the photine blog

Fireworks Video

I went down to the big fireworks display over downtown Houston and walked and walked and walked until I found the perfect seat.  From there I took a video of the finale with my iPhone.  I am VERY happy with the video and how easy it is to take video with this little device.  I don't see myself using my Fuji F20 or my Flip Ultra very much anymore.  The thing about the iPhone is that I will always have it with me, it is smaller than the other two devices and it has more storage.  It's a no brainer.

Happy 4th of July

I love, love, LOVE fireworks.  I have only taken photos one time because usually I just want to watch them and enjoy them.  I'm torn between going to the symphony and watching their fireworks or going downtown to watch the big show.  I've never done the symphony so I kind of want to do that, but I hate the thought of missing the extravaganza downtown.  A friend on Twitter reminded me about this video.  School House Rock was such a big part of my childhood and as the video says... we turn the sky into a birthday cake.  There's gonna be fireworks!

Eeep

As you know I do things IN ORDER so I haven't given Chicago too much thought.  A passing musing here and there.  I mean why think about it when I had a visit from my aunt and a visit to Austin first.  But all of a sudden the Austin trip is in the past, my aunt has come and gone and now Chicago is right around the corner and I'm not ready!  

I'm avoiding it a little because now it seems so overwhelming.  I don't know where to start.  I'm trying to make sure that while I do make a plan that I don't over plan or over think it.  I'm very bad about doing that.  I want to have room in my schedule for some spontaneity in the way that a day unfolds.  The problem is I'm terrible at it.

I think I need to make some lists (I'm big on lists).  A list of things I want to see, places I want to eat, things I want to do and I'll get to what I can.  I know that I will see the bean, I know that I will take the architectural boat tour, I know that I will go to the art museum and I know that I will go the Wait, Wait taping.  That's all I know.  I have a lot of gaps to fill in.

Eeep.  Trying not to freak out.

Lazy Week

This week always comes during my summer vacation.  The week where I am more lazy than productive and I feel quite guilty about it.  I have to remind myself that it is ok to be lazy on vacation, but you know my obsessive personality.  I still feel guilty.

So what did I do this week.  Lazy, lazy, lazy Monday and Tuesday.   I have ridden my bike this week, but I'm already starting to lose track of which days.  That's a good thing.  It's every two to three days.  I think I mainly feel guilty about Monday and Tuesday because I should have used them to clean up for a visit from my aunt, but instead I did nothing.  I am from a family of procrastinators so the clean up was pushed to Wednesday.  I wish that I could break the procrastination cycle, but sometimes it is hard.  

Wednesday night I went to the Astros game.  The Astros have a deal on a few games this year where you get a View Deck II ticket, a hot dog, chips and a drink all for $10.  You can't beat that. I had a good time even though I watched them lose again.  I have a confession.  I have never seen the Astros win a game.  I might be an Astros jinx.  I don't go very often, but when I do I always enjoy myself until they lose and I know it is my fault.  At this game they were winning until the late innings.  I was so excited that the curse was going to finally be broken. The game went 11 innings and I refused to leave because there was always a chance that the curse could be broken, but alas.  They lost.  

Thursday my aunt arrived for a visit.  Whenever my aunt is here it is always a shopping trip for her and a chance to visit cool stores for me.  It was my first trip to Sur La Table which was fun. There are so many kitchen gadgets it makes your mind whirl.  Good thing I already have Alton Brown's mantra pounded in my head.  Don't buy something that can't do double duty.  After that we went to Events and then Kuhl and Linscomb.  While at Kuhl and Linscomb I met Bandit, the resident cat.  It is surprising that they let a cat have free reign of the store and he was happily ensconced in thousands of dollars worth of bedding and purring away.  We had dinner at Nelore (my fave) and went to the museum to see the Terra Cotta Warriors and the Nature of Diamonds exhibit.

Friday I once again did nothing.  See?  Saturday was a bike ride, a trip to a book signing and the bike shop and ending the night with a free concert by the Houston Symphony at Miller Outdoor Theater.  The weather was surprisingly bearable sitting on the hill side.  I usually try to get seats in the covered area, but this was much nicer.  

And now we are to today where once again I'm going to stay in and work on website, internet stuff, read books and watch TV.  Lazy, lazy.

Threes

We have all heard the idea that celebrities die in threes.  Sometimes people really stretch the definition of the word celebrity to make this fit, but it does seem to happen at times.  Last night as I was watching the coverage of Michael Jackson I had the weirdest little image pop in my head.  

Imagine that celebrities can only move on to whatever great ever after in threes so when they die they have to sit in a waiting room and wait for the group to be filled out.  So there sits Ed McMahon and not two days later Farrah shows up.  And while they are talking the door opens only hours later and in walks Michael Jackson.  I imagine they were quite surprised and knew the chaos that was left in his wake.  I know, it's a totally strange thought to have, but it amuses me in a way.

Michael Jackson of the '80s was my childhood.  I remember waiting for the Thriller video to premiere on MTV.   It is so theatrical and looking at my tastes now I guess it is not a surprise that it is my favorite.  

Michael Jackson |MTV Music

Checklist 37: Posting Schedule

On the checklist I wrote:

Houston Photobloggers posting schedule - One of the common traits for successful bloggers is setting up a schedule to write their posts.  Houston Photobloggers has been very neglected the last few months and it must change.  I need to pick one or two days a week where I will sit down and post and I must stick to it. It will be just like having an after school job.  

This didn't end up exactly as I imagined.  Instead of finding a new schedule for Houston Photobloggers I have decided to stop updating the site and concentrate instead on a new site based on my Flickr group.  I am very excited about the possibilities.  Many times I had ideas of things I wanted to do, but I wasn't sure where to do them.  It is very hard to direct people to a place when you have multiple places all over the web.  I should know because I am very bad about starting new blogs.  This was the right decision.  It will give me a chance to showcase the work that members are doing and when I get those hare-brained ideas I will have a place to do them.

Right now the posting schedule looks like this in my head:

Monday: Weekly Reading Link Post

Tuesday: Open

Wednesday: Archive Spotlight

Thursday: Weekend Planner

Friday: Open

Saturday: Photo Triplet (bi-weekly)

Sunday: Nothing

I'm not going to force myself to post on the open days, but if I come across something then I can throw it up there. The key is to do things far ahead in the future.  I can have the link post and the planner posts open for a week or two ahead of time and add interesting stuff as I find it.  Archive spotlights are easy and photo triplets will be done by members.  I just have to contact them in plenty of time.  So here we go.  I think this will work.

Evening Thoughts

So I owe you a post on Cabaret which I saw last night.  That will be coming soon (hopefully).  I've been working the last week on Assignment: Houston which now has a blog to go with it.  I should write about that too.  Maybe.  I could write about how I now have Ovation and I'm very happy about it.  Or how much I like the friends I have surrounded myself with recently and how I'm scared to enter the Houstonist photo show because last time it started the snowball rolling into what was my hellish year and a half where I lost a good many friends. Not that it is the fault of the show, but once burned twice shy.  But all I can think of right now is how my bottom is very sore from riding my bike.  

Good Day

Today was a good day.

- Took the bike out (yay!) and rode for about 45 minutes around the Heights.  Loved every minute of it although I probably looked a little like a drunk since I was a little wobbly.

- Came home and took the best hot shower.  It feels great when you are really grimy and dirty and hot and scrub every bit of dirt away in an even hotter shower.  When you step out you are clean and the cool air feels great.

- Studied.  I finally started studying some of my materials for Terra Cotta Warriors.  I went through the companion book and started reading some of the materials on the CD they gave me.

- Took my weekly(ish) self portrait.  You can see it over on Flickr.  I've had the idea for a week I just never got around to it until today.

- Volunteered at the museum.  Today was the most enjoyable day I've had at the museum.  For some reason I can't get out of the house earlier than 3 in the afternoon.  I'm an afternoon to early evening person. Those are my happy hours.  The museum was open until 9 this evening and the Terra Cotta exhibit was also open until 9.  It wasn't crowded but there were a steady stream of people.  I felt good about being able to discuss the items I had on my table and I learned even more as the docents took tour groups through.  And I sat there and thought how cool that I can sit with these 2,000 year old soldiers whenever I want

- Home. Dinner.  Internet. TV.

Today was a good day.

Checklist 37: Ride a bike

So as you know I've been thinking about bicycles for a while.  It first popped up on my checklist 36.  I had a notion of renting a bicycle in Galveston and taking a ride down the seawall.  Well Ike washed that away and time just got away from me.  But I still had this desire to ride a bike so back on the list it went.  

Today I rode a bicycle so I can check off one of my items on checklist 37.  Hooray!  But not only did I ride one, I bought one!  I'm so excited.  

I remember the pure joy of riding a bike from my childhood.  I haven't ridden since then.  I'd see people riding and think about how much I used to love doing that.  And then I'd think about getting more active and think I can't afford a bike.  Back to walking which is frankly boring.  

But as is always the case with me sometimes I start thinking about a thing so much that it gets to the point where I can't ignore it.  My head for the last week or so has been filled with thoughts of a bicycle and the thoughts got louder and louder and louder until they were demanding an action.  And so here I am.  And I'm excited.  

I got the bike from West End Bicycles.  As I mentioned in a previous post I was worried about being judged when I went to a bike shop.  I mean I'm not exactly an athlete.  I read a lot of reviews and started coming across glowing ones for West End Bicycles.  Well I can add mine. Chad from the bike shop was so friendly the instant I stepped in the door.  I didn't feel any judgement or impatience with me as I was obviously a bike noob.  He explained everything I needed to know and even showed me how to take the front tire off.  I feel so bike-y. I felt like he had nothing else to do the whole day but help me which is of course not true, but a great feeling none the less.  At one point he just gave me the bike and told me to take it for a test ride in the neighborhood.  Now that's trust.  They didn't even have information on me and were just giving me a helmet and a bike and telling me to go for a ride.  And while I was riding around the neighborhood I *knew* that I was making the right decision.  It was such a wonderful feeling of freedom and after a few wobbly blocks I got better.  I could have ridden around the neighborhood for a long time, but I headed back to the shop to buy the bike.

Bikes are almost as bad as cameras.  The bike is just the beginning.  You can also see I added a bag on the front to hold my stuff, a water bottle cage and a bike lock.  As I mentioned before I do not live in a bike friendly area so the bike will have to be thrown in the car and taken somewhere to get a work out.  The thing is I'm so excited about going somewhere.  I'm looking forward to it.  I can't wait to go.  Rarely did I ever say that about walking.  Here is to a whole new chapter in my life full of new possibilities.

PS: I forgot to mention another reason to love West End Bicycles.  They have a feline overlord named Frank!

A place to rest my head

I've booked my hotel for Chicago!  Woot!  It is hard to believe that this is really happening.  I look back at that post I wrote in January when I could scarcely believe that I could pull it off and now here I am!  Oh, and did I tell you that I *did* get tickets to Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me! This trip is going to be awesome.

I used Priceline to book my hotel.  What I really like about Priceline is that it is all paid in advance.  I don't have to worry about having that money with me when I go.  When I travel to San Antonio for conventions I always ask to pay the day I check in.  That way it is taken care of and I don't have to worry about it.  I had it in my head that I would be ok paying $70 a night.  I don't know where I got that number from, but it has been in my head for a few months now.  I know that I could have spent forever manipulating the Priceline system and if they had rejected $70 I would have had to rethink it, but they didn't.  

So what did Priceline find for me?  *drumroll* The Hyatt Regency Chicago on Wacker Drive.  Just look at it's location on Google Map.  Look at it! I'm excited.