Clear Weather Ahead
Texas Skies
July 22, 2004 - Thursday

The weather is looking good for the weekend! Lisa and I are making the drive to New Braunfels, Texas to do a little camping and river toobing with some friends.



We are really looking forward to getting away for the weekend and hopefully the weather continues to cooperate with us.
 

Late Night Of Poker
Forrest's Place
July 21, 2004 - Wednesday

Our weekly poker game was moved this week from Tuesday to Wednesday so that a few of our other friends could make it. In fact, seven people were able to make it giving us a total of 11 players for the night! That's the most we have ever had for one of our weekly games. Having 11 people total we made arrangements to have two tables playing at once and then combined once there were only about 6 players left total.

Lisa has been on a dry spell poker wise for a couple of months now and has finished in second place a couple of times but has not been able to get the win. Tonight things have changed! Lisa was on the verge of being eliminated when the tables were combined and managed to win a couple of huge pots which got her back in the running. By the time we knew it, she had personally eliminated 4 other players from the field of 6 at the final table in order to take the win. 



Since I had not taken a photo for the day I decided to snap off a pic on the drive home. This image was taken as we were driving through a toll booth. I know it has nothing to do with poker but oh well.
 

An Early Start
Low Light Test
July 20, 2004 - Tuesday

It didn't take long for me to get the itch to try out a few low light shots in order to make sure I know what I'm doing when the Dave Matthews concert rolls around. I turned the lights down very low and mounted my fast 50mm F1.8 lens. I ran my F stop at 1.8 to let as much light in as possible and set my shutter to about 1/125 second. In this particular shot I ran ISO 1600 which was enough to balance out my meter with the earlier settings. I thought the high ISO rating  would produce a very noisey image but the noise was fairly minimal.



Even though this shoot took all of about 5 minutes I still learned quite a bit about my camera and which settings I can start from for these low light conditions. Hopefully within a couple of weeks I can go to another local band's show to get some hands on experience shooting a concert.
 

Good News!!!
DMB Photo Contest
July 19, 2004 - Monday

Some of you might remember that I entered a Photo Contest that was held by the Dave Matthews Band fan club back in June. Well today I received a phone telling me that I won one of the 10 spots to become a photographer for an upcoming concert. I will be given two free tickets to a show as well as a PRESS PASS so that I can shoot for the first 4 songs or so from the media pit at the base of the stage. I am very excited about the concert and especially the chance to photograph one of my favorite bands!

Below is the image that won me a place in the contest. It is of a small version of a Terra-cotta Soldier found in the Forbidden Gardens Chinese Museum here in Katy, Texas. I took this image on April 23rd with my Canon G5 and it has been one of my favorites.

World Series Of Dog Shows
Reliant Park
July 18, 2004 - Sunday

In the shadows of the new Reliant Stadium, which is home of the Houston Texans NFL football team, sits the Reliant Center. This weekend brought the World Series Of Dog Shows here to Reliant center for what is the largest indoor dog show in the country. Lisa and I decided to stop by and check out what all of the hype was about.



The Agility Trials was obviously the most exciting event being held this weekend and we were very impressed with the level of training these dogs had. If you are not familiar with Agility it is a timed competition in which dogs must complete a course of various obstacles and challenges which they are guided through by their handler. 



We had never seen so many different breeds before and we were often asking each other "I wonder what kind that is?" This event was packed and spectators were allowed to bring their own dogs in to the event and just browse around all of the exhibits. We also felt out of place since we did not have a dog of our own to bring.



This event was definitely a challenge to shoot since it was indoors and flashes were not allowed. Flash photography would indeed distract the different competitors in their events so the rules were understandable. I shot primarily with my 50mm lens since it is the fastest lens in my arsenal rated at a F/1.8. I learned a lot about low light photography today so it was a very entertaining and educational day for us.
 

Weekly Car Show
Sam's Wholesale Parking Lot
July 17, 2004 - Saturday

There's a weekly informal car show held every week at a Sam's Wholesale Club parking lot on the west side of town. I stopped by one night a few month's ago and snapped a few photos with my Canon G5 and decided to stop by tonight to shoot some with my 10D.



There were a ton of cars out tonight since the weather was nice and clear. I saw a bunch of cars that I would personally love to own. One of my favorites is an old 1969 Dodge Charger which were represented nicely by 4 totally restored models. Below is an image of the engine bay of a 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner. They just don't make engines like that anymore.



We had a great time walking around all of these classic cars admiring all of the hard work their owners invested. It takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears to fully restore and customize on of the beautiful classic muscle cars.
 

A Night Of Gaming
Dave And Buster's
July 16, 2004 - Friday

Lisa and I had dinner at a local Dave and Buster's which is a large entertainment complex that has a large video game room as well a large upscale pool hall. After we had our dinner we went and played a ton of games which brought out the competitive side in each of us.



I won my share of games and Lisa also won hers. We both had a blast and won enough tickets to get another pair of shot glasses for our shot glass collection. One day I'll have to take a photo of the glasses that we have from the different places we have been.
 

Teddy Bear
Ritz Camera
July 15, 2004 - Thursday

I drove to a local Ritz Camera so that I can check out a Sigma 70-200 F/2.8 zoom lens for my Canon 10d. I mounted it to my camera and took a bunch of shots with it to test it out. I really enjoyed the extra zoom capabilities this lens gave me and now I just need to decide if I want to go with a Sigma or a Canon.



Hopefully I can decide which lens to go with very soon so that I can just order it and get it over with. I feel that I miss out on a lot of opportunities photo wise since I am restricted to using my 17-40mm or 50mm lens.
 

Morning Sun
My Workplace
July 14, 2004 - Wednesday

I walked in this morning and notice the sunlight peering into our offices and I decided to get a shot of our thermostat. Not very exciting photo I know but at least it is a photo nonetheless. What was weird was like 2 minutes after I shot this the sun had risen even more which left the thermostat in the shade then. Talk about capturing a moment in time.



I am hoping that this weekend Lisa and I can make another day trip somewhere. I am not sure where to or even in which direction we are headed but then again that's half the fun of our little expeditions. 
 

Poker Night!!
Abel's Hotel & Casino
July 13, 2004 - Tuesday

We had 7 players tonight for our weekly Texas Hold'em poker game and I did not do so hot in the main game. I believe I finished in 5th place and Lisa finished in 4th. After the game was over a friend of mine Daniel had the itch to play another game but it was already getting late. So he offered up a small fast paced game in which everyone gets 10 chips and the blinds double every 5 minutes to ensure the game would end quickly.

Scott, Shane and I were the only ones who took Daniel up on his offer. First hand: I make a preflop raise, Shane and Scott fold. Daniel raises and goes all in. I call. Cards come out and I win the hand with a higher pair eliminating Daniel. Second Hand: I fold immediately leaving Shane and Scott to battle it out. After the flop Scott goes all in and Shane calls him. After the two turn cards Scott wins the hand eliminating Shane. Third hand: Scott and I are the last ones left. I'm dealt a Q 6 off suite and Scott opens by going all in before the flop. I go ahead and call his bet and we show each other our cards. Scott is holding a pair of 8's. I'm dealing so I turn the first three cards over and they are 9 Q 3. I have made a pair of queens and now I'm hoping that an 8 does not come up for Scott in the next two turn cards. Fourth card turns out to be an A so that did not help either of us. The only card that Scott could get to win the hand was another 8. The River card falls and it’s a Q giving me three of a kind and bragging rights until next week.



The little cut throat game we had at the end was a lot of fun because the game with 4 players ended in 3 hands. I think the whole thing lasted like less than 5 minutes total. Talk about fast paced! 
 

Clear Blue Skies
Lakemont Subdivision
July 12, 2004 - Monday

I drove through a nice new neighborhood named Lakemont on the way home today. Since I took some photos last week of a recreational center I figured I stick with this theme for today as well. 



One of my favorite species of trees is the Bald Cypress which were plentiful in this neighborhood. I just love how these trees look when they are about 5-10 years old.