This is a continuation of my review of the year 2004 in pictures... enjoy!

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2004: The Year In Photos, Part II July-December

July
So, after finally healing that leg of mine, I got to go back to work and frankly, I was ready for it.  What I didn't expect, though, was to be put into a Peterbilt.  I had always driven Freightliner trucks during my brief career thus far, so it was a new experience in of itself.  On top of that, it was a beautiful glossy black.  I'm driving a red Pete now, and while it's essentially the same truck, it's not nearly as pretty as that truck was.



But, I was finally back on the road.  The corn fields of Illinois, still being planted when I went on my leave of absence, were now oceans of green along-side the highway.



It was during this time that I decided to share with you something I had known about for some time, but hadn't taken the time to take pictures of it until now.  The Used Amish Buggy Lot!

( The rest of 2004 )

If you missed it, please check out Part I of this entry.

A lot of people are doing year-end surveys where they reflect on their accomplishments and short-comings of the previous 12 months. My short-comings are negligible and I'm not exactly an accomplished man, I just like doing things. Lots and lots of things. I can not tell a lie, I got the idea for reviewing my year in photographs from hazlewood and given the nature of my journal, I thought it would work well here, too. I like it so much, in fact, that I think I shall make it an annual tradition in these parts. While I've had my journal for sometime, this marks the first, full year I have actively been writing in it.


What follows will be a collection of photos from the year that mark particular events or that I just liked for whatever reason. Many of these pictures have graced these pages before, but there are a number of them that I never got around to posting or writing about. So, it won't simply be a rehash of old entries; there will be plenty of new stuff to check out. This ended up being a much more ambitious project that I had anticipated; tracking down photos and making all the links to the original entries, but I'm glad I did. Now I will have a one stop place in my memories to find all of the major of events from 2004, plus I wrote about some things I had neglected in the year. I hope you enjoy it, too.

WARNING: I put together a collection of 65 photos for this project, which I am breaking up into two installments of about 32 photos each. Those of you with low bandwidth, go get a cup of coffee or something after you click the cut. :)

2004: The Year In Photos - Part I, January-June

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January

As it so happens, I remember exactly where I was at 12:01 on January 1st. I was in Brooklyn at a club called Southpaw partying with Northern State. They had taken the stage about ten minutes before and were welcoming everyone to the party. They did a countdown to midnight then immediately launched into their set. I attempted to take some videos of the concert (without sound) but with the poor lighting they didn't turn out so well. But if you want to check them out, you can (vid1, vid2, vid3). Video three is particularly interesting because the gals of Northern State display their little known ability to defy the laws of gravity.

But that's all the time I would spend on the east coast at the beginning of the year. As it turned out, the next two months were spent on three back-to-back west coast runs. It was in January when I documented my first shoe tree in Oregon.



I also managed to take my favorite picture of Mt. Shasta to date....



...and that was with the craptacular camera! I can't wait to shoot Shasta with the new SoopaCamera. I also got to appreciate the beauty of sunsets in Utah. At the time, I thought it was only a chance occurence, but over the course of the past year, I've found that there seems to be something unique about Utah. Maybe it has something to do with the way the light reflects off the lake and/or desert that lies in the western part of the state. All I know is, it makes for a pretty drive in the evening.



It was also during the month of January where I first told you about the vast Livejournal conspiracy that many people are unaware of. Actually, it's the only time I told you about it. Maybe I should do more of that.

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February

My second month on the west coast proved to be even more exciting, full of new adventures and experiences. The first of these, en route to the west coast via I-40, I stopped in Amarillo, Texas for the 72oz. Steak Challenge.

( Read/See the rest of this installment )

Read Part II.