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Time to recap my year using photos once again. I have done this for a few years now more for me than anything else because it’s important to reflect. I make it a point to grab my camera during events throughout the year to document the memories we make all year (they get harder to remember as my increase in age). This year I’m including pictures from my iPhone because that was by my side for a large part of the year and now that mobile pictures are so much better than the past….why not.

This year saw the end of a 3 year project that was the most challenging in my career and the start of a new project that would be a challenge in its own right. We reached our first year of marriage and met new friends along the way. It was really important to document this year because the past three years were really taken up by work and it was time to make up for memories that were not made during that time. I saw my vehicle of 8 years, which meant a lot to me, be updated with a new vehicle and I did something that only a few years ago I would never have seen myself doing.

I am thankful for my friends and family as they mean very much to me. This blog is for you as much as it is for me to show my gratitude

Let’s see what 2012 had to say…

We started the year by seeing old friends and finding a new place to eat burgers 🙂

One weekend in a nice brisk January night we met up with our friends Bryan and Vanessa for a little birthday get together for Bryan. We met up at a beer garden and ate some delicious food and beer. I also wanted to break out the new 5D

On a cold Saturday morning we went down to Irving to check out ZestFest and seeing how we are fans of “the con” we thought we’d give this a try. We found some great items and got to see some interesting folks who brought their best to burn our taste buds

In February, about the time we were trying to wrap up Kinect Star Wars, I took a break on Saturday to head once again to the Irving Convention Center to check out Dallas Comic Con. The DCC has really grown from the small little con it was only a few years ago. It has moved from Richardson to Irving in one of the bigger convention centers in the DFW. Although it started out really rough with bad organization of lines, guest tables and a few other items, they cleaned up their act by the end of the year. I’m looking forward to future cons and hope to see more cosplayers

As 2011 was a rough one, my awesome sister-in-law and her boyfriend got Denise and I a night at the Gaylord hotel. It was really awesome and even though I had to go to work the next day it was a fun night. We had some great food and conversation. Later that night we went over to the Glass Cactus which was connected to the hotel and it was…..interesting. The Glass Cactus is what you would call a cougar den. The band was a cover band playing “the hits”. It was a much needed night to relax even if it was just for a few hours

The week we got certified for Kinect Star Wars, I was able to take a night to enjoy my love for vinyl toys and I got to see my friends Cody, Grego and his daughter Kaylah. Vinyl Thoughts is a show co-run by Cody Phillips. They had an awesome theme of video games this year. There was some really great work. I would also make friends the next night with the uber talented Jason Chalker and his wife Lisa. We enjoyed a nice night at their house exchanging stories, talking horror movies and just enjoying the company

On Sunday April 1st we celebrated our one year wedding anniversary. With work and everything we kept it simple but that is how Denise and I like it sometimes. My sister-in-law bought us a little piggy bank for our wedding and since then we had been filling it up with change. As a little tradition we decided to take our piggy to the bank and we decided to do this every year. We ended up with a nice little pot that paid for a nice dinner. After dinner we headed home to watch the season premier of Game of Thrones with our friends Doug and Patricia. It was nice to celebrate our one year anniversary with them as they would watch the entire season with us, and the season ended a week before their wedding. We enjoyed our little one year anniversary cake and it was a perfect night for us.

On April 3, Kinect Star Wars hit shelves world wide. It was the end of the toughest project in my career but it made it and I was proud of my team and thankful for all the support around me from co-workers, friends and family. We had a get-together at a local Game Stop in Lewisville in the evening after a day of work but that wouldn’t happen without a little side story. About 5 that afternoon our area was hit with a tornado and also brought a massive hail storm. Both Denise and I work in the same area but our office got hit harder than her area. Thankfully her car was not damaged but my Mini took over 2500 dollars in damage that afternoon. It was intense and had many of us worried about repairs and dealing with insurance but once we arrived at the Game Stop we were treated to friends, fans and some of the 501st. The night was a lot of fun and really was a nice finish to this project.

This year my goal was to take more pictures than I did last year. I took on a few more jobs than I did in the past and I really enjoyed the time. This year Mario and I photographed a wedding in Athens, TX at an awesome winery. It was a challenge, as most wedding are, but we got some really good pictures and the bride and groom were really happy with our work. It fun to do this with my brother and I look forward to hopefully doing more down the road.

As the month continued we had lots of folks interested in Kinect Star Wars and we had lots of great folks support us. The 501st is a cosplay group that is very well organized and not only share their love of Star Wars with folks but their efforts go to charities or helping raise awareness for various groups. I’ve met a couple of people involved with them and respect the art they create in their costumes. They swung by the office to grab some pictures and play a little bit of the game. It was fun to talk with them while they were in the office.

If you have read my blog before you know my love for movies — horror movies and all things in between. Texas Frightmare Weekend is one of my favorite events for many reasons. Now that our wedding anniversary is around the time of this convention, it makes this time of the year even better. This event inspires me to someday make a short film as many of the folks here are doing that at this event. Sure these are mostly horror movies and would turn people off because of the genre but it’s still hard work and requires a desire to want to make something because of their love of film. This year the event was at the DFW airport instead of a hotel near the airport. This meant there was no zombie walk which I loved to photograph but instead they had a Prom party in honor of Carrie. This would end up being a ton of fun for Denise and I on Friday night and I was so happy to capture the video recorded :-). It was cool to see Michael Rooker and Norman Reedus talk about the Walking Dead. At this point we had not yet announced that we were working on a game based on the show but it was a nice preview of things to come. Throughout the weekend we met lots of folks from all over the country and hope to see them again next year. (This is the first time I will use a video in my blog but now that my camera can do that we may see more in the future)

May brought Dallas Comic Con back to Irving. This weekend my brother and newphews drove up to join me. Sadly Denise could not see one of her favorite man crushes, and one of mine also, due to work but Sir Patrick Stewart (aka Captain Jean Luc Picard) was attending and doing a talk. This was also when I really got to talk a little more with Noel Gross who runs Piranha Toys. I’ve known Noel through Texas Frightmare Weekend and we’ve communicated through the interwebs but Noel is a good guy and we learned of our shared love of movie nights with friends so we would later combine our powers. The con was not very organized but this would give the organizers a lot of feedback which they addressed for future events that worked out much better. It was a good time and we bought a few things including geek xmas ornaments for December.

The 501st made a few visits with us and on this day they come by the studio when we signed games, posters and consoles of Kinect Star Wars. We really appreciated them taking time to swing by the studio making this game special for all the tough times we had during production of the game.

In taking new photography jobs this year we were asked to take photos of a house. The goal was to take photos to help sell the house for use in commercial, photography or television use. It was an interesting challenge because the images have to show the space and how it could be used. That means these pictures had to be practical but also have to look visually striking. We spent a few hours setting up and waiting on the sun to be right but in the end it worked out. These are just a few that I really liked. The owners were really cool and the house was amazing with an incredible view of Dallas

One of the best moments of the year was seeing our friends Doug and Patricia get married in Red Rocks, Colorado. Not only were we attending but Mario and I would photograph the wedding. This added to the excitement but also added the stress of making sure our friends got great pictures that they would have for the rest of their lives. It was a perfect weekend as the weather was great and the city was very very much our style. This was also Denise’s birthday weekend so we got to all spend time together. We got in on a Thursday for the rehearsal that went well and helped us look at the lighting conditions. We were just about dead on our feet as our flight out of Dallas was very early in the morning. Friday was the wedding and it was such an amazing ceremony and it was great seeing our friends so happy. With Denise and I just reaching our one year anniversary it brought back a flood of memories. Doug and Patricia are music instructors so they had a custom drum made for the wedding. We were honored to be there and honored to be asked to photograph the day. On Saturday night we got to head down to an awesome arcade bar in downtown Denver. We got to check out the Red Rocks amphitheater and some of the city. Thank you guys for sharing your special day with us. It really was all perfect.

My sister-in-law is a talented person. She has been making cool pastries and one weekend she created us some awesome Game of Thrones cupcakes. We did a little photo shoot with them and our board game version of Game of Thrones. She continues to make awesome and delicious goodies 🙂

Part of the reason I told myself I would use mobile phone pictures this year was because of the random moments when I don’t have my DSLR around. On a hot summer night I was meeting up with my brother to give him a thumb drive with photos. We decided to meet at a Wal-Mart off central expressway. As I was waiting for him I noticed something going on next door. There was a Dallas Cowboy car club get together with BBQ. It was….interesting but hey that is what this blog is about. The interesting things I saw all year. This is Cowboy country and nothing is bigger than the Dallas Cowboys in this city.

This year also saw the return of the Hijinks Ensue Podcast. The podcast was always a blast to do but with the Kinect project at full steam for the better part of three years it really made it difficult to do. With Josh and myself really dug in on our respective projects this made it impossible for Joel to schedule. I missed doing this and I missed my friends but Joel had a good idea to pre-record some shows for a fall release. It was good to get back in front of the mic and I hope we can do more in the new year.

Over the years I have been lucky to make new friends. What is nice is that these are friends outside of the industry that I am in and that is a good thing. It is good to have friends to talk with about regular things and not just industry issues or work items. Nick has become one of those friends and his company is always fun. For a Saturday afternoon in the summer, a surprise party was set up for him at the Dallas Aquarium. It was my first time and it was a lot of fun. I wasn’t able to make it for the surprise but I watched the video later and they got him pretty good.

This year the 4th of July fell on a Wednesday which always makes it difficult to plan for much. Denise happened to have the weekend off which is very rare these days so we thought we should take advantage of the time. After work on a Friday night we packed up and headed to Austin for the weekend. With our schedules not alined much anymore it was important to make use of our time with a little adventure even if that was just 3 hours away in Austin. Our trip down on Friday night include Denise’s first attempt at the 6 degrees to Kevin Bacon game and Doug Benson podcasts. We rolled in about midnight and hit what would be our Austin BBQ tour of 2012. Our first trip was to a little dive my buddy Eladio took me to a few years back. You could say the place looked “shady” but the food was delicious. The next day we would head to Franklin’s which is hands down the best BBQ I’ve had in my life even though we had to wait in line for 2 hours. It was well worth the wait. The weekend would be our first time to an Alamo Drafthouse and a new love would be formed. We caught up with our friends Allison and Jim which made the trip all the more fun. It was a relaxing weekend as when I returned we would begin our heavy push for the Walking Dead towards the end of the year. This trip was exactly with Denise and I needed.

I have an amazing wife. She is amazing for many reason but in the top 10 reason is because she really gets my weird likes. For our one year anniversary of paper she bought us two tickets to see Tenacious D. Let me tell you right now friends, if you find someone who does that for you both, you make sure to take her as your partner in crime for all your days. The concert was a blast and it was Denise’s first time seeing the D live. It rocked our socks off and all I thought about was how awesome it was for my wife to do this for us to celebrate a one year anniversary

I am a marching band nerd. I was in marching band and it is in our blood. My brother is an assistant band director and my mom still follows marching bands back home. In Dallas during the summer is the Lake Highlands marching festival which showcases the best of the Drum Corp International band in the country. DCI is basically what you could consider professional marching for kids who want to further their music careers after high school. The skill and music is of a high caliber and if you have never seen DCI you should look it up. To me attending this festival usually means the summer is coming to a close. This year was no different and I always enjoy going

After years of hard work and long nights including giving up all his summers, my brother earned his Masters degree in music. I can’t put in words how proud I am of my brother. My brother moved to Dallas a year after I moved here to go to art school and he lived with me for about a year. We had some tough times trying to scrape enough to make it every day but I would never change how it was back then. We learned to survive and we became closer as brothers. Years later I would see him walk the stage after becoming a highly respected teacher, musician and person. Seeing him walk across that stage gave me such pride to call him my brother

(I added his graduation picture he used in his invitations. I took them in my house and wanted to show my old co-workers I still remember how to take these pictures :-p)

In September we hit a major milestone with our project and that same weekend Gearbox would celebrate the release of Borderlands 2. I have made some really good friends in the industry and many of them are at Gearbox. During my almost 8 years there I would become friends with Josh Jeffcoat who would one day be my best man at my wedding. I know how hard everyone works in the industry so being able to see my friends put another project out for the public to enjoy is a big accomplishment for all of them. I look forward to our day next year. Our friend Daniy drove down from Austin to attend the release party and she stayed with Denise and I for the weekend. It was great catching up and having her company along with seeing all our friends that night.

In trying to get as much practice with my camera as I could I was looking for any opportunity to work with models. A meet up group in the area was holding a workshop for shooting subjects in bright day time lighting. I already had some practice with this but the session included working with a model for a low price so I took advantage of the deal. Our model was great and I snapped some shots I was really happy with. I hope to get work with models next year as it would be great to get more of that in my portfolio

After my photo shoot I headed down to the Fan Days convention back in Irving. This con is really a follow up to the Comic Con from the summer but it is a really nice way to end out the year. The con also showed that the organizers of the Comic Con took all the feedback and fixed many of the issues that people were experiencing. Since our photo shoot took longer than expected I didn’t see as much as I would like to have seen but it was a good show with a chunk of the Firefly cast in attendance. I hope to spend more time next year and capture all the great cosplayers

My favorite month is October. If you know me you know this to be true. We love to decorate and watching scary movies and the weather gets nice out. I’ll just stick to the pictures on this one 🙂 So many kids came by for candy this year and our scary movie nights were so much fun. Here is a list of what we watched:

Cabin in the Woods

Dead Set

Red State

Monster Brawl

Severance

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Hatchet

Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night

Mutant Girls Squad

Fright Night (2011)

The Ring (on Halloween night)

My birthday was around the corner and what more could someone ask for then for their car to break down. My 2004 Mini was my favorite car for many reasons. It the car I rewarded myself with after Brothers In Arms: Road to Hill 30. I took great care of her but sadly with 150,00 miles it was time we parted ways. Her power steering went out but there was more work that she needed that would have added up. Denise and I decided to make our first major purchase as a married couple and bought a new vehicle. We love our new Mini

Last year Denise and Rick came up with the idea of celebrating my birthday at a lake. They put the plan together and last year was a blast. It was so much fun that we decided to do it again and Rick signed up for a second year of flying down to Dallas and visiting us for the weekend. We changed the venue but we had just as much fun as the cabin/manufactured home was the exact same layout as the one last year. The fun thing about this year was the extreme high winds we would have to deal with 😐 The weather would not stop us as we had a blast playing games, eating like college kids and enjoyed the company of my close friends. Making memories to me is the most important thing we can do in our lives and this weekend was one of those times. I am grateful for the friends that have come across my path in this life and I appreciate their friendship. Thanks guys for such a great weekend

In Novemeber the Alamo Drafthouse hosted a “Welcome to the neighborhood” night in Richardson by bringing their Rolling Road Show. Denise and I are very excited for the Drafthouse to open next spring and on this night they proved to us that our excitement is justified. On this night they showed The Burbs staring Tom Hanks for free with food trucks lined up and a parking lot with plenty of space. The parking lot was in front of the future location of the Dafthouse which is down the street from our house and all we needed to do was bring our own chairs. We had a chance to meet the COO of the Drafthouse who was a nice guy and is looking to make Richardson an even better place for all of us. See you next year at the Drafthouse

My parents came up to visit us in October for a weekend. It was a quick trip but it was nice to see them. In this trip my mom gave Denise the secrets of making the Mexican traditional holiday food known as…Tamales. They shared notes and it would be Denise’s goal to try and make these special treats for holiday gifts and for our mouths. I hope this is a tradition we can carry on for years to come as my parents and their parents did years ago. I remember being a small Eli and being on the line to help make tamales. Yes it was an assembly line because making tamales requires a good amount of work to put together. After getting her notes together and all the things we needed it was time to assemble. We had fun and when we started full production we started our own little tradition of watching UFC and Futurama while making tamales. Some of you guys may be lucky enough to try some 🙂

As December rolled around after Thanksgiving it was time to prepare for the year’s end. We would start to shut down our project at work, getting the house cleaned up for the new year, got the holiday decorations out and bought a tree. Within all this I had received an email from a buddy and wanted to know if I wanted to be involved in a commercial. I thought “hey great, I would like to know what it’s like on a set” but what he was asking was if I wanted to be IN a commercial. It would be for eye glasses. I said “sure why the hell not” thinking “why the hell does anyone want this mug on camera”. Well after some text messaging back and forth the deal was done. I thought to myself on that day of the shoot “finally my beard has paid off for something.” It was an interesting day seeing other actors sitting around talking about the business as I was the outsider looking in. A cool experience indeed so be on the lookout on your television sets because you may see my mug

Terminal Reality had a White Elephant day at the office. We all bought a few gifts, wrapped them up and tossed them in a pile. Let the games begin. It was fun followed up by a potluck to help end the year. I walked away with a shirt that is seen below. It was a fun time and we would soon shut down the office for the year. We head into the year excited to share the Walking Dead video game with the world. Congrats on such a great year to everyone at Terminal Reality.

I didn’t want to end my blog this way but this blog means a lot to me and hopefully people read it and walk away from it with something. Denise was in a car accident one Sunday afternoon in December on her way home from work. For whatever reason I almost knew something was wrong when she called. My brother was here at the house with me when the call came in and we jumped in the car and we were there in no time. My heart sank because I had no idea how bad or to what degree I was going to show up and see. It was the first time we had something like this happen since we got married and I wasn’t sure if I knew how I would react. In the end we were lucky because Denise was not hurt at all and I am very thankful of that.

So why would I end my blog with this? I did it because I want everyone to know how thankful I am for what I have and that you never know what could happen on any given day and because of this make sure you make the most of everyday. Denise’s accident could have been so much worse but it wasn’t. I’m not trying minimize what other people may have gone through but with this also being the same week when someone took the lives of many children in Connecticut it really hit me. This blog represents some of the events in my life so I can remember them as and share them with everyone hoping that they do the same, maybe not a blog but take the time to remember the year. Take the time to look around at the friends and family around you and tell them what they mean to you.

I look forward to a new year and I look forward to making new memories that I will share again with everyone this time next year.

The year has come to an end and it was a life-changing year indeed. As I look back I wish I had taken more photos but it was a very very busy year, from getting married to being at work for many long hours but it was a year I will not forget. I have many fond memories of the year and I look forward to making new ones with my wife by my side for many years to come. We settled into a home we are renting for our first year of marriage and I saw my brother leave for Afghanistan to serve our country. Although I did not have much personal time to see friends this year, when I was able to see them it was always an enjoyable time. This year I will have a few photos I didn’t take and that’s mostly because I couldn’t take my own photos at my wedding. My wedding photos were taken by the very talented Hal Samples. Well….let’s get to it

We ended last year moving into our home and it was a mad dash to do so. The lease was signed and our timeframe to move in was short. Trying to organize a move during the winter isn’t so bad in Texas since we don’t get into freezing temperatures usually. We got settled in just in time for the holidays last year but in January we had a chance to start to enjoy it. We were not the only ones to really dig the house. All of our guys found different spots in the house they would call theirs and Scooter found his next to the fireplace

With the wedding coming early in the year Denise had a lot of various projects outside of getting the wedding up and running. She had her class projects, which was no small task, and she took on a few other side projects to sharpen her skills. I took a few photos for her reference but was really proud of her work. Her dedication is one of the many reasons I married her.

As the wedding was getting closer my folks wanted to throw a wedding party for us back home where I grew up. This was for my side of the family that would not be able to make the drive up to Dallas for our wedding. It sounded like a small event but my folks had a big surprise for us when we arrived. It was a great time and Denise got to witness what down home Rio Grande Valley home cooking is all about. It was a great time and in the end was about as big as a wedding with all the food and dancing. It was a really great time.

I was able to attend a few conventions but not many this year. A few years back I found out about All-Con here in Dallas and it was an enjoyable event. This year I attended due to the fact that Denise was having her bachelorette party that night. It was a single guys night with going to the con and then having a few beers with my friends from Bean Pot Toiz. Later I watched the UFC fights with a few other friends. Overall a good day and night.

A few weeks after Denise had her party Josh was able to unleash his plans for my party. Being my best man I honestly wasn’t sure what we were going to be doing. It was a good plan and he hit a home run with dinner and shitty movies. The proof is in the pictures. It was my last supper as a single man…

Everything I have done and worked for has lead up to this point in my life. I found someone who I could be with that understand me and I understand her. Our wedding day was April 1st 2011 and it was a great day. The weather was just right and all our friends and family were there to share the day with us. The wedding was just like we hoped with very few hiccups thanks to our friends and family who helped set up the day. It was like a party more than a wedding and from our guests we heard that everyone had fun. The food was great the drinks were flowing and the music was kicking. I was relaxed once Denise started her walk down the aisle and we got to be the goofballs and real people who we are. Something I will never forget. Our song was Queen’s “You’re my best friend” This was on the back of our program:

We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love
– Dr. Seuss

Photos by Hal Samples

After a day to recover from our wedding day we jumped on our flight to Las Vegas. It was the first time for us both and it was really to go sightseeing and enjoy the food. We are not big gambling folk so we did very little of that. The little I did play I did come out in front and that was mostly by accident. We enjoyed some delicious food and took in the Lion King show. We had a lot of fun as the weather was perfect and the few days there were pretty great overall. What a strange but a fun town.

After the wedding and honeymoon we felt like we were on top of the world but the world is still a complicated and sometimes hard place to live. Coming back to a very busy job I also had to see my brother and sister-in-law off to Afghanistan to serve our country. This was tough because of all the unknowns about that part of the world and the dangers currently happening. I was happy and lucky that my brother was in country to witness our wedding with everyone. I can’t put in enough words in this blog how proud I am to have a brother serving our country as my father did many years ago. With my brother being in the National Guard the send-off was a little different than how the standard military is sent off. The people leaving who are in the Guard are also people the local communities see every day such as lawyers, chefs, teachers and all kinds of people who contribute. The community gave them a send off with all the support they could give. It was a sad day but a proud day. As of writing this he has a little over 90 days left in Afghanistan.

Knowing the summer would be a long one at work I thought about trying to get in as much as we could before the craziness started. I thought it would be fun to take Denise to her first minor league game just north of our place. It was a nice night and the summer heat had not kicked in just yet. It was fun for a Friday night. I’m not a huge sports fan but you really don’t have to be to sit outside and enjoy the sounds and sights. Trips like this are more about creating memories of things around us.

So my favorite con of the year is hands down Texas Frightmare Weekend. If you’ve read this blog you know this and have seen plenty of photos to go along with that statement. This year was no different. This year I spent a little more money so we could stay at the hotel of the event to attend the late night events and just be around the great vibe. One event was the cast of the first SAW movie doing a QA which was fun and of course the annual Zombie Walk. Hopefully my pictures serve this convention justice.

Another proud moment for me was watching Denise head up one of her class projects. She had to create a dinner menu of a region of the world. Her task was to make an Australian meal. It is safe to guess that we have not been to Australia and doubt we will make a trip there soon. After lots of work at home of testing flavors and various ideas the day came for her to execute. These meals are served to the public and they are graded by their chef and by public comments. It was a lot of hard work but she came through and aced it. Only a few weeks later she did an internship with the Four Seasons for a week-long event which turned into her full time job. Denise is now a cook at the Four Seasons in the Dallas area. I am so proud of my wife.

Another fun convention was the Dallas Comic Con and this year the guest of honor was Leonard Nimoy. There is no way that Denise would allow for this to go by without being able to get a chance to see her sci-fi hero. It was the first year in a new location and had some issues but overall it was fun. The talk by Nimoy was very interesting and very inspiring.

There was a pretty big gap in my photos this year as work had me traveling or working long hours. It also didn’t help that Texas had the worst summer in years in regards to the temperature. It was usually 100+ for the majority of the summer so it was best to stay indoors. The next trip would not happen until September but it was a good trip as my brother and sister-in law took leave to visit family. We took a tour of the giant Cowboy stadium as the family (most of the family) watches the Dallas Cowboys during the football season. It was an interesting tour as the place is crazy filled with the world’s biggest just about everything

Halloween/Fall for me is my favorite time of the year as it brings back many childhood memories. Being in a house this year we got to dress up the house and give out lots of candy to the neighborhood kids. The temperature finally dropped to something much more comfortable and we tried to have friends over as many weekends as possible to watch scary movies. These were some of my favorite photos of the year.

This year we were introduced to a new member of the Apigo side of the family. He is the first kiddo on their side of the family. He’s a big guy.

This year I turned 35 years of age. My wife and friend Rick had talked a while back about doing something for my birthday and the idea they had was spending a weekend on a lake. Lake Grapevine was the backdrop and we great time was had all weekend. Rick flew into town and friends came over for food, cake, camp fire and rifftrax. My sister-in-law made a kick ass cake for me. This was such a great time that we are talking about going to the lake again sometime in 2012. I cannot express enough of how great it was to have everyone there and enjoyed the night sky and good times.

For the holiday season my gift was a Canon 5D Mark II. I will have that camera to use for 2012 and I’m excited to use it for the blog next year. We spent the last month of the year pretty quietly as we both were pretty busy with work. We had a few friends over but we spent most of the time trying to finally get the house in order after the year living here. We still have a few boxes unpacked and my office is still not the way I would like it but hopefully I can get that in order soon.

As we head into 2012 there will be challenges and obstacles to overcome but that is what makes life special. The sense of accomplishment makes you feel alive. There will also be adventure and new memories to be made as a married couple. This was a year I will not forget as it had its own challenges but there were some victories and more to come. I hope my blog inspires you to go out and make your own memories to share with those around you.

Well hello there…..

It is time to summarize this 2010 year in photos I have taken all year. It was a big year and a busy one!! I think I had a much fewer number of photos this year because work at Terminal Reality was intense and took some long hours to tackle. The biggest and best news of the year was that Denise and I are engaged to be married April of next year. We are both very excited and maybe next year we will do this blog together as a married couple. So with all that said it was still a great year filled with good times and lots of memories that Denise and I will not soon forget. So let’s get to it….

I have become friends with Greg of Bean Pot Toyz out of San Antonio. He’s a great guy and has inspired me to start a photo project of my collection of vinyl toys. I started the year with some of the toys in my collection and have worked in very small chunks through the year. It was not a ton of progress but enough to get me excited about have a project like that in my back pocket.

If it is not obvious enough and if you are reading this blog you know I’m a geek and making video games only puts the gold seal on that fact. So when the phrase “comic con” are said I will make an effort to be there. That phrase has been said for a few years now and I’m there to be among my people. I love searching for things that remind me of my childhood and there is always a chance to catch some shitty movies that I could add to the collection. It’s like at a garage sale run by people who are dressed as the toys being sold at said garage sale!! These pictures are from the Dallas Comic Con which happens twice a year so this was the Winter edition.

February rolled around this past year and no one in Texas expected the 3 feet of snow that fell in one night!! We were about to head to a wedding in Colorado at the end of the month and thought we would be in for a lot of snow. There was enough snow to shut down work and build a six foot tall snowman which was lots of fun. Winter went long this past year and looks like we might have another one this year as well.

The Ticket is a radio station here in Dallas that was one of the first sports stations in the country. I never though that talk radio would be my thing but the format used by these guys is great and something I have now been listening to since 1998. I listened to them during art school when the Dallas Stars won a championship and even during the events of September 11. It’s hard to explain unless you listen but they are very much a staple in my life now. Simple guys who work well together and since I do a Podcast with my friends there is a lot to learn with The Ticket. Every year they do Ticketstock which is a large “con” if you will in which fans of the station come to watch live show, try food and hang out basically. The great snow storm was melting away and Ticketstock was being held within 5 minutes of the house so I had to check it out

With snow melting away and work busy as usual, on one Sunday night Denise made some delicious spaghetti and the reason I remember that night was that in about a week I would ask her to marry me. Obviously she didn’t know it but I remember sitting there eating awesome foods and thinking about us and our future together. I took a few photos for her food blog and this one was for us.

Denise and I flew out to attend the wedding of our friends Roger and Cynthia in Steamboat, Colorado this past February. We have been friends for a good while now and I was happy that they asked me to photograph the wedding. Honestly I was pretty nervous even though I had worked weddings before but since these are friends who we care about, it was important to capture the moments that will be there forever of that day. The other thing running through my head was the fact that the next day I would ask Denise to be my wife and I had not really decided how I was going to do that. I had the ring but no grand plan of how I would do it so the next day when we went skiing and since we have never gone skiing we had some issues with our boots and other equipment. Denise was having some issues with her boots so I got down on my knee to have a look and……well I hit the button to engage and there you have it. The only person who knew I was going to do this was Roger so when it went down a few folks with us who saw this didn’t see the box and were yelling “Hey what’s the hold up!! You proposing or what!?!” I replied with “Well….actually….”

One of the places I learned to work on my photo skills over the past few years is at the Dallas Auto Show. You have great subjects and lots of shapes and colors to work with. It was on a Saturday and my brother and I headed own to the convention center for the event. Not a ton of cool new stuff but lots of vehicles that are good on gas and things to help cut costs to family during the tough economic times. It was cool to see some old classics as well to let people know that even if we are hurting in the pockets that there is some great art to be seen in our country’s history of cars

So I enjoy going to Cons, period. They just have a good vibe because it’s a place that geeks and nerds can feel safe. They can be themselves and have a beer to go along with all that. All-Con in Dallas is great because they pretty much said “The hell with it, let’s just combine all these things together and have Star Wars, Star Trek and whomever else feeling like joining us”. It’s great to meet interesting folks and artists who build costumes with great care (sometimes not such great care but that’s ok too) because folks at cons really enjoy having their picture taken. The other great thing is all the toys and discussion panels at cons so All-Con is no exception to this. A few great costumes at All-Con this year…enjoy

So there are lots of great things in the Dallas area but sometimes you have to get out and look for them. I tell this to people all the time who complain about how Dallas isn’t cool because it’s not someplace else other than Dallas. I like it here and I like that there is lots to do which hopefully this blog is showing. Something new I got to check out this year was roller derby thanks to Austin whom I work with. His girlfriend plays with the Suicide Shifters and it is a lot of fun to check out. Grab a beer and some pizza and check out some chicks kick some ass on the rink. This is the real deal and the ladies on the rink went balls out and really showed the crowd that roller derby is a real sport. I guess it got a lot of attention because of that movie Whip It but if you have a team in your area you should check it out and support them.

So right near the mid-point of every year is one of my favorite events, Texas Frightmare Weekend. It’s maybe the best run Con in the Dallas area and there are so many cool people there. I love movies of all genres and I have that special place for horror movies since I was a kid. The con is a weekend event and this year Denise and I decided to get a room near the con so we could spend the weekend there as our little vacation after a busy first part of the year for both of us. TFW starts with a Zombie Walk and tons of great guests and panels. We really enjoyed this year with our hotel room and being able to come and go as we pleased. I know that some people think it’s a bit of a waste to get a hotel room when we live near by (30 minutes near by) but it was a lot of fun and we really look forward to next year.

This past summer was a long one and a hot one. We took a break one night to enjoy Video Games Live. Music is one of my loves as my entire family has been involved with it in some shape and form. From being a percussionist, mom and dad in band booster and my brother teaching percussion at Forney High School. With me as I create video games I love to listen to music and I love when the music for the game I work on comes online it really ties everything together. Video Games Live celebrates the music of video games over the years. It’s a lot of fun and got to hear music from pac-man to Halo and since I worked on Halo for the PC it was awesome knowing I was a part of that. If you have not been to Video Games Live you should check it out when it comes to your town.

We really enjoyed roller derby this year that we went to two different bouts this summer. Lots of great action shots to be had at these events and again beer on hot nights always helps makes things better. I really liked the shots I was able to capture and hope to get some more next year

Alex is the art director at the Dallas Observer and every now and then he sends me out to do some photo assignments for stories around the Dallas area. This time Alex needed me for a little more than just the random assignment, this time he needed a shoot for a cover. Time was tight so we were able to work together quickly to get what he was needing for the week’s edition. The story had to do with a local vendor who sold items that were maybe a little bit on the strange side to some as they were items that some could consider superstitious. The business was being forced out of the community so it could be replaced with something more cool and trendy. We had some of the items from the store and the goal was to photograph them as if it was in a medicine cabinet and Alex would do his magic from there. It was about a 3 hour shoot but was fun and I’m glad I was able to help out with the fast turn around

The fall version of the Dallas Comic Con was interesting indeed because Edward James Olmos was in attendance and with many of us fans of the Admiral in Battlestar, we looked forward to this con. There were lots of great costumes and toys to be seen but maybe the best part was the Q&A with Olmos. It was much like watching a sermon to the world as Mr. Olmos had lots of opinions of the state of the world and the issues with race in our country. He believes that there is only one true race, the human race!! He also talked about saved Los Angles during the riots in ’92 by being a clean person who cleaned the streets with a broom. It was a lot of fun and I got his autograph to add to the collection of great Admirals of our time, Admiral Adama and Admiral Ackbar.

Denise spent this past year working on making a career move to being a chef. She took some cooking classes at the community college but also took some cake decorating classes outside of school. This also came along with an internship at a bakery, and she used those skills to bake a cake for our friend Emily and decorate it as well. I was making sure to photograph her creations for her portfolio and here is a small sample. If you were wondering, yes the cake was delicious

This Halloween was a time to relax and have some fun. I was getting to the end of a crunch period at work and Denise was on a roll at school making some delicious food so for the first time in some time we played dress up for Halloween and made some treats. With The Walking Dead making it’s way to television on Halloween night we decided to go as survivors of the zombie apocalypse. Parts of that is a weapon that is high powered and a weapon that doesn’t require ammo to use. It was a lot of fun that night and again the treats that Denise and Nikki made were great.

I’ve been so proud of Denise as she has taken the leap into the world of culinary arts. Anyone who has made the decision to chase your dream knows how scary that can be especially when you know that the field is very competitive and many people are out there trying to compete for the same dream. Well Denise is living that dream and working hard. On this day I was lucky to be invited to enjoy the class project which was making awesome food and presenting it to family and friends. Denise’s team had the best food that day and not just because we are getting married do I have to say that, it really was the best. So if you want to help the cause then come over some time for dinner and find out for yourself 🙂

The year ended with the company party and rocking out that night with some Rock Band and tasty food. Free gifts and fun all around. After the paty we had a chance to catch up with some old friends from my Gearbox days and it was so great to catch up and have a drink and talk about old times. I really miss those guys but it is also nice to build a new relationship with the artists at Terminal Reality and I look forward to years ahead with them.

So what a year it was. Lots of things happened around the area like the Rangers making the World Series and Denise and I starting up a garden in the backyward which produced some vegetables for us. We got to ski for the first time ever and make a few trips to the drive-in to watch movies over clear skies. The Hijinks Ensue Podcast kicked up again and we are in the process of moving into a new house that will be our home as we start our marriage this year. I will be shipping a game this upcoming year and best of all I will be getting MARRIED!! So many smaller things that happened this past year but this blog is just an overview of it. I was happy to see so many friends and made new ones and I miss those whom I have not seen enough. This will be a great 2011 so let’s get it started and I look forward to it and seeing all of you there.