I skipped my annual Thanksgiving post last year. Maybe I wasn’t as thankful in 2010. Of course this year, I’m just thankful I actually accomplished some things [trust me, there was much more that I really wanted to get done].

So with that, here’s my list of what I’m thankful for:

• My wife, who puts up with my love of all things tech and geek. And my odd sense of humor. And my many distractions that sometimes take away from deserved attention on her.

• My job. Even though I complain about it often, I really am glad I have my job. I look forward to my three weeks of vacation days each year and the flex time which allows me to run errands during the day, in trade for being available by phone 24/7.
• My friends in music – KevinIL and KevinAZ, who share many of the same bands and genres as I do.
• My daughter, who also shares the love of music I do, and not only is an awesome companion for the many concerts we have attended together, but who is also a great travel partner, as evidenced by our awesome trip to the Pacific Northwest this summer [not to mention, previous trips to San Francisco and the Grand Canyon].
• My iPad. Seriously.. this device has done a lot for me since I first purchased one in April 2010. I upgraded to the iPad 2 this year and it’s done even more to help keep me organized, not to mention the apps and tools that I use to write, blog and take notes.
• My creative side. My videos might have been sparse this year, but I still filmed when I could and my fiction writing got a nice boost thanks to Thrice Fiction.
• To those who inspire me. There’s too many to individually list here, but your works, efforts and creations do find their way into my head often when I need that push to get past my distractions.
• My many online friends, who without them, Twitter and blogging would be a solo effort.
• And lastly, to my brother and sister, who I don’t talk to enough [thanks in large part to my reliance on online communication, which takes away from my real life communication] but who I am grateful for all they have done for me in my life.

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you have a great day with food, football and family.

The whole sign… nothing but the sign.

New Category

In my efforts to take more photos AND to post them publicly on my blogs, I decided to create a new category for random photos I take. I’ve had way too many missed photo ops and this is one attempt to help me resolve that.

The two photos I posted for this debut entry are a sign near the office building I work in. I’ve seen this knocked over sign on the ground for over three weeks now and each time I see it, I would remind myself that I needed to take a picture of this sign before someone takes the sign away [or puts it back up in it's original spot after some jackass ran it over]

I also mention a few others like KevinIL and KevinAZ that take many photos and post them on their respective blogs. There’s also Megan who changed her blog to be all photos. And Lisa, who shares her skilled efforts in photography with her readers. These and many others are an inspiration to get me going with some type of nudge to start posting my amateur snapshots I see in life. Maybe if I keep it up, I’ll expand. For now, it’s simply getting into the habit of taking and posting photos.

Which means only one thing… well, maybe a few more things like shoveling, cold, tracking snow into the house… but….

The Return of Snowy Sunday

Yes, I have been filming and am working on videos. I am really going to try and beat last year’s measly six videos I made [by leaps and bounds] and put myself in edit mode uploading videos all winter long. Whatever weird funk that 2010 has done to my creative side will be shaken off going into 2011. Clay, LEGO minifigs and yours truly (and a host of other guests, places, events and items) will be making the snow and cold as fun and enjoyable as I can make it.

And if I fail, you can bury me in the snow [or I may just bury myself and film the whole thing].

The Last Snowbender

We got dumped two Sundays in a row here in the Salt Lake valley. Out of all the captured scenes, these next few photos amazed me. They remind me of something both Kevin bloggers (Chicago and Phoenix) would take.

the cold temps warmed up just enough to allow the snow to melt into a curve

the view from the driveway level (which isn’t very level at all)

the snow pulled away from the fence

Stay tuned for some winter wonderland digital fun! We are in for a long season.

In-N-Out

One of my favorite burger joints ever since I can remember is In-N-Out Burger. I grew up in California where there are many locations. But up until recently, In-N-Out hadn’t graced the Beehive State. The closest current location is a four-hour drive in St. George. Since my daughter and I were so close to Phoenix while visiting the Grand Canyon, it would seem wrong to not make the under two-hour trek to enjoy a tasty treat.

Fries animal style, Double Double, grilled onions, cheeseburger

Fortunately, the Salt Lake area will be getting In-N-Out locations this winter. I will have to limit my visits to once a month to keep it real [and keep me from turning into a tub of double-double goo].

Blogger Meetup

Marty and Kevin

One of the bloggers that I’ve been reading for some time now is Kevin Spencer. He’s a British guy living in Phoenix and is not only a big fan of The Cure and Depeche Mode like myself, but he also takes some very stunning and incredible perspective photos.

As it turns out, he had never met another blogger in person. I was his first, um… blogingly speaking. We decided to meet up at a place called The Fish Market.

The Fish Market in Phoenix, AZ

The food was very good and so was the company. Not only did I learn a lot more about Kevin than I knew from his blog, we had a nice chat about all sorts of subjects. And as he found out, I’m quite the chattering fool when it comes to discussing my favorite subjects.

And my daughter Tiffany joined in the conversation as well, being extra patient with her dad and a fellow blogger.

Marty, Tiffany and Kevin

It was great to meet Kevin in person and be able to put a face with the name and the pictures.

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A Quick Giveaway

Ok, to celebrate back to school time, I’ve got a few SD cards laying around that I’m going to giveaway. To enter to win, all you need to do is leave a comment on this post and mention who was your first blogger that you met in person. If you’ve not met anyone yet, then tell me what blogger event you would like to attend someday.

As shown in the picture, there is an 8gb SD card, a 2gb SD card and a 1gb SD card. I will pick 3 random comments [from 3 different people, for those that leave more than one comment]. I will announce the winners next week.