last week, early in the morning, on my way to school, everyone was wearing white and blue jerseys. I didn’t know what was it all about. Until, thanks to my two football fanatic friends at Herron Susana and Brandon S. I learned it was monday night special game and Indianapolis Colts where playing against Miami Dolphins. Of course, i didn’t know what they were talking about at first, for i know nothing about American football. So Susana, Brandon, Terri and I went out to watch the game, before the game started and during the TV commercials they taught the rules of football, scoring and the names of the Colts players.
it was fun!
The Colts defeated the dolphins 27-23 in the last minutes thanks to Garcon (number 85).

From www.knoxnews.com:

Most notably, Sen. Roy Herron of Dresden and Sen. Jim Kyle of Memphis, took opposite positions on legislation that led to the current law. The measure allows handgun permit holders to take weapons into state parks, except when local government bodies vote to prohibit them.

Herron, who in the past has received an ‘A’ rating from the National Rifle Association, said he voted for the bill as a supporter of “the right of law-abiding citizens to defend themselves against rapists, robbers and murderers.”

At the same time, however, Herron said he supported the “opt out” provision for parks owned by local governments.

Kyle voted against the bill, saying he preferred to leave in place a prior law that prohibited firearms in parks operated by state and city governments throughout Tennessee.

“I support the Second Amendment as much as anyone, but not guns in parks or guns in bars,” said Kyle. “To be a leader, sometimes you have to be able to say no. I said no. My position is very clear.”

As for the other three Democratic candidates, interviews with the candidates or their staffers indicate that Mike McWherter lines up with Herron in supporting the new law while Ward Cammack and Kim McMillan – who has a handgun carry permit herself – are opposed.

It seems clear to me who has the best head on their shoulders… Jim Kyle.  But that’s just on this particular issue, what about the others?  Well for me it’s too soon to say but I’ll add that Mike McWherter seemed to have a clear vision of economic policy when I got the chance to hear him speak at Sumner Dems meeting.  After looking at the results of the Rutherford County Straw Poll I was very surprised to see that McWherter wasn’t doing better, simply because of name recognition, but maybe it goes to show that there is definitely a new generation of Democrats in Tennessee now.

So I have to admit I did a pretty stupid thing and just realized it today.  Let’s go back – This past Saturday (9/19) I was hanging out at Salon Bastille with the rest of the Sparks/Herron wedding party and decided to go ahead and purchase fake eyelashes for my make up application.  Tiny backgrouond on my eyelashes, I completely hate how short they are and would rather have fake ones that make me feel prettier – so I do!

you can't see my eyes b/c my eyelashes are that awesome!

Andrea from the salon was excited to come help me pick them out down the street at the CVS in Old Montgomery.  We walked down, picked out a great pair of fake eyelashes and went to pay.  As I was paying I was making the remark, “wow, I have so much change” and with that I completely dumped my Coach mini and everything fell on the floor.  All credit cards, bank debit cards (yes I have 2), cash, reciepts and of course all the friggin change I was just talking about.  Andrea and I cleaned it up and I just trusted that all was good and sort of took a glance back to make sure I had all that was previously in my wallet.  FALSE!

This morning (9/22) I went to check my bank account to make sure that my house payment was made.  Sorry, little back story here, yesterday I deposited the cash but the rep from 5/3rd made the remark that her computer kept shutting down.  So, I was nervous that with my luck these days my payment wouldn’t be made.  I tried logging in to their online banking and it told me that I needed to reset my password.  FINE, did that but it still would not let me log in to view my account because there was some sort of hold on the account.  I then called the 5/3rd 800 # (which is a ROYAL pain in the rump) and after several attempts I was finally able to talk to a real person.  She told me that the manager at CVS actually called my card in and told 5/3rd that it was left behind and they put a hold on the card and account.  SWEET, thanks so much Craig from CVS you absolutely ROCK!  Little bonus, the lady from 5/3rd was able to check and my house payment did go through.  Is my luck changing?  I sure do hope so because we are finishing a major house project this weekend and planning to put the house on the market by October 1.  Just to be safe, can you cross some fingers for me or just send me good Karma?  Thanks!

Alrighty, well it seems to me like it’s about time to bring up those pictures that I promised. There are 33 of them, so I warn you in advance, but they’re gorgeous so how could I not share them with you. That being said, depending on how this post goes, I may have to break this post into several bits.

So the zoo? Yeah, I’ve been several times over the past two weeks, but only twice have I brought my camera. The first time you’ve seen the pictures of I hope, or if not, go look in the post archives on the right side of this display, but now I think would be an apropriate time to show you the more recent of those trips. So here you go:

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/60s f/2.8

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/320s f/2.8

Oh and I think you may like my new way of presenting the portrait pictures. No longer contrained to 500px at the longest side. Now 500px wide. I think this will give you a better impression of how ridiculously sharp the pictures are.

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/640s f/2.8

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/400s f/2.8

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/1250s f/2.8

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/800s f/4

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/640s f/4

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/640s f/4

Managed to get the Ostriches to pose for me. It was quite kind. The room where they were in has such limited standing space that I couldn’t rotate and go portrait as I wanted to and would suit their profiles, so I shot some funny poses instead:

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/250s f/2.8

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/250s f/2.8

I got to witness some fascinating behavior on the part of the herrons too. This one was ruffling and preening, shaking loose those tiny feathers and dust that you see emanating from the body of the bird.

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/800s f/2.8

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/800s f/2.8

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/800s f/2.8

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/2000s f/2.8

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/2000s f/2.8

And then I found the stork that I shot last time. The younglings are growing rapidly.

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/2500s f/2.8

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/2500s f/2.8

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/2500s f/2.8

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/2500s f/2.8

And then there were ducks:

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/1000s f/2.8

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/2000s f/2.8

And other birds:

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/1600s f/2.8

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 @ 1/1250s f/2.8

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 VR @ 1/100s f/2.8

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 VR @ 1/25s f/2.8

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 VR @ 1/20s f/2.8

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 VR @ 1/50s f/2.8

And then I headed over to my favourite subject of all; cheetah. I’ve semi-seriously decided that one day I am going to own a cheetah. They’re such regal and beautiful animals.

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 VR @ 1/800s f/2.8

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 VR @ 1/250s f/2.8

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 VR @ 1/640s f/2.8

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 VR @ 1/800s f/2.8

And finally, the otters were out, so I shot a few dozen pictures of them. Here is what I feel is the best of those:

D300 + 300mm f/2.8 VR @ 1/250s f/2.8

So that’s it. As I mentioned in the last post, my photography is destined in a whole new direction now, but I will continue to shoot what I love, and fill these pages with adorable and beautiful animals. Practice is necessary when it comes to photographing animals with which chances are limited. For example, the picture of the finch in green above, I regret not having boosted my ISO for, because that would have given me the shutter speeds that I was missing. But I learned, and I will repair my error in future.

As a last note: this lens, without the TC is amazing. In fact, the only complaint I have about the teleconverter is that it chops out light. But at full speed, this is a beauty of creation, and it gets the appropriate wows from people who don’t even know what it is.

More tomorrow? Could it be? Yup.

Tonight during my drive home after seeing the fiance and his family, including a german lesson from him I was detoured not once, but twice by lots of flashing lights and emergency vehicles on both 518 going out of league city, AND on montrose. I was also passed on the right on I45 by a cop going at least 90 miles an hour. Then when I got to the light at waugh and westhiemer a metro bus ran the red light at full speed. AND by the montrose kroger I saw a night herron standing on one leg looking like he was going to fish — stupid wetland birds!

Needless to say, its been an eventful night, and I’m going to go to bed now, because, frankly, running around with kids for 7 hours tomorrow is going to need the energy.

The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl always makes me hungry for some scoops and salsa. Not to mention the fact that I am inundated with Tostitos commercials during each break. But this was more than about chips, it was about how would Ohio State lose another bowl game? After a 6-3 halftime score, the excitement was only shown during scattered camera shots of McCoy’s family and girlfriend. Holy smoke show! She topped all the highlights in this Tostitos Fiesta bowl and deserved more attention than these camera guys gave her. It’s a nice gimmick to pretend to focus on the parents then pull back the camera and get that girl in the shot. Why didn’t I attend a school in the south? At least a football frenzied environment where Saturday’s meant more than a Division 2 football disaster show. Anyways, I digress.

McCoy's Girlfriend

Second half proved to be much more exciting with some back and forth action happening late in the 4th quarter. This was all brought to you by Tostitos, home of the scoops. With Texas up 11 points in the fourth quarter, Terrelle Pryor, true freshman(very promising future) QB for Ohio State brought the Buckeyes back into the game. He caught a 5 yard pass from the other QB, fifth year senior Todd Boeckman. Later on another Freshman, Herron ran and scored on a 15 yard Touchdown run to boost the Buckeyes to a 21-17 lead with 2 minutes remaining. So the question remained, could Colt lead his team down the field for one more run at the Salsa?!?
Of course, this high-powered machine with Mr. Cosby leading the way with 171 yards and 2 TDs would not be contained. His second TD came on a slant with 16 seconds remaining bringing disaster to the Buckeyes and jubilation to the Longhorns. McCoy ended the day 41 of 59, 414 yards with two TDs and one INT. And that’s how the Buckeyes lost another bowl game. They looked poised and ready for this one but lacked the close. You can’t leave 2 minutes on the clock for such a high-powered offense to operate. Now can Colt McCoy be a great NFL QB? He seems like he’s got the tools but will that translate to the NFL’s speed and strength? I’ll tell you what I think, stay in college another year boy and enjoy that girlfriend of yours. Go on, pop that salsa top and enjoy a spicy scoop!

Yes, I ranted about a game no one cared about to highlight his girlfriend…so what!

RaginRondo

Herron Bird watercolor painting, wildlife animal realistic modern art.

Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $129 USD
Or, send me an email
View more art at my gallery at
http://www.derekmccrea.50megs.com

     On Procession is the brain child of the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the Herron School of Art at IUPUI.   The end product is to be three giant pull toys representing a donkey, a jackass, and a mule which are to be paraded down the streets of Fountain Square on April 26, 2008 as part of the East Meets West Interchange Overpass Parade.  This blog will explore and attempt to understand what this event is all about and what relevance it has for the Indianapolis community and the greater community at large.

     From the beginning of the semester upon hearing of my class’ upcoming involvement with the Allison Smith Project, I was skeptical.  On Tuesday, January 15th,  the artist gave a talk at the Herron School of Art on the project and IUPUI’s part in it.   The flyer given out during the talk was intriguing but puzzling.  The concept of a donkey, a jackass, and a mule constructed of layered plywood and made into  giant pull toys to head a parade seemed a bit silly to me.  To add to the puzzling concept, was a call to action for historical re-enactors and other artists and crafts people to create materials for this parade.  A few weeks later, the concept of the East meets West Parade through Fountain Square meeting up at the Virginia Street Overpass of I-65 made me laugh.  I was already not on board for this project and to add a parade with the concept of east meets west through Fountain Square just sounded corny to me.  Who is this parade for?   Who would care about this parade?  Who would be its audience?  What is the true purpose behind the parade?  What would it cost the city of Indianapolis to pull off the parade?  Just how much money is the Indianapolis Museum of Art shelling out fo this artist and her equine procession?  How do the Herron School of Art students feel about being the free labor for the making of these animals?

The Cardinals hoped to extend their winning streak today in a game against the Florida Marlins at Roger Dean Stadium.  Although the pitching was good, the Redbirds lost 3-2.  I was at work all day, and didn’t get to see or hear the game, but I did follow along with the box score.

R/GA will be giving a presentation at Herron around 4:00 PM on Monday, February 25th in a room yet to be announced.

“The Agency for the Digital Age
We live in an era of rapid technological change, yet the marketing and advertising industries have been slow to adapt. R/GA specializes in harnessing emerging technologies to create new modes of brand building and to deepen customer relationships.” - portion of R/GA Vision Statement

UPDATE: This event is organized by the School of Informatics, but students from across IUPUI are invited to attend.

Some births from Some births from  Blount County vital statistics: 1881-1912 [microfilm].  These have been added to the birth listings on the Blount County page.

• Beasley (white male baby) – born 1 May 1912 to Hardy (Farmer, b. NC) & Jane (b. TN)
• Beasley, Edgar (white male) – born 4 Sep 1911 in NC to Jesse (Farmer, b. NC) & Ella (b. NC)
• Boone, Murtie (white female) – born 18 Jun 1912 to W.M. (Farmer, b. NC) & Katie (b. TN)
• Boone, Virgil (white male) – born 17 Jan 1912 to Albert (Farmer, b. TN) and Martha (b. TN)
• Boring, Clyde (white male)- born 17 Mar 1912 to Boy (Merchant, b. TN) & Martha (b. TN)
• Boring, Dora Hester (white female) – born 15 May 1912 to W.S. (Farmer, b. TN) & Liza (b. TN)
• Boring, Hartzel (white male) – born 13 Dec 1911 to Jas. (Farmer, B. TN) & Mary (b. NC)
• Boring, Lida (white female) – born 26 Apr 1912 to G.L. (Farmer, b. TN) & Vida (b. TN)
• Buchanan, Elen (white female) – born 20 Nov 1911 to Chas. (Farmer, b. TN) & Lizzie (b. NC)
• Carter, Willie (white male)- born 18 Jan 1912 to Dock (Farmer, b. TN) & Mattie (b. TN).
• Crisp, Hazel (white female) – born 17 Mar 1912 to W. (Farmer, b. TN) and Lula (b. TN)
• Curtis, Mildred (white female)- born 12 Jun 1912 to Tom (Farmer, b. TN) & Lizzie (b. TN)
• Earls, Helen (colored) – born 12 Sep 1911 to Nogil (sp?) Earls (b. TN)
• Ellis, Frances (white female) – born 4 Apr 1912 to John (Farmer, b. TN) & Allie (b. TN)
• Ellis, Herbert (white male) – born 14 Feb 1912 to Frank (Mill Hand, b. TN) & Nettie (b. TN)
• Green, John (white male) – born 12 Jun 1912 to R. (Lodger, b. TN) & Nancy (b. TN)
• Griffiths, Lelra (colored) – born 10 Apr 1912 to Eva Griffiths (b. TN)
• Griffiths Jr., Roy (white male) – born 29 Apr 1912 to Roy (Cashier, b. TN) & Lorela (b. TN)
• Herron, Jerry Calvin (white male) – born 17 Jun 1912 to David (Farmer, b. TN) & C. (b. TN)
• Hill, David Edgar(white male) – born 10 May 1912 to John (Farmer, b. NC) & Hettis (b. NC)
• King, Carrie (white) – born 12 Jul 1912 to John (Laborer, b. TN) & Zeta (b. TN)
• King, Hellen (white female) – born 20 Jun 1912 to S. (Blacksmith, b. TN) & B. (b. TN)
• Kurse, Jacob (white male) – born 26 May 1912 to Thos. (Farmer, b. TN) & Abbie (b. TN)
• Lee (white baby) – born 10 Dec 1911 to Bob (Farmer, b. TN) & Annie (b. TN)
• McGaha, Jewel (white female) – born Jan 1912 to Jas. (Teacher, b. TN) & Dyah (b. TN)
• Payne, Jane (white female) – born 30 Jul 1911 to Ardy (Farmer, b. TN) & Loula (b. TN)
• Peterson, Willie (white male) – born 18 May 1912 to Bruce (Section Hand, b. TN) & Belle (b. TN)
• Prater, Stella (colored) – born 29 Jan 1912 to John (b. TN) & Mary (b. TN)
• Shooke (white male baby) – born 7 May 1912 to John (Mill hand, b. TN) and Katie (b. TN)
• Summerly, Gladys (white female) – born 2 Oct 1911 to Charlie (Rural Carrier, b. TN) & M. (b. TN)
• Welcher, Hale (white male) – born 10 Jun 1912 to Frank (Farmer, b. TN) & N. (b. TN)
• Whitehead, Mose (white male) – born 18 Oct 1912 to D.L. (Farmer, b. TN) & Mary (b. TN)