I’ve launched a new blog: www.picturingraleigh.com.

Simply put, PicturingRaleigh.com is a photo blog featuring photographers who are passionate about living in and sharing their vision of Raleigh, North Carolina. My goals in creating this site are to promote photographers, enable discussion about their work, and create a vibrant and ongoing visual diary of one of the fastest growing cities in the country.

I will be seeking out and inviting local photographers to contribute. The photographers invited to contribute will be chosen for their skill, vision and ability to tell a story in pictures and words. Unlike the show Survivor, they will be voted into the tribe, not out of it ;-)

Receiving IV antibiotics in the hallway at Duke Raleigh Hospital

The wounds Mika gave me on my left hand became very infected and the red area had progressed over most of my hand. After taking my temperature (101.5), I felt like a trip to the emergency room was in order. Elizabeth came home early from work and chauffeured me to the ER. She gave me moral support and kept me smiling through the process.

The ER doc decided I had Cellulitis and put me on two IVs containing very powerful antibiotics. The first one made me vomit within seconds of starting the drip. The second one was easier on my insides, but took a lot longer to administer. Kudos to my nurse Eric. He was awesome with the IVs, and quick on the anti-nausea pills.

So, hopefully I’ll wake up tomorrow fever-free and with less swelling in my hand. Knock wood.

I voted early. I’m going to be in San Francisco on election day. Better to do it early, rather than absentee. I voted for “That One” by the way, and I think you should too if you haven’t yet.

Photo by Brant Schlatzer (aka the proud papa)

Photo by Brant Schlatzer (aka “Proud Papa”)

My brother and his wife Danie are the proud parents of a new baby boy. Welcome to world Matthew!

Happy birthday to me… Happy birthday to me…

I fell on the last night of our wedding trip to St. John, USVI. I dislocated my left shoulder causing severe damage to the rotator cuff and detached my bicep muscle at the joint. This happened the night of July 21, 2007.

I had surgery to repair my shoulder on Wednesday, August 18. Dr. Michael Fajgenbaum of the Raleigh Bone & Joint Surgery Clinic performed the procedure at Raleigh Duke Hospital. This was the best hospital experience I have ever had.

I will have my arm immobilized for the next 6 weeks. After that, I’ll start physical therapy.

Elizabeth and I just returned from 8 days on the island of St. John in the US Virgin Islands. We were married on July 18th at sunset. Anne Marie Porter was our officiant, and Michelle of Blue Glass Photography expertly captured the moments. Anne Marie provided a wonderful ceremony. Thank you, Anne Marie, for making us both feel so relaxed and for making sure we took the time to soak up the island vibes while we said our vows. Michelle was a pleasure to work with as well. We hit it off immediately, making this photographer comfortable on the other side of the lens for a change!

While we were on St. John, we stayed at an incredible villa called “The Castle” on top of a mountain on the east, and less settled, end of the island. The view was magnificent.

I really enjoyed seeing the men that I shared some of the hardest, craziest, and most incredible times of my life with once again. I hadn’t seen any of them since I left the Navy in 1989. We caught up, swapped stories, drank beer like we were still in our twenties, and reflected on the highs and lows of our experience. All it took was a smile, a handshake or a hug to bring back memories and names that hadn’t been spoken of in almost two decades.

USS Minneapolis-St. Paul, SSN-708 (top). Members from the Cold War era crew (bottom). I’m the guy with the orange tie. Elizabeth took the group shot.

After the pier-side ceremony, attendees were permitted to tour the submarine. Elizabeth and I carefully descended through the hatch and dropped into a world of tight space, cold metal, strange smells and the sound of humming electronic equipment. She couldn’t believe that 120+ guys spent months at a time underwater in such an environment. As we followed our group and guide, a current crew member, I filled in some details, adding commentary and stories as we went along. It felt as if I had left the boat only yesterday. It looked the same, it smelled the same and it sounded the same. Memories came flooding back–most good, some bad. As I gripped the handles of the periscope for the last time, I felt like I should slip into my uniform and get back to work plotting the ship’s course, updating the charts…

I didn’t think seeing my old shipmates, attending the ceremony and taking that final tour aboard would have had the emotional impact that it did. I really felt my heart sink as I walked down the pier for the last time.

Link: The local news coverage of the ceremony.

I proposed to Elizabeth back in December of this year, but it wasn’t until this week that we got her ring back from the jewelers. I designed the ring. It was difficult to cast the white gold without any bubbles in it. They tried to do it locally for months, then decided to outsource it to a place in Indiana that had a different casting method (hyperbaric?) and viola, we have a perfectly cast ring now. There is a London sapphire, surrounded by brown diamonds and a garnet on the end (my birthstone, and the traditional wedding stone in Medieval times).

We’re running off to St. John USVI in July to have a private ceremony (just us) on top of a mountain at the house we’re renting – which happens to be a castle!

My niece Jessica graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro this past weekend. She’s pictured here with her proud mother (Loretta Jo) and father (Karl, my brother). Congratulations Jessica!

Zephyr (a.k.a. Little Dude) -- August 2002 - August 2006

After a long battle against complications from an alpha toxin poisoning, Zephyr passed on to the next life.

I received a call from his doctor at 12:30 pm – Zephyr was crashing. I called Elizabeth and we sped from our jobs to the hospital. He died shortly before 1pm while the skilled staff at the NCSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital tried to stabilize him. He held on long enough for us to get there and say our goodbyes. Elizabeth and I stroked his head and let him know it was OK to go. Dr. Kuzinski and the assisting students had exhausted their options to stabilize him. As he suffered his second cardiac arrest, I gave the order to stop. Dr. Kuzinski administered the shot to help him pass on peacefully. In a matter of seconds, he was gone, and so was a piece of our hearts.

The hospital staff cleaned his body and carefully wrapped and placed him in a box for us. They also made a clay impression of his foot for us – totally above and beyond the call of duty. We’ll keep it with the other mementos we have from all our previous cats. What a cool thing to do.

True to our custom, we created a special burial box for Zephyr. He was buried beneath the shade of his favorite tree, a Japanese maple. He would often take naps under that tree, so we felt it was the best place to bury him. We placed him in his box on a bed of pine needles and dirt from his favorite spot in the yard to roll around. This rolling behavior earned him the nickname of “Dirt Boy” as it inevitably resulted in him being covered in it. We placed his favorite toys in the box with him – a Lance Armstrong “Live Stong” rubber bracelet and a piece of cardboard that he carried everywhere. We called it his ticket. Also included were some roses from a bouquet I bought Elizabeth and some other items we associated with Zephyr.

It had been a long battle since the toxin nearly took his life several weeks ago. We’ll never know how or where he came in contact with the toxin. Throughout the ordeal, and as one complication rolled into another Zephyr maintained a strong will to live. That’s the kind of cat he was, the strong silent type with a twist of mischief. He dealt with a lot of pain and discomfort in his last days, but never once did he hiss, bite, scratch or complain. In fact, in the four wonderful years he was with us, he never once hissed, bit or scratched us. He was was a great cat and member of our family. He will be exponentially missed.

Elizabeth and I would like to express our deepest gratitude to everyone who has offered support to us during this difficult time. Your kind words and actions have helped us tremendously.

Update 08/09/2006 – Photos from his funeral.