EngelFish.Net

As you can see from the change in Belle’s size from the last picture to this one, it’s been a while since I’ve posted on this blog. Outside of taking up World of Warcraft and working a lot, I really don’t have much of an excuse. I doubt if anyone wants to hear about my Night Elf’s Mining, or the intricacies of SAS programming with regards to automation of home-brewed bank account reconciling programs, so I wouldn’t have made barn burning posts posted anyway.

So what is new you ask? Well, not much. I’m still looking for work outside of photography, but still doing photography full time as well. I really love it, and have had some great experiences lately shooting weddings. It really does make my day when we shoot a wedding where everyone is both good people and super photogenic! I’m planning on doing some website updates soon over at chrisengel.com, so keep an eye on that site too.

I’ve also been shooting some editorial stuff lately, and my latest project was about three times as much work as I’d expected it to be. When I bid the job I thought it would be about three days worth of work. The word “underestimated” comes to mind! I’m just wrapping it up now, but at least there were some terrific images. I’m looking forward to getting the editor’s feedback and seeing which images they run.

On the home front, Taryn finished her final undergraduate degree exam for the University of South Africa! She graduates, with a degree in Management-Finance-HR-Marketing, in March. We’re planning on going over for her graduation, which we’re both looking forward to. Taryn is also racing against the weather (it snowed here yesterday) to get her 136 pounds of bulbs in the ground. It has dropped into the upper twenties here the last couple of nights, so we’ll see in the spring if she won.

The menagerie is doing well too. All the animals (Felix, Oscar, Casey, Cleo, Alex, Xavier, and Belle) are doing fine. They have all decided that family togetherness is a good thing, and that sleeping on our warm bed is the way to go. I imagine the weather has something to do with that. Aside from a touch of hindquarter lameness, the Belle is growing well. She’s 6 months old now, and already the same size as Alex and Xavier.  She’ll be a bit taller, but probably not much heavier. She’s still the puppy though, and all things chewable are fair game in her eyes. The housebreaking is coming along, albeit slowly. She doesn’t like to go outside when it’s cold, and hates getting her paws wet… which means we have to be extra watchful on rainy days.

I’ll see what I can do about getting back on a weekly posting schedule. We’ll see how that works out. Anyone interested in taking wagers?

It’s always good to go to bed a bit wiped out on Sunday night.  In the past, I’d always get a bit of the “dreads” on Sunday night, knowing that I had to get up in the morning and go back to work.  Now, as my own boss building two businesses, the “Sunday Dreads” are gone.  I fully enjoy my weekends, right up to the last minute when I put head to pillow.  Sure, there are stresses along the way, some of them even pretty major, but my day-to-day life has been far happier on average these past few months than back during my corporate life.  I’ve read, and believed, that you cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can control how you respond.  Sometimes, you just have a great weekend, and I’m choosing to respond to this one by being grateful that it happened.  I hope yours was a terrific weekend too!

IMAGE:  Dinner Sunday night was at Red Robin at Brier Creek in Raleigh, after an afternoon hanging out at the pool with Taryn, Baron, Jen, Kendall, and Kelly.  I snapped off a few shots while waiting for my pineapple  & jerked chicken sandwich.  These are Baron’s hands, and wedding ring.  And to think he met Jen only a year ago today!

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.

For the first time that I can remember, my birthday wasn’t on the Memorial Day holiday. I don’t know exactly why, but I missed having a three day weekend to celebrate my 40th birthday. We turned it all into a festival of sorts anyway, with at least three different functions (two dinners out, and a cookout at our place) over four days, which were all great! I don’t feel any different than I did last year or the year before, but it’s always good to take the time to appreciate all the great things happening in your life, and the great people around with whom you share it. I’m blessed with terrific friends and family, and I want you guys to know that I realize that. Thanks for being there!

IMAGE: My friend, and a damn fine photographer, Ethan Hyman at the Memorial Day Cookout Kleinstack held.

After a month long visit home to South Africa, Taryn is back.  A month is a long long time, and I am very happy to have her back.  It seems like she had a good time, and for that I’m glad.  It had been too long since she last got to see her family, so this trip was long overdue.  But now she’s back, and that is a good thing as far as I’m concerned.  I haven’t seen her pictures yet, but I’m sure she’ll share them, and the videos, on flickr sometime soon.

As for me, I’m keeping plenty busy.  There is quite a lot of consulting work to do, and I’m also quite far behind in my paperwork for the photography business.  There are invoices to be shipped, account packages to be installed, branding work (logos, fonts, etc) to be done, website updated to implement, and lots of prints and albums to complete.  There is no shortage of work to do, and time is always the limiting factor.

Healthwise, we’re both doing okay.  I’m still scrambling to line up insurance for us, but I’m more focused on losing all the weight that I’ve built up these past two years.  A couple of month ago, Taryn bought a pair of jeans for me in the size I was wearing when we met.  They don’t fit, and she offered to return them.  I said no, since that would be giving up, which I’m not prepared to do.  Now that spring is definately here, walks/runs and other outdoor activities will be the order of the day.  If I get into the NYC Marathon in November (which I’ll find out in June), I’ll have a great goal to focus on for my running.  In the meantime, it’s morning workouts, and trotting around the neighborhood with the dogs.