Well, my blogging has definitely taken a back seat, but so has my time here at this site. My old computer made it almost impossible to visit here. That and the occassional shut-down that made this site not a lot of fun, has kept me away. Now that I have a much more powerful computer, i'm hoping to be back on a more regular basis.

My last blog was about my son's graduation from Fordham. A quick update on that is that he's got a great job in sales, working right in the fashion district of Manhattan. He's selling a type of office printer that everyone seems to need and love, so he's been doing very well for himself out there. I couldn't be more proud if I tried.

My son, Justin is in his second year of college at Wilkes University and actively pursuing his degree as an English major. He's also doing well. Gary, my stepson, is working his ass off and becoming an amazing, virtuosoic guitar player. He's currently working with an accomplished drummer on a few musical projects. The twins, Damian and Raven, are now in HIGH SCHOOL!!! ARRRRGGGHHHH!!!! I'm so damn old it's pathetic.

To round it all out personally... me and CeeJ are finally tying the knot, May 16th... or sooner if I can get her to agree.

Now, onto the fun stuff. LOL I've finally upgraded my gear. I still have the FuJi FinePix S5200, but two months ago I purchased a Canon XS1000. I believe it's the introductory Rebel to the DSLR line, but it's quite a good camera and I am LOVING what I'm doing with it. Funny thing is, I was able to do the same stuff on the FuJi, but never looked into it much. I had full manual control on that camera too, but not the ability to change lenses. THAT makes the new camera so much more invaluable to me.

As for lenses, I have a Canon EFS 18-55mm with IS that came with the camera and a Canon EF 35-80mm, that CeeJ had on her old film Rebel. Also we purchased a Canon EFS 55-250mm with IS, on our most recent trip to NYC. We bought it at Willoughby's, which I would have to recommend anyone looking to get a lot of gear check out. They work out some amazing deals with you. I walked out of there with that lens, a great backpack, filters, an extra battery and charger, cleaning stuff and more assorted little things for just over 400 bucks.

I bought the Canon at our local Ritz Camera. While they are quite a bit more expensive, they have a great warranty policy. Basically, you can run your camera over with a truck and they will replace it. Which reminds me... i'm getting a new FuJi soon. It got run over with a truck. LOL Unfortunately, the local Ritz is going out of business and I'll have to deal with another store from now on. I might just make the drive to NYC from now on to get anything I need for my camera. Even the grey market out there is awesome. I'm not a fan of buying off the internet, especially when it comes to grey market, so just hopping a bus to NYC is well worth the money.

I've updated from photoshop 7.0 to CS4 and actually plan on learning it now. LOL So many things that can be done with that program. I love some of the stuff I see here at this site and would love to learn how to do it too. I have some background, but a good friend of mine is a master of it, and has agreed to help me learn it betterer. LOL

So with all the new gear, I hope to be taking more pics and posting more of the ones I like. I hope you like them as well.

Oh, i might be taking a job at the mall's portrait studio. It's The Photo People. I dunno yet. They require lots of weekends, and that might be a bitch. The prospect of learning more at portraiture really excites me though. And the extra cash, to buy more lenses and other equiptment, would be a very nice added bonus to it. I am currently trying to start a low-cost to customer, portrait studio now anyway. I've been a parent for 23 years and I know how much it is to keep good pics around the house of your kids. Portrait studios can be ridiculous, so as an alternative, I want to offer an everyday, "workingman's" studio, so that folks like me can do this. I hope that takes off.

Anyway, that's the basics since I've last blogged. I hope to get some new pics up soon. I've been looking at all my friend's work, and as always... you've all inspired me with your great art. I hope I can return the favor in some small way.

Thanks.