I’ve been rather busy lately and there has been some pretty major changes in my life that have had me doing other things that just seemed more important than updating my website.

A few things that I’ve been up to or that have happened recently:

Yes, this is my backyard in DALLAS TX, if you can believe it!

• I am no longer in Mississippi! I’ve moved to McKinney, Texas which is just north of Dallas. Kim and I bought a wonderful new home and we’re working new jobs and trying to learn a whole new area – boy Dallas is large!
• Speaking of jobs, I am now working at Texas Instruments as consultant for their front end development team. What you see at ti.com is what I am doing. Specifically, I am responsible for site updates, interface elements and overall user experience. It’s quite challenging working on what is easily the largest website I’ve ever been involved with.
• We recently lost Amy, my middle-aged boxer which fell to a sudden heart attack. It has been very tough dealing with her loss but slowly we’re getting used to her not being with us anymore.
• I ended up winning photo of the week on the Canon Photography Forums and then ended up winning photo of the month which means it will be included as one of the photos in a calendar to be published at the end of this year. The photo that won was this one, which is one of my favorite photos.


Now in Texas - wow!

• Speaking of photos, my passion for photography has only grown recently and I am thrilled to have found numerous photo groups here in the Dallas area and I have been attending group events and meeting some wonderful fellow photographers. One of the great aspects of living in such a large metropolitan areas is that there are lots of like-minded people and many more resources available.
• Another photo related item is that I’ve finally launched my dedicated photography website at LambertPhotography.com! I am pretty pleased with how it turned out, but it has just launched and would love any feedback if you’ve got ideas, complaints, whatever, I’d love to hear them.

Tonight, my wife and I met up with a few friends for our usual dinner date. Although this time the after dinner entertainment was a bit different (normally it’s just a movie). We went to Ocean Springs Skate Zone to see the Mississippi RollerGirls take on the Panama City Roller Derby in a nice clean match of RollerDerby!

I wasn’t quite sure of what the scene would be like or even what the sport would look like up close having only seen it on TV with the the Thunderbirds being my main reference point. First things first, walking into a skating roller rink again for the first time in what would have to be 20 years or so, was a blast back to the past and memories of Red Ropes, tables and chairs bolted to the floor, rows of yellow lockers, and of course wall-to-wall shag carpeting. This place had all of that and then some. For a bit, my wife and I felt like we had fallen back into our childhood and were waiting for the next couples-only skate session to begin. We talked about doing the Hokey Pokey and of course the music being spun by the DJ that was mostly 70s Donna Summer and the BeeGees.

Well, reality snapped back into place with a thunderous meeting of Marilyn Manson vs Joanie Love Chachi. Everywhere there were straight edge and hardcore people who were usually sporting tattoos and lots of metal piercings. The outer appearance of our dreamlike state while walking into the rink was quickly changed to gawking the fashion statements being made by the local roller derby fan club.

It was like nothing we’d ever seen before. Here were groups of sweaty, tattooed women often wearing nothing more than a short skirt or kilt, with knee high stocking and tight t-shirts that often had vulgar sayings on them that would make most people blush just viewing them. These women were on old school 4-track skates, doing circles around a flat track and truly trying to beat the crap out of each other. Most of them had their “stage” names plastered on their clothing and gear and most were just hysterical comedy gold. I especially liked “Tink Again”, “Ivanna Bruiser”, “Militia Vandal”, and “Tru Shenanigans”. But “Edie Coli” was just too good to be true. I also thoroughly enjoyed the Head Refereee “Ref Hefner”.

We ended up having a great time as the beer was flowing and while we were enjoying the skaters thrashing about and beating the hell out of each other, there was tons of people to gawk at. After quite a few beers and many photos ops, we decided we’d seen enough and to call it a night. We did end up having a great time and really enjoyed the spectacle. Would I go again? Probably not. But I can now check one more thing off my list of things to do before I die list. If you want to see more about the girls of RollerDerby or even find out about the next event, please visit mississippirollergirls.com.

Just found out that a good friend of mine, Rachael Cardella who I’ve mentioned on here a few times, has won the B&H photo contest! She is going to be flown to New York and put up for 3 days at the Marriott Marquis. She’s also going to get a free shopping spree at B&H Photo!

I am totally thrilled for her as her work is fantastic and she deserves it.

Congrats, Rach!

Awhile back I found a stray dog that was apparently discarded from a moving vehicle out in the middle of a very rural area. It was tan and white colored beagle that very nervous of people and took quite a bit in order for me to be able to get it into the truck and take it home.

As you may know, I already have four Boxers that keep my hands quite full. Therefore, taking another animal in was just not an option but I could not allow for this dog (which we named “Clyde”) to be mistreated any further. After a few days of nursing him back to health we noticed that Clyde was deaf which was probably the reason that the previous owner got rid of him. Deaf hunting dogs are not something in demand around here.

While trying to find a suitable home for Clyde, we remembered that the neighbor of my Grandma was deaf and had several dogs. We ended up placing Clyde with her and everything seemed right. The two were a perfect match and the dog was being well-cared for.

Months went by until we heard from Helen who was Clyde’s owner on New Years Eve. She had called crying, informing my wife that Clyde has somehow gotten out from the backyard and was missing. My wife and my mother went out searching for Clyde while I made flyers to help track the dog down. My wife and mother distributed the flyers everywhere and after a few days the reality that Clyde might not be found, started to sink in.

Then miraculously a phone call came in that Clyde had been found and was at a shelter in a nearby town. Helen had Clyde returned to her and everything was right again. It was a pretty neat story and in fact the local paper even ran a story about it which you can see here: http://www.sunherald.com/278/story/281152.html

I’m just glad that things worked out and that a very nice lady got her very nice dog back.

Just going to the dentist is a feat for me, as I have a phobia of that place for some reason. I generally only go when I have to and I’ve been thankful that my teeth are in pretty good shape and I’ve needed nothing but routine cleanings over the years. I knew the wisdom teeth would eventually become a problem someday but I was told that if you make it into your thirties with them intact, they generally seem to be less of a problem from that point forward. What I didn’t know was that if you do have a problem past your twenties, that they are a much bigger problem to deal with.

So, with this in mind, after some time thinking about things (okay, who am I kidding – the decision was pretty much made for me by the pain) I decided it was a good time to go ahead and bite the bullet. I was told that I have two impacted teeth with the one on the lower right that was causing the current bout of uncomfort was growing in sideways and causing all kings of problems. I was also told the the wisdom tooth above this one was also growing awkward and trying to “touch” it’s lower sibling which was going to cause it’s own dilemmas.

So after hearing about that I asked the oral surgeon if he would give me a group rate on getting all four wisdom teeth removed. He obliged and I obligated. I am now the proud owner of four very painful holes in the back of my mouth that hopefully will bring this episode in my life, to an unconditional end- yeeeah!

I would normally try and post photos but in this case I think I’ll pass and spare you that.