Sunday, December 10, 2006

A BIG WIN... and history, to boot!

We drove to Gettysburg, PA this weekend to attend a dog show. Being so close to a few friends I was looking forward to visiting with Rey and a gaming buddy of mine, Rodeo.

Shortly before the trip, I found out that Rey would not be around over the weekend. I was hoping to stop by his place anyway and surprise him with a few blog pics of me having a nosh in his front yard. My wife thought this would be rude and talked me out of it. I’ll have to visit with him another time.

I was also looking forward to seeing Rodeo. We have known each other a few years and had met once before on a previous road trip. This time I would have had the chance to play on the US Army’s helicopter training simulator. And as fate would have it… a day before I was leaving for PA we found out that something came up and we would not be able to meet. I’ll have to visit with him another time as well.

But that didn’t stop the fun…

The dog show was indoors. I have always found shooting to be problematic with indoor lighting. You need a relatively fast shutter speed so I bumped my iso to 400. This, however, gives a grainier image. I have included some photos that I normally would not. But I found them to be nice none-the-less.









My baby smiling for the camera.



This show turned out nicely. And not only did my girl win the breed but she went on to beat out over 180 dogs and took 1st place in the herding group.





Some other pooches I found to be cute, interesting, and funny. Doesn't the poodle look like Lyle Lovett?









This one :)


I also did something that I had always wanted to do. Take candid portrait shots. Let me know what you think.













Now, as I said earlier, we were in Gettysburg. To get to the dog show, we drove through battlefields where thousands of soldiers fought over a three-day period. In those three days more men fought and died than any other battle on American soil.

We only had a short amount of time to see some sights; but I am going to make it a point to revisit this place and really explore some more.

From the road we were on I saw many statues and markers across the landscape.





We drove to this memorial, which listed the names of tens of thousands of soldiers at the battle.







In the middle I found this staircase….



…which led to the top of the memorial and a beautiful view of the surroundings.











We might try to make it back in the spring or summer (when it is warmer) and walk the miles that our fore fathers walked in order to make this nation free for all.

I hope you enjoyed this visit. And I leave you with a kiss.

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Signatures...

Besides photos, I like to make animated gifs for friends and myself (all but the last two are animated). We use these primarily as sigs, or signatures, at the end of posts in forums to promote our name, team, and games.

Click the image to view the animation.

Enjoy.