October 30, 2007

Here we go!

Pictures up the wazoo! I'll post a few more to the Flickr account.

Toy I made for Apollo, inspired by one I saw at Petsmart for $3.
This cost about 6 cents.


Gimme!


Mrrpmph!


Gimme!


Testing new lens without flash. Soft, and very yellow...
and he looks pretty fat.


Imitating The Flamboyance.


Wheee!


Here I come!



Ah, this is the life! Nothing like a good back scratch.

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Few more links...

For the photographers out there, I found a couple more photography-related blogs that I like; I'll add them to the blog links on the right.

http://chantalstone.wordpress.com/
Her photos are stunning. I'm going to have to spend some time figuring out how she got these shots. Photoshop or camera? Hmmm. And for some weird reason, I get kicks out of reading snippets of other people's lives.

http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/
While the web layout sucks, there are some good information and pictures here.

As for my pictures...I had planned on uploading the photos onto Flickr, but ran out of time this morning. I had a genius moment and decided to email it to myself and upload it at lunch. So, I stupidly zipped all of the photos from Saturday (including the party pictures) and tried emailing it to myself. I had to run to the metro and didn't see if it was successful. The file was about 9MB, and I think it didn't go through. Oops. I'll have it tonight though.

On a semi-related tangent, what do ya'all think of the new addition? The picture of Apollo (on the right) is a link, and will send you to my Flickr photos.

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October 29, 2007

Gorgeous Shiny Days

If it isn't evident already, yes, weather do affect my moods. It's been beautiful, and nice and crisp out. I took oodles of pictures of Apollo running around in my parents' backyard, to test the new lens. I need new filters though - it's a different mm size than the kit lens. No biggie - they're cheap. I've been browsing strobist's blog (link to right), and it's becoming very apparent how much more I have to learn about photography especially the lighting aspect.

I'll have Apollo's pictures loaded tonight or tomorrow. As mentioned before, I went to a friend's fifth annual halloween party. It wasn't a major affair like the past parties, probably because a higher number of people now have small children and couldn't drink as much or stay as late. I dressed up as a "photographer" -- lame, I know. But it turned out to be a good thing. I had people yelling, "Jen, take pictures of us!" or "Jenny, take picture of that (funny pairing of costume)!" all night. I think I took about 200 pictures, I'll hand them over to one of the PA girls to scrapbook (she likes scrapbooking). No pictures on the blog though - I won't load them unless I have explicit permission.

Anyway, these are very creative, smart, fun people to hang out with. KR and her fiance went as egg and bacon. Then someone showed up wearing a chicken costume. I snapped a picture of KR and the chicken guy. Which came first, chicken or egg?

MMH, the hostess was a '30s cigarrette girl (chick wearing cute outfit with a little platter of cigarettes and candies) and her hubby dressed up drag as a bimbo sport ref, fake boobs and all; KC and DC - Dr. Seuss' 1 and 2, a deviled egg (egg costume with devil props), zombie scarecrow, a leaf blower (a guy wearing leaves hanging from his baseball hat, he spent the evening blowing them out of his face), KSko and TSko as stone age couple, KW as pirate and her hubby a monk (I'm not sure if that was supposed to be a couple costume, somehow) and oh, yes...Because there was a major PSU/OSU game on that night, one guy showed up dressed like the OSU mascot, with a noose around his neck.

Bummer that PSU lost.

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October 25, 2007

Oh, and...

I keep dreaming that I find a petrified dragon. I don't remember all the details but I remember just knowing that the dragon was once alive, and could become alive again.

Weird. What does this mean?

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Dreary Gray Days

Apollo's feeling much better. Whatever affected him has worked its way through his system, and he's back to his old self. But his recovery coincided with a massive cool front that hit this area. We've had two solid days of rain, rain, and more rain. And we're forecasted to have one more day of rain. On one hand, I'm happy - this area desperately needed it. But on the other, I'm not a fan of winter rain. It's just so depressing. And I'm sure there won't be any leaves left on the trees in Shenandoah.

I keep promising myself that we'll go walking after despite the rain. Hey, Apollo's already stinky from being sick, so little rain won't hurt. Right? Good idea in theory, but in practice...not so much. I didn't feel like going out in pouring rain for long walks. Especially after the workdays I had this week (thanks, Ms. Coworker). If it's lighter tonight, I'll definitely go. Maybe. I should really. Apollo's getting a case of cabin fever. Last night, he spent 3 hours convincing me to play tug or throw toys. I didn't mind though.

This weekend's supposed to be nice and cool. I'll take a few pictures.

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October 21, 2007

An Entirely Gross Post

I promised I'd have photos from Shenandoah Park today. Unfortunately, there was an unfortunate series of events (Can you tell I watched the Snickett movie today?) and I had to cancel. Apollo picked up a doggy version of stomach virus, probably from the dog park yesterday (I curse whoever brought their sick dog to the park), and was unfortunately ill today.

Nothing says love more than when someone cleans up the puke without a wince and reassures a dog. Truthfully, it wasn't necessary, but I needed to reassure him, in a roundabout way to reassure myself.

"Don't worry, you'll be just fine."

I didn't know dogs could puke that much. Or that often. He got to the point where water was making him vomit. Sorry about graphic image there.

I did consider taking photos for proof. Yellow liquidy bile, yum.

But reconsidered. I don't want to scare what few readers I have off.

My apartment now smells like puke, bile and dog food (sorry again for graphic image).

Ok, I'm not really sorry. I have to find the humor somewhere.

But anyway, Apollo's feeling better, and is eating bland food and drinking water. I'm confident he'll make a full recovery. He's playing a little now.

That's how I spent my day. Taking care of my 90-pound almost-four-years-old puppy.

I'll take a day off sometimes soon, probably, and take the road trip to Shenandoah. Hopefully before the forest loses too many leaves. Within next two weeks.

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October 19, 2007

Weekend Plottings...

Tomorrow night, I have a Halloween party to attend, and I must find a "costume" for the affair. Problem? A. I hate shopping, and B. I hate the typical halloween costumes that most stores have. I'm not fat, nor am I a svelte model. I'm average. These costumes are made of a horrible material that clingsand exaggerages every bulge on everyone except a skinny hundred-pound woman. Not flattering.

SO! I think what I will do is find something fairly simplistic, such as a devil horns, and just wear regular street clothes with it. Lame, half-hearted attempt, yes, but at least I'll be more comfortable -- and look fairly good.

Sunday, I hope to get out to the Shenandoah park for the day. I want to go before winter hits. I haven't been out there since spring, I think.

Look here on Sunday night or Monday for new pictures!

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October 17, 2007

Yoohoo!

Leave a comment!

I was reading, in between working on projects, an article about how to improve a blog's number of readers. One tip they offered was to encourage a blog's reader to post comments. Even if it's just to say, "I liked this post," or "You just wasted five minutes of my life." For whatever reasons, the number of comments a blog receives is an indicator of its success - and the more successful it seems, the more readers flock to it.

So...Comment away! Click on the "comment" link to do so. Constructive feedbacks are always welcome. Suggestions on layout, articles, pictures and so on.

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October 15, 2007

Hamming it up

Apollo doesn't always like being photographed, but he didn't mind this time...


Yes, he's trying on my socks.
Happy boy!

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Weekend

My work passed out free tickets to the Washington International Horse Show, and I took 3, intending to go 3 nights. Unfortunately, I had a bad headache for a couple days and couldn't stand to do much beyond walk Apollo after work. I did make it to the show Saturday night, however.

There, I discovered that I really need to get better, faster lens. I spent the whole evening fiddling with the camera's settings, trying to get a clear shot. I did manage to get a few, almost decent pictures, but they're still not satisfactory.

Then, coming home from the show, I was getting in my car at the metro station when I noticed a few fire trucks racing in the direction of my apartment. Naturally, I thought nothing of it. When I arrived at my apartment, the first thing I noticed were the fire trucks. And all my neighbors standing outside.

I park the car in the lot, hop out, and find the nearest person that I recognized. "What happened?" "Fire," She shrugs.

"What!?"

I made my way through the crowd very quickly, and was about to try sneak past the cops and firemen to get Apollo when they gave the all-clear. If they hadn't...should I have gone in? I rationalized it this way: The apartment building looked intact -- no raging infernos. The firemen were not using their hoses on the building.

That begs the question: Would I have gone in, if there were noticable flames? Hmm...Probably, unless I knew positively that I couldn't make it up 7 floors. Fortunately, I didn't have to test that.

Anyway, here are the pictures from the horseshow!







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October 12, 2007

Stalled

This blog has temporarily stalled, partly due to long work hours and a writer's block. I need to think of more topics to write about. And take more pictures, which is proving difficult when it gets dark so early after work.

To tide you over, here are a few old pictures that I have on my flash drive..

Find the interloper!

Poor picture (I had just gotten the camera), but still cool.

A September storm over DC.

Somewhere over northern Florida (taken with a disposable camera on the plane)

Actually, this picture is fairly recent.
Apollo is lazy...or smart? He lays down when he's playing tug with me.

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October 8, 2007

The Dog and His Blue Ball

My weekend, again, didn't go quite as planned. However, I did manage to get myself down to the Arlington Cemetery, and took a few many pictures. Around 100. However, about 95% of them were bad. Very bad. I was upset. I'm not sure why...was it my lack of skills (I know I need practice). Or was it just the light? Or the lens? After looking at the images, I think it's a combination of needing more practice, and better lens. I'm still using the kit lens that came with the camera.


Here's one of the better ones.

So, to console myself, I decided to take a few many pictures of Apollo.

Wheeeee!

Ahh, one of the many pleasures in life.

My little thief. I'm so proud.


Mine.

Get your paws off my ball, damnit! WOOF WOOF

Popped the ball. Woe!

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October 4, 2007

Interesting!

http://campaignforrealbeauty.com/flat4.asp?id=6909

I'm very pleased that a company is, although it has ulterior motives ($$$), promoting normal body images as a positive feature, and essentially denouncing the industries that make their money off women who disappear when they turn sideways.

What's disconcerting, however, is that the image of the woman in the billboard was clearly photoshopped. It's something anyone with a decent program can do.

Is it right to alter someone's features to make them seem more attractive? Women do it daily. They apply makeup, cover-up gook to hide blemishes. Is it OK to take it a step further and change their physical attributes? We're in a gray area here. But I think I'll go on the record and say, no. Makeup and other similar products are merely cosmetic. Superficial changes. But the eyes size, jaw shape, length of earlobes, and so on, all are part of what makes us unique and shouldn't be altered.

Let's put it another way. Suppose you were a member of an Internet dating site, and a possible date sent you a photo of an attractive person and said, "This is me." Being, well, attracted, you agree to meet. Face to face, this said person is actually fatter/skinnier/taller/shorter/uglier/older/younger than s/he claimed to be. The person tricked you. This person lied to you. And along the same line of thinking, these industries that make a business out of altering people to make them look pretty lied to us. Should we trust them? How can we?

We're straying into a very gray, controversial area of morals and ethics now.

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October 3, 2007

Ha ha ha

One of the perks of dog ownership...torturing the dog!

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October 1, 2007

Why is it...

At an empty intersection, people will continue to stand at the corner while they wait for the crossing sign light to change?

People will gladly enter an expensive facility for free, but balk at shelling out two bucks for a map of the grounds? Don't throw a fit over two frigging bucks! If you want a map that bad, dig in the trash. The incident in question took place at the DC zoo. The aforementioned $2 goes toward a fund for care of the animals.

Sheesh. Stupid people.

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