01-14-2010: Day 014: If you are what you eat...

If you are what you eat, then tonight I'm chicken and broccoli with fried rice.  I chose to take this shot today for a few reasons.  First, taking a still life shot of food was a Shutter Sisters mini challenge this week in the Flickr group.  But, I chose the still life - an environment I could control - for a much bigger reason. 

I've been re-reading Ken Rockwell's guide to the Nikon D80.  I read the guide when I first bought my D80 three or four years ago.  However, at the time I was headed off to vacation and all I really cared about was that I finally had a quality digital camera that would take clear shots, assuming I pointed the camera in the right direction (which I managed some of the time).  Probably needless to say if you've been looking at my shots over the past two weeks, I don't come close to using all the features of the camera.

Yesterday's photos at the park really annoyed me because the color was all wrong.  I could tell it on the LCD right after I took each shot but trying to fix it just wasn't working - I had forgotten nearly everything I'd learned about using all the features of the D80.  So, when I came home last night I got Rockwell's book back out and started to rediscover my camera.  I'm already happier.  I took this shot of Lindsay early this morning when she was in the mood to pose with her bear (she only plays with it first thing in the morning or right before bed when she cuddles up with it). 

There was very, very little light in the room when I took the photo.  I had tried to catch this shot on other days, but the color was all wrong.  This morning, even though the shot is a little fuzzy, the color is nearly perfect for that time of morning in that room.  So, back to the plate.

I wanted something on which I could practice for a really long time.  Cats and dogs like to move so I decided the food still life would be a good challenge.  Plus, I hadn't seen my chinese food place in a couple of weeks and they miss me when I'm gone. So, tonight, you got to see my dinner.  I hope that the picture conveys - in actual color without any post-processing - how delicious it was.  And, hopefully I'm back on the "wagon" of using all the features of my camera to their fullest possible extent. 

I also wanted to do this because on Monday I'm going to have some private photography instruction with Walt Kuhn, a professional photographer.  Walt works with IndyPhotoCoach.com.  I'm really excited about the opportunity and I'll hopefully have some great pictures to share with you after our lesson on Monday.  

Here's wishing you a happy Friday...

Day 011

The frst day of another academic term has come and gone.  No big horrible crisis today in my world - at least not so far.  The students in the class I'm teaching seem energetic and engaged - always nice to see this many of them logged in on the first day and already completing assignments. 

I was in the "war room" today at work.  At the beginning of every term we assemble a team of people responsible for different areas of the College's operations into a central location.  I enjoy working in the war room.  We have fun, generally get a lot of work done, and it's a very, very short commute.  Since it's near the house I also got to go to Fort Harrison at lunchtime today to snap some photos.

Fluffy is still not feeling well at all.  I think we'll be back at the vet tomorrow unless a miracle happens tonight.

Day 010

Today wasn't a great day - Fluffy is sick and I'm afraid she's very sick.  We ended up making a trip to the emergency vet.  Her x-rays looked okay but it will be a day before we get the blood work back.  In the meantime she's still feeling really bad.  She's always been the more sickly of the two cats, but she's really scaring me this time. 

My class is all ready to go for the first day of school tomorrow.  I always like the beginning of a new semester.  There is just something reassuring about another school term starting. 

Since Fluffy wasn't feeling well today and I spent most of the day at the computer, today's photo is another of Dipstick.  He was in the mood to do a little posing tonight so took several close shots of him to try to capture his eyes a bit better.  Still aren't as pretty in pictures as they are in real life - but then again very few things are as good as the real thing.

Until tomorrow...

Day 009

If my word for the year is discipline, I failed pretty miserably today.  I have a class that starts on Monday (that I'm teaching) and I should have spent the entire day getting everything lined up for it.  Instead I watched a little television, played with the dog and cats, read a little - in general relaxed - for a good part of the day.  I did work on it for a few hours this evening, but I would have been so much farther ahead and therefore felt better if I'd worked on it longer today.  Hopefully I won't repeat my error tomorrow.

I realized today that I hadn't introduced the other member of the family here yet.  This is Dipstick.  He is Fluffy's brother (they were litter mates). Dippy is so named because when he was little he was all white except for the tip of his tail which was black.  He has grown into his name with his quirky personality too which is kind of nice.  This picture doesn't show them off very well but he has the most beautiful blue eyes.

Hope everyone is enjoying a safe and warm weekend.

Day 008

Just a short journal entry tonight since it's pretty late. 

I've been thinking a lot today about how much "instant" technologies have changed our life.  For instance, tonight my cousin Lori and her husband Jason welcomed their new baby into the world.  Less than two hours after their bundle of joy we all knew about the baby, all the important facts, and had photos.  A few short years ago you waited on the birth announcement to arrive in the mail to announce the arrival of the little one and finally see a photo. 

I could say how much this blog has already made me look at things differently.  I'm excited to think about things during the day that I might share on the blog.  I'm looking for great photos to take - planning photo shoots and thinking about what I want to share - and what I want to remember about this year.

For today, I'll remember the end to the first week back to work; digging out from the now probably seven inches of snow we have on the ground, enjoying a nice dinner, bottle of wine and movie with CK, and welcoming our newest family member into the world.  Thanks for joining me in this year long journey.

Day 007 - The one week mark

So - I've blogged every day for a week and taken a photo every day for a week.  I read somewhere that you have to do something 54 times in a row to make it a habit.  I'm sure you could make it any number you want, but I'm starting to get to the point where I couldn't imagine not blogging for at least a few minutes everyday.

I live in Indianapolis.  I've lived here for a little over two years. I've spent the majority of those two years either in my home or my office.  One of the reasons I wanted to take on a 365 project was to force myself to get out of the house and out of the office.  So far, it's working pretty well.  I've already taken pictures at Fort Benjamin Harrison State Park.

From 01-03-2010

Today, I had planned to catch the "history of paper" exhibit at Central Library in downtown Indy. I saw another photo of the exhibit on Flickr and realized that it was closing this weekend so I wanted to go to see the paper sculptures installed in the main circulation area.  Central Library in Indianapolis is a beautiful blend of new and old architecture that was completed just a couple of years ago.  The main circulation area features beautiful tall windows that let in tons of natural light.  Even though the light wasn't all that great today, I still liked several of the shots.

From 01-07-2010

I loved the white in this shot - I didn't post-edit it at all - this was the raw shot. When I looked up to start taking photos, the way the light was hitting this particular "sculpture" just struck me.

From 01-07-2010

From 01-07-2010

I just thought all these "birds" were very cool. I took a bunch of shots, but these two were my favorites out of the batch.

From 01-07-2010

I don't necessarily think this is particularly good composition, but I loved two things about this photo. First, I loved the symmetry of it - sometimes you've just got to say to heck with the rule of thirds. Second, I liked that it allowed me to capture the mirrored outer wall of the new part of the library through the window. I wish I'd gotten to capture the exhibit on a sunny day when light was reflecting off of that wall - but the best picture is the one you're able to take at the moment you're able to capture it so...


I'm so enjoying this project and plan to stick with it. I love the comments and the community of photographers/creators who are on this journey are so much fun and so inspiring - thanks to all of you for a great first week and here is to 51 more to come!

Day 006

What a day!  Was supposed to work this morning and then had several maintenance/contractor folks scheduled for this afternoon to finish up some repair work around the house.  Lindsay (my golden retriever) was sick during the night so we ended up at the vet this morning.  She's fine thankfully. Contractor-o-rama started earlier than planned and as always happens with these things  - "it's going to be a little more work than we thought ma'am".  Wasn't too bad, and another round of annual  home maintenance tasks is done. I've wondered for a long time if I should join Angie's List - anyone have any recommendations on that - is it really worth paying a monthly subscription to get contractor recommendations off of a web site?  I used two today I'd never used before and can't say I'm unhappy with them and I just used the newspaper which I get anyway. 

Took a few photos of Lindsay who had to spend a good part of the afternoon outside and in the garage while all the workers were here.  She loves playing in the snow.  Otherwise, not a lot of photos taken today - but at least still took my one for the day.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a more interesting day dear reader.

Day 005

Another absolutely frigid day here today - it was the kind of cold where every time you take a breath outside you're a little afraid your lungs are going to freeze.  The weather outside is so cold and it's just so grey and gloomy that I wouldn't even know what to take pictures of outside.  It's funny how creative I'm willing to be to try to get one decent picture each day.  I am excited that I played with both the timer on my camera as well as the tripod today.  The camera was actually on the tripod to capture that shot of Fluffy.  I had planned a "location" shoot for lunchtime today, but work got in the way.  I'm trying to catch The World of Paper Exhibit at the Central Library in downtown Indy before it ends this weekend.  I just saw the advertisement for it a few days ago even though it's been going on since October.  An exhibit about paper doesn't sound all that interesting when you say it out loud but I'm a bit of an office supply junkie so I'm sure my odd brain will find it interesting even if no one else does.  Gonna catch that on Thursday if all goes as planned.

Work was one of those "how did it get to be 12:30?" kinds of days.  I was running behind all day, even though I wasn't doing anything that had been scheduled when the day started.  All in all, not a bad day - just a busy one.

I did a second day on the Wii fit this morning.  Wii Fit Plus actually has pretty awesome games/activities on it.  I'm already a fan of the bicycling activity - I'm not sure I've "pedaled" (you actually run in place to simulate pedaling) that much in the last five years  - but it was fun and I didn't realize I was actually working until it was over and I realized that I'd worked up a tiny bit of a sweat - which for me is saying something.  And, I guess if I believe the Wii that it had been more than 200 days since I last used this silly little thing then I have to believe it that I lost two pounds between yesterday and today.  Losing weight isn't the end all be all for me - I care a lot more about how my clothes look and feel - but a little positive reinforcement never, ever hurts. 

I'm closing today's post with a quote to help keep everyone warm on these cold days.  It was in the Real Simple daily email yesterday and as I read it this evening I realized even though the day may be especially cold, I've enjoyed all these things today so we'll have to call it a good day -

"Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand, and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home." - Edith Sitwell

Day 004

It was back to work today and we started the day as we often do in my office - with cake.  The department I work in has new leadership, although I don't report to that department (I just work with them - ain't politics and organizational structure a grand thing?).  We celebrate all big happenings in our office - new employees, birthdays, retirements, babies, weddings, etc.  We eat a LOT.  The party was nice and a quick way to connect back with everyone after the holiday.

I'm not sure the temperature ever breached positive digits today, but I still found myself outside taking pictures at lunch.  I didn't like any of them - probably because I was hurrying so much to get back inside and get warm.  I ended up taking a couple in my office that I liked and then taking several more at home that I liked a bit better.  Sometimes - oftentimes actually - it's not the excellent photography that wins me in a photo but it's the memory the photo evokes.  Maybe that's because I rarely take excellent pictures.  But, then again, isn't that one of the points of this project - to take better pictures.  I'm so enjoying looking at the photos taken by others and commenting on their work. 

I'm excited for tomorrow as I'm going "on location" to take some shots at lunch time.  Nothing too exciting, but that's another goal - to live life a little more fully and experience more things in order to take more pictures. 

As for other goals, I worked out on my Wii fit this morning - it had been more than 200 days since my last workout - don't you hate how accurate that little thing is?  I have the Wii Fit plus so used it for the first time today.  I'm not athletic so making me think it's a game is a good thing when I work out.  I'll count that for moving a bit more for the week, although I hope to play around on the Fit at least two more times this week.  I'm planning a little geocaching for Saturday so hopefully I'll get that in too for the week - if the temperature at least breaks into the positive numbers that is.  A girl has her limits.

Until tomorrow...

Day 003

As I said in my initial post, I was going to spend a little time each day writing (which I'm doing now), creating (see the photos I took today) and reflecting.  I did all of those today and if every week starts off as well as this one should - based solely on how well prepared for the week ahead that I am right now - then it should be a good year.  All the laundry is done, I've gotten to listen to my current book ( Kiss the Girls (Alex Cross) by James Patterson), I'm going to read a bit of Strangers on a Train before bed , and I got all the things I needed to get done today done.  My lunch is even already packed for tomorrow - I never get my lunch packed the night before!

There are so many unknowns in the upcoming weeks.  I'm trying to look forward to it all with the good kind of anticipation but it's hard to do that.  I normally handle change well, but I don't handle the unknown well. Thanks to all of you who are following along with me on this journey this year.  We'll see all the good - and not so good - that it brings.

Day 002.

I spent a good portion of the day looking at other Project365 blogs and photos. I am following a bunch of other bloggers/photographers/creators who are working on similar project. I'm hoping that these other bloggers motivate me and maybe I, in turn, motivate them. Right now, there are so many ideas moving around in my head and I don't know how I'll capture all of them. I'm trying to decide if I want to put together a tag just for inspiration and post them here or just maybe list a few in my daily journal posts which I think I like the pattern of starting in the morning and just working on during the day. One thing that struck me today was this page from My Photographed Life. While I may end up using My Cool Signs to create this at the end of the year to use as the cover for the album I'm planning to make, I'd love to capture photos like this during the year and make my own cover. It's an idea - we'll see how it goes. I also found (which is NOT good because I love bags) a camera bag that is so much more stylish than any other bag I've ever seen - and the ephiphanie site is beautiful!

G wanted me to go ahead and create the blog for the trips we're taking this year and to import the posts from our Europe trip blog into this.  I guess she's come to terms with me taking the laptop and upgrading to International mobile service when we travel.  You can see that blog at http://bffescapes.blogspot.com.

Not looking forward to tomorrow - the last day of vacation before back to the grind.  But that's a worry for tomorrow.

Day 001 - Only 364 more to go

My mind raced when it should have been resting last night. So many ideas of things I want to do this year. So much excitement about taking a photo every day, meeting goals, trying to live a fuller life. I just couldn't stop thinking about everything I wanted to do. So, what did I end up doing today.

In addition to all my other goals, I'd like to change my finances a bit this year too. Blogging is one way I hope to do that, but I also hope to take a more proactive stance on freelancing, consulting, and generally engaging in tasks outside of work that make me money - and allow me to do things I love. Whether that's writing, taking pictures, teaching, or hanging out with my dog, I want to spend more time on my own schedule and less on someone else's schedule if I can find ways to do that. And money isn't about how much you have - it's more about how you view it and what you want to get out of life. So, my first cost saving effort - install a Magic Jack.

Installing the Magic Jack wasn't hard, but it also wasn't as easy as the package said. I have Windows Vista on the machine I installed to first, so that meant a trip to the magic jack web site to download a software update. After downloading the update, the wizard started as it was supposed to, however when I got to selecting a number the software seemed to hang. I just walked away for several hours, came back and picked up again and everything went fine. I had my new number in minutes. There are a LOT of selections you have to make along the way to avoid paying additional fees, although I did go ahead and opt for the five additional years at half prices ($69.95 for five years of phone service - when added to the $39.99 I paid for the Magic Jack I will recover that entire cost in three months without my current phone service provider). We'll see how it works. You do have to get a new number with Magic Jack - it doesn't allow you to port over your old number, but I already use Google Voice so the Magic Jack number will just be a number I add to my Google Voice account to ring - I'll never give out the new number.

While I didn't do any geocaching today, my Travel Bug 2010 race participant started the race today. Hopefully this will be a fun experience and an opportunity to learn more about geocaching.

I downloaded and installed Picasa today. I've been a flickr user for a long time now and last year even upgraded to Pro. However, I have been without tagging/photo organization software on my PC since purchasing my new PC this past summer so I thought I'd give Picasa a try. I've used it before, but never really liked it. However, many people have said it's much improved so I'm going to give it a try.

Also got to cook a LOT today which is nice. I love to cook - especially when there is someone else here to eat it with me. Since G is here I'm enjoying the cooking. Didn't really do much else today - just enjoyed the day off.

Hope everyone had a great new year.