Okay, why can't it be like this every year? One week of 90's, and all of a sudden it's in the 50's at night. Perfect! I can't stand the heat. But summer does have some nice points. Such as - the beach! And surfing. Not that I surf (being a poor swimmer makes it hard), but plenty of my friends surf, and it makes for good pictures. Hence my latest series, Beach Bums. I didn't intend for it to be a series, but I got so many nice shots I couldn't resist. I hope you enjoy.

And another perk: in one week I leave for vacation in Maine. I may have to buy more memory cards for my camera. Keep an eye out for those in a few weeks.

Well the summer is upon us. Sadly, that also means work is insane. A word of advice: if you have a choice whether or not to work in a tourist area, don't. People can be pretty nasty on vacation. Especially if they're spending a few thousand for a week at the beach and it rains for four days straight...

Anywho, I am still taking photos, but my editing software is down, forcing me to post things raw. Hence I'm being a little pickier in my choices. More should be coming soon, though. I hope everyone is having a lovely summer!



P.S.
It took me over a month, but I made it through the almost 9,000 deviations that had built up in my watch list. Why do I keep doing this to myself?

Last weekend I trekked out to Hamburg, PA and had my first Cabela's experience. For those who don't know, Cabela's is one of the premier hunting outfitters. It has anything a hunter could ever need, from clothing to equipment to a lamp fashioned from antlers. The store is massive, and everywhere there are displayed mounts. Everything from whitetail deer to zebra to big horn sheep. The center of the store is 'Conservation Mountain' displaying many of the animals common to North America. There is also 'Deer Country' which is dedicated to prize bucks and an African section with antelopes and kudus and a warthog. I got some nice shots while I was there, and I will be posting some of them. Enjoy!

As they say, if it's not one thing, it's another.

My attempts at updating were originally foiled by being unexpectedly taken on full time at my job. Then I balanced that out, and my computer kicked the bucket. (Kicked the hard drive? I'm not sure what an appropriate metaphor might be.) I was saved by my brother giving me his old computer - only it had a virus. I exorcised the virus and begun the process of reinstalling all the various software. Every time I thought I was done, I found out something else was missing. Such was the case with my internet. I finally have all the proper drivers and updates in place to *finally* operate this site again.

*sigh*

But it works! And I have pictures! Taken with the spiffy new camera that I love. I will try to get at least one up tonight, with more to follow.

Man I missed this.

At the end of the first entry entitled thus, I had promised to find something that actually exploded for the next installment. I have succeeded. But not, exactly, as I had intended.

Across the road from my house is (was) a taxidermist shop. Until a motobike caught fire outside and spread to the store itself. Once I was sure the shop would not explode (the chemicals were not stored there) I rushed over with my trusty camera. As I snapped photos, I thought, "Excellent! I have my explosion!"

I dashed back home, uploaded the photos, and began going through them. Then my computer died. Literally. No blue-screen-of-death, just the black screen of no return. Turns out that, after years of over-heating, some componant finally fried and my computer simply will not turn on.

Then came two months of tearful no-computerness. Until my darling brother offered me his old one. The catch: it had a virus. So I cheerfully wiped the hard drive, spent three days re-installing all the software I needed, and now, I have a computer again! Huzzah!

I still seem to be having trouble navigating this site, but I hope it just means I need to upgrade Internet Explorer. The re-boot discs for the computer are five years old, so I've had to do a lot of updating. But I'm up and running again, and hopefully I will have more pictures soon.

I missed you puter.