Posted in Family, Fun, Holidays, Kids, Photography, tagged children, christmas, Family, holiday, portraits, present, studio on January 20, 2009| 3 Comments »
If you recall, before Christmas, Alan Honey, of Alan Honey Photography, let me use his studio to do some Christmas portraits of my family. I gave you a sneak peek a while ago, but now that everyone has opened their presents, I figured it’s okay to let you see them, too.
But you’ll have to go here to see them (the pictures are bigger over there). 🙂
Posted in Family, Frustration, Fun, Kansas, Life, Travel, tagged brown, delivery, google, long trip, map, road, Travel, UPS on January 14, 2009| 2 Comments »
I don’t think I’d be tapping into ancient history if I asked you to think back to the UPS ad campaign that featured the question, “What can brown do for you?” I feel just a little bad because I have been on both the shipping and receiving end of brown’s services many times, but I’ve never really stopped to consider even thinking about reciprocating. So today, it’s all about what I can do for brown.
You see, recently, we ordered a crib from an online retailer and were told it would be coming via UPS. We liked this prospect because the lab I order my prints from always ships via UPS and they’ve proven themselves very reliable and careful with my precious cargo.
Once the order was processed and updated in the retailer’s database, they sent us an email with tracking information and a link to UPS’s website. The tracking information indicated that our crib would be arriving on the 7th, which was not totally unexpected, but still a bit longer than we would like. However, since we only paid 97 cents for shipping, I guess we got what we paid for.
We clicked through to the UPS site, just to check and see where it was coming from, more out of curiosity than because of some actual need to know, and discovered that it was coming from Hodgkins, IL–basically from Chicago. That’s good news because we know that it’s only about an 8-hour drive (or so) from here to there. Best of all, UPS indicated that it would actually deliver on the 6th. Hey, great surprise! Brown comes through for us again!
As time drew closer to the actual arrival of the crib, on the 5th, I believe, we went back to check on our (big) little package’s progress, and were a bit surprised by what we had seen:
(Okay, no laughing about the “delivered” bit…I didn’t capture this until after the fact).
What, you don’t understand? Let me show you.
The package left Hodgkins, IL, and traveled to Kansas City, KS. No problem.
From there, it went to Salina, KS. Feel free to click the images if you need extra help with visualizing this.
It left Salina and went to Lenexa, KS.
From Lenexa, it took a trip to Manhattan. See the problem yet?
From Manhattan, they finally decided they could take it out to us, after making a grand total of THREE trips past our home.
Here’s the way Google breaks it down:
That means UPS went 386 miles out of its way, which should’ve added an extra 6 hours and 14 minutes. That wouldn’t be so bad, except that the way that UPS did it actually added over 77 hours to the trip.
I guess Google doesn’t account for bathroom breaks and fast-food stops.
So, because I don’t want UPS to think that I never did anything for them, here‘s what I can do for brown.
Posted in Being Mommy, Conversations, Family, Frustration, Fun, Holidays, Kids, Language, Life on December 23, 2008| 3 Comments »
Michelle: Young lady, if you don’t (insert desired behavior here) right now, I’m calling Santa. I can still tell him not to bring you any presents!
Chloe: That’s ok, Mom. I don’t need presents; Christmas isn’t about presents.
Posted in Being Daddy, Family, Fun, Holidays, Photography, tagged christmas, Family, goofy, portraits on December 7, 2008| 5 Comments »
Well, it’s definitely that time of year! Time to go caroling, keep the hot chocolate warm on the stove, help out a neighbor, and tell everyone what they’re getting for Christmas!
That’s right, everyone! In this new internet-driven, free-information-for-all generation, we decided to post our Christmas list here on the Internet!
It’s fun! It’s really freeing, too! Just imagine, never having to use those precious cubic inches under your bed to hide presents anymore! Just throw them under the tree! Wrapping paper? Who needs it!
So, without further ado, your presents: This Friday, the family and I went to Alan Honey‘s photography studio. I’ve been working for him for about a year now, assisting him at his weddings and second shooting for him. It’s been a blast. One of the perks of the job is occasionally being able to use his studio when he’s not there. Chalk it up as experience and practice and we’re all happy. =]
After the practice session, Michelle and I got to thinking that these would make the perfect present for all of our relatives. So, if we share blood, just know: you’re getting pictures!
So, anyone care to give us a drum roll?
The overwhelming prospects of adding a baby subwoofer to our already overpowering "surround-sound" system.
Not all of the models were completely thrilled with their assignments. Don't tell them, but they're not getting paid.
I spent hours in Photoshop, working on this one to make sure it achieved all of the awesomeness that it was capable of achieving. To be honest, I think it's just a little more awesome than that.
A true classic, a family heirloom to be lovingly bequeathed from one family member to the next, again and again, down through the end of days.
There! Now you don’t have to lose any sleep at all, wondering if your gift will be the right size, color, or style! They’re perfect, and exactly what you wanted!
Merry Christmas to all, and to all, the everlasting gift of beautiful family pictures!
Posted in Being Daddy, Being Mommy, Family, Fun, Life, tagged election, maternity, morning, results, sky, sunrise, ultrasound, vote on November 4, 2008| 4 Comments »
I went to sleep at 9:30 last night. 9:30! That’s unheard of for me. We got up at 5:45 this morning because we had a rather busy morning planned and wanted to get an early start.
Here’s what our schedule looked like:
We expected voter turnout to be good, but we didn’t expect it to be this good, this early in the morning.
We brought the kids along, but didn’t expect the wind to be so cool. They made do just fine with a blanket from the car.
Voting took 30 minutes (once we found out that our side of town had a much shorter line than the other side of town) and then we took off for IHOP.
Doing our part:
And then we were off to the ultrasound appointment. It was a lot of fun. The baby was active, moving around, not modest at all (which is helpful for the lab tech), and absolutely adorable. While I don’t have the ultrasound pics scanned in, you might be able to find some helpful hints here.
Posted in Culture, Fun, Holidays, Life, Photography, Teaching, Work, tagged costume, halloween, ksu, paparazzo, video, Work on November 3, 2008| 2 Comments »
This year, I really wanted to get into the spirit of Halloween. I only do this for all of my international students, of course. So, I decided to put together a really scary costume that I could also wear around campus without making people think I was a freshman. Or lonely. Or a fantasy reader.
So, I turned my hat backwards, put on a polo shirt, jeans, and a fake press badge for Jimmy “Pop” A. Razzo, staff photographer for the National Reporter. I grabbed my new camera, the Canon 40D, set it to high speed burst mode (6.5 frames/second), put a flash on (set to the lowest level for the fastest recycling time and lowest battery consumption), and set out to terrorize the campus.
Ok, mostly, I just terrorized my fellow teachers and a few students. And a random guy dressed as a Lego man.
Seriously.
Don’t believe me? Well, here’s the photographic evidence to prove it (except that my badge is flipped around backwards):
I can’t tell you how many times someone asked me if there was any film in the camera. I’d just shake my head in a reassuring way and say no. Then, when they relaxed a bit, I pointed out that it was digital and unloaded the Canon at them.
At the end of the day, I had over 1200 images, 8 exhausted (rechargeable) AA batteries, and a lot more enemies.
Oh, and a video:
I think many people would agree: definitely a scary costume.
Posted in Family, Fun, Kids, Life, Photography, tagged children, home, lights, portraits, silly faces, studio on October 8, 2008| 1 Comment »
Sunday night, after the baths, I got an itch that I needed to scratch. So, I broke out my studio lighting set up (umbrella, light stand, wireless triggers…you know) and threw a make-shift studio together in the living room with the dark dining room behind. I frantically looked around for volunteers, and since we’d already bribed the kids with candy, they were willing.
We had way too much fun. Me playing with my camera, the kids playing with their faces:
Of course, I had to get in on the fun, too.
Why the mean face? Well, it was part of a theme for the night, the highlights of which you’ll have to check out here (and believe me, they really are the best in show for the night). Michelle’s entry has, unfortunately, been disqualified by the judge, Michelle, as being too scary realistic embarrassing. I, of course, will just post them later.
Posted in Emotions, Fun, Life, Photography, tagged dumped, Food, funny, head, meg wachter, Photography, pictures on September 26, 2008| 1 Comment »
…in order to convince your friends that it would be a great idea to get together at your place, take off their shirts (covering those bits needing covering, of course), stand in front of your gorgeous blue wall, and let you dump all different sorts of foodstuffs on their heads while you take pictures?
Meg Wachter knows. You can see the results on her website. It’s in the “Dumped” collection, of course.
She made a video, too.
Posted in Family, Fun, Kids, Photography, tagged child, lost tooth, smile, tooth on September 22, 2008| 4 Comments »
At least, I think. Someone more knowledgeable in the dental arts will have to confirm that math for me.
Oh well, this is really about the pictures, not the math.
Chloe recently lost her first upper tooth. Let the games begin:
There’s one more, perhaps the best one (but perhaps not…that’s all interpretation) over here.
Posted in Fun, Technology, Work, tagged click, computer, data, keyboard, mouse, pointless, trivia, use on September 9, 2008| 3 Comments »
Since August 29, 2006, when I started working at K-State, I’ve had a little program running on my computer that tracks how many keys I press, how many mouse buttons I click, and how many kilometers I move the mouse. So, while this post may have made more sense a week and a half ago when it was actually August 29th, 2008, here’s the two-year sum of computer work at KSU:
Of course, by the time I finish this post, all the numbers are now out of date, but that’s an issue for the next anniversary post.
On Rik’s Photoblog What I’ve Been Reading
all the standard catastrophes 