A day of rest

After working 13.5 hours on Tuesday, I decided to leave work today after 6. 5 hours. One of the reasons I left early was my watch battery died this morning at work. I kept looking at my watch during work, it was blank. I kept forgetting it was dead. After leaving work, I went to JCPenny and had a new battery put in. It is a Timex Ironman watch, it took me 10 minutes to program the day, year and time.

The second reason I left early was I had less then 5 hours of sleep. I didn't get home until 10 p.m. Tuesday night. I still had to eat dinner and take a shower. I didn't get to sleep until after 11 p.m. I woke up this morning before 4 a.m. So after getting my battery replaced in my watch, taking a photo order to Image Gallery, cashing a check at the bank and filling up my car with gas, I stretched out on my couch and took a 2 hour nap.

Wednesday is a day that I schedule myself to run on. I was putting on my GPS wrist tracker/timer and it started thundering. I watched the Weather Channel and the radar showed a big patch of storms/rain heading to Adrian. Not wanting to chance it, I ran on my treadmill in the basement. Today was a nice easy run of 3 miles. When finished running, I went upstairs and looked out the window. It just started to rain.

Today was the day for taking it easy. Tomorrow, I won't be leaving work early like today. But I will try to get my schedule back to normal, with an afternoon nap before my girls soccer district game.

A quick post

Today starting at 4 p.m. is The Daily Telegram Individual Invitational (DTII) or as I like to call it the DTII's, hosted at Adrian High School. The newspaper I work at hosts a track invitational every year of Lenawee County's best track and field athletes. The top 8 athletes with the fastest times/or distances are invited to participate. So I will be busy taking many, many photos during the entire meet.

Thunderstorms went through town around noon. Now it is sunny and starting to get hot and humid. I hope the thunderstorms and rain stay away the rest of the day.

A busy day

This morning I got out of bed around 7 a.m. It felt good to sleep in on a Monday morning. Usually Monday through Friday I'm out of bed by 4 a.m. After letting the dogs outside, I watched some TV. Nothing really great on TV so I watched some Fox and Friends until 7:45 a.m., but before getting dressed to run I flipped it to the The Weather Channel. The local on the 8's said it was 71 degrees in Adrian with 88% humidity. It wasn't even 8 a.m. yet!

After watching the weather I decided to stay indoors and run on my treadmill. I started running on the treadmill and my legs were so tired from the 4 mile run on Sunday evening. I thought I wouldn't make it through my 3 mile run this morning. I wanted to stop and not continue a couple times because my legs were so dead. I finally made it to 3 miles and my t-shirt was soaked. It didn't sweat as bad as Sunday, but it was close. After cooling down from my run I took and shower and then sat on my couch reading a book and watched more TV.

Around noon, I woke up my husband. It was hot in our house, so we really didn't eat lunch. We don't have air conditioning. So while waiting for my husband to leave for work, I took a nap on the couch. When my husband left for work at 1:45 p.m., I got in my car and headed off to two high school graduation parties.

Instead of giving the girls a card and money, I had photographs that I took of them during the cross country and track seasons and had them enlarged, matted and framed. When I handed the photos to both girls I knew that they loved them. The mother of one of the girls already said that she wanted it. So I guess I scored with the pictures.

After the open houses, I drove to my mom's house to spend some time with her, my sisters and my brother. We all talked and had a few laughs. Then I had to go to let my dogs out of the kitchen. I got home and I let them out in the backyard to stretch and do their business. To help them cool off, I gave them each an icecube to eat. They both enjoyed them and ate them quickly.
Now with the dogs laying on the floor downstairs, it is time to change into some other clothes, read more in my book and wait for my husband to come home around 6 p.m. Then tomorrow morning my routine of getting up at 4 a.m. starts all over again.

Running in the dark

Usually on Sundays is my long run of the week. Today wouldn't be any different.

I didn't run this morning because I started doing housework early. Then I got hungry and had something to eat. After I eat, I know I can't run without cramps for 2 or 3 hours. If I waited that long it would be time for lunch. I decided to wait until later in the day to run.

Five o'clock came around and I laced up my Mizuno Wave Riders and stayed inside to run. During my run it is 89 degrees outside, but feels like 93 degrees. And a wonderful bonus of 50% humidity. Those elements were a big factor for me to run on my treadmill in the dark in my basement. I had a fan going and my TV turned to ESPN2 to watch the awesome Prefontaine Classic.

I decided to run 4 miles on the treadmill because on Friday I only run 2.1 miles due to horrible side/stomach cramps. With the 4 miles today, that would put me at 9.6 miles for the week. My goal every week is to run more then 7 miles. I usually run more then 10, but Friday I lost mileage due to the cramps.

While running the first mile, I actually threw up some of my lunch in my mouth. Delicious! Not really. There is nothing like the taste of chicken strips. That was very disgusting. It burned my throat for a bit. Getting past the vomit, after my first mile, I developed the wonderful cramps that shorten my day on Friday. I wanted to get to a 1.5 miles before stopping. I hit 1.5 miles and took a short break. After the break, I didn't have anymore problems on the rest of my run.

Running in the dark on the treadmill was a pleasant experience. I will probably do it again Monday morning on my day off for Memorial Day. During and after my run it looked like I ran threw a garden sprinkler with all of the sweat that was dripping off of me. That is gross and awesome at the same time. It shows me that I'm working hard, and how much I love to run even in heat.

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
The Best of Wedding Photojournalism: Techniques and Images from the Pros, Bill Hurter
Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, Steven A. Shaw

Currently Reading: Lincoln's Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk
Up Next: The Dark Side of Camelot, Seymour M. Hersh

Storm front coming to Tecumseh

Thursday, I had to photograph a girls soccer game at Tecumseh High School. Tecumseh was playing Ypsilanti Lincoln. During the game I noticed how dark the sky was becoming. I knew the area was supposed to get some rain, but these clouds looked very bad.

During the course of the first half, the wind picked up more and the sky got darker. With 10 minutes to go in the first half with the score tied at 2-2, sirens in town went off. Not being from Tecumseh, I didn't know what they were for. When the players heard the sirens, they all ran off the field, grabbed their bags and headed into a building near the soccer field. I was walking off the field and some people asked what the sirens meant, I said I didn't know. A Tecumseh parent was nearby and said that the sirens meant the area was under a tornado warning.

Leaving Tecumseh High School, I called my husband, the cop, who was working at the time. He said that a tornado touched down near Adrian. That is always a comforting thought when I have to drive back to Adrian. While driving back to Adrian, the rain was pouring down. It was hard to see the road. I'm glad that I had some taillights to follow. By the time I got back into town, the rain had stopped and the tornado warning was downgraded to a thunderstorm warning.

All of that wind and rain stopped the soccer game. I don't think the teams continued playing because no results were called into the sports department. That sucks because I had a kick ass picture and we couldn't use it for the sports pages today because the game wasn't finished.

So disappointing.

Never saw this coming

Does anyone think this relationship can last of if it is even real? MSNBC asks the question are Tom and Katie on the rocks?

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

Currently Reading: The Best of Wedding Photojournalism: Techniques and Images from the Pros, Bill Hurter (Doesn't really count as a book. Picking up new ideas for my wedding photography business.)
Up Next:

Random things......

Today over at DCO's Photo Gallery Part Four is the last post of Encore Dance Studio's Friday night recital of 'That's Entertainment'. I emailed Tanya last week about making contact sheets of all of the pictures that I took so people could look at all of them. I will try to have them finished and bring them to the studio when classes start again.

Yesterday before running on my treadmill I turned my TV to ESPN 2 for the adidas Track Classic. During the broadcast ESPN threw it back to the studio to watch Barry Bonds bat to see if he could hit a homerun 715. Yes, I know that the home run record is huge and that a lot of people are following, but I am not. I turned it to ESPN to watch track and field, not Barry bat. I really don't care about the record or Major League Baseball. Barry by the way was out at first. A while later in the track broadcast, ESPN studios had to break in again because Barry was up to bat. This time, he singled to right field. I have an idea. Why don't you break in after he has hit the homerun so you don't bore the people that don't like baseball? I know you want to be first showing the live footage, but after he hits the homerun, everyone is going to see the replay over and over.

This morning at work, I was watching a cable news program and they had a fluff story about what Hillary Clinton listens to on her ipod. Why is this news? Who cares what she listens to? Then they showed on the screen what President Bush likes to listen to. Are we so desperate for news we have to sink so low for this? I don't own an ipod, but I do bring cd's to work with me. In the morning I like to listen to George Strait, My Chemical Romance and Mariah Carey. Shouldn't this be on the TV? Don't people want to know what a nobody like me listens to? I didn't think so.

The last couple of days....

Thursday night was a awesome! I got to hang out with friends that have moved away from Adrian. A few of us ate dinner together at Mister Ed's, then we went down to The Barley House and stayed until closing (midnight). I got home around 12:10 a.m., went to sleep around 12:30 a.m. and got up around 4:20 a.m. Friday morning to get ready for work. I walked into work at 4:45 a.m. The night was great. I wish I could have hung out with the gang longer. Dang.

Friday afternoon was jam packed with activity. Only on four hours of sleep, I drove 35 minutes north to Grass Lake. Grass Lake hosted the Division 4 Regional Track finals. I arrived at the school at 2:30 p.m. and stayed till 8:45 p.m. Besides working a long day, I was also wearing my winter coat. Who wears a winter coat on May 19? At the 2005 Grass Lake regional, it was about 80 degrees and sunny. Friday it was windy and 45 degrees. BRRR!! Anyhoo, after leaving the meet I still had the drive back to the office and download all 102 images that I took. My day was over around 10:30 p.m. after 12.5 hours of work.

Congratulations to Ernie Ayers and the Sand Creek boys track team for winning the Division 4 regional title at Grass Lake. Sand Creek's boys team won the regional title with 77 points in a very close meet, with the top four teams all from the Tri-County Conference within 17 points of one another. Sand Creek girls team finished second behind Madison with 81.53 points. Madison's girls team won the regional title with 109 points.

Today was another busy day. This morning I drove to Hillsdale College to cover another Division 4 regional track meet. I arrived at the college and it was cool and sunny. I wore a light jacket, at least it wasn't my winter coat like yesterday. Around noon it got warmer so I took off my jacket, my face and arms got sunburned. Some areas of my face weren't burned due to the fact I was wearing sunglasses. I have a little bit of white on my face to go along with a lot of red. That looks attractive.

Tomorrow besides running and housework, I plan to lay on the couch most of the day and catch up on my sleep.

Last night

Last night was America's Next Top Model season finale. I didn't care who won as long as it wasn't Jade. I was happy to see her eliminated, leaving only Danielle and Joanie. After seeing the photo shoot and the runway show, I didn't know who was going to win.

The winner ended up being Danielle.

After ANTM, I went up to my bedroom to go to sleep. I had problems getting asleep because my neighbor and her little friends decided to be so noisy. They were screaming, talking, and laughing so loud. I shut my bedroom windows because the forecast called for rain. It just seem like I left them open. I could hear every word that they were saying. They were like this last summer as well. I guess that they don't have have a job and can party all night. As I was pulling out of my driveway before 4:30 am to go to work, I see the glow of a TV on the front porch and hear her laughing. I wish I could party all night.

Tonight I'm getting together with a bunch of ex-co-workers and co-workers. Some of us are going out to dinner then meeting up at a downtown bar. We all haven't been together since last year, so it is kind of a reunion. It will be fun to catch up, see everyone and remind me of the wonderful, fun past. Ahh memories!

Photo credit: www.upn.com

Over 200

Today with my run of 3.5 miles, I have passed 200 miles run for 2006! I'm very excited. It makes me so happy that I have run so much this year. One of my New Year's Resolutions was to run more and I think I have accomplished that. I didn't type it on my blog but I know that I told family members that I wanted to run over 365 miles this year. I think with the way I'm running now, I know I will beat that.

Miles run up to May 17:
2005: 121.6
2006: 201.1

Random things......

It has been raining for almost an entire week here in Adrian. Can the rain go away for a while?

For the last three weeks everytime I had photographed a track meet it has rained. Today at the start of the Sand Creek/Whitmore Lake track meet the sun was shining. No rain. Then the dark clouds came and the rain started. At first it was a light sprinkle. It turned into a cold steady rain. At that point I was getting wet. I decided to walk to my car and get my long raincoat. When I got it out of my truck, put it on and walked back over to the track, the rain let up. About 10 minutes later the sun came back out and got very warm. All of that work and the rain stops. On a good note, it was nice to write notes without the ink smearing.

Tomorrow on my photo blog, DCO's Photo Gallery, I will be posting the first part of Encore Dance Studio's Friday night recital, 'That's Entertainment'. Today I posted the last part of Wednesday nights rehearsal.

Right now I'm working on starting a wedding photography business. Trying to nail down prices for coverage, albums and extras is a lot of work. When I'm completed with it. I know it will be worth it. When I get the website up and running, I will link my blogs to it. Keep checking back if you or someone you know is looking for a wedding photographer in Southeastern Michigan. Or send me an email at dcophotography@hotmail.com.

National Police Week

This week, May 14-20, 2006 is National Police Week. Today a ceremony was held at the police officers' memorial in Oakwood Cemetery in Adrian . The memorial honors police officers who were killed in the line of duty.

This is important to me because my husband is a cop. It is important to my husband to honor the fallen officers and never forget. My husband and I have been to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C. twice. Both times I have been there it has been very moving. To see the endless amount of names etched onto the memorial, it just brings tears to my eyes. All of these fallen officers gave their lives in the line of duty.

Heroes live forever.





TOP PHOTO: Names of the fallen officers from Lenawee County.
MIDDLE PHOTO: Roses on the wreath of the fallen officers
BOTTOM PHOTO: Officers at the ceremony.

That's Entertainment

Tonight, I had the opportunity to be backstage during Encore Dance Studio's recital "That's Entertainment" held at Tecumseh Civic Auditorium. The show and the dancers were terrific! I shot a bunch of pictures and I will be posting some starting next week.

Until then, check out my photo blog, DCO's Photo Gallery and view Part One and Part Two of Encore Dance Studio's rehearsal of "That's Entertainment" Wednesday night.

Encore Dance Studio rehearsal photographs

Starting today over on my photo blog, DCO's Photo Gallery I have posted pictures from Encore Dance Studio's rehearsal of "That's Entertainment". I will continue to post six photos at a time. Friday night, I will be back at Tecumseh Civic Auditorium to take photographs of that night's performance.

Keep checking back for a new set of photos next week.

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

Currently Reading: In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Up Next:

Weird...

While waiting at a red light this afternoon, a woman sitting on the passenger side of a vehicle in the lane over says to me:

Lady: " I like the color of your car."
Deloris: "Thank you." *Smiling and nodding*
Lady: "Its the color of Halloween."

When she said that I nodded again, looked away and was glad the stoplight turned green.

Metallic Orange is the color of Halloween? OK.

Random things......

I work at a newspaper. This is something that I don't want to see in print, but everyone knows its true. Take for example, every morning at work I read four newspapers online.

Why is it the garage man will pick up furniture, couches, chairs, piles of wood, and other random crap from our neighbor's houses, but will not pick up a 21-pound bag of dog crap? This is the third or fourth time that this fucker just ripped open the bag and left it in front of our house. The rules state that a garbage bag can't weigh more then 40 pounds. But this jerk refuses or can't lift up and throw at 21-pound bag into his dump truck? That's amazing because my husband and I seen him lift a huge couch and La-Z-Boy chair into the truck himself. Idiot.

Why is this even newsworthy?

Junior a winner again

Tonight, Dale Earnhardt, Jr won the Crown Royal 400 at Richmond, VA. Junior held off Denny Hamlin with 10 laps to go. This is his first win in 28 races. With tonight's win, that moves Junior up two spots into 6th place in NEXTEL Cup Standings.

It is great to finally see him win again after the horrible season that he had last year.

TOP: Dale Earnhardt Jr. during driver introductions at the GFS Marketplace 400 at Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, MI - August 21, 2005.

BOTTOM: Dale Jr in victory lane after the Crown Royal 400 - May 6, 2006. Photo Credit - www.nascar.com