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

Currently Reading: Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees
Up Next:

Random things......

My husband Mike's birthday was April 27. For his birthday we drove down to Maumee, OH to play some miniature golf at the Maumee Sportsmall. It was fun, but very windy. Mike shot a 48. I shot a 63. Mike said that it was payback since I beat him playing miniature golf last August up in Mackinaw City, MI. Some payback.

Last week, I had to wake up early everyday. Monday through Saturday it was for work. On Sunday, I got up early to run in the 5K-Nine Race in Adrian. You can read about the 5k race here. This weekend, I can finally sleep in. I'm not photographing any games Saturday. I can stay in bed a little longer and try to run in the morning. During the summer, I like to run on Saturday mornings. I hope I can get back on that schedule, when work doesn't interfere.

I was in a restroom doing my business when the woman in the stall next to me flushes the toliet, walks out of the stall and out of the restroom. GROSS! Is it so hard to wash your hands? I don't want to touch the door handle after your dirty hands have touched it. WASH YOUR HANDS!

The Man in Black returns

This weekend at Talladega, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will drive a special paint scheme in honor of his father Dale Earnhardt, who would have turned 55 on April 29. Dale Sr. was killed on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. On Sunday, The Man in Black will be at the track. Only in the form of Dale Junior's car, it will be black like his father's GM Goodwrench Chevrolet, instead of Budweiser red.

It will be nice to see the black car return, if only for one race.

Photo Credit: Harold Hinson, HHP Images

This is April?

I never thought I would be wearing a winter coat on April 25.

I wore my winter coat today while photographing the Adrian/Saline track meet. It was very cold and windy. I left my hat in the car because were I parked the trees blocked the wind, so I didn't think it was windy. Once I was standing in the middle of track, I soon regretted not putting on my hat.

What I couldn't believe was the spectators wearing t-shirts and shorts. I watched the Weather Channel before leaving home and it said that it was 46 degrees with a wind chill of 39 degrees. I saw a group of third grade students in t-shirts, a girl wearing a little thin sweater that didn't look warm at all. Here I am wearing jeans, a long sleeved shirt, gloves, my winter coat and I was still cold.

Come on. Its April 25, where is the warm weather?

The treadmill saga......

Today I decided to run after I got home from photographing a soccer game. I pulled into my driveway around 7:30 p.m. After parking my car, I let the dogs out in the yard and changed my clothes to run. I stayed in to run on the treadmill since it was getting late and the sun was going to set soon.

I started running and felt really good. Right at 2.5 miles, the power to the treadmill shut off. I was upset. I was only a half mile away from finishing my 3 mile run. I stepped off of the powerless treadmill and started to press the switch to the power strip. It worked! The power came back to the treadmill. I got back on it, pressed the mph button and pressed start. The treadmill lost power again. I tried the extension cord in different outlets. Nothing. I was not going to finish my run, by now it was dark outside. I was very disappointed, my time was very good. I will have to try to squeeze in the rest of my run Tuesday before I photograph a track meet or wait until Wednesday to run after photographing an early college softball game. I will just have to wait and see what my day is like tomorrow.

The 5K-Nine Run

This morning I ran in the Lenawee Humane Society 5K starting in downtown Adrian. When the race started I already knew I started to fast. I always start races too quickly, maybe it is because I don't want to look like a slow poke in front of the spectators watching. Anyway.

While running near the half mile mark these two girls, I shouldn't say girls because they are about the same age as me, women run by me. I was thinking, where did they come from. About two minutes later they both stop to walk. I pass them on the right and continue running. When I reach the mile marker, the guy calling out times said 9:31. I'm thinking, holy shit, I did start out too quick and maybe I could have my best time yet. Then this is where the trouble started. I developed these horrible stomach cramps. The pain was so great, I just wanted to stop and ask someone for a ride back. I know your supposed to work through the pain, but I was about ready to stop and quit. But I didn't. I paid money to run this 5k and I wanted to finish. After "working" through the pain, which actually means running slower, it started to go away. Then that is where I heard the footsteps behind me.

I look out the corner of my right eye and it is a lady running with her dog. I was so relieved that it wasn't those two women from the half mile. I kept looking straight ahead, running a little faster since the pain is gone. Then I hear more footsteps behind me. I see from the shadows on the road that it is the two women and the lady with her dog. At the second mile, all three women pass me. I was so pissed. All three of these people all stopped to take walks. Here I am working my ass off, running through terrible pain and never stopped to walk once getting passed by these people. I started to run a little faster. But they were getting away. I knew that I couldn't catch them. But I did catch the lady with the dog and finally passed her.

Around 2.5 miles, this guy who stopped and walked several times got up right beside me. Here was another person who took walk breaks running next to me. Then out of nowhere he starts running faster and starts to break away from me. Something inside of me knew that he wouldn't be able to make it up the final hill without walking. As he is finally in the middle of this huge hill, he starts walking. I knew it was time to pass him. I continued running up the entire hill and passed him. Near the finish, Carrie, a co-owner of a wonderful shoe store dedicated to runners, gets between this guy and me. She was running with us saying Deloris you're almost done, good job. She also said that to the guy to encourage him to finish, but without my name, of course. We make the final turn and I knew I wanted to beat this guy. I started my final sprint and left him behind. I always save enough to sprint to the finish, it is obvious that this guy didn't. I finished the 5K in 31:57.56, my best time ever!

After the race, people I knew came up to congratulate me and told me I did a good job. It felt nice to finally beat people. When I started running 5K's back in 2003, I always finished last. The first 5K I ever ran my time was 39:37.12. Since then I got my times down by almost 8 minutes and I have lost almost 30 pounds.

With my time of 31:57.56, I felt that maybe I would receive a medal for being the top 3 in my age group. Carrie is reading the names of runners who received medals. It gets to my age group and the first two names are read. Then I was hoping my name would be third, but it wasn't. The name that was read was one of those girls who walked and ran the 5k and finally passed me at the 2 mile mark. I was pissed! GRRRR!!! I didn't throw anything or kick people, I clapped for her. After my age group I saw that the volunteers posted race times. I went to go look at them. Those two girls finished 30 seconds ahead of me. I finished 5th in my age group. Oh well. If I didn't have those cramps during the second mile, the race could have been different.

I guess I will have to wait until the next race hoping to add to my medal collection. As of now, I have 7 medals and 1 plaque.

What's type of personality do you have?

You Have A Type A- Personality

A- You are one of the most balanced people around. Motivated and focused, you are good at getting what you want. You rule at success, but success doesn't rule you. When it's playtime, you really know how to kick back. Whether it's hanging out with friends or doing something you love! You live life to the fullest - encorporating the best of both worlds.

Do'>http://www.blogthings.com/typeaquiz/">Do You Have a Type A Personality?

When did it become so expensive?

For the past couple of days I have been scanning, cropping, resizing, discarding color information from two weddings that I have photographed a couple of years ago. The reason that I'm doing this is I need to get a portfolio together to show it to perspective clients, I'm trying to get back into shooting weddings. I received a CD of images from one bride in the mail. It came to me all the way from New Mexico. The other wedding, I had to pick up the pictures at my sister's. I have been busy trying to get a CD of images ready to take to my favorite photo processing place in town.

Today, I burned the images on a CD and took it to the business. I told the employee that I wanted 5x7 and matte finish. I wanted to go with 5x7 instead of 4x6 because I wanted a larger print for the perspective clients to view in the coming weeks. I was told that the prints would be ready in a hour.

I went back later in the day. The employee got my pictures and punched numbers into the cash register. They said, $150.00. I'm like, What? I said that there is no way that they could be that much. The employee said that I had 50 images. Fifty images times $3.00 is $150. I was so shocked. First of all, I didn't even think I had that many images on the CD. Second, I didn't know that 5x7's were $3. I told the employee, if I had known that they were $3 I wouldn't even had gotten that size. I felt like the biggest idiot. Then the employee said that the prices change a lot and maybe she could help me out. The employee looked into a pricing guide and said that they the prints could be a $1.50 each. So the employee crossed out the $3 and wrote $1.50. I thought that was nice, because they didn't have to do that. The employee said they felt bad. I told them they shouldn't feel that way, it was my fault. I should have asked about the prices. I told the employee that I would be back next week with $75.

With waiting for the CD to be sent to me from New Mexico, scanning pictures and the price of the 5x7's, I hope I get a little good news coming my way soon.

TOP PHOTO: My sister Debbie and her husband Dennis after their wedding in 2001.
BOTTOM PHOTO: Angie and her husband Lance at The Toledo of Museum of Art after their wedding in 2004.

Question?

I watch America's Next Top Model every Wednesday on UPN. During the opening of the show, video and pictures of the past winners appear on the screen. All except for Cycle 1 winner Adrianne Curry. In the spot where Adrianne's picture should be is one of Lisa from Cycle 5. Umm.... why? She didn't win. SHe wasn't even in the final 3. Why doesn't America's Next Top Model recognize Adrianne as a winner?

Its like they are trying to forget about her.

Photo credit: www.upn.com

Lazy

While my husband Mike was in Lowe's buying deck supplies, a family came out to their truck with a cart. The dad pulled the cart to the back of the truck to unload the bag of Quikrete Concrete Mix. He lifted up the bag and placed it in the back of his truck. While the dad was putting the bag in the bed of the truck, one of the two kids that was with him put a Quik-Tube™ Pillar Foundation in the bed. After everything was in the bed of the truck they just walked to the cab, got in and pulled away.

Hello? Didn't you forget something?

They left their huge cart hovering over two parking spaces when the cart corrall was only 20 feet away. I can't stand lazy people! Take 20 seconds of your life and put the cart were it is supposed to go. Is it so hard to be helpful?

How gross is this?

Tom Cruise stated that he wants to eat the placenta after fiancée Katie Holmes gives birth.

OK......

Why would you even say that, even if you don't mean it? And, why would you want to eat that? Just the thought of that is nasty.

Grab your knife and fork Tom. Looks like dinner is almost here.

Random things......

Last Thursday I had to photograph a track meet in Clinton, so I decided to stop in Tecumseh, which is on the way to Clinton, to get my engagement and diamond/ruby rings cleaned. My rings were very dirty because I never take them off. It has probably been almost a year since I had them cleaned. I walked into the jewelry store and asked to get them cleaned. The lady took them to the back and came back rather quickly. She told me she couldn't clean them. I asked why. She said that that stones were loose on both rings and she didn't want to put them in the solution. She said that the stones could be tightened. There was nothing that I could do. I didn't want to part with them, but I didn't want to chance losing my diamonds and rubies. So I decided to get my rings tightened. She told me that they would be ready in 7 to 10 days. My fingers look so bare without them. I have the outlines on both ring fingers, still after 4 days. I can't wait to get them back. They will be all shiny and like new.

On Easter, my husband Mike and I went to my mom's house. Only 5 of 7 siblings were present, my brother David and sister Deanna had to work. We had a nice dinner of ham, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, and green beans. After dinner Mike and my sister Denise were playing with my nephew's skee ball game. Denise claimed she had the high score of 100 and something. Mike was determined to beat her. He cheated but now the high score is 254. Denise tried several times to beat his score but failed everytime. Its nice to see grown ups playing with a 4-year-olds toy. While they were playing skee ball, I took my camera outside to photograph the barn. I got a few good pictures and there is one posted at DCO's Photo Gallery today.

With my run yesterday of 4.4 miles, I topped 150 miles for the year. My exact mileage is 151.8. Go me!

Why is it that everytime I watch TV, DVD or video I instantly fall asleep? Today my co-worker Lad gave me some videos on how to pose people for portrait photography. About 5 minutes into the tape, I was out like a light. I woke up about 20 minutes later and shut off the tape. What really pissed me off was last night I was laying on the couch waiting for Entourage to end so I could start taping The Sopranos on HBO. Three minutes before The Sopranos started I fell asleep. I didn't start recording and missed the first 45 minutes. When I woke up I finally pressed record and taped the end of The Sopranos and Big Love. Good thing that HBO shows the reruns on Monday nights or I would be lost next week.




TOP PHOTO: I'm sitting on the couch with my nephew Jack.
MIDDLE PHOTO: My husband and sister Denise playing skee ball.
BOTTOM PHOTO: Back row: My husband Mike, my sister Diane, brother-in-law Dennis, my sister Denise and my brother Dan. Front row: My mom and my sister Debbie and her son Jack.

Good Friday fun!

Most people I know had today, Good Friday, off. Unfortunately, I had to work.

I wanted to get to work early this morning, because I had so much to do. I got to work at 4:30 a.m. and one of my co-workers wondered why I was in so early. I told her that I had so much to do that I just wanted to start it. I had to upload eight folders of photos to the internet and I knew that would take almost 2 hours. Then my co-worker informed me that the internet was down and it has been down since midnight. She said that she called the internet providers number and the message said that they opened at 8:30 a.m. What a great way to start the day!

All morning we all hoped the internet would start to work again, but it didn't. At 8:30 a.m. many people from my office called the internet providers number to get some answers. Now, the message was saying that they were having "service issues". You think so? Everyone in town can't get on the internet! Around 10 a.m. I decided to leave work. There was nothing that I could do without the internet working.

After lunch with my husband, I drove up to Ann Arbor to meet blogger/photographer Stacy. We decided to walk around University of Michigan's campus and Forest Hills Cemetery to shoot photographs. It was fun. I never really been out shooting with another photographer for fun. Yeah, I've shot with other photographers, but that is always in the work environment. This was a change of pace that I really liked. Usually when I go out to shoot, I'm usually alone or my sweet husband is with me. He doesn't really have a good time standing around watching me take pictures. But today with Stacy it was really great. I didn't have to explain why I was taking a picture or tell her to wait up. I hope to get back together with her and go on more photo trips.

Starting today, I will be posting photos of the trip to Ann Arbor with Stacy. To view, go to DCO's Photo Gallery.

Photo is of Stacy petting a little dog somewhere on the University of Michigan campus - Ann Arbor.

10th Annual Lenawee County High School Art Show - Adrian, MI

10th Annual Lenawee County High School Art Exhibition

at the LCVA Gallery in downtown Adrian

April 18 - May 10, 2006

Gallery Hours:

Thursday and Friday 4 - 8 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday 12 - 4 p.m.

Reception:

1-3 p.m. on Sunday, April 23, 2006

Awards will be announced at 1:45 p.m.

Over $600 will be awarded.

For more information, contact Tom Bytwork at 266-4569

or the LCVA gallery at 265-4403.

LCVA Gallery

112 West Maumee

Adrian, MI 49221

517-265-4403

LCVA Members

Britney - In the news again

Britney, first you made headlines while driving with your baby Sean Preston on your lap. Now you made headlines again. Wait, scratch that, the nanny actually dropped Sean Preston.

If my baby was dropped on its head, I don't think I would wait six days before having a doctor in a hospital examine my child. But that's just me.



Photo credit: AP Photo

Happy Birthday Dad

John C.

April 10, 1942 - August 15, 1998

Dad,

Today, April 10th, would have been your 64th birthday. It has almost been eight years since you passed away and there isn't a single day that goes by that I don't think of you. I often wonder how different my life would be if you were still around.

I miss you and love you.
Deloris

Photo of my dad, John, handing me my high school diploma - May 1997.

The answer to the AOSept Clean Care question that everyone has been asking

I've been searching the internet to find an answer to why AOSept Clean Care has been off of the shelves. I wanted to find the answer so you, the loyal users, knew what happened and when it is supposed to return.

A while back I posted the answer to why it was pulled off the shelves and when it was supposed to return to the stores in the comment section of one of my posts. But, I found a link to another blog that has the answer from Product Consultant from CIBA Vision.

Photo credit: http://clecontactlenses.com/

Random things......

Sunday was the start of Daylight Savings Time, meaning we all lost an hour of the day. Losing that hour, my sleep pattern is all off. Instead of waking up to the alarm clock in the morning, I wake up a half hour before it. I can never get back to sleep, because I always think I'm going to oversleep. This entire week I have been to work a half hour early since I can't sleep.

On my run today, I got yelled at by someone in a passing car and by someone I knew. He yelled my name and said Hi. Good run today. It was a nice 61 degrees.

My husband is in the process of building a deck for the back patio. He broke up all of the concrete from the old patio and replaced a wood fence with a taller fence. The fence was replaced because our dog Blitzkrieg jumped over the old fence and scared our neighbor's son. My husband didn't work on the deck today because he had to draw up plans for the building permit. He might have to wait until Saturday to start working on the deck, all day tomorrow The Weather Channel has called for rain. BOO!

Miss Tyra

According to ETonline.com in tonight's episode Tyra collapses.

Nice acting job Tyra. I thought you really fainted. Here's a question for you? Why did you send Miss Mollie Sue home and keep Jade? Jade is the biggest fake ever. She thinks she knows everything about modeling. Her two commercial shoots were terrible. At least Mollie Sue got out her lines and didn't swear and twirl during her 30 second commercial. By keeping Jade on the show is that a way to up the ratings? Tyra, are you pulling a Santino (Project Runway) by keeping her?

By the way, I loved Santino. I don't care for Jade.

My first outside run of the year

April 4, 2006. It took me until April 4, 2006 to finally run outside. I almost didn't run outside today. I didn't want to run outside because the wind is blowing out of the northwest at 23 mph and gusting up to 31 mph and its 47 degrees out but with the windchill, 39 degrees (yes, I'm a cold weather wimp). I decided against staying inside, running on my treadmill. I grabbed my sunglasses from my car and started my run outside in the sun and wind.

I was surprised how well my run was going. I wasn't breathing hard at all. Thank you to my treadmill for keeping me in shape all winter. I thought it was a nice change of pace. Usually keeping me busy during my run is the TV. This time it was all of the cars coming my way, watching kids ride their bikes and the kids playing a game in the street. It was just like last fall. The memories. Sigh.

About a mile away from my house, I was thinking to myself, I didn't remember the last time that I got through an entire run without a whistle, catcall or some idiot saying shit to me. I was very excited. I was thinking of keeping count how long the streak would last. Then suddenly it was over. While running my last mile home, in the harsh wind a heard a voice directed towards me saying, "Run faster."

My first run outside and the streak is already broken.

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
Shutterbabe, Deborah Copaken Kogan

Currently Reading: The Hidden Hitler, Lothar Machtan
Up Next: Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees

My visit to the dentist

Today I had a check-up at the dentist. I had good news and bad news. The good news is that I don't have any cavities. The bad news is that the dentist and the hygienist recommended that I get all four wisdom teeth removed. That sounds painful.

After my appointment I told my husband of the news. He said, "You don't have to book the appointment now. You can do it later, when you save up some money." How long will it take for me to save that much money to have my wisdom teeth removed, one year or two?

Don't be angry

I never listened to you on free radio. Why would I want to pay to listen to your show on Sirius Satellite Radio? Yes I know who you are, Howard Stern, but your show is always on when I was in class or now at work. I've seen your show before on E! and watched it, sometimes. I guess there was really nothing exciting to keep me coming back.

Now Howard is mad that his some of his fans haven't made the switch to Sirius. I don't have Siruis Satellite Radio or XM. I don't want to pay $30 or $40 dollars extra to listen to the radio. I'll stay with the free radio and besides when I' m driving I rarely listen to the radio. I usually have a CD playing. If I do listen to the radio, I want to hear music, not people talking constantly.

So Howard I'm sorry that fans aren't making the switch to Sirius as fast as you want them to. Not everyone can afford the fees for satellite radio. I guess you should be happy that you have 4 million listeners. Not every radio personality can say that they have those numbers.

Photo credit: Yahoo Movies