Category Archives: Steve

WPC – WEEK 364 – COLORFUL

Happy Labor Day! A day to pay tribute to the contributions and achievements of American works and the millionaires and billionaires that exploit them.

COLORFUL could prove to be a very popular theme. Despite it being a holiday today, I have a good feeling about the participation rates for COLORFUL. You’ll have to keep scrolling to find out!

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, August 29, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):

+ Suzie Brannen – 1 week
+ Becky Parmelee – 1 week
+ Jesse Howard – 2 weeks
+ Sara Lockner – 2 weeks
+ Willy McAlpine – 2 weeks
+ Brandon Kahler – 3 weeks
+ Linda Bennett – 5 weeks (2)
+ Sarah Toot – 6 weeks (2)
+ Sabas Hernandez – 8 weeks
+ Monica Jennings – 8 weeks (3)
+ Mary Green – 10 weeks (3)
+ Angie DeWaard – 11 weeks (2)
+ Dawn Krause – 15 weeks
+ Kim Barker – 21 weeks
+ Joe Duff – 22 weeks
+ Logan Kahler – 24 weeks
+ Teresa Kahler – 32 weeks (3)
+ Tamara Peterson – 32 weeks
+ Carla Stensland – 32 weeks
+ Michelle Haupt – 33 weeks
+ Micky Augustin – 34 weeks
+ Andy Sharp – 35 weeks
+ Bill Wentworth – 36 weeks
+ Cathie Morton – 40 weeks
+ Elizabeth Nordeen – 41 weeks
+ Shannon Bardole-Foley – 43 weeks
+ Kio Dettman – 46 weeks (5)

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates or streaks. You came to see the submissions and what streaks continued and what streaks flamed out:


WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - DERRICK GORSHE
Derrick Gorshe – 1 week

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - EVIE GORSHE
Evie Gorshe – 1 week

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - SARAH KARBER
Sarah Karber – 1 week

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - STEVE MARTIN
Steve Martin – 1 week

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - STEVE MARTIN
Steve Martin

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - SUZIE BRANNEN
Suzie Brannen – 2 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - JESSE HOWARD
Jesse Howard – 3 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - WILLY MCALPINE
Willy McAlpine – 3 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - BRANDON KAHLER
Brandon Kahler – 4 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - LINDA BENNETT
Linda Bennett – 6 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - LINDA BENNETT
Linda Bennett

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - LINDA BENNETT
Linda Bennett

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - SARAH TOOT
Sarah Toot – 7 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - SARAH TOOT
Sarah Toot

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - SABAS HERNANDEZ
Sabas Hernandez – 9 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - MONICA JENNINGS
Monica Jennings – 9 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - MARY GREEN
Mary Green – 11 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - ANGIE DEWAARD
Angie DeWaard – 12 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - ANGIE DEWAARD
Angie DeWaard

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL -DAWN KRAUSE
Dawn Krause – 16 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL -DAWN KRAUSE
Dawn Krause

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - KIM BARKER
Kim Barker – 22 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - KIM BARKER
Kim Barker

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - JOE DUFF
Joe Duff – 23 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - LOGAN KAHLER
Logan Kahler – 25 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - LOGAN KAHLER
Logan Kahler

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - TERESA KAHLER
Teresa Kahler – 33 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - TAMARA PETERSON
Tamara Peterson – 33 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - CARLA STENSLAND
Carla Stensland – 33 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - CARLA STENSLAND
Carla Stensland

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - MICHELLE HAUPT
Michelle Haupt 34 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - MICKY AUGUSTIN
Micky Augustin – 35 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - MICKY AUGUSTIN
Micky Augustin

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - ANDY SHARP
Andy Sharp – 36 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - ANDY SHARP
Andy Sharp

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - BILL WENTWORTH
Bill Wentworth – 37 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - BILL WENTWORTH
Bill Wentworth

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - CATHIE MORTON
Cathie Morton – 41 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - ELIZABETH NORDEEN
Elizabeth Nordeen – 42 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - ELIZABETH NORDEEN
Elizabeth Nordeen

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - SHANNON BARDOLE-FOLEY
Shannon Bardole-Foley – 44 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL -  KIO DETTMAN
Kio Dettman – 47 weeks

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL -  KIO DETTMAN
Kio Dettman

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL -  KIO DETTMAN
Kio Dettman

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL -  KIO DETTMAN
Kio Dettman

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL -  KIO DETTMAN
Kio Dettman

WEEK 364 - COLORFUL - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett – 468 weeks

30 participants this week! That is a great week! Hopefully we can start averaging 30 participants for a bit!

This is just guess work, but I believe we got submissions from Pennsylvania, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska and California this week. It is possible that people travelled away from their homes and I just don’t know it. My picture was taken about 15 miles from my front door.

Got the first every submission from Steve Martin! That is exciting! Plus Sarah Karber and Derrick and Evie both submitted for the first time in a bit!

It wasn’t all good news though. Becky couldn’t extend her streak to two weeks and Sara Lockner’s 2 week streak is history as well.

But enough dwelling on the past. Time to look to the future. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future! This week’s theme:


WEEK 365 - GREEN
GREEN

GREEN! What a great theme for Year 9 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a GREEN image? Are you seriously asking that question? It is an image of something that is GREEN or GREEN plays a major part of the composition. There are at least a few pictures here that would also have been great submissions for GREEN. Sarah Karber’s and Monica’s come to mind.

Of course there is more than one definition of the word GREEN. Just find a Dave Matthews fan. They will help you out. (For the record marijuana should be legalized and taxed. And so should churches. Be taxed that is.)

While considering possible subjects for your GREEN image, meditate on the following quote and I have no doubt something great will come to you.

An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight… the truly wise person is colorblind.
-Albert Schweitzer

I look forward to seeing your interpretation.

RULES

The picture has to be taken between 12:01 PM today and 11 AM next Monday. This isn’t a curate your photos project. This is a get your butt off the couch (unless you are taking your picture from the couch) and take pictures challenge.

You can send your images to either bennett@photography139.com OR you may text them to my Pixel 5.

That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will all be sharing your idea of GREEN in this place that is many types of green to me, just not the environmentalist type of green next Monday.

2009-05-29

There are a wide variety of pictures in the folder 2009-05-29. They range from pictures of socks that Shannon made to Ernie trimming trees to baby worst birds to invites to my housewarming party to pictures Sara took at my housewarming party.


Baby Grackles

Baby Grackles

Shannon Socks

Shannon Socks

Cherries

Lift

Lift

Lift

Lift

Lift

Lift

Lift

2009 Birthday/Housewarming Party Invitation

2009 Birthday/Housewarming Party Invitation

2009 Birthday/Housewarming Party Invitation

2009 Birthday/Housewarming Party Invitation

2009 Birthday/Housewarming Party Invitation

2009 Birthday/Housewarming Party Invitation

2009 Birthday/Housewarming Party Invitation

2009 Birthday/Housewarming Party Invitation

The guy in the picture with me and Jesse was my neighbor across the street from me. He would sometimes drop by at all hours of the night. He was a good guy, but his struggles overcame him and he passed away a couple years after this picture was taken.

However, looking at these pictures, it does inspire me to bring back the birthday party in 2020. I’m about 95% sure that I will.

By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:

The Fruit of the Mystery Trees
Mr. Bunyan
Memorial Day Backyard
Shindy
Housewarming Invites

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve flowers.

09-21-08

The images in the folder 09-21-08 run the gamut.

There are pictures from Steve’s garden, pictures of my Aunt Linda, pictures of Brandon from his Senior Pictures Photo Shoot, and a picture of the table that became my kitchen table, eventually.


09-21-08

09-21-08

09-21-08

09-21-08

09-21-08

09-21-08

09-21-08

09-21-08

09-21-08

09-21-08

Majors Family Reunion - 2008

Majors Family Reunion - 2008

Majors Family Reunion - 2008

Frog

Frog

Frog

Frog

Frog

Frog

The group pictures are from a Majors Family Reunion. Those don’t happen any longer. Although I can’t say that I particularly enjoyed going to them, I can say that I am kind of sad that they are gone. I guess I am part of the problem.

By adding these images to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to add the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:

Dear, Beloved, Precious

Senior Pictures

Majors Family Reunion

Next weekends walk down memory lane will involve Little White Lye Soap and it will also involve Alexis.

Organized Lightning

Way back in August I was invited out to the Junck farm to play with his drone. That was the moment I officially got drone fever.

I played with the drone for at least 45 minutes. I would share some pictures from that experience, but I have yet to see them. That is how the drone crashes.

Steve was in town helping his parents with an electric car tour. The tour culminated with a car show at the Junck farm.

Here are some pictures from that event:


Junck Electric Car Show

Junck Electric Car Show

Junck Electric Car Show

Junck Electric Car Show

Junck Electric Car Show

Junck Electric Car Show

Junck Electric Car Show

Junck Electric Car Show

Junck Electric Car Show

Junck Electric Car Show

Junck Electric Car Show

Junck Electric Car Show

Junck Electric Car Show

Junck Electric Car Show

Junck Electric Car Show

Junck Electric Car Show

Junck Electric Car Show

Junck Electric Car Show

Junck Electric Car Show

Junck Electric Car Show

Junck Electric Car Show

Speaking of Drone Fever, here is where I currently stand on the goals I need to accomplish to pulling the trigger on that drone:

1. Pay off car.
2. Bank fraud refund.
3. New rear brakes.
4. Big 12 Championship Game Trip
5. Remaining Self-Directed Training Budget – $355.20
6. 2019 Calendars
7. Iowa State Bowl Trip
8. Subscribe to Des Moines Register
9. Hope to not get screwed over by the GOP Tax Scam.
10. DJI Mavic Pro 2
11. Sony RX0
12. Sony Alpah a7II

The Birthday Party of Fate (Roundup)

I’ve thanked all these people in person, but I’d like to publicly thank everybody that helped out in some either small or big way with my birthday party on Saturday.

Big shout out to Scott for making tons of delicious mouth watering chicken and jalapeno cream corn. I only wish I would have had time to help do more than just brine the chicken. If I am so inclined to do this again next year and you are so inclined to help with the food next year, I will have to schedule this so I can be more hands on with the process. I may have been The Master, but Scott was undeniably the Smoker Master. I just can’t overstate how amazing the chicken was people.

Much love to Scott’s (better-other-less high maintenance) half for making the Pick and Pluck. If I would’ve thought of it, I would’ve bought several gallons of ice cold chocolate milk to knock down while setting up shop on that thing.

Thanks to Logan and Corinna for holding down the grill and making an assortment of hot dogs and sausages to compliment the mouth watering chicken. I don’t really have any photos of the event, perhaps next year I can talk him/them into doing some candid photography for the party.

I’m always able to count on Dae Hee when I need some assistance. He came over and helped put up the canopies for the outdoor dining area, the tent for an additional child area, moved all the chairs from the basement to the outdoors, and watched 2 hours of GAME OF THRONES. A pretty solid effort!

Thanks to Jason for loaning me his Cornhole set.

Thanks to Shannon for loaning me her canopies, although I’m still unclear where one gets tailgating tents that don’t have Iowa State colors. Or why a person would even want such a thing.

Thanks to Jesse for laminating the beverage identification signs.

Thanks to Teresa for helping out in various tasks before the party started.

Thanks to my Mom for making a copious amount of side dishes and desserts. Nobody went home hungry. That is for sure.

Finally, thanks to everybody that took time out of their lives to come visit me:


Teresa
Brandon
Logan & Corinna
Aunt Linda
Kio
Steph, Katie, Jeff, & Yin
Carla, Jason, Alexis, and Johnathan
Mom
Scott, Melissa, Austin, and Porter
Steve
Dawn, Kevin, Scott, and Kayelee
Jen, Derrick, Evie, and Layla
Sara, Shawn, and Gretchen
Jesse, Kelly, Kalista, Saydie, and Taylan
Willy
Dan and Angie
Suzie
Monica and Jeff
Bethany, Dae Hee, and Nora
Jason, Will, Ben, and Nader
Andree
Anders & Nicholas
Shannon and Jason
Geri
Michelle, Craig, and Lily
Kim and Kevin

A special thanks to Dae Hee, Bethany, and Nora who came from Minnesota. Aunt Linda who came from Kansas. Stephanie who came all the way from Brooklyn. I guess I’m morally obligated to visit her in October now. Right?

Since I think that this party was a success on some level, I am tentatively planning on doing it again next year. Tentatively thinking about some time on Memorial Day Weekend next year. We’ll see how the cookie crumbles.

Now to the less than stellar news…

The Photo Booth was a success, but far from perfect. It turns out that the photo booth program I used has a painful little quirk. If the “Finish” button wasn’t pushed at the conclusion of the photo session, the program timed out and didn’t save the photo strip! The good news is that it did save the original images. The bad news is that there will be a night in my future where I’ll be piecing together photo strips from saved images. Yeah me!

For that reason, I did load up all the images into the party gallery. Not just the “finished” photo strips.

To see those images, click on the link below… (You can also download them by clicking on the down arrow icon.)

MANOS & PHOTOBOOTH IMAGES

However, thought I would share a few of them here as well:


But the good news is that I now have a thousand different ways to improve the photo booth for next year. Tentatively.

365 Day Photo Project: 141-147

Getting through the holidays and getting caught up on some photo editing. I apologize for the delay. I know it weighed heavily on you.



Day 141 – Candy Canes


Day 142 – Holiday Sparkle


Day 143 – Something Beginning with S


Day 144 – Weather


Day 145 – Tree


Day 146 – Decoration


Day 147 – Joy is…

Themes for next week:

Day 148 – Naughty or Nice?
Day 149 – Shining in the Night
Day 150 – On the Street
Day 151 – How You Relax
Day 152 – Cold
Day 153 – Hot
Day 154 – With Color

A Small, Intimate Gathering

I had my, what could theoretically become, annual Birthday Barbecue on Saturday.  I would like to thank all of the people that attended and made the evening special:

  • Bardole, Shannon
  • Bennett, Charlotte
  • Cousin, Amy
  • Daniel, Jeffrey
  • Degeneffe, Austin
  • Degeneffe, Melissa
  • Degeneffe, Scott
  • Dill, Colby
  • Dill, Dan
  • Dill, DJ
  • Gorshe, Derrick
  • Gorshe, Jen
  • Henning, Monica
  • Howard, Jesse
  • Howard, Kalista
  • Howard, Kelly
  • Howard, Saydie
  • Howard, Taylan
  • Hugen, Todd
  • Janson, Jay
  • Jauhari, Andree
  • Jenson, Terra
  • Johnstone, Jack
  • Johnstone, Jason
  • Junck, Sara
  • Kahler, Logan
  • Kahler, Russ
  • Kewer, Jeff
  • Krause, Dawn
  • McAlpine, Willy
  • Nitchals, Peggy
  • Parsaei, Nader
  • Perkovich, Becky
  • Roberts, Lori
  • Roberts, Steve
  • Runestad, Anders
  • Stensland, Carla
  • Stensland, Johnathan
  • Wever, Ada
  • Wever, Amanda
  • Wever, Greg
  • Yin, Amy

Next year, I will move the barbecue back to its traditional spot of the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.  Feel free to circle the date May 28 on your 2011 calendar that you have yet to purchase. It will perhaps be an even smaller and more intimate gathering.  I might start instituting a survivor type invitation policy similar to the fashion of invites that Jay uses for Symposium.

Special thanks need to be extended to the following people:

Sara for taking the pictures for the invitations.

Sara for providing the s’mores goodies.

Jay for making three desserts: chocolate raspberry cookies, key lime bars and apple crisp.

Steve for providing homemade salsa and chips.

Becky for making a pasta salad.

Scott and Melissa for bringing a banana creme pie.

Shannon for baking a fresh rhubarb pie with rhubarb picked from my personal rhubarb patch.

Johnathan for bringing over cornhole.

Logan and Russ for running the grill.

Mom for baking a cake and creating a watermelon fruit thing.

Derrick for being the fire-starter.

Andree for being the best dressed person at the party.

Shannon for opening the party.

Willy for closing the party.

There isn’t any photographic evidence to support that this party existed. I was too busy to touch a camera and Sara didn’t take any pictures this year. Maybe next year I will add “Party Photographer” to the list of Staff positions for this shindig.

If you wish to be hired for this position (no pay, no benefits, possibly a STAFF t-shirt*) simply send the answer to the following question to bennett@photography139.com:

Why would I make an awesome Party Photographer?

I suppose I should start planning Friendsmas now. It can wait a couple of months.

*That is not a joke. There will be staff t-shirts next year.

Punch Myself in the Face

I had decided to shave all the way down to a dirty naked face last weekend. It had been over 3 years since my chin had tasted air and felt the rays of sunlight. My chin was dreadfully dry and desperately in the need of some moisturizing. Lots and lots of moisturizing.

For some reason, I allowed myself to be sold by Jesse on shaving down to just a moustache for one glorious day. Despite my better judgment, I did it.

On Thursday night I spent close to an hour in the bathroom slowly trimming my beautiful goat down to a dirty stache. When I had completed my task, I had to make a conscious effort to stop myself from punching my reflection. I hated that dirty stache.

Although I had stayed up well past my normal bedtime to complete this mission from the devil, I couldn’t sleep at all. I knew that I had violated the natural order of things.

I showed up for work the following day and tried to avoid everybody. Well, I did stop to see Micky. He deserved to see the stache since he has been a rock for me in the Busted Furnace Support Group that we have with Vest every few days.

Jesse showed up at work about an hour after I did. He was still sporting a splendid goat. I felt that I had been had, but he showed me his clippers. He went to the restroom and came back looking like the same type of doucher that I looked like.


Punch Myself in the Face

Punch Myself in the Face

After taking those pictures of Jesse looking so wretched. I allowed myself to be photographed in this horrible state.


Punch Myself in the Face

As I was posing for this picture, the World’s Greatest UPS Man came in with his daily delivery. He seemed to enjoy how wretched I looked.


Punch Myself in the Face

Then Jesse and I posed for a picture.

I have known Jesse since I moved from unannexed Boone to Urban Boone and enrolled in Mrs. Ford’s 2nd Grade Class. Over the years we have posed for many a photo together. But I have not a doubt in my mind that this is the worst picture of us ever.


Punch Myself in the Face

That night Jesse and I went to Trivia Night for FNSC. We had 3 missions.

The first mission was to drink as much sweet tea out of mason jars as was humanly possible. Check and double checked.

The second mission was to pilot Team Stache from the complete and utter futility that has been its history all the way to mediocrity. Check and double checked. Team Stache (I’m not sure what they were known as before FNSC showed up and revolutionized the game) had never finished above 3rd to last. We piloted the team all the way to respectability. We finished almost exactly in the middle of the pack of 24 teams. Although we would have surely finished higher if the Sports category would have included sports questions. The Winter Olympics and NASCAR are not sports. Although I’m pretty sure that the judges would have given us points for picking Brewster Baker as the answer for the question about the winner of the 2010 Daytona Left Turnathon. But we were overruled.

Mission 3 was to be the table that had the most fun. Check, double checked and triple checked. I knew every member of Team Stache (Jay, Willy, Geri D., Shannon and Jesse) very well with the exception of Papa Smurf and his wife. At the end of the night I wasn’t sure if Mr. and Mrs. Papa Smurf loved or loathed us. They seemed to run hot and cold on us and certainly weren’t fans of our lengthy discussion of how great Kenny Rogers was in Six Pack. However, Mrs. Papa Smurf called Geri D. on the following day to tell her one and only one thing – She had never had so much fun at Trivia Night and it was all because FNSC is the bee’s knees! She wanted to make sure that we would be returning to Trivia Night in 3 months. I think FNSC might just make a return, but the moustaches won’t. I’m kind of thinking that our team theme on that night will be “lumberjacks”. A little tribute to my boy Steve Roberts.

After our team huddled up and put all of our hands in and shouted “Mediocrity!!!” I tried to convince Jay to come over in the morning to take a couple of photos of the stache before it was clipped from my face and washed down my sink into the dark, dank drain of history.

Jay insisted on taking the pictures that night because he couldn’t stand to know that this moustache was even in existence.

Jay came over and took some pictures of the porn alter ego that Micky wanted me to create with the moustache. He even named such a character “Hammer”.

Here are a few publicity stills for a movie that will never exist starring “Hammer”.


Punch Myself in the Face
“Did you call a repair guy?”
Punch Myself in the Face
“Mrs. Robinson, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with this water heater…”
Punch Myself in the Face
“It is kind of hot in here. Do you mind if I take off my shirt?”

Although I think most people were just being kind, the reviews on the moustache were mixed. Mixed between people who were honest and people who were struggling to come up with something that didn’t sound cruel.

4 women from work commented that it looked “good”.
Andree said, “Are you hosting a Do-It-Yourself show on channel 11 tonight? You look exactly like Al from that Home Improvement show.”
Jen said, “I’m totally laughing out loud!” I will point out that she actually typed out “laughing out loud” as opposed to “lol”. These mean two totally different things. Jen also admitted on Sunday that she had shown a stache picture to Dionne from work. Her response was perhaps the most honest. “He needs to shave that immediately.”
Shannon said, “The soul patch makes the stache work.” I still don’t know what she means by make it work. As near as I can tell it doesn’t work at all.
When I sent the picture to Jill, I warned her that it would make her want to punch me in the face. Her response. “U don’t deserve a punch in the face! It’s not bad, especially considering NO ONE should have a moustache long term in the 21st century.” Jill must be a pacifist because I definitely deserved a punch in the face for looking like that!

Although Jesse will be celebrating Moustache Day again next year, I will be passing. I don’t think I have the discipline to make it through the day without hurting myself and that wretched upper lip hair.