Fantasy Football

Fantasy Football is quickly approaching.  Once again, every able bodied person with a minimal amount of grey matter between their ears will be chiming in with their theories on sleepers and must-have picks in your drafts.  I am, of course, no exception.

Over the next several weeks and months I will be spewing out plenty of prognistications on the upcoming season.  Don't tell anyone, but right now Chester Taylor ( now with the Minnesota Vikings ) is my "hot" pick of the week.

I had Mr. Taylor late in the season last year and was pleased with his productivity in spite of him not being a starter in Baltimore.  This year, Chester is projected as the starter at Minnesota.

Look for Scott's Fantasy Central web page in the next few weeks with all kinds of useless information to waste your precious time reading and ignoring all at the same time.

Morgan's First Movie - Cars

Dayna and I wanted to see Cars this weekend so we got brave and took Morgan to the movie with us.  We weren't sure what to expect from Morgan and whether or not we'd need to leave the theatre under the disapproval of the other movie goers.

Morgan was absolutely perfect.  we even positioned her car seat in such a way so she could see the movie.  She was very intriqued and actually was glued to the screen for the entire move except for about 30 minutes of nap time.  Dayna even fed Morgan her scheduled bottle while in the movie.  Overall, the entire experience was just wonderful.  Morgan is the most easy going baby I think I've ever been around.  She goes with the flow so well and almost never cries.

By the way, the movie was great.  I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Inflamed Eye

Today was an eventful day.  As we were leaving for the Per-Se Company Picnic, we were preparing Morgan by spreading some sunblock on her.  Unfortunately, while applying it to Morgan's face, a bit of sunblock made it into Morgan's right eye.  Not only did Morgan's eye get significantly inflamed, but her little face had a strong reaction to the sunblock as well.

One could almost draw a straight line down her nose to see where the rash was.  Half of Morgan's face was very red and rash-like.  Being the nervous new parents we are, we contacted the pediatrician's office to see what needed to be done to help the situation.  Fortunately, it was nothing serious and a little benadryl seemed to make her feel better and the rash went away in a couple hours.

Whew!!!   We survived our first parenting mistake ( I'm sure there will be lots more ).

Altering photos with Photoshop

I've obviously developed a real love for photography over this last month.  As I learn more each day, I find myself gravitating toward a purist view of this art form.  In other words, at this time, I do not alter my photos with Photoshop.  The only thing I use Photoshop for is to resize the images for my web pages.  I have not even used the software to modify the brightness and contrast of my pictures.  Sharpening photos using Photoshop is used by a lot of folks and there is simply nothing wrong with that.  Many folks are very good with image software and can make their pictures look eye-popping using these tools.  Maybe someday in the future I will become more advanced with Photoshop and begin experimenting more heavily with altering my photos.  However, at this time, I'm very much in the learning process and want to focus my attention on creating pictures with the proper exposure levels using the camera and my skills rather than fixing the photos after the fact with software.  I do a lot of comparing my shots with other folks in order continue to learn.  A great resource for me has been the pBase ( Photography Database ) Website.

Telephoto Lens

Ah, the joys of a telephoto lens.  I decided on the Canon EF 100-300mm lens and received it in the mail yesterday.  Of course, I've had to take a picture of just about everything with the lens.  My primary objective is to capture sporting events and nature/wildlife photos.  I'm obviously in the early stages of learning how to shoot these types of shots, so don't be too impressed with my amateur photos here.  I promise to get better as I spend more time practicing with the SLR and lenses.

Check out the latest telephoto shots in the Gallery

I've been bitten by the photography bug...

Unfortunately, I've been bitten by the photography bug and I seem to find new ways to spend money on what can be an expensive hobby if one is not careful.  However, after this weekend I have convinced myself of the value of a telephoto lens.  You can see in the Gallery that I caught some pictures of a butterfly.  The pictures are just ok in my opinion.  You can clearly see I was unable to get close enough to get a real closeup.  My 18-55mm lens is just not powerful enough to get those extreme closeup shots.  I have a real desire to capture shots of wildlife and sporting events.  To do this, I'm going to need at least a 200mm lens. I've started the research and have narrowed the candidates down to three affordable options...

Sigma AF 100-300mm f/4.5-6.7 DL
Tamron 100-300mm Lens
Canon EF 100-300mm

Fourth Of July Weekend

Dayna and I have had a lot of fun with Morgan on her first Fourth of July weekend.  Dayna bought Morgan a small swimming pool we filled up this afternoon.  Morgan loved the water and had no problems with water splashed on her face.  When she turns six months we have arranged for swimming lessons ( water babies ) at the HealthZone.  This will be her first of 6 courses she'll go through as a small child and then we'll look at more advanced classes for her.  I hope you find the pictures as fun to look at as they were to take.  Have a great 4th.