the grey's

5 lb weight loss in 1.5 weeks

2008-04-09T07:22:00.002-05:00

woohoo....

after a visit to my endocronologist about 2 weeks ago, it was decided they would add cytomel (straight T3) to my synthroid (T4). it must be working.

now if i can get rid of this shoulder pain, i'll be in good shape (relatively). i think i either must have some type of cyst (which i really doubt) or rotator cuff tendonitis with infection. last night the lymph gland in my armpit was noticeably sore and it really came on quickly. this morning, it is not as sore, and neither is my shoulder....or my collarbone...connection? you bet. i'm undecided whether to see the orthopedist, or the regular doc about this.

playing with the macro lens..

2008-04-08T07:12:00.000-05:00

last smudge for today...

2008-03-07T18:03:00.002-06:00

teah smudge

2008-03-07T12:12:00.001-06:00

clear evidence i need to wait for next week's class where we cover 'short hair'

digital art...

2008-03-06T22:57:00.001-06:00

i'm taking a class on smudge painting..don't know if you can see the detail in the small one - click and see if you can get the big one.

okay - here's another one - for debbie

2008-02-22T10:20:00.002-06:00

this is some noro silk

so - it's only been like what, 2-3 months?

2008-02-22T10:18:00.004-06:00

anyhow...i think i might have a photo to share..

what can i say...i'm still lazy - despite the numerous 08 resolutions!

Merry Xmas Card...

2007-12-10T08:27:00.000-06:00

read it here, and don't expect to get it in the mail - haha!!

ok, i've been shamed into it...

2007-11-30T07:34:00.000-06:00

making a post that is. i'm not going to take the time to get all the pics in here, i made a collage of them last night instead. it was easier.

things have been super hectic here - the week of thanksgiving. much ado about nothing though. a friend of mine and i shot a nursing home event the night before diane got home. it was fun.

so d gets home on wednesday - we made a mad dash to the doc's office for the booster shot, then over to the eye doc for a checkup on how her eye's are doing (from this year's earlier problems). seems she is still having issues, but they went ahead and gave her some daily wear contacts to try for a month. seems the cold weather in new hampshire is wrecking havoc with her eyes.

so thanksgiving was good - tons of food of course, i really didn't feel like driving all the way to pasadena to pick up my mother, but i did..and her dog...and well, i'll leave the rest to your imagination. on the way back, we stopped at lbj hospital and gave all of our leftovers to scott and his doctor friends. seems the hospital cafeteria was closed, and for those on call - well, they were SOL.

so the weekend progresses....d and v go shopping...and more shopping...and we go out to dinner, and more dinner, lunch, etc. the time just flew by!

on friday night - i called mom to see how she was doing, and she wasn't doing well at all. i called randy and asked him to call - he did, he went over, he took her to the ER. still aren't sure what was going on - i THINK they suspect a tia - which is a stroke warning thing. she had a dopplar done of her carotid artery tuesday, and i should get a call from the doctor today. in the meantime, my friend from dallas, her mother died - she had suffered from parkinson's for several years and had been in a hospice situation for the past couple of months. makes you think about it...

so all in all - i've been running around like a chicken...with the perverbial head cut off. everyone wants something. in addition to all the work i agreed to do - my husband comes home last night with this wild idea - that i can edit a p&i diagram that in in a pdf format - "oh - just pop it into photoshop, i want that unit removed, those ......things over here, and yah - export it all so i can use it in a word doc".

uh huh

POTD - November 17

2007-11-17T20:46:00.001-06:00

POTD - November 16

2007-11-17T20:45:00.003-06:00

POTD - November 15

2007-11-15T19:30:00.003-06:00

Sunset this evening from the back yard

krumpy is sick again!

2007-11-15T12:29:00.000-06:00

poor dear has pancreatitis again! dropped her off at the vet this morning, she has to stay overnight tonite (cause they close early today). i can pick her up friday night, and take her back on saturday morning, so they can give her fluids via IV - no food allowed.

i think we caught it early this time - she wasn't near as sick or in pain as last time.

POTD - November 14

2007-11-14T18:28:00.000-06:00

POTD - November 13

2007-11-14T18:27:00.004-06:00

POTD - November 12

2007-11-14T18:27:00.003-06:00

POTD - November 11

2007-11-14T18:27:00.001-06:00

POTD - November 10

2007-11-14T18:13:00.000-06:00

POTD - November 9

2007-11-14T18:12:00.001-06:00

POTD - November 9

2007-11-11T15:14:00.001-06:00

sometimes i really don't like the way blogger makes my pictures look all jagged

POTD - November 8

2007-11-11T09:48:00.000-06:00

Late getting these done, as they are just uploading now...ugh! only 375 more to go.

POTD - November 7

2007-11-07T19:10:00.001-06:00

POTD - November 6

2007-11-06T17:33:00.001-06:00

POTD - November 5

2007-11-05T20:16:00.001-06:00

POTD - November 4

2007-11-04T16:16:00.000-06:00

POTD - November 3

2007-11-04T08:21:00.001-06:00

Kroger Parking Lot Car Show

POTD - November 2

2007-11-02T10:20:00.001-06:00

POTD - November 1

2007-11-01T22:08:00.000-06:00

image of the day for thursday, nov 1
taken at denny's for breakfast with lucretia

forgot - here's one....of the doggy...

2007-11-01T06:24:00.000-06:00

putzing around with photoshop the other day...

just for deb...

2007-11-01T06:19:00.000-06:00

so you can see how boring my life really is... just testing the new lens - not sure if it's actually focusing exactly where i'm telling it.

Deb - you need to join the texas photo forum - we are doing a POTD - photo a day thingie for the month of november. so i'll be FORCED to take photos every day...

texas renaissance festival..

2007-10-22T09:47:00.001-05:00

we went to the renfest this weekend, scott had never been. i had my picture taken with cap'n jack. it was fun.

the rest of the images can be seen here.

http://jsgrey.smugmug.com/gallery/3687051/6/210995218

monitor woes

2007-10-19T07:24:00.001-05:00

i'm so lucky....my monitor went out this morning - it's been acting funny for a week or so - it's the power in it - i was doing some reading on reviews of this monitor and interestingly enough - about 20 people had the same problem..and of course, just out of warranty.

some of the people were not so nice and actually suggested gateway knows about this problem and just won't fix it. sucks that it was 500 dollar monitor and didn't last 2 years!

i'm off to fry's this morning for a replacement!

Connie's Garden....

2007-10-13T21:13:00.000-05:00

Went to Connie and David's on Saturday, to celebrate their 26th wedding anniversary. she is doing well, but not doing well. ALS is so cruel. Here is a picture from her garden that just....said something.

the past week....

2007-10-12T07:03:00.000-05:00

the past week has been crazy. a trip to new hampshire and back, 3 wedding albums, post processing all the head shots - and today, it's a hotel conference for 3 hours, then the entire weekend is a ballroom dancing competition and an anniversary party for my brother and his wife!

whew!

i hope next week is calmer.

from sunny new hampshire

2007-10-05T10:31:00.000-05:00

well, i tried to do a picture - but blogger won't let me upload for some reason.

well, it worked this time!@

loving this new lens!

2007-09-30T12:58:00.001-05:00

Last one for today - Plumeria

2007-09-29T17:33:00.000-05:00

Gracie Poo

2007-09-29T14:22:00.000-05:00

Playing with Camera's...

2007-09-29T11:03:00.000-05:00

I took the 40d back to circuit city last night, because i had replaced it with one from Houston Camera Exchange with a 17-85mm lens. This lens is kinda cool - because it gives you that fish eye look. Just experimenting......

It stinks that most software doesn't read the Sraw format yet.

Maccu Piccu Photo Book

2007-09-27T08:18:00.000-05:00

Whew -

had to work on the blurb book so i get the darn half off coupon!

anyway - to take a peek at it...

Funny Face!

2007-09-21T17:08:00.000-05:00

just had to share

Playing with my Collage Software

2007-09-21T06:45:00.001-05:00

Took the doggies out for a romp yesterday afternoon. They get what we refer to as "ramey". I'm not sure if that is a real word, but if you have dogs, you know what it means.

Got the blog set up!

2007-09-20T11:50:00.001-05:00

this was not as easy as it sounds, but have the navigation up - still needs work. I got the header image pulled from the site. there's so much to do still.

anyway - NEW CAMERA!!

Ordered and recieved the Canon 40D yesterday. Seems to be a really sweet little camera. i'm experimenting with Sraw - so far, i'm very happy and this could be really useful on vacations.

Update to Krumpy

2007-08-20T09:09:00.000-05:00

well, saturday night was NOT so good for the krump. me and d were gone shopping quite a bit, so we weren’t watching her like a hawk…when we got home around 9pm - noticed that she was severely itchy. now we had also noticed, she really wasn’t drinking that much water, she was eating fine, but not taking in much water. i figured that was ok, since she was getting chicken broth mixed with her rice.

anyway - we flipped the poor thing on her back to see what all the itching was about - and she was covered, and i mean covered with raised welps. we figured it was a reaction to one of the meds she was on - and promptly gave her a benadryl. well, 45 mintues later, that was a useless thing to have done. she was still getting more welps. we called the dog er, and of course, they said, considering what she has been through this week, bring her in. so…for the next 5 (count them, 1,2,3,4,5) we sat at the emergency animal clinic. of course, as soon as we got there, all hell broke loose, which is why it took them so long to get her seen. there was only one other person there when we arrived..

anyway - she was dehydrated, so they gave her fluid under her skin, so she wouldn’t have to stay the night on an iv - a steroid shot to control whatever was causing the intense rash. now this was not a great idea, considering her pancreas thing. even i had looked that up before we left, but we decided that she needed the shot more than the risk. she has also had a really foul odor coming from somewhere on her since we brought her home from the vet the first time. well, as long as you pay what you pay for emergency vet care, i had them check it out. while we were getting her into position to crank her mouth open, my finger went up inside her mouth and came out all bloody. viola - the source of the foul odor. she has mouth ulcers all over the place - we figured that the medicine, pancreazyme was digesting the soft tissue in her mouth. pretty icky. needless to say, that medicine was STOPPED immediately.

sunday krumpers drank water like her old self - i’m guessing the steroid shot helped soften the pain she was feeling in her mouth. by sunday night, the smell is still there, but much fainter. the er doc was going to fax all of this information over to her vet this morning, and i’m calling as i finish writing.

krump is trying to be the ‘million dollar dog’.

2007-08-17T15:36:00.000-05:00

Krumpy Update

August 17, 2007 on 3:36 pm

well, krump came home on monday - she couldn’t have any water or food till tuesday. on tuesday, for 3 days, she got 1/3 of a can of chicken and rice soup totally blendered with pancreatic enzymes in it, which essentially began digestion. she was like ‘ whew ‘ food. she slept really well.

friday, she started her rice diet - rice cooked in chicken broth (of course she got the organic variety). also mixed with pe’s in it. i have to use those enzymes until they are all gone. i called the vet today, because monday she is supposed to be back on regular diet, and i thought it might be a little shocky to her system, and they said i could start adding a few food nuggets in with the rice, increasing it towards sunday night.

the poor dear is very skinny! she looks like a bag of bones and is grateful for the rice. i’m also having to give her zantac once a day. please don’t make her be on this medicine for the rest of her little doggie life. even with the kroger variety - it’s not cheap, unless you find a bogo.

still painting - have moved on to the kitchen (finished) breakfast area (finished) and living room (95%). my feet are dead! ladders!

2007-08-11T22:07:00.000-05:00

my poor krumpy! (again)

my poor krumpy is in the doggie hospital until tuesday - she has pancreatitis. how she got that - who knows. she started feeling bad on wednesday night in the middle of the night. the vomiting started thursday afternoon, I took her to the vet friday morning. they checked her over, gave her a shot for the nausea, medicine for diareah, and an antibiotic for general principle.

diane and i have been re-doing our guest room - so i got up early saturday morning to start the painting, tried to give krumps some food - she turned her nose at scrambled eggs, and cheese - so i knew she was really sick. back to the vet, they x-rayd her abdomen, and took blood and it tested positive for pancreatitis. she has to be on iv fluids for 48-72 hours and hopefully things will calm down. i searched it out on the internet, seems most dogs make a full recovery. poor baby was sooo tired and so sad looking when i left her at the vet.

wah!

2007-07-14T11:59:00.000-05:00

okay okay…here’s the deal…

i’m lazy as hell. lots of stuff going on - d came home, my sister in law got really sick…birthdays, mom’s house, new hampshire, teah, thyroid crap…heavy sigh….lots of wedding albums (which i’m sick of doing btw..)

i’ll get this thing caught up soon…

2007-04-23T12:12:00.000-05:00

benders landing home show..

just for grins

this was the CUTEST little girls room…

anyway dog romp pictures coming soon

2007-04-20T12:34:00.000-05:00

two sisters…one senior..one engaged

April 20, 2007 on 9:28 pm ... 1 Comment

did quite a few photos for my bestest friends kids last week. here are two of my favorites. the first is the senior daughter with her boyfriend, and the second is her sister and fiance..

these were taken at two different times of days on two different days under different conditions…they both are very happy.

2007-04-16T12:39:00.000-05:00

mexican lasagna

super easy recipe from rachel ray - modified of course - but man it turned out yummy!

well, teah is better, although it was a challenge as usual, she’s such a PIP~ after all was said and done, she developed a lump on her back the size of an egg - now mind you this was a week after the abcessed paw. so another trip to the vet, and he guessed that it was from the shot - which was sort of encapsulated and never really went into her system. nice huh? it’s slowly getting smaller, but still pretty big and it feels pretty funny. doesn’t seem to bother her though.

UNH competed at regionals this past weekend, they did a pretty good job and finished where they should have. they were up against the #1 ranked florida team, arkansas and michigan, all of which were ranked like 9th, and 13th? i think. UNH came in ahead of rutgers and pittsburg, as they should have. I will say that UNH needs to step up their difficulty if they wish to be more competitive. travis, i know you check this once in a while… and in case you didn’t know..just ask diane - i’m always right - haha.

I took some senior photos of d’s friend abbey this past sunday - they turned out adorable. she’s a walking ad for the “fresh face” girl. I’m pretty excited that her sister called me this evening and wants me to do her engagement photos.
other than that…just cooking, web stuff, chatting, too much chatting…. and doggy-ing. i’ve definitely been in a slump, and WATCHING TV. my 5 year moratorium on television has been ruined. i’ve been reduced to lounging in front of the stupid tube. although, i do try to keep it on discovery hd, discovery, history, or something with some intelligence. i try anyway…

2007-04-05T12:40:00.000-05:00

vet bill $250, Teah - priceless

April 5, 2007 on 7:30 pm | In just photoggin... | 1 Comment
wow, two dogs to the vet this week, between them $450!!!. Krumpet went in on Tuesday, ear infection and regular heartworm test and meds. Wednesday, I thought Teah felt really hot… Today, val and i went to our various doctor’s appointments (more on that one later) and when we got home, Tea’s foot was like almost split open between her toes. That was 530pm, so naturally it was a trip to the emergency vet. seems she must have stepped on something, you can see the puncture on the underneath area between her pads, the top was so swollen it was almost splitting open (in a matter of like 4 hours we were gone).

so…abcess, 103.4 temperature, a shot, pain meds (she is really goofy now and panting heavily…i might call them back and see if that’s a problem with the panting…) antiobiotics, and pain meds. krump is on antibiotics for the ear, and benadryl to help with her ear itching. man oh man…
my poor babies!

2007-04-01T12:41:00.000-05:00

45 more days!!!

April 1, 2007 on 9:07 am | In just photoggin... | 1 Comment

till my baby girl D comes home - haha. i’m writing from newtown square, pa, where we have spent the last few days helping gma jean get her house packed up for moving. we also took a trip to maryland to watch diane and unh compete at eagl conference championships. such a sad little team….but as poorly as they did, maryland did worse. i think the girls are just beat up and tired…really tired…

well, on to brighter days…lucretia’s daughter lynsey is also engaged now, we laughed that we will be fighting for the venue! val is ready to book the one i suggested, we’ll do that when i return to houston. i miss my doggies!

debbie - congrats on the camera! it’s fun to have a dslr!
pictures from the party at sue’s will be coming soon - as well as “select” gymnastics shots of the meet - i surely don’t want to hand over all the good stuff just yet - haha.

well,…..45 more days and the countdown has begun!

2007-03-11T12:42:00.000-06:00

Valerie is engaged!!!!!!!!

March 11, 2007 on 9:58 pm | In just photoggin... | 3 Comments
woohoo! details to follow!

2007-03-05T12:42:00.000-06:00

ok..i’ve been without a real computer…

March 5, 2007 on 7:20 am | In just photoggin... | No Comments

for 4 days? going on 5? i’m starting to get jittery - haha. my life has been consumed with trying to fix my computer, which while i was showing someone how to right click and upload to smugmug - suddenly went to the blue screen of death - and the message upon rebooting was “please insert proper boot device and press any key”.

well, i did that…and i did that, and i did that one more time. after around 2 hours, i figured i could go into the bios popup and select the hd to boot from - even though this WAS set properly IN the bios itself. such is life.

so in an effort to fix this highly annoying message - i thought to myself, self…you should just reload your operating system and this will fix a host of other little problems that don’t amount to much individually, but if something is wrong and you have to fix it - you might as well dig in with both feet and just do it.
well, that was my first mistake. my second was not installing the operating system to a scratch disk, if i had done that, i could have saved myself from almost 48 hours of loading, reloading, reloading, almost getting there, being slapped back to the ground…almost getting there, and finally admitting defeat.

i can’t for the life of me figure out - why the operating system reload was insisting on service pack 2 - since the original install disks didn’t have it. i should have been able to load the system, THEN apply sp2, but NOOOOOO, not happening, which presented it’s own set of problems. i did successfully get the system installed 2 times, which by successfully, i mean, i had internet, and the tv worked and the windows shell actually looked like it was supposed to. both times, i was able to get up on the net…..actually download updates - and then wham!!! reboot - to an endless cycle of blue screens of death. now keep in mind…i loaded and reloaded probably over 30 times during the weekend, if nothing else, i am determined. i even managed to create a slipstreamed disk of my operating system and sp2, no easy feat. that didn’t work. well, it did, but after the reboot i got BSOD. i copied off the files it wanted during installation and put them on another cd - that almost worked, but again, after installing updates - BSOD. occassionally, after the re-install i would get a really weird thing - like absolutely no graphics card..which i supposed could lead one to the conclusion that it was the graphics card that was failing to begin with…but gosh..that’s for the computer guru up there in computer heaven to figure out - cause this machine was laid to rest yesterday. after having the issues i did trying to connect the 500gb sata drives to the mb - and that entire debaucle…it should be grateful i just didn’t drop kick and punt.
so anyhow, over to fry’s….new mb, chip, mem, graphics, etc., after spending an afternoon with g-ma. we spent the evening putting the new stuff into the old box and of course, nothing like this can go without a hitch - yep, i did it. i picked up the wrong graphics card - so i have to go BACK to fry’s this morning and get the correct one. then i’ll cross my fingers and hope mikey is online so he can so expertly help me thru setting up bios, etc.

it was pretty funny last night - had the laptop cranked, mikey on skype and gb and i installing the parts. so anyhow, i’m left to cleaning this morning! eww!

2007-02-20T12:43:00.000-06:00

UNH Posts win over Maryland

February 20, 2007 on 6:37 am | In just photoggin... | 1 Comment
Wow, UNH seems to be just getting stronger -

Link to UNH Article

2007-02-18T13:13:00.000-06:00

Mexican Eggs…

February 18, 2007 on 9:19 am | In just photoggin... | 2 Comments

my favorite - and if it doesn’t take at LEAST 30 minutes for the burn to go away, your hot sauce wasn’t hot enough.

2007-02-16T13:16:00.000-06:00

This one’s for Debbie…
February 16, 2007 on 8:02 pm | In just photoggin... | 2 Comments

Dinner tonite: Roast Pork Medalions, with a red pepper, ancho chili and onion garnish, sauteed zucchini and onions, roast potatoes. Baked Rome apples with raisins and oatmeal, sprinkled with cinammon.

2007-02-13T13:20:00.000-06:00

UNH Places 2nd in Fox Run Invitational

February 13, 2007 on 9:46 am | In just photoggin... | No Comments
Some more videos of the D-ster. She is the second one up on vault, and the sixth one up on bars, doing her pak, and 360 dismount. there is also a nice team pic at the end.

2007-02-04T13:23:00.000-06:00

der…woga classic..

February 4, 2007 on 11:01 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comments
I drove to dallas (plano/frisco) this weekend to photograph my friends daughter who competed at the 07 woga classic. i swear my blood pressure got higher the closer i got. a complete feeling of dread. anyway - got to the meet, met up with my old friend pammy, and we pretty much had the run of the floor - security was so stupid - anyone with a camera they pretty much ignored. anywho…
drove back the same night - i lost a cf card!! -:)

2007-02-04T13:21:00.000-06:00

UNH hosts Denver

February 4, 2007 on 11:03 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comments
my baby did GOOD! on bars anyway - 9.8! woohoo! she said her vault was sky high and really good, but over-rotated for a 9.2 something (with a fall!) great score for UNH with a 194.015!

That’s d - up first on bars with the 360 and dismount.

2007-02-02T13:24:00.000-06:00

Nice article on UNH Freshmen

February 2, 2007 on 9:45 am | In just photoggin... | No Comments

Article on UNH Freshmen

2007-01-28T13:25:00.000-06:00

mmmm let them eat cake!

January 28, 2007 on 10:28 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comments
well, after all - it is sunday…

I have spent a ton of time this week getting 6 different hard drives installed. yes, 6! I purchased a VenusT4U USB enclosure - it’s quite cool - holds 4 hard drives in a neat little black case - not much bigger than the drives itself, which is built sort of like on it’s own little controller card and powers all 4 drives by usb. i also had my IDE controller card go whacky on me early in the week - i replaced it with a sata controller card and put two 500gb drives on it! woohoo!

2007-01-17T13:27:00.000-06:00

Photoggin’ and Bloggin’

January 17, 2007 on 12:39 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comments
Hmmmm, This really looked a fun project when it started, it’s been a ton of work, and I’m not sure I will like it yet. I’m not a blogger…but rather an explanator of the pictures I take. (*is that a word?)
Anyhow - we’ll see…

2006-11-16T13:29:00.000-06:00

Chicken Portabello Ravioli
November 16, 2006 on 9:23 pm | In just photoggin... | 1 Comment
it’s like cooking with Dick and Jane! haha

brown ground chicken, onions, portabello mushrooms.

Put a spoonful on a wonton wrapper and seal, trimming off excess.

Look like you are having fun!

Boil for 3-5 minutes…
and pretend to eat a RAW ONE!

Finish with a butter, shallot sauce, and sprinkle with shaved parmesan cheese!

2006-11-02T13:40:00.000-06:00

Houston International Quilt Show
November 2, 2006 on 6:33 am | In just photoggin... | No Comments

2006-10-06T13:46:00.000-05:00

Niagara Falls and Buffalo NY
October 6, 2006 on 8:03 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comments
Arriving in BNY -

2006-10-06T13:44:00.000-05:00

UNH Volleyball vs. UConn

October 6, 2006 on 8:07 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comments

On Friday night, we went to watch D’s roommates volleyball Game. She is number #15, and Keeley’s roommate is #13.
First time shooting sports raw - it worked just fine. It was a fun game, UNH won.
I used the 85/1.4mm

2006-08-30T13:48:00.000-05:00

Mercer Arboretum

August 31, 2006 on 7:52 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comments

2006-07-04T13:50:00.000-05:00

July 4th Fireworks in New Hampshire
July 4, 2006 on 7:51 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comments
Info coming - Gallery coming soon.

2006-05-27T13:52:00.000-05:00

Diane’s Graduation from Klein Oak High School
May 27, 2006 on 7:50 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comments
Story coming - Gallery to be added

2006-05-13T13:53:00.000-05:00

Diane’s Prom Pics
May 13, 2006 on 7:49 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comments

2006-04-29T13:56:00.000-05:00

Oklahoma City Tour

We had some time to tool around OKC while we were there - talk about a really depressed and dumpy area of the country.

There were a few nice spots we found - just south of downtown, an older historic district. The OKC Bombing Memorial was really VERY sad…just look at this photo. I hope the guys that did this ROT IN HELL FOR ETERNITY!
There was an art festival going on right next to the Cox Arena - this is where most of the pictures are from.
It was really a crappy place for our last USAG meet - considering we had gone to Dallas twice earlier this year. It wasn’t very pretty, and just no variety. Course, USAG has never been known for making any kind of sense whatsoever.
We had to drive there, since we weren’t sure if Diane would even compete - we saw a wicked wreck just after the state line in OK…otherwise an INCREDIBLY boring drive -
See the Competition for more on that…

2006-04-29T13:55:00.000-05:00

Level 10 Gymnastics - National Meet
April 29, 2006 on 7:48 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comments

2006-04-24T13:57:00.000-05:00

Texas School - Photography at A&M

Wow, what a deal I fell into. My friend Scott - that I work events with, has a friend in WV, Gary. Gary and Scott are good friends and usually attend the TPS every year. Well, his friend Gary had some issues come up and wasn’t able to go. He called me and asked if I wanted his ticket - I think it’s usually something like $500 for this.
I knew it was going to be a hectic week, we were leaving for Oklahoma on Thursday for JO Nats. I also had no time to do a hotel room or get someone to watch dogs..and I figured…Val drove this for 6 months, 2 times a week..i could do it for a few days. ugh! it’s like 65 miles from here to a&m - the only trouble i had was once I got there, finding my way around the campus. it’s huge!

I wasn’t overly impressed with the instructor - he did give some good advice on posing, and some really bad advice on posing. He had some good lighting instructions. I could give a shit about the marketing advice he had. All marketing is sleazy to me it seems. We photographed a couple of models, a bride and groom, and a cadet (nice looking!). He really kinda sleazed me out at the end..when he was talking about how much money he makes per month - like 100k with 4 studios - and then in the next breath - talked about being on food stamps for the first time in his life during Hurricane Katrina….hmmm, something doesn’t sound right does it?

2006-04-02T14:06:00.000-05:00

Annual Bluebonnet Photos with the Family

Bluebonnets were NOT in abundance this year. We’ve had a pretty dry spring for this area - I heard somewhere it’s the “la nina” effect..
Val came home for the day - and we packed up my new (04) camry - and off we went towards A&M - out hwy 105 like we did the last time. We didn’t feel like hauling all 3 dogs with us, so we left them at home. We actually took the first set of pictures in a ditch! It seems the bluebonnets were growing mostly in lower areas that may have gotten water at one point. The girls have been into “posing” lately….strange.
We took several detours trying to find great bluebonnets..we never did find them though. GB as usual, wouldn’t look at the map i had provided…someone on the Texas Photo Forum had kinda mapped out the good bb areas. We did find a really cool back road - we stopped and took some pics where a horse farm was - then stopped again at the VFW Hall on 105 and took a few more.
Haha, the one of D coming out from behind the tree while Val was trying to be all serious - is hysterical!
Then home again…

2006-03-31T14:10:00.000-06:00

Texas Level 10 Regional Gymnastics Meet
March 31, 2006 on 7:03 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comments

10 Regionals this year was hosted by Metroplex Gymnastics in Dallas. It really sucked ass that right after State - we had to drive BACK to the Dallas area. (I’ll always hate this area).

So instead of staying at my friend’s house, like we normally do - we decided to stay at a Hampton Inn - it was the same one that Aunt Jeane and Uncle Charlie stayed in when they visited us in Plano. We had the most awesome salad at TGI’s - pecan crusted chicken salad - it had all kinds of good things in it.

Pammy met up with us at the meet - and wanted to play with the d200 - so I was happy to turn over the photographing job to her and sit back and enjoy the meet. Which is what i do most of the time anyway - people have been known to prod me to let me know d’s going. So…when I got there, I went over and spoke to the people at Champions Images - who seemed really nice - they said they might be able to use another photographer at this very meet, since one of their didn’t show up. I said cool. We went about our business.

Then the wife of the owner (who was photographing from her “booth” area) came over to Pammy, who was on the floor - on HER side of the arena..and starts complaining to her - that she didn’t pay a booth fee to be there, and to stop photographing all the gymnasts. Now…between Pam and myself - we know TONS of these girls…like know them, know them. So she gets all huffy more than a few times. Finally Pam gave up and came and sat down - so i got up and went to talk to the bitchy woman. So the conversation goes like this:

Janet: hey - my friend is just using my camera - getting the feel for digital - it’s no big deal.
woman: well she sure handles it like a professional
janet: well - it’s a professional camera - anyone can look good using it.
woman: she’s photographing all the gymnasts - you didn’t pay a booth fee.
janet: well, they are all of our friends - we know almost everyone here. we did pay our entrance fee - and there are no restrictions on parental/friend use of cameras.
woman: well, if you guys are here during the next session - we are quitting! we are walking out!
janet: whatever - i’m leaving after this session - i have no desire to sit here and take pictures all day - as i told you - we are just photo-ing our friends - we aren’t selling them

so long story short - she was pissed…i was pissed..i’m going to put the pictures up one of these days and sell them anway - send the money to Pammy. What an ass she was.

DONT BUY IMAGES FROM CHAMPIONS IMAGES IN OKLAHOMA - THEIR PICTURES SUCK AND THEY ARE RUDE!

So - on to the meet details:
D had olympic rotation (i think) - first vault - eh…second vault - ok, but not stellar. on to bars - nice bar routine - same old form breaks - only did a double back dismount - trying to minimize deductions for the little kicky thing she was doing before the full-out dismount. Beam - well, beam has not been d’s best this year - she’s fallen at every meeet (unlike last year with no falls the whole season). It only makes me mad when it’s a dumb fall - and this was a dumb fall - (having a senior moment trying to remember). Floor - we all had a laugh moment…she almost lost it on that dang rudi-back tuck thing again - but you could hear the THUG as she like dug her feet in and saved it.

Surprise of all things - she won vault and floor - silvered on bars and silvered the aa! woohoo! she was not paying attention when they called her name - the girls were teasing her. it’s been so long since she actually got a first place on anything, she really wasn’t expecting it.

We had a good time - ate Mexican Food over at Park and 15th, took Alex home, took Pammy home, and went on our merry way back to Spring. D’s been driving part of the way these days - it’s a huge help compared to the old days.

2006-03-19T14:12:00.000-06:00

Diane Senior Pics
March 19, 2006 on 7:02 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comments
My friend Scott and I - the photog person that i work with- grabbed the diane - and headed to downtown houston for a senior portrait trip.

We had some fun - diane didn’t like changing shirts in front of the bums - but..oh well…life in the city. i mean, we held a reflector up in front of her and found some bushes in a corner. what more do you need? really?

so we had some fun - walked around downtown, we got kicked out of the well’s fargo bank area. what idiots. We had chinese food at Dim Son’s (?) with Scott and Tracy, and then went home. To process RAW files: NOTE TO SELF: DO NOT SHOOT RAW!

There are also photos of d’s friend Kelley in there…enjoy
haha

2006-03-18T14:19:00.000-06:00

Rodeo Texas - Brooks and Dunn!!! WooHoo!
March 18, 2006 on 6:38 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comments

Rodeo in Texas - can it get any better?

Val got us ticket to the rodeo - and to tell you the truth - i really wasn’t sure exactly WHO Brooks and Dunn were, since my generation really doesn’t pay attention to music videos, but I knew I liked a few of their songs.
Rodeo in Houston is big business. D and I had been at Panera having lunch a few weeks before and watched the trail ride coming down 249 headed for Reliant. What a long hard trip that must be. Every year.

So we drove to Val’s apt - picked her up - and then drove over to Scott’s apt - since he is like right across the street from Reliant. It was a cool - semi-rainy day - which was good - it can be very ugly in TX in Feb/Mar.
We had nosebleed tickets due to our chronic inability to make a decision on who we wanted to see…but that was ok. We watched some bull riding, toured the food court area (of course), wandered around the pigs, chickens, and goats for a little bit. The concert was awesome -

Now as I look back through these pictures - I have a few more comments - they had this lady drill team thing going on - all dressed in white, this went on FOREVER, and all they did was prance around in circles on their horsies sitting side saddle. It was probably the most boring thing I’ve seen yet.

My pictures are not great - I didn’t take the arsenal of lenses with me, just the tamron 28-70/2.8 and the camera. Couldn’t get close enough to rodeo action with it - and I also forgot to switch to spot metering until right at the end of the concert. The last few turned out ok. The fireworks shots were suprisingly good, since I was handholding the camera.

Brooks and Dunn sang all my favorites - which currently the one from them that i like the best is called “i believe”. It’s funny cause when me and D hear it on the radio - we raise our hands like the song - and we must look like religious fantatics praying as we go down the road - it really must look hysterical.
We porked on rodeo food, then took Val home..and went home to the doggies who were always..happy to see us.

2006-03-12T14:20:00.000-06:00

Texas Level 10 State Gymnastics Meet
March 12, 2006 on 6:37 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comment

2006-02-25T14:21:00.000-06:00

Fiesta San Antonio Gymnastics Invitational
February 25, 2006 on 6:29 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comment

Always fun with the Grey’s. The Fiesta Invitational is held annually in San Antonio. This was the first time we had gone to this meet, and also the last road trip we made in the Expedition. It poured!!! almost all the way there, for some reason - we seem to have had rain every time we have traveled to SA. The hotel was usual…had a nice area in the middle for pictures - the girls of course had to play in the fountain area.

The meet was mmmm, so-so…It was D’s first meet of the year - having had to miss the first part of the season with a fractured elbow. That was one of those freak things..caught a geinger a little too close to the bar and mashed her bones together more or less - by muscling away so she wouldn’t face plant the bar. Anyway….
Pam Mayer and Brian Jones were also there, Pammy used my cam - didn’t get very many good pictures, however Brian saved the day and was nice enough to send me all of the pictures he took.

The meet had a hilarious moment - d’s second tumbling pass - her hand slipped on the floor as she went into her round off, and we really aren’t sure what happened next - but somehow or another instead of a rudi back tuck - she did this really funny forward roll….Pam and I cracked up! We were all laughing so hard - it’s a good thing D’s good natured, cause we teased her about it the rest of the evening.
We all went out to La Pogata? afterwards - cold as shit sitting outside. The food was good..the day was long - and then we got up the next morning and came home.

2006-02-11T14:23:00.000-06:00

IGI Gymnastics Meet - Chicago IL
February 11, 2006 on 6:27 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comment

This meet is even bigger than COS. This time I wasn’t near as nervous - the area was better, the lighting was better. Nelse had us all set our gear to a Kelvin WB - which really helped with those freaky gym lights.

The IGI meet is on the Navy Pier in Chicago - which sits on one of the lakes - which means - IT’S FREAKING COLD! It snows like off and on all day. We got a little time to ourselves between sessions, as this meet was run so much better than COS.
Rick Perozzi was a little lost in the airport area - picking us up - but with the help of Betty (the navigation computer) we managed to figure it out. I really wanted to ride the “L” like they did in ER. Maybe next time.

There’s really not much to say about these meets, other than it’s long hours, and repetitive photography. Everyone is so tired by the end of the day - it’s not worth trying to do anything (at least at my age it isn’t).
I roomed with nakey marie (if you know, you know) who talked my head off - i thought I was chatty….

I had hotdogs every day for lunch - chicago hot dogs are really good. We didn’t get to do any sightseeing at this meet either, but I did get to take some pictures of a really awesome stained glass exhibit they had in the same buidling. The pier is humongous! It’s filled with shops, resturants - but usually the only thing open when we were done..was bubba gumps shrimp. Oh well, good thing i ADORE shrimp. Chicago has some really cool old historical building that are really lit up nicely at night - remember to take the tripod if i ever make it back there.
This meet had a little bonus thing going on - john maccready and rothlisberger? were there to do an exhibition - i missed it as i was over doing a level 5 session.
I ran into the usual “unusual” people - ones i’ve met on the internet over the year - that’s always so much fun.

Valerie and Diane drove to Dallas to attend UNH vs. TWU while i was gone this weekend. They had a great time - stayed at Sharon and Alex’s. It was fun for D to get to talk with Ed freely now that she’s no longer a “recruit”. They had dinner with the team - D had a good time. I’m sure Val was tired of driving!.

2006-01-14T14:24:00.000-06:00

Trip to Kemah - with Gma
January 14, 2006 on 5:55 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comments

This was a pain in the butt trip - my mom wanted to get pictures of the place where she fell and broke her knee and shoulder back in 05 - so off we went. It’s pretty much a 2 hour drive for me - one way! Anyway - we went, tried to find it, but they evidently fixed the area where she fell - from a curb to a slanted walkway. Oh well….2 hours back home.

Oh yah - those house pictures - there are two different ones - one from our house in Clear Lake - and one from our house in Friendswood - now that’s an interesting story and if I remember, I’ll put an old picture of what it used to look like. But the 3rd owner (I think) since we moved, completely gutted…and stucco’d the outside. It’s a totally different house. Very weird to look at