Little Buddy

Since my wife has been writing her own blog, I haven't really been mentioning too much about my kids or anything these days. Meg does a pretty good job of keeping everyone informed on how they are growing and changing and the silly little things that they say or do. However, being the "man with the camera" around my house, I figured that it should be only fitting to say that lately, I've been pretty invested in capturing a lot of photos of Liam, aka: "Little Buddy". He's just perfect for the camera, in that, unlike Audrey, he's not moving every 2 seconds at 100mph (probably because he's still learning that part). It also helps that he's an extremely handsome little guy (note the parental bias). In any case, here are some recent photos of his cuteness in action:

A Special Request

As my daughter would say: "Okay, here's the deal.". So I am a photography enthusiast. This is probably obvious if you know me or read this blog at all. Part of what I do is try to improve on my skills as much as possible. I take pictures as much as I can. Despite all of my practice and learning, it skids to a dead end if I can't really get any feedback on my images. This is where you all come in. I currently keep a photoblog, where I try to regularly post my better images. Part of the reason I do this is so that I can get feedback on what people like or don't like about these images. Hopefully, with that feedback I can continue to improve how I shoot for both my own enjoyment and perhaps yours as well. So if you have a little time, or if you already subscribe to this blog through an RSS reader or anything, consider also checking out my photoblog too. I'd love to hear your thoughts, whether positive or negative, about my work. Here's the link:

http://jurina.wordpress.com

In the future, I hope to improve the photoblog layout, and, of course, the photography there as well.

BTW, thanks to those few of you who have already been commenting on my photos. Your thoughts are always welcome and have helped me greatly.

Your Tipical American Idol Show

If you're a regular reader of this blog, then you might be aware that I've already posted a breakdown on the whole American Idol show experience from the first episode on. What I still feel compelled to write about is what goes on this late in the season of a typical show when the contestants actually sing. Its so easy to predict, and almost every week ends up like this:

1. If the contestant sings badly:

Randy: "Yo Dog, here's what's up. I really like that song, but uh, it was kinda all right for me. There were some pitchy parts here and there and it just wasn't your best performance. But it was all right."
(Translation: It wasn't good).

Paula: "I just think that you are a wonderful person full of life, and I love how you come out on stage each week and show us what you've got. You are special and you look absolutely gorgeous today."
(Translation: I just took a bunch of illegal drugs before the show and wow do I feel good.)

Simon: "Well, if I'm going to be honest with you: I thought that it was absolutely terrible. It kind of reminded me of a baby kitten being skinned alive by a 6-year old autistic penguin, and I think you might be in trouble this week with that performance."
(Translation: Find another career, because you just can't sing.)


2. When the contestants sing well:

Randy: "Yo, yo. Listen up. Yo, yo, I have to tell you that I was kinda scared at first when you started singing that song cuz I was like, I don't know if they can pull it off, but guess what? You did it! You rocked the house, baby! Dat was da bomb!"
(Translation: Good job!)

Paula: "I just think that you are a wonderful person full of life, and I love how you come out on stage each week and show us what you've got. You are special and you look absolutely gorgeous today."
(Translation: I just took a bunch of illegal drugs before the show and wow do I feel good.)

Simon: "If I'm being honest with you, I'd have to say that it was probably your best performance on this show to date. Well done!
(Translation: None needed)

And so there you have it. The contestants sing, and this is pretty much what the judges say each time. What is sad is that there's very little deviation from this. My only concern is that Paula Abdul is making me dumber each time I hear her talk, but that's another matter. Hope this helps.

Some "Handy" Quotes by Jack Handy

Not that these are new, but a recent conversation with a colleague of mine had me thinking about them. So here they are, a few good (and random) Jack Handy thoughts for you:

I guess I kinda lost control, because in the middle of the play I ran up and lit the evil puppet villain on fire. No, I didn't. Just kidding. I just said that to help illustrate one of the human emotions, which is freaking out. Another emotion is greed, as when you kill someone for money, or something like that. Another emotion is generosity, as when you pay someone double what he paid for his stupid puppet.

I remember that one fateful day when Coach took me aside. I knew what was coming. "You don't have to tell me," I said. "I'm off the team, aren't I?" "Well," said Coach, "you never were really ON the team. You made that uniform you're wearing out of rags and towels, and your helmet is a toy space helmet. You show up at practice and then either steal the ball and make us chase you to get it back, or you try to tackle people at inappropriate times." It was all true what he was saying. And yet, I thought something is brewing inside the head of this Coach. He sees something in me, some kind of raw talent that he can mold. But that's when I felt the handcuffs go on.

If you're in a war, instead of throwing a hand grenade at the enemy, throw one of those small pumpkins. Maybe it'll make everyone think how stupid war is, and while they are thinking, you can throw a real grenade at them.

If you're robbing a bank and you're pants fall down, I think it's okay to laugh and to let the hostages laugh too, because, come on, life is funny.

Whether they find a life there or not, I think Jupiter should be called an enemy planet.

The crows seemed to be calling his name, thought Caw.

When you die, if you get a choice between going to regular heaven or pie heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick, but if it's not, mmmmmmm, boy.

Children need encouragement. If a kid gets an answer right, tell him it was a lucky guess. That way he develops a good, lucky feeling.

if you're a young Mafia gangster out on your first date, I bet it's real embarrassing if someone tries to kill you.

As the evening sky faded from a salmon color to a sort of flint gray, I thought back to the salmon I caught that morning, and how gray he was, and how I named him Flint.

To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kind of scary. I've wondered where this started and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus, and a clown killed my dad.

When you go in for a job interview, I think a good thing to ask is if they ever press charges.

If you ever catch on fire, try to avoid looking in a mirror, because I bet that will really throw you into a panic.

Those Crazy Google People!

As usual, Google comes out with an April Fool's joke every year. This year its centered around Gmail, Google's web e-mail service. Basically, its advertising a new feature where you can send your e-mails and change the time that they were sent, to make it look like you sent it days, weeks, or even years ago. My favorite part of the whole thing are the testimonials to the right. Particularly, this quote:

"I used to be an honest person; but now I don't have to be. It's just so much easier this way. I've gained a lot of productivity by not having to think about doing the 'right' thing."

Todd J., Investment Banker

Here's the link to check it out yourself:

http://mail.google.com/mail/help/customtime/index.html