A Little G in a Big D

Hi gang:

I’m linking to the other blog I have that some may now know about. I kept it somewhat quiet because I was posting images that possibly hadn’t been published yet. Anyway, go here to look at some of my photo selects from 2007.

In other news, that blog will be going away soon. As you may have noticed, my main site has been down for a while now. Part of the delay in getting it live again was compiling content. That’s done now, thanks, in part, to the aforementioned 2007 contest stuff.

The other delay was monetarily related. The company I was planning on going through for hosting — Neon Sky — has a set up fee that I couldn’t quite afford. But, thanks to a recently announced bonus my employer is giving us, that should hopefully no longer be an issue.

So why kill the other blog because of the new site? Well, one thing I plan on doing is creating “recent work” links that are archived; meaning, you can see what I’ve been up to recently, as well as recent work updates of yore. And what’s more — I’ll actually use it. No, really. Sort of a new years resolution … eat and drink less, jog more, and share more work. That’s the plan, anyhow.

And there we have it. More to come. Hope you enjoy last year’s images. 2007 was good to me, and I have a lot to be thankful for. Thanks as well to any reading this who’ve helped me along the way. You know who you are …

- gerry -

My lone surviving grandparent — my mother’s mother, Guadalupe V. Quesada — passed away late last month. I wasn’t able to make it to the wake or funeral for work reasons, but fortunately, I was able to make it down to Laredo to see family and such, pay respects, etc.

She’d been pretty sick for a while (lately, six months of dialysis) so it’s for the best … still sad, though. What’s more, the whole experience reminded me that (in a way) I’m pretty far removed from my family. I’ve lived away from home for about eight years now. The last few, I’ve scarcely made it down once a year.

The funny thing is, my grandma — I’m resisting the urge to ham-handedly use the word abuela … which would be italicized, of course — was the kind of lady who wouldn’t have minded much. She encouraged all her children and grandchildren (and great-grandchildren, for all I know) to make the most of their lives — get an education, a line of work that makes you happy and work as hard as you can. If that meant leaving South Texas for good, so be it. As much as she enjoyed having family around, she too took comfort in the fact we were all trying to be the most productive people we could be.

So anyway, just a random thought. I’ve been pondering family a lot in the last few weeks (have another close relative who may be very sick … fingers crossed). It’s funny, a couple of years away from my 30s (still very much a kid), I’m starting to see how we’re the sum of all our parts. How the people who were around as we were reared often contributed a lot to our dispositions … to whom we become.

Hard work and success (not financially per-se, but more that you’re happy) are important to my immediate family; to her credit, as well as that of my grandfather’s, the stylin’ lady you see up there is responsible for that. Heck, more than six months into it, I still can’t believe I’m drawing a regular paycheck from one of the largest newspapers in the country (according to Wikipedia, that is). I also have that lady to thank.

Cheers,

- gerry -