Nothing to say, until next time...

There were a couple of reasons that I began this blog; one, I wanted to share some of the photos, drawing and things that I do to entertain myself and two, as a means to write more (to become a better writer).


I really did not have anything to say or show as of this moment, I guess I have been a little lazy lately. Actually I have been a little busy with work things, TAAS things, De Anza things (next week) and especially studying thing (structures, yuck) so at times it seems like there is just too much going on so when I have a few minutes to relax and wind down I just sit and watch TV and try not to think.

I opened up my Blog Page today to see if I could be motivated to say something and had nothing to say, so I just started clicking through other blogs (kept hitting the “next blog” button on the top of the screen) and ran across a couple of blogs that just had a couple lines of post that really said nothing more than what they were thinking at that moment; hey I can do that, so here it is.

I really do not have anything to say, until next time…

Extraordinary Dancing Lights…

It is interesting how sometimes the accidents and mistakes turn out to be some of my favorite pictures. I have taken pictures like this before, with longer exposures and then purposefully moving the camera around while the shutter is open, but I tend to forget about it until I try and take a photo in low light and wind up with a very blurry photo with some short streaks of lights (not holding the camera steady). It is always at this point that I remember that I can do some interesting things this way.

This image was taken that exact way, I have several shots that I made prior to this one and after and I like all of them but this one really stood out to me because it looks like a group of dancers moving in unison. Light is an amazing thing and some of the things you can do with that light is quite amazing as well.

“In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary.” Aaron Rose

Sketch, Sketch, Sketch...

After the TAAS meeting last night at our usual get together at Il Vicino we were talking about one of the astronomy clubs in Texas that Becky and Shane belong to, this group of astronomers has started to recreate the Messier Poster showing all 110 objects using their members own photos of the list. Becky and I decided to do this same thing for TAAS but using sketches rather than photographs. We are asking anyone interested to take out your sketch book, pad of paper, napkin or whatever is handy and easy to use and the next time you are looking at M1 or M101 to draw what you see in the eyepiece, jot down what size scope, eyepiece and location and let’s begin to compile a bunch of drawings and begin to put this thing together. I am going to do through my sketch books and gather my Messier Sketches as is Becky then we are going to begin to sketch some more so lend us a hand and lets have some fun…

So what happened to the Stars?

It is amazing that the clouds can sense what we most want and then do what they need to do thwart our hopes and desires. I really like to look at the Moon when it is in the crescent phase it is now and I was so looking forward to UNM Campus last night and to the Planetarium this evening to do some looking at the Moon and maybe some sketching and photographing of it, but these "darn" clouds are getting in the way, it is still fairly early on Saturday so I am not giving up hope for a clear sky this evening but it may only be a hope (now that I have put it down in writing maybe it will clear things up). Tonight will primarily be focusing on Mars but I may take a few moments and sneak a peek at the moon in there sometime. So let’s all keep our fingers crossed and maybe we will have a nice evening of observing.

Photo of the Moon I took in February, 2009.

Construction, Construction, Construction...and it continues...

Are you tired of the constructin photos?  Well they will be coming for a little longer but hopefully I will have some other things to post along with the construction stuff.  I am having a lot of fun with this photo-stitching software and as soon as I have enough I think I am going to upgrade from the free version to the full version but I will keep playing with this for now.  The immage above is made up of 22 seperate pictures and there is another earlier post that shows more of a curve on the beams and such I am playing with another setting in the program that straightens the image a little more making it not so distorted.

But things are going well on the construction site (for the most part) and the building is coming along, the spaces are really starting to take shape now.

Construction Continues and so does STUDYING...

You know those mirrors at the fun house...

And this was done with my point and shoot digital camera and a photo stitching software, I think I am feeling a little dizzy, but I am having fun.

At least with the photos I am having fun, I am taking my next ARE on Wednesday and am not feeling very ready for it (I am not sure how to change that, I have almost finished all the reading for it (I will by tomorrow). Then I have a day or two to go back and look over some of the things I do not feel very comfortable with, oops all of it.

I think with all the reading and studying for this exam I have definitely learned why architect hire mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) engineers to do this work for them; IT IS BORING AS HECK!! (Sorry to all you MEP engineers out there, but you must be crazy.)

After this exam I only have two more to do (or re-do in my case), I am so close to the end of all this study stuff; except fro helping others, oh yea and then studying for the new LEED exam, will it ever end?

Still putting up Steel...

New Tech High School (NTHS or NexGen Academy) is still under construction, well it will be for another 9 months or so. I am assisting Bob R. in our office with the construction administration on the project so I have the opportunity to visit the job site each week for the weekly construction meetings and I have been doing some photographs for fun of the building as it is being constructed. I will be posting some of these photos as we move the construction moves on and we start to see the building take on its final form. It is a lot of fun to see the building growing from the ground up I am looking foreword to opening day.