In other words...

As most of you know Ryan Schierling is a photo bad ass!

Check out his latest venture:
Go Away — Come Home A magazine documenting the band Spanish for 100's summer tour.

Great stuff Ryan!

Got a request for more kitty photos.


( CLICK FOR KITTIES )

I got a call from my mom earlier in the week. They were wearing her and the step dad Ron out. Five kttens can do that. "Come and get them!" was the basic message.

So today my brother and I got in the car and drove to my moms to retrieve the new members of my family. I just had to choose the two to take.



It would be a tough decision. They were all so cute and each one had its own personality. I knew I was getting one of the siamese kittens. My mom and Ron had really grown attached to one of the siamese so I let them pick it out. I only had to choose one of the other darker kittens. Originally I liked one of the tortoise shells, but when i first walked in I felt something for the solid black one. I have heard they are usually the last ones chosen in a litter.

The other one I had my eye on was the longer haired tortoise shells. It seemed like the spunkier of all the others. My mom told me he was the one to cause all the mischief. He was cute though.

( READ & SEE MORE... )

A few photos from the St. Patties Day parade in Emporia Kansas

March Madness is in full force. I am sitting here watching the KU-Texas A&M game as I type this. Tomorrow I go into work after the brackets are announced to put together the March Madness tab for the paper.

This has become one of my favorite times of the year. I get heckled sometimes because of my excitement when it comes to college basketball and the Kansas Jayhawks. I just blow it off. They just don't understand. :)

With that said, it is THAT time of the year. It is time for the NCAA Tournament Bracket Challenge. I will be emailing you all soon with links to the brackets. Also this year I will be offering a little reward to the winner. So start thinking about your picks.

-dan

Gary wrote: "What the f**K, dude?! I guess photos of your old pal Gary dont exsist? I always knew you liked Ryan better than me."

Now I know Gary is messing with me, but he does bring up a truth. I failed to include a photo of the G-man. It wasn't because I like Ryan better than Gary. It was because I have far fewer photos of Gary than I do Ryan. I learned how to take my first photos using Ryan's dads camera while being assisted by Ryan. In fact Gary, you need to be nagging Ryan for photos. He's the one with all the old high school negatives. Not I. (sorry for selling you out like that Ryan. I just needed someone to point the finger at.)

While we're talking high school, I thought I would share the story of how we all met...

I found these photos and had a good chuckle. These were taken back in 1991? Remember that night Heinzee? lol

I have a few more from this night I will try to scan.

Justin (fellow designer at work) gave me his old scanner recently. I got it to work, however I am forced to use classic environment on my mac. Not ideal, but with a whole lot of work around I was able to scan in a few photos. Here are 3 pix with more to come soon...

( PHOTOS )

Go find a 28mm lens for an older style 35mm camera. You know those cameras that dad and grandpa used to use to shoot the annual family portrait? Yeah those!

Now take that 28mm lens and put it on a desk that is 30.5 inches high. Make sure it is faced so that if you let it go it could (possibly) start to roll towards the edge of the desk. No in fact make sure it is faced that way. While you're at it, go ahead and give it a little nudge so that it in fact begins to roll off the edge of the desk. Actually... before you do any of that, let's back up a minute or two.

Before you attempt this you will want to do some prep work.

Go ahead and take off your shoes. You can leave your socks on, just make sure your toes are not covered by any hard protective shoe type covering. Also, make sure you're feet are kind of cold.

Ok, now that we got all of that out of the way lets get back to that desk with the lens that likes to roll.

Before you roll a perfectly good 28 mm lens off a table that is approximately 30.5 inches tall, you will want to make sure you have a proper cushion system set up so that it doesn't hit the hard floor and occur possible damage.

I just happen to know what an ideal cushion system is. It is in fact.......... the toe located right next to your big toe works just fine, and hey, LOOK! You already have your shoes off so you might as well use that! Trust me, it works. I just happened to make the first "OFFICIAL" test run about 15 minutes ago.

#*@% my toe $%#&@$ hurts!!!

This last weekend I went and shot some film of the Polar Bear Plunge event going on at one of our local ponds. (You know the event where people jump in a frozen lake or pond for charity (this time it was for The Special Olympics of Kansas).

Anyway, this morning I needed my backpack to lug some stuff to work and I took all my lenses out and put them on my desk.

As I went to look for something tonight on my desk and I didn't notice old man #28 rolling towards the edge of my desk until I felt the outcome.

Don't believe me? Take a fairly heavy 35 mm lens and hold it 30.5 inches and drop it on one toe.

Here is the funny part though. While I was in excruciating pain I couldn't get mad. My lens fell off the table and landed on something soft and cushiony. If my toe hadn't been in its precise location the lens could have possibly hit hard floor and had been ruined.

My digit made a sacrifice play tonight.

Anyway, I'm outta here.

I need to go find a pain reliever of some sort.

Well I have some bad news. I got an email from Gleece the other day and apparently his mother has passed away. She has been battling cancer now for quite awhile but unfortunately it became too much. Gleece is in town again taking care of things. I am guessing the funeral will be on Saturday.

Maggie was always a very lively happy person. She always had a big smile on her face.

My condolences go out to you and your family Gleece.

These chalk drawings were found in the below alley, on the left wall, right before the arch.



I discovered them on my way to work. Sometimes I cut down this alleyway as a shortcut to work. (I can hear you laughing Stephanie & Anne). :)

Personally I am torn when it comes to graffiti. On one side I see how it is disrespectful to the business owners. People are defacing their property. On the other side I love art. Some graffiti can be really clever and I find myself really appreciating the effort. If you think about it, these people are risking their criminal records to produce artwork that for the most part goes unnoticed and unnamed.

This particular series I really enjoyed because it is bright and cheery, but it has the possibility of an unfortunate ending. It was also done with chalk, that will wash away with a few rains.

( Chalk Drawings )

It was decided at work that we would stop publishing the kids "Fun Page". It really bummed me out. I used to read that when I was young. Apparently, like everywhere else, money is tight and we have to make sacrifices. They decided to make a page that kids could color and draw on. I got the job to design the page. The problem is, I thought I had more time to do this and now I am in rush mode.

I can see it coming right now. Parents are going to freak out. The fun page was great for kids because it actually taught them facts while they could also have fun with the games and cartoons. I know whatever I come up with tonight isn't going to compare. I wish I had more time at work to do stuff like this, the problem is the pages need to be built and the ads need to be designed. They want something that doesn't require a lot of work each week. I have something started, but eh! Not too thrilled about it. Guess we'll see how it turns out.

Gleece is coming back to Emporia to see his mom on her birthday. His mom was diagnosed with cancer a few years back and she has been fighting ever since. So sad how the big C affects so many people.

I don't know if I will see Eric at all. He had talked about possibly watching a KU game together, but we will have to wait and see.

I have been seeing Gleece more and more on World of Warcraft (WOW). He and I get together a couple time a week and play a few hours. When I was younger we all played Dungeons and Dragons and Gleece was our Dungeon Master. (Yes I could nerd it up when I had to!) Gleece was an awesome Dungeon Master. He really got you into the game. It didn't hurt to have an active imagination as well.

I guess that is what is cool about WOW. It gives us that opportunity to get together and play a game like the old D&D, while living half way across the U.S.

The downside of WOW is it CAN be addictive. I have been trying to limit my time on there and I think I have done a good job. But time does fly while you play. HERE is my character.

OTHER EXCITING NEWS... I got my haircut tonight. The lady who cuts my hair does a good job, but I have noticed the way she cuts it, doesn't look good when it gets a little longer. Oooph! Hair going all over the place! I guess that is the idea though huh? Hair looks bad so you get back in that barber chair and spend more money.

Well, off to finish the kids page.

I have been meaning to post these two images for awhile now. I just wanted to do a proper write up for each one. Well today I was cleaning up my desktop and I just decided to post them both and be done with it. Not sure of the original artists because they were not listed.



I really like this one because it touches on just how short life can be. I also like how each image seems like a season. If anyone knows the artists name who did this, can you please message me? Mucho Thankso. ;)




This one just cracks me up. All the equality stuff aside... Men & Women are so different in the way they see the world. HERE is an excellent book that was written by a wife/husband pair that delves into all the differences. My old neighbor Damir always raved about this book. It is worth a read! :)

Found this story on yahoo this morning.

Photo clues lead to camera's owner

Yes it IS good to know there are some honest people left in the world.

It really feels great when you can force yourself to get up on a Saturday morning.

A few weeks back I caught a small head cold and just as I thought I was getting over it, it took a turn for the worse. On Tuesday night I was getting ready for bed when I coughed and I noticed it wasn't your average cough. It was one of those coughs that hurt deep down. I brushed it off and went to bed. The next morning I awoke and coughed again, only this time it hurt even worse. I knew I was in for a nasty cold. I went to work on Wednesday but only stayed for half of the day. My supervisor was really cool about it and told me to go home and take care of myself. I ended up calling in the next day as well. I slept for most of the day as well as that night.

I am still feeling the effects of the cold and as much as I wanted to stay in bed today I made myself get up to enjoy the morning. I love getting up early on my days off. Make some coffee, open up all the curtains and let the sunshine in. Sorry if I am going "Mr. Rogers" on you. I promise I won't start singing to you. :)

Much to discuss. Lets get the bad news out of the way.

Yesterday at work around 3:15 the editor of the paper came back and told us that Tyson (The cities largest employer) was no longer going to be slaughtering cows in Emporia. They were going to be laying off 1500 of the 2400 employees. No one really knows how bad this is going to affect the local economy, but one can only guess that it could be devastating.

My brother and nephew are both employed by this company so needless to say I am a bit nervous for them. It doesn't appear that they are in the depts. that they are letting go, but you never know?

OK... Moving on....

( READ MORE )

News news news. Lets see where to begin.

How about work? Work has been pretty good actually. I have had the opportunity to actually design a few interesting things for the paper. A few front page graphics as well as some fun ads. The exciting job though is having the opportunity to write a column for the paper.

Every month the job has a food day where we celebrate that months birthdays. Basically everyone shows up with a food dish and we have a pot luck. This has been an opportunity for me to make some food for people. (I really don't like cooking just for myself)

Well a few weeks back, the lady who usually writes the food column at work approached me and asked if I wanted to write a food article. I told her I was interested.

I was really skeptical though. I really don't consider myself a writer. I've been writing a blog/journal since I was in high school, but to have something published in the paper is another story.

I approached this story like I approach my blog and just had fun with it. I ended up sharing 3 of my favorite recipes. If you are a close friend of mine you have probably experienced my blackened chicken pasta salad. :) I am quite fond of it. hehehe.

I also thought this might help the people in town see that "Troy" has a brother. (I am constantly being confused by my brother. Ha! )

So anyway, ( here is the story: )

Other news... I finally got another PC. I still have the Mac and love it dearly. I can finally hook up my old hard drive and retrieve mucho amounts of old photos and music. Pretty excited about that. It will also enable me to play a few games with friends around the country. (Yes I enjoy World of Warcraft). :)

It is currently snowing outside. We are expected to get another 2-4" tonight. I'm pretty excited about that. Gotta love the snow! :)

Well folks, I am going to close. Hope life is treating you all great.

More later.

I caught a cold. A few people at work have been sick so this doesn't really surprise me. I am happy to have tomorrow off. Already dreading monday. :( Unfortunately my sick days haven't kicked in yet at work. So suck it up and drive on.

Time for some soup and some serious couch time.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years. Mine was pretty good. My sister ended up staying in Oklahoma so that was kind of a bummer. Troy and I ended up going up and staying the night at my moms house. It was a lot of fun. We watched some movies and mom cooked an incredible dinner.

Gleece (Eric) and Coot (Marc) were in Emporia this last weekend. We went to Bruffs to watch the Kansas - Yale game, then we went to the Lariet bar and had a couple beers, played some pool and drew pictures on their dry-erase board. Before we left I gave Gleece a small assignment on the dry erase board. If you know Eric you know he is a closet cartoonist. He can draw really nicely if he wants to. Anyway, I told him to draw people standing around a pool table. What he drew had us gagging for air we were laughing so hard. Juvenile? Yes. Fun? Absolutely.

Last night for New Years eve my bro Troy and his friend Joey came over and hung out for awhile, then we went down to the Lariet before midnight. (Gleece & Coot, the drawing was still there. Everyone was cracking up over it.) Midnight came, we drank some champagne. Troy and Joey left shortly after midnight and I basically called it a night as well. I was tuckered.

Other news... The midwest snowstorms have brought lots of snow to our area. I love snow. The one beef I had with Seattle was it didn't snow near enough snow. You could always take a short trip up to the mountains, but it still wasn't IN Seattle. Well since moving back to Emporia the midwest has not disappointed! We have had a couple pretty big storms roll through. In fact, I took some photos...



( MORE PHOTOS )

Dang, just saw this on Ryan's Blog.

Croc is closing

Sad day for Seattle. The Croc was (in my opinion) the best place to go see a show.

It makes me miss Seattle that much more.

End of the snowy weekend is here. I absolutely love the snow. We only ended up with a couple of inches but it is still nice to look out the window and see all the white. Maybe we will get some more for Christmas.

Who's got the big Christmas plans?

My sister & her fam might end up coming up here after all. That would be really nice. I know we all had a great time at Thanksgiving. To think that might happen at Christmas would just be awesome.

My brother Troy and Nephew Nate came over this morning around 6:30 am. We made breakfast and watched a movie. Then this evening Troy and I went over his girlfriends house to eat Spaghetti for dinner. It was deelicious!

After dinner we were discussing some things and I mentioned this funny video I saw on Youtube. I told my brother I would email it, but instead I guess i'll just post it here.

I found this video the other day and had a few good laughs. The first clip (white statue) is both hilarious and freaky. (I'd be freaking out just like that little girl). :) Some of those people who dress up like statues look pretty dang real. Anyway, this video is a montage of people getting scared by practical jokes. Good stuff & it should be work safe. ;)



Have a great week friends! -dan :)