Cherry Blossom Festival

This is one of the Sailor Moon Cosplayers. I thought it was an interesting shot. Everyone was watching the parade and I believe she was standing on a chair to watch. She just sort of stood out and I was lucky enough to be quick enough on the shutter button to catch it.

This is some of the Taiko Drummers and you could tell that the one guy in the middle is a real character. Man he was just soo expressive and lively. He made me want to jump on the float and start pounding away!

These Cosplayers had some great attitudes. After being stopped by one person, everyone whipped out their cameras and they must have been stuck there posing for about 7 minutes. They were laughing the whole time and you could tell that there were really into the spirit!

These cosplayers had a great attitude. It must have been 80 degrees outside and when I first approached them to take their pictures they didn't have their full costumes on. However after asking them they cheerfully stated yes they would love for me to take a picture of them but wanted to put on the rest of their costumes. More great cosplayers!

This Girl was great, I didn't want to take up too much of her time as I was sure she was probably getting asked by everyone to take her picture, but she even offered to take a few more poses after I thanked her for the first picture. She was very nice to everyone that approached her at the Festival, and she was always smiling. A top Notch Cosplayer if you ask me!

These girls I believe were doing some sort of skit.

I am not exactly sure the name of the Character this guy was dressed up as, but I do remember the anime.

I thought this was another funny picture. It is one of those Smart Cars, They are so short they don't need to park like a normal car. Probably a great Car to have in SF.

Unfortunately I was having some Camera Issues so this shot did not come out near as nice as I wanted it to. However this is a picture of David in the back his sweetie in the middle and Adam in the front. I thought it looked kind of funny, almost like the two guys are body guards.

Here is Adam showing me the finer points of Pole Dancing in the back alley.

Here is a picture of a real Photographer. This guys gear was pretty good and man was he quick on the draw. I believe he was shooting with the Canon 50D.

Well those are just some of the many pictures I got in SF this weekend for the Cherry Blossom Festival. It must have been over 80 Degrees in SF and man we were cooking. I thought it might be nicer in SF than Sacramento, but it was still hot there. We didn't stay as long as we would have liked too but due to the heat I was starting to worry about Liz and the bun in the oven, so we went home early. Overall it was very nice day and we were able to take it pretty easy so there were no high hills to hike and climb and Liz was able to sit most of the day in the shade.

I was having a fair number of camera issues so I didn't get all of the shots I wanted. I want to more than ever now take some photography classes to improve my skill. I am no where near the full potential of being to exploit my little Canon Rebel, however there are some times now where my Camera and lenses are not able to keep up with me, which makes me actually feel good about my skills so far. There are times where I know what I need to do to get the shot but the Camera just isn't able to comply. However that is only on rare occasions. I am no where near being able to fully exploit all of my cameras capabilities. I know that when I get to that point I will look to upgrade my camera. If I ever get to go to Thailand I want to make sure I am ready to use a more advanced camera and hopefully be able to impress my wife's Uncle who is probably one of the biggest names in photography over there. Now if you asked me to pronounce my wife's uncles name or even spell it, I couldn't do it. LOL He even does stuff with the Asian MTV.

On Saturday I was able to go out for my first bike ride of the year. I am going to dedicate at least one day a week to go for a bike ride. It is all part of my plan to loose some weight and get skinny. Adam will be going for rides with me which will be great we can keep each other accountable.

SCHOOL IS OUT!!!!!

Well today was the last day of class for me. It is bittersweet. On one hand I am estatic to spend more time with my family and to be able to have my nights and weekends back. On the other hand I am going to miss a fair number of my classmates.

We were supposed to go out for beer and pizza again tonight like we did for last night, but I guess somehow the destination got changed to the Powerhouse Pub. Not really my scene so I decided not to go, one of the other professors I was looking forward to seeing was also not going to make it. He said if it was for beer and pizza at the place down the street he was game, but didn’t feel like driving all the way out to Folsom. I definitely agreed, not sure how it got changed to all the way out in Folsom. However last night was great. My debate went off well, I feel that I could have done a lot better but my head was not in the game. There was some personal stuff that came up earlier in the day so that sort of hampered things. However the professor said everyone did well and he expected nothing less from our group. Both he and our Criminal Law professor told us that our group has been one of the smartest groups overall to go through the program.

Our group did phenomenally well, because there is usually a 60 to 70 percent washout rate. I think we lost less than 10 percent of the original group which is probably something that has never happened before. I felt very privileged to have gone through the program with such bright students. It certainly enhanced to the program when pretty much everyone is on the same page and asking intelligent questions and adding to the discussion instead of taking away from it all.

I even got a second award last night for the best writer in our advanced legal writing class, and was even given a present with the award. It was a legal dictionary and thesaurus. I love dictionaries and Thesauruses, so it will get put to good use. I thought for sure my friend Betty would have gotten the award, so I was shocked again when I got it. A bunch of the students were giving me a good natured ribbing and were saying things like “I thought that there was a one award per student rule”, and “better watch yourself in the parking lot.”

Afterwards the class all went out for pizza with the professor and beer if we wanted to buy it ourselves. I just had soda of course. Not that I am opposed to drinking but it seems the older I get the less of a desire I have to partake of the Guardian Mead. It was really great because I spent pretty much the whole night talking to our professor about photography. He is a pretty avid photographer and so I loved just picking his brain over the subject as I am getting back into it. In fact I am looking forward to taking a photography class this fall. Anyways we were the last ones to leave the Pizza Parlor; in fact they were probably getting ready to kick us out. He told me to keep in touch which I will certainly do. In fact I am really hoping to go out and take pictures with him sometime.

So what to do now it seems. Well I am definitely going to make my health a priority. I am going to start getting back into shape starters. I am going to start riding bicycles again. I am going to get my road bike tuned up and start riding with a few friends which will be great. Another thing is I am going to start doing some photography stuff as I had mentioned previously. However the one thing that will take priority over all of this, and will also be integrated into everything I mentioned earlier is I am going to be spending more time with my family. I am going to be able to spend way more time with my son which means a lot to me. I have been loving wrestling with my son lately and he gets so psyched up when I start playing with him.

Another thing I will be doing is our entire class was asked if we would individually mentor future students going through the paralegal program, so I will be gladly partaking in that. I am really hoping some day to be able to TA and then maybe teach if possible. I know that several of our professors were former students so it is possible. Well I am done for now till next time.

No title on this one :-)

I have included some night shots that I took in SF that I have been meaning to post for awhile now.

I haven’t posted for awhile, but I guess I will. I have been feeling in a retrospective mood. I have been thinking about what it would be like to have been born thousands of years ago, and to have lived through different ages of the world. Can you imagine the stories you would know. What would it be like to be immortal yet surrounded by a mortal world? I know that sounds weird but I am weird. I guess maybe not that weird, I mean they have made several movies about things like that.

I guess as I get older I contemplate my own mortality. I think of the things I have done the people I have known, and remember the people who are no longer around. I guess it is common for everyone to that. I have been thinking a lot of what sort of things I will see in the future as time goes on.

I believe that we all live forever, it is not a question of how, but where. How we live our lives now, defines where we will be tomorrow. Kind of scary when you really stop to think about it. Not every decision we make will have a lasting or even eternal impact, but some decisions do.

I look at my son, and think about my second son that is due to be born come this July. What kind of Father will I prove to be in the long haul? I will admit I am kind of a crappy Dad. Not always, but more often than not. Part of it is I get caught up in my own little world. For instance my back has been killing me which causes me to be in a not so nice mood. As soon as I got home I was in a bad mood, which was not fair to my wife. She is in her own pain, and had a pretty crappy day. Instead of building her up, I just grumbled and did a lot of complaining, whishing that someone would pull the ice pick out of my back.

Bottom line, I was being selfish. I wish I could get over the selfish aspects of my life, be a better Husband, father, and son. Yet I fail. My dad is not perfect, but in a lot of respects he set the bar pretty high. My dad is one of my heroes yet I don’t tell him that enough.

Do I want my sons to think of me as that distant guy who just lays down the law? I am pretty sure I will never end up like that, but sometimes that is exactly how I feel. My temper has been getting shorter, with the dogs, and my son. I find myself saying, “nope we are done with that” and I take away whatever he is throwing or hitting. Instead of just taking something away I need to be replacing it with something. I have been trying to play with him more, which has been nice. I look forward to when school is out and I can spend more time with my family going to the park, kicking a ball around or just walking around the neighborhood with the family and the dogs.

I am planning on getting back into riding my bicycle which should be fun. I was doing it by myself during the day about three years back which was nice but really did kind of suck. My wife wasn’t interested in riding with me, and I couldn’t find any friends who wanted to go for bike rides. Now I have two friends that are really into riding bicycles so I am looking forward to getting back into it. Lord knows my fat butt needs it. Even my wife has shown a little interest and might actually borrow her mom’s road bike and take it for a spin with me. After our second son is born and she is physically up to it of course. I am really hoping that I can drop about 70 lbs and this will help. My weight is starting to get ridiculous and it has really been starting to have some negative effects on my back, and general health. I love being outdoors, so riding a bike is perfect for me, I will get some fresh air, see the sun, and build up some endurance. You know you are getting fat when just standing up starts to wind you. Anyways I am off to bed.