Miles run in 2006

After buying some new fabulous shoes today at Running with E's in Adrian, I ran on the treadmill. That is not too exciting, but today it was. Running just two miles today, I reached my New Year's Resolution to reach 400 miles run for the year!

I just looked up my New Year's Resolution post and I never said that I wanted to run over 400 miles this year. I wrote that I wanted to finish the year with more then 350 miles. But I know that I mentioned it to everyone. Anyhoo.

My final road race of 2006 is November 5. I turned in my entry fee when I bought my shoes this afternoon. I'm running in the Souper Run 10K in Adrian. This will be my second 10K of the year. Last year's race was terrible. It was cold and very windy. I think the wind gust were about 25-30 mph. The 5K and 10K course run together until the two mile marker then the 10K course turns right and the 5K course turns left. Most of the people running in the 10K race took the easy way out and turned left. With them not finishing the 10K it messed up all of the timing. It was very irritating.

Total miles run up to October 26:
2004: 242.5
2005: 293.3
2006: 400.8

Snickers of pain

My lunch of Pizza Hut and snack of a Snickers bar felt like I was eating razor blades yesterday. It hurt to chew the crust off of my pizza. I love the crust, it is the best part of Pizza Hut's pizza. So instead of enjoying them, they are now treats for the dogs. BOO!

I bought the Snickers bar during halftime at a very cold regional soccer game in Brownstone, MI. The candy bar was stored in the cold concession stand right behind the football/soccer field. Me not thinking the candy bar would like a brick, I took a bite. It hurt and there was pain. Candy bars are supposed to be soft! But being stored in a building without that much heat and the cold temperatures, everything was working against me and my mouth. Damn you Snickers!

I called the dentist today and told them about my mouth. They said that the pain should have subsided by now. Not a good sign. I'm going for a visit 1:15 pm this afternoon. I can't wait for them to tell me that it is infected.

**Update: I went to the dentist this afternoon. He told me that I had dry socket. He put two medicated dresses in the extraction sockets. I have to go back on Friday to have them removed. In the couple of hours that I had them, they are really working. YEA!

Dry socket refers to a condition which my arise after the removal of teeth. Symptoms include a throbbing, radiating pain. This pain may travel to the ear, jaw, teeth, head or throat. This condition will resolve without treatment, however, the pain can be managed through the use of pain relievers and/or with medicated dressings placed in the extraction socket.

Sweetest Day

Saturday was Sweetest Day. Before I met Mike, I didn't know it existed.

Last year I didn't get Mike anything, not even a card, because I said it was a made-up holiday*. Sometime last week, I asked Mike what we were doing Saturday. He said nothing. I said we're not doing anything for Sweetest Day? He said that last year I said it was made up so he didn't plan on anything. It is rare that Mike and I have the same day off and actually do something together, so it was nice to make plans.

We decided to go to the movies. We went to see Flags of our Fathers. I was hoping it would be good because Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby were good Clint Eastwood films. After seeing the movie, I was disappointed. It was good, but not that good. In the beginning, it was hard to follow. It was jumping back in the past then to present time, then back to the past and all over. The movie also dragged in many parts. I was thinking during the movie, "Did this really need to be here?"

After the movie we went to dinner. With my jaw still hurting from my oral surgery, we settled on El Chaps. I had tacos and a cheese enchilada. It was soft for me to eat and didn't involve that much chewing. It was there we saw that the Tigers were down to the Cardinals in the World Series. The Tigers lost Game 1 of the World Series to the Cardinals 7-2. But at least one Michigan team won that day, Michigan beat Iowa in football 20-6.

*On the back of the card I bought Mike, it explained the origin of Sweetest Day.

Observed the 3rd Saturday in the month of October, Sweetest Day observance originated in Cleveland in 1922. Herbert Birch Kingston, a philanthropist and candy company employee wanted to bring happiness into the lives of orphans, shut-ins and others who were forgotten. With the help of friends, he began to distribute candy and small gifts to the underprivileged.

Primarily a regional observance celebrated in the Great Lakes region and the Northeast, Sweetest Day is gradually spreading to other areas of the country. Ohio is the top state for Sweetest Day sales, followed by Michigan and Illinois.

Books read in 2006

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe
Marilyn: The Last Take, Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham
The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, Sarah Churchwell
Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart, Charles Higham and Roy Moseley
Shutterbabe, Deborah Copaken Kogan
The Hidden Hitler, Lothar Machtan
Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees
Jack The Ripper: The Complete Casebook, Donald Rumbelow
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, Steven A. Shaw
Lincoln's Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk
The Dark Side of Camelot, Seymour M. Hersh
Sinatra: The Life, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan
The Third Reich in Power, Richard J. Evans
Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier, J. Randy Taraborrelli
Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, Kenny Moore
Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco and Six Intimate Friends, Judy Balaban Quine
Grace and Power, Sally Bedell Smith
Grace, Robert Lacey
There She is, Miss America, edited by Elwood Watson and Darcy Martin
Sex Wars, Marge Piercy
My Dark Places, James Ellroy
Hitler: Memoirs of a Confidant, edited by Henry Ashby Turner, Jr.

Currently Reading: L.A. Confidential, James Ellroy
Up Next: Elizabeth, Sarah Bradford

Dave and Erin's wedding - the picture story

Here we are in the parking lot of St. Anthony's Church in Columbus Grove, OH. We got a late start driving down to the wedding. Chris and Anna followed Sean and I because they didn't have the directions. I would say we made it in record time with Sean's speeding. We got to the wedding a half hour before it started.

Before the ceremony started I went downstairs to use the restroom. There is where Erin and her bridesmaids were hanging out before the ceremony. Erin was lovely in her dress.

Sean congratulating Dave after the wedding.

Anna and Chris were very hungry because they skipped breakfast. The pretzels, chips and nuts were good, but it wasn't filling them up. Sean asked the bartender what time dinner was supposed to be served. He said between 5 and 5:30 pm, which at that point in time was an hour and half away. We all grabbed our coats and headed to Ottawa to get some food. Anna and Chris went to McDonald's and Sean and I went to Subway.

Anna and Chris listening to the Tigers game in the car while waiting for Sean and I to return from Subway. Anna is laughing at Sean because he was pulled over by an Ohio State Trooper.

Sean looking over his traffic citation that he just received. While driving back from Subway in Ottawa to the reception in Columbus Grove, Sean was pulled over by an Ohio State Trooper. Sean was clocked on radar doing 72 mph in a 55. The Trooper wrote Sean for the entire amount.

Anna and Chris

Anna and Sean pass time before eating at the reception by playing a game of spoons.

Anna's spoon lost.

The happy couple Erin and Dave relaxing in the cool entryway of the reception hall.

Erin striking a pose.

Sean getting a little help from Anna drinking his Red Bull while enjoying the Tigers game on the bar TV.

My husband Mike couldn't make it to the wedding, so I asked my friend Sean to join me. Here we are dancing. This is the only picture of me from the evening taken by Anna. What is the guy in white doing behind us?

Chris and Anna take a turn on the dance floor before leaving.

Dave saying goodbye and thanks to his Michigan friends for coming to his wedding.

Pain, puke and more pain

This morning I went to the oral surgeon to have all four of my wisdom teeth removed. While sitting in the chair the dentist asked the usually questions - Are you allergic to any medicine? Who is driving you home? Have you ever had blood drawn or an IV?

After the question and answer session, he pulled up my right sleeve on my shirt to insert the IV. It took him a while to find a vein. When he did find one, I heard him say to the nurse that my vein wasn't taking the medicine. I asked if he found a vein and he said that sometimes those veins don't take the medicine. Since my right vein wasn't taking the medicine, he had to pull my left sleeve up on my shirt to stick the needle in for my IV. After he got the needle in he said that patients accused him of moving the lights on them. I said that I heard that from people. And that was the last thing that I remember.

Probably a half hour later, the nurse, or whatever you call them, told me to stand up and walk with her to another room. I laid down on a nice bed and then Mike came into the room. While the lady talked to him, I was drifting in and out of sleep. I think I heard the lady tell Mike to keep me up. After she told him everything that he needed to know. It was time to leave and get my pain medication.

I barely remember the drive to Meijer drive-thru pharmacy. The pharmacist said my prescription would be done in 25 minutes. Mike drove me home and helped me on the couch. He asked what I wanted for lunch. I just said fries. Mike left to get my prescription and came back with lunch and a bouquet of flowers for me. How sweet! Mike gave me my medicine and my fries. It took me probably 20 minutes to eat fries. I think that was the slowest time for me ever to eat fries.

After lunch both of us laid on our couches and fell asleep. Around 5 pm, Mike changed his clothes to his sexy suit for his city commission meeting. I was laying on the bed talking to him while he changed. I didn't feel good. We both walked back downstairs and I headed right to the bathroom and threw up twice. There went lunch. Mike kept telling me that was a side effect of the medication. About an hour or two after he left, I was hungry again. Mike bought me a McFlurry for lunch and put it in the freezer. I went to the freezer and ate it. About a half hour after eating it, I was running back to the bathroom. Up it came. Not just once, but a couple of more times. I was so disappointed. That flurry was good.

After throwing up more, I started feeling severe pain. I took another pain pill with water. That didn't stay down long either. A while later, I was back running to the bathroom to throw up.

So here I sit. I threw up everything I had today. My jaw is in pain. I'm still spitting up blood. One thing I remember the lady telling Mike that I couldn't brush my teeth until tomorrow, talk about nasty! There is nothing like the taste of puke in your mouth. YUM!

The day has finally come

Monday.

Three days from now it will be Monday. It is the day I have been dreading for a couple of months. Monday at 10:15 am, I will say goodbye to $400 and finally have all four of my wisdom teeth removed. I will be out during the surgery, which is good. The doctor said the procedure will take about a half hour. After the surgery my husband is the lucky one to take my drugged-up ass home. I'm so looking forward to the pain.

On the other hand, there is a part of me that is excited about getting my wisdom teeth removed. I'm excited because I don't have to set my alarm clock for three days, I'll be able to stay in bed past 4 am and have a couple of days off.

I'm so glad for sick days.

Yuck!

Before my husband and I started grocery shopping at Meijer, I went to the restroom. I walked in the ladies room and didn't see anyone else. I picked the second to last stall and took off my coat. I noticed shoes in the next stall. That woman finished her business and walked out without washing her hands. As I walked up to the row of sinks to wash my hands with soap and water, I said "disgusting" out loud. After I said that a woman walked out of a stall and over to the sinks. She put her hands under the automatic faucet and "washed" her hands with just water. After getting her hands wet, she played with her hair and started to walk out. Before she got to the door, I said, "gross" loud enough for her to hear it.

After washing and drying my hands, there was no way I was going to touch that door. I kicked it open with my shoe.

How can people not wash their hands with soap after using the restroom? That is the grossest thing ever. Especially when you're at a grocery store with food that I know that they are going to touch and put back on the shelf.

NASTY!!

Isn't that nice

While standing under an umbrella during a soggy soccer pre-game warmup, a woman walked up to me. She asked me if I worked at the local newspaper. I said yes. This is usually when they say that the newspaper got their daughter/son's name wrong in the paper or we left something out, but this was different. She told me that my photos of her son and the rest of the team were great. She said she was amazed with all of the wonderful pictures that I took of her son. I said thank you and walked away.

It is rare that two good things happen at a game - first a nice complement and then the game was canceled due to wet conditions of the field.

Random things

Over the weekend, my husband Mike and I saw The Departed with Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg. In the movie, Matt Damon's character, Colin Sullivan, is a dirty Massachusetts State Police officer working with the mob. I really liked this movie. All of the actors were great and Damon was so good that I wanted to kill him throughout the movie. He got what he deserved in the end.

Sunday afternoon with one lap to go at the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Dale Earnhardt, Jr was in the lead, behind him was Jimmie Johnson and Brian Vickers. Jimmie Johnson and Vickers pulled out from behind Earnhardt to pass him. Junior pulled out in front of Johnson to block. Vickers got in the back of Johnson, Johnson then got into Earnhardt, they both turned sideways and crashed. Vickers went on to win. Earnhardt and Johnson finished 23rd and 24th. Earnhardt said in interviews he would have been happy with second or third, but Vickers got too excited and crashed into the back of his own teammate. GRRRRR to Vickers!

The day after Talladega, Jeff Gordon cried to the media about Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Gordon said that "there was more bump-drafting than he'd seen in a long time." He also said one of the worst offenders was Earnhardt, who put the bumper of his No. 8 Chevrolet under countless cars as he battled from a lap down to take the lead. NASCAR warned Earnhardt during the race but said after the race that they didn't see any excessive bump-drafting. Cry some more Jeff.

My husband and I went to Fricker's today for lunch. The waitress came to take our order and told us that it was 25 cent wing day. She took our drink orders, I ordered water and Mike ordered Sierra Mist. Our waitress told us some rules to follow for 25 cent wing day, you MUST order a pop or alcohol. Mike covered us with his Sierra Mist. If you just order water, the wings are full price. She also went on to say that if we do not eat all of the wings, we can't take them home. Fricker's will not provide a to-go box.

While we were eating, a group of four were sitting at the table in front of us. I saw that they all had left over wings. I then saw them dumping all of their wings into a to-go box. Our waitress told us, no wings can leave the building. These people had 10 or more in their to-go box. I guess their waitress didn't get the wings memo.


Photo Credit: TOP - raremovieimages.com & Warner Brothers

Books read in 2006

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe
Marilyn: The Last Take, Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham
The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, Sarah Churchwell
Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart, Charles Higham and Roy Moseley
Shutterbabe, Deborah Copaken Kogan
The Hidden Hitler, Lothar Machtan
Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees
Jack The Ripper: The Complete Casebook, Donald Rumbelow
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, Steven A. Shaw
Lincoln's Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk
The Dark Side of Camelot, Seymour M. Hersh
Sinatra: The Life, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan
The Third Reich in Power, Richard J. Evans
Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier, J. Randy Taraborrelli
Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, Kenny Moore
Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco and Six Intimate Friends, Judy Balaban Quine
Grace and Power, Sally Bedell Smith
Grace, Robert Lacey
There She is, Miss America, edited by Elwood Watson and Darcy Martin
Sex Wars, Marge Piercy
My Dark Places, James Ellroy

Currently Reading: Hitler: Memoirs of a Confidant, edited by Henry Ashby Turner, Jr.
Up Next: LA Confidential, James Ellroy

Random things

UPS dropped something off at my door yesterday. A month after sending in my order, it had arrived. My sample AsukaBook was delivered to my house, by the way it is cool. Now I have all of my sample albums to show clients during wedding appointments.

The treadmill repair man came to the house yesterday. The front roller on the treadmill had to be replaced. He fixed it and before he left he said to me as I was sitting on the couch reading a book, "Everytime I come here you're reading a book. You're just like my father-in-law. You must love books." I smiled at him as he walked out of the door. Very observant you are Mr. Repair man. Hopefully we won't be seeing you any time soon. This afternoon I plan to try out my fixed treadmill. How I missed you.

Wednesday night Bravo aired the Project Runway 3 Reunion show. Can I just say how boring it was? I think that was the worst one yet. Keith, I think you're smoking something if you think the producers stashed those books under your bed. Season three was good, but not as good as Season two.

Ten more days until all four of my wisdom teeth are removed. I'm still working on the $400 that I need to pay the day of the surgery. I'm so looking forward to it.

Top Model recap

Tonight on America's Top Model, Monique, the girl I disliked so far this season was eliminated.

This week the girl's challenge was to walk a runway suspended over water. The night before Monique went to the hospital for dehydration. The morning of the challenge she got herself out of bed and went to the runway walk/photo shoot. Before hair and makeup she told Jay that she was sick and wanted a ride back to the house. I was so excited. If the girls miss a shoot that is it for them.

During judging Tyra said that many girls have been sick but still made it to the shoot. She mentioned last season's winner Danielle, not by name, but said she had an IV in her arm and rode an elephant through the jungle to make it to her shoot.

When Monique was eliminated she turned around and left judging without saying anything. Melrose couldn't hide her relief that the bitch was leaving. In Monique's exit interview she said that ANTM was a waste of time. If she had gone on in the competition I bet she wouldn't have thought that.

Photo Credit: www.cwtv.com/shows/americas-next-top-model

GRRR!

Today was the day the treadmill repair man was supposed to come to my house. At work today, I kept thinking I have to get home to wait for the repair man. Late morning I received a phone call from my husband. He left me a message: the treadmill repair man wasn't coming today. They had to reschedule for Thursday.

I have been waiting for a week to get my treadmill repaired. I was hoping to run tonight after photographing a cross country meet. That didn't happen. I got home and talked with my husband and the sky was getting dark. If the treadmill was repaired I could have ran in my basement. Now I have to play the waiting game for the repair man Thursday. BOO!

Siena Alumni 5K Run

I was still recovering from being sick all last week but I ran the Siena Heights University 5K Alumni Run in Adrian on Saturday. The Siena Alumni Run is part of Alumni Weekend at the university. Since Siena doesn't have football, I guess that would make Alumni Weekend our Homecoming.

It was a cold morning. It quit raining a couple of hours before the race, which was nice. I get to Siena and park in the Fieldhouse lot to walk to registration. I get in the Fieldhouse and walked to the pre-registration table. I recognized the woman taking names, it was the school's librarian, Melissa. When I was in college, she helped me find a lot of material for papers that I was writing at the time. I said my name and she looked at her sheet. My name wasn't there. I explained that I filled out my registration sheet and mailed my check Tuesday. I asked if she wanted me to pay, Melissa said she believed me and not to worry. She gave me my bib number and told me to get a T-shirt.

I went over to the T-shirt table and saw they were handing out the same shirts from last year. Not an issue, I liked last year's shirts. I asked for an extra large and the girl said that they didn't have any. She said the large's ran big. I took a large but I knew it would be too tight. I went back to my car to take off my windpants, coat, grab safety pins and throw my shirt in the passenger seat. To warm myself up I jogged back to the fieldhouse and went inside to stretch. The gym was a bit warm to me, but the other people in the gym were wearing sweatshirts and coats. I finished stretching and waited by the doors for Tim Bauer, Siena's Cross Country/Track coach, to tell the runners it was time to go.

At the start line, there were only a handful of non-ex-Siena Cross Country runners. There were kids of runners, parents of some runners and a 5k regular. We took our position at the start and we were off. It was a nice run down Hanke Lane of the fairgrounds, by the horsebarns and down Maple Avenue. On Maple Avenue, I knew that a few people were behind me. To that point no one threatened to pass me. At Broad and Maple, we turned down Broad and headed back to Siena Heights Drive. At this point someone was behind me. I could hear there footsteps. I never turned around to see who it was. But I knew that they were not going to pass me.

My mile and two mile splits were fast for me, but I knew the last mile would be the hardest - running uphill on Siena Heights Drive heading back to the Fieldhouse. Last year on the hill, I was passed by a runner. I hoped it wouldn't be the same this year. Every step I took I heard the steps behind me getting closer. I know I slowed on the hill, but I didn't get passed. I was so happy to see the crowd of workers telling me to turn right down the parking lot to the back door of the Fieldhouse. Once I got inside the gym I did tried my hardest to sprint, which at that point wasn't very fast. I heard Eric Clarke, owner of Running with E's, yelling for me to finish strong. I crossed the finish line in 32:28. Not my best time, but that is still a good time for being sick. I didn't turn around to see who was behind me, I just wanted a drink.

I grabbed my bottle of water and walked back into the gym to look at the board to see if I got a medal. About 5 minutes after the race, names were hung in the age groups. I saw my name was second in the 25-29 age group. While standing in the gym a man walked up to me and said, "I thought I was going to catch you on the hill." It was the same guy who passed me last year. Last year I was his pace maker. This year, he was mine.

All of the runners were called into the gym. Tim thanked everyone that ran and said that next year it will be called the Saints Run hoping to attract more runners. Then the medals were handed out. I received my silver medal and a handshake from Tim. The medals didn't come with a ribbon attached. Later that night, being the geek that I am, I went to Hobby Lobby to buy some ribbon. The medal is now hanging with my other medals in my work room. Since I started running 5k's I have received at least one medal a year. Right now I have 8. I hope to get one more this year.

Other then me still being sick, the weather was perfect to run Saturday. It was a little chilly, but otherwise a great day.

Books read in 2006

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe
Marilyn: The Last Take, Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham
The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, Sarah Churchwell
Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart, Charles Higham and Roy Moseley
Shutterbabe, Deborah Copaken Kogan
The Hidden Hitler, Lothar Machtan
Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees
Jack The Ripper: The Complete Casebook, Donald Rumbelow
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, Steven A. Shaw
Lincoln's Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk
The Dark Side of Camelot, Seymour M. Hersh
Sinatra: The Life, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan
The Third Reich in Power, Richard J. Evans
Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier, J. Randy Taraborrelli
Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, Kenny Moore
Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco and Six Intimate Friends, Judy Balaban Quine
Grace and Power, Sally Bedell Smith
Grace, Robert Lacey
There She is, Miss America, edited by Elwood Watson and Darcy Martin
Sex Wars, Marge Piercy

Currently Reading: My Dark Places, James Ellroy
Up Next: Hitler: Memoirs of a Confidant, edited by Henry Ashby Turner, Jr.

The joys of a cold

Last week I photographed two sporting events in the rain. This week, I'm paying for it.

Monday, I still could breathe fine. Tuesday morning I woke up and my throat was sore and breathing wasn't that easy. At work I was taking cold medicine and using so much Kleenex. I was sure to wash my hands after needing the Kleenex before touching my computer again. At the end of the day, I sprayed my work stations down with Lysol to get rid of any germs.

Sleeping Tuesday night/Wednesday morning was bad. I had to prop my pillows up and sleep with my head against the headrest. Not the most comfortable way to sleep. Last night was worst. I tried to sleep sitting up. That didn't work. Before going to bed, I took some NyQuil. It is supposed to help me sleep through the night. It didn't. I woke up at 1 am, not being able to breathe through my nose. I know I wasn't supposed to do this, I went back downstairs and took another cap full. That time it put me to sleep, but 4 am came too quickly. It was time to get ready to go back to work.

The past two days have been bad. Every 6 hours I'm taking DayQuil. At night it is NyQuil. Thursday morning I had the same result, up at 1 am, taking another cap full of medicine. I need my cold and sickness to go away. Saturday I need to be feeling better to run in a Alumni 5k at Siena Heights University in Adrian and then meeting a couple to shoot their engagement photos and talk about my photography services. I don't need to be stuffed up and sick. I just need to keep taking my medicine, try to get more sleep and stay out of the rain.

Puppies

Friday evening I saw PIMP MOBILE written on a car. At Clinton today I parked in the school lot next to a full size pickup truck. Handwritten on the dirty truck passenger side was: I eat puppies for breakfast & they are good. :)

When I was growing up I always wrote WASH ME on my Dad's dirty truck. Are puppies the new WASH ME?

Weekend Update

This past Saturday, my husband Mike and I drove down to Toledo, Ohio. Our first stop was Westgate Franklin Park. We parked at Macy's. Macy's took over for Marshall Fields, but I think seeing a Macy's in Toledo is weird. We just walked through to get to the other stores we wanted to go to.

Our first stop as always was Pottery Barn. I love that store, but it is so expensive. In the back of the store was their desks. I sat at one that I would love to have for my home office. If I got it, I know it would take up the entire room. Sadly, I had to leave it.

Our next stop was Dick's Sporting Goods. Mike and I looked at all of the new Under Armor clothes and running shorts. We didn't buy anything, but I think we spent more time watching the Michigan and Wisconsin football game on the big screen TV.

Walking out of Dick's, there was a crowd of people kneeling on the ground. An older lady fell and she needed help. The mall security guards were helping her and calling for an ambulance. We looked just like everyone else and went into Borders. I actually wanted to buy a book for I went to get it and Mike went back to the collectible section and found a book. I bought, actually Mike bought me Stephanie Klein's book, Straight Up and Dirty. It will have to wait. Earlier Saturday morning I went to the Lenawee County Library and borrowed four books. I need to read those first before reading books that I own.

After leaving Borders it was 3 pm, we decided to stop and eat some lunch at Famous Famiglia Pizzeria. Mike order a slice of pepperoni and garlic knots, I had the tomato and basil slice. While he was standing in line to pay, I went looking for a place to sit. I found an empty table that had an empty tray on the end of the table. I grabbed it and put it on the chair next to me. A guy sitting 3 tables down grabbed it from my hand and said it was his. He was saving all of the tables because more people were coming. I said I can move to a different table and he pouted and said I didn't have to. I stood up and found another table. When we were leaving, I wanted to see if was telling the truth about the other people, he was. Why couldn't he just say that the table was taken instead of pouting like a little girl?

Mike and I finished our mall trip at JCPenny. He was in the buying mood and bought four pairs of pants, a pair of windpants and a couple of shirts. He picked out a pair of pants that he never would have bought if I wasn't with him. He tried them on when we got home. They look very good on him.

After the mall, we drove to Bed Bath & Beyond. Friends of mine, Dave and Erin are getting married in October and I needed to buy them a wedding gift. We picked out kitchen accessories, towels, pot holders and oven mits. I kept putting stuff in the cart, I'm surprised Mike didn't stop me.

We finally drove back home after a busy shopping day. Before going home we stopped and had dinner at Main Street Stable and Tavern in Blissfield. We were seated next to a group of teens that were dressed up for a dance. They were very loud, but what teenagers aren't. Our dinners were excellent. We skipped the dessert and went home to watch the Michigan State/Notre Dame football game that I fell asleep during.

Ridin' Dirty

While driving to Onsted to photograph a football game, a black car was behind me at a traffic light in downtown Adrian. I saw some writing on the hood from my rearview mirror and I thought that the car owner had some design or sticker put on the hood of their car. The light changed and we went. The car that was behind me pulled into the next lane. The black car passed me and I saw more writing on the car.

My favorite was on the driver's side door: PIMP MOBILE. I laughed when I read it and it made me wonder. Why was a female driving the PIMP MOBILE?

Books read in 2006

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe
Marilyn: The Last Take, Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham
The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, Sarah Churchwell
Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart, Charles Higham and Roy Moseley
Shutterbabe, Deborah Copaken Kogan
The Hidden Hitler, Lothar Machtan
Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees
Jack The Ripper: The Complete Casebook, Donald Rumbelow
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, Steven A. Shaw
Lincoln's Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk
The Dark Side of Camelot, Seymour M. Hersh
Sinatra: The Life, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan
The Third Reich in Power, Richard J. Evans
Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier, J. Randy Taraborrelli
Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, Kenny Moore
Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco and Six Intimate Friends, Judy Balaban Quine
Grace and Power, Sally Bedell Smith
Grace, Robert Lacey
There She is, Miss America, edited by Elwood Watson and Darcy Martin

Currently Reading: Sex Wars, Marge Piercy
Up Next: My Dark Places, James Ellroy

Treadmill Update

In yesterday's post I briefly mentioned that my treadmill wasn't working correctly. About two weeks ago at the end of my 4 mile run the treadmill belt started to slip. When I was finished I told my husband about it. A couple of days later I got back on the treadmill and the belt was starting to slip worse and I could only run a mile.

A day or two later the repair man came to look at the treadmill. He turned it on, watched it and listened to it. He even had my husband get on and run. The repair man tighten the belt a half a turn and said that nothing was wrong with it. That evening after my photo assignment I came home and started to run on it. The first quarter of a lap was fine. Then it happened. The belt was slipping worse. I couldn't run on it and stopped after a half mile. Mad, I walked upstairs and wrote a note to my husband on the dry erase board saying the treadmill still wasn't working right.

The next day, my husband tighten the belt for me hoping to solve the problem. I came home from an photo assignment and got on the treadmill. With the belt tightening, it still didn't help, the belt was slipping. I needed to run so I stayed on the treadmill for a mile. I couldn't stay on it longer because running with my hands on the arms rests isn't natural.

Today the repair man came back to the house. My husband took him to the treadmill in the basement. I heard Mike tell the repair man that the treadmill belt was slipping worse and they turned the power on to the treadmill. They got the belt going and then they both walked back upstairs. The repair man said to my husband, "Now I know you're not making it up. I'll fix you up." And with that he was gone. I asked Mike what was wrong with the treadmill. He told me the rollers have to be replaced. We just had them replaced about a year ago. I guess they just don't last long. Or I just beat the crap out of my treadmill.

Miles Run in 2006

With my treadmill not working correctly, I ran outside today. It was the first time I had to wear a long sleeved shirt and a hat. The weather was a little cold at 54 degrees and a wind of 6 mph. On parts of my run, I could really feel the wind. But otherwise, the run was good. I almost made it through the entire 3.4 miles without cramps, but with less then a mile to go, I developed some. Instead of stopping, I kept on running. They went away after a couple of minutes.

I'm 46 miles away from my New Year's Resolution to run 400 miles for the year 2006.

Total miles run up to September 20:
2004: 219.6
2005: 245.3
2006: 354.0

Books read in 2006

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe
Marilyn: The Last Take, Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham
The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, Sarah Churchwell
Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart, Charles Higham and Roy Moseley
Shutterbabe, Deborah Copaken Kogan
The Hidden Hitler, Lothar Machtan
Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees
Jack The Ripper: The Complete Casebook, Donald Rumbelow
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, Steven A. Shaw
Lincoln's Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk
The Dark Side of Camelot, Seymour M. Hersh
Sinatra: The Life, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan
The Third Reich in Power, Richard J. Evans
Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier, J. Randy Taraborrelli
Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, Kenny Moore
Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco and Six Intimate Friends, Judy Balaban Quine
Grace and Power, Sally Bedell Smith
Grace, Robert Lacey

Currently Reading: There She is, Miss America, Collection of authors
Up Next: Miss America, 1945: Bess Myerson and The Year That Changed Our Lives, Susan Dworkin

Anniversary dinner

This past Friday, September 15, was my five year wedding anniversary. My husband and I enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Evans Street Station in Tecumseh.

To start out my husband had Charleston Crab Cake with Crispy Sweet Potato, White Wine-Mustard Butter and I had the Grilled Vegetable Stack with Goat Cheese, Crouton, Balsamic Reduction and Curry Oil. Then it was on to soup or salad, Mike had Michigan Potato Chowder with Crisp Bacon, Tabasco Oil and Chives and I had Petite Greens Salad with Bosc Pear, Bleu Cheese, Tiny Brioche Croutons and Herbed Balsamic Vinaigrette. And for the main course Mike and I both had the Char Crusted Beef Tenderloin with Forest Mushroom-Roasted Shallot Timbale with Goat Cheese and Asparagus. We didn't eat the Asparagus, I know, we're bad. For dessert we ordered cheesecake. When our server brought it out, she said it was on the house because it was our anniversary. How nice!

As an anniversary gift, Mike bought me a new 70-200mm /2.8 Sigma Lens. I was so excited and happy! He bought it to replace my 7-year old 80-200 Nikon /2.8 lens, that wasn't as good as it should be. I thought about selling the old lens. But I decided to keep it as a backup lens. I used my new lens today to photograph a golf invitational. It is awesome. I love it.

Mike's gift it wasn't as expensive or big as mine. He told me to save my money to spend on my photography business. I wanted to get him something. I decided to buy him a Lowe's gift certificate. Right now he is in the middle of redoing our staircase in the house. It is almost finished. At least all of the steps are back on the stairs. All but four are nailed down. But at least I won't fall down the stairs at 4 am. He liked his gift certificate and I know it will go to good use.

Runway Show

Friday morning at 9 am at The Promenade, the final 3 contestants (actaully the final 4) on Project Runway will be showing their fashion designs in Olympus Fashion Week in New York City.

I taped Project Runway Wednesday and watched it today. I was disappointed to see Kayne not make the final 4. I was hoping Jeffrey would have been eliminated. As for the final four designers, I'm looking forward to Michael and Laura's designs the most. All season their designs have been clean, simple and fabulous.

When Olympus Fashion Week posts photos on their site, I link the page.

Photo Credits: tv.yahoo.com

Random things

Mike "Boogie" won Big Brother 7: All Stars Tuesday night. Mike beat Erika by a vote of 6-1. Mike played a good game all season, but I think his Chilltown alliance Will should have made it to the final two and won. Without Will, Mike wouldn't have made it to the final.

The treadmill belt at my house is once slipping again. I was running on it yesterday and it was terrible. I ran a mile on the treadmill and had enough with the jerky belt. I finished up my run outside before heading to my boys soccer game at Adrian.

My husband is redoing the stairs in our house. For the past week, various steps have been missing from the staircase. Yesterday he pulled the rest of the steps off. We now have to walk up and down the stairs using the stringers. It is pretty interesting walking down the stairs at 4 am in the dark. I've been lucky, no falls so far.

Friday, September 15, is my five year wedding anniversary. My husband Mike took the day off from work and I have the night off as well. I don't know what the plans for the evening are except that we are eating dinner at a nice restaurant. I asked if I had to dress up. The answer was yes.

On Saturday morning, I'm meeting an friend in Jackson to take some baby and family photos. I'm meeting her, her husband and their son at a park. These photos will be used on my website, Deloris Clark-Osborne Photography, in the Galleries section. I hope to have new pictures up in a couple of weeks.

Finally next Wednesday Tyra is back with the start of a new season America's Next Top Model: Cycle 7 on CW. It will be a 2-hour season premiere.


Photo Credits: www.cbs.com & www.upn.com

Fax troubles

After a week of working on my sample wedding album, I sent a PDF to AsukaBook. To complete the order I had to fax my credit card information to the company. I don't have a fax machine so I went to Staples to use the self serving fax machine.

I walk into Staples and an older lady is using the fax machine. She had a bunch of paper in the fax machine. She was looking at all of the buttons, not sure if she was pressing the right one. She finally presses the button and the papers go through the fax. After sending her huge fax, a confirmation sheet printed and came out. She grabbed the paper from the fax and started to study it. After a few moments she asked an employee what the paper meant. The employee told her that it was a confirmation sheet and her fax went through. Finally, she collected her gobs of paper and her purse and left the fax line.

I walk up to the fax, fill out my cover sheet, stick the forms in and send the fax. Or so I thought. All of the papers went through, but the fax read BUSY. The confirmation sheet pops out and said that the line was busy and didn't go through. I tried it two more times, I got the same results. I was a bit frustrated and I wanted to stand there and keep sending it until it went through but a guy was behind me in line. I stepped out of the line to let him send his fax. I walked over to the counter and asked if I had to pay for the faxes that didn't go through. The Staples employee said no, but to keep trying.

I walked back over to the fax line and the guy was still faxing his stuff. Then out of nowhere comes the older lady who was in front of me. She walks right past me and puts all of her papers and purse on the counter next to the fax. The guy finishes his fax and leaves. I thought to myself, just to walk up to the fax and use it. But I didn't. I waited to see what the older lady was going to do. After a couple minutes of standing behind the fax, I finally walked up and tried the fax again. I looked over at the lady and she was writing more stuff on a handful of papers. She wasn't going to be using the fax for a while. I put my papers in, dial the number and get the same results: BUSY. I turned from the fax machine and left.

I walked out to my car and called AsukaBook and said my fax wasn't going through. The customer service girl said to try again because they have been really busy. I really didn't want to go to Staples again, so I decided I would find a different place to send my fax. As I was leaving the parking lot I saw a Postal Plus and it had a fax sign in the window. I parked my car and walked in. I asked the lady behind the counter if she could fax for me. She put in the papers and started the fax. It took about 2-3 minutes to go through, but it finally did.

If I stayed at Staples I would have paid more for the fax and probably would have been stuck behind the older lady again. Postal Plus was cheaper by 69 cents. I like that Postal Plus employees only use the fax machine. Now I don't have to wait in line behind people who don't know how to work a fax machine.

Books read in 2006

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe
Marilyn: The Last Take, Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham
The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, Sarah Churchwell
Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart, Charles Higham and Roy Moseley
Shutterbabe, Deborah Copaken Kogan
The Hidden Hitler, Lothar Machtan
Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees
Jack The Ripper: The Complete Casebook, Donald Rumbelow
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, Steven A. Shaw
Lincoln's Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk
The Dark Side of Camelot, Seymour M. Hersh
Sinatra: The Life, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan
The Third Reich in Power, Richard J. Evans
Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier, J. Randy Taraborrelli
Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, Kenny Moore
Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco and Six Intimate Friends, Judy Balaban Quine
Grace and Power, Sally Bedell Smith

Currently Reading: Grace, Robert Lacey
Up Next: There She is, Miss America, Elwood Watson and Darcy Martin

Busy, Busy

For past week, I've been working on my photography business. Right now I'm in the middle of creating a sample AsukaBook album. I have enjoyed creating it, but it is time consuming. I have nine more pages to make. I hope to finish it today. I posted pages 4 & 5 of my sample AsukaBook album.

I did finally buy something for my business that I needed. I finally got around to making my business cards. I made them Wednesday and they shipped on Thursday. They should be coming any day now. I still need to buy some more sample albums, fill them with pictures, complete my wedding contract and make price lists for prospective clients.

There is so much left to do, but there isn't enough time to do it.

**I updated my Wedding Photo Gallery on my business website, Deloris Clark-Osborne Photography. Click on the Wedding Photo Gallery link to see photos from last week's wedding.

Bills, Bills, Bills

I had my oral surgery consultation this afternoon. I knew it would cost me money to get all four of my wisdom teeth removed, but I didn't think it would be so much.

My appointment was for 1:15 pm. I got there about 5 minutes early. I sat down in the waiting room because two people were at the window discussing payment. I overheard them saying that a payment like that would be an entire paycheck. They got there bill taken care of and left. I went to the window and gave my name. The receptionist gave me about 5 sheets of information to fill out. It took about 5-10 minutes to read and fill it all out. I gave them back to the receptionist and waited another 5 minutes. My name was called and I went back and sat in a big white exam chair.

I waited a couple of more minutes then the Doctor came in. He introduced himself and went on to explain the benefits of having my wisdom teeth removed. The doctor said that usually wisdom teeth come out when someone is 17, not 27. I guess I missed that one. After his talk he said he would give me some time to think about it. I told him that I would have them removed. Just like that I was asked to go back out to the receptionist to make an appointment.

I watched as the lady was writing numbers on a bill. The numbers were large. She handed the bill to me and said that half needed to be paid the day of the surgery. There were three final numbers on the bill. I asked if my final total was $800. No. She said that I need to pay half of that on the day of my surgery. I have to bring $400 with me. Then with the largest number on top, which was $1400, I need to pay that off in 3 months. Perfect. There goes Christmas. Did the insurance pick up any of this?

So much for my other bills in life, i.e. Student Loan, Car Payment, House Payment. Maybe I should delay this for another 10 years. Maybe then, I would have the money saved up.

The Wedding

Over the weekend, I was excited to spend some time with Krista Noorman and her assistant Heidi from A Picture's Worth. Krista let me tag along with herself and Heidi to a wedding up in Clarkston, MI.

First, we met at a salon in Waterford. The bridal party was there getting their hair and makeup done. Everyone in the party was happy with their hair styles except for one bridesmaid. Both the bridesmaid and the stylist were getting frustrated. The bridesmaid brought in a photo of what she wanted her hair to look like and it was no where near the picture. Everyone convinced her to do her hair differently and she did. The final result I thought looked nice, but the bridesmaid wasn't too excited with it.

The bridal party left and we waited for the flower girls to come in. The girls came in around 3:30 pm. I took some pictures and Krista took pictures of both girls getting their hair done. Krista, Heidi and I left around 4 pm and headed to Quinzos Subs just a couple of miles away from the wedding location in Clarkston.

Krista informed me a week before the wedding that we the photographers wouldn't be eating at the reception. The bride couldn't get the mansion to budge on our meals and the couple would have been charged for the full price, so that is why we had to eat at Quiznos. We were all ok with that, but later in the evening, I was really getting hungry. The mansion served a buffet style and there was so much extra food! I'm sure we could have walked up to the line and enjoyed a plate without anyone noticing.

When dinner was served Krista and Heidi were standing in the doorway that led to the seating area. I didn't want to stand in the doorway, so I was walking around the library and the hall area. The lady in charge of the food, told Krista and Heidi to leave the dining area because there wasn't enough room. Krista said to Heidi and me that was the first time she was ever kicked out of a wedding. So we walked out to our cars and had some water and Krista and Heidi had a snack.

While everyone was eating, we walked around to keep ourselves busy. We all missed photos of people singing to the couple because we were not allowed in the dining room during dinner. After a while, we all went back into the dining room to get photos of the couple cutting the cake. They cut their cake and everyone else had a smaller cake on their table. I thought it was a good idea when we first walked into the dining area when we first got to the mansion. After seeing how much cake was not eaten, then I thought it wasn't a good idea. At some of the tables, only 1 to 2 slices was taken from a cake. I really wanted to walk over to a table and start helping myself because there was practically a whole cake sitting at an empty table. Someone beat me to that, the food lady that kicked us out of the dining room. Heidi said she took half of the cake back to the kitchen area.

Finally around 9 pm the first dance started. Then there was the daddy-daughter dance. The bride was crying during the dance. Watching them made me think of what I missed at my own wedding. My dad passed away 3 years before I got married and he didn't get to walk me down the aisle or have that dance with me. I bet it would have made my day just a bit nicer. After all of the required dances were done, then everyone started to dance. I took pictures of people on the dance floor with slow shutter speeds, some turned out really good.

After 10 pm it was finally time for the bouquet toss. We were all so happy because our day was almost over and my feet were killing me. The bride tossed her bouquet, the groom took off the garter and it was time to go. I put my equipment away, thanked Krista and we both left the reception.

I thought it would be easy getting home because it was easy getting there. That didn't happen. I took the roads that led us there. Somewhere I missed a turn and was driving down some backroad. I thought if it leads me nowhere I'll turn around. It lead to a city and I thought I would see Dixie Road somewhere. I never saw it. I kept driving. I had directions for 75 if I couldn't find my other way home. I passed a sign that said Auburn Hills. I knew I went too far, I hopped on 75. I got out my 75 directions and there was about 20 different ways I supposed to take. I wasn't too thrilled about that, then I saw a sign for M-59. I decided to take that.

M-59 was a slow drive. Most of it was in a city limit so the speed limit was 35 or 40. About 20 to 30 minutes on 59, my turnoff of 23 was near. At this point I was really starting to get tired. My contacts had been in since 7 am and it was now 11:30 pm or even close to midnight. About 20 miles outside of Ann Arbor my right contact was blurring on me. It is so nice to drive on 23 with one good contact. I could have pulled over and put eye drops in, but that would delay me getting home. When I was back in Adrian, I was really tired. Near the movie theater, I thought a mailbox was a deer.

I decided to fill up my car before going home. Gas was cheaper then it was Saturday morning and the trip took 1/2 a tank. I filled up and got ready to pull out of the lot. I ran over a curb that come out of nowhere. I swear I didn't see it. I pulled into my driveway around 12:45 am. It was a long day. I slept until 9:45 am Sunday morning.

I want to thank Krista again for letting me shoot with her. The pictures will go to good use.

The waiting game

I drove out to Sand Creek Thursday to photograph a varsity football game. The scheduled start time was supposed to be 7 pm. I got to the football field around 6:15 pm thinking that the JV game would be over and warm up for the varsity would be going on. I parked my car and saw the scoreboard through the trees. It read: 10:00 to go in the 3 quarter.

I walked to the ticket booth and found out it was halftime. The JV game didn't even start until 5 pm. How is a varsity game supposed to start at 7 pm if the JV game starts at 5? Well it didn't. There was a lot of waiting around. Around 7:20 pm, the varsity players started warming up on the field. The game finally started at 7:45 pm.

I left the game at halftime, Sand Creek was beating Maple Valley 20-6. Driving back these spots were hitting my windshield, for some reason I thought they were bugs. It wasn't. It started to rain. I guess I left the game at a good time. When I got back to the office at 9:15 pm, it was raining pretty hard. When I walked into the newsroom, another photographer was downloading his images to the computer. I had to wait for him to finish. After he was done, I downloaded my 93 images. It took about 5-10 minutes to edit them. I ended up keeping only 20 pictures. Sand Creek beat Maple Valley 36-12. Click here to read the story.

I ended up leaving work around 10:15 pm. When I got home, I let my dogs outside and I sat down and rewound the tape in the VCR to see who was evicted off of Big Brother. Thursday there was two evictions, Danielle and George ended up leaving the house. That leaves the final four of Erika, Janelle, Mike and Will. I watched about 5 minutes of the tape, got ready for bed, let the dogs back in the house and hopped in bed. I got in bed around 11 pm. My alarm woke me up at 4:05 am to get ready for work. I had less then 5 hours of sleep, GRRRR!

After I watch my Big Brother tape and eat lunch, I think it will be time for an afternoon nap before my football game tonight in Morenci.

The photo above was used on the front page of the sports section. I borrowed my photo from my newspaper's website.

Miles Run in 2006

The college soccer game that I photographed today was supposed to start at 4 pm. It didn't. It was pushed back to 5 pm. With the time change that forced me to change my running plans for the evening. I really wanted to run outside while it was still daylight, but it didn't work out. After downloading, editing my pictures and making the contact sheets, I finally left work at 6:30 pm. By the time I got home, talked with my husband, changed clothes and stretched, it was almost 7 pm. It was getting dark and the sun was starting to go down. I ended up running 3 miles on my treadmill watching the Food Network and Alton Brown.


Total miles run up to August 30:
2004: 208
2005: 235.1
2006: 325.9

Big Brother drama

I watched the second half hour of Big Brother 7 after returning home from shooting a basketball game. I didn't see who Erika nominated for eviction, which happened to be George and Janelle. Janelle won the Power of Veto and everyone knew she would use it on herself to take herself off of the block. Since Erika is in an alliance with Chilltown, they decided to sway Erika's decision and convince her to put up Danielle, her original alliance in the house, for eviction.

When Danielle found out that she was going to be nominated for eviction she got angry at Erika. She said that Erika betrayed her. If Danielle does get evicted, she said she will not give Erika her vote to win the show.

Do these people understand that Big Brother is a game built on lies and betrayal? Houseguests trust too easily and get hurt when they are lied to.

Photo Credits: www.cbs.com/primetime/bigbrother7/

Alumni basketball scrimmage

Over the weekend, I played in an alumni basketball scrimmage. I was hoping to see people that I played with on the team, but no one showed up.

My sister Denise and I were 2 of 4 alumni to show up. It was sad. The current varsity coach gave us, the alumni, four current players so we could have a team. All four of the alumni started the first 10 minute scrimmage. I have ran over 320 miles this year, but I got really tired fast. I guess I should add speedwork to my running. We played man-to-man and that really wore me out. We had a couple of fast breaks that I actually kept up with and I ran back on defense. After five minutes, we would sub out to let some of the varsity girls play, while us old people took a rest in the bleachers.

In the scrimmage, I had two goals: make a 3-pointer and dive on the floor. I accomplished both of those. In the first scrimmage, a girl had a hand in my face and I shot and made a 3 over her. That was cool. Then a couple of periods later, I went after a loose ball and tried to beat my defender to it. I drove on the floor and the ball went off my fingertips out of bounds. The girl who was guarding me came up and asked if I was alright. I was fine. Now I just have a massive bruise on my left thigh. In the other 5 periods, I could have scored more points. The ball liked to roll off the rim on my left-handed layups. GRRR!!!! Very disappointing.

In all, we played six 10-minute periods. The alumni won 4 and lost 2. By the end of the scrimmage, all of us alumni were very tired. The parents of the varsity talked to us after the scrimmage. They said we should be sore the next day. My arms and shoulders were sore from shooting and they continue to hurt. My legs were fine, just a bit tired. I tried running on the treadmill Sunday, I couldn't make it past two miles. My goal for Sunday was to run three miles, but I don't think my legs could have made it.

The varsity coach said that next year he would hold the alumni scrimmage in early August. If it is held then we probably would have more people playing before they go off to college. If that's true, then we can really have an alumni game. Not a couple alumni with varsity players on one team. We worked with what we had and made the best of it.

Random things

I was contacted today by TransWestern Publishing (aka: the Yellowbook) about placing ads in the Yellowbook for my business Deloris Clark-Osborne Photography. The representative that called me said the deadline for the Ann Arbor phone book was today. I had to decide about my ad practically on the spot. I ended up buying ads in both books. I'm hoping those ads send some business.

Tonight is the 2006 season kickoff of high school football. I will be covering a game at Sand Creek. This is the 7th year that I have been photographing sports for the newspaper. Here's to another enjoyable football season.

Tomorrow morning I will be playing in an alumni basketball game at Sand Creek. The last alumni game was two years ago and it was fun. A bunch of alumni came back to scrimmage the current girls varsity basketball team. I hope the turnout for this year's game is good. It would be nice to see people that I played with on varsity come back.

Books read in 2006

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe
Marilyn: The Last Take, Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham
The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, Sarah Churchwell
Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart, Charles Higham and Roy Moseley
Shutterbabe, Deborah Copaken Kogan
The Hidden Hitler, Lothar Machtan
Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees
Jack The Ripper: The Complete Casebook, Donald Rumbelow
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, Steven A. Shaw
Lincoln's Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk
The Dark Side of Camelot, Seymour M. Hersh
Sinatra: The Life, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan
The Third Reich in Power, Richard J. Evans
Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier, J. Randy Taraborrelli
Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, Kenny Moore
Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco and Six Intimate Friends, Judy Balaban Quine

Currently Reading: Grace and Power, Sally Bedell Smith
Up Next: Grace, I'll get the author's name later

Waiting

My husband and I decided eat at Fricker's in Adrian after seeing Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. We pull into the parking lot , its full because it is a new restaurant and it was 25 cent wing night.

We walked in and my husband gave his name to the hostess. She wrote down the time, 7:12 pm. Every table is full. The waiting area benches are full. And more people were waiting outside. At 7:30 pm, the hostess calls our name and we are lead to our table. After getting seated a waitress came and got our drink and cheese stick order and the order of wings. Our drinks and cheese sticks come out within five minutes. We finished the cheese sticks, got refills on our drinks and wait.

Still waiting I got another refill of water. My husband and I thought that the wings would be out shortly. We were wrong. At 8 pm, still no wings. But the college guys across the room got about 50 wings delivered to their table. To pass the time, we watched the Tigers on the big screen TV behind the bar. Still watching the game at 8:15 pm and no wings in sight. Another 10 minutes go by, the waitress brings the table behind my husband their wings. So we knew our were coming out soon. A couple of minutes later, the waitress brings our wings to the table at 8:30 pm. Mike and I ate our 10 wings a piece. (I can't believe I ate 10 of them.) We paid our bill and walked out of Fricker's around 8:55 pm.

They wings were very good, worth the hour wait. Hopefully next time we go back it won't take an hour to get 20 wings.

Welcome back to pavement

Instead of running indoors on my treadmill Monday afternoon, I decided I would go outside. It was a nice day. A little bit of a breeze and 84 degrees. Granted I haven't run outside in 3 to 4 weeks because of the heat and humidity, I decided it was time to go back outside and run.

Halfway through my 3.5 mile run, my knees started to hurt. And they continued to hurt throughout the rest of the evening.

My legs are still sore today, but I will be back outside on the pavement Thursday.

My weekend

This past weekend was very busy. Here are the highlights:

Friday
- Photographed NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Qualifying Friday at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. Jeff Burton won the pole. Dale Earnhardt Jr's starting position for the GFS Marketplace 400 was 17th.
- Photographed the ARCA race that followed the Cup qualifying. Some guy who drove a Serta car won.

Saturday
- Woke up early Saturday morning to get ready to photograph the Cross Country Preview meet in Tecumseh. The rain was fantastic to shoot in. There is nothing like trying to keep an umbrella balanced on your shoulder while taking pictures. Later in the race, Russ (Onsted's XC assistant coach) held the umbrella for me while I was taking photos.
- Drove to Bedford, Mich. later that evening to photograph a Women's Professional Football League game. After getting what I needed I decided to sit in the bleachers to watch the rest of the game. I have never seen so many bugs. They were flying all over and were crawling on the bleachers. I'm glad I wore pants and had a jacket with a hood to keep them away.
- Called my husband while waiting for the WPFL game to start. He told me that Dale Earnhardt, Jr won the Busch Race at MIS. Probably would have been the only chance to see Junior win in person. In the words of X the Eliminator from Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law: "DAMN IT".
- On the drive back from Bedford, I was behind people who decided 45 mph was the speed limit for US 223. Needless to say, I passed them all and continued driving 62 mph.

Sunday
- Got out of bed early to finish housework before driving up to Michigan International Speedway. The dogs were disappointed that they had to stay outside while I finished the housework. They both gave me the sad faces when I locked them in the kitchen when I was leaving.
- Had a nasty media lunch at the track. The hot dogs were gross and coming apart even before I grabbed one for my plate. I think they were in the boiling water a little too long. After finishing my potato salad, coleslaw, a small piece of chicken and some of the nasty hot dog, Domino's Pizza employees brought small personal pepperoni pizza's for everyone. BOO!
- During driver introductions I was amazed that Dale Earnhardt, Jr was getting booed. He rarely gets booed.
- I enjoyed seeing Dale Jr lead the race. Too bad he had lugnut problems on his last pit stop, he could have competed with Matt Kenseth for the win.
- A fan crawled onto the media risers with all of the photographers in Victory Circle. He was forced to leave by MIS personnel. HA HA!
- Sitting in race traffic for 25 minutes. Most of it was spend trying to leave the infield parking lot.

So Happy!!

My husband installed the hard drive that failed on us today. Everything was recovered. The photos and documents that I thought I lost forever, I have them again. Now I'm in the middle of burning so many CDs. There is no way that I'm losing them again.

Next week, I will be posting Encore rehearsal and recital photos on my Deloris Clark-Osborne Photography instaproofs site. Photos can be purchased on this site. Also, you will be able to view everything that I shot those two nights.

A good day so far

Today has been good for me.

I got my paycheck at work. On the paycheck was my photo sales commission. Hey, it wasn't much, but at least I'm finally getting paid for it. Unlike my last paycheck, most of it went into the bank.

I got back my hard drive that the computer company in town said it couldn't fix. My co-workers friend recovered everything from the hard drive. Now I have to wait for my husband to install it.

I'm so happy. I got Photoshop today! I was going crazy without it. Along with the hard drive, I have to wait for my husband to install it. When it is installed, it will be nice to edit photos once again.

Now it is off to watch Project Runway that I taped from Wednesday night.

In Memory of Dad

John Wayne Clark

April 10, 1942 - August 15, 1998

ADRIAN - John Wayne Clark, 56, of Adrian, passed away Saturday, August 15, 1998, at Oaklawn Hospital in Marshall, Michigan.

He was born April 10, 1942, in Adrian, the son of Wayne and Eloise (Rathbun) Clark. After graduating from Sand Creek High School in 1960, he served in the National Guard. On February 24, 1968, John married Mary Teresa Hallett in Swanton, Ohio. She survives.

John was a life-long farmer and raised hogs. He was a member of the Lenawee County Farm Bureau and the ASC. He was very involved in the community, serving on the Sand Creek Board of Education for 16 years, including working on the High School Building Committee, and served on the Madison Township Board of Review. John was also a member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Adrian.

Besides his wife, Mary, John is survived by his seven children, David, Deborah, Diane, Daniel, Deanna, Denise and Deloris. Also surviving are his mother, Eloise Clark, and a sister Jean (Don) Ward. Preceding John in death was his father Wayne, in 1971.

The Funeral Mass for John will be held Wednesday, August 19, 1998, at 10 a.m. at St. Joseph's Catholic Church with Fr. James Lothamer, s. s., as celebrant. Burial will follow in Fairfield Cemetery. Visitation will be held at the Braun Everiss Wagley Funeral Home on Tuesday from 2-4 and 6-9 p.m. with a prayer vigil at 7:30 p.m.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Sand Creek Community Schools or St. Joseph's Catholic Church.

Father, into your hands we commend our brother. We are confident that with all who have died in Christ, he will be raised to life on the Last Day and live with Christ forever. Thank you for all the blessings you gave him in this life to show your Fatherly Care for all of us and the fellowship which is ours with the Saints in Jesus Christ. Welcome our brother into Paradise and help us to comfort each other with the assurance of our faith until we all meet in Christ to be with You and our brother forever. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let the Perpetual Light shine upon him.

Lenawee County Fair Queen Contest photos

Over on my photo blog, DCO's Photo Gallery, I started to post pictures from the 2006 Lenawee County Queen's Contest. Today's post is of the winner, Jessica Adams. Tomorrow's post will be on First Runner-Up Melissa Beteau. I will continue to post pictures of all the remaining queen candidates.

Two long weeks

Friday, I worked a lot of hours. 14.5 hours to be exact. I worked the morning shift 4:30 am to noon. Then I had a assignment to shoot from 1:30 pm to 2 pm. Then worked the night shift from 5:30 pm to 12:30 am Friday morning. (I took an half hour dinner break.)

This morning I had to get up early, get ready and drive to Madison Township and shoot football mugs at 8:30 am. The football team didn't come out to the field until 8:45 am. If I didn't have the football mugs to shoot today, this would have been a full day off. But no such luck.

Tomorrow, which is Sunday, is the start of the Lenawee County Fair. It has been my job for the last 4 years to photograph the Queen's Contest. So I will continue with tradition and photograph the contest. Before the candidates take the stage, there will be a Lenawee County Fair Queen Reunion. Should be interesting. Some of the former queens will be doing talents on stage. I heard many are coming back.

Since I'm working tomorrow that will be a week straight of work. Next week won't be any different. Work Monday-Friday as usually and then I will be up at Michigan International Speedway for NASCAR race weekend which starts Friday afternoon.

I will be looking forward to August 26. Maybe I'll finally get a day off.

Random things

My husband and I enjoyed our VIP dinner Wednesday at the new Fricker's in Adrian. The food and service was excellent! For an appetizer, we ordered the wings. Those were some of the best wings I ever had. For dinner, Mike ordered the ribs and I had the A1 burger. dinner, we both had the dessert of the day: cheesecake with chocolate dressing. I would recommend Fricker's to everyone! Good food that isn't very expensive.

Good News! One of my co-workers has a friend that knows a lot about computers. After the computer place in town told my husband that they couldn't recover anything from our hard drive, we gave our hard drive to my co-worker and he mailed it to his friend to see what he could do with it. He didn't promise us anything, but he would see if he could recover any data or photos. Wednesday I received a call from my co-worker. He told me his friend recovered EVERYTHING from our hard drive. He is in the process of mailing it back to us. I'm so happy! I had photos on the hard drive that I didn't burn to CD's that I thought I lost forever. As soon as we get the hard drive back, I swear I'm going to be burning about 20 CD's of just photographs. I learned my lesson. Download photos to computer, immediately burn them to a CD.

I just bought my box for the upcoming Box Show at the LCVA Gallery. My theme for my box this year is destruction. I love to photograph abandoned buildings (not too many in Adrian), but I'm going to focus on one and feature some of my photographs on and in the box. Sand down the finish on the outside of the box and spray paint it. Entries are due August 16. I really have to get working on this.

If you're interested in the box show, here is some information:

Member’s 4th Annual Box Show and Auction

Exhibition: August 17 – September 23, 2006

Silent Auction: September 23, 2006

The Box Show and Auction is the LCVA’s only fund raising event of the year. Exhibiting members are given the task to creatively make art that takes the form of a box, embellishes a box, is contained within a box, is attached to a box, or depicts a box. The exhibition includes both functional boxes and nonfunctional boxes and all are available for purchase through the silent auction will be held on September 30th, 2006, 7 – 9 pm. Wine, cheese and hors d’oeuvres will be served. Public invited. This year, juror Peggy Grant, Art Director of Toledo's 20 North Gallery will present awards.

Gallery Address: 112 West Maumee

Adrian, MI 29221

Phone: 517-265-4403

VIP Dinner

This week in the mail, my husband received an invivation to attend an VIP dinner with a guest at the new Fricker's opening in Adrian. Fricker's is set to open its doors to the general public on Thursday. But since my husband is special*, we get to go there tonight and eat a good meal.

We ate at a Fricker's down in Toledo, Ohio about a month ago and enjoyed the food. I hope the Adrian Fricker's will be just as good. I'll let everyone how it is Thursday.


* My husband is special, meaning he is a city commissioner.

Photo Credit: www.dotoledo.org/gtcvb/images/restaurants/frickers_01.gif

Miles Run in 2006

After running 3 miles today on my treadmill, that put my total mileage so far this year at 302.9 miles. The next day I will run is Thursday. I think I will reach my New Year's Resolution goal of running 400 miles this year. Only 97.1 miles to go.

Total miles run up to August 8:
2004: 186.9
2005: 220.7
2006: 302.9

My new website

I started my own business, Deloris Clark-Osborne Photography. I offer affordable photo packages for engagements, weddings, families, children and all occasions.

I photograph events using a photojournalistic approach. As a working photojournalist for 7 years, I have a great skill of observation, working quickly and aniticipating the shot. I prefer to photograph people naturally, but will photograph traditional posed shots for those who prefer them. Let my years of photojournalism experience capture the special moments fo your day.

I work primarily in Southeast Michigan and Northwest Ohio, but I am available for travel upon request.

Check out my website. It is awesome. Thanks Emily!

Books read in 2006

When on vacation, I usually buy a book that will keep me entertained while my husband is still sleeping in the morning. During my trip to Chicago, I found the book Bowerman and the Men of Oregon at Borders and bought it. I have been looking for this book for a while and couldn't find it locally. I just finished it and I have to say it was a really great book. If you love track, you'll like the story of University of Oregon's legendary coach Bill Bowerman.

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe
Marilyn: The Last Take, Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham
The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, Sarah Churchwell
Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart, Charles Higham and Roy Moseley
Shutterbabe, Deborah Copaken Kogan
The Hidden Hitler, Lothar Machtan
Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees
Jack The Ripper: The Complete Casebook, Donald Rumbelow
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, Steven A. Shaw
Lincoln's Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk
The Dark Side of Camelot, Seymour M. Hersh
Sinatra: The Life, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan
The Third Reich in Power, Richard J. Evans
Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier, J. Randy Taraborrelli
Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, Kenny Moore

Currently Reading: Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, and Six Intimate Friends, Judy Balaban Quine
Up Next: Grace and Power, Sally Bedell Smith

The vacation

My husband and I returned Friday evening from our vacation in Chicago. Besides the two straight days of 100+ degree weather and the hour long delay to get on the Amtrack train to come home, we had a great time.

We shared many firsts on the trip. The first night we were in Chicago, my husband and I ate at Chipotle. It was very good and cheap! We also took a boat ride down the river, a bus tour, went to Sears Tower, the King Tut exhibit, went to Niketown four times, Navy Pier, ate at a number of great restuarants like the Cheesecake Factory, Pizzera Uno and one of the best steakhouses Chicago Chophouse.

I won't have Photoshop for a while yet. I will try to post photos of the trip over at DCO's Photo Gallery soon.