Zune Wallpapers
I picked up a Zune and have been lovin it!
I’ve messed around and made some wallpapers for it as well.
Take these and use them to your hearts content!
Bathroom remodel update
Remodeling a bathroom is no small project. I’m finally down to the final stretch. I feel like I’ve been in the bathroom for weeks now. This all started about 6 weeks ago as we decided to rip out all of the old yucky yellow tile from our bathroom. I wish I had had the smarts to take a before shot, but I didn’t. I took a couple of shots after we had begun the project and now you can see the final results. I still have some paint trimming and a little bit of grout work on the floor in front of the tub to do. It’s a huge relief to finally step back and see the progress. Here’s all of the things we did:
- Removed all the yellow tile from around the bath tub and around the toilet.
- Put up bead-board and trim around the toilet
- Replaced the baseboards
- Painted the walls and ceiling
- Removed a header like piece from above the shower/bath tub
- Replaced the bath tub
- Replaced the plumbing for the shower head, knob and spout
- Replaced the faucet on the sink
- Fixed the tile on the floor in front of the tub
- Re-tiled the shower/tub area
- Fixed part of the wall and floor around the tub that had water damage
- Replaced light fixture above sink
- Much more that I’m probably leaving out!
Here’s some during and after shots: (click on the smaller versions to see a larger view)
View #1
 
View #2
 
Las Vegas, a new 10-20mm lens and a remodeling project!
This coming Sunday I am headed to Las Vegas for a week. Brandon and I are going to be attending a Windows and Microsoft Exchange conference held there. The conferences are the main reason for us going there, but my next reason (and the part I’m looking more forward to…) is to get some good shots. We are planning on hitting the city hard and then heading to the Grand Canyon as well.
If there are anymore of you geeky photobloggers out there like us who will be attending the conferences let us know so we can hook up! I’m super excited and ready to get to shooting. If you visit my photoblog you’ll probably notice that I haven’t been posting much lately and that’s because I haven’t been shooting much lately. I haven’t picked up my camera nor done much post-processing much at all for about a month or more. I just needed a break from it and have had a bunch of other things come up. One major project is we are re-modeling our bathroom, so that’s consumed every free minute for the past week and I’m barely half way there!
At this stage in the project I’ve removed the old yellow tile that was around the bathtub and along the wall by the toilet. I’ve removed the sheet rock that was behind the tile and started to hang the hardibacker where I’ll be putting tile back up. Tommorrow I’ll be removing the tub, replacing the fixtures and finishing putting up the hardibacker. I’ll try to remember to post some after pictures when we are done. I wish I had took some shots before we started, but oh well.
Anyways, since we are headed to Vegas and will be wondering around the landscape outside it and by the Grand Canyon I thought I really wanted to use a wider angle lens so I’ve got one of the 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC Sigma lens. I’ve played around with it a little and am liking it so far. Check back next week and see if I manage to get any good shots with it!
My Audio – Daughter Birthday
Singing Happy Birthday.
Chillin in Chicago
I’ve come to the conclusion that most everyone in Chicago seems to smoke. You can’t walk around downtown more than a minute without seeing someone smoking a cigarette! It’s no big deal when they are off to the side smoking, but when you all of the sudden end up walking behind someone and a huge puff of smoke hits you in the face it’s most unsettling!
The other thing that you see a lot of is people talking on cell phones. It’s most disturbing when they are walking along and using either a Bluetooth headset or one that looks like headphones. I don’t think some of these realize just how loud they tend to talk using those. Although I’m sure I’ve done the same thing annoying someone else just talking on my cell phone.
Another interesting thing is the number of times you get asked for money. I sat and watched a girl walk around and tell her story of how she was in Chicago visiting her son who was in the hospital (she of course only looked 16 at best) and how she had her purse stolen and needed money. “Sorry, no cash on me”, I told her. I saw at least 10 people give her various amounts of money over a 30 minute period. Many of the people who asked me for money were extremely polite. “Sorry, no cash on me” I told a young man. “Thank you sir, for your time. You have a beautiful day.” He replied.
The sheer number of people just blows me away about this place and the variety of ethnic backgrounds is astonishing I come from Springfield, MO and there’s just not the melting pot of people you see here, which is kinda sad in a way.
One last observation…taxis…wow, there are a lot of taxis and they are crazy! They’ll just about run you over in a crosswalk even when you have the right a way. Boy do they like their horns too. It’s plain to see that at least 5 vehicles in front of the taxi are at a complete stop with no way to move forward and yet they will lay on their horns like there’s no tomorrow followed by leaning out their windows and yelling at the 5 immovable cars in front of them to move! I watched at least 6 taxis pull up behind an empty, parked SUV and honk their horns and yell at the SUV to move. Then taxis behind the taxis behind the SUV would begin to yell and honk. Amazing.
Chicago is a fascinating and interesting place to visit, but there’s no way I could live here! :)
Chilling at Big Cedar Lodge
I’m sitting outside a little cottage we rented at a place called Big Cedar Lodge. It’s a cool weekend get-a-way place with lot’s to do.
We’ve done canoeing, putt putt (that I actually won for once!), swimming and some nice trails for walking. Check out my moblog for some shots I took my Treo 650.
I’ve been surprised that the camera on the Treo isn’t better than it is, but overall I do like the Treo 650. I get back tommorrow and immediately am headed to Chicago. I’m really looking forward to doing a bunch of shooting while I’m there.
Out of the blah and out of time
I made it through the blah’s of a bad summer cold. But now I’m into a lack of time. I’m really wanting to get out and shoot, but between taking an evening class and a MCSE test scheduled for this Friday and some software I am really needing to work on in my spare time I’m just not getting there. I’ve managed to get some shots off and in a couple of weeks I am looking forward to a couple of days off work and away from responsibilities to wander around downtown Chicago shooting to my hearts content. Let’s just hope the weather co-operates!
I’m really looking forward to getting back to writing and coming up with some more photographer’s tips. If any of you have some great ideas you can share that would be awesome!
MIS Guys hiatus
The definition of “hiatus” = A gap or interruption in space, time, or continuity; a break. That explains the frequency at which we’ve been posting here lately.
The reasons? A serious summer cold/allergies. Implementing and Managing Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 evening class. Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Windows XP Professional test scheduled for this Friday. Travelling for work. Add to these events Church, Family, a couple of major projects at work and a couple of addictive Nintendo DS games and you’ve got a recipe for overload.
Time seems to be flying by as fast as the subway appears to be in this shot.
Blah
The look on this fish’s face sums up how I feel and have felt for about a week and a half.
I haven’t felt like writing, I haven’t felt like shooting and I haven’t felt like processing shots. I haven’t been around to look at other photoblogs either. Add to this the temperatures outside, taking an evening class, major projects at work and trying to balance Church and Family life.
I thought the cold/allergies yuck I’ve had was breaking up yesterday as I was feeling much better, but today I’m right back where I was. Oh well, enough whining for now I guess.
My Audio – Japanese Garden Sounds
Peaceful sounds from a Japanese Garden.