The weather around here is so unpredictable these past few weeks. We’re almost to 70 one day and then barely make it to 40 the next. Despite the craziness, I’ve managed to avoid getting a serious case of the funks that are going around right now. I’ve been back to my regular gym routine for a while now, but take extra care to wash my hands off after handling all the equipment there. I just hate being sick so I try to be careful about that. So far so good.

I had a few small photo projects last week - nothing earth shattering. Shot some special Olympics swim meet things on Friday and then a private event for a client Saturday evening. At the latter, I was able to make good use out of my external battery pack for my flash. What it does is simply allows the flash to use 12 batteries to charge for the next flash instead of just the 4 that normally fit in the flash body itself. This dramatically reduces the time it takes for the flash to be ready between shots. Very useful for quick moving events where flash is needed. For the technically inclined or curious, it’s Canon’s CP-E3.

Had a late Valentine’s day outing on Friday night. The thought was to miss all the crowds and cliche’ of the 14th - which worked.  Dinner at the Jazz Factory while a jazz ensemble played in the background. I spoke to their guitarist after their set and asked about his guitar - it was a beautiful arch-top that was made in… CHINA of all places. It looked and sounded fantastic though. On the way back into town, we drove by The Brick in the hopes of meeting up with Tiffany & Co. for her birthday get together. Looks like they were full as there was a line about 20 deep at the door. This means they hit their fire marshal imposed limit on people and folks had to leave before others could enter. I hate that we missed it but I told Tiffany I’d take her out to eat to make it up to her. I’m cool like that.

Back on the gym note… I seem to have done something to my left side… either pulled a muscle or bruised a rib. Ouch. I’ve kept an eye on it in case there’s something specific I’m doing that’s causing it but I haven’t found anything yet. We’ll see. Hasn’t hampered me though. Just a minor annoyance.

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Anyone reading this a Franklin Planner user? I am. I use the compact size I started out with years ago but in reality, I should probably move to the regular size - but that’s beside the point. Today was the first time in a long time that my task list was completely full. I was checking things off, putting dots next to things and making notes on the opposite page. I lost some time being sick last week but I think I made it all up before lunchtime rolled around.

A book I ordered from Amazon.com the other day, “The Moment it Clicks” arrived today in the mail. I asked Jawana about it last week and today she came bouncing into my office with it. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve learned from it in the short time I’ve had it. I made a point to try and enjoy the book with minimal distractions - turned off the TV and plopped down on the sofa and just focused on it. I haven’t done that in awhile either.

It was my first time back in the gym since last Monday tonight too. I was under the weather and then busy with things all last week that I fell behind on my exercise. I plan to be on track this week - no excuses. As I was leaving to meet up with Jason there, I remembered to bring along the in-ear monitors I use when drumming as the standard Apple earphones have a tendency to work themselves loose when active plus they don’t seal in your ear really well. Not so with the Shure E5’s. By themselves they’re great but I also have custom molded earpieces for them from Sensaphonics that form a tight seal - keeping outside noise out and bumping up the bass response. They work great for what I use them for. I just have to be sure not to forget to put them in my stick bag when I go drumming…

I think I’m going back to reading now. A quiet evening is nice now and then.

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I’ve had an eventful few days. Was out sick Wednesday and part of Thursday trying to get over something that had me feeling pretty rough. I think I’m on the upswing now thankfully. Friday afternoon I attended the visitation for Sommer’s parents over in Moulton. Yvette got in touch with me and we and some of her and Sommer’s co-workers met up and went together. It was good to get a chance to talk to and hug her. On my way out I ran into Kyle and Jawana only to find out that Jawana’s father is about to pass away because of a medical condition. Regardless of the circumstances - it still is a hard thing to face up to.

While I fully intended to make it an early evening, Tiffany called to say she was coming into town to hopefully get a dress for an upcoming event she’s going to. I met up with her only to find that the dress she wanted was no longer available in her size. While she was at the front desk trying to find another store that had one, she asked if I would look at some of the other dresses for anything that might look good on her. So… I’m wandering around in the dresses trying to not look overly interested and of course I run into another buddy of mine - Dwayne, a local investment broker. Meanwhile, the girl at the front desk looks at Tiffany and comments “your husband looks lost”. Tiff busts out laughing. Next thing I know, we’re in Huntsville at Phuket, a Thai restaurant having dinner. I had higher expectations of the food and was a little disappointed. I won’t write them off though. I’ll give them another try or two just in case they were having an off night. I was home by 10 so the night wasn’t too late after all.

I had a very domestic Saturday: did laundry, vacuumed around my baseboards and window sills… even vacuumed my speaker grilles on all my stereo gear in addition to all my components. Changed out some lightbulbs and cleaned toilets and tubs. Ended the evening having dinner with friends and some horrific kitchen experiences at O’Charley’s. All I gotta say is that there are some unhappy people working at that place. I’m still going to stick by my opinion that I don’t care for that restaurant much at all - and last night’s dinner confirms my thoughts. On a whiney note, my leather jacket was hanging on the back of my chair. While our waitress was talking to us, she kept her hands on the back of my chair. Guess what? I have dark grease stains on the back of my coat now where she handled it. It’s hard to have nice things sometimes. Probably going to cost me a pretty penny to have the professionally cleaned.

Today at church was unique. I was the only “regular” band member on stage today. Kevin, Brent and I think Will were in Chattanooga helping augment a worship band there at a new church similar to ours. Today’s group was made up of some good folks, we just didn’t have any time to play together as a group except for practice last Wednesday for a short time. During warm-up, I was really concerned because honestly, it sounded bad. It all came together for the most part during the actual performance but I just don’t think we came off as confidently as we could have. We had several visitors today and I hope that despite the bumpy ride, they’ll be back (since it’s really not about the music anyway, right?).

Spent the evening grilling out over at the Burns’. It was all the usual suspects plus Jordan and Evan and Megan and her daughter. We all had a relaxing evening hanging out together having good food and watching Rush Hour 2. That was a nice way to end the day.

LOST - Whoa, anybody watch LOST last Thursday? Holy smokes - this season is off to a GREAT start. I hope it keeps up. I’ve got so many ideas going now as to what’s happening. I could talk about LOST all day… and I have. I’m trying to get Anne sucked in to watching the show. I think she’d love it.

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I’m thankful that I made it through the storms early Wednesday morning unscathed. I wish I could say the same for all my friends. My dear friend Sommer lost her mother, step-dad and step-brother in the tornado that hit Lawrence Co. yesterday. She and I had just been talking about the Super Tuesday race and how the candidates were doing before calling it a night (she was in the hospital for some tests being done) and getting some rest. At 3 AM I awoke to the sounds of driving rain and tornado warning sirens. Kyle called me to be sure I was up and seeking cover in my storm shelter (I have an underground concrete bunker behind my home). I also turned my cell phone on just in case I would need it. I received a text from Sommer to take cover just as the storm passed by. We exchanged a few more messages where she let me know she was okay and the hospital was going to release her. It was sometime after that she found out about her family.

Please be in prayer for my friend and her family during this especially tough time. Thanks ya’ll.

Related media links: CNN Decatur Daily

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Here’s a shot I took at the top of Collier falls Saturday. I was only a few feet away from the edge of the dropoff into the fall’s basin below so I had to be extremely cautious where I was stepping to avoid any mishaps. I would have liked to have gotten a shot from below, but from where I was, I couldn’t see a good way down that wouldn’t have taken all morning. Next time, one of the things I plan on bringing is some rope. Might not be a bad idea to bring along a climbing harness too to better get in and out of spots (with help from others of course). Anyway, there were two old brick columns standing in the water just below the falls. I’m guessing they used to be part of a mill before? Or maybe a bridge? I’m not certain. I don’t know if they appear in any of my shots but I’ll look around.

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Here’s one of my shots from Saturday’s hiking extravaganza. It’s of Shangri-La falls in Bankhead forest. I like this shot except for the dang hotspot on the rocks to the left of the falls. I wish I would have caught that. I’ll be more careful next time. And yes TC, this is what winter in Alabama looks like.

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While I was at the gym last Friday, I thought I would check my body fat level again to see how I was progressing since starting my exercise routine. About a month ago, I was at 16.4 percent. I found out that number wasn’t too shabby for someone that didn’t exercise much or have a special diet. Friday, after measuring three times to be certain - I’m down to 11.3! That’s over a five percent reduction. It’s exciting to see results so I’m encouraged that I’m heading in a good direction to take better care of myself. Lesa also joined the gym I go to so now I’ve got all sorts of workout partners to meet up with making it all the more enjoyable.

I spent Saturday hiking around Bankhead Forest with some friends trying to locate a few waterfalls. I’ve only been out there once or twice before and only saw the easy stuff - things near a road and just a short stroll away. I was in for a nasty surprise as the hike turned into something quite physically challenging. It was tougher than I was expecting even if I hadn’t been carrying a pack with my camera gear in it so you can imagine how much tougher it is with one that also has a tripod sticking out the top catching every vine and low-hanging branch. There were no trails here, just GPS coordinates and THICK underbrush. Because of the winter, most of it was dry - I can only imagine what it would be like in the summer when everything is lush with vegetation. Thorns and briers were everywhere. My hands are all scratched up. I’ll tell you what, I’m glad I dressed correctly or this could have been much worse. Thick pants, good socks and waterproof hiking boots coupled with a waterproof jacket helped keep me warm and dry even when stepping on slippery rocks crossing streams. A walking stick proved an invaluable tool and helped tremendously when footing was a little unsure - which happened a LOT. It’s hell on your knees and ankles. Your ankles take a beating when you’re walking across, not UP, a steep incline. My boots helped out there and I never came close to twisting anything but I would have without their support. Next time I go out there, I’m changing up what I’m bringing with me though to save weight. I *have* to get a lighter tripod for when I have to carry it a long way. The one I have, a Manfrotto 3021B-PRO is aluminum and has a small ball head on it but it still is quite heavy - not a bad thing since you want it to be stable. What I would want for next time is probably going to be a carbon fiber model. The CF will be nice too in the fact that it doesn’t get as hot or cold as the metal tripods do. To save more weight, I have a better idea of what I need to being along camera-wise. Typically, I like to have things in case I need them, but in this situation, lighter is better for sure.

I have to bring more water though. I drank one bottle on the way to the forest then drank both bottles I carried with me. Luckily, Owen had an extra bottle of Propel that he gave me and that got me through the last leg of our hike.

I ended up getting a few shots that might turn out well. I haven’t had a chance to really take a good look at them yet. I did take some snapshots with my pocket camera though. I’ve got a couple below.

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