Lunar Eclipse

Well I didn't get a chance to do much setup before hand and of course the one time everything comes together it's so cloudy it was hard to even figure where the moon was. So, the total eclipse was at 10 and the sky cleared perectly around 10:15. This is what I could scrounge together with little to no experience. I must have taken 20 pictures and stood there for 45 minutes or better. December 2010 I should be more prepared.

Harley Pictures

Here's some pictures of the Harley. I'm hoping I can work with these pictures some and cut the backgound out and get the bike by itself the do something cool with them. Just have to see.

Back from Disney: Jan

These are all pictures from our recent trip. One from each day.

The first day we went to EPCOT then to MGM for Fantasmic. Now I didn't do any clever editing to this, this was shot right after the lite the water on fire and this was shot across the remaining fumes and waves it leaves in the air. Pretty cool huh.



The next day we went to the Animal Kingdom all day then back to the Magic Kingdom. I got the tripod for the fire works. This was shot with the tripod sitting on a trash can and cranked up about 7' off the ground to get above everybody's head. This was a 1/2 second exposure and 5.6 F-Stop. Might have been a little big, could have probably used a smaller F number. This wasn't the "best" picture but out of 200+, I liked it.


The next day we were pretty much exhausted and didn't take to many picturs. So here is one when we saw Samantha Brown from the Travel Channel. This was the point Mandy figured she could be a good paparazzi photographer.


We went to MGM and hung out all day. This was right before the parade. This was the famous director Alberto Dante. You must ask Mr. Dante's permission before taking a picture. Then he asks which of his 137 poses you would like. This was number 99. The MGM street people are a riot.


We were completely exhausted and I was sick on the last day. This was about the only decent picture I got. However, these guys are good and very cool to listen too. Especially as old as instruments are, or at least appear.


Hopefully more pictures to follow once I do some editing to some of the ones I hope came out good.

2 weeks before Christmas

This is a big piece of fine art we have hanging on the wall.....ok, thats a lie. This is a 1000 piece puzzle we put together and swore we'd never do that again. So to keep from having to assemble this again we got this puzzle glue goo stuff and glued it all together. Then we bought a huge frame and piece of mat board and I learned how to mat and frame for the first time. Thanks to Casey for the mat cutter. (So help me I won't frame anything this big again)

Clearly this is the 2nd annual Britton family Christmas tree. It's a good size, the picture doesn't do it justice, but it's covered with ornaments from 1977 until this year.














Since I had the camera out I took a picture of the nice down lit part of our entertainment center. That is our wine glasses from our engagement and wedding....and, how many people do you know that have a glass slipper with their name and date on it, not to mention with, "Happily ever after" on it. (I picked that out myself)

Part of our small collection of Disney stuff. OK, upper left is a piece of stock with Mandy's name on it. Pretty freakin' cool for a birthday present if you ask me. Now she can demand to get things since she does "own" the place. Below that is a giclee' print of DVC. Only available to members, or ebayers. Upper right is a print of the castle with trading pins set to look nice. Below that is an awesome picture we took in sept on the boardwalk around 12:30 am with a tripod and remote. Oh, and the bottom right is my Carolina Hurricanes Stanley Cup Champs poster and game 5 ticket. I was there, they didn't win that game, but it was pretty cool. Thanks to a very cool co-worker he snuck me into the lower bowl area of the arena. So my $120 ticket got upgraded to a $300 just by hanging out at the lower level bar. Still need to hang the poster up.



This is our signed "moonshine" bottles. It's actually signed by Junior Johnson. I never in my life would dream I would have a bottle of moonshine signed by Junior Johnson. I only wish I would have had my camera when I got these signed. We still need to get a bottle to try. These won't get opened.

Disney in Sept (more to follow)

We went to Disney in Sept with 2 other couples from work. Then boB's brother and wife also met us there to hang out for all day Sunday.

Let's go Sorin'! Always a first when you enter the park.

Andy introducing us to Soarin'. We are cleared for take off. {he always looks like this :) }

Mandy is tall enough to ride. We just had to prove it.

2007 (Jan - June)

So, I finally got around to putting the engine back into the S-10. What a better time to do this than 1/17/07. Cold weather, dark, a perfect time. You can't see it but in the corner is a 80k BTU heater.
In March they brought the CAT Chopper by the plant before they gave it to "The Victory Junction Gang" the next day. Don't fret, CAT ordered 2 when this one was built.

The weekend of the Bristol race in March we caught up with our good friend's, the Farmers.

This is Earl's rail cars, he's since sold it, but I like this picture if I had only got the nose in the picture.

We quit working at Advance Auto Parts in May, to celebrate we went to Vegas and took Kenny and Farrah with us. We drove from Vegas to the Grand Canyon. Little heads up, it's a long freakin way to do in a day and back. Oh, and cold up there compared to Vegas. I was also able to get a bunch of nice T-Shirt on that trip. Well, I had to, I left Raleigh with no shirt except the one I was wearing. So I got some every where we went.

The video below is when I finally got around to actually getting the S-10 to start. This isn't the first fire, but this is about the 5th. Amazing what happens when you put good fuel in and clean the fuel injectors from sticking. So this was around June.

Last year in review (Dec 06)

First off, we went to Disney World in early December 06. Had a good time and made some really nice Christmas cards last year. Pretty good picture for a passing stranger (seriously).

I took a photography class and it was pretty fun. Here is a shot from a park in downtown Raleigh.

I'm rebuilding the engine in my S-10. Here's one possibly reason why it failed, or what would have failed. This is what a valve looks like when it's hammered. This happens when rocker arms are out of adjustment.

Random Stuff I've been meaning to share.

This is a crazy video from the Mini Truckin' Nationals in Pigeon Forge, TN from 2000. For those that haven't been to such an event around dark people line the streets to watch the cruise that's 4 lanes wide and just kinda hang out. We were doing the same on this very night. While taping a crowd of people from across the street (because it looked like something interesting was going to happen) out of no where comes this monstrous screeching sound. Hence the video below.

So, now that you've watched it, you have right. The story that we were told was there was a bet the guy in the fire bird couldn't do 3 donuts in the middle of those 3 or 4 lanes. Well, the organized a few dozen people to stop traffic and the fun began. Now the cops show up and he was held at gun point and everybody was run out of the parking building but him and the cop. The cop puts his gun away, shakes the guys hand, tells him it's the craziest thing he's ever seen, if the car so much as moves the rest of the weekend they'd put him under the jail, he drives off and tells him have a nice day. People started throwing money at the fire bird when he came back out. So he probably pocked several hundred dollars.

More pumpkin carving fun

If we don't win the community carving contest this year. We might give up, or resort to sabotage techniques....

The house tweaked a bit more


Punkins' in the fridge


Mandy carved the Scott pumpkin


Scott carved the Mandy pumpkin. I went first so I learned what not to do, so Mandy's carving of me looks much better. Maybe it was just her subject matter?!

Some recent pics

Mandy having a good time at the Dole Plantation in HI.


Mandy and "Magnum" as I've been told.


1/3 of my '06 pumpkins.

Bristol - A quick Review

First of all Larry "not quite" the cable guy came by the camp site we visited.

We saw a very large marker on the way in.

The guy with the flag dropped by. I'm glad we don't sit in turns 1 and 2, to much responsibility.

The fire works like to scared us to death.

Team CAT making a quick stop.

Disney fireworks got nothing on Bristol.

A good picture from our good friend boB.


Walking away as Mr. and Mrs. Britton also from boB.


Some pictures before the wedding.

Getting covered in bird seed...