All Narfed Up photography and words by Bryan Villarin

Photo by Brian Auer

I had an awesome time last Sunday! I got there on time, I had my ghetto business cards on hand, and I felt more comfortable with the people there.

My thoughts after this one?

• It helps to have an outgoing personality. Me? I drank a Monster on the way to the photowalk. Done.
• The more photographers present, the less anxious you feel about law enforcement. All I could do was chuckle when I saw someone with a badge. (Having read The Photographer’s Right page helped, too.)
• Next time, name tags. I hate having to ask, “What’s your name again?”
• Scout for nearby restaurants for the end of the photowalk. Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, whatever. Print ‘em out, bring the paper with you.

Participants

Photo by Trevor Carpenter, with permission

The photo doesn’t represent everyone that attended - it was just a nice group photo with most of the participants.

• Trevor Carpenter, Flickr, Zooomr, blog
• The Carpenter Princess, Zooomr
• Brian Auer, Flickr, Zooomr, blog
• Jessica Powell, Flickr
• Leigh, Picasa, blog
• Bryan Villarin, Flickr, blog
• James Corsini, Flickr, blog
• Patricia Marroquin, Flickr, personal
• Jason Toney, Flickr, blog
• Arnold, Flickr
• Camille, Flickr

Others include Ron and Norman, who we lost transitioning from Olvera Street to Union Station. (Or, maybe they ditched us. Say it ain’t so!) I wish they had their photos up on some sort of photo sharing website.

Other recaps

• Photowalking.org - Olvera Street, recap
• Leigh’s Photos - Photowalk at Olvera St and Union Station
• Blog Is A Mix Tape - My Own Private Sunshine (Jason Toney)
• Epic Edits Weblog - Photographers of the Olvera Street Photowalk

You can see all the photos from this photowalk at Flickr and Zooomr - as long as they’re tagged appropriately.

Update 2007-12-07: Added Brian Auer’s recap.

Photo by Bryan Villarin. Finch concert, The Glass House, Pomona, CA.

After a 21-month hiatus, Finch is back! They put an awesome show Friday night and I’m looking forward to their new stuff. It was definitely another event to add to my fun Thanksgiving weekend.

It’s almost 4pm. I’ve been home all day and I’ll be going to a couple places with my mom this evening - a close family friend, then my Godparents’. Of course, I’ll put whatever good photos I take on Flickr.

Anyway, for those of you who observe it, I hope you’re all having a great Thanksgiving with your families!

I borrowed a TomTom GPS unit from someone for my road trip to San Francisco a few months ago in July, and we loved it! I’m stoked because the TomTom ONE 3rd Edition Portable GPS is now selling at Amazon.com for $124.99 - and its eligible for free shipping!

I ordered one and can’t wait until it arrives.

Update 2007-11-21 1:39pm: Amazon sold out at the moment, but Target [online] has it in stock for $149.99. Still a good deal!

Update 3:11pm: J&R Music and Computer World is now selling it for $129.99, with free shipping. What’s going on with this item today?

Update 3:25pm: Okay, J&R Music and Computer World has sold out of them. Back to Target…

In a time where life moves so rapidly, I periodically need reminding that I need to do the following to regain focus: stop.

Have you done this recently?

Take out a piece of paper (or open a text editor/word processor) and answer the following:

1. Name three to five things that give you joy.
2. Name three to five things that cause you suffering.
3. How can you increase #1?
4. How can you decrease #2?
5. Where are you heading in the next 3-6 months?
6. Where are you heading in the next 12 months?
7. Where are you heading in the next 3-5 years?
8. What are the steps you need to take to move closer to these goals.

There are lots of people that float through life. I don’t want to be one of them. When you answer these types of questions, I think you’ll gain an edge over everyone else: purpose.

Prepare for bullet points.

• I’m so into photography right now, despite having a simple point-and-shoot digital camera. I’m now selling prints, taking more photos and stepping up from Paint.NET to GIMP. Oh yeah, I love the Epic Edits Photodump Flickr Group.
• I’m getting used to bass guitar. In my opinion, Phantom Scream is undergoing awesome change.
• Target sells Dunkin Donuts coffee! Actually, I’ll want to check Albertsons, CVS and Ralphs - they’re closer to me than Ralphs. (Redlands Daily Facts) My friends now see me as a coffee junkie.
• I’m still using CallWave and Jott, which are both still free at the moment.
• I’m off the GTD wagon. I haven’t given up.
• My mom and I are catching up on CSI: Miami starting from Season 1. We’re on Season 2 right now. We just love how almost every line of Lieutenant Horatio is epic. You can’t forget about the sunglasses, either!

Oh yeah…I officially have my Associates Degree!

I can’t wait until Thanksgiving, because three days after that, there’s a photowalk in Los Angeles! If you have a camera, you should come. (Check out Photowalking.org for all the details.)

Ever since updating to Spybot S&D 1.5 and immunizing my system, pages take a few seconds longer to load. I didn’t realize that it was due to Spybot S&D for at least a week. Brutal, huh?

Solution: Undo Spybot S&D immunization for Firefox. (Here’s the explanation that was too much for me to read.)

For now, SpywareBlaster will have to hold the fort down. I don’t browse questionable sites, so it’s not really a problem anyway.

Inspired by Heather Powazek Champ, I made a quick and simple page for selling prints of my photos. I’ll use the money towards getting out of debt and improving my photography equipment.