Look Who's 70

I know it's not polite to reveal a woman's age but my mom should be proud to be 70. Look how good she looks. Right?!? I know.

Some clowning around during picture time.

Some loving on the grandkids.

Love you mom!

Great Photo Video

For all you photographers out there, you'll love this one.

Leave Me from Ryan Dunlap on Vimeo.

NASCAR!

I've seen NASCAR on TV for years and have always wanted to see it live. This past Sunday I got that opportunity. Our company sponsored a car in the Pro-Series this year so when NASCAR came to Portland I got to go. Alex and I had pit passes so we got an up close and personal look at the cars, pits and people that make these races happen.

The sights, sounds and smells were all that I expected them to be. Even though this series is kind of the minor leagues of NASCAR it was still impressive. This also provided a great venue for some picture taking. Here's a few of my favorites.

Here's Alex in front of the track at our seats.

This is one of my favorite shots I've taken of all time!

One of the NASCAR ladies. All of the ladies holding the umbrellas for the drivers to keep them out of the sun were dressed in a 50's bombshell style. I think the tattoos just added to their cuteness.

Here is our car! We got the hood for this race.

Andrew Ranger is the driver of the 35 car. He had the lead for a while at the end of the race but blew his engine with a few short laps to go.

It was a beautiful summer day at the track.

Motivation

I have a little section next to my desk at work filled with reminders of what's important and why I sit here for 10 hours a day.

There are pictures of my kids.

Our engagement photo.

A picture of me and Kathi on a dock.

A family photo that is a bit out dated.

A Beaker finger puppet from my sistet.

A love note from my son.

A bobble-head frog from my daughter.

A hulu girl from Hawaii.

A picture of me and Kat Von D.

And a pirate.

Close for One Year

Friday my sister and her family arrived into town for a year's stay while her husband serves in Iraq. It is a happy and sad occasion at the same time. We are happy to have them close for a while but sad that it's at the expense of being without Jonathan for that time.

Yesterday we spent the day with them down at my mom and dads and had a great time. Here's the day in pictures.








Jonathan will be in town for two weeks so we'll try to pack in with him what we can. Guns, whiskey and motorcycles top the list of our shared interests so we'll see what kind of trouble we can get into.

Traffic Games

Imagine that your driving behind someone who thinks that 45 is okay in a 55 zone. What's your response? Frustration? Probably. I know it is for me.

I'm a talker while I drive, even when I'm alone. I talk to other drivers, sometimes I'm thanking them or complimenting their good driving but most often I'm cursing their entire existence. Many days I question the State's decision to give some people the license to drive.

I know I'm not alone in this and that is why I now share with you my new driving game. My working title is "Which Way Are You Turning? 'Cause I'm Going The Other Way! Traffic Game" My title needs a little work.

This is how the game works. When your driving behind the "45 in the 55" person and you feel the frustration building, you follow until you get to the next traffic exchange. Once they let you know which way their going you go a different way. For example, if you come to a four way stop and they choose to go straight then you either turn right or left. Simple as that. Game on. The rules are simple and the results vary. Score is kept in your head and the other person never even knows they were playing your game.

Scoring varies. You can dock points from the other driver if they don't signal their turn intentions ahead of time or if they even bother at all. Remember, they drive 45 in a 55 so moving their hand to the turn signal to engage it might waste too much energy. After all, energy savings is their goal I assume since 55 might eat up too much gas. Back to the game... Making the move to go another way is a victory point in the game. You get out from behind the annoyance and carry on your speed limit way. "But Brian, this puts me off my course and will take longer for me to get to my destination" I knew you'd say this. It's okay. The bonus points for this move is the new scenery you experience and the challenge of getting back on course or finding a new route. You can add bonus points for how few turns it takes you to get back to where you were going or based upon whether or not this is a road you've been on before or not.

I can see by the look on your face that you don't like my game. Too bad. Maybe you just don't fully understand it. Try it one day, maybe you'll change your mind. If you don't then you'll continue to drive behind the annoying guy who knows your behind him cursing his name and irritated. I will continue my game, lower my stress level, learn new routes and streets and free myself from the 45 in the 55 driver who thinks that the world is theirs to annoy.

Ignored

Owen is ignoring me.


Look at me dog! LOOK.AT.ME!!!

Beach Day

This past Thursday I took the day off to spend it at the beach with the kids and my brothers family. We had a great time together. Sadly Kathi had to work that day so she missed out on the rare sunshine at the coast.

We spent the day in Lincoln City next to the D river which is proclaimed to be the shortest river in the world. Rocks were piled in the river, stones were skipped in the surf, waves were jumped and kite fliers were poked fun at. A full day if I say so myself.

Here are some photographic highlights of the day.

All you need at the beach is a good bucket. And apparently sunscreen which I painfully found out later.

Alex loves the sand. (please know that he had plenty of sunscreen on and his skin is still this pale)

Kev bombing the kids picture.

"Mom, where's your feet?"

Toothless and happy!

Another use for a sundress.

Jump!

The group helping rid the shores of the rock.

Skev!

Skipping rocks in the surf!

Great to see you Bonham's!

Hip Dads

In honor of the dads we'll be celebrating this coming weekend I offer up a little music video.



By the way, this was made by a church. Who says Christians can't be funny.

SubUrban Art Kids

Urban art (from Latin urbanus, itself from urbs (“city”)) is a style of art that relates to cities and city life often done by artists who live in or have a passion for city life. In that way urban art combines street art and graffiti and is often used to summarize all visual art forms arising in urban areas, being inspired by urban architecture or thematizing urban live style. - taken from Wikipedia's Urban Art page.

Yesterday our kids and some friends and neighbors decided to add a little urban art to our street out here in the suburbs of Portland. Instead of the typical chalk outline they used some tape which I think was a good medium since it made it stand out so well under the street light in the dark.

Please note the kill shot "X" designations on the outlines. A little morbid but it is urban art... right?!?

Baker's Photos Part 2

Here are pictures of Stephen and his kids. It's easy to take good pictures when you have such good subjects.

I love to see their faces so close together because it shows how much she looks like her daddy.

Baker's Photos Part 1

Today I got the opportunity to expand my photo skills a bit and do some portrait work. My friend wanted some photos of he and his kids and I got the privileged of taking them. He knew of this run down house west from here and we used that as the background for the pictures.

Here are the photos I got of the kids. I'll show you more of the rest in a later post.




And this is the one I'm most proud of. What great looking kids!

Birthday Paint

Brianna turned fourteen this past month and for her birthday she wanted paint for her room. This Monday her and I tackled the project. We covered pink with more pink. Her old paint scheme was pink with a white sponge pattern on it. The new scheme was inspired by our friend Krista's office.

Here's the girly working hard on the darker of the two pinks. She brushed while I rolled.

Here's the finished product. She is very pleased which makes me happy.

Happy Birthday girly!

Amos in August

This video only gets me more excited to see Amos Lee in August. His album Mission Bell is just brilliant.

The Face

Facebook or The Face as an old friend likes to call it can really get on my nerves. I have a love hate relationship with The Face. I love the fact that I can keep in touch with so many people at all levels of life no matter the distance. I love that I can share fun things, pictures, events with people who don't live close or whom I don't see often. I love that when my friends band is playing I can advertise and support his venture. I love that people post funny things and interesting things and thoughtful things. I love seeing pictures of people I don't see everyday. I love certain things. Other things I could do without.

What bugs the shit out of me is the vague postings. Pardon or don't pardon the French but seriously, if you're going to post something make it mean something, don't make me guess or ask. I have a very vivid imagination and can make up the best of stories for your vague posting if you want. Vague postings just make people want to know what you really mean which makes me think you want people to ask. If you post "I'm sad ;-(" or "I wish I could do that over" or "I feel like a big stinky pile of poo today, don't ask why" you are really just asking for people to ask "why?" or "what happened?" or "but I want to ask why because you posted something vague".

On this same note... I know that you know when you post something on someone else's wall that others can see it. I know you are really posting that post so others will see and not just the person who's wall you posted on. How do I know this? Because I do. And also because if you didn't intend for others to see it you could message it to them privately or change the view settings the them only.

I get the game people play, I just don't like it. The Face is good and fun but it also is shitty, self-serving and foolish at times.

19 and Life to Go

Nineteen years ago I married this lady.

Nineteen years later she still puts up with me. There's got to be an award for that.

I love you lady.

Darth Attitude

This cracked me up. We knew Darth could be evil but did you know he could display such a snarky attitude?

Smooching Joel

Monday I got a shot of Kathi smooching another man. I'm watching you Joel.

Capturing the Spirit

Sometimes photos can just capture the spirit of a person. Not in the way that we've heard that some natives think that photos steal their spirit but in the way the their spirit, who they are inside, is captured by the photo.

Monday I took the day off and we took the kids to the aquarium in Newport. We had a great day together. Although the Newport aquarium is small, it's displays are wonderful and we enjoyed each and everyone of them.

Before we took off for dinner at the Rogue Brewery we stopped off at the beach to play and take some pictures. Here are a pictures of each kid that I feel captures a bit of their spirit.

First is Brianna. She is our tenderheart. Compassion is one of her gifts. She is the best kind of friend a person can ask for as she'll put her friends before herself any day of the week. We all wish we had friends like her. This photo captures her sweet side. It is peaceful, not aggressive. It is bright and colorful, not dark. It's very Brianna.

Now here's Alex. Alex is all boy. He's about all things fun. Alex is our comedian. Alex is also one of the kindest people you'll ever meet. This picture shows his free spirit. Barefoot on the beach, carrying a gun made of wood that he found moments before and his perpetually mussed up hair. Ask him why his hair is messy and he'll say "I don't know" and what he means is "so?". And then there's the smile, it rarely leaves his face.

Talking Dog

For more funny talking animals visit the YouTube site