Remote Control Helicopter

A buddy of mine at work acquired a tiny, remote controlled helicopter

also

I have been having a great time with iMovie lately. Here is some footage of an atypical morning commute, as well as a congratulations to my buddy Skip who, just yesterday, became the proud father of twin boys

Welcome home Taggart!!!!

This will be a common scene....
Originally uploaded by Liz sorensen.

Taggart comes home to the xbox 360

A Good Beginning

I can't remember the last time i took a photo that i saw; a photo pulled out of my head rather than sucked out of the world in front of me. Regardless, here is the first one in a long time. It didn't come immediately, but it did come. I pulled the lights out of the garage and dragged it to the backyard intending to make sure they still worked by taking a few shots of adolfo in back (which i did). The bag was covered with dust and discarded spider webs. I was embarassed of myself for having let such valuable equipment sit for so long. It's still out, set up and surrounding my desk.

It was windy as if it were spring so the lights kept tilting and spinning around until i placed a log on the stands for stability (mental note: sandbags). I took a few shots of adolfo and came back inside. Digital photography is still very much an exposure challenge. It was nice to flex my exposure muscle balancing sunlight and strobe and otherwise (as in this shot with the ambient light much darker than it acutally was - the shot was taken at around 2:30 or 3.)

I'm interested to hear what you guys think. I've already gotten some pretty strong critiques from Pablo and Adolph.

On a related note: Taggart: Could you send me epson printing-related links that would be nice. As well as some digital photography resources (RAW workflow, etc...), please. I've fallen somewhat behind.

Happy Birthday to My Most Beautiful Wife

carolina, pre-adolfo iv
Originally uploaded by killy.

Happy Birthday Carol!

Attention Adolph, et al.

Capitol Of Punk

my l'il nephew

IMG_0650.JPG
Originally uploaded by tcserpa.

my nephew is cuter than all y'all's nephews.

no contest.

i'll tell you what's astounding

after having moved in Houston about 3 times then to Sugarland and back to Houston and yet again in Houston to our little home
i found my wedding ring
yessirree
my long lost wedding ring is found again!
woo hoo
and just in time for our 5th wedding anniversary...
does anyone remember what gift that's supposed to be?
whatever it is, in our house it's a camera and a blanket
woo hoo!

This is pretty astounding

The day he arrived in Baghdad, he met with Thomas C. Foley, the CPA official in charge of privatizing state-owned enterprises. (Foley, a major Republican Party donor, went to Harvard Business School with President Bush.) Hallen was shocked to learn that Foley wanted him to take charge of reopening the stock exchange.

“Are you sure?” Hallen said to Foley. “I don’t have a finance background.”

Ties to GOP Trumped Know-How Among Staff Sent to Rebuild Iraq

Who want to go to MIAMI?

Thats right, I have to go to MIami for work.
Sept 24- 27.

Who wants to be tubbs?

Pig Roast 2006

Yesterday I went down to Mark Warner’s farm near Fredericksburg to attend his “almost annual” Pig Roast. Joining me there were about 5000 other people.

The farm is really beautiful. I did not get a chance to explore the whole place, but I did get some shots of the goats and horses and such. There were also several huge cows that looked really delicious but my normally irresisttable mooing did not attract them. I think that they must have been foreign cows.

Anyhow the dude also grows grapes on the farm and wine is produced from the grapes so I suppose the farm could also be described as a vineyard.

The most spectacular thing about the place is the river that the land overlooks. I pulled up a chair and sat and listened to the wind bothering the leaves and watched the lazy river roll by and my mind and spirit were soothed and I finally got over that traumatic experience I had back in january when I was stranded on an island with bunch of kids from england and we ate nothing but roast pig for months and months and I liked it at first but then I got sick of roast pig and swore I would never eat it again…

I ate lots of food and this encouraged me to actually socialize a bit, which I am glad for because I had been kicked out of the petting zoo for bothering the goats and there was not much else for me to do.

I had some great conversations. Most of them ended with something like “I am going to get in line for more food” or “I think that there are only 240 hot dogs left. I am going to get another one before they run out”.

Anyhow, it was a good time. I really enjoyed being out in the country. Rural Virginia is so very beautiful.

The Return of Killy

The Return of Killy
Originally uploaded by killy.

For Sara

Because Cats in Sinks holds a special place in my heart..
THIS is not as cool.

Happy Birthday Adolph and Happy Birthday Tank

yep - today is the grand man's birthday -




appropriately enough - it's also this grand machine's birthday - i can't imagine that this piece of information was the reason our best bud ended up being a tank gunner - i am more inclined to believe Star Wars had something to do with that.



In any case

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG GUY!
we all love you!

Good News Everyone!

Images will now (in most modern browsers) resize themselves automagically! Moreover, all floats should be cleared, so you don't need any clear: both nonsense.

IN MY MEETING TODAY

so I sit in a lot of meetings,
I have also been using this fun new pen, uniball.
The ink is not waterproof.
I happened to spill a bit of coffee.
my finger becomes a brush.
all of a sudden I can't wait for my next meeting.

www.itstherub.com

Follow this link to the joy that the internets bring

http://www.itstherub.com/mp3s.htm

here are some of teh gems

TI – Ride With Me High

Twista vs. Mylo – Overnight Pressure

Purple Ribbon Allstars vs Broken Social Scene

Jay-Z & Memphis Bleek – Hey Papi vs A-Ha – Take On Me (DJ Crooked remix)

Busta vs. Fatboy Slim – Put Your Weapons (Tobas Remix)

Bobby Creek vs Gorillaz – Bobby Creek (DJ Soul remix)

zyxw....eeeeerrrrrrr

So last night after having dinner in downtown Princeton I was pulled over.
Apparently u-turns are not allowed in all of New Jersey. How weird is that.
I admit I had two glasses of wine. However compound that and the fact that
I have not been pulled over in ten years and things begin to get a little dicey.
So I rolled down the window. He asked if I knew why I was pulled over.
U-turn.
"Have you had anything to drink this evening?"

"Yes sir, two glasses of wine"

"Nothing wrong with that. So I am going to ask you to do something for me.
Listen to my directions first then commence."

"Yes, sir."

"Say the alphabet starting with the letter E to the letter Z."

I did it twice leaving out the letter Q both times. (uuuugghhhh)

"Can you step out of the car."

"Yes, sir."

"Take eight steps one foot in front of the other while counting them out. Stop turn around
and walk back another eight steps while counting them out."

No Problems there.

Face me and hold a foot, right or left, six inches off the ground, count aloud ONE ONE THOUSAND, TWO ONE THOUSAND,
etc. while looking at your foot till I say stop.

I counted to 8 lost count and started over again while never looking away from my foot and counted again to thirty.

We talked a little bit about Texas and Houston, why I was in town and why I was so nervous.
We departed from our little traffic stop on good terms.


I think I can relate to the mormon dude and his revealing carotid artery.

Just the right size!

Just the right size!, originally uploaded by CarolinaDivina.

A perfect shower for Paola Isabel Chavez. I was happily surprised and flattered that so many friends took time on a Saturday evening to play poker, drink sangria and enjoy the goodies with a pregnant me. Paola got LOTS of presents, including the pink stroller and car seat set and some precious handmade goodies too that will become heirlooms for her. The girls took me dancing afterwards - what a nice treat. AND my hair looked GREAT (if I do say so myself). I had so much fun and was very tired the next day because of it. But I know the many hostesses (Krista, Claire, Anabel, Melissa) were probably more so because they did all the hard work. Thanks girls!
Thanks everyone for helping make ready Paola's room with all the gifts. She will have a wonderful and well loved room to come home to.
I am so blessed to have so many people in my life who are so wonderful and generous and selfless.
Thanks everyone for the wonderful party.

Trip to NYC

I went to NYC for the first time in my life this saturday. I met up with the holly b who was there on a shoot. I spent most of the day at the Met and down south where I stumbled upon the Soho Art Parade. Later, I went out to dinner with Holly and her crew and then we went out for drinks and then I had too much to drink.

here is some footage

amazing

watch this amazing video of a thousand things

Chinese with Ishaq

Chinese with Ishaq
Originally uploaded by TaggartCojanSorensen.

Had lunch in NYC with Ishaq this afternoon.
We lived in the same city for who knows how long and we never
saw each other. I need to be more diligent about keeping in
touch.

Philadelphia

I went to Philadelphia for the first time over Labor Day weekend. It was a fantastic trip. I felt like I had gone to another country or something…

My buddies Trei, Michael and I left early Saturday morning. We took the metro up to Union Station in D.C and caught the early train to Philly. It is only a two hour trip. We passed the time geeking out about work stuff.

Once in Philly we caught a regional train downtown and checked into our hotel. We booked a place that was smack in the middle of town. From this base of operations we able to head up and down and all-around…

We did the tourist thing mostly, seeing some fancy sculptures at the Rodin Museum and eating tasty diner food at the open 24 hours and delicous Metropolitan III diner and cocktail lounge. We also visited and ate good eats in the nation’s third-largest Chinatown and, of course, we checked out the Liberty Bell.

Checking out the Liberty Bell was kinda strange because they have installed all sorts of security around it. To get into the sterile cant-touch-the-relic room you first have to remove your belt and go through an x-ray machine…

The town is walkable and full of bikes. The weather was perfect and so the many squares were full of folks lounging and such. It is definitely a place where you can just “show up” without a plan (as we did) and just walk around discovering things. One of our favorite discoveries was the Famous Fourth Street Delicatessen. We stumbled upon this place while walking around the record-store rich South Street area. The food was tasty-delicious and the portions were overwhelming. I probably lost a couple years of life eating the pastrami and eggs, but it was worth it…

Anyhow, the trip culiminated with a baseball game. On Labor Day we caught the Phillies versus the Astros. It turned out to be a perfect day for a game; and since the Phillies are in a wild-card hunt, the whole city turned out. We got to witness 10 innings of crowd driven, people jumping up and down for it baseball.

Also, the hot-dogs were only 1 dollar. Dollar dogs! I ate 3. I wish I could have eaten more!

Anyhow, here is a clip

Now I've heard of squirrel on a sled....

But squirrel on a cycle?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14684662/

(someone please teach me HTML!)

Thank You

Thank you to everyone who had time to help out my beautiful husband so that he didn't kill himself this weekend finishing up Paola's room.
We couldn't have done it without you.
The room looks wonderful and tonight we will put the furniture together for it.
You guys are great!

Texas Visit

Hi Everyone,

The Fredas are coming to town Sept. 13-20. We'll be in the Austin area most of the time, but we are coming to stay a night with Carol and Killy in Houston. Hope we can get together with some of you -- Anthony has been listening to live feed of Kinky Friedman and 911 conspiracy theories coming out of Austin radio stations, and he's looking forward to seeing what you guys think about all that. I'm just looking forward to relaxing in my home state with mis amigos muy simpaticos, or something like that! Send an e-mail if you're in Austin and want to plan a get-together -- otherwise, meet us at the Chavezes!! xoxo

Amber
amber@amberfreda.com

Happy Day for the Mercado and Naoroz familys!!! Happy Day For The Mercado and Naoroz Families!!!!

My sister Susan gave birth to Christopher Lee at 2:26 p.m. yesterday. He weighed in at 8 pounds and 8 of the ounces and measured and 20 ½ inches long.

We are all so super feliz!

WORKDAY INVITE

pablo as tubernet?

so, is this charming assortment of intertubes actually the Second Life avatar of teh Pablo, or is it Ted Stevens as BoingBoing thinks?

updateoooooooooooh. now i get it.