Chirrrrrp

For a change of scenery, check out what I found in my house last night.

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Pick Your Poison

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Poll results

Phoenix Photography - 1
Carrigan Photography - 2
BRD Photography - 2
AKSC Photography - 2
Other: JAC-AKSC Photography - 1

As I said last week, this isn't the definite name of my future business. It's possible that I won't ever start a business. But I do need to protect my images. So after some thought, I decided to go with the fun-yet-not-wacky name. Introducing Big Red Dog Photography, aka BRD Photography.

Look in the lower-right corner for the watermark. For the time being, until I have the time/energy to try customize it, this'll be what it looks like. I know it's a little large, but I wanted to be sure it was visible in the thumbnail.

On a side note - I'm totally bummed the seahorse is blurry. The composition would've been beautiful.

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National Aquarium II

Few more pictures.

??
This fish looked plain and gray, but when I took a picture with my flash, his spots popped.

Loggerhead Sea Turtle
I don't know how old this guy is, but I did a brief read-up on them and judging by the size, this one is a young'un. Adult turtles can be as long as six feet - this one was about a foot.

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National Harbor

I initially planned to go to National Cathedral today, but because we had flat, gray clouds today, I didn't think I'd have good photos of the exterior. A friend convinced me to go check the National Aquarium, which just recently went under renovations. I was not impressed. But I've been spoiled by the Aquarium in Baltimore. The aquarium here was tiny - and in a basement under the Dept. of Commerce building. Yes, you read that right. The National Aquarium in a basement.

Crawdad?

Lion Fish

Anemone

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Annapolis

Playing with photoshop settings again.

"Dramatic"

This isn't horrible. If you click on the picture for the larger version, it's actually kinda striking. Especially when you view the doors itself. I could've framed this better - been more dead-center...Right now, because of the perspective, the picture seems a little askew. I think if I cropped it a little to each side, and brought the focus more on the doors, it might help improve this picture.

Vintage

I like this one. I get an old west or Victorian kinda feel from this picture. But the lights spoil it for me. Because the lighting and hues are different in this picture, I don't think cropping would help, in this case. Maybe adding some details to make this picture look even more distressed would be good. Hmm.

Lomo

I tried framing the window exactly center, but wasn't happy with the perspective because it was slightly overhead - as a result, it just didn't seem that interesting. In this particular case, it was more effective for me to move a couple feet to my left. I was really interested in the crackled paint and the worn shutters.

I forget which process I used for this one. Either Dramatic or Lomo.

Just love. The original picture wasn't bad, but the photoshop process really helped bring out all the details in this door and knob. The lumpy paint, the knob - and speaking of, doesn't this remind you of the doorknob in the Alice in Wonderland cartoon movie?

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Headed into DC today...

Variations of a picture from yesterday:

Vintage

Sepia

Fake Polaroid

Another vintage

Which do ya'all like?

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Annapolis was a bust...

It turns out there's a boat show starting tomorrow, and they closed the docks to public today. I wasn't familiar enough with the area to feel comfortable just driving around looking for another site. So Apollo and I wandered around for 2 hours waiting for the parking meter to lapse, and took a few pictures. We found the Navy Academy - turns out it was much closer than I thought - and got kicked off. No dog allowed. Booo.


Then I headed up to St. John's College to check out the Ptolemy Stone. The rent-a-cop there tried to kick us off (no pets allowed again), but after I explained I was only going to be on campus for 10 minutes, he just shrugged and waved us on. Not paid enough to waste energy kicking people off campus, apparently.

It took much wandering around - far more than the promised 10 minutes - before I finally found the stone.


Why was it so tough? There were no label, no signs saying, "Look, here's a piece of ancient history!" On a whim, before I left to hustle back to my now-rapidly-expiring parking meter, I asked a few students if they knew what this was. Responses ranged from dimwitted: "Ummm" to the brilliant: "Some kind of steering wheel?"
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Don't forget to vote or make a suggestion for a photo-related business name!

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Watermarking help

Some of you know I'm toying with the idea of starting a photography business in a year or so. In the meanwhile, I do need to start watermarking the pictures I put online to protect my property. Readers, if you would, vote for your favorite business name to use in watermarks. It might not necessarily be the one I use when I officially open doors, but it's something I'll use temporarily.

Check out the poll in the left margin and vote!

P.S. Floridians - please be sure to choose the correct chad.

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Treats?

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Blondes have more fun

I dyed my hair back blonde last night. I picked up a box dye on a whim (it was on sale!). I'm not crazy about the results, I still prefer my hair reddish-brown, but it seems people like it...

At the post office this morning, a skeezy 60 or 70-year old guy hit on me. "My name's somethingsomething. You're just gorrrrgeous! Are you single? Want to go out with me sometimes?" While holding onto my hand with dear life.

I seriously thought he'd keel over when I said no.

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Next week...

I'm off for my annual (mandatory) vacation. I'm trying to save money, so I'm staying local - taking day road trips, some with Apollo, most with the camera. Check back in for photos.
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I missed most of the debate last night, but what little I saw...I was not impressed by McCain. I felt like he didn't have a good understanding of the administrative part of the job. Heck, he didn't seem to understand the difference between being Pro-Choice and Pro-Abortion (very fine, but distinct difference). That, and he keeps trying to tie Barack to Ayers. C'mon. Even the media dropped that months ago because they found out - quickly - that there was no merit to that.

The average American are, well. Average. And I am concerned about how they will vote... Due to their lack of understanding of the government workings and various platforms put forth by the candidates, it is likely (as shown by statistics) that they'll vote for their candidate based on laughable reasons.

Because the running mate is pretty. Or because the "other guy" is black. Or because he's a war hero. Because he seems trustworthy. Charismatic. Those are superficial reasons to pick a candidate. However you vote, please do your homework. Read up on the candidates' platforms, educate yourselves.

One more thought, on a semi personal level: I know many people out there are considering voting for McCain because he has war experience. I want to point out that while a majority our army have experience, they do not have leadership experience at upper levels. That is why our presidents surround themselves with advisers at highest levels. This job is largely administrative, and slipping in a little opinion here, I don't think we should have another president who wants to play war.

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I miss climbing

I've been so busy on weekends lately that I haven't gone climbing in a few weeks. Holy crap.

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Shopping Is Hell

You'd think that because I'm a girl, I love shopping. WRONG! And if you think that, shame on you for buying into stereotypes.

Actually, I do like shopping somewhat. It's the people that drive me nuts. Every time I go to the stores, they're full of people who inevitably bug me somehow. They smell, they're noisy, they get in my way, are rude, are too slow, talk too loud, fart, and the worst of horrors...

They touch ME.

No, I'm not a germaphobic or one of those people who don't like to be touched, period. I just don't like having my personal space invaded by dozens of people all at once. Brushing up against me, breathing on me, coughing, sneezing, bumping, jostling, shoving, elbowing...

Another pet peeve of mine is when people walk verrrry slowwwwly. And somehow manage to take up the whole aisle. I think shoppers should follow the rule of road - walk slowly to the right, speedsters take the left side.

Or better yet, every time I got to the mall, banish all the shoppers.

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I wrote a post, but

I'm too chicken to post it. It's not PG-rated and family read this blog.

In other news, I think I have to give up on wearing underwear. Thanks to my genetics, I have a very flat ass and panties either bunch up at the bottom, due to lack of meat to fill it out, or give me insane wedgies.

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Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser

If you haven't tried it before, go snag a couple. I forgot I bought them a year ago and found them again when I was unpacking (yes, still unpacking) some boxes. My tub was looking dingy so I decided to give them a shot.

End result? Tub looks almost new with minimal effort, unlike with Soft Scrub or other products. If I put in a tad more effort, it'd look like it just came off showroom floor. But I'm not that picky.

The box says you can use it to remove dirt from kitchen counters, soap scum in bathrooms, ground-in dirt on furniture (or tub in my case), and scuff marks from the walls.

I love love this thing. And for someone who hates cleaning, this is pretty good - I get insta results and gratification. I lack before-and-after pictures, though - didn't think to do that.

So...Here's a picture from the archives, with my old Point and shoot digital. It's one of the caves up near the Shenandoah National Park.

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How long it took for Palin to say

"Say it ain't so, Joe!" in last night's debate: An hour 15 minutes.

Also uttered:
By golly!
You betcha!
Gee whillikers!
Gosh heck yeah!
Doggone it!
Darn tootin'

What I'm really curious about is if she really talks like a redneck, or if she's doing this to appeal to the working class? I don't recall her being this expressive in her interview with ABC's Charlie. I'm happy she didn't try the "I have foreign experience because I can see Russia from Alaska soil!" line again.

I don't think either candidate did exceptionally well - and it certainly bothered me when, at the beginning, Palin said she wasn't going to stick to the questions if it didn't suit her (I'm paraphrasing). That struck me as arrogant.

Biden did okay, but he was longwinded sometimes, and his thoughts were disjointed at times. I had a hard time following him sometimes. But I think that's a case of where his thoughts were going faster than his mouth could keep up - I've had this happen to me. But on the plus side, he definitely knew his stuff. He's been in the business a long long time.

Both ran off tangent a couple times, but I think it's fair to say Palin did it more often because she didn't want to answer the moderator's questions. We'll see if that technique was effective or not in the coming weeks.

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From the archives...

Old film print that I scanned at some point.

Baby Apollo at about four months.

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