Sunday, December 30, 2012

Day 286/365


     Today was another lazy day as well, but that's when my wanderlust tends to become most prominent, so I decided to put the free time to use and start planning a (hopeful) trip to Ireland for this summer.

Day 285/365


     Yesterday/Saturday/day 285 was an extremely lazy day. I did a bunch of chores around my apartment and ran errands that had all been neglected between moving, working, and getting ready for the holidays the past few weeks. It seems my lazy attitude caught with my pets too, Finch especially.

Day 284/365


     One of my assignments on Friday/day 284 was to get some photos of some of the migratory birds in the Saginaw area. One of our editors noticed a lot of them at a park nearby, so I went out and saw literally hundreds of Canada geese and a few dozen gulls walking around on the ice and in the few open patches of water. It was such a bitter cold day, I wouldn't have wanted to spend it here if I were them. 

Day 283/365


     The morning of Thursday/day 283 was spent in Ohio for an hour or two, before I left a bit early to drive the rest of the way back to Michigan a day late due to the snowstorm that came through. I'm pretty sure my family's cat, (actually my friend and former roommate's that we're taking care of while she's in the navy), was a bit upset with me for taking my cat/her buddy away from her. 

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Day 282/365


     Yesterday/day 282 the local meteorologists actually got the weather right for once, and northern Ohio got hit with a snow storm bad enough to put off my going back to Michigan for a day. The hot chocolate was flowing all day long though, so I guess I can't complain too much. 

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Day 281/365


Merry Christmas everyone! I wish you a safe and happy holiday, and a wonderful new year!

Day 280/365


     Last night/Christmas Eve/day 280 my mom gave me one of my Christmas presents early since we had our annual Christmas movie night. The cheddar popcorn from Pittsburgh Popcorn is addicting, and I've missed it so much ever since I moved away from the Burgh over a year ago. My mom ordered some off of their website, and I'm pretty sure the tub's not going to be a goner by the time I head back to Michigan tomorrow. 

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Day 279/365


     Today my mom got some of our younger cousins over for our yearly holiday baking/crafting binge. My cousin's two daughters are the cutest kids, I swear, and they are so much fun to have over. We made tons of cookies/cupcakes/and other desserts, and had a great time doing so. 

Day 278/365


     Yesterday/day 278 was the O'Donnell family, (my mom's side of my family), Christmas party. With the exception of a few of a few cousins, almost all of us were able to make it this year. There's so many of us that all of us getting together at the same time and sam place doesn't happen all that often. 
     
     I had an idea to make them all Christmas ornaments this year, (my mom and her seven siblings), using a photo of all of them together on Christmas morning when they were children. I love this picture of all of them; I think it shows each of their personalities so well. And the ornaments seemed to be a hit!

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Day 277/365


     It finally snowed today! In both Michigan and Ohio! I love snow in general, but I especially love it around the holidays; it just doesn't feel like Christmas to me without some snow. Hopefully it sticks around until Tuesday!

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Day 276/365


     This morning I got to shoot a pretty fun assignment; the national "Shoes that Fit" campaign being hosted at two local schools. The campaign gets new pairs of shoes for children in need. I shot the shoes being handed out to elementary school kids this morning, and they were absolutely ecstatic. My ears were ringing for about a good hour after I left the school from their squealing and cheering. It was really such a great story to be a part of.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Day 275/365


     Today I got to shoot and write a pretty bittersweet assignment. (If you'd like to see my other photos, I read the short writeup I did, you can find it on MLive here). It was a last minute one, and all I was told was that a group of ladies from the Red Hat Society were visiting a friend of theirs in the hospital. When I drove to the hospital and actually met the woman, Linda, who was getting the visit, I found out that she was in the hospital from being in a serious car accident a few weeks ago that killed her husband. 
     When her friends walked in and each one of them walked up to her, hugged her, and told her how much they loved her and were there for her, it was truly touching. It was easy to see how much she'd missed them, (she was in I.C.U. until last week so her only visitor has been her daughter), and how much them being there helped her. It made me think of when I came back home after finding out my dad had passed away, and how much having my family and friends there as soon as I walked in the door really and truly helped me get through everything. 
It's really amazing how much human beings can do for each other just by simply being there.

Day 274/365


     Yesterday/day 274 consisted of another demolition site assignment. Yet another building in Saginaw is being torn down, and the razing began yesterday. I've happened to cover each of the demolitions that have gone on since June, and with the same construction company being at all of them, I'm now on a first-name basis with have of the crew.

Day 273/365


     Monday/day 273 was filled with numerous technological issues for me; between my work laptop deciding to lock me out and then the system that I upload to MLive through locking me out as well. In between my hours of calling tech. support, I covered a few assignments, including a local Bay City area school that restored two nine and-a-half foot electrical toy soldiers and installed them at the entrance to Bay City's Santa House. 'Tis the season.

Day 272/365


     Sunday was filled with some unpacking, then some more unpacking... did I mention I did some unpacking?

Day 271/365


     Saturday/day 271 marked my first time shooting wrestling. I covered two different day-long tournaments, one in Saginaw Township and another in Auburn. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and photo-wise it was actually pretty interesting. It still wouldn't be my favorite sport to shoot, but definitely not my least favorite by far. I got plenty of action shots, but this one ended up being my personal favorite.

Day 270/365


    So even though I did get internet installed last Friday/day 270, moving my things into my new apartment and work kept me plenty busy and my blog suffered for it. Anyways, Friday was filled with work during the day, and some overtime at night when I covered a local girls basketball game.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Day 269/365


     Today was certainly a long one. My car is currently in the body shop getting fixed after it got hit a few weeks ago. The tire pressure light in the rental I was driving turned on a few days ago, and when I stopped in the rental place today they switched out the car for me. That's probably a good thing, really; I was originally driving a VW Beetle, and my legs were already starting to hurt just thinking about driving that car back to Ohio for Christmas. Anyways, my last assignment ran a lot later than all of us involved with it at work thought it would, so I was looking forward to going back to my apartment for the night, even with it being sans-furniture at the moment. When I came home, I realized Finch decided to help me with some of the unpacking in the kitchen. Made. My. Night.


Day 268/365





     Yesterday/day 268 was a bit of an emotional one. My dad would've been sixty years old yesterday, and for work I covered two memorial services. In a way it was all entirely fitting. The first service I covered was what would have been a local boy's ninth birthday. The boy, Jayden Lamb, passed away last month after more than a two year battle with cancer. In honor of his birthday, hundreds of people met at a Midland church to light and send off hundreds of lanterns into the sky. It was really cool to see. There's also been a pay it forward movement gaining steam in the wake of his passing, and if you like you can read about it in one of the articles on MLive here.

     The second service I covered last night was the eleventh annual Project Blue Light ceremony, which is for law enforcement officers and their families to pay tribute to deceased officers. It was amazing to see so many officers from different areas, (some as far as Canada), and their families come together to support each other. I was doing fine with everything yesterday, until at the end of the ceremony they had bagpipers play "Amazing Grace" to lead out the processional. Gets me every freakin' time!
  



 

Day 267/365


     My return back to Michigan/work was met with another basketball game to shoot. It was a lot of fun, and had the first slam-dunk attempts I've seen this season. 

Day 266/365


     To make up for the major delay in updates here's a holiday-themed pet post! We were finally able to get our Christmas tree for my mom's house and put it up on Monday/day 266. My cat, Finch, was especially happy about it it would seem. I can't wait to go back home for Christmas and smell it. Christmas trees and home are easily my favorites when it comes to the holiday season. 

Day 265/365


     Sunday/day 265 was spent paying homage to my dad. My dad would've turned 60 December 12 of this year/yesterday, so when my family was together this Sunday we celebrated it together. We had his favorites for dinner: my mom's lasagna, boston cream pie for dessert, and beer throughout the entire day. Halloween through Christmas have been hard and a bit surreal without him, and he's missed by us and so many of his friends and family every day. So Sunday was for him. 

Day 264/365


     Saturday's/day 264's post is a bit of a cop-out, I'll admit, but it's a pretty good representation of my day. I spent the day with good friends and great family, ending it with going through old family photos with my mom and some of my relatives on her side of the family. This is a photo of my mom's mother. I haven't seen very many pictures of her when she was younger, and rarely ever any candid ones, so I really loved this picture of her. As soon as I get settled into my new apartment I plan on scanning it in so I have a better copy of it.

Day 263/365


     I apologize for the serious delay in updates. I'm in the process of switching apartments and I won't have my internet service switched over until sometime this weekend, and I've also been working remotely more than in the office this past week so my internet access has been touch and go.

     Anyways, Friday/day 263's post is another basketball one. It capped off a pretty tumultuous week for me personally with having to deal with my volatile neighbors, so shooting the game before driving home to spend the weekend in Ohio was literally a breath of fresh air.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Day 262/365


     I got to shoot another basketball game tonight. Plus, my volatile psycho of a neighbor is out of town for at least tonight, if not longer. Today is a good day. 

Day 261/365


     Yesterday was not one of my more interesting assignment days, and I figured you guys might be missing a pet post of Finch so I figured I'd indulge you. When it gets colder like it is now he becomes quite the cuddler, so much so that he'll resort to seeking out my laptop if I'm not giving him enough attention.

Day 260/365





     I didn't have to wait too long to get to shoot an entire basketball game, because I got to Tuesday night! It was a pretty good game too; they're not always that common at the beginning of the season. Anyways, I couldn't pick just one, so day 260 gets four photos, (click on the image to view larger). I know sports photography is one of my weaker areas, but I think it's come a long way since I first started shooting sports up here in August. There's still so much room for improvement, and I'm all too happy to work on it through shooting basketball.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Day 259/365


     The day has finally come; volleyball season is over, and basketball season is only just beginning! I covered my first game tonight, and loved every minute of it. Unfortunately I could only stay for the first  two quarters, because I had to get back to the office to get the photos in by the print deadline for tomorrow's paper. Hopefully I'll get to stay for a full game at some point. I've missed playing basketball so much; I literally think I've only gotten to play once or twice since I played in high school. I was never very good, but I always had so much fun playing nevertheless. None of my friends or living immediate family share the interest in the sport with me, and shooting hoops by yourself only keeps you going for so long. There are an indefinite number of things I miss about my dad, but hanging out in the driveway playing one-on-one or playing horse or just seeing who can shoot the farthest is definitely in the top ten.

Day 258/365


     Sunday was spent pretty much the same as Saturday was: packing. It was a bit more delayed though, seeing as Kip, Finch, and I spent almost the entire morning being lazy and not getting out of bed.

Day 257/365


     Saturday afternoon was spent packing up the first stages of my apartment. The neighbors living in the apartment below me have been getting more and more volatile since I've gotten a dog, to the point where I was going to look for a rentable house to move into when I found out my internship was being extended. When I told my landlord what I was thinking, she offered my a first floor apartment in another building in my apartment complex away from Mr. and Mrs. Psycho. Here's hoping things work out better in the new place, which I'll hopefully be in sooner rather than later.