We went to Dallas to test drive Mini Coopers this weekend. They're rather nifty little cars. I just wish that they got better fuel economy. I really wanted to test drive a Toyota Prius, but demand for them is so incredibly high, that it may be months before I get the opportunity.

After the test drive, we headed to Hugo, Oklahoma with Eliska's mother to visit with E's grandmother there. She fed us some fantastic homemade cheesecake during our visit.

Then, it was over to Ft.Worth for a Huey Lewis & The News concert at Billy Bob's Texas, courtesy of Eliska's cousin. In the parking lot, we saw a DeLorean, like the one that I had in high school. (sigh)

The weekend done, we headed right back, because Eliska had to report to work for a Sunday a.m. vice-presidential arrival, or departure, or something presidential. I was too sleepy to recall what the hubbub was about. My dad had a photo taken with the bozo, whichever one of them it was.

Now I am trying to find a female vocalist to sing a Sara Groves
song at our wedding...

I took time off from mundane studio work to watch Houston run, roll, and run relays with a rubber chicken and fish this morning...

I forgot to deliver a copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to a woman at the church, again! I was in the neighborhood, too... These days, gas is too expensive to not hit as many needed stops in one go. Hmph.

In other news, we're off to a Huey Lewis concert tomorrow. I can't say that I was ever a huge fan of the band, but I hear that the show is good and the tickets were provided by my finacé's cousin. I always say that nothing tastes better than a free meal... I should revise that saying, because last night's meal at Ridgewood Country Club for Eliska's graduation from Leadership Waco
left much to be desired. I think that the chicken died of natural causes. Of course, the meal might have been perfectly fine. It may have been the company that spoiled it, with few exceptions, of course (being Eliska, Elton, Charles, K.Paul, and a few others). I've been to a Leadership Waco graduation before. This one was much less pleasant than the first one that I attended. The class speaker was far less entertaining that the last one. He just seemed to enjoy the sound of his own voice way too much. Since it was the 20th class, it was also a sort of class reunion of all of the other ones. It was remarkable to note how many of the old class members are still in Waco. In that respect, being elected to attend Leadership Waco may amount to little more than a life sentence in Waco. Before I go any farther with my negative review of the evening, I must point out that the highlight of the whole affair, and the only glimmer of light in the room was from my lovely fiancé. I'd almost endure another one of those for her. I just pray that I won't have to for some time...

Check out our new pet feeder.

We've been astonished at how rapidly the birds deplete the dogs' food from their dispensers. After some difficulty with programming the timer, I think that we now have it set to where it will feed the dogs five times each day. If you happen to purchase one of these devices, be sure to RESET the timer before attempting to program it. It wouldn't dispense food before I hit that reset button, and the dogs went hungry for the first day...

[adult swim] | Shows

I really miss this show, and I wish that Cartoon Network had not cancelled it back in March.

For my future sister-in-law, Jeryl who asks, nay commands that she be addressed as "Oh, Beautiful Jeryl" -- and hereafter referred to as "OBJ". I apologize in advance for the poor quality of the video. It's a compromise between download time and image quality, as is everything on the web.

VIDEO

Allergy season has nearly come to a close for me. For more than a month I was tormented by impaired respiration together with grossly enlarged tonsils.

This is how bad the pollen is around here in the spring:

Yes, that's the working title of the indie film that is set to shoot in
the Waco area this October for sixteen days of principle photography.
Janice tells me that the distributor is very interested, but cannot
recall the distributor's name. It's supposed to be a big one. The
writer/director is Deborah Reece, who will be conducting an open call
for crew and cast at the Lexington Inn on 30 May from 10a-5p. That
meeting will determine whether or not she (or her DP or AD) will want me to work and whether I will want to work on the project. The DP is
probably going to be a guy from Dallas, who has twenty features to his
credit. They might be shooting on HD, with which I have some experience as a 1st AC, so I might stand a chance of getting on camera crew for
the first unit (if there is such a thing as a SECOND unit on this gig).
We'll see. Sixteen days is not that long for a feature. I worked a
grueling thirty days on "Heathens", which was a deferred payment gig, as is this one.

CNN.com - Cannes applauds anti-Bush film - May 17, 2004

The article says it all. I wanted to echo the sentiment over the fact that "Americans" are censoring free speech, yet again. An acquaintance of mine who is serving in eastern Europe right now told me how mistaken most Americans are about our liberties. She was quick to tell of how many European nations enjoy many more liberties than Americans do. The recent censorship of Michael Moore's recent project should call attention to that fact.

My finacé and I have opted for a short engagement, leaving little time for things like showers and such. Since this will be her second and my first marriage, she doesn't need quite as much stuff as I do. So, the wedding registry that we've created on Amazon.com is focused on me and the kids. I've never listed in a reigistry before, and certainly not online. Like I said in a previous post, a donation to our PayPal wedding fund is just as useful as a gift from the registry.

My fiancé and I met over lunch with the minister who will preside over
our nuptials next month. We have a personality test to take, and a book
to read. When I dropped out of college, I thought that I was done with
testing and assigned reading. If I had known how many more tests and
reading assignments I'd have throughout life, I would have stayed in
school!

But seriously, the man who gave us the work to do knows what he is
talking about. I knew that I wanted him to marry us after hearing just
one of his sermons at church. The sermon was topical and cogent without
being overly "preachy". So practical was his approach as to make
perfect sense to anyone. I won't go into it just now, but I am looking
forward to hearing more of the wisdom that he's distilled from life.

The strip mall where the studio is located just received a new roof. For some reason, the new roof is leaking like a sieve, and the Chinese buffet down the way has suffered a lot of water damage, due to the recent rains. We've had to replace just a few ceiling tiles, but other neighbors are finding their ceilings coming down on them.

Yesterday, I was standing outside the back door smoking a cigar, when I became aware of a number of itches on my bare forearms and neck. Then, on my scalp. On closer inspection, I found that I was covered in some sort of larvae that were stinging me with their little tails. Hundreds of them! I think that I managed to brush them off and wash them out of my hair, but it's one of the oddest things to happen to me in a while.

I am a photographer. I make pictures for people. Some
of them are for commercial intentions. I recently created an image that the client is afraid to use, because it "desecrates" a local
"landmark". In short, I digitally removed a sign from an old building
and replaced it with the client's logo. No, the client doesn't reside
in the building, but I saw the treatment as being a clever and
eye-catching use of the scenery. The client has been warned by a local
bozo attorney not to use the image, because it would open her up to a
host of legal action. Well, I am thinking about publishing the image
here, just to let people know what they are missing out on. Hmph.

After spending the better part of the year posting complaints about one thing and another, I thought that I would mention something that brings a smile to my face and keeps it there. Over the weekend, I became engaged to be married to the woman for whom I have been searching. I knew that she was out there, somewhere. If you'd like to take part in helping with the nuptials, then please use the PayPal donation button that appears on this page.

This will be my first and only marriage, and I am delighted to be in this place, at last. It's been a long search. I am 34, never before married, with no children of my own. She brings everything I could ever desire in a woman. The list is far too long to cover in this blog entry. Suffice it to say that I have never been happier, and could not have imagined being this happy.

Tonight, we reached a decision on the wedding date. It's just six weeks away, so if you're going to donate to the nuptial fund, please do it now.

I must wrap this up, because I have some more complaints that I'd like to get to... :)