34 - Skyway

The building I work in is connected to another building in the complex via a skyway that crosses over a street.  Sometime I like to just stop and watch traffic, especially at night.  I'd love to just bring a chair and work here with my laptop when I needed to crank on something that required quiet.  Maybe I'll try that one day and see if security runs me off...

33 - Maudite

One of biggest drags about middle age was the rapidly diminishing returns on beer.  I've never been a heavy drinker, but I've long enjoyed a good brew.  Unfortunately, about the time I turned 40 I started feeling excessively bloated and tired with a headache about 30 minutes later.  Like a hangover only without the wait.  Instant Karma.  It's gotten worse over time, and as a result nowadays I'm more likely to have wine since it doesn't have that effect on me.  But occasionally I'll just decide to suck it up and deal with it - like when I have something from the Unibroue brewery singing its siren song from my refrigerator.

32 - Whew!

It's been a pretty stressful day.  It'll be this way for awhile.  Too much to do, too little time to get it done.  Every day is a gift, but sometimes you're just glad when that gift is consumed.

31 - Memory

At an abstract level, my day job is to find solutions to fundamentally complicated and intractable problems.  These are the sort of problems that don't have ideal, or in some cases even "good", solutions.  They're "solved" by devising a solution that either produces the least pain, or that optimizes around certain goals at the expense of other potential (and probably reasonable) goals.  Sadly, I have a terrible memory, which is an unfortunate trait for somebody who does what I do for a living.  The way I compensate for my memory is to take notes.  Copious, detailed notes.  I've become quite good at it.  I can write and type very fast, and with a lot of independence from other tasks I might need to do.  So, I can look at somebody, listen to what they're saying, and write or type a completely different thing all at the same time (being a musician helps with that, actually).  It sometimes freaks people out.  On the other hand, people often want my meeting notes because they're so detailed and organized.  Frankly, I'd rather have a good memory.  Because if it doesn't get noted, it's as good as gone.

30 - O' Dark Stupid

Had to get up at O' Dark Stupid (as an Army friend of mine likes to say) this morning.  I needed to get some work done but my trip to Dallas prevented me from doing it over the weekend.  So I went in to work early to wrap it up before everyone else arrived.  The early morning was foggy and drizzly, which made kind of a cool, moody scene under the street lamps.  Most times, I'm very happy with my go-everywhere camera, but it really struggles capturing these kind of ultra low-light scenes.  In cases like these I usually wish I'd brought my Nikon.

29 - What Would Ace Do?

In my last post I mentioned that I traveled to Dallas over the weekend.  The reason was to visit a dear friend and guitar collector in order to shoot several of his guitars for inclusion in my guitar series of photos I started late last year.  I got a lot of great shots, of which this is merely the first one I processed.  I'll be showing the best of them on my main blog as I finish processing them.  After I've completed the series, I intend to self-publish a photo book.  If you're interested in a copy, go to the main blog and get my contact information.

When my buddy pulled this guitar out of the case, I knew that it had to be in my series.  The cherry sunburst Gibson Les Paul has a special place in my heart.  It's the very first guitar I lusted after.  The one that kindled a life-long passion for me.  I was a big fan of KISS back when I was 12 and Ace Frehley played a cherry sunburst Les Paul.  I wanted one in the worst way.  But of course, 12 year olds generally can't afford real Les Pauls.  Shoot, I'm middle aged and it's still a whole lot of money.  I shot this one in front of an old Marshall amp because that's what Ace played 'em through, and to my mind, that's the quintessential pairing with a Les Paul.

28 - Sam Houston

I got a few days behind on posting my daily photos, but rest assured I took a photo everyday and they're going to be put on the site shortly.  This weekend I took a trip up to Dallas.  The massive statue in the photo above is a fixture on I-45 between Houston and Dallas.  It's Sam Houston - hero of the war for Texas independence, Texas governor, and a key figure in Texas joining the United States.  It's a terrific statue, simultaneously magnificent and slightly amusing in having a sense of scale that is truly Texan.

27 - Temporary Housing

We had a minor freeze here in Houston last night.  And because this is the south, that pretty much shut everything down.  They canceled school and the kids got a day off.  My company wasn't quite as accommodating - they said we didn't have to come into the office but they expected us to work from home.  (The Internet has its drawbacks, folks.)  So I commandeered my wife's library for an office for the day.  I love this room.  My brother put a lovely finish on a bunch of floor-to-ceiling bookcases for me over the summer and we got a nice desk and chair for the room, so it's an awesome place to work or play.  Certainly much nicer than my office at work.  The only downer was this was one of Edison favorite rooms to sleep in during his final year, so from time to time I would find myself looking into the emptiness of his corner of the room and I'd get sad again.

26 - Sun and Moon

My kids are going through a stage where they're just less malleable as photo subjects.  They won't stay in a pose for more than a fraction of a second.  They won't look at the camera.  They've learned the Camera Smile - the one where you pull up the corners of your lips but the rest of your face is on another planet.  Or in the case of my younger one, he wants to smile without showing his teeth.

You know where I'm going with this, right?

I took 20 photos trying to wrangle and cajol them into doing what I wanted, but the best of the bunch is one where I gave up and just took shots of them doing their own thing.  The problem isn't them.

For a control freak like me, the hardest part about child photography is going with the flow.

25 - Goodbye, My Friend

We got Edison from the Town Lake Animal Shelter in Austin in 2000.  For me, it was pretty much love at first sight - a little white and tan puppy with a patch over his eye.  He was also playful and friendly.  One of my most cherished memories is carrying him out of the pound that day in one arm, like a football.  He grew to be very large - about 120 pounds at one point.  And it turned out he was smart, which was a good thing since we'd optimistically named him "Edison".  We taught him how to behave himself, which is crucial for a dog that large.  And of course we taught him some nifty tricks like how to fall down and lay down when you point your finger at him and said, "bang!"  The best trick was how to ring a bell we had tied to the knob on the back door whenever he needed to pee or just wanted to go outside.  He rang that thing so much, I wondered who had been trained - him or us.  But we never had to teach him how to love.  He knew that one from the start and taught me quite a few things about it.  He was a more patient teacher than I was.  His love was boundless, unconditional, and in unlimited supply for whoever wanted it.  Today Edison died after 14 years of sharing his love so generously with me and my family.  I already miss him terribly.

Edison, 2000 - 2014

24 - Footbridge in Seven Meadows

23 - Cantina

22 - By the Light of the Flickering Flame

Funny, but some of my favorite photos of this project have been when I'm scrounging around for something to shoot.  Good thing, because by the time I get a few months into this, I might be really desperate for subject matter.

21 - I Believe I Can Fly

I'm a little late posting this, but I did take my photo yesterday.  I was fairly busy with my younger child's 7th birthday.  This isn't a particularly amazing picture, but I like it.  I shot it while all the kids were playing on the playscape at his birthday party.  I tried to emphasize the sense of motion by playing with zooming blur.

20 - Glass and Not Glass

19 - CityCentre

Traffic was terrible this evening.  Even worse than usual.  My plan was to go home, eat dinner, put the kids to bed, then go out again and get my photo for the day.  Traffic was so bad though and the location I'd chosen for the photo was on the way, so I decided to wait for the traffic to ease up while snapping my pics.  I called the wife and headed for CityCentre.

CityCentre is a very tony shopping plaza.  It's really big, really expensive, and really trendy.  I like to look at places like this and window shop, but I almost never buy anything.  Most everything is a bit too ostentatious for my tastes.  But I knew there would be some pretty photos to be had here.  I found this water feature with elevated fire pits and infinity edge that was really lovely, especially with the tree lights reflecting off of it.

18 - Big Four

Had to go downtown today for a business meeting with a partner.  It was one of the "Big Four" consulting firms.  They have very swanky digs in a skyscraper with a terrific view.  Now, my company's office is nice and it has a pretty respectable view of its own, but this office was nice.  Hell, even the elevator had fancy and very expensive rosewood trim.  For a brief moment I had a touch of envy and nostalgia for working at a big, established company.  But of course there's a tremendous downside too, that I know from hard-earned experience just really grinds me.  I'm a little company guy.  Strike that.  I'm a young company guy.

17 - Blue Light Special

Here's a tip from Captain Obvious:  If you want to photograph a hotel bar, but you don't want anybody walking through your shot, arrive early in the morning.  Unless there's a special on mimosas, it'll be empty.

16 - The Relentless Progression of Time

In my first post, I mentioned that time is accelerating.  I truly believe that it is.  Now, I don't think it is accelerating for everybody.  Therefore, I think the velocity of time is relative to perspective.  In other words, I think we all mark time differently.  But mark time we do, because time doesn't stand still.  It marches forward without rest and without mercy.

15 - Venus de Milkmaid