Explore!!!

Finally, after months of no sightings, I once again have a photo in Flickr's Explore pages. It's not even on of my best (or my favorites) but oh well - beggars can't be choosers.
Anyway, as of this morning, it's at #72 (out of 500) for August 21, 2005 (the day it was uploaded). We'll see if it stays, or if this is just a weird bump in interestingness.

Random Road Trip

Last Saturday, I went over to the Martin's to plan out the Arizona trip (well, to plan as much as I care too - I prefer much more to just get out and drive without much more than an outline of where we're going - that way, if something interesting comes up, the "schedule" can be altered - it's easy to alter something that doesn't exist, ha ha)
Anyway, so we worked out the main details (uh, yeah, we're going to Arizona, right? Good, now that that's settled...) and then for some reason we decided to go to Oklahoma City to see the memorial of the bombing. A nice little day trip. On the way, Kinsey mentioned something about the World's Largest McDonalds - and I happened to know exactly where it was (well, not exactly, but I was pretty sure it was somewhere in Oklahoma or Missouri - now THATS exact!). So we adjusted our heading, and went to see the WLM. It is built over the interstate - here is a pic. Then we set out for Oklahoma City. The cool thing about having altered our original destination is that it put us off a bit on time - we got to OKC around 7:30-8PM, somewhere around then. That was fortuitous, because I have never seen the memorial at night - only during the day. Something about seeing all the chairs lit up, the darkness and the light - well, it is simply much more powerful at night than during the day. Plus, there were ducks on the reflecting pool - it was less than an inch deep, but they were out there! I told Dale we should dress him up as Jesus (he'd need to grow his hair out again, though) and get him to walk out on the reflecting pool - walk on water! The ducks might attack him, though.

So tired....

We made it back Sunday evening. Still tired, but I feel up to making a trip recap now.

Colby and I left Friday afternoon. Around Texarkana, the rain started. And it rained. And rained. And rained. And rained. All the way through Arkansas, Memphis, and Jackson, TN. Around Memphis, we saw some incredible lightning - if I had thought about it, the lightning over the Memphis skyline would have been an awesome photo - oh well, opportunity lost (it was cold!)
We stayed the night in Jackson, after stopping at a Waffle House, where the waitress tried (desperately) to sell us a slice of pie. We successfully avoided temptation and spent the night there in Jackson (without pie). Saturday, we got up early and drove through Nashville towards Hendersonville, seeking the gravesite of Johnny Cash. The cemetery isn't marked very well - we drove by it a couple of times before Colby spotted it. Anyway, we got out and began searching the markers one by one. This old man was parked nearby, and he asked if he could help. He wasn't an employee of the cemetery - I guess he just liked hanging around and helping wayward souls (lol) with whatever they needed. He directed us to Cash's grave, which we quickly found.
Afterwards, we tried to find Cash's house (which recently burned down). I forgot to search for directions, so we tried just driving around the lake for awhile - to no avail. So I called Dee, who quickly found his house on Google and told us how to get there. I have the pics to prove she did it! (see my Flickr photos).
We had planned on seeing some other sites in Nashville, but finding his house and the gravesite had taken too much time, so we drove back to Memphis and spent the night there - and the nightlife was lively at that motel, and quite loud at 3 AM. Then Sunday we headed back - detoured through Hot Springs for some reason (I like detours) and made it back to Paris around 6-7 PM (I forget exactly). So I am very tired still - and yet ready for the Next Big Trip in late May (tentative plans call for me to take off May 30-Jun 10 or so for the Arizona trip). And that should be enough traveling for awhile (it gets expensive).

ZOOM!!

My latest lens came today. It's a 400-800mm/f8 telephoto, with a 2x thingy you can attach (haven't tried that yet) to boost it to a whopping 1600mm. I doubt the image quality will be as good with the 2x thing, but the lens itself is wonderful. I hope to use it on the trip, but I really see myself using it for wildlife photos, some moon shots, and whatever else catches my fancy. It's long - but very light. I had to get a new camera bag, however - it is far too big for my old one.
In other news, everything is ready for my trip tomorrow. I won't be able to get pics of Johnny Cash's house, though. Apparently it burned down - perhaps I can get some pics of the rubble, however.

One More Day

Well, a little more than one day, but it made a decent title. By this time Friday, I hope to be nearing or already in Nashville or thereabouts. All planning is done - all the cds have been burned, all camera batteries are charged, clothes will be packed tomorrow, as will everything else. The only major remaining "detail" will also be finished tomorrow - Colby, out of the kindness of his heart, is going to wash and "detail" my car in preparation for the road trip. He likes doing that kind of thing, and since it directly benefits me, I say more power to him. Besides, there is no better way to start a road trip than with a clean, waxed vehicle. That way, you can see just how dirty it gets by the time you get back, ha ha. I will try and find internet access along the way for a quick post or two, but Tennessee isn't exactly civilization, at least as far as Web 2.0 is concerned.

Crossed Wires

Has anyone out there ever experienced this? Please tell me I'm not the only one.

Sometimes, especially in the morning after I drink my full glass of water with breakfast (usually a bowl of slightly thawed fruit, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, pineapple, peaches, mangos, etc - whatever frozen fruit I've gotten from the store at the moment) sometimes I get the feeling like I am slightly nauseated. It persists for a few minutes, then suddenly I get the urge to sneeze - several times - and then everything is better. It doesn't only happen in the morning, but when it does, it is usually in the morning. I have a theory (!) that sneezing and the other thing must involve nerves that are very close or something (being reflex actions, perhaps?). And maybe, just maybe, the signals on the nausea nerve cross over to the sneeze nerve. That's my theory anyway. It sounds very similar to why you sneeze when you stare at the sun (why would you stare at the sun anyway? To see if it makes you sneeze, if you're me) - the nerves that signal "AHHH! Blinding light!!! Sensitive eyes!!!" somehow stimulate the sneeze reflex nerves, causing you to sneeze while you are blinded. Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone else has ever experienced this - or am I the only one?

Don't Talk To Me!!

When I go walking at the track, whether on my lunch break or after work or on the weekend (like today), I prefer to walk alone. Other people like a walking buddy to talk to, but I would MUCH rather listen to music or just think me thinks. I can focus on keeping my speed on track (aiming at 4 mph) without worrying about conversation, blah blah blah. Today my normal routine was ruined, however. I went to the track after eating Easter dinner - had quite a bit, which is why I decided to walk in the first place. We fixed glazed ham, asparagus spears sauteed in italian dressing, squash sauteed like the asparagus with garlic rice wine vinegar (mmm), barbecued shrimp (mmm), rolls, and Mom's special slivered sweet potatoes baked with italian dressing and parmesan cheese. And for dessert, Mom made peach fluff without the cottage cheese, so Dad would like it. Anyway, I needed to walk because there was so much good food.
I pull up to the track, and this 10 year old (or so) kid is nearby playing with a German Shepherd mix. He asked me if the dog was mine (which it wasn't.) As I continue to start walking, he follows me (the kid, not the dog) and tells me how he found the dog while riding his bike. And the kid follows me around for 3 miles (that's 6 laps, about 1.5 hours) telling me his life story. There were several other peeps at the track, but apparently I was the only one he wanted to talk to. Geez, I try to be friendly but I really don't care - I kept walking faster, thinking maybe he'd leave, but he just kept up with me. Then he told me he'd been baptized this morning at the Cowboy church in Novice - in a horse trough! So we talked a little religion, Jesus and stuff. Still he wouldn't leave. So I tell him I'm done walking, and return to the car (with kid following) - and he looked almost sad as I leave. I felt kinda bad, but also cold - the temp was only 45 degrees (in April!!). Maybe I should be more compassionate and not so self absorbed about my walking -or wear a sign that says "Walking: Do Not Talk To Me".

Weight Loss Update

I also forgot to mention - my ongoing weightloss plan (I refuse to call it a diet - it is more of a lifestyle change, something permanent. A diet is a temporary thing you do to drop a few pounds). As of today (Saturday, April 7th) I have lost 43 pounds since starting back in February. I'm averaging roughly 20 pounds per month (well, a little under that) so by the time we go on the Return To The Grand Canyon trip in early June, I hope to be down another 40. We'll see...

A Post By Request

My sister left a comment on a previous post requesting a new post to bump the old one off the top of my blog. So, to oblige her, here goes:

As you may know, the trip to Tennessee last month got postponed, for various reasons which I won't go into here. But the good news is all is forgiven, and Colby and I leave for Tennessee next Friday (ooooh, Friday the 13th!!). Any road trip is a good thing, regardless of destination - the journey is the thing.

In other news, I found a way to use old non-digital Olympus lenses (with a special mount) on my camera. I got a 400-800mm lens (with a 2x teleconverter included, bringing it to a max of 1600mm) off of ebay. Hopefully it will be here before I leave on the trip - I'm already salivating, thinking of the nice zoomy pics I will be able to take now.

That's really all that's happening now - actually sounds pretty boring when I type it all up like this. Oh well, I hope my sister is satisfied - no more embarrassing childhood moments on the top post (for now, ha ha!)