Anniversary #3

I guess I'll have to eat my words of saying that I'll post some pictures of our previous years of anniversary trips. I looked through my photo galleries that are archived on DVD disc and I wasn't to thrilled with them. I can remember our trip to Abingdon Virginia was nice but "colder than a well diggers butt in Montana". I didn't find any of those pictures. I probably just deleted all of them. I know I have them on snapfish but it isn't worth all the hassle to get few pictures. Although this new imac is pretty sweet when it comes to just dragging whatever you want wherever you want it but still... I'd rather just talk about it. Anyhoo, that trip was just a weekend trip but a ton of fun. We took our bicycles and had a bike shop carry us to the top of a mountain and you ride on scenic trails back down. It was so awesome and sooooooo cold. After we finished our bike ride we headed out for dinner and back to the hotel for some scary movies.

Last year we headed out to Gatlinburg Tennessee. Now I have some mixed feelings about that place. Last year Shelly and I were quite frustrated with all of the people that were pretty much everywhere you could see. It was so busy in that area that you couldn't do anything at anytime of the day with out getting hung up in traffic. It was almost a nightmare. Everything we wanted to do got canceled because of so many people trying to do the same thing. I can remember going to do a scenic drive and then seeing a sign saying that there was a 4 hour wait to get to the destination. About that time we saw the line of traffic. If you remember how times were last year you will remember that we were in a bad drought. We hiked one morning out to a waterfall and it looked about like someone was taking a leak of the edge. Nothing exciting about that huh! That trip was more misery than anything. It would be nice to go back but you definitely need to catch that place other than this time of the year. Maybe through the week or something unless you love sitting still in traffic.

For this year we are staying at none other than Bunnys palace. Yup... it's like a home away from home. I you've been reading any of these stories on this blog, you will notice that there is this thing called school that keeps me from doing a lot of things. That's ok though, cause I know that this school is going to pay off in a good way. I can see it already. Well, that's it for know. No bells, whistles or horns going off for our 3rd anniversary, just us Bunns. I can say this. Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a dream. Shelly is so good to me and I just want to say thank you and I love you for everything. I can't wait till I can buy you big surprises for being so patient for me while I chase my dreams. As I was shopping for my 3rd year woman a nice card I read something that I thought said it right. It said that marriage was not something you learn in school or anywhere else but just simply compromising with each other with what life brings gives you. That's nowhere near what it really said but you get the point. It was close enough.

Well it's time to start the countdown to anniversary #4. It won't be long either. Years are only months away! Till then.

A day at the lake

This past weekend I had a chance to get out of the house and do a little photography. Well hang on a minute let me rephrase that. I really didn't plan on doing any photography but I always take my camera with me wherever I go... just in case. Especially this case. I have been talking to a good friend of Shelly's that does photography and she was having a photo shoot for children, or anybody really. She had her a spot right beside the boat landing on Lake Wylie. What she didn't know was that Bass masters was having a bass tournament that day and the weigh in was at 3pm... and yes, I am talking about the same Bass masters like you see on TV. There were all kinds of nice looking boats there. Some were even custom painted. I know one thing, those people better be glad Pearl F Bunn was not in this tournament. He would show them all a thing or two about fishing.

As Colleen waited for people to arrive for their portraits we both started to wonder over into the crowd and act like we were high-end photographers covering the event. Hey they never knew the difference. While standing there in the crowd I began thinking of how I wish dad was still here so I could take him out to events like this. I bet he would love every minute of it. At any time of the day there would be some type of boat come flying by heading for their destination in search of the biggest bass or just cruising to another part of the lake.

On the way home I got a little zoned out from taking everything in. You see... it was those very moments of standing in the crowd watching fisherman have their fish weighed and standing along the water line shooting photos of boats passing by that I could see may dad smiling at me saying "way to go son, that's my boy"... moments like that are moments that I am extremely thankful that I have those memories of dad.

So these are for you dad. Just wishing you were there with me to see it all for yourself.

After having a dreary overcast morning, the sun finally came out for some warm colors.

These guys better be glad Pearl Bunn was not out fishing.

After finally getting a chance to meet Colleen, I quickly discovered that her personality is very comforting. After hanging out a while with Colleen and her husband Dave, I felt like I've known them for years. By the way, it you are looking for some portraits of yourself, friends family or whoever, Colleen is who you need to be talking to. Colleen has a passion for photography just like I do and will get you all fixed up. You can contact her by visiting her site at- http://www.visionsphotosbycolleen.com/

You will be glad you did!

You know I can't go too long without posting something about my favorite dogie... Jack. Jack and I have become quite a pair. You could probably even say that we are two peas in a pod. Jack is so adorable in so many ways that it would take a very long list to tell you everything. Even then I would still come up short somewhere. Simply said... Jack is close to my heart. There are three areas of my life that you just don't mess with... or else! My mom...my wife and my dog. So if you ever want to find out what ..."else" is...just mess with one of those three and you 'll soon find out.


Do you realize that Jack is made up of four parts? Jack is part chow and part golden retriever but did you know he is also part weenie dog and a pointer? It's been a little over a year know when I started giving Jack jumbo size weenies for a treat. Since then, he has fallen head over hills in love with those weenies. So much that when you pet him a little, he will run over to the fridge and point. You know how dogs point don't you? No not with their paws... they just stand at attention looking at something like they are frozen in time. So now you understand how Jack is part weenie dog and part pointer.

When Jack was a little fella, Shelly took him to training school. So without a doubt he is well trained on being house broken. He'll even show you a few teeth in his old age if you try to take one his stuffed animals away. Jack is close to being fifteen years old but you wouldn't think that if you seen him prance around this house. Trust me, show him a little attention and walk towards the kitchen and you'll see just how much energy he really has. He will take off running, slipping and sliding like a wild mule trying to get to the fridge. That little rascal has gotten sneaky too. He'll act like he needs to go outside but he just goes out to check the scenery for a minute or two. Then when we let him back in he thinks it's weenie time. He is a trip now let me tell ya.

One of my favorite times is at night. Since Jack and I are two peas in a pod, he comes in the room and goes to sleep behind me while I work on the computer. Or after we have been gone for most of the day, we come home and always find him asleep under my desk. Talk about having a bosom buddy.


Take a look at this face. This is the look that I get to see every night. It's a look that I'll never get tired of seeing.

Opposites attract

You know something... Shelly and I will be married three years come this October 29th 2008 and since then I've noticed a few things. The majority of the things I've noticed are how we are different in almost everything. Lets take a look.

Shelly-

-goes to bed early and gets up early.
-prefers sour candy and salt over sweet candy or sugar.
-loves cheese.
-doesn't care much about computers, surfing the web and/or programs used for web/photos/video/etc.
-could watch TV from the time she awoke till time to go to bed.
-loves to do home repairs/paint.
- enjoys taking her job to new levels.
-her job is her passion. (when the company isn't a joke)
-very aggressive with getting things done once she has made a decision.
-loves motorcycles of almost all kinds.
-does not care much about the up-town scene.


Ok, lets stop there because if I went any further I would be getting to detailed. I'm just pointing out a nut shell here. Now lets take a look at myself.

Brian-

-stays up late and sleeps in late.
-prefers sweet candy of any kind any time, day, week, hour, minute etc.
-does not like cheese all that much.
-spends 98% of my time on a computer.
-enjoys movies and some TV.
-hates home repairs or anything to do with home repairs with a passion.
-my job is my job. That's it. Unless I get a job doing photography/video/web design etc.
-depending on the decision, I get to it when I get to it. I like to think, look and observe everything in every way possible.
-loves motocross. Little interest in road motorcycles.
-loves the up-town scene minus all the drinking and party's. I could see myself working in a tall building overlooking the skyline.

There you go. That is us in a nut shell. Isn't it strange how not just Shelly and I but each and every of us have different interest in things. Sometimes I think to myself..." how on earth are we so compatible. There so many areas where we are so different yet we get along so good. Maybe that's the part we are not suppose to understand. The bottom line is that times change and people change. How you deal with it is entirely up to you. There is only one that understands all the time. His name is God.

Saturday mornings

What is it about the weekends that are so fun. Is it because society as we know it mostly works during the week and has the weekends off? That would be my guess! I have often heard people say if their company offered to pay them a little extra if they would just work the weekends they would jump on that offer in a heart beat. Personally, I don't think I would jump so fast on that offer. In fact, I would rightfully turn that offer down in a heart beat. Why is that? For me, I'd have to say that it's because my whole life has pretty much been centered around the weekends. For as long as I can remember, I've had the most fun on the weekends. I'm not saying that I don't have any fun through the week, I'm just saying that probably 90 to 97% of the greatest times of my life happened during the weekends. I'd have to go all the way back to when I was a kid and didn't have to work while out of school for the summer before I could say the majority of my fun happened during the week. So what is it about these weekends? There are many times when I'm already looking forward to the weekend and it's only Monday morning. Think about it. Almost every type of event or almost any kind of anything... happens on the weekend.

There is one thing for sure... Saturday mornings will never be like they use to be when I was a kid but that doesn't mean you have to stop with the times. There were many things that made Saturday mornings... my favorite day of the week when I was a kid. Cartoons, breakfast with two-can sam or grits, eggs, sausage, bacon and toast and then a T-bone steak dinner with a salad and baked potato. That routine hardly ever exist anymore but that doesn't stop me from having the time of my life on the weekends. I cannot see what the future holds but I'm almost certain that the weekends will always be my favorite time of the week.

New Colors

Over the next month or two you may see several changes in the over-all design layout of this blog. I am trying to explore some different colors and new layouts here so bare with me. Blogger doesn't give you a lot of options but you can do a little modifying here and there.

Ok, since I got that out of the way lets talk about something else. As you all may or may not know, October is the month that Shelly and I got married. We even met in the month of October and to top it off, we both love scary movies. So this month is something special for both of us. On October 29th, we will be married three years. As a joke to myself I have to say this. This morning I got a little confused on our anniversary date. For some reason I thought it was the 25th. So what did I do! I went into the bedroom and just said surprise... Happy Anniversary. Next thing you know, Shelly looks at me funny and starts laughing. Then proceeds to call me a goober and said... "our anniversary is Wednesday the 29th". Well... I felt a little stupid there for a minute but I pulled it all back together and told her that for some reason I was thinking it was the 25th. Oh well, what can I say... my woman was on my mind. Well, by now I'm sure you are wondering where we are going for our third anniversary. It's a place called..."Bunnys". As a matter a fact, we go there so much that we often call it home. Seriously though, we did think about going somewhere close but man I'm telling you. College will tear you a new shiny butt with all the school work that has to be completed each week. There are countless times when I've had to miss out on something that I normally get to do. Here is a good example. For Christmas last year I decided to get us some Michael Buble tickets. He was coming to the Bobcats arena and I thought Shelly and I would have the time of our life watching him perform. Well, turned out that I had class that night and was not able to go. Most classes let out early but this was a video class and I had to sit there the entire time for every video to be watched. Yeah... I missed out. One of Shelly's friends took my place. Anyway... you get the idea. I guess this year we are just gonna go out to a fancy restaurant for dinner and call it a night. With everything that gets handed to me at school I just cannot chance going away for the weekend. I am excited though. We are thinking about going to Carpe Diem which is one of those places where you have to dress up to go there. Well, I guess I've said enough so I guess I'll shut this one down. Since we are not going anywhere this year for our anniversary, I am going to post a few photos that were taken on our previous anniversary trips. I'll will post them in the next few days so be on the lookout.

Gas

I don't know about you but I am completely shocked with the gas prices. On the way to work this morning I noticed a few gas stations that had unleaded gas for $2.97 a gallon. I thought that I'd never see gas in the two dollar range again. I want to document this right know so that if I make it to be "old and frail, week in the tail"... I'll be sitting on the front porch with a laptop and a glass of sweet tea reading this story. By that time there is no telling how life will be.

Life options

I thought about something the other day. With all the computers, cell phones, mp3 players and everything else you can think of that falls into this catagory, all you have to do if you want to change something is dive into the settings menu. We can change ringtones, we can change wallpaper, change whatever we desire with just a few clicks. I was thinking about how nice it would be if we could change the settings inside of our bodys with just a few clicks and get instant results. I realize this is getting a little sci-fi but also realize I'm just blurting out a few crazy thoughts that crossed my mind.

Think about it... lets do weight loss. How cool would it be if all we had to do if we wanted to lose some weight was go to start menu>control panel and make our adjustments and click ok. Then viola... the magic happens instantly. How about if we wanted a full head of hair along with a different hair style ... what about being tall, short... or how about big muscles. Then again... it 's a pretty good thing that this is not a real life option. For the sake of keep the bunny show clean I'll let your mind run on it's own for one click body adjustments!

Thought of the day

It's the middle of freaking October. My gosh... where in the world does time fly to. It will be 2009 before long. Good grief.

Another journey

For the last several months now I've been pondering yet another adventure or journey is what I like to call it, that I desire to fulfill. I have been doing a little research on this and I think I have found what I'm looking for. You know I've never been much of a reader but I do enjoy reading stories along with pictures. So with that being said I have decided to start writing a book. Yes I'm serious. I have been churning this idea for a good while now and I am more than ready to get started. I have two books in mind that I want to do. However, this may take a great deal of time since my priority these days is school but it is most definitely something I plan to work diligently on until it is complete. Not sure yet what I want to call it either... I just know that this is something I want to do and I have already set aside a number of photos that will be included in both books. I haven't planned on making a text heavy book... yet, but if these books turn out pretty good then I may proceed with writing something fictional. I will keep you updated as I make progress. I will tell you this much. My first book will be all about motocross. The best sport ever!

If you would like to catch up on my other blog that's all about the weekend warriors of motocross you can click on moto-photo under Us Bloggers or just click right here!

What to do !!!

For the last... who knows how long ago... you've been hearing me talk about my interest in ... well, let's just say a ton of different programs, or affairs ... however you wanna call it. So, I thought that I would write them all down so I can sit back and look at everything on the agenda I have gained a passion for. This is not a... hey look at everything I'm doing... it's really just for me to look at for myself. You know how it all looks different once you write things down on paper... plus this will also help me when time is flying and I feel like I haven't got anything accomplished. Here is my agenda .

• Photography
• Journalism
• Filming
• Film editing
• Image manipulation with photoshop
• Flash
• Illustration with illustrator
• Web design with dreamweaver

Now lets say each of these categories were menus and they all had submenus. Well, I really don't know If I should go there or not... I do need to get to bed tonight. Ok here is a brief list of what you would see if the categories above were menus with submenus. I'll make it short and to the point.

• Photography- anything... sports, landscape, nature, etc.
• Filming- anything... same idea just with a video camera instead of still camera.
• Film editing- this one is self explanatory, you have to edit what you film, no mater what it is.
• Photoshop-photo-retouching, collages, posters, or your wildest imagination into a photo.
• Flash- not there yet. I just started but I feel it coming. Animation... I'll leave it at that.
• Illustrator- I am pretty weak in illustrator but the powers that live within this program are pretty darn awesome. I just haven't been putting any time into it.
• Dreamweaver-the Almighty web design program. I am pretty weak at this program too. I just need to learn scripting languages and the rest will follow.
• Journalism- the bunny show blog, moto-photo blog.

Now that I've wrote them all down I can look back on this and see which one I feel like doing on any particular day.

There are still two more passions I have but they have really took a beating since all my other interests have pretty much took over my life.

• Motocross- has and will always be my first love. A day of riding at your favorite track is like no other.
• Music- started playing the guitar during the summer of 1990. I tried to make a run out of music but I kept getting shot down. The fire still burns deep within though. As a matter of fact I might pull that thing out and brush off the cob webs on my fingers. I have a friend at school that has started a show called Art out Loud. Maybe I can try to blow out a few windows... maybe... we'll see.

Let the excitement begin!

After my first night of class was over, I got a nod from one of my classmates to stay put for a minute. Come to find out there is someone else that is as passionate about films as I am and he wants myself along with three other classmates to start getting together and make a series of films. Man I had chill bumps rolling down my back after he told me that. I really hope we can all stick this out and conquer some really neat and challenging films. I will keep you informed on how this all goes. We all stayed after class and had our own camp meeting. I am really excited about this and I think this will be a nice treat for me to have a group of people that share this same interest. To go along with all of this excitement, my motion media instructor that I had last quarter pulled me to the side and asked me if I would come in to his class and show my adrenaline of motocross video and talk a little about film making. What a nice surprise. I don't know how this will work out since I already have class on Thursday night but we'll see when the time comes I guess. I am going to start posting what each week brings, even if it's just a sentence or two. This is gonna be one heck-of-a-ride.

Week 1 of quarter # 5

The first week of my fifth quarter at AICH is off to a successful start and I am really pumped up about my classes this quarter. As I climb this mountain of knowledge my classes are getting more intense with each step I make. As I sat in on my classes this week I just had a really good feeling about this quarter. Maybe it's because I'm coming off a raunchy quarter... I don't know. For Usability testing I have Joseph Johannson which was my very first instructor at the beginning of school. Where do I start with this guy... all I know is that he is smart to the moon... and to go along with it, he is around my age. He is a designer for Bank of America and he also mentioned that he may try to set up our final presentation at the Bank of America building. Sounds professional to me... I really hope that goes through. It would be nice to be in that environment.

For my Flash class I have Lea Anderson. I have heard that she is a super good instructor and by the way my first class went I would have to agree. For this class I also have a really good feeling, a feeling of me having so much of an interest in this program that I may have found another obsession... so to speak. You know what I mean. In this class we will be covering how to animate shapes and text and who knows what else. I do not have any knowledge of flash at the moment other than what little bit we covered in class but I just have a feeling that this program will be added to my passion list.

If you are confused by all the programs I talk about from time to time then here... let me break this down a little. All of the programs we work in at school are from the Adobe CS3 package. When I say package... I mean package. There is photoshop, illustrator, flash, premier, after effects, dreamweaver, encore, fireworks, indesign and a few more that I have no earthly idea what in the heck they are and what they do. This program has been growing for years. You can buy each of these separate and also there is the option to get a cheaper version that is more simple than the high end version. You will sacrifice many options of the program by going cheap but the consumer price of just one of these high end programs will make your eyebrows curl. I did get a bargain on this package for myself but it was still like an investment. So far I have had classes that deal with just a few of these. The only program that we use that is not from the adobe suite is final cut pro which is video editing software. I don't know why since premier pro is adobe's video editing program.

Ok enough about the programs. I'm gonna assume you get the idea about what kind of software I have to use. If you are not careful, you can easily have a meltdown while working on projects... that is if you are not that knowledgeable with the program. Sometimes I can just look at the interface of the program and think...oh my gosh...how in the world am I going to learn this. That's the thrill of it though. You can be a master at some of these programs and more than likely you still won't know everything about them. Like I said, adobe has been growing for years and there is no stop sign in front of them yet. In fact CS4 just came out. How about that. I have heard from all of my instructors that you really never learn everything becuase they are always coming out with newer and better versions. With me having so much of an interest in these programs... I'd say I have a friend till the end!

Bunn reunion video

At last... I'm finally finished with the Bunn reunion video. It took me a little over a week to get everything like I wanted. I said earlier that I didn't get all the footage that I hoped to get but I did the best with what I had. I have also spent the last two days trying to play computer genius. What I mean by that is here lately it seems like nothing was wanting to work properly. I tried uploading this video several times to blogger video and YouTube and it just didn't want to upload completely. Then I ran into some issues with my PC and thought I was gonna have to have it checked out. Everything seems to be going fine now. Lets hope it stays that way.

It took about five hours for this video to finish loading. I was on my third attempt and if it didn't work right this time, I was going to forget about it. To be honest, I thought it was't going to load. The uploader said the video was at 100% so I checked YouTube and it wasn't there. I closed out the window and about thirty minutes later, it magically appeared. Beats me... I'm just glad it got there. So... if you are wondering why the video isn't posted... I tried but there is a comment under the "post to blog" section that reads ... "this function is not available at the moment"... which is par for what I've been through with these computers for the last two days. However, it is on YouTube and I will post the link so you can go straight to it. As always remember that YouTube compresses the footage so it will look a little pixelated. It also looks like it is a little jerky. Thank goodness for the footage I have on my imac. It looks much better. I don't know why video turns up like this but YouTube is free you know. When I see that I am able to post the video, I will have it right here so you won't have to make an extra steps to view the video. Also the scenes inside the church are a little bit orange-ish... I added a little color correction but getting the color correction just right is a little bit harder than the rest. I just need more practice with it. You have to think now. Final Cut Pro is a program that is used professionally with the filming industry... so bear with me. Oh yeah, don't forget to turn up the volume. Here it is... hope you enjoy. The 4th Annual P. S. Bunn Reunion.

http://www.youtube.com/user/bkbunn87

What's that growing around the house!

I've seen these purple vines with little berrys on the end but I haven't seen the red raspberry looking whatcha-ma-call-its before. I've been watching the Planet Earth DVD and it will blow your mind with all the things this earth has growing and living on it. It's all about the circle of life.

The aroma stash

If there is one thing that I really like... it's gotta be a woman that smells good. That has always been something that makes me melt like butter in a oven and it's pretty easy these days with all the perfumes and lotions that women buy. I like to smell good myself. I have close to ten different kinds of cologne that I like to wear. My favorites are Aqua Di Gio, Lucky You, Curve and In Red.