30-MAR-2008
The Daffodils Are Blooming!
My Mom's Daffodils are out in abundance. She is so proud of them, even though she doesn't have to lift a finger for them - they pop up on their own in her backyard year after year. I for one was happy just to see a sign that Spring is on its way. I had to drive 200 miles in order to see it, but it was worth it!
22-MAR-2008
MacBook Air Sighting
After a fun Saturday (seeing a show, having dinner with friends and then wandering NYC with them), we found our way into the Apple store on 5th Avenue. I finally got to see a MacBook Air up-close. Pretty neat looking device - so slim, yet very sturdy. Still, I can't see myself owning one. Thin but long and wide just doesn't seem very portable to me. I like the form factor of the Asus Eee much better. And if Apple could just improve the capabilities of the iPod Touch without gouging existing owners, I'd be a real happy camper!
18-MAR-2008
PVC Characters
This photo was taken for a photo challenge in the Aperture Science Group over on Flickr - Collections. Back in the late 80's/early 90's, I collected PVC figures of characters from animation and movies. I only stopped because the collection grew so big that it was difficult to display, and even worse, to dust. This photo shows only a handful of them. I'm not sure of the final count, but I know that it is well over 100. The one that started it all? The Mighty Mouse figure just to the right of dead center.
04-MAR-2008
Farewell, Spaceship Earth!
My final view of the Epcot icon as I left the park to begin the trip home. This was another fun trip to WDW, great to be back after only two months. I hope I can squeeze in one more trip before the year (and my annual pass) runs out!
02-MAR-2008
A Magical Weekend
After a long week of conference sessions, the work was over, and I finally got a chance to play. Hit all WDW 4 parks over 5 days, plus had some wonderful meals at 50's Prime Time Cafe, Boma, and Concourse Steakhouse. The weather was perfect - high 70s/low 80s, with few clouds up until my final day there. It sure beat being back in Poughkeepsie!
And I just noticed, this is my 100th photo here in my Photo-A-Week gallery!!!
23-FEB-2008
El Centro At Night
I'm in Orlando for a conference, staying at Disney's Coronado Springs resort. I'll be able to get to the parks for a little while this weekend, but once the conference gets rolling, I'll be busy until the weekend. It'll be tough being this close to The Magic and not being able to enjoy it!
17-FEB-2008
Mixed Fruit and Glasses
We had dinner at my friend Greg's house on Sunday. He served a wonderful pasta dinner, with sauce, meatballs, and sausage. For dessert, he made a very tasty Italian fruit and custard dish called zabaglione. The raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries were so colorful together I just had to get a picture of it. I wish the fruit was in better focus, but I was in a hurry and rushed the shot as usual.
10-FEB-2008
A Bag of Bang Snaps
I was in Manhattan's Chinatown this afternoon for some of the New Year festivities. This little guy, all dressed in traditional costume, had his own bang snaps that allowed him to contribute to the noise and mayhem around him.
03-FEB-2008
Wading in the Winter Surf
I visited my Mom in NJ this weekend, and took her to Atlantic City to have lunch with my sister and brother-in-law. It was actually warm enough for us to wander outside on the Boardwalk a bit. I took this picture from the top floor of The Pier at Caesars, through a tinted window directly into the setting sun. It's not the greatest shot - it looks a bit fuzzy - but I liked the textures and the reflections from the water and the wet sand. It reminds me a bit of an antique B&W photo.
28-JAN-2008
Insomnia
I took this photo for a photo challenge in the Aperture Science Group over on Flickr - self portrait. I wanted to try to convey how I've been feeling lately - I'm a bit stressed out and haven't been sleeping well. I cropped my eyes out of a full-face photo, and then played with contrast and colors to accentuate the bags under my eyes and to make my complexion look much worse. Scary or what?
20-JAN-2008
Sleight Plass Road Barn
I drive past this barn all the time on my way to my sister's house. Today I decided to stop and take a photo of it. It seemed like a pretty scene, the white snow, the brown grass, the blue sky and puffy clouds. Except for one thing - the stupid high-voltage power lines cutting through the field. There's just no way to get rid of them - zooming in closer eliminates the nice blue sky, and there are just too many lines to try to use Photoshop. So much for progress!
12-JAN-2008
Monstrous Wardrobe
This may seem like an ordinary piece of furniture, but it consumed about 10 hours of my life on Saturday. Daniel had spotted on Craigslist that someone was selling this 4-unit IKEA wardrobe very cheap, and he decided he needed to own it. At about 8' tall and 140 lbs each, it was impossible to maneuver each unit into the elevator, so we had to take them all apart. We transported it in a rented U-Haul trailer (for which we got yelled at by a limo driver who warned us that we shouldn't have a trailer on the Northern portion of the West Side Highway.) We had to take local roads on the return trip to Brooklyn, took us almost 2 hours. Reassembling them in Daniel's tiny, crowded bedroom was a chore. And then the aches and pains came on Sunday - thank goodness for Advil!