BruceArmstrong.net

Andrew’s Scion xB is Totaled

Bruce — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 04:05:27 +0000

Through no fault of his own, Andrew was rear-ended in his Scion xB and was rammed into the car in front of him. His car ended up looking like an accordion (and was totaled by the insurance company), but he was relatively unscathed. This was a six-car accident and we’re really lucky he wasn’t badly hurt. Click here to see a few photos of the dear departed.

Andrew Graduates High School

Bruce — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 05:29:43 +0000

Andrew graduated from Midlothian High School with the class of 2010. He had lots of family support in the stands, including folks down from Oklahoma. It was a pretty emotional night for the ladies as you’ll see in the photos. After the ceremony, the graduates went to a lock-in at the Main Event entertainment center where they played laser tag, billiards, and video games, and bowled and ate until dawn. It was a pretty neat way to not have a bunch of new adults out on the roads overnight.

We are extremely proud of Andrew and can’t believe there’s only three more years for Holly.

6/11/2010 update: Added pictures from the graduation party.

Holly is an Artist

Bruce — Thu, 27 May 2010 02:40:44 +0000

Great news! My other kid is talented too. Holly brought home her art portfolio today and she’s got tons of excellent pieces. Here’s one of my favorites. It is “scratch art” of our dog Scout. I’ll be scanning and photographing more of her work in the near future.

Ace’s Band Plays in the Concert for Haiti

Bruce — Tue, 18 May 2010 04:22:30 +0000

6 musical acts got together to play in a fund-raising “Concert for Haiti”. Ace’s band was one of them. Because there were so many acts, they only got a short time each, but they made the most of it. Andrew played vocals, keyboard, and even played accordian live for the first time.

Double Rainbow

Bruce — Tue, 04 May 2010 03:01:04 +0000

After a decent thunderstorm, we were treated to a double rainbow.

Andrew’s Art Portfolio

Bruce — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:36:46 +0000

Andrew has finally digitized some of the artwork that he has created over the last couple of years. He’s got it on his Facebook page, but I wanted to keep another copy, so I’m posting it here. Below are a few of my favorites. Click here for the full gallery.

Scout Looks Like a Puppy Again

Bruce — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 19:21:10 +0000

Scout’s winter coat was so thick and long that he was really getting hot playing outside. We took him to the groomers for a really short hair cut. He looks so much younger and even a little smaller now. He’s definitely more comfortable and we’re sweeping and vacuuming less of his hair up every day. Click for more pics.

Another Spring Break Trip to Enchanted Rock

Bruce — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 04:14:25 +0000

We once again visited Enchanted Rock on Spring Break. After a fun hike and climb, we headed to Austin to check out the SXSW (South by Southwest) music scene downtown. The Austin area was so crowded that we had to head several miles north of town to find a place to stay. We headed back downtown the next morning and visited an art museum, did some shopping, and tons of SXSW people watching. I have lots of pictures from Enchanted Rock, but I wish I had the camera out for SXSW. Lots of weird, wild stuff.

Holly is 15

Bruce — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 05:45:47 +0000

Holly celebrated her 15th birthday as I tried to hurry and snap a few pictures of her before she completely grows up. UPS delivered her premiere gift, some Ugg boots, to her Nanny’s doorstep less than an hour before the party was supposed to start. There’s a small gallery of photos here.

BOOMTAGE - New HD Boomerang Video on YouTube

Bruce — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:17:09 +0000

We got a new HD camcorder (Canon Vixia HF20) recently and this weekend, Ace and I went out to make our first boomerang video. It was over 100 degrees and the winds were gusty and shifty. To make matters worse, the field we were on was near trees and we were getting some crazy turbulence. Two throws that I would feel were identical might end up 50 yards away from each other. All this added up to a brutal afternoon with way more throwing than catching.

Here’s the video that Ace put together: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBwXt19XU_4&fmt=22. If your computer and bandwidth are up to it, make sure to click on “Watch in HD”. YouTube down-converted our video from 1080i to 720p/30fps, but it’s still reasonably high-definition. Unfortunately, the boomerangs we used the most were unpainted, but you can still make them out pretty well.

One new thing we tried was using a fish-eye lens to be able to keep the boomerang in the frame more easily. This worked pretty well for fast catch.