Hendersonville, NC

At first, I was going to get myself a room for tomorrow night. Since the wedding I'm helping shoot tomorrow is way out in the who-knows-where land. After looking over the schedule I thought, I'm pretty good at staying up late. So driving 3.5 hours all the way back home will be no problem.

So I decided to make the trip a day earlier and get a room so I can be somewhat close for the wedding.

It took me around 2 hours and 10 minutes to get here and boy lemme tell ya. I'm not too sure I'll be staying here again. And by "here" I mean Hendersonville, NC.

The gas is nearly 30 cents higher than Charlotte and the folks here are... well I'll keep that to myself!

The hotel I'm staying at is the Ramada. I didn't expect a 5 star hotel but it's definitely not worth 90 bucks a night either.  If the lights didn't flicker when I plug my laptop in one of the power outlets and it was around 50 bucks, I'd come back.

To be continued...

Sushi Dinner

If you ask me I'd say this fish has only a few minutes of life left. It even looks as if it's trying to say something! Goodbye world maybe...

The circle of life in action.

Raining - like crazy!

It's not like I have all the time in the world to stop what I'm doing just to go out on the porch and listen to the thunderstorm we are having... it's more of a "you only live once kinda thing" where I allow myself to stop working for a few minutes; go out on the front porch and just chill, take a deep breath and take in the sights and sounds of everything!

Good grief... it's crazy how relaxing it is. To make it even better, it's nearly 11pm here in Indian Trail.  Nothing but the sound of rain, frogs and crickets and thunder!

Too bad I don't have a tin roof!

It's breaks like this that helps the creative juices to flow!

What's your super power?

I don't remember if I've ever blogged about this topic. If so, then here is an updated version.


Ever been asked the super power question? It usually goes a little something like this-  "if you could have any super power, what would it be"?

I actually think about this sort-of thing a lot. The last time I was asked what my super powers would be if I could have any; I said... I wish I could fly.

Screw that. I mean, being able to fly like a bird would be cool but I'm ready to take my super power up a notch.

If I could have one super power, it would be to be able to go back in time. Not like the phone booth deal from Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure either. Something a little more swanky. Maybe something like turning invisible and re-appearing in a different timeline of life. And being able to rewind or fast forward at any given moment.

How about this computer I'm typing on. The parts had to come from all around the world. Who made the parts, what made the parts, when, how... you name it. I'd go all the way back to the very materials it took to make the parts. Who was working on the job when the parts were made. Where did they come from. All of that stuff.

It could go for any material thing or any person. How about a missing person. I'd love to be able to channel myself back in the threads of time and be an invisible existence to see what really happened and be able to know where they are.

How about this blog platform, blogger! I'd love to go back in time and see for myself who thought of the idea, how they thought of the idea, what gave them the idea. Were they drinking a cup of coffee, was it a late night thought... Who ever it was, thank you! I can now get my thoughts on a blog site and share it with the world.

Now, if you could have any super power, what would it be?

A touch of Joe Dirt

Have you ever seen the movie Joe Dirt? If you haven't then do yourself a favor and watch it! That movie is brilliant in so many ways, ha!

If you have seen it, you'll probably remember the part where Joe talks about looking up at the moon and wondering if the person he is thinking about is looking up at the same moon at the exact same time, while thinking about him.

I sort-of had that same kind of thought tonight.

As I was driving back home from a wedding tonight, the sky was beautiful in so many ways. Even though it was dark and pushing midnight, there was a lightning storm way off in who-knows-where land. At first I thought it was storming in my part of the town but as I drove closer to home, there was no site of a storm.

My drive back home took right around 45 minutes. It's the one part of Interstate 485 that has 3 lanes and very little traffic. Which made it extra nice with the light show going on in the distance. In addition to the streaks of lightning going off in the distance, the moon was almost full. It was that moment when I had my Joe Dirt moment!

So... my question is; have you ever looked up at the moon and thought of someone and wondered what they're doing? It's not so much that I wonder if they are thinking about me while looking at the moon but then again, it has crossed my mind.

With the very popular social networking site of facebook, we can have a little more insight on what people are doing but it's a little deeper than a quick status update. It's more of wondering what they are doing in life, how they got to where they are now and wondering if they ever think about you in any kind of way. And wondering what their thoughts of you are.


I even think about people that I've never met before. For example, tonight at the wedding, I saw lots of people. I didn't know a single person but a few faces were highlighted in my memory. That usually comes from doing something like speaking or wearing something that catches your eye. So I often wonder... will I ever see that person again in life? After the person leaves that wedding, what lifestyle will they be going back to? That sort-of stuff.


If you really only knew all the stuff that I wonder about...

A few pics

I've been drooling over this camera (Canon 5D Mark II) for a while now. So I decided to "act now" and add it to my weapons of mass photography!

Enjoy!

Random thoughts

Ever sit around trying to connect the dots to something your mind is dreaming up? Or maybe even connecting the dots to where your life seems to be heading? Do you even have a time when you can slip into some sort of trance and visualize things? These sort-of things can be either real life or something completely made up. For example, ever wonder what you life would be like if this one certain person never walked into your life?

Ever get deep in thought and wonder if the things you are imagining are pure genius? Or dumber then dumb? Or maybe it's so silly you'd be embarrassed to say anything to anyone about it? It's not the greatest feeling in the world when you get laughed at for some of your visualizations you have going on in your head. It makes perfect sense to you but to everyone else... it's the dumbest thing ever.

I was just wondering.
To be continued...

Brilliance

Wanna know why I think this can of pinto beans is so brilliant? It's because someone thought to design these cans with pull tabs at the top for easy opening!

Let's just say that a can opener was just 3ft away. Well, that means that it will take a second or two to get it and depending on whether it's an electrical or one of those manual can openers, you still have to go through that process just to open a can.

I'm sure you're calling me all kinds of lazy names right now, haha! It is my personal opinion... that when you take the thinking process out of something, it's good design!

Or maybe I just love pinto beans...  :)

Breakfast of champions

Being that I am 100% southern, there doesn't seem to be any other breakfast food out that can top this right here. This is one of them cajun filet biscuit with fries combo from Bojangles. A fresh cup of coffee with a massive amount of Hazelnut mixed to yummo perfection! I don't know what it is about that combination but hot dang it's good. Every once in a while I'll switch over and have a gulp of my diet pepsi. Just to wash all the bread crumbs down!

I must also add that this was one of those biscuits where the bread is so soft that it almost breaks in your hand! Hmmm Hmm delish!!!

The tree must go

Now that our storm water drainage issues are fixed, we decided the tree in the middle of our driveway must go. This acre of land that we live on really has some strange tree growth and very strange landscaping in the back.

There are plenty of things that I'd rather spend my money on but this tree was smack-dab in the middle of our most level parking spot. It's gotta go or else I'm sure I'll wind up hitting it.

This is the second time we've had tree cutters out and it's definitely not cheap. Unless you're out in the open and you can let it fall any direction.  Before I start going down a rabbit trail here let me ask you something. Have you ever witnessed a tall tree fall? And I mean the whole tree in one piece? If you haven't then you must. The force a tree has when it falls is pretty doggone amazing. You best be nowhere near impact... that's all I'm saying!

Drainage problem fixed - at least I hope

Sometime around the summer of 2009, when we were having all of those crazy thunderstorms, Shelly and I noticed a new creek running down our driveway. At first we didn't pay it much attention. After a few other heavy thunderstorms hit, we started paying a lot of attention to these rip rapids flowing all throughout our yard. It was pretty darn clear that the water was not flowing in the drain ditch like it should.

It really started pissing us off because the water was not even close to flowing in the drain ditch correctly. So long story short here... after we noticed the driveway rock being carried away and flowing water coming out our garage, the wife decided enough was enough. Something had to be done. 

She called the town of Indian Trail and told them our situation. Before you know it, one of the town engineers was out looking at out situation. The first thing he said was, "if it is coming off a public street, it's the town's problem, if it's anything else, it's your problem". After a quick walk behind my neighbors house, he saw that it was indeed the towns problem.

Whew! That was a weight lifted off our shoulders because this was not gonna be an easy fix. This was only phase one! If I remember correctly, the initial start date for our drainage problem to be fixed was around March of 2010. 

For the next 2 years, we watched our driveway get washed away by heavy thunderstorms because the stupid ditch wasn't fixed. We sent email after email following up to see what the hold-up was. At this point, our tempers were right on the edge with this mess. 

We really had to keep it in check because you'll never get anywhere if you start giving people an attitude. Finally, we were able to get a few different names of some people that might have a little more punch to get things going. I swear man... I was nearly about to blow my lid. When you get told over and over that something is gonna happen in a certain timeframe and then it never does... it sorta starts getting to ya a bit. Only because it was causing destruction to our property.

On top of that, we noticed the town working 24/7 on a new park just down the road. So tell me your opinion. What if storm water was going through your garage and throughout your property causing issues! Which would you think would be more important to fix first? A park close to town or your very own yard?

After a few phone calls with our new contacts, a new date was set up to fix our drainage situation. Low and behold, crews begin to show up and start working! After 2 weeks of work, the problem was all fixed up.

Good grief... I'm glad that's over. That was a long battle but thanks to my wife's persistent calling and her pit bull way of not giving up... it's all over now!

Allergies

Do you suffer from allergies? Good grief... I sure do. And bad! I absolutely despise this time of year just cause of the stupid pollen. At first I thought I was gonna make it through this year on the light side. Boy was I wrong.

I was sitting at my computer the other night and heard thunder. I thought, oh good... A nice thunderstorm should wash the rest of this pollen away. I think it washed that crap right down my throat. I now have a sore and scratchy throat with what seems like a ton of mucus all caked up in my gut! Sorry to be so gross about it but that's how I feel.

I've hacked and coughed and sneezed enough to last me a doggone lifetime. Throw in the fact that I can't seem to get an hour of sleep before I'm woke up from coughing or a hack and there you have it.

To make it simple. I feel like total YUCK!

Netflix Poop-a-thon

Hows that for a title!!!

This is surely not going to be a "gross post" but I decided to name it that cause it was the first thing that crossed my mind.

I'm still new to the smart phone world but I've learned enough that these little boogers are gonna be game changers. What I mean by that is these phones are totally gonna switch up how we humans do things. That's my prediction anyways!

For example, pooping has went to a whole new level of coolness... provided you have a smart phone in hand! I'm serious! Your dadgum legs will fall asleep on ya in a heart beat if your caught up in something on a smart phone. You don't have to be sitting on the toilet for these bad boys to come in handy. You can be waiting on your cars oil change, driving down the road... just anywhere.

What really trips me out is that I remember when I thought Bojangles accepting credit cards was a futuristic thing! Phfft... that's nothing nowadays. As weird as it sounds... the future is not coming anymore; it's here already! You can do some pretty amazing things with all the apps you can download.  You can even order a coffee and have it waiting on ya when you get there and pay for it with your phone. Personally I think that is over doing it a tad... but to each his own!

Now that I've stepped up to the smart phone world, I've added the Netflix app to my phone. So hear is what I'm doing now. I've started my very own Netflix poop-a-thon. It's simple. I find a good show on Netflix and the only time I'm gonna watch it... yep, you guessed it... is when I'm pooping!

New roof

I tried to talk Shell-Bell out of it since a getting a new roof on your house is like buying a new car these days but as you can see, I didn't win that battle. Yeah yeah, it's more value to your house but in case you forgot, there's this bull crap economy going on right now that's making everything stink.

This was actually around April of 2010 when all of this was going on. Since it's nearly impossible for me to go or do anything without a camera, I decided to take a few pictures. And for kicks and giggles a few shots of some plant life growing in our yard. And to top it off, a goofball shot of my mother in law as she's coming up the driveway.