Renovating...for a looooong time...

This church on Long Island was built in 1885. It has been in a state of renovation for the past 8 years or so.
Hope you enjoy the triptych.




Pictures from before the renovation can be found here.

History and other info can be found on their main page.

WIIF? #4

Here is the picture for week #4.

Congrats again to RC. He now has two correct guesses out of the four weeks this has been done. Let's see who will get the next one!

Here is the image from a distance.


Thanks for playing!

Regarding week 3
Although some guesses were on the right track...or should I say frequency... nobody narrowed it down. It works in conjunction with an Xbox 360, it is plastic, and the phone comment was getting close...
Click here for the answer to week three’s picture.

The fine print: On Fridays, obviously, I will post an image in hopes that visitors will leave a guess in the comment section. The following Friday (or when someone guesses correctly) I will post a NEW image along with a link to the previous weeks post... Which will have been updated with an additional shot so that you can see what it was that I originally photographed.

Two things today...

Yesterday I mentioned inspiration. I was inspired by a video that I had seen MCF attempt after watching a video that the Greek had created. But the two videos we had watched just weren’t FAST ENOUGH for me. I have a lead foot.

Now, without incriminating myself, I sped this film up by about 250% from its original speed; making a 20 minute drive take about 5 minutes. I’m estimating that some stretches convert to over 200mph. I hope you enjoy it... And maybe this can shed some light on a previous perilous answer. So turn the volume up and enjoy...especially the end.



And I didn’t forget today’s picture...


And hat tip to Swimming in Champaign for this:

Scary Little Girls: Horror Movie Matching Game



Score: 100% (11 out of 11)

Inspired...

Many things inspired me today. MCF's video through the trees, which in turn was inspired by “the greek,” got me to set up my camera for a video of the ride home. In the nervous rush to start and stop the video process in traffic I failed to realize that I inadvertently switched the dial from movie to scene and ended up with 18 blurry pictures of my dashboard. I’ll try again tomorrow...

Today I also went to a local middle school with a colleague for career day. We were there to tell the kids about our jobs and the choices we have made. While there I met a local mayor, a judge, a fireman, a makeup artist, and a claims investigator to name a few. But one man stood out to me. He was there as a guest of an orthopedic prosthetic maker.

Edward lost his leg below the knee when he was 16 and lived in Poland. He was waiting for a bus in a crowd of people but the bus driver lost control while approaching the crowd and Edward was hit and badly hurt. Although he has lost his leg he has competed in the paralympic games in 1984 and again in 1992. He is an accomplished swimmer, water skier, and volleyball player as well as other sports.

Edward also works for a company on Long Island that makes all sorts of prosthetics; from arms to legs... robotic and hardwired to the human brain. They are a tremendous help to our soldiers that lose so much to protect our freedom. The leg he wore today was made by his own hands as a tribute to our servicemen and women as well as this great country of ours.

Goin' in to town...

On occassion I may have mentioned that my friends and I "go in to town" for lunch. Goin' in to town can mean different things to different people. Some people may need to drive 20 or 30 minutes to get to town. We, however, walk a block or two. A thirty minute drive would get us pretty close to NY city.

In fact if we were to walk a half mile in any direction from our office the diversity of lo-cals would make you think we had 5 or 6 different towns within a few blocks of our central location. And the change over is sharp. Literally a million dollar home on one block and house you would probably stay away from on the next.

Here is a pic of what goin' to town means to me.


Let me know what it means to you.

Built for speed...

What does my boy like to chase? Is it a ball... a tug toy... frisbee?


Nope, he likes to chase after mom!


And boy can she RUN!!!


She, however, is a ball fiend. Be it a tennis ball... football... or soccer ball... She is the "Air Jordan" of the dog world.


Chance loves to chase down mom and grab her by the scruff while she tries to get the ball to you for another toss.


And as long as you are willing to throw that ball...


She will get it for you.


Over and over and over again. Until we tell her that play time is done and it is time for a drink.


Sorry that they are blurry, but on an overcast day she is just too fast to be shooting at these slower speeds. I'll get more as the weekends become sunnier.

Target is full of 'em...

I had a series of eight pictures of the dogs from this afternoon but after doing a double take in the local Target I had to put this one up right away.


I'll put up the doggie pics tomorrow :)

Thanks to Rey...

Thanks to Rey I now know that I am indeed MIGHTY!

He really should have...

He really should have lived by his name. :(
I saw this guy while walking around a local lake. He seemed to be getting along fine and was not an outcast among the other ducks and geese. So sad...

WIIF? #3

Congrats to RC for QUICKLY guessing the answer to WIIF? #2.

Here is the picture for week #3.


The above picture is part of a 360 wireless headset.


The fine print: On Fridays, obviously, I will post an image in hopes that visitors will leave a guess in the comment section. The following Friday (or when someone guesses correctly) I will post a NEW image along with a link to the previous weeks post... Which will have been updated with an additional shot so that you can see what it was that I originally photographed.

R2 spotted in NY suburb...

While at lunch a friend of mine said something to the extent of "Oh snap! It's R2-D2!" We looked over to see the coolest mailbox ever created.






After returning to work I checked out the link on the box which only added to the suspense. Will there be a Star Wars Stamp? Will the mail now be delivered by Tie-Fighter? Will they have light saber letter openers? Only time will tell.

I was hoping to get these posted first but MCF informed me that Big Orange Michael beat me to the punch. He says "Seems the U.S. Postal Service has wrapped a little over 300 post office boxes with an R2-D2 cover to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the original Star Wars." However upon close inspection, the NY R2 seemed to be airbrushed and not a "skin" of some sort. His pictures are yet to come but I hope to see them soon.

An R2-D2 mailbox... the force is strong in this one.

L.E.D.

These little bad boys are BRIGHT!

There's something fishy...

...about this picture.

MCF's Perilous! 2.IV

For those who don't know or remember, MCF's Perilous! is a quiz in reverse. He posts ten answers. You get one week to come up with the corresponding questions and post them on your blogs, leaving a link to your post in the comments below. Next week, He'll reveal the questions he was thinking of, along with everyone's scores.

Points carry over from one installment to the next, and after five rounds the person with the most points can redeem them for a “prize”. Every five rounds, the scores reset, and a new winner could potentially gain a piece of the Mysterious master prize. Here's our current scoring system:

1 pt=each question
2 pts=each question that matches MCF's
-1 pt=any sentences not in question form, or forgetting a question mark
15 pts=Bonus for the Best Question

Will you face the perils below and attain the maximum points possible? Here are the next 10 answers:

1. I'm going to use it to clear all 100 levels.
Q. What will MCF use his Solar Flare for in Gauntlet?

2. Because at my age, I don't think The Transformers: The Movie is a socially acceptable choice for that.
Q. When asked to right a review of the latest “Great Work of Fiction” that he has read... Why was MCF so embarrassed?

3. 617.
Q. Who the hell keeps calling me from Massachusetts?

4. September 11, 1984.
Q. Why Bush/Cheney 1984?

5. “The cowards never started./The weak died on the way./Only the strong arrived./They were Pioneers.”
Q. What could not me more clear About Schmidt?

6. Boxy.
Q. What kind of car is also known as the Mysteriously Cloaked Vehicle? Oh it’s there! Trust me.

7. Heroes and Law & Order: SVU
Q. What two shows was Hayden Panettiere in before doing a Neutrogena commercial?

8. They both went from fantasy heroes to science fiction characters.
Q. What transformation did MCF and Rey make after having one too many drinks at the nudie-bar?

9. Through a crowbar.
Q. Where did MCF have to walk to get to the nudie-bar?

10. B12
Q. Who is almost as cool as b13?

...I need somebody.

WHEN I WAS YOUNGER, SO MUCH YOUNGER THAN TODAY,
I NEVER NEEDED ANYBODY'S HELP IN ANY WAY.
BUT NOW THESE DAYS ARE GONE, I'M NOT SO SELF ASSURED,
NOW I FIND I'VE CHANGED MY MIND I'VE OPENED UP THE DOORS.
—John Lennon & Paul McCartney

Not really ;) I'm just in a Beatles sort of mood.

POTC: Worlds End

Trailer IS up!!! This is going to be GREAT!!!



And find an awesome pirate song and animation here.

Lazy day today...

Stayed in and played some video games, read the paper, and read the new Macworld. Boring day... back to my video game...

It's St. Patrick's Day...

And we are not Irish. My wife and I are, as my father-in-law states, a crooked Italian and a money hungry Jew (There is NOTHING more powerful! MWAA-HA-HA-HA) Sorry... So why does she feel the need to make corned beef and cabbage for dinner? She wanted to pick up the corned beef that was on sale for 99¢ per pound. I insisted that if she wants to do this we do it right. So we spent a few more duckets and got the Boar's Head brand. And I made sure to have some beer on hand. I'll let you know how it turns out ;)

Oh, and top-o-the-mornin' to ya'! Have some cabbage.


UPDATE: Corned Beef boiled for 3 hours. Added in cabbage, carrots, onions, and turnips. Had some Dijon on the side and it was PERFECT!!! MAn I love my wife. :)

The storm has hit with a vengence...

My wife and I edited this to share with you all.

Mama and son love the snow!

BTW, thats her dominating him. I crack up when she does that to him.


And some pics to boot!

Having some difficulties with blogger...

I was one of the many that was having upload problems with images. I thought I had found a work-around bu uploading the images from a URL (with the link being my hard drive) only to later realise that only I saw the images :(

I will update the images from WIIF? #1 and More snow on the horizon tonight. Please check back.
In the meantime... Hat tip to MCF.

Read my VisualDNA™     Get your own VisualDNA™

WIIF? #2

Congrats to MCF for FINALLY guessing the answer to WIIF? #1.

Here is the picture for week #2.


The fine print: On Fridays, obviously, I will post an image in hopes that visitors will leave a guess in the comment section. The following Friday (or when someone guesses correctly) I will post a NEW image along with a link to the previous weeks post... Which will have been updated with an additional shot so that you can see what it was that I originally photographed.

HOLY COW! RC from Strange Culture got this weeks in a flash. Be sure to come back next Friday for one that i think is in between these past two...difficulty wise.

More snow on the horizon...

...and life goes on.


Be sure to check back tomorrow for another "WIIF?" as well as the answer to last weeks picture.

Groovy...

A big "whew!" when I found out hat the picture upload problem is not just my computer acting up. MCF ponted me to Blogger Status and today they confirmed the issue.

It says "Resolved" but I just tried and it didn't work when I tried to upload a file from my machine... But it did work when I uploaded from a linked file at myspace. Good enough for now.

Big thumbs up to Blogger!

From death comes life...

Pods open slowly.
Seeds spill to the earth below.
New growth come springtime.
—b13




Having upload issues on blogger tonight so a big THANK YOU to MCF for the picture upload.

Looking deep within me...

A self portrait of... um... myself...

Seven of Devon...

I took Devon to the park today and thought I would shoot at a slower speed to get a better feeling of movement. A Border Collie in motion is a thing of beauty. Our dogs can also be seen at Tartan Bay. As you can see, all of our dogs are family, whether they live with us or not.

A video of her running agility can be found HERE.













Ok, I have one of her at rest...

While out on a drive...

Had to run to a few stores today and during my travels we passed under a tressle. I saw a good opportunity for tonights picture. Be sure to click it for a larger, more detailed, view.


And don't forget to scroll down for WIIF #1...

WIIF #1

I had an idea for a recurring theme. At first I was going to call it “WTFF?” but thought it was too crass. So I settled on “WIIF?” for “What Is It Fridays?”

On Fridays, obviously, I will post an image in hopes that visitors will leave a guess in the comment section. The following Friday I will post a NEW image along with a link to the previous weeks post... Which will have been updated with an additional shot so that you can see what it was that I originally photographed.

We’ll start off easy... ;)

Remember to look at your surroundings a little differently ;)