Is my neighbor out of line?
Current mood: annoyed

It is my opinion that my neighbor is inconsiderate for practicing bass in an open garage, when he could easily take it inside:

http://www.richardsfault.com/6211PCC/

The MP3 files were recorded with a Motorola KRZR phone's voice notes function. No file renames or processing except for AMR to MP3 conversion.

Date and time are in the file names.

The JPG file shows Google Earth source and recording locations along with a distance measurement.

132 feet and clearly recordable on a phone!

If you were an HOA "enforcer" or judge, would this data make my point to you?

I hope no one ever feels that my photography is forced upon them the way I feel this neighbor's music is forced upon me.

6:29 PM - 2 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Dealing with bees, Redneck-style

Redneck bee keeping

10:12 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Summer of 1979

Here is an actual image of 20 year-old yours truly in the summer of 1979, posing with a stuffed friend and pet.

The dirt and grease were the result of my summer job at a potato chip factory, from where I had just returned home.

Oh to have that thinness again...

4:48 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Bad days for guns in Central Texas

Austin-area boy killed after being shot with pellet gun (Ralphie's mom was right)

AUSTIN — A 12-year-old boy died after getting shot, apparently through the eye, with an air rifle, authorities said.

The pellet might have entered the boy's head through his eye when he was shot Thursday, but officials won't know for sure until an autopsy is performed, said Travis County Sheriff's Capt. Art Cardenas.

The boy and a 13-year-old friend were playing with pellet guns in a park in Creedmoor, just south of Austin, when the boy was shot, officials said. He died later at a hospital.

No identities have been released and no charges are expected to be filed, Cardenas said.

Girl, 16, dies playing form of Russian roulette

HELOTES  — A 16-year-old girl died early today after playing a variation of Russian roulette, investigators said.

Bexar County sheriff's deputies said the girl and a man in his 20s handed a gun containing one bullet back and forth, taking turns pointing the weapon at each other's heads and pulling the trigger.

Their identities weren't released. The man was taken into custody and charges are possible, deputies said.

Helotes is about 15 miles northwest of San Antonio.

2:42 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

A real hoot

I kept hearing some very loud hooting in the back yard, almost as loud as a dog barking a few houses away.

I put on the 180 2.8 and set wide-open with manual focus near infinity. The SB-600 was set to full-power manual with no diffuser. ISO was set to 800.

I managed about four shots which allowed focus adjustment, and then the Rice mascot had enough, providing the best shot:



This is a 100% 10.2 MP crop.

4:59 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

It has happened again

School Suicide Stuns Family, Friends

The father was quoted as saying  "I'm at a loss. A complete loss."

I've been there and totally understand.

Victim's Myspace page

12:33 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

A tale of two close-knit communities

Over the past year, I have been involved in photography and recreational gun shooting. Photography has been an on-and-off interest for over 35 years, while I have only been involved with guns for a year due to my son Michel's interest which arose in 2005. Indirectly, he was also responsible for my getting back into photography by discovering the abandoned oil well sites in 2004.

Photographers and gun shooters share some things in common in that both are close-knit communities with a lot of trust between members, and both face the menace of those who oppose their activity and eagerly exploit any transgression to serve their own agenda.

As an active member of both communities, I became immediately aware of the similarities. I was impressed with how well I was treated as a newbie photographer and how well Michel was treated as a newbie gun shooter.

For awhile, both Michel and I were responsible community members. Then came that tragic day in October when Michel took his own life in a very public location with a firearm. Incidents like this are relished by the anti-gun folks, and are used against gun owners everywhere. On top of the pain he caused to thousands of people came a slap to the gracious gun community that had warmly welcomed him a year earlier.

I realized that Michel did to the gun community what I would do to the photography community if were to attack one of the numerous models that accompany me on an isolated shoots.

Here I am during a happier time in March, photographed by Michel as I was firing the later-to-be misused weapon:

6:46 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

This sums up my mood today

From Rick Nelson's "Garden Party":

But it's all right now, I learned my lesson well.
You see, ya can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself

I have tried my best to be a father and husband, with a lot of needed "me time" put on hold.

Recently I feel like a lot of my effort has been in vain.

8:53 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Wacky Packages from the mid-70's

I needed a lift tonight, and this fit the bill perfectly.

Those of us that are over 40 may fondly remember these fun stickers that parodied household products. The link below provides images of each and every one from that era:

 http://www.wackypackages.org/John_Mann_Website/originals/index.html

9:29 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

How Mr. Rogers might have explained suicide

I found this simplistic yet concise explanation to be comforting:

http://www.save.org/coping/children.html

8:02 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment