Welcome to the world: Morgan Grace Cece!

Congratulations to my brother, Alan, and his wife, Kori, for the birth of their first child! We are excited for them as they endeavor on this new journey in their life. Morgan is super cute and we look forward to seeing her grow up.

Hanna Cleanup

After a good night of rest, I got out the saw and cleaned up the branches and tree that were down in the yard. It took about an hour to get the yard back to normal – if this large pile of debris in the yard is considered normal.

The Aftermath of Tropical Storm Hanna

Today, Tropical Storm Hanna struck the Hampton Roads area with minimal force. We weren’t expecting it to be a big storm, but it was even less than we had anticipated. There were a few good gusts of wind in Portsmouth, VA and about 15-30 minutes of actual rainfall, but the rest was drizzle and steady winds. That said, we did have half of a tree fall on our fence. It didn’t damage the fence, but I will have a couple hours of cleanup tomorrow. About 5pm the rain and winds gave way to sunshine and a beautiful sunset around 8pm.

In anticipation of the storm, based on the media hype, I purchased a waterproof case for my Flip Ultra camera and readied myself for some fun footage. I was out in some of the gustier wind and rain with the camera and also looked for any signs of tornadoes during the warnings. Many of you may not know it, but there was a point in time when I was a certified storm watcher in Michigan (or at least I had taken a few classes and had a paper card that said so.) Either way, there was nothing to be seen today. The area between our house and the neighbors had the most damage that I encountered in my trips around the city of Portsmouth, VA.

Video and Pictures below.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/1680488]

or watch it on YouTube Here

New music from Damien Jurado

I received an email from Secretly Canadian Records the other day informing me about the release of Jurado’s new album. Needless to say, I was very excited. The email also linked to a free download of the track “Gillian Was A Horse,” which I really enjoyed.

Today at work I was posting a video on myspace and saw Damien Jurado on the homepage (see screen grab). I followed the link to his myspace and saw a bunch of new tunes. I listened to a few before leaving for lunch and plan to listen to the rest when I return.

www.myspace.com/damienjurado
Check it out for yourself

Video: July 2008 Photo Shoot

I had the opportunity to do a little traveling to take portrait photographs for Regent University School of Psychology & Counseling.  They wanted to highlight three of their students that are/were getting their degree online and working in the field in their communities.  This is a video of that trip.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/1643044]

or watch it on YouTube here.

Insensitivity toward New Orleans’ residents

As I was following Hurricane Gustav stories, I ended up on Drudge Report.  In bright red letters, there was a link to a video with two Democratic politicians laughing about the scenario of the hurricane and the GOP convention.  Without getting into politics, it is unnerving that anyone that is supposed to be looking out for the best interest of our country could act in such an insensitive manner.  They commented that God must be on their side as if it was in their best interest for people to be facing the grief and destruction of the Hurricane.  Destruction is not in our best interest, even if it is against those we disagree with.  It boggles my mind that they could be so careless as to talk about something in a public place.  

Read

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrBus8ORR78&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0]

Of Photo Trips Past

Recently I’ve been yearning to take a personal photography trip to a new destination. I’ve been sifting through tens of thousands of my photos and remembering the trips gone by. I’ve had the privilege of taking work oriented trips, but didn’t have the time to explore unknown areas at my leisure. I’m very grateful to have had these opportunities, but long to take an adventure without priorities. The past several years have shown marked improvements in my photographic abilities and understanding, but I am losing interest in my current surroundings and am beginning to feel a loss of creativity. Unfortunately, I’m having trouble finding time and money to designate to such a trip. Until that time comes, I am aiming to find creativity in the beauty that surrounds.

iPhone Apps Aren’t Syncing Properly

Ever since iPhone software 2.0 was first released (leaked a day or two early), I’ve had nothing but problems syncing my apps. Every morning I wake, after charging my phone overnight, to error messages from iTunes. 14 apps had errors and could not be synced. On top of that, the app updates don’t work on the phone or in iTunes. My phone says they will finish downloading when I connect to iTunes, but they error out when I try to sync them. It has been a headache. I want to go bacck to a hacked versio of 1.1.4. However, it would be nice on my 3G…which can’t happen. Anyone else having similar issues?

ITunes says there are 14 app updates, but only offers 4 when I try to get them. It it all messed up.

I’m currently removing all my apps and hoping they install right when I try to put them back on.