Change We Can Believe In?

Career. What an over-hyped word. What an over-worked scenario (pun intended). Since when did we "do" become what we "are"? I don't get it. Just because I do this job or that job, I am still the person I was always going to be. It is funny to me that when you meet people, they don't ask you things you like to do or where you work, but rather, "What do you do?" What they are referring to is your line of work. They want to know what your career is. Well, I am a teller at a bank, but that is definitely not what I do. I like to write, shoot pictures, spend time with my wonderful wife, etc. There are plenty of things that I "do," that have nothing to do with my career.

All of this was brought to mind recently, because I am considering changing "career paths." I would like to go in a different direction....one that actually makes some money. I am barely getting by with the money I make. Is it such a wrong thing to want to make a lot of money for the work that you do? I don't think so. In fact, I would argue that it is the very reason that we go to work. Money is what we are working for. Some people want to act like that has nothing to do with it, and you cannot talk about it. Why not? I understand some people that say, "It is not 'just' about the money." However, I do not get those that tout, "It is not about the money, I just like the job." Well, that is probably some of it, but money has to play some factor in it. I do believe it is important to work in an area of your calling. I get that. I just don't get people that say you ought not to pursue something that will give you and your family a better life.

These thoughts float to the top of my brain from time to time. Tonight was one of those times. I have been thinking about BancorpSouth recently. I have thought that I could stay another 5 years and still not be up to the income level that I would need, to be able to support a family, should Rebecca and I want to have kids and her stay home with them. I think that is the driving factor in all of this. I just want to have the option, if that time comes. Right now, I don't.

More to come...

Yard Frollicking

Sam and Isaac were having a good time yesterday. We were outside playing in the yard in the evening. Carla and Brian had gone to Small Group, and would not be back until later, so Rebecca took them outside. They found some leaves that had fallen off a Poplar tree and began playing in them. They were being pretty sweet to each other. Little brother always wants to be his older sister. Older sister is not always that kind to her little brother.

As you can see, Sam latched onto Isaac more than once. He didn't seem to fight it though....he knows he is loved. In the picture below, Glen was hurting himself. Let me explain...Glen was throwing a can of OFF around and he dropped it on his foot. Isaac just thought that was hilarious that Glen had hurt himself. Well, I asked Glen to do that some more (just pretending) so that I could get a few more laughing pictures. It worked like a charm. They were both just falling over with laughter for a good five minutes.

Carla has mentioned that she wants me to do a photo shoot of Sam and Isaac in the next couple of weeks. Her vision is for us to get some leaves piled up and to have them laying either in the leaves or just in the grass, looking up at the camera. I think it will be a really cute shot, but I am curious what exactly Carla has in mind for this. We will see soon enough.

G-Man's Birthday

Well, we celebrated Glen's birthday today. He got to pick his "Birthday Lunch" of anything he wanted (that we can prepare). He chose some fried chicken with fettuccine alfredo and homemade bread.

Glen got a new camera for his birthday! Yay! Also, he received a 4gb memory card for the thing. What an upgrade! I hope to see lots of great photographs coming from my pro toge now.

Later, we all packed up in the Pilot and hit the road. (All, but Dad, that is.) We headed to my house so that Mom could see the cabinet/bookshelf that is spoken of so often around here recently. She was in awe, and I am not just saying that. She was really amazed how good it turned out. We got back in the Pilot after that and headed to Linens N Things to get a new comforter for Glen. (Added bonus for us....we found some new sheets at the same time. They are 500 thread count and they are fabulous!)

Even Mom and Carla got in on the celebration with a couple of smiles. They were pretty pumped too, I guess. ha ha.

You Decide: 2008

The time has come, folks. That's right, it is time for you to decide. Not on something so trivial as the presidential election, but on more important stuff....like which knob to use for our new china cabinet. ha ha

The choices are listed here and let me just say, I think we have already made up our minds, but I would like to know what you think. Please leave a comment and vote for which one you want. Remember, the cabinet is all white, so keep that in mind as you vote.

Perfectionist's Progress

There has been significant progress on the "cabinet project." This has been the pivotal project of this century.....of this household. The pillar of beauty, standing out in an already beautiful home. The total morphing of idea into tangible design.

I asked Rebecca, "So, would you like to put some books on this thing finally?" She jumped at the idea. We stayed up the other night starting to decorate it. It is very ornate already, with the bead board on the back side of every shelf. Well, it took her no time to stock the bookshelf. I just kind of sat and watched her...for a couple of reasons:

1. Rebecca loves to just play around with stuff like that until she gets it just right(she's good at it)
2. Minerva (what I affectionately call my nerve) was pinched in my lower back and causing excruciating pain.

Here are a few of the reading selections that we currently have. We hope to be collecting (and reading) many more to come.

Thanks for stopping by, ya'll. (Jon and Glen, you know the rest.)

Tired/Sleepy

Went to Cathryn's rehearsal dinner. This is a friend of Rebecca's. It was really nice. It was out at the reservoir. It was in a subdivision called Overlook Pointe and it was beautiful. We just talked and had some jambalaya and had a good time.

Will post more later....and yes, some pictures.

iPhone-iPod Feature Madness

Okay, so overall, I love my iPhone 3G. That being said, there are a few things that I am not too crazy about. Some of them are because of negligence on the part of Apple/AT&T, but some of them are actually flaws.....unforseen flaws.

What I am referring to has to do with the iPod feature on iPhone. I use this feature a lot. I am constantly listening to music, Podcasts, etc. Well, to listen to stuff in my car, I use the cassette adapter (made by Phillips) that I have used for years with my other iPod. This adapter plugs into the iPhone through the headphone jack. It plays just fine, but for some reason, it causes problems with the iPhone remembering where the Podcast was the last time I paused or stopped it. This is a real problem for me. I cannot stand it.

A few things happen:
1. I will be playing a podcast, and when I pause the podcast and unplug it, it will take itself off of pause and start playing again. What in the world? It does this pretty consistently.

2. Another thing it will do is when I have had the iPhone unplugged from the adapter, and then plug it in, it will skip back to a part of the podcast that I have already heard. This is very frustrating because I am usually in my car, and I cannot drive and try to FFWD it to where I previously was in the podcast. Ugh!

This just goes against everything about podcasts. They are supposed to be "smart" playlists, where they remember your spot when you pause them. That is why they have become so popular, because you can leave them and come right back to where you were without missing a thing.

The most recent firmware update to 2.1 seemed to fix a lot of bugs and help the iPhone overall. However, I think the above mentioned problem has worsened since installing that new firmware.
Whatever am I to do?

Good Morning!

I thought you might enjoy seeing a little sunshine this morning. This was actually taken yesterday, but I figured it would count anyway.

Will post more later...

Never Ending

I am now seeing what other photographers have been talking about with the time consuming art of editing. I have not really been doing all that much editing, because I like to have my pictures pretty much SOOC (straight out of camera), but it has been taking some time nonetheless.

I am finally putting in a picture order that my sister, Carla, asked me to put in last week sometime. Where does the time go. It feels like yesterday was Saturday, and it is already almost Wednesday of the next week. Sheesh!

Here is one of the ones I am having blown up for her to put in her house. I think they will be great additions to her home. I hope so, anyway.

I was supposed to be in bed over half an hour ago, so I must get going.

Until then...

Back Pain

I have had back pain for over a week now. It is getting really old. I don't know what is wrong with it....my back, that is.

I am really too young to be having back pain.

I got pulled over last night. This has not happened in a really long time. There were some people stopped on the bypass of HWY 18 last night at W. Sunset Dr. Well, I decided to pass them on the right. It looks like there is a little passing lane there. I suppose, since I was pulled over for doing it, that is not a passing lane. He let me go.

Reflections

Reflections. They are so important. Seemingly more so, sometimes more than others. Tonight is one of those times. I just seem to be reflecting on things that happened today and tonight. I do think pretty often, because I want to be able to grow myself. I want to look back on my life and my experiences and say that I noticed certain things that I liked and disliked, and changed them for the betterment of me. I cannot always realize some of the "bad" things that I do as they happen. However, reflection usually brings those things to light.

Always keep reflecting.

Just a few pictures from "The Day of Rest....yeah right"

The Day of Rest....yeah right!

Well, today started out with work around the house.

I put the final coat of paint on the cabinet doors that I have been messing with for a week now. I will let it set for about another week before I take them to get glass put in them. We are almost to the final phase of the china cabinet.

Then, I mowed the front yard. I chose a diagonal format, for a little more design in the grass. It is quite eye-catching.

Well, then it was off to "The Ranch." There were lots of things going on out there today....to many of which I can divulge here.

Until next time...

Cabinet

Long Day

Well, today was long. It started off with some back pain this morning. I have a pinched nerve that shows up in my back from time to time, and today, it was here in full uniform....ready to serve up some pain.

I had to work at the bank this morning. What a busy morning. Everyone wanted to come to the bank, for some reason.

I went to "The Ranch" (aka Mom & Dad's place) after work. I ate some lunch with them, and picked up my fresh tortillas that my mom brought back from Arizona earlier in the week. They are so good!

Came home then, and started prepping the cabinet doors for one of the final coats of white paint. I proceeded to paint it on them. (Pictures later...)

Finally, I went to the other work....Domino's at about 5:00. I was supposed to get off at 8:30, but didn't leave there until 10:00. Nuff said. When I got home, there was a Brandon cop car sitting in front of my drive way, and everyone was standing in front of my house. Well, needless to say, tons of things were racing through my head of what might be wrong. I was thinking, "The house was on fire....it was broken into....someone got hurt." Turns out, the neighbor directly across the street from us backed out his driveway and plowed right into a car belonging to Rebecca's friend, Jessica. The guy then drove off! Well, some other neighbors saw the whole thing, and walked down to their house (perp). They knocked on the door, and told whomever answered the door that they needed to call that guy back home, because they saw the whole thing. Evidently, the man that did the hit and run had some kind of "record," because he got in the cop car later and left with him.

What an interesting end to a very long day.

More later...