I bought a house

So the big news: I bought a house! I'm officially tied down committed to one spot for the next several years of my life. I'm very blessed to be living here!

Even though I've lived here for two months and 1 week, I've been postponing this post because I've been meaning to take quality pictures of the place, but I just never have. So, I'm including the few pictures I do have:



Quick story on how it all went down. So, after a few weeks of house-hunting online, I announced to my family that I was going to stay down south afterall (in my 200 SF lap-of-luxury shoebox home) and just wait on the Lord for housing arrangements. Welp, my dear mother let that go in one ear and out the other, and, unbeknownst to me, she kept scouring the North Austin neighborhoods for a house for us. (Did I mention that she lives in North Austin?) Anyway, one day I am pulled out of the office by my mother and a stranger who befriended me under the guise of wanting to hire me to do some real estate photography for her new business. Well, as you may have guessed, this was a realtor-friend of my mother's, and they were driving me to look at houses. I can't even say that they were taking me against my will, because I was tricked and lured into this women's web of trickery. (I mean this all light-heartedly, of course.)

The first house she brought me to was seconds away from my office, a smallish and older home. She probably didn't know this, but I had actually preferred a small home because a boy and a mama don't need a lot of room. We walked in and the first thing I saw was the wall of windows opening to the backyard. I walked out there and just knew. I just knew. I had heard people say such things before, which I always blew off as jibberish. But I just knew. And it wasn't a rush of emotions or really even a rush of excitement. It just sat there in my being, peacefully and quietly... the feeling of knowing that this was it.

I briefly looked at the rest of the house. It had been recently renovated and such, but for me it was all about the backyard; the grass, the grove of trees, even the squirrels loved that backyard. I think we looked at two other houses but they were not The One. So, we drove straight back to my office and filled out a contract right then and there. Two weeks later, I closed on the house, and my newest life adventure began.

Meanwhile, back in photo-land...

So, I really only have one picture of the house as it was when I moved in. Two weeks ago, my wonderful family (dad, uncles, and brother) began work on replacing my old and hail-damaged roofing shingles, and the house will never look the same. Why? Because, in the name of killing two birds with one stone, my dad had the idea of expanding the roof and create a patio area in the front of the house at the same time that they would be re-shingling. I agreed and demolition began. Two weeks into construction and I have learned that my family doesn't really create blue prints or write-out calculations when they remodel, they just do it and figure out the details along the way. Which has been successful so far! Below you'll find a front-view of the house as I bought it, along with a mock-up of "the plan" that I created before construction began.



Construction pictures will follow...

Diller-Time will never be the same

Pictures from Steve's last homemeeting. (I should have posted this back in August.)

I've been published!

Excluding highschool newspapers and yearbooks, this is the first time something I've done has been in the paper. Too bad it wasn't an awesome photo that I sold to National Geographic, but exciting nonetheless. This is an ad that ran in The Current (San Antonio's version of The Chronicle) in early October. I don't have the paper in front of me, but it ran right above an ad for "Sexy Halloween Costumes" complete with a picture of a French Maid in 6-in heels. Doh! But at least now I can say that I've been published.


PS: Where have I been for all these months? Not sure. More posts and big news to follow.

Laying Asphalt on Loop 1

This was my favorite part of last semester: our Photojournalism assignment.

Not only have I always loved the excitement of learning something interesting at a newsworthy event, but I also love laying out spreads for publications. Here's my final spread (it was printed 16"x20").


Laying Asphalt on Loop 1.

It was an expose ...ahem, well, a story... about the construction project currently underway on Mopac (aka: Loop 1) and Duval. They've added a bridge to the area to allow for an extra auxillary lane and closed off (and since re-opened) an off-ramp at Duval.

During my story, I followed around the Project Engineer as they layed asphalt on the newly built lane.

For those not familiar, these are photos of what I used to do: construction inspection. I look back fondly on the days when I was outdoors all day learning new things about how a road gets built. Afterwards, I was moved indoors where I worked to design projects like this. Develop construction plans for Highway improvements on State facilities, road widenings, drainage design ... and on and on.

Here are a few of the photos shown in that spread.


Project engineer treading over a freshly compacted 5" lift of asphalt pavement as he heads over to the Asphalt Crew.


Looking through the rebar framework which will serve as reinforcement for new traffic rail on Loop 1, workers have spray-painted instructions to "saw-cut" the existing pavement structure in order to "tie-in" new pavement. You can see that the pavement has already been saw-cut (at a depth of 18") and awaits new asphalt.


Sitting amidst wooden forms and rebar, TxDOT Construction Inspector coordinates with Contractor superintendent about the paving operation underway on Southbound Loop 1 at the Duval Street exit ramp.

This ramp has since been opened to the public!

Estee Lauder

I had several tubes of old lipstick to throw away. What a better way to put them to good use: make a lipstick "product shot."

My favorite thing about this set-up is the background: silver mylar lit with two different shades of blue.


Of course, this doesn't highlight the product. The mylar steals the focus. So, here is my final submittal.