Archive for January, 2009

What do you know?  The puzzle is actually finished!  After putting hundred of pieces in places where they didn’t seem to fit but did anyway and driving ourselves crazy matching single pieces against the box picture and working our way through the leaves that made up a good chunk of the entire puzzle, it’s complete.  

Now what?  Do we frame it?  Put it back in the box and donate it to some poor unsuspecting family that doesn’t know what they’re in for?  Burn it (as I suggested recently)?

Tonight as I was cooking dinner we finally got the sunset that I’d been hoping for in order to have a chance to pull out the camera and see what sort of colors I could pull out of the clouds.  I ran outside while dad tended the stove and snapped 20 quick shots.

And for some reason or another I was feeling like a project tonight so I decided to mess around with a picture of my brother.  After several different renderings, this is what I ended up with.  My brother is a big fan (obsessed?) of the Green lantern, so it fits.

The original:

I realized today that while I’m pleased that I’ve managed to continue blogging about pretty much nothing since wrapping up the tour, I’m not writing as much as I once was, and I kind of miss it.  While I’m a little more creative with a nice camera, I felt one of the strongest points early on was simply whatever I happened to be writing about and how I wrote it.  I’ll have to get back to a bit more of that.

Portland and the unknown in T-minus 4 days.

Who else is excited for The Office to start airing new episodes again in a month?

A semi-spontaneous road trip to Phoenix occurred New Years Eve Day.  Ian wanted to get to Phoenix and couldn’t find a ride, so I gave him one and decided to see what sort of adventure came my way.

We took the route east around the Grand Canyon past Lees Ferry and the Vermillion Cliffs to Flagstaff.

Ian was excited to see the large piles of snow still present in Flagstaff, as this means he’ll be able to go snowboarding every weekend now through the end of the season.

On the way to Phoenix, I spent a while messing around with the new telephoto camera lens taking pictures of license plates, road signs, and the sunset while my brother drove.

In Phoenix, I met up with Heidi (friend from the Crocs tour) who was working at the Tempe Block Party and managed to get me in free.  The Block party is listed as one of the top 10 New Years Eve parties in the country – stretching many blocks through downtown Tempe.

I spent some time playing video games…

Had my choice of some 30-40 different concerts…

Watched some heavily branded motocross freestyle jumping…

And of course, watched fireworks.

On New Years Day, I headed back home via Las Vegas.  On the way I stopped at the Hoover Dam.  The new bridge over the canyon is pretty impressive, and will ease traffic congestion considerably.  Coming from the East I had no wait, but traffic from the West was backed up nearly 10 miles all the way to Boulder City.

In Vegas I met up with Joey briefly and caught up for a few hours.

Then I headed back home and took the parents out for a brief stargazing trip, complete with a few shooting stars.