May 4, 2008

Picture of the Day

As you can see, I'm trying to update all the blogs I've been meaning to post the last few days or so. This should be my last post for now (hopefully).

First, yay for me! I just got my check from Creating Keepsakes. One hundred buckaroos for a two-page spread that's (hopefully) going to be in the June issue. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, considering how much last minute editing can happen to a magazine, but fingers crossed for the next week, when I should get my June issue. :)

Second, I started the picture a day challenge some people are doing online, where you, well, take a good picture every day and then post it. Here are my May 1-3 pics:

Oh the places you'll go...

A bunch of my friends graduated college today, hip, hip, hooray, as Sonia would say. To commemmorate this step into the adult world, I thought a poem by Dr. Suess would be fitting:

Congratulations!Today is your day.You're off to Great Places!You're off and away!
You have brains in your head.You have feet in your shoesYou can steer yourselfany direction you choose.You're on your own. And you know what you know.And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

Out there things can happenand frequently doto people as brainyand footsy as you.
And when things start to happen,don't worry. Don't stew.Just go right along.You'll start happening too.
OH! THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!You'll be seeing great sights!You'll join the high flierswho soar to high heights.
You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

With banner flip-flapping,once more you'll ride high!Ready for anything under the sky.Ready because you're that kind of a guy!
Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!There are points to be scored. there are games to be won.And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all.Fame! You'll be famous as famous can be,with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

And will you succeed?Yes! You will, indeed!(98 and 3 / 4 percent guaranteed.)
KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!
So...be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Brayor Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,you're off to Great Places!Today is your day!Your mountain is waiting.So...get on your way!

Lots and lots of fun pictures

What a fun (and long) day! SDCC graduation was today, more on that later, but the greatest thing was that at Sonia's grad party, I learned 2 great, amazing, fantabulous things about my camera.

First, Mandy and JR helped me in my struggles to create upclose photos that have blurred out backgrounds. Between the two of them, I finally, finally, finally figured out which settings to change in the camera (I think I took the auto focus off), and then how to focus in and then set up the perspective how I like it. A-mazing! My two favorite examples from today, with Liz and Paulby as my models:

Then, completely by accident, I discovered that my camera has a way higher zoom than I ever knew. I was trying to take a picture of this kid who was playing with a remote control boat by the pool. I got one, but wasn't happy with it since it still seemed so far away, even though I had the zoom as high as it could go. So I went to take another, and I must have changed another setting when I turned off auto focus, because all of the sudden it was zooming way in! It was amazing how close up a picture I could get. I give you Example A and Example B:

Obviously, quite a difference. And now, with these 2 new tools, I can officially take some awesome pictures.

And, just for kicks, here's some fun pictures from Old Town tonight:

Ryan's Kitchen: Episode One

Tonight, for your viewing pleasure, we have conducted the first of many installments entitled, "Brittany and Ryan's School of Cooking." In this exciting adventure, Jordan pays rapt attention during the making of Thursday TV Night dinner, whilst Brittany and Ryan offer tips and tricks and general cooking knowledge in a cooking network show format.

Today's Meal: Spaghetti with Salad and Garlic Bread, and Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies



(Currently Playing: Always Be My Baby, the David Cook version)

Lesson One: Always scrape the excess butter and garlic off of garlic bread (also, for actual crispy brown bag, don't use bag... this rule applies for garlic bread that is not pre-frozen. Pre-frozen bread works well with the bag).




Lesson Two: If you do not want your spaghetti to stick to the pot or to itself, add a pinch of salt (note: a very small pinch of salt, not a spoonful).

Lesson Three: Always shake the bottle (Warning! Product placement!).




Lesson Four: Do not recycle the excess butter from aforementioned garlic bread for cookies.

Lesson Five: If butter has not been prepared/warmed ahead of time, microwave the sucker. (Important: take the wrapper off butter, or you will start a fire or melt wax into your butter.)


Lesson Six: Do not leave the butter on the pan for too long. (Exhibit A)


Lesson Seven: Never leave tupperware in the oven, unless you're looking for a good way to make abstract plastic sculptures

Lesson Eight: Fruity salad dressings (i.e. Raspberry Viaigrette) goes well with spinach, not so much with regular old iceberg

Lesson Nine: You must always play David Cook while cooking. (This one's debateable.)


And a pic of the happy family, enjoying the spaghetti dinner:

31 Cents, Baby!

It's that day again- hope everyone got their fill of Baskin Robbins ice cream. Last year, I distinctly remember being allowed to buy only one scoop. At the branch we went to today, the limit was 10. Oh, geez. I think I got (I was a little rushed): Strawberry, cherries jubilee, chocolate chip, and Heath Bar. The cherries with melted Heath bar were yummy.

So, as our good friend Barney from TV Land would say, "Scoop up!"

Oh, also I learned some unfortunate details about my roommates: they love pink bumble gum ice cream. Gag.

{Pictures to come.}

American Idol

Well, I used to be able to say I'd never seen an episode of American Idol, but this year when they came to San Diego, I decided to watch the auditions episode. It was... meh. I could see why people were entertained by it, but I wasn't terribly impressed. Then a few weeks ago, I started going with Britt over to Ryan's house for TV Thursday, where they watched the two nights' American Idols and that week's The Office, and I started getting to know the contestants, and I got somewhat hooked. But just for this season.

All that to say, as I'm sitting here watching tonight... how in the world is Jason Castro (or as I like to call him "the hippie") still in the running? He sings the exact same kind of songs, in the exact same way, and he has no personality. Why do these silly American girls keep voting for him? Dude, vote for the kid! He's stinkin' rocked every song I've seen, and the judges can't find anything bad to say about him.

PS- I like that Syesha goes on barefoot. I would totally do that. She's just standing there, facing Simon, in her cute dress and no shoes. I love it.

The Difference Between Girls and Boys

Ha! So I'm in the process of trying to get my laptop back up to full optimal performance, which for me involves a lot of deleting and reorganizing files. I found an MS Word doc that I'd kept with fun quotes from the roommates and our guests over the years (kind of the things that didn't make it onto the actual quote wall), and I found this great one from the Great M&M Poker Night of 2005. Sonia and I had Muruk, Boston, and Donald from New Mexico over during Thanksgiving break and we tried this varation to Texas Hold 'Em after we'd just spent the day down at Point Loma. Anyway, here's the conversation upon sorting out the M&Ms and dealing the cards:

Me: "Wait! I need to get my camera!"

Boston: "Girls and cameras." (Accomanying eye roll.)

Me: "Wait a minute! All I heard today from Donald and Darrin today was 'I wish I had a camera!'"

Donald: "That's different! That was the beach, this is M&M's!"

And the accompanying scrapbook page I did of the night: :)

The Future

So yesterday I got a peak into what the future will be like. I had to make a trip up to Vista to pick up a banner for work. A nice little two-hour road trip in the middle of a Wednesday, just what I like.


Anyway, I decided to stop for fast food while I was there, not really because I was hungry but mostly because I had downed half of a Mickey D's 42 oz coke on the way up and really needed to stop somewhere before I made the return hour trip home. The only thing I found was this ritzy looking Jack in the Box off the 78 freeway (by the way, who even knew the 78 was a freeway in San Diego?), so I stopped in there for a chicken sandwich.


Holy cow. First off, Vista must be a wealthy town, because the Jack in the Box interior was furnished like a Starbucks. Sleek modern looking tables and chairs, plenty of people in suits eating salads, and a whole ambiance to boot.


But the ordering line is where it got impressive. As I stood at the counter, being kind of ignored by the three people bustling around behind there, I noticed a machine just to the left of me. It kind of looked like a free standing ATM machine, except the screen was flashing ORDER HERE TOUCH SCREEN TO BEGIN. Pretty clear what it's purpose was, but still I thought, no way, they're still going to give me the option of ordering at the counter, right? It's not a computer-order-or-nothing place, right? Wrong. They continued to ignore me as I stood there, until finally a girl came out from the kitchen area to take my order by punching it all in the machine for me. (I could have figured it out.) They're clearly trying to wean people off the face-to-face ordering we've all grown accustomed to by doing this directly in front of customers so they catch on, although she punched in the order so fast I only caught glimpses of the various screens as they flashed by.





I'll admit, I was impressed. The machine had the whole menu, prices, flashing lights and buttons, credit card slots, all the things Americans are attracted to in technological advancement. I tried to find a picture online, but the closest I got was this ugly Taco Bell/KFC hybrid that is big and clunky and clearly last year's model:

So there you have it, friends. The Future of fast food. Pretty soon, these things will make our food internally and spit it out seconds after we complete our order. I give it 4.25 years.

Also, while I was searching for this pic I found another fun one here. Gotta love those beautiful Golden Arches:

Update in Pictures

What I'm Thinking Between 11:40pm and 12:06am on a Monday

Haven't really written anything in awhile, so in an attempt to keep my blog hoppin', I give you...(insert drumroll here)... my thoughts.

11:41 pm:
I'm really, really craving some Fresh and Easy dill pickles right now. Those things crunch like cucumbers and I could eat a whole jar right now.


11:43pm:
How does one come up with a storyline like Harry Potter? I mean, seriously. I think there was a little acciendo creativity going on over there.

11:44pm:
The highlight of my night was going to be watching How I Met Your Mother for the first time at its regularly scheduled time since I finally finished the DVDs and got caught up. But there was a stupid college basketball game on tonight instead.

11:51pm:
I really need to clean my desk.

11:58pm:
Why are boys and computers so slow?

12:06pm:
Why am I so hungry? I think it's bedtime.

Thought of the Day

So here's what I'm thinking today:

It started in Romans 5:3. I was looking up some Bible verses that deal with being anxious and this one popped up, one that I've heard before:

"But that's not all. We also brag when we are suffering. We know that suffering creates endurance, endurance creates character, and character creates confidence."

And I was thinking, why is Paul bragging about suffering? The answer I came up with is that the kind of suffering that produces endurance and character, etc., is the kind that totally sucks when it's happening, but is ultimately happening to make something else happen further on down the road, something we don't see now, but we'll have needed to go through this stuff in order to get there.

And then I caught this verse, which I think is my favorite verse for now (these things are so subject to change):

"I consider our present sufferings insignificant compared to the glory that will soon be revealed to us." (Romans 8:18)

Wowzer! And so what I immediately think of here is the suffering that comes to us by Satan's hand. Last night at small group we were talking about how Satan doesn't try to knock us down in one fell swoop; no, he does it all sneaky like and chips away at us little by little, either by distracting us or discouraging us. Anything to keep us from what we are supposed to be doing for the Lord.

So I think to myself, what if all this anxiousness, this discouragement, these distractions aren't really about me right now at all? What if they're about the me I'm supposed to be, what if I'm destined for something amazing, and these attacks are Satan's way of dragging me away from that path, slow and steady so I don't see it coming?

What a sneak that little guy is!

So here's why I love

the youth venture kids: they have got so much stinkin' personality it's not even funny. Except that it is funny. It's actually ridiculously funny. Last night went from singing lullabies to a girl who was trying to sleep on the couch, to figuring out what names we looked like besides our actual given ones, to getting my car washed out back, to "Do you want to hear a riddle? Okay, I'm going to a picnic and I'm bringing a black balloon. What are you bringing? ... Nope, you can't bring that. Nope, not that either."

Remember those riddles? I remember going through that phase around fourteen. It's fun watching these kids go through all the phases we did when we were younger. Like magic tricks. We were in love with magic tricks for like a month in junior high. It must have hit the current eighth grade a few weeks ago, because every kid at youth venture suddenly had a deck in their back pocket at all times and "Pick a card, any card," became the most overused phrase.

Guess what I got?

Photoshop Elements 6.0, baby!



I had to dip into the tax money prematurely, but so far it's so totally worth it. Pictures will never be the same again. And I've been reading up on the Photoshop Friday tutorials on Jessica Sprague's blog and created this scrapbook page after a good hour of "Huh?" (Apparently bringing elements onto a page in PSE is much different than Digital Image Suite and can completely change the course of directions.)



















E-mailing to you, Jess.


Currently watching: Gilmore Girls Season 7
Currently eating: Fresh & Easy Frozen Berries (on steroids, these berries look like pinecones)

Egg-cellent...