Just checking in

Okay, so thusfar I have failed miserably in my quest to update this thing more frequently. So yet again, I will post something up here just to have something new to read. A whole lot has happened in my life so far this year, but nothing I really want to put up here for the world to read. Things both happy and not so happy, things that have affected me in ways I never thought they would. But I deal with those on my own time, not here.

Today, Pope John Paul II died. While I am not Catholic, I recognize the importance of this man, and the great things he did during his life. I actually was able to see him about 15 years ago. He visited my college while I was there, and I picked up a job with the L.A. Times to take photos and be a "runner" for them. Somewhere in my vast collection of film and photographs, I have some of the things I shot of his visit. It was a pretty exciting event, and I will probably have a space reserved in hell for this, but being a college kid at the time, a bunch of my friends got together and actually tailgated for the Pope's visit. Any excuse to drink at that time was a good one. One of the coolest things I saw during that was being in the staging area for the media and other groups. While we were having our camera bags and equipment scanned for bombs and sniffed by the doggie cops, I saw the under cover agents getting themselves together. They were all dressed in the same uniforms the normal custodial staff dresses in, with gats strapped under their work clothes. The kids and others on campus had no idea just how many cops were mingling with them. There were even some sub-machine guns being placed in the trash cans on wheels the "janitors" were pushing around with them. Trust me when I say this...The Vatican doesn't mess around when it comes to protecting the Holy Father.

~peace