If My Home Teachee Keeps This Up... It'll Be Amazing.

http://gotothebackofthebox.tumblr.com/

Pretty much this is just an easy way to remember the link...

Three Years

So by the time Black Friday hits.... It'll be three years owning a "fancier" camera. Kit took a drastic change over those three years. Starting with a d5100 and kit lenses, followed by upgrade after upgrade.  Some stuff from year 1.

Changed the template... Forgot about the edit to add links. So some blog links are lost. Does anyone blog anymore anyways?!

Mare Island

Who is still looking at this? Mare Island in Vallejo. 

So it's been a year. year+?

Hello old friend. Yes, I've mostly ignored you for the past three years or so. But I have news.

Ok not really.

In the past year I have gone to Yosemite, Yellowstone, Georgia with a brief swing through Texas, Southern California and then Mexico. National Parks in winter are pretty much the most amazing thing ever. Fewer people, snow. Plenty of time to fiddle with a camera.

I also was a 2nd shooter on a wedding. So we're profitable!!!! Ok not really profitable. If you minus all the equipment and yeah.... 

All the travel was horrible on the rec-league hockey though. Talk about disappointing stats. Ridiculous.... well the lack of talent doesn't help there either.

There was a brief relationship. I share this since I'm pretty sure no one is reading this anymore since everyone is sharing their entire lives on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/etc.

The poem/short story/whatever you want to call that from a few posts back really applied. It was a learning experience, the extra white hairs are evidence of that.

So til next year Blogger. Maybe there will be two posts.

Driving up the coast

I'm On a Boat

Did a Livingsocial thing for San Francisco Sailing Company. $45 for a 90-minute boat ride is a bit steep. But its a-ok for the occasional yelp/livingsocial/groupon deal of $20-23!!!

Peachtree City and Stone Mountain

So Peachtree city is an interesting place. Originally planned as a community with a whole lot of cart paths. You can pretty much drive anywhere in the city on a golf cart. Leave the car at home and run somewhere in a golf cart. Which is probably fine and dandy til your children hit the pre-teens... 

 Stone Mountain.

wikipedia says, "The Ku Klux Klan was revived in Stone Mountain in 1915"

hm

Just went to the park. It was nice. All types of people running, hiking, biking...

Atlanta, Georgia

So I went to the Georgia Aquarium. The self proclaimed largest aquarium in the world. It was alright. There are some ginormous exhibits. 

Next to it is the Centennial Olympic Park.

Also went to a Braves game. I've now been to 15 of 30 MLB parks.

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person.
When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.
They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support,
To aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend and they are..
They are there for the reason you need them to be.
Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time,
This person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.
Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.
What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.
Some people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow or learn.
They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it, it is real. But only for a season.
LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons,
Things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.
Your job is to accept the lesson,
Love the person and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life
It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant
Thank you for being a part of my life,
Whether you were a reason, a season or a lifetime.

http://kenttuttle.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/single-and-steadfast/

So I recently (well in April) threw out old hockey pants and gloves. It was a bittersweet moment. The pants kept my butt safe for 40 or so hockey games. They were a trusted ally. The gloves, well they were replaced at the beginning of the winter season. But I kept on to them for a while figuring it might be nice to use them again. Turns out, the idea never crossed my mind once. Goodbye gloves. Goodbye pants. You were cherished, you're worn out though and I just don't need you anymore. (Ok this isn't 100% just about hockey equipment)

Notes

Those notes are crazy...

If I could take notes like that, maybe i'd have actually read my notes in school.

http://northtemple.com/2012/04/05/im-always-amazed-at-peopl

New Pants

So after 14 years, the hockey pants have been replaced. Lasted 45 games or so. The inside leg ripped slightly about three games ago or so.

They're light, they seem nice, we'll see what happens Tuesday at the game.

They don't have suspender buttons though. A little disappointed about that since I miss the floating feel (til I broke a button because I stepped on it in 99).

Goodbye Bauer Supreme 3000s, Hello Bauer Vapor x60.

Women's Basketball

So the last couple restaurants I've been has had women's basketball on. I can think of 2224 things I'd rather watch than women's basketball.

Heck just in the women's sports category. softball... soccer... volleyball... cheerleader competitons that get those strange early morning weekday time slots in the summer on ESPN 354. I've never seen field hockey but i'd probably watch that, heck apparently the lingerie football league is still in business?

Has there ever been a first or 2nd round upset in women's basketball? Doesn't the final four always consist of 1 and 2 seeds? Why not just skip the extra week and just start out with a Sweet 16 and save some schools some bus fare. Does Title 9 count in transportation budgets as well? WHO IS WATCHING six rounds of women's basketball?

Apparently someone, because 3.8 million households watched the women's final game last year.
Last year's MLS Cup MAYBE got into 1 million households. Come on MLS. Isn't Donovan the poster boy of US Soccer?! Beckham the face of tighty whiteys??

Which just goes to show the sad state of US Soccer right now. Heck when a country the size of New Jersey eliminates you from qualifying for the Olympics, maybe its good for the country's morale that no one saw that.

Service... or Something.

So Alisa had a friend of a friend that was going to San Jose for a reception.

I got to play chauffeur.

It was... interesting.

She was 23. Married. kids. AND i'm positive that SHE COULD'T function on her own if she had to.

One year of school, got married. no more school.

Her husband found her a hotel to stay at. Said she could walk to the reception in 10 minutes.

The hotel was 18 miles by freeway from the location of the reception. So yeah, that drive was a little bit longer than 10 minutes. And about 12 minutes into the drive...

Kaakun: so what do you do?

girl: im just starting a business?

K: oh really, what kind?
G: a wedding photography business
K: what do you shoot?
G: a 30d? 40? with a 18-70 ml lens... ml... ml.... whatever.

I find it funny that photography is probably the only profession where people think they just have to buy a tool and they're a professional. No one buys a hammer and calls themselves a part-time carpenter.


All and all an interesting evening. Would have been interesting to go in and get some free food. Maybe there were some single friends of friends she could have introduced me to...