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/