Creating accountability

I realized recently that I don't take credit a lot of times when the work I produce at my job is below average. I'm more than happy to post the good pages to my online portfolio, but I rarely even acknowledge the ones into which I don't really feel I put my best effort.

I think because of that, I'm more prone to just put a page together when the muse hasn't visited me on any given day. Mediocrity at work is not my goal. Therefore, I'm planning to start posting all of my weekly pages on this blog along with, on occasion, any sort of description of the page, what I think I did right and what I think didn't work all that well. This way, even if no one reads this or even looks at my pages, I can at least pretend that I'm making myself accountable to someone, even if that someone is just me.

So, the first installment comes from Sunday. It's a bit of a stray from my original intent for this blog — I'm actually quite proud of this design — but I think it's a good start just the same. The main story was about a new art gallery at South Alabama, the first one that's been dedicated solely as a gallery of their own. They call it their "dedicated space," and the photography wasn't all that great, so I decided to interpret what I thought "dedicated space" might be. Each element's space was thought out in great detail, and I think the final product turned out nice. Any thoughts?

Japanese Magnolia in our Front Yard

Japanese Magnolia in our Front Yard, originally uploaded by amydot151.

Amy took some fantastic photos Saturday of the Japanese Magnolia trees on our street. They're blooming like crazy right now, and Amy was really able to capture their beauty with the camera, so if you're interested in seeing them, check out her photo set on Flickr.

Catching up — Photos from New Year's Eve

Dr. John, originally uploaded by bamaphan79.

For the second New Year's Eve in a row, and just the second we've had together, Amy and I scored some awesome VIP tickets to a great concert. While last year was spent in the front row at the Orpheum Theater in Memphis at the Bluff City Ball, this year found us in a VIP opera box at Mobile's historic Saenger Theater with two of Amy's bosses and their wives. We had an incredible view, all the dancing room we could ask for, and some fantastically funky New Orleans tunes from the doctor himself, Doctor John. Jamie McLean from the Dirty Dozen Brass Band was playing when we arrived, but I forgot my memory card in the car, so we didn't have any shots of him. John Cleary was up next on the grand piano, and he played some rockin' boogie woogie tunes to warm us up. But it was Doctor John that everyone was there to see, and it was Doctor John who rocked us out of 2007 and into what's shaping up to be an incredible '08. Above is a link to photos from the night. Let me know what you think!

I finally got a Facebook

It's sad, but Apple has the uncanny ability to throw a commercial on the TV and make me suddenly want something I didn't so much care about before I saw the silly ad. For instance, their most recent commercial, the one about Facebook, made me actually want to go check out Facebook and sign up for one. Thankfully, it's free. I'm hooked already. As my friend Shane put it, it's like MySpace for grownups. I'm not enlightened by any means — if anything, I'm way behind the curve — but between the blog here, my pictures on Flickr, music on Pandora, shared items from Google Reader, and now all of it tied together in one handy spot, I'm gonna be hooked on updates, I'm afraid.

Anyway, all that to suggest that if you haven't checked out some of these sites, you should — you might enjoy them. There are links over on the right to each of the services I use, so go explore! The more I explore, the cooler I discover all this stuff really is. And now I'll stop babbling about the InterWebs. More posts to come!

Some more about Guinan's

You may want to clear your afternoon before you click on this link that my Dad sent along earlier this week. There's a lot about Guinan's Pub to be discovered there. I barely scratched the surface before I had to stop reading, afraid that I might not get any work done at all today.

Quite a long time...

... since an update here, and I've got a bit to catch up on, so hopefully there will be some exciting new posts coming in the near future. But first, I'd like to share some interesting tidbits that have been sent along from my Dad up in Peekskill.

First, I received a great letter in the mail the other day with a map of Ireland attached and some photos photocopied over them pointing to significant spots in County Cork, where my ancestors on my Grandpa Murphy's side were from. I've made a Google Map of the same items and am linking to it below. Each of the three markers represents one of the photos my dad sent down, and if you click on them, there's some interesting info he included in the letter.


View Larger Map

Next, a bit of sad news. Guinan's pub/country store/deli officially closed this week. When I was a kid, my dad would take me up to Garrison on the Metro North Hudson Line, just for the ride. We'd get off the train, stop into Guinan's for a soda and a chat with Jim Guinan, then hop back on the next southbound train for the two-stop trip back to Peekskill. For an 8-year-old, it was a magical experience. Guinan's was the subject of a fantastic book called "Little Chapel on the River," which can be found at Amazon.com. Also, there's a great story about the final "official" Irish Night from the New York Times here. I got some photos e-mailed from the final final night of music at Guinan's, a decidedly quieter affair, from the looks of the photos. Some of those are below, courtesy of my Dad.

On my walk back from lunch

Clydesdales, originally uploaded by bamaphan79.

I took a stroll through downtown after getting my haircut and a bite to eat for lunch. As I rounded the corner onto Adams Street, what do I see? The frickin Budweiser Clydesdales. How cool is that? I'm not yet sure why they are here, but I made sure to snap a few photos with the new phone.

Christmas in Midtown

Christmas in Midtown, originally uploaded by bamaphan79.

I set out Sunday evening to shoot one of the houses along Dauphin Street that I'd seen all decked out in Christmas lights. As is my luck, only half the lights were lit that night, but I got some fun stuff nonetheless. Click on the photo for more.

A weekend in Mississippi

Amy and I got away to our country getaway, also known as my brother's Mississippi "plantation," this past weekend and really had a blast just sitting around the fire, enjoying a party pig of Amberjaque beer from Lazy Magnolia and staying up all night to catch a foggy sunrise along the railroad tracks near Edwards. Here are some shots from the morning.

More George Sinzer goodness

I shared some videos the other day from 13-plus years ago, when a young Danny Murphy was behind the camera at Continental Cablevision studios in Peekskill for the classic string of "Sinzer Reports" television shows. As promised, here's some more George goodness, although this seems a little more recent, yet decidedly just as disturbing. Enjoy.

Take me to the USS PEEKSKILL!!!!