December 31, 2005

PAW 52 / whoa!!!

On my way to my morning café spot, I saw some low lying clouds hovering thru the trees on the mountain across the river.



I take this drive almost everyday I leave my home. In order to get a better view, I drove straight, just one block instead of turning left. To my amazement, there is a clearing with quite a view. I may have a new area for exploration from what I saw below.

I've always loved this bridge. Mostly only getting a head on view of it from a road to the north. There is another view from a much more easterly site. I just couldn't beleive that in the 3 years I lived here, I never discovered this viewpoint.

Airport Delays...

I've been back for a few days now. The last leg of the trip was just the worst. Following the rule of arriving 2 hours before take off I thought was bad enough, I ended up getting a call after I arrived that our flight was delayed another 2.5 hours. OMG!!! We had a good 4 hours to burn before we even got on the plane. My daughter is a great travelling companion, but this was taxing for the both of us. I had a contingency plan for a major melt down, but I didn't have to use it. I bought myself a portable dvd player with screen. I knew battery life was only 2.5 to 3 hours and I put in time for the 4 hours of flight time as well. 3 hours into our wait, I decided to pull it out for the hell of it. D was able to watch one of her new dvds she got for Christmas. I was getting admirable as well as evil looks from people walking by as D was having just a great time watching Blue's Clues. The evil eyes were mostly from parents with hostile kids that they could barely control.

I got my chance to just sit and kick back. I pulled out my camera, grabbing photos from the floor where we sat.



She was leaving for London to go back home from a visit to the States. World traveller, moving around the globe seems like such a simple task... I've been to Japan, various islands in the Carribean, but not to Europe. I better start getting used to delays in the airports. It seems well worth it and no where near the issues that we think they are.

December 29, 2005

PAW 51

I didn't get the chance to post last weeks picture, as my battery in my laptop has entered suckdom and internet access was not as easy as I would have thought. Anyway, moving thru the city of Chicago, I grabbed a shot out of the car in the infamous Loop in downtown. Called the Loop area as the elevated circles around a section of once the busiest business section of Chicago. I truely miss hearing the massive moving structures rolling on steel to steel. Not anywhere near the coolness of NYC mass transit, Chicago is where I grew up and it is where my history is.

December 23, 2005

Mom's Cooking

The food didn't last long enough on the table for me to photograph any of it. It is great being home and eating the food I grew up on, from the source!!!

The Hill...

We went to the HILL on Tuesday, late in the day as it was getting dark. My girl was very excited, but didn't have any reference as to what to expect. She wanted dearly to go straight to the top, but I decided to start her off at the mid way up point. She went down, screamed at the top of her lungs and came back up wanting to go to the top! Well, I thought about it, decided what the hell and let her go. We walked to the top, looked down and I asked her, are you sure??? She said YEAH!!! Let me go. Immediately, she gained momentum speeding down the hill. Towards the 3/4 mark down, she started hitting moguls. Somehow, she started in a seated position, then ended up on her belly. She lost a boot, her hat and bit her tongue. She was for sure not ready for the speed she reached as she said she couldn't do anything but hold on. When I was on my way down, a woman said it didn't look to good. As I approached, she started to cry about her tongue. When we got into the car, she said she never wanted to do that again.

Half way home, she said she wanted to go, but start out at the mid point a few times, then go back to the top. I love and admire this girl immensly for her fortitude and will.

Today, we went again, she went "boringly" down from mid point and wanted to go from the top. As we reached the summit, we looked down together. She didn't say anything, made her movements to get in her sled and shook her head yes. I let her go and she flew down the hill, not putting her foot down to try and slow down. After she finished her run, I met her at the halfway point. Excited, I asked her how it was. She just said she wanted to go again...

December 19, 2005

PAW 50

This is not as easy as I thought it would be... Weather just sucked ass last week and I just didn't get anything good, until this airport shot at PDX. I have to say though that I've always loved airport furniture and architecture.

I'm Out...

So I was very concerned yesterday about getting out to the airport, then off to Chicago because of the storm we had, dropping ice, then snow. I've learned that under the right conditions, even a drop of snow can cause havoc to this mid sized CITY here in the Northwest. So, up at 5:30 a.m. Everything packed and ready to go, my ride shows up at 6 a.m. As I go to take out the trash, I'm pleasantly surprised to see that it is raining. Though the streets are still very slick, it is much better than last nite when the roads were pretty much sheets of ice.

Because of the mandatory 2 hour advance arrival for the flight out, we've got about an hour and 45 minutes of nothing to do. We breezed thru check in via the baggage guys and walked passed all the saps waiting in line inside. Getting thru security was uneventful as well, mostly due to the fact that there was hardly any line to get thru. Now we just wait... It's nice that PDX has wireless thru out the airport. I'm just hanging out, sitting on the floor as hardly a soul walks by. Traveling should always be like this... (knock wood)

December 09, 2005

PAW 49

PAW, or Picture a Week. I've been meaning to start this project for over a month, but just have not gotten around to it. The so unofficial start for me to begin this project I hope is not indicative of failure, but I just wanted to get this going and have a goal to post photos til the end of the year.

My first photo, 49 weeks into 2005 is a result of having a conversation with EA, pictured here. Also a photographer, and also wanting to get in deeper water with photography, we talked about PAW and other subjects and projects regarding photography. It is too easy not to take photos and get better and make a timeline of your own life. Our lives get so busy doing what we think is necessary that we miss out on the idea of the mere enjoyment we have when we take a picture.

Everytime I go out and shoot, for the sake of shooting, I come back in a better mood. I'll feel even better when I come back with something I'm proud of and want to show off.

So, week 49, a photo of EA at a cafe I frequent on Thursday, 10:30 a.m.

December 05, 2005

Big Thing, Small Package

Get your mind out of the gutter! Can you tell where my computer is?



I can't believe how tiny the Mac Mini really is. My new computer has more power than the huge G4 tower I used as my main computer. I had originally tried to get a processor upgrade for it, but was having some issues with lots of crashes. I decided to go ahead and exchange the processor upgrade for ram and another hard drive for the mini I didn't even order yet. My timing was perfect as I got both computer and ram and drive all the same day.

I've done some test with my usual workflow and though I am not getting quad G5 results, I am so happy at the speed increase this little monster is giving me. Besides the actual desk I now have, the coolness factor is inspiring!



So in the photo lies the mini ontop of the additional hard drive called the Mini Stack. 2 brick Lacie drives ontop of my dvd burner and a card reader. My laptop which will soon be replaced is an older ibook. I'm really trippin about gaining so much space on my desk!
 
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