We missed our puppies!!...

The D70 battery was dead, so I was forced to try and take some pictures with the Exlim (with it's cracked viewfinder making focusing impossible).

We had just picked up the puppies from our seriously wonderful doggie sitter, and after a nice taco and wine "Yappy Hour", we came home.

I broke 100,000 at Buzz...

Thanks to my brilliant wife's observation and suggestion, I broke 100,000 points in the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. Keep in mind, my previous best score was, maybe, 20,000.

You know how people kid around and say stuff like "Don't take a picture of me, you'll break your camera"?

It is with great sadness that I have to report that Caryn's Casio Exlim S500, a truly excellent, slim, 5 Megapixel camera, died shortly after this picture was taken. The LCD on the back of the camera (which has no other viewfinder) is cracked, and as a result, there is no way to focus a picture.

As this is the only camera we brought to Disneyland, this will be the end of Disneyland pictures for this trip (well, maybe not -- we have our "Buzz Lightyear" pictures to download still). On the bright side, we come home tomorrow.

The first shot is a picture of the line at the new Disneyland "Finding Nemo" submarine ride.

This is only 30 minutes into the park being open, and the line was estimated at 90 minutes. They haven't put a fastpass in yet, so, in otherwords, see the second picture.



Tonight we went to see "Wicked" at the Pantages theater in Hollywood. In one short word -- WOW. The music was incredible, the venue was amazing, the story was captivating. I HIGHLY recommend this show.

Me and the wife and the bear mountain...

You rarely get to see me, since this is my photo blog, and I'm usually on the wrong side of the camera, but we got a nice cast member to shoot this one of us with the bear mountain behind us.

It was a hot day, and following it, we went and had a huge dinner, so we were pretty beat when we got back to the hotel. I woke up at 2:45am and realized, much to my horror, that I had actually forgotten to post -- a first since I started this little endeavor.

Sorry folks -- I'll certainly try to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Fogscreen at Disneyland

Towards the middle of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride at Disneyland, there is a point at which the boat travels through a "Fog Screen" on which is projected an image of Davy Jones (the movie version).

It's pretty hard to catch it, since it is dark and you are not supposed to use a flash, but I did manage to get this image.

We are in Anaheim this week, so expect a Disneyland themed week.

The moving/cleaning crew...

Spent the day with my son and his roommate, plus two of their very good friends, moving out of the apartment in Davis.

In order, it's Clayton, Tanya, Brian, and Daniel.

Last ocean shot this week...

I know, I've been lazy this week -- all these pictures from the same trip to Ocean beach, but what can I say? It's hard to beat these cool views.

Look at the play of light on the water in the top, left corner? There are a lot of colors in there.

Goin... down...

Another pic from yesterday's trip to Ocean Beach and the Cliff House.

Caught this guy's surfing attempt. He got up, and traveled about 20 feet before Davy Jones kicked his butt.

Wednesday pic...

I'm pretty regularly in the Sunset district of SF on Wednesdays. Once I'm done with my appointment, I like to head into some of the more photographic parts of the city for the pic of the day.

Today, I was driving through the Presidio when I came across this view.

There will be a few more pics as the days pass from this trip -- look for the surfer going down on Ocean Beach tomorrow!

Gull, water, pier...

Why am I so attracted to reflections of sunlight on water? I can't say for sure, but I sure do like pictures that feature that.

This one actually has a bunch of features that typically appeal to me and affect my selection of picture. In addition to the light/reflection, there is also the texture of the wood on the pier, and bird. Gulls may not be your favorite bird, but they do fly, and that makes them cool.

My first OOB photoshops...

A user on Flickr named Serrator wrote a very good tutorial on how to create an Out of Bounds (OOB) picture in Photoshop. Using that tutorial, I was able to crank out these 2 pictures in less than an hour.

It's fun, and you can create some pretty interesting stuff with the technique. Check out the OOB Flickr Group for some ideas of what some of the more creative folks are doing with this technique.

Speed racer...

The wife and a number of her friends were at a week-long crop (scrapbooking convocation). I came to the hotel to visit her, and, as the the thing closed down, I assisted in loading the massive scrapbooking supply containers into the various vehicles. Passing through the door several times, I kept seeing this snail slowly crossing the sidewalk directly in front.

I watched this little determined guy walk about 10' (which, in snail, translates to about 50 miles) over the course of about 30 minutes.

Within 5 minutes of this pic, someone else rolled a suitcase over him.

BOB in the background...

Taken yesterday (sorry -- no pictures at all today) at Fort Funston. I like the fact that even though it is a very small part of this picture, the presence of BOB (Big Orange Bridge, aka The Golden Gate Bridge) in the far, far background makes the picture seem much cooler than it would be without it.

Pacifica Sunset

Coming home from Yappy Hour, I stopped off at a bluff overlooking Pacifica and took several sunset pictures, including this one -- taken at EXACTLY 8:00pm.

Old vs new...

Contrasts... Old vs new, close vs farther, red vs blue...

Little Lucca

The other day, my buddy Dan mentioned in his blog The Discourser that he and his daughter had visited a sandwich shop called "Little Lucca". That actually represented the 2nd mention of that place in a 3 day period, and I had never been there before, so I decided to try it today.

Wow

To start with, this place is basically an old house that looks like a good wind would flatten the place. That exterior belies the goodness inside.

I got the Little Lucca Combo. Mortadella, Salami and Provolone on a Dutch Crunch roll big enough to rate its own zip code. Add the requisite veggies, a little mayo, a little mustard, and the patented Little Lucca Garlic Sauce (banned in some countries due to the noxious nature of the breath of those who consume it).

I managed to get down half of it for lunch. I may never buy a sandwich in any other local restaurant ever again.

Reflection in the car's finish

I was caught by the image of the tree as distorted by both the shape of the car and the finish.

Yes, it's Tuesday, and I didn't really get out to get any kind of exciting picture -- but this is pretty cool anyway.

Dedicated to the task...

VERY COLD WATER. This is a really dedicated pooch. He chased out into this FREEZING COLD WATER to get a tennis ball. That's right, a tennis ball.

Did I mention that this water is a tad cool. We're talking about 45-50 degrees top. Surfers wear wetsuits cold.

And yet, this little Jack Russell Terrier (who belongs to our trainer Fawn) just jumped in.

Sunday trip to the beach...

A couple of shots from this morning's walk on the beach with the puppies...



This is tight detail of a driftwood log on the beach. I wonder what caused the scratches and berms in the log -- was it scratching against stuff in the water, or was it something eating the rotting wood?

Also, a motion shot, showing Ziggy shaking his head...

Gary Coleman and a bunch of puppets...

Caryn and I went to see "Avenue Q" at a local theater in SF. For those of you unfamiliar with the play, it is a musical VERY loosely based on puppet-type children's shows.

The story is about a group of people and monsters who live in a tenemant on Avenue Q in New York City. The building supervisor is Gary Coleman (though not played by him). The plot is cute, the story is funny and warm ... and VERY adult. This is not something that you take the kids to see. Two of the characters have some pretty graphic puppet sex on stage, there are jokes about casual relationships (If you have 5 nightstands and you take away 4 of them, you have...), homosexuality and other adult topics.

Some of the songs include:

"It Sucks to Be Me"
"Everyone's a Little Bit Racist"
"When you Ruv Someone (You Want to Kill Them)"
"You Can Be As Loud As You Want (When You Are Making Love)" (sang during the aforementioned graphic puppet sex).

All in all, it was a great show, and I HEARTILY recommend it!!

Pretty day at yappy hour...

Our first Friday Yappy Hour ("Because it's been a RUFF week") in several weeks. Shura, our doggie guru and general favorite canine-oriented professional, had been on vacation for a while, and we were in Yosemite last week, so we've missed it.

The last few of them we went to were grey and cold, but today was very gorgeous...

This pic was taken with my small, emergency backup camera because I didn't bring the D70 with me. I love the view from her backyard -- the bridge, Clayton's school, the golden domed church, ... it's just amazing. The SEBC can't match the quality of the D70, but it still captures the feel of the place.

Is he excited, or scared?!?!?...

The new Ikea catalog is here!!!

No, we aren't that excited about it, but I thought it would be a funny pic.

Well, I THOUGHT it would be a funny pic -- actually, I'm just scared...

Giving up the love...

Unconditional love. You gotta respect that.

Puppies offer unconditional love. They don't care if you just came home from the salt mines and stink to high heaven. They just want to revel in your mere presence.

My new favorite number...

Heavy symboism here -- won't make some of my viewers happy, but, what are ya' gonna do?

The combination on the lock 1209 represents 01-20-2009, the happy day when this little experiment in what our country looks like without a functioning constitution comes to a screetching halt. It is on that day that whomever is elected in November of 2008 takes office and the founding fathers stop spinning in their graves.

Note that the lock is open (as in, shackled no more).

If you are offended, I'm sorry -- it's just how I feel. Ain't it great to live in a country where we can say that?!?!?!

Cuteness...

4 days of pictures of the awe that is Yosemite, and now...

Back to pictures of the puppies!

Last Yosemite picture...

Alas, we leave this amazing place. As we drove out of the park, we followed the Merced river, and Caryn was able to snap this picture from a turn out on CA-140.

I really like this shot because it captures the motion of the water -- you can almost hear the shush of the stream as it goes over those rocks.

I also like this because it shows the rounded rocks that are so typical in a glacial valley like Yosemite.

We will DEFINATELY come back -- next time in the spring (when the water is flowing).

The definition of insanity...

Meet El Capitan. Located in the northwest corner of the Yosemite Valley, this monster vertical cliff is 3000' tall. We were told that it takes anywhere from 3-7 days to climb the face. The climbers have to eat, sleep, poop, and everything else hanging from ropes on the wall. Everything carried up has to be carried down (including the aforementioned poop) -- and no "dropsies" either.

So, surely noone is really crazy enough to do this, right? I mean, don't we have checks and balances in this country to keep people who are missing the self preservation needed to stop them from taking on such an endeavor.

Well, apparently not...



And these weren't the only 2 on the cliff. In scouring over the pictures I took of the wall, I'm pretty sure I found at least 2 other groups at various levels up towards the peak.

For those of you who are upset because I questioned your sanity, here are a couple of clues:

Clue: The view from Glacier point is pretty cool too.

Clue: Not everyone can say that they delvered meals on wheels or organized a Christmas toy drive. You want to risk your life for something meaningful? Teach in an urban public school.

And this was just the FIRST picture I took today!...

What a MONUMENTAL day for sights. Yosemite is simply incredible.

As the title states, this was just the first picture I took today -- a simple shot from just outside our lodge door. From there, we went on a bus ride to Glacier Point, 7500' at the top of the south end of the Yosemite valley. The view from there stretched for what seemed like half of the continent. We saw sheer rock cliffs, waterfalls, distant mountains, deer, and a lizard. Once I get back to SSF, I'll be loading TONS of pictures to the flickr page.

When we got back, we went over to the Awahnee and had dinner at the lounge there, where we dined with a pair of cute little (chipmunks? squirrels?). After dinner, we peeked into the formal dining room and my wallet clenched at the sight of the opulence therein.

Near death by bear...

After a long and arduous drive, we finally arrived at the lodge here at Yosemite.

This place is "oh my God" incredible. Every time you look around, you see more incredible sights.

This picture is taken about 2 miles from the lodge. Tomorrow, a bus trip to Glacier Point, where the best pictures are said to be had.

After a scrumptous meal at the Mountain Room, we headed back to our room, when my good buddy Dan noticed a bear in our path. After a small amount of panic expressed by Caryn and her associate female buddies, I walked slowly towards the room in hopes of grabbing the Nikon. Alas, as you can tell by this picture NOT being of a bear, BooBoo was gone by the time I got back out.

Welcome to the jungle...

My HUGE plot of grass (total acreage according to Google's calculations is about 0.0013 acres) needs some serious cuttin'. Unfortunately, I won't be able to haul out my tractor and get a crew in to take care of it until sometimes next week. That's cause I'm going to Yosemite!!!

Expect some really GOOD pictures for the next few days.