It's not ALL about photos There is audio as well!

Since I posted 2 Very large blogs that have been tied to Photography and activities, I thought I'd share a bit of something else I tend to spend some time on. Music.

Ever since I can remember, I've had an interest in sounds. As a child I pulled the pots and pans out of my mothers cubbords and played them with a wooden spoon. I had no idea what I was doing, but I was making noise.

My parents have a photo of me sitting on top of a coffee can trying to play the small piano. This is my second memory in relation to music. At the time, I was the right size for it, and yet again, I banged on the keyboard until I broke one of the black keys. I guess my creativity was too much for this tiny contraption.

I've had many instruments and noisemaking devices as a child, and continue to grow my collection. My first recording/playback device took the shape of a Fisher-Price Tape recorder. This thing was built to last. It followed me to grade school many times, and I can going out for recess and taking it with me to listen to the same tape over and over again. I think it was Casey Kasem's top 20 hits of 1988 +/- 2 years. I think I might even be able to find a tape or two with recordings of me and my antics.

I didn't start learning about what music was until I was in 6th Grade. I had no idea what a trumpet was, but boy was I going to play it in the band. I played until my Senior Year of High School, and by that time, I had already started learning the electric guitar. I still had many things to learn, and they always seemed to happen at the most interesting times.

I heard about a program called Fruity Loops my first semester at the University of Wyoming.. I think at that time, they were on version 3.2 or something. I started playing with the demo version. I could save anything, and I'd have to leave the program open to continue working on "Songs" You could do almost anything you wanted. I spent a lot of time working on "Songs". Looking back, these so called songs were super cheesy. I enjoyed working with them, and I learned so much.

In 2005 I decided that Electrical Engineering wasn't for me. Or should I say that Calc II told me that Electrical Engineering wasn't for me. I was fresh home from Iraq, and needed some direction in my life.

I went to the local Aims Community College, and signed up for their Communications and Mass Media Program. There I learned how to use professional Audio equipment and applications. I was hooked.

While at Aims I started playing music in a Band Called Babysitter Murders. We had a lot of fun while it lasted, and I met some really great people. I also started playing Electronic Music with a good friend of mine named Zane. We recorded, and learned together. In fact, we continue to get together from time to time and play.

The most recent education process I have started was becoming a member at IDMforums. This is a collection of mostly unsigned or amateur artists that have banded together to share knowledge. Don't get me wrong, there is some very professional media that comes from the forums, and can be found at the Netlabel site.

So, now that I've blabbered on long enough, I'm sure you are ready for the good stuff, or settle for a link or two to some pages I have some "Music" on. Comments are always appreciated, as well as criticism. I am after all still in the learning process.

http://virb.com/frazdog/audio/albums/36446 This is a taste of some of my earlier work. I've labeled it Unfinished as I more than likely will not revisit it. It's fun to listen to and chuckle at.

http://virb.com/frazdog/audio/albums/40426 Here you will find a "Release" that Zane and I recorded together in one night. It's only 4 tracks long, and holds a special place in my heart. Every time I listen to this, I have positive memories.

http://soundcloud.com/frazdog This site has the most recent postings of songs I've worked on. The most recent upload is at the top, while some of my older material is below.

I imagine there will be more to come. Better sooner than later I believe.

My Ascent of El Cracko Diablo 03OCT09

Friday night, the Second of October, I had a hard time sleeping. I was just too excited. Tossed, turned, different bed, blah, blah, blah. Woke up, on the Third of October, said good morning to my buddy and his parents. I had met his Mother the night before, and she had agreed to make pancakes that morning. Met My buddy's Father. Super nice family. The two brothers showed up about 8 am, and we looked at the gear we were going to use, and then loaded up. It took us about a half hour to drive to Devils Tower. The picture below was the first time I'd ever laid eyes on the tower. It rose above most everything in the area, and as you can see, it stuck out.

So, I pulled over the vehicle and took a few photos. The others were very anxious to get there, so I was a little rushed. I don't think they understand how photographers work.

We drove up a bit further, and there was a HUGE pulloff on the side of the road for all the tourists to pull over so they can snap a picture similar the the one below. I had to do it, I couldn't resist. Besides, it was the off season, and there was no one around.

Both the photo above, and below were from the same spot. Pretty standard shots.

We drove into the park, paid our $10 access fee, and then found our spot in the empty parking lot. There were a few others there to take in the sites, and walk around the tower. There was a group of three guys talking to a Fourth I immediately recognized from all the web research I'd done. It was Frank, the notorious guide from the area. Quite the celebrity in these parts. He saw us, and said, "Well, we are we climbing today fellas?" I responded with, "El Cracko Diablo." He said, "Me too, let's go!" After checking in, and putting our emergency contact info down for the park rangers, we started on our way. Below are my three climbing partners.

We hiked in along the asphalt trail that was laid down to keep down the erosion. We made comments about how most places would sue you for damages for spilling a single drop of oil on the ground, and yet, here we were surrounded by asphalt that has a bunch of "Controlled" oil spillage that surrounds Devils Tower. Kind of funny when you think about it. There were quite a few openings in the trees so you could get a good clear look at the tower. I snapped a few shots.

Then we wandered off the asphalt trail and headed up a small pathway that lead to rocks, rocks, and more rocks. We climbed up, we climbed down, and by the time we got to our route, we were already about 1/3 of the way up. Time to gear up, and get started with out day. It was sometime between 9 and 10 am. I don't think any of us checked our watches. We just wanted to climb. So, we chat amongst ourselves and with Frank, and notice there is a rope going to the top already. Frank had been here a little earlier that morning, free climbed the route, and set his rope. As we were all still messing around putting our gear on, and deciding who was going to climb when, Frank had started, and was halfway up the first pitch. We watched him effortlessly climb all the way to the top of the second pitch with out stopping. I think he climbed up that route 3 times by the time our lead man got up to the first pitch.

This was the group gearing up to climb for the day.

These two shots are from the first pitch. Where the guy in blue is there is about a 2" ledge and 2 bolts to set up your hanging belay anchor system. It looks like there is more than just a toe's width ledge there, but I spent half the day there.

I climbed second, so I could get our leader up to the top, and I would follow, so I could get some good photos. As our leader neared the top, his knife opened in his cargo pocket, cut it's way out of the pocket, and came zipping down toward my head! I yelled, "KNIFE!", and got as close to the rock as possible. It wizzed by about a foot or so from my helmeted head. I turned and looked down, and yelled "KNIFE!" again. The two below dodged the whirling blade as it bounced near then, and continued to plummet to its resting place along the asphalt footpath below. There had been a bus load of tourists that passed earlier, and lucky for everyone, no one was near the path. Our spectators,(Buddies Mom, Dad, and grandparents; and brothers' Dad and older brothers wife), ended up recovering the knife, and telling us how lucky we were. I think the Tower was out to warn us, or get us at this point.

Sometimes, the best plans don't happen how you want them to. Our younger brother part of the crew had never climbed before, so he followed me. Since he didn't know much about climbing, we all wanted to make sure he got up safe. He did really well, and climbed better than I did I believe!


Here is the youngest of our crew climbing up the second pitch. This was taken from the hanging belay position at the top of the first pitch.

My buddy, who was the last one at the bottom climbed up to me as I belayed him. I was excited. It was my turn to go up the second pitch. The top was right there. As the younger brother got to the top, and just out of site, a tiny rock, fell from above, and nailed me right on top of my helmet. It might be a good time to point out that I was the only one wearing a helmet out of the 4 of us. AND I'M THE ONE THAT GOT HIT! WTF? Seriously, if you are going to climb, get some protection for your head! It's not going to keep you from bashing your brains all over the side of the rock, but it will keep you from ending a sweet day of climbing because a small rock hit you on the head from 100 ft above.

I started my climb, and maybe got 10 feet up, and my buddy say, "Uh, hold on a minute. The second rope is caught in the crack below you." I thought to myself, Really? Are we having that kind of luck today? We couldn't shake it loose, so I rappelled down 3/4 of the first pitch, and it just pulled right out. There was some magic hand that held my brand new rope there until I got to a certain point down the pitch, and then just let it go. Me being the super man I thought I was decided I was going to Ascend up the rope, only, I had both ends of the rope with me. I ended up getting about 10 feet up on my rigged weird ascension set-up before I called it quits. Told my buddy to set up a belay, and I re-climbed a crappy 3/4 of the first pitch.

Now that I was back on the hanging belay ledge and totally smoked, I told my buddy he was going next up the second pitch. By this point, it was after noon. I hung out yet again. Literally. The Day was only about half over.

Before my buddy climbed up to me, and I rappelled down to get the rope unstuck only to re-climb again, the was the rope connecting my buddy and I. I thought it made for a nice photo.

Allright, so hanging from the top of the first pitch, I waited for everything to get setup for my buddy to climb. Sooner than later, he was on belay and heading up the crack. He paused a time or two, but really, he was the one that sped up this pitch of the climb. He had the best time by far. I was about to confirm this fact.

After waiting a bit for them to let me know it was my turn to start my struggle, I cleaned our gear off the anchors and started up. The first 20 feet or so wasn't bad. I was pretty confident. Making good progress, and feeling good suddenly turned into a fight. After watching the other 3 and Frank climb this route before me, I figured I'd be able repeat their movements. Much easier thought than actually accomplishing the feat.

There was a new group of people who showed up down below. Frank was with them, and I could hear them commenting about how disappointed they were that there was a group of us on El Cracko Diablo. First come first serve I guess.

I continued to fight up, and gained some ground. After getting up another 10 feet or so, I hit the crux of the route. There was a lot of scary shot falls I took. They had me on a pretty tight belay, and I basically inched my way up falling here and there after my pumped arms gave way. I let out grunts and groans of frustration as I fought the crack. There was basically nothing to hold on to. I remember feeling the urge to give up, to quit. I'd go back to the anchors of the first pitch. Let them get to the top, and then go down. It seemed so easy.

I told myself not to quit. Quitting was too easy at this point. I still had fight in me. I let out louder belts of anger and frustration, gaining motivation from how good it felt to get it all out. I kept going, dangling less on the rope, and moving up more on my own power. I did it. I soon met the rest of my group. All of us were pleased. We weren't up just yet.

We packed up our gear, and started the scramble to the top. Not very technical climbing we made a 5 to 10 minute journey up easy 5th class bouldering to the summit. Shaky from the physical exertion we made the flat ground. I pulled out my sweater and put it on, even though the chill hadn't set in just yet. Our lead climber said, "If you loved me, you'd give me that sweater." I didn't know what to say, and I selfishly kept it on.

I shared my snacks, and pulled out the camera.
The three of my climbing mates and my shadow on the summit of Devils Tower with the moon in the background, and the sun setting.

It was a site to appreciate, but as I was the only one with a sweater, and the sun falling quickly, we needed to get down. I tried to get some good photos, and as I was rushed, I didn't do the job I should have. Here are a few of those shots.

The summit with the Summit log. We all signed and dated it.


The sun setting silhouetting the Missouri Buttes in the distance. The last sun rays of the day.

The beautiful colors of the sunset. It felt good to see this.
With the last of the pictures to be snapped, My buddy and I posed quickly before preparing for our descent.
Me, on top of Devils Tower, or the world, it all felt the same at this point.

Well, since we were losing light, I pulled the headlamp from my bag and affixed it to my head. We were most certainly going to need some light. The moon was full, and was giving us some light, but the 3 LED's gave us what we needed.

The 2 ropes we climbed with needed to be tied to one another as each pitch was longer than one rope doubled up. I was the last one to rappel from each station. Last one up, last one down. I guess it all works well. When I got down to the top of the first pitch where I spent so much time earlier that day, my partners had some bad news for me. My rope, which had only been climbed on 3 times before was stuck below us, and needed to be cut in order for us to make it down the last rappel. As I was the only one with a knife at this point, I had to perform the operation. With the rope freed, we could now pull the rope from above, and continue to the bottom, well at least where we left our gear and boots.

Approximately 40 feet had been severed from my rope. It may still work for some of the sport routes I climb near Laramie, but it was better to be down than stuck on the face of the tower. We packed up all our gear, and to our surprise, a headlamp was found that none of the other three had brought. Armed with 2 headlamps now, we headed down the boulder field at the bottom. There were some steep drops, and they looked a little more frighting in the dark. After about 10 min of down climbing some rocks, we stumbled onto the footpath. It was now about 9 pm. What a day.

We were met in the parking lot by our worried spectators. All of them asked if I was o.k., because they heard me grunting and groaning, screaming and yelling. They thought I had hurt myself, and all I was trying to do was summon the strength to climb a bit further. I felt bad I had worried them, but it was not really at the fore front of my thoughts. I'd just climbed Devils Tower. It was a struggle and a fight, and I had won. My poor rope has been a casualty of the battle, but in the end, no one was injured. As we stowed our gear in the vehicles, I stopped for one last picture.

The moon was rising up behind Devils Tower.

We drove back to my buddies parents place talking the whole way about the adventure. More stories were told when we got there, and we eventually turned in for the night. I had a hard time sleeping even though I had worked so hard. My scrapes and achy muscles made it difficult to sleep. The slightest move woke me, but I did get some rest.

That was my account of my adventure climbing Devils Tower. These pictures can be viewed on my Flickr Account Rock Climbing Photo Set

First Post for a New Year

As it's just after a new Year for the New Decade I decided to try something new. I've not had much experience with a blog before, and since there are a lot of new things going on, I figure, sure why not.

2009 A year in review. I don't think I could have picked a better year to end that decade on. It had some really fantastic moments, as well as some painful ones. I'm really looking forward to these next 10 years. I think I've got a good start, and before we know it, another 10 years will have flashed before our very eyes.

I live in Laramie, Wyoming, and couldn't really ask for a better place to live. Laramie sits in a valley between two mountain ranges. The town isn't really that big, and I think it throws a lot of people off. I enjoy the small town and slower pace. Gives me a chance to catch up with life.

I've spent a good amount of time taking photographs since late April or early May. I've had some really wonderful moments behind the camera, and wouldn't trade them for anything in the world. I have some standout shots that I'd love to share with you, and give you a sense of what this last year has been like.

2009 A Year in Review through Photography


I started working at Thought Equity Motion Located at the Wyoming Technology and Business Center in February. When spring started to roll around, the skys decided to put on one heck of a show as well. This is one of the spectacular sunsets I've encountered at work, it was on the 17th of May. It's part of my Panoramic Flickr Set.


I shot this at Glenmere Park in Greeley, Colorado. I feel like this is one of my standout Wildlife shots. This was taken on Memorial Day 24MAY with Nick B.


In June around my Birthday, we went camping. This was shot from just above out campsite at night. I had left my tripod behind, and had to improvise using a bolder, small rock, and a pinecone to set the shot up how I wanted. It really tested my skill in balancing. This was a good outing, and I remember the amazing BBQ pork Damon set up balanced with Bacon wrapped jalapeño poppers.


Later that June as I was heading back to Laramie from a nice outing with Zane, Hannah, and Mike, I stopped and snapped this photo. The mountains in Colorado were looking quite wonderful that day, and the air was nice and clear. The springtime does nice things with the scenery. This was the 28th of June. Both this shot and the one above it come from my Flicker Landscapes Set.


Most of my July weekends were spent in Colorado. This was the busiest most challenging month I've had. This Firework photo came from Greeley on the 4th of July. I imagine an Extra Terrestrial Attack taking place. You can see more Photos of Fireworks on my Flickr Fireworks set.

On the 7th of July, I snapped this photo just outside my apartment. It was a very bright moon that night.


This is Downtown Laramie after an excellent evening during Jubilee Days. If you are ever able to make it to Laramie, Wyoming the second week of July, I highly recommend checking out the street dance complete with Beer tent. The few other photos from that night can be found at my Jubilee Days Flickr set.


The Snowy Mountains offer a wonderful place to go and clear your head. I did this on the 19th of July. The water was crystal clear, the air was crisp, and the peacefulness was everywhere. I really needed to get away and reflect on a few things.


I received this glass for being part of Anthony and Amber's wedding. This was the highlight of July for me. It was really good getting down and being able to see a lot of my good friends from when we all went to school here in Laramie. Not everyone was able to make the trip out here from 6th Floor white hall, but a good majority of us did make it.


I started Rock Climbing again starting in Early August. I was able to get out Nearly every weekend, and even a few times during the middle of the week. Getting out to the Beehive really helped my outlook on life. I would say this helped me to lose about 30 pounds I really wanted to get rid of, and the outdoor activities were wonderful.

A timelapse from the Beehive Buttress while we climbed.


While Nick B. and I camped up near the Beehive, I pulled out the Camera and Tripod. This composite image was a 30 second exposure fused with a 5 minute exposure. More of my star shot can be viewed here.


Here is a photo from our Labor Day Camping outing that ended up getting about 15 or so people out for one last Summer Celebration. There was plenty of spirits to be passed, excellent climbing to be done, and some great company.


In early September I purchased a Lensbaby Composer. I have been very pleased with my purchase, and look forward to many amazing photography sessions using this lens. In this photo above, you should be able to see a bunch of 5 pointed star highlights. These were not photoshopped in. They were created by using the star aperature with the lensbaby. More more photos taken with the Lensbaby, try my Lensbaby Flickr Photo set.


On October 3rd I climbed Devils Tower. I went with my Buddy Eric, and his "Cousins", Ryan and Scott. Here is my Blog about our adventure up the United States First National Monument.

I have a few photos from October, and November, but I don't have anything posted at the moment.


Eric, Shannon, and I worked on a Gingerbread house just before Christmas. Eric ended up getting it into a contest at Ivensen Memorial Hospital. We took 1st place. More pictures of the Gingerbread House Here.

On the 17th of December, I recorded a timelapse of the sunrise just North of Laramie.

Well, I suppose this is a pretty long first post, and if I expect to have repeat readers, I might want to consider keeping these a little shorter. I should be posting a Year in recording blog as well. Thanks for stopping in and looking at my photos!