What’s shakin…

So a lot has been going on this week, I thought today would be a good day to get my blog on and keep you in the loop. First, for those of you interested in the Nike+ challenge Nathan threw at me, of all people that ended up winning, it was a late entry that ended up taking the prize. That’s right – my wife, Mary Kate, is the winner. I told her the victory didn’t count since she wasn’t even one of the options on my blog poll – I don’t think she bought it though.

I shot a wedding for a really cool couple Tuesday evening up in the Hill Country near Austin. I can’t wait to break off a few pictures here for your viewing pleasure. The chapel they were married at had the most incredible view and you have to love a bride that just laughs when it rains on her wedding day. David and Jennifer were just a lot of fun to work with but I will save the rest of the story for when I post some of the pictures here – hopefully this evening.

So one of my wife’s good friends, Stacie Jones, is getting married next month. MK and all the other bridesmaids, and of course the bride, left for Vegas this morning. It’s supposed to be a bachelorette party or some such non-sense. I am just hoping she comes back. Since my wife is in the bridal party, Stacie and her fiance Chris went with another photographer so I could just relax and enjoy myself… allegedly… I think it is going to be odd being at a wedding and not being the photographer. Other than my own wedding, I am not sure if I’ve ever just been a guest… hmmm… maybe that’s only interesting to me… 🙂

So with all the rain San Antonio has been getting this year, it’s probably been a good year to be in the lawn mowing business. It seems like I just mowed my lawn last weekend and the grass is already well over my ankles again. It’s funny because my dog doesn’t like to go outside to pee when the grass gets long – I think the grass rubs on her belly or something. Needless to say, watching her struggle with apprehension but still needing to take care of business is almost worth the price of letting the grass get to high! Don’t go calling PETA on me – I will be cutting it again this weekend…

So since we have now had 2 or 3 days in a row without rain, I thought today would be a good day to ride the motorcycle in to work. So I am driving down the freeway on 410, just about to go under the I-10 interchange when I see a bunch of cereal boxes all over the road. It’s like a truck carrying cereal lost about 20 or 30 boxes and they are all over the road. So every time a car hits one, it explodes into a little dark cloud of chocolatey goodness. I rode through about 4 of those Cocoa Puff clouds and I have to say, it was AWESOME!

Lots of shooting going on this weekend AND football season kicks off on Sunday. Is there a better time of year than Fall?

Brian

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Nike+ is killin me man!

For those of you that are not aware of Nike+, Nike+ is a collaboration between Nike and Apple to try and make exercise fun… allegedly… The way it works is, you buy a special pair of Nike shoes (apparently in the near future all of them will work) that can accommodate a little device that gets put into a cavity hidden under the insole. This little device communicates with an iPod Nano (currently only works with a Nano) and it keeps track of all of your running stats. When I say ‘all’ of your running stats, I mean ALL of them. It will keep the time, distance and speed both for an individual workout and for a cumulative total. It also keeps track of how fast and how far you ran when a particular song was playing on the iPod. A little voice will come on while you’re running to give your progress reports on how you’re doing.

Of course, all this extremely important data can then be transferred, via iTunes, to your computer and consequently logged onto a special Nike+ website. You can keep track of all of this online. Not only that but you can challenge all your friends to little distance, or speed competitions which can also be tracked online – I am assuming for bragging rights or some such non-sense. Allegedly, there is a widget that will let me post my progress on this blog which I will figure out one of these days.

So, I bought a pair of shoes and I bought the little thing that goes in the shoes and the thing that plugs into the iPod. I’ve even gone so far as to break down and create an account on Nike+. Now all I have to do is just start running.

Of course, upon learning that I had caved into the Nike\Apple consumerism, my friend Nathan just had to break down and challenge me. Now I have to run 10 miles before he does. Upon further review, it looks like Nathan has added his wife Nicole to the challenge so I am adding her to the poll. I am not sure how well I am doing since he challenged me Monday morning and I’ve been busy both Monday night and last night. For all I know, he might have figured out a way to attach that thing to his car and he is already finished. Regardless, until I get the widget for the blog figured out, I will keep you posted on my progress here. I will also make that this week’s Poll Question!

For those keeping score at home, we lost our last game of the summer softball season. I attribute that to everyone knowing that we had already won first place in the league whether we won last Tuesday or not. So everyone took it easy and coasted into 1st place with a loss. I’m not bitter about it though. We finished 8-2 and I got a fancy t-shirt. Of course, Nick got a t-shirt too and he didn’t even show up for the last 4 games so I am not exactly sure how much stock I can put into the awesomeness of the t-shirt.

Stay tuned for an update later this week about my cruise through the Hill Country in a convertible last night. It will definitely have me lamenting about my own apathy toward getting my own convertible restored. For your viewing pleasure, he is a picture of the ’67 Firebird convertible that STILL sits in my garage – virtually untouched for about 3 years…

Brian

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Horbi loves Jib Jab…

The other day at work, my buddy Horbi sends out this email to everyone on the IT team. Turns out Horbi was actually doing some work on this particular day and came up with this interesting little video starring another buddy of mine, David (you can call him DQ) and me. Since Horbi typically does so little at work, I thought I would honor this effort – kinda like the way your mom used to hang your crappy finger paintings on the refrigerator and stuff.

So without further adieu, Horbi’s Masterpiece.

Jib Jab Hawaii

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Aerosmith – who knew?

As the 5 of you that read this blog already know, I went to Vegas with my friend Nick last week. We were there to help some friends with their RFID equipment at a convention hosted by the network router manufacturer, Cisco. I think the event was a big success, but the biggest success from my perspective was that Cisco actually had Aerosmith do a private show for all their employees at the convention! Of course Nick (aka Tricky) and I were able to slide in undetected. Who knew Aerosmith put on such a good show? I mean I was expecting to see a bunch of AARP banners and people riding around on stage on their little Scooter Store electric chairs. Not exactly how Aerosmith rolls apparently…

So someone started a nasty rumor that this blog is supposed to be hosted by a guy that shoots weddings but ironically, there are like ZERO pictures on this blog – which seems a tad odd. Anyway, I wanted to break off a few Aerosmith pictures because, you know, what bride wouldn’t think pictures from a concert would be adequate material for determining that a photographer was capable of covering her wedding? Before I do show them off though I have to make two qualifications. First, I didn’t bring any professional gear with me to Vegas, all these pictures were taken with a $300 point and shoot camera just like your grandma uses (except mine is digital). Second, Cisco was kind enough to have free beer and food for all the attendees. I am only speculating on the food because I saw lots of food there and and I didn’t see anyone paying for it. I am also, probably, only speculating on the free beer too because I know I had some beer and I know I didn’t pay for it so I am hoping it was free. Third, points one and two are clearly evident in the quality of these pictures so I hope your expectations aren’t too high. Fourth, if you’re a bride looking to judge me on the quality of my concert photo taking ability, you should really use my Britney Spears concert shots as your guage.

Last but not least, because I know you are probably about to do something dangerous due to the stress of NOT knowing how our softball team did in my absence, I am here to ease your pain. It turns out that the two teams we were scheduled to play knew nothing of my absence and were too intimidated to show up. Therefore, we were the benefactors of two forfeits. That brings our record to 8-1 on the season with one game left to go and that is tonight. Coincidentally, the team that WAS tied with us for first place happened to lose while I was gone so now, win or lose tonight, our team is going to win the awesome title of ‘Alva Jo Fisher Softball Complex Tuesday Night Coed Recreational Summer Softball League Champions!’ Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?

Now without further adieu… a few Aerosmith pictures… yes we had pretty good seats that we didn’t pay for…

Brian

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Viva Las Vegas…

Well today Nick and I are heading off to the cool and tranquil climate of Las Vegas to get our gamble on. Oh we may just break down and do a little work while we’re there but make no mistake about it, this is a working VACATION! We leave San Antonio around 9 pm and return on the 18th. For those keeping score at home, that is more than enough time to lose everything I own including my dog.

Speaking of my dog, I’ve added her favorite picture to the blog header. Blue seems to think she is quite the player.

I am sure all of you reading at home are just on the edge of your seat right about now, waiting to hear how Tuesday night’s softball game went. As luck would have it, we won our 4th game in a row to bring our record to a stellar 6-1. We are now in 1st place and I expect the team to stay there while Nick and I are lounging by the pool. Of course, they do have David Quesada in what will likely be a more pivotal role so I am not holding my breath. Did I mention the remaining teams on our schedule all have losing records? Anyway, last season we took 2nd and got some squirelly t-shirt that says First Runner Up or some such non-sense. This season we are gunning for those little baby trophies! Who knew Rec Level Coed Softball could be so friggin competitive?

There will be one game left for Nick and I to acquire our ‘Participated’ ribbons in, once we get back. For your viewing pleasure, I will see about taking a picture or two of the festivities.

Now it’s off to lunch. I would like to congratulate you all on taking the Poll Participation from a grand total of 3 votes to a grand total of 4 votes. Who knew adding that provocative additional answer would have such an immediate impact

Brian

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