i borrowed the in-laws lawnmower today, and as i finished, the neighbor kids kept riding their bikes in my driveway. One even got off and walked into my backyard as i finished cleaning up. i said “You’ll have to leave, i’m locking the gate” and the loud fat-assed neighbor from across the street said “How rude!”.

In my day, i would never consider trespassing a neighbors’ yard. Here, we have the local busy body defending the ankle biters right to traipse wherever their undisciplined will lead them. Forgive me, but the indecision to clock fat ass or cookie cruncher allowed the whelp to safely step into his yard. i’m not as willing to risk jail as i once was. Neighbors 1, homeowner 0.

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Saturday morning, we hiked amongst the deserted ski runs and skirted the town itself.

After our overland adventure, we checked into a local hotel and made our way over to the Canyons Ski Resort, where we stood in line waiting for Toast of Park City Grand Tasting.

We were serenaded and wooed by all the vendors with their wares.

All in all, a nice weekend at a nice place at a nice time of year. Needless to say, we had a nice time.

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A couple of picture taking fools, i got the latest Rebel and gave the trusty 300D to my wife. Prior to our adventure to Gotham, we had bought a ‘zoom’ lens. So, equipped with one zoom lens (the EF-S 75-300) and two kit lenses, we kept exploring. Life was good taking pictures and stashing memories. Except it wasn’t enough, we took some classes and took a chance and found other settings on the dial. Settings with cryptic abbreviations like ‘TV’, ‘AV’, and “M”.
By the time we made landfall in the middle of the country (August 2009) we found our cameras did more than just point and shoot. They would actually capture what you saw and translate it into a more better memory.

So the moment in time and the place we were at became “desktop wallpaper”, because digital was here to stay. Everything from textures

to light

became fair game. We learned a little about capturing these things. With the dial firmly bumped off the green square, a whole new world

was still where we left it, both near and far, we just became a bit better at capturing it, sharing it, and saving it for days when the weather didn’t cooperate.

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We had been to Bryce Canyon before, over a Memorial Day weekend. This time, we didn’t get snowed on. The wind howled though right up until we left. The Grand Staircase is huge (roughly the size of Delaware) and there is a state road that follows it’s northern boundary. The road is Highway 12, named an “All American Road” because it traverses some spectacular scenery.

For three nights and three days, we found ourselves in the center and south of Utah. I have nearly 30 gb’s of pictures to prove it.

The width and breadth of this National Monument is hard to wrap my mind around. It borders two National Parks (Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef) and we had posted over a thousand miles from leaving work Friday to getting home Sunday.
It’s ok though because we were warm and untouched by the wind when we were traveling. Oh, the sites we saw – from high desert to hoodoos to a ski resort to scrubland to mountain passes.



I can see why so many fall for southern Utah. It has some of the best vistas in the world, and the place seems timeless. If only the price of gas were never changing like the landscape . . .

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Thanks Jazz, you have been the lone warm spot in this long, cold miserable winter. And i mean literally – we’ve been to Florida, Las Vegas, and even Moab during the basketball season, and each of those places experienced either snow or record cold.

i’d like to thank Tania, who helped me set up and execute the above picture. i really think that flash photography is your niche, and can’t wait to see where you take it. <3

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spring snow

It makes for a profound sense of cabin fever, and the feeling that winter will never end. Most of our diversions are indoor, and it makes for an expensive stretch of time. We had recently gone to a photography lighting workshop, and the winter blues combined with our new found knowledge conspired to make us buy a flash for our cameras.

580 EXII

We have managed to get out of town a couple of times. Last weekend we went to Wendover to see Lewis Black.

Lewis Black

It was a great show, but still not warm – Wendover was windy and cold. This time of year, it seems the only green we see is the money flying out of our account, and the Masters Tournament being played in Georgia.

The 12th @ Augusta

Usually this tournament marks the beginning of golf weather here, but this year it hasn’t. It seems it’s green all over everywhere else, but all the white here has left me in a black mood.

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i got three new monitors, and to these old eyes, it makes a difference. The only thing wrong with them, is now i can’t see my desk!

We saw the Jazz take on the league’s best team, the San Antonio Spurs.

It was a good game, but the Jazz lost. i think now that the Jazz have played everyone in the league, they aren’t surprising anyone anymore. A recent injury to D. Williams has changed the look of the team on the floor, but the surprise of winning all the pre-season games and three out four regular season games is gone.

It’s still fun being a fan, and i’ve found the less i listen to the local sports talk radio the better off i am.

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The freeway had snow on it all the way to Nevada. we stopped at Mesquite for a bite to eat and our obligatory first donation to their economy. Sitting at a slot near the hotdog vendor, i somehow managed to win $200.

We wanted to make our hotel at a reasonable hour, and also not quite knowing how that machine payed off, we hightailed it for Sin City. It was just after dusk, and with our new-found windfall got the bright idea to see the Strip.

The Eiffel Tower at the Paris Casino sits near the middle of Las Vegas Blvd. As we wandered in the casino, there was a line of people buying tickets to ride to the top. Tania got in line and asked if there were any tickets available for New Year’s Eve. As luck would have it, there were- and for the cost of $200 we could spend the holiday almost 500 feet above 300,000 drunken revelers.

After successfully escaping Nevada on the 2nd, we had tickets to a Jazz game for the 3rd. Someone wasn’t particularly excited to go to the game, with it being the evening after going back to work and against the Detroit Pistons. Things changed around 3:30 when i got an e-mail saying we were going to give up our 2nd row, upper bowl tickets for 1st row, on-the-court upgrade.

The Pistons, despite a subpar record battled hard and even had a lead within a minute of the game ending. The Jazz snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with some fourth quarter defense and some timely offense. Sitting on the hardwood, close enough to hear the players was a rare and fun event.

Welcome, 2011, you*re off to a nice start . . .

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The next morning, we got that wake up call and another one – it was 33 degrees outside and the weather promised to be warmer, when we landed back in Salt Lake. Still, i’m glad we got to see another corner of our country, for the hat trick – three of four within 12 months. i’ve a feeling we may go to New England in the not too distant future . . .

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