By the 7th of the month I put a new photo in our “Photo of the Month” frame. Here is Jan. 2014

Wow, this week isn’t going good.

The morning started out OK, I went to work and sat down with some coffee. We talked a little about a couple of programs and everything seemed OK. About 11am my sister calls and says, I’m running late, a lady she knew died last night, can I take my Aunt to the doctor. Sure, why not.

I picked up my 78 or 79 year old Aunt Doris. Now picture someone name Doris Laverne and it’s her. I dropped her off at the doctors then waited 1 1/2 to 2 hours for her. (NO biggie) Then my wife calls and say, let’s meet for lunch. The first place and a line out the door and the second place was an English Pub. We ate and my wife said she’d drop my aunt off on her way home. Cool, that was better for me… I can go back to work.

Got back at 3 pm, the IT guy was working on my computer. (DAMN IT) So at 3:30 he gets up and leaves so I finally have my computer back. I notice my phone had rang so I called back my wife. blah blah blah, shit, fucker just did a u-turn and hit me, baby, she was crying… click.  WTF…? So like Batman, in the series, leaving the BatCave I haul-ass toward home. NOT a 100% sure but I remember her saying that she was getting ready to turn down into our subdivision.  I get there and a guy did try to do a u-turn and tore the side out of the Expedition.  She’s OK, baby is good, only the truck is damaged. We wait for the cops and the other driver is charged and ticketed. Now comes the pain-in-the-ass adventure of working with the insurance companies to get it fixed. I shouldn’t be out of pocket for anything, she was not at fault. (We Will See?)

After all the excitement I decided, let’s just do Taco Bell for dinner… agh…my diet. Damn, shit, &(*)#$ I’ve screwed up again! But I only got a soft Taco and a Double Decker. Not great but not a weekly diet killer either. So tomorrow I’m back on track again!

How is everyone else doing on their RESOLUTIONS?

Dam I guess I forgot about posting yesterday…. on the 6th day I forgot my New Years Resolution for 2014. Well I did remember when I first got up this morning, so I apologize for already missing one but this is a makeup for it.

As I go through the rest of the year I will probably miss a couple here and there. I may miss the deadline of midnight but I will try and make it no later that the next day. But, I am going to try very hard NOT to miss any days to stay consistent with the blog and the vlog.

It was a boring day though so nobody missed anything from me.  The baby was up till 2am yesterday morning, rough night of sleep for ol’ daddy, but even worse for Mom. Oh my weigh in started yesterday… 322.7 pounds, agh not good but at least it’s a starting point for me and my goal is to lose 2 pounds of weight per week. I weigh in on Monday’s so I will try and keep everyone up to date on the Monday blog.

Advice or encouragement is welcomed.

I’m trying to figure out who a foreclosed home belongs to. Does it belong to the homeowner until the bank takes repossession. If so do the homeowner have a right to do anything they want with the home during that time.

I’ve heard of foreclosures taking 3 – 4 years, and sometimes long, for the banks to take back possession of the home. During that time owner are living in them rent free. Not only are they living rent free but they’re selling everything they can out of the home. They’re selling the A/C units, cabinets, toilets, doors, light fixtures, and any other thing with any value.

So what does everyone think… Is it OK for the owner to strip the house or does the house with everything, except personal items, belong to the bank and they should remain intact with the home? Comment and let me know how you feel.

Have you ever had that slit second special moment in life where you’d give anything to have recorded it on video or photo?

I think most of us have had many moments life that. When our baby says their first word, or takes their first step. My friend just happened to catch the moment he met his wife on video. We see photos and video now that 15 years ago we would have dreamt about. With the use of our cell phones that now have both camera and video every moment of our life can be recorded.

Is this a great thing or bad thing? How many times have things have been caught on video where you know the people wish were not?

With access to that video recorder typically in our hands or on our side a lot of special moments have been caught that would have typically been lost forever. Not really lost but only known to us in our memories. I still think of things from 40 years ago where I think dam I’d given anything to have had a camera or video camera back then.

We are living in a time where it has been documented more than any other time in history. I have 1 old photo of my great grandfather. Just one single image of him standing in a pair of overalls. My great grandchildren will know what I look like at different ages in my life, know how I sounded, and can see me walking, talking, and telling jokes. In many ways I truly envy them for that. But do I really? I look back at my grandfather and use my imagination to fill in all the blanks about him. In my eyes he is this larger than life and a great man! But had he been better documented with photos, and videos would I still look at him the same way? Or would I see him as he actually was, a mortal flawed man. Maybe I wouldn’t like him as a person. I may thing he’s an asshole or something.  I won’t be around to see what will happen but I pray my great great grandchildren look back and say, wow great great granddad was OK.

My Great Grandfather Morrison

I think photography is my number 1 hobby. Photography lets you capture an image of something that will be around long after you have gone. It’s a moment in history that you have preserved. I sometimes think, will someone look at one of my photos and wonder what the subject was thinking or what the photographer was thinking when they took the photo?

I sometimes wonder what the subject was looking at? Are they looking at the photographer or a loved one off in the background. I wonder where they are at and who else was there when the photographer clicked the shutter.  Even in the old paintings I catch myself wondering about this. I guess because I look at some of mine and remember the story of the photo happening. In one photo as soon as I clicked the button a fight broke out. When I look at that photo  that is what I’m seeing… the moment before the fight. Others will look at the photo and thing, oh that’s a great family photo, “What a perfect family”.

Then I look at the odd photo that were staged. The ones where we are looking goofy or mad. The ones that we acted as if we were going to hit someone, or jump off something. Is people in our future going to look at those and be going WTF?

I think that is what draws me to photography. It’s the documenting of my family for generations to come. My great-great-great grand-kids will have thousands of photos to look at and try to know us. Unfortunately I’m not in most of the photos, I’m always on the other side of the camera.

In some of my family photos when I was growing up I’ll see a picture at 5 then another at 9. What happened in the 4 years in between? Or I think of an old car or motorcycle I owned but there is not 1 single photo of it ever happening.

Maybe I’m unique or odd but if I had to choose 1 hobby over all it would be photography.

This should have been posted Jan 3 but the website chose not to let me.

Well I did get some resolutions down… of course most are the exact same ones that most Americans use. (No order)

1. photograph 2 strangers per month.
2. Watch 2 movies per week
3. A photo a Month
4. lose weight – this is a health issue to me and feel that I really don’t have a lot of choices. Well I have a couple – Live / Die.
5. read 3 books this year (I read a lot of books but these are 3 novels)
6. Take a 4 day, 3 night motorcycle ride.
7. Go fishing a couple times a month with the boys.
8. Photograph a Veteran a month and get their story.
9. A date night a month with just Shannon and I.
10. Do a daily blog / vlog for the year! – this is the big one! 

Of course the last one will be the toughest to accomplishment but I’ll give it a great shot. Let me know how I’m doing?

Yep, it’s 2014…wow it sounds futuristic doesn’t it. This year I just wanted to let you know what I’m planning. I’m going to try and do a blog every day in 2014. I have some stuff planned but things don’t always go as I plan them.

Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR… I hope everyone that is reading this has an AWESOME New Year 2014! Set back and ride with me this year on the blog.

Also, check out my YouTube Channel for my daily VLOG.