Thursday, January 31, 2008

Day 31 of 366 for 2008



On a cold wet day, a wet blanket might do someone good...

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Day 30 of 366 for 2008



Ball in a Box

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My friends from GearDiary are playing along; I keep my stash of photos at the WonderDawg 366 for 2008 Flickr set and participate with the entire pool of Project 365 Flickr pool with 3,195 members. Go see!

Day 29 of 366 for 2008



Hey Newscoma, Big Foot sighting... !

Day 28 of 366 for 2008



Mondays are rough if your Karma is all spent over the weekend....

Day 27 of 366 for 2008



Riverfront Park Water Fall

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My friends from GearDiary are playing along; I keep my stash of photos at the WonderDawg 366 for 2008 Flickr set and participate with the entire pool of Project 365 Flickr pool with 3,195 members. Go see!

Day 26 of 366 | Playing 366 Catchup

I take a lot of photographs every day particularly at lunchtime, while tooling around town and hundreds every week of products and gadgets in preparation for the items I review over at GearDiary.

It's hard to carve out a block of time after work to blog or at the minimum post a picture everyday for the 366 Photo A Day project. But I'm gonna stick to it! Just yesterday, I was obsessed to find a 366 or 2008 house number to post, but my legs gave up after walking uphill on 2nd Avenue. The 100 address block of 2nd Avenue spans several city blocks, so that nipped the quest in a hurry.



So here goes... a slew of posts to get my 366 calendar on track...

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My friends from GearDiary are playing along; I keep my stash of photos at the WonderDawg 366 for 2008 Flickr set and participate with the entire pool of Project 365 Flickr pool with 3,195 members. Go see!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Tigger the cat LOL

I went to the vet today to check up on my two dogs Ally and Diggy for some worm medicine.

At Bellevue Animal Hospital, I met Tigger who was manning the front counter:

hai dawg



U haz wormz? - sux 4 u!

Monday, January 28, 2008

Surprise in a Shoebox

One of the great joys (or curses) of being a ratpack is the absolute delight of searching for 100 watt light bulb in the garage storage shelf and accidentally stumbling upon a shoebox filled with assorted treasures. Pictures, matchbooks, ink pens, old business cards, TV remotes, a Palm Pilot with a cracked screen, and ... a Sony Watchman.



Read the rest of my Surprise in a Shoebox story at GearDiary.

Safety Alert

My friend Judie at GearDiary sent this to me:

The American Medical Association has announced a new national symbol for choking.

Please inform all of the people in your safety department.


OLD SYMBOL



NEW SYMBOL




Cowboys fans do have a sense of humor; Packers and Redskins spectators don't... so be careful out there!

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Day 25 of 366 for 2008



Popsicle Toes...

Day 24 of 366 for 2008



Wall detail at Country Music Hall of Fame

Update: I thought this wall looked familiar - I took the same shot on the 13th!



I need to look around for different subject matters...

Friday, January 25, 2008

Day 23 of 366 for 2008

I asked my LEGO friends Beetle and Maynard with their girlfriends Sunshine and Faith to check out the new Fingertip Mini Cube Speaker that Thomas at USB Fever sent from overseas...

Fingertip Speaker - Jan, 23, 2008

Read what they had to say over at GearDiary.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Day 22 of 366 for 2008

On cold winter days*, I turn to working with LEGO to keep my love for building things to keep me occupied. I've got several concepts that involve use of iPods - the LEGO minifigs are rushing me to install something in time before the Super Bowl.

In the LEGO lab - Jan. 22, 2008

* When spring rolls around, I prefer to be outdoors with gardening and doing fine carpentry projects.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Day 21 of 366 for 2008

Monday was Martin Luther King Day - a great man worthy of a holiday.

So rush hour traffic was a non factor; banks were closed; emissions testing was unavailable... the only thing I could get done on my half day off was have the DirecTV guy come out and install HD. I'm loving high definition TV so far... the NFL and Discovery Channel rocks!

HD commeth - Jan 21, 2008

Installing HD behind the great wall of woo-hoo!

HD Rat's Nest - Jan 21, 2008

Day 20 of 366 for 2008

Dang, it's hard to keep up with a photo a day... but I do think about it even as NFL football draws to a close - After watching the Giants kick the Packers in the teeth with a field goal in overtime, there's gonna be some bitter (and cold) Packers fans come Monday morning! Packer fans are 50% as obnoxious as Redskins fans towards the Cowboys. They can dish out the smack talk, but can't handle the truth when their team loses.

So where was I? Watching football and playing with a new Toshiba laptop that I'm reviewing for www.GearDiary.com.

Shiny Laptop - Jan. 20, 2008

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Day 19 of 366 for 2008



Blue Wall, Blue Day (from the Acme Feed Store in Downtown Nashville)

Friday, January 18, 2008

Day 18 of 366 for 2008



I amuse myself by seeing a image that reminds of a song - in this case, the Amazing Rhythm Aces "Third rate romance, low rent rendezvous"

Day 17 of 366 for 2008



The Shelby Street Bridge - retro look.

Day 16 of 366 for 2008

I went out of town to Memphis for work, but was so jammed up with time that not only did I not eat BBQ, but fail to snap a photo in the Bluff City.

Nonetheless, I went back in the 365 for 2007 archives one year ago for this entry:



Day 16 of 365 photos in 2007... photojournaling my way thru 2007!

It is so cold here in Nashville - 27 degrees and it feels like 15 with the wind chill... I will have so much pent up cabin fever that myself and I'm sure every man in the West Nashville area can't wait to be drawn into the commerce and local man hangout in the new shopping center about two miles away from my house. Imagine: from left to right; Super Target, Dick's Sporting Goods, Best Buy and three more shops opening soon. "Sure honey, I'll be happy to go shopping with you! I'll meet you at Best Buy... "

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Day 15 of 366 for 2008

Saw this really old organ in Germantown... from the right to the left...



Monday, January 14, 2008

Day 14 of 366 for 2008

Go Vince! - Jan. 14, 2008

Here's to F O O T B A L L !
Titans out, Broncos out, Colts out, Cowboys out... who is left to love?
I hope that the Titans will take on a new offensive philosophy for next year over this year's M.O. -
"Why go for a touchdown when a field goal will do?"

Day 13 of 366 for 2008



Rolling Granite Hills

Day 12 of 366 for 2008



The soft glow of living under a bridge...

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Day 11 of 366 for 2008



I still cherish my 40 overhead presentations slicks, and floppy demo disks from the old days when I conducting business seminars selling Apple Macintosh to print shops that desktop publishing was the bomb.

By the way, GearDiary has an exclusive top secret one-of-a-kind Apple branded prize to be given away at the end of the MacWorld Conference (Jan 20, 2008) !

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Day 10 of 366 for 2008

Every time I see the Schermerhorn Symphony Center angel, I think of the Danny O'Keefe song, Angel spread your wings, I want to fly away with you...



From the classic album "Breezy Stories" from Danny O'Keefe. Amazing that a song from 1974 is still fresh and timeless!

Angel Spread Your Wings

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Day 9 of 366 for 2008

This morning I was up and at 'em! Went to bed very early around 11 pm, got up at 6 am and was all set to jump in the car for my daily trek into downtown Nashville. I had a thin layer of frost on the windshield. Normally, I would throw on the defrost, spray some windshield fluid over and over while tuning in to NPR.

But I jumped out of the car, scraped the windshield, walked around the Honda and to my chagrin, the door was locked!

"Dude..."

I have never locked myself out of the car, ever. The house a couple of times. Unfortunately there was not a mini bathroom screen window on my Odyssey van to crawl my big butt through, so I asked my neighbor for my spare set of house keys, fully knowing that my spare key was on Mrs. WonderDawg's key chain. Thanks Frank!

So I called AAA. Two and 1/2 hours, Jerome came and popped the lock in 30 seconds.

I could have drove across town in Frank's car, gone to get my other key and been back before AAA showed up.

So here's my photo(s) of the day: Thanks Jerome. UDAMAN.

Locked Out - Jan. 9, 2008

Locked Out (2), Jan. 9, 2008

Some observations:

"“To will is to select a goal, determine a course of action that will bring one to that goal, and then hold to that action till the goal is reached. The key is action.”"

Leaving a car running for 2 1/2 hours in park with the defroster on full blast is not too bad, considering it was in my driveway and I had full access to the house. I did get highly paranoid about locking myself out of the house!

Step 1: I went online to AWDIRECT.com, but I cannot buy the kit that Jerome was using for obvious reasons - I have to be legit.



(pretty cool gadget - like a blood pressure/hot water bag/pump)

Step 2: Buy twenty car keys and scattered them among friends around Nashville.

Step 3: Devise a McGyver technique to unlock my car next time. (I heard that tennis balls work).

Stay tuned, I'm going to go try it out...



UPDATE: The tennis ball does not work, at least on Honda cars (Civic and Odyssey). In fact, one could hurt their back pushing on the ball or denting a door!

PodCamp New Media “Unconference” Comes to Nashville

January 9th, 2008

Renowned tech insiders Joseph Jaffe and C.C. Chapman to Speak to local bloggers, podcasters, social networking specialists, new media marketers, and business leaders

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Members of the marketing, business, design, technology and music industries will gather at the historic Cannery Ballroom on February 9, 2008, for PodCamp Nashville, a nine hour “unconference” that aims to promote education, innovation and collaboration between technology and media professionals and Nashville’s blogging and podcasting communities.

“This is all about building community,” said Dave Delaney, an event organizer. “That’s what we’re trying to do here. By attending PodCamp Nashville, members of the blogging, podcasting, marketing, development and business communities will be able to join forces to put Nashville on the digital world map. After the huge success of BarCamp Nashville, it’s clear that Nashville’s tech community is alive and kicking.”

PodCamp Nashville is a community “unconference” for podcasters and listeners, bloggers and readers, and anyone interested in New Media. The first PodCamp was held in September 2006 in Boston, and the concept is now spreading across the world. PodCamp Nashville is a follow up to the highly acclaimed BarCamp Nashville, an “unconference” held in August 2007. A video recap is available here: barcampnashville.com.

PodCamp is spearheaded by Delaney along with Kelly Stewart and Marcus Whitney, area leaders in the fields of technology and New Media. The event, which is free to the public, is designed for anyone interested in the online world to share ideas, hear from industry experts, and participate in discussions and demos.

Don’t miss PodCamp Nashville’s keynote speakers, Joseph Jaffe and C.C. Chapman. Jaffe is one of the most sought-after consultants, authors, speakers and thought leaders on New Marketing. He is the President and Chief Interruptor of crayon, a conversational marketing company, specializing in community, dialogue and partnership. C.C. Chapman has been described as a New Media maven, a podcasting pioneer and a grounded futurist. Chapman is a Partner of The Advance Guard, a new company focusing on using social media and emerging technology to create radical marketing programs.

New Media Marketing experts predict that businesses will thrive in 2008 if they embrace social media and conversational marketing methodologies. Forrester Research predicts that spending on interactive technologies will grow to $61 billion by 2012 and social media (podcasting, blogging, etc.) will drive emerging channels to $10.6 billion.

Participants of PodCamp Nashville are guaranteed to return to their offices revitalized and excited about what New Media has to offer. Students, hobbyists and professionals are encouraged to attend to network and to learn. Experience with blogging or podcasting are not requirements to participate:

Anyone with an interest in technology and new media is welcome to attend.

PodCamp Nashville is proudly presented by the PodCamp Nashville Crew (PCNC), Emma Email Marketing, Griffin Technology and Sitening.

PodCamp Nashville will be held on February 9, 2008 at the historic Cannery Ballroom from 9am — 6pm. Visit podcampnashville.com to learn more.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Day 8 of 366 for 2008

This morning on the way into work, I had to take a detour to get to my parking space. Out of the corner of eye, I spotted a painted wall that was unusual. Unusual in the sense that it wasn't defaced with spray painted graffiti. So at lunch time, I trudged up to hill 1/2 mile away to see what caught my eye:



I got a twofer as well; when I turned the corner to head back, I saw this Johnny Cash wall. There was some heavy duty construction of a high rise behind me, so I couldn't get any good angles of the full wall.





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View the 366 of 2008 Picture per Day Flickr set

Day 7 of 366 for 2008

Walking around downtown Nashville at lunchtime, I have visited twice Take 121 Arts at 121 Third Avenue South.

I get inspired by the art on the walls, partly by the creativity and talent that springs forth and the vibe of the space itself. Today I met Nanette who was pretty proud of the gallery appearing in a Japanese Art Magazine, so I asked if she would be my Day 7 of 366 for 2008 since we were talking about what inspires us... Here's Nanette with the photo of the display in front of the actual display.



One of favorite pieces is the STOCKROOM sign:



And she was gracious to take my photo with me posing as the STOCKROOM Boy.



If you're downtown, give yourself a mental break and immerse your senses at Take 121 Arts. They are located on Third Avenue west of the entrance to the Shelby Street Bridge and the Schermerhorn Symphony Center.



Really nice people to say hello to as well. Thanks Nanette!

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View the 366 of 2008 Picture per Day Flickr set

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Day 6 of 366 for 2008



Digglett (or Diggy) loves being bathed and enjoying some hair dryer action...

Day 5 of 366 for 2008

The Best Lil’ Lego Band from Nashville caught a big break with some new sound equipment and a new stage!





I've integrated a laptop surround speaker system into the stage...



And using the 3.5mm jack, the sound system works well with the iPod Touch, iPod, iPod Classic and laptops running iTunes. This project has been on my brain for a year...

Read the rest of the story at how the band's new stage came about at GearDiary. There are plenty of pictures if you're a big fan of LEGO like I am.

Friday, January 04, 2008

Day 4 of 366 for 2008



Yeah! Megan and Chris came to visit us as we celebrated her birthday and Christmas. We've haven't seen them since their wedding in September, so it was simply awesome to have them home for the weekend!

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Day 3 of 366 for 2008



Brrr, it was cold when I took this photo - normally the downtown parking lot is jammed with customers. But since it was so cold - 19 degrees - the lot was empty. Thus I was able to get a closeup.

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Day 2 of 366 for 2008



A pregnant robin has made her home in this MacMansion of a haystack.. She pops in and out of the hole to the right on the ground.

I'm jazzed that my GearDiary friends - Mitchell Oke, Jerry Raia & Judie Lipsett are joining in as well!

Read about and see their photos over at GearDiary. A little accountability and fun with friends is pretty cool, as Mitchell is in Australia, Jerry lives Los Angeles and Judie is in San Angelo. I'm looking forward to the diversity in photos and some much needed discipline to post daily on this much neglected blog! Join in!

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Expressing Thyself for 2008

I posted the post below over a year ago; now that 2007 is in the books, I'm ready for 2008 to take hold with some wonderful surprises rather than some very challenging circumstances.

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After reading this question / challenge posted by Brittney Gilbert at Nashville Is Talking, that Rex Hammock jumpstarted, my interest in tackling such a project of posting a photo a day made perfect sense:

(1) I've always been highly visual with my fondness of art and drawing since I fell out of the crib. I learn best via visual examples in academic settings whether in schematics, blueprints or word pictures.

(2) I could learn to take better photos by pushing the learning curve of my skill sets in photography and discover new techniques in lighting, settings and composition.

(3) Documenting and capturing memorable moments in a photo journal would be something I would prize for years to come. I still enjoy old photo albums of my family - thank God for digital technology!

I could go on and on, but Taylor McNight has a great tutorial - "Project 365: How to Take a Photo a Day and See Your Life in a Whole New Way" well worth reading.

This quote sums it up for me:

A man should hear a little music,
read a little poetry,
and see a fine picture every day of his life,
in order that worldly cares may not
obliterate the sense of the beautiful which
God has implanted in the human soul.

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(1749-1832)
Poet, dramatist, novelist, and philosopher


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So here goes: Picture number 1 of 365 for 2008

- I wouldn't mind getting away to New York for the Christmas / New Year's holiday for 2008. Never been to New York; I need to find a friend that lives in the city to stay with!