Jabulani Jonny

Peeve

I can't take it anymore.  I must get this off my chest.  I know how it's going to sound.  Ultimately my biggest peeve is inconsideration.  That's right, people just not thinking of how their actions will affect others, before they act.  Case in point...

Churches have aisles, Wal-mart has aisles.  These were put there specifically so you could move to and fro.  They were not put there as places to congregate and talk, no, that place would be called OUTSIDE.  When I'm carrying a car seat full of Elliot, an oxygen tank on my back, a food bag and pump on my back and a 38lb. diaper bag, and you're standing there taking up the whole aisle so as to allow no exit, you make me a non-christian.  Right then and there I lose my religion...in church...it's a crazy experience.  Or when you get to the door going out, and someone stops you to hug and talk...KEEP MOVING PEOPLE!!  You are a fire hazard...for me, as the hell-fires of Gahenna begin to build up within. 

Or what about Wal-Mart last night.  Wal-Mart has big aisles right?  Yeah, not when you take your buggy and park on one side then stand in the middle of the remaining space trying to choose which flavor Pop-Tart to get.  And you stand there...while I'm waiting for you to move...and you act like I'm the one that's out of line.  Don't make me smack you with a box of Raisin Bran!  Have consideration!

I know my pleading is futile, but I just don't see what's so hard about recognizing that you are in a moving lane, so make room or get out of the way.  Please. 

First two teeth

First two teeth
Originally uploaded by Jonathan Payne

Dang he's cute.  Here's a glimpse of his first two teeth poking through.

"Team Building"

I'll be out today and tomorrow "team building" with my co-workers.  We're headed up to Callaway to fly-fish this afternoon, have a great dinner this evening, play poker later tonight and golf tomorrow morning.  Should be rough.  Yeah, you know "team building".  See you Friday evening.

Perks

I started a bad, bad thing.  See, our coffee at work sucks...well, used to suck.  I never drank it.  I would walk down the block to Fountain City Coffee, the best coffee I've ever had, seriously.  I'd get a big ol' cup of Guatemala Antigua or Ethiopian Yirgacheffe and I'd be set.  My boss would drink a Coke.  Then he found out that Coke has 12 tsp of sugar.  Then he got grossed out.  Then he started drinking coffee.  Then he found out that our coffee was essentially ashtray drippings.  Then he got converted.  Now, I walk down the street once a month and buy a month's worth of coffee for our office.  Now we can all enjoy the warm nuttiness of Guatemala Antigua.  Oh and the perk?  Yeah, you get free coffees whenever you spend a certain amount with them.  Needless to say, I end up with about 12 free coffees each month.  That's three large lattes a week if I want 'em.  Niiiiiiiiiiicccccceeeee.

Sunday at the park

What a great day we had today. Absolutely gorgeous outside. I have to admit that we skipped church but we caught a webisode of Andy Stanley. The guy just blows me away. He's always relevant to where we are and is always challenging. Just awesome. After that we got a few things done around the house in preparation for heading down to the park later in the afternoon. Around 6'ish we swung through an Arby's drive through for a little impromptu picnic and hit Lake Bottom park for some outside time. Elliot had a ball, especially on the swing. How was your Sunday?

Who's the Superest Super Hero?

That's the question that The Superest has been trying to answer since October of last year.  Basically every day, one of a few extremely talented artists presents a super hero that has special powers that defeats the previous day's super hero; making him The Superest, for that day of course.  The cartoons are witty and absolutely some of the most creative presentations I've seen.  These guys are good.  It is the first thing I click on in my Google Reader.  So add it to your daily dose of surfing, you won't be disappointed. 

The Current Champ   (sorry no pics for copyright reasons)

Virginia Creeper Trail

Wow, it's taken me this long to be able to sit down in front of the computer and get some of this pics from this weekend edited. We had a great weekend on the Virginia Creeper Trail, just outside of Damascus, VA. Really cool trail that used to be a railroad. Some nice trout water pretty much the entire 18 mile stretch to Damascus. Here are some pics from the weekend. Enjoy!

Unplugged

Just a quick post here. I'm headed off in the morning with my buddy Carl to the Virginia Creeper Trail just outside of Damascus, VA. It's an old train line that was ripped up and converted to a bike trail. We're gonna bike the first 18 miles of it and fish Whitetop Laurel Creek. The fishing is really the purpose for going. Carl has been commissioned to write an article for an upcoming issue of Fly Fish America and yours truly will be taking the photos for the article. Talk about sweet! So I'll see you all on Monday with hopefully some great shots and some good fishing stories.

I'm #1

Check this out...

Yeah, if you Google "verjaarsdag" (birthday in Afrikaans, BTW) I'm the first listing.  I've been a little amused at the number of hits my blog has gotten over the past few months from people that have googled the term.  So for those of you reaching this site because I'm the #1 hit for verjaarsdag...welkom, en het 'n loer rondom. 

Couple of pics

I've been away from the 'puter all weekend while I was at my buddy Clay's doing a little fishing for Speckled Trout this weekend. We had a wonderful time hanging with his family and we got a chance to catch a few nice fish in the meantime.

Here are a few photos that I've taken recently that I haven't posted. Of course, you can always check out my Flickr if you just can't get enough.

The last photo I took this afternoon and quickly realized I made a rookie mistake. I didn't even look at my ISO settings as I was snapping away. Come to find out, I had manually set the ISO to 1600 on a previous few photos and it completely introduced too much noise into the photos. Oh well, I'll reshoot 'em tomorrow.

Ready to settle down

But wait, you say, you're already married.  Yep, but that ain't what I'm talking about.  You see, I'm a guitarist as many of you know.  I play lead for a pretty rockin' P&W band at church and have been in that role for 9 years.  I don't mean that I strum and electric guitar behind an acoustic, there is a difference.  So for the last 5 years or so my main guitar has been a Line 6 Variax.  I realize that other guitar players that see this are gonna go "What the...".  However, it really has been a good guitar and there's a reason why I've been using it. 

On a typical Sunday I will have have a song that needs the sound of a Gibson Les Paul played through a Marshall stack (think AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long).  The next song will need a Fender Stratocaster through a Fender amp (think some of Stevie Ray Vaughan's blues); while the next song will need an acoustic or something.  So you see, versatility was the key. 

However, now I feel like I've been "dating" guitar tones for the last 5 years and I'm ready to settle down.  Don't get me wrong, I've been happy with my tone, and I get complements, but I sometimes feel like I'm playing a toy.  So I'm ready to settle down and I think I've spied the beauty that will be with me for quite some time. 

Let me introduce you to the G&L Comanche, with premium flame maple top, tobacco 'burst finish, Z-coil pickups, gun oil rubbed birds eye maple neck, natural wood binding, tone siren with six strings.  These pickups run a little hotter than a typical Strat single coil and offer a ton of flexibility.  So here's the darling that I'll be partnering up with for years to come.  I'm very close to pulling the trigger...just a little more saving to do.   (courtesy of  ProGuitarShop)

Shameless Begging

Ok, my site's been loading a little slow as of late, prolly due to all of the audio files that I've got in one of the previous posts and the audio files for my CD.  So, I'll be doing some work on the blog to make it load faster, namely removing those audio files.  I'll prolly also move to a more streamlined look so it loads a little faster.  I'll need your feedback on whether you like this layout, kinda earthy, or a more hip style down the road.

With that said, if you visit this blog...like, ever...how about some link love.  I do try to make it halfway interesting by offering photos, video and my own music.  Maybe that's the problem... he he.  Anyway, I try not to just be a regurgitator of random stuff from the webernets.  So, how about some love.  If you link here, let me know so I can link you as well.   

Carry on....

EDIT:  Hmmmmm...is it time for wordpress instead of Typepad?  That may be more trouble than it's worth.  Maybe just a custom banner and a clean layout.  That means I gotta upgrade.  Dang.

 

Just me & the boy

Today Sunette went with my mom to hear the Festival Chorus of Atlanta at a monastery just outside the big city.  They left shortly after 12 and it was just me and the T-monster for the afternoon.  I've been missing the joker since I was out of town almost all this week and had a gig Friday evening and Saturday. 

We had a great afternoon, starting with a much needed 2 hour nap for both of us.  Nice.  Man...he's getting big too quickly.  Though I still can't get him to eat anything by mouth.  Me thinks he's a little stubborn.  Oh well, how can you not be stubborn when you're that cute?

EDIT:  Many of you that come by might not know Elliot's history.  He was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) and had a Restricted Atrial Septum defect.  You can catch up by hitting some of the posts on this page.  He's had his Norwood and Glenn procedures and has a little time before his Fontan.  He's still on oxygen and a feeding tube, but otherwise doing well. 

Road Trippin'

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I'm a wee bit tired this evening. Monday welcomed me with a 4 1/2 hour drive to Savannah for a closing. Tuesday, after a round of golf at Savannah Harbor, brought with it a return trip back to Columbus for another 4 1/2 hours. Wednesday morning I left home around 7:30 for a 5 hour trip to Gainesville for a site visit. This morning I left Gainesville about 8:30 am for the return 5 hour drive.

Then I had a 3 hour practice tonight for a Caribbean gig I'm playing on Friday night and Saturday. I'm beat. However, I'll have to get my groove on tomorrow night to break loose on some Oye Como Va for the Fort Benning Luau. We play this gig every year and it's a blast. Usually a few thousand people show up for the tribute to Islanders from all over the world. We rock everything from reggae to samba to bossa to Buffett. Oh yeah baby. I'm even thinking about recording our Saturday set. If I do I'll post snippets. So what's some of your favorite island music?

Beautiful and True

Eight years ago I married the woman of my dreams. I knew after our third date that I would marry her. Every thing about her intrigued me and still does. She is naturally beautiful, but will deny it every time. She is poignantly witty, but will be the first to laugh at herself. She can be stubborn and hard-nosed, but will be the first to say she's sorry. She is true in every sense of the word and she challenges me to be the same. Happy 8th anniversary honey. Here's to many more.

Golden's Foundry

Eric and I went out again this past Saturday for a little photo expedition.  We first met for breakfast at Fountain City Coffee on Broadway.  If you're in Columbus and you're looking for coffee, drive right past the St. Arbucks and stop at Fountain City.  You'll be glad you did.  Not to mention that they've got the best scones I've ever eaten.  Eric can vouch, he had a blueberry, while I had the white chocolate raspberry.  Mmmmm.

After breakfast we were trying to figure out where to go shoot when I decided to ride him by Golden's Foundry. Our buddy John works there, his family has owned it for generations, and he just happened to be working on Saturday.  I rang him up and within 5 minutes we were starting "the tour".  Sweet!

Below are some of the shots that I was pleased with.  It was a little tougher assignment since we couldn't camp out and tweak settings.  We were basically snapping while we walked.  Which makes it tough in a dark environment.  It would've been great to setup the tripod and get some really nice, crisp images, but that wasn't an option at the time.  I had to jack up my ISO, slow the shutter speed and hope I held the camera still.  Still it was fun.

 

April Fool's!

I'm enjoying April Fool's Day so far.  I normally don't get into it, but I'm running a particular prank into the ground.  Inspired by the Lifehacker post about 10 Geek Pranks, I followed through on changing the printer read-out for our shared office printer using this little app.  So far I've had it read:  INSERT COIN, I SEE YOU, PRINTS CHARMING, etc.  Dorky, but I sit directly across the hall and I'm cracking up at people's expressions. 

What I've found truly hilarious today is Google's new Virgle program.  I won't let the cat out of the bag, but if you've got some time to read about their new program, it's hilarious.  Find it by going here.  Priceless.

So long to a great friend

Tonight we had a going away dinner for our great friend, Elizabeth.  Her job, the charity Food for the Hungry, is moving her to Nashville.  I've known Lizzie for 10 years.  We had an acoustic trio for several years, playing around the Columbus area and making some great music.  Unfortunately, for some reason none of us can really explain, the trio kinda fizzled.  Danny moved to Baltimore, we all got jobs and things just kinda moved on.  I always long for the synergy that we had in that group, we made some pretty stinkin' good music.  I might be biased, but I'll take this opportunity to introduce you to it.  This is Elizabeth, Dave and I when we were taking some shots, planning on "getting the band back together".  Dave is the percussionist, Lizzie's in the center of course, Danny, who played rhythm, was in Baltimore so he wasn't in the shot, I played lead and am on the right.   

I'm gonna miss Lizzie and the wonderful music that we made.  So, to honor her, our friendship and the music I'm going to post 13 of our original songs that I recorded several years ago.  That way you can download these tunes to your iPod or whatever and sing along.  Let me give you the background.

A couple of years after we stopped playing together regularly, Danny let us know that he was heading to Baltimore.  We had about 25 original tunes that we had never really recorded and I decided that we would meet at Lizzies cabin, play the songs and record them live, since that was the most true to our nature and the music.  So we met on a Tuesday night, I pressed record on a little Roland VS-1680 recorder and we played through 13 of the songs in an evening, no practice runs.  Just play and record.  I then came back and added bass and percussion to it to fill it out.  The CD is raw and organic.  There are definitely some human elements on there, but I love the tunes.  I think the energy of the group comes across and I don't think I could replicate that with a studio redo.  So that's the story, two years of not playing together and we get together to knock out some songs, which is what's presented here.  I call it Two Years on a Tuesday Night.  I hope you enjoy.

FYI, these files are M4a so if you're not in iTunes, you'll need to download a codec pack for Windows Media Player from here.  I'll also zip these files up in a folder with the album art and make it available in the sidebar for download.  For those using an RSS reader, there are embedded audio files below.  Come on to the site, it won't hurt.   

Looking Back

February Blues

That last one was about as impromptu as you get.  We couldn't even remember the words, and it was Danny's big chance to solo.  It fit perfectly.  I'll put a link to download the whole album in the sidebar.  Grab your free music and enjoy. 

Elizabeth, I enjoyed making music with you.  I'll always hear your harmonies when I write.  Godspeed, and here's to the day when we can play these songs again. 

Time to switch?

I don't want this to come across like it's prolly going to come across, but it can't be helped.  Since Vista has been released people have been waiting and lauding the arrival of a Service Pack that would fix the nagging issues that have been plaguing users.  Unfortunately even the recently released, much anticipated Service Pack 1 continues Vista's performance record.

The transition to the service pack has not been problem-free for many users, some of whom have seen their computers fall into endless reboot cycles and struggled with broken applications after installing the upgrade.

So for those of my friends that have issues with the SP1 install, might I suggest......

(via= cnet)

A Camera, A Mill, and the hard way in

This Saturday afforded my buddy Eric and I an opportunity to get out and shoot some more photos on one of our little Photo Journeys, for lack of a better term. We've done it a couple times before and decided on an old abandoned mill on the banks of the Chattahoochee in downtown Columbus. We scoped out the place for a few minutes and quickly came to the conclusion that there was not going to be an easy way in, and it may not even be possible, but we were going to try.

See, the walls of the mill go right down to the waters edge and all the windows and doors were locked up tight. Hmmm...we just want to take some photos. Well we saw this iron structure stretching from the bank out to the back of the mill. The only thing was that it was about 20 feet off the water and what you were standing on was about 1/4" thick. Thankfully there were handholds. Here's the structure looking from the mill side back to the bank on our way back:

And here's a shot looking at the back of the mill from the dam.

So once we got across we came to a covered wooden platform that was eaten up by an old fire and missing some pretty big chunks. This platform was about 20 feet above the old turbines of the mill. The platform stretched out to the water and the dam that served the mill. We tried to find a way inside, by climbing up and over a tin wall into this out-shed off the back of the building, but there were no openings. We did find an old book in there that turned into a couple cool shots.

We thought that was the end of the line, but as we climbed back up and out over the wall, Eric took a quick glance across the roof and saw an open window. Eureka. Here was our opportunity to get a few shots and do some exploring.

This place has been deserted quite a while, but you can see evidence of the random visitor...like us. I ended up only getting a few shots I liked, but I'll post several so you get a sense of the inside of the mill.

I did manage to squeeze off a couple shots of Eric to demonstrate our tour. Unfortunately, I didn't even take a shot of the mill itself to give an idea of what we're looking at. Next time. This was definitely an adventurous outing and we had a blast, got a few decent shots out of it too.

We're gonna change it up a bit next weekend and shoot some different subjects. Hey, if there are any pro guys out there that see this blog, ie. Daley or Dustin, please let me know what I can do better either from composition or from a post processing standpoint. I'm using Aperture 2, not PS, so I don't do any layer work. Just your typical color correction, sharpening, and maybe some vignetting. Let me know what you think!