The Life and Times of...Me

So far, the week has been a mix of training for my triathlon, a spa day (more on that later), and making (and consuming) margaritas.  I haven't had that many opportunities to take pictures, at least until today.  My dad insisted on me going for a hike from the ski valley, and I gave in, with the intention of bringing my camera. I was pretty satisfied with the results, and I think the sacrifice I made to make my legs carry me up the mountain was worth it.  It's not that I don't like moving my legs, hiking's just not my favorite thing to do.  The shots I think turned out the best are below, along with others I took earlier this week. Whew.  If you made it this far (and you did if you're reading this), thanks. Anyway, about the spa.  I was fairly nervous about the idea of what I thought would be a day of sitting in a sauna with mud on my face and cucumbers over my eyes.  I thought "But, s...

I slept on the couch last night, and I slept well.  The couch was by the kitchen, which I was warned of, because everyone was expected to wake up early.  They did, but I enjoyed drifting in an out of sleep while I listened to them make coffee and get started on their day. Today was a lazy one.  Most of it was spent sitting out on the porch, reading and sleeping.  One of our friends is a retired pharmacist/artist, and had a Canon Rebel XSi with a 55-200mm lens on it, which was incredible.  I lazily sat and snapped shots of what I could see from my chair.  With about 4x magnification, there wasn't much I could see. I was kind of bummed about the picture of the bird.  Had I reacted more quickly, had a higher shutter speed, and used continuous shooting, I could have gotten a much clearer shot.  Given that, I had to react on moment's notice and didn't have time to prepare, but it was still a good opportunity I missed. All of these sho...

It's been a while since I've been on vacation with my family, so I decided to ditch work for a week and go with them to Taos, New Mexico.  Most people have never heard of it, but it's a nice little town up north that is also home to some great skiing in the nearby mountains.  It's a long ten hour drive each way, but for the most part, it's worth it.  We go with family friends, as well, and it's always bound to be a good time.  We left home at about eight in the morning yesterday, and finally arrived at our lodgings around eight thirty last night, after stopping for dinner at Guadalajara Grill. The trip was like most I've been on.  There's the initial frustration with last-minute packing and stuffing people, pets, and their things into the car and leaving on time.  After the first five minutes, the frustration wears off, and a kind of happy-go-lucky period sets in.  Everybody is smiling, making jokes about how we always get frustrated at first.  ...