Serious Portraits
November 10th, 2007
Archive
Archive for the ‘Unusual’ Category
Trick or Treat
November 5th, 2007
Halo 3 Game Fuel
July 30th, 2007
Halo 3 and Mountain Dew equals Game Fuel, what more can you ask for? Yes, of course Halo 3 should have it’s own soft drink. It’s not only the most successful video game franchise in history, but the biggest entertainment event of 2007. Halo 3 already has become the fastest selling pre-ordered video game in history.
Master Chief says: “Time to pwn some noobs again.”
Sunset to the West
June 26th, 2007
After shooting Gator, the sky became even weirder than the previous couple hours.? The sky was soon consumed by these crazy vibrant colors as the sun was setting.? I scrambled to find something decent yet as close as possible to put in the foreground of a picture, before the colors fade away.
Emergency Repair
April 29th, 2007
When it Rains it Pours
April 26th, 2007
We had a little reminder of the floods no one will ever forget.
? What is now white water rapids? usually is only a tiny gentle babbling creek.
? There won’t be any concerts tonight at the Simon Estes Ampitheater.
? The Des Moines River near 9th Ave has bloated into a lake.
? See the high water at the far bridge.? Debris from the shores of the river have been swept up by the high waters.
Gray’s Lake flooded.? It became an extension of the river.
Beauty extracted from destruction.
Parking lot at Gray’s Lake Park.
I think it’s safe to call the game off.
Half of the building is under water, but the light is still on.
? The water at this point is almost over the stop sign.? I’m sure I didn’t catch it at it’s highest either.
? Streets vanish into the water
? Fluer Drive closed, water over road.
? Fluer Drive flooded.
Water closing in on the new MLK bridge.
No need to evacuate.? It’s already abandoned.? Possibly from last flood?
Catastrophe
March 22nd, 2007
? 
You and me, and me and you…
so happy, together…
? Conquistador looks in the mirror at herself and pounds her front paws at the mirror trying to figure out what this twisted psychotic device is.
Shnookums’ usual look.
Shnookums’ fur got really knotted, we think it was from feeding them cheap generic brand cat food.? Since Persian cats have such long fur they are real prone to matting.? A common solution is to give them a “lion cut” so they can regrow their fur.? This is the second time we had to give him one.? The cat? groomer we took him to wasn’t as good as the last one.? I think the long fur on his legs looked better shorter like the previous time we had it done, also the neck line wasn’t as impressive.
? His head looks way too big for his body after the “Lion Cut” because they leave the hair long on the face, legs, and end of tail… like a lion.? The? idiot cat groomer accidentally cut Shnooks’ right whiskers in half.
? When Shnookums has his full coat of fur everyone says he’s a fat cat.? In fact he is completely skinny and boney.? The vet is very impressed with him? because he is very fit and muscular even though he is an indoor cat.
After the haircut, the groomer gave Shnooks a dry foam bath.? He smelled good to us but lost his own smell.? His fur does have a distinct smell.? Cherish and I can both smell it and as weird as it sounds it’s? quite a pleasant smell.? On the other hand we can’t smell Conquistador.? After Shnooks returns from the groomer, Quisy becomes confused and doesn’t recognize his appearance and scent.? He kept trying to play with her, “Hey it’s just me,”? but she would have nothing to do with him.? They spent the next two weeks separated and every time he came near her she would puff out her fur and hiss loudly at him.? During this time Quisy displayed hints that she was claiming dominance as she thinks he is new and she thinks she was the first one here.
Shnooks really likes plants.? ? We picked him up some cat grass to give him a distraction from the discomfort of his new haircut and help him cope with temporarily losing? his best friend Quisy who wants nothing to do with him.? The cat grass is organic and specially made for cats to eat and digest.? I think it has a different smell that attract the cats also.
? He loves his grass
? Yum
Conquistador says “You don’t look familiar and you sure don’t smell familiar.? What are you doing in my house?”
Finally after two weeks he gets his smell back.? ? She realizes he’s the same Shnooks that she’s always known.? She hissed less and less at him and finally they are back to playing and cuddling like they used to.
Cool Easy Cash
February 24th, 2007
? We’ve been wanting to go back to? Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Altoona, IA (just outside of Des Moines) for some time now.? The last time we? played slots was last summer, on our way home from Kansas City we stopped at Lakeside Casino outside the small town of Osceola.? We planned ahead and decided we’d go this weekend, waste some $40 in nickels/etc.? The weather was supposed to be horrible on Saturday with plenty of freezing rain and snow, so there was no decision to make, we went Friday night.
Cherish and I arrived and had a couple drinks before Richard and Heather got there.? After they showed up we went to the high roller room first.? I’ve had good luck there before so we thought we’d go there for a couple plays then go to the nickel machines.
Richard walks right up to a slot machine, the first of the night.? Minimum bet? is? $5, he inserts the cash and pulls the handle.? Bam, 7-7-7, wins $500.? What are the freaking odds of hitting that on your first play?
? Right after Richard won, Cherish walked up to the machine next to it.? She had her lucky panties on so she thought she might have a chance.? She inserted $20 and after 1 or 2 pulls, bam, $405.? No freaking way!?
Money for nothing, chicks? for free?? This is no endorsement for gambling.? You usually lose, it’s a fact, the odds are much? against you.? Don’t expect to ever win.? ? My view is gambling is generally throwing your money out the window with a very remote chance of a winning.? Set your spending limit before you go.
Now everyone wants to go home but me.? Richard and Cherish already won a decent amount.? Heather has enough common sense to want to take it and run.? I wasn’t quite satisfied as we’ve only been there for half an hour and just started playing at that moment.? After trying the high roller machines myself and failing,? I made everyone stick around and play the nickel machines for a while.? No wins there.? After another 30 minutes, it’s time to leave and celebrate.
Driving to the Park Ave. Pub
See our ratings for the Park Avenue Pub in Des Moines.
Some dirty old man at the Pub cracked a “Rubber Nut” on the pool table for the ladies.? Let me guess, you can hide quarters behind your ears and detach your nose between your fingers?? Talented!
? Fun with condoms.? Anyone for fisting?
? I like them rubbed “this way.”
? Josh is a ham for the camera.? There’s always something interesting to capture when he’s around.
? After Bar
? Walk like an egyptian, and other hijinks.
? Richard and Heather and Redeye, bad Canon Powershot, bad.? Go sit in your case.
Very late, time for bed.
? 
? Pedestrian bridge over I-235 in Des Moines.
Winter weather alert, travel not advised.? You can’t win if you don’t gamble.
Excessively Moist
February 22nd, 2007
So, I was driving through downtown and noticed something strange.? There was a ginormous amount of water flowing down a street, but it wasn’t even raining.? Turns out, a water main broke and turned loose some infinite gallons of water down this steep street.? These pictures don’t do this scene any justice, the low lighting made it hard to show how much water there was.? Not only were there large streams on both sides of the street, but the velocity that the water was comming down this hill was amazing.?
This somewhat illustrates the speed of the water running down the hill.? This is a current caused by a curb where a driveway is.
The brown streaks at the bottom are the water flowing down the hill.? The speed of the water made it blurry like the car.
This one shows approximately how much of the street is taken over by water in some places.
I could not figure out what the people on the left were doing.? They were holding what appeared to be golf clubs in the stream of water flowing down the side of the street.? It looked like there was a news crew setting up to film also.
? More currents in the street from the speed of the water.
This is the bottom of the hill where the water was going to.? I should have followed it to see how far it ran and what it was flooding.? The storm drains in the street were either already filled from the water or couldn’t handle the flow.
Should have followed the stream to find the lake.? Oh well.
Tele-Man Telling Me Bananas
January 30th, 2007
Tom Brings new meaning to the phrase “The computer is busy.”
? The glowing beast that is Tom’s computer.? It’s complete with three gauges, including left and right channel audio volume and hard drive usage meters.? The? cover is off, showing the blue cold cathode lighting inside.? The 69kV sign came from his work after it was produced in error.? Instead of running wiring through dusty and insulation filled ceilings like most telecom folk, Tom wires power panels that go in power company substations.? That’s some serious voltage.?
? This is a true model 500 telephone set (500 set), produced by Western Electric.? This is the real deal, the original model that was then duplicated by everyone else.? Back in those days, you would have rented this expensive peice of equipment from the phone company for an added monthly charge because you couldn’t afford it.? This baby blue model is very hard to find, making it much more valuable.? This is his regular phone that he uses daily.?
Tom and I met at college through a telephone/data technical program, this should explain our interest in phone equipment and the like.
? An ash tray that is shaped like a candlestick style phone.
? 
? This is the clearest shot I could get of Mason without using flash.
? Killians, good beer.
? Tom’s new tattoo, his friend did this one. ? I believe he designed it also.
? Tom said they really need to do laundry.? I agreed.? This is at the bottom of the stairs leading to the basement.? I thought we went through a lot of clothes.? Two adults plus two kids equals crazy amounts of laundry.
? A very interesting floor vent, it looks like it’s homemade out of the metal runner stuff that goes in? outer doorways.? This may be a one of a kind creation.
? How about some moonshine water?
? Tom’s Pachinko slot machine.? These are imported from Japan and sold to U.S. consumers.? In Japan, gambling is illegal so they play with tokens and I think they can trade tokens for items.? Probably similar to your local Chuck E Cheese’s or Nickel Arcade.? The machines can be modified to accept quarters, although it then becomes illegal.
? Steady there
? Seven VS Dollars slot machine.? The title makes no sense to me, but the graphic looks good I guess.? This may be a good example of Engrish.
? A shot glass and a whistle, on a rope.? I guess this is for when you’re getting ape wild.? I wish I had that much fun when I go out.
? This is talent right here.? One of Tom’s best tricks is he can drink beer while smoking a cigarette.? There is no deception involved.? Notice the cherry glowing and the smoke stream above the cigarette.? At the same time he finishes the remaining half bottle of beer and? exhales smoke.?
? Keep Out: Sewage Lagoon.? Now everyone thinks its a pond to catch frogs in.
Who would name a street “Dead St?”? Really though, would you?? Would you want that as your address?? If you wear black nail polish, no response needed.
Jamming on his bass guitar.
Mary Jane Drove Him Insane
January 21st, 2007
We were hanging out at a bar named West Port on the West end of Des Moines and some people walked up to the building but were staring back at where they came from.? It sounded like they were called by the driver to come help him.? They were hanging out at the bar to avoid the police, as they said there was a large amount of weed in the car.? Going outside, I could see that somehow this car drove straight dead-on into the tree.? Technically he hit the tree after pounding into the bank of packed snow.? The tracks appear to suggest that he was going straight the whole time also, ruling out the possibility that he didn’t? steer sharp enough.?
