Hooray for Kwali!

This morning was a big morning for Kwali. These days whenever both my wife and I are out of the house, Kwali gets put in his crate until we return, to avoid him destroying the house the way dogs sometimes do. But, he's almost 2.5 years old now, so I figured it was time to start experimenting with new levels of responsibility. This morning when my wife and I went to breakfast, we let Kwali stay out of the crate, confined only to the lower floor of the house. We were gone for about 1.5 hours...

gulp.....

this was big test, but.... Kwali passed! We got back and started looking around to see what he had destroyed - nothing! We were so proud - gave him 2 treats for that one! Hooray for Kwali!

Can't wait!

I can't wait to see the new Batman movie - I know it's gon' be sweeet, I just know it!

Something for your DVR

Interesting info that I got in an email - I will be checking it out:

Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 4:21 PM
Subject: FW: CNN - July 23 & 24... Mark your Calendar

Did you know that companies in the US have said they would hire awhite man with a felony record and no high school education BEFORE theywould hire a black man with NO criminal record and a 4-year degree?

On July 23 at 9pm and July 24 at 9pm ET, CNN will premier a series, 'Blackin America with Soledad O'Br ien' and I personally challenge you towatch it WITH your children, especially your sons, if you have any,uninterrupted. The aforemention statistic and many others will be revealed during theseries.

I had the privilege of meeting with Soledad O'Brien and actually SEEINGthis premier on Monday, and what I saw brought tears to my eyes andanguish, frustration, and a sense of helplessness to my soul.

On Monday the series will focus on Women and Families and Tuesday is dedicated entirely to the plight of the Black Man in America..

I beg and plead with you PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE watch and internalizewhat you see and hear; no matter HOW disturbing the informationrevealed...you can (and will) thank me later.Feel free to pass this email on or go here for more information: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/black.in.america/

Rockwell...

I always feel like
Somebody's watching me......

Dinner in my backyard??

A month or so ago, I had this big plant growning in my backyard. Looked like a weed to me. When the guys that cut my grass came by, I told them to be sure to yank out that big weed in the backyard. One of them asked, "Are you sure? You don't want to eat that?"





What???!!! Ricardo does not eat anything growing in his backyard! That includes the grapes that grow from the vines on my pergola. Although I suppose they're all edible, I'm just not that type of person. That just ain't me... :)



Anyway, he went on to explain that what was apparently growing wild in my backyard was a plant called "poke" that some folks eat like greens! He yanked it out and said he was considering taking it to his uncle to have him boil it. I thought that was pretty weird, but I just now looked it up, and wouldn't you know he was right! :)

I still ain't eating it, tho..... :)

Landscape lighting

Tried to take some shots of my landscape lighting at night with the digital SLR and the tripod. The shots below were taken with no flash.

Man, I wish I knew how to do this photography stuff! I'm sure a professional photographer could've gotten a much nicer-looking shot than what I did. This one seems too dark in the dark spots and too bright in the bright spots:

On this one, the camera somehow found way more light than was even there in real life! Amazing! And yet, not the look I was going for:

I thought maybe Photoshop could help me tweak them to make them look more like real life, but alas I don't really know what I'm doing in that realm either. :)