Chocolate!

23 December 2007
I confess, this photo was actually taken at 12:01 AM on the 24th, not the 23rd. But, taking a page from my wife's excuse book: I haven't been to bed yet, so it's still today. Therefore this photo counts for my photo on the 23rd. Which is important, because I didn't take any photos.

It's chocolate.

Cheers.

~KR (23 December 2007)

Listening to:
Ceremony by Xiu Xiu

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.8 sec (4/5)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 1 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Tags: CHOCOLATE, CLOSE-UP, BOKEH, SWEET, CANON, PHOTOBLOG

Rahr Brewery with Friends

22 December 2007
If you've not gleaned this yet, you're not paying attention: I like beer. I like beer of most sorts, but free beer really gets my attention. So, on Saturday's when Rahr Brewery, just south of downtown Ft. Worth gives away free beer for 2 hours, I'm quite likely to attend. This past Saturday we did attend, taking with us 2 great dogs and 5 great friends. More were invited, but we take what we can get. In this photo, we have Mary tossing back the rest of her Winter Warmer so that she can run grab a top-up before last call.


Notice the dainty method involved with draining that pint glass to its very last drop.
Cheers.

~KR (22 December 2007)

Listening to:
Breeze by Genki Rockets

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.077 sec (1/13)
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 10 mm
ISO Speed: 800
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Tags: RAHR+BREWERY, FT.+WORTH, FRIENDS, PHOTOBLOG, BEER

Drip

21 December 2007
Making the mundane beautiful (or at least semi-intersting) is one of the major challenges of a daily photo-blog. Rarely is it easy. This is an example of an attempt at exactly that. It's a slightly drippy faucet that I ran across during the day. Several photos (and who knows how many odd looks) later I retreated from its drip-drip-drip. I took this photo as the best of the lot in my opinion:

Cheers.

~KR (21 December 2007)

Listening to:
False Sir John by Broadside Electric

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.167 sec (833334/5000003)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 1 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Tags: FAUCET, DRIP, PHOTOBLOG, CANON

Pitcher and Pint

20 December 2007
A vacation day. I worked at home all day on A Wardrobe in Time, then followed it up with a trip to Rob's for a retirement party for a good man. We will sorely miss him - he cared about his job. There were a bunch of us that descended on Rob's, a local pool hall, to shoot pool and shoot the shit with the man who was leaving our company and companionship.

Take care, Denny.
Cheers.

~KR (20 December 2007)

Listening to:
Just Like Pat Benetar by Super Secret Handshake

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.077 sec (1/13)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 800
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Tags: PITCHER, PINT, BEER, ROB'S+BILLIARDS, FT.+WORTH, TEXAS, POOL+HALL, CANON, PHOTOBLOG

Plaza Pub

19 December 2007
Jury Duty. I'd deferred it once because of out-of-the-country travelling, and just simply couldn't do it again. Marita Beth kindly offered to take me to the courthouse so I wouldn't have to deal with the bus; the offer was gladly accepted. I went in, and was early enough, that the line was not overly long either at the metal detectors at the front door or to sign in for the jury duty bit itself. Unfortunately, as more and more people arrived, the sheer amount of perfume, cologne and other body odors overwhelmed my rather weak respiratory system and I had a mild, but serious enough, asthma attack. I was excused from jury duty. I called MB, she came and got me and we drove around until I was feeling better. Then she suggested breakfast.which I rarely do, but having been weakened by the attack, I conceeded and off we went to Ol' South Pancake House - a favourite in Ft. Worth. A whole bunch of other stuff happened in the middle of the day, but I don't recall it all. Somehow we ended up on the Northeast side of Arlington where we located a charming little place run by Ed, the Publican. It's called the Plaza Pub:

Despite the fact that is, and will remain, a smokers bar, I feel that I will be back. We each had a quick pint then off we trundled to watch the Enchanted followed by Alvin and the Chipmunks. You can read MB's entry to get the full extend of that experience.
Cheers.

~KR (19 December 2007)

Listening to:
The War by Lucero

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/800)
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 10 mm
ISO Speed: 160
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire, auto mode

Tags: PLAZA+PUB, BAR, PUB, ARLINGTON, TEXAS, PHOTOBLOG, CANON

Mountain o'Fabric

18 December 2007
A Stack of Fabric. How exciting is that?

Cheers.

~KR (18 December 2007)

Listening to:
The Storm by Teddy Larkin

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 1 sec (1)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 1 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Tags: FABRIC, STACK, A+WARDROBE+IN+TIME, CANON, PHOTOBLOG

Lone Tree Hill

17 December 2007
The Lone Tree Hill. This is one of Marita Beth's favourite photos that I've taken in recent times. I like it, too, but not so much as I think she does. The tree stands directly behind Our Garden of Angels on the hill overlooking the Arlington Bottoms. In a different framing you could potentially see the Ft. Worth city skyline just to the right of the tree itself. I didn't choose to post that photo as MB preferred this one.

Cheers.

~KR (17 December 2007)

Watching: Ghost Rider

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/9
Focal Length: 8.6 mm
ISO Speed: 80
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire, auto mode

Tags: TREE, SUNSET, NATURAL, HILL, FT.+WORTH, ARLINGTON, TEXAS, PHOTOBLOG

The Strongbow Mat

16 December 2007
Marita Beth spent all day with her dance troupe working on a performance piece. I spent all day...not doing anything. It was delightful. Well, ok, I did do things, but they were non-critical, non-useful things like movie-watching (I saw Hitman - blecchh), footy-watching (Arsenal beat Chelsea 1-nil in a super-fun match to watch) and tegestology things. I have learned a new-found respect for people who shoot products in light-tents. What a difficult process. But, I'm still trying.

Cheers.

Listening to:
Thank You by Maral Salmassi

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 14.3 mm
ISO Speed: 250
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash fired, auto mode, red-eye reduction

Tags: STRONGBOW, TEGESTOLOGY, BEER+MAT, COASTER, PHOTOBLOG, COLLECTION, HOBBY

Mike's Blurry Tegestological Contribution

15 December 2007
For a happy-happy gift, my wife got me (with my help) a light tent for close-up photography. Between our three businesses (Bannockburn Bridge, East Wind Games & A Wardrobe in Time) we frequently find need for close-up product shots. We've never had much success getting our poorly designed house to shed the proper kind of light for this sort of photography. I had recently read articles on making inexpensive light-tents, but MB had already scouted one out for me that was not only darned reasonably priced, but ws conveniently built & packaged, too. So, she bought it for me. So, what do I do? Take photos of product - the reason for the purchase of this light tent in the frist place? No. I decided that this is a perfect way to take my hobby of tegestology to the next level. Digitally recording and storing every beer mat I have in my collection. This is the very first shot taken in the brand new light tent and the first step toward a life-long goal of catalouging an immense collection of beer mats.

I can only get better.
Hooray beer!
Cheers.

~KR (15 December 2007)

Listening to:
Paper Planes by M.I.A.
from Kala

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 800
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire, auto mode

Tags: TEGESTOLOGY, BEER+MATS, COASTERS, COLLECTION, LIGHT+TENT, PHOTOBLOG

Trees from Above

14 December 2007
Friday, the 14th of December woke cold, damp and foggy. Many of my peers had taken the day off; in fact it seemed that much of the Dallas - Ft. Worth metropolitan area had taken the day off. The traffic was blissfully quiet and the drive was quick - for a change. I took the opportunity of a quiet office to walk down to my boss's corner and snap a few shots of the Bradford Pear trees under his window. Aside from their horrendous rotting meat smell for about a week in the early spring, these are lovely trees. They cause my allergies to a go a little nuts (at the same time they smell like rotting meat), but it's a short-lived irritant. The rest of the year, they're simply beautiful.

Cheers.

~KR (14 December 2007)

Listening to:
Super Mario's Sleigh Ride by the One Ups

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/3.2
Focal Length: 7.5 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Tags: BRADFORD+PEAR+TREES, AUTUMN, COLOURS, WALKWAY, RAIN, WEATHER, PHOTOBLOG

Help?

13 December 2007
Had to get a trivia fix in somehow, so MB and I headed to NFG on a Thursday night to play trivia and maybe have a burger and/or some beer. I used to play this trivia thing nearly every night years and years and years ago. That was back when the boxes were operated by NTN (National Trivia Network). I grew out of it, because the questions just kept repeating themselves and there's no fun in winning every hand because you've already had those questions many times before. I stopped playing. Recently, a couple of years ago, Buzztime bought out NTN and started adding newer & better & more relevant questions. But, sadly, they also seemed to lose, at the same time, some of the technical consistency that NTN had down pat. The boxes go in and out of service, the delay between answering the question and receiving a response has gotten longer and more frequently irritating. In general, the quality has gone down. Yet still I play. There's nothing quite like accidental learning. Here is a photo of me playing. Notice my hand in strategic positioning to best answer the question quickly & accurately.

Cheers.

~KR (13 December 2007)

Listening to:
Stronger by 30 Seconds to Mars

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.3 sec (3/10)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 1 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Tags: TRIVIA, BOX, NO+FRILLS+GRILL, PHOTOBLOG

Reflected Tail Lights

12 December
A rainy, rain, cold day in North Texas. It actually was pretty in a sorta Vampire Duck kind of way. I love this kind of weather as a general rule. The only time I don't like it is when I have to get behind the wheel of an automobile knowing that the roads will be seething with many, many drivers who's opinion, thus attitude, varies greatly from mine. This sort of weather tends to make drivers surly, thus impatient, thus rude, thus dangerous on the road. This idiot in front of me was no exception to that generalisation:

He kept accelerating at breakneck speeds, switching lanes with no signal at high speeds and slamming on brakes. All on these very slippery roads. I hope (s)he got where they were headed. Cheers.

~KR (12 December 2007)

Listening to:
Alone Again by Illinois
from What the Hell Do I Know

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.067 sec (1/15)
Aperture: f/5.5
Focal Length: 23.2 mm
ISO Speed: 800
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Tags: REFLECTION, TAIL+LIGHTS, RAIN, WEATHER, NORTH+TEXAS, RED, SILVER

Ready for Grinding

11 December 2007
Another stressful day at work. Luckily, it's Tuesday. And Tuesday means dollar draft night at No Frills Grill. Marita Beth and I headed there immediately upon my hitting home. Since she had to go to dance class - in Allen, an hour away - at eight, I wanted to spend some quality trivia time with her. Eventually, she had to leave so I took her home (our wonderful waitress, Gennifer saved my table for me), waited while she got ready, then went back to finish out my trivia games. I really enjoy the trivia. Finally, it was time for me, too, to go home. Marita Beth was still at dance class and would be for hours to come. So, I made the coffee and went to bed. While making the coffee, I realised no photos had been composed or taken. So, you get coffee beans:

Cheers.

~KR (11 December 2007)

Listening to:
Canyon City by The DeWayn Brothers

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 1 sec (1)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 1 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Tags: COFFEE, BEANS, CLOSE-UP, DOF, PHOTOBLOG

Since 1936

10 December 2007
Monday, and back at the grind. But, it's different. This is the holiday season, and since I'm in Operations for an airline, it's also our high-stress, busy season. It's no wonder I drink. By the time I got home I was in a foul, foul mood, ehanced, oddly enough, by the rainy, misty cold. Normally I prefer that, but this Monday I didn't. My wife, who's honing her empathic skills on a daily basis, figured this out and offered to take me out for food & drinks. On the way to our normal haunt we decided, on a whim, to drive a little further away and go to the Mexican Inn.

I like their Queso Loco and Marita Beth is quite fond of their Enchiladas. We both tolerate their Margaritas, too. We walked in right behind some dear friends, Brett & Jill, and just in front of some other friends, David & Heather (and their brand new baby) who had just come in from Lousiana. They all joined Carl and his new wife (and baby) at a large booth while MB and I took a separate booth. Children give me hives. At some point, Brian joined their larger table, too. We enjoyed a nice, quiet (sans children) dinner and margaritas then went home. I needed that.
Cheers.

~KR (10 December 2007)

Listening to:
The Last Christmas on Earth by The Evangelicals

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.125 sec (1/8)
Aperture: f/5
Focal Length: 18.6 mm
ISO Speed: 250
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash fired, auto mode, red-eye reduction

Tags: MEXICAN+INN, TEX-MEX, DINNER, TEXAS, CANON, PHOTOBLOG

Character Tiles

9 December 2007
Ater a pretty lousy emotionally turbulent morning followed by a great deal of work, Marita Beth went over to Ginger's for a much-needed "girl's day out." She, Ginger & Kelly sat and did what girls do while playing Mah Jongg. I, meanwhile, finished my work and then went to No Frills Grill for a very exciting Dallas Cowboys game. I'm not the biggest fan of American football you'll ever find. I find the rules cumbersone and overly-restrictive; but I can certainly get swept up into the emotion of a rich game and there's no denying the amount of talent present on the field and sideline of any given professional football game. The Cowboys won, I finished my beer and then crashed the girls party. It was getting on in the day, so I didn't intend to stay long, but since Kelly was leaving the next day, I had to get over for a kiss and a hug. Besides, even though Ginger only lives a few blocks away, we all tend to hermit ourselves after Dickens so I hadn't seen her either. So, there I went and sat and watched a few hands of Mah Jongg. They were well-emboriled in a three-hand game, so I didn't wish to intrude, but I did take a photo of Marita Beth's hand at one point.

I took a bunch of photos at No Frills Grill, too, but i like this one best.
Cheers.

~KR (9 December 2007)

Listening to:
No T.V. by Pope Joan
from You Gotta Get it Out

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.5 sec (1/2)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 1 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Tags: EAST+WIND+GAMES, MAH+JONGG, PHOTOBLOG, GAME