Storm (Instagram photo)

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"Headed into the storm #Oklahoma #Storm #iPhone4"
(taken at Rose Creek Golf & Country Club)

Calla Lilies (Instagram Photo)

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"Evening calla lilies "

Ivy (Instagram Photo)

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"Ivy adds character to any wall. Keeps it cooler in summer, too"

Looking up on a Hot Day: Instagram Photo

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"Looking up on a hot day"

Tonight's Thuderhead (an Instagram photo)

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Lightbulbs - filament up or down?

We have under-cabinet low-voltage lighting, and the replacement bulbs have a little blue painted dot on one side, indicating an install orientation. Problem is, nobody until now has been able to tell me which way to orient the dot.

12-volt, 10-watt xenon bulbs for under-cabinet lighting

I decided to write the company and inquire, and they informed me that the dot should go up. That has the filament dangling in a downward position.

I'd love to know why, if you have any hypotheses about it -- or even better, actual knowledge of it! =)

So, if you have a system like ours (which features 12-volt, 10-watt rigid-loop xenon bulbs, or the like), there you have it! Install with the filaments hanging down, and the painted spot pointed up!

P.S. Yes, it's been over 3 years since I last posted on this blog, but I figured if I couldn't find this information anywhere, there must be others looking for it, as well, and it should be documented.

Blog Step-Child

Since we have a blog for the kiddos and one for photograpy, this blog has become somewhat of a red-headed step-child. That's really a terrible analogy. I never really thought about that one before.

Okay, anyway, I'm going to start posting more about us personally on the Prints Charming blog, which you can find here (Edmond, Oklahoma Photographers)

I hope you'll swing by from time to time and check out what we've been up to. My entire personal life is tied up in photography. Many days I work on it from the hour I wake up until the hour I go to bed, so I think it will be a good fit to have that blog become more personable as well as professional. I just posted a good personal blog on it this morning, so if you have time, go check it out.

Many thanks to all 3 of my regular readers. =)

New Zip Code

Hey, we're not moving, but the Post Office, bless their hearts, have created a new zip code for us since our area is growing so much. It's going to be 73012 effective July 1, 2007. Just wanted to let everyone know!

The Smoking Tree

I captured this photo literally just moments after the rain stopped this afternoon and the sun pierced the clouds. Five seconds later, the tree stopped steaming like this...


It was amazing to have been there at precisely that moment with camera ready in hand. We were there shooting a high-school senior but were in between locations when I spotted it.

Click on the picture to see a larger version of it where you can see the steam better. Hope you enjoyed the photo!

Thanks for stopping by!

Today's PSA (Public Service Announcement)

Here's a little tip for drivers living in or visiting Oklahoma:

Beware puddles in the road that have chunks of asphalt around the edge of it.

That's simple wisdom, there, but oh so helpful.

Gray Hair

I'm getting gray hair on my chest.

(*Always a great conversation starter over coffee*)

We're thinking about homeschooling

It's funny... seems the same month Addie (our first child) was born, people started asking what we were going to do for school. Um, we still have like 5 years to decide, don' t we? Well, Holly was homeschooled and my brother and sister were even though I went to a private Christian school for the sports. We all had good experiences with it and so we're thinking we'll do that with our kids, too.

Today on Facebook I ran across this interesting research on Homeschooling and thought I'd pass it along. Very interesting info!

Homeschooling Research

11:37pm Tuesday, Feb 27

A non-profit research group has released results from a study of adults who were homeschooled for at least 7 years. A small portion of their findings:

• 74.2 percent had attained some college courses or higher in their education. In the general U.S. population in the same age range, the number is 46.2 percent.

• 71 percent of the former homeschoolers are participating in an ongoing community activity, compared to 39 percent of all U.S. adults.

• The degree to which the respondents thought they could understand and affect society and government was also addressed. For example, fewer of the home educated (4%) than the general public (35%) thought that “politics and government are too complicated to understand.”

• 1.7% had ever been convicted of a misdemeanor.

• Taking all things into consideration, 59% of the subjects reported that they were “very happy” with life, while 27.6% of the general U.S. population is “very happy” with life.

Some more info...

***Academic Performance

The home-educated typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests.

Homeschool students score above average on achievement tests regardless of their parents’ level of formal education or their family’s household income.

Whether homeschool parents were ever certified teachers is not related to their children’s academic achievement.

Degree of state control and regulation of homeschooling is not related to academic achievement.

Home-educated students typically score above average on the SAT and ACT tests that colleges consider for admissions.

Homeschool students are increasingly being actively recruited by colleges.

***Social, Emotional, and Psychological Development

The home-educated are doing well, typically above average, on measures of social, emotional, and psychological development. Research measures include peer interaction, self-concept, leadership skills, family cohesion, participation in community service, and self-esteem.

Homeschool students are regularly engaged in social and educational activities outside their homes and with people other than their nuclear-family members. They are commonly involved in activities such as field trips, scouting, 4-H, political drives, church ministry, sports teams, and community volunteer work.

***Success in the “Real World” of Adulthood

The research base on adults who were home educated is growing; thus far it indicates that they:

participate in local community service more frequently than does the general population, vote and attend public meetings more frequently than the general population, and go to and succeed at college at an equal or higher rate than the general population.

And a few more notes for the uninformed...

There are about 2 million homeschool students in the United States. There were an estimated 1.9 to 2.4 million children (in grades K to 12) home educated during 2005-2006 in the United States.

Families engaged in home-based education are not dependent on public, tax-funded resources for their children’s education. The finances associated with their homeschooling likely represent over $16 billion that taxpayers do not have to spend since these children are not in public schools

Homeschooling is quickly growing in popularity among minorities. About 15% of homeschool families are non-white/nonHispanic (i.e., not white/Anglo).

A demographically wide variety of people homeschool – these are atheists, Christians, and Mormons; conservatives, libertarians, and liberals; low-, middle-, and high-income families; black, Hispanic, and white; parents with Ph.D.s, GEDs, and no high-school diplomas.

Source: National Home Education Research Institute

What a Sunset!

Did you see the sunset tonight and the massive clouds moving in? It was awesome. If you didn't see it, here's a glimpse of what you missed.


Click on it to see the high-res version of it. Pretty awesome colors!

I am currently...

... Retouching pictures, checking text messages and email, checking the weather for upcoming shoots, talking on the phone, eating Oreos and reading a book entitled, "The Ragamuffin Gospel." In this crazy day of multi-tasking, I really am trying to slow down and do one thing at a time, but when I have to wait on the computer, I fill the time with other things and try to increase my efficiency.

Anyway, here's a good quote I just read from "The Ragamuffin Gospel." Thought some of you might enjoy...

"Gerald May, a Christian psychiatrist in Washington DC writes: 'Honesty before God requires the most fundamental risk of faith we can take: the risk that God is good, that God does love us unconditionally. It is in taking this risk that we rediscover our dignity. To bring the truth of ourselves just as we are, to God, just as God is, is the most dignified thing we can do in this life.'"

"Lord Jesus, we are silly sheep who have dared to stand before You and try to bribe you with our preposterous portfolios. Suddenly we have come to our senses. We are sorry and ask You to forgive us. Give us the grace to admit we are ragamuffins, to embrace our brokenness, to celebrate Your mercy when we are at our weakest, to rely on Your mercy no matter what we may do. Dear Jesus, gift us to stop grandstanding and trying to get attention, to do the truth quietly without display, to let the dishonesties in our lives fade away, to accept our limitations, to cling to the gospel of grace, and to delight in Your love. Amen."

Camping with the Guys

Had a fun weekend out camping with the guys Friday night through last night. I was outside of cell phone coverage, though, and when I got back in coverage, I had no messages, so it made me wonder if callers were getting an error message rather than my normal outgoing voice mail message. If you got a strange message, let me know!

I'm sore today from riding dirt bikes and 4-wheelers. It's quite a workout! I didn't bring my own, but as people got hurt, they would let me ride their bikes. I got to take turns riding four or five different bikes and it was actually a lot of fun. I didn't get half the reading done I thought I would since we were camping right in the middle of the park and bikes and 4-wheelers were constantly whizzing by us, so it wasn't really restful at all. Oh well, it was an experience and fun to be hanging out with all the guys. It really was a great group and a lot of them I hadn't seen in several years since back before we got married.

Welp, it's time to get caught up on everything, so I gotta scoot. Hope everyone's doing well...

New Website for Prints Charming Photography

Well, we've finally done it! Our old, yet functional website has been retired and a slick new one is here! We're so excited!! We'd love to hear what you think of it. Check it out and drop us a comment whenever you have time.

Here's a screenshot of the welcome page as it looks now:

From this page, you can select either to go to our blog, the flash site or an html version for users with slower internet speeds.

Here's a screenshot of the main page in the flash site. It's a slideshow, so you can just sit there and watch it flip through a dozen or so pictures from recent sessions while listening to several great tunes.


There are a few more things that we need to do on it, like updating the galleries with more photos, etc. We need to create a few new galleries, too, with bridal portraits, weddings and commercial photography. It would be easier to get this done if we weren't so busy with senior photography right now, but it's too exciting to ignore altogether. =) Besides, we may be this busy for months and we just can't put it off indefinitely. We figured as it is, it's already better than our old site, so we might as well go live with it and continue to update and improve it as we go along.

As we add new pictures from our newest photo sessions, we'll replace the older photos, so the site will be kept up to date and be constantly changing and improving. That's the plan, at least!

We've been as busy as ever with photography and plans to make that our full-time business. It's been an overwhelming stage of life for me with so many responsibilities and really huge decisions at ever bend and I've been struggling through it for a couple of months, now. After a really encouraging talk with my Dad yesterday, he shared how he dealt with the same feelings after marrying Mom and inheriting three little kiddos (Sean, Dana and me). I'm all about living without regrets and something he said really struck me. He said that he regretted letting the anxieties and worries of the day steal his joy during those first difficult months or years after getting saddled with so much. Wow... Yeah, I can totally see that just for the past couple of months in my life. I've been so overwhelmed and anxious that it's weighed me down and I've been frustrated and burdened to the point that I haven't enjoyed life.

No more! Dad said that if he could do it over, he'd remind himself every day and as often as necessary that we have a loving heavenly Father who is out to bless us however He can and that things will work out! What a huge blessing and relief!! I can feel a really major difference already in my life and I'm sure those around me can feel it, too. One of the biggest bummers about being anxious, worried and overwhelmed is that it affects those we love the most. And that only serves to make us feel even worse about the entire thing. What a vicious cycle.

I'm really thanking God for His love today and for the many blessings we do have. I'll just do what I can and leave off the worrying. God is in control and if I, being a selfish, earthly father want the best for my kids, I can only begin to imagine how God loves us as His children and wants the best for us.

Dry Cleaning

Did you know you shouldn't leave your dry-cleaning in the plastic they come draped in? Yep... if you leave that plastic on your clothes for any length of time, they will yellow. Something in the plastic causes it.

With Storie being born not too long ago, I hadn't been by the dry cleaners to pick up several shirts I had there. They called over the weekend to let us know it had been a month and Holly was concerned that they'd give away my shirts if I didn't pick them up soon. Yep, they do that, but only after 6 months, so the shirts were safe.

Just thought you might like to know. =)

I think I'm going to try switching to decaf slowly. I started today with 1/2 regular-1/2 decaf vente house blend coffee. I'm hoping maybe the switch will help me to deal with pressure and stress a bit better. I know regular coffee can rob you of vitamin B which helps deal with stress, and I need every bit of B I can get. =) So, that's the plan. We can still do coffee, but I'm sipping decaf, at least for a while.

Need to get cracking on taxes or I'm going to have to file for an extension... Just one more thing to do ASAP.

I got the front struts replaced on the Toyota today (after 140k miles, I guess they were ready) and it feels like a new car. Amazing how struts make a difference. It was getting noisier and rougher for the last several hundred miles and I didn't really notice until last week when a clunking noise developed. Now I have to get it aligned... Good thing we have the Firestone lifetime alignment deal!

Oh, and I had the oil changed yesterday and I put some Lucas fuel injector cleaner/upper engine cleaner in it. Man, that stuff really is amazing. I could tell a difference after just about 50 miles. Starts up quicker and just seems to run smoother. It's nice to find products that actually work as expected.

I've been really overwhelmed recently with all I had to do, but I've been looking at everything all at once instead of just one thing at a time. So, I'm trying to focus on what God would have me do just right now to get through the craziness of life at this stage. Today's already been a better day just because of that. I've always heard that God never gives you more than you can deal with, but when you're in the middle of it, sayings like that don't really help much. I've heard life is continually lived between three stages, like a vine: growing, fruit-bearing and pruning. I guess we're in a pruning stage right now and it kinda helps having that in mind as I continue to face challenges and frustrations during this stage of life.

Well, that's all for now. Catch you over coffee again soon, hopefully. Maybe after I catch up on about 30 or 40 more things...

Napping for Peak Performance

Having a newborn around the house (well, she's 10 weeks old now) has once again reminded me of the restorative power of a good nap. When I saw today's "Weekend Reading" article from David Schlosser on the subject (a reprint from the original Men's Journal article, Jan. '06) I was interested to read it.

Here's a link to the article, if you're interested. They give tips on why and how to nap, but I needed neither of those questions answered. =) I was most interested in the "How long?" for the most effective nap. Here's the summary from the article...

How Long Is A Good Nap?
THE NANO-NAP: 10 to 20 seconds Sleep studies haven't yet concluded whether there are benefits to these brief intervals, like when you nod off on someone's shoulder on the train.
THE MICRO-NAP: two to five minutes Shown to be surprisingly effective at shedding sleepiness.
THE MINI-NAP: five to 20 minutes Increases alertness, stamina, motor learning, and motor performance.
THE ORIGINAL POWER NAP: 20 minutesIncludes the benefits of the micro and the mini, but additionally improves muscle memory and clears the brain of useless built-up information, which helps with long-term memory (remembering facts, events, and names).
THE LAZY MAN'S NAP: 50 to 90 minutesIncludes slow-wave plus REM sleep; good for improving perceptual processing; also when the system is flooded with human growth hormone, great for repairing bones and muscles.

Pretty interesting... That gave me an idea. Someone should develop an eyeshade for napping that measures your eye movements to tell exactly how long you've been napping. You could set a timer on them and you'd be awaken after the proper amount of napping. Without something like that, you'd never really know when you'd fallen asleep and how long you'd been napping. Royalties accepted made payable to Christian Sangree... Thanks!

On a side note, it's snowing in Oklahoma as I type. Crazy weather. Gotta run cover all the plants that we planted 3 weeks ago and that are blooming nicely.

Google's Offering Free Internet

If you haven't noticed, Google's offering free internet on their classic web search page. It's hard to miss since there's usually nothing on the page but a field for entering search string data. As of right now, it says:

New! Get FREE breakthrough broadband with Google TiSP (BETA).

If they still have it up, check it out... It's a great article and amazing technology. Click on the "How TiSP Works" link and check out their great diagrams, etc.



If you don't have time to do all that, basically, they're offering free internet through city sewer systems. They provide you a model and a long cable to flush down your toilet to waiting technicians.

I wonder what those technicians did to get put on TiSP duty. Bummer of a job...

=)

Wildfire at Woodvine

Coming home from work today, I saw smoke billowing from our neighborhood. It was just getting going, so I ran home and changed quickly and then headed over to help put it out. There were already a lot of people there helping, but I did what I could and then took some pictures before heading home.

The fire was apparently caused from someone flicking a lit cigarette butt out of their car window. It was a windy day and with the dry grass grown up in this field, conditions were perfect for a fire. I see people toss lit cigarettes out their windows all the time. People, think! I wish you'd stop doing that. Nobody lost their home today, but a lot of damage was done to fences and property in people's yards.
















Just about a week ago, I called 911 to report the tag of someone tossing a lit cigarette out of their car window and into a pile of dry grass just about a mile from our neighborhood. The mayor set up a special hotline number last year to call if anyone sees someone toss a smouldering cigarett butt onto the ground, but I don't think it's in service still.

Sometimes people can be SO stupid.