Golf Wedding

Did you ever hear that line "I was at a Fight and a Hockey Game broke out"?  Well today's round of golf was something like that.  "I was at a round of golf and a Wedding Broke out".  Of course not just any wedding, an Outdoor Indian wedding.  It is not the most quiet ceremony you can have for a wedding, but on a golf course?!?!?! Come on Man!!!

We had a 7:40 tee time at Hidden Valley in Norco, since we were only 3 they hooked us up with our new buddy Wang..."no offense".  The course was in a very strange condition.  The greens were recently aerated so putting was a bit of a mess, plus the new groundskeeper decided to flood several of the fairways.  I escaped with a 93 thanks to a great back 9.

However, on about 10 of the holes we were assaulted by the wedding.  Look I don't mind Indian music, but when you trying to drive and putt and very loudly because you are in a valley and the sound bounces.  You are trying to tee off and (read this part fast it is funnier) "bing bing bladda bladda ding ding, click click ding ding bing bing". 

Come on!!!Then trying to putt on 17 I am taking the wedding vows with the bride, Really!!!!   There was even an elephant there!!!! Not a real one, and not pictured below, but seriously, while I am trying to hit out of the sand!!??.

The first photo was the happy couple, the second is the panorama stitch view when you come down on the 6th hole(make sure you click on the photo to see it larger on the screen), presented for Mrs. Dreyer, Brian's mom, who needs to come play with us.

Team Lunch

It has been so long since the local folks from my company got together for lunch.  We are all so busy with our own accounts and our own business units that we forget we have local teammates.  They just might not report to the same manager. 
Our Teammate Jeff Gordon, no not the race car driver, got a group of us together at the California Fish Grill in Irvine.  I tried to take a team photo sitting at the table but it was too hard from where I was stuck in the booth.

Because it was Friday, my boy John and I decided to take the Harleys, and of course take the long way.  While I know you all love my Harley(http://greggvscamera.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-other-love-of-my-life.html) from the comments I have received.  John's ride gets my thumbs up too, the wheels are very cool.  The fat back tire and the pipes make the bike cool...mine is still better...but John's is pretty sweet too.

What is Wrong with this Dog?

I am still sick.  I really thought I was only going to but in a half day.  Well it is 7:15 pm and I am still at my desk.  I am going to be short with this entry, going to bed. Recording USC's opening game....go Trojans!

About 10 minutes ago I heard Baxter whining, he sounded like he was right there.  As I turned to look, he was just standing there with that dopey look on his face.  I called him over, nothing, he just stood there....dumb dog.

So I took his picture...then he left.  I guess he knew what I needed....Good Dog.

Sick

I must have pissed off a voodoo woman or a Southern Belle Mother somewhere along the line.  Every time I go to the South East I get sick.  The last 2 times in New Orleans, got sick, the last two times to Atlanta, got sick, once on the plane.  Now that I am home from Florida, I am sick.  I have the flu or something.  At least this time that I went to Orange County Florida, Orange County California didn't catch on fire, like the last 2 times.

I generally feel like crap, plus I was locked at my desk all day trying to stay warm....did I tell you it was 103 degrees today?

Impatient

On the USAir 321 aircraft there are 16 seats in first class.  Plus if you have a first class ticket you get to board first, it is not a stampede by any stretch of the imagination.  It always amazes me that people stand in line for 10-15 minutes just to be the first of the first class people to board the plane.  You have an assigned seat people!  It is not like "oh if I line up first I will get front row seat to the Rolling Stones concert" or something like that.

Yet when I walked up to my gate, 15 minutes before boarding began, there they were, standing in line to be the first people on the plane.  Plus, I know I am not the most polished traveler, and I was also in first class.  But it is my imagination, or does this group not really remind you of first class?  Or am I just not feeling well and I am grumpy?

Fountain

It is so freakin humid in Orlando!! After getting to the Hotel at 2 am, I was out at the customer site by 9am.  I spent the majority of the day there.  When I came back to the room I wasn't feeling so great so I grabbed a nap.  After dinner I realized I still needed to take a picture.  

The pool at the hotel was not lit very well but in the lake behind my hotel building was a fountain.  I thought I will shoot that.  The only camera I had with me was the G11 with no tripod, so I was limited.  I closed the aperture as small as I could, it only went to f8.0.  Then I extended the shutter to 2 seconds.  After about the first 1/2 second I panned the camera up which give the whirlpool effect.  I also posted one picture of what the fountain looked like for comparison.

Treat Our Troops

There have been a couple of blog entries this year dedicated or about our brave men and women serving to protect our freedom.  The best one I think is still the first one (http://greggvscamera.blogspot.com/2013/03/usaf-veteran-robert-rowe.html) .  However this has to be the best idea to say a small thank you.  I had to fly to Orlando today to resolve a customer issue with a major customer today, yes Sunday.  Flying from LAX to Charlotte was the coldest every flight!! We had two flight attendants that were having dueling hot flashes, so they kept lowering the temperature on plane.

When I got to Charlotte, I remembered there is an EA Sports store there, and being a fan of Duke Basketball, I figured I can get a Duke sweatshirt and survive the flight to Orlando.  On Sale $29!!!.  At the counter at the EA Sports Store was the display pictured below.  You can chose a snack or a water from basket and the store will send it to the USO location at the airport and you can share with the troops.  Very cool!!!

I of course sent the Lance Whole Grain Cheese Crackers because they are my favorite.  I only wish I could have sent a note of gratitude along.  A special thanks to Nichelle, that is Michelle with an "N" who explained the program to me.  Keep up the good work.

God Bless our troops.

Ansel Adams

The weekend, Finally!!!!   Since there was no soccer today, I decided to go golfing with Greg and Brian.  We played Rancho Bernardo Inn.  I didn't play bad, I shot a 92 with 35 putts, there was 5 putts I would like back and 2 drives where the course just bleeds your ball into the creek, and yes mine bled.

The 11 hole at RBI is a par 3 with a lake on the side of the green.  After I stuck my drive about 20 feet from the pin.  I decided to take the camera out, after the sun finally decided to come out too.  Plus Greg said it would make a great picture, and he is never wrong about pictures.  The tree, the flag, the lake, the palm trees and the Spanish style houses on the hill in the background,  it reminded me of the Godfather and the scene at the Movie producers house.  As I was lining up the shot trying to find the right look, Brian who was actually playing well for a change, made a smartass comment "Hurry Up Ansel!".

I told him "if I was Ansel Adams I this would be a black and white".  You know Brian was right, this did look better in back and white, it really captured the historical feel.  Plus the second picture, a crane walking in a drainage ditch, which to itself would be a crappy photo, looks pretty good in Black and White and a tight crop.

Oh, how did I finish the hole....well I was having so much fun shooting I thought I would shoot some more....I 3 putted.

Visible

I think after 5 days of training, our trainer Ray is starting to fade.  All week he kept losing his mouse because the fine folks at the DoubleTree in Orange gave him a projector table with a black table cloth.  It matched his mouse perfectly.

All week long he kept making references to his uncle in China and that uncle's product manufacturing counterfeit abilities.  He mentioned that his should have his Uncle in China make him a Mouse finder device.  Well, Paula one of the students has manufacturing skills of her own.  The first picture is of her product idea to keep Ray from losing his mouse.  The second picture is why you do not mess with guys that have large format printers!!!!

Trio

Our trainer Ray and the students have been working very hard this week so I figured they deserved a treat.   Plus if you see customers too often and don't take them someplace nice they think you don't care.  The best way to my customer's hearts is often time through their stomachs.  So that was the plan.  We were going to the Catch in Anaheim. 

The last time I was there was June 18th.  The reason I remember that is I have a photoblog....and on June 18th I made the same mistake then that I made today.  I did not have my camera with me!!!  So dinner tonight is courtesy of the Camera Capabilities of the Motorola Driod 4.  It is not too bad, the food is much better than the photo.

The photo is also much better than June 18th's attempt... http://greggvscamera.blogspot.com/2013/06/minion-invasion.html.

Ouch The California Entry

Today was transition day.  One of the training classes was over and one was starting.  I had to take my friend Kelsey to the airport then I had a lunch meeting with another.  I pulled the car over to grab something from my briefcase.  As I pulled over I notice the Cactus, so I pulled out the camera too.

As I am writing this I remembered this was not the first cactus on the blog.  This one however is the first California Cactus.  See http://greggvscamera.blogspot.com/2013/04/ouch.html on April 9th   for the Arizona Cactus entry to the blog.

Training

Today was the second day of break fix training.  The guys spent most of the day yesterday on the theory part.  Today was all about taking the printers apart and putting them back together.  From all the  conversation, everything went well and the printers are pretty easy to work with.

Judging from the photo below, very easy.  Either you can fix them with one hand tied behind your back or this is like Cal Trans, one guy works and 2 guys stand around watching him.

Rancho

I was coming back from the first day of training and I notice how blue the sky was and how white and perfect the clouds were, I was going to type "fluffy", but come on really.  The weather in Southern California can be strange.  For example we have had a comfortable summer, or the windows we installed last year are really working well.   However, we will most likely have very hot September and Octobers.  Plus many of the days it take so long for the marine layer to burn off, that it almost looks like a foggy London.

For now though, if I have a day that the sky is blue and the clouds look cool....and I don't have a blog picture, I will shoot the sky.  This shot is coming up eastbound into Rancho Santa Margarita from Mission Viejo.  These are the same mountains that have appeared in the blog from Rancho Lake several times.

Guessing Game

 The official size of a soccer goal is 8 YARDS wide by 8 Feet Tall.   Toni is about 5 feet 3 inches tall.  Yet this weekend's West Coast Tournament came down to Penalty kicks.  A Penalty Kick is when a ball is placed 12 yards away from the net and a goalie is basically supposed to guess where the player is kicking and launch their body to that spot.  Yes in the 8 Yards wide goal.

Well fortunately for the West Coast Girls.  Toni is a good guesser, she guessed correctly twice, and one girl from South Bay Galaxy missed another shot.  Our girls, after actually being able to practice Penalty kicks this week made all of their kicks and, the now number 3 ranked in the United States for girls soccer under 12, West Coast FC Gu12 won the West Coast Classic.

The first picture below is one of Toni's saves.  The second picture, which I love, was of our girls celebrating after the win and 2 of the South Bay girls consoling their keeper, who had nothing to be upset about as she saved the game on a point blank shot as time ran out.

Congratulations to all the girls....Sorry the only camera I had was the G11.

Kenna Bomb

As a photographer everyone of us has been Photobombed at least once.  You know what that is, you are taking a picture and someone walks either purposely or accidentally into your photo. For good examples in this blog see my entries on April 3rd or March 14th.

Today was a new bomb experience for me.  It is also the reason why you don't leave your camera laying around when the kids can get to it.  Today I found my first "Kennabomb" courtesy of Toni and McKenna.  But they played great at the West Coast Tournament today so they can get away with it.

Plus all things considered, it is better then a "Tonibomb" for that you need to open the car windows to let the smell out.

Flavors

Not the type of day I hoped for today.  I had some vacation time to burn.  I decided to play Shorecliffs in San Clemente by myself.  Mistake...should have worked.

But at least the day ended well. Took my buddy Frank to Ritas.

Quiet on the Set!

Today Kash and I spent the day with my friend Carlos and his team.  We are shooting a customer testimonial video for our new product at his office as they have been testing out the product.  It was a cool process to watch especially that I know how the videos look when they are complete.  I asked Kash if I should bring my gear to do some product shots or some environment shots.  He told he the video crew would have it covered....I sometimes listen to Kash too much.

Unfortunately all I had with me was the G11 and did not have a Speedlite.  But at least it gives you an idea of the activity.

Fire Damage

I spent the day in the Lake Elsinore today.  The road from Orange County to the Lake is Ortega Highway.  Over the years they worked to straighten the road out a bit.  It is a favorite of motorcyclist, although the "crotch rocket" riders are much more daring on that road than the ...the ...the smart riders.

The road cuts right through the Cleveland National Forest.  Earlier this month a large brush fire cut through the Forest too.  The Firefighters did an amazing job, as they always do to save homes and structures.  The trees and brush were not so lucky. 

Your Parent's Bed

Do you remember how comfortable your parent's bed was when you were sick.  That was usually the first place you went when you convinced your mom that you were too sick to go to school.  It always made you feel so much better, or at least that was where the good television was...

I remember recovering from having my wisdom teeth removed in my parent's bed, come to think of it that was the day Ronald Regan was shot.  Tough old Bastard!!

Anyway, Baxter is sick, he has a cold.  Poor boy every time he moves he sneezes.  Well, I guess he knows the best place to sleep when he is sick too.  EXCEPT HE IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ON MY COMFORTER!!!!

Kilroy was here

Anyone under 40 will probably not even know what the title of today's blog even means, so I am not going to try to explain.  Basically Baxter is not a fan of the floor in the living room so he has been hanging upstairs.  When you walk by the staircase and you look up, this is what you see.

You're Fired!

Today we tried to tackle Trump National, it is a very expensive course.  Fortunately, I have a very nice friend who treated this time....thanks Don.

Now for the other Donald.  The course is amazingly scenic.  It sits on the Pacific Ocean high on the hills.  The first hole, pictured below is the signature hole.(but you should wear ear plugs to putt) The photo below is the approach to the green.  I stuck it from 130 yards away and made par. 

Now for the bad parts. 

My first mistake was playing from the Blues.  I am still very much a "from the whites" golfer.  The greens here were impossible, the pin placement was that of torture chambers.  Too many 2 putts that should have been 1s and too many 3 putts that never should happen.  But the biggest mess and why I need to fire the Donald are the sand traps, or I should say asphalt with dust on top.  We were told how much the Donald spent on the holes that almost fell into the ocean.  I guess he spent all his money and forgot to put sand in the bunkers.  Not good Mr. Trump, not good.

Would I play it again? Absolutely, but from the whites and would make sure I didn't end up in the sand.

Layup

The amazing thing about today was that we actually made it to Saturday.  This week felt like the longest week ever...until next week I am sure.  I got up crazy early, and Brian and I drove to Temecula to play at Temecula Creek Inn with Greg.

The weather was perfect, nice and cool even for the Inland.  The course was in amazing condition.  But we found several ways to struggle all day.  I was driving the ball well all day, but just struggled to convert at the beginning and the end round.   

This course is broke up in to 3 nine hole courses.  Our final hole was the 9th on Stonehouse a long par 4 with water protecting the green.  You end up having a decision to hit or lay up at the end.  Greg hit a beautiful 2nd shot, a bit longer than I think he meant to hit.  Fortunately, the ball landed about 5 feet from the water.  It made for a beautiful 68 yard chip onto the green.  It also made for a great picture!

Me, I hit beautiful a 160 yard 5 iron...... I needed 162 yards to clear the water.

2

Today was catch up day, no flights, no drives to San Diego.  But more important, it is the official start of the NFL Preseason.  I know there was the Hall of Fame game last week and a couple of games last night.  But the season doesn't start until the Steelers or the Eagles play.

What is most exciting to this household is the debut of #2 Matt Barkley of the Philadelphia Eagles.(Photo 1 below and the official blog shot today)  For those not aware, Matt is a Rookie from USC who grew up in Orange County.  So we are big fans of the newest Eagle.  Even though growing up in Philadelphia I was and still am a Pittsburgh Steelers fan,  but for my mom I like to see the Eagles win. 

 I am a believer that people do deserve a second chance in life. Especially if you have served your time or paid your price.  Still our house is not very happy with the Starting Quarterback of the Eagles for the past couple of years. .  In our house, we do not like Mike Vick, some members in the house especially our four-legged family member will not forgive him.  The first picture is snip from a video, so the quality is not very good,  I would post the video but it is too violent, but I think you will get the idea.

 

Driving



Some girls just want to be like their older sister.  Some girls are competitive.  Toni is both of those.  I think she noticed that Kristin got her driver's license so she decided it was her turn to drive too.  Tonight we went to the driving range.  She was a little rusty and was using longer clubs that Brian gave her.  She did pretty well, especially for not hitting for about a year.

 

Although her best drive was when I told her to close her eyes!

 

I might be on to something....I may have to try it Saturday if my game is in the crapper.

 

Traffic and a Parking Lot

Today was busy day.  A 5 hour meeting with a new customer, then a "Garmin Enhanced" route to Newark Airport.  The fact that we were in meetings all day really limited my photo opportunities.  My layover for my flight, as with many others was Phoenix.  As I was transitioning to my second flight, my favorite flight....the flight home.

I noticed the coolest parking lot, see the official photo below, not the best quality as it was getting dark plus I had to shoot it through a window.

In thinking about Parking lots, my mind went to Traffic.  I realized that I have not given the traffic statistics of the blog for some time.  So here we go, to date there have been over 7,100 page hits.  The average is about 35 hits per day.  But the readership is interesting, this week we added South Korea, Japan and Indonesia.  That brings the total countries to view our little blog to 33. 

Thanks for Stopping by "Stay Classy World". And Remember Anchorman 2 comes out in just over 4 months!!!

Newark

As you may have noticed, I am a bit of a Sopranos fan. Jamie and I call them "home movies". I had to go to Newark NJ for business for 2 days. Including a Red Eye flight, which thanks to FAA regulations and my lack of an eye mask I got about 2 hours of sleep. 

 

If you watch the Sopranos, you know that much of it is set in Newark.  I was very excited to be going to Newark....ok that's a lie, no one actually is ever excited to go to Newark.  Even Trenton makes fun of Newark.  Anyway let's say there is that moment of excitement, maybe I will even get an exciting picture for the blog.

Nope…

Instead I took a picture of the fake flowers Homewood Suites puts in guest rooms to make them feel at home.

Isn’t business travel so glamours?

 

 

Great Loss

Today is a sad day.  Today we lost our Aunt Annie.  She was a wonderful woman.  She always made everyone feel special.  I loved her because she taught me naughty words in Italian.  Although I did have to go to rehab because I was addicted to her sweet rolls.

Now I have to explain something.  The Italians readers will understand this, so will the Soprano fans. Aunt Annie was not my aunt by blood, I did have to edit that because at first I type "not my real aunt", because she was as much as my dad's sisters or my mom sister in law.  Aunt Annie and Uncle Lou were not blood relatives.  It took me until about 15 to realize that.

Aunt Annie was one of my mom's best friends, and Uncle Lou was one of my Dad's.  They served in the Army together.  Trust me I know, I have heard the stories.  It just would never feel right calling them Mr or Mrs.  So Aunt Annie and Uncle Lou just felt right.

By the way, Uncle Lou if you are reading this, Saint Peter sent me a text.  It of course was in Italian so I had to translate.

Roughly translated he said: Aunt Annie secretly loved your jokes, she just was busting your chops when you told them and she would try to get you to stop.   She has been telling them non stop since she got here.  He also said that the Popes are not happy about some of the jokes you taught her about them.  Although tomorrow they are looking forward to her sweet rolls.

We will all miss our Aunt Annie.

Trademark

Today was a lesson in why it is good to ignore people.  Especially when you are trying to take action photos.  The WCFC girl made it to the next round of Surf Cup where we faced Arsenal.  I am not the biggest fan of this club.  They sort of  rank up there with the Blues in my book.  I decided to do some videos of Toni and some shooting.  I need to get a couple more pictures of some of the girls.  Plus now they have their new uniforms.  I love the new blue ones as much as I hate the ugly white and grey stripped "we forgot the finish the stripes all the way around" jerseys.

Oh I got off track, why to ignore people.  One of the dads from the Sacramento USA Stars came up to me when I was shooting.  I was trying to shoot and be cordial at the same time.  Toni made an amazing leaping save and I blew the shot!!!

But it was such great save I just had to post.   So I decided to do a bunch of effect work in Photoshop to make it look like a painting.  It probably looks bad on an IPhone or small screen but it looks awesome in my big monitor, it will look even better when I print it on Canvas.

Despite all the efforts, the girls went to Penalty kicks after a 0-0 game and lost 2-1 in P-Ks.  Toni did have a nice save during the P-Ks.  Had to go up high for that one too.  I am realizing  her jump save is becoming here trademark.  (Also see...... http://greggvscamera.blogspot.com/2013/04/reuse-for-return.html)

A Parking Lot

Today was Day One of Surf Cup an pretty important Tournament for our Girls.  They didn't do too bad.  Won One, Lost one.  I couldn't get up the energy to shoot today.  I did pack the camera just in case.  When I pulled up in the massive parking lot, we are talking easily 1500 - 2000 cars I noticed the cool texture of the very parched dirt in the parking lot.  I was thinking I might use that as my blog entry today.

Later we went to lunch with a couple of the girls and their parents.  When we got out of the car after taking almost an hour to drive 3 miles back from the restaurant Toni mentioned how cool the dirt in the parking lot looked.

With all the cars in the lot and the tournament company watering down the parking lot to keep the dust down, I was left with about 3 feet of parking lot to shoot.  I think it looks like a massive aerial photo or something from the Mars rover.

 

Surprise Visitor

I was able to take a half day FTO today, for those new to the blog it means Flexible Time Off at work.  Today was the West Coast Futbol Club's annual fund raising Golf Event so it was the perfect time to use some FTO.  Plus I got to play with a couple of friends.  We did pretty well, shot 3 under par.  Of course the winning foursome finished 16 under par...yeah right.

There were so many photoblog subjects today, I shot a couple of pictures including the helicopter ball drop(just to be nice, I posted the this one too, photo 2).  But the surprise visitor at the end of the dinner turned out to be the winner.  Unfortunately I only had the G11 with me, the Macro ability of that camera is not the best to show off the visitor on my hat.

 

 

 

Cool

I just changed the calendar.  It says August, August really?  I know the calendar says August but the weather in Southern California feels more like April.  I am sure it will feel like August here in October.

Fortunately the weather has been in the high 70s to low 80s. So we have been able to escape with the fans verses the air conditioner.  Today was another "lock to the home office" day so the photo had to be something around the house. As I was laying on the floor allowing the back to life machine to hopefully fix my back, I got the idea, or the cop out, either way.  This is what I see looking up, I thought it might make an interesting photo.