Plates and vacation

We've been together for eight years. We've seen changes together and yesterday I had to let you go. You're not where I want you to be, but your still with me. I should be able to let things go, but I didn't want to part with you. The state told me otherwise. Goodbye friend......

When I bought my own car in college, I was given a Michigan blue license plate (blue background, white letters). I liked the plate because it was mine. It was registered under my name and not my dad's, like all of my previous cars. The letters were memorized by me and others and it has been with me through three different car changes. In 2006, the state of Michigan passed an act saying all blue plates had to be replaced in 2007. Since my birthday is in July, I waited patiently at the Secretary of State Friday morning for 45 minutes to get my new plate.

When my number was called, I handed my info to the SOS worker. She said the blue plates were being eliminated and I had to choose a new plate. My choices were the standard plate of a white reflective background and blue lettering or the Spectacular Peninsula plate. The spectacular plate features cityscape's, forests, the Mackinac Bridge and the Great Lakes. The plate also costs five dollars more. Since I was spending $95 to renew my tags, I passed on the spectacular.

Now 'ol blue is gone and replaced with clean white. I'm still not fond of it, but I shouldn't be. It is a only just a license plate.

July is a good month. It has the 4th of July and my birthday. Besides those, this year it also contains my vacation. My last vacation was the first week of August 2006. It has been 11 months since my last vacation and do I ever need one.

Besides my full-time job at the newspaper, I own my own business. I've been working non-stop and I need a break. That break comes on July 13. My husband and I are going to take some day trips closer to home. One day we will be going to Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio and another day to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. My husband and I haven't been there since we were both in elementary. The last stop on our vacation is going to a Detroit Tigers baseball game. It should be fun.

The official countdown has begun. My vacation starts in 12 days.

Photo Illustration credit: www.michigan.gov/sos/

The shirt and the ring

At work this morning, something was different about my polo. I looked down at my sleeve and noticed my shirt was inside out. I went to the restroom to turn it right side out. I was walking around with my shirt inside out for two hours. I'm such a dork.

Besides wearing my polo inside out, another thing happened today. I got something back. I had a voicemail on my cell phone yesterday from the jewelry store. The jeweler said my engagement ring was fixed and I could pick it up. My husband and I drove to Tecumseh to pick it up before lunch today. I was so happy to get back. I have been without it for two weeks. Now my finger is happy again.

Books read in 2007

A Man of Faith, David Aikman
Hannibal Rising, Thomas Harris
All of the President's Men, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
House of Sand and Fog, Andre Dubus III
Jack: A Life Like No Other, Geoffrey Perret
Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate, Bob Woodward
Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer, James L. Swanson
The Manchurian Candidate, Richard Condon
Leni Riefenstahl, Rainer Rother
From Here to Eternity, James Jones
Cultural Warrior, Bill O'Reilly
Ava Gardner: Love is Nothing, Lee Server
The Man Who Would Not Shut Up, Marvin Kitman
Clint Eastwood, Richard Schickel
Notorious, Donald Spoto
Katharine Hepburn, Barbara Leaming
Empire: The Life, Legend and Madness of Howard Hughes, Donald L. Barlett
Diana, Andrew Morton

Currently Reading: Mrs. Kennedy: The Missing History of the Kennedy Years, Barbara Leaming
Up Next: Judy Garland: The Secret Life of an American Legend, David Shipman

Weekend update

This past Saturday, I photographed a wedding. I felt bad for the bride. Things weren't going her way.

I get to the hotel at 2pm and ask the front desk clerk where the bride's suite was. He asked why. I told him that I was supposed to shoot the bridal party there. The clerk said that they weren't in that room. He added he didn't know where they were either. He said he would call the mother and see where the bride was. He talked to her and hung up. The bride was still at the hair salon. After 10 minutes of waiting, he told me he would call the mother again. He hung up the phone and told me that there wasn't an answer. The front desk clerk then called someone else and found out which room the bride was moved to. He asked me if I would like to go to the room or stay in the lobby. I said the room.

We walked down the hallway that led to the bride's room. While walking through the hall, I noticed a smell. Why do most hotels have smelly halls? Anyway, it wasn't plesant, but we arrived at the room soon after that. He opened the door and let me in. Once I was in the room, I unpacked what I needed and started to work. The bride had her veil on the bed, so I took photos of that. Not much else was in the room. After I was in the room for 10 minutes, there was a knock on the door. I opened the door and saw two women dressed nice. They were the mother of the bride and her friend. They weren't sure if this was the correct room or not. I let them in and we all sat down. We all chatted until the bride came in about 10 minutes later.

The bride said that they got behind at the hair salon and there were other problems as well. The hotel double booked her original suite. That forced her to get another room. The second room she got was smaller. With the smaller room, all of the bridesmaids had to get dressed elsewhere. The placards for the reception still had to be finished. After they were finished, someone had to drive to the reception site about a half hour away to set the cards up. At this time, a bridesmaid went to go get copies of the program. The store said that they couldn't get to them Sunday. She told the store that the programs were for a wedding later that afternoon. Last I heard, the store started making the programs around 4 pm. The programs never made it to the wedding. In between moving to different rooms, things having to get done, the bride forgot to pack double-sided tape. Not to worry. Her mother's friend drove to a store nearby and picked some up. After the bride got her dress on, she put some of the tape underneath her dress. The tape wasn't sticking. The bride said she didn't have time to worry about it and let it go.

Once it was time for the wedding, everything was going according to plan. The wedding, formal photos and the reception happened without any problems. I felt bad for the bride. It was her big day and she had to worry about things that went wrong and weren't finished.

A while ago I blogged about running a 5K. I didn't send money before hand, because I missed the early registration. The race was Sunday morning. I figured that I usually get up early on Sunday's and I would have no trouble getting up for this race. The night before I got home from the reception around 10:30 pm and didn't go to bed until after 11 pm. Sunday morning, I woke up and looked at my alarm clock. It read 8:30 am. I totally missed the start of the race. I felt bad, I have run this race for 4 years.

I had a good excuse, a wedding the night before. Later in the day, I did run on my treadmill while watching a NASCAR race. But it wasn't the same as running in a race. Checking out the other runners before the start. Standing at the start line getting ready to start my watch. Hearing the gun go off. Hearing the sound of other runners feet striking the road and clapping and cheering when you cross the finish line.

I will be running a 5K at the end of July. This race is on the best high school cross country course in the county, lots of hills, swamps and woods. When I say I will run this race, I will. It is the toughest race and I love it.

Random things

On Tuesday my husband and I went to a restaurant on 35 cent wing day. After we ordered a hostess walked around the corner to seat some customers in the area we were sitting. First around the corner is a mother holding her daughter. Behind her is her mother. The mother was wearing curlers in her hair. She didn't have a scarf on her head or a hat. Her hair was long and the curlers were only on the ends of her hair. She was wearing them like it was no big deal. Did her daughter say anything to her before they left the house? Or does she not care? If my mom was wearing curlers in her hair in public I would be embarrassed. But this woman didn't seem to mind that her mother had them in her hair. I think wearing curlers outside of the home could be the next fashion trend. Why hasn't New York picked this up yet?

While eating at a BBQ place down in Toledo, Ohio on Wednesday, I managed to drop food on my lap. I was holding my pork BBQ sandwich above my platter and some pork fell out bounced off of the platter and landed on my shorts. I had a many barbecue stains on my shorts. After dinner I order dessert, bread pudding. My husband doesn't like bread pudding so I ate half of it. I got a box to put the other half in. When we were driving back to Michigan, I had the box on my lap. My husband happened to knock the box over on my lap. I thought nothing of it. He pulled into a gas station to fill up his car and I looked down at my shorts. The other leg had a big bread pudding stain on the leg. The delicious topping leaked out of the corner of the plastic box and right on my shorts. Not a good day.

At work today, corporate sent speakers to the office for a conference. The photographers' speaker was Justin from The State Journal-Register in Springfield, Illinois. He had a great power point presentation about documentary photography. It was nice just to get a refresher course on everything. After his talk he had some tips on Photoshop to help me tone my photos better. My seminar was the last one of the afternoon. It would have been nice to have more time with him to talk more about Photoshop.

Books read in 2007

A Man of Faith, David Aikman
Hannibal Rising, Thomas Harris
All of the President's Men, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
House of Sand and Fog, Andre Dubus III
Jack: A Life Like No Other, Geoffrey Perret
Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate, Bob Woodward
Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer, James L. Swanson
The Manchurian Candidate, Richard Condon
Leni Riefenstahl, Rainer Rother
From Here to Eternity, James Jones
Cultural Warrior, Bill O'Reilly
Ava Gardner: Love is Nothing, Lee Server
The Man Who Would Not Shut Up, Marvin Kitman
Clint Eastwood, Richard Schickel
Notorious, Donald Spoto
Katharine Hepburn, Barbara Leaming
Empire: The Life, Legend and Madness of Howard Hughes, Donald L. Barlett

Currently Reading: I will visit the library Wednesday. I hope I'll find books that aren't over 600 pages long. I enjoyed Empire, but three weeks is a long time for me to finish a book.
Up Next:

UPDATE:
Currently Reading: Diana, Andrew Morton
Up Next: Mrs. Kennedy: The Missing History of the Kennedy Years, Barbara Leaming

Weekend update

Friday, I spent most of my afternoon and evening standing on pit road at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, MI. The afternoon started with the Citizens Bank 400 Time Trials for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. I didn't get to see my favorite driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in person. I saw him on the big jumbo-tron in turn 4 and driving around in his car during his qualifying lap. Sadly, Junior didn't qualify in the top 5. Only the top 5 in qualifying park their cars on pit road. After his lap he pulled straight into the garage.

After time trials, was the ACRA RE/MAX series Michigan 200. The big names of the race was IndyCar driver Sam Hornish, Jr and female driver Erin Crocker. The race was pretty boring and Hornish and Crocker finished second and third.

On Saturday morning I woke up dizzy. Everywhere I looked the walls were moving. Usually on Saturdays if I don't have an early morning assignment I run. I considered running, but I didn't feel up to it. After taking a shower, I really wasn't feeling well and threw up three times. I had an assignment later in the afternoon, so I had to get better. I snacked on some crackers and started to feel OK. My husband made hamburgers for lunch. I started eating it and felt like throwing up. I kept the food down, but I didn't finish it. My dogs Blitzkrieg and Kelly were thankful for that. They got to split what I didn't eat.

Later that afternoon, I got in my car and drove to Battle Creek. A local team, Tecumseh Indians, were playing the Division 2 Softball state finals. When I arrived at Bailey Park, I found a parking spot and collected my photo gear. It was a hot, sunny day and I was still not feeling well. I knew it would long day.

The media box that I stood in was right on the field to the right of the batter box on the third base side. I have covered a lot of games before but never that close. During the 3rd or 4th inning, a new photographer came down to the field and stood outside of the box. After the inning was over, the umpire behind the plate told the photographer the he needed to be in the media box. He asked the photographers near him to move down and only two of them did. I was on the other end of the box at the chalk line, I couldn't move down any more. The two photographers on my left didn't move at all. Since they didn't move and there was no more room in the box, the umpire told him to leave the field. I kind of felt bad for him, but if he wanted to shoot on the field he should have been earlier, like at the start of the game. The team that I covered, Tecumseh, won the state championship 3-1. It was nice to drive 1.5 hours to see a team win it all.

I took Sunday off. I could have been at MIS photographing the Citizens Bank 400, but I gave it to another photographer. During the race I worked on wedding stuff and got a lot taken care of. Later that afternoon I ran on my treadmill. The first half mile was terrible. I felt like I was running with cement blocks attached to my shoes. It was hard to run. I stopped at a half mile and took a breather. After that, the rest of the run was good.

Random things

Over on my website, Deloris Clark-Osborne Photography, a blog has been added. On this blog I will be posting my favorite photos from my sessions. I have a couple of engagements posted right now. I will be adding the weddings and teens that I have already photographed this year soon.

While in Tecumseh yesterday, I decided to get my engagement/wedding rings cleaned at the jewelry store that made them. I handed my rings over to the employee and she went in the back to clean them. She came back and handed me the rings. She then asked if the ring was bought at the store. I said it was made here. She went on to tell me that one of the prongs holding the diamond is cracked. She said that it wasn't an emergency to get it fixed, but it needed to be repaired. My husband asked how long it will take to fix the engagement ring. Two weeks she said. My husband told me its either two weeks now or two weeks later. It needed to be fixed so I reluctantly handed over my ring. I still have my wedding band, but now my ring finger is lonely without its diamond.

I heard the rumor last night. Now it is not a rumor, it's fact. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will be driving for Hendrick Motorsports in 2008.

Loud talkers

Across the street from my house is another house broken up into apartments. Those apartments are like revolving doors. People move in a out all of the time. Currently, a couple of college age guys live over there. During the day, I never see them. It is only at night when they become a problem.

Between the hours of 11 pm - 3 am, they like to sit on their front porch and talk. There is nothing wrong with that. When it becomes a problem is when one loud mouth guy likes to yell, scream and swear as loud as he can.

This morning around 3 am I woke up due to the loud mouths across the street. That one guy started yelling. A few minutes later, a car with a loud radio drove by and he started yelling again. Excuse me dude, but when is yelling at 3 am such a good idea? Some people, ME, actually have to get up at 4 am to get ready for work.

When my alarm went off, I got out of bed and walked downstairs. My husband was still awake sitting on the couch. I asked him if he heard the loud mouths yelling around 3 am. He said he did and called the cops on them. I asked if the cops came when they were still outside. He said they didn't because they went inside. He called dispatch to let them know that the loud mouths weren't on the porch anymore so the cops didn't have to stop. The dispatcher told my husband that someone else also called about the yelling and the cops were going to stop and talk to the people.

Do these people just not get it? It seems like every week that the cops get called on them. How many times do the cops need to talk to you? I'm looking forward to the day that they move out so the 3 am yellings will stop. That day is not soon enough.

Weekend update

Friday night I had to cover for a co-worker in the office, while he went to a photo shoot. I left work around 9:30 pm and was hungry for dinner. I decided to go to a sandwich shop a couple of blocks away.

I pull up to one of the driveways leading to the restaurant while I wait for traffic to go by. When I'm waiting a truck pulls into the second driveway. He pulled in a weird angle and decided to park over two spots. Just a guy and his wife in a truck not hauling a trailer park over two spots. I pulled into the lot and pulled up to the front of the restaurant to an empty spot. As I was getting out of my car, the jerk beats me in.

I wait in line behind this guy and he orders two sandwiches. Of course he has to have double meat, cheese and get them toasted. Once his sandwiches came out of the oven, he had the fixings put on. The lady behind the counter didn't hear him, either did I, but he asked for a gallon of mayo to go on first. She starting putting the veggies on the sandwich and he told her that the mayo went on first. She picked off toppings to put the mayo on. While he is getting both sandwiches made, his wife walked in to tell him to get her a certain kind of sandwich. What you didn't tell him before he got out of the truck?

Finally both sandwiches are made and then he asks for a box of cookies. Could you make your order take any longer? The lady gets all the cookies around and then gives him his total. He gave money to the lady and she gave back change. He is about ready to walk away and stops. He tells the employee that he didn't get some of his pennies back. Pennies are you serious? She said sorry and opened the drawer to get them. No pennies were in the drawer. She had to go to the secret stash and break the pennies open from the paper roll. Leave the pennies jerk and get out of my way! GRRRRRRR!

Last night I stayed up to watch the series finale of The Sopranos. I thought it was a good episode. I was happy when Phil Leotardo got shot in the back of the head. I laughed when his wife got out of the SUV after Phil was shot and left it in drive. The SUV rolled over his head. It was awesome. The last five minutes was a big build up. The Sopranos were going to meet at a restaurant to eat dinner. Tony is alone at the table and flips through the tabletop jukebox and picks a song, "Don't Stop Believin" by Journey.

While Tony is waiting, he keeps looking around at the others in the restaurant. Carmela is the first to arrive, then AJ. A guy walked in the restaurant door before AJ and sat at the counter. Tony, Carmela and AJ are waiting for Meadow, the guy at the counter keeps looking at Tony. Cut the scene to Meadow and she is outside trying to parallel park her car. It takes her a couple of tries before succeeding. Before Meadow comes into the restaurant the shifty eyed guy at the counter gets up and goes to the restroom. Meadow opens the restaurant door, walks in and looks at Tony, then the screen went black. I thought my cable went out, because it has done that before. Then a minute later the credits rolled onto the screen. I was pissed! I thought I missed the last scene. I hit rewind on my DVR and all I saw was the black screen. I set the DVR to record another Sopranos later that evening because of the black screen.

Before going to bed I checked a TV website and people were saying "worst episode ever", "I want that hour back" and "I waited eight years for this!" I noticed that other people wrote that their cable went out as well. This morning when I read newspaper stories and saw the ending on cable news shows, that is how it ended. My cable didn't go out. After knowing what I didn't miss, I am OK with the ending. The Sopranos is about Tony's family and it ended with a nice family dinner. I was glad that Tony didn't get shot. With Tony living that always leaves the door open for a movie down the road, just like Sex and the City. I can't wait to see that movie!

Photo Credit: HBO

Race debate

For the past 4 years, I have run the in the Hospice of Lenawee Run, Walk and Bike Tour in Blissfield, MI. Last year I ran in the 10K instead of the 5K. I was excited to run that. I made the time to train for a 10K and I wanted to run something different.

The day of the race, it was extremely hot and humid. That made running the course a bit harder. I finished 4th in my age group at 1:11:16. When I crossed the finish line, I promised myself that I would run the 10K again in 2007.

Fast forward to 2007 and I will break my promise this year. I haven't had the extra time like last year to train for the 10K . Most of my time this year has been decided to my photo business and my full time job. I debated on whether I would even run in the race this year. But I decided that I will run the 5K.

I'll see you'll on the course, but only on the 3.1 mile one.

Attack of the Blitzkrieg

When my dog Blitzkrieg has free reign over the house, he tends to get into trouble. While you're in one room, he is in the other doing something he shouldn't be doing. The best example is from last night.

While working on my computer in the upstairs office, Blitzkrieg walked upstairs, layed down beside my chair and chewed on a bone he brought with him. I got up from my chair and Blitzkrieg dropped the bone and followed me. When I walked back to the office, my other dog Kelly, walked over to the bone Blitzkrieg was chewing, picked it and started on it. Blitzkrieg layed down and watched Kelly for a while then got up and walked downstairs. A minute later, he walked back upstairs into the computer room and layed down. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw he had something in his mouth. The object was a light cream color, so I thought it was another bone from downstairs so I continued working.

After a couple of minutes, I looked down at Blitzkrieg and he wasn't chewing a bone. It was my husband's hat. I got out of the chair and tried to grab the hat. Blitzkrieg picked it up and ran with it. I cornered him at the top of the staircase and tried to get it away from him. He stood and growled at me with his front paw on the hat. To get the hat away from him, I kept repeating dog treat names to him. Blitzkrieg and Kelly know the names to their treats. I said "Ol' Roy" and "Pig's Ears" Blitzkrieg calmed down and stopped growling at me. I picked up the hat and saw the damage. It wasn't too bad. He chewed the inside flap of the hat. I took the hat downstairs and put it on a shelf. To keep Blitzkrieg from doing that again, I leaned a pet gate in front of the shelf.

I walked back upstairs and continued working. Then I heard Blitzkrieg scurrying around downstairs and I ran down as fast as I could. Blitzkrieg now had my library book about Howard Hughes in his mouth. When I reached the bottom of the steps, he dropped the book on the floor. I tried to get my book, but Blitzkrieg started growling again. I knew just saying the names of the treats wouldn't get me anywhere. So I tried something else. I walked over to the cabinet where the treats are stored and got out the pig's ears. Blitzkrieg and Kelly then ran over to me jumping up to smell the bag. I walked with the bag in hand, picked up the book and put it on a table where he couldn't get to it again. I shouldn't have given Blitzkrieg a treat for being naughty but since the bag was out, I gave them a pig's ear.

This is not the first time or the last time Blitzkrieg has done that. He tries to get his paws or I should say mouth on newspaper, bookmarks, paper towels, Kleenex, books, money, checks, receipts and VHS tapes. He has eaten a lot newspapers, paper towels, bookmarks, Kleenex and chewed the front cover off a cook book. As you can see he likes paper and also likes to eat it.

Barking alarm clocks

My husband and I have two German Shepherds. When it is time for me to go to bed, they both know. When I get up and close the entertainment center doors, they know it is time for them to go to their beds. My two dogs sleep together in the gated kitchen.

Two nights ago, I got into bed around 9:15 am, about a half hour-later both dogs start barking. It was still early, so I really wasn't mad. I hoped they would just calm down and be quiet. After a couple of barks, they both stopped. Not even five minutes later, both of them are barking again. They didn't stop after a minute or two, so it irritated me. I got out of bed and opened the door and yelled at them to be quiet. Once they heard my voice they stopped. I closed the door and layed back in bed.

Right after I got back to sleep the dogs started barking again. Besides barking they were jumping all over the back door. Usually when they jump on the back door, it means that my husband is home. I got out of bed and walked over to a window. No sign of my husband or his car. So I didn't know what they were barking at. I walked downstairs to try to calm them down. I walked up to the gate and Kelly is wagging her tail. I look at Blitzkrieg and he started growling at me. I turned on the light and he continued growling. I told them to quiet down and finally Blitzkrieg backed away and stopped growling. I went back up to bed and fell asleep. I stayed asleep until my alarm woke me up the next morning.

When I walked downstairs to let the dogs out, I had a surprise at the end of the staircase. Both Blitzkrieg and Kelly were sitting at the bottom of the steps. I walked over to the kitchen and turned on the light. They both escaped by knocking over the gate. I'm sure when the gate fell over it was loud, but I didn't hear it.

This morning, the dogs woke me up with their barking. This time it was 2:45 am. I got out of bed and told them to be quiet. I shut the door and crawled back into bed. That didn't stop the barking. Blitzkrieg continued. His bark was quiet, not as loud as his regular bark. I knew what that meant. He needed to go outside. When I walked downstairs, Kelly and Blitzkrieg were wagging their tails near the gate. I said, "Do you want to go outside?", and they both ran to the door. There is nothing like waiting for dogs to finish there potty break at 2:45 am when you need to get up for work in an 1.5 hours.

I guess that I shouldn't be mad when the dogs wake me up. I would rather have the dogs wake me up with their barking then my loud neighbors. With the dogs, I can tell them to be quiet or take them outside to calm them down. With the neighbors, they don't quiet down unless someone leaves or if the cops are called on them.

I've been busy. How about you?

The start of the week was nice. I had Memorial Day off and that was the end to a lovely three day weekend. To start off the weekend, I was done with work Friday morning at 9:30 am. I couldn't have planned that any better.

The weekend was dedicated to work at home. I finished editing a wedding and photographed a engaged couple. I did take some time off to enjoy the outdoors by running, biking and walking the dogs with my husband. I also watched a lot of sports, Indianapolis 500, Coca-Cola 600, the Detroit Tigers and the Detroit Pistons. I also finished a book and started to read another.

Tuesday was a long and busy day for me. I worked 13 hours. I did my normal morning office shift in the morning and then photographed a track invitational that my newspaper hosts with a co-worker later that afternoon. It was a hot day for a track invitational and the runners did well, four records were tied or broken. If you would like to see all 195 photos that are posted from the meet, go here. I photographed the girls if you're interested.

Today I was supposed to photograph a baseball and softball game. This morning my sports editor told me that I didn't need to cover them because they were turned into scrimmages. That made me very happy. I was glad because I really didn't want to stand outside in the 90 degree heat.

Excited that I didn't have to work this afternoon, I finished some work at my home and later I will be running on my treadmill in my basement.

Books read in 2007

A Man of Faith, David Aikman
Hannibal Rising, Thomas Harris
All of the President's Men, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
House of Sand and Fog, Andre Dubus III
Jack: A Life Like No Other, Geoffrey Perret
Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate, Bob Woodward
Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer, James L. Swanson
The Manchurian Candidate, Richard Condon
Leni Riefenstahl, Rainer Rother
From Here to Eternity, James Jones
Cultural Warrior, Bill O'Reilly
Ava Gardner: Love is Nothing, Lee Server
The Man Who Would Not Shut Up, Marvin Kitman
Clint Eastwood, Richard Schickel
Notorious, Donald Spoto
Katharine Hepburn, Barbara Leaming

Currently Reading: Empire: The Life, Legend and Madness of Howard Hughes, Donald L. Barlett
Up Next: Library trip after I finish Empire. Who knows how long that will be. The book is over 650 pages and I have a busy week ahead of me.

Random things

Every morning while driving to work I pass a hair salon. The place usually doesn't open until 8 or 9 am. On Fridays its different. This morning around 4:50 am, I passed the hair salon. Today the hairstylist inside prepping her station. Other times I have seen her working with a client at 5 am. My question is why would you want to have your hair done at 5 am? Is it because they have a hot breakfast date?

Overheard this morning: Person A: "My eyesight is so bad. I have to squint to read. I do have reading glasses, but I don't wear them." Person B: "Why?" "Because I don't like to read." OK

Happy Birthday Sean!

Recital photos

This past Sunday, I photographed Encore Dance Studio's 10th Anniversary Celebration Recital in Tecumseh, MI. Over the next week or two, I will be posting my favorite photos from the day on my photo blog, DCO's Photo Gallery. You can check them out over there or if you want to see all of the photos go to my instaproofs site.

Weekend update

I've been very busy this past weekend. It has non-stop since Friday afternoon. Today, I get a bit of a break, I don't have to photograph any sports. But I do have a lot of editing to do.

- Friday afternoon: I drove up to Grass Lake to photograph the Division 4 Track Regional. The field events were supposed to start at 3:30 pm. Needless to say, they didn't. The officials didn't stop the athletes from warming up, they let them continue. The field events started about 20 minutes later. While the field events were still going on, the preliminary heats were run in the 100, 200 & hurdles. Those were close to schedule, but still off. After the 3200 meter relay and the semifinal heats were run there was a mandatory break. The break lasted an hour. According to the program, the finals were to start at 6:05 pm. The finals didn't actually start until 6:45 pm. That made me mad because that meant that I couldn't see more of the events and I needed to leave by 8 pm to drive back to the office.

- Saturday: Around 2:30 am, my awesome neighbors were out on their porch screaming, yelling and talking loud. I needed sleep because I had a long day ahead of me. After they woke me up, I realized I felt horrible. I couldn't breathe and my nose was stuffy. I realized that I caught my husband's cold. I stacked my pillows against the headboard and tried to get to sleep with my head propped up. I probably tossed, turned and blew my nose for the next half hour or so until going to sleep. I woke up around 7 am and got ready for the day.

I photographed a friend's wedding Saturday. My day started early at 9 am at the salon. I was tired and couldn't breathe, but I was happy for the couple. Most of the time I was on my feet going from here to there, directing the bridal party, family and the couple. I had a good time and it was fun photographing a wedding of people I knew. After about 11 hours and nearly 1000 photos, my day was done.

- Sunday: In the afternoon, I had another photography shoot. This time it was a ballet recital in Tecumseh. I was not feeling too well, but I promised the dance instructors that I would be there. When I arrived, I walked backstage and said hello to all of the dance instructors. I sat in chair backstage waiting for the show to start. The show went well. I always enjoy shooting the recital because I get great photos. I think if I wasn't sick, I could have gotten more. But what I shot was good. This year I took pictures of dancers that I haven't got before. I think they will be excited when the see them soon.

Locking problems

I took my car to a dealership Monday to get it serviced. I noticed a couple weeks ago during a storm that water was leaking into my car. Enough water leaked in to soak the carpet on the floor on the drivers and passengers side of the front seat. I was going to wait to get it fixed when I got my next oil change but something else went wrong.

Last week, I didn't hear the locks go down when I pressed the lock button on my key less remote. The horn sounded but my car was still unlocked. I had to walk around to all four door and lock the car by hand. I didn't like the fact that my key less remote wasn't working. I thought if the lock button isn't working would the unlock? Just to be safe I tried the unlock button with my driver's side window rolled down. I was thankful it still worked. But just to be safe I wanted to start using my key to open the door. I put my key into the lock and turned. It didn't work. This was practically the first time I ever used the key to open the door. When I bought my car two years ago I have always used the key less remote for everything. When the key didn't open my door, I tried opening/locking the trunk and glove box. Magically my key worked on those locks. The entire two years I had my car I never knew that the keys didn't unlock the door.

When I took my car in, I showed the service worker where the water was leaking in. He told me that the water was probably coming in from the deflector and it wouldn't cost that much to fix. Before leaving I told him that my key didn't unlock my door. I said that the key starts the car, opens the trunk and locks the glove box. He went over to my car and tried every lock. He was surprised that the key didn't work in the door. The service worker said that the lock would have to be replaced.

Later in the afternoon, the dealership called to say my car was ready. All the parts were replaced. I could now open my door with my key and no more water should be leaking into my car. He said that a lot of water and moisture is under the carpet in the front. He said they could take out my seats and carpet and dry up all of the water for about $350. If I let it go, my car could start to smell. I said that I thought the water had been leaking in since the fall and hadn't smelled anything. So I passed on it. I really didn't want to spend that much money to clean up water. I'm sure the carpet will dry out sooner or later. It is spring and we should have some warm sunny days soon*, I hope.

*Yesterday, I wore my winter coat and hat to a softball game! Today I will be wearing my winter coat and hat to a baseball game. The temperature outside is only 46 degrees. Its spring isn't it?

Pain and bikes

Last Saturday, I photographed my first wedding of the year. After standing for most of the day and night, my legs and feet were sore and tired. Instead of resting on Sunday, I decided to go on a bike ride.

It was my first bike ride of the year. It was also a short one, only 3 miles or so. But it was not the thing to do. My legs were probably asking me what I did to them to put them through so much pain, but I needed to exercise. I knew I wouldn't be able to run very far, so biking solved my problem. Besides my legs being in pain, I thought it was a nice ride.

Monday afternoon I headed out on a run. I told my husband it would be a short run since my legs hurt. Only a 1.5 mile into my run, I stopped in my tracks. I developed massive cramps and couldn't run anymore. I cut my run short and walked home. While walking home the cramps started to go away. Once I got home I felt better. I talked to my husband for a bit then I decided that I wanted to run at least 2 miles for the day. I walked back down my driveway and ran around the block. I finished with 2.1 miles for the day.

About an hour after running, my husband and I went on a bike ride. I used the same route that I did on Sunday. Once I sat down on my seat, I knew I didn't escape the pain from the first bike ride of the year. It hurt. Riding over uneven pavement and bumps didn't help much either. Later in the ride, when I saw bumps or dips up ahead, I stood up on my bike to avoid the pain. It helped out alot.

I like to ride my bike, but I always forget how much discomfort goes along with the first couple of rides.