The Ugly American
ok...a small preview...
I have a boat...it now has a name...but...I only have one small picture...and it was taken before I gave the Danielle-Marie a thorough cleaning...she looks a little better now. I didn't name her...my oldest daughter did...she's named after my daughters...and in a round about way...my mother too.
The Danielle-Marie is a 21' SeaSwirl Striper with a 175HP Johnson outboard on the back. She can get up to around 43 MPH and cruises nicely around 30!
You can't see it yet...
I am now a proud boat owner. I don't have any pictures yet, well...that's not quite true...I have a couple of pictures...but I want to clean it up...so, I'll show you before and after pictures in a few days.
It's very similar to the one in the picture below this post...same hull style...bigger motor...all white...and it runs really well. I have a little cosmetic work to do...mainly just clean it up...then I'll let you see.
Maybe?
I took this boat out for a test ride today. Nice little 21' walkaround. It's 10 years old, but the 150 Mercury on the back is only 3 years old. I'm thinking about it...
Figuring things out with this new camera...
I'm having a lot of fun with my new toy...check this out!
With my bigger zoom lens...and it's macro feature...and a tripod...and a remote, I was able to zoom in on this Daddy Long Legs spider..at least that's what I call them.
In order to get all of the spider in focus from such close range I had to set the aperature very high...this makes the picture very dark...so the shutter has to stay open for about 4 seconds to take this shot. A high number for aperature means a very small opening in the lens...which in turn...because of something to do with optics and s#!t that makes what they call depth of field deeper...which in turn allows me to get the spider somewhat in focus!!! That's the reason for the remote and the tripod. Wouldn't be a very clear picture if I tried to hold the camera still for that long!
There's a bigger spider in the garage right now...but he's hiding. Wait until I get a shot of him!
I'm trying something new...
I'm adding a link to a photobucket widget...
Ok, if you click on my nephews name...right here...
lance...you'll get a really neat slide show of some pictures I took Sunday morning.
If I can figure out how to put it up here, so you don't have to click over to another page I will.
Pictures...pictures....pictures...
Here's a couple for you from my trip up to Jersey...
One of them is the Twin Lights in Highlands, NJ...the other one is my nephew...
How smart are you?
I got a new toy!
I went out and picked up a Canon Rebel digital SLR. I'm learning how to use it...
I used to take a lot of pictures with an old Minolta I had...film is to damn expensive!
I took this one from my living room window with the new camera and the second lens...an 80-300mm zoom lens...
This one I took in my backyard. I was outside messing with the camera, seeing how the macro function worked when this bug landed on the only flower in my backyard.
There'll be plenty more...the cool thing about digital is you can snap away and just delete what you don't want! This Rebel XTi snaps 3 frames per second...lots of pictures!
One more thing about the beach...
There is one more thing I forgot to tell you about Virginia Beach.
If you come here to visit...you better watch your filthy little potty mouth...
"Cause there's no cussin' or cursing on Beach Street USA!
The sandcastles I promised...
Sorry for the deviation from my plan...I promised more pictures of the sandcastles...unfortunately...s#!t happens.
So, without further ado...here are the pictures I promised.
The first picture is actually part of a much bigger sandcastle...one I couldn't get all of in one frame.
The second set of four are the same castle...taken from different angles.
Then one last castle...there were more...and they were all pretty awesome. It was a great day at the beach...good food...good weather...good company...everything was pretty much perfect.
It's good that there are things like this to make you forget the really crumby days...I still don't have a clue as to what I'm going to say to my friends when I see them tonight...I know there's really nothing good to say except that I'm there for them if they need me...I have pretty big shoulders...good for friends to lean on if they ever need...
Maybe someone can help me...
What do you say to a family that loses a loved one?
I know this isn't an easy question to answer, I've been struggling with it for two days now. What makes it all the more difficult is the fact that the lost loved one was only 18.
Yeah, I've been here before. I've been to a few funerals...more than I can count...remember, I was in an honor guard. I never liked them when I didn't know the person in the casket and I really don't like them when it's someone I know.
How can you put into words how bad your heart aches for a friend when they lose a child? Parents aren't supposed to have to bury their kids. Our kids are supposed to be the ones that have to live with the heart ache of losing parents. Parents aren't supposed to have to put up with the heart ache of losing a child.
What do you tell your friends that might make it feel just a bit better? And an even better question that no one has ever been able to answer for me...if there is a god in heaven why would he take an 18 year old boy away from his parents? Why does your god take the good ones and leave the bad ones? My friends' son dies and assholes get to live and kill kids or molest them or both.
WTF???Who the hell is running this animal house anyway???
I guess that old saying...life just ain't fair...is way to accurate today.
AJ, Julie, Nick, Eric and Anthony...I'm so sorry for your loss...
Kory J. Reardon 1988-2006Rest in Peace young man
Spent the day at the beach yesterday...
Worshipping pagan gods!
It's the start of the Neptune Festival here in Virginia Beach.
The coolest thing is usually the Sandcastle competition...so...we went and checked it out.
Here's how it went. That first picture...the monster sandcastle is at one end of the beach, but all the other sandcastles are at the other end. We walked onto the beach in the middle. I saw that monster castle at one end of the beach...unfortunately, it was the wrong end.
Down at the other end, is where we found the castles. In between, all kinds of booths are set up...selling everything from the junk you usually have to spend 5 dollars on trying to win to some very nice art work. But all I want to show you is the sandcastles.
So we get to the other end of the beach and find the start of the sandcastles...this is the first one I see...
...not exactly the grand works of art I saw last year...
...stellar art work for a group of middle schoolers I thought...
...which it turned out they were!!!
I have more...but I guess I'm limited on how many I can put in one post...so...I'll follow it up this afternoon with the good castles!
I used to take a lot of pictures with an old Minolta I had...film is to damn expensive!
This one I took in my backyard. I was outside messing with the camera, seeing how the macro function worked when this bug landed on the only flower in my backyard.
The first picture is actually part of a much bigger sandcastle...one I couldn't get all of in one frame. 
...stellar art work for a group of middle schoolers I thought...
...which it turned out they were!!!
