Doug's Photo Journal

Cruise Pictures

2011-03-13T16:58:00.000-07:00

We went on our very first cruise last month, celebrating our birthdays (Feb 1 and Mar 1) and Valetines.

Here are links to the pictures (click on the link to see slideshow on Flickr):

Pictures of us

Galveston

Fogged out of Galveston

Grand Cayman

Hell, Grand Cayman

Turtle Farm, Grand Cayman

Sunsets

Great Houses Tour, Jamaica

Falmouth Port, Jamaica

Cozumel

RCL Voyager of the Seas

Houston Zoo

2010-06-20T13:36:00.001-07:00

Houston Zoo
Originally uploaded by dschultz56
The Houston Zoo had another one of their photo days this weekend. I missed the last one but was able to go to this one. The only bad news was the heat and humidity. The zoo opens early at 7am for these events, and that seems to be the most humid part of the day.

I went to an activity with the Cassowary. The keeper said this one weighs about 100 pounds. It has enough kicking power to kill a person!! And it can kick both forwards and backwards. I thought it had beautiful colors.

You can see my other photos from this outing on Flickr at this link. The next photo day at the zoo will be in August. You can find more details on their web page.

Houston Zoo

2010-06-20T13:26:00.001-07:00

Houston Zoo
Originally uploaded by dschultz56
I went to the Houston Zoo this weekend for another one of the Photo Day events. I attended an activity with the Meerkats. The keeper was feeding them bugs and pointed out that at least one or more Meerkats will take sentry duty while the others are eating. They will go to the highest place and watch for predetators as the others eat. I thought this was an interesting fact. It was a great day...just hot and very humid in the morning as they open for photographers at 7am....two hours before the general public.

You can see the other photos from my outing on Flickr at this link. Their next photo day is in August. You can sign up for alerts about this and other events on the zoo's web page.

Ugly Duckling

2010-05-19T18:47:00.001-07:00

DSC_0371a
Originally uploaded by dschultz56

I thought it was interesting that there was only one tan colored duck within this group. The remainder were the brown and tan mix.

Baby Ducks

2010-05-19T18:40:00.001-07:00

DSC_0248a
Originally uploaded by dschultz56

I took this picture on April 20,2010. There were about 50-75 baby ducks in the lakes at the entrance to the Gleannloch Farms subdivision. This is one group that was swimming toward me on the shore.

Roadrunner

2010-05-18T18:18:00.001-07:00

Roadrunner
Originally uploaded by dschultz56

We were walking down a trail that we thought was going to lead us to the gunnery range at the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. We decided it was further than we wanted to walk and turned around. This funny looking creature was running toward us on the trail. It got to within five feet of us before it realized we were on the trail. It stopped long enough for me to capture a picture before it scampered off in the underbrush. It was the first time we had seen a roadrunner "live".

Bird in Mid-flight

2010-05-18T18:16:00.001-07:00

DSC_0128-45e
Originally uploaded by dschultz56

I'm not exactly sure how I was able to capture this bird in mid-flight, but it did work. This was taken near the South Padre Convention Center. There was a group of trees and a water feature that was in this area. The birds were generally in this area most of the mornings. There were about 75-100 photographers at this location when I captured this shot.

South Padre Turtles

2010-05-15T07:52:00.000-07:00

Continuing from my last post about a recent trip to South Padre Island, we also visited an organization dedicated to saving turtles called Sea Turtle, Inc. We learned about the Turtle Lady, Ila Loetscher, and how she came to form this organization. They have found several Ridley Sea Turtle nesting sites and are tracking them on their web site.

Here are a few pictures of the turtles at their location. It was a great place to visit.

South Padre Birds

2010-05-09T18:30:00.000-07:00

Continuing from my last post, we had the opportunity to visit South Padre during the time that the birds were migrating back to the North. We visited the South Padre Birding Center and learned about South Padre being the first stop for birds as they have traveled over the Gulf of Mexico. It was a fantastic story. There are a couple of other places on the island to see birds. There were a hundred or so photographers at the convention center most mornings, watching for birds among the trees and bushes. This is adjacent to the birding center.

We also visited the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. It's a 23,000 acre habitat on the mainland side of island. There are several trails you can walk and bird watch bunkers for taking photographs. The blooming Yuca plants were in abundance at the park and were quite beautiful. A Roadrunner also came to with 5 feet of us before scurring off.

I have posted all of my bird pictures on Flickr. You can see a slideshow of them by clicking on this link.

I'll post more pictures from the rest of our trip in a few days. Thanks for reading.

South Padre Island - Sunrise and Sunset

2010-04-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

We just returned from a week at South Padre Island. It has been a few years since we've been there, but we enjoy it every time. I took several photos during this trip and will divide them into multiple posts by subject area.

The first group is sunrise and sunsets. These can be spectacular, although the weather wasn't as cooperative this past week. It wasn't necessarily raining and stormy, but there were a lot of clouds on most days. Consequently there was only one really good evening and one really good morning.

This first one was taken on one of the cloudy evenings. I thought the colors were just great in this shot.

Here are a couple of sunset pictures taken from Louie's backyard back toward Laguna Madre. We were coming back from dinner at Pirate's Landing in Port Isabel when we decided to stop at Louie's as it looked like it was going to be clear for a change. I thought the one where the sun was reflecting off of the water was particularly interesting. That effect only lasted for about 10 seconds.

We had one morning where there were few clouds at sunrise. These pictures were taken toward the Gulf side of the island.

I have posted more of my sunrise and sunset pictures on Flickr. You can see them by clicking on this link. You can also enlarge any of the pictures by clicking on the image.

I'll be posting more pictures from South Padre Island soon.

Brazos Bend Photowalk

2010-03-09T18:32:00.001-08:00

I so much enjoy going to Brazos Bend State Park for either a visit or the monthly Photowalk (click on this link for the Volunteer page and then look for Activities on the left hand menu and then click on Photowalk). It is such a great place for nature and landscape photography. No two visits are the same.

I had been anxious to try out my new 70-300mm zoom lens I got for my birthday (thanks to all those who donated to the cause). It turned out to be a great investment as it got me closer to the animals. The only thing about a longer zoom lens is you still want a longer one.

You can click on any of these photos to enlarge it and then use the back button your browser to return to my blog. You can visit my Flickr page to see all of the photographs at this link.

Houston Zoo Photo Day

2010-02-21T12:40:00.000-08:00

The Houston Zoo had another of their Photo Days this weekend. It's an opportunity to visit the zoo 2 hours before it opens and becomes more crowded. They usually have a couple of special programs and a speaker at each event.

I always enjoy visiting the Giraffe exhibit. They are so graceful and interesting to watch as they move around.

There was a scheduled activity with the Orangutans, but they weren't as cooperative as I've seen them in the past. Before that started, the keepers fed the fish and turtles that are in the moat surrounding the Orangutan exhibit.

The orangatans (mother and son) came out and had their breakfast, although the mom went off into a corner to have hers.

This weekend was also the grand opening of the redesigned Jaguar exhibit. It and the Jaguar's didn't dissapoint those that came out to see it.

The last scheduled event was a session with Ernie the Porcupine. I learned a lot about porcupines from the zookeeper.

Here are some other photos I took as I walked around between the scheduled avtivities.

You can see my other photos from this trip to the zoo at my Flickr Photostream by clicking on this link.

If you enjoy photography, you really need to check out the next Photo Day. You can find more information on this and other events at this link.

House Guest

2009-07-31T18:41:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-16T19:07:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-26T19:00:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-17T09:43:00.000-07:00

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"

2009-05-09T06:58:00.000-07:00

“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

2009-05-04T17:41:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-26T19:20:00.000-07:00

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.

Houston Zoo and the Cats

2009-04-19T19:27:00.000-07:00

The Cheetah's and other Cats are also fun to watch at the Houston Zoo. The Cheetah's especially are a little unpredictable as to what they are going to do next. One of my most favorite shots of the Cheetah was taken during another trip and recognized by a local TV station. You can see that picture here.

Here are some of the pictures I captured during Early Bird Day.

Houston Zoo and Plants

2009-04-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

The Houston Zoo is one of my favorite places to visit for taking pictures. As with most people, I probably spend more time taking pictures of the animals and really don't observe what else the zoo has to offer.

The zoo has some fabulous plant displays to complement the animals homes and enclosures. Here are a few that I found on my outing for Early Bird Day. The next time you visit, take in the plants and flowers too.

Nasty Storm Clouds in Wichita, KS

2009-04-14T19:16:00.000-07:00

I was in Wichita, KS on business last week. Thursday evening we were supposed to have bad weather, but most of it was east and north of Wichita. This was the same storm system that caused tornados in AR. The clouds certainly looked bad.

These were taken from the 4th floor of Hotel at Old Town. Great hotel and great part of town. Lots of restaurants covering all ranges of food. The hotel is in the old Keen Kutter warehouse. Construction of it began in 1905 and was completed in the spring of 1906. The Keen Kutter warehouse was said to be the strongest building in Wichita and the largest warehouse in the world in 1906. I believe they said it was converted to this hotel in 1999.

Visiting Duck Lake

2009-04-13T18:49:00.000-07:00

Visiting the Houston Zoo is always one of my favorite things to do, especially if I have my camera along for the trip. As I blogged about earlier, Early Bird Day was this past weekend. There are a lot of other birds at Duck Lake besides those I photographed with the bunny in a previous post.

I hope you enjoy the different birds I saw on my recent trip to Duck Lake.

Happy Easter!!

2009-04-12T19:14:00.000-07:00

The Houston Zoo had Early Bird Day this past Saturday. It was an opportunity for photographers and those interested in birds to arrive at the zoo 2 hours before opening to spend some time with the bird keepers. It was another great event for photographers to get early access to the zoo.

I thought these pictures were funny and interesting. They were feeding the ducks and other birds present at duck lake. A rabbit came out from some shrubs and was eating along with the birds. The birds would take a peck at the rabbit occasionally and he would scamper off to eat from another pile. I couldn't have planned for it to be the day before Easter to capture these pictures.

Book Review - "The Great Eight"

2009-03-13T17:23:00.000-07:00

I recently read the book by Scott Hamilton (with Ken Baker) titled "The Great Eight - How to Be Happy (even when you have every reason to be miserable) 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/.

Overall I found the book very easy to read, yet covering very tough issues in a practical, easy to understand way. I learned so much about Scott Hamilton that I was not aware of. Certainly I knew about him being an Olympic Gold Medalist, World Champion and longtime professional figure skater - but he had so many more experiences in his life. The writing style is very conversational, almost like he is sitting in your living room, opening up his life stories with you.

Scott shares the adversity and hard times he has been through and how he had to make the conscious choice to be happy regardless of the circumstances. He reiterates the thought of changing your mindset to one of happiness throughout the entire book. There are many references and examples of Scott's faith in God. He weaves of very strong pattern of that faith being a part of his eight steps to happiness as he worked through the many setbacks in his life with disease and other dissapointments.

He talks about the significance of why he chose to right about eight secrets to finding happiness, including being born on 08-28-58 and learning the discipline of skating through practicing figure 8's. A couple of quotes that I really liked -

If you want to experience happiness and optimism in your life, then finding the humor in everything isn't a choice; it's essential.
I strongly believe that the only disability in life is a bad attitude.
Scott, you have every reason to be miserable, but you're the happiest guy I've ever met. What's your secret?

Overall, the book is well written and very encouraging. He has applied all of the principles he outlines in his own life. If you have ever watched Scott perform his trademark backflip on the ice or just loved watching him skate, you'll gain much more insight into his life by reading this book.

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

Houston SPCA Mutt Strut and Runway Race

2009-03-07T17:36:00.000-08:00

Jennifer and I participated in the Houston SPCA Mutt Strut and Runway Race early this morning. My employer, Access Sciences Corporation, sponsored a team as part of our global outreach program in giving back to the community. It also tied to our Wellness Program goals of better physical fitness.

Access Sciences was the 3rd largest corporate contributor to the event and Jennifer and I were the top fund raisers for our team. Together Jennifer and I raised $1000 for the event, and for that we are grateful to our friends, family and business associates that gave generously.

One item that may be of interest to you…see the control tower behind us to the right in the first picture. The event was held at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. We actually walked on the taxiway in front of the Continental Maintenance hanger. I can’t help but laugh at what people that were landing must have thought when they saw a bunch of people and their dogs on the taxiway. I am sure it conflicted with the image in their mind that Houston is a cow town!!

Brazos Bend State Park Photowalk - Sept 2008

2009-02-09T18:44:00.000-08:00

I have written about photowalks at Brazos Bend State Park several times in the last year (here and here). These are held monthly but I haven't been able to attend in several months, but was able to go this past weekend. I was looking through the pictures I took and realized I had never posted some from last September, the week before Hurricane Ike.

Needless to say, every visit is an adventure. I took some very unusual shots of spiders and spider webs:

There are always birds to take pictures of:

There are plenty of just general scenery shots:

And of course my personal favorite to photograph, Alligators:

It is a great place to visit, especially with this spring like weather we've been having. You can see my other pictures from this visit on Flickr by clicking here.

Book Review - "What's Age Got To Do With It?"

2009-02-08T07:19:00.000-08:00

I recently read the book by Robin McGraw titled “What's Age Got To Do With It? - Living Your Happiest and Healthiest Life" 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/.

Being a male, I was certainly not among those in the target audience of a book written by a 55-year old woman describing how to feel your best at any age. I will admit that I really didn't know what the book was about, but chose it mainly by things that Michael Hyatt, President and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers had said about Robin and the book on his blog and from following him on Twitter.

Robin, wife of the famous TV personality, Dr. Phil, wrote this book to encourage women that age has nothing to do with how healthy or happy their life should be. At age 32, Robin experienced the untimely death of her own mother, who suddenly died at the age of 58 from a heart attack caused by heart disease. Robin decided not to relive her mother's life of self-neglect, instead believing that by taking care of herself she was not being selfish but rather the best wife, mother, and woman that she could be.

I will admit that many of the chapters had absolutely no appeal or interest for males, but many are applicable regardless of your sex. The chapters on fitness, nutrition, skin care and faith can apply to anyone. Each chapter included many stories from Robin that made them more interesting and personable.

At the end of every chapter is a section written by an expert on the topic. Each expert answers self-help questions and offers suggestions for how the reader can easily improve various areas in their life. I'll be the first to admit in these tough economic times, many people can't afford the experts that Robin is able to.

Overall, the book is well written and a good self-help book. While most of the things are not new, they were good reminders of the right things to do. I plan to pass this on to some of the women in my life as a good how to guide on how they can take care of themselves physically, emotionally and spiritually.

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

Book Review - "For the Tough Times"

2009-01-11T12:31:00.000-08:00

I recently read the book by Max Lucado titled “For These Tough Times – Reaching Toward Heaven for Hope & Healing” 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/.

The Introduction starts out with Psalm 11:3-4. The question that David asks is the same one we do when we encounter the problems of this life – “When all that is good falls apart, what can good people do?” And David answers with a declaration - “God is in His Holy Temple. He is on His throne in Heaven.”

The point that David is making is that God is unaltered by our issues and problems. While our entire world may be falling apart, God does not. He always turns tragedy into triumph.

I felt that the book was easy to relate to no matter at where you are in life – beginning a season of problems and trials, in the middle of problems or ending a time of tribulation. It includes topics ranging from loss, tragedy and bitterness to hope, healing and forgiveness.

The book is not very long; only around 80 pages. The book is well organized and easy to read. Mr. Lucado very simply provides many biblical examples of people of profound faith who struggled during hard times and how they prevailed through hope and prayer.

The book is ideal for anyone going through difficult times. I highly recommend it.

For more information on this book, including information on how to buy it, click on this link http://www.thomasnelson.com/consumer/product_detail.asp?sku=0849921449.

Book Review - "Billy"

2008-12-16T07:30:00.000-08:00

And now for something slightly off the beaten path of previous postings...

I started this blog earlier in the year to share my passion around photography, but also to learn more about social media and its application within companies; specifically how to manage it along with other content and records an organization creates. One aspect of social media is to get involved in the conversations and that is what I am doing today.

I recently signed up to review books for Thomas Nelson Publishers. As a part of that agreement, I publish a review on my blog and a consumer retail website (like Amazon). 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/.

The first book I signed up to review was "Billy - The Untold Story of a Young Billy Graham and the Test of Faith that Almost Changed Everything" by William Paul McKay and Ken Abraham. It was a different view than other books I have read about Billy Graham, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

I grew up watching Billy Graham on television and attended a crusade as a child in the Houston Astrodome in the mid-1960's. I had an opportunity to see his crusade in Oklahoma City in 2003 as I was traveling between Houston and OKC for business during that time period. But a delayed flight brought me into town too late for the last night of his crusade. I regret that I missed that one last opportunity to see him preach in person.

This unauthorized, true story of a young Graham is told in a series of flashback scenes to a reporter (Deborah Matthews), through the eyes of the popular evangelist and friend, Charles Templeton. Matthews is sent to Templeton's bedside, hospitalized in his early 80's with Alzheimer's for one purpose: get the dirt on Graham.

From the start of their interview, Templeton makes it known that there is absolutely no dirt to be found when it comes to Billy Graham. "He's the genuine article. He actually believes all that stuff he preaches," as Templeton says it. Her editor will not accept her assertion that there is no scandal to dig up and she is told to either come up with one or she will be given her walking papers.

Billy begins in 1934, portraying Graham as a happy sixteen year old whose greatest wish was to be a baseball player. Although raised in a Christian family, Graham has some cynical views about evangelists. This all changed as he showed up to hear Dr. Mordecai Ham in a tent revival and ended up committing his life to God.

The book then covers his meeting Ruth Bell at Wheaton College, their courtship and eventually them being married in August, 1943. It describes how Templeton and Graham worked together in Youth for Christ rallies. Despite Templeton's success, he grows skeptical and finds himself at a crossroads - a crisis of his faith. He found himself plagued with doubts and questions. The unanswered questions eventually led Templeton to leave the ministry because he no longer could preach a Bible he didn't believe in.

Graham is crushed by Templeton's decision and eventually starts down the path of questioning his own commitment. The outcome of his struggle is far different than that of Templeton. That leads to Graham becoming one of the greatest evangelists in modern day history.

I personally enjoyed the book very much. It is well written in my opinion. I learned things about Graham that I had ever known - that he was a Fuller Brush salesman or that he was a college president. It reminded me of things that I had previously read, but had forgotten - like his wife, Ruth, was the daughter of missionary parents and planned to serve God in that manner, and never planned to marry. Through all the various stories about his beginning, it is very exciting to see God work in a man who never really sought the greatness that he was later afforded.

If you have previously read books about Billy Graham and are afraid this one will be a repeat - I advise you to get the book and read it. You will enjoy it.

YouTube

2008-12-08T18:05:00.000-08:00

I made my first appearance on YouTube and I didn't even know it.

I was interviewed at the Open Text User Conference, LiveLinkUp, last year in Orlando, FL. They wanted to know what I thought about the conference, it's value to their customers and partners. I have been attending the annual conference for about 5 years and was named as one of their ECM Champions in 2006.

I didn't attend in person this year, but a colleague sent me a link to a YouTube video where they were advertising the benefits of attending (they've changed the name to ContentWorld). Low and behold, part of my interview was there.

Look for me at the 2:18 mark in the video.

My plans next year are for my animated Christmas display to be on YouTube. I ran out of time to make it happen this year. More on that adventure in a later post.

Training @ Open Text

2008-12-07T07:39:00.000-08:00

I traveled to Waterloo, Ontario, Canada last week for some partner training at Open Text. It was my first time to travel into Canada. The trip started out as a line from the theme song to "Gilligan's Island" (sing along, you know what's coming - ... for a three hour tour, a three hour tour. The weather started getting rough...).

Because we didn't find out about the training until late, it was hard to secure travel for the weekend after Thanksgiving. We decided to fly into Buffalo, NY and drive to Canada.

We were to leave Houston for Atlanta at 12:45pm and then Atlanta to Buffalo after a short layover. We were scheduled to arrive in Buffalo around 7pm and planned about a 2 hour drive to our hotel.

None of that happened.

There were low clouds and rain in Atlanta which delayed our flight out of Houston which then delayed our flight to Buffalo. The luggage didn't make it on our flight, but was on the next flight into Buffalo, arriving at midnight (they would not deliver it to our destination in Canada the next day so we had to wait or drive back Monday. Note to self for future travel RE: multi-leg flights with different airlines. I also thought there was some regulation that checked luggage had to be matched to a passenger on the flight).

I arrived at the IAH parking garage at 10:25 am Sunday morning and we made it to the hotel at 3am Monday morning. What a nightmare. It was a longer drive than we planned because it started snowing a little over halfway through the trip. It took longer to cross the border, and the unfamiliar roads were a little icy. But we did make it.

It was certainly colder in Waterloo with the highest temperature on Wednesday of 34 degrees Fahrenheit. It was in the middle teens at night, but Friday was the coldest. We left at 3pm for the drive back to Buffalo and it was 19 degrees Fahrenheit then. The locals said the snow was a little early this year as it usually is closer to Christmas. It snowed on the Sunday (or Monday as the case was) we arrived and then on and off while we were there.

Not really many pictures as the sun was only out for a few hours a couple of days. It was dark at 5pm so I just didn't get to take very many, but here are some on the days the sun did shine. These are from a back patio at the Open Text office.

I would love to go back to the area and visit again. We stayed in Kitchener and it looked like a nice place to visit. The downtown area had a lot of shops. There are 2 universities in Waterloo (University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University) and a combined population of the Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge area of 500K (I think they referred to it as the Golden Triangle - and I thought that was in Texas). I would certainly like to visit Niagara Falls.

Sorry there aren't more pictures, but conditions were not that favorable. Maybe next time.

It was great to see Ted Parkinson again. He's a great trainer.

Gleannloch Paws and Claws Pet Festival

2008-11-29T12:56:00.000-08:00

The Second Annual Gleannloch Farms Pet Festival was held on November 15, 2008. This was a delayed date from September due to Hurricane Ike. A cold front had come in the day before and it was very cool. The wind was around 15-20mph making it feel very chilly. We should have sold hot chocolate instead of bottled water.

We had a booth and were next door to the Friends of Montgomery County Animal Shelter. They had this dog up for adoption. It was rescued from someone who had left it staked outside during Hurricane Ike. Luckily it had no injuries and was very popular among those attending. I am sure Casper has been adopted by now.

Here are some of the 4 legged friends that attended the event and participated in some of the contests.

You can visit the Gleannloch Farms Pet Website by clicking here. You can see my other pictures from the PetFest on Flickr by clicking here.

Houston Zoo - Part 4

2008-11-21T18:02:00.001-08:00

This is a continuation of previous posts on our recent trip to the Houston Zoo as posted here, here and here. This is the final installment as I have a collection of the other animals in this posting.

The African Wild Dogs have some pretty colors. They generally just follow each other around their area.

The bears were pretty lazy on this day as well. One did roll over for about 2 seconds to see what was going on, but then promptly went back to snoozing. I guess they thought it was winter and were begining to hibernate.

There is a fairly large collection of primates at the zoo. Some were very still, but some were constantly jumping around their cage, making it difficult to get a good picture.

Although not part of the exhibit, this squirrel amazed me. He was by the elephant area and was within 6 inches of my feet. Several of us were standing alongside this fence and he was just walking up and down, not paying any attention to us.

You can see the remaining pictures from our trip on Flickr by clicking here. Thanks for reading my blog.

Photo Recognized

2008-11-19T16:49:00.000-08:00

I regularly submit photos to the local NBC affiliate and have had some shown (see previous postings here, here, here and here.) over this last year. I submitted one from our recent trip to the zoo and it was shown this morning.

It was one of my favorite pictures from the zoo. The Cheetah's were laying on their back and a blackbird landed in the pen. One of the Cheetah's chased after it, but didn't catch it. It then went up on this tree they have laying across the pen and I captured this shot. I thought it was a great shot with it growling, but I don't know what at.

I plan to post the rest of our pictures from the zoo this weekend. Thanks for checking out my blog.

Houston Zoo - Part 3 - Cats

2008-11-17T18:19:00.000-08:00

This is a continuation of previous posts on our recent trip to the Houston Zoo as posted here and here. I am featuring the cats on this posting.

The first place we stopped was to see the Tiger display.
We arrived just in time to see one of the Tiger's interact with the zookeeper. It was cool to see all of the things she could get him to do, especially the standing up.

I didn't put a picture of the Lion's here since they weren't doing anything - not even swatting the flies that landed on them. But the Cheetah's were a little more active.

OK, not at first. They were pretty lazy when we arrived, just laying against their fence. Then a blackbird landed in their area and one of them went after it. It didn't catch the bird, but posed real nice for this picture.

You can see other pictures of the cats on our trip to the zoo on Flickr by clicking here. Thanks for looking at my blog and watch for my other zoo pictures soon.

Houston Zoo - Part 2 - Giraffe's

2008-11-05T18:17:00.001-08:00

This is a continuation of my previous post on a recent trip to the Houston Zoo as posted here. It was really a toss up on whether the Giraffe's or the Elephants were our favorites. Here is a picture of my wife Jennifer with one of the adult Giraffe's.

The Giraffe's appear so graceful as they walk around, despite their height. This one was one of our favorites - he/she would go into the "Giraffe House" and then look out to see what was going on, and then walk out into the yard. He/She did this 2 or 3 times while we were observing them. It appeared they had 2 or 3 adults, 1 or 2 "teenagers" and then 1 or 2 "infant" giraffes in this area. They all seemed to "get along" well.

The rest of my pictures of the Giraffe's are posted on Flickr at this link. Thanks for looking at my blog and watch for my others zoo pictures soon.

More Photo's Recognized

2008-11-03T19:02:00.000-08:00

I was eating breakfast this morning with the news on and heard my name and looked up to see one of my photo's from Brazos Bend State Park (see previous posting here) being shown on KPRC Local2 (Houston NBC affiliate). I didn't have any notice that I had a picture that was going to be shown as they usually send an email the day before. I did find later that Anthony Yanez had sent me an email early that morning telling me he was using my pictures on this morning's weather segment.

I had a co-worker tell me later in the day that she saw a photograph of a spider web from me on the newcast this morning. It wasn't until then that I realized they had shown both of the pictures I had submitted. I also received an email from a former co-worker telling me she had also seen my pictures on the morning newscast.

This week started out great with having my photo's recognized. I need to get the rest of those from my outing to Brazos Bend posted here and on Flickr.

Houston Zoo - Part 1 - Elephants

2008-11-02T12:26:00.000-08:00

My employer, Access Sciences Corporation, had it's annual employee picnic at the Houston Zoo this past weekend. It's been many years since either my wife or I (probably decades for me) had been to the zoo, so we thought it would be a nice outing since we both love animals. It has also been great weather in Houston for the past several days, although it was a little warmer on Saturday than it had been during the previous week. But it was still very nice.

It will probably take several posts to talk about all the pictures I took, so I am starting this out with the elephants.

This is a picture of Jennifer with Thai, the 43 year old Asian bull elephant in the zoo. I believe the guide said he had been at the zoo since the early 80's. He was quite talented, as they had him show us several "tricks" that he had mastered, including laying on his side and sitting up on his backside. They then took him to the pool for a bath.

They have 2 baby elephants, Mac and Tucker. Mac was actually born at the zoo and Tucker and his Mom were brought in together. I believe Mac is the younger one (possibly shown here, but I don't know that I actually figured out which one was which). They said he weighs 2800 pounds at 2 years old!!

They received a bath as well, but they also like drinking water directly out of the hose. After their bath, they get elephant popsickles - pineapple and other fruit frozen in ice. They seem to really like that treat.

They have a fairly new elephant barn where the keeper told us they "hunkered down" during Hurricane Ike a few weeks ago. They only had one tree limb that came down in the area for the females and kids, but they were back in their yard soon after the hurricane.

You can see other pictures of the elephants on our trip to the zoo on Flickr by clicking here. Thanks for looking at my blog and watch for my other zoo pictures soon.

House Guest

2008-10-26T19:02:00.000-07:00

We've had a house guest for the past week. Not like a relative or friend, but a dog named Max. Max has been staying with us while his owners, Ann and Andrew, were out of town. It's not the ordinary pet sitting that Jennifer does, but Max is hardly an ordinary dog.

He's a Newfoundland or Newfie for short. The Newfoundland is a large (see pictures below in case you need a visual of what large means), usually black, breed of dog originally used as a working dog in Newfoundland. They are known for their sweet dispositions, loyalty, and natural water rescue tendencies. The Newfoundland dog excels at water rescue, due partly to their webbed feet and amazing swimming abilities. Extremely loving and patient, as puppies Newfoundlands are laid-back and considered easy to housebreak.

As you can see by the pictures, Max's speciality is laying around. Sometimes in his bed, outside in the grass or just flat on the floor. He has especially enjoyed the last couple of weeks as the temperature as been very cool. He is content just to lay out in the grass if he is in the shade, but he will let you know with a loud bark when he is ready to come in.

I believe he weighs around 160 or 170. He weighs significantly more than our other dogs - combined!

He is really the mascot of our area in the subdivision as everyone, young and old knows who Max is. He loves to walk around the lake and be among his public. Sometimes he carries the leash in his mouth, so I'm not sure who is walking whom!

It won't quite be the same this week with Max back with his owners, but I know he missed them greatly and is glad to be back in his home.

Photo's Recognized

2008-10-18T18:01:00.000-07:00

I have had a couple of my past photos recognized this past week.

I regularly submit photos to the local NBC affiliate and have had some shown (see previous postings here and here). I traveled out to Brazos Bend State Park at the beginning of September for one of the monthly photowalks (previously described here). I haven't had an opportunity to post those photos due to post-Ike postings, but I did submit a couple of my photo's to Local2. One was selected and ran this weekend. One of my uncle's saw it and called to see if it was me.

The funny story about this photo was there was some people standing about 20-25 feet away from the alligator. I walked within about 10 feet of it as I don't believe they will attack unless you provoke it. The older girl in the group was holding up her phone to take a picture and I told her she could come closer if she wanted a better shot. She said she wanted me to get closer to it so it would chase me and she could put it on YouTube! I told her I hate to disappoint you but I'm not getting close enough for it to chase me and it is unlikely that it would.

My other picture that was mentioned this week was this one of the Bienville House Hotel on Decatur Street from my trip to New Orleans in April (previously blogged about here). I posted my pictures of the trip on Flickr (you can see them here). I was contacted by Schmap a few weeks ago about the picture they saw and asking if they could submit it for use. They produce interactive maps and guides such that you can explore places you want to visit and see this content dynamically integrated, allowing intuitive, real-time access to reviews and photo slideshows for places of interest.

My photo is included in the New Orleans guide (click here to see it). It is a little hard to navigate to my photo, but you can see it by scrolling down in the middle list of hotels to Bienville House. Then hover over the picture of the hotel in that middle window and watch the upper right hand window as it scrolls through pictures of that hotel. Mine is labeled by dschultz56 and is the sixth one as it scrolls through.

This has been a good week for my photos. It's a little pat on the back to have your work recognized, even in small ways.

Albuquerque, NM

2008-10-05T06:58:00.000-07:00

I was invited by the ARMA Rio Grande Chapter to speak at their Fall Seminar Series entitled "Rebooting RIM" on September 24-25, 2008 in Albuquerque, NM. ARMA is the Association of Records Management Professionals of which I am a member since my current career focus is Information Management. The seminar focused on Security, Information Technology and Records Management. My topic was "IT is from Mars; RIM is from Venus: How Can We Work Together?” (see it on Slideshare here). I was happy to attend as this topic is of particular interest to me. Since the majority of my career has been in IT, I understand where the two professions disagree on terminology and definitions. I presented my topic on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning.

An added benefit to my trip was my Goddaughter's sister, Megan, lives and goes to school in Albuquerque. Her parents lived there a few years ago. James (her father) and I have known each other since we were Juniors in high school. We met Linda (her mother) when we attended Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, TX together. Needless to say, we've known each other a long time. Her older sister, Jennifer, is my goddaughter. Both of the girls are working on advanced degrees.

Megan was the perfect host, taking me to great places to eat and showing me the sites. The only thing she was dissappointed in is I couldn't think of any good stories she could use against her Dad.

We took the Sandia Peak Tram to the top of the Sandia Mountains. The area is within the Cibola National Forest. This is a shot of the sun setting, taken from the base of the mountain after we arrived and before taking the tram to the top of the mountain.

The Tram advertises to be the World's Longest Aerial Tramway. It also boasts an 11,000 square mile panoramic view.

The elevation at the base of the mountain where we loaded the tram is 6559 feet. The elevation at the top is 10, 378 feet.

There are two towers on the 20 minute trek to the top. The second tower, at 8750 feet, had everything brought in by helicopter due to the terrain. It took 5000 helicopter trips to complete construction of the second tower.

The tram uses 4 ropes for its track, each with a dimater of 1 5/8 inches. The weight of the rope alone is 52 tons!

Here is what we rode to the top in. The tram has a capacity of 50 people and a speed of 13.6 mph. The lower counterweight weighs 47 tons and is located in a pit that is 70 feet deep.

I imagine the tram could have some pretty significant sway to it if it was windy. As we crossed over each tower, it did have some back and forth sway to it. The horizontal length of the tram is 2.7 miles and it was built betwen 1964-1966 at a cost of $2mm dollars.

When we left the base of the mountain at 7pm, it was around 80 degrees. It was 54 degrees and very windy when we arrived at the top of the mountain. All I had was a short sleeve shirt. After spending about 30 minutes at the top, we decided to head down.

The temperature at the summit was 46 degrees when we departed!!

There is also a ski area on the back side of the mountain, with about 30 trails. During the summer, it has 30 miles of mountain bike trails.

I also got to visit the Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum before having to catch my flight back to Houston. It was a real bargain at $4.00 admission!!

It was a world-class facility that did a great job of highlighting the art, culture, history, science and sport of ballooning. They also had a great collection of pictures of unusual cloud formations and a section dedicated to weather. Those are certainly two of my passions.

It is a shame that I missed the Balloon Fiesta which started this last weekend. I understand that there are 800-850K people there and several hundred balloons. I did buy a video of the highlights from last year and it looks like a lot of fun. I have found a couple of photographers who have training/workshops during Fiesta. I will look into signing up with one of those next year as I bet those guys know where to take you to get the great shots.

Albuquerque looks like a great place to visit. I wish I would have had more daylight hours on the mountain and been able to see some of the Balloon Fiesta, but I plan to visit again - possibly during next years Balloon Fiesta.

You can see the rest of the pictures I took on Flickr (click on the link).

More After Ike

2008-09-28T18:51:00.000-07:00

I took my camera on one of my bike rides to take a few pictures of other damage.

I saw a lot of downed fences. Notice how deep (or not deep!!) the concrete was on those 4x4 posts....not very deep. I am not surprised those came out.

This fence is 9 feet tall and about 200 feet long. The entire section of fence was blown down, with many of the posts broken off like this one. I guess that is what happens when you use a lot of concrete?

Luckily we didn't see too many roofs with tarps over them, but there were a couple that must have had leaks. Some of the older subdivisions around us have a lot of blue tarps over roofs.

And there is a lot of this - trees down.

These were off the main road into the subdivision....the tree roots were ripped out of the ground. I believe these must have been across the road after the storm and they cut them off to get them out of the way. Many of the older subdivisions around us have far more downed trees than we do....and some still don't have power, over 2 weeks after the storm.

Remember the level of the retention pond the day after Hurricane Ike...this is normal level.

Things around here are getting more normal every day. We are far more fortunate than those in Galveston and along the coast that will not see normal for some time.

After Ike

2008-09-20T18:34:00.000-07:00

I am just now getting some time to talk about life after Ike.

We lost electricity around 2:30am Saturday morning. Little did we know how long that outage would last. We had 60-80 mph winds for around 10 or more hours, from after midnight Saturday until noon or shortly thereafter. I never thought we would have winds that strong or for that long living so far inland.

We didn't have any damage, but our landscaping got pretty beat up. Our neighbor lost some of his fence and there were some large trees uprooted in areas that are more established than ours. One of our oak trees got bent over pretty good. But like a bad haircut, all of this will grow back. Many people are not as fortunate or blessed as we were.

We ended up with a little over 10 inches of rain over about 36 hours, but no flooding. The retention ponds around us were at the highest level I have ever seen them (just for reference, the sidewalk in the second picture goes down another 15-20 feet to a picnic table that is underwater).

We lived by flashlight and radio for about 4 days until our lights returned at 3am Wednesday morning, far ahead of the schedule that had been published. We were never so happy to have those bright bedroom lights and security alarm siren bring us out of a deep sleep. Luckily, a cool front had arrived Sunday night and we had nice temps and low humidity for most of the week.

The lights out in the subdivision gave us a nice view of the full moon for 2-3 nights. It was unusual to have that kind of view in the city.

Life is slowly returning to normal in our area, while areas like Galveston and some parts of Houston will not see normal for several more days or weeks in some cases. We are grateful that normal or near-normal has returned for us. We've restocked the refrigerator and gas lines are not as long as they were immediately after the storm.

We're going to look at a generator and a portable A/C. Being cut off from the world (at least visually) and the internet was tough, but kind of refreshing. I had a lot of email to catch up on when power was restored.

But if history holds true, maybe we will not see another one for 25 years - Alicia was the last major Hurricane to impact Houston in 1983. We did have major flooding from Tropical Storm Allison in June 2001. I think some parts of Houston had around 40 inches of rain. We could at least use the generator if we had a power outage from an ice storm.

Waiting for Ike

2008-09-12T12:44:00.000-07:00

We have our batteries, portable radio, water, non-perisahable food. We've tied down everything that can possibly blow around in the 50-70mph sustained winds that are forecast for our area, with gusts to 90mph.

It is the calm before the storm. It's been breezy most of the day. It was fairly sunny early this morning, but that has been replaced by very thick cloud cover.

Now we just wait and hope for the best. The pictures from the coast this morning are incredible. A lot of water already in Galveston from the waves and tide....no rain has really started to fall.

I hope our power stays on.

What a Difference a Year Makes

2008-08-31T14:26:00.000-07:00

I knew that our backyard had significant growth after our landscaping and pool were completed, but I didn't realize how much it had changed until I went back to some pictures from last year (June 2007):

Here are a couple I took this weekend:

Really a big difference.

Which reminds me, I have some weeds to pull.

New Bicycle

2008-08-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

I have always enjoyed riding a bike. What I haven't enjoyed is the uncomfortable seats and position of riding a typical mountain or 10 speed bicycle. I've been through several different kinds of seats trying to find one that is comfortable but with no luck.

I was thumbing through an enthusiast catalog that I frequently receive and saw a bike advertised called the dream bicycle. It was very different looking than a normal bicycle, almost like a recumbent but not quite. I did some research on the Internet and found they were from a company called Day 6 Comfort Bicycles (Click here for their web site).

The first thing you notice is the ergonomic seat and backrest. This really adds to the riding comfort, at least for me. You are also sitting more upright instead of hunched over as with a normal bike. It has a high handlebar so that you really feel comfortable. It is also about 6 inches longer than a normal bike which led me to believe it would be hard to turn. The wider turning radius is no issue.

I read a few reviews (see here for one that convinced me I needed one of these). The more I read, the more comfortable I felt with buying one (I didn't win the contest from the above review at Bike Commuter - they gave away the one they used in their review).

I called a local Houston dealer, Planetary Cycles (see their web site here) and found that the bikes sold really well and they frequently were out of them, as was the case on my first inquiry. I was able to stop by a few weeks later and they had one called the Journey in stock (7 speed vs 21 speed). I rode it in their parking lot and instantly knew it was for me. I originally thought I wanted the 21 speed, but for where I ride, the Journey was fine. It has internal gears which means I can shift to a lower gear while stopped, particularly useful if you get stopped unexpectedly and must start from a dead stop.

They have a choice of 3 seats. I originally thought I wanted one without the traditional point on it because it would be the most comfortable. The people at Planetary Cycles said people that road with the seat that was straight across the front felt like they were sliding off of the bike when turning corners. The bike had what is called a SC contoured seat already on it and I decided to stick with their recommendation that it was the better choice.

I have been riding it for a couple of weeks and just love it. It is comfortable, I can ride longer than I used to and I don't have the numb feeling that is frequently experienced on a traditional bike. Some may consider it pricey, but it is well worth it in my opinion.

My Blog in Wordle

2008-08-05T09:45:00.000-07:00

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

This is the result of pointing Wordle at my blog:

This is the result of pointing Wordle at my del.icio.us:

Pretty cool. Give it a try at http://wordle.net/.

Happy Birthday Jerry

2008-07-19T18:38:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I posted anything. It has been too hot to be in the mood to go out and take pictures, but I have taken some inside.

Back in June, my father-in-law had a birthday. They visited us over the weekend and we took some pictures with his cake and opening his presents.

He got a new bathing suit that we made him model for us before getting in the pool.

Happy Birthday Jerry. Here's to us being able to celebrate many more!!!

Signs

2008-05-11T17:35:00.000-07:00

I was in El Dorado, Arkansas this past week. It was for work and I didn't have many opportunities to take any pictures. I did find a couple of signs that I thought were interesting.

The first was in the hotel room. Would you use the same towel to take off make-up, clean up spills and shine your shoes? I don't think so.

The second was for a tent crusade in Fordyce as we were traveling back to Little Rock for our flight to Houston. I thought it was an eye-catching slogan for sure.

I had another picture on Local 2 KPRC hotshot (see previous description of program here.) It was one of the baby ducks I blogged about a few weeks ago.

Baby Ducks and Earth Day

2008-04-27T13:14:00.000-07:00

I have blogged here about the ducks in the lakes at the entrance to Gleannloch Farms. They have now had little ducks and I took some shots of them a couple of weeks ago.

There are two groups of new ducks. One lake has what I call the baby ducks. I don't know how old they are, but they are pretty small.

The other lake has what I call the teenager ducks. They seem to be a little older than the others.

I hope the lakes are big enough to support this influx of about 20 new ducks.

The company I work for (Access Sciences Corporation) sponsored a team to participate in the Mothers for Clean Air 5K Run/Walk that I walked in a couple of weeks ago. We had about 10 people participate. The event was created to raise awareness about air pollution issues in the Houston area. There were about 600 people registered in the walk. Gene Norman, the new meteorologist at KHOU Channel 11, emceed the awards and drawings for prizes. Our team picked up trash along the route as our contribution to the "green" event.

Click on this link to see the other pictures I have posted of the ducks.

Running from the Weather

2008-04-12T14:05:00.000-07:00

I was in Duluth, MN and Superior, WI for a couple of weeks on business. The weather didn't cooperate at all for trying to get a few pictures of the area. It was overcast and cloudy almost the entire time I was there.

The Port of Duluth-Superior is one of the largest inland seaports in the world. It is the westernmost port on the Atlantic Ocean, linked via the Great Lakes and either the Erie Canal or the Saint Lawrence Seaway - over 2,300 miles away. Duluth and Superior are commonly referred to as the Twin Ports, and are farther from the ocean than any other deepwater port. Tourists flock to the Duluth Ship Canal, where vessels must pass beneath the historic Aerial Lift Bridge. The second picture is from the bridge looking into the canal on to Lake Superior.

The port that evolved within this common harbor is shared by two states, Minnesota and Wisconsin. With iron ore docks, coal docks, grain elevators and specialized cargo facilities lining the industrial waterfronts of both Duluth and Superior, the port serves shippers and receivers throughout the U.S. Midwest and the Great Plains. It also has some customers in Canada's western provinces.

It is indeed a big port, averaging about 45 million net tons annually of cargo in a navigation season that usually begins in late March and continues until mid-January.

Unfortunately most of the ship traffic during our stay was a night, but I did catch a couple of ships in the late evening. They publish a shipping schedule and many people go to the port to watch them arrive and depart. There are a lot of pictures published on the link for each ship.

There are several web cameras of the area on this web site.

The biggest, coldest and cleanest of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake, by surface area, on earth. It holds enough to fill all the other Great Lakes with plenty to spare. Lake Superior's deepest point is 1,332 feet. Again, the weather didn't cooperate very well, but I got the closest to a sunrise that I was going to get.

After dinner at one of the local establishments (Hell's Kitchen), we wandered upstairs to a gallery for a local photographer. His name is Ken Kollodge and his work was fantastic. He has lived and photographed throughout Alaska for 30 years. He told us about 1 picture that he camped out for a week before the clouds, sun and weather were just perfect. His wife Kathy is an artist and they recently moved to Duluth from Fairbanks. He is currently updating his web page, but you can get an idea of his work from a page I found while searching for his name. They were great to visit with. Houstonians may see a strong resemblance to a former Houstonian (maybe I should start a rumor).

What started this blog entry was the abrupt weather change that was headed our way toward the end of the week. We were actually supposed to fly out Friday morning from Duluth to Minneapolis-St. Paul and then on to Houston, but a blizzard was headed our way. They were forecasting 9-12 inches of snow and 50mph winds (gusting to 60) starting at 7pm Thursday and lasting through Saturday morning. The locals told us to get out of Dodge (or Duluth) by late Thursday afternoon or plan on spending the weekend. While the snow would be bad enough, no flights could leave in that kind of wind.

We headed South in the late afternoon and it was bad enough in MSP - wintry mix and wind. As we were leaving Duluth, they were already reporting 30mph winds on Lake Superior with 8 foot waves. They expected those to reach 15 foot Thursday night and Friday.

Once we were safely back in sunny Houston, I checked the web site of a couple of the local news stations to see what happened weather wise after we left. They had 9 inches of heavy, wet snow in Duluth with wind gusts off Lake Superior reaching 55 to 60 mph, producing waves of more than 16 feet. I was able to capture a few viewer submitted photos off the web site of WDIO-TV/WIRT-TV in Duluth (below). Remember the calm water in the shipping canal in the picture above....

The pictures reminded me of hurricane force winds in the Gulf of Mexico.

As much as I would liked to have seen this kind of fury from Mother nature, our call to leave when we did was a wise one. We probably would not have gotten back to Houston until at least Saturday if we drove to MSP, Sunday if we tried to fly from Duluth. What a difference a day makes.

I've posted other pictures from my trip on Flickr.

Travel Extremes

2008-04-06T12:59:00.000-07:00

I am doing several weeks of travel for my job. I am here at the end of March (Pat O'Briens, Sunrise over the Mississippi River and Jackson Square in New Orleans), nice temperature, fairly nice weather....

...to this in Duluth, MN. Temperature at night in the mid-teens, highs in the 40's; one day of icy roads, blowing snow; frozen lakes, scraping ice off the windshield....

The upper part of Minnesota is far different than I imagined. Lake Superior is huge and I hope to get some pictures of it as I return for another week. The locals said the weather should be getting better, but I just looked at the forecast on the Weather Channel and it says Winter Storm Warning....80% chance of Wintry Mix today.

There are tons of lakes (the land of 10000 lakes is what they say) and a lot of mountains. Most of the lakes still have a coat of ice on them, but the Coast Guard broke up the ice in the port to prepare for the Spring shipping season.

Do you know what these rods on the side of this utility box and fire hydrant is for?

So they can find them in the snow in an emergency!! That's how deep it can get in the winter. The locals said this winter wasn't as bad up North, with middle Minnesota getting most of the snow this year.

More of my pictures of New Orleans are on Flickr. I will post more Duluth pictures once I complete the next week of work.

Pictures at Local Lakes

2008-03-09T09:09:00.001-07:00

Saturday afternoon was absolutely beautiful, cool temperature and clear skies. I decided to look at a couple of local lakes at the entrances to subdivisions to see what I could find. My first stop was at Gleannloch Farms. It is at Spring Cypress and Gleannloch Lakes Drive, with lakes on each side of the intersection. There are a lot of ducks in these two lakes and I believe someone feeds them on a regular basis. (You can click on any of the images to see a larger view of the picture.)

There are also nice water features in each of the lakes. With the sunny, clear skies, the reflections in the water also bring about some interesting photographs.

Before I lost the late evening sunlight, I headed over to Champion Springs subdivision. They have a lake located off of their entrance at Louetta and Champion Springs Drive. There are also a lot of ducks and nice water features there as well.

You can see more of the pictures from my outing posted on flickr.

Thanks for reading.

KPRC Local 2 Hotshots

2008-03-05T18:51:00.000-08:00

I had more pictures featured on KRPC Local 2 (see previous posting here). I had two shown last Friday and one shown this morning. It is so cool to have your pictures shown on TV!!

Washington, DC

2008-03-01T07:26:00.000-08:00

I was in Washington DC for a class this past week. I really didn't get the opportunity to take many pictures as the class was all day and I only took my Canon point and shoot camera. But I did take a couple that I thought I would share.

A Perfect Moment

2008-02-24T15:52:00.000-08:00

I regularly read Michael Hyatt's blog From Where I Sit. Michael is President and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers. He usually has great articles that I frequently share with my co-workers. He has great insight on leadership and other topics, in my opinion.

Last week he blogged about The Perfect Moment. He shared how he came to learn what the perfect moment is from a book titled Chasing Daylight by Eugene O'Kelly. I haven't read the book yet, but it is on my list to read after what Michael shared about it. To quote from Michael's blog...

According to O’Kelly, a perfect moment is an experience with others when time stands still. It is a time full of the present, when the past is left behind and the future is set aside. It is a special time of focused attention and heightened awareness. Interruptions and distractions are consciously excluded. Cell phones are off. Hearts are wide open. All that matters is this moment—the people I am with and the conversation we are having now.@

I thought a lot about this over the past week and events that have happened in the last few days. The first was my uncle was killed in a car wreck last week. I thought about the precious moments he has shared with his children and siblings that survive him. (He is in the far right of this picture, with his children on the left side. This was a very precious moment for all of us - my grandmothers birthday). I thought about how they would like to have more of those moments to share with him. One of the precious moments I recall with Paul was when he took us out in Pecan Acres with a contraption that would grab hold of pecan trees and shake it until the pecans came down. Workers would then come behind us and pick up the pecans. He told us to stay under the cover of the tractor or we would find out how hard a pecan falling from a tree can feel on your head. And he was right as I found from peeking out to watch them fall....it hurt. Paul was a geunine, down-to-earth man who would help anyone he could. He always had a kind word for me.

My nephew graduated from high school this weekend. That sure makes me feel old as I remember when I held in him my arms in what seems like yesterday. Watching him grow up, sharing Christmas and birthday celebrations are precious moments. I know his parents and other family members can easily recall the precious moments they have had with him throught these first years of his life. And the precious moments they hope to share as he moves into this next phase of his life in college and beyond.

I attended the 50th wedding anniversary of my Aunt and Uncle on Saturday. I know few people that make it to that milestone in their marriage. They certainly have many precious moments in raising their own children as they moved through diapers to public school and on to college and successful careers. I know they have shared many precious moments in spoiling their first grandchild (he didn't want to participate in this particular picture, so I know they have done a good job of spoiling him). Since retirement, they have traveled many places, probably sharing many precious moments.

Look for those precious moments in your own life, where time stands still as you share experiences with others. They can be as simple as the time that Micheal described with his daughter and son-in-law stopping by for a short visit. I know I will be looking for them in mine.

KPRC Local 2 Hotshot

2008-02-16T11:56:00.000-08:00

I submitted a couple of my pictures to the KPRC Local 2 program called Hotshot. Viewers can send their favorite pictures to the meteorologists, and they chose which ones to feature on air during the various weather segments throughout the newscast. I received an email on Monday that the one with the turtle was chosen to be shown this last Tuesday (2/12/2008) during the 5am newscast. I was very surprised and quite pleased with that news. I wasn't sure what time it would be on and I got up a little earlier than usual to make sure I didn't miss it. It was on at 5:13am. It was a pretty great feeling to see one of your pictures on the air.

I then got email on Thursday telling me that the one with the alligator that wasn't happy that I posted earlier would be shown this last Friday during the 5am newscast. I was again very pleased and surprised. I hope to be able to continue to find good pictures that I can share with the Local 2 viewers. I think the program is a great way to encourage amateur photographers to continue looking for those opportunities to get a great picture shown on the air.

I thank Local 2 for the program and hope it continues. If you want to submit a picutre to be considered, the email address is hotshot@click2houston.com. There are some restrictions on the pictures that are available on their website.

Photowalk #1

2008-02-10T16:33:00.000-08:00

I went on my first Photowalk at Brazos Bend State Park this weekend (For those who missed last weeks post, the park is located approximately 28 miles southwest of Houston, TX and covers roughly 5000 acres.) These monthly walks are led by Dr. Laszlo Perlaky, a Fine Art Nature and Wildlife photographer and research scientist. This was my first one after learning about them last weekend from one of the park rangers. It was a very interesting and rewarding way to spend the afternoon.

We met at the nature center around 3pm and Laszlo told us we were going to be walking for four hours, so take care of the bio breaks, water, etc. The focus on this photowalk was birds and we had a number of bird watchers in our group of around 20 or so. After gathering with the others, I noticed I was somewhat lens challenged with only my Nikon 55-200MM AF-S lens. But Laszlo frequently shared the view through his 600MM lens which gave some of the wildlife a different perspective than I had previously seen. Laszlo said instead of just giving someone a picture of a bird, he wants them to see something on the bird that they have never seen before, so his pictures will focus on different views than most. He was a great guide and I look forward to future opportunities to participate in these walks.

I also took my binoculars and was able to see some of the birds that others pointed out, although I only could capture a few with the lens I had. The first one we came across was a Vermillion Flycatcher. I wish I could say this was one of my pictures, but you can still see how beautiful the bird is. He was very fast and didn't stay in one place very long, so only a few were able to get a picture of him.

We went at a very leisurely pace, which could frustrate those of us in the fast-paced corporate world. But you really don't know what you are missing unless you take your time and look around.

Laszlo also talked about how reflections in water can be interesting pictures. He said instead of following the general rule of thirds in composing your picture, try having less of the horizon above the water and more of the actual reflection in the water. I tried a couple of pictures with this new insight and was pleased with the results.

I was able to catch some ducks in flight which I thought was pretty cool. Someone identified the sound of a Black-Bellied Whistling Duck, but I am not sure if it was one of those we saw.

The next bird we came across was a White Ibis. I believe it was unusual for it to be so close to the trail we were on. I was at the front of the group at the time we came across it, so it flew away pretty quickly as it heard more of the people join us. This is where we also saw a particular flower blooming (don't remember the name), but several said that was a sign that spring was on the way.

It wouldn't be Brazos Bend State Park without sighting some aligators. This one was perched interestingly across this log, happy as a clam. I believe I saw six or seven today, including some rather large ones on the islands in some of the swamps and lakes. The park ranger indicated the larger ones tend to stay on those islands. I also saw this one swimming around one of the islands, perhaps looking for a quick duck meal (or maybe a slow duck).

I thought these mushrooms growing on the top and the side of this log were interesting. This duck was swimming around one of the bridges that crosses over an area that allows the wildlife and water to move between the lakes and swamps.

We then came to the place where we wanted to photograph the sunset, but the clouds didn't participate on this particular day. What was really interesting about this place is all of the Grackles coming to roost in the trees at sunset. Hundreds of them. They would be sitting in the trees and then one group would start flying in a circle, followed by the rest. The "woosh" sound of all these birds flying at once was incredible, especially because it is usually so quiet.

We noticed these ducks crossing this path in 2 separate groups. I thought it was strange to see them cross separately to go over to another lake/swamp area.

We then headed back down the trail toward the place where we parked our cars. We were a 30 minute walk away from the parking lot. It was near dark when we returned to our cars. Luckily there were no alligators across our return path.

I've posted some of my other pictures from our journey on Flickr. Check them out when you get a chance. Thanks for reading. Until my next photo journey.....

Brazos Bend State Park

2008-02-02T19:32:00.001-08:00

I went out to Brazos Bend State Park today to try out my Nikon D-4o Camera with my new Nikon 55-200MM AF-S lens. Brazos Bend State Park, approximately 28 miles southwest of Houston, covers roughly 5000 acres, with an eastern boundary of 3.2 miles fronting on the Brazos River on the southeast border of Fort Bend County. This was the area of Texas' first Anglo colonization. It was purchased by the state in 1976-77 and was opened to the public in 1984.

Activities include camping, picnicking, hiking, biking, equestrian, and fishing. Six lakes are easily accessible to fishermen, with piers located at 40-Acre, Elm and Hale Lakes. Visitors are cautioned to pay due respect to alligators, which are numerous in some areas of the park.

I talked with a park ranger who told me about a monthly photowalk opportunity that sounds like a great way to see some of the nature in the park and pick up some photo tips. It is led by Dr. Laszlo Perlaky, a Fine Art Nature and Wildlife photographer and research scientist. I am looking forward to participating in these events.

I used to do a lot of film photography many years ago with Canon equipment. I sold it many years ago, wanting to get into the digital world. It was like shopping for a PC, each manufacturer kept outdoing the other and I was always wating for the best deal. I finally gave in and purchased a Canon SureShot and took several photos in Hawaii this summer, and decided that I wanted to get back into photography and purchased the Nikon D-40 after Christmas. There is a lot of wildlife at the park, including ducks and other birds.

The total population of alligators in the park is about 250-300, but the ranger told me they don't come out much when the air and water tempature are near the same (which they were on this visit). But I did come across a couple of them today. This one had obviously been disturbed and wasn't very happy about it. The park ranger said in the 25 years that the park had been there, they haven't had an accident where a visitor was injured or attacked. There are stories (could be urban legends) about dogs going into the water to retrieve something their owner threw in (dumb move), but nothing substantiated. When I made my return trip down this same path, this guy was calmed down and not in such a bad mood.

I did come across another, who was just enjoying the day. He was on the other side of a bridge on the concrete footing under the bridge. I only saw 2 alligators and heard reports of another that was seen. They will come out more as the tempature warms up. When it gets into the heat of summer, they are more likely to be seen in the mornings and late evenings.

I found a turtle that was enjoying the almost spring like day as well. He was across the trail from the alligator in the bad mood.

It is a great place to visit for nature photography. I hope to post more after my next visit. You can see more of the pictures I took on Flickr.