SPC - Black & White - #4

New Camera!

:D

Sorry for the overused, cliched straight shot in the mirror.

I somehow fooled myself into believing that after researching and reading extensively about the new camera, that upon its arrival I would somehow, miraculously, just know how to use the dang thing immediately.

Not so much.

This is my first SLR and, despite my delusions of grandeur, I still have plenty of reading and learning to do. Wish me luck!

More black and white self-portraits HERE.

Photo Friday - 'Textured'

This is the image I've submitted for Photo Friday's theme this week: 'Textured'


Bonus photo:


Both of these pictures brought to you by Wednesday's Freezing Fog here in Indiana, which made me late for work that day for a number of reasons.

;-)

Seriously, this was the worst fog I'd ever seen. I was travelling roads which I'd travelled thousands of times before, but was completely disoriented by the dense fog. I nearly blew a stop sign at a major road crossing because I didn't see the sign until I was right at it. I can see why they cancelled schools all across Central Indiana that day. It was bizarre.

SPC - Black & White - #3

Never say "Never"

I once considered being a sound studio engineer as my 'dream job.' I took a basic recording techniques class in college, and then went on to do a couple of independent studies in the University's recording studio. I also had a job in the studio -- recording concerts and recitals, etc., and let me tell you, it was fun! Creating music charts, scheduling time, setting up the studio, and finally recording with the players and musicians was time consuming, but fulfilling. Eventually, I realized that I was having far more fun in these studio sessions than I was actually developing the necessary skills and expertise to have a successful career behind a mixing board.

For months (or maybe years), I resisted a call to run live sound at my church. Because I began my limited experience in a studio setting, I would often quip, "There's a reason they call it a control booth." Running live sound seemed completely foreign to me and I wanted nothing to do with it. I was openly terrified of feedback loops and the lack of control over what is happening on stage at any given moment.

Eventually, I gave in, and after some basic training and observation sessions, I was doing what I vowed to never do: running live sound.

It has been great.

Have I completely embarrassed myself by missing a mute/unmute cue? Yes. Have I had painfully loud, uncontrollable, runaway feedback? Yeah. Have I messed up in countless other ways, big and small? You betcha!

Have I experienced the grace of God and his followers when I'm given another chance, and another, and another? Absolutely. Have I experienced worship in new and exciting ways because of my service? Definitely. Have I settled down, relaxed, and learned from my mistakes, and in so doing, improved the clarity of the message of the Gospel in both song and in spoken word during our services? I hope so.

Here's to never saying, "never."

Digging Out

Well, some are calling it a blizzard, some stop short of that, but regardless of what anyone wants to call it, we got about a foot of snow that then drifted for about 24 hours. My work, which is in rural Northern Madison County, got it worse than we did and was closed Tuesday and Wednesday.

Expecting that I'll be back at work Thursday, I began to dig out:

Fortunately, I had some help:

I finally managed to get one of our cars out, but still have my work cut out for me on getting the other one out.

Regardless, we are all well and warm.

SPC - Black & White - #2

The Black & White theme continues over at Self Portrait Challenge this month.

For some reason -- I see desperation in this image. Almost like a poster for some charity organization in need of a financial contribution.

That's what I see...what do you see?

Photo Friday - 'Sky'

I did submit this photo:

...last week for Photo Friday's theme - 'Strange' but chose not to post it here since you've probably seen it before.

A couple of family updates...
Harrison is doing really well. He's gaining weight like a spring pig (~13lbs @ 6 weeks). He's doing pretty well at controlling his head and arms. He's really good as gripping my chest hair when he gets the chance -- YIKES! He has his days and nights straight, and while he's not 'sleeping through the night' yet, he generally goes right back to sleep after a diaper change and a feeding, and that's usually only 2 or 3 times each night, so we're not complaining!

Hannah is also doing great. She loves being a big sister and she loves her little brother. Furthermore, she'll tell you (or a complete stranger, for that matter) exactly this. She is still going to pre-school one day a week and her teacher has been kind enough to send her home with some of the other work for that week to work on at home. For the most part, she still goes about her business, stopping occasionally to love on (i.e. smother) Harrison.

Christy is headed back to work later this month. She'll start back part-time at first and then transition back into her full time position. We have found a baby sitter for the kids with whom we think we'll be happy. She will be working different hours so as to minimize the time that the kids will be in daycare.

Films Recently Watched:
Well, not surprisingly, I don't have the time to watch movies like I did before #2 came along, but I've still managed to get a few in here and there:

Aladdin (1992) dir. by Ron Clements and John Musker

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) dir. by Jay Roach
I'll admit that the reason that we watched this was because when Harrison is working on filling a diaper, we've been quoting lines from the scene with Tom Arnold in the bathroom stall! :D

Capote (2005) dir. by Bennett Miller
This was loaned to me by a friend. Phillip Seymour Hoffman deserved his Oscar -- that much is for sure. Otherwise, it is still an interesting look at the life of Truman Capote during the years in which he wrote his book, In Cold Blood. I didn't know much about Capote before watching the movie, but it was interesting and well done.

Charlotte's Web (2006) dir. by Gary Winick
Hannah and I saw this together in the theater. It was better than I expected it would be. I loved the opening credits with the storybook graphics. Some of the voice acting was overdone, but Hannah seemed to enjoy it.

Copycat (1995) dir. by Jon Amiel

Léon (1994) dir. by Luc Besson
I received the deluxe edition DVD as a gift for Christmas, so I finally got to see the international cut of this excellent film. The added scenes only reinforce the mood, characters and story that were already there, but I love the mood, characters and story in this film, so given the choice, I'd definitely recommend the extended cut seen here.

Superman Returns (2006) dir. by Bryan Singer

SPC - Black & White - #1

I figured since the theme was 'Black & White' I'd just get things started off right by using primarily those colors and little else:

More 'black and white' self portraits at SPC.

Coincidence? I think not!

So I'm leaving a comment today on a blog with word verification to prevent comment spam, and this is the 'random' series of letters that I am to type in:

Anybody besides me find this VERY peculiar??

I'm tagging this as a 'What's Wrong With This Picture' post, so if you think you know, comment below, though I think this one's pretty obvious.

By the way, new Blogger allows me to 'tag' or 'label' posts with descriptions so that you can bring up all posts with that label.

Photo Friday - 'Brother'

This post will serve several purposes:
1.) It is my entry for Photo Friday for last week's theme, 'Brother'
2.) It is a picture of my children for those of you who would rather see them instead of another picture of me!! :-)
3.) It is an opportunity for me to experiment with some javascript. You'll notice that if you hover your mouse over the picture it will turn from color to black & white. I kind of liked the image both ways, so I wanted to see if there was an easy way to have both here. Ta da!