Day 5 - A New Vehicle

Well since I had been on a blogging hiatus I have not posted anything about my new car that I got in May.  The lease was running out on the Jeep (thankfully!) and I needed a new car.  After weighing the options of buy vs lease I decided this time I was going to buy my car.  I had not bought a car since my first car when I got my license so I was a little nervous about what to pick since I was planning on having it for about 8 years.

After planning for months to get another SUV of some sort and studying almost everyone that was not made by a division of Chrysler (stupid Jeep) I had my mind made up.  I was going to get a 2008 Honda Pilot - nice size, navigation, not a bad price, fuel economy was not too bad, liked the looks, reviews were very positive - I was happy with the decision.  Since I was doing my research far in advance of the purchase when it came closer to the time to "pull the trigger" and make the purchase something bad happened.  Gas prices skyrocketed, I am talking about frequent jumps of 20 cents every 10 days or so.  What was I going to do, what if that kept happening and I have a car that will cost a fortune to fill up and have NO resale value at all.  I was seriously afraid of $6 or $7 gas by the time the loan was up in 5 years.  I had to make a decision.  I decided not to risk it and to look at cars.

I now had a matter of a couple weeks to make a decision and had done virtually no research on cars.  It was time to cram.  I had like what I had read about Honda in general when I was researching the Pilot and drifted towards the Accord and Civic models.  The Civic seemed a little small for me.  The Accord had just about everything I like in the Pilot - liked the looks, navigation, great reviews - except the SUV size and SUV sized gas bill.  But since this was an almost $30,000 purchase I had to keep looking just to be sure.  I looked at the Ford Fusion, the Nissan Murano, Nissan Altima, Chevrolet Impala and others.  After all the research the decision was made, I was getting a Honda Accord.  After waiting for about a week for the right configuration to become available locally I took delivery of my new car, a 2008 Honda Accord Sedan V6 w/ navigation and leather. 

These photos ended up serving as practice when I took the photos of Bill's new car, I gotta say his turned out a lot better.  Might have to go and try to get some better photos with the Accord.

I am very happy with the car and hope to enjoy for at least another 7 1/2 years.

Day 4 - GO VOTE

No photos today, just a reminder GO VOTE!

No matter who you plan to vote for it is your duty.  Remember if you do not vote you do not have the right to complain about the government.

Of course if you have not yet decided who to vote for yet, what have you been doing for the last 6 months.  If you still can not decide though allow me to present the Jeff endorsed candidates:

President: John Mccain/Sarah Palin

MN Senate: Norm Coleman

MN 3rd District House of Representatives: Erik Paulsen

MN State House District 41B: Jan Schneider

Now, GET OUT AND VOTE!!!!!!

Day 3 - Explorers

Something I don't remember ever writing about here on the blog but has been part of my life for a long time is the Police Explorer program.  I have been involved with the program in one way or another since 1998.  I started as an Explorer my Sophomore year in high school and continued until I was hired as a dispatcher in 2003.  Since being hired I have become an advisor for the current Explorers.  It is a program I truly believe in.  I could explain the Explorer program in depth if you are interested but for basic info you can visit this page.

One of the main activities the Explorers are involved in is competition with other Explorer posts.  They compete twice a year at the State level and then every other year at the National level.  A couple weeks ago we took 9 of our Explorers to the second competition of the year in Duluth.  This was my first time going to the Duluth conference (we did not go when I was an Explorer)  The Duluth competition is much smaller than the main conference in April, but still a great learning opportunity.  Since the advisor who is usually the photographer did not attend I brought my camera along.  I was able to take photos during competitions, the awards banquet and also when we went to an indoor amusement park in the canal park area.  It was a fun three days and to top it off the Explorers won two awards in the competition and got lots of good practice in different scenarios that hopefully will help in the Spring.

Since I am not going to post the photos of the Explorers here (obviously) here are a couple photos I took from near the chalet at Spirit Mountain (where the conference was held).  As you can tell the setting is beautiful, even if we missed the peak of leaf change by a few days.

Day 2 - Dave is shocked

So as soon as I posted the Day 1 acceptance of Dave's challenge my pager starts to beep.  Sure enough it was Dave - who should be working, not blogging or reading blogs :) - shocked that I actually accepted the challenge.  It read:

"DUDE!!!! You accepted my challenge!! I did not think you would! I AM IMPRESSED!"

Just goes to show you how great of a "friend" Dave is, he had no faith in me whatsoever!  Even after everything we went through together.  I AM DISAPPOINTED!!  I think the truth is Dave knows that there is no way he could do it, must suck being shown up huh?  What nothing to say Dave? Come on!  I officially and publicly challenge you to complete NaBloPoMo too!  Can you do it?

Disclaimer:  If any of Dave's readers have wandered over here to check out the challenge let me make something very clear.  Dave and I are good friends and you have just been let it on what is like every time we work together, see each other, talk, or otherwise communicate.

Day 1 - NaBloPoMo Again???

Well I did manage to do a post a day for a month last November.  Dave has decided to challenge me again.  Apparently he does not think I can or will do it again.  I think Dave knows that I have trouble turning down challenges and that I will again accept the challenge of posting every day during the month of November.

Now, how to approach the challenge this time?  Last year it was lots of photos, maybe this year no photos for a month?  No, that would be kinda lame for a blog called JDZ Photography.  I do have a new phone that could allow a photo a day kind of post, maybe that will be the tactic.  I have considered writing a 30 word story and posting a word a day, but even Dave would not read that (and let's face it Dave will read pretty much anything that is on a blog).  I have many options to consider, but that is ok because day 1 is done, 29 days left!

Bill's Trans Am

Well despite what many of you may have thought I do remember that I have a blog and yes I remember how to update it.  We now return from the unplanned blogging hiatus.

As many of you know Bill recently bought his dream car, a 1980 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am.  Now I am not a car guy but it is a pretty cool car and in amazing shape considering it is 28 years old.  Bill asked if I would be interested in taking some pictures of the new car for him, I of course agreed to do it.  Below are some of the photos that I took at Bush Lake Park and Beach.

I also took the opportunity to take one fall color photo out at the Beach.

Mom's Wedding

I am back from Florida where I went to attend my Mom's Wedding.  It was a very nice ceremony on Siesta Beach followed by a reception at her home.  In addition to walking my Mom down the aisle with my sister, I was asked to be the wedding photographer.  It was my first time taking wedding photos but I think it turned out okay.

My Uncle Bob performed the ceremony.

Instead of the typical lighting of a unity candle they did a "sand ceremony" where sand of three different colors (white representing God) are poured in layers into a single vase.



My Step-Dad Jerry and Mom.
My Mom and sister.
My sister and my future brother-in-law Mike (it's a long story).
My Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob.
The cake that was setup back at the house for the reception.