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I guess the biggest news since my last post is that we have a new puppy.  Our friends, Jen & Baron, rescued her from their next-door neighbors and gave her to us.  She was named Willa Mae, but we’re working on coming up with a less grandma-y name, with the front runners being Cara, Lily, and Tessie.  We’ll let you know what the final vote is.  She’s only a few weeks old, but she’s already bigger than Alex & Xavier were at the same age (appx 7 weeks), so she might end up being a big girl, although she looks like a black lab and I wouldn’t have expected it.  Her favorite pastimes, in addition to long walks on the beach and candle-light dinners, are chewing on anything she can fit in her mouth (noses and earlobes included) and sleeping.

Now for an update on my renewed running and fitness program.  It’s been over 10 days since I’ve done a damn thing, which isn’t good.  I did, however, get up and walk for 78 minutes this morning.  It felt good, and it was sorta nice to watch the world wake up.  I haven’t had that experience since running with Kim down on Hillsborough Street back when I was training for the NYC Marathon.  I’ll be keeping this up, if only for that great start to the day.

Photography-wise, things are slow.  I’m in the midst of prepping invoices, trying to design an album, returning calls for pro-bono projects, and putting together a shoot for the RSG Summer Project.  I did have one really interesting photo adventure this week though.  Saturday evening, just after walking in the door from a full day at the pool with Jen & Baron & Taryn, I got a call.  There was a wedding that night at the Duke Gardens (a 30-40 minute drive away), and they didn’t have a photographer.  The DJ was a friend of mine, and through Tommy, asked me to come shoot it.  I said I would, and asked what time it started.  He replied, “Right now”.  I told him it would be at least 45 minutes before I could be there and he told me they would wait for me.  Talk about pressure!  Skip to the end of the evening, and it was a beautiful wedding with a wonderful bride and groom.  Everyone had a great time, and I got some terrific pictures for them to remember it all by.  I was really glad I did it, and I was happy that I got the call at the last minute too.  I didn’t have to spend the weeks, days, and hours leading up to the event worrying and building anticipation.  I just showed up, shot, and had a great time!  If only all jobs could be this fun.

Like most weeks, this past week consisted mostly of working.  The really nice exception, is that we were able to A) go to a really fun 4th of July part at Jenn & Baron’s place, and B) we had a party at our place on the 5th to celebrate Taryn’s 29th birthday!  A good time was had by everybody at both events, in spite of the summer rains which dumped both nights.  Friday night they even lost power and we had to resort to ghost stories by candlelight.  Saturday we kept our power, but I personally got soaked while grilling… but it was totally worth it.  Lots of food was eaten, lots of mojitos/margaritas were drank, and everybody seemed to enjoy themselves.  Taryn’s phone rang off the hook on Saturday, with calls from all over the world to sing to her. :)  I’ve already started thinking of what we can do next year….

IMAGE: While working this morning at Third Place, I talked Hide into stepping out front for second to enjoy the beautiful weather.

There have been all kinds of things happening here in the past few weeks, but two are significant.  One, as of the end of January, I have joined the ranks of the unemployed.  I’m beating the streets for consulting work in the pharma industry, since that’s where I have the most experience.  After consulting with my lovely wife, I’m also setting up my photography business and looking for work both shooting and assisting commercial shooters in the area.  I’m confident that it’ll all come together, but it’s still just a wee bit stressful to be unemployed for the first time since college and having my 40th birthday looming up ahead.  The second item, and far more celebratory, is that Taryn has her Permanent Resident Status for the US (aka Greencard)!  After all the stress and effort surrounding the paperwork and application process, the interview itself was underwhelming.  We were in and out of the office in about 20 minutes, and left with the marshal that interviewed us laughing.  There is one last form outstanding, but we have to file it in two years, and then we’ll be done with that process.  The next step, if Taryn chooses to, is citizenship.  That wouldn’t be for five years at least, so she has plenty of time.

IMAGE: Crystal organized a photowalk in downtown Raleigh a few weeks ago, and this was the wrapup picture before we all went back to our regular lives.  We normally do a group shot, but the table was too close to the wall for us to bunch up, so everyone fell into these poses.  When I pointed out the last-supperesque result, they all struck poses.

Thomas Hawk has posted about a great deal on Compact Flash cards.  It’s worth checking out before the end of May!

Thomas Hawk’s Digital Connection: 8 GB Sandisk Extreme III Memory Card for $89