Ok, this is a bit strange. I guess to understand it, you have to understand that I'm very close with my father.For the last few years, he's been dating this wonderful woman named Vonda. They got engaged last year, and I made him promise that when he does finally get married, he would let me take care of the photography. It wouldn't be me (since he said he wanted me as one of his groomsmen, along with my brother) but I would have Steph or Callie shoot the wedding.

Today, I get a phone call from my father and he asks if I've checked my email.

Yeah, you guessed it.

Now, first of all, I'm extremely happy for him. Apparently, they managed to plan a wedding in Maui, and even snuck out without any of us knowing. (Vonda has 2 girls, my dad has 2 boys). They flew down to Hawaii last Friday, and they got married last night on the beach at sunset.

I can't believe that he didn't have me there shooting! I told him that I would have been on a plane Sunday had he let me know.

His response: I know, which is why I didn't tell you.

Today it rained on them as they traveled the road to Hana. God's way of telling them they should have let the family in on their little secret. :-)

Well dad, and mom, congrats!

(Dad, when I design your album, I'm going to give you a goiter in every image!)

At least he purchased the negatives. I'll be able to do something for them!

Why is it that when you have such a golden opportunity to take off to a place like Maui, people don't want to "bother" you with it?

Ah well!

Salud!

Shan

 

I'm a handyman.

Really.

I can pour concrete, wire lights (and hot tubs!), build forts, decks, and even do plumbing.

Sort of.

Two years ago, I moved our laundry room from the basement to the back porch. Not exactly a small project, as it involved removing 2 closets and lots of lathe-backed plaster, but I was able to handle it. New walls, tile floor, even a new ceiling.

The biggest problem was the plumbing - our house was built in the 1920s, so old steel pipe was the norm. Not exactly easy to tap into, and the water pressure, to put it nicely, sucked.

So, I convinced Steph to let me re-plumb the ENTIRE HOUSE.

Seriously!

We have 1 full bath (which already had new copper plumbing), 1 half-bath (again, new copper plumbing), the kitchen, 2 outdoor spigots, a utility tub in the basement, the hot water heat (copper plumbing), and the new 1st floor laundry room - all said, only 8 or so branches.

So I spent a day pulling out old nasty steel pipe, and put in the new lines. Worked like a charm, and believe it or not, not a single leak.

Until a few days ago.

The new laundry room is in our back porch - which must have been added on at some point, as it has a crawl space, rather than the full basement. The local feral cat population took it upon themselves to pull out some of the old bricks (that were never properly mortared in) and stay warm in there. No biggie to me, they kept the mice away.

Unfortunately, this also created a nice cross-draft in the crawlspace. The lovely northeast Ohio weather took a nose dive, and bam - frozen pipes.

So now, I go down there with the torch to thaw the pipes. When it finally melts - you guessed it - quite the icy shower.

Fortunately, I was smart enough to put shutoffs in just in case.
Unfortunately, I had the laundry room and the kitchen behind the same shutoff.

So, no water in the kitchen either. Hmm...this really can't wait.

I gather up my tools, and head down into the cold, wet, muddy area to cut out the burst and solder in a new section. Fairly straight forward, all said. I cut out the old one, solder in the new one.

Steam from the leftover water is just blowing out one of the new joints.

GRRRR....ok, wasted joint. No biggie, cut that back out.

Steph, could you go upstairs and turn on the faucet in the laundry room, put the hose on, and blow so any leftover water will trickle out?

(Anyone seeing what's coming next?)

<Her voice from the room right over top of me> You ready?

<me, thinking to myself> Ready? Yeah...let's get this done so I can get out of this oversized coffin!

<yelling to Steph> Go ahead!

Of course, anyone EXCEPT me would have realized that there was probably a decent amount of water left in the pipe, since it was FULL when it broke.

Icy cold water sprays out out of the pipe I just cut off, which just so happens to be pointing directly at my chest.

My yell of surprise and shock results in the slightly muffled sounds of my helpful and caring wife laughing at me upstairs. Through the chuckles, I hear "You OK?"

Fine. Let's just get this done.

Solder the new joint, this time leaving one side open so any steam can escape without blowing the joint. Smooth as silk.

Ok, now just to fit the other side into the last joint....

(Anyone see lesson #2 yet?)

Apparently, when you heat a copper pipe with a MAP gas torch to get it hot enough to melt solder, it's hot enough to burn your hand.

Wet, and the smell of singed flesh wafting around my head, I reach for the squirt bottle to cool it off enough to finish this #@#% job.

Joint #2 - perfect.

Ok, turn on the water....why is there water running down the wall? I don't see a break....

Steph, did you leave the hose attached to the faucet?

Turn off the water...go upstairs, dry the floor....turn OFF the faucet...

Turn on the water. No leaks. Perfect.

Now, install the electric pipe heaters (that heating wire that protects to -40 degrees) and the insulation I bought A YEAR AGO.

What did we learn?

Plumbers definitely do NOT get paid enough.

Next project - re-jacking up the corner where it has sank over the last few decades.  I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and video. I'm sure the America's Funniest Home Video prize money can help offset the hospitalization bill that's sure to come!

Hope your week was less exciting than mine! LOL

Shan

 

Ok, if you don't know, I'm a proud father of 2 boys - Ian (4) and Christian (18 months).

When we are working, the boys play in their toy room, and generally have fun playing with everything. They are extremely intelligent (not just bragging!) and come up with some stuff that absolutely amazes me.

Today, Ian came in to the office and said he wanted to open a peanut butter and jelly stand. My curiosity peaked, I let him go at it.

Tonight, I found his "stand."

Now, I know it might be hard to see, but the picture on the front is his menu. It's a quarter (on the left) for a sandwich (on the right).

Now the paper behind that is what I think is amazing. Remember, this is a 4 year old!

From left to right - here are the letters:

PENTBDNGLESTIND

(PEaNuT Bu(D)tter aNd (G)jeLly(E) STa(I)ND)

All by himself, he sounded out the words. Obviously, he needs a bit of work on his spelling, but still - Isn't that just amazing?

Every day I'm thankful that I get to spend so much time with my two boys. I know this time of their lives is fleeting, and I am extremely lucky to be able to share in it as much as possible.

If you ever call in, and a young boy answers the phone (he does that from time to time) - don't be surprised if he starts telling you all about his day. He's quite the friendly one!

Hope this brings a smile to your face as much as it did for me!

Shan

Well, we've just booked our trip to Las Vegas! After attending last year, I knew there would be no doubt I'd be back this year.

 

WPPI stands for Wedding and Portrait Photographers International - which I am a member. It is probably the largest gathering of photographers from around the world, and they have tons of speakers and workshops - all run by the best of the best.

http://www.wppionline.com/

We're staying at the Paris hotel (the same place as the convention) so we'll be right in the thick of it. Last year, we returned with our head absolutely swimming with ideas, and we tried to put many of them in place - resulting in a great 2007 year!

This year, we've been working harder than ever - entering the print competition, getting to know the speakers online and off, and we're heading there with a thirst for even more knowledge.

Rest assured, this year will be absolutely amazing!

Shan

 

Ok, so this is a little late, but I still wanted to share.

Tina and Ryan were lots of fun! We were all surprised by the mild weather - 60 degrees in December in Akron?!? LOL

 

Here's a few pics from their day:

Thanks for having me there guys!

Shan

Well, our lease is up on our studio, and we've decided to close it down. While this may seem like a step backwards, we are taking the substancial monthly savings and investing heavily into our business. We've already moved our office back into our home (our 2 boys love that mommy and daddy are always here now!) and we're putting together some great client events for this year. We're also putting the savings into investments to build a new house with a studio in the next few years, so we'll have a custom studio, much better suited for our style of photography.

What does that mean for our clients?

Lower session fees, for one. We've dropped our on-location sessions to just $50 per hour (compared to $300 when we had the studio overhead!). If you were at the bridal show, or receive our emails, you've also seen some of the great specials we've been able to put in place.

We've also changed our hours - now we answer the phones Monday 1-5, and Tuesday-Friday 8-5. We still run appointments in the evenings and on weekends, but they need to be scheduled. This allows us more time with our family, and we're going to start having client get-togethers every month. In February we're going to go ice-skating! (more details on that later!)

We're also re-vamping our website, and it's going to have a totally new, high end look. We've even got some of our client video testimonials online!

Keep your eyes open - there's going to be TONS more! (Can you tell that I'm excited? LOL)

See you guys soon!

Shan

Ok, so first let me say sorry for the long lapse in my blogging.

(break out the wet noodle for the flogging)

But...I have a good reason!

We've been super busy, and we have lots of great stuff in store!

I'll give you a little preview:
http://831photography.net/grace/index.php

That's just the tip of the iceburg. More to come!

Shan

I can't take credit for this, but it does make you think!

Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking
lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1957 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car
and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2007 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and
never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized
students and teachers.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up
buddies.
2007 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge
them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario: Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students.
1957 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal.
Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin, becomes a zombie, gets tested
for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a
disability.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him
a whipping with his belt.
1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college,
and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster
care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she
remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom
has affair with psychologist.

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1957 - Mark shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock.
2007 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car
searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.
1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear
nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation
is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and
Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given
diploma anyway, but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot
speak English.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts
them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.
1957 - Ants die.
2007 - BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic
terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers
confiscated. Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed
to fly again.

Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He
is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.
1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She
faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy

Hmmmmmm.....progress?