House Guest

Max visited us again a couple of weeks ago while his owners, Andrew and Ann Watts were out of town. I have posted about Max visiting us before here.

Max was so playful on this visit. I think he forgot he weighs like over 160 pounds and it was 98 degrees outside. Here are some of the pictures of us playing.

Brazos Bend PhotoWalk

I have written about photowalks at Brazos Bend State Park several times in the last year (here, here and here). I really enjoy these monthly outings, but haven't been able to attend since February. The focus of this last photowalk took me to an area of the park that I have never been before. We worked on our closeup photography skills in this session, on Prairie trail near 40 acre lake.


Dr. Laszlo Perlaky, our guide for these events, told us we need to be patient and wait for the opportunities. That's not hard except it was like 95+ degrees and we were in a very open area with no protection from the sun. Waiting for a butterfly or a dragonfly to stay still took my patience to a new level.


I saw one beattle in this flower when I was taking it, but didn't realize there was another beattle plus what I believe is an ant until I got home and looked at the picture through Photoshop.


The dragonfly proved to be the hardest to capture because they seem to always be flying. I got lucky and 2 different ones landed in almost the same spot, allowing me to capture both of them. Someone originally told me that I had just colored the same one green, but you can see the out of focus stick is on the left with the green one and on the right with the blue one. No Photoshop manufacturing of this shot.

The butterfy was perhaps the easiest to photograph. Several people were able to take pictures of this butterfly. It came back to the same spot almost consistently for most of the time we were in this area of the park. The picture with the wings spread open was featured on KRPC Local2 Hotshots on the morning weather segment one day last week. I've written about other times I have been featured on KPRC Local2 here, here, here and here. I think it's a great thing for them to feature local photographs on the air. It is a big ego boost to see one of your photographs on TV or to have one of your friends or family members tell you they saw it.

This was probably the first time I have been to Brazos Bend Park and not photographing an alligator. We didn't go into that part of the park on this outing.

I have put these and some of my other shots on Flickr and you can view them by clicking here. If you want to see enlarge any of the above shots, just click on the picture. Thanks for looking around.

Rebuilding Together OKC Project

I was blessed to have the opportunity to travel to Oklahoma City last week and work with some friends and former co-workers from Kerr-McGee on a Rebuilding Together project. Brian Wilks (in the left picture) worked with Rebuilding Together in organizing the project and recruited Scott Wallace (in the right picture) and I to help do the work. Brian, Scott and I had worked together at Kerr-McGee for many years and also did several Rebuilding Together projects in OKC when I lived there from 2003-2006. We also traveled together to New Iberia, LA in 2006 to work on a Rebuilding Together project on a home damaged during Hurricane Rita.

Here are some before pictures:

We basically needed to repair the roof over the porch that had sagged due to a poor design. Several of the rafters and plywood were rotten due to water leaking in from sitting in the area that had sagged. We also built a ramp for easier access to the porch. Here are the after pictures:

It was great to work with these guys again, but to also see some of the other people I had worked with. I was able to visit with my former boss, Steve Miller, CIO of the Heart Hospital in OKC. I also visited with Wayne Robertson, Dan McClellan and Caleb Mills, former peers and employees.

Scott and Tahlee allowed me to stay at their home and they were fantastic hosts. Pam and Brian also had us over for a couple of evenings as well. We certainly didn't miss any meals. Evenings were spent with whiskey, cigars and tales of yesterday and beyond. If you used to work with us, we probably talked about you at some point.

It was great to see Edmond and Oklahoma City and the changes that have happened in the last 2 years. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Brian and Scott and look forward to our next opportunity.

You can see the other pictures of our work on Flickr at this link.

Gleannloch Farms Bark Park Photos

I mentioned the grand opening of the Gleannloch Farms Bark Park in a previous posting located here. The Bark Park is a great addition to the neighborhood and weekends and evenings are particularly busy times.

I finally had the opportunity to process all of the photos I took during the afternoon. If you were at the Grand Opening, you have neighbors or friends that were there, or if you just want to see some of the great dogs of Gleannloch Farms, I have posted the photos on Flickr. You can see the photos by clicking on this link.

Book Review - "The Collapse of Distinction"

“Can your customers tell the difference between you and your competition?”


This one simple yet thought-provoking question is the whole premise of Scott McKain’s book, “Collapse of Distinction”. McKain starts out by explaining how so many companies today are being sunk in the sea of "sameness".

I recently read the book as part of my being a book blogger for Thomas Nelson Publishers. If you are interested in signing up for the program, more information on becoming a book review blogger is on their website at http://brb.thomasnelson.com/.

He outlines three things that destroy differentiation that lead to the collapse of distinction between different businesses in the eyes of the customer.

Using the inscription “Knowledge is Good” from the sculpture of the founder of Faber College in National Lampoon’s Animal House, McKain argues that “differentiation is good”. He introduces the various levels of differentiation: Level one, sameness, is when you are indistinguishable from your competition. When a company reaches level two, "differentiation," they have traits that separate them from their competition. But, it is when a business reaches level three, "Distinction," that it becomes truly different from the competition.

McKain then goes into what he calls the four cornerstones of making sure your business remains unique: Clarity, Creativity, Communication, and Customer-Experience Focus. The last 4 chapters are dedicated to each one of these cornerstones.

The Collapse of Distinction is not only insightful, but also provides the reader with resources to implement the advice McKain gives throughout the book. Each chapter is followed by an executive summary, which is a quick reference that can be used as talking points for small-team exercises or discussions with colleagues. The executive summary also includes action steps, questions and ideas. I found these extremely beneficial in helping me to think about what I am going to do about what I just read.

Overall I thought it was a great book. I think McKain is a great storyteller and I really liked how he told the stories about the businesses in his own hometown to relate the principles he was trying to relate to his readers. That added a real personal touch, a connection with the author.

The Collapse of Distinction is also part of a new program at Thomas Nelson called NelsonFree. Buyers of products that are tagged “NelsonFree” get the hardback book, a free e-book and a free audiobook.

For more information on this book, including information on how to buy it, click here.

Rebuilding Together Houston and Access Sciences

My employer, Access Sciences Corporation, is involved in community service by providing volunteer opportunities for our employees. Our GO team or Global Outreach team strives to share our time, talents, and resources to care for the communities in which we live and work.

Our GO team recently partnered with Rebuilding Together Houston in rehabilitating the home of an elderly resident. Rebuilding Together is the nation’s leading nonprofit organization working to preserve affordable homeownership and revitalize communities. They have a network of more than 200 affiliates to provide free rehabilitation and critical repairs to the homes of low-income Americans. They believe in a safe and healthy home for every person and do this through bringing volunteers and communities together to improve the homes and lives of homeowners in need.

The team was incredible in working together for two workdays in April to complete this project. I have uploaded some of the pictures to Flickr. You can see a slideshow of the before, during and after pictures to see the transformation we did to this house by clicking on this link. I am proud to have worked alongside each one of them.

Gleannloch Farms Bark Park

The Gleannloch Farms Bark Park had it's official grand opening this afternoon. It was very well attended, with dogs and humans alike having a great time. The weather was fantastic, with the windy conditions making it easier to tolerate the higher temperatures. The Bark Park has been a popular place on weekends and evenings for owners and pets to enjoy the outdors. I have only gone through a few of my pictures, but these caught my attention.

We had no disagreements among the dogs, but many were getting to know each other for the first time. Some in a nose to nose encounter...

And others in a nose to, well, you get the idea.

I will post more pictures as I get them processed....stay tuned.