Photo Shootout

I participated in my second Facebook Photo Shootout today. This is an interesting and fun exercise, described as follows on the Group page in Facebook:

Randomly, a shoot out is announced. On the day of the shootout, the secret ingredient is messaged to the group. Photographs must be taken and uploaded during the 24 hours after the secret ingredient is reveal. The photos will be left up for a few days then deleted over the next few days as the forum counts down to the next shootout. The final remaining photo will become the group avatar for the next shootout.

Today's ingredient was "pet" so of course over hundreds of photos of dogs and cats were uploaded. I couldn't resist and contributed mine. This photo below is not one of the ones I uploaded, I'll share those later. After I had my fun with Jozy, I was throwing her the dogobie and Carlee took this shot. Thought I would upload it for my daily portrait project.

Milk or a White Russian

Drinking a White Russian while watching Milk. Good movie.

Bon Iver - Blindsided

You can just hit play on this and then go about doing something else. Great mellow song to have on in the background as you try to catch up on all of the things you needed to get done before the weekend hits. Right around 3:30 in though, you might want to flip back to this screen and watch a little guitar work.

Bon Iver has been on my favorite list for a while and was one of the mandatory inclusions on my best of 2008 mix. Just needed to be done.

Kopanya: 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Ball

According to FIFA: The word 'kopanya' comes from Southern Sesotho, an official language spoken by almost five million people throughout the rainbow nation. Literally translated, kopanya means "join together".

The Kopanya is the official ball of the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. In case you are not up to speed on the Confederations Cup, it is s an eight team tournament, consisting of the six winners of regional international tournaments plus the World Cup holders and the World Cup hosts. These two groups of four and then top two winners of each group go to the semis. And yes, the US is in this tournament. Our draw is tough and includes games against Italy and Brazil! I am definitely going to be looking forward to some upsets.

Verification

My wife and I are investigating refinancing our house as a result of some of the great offers out there on the market. This involves a lot of paperwork that is almost all handled by my wife. However, I have not successfully gotten out of all responsibilities. Sometimes the mortgage company calls:

Agent: Hello Mr. LaBar. We are processing your paperwork and wanted to verify your place of employment. We called the general number and reached a Mrs. Peabody. She did not know who you are.
Me: What number did you call?
Agent: The general number. Can we have your supervisor's number?
Me: I guess I could give you his number but I think he would find it a little strange when you called him.
Agent: Hmm...well, can you just give the phone to the person sitting next to you?

All this for a brief chuckle and follow-up for yet another impact of being a telecommuter...

In a Meeting

By my calculations, when today is over, I will have been on the phone for 7 out of 8 hours. So one of the downsides of being a telecommuter is always being on the phone. Of course, two of the upsides is that the dress code in my office is much more casual and no one looks at me weird when I set up a tripod and take my portrait.

US vs. Mexico Tickets (or a Bar)

The February 11th World Cup qualifying game between the US and Mexico is officially sold out. How long did it take them to sell out? 90 minutes. Interesting number.

The game is at 7 PM eastern in Columbus, Ohio. There is a decent chance I will be in NJ that day. I am currently searching for the best soccer bars in the Trenton/Princeton area. All recommendations welcome.

Don't Tread on Me.