Pacific Sunset / Steep Hill ...

This picture was taken just before sunset on a street in Pacifica.

This is a VERY steep street -- check out the sign that I'm standing next to:

Whole Wheat Pasta

Texture night! It was this or spaghetti sauce, and believe me, you didn't want to see that (up close, maranara with meatballs looks surprisingly "pukish").

Buzz buzz buzz...

Ok, this was SUPPOSED to be a hummingbird. I was out back, watering my rosemary, and I looked up and saw this huge red-throated hummingbird at this flowery bush on my back fence. I slinked into the house and very quietly snuck out with my camera. I popped off the lens cap, turned it on, and looked up to see the hummingbird headed for the hills.

That's when I saw the bees. There are no less than 3 types of bees that are visiting this bush. This is the clearest pic I got of one, and I really like the depth of focus.

Cruising out...

I saw this cruise ship leaving the port while I was in SF today, so I decided to head down to Crissy Field to get a picture of it.

I can't tell you much about it -- the ship is, apparently, the Pacific Venus, of the Venus Cruise Lines, which caters to Japanese speaking travelers. Their website doesn't even have an English section.

Still, I like getting pictures of stuff going under the bridge, plus I was able to catch it blowing off some steam.

Sadly, not too long from now, this will seem cheap...

I'd add more commentary, but it just seems superfluous at this point.

The kiddos with their bones...

Nick nack paddy-whack give a dog a bone.

Give these dogs bones, and they stop fighting/playing long enough to chew them down a bit.

The Yankee Clipper...

We live a stone's throw away from Colma, the Bay Area's cemetery central. In the early 1900's (before the quake), the city of San Francisco banned any further burials in the city limits. Colma, just south of San Francisco, sprung up with several large cemeteries. In the mid 30's, SF actually took the next step, and disinterred all of the graves in the city (with the exception of the Presidio National Cemetery) and relocated all the bodies to Colma.

As a result, we have a number of notable people buried very close to where we live.

Occasionally, I like to pass through some of these places. Many of them are quite beautiful, containing huge ornate crypts, massive beautiful scultpured monuments, and the like.

Passing through Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery, I was struck by the sight of an unusual black crypt. Closer examination showed bats and balls among the decorations around it. This was the final resting place of Giuseppi (anglicized to Joseph) Paul DiMaggio -- Joltin' Joe, the Yankee Clipper.

This man had 2214 hits and 361 home runs in 10 seasons with the Yankees. In the summer of 1941, he hit safely in 56 consecutive games, a record that still stands.

He served his country with distinction in WW2, even though he wasn't allowed to fight in theater (the loss of such a great man was considered by the military to be too much of potential morale loss to risk).

Then, on a late summer day in 1952, he had a blind date with a young blond actress...

Red Onion ...

Caryn was off doing a "girls night out" with some of her buds, and so I figured I'd take some time and go for a drive to find the right picture for today.

I traveled almost 50 miles -- to La Honda -- and found a great shot. It was the best, most perfectly lit redwood tree ever. I backed up, found the right angle, picked my focal length, and ...

MY FRIGGIN BATTERY WAS DEAD

I trudged home, put the battery on the charger, and now you have a nice "artsy" shot of a red onion.

Electricity simply was NOT my friend today.

The darling wife...

This picture captures quite a bit of her personality. Just a tiny bit mischevious, but cute and sweet as can be.

Awww the things that make a geek tick..

This is my new USB rocket launcher.

This is the very picture of geek fun -- a child's toy, reconfigured to be controlled by a computer. It was even purchased at the way geeks buy toys, Woot! (Wikipedia entry). The only way this could be more geekier is if it was purchased as part of a "Bag of Crap".

Mt. Davidson Summit -- the San Francisco Cross...

The cross at the top of Mt. Davidson. It's a heck of a climb up that hill, but the view from that clearing is AMAZING (see the panorma video below).

Mulch Texture...

Tuesday's just seem to be lazy days. I'm typically stuck in the office all day, don't get out much, and invariably find myself at 10:00 or later and wondering what the heck I'm gonna take a picture of (with less than 2 hours left to get it posted).

So, here is my pic of the day -- some mulch that is in a pot that Caryn is, I think, planning on using to pot an orchid. Interesting textures seem to make for fairly interesting pics.

My new business card...

Ok, so this is the last thing showing off my new certification.

What can I say, it was a ton of work, and I'm gonna bleed it for all it's worth!

Long shutter catches a plane...

One of these days, I'm gonna get me a REALLY nice telescope with a camera mount (like my cousin's husband's rig, which I'm SERIOUSLY jealous of). Until then, I'm trying to figure out how to take pictures of the moon, especially like it was tonight (waxing crescent with Venus close by).

With the shutter open long enough to catch the light of the moon, a plane crossed in front of the lens (we are only about 3 miles from SFO, and a lot of Pacific bound flights fly fairly close overhead).

46 years old

'nuff said..

Grooming day...

We LOVE our groomer. Luna is a sweet lady who comes to our house, babies our babies and makes them beautiful, and doesn't charge us an arm or a leg.

The last time she was here (April 17th) her water broke while she was here and she gave birth the very next day. She just finished her Maternity leave and man, did our puppies need her.

Before

After

I love the way they feel the day they've been groomed. It's like petting velvet, plus they smell good!

In the interest of full disclosure, these pictures were actually taken by my ADORABLE wife, Caryn. Thanks babe -- good job!!

SP-UH-LASH!!!!...

As I mentioned in yesterday's entry, I was there primarily to take pictures of crashing waves.

As my day has been somewhat tough, and I didn't actually get out to snap any photos today, I'm including one of the better ones from yesterday's trip to Fort Point.

Hope I'm forgiven for posting something not completely new....

Look CLOSELY...

Went down to Fort Point (at the base of the BOB), primarily to take pictures of the waves crossing up against the rocks.

I heard something, so I turned and started snapping pictures.

Now, if you look at the picture above closely, you can find what is in the closeup below.



The chopper went under the bridge, then swooped up and back over it.

Crazy, huh?

Our girl Clemmie...

Caught her in a saucy mood.

Pressin' 150...

Take 57.5 lbs and put it on both ends of a 35 lbs bar, and you've got yourself a workout.

Forget to take your camera off of landscape mode before you snap the picture of the boy in the midst of that workout, and you get a shot that shows the action, and the determination of that workout.

iTunes visualizer...

Lazyness attack...

9:30 and no picture night...

Pointed the camera towards the mac, running iTunes visualizer (the song playing was Brian Culbertson's "Wear It Out").

CISSP Cert arrives!

My CISSP certificate finally arrived.

It's been a long road to get this thing, but it's here!

Now I just gotta work to keep it (120 CPE credits every 3 years!).

My trip up the hill

I wanted to take a picture of the marine layer creating this monster over the top of the coastal range in the distance. It reminded me of that old horror pic "The Fog" and I've always found this time of year interesting because of it.





So, I treked up the hill to find a good place to take a clean shot. I ended up right next to the South San Francisco "Wind Harp"





This thing is a 90' high sculpture on the top of a hill. It is an Aeolian Wind Harp and more info can be found at this web site



It makes a truly odd, but very subtle sound. The website above has an "ogg" file that tries to capture the sound, but it can't because of the sound of the wind itself.

Orchid and the new toy...

The oh-so-sweet-and-awesome-wife gave me an early birthday present -- not, not the flower. It was a professional-style mini-photo studio. 2 sizes of collapsable photo tents with colored backdrops, lights, a tripod, and a handy carrying case for the whole she-bang.

Mind you, I've got a BUNCH to learn about these things (light placement, choice of backdrop, etc), but I really like it).

I'll take a picture of the whole thing for my birthday (a week from Saturday, in case you are looking for an opportunity buy something expensive for one of your favorite bloggers!!).

Closeup pretty violet flowers...

I went for a short walk to the Bart station this evening. There is a new-ish apartment complex across the street from the station, and they have these really interesting plants in the landscaping.

Gettin' cuter by the day...

I may be just a little biased, but I think Ziggy is getting cuter every time I take a new pic.

Texture and focus...

My eye was drawn the the fascinating combination of texture and focus that was this particular shot. I think it represents a distinctive and unique view that speaks to the jejune nature of ...

Oh what the heck. I'm really full of it. Look at the submission time. This was yet another example of "CRAP, it's damn near midnight and I haven't even touched the camera today -- what the heck am I going to find to capture this late?!?!"

So, I stepped out on my porch, turned on the porch light, pointed my camera at an interior corner, and snapped a close up to grab the texture of the stucco, accentuated by the odd focus caused by the wall surrounding the camera.

Yeah, lame, but I'm 127 for 127!!!

Beach rock, plus, some movies...

Went down to Sharp Park beach in Pacifica to get some beach/waves pictures. Loved this rock and the way the water and foam swirled around it as it crashed into the shore.

I've been toying around with what I call "motor-drive movies". That is to say, I take a couple of dozen or more pictures with the motor-drive mode on my D70, then stitch them togther using iMovie on the Mac. The effect is a little like stop-action movies (which, technically, they are).

Here are a couple of them that I've done.

This first one is of the same rock as today's picture.



This one is one (again of waves) that I took when we went out to the Point Bonita lighthouse a couple of weeks ago.



And here is one that has a series of glacier calvings from our 2005 trip to Alaska's Hubbard Glacier.

Not a great photo week...

With the "San Francisco Summer" (aka FOG), there just haven't been all that many great photo taking opportunities.

Here's one I snapped out my side window driving back from the grocery store. The spot on the tree trunk is actually some kind of shmeg on the window.

Sorry -- they will get better soon!

Ugly chair -- interesting fabric...

The fabric is interesting enough, but the chair it covers is pretty hideous.

On the bright side, it is farily comfortable.