Is it REALLY a VACATION if you have to WORK?

Current time: 5:15pm Thursday 5/26/05
Percentage progress packing for tomorrow’s trip: zip, nil, natta, nothin’
Procrastination Index: High
Forecast change over next six hours: Zero (+/- 6.1783% error)

So yeah, that about sums it up. The plan is for us to leave as early as possible Friday morning (which, based on history, is not all that early, probably ~9:30am) and drive up to Minnesota and spend the night with my grandparents. Saturday morning we will get some nice portraits taken (including my brother’s Senior Pictures) and then start preparations for a small graduation party for Scott Saturday night. Saturday we will pay a visit to our old church (Grace Church Roseville), have a nice lunch with the family, and then do a small graduation ceremony for Scott. This entails him putting on his cap and gown, walking into the room while my mom and aunt hum “Pomp and Circumstance,” and my dad giving a short speech; all while the grandparents continuously fire the camera as fast as the flash can recycle. Monday my dad and brother leave to return to Chicago and my mom and I relax. Then Tuesday we start driving all over the state visiting clients and making sales calls. Thursday night we’ll spend with our old friends the Pedro’s and then come back sometime Friday afternoon/evening/night.

I don’t know how often I’ll be able to get online during the trip, but I imagine I should be able to check my email once a day or so.

For those of you looking for a good book, I highly recommend Oxygen by John B. Olson and Randall Ingermanson. I realize if you’re anything like me, you probably have quite a stack of books you brought home from school that you want to read but haven’t yet had the time (virtually all non-fiction). I also have the problem of not really remembering how to read recreationally because I don’t do any such reading at school (time issues), but I picked this one up from my church library in hopes of an entertaining read. It’s Christian Science Fiction (a rare genre, I’m afraid to admit) that’s done very well. The theme surrounds a near-future (2012ish) NASA human Mars mission and gives a very realistic (at times) view of the modern space program. One can really tell the authors did their homework on the technical details of what they were doing (it’s based somewhat off Zubrin’s Mars Semi-Direct, NASA’s Mars Reference Mission Document, and the Caltech Mars Society proposed mission and focuses on utilizing realistic, modern technologies). It was a quick read and entertaining the whole way through. Here’s the Amazon.com listing for it: http://tinyurl.com/chs5q

Sadly, several of my most loyal readers will be leaving before I return from my trip. Edgar will be heading for somewhere-near the coast of Scotland to spend some time with his Navy brethren and Amy will be heading to Traverse City on Summer Project with Campus Crusade. I don’t know if there are any other regulars leaving mainly because I don’t know who most of you regulars are (but I know from the hit counts that people are visiting this thing). To Amy, Edgar, and any others leaving: You’ll have a blast and I’ll miss you. I expect a full report on your adventures when you get back (especially on how many times Edgar goes overboard ;) ).

I had my first foray into studio photography this morning. I set up a small studio complete with lighting and snapped a new picture to downsize for my Trillian buddy icon. My model let me get a couple of shots of him mid-stride from a few different angles and the picture downscaled nicely. Here is the final shot before downsizing to 48x48 pixels:



That’s all for now, if you want to know more about life around here you’ll have to give me a call. Most of you have my cell number or can get it off Facebook, so I won’t bother putting it here. If I can I’ll try to make a post while I’m gone, but I don’t know how things are going to go so don’t count on anything.