Passing Perception

Welcome to Passing Perception, a photo blog by me, Steven Morrisroe.
I am 35 and live in Forest Grove, Oregon in the United States.
Here I share my photos, thoughts, and interests with my family, friends, self, and the world.

Hello and best wishes to my cousins on my mom's side, Sara and Beth. I wish we didn't all live at the far corners of the country and got to hang out together. We are in Washington, Oregon, Northern California, Southern California, Virginia, and New York City. That is not conducive to good family relations. I hope everyone will stay in touch more now.

I would like to give a huge thank you to my mom, dad, sister, and brother for coming to my house for Christmas this year. It was the first time in around 20 years that all of us have been in the same place for a holiday and the only Christmas ever at my own house. A special thanks goes to my mom and sister who flew here from California and New York. I very much appreciate the effort. It was the best Christmas in forever thanks to all of you.

I quit eating meat on December 29th, 2009. I have been a hypocrite on the subject for many years (most of my life). No longer. I should not be eating anything I would not be willing to kill myself. Since I am the same guy who was tortured by watching fish die on the bank while fishing as a kid, and would not kill anything not trying to kill me, I have no business eating animals. I am not vegan but was already avoiding leather and other dead animal things. No meat is easy. It is the dairy products that are difficult to replace with something decent. I will work on it. Fake cheese tastes like fake cheese. Thanks to my sister for the extra inspiration I needed. She got me over the hump to where I belong.

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."- Mahatma Gandhi

Think all people who respect other animals are leftist Obama supporters? Think again. This is perhaps the greatest political poster I have ever seen. Go to LibertyManiacs.com to see it larger, buy it, and browse many other great products.

Think all people who despise the socialist Obama agenda are Republicans? Not a chance. We don't need a bunch of religion-blinded lifestyle punishing darkness either. The Republican party lost its way long ago and allows too much government and too little freedom. They are now more like liberal-lite. No thank you.

Comments about my twitter updates can be left at my Miscellaneous Photos, Tidbits, and Your Comments page. (or twitter)

Recent Comments:

srr1567 commented February 5, 2010 6:45 PM on Miscellaneous Photos, Tidbits, and Your Comments – February, 2010
"I always did love Fraggle Rock."

srr1567 commented January 24, 2010 7:43 PM on Miscellaneous Photos, Tidbits, and Your Comments – February, 2010
"Do I have to wait until until my birthday? I do like presents!"

srr1567 commented January 22, 2010 8:07 PM on Miscellaneous Photos, Tidbits, and Your Comments – February, 2010
"You already realize this, but I did check out the other guy’s ring picture and they are pretty lousy. Yours are a lot better. Now you need a Lord of the Rings fan."

Carolyn commented January 6, 2010 7:45 AM on Three-Man Father and Sons Thanksgiving at my House, 2009
"I love the gingerbread tree! I think it looks cool, even if a little melty.

Man, your Thanksgiving dinner looks enticingly easy. Maybe I should have microwaved Christmas dinner instead of slaving all day in the kitchen. Next time! Also, love the ham comment."

Steven commented January 2, 2010 6:55 PM on Three-Man Father and Sons Thanksgiving at my House, 2009
"Hello. Thanks for looking at my post. Sorry it was too far for you to come to my house. You had other offers for Thanksgiving but turned them down. You should accept."

srr1567 commented January 2, 2010 6:28 PM on Three-Man Father and Sons Thanksgiving at my House, 2009
"The food looks good to me. My Thanksgiving involved a grilled cheese sandwich and the TV. So at least you had company."

Carolyn commented January 2, 2010 5:38 PM on Miscellaneous Photos, Tidbits, and Your Comments – February, 2010
"re: not eating meat: YAY FOR YOU!!! Glad I could help give you even a little push in the right direction.

srr1567 commented December 31, 2009 7:19 PM on Misc. Photos December, 2009 and Holiday Lights in Forest Grove.
"Hello to the furry cat. I love all the Christmas houses. Thanks for getting the beds for us."

srr1567 commented December 30, 2009 10:25 AM on Miscellaneous Photos, Tidbits, and Your Comments – February, 2010
"Snow, just what you were wishing for. It was just a little bit late for Christmas."

Steven commented December 24, 2009 4:24 PM on Miscellaneous Photos, Tidbits, and Your Comments – February, 2010
"You are welcome, Dave. I am glad you like them. Thanks for the translation. I haven’t opened the gifts from you yet. Thanks a ton for helping us so much. Have a great holiday."

Often the best comedy contains painful truth.

"Dear Employees:

As the CEO of this organization, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barrack Obama is our President and that our taxes and government fees will increase in a BIG way. To compensate for these increases, our prices would have to increase by about 10%. But since we cannot increase our prices right now due to the dismal state of the economy, we will have to lay off sixty of our employees instead. This has really been bothering me since I believe we are family here and I didn't know how to choose who would have to go.

So, this is what I did. I walked through our parking lots and found sixty 'Obama' bumper stickers on our employees' cars and have decided these folks will be the ones to let go. I can't think of a more fair way to approach this problem. They voted for change...... I gave it to them.

I will see the rest of you at the annual company Christmas Party."

This is too great to not share. Check out the ONION, home of superb satire.
"Sumerians Look On In Confusion As God Creates World"

In the course of looking into something for a comment on my sister's blog I came across a wonderful article at, of all places, The Huffington Post. Usually I disagree with the vast majority of everything on that site, but not this time. The article is from 2005 but if you add Barack Obama's religion to that of George Bush's and swap to the current year in the last line, it is perfectly fresh. It has been a while since I read an article that sounded like it could have been written by me.

"If You're a Christian, Muslim or Jew - You are Wrong" by Cenk Uygur.
"We live in a twisted world, where right is wrong and wrong reigns supreme. It is a chilling fact that most of the world's leaders believe in nonsensical fairytales about the nature of reality. They believe in Gods that do not exist, and religions that could not possibly be true. We are driven to war after war, violence on top of violence to appease madmen who believe in gory mythologies. These men are called Christians, Muslims and Jews." Read the rest of the article.

Jan 05

Geese, “America’s Largest Christmas Bazaar” 2009 at Portland Expo Center and “Winter Wonderland” at Portland International Raceway

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Some weeks ago I went to “America’s Largest Christmas Bazaar” at the EXPO. I had planned it for a while. I had a postcard style ad at home that I picked up at the Portland SkiFever Ski & Snowboard Show 2009 with my brother. When he heard about my trip to the Christmas Bazaar he said, “You actually went to that?” Whatever. I like seeing all sorts of things. Maybe you do too. Thanks to my down-the-street neighbor and friend, Jonna, for being willing to go with me. Also thanks for being a good sport about being in some photos, which is more than can be said for the Obama a-hole at the show.

After the show I drove under the freeway to nearby PIR to see the “Winter Wonderland” lights I always see advertised. Mostly I just wanted to drive on the track. Verdict? The lights are in disrepair, outdated, and overpriced. I was still very happy to be on the racetrack, even if it was at 3 mph following minivans. I just absolutely positively must find a way to get a car for track days and/or racing out there. Anyway, check out a whole lot of photos.

P.S. Geese? Yes, I have a difficult time not stopping for giant flocks of birds.

These thumbnails are just a preview. Click on them to see the post.
I took these on December 6th, 2009. There are 196 photos. Hey, I narrowed it down from over 250.

Jan 02

Three-Man Father and Sons Thanksgiving at my House, 2009

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My dad lives at the Oregon Coast and my brother lives in Vancouver, Washington. That means I live in between them and my house is a good place for a holiday. Thanks very much to both of them for coming to my place on Thanksgiving. It was very nice to have your company. It was just us three guys but we still put a dinner together. I warn you though, if you are a “foodie” or way into great cooking, you may want to look away. None of us cook much, so we didn’t. As in the past with just us we heated up food instead of making any of it ourselves. It is a lot less work.

These thumbnails are just a preview. Click on them to see the post. There are 67 photos.

Dec 31

Misc. Photos December, 2009 and Holiday Lights in Forest Grove.

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This would usually be my archive of misc photos for December and I suppose it sort of still is. I didn’t have very many “misc” photos so I am adding a whole bunch of photos of holiday lights in Forest Grove, Oregon. There are also photos of guitars and gear at work, my outside cat friend getting a heated bed, my house, car wash, trip to Portland to buy a guest bed, new things at work (tv, handgun), and progress on local Walmart.

Dec 19

Foggy Pre-Thanksgiving golf with my dad and Dave at Quail Valley

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The day before Thanksgiving my dad and Dave drove over from the coast so we could play golf together at Quail Valley in Banks. I had been there before but it looked a whole lot different. The day before had been beautiful and sunny. When I got up that day I saw it was extremely foggy and wet out. Thankfully it did not rain, but it was way past damp all over anyway. Did I mention COLD? The sun did not come out until it was about to go down, which this time of year is about 4PM.

It turned out alright because it gave me a chance to take pictures in a whole new atmosphere there. I am very happy about this post. I enjoy these photos very much. I hope you do to. To me golf is just an excuse to do some nature photography in a very beautiful place. I know photos of golf sound boring, but give this post a chance. It is all about the surroundings. This post took me at least 10 hours, not counting taking the pictures. Thanks for being here to make it worthwhile.

These thumbnails are just a preview. Click on them to see the whole post. There are 158 photos.

Dec 12

Angel’s Rest, Latourell Falls, and Vista House at Crown Point with Dennis and Jonna (super short post, forgot memory card)

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A couple of Sundays ago I got my brother, Dennis, and neighbor, Jonna, to go on my favorite short “local” hike with me. I have posted before about Angel’s Rest in the Columbia River Gorge. I like it there. We also looked at Latourell Falls and Vista House which are in the same neighborhood. It never gets old going to those places. It is beautiful.

Usually I have tons of photos in my posts, but not this time. I got all the way out there (it is at least an hour and 15 minutes one way, by way of picking my brother up in Vancouver) and realized I had left my camera’s memory card at home. My camera can only hold 10 photos without a card, so that is how many photos are in this post. This will be my first post in ages that people with dial-up can view.

Dec 04

Archive of Miscellaneous Photos, Tidbits, and Twitter Updates for November, 2009

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There are many photos in this archive that were added a few days into December. If you didn’t look at the misc photos section for November that recently, you missed quite a few. Please take a look.
Continue reading »

Nov 12