the photoSMITH

Enjoyin'...Grillin'...Playin'...Relaxin'...Lovin'...

2009-04-14T17:09:00.000-07:00

Enjoyin' the Spring weather. Grillin' chicken. Playin' outside with Jackson. Relaxin'. Lovin' life.

Dancing in the car...

2009-04-03T14:34:00.000-07:00

Jackson and I got stuck @ a light waiting on a train one morning this past week but we made the best of it.

kyletsmith.wordpress.com...

2009-03-23T08:41:00.000-07:00

Well I've had a wordpress account for sometime and have decided to migrate from here to there. I'll probably still use this blog for mobile uploads (until i figure out how/if i can do it on wordpress). But don't worry, I'll make sure to let you know if I update this blog. It's been real, it's been fun but not real fun...actually it has been real fun. Check out the new blog already. Stop reading. Click here, no click here, no here, right here, click here, no here....

Have some burger with your ketchup

2009-03-18T09:30:00.000-07:00

Jackson and I enjoyed a turkey burger for lunch today. Well he enjoyed his ketchup, I enjoyed the burger.

I love technology. But not as much as you, you see...

2009-03-05T13:00:00.000-08:00

Technology at its finest...

Drastic times call for drastic measures....

2009-03-04T11:21:00.001-08:00

My wife passed this video along to me, given our current state of the economy it might be worth trying this to get a job...

Signs of the time...

2009-02-20T08:17:00.001-08:00

THE Men Rules...

2009-02-05T08:41:00.000-08:00

Ironically enough this was an email sent to me from my wife...

We always hear "the rules" from the female side. Now here are the rules from the male side.These are our rules! Please note.. these are all numbered "1" ON PURPOSE!

1. Men are NOT mind readers.

1. Learn to work the toilet seat.
You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Sunday sports.
It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides.
Let it be.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want.
Let us be clear on this one:
Subtle hints do not work!
Strong hints do not work!
Obvious hints do not work!
Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become Null and void after 7 Days.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are.
Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.

1. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done.
Not both.
If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible,
Please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings.
Peach, for example, is a fruit, not A color.
Pumpkin is also a fruit.
We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," we will act like nothing's wrong.
We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine... Really.

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball or golf.

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape. Round IS a shape!

1. Thank you for reading this. Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight;
But did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.

Pass this to as many men as you can -
to give them a laugh.

Pass this to as many women as you can -
to give them a bigger laugh.

Around the college...

2009-02-03T09:39:00.000-08:00

We are putting together the class schedule at work and myself and the other photog in the office trolled the campus in search of interesting angles of well know places. The past three schedules used three points of interest on campus so we didn't shoot those and therefore they're lacking from my examples. I shot with the D80 with the 18-135mm lens, proving that even with the more simple equipment and great lighting you can still get decent shots. Enjoy...

Created with flickr slideshow.

Hi-Ho, it's off to work I go...

2009-01-27T10:57:00.000-08:00

With my recent job change my commute has completely changed. Before I would head north on Hwy. 288 and battle the Pearland and Pasadena traffic. Thankfully I really didn't have it that bad, but compared to now it was rough.

Now, I think I would consider my commute peaceful. The only "traffic jam" I encounter is the intersection entering Richwood. There's a school zone so everyone slows to the marked 35 mph and it kinda clogs up at the intersection, but by clog I mean you have to sit through maybe two lights at the very most, I know get jealous.

I think my favorite part is the scenery. I begin my journey on C.R. 48 which is a road less traveled running parallel to Hwy. 288. This morning was especially nice because there was a dense fog. One of these days I'm going to actually pull over and take some shots with a real camera.

Just as I reached 288 from 48 the sun melted away the morning fog. I was glad of this b/c entering 288 from 48 is a little hectic if you can't see on coming traffic. The rest of the way was just a nice wintry morning drive. Gray skies with shreds of sun light illuminating the patches of fog in the farm land that encompasses 288. I decided to snap some photos on the cell phone to at least give ya a glimpse of what it's like to commute going the opposite direction of the traffic.

And for my fellow Lumberjacks, or proud Texans, I pass Stephen F. Austin everyday and throw him the Axe 'Em Jacks, gotta keep it real with ole Stephen F.

On top of the world...

2009-01-13T10:03:00.000-08:00

Over the Christmas break I hung out with my unemployed, recently graduated (as of Monday(yesterday)) friend who has managed to find a sweet place near Rice Village. How he gets to live in the heart of Houston with no job amazes me and makes me slightly jealous. I mean who wouldn't want to live down there with nothing else to do except explore! Although I'm sure it would get boring after awhile, and of course then there's the whole funding issue. But anyways, that's not what this post is about.

Well we decided to go exploring, and exploring we did. I've lived in Houston since I was 8 months old, except for a few stints to England, and I really thought I had done pretty much everything in Houston. WRONG. I guess you could say I've done almost everything in the suburbs of Houston. But I've never really checked out downtown.

So, we headed down to Hermann Park, which is funny b/c our first obstacle of the day lies within the destinations very name...park. There was absolutely no parking, I mean NONE. So we circle like buzzards prowling for an empty spot. We thought we had one, but to our dismay someone beat us there. So we ventured a few blocks over to the Museum District to find parking. We circled, encountered a few flocks of democrats, and finally found a spot at one of the hundred churches there in the area.

Now, do we walk back over to the park or conquer downtown? Downtown it is. We stroll across the street and hop of the rail in front of MFAH. Next stop...wrong direction. In haste, I had us jump on the first train thinking it was taking us towards downtown, and away from the Med Center. Nope.

So we hopped off at the Rice U station and jumped on the next train heading back to the Museum District. Next stop...Main Street Square. We exited the train and headed towards the Theatre District. Strolled around, didn't really see too much going on and decided we'd walk to the other side of downtown to Discovery Green. I've actually been wanting to check it our for a while, but walking through parts of downtown were definitely not on my to-do list. But since someone is with you, you somehow have the courage that you typically wouldn't have...not that you're more courageous, but that you just don't want to look like a wuss...so we headed to Discovery Green by way of Minute Maid Park. To my surprise the walk was actually very nice. We didn't get mugged, democrats didn't hit us up for money, I wasn't sweating, it really wasn't as far as you would think, and I'm exercising (kinda).

So we make it to Discovery Green. Up until this point downtown was fairly empty. There were your typical suits and ties walking around with leather man-purses, but not really any touristy people, like ourselves. Well we found them ALL when we arrived at Discovery Green. Every single family decided that day was a good day to go to Discovery Green. I finally found a pit-stop and ducked in out of the chaos. I enjoyed the fancy hand dryers in there (You should check them out, name brand... Dyson (like the vacuum)).

After playing with the hand dryers, only one thing was on both our minds...lunch. So we scope out the park and found two options. The hectic cafe that serves overpriced frozen food junk, or The Grove. So we head over to The Grove. Big mistake. You know when you watch movies of really rich people eating in restaurants and you think man how cool would it be to be that rich and eat at a place like that, well we found that place. We stroll in (wearing jeans, hoodies, and hats mind you) and immediately can tell we're the po'est folk in there. So we try to be cool and still act like we're interested and we're just those rich people who look like crap all the time (you know like Jack Black). The bartender must have x-ray vision b/c she saw right through our act. She asks if we'd like to see a menu and then walks away. At first I was kinda confused why she walked away, but then it hit me, she was letting us bow out gracefully without embarrassment (how nice, tip well if you ever sit at the bar at The Grove (notice too how I make sure and capitalize the name, it's just too fancy not to)).

Now we're in search for affordable cuisine, I tell Paul of the underground tunnels and I knew there was a mall right around there so we head in that general direction (you know the underground mall direction). We get to the mall and enjoy us some Potbelly's (A Wreck all the way is AMAZING, seriously, I'm not lying). After inhaling the sammiches, mmm....we head out with Cherry Cokes in hand. We decided to explore the tunnels on our way back. And that's just what we did. The first section was the suit and tie section and slacker 20-somethings did not belong there (all those suits and their 'I'm better than you looks' (well let me just tell you suits and ties, i was on a two week vacation, so while your drudging away at the office, i was getting lost in the tunnels enjoying a Cherry Coke, beat that Brooks Brothers shoppers)).

We finally surfaced and headed to the Chase Building where you can go up on the 60-something-ith (my mind is aging (i know how depressing for a 23-year-old to be forgetting such things)) floor where they have an observation deck. Sure Paul whatever, thinking to myself, there's no such thing...I've never heard of this...I've lived here all my life...what a Houston noob.

Dang, proved me wrong.

We arrived at the Chase Building where there's a gigantic Miro outside (he's an artist for all you non art history people). We walk into this immaculate building (again dressed like slackers to the business world (and carrying our Cherry Cokes still)) and I assured Paul there was a trash can at the door so we could dispose of our "hey we're tourists" drinks. Nope, no trash can.

Thankfully the concierge had a little bucket at his desk and disposed of them for us, pfew. We took the elevator to the 6X-ith floor and looked out to the entire SW side of Houston. After 23 years in Houston, I've never seen the city from that prospective, it was amazing. We saw some meat heads up there from the Western Michigan's football team, who were in town to recieve a beating from Rice. I snapped a shot on my phone:

All in all it was a great day in Houston and I would encourage anyone to get out of their house in the suburbs and take a stroll around downtown, it's worth it.

Lights, Camera, Action...

2009-01-09T07:51:00.001-08:00

Our office is incharge of producing all the publication pieces for the college's biennial report to the community. With an office of three, we've divided up the duties and I'm on the photography/design side of it, mainly all portraits for the publication. I know, no writing!! Well our theme is Texas-y so we were wanting to go with a Texas Monthly feel. I checked out some of the more recent editions from the library and we decided on the October 2008 cover with Matthew McConaughey. We liked the style and colors and figured it'd fit what we're wanting to achieve.
The next step was to figure out how the shot was lit. We have 3 Alien Bees, a ring flash, two continuous lights, and a reflector to work with. And don't worry we used every single item. I'm sure we could have achieved the look without using it all, but why not?
Although we didn't light the photo exactly like the cover and it's really not very Texas Monthly-ish, the general idea was still there. Here are a few shots from the shoot (I added a vignette to mine, the others are no photoshop):

And here's a photo of the studio:

As we progress on the project I'll post more updates...

Missed by THAT much...

2008-12-28T19:20:00.000-08:00

Today I was transporting my camera from the living room to the bedroom, per request of my wife, to get it out of harms way. And harms way being Jackson. So I did.
Well as I transfered the camera from one hand to another it slip right through my fingers. Typically I'm not such a butter fingers but I was trying to hurry and take a shower before the in-laws came over.
As my camera was plunging to the ground I made one last attempt to save it but this 23 year old body doesn't move as fast as it used to and as Maxwell Smart would say, "I missed by THAT much."
The lens smashed square on the nose and CRUNCHED to it's death. At first I thought it was just all noise, but the I realized I couldn't get the lens cap off b/c it was smashed into the lens. Then as I rotated the focus ring, I saw it. I saw my wedding ring glistening through the other side of the lens, glistening through what should be a black focus ring but instead is now a lovely 1/4 inch crack that allows the ring to move freely about the cabin.
Needless to say, I no longer have a lens, that was my only one..

Watch your step!

2008-12-02T14:56:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the news will just come out of no where and slap you in the face...

Is she serious?!?!

2008-11-25T14:38:00.000-08:00

I couldn't stop laughing after watching this video. This lady is a nut. This video is titled "Crazy Sprinkler Lady" with the subtitle "Best of the Summer - "And another thing, every fall all the leaves on my oak tree fall off. Explain that, government."
Enjoy!

We're gonna party like it's your birthday!!

2008-11-24T09:19:00.001-08:00

This past weekend we celebrated Jackson's first birthday. Though his actual birthday is Nov. 27, which falls on turkey day this year, we celebrated it on Nov. 22 to give him his own special day. What I find rather odd is that both of my parents share their birthday's with national holidays as well. My mom's lands on the day after Christmas and my dad's in on Halloween, so I guess Jackson was just sticking with tradition being born so close to Thanksgiving.
His party was a blast and thanks to everyone who made the trek out to our house and for all the gifts!

Things I'm doing under the new administration...

2008-11-05T05:40:00.000-08:00

Well it's finally over, the election that is. I'm not surprised at all, and I'm honestly not too disappointed McCain's not in there. Sure he could have thrown in a veto or two but that would have been about it.

Living in a socialist country is what I'm disappointed about. This is now the beginning of an interesting next 4 years, at least I hope it'll only last that long. I found it rather funny that he's already qualifying his promises by saying that it'll take longer than four years to get things done. AKA, "I've made a ton of outrageous promises and I can't really do all I said, so you might need to elect me again to give me more time to do all my greatness."

I am glad to see that I was right that smooth talkin' and empty promises can get you elected. I guess time will only tell if those promises are empty. But the smooth talkin' part has been proven from day one.

Here's a short list of things I'm doing in celebration of our new prez:

1. Before they start telling me how much money they're taking from me to give to others, I've decided to start dumping a bag full of cash out my window on the way to work once a week. This way I at least know how much money I'm losing and where it's going. Heck, I'm actually killing two birds with this one. The cotton in the cash is biodegradable so I'm being green too!

2. I'm going to stop paying my mortgage, car note, and credit bills. Why should I pay them when someone else could, or maybe the government can pass another bail out. Heck if I'm lucky they might even throw in a 55" LCD flat screen if I'm lazy enough.

3. Get a part-time job. Why should I work so hard all week when someone else can do all the work and I can just reap their benefits? I'm thinking Best Buy, because I hear if you work there you get some great employee discounts.

4. Offer to be Schwarzenegger's speech writer for the next presidential election. It's obvious you don't have to prove you're a citizen anymore to run. I'm not too sure what his platform would be but he's a celebrity and that's all that matters.

5. Enroll in the military, at least I know I won't have to fight a war ever. We'll all just sit down and talk it out over a cup of tea. Hopefully it's Earl Grey, that's my favorite. Or maybe I'll be chosen to serve in the SS ...er... I mean the civilian army The Chosen One has spoken so openly about.

I guess I'm just going to have to cling to my guns and religion for the next few years, except I don't have a gun...drat!

Let me know what things you're doing to celebrate.

Lions, Tigers, Panda Bears, Oh my!

2008-11-03T06:40:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos of Jackson in his Halloween costume...

Two all beef patties, special sauce...

2008-10-28T06:52:00.000-07:00

Well thankfully in exactly a week all of this political garbage will be coming to a close, at least one would hope. During this campaign I've heard a ton of great things come out of the two stooges running for office but I'm worried none of it will ever happen. Some one sent me a joke about a guy choosing between heaven and hell and he went to hell and played golf, hung out with his friends, and just did everything he would love to do everyday. So when he went back to the pearly gates he told them he'd rather go to hell. Upon arrival back to hell, the place was hot, dry, full of trash and everyone was so miserable. He asked what happened to the place he just left and the devil simply responded, "We were campaigning last time you were here."

I think that's what is going to happen to America after this election. And in fact, this election reminds me of when I ran for student council president in the 5th grade. At my elementary, student council prez was the top of the top. If you were prez, you were officially the coolest most popular kid around. So naturally, I had to be the prez!

We campaigned for a week and then at the close of the week we would stand in front of the entire school and give our speech as to why we should be president. Before I get started, I should tell you that by now I had been involved with local politics for about three years. And though I was only in the 5th grade, I knew politicians just said what they needed to say to get elected.

So I waited to give my speech as one of my opponents was giving his speech. "Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun. I understand that in order for something to be great you need all the parts. A big mac wouldn't be the same without the sauce, and as president I know that our school wouldn't be the same without all of you..." (this really was his speech, no lie). He concluded and then it was time for the big dog to step up and give the speech.

Just so you know, I was actually peeing my pants when I was giving my speech. I hated talking in front of large crowds but I knew my platform was way better than the other candidates. And as my discipline records showed, I knew how to entertain a crowd and talk, talk, talk.(My speech might not have gone exactly like this, but it was pretty darn close)

Ahem..."Good morning. My name is Kyle Smith and I'm running for president. As president I think that things should be changed and we should all be more equal. One of the first things I will do is allow students to give teachers conduct marks. If they're allowed to give us conduct marks, it's only fair for us to do the same. I also think that if they're allowed to have coke machines in the teachers lounge then we should get them in the cafeteria. So after I give us the right to give teachers conduct marks, I will add coke machines in the cafeteria, and along with the coke machines I will add candy bar machines. I know what it's like to be a student, and as president I will make sure school is more fun. We'll have recess all day and only have a 20 minute break for classes..."

I'm sure I made plenty more empty promises, but the point is I got elected. By a lot. And what was even better is that as I was giving my speech I knew good and well that none of the things I was saying would ever happen. And a part of me knows that the students who voted for me knew nothing would really happen but boy it sounded good!

So the moral of the story is:
Smooth talkin' and empty promises can get you elected.

In case you didn't know....

2008-10-24T07:12:00.000-07:00

And by the way....should someone be looking into this?
"Mark my words," Biden had said. "It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking."

It sounds like Biden knows something that others don't and Biden would be the one to know what's going on in the international circuit. So shouldn't we be preparing to stop whatever Biden is referring to from happening? Just sayin....

Comics and face lifts...

2008-10-23T12:44:00.000-07:00

I gave my photography site a face lift, check it out if ya want to kylesmithphotography.com.
And here's a political comic for your enjoyment...

Fun with paper...

2008-10-21T11:43:00.000-07:00

To explain why he has the shiny tissue paper in his pants, when Nicole first opened her gift she put the paper in his shorts and he chased it around like a dog chases it's tail. We tried to recreate it but he learned from his past...

Hi I'm Barack and I'm John...

2008-10-21T07:50:00.000-07:00

The latest Mac ad kinda reminds me of the presidential race. B.O. has been setting fund raising records left and right, and is shoveling tons of money into political ads. What if he took all the fund raising efforts and told the American people what he's really going to do as president.

Maybe he could even answer a question when asked...

Just say no...

2008-10-20T06:47:00.000-07:00

Here's Jackson doing his latest discovery...

When will it stop?

2008-10-20T06:36:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to say a thing, just watch...

Although I will say that whoever was singing needs to not quit their day job...

Basil over at IMAO put it best:
"But don’t question Obama’s patriotism, we’re told.
So, I won’t.
But, if you’re voting for Barack Obama, I’m questioning yours."

John McCain at his best...

2008-10-17T17:23:00.000-07:00

Advanced Photo Resizing

2008-10-17T07:53:00.000-07:00

This is some pretty crazy stuff. This technology could change the photography industry as we know it:

Joe the Plumber

2008-10-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

*UPDATE: B.O.'s camp is quickly trying to wiggle it's way out of this. They're saying that Joe was a set-up by McCain. SO? Set-up or not, B.O. still gave a Socialist answer. Secondly, OBiden is saying he doesn't know of any plumber who makes $250k, DUH! Because the whole thing in question is the fact that if Joe BUYS the company then he'll be in the higher tax bracket. What an idiot. Just listen!*

Well the presidential debates are finally over, pfew. I thought they'd never end. If you've seen any of the candidate's political ads you would quickly discover the debates are just re-runs of the ads. Until last night when Joe the Plumber was introduced.

I think it was a good idea for the candidates to break away from the tax mumbo jumbo or the health care speak that we all expect. With Joe in the picture it helped American's realize what it all will means in context. Though I think McCain didn't really do that great of a job, I think this is finally where he might have gained some ground.

On B.O.'s plan, American's will have absolutely no incentive to make more money. Although he swaggered back and forth, like he does on many issues, between $200 and $250 thousand, he still let America know that if he's president then you better not be too successful. And when John McCain said, "Why would you want to raise taxes for anybody." I really hope America heard that. This whole Robin Hood plan is all well and good, just look how great it worked in Texas. I'm certainly not saying that we should just forget about all those in America who truly need help, but what I am saying is that Socialism isn't the answer. I don't know why McCain just won't buck up and flat out say that B.O.'s plan is out right Socialism. In fact, B.O. has out right said that he wants to "Spread the Wealth".

Here's a video of Joe's and B.O. entire convo. I've gotta be honest, it brings up some scary truths about B.O. Take a few minutes and watch Joe and B.O.'s convo:

One of B.O.'s first points is that on his plan Joe would have been able to save money over the past 15 years b/c of his proposed tax cuts and would have been able to get to the point of buying his business quicker. Well very nicely put B.O., BUT what you forgot to leave out is that he would have gotten to your higher tax increase quicker too. But that's really not the main issue with me.

In the video if you start paying attention around the 3 minute mark, B.O. flat out says to "Spread the wealth!!!!!!!!!!!" Now if that's not the most Socialist comment I don't know what would be! Now if you didn't click on the Socialism link before, then do it now and read aloud the third sentence that begins with Karl Marx. And actually for my lazy readers I'll just copy/paste it right here for you, see how nice I am?

Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating social or collective ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and the creation of an egalitarian society.^[1]^[2] Modern socialism originated in the late nineteenth-century working class political movement. Karl Marx posited that socialism would be achieved via class struggle and a proletarian revolution which represents the transitional stage between capitalism and communism.^[3]^[4]

Scary huh? Now I agree with B.O. on several things, BUT the Socialism thing is just too much for me.

McCain | Palin '08 is the better choice for America.

A little political humor goes a long way...

2008-10-13T12:44:00.000-07:00

Here are some comics for you all to enjoy. (if you click on the images they're easier to read)

We should open our borders and grant amnesty to all

2008-09-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

I’ve been thinking about some of the hot issues in this presidential election, and being a Texan, immigration is a pretty hot topic. I’ve always been completely against opening the borders; I think if they’re here they need to become citizens. But then I hear stories about how much they’re contributing to society and I’ve started to change my mind. Here is a perfect example:

Felix Sandoval worked as a laborer in Martinez, CA. He has a wife and family. He recently had back and knee injuries and was unable to work any longer so he lived off of unemployment. Our great country continues to go in debt to support the misfortunate as we all work vigorously for them.

This past Saturday (Sept. 6) Felix Sandoval seemed to be in good spirits. He played pool with his teenage son in his garage at 9:30 a.m. and then attended his son's soccer game near downtown Martinez. Soon after, though, the father of three drove his classic Ford Mustang convertible to his wife's small salon. The first 911 call came in at 11:35 a.m.

Kellie Schramm, 43, of Martinez, said she was getting her hair cut when she heard glass breaking. Sandoval had used his bare hands and arms to bash through the salon's front window, bloodying himself in the process.

"I turned and he was standing next to me near the back door," Schramm said. "The gun was in his right hand."

Simonetti said Sandoval told his daughter that he was going to kill her mother and made comments about killing her and his other children - then climbed stairs to the apartment where Torres had fled. It appears he then kicked and shot the apartment door to get it open.

Leong, a K-9 officer, was the first to arrive at 11:37 a.m., Simonetti said. He heard gunfire. He left his dog in his car but grabbed his MP5 submachine gun.

Officer Paul Starzyk pulled up a minute later and grabbed his own AR-15 semiautomatic rifle.

"They decided that they have what we call an 'active shooter'-type situation," the chief said. "We have someone that's doing harm and we need to stop it."

All of a sudden, Simonetti said, a hand and revolver came from behind the door. Both Starzyk and Leong returned fire until the hand disappeared.

Struck twice, Starzyk fell, leaving Leong to try to drag him to safety, Simonetti said. But Sandoval fired again, the same way, and Leong returned fire again.

Soon, Simonetti said, another K-9 officer, Cpl. Glenn Walkup, arrived and pulled Starzyk out of the way. Then he sent his German shepherd, Enzo, into the apartment - where he found Sandoval and dragged his legs into the doorway.

"Walkup sees the suspect on his back with the gun pointed at the dog," Simonetti said. "He shoots him twice. The confrontation is over."

Once inside the apartment, authorities found a 44-year-old woman - the cousin of Sandoval's estranged wife - dead in the kitchen.

Leong made an "officer down" call at 11:40 a.m., Simonetti said. Officers reported a "code 4" - a secure scene - at 11:41 a.m. The whole encounter had lasted six minutes.

After reading this story I really changed my mind on immigration. We should really let more people like Sandoval into our country; it’s the right thing to do. This really happened this weekend and I encourage you to read the full story here.

Also, after having our baby last November, I also found out that many undocumented immigrants can go and have a baby at nearly no cost. I mean it’s only fair for them, why cut my wife and I a break? All we do is work, obtain health insurance, pay taxes, etc. But I do realize they are God’s children just like me and they’re just here trying to make a living. But there is absolutely no incentive in America anymore to do good, or to try. When you’re giving free handouts left and right, why would anyone get a job? Why do I have a job? So let’s open up those borders…

McCain, Palin '08

2008-08-29T23:23:00.000-07:00

It's official McCain has finally chosen his VP. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is McCain's veep nominee and that's pretty much all the news has been about all day. Will she bring the Clinton supporters, maybe or maybe not. Is she the most experienced out of all for running right now, maybe or maybe not. But I think it's hilarious that the democrats are trying to key in on her "inexperience". And this is where I just think they're idiots.

This is where we can really see the mindset of democrats. It's a bigger deal to them that the republican VP nom. is inexperienced but hey no big deal that the president nom for the democrats doesn't have any experience. Is it just me or am I missing something here? Oh no, if McCain dies then she might not be able to handle it. Wow, how about we just knock him out now? The man is still alive. What I'd like to know is what's Obama's excuse of not being able to handle the White House? Who has to die for the democrats to realize his not fit?

I still honestly haven't heard a thing come out of the dem. prez nom. that really has anything to do with anything. Yay, he can give a speech. But he really never, ever says anything. It's just scary to me that the democrats have just glazed over with Obama. They're placing so much trust in hope in this one man. The only person I will place my trust in is Jesus Christ, not a smooth talking politician. Wake up America! No matter who's in there you're problem's are not just going to wash away.

Alright, I promise this will be my only political post. I typically try to keep politics out of my blog, but this is just getting out of hand. If I wanted a good public speaker for my president I would have chosen my freshman speech teacher at SFA.

Jackson photos

2008-08-18T12:39:00.000-07:00

I took some photos of Jackson this past weekend. I'm too lazy to upload them to Flickr, so check them out on facebook,

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2114664&l=db6f7&id=38702633

Marketing at its finest...

2008-08-07T08:26:00.000-07:00

After working in marketing for over a year now, I'm slowly realizing that it doesn't really matter how amazingly creative you are, or how spot on you are with a design or idea. The main thing is how much can you meet the client's needs, even if that means producing something that makes no sense at all, has no design quality, will never attract or get the point across, and makes you almost embarrassed to claim as your own work. But hey the client knows best, what does marketing know? Now I'm not saying that we produce bad material where I work, but often times the best ideas are squashed with the clients "best" ideas. I think the video explains itself,

http://view.break.com/542649 - Watch more free videos

College Humor

2008-07-24T09:51:00.000-07:00

So I stumbled across this site the other day called College Humor. Though there is some not so great stuff on there, you really can find some funny videos. I like youtube, but there's just so much crap on it that sometimes it's hard to find anything worth watching. So here are some funny videos I've found on College Humor...

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Photojournalism

2008-07-22T08:08:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across some photos from college. Some are from my photojournalism classes, and some were just for fun. Actually, this slide show has all the elements in it that have made me who I am today as a husband, dad and photographer. Some of the elements are more subtle that others but if you pay attention they're all there. The photos scroll pretty fast but you can stop the slide show for more of a leisurely viewing experience...enjoy...

Barra-yote?!?!?!

2008-07-15T06:44:00.000-07:00

So the wife and I were sitting around this weekend discussing who knows what and she briefly mentioned a recent convo she had at work. Now before I start this blog, I want everyone to know that I love my wife and in no way question her mental abilities. With that said, the post about the barracuda begins…

As I mentioned earlier, Nicole and I were sitting in our living room talking about funny stories, or something like that, when she mentioned discussing a barracuda at work. Apparently someone had made mention to a barracuda and my lovely wife then responded with this, “A barracuda, now is that a fish or a small coyote-like creature?”

Now up until this point in our conversation I was paying attention, but I was also watching whatever it was on TV. But when those words left her mouth, all attention was focused on her.

“What was that, I don’t think I understood you,” I replied.

“I asked them if a barracuda was a fish or a small coyote-like creature,” she said.

“I was afraid that was what you said. Are you really being serious?” I questioned.

“Well yea, I mean I know now that it’s a fish, but for some reason even now I still think it sounds like some coyote-like creature,” she responded. “Barracuda,” she said as she envisioned some crazy animal that resembles a coyote.

“Please tell me people laughed at this response,” I said.

“Well yea of course,” she said.

“But tell me it was more of a ‘Holy crap are you really asking that’ than ‘Oh Nicole you’re so funny’ type laugh,” I said.

“Oh don’t worry I’m sure that it was ‘Holy crap are you really asking that’,” she said.

I laughed, and laughed, and laughed. And I nearly started crying. I honestly couldn’t believe she was asking those types of questions out loud. Now again, I’m really not trying to be mean, I just sometimes wonder what is going on in that beautiful head of hers. And honestly it’s these conversations that I love about her. I can say that she never ceases to amaze me, and she never ceases to crack me up!

When we were dating, Nicole watched the show The Nanny. You know the one with the nanny with the really annoying laugh. Well there was a quote on there that I have to remind Nicole of quite often… “Just remember, it may make sense in there (pointing to her head), but we’re out here.”

Love you Nicole!

Jones Soda label contest

2008-07-08T14:03:00.001-07:00

So Jones Soda is having a label contest where they'll print your photo on their lables. I've submitted four photos to the contest. They're listed below and if you click on the photo it will take you to the page where you can vote for that photo. SO VOTE ALREADY!

Jackson Cole, the most interesting baby in the world

2008-07-08T10:01:00.000-07:00

We're gonna party like it's your birthday...

2008-06-27T07:14:00.000-07:00

Seven months and counting! Jackson has developed exponentially over the past month. He is constantly "talking" and has discovered that not only can he make noise, but he can increase the volume of his noise. He's technically not crawling but he's definitely mobile. Over the past few days he's discovered that he can pull himself up and get a better view of things if he's standing up. The list could continue but I'll stop there. Nicole and I couldn't be anymore proud of him and couldn't have asked for a better blessing than to have Jackson in our lives. Here are some photos of Jackson from last night ( as you can see from the sock in his mouth, his new thing is to pick things up with his mouth like a puppy, I'm not really sure where he's learned this but it's hilarious)...

Summer Time...

2008-06-23T07:44:00.000-07:00

I've actually been able to take some photos lately just for the heck of it. Since I'm constantly taking photos at work or doing some form of wedding photography, I rarely want to take photos in my spare time. Here's some photos from the past week (most of them are straight out of the camera)...

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-05-27T13:21:00.000-07:00

Jackson turns 6 months today! It's amazing how fast he's growing. Here are some of the "big boy" things he's doing now:

Sitting up (still a little wobbly but he's getting there)
Eating baby food (he's been eating cereal and stage one food for a while now and the doc said he's ready for stage 2)
He has both his bottom front teeth
Rolling over (from back to stomach and from stomach to back)
Talking (well making noises, but Nicole and I honestly think he says "I love you" every now and then)
Getting up on his knees and rocking (give him a few more days and he'll be crawling)

So he's pretty much the coolest kid ever, but I'm not sure I can handle all this growing up stuff. If he keeps it up I guess I'll have to make him get a job soon...

To keep or not to keep...

2008-05-26T07:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long gap in posts its been crazy lately. A quick update on my last post: last I spoke with mom she's doing great and pretty much just waiting in the incisions to heal. Thanks for all the prayers!

Now getting to the title of the post...To keep or not to keep. Early last week i noticed a small black animal on our front poarch but was on my way to work and didn't have time to investigate. I didn't see it again for a few days. Then Friday was trash day and a brown dog got in our trash. When i got home @ noon (hooray for summer hours) our trash was all over the place. When i walked up to the dog she scurried away under our drive way into the sewage pipe. When i peered in there she had a friend with her. It was the black dog from earlier ing the week. So i got some bread and threw it in the yard to distract them while i cleaned up all the trash.

After an hour of cleaning all .72 acres i turned my attention to the pups. It was obvious they hadn't eaten in days so i felt bad and decided to feed them some more. I gave them some slices of bolongna and a big bowl of captain crunch (it was all we had). After those lasted .000132 seconds they turned to me for more. But that was all i had (or at least was willing to give at this point). So i put a big bowl of water out on the poarch, and they never left.

They stuck around all day friday, sat, & sunday. And that's when we decided maybe we would keep them. We don't have a fence so i bought stakes and long leashes for them. They didn't have collars so i bought those along with a big ole bag of puppy chow. So it looks like we have two puppies.

We're pretty sure they're labs (atleast i am, nicole's still not too sure). You can still see their ribs but they're slowly plumping up. The photo is from the first day they were here so they look pretty rough. (sent from blackjack)

Methodist hospital, again...

2008-05-13T07:57:00.000-07:00

Well almost six months after my last visit to Methodist hospital in the Houston med center (Jackson's birth), I'm sitting in Dunn Tower again except this time it's my mom who's the patient.

She has what they call an incarcerated umbillical hernea (ignore spelling). Basically her small intestines have ripped through her abdominal muscles and are twisted. Since it's incarcerated (or stuck btwn the muscles and isn't coming out) it requires surgery.

My little bro and sis handled everything last night and couldn't be more proud. My little sis texted me the morning and filled me in.

Mom was taken to the hospital near her house last night and was transported t the med center this morning. We're waiting for her to go into surgery, her doctor is taking his sweet time in calling in the orders. Be praying everything goes smoothly. The photo is the view from the room. (sent from blackjack)

Bonding @ Work

2008-05-07T07:35:00.001-07:00

Well May 10 is approaching fast and you can feel the excitement building around the college. The San Jac board of trustees called for a $295 million bond measure which is to be chosen, or not, by the citizens in our district on May 10. As far as all the excitement, I can't tell if it's weether or not the bond will pass or just the fact that no matter what the bond measure wll be over on Sat. Personlly it's a little of both since a good amount of pressure has been placed on our office concerning the sucess of the bond. (sent from blackjack)

Mobile blogging

2008-05-07T06:26:00.001-07:00

I'm sending this post from the new phone. Since I'm not sure how this works there's not much to this post, sorry :)

Site Meter...

2008-05-05T13:53:00.000-07:00

Well some of you may or may not be aware of something called Site Meter. It's something you can put on your blog to see how many visits you get and where they're comming from. So, yes I do know when someone from Nacogdoches, Rosenberg, Houston, Pasadena, Kentucky, the UK, etc. visits the blog (I'll spare you from all the other things it tells me about you, it might creep some of you out). What's crazy is that I've been getting a lot of international visitors lately and to prove it I did a screen shot of my last 20 visitors and take a look at visitors 14-20...

Region XIV East conference champions fall to San Jacinto College, 3-2

2008-05-02T14:42:00.000-07:00

For those sports people out there here's the latest release I wrote for the Region XIV softball tournament...

BRENHAM, Texas – The San Jacinto College women’s softball team defeated the Texarkana College Bulldogs 3-2 in the second round of the 2008 Region XIV softball tournament, Friday.

With another solid day of pitching from freshman Kelsey McClain (Pasadena, Texas / Memorial High School), and some late rallying on the sticks, San Jac (35-15) was able come out on top of their nail biting second round game. For the first three innings, the scoreboard remained blank for both sides until San Jac drove in the first run of the game early in the fourth.

The Bulldogs quickly answered in the bottom of the fifth driving in two runs putting them up 2-1. Knowing what needed to be done, Alex Naschke (League City, Texas / Clear Creek High School) literally “stepped up to the plate”, driving in Sierra Gale (Regina SK, Canada) to tie it up two all.

Going into the final inning, San Jac came out swinging. Tasha Rotramel (Lake Jackson, Texas / Brazoswood High School) hit a double to center field bringing home Krystal Plummer (Angleton, Texas / Angleton High School), who scored the winning run for San Jac.

McClain earned her second win in as many days, after pitching San Jac to an 8-2 win in opening round action on Thursday. “Kelsey pitched another great game today,” said fifth-year head coach Kelly Saenz. “It was a battle today and the ladies played one heck of a game.”

With this win, San Jac moves one step closer to the Region XIV championship game and now advances to the third round where they will face tournament host Blinn College at 9 a.m., Saturday, May 3, 2008, at Hohlt Park in Brenham, Texas. The winner of the Region XIV tournament advances to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national tournament May 15-17, 2008, in Plant City, Florida.

For a complete Region XIV softball tournament bracket and updates, please visit http://www.blinn.edu/Buccaneer/region14_softball.htm.

For more information about the San Jacinto College softball program, visit http://www.sanjac.edu/athletics.

Home sweet home...

2008-04-29T06:08:00.000-07:00

Well as many of you know we have moved into our new house. We're not completely unpacked, but we're moved in. Speaking of moving in, this move was the greatest experience of my entire life; in fact, it changed my entire outlook on life. I realized that over the past years I had been wasting my time and effort on such frivolous things such as picking up boxes, carrying couches, lifting mattresses, taking apart beds, etc. This time I had the revelation of hiring movers, and let me just tell ya, "It's WORTH it!!" We were moved out of our second story apartment and into our new house (which is about 45 minutes to an hour drive from our apt.) in less than 4 hours. It cost about double what it would be to rent a Budget truck and do all the work yourself, except when you do it yourself it takes all day and you can't stop sweating for a week after the move. So 3 Men Movers, BRAVO! They did such a great job, nothing was damaged. I don't think I'll ever move again without hiring movers. Of course, I hope it's a really, really, really, really, really, really, really long time before we move. Our insurance agent needed some exterior photos of the house so I'll share some of them with ya (interior photos are coming) ...

5 months already!?!?!

2008-04-28T07:45:00.001-07:00

Well today marks exactly 5 months and one day since Jackson was born. I can't believe it's already been that long! It's been a blast and it's getting more fun every day. Many have been requesting more photos of our little guy so yesterday before I left for my last bridal portrait session I snapped some photos of my two favorite people. Jackson had just finished eating so ignore the goo on him...

Has the housing market crashed?

2008-04-08T08:16:00.000-07:00

Well in our case, no. We are scheduled to close on our house this Friday at 3 p.m. With the market doing so many crazy things it looks like we're getting it just in time. We really got lucky with this house because it's a brand new build, sits on .72 acres, and was in our price range! We hope to start moving asap, but we still have the apartment until the end of May so we're not in too big of a hurry to move everything all at once. Once we get settled in feel free to visit, or if you just cant wait feel free to help us move! Here are some photos I took on my cell phone of the house before it was finished...

UPDATE: Web Design/Development

2008-03-13T06:09:00.000-07:00

Well, after making about a half dozen designs I think we finally have come to a conclusion for my church's worship site. When I first started designing the site for my church they told me to just do whatever. I knew this was not a good idea because what I like might not be the same as what the church is wanting. It took a few of the "whatever I want" designs to help them realize they might want to have more say in this. So they sent me a ton-o-links and showed me sites they wanted to model after. HOORAY! I now have something to work with. I think the design I came up with might actually become the church's main site and then we'll model the worship, youth, and children ministry sites from it. It's a table/css base design. I'm really not crazy about using tables but they work for now and I'll continue to work towards making it all CSS. Like I did before in the previous post, I'm open for suggestions... oh yea, here's the link http://sterlingwoodworship.org/photo_main.html

Web design/development...

2008-03-07T22:09:00.000-08:00

Well as many of you know I like to dabble in web design/development. The more and more I do it, the more and more I realize how hard it is. I've been able to fly by the seat of my pants on many sites but that was before I took on my church's worship site.

In the past, I would simply do what I wanted and the client would like it. This time around, between myself and the peeps at the church; we just can't decide on something. Now for starters, I'm an amateur web designer so it's hard for me to produce some of things being requested. I've gone through two (#1 , #2) designs so far and I think we're slowly getting there. So with all that said, here's the latest design for the site (it's only the home page and none of the links go anywhere). Let me know any suggestions, PLEASE!

March forth into the future...

2008-03-04T07:18:00.000-08:00

Well, it's that time of the year again where I get older. They (well actually Amanda) decorated my desk at work. It was great! I knew it had to be her because the decorations were so festive and over the top, and there's really only one person in our office to take it to that caliber.

Today is also election day so VOTE!! It's actually quite fitting for it to fall on such a commanding day, March 4th.

So vote today and help our country "March Forth," on March 4th, into the future...

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm 1:1.8 D

2008-02-29T13:53:00.000-08:00

Houston Mayor Bill White spoke at San Jacinto College's South campus this past week and I took some photos only using available light. I shot at f/2.0; ISO1000; 1/50 to 1/80. Enjoy...

Play dat funky music white boy....

2008-02-25T06:19:00.000-08:00

Kinda Kinky...

2008-02-22T14:24:00.000-08:00

Cutest kid in the world...

2008-02-22T06:34:00.000-08:00

We were driving around the other day and Nicole sat in the back with Jackson and shot this video on her cellphone, I'm pretty sure Jackson now qualifies and the cutest kid ever....Enjoy!

Wedding Photography. Cheers...

2008-02-20T11:56:00.000-08:00

For the past few years I've moonlighted as a freelance wedding photographer. It's been pretty fun but now that I don't have as much free time it has become a chore. There's just too much extra time and travel required. Some have suggested to simply raise my prices to make up the difference, but when you raise prices people expect a certain standard of quality. Now I'm not saying that I try and produce garbage for my current clients, but if I screw something up they can't complain as much as they could if I charged the going rate.

So with all that said, I will no longer be doing weddings. I have three clients left for the year and then I'm done, for now at least. I might still take on the occasional family portrait or baby portraits, but no more wedding ceremonies, receptions or events for that matter. They're so exhausting and then when you're done you have 1200+ photos to sift through.

Now that Jackson is here, I just don't want to spend anymore time away from him than I already have to. Now I'll just turn all of my photographic urges towards him, making him the most photographed kid in the world.

It's been real, it's been fun; but it hasn't been real fun...

Good art is in the wallet of the beholder...

2008-02-15T07:31:00.000-08:00

Last night I covered an event at the Art Alliance Center of Clear Lake. It was pretty fun, the show was a nationally juried show titled “Opposites Attract”. It showcased artwork that was high in contrast either by color, content, or whatever other bs those artsy people come up with. I somewhat enjoyed the show, mainly the photography. I still just cannot grasp how some squiggles on canvas is art. Some are aesthetically pleasing but that’s kinda where it stops for me.

And honestly the photography was a bit disappointing as well. There was a photograph of a car with a reflection of clouds on it, now I get the opposing factors (pollution and nature) but the photograph just looked amateur. And then there were some photographs of origami, now they were nice b&w prints but they were priced at $7,000. SERIOUSLY?!?!? I’m in the wrong business.

I think the highlight of the night was the conversation I had with the South campus president. After the initial welcome presentation and a brief staged reading from “The Taming of the Shrew” by Café 21 Theatre, I walked over to the South campus prez. and asked her if she knew of any other presentations for the night and this is how the covo went from there:

“Didn’t you just have a baby?” asked Mrs. President “Yes, I did,” I responded. “Well then why are you even here?” asked Mrs. President. “Well, you guys requested a photographer tonight and I’m the South campus photographer,” I responded. “Well I say you should go home,” declared Mrs. President. “Are you sure?” I questioned. “Absolutely, go home and enjoy your Valentine’s day,” stated Mrs. President. Then I said, “Well if anyone asks I’m telling them you told me to leave.” Mrs. President responded, “Bring it.” And so I left.

I don’t know about you, but she’s quiet a rare find when it comes to upper administration in higher education. At least I know she’s got my back.

Here are some photos from the night. Not trying to boast, but I did manage to get some nice shots with a shutter speed of .3 seconds hand held (not all these are @ .3 seconds, they range from .3 to 1/50 all @ 1600ISO (the first two are @ 2500ISO) and different f-stops to compensate the shutter speed)...

Romantic movie montage...

2008-02-08T05:53:00.000-08:00

They're having a woman's retreat at our church and I managed to acquire the task of putting together a romantic movie montage for it. Enjoy, but whatever you do, don't cry too much...

Daycare...

2008-02-04T06:37:00.000-08:00

Well, Nicole started back at the grind today and we took Jackson to his first day of daycare. Being the photographer I am, I completely forgot the camera!! I really was kinda upset about this, but what can ya do?

I didn't think it was going to get to me as much as it has (not forgetting the camera, but leaving him at daycare). I feel like such a punk for just dropping him off with these people he doesn't know. Thankfully Nicole knows pretty much everyone who works there because oddly enough, they all took care of her when she was in daycare.

One good thing about him being at daycare is he'll probably get on a schedule, FINALLY! It seems like no matter what Nicole and I would do he just wouldn't get on a schedule. Well I can't wait to see him tonight, I wish he could talk so I could ask him how it went, haha.

Oh yea, here's a photo of him in the bath the other day, nothing special except that it's a picture of him...

Lt. Gov. Dewhurst...

2008-01-31T07:05:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday I photographed Lt. Gov. Dewhurst's visit to San Jacinto College. The first time I was introduced to our Lt. Gov. was back in 1999 when he weasled his way into the race for the Texas Land Commissioner. Of course it's fairly common knowledge that it takes money, and lots of it, to get into politics, but he took it to the limits. To my best knowledge, this is pretty much how it went down:

"Hey everyone who's running for Land Commissioner, if I give you tons of money will you step out of the race," declared Dewhurst. "Sounds great, money will always take precedence over morals, after all I'm a politician," replied everyone running (Except Jerry Patterson).

"Forget that, I'm in this to represent my state," said Patterson. "Well, you're gonna pay for that. I'm gonna run a nasty campaign against you now," Dewhurst responded. "Fine, but I have morals and even if I lose at least I know I'm not a sell out," said Patterson. After a nasty campaign and many republican's having to cross lines they never wanted to, Dewhurst got his way and became the Texas Land Commissioner in 1999.

So that's pretty much how I've viewed him ever since. Until this past Tuesday. Of course, any politician is going to preach to their audience and not rock the boat, so I've kept that in mind. But with all that said, I'm very impressed with him. I agree that we need to do away with standardized testing and start implementing end-of-course exams. Imagine teachers being able to teach their curriculum!!! And I agree, we do need to do something about the boarders. I don't think a wall is the answer because just like Dewhurst said, "If they want to come over, a wall is not going to stop them." And concerning the boarders, it's not a hateful act against Mexico, it's an attempt to hinder everything coming into this country illegally from drugs to people. And like Dewhurst, I'm fine with people being here that are undocumented, but just get a Visa and pay taxes. And if you want to become a citizen, then get in line like everyone else and do it the right way.

Of course there were other issues discussed but the main thing that really stood out to me was that he was for education (of course he was at a college so who knows if it's 100% accurate). But he was part of the process for the "B" On Time Loan, he was part of the process of getting our health benefits reinstated after Gov. Perry recklessly vetoed them all to smithereens, he's working towards end-of-course exams as opposed to TAAS or TAKS, and last but not least, he has a concealed hand gun license (haha, that's really not a selling point but I just thought I'd throw that in there).

So Lt. Gov Dewhurst, I'm glad you spoke at San Jac, you now have an avid supporter...

Nikon Creative Lighting System...

2008-01-18T07:07:00.000-08:00

We're in the process of combining all of our program brochures into career cluster brochures to correspond with the AchieveTexas Career Clusters. Part of this process is to obtain images to accompany each brochure. Like any other type of photo shoot, lighting is critical (especially if your shooting indoors with those nasty florescent lights). So what myself and the other writer/photographer (Rob) decided to do was to take full advantage of the Nikon creative lighting system. We have a decent Novatron system but it's so bulky to take out every time we need some stock photos.
Our set-up consists of a Nikon D80 set to commander mode, a SB-800 set to remote on a tripod, a SB-600 set to remote being held by either myself or Rob (depends on who's doing the shooting). We will typically use the SB-600 as a hair light and the SB-800 as a fill light. The nice part about the D80 is when you're in commander mode you can set the on-camera flash to fire but not effect the lighting (it sends out the signal to the remote units and then they fire along with the shutter). We're still perfecting this method but here's what we've done the past two days for the Physical Therapy Assistant and Respiratory Care programs... (the last image I left the SB-600 w/ softbox in the image)...

Adobe Creative Suite 3...

2008-01-14T18:54:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure of attending a one-day seminar for Adobe CS3 today. It had it's ups and downs, but was still pretty sweet. There were two sessions you could attend, a print or web session. I went to the web session but probably should have gone to some of the print sessions. The Dreamweaver session taught me absolutely nothing, but I must say it was a pretty good one hour intro to the program. Then I attended the Flash session which was pretty good, it was rather basic so I kinda knew most of the stuff being covered but it's still such a complex program I'll take all the help I can get.
The third session covered Fireworks. This is the program that essentially replaced Image Ready when Adobe bought Macromedia. They showed us how to create a site starting in Photoshop, then moving it into Fireworks. I guess it's an alright method for doing a small simple site, but still gives some sloppy code. I think I'll stick to CSS.
The Photoshop session was probably my favorite. Our "teacher" was also a photographer, and a Nikon user at that, so he showed some pretty nice photography tricks. Really nothing I didn't already know, just really simple, slick ways to do it. One of the coolest things he showed us was how to take a 4x6 image and blow it up to a 30x45 (well at least that's as far as I got before I exhausted all the RAM on my MacBook Pro and the hard drive had to kick in) without distorting the image or losing any detail.
All in all, I feel like I know a lot more about the entire sweet and how it all works together, but still have a long way to go before becoming an ACE. It's back to the grind tomorrow...

Dunn Brothers Coffee...

2008-01-04T12:26:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official. My favorite coffee shop just closed. The entire company didn't but the store near our apartment did. I know what you're thinking, it's okay there's still 5 Starbucks within walking distance. But that would mean you've never tasted the coffee goodness of Dunn Bros. So it was a good run while it lasted, I guess I have to travel to Katy or downtown now to get my fix...

Chad and Sarah...

2008-01-04T06:51:00.000-08:00

In October I did an engagement session just a little outside of College Station, TX. Here’s what I like to call the highlight reel. I made the photo galleries in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Usually when I develop a digital, black and white image I will use Photoshop, but for the sake of time, and this online gallery, I converted them all with Lightroom’s black and white preset. If Chad and Sarah want any of the b&w images I’ll properly convert them with my usual methods. Most of them converted nicely but some are either too dark or lack contrast. Enjoy!

Color Gallery | Black and White Gallery

Merry Christmas...

2007-12-25T08:40:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Smith's...

Tag your it...

2007-12-24T11:42:00.000-08:00

Well it appears I've been tagged by a certain geezer... and now I must tag another fellow blogger...

Knowing that I have about two steady readers and one being that geezer fellow I guess I'll tag my other reader. This reader is a fantastic photographer and really knows how to produce some quality prints! So..... A Broken Blog, you're it!

The rules: Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog. Share Christmas facts about yourself. Tag random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. Wrapping or gift bags?
Preferably, bags. It's just so much easier. I mean sure a nicely wrapped gift looks really good, but then it's destroyed in .5 seconds when the gift is opened...

2. Real Tree or artificial?
Fake all the way! Mainly for two reasons. 1.) The wife and I have allergies and real trees just make things worse. 2.) I'm lazy. Our tree is pre-lit and that means all I have to do is unfold the branches and plug it in...

3. When do you put up your Christmas tree?
As soon as possible. This year we put up the tree before Thanksgiving because we we're sure when Jackson would get here. But typically we'll put the tree up on Thanksgiving day...

4. When do you take your tree down?
You take it down??? We'll probably take it down before I have to be back at work on Jan. 2...

5. Do you like eggnog?
Love it!!! I wish they sold it all year long!

6. What was your favorite Christmas gift?
I have two. The first is my wife (well I guess I should explain better). I proposed to my wife on Christmas day and she said yes! And my newest favorite is my son, though he came early, it's the best gift I could ask for.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
No, we're still building our Christmas decoration arsenal...

8. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
I don't think anything free can be bad. Cuz if I don't like it I can re-gift it :)

9. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards?
Well the wife and I made some pretty nice cards last year but they're still sitting in a drawer. Next year we're sending one out though!! Maybe...

10. Favorite Christmas movie?
Charlie Brown Christmas

11. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
It's kinda an all year event.

12. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Well it's actually a drink... wassel.

13. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
Clear lights.

14. Favorite Christmas song?
"I want a hippopotamus for Christmas." Makes me laugh every time!!

Some new photos

2007-12-21T15:21:00.000-08:00

Well things are kinda getting back to normal around the house. Our sleeping patterns are still a little weird but I'm sure that's just how it's going to be for a while. He was laying in his bassinet the other night and I snapped some shots of him...

Rubber ducky, you're the one...

2007-12-11T19:34:00.000-08:00

BEFORE YOU READ THIS POST, FIRST READ "OFF TO HOME WE GO..." (I'M POSTING TWO AT ONCE AND DON'T WANT ANYONE TO CHRONOLOGICALLY GET THROWN OFF)

Tonight was bath time! (don't worry we took his diaper off for the bath but we figured we'd take one that's for public view) It actually went a lot smoother than we expected.

He screamed, we got anxious, he got clean, became happy again, our blood pressure dropped, and then he got to eat.

Off to home we go...

2007-12-11T18:36:00.000-08:00

We finally got to leave the hospital around 7pm yesterday after we took our car seat safety class/test at 5pm. Good thing we took the class because we were going to do everything wrong (really babies-r-us shouldn't sell all the extra things like pads for the shoulder straps, comfy headrests, mirrors to put on seats to see the baby, etc... because they all void the warranty of the car seat and things like the mirror go from functional to dangerous projectiles in a wreck).

But then it was time, the trip home was upon us!
On the way out we decided to stop at the winter wonderland and get a family photo. The first photo was a little shaky and I made the lady take another, is that bad or just the photographer in me?

Now that the car seat had been tested it was time to put it to action! Jackson seemed pretty comfy and we made it the entire way without a peep of discomfort.
The entire time Jackson was in a hospital he was on a pretty regular, but that would all change.

We got him home and he was wide awake...all night...morning...day...and finally decided to take a nap around 4pm. In an attempt to get him to sleep last night we tried just about every bed, seat, swing and flat surface we had. Nothing worked except laying on mom. So that's were he remained.

But tonight he gets to stay in the crib, probably...maybe...I'm not promising anything.

Coming home...

2007-12-10T09:24:00.000-08:00

We're going to get Jackson from the hospital today!!!! I think that's about all I need to write for this update!!!! Here's some Christmas entertainment to celebrate:

Monday, Tuesday, Happy days...

2007-12-09T10:14:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the long gap between updates, but I guess having nothing really to update is a good thing. Jackson is doing great! The doctors seem very optimistic that he'll be home Monday or Tuesday!!! After the initial night of his A's and B's he hasn't had anymore episodes. The doctors told us that sometimes premees just kinda forget to breath but that Jackson seems to be remembering.

It's almost harder now because he's doing so good we just want to get him home. He's seems to be really happy and surprisingly calm (let's hope that lasts, haha). Well here's some photos from the past few days:

Two steps forward, one step back...

2007-12-06T06:05:00.000-08:00

Just as we began to kinda see the end, last night happens. The report from the doctors earlier in the day was that Jackson was doing great. Then last night when we were there with him he kept having what they call "A's and B's". 'A' for apnea and 'B' for bradycardia.

Apnea: is a technical term for suspension of external breathing. During apnea there is no movement of the muscles of respiration and the volume of the lungs initially remains unchanged.
Bradycardia: as applied to adults, is defined as a resting heart rate of under 60 beats per minute, though it is seldom symptomatic until the rate drops below 50 beat/min. In Jackson's case, the term is used to explain a heart rate that, while not technically below 60 beats per minute, is considered too slow for the individual's current medical condition. And is more than likely being brought on by the apnea.

Normally Jackson's heart rate is about 120-130bpm but when he would have a brady his rate would drop to 60bpm. It was a pretty scary night for us, we know that it is fairly common in preterm babies but we were just getting so close to him coming home.

On an up note, he no longer has the feeding tube in and, besides the leads checking his vitals, he's tube free! Keep praying!

---
Kyle, Nicole and Jackson

Adobe Thermo

2007-12-05T14:17:00.001-08:00

One of the biggest obstacles many web designers and developers have to overcome is how to "code the design". Well Adobe is at it again with Thermo. Here's a brief description from Adobe Labs of their latest project in trying to bridge the gap between designing and coding:

Check out the video demo!!

"Thermo" is an upcoming Adobe product that makes it easy for designers to create rich Internet application UIs. Thermo allows designers to build on familiar workflows to visually create working applications that easily flow into production and development.

Features

Use drawing tools to create original graphics, wireframe an application design, or manipulate artwork imported from Adobe Creative Suite tools.
Turn artwork from Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, or Fireworks directly into functional components that use the original artwork as a “skin”.
Define and wire up interactive behavior, such as what to do when a user clicks on something, without having to write code.
Easily design UIs that work with dynamic data, such as a list of contacts or product information, without having access to the actual data source. Design-time sample data can be used as a realistic placeholder when laying out an application, testing interactivity, and choreographing motion.

Applications created in Thermo are Flex applications that can be loaded directly into Flex Builder, providing a great roundtrip workflow for designers collaborating with developers. The designer's work can be incorporated directly into the production application with no loss of fidelity, and designers can continue to refine the design throughout the iterative development process.

Still weight-ing

2007-12-05T11:08:00.001-08:00

The doctors say Jackson's doing great. He's breathing on his own and his lungs are doing fine. Now, the issue is his weight. He's been slowly losing weight everyday and they don't want to send him home until he's showing signs that he's gaining weight. Since he's been on the feeding tube the bottles wear him out and he actually falls asleep while eating (it's actually pretty funny (but not in the sense that he's not eating)). So now we "weight". The one good thing is that we can hold him as much as we want. Please pray for patience and strength for Nicole and I as we wait for him to come home. We're getting pretty anxious!
Oh yea, his gloves are so cute . I couldn't stop laughing about them last night, they really do look like boxing gloves...

Cunula gone...

2007-12-04T09:35:00.000-08:00

He's off the O2 and is breathing room air now!!! Apparently he keeps ripping all his wires off because when Nicole got there today they had socks on his hands. When I go up there tonight I'll bring him his snazzy gloves/mittens. God is great!

Bottle time...

2007-12-04T07:53:00.000-08:00

We went and hung out with Jackson last night and he's doing so good. He's in a crib now instead of the bed thingy he was in before. They're slowly weaning him off the oxygen and he'll probably be off of it today! They said that he's having a little trouble with the bottles but it's probably because of the feeding tube in his mouth. So they're going to move the tube from his mouth to his nose. Hopefully he'll catch on fast because it sounds like that's one of the final steps to get him home. Nicole's going to be up there pretty much all day after her doc appointment and then I'm heading up there right after work. She's trying to get into the CPR class for tonight, apparently that's something we have to do before we get to take him home. We also have to bring up his car seat so they can monitor him in it and make sure he's good to go. We can almost see the end but we're trying not to get too worked up about it because we're both so impatient!

Downgrade = Good

2007-12-03T07:59:00.000-08:00

The doctor just called and informed us that Jackson is being bumped down to a level 2 status!! They're putting in the orders to have him moved to the level 2 NICU at TCH. They asked us if we wanted him to stay and TCH or go back to Methodist and we think it's best for him to stay at TCH (and so did the doctor). So the little guy amazes us again. He's such an over achiever, I think he gets it from me, HAHAHA! Well keep praying, he's almost home!!!!

CPAP, we bid you adieu...

2007-12-02T16:57:00.001-08:00

Nicole and I headed back to TCH after church. When we arrived we both noticed something was different about his bead, and then that's when we realized.....HE WASN'T IN IT! Then we noticed a small swing to the left of his bed and saw the little guy bundled up in it. We couldn't believe it!! Then with a further inspection we noticed we could actually see his face, something was missing. It was the CPAP! They took him off the CPAP this morning and now they just have a canula in his nose. The nurse said he's on a very low O2 level and if she turns it down one more level that's as low as the flow will go before it's completely off.

Then if that wasn't enough good news, he was also fed from a bottle!! He's determined to get home to hang out with mom and dad! He's doing so great and we're constantly thanking God for the gift he's blessed us with. We got to hold him more today and took some more pictures, again we can't thank everyone enough for all the prayers!

Kyle, Nicole and Jackson

We got to hold him!!!!!!

2007-12-01T16:53:00.000-08:00

Well upon arrival at TCH today the nurse informed us that Jackson has dramatically improved! They said they lowered the CPAP pressure to an 8 (from a 10) and his O2 level was down to 26%!! They're hoping to take the CPAP off tomorrow. As you can tell from the pictures he's a little yellow which is from the jaundice. They say the jaundice isn't severe enough to need any extra treatment, his body will just take care of it naturally.

Since he's improving he can be touched more and the nurse let us hold him! She swaddled him up to keep all the wires from getting in the way. It was the best feeling in the world. We're going back up there tomorrow after church so let us know if you want to come visit. Again thanks for all the prayers! God definitely has his hand on Jackson.

Getting better...

2007-12-01T08:56:00.000-08:00

They took out Jackson's IV last night because he's adjusting to the formula nicely. We actually got to "feed" him yesterday, and by feeding I mean hold the tube. He's not needing as much oxygen as before and they said they're wanting to ween him off of it soon. We're heading up there right now and will be up there most of the day. If you'd like to come visit just give us a call on our cell. We don't get reception but we'll see you called and call you from the room phone. Again, we thank you all for your prayers!

I can't wait to hold you in my arms...

2007-11-29T21:25:00.001-08:00

I was going to write a post about how today has been but I think an email I sent sums it up best:

Well today was probably the most stressful day of my life. I just want to hold my son. I pretty much balled my eyes out when they were transporting him to Texas Children's. It's been a day full of tears. But we know he's getting the best care in the nation. But I just want to pick him up and give him a big kiss. I kissed him on the hand tonight but he has so many tubes and wires around his head that I can't get to his forehead. Nicole's pretty upset too, I think it really hit us tonight when we went and sat with him. We just feel so helpless. We've been really encouraged from all the prayer and support from everyone. Pastor Dale stopped by today and it really meant a lot. I can't sleep because every time I close my eyes I just keep picturing Jackson with all the tubes and my heart breaks. I honestly can't stop crying. We're at peace about it but I just can't stop crying. The blog had 86 visitors today! It might not seem like a big deal but to know that many people are thinking about us really encourages us (especially because that doesn't include all the people praying for us that aren't reading the blog or really even know us). Tell everyone that we honestly can feel their prayers and words can't express how grateful we are for all the support.

Love,
Kyle, Nicole and Jackson

Jackson's @ Texas Children's Hospital...

2007-11-29T15:00:00.000-08:00

Well at exactly 11:51 a.m. Jackson made the switch from Methodist to Texas Children's Hospital (TCH). They put a CPAP on him, which is just air blowing in his nose. The doctor said it's like holding your head out a car window going 60mph. Sounds kinda fun, but not for him. They're gonna see if the CPAP is all he needs and if it's not they'll put a tube in his lungs and pump surfactant directly into the lungs (yea, sounds like I know what i'm talking about but really i'm butchering a vary eloquent explanation from the doctor). We're waiting on Nicole's doctor to come check on her and then we're heading over to TCH for a visit.

Texas Children's...

2007-11-29T08:43:00.000-08:00

Well Nicole's blood pressure finally has started to drop, I guess 140/80 is low...NOT. But compared to her 166/110 it's awesome!! We're staying one more night so the doctor can monitor her and make sure her bp is going to stay down.

I just went down to see Jackson, they say that from 36-48 hrs. the babies peak at their worst. So he's definitely peaking :( The oxygen level they're having to keep in at right now is 40% and they told me that's usually when they make the decision to send them to Texas Children's Hospital. It's kinda bitter sweet, on one hand he's not getting better and we can't take him home but he's going to one of the top hospitals in the nation so we're not too worried about him getting better. Just pray, pray, pray for him!!! More info coming this afternoon/evening...

Jackson Photos!

2007-11-28T17:11:00.000-08:00

Well here's some photos of the past 48 hrs (hover over the images for a description):

Jackson Cole Smith:UPDATE

2007-11-28T07:29:00.001-08:00

We just got back from visiting Jackson and he's seems to be doing a lot better. They've lowered the amount of oxygen in his hood b/c he is breathing better. They have him at 30% today compared to yesterday's 34% (to give you an idea room air is 21%). So he still needs a little boost but he's not grunting near as much today. He looked so relaxed and peaceful. Yesterday he seemed a little uneasy but today he was just chillin', relaxin', playin' some b-ball outside of school, when a couple of guys who were up to no good started making trouble in my neighborhood...(sorry for that flash back, you all know the rest of the song). But anyways, he's getting better, I'm gonna try to get a photo of him in his bed. You can't use a flash and I only have a point-and-shoot so we'll see how it goes...but more photos to come (once i get a USB cable)...

Jackson Cole Smith

2007-11-27T20:36:00.001-08:00

At 3:53 p.m. Nicole and I became the proud parents of Jackson Cole Smith. He was born at 36 weeks, weighing in at 5 lbs. 8.6 ounces and is 18.75 inches long. I'll be the first to admit that I always think photos of new born babies (I'm talking fresh out of the oven and haven't even made it to the plate yet) are a little gross. But today that changed, I don't care what was all over him I thought he was the most beautiful thing in the entire world! I'll also admit that a cried when his little head popped out.

Since Jackson was born @ 36 weeks he's considered preemie and with that comes a little complications. He's having a little trouble breathing regularly and as the doctors called it "grunting". It sounds a lot like someone having an asthma attack, you can tell he's breathing but he's having to really work at it. Since he needs special attention (he takes after his mom) he has to stay in the NICU, which means he can't come visit us. But it's cool, we can visit him 24/7.

When we do visit him I feel like we're being allowed into some top-secret government project. First you come to two large doors with "DO NOT ENTER. AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY" and must ring a bell. At this time they take a look at you through the cameras and if they don't recognize you they question who you are and you must prove your one of the parents. Once they let you into the staging area you must enter a room to the right where you scrub in just like on TV. Once you complete the 3 minute scrub you can then enter back into the staging area. Once you're back in the staging area you must then put on a gown over your clothes. Now that your properly sterile and dressed you can enter through the next set of double doors. That's when we get to the best part, seeing my son.

I'm not gonna lie, it kinda freaked me out that my little boy, 3 hrs. of age, was all taped up and under a hood. And quite frankly, I still am. I know that they handle babies that are in way worse condition, but it's my kid now, and it's very real to me. The poor guy just sounds like he's having the hardest time breathing. And since he can't be put under a lot of stress we can't hold him. Please join my family in prayer that he has a quick recovery and will be able to go home soon! More photos and updates to come...

Kid on the way...part 2

2007-11-27T10:37:00.001-08:00

Well it's official, I'm at the hospital awaiting the arrival of Jackson Cole Smith. The doctor induced labor last night and expects the baby to be here by this evening. I was able to venture down to the Market Place (fancy term for the cafeteria around here) and to my surprise they had sushi!! I couldn't believe it. So for $12.82 I enjoyed a California roll, two spring rolls and a sea weed salad. Unfortunately for Nicole, she's on a strict ice-only diet so I ate quietly in the corner. Oh yea, and the one thing I forgot to pack......THE CAMERA!!! So I'm leaving it up to the .00001 mega pixel camera on the phone...I think the parents are bringing one for me. I'm a wreck, but it's a good thing cuz I'm about to become a dad!

Kid on the way...

2007-11-26T07:58:00.001-08:00

Well, we're going to what should be our last doctor visit today before the baby is born. We're for sure having him next week, possibly this week. Last week we went to the docs on Wednesday and due to some test results we ended up spending Thanksgiving at home eating frozen dinners (you know, the kind that you have to cut a slit in the plastic when you cook it). Thankfully our parents brought us leftovers so we still got our Thanksgiving fix.

But hey, the baby and wife are healthy and that's all that matters. It really helped me understand Thanksgiving this year. I was pretty upset at first about missing all the family fun and food that we usually partake in but then I realized what I'm truly thankful for, my family. And I mean MY family equaling my wife and soon to be son. Not that I'm knocking our parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.... But I have my family now and I got to spend Thanksgiving with them and I couldn't have asked for a better holiday.

But back to the baby, hopefully he'll decide to keep cooking for another week but who knows, I just might become a dad today (wow that was weird seeing it typed out like that). I have a feeling this blog will become the Jackson Cole show once he's born, but who cares that's what blogs are for right?

Christmas time...wait it's not even Thanksgiving yet...

2007-11-20T06:36:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, my wife and I are expecting a baby in December. With this pregnancy being pretty unpredictable (like any of them are) we decided to put the tree up early this year just in case we have the little guy early and then never get a chance to put up the tree. Last year we bought a pre-lit tree from Wal-Mart for like $30 and it definitely looked like a $30 tree, Charlie Brown's looked like the one in Times Square compared to this one...but we loved it because it was our first Christmas tree to own as a married couple. So after last Christmas we went to Target for all the after-Chrismas sales, and there it was, 7.5 feet of pure Christmas magic. It was normally some ridiculous price, $200+, that we got for $60. So we scooped it up and took it home, only we forgot that we were in Texarkana and we were also in my Mazda (let's just say the trip home was pretty tight). Needless to say we couldn't wait to break it out this year.

So Sunday night we busted it loose. We cleared out the corner of the living room where we planned to put the tree. I put together the base and then plopped in the bottom third. As I began to flatten out the branches we quickly realized we had purchased a beast of a tree and our apartment walls might not be able to contain it's Christmas girth. So we decided to move it to the dining room where it now takes up the whole room (not that it was that big to begin with but seriously this tree was not intended for apartments).

Now we sit at night with sunglasses on while watching television because of the small sun standing tall in the dining room. But hey it's a pretty sweet tree if I don't say so myself... but you can be the judge...

(for the photogs: f/3.5 @ 1/50sec. ISO1600)

Houston drivers...no survivors...

2007-11-14T09:41:00.001-08:00

Disclaimer: This is an accurate, distorted recollection of events from today. These events angered me and therefore my recollection reflects this. Also note, when I told everyone in the office about this I tried to stay as politically censured (i mean correct) and that I may not be as nice in this post, but I'll do my best. Disclaimer to the disclaimer: I may have used choice language and hand gestures during these events and therefore will try to refrain from letting them slip into this post, but no promises...

What you are about to read happened between the hours of 11:00a.m and 12:00p.m, Wednesday, November 14.

After enjoying a scrumptious International Brunch at the San Jacinto College North campus I headed back to the office to study my findings (by findings I mean photographs and by study I mean look at). I was already a little unsettled because the camera battery died in the middle of the event I was covering just minutes before departure. "But it's all good," I told myself (yea that's right it's prefectly healthy to talk to yourself, especially in stressful situations) I get to go back to the office and say "what up" to all my peeps (and by "what up" I mean talk).

So I'm driving down Wallisville (pronounced wall-is-vuhl) heading to the beltway, I've got the radio cranked with the Postal Service and everything seems to be aligning back into place again. I approach the intersection of Wallisville and Beltway 8. I click turn signal on to let others know I will be making a right hand turn. The light turns yellow upon approach so I slow. The light turns red, I stop (and I'm at the front of the line, which always makes me happy). Our light turns green again (the traffic was too heavey to make a right on red) and I make the right turn onto the feeder of the Beltway. I'm no more than 5 feet onto the road before some pleasant driver decides they're in too big of a hurry to look both ways and completely cuts me off. I SLAM! on my breaks to avoid hitting this drain to society and barely avoid hitting him (I'm talkin inches here people). But I think no problem he'll speed up because he's obviously in some HUGE hurry. The bloke proceeds to drive 10mph, that's right 10mph, down the feeder, now I've only got maybe 200 feet to cross all 3 lanes to make it to the entrance ramp so I'm trapped! Everyone is wizzing past me and I can't gain enough speed to even make the car change directions.

I glance in my side mirror and see my chance, there were about 2 car lengths between a Ford pickup and some ghetto mobile that I could sqeeze into. Just as I go to make my move, hombre cuts me off again and sqeezes into the gap with me. (now up until this point i was pissed off, but now I'm #$@%&#$%*# MAD! I was also not keeping a safe distance from this chap (I had to let him know he made a mistake and it was obvious there wasn't enough room for him to be on the road yet)) So I polietly LAY on the horn and let this gentleman understand my discontent with his actions. I glance again in the side mirror and there's no one in the far left lane, which is where I need to be inorder to make it on the freeway. Well this fella cuts e off again for the third time (fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me, fool me the third time and I'm kicking your $%$^#&) So I tap (and my tap i mean drive my fist through the Mazada emblem on the stering wheel) the horn to let this guy know I'm really growing impatient. So instead of speeding up and entering the freeway, he just slams on his breaks and puts the car in PARK! (OMG Seriously can this guy get anymore annoying, I pondered as I simultaniously, almost instinctly, rolled down my window and waved my fist and one finger at him (sorry mom))

Then he answered my question. His door swings open and out steps Mr. White Trash America. (I was actually kinda proud of him because he had shoes on) And I'm just thinking to myself, "This guy can't be serious. What do I have in the car I can pummel him with. If I run over him would I go to jail. If I only would have stopped and used the rest room back at the college I would have missed this bozo. If he strikes me first, it's considered self defense, right?!??!?!"

Lucky for him, or maybe me, a Harris County Sherriff pulls up behind me (I'm assuming he had been watching from the same parking lot Al Bundy just pulled out from). When Joe Dirt sees the officer approaching he leaps in his vehicle and scurries down the feeder, the cop follows and I finally make it onto the freeway. Sadly I didn't get to see what happened between the cockroach and the exterminator but I'm sure I'll see the high speed chase (topping out at 10mph) on the 6 o'clock news tonight.

I wonder what would have happend if Deputy Dan wouldn't have shown up...

America's crack dealer

2007-11-11T13:58:00.000-08:00

I'm meeting with my first wedding photography clients that I really do not know. I've had a few in the past that I didn't know but knew all their friends but this client only found out about me from a girl from Nicole's high school, so it should be fun. We're meeting at America's crack dealer, Starbucks (i know, how cliché). Speaking of wedding photography here's one of the bridals I did in College Station last weekend, (i was told to take the photo off b/c peeps aren't supposed to see the bride in her dress b4 the wedding or something like that)

One hour at work...

2007-11-08T08:29:00.000-08:00

Well I downloaded a new app for the iSight camera, Iris. It's pretty sweet, I did a time lapse of one hour at my desk taking a shot every 4 seconds. I promise this is the last pointless video...maybe....

Videocue Pro

2007-11-07T14:56:00.000-08:00

This is a short video clip i recorded @ work using Videocue Pro and then I did a little post-production in iMovie.( I know what you're thinkin', it's a little excessive, but I couldn't help myself)
It's pretty cheesy but who cares...Enjoy!!

Dr. Clay Kelley

2007-11-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

Dr. Clay Kelley of San Jacinto College retired Oct. 31, 2007 after 32 years of service at the college. Here's a podcast I created from his interview:

Trinity Football 60sec. play...

2007-10-29T15:42:00.000-07:00

You know when you watch a football game and the losing team tries the lateral as a last ditch effort, and you think to yourself, "Why bother, just end the game already?" Well here's a clip that proves us all wrong...

CSS rant...

2007-10-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

Well as I'm creating my churches new worship ministry site I'm slowly realizing that all the different browsers hate me and hate each other. I think it's freakin ridiculous that just getting the colors to appear appropriately between browsers takes an act of congress. Why even bother with colors if everyone who's using Safari, Firefox, IE, etc. is going to see a different thing? Also, why can't all the browsers get up to speed? Firefox should be the only browser allowed, period. IE should never, ever, ever, never, ever be used. Sure Safari just upgraded and it now performs at ridiculous speeds, but why can't they just all work together? CSS is supposed to allow you to do so much more than the previous method of tables, but honestly I just might start designing from tables. I have to find so many hacks to get the site to work on the million different browser out there that now I don't even know what I'm trying to get the site to look like. Bottom line, all browsers need to follow the same standards (firefox being the standard), they need to support CSS3 and they need to not suck so bad. Ok, I feel better now.

New ventures...

2007-10-15T11:12:00.000-07:00

Well just as I was trying to get out of doing photography on the side, I agreed to do some baby portraits. And I'm glad I did. I'm sure like most photographers, or really anyone else, you reach a point of mundane-ness (not sure if that's a word). I've been doing weddings for almost 1.5 years now and they just are really boring/stressful. Engagement shoots and bridal sessions are fun, but even those get monotonous. Then there are baby pictures. You can't really pose the kids to save your life and they don't look like a frozen statue waiting to be photographed. You really get their raw emotion and innocence. And that's what drew me into photography in the first place. I could care less how skinny, wrinkled, goofy or whatever people always find wrong with themselves...all I care about is that they're true self is captured and that's where babies make me happy.
On another note, I'm slowly getting closer to creating my church's worship site. The end is getting closer I can taste it...

Flashy...

2007-10-09T15:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I've finally started trying to learn flash...again. I started trying to learn it my last year of college but moving to Houston kinda hindered that. Now that we are in H-town we don't have internet so I can't play on the internet with the new mac and have decided to learn flash instead. So here's my first flash animation thingy ...

I also downloaded some new brushes for photoshop to make the background. (and I'm not sure why my links are displaying kinda weird, I'm working on the fix)