To Live and Live Again

Whew, whew...is this thing on?

It's amazing how having a new child can change you.  If you're as fortunate as myself, you get the opportunity to take time off of work (a "leave of absence" - I digress: if you're leaving a state of non-presence, wouldn't that be a "present"? ).  It's not necessarily a vacation; I think they must call it a leave because you're replacing the work you're normally doing with some other kind of work that's pretty comparable.   Kinda like how bending over and taking it from all angles in the office all day is similar to training your newborn to win a 2-ounce  formula chugging contest, involuntarily depriving yourself of sleep, and honing in on your diaper changing skills.

In between the eating, sleeping and pooping (more so the baby, but me too) though, I've been given another opportunity - to blog again.  So I'm blowing the dust off of Entirely Erwin for another go.  A more thoughtful, more mature look at my thoughts and interests.  So whereas the last post before going dormant mentioned something about poop, I realize that I'm both above and past that now.  From here on out we'll be talking about SHIT.  

I guess some things will never change.

The Inaugural Post

***Originally posted here***

Ah, the first post. If you’re a veteran blogger and somehow stumbled across this, I hope you’re relieved that you didn’t waste a mouse-click on an initial post like the typical:

“This is a test.”

Or this:

“Like OMG, I just got myself this blog thing! Now, Internet Diary, tell me WTF do I write about?!”

Oh and for the creeps that look through random blogs for naked chick pics, sorry, this ain’t it. Although if I could ever get my kitties to stop acting like Israel and Palestine and show some nuzzle nuzzle kissy love, I’ll make sure to post it, virus and spam free of charge.

Now for the official first post. It should be definitive and set the tone for all other posts to follow. It should be concise without being too wordy and should let readers know what to expect in the future. The first post is monumental. It’s ground-breaking. Years from now when people look back at this blog’s origins, they’ll definitely notice the development of this certain blogger’s writing skills, and comment on how much it has progressed over time.

The wait is over.

Here it goes…

POOP!

With 135 characters to spare, beat that all you bloggers and micro-bloggers! =)

228/365: Crepes!

228/365: Crepes!, originally uploaded by fatalysis.

After having Swedish pancakes the day before, the wife and I decided to try our luck at another thin breakfast food, crepes! The strawberry crepes and cinnamon and brown sugar crepes with bananas worked out well our first go round.

227/365: Tranquil Sunset

227/365: Tranquil Sunset, originally uploaded by fatalysis.

Motion blur of sunset taking place at Saganashkee Slough.

226/365: The Z-Pod Has Landed

226/365: The Z-Pod Has Landed, originally uploaded by fatalysis.

The newest pavilion in Millennium Park in Chicago by artist Zaha Hadid. It's only temporary though as it will be taken down at the end of October.

225/365: My First Flash

225/365: My First Flash, originally uploaded by fatalysis.

Picked up my first external flash, a Canon Speedlite 430EX II.

224/365: Saganashkee Sunset

224/365: Saganashkee Sunset, originally uploaded by fatalysis.

Sunset at Sanganashkee Slough, part of the Palos Forest Preserve

223/365: Glass Eye

223/365: Glass Eye, originally uploaded by fatalysis.

Looking down over a glass of water.

222/365: 200 W. Madison

222/365: 200 W. Madison, originally uploaded by fatalysis.

The building on Madison and Wells. It doesn't have a nickname so I'll just call it by its address, 200 W. Madison.

221/365: Wrigley Field

221/365: Wrigley Field, originally uploaded by fatalysis.

Road to Wrigley minor league baseball game featuring the Iowa Cubs vs the Las Vegas Area 51s at Wrigley Field. Subtle HDR to bring out the detail in the clouds.

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrigley_Field):

Wrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois, United States that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. It was built in 1913 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales. It was called Cubs Park between 1920 and 1926 before being renamed for then Cubs team owner and chewing gum magnate, William Wrigley Jr.. Between 1921 and 1970 it was also the home of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League. It hosted the second annual NHL Winter Classic on January 1, 2009.

Located in the residential neighborhood of Lakeview, Wrigley Field sits on an irregular block bounded by Clark (west) and Addison (south) Streets and Waveland (north) and Sheffield (east) Avenues. The area surrounding the ballpark contains bars, restaurants and other establishments and is typically referred to as Wrigleyville. The ballpark's mailing address is 1060 W. Addison Street.

Wrigley Field is nicknamed The Friendly Confines, a phrase popularized by "Mr. Cub", Hall of Famer Ernie Banks. Since 2006, its capacity has been 41,118, making Wrigley Field the fourth-smallest and most actively used ballpark in 2006. It is the oldest National League ballpark and the second oldest active major league ballpark (after Fenway Park on April 20, 1912), and the only remaining Federal League park.

220/365: Brian Urlacher

220/365: Brian Urlacher, originally uploaded by fatalysis.

Brian Urlacher at Bears Family Day.

219/365: Man vs Food

219/365: Man vs Food, originally uploaded by fatalysis.

Adam Richman, the man in Man vs Food, my favorite TV show at the moment.

218/365: Citicorp Center

218/365: Citicorp Center, originally uploaded by fatalysis.

Citigroup Center is a 42 story, 588-foot (180 m) skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. Located at 500 W. Madison (between Clinton and Canal Streets), the structure was designed by the architecture firm Murphy/Jahn in a late modernist style. The building, previously named the Northwestern Atrium Center, was constructed between 1984 and 1987 on the air rights obtained by the destruction of the headhouse of the 1911 North Western Station. Citigroup Center contains retail shopping and offices, and is connected to the platforms of the Ogilvie Transportation Center (which unofficially continues to be called Northwestern Station) and thousands of Metra commuters use the facility every day. Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW) maintains its worldwide headquarters on three floors of the Citigroup Center.

(Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citigroup_Center_(Chicago))

217/365: Grungy Flower

217/365: Grungy Flower, originally uploaded by fatalysis.

Playing around with HDR. Grunge setting in Photomatix Pro.

216/365: Corn Tortillas

216/365: Corn Tortillas, originally uploaded by fatalysis.

Homemade corn tortilla shells.

215/365: Medal

215/365: Medal, originally uploaded by fatalysis.

My medal for finishing the Rock and Roll Chicago half marathon.

214/365: Rock & Roll Chicago Half Marathon

213/365: Rock & Roll Chicago Half Marathon, originally uploaded by fatalysis.

Ran the Rock & Roll Chicago Half Marathon, my first half marathon. I stayed pretty relaxed and ran a safe time of 2:34. Can't way to try running a full 26.2 mile marathon next year!

213/365: Photographing Sunrise

212/365: Photographing Sunrise, originally uploaded by fatalysis.

Photographer catching the rising sun in Chicago.

212/365: McCormick Place

212/365: McCormick Place, originally uploaded by fatalysis.

Had to go to McCormick Place in Chicago to pick up my race packet for the Rock & Roll Chicago half marathon. Love the grand halls and the amount of light the place lets in.

211/365: Filters

211/365: Filters, originally uploaded by fatalysis.

Just purchased the Cokin filter system along with a neutral-density and graduated neutral density filters to help with landscape shots.