Wedding Photog's Blog Photos

It's been a while since the last, full official blog post was written. But obviously things have been really great for us. We got married last month on the 16th, and left quickly for our honeymoon in Fiji for two weeks. While we have some really amazing photos from our honeymoon, our wedding photographer just put up a new blog post from our wedding. Tyra is so talented and she captured some really amazing photos from the day. You can see the blog post by clicking here, or going to http://www.tyrableek.com/. :-) Enjoy! Photos from the honeymoon to follow soon!

Dear The Relative News,

Oh - how I've negelected you over the past few months! No updates amidst all sorts of exciting life events. Wine country, agility trials, wedding shower, dog injuries, and more... For some reason, "Oh, sorry, wish I could help with the wedding invitations, but I have to post another 30 pictures of our dogs and talk about their training shortcomings" is not a viable excuse to get me out of helping with planning or really anything related to the wedding...

But alas, the light is at the end of the tunnel. Neglect will ultimately transform into over-excitement once our wedding passes and honeymoon comes to an end. The bolus of photos and stories from our new life will certainly overwhelm my browser's bandwitdth, causing multiple "Internet Explorer Not Responding" messages and, ultimately, many many "power button" reboots.

Rest assured, TRN, your time will come. You will once again, like the Pheonix, rise from the ashes of your prior form and emerge a beautiful, powerful blog once again.

Sincerely,
Greg

On this Valentine's Day

As C and I get ready for our wedding, and it being Valentine's Day and all, I decided to share this article from the Huffington Post today. As we plan, C and I look to each other to stay grounded and focused on what's truly important...

You can find the original story here.

My Worst Wedding... Was My Own

By Rachael Hollis

I've been thinking about writing this article for a while, but pride may or may not have kept me from it. You see, I'm really proud of the reputation I've built up over the last eight years as a high end, stylish wedding planner. I have been known to, on more than one occasion, look down my nose at items I deem to be tacky wedding fare... carnations, tulle, DIY invitations. And yet, the wedding I'm most embarrassed of having planned, the one I'd never put into my portfolio, is my own.

A little back-story... I got married eight years ago this May at the ripe old age of 21. Back then we didn't have a ton of money, or a ton of taste for that matter. I set about planning a wedding that was nicer than what I'd grown up with but it turns out, lacking in several key areas. We picked a gorgeous locale on a cliff overlooking the ocean but I was hesitant to spend exorbitant amounts of money on items I didn't think were crucial. I can admit to you all now, albeit sheepishly, that we had plastic folding chairs at our ceremony... can you imagine? The "upgraded" chair was in our reception and even then it was white wood folding. The reception itself had ficus trees with twinkle lights, the cake table was skirted and piled high with fabric, the bar served beer in plastic cups, and yes, there may or may not have been tulle swathing each exit. Dear Lord, I shudder to think of it now!

I often joke with my husband that if we were getting married today I would put us into financial ruin with all of my choices. I would insist on custom everything and have my favorite wedding photographer flown out from New York. The floral costs alone would rival the annual operating budget of a small island nation and the bar would be top shelf with vintage wine flowing like the Nile. But, at the end of that lavish spectacular day, we'd be exactly where we are now: married. You see, as much as I can't stand to look at décor shots from my own wedding, I still wouldn't change a single thing about it. Our friends and family couldn't tell you what chairs we had or even what "skirting" a table means. They remember our hand written vows that made total strangers stop and listen on the bluff and then end up crying with everyone else. They remember the French fries and champagne we served during cocktail hour and that everyone danced and danced until the wee hours of the morning. They remember seeing two kids in love who might not have known what "high end" was, but who were so grateful for that sunny day and the opportunity to spend the rest of their lives with each other.

I think of this now when I have an indecisive bride who's paralyzed about something simple like whether or not to serve champagne at the toast or which shade of pink is ideal. Choosing elements for your wedding day should be fun, but these choices won't make any difference in the stuff that matters. For better or worse, you'll end that day married to your partner and that's the truly exciting part. Chances are in a few years your dress choice will be out of style, and the centerpieces you thought were so modern might look outdated. But the timeless photos, the ones that will always make you grin, are those of two people in love in their Sunday best ready to take on the world together. Those pictures are always in style.

USDAA Trial in Turlock

Crystal and I took the dogs to Turlock, CA for a USDAA agility trial this past weekend. Both West and Sonoma competed, and if you're wondering, yes they do compete against each other. The concept behind many of the agility organizations is that the dog starts at level 1, then moves to 2 when a certain set of criteria is met, then on to level 3 when that same criteria is met at the second level. Once in level 3, the dog competes to get its agility champion title of that organization by accomplishing a rigorous set of criteria. So for example, in AKC, the dog starts at Novice (level 1), then moves to Open (level 2), and finally competes in Excellent (level 3). Once you're in Excellent, you work towards your Master Agility Champion (or MACH). Sonoma started her agility "career" in AKC, and has achieved an Excellent title, and is currently working towards her MACH. We had heard that USDAA trials were a bit of a younger, more competitive crowd, so when West started competing, we decided to give them a try. So even though Sonoma is in Excellent in AKC, she has to start over again in Starters (USDAA level 1), alongside West, who has no titles in any organization.

So, this weekend we competed with both dogs in Starters. There are a lot of different "games" in USDAA agility, which means about 5 runs a day for each dog. In AKC agility, the dog typically only runs 3 different events. So if you think about it, we were used to sharing Sonoma's three runs per day in AKC, and now we have two dogs, running about 5 runs per day each in USDAA - a much different ballgame!! Overall, we had a lot of success (and a few learning opportunities). We walked away with a bunch of qualifying runs, and a few 1st and 2nd places. Both dogs are just one run away from their Starters title, and will hopefully be competing soon in Advanced (USDAA level 2). Here are a few pictures from the weekend. I must say, we have some really good looking dogs - but not that I'm biased...

West and Crystal competing. He doesn't knock this bar over, believe it or not, but he's taking a very short path around the course by jumping on the inside of each jump. Ideal placement for the dog over the jump in this circumstance :-)

You can see on the same jump, that Sonoma isn't hugging that inside of the jump as much as West. While she successfully completed the jump and made a nice turn, she probably lost a split second of time by taking a slightly longer path. And those split seconds add up. We'll work on our rear crosses (where the handler crosses behind the path of the dog to signal a turn) to tighten up that behavior.



Here's West and Sonoma each getting ready to launch! The "Sit, Stay" at the beginning of the course is probably the hardest behavior we ask of them out there. They get out on the course, the leash taken off (see it in the grass there??) and we lead out into the course somewhere. They are ready to RUN! West loads his legs up, and just wants to explode......... but he has to stay until we say the magical release word, "OKAY!"

At this point, Sonoma's "Sit, Stay" is much more reliable than West's... but rest assured, her heart is beating a million times a minute right now and her brain is firing like crazy! She's one step away from just letting her adrenaline take over...



Sonoma and me somewhere along the course. She's pretty serious.

One of Sonoma's best obstacles are the weave poles. To do the weaves successfully, the dogs must enter in between the first and second weave poles from the right to the left. They must alternate through each pair of poles, until they exit on the 12th on the left... Hmm, okay, I'll draw it out:

Sonoma having such reliable weave pole entries, allows us to be anywhere remotely close to the weaves and still have trust that she'll cleanly enter the poles and complete the entire set, without popping out somewhere a long the way.

And S coming out of the tunnel and making a nice tight right turn... Again, the tight turn out of the tunnel shortens the dog's path and keeps them from exploding out of the tunnel, adding distance (and ultimately time), and then finally turning yards away from the tunnel exit.

S jumping over the same jump (as before) a second time in the run, but this time heading straight instead of turning.

Before each event starts, the judge responsible for the ring will hold a "briefing". They will quickly review the rules of the game, answer competitors questions, and those types of things. In this particular briefing, our agility friends Matt and Penni, who both run border collies (Buzz and Einstein), are listening too. They are both in our Monday night class with West because their BCs are young, beginner dogs as well. Actually, their two dogs are siblings from the same litter and they just happen to train agility at the same place. It's fun to see the difference in the two dogs as they grow up with different handlers but are from the same pedigree.

Proof that 2 = 1 ??

Mathmatical proof that 2 = 1? Well, clearly 2 does not equal 1, so what's the deal with the math below?

See if you can figure out why 2, indeed, does not equal 1. There's something fishy about the math below... Don't cheat and Google the answer until you've at least tried to work it out (*cough*SARAH*cough*)...

Leave a comment and I'll update this in a few days.

a = b
a^2 = a*b
a^2-b^2 = a*b-b^2
(a+b)(a-b) = b(a-b) 
(a+b) = b
a+a = a
2a = a
2 = 1

HINT: Work though this as they teach you in school - show ALL your work.

2,000th Hit!

The Relative News turned 2,000 hits old yesterday!

Like last time, here's a graphic of where in the world people are accessing TRN. The darker the green, the more hits...

It took us a little longer to get from 1,000 to 2,000 than the original 1,000. I haven't posted updates as often, but trust me, the our lives have not slowed down. Actually, I consider it a function of having TOO much going on, that keeps me from having time or energy to put up posts. Anyhow, thanks to all our family and friends who like to check in from time to time. Feel free to use the comments feature too, we love getting feedback and hearing from our visitors :-)

My Drive In To Work

I've been waiting to do this for a while, just thought it would be a fun video to watch. I think it's cool, but let's be honest, when it comes to being cool, what do I know??

Football Time!

This weekend should be a fun one! First off, Crystal's mom is coming in to town. It's always nice to have visitors come in, but especially our parents. Also, this weekend is the NFL Conference Championships... or as I see it, the semi-finals. On one side (NFC, I guess) we have the NY Giants against SF 49ers. This will be a very exciting game for us. We've become Niners fans since being in the Bay Area, but also grew up with Giants fans. Looks like this game won't disappoint! On the other side (AFC, I guess, by elimination) is the NE Patriots against the Baltimore Ravens. Pretty sure the Pats are going to stomp the Ravens, but anything can happen. Either way, we'll get to root for either the Giants or Niners in the Super Bowl, and perhaps even the Pats... not bad!

Christmas and NYE 2011

I didn't intend on having one of those "It's been a while since I posted anything..." or "Long time, no post!" type blogs. Yet, worked picked up and available time to update the blog was swallowed up by protocols, reports, risk management, testing, and meetings. I don't really do too much work on a computer once I'm home either because I'm sick of them by then. And alas, blog posts become more infrequent...

Anyway, I've got a chance right now (it being a rainy Friday and all - meaning no work will get done) to upload some pictures from Christmas. We didn't end up taking as many as we probably would have liked, and a bunch were blurry and dark (must have been the wine), but there were defintely a few keepers.

Hmmmm, let's start off with one that really captures the Christmas spirit. Family, hanging out together, after a nice meal, a few glasses of wine, two shots of chartreuse, and - of course - group karaoke and air guitar.

We got to celebrate Christmas with our cousins... and the Easter Bunny?

Looks like Crystal was on the "naughty" list this year....

And of course, no Christmas is really Christmas without the family portrait....

And a few from New Year's Eve. I call this one "The Girls"

And if we just walk onto the roof our our friend Brandon's apartment buidling, we can watch the San Francisco NYE fireworks at the Embarcadero :-) Best display of fireworks I have ever seen, even if there were a few building tops making it harder to see the lower ones...

The fireworks really were fantastic. I remember back in the days of the Granville, MA fireworks show for Fourth of July, and they were awesome. But it was like "Ooooh! That one had TWO colors!" Nowadays it's like "WOW! That's a 3D box and a smiley face!" (Sorry, I didn't get any photos of the 3D box or smiley face fireworks)...

But I did get a photo of these smiley faces that night on the roof...

Pretty soon, TRN will be turning 2,000 hits old! I look forward to posting something then too, assuming work isn't too hectic of course...