Bonnie, Bonnie Scotland

Mrs. RoSA and I are recently returned from a 10-day trek to Scotland. It has always been at the top of my Top 5 Countries to Visit List, and it did not disappoint. In fact, it greatly surpassed all of my highly-inflated expectations of seeing rugged green mountains with beautiful lochs, centuries-old castles, and historical sites.

All of my expectations prior to going could really be distilled down to this video clip:

Essentially, I wanted my Scotland experience to be me scampering up rocky cliffs in the Highlands, shaggy and overgrown hair blowing in the wind, claymore broadsword strapped to my back, bagpipe music playing as my soundtrack. This led me to demand of Mrs. RoSA that she not only learn to play the bagpipes, but that she learn to play them whilst running behind me, minstrel-like, as I scampered up cliffs. Here's an approximation of how the dialogue ensued:

Mrs. RoSA: Josh, I don't think I have the lung capacity to simultaneously play the bagpipes AND scale mountains; in fact, I'm pretty sure I would pass out.
Me: Isn't this one of those things we implicitly agreed upon when we got married?
Mrs. RoSA: Eyeroll.* I'll consider it if you wear a kilt.

I think we eventually settled on listening to the Braveheart soundtrack on our iPods while running up the Highland mountains. Technology makes things easier.

*When we're chatting on Gmail, Mrs. RoSA actually types out her eyerolls.

I will leave you with a few photos of my choosing from the trip. I have to add that the frustrating thing with Scotland is that the natural beauty is on such a scale that it was difficult to recapture. This, of course, had me blaming my camera, my lenses, and the brightness of the sun -- basically everything but my own lack of photographic acumen (As you can tell, I'm more of a blame others, "shoot the messenger"-type of guy).

1) The Table, part of the Quiraing -- an awe-inspring group of eroded basalt cliffs on the Isle of Skye. The most beautiful natural scenery I have ever seen:

2) Edinburgh Castle -- A huge castle built out of a black, volcanic rock overlooking the city:

3) The Lost Valley -- We took a steep hike up between two of the Three Sisters...mountains near Glencoe. In between these two mountains is 800-yards worth of flat valley where clans used to store stolen sheep. Unfortunately, this picture doesn't capture the scale of the valley. Stupid camera...

To read about our trip in more detail and to check out some pictures, you can check out our blog, The Rogue and the Fury, here.

Read more...

Cherry Blossoms at Sunrise -- Photo(s) of the Week 17 May 2010

Washington DC takes pride in the cherry blossom trees that Japan gave as gifts back in 1912. (History books tell us it was a gesture to signify the growing relationship between Japan and the US, but I think getting the trees was a last-ditch effort by President Taft to be remembered as "the dude that got us the trees" and not "wait...wasn't that the fat president?")

At any rate, there is about a two-week window in April where the blossoms are in bloom, and this year I dragged AM with me Easter morning so we could catch some sunrise photos down at the Tidal Basin. So sure, I suppose they're over a month old, but I still like them:

This one was taken with a fish-eye lens I borrowed from the man next to me because he basically shouted: "Anybody have a Nikon who wants to take a few shots with a fish-eye lens?" I basically snatched the lens out of his hand before he had finished his sentence, took a few shots, and was immediately filled with a consuming, covetous* Lens Lust (photographers out there know what I'm talking about). I reluctantly returned the lens. But don't think that I didn't start visualizing scenarios -- think Holmes while he's brawling in the latest Sherlock Holmes movie -- about how I could incapacitate the lens-owner and his buddy in four swift blows or less and run away with the lens.**

*(Yup. Guilty of breaking the 10th Commandment)
**(Go ahead and tack on breaking the 8th Commandment, as well)

Anyway. I'll send you off with a Happy Monday and three more that I felt turned out well (which of course you can click on to embiggin'):

Publish Post

Read more...

Mt. Eyjafjallajokull -- Photo of the Week 2 May 2010

I realize that the huge eruption of Mt. Eyjafjallajokull (yes, somehow the Icelandic people communicate via a language with each other) that took place in Iceland was a few weeks ago, but I still can't get over the pictures that various news agencies and individuals took. You must go here to see some amazing ones. Here's one:

(REUTERS/Lucas Jackson)

  

Mother Nature is beautiful but destructive, and is often both at the same time...

 

 

Happy Monday, all... 

Read more...

Post-Marathon Check-up -- 3 Months Later

You'll be happy to know that since the marathon, I have not gone on a run. Not a single one. I think my mind and body still refuse to submit themselves to anything vaguely resembling the trauma I put it through back in November. Instead, I've been playing soccer (sure, you run in soccer, but there's a BALL -- it's different).

I got a package from Jay in the mail last week -- some photos he took at the November race. An unexpected and pleasant gift. Here's my personal favorite:

Aside from shooting sports, landscapes, and architecture to prove his awesomeness as a photographer, Jay has also been known to provide his photography services for other things: Weddings and engagement photos; pro bono work for The National Enquirer and other publications of fine repute; incriminating photos of your boss having dinner with his mistress (for blackmail, dummy), etc, etc.

Wait, hold up. I just got an email from Jay saying that he doesn't do weddings anymore.

Anyway, you can check his photos out at tannerphotography.net. There's some amazing stuff there. Enjoy -- and thanks again to Jay for the photos!

Read more...

Snowpocalypse, etc -- Photo(s) of the Week 8 Feb 2010

Well, while everyone was picking grocery stores clean of essentials and succumbing to mass panic -- I mean, really, everyone was casting this snowstorm as some sort of meteorological Hannibal Lecter, sweeping in to abduct their children and eat them "with some fava beans and a nice chianti"  -- when in actuality it just dumped 30 inches of snow and caused all normal transportation problems that result from mass amounts of snow. It wasn't the Snowpocalypse that so many feared it would be.

We capitalized, of course. Snow changes landscapes in a beautiful way, and we got some 'shoeing in today. Mei Mei wanted to do some "freestyle snowshoeing" off of the picnic tables:

and DJA just wanted to jump off tall structures, because 30 inches makes for a nice soft landing:

Oh, did I mention that the view of the waterfalls was amazing?

Happy Monday, all. Word from the weather peeps is that we have more mayhem heading our way.

Read more...

Name That Plate

I hate traffic. Hate it. Like Michael Scott hates Toby. The only thing that elicits more profanity from me is watching BYU football games.

Last year I wrote about my attempts to stay entertained in the car. In Virginia, the best way to do this is attempting to decipher the overabundance of vanity plates that drivers decide to hang on their cars. Recently, I found this CNN article, which claims that 1 out of 10 vanity plates in America belong to my fellow Virginians.

After two years of being a VA driver, I have found there are three types of plates, and that I have three distinct reactions to each kind:

--Type 1 - The Paris Hilton Plate: It is obviously a customized plate and grabbing for/needing attention. Its message is -- 99% of the time -- oversimplistic, annoying, and of no benefit to humanity. The only redeeming quality is that its message is clear: You don't need to think deeply in order understand what it's trying to say. I can tolerate these. Did I just semi-compliment Paris Hilton? I sure hope not.

Example: Remember that "Seinfeld" where Kramer gets "ASSMAN" as his license plate because the DMV accidentally swapped his plates with a proctologist's? See, those kind of Type 1s make this type tolerable.

--Type 2 - The Kanye West / Tom Cruise / Rosie O'Donnell Plate: These plates are obviously customized, so you know the owner wants attention. But unless you know the owner, the message they are attempting to convey is complete drivel. Incomprehensible gibberish. These annoy me to no end. I just don't understand why you would put such an esoteric message in so public a place. It's like preceding a speech with "What I am about to say is of importance" and then delivering the speech in Klingon.

--Type 3 - The Normal Plate - These are the ones that were randomly assigned numbers and letters. There is no deeper meaning or hidden message.

The problem is, thanks to Type 2, I already KNOW these have no meaning, yet I still look for them. And then I'll start conjuring up crazy things to make them fit.

Example: I saw a plate, "KBL-6602." I thought to myself "Oh, I see. The guy probably lived in Kabul from 1966-2002, then he moved to the US." I KNOW. I told you. CRAZY. This whole looking for non-existent clues, coupled with my interpreting of messages that aren't there, reminds me of why I was perpetually horrible at "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?"

Therefore, I am enlisting your help. I need your help with the Type 2 Plates! I will try to get pictures of what I see on the road and provide my best guess. I need you to provide your best guesses in the comments -- decipher the meaning.

"Dented Jeans"? I have no clue.

At least this should provide some amusement.

Read more...

PotW Launch -- Photo of the Week - 28 July 2008

Completely unoriginal, I know, but I've decided to start a "Photo of the Week" entry for the blog. Something more regular than the I'm a Moron series (to the readers' disappointment, I have remained surprisingly stupidity-free as of late) and the name-verbs.

I figured since normal entries require more time to tap out, and I don't always have the time to post something I am going to be satisfied with as consistently as I would like, this would allow me to make my normal comments in a regularly-run format -- minus consumption of my time.

The photos won't necessarily have been taken during the week that I'm posting them under; they may be photos that revolve around current world events, a picture that reminds me of a funny anecdote, something that I saw sometime during the week that was amusing. Basically anything I stumble across. Feel free to e-mail me any photos that you think would make a nice addition.

Here is this week's photo:

Location: The Elms Apartments, Provo UT (The stories that came outta this place...hilarious)
Year: 2003-2004

When* I write a children's book, it will be titled "Casey and the Broken Key," and it will be based on this story. Casey, much like myself, was a poor college student that needed transportation, so he bought a 1982 Nissan Sentra for $100 (There are no zeroes missing in that figure). The thing ran decently for having costed less than my chemistry textbook. It's all relative. Anyway, THE DAY that he bought the car, he took the tan beauty to Wendy's. The key busts in the ignition as he's turning off the car. He has laptops in the car, so he has to lock the car while he walks the half-mile back to the Elms to get the spare. He continues to use the butt of the key to start the car for a few months.

I don't really know what the moral of my children's book would be (perseverance, maybe?), but something tells me I'll have time to think about it.

*"If"

Read more...