2014 a Year in Review

Posted on by

I’m not going to talk about missing airplanes, radical insurgents or riots that are a throw-back to the 60’s. Nope this is just going to be a nice easy summary of my year. Simple and mundane.

The theme for my 2014 should have been “Be Careful What you Wish For”. I spent almost half the year being bored and restless. Then around April several co-workers and friends started wooing me to a new position. I admit I was resistant. I had my eye on a non-existent position on the “buy” side. I was being teased and pushed toward the “listing” side of the business, sometimes referred to as the “dark side” by the “buy side” folks.

dark side

Taking a shaking breathe and questioning my sanity I accepted the new challenge on May 18.

I’d just come back from my vacation in Tennessee and my mind was clear and relaxed. Good thing too because I found myself thrown in at the deep end of the pool. It was time to Swim like mad or sink. I am happy to say that I did not sink, maybe floundered a few times but eventually I helped my team close over 50 deals between May 18 and December 31! Several were over $1,000,000.00!

animated-work-image

I expect to do even more in 2015 because I’ll have the whole year and we have added another team member.

I like the fast pace and the bonuses I can earn. I love feeling like a part of a team rather than being spread over many agents and areas.  Here’s to a rocking 2015.

Because of the activity in the job that pays the bills, my blog and my photography definitely took a back seat last year. My “photo a day” goal died a rapid death once I was thrown into my new job and regular blog posts followed closely behind.   I don’t like to write about work. It either sounds like complaining or bragging and there’s always a chance of giving away something that I shouldn’t so with long hours during the busy season my topics really were limited. I don’t see that changing this year either but I’ll do the best I can. Better to post less often and be interesting than just to post drivel in order to have a post…at least that’s my feeling.

nikon

I am finally feeling better. 2014 was a really rough year for health issues.

injured

I’m not 100% but certainly much , much better than I was for most of 2014. Maybe I’ll be able to make a dent on the 2014 goal of losing some weight. Start small. Lets see if I can lose 25 lbs and then go from there.

And that about sums it up. I hope you reach all of your goals for 2015!

 

2014 in review

Posted on by

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 26,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 10 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

In Search of Next Year’s Christmas Card

Posted on by

Yes, you read that right. Christmas is barely past and I’ve turned my thoughts to next year already. Truth be known I started thinking about next year’s card as soon as I cracked open the boxes of decorations. You see the images I use for my Christmas Cards are always taken in the previous season. If I waited, I’d never get the new cards made and in the mail on time.

So far this year I just haven’t gotten a picture that gives me a “WOW” factor.

I heard that the Stone Zoo in Stoneham, MA was including photos with Santa’s Reindeer as part of their Zoo Lights celebration and that caught my attention.

zoolights_reindeer

I debated with myself if it was worth a trip because I’d have to drive through Boston at night to get there. The price of admission wasn’t too much, only $7.00 and tickets could be ordered on line.

I debated all December but didn’t break down until yesterday. I made a last minute decision, printed a ticket and headed out.

It was unseasonably warm and I thought that being a Saturday maybe, just maybe, the traffic wouldn’t be too bad. Wrong. 🙁  Traffic through Boston does not take the weekend off.

Once there I was told the parking lot was filled to capacity but to cruise around and maybe I’d get lucky. At least the parking was free and eventually I did find a space. I noted the location by the wolf at the end of aisle.

zoo lights 002 copy

Santa’s Castle was gorgeous but it was roped off and apparently closed. Santa must be resting up from his long ride.

zoo lights 005 copy

I couldn’t get over the people trying to see the animals in the dark. Silly people. After asking a few people I finally got directed to the Reindeer Encounter. A $5.00 donation was requested for the opportunity to take your picture with your own camera with the Reindeer. A bench was in front of the reindeer (caribou) enclosure and two handlers stood in the enclosure with the animal.

I waited in the long line. The way it snaked around did not let me get a good look at the lighting until it was my turn. I made some quick guesswork on camera settings, paid my $5.00 and stepped into the lights. The handlers got the animal to raise his head and I snapped away.

After my moment I retreated to another bench to check the result. The ones with the faster shutter speed were too dark

zoo lights 018 copy

and the ones when I switched to aperture priority were properly exposed but the shutter speed was too slow and I got camera shake.

zoo lights 021 copy

With nothing usable I put the camera on the tripod and got back on line to try again. The line had grown and was now huge, snaking around the enclosure. As I debated if I really wanted to stand in line that long there was a break in the brush around the enclosure. The reindeer was lying down now and looked like it was about to go to sleep.

zoo lights 023 copy

I pushed into the little break and shot off a series of quick photos. I didn’t get what I wanted but maybe I’ll have better luck next year. The search for next year’s card photo continues…