I forgot to mention, I got a check the other day from Minnesota Public Radio as payment for all the photos I’ve taken for them. Made me happy, and technically a professional photographer, too.

Something neat about some of the other websites using MPR photos to read (Photo courtesy MPR/Jeremy Pavleck) associating me as being an official press photog for them. I’m not, but hey, I’ll take it anyway

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has so far grossed over $44.8 million in the US alone. And sadly, $19 of that is out of my pocket.

Yes, I took Mishka there yesterday. To sit in a crowded theater. With children. To watch Harry Potter.

And I actually liked it.

Ok, maybe like is to strong of a word - but it definitely had it’s strong points.  The end fight was pretty cool, a lot of sweet special effects and all. It was 2 hours and 18 minutes I don’t regret, so there’s that.

To redeem myself, I might have to go see the Mendicats in Broadway Bound…… and gagged! at the Bryant Lake Bowl tomorrow. Nothing like a pre-opera house of whores to really wash away the Harry Potter fanaticism going on. And then seeing Transformers again, too.

Though, truth be told, we’re severely behind on packing, so the weekend might end up being all about that - but we’ll see.

We also temporarily have a new cat. Yesterday, while we were walking into the building, I heard this soft meow and looked over at the flower garden. There sat this big friendly orange tom cat, filthy and covered in dirt. I mean he was diiiirrrrtttyyyy. Holding him, he felt ‘gritty’. That’s how bad he was.
Anyway, we bring him, and introduce him to Ebbie. She’s insanely curious as to who this stranger is, but he’s not having any of it and  proceeds to extended periods of hissing and meowing. We break them up, Ebbie sleeps in the Mishka, this new cat gets to roam the rest of the place - in the morning we were going to take him to the vet for a checkup and/or the humane society - not sure which, hopefully I win and we keep him though. We wake up and… he’s gone. We can’t find him anywhere. It’s as if he just vanished into thin air. So now there’s some strange orange tom cat wandering the house hiding out somewhere, and our smaller sweet Ebbie has to put up with it. I’m fairly sure she can handle herself though, she has all her claws, and tom doesn’t. So the most serious thing that could happen is he could make a move, get swiped by the fast and furious wolverine like claws Ebbie has, and then runs away tail between his legs.

At least I hope that’s the worst that could happen.

This article at Psychology Today takes a look at introverts. After reading, then re-reading it, I’d have to say I pretty much agree with it. I bill myself as the extroverted introvert. Meaning? Well, although my preferred state of being is alone or with my Mishka, I can flip a switch and become Mr. Outgoing Guy - making friends and doing the room.

The article essentially says that there are people, such as myself, who do fine - and actually excel - with a lower need for affiliation. We don’t need to hit the crowded clubs and rub elbows with societies elite. In fact, because we keep to ourselves, we’re actually more creative, and we see things others don’t. Our perspective is different, because we aren’t concentrating on being the life of the party.

Hence, I think that’s one major reason I love photography. I can be in the center of the crowd, but not really be there.

I don’t particularly like crowds. I guess you could say I loathe them. I do well in front of them, I’ll go up and sing karaoke with the rest of them like I did last week - I just don’t like large crowds.
Now, place a camera in my hands, and I’m not really in the crowd anymore. I’m an outsider looking in. Watching everything behind the lens looking for a shot, or something that might become a shot. It takes concentration, and I can’t really pay attention to the drunken college kids next to me, or the old man behind me, or the fat sweaty guy in front of me - nope, I’m just looking for a shot.

Anyway, it was just a random muse, just another mental dump sent over the tubes. As such, it seems to read a little ‘jerky’, and I don’t really care to clean it up. I’ll leave you with my favorite quote from the article:

Previous MRI studies have shown that during social situations, specific areas in the brains of loners experience especially lively blood flow, indicating a sort of overstimulation, which explains why they find parties so wearying. But Guyer’s results suggest that introverts may be more attuned to all sorts of positive experiences as well. This added sensitivity, she speculates, could mean that people who are reserved have an ability to respond quickly to situations—such as coming to your aid in a moment of need—or show unusual empathy to a friend, due to their strong emotional antennae.

Just because, I’m going to list some of my favorite websites that I visit every single day. Maybe you’ll see one you like in there, and it can become one of your favorites, too.

• MAKE Magazine - I’ve been a subscriber since it’s inaugural issue, and will be a subscriber until they stop making it. It’s people making things.
• Hack A Day - Amazing hacks of everyday items, made into not so everyday items
• I Can Has Cheezburger - Yes, I too have fallen prey to the LOLCAT phenomena
• LifeHacker - Excellent productivity tips, hints and how-tos. Highly recommended.
• Freakonomics Blog - The insight and wit of a rogue economist.
• XKCD - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math and language
• Worse Than Failure - Curious perversion in IT, indeed.
• Engadget - If it’s a new gadget, it’s here first. Love this site, and it’s how I learned about the upcoming Max OSX touch screen based iPod coming out!
• Slashdot - News for nerds. I’ve been going there daily for almost a decade now.
• Instructables - How to DIY with EVERYTHING. One of my absolute faves.
• The Photo Forum - Great group of people here, as well as plenty of news reviews and tips.

There are a lot more sites I go to, but they aren’t an everyday thing. Most of them I subscribe to via RSS with Google Reader - I highly recommend it too, it’s now my favorite newsreader - especially being able to maneuver it purely by using the keyboard is a huge plus. You can also share items you like, care to see my shared items? I only recently started starring and sharing things, so there might not be a lot listed - you still get an insight into how my mind works. So tread lightly.

Any links you’d like to share? Post em!

COMING SOON: Updated blog, new theme, new things, same smoky flavor!

Every morning, when I get to work, I check the news. I check the news a lot, actually. I read a lot. I try to know as much as possible about whats going on.

Thing is, I haven’t been using this particular news reader for more then 3 weeks, so that’s not even the half of it.

Also, today I met UPS on the way out the door, they were delivering several large boxes stamped with “Select Comfort” on them. I had thought to myself ‘Hrm, we bought a select comfort bed… but we told them to wait until we moved.. so it couldnt be ours, right?’. Well, guess what - it was. So I had to shove these big ass boxes inside the apartment already crowded with ready to move items, then called Mishka. She wasn’t happy, but I assume she’ll take care of it - since I don’t really care either way about it nor do I mind setting it up myself. She cares though, and we did pay extra for the service. Hrm. Suppose it’s time for a few phone calls.

I am a unique and beautiful flower, according to this site. Now to ‘build my brand‘.

On a down note, the 5th Harry Potter movie opens tonight, and I fear I may be dragged to it kicking and screaming. I suppose I shall take the morning off tomorrow, so I can actually get some sleep after it’s all over. *sigh*

Not to mention, we’ve packed about 2% of the apartment, and I don’t really know when we’ll get around to it with all the crap that’s going on. Argh!

 Indeed, I went to Mishka’s family reunion and made it alive! Not only that, I had a lot of fun as well - they are truly a great group of people, and I’d be happy to call them my family if I had the choice!

I’ll put up a few pictures later, maybe try to tell a story. But right now I’m sore from bowling (I think I came in second, overall) and I still, 2 days later, have a bit of a hangover. I’ll tell the story of the Best Buy purchased karaoke machine and the hotel bar later.

Needless to say, there were…. well, a ton of weddings going on that weekend - we were probably the least fruity dressed people in the hotel - except for our reunion T-Shirts in festive primary colors!

Also, I’ve made a real main page here, especially now that I’m passing out business cards with the address on it. It’s more of less a PhotoBlog now, though I’ll be a lot more choosy with what pics I upload.

I’ve always had a soft spot for stop motion video. Something about it, the amount of work it takes, the planning, the execution - it just makes me smile. I found a great tutorial on how to make a stop motion video, and might give it a try. Something I thought would be interesting is a weight loss stop motion - only a couple minutes long, chronicling a year of weight loss. I imagine me just walking down the street, same clothes, watching them getting baggier and baggier.

What do you think? Anyway, Mishka’s family reunion tomorrow, wish me luck. Below, please find one of my favorite stop motion videos I’ve found on youtube.

My animated world

    I’ve been to the Taste of Chicago, I’ve been to the Taste of Milwaukee, and the Taste of Minnesota…. pales, in comparison. It really does. I was shocked but just how few choices they had there food wise - do you want cheese curds, or a tube of meat?

Regardless, I still had fun. The Village People played, that was fun to watch - though they certainly were looking their age hehe.
There were also some rides and games - mainly a Ferris Wheel, a whirl-you-around-in-a-circle thing, a few rigged throw something into and/or at something to win a prize, and an interesting game that was packed - you launched a water balloon at the other side and tried to hit a few areas that would soak them. It was fun to watch, and I was half tempted to give it a go as I made the horrible mistake of wearing black jeans, a tshirt, then a black overshirt - I was sucking up the rays and sweaty.

The Ferris Wheel, that was cool. The guy operating it saw my camera and said he’d pause at the top for a minute or so to let me get some good pictures, and boy did I - even though it was my first time on a Ferris Wheel and I was freaked the hell out hehe.

See the whole set I’ve uploaded over at Flickr. 
The 4th was fairly uneventful - Mishka worked, I stayed at home playing video games. Went to meet up with her at around 4, we had some dinner at Tony Roma’s (Another first, the food was excellent too!) then we went to go see Transformers! It was one hell of a movie, I liked it very much - I heartily encourage you to go see it if you haven’t done so - especially if you’re a child of the 80s like I, and grew up watching them AND went to see the first movie.

Mishka’s family is having a reunion this weekend, so she’s heading over there tonight, I’ll be heading there tomorrow - expect some pictures next week.

Anyway, I’m oncall, so I’m making this short - I’ll write more later.