i finally gave in and started using facebook. since my attention span on any one thing is short (yet extremely focused), i’ve been over there for a bit, so check out updates here: http://www.facebook.com/davidmonnerat.
tonight was the last game for the nhl referee Don Koharski. of course, anyone that knows me that hockey is probably my fourth most favorite thing on the planet. one of the all-time great refs worked his final game (a tampa (stupid!) loss to washington (cheaters!)) tonight after something like 32 years in the nhl. amazing.
don, i don’t blame you for the tampa loss tonight, even though all the other refs wore your number and made some questionable calls (not really, tampa just got outplayed).
so, speaking of pulling the trigger…
i’m writing this from my brand new iPhone! I’m still getting used to the keyboard but it is an amazing piece of technology!
more to come!
jay and cesha were in town for the weekend, and we took the ski train up to winter park on saturday.
i captured a few videos of the trip, which you can watch below! if you get bored, fast forward to about 2:10, and you’ll see a snowboarder go past me on the left. at about 2:20 or so, he b-lines it to the right and jumps off the cliff. watch close to see if he lands it!
last week i gave a shot (ha!) at doing some headshots for one of the kids in kerri’s school. we did the shoot in the the living room, so the space was a bit limited. i would have preferred to do some natural light shots, but made the most out of a stool, a black backdrop, and a few strobes. the basic setup is the sb-800 through an umbrella camera right at 45 degrees. snooted sb-600 behind for a hair light. model on a chair a few feet in front of the black muslin backdrop. triggered using AWS, 1/2 power. something like f/8 at 1/100sec. i did a little post processing, darkening the back drop a bit. i also ran the shots through portrait professional, which is an amazing piece of software with a lot of power that i only scratched the surface with.
read the article before you watch the clip…it’s not safe for work! http://i.gizmodo.com/5144199/tucson-comcast-splices-graphic-porn-into-super-bowl-nsfw
my favorite quote from the news articles:
“These ‘accidents’ seem to happen more often than they should, and if it truly was an accident, why is it always porn that’s aired?” Winter said in a statement. “TV station ‘accidents’ never include a rerun of the Cosby Show…. if someone intentionally caused it, then that person or persons need to be properly dealt with.”
hockey is one of my most favorite things ever. in the spirit of saving money, though, we haven’t been to a game together this year…until Saturday! The pittsburgh penguins were in town to face the colorado avalanche for a matinée game, and we took it in with kerri’s brother and his girlfriend. it’s been a long time since i actually cheered for the avalanche at home; generally we go see either the tampa bay lightning or the vancouver canucks, my number one and two teams, respectively. i wear the jersey, respectfully cheer for my teams (who can’t seem to win when i spend money on the tickets…)
this game was very entertaining, though. of course sidney crosby is always fun to watch. we were in the back, but almost center ice so we got to see and hear almost everything. and then this one time
ok, not really. it was a super fast game, only a few penalties, some good back and forth action. the best part about it was getting to see the game with my wife, especially if it winds up being our only game this season.
this morning i woke up all motivated. one of my (many) goals for this year is to work on the other language skills. i’ve been doing some of the rosetta stone recently, and i woke up this morning and went to zeit online, the online version of a german newspaper. i fumbled my way through an article, looking up every other word to try to make sense out of the article, which i eventually did. it was very cool! so i headed off to work, confident that i would come home and write a post auf deutsch. as the day went on, my confidence faded, and i was going to write a post that basically repeated the “hello, my name is david. which way is the train station? it is 2 o’clock.” but at the end of the day, a friend of mine verbally accepted a position at a company in australia, so of course we had to go have a drink.
so now, here i sit, my head void of any german. i mustered the most basic phrase i could think of to at least use it in the title, but my thoughts aren’t of germany but of australia, and the honeymoon, and the wonderful time i had there with my new bride. instead of guten tag, g’day mate. instead of fussball it’s rugby, cheers! instead of prost!.
but be it prost, or salute, or slainte, or mabuhay, cheers and congratulations, friend! we’ll all live vicariously through you, and know you are off to do great things!
i’m one of those nti-new years resolution people. what’s so different on december 31st from january 1st? oh, but it’s the new year. fresh start. hopeful beginning. bah, i say. i stopped smoking many years ago on january 21st, not january 1st. i started working out regularly sometime in june (coincidently, i stopped working out in a subsequent month of june). i routintely resolve to do things (about as equally as i fail to stick with them) on random dates throughout the year.
i figured i’d be better with resolutions and such. i have what they call an obsessive personality. not in a weird, creepy way. and not to the extreme that i’m washing my hands 200 times a day. somewhere in between that and apathetic, maybe leaning towards the heavy hand washing. i think most people are middle, leaning towards the indifference. so for all the things that the obsessiveness does impact in my life, it turns out not to be something i can channel, or focus on a particular things that i want to obsess over. which is really a bummer.
this year, though, i think i may try something a bit different. i may take advantage of the ushering in of another year. let father time carry away the feeling of hopelessness for all the things that weren’t done in aught-8 and make zero niner the year of change.
granted, 2008 was a pretty big year, too. you know, with the whole getting married thing. and putting on a free pre-wedding concert. big changes at work. although i already know of some pretty hefty changes lining up for 2009, they won’t be until a bit later on in the year. but right now, i’m talking about things to change january 1st. midnight. mountain time. two days from now. wake up the next morning and be the change, live the change. free obama! woah, bring it back a little bit…
of course, then i’d have to make a list of things. i could resolve to put together a list of things for next year. or resolve to find my resolve. or resolve to just do something in 2009. technically, that gives me 364 days to procrastinate, be disappointed, and resolve to do it in 2010.
that’s generally how all of this goes. the motivation is good up until execution. the intent is honorable. and i really want to do any, many, all of the things that i want to plan to resolve to maybe possibly do in 2009. but having to commit to it given my recent string of noncommitence and follow-through-idness is a pretty big hurdle. i set these goals, whether they are on the new year or not, and can never get any traction on them. if i did, and i could make them a part of my routine, i would obsess if i wouldn’t do them. but that hurdle is big, and i’m no track star.
it makes sense, though. change is hard. really hard. ask the wife about all the things i should be changing right now. i dare you. but instead of thinking about it being a change, i should think of it as a goal. with tasks. i like those. tasks and lists are my friends. i can put the tasks in my notebook, and for the things that should be regularly occurring, i should put them in my google calendar. when they are in my google calendar, i just HAVE to do them. (except i haven’t bothered to set the reminder time further in advance, so generally when i get the reminder, i’m already doing whatever it is i’m being reminded about). excuses are for suckers! i’m going to do it. this year, i’m resolving to make resolutions. near term ones, too. and i’ll use the list, and the calendar, and all of the other weird things that seem to comfort me when i do the things i do do (ha!).
i’m fired up! i’m totally going to go make my resolution list now. well, not now now. there is always later. and i’m kind of busy. you know, busy not making lists. busy not making resolutions. busy not working on all of the things i should be working on. screw change. i’m consistent.
no! focus. ok, resolutions. 2 days. i have tonight and all day tomorrow to come up with my list. and to think about how i’l start doing them. no excuses! no retreat, no surrender! no means no! only now no means yes! yes to change! yes to resolve! yes to resolutions!
viva la resolutions!
