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The Munchies, originally uploaded by jtpro1.

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Official Zoo Members

Today Oda Momma, Oda Mae and I went to the Ft. Worth Zoo. We got memberships and everything! Now we have unlimited access to the zoo for the next year. We'll get special deals on food, souvenirs, and promotional days (Boo at the Zoo). This will give us more stuff to do now. We can't wait to go again. I took a few good pictures today as well. Take a look...







I'm really enjoying learning more about photography. I'm using the manual mode on my camera finally and I'm starting to figure things out. My lesson this week is actually focusing on FILM. I had to break out the old 35mm and buy batteries and film for it this week. It'll be a couple of weeks before processing, but I'm looking forward to seeing some results.

This Saturday is the big Oda Party. We hope to see everyone there!

DV,

-OD

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Happy Odaday 2008

Today was Oda Mae's 3rd birthday!

-She woke up.
-Got a happy birthday call from Gran.
-Listened to Bear's Birthday Song.
-Had breakfast.
-Got dressed in a new yellow outfit.
-Went to the doctor for a checkup.
-Got a shot.
-Went through a car wash (inside the car of course).
-Went out for a birthday donut (chocolate with red sprinkles (see above)).
-Went to the library for storytime (Miss. Spider had a birthday today too!)
-Checked out books with our theme of the week (It was supposed to be snow, but we decided that was lame so we checked out books about birthdays and aliens!).
-Went to lunch with Oda Daddy and Aunt Sis.
-Came home for a much needed birthday nap.
-Listened to birthday greetings from GeeGee and PaPa Mike
-Colored
-Had her favorite meal for dinner (PB&J).
-Opened a couple of presents from Oda Momma and Oda Daddy.
-Watched her new Bear in the Big Blue House video.
-Bathtime with Oda Momma.
-Storytime.

So you may have noticed that indeed she got a shot today (in her leg). ....NOTE TO SELF-Do not take children to the doctor for annual checkup on their birthday.....

She actually did very well at the doctor. She didn't cry or anything. She's grown 1/2 inch and gained 2 1/2 lbs. Unfortunately, about 5 o'clock this evening her leg really started to hurt and she was limping around pretty bad. I felt pretty bad for taking her today. I had scheduled the appointment a couple of months ago and just wasn't thinking. All in all she had a pretty good day though.

We'll have the big party on Saturday morning if you want to come. It's a "Boots" theme this year which is decidedly different than the "Dora" theme last year. I'm sure we'll have fun.

Happy Birthday Oda Mae!!!!!!!

Love Daddy.

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The annual pigmentation of poultry embryos during the principal celebration of the Christian doctrine.

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1st Day of Spring

Man, were we glad to see SPRING today! To celebrate, we did what everyone does on the first day of spring. We went to see buffalo!

Oda Mae and I headed out to the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge. We packed up our backpack with the camera, snacks, and a couple bottles of water and headed out. The cost to get in was $4.00 for adults (me) and $2.00 for children 3 and older. Oda Mae doesn't turn three until next week, so SCORE! As we were driving up to the main center we passed a "herd" of buffalo. We decided to get out and take a look. I don't think Oda Mae we too impressed, but I liked them.

There were all kinds of trails to hike on and a nice little nature center right in the middle where they had some great hands on displays as well as some live animal aquariums.

We decided to take one of the easier trails down to the prairie dog town. We sat on a bench while we watched the prairie dogs and ate our snacks. Then we hiked back up to the center and took another look at the exhibits. We bought Oda Mae a sleep t-shirt for $3.00 and then headed home.

We had a good time.


Tonight after dinner, Oda Momma, Oda Mae and I all went out to one of the local parks where Oda Mae rode on the merry-go-round for about 45 minutes. I'm pretty sure she'll wake up tomorrow morning, still dizzy!


Dominus Vobiscum!

-OD

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We have a new tenant. He and his wife live outside our front door. I'll try to get a better pic.

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Spring Break

Well, it's Spring Break over here at the Oda house now. Oda Mae does not have school next week so we're gonna do lots of stuff. Today Oda Momma, Aunt Sis, Gran, and Oda Mae all went to the quilt show. I'm sure Oda Momma will put up some pics over at her blog. You may ask, "What did Oda Daddy do all day?". Well, I started on my taxes, worked on them for about three hours and then decided to go play. Now, for all that work on my taxes, I did get just almost done. I really need to hand this off to a pro next year. It's a pain trying to keep up with all of the self-employment stuff.

Afterwords, I ate lunch (left over Cincinnati Chili, MMMMmmm)I decided to go out and practice some more photography. I'm trying to finish an online assignment. After today, I'm half way done. Though the second half won't take as long. It's really frustrating sometimes to go out and try to get a certain type of photo. However, I've noticed that the more you look at things to see if they "fit" into a certain category, you get a better understanding of what will work and what will not. Hopefully, I'll keep getting better at the basics until I have them down cold.

Next week Oda Mae and I are going to go to: "All of the parks", hiking (to see buffalo, of course), the mall, the book store, the car wash, the library (for joke books)...speaking of joke books....Oda Mae has turned into quite the comedienne. I think we'll have a little "stand-up" video next week too. We'll do lots of other stuff next week as well. Hopefully the forecasted rain will go away.

DV,

OD

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The Sun Came Out

The past couple of days, the weather has been really nice. I went out yesterday and took a few pictures at the Botanic Gardens with Oda Mae after we went to the library for story time. Today I found a hiking trail near the house and set out on my first photography assignment. As it turns out everything is still pretty dead. Most of my pictures turned out "Brown - like the earth..." (inside joke). Afterwords I went to eat lunch with Oda Momma and some of her work buddies at a Lebanese Buffet. Man, talk about some good food!!!!! You have to try it. They are never busy and the price is super cheap. That's why they have to close down every couple of weeks. It's called Celaborelle, if you can find them open give it a shot.

Then I went and picked up Oda Mae from school and we went to the park and played. Afterwords, we came home took a nap and then headed out for the garden again. It was nice to shoot something with some color in it.

I've started up the AREA 365 again. You can check out the 2007 and 2008 versions as well as my photography assignments on my Flickr page. It's over there to the left as well.

DV,

-OD

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Time for a change...

Well, the audition was today. Two months preparing, neglecting the house work, barely getting dinner on the table and don't even mention the stress on Oda Momma and Oda Mae, and all I get is "Thank you."

That's how the music business is. Honestly, I played the best audition I've ever played and didn't even get to play more then two of the nearly twenty excerpts that I prepared. Hours of work in the practice room, waking up at 6am to warmup every day and the stress of knowing that it was going to be a crap shoot anyway doesn't lead itself to a very happy lifestyle.

I'm sure there were very valid reasons for being "dismissed". The audition was ananomous (screened) and everyone had the same chance to show there stuff during their 8 minute time slot. Up until today, every audition I've ever taken, I can pretty much tell you why I did or did not advance to the next round. Today, I can not. I played well. I made a promise to myself a few years ago that I would not give up taking auditions unless there came a day when I had no idea how to make things better. That day has come.

I'll still play the gigs that come my way. I have some steady work that I truly enjoy, but the idea of trying to put more time, energy, and money into more auditions isn't something I want to consider anymore. That's my rant.....

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Here's the good part. I figure if I put the same amount of time, energy and money into something that I still enjoy and that is a refreshing change of pace, I cannot help but to do well. I've been interested in photography for a very long time so I think I'll give it a go. Right now I don't really know very much, but I'm willing to learn and put myself out there for whoever wants to see. It can't be any worse or more difficult than what I've been doing. I've already started on a two year plan that will hopefully turn into something great.

See I told you that my life was going to change.... (I suppose now that I should have been a little more specific.)

DV,

-OD