Holidays Rock

Yay, more holidays...love it. We're having friends over for supper and just enjoying the day. I better go shovel snow and get some fresh air. I love the time to just enjoy being home with our cats and the wonderful wife. :)

Monday

WARNING - THE FOLLOWING BLOG IS A GEEKS ACCOUNT OF A VIDEO GAME AND IS INTENDED FOR FELLOW GAME GEEKS....hehehe

So my buddy Sonny and me, played some Gears of War 2 last night. We are "older" gamers and sometimes do not do so hot vs the young guns on xbox live. However we played some games of wingman last night. Wingman is basically 5 teams of 2 player teams. You get one life per round and the first to score 15 points wins. Sonny and I were awesome, working as a team we won 2 rounds of wingman and to spare people the details I'll just say it is a TON of fun that game. We ended our last win by making the final two players on the other team crawl on the ground until Sonny and I walked over to them and picked them up to use them as meat shields. It was sweet, hehehehe, hopefully we'll get our achievement for wingman tonite by winning another round of it. Watch, our luck will have run out and we'll go winless.

Sunday!!

Just a nice relaxing day planned. Gonna watch some football, do some things like editing, maybe watch some movies, play some xbox.....just have a day of holiday fun. :)

Weekend

Jenn and I have had a wonderful holiday so far. Friends have been great to hang out with and we have had a super time so far. We are going to try and get outside this weekend for fresh air, even if it's cold...we've had enough being inside. :) Hope we don't freeze.

Boxing Day

Today was a relaxing day...slept in, enjoyed a nice breakfast with our friends before they headed home. We got some rockband in last night and had some fun playing Jenn's new boardgame she got for Christmas. Corey and her hubby Dale stopped in and visited on their way through to visit their family. Jenn, Corey and Dale all jammed and it sounded awesome, Corey played the new Seagull awesome, that baby of Jenn's sounds amazing. I am jealous, I wanna learn how to play now....anyway, not much new here...just loving holidays. :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

Well, it's here, Christmas time for 2008. I can't wait....Jenn said I can't wake her up early.....heheheheh....we'll see about that. I love Christmas and CAN NOT wait to see Jenn open her gifts, she's gonna FLIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It'll be awesome, YOUTUBE video to come.....it'll rock. I CAN'T WAIT...hehehehe, it's 2am and I am excited I can't sleep. :)

Christmas Eve!!!!!

I made a playlist of some good Christmas tunes for people to enjoy. I also have a new list for 2009 of songs I am playing on my iTOUCH and they will be posted after the holidays. Hope everyone is having a good Christmas Eve. It's warming up here, only a mild -25ish, lol....oh well, where do I need to go today in this cold? I am going to go relax and enjoy Christmas Eve. :)

Merry Christmas

It's Christmas time and in a few days the 25th will be here. It's a special time of year for so many and a time I like to reflect on life. I am so thankful for all of the gifts I have been given. It's a time of year where so many have so little. Jenn and I have a nice warm home, great friends, 3 awesome cats and families that love and support us to no end. This past year has been one that I feel I have made some positive changes. I have a very positive attitude about this Christmas Season and look forward to time with Jenn and our friends. Christmas day we're having friends over and just looking to have a great time together.

To everyone that I have worked with in photography this year I wish you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS. May your holiday be a special time and bring you lots of great moments to cherish. Stay warm and safe and here's looking forward to an awesome 2009!! My plans for the holiday....

- xbox (fallout 3, NHL 09, Gears of War 2, Rockband 2 to name a few)

- Bluray and DVD's (we rented a lot of movies, my other fave thing to do)

- Be with Jenn (go skiing (maybe) and skating, hot tubbing in Sherwood Park)

- Visit my folks in Creston, BC (depending on weather)

Christmas Holidays are HERE

It's official, I am on 2 weeks of wonderful holidays. I can sleep in, do lots of fun things and forget about work. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ouch Oilers

Okay Santa, please, please, please......get a new coach for the Oilers for Christmas. I want them to win again, be a team I can be proud of. This joke of a team they have now isn't doing any Oiler fan justice. Ohhh well, 5 cups makes a fan have higher expectations, I need to see some Oiler dominance again please. Thanks Santa. :)

Long day today, got home at 9:30pm from the concert. A long day at school...hope the parents enjoyed the concert, it was a packed house. Anyway, I'm off to avoid watching the Oilers lose.....3-0 last time I checked (cringe). But yay!!!! Christmas is close at hand.

All I want for Xmas for the Oilers is a new coach please

Please Edmonton, get a new coach for Christmas. I am so annoyed with the lack of effort they are putting out. If anyone gave that amount of effort in their "REAL" job, they'd be fired. I blame the management and the coaching. This team is payed near the top of the league, they have skill players and yet they struggle in so many areas of this game. Their PK is weak, their goaltending situation is a joke, 3 goalies? Come on, make a decision already and give this team some focus. Start coaching these guys and getting them to put a consistent effort out on the ice. Losing 9-2 to a young team like Chicago, at home in front of a BIG crowd of fans is an embarassment. I guess MacT was just giving Chicago an early Christmas gift. What a goof he is, doesn't start a goalie who on the prior game had a shut out, sits players and makes line up changes after a shut out...this coach drives me and a lot of other fans nutty. It's time to change, they are going to always be an 8th place team at best under this leadership....sadly it doesn't seem to bother anyone in the organization, just the fans.....

I LOVE the Oilers and seriously want a new coach for Christmas. :) Speaking of Christmas, it's our Christmas Concert tonight, so I expect it to be a VERY long day. Great news is I am SO close to holidays after today!!! Yipeeeeeeeeee.

Last Monday of Work for 2008!!!

I have been playing with textures a lot...and using CS4. Love the textures and starting to find better ways of editing with them. Also loving that the year 2008 is almost done and holidays are on the doorstep. Hoping to stay warm and safe this week and looking forward to some rest and relaxation. :)

Hardstyle Republic - Resistance is Futile

I had to check out this style of dance again on youtube. If I could dance, I wish it could be like this. :) hehehe, I am too old but man, that is cool. I'd love to put down some moves like these guys, lol. :)

Christmas is Close

The holidays are coming quick. I am busy with work, trying hard to complete this part of the school year. So much is going on it does make my head spin, there is so much to do it almost makes teaching seem like a secondary thing I do. I am really hoping to get some photoshop time soon to do some more edits and hopefully do some new shoots before 2009 hits. However I do need to relax and re-charge the battery so I am ready to go again in the new year. I hope everyone has a happy holiday.

Thanks For the new Tool

Thanks to an awesome photographer friend for the cool blog template.....lets me do cool stuff like this. :)

~ Jenni B ~

~ Jenni B ~, originally uploaded by Randy Pond.

Another Jenni B Edit

~ Jenni ~

~ Jenni ~, originally uploaded by Randy Pond.

recent edit

Michael Jordan

a GREAT inspirational movie about success and failure.....wish more people thought like that about life. Too many people give up...

Nickelback - Something in your mouth

Got this song stuck in my head...hehehe

~ Samantha Valentine ~

~ Samantha Valentine ~, originally uploaded by Randy Pond.

Recent Samantha Valentine Edit

~ Hot Shirt ~

~ Hot Shirt ~, originally uploaded by Randy Pond.

Another recent edit

~ Red Couch ~

~ Red Couch ~, originally uploaded by Randy Pond.

Recent Edit of Lana

Weekend is here

The weekend is here....it has been a long week. 2 nights of parent teacher interviews is rough, makes for lonnnnnng days. I am excited to do some shoots this weekend. I have some portrait work that should be fun. It's also the time for December to enter in, xmas lights are popping up all over town. It's a beautiful time of year. I personally would like some snow, it sure makes it feel more like winter. If it's going to be cold, I would like snow with it.

JACOB the PHOTOGRAPHER model photoshoot testing softbox

This guy is cool...I want this set. :)

Photography Mentor

For photographers intersted in sharing and learning more about photography from other photographers, check out this cool website. It was shared with me by Smileyeyes and has some cool features. You can have your work critiqued by your peers and there is also live interviews done with professional photographers. I have not had much time to do much on the site but it sure looks interesting and possibly helpful. :) Here it is photography mentor.

It's hard to believe Christmas is so close...such a busy time of year for a lot of people. Stressful too, with people shopping, making travel plans to be with families. It sure is easy to get lost in the confusion and mad hustle. I am looking forward to just having time with Jenn and our 3 cats. Yesterday was fun, Nestor came by to visit and watched the Grey Cup with me. It was Finnigan, Nestor and me, the 3 dudes, watching the game. Finnigan is just a cool cat, loves to chill out. I also got 2 achievements on NBA 2k8, versus my buddy Nestor. Kobe Bryant's and Kevin Garnett's. I'd like to get NBA 2k9 so Nestor and I can continue our rivalry in the next edition of basketball.

It's a very busy week ahead and I sure hope to stay away from getting sick. I will have to drink a ton of water today and just have lots of sleep. Anyway, not much is new, had a maternity shoot cancelled on the weekend so I am kind of slowing down the photography. I am excited to be doing a photo shoot coming up of a Dodge Viper. That will be very cool...it's a portrait session...more details to come and hopefully some pictures. Other then that NOT a whole lot on the photography front for moi. Just a lot of things to wrap up from previous shoots and always edits to do, I could never run our of material to edit. Mass hard drives full of images, sitting and waiting for me to work on. I am not sure how other photographers are but I never get to edit even half of the shots I would like to.

Find something else to do Lloyminster Blog Stalker

You in Lloydminster that checks my blog non stop.....find something else to do with your life. Turn your computer off maybe, you don't need to always check my blog. It is annoying and just a bit creepy. Plz take a hint.....move on......stop reading my blog. Thanks.

~ Samantha Valentine ~

I went back to a shoot with Samantha Valentine and did some new edits. I think she is an awesome model, so much fun and very creative. It's SO easy to take amazing pictures of this girl.

Today I go in to the hospital for the doctor to cut out 2 moles that I think need to go. I have had moles taken off before so hopefully this is just standard and will not come back as anything bad. It's hard to know though and I am just happy to be getting this taken care of.

This week sure has gone fast, it's already Thursday, wow, the year is blowing by like mad. I hope I can catch up on some work this weekend. Go Oilers tonite, they have their hands full with the Wings. Also looks like creepy Lloydminster blog stalker is back after taking a break from constantly checking my blog....guess this person has nothing better to do then blogstalk me.

Andy and April

Youtube April and Andy Video

Andy and April's Wedding

These are some highlights from Andy and April's Wedding

Jenn Video

A video I had to make for Jenn cuz this song makes me think of her all the time :)

~ Weekend Ends Peacefully ~

Well, it was quite a week. I did some good relaxing with my cats. Nahla, Scully and Finnigan. They sure are a bunch of cats. It makes it tough with two cats and no Jenn around to help with them. I think Nahla and Finnigan are slowly becoming buddies and Scully is going to take a LONG time to come around to the new man.

I have to say that my buddy Sonny and I have had a BLAST playing the new Gears of War 2. That game is highly addictive and cool. We're pretty awesome for a couple old video game dudes. I have to say a sad weekend for Edmonton teams. Esks are out, Oilers are back to their losing ways. I am going to have to quit watching sports....I am not sure when Edmonton can get back to winning but it sure doesn't look like they want to. I hope Mac-T gets the axe. I am not sure how much he can keep losing before the owner or someone in power can smarten up and fire him. Time for a change Oilers....this less then average hockey is getting tiresome. Jenn and I decided we're not going to waste our money going to games until this franchise gets a different direction. Since games are on TV we can be Oiler fans that way and save our money for other entertainment.

I can't believe November is almost over. Xmas is around the corner, that is awesome. I can't wait for holidays and time with my beautiful wife and our 3 cats.

Lightroom Presets Video. Seim Power Workflow photo editing

Gavin knows his lightroom, this video sums up why I like lightroom so much.

Lightroom Work

just a quick video, the quality isn't great but gives an idea of how I edit on my 64 bit lightroom 2.....(drool)

3 Cats

Cynthia McLeod and Jon Matthews Concert

Cynthia and Jon rocked Vegreville last night. It was awesome to hear her play and Jon has mad talent too. They are playing in Edmonton tonight at the Trap and Gill. They are two talented people and Jenn and I wish them nothing but the best as they continue their tour.

Busy Times

It's another busy week. Working on edits for April and Andy again. Also loving the Oilers 2 game win streak, yipeeeeeeeeee. I'll post Halloween pics shortly. Hope to get back to updating my blog more.

-Randy