Easing into Things

This was going to officially be the shortest break between posts that I have ever experienced until I hit a bit of a snag. I have been struggling with creating a watermark in Photoshop. While I don't think that my pictures are incredibly, I don't think I would appreciate people using them without some sort of credit. Hell, if Conan's 'Masturbating Bear' and 'Triumph the Insult Comic Dog' are considered intellectual property, I think a few shots from my camera can be considered property as well! Despite all the Photoshop problems, the truth is this: I did not lie, people. I really do plan on doing this much more frequently.

Let's get this frequent posting started with something that is near and dear to my heart: photography.

First the background. . . My father, as most people are aware, is a civil engineer like me. What people do not know about Papa Flick is that prior to becoming a civil engineer, his professional path approached a far different land. Papa Flick started his college education as a photojournalism major. In fact, he finished his first go-round of his college education as a photojournalism degree holder. Once he had the degree and he faced the cruel reality that not every photojournalism major was going to work for National Geographic, he went back to school to start down the nerdy path of civil engineering. Regardless, his love for photography stuck with him through his marriage, moves, kids, more moves, new companies, new states, new stages of life. Papa Flick's appreciation of this photographic craft rubbed off on me. Growing up, photography always appeared in our daily lives. Our bookshelves held books on Ansel Adams and Steve Tohari. We could not leave the house for even a day trip without Dad's 1970's Nikons in his camera bag. I have seen every volume of National Geographic. Ever. When he finished our basement, he made an office/darkroom in one corner so he could develop his black and white film. It is fairly easy to see how photography has ingrained itself into the essence of who I am.

When I finally had some money to burn, I got my own cameras and started shooting. I shoot with both a Nikon D60 and a Nikon N80. The N80 is always loaded with black and white film. I am a sucker for black and white and I am an old stick-in-the-mud, so I really like shooting the classic film camera. It adds a degree of difficulty as you don't know if you have the correct exposure until you process the film. With the digital camera, you just chimp at the LCD to see how it looks. Totally different approach. A majority of my shots are done with my D60. I am currently working on becoming a better photographer with the film camera. Hopefully we will be able to see marked improvement in my film frames in 2010.

Here are a couple of my pictures that I really enjoy. These were taken before I started aggressively relearning all my photography knowledge. As time passes, I will do a better job of noting the camera, lens, aperture, and shutter speed of each shot. I find that interesting and I'm sure there are several people who read this who would appreciate the technical side of the shots.

This first shot was taken on a work trip down to the Grand Canyon. We were doing a redesign of the road that goes out to Hermit Rest. On our trip out there, I had the work camera (which is really a crappy camera) and we walked the entire project, which included a bike/ped path along the canyon rim. Walking in the cold fog, I came across this fallen tree and had to take a picture. Not really related to work, but I am glad I stopped.

This next picture was taken on our trip out to Washington state last November. We were visiting some friends in Bellingham, WA for the weekend. They took us on the ferry from Anacortes out to the San Juan Islands. The ferry ride started in the afternoon and we reached the islands as the sun started to set. I took numerous pictures of the sun setting around the islands and this one is my favorite one. If you are my friend on Facebook, you have already seen it as it is my profile picture.

The last picture I want to share is one that was a complete spur of the moment picture, but I enjoy it for many reasons. For Sarah and my first wedding anniversary, we went up to Estes Park, CO for a weekend to stay in a bed and breakfast. During our stay, we managed to sample all the local flavors of beer and wine. We started late in the morning by going to the first winery. We were told they opened at 10:00. We got there at 10:50 and the sign said that the winery would open at 11:00. To kill a few minutes, we just sat in the car and chatted. I had the camera and I was playing around with it. I focused on the Rockies guy and snapped a picture. Maybe it is because I am a Rockies fan or maybe it is because I was enjoying myself with my wife of a year or maybe it is actually just a fun photograph, but I absolutely love this picture. Go Rockies!!

Phew, now that the first one is out, the rest should be incredibly easy!

Til the next post,

Mikey

New Year, New Posts

Twenty-ten is now here and my blog still sucks. Sorry, people. My suckiness in blogging has resulted in several hours spent contemplating what my plans are for this site. Obviously, my posts have been infrequent and my free time (like everyone else's) has been too valuable to put any effort into this thing. Through all the pondering, my mind kept floating back to the same resounding thought - I need to invest my time into one of the few creative outlets I have. I need this blog.

I work in an office full of engineers 40+ hours a week. There are 150 left-brain, logical-thinking, detail oriented, over-analytical people surrounding me for a majority of my time during the day. Please don't take that the wrong way. My coworkers are awesome and I truly enjoy working with them on a daily basis. Couple my logic and mathematics driven career with my natural left-brain leanings and you could quickly apply that engineer label. But just like that ogre, there are many more layers to that Mike Flick onion. For example, my love of art in numerous forms. I have books of sketches and drawings and doodles that I have done over the years. I love photography, both seeing and doing. I enjoy writing, despite how much I thought I despised it when I was being graded by Mr. Hilbert and Ms. Miles. I could sit on my couch and watch film after film-noir after artsy film and call that a successful day. Hell, a musical from 1952 has been and always will be one of my favorite movies of all time. And they sing in that movie. And dance! In the rain! (The engineering part of my brain just exploded.) I think you all can understand what I am saying. While I parade as one a majority of the time, I am not completely an engineer. And this blog is exactly what I need in order to placate that imaginative and creative portion of my brain.

Ask one of the writers from the Cru Jones Society website or one of the hundreds of contributors to the SB Nation sites about why they consistently take some of their own time to write on a blog about something that 95% of the world couldn't care less about. I know for a fact that the CJS guys are not in it for the money. They have their day jobs. They write because they love it. The same is true for me. I love to write on my own terms and I hope to keep my motivation from hitting a writer's block in 2010 and beyond. Thanks for sticking with me through the incredibly slow times!

Just to get some stuff out there, this is what I anticipate for 2010 and this blog:

• Sarah and I have started a baby blog at the request of several of our friends. I am not sure exactly how this will play out, but Sarah and I will both be adding stuff as baby C.A.S.H. grows inside and outside of the womb. Check it out here: http://flingstroms.blogspot.com
• Art, art, and more art. I plan on postings on everything from my own photography and drawings to public art displays to Garfunkel.
• Anyone who knows me knows my love of sports. I hope to do some more in-depth writing about interesting or intriguing things in the world of sports.

There are a couple other ideas that are floating around in my big ol' dome, so the plan is to make this blog better for everyone involved - more creativity and expression from me, more to read for you. Let's cross our fingers and see how it goes!

Til the next post,
Mikey

Penance

This is how my life goes: I Wear Flickerbockers becomes a Failblog in the truest sense of the word. I run into Jonny X at a social event. He assails me for having a terrible blog. I am remorseful and post another entry into my blog. One month (or more) passes. Repeat. I really need more frequent impetuses (or is it impeti?) than the occasional run-in with Jon. I'm pretty sure that an eternal inspiration to keep me writing is coming.

In case you have not heard, Sarah and I are expecting a child. That's right, another generation of Tom Flicks is starting. Since you are currently reading this blog, you most likely know Sarah and I personally. This means that you probably understand how excited and pumped up we are for this next stage of our lives. We both love kids and despite the fact that it took a few months longer than we had hoped, we are right on schedule. Obviously, we have known for a while (December 4th is 11 weeks). We waited as long as possible to tell people, with the terrible possibility of miscarriage always looming. Now that we have passed the 8 week appointment where we saw the ultrasound of the little heart beat (meaning the chance of miscarriage was less than 1%), we feel comfortable spreading the good news. We even kept it quiet for a couple more weeks to make sure to tell our families personally. Needless to say, we have a few excited future aunts, uncles, grandparents, and great-grandparents.

During all of my mom's pregnancies with me and my siblings, my parents called the in-utero baby "Herman". Sarah's grandfather, who she was incredibly close to, always called her "Squirt". Sarah and I have continued these traditions, referring to the little kumquat as both Herman and Squirt. It also has been lovingly given the names "Baby Arkansas" and "Carlos". I can honestly say that I have never envisioned my child as a Carlos.

Despite the myriad of names, the little guy/girl is due on June 25th. Sarah is thankful that the baby will be out before the real hot part of the summer kicks in. I am not especially happy about Sarah being out for spring and summer softball. Hopefully she can return for the fall season! But such is the price that one must pay for a new little "8 pounds 6 ounce newborn infant [Carlos] in your golden, fleece diapers, with your curled-up, fat, balled-up little fists pawin' at the air." (I like the baby version the best!)

So please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we go along this completely new path. We appreciate all the love and support!

Love,
Mike

Twitter, Day 24

On September 1st, I stepped into a vast new technological world that I surprisingly had not previously dabbled in: Twitter. Like any person with any iota of technological knowledge, I thought I knew what Twitter was. I thought it was like Facebook, except only status updates. Despite this seemingly simple setup, Twitter was the next big thing. It seemed like more and more of my friends were using the service. Celebrities, athletes, companies, and publications were all advertising their Twitter feeds. There had to be something inside this electronic world that would cause such a phenomenal response. After a quick realization that in the worst case, I could just close my account, I stepped off the ledge. Mike Flick became @flickerbock. As I signed up, I still had some doubts about Twitter in general. My biggest concern in taking the plunge was that I would get no personal value out of the service.
As with any social networking device, the first thing you do when you sign up is allow the service to check your email contacts to see who is already using the service. This makes it incredibly easy to find the people you most likely would like to follow. It amazed me how many of my friends and family already had accounts. A large portion of those people obviously had not touched any Twitter related things for some time (or ever). But they were still on there. My Twitter life had begun.

Once I found my friends, I started exploring. One name always comes up in conversations about Twitter - Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk). He is easily one of the most well publicized Tweeters out there, having embraced the 24-hour connection to his fans. Plus, I had heard of his Twitter battle with CNN (@cnnbrk) where he beat CNN to 1 million followers. As an unofficial spokesperson for Twitter, I quickly added him to my list of 'followed'. I had my token celebrity.

After that, it was just an exercise in wandering through this digital collection of people I respect, enjoy, or admire (or all three except for CJS!). Robby Gordon (@RobbyGordon), Penn Jillette (@pennjillette), the Cru Jones Society (@CruJonesSociety), Steve Fairchild (@CoachFairchild), and others.

Now that I have established my list of people, we need to address the big concern going into this adventure - I needed to have some sort of personal gain from these tweets. Amazingly, personal gain was easy and fast.

My requisite personal gain came from all directions. This venue allows you to catch passing glances into others' lives. By posting their status, by sending a picture of their current location, by sharing a link to a website that discusses a subject they are truly passionate about, or by just asking a simple question looking for feedback, I was able to see what life is like for that person in real time. This seems like an appropriate time for an example. Andrew Schaefer (@andyschaef) is a friend of mine that lives literally a mile or so away from my house. How often to Schaefer and I see each other? Maybe twice a year. Yet through Twitter, we are able to communicate about our lives, our work, and our fun, making Twitter worthwhile.

Ok, enough with the touchy-feely connection crap (although it is true). The best part about Twitter is Bill Simmons (@sportsguy33). Some of you may know him as 'The Sports Guy' on ESPN.com. As an avid follower of his column, his presence on Twitter was a driving force in getting me started. And it was totally worth it. The SG is easily one of the busiest Tweeters I follow. His Tweets are funny, link to some crazy stuff, and are always entertaining. My favorite thus far came this week after the Dolphins controlled the football for 45 minutes in their loss to the Colts: 'My postgame question for Tony Sparano: Tony, that's one of the worst coaching jobs I've ever seen. I don't have a question.'

Another SG Tweet during the Jets/NE game: 'I'm not saying they're babying Mark Sanchez today, but he's sitting in a high chair when the Jets D is on the field.'

Will Twitter ever become greater than sitting down with a buddy over beers? Never. But it has become a great way to keep connected to people that you don't necessarily see all the time. If you have thought about joining Twitter, I would encourage it. And while you're on there, look me up (@flickerbock). Hopefully you enjoy yourself out there.

'Til the next post,
Mike

I Love My Godmother

This morning I received an email from my Aunt Mary, who is my mom's sister and my godmother. This email is a thing of beauty and it needed to be shared.

Pinocchio, Snow White, and Superman are out for a stroll in town one day. As they walk, they come across a sign: "Contest: Looking for the most beautiful woman in the world." I'm entering!" said Snow White. After the contest she comes out and they ask her, "Well, how'd ya do?" "First Place!" said Snow White.They continue walking and they see a sign: "Contest: Looking for the strongest man in the world." "I'm entering," says Superman. After the contest he returns and they ask him, "How did you make out?" "First Place," answers Superman. "Was there any doubt?"They continue walking until they see yet another sign: "Contest! Who is the greatest liar in the world?" Naturally, Pinocchio enters. After the contest he returns with tears in his eyes. "What happened?" they asked. "I came in 2nd; who the hell is this Brett Favre, anyway?" asked Pinocchio.


I should state that my Aunt Mary is a resident of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and an AVID Packer fan. Good fun all around.

A win, 1/3 of an inning, a putout and no pitches?

Last night we had yet another Guy's Night Out game for this season. The game was a good one, despite the fact that the Nationals are the absolute worst in the league. Jason Hammel didn't pitch very well, the Rockies didn't hit or field well, and the Nationals played like. . . well. . . the Natinals. The game ended up being tied at 4 at the end of the 4th inning. The excitement started later.

In the 8th inning, Alan Embree entered the game with 2 outs and Austin Kearns on first base. Embree, a lefty, toed the rubber, looked toward home plate, then fired a bullet to Todd Helton at first. Kearns was caught, started running toward 2nd. Helton dropped the ball, picked it up, chased after Kearns, who had fallen in the baseball. Kearns then got up and started going toward 2nd again. Helton tossed the ball to Tulowitzki, who was covering 2nd. Tulo chased Kearns back to 1st, tossed the ball to Embree, who had joined the pickle. Embree then tagged Kearns for the final out. It ends up being scored as a 1-3-6-1 putout. Inning over. The Rockies get a run in the bottom of the 8th, Huston Street comes in and sits 3 batters down and the Rockies get the W. Winning pitcher for the Rockies? Alan Embree. The guy who threw exactly zero pitches. Pretty cool thing to see.

After the game, we were trying to figure out if that had happened before. Thankfully, the Rockies website had the answer to our question. The last time a pitcher won a game without throwing a pitch was May 1 of 2003 (B.J. Ryan being the pitcher of record). There have not been any other instances of this happening in the last 23 years.

Needless to say, it was pretty cool to see in person. I think the best part of the story is what Jim Tracy said to Embree when he walked off the field. "You're done. Do you think you can go tomorrow?" Awesome. Hopefully he didn't have to ice his arm after such a heavy workload!

Change of Scenery

During yet another meet-up with E Dagger/Jonny X this past weekend, I was chastised for having a crappy blog. And I unfortunately had to agree with him. My frequency of posts has drastically reduced to zero per week. Alas, it is time to fire this machine back up again. I'm back!

First an update on the life and times of the Flicks:

• The big news is the newest addition to the Flick family - John and Sara were married on Friday the 19th. It was a crazy weekend, but we had a blast. We got to see a whole lot of family members from both sides. Plus we bonded with John's family, so that was good.
  
• Sara and John went to Hawaii for their honeymoon.
• They got to hang out on the beach.
• I was not on a beach. Boo.
  
• Softball is in full swing. I'm only playing 3 nights a week these days.
  
• The basement is so close to done I can almost see it finished. Only a few more hung doors, some quick touch-ups and some shelves in the closets and nous avons fini!
• Harvey got his manhood removed on the 30th. Nothing is worse than being a male taking your male dog to get neutered. The look in their eyes is so terrible. They know what is about to happen and they completely take it out on you.
• He also has been so lethargic and sad faced since he got home. I feel terrible.
  
• But the good news is NO MORE PUPPIES!!
  
• FYI - We had Jessica's (Sarah's sister) dog for a night and Harvey may or may not have knocked her up. We are still waiting for little Mia to start getting bigger. . .
• I finally have entered the smart phone arena. I got the G1 from T-Mobile. It is the Google phone that is made by HTC. I have never been happier with a phone. It's like the iPhone except you don't have to pay for every tiny little thing.
  
• Now I will never be able to go back to a regular phone.
• We went camping over the 4th weekend up at Boyd Lake State Park. Not a bad place to camp. The only real problem I had with it was that the campsites are pretty close together.
  
• We ended up taking the dogs. Mostly because Harvey had just been fixed, but also because Gizmo is a sissy. When he heard fireworks last year, he refused to go outside and do his business for a week. We figured that Matthew didn't want to deal with all the potential dragging of Gizmo to the backyard and/or interior pooping that might go on. Plus we figured Matthew would rather camp instead of watch our dogs and house.
• The dogs were actually great on this trip. The only problem was their need to take care of business at 5:45 every morning. Lame.

Now for some other random thoughts:

• Robert, Natalie, Sarah, Chew, and I went to Dickey's a few weeks ago. Robert enlightened me that day. He explained that they have free ice cream for patrons and they have a soda machine. Put those two together with the awesome giant yellow Dickey's cups, and you have delicious root beer floats.
  
• All the times I had been in there,I had never done that.
  
• I always had just loaded up on BBQ and ice cream.
• Robert is wise beyond his years.
• The Rockies ended the statistical first half of the season with a record of 42-39. Not bad considering the terrible start under the watch of Clint Hurdle.
• Speaking of Hurdle, there are times in my life where I just love being right (all the time). I'm glad that I was right about Hurdle. Nice guy, terrible manager.
• I will stand by the thought that the 2007 Rockies got to the World Series DESPITE Hurdle, not BECAUSE of him.
• Congratulations to Brad Hawpe and Jason Marquis for their selection to the NL All Star team. They are both extremely deserving this year.
• O'Dowd certainly got the Vizcaino for Marquis trade right.
  
• I find it funny that the Rockies are in the hunt for the Wild Card, the Nuggets are coming off an appearance in the Western Conference Finals, and the Broncos and Avs are rebuilding. When was the last time we could say that? Never?
• I have decided that I hate the heat. With heat, there is nothing you can do but deal with it. When it is cool or cold out, you can always put on another layer. High temperatures in the high 70's or low 80's are perfect for summer.
• Some math for you: Snow > 100 degree weather.
  
• If you have not heard of or have not seen the Hoover Dam Bypass bridge, you need to check it out. It is (a) going to be cool looking, (b) great for alleviating traffic over the dam, and (c) did I mention that it is going to be freaking cool looking? (It just so happens that my company did the design of this bridge, so that is a plus as well.)
• Sad to see that Steve 'Air' McNair was found dead in his apartment. Also sad to see that his wife had to find out about his mistress after a fatal shooting involving her husband.
  

I leave you with a cartoon from Steve Moore I found on my desk one morning. Hilarious!

Til the next post,
Mike

Baseball Recap: Oops

The last post that I did was right as baseball season was starting. I know, I know, I know. . . it has been too long. Part of the reason for the hiatus was the extreme embarrassment that I have experienced over the asinine picks that I made about MLB '09.

Rockies winning the NL? How about dwelling in the cellar?

Diamondbacks winning the NL West? How about firing their coach and then getting worse?

Rays winning the WS? They might not even make the playoffs at this rate.

Granted it is early, but I still feel like I must apologize for the crap that I spewed earlier. I'll do an official look-back on the season at the All Star break and again after the World Series.

Until the next post (as I walk away with my head down).
Mike

Baseball? Oooh - pick me!!

March came and went with no posts at all. Embarrassing. Or normal. One of the two.

The biggest news of the past month is the opening of the 2009 MLB season. I love Opening Day because it doesn't matter if you are the Yankees or the Orioles, every team has a sense of optimism when the season starts. Any team can make a run, as the Rays and Rockies have shown us the past couple years. This year, I have decided to make some predictions.

AL West
1. Angels - Solid lineup with above average pitching.
2. Rangers - Big bats and a rotation that can't be worse than the Rangers historically are.
3. A's - Holliday and Giambi can't make up for the weak rotation.
4. Mariners - This team is getting better, just not that much better. (Sidenote: I stop whatever I am doing to watch a Griffey AB. The prettiest swing in baseball. Period.)

AL Central
1. Twins - Not just a sentimental pick. This team is loaded with young talent in the lineup and the rotation.
2. Indians - A team that I think is overrated by the national media outlets.
3. White Sox - Inconsistent. And I hate them.
4. Royals - A team on the rise. Young power and improving pitching.
5. Tigers - More problems than they can fix in a season.

AL East
1. Rays - A young team that is only going to get better with the help of Pat "K" Burrell. Their rotation is good, too. I love Garza.
2. Red Sox - Probably the biggest question mark in the East. They have the talent to win this division, but will they stay healthy enough? And is Varitek going to drop below .200?
3. Yankees - Big $$ spent on free agents for another year on the couch in October.
4. Orioles - Stuck in a rut that continues this year.
5. Blue Jays - Halladay and. . . that's about it.

NL West
1. Diamondbacks - This team is dangerously young and talented.
2. Rockies - I put them here because I think some of those young pitchers are going to come through. This team will score a lot of runs.
3. Dodgers - Manny will not put this team in contention. But Ethier and Loney and Martin will.
4. Giants - Great starting pitching, weak lineup, Randy Johnson raging birds with his heat. Not a contender.
5. Padres - Peavy is traded by the end of May.

NL Central
1. Cubs - First time the Cubbies get to the playoffs in 3 consecutive years since who knows when.
2. Reds - I love this rotation. They have some young talent in their lineup as well (Votto).
3. Cardinals - Any team with Albert in the lineup can win games.
4. Brewers - No Sheets, no C.C., no playoffs.
5. Astros - Who the hell plays here any more?
6. Pirates - Congratulations on fighting for the title of worst team in baseball. Again.

NL East
1. Phillies - Defending champions are solid.
2. Braves - I like them here for some reason. No method to this madness.
3. Mets - I think they will start choking in July instead of August.
4. Marlins - Trouble.
5. Nationals - The Pirates' dance partner.

AL Wild Card
Red Sox - Although they are an enigma, I think they make the playoffs.

NL Wild Card
Rockies - This pick might be a little sentimental, but this team is improved with Baylor helping the hitters.

AL Champion
Rays - Better than last year, where they went to the WS.

NL Champion
Rockies - Hope springs eternal. . .

2009 WS Champion
Rays - I think this year they pull it off.

Friday Musings

Another Friday, another list of random Flick thoughts. . .

• Jeff Francis is out for the year (supposedly). Marquis better eat some inning and one of those young guys (Hirsh, Smith, Morales) needs to step up big.
  
• I would like to present a big, big 'IF' statement. IF Franklin Morales learns to control his pitches, IF Greg Smith stops walking every third batter, IF Jorge De La Rosa continues to pitch like his last 5 starts of 2008, IF Greg Reynolds learns to relax at the major league level, and IF Jason Hirsh ever gets around to remember how to dominate batters, the 2010 Rockies rotation could be the best in the history of the franchise.
  
• With Cook and Ubaldo (and a healthy Francis), we really only need 2 of these to happen. Much more likely.
  
• Last Sunday was the Daytona 500. We had a crew head over to our house to watch the race. Unfortunately, the last 48 laps were canceled due to the rain. Disappointing.
• My goal was to get the bathroom operational by Daytona. Robert left my house at about 6:00 or 6:15. At that point, you could use the toilet and the sink. I call that a success.
  
• A big thanks to Jorge, Robert, Dad, John, Matthew, and Randy for all their help in this remodel process.
  
• I thanked Chew even though he usually was watching chick flicks with Sarah in the other room when the men worked!
  
• All I have remaining down in the bathroom is the trim, some paint touchups, and the shower needs caulk.
  
• The hallway needs to be painted, the closet doors need to be hung, and the light fixtures need to be put up. As soon as all that is done, we are going to replace all the carpet in the basement and put up new baseboards.
  
• Then I start the next project. . .
• I read that the stimulus bill was 1,073 pages long. Yet it only took 18 hours to pass both the House and the Senate. That makes me sick to my stomach.
  
• This quick legislation is after Nancy Pelosi promised that we would have 48 hours to read the stimulus bill online before they voted.
  
• And it is after President Obama promised that the American people would have 5 days to read bills before he signed them into law.
  
• Seems like government is still full of the same old cheats and liars. I really had hoped that Obama would move the government in a new direction of honest and transparency.
  
• I did like this, though.
• For those of you out there that are car people, you will like this article about the Hofmeister Kink. Nothing says 'luxury' like a kink!

This weekend should be a good one as Blackhawk, a housewarming party, and Winter Park will all make appearances. I hope you all have good ones as well.

Til the next post,
Mikey