The Big Day

Man, what a day. Today was Dan and Michelle's wedding, and everything went off great. I got a bit of a sunburn, took about 500 pictures, and drove myself to the point of exhaustion. I wouldn't have it any other way.

The day started (for me) with photos before the wedding at roughly 12:30. The wedding started about 1:30, ended at about 2:00, and we finished with the "formals" at exactly 3:00. For any photographers reading this, you know that these are the toughest shots. Multiple set ups, a lot of people in your ear, and a lot of running around, this is the longest part of the day. I was lucky to have a great group of people, and a lot of help, so things went very smoothly. The reception came and went, with the entertainment provided by Mic Hog Karaoke, which coincidentally, is a business owned by my dad! He did a great job, and really worked his ass off for 8 1/2 hours.

These three shots I've posted are a few that really stuck out while i was uploading tonight, and it's shots like these that really make me love being a photographer. I'll happily sit through all the formal portraits just to get these gems. Although I'm certainly done with weddings, I still smile when I see shots like this.

Rehearsal

I'm sure I've mentioned my brother in law's wedding this Saturday, but I don't think I've mentioned that I'm doing the photography. I've also decided that this will likely be the last wedding I shoot, unless I'm absolutely hard-up for money. It's just a little too stressful for me. I couldn't have picked a better wedding for my last. The location is in a local arboretum, and as you can see from my picture today, it's absolutely beautiful. It's going to be a bright, sunny day, and although it's going to be pretty hot, at least there's no rain in the forecast. I'll be sure to put up a few shots from tomorrow so you can see some of my "professional" work.

Movies, Disappointment

I joined my dad at the movie theater this afternoon to finally go see Spiderman 3. As I said yesterday, I've heard that it sucks, but I really wanted to see it on the big screen as I've seen the previous two. I should have waited for the dvd. Now don't get me wrong, the movie certainly had its moments. Venom was amazing, and the fight scenes, especially the final battle, were awesome. I do not, however, under any circumstances, ever again want to see a brooding, emo Peter Parker. What a load of crap. The whole concept makes me nauseous. I also think this movie fell into the Batman trap, in trying to cram too many villains into one movie. The first Batman movie was fantastic. Only one villain to contend with, providing plenty of time for the development of the character. The sequels, however, all had multiple villains, which made the films seem rushed, with virtually no character development whatsoever. I think Sam Raimi really tried to do too much here. Having the New Goblin, Venom, the Alien Costume, and the Sandman all in the same film was a total overkill. You could've just done a film with Venom and it would've been great. The movie wasn't horrible, but to call it good would be a bit of an overstatement.

The day wasn't a complete loss. I did get to spend some time with my Dad, which I don't do often enough, and we also stopped over at my sister Jennee's house to visit her, her husband Jason, and my nephew Nathan. It was good to see you guys!

Finished Product

This is a shot of some (slightly bug-eaten) Day Lilies growing in our yard, and is a good representation of some of the beautiful stuff I had to take out on this newest project. Fortunately, I finished it today. I went into Rockford this afternoon, bought a truckload of mulch, and put it all down. What a difference a little mulch can make! It look much better than the overgrown mess that used to be there. Now we just need to replace those boarded-up windows the previous owners left us with.

I didn't get quite as much done today as I had hoped, but it was so damn hot today, and since asthma has been an issue for me lately, I didn't want to over do it. I guess I can leave the mowing for Friday. Tomorrow I'm going to (finally) see Spiderman 3 with my dad. I know, it sucks, but I want to see it anyway.

Here's a shot of the finished product:

Bricklayer

Today I've spent about an hour digging a trench and laying the border bricks in the area I've been working on. Today I was supposed to go get the mulch, but I'm not really keen on getting red dye all over our new recliner, so I'll put that off for tomorrow. It was no surprise that my measurements were a bit off, so I was short two bricks. It's no big deal, but it is a bit of an annoyance. When I go to get them tonight, I'll also be buying some of that black paper stuff that blocks the growth of weeds and grass in areas such as this. I'm looking forward to having this finished so I can relax on my vacation.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Under Pressure

Wow. Sometimes I really have no concept of time. I didn't get nearly as much done today as I thought I would. I decided to pressure wash the siding first. I got started around 1:45, and the next thing I knew, it was 5:00! It really took me far longer to do that then I ever planned on. So unfortunately, I didn't get time to start putting the bricks in. That means I'l have to get an early start tomorrow so I can get them all out of my truck. On Saturday, Steph and I bought a new recliner at Slumberland, and I have to pick it up tomorrow. The truck was overloaded enough with hundreds of pounds of bricks in it, there's no way I'm going to add more weight then drive it around some more. As to the pressure washing, you wouldn't believe how well that worked. The house needed it pretty badly, but I really had no idea how bad it was until I started taking the stuff off. The house was so bright that with the sun hitting it, you literally couldn't look at it directly. Yowza, that's white!

Supplies

Since I'm off all this week (huzzah!), I'll be doing some much needed work around the house. My first job will be to finish the job I started a couple weeks ago, by taking these bricks we bought tonight and putting up a small border around the newly planted bushes on the South side of the house. They were really far more affordable than I had anticipated. I actually thought we'd be spending twice what we did, so that was a nice surprise. We also picked up a pressure washer, as our siding is looking pretty dirty.

More eBay Madness

Every once and a while, I go through my collection of games and try to figure out which games I'll likely never play again. Those games are destined for the auction block, and often that money is used for new ones. Looking through my DS games tonight, I picked these eight to be listed on eBay. With the retail usually running about $30 to $35 on these things, I'm pretty happy with $20 to $25, and that's what I consistently get. Taking games I never play and getting back some money from them is pretty gratifying.

In case anyone's interested, here's a link to my 8 listings.

eBay Crazy

I love eBay as much as the next guy, but this is crazy. Steph and I sometimes pick up her Grandma Johnsons mail, since she doesn't get out too often. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but her Grandma is a major doll collector. I'm talking hundreds of dolls here. She just finished having her garage converted into a usable room so she has an accessible place to keep them all. Yes, she has that many. Anyway, I'm a little off track. When I went to the post office this morning to get her mail, she had all these packages waiting for her. Apparently her daughter Diana has been buying dolls on eBay and having them shipped directly to her. A nice gesture, but holy cow! How many dolls does one person need?!? I thought Steph's growing collection was bad. When they get everything set up in the "Doll Museum", I'll be sure to get some shots up here. If dolls creap you out as much as they do me, prepare to be horrified.

Popcaps

Ever since I went a little crazy on a great sale at Woodmans for Vault, I've been collecting these bottle caps. Each one has a 15 digit code under the cap that when entered on their website, gives you three points. I've drunk all the pop I bought, and another guy I work with, who also bought two cases, has been giving me his caps as well. Right now, I have 198 points, which is the equivalent of 66 bottles of pop. Unfortunately, after browsing the stuff you can get with these points, I'm starting to wonder if it's even worth it. Since then, I've just been kinda throwing the caps into this empty desk drawer.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, I entered those codes visable before I posted this picture. No stealing!

Grados

When I started 3rd shift, I knew I'd have a lot of time on the weekends where the only thing I can really do is either watch tv, a movie, or play Xbox. I really enjoy great sound on two of the three things, but I can't very well have the stereo cranked while Stephanie is upstairs sleeping. I decided to get some headphones. The first set I bought were some wireless Sonys, but the results were less than spectacular. They were constantly full of static, and the sound was awful. After doing much more research, I decided to go with these beauties. They're called Grado SR60s, and man are they amazing. They are a little pricey, but you certainly get what you pay for. Movies and the Xbox sound great through them, and music is unreal. I recommend these to anyone looking for a great set of headphones.

Souvenir

Dad stopped by tonight with a nice little surprise. He bought me this autographed 2005 World Series Baseball signed by White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. I'm a really big White Sox fan, and the Sox wining the 2005 World Series is one of my fondest memories. Thanks Dad!

Oh! I forgot to mention that on Monday morning I found out that my request to move my vacation from October to next week has been approved! They were really reluctant to allow me to change it, and I never thought for a second that it would happen. It was a nice surprise, and now, instead of working 3 of the next 4 Saturdays, I only have to work 1. Very nice!

High Definition

About a week ago on eBay I bought a HD DVD player. HD DVD is just like DVD, only the video is High Definition quality. Microsoft, who is the maker of my current favorite game system, the Xbox 360, also makes the player that I bought. It connects to the Xbox, and provides HD DVD and DVD playback agt a very affordable price. The player in the stores runs about $200, but I got my player with three movies for a cool $150. This was a great deal considering the average HD DVD player is about $500. The movies are about $20 each, so really the $200 player only cost about $100. The movies that came with it are The Departed, Batman Begins, and King Kong. These are all pretty good movies, but the real reason I wanted this player is for the BBC documentary Planet Earth. It was shot entirely with HD cameras, and is supposed to be amazing. I just ordered it yesterday, and I'm really looking forward to watching it.

More Yardwork

Sunday afternoons seem to be the day to get my hands dirty lately. Since I'm often working 6 days a week, it's really difficult to find the time to do the little things around here that really need to be done. In the yard, I'm taking these things in bite-sized chunks, and that is helping quite a bit. Today, I finished planting our new landscaping by putting in the final tree while Steph put some flowers in our flower boxes. Moss Roses, which are my favorite, are sometimes really hard to find. We got lucky Saturday night, and Lowes has a few in stock. I also picked up some sticks out of the yard and cut the grass. It's really nice to have a nicely trimmed lawn, but it's oftem hard to find the time to keep it that way. All I really have left as far as the new bushes are concerned is putting in some trim bricks and putting down mulch.

Bluetooth

One of the things I really dig about my new MacBook Pro is the built-in Bluetooth. It allows me to do cool things like sync my cell phone to the computer so I can put photos and ring tones on it very easily, and it also gives me the ability to use wireless accessories like this Logitech mouse wirelessly without a USB dongle. Sure, it's a little thing, but it's the little things that count. By the way, this is what you get when it's 11:45 pm and I haven't shot a picture or even thought about what today's post will be....

Training the Eye

I decided to take a walk today to look for something to shoot. While I was walking, I started to think about how sometimes, when I look at something, I can just see the potential for a great photograph in my mind. What I mean to say is that I can see there's something there, but it doesn't necessarily mean I'll be able to photograph it. It can be really frustrating looking at something, knowing that there's an awesome shot there, and just barely missing it. When I took this shot, I could see there was something there, but I couldn't quite get it. It's like having a word or a name on the tip of your tongue and not being able to get it out. It can be maddening, but when you finally get that shot or remember that name, it's very gratifying. I'm pretty happy with this shot, but I know that this isn't what I was seeing. I could spend a lot of time here trying to get that shot.

May: In Review

Well, another month has come and gone. I'm five months into this little project, and the year is just flying by. This month I was able to go to a concert, play some cards with friends, and expound on the sale of my employer. I showed some of the unique features of our home and spent some quality time with the family. I really feel like this was a great month photographically, with some of my best shots being taken in the last four weeks. Bring on June!

Here's my favorites for the month:

Tulip Tree

We have quite a few trees on our lot, but we have one that is quite unique. It's called a Tulip Tree, or Liriodendron, and from what I understand, it's very rare to have one in this area. According to Wikipedia, these trees are common in Eastern North America, so finding one in the Midwest is pretty uncommon. The flower you see is all over the tree, but mostly in the higher branches. They bloom about this time every year, but like the tulips it's named after, they never last long. The first time we noticed the flowers was in our first spring living here. I was mowing the grass, and a low branch was really needing to be trimmed back. I pushed the mower towards the tree, reached up to move the branch aside, and found myself looking directly at one of these flowers. It was a pretty cool discovery.

Favorite Shots #8: Abandoned

I have a thing for old, abandoned buildings. I'm not sure exactly why, but I really enjoy shooting stuff like this, and around here, there's a lot of it. Many farmers have buildings on separate lots that are run down or out of use and there are countless factory buildings in downtown Rockford that are no longer occupied. Eventually I hope to shoot an entire series focusing on the abandoned factories in Rockford. Rockford used to be a manufacturing city, but now, since it's much cheaper to purchase imported garbage from other countries, that is no longer the case. Like countless other cities in this country, Rockford's jobs have slowly shifted from manufacturing to the service industry. It's very easy to say that many jobs are being created in the city right now, but when those jobs don't even pay $10 an hour, that's not helping anyone.

Landscaping: Before

We decided to take this horribly overgrown mess out and replace it with evergreen bushes. Considering my schedule, doing stuff like this is really difficult. Luckily, we had a three day weekend, so I was able to get up earlier today and do some work. I got everything dug out, got the area tilled, and planted a tree and 3 bushes. We're putting a tree in the front corner and the back corner, then three bushes in between. It wont look good now, but in the next couple years it should look great and serve to hide the ugly foundation.