April 16, 2013

• Good Times

       (Best pictures are below my ramblings)

       Got out with Rebekah and Gracie tonight to an empty parking lot to get them more familiar with riding the racing bikes before they take them to the road.  Yep, my 9 and 11 year old girls are both big enough to ride racing bikes now! My wife is (for now) once again a stay at home-mom, though it seems like there's so much to do with running around kids and catching up with all the things that didn't get done while she was working, it seems like "stay at home-mom" would be more aptly described "drive the car-mom".  

  

       That's me letting Gracie get some sports photography practice, while I had some fun trying to get back the skill of riding wheelies.

  

       Watched some exciting bicycle racing over the past weeks (broadcast on TV, of course). The weather in Europe has been horrible and so bad in fact at some races that the riders have had to get into buses to cross some snowed in mountains, then restart on the other side.  The Paris-Roubaix race, though (aptly named the "Hell of the North" because of the many miles of brutal cobbled roads traversed), saw good weather and tailwinds which meant super high speeds and exciting racing. Best part was, Fabian Cancellara, who had won two previous races by simply riding away from the peloton and leaving everyone far behind, was struggling all race and yet still dug in and made it up to the finish.  He got away from all but one rider and it looked like he'd have to take second, but at the last moment when they both set up for the final sprint, his opponent, Sep Vanmarcke stood on the pedals and had nothing to give, losing the race by less than a bike length.   Cancellara stepped off his bike and fell on the ground, needing the assistance of two men to stand back up again, and Vanmarcke broke down in tears at having come so far only to run out of energy at the final moment.  Both men should be proud of their hard won spots on the podium, though people will certainly remember the winner.

        I'm procrastinating as I write this.  I need to be putting together a resume.  On Friday, our facility director said that I should apply for the recently vacated team leader position.  There are a lot of applications, and the competition will be tough, but this particular job would actually be a promotion in position and pay.  I have never, though, written an actual resume, except the ones we wrote in class when I was younger, so it (the resume writing) will be a new experience.  I have trained in a lot of the duties of the job, and I do have the benefit of having run my own business, which meant that my executive decisions, right or wrong, were reinforced by either profit or loss of my own money.

        The news from Boston today was terrible, and I'm so sorry for the people affected. I hope our government doesn't see it as an opportunity to grab even more of our freedom.

       I still need to look over the pictures from our last month, what with the family being up for the funeral and then our vacation, but I'm procrastinating on that, too.  I've actually found that since my wife is home,  I'm not getting a lot done either.   We've just been enjoying spending some time together.  I know it won't last forever, but for now, it's good.  We had been talking about moving closer to family, but for now that's on hold 'til I see about the team leader position.  Pretty sure it's not gonna happen since they have some super qualified guys applying, but I know I would do a good job at it and it would mean nights and weekends home.  I just have to convince the team leader of that.  Anyway, if I don't get the job, plans to move closer to Florida or Texas will be once again open for discussion.

  Plans today involve, resume writing, taking Danny to the doctor, and trying to procure a lawnmower.  

  Here are a few more pictures I either took or found taken on my memory card.  One of the things I love about having gotten my kids into photography is the surprises I find when I download pictures.

  

  Still not sure who took this one.  We have some type of tulip poplar out by the pool and that proved enough inspiration for some experimentation.

  

  This is one of the little pests that keeps tearing up our bird feeders.

  

   

  

  An example of poor framing because I was in a hurry.  There are so many things to remember when you are trying to learn to make every shot count.  Anyway, if you are my age or older, you may have used one of these in high school or at your job. (a much smaller one, of course)

  I struggle to get the white balance and exposure right in the snow.  I go through the settings until one works.  I guess I need to buy lunch for a pro friend of mine and just let him explain to me the nuts and bolts of the concept.  I shoot in manual mode (except I mostly let the camera do the focusing) because I like to have control over how the picture turns out, but there are still some details that are wizardry to me.

  

   

  

  We had a late snowstorm and decided to have a snowman building contest.  I called the kids' entry Dragon v Wizard, but they were more descript, "Puff the Magic Dragon v Samuel Gregory Baryshnakoff Badonkadonk the Hun".

  

  Tina and I made "Wahine, the Hula Girl".

  

  I took some pictures of Maya, the daughter of a friend of ours and Grace's best friend, for her parents, and afterwards took a couple of the girls together.  I liked how this one came out.

  There are so many pictures to post, and so little time, so I guess I'll just leave it at this.  I hope you all have a good week, and I hope to post more regularly in the future.  I really enjoy reading your posts, and I love the comments you leave on mine.

  • 8:21 pm
  • 6 Comments