Cheri and I went to the Crafty Bastards Arts and Crafts Fair in Silver Spring, MD on Saturday. This was a self-described alternative craft fair featuring young hipsters selling their unique (and sometimes cliched) designs. There was jewelery made from typewriter keys, blown glass, nails, and bolts. There were disturbing children’s and pet toys. There were ironic t-shirts, trendy belts, and punk-rock baby clothes. In a nutshell, you weren’t going to find your grandmother’s crocheted sweaters here.

Along with the crafts, there was live music, mustache painting, and craft workshops going on as well. It was fun to window shop the different vendors and their items. At times it felt that I wasn’t artsy or ironic enough to fit in, but oh well. I still had fun taking a few pictures and window shopping at some of the cool items. A couple things we got were some glass coasters and some earrings for Cheri (both made by the same artist).

I just found out this morning that 2 Skinnee J’s will be playing a reunion show at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC on Wednesday, August 6th. Tickets go on sale tomorrow (6/19) at 10 am online at the 9:30 Club’s website. Cheri and I will definitely be in attendance. If you never witnessed the phenomenal awesomeness of 2 Skinnee J’s then I suggest you seek out some of their videos on YouTube.

New Couch and Coffee Table — In Use

Originally uploaded by fallenposters

Cheri and I took the plunge today and finally replaced our grimy old couch. We got the Ektorp loveseat from Ikea with the cover that matches our other chair (not pictured).

Yesterday we reserved a pick-up truck to rent from Avis to haul the couch from Ikea to our apartment. We did this because it was much cheaper than having the loveseat delivered ($80 versus $300).

We had made the reservation to pick up the truck this morning at 10 am. When we got there we were told that the truck was being brought in from another location and would be there shortly. Shortly translated to 90 minutes. We were easily upset since we wanted to return the truck the same day. When the truck finally arrived I asked for a discount and the Avis guy surprisingly gave me one. He knocked $30 off our rental. Cheri and I were pleased as we drove down to Ikea to pick up our new couch.

While we were down there we saw a coffee table we liked too that was on sale and went ahead and picked it up. As you can see from the picture its been put to good use.

Cheri and I have started trying to work out again. Yesterday and today we went to the gym in our apartment complex. Cheri walked/ran on the treadmill while I attempted to use the elliptical machine. Our gym has two elliptical machines and I used the one today that didn’t have the arms that moved. It felt awkward at first (like I was running backwards) but once I got into a rhythm it felt fine. It felt good to zone out to my iPod while watching Hard Rain on TNT with the captions turned on.

I think tomorrow we’ll take a break so we don’t overdo ourselves.

Sunday night (read, 2 AM), our apartment flooded.  Cheri woke up to a noise in the kitchen and yelled to me that the apartment was flooding.  After a frantic search for my glasses I took a look under the sink to find the hose that connects the sink to the dishwasher had busted and water was flowing.  The entire kitchen, bathroom, and half the living room were soaked.

Needless to say, we shut off the water and called the emergency maintenance line.  In about 30 minutes the maintenance guy showed up with a wet-vac and soaked up the water, ripped up the carpet, removed (most of) the soaked carpet padding, and placed two carpet dryers on the floor.

Its been a few days now and the carpets are almost dry.  Hopefully things will work out so we don’t have to move or anything.  We’re just glad that we were home when it happened.

Ever since my graduation, I’ve been taking lots of photos with my new Nikon D80. Here are some highlights from our recent camping trip to Heavenly Acres in Greene County, Virginia:

This is a shot of the South River in Greene County, Virginia. We were out there camping and we stumbled across this small river while looking for some good places for pictures. I shot this in manual mode at 90 mm, 1/3 sec SS, f/22, ISO 100. I used my tripod and the time delay setting to avoid shaking the camera while taking the long exposure. I also took this at dusk so that the image didn’t over expose. I made sure to use a small aperture to allow for a large depth of field.

While we were driving around, my father-in-law’s GPS indicated we were near Greene Acres Lake. What we found was this. For this shot, I used manual at 55 mm, 1.3 sec SS, f/18, and ISO 100. Since this was at dusk and I used a long shutter speed, I set the camera on my tripod and used the time delay to avoid any shaking. The small aperture allowed me to get most of the photo in focus.

This picture was taken at Big Meadows in the Shenandoah National Park. For this photo, I used shutter priority mode at 200 mm, 1/200 sec SS, f/29, and ISO 400. In order to get the silhouette of the tree I made sure to meter for the sky. I did this by aiming at the sky (with no tree or ground in view), pressed halfway down on my shutter button to determine the needed settings, then aimed down to get the tree and ground in view. This allowed the camera to get the sky exposed correctly while underexposing the ground to give me that silhouette.

While we were on a trail that paralleled the Rapidan River, I stumbled across an area that had a lot of bumblebees and other bugs flying around. So I crouched down, set my camera to shutter priority with a very high shutter speed (to try to freeze the motion of the flying insects), and set my camera to burst mode (to keep taking pictures as I held the shutter button down). This was one of the few shots that came out. Here I used (like I said) shutter priority, 200 mm, 1/2000 sec SS, f/8, and ISO 400. Since it was a bright day out, I also had my exposure compensation dial set to -2.

You can see the rest of the photos from our camping trip on my flickr page.

Ok, ok, status updates:

1. I graduate this Saturday.

Yup, that is right. After two years of classes learning about fingerprints, firearms, DNA, autopsies, homicides, crime scenes, and the like, I will be getting my Master of Forensic Science degree from The George Washington University. I’m feeling a tad ambivalent about it though. On one hand I’m extremely happy that I’m done with school (for probably the rest of my life). On the other hand, I’m wondering what I’m going to do with myself. I won’t have classes, homework, a job, and a life to juggle. I’m fearful that I’m going to be bored. But I have lots of hobbies I want to pursue (like my photography, guitar, and violin). Maybe I’ll actually keep updating my blog consistently (what a concept!).

2. No Remicade for Me.

I visited my GI doctor last month and he decided that it isn’t the right time for me to go on Remicade (more about Remicade here). He felt that my symptoms weren’t severe enough to warrant me going on such an extreme treatment method. Instead, he upped my 6-MP dosage. Hopefully this will slowly heal my fistula. Since the visit the pain and discomfort from my fistula has dropped a lot. I’m going to set up a visit with my colon and rectal surgeon for next month to see how it is doing and hopefully see if the drain that is set in there can be removed.

3. Flickr and Twitter Updates

I have seriously become uber-addicted to Twitter lately. I’m updating at least once a day (if not more than that sometimes). I’ve also set it up so that I can update it via SMS text messaging through my cell phone. Since I don’t have an unlimited text messaging plan with my phone company (T-Mobile), I am trying to keep myself from updating via SMS only when I’m not within reach of internet access (which is pretty rare).

I’ve also updated my flickr with a bunch of pictures. Some are from my friend Larry’s wedding and some are from Cheri’s friend Melissa’s wedding. There are also a bunch of random other images as well. Here’s one of my favorite photos from this last batch, our friend Kate (left) with Cheri (right) getting ready for Larry’s wedding:

I guess I never got around to blogging about my first deer-hitting experience.

A few Mondays ago (March 31 to be exact), I was minding my own business — driving to work, my normal routine. My work hours are from 7 am to 3:30 pm, so it was pretty dark. I work on the Marine Corps Base in Quantico — a veritable venison buffet. I’m usually very careful when driving on base, since there are so many deer around and much of the base roads are not lit very well.

I was only about a mile away from my job when all of a sudden, there was a deer on my friggin’ hood. I was just driving along, rocking out to something on my iPod (P!nk, probably), and then WHAM — a doe went a flyin’. Obviously, I was really scared and freaked and worried. I wasn’t worried about the deer (which I’m pretty sure was dead), I was mainly worried about my car — a 2008 Honda Civic I just purchased in January.

[Sidenote: I was told by no less than THREE people that Virginia law states that I can keep the deer.]

I pulled over to the side of the road and called the police and then my insurance company (Progressive). I was able to get pictures taken by the police (which I don’t have, but I probably should request them for posterity’s sake). Luckily, my insurance company has a concierge service for when you need to make a claim. They were able to come tow my car, take it to a body shop/mechanic, and give me a rental. Since I have rental car coverage on my insurance, I didn’t have to pay for my rental.

I was called within 48 hours with an estimate for the damages. It turned out to be about $4000 worth of damage (the hood, headlights, bumper, panel, radiator, AC condenser, fan, plus a bunch of other little things). There was no damage to the frame of the car, so everything was replaceable. I only had to pay my $500 deductible. I got my car back this past Monday and you can’t even tell that it ever hit a deer.

Hopefully, this will be my last deer hitting experience.

I’m not quite sure (and too lazy to look) when the last time I posted a Crohns Disease related update, but now is as good as any other time. 

Its been over a year since the surgery I had to correct three fistulas caused by perianal abscesses (which in turn were caused by the Crohns).  I had three setons put in (basically threads to help keep the fistula open to allow for drainage as they healed) at the surgery and have since had two removed.  I still have two fistulas present while one has closed up completely.  I’ve been going to my colon and rectal surgeon almost every month wherein she examines my fistulas and treats them will silver nitrate to promote healing. 

I’m still taking daily doses of both Asacol and 6-MP (aka mercaptopurine) to manage the symptoms.  I haven’t had any major symptoms nor flare ups since last year when I was first diagnosed.  Occasionally I will have some minor temporary stomach cramps and/or some joint pain (mainly in my fingers or my knees).  But these have been relatively minor and infrequent.      

Since my fistulas haven’t been healing as quickly as my surgeon would like me to begin treatment with the drug Remicade.  I’ve been hesitant to be put on Remicade since it is administered intravenously and once you begin treatment, you must remain on the drug for the rest of your life, otherwise it will become ineffective.  From what I’ve read, Remicade has been a wonderful treatment for those with Crohns Disease and perianal disease.  I have an appointment with my GI doctor next week, and I’ll discuss this option with him and see what he suggests.   

But overall, my health has been greatly improved over this time last year.  I’ve gained back most of the weight I initially lost when I had my first flare up, and I haven’t had a flare up since that initial attack.  I give great thanks to my wife Cheri, my family, my friends, my doctors, my co-workers, my church small group and God for all the healing that I’ve received this past year.  Hopefully the healing will continue and soon I will be completely symptom free. 

I just wanted to point everyone to Cheri’s blog where she wrote a wonderful piece on our first experiences with me being treated for both my perianal abscesses and Crohn’s Disease.

He is strong. He fools most people. His co-workers and classmates do not know that the words “Crohn’s Disease” now sit under his name in medical files. They do not ask about the three pills he takes quietly at lunch, nor are they aware of the eleven others he will take throughout the day. Each month, while working a fulltime job and completing his master’s degree, he still must carve out even more time to devote to this on-going battle. This monthly routine includes, not only visiting Target for refills of his many prescriptions but also remembering to have has his blood drawn, meeting with his surgeon and waiting, sometimes hours, for his appointment with his gastroenterologist.

You can visit her site for the full post. (Link)