King Clown
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

North Texas State Fair
So with the NTSF starting last night, I was excited to give my new f2.8 lens a real test. A fair/rodeo is traditionally a very tough event to photograph because of the poor lighting and fast action. I got to the rodeo grounds just after it started and found a seat as close as I could to the arena. I mounted my 200mm lens, set the aperture to f2.8 and started out with ISO1600 in hopes of keeping grain to a minimum. After the first few shots it was clear to me I would need ISO3200 to get a decently bright exposure. Thank goodness the Canon 30D has decent low grain performance at high ISO. I can also fix it up in Photoshop during post processing with grain removal.

Now for those who know me, I am about as far from 'country western' as you can get. Sitting in the stands I felt like a round peg trying to get into a square hole. I was wearing cargo shorts, t-shirt and running shoes and I was surrounded by cowboy hats with cow manure covered cowboy boots. Oh well, I was out for some good action shots. Although I was reminded of where I was when the lady one row in front of me turned around to towards her cowboy friend and screamed, "gimme the Copenhagen!". Im sorry, I am just not used to seeing women as for/use chewing tobacco. Just odd. Anyhow the event was up and running and I started snapping away. I managed to get a few keepers, but it was a 15 to 1 bad/good ratio. Because of the low lighting my average shutter speed was around 1/60 to 1/80 of a sec. Which caused some unwanted motion blur. Overall a good evening for some unusual action shots.

27\52: Just Me
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

When Big Plans Fall Through
Week 27 of my 52 week project shot was really kind of anti-climactic for me. I had all these ideas to do for this weeks shot, but they all fell through. So there I sit, almost out of time for getting my shot posted for the week. I turned on all the lights in the kitchen, set the camera on the tripod and just looked at the 50mm and fired a few shots. I got this one which i see as a good SP of my strange looking face. haha I guess I'll have to save my "cool ideas" for next week. But I am proud of myself for not missing any weeks yet. Ive come close, posting some weeks shots in the last hours of Sunday night. I consider a self portrait week to be Monday morning through Sunday at midnight. Well now at Week 27 I am over half way through my 52 week project. What I thought would be very tough and frustrating has been fairly easy and pretty fun. Before this project started, I HATED being in front of the camera and was content being the unseen photographer. Now, ehh.... I don't mind it as much. Taking a self portrait gives me the control to always get a shot I like. Preventing me from looking like a total dork. Well... for the most part. Anyhow, 27 weeks down, 25 weeks to go. They are really flying by now!

12\52: Suburban Drone
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

Getting Explored!
I just checked Flickr Scout and found I now have 9 images which have made their Explore ranking at some point! Most are in the mid 100's to 400's but still. For those that do not know, Flickr has some secret formula for selecting what they consider the best 500 images each day out of the thousands and thousands uploaded. I used to think it was solely based on how many view the picture got and how many people "faved" the picture. But then one of my pics made Explore that had zero faves (people who saved it as a favorite) and very few views. So it kind of blew that theory out of the water. Either way im happy to see a few get in there. Its some type of photography goal to work towards and seeing a few get in there tells me im taking better pictures as time progresses. I suppose its a bit of a yard stick to judge how I've improved. I know I've gotten more creative with my shots, developed a better eye for composing a picture and massively increased my photoshop skills over what they were this time last year. I credit a lot of this to the 52 Week Project I started a few weeks back. Its really been a big help in getting me out with my camera, taking pics and trying new things. So, im up to 9 Explored images at this point. Hopefully more to come!

Sun Block
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

Sun Block
With my Tuesday night soccer season over for a few weeks, I took the evening to drive around some local back roads. I had success finding an interesting location for my last 52 Week shot, so I thought why not grab the camera and take advantage of the setting sun.

I drove down a country road for a couple miles and a gravel road to the right caught my eye. It was too late to make the turn so I kept going for a bit till I could turn around. I came back to the road and it was another gravel drive leading up to a natural gas pump station. There's a lot of those in this area of North Texas. But instead of the area being surrounded by crops, it was surrounded by a huge sunflower field. I immediately knew I had a nice find and needed to start snapping as the sun was dropping fast. I began walking through the sunflower field shooting randomly. It was as I turned around to work my way back out that I noticed this flower blocking the sun from my eyes. I snapped the shot and thought, "this one might be a keeper"! Just then i noticed almost every other flower around me was occupied by a large furry yellow jacket. Suddenly I felt panic flow through me. I ran from the field, jumped in my car, rolled up the windows and turn the air conditioning on (hey its like 100F here!). Bee's/Wasp/Hornets are one of my biggest fears. My cryptonite.

Hhmm... perhaps a future self portrait idea could be opening its doors here.

Solitude
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

Solitude
This past Wednesday I set out to get off the main roads and find solitude. More specifically, find a remote...wide open location to get rural shots for my stock photography work.

I called up my friend Beau who lived in the area and headed out with my gear. It was about 7pm and we were about to hit that "magic hour" for some great agriculture type shots. Beau guided me down some back roads thinking a field like this would be what I wanted. As soon as i saw it, I said "perfect!". We pulled off the road, setup the tripod and camera. But as soon as I got setup, large clouds rolled in and totally blocked out the sun. Things became very gray and muted. That golden sunset lighting I wanted, was gone. Bummer. So rather than try to submit them to the stock agency, I toyed with them in Lightroom and Photoshop to give me at least some creative shots to post on my Flickr page.

25\52: No Turning Back...
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

I can't believe im almost to the half way point of my 52 Week Project already! Seems like just last week I was sitting in my backyard trying to figure out a self portrait that didn't make me look stupid for my first shot of the project. Well, im 25 pictures into it. I have some good, some bad and a few stand-outs. This weeks I feel is one of those stand outs. Which is funny because when I took this, I didn't really even consider it a usable, quality shot. It was one of the final snaps I took before the light got too dark and I had to pack it in. Im looking to my left, off camera at traffic on the nearby road to see who was slowing down to have a look at me. Although this place was pretty tucked away and hidden from the main road. They would have had to go very slow to see me down this little gravel road leading to a natural gas well in the middle of a Milo field.

A bit of info on the processing. In Lightroom, I cropped it into a bit of a movie-wide screen look. It just seemed right, given my expression and the location. I then gave it a slight vignetting to darken the outside, putting the focus on the subject.... me. After that I applied a Lomo filter preset. Which gave it that green-ish hue. I saved as a full sized TIFF file and exported it over to CS3. From there I gave it a light Smart Sharpen and then applied a Photo Filter Adjustment Layer. I picked a light orange-ish brown color, which created that fire in the sky look behind me. As soon as I saw the result, I said... thats its, im done! Flatten layers, resize, save-as, shoot to Flickr.

19\52: My Friend, the Warthog
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

Another 52 Week Project self portrait. This one taken at the Denton Air show in June. It was good times.

23\52: Always Be Prepared!!
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland

This is week 23 of my 52 Week Self Portrait Project. A combination of boredom, a weird hat and sleeplessness helped me create this odd shot. I figure i might as well use the help of Flickr to add to my blog.

Alive

For those who occasionally check back here, I am alive. Ive neglected my blog for quite sometime now. It's just that I've been so busy over at Flickr.com/thorpeland. I have gotten much more into photography the past year or so and Flickr is a much better tool for daily posting with photo's. Although I do plan to integrate this blog, my Flickr page and the original thorpeland.com in the coming months. I will be rebuilding my portal!!

Focus on Photography

For several years now I've considered photography a mild hobby. I took photography back in college, I enjoyed it, but I found developing film too time consuming and tedious. But I came away from that semester with some nice portfolio shots. After college I bought a Sony Cybershot DCS-50 and toted it everywhere I went. That little 2.1mp camera probably took somewhere around 15,000 pictures over the time I used it. I took it on vacations, took it to work, took it to hang out with friends. I was often called a "tourist" by my buddies because I snapped so many pictures. Digital camera's made photography fun again. I could immediately see the result and could easily share them online. This of course led to the creation of Thorpeland.com, my homepage. It was here I would post hundreds of photo's of my friends, family, hobbies and travel. Still, photography wasn't really an "art" to me. It was more a way of documenting my life and those in it. Which I supposed in a way is a form of art. Anyhow, after a few years of that I decided it was time to get a little more serious about my photo's. I wanted to learn about using a camera again and get caught up on the progress digital photography had made on true SLR camera's. I did my research and in 2004 purchased the Canon Digital Rebel (300D). This was a great into Digital SLR and fairly advanced for what it offered at the time. I quickly discovered how far digital photography had come. Techniques learned long ago in my college photo course began to come back to me as I learned how to make use of the camera's settings and abilities. A new door had been opened once again and this time I had a true "tool" to make use of.

I began to take ton's of photo's and create galleries online. The next year I entered a series of my work into a local photography contest and won 2nd place. This was encouraging and further deepened my photography interest. Then, in 2006, I hit a motivational wall. Just nothing in the part of the world I lived in motivated me in any way to take pictures. I put the camera down. I probably only took a few dozen pictures during the span of six months. Nothing felt worthy of taking pictures of or being creative over. I was just.... blah.

It wasn't until I went with Emily to her family reunion that I made myself take my Canon Rebel along and snap a few pics. I got a few good shots during that trip and began to feel the creative photo bug again. Except this time it was stronger! I re-visited my old Flickr account and started uploading. I purchased the no-upload-limit pro version and started building a sort of portfolio. Flickr is a great tool for photographers! You can view and study others work and is great for stirring creativity.

This sudden re-resurgence of interest in photography convinced me it was time to update my almost 4 year old Canon Rebel. I did my research again and this time settled on the Canon 30D. The 30D is pretty much Canon's entry camera into their professional line. It has most the technical features of the full professional cameras, only lacking the true full 35mm image sensor. Which was good enough for me right now. This camera retails for around $1100 but I was able to find a better deal and made the purchase! I also picked up a Canon 50mm f1.8 prime lens. After getting used to this new camera and lens and seeing it's potential, I wasted no time in booking a couple photo shoots. A couple posts on craigslist and I had shoots booked for that coming weekend! The first for a couple celebrating their 8th wedding anniversary and the second, that night, for a movie screening party in Dallas. Both shoots taught me something, I need better glass. So, back to the research lab.

I knew that Canon's best pro lenses are referred to as "L" lenses. The L standing for Luxury. And with luxury, comes the price. But, if I wanted to take my photography to the next level and possibly begin to pick up some side work I needed to consider an L lens. I finally settled on the Canon 24-105mm f4L lens. At around $1000, this is considered by many as a great 'walk around' lens that can also take very nice portraits or landscape shots. The best value for my money. A quick check of my financial resources and I made the purchase. This lens will really get a good workout this weekend as there are some events I'll be taking it to. Which leads this story up to where it's at now. Im now enjoying photography more than ever and I have the tools to really start to do something. If you'd like to visit my Collections, CLICK HERE to have a look!

The Amazing Z!

If I hadn't posted a picture already, this is Zita... our puppy. She's a one and a half year old heeler mix and is a very good puppy. She loves to play, run, bark, get a good petting and play tug of war. We take her to the local dog park often and on frequent walks in the neighborhood. Here, she sits with one of her favorite backyard toys... her broom head. Odd, yes. Zita, or "Z" as we often call her has also been nicknamed "Dogdini", an off-shoot of the great escape artist Houdini. Every time she finds a way to get out, we block it and she starts working on another method. I keep expecting to find a tunnel that goes under the house and comes out in the street. Or, a catapult built from her toys in the backyard. She's a smart one! But she's a great dog to have around!

Wayfaring!

Wasp Lady

I witnessed the oddest thing last Monday. After work I drove up to my parents to help them with some stuff around the house. I get there and my dad says he would like me to use the weed wacker and edge around his barn. No problem, I think. So I get the weed eater out of my car and hike back to the barn. As soon as I start dealing out death to the weeds, I am faced with my arch enemy. My nemesis! My kryptonite! The dreaded North American Wasp! These territorial, aggressive little critters seem to know how much I fear them. Dozens of them are pouring in and out of the door to the barn! Flying in two's and three's, it was like the freakin Death Star! Little tie-fighters cruising in and out of their base station. Well my mom comes out there to keep me company and feed and water her horse. She walks right through the "river" of airborne wasp! She sees my distress and says, "You want me to just close the door?". Sure!, I say. So she closes the door and that's when things got bad. It was then I realized just how many wasp were depending on that door being open to get into the "base station". Suddenly I'm surrounded by literally hundreds of wasp!! They're swarming the doorway looking for a way to get in. My heart pounded, I began sweating profusely and started backing far from the barn. I'd never seen so many wasp in one place! That's when my mom opens the door back up and says something TO THE WASP, I will never forget. She walks right through the airborne horde saying, "Its ok, come on in... come on in.. I know its your evening and your bedtime.. its ok.. its your schedule.. you just ignore him... " WHAT??!! They're wasp!! And they've somehow become her pets and she thinks she "understands" them. I think my next trip out there will be to close that barn door, get the animals out and use a pesticide bomb to kill everyone of those winged spawns of Satan! I shall have my vengeance... oh yes I shall.

Beckham, Blogging and Viva Las Vegas!

Ok, it's mid summer and Ive been one lazy blogger. I know, I said I'd get better. Well I didn't. Now that doesn't mean I'm done with my blog. Far from it! I just need to start remembering to blog about stuff that happens.

So the latest buzz in the soccer world is all about David Beckham coming to play in the MLS. He recently had to sit out of the game here in Dallas because of his ankle. This event truly exposed all the bandwagon fans. The game was a sell out event. But when it was announced he wouldn't be playing because of the injury, only about 75% turned up in the stands. Some fans were even holding up Anti-Beckham signs! Clearly these are people who have never played soccer, or sports for that matter. They have no clue of the pain that comes with playing at a high level while injured. They have no clue that playing on such an ankle injury will only make healing up slower and could possibly make the injury much worse! They'd rather see Becks limp around the Frisco field in pain, waving to the crowd than see him in full form in a month, scoring goals ith his well known free kicks. Well the only thing I can say is, "go home trendy north dallas wanna-be soccer fans. You aren't needed here. You don't even know what to cheer for." Ok, on with the show.

Soon I'll be on a plane headed back to the desert. Las Vegas Nevada! Im going there with a few guys for my friend Gregg's bachelor party. It really should be a fun time. I like to play a little blackjack, play the slot machines, catch a show and walk around the Vegas strip. Im only there or a couple days and that's really enough. But it will be a nice change of scenery. Im really looking forward to it, although I will miss Emily and Zita while im gone. I'll call home to check in. I wonder if a dog can and will talk on the phone?

Getting Back to Business

Since my knee injury scare around Christmas, I've been taking it easy and not playing much soccer. My "comeback" started 4 games ago. My first steps back onto the pitch were with my men's Tuesday night team. I knew I had to build some confidence back again in my knee and build my strength back in my lungs and legs. Being off from soccer for almost 4 months had turned me soft. I needed the time to heal up, but I could not keep in match condition.

I took the field that Tuesday night and played very cautious. Passed most the time, played more defense rather than striker. I don't think I even took one shot on goal. Which was fine with me. I just needed to get out there and see how things felt. And things were pretty good after that first game back. Very small amount of soreness the next morning. But I knew I was getting back from an injury. I was happy with my performance and to top it off, my team won that night.

The second test for my knee was the following Tuesday with my mens team again. This time I played with more confidence and played more aggressive. Still no goals this game, but I did get a few shots on goal which only by luck they did not go in for a score. I did discover though, my fakes, speed and first move on defenders was a step slower. I would perform a fake like I normally would and the defender would already be in the spot I was headed for to take away the ball. I could tell I wasn't quite ready to be a scorer again. Just a supporting roll. Which I was fine with that. My lungs felt stronger and my overall physical condition felt better. I knew my shot and moves would come back... in time. Although I played decent, we lost that one to a better team. But it was close.

It was time for a new and third test for comeback. My Friday night "A" division coed teams game. I played with more confidence and the knee felt the best yet to date. But I just couldn't find the back of the net. Lots of missed shots, I was always an inch or two off target. Frustrating! It didn't matter, we won BIG. I mean like 13-6. Which isn't abnormal for that team. We're very good. In the final 30 seconds of the match I did manage to put in a one-touch right foot shot from about 6 feet in front of the net, past a diving keeper. Nothing to celebrate over. I was just glad I didn't miss again. But, it was my first score since coming back. It was a start.

Tonights game was the fourth test so far. Men's league game against a Mexican team. I looked at their schedule and saw they had no wins yet this season. I don't put much into that. These teams usually play very well. They pass quickly and really work the ball around fast. They are also normally very aggressive on defense and can frustrate strikers by double and triple teaming players. From the start of the game though, I could tell we were the better team. We passed the ball very nicely, setting up combinations and many scoring chances. Finally one of our guys scored making it 1-0. They began attacking with more players now, desperate for a goal. Then, a few minutes later our same guys scores again! Two-zero! My knee so far was feeling great and I had created several scoring chance for my team and almost scored myself, once. The other team finally scored a goal making it 2-1 and they smelled a comeback. They were fired up and really attacking. I came onto the field and our midfielder played a high, long ball over my head to the end wall. I raced pass the defender and beat the on rushing goalie to it. I took a quick right footed shot from almost no angle and scored! It was a great feeling to score a meaningful goal, under pressure against a decent team. I was feeling fired up now and wanted to stay on the field a bit more. Five minutes later, I was glad I did. I had the ball at my feet with one defender in front of me. I did a quick left footed drag the ball inside and flick it to the outside and then a quick left foot low, hard shot and the ball beat the keeper on the near post for a very nice goal! This was a goal I'd be proud of even before my knee injury. I then subbed out and only got one more shift in before then end of the game. I took it easy and worked on some conditioning by running hard. We won the game 4-2 and I'm ready for Friday's coed game! I'm finally getting back to business!

Frontyard Sunset
Originally uploaded by Thorpeland.

More HDR Fun

I was out in the front yard watering a tree when I looked up the street into the setting sun. My first thought was, "grab the camera, this might look cool!" I was right. I think of it as another step in the HDR learning ladder. I have lots of ideas of things to try now. Stay tuned!

Playing With HDR Photography

There's a fairly new technique emerging in the world of digital photography. Its known as HDR Photography. This stands for High Dynamic Range. Put simply HDR photography is a method of taking a series of shots, each at a different aperture setting, covering a large range of lighting values. Then, using special HDR software to combine the 3 to 8 shots of the scene to create a single photo which would be impossible for a digital camera to take in a single snap. It leaves you with a picture with no under exposed areas, no over exposed areas... perfect sharpness and lighting balance and a color depth rivaling the best single-photo shot's made.

Now that I've basically explained what HDR is, I did a basic demonstration using a software package called Photomatix. This is software specially designed to create HDR photo's. What you will find on the link below is a series of photo's. The first six small ones are each shot taken at aperture settings starting at -2 all the way up to +2. This creates extreme shadows to extreme brights. Then the final (7th) large image is the final HDR product. You'll see there is perfect lighting balance through the entire photo. Not something I could have done even if I spent time setting up a single shot to be perfectly lighted. The final photo has the software's watermark on it because it's still in trial mode. I have not yet purchased it. But so far I'm very impressed!

The HDR Frog Project Photo's

Greatest. Game. Ever.

That game would be one known as Armed Assault. This first person shooter type game simulates being a soldier on a huge battlefield. You have the choice of many different types of aircraft and vehicles to explore and fight in. Half the fun of this game (sim) would be it's editor mode. This mode allows you to create any scenario you can imagine or come up with. I used the editor and some video capture software to create the video below. The game is already out in most of the world and is released in the U.S. on May 1st. Enjoy the sights and sounds of Armed Assault. A.K.A. - ArmA!

ArmA: Sounds of War

A Quick Update

Ok, im in one of those lazy stages with my website and blog. Not that there is nothing happening in my life. There is. Just taking the time to sit down and write about it is the tough part. A quick run down of events since like ....... oh December.
Late December, early January:
My dad went in for a check up and they found a number of clogged up arteries and some problems with his heart. So he had to have triple heart bi-pass surgery then a couple smaller ones in the weeks after. He's still recovering, but getting stronger each week and getting his weight back. So that's good. Today, March 17th, is his Birthday. The whopping 72! That sounds old even to me! haha But he's in good spirits and just trying to get better and back on his feet full time.

Earlier this month my friends Roger and his sister Melisa came back from their contracting job in Kabul Afganistan. It was great to see them and hear all their stories. They are doing technical work over there, putting their lives in the States on hold to travel abroad and makes some serious money. Of course there are risks. Melisa tells me the building she lives in does not have a bathroom in it. So if they leave it to go to the restroom at night, they are not allowed to carry a flashlight. It attracts the attention of snipers in the surrounding hills. Oh how nice. Emily and I met up with Roger, Melisa and the rest of their family and friends over in Plano for a nice dinner. It was good times and I look forward to seeing them again.

Looking forward, I'm pretty excited. Emily and I booked and bought our next vacation. In November we're headed off to Italy! We'll spend a week traveling Rome, Venice, Pompeii, and Florence before returning home. Should be an awesome time and I'll return with a ton of great pictures.

More news on the family front. My sister Macey and her boyfriend Steve are getting married this summer. I believe its in June. I suppose it's in my best interest to find out.. eh?

On the home front, spring is quickly approaching so I've been busy getting the lawn back in shape. Exciting yes, I know. lol But hey, I dont want to be the only person on my street with a crappy lawn. We've also planted a new tree. He's in the backyard and taking to his new home nicely. Emily has named him after some spice, which I can't remember at the moment. lol

In the Thorpe World of Tech, the latest craze is a game called Armed Assault. This game is flat out the coolest military simulation I've ever played. The games world is massive and the graphics are great. Its good fun. Also, I picked up one of those new'ish Logitech G15 keyboards. Mainly targeted at gamers, this keyboard has lit-up key's, programmable macro keys, a flip up LCD screen that provides information about the current game and your system and has media control buttons built onto the face. So far, I love it.

My main website, www.thorpeland.com was down for a while because my stupid registrar screwed up. It took me about 8 emails and 2 phone calls to straighten out. But I think everything is back on track. If you ever visit my main site and it does not come up, don't worry it still there, just down temporarily.

On the sports front, I've been having to take time off of playing soccer. Which is killing me! Back in December, I turned to chase a guy during a game and I felt a wierd "click" feeling in my right knee. I did't think anything of it and kept playing. I played several more games before one night it was really feeling sore and the next morning very stiff. I decided to see a specialist. They did some test's and the doc said I might have a partial tear to my ACL. Not good! So he wanted to get an MRI done to be sure. I got that done and the results came back negative, no damage to the ACL. So he said to just take time off from soccer and don't rush back too quickly. So that's what I'm doing. I've been out for almost 2 months now since the injury. Im hoping to get back to playing in about another 3 weeks. I don't want it to re injure

Recent Humor

Yesterday it snowed. When I saw it snowing, I sent a text message to my friend Craig. His reply, gave me a laugh for the day.

Me: Its snowing!!

Craig: Quick -- gravel angels!
Craig: The shards of glass and jagged chunks of gravel embedded
in my bloody skin cannot dampen the joy I receive from such simple
childhood pleasures. However, my "gravel angels" do more resemble "the
hideous aftermath of a man flailing chaotically in pain," and have
scared off several children.

Me: Riiiiiight

WOW

Yeah I know. Not a single post since November 14th of 2006. Sorry about that peeps. Its been a combination of being very busy and a little lazy. I have a TON to write about. I just need to put it all into order in my head so i can write about it and catch everyone up. I just dont know where to start. Stay tuned.....

Can't Really Play? Edit!

Via: VideoSift
This guy is just genius. He cannot play either instrument, yet uses some brilliant editing to make music. I can only imagine the hours in the editing room this took! Enjoy! I did.

Playing Through the Pain

 
In late August I began to feel like I had bruised my right heel. I was playing soccer 4 to 5 times a week and I had bruised a heel before. But after a month of still having a sharp pain in my heel I thought I should investigate it more. When I got out of bed in the morning, it was very painful to walk on it. Playing soccer was also very painful until the foot muscules got warmed up. Turns out, through overuse I guess, I have developed plantar fasciitis in that foot. Basically its where the muscle linking the heel to the ball of the foot, begins to actually tear away a little from the bone. Ouch, yes. Ive learned how to tape my foot up so it provides support for it while I play soccer. And it allows me to run without being in total pain. The only real cure for it is taking it easy on the foot and time. Ive been doing both. I cut back on the amount of soccer per week and when I do play im sure to tape it up best I can. It seems to be getting better and less painful with each passing week. Thank goodness! 

Party Time!

October 28th Emily and I hosted our first Halloween Costume Party. It was a big hit with lots of people turning up! We had food, music and decorations and everything went smoothly. Thanks to everyone who came out! Im already looking forward to next years party.

To see more pictures from the event, check out www.thorpeland.com/hp2006

Something New

 
I was "working the phones" today at work and by the time lunch rolled around, I needed to get out of the building. My first craving was for sushi, but after consulting with good buddy Craigadiah, he suggested a new place to try called Thai Ocha. Needless to say, it was Thai food. Ive never really had Thai food now that I think about it. Plenty of chinese food buffet's but not Thai. So, being the versatile, up for something new kinda guy I am... that's where we were headed. We walk in and are seated by the hostesss and I begin scanning the menu. Ok, none of this made any sense. So I ask Craig for a recommendation for this round-eye's first time at a Thai restaraunt. He suggests the Pad-Thai. So that's what I order, but with chicken. He orders the same with Tofu. (Blah!) First we each recieved an egg roll, pictured above. It was your run of the mill egg role, but still good. Our food comes a short time later and I dig in. I'll have to admit, I have a new favorite dish. It was really good! So we're done and the bill comes. He and I each put our credit cards on the tray and our Thai waitress takes them away. She comes back a few moments later and holds out my card pointing to my picture on the card and asks in her broken English "is this you?". I was a little puzzled and said, "um.. well ... yes." Then she says Ok, and hurries off. I turned to Craig and said, "I wonder if we all look the same to her?" lol I found her question so humorous because Craig has blondish hair and light complextion and I have black hair and are a bit more tan. There's no way she could have confused us! Anyhow, we pay and leave and now I have a new lunch spot to choose from in the future. Good stuff! 

Twenty-Two Pounds, One and a Half Inches

That's what I have lost since this past May. The next question I usually get asked is, "how did you do it?". Atkins? Nope. Miami Beach Diet? Negative! Another fad, fly by night diet scam? Nope. The day I stepped on the scale and I saw 190 pounds, I about flipped. Id never weighed that much in my life. I knew I had to make changes. But a diet? Diets don't work. You change your eating or whatever, lose the weight... then gain it back after you stop dieting. So I decided I needed changes, but not a diet.
So, I made the changes. But I didn't go on a diet, I simply changed the way I ate, just a little. I looked at what was causing me to gain this recent weight. It was clear. While at work, I would snack on whatever was in front of me. Candy, chips... and an occational soft drink filled the gaps between breakfast and dinner. So despite playing soccer 3 and 4 times a week, I was eating back the calories 3 fold during my workday. So first step, cut out un-healthy snacking and eliminate the soda pop drinks. I replaced the candy and chips with a mid-morning yogurt fruit dink and dried apple slices and replaced the soda drinks with bottled water.

After the first week I already noticed the weight dropping. I lost 2 or 3 pounds in the first week. I knew my plan was working. I picked up my soccer playing to 4 days a week when possible. I also switched from eating cereal for breakfast to drinking a chocolate Slimfast or eating a bowl of cottage cheese and fruit. For lunch I stuck with eating a Lean Cuisine meal. Then for dinner I ate normally, having whatever Emily had cooked or whatever we wanted to do. The only rule was I now had water to dink thru-out the day or when we went out to eat and while sitting around the house. This was all paying off and quicker than I expected. Soon I noticed the notch on my belt that I had always used, and was getting a little snug, was no longer fitting good. So I started using the next smaller hole in my belt! Which is over an inch smaller on my waist!

This weight loss has continued through the summer and into the fall. Now, here we are in October and im down to 168 pounds, down from 190. Weekly I get people at work that had not seen me in a few weeks ask if Ive lost weight. In soccer, Im quicker, faster and scoring more goals. Something that had dropped off a bit as my weight had climbed. And as icing on the cake, I actually have ab muscles i can see again! Ha! Now that I know the key to getting to the weight I want to be at, I can't ever see myself being overweight (in my personal opinion) again.

Heart Attack Victory

Well my Bears go to 6-0 this week after squeezing out a 24-23 victory on the road against the Cardinals. This game truly showed how amazing this Bears team is. With the offense playing the worst game of their careers, the defense and special teams scores 21 points to get the win. But let's just hope this doesn't happen again to them this season.

The Odd Victory

My men's team won a tough game tonight, but in a way I'd never had happen before. One minute left and the game was tied 5-5 after they had just scored. We're pushing to win the game. One of our guys goes for the ball against one of the other teams players near the wall and they collide. The other teams guy bounces off our guy and falls, hitting his head on the wall on the way down. He tries to get up, but staggers back down to his knees. He had cut the back of his head and was begining to bleed pretty good. Our guy who collided with him quickly signals for the ref to stop the game and get help for the guy. The other teams bench went bezerk! They demanded our guy get thrown out with a red card. So they all storm onto the field in protest. This was their mistake. The ref suddenly blows the whistle and says "Thats it, game over!!" And he gave us the win! Ha! That was definatly a first. Oh well, we'll take it I guess.

Opening Win

My Friday Coed soccer team opened the season with an 11-3 win tonight. I got a goal and our girls scored practically at will. Really makes it easy to get the win cause they score so frequently. Im finally getting over a series of injuries that have stricken me this season. So far these past couple seasons I have had pulled left groin, deep bruised right quad muscle, strained left foot and bruised right heel. As Ive healed up, ive been more effective on the field. Which is something ive been missing. So, the season has started and we're out to defend our 3rd league title and hopefully win another!

Bear Down, Chicago Bears!!

I know, this is turning into a Chicago Bears blog. But I can't help it, my Bears are now 5-0 and looking by far to be the best team in the NFL! The last few seasons they had a great defense. But now, they have the defense and one of the best offenses in the league. They aren't just beating teams, they're killing them! It's too soon to start singing the Super Bowl Shuffle, but one can't help but think this could be the year they head back to the big game. All of my Anti-Bear friends have suddenly become silent. They have absolutely NOTHING negative to say about my Bears. So, Dallas Cowgirl fans, just thank your lucky Texas stars you don't have to play the Bears this season. Your season is already going downhill on it's own without a pounding dished out by Chicago. hehe

Four And Oh?!

My Chicago Bears continue to roll. Destroying last years Super Bowl runner-up's, the Seattle Seahawks 37-6!! If anyone doubted what the Bears are capable of, see the highlights above to be quickly corrected. Chicago now has offensive power to compliment their brick wall like defense. If this keeps up, the Super Bowl wont be an unrealistic thought! :)

Taking One For the Team

My good buddy Trent recently volunteered to be tasered. Im so glad he passed the video on to me. Enjoy this... shocking video. LOL

Patience Pays Off

Tonight my mens outdoor team, Blackhawks, won our first game of the season! We now hold a record of 1 win, 1 tie and 1 loss. So we're still in ok shape. We had an away game tonight in a city just south of Denton. Im still healing up from a series of injuries, so I could really only play at about 85%. We got on the scoreboard first. Our midfielder crossed the ball in from near the touchline. But it was headed too close to their goalie. Me and a defender went for the ball at the near post. In a panic, he just cleared it away. But he kicked it right into the center, where my other striker was standing. He easily shot it into the back of the net giving us a 1-0 lead. It was a fairly even game, with both teams controlling play for most of the 2nd half. Then they got a quick one on one break and shot it low to the right of Ken our goalkeeper. All tied up, 1-1. I was getting a little frustrated because my team wasn't getting me the ball to give me too many scoring chance. But I stayed patient. Just minutes later, the other striker Tro, broke down the left sideline with the ball. I ran to the backside of the goal waiting for his cross. He crosses it but its headed close to their goalie again. The keeper lunges for the ball but only gets his finger tips on it, trying to tip it way from me. Instead, he tips it almost right to me! I rush ahead of the defender covering me and jump slightly into the air to meet the bouncing ball to volley it into the net from about 6 yards out. We go up 2-1 and thats where it ends after a few more minutes of play. We're in the win column and I get my 2nd goal of the season but my first game winning goal!

We Are The Bears, Shufflin Crew...

Just in case you missed the game, here are the highlights of my Chicago Bears destroying the Detroit Lions 34-7. Minnesota... you're next!!

Down With the Cheese Heads!

Sunday my Chicago Bears started the season with a 26-0 whipping of the sorry Greenbay Packers. This was an awesome day. I hope there will be many more like these highlights this NFL Bears season! GO BEARS!!

Customizing My Sidekick 3!

 
 
I recently upgraded my Sidekick 2 phone to a new slick Sidekick 3! This phone packs a ton of features such as, web surfing, text messaging, AIM-MSN-Yahoo chat clients, ToDo lists, Notes, Calendar, Address book, MP3 player, Bluetooth, 1.3MP camera and a few other bells and whistles. One of the coolest things about this Sidekick is the ability to customize the background with different themes. Or, create your own. I created this one from screenshots from the game Battlefield 2, which I enjoy playing. I think it looks much better than the default Tmobile theme.
http://hiptop.com/ 

Bday Pie?

 
Yup! That's what it is! Emily made me this strawberry/banana creme pie for my bday in place of a cake. And boy is it good! No, I wont share. hehe Thanks babe! 

The Streak Continues

 

My Friday night coed indoor team continued our winning streak this past Friday by beating a league rival 11-5. I was really proud of my team for coming back from a 5-4 half time deficit to win. I got 2 goals, but our girls really came to play.. scoring time and time again. They really put the other team away. It was a good game. Thanks to Mandy for coming out to take some pictures. In the photo above, I scored my first of the two goals on that shot. Go me! 

The Official Trailer Released!

The first official trailer for the game Armed Assault has been released! This is great news as this highly anticipated game nears completion. Watch and enjoy!

Lake Fun

 
 
 
Saturday was spent out on the lake with Jimmy and his buddy Steve. Jimmy had bought a new wake board and wanted to test it out. As you can see above, he got up and going but crashed a number of times when we took him back over the boats wake. It was kinda funny watching him wipe out. But he did do good at getting up and going out of the water. Which is not easy. It was a fun,relaxing afternoon. We stopped to swim at party cove and got the boat up to near top speed in the open area of the lake. Fun times! 

Attempting to Convert

 
Today I had lunch with my good buddy, EVP. I talked him into trying out sushi with me at a local place I enjoy eating at about once a month. Now, EVP is normally steak and potatos type eater. Nothing really out of the ordinary. So getting him to even agree to have sushi for lunch was an accomplishment.

We arrived and began browsing the menu. So many types of sushi, so many choices! I could see EVP was overwelmed. He began asking the waitress what she recommends because he was such a noob and couldn't make up his own mind. She pointed out a lunch special which included 6 shrimp cali style rolls, plus 4 sushi of his choice. Again, he couldn't make up his mind so he told her to pick. She chose two salmon sushi and two tuna sushi. The plate arrived and I could see EVP's face. He looks up at me and say's "man I don't even know what to bite into first". This was all so new to him, he had no idea what to expect. I told him start with a cali-roll and see what he thought. He wrestled a bit with the chopsticks but mananged to pick one up, dip it in soy sauce and fit the whole thing into his mouth. He chewed and chewed, then chewed some more. I starred at him awaiting his answer. He said "well, its different". HA! Next he wanted to try the actual real sushi. But he didn't want the rice, just the slice of fish off the top. He didn't seem to mind it and continued to eat all four fish slices leaving the rice ball on this plate. He then went on to peel the rice layer off the cali-rolls and eat the rest of them piece by piece. When he was done, he almost had cleaned his plate, except for the rice from the rolls. I was impressed. For a guy who was terrified walking in, he did some damage to his lunch! But then EVP lets me down. On the way home, he confesses he will never eat sushi or there again. Too funny, I think he actually didn't mind it but he can't bring himself to admit it. That's ok, I accomplished my mission. Getting him to try sushi. One sushi hating friend down, dozens to go! 

No Worries

The San Fran 49ers may have beat my Bears 28-14 in their first preseason game last weekend. But let the video above be a reminder of what "Da Bears" can and will do to them once the real NFL season starts up in a few weeks. I hope they have not forgotten about this NFL record setting kick return against them last season. I see a great season ahead, barring any big injuries. Its too bad my Bears don't play the Dallas cowgirls. It would be quite ugly for them! LOL

It Lives!!

 

Powered by this AMD X2 4800+ dual core CPU, my new power gaming PC rig is up and running nicely. Im very impressed in this processors speed so far. Despite only being 2.4Ghz per core, its clearly faster than my Pentium 4, 3Ghz Intel CPU. I look forward to pushing this thing thru a gauntlet of tests soon. One of the first tests I ran the new PC thru was the 3DMark06 Benchmark. The industry standard in PC benchmarking. It scored very nicely as you can see my results below!

1. SM2.0 Score = 3494
2. HDR/SM3.0 Score = 3329
3. CPU Score = 1776 

Is This the Way to Amarillo?

Too funny! These guys were definatly creative with their down time. I guess you have to pass the bordom somehow. Why not entertain!

This Sucks

I come home today to find out my homes air conditioner has malfunctioned and is not working. Its about 86F inside the house. We have fans going which are helping. But its still very warm. Luckily we are having some cloudy skies with scattered showers to help keep the outdoor temps under 100. Ive sent in a home warrenty request to the builders, so they should contact me soon about fixing it. Hopefully tomorrow! If it gets up to 100 again, its going to be very hot in the house! Blah, this sucks!

Coming Soon!

 
 

This screen shots are from an upcoming PC game called Armed Assault. This is one to keep an eye out for if your a gamer and a fan of FPS (first person shooters). Battlefields are over 400 Sq kilometers, you can walk, drive or fly anywhere and its based on realism. Meaning you can't hop around like a bunny and if you get shot once you can die. With my new power PC almost ready, I can hardly wait to get my hands on this game. For more information check out www.armedassault.com . 

Ive Got the Touch!

At least this past Friday night I did, while playing in my co-ed soccer teams season opener. A bit of history which let up to this big game. Four of our top players from last seasons championship team, defected to the team we met in that final game. A team who was already very skilled and could have beaten us. Now, they had these four players from our team and were set to get an easy win in this first game. During warm-up's my teammate Gregg really boosted confidence by saying "Im dreading this game. We're gonna get killed!". Have some faith in us Greggy! I thought we had a chance, but it was going to be very tough to win. So the game starts and within the first five minutes, they are up 2-0. I then sub in for one of our guys, but the other team didn't see me come onto the field, so no one marked up to defend me. We had a corner kick and my teammate saw me come onto the field. He gave me a great pass and I hit a perfect left foot rocket of a shot into the far upper right corner of the goal. 2-1. This turned the entire game. A couple minutes later, I get the ball in the left corner and hit a perfect pass to Brittney, who volley's the ball into the net at close range for a nice 2 point girl goal. In the second half I stole the ball from their keeper just outside the goal box and shot it into the corner above a defenders head. Then, a few minutes later, I picked off a bad pass and had a break away. But at mid-field I noticed their goalie was way out of his goal box. I lobbed it high into the air and into the open net as he dived in vain to get to it. The buzzer sounds finally and we win it 6-4. I had 3 goals and an assist to a girl for her 2 points. With our toughest oppenent out of the way, we can now focus on the weaker teams and building up some points in the standings. We're off to a great start!

Craigadiah and Bex!

 

Congrats to my good friends Craig and Becci. Last night in a small cerimony they were married. As you can see from my dim phone-cam pic, it was an outdoor event over looking downtown dallas. It included a small group of family and friends, followed by a reception with cake, food and drinks. They are off today for New York and their honeymoon. Congrats again guys! We're happy for you both. 

The Amazing Becca!

 

Recently one of my favorite friends came back to Denton Texas for a short visit. My old friend Becca (Becca's on my right, Emily on my left) made time to come by and grab a bit to eat with me, Emily and my other buddy Dan who was in town. It was so good to see Becca again. She moved to Colorado about a year ago and resumed her life there she had left when she first moved to Texas. She is so much fun to hang out with. Always quick with a witty remark or funny comment to put me in my place. Ha!

Becca, it was very nice to see you again. I had a lot of fun and glad you got to stop by our house during your short stay! I wish you were still around in Texas, but Im happy you're enjoying Colorado. Be sure to visit again some day buddy! We miss ya! 

Massive

 
I was up in my parents town this past weekend briefly. As I was driving down a road which ran parallel to some train tracks, I noticed the passing train was carrying dozens of massive propellers. Each of these propellers were larger than a single train flatbed car! They are the kind used in those giant windmills out in West Texas to generate power. I quickly whipped out my phone and snapped this little pic of the massive blades. I just found this interesting. 

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

 

Since Early May of 2006, Ive been planning to build a new high end PC. With each week that passed, I shopped wisely, buying each piece as the right deal came along on the particular part I wanted. This is going to be a PC that has to last me for a few years to come. A PC with the power to run any application, video game or program with ease. But yet, still offer some upgradability for the future. But to buy top-of-the-line everything, would have cost me near $10K! Through smart shopping and deal hunting, i've been able to build an awesome system for $1080 after my mail in rebates all come back. That is FAR cheaper than the $2000 I originally calculated. The final piece of the puzzle came earlier than I expected. The CPU, or processor, which I had my eye on retailed for $632. Ouch, I cringe just looking at that number! But then it as announced AMD, the maker of this CPU, was about to slash prices on all models to compete with Intel's release of their new Conroe CPU. To my delight, this past Monday, the CPU which was $632 dropped to $309! I couldn't click "Add To Cart" fast enough! It wont even ship till next week, but at least I have one in my name now. Its the final piece I need before I can power it on for its first BIOS test and configuring. So far, I have to highly recommend the CoolMaster 530 PC case. Its completly tooless. Meaning you can pretty much put every part into your pc without needing a screwdriver. Only the motherboard mounts with small screws. After that, its all slide tracks and clamps that hold everything in place. Its great! Well I will update my blog in a couple weeks concerning the new PC. I'll try to include some benchmarks and speed tests. Stay tuned!

A quick rundown of what's inside this beast:
Motherboard- MSI K8N Diamond Plus
RAM - 2GB CORSAIR XMS Dual channel memory
Video - 2 GeForce 7900GT 256MB PCI-E vid cards in SLi mode
Power Supply - Rosewill 600W Power Supply
Case - COOLER MASTER Centurion 532
CPU - Athlon 64 X2 4800+ (w/dual core 1MB L2)
 

Champions!

Last night was the championship game for my Co-ed indoor soccer team. We were going into the game with an undefeated 7-0 record against another very good team with a 5-2 record. They had some good players but I knew it would be a challenge. Well after a tough 45 minutes of play we were the champions! This is our 3rd title in a row. But this was probably the toughest to win against this particular team. Normally we blow out the teams we play against. This game we pulled off a 5-4 win. I had an excepionally good game, scoring two goals... the second being the game winner! On the first goal, I received the ball at the top of end of the field. I dribbled in fast towards goal. A defender came from my right to stop me so I pushed the ball out to my left. As soon as I had space, I took a shot. It hit the wall just outside the goal, low on the left. But the ball bounced back and up. I was still running and followed up my shot. I leaped into the air and headed the ball past the goal keeper still getting up from diving for the first shot. Goal! This goal put us even at 1-1 after we gave up a quick early half goal. The second goal was just great timing on a subsitution. Tyler was playing forward and was clearly tired from running hard. He called for a sub and trotted towards the bench. As he did, the 2 defenders coving him, turned their attention upfield to the action and pushed up. They totally ignored me coming onto the field for Tyler. Our goalie Andrew was quick to see me, now wide open and calling for the ball, and threw it over the players heads right to me. The ball bounced once, I controlled it and it was one on one with thier goalie. He stepped towards me and I tried to flick it fast to his left, low. But he dove and blocked the shot. The rebound came right back to me! I pulled the ball away from his diving arms with my left and drove in a low, hard right footed shot. Goal! After that, the other team went on the attack scoring 2 goals, making the score 5-4. We defended and held on till the buzzer, winning the championship!! I was nice to get some goals in the big game which we really needed them in. Funny thing was my buddy Greg who plays on this team was jokingly taunting me all week about if I was ready to watch him score all the goals in this game. He didn't get any goals. Ha! Maybe next season buddy.

Shipped Off

 

Well next week Im being shipped off to a week long tech training course in Dallas. Its actually a Novell Zenworks course. These are kinda fun cause its a break from the norm. I get to drive down to North Dallas, and sit in a classroom and learn some new stuff. I dont have to listen to any of our users cry and whine for help. No deadlines, projects... stress. Just sit and learn. Plus my buddy Top Jimmy works just down the street, so I have a lunch buddy. About the only down side of the entire week will be the drive through traffic to get to the class and the two toll boothes I have to pass through. Luckily work will reimburse me for gas and tolls, which is nice because I actually come out slightly ahead after it all adds up. So, its Friday, the weekend is about to start... then im off to the Novell classroom! 

Playing in the Fire

Well that's at least what it feels like. Outdoor soccer in Texas is always a warming experience. Which is why for the past 3 years I have avoided getting myself into an outdoor season. I don't know if it was all the World Cup soccer I had been watching or if I just missed the pain and suffering of playing outdoor soccer, but I've committed myself to a new team. My buddy Ken approached me last week and said they needed a striker (forward) for a Men's Over 30 4th division team. I had never played in the Over 30 division before. Normally I played in the "Open" division because of better competition. But I decided to come out and see how they looked. Also, another factor in this was this team was gearing up for the Fall season. Which meant about half our games would be in cooler, more barable weather. So Sunday rolls around and I show up for their training session to get signed up. The coach gets me and Ken's information and we join the group in warming up. I notice there are a lot of guys there and some look pretty old. Then one of the guys tells me this is a combined practice between the Over 30 team and the Over 40 squad. That would explain the older, heavier guys. They split the group up into two teams, light shirts vs dark shirts. I was wearing white so i got put on the team with the majority being the Over 40 group. It didn't bother me much because this would give me a chance to play against my future teamates and see what skill level they are.

The scrimage kicked off and we were playing. Many of these guys knew eachother from previous practices. So I was just going to play it low key and not go 100% until I got the feel for the pace and how to play with this group. I started out in midfield, just recieving some short passes... knocking the ball around.. not playing too hard. I noticed our outside midfielder was getting the ball a lot, so I moved to the left inside midfield position near him. He received a pass along the side line and looked up for help since a defender was already covering him. I made a run to him and he layed the ball off to me. I quickly one-touched the ball behind the defender and into the large open space behind him down the field. My player who just gave me the ball sprinted down the line and got to my pass. He crossed it to the center and our forward shot it wide. But we had sucessfully put together an attack. Now, I was getting the ball much more frequently. I guess I had earned some trust or something. I noticed our forwards were becoming exhausted, so I moved from midfield into a forward position. I pushed up the field to their last defender, staying on-sides even though there were no linesmen to call offsides. Suddenly, one of our midfielders steals the ball from theirs. I look at him and put my arm up, calling for the ball. He see's me and sends a perfect pass over the head of the defender next to me. I pour on the speed to meet the ball about 10 yards out from the goal and its 1 on 1 with their keeper. The ball bounces once and the keeper starts to come out. I jumped into the air and with the outside of my right foot, calmly flick the ball by the charging keeper and into the right side of the net. Goal! Immediatly, guys on the Under30 team began coming up to me and asking me my name and which team I was on. It was funny. I soon learned they were so happy to see that because the one thing they were missing last season was a forward with a scoring touch. Defense has always been their strength. Which I did learn there are a couple very good defenders on this team. Lots of good hustle and mental toughness. These are good signs to see in my new teamates.

So today during my lunch hour, I took a trip down to a local sporting good store to look at some new outdoor soccer cleats. I didn't expect to find anything I liked really, since local stores are known for carrying only 1 or 2 types of shoes and not very good quality ones at that. I was pleasantly surprised to find several decent pair to choose from. But one pair of Adidas cleats caught my eye. They had a good cleat design for hard ground, good colors to go with most any uniform, seemed well built and most impressivly they were feather light. I mean so light, it didn't even feel like i was holding a soccer cleat. This was an important factor since by the second half my legs feel like 2 cement bags tied to me. Light is good! So I found my size and bought them. Im looking forward to getting them broke in. This is the first time in 12 years I have worn another brand of shoe besides Kelme. I feel bad about being a traitor and not buying them. Kelme's are such high quality boots I hope these $50 Adidas can compare to them. Don't be fooled by the price though. The Kelme's I usually wear run $100, double what I paid for the Adidas. But the Kelme shoe's are imported and all imported soccer shoes carry a bit higher price tag. Maybe these USA made cleats can win me over. We'll see as the outdoor soccer action pics up!

Zidane Fest

And the comedy begins...

Rebirth!

Besure to check in on my main website, thorpeland.com in the coming days. A total transformation is about to take place. Changes have already begun. A new look, a new webhost and some new features! Oh, the excitement. I know... I know.

Vacation Time!!

 
After being gone for the past week, Emily and I have returned from Puerta Vallarta Mexico! What a blast we had. We arrived Wednesday, July 5th at 8:30 in the morning. We got checked into the hotel and began to explore the area, eat and hit the beach. That evening I was able to take a bunch of pretty good pictures as the sun set.

Thursday morning, we were up early and on our way outside of town to the jungle for the Canopy Zip-line tour. A network of 13 tree-top platforms with cables running to each. They suit us up in our harness gear and we fly through the canopy along these cables at high speeds. Fun! We returned to town that afternoon to relax and hit the beach. Since our trip was an all-inclusive package, our meals were included and we could eat as many times as we wanted. Surprisingly, we didn't gorge ourselves as much as the average toursist might have. Which is probably good, since we had so many things planned.

Friday was another early morning out of bed. This time we had to be at the Marina to catch a boat. We were headed down the coast for some snorkeling and exploring. After about an hours ride on the catamaran, we stopped at a small cove and everyone suited up with our masks, snorkels and life vests. As we hopped into the water, we were handed a dinner roll by the tour guides. This was to feed the fish underwater. What I did not expect was the ferocity of the little buggers when they saw the food! I looked down and saw one colorful sunfish coming out of the coral and seaweed at the bottom. Suddenly, I was caught in what best could be described as a pirranha like frenzy. I could feel fish all over me and they churned the waters around me. I struggled to quickly take out my waterproof camera, and I think I got some decent pictures. I still have to get them developed. A bit later while swimming, Emily tells me she lost one of her swimming fins! I look down and its sitting on the coral floor about 15 feet down. So, I wiggled out of my vest and gave it to Emily to hold on to. I took a deep breath and began my decent. About half way down I began to think, "what if i get down here and there is a barracuda in these rocks?". Ha! Well there wasn't and I returned to the surface safely. We all got back onto the boat shortly after that and got served a good lunch. Emily wasn't able to enjoy it as much because she was getting a bit motion sick from the rocking boat. But she kept her eye on the level horizon and never threw up. A few minutes later we arrived at our second stop, the remote village of Yelapa. This is a town only accessible by boat and which only recieve electricity five years ago. Our tour guide gave us a walk thru tour of the small village then lead us down to a picturesque beach. We stayed there for about an hour, relaxing and swimming. Then we all boarded the boat for the return trip back to Puerta Vallarta. Our tour guide Jovani was a real comedian and kept everyone entertained the whole way.

Saturday was another day of getting up early. We had to catch a ride to the airport at 7am, even though our flight wasnt until 9:40. Emily took a little fall at the airport on some stairs. But she was alright. Just slipped on a couple stairs, bruising her backside a bit. We got on our plane and landed in Dallas by 12:30 in the afternoon. Home in time to unpack, relax and still enjoy the weekend before returning to work Monday.

On Sunday, I was able to meet up with Dan (who was in town for work from L.A.) and Kirk at Hooters to watch the World Cup Final. It was a great time and a very entertaining game. The French scored first on a penalty kick, but a short time later, Italy got the equalizer off a corner kick header. Very nice! The game went into extra time, then into a penalty shootout. Italy won it 5-3 to claim the World Cup trophy! It was a great time since both teams played some decent attacking soccer. And being able to watch the game with my old college buddies made it even more fun.

I took a TON of pictures while in Mexico. Check them out at HERE! 

Free Fun??

 
Few things in this world that are truly fun are, well... truly free. There's always a cost... somehow. Right? Well I've come across something that is very fun and very free. My buddy Barmy pointed to towards a game called TrackMania Nations. Its a PC game that is free to download, but has the quality of a game you'd pay $50 for at the store. Its a car racing game. Its simple to play and tremendous fun. I spent about 3 or 4 hours this weekend racing against my buddies online. And a nice thing about it is you do not have to have a high end gaming pc to play it. It will run on most older computers. And its some crazy fun. The tracks have jumps, loops and insane turns you'd almost have to see to believe. Not to mention all the mods and skins there are for the cars, created by players all over the world. This game is truly a great find in a sea full of crappy $50 retail games. Check it out at http://www.trackmanianations.com See you on the track! 

The Open Water and Good Friends

Yesterday, my friends Gregg and Stacey came out with me, Top Jimmy and his friend Steve. Jimmy had his boat and I brought out my jetski. We hit the lake at noon but it was cool and cloudy. There was even a light rain coming down. Within the hour, the clouds broke and it was 100% sun! We had fun pulling the tube behind the boat and blasting the waves on the jetski. About half way thru the day, my jetski's main tank ran out of gas and I had to switch to the reserve line. I drove it over to local marina and bought some gas there. They charged a whopping $3.59 a gallon! I guess they figure if you need gas, you don't have many choices so they can charge as much as they want. It was a great day on the lake and we hope to get more people out with us in the coming weekends. I'll have to take some pictures to post.

Eating Their Words

In preparing for this past Friday's Coed game, I learned two things. One, this was a new team made up of all great players, girls and guys, they would be very tough. And two, someone on their team told our team they wanted to beat us so badly this Friday that we'd not want to play in the Friday night league anymore. Well, those is fightin' words!! Our team was definatly fired up by that statement and came ready to play. Apparently, they weren't quite as ready. We won the match 11-4. They put up a fight early in the game, but we wore them down with constant attacking pressure and solid defense. I'm sure this is a team we will face in the final championship game. I'll look forward to beating them again.

Soccer Update

Things are going well on my soccer front. My coed team has been blowing away everyone in our division so far this season. Our last win was something like 23-1. And the team looked very good in warmup. I thought we were in for a battle. Not so. I scored our second goal and then resorted to just passing the ball to our girls, trying to set them up for a score. Suposedly this coming friday, we play a team that could really give us a run for our money. I'll update with what happens.

On the men's team front, we're doing ok. Currently at 2-2, we won last Tuesday 6-2. I scored 2 goals, the last one being on a penalty shot. We have some tough games ahead so im not sure how we'll end up this season.

Longest Week... Ever.

Is it just me or this week just crawling by? It's only Tuesday but it feels like it should be Thursday at least. I guess that because I dont really have anthing happening this week. Well anything very interesting. Took the jetski out last Saturday with Emily and met Top Jimmy at the lake. It was a blast getting back out there again. The water was nice, although a bit lower because of our drought. But we still had fun. The jetski ran great after coming out of its winter hibernation. Im looking forward to getting back out there this saturday. Ah yes... fun times ahead.

They Do!

Last weekend Emily and I drove down to Galveston (TX) for our good friends Mike and Cheryl's wedding. But not only were we attending their wedding, we were in it! Emily was the maid of honor and I was a groomsman. We hit the road early Friday morning and had made great time on the normally 6 hour drive, making it in about 5 hours. Just in time for lunch with our hosts. They took everyone out to a BBQ place. Which is probably the last place I would have chosen to eat at, but oh well. I had a burger and fries, its all good.

That night came and it was time for the Bachalor and Bachalorette parties. Emily had spent the past month planning Cheryl's and the best man Aaron had evertything arranged for Mike's. The girls were getting to gether to play odd games like "pin the penis on the man" and later have a stripper show up acting as a doctor, since Cheryl is down there for med school. Our plan was to take Mikey boy out to a strip club and make him think twice about this whole marriage thing. Ha! Well without divulging too many details, they both had fun at their respective events and still wanted to get married the next day. The wedding went off without a hitch. No one tripped or forgot their lines or went the wrong direction. The reception was a lot of fun. They had rented out a building in The Strand (tourist area of Galveston). Food was catered and they had a good DJ for the tunes.

Our drive back seemed longer than going down, but was uneventful. No traffic jams or problems. We took my new car and it was smooth riding the entire trip. I cringed at the fact I was putting almost 1000 miles on my new ride! haha I guess thats what I got it for. Oh yeah, the day after the wedding Mike and Cheryl headed off for the Bahamas for a 7 day vacation. I bet they had a blast! Congrats guys!! We're all happy for you!

The Beast

So the time has come for me to begin building a new powerful home pc for multi-media and gaming use. Unlike my last rig, where I merely built it to run the current app of the day, I wanted to build this one to handle whatever the next 3 or 4 years may throw at it. By that I mean it doesn't necessarily have to have the power currently to run everything that will come out over the next four years, but be capable of upgrading with the latest technology as needed. Of course, I want to build it powerful enough to not need any upgrades for as long as possible. In the ever changing world of computers, this is a tough chore.

I started planning out what I now refer to as "The Beast" by hitting the web to do my research. After all, it has been at least a year since I upgraded my current PC and so much has changed since then! I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing out on any cool new tech that would give me an edge. One of the best places to start out with research, price comparing and buying is the website NewEgg.com. What makes this site so great is first off, their low prices. Few sites can beat their discounts. They also offer cheap or free shipping on items and often sizable mail in rebates. After weeks of planning, Ive mapped out my new rig. Below is the parts list, which Ive begun buying peice by piece over the past few and next few months.

RAM - 2GB of Corsair DDR400, Dual channel
Hard Drive - 120GB 720RPM W/8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
MoBo - MSI K8N Diamond Plus Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI X16 ATX AMD
PSU - Rosewill 600W Power Supply, W/SLi support
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Toledo 2000MHz HT 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939 Dual Core
Video - DUAL Geforce 7900GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16, Running in 16X SLi Mode
Case - COOLER MASTER Centurion 532

So far i have recieved my RAM, MoBo, PSU and the Case. I havent started assembling anything yet. Waiting till i get it all ordered and in. Im salvaging a CD/DVD burner drive from my current pc. So I did not have to purchase another. The last thing on the list I will be buying is the CPU. Currently the 4800+ is one of AMD's top processors. And of course the top dual core CPU's currently out fetch a high price. Right now the price sits at $683. Ouch, I know. That's why im holding off for a couple more months to see what the price does as Intel gets closer to releasing its new "Conroe" line of CPU's which are claiming to be the fastest around. That normally starts a domino effect of prices falling. I plan to make updated posts, with pictures as I assemble "The Beast". I'll then post performace results and some benchmarks. Oh, the excitement!!

A Clean Sheet!

My Coed Indoor soccer team finished the season a perfect 10-0, winning the championship last Friday night. We pulled off a rather close 9-3 victory. I say close because we beat most teams by double digit margins. Im looking forward to next season, so we can "Threepeat" as they say in pro sports. If we keep the same team together, there is a good chance we can do it again!

It's a Done Deal!

 
After nearly a 2 year wait, Verizon FiOS has been installed! For those who aren't in "the know", FiOS is a fiber optic connection directly to the home. This gives internet connection speeds which make DSl or Cable internet look like the days of dial-up. After it was set up I did some tweaking and was able to get my speeds to 15.33MB Down/2.38MB UP. That's darned fast! These speed are important to me because I don't just check email and surf the web from my home pc. I host video game servers, upload video's and download a lot of large software installs. This is definatly a good day in Thorpeland. :) Above is a picture of the Verizon installers patching the fiber line into the side of my house. 

The Perfect Lunch

 
Many of my friends despise sushi. To me, this is an extremly tasty and fulfilling lunch! I highly recommend trying various types of "cali-rolls" if you get the chance. So many are so delicious! Don't be a wuss and be scared because it has some type of raw fish on it. Consider it a healthy break from the deep fried everything topped off with a loaded hamburger that you usually get for lunch. 

Testing the YouTube

Watch me drive a lap in the Cart class in Toca Race Driver 3. Mainly im just posting this to test the embeded video feature from youtube.com. Enjoy.

Into the Playoffs!

Both my Tuesday men's and Friday Coed soccer teams had their first round playoff games this past week. And both ended in wins for both my squads! Tuesday we played the badly outmatched "Average Joe's", beating them easily 11-3. This puts my men's team, Menace FC, in the B division championship match next Tuesday. We could have been playing for the A championship, but lost the our last game of the season, putting the top championship game out of reach according to our points standing. On Friday night, my coed team finished off our first round oppenent 9-5. This puts us into the final championship match and a chance to finish the season with a perfect 10-0 record! I see no reason why we should lose that game!