Moved!

Hey, if you’re here you’re in the wrong place! Go over there!  This blog has officially moved to ohnopatrick.com.  Come on down and see us, y’hear!

Day 51/365 and Ch-Ch-Changes

Today’s photo is a family portrait I did for my aunt and her family a couple years ago.

Also, the blog here is going to be moving to a more permanent location soon.  I’m getting ready to move from pminton.wordpress.com to ohnopatrick.com sometime in the next week or so (I’m also going to be working on a portfolio site that’ll be at patrickminton.com soon).  My reasoning:  when I first decided to start doing this blog and project I didn’t really know if I’d be able to keep it rolling or not so I didn’t want to buy a domain and all that.

I figure 51 days is long enough to say I’m going to keep going at least until the end of my 365 project.

So, keep an eye out for the change.  I’ll post here when I get ready to switch and I’m sure I’ll tweet about it.

Day 50/365

Today’s photo was taken at the UT Trial Gardens.

I’m thinking maybe another sign for tomorrow, so stay tuned!  Same bat-time!  Same bat-channel!

Day 49/365

More night time photography. I’m not terribly happy with all the stuff in the way, but I’m too lazy to remove all the electrical poles and such tonight.

Day 48/365

Hi there, everyone. Today’s picture was taken during a Fundamentals of Digital Photography I field trip. Hope you enjoy it. Gonna go sleepy.

Day 47/365

Everyone, this is John. John, this is everyone. G’night John. G’night everyone.

Day 46/365

Keeping with signs. Not much to write about here. Just a slow playground.

We Choose to Eat this Burger not Because it is Easy….

I feel the need to share.  A couple weeks ago I was in Atlanta for a concert and while there visited the Vortex Bar and Grill.  You may recognize the place from an episode of Man Vs. Food (and if you don’t watch MvF then I recommend – nay, command – you go watch some on Netflix immediately) as the home of the Super-Stack Heart Attack burger. That link leads to the PDF menu, just to be up front.

If you don’t want to load the PDF (and I don’t blame you) I’ll describe this behemoth to you.  First of all, no buns.  What you see in yonder picture are grilled cheese sandwiches.  3 of them Big Mac’d around two 2/3 lbs. sirloin patties.  10 slices of delicious bacon.  8 slices of American cheese and 2 fried eggs (yes, that’s right…fried. eggs.).  

Starting out with the burger I rolled right along.  There was no chance of eating the thing all at once, so I took the top patty and grilled-cheeses and began my journey.  The burger, no kidding, was hands-down the best burger I’ve had in years.  Probably ever.  Being that it was so good, I burned through the top half in no time.  The second half was a little rough, but I powered through and devoured the entirety of this delicious slab of food.  I was feeling on top of the world.  Then our waitress (whose name I cannot remember, sorry!) told me that in order to win the challenge I had to eat not only the burger, but the bed of cheese-smothered fries and tater tots upon which it rested.  KHAAAAAAAAN!

So, never one to fear food, I dug in.  And let me tell you, Vortex is no slouch in the fries/tots department.  They were wonderful and the cheese was oozy, gooey awesome…until I was about halfway through.  Then I swear the cheese solidified into a brick both on the plate and in my stomach. I considered throwing in the towel right there.  The potatoes had me on the ropes, ladies and gentlemen.  The meal was Kimbo Slice and I was a little girly man about to get my face pounded in.

Sickened by cheese poisoning and wishing I hadn’t ordered carbonated drinks I forged bravely onward.  In my head I was thinking things like “What if Washington hadn’t plowed through the winter at Valley Forge?  What if Lincoln had given up after being defeated twice in Senate races?  What if Han Solo hadn’t persevered and blown up that shield generator on Endor?  YOU’VE GOT THIS!”  With my newfound inspiration I managed to put down bite after bite of the Potatoes of DOOM.  And finally, I found myself at the last deliciously agonizing bite.  The beast was slain.  Your hero, however, was not in such good shape.  It’s a good thing I had time to walk around Little 5 Points for awhile otherwise I might’ve solidified along with the cinderblock of cheese in my belly.  I ended up not eating anything afterward for about 24 hours.  I just couldn’t.  There was no need.  I had taken in enough food for two three-person meals.  Blurgh.

I’d like to thank all who provided moral support during the battle.  Jordan and Chris for actively trying to make me puke via laughter, Lisa for talking me into ordering the mountain of burger and Mary (go visit her at mjstone.net!) for taking the pictures (Mary’s flickr page if you want to see the rest of the pics) and suggesting we go to Vortex for dinner!

Kidding aside, I do recommend Vortex Bar and Grill highly.  The burger was incredible and the atmosphere is pretty great too.  I have a feeling they’ll be getting my business every time I’m in the Atlanta area.

Day 45/365

Let me tell you a little story.

There we were, driving along a winding, two-lane road.  We round the bend and there, looming is a motel that looks like a nightmare come true.  This motel is literally built on the side of a cliff, is built 5 stories tall and appears to have no support.  Your mind reels.  There is no way this structure could be standing upright much less actually have paying customers.  And yet, there it is.  Creepy as hell and larger than life.  If ever a place looked haunted it’s this place.

Unfortunately I wasn’t fast enough to get a shot of the motel itself (and the driver didn’t want to stop his car…probably a good plan) but I did get a shot of the sign.  I promise you, though, I will go back and photograph the motel.  That is assuming that it doesn’t collapse before then. And assuming that it actually exists.  Maybe it was a ghost.  I just creeped myself out.  So anyway, here’s the sign.  It doesn’t quite convey the weirdness of the motel, but it tries.

Do not take a shower.  Just sayin’.

I’m thinking I might turn this into a little bit of a side project within my 365 thing.  Signs.  Not the awful movie, but photos of signs.  Thoughts?  Cool sign locations?  Leave ‘em in the comments.

And if ever you find yourself lost and run across a motel that looks physically unable to exist, don’t stop.  Seriously.

Day 44/365

Good evening, almost morning!  Here’s today’s photo.  This one started out pretty overexposed, but I pulled back the levels and cranked up the contrast and think it ended up looking pretty neat.