What Would You Have Done?

Sit back, watch this video and think about how you would have responded. I know how I would have, it's how most people would. Watch to the end and contemplate the things you say and do every day.

Mac Goes to Popham

After work yesterday, Mackenzie, gave me that 'Let's do something look', so after lunch we did. We headed off to Fort Popham which sits at the mouth of the Kennebec River. By the looks of things I think Mac had a great time. As did I. Here is a quickly thrown together video of her playing in the water. Enjoy.
Video shot with Nikon P6000 on Lexar SD Professional Media

Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk

I did the Photowalk again this year, but this time in the picturesque hamlet of Boothbay Harbor, Me. Start time was 7AM so I awoke two hours prior to that and found heavy rain pouring down. I needed an updated weather forecast so I headed over to NOAA's web site and radar showed the rain moving by fairly quickly. Good! When I arrived in Boothbay there was just a minor sprinkle and low lying clouds. Turned out to be a good morning for pic taking.
There were ten people signed up for the walk but only four braved the weather! Their loss!
Here are a couple of my captures. All were processed in Lightroom. To view a few more go here: Brillant Images

High School Lacrosse

The Maine Principals Association high school LAX championship games were held back on June 20 at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland, ME. I was there on assignment for a local sports newspaper, The Sportscaster Newspaper, which is printed bi-weekly. The weather in Maine has been less than ideal, rainy and cool, as such I was expecting yet another wet day for the games. We got a big break this time, the sun came out and temperatures rose above 65 degrees!! One of the games I covered was the girls Class A. The participants were Kennebunk High, from the west, and Brunswick High, from the east. As large as the State of Maine is, both teams are from the same county; go figure! Attached below is a slide show of the game. Enjoy.

The Honolulu Zoo

Nestled in the shadow of Diamond Head and bordering Waikiki Beach on the island of Oahu, the Honolulu Zoo is a place to visit for what most people will never do in their lifetime; a photo safari around the world.

Though I don't believe in the captivity of what should be wild, a zoo may be the only chance for some species to exist. This gives us a chance to photograph exotic birds, elephants, apes and many other animals on this great planet of ours.

Having visited the Philadelphia Zoo and the Norfolk Zoo in years past the Honolulu Zoo was my stop this past Sunday. Small in comparison to Phillie's, none the less it provided abundant photo ops.

Here are a few shots from that day.

Flamingo

Golden Breasted - Starling

Zebra

On to Hawaii

Feb. 22, 2009
It's off to Hawaii today. Departure from PWM (Portland Me) was scheduled for 0600 but weather conditions @ JFK (New York) required loading more fuel necessitating the removing a couple of passengers from the flight. We finally left about 45 mins late but arrived on time. Next stop SFO ( San Francisco). Departure from JFK was on time with arrival @ SFO close to on time. We had a layover of about 2.5 hrs so it was off to get some eats. We went to Perry's home of $14 burgers and $16 dollar meatloaf. I of course tried the meatloaf thinking there would be a bigger meal since I was starved. Should have gone with the burger, there was more on the plate. Oh well. After eating we found out our flight to Hawaii has been delayed by 1.5hrs. More time to kill. There isn't much here in this terminal to do, so here I sit tapping away at this keyboard. Exciting!!
Given the prominence of Princess Nancy Pelosi and her being the U. S. Representative of San Fran I figured she would have a cardboard cutout of herself greeting fliers into SFO. Maybe she hasn't gotten around to it yet, she has been busy you know creating huge spending bills in Congress. Hey I should tell her my disappointment in not seeing her effigy! A major ego boost to the Princess.
Well it's just sit and wait now for the boarding call; whenever that may be!
Feb. 23-
Finally got to Honolulu at about 9:15PM local time which works out to 2:15AM EST. What a long day.
After four and a half hours sleep we went to Pearl Harbor for orientation and passes to get on base. Not much to report but it's freakin cold here! Like 63 this morning! A slight difference from what I left, 25 degrees. I'm not sure how much I'll update this but hope to do at least once a week and with pics. Sorry none yet.

The Great State of Maine Air Show

The Great State of Maine Air Show was held this weekend at Naval Air Station Brunswick (NASB). As usual the Navy's flight demonstration team, The Blue Angels, was the star attraction. They arrived in Brunswick earlier this week not only to familiarize themselves with the terrain of the Brunswick area but also to check out the beautiful town of Brunswick.
With NASB on the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) list, it is slated for closure in 2011, this will be the last time the Blue Angels will perform in Brunswick. Needing several hundred people to put on the air show it is unlikely, in the near future, Brunswick will be able to handle the tremendous workload. On average the air show brings 100,000 people into town each day. All that traffic on local streets creates lengthy backups. Amazingly everything goes smoothly.
Friday was military and public safety day. Anybody in the military or public safety and their families could go watch the rehearsal show. With tropical storm Hannah travelling up the eastern seaboard, Friday was the day to go. The leading edge of Hannah sent low level clouds hovering over Brunswick all day Saturday preventing air craft from flying. On occasion the air boss would send up one of the smaller prop driven planes in the air to check the ceiling. With ceilings of 200- 300 feet it is not possible to perform aerobatics with the jet aircraft. A big disappointment for all who came to see the Blues. All was not lost though. There were many static displays of aircraft, ranging from early WW2 bombers to present day rotary aircraft and fighter jets. Oh there was a FedEx transport plane too.
Quite possibly the most interesting ground attraction was the US Army's Virtual Army Experience .The Army has chosen a great recruiting tool here. Not only is it fun for the teen but also those of us in the over 40 crowd enjoyed it too. I know I did.
There was a fire breathing Megasaurus showing those in attendance its car-nivorous appetite!
The Blue Angels fan that I am, I was disappointed they didn't fly Saturday but I got to see them perform Friday. With Hannah passing by Maine Saturday evening, dropping about six inches of rain or more, The Blues will fly Sunday. I won't be there though, have to take of chores at home sometime. I just may have to keep tabs with Air Show Buzz for the current air show schedule.