What The Duck

I had to post a couple of these... Finally photographers have our very own comic strip!

It's called "What The Duck", and is pretty true to life and really funny. The strip can be found at: www.sweetjelly.com/blog

Canon ad

Recently, Canon ran an ad in several major publications including Sports Illustrated, USA Today, ESPN Magazine, Golf World and Golf Week.

I was one of the photographers who had their PGA TOUR "credentials" used in the ad. Of course, I would be the most obscured one in the bunch! You can see half of me behind Stan on the bottom right.
Not a big deal, It's still cool to be associated with an ad campaign of this stature!

Dog Wood Park

This past Saturday we took Shelby for a "play day"at Dog Wood Park near JTB and I-95.
There was plenty of room to roam and lots of other dogs to play with. Once she found the lake it was all over. She spent the whole time swimming and retrieving tennis balls!

New friends.

Beth negotiates for the ball

I wish this was a duck!

Throw it again!

Shakin'

Getting a little tired.

Exhausted and happy!

The "new" Dial-9 at Lynch's

After a few lineup changes over the past year, It looks like we have a fairly stable group of guys (maybe that's not the right word to describe this bunch!) in my band Dial-9.

We played a one-night show at Lynch's and had a really good time. We didn't have a lot of time to practice together before the show, so there were a few rough moments but no real train wrecks.
Looking forward to more shows and adding some new songs to the list that fit this version of the band.

I love my wife, she is so supportive of my hobby!

Mike, channeling his "Inner Ozzy"!

Love the new drums!

Atlanta with the Souzas

We drove up to Atlanta last weekend to meet up with Beth's folks and her brothers family. It was a fun trip and we spent Saturday at the Georgia Aquarium. The building and various exhibits were nice, but the whole place was way too crowded. If you go, wait til school is back in and avoid weekends!

One of the two resident whale sharks

Deanna, Payden and Mark (AKA "Mongo")

Deanna, Beth and Payden pet the stingrays

The girls check out some tropicals

A hammerhead shark gets a closer look at the ladies

I'm not sure who got more entertainment from this portal, the penguins or the girls!

It was riot watching different people pop up and see the penguins check them out. I wonder what they're thinking...

Looking at the jellies

I don't know if aliens exist or not, but I'm still amazed by some of the creatures we have here on earth. These jellyfish were so beautiful to watch float around the tank.

Big grouper!

Lunch break with the kids

Little Mark loved the camera.

Aunt Beth and Uncle Chris with the young Souzas

Sunday, Beth and I stopped by the "Bodies" show at the Atlanta civic center. It was fascinating to see the human body preserved and displayed like that. A little creepy, but very educational!
I was bummed out that they didn't allow any type of photography. I guess I can understand since it's a sensitive topic to many people. You can see more about the show at the website: http://www.bodiestheexhibition.com/

Bathing the reluctant Lab

Everyone know that labs love the water... In fact, they can't stay out of it. If there is a lake, pool or ocean nearby, count on having a wet, happy dog. Shelby will swim herself into exhaustion any time we let her.
So maybe someone can explain why our water-loving lab HATES getting a bath?! She acts like we are torturing her every time we break out the hose or put her in the tub.
We have to bathe her every couple of weeks to keep her from getting too stinky. I thought it would be fun to capture the look on her face while we torment her!

Why me?

You can stop any time now.

Stop taking pictures and help me escape!

I can't wait to roll in something really gross.

Finally over!

This part isn't too bad

OK, I forgive you.

The Sportster chopper lives!

A little history for this one. A few years back (About 8 or 9 if memory serves), I bought my fist Harley. I wanted one ever since I was a little kid. I remember looking at old Easyriders magazines and parts catalogs like the "Jammers Handbook" and thinking how cool choppers looked. Truly motorcycle as art.

I couldn't afford what I wanted, but I have owned different motorcycles most of my adult life. I've owned dirt bikes, sportbikes and cruisers. The Harley had to wait.
One day I found a 1979 Sportster that was priced in my range and I bought it. The reason I could afford it was that the 1979 Sportster was a really odd year and it was really tough to find parts that would fit it. I rode it for a couple of years and with the urging of my buddy Bryce, we decided to tear it down to the ground and build the chopper from scratch.
New frame, new wheels, new almost everything. We welded, bent and hammered everything into place. It was a great experience in problem solving!
We got it together and it was a lot of fun to ride. Everywhere we took it, we got a lot of nice comments about our homemade bike.
The plan was to tear it down and change a couple of things, do a nice paint job and put it back together. Add a few more years and Bryce has taken it upon himself to get it rolling again. It's still not quite finished, but it's getting close and looks great. I know I can't wait to give it a test run!

Low and lean

The first build

The Sportster as I bought it. The best part was the paint!

New camera

We just got a new point & shoot camera and had to test it out on the "kids". In case anyone cares what kind of camera a pro uses when he's "off the clock", it's the new Fuji F30... Excellent little camera! Probably safe to say that most of the pix you'll be seeing here from now on will be taken with it.

Shelby checking out a bug

Barking at bug...

Bailey wants out of the patio.

Just a happy dog.

I'm ignoring you...
Beth was so proud to finally get a shot of Indigo with her eyes open
(Indigo's not Beth's!)

My visit to Orange County Choppers

OK, it wasn't really OCC like you see on TV, It was their retail store (In case you aren't familiar, I'm talking about Orange County Choppers featured in the Discovery Channel show "American Chopper"). Due to the success of the show, they have plenty of fans stalking the guys at the shop and I had no desire to be one of "them". I was happy to browse the store and check out the bikes they had on display. I hoped to see some of the bikes from the show up close and was a little disappointed to find only a couple. I guess the more famous bikes are being shown elsewhere. The "Livestrong bike" built for Lance Armstrong was there as well as the "Chrismas bike" (Geez that thing is UGLY!). They did have a few other cool old-school choppers that Paul Sr. built. I'm always impressed at the detail work they do.
I think sometimes the fame of the TV show has overshadowed the fact that these are guys who love to build badass motorcycles. The Discovery channel built them into characters that are so typecast. I wonder if they are different when the "reality show" crew is not around.
As I was looking around the store, I kept thinking "Kiss"... Not the verb, the band! These guys have their names and faces on everything from coffee mugs to Pez dispensers. What a marketing machine! Of course I bought my T-shirts and other souvenirs... What kind of fan would I be otherwise? ;-)

The Orange County Choppers retail store

How much is that chopper in the window?

Old-school Panhead bobber

A nice "Paul Sr."Indian chop

A few other nice rides!

A couple more...

A collection of law enforcement patches lines a wall of the store.
Nice dog statue!

Mikey for President... A lunchbox I never knew I needed!