2008

Happy New Year



Happy New Year everyone. Steph and I went to Indiana for the celebration and had a blast with her friend Julie and her boyfriend Ryan. If the photo makes me look a little rough, well....it was a rough night. I'm not in college shape anymore, but I made the best of it.

The best part of the night was probably indoor bags. Trying to avoid things like a ceiling and hot water pipes makes it quite an interesting game.

Merry Christmas

This doesn't look OSHA certified to me.


I finally downloaded a bunch of photos from Steph's camera. I shot this picture months ago, but still have yet to download it, edit it or post it.

I just thought it looked really neat when I passed by it one day and against the bricks it looked even cooler.

So that's my Christmas present to you. Speaking of Christmas...I got an iPod Touch for my big Christmas present from Steph and her parents. I'm trying to get everything organized so I can get my contacts and calendars in order. Maybe I'll finally get a .mac account, but we're trying to save money not spend it.

I also got a few light stands from my parents with swivel umbrella heads. I'm pretty stoked about being able to use them. I also bought a bunch of cords from Lundgrens while I was back to use my flash units.

Portraits Round 2

I make her look good.



So instead of sitting on our butts tonight I decided I'd like to go back to the office and play with the lights a little more. I've had these portrait obsessions lately. I know she doesn't find it nearly as fun as I do to go do this, but at least she brings a book with when I'm fiddling with lights or my camera.

I did successfully get some Rembrandt lighting done. It took me a little bit of testing, but I'm pretty happy with it. I guess it could be a bit more low-key, but not everything has to be. I'm starting to realize more and more that light is not always about where it is, sometimes it's where it's not. I know that so many lighting guys say this over and over, but you don't truly understand it until you're not getting what you want.

The other thing I'm finding is that you don't need a super-fancy studio to do really nice work. Something Scott told me today is that if you spend a long time on any project you can make it look great. "Heck, if you spent enough time in this lobby you could make a great photo story out of it," he said about the lobby of the Community Building today.

I know he was being a tad bit facetious, but in another way I know he was absolutely right. A New Year's Resolution of mine is to do at least one photo story by the end of May. That gives me six months from now. I already have an idea of what I want to do for it. It's perfect. It's close to work and I enjoy the people there. What better way of working. My plan is to spend at least one day a week there until the end of my time period or until I feel I have what I'm looking for.

I'd also like to find a shorter term story to do as well. Well, enough motivation for the night. Time for bed. Time to put words into action tomorrow.

Headshots

She's a good sport.



Steph's letting me use her as a model for the headshot tests. Maybe I'll get to shoot a few tonight when she's done with dinner. I've got two more techniques to try for the basics. Then I'm going to start playing with some creative things.

I saw Scott Strazante at the FutureGen announcement this morning. I've seen Scott before, but never got a chance to talk with him. He's a very nice guy and very intuitive. I guess you kind of have to be in order to be Illinois Photographer of the Year.

We talked a little bit about his "The Season" project and he told me about how he finds time to be a photographer, a husband and a dad. Most importantly, he told me how important it is to work hard. And he's right.

Oh, and congratulations to Mattoon on getting FutureGen. I'm sad for Tuscola, but happy to see it here in Illinois.

Wedding photos

Thank you Noise Ninja and Raw files....oh and thanks Stephen and Eric.


I've been editing a ton of wedding photos lately. I do have to say thanks again to Stephen and Eric for all the photos. You've definitely kept me busy the past few days. I actually felt productive this weekend. I got over 100 of our photos done. I got to read a little bit, read both the Saturday and Sunday papers and even played in my "studio" a bit.
I'm trying to teach myself class lighting techniques so I know the absolute basics of portrait lighting. I'm going to start bringing people in for headshots to just to play around.
I've got a business idea that I may try this spring just to get myself a little extra cash.
I'm also gearing up for the FutureGen announcement this week. It's going to be a long week at work, but it'll pay off when I get to see my parents this weekend and see Steph's family next week.

I love this game?!

Shooting a lot of basketball lately. I really need a second light, but I liked the way this photo turned out.



I've been quite busy lately. Not really an excuse for not posting, just letting you know. I've been in full basketball mode lately. It's actually kind of nice b/c I don't have to switch from football mode to volleyball mode or anything, but I did shoot boys basketball the other night for the first time this year and boy was it different than girls.

So much faster than girls. I was going to try the Strobist light setup tonight for gyms, but forgot I need another pc to pc cord before I do that. I really need to buy like another five of them, but Xmas is coming up so we'll see.

I've got a few photos I'll throw up from work the other night in a day or so. I actually made prints. My next order of business is to get my wedding photos completely done. Hopefully I can do it before Christmas so the family can see.

In rememberance

Flags are refelected in a war memorial at the Douglas County Courthouse Sunday during a Veterans Day ceremony.



Today was the government's observance of Veterans Day or as it was originally known as Armistice Day.

Likely to say that the past two days have been filled with flags and people clad in red, white and blue.

This is probably the first time I've ever really thought about Veterans Day and what the true meaning is. There's this sinking feeling I get when I think about how many World War II veterans are left.

Tom Brokaw wrote the book "The Greatest Generation" because he saw that many of these veterans were dieing off. I'm wondering if he had the same feelings I've been getting.

It would be cool if I could do a project with these veterans, but I need to finish some other things I've started first.

Football

Zack Martin watches his Warriors defeat Mount Olive on Saturday during the quarterfinals.



I love covering state football. Truth be told, I hate working Saturdays, but I have no ideas what I'm going to do when football is over with in two weeks. Basketball is right around the corner, but unfortunately it's really no comparison to the excitement of football.

I've had a blast covering TCHS all year long too. I think next year I'm going to try and cover it a little different. Stephen's been posting about Scott Strazante's coverage of a volleyball team and I'd love to do that as well, but I want to really make it my own next year.

As soon as I figure out how I want to do it I'll let all of you know.

As you can tell, I've fallen in love with hard burning the edges of my photos too. It's kind of the style that everyone has right now and I guess it's always been a style of photographers, but I'm just now getting into it. It makes photos look a lot nicer most of the time and can really draw your attention to something you normally wouldn't have. I think I'm going to make a print of this photo for his parents because I like it so much.

Foot graffiti

I wish I could still get away with writing on my shoe, but I think my wife would get mad.




I saw this when I shooting photos of Atwood High School's assembly with Rupert from "Survivor:Paradise Island" and "Survivor: All-stars." I wasn't sure what to expect from him when I got there. I assumed it would be a lame speech about practically nothing and mostly just promoting himself, but I was proved incredibly wrong.

Rupert ended up being a very nice guy and one of the few speakers or people I've met in awhile who really cares about children. He cares what happens to them and can really relate to those who need attention the most.

I may actually write him a letter. He said anyone who writes him gets a handwritten response guaranteed.

It's not like I should expect anything less though. He's just another person, but I'm glad a person like him has got some fame and turned it into something positive.

As for the shoe, it just reminded me of something I woudl have done. I wouldn't have chose to put a big heart on my shoe, but I do remember writing "Erin Hurley sucks" on the side of my shoe during class in college one time and turning to Erin to show her when it was dead silent in class. She immediately burst open laughing getting dirty looks from the teacher and the rest of the class. God, everyone in that sociology class hated us. I think they were just jealous because of how much fun we had. Or it could have been how annoying and obnoxious we were, but either way I know I had a lot of fun.

Sweet Thursdays

Matt Meyer claims his coworkers are to blame for his hard hat, but I think he's just a super Illini fan.


Today was a pretty nice day. Got to shoot a lot of photos. It seemed like each time I showed up for an assignment I kept feeling like I was lost and didn't know what to shoot. As soon as I just started shooting I slipped into the groove. I'd step back after a little while, reanalyze what I had and shoot for something new and creative.

I think one of the biggest things I need to do is to realize when I already have a certain kind of shot and not shoot that one again. I find myself shooting a lot of the same image just a little bit different. I guess in a way it's because I always think the next frame will be better than the next, but I end up missing shots I'd be much happier with if I wouldn't concentrate on one particular angle.

Here's a few shots from a couple of assignments I did today. Mostly had a lot of fun doing my assignments. As soon as some of the other shots run I'll post them, but that won't be until at least next Friday.

This weekend Lucas and I are in for the long haul down to Mount Olive to watch the Warriors move to another round in the playoffs. Let's just hope Arcola can win theirs and we can see the return of the Cola Wars.

APAD

Ted Dibiase, the Million Dollar Man, speaks to Arcola students about premarital sex, drugs, alcohol and abuse in their gym on Friday. Dibiase joined the ministry after his professional wrestling career ended.


2 posts in a day??? What, what, what??? I know, crazy huh? Mostly because I feel I neglected my blog for so long and partly because I'm bored. I'm home alone waiting for Steph to get back from a wedding. I just finished a book and I'm not in the mood for television, so this is the next best thing I guess.

I'm trying to start shooting a photo a day right now. It's difficult because I don't get out of the office every single day to shoot now, but I should stop making excuses and just do.

This photo is one I shot on Friday, but didn't get to post until today. This is a link to Saturday's shot, and I don't have one from today mostly because it's my day off and partly because I spent most the day cleaning, exercising and lounging. Felt pretty good all in all. Exactly what I needed to get me up and running for the week.

I try to send in a photo each day to the "A photo a day" Google group, but not always successful. Good thing they don't pay me. I'm mostly hoping this will just help me start seeing things differently as there are a lot of really good photographers on there.

The last thing to plug today is Strobist. I plugged this a lot on this site, but John Dixon, a News-Gazette photographer sent out a group email about this article. He's definitely right in saying this is what we do. It got me really thinking about my minimum level of quality. So Stephen, you'll be happy to know that found something to break me out of that slump we talked about. I knew if I looked for something it would help.

Return to home

Watching a sunset from a plane is quite awesome.


I'm finally getting to posting the last part about our honeymoon. It's been a few weeks, but here it goes.

Saturday we wake up and roll out of bed. We go down to eat breakfast because we're going to make sure we don't miss it.

We sit out near the beach for a little while to enjoy our last few hours before we have to return to our everyday life. We both have this odd feeling of wanting to see our friends and family, but part of us is depressed we can't stay. Over the past week the two of us learned how to use the bus system, how to barter with the merchants and how to try new and exciting things.

In a way, some of the people and things we saw we're beginning to become normal and to have to fly back felt like we were being up rooted all over again.

We both knew the feeling wouldn't last, but there was still a feeling of hesitation to leave.

We went back to the hotel room and picked up all of our stuff in the room. We checked, rechecked and then checked one last time to make sure we had everything. Steph's pretty adamant about doing that.

The only thing that sucks about having all this done early is that now it's only 10 a.m., our ride to get to the airport doesn't show until noon. We decide the best thing to do now would be go sit at the hotel bar. I mean seriously, what would you do?

While we're down there we run into our British/Scottish friends again. We talk with them for a little while and Steph finally finds a drink that she actually likes from the hotel bar. The guy bartending that day made her his homemade bloody mary and a I drink a few pina coladas.

Our transportation gets there right at noon and we take off. We get to the airport only to find out our flight has been delayed 2-and-a-half hours.

We get some food, look at the duty-free shop and wander around until sitting by our gate and waiting very impatiently. Finally we get on the plane, take off and start heading back to Chicago.

We get into Chicago around 8:30 and get through customs at 9. Luckily we never get checked by customs either on the way there or on the way home. It saves us a ton of time. Krissi picks us up and takes us to Steph's car. Of course Steph falls asleep on the way home and I end up calling Stephen and my parents to check up on what's going on.

We make it back to Steph's parents and fall asleep pretty quickly. Next day means a lot of packing and another long drive home.

One of the coolest things at Chichen Itza was the arena that they played a crude form of basketball and soccer combined. The walls were acoustically perfect to determine whether the ball was in play or out of bounds simply hearing the echoes.


So finally we make our way to Chichen Itza. I'm pumped because it's something I've wanted to go there all week long. I wouldn't call myself a history buff, but I'm really interested in most of it. Stephanie's been fed so she's calmed down and I'm just admiring all the small villages we've been going through. They're pretty awesome.

We finally make our way into the city. One of the coolest things I notice on the way in is a worn out baseball field off to our right in a school yard. Something about made me feel nostalgic. I could almost imagine that it was a ball field that some latino player got his big start on. Chances are not because of the condition of the field, but I like to imagine it that way.

We finally arrive. It's a fairly typical tourist trap. Gates, tickets and vendors. We wind our way through the turnstiles and find our way to our English speaking tour guide. His English is maso menos (s0-so).

As we said before Stephanie and I didn't really plan too well for this trip so when we got there we realized we forgot sunscreen for the two of us. Not too bad for me, but not so good for Steph. I'm wearing a thin white shirt and she has on a strapless top exposing her shoulders and back.

We start the tour and of course everything is in the open sun. Barely any trees. Our guide doesn't make a ton of sense so Steph decides she's just going hang out under a tree to minimize the sun.

The most disappointing thing though is that I find out I won't get to climb to the top of the most famous ruin there. They closed it down two years ago after two people died from falling down the steps. Probably a good thing.

The guide knows his information really well he just doesn't do a good job of conveying it. He tried to explain way too much symbolism that didn't make any sense. After awhile I just kind of quit listening to him and looking at things on my own.

Between every new stop inside the park we're approached by more vendors. "One dollar. Almost free. One-dollar, Mayan souvenir."

It was brutal. Finally they just release us on our own. We get to climb on one of the ruins and look around. They called it the observatory, but no one's for sure if it really was an observatory. Few records were left by the Mayans here because the Spanish explorers never found it until 200 years after it had already been abandoned. It starts to get a little cloudy and begins to rain so we take cover under shelter and wait for it to subside. On the way back I find a silver bracelet I really like so I barter with the vendor for a bit and end up paying about $20 for it.

After we go out front Steph gets bling envy because now I have a ring and a bracelet so we find her a neat little ring for her thumb that has the Mayan symbol for the God of Rain on it.

The bus loads up about 10 minutes later and we head back home. We relax and enjoy the drive back. It's all I can do from keeping to look out the window constantly. I think it's the photographer/journalist in me. Always looking, never wanting to miss anything.

After we get back to the hotel, we eat dinner and make our way back to our hotel. Make it an early night because of how early we got up in the morning.

Ik Kil

I wish I could have spent a couple of days running around Mexican villages to photograph the old architecture.


Friday started early. We had to be up at 6 a.m. in order to be ready for the bus that was going to pick us up by 7 a.m.

We decided Friday would be our tourist day where we went and saw some of the countryside and some of the villages.

We bought an all-day trip to Chichen Itza, which is the Mayan ruins located southwest of Cancun in Yucatan.

Unfortunately breakfast didn't start until 7:30 so we didn't have anything to eat. As we hadn't asked too many questions about the trip we weren't sure about breakfast. Nor did we pack our books for a long bus trip. We thought the trip might only be a half hour, but it ended up being several hours.

So with no food and no entertainment we set off for a long bus trip with few people who speak English. If anyone knows Steph, they know the 'no food' part is a recipe for disaster.

Luckily she's trying to be as cheery as possible. Luckily the guide on the bus tells us about all the interesting facts about Mexico.
It was really interesting to hear him say everything in Spanish and
English. I actually picked up on many of the things he was saying in Spanish.

On the way he tells us we will be stopping by a little place called Ik Kil. It's a natural cenote before you get to Chichen Itza. The drop from the top is about 60 meters and the water depth is about 40 meters once you get to the bottom. There's a cool stairwell that leads to the bottom where you can take a dip if you like. I was all about it. I actually took a leap off the top stairwell that is about 20 feet up.

It was kind of scary, but really no higher than a high dive. It was really thrilling to jump into a pool and know there was nothing below you to keep your body up. The closes thing to the bottom was 120 feet.

Steph did get a blurry photo of me jumping in.

I climbed up out, dried off and got Steph a small snack to tide her over until lunch.
After a quick stop here we all loaded back up and headed to our lunch destination in a small village between.

Lunch was a pretty nice spread and everything except drinks were paid for already. It was cool that they actually had dancers/entertainers during the dessert of our lunch.
I snapped a few shots within the block we were in, but I would have loved to been able to spend a whole day in the villages. Stuff like that is really interesting to me. It was absolutely nuts to see people in huts made of sticks watching televisions and on computers. Another thing I noticed was a multitude of internet cafes. I guess if not many people in town had computers this would make sense to have a common place for them to be used.

Everything was loaded backup and we headed for Chichen Itza. More to come tomorrow.

Day 4: Hard Rock rocks

My first trip to Hard Rock Cafe was awesome and so was my meal.


I missed posting yesterday because the football game ran late and I didn't get a chance to edit Thursday's photos from Cancun. Tomorrow may be a 2 part blog because Friday was just so cool and we took so many photos. I had to struggle to decide which photo to lead with today, but then I remembered this blog is supposed to be concentrating on detail so I lead with this one. Look at this photo anyway.

On Wednesday we decided to go on a snorkeling trip through the marina, but Steph was feeling sick so we decided to wait until Thursday. The trip was supposed to be from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., so when we woke up at 9:55 a.m. that was kind of out of the question. We didn't even make it out of the hotel until 10:35 a.m. so we missed breakfast at the hotel.

We made a quick trip to the super deli next door and headed to the beach. Today was another relaxation day of not doing a whole lot.

In the afternoon we did take the paddle boat out in the middle of the lagoon for awhile. I hadn't used one of those for a long time. The funniest part of that whole trip was Steph freaking out when we nearly hit one of the posts that was about 200 yards out in the water. Normally, nearly crashing into something wouldn't be funny, but when you're going to hit a wooden post with a plastic leg-powered boat at about 3 mph while you're floating it's actually pretty funny.

After that we showered up and headed downtown for dinner again. Tonight's restaurant, Hard Rock Cafe. I've never been to one and have always wanted to go. Dinner was great as usual. The restaurant was amazing. It was almost like heaven for me. All the music memorabilia and the video playing were great.

I loved that the server kept calling me 'boy' and calling Steph 'girl.'

"Are you ready to order boy?"
"Do you want another drink girl?"

She didn't mean any disrespect. I had kind of noticed it all week with other people too.

Anyway, she did let us know there would be a band playing later on which was great. As we were getting ready to ask for our check it somehow came up that it was our honeymoon. And she goes, "Oh, why didn't you tell me before boy? I'll be right back."

Next thing we know all the servers are coming out there with her to our table. I see two full shots of some unknown black liquid and I think, "Oh, great."

They made each of us take a shot in what I'll call a less than appropriate way in front of everyone in the restaurant. I guess I'd call it PG-13. Funny and entertaining to most people. Shot didn't taste horrible, but didn't taste great either.

We walked around for awhile after that to burn off our food, but then went back to Hard Rock for the concert.

Band is amazing. I'm pretty sure they're called Sombra, but not 100 percent sure. Great guitar players and just put on a great show. Wide variety of covers.

We then head back to the hotel bar for a bit and hang out with our British friends again. Steph's turn to get drunk. I get a little buzzed, but not bad. Steph starts repeating some song line of "A Be be be." Which to me sounds like she's trying to sound like Yogi the Bear. "Hey Boo boo."

Despite missing the boat on snorkeling, literally, we had another great day.

Day 3: Best/Worst/Best Day Ever

It can't be all beaches and fun in the sun.


Wednesday starts off a bit slow. Steph doesn't feel the greatest. She's got a pretty bad cold. Can't hardly breathe. I'm in great spirits. Still riding high off Tuesday's fumes. We go down for a little bite to eat and some R&R.

Breakfast is good and we go to lay on the beach. About an hour or two after laying out I reach in the bag for th camera to take a picture when I notice sand bits in the bag we're carrying the camera in. I freak out because I'm a parannoy with the new camera. After a year working in a camera store I've seen way too many sand cameras come back.

I tell Steph I'm going to shake the bag out and tell her to hang on to eveyrthing in the bag. Here's where things get good. I grab the bag and start shaking. Seems like no big deal. But those who have been married before know that after you get married your wedding ring might not be the tightest as it hasn't been sized for your finger.

On the fourth shake of the bag I feel my brand new ring fly off. My heart drops. I'm freaking. The 10 seconds it takes me to tell Steph seems like an eternity of misery. I quickly say, "Steph, my ring just fell off." Her reply, "So get down and find it," in a not really paying attention manner.

She thinks I lost my new Mexican ring I bought. Then comes the bombshell, "No Steph, my wedding ring."

"What!!??!!? Oh my god, start looking."

Natural reaction. We start looking. People on the beach think we're playing a game until they ask us what we're doing. Wives begin searching frantically as us. Guys pretend to care. I feel dumb. No metal detectors in sight and apparently none to rent in Cancun.

After 15 minutes 15-20 people help us search. Another 5 minutes of searching leads me to a little spot of uncovered sand where I dig my hand like a shovel into the extremely fine sand where middle finger lightly taps a piece of silver band as well as picks up my heart.
Exuberance. The cool part is we meet a few couples while we're searching. Everyone's really nice. The ring stays in the hotel room from now on.

I get a few drinks with one of the British couples we met. Nice people. Very funny people. She's Scottish, he's English. Makes for a lot of jokes. 4 or 5 vodka tonics later I'm buzzing....okay a little drunk. Steph still isn't feeling well so we go back upstairs to the room. I try to take care of her, but quickly pass out on the bed. I wake up 3 hours later. It's only 4 p.m. I feel fantastic though.

We decide to head down to get some food at 5:30. While Steph gets ready I get to watch part of the NLCS game which gets me pumped. We actually decide on going to Hooters for dinner. Steph thinks the hotwings will open up her congestion and I'm just excited to go in general. The best part, the Redsox game will be on.

When we get to Hooters we're the only people in there practically. I ask which tv will be showing the game. They direct me towards the 20 foot cinematic screen right in front of the bar. I'm ecstatic. While eating I realize Stephanie is the coolest wife ever. Honestly, tell me what wife would let there husband go to Hooters and watch a baseball game with them while letting them consume more alcohol after already being drunk once in the day. Let alone on their honeymoon. Luckily I didn't just marry my wife, but my best friend too. Forty hotwings and a Redsox victory later we head back to the hotel.

We go down to the hotel bar for a few more drinks where I get drunk with our British friends again. The night ends as good as it began.

Day 2: A fresh beginning

How can you have complaints when your day starts like this!



Day 2. We wake up. I slowly drag my bruised body out of the rock hard bed. My sleepy eyes focus in and out of the curtain hanging on the slideing glass window. The dark color of the curtain lets little light through. By the looks I assume it's a rainy day.

I go over to the curtain and pull it back. I'm pleasantly surprised to find it's a beautfiul day with the sun shining brightly across the lagoon behind our hotel. Today's going to be good.

We head down for breakfast. I'm a bit worried ti's going to be as bad as lunch. Luckily it's omelettes. You can't screw up omelettes. They end up being delicious.

Time for a little R&R. We relax and peruse the list of marina activities. We finally decide on parasailing for our first activity. It's a life goal of ours so we're pumped. The guys running it speak very little English and I'm pretty sure make fun of my little extra weight in the front, but that's okay. I've got a beautiful wife with me and they only have a couple of smelly guys on a boat.

The 12-minute ride is awesome. 45 feet above the water flying behind a boat is phenomenal.
Next we decide on the wave runner. I've been on one, but Steph hasn't. It's amazing as well. Nothing but pure throttle on that thing. "Have you ever tried not smiling on a wave runner?"

Next back to the beach for a little lunch. Lunch is just okay again. A little disappointed by the food again we decide to go back downtown for dinner later on, but still a little more time for sunbathing. Luckily after two days of fun in the sun Stephanie is still not burnt.

We ride the bus back to the downtown area. Rainforest Cafe for dinner; Mexicani style. Food is great, waiter is very good and I get to see a monkey crawling around on some guys head. It was awesome. We run around the downtown area for a bit. We decide to get our souvenir shopping out of the way. It takes about an hour and a half of running around a place called the Mexican Depot.

Finally it's time to head back to the hotel for a little her and me time.

On the bus ride back we run into this Mexican musician playing for tips on the busy. He starts with a Spanish tune and switches to Oasis' "Don't Look Back in Anger." It's beautiful. Not only is he a great player, but his voice is awesome too. It makes me want to do a photo story on him. I start imagining the multitude of available photos from a story. I even makeup my own little story about him. Where he's been, what his parents do, why he has to ride the bus. All of these things pass my mind as we wait to be dropped off. I tip him a few dollars which seems to be more than most people, but I really loved it.

Sadly I don't talk to him. I never ask him his name, I leave everything to my imagination. In some ways I hate this and in a wierd way I'm glad I'm letting my imagination run wild. Chances are his real story isn't as cool as the one I've made up.

We get back to the hotel. We go get a few drinks from the hotel bar and head back to the hotel room. Day 2 ends up being a huge success.

Day 1

Luckily the blisters on my feet have healed.


It's been awhile. I apologize. I've been busy. You know, marriage stuff. I'm going to update once a day with a photo from each day of the honeymoon. Each day has a photo to go with the stories. Without further ado....

So let me first off tell you that anyone who says going to Cancun is just like being in the U.S. must have a really distorted view of the States. Don't get me wrong. I'm sure it's the most Americanized place there, but still quite a ways. Many people are fairly bilingual there, but not as much as most people think.

We arrived around 1 p.m. on Monday. It's raining. Immediately get out of the plane and go through customs. Thank god customs was a breeze. Didn't get searched or anything. We leave through the gates and get a van to our hotel.

I have to say the hotel was a little unimpressive when we showed up. I think the both of us were expecting a little bit more out of the resort, but being wore out from the flight, the lack of sleep and being pretty hungry gave us a bit of a negative attitude.
We go to eat in the hotel restaurant why they finish cleaning up our room.

The food ends up being horrible. Strike 2. The only way to describe the food was American food gone bad. Finally, we get all checked in. The room is even less impressive.

No remote for the tv, all tile on the floor and the beds are hard as a rock. And apparently they don't believe in rags for bathing in Mexico.

We still try to make the best of things. Get changed, head down to the beach. Luckily after 30 minutes on the beach the weather gets beautiful. Around 4:30 we start to get a bit hungry and want to go to dinner, but since we already discovered the hotel food sucks we head to the downtown area.

We're unsure how far it actually is, but we're up for a walk. Should've brought walking shoes. I made the mistake of wearing flip flops. We end up walking 8.5 km until we get to what they call the hotel zone with all the shops and restaurants.

We finally get settled in at a restaurant called the Mexican Pub. We're the only people there at 5:30 p.m. which seems wierd. Waiter speaks little English. I order a Bud Light, but get a Modelo Light, which is essentially there version of it. We get a stroke of luck though. The owner is sitting there and speaks very good English. We end up finding out everyone in Mexico eats 2 hours later than in the states becuase of their siestas.

We eat our meal which is fantastic. Try to pay with a traveler's check, but we mess it up and he can't accept it. Luckily he lets us pay with US dollars. He then explains to us how use the bus system and exchange our money. We ride the bus back which is kind of cool. If it's one thing Cancun has, it's a very good transit system.

We get back to the hotel and nearly pass out. I've had a few drinks for the day, my feet are pounding with blisters from walking and we're exhausted.

Luckily we're both positive tomorrow will be better.

I'll update the flickr section each day with new photos. Eventually I'll have all them up. Hopefully in a week or so.

Mr. Bigshot

Who’s Mr. Bigshot now?



Stephen likes to refer to me as Mr. Bigshot now since I’m managing editor for my paper, but I saw his photos all over the front page today, so who’s the real Mr. Bigshot?

Tonight’s probably my last post as a single man. I don’t know if that’s really true or not. Knowing my absolute nerdiness I’ll be posting one tomorrow night. I’m sure I’ll have photos from the bar and the rehearsal dinner.

I actually do have a lot of photos to upload, but haven’t had the time. Hopefully I can do a better job, but don’t count on it.

Bored on a Thursday night

Transformers were so much cooler in the 1980s.



I just had to add this photo really quick. I saw this transformer logo on the back of a car in the parking lot of IHOP during Stephen's wedding day. It's crazy how all the shows I watched as a little kid have become movies. I'm still boycotting the transformer movie because Michael Bay produced it.
I'll hopefully have some more detail shots coming. I've been struggling to come up with creative ones, but the more I look for them the easier it gets. Tomorrow I'm shooting more football and loving it. Saturday is my bachelor party in Chicago. I'm looking forward to hanging out with the guys, but I'm not looking forward to the feeling on Sunday I'll have.