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| Before |
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| After |
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| Nick's Teeth on 6/10/2010 |
The results are spectacular:
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| Nick's Teeth on 3/8/2013 |
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| Before |
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| After |
Saturday, March 09, 2013
Nick Gets His Braces Off
After nearly three years, Nick's braces have been removed. Here are before and after shots taken the day Nick went in to get his braces put on.
What we were dealing with on that first day is illustrated in the following photo:
Nick had a significant over bite, lots of crooked teeth, and severe crowding. The corrective process was threefold; hold back the growth of the upper jaw while allowing the lower jaw to continue growing, make more room for the teeth coming in, and straighten out the crooked ones.
The results are spectacular:
And here is Nick today, nearly three years older, and many many many years wiser:
Congratulations Nick! Way to hang in there.
The results are spectacular:
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Golden Eagle Goat Toss
Not for those who are squeamish about watching cute little goats plunge thousands of feet to their death.
Thursday, February 07, 2013
Sunday, January 27, 2013
The Demolition of the Hilltop Water Tower
A landmark that brings back a lot of fond memories for me is the Hilltop Water Tower located at the corner of 18th and Bahnson in Sioux Falls, SD. In the early 1970's, I attended 1st through 4th grade at the Cleveland Elementary Annex, which was a group of houses located just to the West of the tower on South Point Drive. I lived on the East side of Bahnson, so I passed the tower each day as I walked to and from school. Since the tower sat on the highest point in Sioux Falls, I can legitimately say I walked uphill both to and from school.
At the base of the tower was a merry-go-round, and my friends and I never missed an opportunity to get it spinning as fast as we could. In the winter, we spent endless hours sledding down the steep hill on the tower's West side. Those days were fun, and innocent.
This last photo is an aerial view of the Hilltop area in 1960. On the right side in the middle of the picture is the Hilltop Tower. Also included in the picture is Cleveland Elementary school, Saint Lambert's church, and towards the top is the East Park outdoor drive in theater. The house I grew up in wouldn't be built for another couple years after this photo was taken.
At the base of the tower was a merry-go-round, and my friends and I never missed an opportunity to get it spinning as fast as we could. In the winter, we spent endless hours sledding down the steep hill on the tower's West side. Those days were fun, and innocent.
Years later, when I sought out fun that wasn't so innocent, I found myself climbing that tower with a friend, and an older brother. I was probably 16 at the time, and the three of us thought it might be neat to shoot bottle rockets from the top of that tower. We didn't fall off or get arrested so, I guess it was our lucky day. Not a smart day, just a lucky day.
This past summer, the city of Sioux Falls decided it was time to bring the old water tower down. It hadn't been used for many years, and so its time had come. It made me sad to know that it was gone, that corner will never look the same, but hey, progress happens.
Luckily, I was able to get a hold of some photos of the tower's demolition:
In the first photo, workers have cut away a section of the base, and are in the process of marking other sections that will be cut away. What this does is weaken the structure, which will make it easier to topple the tower. Also notice that there is a steel cable attached to the top of the tower. The other end of the cable is attached to a tractor to the right of the area pictured.
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| Hilltop Water Tower in Sioux Falls, SD is prepped for demolition |
In the next photo, you can see the ladder used by authorized, and unauthorized :) personnel to climb the tower. You can also see the tractor that will be used to bring the tower down.
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| Tractor prepares to topple Hilltop Water Tower in Sioux Falls, SD |
The collapse begins. The skyline of Sioux Falls is about to be altered, forever.
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| Hilltop Water Tower being demolished in Sioux Falls, SD |
Crash! The Hilltop tower isn't much of a tower anymore.
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| Hilltop Water Tower crashes to the ground in Sioux Falls, SD |
Here you can see the concrete slab the tower rested on, along with the underside of the tower's base.
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| Hilltop Water Tower after it is toppled in Sioux Falls, SD |
Here the twisted metal that was once the Hilltop tower, is flattened under the weight of the tractor. Goodbye Hilltop tower, hello scrap metal.
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| Twisted metal that was once the Hilltop Water Tower in Sioux Falls, SD
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| Aerial view of the Hilltop neighborhood of Sioux Falls in 1960 |
Sunday, October 21, 2012
George McGovern (July 19, 1922 - October 21, 2012)
I wasn't old enough to vote when McGovern ran for president in 1972, but I was old enough to know that he was the better candidate. It's a shame that most of those who could vote, still had some growing up to do.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Tuesday, July 03, 2012
Saturday, June 09, 2012
Hey, I Took That Photo!
Something that's always been fun for me, is to go out on the web, and look for photos I've taken and uploaded, to see how others may be using them. Since I upload a lot of my photos under a name I made up, called syslfrog, it's pretty easy to do. Here are some recent examples I've found:
1. This is an article about a water ban in Ottawa Canada, accompanied with a picture of my son spraying water from the garden hose. That same photo also appears in this article about an unstable figure skating coach.
2. In 2005, I photographed a fire at the Beich Candy Factory in Bloomington Illinois. Here's one of those photos being used in a college text book called The Legal Environment Today, and here it is again in a college text called Business Law: The essentials.
3. Last August, I followed the Normal West marching band as they marched in the State Fair parade in Springfield. Here is one of my photos from that event being used for an article about the state Fair attendance numbers. And here is another in an article about the State budget.
4. In 2009, I joined a group of scientists and science minded individuals on a trek to Ken Ham's Creation Museum in Kentucky. While there, I took this picture of PZ Myers, which now appears on multiple sites in wikipedia. That same photo also appears here, on an article announcing a speaking engagement by PZ Myers at UNLV, and in many other places where PZ is referenced.
5. In 2006, I took a series of photographs of Jason Kubel hitting his first major league grand slam. That picture is referenced here on a baseball website.
1. This is an article about a water ban in Ottawa Canada, accompanied with a picture of my son spraying water from the garden hose. That same photo also appears in this article about an unstable figure skating coach.
2. In 2005, I photographed a fire at the Beich Candy Factory in Bloomington Illinois. Here's one of those photos being used in a college text book called The Legal Environment Today, and here it is again in a college text called Business Law: The essentials.
3. Last August, I followed the Normal West marching band as they marched in the State Fair parade in Springfield. Here is one of my photos from that event being used for an article about the state Fair attendance numbers. And here is another in an article about the State budget.
4. In 2009, I joined a group of scientists and science minded individuals on a trek to Ken Ham's Creation Museum in Kentucky. While there, I took this picture of PZ Myers, which now appears on multiple sites in wikipedia. That same photo also appears here, on an article announcing a speaking engagement by PZ Myers at UNLV, and in many other places where PZ is referenced.
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5. In 2006, I took a series of photographs of Jason Kubel hitting his first major league grand slam. That picture is referenced here on a baseball website.
Friday, May 04, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
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