Transition

>You may have noticed that my blog and photoentries have decreased in the past month or so, well now I can tell you why! The bottom line, I’ve been really busy.  Not only busy, but going throughbittersweet life.Most importantly I’m happy to tell the world that Diane and I are getting married! Getting married is glorious, but it’s been consuming all of our time. We decided to get married a couple of months ago, I’m not sure when, I thinkwe made the decision while I was in India. There was not big proposal or event, I’m not even sure how to explain it. But we made the decision and we are very happy about it.We were going to keep our wedding details a secret, but Diane forgot all about thatthe moment we chose a date.  But that’s another story and I’ll lether tell you about it at some point.  Our official wedding date is October 8th– a week from this Saturday!  Woohoo!Once we decided to get married we made a mental list of all the things we’dneed to do before we could have the ceremony.  The first big item was to findhomes for Diane’s cats; Toaster and Mossimo.  We looked for months butcould not find any homes.  Last weekend we took them to a shelter in North Phoenixthat will have the means to locate good parents for them.  It was a very, verysad moment.  Diane has had her kitties for 6 years.  Moving the cats tomy house was not an option because of the dogs.  So we did what we thought wasbest.  But we will miss our furry friends.The second big item was selling Diane’s house.  Before we could put iton the market we had to do some work on the back yard.  So we put in a drip system,planted new plants and a tree, had curbing added, and shoveled 3 tons of decorativerock.  The yard really looks great now.  Once that was finished the housewas listed.  We thought we’d it would take a week or two to sell - it soldin 12 hours.The third big thing was moving Diane’s stuff out of her house.  Not onlymoving, but fixing all the little things the new owners requested in the contract– fix a leak here, replace a circuit breaker there, adjust the sliding glassdoor, etc.  The past two weekends have been spent packing, cleaning, fixing,and hauling.All of the new stuff at my place means that my house is in total chaos. My garage is full of boxes and furniture and odds and ends.  But I finally havesome art on my walls.  The house is filling up with Diane, it’s awesome. Now we just need to figure out who’s furniture to keep and what to sell.During all of this change my Jeep decided to die.  Awesome timing!  Thanksto Cecil forlending us his truck to move the big stuff, we would have been sunk without the help. Saturday I replaced the radiator, thermostat, and serpentine belt on the jeep. I thought the water pump might need to be replaced too, but I decided to see if thenew radiator/thermostat would do the trick.  Nope – I still need a newwater pump.  So I’ll be doing that sometime soon.Did I mention I started a new photography class two weeks ago?  That’sright, I’m teaching a new class for this fall.  I have 13 students andwe are meeting two hours a week at Barnes & Noble in Gilbert.  It’sa lot of fun and I’m really enjoying it.But that’s not all!  (I feel like a steak knife commercial).  I’vealso been invited to join the IndependentPhotography Network.  I got my contract today and my submissions will belive next month.  It’s a great honor but also a lot of work choosingand categorizing all of the photos.During all of this excitement I learned that some good friends, Brandonand Denise, are moving to Oregon. The Bohlings have been a constant source of inspiration and encouragement to me duringthe past three years.  Diane and I were talking about how much we are going tomiss our friends.  Brandon and I talk a lot about photography, trade ideas, andbounce questions off each other.  Denise always has a fresh perspective on life. And they both love good food and great wine.  I’ll miss running to YenMi to eat Pho andget lost in conversation.It was the Bohlings who invited me to hikethe Grand Canyon, encouraged me to become more involved in photography, showedme parts of the world I’ve never been to, taught me about spro,and made the daily grind more enjoyable.  I’ll miss you guys!There is even more than that going on, but I’ll stop for now.  I don’thave time to tell you about Diane’s college classes or my crazy schedule atwork this week.  I’ll be in Portland tomorrow night and Wednesday. Maybe I’ll have time to post some more thoughts while I’m at the hotelor on the plane.Until then, enjoy life – love your pets and cherish your friends.  Eachday is a blessing.

Posted by admin Posted in: Events, Family Stuff, News No Comments » September 2005

Army Bake Sale!!

A great site I stumbled on today.  It’s too funny.

“In accordance with last year’s Congressional ruling, the US military nolonger receives its funding through tax payer dollars and must now generate all revenuethrough the sale of baked goods and refreshing beverages.

But don’t worry, scaling back our weapons development and acquisition programsis not an option. In fact we’ve already ordered the weapons for this coming year.We know that we can trust all Americans to help us raise the necessary funds to meetthis year’s $425 billion budget.”

Click Here to visit ArmyBakeSale.com

Posted by admin Posted in: Humor No Comments » September 2005

Site Update

I took a little time to update my site tonight.  I changed a couple of littlethings that have been bugging me for the past few months, but I could never find thetime to fix them.  Here are the minor changes:

• On my homepage the “Most Recent Photos” now link to my photoblog directly. I’ve been waiting for a few months for the new release of OneReaction soI could do this.  It was released this weekend and the change was easy. My old photo galleries are now gone.
• The pictures button on the top navigation now links to my photoblog.
• I fixed a few outdated links on my blog navigation.
• The photo forum now has a newhome and web address!  See the new home at: www.ProPhotoSchool.com

I’ve been swamped with other things the past few weeks that I’vehad to keep secret.  I’m just a few days away from being able to tellthe world.  Look for the big announcement soon!

Posted by admin Posted in: News No Comments » September 2005