I just got my film scanner in the mail a few days ago, and it is sooo nice! I'm very pleased with it so far. It's very odd scanning through old negatives ... I usually only remember the few "good" photos, and never remember the ones that got tossed aside, so looking through them all is going to be very nostalgic. It takes about five minutes to scan a strip of 4-5 negatives though, so I've got a lot of catching up to do. (The photo above was taken in 1997.)
This weekend I went out and bought another computer too, since the one I have is super old and slow. I'm still gonna use both, just the new one will only be used for photo/internet stuff, and the old one will be used for everything else. It even comes with a feature called "LightScribe", where I can "burn" a label on the CD/DVD. Very useful, especially for keeping my disks archive friendly :)
I've finally decided to delve into the world of stock photography. I was reading through my Popular Photography magazine and found an article about it, and though I'd heard of this in the past and even slightly considered it, I thought that now would be a good time to start. I searched around and found this great site on how to make my own cardboard box studio to shoot small objects, and it works like a gem! (The photos above are a few I've taken in the last couple of days.) I'm signed up at a great stock photo site called Shutterstock but I haven't quite gotten started. They review ten photos of all new photographers before they allow them to officially join, and I haven't submitted my photos for that quite yet. I'm kind of waiting on the new Nikon Coolscan V ED I just bought online the other day so I can put some of my earlier work on the site ... it will allow me to scan all of my negatives into digital form. Yay! I've been procrastinating way too long on getting it, and now it will be here within a few weeks :)
The above photos are Copyright 2006 Nicole Young. Please visit iStockPhoto.com for purchase information.
This is one of the many photos I took at Oak Lake in Lincoln, Nebraska on July 4th. It was a little bit windy out, so the fireworks tended to drift to the left a little right after they went off, but I still got a few good shots. This one above is one of the ones that the fireworks explode in the sky, and then little ones fly in all different directions.Photo copyright 2006 Nicole Young.
This is my cute little nephew, Christian, and my brother Nate in the background :) I had the pleasure of babysitting both of my nephews today. I'm actually still at their house watching the boys so Jodi (my sister-in-law) can get some sleep :) Pretty much everyone is sleeping right now, except for me, which is quite all right. My sleep cycle is getting all messed up from staying up late, and today is a nice kick-in-the-butt to get me back on a normal schedule. I really hate sleeping in waayyyy late. A few hours is okay, but sleeping until noon is just icky. Well, most of the time it is ;)
This last weekend I ran in the Hawaiian Half Marathon. It was the first half-marathon I've ever done, and the longest race I've run so far. My feet are still healing (I had quarter-sized blisters on each foot, in the instep) and my throat is scratchy, I think from all the breathing! But other than that the run was great! I feel like I ran it really strong and steady ... I can't wait for the Honolulu Marathon in December :)I leave tonight for Lincoln, Nebraska. I'm visiting my family for a good three weeks. I'm so excited! It always feels good to be home, and I'm brining my camera and tripod to document the whole thing :)
Meet my new baby nephew :) What a cutie!
Hunter Maurice Newcomer
Born: May 24, 2006
Birth Time: 7:31 pm
@ Saint Elizabeth Regional Medical Center
Weight: 5 lbs 14 oz
Length: 19.75 in.
So, it seems like everyone I know is either pregnant, has a pregnant wife, or has a cute little baby. Everyone at work is convinced that I'm next ... well, not if I can help it! Unless their definition of "next" is "three or four years from now", then they're right :) (Even the baby birds in my backyard are adorable!)
Andrew is in Las Vegas right now, while I sit at home and attempt to clean and de-clutter our house. So far this morning I ate breakfast, went running, and then had lunch. I've done a little bit of cleaning, but right after I got out of the shower the cats decided to knock over one of my framed photos, and they shattered the glass all over the floor. Then just a few minutes ago I started to hear one of our smoke detector beeps go off, which means I have to change the battery or I'll just go insane with all the beeping. Then, I called Office Max cause we were expecting a delivery, and it turns out that even though they tried to deliver yesterday, left a "Sorry we missed you an we'll try delivering again" note, it wasn't there when I checked but they have it in their system as having delivered it. Hmm.
Here's a photo of my new car. I've been having a lot of fun driving it around. I'm really happy with the purchase so far ... which is good since I'll be making payments on this for the next five years :)
Work is going great. Last week was the first week of my new job within my building, and I really like it so far. It is such a change from my last job, which includes switching to "regular" hours and days, and now Ace and I are on the same schedule. (This is good cause we can carpool to work, since gas prices are soaring ... it was $3.29 out in town yesterday, and only a little bit cheaper on base!) Hopefully I will be moving into a Navy leadership position soon as well, which I am looking forward to.
Andrew leaves for Las Vegas this week to attend our friends' wedding -- Jen Kidwell and Brian Schooley. I'm not going since I already have plans to take more than three weeks of leave in June. Well ... at least I'll get the house to myself for a few days to do some major cleaning :)
I made an amazing discovery today. My cats have been peering outside our back door at some birds that have been hanging around lately, and so I decided to check it out. Just to the right of our back door we have a hanging basket filled with silk flowers, and it seems that some birds decided to make it their home. I took this photo today after I found the nest and baby bird ... I'm probably going to peek in regulary to see the other babies hatch out of their eggs :)
Andrew and I bought a new car this weekend, a Honda CRV SE. Actually, it's "my" car, since he just got one this last December :). I needed a vehicle with 4-doors, since mine was a small two-door coupe, and eventually we'll have kids and need to stow them in the back easier. Plus, if we get the cars now, then they'll be paid off while we have two incomes coming in ... I'm not planning on working when we start having kids ... preferably after I get out of the Navy in about 4 or 5 years.
I started working a day job this week. It's going to be so nice to have "normal" hours, and I'll have the same time off that my husband does, which is definitely the best part. We're planning on starting to go to church regularly now, since I won't have to work on Sundays, and we'll probably make going to the beach a semi-regular weekend routine. We went to a beach lagoon in Ko'olina with Dave McLaughlin and Eric Schwarze last weekend (an extremely beautiful resort not too far from where we live) and had a really good time. It's probably one of the best locations to see a beautiful beach in Oahu, since it's not near Waikiki and so there aren't nearly as many people.
The above photo is Copyright 2006 Nicole Young. Please visit iStockPhoto.com for purchase information.
I just got my film scanner in the mail a few days ago, and it is sooo nice! I'm very pleased with it so far. It's very odd scanning through old negatives ... I usually only remember the few "good" photos, and never remember the ones that got tossed aside, so looking through them all is going to be very nostalgic. It takes about five minutes to scan a strip of 4-5 negatives though, so I've got a lot of catching up to do. (The photo above was taken in 1997.)
