The Internet Sure Is Faster These Days

I finally got this e-mail that was sent on December 17, 1960 (which, incidentally, was my negative 45th anniversary). I guess back in those days the Internet was a lot slower, and when it has to cross the Pacific Ocean it took even longer. It also appears that the 'net is going to get even faster in the future--I've gotten a lot of e-mails today that won't even be sent until January 18, 2038. Isn't it amazing how much technology can improve in just 78 years!

Happy Twenty-Fifth Birthday . . .

. . . to me!

My First Book!

I'm pleased to announce the availability of my first-ever book! It's eighty pages long, with over ninety of my best and most popular photos in it, and right now it costs $24.99 in softcover or $38.49 in hardcover. And I'm pretty pleased with the quality too. If you've been wanting to buy one of my photos and just didn't know which one to get, this is for you. Or, maybe you just want something new on your coffee table or in your office's waiting room. Anyway, at least give it a look--on the Blurb web site you can see the first 15 pages in a reduced resolution PDF file, and you could also find out how to make your own book if you want.

What are you waiting for? Check it out!

Here are some pictures of my softcover copy of the book (I've got some hardcovers coming in the mail real soon):

This just in . . .

I passed the bar!

American Idol

I think we can all safely never again use the word "douchebag," and we can forever more use the word "sanjaya." Laura said of his performance last night that he looked like "a 13 year old in front of his stupid-ass webcam." I just hope he's an organ donor, because that would be the most good he could ever do for anyone. He picked a great song and did it completely wrong. The sad thing is that the judges actually seemed to like it (except for Simon).
Another one worth mentioning is Gina Glocksen. She also picked a great song--"Paint It Black"--and completely ruined it. I can't help but think that the whole "rocker chick" thing is a facade, because it's just not believable. She looked and sounded like a drunk chick at a karaoke bar last night, and after hearing Sanjaya and then Gina both destroying perfectly good songs, I remarked casually that I was "going to go drown myself in the toilet."

Why doesn't everyone just vote for Melinda Doolittle? She is incredibly talented. While for the past two weeks she has picked terrible songs, she has always completely nailed them down and made them quite listenable. If everyone voted for the best only, she would win next week because nobody else would get any votes.
Of course, that kind of thing won't happen, since I don't vote and there are probably a million other people that are thinking the same thing that also aren't voting.
I should probably also mention Blake Lewis. I get the feeling that regardless of the results, he is going to be the most successful of the contestants this year in terms of record sales and career longevity. Laura said she would actually buy his album if he came out with one (and I'm sure he will). He's certainly quite talented at rearranging existing songs, so I suppose he could probably write pretty well too.

Mosel-Brummels Wedding

My good friend Crystal Mosel (now Crystal Brummels) got married this last weekend (to a good guy named Peter Brummels), and I had the enjoyable job of taking candid shots throughout much of the hubbub, using my parents' Canon Powershot S3 IS. I posted a few others over at my photoblog here and here, but just for fun here are a bunch more:


Here's the groom, Peter Brummels, giving a speech at the rehearsal.


And here is the lovely bride surveying the chaos of getting the reception hall ready.


The bride, a teacher, posing with her bridesmaids (my 7-months pregnant wife Laura is on the far left, and the others are all college friends of ours--Tina Bentley, a teacher who drove all the way from Idaho, is next to Laura, Sarah Scherer, also a teacher and my wife's former roommate, is on the far right, and Molly George, a med-tech, is in the center--apologies if I misspelled anyone's name).


The bride and her mother.


I showed this to everyone else in the room first and got a laugh, and when I showed it to Molly she insisted on immediate deletion of the offending image. I'm posting it here for the world to see now, just for fun.

:)


Sarah getting her hair sprayed and ready for action!


The soloist, Liz Gaunt (also an alumnus of Concordia University in Seward) and her son (Isaiah or Isaac, I can't remember for sure) reacting to the conversation.


Crystal and her dog Augustus, better known as Gus.


There were many, many such bottles at the reception dinner. They provided well for us all!


The best man, Peter's brother, giving his obligatory speech.


And finally, the happy couple! Thanks much to them for letting us be a part of it all (I was also an usher). Three cheers!

Korn: MTV Unpluged

You might think that a Korn unplugged album sounds like a bad idea. And I did too, before I heard "Freak on a Leash," featuring Amy Lee (of Evanescence), on the radio yesterday. Then, I knew for certain that it was a bad idea. It hits stores on March 6, but if you value your money, you'll avoid this one like the plague. Look, I'm a big fan of Korn, but their music just doesn't translate well into acoustic. Not only that, but Amy Lee's voice doesn't blend well with Jonathan Davis's voice. It's just overall a bad idea, and it sounds like it was poorly executed as well.

In Loving Memory

Mama Puss, 1988-2007

She's a lover . . .

. . . but sometimes she likes her kisses a bit rough.

Ultrasound Pics from October 17

This was about the middle of the first trimester. We're in the third now, and soon we should have more pics to share.





We could see the little heart beating. My first thought was about abortion--i.e., how could anyone ever kill one of these beatiful little people? Before, I had always thought the point was arguable. Once I saw this, it became immediately clear that anyone in favor of abortion rights is absolutely, completely, wrong.

It appears that an ultrasound was first used to see a human fetus in 1958, so the only way I can imagine that a certain Supreme Court would decide such a thing in 1973 is that their wives never had an ultrasound done, either because their children were born earlier than that or ultrasounds had not yet become standard procedure by that time.