Meet Maggie

Meet Maggie, originally uploaded by billaday.

We have a new puppy. Finally, after much discussion, we named her Maggie. She's ten weeks old, super little, and pretty cute. She just learned to run.

Day 188

Isabelle, the graduate

Isabelle, the graduate, originally uploaded by billaday.

Yay! The wife is a graduate. I'm super proud, and she's super beautiful.

Day 187

friends

friends, originally uploaded by billaday.

the night before Isabelle graduates. These are some good friends.

Day 186

thirteen

thirteen, originally uploaded by billaday.

Here's my old classroom. I'm moving from unlucky 13 to #1. Woo hoo.

Day 185

cheese

cheese, originally uploaded by billaday.

Everet sat next to Isabelle while she opened her birthday presents. I was taking pictures of her, but he smiled (and said cheese) every time. It was awesome.

Day 184

satellite

satellite, originally uploaded by billaday.

I'm finally watching 2001: A Space Odyssey. It's kinda slow, but good so far. I used to be a purist, and would watch a movie and nothing else.

Day 183

rooftop snorkel

rooftop snorkel, originally uploaded by billaday.

Every June, I climb up onto the school's roof and drop protected eggs off. Some break, some don't. I also have the opportunity to walk around the roof and take pictures. Apparently, someone inside needed a snorkel to breathe. Hmm.

Day 182

carnival elephants

carnival elephants, originally uploaded by billaday.

The elephants aren't on parade, but they are ready to spin around in circles, over and over, during the upcoming carnival.

Day 181

Brat

Brat, originally uploaded by billaday.

My dad bbq'd some bratwurst. It was really tasty. You can see the grilled zucchini in the foreground. Tasty.

Day 180

Retirement

Retirement, originally uploaded by billaday.

Susan (in the Dodgers jersey) is retiring. Here's a shot from her party with all the other kinder teachers.

Photoshop can be an ugly word for some; I Photoshopped this one to get more balanced levels... there was really bright sunlight, so most of the photos from this event that everyone took were way washed out and had harsh shadows. I convinced them to stand in a shadow to get rid of the 5 o'clock shadows. Then, in Photoshop, I duplicated the layer and changed the layer property to Screen. That basically brightened up the dark parts. I rinsed and repeated, and then masked out the sky so it looked blue instead of white. It's a simple photo, yes, but I'm proud of the results I got out of my little pocked SD800.

Oh yeah, and I am taking Susan's spot as the afternoon kinder teacher. Big shoes to fill...

Day 179

Need a hand?

Need a hand?, originally uploaded by billaday.

We walked past a nail place after eating at Corner Bakery (which rocks, btw), and there were a bunch of severed hands in the window. That makes me want to NOT go inside.

Day 178

red, red wine

red, red wine, originally uploaded by billaday.

I'm coming to learn that there's a lot more to wine than I originally thought. I know this is red wine, it looks cool, and it has a strong pepper taste. Someone told me about the pepper, though.

Day 177

Future learn library

Future learn library, originally uploaded by billaday.

This is the APU graduate library. The photo makes it look all futuristic, so I tried to give it a futuristic title... it has an adjective, verb and noun. Lame, yes. True, maybe someday.

Day 176

Today's photo-a-day is brought to you by the letter K

Today's photo-a-day is brought to you by the letter K, originally uploaded by billaday.

That's right, the rumors are true. I'm teaching kinder next year. I've already learned a lot... like you're supposed to call it kinder, not kindergarten. That's what kinder teachers do.

Day 175

bolted

bolted, originally uploaded by billaday.

For an eyeful of macro gooey goodness, view on black.

Day 174

Open door policy

Open door policy, originally uploaded by billaday.

I was driving down the freeway, and this trucker forgot to close the door of his rig. I fathomed that a giant rhino would fall out any moment. It didn't, but it could.

Day 173

purple haze

purple haze, originally uploaded by billaday.

Purple haze all in my brain
Lately things just dont seem the same
Actin funny, but I dont know why
'scuse me while I kiss the sky

Day 172

painter's tape

painter's tape, originally uploaded by billaday.

Finally (almost) done with the bathroom! The paint is drying, the shower curtain is new. Now I just need to find the studs to hang the mirror. Isabelle did a rockin' job masking off the switches and towel racks.

Day 171

Pink shoes

Pink shoes, originally uploaded by billaday.

I think it would be the coolest thing ever to have a chair this big. It's easy when you're one year old. It would be tricky, yet awesome, if you were an adult. That chair would be ten feet tall!

Day 170

light tower

light tower, originally uploaded by billaday.

You're not supposed to aim your camera directly at the sun. If you do, it can look really cool, though. I like the contrast here.

Day 169

Nine

Nine, originally uploaded by billaday.

After twelve innings, the Tigers self-destructed and walked in the Angels' only run. Angels 1, Tigers 0. We had awesome seats, though. For an uneventful game, this was the coolest shot.

Day 168

Clover sidewalk

Clover sidewalk, originally uploaded by billaday.

Some days I feel like the curb; other days I feel like the clovers.

Day 167

before/during

before/during, originally uploaded by billaday.

We're remodeling the bathroom. You've seen the cliché "before and after" shot. Well, it's not done yet, so here's the before and during shot. The "after" will come by Saturday.

Day 166

window dressing

window dressing, originally uploaded by billaday.

This building was actually available for lease. Who would want to spend thousands of dollars to have their business here? Seriously?

Day 165

Wicked

Wicked, originally uploaded by billaday.

If you've seen the play Wicked, think of the end of Act One. Yeah. (If not, it's really cool. So go see it.)

Day 164

I have the power

I have the power, originally uploaded by billaday.

Remember when He-Man said that every episode? That rocked.

Day 163

Centennial Lane

Centennial Lane, originally uploaded by billaday.

Azusa Pacific University has these giant pillars in the driveway. I think it's their anti-drinking and driving campaign. There's 20 or so of these in the middle of where you travel.

Day 162

spotlight on painting

spotlight on painting, originally uploaded by billaday.

My dad was doing some late night painting with the porch light on. He was kind enough to let me walk around and take pictures. He was quite patient with me constantly in his way while he was working. The table thing looked really nice at the end.

Day 161

exit

exit, originally uploaded by billaday.

After an epic game of Foosball, Mark was either radiating light, or stepping into the light.

Day 160

take the test already

take the test already, originally uploaded by billaday.

The most important step in preparing for a test is a sharpened pencil, and a sharpened mind. Ok, the two most important steps...

Day 159

Mr. Sun

Mr. Sun, originally uploaded by billaday.

This happy guy is on the side of my house, though I'm not sure exactly why.

Day 158

The door on the bus goes open and shut, All through the town

The door on the bus goes open and shut, All through the town, originally uploaded by billaday.

Yeah, that's right. I used a line from The Wheel on the Bus for the title. And now you're singing it.

Day 157

Light

Light, originally uploaded by billaday.

They say that light is the second most important part of a photo. Well, I was on the roof of a parking structure trying to get some shots of handrails and stuff, and the sunlight was ruining what I was attempting. So, I turned around and took a picture of the sun. It's a pretty cool gradient going from super white to a rich blue.

Day 156

the wings of an angel

the wings of an angel, originally uploaded by billaday.

I've passed by this statue before, but never really stopped and looked at it. The texture of the angel's wings caught my eye today.

Day 155

Dire wolves

Dire wolves, originally uploaded by billaday.

We went to the La Brea Tar Pits for a field trip today. It turns out, many wolves died in Los Angeles 40,000 years ago. Mental note, if you see a huge pit full of tar, don't walk into it. You'll die, slowly.

Day 154

Hi hat

Hi hat, originally uploaded by billaday.

Drums are cool. No matter who you are, you are cool when you play the drums (well).

Day 153

You Are Beautiful in the gutter

You Are Beautiful in the gutter, originally uploaded by billaday.

Irony defined.

Day 152

Griller

Griller, originally uploaded by billaday.

Oh, how I love the Griller. One of my stock meals is a Griller with Pasta-roni. yum.

Day 151

Chili dog

Chili dog, originally uploaded by billaday.

We went to see Wicked. It was really great. Beforehand, we ate at Kabuki, and passed this place walking to the Pantages.

Day 150

go ahead and jump

go ahead and jump, originally uploaded by billaday.

Our school participated in Jump Rope for Heart. Angie rocked out. It was tricky to make sure all the kids' faces were super blurry and undistinguishable, since this is the internet and it is my photo-a-day.

Day 149

handrails

handrails, originally uploaded by billaday.

They REALLY want to make sure nobody slips and falls.

Day 148

The 101

The 101, originally uploaded by billaday.

I like Los Angeles. It has way more character than my suburban town Glendora. Here's another example why.

Day 147

Orange you glad I...

Orange you glad I..., originally uploaded by billaday.

(insert your punchline here:)

Day 146

Mr. and Mrs.

Mr. and Mrs., originally uploaded by billaday.

So Heather and Andy finally got married. And I finally went to a wedding without a job: not the photographer, not the guitarist, just a guest. It was strange.

I only took 4 pictures of the actual ceremony. I was officially a guest and was determined to act as one. This was photo #4 of the wedding. The shutter speed was 1/15 sec. It gave me time to pan the camera as they walked quickly down the aisle and out the church. No photoshopping here. Good ol' fashioned hold the camera steady and follow the important people.

Oh yeah. Congratulations you two!

Day 145

musician.

musician., originally uploaded by billaday.

Greg is the keyboard player for The Francis Band. Equipped with his MacBook, a Korg synthesizer, and a delay pedal, he's the guy everyone makes fun of in the band, and he's also the guy that everyone is stoked on when we start playing. With Greg, we're like Angels & Airwaves, except for the popularity and the whiney voice.

Day 144

insect shadow

insect shadow, originally uploaded by billaday.

I opened up my front door this morning and found this bee hanging out on the door. He didn't move, so I grabbed my camera (which was fortunately in my pocket) and got about an inch away.

What I learned from this photo-a-day is that the first photo is either the best or worst. I took 25 pictures of this bee and this is the first one.

Day 143

railer

railer, originally uploaded by billaday.

There's a joke in this story... I promise.

We had an 8 hour RIF hearing. RIF = Reduction In Force = Layoff. A synonym for bummer is railer. So, to me, that's funny.

What's not funny is that our state (California) doesn't care much about education these days.

Day 142

Borax

Borax, originally uploaded by billaday.

This is that old hand soap that's bright pink and gritty. It's that stuff you can never get off your hands or get to be foamy. I can almost feel it right now. Yuk.

For whatever reason, this bag was right next to the fridge in the teacher's lounge.

Day 141

Spoke

Spoke, originally uploaded by billaday.

I did not have a colonoscopy today, but I picked up someone who did. The opposite of fun is colonoscopy.

Day 140

Reb

Reb, originally uploaded by billaday.

I'm a big fan of foosball. We play every Sunday and have helped coin several foos terms: the masterful, the mach 1, the Dartagnon, the Bobby Kovina, the flying tuna, and so on. This guy is a replacement--he's grey, so he fits on the blue or red team. Since he's rebellious, we call him Mr. Rebel... Johnny Rebel. He's the only professional athlete I know who doesn't wear the team's uniform.

Day 139