Every year, the Longmont Symphony Orchestra plays music in Thomas Park in Longmont on the Fourth Of July. This is the first time that I had been able to go in 4 years, since last year I was on my way back from Iowa, and two years prior to that I was in Texas at my NASA internship. It was nice to be back in Colorado for the Fourth of July again.

It's really too bad that there is a fireban across the state right now because of how dry it is, and because of the existing fires that are out of control. My favorite part of this concert in the park was always the "grand fanalie" of playing The Stars and Stripes Forever (at least I think that's the song they did it to) with a real canon shot and rifels shooting off in choreographed times. I always tried to get a picture of it, but the cannon was so loud that I could never get a good photo. Then again, the last time I tired to take a photo of a canon firing off was 4 years ago. I guess I'll try next year.

I walk into the Bonfils bus on Saturday to give blood, I hand the lady my donor card, and she says "congratulations, today is your 1 gallon donation day!"
You know those punch cards at restaurants, when you buy 10 meals, you get something special? I thought this was something similar and she realized my confusion. Saturday was the day that I had donated 8 pints of blood, making one gallon. I got this nifty little pin, apparently my next goal is the five gallon donor pin.
The main reason I gave blood on Saturday (I usually only do it during the school year when Bonfils is on campus), is because they gave everyone a free shirt that says "I am the type that matters" on it, and I really wanted one. In the large scheme of things, I had to drive down to Longmont to get the shirt, which ended up being probably about $8 in gas.
In short, I drove 30 miles, gave blood, got a shirt and a pin and drove back. But hey, at least I can feel like a badass now and say I've donated a gallon.

I took out some money on Monday thinking I was buying a car on Friday. Since I ended up ordering it from the dealership instead, I only needed $500 for a down payment. I figured I should probably go put the rest in the bank, but wanted to take some pictures of it first. How often do you really get to take pictures of this much money. It reminds me of when I bought my first laptop in 2007 and had $500 cash on me (See here).
I went down to the dealership today and ordered the exact car that I wanted. They had the car I wanted in a different color, but for how long I will have the car, I feel that I should be picky about the color. In 60 days, the dealership will have my new car in from the manufacture.

On my way home from work today, I had to drive past a car accident at the corner of Horsetooth and College Ave. Luckily, traffic wasn't horrible yet, so it wasn't a huge pain. As I drive past, I realized one of the cars involved was a Larimer County Sheriff's Police Car. Since the accident was a 5 minute walk from my apartment, I went home, got changed, ate a quick snack, and headed out the door with my camera.

A few weeks ago, Katherine asked me if I wanted to go the the butterfly pavilion with her. Since I love that place, I agreed. This weekend was the first weekend that we both had time to go together. Since I wasn't going there with someone who wasn't into photography, I wasn't expecting to take very many shots, but I got in more than I thought I was going to. I ended up taking about 150 photos during our 1.5 hour trip.