April 12 of 12

Well, April 12 came up on me quickly. My morning was pretty boring so I decided to show you my afternoon and evening. I must preface this entry with the fact that I am not a redneck or a huge Nascar fan. But I was offered a free ticket to the race today and didn't have anything else planned so I thought, why not, it could be interesting. Even if the race is boring, I can go and make fun of the rednecks!!! So here's this month's installment of the 12 of 12. Thanks to Chad Darnell, the brainchild of this great idea. Head over to Chad's website to see what everyone else was doing today.

4:15 pm Phoenix, Arizona - The park and ride lot. Only at a Nascar race will you find someone who drove his/her big rig to the race.

4:20 pm Phoenix, Arizona - We were getting ready to get on the shuttle to go to the race track when some of these very kind strangers offered us some free beer. Apparently, you can't take large or hard side coolers to the race, so they had to get rid of all their beer before they left. We happily obliged in helping them out.

5:00 pm Phoenix, Arizona - Here we are at the race, the Subway Fresh Fit 500.

5:10 pm Phoenix, Arizona - One of the pre-race festivities, Army Rangers parachuting out of the sky.

5:10 pm Phoenix, Arizona - An up close shot of a parachuter.

5:15 pm Phoenix, Arizona - The race track. We had pretty good seats, and I can't complain since they were free tickets.

5:20 pm Phoenix, Arizona - Another pre-race surprise, a fly over by some Army helicopters.

5:25 pm Phoenix, Arizona - One of the race cars before the start of the race. This is Kasey Kahne's car. He finished 36th.

5:35 pm Phoenix, Arizona - The Goodyear blimb watching the race from above.

5:50 pm Phoenix, Arizona - One of the pace laps before the race started. #48 is Jimmie Johnsons' car who won the race.

5:50 pm Phoenix, Arizona - My $7 can of beer. At least it was 16 ounces, instead of the usual 12 ounces.

5:55 pm Phoenix, Arizona - And they're off!!! It was definitely an interesting afternoon and evening. We stuck around until just after the first major crash, then left. But still, all in all, a good day. Till next month...

March 12 of 12

Spring is one of my favorite times of the year. Not too hot and there can be lots of flowers, even in Arizona. So here we are ready for the March installment 12 of 12. I took today off and ran a whole lot of errands. I originally thought I would just take pictures of all the stores I went to (boring). Instead, I found lots of flowers everywhere so that's what I took pictures of today. I have no idea what any of the flowers are and I haven't had enough time to do research so all I was able to do today was put up the time and place where they were taken.

Thanks to Chad Darnell, the brainchild of the 12 of 12 idea. Head over to Chad's website to see what everyone else was up to today. Here it goes...

11:50 am - Mesa, AZ

Noon - Mesa, AZ

Noon - Mesa, AZ

Noon - Mesa, AZ

12:40 pm - Chandler, AZ

12:40 pm - Chandler, AZ

12:40 pm - Chandler, AZ

12:50 pm - Chandler, AZ

12:50 pm - Chandler, AZ

3:15 pm - Chandler, AZ

3:15 pm - Chandler, AZ

3:15 pm - Chandler, AZ

February 12 of 12

So here it is again, the 12th day of the month, and once again I woke up in a strange bed (ok, I know what you're thinking so get your mind out of the gutter). I'm traveling again for work, this time to Albuquerque. Unfortunately, I didn't have much excitement today, but this is one of my typical ordinary days. Thanks to Chad for coming up with the 12 of 12 idea. Head over to his website to see what everyone else was up to today.

9:30 am Rio Rancho - It was really, really windy today. One of those days that your car door tries to slam shut when you open it.


9:30 am Rio Rancho - My first stop of the day, the Rio Rancho Police Department to run a criminal check on a subject of an investigation.


10:00 am Rio Rancho - As I was driving to my next stop, I thought this was kinda neat. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's a lot of flat land, and then a mountain. (Which I think may be Taos).


12:30 pm Rio Rancho - A stop for a jamaican jerk chicken wrap and a smoothie for lunch, yum!


1:40 pm Rio Rancho - I think this is part of the Sandia Mountains. They have a tram that goes up to the top but I never have time to go on it.


1:40 pm Rio Rancho - Sandia Mountains again


3:00 pm - I had about an hour and a half to kill before I had to be anywhere else so I went to Starbucks to do some school work.


5:30 pm Rio Rancho - Sitting in traffic looking for somewhere to get some dinner.


5:35 pm Rio Rancho - Still sitting in traffic and bored. I thought the clouds and contrails looked neat.


5:45 pm Rio Rancho - Sandia Mountains again, but in a different light.


6:00 pm Rio Rancho - Doing some school work while waiting for dinner.


6:15 pm - Dinner, Key West grilled shrimp and broccoli. I got some strange looks when I took a picture, but the looks were better than the ones I get when people see me eating dinner alone and feel bad for me. Only I know that I'm not choosing to eat alone, I don't have a choice when I'm traveling!

So there it is. One of my very typical, not very interesting days. See you next month!

January 12 of 12

So, the start of a new year. I don't think I can top last month's installment of 12 of 12. But at the last minute a few friends asked me if I wanted to go shooting with them, so I thought, why not? It would be fun and probably make for some interesting pictures for the day. We spent several hours out in the desert shooting a variety of rifles. Head over to Chad's site to check out what everyone else did today.

11:00 am - We set up targets about 75 yards away.


11:00 am - Clay pigeons

11:15 am - Shooting the 22, the first rifle I've ever shot. Not too heavy and not too much recoil. It was a bolt action so we had to load each round individually.


11:30 am - Yikes, the ammo for the next rifle we shot. A bit bigger than the last one.


11:35 am - Shooting the 1903 Springfield rifle. It had an incredible kickback. The first time I shot it, it wasn't positioned correctly on my shoulder and now I have a massive bone bruise on my collarbone. Another bolt action rifle.


12:05 pm - One of the targets. Most of my shots are on the right. They weren't in the middle of the target but they were all together in the same vicinity. I was told that it was good because if the sight had been zeroed for me, then they would have been all in the black part of the target.



12:10 pm - Getting a bit of coaching from one of the guys.



12:25 pm - The three other guys who went out. One had never shot anything before and the other two are gun collectors.



12:45 pm - This is the M1 Carbine (I think) with the bayonet attached. The recoil was much less than the last one so it was easier to shoot. This was a semi-automatic.


1:15 pm - I think this is an M1 Garand. I could be wrong but we didn't shoot this one. I just wanted a picture because it was HUGE and really heavy (and very intimidating). Another semi-automatic.



2:00 pm - My favorite shot of the day, the AR15. It is the civilian version of the M16. The only real difference is that this one is only semi-automatic, not fully automatic. The guys were trying to get me to look mean for the picture but they just kept making me laugh, so it didn't work.

So, there was my day. I had never shot rifles before but I can say that I'm hooked. It was a lot of fun and great stress relief.

December 12 of 12

Here's the installment, December 12 of 12. Head over to Chad Darnell's website to check out what everyone else was up to today. I was in Las Vegas for work today (again). Normally I stay far, far, far away from the strip but for interests sake, I decided to take a walk tonight to see if I could come up with some good pictures. So here is Christmas time a la Las Vegas.

7:30 pm - Las Vegas. The Bellagio.

7:35 pm - Las Vegas. The fountains of Bellagio. If you ever come to LV, make sure you catch a few of these shows. They set the fountains to music and run different ones all day.

7:35 pm - Las Vegas. The fountains of Bellagio.

7:45 pm - Las Vegas. The Conservatory at the Bellagio. They put up seasonal displays here, and they're always very impressive. Another thing to check out. The reindeer are covered in whole nuts in their shells!

7:45 pm - Las Vegas. The Conservatory at the Bellagio. This sign is made completely of pine boughs and flowers.

7:50 pm - Las Vegas. The Conservatory at the Bellagio. A BIG Christmas tree.

7:50 pm - Las Vegas. The Conservatory at the Bellagio. Massive Christmas ornaments!

7:55 pm - Las Vegas. The Conservatory at the Bellagio. Animated penguins. The one on the ladder was putting the star on the tree. Very cute.

8:00 pm - Las Vegas. This is the scene behind the registration desk at the Bellagio.

8:05 pm - Las Vegas. This is the ceiling in the hotel lobby of the Bellagio. All those flowers are made of glass.

8:20 pm - Las Vegas. The "streets of Venice". This is inside the Venetian. You can even take rides in the gondolas.

8:40 pm - Las Vegas. Wynn Casino. I was a bit disappointed with the decorations at the Wynn but I thought that this was kind of neat.

So there it is. My evening in Las Vegas.