pleasantly surprised

Today turns out to be a Friday surprise. I finished my project that is due on Monday so my teacher said I had no need to come in on Friday, so things worked out nicely I think. I finished my 16 page annual report that I produced. It was done on the company,Nikon. I think the layout turned out pretty good, I mean you really cannot get to terribly creative with an annual report since it is a corporate document highlighting shares and business etc. The printer in class has a fuse problem so I will have to reprint if I want to use this project for my portfolio. So anyway tomorrow is open, I will try and mess with some photo stuff. I learned the process of creating HDR, which is pretty lengthy but awesome and worth it. I will post the first one I did, just a lamp in the living room. Not spectacular but cool nonetheless. Time to get geared up for the trip home, should be there Tuesday night if weather permits. Hopefully no snow on the grapevine. I am out!

Why now all of the sudden?

Hahahaha, What a good sport, pretty fast too.

It is raining in San Diego!!!
WOWZERS! I have bottled some in a shiny green jar as proof of this rare occurrence. I will be holding a press conference at 1:30 to show my findings. Yeah, I am stupid but whatever. The Kings fired their coach Reggie Theus which is also stupid. He was the best dressed coach in the league... now what are the kings supposed to do? That was about all they had going for them. In other news, Abigail is nuts. That is pretty much all I got.

Here are a few night long exposures. Nothing too cool but I had fun experimenting down the street.

calm before the storm

I am really enjoying my new toy.
My camera is fun to play with, the cats are tired of getting photographed I think though. I went outside earlier and took a few photos. I love my 50mm f/1.4d lens. The rich depth of field is great. I also upgraded my flickr account so now I can upload better quality files without any restrictions. I can also upload video to flickr now as well. I still have not fully experimented with it yet but be sure that I will. I will post a few photos after this. Tonight if it is clear I might take a shot at some long exposures down the street. I will get to posting those later tomorrow if that works out.

School is going well. I am in the middle of the last project for this class which should take us until the end of next week or monday I believe. I have honestly enjoyed having the teacher that we do. He is a straight shooter and definitely is real with everyone. He is full of useful knowledge so It has been very productive and I've been trying to soak everything up like a sponge. After break I will start my last design class for my A.S. degree then it is on to general Ed which has to be taken during the mornings. Yes, I will have to start waking up at like 6:30 to get to school every morning. No more afternoon laziness on my part. I should be done with the A.S. in May I believe, then the next day it is on to the B.S. program where I will be focusing on 3d animation etc. That too will only take place in the mornings so I seriously need to soak this afternoon gig up while I still have the chance. One good thing is that I will be out of class by 12:00 everyday which is early day in my book.

For Christmas break Mary and I are going back to Merced for like 4 or 5 days I think. Her family is kind enough to put us up during our stay, Her Auntie Joe and Uncle Romie as well as cousin Rowell are the coolest and nicest family, funny senses of humor as well. So there are a ton of other people here in SD going back to Merced, it is like the San Diego's Merced chapter coming for a visit. Hopefully we will all have a good time. Mary's sister Glenda, Tony and family should also be making an appearance there in Merced. It may be overwhelming during our stay but we will make-due. We are forced to acquire the services of a cat sitter while we are away, ensuring they are fed and taken care of during our trip. I thought it was a pretty clever business being an animal sitter albeit kind of odd at the same time. They are willing to do the work on Christmas Day even so it saves us a lot of worry at least. By the way, Abigail is doing well after her spaying debacle, crazy as ever to be honest. She now has a tail which is broken in two places due to her rowdy nature. So anyway Merced is our destination for the holiday because naturally, that is where all of our family is. I hope it is not too cold but of course it will be. Can't wait to see a few old friends as well as family. My nieces and nephews are probably all taller than me by now.

at least there is that..

Season is in full rebuild mode, no Kevin Martin... no problem???
Wins against the Lakers go a long way. They meet back up on friday in LA. Oh yeah, nice 9 for 25 Kobe, That was John Salmons guarding you if you hadn't noticed. Happy to give you your third loss on the season, it's all the Kings have going for them at the moment.

HOLY HELL

So I was on a walk coming back from the Cafe down the street and as I turn the corner I hear what sounds like a sonic boom—the noise was loud enough that I could feel the bass ripple through the air. I am thinking,"holy shit something just happened!" I see some smoke billowing into the air and I am thinking something just fell from the sky or something. I walk back into the apartment and I hear tons of sirens, turn on the tv and breaking news almost immediately..they are sending helicopters and engines asap to get coverage. My coverage was just down the street so I grab my camera and get as close as I could. An F-18 fighter jet crashed directly into a house, the pilot was ejected while my neighbors could see the guy float down from the sky into an area school field. Mind you this is within a quarter mile or so from my apartment. As of right now two homes are completely destroyed, I don't know if anyone was inside the homes, hopefully no animals or people are hurt. CRAZY way to start my afternoon. I wish I would have bought that telephoto but oh well. I might go see what the wreckage looks like in a little while if they let people that close. Here are some photos I got. Notice there are like 40 cars in a row in the no parking anytime lane and the one where the soccer players aren't phased in the least.. Game On!!! ( EDIT: two people are confirmed dead and two people are missing.)