Thumbs Up

This is my real office in Arizona. You’re looking at the bathroom floor of the men’s room where I would escape to about three or four times a day when stress got to be too much.  I was often times in this room for half hour with the door closed and peace and quiet. This was taken with a Zire 71 as can be seen by the date stamp of 2004. 
 

Cactus

 

This was obviously taken in 2003. I'm certain that this is along the Carefree highway headed north toward Pinetop Lakeside. Some cacti fill the Arroyos on the way out of town. During that time, I was taking pictures of many things with a Palm Pilot Ziri 71 camera. Hence the date stamp on the photograph. I simply thought that this was an outstanding grove of saguaro cactus.

Weavers Needle

 Behold the happy young man. This is probably taken around 1998 to 2000. I am single, and I am happily working with the state. That’s the superstition wilderness behind me with Weaver's needle. I had yet to realize what was laid before me, and I didn’t know that it would be a bumpy ride. 

On Camelback

 

That’s Sue and I halfway up the south side of Camelback Mountain. That’s the Phoenician resort in the background. This was taken around the year 2000 when we got married. We’re still living in Phoenix, as my weight will show. I’m probably weighing about 220 pounds right here.

• #1 US song: Stutter by Joe 
• Popular movie: Tigerland directed by Joel Schumacher

In Jerome

This is my mother in Jerome, Arizona, around the turn of the century. It was my last time with my mother and wife.

I knew that computers and artificial intelligence like Photoshop would let me make this picture better. My patience paid off.

My mother hated this picture because it made her look old. She seems very timeless to me

Sea Of Sameness

This is the Sea of Same-ness. That name seems to have stuck since I took this picture. It is a Phoenix suburb in the northern portions of the valley. It was taken on one of my hikes to a geocache, which I believe is still there and called “Island in the Burbs”. This is a black-and-white photograph since, at this time I was not taking black and white digital. Probably 35 mm Kodak developed by hand. Taking some time in the early 2000s, I knew even then that I would want to get out of here because this is not the kind of place that I want to live. 

Instant Karma

 

Connor, Instant Karma: 

I don't know when this was taken, but it was probably sometime in the early 2000s when Connor was about ten. We are hiking in Phoenix and the party, included my wife, Sue, his father, Sylvain, and Connor. He was advised to stay close and not wander off since this is a wilderness trail. We were on our way to a geocache hidden in the park. What strikes a chord is that Connor was told not to run because no one would be there to help him if he fell and hurt himself. A few minutes later, Connor ran ahead, tripped, fell, and face-planted on the trail's rocks. His face started bleeding, and he started crying. We both just march passed him and said “it sucks to be you”. Within five minutes, he's back to his old self and runs down the trail again. He ended the day by returning to the car ahead of everybody else and waiting 30 minutes while the rest of us finished our hike. He was a good kid, but he had some issues. He has moved out of state, has a girlfriend, and is paying his taxes. He's neither in prison nor does he have a criminal record, so way to go mom.