I really can’t tear myself away from the news. With all the destruction and loss of life just a few hundred miles away, it was a surreal feeling to have had a nice day outside here in town. By all accounts, things around here in north Alabama are normal. If it wasn’t for the news, you wouldn’t have known anything was wrong. My day was pretty normal - work at the office, lunch with my sister, visit some clients and then run some errands after work. Somehow, I just appreciated evertyhing just a little bit more today.

Some of my family called in to check on me. My parents sent me an email from the other side of the world checking in as well. I assured everyone that I was okay. Kelsey (my dog) is fine too. She still doesn’t have the sense to go in her doghouse to stay dry but insists on sitting out in the rain getting soaked. Whatever makes her happy I guess.

Oh… here’s something interesting that happened today - as I was heading to Huntsville, I thought I’d fill my car up with gas. I still had 3/4 of a tank but filled it up anyway. I paid $2.49 per gallon at the Texaco near my office. This was at 1:00. By the time I got back in town around 4:30, the price at the SAME STATION was $2.79!?!? Glad I filled up earlier!

Sheesh. I was ALMOST an SUV owner last year around this time. While I wouldn’t mind having a large vehicle, fuel prices just make them too expensive to drive. One of my friends wives drives a Ford Excursion… with a V-10 in it. That’s gotta be painful. My car holds a tad over 17 gallons of fuel. At $2.79 a gallon, that’s $47.43 for a full tank. Holy crap. My friend’s Excursion has a 44 gallon tank… $122.76 for a fill-up.

That’s crazy stuff right there I tell ya.

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I went to bed last night with a whopper of a headache. Ugh! I did hear the wind howling outside and got back UP out of bed to move my trash bins inside the gate and up against the house so there would be less of a chance for them to blow over.

Woke up this morning with no real damage to the house I could see. There were lots of leaves and small branches everywhere though. There was crap all over the car too - I spent several minutes picking off leaves and acorns before heading to the office. Big props go out to my local utility company - even in last night’s high winds, my power never blinked off.

On the way to the office, I did see lots of downed trees and much larger limbs. I really did luck out at my place.

I have nothing to complain about though. I’ve been watching the news all evening taking in all the destruction to my south. I’m in shock over how bad things were and even more, how much worse things are getting.

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Today was the day of the event our agency put on for a large auto manufacturer. I spent Saturday, Sunday and of course today photographing the process of setting it all up. Stage, trusses, lights, video, sound, projection screens, flat panels - it was quite an operation. Thankfully, it all went off without a hitch. Our client was pleased with how everything went. Made some new friends in the process also so that’s another plus.

One thing I learned is that shooting photos under stage lights can be tough! I was having to make all sorts of adjustments to keep up with the changing light conditions. Got lots of practice in though.

On the weather side of things, Katrina is kicking up the wind a bit here now. I suspect that as we go into the night, it’ll pick up even more. I hope it doesn’t get too bad though.

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It’s late Friday night and I just realized what I completely forgot… I was supposed to join up with rest of the fellas at Jack’s for music and good times. See? This is what happens when I don’t write things in my planner. All my work stuff is in there but I neglect to write in my personal things… now I’ve pissed away a Friday evening. Grrr.

I’ve got some photo work to do this weekend. Monday, our agency is putting on a sizeable event at a facility in Huntsville. There are several elements involved that will need to be set up and tested beforehand: stage, lighting, backdrops, projection screens, food service, etc. I’ll be on hand to photograph the process leading up to the event. Should be interesting. I’ve got to be be there at two different times tomorrow so I’ll probably end up finding something to do in between. I may look around for other photo ops to add to my portfolio if the weather cooperates.

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And another….

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MORE POWER!

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POWER UP!

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Stand by for power…

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First off, my photo shoot in Tennessee got pushed to next week so I was able to sleep normally last night. Whew!

Now then to this evenings events. My buddy Cameron has always been tinkering around with electricity and electronics ever since I met him years ago. The latest project he’s been working on much to the chagrin of his wife - is a tesla coil. Why? “Because”. He’s been working with other people he’s met online that have successfully built coils for quite some time. Tonight, he joined their ranks and I was there to record the event.

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Remember a few weeks ago when I did a photo shoot at a swimming pool under construction? The next big step where I’ll be involved is this Thursday when they spray the gunite on the rebar. What’s NOT going to be fun is that the gunite crew will be starting at 5:30AM to prepare for the first concrete truck’s arrival at 7:00AM. I figured I’d get there a bit before the concrete does… I live a little under 2 hours away. You do the math. That’s EARLY. I sincerely hope the weather cooperates. It would be a shame to go to all that trouble and not have anything to shoot.

I’ll be clicking away this weekend too. Our agency is putting on an event for a large company over in Huntsville this coming Monday. Setup for it will start Saturday and run through Sunday. I’ll be taking pictures of things as the workers take the empty area and transform it with a stage, trusses, lights, huge projection screens, sound systems and seating. At the actual event, I’ll be sitting in the press area photographing all the activities. I’ll be behind my camera a lot for the next few days. Looking forward to it though!

There’s a possibility I’ll be involved in some aerial photography sometime soon. A client of mine owns (and flys) a twin turbo-prop plane. I also found out that when he’s not using it, it’s leased out two 2 NASCAR drivers to use to get from home to the tracks. This might lead to some other cool possibilities, we’ll see.

On another note, this is the THIRD month in a row I have gone over on my cellphone minutes. They really stick it to ya when you go over. As such, I’ve been trying to find a cell plan that fits me better. Right now I’ve got a Blackberry 7100. I like it for it’s email and web connectivity. I was considering getting a Motorola RAZR because of it’s size but I’m afraid it doesn’t have the functionality I need. T-Mobile gave me a deal on the phone but I told them I’d think it over and didn’t make the change. Decisions…

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