Things I don't think

Okay, so it's been a really long time since I've posted. Two reasons I think: first, I just haven't had any time to go out and take photos and second, I haven't really had anything good to take photos of. So, the other day as I was driving into work, I saw a new sushi restaurant that is just getting ready to open and the thought occurred to me, I don't think anyone really likes sushi. My next thought was, it would be fun to come up with a list of things that I don't think. So here it is. As it turns out, I think about a lot of things, so the list was shorter than I thought it would be. At least it gave me some photo ideas.

1. I don’t think anyone really likes sushi; I mean it’s raw fish, common on, really, quit pretending and go eat something that’s cooked.

2. I don’t think it’s appropriate to talk on your cell (or other) phone while on the toilet. I get an involuntary shudder each time I’m on the phone with someone and hear a flush.

3. I don’t think it’s ever a good idea to eat more than two handfuls of Skittles in any one sitting, unless you are willing to purge.

4. I don’t think there are really enough hours in a week to be a dad, have a job, have a church calling, take up photography has a hobby, take up hiking as a hobby, take up soccer as a hobby, learn to play the guitar, and finish a painting before my wife’s birthday…and yet I can’t stop thinking I would like to buy a road bike and get back into cycling.

5. I don’t think I would have survived past the age of twelve if I’d been born before the Renaissance…without glasses I can’t even trim my own toenails let alone scavenge for food.

6. I don’t think domesticated animals really are all that “domesticated”; I think they’re mostly just patiently waiting for the right opportunity…did you hear about that monkey?

7. I don’t think everyone who smiles is necessarily happy.

8. I don’t think anyone really enjoys being tickled once they start puberty. It must be a hormonal thing or something. What’s nice about being prodded by other people’s fingers in unusual places? For some reason, though, my kids (thankfully all prepubescent for a few more years) can’t get enough.

9. I don’t think going downhill on Rollerblades, a skateboard, or other wheeled contraptions that don’t have a reliable braking system is either safe or fun.

10. I don’t think international travel with five kids under the age of six is as exhausting as trying to roll Roseanne Barr to the top of Mt. Everest, but it’s pretty darn close.

11. I don’t think there are really more than maybe twenty people in the world who are really good at golf, and even they hit it into the rough sometimes.

12. I don’t think I’m going to shave until my wife gets back from visiting her family (week and a half).

13. I don't think truly pure water has any flavor, although my brother insists that it does. Think about it though, if water had a flavor it would have to taste kind of like something. What does water kind of taste like? Can't think of anything, can you...proof that water has no flavor. You can feel the cold or hot of the water, you can taste impurities in the water, but water itself is tasteless, or at least so I contend.

The Kids

My wife took our two oldest kids to a birthday party last Saturday. I stayed home with the younger three. I figured that since I would be chasing them around the house anyway, I might as well be chasing them with a camera. I was focusing on composing photos from the back to the front, in other words, making sure that I got good plain backgrounds. Of course, no one wanted to hold still and act cute in front of the black table cloth I draped over the fridge, but I did get luck on a few photos. Here are the keepers:

This one is by far my favorite. I shot it from across the kitchen with my big lens. The background was just lucky.

I like the background on this one of Daniel also. Too bad he had chocolate chip cookie crumbs all over his face.

This is the only good one I got in front of the hanging table cloth. Not an amazing photo, but since I went to all the trouble of hanging the table cloth -- an exercise that involved tucking inside the fridge, magnets, and chairs -- I thought I was entitled to post at least one.

This last photo was taken just as I was wrapping up for the day. I saw these nuts spilled on the table and it reminded me of a photo my good friend Aimee Roth Smith took of some Cheerios. I was still using the long lens, but switched over to macro.