A Favorite Of Mine

Number One Daughter is now 22, but when she was a kid, she was in constant motion.

On a trip to Yellowstone National Park in July of 1989, we were waiting for Old Faithful geyser to erupt, but Number One Daughter couldn't sit still.

She had to run around as usual, and I took this one photo of her as she trotted back and forth in front of us.

Later when I received my developed slides, this instantly became one of my favorite photos I've ever taken.

If I could show you one photograph that best illustrated Number One Daughter as a kid, this would be the one I'd present.

Independence Day 2008

Despite what we have shoved down our throats relentlessly by the modern 24 hour news, America is still a great place where hard work can make dreams come true.

We are NOT in a recession, even though some make that claim. (Recession is actually a technical term where the economy shrinks for two straight quarters, and our economy hasn't shrunk even for one quarter in YEARS; it has only slowed in the amount of growth. But growth is growth.) We are NOT destitute because of high gasoline prices; any fool can cut back on luxuries when times get lean and put gas in their cars.

America's existence does NOT hang in the balance based on who will be elected as the next President this November. We'll continue on regardless of who our next President will be.

I once made my living by lifting heavy things, and had a dream of going back to college to learn a skill that would help make a better life for myself and my family.

With a wife and two kids and five years of hard work, I earned an electrical engineering degree and HAVE made a better life for my family and myself.

And I am a thoroughly average man who was not born into wealth.

So if I can do it, anyone can.

Americans, get off your butt and work; NO President is going to make a difference in your life.

Only you can do that. Only you.

Happy Independence Day folks.

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On the ipod: This Ain't No Ordinary Love Song by Payable On Death (P.O.D.), from their new When Angels And Serpents Dance cd

You Might Not Believe This

...but seeing this kind of thing almost every day over 11 years, you almost stop seeing it for what it is. Pure beauty.

When you move here from a place like northeast Louisiana, where the people are as good as any place you could hope to meet, but the scenery is, well, largely forgettable, you would initially tell yourself that you'll never get used to the incredible sunsets, walking out in the early morning barefooted and in shorts to get the paper...in January, but the daily grind of the job and things you have to do just eventually wears away the "new" of even a place like this.

That's one reason I love to have a camera in my hand. It forces me to notice every little detail, because hey, they might make a good shot, but overall, it keeps you mentally on your toes that you live in such an amazing place. That if you feel like taking the long way home you can enjoy the purple late evening clouds and sky and the huge expanses of water, that always seem so pretty.

So on a day when you are out for a little bit, despite the chronic back, and stressful work load, your camera helps you catch a nice, pretty view of the evening sky framed between some tropical looking palm trees.

It's not a special shot, in fact it's almost boring in it's common-ness.

But the heart of the matter is really that I SAW, FELT, SMELLED, and actually experienced the view.

Nothing common about that at all.

Warped

The slow, inevitable warping of the weathered boards on the boardwalk is stronger than the nails holding them there.

This is why, after hurricanes Jeanne and Francis in 2004, we replaced our blown down fence with a plastic one. Pvc or whatever that stuff is they make fences out of.

Now I don't have to go out there every two years or so and drive the nails back in to the boards like we did with the old fence.

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On the ipod:
Pharisee by Disciple, from their "My Daddy Can Whip Your Daddy" cd.

Motel

A nifty look at a nice little motel on the beach in Indialantic, Florida.

I like that there are still smaller ones like this, along with the massive chain hotels farther up the beach.

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On the ipod:

Can't Breathe, by Disciple. From their "By God" Cd.

I give you my life
Set in the potter's hands
Make it what you want
Cause I can't move and I can't breathe
I can't love and I can't speak
I can't trust and I can't run
I can't wake and I can't sleep
I can't live my life without you

2

The second set of steps up to the boardwalk for this boardwalk along the Atlantic Ocean in Indialantic, Florida.

Naturally Sepia

Lovely Wife and I were walking along a boardwalk in Indialantic, Florida with the beach on one side and the sun setting on the other.

I happened to look toward the evening sun at the right moment and saw this interesting silhouette, so I took a couple of shots of it at different settings to lessen the flare of shooting into the sun like this.

When I downloaded them onto the computer at home I saw that the images looked as if I had treated them in Photoshop with the sepia filter.

Nope, that's simply how the images came out of the camera and I liked the look of it so much that I just slapped the border and copyright on it and called it "done."

I want to go back and try to color correct the image to see how that would look, just for fun, but sometimes photos just drop beautifully into your lap without even trying.

Cool.