A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

people

Is this really the most wonderful time of the year?

I truly do love Christmas.

It’s something I’ve always been into. From the music, to the giving, to the happy-go-lucky feel for the time of the year, it’s by far my favorite holiday.

But sheesh … it’s getting downright crazy.

Two of us went shopping Sunday. Nothing major, mind you, rather more to get a few things to fill in the blanks. In fact, I was looking mainly for gift cards and a few small things. Turns out, gift card racks were decimated by other shoppers, who were then on the rampage everywhere else.

It’s amazing how rude people are this time of year.

Nobody looks where they are going. They cut people off in stores, in parking lots and on the roads. I saw one person speed down the aisle of a parking lot — where kids were walking with parents — just to get a parking spot.

Speaking of parking spots, waiting for people to leave is stupid. When you have 4-5 other cars behind you, keep on moving. Waiting five minutes and letting traffic build up is not only rude, but downright stupid and could be dangerous.

Personally, if I see people doing that, I stay in the parking spot. Not because of the people behind that person — I feel for them — but to prove a point. Walk a little, people. Each place we went today, we parked way at the end of the parking lots. Why? Because there were many spots. And walking from there really isn’t that big of a deal. Most people don’t see it that way, as shown by people waiting and waiting for “premium” spots.

In the stores, people don’t say “excuse me” or “sorry” or anything like that. As long as they get what they want, it’s all good.

On Sunday, I was so annoyed. No matter where you went, there were people not worrying about anyone but themselves. Block aisles, move slowly and stop on a dime as you follow. It didn’t matter.

I was glad to get out of that area and call it good.

In all honestly, I love keeping my money local. But with how things seem to get worse every year, I think it’s time to really start considering doing all of my shopping online.

I’ll be happy Tuesday and Wednesday, however, when I get to not worry about these things and be able to spend time with friends and family!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Photo Blogging Challenge: December 2013’s theme is…

 

It’s December already!

Where did 2013 go? For some, I’m sure you’re ready to flip the calendar. For others, maybe not so much. But either way, we’re into the final 31 days of 2013.

This will also mark our ninth month doing this challenge! It’s grown slow, but I’d love to see us pull in some other bloggers to join us, or get some of the others back to re-join us. If you know bloggers who enjoy challenges like this, let them know!

I’ve had a great time with it and it actually is a perfect challenge for me. I’ve completed one 365 challenge and don’t think I could do it again. I’ve failed miserably on my 52-week challenge this year, so this has been the perfect one. Hopefully, it will continue on!

Before we get to this week’s theme, allow me to remind about everything, especially for any new people coming on board!

Please remember not to use old photos. Only images you shot this month and it can be with any camera. It defeats the purpose of the challenge to use old images.

As a reminder of a few things, let me copy and paste this from last month:

  • I have an e-mail reminder list set up. Basically, I’ll e-mail the group with about 10 days left in the month to remind you. When I remember, I’ll also shoot one out the day before the end of the month, as a reminder to post the following day. I can’t always guarantee that one though! If you are not on the list, let me know in the comments below that you would like to be on it. Note: I was bad on this … please join the Facebook group if you can. I update there more often!
  • Second, I set up a Facebook group for those who are interested. Reminders and maybe some discussions or other things can be done there.
  • If you haven’t already, attempt to check out everybody’s posts and consider commenting. These challenges are great for personal growth, but it’s also nice to be interactive with all the others in the challenge! That’s one of the best parts of this challenge — interacting and seeing other people’s work!

Before we hit up this month’s theme, for new people, allow me to refresh the rules a bit.

Here’s how it will work.

  • On the first of each month (or close to it), I’ll have a blog post here with the theme for the month.
  • Over the course of the month, participants will take photos with their interpretation of the theme. On the last day of the month (or close to it), participants should  publish their blog post, which will include five photos from the month. (please don’t recycle photos from the past … the idea is to hopefully challenge you to go out and take new photos each month to interpret the theme). And please only use photos you took.
  • I’ll have a link-up thing at the end of my post so people can come and post the links to their posts so, hopefully, everybody can go go check out and comment on other posts.

There is no rule on equipment or anything. Use a cell phone. Use film. Use a point-and-shoot. Use a DSLR. It doesn’t matter. Just make sure you publish your blog post on the last day of each month, come here and link up.

It’s simple!

Your blog posts can be as simple or as in-depth as you want. I’ll likely talk a little about each photo. But if all you want to do is post photos, feel free. The idea of this is to give a small challenge and give everybody a chance to express themselves with photography, participate in a challenge and have something to blog about.

That’s it. Easy, right? So join in! Help us continue to grow this challenge by telling fellow bloggers/photographers about the challenge and hopefully it can become a great monthly thing!

For those still with me, this month’s theme is: Festive.

I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with here. There are so many ways to do this and I think there will be some great stuff. I can’t wait to see.

Please make sure your blog post publishes Tuesday, Dec. 31. 

If you think you are going to take part in this, drop a comment below so we can see who all might be trying to tackle this challenge!

History of the challenge (past month’s themes – links to see everybody else’s posts are at the end of the linked post):

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Photo Blogging Challenge (November 2013): People

This month’s theme of “people” turned out to be a little harder than I expected!

I don’t know why, either. It’s probably because I didn’t get out with my camera as much as I would have wanted. A lot went on personally this month, so I wasn’t able to do everything I wanted to do.

But that’s OK, as I can make due.

I’m really looking forward to some of the others and what they post as there are some great photographers in the challenge, so it will be interesting to see some interpretations.

For me, I just went with people in shots. I wanted to make sure they were the focus of the image, but I didn’t do anything crazy, like street photography. I’m not too hot at doing that, anyway, so it’s better this way.

So, without further ado, here are my five shots for this month’s challenge. For those involved, the link up is at the bottom of the post, as per normal!

1. Building

I took some photos of a construction site early in the month. There were trusses being put on a house. This was a shot from there as they neared the end of the trusses.

Do work.

 2. Game night

I try and get to a game night each week with several friends. I don’t always make it, but it’s always a good time. This was a day we played a game called Twilight Imperium, which is an insanely in-depth and awesome game. This is the panoramic option on the iPhone.

Game night.

3. Pulling back

From a 2CW show last weekend. The lighting was off and I couldn’t get the flash to react how I wanted it to, so I bumped the ISO and then decided to change it to black and white. I like how this one came out as it has an old-school feel to it.

Heat of the action!

4. Geocaching can be crazy!

This one comes from a night event. This was our host of the event and she dressed up for the theme, which was when a geocacher was setting off into space. Pretty cool thing overall and the event was quite fun!

Geocaching!

5. Eddie Edwards

At the two 2CW shows last weekend, Eddie Edwards was on the card. He had a tryout with WWE, so the thought is he will soon be heading to the big leagues. It’s well deserved as he’s amazingly talented. Kevin got a photo with him at the Watertown show.

Eddie and Kevin.

And that’s my five for the month of November.

If you took part this month, make sure you link up below. And for those who participated, make sure you try and get to other people’s blogs and comment and visit so we can continue to grow this challenge.

Don’t forget, too, to come back Sunday (Dec. 1) and see the theme for December!

NOTE: I also set up a Facebook group for those who participate in the challenge and are interested. I’ll post any announcements there and hopefully it can be a place where things are discussed and some interaction etc. You can access it here.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Photo Blogging Challenge: November 2013’s theme is…

Hey all, November is here!

What a great turnout for October. We had a few new faces, too, which is nice. There’s still a day or two left, in case you haven’t linked up yet. So, do it up!

This challenge has been a blast so far and I hope it keeps going. Let others know about it and hopefully we can keep getting more people involved. Remember, it’s not too hard — get the theme, interpret it, take five photos, do a blog post and come back here on the stated date and post!

Voila!

So, now that the fall is behind us … no, it’s not time for a winter theme yet. We have months and months for that! So we are going to focus on something different. But before we get going with the theme …

Please remember not to use old photos. Only images you shot this month and it can be with any camera. It defeats the purpose of the challenge to use old images.

As a reminder of a few things, let me copy and paste this from last month:

  • I have an e-mail reminder list set up. Basically, I’ll e-mail the group with about 10 days left in the month to remind you. When I remember, I’ll also shoot one out the day before the end of the month, as a reminder to post the following day. I can’t always guarantee that one though! If you are not on the list, let me know in the comments below that you would like to be on it. Note: I was bad on this … please join the Facebook group if you can. I update there more often!
  • Second, I set up a Facebook group for those who are interested. Reminders and maybe some discussions or other things can be done there.
  • If you haven’t already, attempt to check out everybody’s posts and consider commenting. These challenges are great for personal growth, but it’s also nice to be interactive with all the others in the challenge! That’s one of the best parts of this challenge — interacting and seeing other people’s work!

Before we hit up this month’s theme, for new people, allow me to refresh the rules a bit.

Here’s how it will work.

  • On the first of each month, I’ll have a blog post here with the theme for the month.
  • Over the course of the month, participants will take photos with their interpretation of the theme. On the last day of the month, participants should  publish their blog post, which will include five photos from the month. (please don’t recycle photos from the past … the idea is to hopefully challenge you to go out and take new photos each month to interpret the theme). And please only use photos you took.
  • I’ll have a link-up thing at the end of my post so people can come and post the links to their posts so, hopefully, everybody can go go check out and comment on other posts.

There is no rule on equipment or anything. Use a cell phone. Use film. Use a point-and-shoot. Use a DSLR. It doesn’t matter. Just make sure you publish your blog post on the last day of each month, come here and link up.

It’s simple!

Your blog posts can be as simple or as in-depth as you want. I’ll likely talk a little about each photo. But if all you want to do is post photos, feel free. The idea of this is to give a small challenge and give everybody a chance to express themselves with photography, participate in a challenge and have something to blog about.

That’s it. Easy, right? So join in! Help us continue to grow this challenge by telling fellow bloggers/photographers about the challenge and hopefully it can become a great monthly thing!

For those still with me, this month’s theme is: People.

I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with here. There are so many ways to do this and I think there will be some great stuff. I can’t wait to see.

Please make sure your blog post publishes Friday, Nov. 29 (I am going the day before the end of the month as some people don’t post on Saturdays, so it’s easier to end it on a Friday. I’ll post the December theme on Dec. 1). 

If you think you are going to take part in this, drop a comment below so we can see who all might be trying to tackle this challenge!

History of the challenge (past month’s themes – links to see everybody else’s posts are at the end of the linked post):

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!