I want to thank Jim and Arlene again for having Lisa and I down to Arizona. It was a really special experience for me and they were very accommodating while we were their guests. All in all it was the single most memorable vacation to date!

Now back to business though. I have been playing with startrails a little more lately and have had a few chances to get away from the city lights enough to have a good show. This was taken in Northern Scottsdale on a semi clear night. The exposure for this picture was a little bit more than an hour of time creating the streaking effect. I hope to go out either tonight or tomorrow and capture some more striking compositions with the stars in them in Credit River Township south of the cities. I would be staying with Brian and Liljana, friends of the family.

Merry Christmas to all of you and remember the holiday season is not about gifts or giving. It is about forgetting and forgiving all the bad and the worse that has happened and moving forward in life with the good human nature that we try to achieve.

All right.. I know I have been really bad at updating my blog lately but with good reason. I was on vacation in the wonderful state of Arizona. Lisa and I bought tickets a few months ago to fly down and stay with her aunt and uncle for 5 days. I was so excited coming to the end of finals week that was all I could think about. I am pretty sure that this vacation was well deserved. I am going to slowly update you with pictures and stories as I sort through all of the pictures. This is one for the archives though.

This picture was taken from the top of Squaw Peak in Phoenix Arizona. After an exhausting climb with Lisa to over 2800 ft above sea level we were greeted with this beautiful vista. I feel like this picture should go with a caption like on those motivational posters. Maybe I will publish one : ) Any who if you have any suggestions for this posters caption please email me and I will update accordingly. ( You can also leave a comment here if it is easier )

Looking through pictures that have been taken over the years there are a lot of good memories. I think that I have a photographic memory for photographs but nothing else. I can look through my pictures and tell you a story about almost every single one. Other things in my life are a lot harder to remember. I dont understand why photographs have such an impact on my memory but I would have a lot fewer cool stories if photographs were not a part of my life.

This picture actually was not taken by me but my girlfriend Lisa. My sophomore year my staff and I put on a fund raiser right before finals to help relieve stress. Pay a dollar and Pie your RA (Resident Assistant). Lets just say there was a huge turnout and a few bloody noses but it was all worth it in the end. It lives on through the pictures.

Yesterday evening I found out that another one of my friends had something terrible happen to them. This is the message that was shared with his friends.

Last night during Ultimate Frisbee practice, Oliver passed out and went into cardiac arrest. He lost his ability to breathe, and for a while lost his pulse. Paramedics are estimating that his heart was stopped for about 10 min. The ambulance was able to stablize him, and they rushed him to the Emergency Room in Winona. From there, he was given a CT scan. His brain is ok, but there is a probability of brain damage. He’s still unresponsive or able to breathe on his own. They flew him to Mayo Clinic at St. Mary’s where he’s in critical condition. Right now they’re cooling his body to minimize brain damage and they won’t be warming him for another 24 hours. He’s been sedated and paralyzed and placed into a drug induced coma. After they start warming him, we’ll be able to figure out the extent of damage on his body and his brain and then they will be able to add more pieces to the puzzle.. As of right now his heart is unable to function normally, and has a very weak and unstable beat. He has suffered a heart attack at the age of 22. The Dr.’s have no clue as to what happened, or what is happening. After his body reaches room temperature, three things can happen: #1- He won’t wake up and will be declared brain dead. From there it’s up to his mother as to whether or not put him on life support, #2- He can wake up, be rushed into heart surgery and suffer serious heart conditions his whole life, and #3- He could wake up, and all of this could have been caused by a virus. (Obviously #3 is the one that we’re hoping for.) Of course with all of this brain damage is likely due to the amount of time that his heart stopped. However, Dr.’s are hopeful due to his age and his health, and the fact that he’s a fighter. Right now Ollie, his family, and I really need everyone’s prayers. He is my everything, and I don’t know what to do. -Nicole

This morning Oliver was awake and sitting in a chair. The doctors don’t know if he has any serious brain damage though. He will be under a long series of tests today to see what is going on with him. I wish both him and Nicole his finance the best.

I am sorry for those friends that I lost touch with over the last year. We need to hang out before the end of this year. Reunite and relive all those great memories. Peace + Love

All in all this has been an interesting week. Finals are coming up in the next few days for me and I am pretty excited. I feel confident that I will do well on the finals I have left. I am most worried about my Pathophysiology final. I have received a number of new orders from my High School Sports Galleries and I want to thank all of the parents who have supported me.

A student here at WSU was reported missing on Thursday of last week by his family and he was found on Friday afternoon. This is what the school released to the student body

Winona State University regrets to announce the death of one of its students, Matthew Alexander Gille, a junior from Rockford, Illinois. His body was found this morning near the Garvin Heights Overlook in Winona. The body was recovered from a wooded area later in the afternoon. The exact cause of death is not known at this time. The Winona Police Department, Minnesota State Patrol and the Winona County Dive and Rescue Team assisted with the recovery of the student’s body. More details will be provided pending investigation by law enforcement officials. The student was reported missing on Thursday. His family, campus security and law enforcement officials were notified shortly thereafter. A search began on Thursday evening and was narrowed to the Garvin Heights area after his car was found near the overlook. The search resumed on Friday morning, leading to the location of the body.

Freshman year I lived down the hall from Matt and got to know him in passing. He was a nice guy, well loved, and he will be missed no doubt. It is pretty scary to think that this could have been anyone that I know. There has been a huge outpouring of support for the family and through Facebook people have started to collect and assemble a storybook of his life experiences as seen though others eyes. Pretty amazing how many people one person could touch.

Wish me luck on finals and I will keep you as updated as I can. I leave for Arizona on the 15th of December!

Yesterday afternoon the brutal cold kept me from spending a lot of time taking pictures outside but I had an hour between classes and I was determined to get a few. I went exploring in downtown Winona and visited some of the older historic parts of the community. I stopped by the grain mill for a few shots of the steam rising from the smokestacks but the sun was too bright in the reflections off of the silos so it was hard to meter. Especially in infrared because I have to figure out exposure by trial and error for the most part. I stopped by Circle Six Design again to get some help with some new wordpress plugins. Brett said that he would be more than happy to help me out and that is very generous of him. The picture today is of the Winona Bridge from Minnesota to Wisconsin. I did not have my tripod with but I took 4 overlapping pictures and stiched them together after I was nice and warm inside with Photoshop CS2. I am pretty excited about the quality of pictures I have been taking lately. I guess I am on a lucky streak! I hope all is well.