BMASL

Small steps

2008-09-03T18:51:00.000-07:00

Dive In

2008-07-21T13:03:00.001-07:00

beeing me

2008-07-17T18:12:00.000-07:00

another try

2008-02-19T11:14:00.001-08:00

While up at Aunt Lanny's for pictures, I hopped outside and gave another try for HDR with a new lens I had rented

This isn't HDR, just thought it was cool...

Better late then never

2008-01-01T02:21:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year as my mom and I browsed one of the bead shows (for way too long) a ring caught my eye. Simple silver band, with Kokopelli under the stars. Until recently, Kokopelli had been largely misunderstood by me. I am not sure how or why, but I was sorely misinformed of his origins as something far worst the actually believed. In seeing that ring I felt a simple attachment and noticed how like me it was. At peace under the stars...music holding it together. Sadly I had spent what money I had so I left it with a smile and a sigh to try and find it later.

Later came right before my birthday. There it was in the small velvet slot waiting as it had been. This time, I had saved money especially for it. So with a smile and a sigh it slipped onto my finger and came home. A silent gift for myself, for a silent reason. A gift for the girl I was.

...without you, everything falls apart...without you, it's not as much fun to pick up the pieces....

Not clear cut

2007-12-18T08:25:00.000-08:00

Living on a hill I get some pretty thick fog. And the weather lately has given more then usual

I like the old style iron lamps at our apartments on days like this

A few volts short

2007-12-11T18:41:00.000-08:00

Aside from my sister in laws wedding, I haven't picked up my camera in almost a month. Too many things happened in November to make me want to take it out. And with the impending stresses of Christmas, I made myself figure out a few pictures last night when I couldn't sleep.

I broke light bulbs. It's fun to have an excuse to be destructive. I tried really hard to break them just right so it would still work. But no such luck. It was fun enough though.

The answer

2007-11-13T23:09:00.000-08:00

Since I took this picture a few days ago, I've wondered what post to make with it. I set about writing different stories for different views of what the picture was saying...but now, I don't really feel like posting them.

Instead, two songs. One softer song, I had picked out this afternoon and one bruding one that now I want added.

How Can I Live Without Her
I know she'll never understand
I gave my word before we met, so I just can't go breaking it
She'll say she thinks I'm out of touch
I've let my duty, honorbound, come between the love we've found

How can I live without her...when she's all I'm livin' for? (I'm livin'
for)
How can I live without her...live like I did before?
Now I can see, through her eyes how good love could be...
How can I live without her, when she's gone?

No matter what the future brings, I'll hold the memories in my heart
No matter how long we're apart.
She'll always be the only one
Her name forever on my lips, she's slipping through my fingertips.

How can I live without her...when she's all I'm livin' for?
I'm livin' for...
How can I live without her...live like I did before?
Now I can see, through her eyes how good love could be...
How can I live without her, when she's gone?

How can I live without her?
How can I live without her?
How can I live without her, when she's gone?
How can I live without her, when she's gone?
She's all I'm livin' for...She's all I'm living for...
How can I live without her?
How can I live like I did before?

How can I live without her?

Sometime's It Hurts
Six o'clock in the morning, my head is ready to explode..I can't believe I made it home alive
I don't remember where I went, or what I was drinking
And now it's made me sick, and I'm not denying that I get this way, when I try to get over you
I get this way, when I try to get over you

Sometimes it hurts, so much to lose the one you love...
Sometimes it hurts, so much to lose the one you love...

I tried so hard to hate you, but it only makes it all worse...I only end up hating myself
And as my hatred grows so do the lies, it's hard to face the truth sometimes
God I feel so useless
God I hate myself...when I try to get over you
I hate myself...will I ever get over you

Sometimes it hurts, so much to lose the one you love...
Sometimes it hurts, so much to lose the one you love...

And after all this time you'd think I'd understand the way you feel
But no...
I only think about myself
And it's driving you away, I always knew it would one day

Sometimes it hurts, so much to lose the one you love...
Sometimes it hurts, so much to lose the one you love...
Sometimes it hurts, so much to lose the one you love...
Sometimes it hurts, so much to lose the one you love...

If you don't get it...then any other words won't help.

The rest of 'em

2007-11-12T15:25:00.000-08:00

I totally slacked and didn't get the rest of my Sunriver pictures posted. So really quickly. We went to the Obsidian Flow and hiked up to the top while it sort of snowed. We each threw a couple of snow/ice balls.

The cool rocks were plenty fun to check out. Finding cool paterns and colors

Very cool wind blow trees and a bench to rest on, if only they had a bathroom. A little voice made me realize how far away the restroom actually was...

This shows how fast the weather changed while we were walking around up top.

I tried out some HDR shots of mom, just liked the regular shots better...she went orange in HDR heheh.

There was a horse camp down the road, with the best view of Paulina Peak. While we had been at Obsidian Flow, it of course had just hid behind the clouds. Coming out as we got back down to the parking lot. But I liked this view better anyway.

Then we drove up the back side of Paulina Peak, Yeti saw snow and I drove as long as I could. Just not too happy to traipse off in snow just yet. But hey, we saw snow so it was all worth it.

Then we saw a sign for Paulina Falls, sort of figured it would be just a little trickle thing. But no, totally wrong. Was really pretty and plenty impressive for the 1 minute walk to it.

Mom and Pria posing for a shot while we waited for Papa.

These are more of the deer we ran into lots...

Momma and three babies, very curious about our apples and carrots.

The two little bucks that were sparring off and on

I'm pretty sure that's all the pictures...I'll work on getting the videos done and up in the mean time.

Spookies

2007-11-01T08:10:00.001-07:00

Aah, Halloween time and I must play Tim Curry. So enjoy the pumpkins.

Pria and I carved this little guy.

And she also wanted the bat..

I wanted a double one again this year and did this guy on the front...

this one that back.

I need a better wall outside so it will reflect more next time.

This guy...was my big one. Took me 3 hours to come up with a sketch...

Then came cleaning and prep, which was forever. It was a seriously thick pumpkin. I spent an hour just thinning it out. Now when I made the picture...I didn't envision the problems of what millions of little poke hole really close together would be like. So I had to recut them with the knife and then flower them, so I could actually tell where the lines where supposed to be going.

I cut and cut and cut, for hours. Not kidding. Surprisingly I didn't cut myself once...

Just in time for Halloween it was done.

Was worth it to me. I like having cool pumpkins. Never have any other decorations up...but my pumpkins are enough for me.

Flick and Twitch

2007-10-19T03:30:00.000-07:00

All pictures have meaning behind it, good and bad. I won't tell you the difference, if you have to be told...you missed the point.

It's not meant to shun away curiosity about me. On the contrary. I like curious prodding. I live my life constantly curious about everything else. I satisfied one curiosity to obtain this picture.

It wasn't easy, but it was worth it. Ripping apart an old hard drive has a measure of destructive nature (especially since it was partially fused to the case and I had to actually rip it apart) part simplistic beauty and part childhood fantasy. I will never grow out of my fascination of taking something apart.

By the end of taking pictures and editing them. . .my mood has changed a few times, at least. It takes a normal progression through them all sometimes repeating a few. Mostly it harbors around resentment, confusion, anger, passion and reality. I know reality isn't a mood, but again...for me it is. The bottom line becomes that the pictures are the easy attempt at a far more conflicted desire to be ostentatious as my true self.

Day one...

2007-10-16T03:21:00.000-07:00

I'm slowly trying to catch up with posting of pictures that are badly back logged. The most recent is my trip to Sunriver with Pria to hang out with Mom and Dad for a week.

We got there in good time and had most of the afternoon to go for a walk, Pria took full advantage of having two extra people to answer her endless questions. Learning all about pinecones and how trees grow. I didn't feel too bad about her missing 2 days of preschool for the trip, she learned a bit more then her class did.

It was fun to be back there, it is vastly different from being buried under 3 feet of snow like when I was last there. But I had a hard time remembering how it was when I was a kid there...I swear the place was a lot bigger back then.

I was slighlty confused at this sight...I really don't think I've seen a pine tree change colors, and in fact I swore they didn't. It was pretty in orange, either way...but head scratcher thought for sure.

We walked to town and around throughout the stores, me grabbing a bite to eat and happily resting for a bit. Pria ate most of my food, little hungry thing she's turned into lately. Sneaky little hands grabbing my turkey and leaving me with just crackers. After my break we headed back off to find some deer. Pria had heard about them the whole time I was driving, and Nana had got her interest further perked. But those darned things were tricky to find at first.

We found a little group eventually and of course were unprepared with no apples to keep their interest in us, but Pria was happy to see them.

We were told by Pria and Nana we needed to yell out our names in the tunnel. Didn't have much of an echo, but I'm sure we scared whatever deer were planning on walking towards us. It was right about here I asked the question of which way home was..."Oh a few miles" a few more feet and my dad's portable pharmacy was indeed needed and how. Thus began the fun task of getting back to the house quick.

Instead of making a massive post for the whole week, I'll end it here and pick up in a few with the rest of the week.

3Fe3 O4+8A1--->4A12 O3+9Fe

2007-09-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

In computer graphics and photography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI) is a set of techniques that allows a far greater dynamic range of exposures (i.e. a large range of values between light and dark areas) than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDRI is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to the deepest shadows.

Well I'm not a wiz at much, but I like what you can get out of HDR photos. So after being able to "aquire" the software I decided to give it a shot. Now the choice of where to go was some what nerve racking. Fall is sort of here, sort of over...and not even starting. Just depeneds on where you go and where you look. I wanted to head back up the gorge and retake some of my waterfall pictures, but I really wanted to have the full fall effect going. Dugan Falls came in from nowhere. Fairly close to home and generally deserted outside of the few hot weeks we get. So we packed up and off we went...these aren't the best, but they show off what HDR can do. But honestly search on flickr for HDR and you will see some mind blowing color tones...one day maybe I can get them to look like that. But for my first tries I am mildly proud of myself.

I mostly just focused on the water for these, since it is crystal clear and always look amazing from the bridge.

This is the top pool and really beautiful. I don't think this image does it true justice beacause it has a lot more detail in the red tones that I couldn't get to come out right.

This is probably one of my favorties because you can see the clouds a lot more then I could when I took it. The are omonous here...there they were just sort of blah.

I was pleasantly suprised at the results of this one. The prelim viewing was...so not happy but after tone mapping it just all popped into place.

Thought I'd end with a classic shot of Dugan Falls. It reminds me of a painting, with the water so luminesent and soft. Not the effect I was intending on having but not sad that it's there.

Entrance

2007-09-17T23:41:00.000-07:00

My devotion to insomnia. Too much gone unsaid in my head for me to sleep anymore. Writing, pictures and music. A return to blogging was inevitable. A perfect song to fit an unperfect mood and a picture that links them both. Better or worst, I'm back to do what I do.

Over there stands my angry angel and hes shaking his head, in disgrace with me. Over there stands my angry angel and hes frowning like hell, but i'm not feeling guilty

Farewell for now

2007-08-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

I had a miscarriage.

Tomorrow I have a DNC.

Beyond that...I don't know.

I'm sorry, but I can't blog right now.

I just don't have the will to try to do much of anything.

I just want to lay in bed and...just be somewhere else.

If I have your email and can contact you that way, I will. For now no more posts or pictures here or Just Us.

Angie

An easy present

2007-08-13T20:30:00.000-07:00

When you ask a child what they want for their birthday, I doubt many of them will ask to have their picture taken. But that's one of the things Pria wanted, dancing all night was another one. Popped on some new music while I snapped a few pictures and made an evening of it for her.

Happy 4th munch.

To the point

2007-07-28T14:49:00.000-07:00

Summer. It's nice.

The process of thought, sorry you actually have to do it yourself...

2007-07-26T03:33:00.000-07:00

A while back I was tagged by Dana for a Thinking Blogger Award Apparently I make her think. Always figured this blog was a bit on the crazy side to make people think in good ways...but yay? Never really knew what to do with this, seeing as I don't go to many other blogs. I still prefer an unplugged world I guess.

According to the rules

A: If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
B: Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
C: Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.

She tagged the only other blogs I go to, but...I didn't see a rule about not tagging the same person twice.

Christy - Ok, supermom over there's got 4 kids and I swear I'd go crazy in her life after a few hours. She not only manages it with ease (ok that might be a stretch) but also finds really amazing recipes.

Christy's Cooking - It's a separate blog, so it gets a separate award. I miss her cooking. She totally makes me think about new ways to make food.

Liz & Patrick - The queen of lists and of finding anything fun to keep your kids entertained with and her very funny and talented hubby. If you haven't read some of their posts...do.

I may be breaking from tradition here, but I'm also posting people that make me think. They don't do the blogging world, but if they did I think they'd be awesome.

Dad - I love my dad's sense of humor, it's like mine. He's always emailing me something odd or thought provoking from somewhere in the world. A picture of 800 naked women in Australia got my Friday off definite inquisitive start.

Rhyce - My more feminine, twin buddy from Perth. He's got good ramblings, a very silly personality and amazing to talk to for hours. He is my favorite bad carrot.

L.O.S.S

2007-07-23T04:43:00.000-07:00

I'm at a loss. A Lack Of Substantial Stimulation.

I have come to realize that my pictures rely on a delicate balance of misery and enjoyment.

I'm numb and empty.

I can't take pictures when I'm like this.

Baby I'll... try again, try again
Baby I die... every night, every time

What I was, isn't what I am
I'd change back but I don't know if I can

Still I'll try... try again, try again
Baby I die... every night, every time

Forget the 4th, give me a 5th...and leave the bottle

2007-07-08T02:14:00.000-07:00

My mother better appreciate me putting Neil "gag-me" Diamond on my blog....

4Th of July. Guess it's a big holiday here...

Dogs are grilled and cows are killed, beer is sold and...okay i rhymed and don't wanna.

But yeah it's the 4Th. Or it was the 4Th...on the 4Th actually is when it was. We did our patriotic duty and bought explosives, only the legal kind though. We went to the river and waited (for 3+ hours) for the big explosives to go off.

As the sunset we all (the entire US I'm sure) took to our lighters (shotguns as well) and frightened all manner of animals and livestock.

I being who I am, having slight pyro streak in me. This is sort of my holiday. I joined the other insane people in annoying parents, and scaring people within the debris field by the reach of my sparks.

After some rather insistent persuading by my "supportive" crowd, I packed up my lighter and tinkered with my camera.

This was one of many people next to us. Responsible they were not. They set the grass on fire, I personally saw 5 times. They let their kids (i was guessing between 6-10) purposely set the grass on fire. Honestly some people...just deserve the stereotypes they get.

This was one of the few fountains they did that didn't set the grass on fire. I was happy about that, since I was in the grass taking the picture.

The people on the house boats gave us a nice show while we waited. It was nice to see all of the aerial fireworks going off in Washington. I'm sure the Oregonians, were plenty jealous. I broke out my lighter for a few more of our aerial shots in watching them. My license still says Washington, so I'm not giving up my cool fireworks for the silly fountains just yet

At around...10:20 at night Fort Vancouver set off the first firework. All the people settled into their chairs and we watched thousands upon thousands of dollars be burnt up inside of an hour.

Within a few seconds it became apparent that I hate holiday's. One, other people rarely share my view or respect of them. Two, they are way too stressful for my liking.

I did enjoy the fireworks, you can't be a pyro and not appreciate explosions in mid air. But...mass murder was so close to happening.

A group of adults to our right, would not shut up. It wasn't even relevant topics. It was about...well, crap honestly. Just idle chatting and catching up talking. There is an awesome display going on and I don't want to hear about The guy who changed your copier toner wrong.

Doing my best to ignore the talking people, I realized that common decency also had gone out the window. Now I realize that we are all set up on a walking path. It's either there or in the river. Not much of a choice.

But really with my camera on a tripod, with the "big-ass lens" out, I'm not blending in. Still every mother's son and dog decided now of all times that they needed to be walking by. Was there an "excuse us" or "..ooh sorry". Nope.

Now I can handle some rudeness, I am American after all. It's our motto. And our Nations holiday, should bring it out with patriotic pride. But come on...when someone sees me taking pictures, see my camera, comments on it to their friends...and still walks in front of me. Second Amendment, here I come.

Now, I am not saying I let it ruin my holiday. Cause I didn't let it, it did it without asking. But it was a great show, as always from the pyro people. It never ceases to amaze me how they get fireworks to...do...what they do. Shapes and patterns, colors and sound effects, if only all weapons of war could end up that pretty.

Shortly after this picture a small group of people...you guessed it walked in front of me. But this time they stopped and watched the firework I was trying to frame. That was it to me. I looked at Chris and shut the camera off. I sat back, devoured my bag of popcorn and sent bad thoughts to the people still talking after almost an hour. I totally don't blame the guy that messed up the copier, I'm sure this schmuck deserved it.

As the finale burst out I made a solemn decision. My camera does not come out next year, unless we go to the fort. It's not worth it to me anymore. I love this holiday, since it is the biggest thing we do here. But people don't care anymore, at least not the casual ones we seem to meet. So next year, it's to the fort with the other devotees of the holiday or far far away.

God bless you land of America. You've fallen further then you think.

4

2007-06-23T05:00:00.000-07:00

I sit alone
In my solemn cage

Staring at
the lines of age

Lines of woe
lines of regret

The lines I've made
since we first met

There's one for my past
and the future I see

There's one for you
and one for me

A falling tear
a mounting pain

Knowing tomorrow
will be the same

I'll sit alone
in my cage and cry

The tears will fall
I won't know why

I'm sometimes dark
sometimes light

I'm always wrong
and never right

Somewhere between
my pleasure and pain

I'll find a moment
and whisper your name

I'll give my heart
that moment in time

Where I am yours
and you are mine

...I’m losing my heart...I’m losing my pride...I’d burn our initials in the sun if it would shine. I need a fresh start, I was in heaven until this world fell apart...I’m out on the run...I’m out in this empty space, since all of this begun. Well I tried, I tried...I hold on, I hold on...I can't let go. And you don't know how I feel... Hold on, I hold on...I’d sell my soul. And you don't know how I feel...

Huff and puff

2007-06-22T03:54:00.000-07:00

What is it about summer that makes us want to get out and get moving. Every Wednesday night the ward here does Ultimate Frisbee. For those of you new to the sport, it's sort of like football. Two teams, one "kicks off" the other catches and tries to run back across the field to score. Only catch if you have the frisbee, you can't move. So there is a lot of running. A lot of running. Happily I stood on the sidelines for half of it, trying to get some practice in with my camera.

So we went this week. I've wanted to go since it began about a month ago, but that being Chris's first day off of the week it's always been hard. Roland and Chris played basketball while we waited for someone to show up with an actual frisbee. The they practiced a bit, before splitting and begining.

I was expecting something along the lines of "half assed", not to say anything bad against these guys. But, I mean it's frisbee...and boy was I wrong.

They ran and jumped, swatted and blocked. It was rather entertaining to watch.

Everyone is welcomed to play, all the way down to the young ones. A little dirt and grass makes kids happy. Pria hopped on the field and ran with Chris after the frisbee for a few minutes even.

They get chances to catch and throw, sometimes better then the big kids.

But not always. Long throws were hard to nail down. Wind and to be honest a frisbee isn't the most exact thing to be tossing. But a few of the guys have practiced lots and got it down pat.

Long passes come down to fighting in the goal to catch or block it. Some of the blocks were a bit more questionable then others, but in good fun.

As the evening wore on more people showed up, MST must get later in the summer.

It was a good night's worth of fun. Lots of laughing and I got my chance to run and suck at throwing a frisbee. I of course was the only one to take of one of the kids. Resilent Drew, took the blow and kept on trucking. My forearm is slightly black and blue from the collison, I'm glad he wasn't really hurt.

I can't wait til next week :)

Hello Bright

2007-06-10T03:03:00.000-07:00

I very rarely get down to Portland at night. But the fair came to the Waterfront and I really wanted to take pictures. So Friday night rolled around and we were at Jameson Square, just a short street car/MAX ride to the fair. So off we ran to catch the trolley car.

Fairs are fun, always have that uncatachable child like enjoyment. Now with that said, fairs at night...with small children take on a different light. Happily only one melt down happened in our camp. Not too shabby.

The fairgrounds at night. I was bummed that Chris and I couldn't go on rides, but we've made a plan that once the state fair comes to town....one night Pria gets a sitter and we ride til we puke. Then ride some more :D

This was my favorite of the session. Not a clue what they call this one, but I remember going on it plenty. They seemed to go fast and be bigger when I went on them though.

They always have music. You can't have a fiar without local bands making their ditch at it. These guys, were amazing.

Seriously. I only had the 50 on, so couldn't take what I wanted...but man the bass player....wow could he go. And being that young, the road should be good for them.

As always, the ship come into port and the sailors hit the town. Let's all pause and groan knowing the horrible flirting and outfits innocent bystanders had to witness all weekend long. But there's always a good sight in seeing the sailors going through town, means the Rose Festival is here.

They're baaaaack!

2007-06-07T03:21:00.000-07:00

Winged Wonders is back and running at the zoo. Still can't hold my camera that steady, so most shots end up scrapped. 20% keep rate is not the best, but it's better then nothing.

First up, the ever popular blue morpho, with his wings closed...as always. These guys have eluded me for the past 3 years, maybe this is my year.

not a clue what these guys were called now...but they are bright purple...only in the right light though. Most times, these guys are hidden or not flashing the colors. Today was rare, I had 4 of them right infront of me for several minutes.

This is the same as above. I loved his spotted eyes.

He was a lone little guy in a big big world. And every time I took, rather tried to take his picture some girl would walk in front of me. Silly teenagers and their cell phones.

I just love his placement. Wished it could have been on a different backdrop, but it's the first visit of many...i'll take it for now.

Eat me, eat me

2007-06-04T13:29:00.000-07:00

I've never really taken pictures of food. Just can't ever get it right, but I gave it another try the other day. Little miss helped me set it up and take the pictures, and some of her own too.

First up was apples. Getting it lit was a pain and then some. But after about 40+ minutes I had it as good as I could. This ended up better then I thought it would...guess I'm getting better at this.

Then came tomato. I didn't really like them. The colors bled too much in my opinion, but Pria liked them and I mostly set it up for her. I think it was a fairly good outing for her. She picked which one she wanted to shoot and from where. I focused for her and had her take it. Took a few tries to get her looking in the view finder right, but she got it down and snapped off a few pictures.

Muted

2007-05-31T00:19:00.000-07:00

We went to Jameson Park for the afternoon to cool off. It was a fun afternoon and these were my favorite pictures. Something about their original bright and sunny colors just didn't flow with me, so muted colors it is. I think it works better.

I do not know this woman. Doubt I ever will. She walked in front of me on her way out and my mind said "picture now". So I did, she never saw me take it...took less then a second then I had moved on.

Every where I looked little hands where grabbing, pushing and pulling. In the chaos of a million fingers, I looked down and saw a lone little hand resting in the water. Another brief second, and I was gone on to something else.

There is a certain grace and peace to be found in hectic life. This one picture found it for me. Something unseen and unsaid, just looking at the world from down there. Frozen and waiting. I lingered on this one for awhile, wanting to make sure I got what I was seeing. I lingered too long and was rewarded with wetness

Nutshell

2007-05-25T00:36:00.000-07:00

I've never been in water without being afraid of Jaws. Yes, even my bath tub.

I've never worn makeup by my own choice, and I couldn't tell you how to put it on.

I was almost kicked out of girls camp 5 times, over 3 different years.

I wrote a play in high school

I had a crush on Glenn when he was dating Christy.

I saved a girl from falling off a cliff on a hike.

I was never paid the 7$ I won in a fair bet with my sisters.

I dated 3 brothers at the same time.

I had the police called on me in high school and was stripped searched in the principals office.

I completed 2 years of math in one semester, because it was on computers.

I hacked schools records and gave my friends better grades. I didn't care that I had 5 F's

I never turned down a date in my life.

I used to lay outside Cindy's door while she practiced playing the violin, because she'd never play in front of me.

I broke a boys nose in my gym class because he said something horrible about my sisters.

I wore a skirt once in high school, no one recognized me.

I flunked semenary my Sophmore year.

My best friend refused to talk to me when I got an A on my senior paper, and she failed it.

Scooby-Doo monsters come after me in my dreams.

I swore in church at my young womens president.

I was asked to prom by a girl.

Simple happy

2007-05-21T15:15:00.000-07:00

Even in failure something good can come out. My ice project didn't do what I had hoped, but I got condensation in a cup. It ended up being close to a picture I've tried to take since I was in high school.

I happy with it. View it as big as you can...

Flicker and flame

2007-05-18T19:45:00.000-07:00

Inside everyone is a passion, one of mine is for fire. While I have done well in keeping my distance from magnifying glasses and lighters. But I just had to play last night. It was one of those moods I get into. My ice project wasn't making me happy, so opposite end of the spectrum is fire. So, set up a black blanket, whipped out the lighters and butane gel packs. Wait for night, kick on some music and let the fun begin.

Within the first few pictures, I've realized that getting moving flames into focus, is not the easiest task. Especially while I don't see in focus to begin with.

A slight break, to ice my burnt hand. FYI metal gets hot when it's being lit on fire. Then flames again and tried a different placement

It's fun to see how the flames stopped on my camera versus, what I was seeing. I didn't ever see the giraffe or young girl while taking the pictures. At least, that's what they look like to me...

This one is my favorite, which goes with my pattern. More times it's the last pictures I take that make it up on to my wall or into flickr. This one also showed me that my brand new memory card would have write failures if I didn't reformat it every time I used it. Slightly aggravating to do, but should get into the habit of it I'm sure.

As with every post I do, I listened to music with it. But, I can't decide which one to post with it. There is:

Billy Joel - We didn't start the fire. That's a classic and has to be first on a fire list.

Three Days Grace - Burn. Hard rock and brooding.

Bloodhound Gang - Fire Water Burn. Just cause.

Nirvana - Lake of Fire. Acoustic and not too happy.

James Taylor - Fire and Rain. I live in a forest and it's raining while I take them, so it fits.

Vast - Flames. A very emotional song...classical and darkness. Always a good mix.

But all of those songs just didn't fit what I wanted. Some were way too loud, others meant more then I wanted to say. So I let Pria pick. She picked one I hadn't thought of. Good Ole Gwen :)

Wing dings

2007-05-17T01:30:00.000-07:00

Can't beat ducks in my book. Especially these guys. Just like ducks.

A bunch of vulchers flying around the vista house out in the gorge. Hunting for lunch, I'm sure. Pretty cool to watch them all cricling above us...at least for me. The eldery couple looked worried.

Through the past

2007-05-11T03:14:00.000-07:00

I've never been to a war memorial. Well, no. I did go to Pearl Harbor, but I really didn't get that it was a memorial. I was like...8 maybe? My world revolved around swimming. We went today, instead of me going to a cemetery. Was more in the mood for darker pictures but I found a certain lack of objects and a simpler invoking happening there.

It's very quiet there. Which is odd, because in the parking lot...it's really not. A simple marker at the beginning of the park explains the origins. Then you have a long view of a solitary path ending in a circular area. While I originally thought it was the end, it instead had a hidden path working around the sloped hill to small granite alcoves. While still listing the Vietnam War and ensuing conflicts on the memorials. They focused still on what life was like for those that were here. The great storms we had, county fairs and school triumphs. It gave it more of a, we still lived a life while this happened feeling. I liked that.

In the Alcoves, they listed names. I assumed they were of soldiers that died that year. Sadly as most memorials go, each year added more and more names to the lists. Until the walls were almost completely covered. Still I did not feel a sense of look at everyone who died. It was more, like you could imagine them walking on that path and seeing that even at the worst times, life still kept going. That there death wasn't the only thing people wanted to share. To me, anyways.

As the walk continued around the circle and up, it was hard to miss the growing impact of the war. The good times seemed to be fading faster in the dialogue of the walls. The names began to white out the dark stone and grim stories of fighting here and there. Marches for peace and death tolls rising. By the end you feel the strain of the war, as much as a spectator can.

...And every time you throw him to the wall, why are you surprised to see he's breakable...

Removed from here

2007-05-03T07:46:00.001-07:00

Nature is easy. No complicated requirements. You drive to it, when you deem the time is right. You silently admire, capture the beauty and leave. Nothing more is expected. Nothing more is needed. I have been away from it too long. Loosing the connection I once found.

...I will run for shelter. Endless summer, lift the curse. It feels like nothing matters. In our private universe. I have all I want, is that simple enough. Theres a whole lot more I'm thinking of. Every night about six oclock. The birds come back to the palm to talk. They talk to me, birds talk to me. If I go down on my knees. I will run for shelter. Endless summer, lift the curse. It feels like nothing matters. In our private universe. And its a pleasure that I have known. And its a treasure that I have gained. And its a pleasure that I have known...

Dirty images

2007-04-28T06:41:00.000-07:00

There are clean, crip and bright pictures. Which I have plenty of. Then there are dark ones. Lots of black, grain and over saturated blown highlights. I guess I went with the dark side today.

Barrier

Stair step

Our number for lunch

Lines

2007-04-26T09:47:00.000-07:00

I had nothing to do, sat at my desk, listening to music. I was bored. Sleep wasn't happening. And I had not a single creative idea to go off of. So I went to the bathroom and as I was in there, I stared at my shower curtain and thought about lines. Now this is odd because my shower curtain has odd painted fish and birds on it. Not lines. But I didn't pick at it, lines it was. And so I took pictures of Lines.

Can you guess what the lines are from though? Should be able too...

I don't know why but this one reminded me of the Superman movie...the begining scene on Krypton...I'm odd.

No matter what I did this one wont come out with crisp focus...too much texture I guess.

Looking at this one now, it really doesn't look like what it is...maybe the messed up white balance helps with that.

Think next time I'll do circles...

EJB

2007-04-23T21:07:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the world of EJB. Well actually welcome to the hobby my mom is trying to parlay in to some extra money. Yay money.

Green, can't complain about green.

This one has mother of pearl in it...at least I think it does....

How hard it is to match the original color of this one...but looks cool on mom's pillow

Cats eye...jasper? Gracious...cats eye something...but to me, they are marbles. Very cool, trendy....and I'm sure spendy marbles.

Alright, there are several other pictures but between blogger and flickr crapping out I can't get anymore pictures on to here. When they both decide to play nice with eachother, I will add more pictures to it, but for now....this is it.

The king returns

2007-04-15T19:20:00.000-07:00

This is a house of Nikon. Canon, while you are fun and acceptable to many people. You have to leave. Back in your box and to the store you. Tell your company all that is wrong with you. I have learned my lesson. Once you had the best, you can't go backwards. Oh my friend how I've missed you so.

It's ornamental my dear...

2007-04-02T14:53:00.000-07:00

Shinny baubles and trinkets. These are not for me. I own very little in the world of jewlery, my wedding ring would be the only thing that would really count. I like simple designs that are hindu, asian or celtic. So I designed this bracelet for myself over the weekend in Black Butte. It's simple. It's nice. It's me.

From there to here

2007-03-29T16:00:00.000-07:00

Start iTunes. Select "AJ" Playlist. Flip on the subwoofer. Turn the stereo up to at least 17. 20 if no one else is home. The first song brings the room to life. Nelly Furtado - Man Eater echoes through the house. Annoying my neighbors, when I have them. And like magic I have ideas. Pictures of all sorts of things. Risky pictures, sexual, poignent, beauty personified in the simplest image. Everything I want in a picture. But they get lost somewhere. Going from my dreaming brain to the understanding one, I lose it all. I'm left with some glimpse of what I wanted. It's more of a feeling then an idea by then. Indescribable. Unreachable. Completely frustrating.

Gave up what I loved...

2007-03-29T05:38:00.000-07:00

I am very self concious about what I do. Doesn't matter what it is, I don't like to share it for one reason. I once upon a time tried my best to please someone. Have approval, get the big thumbs up. I struggled constantly with it. I messed up most of everything I did, still do. But one thing I knew I could do was write. A gift from my father, I always believed. All the hurting thoughts in my head I could put onto paper. It was easy for me. Pages and pages of poetry, I'd write constantly. So I knew I could get approval on that. I had gotten approval from friends, and teachers about it already. So of course this one person should agree. So I wrote. A very simple poem that embodied the entire story of the greatest tale of love and loss. I was proud. I was really pleased. I knew it was good. High on the knowledge of what praise and cheers I would finally receive, I ran poem in hand. I smiled and waited nervously as those eyes read over the page. Finished reading, the paper was laid down and those eyes looked at me. I was demolished by the words that followed. Still no approval, rather accusations of stealing and complete lack of talent. I swallowed the words hard and fought back my devastation. I gave up. I took the paper silently and left my hopes and dreams in it's place. Those simple phrases suffocated any desire to share a part of me. My thoughts, the good and bad were gathered together. Taken back from friends and family. I scoured the city for any sign of me. Every scrap of paper I had touched with my soul, I took back. No explaining to confused people standing in doorways in the middle of the night. Just a simple request to have it back and never be asked about it again. I quietly took them and burned them all. As the flames engulfed the crumpled fragments, I cried. Knowing I was loosing my heart in those embers. I cried. Knowing the hell in my mind would likely kill me now. I said my goodbyes to the life I knew. I accepted my fate as not good enough. I stood and walked away from that girl who tried. She looked at me and smiled. I cried.

Yes you can eat dirt!

2007-03-26T16:22:00.000-07:00

Mmmmm....dirt cups. Not the best treats in the world, but it's steeped in tradition. Ok that might be a bit on the crapola side...but it's an awesome fun treat to make with kids. Granted I had to convince Pria that the worms were treats and not real. Once we get passed that part it's all good! So go make some dirt cups and relive those girls camp memories...no not those ones, that year sucked. The other ones...really there were some I promise...weren't there???

The process of insanity

2007-03-25T22:24:00.000-07:00

I take random pictures. Don't know why, I just do.

Some are funny...

Some are eyebrow raising...

Some have a lot more thought behind them then I can ever explain.

First of many?

2007-03-24T14:02:00.000-07:00

*Gasp* It's a picture...that I took. We went to the Rose Garden to take some pictures....forgot roses aren't in bloom yet heh. Ended up just messing around. It was fun, got to take some pictures with the new camera. It performed alright. Was off on a few things but has some cool functions that, sort of make up for what it lacks....sort of.

This is one of the functions. It's called "Color Accent" you select a color you want to keep and the rest turns balck and white. Well almost the rest, I picked the Orange trumpet to stay in but somehow the camera kept some of the yellow on the petals in as well. I don't mind though...thought it looked cool

This one is "Color Swap" I selected the dark green to be replaced by red...viola, pretty weeds. Maybe Mother Nature could go with red crab grass this year...I think it might be a nice change of pace. Then again, I'm just weird.

All in all it was a fun day of shooting. Took about 80 or so pictures, liked 4 or 5... but the new camera is nice to have while my arm heals. It still annoys me in the way all PAS cameras do, but it's a decent little one.

I still love my Nikon more though :)

Double take...

2007-03-23T22:03:00.000-07:00

There is a new toy on my desk (it's not THAT kind of toy...) It's small, metalic and black. I'm sure it's a wonderful object but I am so what hesistant to touch it. Will the Nikon gods smite me? Will the other photographers point and mock openly at this small trinket? Like an unimpressed teenager I sort of poke it. It's small. That's my only thought...not it's compact and carryable...but it's whimpy.

I have a new gadget. It's not better, it's different. It's easy, sort of. It's kind of fun. Free flowing expression and silly thoughts abound with it. The gods didn't smite me, I'm not on their favorite list I'm sure though...and other photographers can mock if they must. At least theives don't see dollar signs around my neck anymore. I'm not happy, but i'm content. For now it's acceptable, for now it's the only option I have.

Two from One...

2007-03-23T21:47:00.000-07:00

Hello all. My sister has requested more frequent updates and I kind of suck at them. I'm not good at details of my day in a good way... so sorry no great updates from me. The simple setences of Pria is fine, growing like crazy and eating constantly...and...Chris is good, getting burnt out on the stresses of Intel but another job just isn't available right now...will have to suffice. I'm sure I could be more creative, but some how that always ended me in trouble...and I'm trying to avoid that right now. So without further distraction, I give you the Nagel family update!

Pria - She's fine, having some melt downs lately but they aren't called growing pains for no reason.

Chris - Is...Chris? Like I'd know if he's doing good or not...he's a guy and wont talk...so watch carefully as I preform mime to explain it all.

Angie - I am....ummm let's see what's a nice word for it....no not tha one... gracious no...that's definitely NOT a nice word...what about...nah that's just silly to say...ok how about...I am fine.

Here we go again

2007-02-09T08:29:00.000-08:00

Alright my surgery is back on. No cancellations. I have a touch of flu and was worried I'd have to cancell again...but my doc said I'm good to go. Yay! Maybe? Oh I don't know... I'm happy about having this done, sort of. The stress of recovery time with a child, no driving for almost 2 months, 6 months or more of physical therapy, the real possiblity that I could rip the suture at any time. It's all making it impossible to try and be focused and positive.

I'm just tired and want to sleep without any pain.

ABORT! ABORT! ABORT! ABORT!

2007-01-30T15:32:00.002-08:00

My surgery has been cancelled due to a bacterial infection. I will let you all know when it's back on.

4...3....

2007-01-29T15:22:00.000-08:00

It's becoming more real to me, the consequences of surgery that is. I spent last night cleaning my camera gear for storage. I put on sad emo music and kind of said my goodbye's to it as I cleaned it all. *sigh* I just packed up the last of it all and put it in the closet. It may seem odd to be sad of that, but photography was a largely therapy for me. Gave me a good active outlet for my deep bruding. But I haven't really used it in the last 2 months. I always had it out though. Just sort of reinforcing the notion of taking pictures. Now it's tucked away, out of sight out of mind....and I'm sad. It's like the final nail in the coffin. I wonder if I will ever be able to use it again. Or if I will even want too. I've gotten used to doing other things I like, will there be room for it again?

5...

2007-01-28T15:48:00.000-08:00

It's Sunday and today starts my countdown. 5 days until surgery. I'm dragging more and more each day. I'm banned from all medication until after. So sleeping is very hard. I'm relitively pissed off at everything. It's kind of like extreme PMS. No one has done anything to me, that would require me being mad. But the sheer fact of no sleep, constant pain and the stress of trying to get things setup for recovery has just zapped me. I prefer not to answer my phone or door lately. I know people are calling and visiting to be helpful and nice....but I'm not in the mood. I love these people any other day, and enjoy seeing them. I would just like to sit on my computer behind my headphones and be alone right now. But I don't. I answer my phone and my door. Invite them in and chat for awhile. I feel so obligated to the people I know, to be friendly and talkitive. But honestly that's just not me. I'm a solitary person. I like the quiet contemplation of being alone. In stressful times, this is a large driving force in me. I can understand it, but it seems as though others do not.

So as I look at the next few days, I am weary of what will follow it. Please do not read any of this and assume I'm a callous jerk. I do love my friends and family. It's just hard for me to be happy lately.

A kind of emptyness

2007-01-11T03:53:00.000-08:00

Wow. Look at me I'm a new version of blogger...and I have no idea what they've changed. Guess the best changes are the small subtle ones. But what does a new version of blogger have to do with my title? Honestly nothing. Just my mood right now. My other "moodier" blog isn't updated to the new version yet, so I can't access it. So here I sit. It's 4 am and I'm just kind of hollow. Music has a way of doing that to me. I seem to be able to find a connection with most songs. But not country. I severed all connections to that terror long ago. My varied music taste accurately represents the different people I am. A intuitive study of my play lists, could tell you everything about me. Don't need to be a scholar, just know the songs. You could see my sadness and deep it goes. My anger and the dangerous it can go. My wantings and they torrid places they live. My love....how fragile....how endless.....how misplaced and how forsaken.

But that's if I let you know my play list....

Play time

2007-01-08T12:33:00.000-08:00

Playing with my new lens the day before Christmas. It's a lensbaby 3g, tilt-shift lens. It's a pretty nifty little gadget. I was wanting something to take pictures of and my guitar was the perfect thing. I've never taken any pictures of it, so it was good. I messed with some filters in PS and came up with this poster blurred image I liked.

And the year is over for me.

2007-01-03T22:02:00.000-08:00

Well it's happened. My doctor said the "S" word. Surgery. Feb. 1st I go in for Open Shoulder AC Reconstruction. I'm slightly freaking out about it all. Dr. Butler, will be taking some of my hamstring to use as a suture for piecing the clavicle back down. I'm not totally sure about his method, but it will most likely be something like this. He'll drill a hole through the clavicle and shoulder, hopefully missing all the nerves under the shoulder. Depending on the stability of everything he will either loop the tendon around the joint and cinch it tight to hold it together, or run the tendon through the holes and keep them in place with metal pins. If things aren't stable or don't go as he wants, then he will progress to a metal plate and screws...and then something more drastic as a last measure I'm sure. I'm looking at 2 weeks in bed unable to move for the most part. Then 4 more weeks (a total of 6) without use of my arm. Then physical therapy to re-learn how to do everything. And I mean everything, like scratching my nose will be a task. In the mean time of that going on. I will be recovering and trying to walk again. That therapy starting 6 weeks after the surgery as well. Dr. Butler's best guess is 3 months before I can take care of Pria's basic needs by myself. Like making food, getting her dressed/undressed, soft playing with her. Picking her up and running with/after her will be even longer then that. Sadly any photography is out of the question for a good long while as is swimming or hiking, so there went my spring and summer for '07

He explained all the risks involved with both procedures, and I just kind of stared at him blankly. My options weren't that great or varied, beyond deciding yes or no on the surgery. The only other choice I had to make was to use my hamstring or donor tissue. I hadn't even thought about some of the side effects he mentioned for both. For donor tissue I'm looking at rejection, having a weak suture...and this was the kicker...the possibility of infections. Not the simple little ones that come with anything foreign put in your body. But Hepatitis, HIV and Cancer cells. I looked at him as he explained that they screen everything very carefully but all science has flaws and they can't guarantee it will be healthy. Ok I'm a big supporter of options in medical care and procedures. But how can that actually be an option? Seriously? How in the world can they expect anyone to agree to a procedure with THAT looming in the corner. I smiled and passed on that option.

He said that my choice was a definite better one for my chances to heal the most. But the side effects of using my hamstring aren't that great either. My hamstring will be stronger and with no issue of rejection or infection it can begin to heal sooner. But I won't be able to walk for 2 weeks. I will not be able to run, jump or otherwise be active on it for up to 6 months.....or possibly longer. I'll have a serious limp and need therapy. But again no guarantee that I will get back full range of my leg. It's a real possibility that I will have pain and some loss of function for the rest of my life. But hey...at least I'd have my life right? ....Right?

After he explained the complications for the tissue selection he sashayed right into the ever more enjoyable complications of the shoulder surgery. Dying, blood clots, nerve damage and several more. Again I sat blankly just hearing all the bad things...waiting...hoping for the good news. He reiterated that it may not take, it may not help and I may be in the same situation I am now...but with more complications. The suture can break or tear and they would have to redo it. My shoulder could have taken so much damage already that other unseen problems are present and will come to light...bringing complications to healing and the necessity of another surgery. And on and on he went. I concentrated on breathing slowly so I wouldn't just freak out right there. Imagine if you will, that you visit your doctor to discuss the results of a previous test. Surgery has been ruled out for at least another few months. So you are just there to listen and schedule another appointment. Then you are told we are doing surgery, here are your options, see you in 3 weeks. I got to my car and just freaked out. I was really not prepared for that. I had been prepared for it last time I saw him, but over the holidays had accepted that it was never going to happen and to learn to live with the pain. Please don't understand me as saying I don't want the surgery. I do. I want my life back. I want to be able to take pictures again, play with pria, sleep through the night (when I can sleep) but with those consequences as a possible outcome...I'm not doing well.

Those of you that know me, well. Know that I have incredibly bad luck and if something can go wrong it usually does in my case. I had a 4 day root canal to the amazement of my dentist. So I look at those rare occurrences, and see them as much more of a likely hood in my case. I've gotten used to the freaky nature of my body and gotten a bit of comical relief out of it. But this one time, how I wish I was normal and followed the status quo. But I'm trying to look at the positive and be hopeful for everything. And tell myself that being different is my unique charm and maybe this time it will play in my favor.

12 Step Program for rembering to post....

2006-12-30T16:12:00.000-08:00

Well here it is again 1 month gone and no new post from me. Life and posting just didn't mesh all the well lately. I belong to 3 other sites, have 2 other blogs going and trying to remember or think of relevant things to post on each was draining me. When I had any creative thoughts, they weren't on any of these topics. They mostly went to my writing blog (it's hidden under and another name...and no you don't get to know it.) as that is a bettter suited place for deeper and slightly "off" thoughts and wonderings. Since I have taken to calling (more then I used too) family I saw no reason to post on here. And I haven't really taken any pictures since Thanksgiving. It's a bummer that I've mostly missed the winter season pictures, but family doesn't allow all that I want.

Maybe in '07 I will be better at posting, or maybe I will just end the blogs suffereing and cut the cord. Who knows?

It's Stunning

2006-11-26T10:07:00.000-08:00

Do you like to take pictures? Do you want to try and win a new camera (Dana and Christy)? Would you like it to be the new Nikon D80? Yes? Of course you do! Well Nikon gave a group of flickr photographers some D80's to play with and they setup and new site. www.stunningnikongallery.com and you can enter to win a D80. You sign up and "take the winning picture" in the simple little game they have. You just try and frame the picture in the lcd and if you get it right you win. You can only enter once a day, but I figured for those who are wanting a good camera but are short on funds....what's wrong with trying right? You can also browse more about the camera and see the flickr people's pictures they took with the camera...and other nikon users. I was seriously impressed.

For Lucy

2006-11-21T09:36:00.000-08:00

Meet Lucy, the best family dog. A fierce guard dog with the heart of an eternal puppy. The Nagels adopted her a few years back and she took to the role of family pet perfectly. Gentle and playful with the kids, but always ready to protect them and all of us at any moment.

Sadly she is gone now. Her kidneys failed and she was put to sleep last night. She was truely a member of the family and will be sorely missed by all. Rest in peace dear friend, you remain forever in our hearts.

Wait...that's not entertaining me....

2006-11-20T08:40:00.000-08:00

I have waited anxiously with Pria for this movie since I saw a trailer last year. A movie about a dancing penguin. It's original, it's cool, it's animated so my daughter will LOVE IT. But wait...it has moral points? It has a story line...I paid 32$ to see a complex and very notably environmentally minded slap in the face? Huh?! Yes, that was running through my head as Chris, Pria and I sat in IMAX for the movie. Now it was amazing to see it in IMAX. And the first little bit was totally cool. But towards the middle you realize that you are slipping into The Salem Witch Trials era....penguins praising "The Mighty Guin" for more fish...and banishing Mumble from the group as they viewed him the cause of the lost fish. Then comes the X-Files Moulder worthy moment of Mumble proclaiming "It's the aliens!" So along you go with the determined penguin to find the aliens and talk to them. He chases the fishing boats out to sea and continues to chase them until he washed up on a distant shore. He tries to talk to them...fails...then Ah! It hits him...I gotta dance! So the world (the modern actual world) takes immediate notice of him and sends him back to emperor land...to get this...teach the other penguins how to dance for the scientists who now study them. Ok. Now I'm so on board with the dancing penguins...it's a cartoon after all, make it unbelievable and fun. But why does it have to have a message? Why does it have to have an outlandish one? I mean come on...over fishing happens. It's crappy but it happens. But the penguin hierarchy is like a bunch of protestant priests? Now by the end it got better...okay fluffy ending of the weirdo outcast being the savior of their race and it taking some outlandish behavior to make us realize we were affecting them.

But it's a kids movie...why can't it be fun like Cars? The big morals there is not to be a hot shot jerk. It doesn't take much to get it...Pria got it. "He's sad...lightning wasn't nice to him." Hey lesson learned and it's fun.

And the beat goes on...

2006-11-20T08:31:00.000-08:00

It's monday. Mondays are okay I guess...nothing great about them. This one is just blah. Tomorrow is my birthday and I'm on the umpteenth with little if any sleep. It's stressful and annoying. I have little if any patience and find myself constantly exhausted. The warm milk, soothing baths or evenings of enya humming through my ipod don't seem to quelch the insomnia. Where a day or two without sleep is do able, constantly it's not fun. I am spent mentally and remembering to shower and brush my teeth consume all available resources. I don't write at night, I don't take pictures...I don't even play any video games anymore. I'm that "done" with life. How can you force yourself to go to bed when your mind and body just don't want to go? Sleep is needed soon...because sanity is quickly leaving.

The Book

2006-11-15T08:41:00.000-08:00

Yep I'm making a book. No, not kidding...yes I'm really making one. A small one, but it's got words, a layout and pictures actually printed on the pages. Dana inspired me to finally do it, and I'm wanting to have it done to give to Aunt Lanny for Thanksgiving. The only problem is I can't really decided on the layout...I'm wanting it to be perfect (as always) but I can't really tell if it's good or not. I've gone simple and made it black and white pictures only...so I don't have to compete with mismatched colors...but still I can't to get it all flowing great and looking good...
If you want to help me go here http://www.shutterfly.com/action/publishing/preview if it asks you for a password or login it's acnagel@hotmail.com and password is pandabear

Any suggestion?

The look of food

2006-11-11T06:42:00.000-08:00

I love to cook. I don't generally do it though. It drives me mad to try and cook in my kitchen. Now my kitchen is adequet for making food...but just not for the way I make it. I prefer to make spreads, not just here's chicken and away we go. Which means lots of dishes...and me being scattered brained trying to be chopping, stiring, mixing and washing at the same time. And I must be on guard for the 2 food theives in my house, they sneak in and pick at everything! I like to plate things (watch food network if you don't know what that means) I like it to look nice, everything be in very cool yet simple serving dishes. Garnished slightly, and never with something you won't be eating. I want to have the deserts, drinks and side dishes that go with the meal. That's just the way I've always thought about food. Which is so odd, because I don't like to eat food like that. I prefer bagels and simple sandwiches to gourmet meals. But the look of food makes me want to do it, lemongrass simmering next to red chilies, apple cider and bacon coating the chicken, farm fresh tomatoes seared on the grill.....I know it looks good and I wish I could make it.

new look

2006-11-10T21:38:00.000-08:00

Please be patient with the blog..I'm messing with some templets...or trying too :)

Insomnia can be fun...sometimes.

2006-11-10T20:55:00.000-08:00

I don't sleep that well. Generally I have at least 2 nights of no sleep a week. It's not too horrible, I play games, mess with my camera, catch up on writing. Some time's I have 4 or 5 nights of no sleep in a week, those are the less fun. In my mass insomnia you'd think my house would be spotless and uber organized. Far from it. When I can't sleep I can't clean. I do things that I can do on autopilot. Playing video games, writing another chapter in my story, taking odd pictures. Those things required no active thoughts from me and I can run on zombie mode so to speak. I just slip on my ipod drown my world in music and go for it. These are some of my latest insomnia pictures.

This one was back when Ciela stayed the night and we played with water droplets and food coloring.

I love lights, and the color blue and was trying something I read about in Pop Photo.

Pria got one of those pin art things...I was amused far too much with it.

Just because I can't take a normal picture of myself ;)

They are fun moments for me...when I can be stupid and silly and no one gets to see, unless Chris wakes up in the middle of the night :D

Spookables

2006-11-06T09:33:00.000-08:00

Figured now was a good time to post some Halloween pictures of Pria. She had a really fun time at the ward party and going trick or treating with her buddies Ryan and Jack in the rich neighborhood. It was freezing cold so her costume ended up being perfect for her.

She was really good about not being too scraed at the trunk or treat....at least for the most part.

Not sure about who this is, but Pria loved to dance with her.

FLICKRRRRRR.....

2006-10-24T11:45:00.000-07:00

I have new pictures up on Flickr (for those of you that go there...) and hope to have some of little waterbender up tonight after our trunk or treat. www.flickr.com

Fun times with a munchkin

2006-10-22T19:16:00.000-07:00

We go to the Zoo alot. It's right by our apartment, one stop down on the Max...and it's the perfect amusement for Pria (with some nice walking for us) We went to the Mandrill's pen the other day and the monkeys were very interactive. Pria walked up to the glass and they just started freaking out. They were lunging and stomping the ground in front of her. Then we picked her up and the big boss monkey ran over and took an interest in her. He would stomp and bow his head, so we had her bow back. Then all the other monkeys started bowing at her. They were all following whatever she did, so we had her run back and forth in front of the cage. They ran back and forth chasing her...still bowing and stomping as they ran. After a little bit, all the monkeys kept their heads down in front of her, so we had concluded that Pria is the new leader of the Madrill.

We also have Cougars at the zoo now. It took them a bit to be comfortable and actually walk around their pen. They have growled at Chris(don't blame them)and watched Pria intently we she's off by herself. But this last visit they were different. They were biting the glass. You could actually hear their teeth grinding against the the window in their den. We couldn't get Pria to touch the glass where they were biting, and she was sufficiently scared of them after that. But it was cool to see.

Old pictures

2006-10-10T10:10:00.000-07:00

I found 3 groups of pictures I never bothered to edit or upload last night, with good reason. I seperated my shoulder and was all done with computers and cameras for a bit. But since joining Flickr I have edited them and posted them, but I realise that not all of you can or want to join Flickr so I will post one or 2 (if I can) here. Of course I have posted 100 pictures and about half of them are new or unseen so there's lots to see there.

One stationary butterfly with 3 others circling it.

Cabers on the slide of doom.

A foggy field outside of Lincoln City

new pictures

2006-10-08T14:49:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let you all know that I am working on getting some new pictures up on my Flickr account so look for them to be up and all ready hopfully by tomorrow :)

Oh it's a small world...

2006-10-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

We went to the beach this weekend, for my mom's 60th birthday. Chris and I came down on Thurday, my parents showed up on Friday. As my parents finished checking in we ran in to more family. Aunt Phyllis (spelling???) and Uncle Grant. Of all the people to run in to, we run into family that I see only at weddings or funerals. It made for an interesting evening....

Small words please...I don't use intelligence before noon.

2006-09-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

Well now that I'm home I can post an update about Chris....just a forwarning I'm gonna totally spell things wrong.

He is okay. A bit out of it, sleeps off and on all day and night. He's got a bit of a fever, with some nausea. He saw his surgeon on Friday morning and got his Lidocain drip removed. He can walk around and shower now (thank goodness). I'm still not sure what all the surgery was called, I was never quiet sure of the million *brief pause to console Pria after she dropped a table on her foot* dollar phrases doctors use. It was an orthoscopic something of the left with something and something else. Basically there are 4 holes in his left shoulder where they went in to shave off a section of a bone in his shoulder. They didn't touch the nerves, ligaments, tendons or muscles. Just ground down the bone far enough so it wouldn't rub against the other one. They took pictures while they were in there and if you are in medical school you could probably make out what it all is. I have to get on him to keep up with his ice and meds *Pria now has a nasty looking bruse on her foot so we are going to cuddle and take a bath* I guess my work is never done....

Today is the day.

2006-09-20T08:31:00.000-07:00

Well today is Chris's surgery. He's nervous. I'm just exhausted, couldn't sleep much last night. I don't know the technical part of what's going on today. I know that they are cutting into his shoulder and shaving off a little burr or some thing. My nice neighbor Trini, is gonna watch Pria while I'm there with Chris. She has a little boy, Jordan and Pria loves to play with him.

I'll post how he's doing and what exactly went on as soon as I figure it out.

Done for now...

2006-09-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

Well I'm having some more issuse with Blogger surrounding my pictures not posting or opening right...or at all...so until they answer some of my emails and let me know what's going on I won't be blogging any pictures. I will most likely start uploading to shutterbugs. So I will write and link to it when I do.

Oh no! Not there....

2006-09-10T16:17:00.000-07:00

Well as life begins to find a comfortable groove a wrench is thrown in. Chris recently sent out some resumes after Intel announced layoffs. He wasn't worried about loosing his job, but figured it was good to be covered in case. Well he isn't getting laid off but a new job may be offered. A job that is not located here. In fact it's loacted in the one place I have never wanted to visit, let alone live. That's right...it's in Utah. Lehi Utah. Oh but it gets better...training is 6 months long not here, or in Utah. Training is in Virginia. Molasses or something like that. So we'd move to Virignia, stay for a bit, then pack up and move to *gulp* Utah. Chris is very optomistic about it being a new experiance and a good way to buy a house. Utah houses are dirt cheap and huge. I'm not too thrilled. I like rain, mountains, the beach....I like here. Granted I can't buy a house a here, I can't even rent one. There's just something about Utah...more so mormons in Utah...that just makes me cringe and scream "POD PEOPLE!" I should have seen it coming though...I branch out and talk to people at church and try to make some friends...and now I may be moving.

At least this time I'd get paid to move....

Starting from the begining

2006-09-07T14:14:00.000-07:00

Well it's been 2 months since I seperated my shoulder and I was expecting to be doing much better. So yesterday I went and saw my friend's mother whose a physical therapist. Well this lady was much better then the therapist I previously saw. Firstly she had seperated her shoulder before so she had first hand experiance. Her seperation was not as bad as mine and her's took her over 2 years to recover from. That news wasn't not happy for me. So we went over everything I had been doing, stretches and such that Jon (old therapist) had given me. To my complete annoyance she told me that one of the excersises I was doing was keeping my tendons from healing. Everytime I lifted my arm above my shoulder I was reripping everything. If I hadn't been doing those moves, I would have had scar tissue form and be healed and ready to strenghten everything. So for the next 2 months I have to restart form the begining...no lifting, no overhead reaching...I'm so not happy. I can't believe I wasted 2 months of stretching and strenghtening just to be told it was all hurting me. This just reaffirms my belief that doctors/therapists do more harm then good if they haven't had first hand experiance in something. So I'm off to go do wall pushups and plan on being better by next summer....or maybe the summer after that.

There she blows...

2006-09-07T13:38:00.000-07:00

*hehehe* oh the jokes I could say...

Moving on...

We recently went to Newport, and you can't go that south without going to Depot Bay and chancing to see the whales. We debated about going out, the weather wasn't terribly great on Thursday and wasn't expected to be much better the next day. We talked it over with Pria (as much as you can talk about something new with a 3 year old) and she was luke warm about going out on a boat. The next morning we called Dockside Charters and they said there were several whales right out in the bay and the weather couldn't be better for us. Pria was ecstatic about the boat and seeing whales. We ended up on the Samson, with about a dozen people. We let Pria get all comfy with the boat before we headed out.

She and Chris hung on on the inside for most of the time. I of course was crazy girl out on the very front of the boat. I was so glad I hadn't eaten breakfast that morning. Up and down...up and down. Got a nice shot of the Depot Bay coastline while we headed out to the first buoy to snag a whale.

Trying to take pictures on a swaying boat is....awkward. I ended up wrapping on leg over a low rail and locking it behind my other one to avoid flipping over the side while I tried to focus. We spotted out first whale a couple of minutes after heading, it's grey whale season which I don't think I've seen before...at least not close.

This was the first guy, and the only good tail shot I got. Pria and Chris could see him from the cabin and she was uber happy about seeing one. She was sort of bummed that they weren't sharks (me too) but they were cool enough for her.

This fish wanted in our boat real bad! He just popped up right next to us...it was crazy! No, no...I'm teasing...While we were floating watching the first group of whales our deck hand was fishing and actually caught somthing, so we waited while he reeled it in. I was secretly hoping for a shark, but no luck. He pulled up what I guessed what a rock fish and threw him back. I snapped this shot as he was tossed back. It's not the clearest shot, but it's an awesome fish.

We spent the time chasing the whales back and forth in front of the bay. We went North to find them, they popped up South of us. So we'd slowly go back South, hoping to catch them on the way...and they'd pop up way North of us. Aggrivating little punks.

A bit before we headed back in we found one and then he found a friend. I wished I had a longer telephoto, since they are a bit hard to make out...but if you can see them you can tell there are 2 of them.

All in all, it was a fun time. Pria didn't throw up and I managed to stay awake (last time I was on a little ocean going boat I passed out almost the entire time...something about the rocking back and forth puts me to sleep), so it was a fun way to spend part of the day.

Why men and kids shouldn't be left alone

2006-09-03T21:45:00.000-07:00

Most women have been to Victoria's Secret. Some of them have been in that store with a man. I've been in there with Chris before, it's an event to say the least. Looks at the various *ahem* items, suggestions about others. I've learned to chuckel and snicker along with him, becuase honestly some of those things.....goodness. Well I recently went shopping there and brought Chris and Pria with me. If you thought men by themsleves are childish, wait until you give them a cutie pie that loves to repeat things. So there I am searching through the bras, trying to get in and get out without the usual jokes. I'm thinking I'm doing good when I hear a sweet little voice happily chant" Double Delicious." I shoot around and see Pria and Chris laughing....it's now her favorite funny thing to say.

30 days gone

2006-09-03T21:39:00.000-07:00

Wow...look at me. I have managed to avoid posting for a whole 30 days! Woohoo ;)

I do have pictures and topics I'm writing on. I've just been busy with every other thing going on. I will work on them tonight and tomorrow, if I get bored enough with my story. So I will try to have a new post by Wednesday/Thursday. But ya know, it's me so who knows what will happen...or if anyone reads this :)

Beach Trip

2006-07-31T14:02:00.000-07:00

I have finally gotten some pictures edited from our trip to the beach. They aren't stellar but they're semi clear and show we were there. The trip was fun, a bit exhausting but we had good weather the whole time. It looked liked it would rain the morning we left so we weren't too dissapointed in leaving right then.

We played on the beach lots and had a fire down there one night. This was our first night there and we missed sunset by a bit, but a sword fight on the beach was entertaining to watch. My money is on the little one...she's very sneaky.

This one is from Neah Kah Ne/Manzanita area(spelling???). We rented a house at this beach and sunsets were very cool. I liked this one because you can see the trail of the plane almost like a comets tail.

Lucy was happy to trot around in pria's sunglasses while were hung out around the house.

We went to Short Sands/Oswald West State Park one day. Pria finally loves to play in the sand and water, too bad she sat down in the water with her shorts still on.

We hung out there and played for a few hours. Pria, Kai and Luke just hung out in the little river coming down the beach. Just happily throwing rocks and getting wet. Well Kai wasn't too happy about getting wet, but little Luke was all about the water. Until he had to get washed off in it, then he was all done.

I took a couple pictures of the surfers there, trying to test out my arm a bit since it was the first time I held my camera since I messed up my shoulder. I needed a longer lense, but this one was good enough for now. There aren't very high waves there, so any "surfing" shots wouldn't have been good.

Blogger wont let me upload any more pictures into this post so the other pictures will get put up when I have some more time later this week.

Update

2006-07-28T12:22:00.000-07:00

Hey howdy hey.

Well I' ve been away from the blog long enough, so I guess an update is due.

I'm doing well in physical therapy, get to start strength excersise next week. My therapist (Jon) thinks I am doing great, but still will have months not weeks before I can holding Pria or my camera. I'm trying hard to get to that point sooner, cause I'd like to take some good pictures before summer is up.

Chris and I celebrated our 8th anniversary with a trip to the pool. Nothing says love like "CANONBALL!"

Pria is getting somewhat excited for her birthday. We are trying to figure out what to plan for it now. I can't believe she's going to be 3...man I'm getting old.

Our trip to the beach with the whole Nagel clan was good. We had some good weather, got to play at the beach plenty. Will probably go back to the beach soon, Pria know loves to play in the sand so yay!

Other then that, life is life. I will try and get some new pictures uploaded soon and post again.

Bombs bursting in air

2006-07-07T15:33:00.000-07:00

Well this Fourth of July was very fun. We went swimming at the cool wilson pool with the Ashworths in the morning/afternoon. Then we headed to Glenn's brother's home for a neighborhood 4th get together. Pria played with sparklers for the first time and was a bit unsure of them. They men of the neighboorhood spend some serious money and got an awesome selection of fireworks to light off that night. I tried my best to take pictures, video and cuddle Pria all at the same time. My exposures were tons better this year, and hardly any shot were blurred out. Plenty were over exposed but hopefully I can work on that next year. So here are some shots of the fireworks from that night. I will get together some new shots of the family and cousins from that week and try to have them posted by the end of the week. I also have some shots taken at the pool with a toss away underwater camera, they aren't stellar but they'll make do.

AJN_0001.JPEG

2006-06-30T12:04:00.000-07:00

*Don't ask me why I named it that....I needed a title and couldn't be more creative*

Well I figured it was time I posted some new pictures on here. It's been very warm and we have been swimming constantly. I'm so happy that the wilson high school pool is open now :) Maybe I'll go buy a throw away water camera and get some pictures of us playing at the pool, it's very cool.

I haven't taken that many pictures lately, most of our activites are in water and my camera is rather insistent that it not get wet (it's so demanding some times) but I got a couple new ones of the ashworth's while they were playing in the sprinklers. One day I will have to figured out how to get pria to like having her picture taken, but for now she's too much like me.

Just to prove that I'm alive and capable of being in a picture...but I've got to continue being different too :)

Playing with water

2006-06-18T21:18:00.000-07:00

I went to the Ashworth's and we played with some water balloons...and I got some cool pictures. Not that many, since it was a spur of the moment first time thing and lost light really fast. So hope ya like them :)

This one is my favorite, and happily it was the first one I got to come out. I named it Fish Out Of Water, since he looks like a fish...and is made of water....yeah you get it :) Hopefully I can get some more time to play with them tomorrow.

Little helper

2006-06-05T23:27:00.000-07:00

Pria is the constant helper, not always helping out in a good way....but she wants to be involved and tries. Our latest project is a set of bunkbeds, and she pretends to paint them. So I snapped a couple of pictures of her. Hopefully the beds will be ready for her next week...just waiting on getting the mattresses from Chris's buddy. The painting is done aside from some airbrushing we're planning, but it's all set for sleeping. So hopefully there can be some fun sleep overs with the cousins before they move.

After Pria was done "painting" she climbed up on the top bunk and shook her booty for the camera for a bit :)

More more more more

2006-06-03T14:09:00.000-07:00

Yay I finally got some pictures of Haven smiling. If only I could post videos of her...she's sooo cute :)

Here are more

2006-06-01T18:16:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures, from a few weeks ago. We were all together at the Ashworth's last Sunday for Haven's blessing. I'm going to try again to get some more pictures of Haven, since now I can make her laugh...maybe I can get a shot of her smiling....here's hoping :D

Toran and his class pet "Rocky"

Haven, it's not a smile but it was the closest I could get

Caleb and Pria had a day of chalk drawing and running and I played paparazzi. Pria was in artist mode and did not appreciate me interrupting her.

Caleb posted happily for a few sunny shots

Pria and Caleb had a race around the circle

Caleb was not happy with the decision that he cut the corner and lost the race

Summer time

2006-05-31T03:42:00.000-07:00

It's summer, sort of, and that means more family time. And the only time to get those relaxed comfy family shots, which I'm still not any good at...argh. The wonderful thing about digital and 2 4gb cf cards means if I take 600 shots odds are there are at least one or two that are decent.

We headed to Nana and Papas house for a bbq for Mothers Day, it was warm and the squids got to play in the sprinkler :)

Toran did a great audition for Singing in the Rain.

Pria would not run through the sprinkler, her hair and hands were the only thing to touch the water, can't blame her the water was pretty cold.

After sprinkler time came the kids were worn out, Toran and Nana had some cuddles in the sun.

Papa and Haven enjoy a stroll around the yard.

I took a few moments and took some pictures of the yard and found this little guy, I didn't get much time to prepare but he's crisp and clear....that's always good.

I love bleeding hearts, but they are a pain to photograph. Rarely are they in wonderful lighting with calm wind, but this little stem caught my eye and for a few minutes everything was great.

It was a fun day a good intro into hopefully some more family gatherings before the Ashworths head to igloo land for 4 years.

Ch ch ch changes...

2006-05-30T06:35:00.000-07:00

Well I'm not doing too well on posting here am I? But I've had some thoughts about also posting some photo tips, tricks and helpful hints...sort of. I will still try and post pictures and family updates...I really need to get seperate sites for them lately.. but until then I'm just going by the seat of my pants so to speak. So I'm going to post the first of what I hope to be a few sections on photo stuff, but please trust me that I'm no expert just been around it for a bit.

My name is Angie and I'm addicted to photography....

2006-05-30T04:02:00.000-07:00

A brief history (maybe not totally brief..) of me and photography. It runs in my family and for as long as I can remember I've been creatively inclined but severely lacking in ways of expressing it.
Enter my father, National Geographic and a reckless abbandon for finding a way to show things the way I see them.
National Geographic showed me life beyond suburbia...And showed me the wonderful world of Nikon. I saw photographers laying in mud for days, traversing rivers with several cameras and bags to get that one shot, that one true vision lurking in their mind....and I was hooked.
My father encouraged me to find a way of expressing myself and being a very intelligent man about photography let me begin to "tinker" with his camera. The first time I was "let loose" with it, I was 16 and in Yellowstone National Park. And I fell in love with shooting a certain elk I came across. I had a sense (rather reckless looking back on it now) that I could "be a part of his world"....What can I say? I was young. My father gave me tips and helped me understand exposures but let me go it mostly alone. I spotted this elk once in a meadow with a few other and he was rather impressive. Most hunters would have been happy to have his antler on their wall I'm sure. I took plenty of pictures and then he moved on, wanted to follow but lack of more film and my mother insisting I get back kept that from happening. Then came the next day and I spotted him again. This time I was determined to get close, much closer then you should get to those animals. They were in a small valley and I slowly worked my way around and down still taking pictures, until I was sitting in the middle of the small group. All the while I can hear my parents telling, asking me to get back and away from them. Now I was aware that all my actions would affect the elks reactions and made very slow and cautious movements. For those brief moments sitting in their world as it were, was amazing. I still took pictures, not that often as it wasn't that quiet of camera. The elk paid me no mind, slowly eating around me smelling me and then moving on. I made no move to impede them and sat still just observing them. After several minutes they moved away and I slowly made my way back up the valley to my parents who were not as thrilled as I was to say the least. But I knew that was what I wanted from then on. I wanted to take pictures and see life from the view of the people/animals/flowers...Whatever it was that I shot. The pictures I took were OK...Not the best but the memories of being there and seeing the video (yeah there's a video of crazy me and the elk) made up for it.

My father bought me my very first SLR that Christmas and I was stoked to say the least. My mind filled with all the cool things I could do (Indonesia here I come....) then quickly I was slapped in the face with the reality that I had a LONG way to go. I took a semester of photography in high school, but rarely did the work. I wasn't interested in the book learing....What aperture was needed for what conditions...What light sources would do what...It all bored me to death. But having a camera, friends and an imagination....led to some cool pictures, I was able to get by with out the apparent knowledge of cameras that many thought was required. A picture was a picture....under exposed over exposed....if you didn't have a great scene to begin with, nothing else mattered. Then came the day when I realized photography costs money. I realized that film, especially black and white, wasn't cheap...and having to buy your own paper was insane amounts of money at the rate in which I took pictures. My father sat me down and explained how much he had already paid for my class, and how much he still had to pay..... needless to say I felt kind of bad for racking up a 3 digit bill in a high school course. Then came the day when I realized I had to pay for it myself.... and sadly had to put it up for lack of money.

Pass by a few years and I've taken some casual shot...Vacations, b-day parties...Nothing to the level of what I liked....But a memory was captured here and there. I was asked why I didn't take pictures anymore, and explained several times that money just isn't there for it. Let's face it....Film photography was expensive...Even with costco processing and bilk film discounts, it added up to $$$. My camera had been loved and abused over the years and after a few years of marriage Chris bought me the camera of my dreams... a Nikon N90s. I had drooled over that thing for years and years. It was light years above my humble Minolta, vertical grip, 4.5 fps continous shutter, fully auto/manual, more attachments and gizmos then I could have ever imagined (but wanted none the less)...It was the camera I had dreamed about and finally was mine. I took pictures constantly, and costco saw plenty of my money is processing and film. When I got the camera there was the emergence of something called Digital Photography, Chris was all about me doing that...But I adamantly refused. Film had a way better detail range then digital and wasn't about to abandon it. For a while I held strong to film and it continuously appeased me. Until it is that we a trip home for Christmas, a very special Christmas....our daughter's first one and first time meeting the whole family. A huge photo op of course and I was prepared with several rolls of film and plenty of batteries. A great trip home and we were excited to see the pictures from it. Then absolute shock when costco informed me that all of my pictures were ruined. The lead technician talked with me for several minutes while I explained all about my camera, film and then explained that the airport technicians had misinformed me about their scanners. Increased security measures had scanned my film and exposed it before I even borded my plane home. 14 rolls of 36 exposure film...500 pictures gone, I was pissed. I was mad at costco, the airport, the film, my camera....I had lost the pictures of Pria's first Christmas because of National Security and misinformed personal. I packed up my camera and said I was done. About 6 months later, Chris brought up digital again...I was hesistant of course, but when to a camera store and talked for hours with the guy and was finally sold. I still dounted it's capability compared to film (in some ways I still do) but I bought a Nikon D70 and the snowball was let loose and started rolling....and gained speed quickly. The first week I had it, I shot about a thousand + pictures...and all it took was my computer and a card reader to see them. No processing required...no more money to see an out of focus shot. Quickly I acquired lenses, filters...gadgets and more gadgets (got to love gadgets) and was finally able to take pictures at the rate I wanted, but still afford. I was offical hooked couldn't get enough.

I may have more then the average person in terms of photo gear, I'm sure I always will, but I have far less then I want. I'm not a pro (nor do I want to be) but I'm not an amature. I try and get the good deals, best lenses for best price and ebay....ebay....ebay. I've definitely spent plenty of money on it, far more then I'm sure most people realize or that Chris wants to know. But like my father said, I'd rather pay more for something worth it that you will use....Even though I've supassed his approved spending limit with little signs of slowing down. But I've finally found the one thing I always wanted to do....granted not to the limits I wanted...But with a family and budget I manage ok. I'm sure my family would say I've managed to do more then ok :)

Yeah I'm sure there are typos...please forgive them :)

The germs are attacking...

2006-05-12T23:34:00.000-07:00

Well as I sit here I'm on nurse, cook and eeww (mom's know what that one is) duty for the family. Chris has a fever of 102 and Pria isn't far behind. They are both passed out and I'm doing my best not to catch whatever it is they have. I'm betting flu because Chris can barely walk, but he may have been exposed to something at work so I'm not totally sure. If he's not better by tomorrow, or at least making some headway at better then I'm going to have him contact the nurse at Intel and make sure there wasn't some side effects to the leak at work. I am ever vigilant and will make sure they get sleep and get better, hopefully without me getting it too :)

Her royal highness commands attention...

2006-05-07T13:15:00.000-07:00

Pria is almost 3 (in August) but in her world she is far far more then that. She's a princess, a baby, a dinosaur, a puppy, several cartoon chracters and never ever tired....even when she's alseep...she's not tired.

"I Pria, you mommy, that's daddy. I princess, daddy's a monster. RUN!"

Her favorite phrases of late are

"Back off, my turn."
"I don't want it."
"Check me out."
"Help, help." said in the cutest little voice.
"I sorry." She says that whether or not she did anything, Chris could knock something off the table and she'll piped up I'm sorry.
"Baby meme?" It's tickling game we play.

Her favorite thing to do dance, and she like to try and sing phantom of the opera with me. She can hit the higher notes pretty well. She has developed a awesome love for video games :D She will play Guild Wars with me and happily yells out where the monsters are. She really wants to play the Guitar Hero game, but she's still a bit too little for that one. But she's a great stage dancer for us when we play:)

Bedtime is a battle for us, she loves our bed and I don't blame her...Sterns and Foster beds are so much nicer then regular beds. We have tried to force it, but she wakes up and sleep walks into our bed and we are too dead to notice her there until one of us just goes to the couch in our sleep. But then again our couch is mighty comfy so I don't mind being on it. But we are hoping to get her a full size big girl bed to possibly entice her to sleep on her own again.

2006-05-06T13:46:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday we went to Pria's cousins house for his birthday party, little Luke is 1 year old :) It was a fun time and I had a few moments outside alone with the little guy and snapped a couple of pictures of him. He's such a little curious guy, liked seeing his picture after I took it. Now if I could only get Pria to hold still like Luke does... :)

Night lights...

2006-05-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

I was bored last night waiting for the wash to dry so I could wash towels and figured I'd mess around with the camera some more. I was looking for something to take pictures of and Magnetix just aren't enticing me right now. So I played around with Pria's globe light toy. Was fun and gave me some more ideas for a later date :)

Just for fun I'll put in the picture of the Magnetix from last time I was bored at night...I'm sure most of you have seen.

The problems of late

2006-04-25T17:01:00.000-07:00

Okay I'm not sure how the last post got on here...when I tried to upload it I got a constant error message and I can't edit that one post. So for a bit I'm not going to post until I can figure out what problem is causing me grief on here. So I will post as soon as I can it working right :D

Finiky little people

2006-04-23T17:46:00.000-07:00

In my quest to take more pictures I constantly have my camera out and with me where ever I go. Outdoors I seem to do good, with people....children especialy, I am just missing the boat. Pria is very anti wanting to have her picture taken, so add my apparent lack of finess and you get bubkiss. So when it comes to taken pictures of my little neice Haven I'm at a loss...I can take hundreds (and I have) but nothing seems to be good. Maybe it's just my perfection or my inability to deal with people....but I can't do people pictures. I keep trying different things...but I seem to get worst (if that's possible) at it as I go. Which kind of sucks, as I have 5 very happy cute kids at my disposal to snap pictures of all day long...here are some of the latest of little miss haven. I'm trying really hard to get one of her smiling...until then these will suffice :D

Still on the vine

2006-04-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

Well it is now spring in the northwest, which means even more rain but warmer (hopefully) temperatures. We have had a few bright and sunny days, hoping to have plenty more of them soon. The flowers are starting to bloom and I'm a gearing up for several trips to mom's house. I'm not much of a gardener now a days....just don't have the space to do what I want. I have one flower and I love it. It's an orchid, a very nice gift from Chris, and the easiest thing I've ever had to grow besides tomatoes. Ooh the memmories of eating cherry tomatoes off the vine...mmmmm :) I'm hoping to get a playmate for my orchid, thinking something in blue...or maybe yellow. It's a very simple and very beautiful indoor flower. I'm all for flowers inside, but cut ones just never seem to last very long and most indoor plants just....don't appeal to me. Pria likes it, it's up high from her and her toys, but I lift her up to see and smell it. She has a great flower sniff :) Soon we well take another trip to the Rose Garden and she will happily sniff everything in sight. I'm glad that she appreciates flowers and I can generally keep her from plucking them. We are trying to learn the different names of the flowers we see, but as of now just saying flower and the colors she sees works for me.

By starlight

2006-04-08T13:50:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago it was so clear that I had the urge to go take some night shots. Jenny had suggested going to the temple at night and so I headed over there. I wanted to get the stars or the moon in the shots with the temple but had some lighting discrepancies with that. Moon was so bright that any exposed photo blurred it, stars bright but not big enough to show up in anything not exposed. Temple was lit up like a 90 year olds birthday cake, so I just went with the temple and will have to work on the moon and stars at the beach, or get my telescope working. All in all it was a fun night and I liked a few of the pictures. My new 50 mm lens came in handy with the f/1.8 as did the fisheye with being 10.5mm. I believe these are both fisheye shots, the 50mm ones were taken in the grass (mud rather) and I was a bit unsteady on them. Played with the white balance a bit and the marble started to change colors on me, going really red or really green. I liked the hint of red. All the flowers are open now, there are so many tulips and daffodils....It oozes Easter. I'm hoping on one of my next free days it will be nice and sunny and I can get some day shots to contrast these ones.

Take me to the zoo

2006-04-05T08:20:00.000-07:00

Friday was nice so we went to the zoo. We took the train and Pria was very excited about that. She loves MAX :) The seals were out sunning themselves in the ever so rare sun we get. The polar bears were passed out in a big group, the sun bears were out and about in their big trees. The elephants were all outside and they had them doing excersises, was pretty cool to see them do something instead of just standing there. This little guy is a barn owl they had out. He wasn't much for having his picture taken...he was trying to fly everywhere. I went on the backside of the keepr and snapped a quick few. I love that his beak is hidden in the feathers, make me think he has no nose. Pria wasn't very into the birds, she preferred to run in the big field and play on the little animal statues. All in all it was a fun day.

The little things in life....

2006-04-04T02:11:00.000-07:00

Everybody says the little things matter the most right?

Well I've always wondered what little things they were talking about and today Pria answered it for me. It's not what you think...hugs and kisses are of course wonderful to get but those aren't it. It's a very simple thing she does. She remembers lines from TV and movies...and quotes them at the oddest times. Her latest one is from Chicken Little. Of all the things said in the movie I didn't think she'd pick up on this one. I was thinking maybe "Oh snap!" or gurgling like fish...maybe even translating things into Mutton (Liz you have to see the movie!), but no. She picks the tackiest line and emulating Breathless Mahoney she sighs "Ooh Ace." She says it over and over again during the movie....I guess she is practicing for "Ooh James" ;)

Can You Guess?

2006-04-02T08:31:00.000-07:00

Just for fun, I wanted to know if anyone could guess where I got my blog title from. I have my own guesses on who I think would know. So any guesses?

Sugar and Spice make life a bit more nice

2006-04-02T08:04:00.000-07:00

We made cookies with Nana and the cousins the other day. Pria liked to decorate with the sprinkles, but wouldn't eat the cookies after. Plain and she was all over them...frosting and sprinkles and she just wasn't interested. This was the only bite she had...and the begining of several bites for me.

Little Miss Haven is a peach to hang out with...not so photogenic yet, but get's more awake everyday. Now if only it was more during the day instead of at night when I have to be home with my own little angel. Hoping to get some more time to take some better pictures of her soon. Pria is all about babies right now. She likes to hold Haven and it pretty good about it. I'm just waiting for her to suggest that we have a baby.

The other day we ventured downtown again and I finally found the statue guy! Of course as soon as I took out my camera he stopped performing, dang it. He had some glass balls and doing a pretty nifty little routine with them, I really want to find the Roman statue ones....I think they are just too cool. Pria put some money in his little jar and he bent down to shake her hand, I thought she was going to freak out. But she proved me wrong and happily shook his hand and waved goodbye to him. It's cool things like this that make me enjoy the day trips downtown. Of course stopping off at the camera store downtown also makes my day :D

Wireless living has more wires then before.

2006-04-02T07:36:00.000-07:00

In my constant battle with anything electronic I have several moments a day when I wonder if it's all worth it. Yes I can get mail from friends around the world in mere seconds, but how long does it take me to get my 3 (yes 3!) modems and routers to work well together? Hours! Then if the signal is there and working right I have to get my computer to want to be used. It's back to the agrivation of having a cell phone years ago. "Does it work now? Now? What about now?" Here I sit with my laptop and wireless card and have 3 cords that run across my table and floor. I guess it's better then what I have upstairs...I get lost in those cords for days "What in the heck is THIS one for?!" But it keeps my mail man from having to carry a bunch of letters and I'm sure his back appreciates it :)