I've got a golden ticket

Quite a bit happened this weekend, but I don't feel like typing and/or thinking much right now. But here's a preview of a future post...

-Jazz Fest
-Photo Awards
-State Championship

So just enjoy this video for now until I can get around to typing up everything that happened the past few days.

Strap On Strap Off

I had to say goodbye to an old friend today. I didn't think it was going to be tough, but I actually had to think about it for a while.

I got a new strap for my camera this week. I was pretty excited because my old strap was pretty worn out. The old strap had two sides, one with cotton and the other with a rubber type substance. And I used each side depending on what I was wearing. Just any normal shirt I'd put the cotton side against my shoulder so I could easily move the strap. But if I had a jacket of some sort on, I'd put the rubber side against my shoulder to prevent it from sliding off the jacket.

I went to make the switch today and had to stop and think if I really wanted to get rid of my old strap. I mean, it's just so comfortable... like an old pair of shoes or an old hat that might look like hell, but is just too much a part of you to get rid of. But I finally made the switch, but not without thinking about what me and the old strap have been through.

(Que sappy music)

-Two Major Hurricanes
-Katrina
-Rita

-One Tropical Storm
-Cindy


-Two full seasons of home Saints games, including...
-One NFL divisional playoff game between the Saints and Eagles
-Two Monday night football games (including the first game back at the Dome after Katrina)

-About a 10 LSU regular season games (don't feel like looking up exactly how many)

-6 college bowl games
-Houston Bowl
-Two New Orleans Bowls
-Two Sugar Bowls
-BCS National Championship

-One KSU football victory over Texas where I rushed the field and tore down the goal posts

-One KSU football victory over Colorado (Kelly Glasscock used it for this game)

-A workshop in Portland Ore.

-A trip to New York City

-5 (I think) Trips to Manhattan Kansas

-It's been swimming with me at the water park

-It spent a week with me at girl scout camp in June of 2006

-Its been a part of one state basketball championship
-and three state runner up basketball teams

-Two state soccer championships

-Its kept me company at countless meetings, speeches and award ceremonies

-Its been placed on levees throughout Terrebonne parish

-It's been hung on hooks on the inside of bathroom stall doors

-I've taken it inside houses and buildings that have recently caught fire
-It took a week to get the smoke smell out of the strap after going inside the World of Wings after that fire.

-I've used it to dry my hands

-It's seen...
-Green Day
-Gov. Bobby Jindal
-Jimmy Buffett
-Spike Lee
-Bon Jovi
-Bono and U2
-Stewart Scott
-Jimmy Johnson
-countless NFL stars
-plenty of college football stars
-George Bush the dad
-and I'm sure others I can't think of

-It's seen the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf of Mexico

-It's been to Jazz Fest in New Orleans

-It's been up and down Bourbon Street

And you know what... those are just the bigger things this strap has been through. I'm not even going to mention how many high school football, volleyball, basketball, baseball or softball games this thing as watched. Don't forget track, cross country, tennis and soccer.

or how many community theater practices it's sat through

or how many kids playing basketball or skate boarding in the streets it's seen

or how many road races its watched the start and finish of

or how many self portraits of me its seen

And I can't even begin to think how many times the strap saved my camera from having to spend weeks in the shop. I know I drop my camera quite a bit, but I always hold the strap in such a way that if I do drop it... no worries.

I think you get the point. And I'm sure there are plenty of other stories out there that this strap could tell.

And I welcome any stories some of you might have about my camera strap.

R.I.P Canon EOS camera strap. And may the new strap, with its little joint things to prevent the strap from getting twisted, experience and help the way the original strap did.

Come on Down!

If anybody not currently living in South Louisiana is thinking about coming down here, but can't think of a reason... Read the rest of this post. And if you do currently live down here and haven't done any of the things i'm going to talk about... Shame on you.

Lets get started with a Sunday afternoon last week.

Taylor called me up just as I was about to start a game of Wii Sports and asked "You wanna go crabbing with us?" That's a no brainer. I grabbed my fishing pole, met Misty and Taylor at wal-mart (for snacks, bait, lures and so misty could get a fishing license so she didn't get another ticket like last year) Then headed down the bayou.

We went to Point-aux-Chenes and parked along the side of Island Road. Misty and Taylor set up 8 crabbing lines. (Strings with chicken necks tied to the end) and I rigged up something on my pole to throw into the water. I cast for about 20 minutes with out a bite, then gave up and decided to crab instead.

Crabbing is a really simple concept. Toss the chicken-neck-on-a-string out into the water, wait a few minutes or until you see the string get tight, then slowly pull the string towards you. And what you're doing is pulling the crab, who's eating the neck, towards the shore. You put a net in the water and pull the crap up over the net, then just pick up the net. And presto! You've caught a crab. Sometimes the hardest part is getting the crab out of the net.

We spent the rest of the afternoon catching crabs. I tried my luck at fishing a couple more times, but really all I did was throw shrimp and lures into the water and reel them back.

Here are some photos...

Misty with the net in the water and pulling the string... at sunset. (Go ahead and say it... Ohhhhh Ahhhhh that's pretty)


Got it! (It actually is kind of exciting because some of the crabs are quick and scurry away when they see the net.)


Another version of the first photo...


When you get two photographers together, you know something like this would happen...


And then you boil them... (We caught about two dozen, and Misty's dad did the cooking)


And then you eat them...



Now see... don't you want to do that? You don't need a fishing license to catch crab, you only need one to catch fish. So come on down and catch you some dinner.

If you need to take a break, now would be a good time. So go grab a snack, visit the restroom, whatever you need and come back for the other reason you need to get down here.

Live Music... you can't go anywhere in New Orleans with out hearing live music. This past weekend was the French Quarter Festival. A three day music fest in the French Quarter with tons of live local music. And the best part... it's all Free. There are multiple stages set up through out the Quarter and lots of tents with food and drinks from local establishments. It's pretty awesome.

I guess you can say that the French Quarter Festival (FQF) is kind of a warm-up to Jazz Fest. It's the same sort of setup where you can just walk from stage to stage hearing a bunch of music. The only differences are Jazz Fest brings in some bigger named bands while the FQF keeps it pretty local. Oh, and of corse, FQF is free.

We spent Saturday and Sunday walking around the quarter listening to music, eating some awesome food and just enjoying the nice weather. (Sunny and about 70-80 degrees... it was a little windy so later in the day having a jacket sure helped)

Here's Jackson Square... one of the locations with a stage. There were tents around the edge of the square with all sorts of food. Misty had a Jambalaya and pizza... and I had a crawfish sausage po-boy and two slices of Crawfish Bread (The greatest food ever made by the way).


We spent a good portion of Saturday at the Brass Band Stage along the river. Misty laid down to soak up some sun while I continued to groove to the Pinstripe Brass Band. You can see our drink of choice there on the left... it's a hand grenade. It tastes like a mountain dew. I also had a Hurricane, just so I could say I had a Hurricane while at the FQF.



And here's what I was grooving too...



We saw quite a bit more than just music this weekend too. It seems there's always something interesting to see in the French Quarter.

Like the Natchez Steam Boat... actually, just wanted to kind of show how high the Mississippi River is right now. I don't know many specifics, but I've heard it's as high as it's been in a while at 17-feet. And they've had to open the spillway outside of town. And you could really tell when we walked along the river this weekend. The water was almost up to the sidewalk. It was crazy. There's a lot of water moving in there.


Or a group of folks on Bourbon Street enjoying their new shirts. (I just thought this was funny)


Or a dude knocked out on the street. I'm not quite sure what happened to him, but from what people were saying, he was punched in the face.


Now then, if you don't want to come down here after all that... I don't really want you to come down here. From standing in shin deep water catching crab to sipping on a Hurricane watching live music along the Mississippi River... And remember, Jazz Fest is just a few weeks away. If you come, your first slice of Crawfish Bread is on me!

And I'll leave you with Misty and I having a little fun on Bourbon Street. I can't count the number of times we've seen people so drunk they can hardly stand up. They usually attract a small crowd of people watching them look like fools. They're pretty funny to watch. So this weekend, I decided to act like one of those drunks. I've seen them enough that it wasn't hard to pretend. And after a few seconds, I had people pointing and watching. My conscious got the best of me when I saw people stop and stare. So I stopped. But not after a few laughs.

5.77

How's your bracket looking? I've decided that next year, I'm only filling out one bracket. If I fill out more than one... they're all going to be the same. I think that'll make the three weeks of the tournament more interesting. But I do know that in one of the brackets I have money in, I had 7 of the 8 elite eight teams. So that's cool.

A couple thoughts on running really quick... Last Monday, I ran my farthest run yet. 5.77 miles. And it wasn't that hard. I had just been scared to go over 4 miles for whatever reason. And I even finished faster than I started. Check out my chart from this run. At the two mile mark, I was running pretty slow, but from there on out, I sped up. Then ended faster than I started. Not to shabby.



This run accomplished a couple things.

1: it put me less than a mile from completing my March goal of 29 miles. So, if you'll check the chart on the right, you'll see that I finished the 29 miles with time to spare. (I guess it should be noted that I had a two mile run not register for some reason. So this long run would have put me over had that 2 mile run been recorded)

2: It put me over 200 miles total since Sept. It took me 36 runs to get my first 100 miles. And my second 100 came in 34 runs. It took a little longer to reach that second 100 miles, but I pretty much took December off so it all works out.

So now I just need to come up with a goal for April. I'm leaning towards something like "5 runs under 9.25 per mile" or something like that. March was about distance, maybe I'll make April about picking up my speed a little bit. Thoughts are welcome.

When I'm our running, I always think of funny cleaver things to say in my blog, but then I never get around to posting anything. So I know I'm forgetting something. Oh well.

I'll leave you with a photo I took on Saturday in Raceland. Paddle Bayou Laforuche took place this weekend. A bunch of people spend four days floating down Bayou Lafourche. I hung out at a Bed and Breakfast that was having a party for the paddlers. And I've decided that I'm doing this next year. Looks like fun.


That's all for now... And who do I go for this weekend? North Carolina because I have a UNC jersey and I've been to their campus and I like Roy Williams or KU because I have them in my brackets and KSU beat them and it'd be awesome to say "We beat the National Champion" Hummmmmm...

Not Since 1988...

.... Have I seen KSU win a NCAA tourney game.

Until tonight!

Unfortunately I was unable to watch the final 7 minutes of the game because CBS cut to the Duke game. But that didn't stop me from yelling while sitting in my living room by myself.

Fight you K-State Wildcats...

I've waited 12 years for this day

The Cats are finally playing an NCAA tourney game. I was filling out a bracket last night and had to stop for a second after picking us to beat USC in the first round. It felt awesome to see "Kansas St." one one of those little lines.

I remember in taking a small, hand-held TV to class with me in 7th grade to watch the Cats play in the Tournament. My Social Studies teacher, Mrs. Getz, allowed me to watch the game. I got a really fuzzy signal, but was able to see some of the game. The game hadn't finished yet by the time school let out, so mom and I listened to the rest of the game on the radio on the way home in our big van. We lost.

A couple other points of interest going on right now...

I ran in another race last Saturday. The over and Under Tunnel run. They think it's the only road race in the country that goes over... and under.... the same body of water. I had been practicing the hills of the bridge and tunnel for a couple weeks leading up to the race. It paid off. I passed about 10 people on the final hill.. most of them were walking. So that felt awesome.

If you get a chance, check out and bookmark Misty's new photo blog. She just started it last night and I assume it'll be filled with her work. The first image on there is one she just took at a baseball game. It's pretty impressive so check it out when you get a chance.

I'll leave you with a pretty nasty image I took the other day. It's from a really bad wreck I went too. It was the strangest thing how it happened inside the Civic Center, with an audience of high school kids, right before prom season. And the victims blood was Ciro Syrup.

It's hard to beat anybody three times

Few things really quick...

1: I just ran 4.3 miles along the Mississippi River. Misty and I went up to the Luling area and went up on the Levee next to the river. She rode her bike and I ran. It was awesome. A little windy, and at some points dusty from some of the factories in the area. But it was just awesome. Perfect day.

2: I still believe in KSU basketball. I don't care if we've lost 4 in a row or if Beasley is a one-year college player. He's brought basketball excitement back to Manhattan... something the Little Apple has needed for years. Go State!

3: I've been following the Ellender Lady Patriots in the State Tournament the past few days. If you remember, they won the State Championship last year. Kelly and I have gone to Hammond twice in three days to watch the Semifinals and finals. Ellender was #1 in the state, and favored to win.

so check this out to see how it all went down. (might want to push pause after pushing play, to let it load all the way.)

Remember, it's not supposed to be easy.

Wow, Lance Armstrong just kicked my ass.

Because I failed to reach my running goal last month, I decided to kick it into gear a little more this month. Yesterday I got a new Nike+ running workout from iTunes. It's similar to the one I have with Serina Williams, but in this workout, my coach is Lance Armstrong. It's another interval workout, just longer. I have a warm up, then four 4-minute speed sets, with four 4-minute recovery sets, then finally a cool down. (Take a look the box over there on the right and you can get a good idea of how the run looks in chart format. Speed up, slow down, speed up slow down... etc.)

During the Serina workout, she'll chime in with some encouragement like "If I saw you right now, would I be impressed?" or "I want your running to turn some heads." Which is great, but the difference with this new workout is that Lance chimes in with tips on running. For example, during one of the slow sets he says "stay relaxed by un-clinching your fists and relaxing your shoulders. This will help you prepare for the next fast set." And during one of the fast sets he said "Try to get off your heals and use the balls of your feet to push you forward." But Lance still jumps in with the encouragement as well. "Remember, it's not supposed to be easy." and "Remember, pain is temporary, giving up lasts a lifetime."

Now how can you not be inspired to run with those words plus Weezer, Beck, Wolfmother and others playing in your ears?

Four runs complete this month, five more to reach my goal.

Now for some photo talk...

I got a bit of inspiration the other day when I looked at a recent set of contest winners. There are some really amazing shots in there. But what got to me the most was the sports stuff. The majority of the winning images were not your standard sports action stuff you see in the sports section. They were unique angles, different points of view, interesting lighting techniques and so on...

It got me to thinking. I cover so much sports its crazy. I know all the local teams, I know their star players, I know the lighting conditions for every field or gym in Terrebonne Parish, it's safe to say that I'm really comfortable shooting local sports down here. And I took a quick look back at some of my sports images, and they're really all the same, and they're nothing like the winning images from that contest.

I need to break out of my comfort zone when it comes to shooting sports. Take basketball for example. In each gym for the past two years, I've set up my lights in the same place and stood in the same location for each and every game. How boring is that? At first I was kind of proud that I could walk into any gym in Houma and light it. But now, it kind of bothers me that I stuck myself in that rut.

So tonight I took my first step out of my zone. I stood at the other corner of the gym for the second and third quarters. I still set my light up in the same place, I just walked across the baseline to the other corner to see what would happen.

This first shot is what I've been getting for the last two seasons. Pretty straight forward. Just a standard action shot. nothing too fancy.



This is what happens when I walked across the baseline to the other corner. Little different look. The light is still coming from the same direction, I'm just in a different position.



This first step out of my zone was pretty small. It's just a few steps across a gym floor. What I need to start doing is seeing basketball different. So combine the moving of myself and the the moving of my lights with the moving of my mind away from how I've been seeing basketball the past two years. I basically just need to challenge myself at these games and not just bring back the same ole photo each time.

Of course, this mind set carries over to all my assignments, not just basketball. But Sports is a good example because I shoot 2-4 sporting events a week.

Oh, and I'll leave you with this... I photographed a guy named Poo Poo tonight. Think about that for a while, then watch this and you'll see who I met. He's a local celebrity.

Take That Staph Infection!

I showed that Staph who's boss alright... Well, actually the antibiotics did most of the work.

I was finally able to go run tonight. I told myself to take it easy and just go for a nice jog. I set my iPod to run for 2.2 miles. I started off nice and easy but then I start to think "hey, I'm only running about 2 miles, I can push it a little bit." Next thing you know, I'm going all out. But I finally settled into a nice pace. And the best part was my stupid Staph infection didn't bother me a bit. It's still on my stomach, it just doesn't hurt any more.

But I've made a new Nike Goal for February... it's the same as January. Figured I better accomplish one goal before moving onto another one. And I liked Nabil's suggestion to wear ankle weights. I looked for some tonight at a sporting good store but didn't have any luck. So I'm going to take Seth's suggestion and "quit being such a ********." So what I might do is get a couple more Nike+ workouts from iTunes and use those more often. Lance Armstrong just came out with a new running workout using a bunch of Alternative Music like Beck, Weezer, Wolfmother...etc. I think I'll give that a shot. That way I'm not just running around, I'll actually be doing a productive workout.

I had today off, and I actually put my time to good use. Instead of waking up at the crack of noon, I was up by 9 and spent the entire day cleaning my room. It had gotten pretty out of hand. I couldn't open my small closet door and there was only a narrow path from my door, to my bed, to my big closet. The rest was filled with stuff. So most of that stuff is ether in the trash or moved somewhere out of the way.

No photo this time... you can just imagine my empty laundry baskets because it's all done, or my desktop that only has what needs to be on it and not a bunch of extra stuff, or my freshly vacuumed carpet. I even dusted. Can't remember the last time I did that.

What a Ride

Happy Mardi Gras!

Well, I rode in another parade. Misty and I were in the Krewe of Kajuns Parade today. It was amazing. Houma has two parades on Fat Tuesday. The Krewe of Houmas goes first and the Krewe of Kajuns is right after. We were the first float on the second parade.

Holy Cow it was fun.

We didn't really buy any more stuff to throw. We just caught enough stuff during all the other parades to give us enough to throw.

anyway, here are some pictures.

Misty and I before the start of the parade.... yep, we're dorks.



We start by the Mall in Houma, and make our way downtown. At the start, when we turn the corner onto the parade route, this is what you see. And it's pretty much like this the entire route.



Okay.. Okay... So it didn't quite look like this parade... but I bet I threw more things at people than Eli did.

Anyway, with all the people along the route... this is all you saw for about 4 hours. (Just imagine the yelling and screaming.... Sometimes I'd just wave my arms and scream back at them. That usually shut them up for a little bit)



And when you pass buy a building with windows, you get to see how you look. In this photo... find the foam taco hat, and you'll find me.



And that's all I took really. I spent too much time throwing and juggling and spinning those hand helicopter things into the crowd. (which was Awesome because we had a strong wind today. I'd spin them towards some kid, and it would end up 50 yards away. It was great)

Oh, and I plan to finally get back into running tomorrow. The good ole Staph Infection has gone down enough for me to be able to start working out again. So I'll celebrate Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent with a nice jog.