August and Everything After

I Love Shooting Zombies!

I love unique tees. One of my favorite sites for shirts like this is Threadless.com. All their designs are actually submitted by users, then voted on by customers. The most popular designs are made into shirts! Here are a few I've bought from them:
Dark Side of the Garden
Are Trees Electronic?
Shadow Bunny

Another good site for geeky tees is Thinkgeek.com. Here's one I bought from them:
Viva Miyamoto

I have about 7 or 8 really geeky cool tees. I'm always on the lookout for more!

Spin the Black Circle

We have a modest collection of records whose sole purpose seems to be to collect dust. In an age where you can fit hundreds of these large black platters on something that can fit in the palm of your hand, to say records are obsolete is an understatement. However, there is something comforting and nostalgic about the feel of music played from a record. The warm sound, the hiss and pops, it has a personality that an mp3 file can't replicate. I guess that's why we'll have these records and the player around forever, but the cassettes and 8 tracks are nowhere to be seen.

Wii-motes!

You have no idea how long I've been looking for these. Ever since I bought the Nintendo Wii on launch day, November 19th of last year, I've regretted not getting the maximum of four remotes. I've been looking in the stores for more every chance I get. Until Sunday, no one has had any. For some reason, retailers are holding the stock they get until Sunday, then they put it out for sale. This essentially means unless you go to the store on Sunday, you aren't going to fins these or the system. After reading several rumors online about possible availability this Sunday, I decided to call our local Target. As you can see they had them in stock! My wonderful wife Stephanie was kind enough to stop in and pick a couple up for me.

On a side note, Steph was quick to point out the absolute stack of clothing she was able to buy with the same amount of money spent on these two hunks of plastic....

Podcasts

Since I got my iPod, one of the things I've really enjoyed is listening to podcasts. Podcasts are audio files, created by everyday people like you and me, that are basically talk radio programs. For virtually very topic you could think of, there's a podcast about it. Here are some of my favorites:

This Week In Tech
1up Yours
Diggnation
Short Attention Gamer
EGM Live
Retronauts
NPR: Technology

As you can see, most are tech/video game related, but if you go to the iTunes music store, you can find a podcast that falls in line with your interests!

Open 24 Hours / Horray for Woodman's!

This is the greatest grocery store ever. It's one of those places that has everything you could possibly think of, and some things you've never heard of. It has the greatest liquor store in the area. Hundreds of different wines, every micro-brew beer under the sun, and even though I'm not a hard liquor man, every type and brand imaginable. Oh, and did I mention the prices are the best in the area? Not to mention it's open 24 hours! Perfect!

It's a pretty good time to get groceries. At 10 pm on a Saturday, the place is a virtual ghost town. The only drawback is the kick-ass liquor store isn't open past 9:00. I love to go there and just pick a new kind of beer to try. Lately I've been getting this micro-brew out of Chicago called Goose Island. The Honker's Ale is their "basic" beer, and is really good. I'm also a big fan of the Nut Brown Ale and the India Pale Ale. If you're local, give it a try!

Insistent

This cat is crazy. Every morning, while brushing my teeth, he completely loses his mind. He sits on the toilet, absolutely demanding I pay attention to him. His eyes glaze over, his tail puffs out to twice its size, the hair on his back stands up, and he climbs all over me until I pet him. This is bizarre behavior for this one, since he's usually the anti-social type.

We had some crazy weather again today. We didn't get a whole lot of snow, but we've had 30+ mph winds, and it's been pretty cold, so most of the roads were covered in ice. The snow was blowing so much that it completely obscured my vision a few times. I was nearly run off the road by a bright yellow moving van, filled to the brim with Mexican musicians. True story. The trip home this morning, which usually takes about 25 minutes, actually took me nearly an hour. It felt odd to drive 35 - 40 on I90, but after seeing about 6 cars in the ditch and a semi jackknifed about 1/2 mile away from my exit, it was obviously necessary.

Outage!

I should have titled this post “Outrage” instead. I’m writing this on March 1^st in Microsoft Word, because my internet has been out for about 16 hours now. Once again, the Midwest has been hit with a series of pretty nasty storms, and surprisingly, this is the first time we’ve suffered an outage of any kind. The “Outrage” comes from Mediacom’s piss-poor customer service department. I called to try to find out what the problem was, and waited on hold for about 20 minutes. Funny thing about their recorded message when you’re on hold, it gives you about three different things to try to re-establish your connection. Unfortunately, two of those things require AN INTERNET CONNECTION! After finally reaching a rep, I told him what the problem was. He asked for my phone number, then said, “You’re part of an outage right now.” That’s it. All that time on hold so he could tell me what I already know? I asked, “How long will it be out?” To which he replied, “I don’t have that information.” That’s 25 minutes of my life I’ll never get back.

*Update
So obviously, they fixed it. Think they'll credit me for the 16+ hours of no service? Nah, I didn't think so either....

February: In Review

Well, I'm now two months in, and I can honestly say I'm ready for spring. I never thought I'd "run out" of things to shoot in my house, but it seems I'm getting to that point. I've decided that the last day of every month will be a little "break", and that I'll be posting my three favorite shots from that month, and recounting the major things that happened.

The Bears lost the Super Bowl. Boy, I'm so glad to be thinking about that again. That was probably the biggest event for me this month. It was really great to see them there, and to spend that day with Dad watching the game.
I also learned this month that Chrysler's cutting 11,000 jobs. They haven't really said much still, but they have announced the buyout packages. If you have 1 year or more of service, they will give you $100,000 to walk away. How crazy is that?!? Too bad I'm not eligible....

Here's my three favorite shots for the month. Bring on March!!

The True Cost of Bottled Water

From treehugger.com:
"In summary, the manufacture and transport of that one kilogram bottle of Fiji water consumed 26.88 kilograms of water (7.1 gallons) .849 Kilograms of fossil fuel (one litre or .26 gal) and emitted 562 grams of Greenhouse Gases (1.2 pounds)."

Pretty stunning stuff. I read this article the other day, and I had to share it. Fiji water, which this bottle is not, is the second highest selling imported bottled water behind Evian in the United States. It's pretty amazing the price people are willing to pay for something that comes out of your sink for free. For the record, Steph buys one bottle per week, then re-fills it about a zillion times. Wouldn't want to look like a hypocrite, right?

Source

My Tools

This is the camera I use primarily to take my photos. It's a Nikon D70 Digital SLR. 6.1 Megapixel, with a 18-70 DX Zoom Nikkor lens, and a SB-600 Speedlight. Quite a step away from what Grandpa used to use, right? I also have a Kodak DX6440 point and shoot camera that I take with me most of the time, but the results simply can't compare to what I get with this.

I think it's important to note that even thought digital cameras have dominated the market in the last 5 or 6 years, and the megapixel levels keep climbing monthly, no digital camera will ever compare to what you can do with film. Some of my best shots were taken with my Nikon N65 and a roll of Kodak TMAX 200. Hopefully, once spring gets here and I actually have the time and motivation to leave the house, I plan on taking some shots with film. I probably won't get them on the blog right away, but they'll find their way here eventually.

My Grandpa's Tools

Just a camera, right? No. This isn't just a camera. This is my Grandpa's camera. This is the camera he carried with him all across Europe during World War II. This camera has traveled more than I have my entire life. Grandpa decided he wanted me to have this when I became interested in photography. When he gave it to me, it still had film in it that had been used! Unfortunately, when I had it processed, the film had been exposed at some point. It would've been amazing to see what was on it. Grandpa has a photo album he's showed me a couple times with photos from the war. He had a friend who was a photographer for the Army who took some seriously disturbing shots. He has copies of some of those, and another shot of a ship absolutely filled with soldiers. Somehow, Grandpa managed to actually find himself in the shot, and has circled the location. I really wanted to shoot with this camera, but unfortunately, you can't get any film that will fit in it. I'm really honored he wanted me to have it.

Movie Night

Well, Illinois weather kicked us in the butt again. We're getting hit with a pretty bad storm, so Steph and I stayed in tonight and watched a couple movies. The Prestige, which is based on a book I read a couple weeks ago, was fantastic. The other movie we watched was Thanks for Smoking. That was alright, but nothing to rave about. We also have An Inconvenient Truth, but we'll likely watch that later. Steph, the first shifter, can't stay up all night like some of us....

Dodge Loves Crackdown!

I recently bought this awesome new game for the Xbox 360 called Crackdown. I won't go into specifics, but basically you're a genetically engineered superhero running through this open city, fighting against organized crime. The first day I played, I ran across this billboard! It seems DaimlerChrysler's marketing department decided to advertise the car I build, the Dodge Caliber, in this game! You can also see billboards for the Dodge Nitro. I just thought that was cool.

Insomnia

God, I can't sleep. This happens to me about once or twice a week. I'm tired at work, tired on the way home, tired when I get home, then about 8:30, I wake right up. I gradually get tired again, but by that time it's about 11:00 and way too late for me to be going to bed. Steph usually wakes me up at 6:00, so I get less than 7 hours of sleep. That may be enough for some of you, hell for some of you that may be a lot of sleep, but for me, that's a disaster. I really need a lot of sleep in order to function.

I'm going to try to go to bed. Wish me luck.

Nap Time!

We don't let the cats sleep with us. That would be total madness. Since Steph and I work different shifts and are sleeping at different times, the bedroom is really only open for about 3 hours a day. As soon as Steph opens the door to get me up, at least two of the cats immediately get on the bed and go to sleep. This is typically enough to get me out of bed. We used to keep the bedroom open when we slept, but Punkin doesn't seem to understand that when I'm sleeping, I really don't want to pet him/play with him. Pretty annoying at 3 in the morning.

Yuck!

This awesome birthday card arrived to me today from my family in California. My nephew, Noah (that's him in the picture), drew this portrait of me! The caption needs some explaining.

A couple years ago, when Kathie and Noah came to visit from CA, Noah was felling a little under the weather. He had a seriously runny nose, and when I was holding him on the way out of the airport, I basically looked at him and said "Yuck!" He thought that was the funniest thing he had ever heard. All through their visit he and I would go back and forth with "Yeeeeeuck!" Fast forward another year, Kathie and Noah are here for another visit. Now understand, Noah is just a toddler, which makes this story much more awesome. As soon as Kathie and Noah came down the stairs into luggage claim, he looked at me, his face lit up with an amazing smile, and he said, "Yeeeeeeuck!" I'll never forget that as long as I live. It was great.

Mmmm..... sausage

I've just realized how much freakin food I post on this blog. There's a few reasons for that. One, food is good. I like food. It's tasty. Two, when it's too cold to even think about going outside, the last thing I want to do is take pictures there. Three, I'M RUNNING OUT OF THINGS IN MY HOUSE TO SHOOT!!! I'm not kidding. It's getting out of hand. I really can't wait until the weather starts to change again so I can actually go somewhere to shoot some pictures. This winter thing is getting a bit old.