27 pictures

Brooke and I kicked off 2010 by driving up to her mom and dad's house with Chloe and a her little Tinkerbell duffel bag packed with just enough necessities to get her through a night.  After we knocked on the door, we took off running and left Chloe there with a note taped to her forehead: I want cookies, ice cream, candy, and juice PWEEZE.  You don't want to experience my carnal scream.

photo courtesy Greg Taylor
And after that, the two of us drove to Celebrity Theatre for the Roger Clyne and The Peacemakers New Year's show.  Brooke purchased us some "Section A2" seats, which means they're pretty sweet.  Right in front of the orchestra pit.

Celebrity Theatre, though, is a theatre-in-the-round (one of two such unique theatres in Arizona) with a mechanically rotating stage and seating for just 2650 kindred souls - making every seat a good one.

But we had a problem. Brooke thought she scored two tickets that were separated by two other seats.  We thought, "No prob, we can get somebody to swap or scoot down or something." That wasn't the problem, though.  The problem was that as the usher was showing us our seats, we realized that we weren't two seats apart, but two rows apart.  Ugh.  We're happy people though.  We sat down in general seating instead and enjoyed every moment until the intermission.

At intermission, an usher walked over to us.

"Don't you have reserved seating tickets?" He asked point blank as if he knew. We told him our silly story.

He looked over his shoulders one at a time, leaned in closely and said, "Okay, this is my New Year's gift to you. You want to go down to the front row?" (He told us not to tell anybody, so don't tell anybody that I told you . . .)

For the second half of the show, that's right, we got to hunker down at the front of the action in the reserved seating section.  When the stage spins around, you see, you get to see the side of the drum kit where the magic happens - four limbs burning some 3,000 calories every minute doing the typically thankless job of keeping time and locking the band together while making it look easy.  After watching P.H. going bonkers with the sticks on Mekong, Brooke says, "I have a lot more respect for you drummers after seeing what he just did."

That's the condensed version of our New Year's Miracle.  And I think that's a great way to begin a year - with a miracle.  Or small moment of joy.  Call it what you may.

We're going to do waht we can to enjoy every moment
I'm looking forward to other great things in 2010, here's a quickie:

Travel & Adventure:

• Sierra Pinacate of Northern Sonora (January) - Hiking the sand dunes and camping on the beach with some good friends
• New Mexico Backroads (March) - Some little known dirt roads, small towns, and big vistas await
• Southern Utah (April) - I'm thinking Capitol Reef or the Maze District.  I'll take any of it.
• Baja Sur (June) - ferry across the Sea of Cortés from Guyamas or Los Mochis and hang around on remote beaches for a week or two.  Chloe should enjoy the ferry ride.
• It's time to tie into the rope and climb some vertical rocks again
• Backpack a segment of the Arizona Trail

Writing:

• Personal Goal: One hand written journal entry per day
• Professional Goal: Publish one essay per quarter
• Remember what Malcom Gladwell penned: "Good writing . . . succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else's head - even if in the end you conclude that someone else's head is not a place you'd really like to be."

Photography:

• Tell the story
• Keep focusing on the eyes

Parenting:

• Like it or not you're going need to develop consistency in discipline, pal

Flashlight art on New Years Eve
As 2009 creeps to the horizon, I'm taking a moment to think back and hand pick 20 photos that sum up my 33rd year on planet Earth.

I'm talking about the memories and stories here - if you find technical prowess in the photos, it's just coincidence because I picked these for multiple reasons. We managed some superb trips and massive memories. Brooke trained for, and competed in, her first triathalon. I managed to make this website a reality. At the top of the "2009 FAIL" list: Chloe, our 2-year-old, isn't potty trained yet. It's not for lack of trying.

Shot with the Tokina 19-35mm
Mark makes the transition from shooting film to joining the modern age of digital photography.  He says, "When the Canon 5D emerged with that famous full-frame sensor, I eyed her like a stalker, behind my wife's back. How could I possibly break the news that I wanted to spend a few thousand bucks on a camera?  'No, really, we can sell the washing machine.  Why can't you just use a washboard and bucket?'"

My buddy Bobby once declared to me, "My pictures suck. I want a better camera."

Like many hopeful lensmen weighing their first camera against their first 8 gigs-worth of digital photos, he was thinking man, I didn't spend enough money on a quality camera.

I just had to tell him that the problem wasn't the camera, but him. We're friends.  I can take that risk. By the way, that's not Bobby to the right.  That's K.C. practically getting off on his new Canon G9.