Brown smoke over Tucson

We're heading into fire season in Arizona with it getting warmer and being dry.

I was at the Relief for Nepal event at Speedway and Swan this evening when I noticed an ominous brown cloud forming to the east of Tucson. I started fearing the worst -- that a wildfire had started up in the mountains.

There was good news and bad news:  The bad news first -- it was a fire. The good news is that it was a controlled burn. It was done on purpose to help lower the chances that the area that was burned today will cause a bigger problem later.

I'm always conflicted in these moments. I get excited seeing out of the ordinary things but I know that fire can be devastating.

Brown smoke east of Tucson
as seen from Speedway and Swan
on Thursday April 30, 2015

Relief For Nepal

The earthquake this past weekend in Nepal was unbelievably devastating with thousands losing their lives as well as being injured, and many more now homeless and needing the basics to survive.

The radio/tv group I work at pitched in for a day of collecting hygiene products and cash to help World Care, a really great organization that helps in these types of disasters. I had to work at the station all day but I did give a co-worker a ride to the drop-off location and shot a few photos while I was there this evening.

Relief for Nepal
donations being accepted
today at Speedway and Swan

Radio station tents set up
and doing live broadcasts

More tents on the
west side of Sir Veza's

A life mystery has finally been
cleared up:
I now know where to put
my hot rod.

Photo catch up

I have shot some fun photos recently while working in the TV studio during the show recently, and I thought I'd share a few of my favorites from the last couple of weeks:

A mouthful of Taco Grande
pizza from Papa Murphy's.
I love shooting photos of
people eating.

Miss Vickie, inventor of Miss Vickie's
Potato Chips, made strawberry jam
on the show, and it was irresistible to
Tina spread on a scone.

I don't dance like this because
I'd throw out a hip.

One of these show guests
got a pedicure.

Pima College student fashion show

Bubbles the dog found
the clicking noises I was
making with my mouth
fascinating, while I found
that stuffed thing on
her back fascinating.

That's a good looking weiner

There was a staff picnic in the parking lot this week at work. I had a huge amount of work to do because of vacations taken by co-workers so I only had time to make a brief appearance.

I had a camera in my hand, and I only shot one photo. But, it was money.

My co-worker Andy was on hot dog grilling duty, and he posed for a picture for someone else in front of him, and I happened to nail this shot from the side. Sometimes these random photo moments turn out to be my favorites.

That's a good looking weiner.

The key to making a weiner
appear appetizing is all in
how you hold it.

I laughed, I played bingo, I ate

I laughed, I played bingo, I ate (that could be the name of a band!). That's a quick description of the weekend.

Saturday: Anthony and I went to Casino Del Sol and played bingo on Saturday night. It was a lot of fun to go, we hadn't been since late last summer. Unfortunately, we didn't win. But, I did play slots for a little while after bingo and won back the money I spent. So, it wasn't a total loss. We were one number away on a few occasions during the session but close only works for horseshoes and hand grenades.

Sunday was a lazy day for me. I caught up on some sleep, we went to Whataburger for dinner, and grocery shopping rounded out the day. Anthony spent the afternoon making some extra money tutoring a couple of high school kids and then he donated blood platelets. He's spent his Sunday shaping minds and saving people, and I took a nap.

Three of the five workdays this week I have vacationing co-workers. I will have extra work to do but it's ok. Keeps me out of the old folks home.

Anthony at Casino Del Sol
We played bingo, we lost, we suck.

I was one number away from winning
a bingo.
Go ahead, cry for me. I'll wait here.

Anthony donated blood platelets.
All he got for his trouble
was a pen mark and this ridiculous
looking bandage.

Dinner at Whataburger
at Speedway and Woodland.
Our order took a while so
they gave us an apple pie
as an apology without us
even asking.
#winning

Dinner is served

My barbecue chicken strip sandwich

Anthony's honey mustard chicken club
That piece of lettuce tried to make a run
for it, but didn't get far.

Loose Gravel sign in the Whataburger parking lot.
Loose Gravel is like a loose woman.
That gravel will sleep with any gravel
that pays attention to it.

Fresh Cotton candles at Walmart Market
at 22nd and Craycroft.
Mmmmm burning cotton smell

Charmin Sensitive
It cries during romantic movies

Dr Scholl's Corn Removers
Finally a way to get corn off of a cob

Chocodile Twinkies
This must be like the new
darker emojis on my iPhone.
Gotta represent other shades
of Twinkies.

Sara Lee Devil's Food Cakes
on the floor at Walmart Market.
They tried to escape but
were a little too slow.

Tissues on a table

One thing about living with someone else that always has a bit of mystery: Why random things appear and why.

This happened yesterday when this pile of tissues (Kleenex) appeared on the dining room table along with a latex glove.

My always active imagination wondered if some sort of medical examination had been performed and this was the discarded evidence.

Unless Anthony performed this examination on Lucky the dog, my imagination was likely not accurate.

The mess disappeared a couple of hours later.

Hopefully Lucky's prostate is in good shape.

Dr. Anthony's work, I presume

The exploding soda

Anthony can do magic. He made a soda explode without touching it!

He put it in the freezer.

He's put his sodas in the freezers for years during the time we've lived together. But, this is the first time one has exploded. I found out the difference is that this one was opened when he stuck it in there. Usually when he's forgotten a soda in the freezer it has been unopened.

It made a nice little mess. To his credit, he cleaned it up very nicely.

Anthony's exploding soda in the freezer.
Kaboom.

Meeting Didi Conn

Didi Conn, an actress whose best known role was playing Frenchy in the movie "Grease", was a guest on the TV show today.

She was a fantastic guest and is a super nice person. She is in Tucson to perform in a production with the Arizona Opera this weekend.

A couple dozen of my co-workers came to the studio to get autographs and photos. She was kind enough to oblige.... including a picture with good ol' Ken.

Didi Conn on the Morning Blend

Ken Carr and Didi Conn
One of us was in Grease
and one of us eats greasy food.
You can guess which is which.

 

Anthony's new ride

Anthony and I did our usual Sunday evening dinner and grocery shopping today. He offered to drive which was a privilege for me because it was my first time in his new ride.

He's the proud owner of a pretty blue Hyundai. It's very comfortable and a nice car.

We went to dinner at El Taco Tote. We both noticed something different about the place when we walked in. I figured out two things: They replaced most of the lights in there with florescent bulbs. They are the squiggly kind and kind of ugly. The second thing was that the Coca-Cola Freestyle machine is no longer there. That is the machine that has a touch screen where you can mix and match the flavors. It was replaced with standard fountain drink machines. I was terribly disappointed.

We went to Walmart Neighborhood Market at Broadway and Camino Seco for the grocery part of tonight's excursion.

Another weekend in the books. They always fly by.



Pretty blue lights on the dashboard
in Anthony's new car

Selfie in the passenger seat
of Anthony's new car.
I have a fat head.

The fountain drink machines that
replaced the Coca-Cola Freestyle
soda dispenser at El Taco Tote.
Boooooooooooooooooo.

Anthony's self-made nachos
at El Taco Tote

My dinner at El Taco Tote

Walmart Neighborhood Market at
Broadway and Camino Seco.
It must have been a big weekend for bread.
It looks like the shelves haven't been
stocked for a while.

Doritos Jacked Spicy Street Taco.
Horchata optional.

Pringles Food Truck Flavors
Kickin' Chicken Taco.
The food truck on the label
looks more like a short bus.

Yoo hoo, Anthony....
I found something for you.

Saturday visit to a casino

Anthony and I went to Casino Del Sol today for a little social outing.

My schedule these days is such that I can handle about one thing like this a week. If I ever figure out a way to make a living with just taking pictures, writing, blogging, Tweeting, and farting (the last one will likely be the most lucrative) it will be a life changing magnificent experience. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate my job in a huge way. I've just always wondered what it would be like to make a living while still getting to pick and choose what I get to do in a given day or week.

Anyway, Anthony had a rough morning and wanted to get out of the house and it was his idea to go. He had a couple of drinks, I played some slots, we ate tacos and burritos at Abuelitas inside the casino, and I came home with nearly $300 in slot winnings. We were there about three hours and it was an enjoyable outing.

I didn't take one of my cameras today, I just had my iPhone. The casino doesn't allow photos to be shot on the casino floor so any picture that is taken has to be done in a low key way.

I did shoot a few from the phone camera. One of the pictures is of a woman who was sitting at the table next to us and had a low level resemblance to reality TV star Kim Kardashian. I thought she did at the time, but now that I've reviewed the picture on my laptop screen I realized that she really doesn't.

When I shot the photo she was busy eating. I think the woman behind her knew what I was up to.

I suck at being sneaky. But, I walked out with more money than I walked in with... so in the end, I win.

Casino Del Sol gaming floor
as seen from my table in
Abuelitas restaurant

The always photogenic Anthony.
If that hand could talk.

A woman who I thought looked like
Kim Kardashian when I shot this photo
and then I realized later doesn't
look like Kim Kardashian at all,
and the woman photo bomber
behind her whose hair
is eating her left hand.

Guess which fist is holding the candy

Each month, we have a professional organizer named Jennifer visit the TV show to do a segment. She's a really fabulous woman, and I especially like her because she's fun to photograph during her segments. She knows that I shoot the photos, and is a really good sport about it.

She's an expressive woman, and being expressive translates into interesting and fun pictures.

Jennifer was on the show yesterday, and I shot a few gems during the five minutes she was on TV. I have created completely fake captions that have absolutely nothing to do with what she was talking about to make these a little funnier:

"I got him right where I wanted him
and didn't let go."

"I couldn't believe that
it was this big."

"If you point at me one more time,
I'm going to pretend I'm insane"

"If you guess which fist I'm holding
the candy, you can have it."

Peeps in the pie hole

Yesterday's TV show included a segment where the show hosts tried "Mystery Peeps". They have a variety this year that includes salty, sweet, sweaty, snotty (I made up the last two). You don't know until you put them in your pie hole.

The more interesting discovery for me was finding out that Tina (the darker haired host) likes Peeps, and Heather (lighter hair) does not. But, Heather was a good sport and faked it for the cameras.

I shot away on my DSLR camera and got a series of amusing photos.

Tina and Heather do a taste test
of Mystery Peeps

Tina eats her Peeps two fisted

Om nom nom

Deeeeeeeeeelish.

Don't forget to breathe!