How was your day at work?

Nothing to see here, move on.

I guess Izzy felt bad for not stepping up and helping out last night. So bad in fact she spent the whole night shredding her bed with remorse. Crazy dog =)

I got Jacked!!

No, this wasn't the kind of jacked that happens when they screw up your fast food order. Nor was it the kind of jacked that happens when your cable bill arrives only to feature the latest slew of nickel and dime fees raising the monthly total to some astronomical level. This was full on, gun to your head, give me your money jacked.

I normally hesitate to post things on my blog without including pictures I've taken. Sorry, I didn't get this guy's picture but I wanted to share the experience anyway, so here it goes. Before I continue I'll let it be known that I'm physically fine and wasn't injured in the ordeal.

As Monk would say, "Here's what Happened..."

I've made it a habit lately of taking my dog Izzy (see previous post) out on a walk late at night. I'm not talking 2 or 3 am late but 11:15 late. (I usually go to bed at 2 or 3) The neighborhood I walk her in is a big master planned development in a safe (past tense) part of Las Vegas. We live in Summerlin for those familiar with Sin City. Anyway Izzy and I were walking along on the sidewalk and I hear this shuffle behind me. Before I continue I guess I should further describe the area I was walking in. The neighborhood is fairly established with a decent amount of mature landscaping. As such, it's easy for people to hide, especially at night.

On with the story. Looking back I didn't see anything so Izzy and I continued. Almost instantly this guy came rushing from behind while racking a gun. "Aw man" I thought. "Why didn't I get that Nevada concealed permit." (Honestly, that's the thought that went through my head) He moved closer demanding to have my wallet.

"I don't have my wallet on me."

"Give me your wallet!!"

"Look man, I don't have my wallet, you can take my cell phone." I conceded this as it was already in my hand and I knew he had seen it.

He then put the gun (black semi-automatic for those wondering, sorry couldn't tell what make, it was dark) to the front of my head and began to search my pockets. Now, I'll be honest, (because I wasn't when I said I didn't have my wallet on me) I had my wallet in my back pocket where 83.67% of guys keep their wallet. He started searching in my front right pocket and worked his way to the left and then headed towards the back. (This is where I'd love to say I made my move and put him in a triangle choke hold until the cops arrived, but, alas I don't know the triangle choke hold) As he moved to the back I knew he was going to find my wallet so I took it out, slid it around to my right front and while doing so I slipped out whatever cards I could grab before giving it to him. Seeing he didn't notice this I felt like freaking Houdini and celebrated my small victory in the back of my head.

As soon as he had my wallet in hand he started running off when he was joined by a buddy that must have been hiding further up.

"Can I at least have my drivers license?" I yelled feeling oddly brave and trying to reach a sensible resolution. The buddy that had joined the original perpetrator stalled for a minute and I could hear him say, "give him his driver's license and let's get out of here." (He must have had the same experience with the DMV that I did) The guy with the gun must've lost some respect for his partner in crime as he said, "No, let's get out of here," as he continued to run. I tried to follow them but they jumped in their getaway car they had hidden and took off.

What did they get as a result of their dysfunctional lives leading them to a life of armed robbery? A couple credit cards, my temple recommend (man and I was so excited when they changed the expiration date on these things to two years so I wouldn't have to schedule two interviews again but mine didn't even last 6 months), a debit card, UNLV student ID, Insurance Card, and a fortune cookie label that said "You're hard work will pay off soon" or something like that. (I kept that one because I'm hoping it will apply to getting into Dental School;)

I pulled out the cards I had slipped out from my pocket. What were they? My Driver's license and my AMEX card, the one I use 99.56% of the time!! (Success!!) The last thing I wanted to do was go back to the DMV, and had I not grabbed that credit card I'd be in trouble because I carry no cash, only plastic.

Where was Izzy during all of this you might ask? I mean she is a dog and dogs are supposed to be protective of their owners, right? Fat chance, that little puppers thought she'd made a new friend. She was licking and jumping all over the guy. Worthless little... =)

Long story short, (sorry for all the text w/o pictures, if I lost you a long time ago I apologize, I just wanted to get some thoughts out), the cops came, took the report, couldn't find the guy, yada yada yada. I asked them if they could track the phone like in the movies (I said it in a joking way to not appear too idiotic but at the same time I was hoping they really could) but they laughed and said they couldn't do that kind of thing. I got my cards canceled. Apparently they tried to use my debit card but didn't know the pin so that was declined. There was a credit card transaction at a gas station but the bank said they'd report that as fraud and dispute it.

Through the whole experience I never was really all that scared. At the same time, I wasn't upset or angry either. It was more of a "you gotta be kidding me." disbelief. After everything was over I was more shaken up than I was during the actual robbery. I keep going over what I could've done differently in my head but I keep reaching the same conclusion, I did the right thing because I'm still alive and lost relatively little all things considered. In the end I'm thankful for how it turned out and hope that it never happens again. Now to go cancel my lease (yes I'll be moving due to this incident coupled with my car getting broken into a month ago), teach Izzy the difference between good and bad people, and to learn that stinking triangle choke hold.

Izzy says "Hi"

This weekend was eventful including a trip to McCormick and Schmicks and house hunting amoung some of the activities. Unfortunately the only pictures I took were a few of Izzy as she took a break from being the terror that she is. Don't let these photos fool you, this little dog has energy that if harnessed could power all of Las Vegas. I've been taking her rollerblading (no it didn't die in the 90's)but even six miles doesn't seem to phase her. We'll be glad to get her in her own yard as soon as we can.

Halloween at the Melting Pot

Have you guys heard of restaurant.com? They had a deal recently where you could get a bunch of $25.00 gift certificates for 2 bucks. Too good to be true?? That's what I thought but after googling for a bit it seemed legit, so I figured I could gamble a couple dollars to check it out.



One of the certificates was for the Melting Pot and since it's a mile down the road from us we decided to give it a try. The gift certificate worked, so all was good there. As for the Melting Pot, it's decent food but even with the gift certificate it was still a little on the pricey side. Especially when you consider you have to cook all the food. I thought you pay to go out to eat so you don't have to cook. The cheese appetizer and chocolate dessert were the best part of the meal and the only reason to go back. Next time, (if there is a next time, there are so many other good restaurants here in Vegas) we'll skip the main course and just opt for the bread and cheese or the chocolate.

Deep in the Heart of Texas

K, So these are forever old. The last couple months have been incredibly busy. As a result I have a few thousand images to sort through. I'm hoping over the next few days and over the weekend I can catch up and post a few here.

The pictures in this post are from my trip to San Antonio to visit my brother Brian from back in August. I had a great time and enjoyed Fiesta Texas, the Alamo, Riverwalk, and Zio's to name a few of the things we visited. Brian's probably going to take the job he interned with so hopefully I'll be able to go back in the future. Thanks for looking.

Fire on the Mountain

Holly and I have been up at her parents house in Brigham City this weekend. While watching the end of a football game Saturday night a lightening storm started. Cool those are always fun... until the mountain side catches on fire less than a mile from the house!! It started small but the wind picked up and it started to move fast, but at least it was going away from the house. Seeing this as a great photo opportunity I grabbed my camera and started to follow it. I got within about 100 yards from the fire and was able to get some decent shots. I found the exposures difficult to nail considering the conditions. The wind soon changed directions and the fire wanted my spot so I decided it was probably a good time to run down the hill and back to the house. On the way towards the barricade (I guess by getting to the fire by going along the canal I had gotten in an area I wasn't supposed to be...ooops) a newspaper editor was trying to take pictures. She asked if they could use some of mine so we'll see, I may get some pictures published from this whole affair. In the end Holly's parents house is safe and the fire was finally controlled and put out.

Update: Ok, so after getting these home and looking at them on a better monitor I realized that unfortunately they weren't as good as I'd hoped. I think the slower shutter speeds combined with the longer focal lengths (and probably the whole situation) caused for blurrier photos than I would've liked. Oh well, I'll know to bring a tripod next time.

The view from across the street behind the neighbor's house.


Up with the firefighters where they are setting up their fire line.


Taken just before the wind shifted and I had to run outta there.

Google is so Cool...

During a search I saw google's new header and it reminded me of the cycling that I've been doing lately. A while ago I blogged about riding my bike to work. Since then, I upgraded bikes (I'll post pictures soon) and have been riding fairly consistenly. It's a fun way to exercise and I'm suprised how fast you can get going on a bike (so far my high is 40.7 mph)

To give a quick update on life, Holly and I got everything moved to Vegas and are adjusting to everything except the heat. I'll post pictures of the apartment, area and life in general as soon as I get a chance to take them.

The Daily Plate

Have you guys seen this website, www.thedailyplate.com? Before I found it I had been using an excel spreadsheet to track calories on my own. This site does it all for you and best of all it's FREE!! After you create an account it will keep a calender that you can update with foods you eat and activities you do throughout the day. It's a great resource for looking up the nutritional information in foods at restaurants. If you can't find something you can add the item and it's nutritional contents. You'll have to check it out and if you join look me up and add me as a friend. My profile name is Fastenta.

Weekend at the Movies

This weekend I had to make a trade. In order to go see the Dark Knight with Holly and her Mom, I had to go see Momma Mia the next day. It's a good thing the Dark Knight was AMAZING because Momma Mia was horrible. I would only recommend it to those who are heavily sedated or if you love choreographed dancing and singing to ABBA songs. (I didn't fall into either of those categories).

Back to the good part of the trade, the Dark Knight has got to be one of the best movies of the year.
I thought it would be tough to top Ironman but it easily surpassed it. Heath Ledger did an awesome job (I was worried when they cast him...Brokeback Batman???) and gave a very good psycopathic spin on the Joker. All of Batman's gadgets were up to par and I thought the movie was well written and very well directed.

There's already rumors for a third. If they consulted me I'd have them bring in the Penguin and the Riddler for the villians. I'm thinking they should get Johnny Depp (he was rumored for the Joker's role but after Ledger's performance I think they made the right choice) to be the Riddler but I've had a hard time coming up with a good Penguin. Most actors who fit into the "short and fat" category are comedians making them a hard sell for a serious villian. Nevertheless, I think a deranged and dark Jason Alexander could be a good fit if it's not too much of a stretch. I'm sure whoever they get and whatever they decide to do it'll be on par with the first two and make for another awesome movie.

San Francisco Pictures (I know they're old)

These are some images I found on my hard drive tonight that I hadn't yet developed. I must've been in a black and white mood with some tints thrown in. These were all taken in San Francisco back in March with my E-500 and processed using Adobe Lightroom.

Logan Car Show

Over the 4th of July weekend Holly and I went with her family to go to a Logan Car show. There were lots of cool cars. Below are some of the pictures I was able to grab among the crowd.

A Few More from Seattle...

It's taking me forever to get through these.

Brigham City Heritage Arts Festival

These are a few of the shots I took when visiting Brigham City last Saturday. They had this arts festival where people displayed their vintage cars and sold locally created art.

Skoda

In case you haven't seen this yet. It takes baking a cake to a whole new level.

A Few More From WA...

I'm getting around to working on more of my photos from my Washington trip. I'm also experimenting a little with some different types of post processing.

Bike Ride

Due to gas prices and my increasing need to exercise more, I've decided to start biking to work. Originally I thought it would save money on gas but after the ride I've realized that if I spent that time working I could more than make up for the money. So now it's down to doing it for the exercise which is fine. The route I take uses some back roads and is 13 1/2 miles. It took me an hour and 5 minutes today so we'll see if I can improve on that. It normally takes me 30 minutes to drive in anyway so the extra 35 minutes is worth the extra exercise. For now I'll be doing it every other day so that I can rest in between. I'll post on my progress.


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Pt. Defiance Zoo Part II

I'm behind in processing images so I'm going to try to post some of my older pictures this week as I get to them. For now, here are a few more from the zoo I went to in Washington.