There's nothing better than new shoes...

Today was going to just be a day full of homework, but then I got an email with approval for education pricing on Photomatix, better HDR photography software than the free one that I was using. After that I got distracted playing around with the software. As you can see, compared to the old software I can get results that are a little more pleasing.

After dinner tonight Addy and I took Lucy on a walk together and then she blew bubbles in the backyard while I took pictures. Some of the HDR stuff below is from bracketed jpg's and some of it is just from a single raw file. I think that bracketing definitely gets better results. I'm looking forward to when I have something more unique to photograph than the stuff around my house.

I got some new shoes tonight as well. I have 2 other pairs of Keen shoes and I love them. I saw this pair when we were in FL, but I usually just remember the model name and then look for them on sale online. Sure enough I found some for about $20 less that I saw in the store. My wife probably gets more excited about new shoes than I do, but I still enjoy them nonetheless.

An Oldie but a Goodie

This past friday I had a chance to reunite with some members of "The Chris Sligh Band." Chris Sligh was playing a concert out in Laurens, which I had seen randomly on an advertisement a few weeks ago. For those of you don't know, I played lead guitar for Chris for a few years in high school and college. We were originally called "The Chris Sligh Band," and later "Half Past Forever." The only picture I have readily available to post from these years is this:

That picture is actually of the first edition of "Half Past Forever," which later evolved into a completely different band. The members above are all of the original band, except for Joey (the other older one), who took the place of Joseph Bunn. Joseph was the original keys player and a good friend who passed away unexpectedly my first year of college. Below is a video of "The Chris Sligh Band" playing one of our first concerts at North Hills.

Anyway, I saw that Chris was playing in Laurens and I told Tim Wadsworth (our drummer) to tell Chris we wanted to play with him again for fun as a sort of reunion. Chris was happy to hear from us and we ended up playing a few worship songs with him at the end of his show. We then had a chance to catch up with him and his wife afterwards. It was a fun evening filled with alot of old stories and even more laughter. Some things have changed with Tim...and then some things never will...

The stage picture is courtesy of my wife Kristi, who impressively took it handheld in a very dark environment after some coaching from me beforehand.

Other than that the weekend was pretty usual. Addy and I did spend some good time at Heritage Park riding the train and playing on the playground. I've found the disadvantage of a DSLR is that most people are intimidated by them. I really wanted a good picture of us on the train, but one person couldn't focus and the other guy didn't even actually take a picture. Both of them kept spinning the wheel that controls aperture...who has ever taken a picture with a wheel? I guess I should learn how to turn on Live View so people at least don't have to be confused about why they can't just look at the screen to take the picture.

My new favorite meal...

I though shrimp and grits was amazing, but after the second night in a row of this...

...it's cheaper and very tasty...sure to become a regular at the Stoeber house.

Chicken and Grits

Lucy has been sick the past few days, so sick in fact that we took her to the vet. She ended up staying overnight, but I am happy to report that she is home tonight and doing well. She has to take Flagyl for a few days, and eat a special diet...but she should be back to normal in no time. I think she didn't poop enough at the kennel and got gastroenteritis, and I'm not sure if she wasn't given the opportunity or just refused to poop. She's never had this problem after the kennel before, so it's hard to say.

I spent the day running, doing homework, running errands, and then trying to learn more about HDR Photography. Right now I'm just using a free program called Luminance, but I hope to eventually upgrade to something more professional. These are my practice photos:

Tonight I made chicken and grits. I figured that shrimp and grits is delicious so naturally chicken and grits should be too...and it was indeed delicious. Afterwards Addy and I spent some time wandering around the backyard.

We finished off the night by making brownies. I hope Addy doesn't get salmonella, I don't need any more sick family members.

Fun and Sun

I spent the last week in Indiatlantic, Fl with Kristi's family. It was great to have a full week off of work, and it was filled with lots of sun and early morning running. Addy is so content while on the beach and would probably spend every day meandering around searching for seashells and digging holes in the sand if you let her. She had many cute sayings this week. For instance, she was fascinated with the lack of clothing at the beach, and every day when we arrived she would ask, "Can I take my clothes off?" She also thought that the house was called "Florida" since we had told her so often that we were on our way to Florida. So when we were done at the beach for the day she would say things like, "I need a nap when we get back to Florida"...or "I need an apple when we get to Florida." I would have liked to write blog posts and post pictures while on vacation, but I was usually in bed by 9 o'clock because I was so tired from the day's festivities, so I never got around to a blog post. Instead, I will just post a plethora of pictures in today's post. Enjoy...

Birds and bubbles...

I'm emerging from another weekend of staying up all night. This weekend was one of the easiest I can remember in my hospital nursing career. It's nice when it's easy because the work isn't hard, but it's not very fun having to do things all weekend for people who really aren't that sick. My favorite nights are the nights that I am moderately busy with some patients that really need to be in the hospital.

Since the weather was so nice tonight we ate on the porch. Addy loves being outside, so eating outside is always a treat for her. Afterwards we blew bubbles and watched this little red finch that was brave enough to still come to the bird feeder with us outside. I have a vision for the backyard that includes an enclosed porch with a huge deck...unfortunately we'll probably never have the money to see it materialize.

Busy weeks are exhausting...

Every time I've thought about posting this week I've been too tired and decided to go to bed instead. This week has been pretty busy with a pathophysiology test, lots of time with Addy and Kristi since Kristi was off work, taxes to do, people over to the house, etc.

There is a stray cat in the neighborhood I think i would like to rescue. Addy loves the cat and it is the sweetest cat I think I've ever met. The problems are that Kristi doesn't want another cat, and I'm not sure if Oliver would be nice to another cat. He tends to be a little dominant. It's under consideration at the moment.

We did get a chance to go downtown to the park this week. The signs say not to feed the ducks, but we just pretended like we didn't see them. Addy loves to feed animals.

Our flower garden in the backyard is starting to bloom. The only quandary is trying to decide which new growth is a flower and which is a weed. I think most of our cone flowers didn't come back this year, which upsets me. Every year a few of the "perennials" don't make it for some reason...I don't know why that is.

I'm going to have to try to do some homework at work this weekend because I am way behind. If work is anything like it has been the past few nights I've worked that's going to be impossible, but we'll see what happens.