Soft sided thankfulness and a New Year

Having a little bit of down time this weekend, and looking over the encyclopedia sized employee handbook for my new job, as much crap that has fallen out around me I'm actually very fortunate all things considered.

Hmmm ok I had a whole list of things I was happy to have in my life and realizing that I'm much better off than I think sometimes and some other warm fuzzy stuff. It's gone out of my head already. Guess now that I've actually sat down to write it......well this is who I am. Sometimes I'm crazy happy and other times I'm fed up with stupid crap that pisses me off. Just how it is I guess.

I watched 4 movies this weekend. I won't bore you with long reviews or spoilers but here's the short no bs recommendations:
The Strangers: Horror/Terror Genre - I give it a B. Great unique idea and different than the rest. Better than a lot of crap I've seen lately but it gets a B.

Tropic Thunder Comedy/Ben Stiller Genre - It's typical Ben Stiller funny shiz. If you dig Zoolander and Something bout Mary then you'll like it.

Burn After Reading Comedy/Coen Brothers Genre - It's funny. But you gotta love dry humor. If you don't you won't get it.

Eagle Eye Action/Thriller - Ok so yes Shia LaBeouf can be annoying but there is a great supporting cast including Michelle Monaghan. The short version is if you liked Enemy of the State you'll like this one too. Done.

While I'm thinking about it here are some pics of the past 3 weeks with the snowiest winter in recorded history in the area. Nothing quite like getting over 3 feet of snow in 48 hours and almost 100 inches of snow in 3 weeks. It was crazy.

One of my favorites during the storm I drove along the edge of the river and the lake, it was amazing. The tree canopy and the heavy snow made it feel like I was in a tunnel.


I have a thing for trees and snow. You may not care for the shot. I just happen to like it. I shot something similar back in '02 while in McCall during a storm.


I shot the birdhouse in my backyard as all the leafs had fallen. A end of fall shot. Which turned out much better than I had anticipated. After the storm and the blue skies came out I had to capture this shot. 37.5 inches of snow in less than 48 hours and light fluffy snow just stuck. This shot says it all.


I took this fire pit shot at Christmas. I wanted to shoot something similar all year but hadn't. This was after the second storm. The second round of 30 inches of snow. We should be around 70 inches at this point. I wanted to shoot the fire pit encompassed in snow and the glow of the fire lighting the area cutting the night. I shot 40 or 50 different styled shots but I think I like this one with the fire dancing and the glow lighting up the snow around the pit before the snow melts off the granite fire ring.


On a happy note I managed to keep a fire going and not have the furnace kick on once. The down side, I don't know how to keep a fire going and NOT keep it a constant 77-80 in the house. Good lord. 70 would be good but almost 80. It's a hellva shock to go from t-shirt and shorts to have to bundle up with a scarf with it's freezing out.

It's 2009. Here's to putting the past behind us. Not letting bad things stop us and achieving some great things.