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ytt: why don’t YOU wear the shock collar?

Jun 26th, 2006
by Jim Reverend.
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This is what happens when I don’t update often enough. I’ve almost entirely forgotten what I did last Friday. Also, I think I should break up the YTTs more. Each of these subsections could be entire posts of their own instead of one big fat long post. Eh. If you don’t care, I don’t care.

h3. in a haze

Here’s what I remember from Friday. I know I edited photos. I know Jess got home later than anticipated. I remember that she and I went out for dinner at a nice mexican place near by. Jess helped me pack and get ready for Saturday morning. I went to bed around 11:30pm, if I remember right.

I also got my new photo bags on Friday and boy do I love them. It’s the best camera bag system I’ve owned yet, and I’ve owned quite a few.

h3. into the grasslands

sunrise over black creek (edit 1)
sunrise over black creek (edit 1)

Saturday morning, I woke up around 3am. I struggled with GPS software for 30 minutes, and eventually gave up. Then, I hopped in the shower and left the house around 4:15am. I arrived in Decatur just at 5am, met up with my dad, loaded his stuff into my truck and headed into the grasslands. Around 2pm we called it quits and I was home by 3pm. I had a great time and got lots of beautiful photographs.

Jess got home from work at 3:30, gave me a kiss hello and goodbye and then headed out to babysit. I had intended on going out for more photographs but, instead, stayed in and did a bunch of photo editing. Without someone to talk to or something active to do, I get tired pretty quickly. Especially after 4 hours of sleep and a long day in the sun. By 9pm I was pretty tired. I was trying to stay up, hoping that Jess would get home by 10:30 and maybe, just maybe, we could make it out to “Sara’s”:http://fourtytwostars.livejournal.com/ party. But, alas, she didn’t get home until after midnight and I had passed out by then.

h3. unrequested flattery

I got up around 7am on Sunday, and Jess was quick to follow. She had to be at work at 1pm, but was showing up early to help out. She and I did some yard work, took a shower, had a bit of breakfast and watched some TV before she headed off to work. Then I started getting ready for a photography excursion on bike. She called me as I was almost ready to leave the house and asked if I’d bring a drill by her work. I had never been inside before, so it was nice to see. It’s a beautiful place and her co-workers were all really nice to me. One of the ladies there had seen some of my photography and commented on how much she liked my work. Jess told me later that her assistant manager said, more than once, that I was very good looking. Yay for random acts of flattery.

h3. could you be any more helpful?

After saying goodbye I headed to my first of two stops for the afternoon. When I got there, it seemed that the trail I had found in google maps didn’t exactly exist any more. Instead of wasting any more time trying to find it, I headed out to the next stop. I had been told that Collin Park, east of Plano on Parker, had a 12 mile biking trail around Lake Levon. When I got there, the lady gave me a map and basically was told me that I should start at the top or the bottom and not the middle where she was. When I asked if I could start from here she said I could, directed me to a place to park, took my $4 and I went on my way.

The problem was, the place to park didn’t exist. Further more, I couldn’t find the trail. So, with the map she gave me in hand, I opted to drive to the top of the trail. Once I got there, finding the trailhead was a piece of cake. It wasn’t until I was ready to get on the trail that I realized there was a big sign that said “NO BICYCLES”. I was upset and decided to cut my loses and head home.

h3. an eye for an eye, right?

On the way home I stopped by Erwin Park, which I had never been to before. It has some great bike trails and, on Jess’ next day off she and I are going to head up there after work.

I got out of my truck to walk around the park a bit when I saw a big, cute, puppy running in the field with a father and son. I think the puppy saw me too, because he started running toward me, much to the anger of the father. As the dog was about half way to me he started howling like mad, still running toward me. The father and son started running to him, still howling, as he continued to run toward me. I thought he had been bitten by a snake until suddenly the dog stopped running and, shortly there after, stopped howling. It’s owner, it turns out, had a remote controlled shock collar and was punishing the dog ofr not obeying his order to “stay”. Asshole. Several cyclists came over to see the commotion, like me, thinking the dog has been bitten. I wanted so badly to strap the collar around his neck and press the button. Hey, if it’s not cruel for the dog then surely you can take the pain too, right mister?

After a short walk I headed home.

h3. Ralphie May I?

Jess got home from work about 30 minutes after I got there and we both started getting ready to head to the Improv in Addison to see Ralpie May with a few friends (“Justin”:http://gentlenews.com/, “Bonnie”:http://empurple.com/, and “Rob and Vicki”:http://revjim.net/2006/06/22/rob-and-vicki-new-love/). He was pretty funny, as “Bonnie will tell you”:http://www.empurple.com/2006/06/25/finger-banging/, and all in all a great time was had.

h3. step 3: PROFIT!

On the way home from the show while talking to Jess about my hopes for the future and my desires for the future of my art, I had a stroke of genius in regard to what I needed to do to free myself up to experiment more. Of course, I had been talking so much that when I finally finished and asked Jess what she thought, I realized she was sound asleep. I think I talk too much.

We got home around 11pm and were in bed soon there after.

h3. my brother calls

While we were getting ready, my brother called me. He made no mention of the email “I sent him and his wife”:http://revjim.net/2006/06/23/ytt-welcome-to-the-grasslands/ a few days prior but, instead, was just calling to say “hi” and to ask when my mom’s birthday was because he wasn’t sure if he had missed it. It was good to hear from him. I don’t mind at all that he didn’t mention the email. In fact, I said as much in the email itself when I said that I either wanted them to speak up and tell me what I had done wrong, or just forget the whole thing and stop the silent treatment. Hopefully, I’ll hear from them again. I invited both of them to the birthday party Jess is throwing for me, but I’m pretty sure he won’t be able to make it due to work.

h3. Carrollton’s Finest

This morning on my way to work I had just gotten off the freeway and was on the service road when a man in black clothing walked into the middle of the street and held his hand out for me to stop. It was one of Carollton’s finest and I was being pulled over on foot. How humiliating.

I got a ticket for 60 in a 40. I had just gotten off the freeway. I wasn’t hurting anyone, going excessively fast, or even anywhere near any other cars. Speed limits are stupid, and so is the $200 I have to blow on this ticket. There goes any chance of getting that lens I want (“Sigma 70-200 f/2.8″:http://www.adorama.com/SG70200DGNKA.html?kbid=62466) any time soon.

My radar detector just broke a week or so ago too. Damn it.

h3. beyond

I’ve got a photo session tonight with a girl that’s not only hot, but a lot of fun to work with. She’s expressed some interest in an idea that I’ve had for quite a while now, so, hopefully, if all goes well, I’ll see the fruits of that thought this evening. Tomorrow I’ll be working from home and, as always, doing “the show”:http://gentlenews.com/theshow/ in the evening.

ytt: welcome to the grasslands

Jun 23rd, 2006
by Jim Reverend.
No comments yet

These days I’m a giant ball of frustration when presented with any menial task that wouldn’t even exist if it wasn’t for someone elses stupidity. I spent 2 hours Wednesday night and 3 more hours last night presented with this exact scenario.

I’m wrestling with a new online system that I intend to use to showcase my photography and to sell prints. In true “MySpace”:http://myspace.com/ fashion, this particular product offers all of the features any professional or ambitious amateur photographer could ever dream of. However, it offers them in the most confusing, cumbersome, incomplete, difficult to use fashion imaginable. Various inconveniences and a dead-end user interface has led to a waste of 5 hours of time with no tangible result for my effort. And that sums up how I spent yesterday evening.

This morning’s meeting went well for which I’m grateful. The rest of the day has been a mixture of boredom, busy work, and restlessness that I could surely do without. Lately, my desire to capture the world with my camera has made every second spent in front of a computer monitor or in traffic a restless, foot-bouncing, clock-watching extravaganza of unbearableness. I look at the clock – 2:23pm – and think, “Wasn’t it 2:22pm, like, an hour ago?”.

My mind is starting to run wild with ideas for some more journalistic photography projects. Unfortunately, I have very little experience in that realm, so, it’s time I get some. I’ll be making a more official request with all the details ironed out in a few days. Until then, if you have a friend, family member, or co-worker with an unusual life, job, talent, passion, skill, or story to tell I’d like to hear about it. Email and let me know. If it interests me, I’d like to photograph this person doing whatever it is that they do. In exchange I’ll offer two 8×10″ prints for each of you.

My sister-in-law (and therefore my brother and nephew by proxy) have been giving Jess and I the silent treatment for a few months now. Earlier today I sent an email to her telling her that I was fed up with it and that she either needed to confront me and tell me how I had wronged her or, or drop it and get over it.


Family

I’m pretty sure she’s upset because I refuse to disassociate myself with a good friend of mine who happens to be my brother’s ex-girlfriend. I’ve known this friend since before she dated my brother. They dated for over 5 years, and they’ve been broken up for at least 3 now and I’ve maintained a friendship with her this entire time. I’m not going to end that relationship because my sister-in-law has jealousy issues. That’s her problem. I doubt any good will come from the email, but, I had to make one last attempt before filing her (and my brother and nephew by proxy) away as one of those family members you only see once or twice a year. I really enjoy hanging out with my brother, I love my nephew, and I was really starting to enjoy my sister-in-law’s company too. I hope she decides to talk it out or just let it go.

Tonight we were supposed to head to cow-town for dinner, drinks and fun with a friend of ours. She cancelled last night. For those of you keeping track, that’s three cancellations in as many days. Of course in each case there has been a perfectly good reason for cancelling, but, it’s still annoying and I’m starting to feel a bit avoided. It may be a blessing in disguise. This will give me some time to play with my new camera and lens bags (which should be on my door step today), bash my head into the desk some more over this new photography software, edit some photographs, spend time with my wife, and get ready for a very early morning tomorrow.


Texas Horned Lizard
by “Ross Tsai”:http://flickr.com/photos/rosstsai/

Tomorrow my Dad and I plan to meet somewhere near Decatur around 5am and then head into the “LBJ National Grasslands”:http://www.southernregion.fs.fed.us/texas/recreation/caddo_lbj/caddo-lbj_gen_info.shtml. This place is beautiful. On the surface it appears quite common, especially if you’re used to to the landscape of North Texas. However, after you start to look closer you realize it’s much much different indeed. First of all, these gentle hills, small creeks, trees, rocks, dirt, and lakes are more uninterrupted than you would find in most of North Texas. The surrounding land that isn’t part of the grasslands is mostly owned by energy companies and quite accessible as well. This means that this may be one of the few places to catch a glimpse of North Texas landscape that is not speckled with man-made structures. Further more, this makes it all the more inviting to the nature and wildlife that used to fill these parts of the world. It should be spectacular.

Again I find myself yearning for that “Sigma 70-200 f/2.8″:http://www.adorama.com/SG70200DGNKA.html?kbid=62466 which would make photographing wildlife so much easier. If I had my new gallery up and running, I’d give referral codes to all of you and offer you handsome rewards for leading your friends and family to purchase my work. However, since I don’t have these things yet, all I can do is ask really nicely. Please. Pretty please. One thing you can do is to “pick out one of your favorites”:http://flickr.com/search/?q=forsale&w=37996577120%40N01&m=tags&s=int&z=t, then display it in your journal, link to it, and mention that it’s for sale. You *can* do this by hand, of course. However, if you have a Flickr account (“sign up for Flickr”:http://www.flickr.com/signup/, it’s free!), take a few seconds to “configure your blog”:http://flickr.com/blogs.gne and you’ll be able to post any Flickr image to your blog with the “Blog This” button that will then appear above my Flickr photos. Easy, huh? It’d mean a lot to me.

ytt: broken mirror

Jun 22nd, 2006
by Jim Reverend.
4 comments

I’m going to try a different format this time, you tell me if you like this better.

Did you know that about 90% of the people that sell car parts online are actually the same people? Try it… pick a random part on a car, search for it, visit the top 5 sites that offer to sell it and call all 5 of them. Same place? I bet it is.

Monday was mostly uneventful. Well, except for that part where I tore my passenger side mirror off backing into my driveway and then Jess and I spent nearly two hours on the phone and online trying to get someone that wasn’t a moron to sell us a replacement part. It’ll be here tomorrow. We decided to duct tape it in place until the replacement came and to let Jess take my truck to work until it was fixed since her drive is shorter.

We had the best damn “show”:http://gentlenews.com/theshow/ we’ve had in a long time Tuesday night including one of the coolest songs we’ve ever sung. I’d link to it but “Justin”:http://gentlenews.com/ is a big, fat, lazy slob who hasn’t got around to putting it online yet. I know! All of you go to “this post”:http://gentlenews.com/archives/2006/06/20/have-these/ of his and tell him to post the archive. Comment anonymously and don’t tell him who sent you. If it’s not up in two days, I’ll give out his phone number.

Bonnie - 154
Bonnie

If it wasn’t for Justin’s “hot”:http://flickr.com/photos/revjim/171217921/ “ass”:http://flickr.com/photos/revjim/171218055/ “wife”:http://flickr.com/photos/revjim/171218109/, “Bonnie”:http://empurple.com/ I don’t think I’d even bother to speak to him any more. Speaking of his hot wife, she’s stopping by my place this Monday for a photo session. She *says* she’s not taking any clothes off but we’ll see about that.

Wednesday night was supposed to be a photo shoot with a “beautiful woman”:http://flickr.com/photos/revjim/127118736/ and a fantastic friend but shit happened and she couldn’t make it. Jess and I had a nice big plate of Bruschetta and home made “Perogies”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perogies instead. After that I settled in to my office chair to edit photographs but, instead, ended up spending all night working online with a new business partner. Hopefully, in a few days you’ll see the fruits of my labor.

Today has been a nice busy work day. Being busy is good. Being busy with boring work is… well… worse than just being bored. Today was a mix of both.

go Jess go
GO JESS GO!

After work today we were supposed to meet a few friends for dinner. Since the duct tape we put on the truck on Monday didn’t even make it through Jess’ one mile commute to work, and, because we were meeting people after work for dinner and one of us would have to drive a considerable distance in it, we decided we should remove the mirror until a replacement could be installed. Jess boldly accepted the challenge, donned her grease monkey girf hat, and “went kamikaze”:http://sivatonight.livejournal.com/386363.html on it this morning. I must say I’m impressed.

Of course her hard work was all in vain since our friends cancelled for the evening a few moments after Jess told me she got it done. While I fully understand their reasoning for cancelling, I intend to take it out on her with lots of boob starring, a few accidental “oops, did I bump into you there”s, and, possibly, and all out boob grab. I think an IOU for a very sexy photo session is also in order, don’t you think?

Tomorrow is Friday. I’ve got a big meeting with a bunch of bigwigs that I’m a little nervous about, but, otherwise, the work day should prove to be uneventful. After work, Jess and I are meeting a friend for dinner, drinks, and general debauchery in cow-town. If you don’t have any plans, lemme know and I might let you tag along.

Bonnie - 154
Smallest GeoCache Ever?

Saturday Jess is abandoning me for work followed by further abandonment to baby sit for a friend. Sunday afternoon Jess will be abandoning me yet again for work and then Sunday evening we’ll be going out to a Comedy club with some friends as a birthday celebration. So, this means I’ll be spending all of Saturday and most of Sunday all alone.

That’s where you come in. I’m thinking photography, nudity, booze, sex, general debauchery, and illegal activities are in order. Maybe I should rent a canoe and head out on the river again or do some geocaching or pay a visit to some more abandoned buildings or have a phree pantless photosession day. What are YOU doing? Maybe we can do it together. Get it? Do it? Together? Bwhahahaa.


ytt: Elvis is alive in Decatur

Jun 19th, 2006
by Jim Reverend.
No comments yet

*Friday*

Friday’s lunch date was lots of fun as was her low cut shirt (mental note: more lunch dates). That night we had dinner with friends at a great Mexican place in Bartonville then went back to their place, played poker until 1:30am, and ended up losing about $0.50 total. Not too bad.

*Saturday*

Jess and I drove out to the LBJ National Grasslands. On the way there we stopped at a WalMart in Decatur where, believe it or not, Elvis was singing. I overheard the following conversation between a mother and her young son:

*Boy*: Mama, Elvis is dead right?
*Mom*: No, sweetie, he’s alive and he’s right here in Decatur.
*Boy*: No, mom, you told me Elvis was dead.
*Mom*: He’s alive, honey. Why would mama buy an Elvis potholder if Elvis was dead.

The grasslands were very cool. The ranger’s office was closed so we couldn’t buy a map, and, as best as I can tell, there are no maps available online. So, we drove around the maze of Forestry Service Roads trying to figure out where we were going. During our drive we saw a beautiful white-tailed doe, a very large roadrunner, and many head of cattle and we didn’t even venture too far from the service roads. I can’t wait to go back much earlier in the morning armed with a map. There are two small lakes in the grasslands and I believe they are connected by a small river. I need to check it out but, if possible, I’d like to canoe or kayak there this weekend or next. If not there, somewhere else. Who’s interested and for which weekend?

Later that night 5 friends met up at our place for swimming, steak dinner, drinks, and games. With three of the girls in bikini tops and one in a nice low-cut shirt the evening was great fun. One of the girls offered to pose for me (email me, okay?), so I’m excited about that. Eventually, people started heading out and Jess and I, exhausted, went to bed as soon as the last guest left around midnight.

I spent $200 on a new set of camera and lens bags. I’m a bit of a bag junkie but I really think this might end up being the solution I’ve been waiting for all this time. It’s so modular that, if it fails it’s hard to believe that there is anything that would make me happy.

*Yesterday*

I got up and edited some photographs. Then Jess and I did some yard work. My parents showed up just as we were finishing up followed by my sister and her fiancee. We grilled some pork chops for father’s day then played cards while my dad and I drank Manhattans. A great way to spend a Sunday if you ask me.

After they left, I edited more photographs while Jess picked up a bit. I talked to “Kim”:http://train256.livejournal.com/ for a bit about buying car. Then we watched some TV, organized our finances a bit, and finally went to bed around 11pm.

Jess and I opened a new savings account that we’ll be trying out over the next few months. The returns are fantastic compared to what we get from WAMU and if it’s as easy to get to our money as they say it will be, this might be a very wonderful thing. I like free money.

*Today*

I woke up around 6am. Work has been pretty uneventful so far. Around 4pm I’ll head home. We have dinner, clean up a bit, and then work on the book and edit some more pictures this evening. Perhaps we’ll hit the Gym, go for a swim, or head out for some night photography. Anyone interested?

*Tomorrow*

Work. “The Show”:http://gentlenews.com/theshow/. Would you like to be a guest (either in studio, or from home)?

*Beyond*

I have a very hot photo session this Wednesday.

My “new pricing”:http://revjim.net/2006/06/16/thought-results-in-change/ seems to be well received so far. While I am making *a lot less* profit per print, the number of sales and inquiries I’ve gotten has gone up. Just based on these first few days, I’ll almost break even in terms of profit, but I’ll me getting more of my art to the people that enjoy it, and that’s worth something.

I generally run 2 to 4 weeks between order placements in order to save time and effort on trips to the post office, deal with packaging and labelling all at once, and get a bulk discount at the print lab). So, I’ll be putting in an order on Wednesday. “Place an order”:http://flickr.com/search/?q=forsale&w=37996577120%40N01&m=tags&s=int&z=t today or tomorrow and I’ll be sure to get your order in then too.

Thursday evening will be spent matting, framing, signing, and packing prints so that I can ship them on Friday.

I’m still editing photographs from our trip to the East Texas Bayou. I’ve got a “few done so far”:http://flickr.com/photos/revjim/tags/200605easttexas/ and there are more coming around the corner. If you subscribe to “Five-A-Week”:http://revjim.net/five-a-week/ let me know if you see one you really like. I’m still trying to decide which one to send out to all of you.

A friend is having a BBQ this Sunday. We’d like to go but I’m not sure if we can since Jess has a work thing this Sunday afternoon. We’ll see what we can work out.

We’ve got a birthday party to attend to at the beginning of July. Kim will be visiting at the beginning of July as well. We’ve made our July 4th plans as well: camping and fireworks in Granbury

ytt: covered in mud

Jun 16th, 2006
by Jim Reverend.
2 comments

*Tuesday*

We had a fun “show”:http://gentlenews.com/theshow/ and used some fun new software that makes having guests even easier. If you have a microphone and earphones at home, a decent Internet connection, and would like to be a guest on the show, please let me know. Of course, you can always come into the studio as well.

*Wednesday*

I had a hot photo session. Very hot. I think I took one of my most favorite images ever. I’m really starting to get into the groove of working with people. Who’s next?

*Yesterday*

I took the day off work and went canoeing with my dad. The short version is, I got up very early, had a great time, and left very tired.

After finally getting to my dad’s house and scraping as much mud off of me as possible, my dad and I went out for lunch. Then I headed home, took a shower, and slept for 30 minutes. Then Jess got home from work and we got ready to meet some friends for dinner at Gloria’s in Addison. After dinner, we had ice cream, then came home and promptly crawled in bed. Asleep by 9:30pm? You betcha!

I also learned that I misplaced my credit card, it was then stolen, and used several times in Richardson and Dallas. So we called the bank to cancel the card, get the money refunded, and have a new card issued. Bastards. I kinda want to pull a Monica (from friends) and find this person some how. Grrr.

*Today*

I’m meeting a friend for lunch today in Dallas at 12pm. Then tonight, Jess and I are going to some friends’ house to have dinner, drink a lot, and play poker. “D-Bone”:http://revjim.net/2006/05/30/d-bone/ is coming out to play. Wooo! Good times.

*Tomorrow*

Unless my dad calls me today to tell me that we’re leaving VERY early in the morning to head for the mountains and not coming back until Sunday, I’ll be out near Lake Texoma tomorrow morning photographing. Tomorrow evening we’ve got swimming and dinner plans with some friends. You can come too, if you want.

*Beyond*

Father’s Day photography with Dad, Mom and Jess. Photo session on Wednesday. Looking for something to do on Saturday while Jess is baby sitting. My birthday’s coming up. Wooo!

ytt: so it wasn’t just a cat hair

Jun 13th, 2006
by Jim Reverend.
No comments yet

Since there were a few of you who were confused as to what a “YTT” was, let me explain. YTT stands for “yesterday, today, and tomorrow”. I introduced “YTTs and what they are”:http://revjim.net/2006/05/30/yesterday-today-and-tomorrow-a-new-exercise/ about two weeks ago and have been trying to “keep up with them”:http://revjim.net/category/ytt/ since then.

h2. Last Friday

See, when I don’t do this every day, I miss important stuff. Last Friday I stayed home from work and went to see the doctor. The “cat hair in my eye”:http://revjim.net/2006/06/08/ytt-just-a-puddle-of-sweat/ the day before was still there when I woke up and my eye was swollen bad. It turns out the cat hair caused an infection which led to allergic conjunctivitis. Fun! I’ve been putting two burning drops of death into each eye every two hours since then. It’s a bit annoying but my eye looks a lot better now.

h2. Yesterday

I ended up staying at work until 6pm and didn’t get home until 7. Jess had a nice dinner ready for us after which we relaxed for about 30 minutes and then hit the Gym for 30 minutes. When we got home, I went up stairs to handle some business stuff while Jess ironed the curtains she’d washed earlier that day. Then she came upstairs and fixed grammatical errors in the book while I edited some images from a recent maternity shoot I did.

h2. Today

Yesterday I mentioned I’d be working at home today. Well, I’m not. I have to host two meetings and teach an online training class today and doing that from home isn’t a good idea for two reasons: a) If I need something *right now* it’s hard to get a hold of anyone, and b) my home office phone doesn’t have a mute button. So, I’m at work today.

After work I’ll be heading home to, you guessed it, edit more photographs.

Tonight is “the show”:http://gentlenews.com/theshow/. We think we’ve gotten the server issues worked out. However, we’re going to try something different tonight anyway. We’re going to broadcast from two studios at once. Jess and me in mine, and Farris and Bonnie in his. If the server holds up, it’ll be live. If it dies, we’ll keep recording and then upload the recorded version when the show is over. We’re going to anticipate not being able to be live and therefore, not leave any room in the show’s schedule for calls, emails, IMs, etc. This doesn’t mean you can’t call in if we end up being able to broadcast… so have no fear. We’ve always got a place for you, our dear listeners.

h2. Tomorrow

Work. I’m hosting another meeting. I may work from home since it’s only one small meeting and that should be simple enough to take care of from there.

At 7pm I have a photo session with a very attractive friend. We’ve got some project work we hope to get through as well as general fooling around. It should be fun.

h2. Beyond

Thursday night we’re having dinner with some friends. Friday night we’re having dinner and playing cards with some other friends. Saturday is still up in the air. Sunday is Father’s day and, whatever I do, it’ll be with my Dad. Next Wednesday I have another photo session planned with one of my favorite models.

ytt: vultures!

Jun 12th, 2006
by Jim Reverend.
2 comments

If I’m going to do these YTTs I really need to keep up with them. I’m trying to make time for them but, without fitting it into my routine it may continue to get neglected. Then again, I wonder if anyone else is reading them if it’s just for my own sake that I write them. So, I ask you, should I continue doing these?

[poll=3]

If I do continue, should I just keep doing it whenever I can, or should I try to set up a schedule for it?

[poll=4]

Now, on the fun.

h2. Thursday

My photo session went very well. It was my first photo session with this girl, so, we spent most of the time getting used to one another. I think we got some great images but a second session is definitely in order. The second session is almost always better.

With this model, I decided to try a particular shot that I’ve been working towards for quite some time now but have never managed to get to it look just right. I want to take this concept one step further and really make it something incredible but it is difficult, time intensive, and a bit expensive to produce. So, I’ve been trying to find a model that I work well with to get a decent example of the shot in the studio. Once I find her, then we’ll move it up to the next level. I haven’t had a chance to look over the results just yet, but I’ll let you know when I do.

h2. Friday

We went out for a birthday dinner with some friends and then out for coffee. Good times all around.

h2. Saturday

Tried to go hiking near Oklahoma that morning. By the time I managed to find the trail and get ready to go, it was so hot I didn’t want to get out and walk alone, so I drove around a lot more, photographed a bit down near the lake and then headed home.

Later that day Jess and I worked on the book. It is now within 1 hour of completion. I hope I’ll have time tonight to put on the finishing touches and send it to the printers to get a proof. If no corrections are needed to the proof, I’ll place the order for the real thing.

Saturday night we had drinks, ate Chinese food, and played Taboo with a couple of friends.

h2. Sunday (Yesterday)

Jess and I decided head out to Cedar Hill State Park for some hiking. It was HOT! Too hot. I got within 15 feet of two very large vultures though, which was very impressive and a tiny bit scary. I saw tiny bird tracks in the sand under the shelter we were in, so I’m think we may have come a bit close to their nest.

Afterwards we went to my parents house to visit with them. The four of us went out for sushi then came back to visit with my nieces. Jess and I left around 8:30, stopped by “Sprouts”:http://www.sprouts.com/ on the way home and then watched a little TV before heading off to bed around 11pm.

h2. Monday (Today)

Work. Work. Work. Dinner. Bike Ride. Book editing. Photo editing.

h2. Tuesday (Tomorrow)

Work from home. I’m not sure what we’re doing for “the show”:http://gentlenews.com/theshow/. Live? Record it on Tuesday and then just post it? Not do it at all? I’m not sure. I need to talk to Justin still.

h2. Beyond

Possible photo adventure for father’s day, possible dinner and cards with some friends one night, possible dinner with some other friends another night, photo session anyone?

ytt: just a puddle of sweat

Jun 8th, 2006
by Jim Reverend.
No comments yet

h2. Yesterday

I spoke with my boss about a promotion yesterday. I feel really good about doing that and I feel like he and are on the same page when it comes to my career with this company. He said that he felt I was doing what I needed to be doing to advance myself, and that once our layoffs were complete he would be looking for promotions within his team for me. I have a lot of trouble asking for things that I want and deserve, so I’m very happy that I was able to ask, and that it went better than I expected.

I got home from work a few minutes before Jess did. It’s so nice to see more of her in the evenings thanks to her new job. We made dinner, ate dinner, and cleaned up a bit all before 6:30. Then we headed the the gym where I proceeded to burn off 300 calories while trying to figure out how to get the damn machine to stop working my calf muscles like it said it wouldn’t because they hurt so damn bad. My calf muscles hurt like hell today.

After the gym, we went swimming. I’m getting much better at controlling myself underwater. I used to be a great swimmer and I’m glad to be swimming on a semi-regular basis again. After swimming we went home, I edited a few photographs, took care of some business issues, watched a tiny bit of TV with Jess and then headed to bed.

h2. Today (so far)

I got up 30 minutes earlier than I needed to so, after showering, I spent that time preparing a few more photographs for uploading. Then I took out the trash, watered the front flower beds, made coffee, kissed my wife goodbye, jumped in the truck, turned on NPR, and headed to work.

By the time I got to work I realized I have a piece of cat hair in my right eye that does not seem to want to come out. So my eye burns and is bright red. If you’re into that doped up look, I’m one hot looking guy today.

I was contacted by a subject wanting to schedule an art session in August. I haven’t been actively pursuing paid portrait work lately because I’ve had so much other stuff going on, so it was nice to be reminded that my work is appreciated and that people are willing to share in my costs in order to be a part of it.

h2. Today (the rest)

I intend to go home after work, have dinner, edit a few photographs and then prepare for this evening’s photo session.

After the session, we’ll hang out for a bit and enjoy the company of our friends. Then, it’ll be time for bed.

h2. Tomorrow

Tomorrow will be more work. Followed by a fun night out for Dinner with friends. By the way, I’ve been given the go ahead to invite a few other like-minded people to our dinner plans Friday evening. It is at a restaurant in Plano/Richardson around 7:30pm. Who knows what will follow that. If you’re interested, send me an email and I’ll give you details.

h2. This Weekend

Saturday morning will most likely be filled with mowing, weeding, and edging. Depending on how late the night before is, I may go out for an early morning hike before it gets too hot (wanna come along?). Saturday afternoon might call for a swim or perhaps a trip to “Sprouts”:http://sprouts.com/.

Saturday evening we have plans with some friends for Dinner and Drinks. The last time we spoke about it was 3 days ago and, at that time, we were still uncertain in regard to what we were doing and who we were doing it with. One of the two friends left on an emergency business trip to Houston this week. He said that it shouldn’t interfere with our plans. I sent an email to them this morning and I hope to hear from them soon.

Sunday is 100% entirely, absolutely, fully, officially, free and unplanned. So… what do you want to do?

ytt: Canadian magnets

Jun 7th, 2006
by Jim Reverend.
2 comments

h2. Sunday

Things changed around a bit on our way to the botanical gardens. The person we were meeting there had a rough night and wasn’t quite ready to head out into sunlight. So, we made a detour and went to my parents house instead. We talked with my brother and his family for a bit before dragging my mom and dad with us to the gardens. It was HOT. Waaaay HOT. But, I got some beautiful photographs (and Jess did too!).

After the gardens we went out for Mexican Food. My dad always picks up the check when we go out and I almost (ALMOST!) managed to steal that from him this time. Our waiter, for once, listened to me and handed me the check. I got my credit card out and handed it to Jess to hold on to until he came back since she was on the correct side of the table. What does Jess do? Takes it from me and sets it next to her on the table which my dad promptly sweeps up and replaces with his own card. Thanks, Jess.

After lunch and a stop for frozen custard (did I mention it was hot out?) we went back to their place for a bit before heading out for the “DFW Area Meetup (DAM)”:http://flickr.com/groups/dallasareameetup/ #4: Sundown in Sundance. At first I was a bit worried that it would super geeky and very unproductive. Was I ever wrong! Not only did I get lots of fantastic photographs (and Jess too!), but I met more interesting people than I can count. The average age, I’d guess, was about 30, maybe 35. The men outnumbered the women, but it was a decent mix. Most people were eager to talk about artistic vision, equipment, technique, and many other un-art/photography related topics.

Canadians must be built out of magnets because at the restaurant beforehand, somehow, the other Canadian in the group managed to sit at the same table (with 6 to a table) directly across from Jess. Go Figure. She’s from Edmonton and very nice. I met lots of other people but I spent a lot of time talking to a storm chaser/HAM operator and his professional clown wife. I also met a guy in advertising for the Dallas Morning News (who happens to work with “Laura”:http://stick_figure.livejournal.com/’s husband “Joe”:http://nightanddayfilms.com/), a telecom start-up employee, and a guy who owned the exact lens I’ve been looking at purchasing next. Thanks to talking to him, I’ll be holding out for $200 more and getting a different lens.

All in all, we had a great time. I can’t wait for the next one. Those of you who enjoy photography and live in the DFW Area should strongly consider joining both “Flickr”:http://flickr.com/ and the “DAM”:http://flickr.com/groups/dallasareameetup/.

h2. Monday

Work, work, and more work. In fact, I ended up staying at work until after 7pm, as there was just too much going on. Jess, after working a full day herself, surprised me by having dinner ready and lots of housework done when I got home. I have the best wife ever.

h2. Tuesday

Another busy work day. I worked from home from about 6:30am until 5:30pm without a lunch break. Afterwards we headed to Justin’s place. We ordered pizza and then began preparing for “the show”:http://gentlenews.com/theshow/ that night. When the pizza arrived it was delivered by Yefri, a Russian immigrant Pizza Delivery man who really appreciated and respected the delivery instructions we left with our order: Please don’t eat it. We’re hungry. He had many stories to offer about pizzas that arrived half eaten.

The show had technical difficulties galore. Our Live Broadcast just can’t keep up with the number of weekly listeners we have. So, until we can secure a server that can deliver the content Live without dropping listeners and frustrating everyone, we’ll be pre-recording the show and publishing it at 8:31pm on Tuesday nights in place of our Live show. Of course, if you’ve got a server with lots of bandwidth and CPU cycles to spare or money you’d like to donate, we’d be happy to take it.

h2. Wednesday (Today)

Work, work, work, work, and work. I also did something today I’ve never done before in my whole life: I asked my boss for a promotion. He said that he is already looking at me to be upgraded in rank and pay since I’ve already taken the work load of three employees who left our group while taking on new work and maintaining my prior responsibilities. It felt good to ask for what I want and know that I deserve to get it and see that same understanding in him.

Tonight I intend to edit pictures. Lots of them. No more fussing with software. No more complaining about image management. No more looking for excuses. I’m just going to edit pictures. I’ll be working on a nice mixture of past art sessions, current landscape work, and skins images.

h2. Thursday (Tomorrow)

Work, work, work, and more work. That part’s not so fun. But, Thursday evening I have a cute girl coming over to my house to take off all of her clothes and pose in front of my camera. Afterwards, she and her husband (whom Jess and I get along very well with) will hang around for a bit of conversation (and, hopefully, she wont bother to put her clothes back on for this part). This part is much more fun than the first part.

h2. Beyond

Friday night we have birthday dinner plans with some friends. Saturday afternoon/evening we have some plans to have dinner and drinks with some friends. These plans are still very unclear. I’m not sure what time we’re meeting, what we’re doing, if we’re inviting people, or if we’re keeping it small. Hopefully I’ll know something more tomorrow. Otherwise, it’ll end up being just the four of us by default, which would be fine as well. Sunday is free as of right now. I’m not sure if I want to stay home and work on the book, go out for landscape photography, photograph a model in my studio, or some combination of the above. If you’re interested in one of those things, let me know, and I’ll determine what I’m going to do based on what people are interested in doing with me.

YTT: 2006-06-04

Jun 4th, 2006
by Jim Reverend.
2 comments

Excuse my absence for I have lived. It has been 4 days since my last confession.

h2. Last Wednesday

The rest of Last Wednesday went mostly as planned. I found out that Jess got the new job she interviewed for so I started planning a surprise party for Friday night. Work lasted much later than it should have. When it was over I got to work edited photographs and managed to finish several from our trip to the Bayou. Jess and I had the Chili she prepared that morning for dinner, cleaned the house a bit, watched some TV and then hit the gym. We never managed to get to the weeds. However, I had a good sweaty time on the treadmill while watching Deal or No Deal. We skipped the hot tub, came home, watched some TV and went to bed.

h2. Thursday

I went to work. I’m having a particularly stressful time at work these days and this day was no exception. I got off as early as I could and stopped by Costco to pick up party supplies. After getting home I edited a few pictures, then started making dinner. When Jess got home we ate dinner and then cleaned house. At 8:30pm I started setting up lights for my 9:00pm photo session. They arrived at 9:30pm and we got started. It was a fun session and we finished just before 10:30, talked for a bit and then they went home and Jess and I went to bed.

h2. Friday

Work was even more stressful than usual. I was putting the finishing touches on the party, had too many meetings and deadlines that day, and was dealing with ALL of the rest of my team being either travelling or on vacation. Even my boss was working from home that day. I spent my lunch break going to 5 different places looking for Sushi dishes. No one had what I wanted. I left work way too late. I stopped at one last place on the way home and found just what I was looking for. Then I stopped at the grocery store to get last minute supplies for the party. Jess got off early on her last day of work, so she actually beat me home, which was not good. I convinced her that the food I had bought was simply because I was really hungry when I went to the grocery store and that I should stop shopping on an empty stomach.

We cleaned up for a bit and then left at 7pm for our fake reservation at a Sushi place. My sister and my parents opened our house and let people in and set up the party while we drove for a bit and then I pretended I forgot my camera bag and just HAD to have it and turned around to get it. We got to out house again around 7:40pm. Jess was SURPRISED to see everyone there.

Everything went better than I expected. There were quite a few people that couldn’t make it on such short notice, and, of course I entirely understand those that have other plans. But I really appreciate those that recognized how important it was to me and how special it would be for Jess for them to be at the party and went out of their way to show up, even on such short notice. An extra special thanks goes to Emily, who had people in town and early morning plans the next day and still managed to make it for a few hours, and Daisy and Tim, who had to pay a baby sitter last minute just to come. Each and every one of you that came really mean a lot to me and really helped me to see what friends will do for you when you need them.

A few people left through out the night, with the party officially ending around 1am. Jess and I cleaned up a bit and went to bed.

h2. Yesterday (Saturday)

We slept in late (8am, WOO HOO). Then we cleaned up from the party and bummed around the house quite a bit. After enough relaxing, we got dressed and headed out to the Johnson Branch of Ray Roberts State Park for a nice hike. It was hot. REALLY hot. 2.5 miles was about all we could do before we found ourselves heading home. When we got home I helped the lady next door fix her outdoor faucet. Then we pulled some weeds (still about one more days worth of pulling to go) and mowed the lawn. After that, we had dinner and watched TV. Then, we headed out to the pool for a nice night swim. After we got home I edited some more photographs, and then we went to sleep.

I worked out a new way to carry my camera and lenses while using them that I think I really like. I have to buy a few more parts to make it even more accomdating, but, I’m much happier with this setup than I’ve been with anything before, even if I do look a bit silly.

h2. Today (Sunday)

I got up around 6am and made coffee. As I write this (7:06am) Jess is still in bed but she’ll be getting up soon. We’re heading out to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens to meet a friend and her daughters at 9am. When we finish there we’re going to go visit my parents for a few hours. Then we’re meeting up with the DFW Flickr group at Sundance square at 5pm. After that, we’ll be heading home.

h2. Tomorrow (Monday)

Work. Weed pulling. Edging. House cleaning. Swimming. Sleep.

h2. Beyond

Want to do a photo session one evening this week? Email me! Friday night we have a birthday dinner to attend with a friend. Saturday we’re having a few people over for dinner and drinks. If you’re interested, speak up. We’re not sure how big of a deal we’re doing yet but let me know so I can let you know.

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