EngelFish.Net

Last weekend we had a bit of a get together for the Flickr Raleigh Social Group. These are the people with whom I spend my leisure time. It’s no wonder I am the way I am…

It is quite busy around our house these days. We’re in the middle of moving Mom out to live with my sister, and that means packing a house with 7 years of accumulated stuff. The garage, which we worked on this weekend, is just about the last thing left to do outside of clothes, her computer, and the furniture (which movers are coming for this week). Happily, Mom will be staying with us until after closing on the house, and then she’ll fly out west while T & I drive a truck filled with her belongings out to her. Can you say, “Cross Country Road Trip in a UHaul?”…. Ugh. Needless to mention, Molly the Hyperactive Pooch, will be riding with us. Happy Happy Joy Joy.

It’s been quite a while since my last post, and the only reason I have to give is “I been busy”.  More like, “I been on vacation”.  This past weekend, however, I got up way too early and drove up to Franklinton, NC with a bunch of Flickrati to shoot pictures of a closed down factory.  While I didn’t get into the building shooting as much as the other folks, I really loved the shooting we did afterward. 

We drove the two blocks from the factory to the “downtown” of Franklinton, which was fairly abandoned at nine in the morning on that very cold day.  After shooting bricks, burned out storefronts, and even a quick portrait of a stylist in a main street salon, we found Paul.  One of the group had been invited into a tire retreading workshop, and all of us followed him in.  It was a dark and dirty place with the light streaming in dramatically through frosted and dirty windows.   Paul works in the shop, retreading the tires. 

I’d never see a tire be retreaded, and I had never honestly given the process a single thought.  It was very interesting to watch, and Paul was very patient with us.  He continued his work, seemingly unfazed by the cloud of photographers documenting his labor.  We watched him grind a tire down, apply new rubber, and apply a new tread.  We didn’t see him place them in the oven to cure, but the shop owner did show me the oven.  It looks like the mid-sized LP storage tanks you see behind old houses.  Written on the end, in yellow grease pencil, is “Keep Away!  May Be Hot!”  Paul stood for a few traditional portrait shots before we left, and I thanked him for his time.  I’ll be printing a few images and taking them up to him in the next few weeks.  Meeting him, watching him work, and making those images made my weekend. 

Image:  Paul at work, preparing a new tread for the tire he’s working on.

With my short vacation starting at 5pm tomorrow afternoon, I am spending the night before camping out at the office trying to get my major deadlines met. The only good thing about working really late, other than guilt free raiding of the office snack machine, is being able to jam my tunes. What do you do, however, when you don’t want to listen to *your* tunes anymore, and you want something fresh and tastey? Well, either Pandora or Last.fm will both feed your need! Following a post to Wil Wheaton’s blog, I’m a new member of Last.fm… and really loving the music. I’m doing a bit-o-techno-europe tonight, pretending that I’m a rave-bound data-crunching club kid, but without the glow sticks or X. Slow Train - Trail of Dawn is my song of the moment. Check either of them out!

IMAGE:  I can’t even begin to tell you how hard I laughed when I saw this picture!  I totally forgot that Tommy took it, and now I have to pay the price.

We had a very nice weekend, that included having dinner at Humble Pie both Friday and Saturday night.  Friday, we joined Kurt & Elizabeth for a tour of a few local galleries and design shops before having dinner with them at HP.  Saturday we connected with more Flickristas at HP for dinner, then dessert at Krispy Kreme! ;) 

Sunday we decided to celebrate our first anniversary at the same place we had bruch after getting married… 518.  The bizzare part came when I tried to park in our usual spot, and managed to brush the curb, dislodge the valve stem, and give the car a flat.  We called AAA and were on hold for about twenty minutes.  Then I asked Taryn to call them on the other cellphone.  I was still on hold, but they picked up her call in under 60 seconds.  I hung up, and 15 minutes later the guy showed up.  It took me longer to empty the back of the Escape to get to the spare, than it did for him to change the tire.  I was back at the dinner table before my food had a chance to cool off.  I was *very* happy with the AAA membership! 

Yes, you did read that correctly.  We have been married one year. :)  I have to admit that there was a time in my life that I thought of myself as a confirmed bachelor.  I am very very happy that I was wrong.  Our relationship, with all it’s ups and downs, has been the best thing that’s happened to me in a pretty happiness-filled life.  Thank you, Honey, for everything!

IMAGE: My Lovely Wife…

Sunday night we attended a SuperBowl party held by friend and fellow Flickrati, Keith.  The pregame festivities included throwing the nerf-knockoff around, as well as the supermini-plastic ball, and the superman football.  That moved on to more of a soccerball version of hackysack play, with lots of chasing a ball into the street and spilling of adult beverages.  Once the game started, we all moved indoors.  I expected to really watch the game, as we had at previous SuperBowl parties.  I was wrong.  I think I watched maybe the first quarter of the game, with snippets throughout, and then the celebration at the end.  The rest of the game was spent taking snapshots of the partygoers, playing with the puppies, talking with friends, and eating.  I’ll be the first person to admit that I’m not a sports fan, but I certainly do enjoy going to the parties.

IMAGE:  Keith’s son was also a documentary photographer Sunday, and he captured the basic, fundamental Chrisness that is me.