Four Day Weekend

3.5 hours left in the work day. I started lunch late today so I am still on break. Just throwing out a lunch time post while I still can.

My wife’s friend and former co-worker is getting married this weekend and we, along with my step daughter, are going. The wedding is in Bar Harbor, ME, which is about five hours from home. That means we’re going for the weekend. We took tomorrow (Friday) and Monday off for the drive there and back, and then we’re spending Saturday sight seeing and going to the wedding on Sunday.

One thing on Saturday’s agenda is Acadia National Park. Expect lots of photos. My mirrorless camera is going on the trip, and so are both film cameras. One is loaded with color film right now, the other with black and white. Variety, right?

I am super looking forward to this little get away. Jen and I visited Bar Harbor once many years ago and it was beautiful and I have always wanted to go back. Now we’re finally going.

Three hours and 28 minutes to go until I can sign out of work. That’s 208 minutes. That’s 12,480 seconds. So close, yet so far. I still need to pack tonight, including charging camera batteries and grabbing some extra film. I can’t wait, gentle readers. I can’t wait.

Three Hours to Go

Three hours left in the work week.

180 minutes.

10800 seconds.

It’s a long weekend for me too. The company I work for puts a cap on how much personal time you can accrue and as your bank builds up you have to take time off to stay below the cap. It’s not as bad as the Boston Bruins salary cap woes right now, but it will get there if I don’t use time regularly. Because of that, I took two days off next week. Monday and Tuesday. That all means that ol’ Robbie has himself a four day weekend coming up.

Sadly, Jen was not able to take the two days off too, so that means I am on my own for the second half of my super long weekend. That means there will be lots of personal creative project type stuff. I checked the weather at the ocean for the next few days and both Sunday and Monday are looking like good candidates for sunrise photos. At least one of those mornings will be Photography Day where I will grab some sunrise at the beach and then hit a few places on the way home. Film and Digital. Bank on it (weather permitting).

There will also be a lot of music. As much as I can stomach. I plan on making gigantic progress on the 50 songs in 90 days challenge. That includes guitar tracking, vocal tracking in the car (because I have a weird mental block that won’t let me sing when people can hear me unless I am playing guitar with a very loud band), and mixing songs as I finish recording them.

There will also be progress on the current Doctor Who series binge watches. I finished season one of the original show this morning, and I am almost done with season four of the current show. So very many more seasons of each show to go. Progress will be made. I fully expect to move from the 10th doctor to the 11th doctor in the new show but I expect to still be on the first doctor in the old show. Like I said… so much Who to watch.

I am also thinking that I will be back on the couch to 5k wagon next week. It’s been a couple of weeks since I stopped. I want to get back into it, even though I am very doubtful I will ever run that mythical 5k. It’s still a goal, I just don’t know if it’s an achievable goal for me.

I have two days off booked in August too. They are for a weekend trip to Maine for a wedding. Bellana will be joining us for that and I expect lots of photos from Acadia National Park near Bar Harbor. Again, film and digital. That include Cadillac Mountain, which is the first spot in the continental United States that sees the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean. It would require a SUPER early wake up to see, but I want very much to see it and photograph it. Now that I think of it, I should replace my broken tripod before we leave for that trip. The broken guy is good enough for this weekend, but for Cadillac Mountain? I’m going to need something that works. I’ll take care of it.

Okay, my late lunch break is over now. Time to get back to work and finish off this work week on a high note.

Patriots Day

Today is Patriots Day. It’s a state holiday in Massachusetts and Maine*. It’s the day we remember how this dude (and at least one other dude)…

went for a ride one night, which lead to some farmers and other dudes getting into a shooting fight with a bunch of foreign dudes in red coats at this spot…

*At the time Paul Revere went for his ride the area now known as the state of Maine was part of Massachusetts. It wasn’t until 1820 that Maine became a state on it’s own. Massachusetts has spent the last 201 years lamenting the loss of Old Orchard Beach and Bar Harbor and (eventually) Stephen King.

Old Orchard Beach Sunrise

I almost didn’t make it. Sunrise was at 6:30am. I left home at about 5:15. When I plugged Old Orchard Beach into Google Maps on my phone it told me I’d get there at 6:33. Uh oh. Fortunately the pre-dawn traffic was non-existent and I was able to shave a few minutes off of that time. Still, when I got to the water I only had a few seconds to spare. The tide was so far out that only the furthest end of the pier was in the water. That meant I could mess around shooting from underneath the pier. It was kinda cool.

That boat came close to messing up my sunrise shots. He stayed out of the way though. Mostly.

I wasn’t alone, which sort of surprised me given that it’s November and all. There was one other person running around with a tripod like me, and one who was right on the water’s edge with a cell phone, and one more who was standing on the sidewalk, not quite yet on the beach, flying this thing.

Yeah, I’m giving up the software industry and getting into the post card business.

The Amusement Park is shut down for the year. It looks kinda sad.

Old Orchard Beach Pier

I forgot I had this. This is the Old Orchard Beach pier. This is the place I was thinking of visiting for a sunrise pic this summer. It’s the only beach I know of around here (its actually an hour away from here) that has a big pier. I’m off work on Tuesday… maybe I’ll go for a sunrise-by-the-pier pic then.

Random Flickr Photo Post

Untitled, a photo by robj_1971 on Flickr.

Another random Flickr pic. I hope the weather gets warm again and we find a way to have some lake time. Not this lake, but one closer to home.

Please, Pretty Please

2012-05-26 to 28 - Bar Harbor 166 by robj_1971

2012-05-26 to 28 – Bar Harbor 166, a photo by robj_1971 on Flickr.

Can we please, pretty please have Spring back again? Pretty, pretty please?

My 2012 in Pictures – Part Deux

Yeah, I did a my-year-in-pictures thing the other day. It was fun. What the hell, thought I, why not do it again? This time I’ll run fast and loose with the whole one-pic-from-each-month thing. I’m crazy like that.

We have to get our pics of the Sands Bridge in Methuen before she collapses. Or maybe I should say before she finishes collapsing. It’s already started. Also, I don’t think I found a relative in the Grove Street Cemetery, but who knows?

In February I finally finished an RPM Challenge on time. It only took me five tries. We also got a new bed. Jen’s penguin approved.

In March, the kids and I became wilderness explorers. Hipstamatic came along for the ride. Actually, we just wandered around in the woods behind our house for a little while. It was fun.

April in San Diego. I want to go back RIGHT NOW!

May gave us baseball, Bar Harbor, and my first up close New England Lighthouse.

The picture pickin’s are slim in June, but we did get a new Rush album (and it is awesome) and we got another fantastic piano recital from the kids.

July offers more choices after a spontaneous trip to Boston, and a week long stay in Maine that included some time in the mountains of New Hampshire.

In August we went to the Top of the Hub for the first time in my life. The views of my city were spectacular. We also spent some twilight time on Hampton Beach.

September had mountain waterfalls, leaf peeping, my first ever attempt at photo-walking in Tewksbury, and more Rush.

October continues to belong to Washington, DC.

The camera didn’t come out much in November, but I did torture the cat, and my wife, with my camera phone, and we did celebrate Turkey Day.

December had more mountains, more mountain streams, and Christmas.

And there we have a second view of my 2012 in pictures. Forgive the gratuitousness.

Happy New Year (again).

My 2012 in Pictures

In January I took my swanky new lens out and about in Methuen to see what it could do. These trips usually focus on the Spicket River, but this time I went to the Merrimack.

As usual, February focused on the RPM Challenge. This year my saxophone came out of retirement.

In March I finally managed to get a few pictures of the night sky that only mostly sucked, as opposed to the normal total suck. This is the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter, all at once.

April brought us back to San Diego and I swear, each time we go there it gets harder and harder to come home.

In May we brought the kids to Fenway Park. Dustin Pedroia and the Red Sox won the game, but went on to their worst season in 100,000 years.

June was very quiet, photography wise, but we did get another piano recital in the wonderful Nevins Library in Methuen.

In July we spent a week on Long Lake in Maine. I managed to accidentally take a few pictures that didn’t suck.

In August we spent a day wandering around Portsmouth, NH including Strawbery Banke.

In September we took the kids to see Rush. Now they know what I’ve been talking about all this time.

In October we took the kids to Washington, DC and tried our best to see everything in the short time we were there.

In November I didn’t post a single picture taken with my D90. I did, however, learn that this existed and it made me feel a little better about the human race in general.

In December my wife and I ran off together to the mountains for a few days. It was wonderful to get away.

And there you have it. A brief synopsis of my 2012, in pictures. I could have posted hundreds of pictures. Maybe I will later on.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: