We didn’t make it back to the hotel room until around 3:00am on Saturday night, so all but 30min of Sunday morning was dedicated to sleeping. I always thought the Final 4 festivities would be only for those with a ticket to the game, but it wasn’t the case. They had free concerts and an event set up called “Hoop City” They filled the convention center with basketball events. Most of them were centered on kids (and Hank). I believe he waited in line for 30min to shoot 10 free throws. The final stats were 4-10 made and he only missed the entire hoop once. I think he blamed it on wearing flip flops, but the kid in leg braces behind him when 5-10.
 

 
 
 
 
 
When you have a cop sitting under a doughnut shop you have to take the photo. Problem was I didn’t have much time and I got the girl in the frame too. I wanted to crop the image with just the cop and the sign, so I had to remove her and rebuild the wall behind her to make it look somewhat believable that she wasn’t there.

 
 

 
We finished the evening at a BBQ restaurant on the river. I found out you can actually get sick from eating too much meat. My brother just got pale reading that last sentence. I’m not exaggerating when I give you these stats on the ribs he ordered.
 
6.5 inches wide
15-17 inches long
3-4 lbs in weight
 
That’s a lot of meat!
  

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I believe in the one point five rule for two reasons. First, I believe it’s true. Second, the one rule just doesn’t sound as good. It suggests that if you are counting sleeping hours while in transit, whether in a car, train or plane, you take your original hours slept and divide it by 1.5 to get an accurate time of rest. My plane for Houston left the damp runway of Portland International Airport last Friday night at 11:55 pm. Hank and I were on our way to San Antonio to watch our Jayhawks play in the Final 4. With my two hours of sleep in the air and an additional two hours of sleep in Houston’s airport I was up to 4  (2.6) hours of sleep; which is enough considering my mind was quickly becoming occupied with the thought of what I was going to witness that evening. After a short 30 min flight to Austin we rented a car and drove the 1.5 hour drive to San Antonio and arrived at around noon on Saturday.. We met my Brother and His wife, Angie, at our Hotel before heading down to the River walk.
 
That afternoon and had a couple of beers at one of the multiple restaurants that cover either side of the river. Each of the Final 4 teams had their share of fans wondering around. We immediately determined defining characteristics of each of them.
 
UCLA: Tan or Asian, likely wearing team jersey with facial hair that is well trimmed, 
UNC: Old
Memphis: Speaking in an unrecognizable English accent and eating some form of meat.
 
As I was reviewing my photos when I got home I noticed the Gentleman in the bottom right of this photo. He looked a lot like KU’s Athletic Director Lew Perkins. It would make since with the huge ring on his hand (Orange Bowl Ring). After sending it to my brother we both agree that it is him. I never knew he was there…
 

 
I love this photo because my brother is typically true to his “gut feeling” for the game. Angie and Hank = nervous, but Konan was expecting the victory, that or he was drunk.  

 
This was a great backdrop for a couple of frames. The problem was the doors in the background went into hotel and convention center, so it was difficult to get a shot with no one else in the background. I put the original photos up too… before I took care of the problem. (sounds so mafia-ish)
 
    
 
 
 
 
 
We got to the arena about an hour and a half before the tip off of the first game. I didn’t take many photos inside of the Alamo Dome because they weren’t allowing lenses longer than 4 inches. For some reason they let me in, but I got several looks from staff when I had it out shooting, so I put the camera away most of the time. I was probably more nervous about the final 4 game against UNC than I was the national championship. I have wanted to play Roy Williams since he left KU over 4 years ago. Every year when the tournament brackets are released I look at our first match up and then I find North Carolina to determine what it will take to play them. You could tell who was picked to win the games. UCLA fans were lethargic before their game with Memphis and UNC fans didn’t even show up for the first 10 minutes of the UCLA – Memphis game. I enjoyed being the underdog; we just seem to play better. The first 15 min of the game against UNC was probably the best I have ever seen a Kansas basketball team play. I have seen individual performances that I will never forget, like Nick Collison vs. Texas on Big Monday, or Julian Wright vs. Texas at the 07’ Big XII Championship Game. But as a team; I have never seen a better performance. And what a better time than with Roy on the other end of the court. It was like seeing that ex-girlfriend for the first time in 4 years…. and then destroying her on a basketball court. I knew what the UNC fans were feeling. I have seen many Roy Williams high octane offence teams struggle against tough defense. One in particular was in 2000 when KU played Illinois in the Midwest Regional Semifinals. Roy had our team averaging 82 points a game. Bill Self’s Allini held us to 64 points to win the game. By-the-way, that game was played in San Antonio.
    
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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I walked into work on Tuesday afternoon running on 3 hours of horrible sleep and yet feeling like a champion. I started my computer and was immediately asked to change my log-in password. My old one,  jayhawks1988, had expired. 

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I flew into Kansas City last Wednesday and hung out with my Dad for a couple of days. We spent some time flying in his Cesena and hanging out at his hanger. It was fun, I talked with some nice people and managed to drive around the airport in a golf cart and take photos of just about anything. I would have loved to come back when the sun was setting, but I just didn’t have time. On Friday he flew me to Hutchinson. I took the controls a couple of times as he was checking our flight path. I resisted quoting some of my favorite Airplane quotes (”what’s our vector Victor?”) and managed to keeps us flying straight…. for 30 seconds.

This photo was just a fluke; these were the bottles of wine that I brought back for my Dad from Oregon. Anyway, they were sitting in his kitchen and I was just messing around. I actually like what turned out. Some day I will start lying and tell everyone I carefully compose these shots.

A majority of the rest of my trip was at the Kansas State Fair. I always loved the fair coming into town when I was little. I remember watching all of the rides arrive by truck during recess. My niece Olivia made the trip from Fort Collins, Colorado, so was fun to see her get excited. It was 64 degrees on Saturday and 100 degrees on Sunday, glad I packed my jacket.

This is one of my favorite pictures. She seems to be wondering what Dumbo has in store for her and Dumbo is wondering if he is going to get puked in again.

One of the attractions at the fair this year was an acrobatic dog show. How fun was this to shoot? These dogs were amazing, and the best part was all of them were adopted from the Humane Society. He was throwing the Frisbee right at me and the dogs were launching themselves right at me. I was having a hard time focusing on the dogs in the foreground and not the spectators in the background.
  

And finally… What is a trip back to Kansas without a photo of the sun setting? This is one of the best parts of Kansas. You get some amazing colors as the sunsets. Here in Oregon, the Cascade Mountain Range blocks most of the good colors during sunsets. Don’t get me wrong, most residents in Kansas would love to see a mountain range every day, so I’m not complaining. This was taken in Ellinwood, Ks after my Niece’s birthday party at Grandpa’s house. I have some dust on my image sensor. You can see it on the left side of the photo on the horizon line. Who would have thought, changing lenses every 10 min at the Kansas State Fair with 30 mph winds blowing dust. I guess it was inevitable.