Category: photo
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Irene
This is a photo of Grand Central Terminal in New York City. Mid-day. Nearly empty. It’s one of those photos you wish you could capture yourself, but probably won’t ever be able to do so. It was taken by the MTA and posted on Flickr. The reason why it’s nearly empty is due to Hurricane Irene.
Grand Central Terminal is a sight I’d like to revisit again. The place is huge. And when it’s filled with people it feels amazing.
Oh, and they’re going to have an Apple Store there someday soon.
Bixby
Photo of Papa, Bixby, and Lucky. Bixby is on the left.
It’s tough when you lose a pet. A pet who’s been a loyal friend and good companion over the years. But, like us and everything on this planet, in this universe, time doesn’t stand still and lets us simply live forever. And so, sadly, we say goodbye to Bixby who succumbed to age this past Thursday morning. He was about 77 years old (11 in human years).
Bixby was a friendly, yet cautious dog. His cautious nature bordered on being shy. He would let his partner, Lucky, determine if any new person was worthy of attention. After the determination, Bixby would warm up and be playful as the next dog. Combine Bixby’s relaxed playfulness with Lucky’s hyperactive playful nature and you’ve got a tiring combination.
Bixby was a slower-moving dog, built more for comfort than speed. It didn’t help that he had an injured front paw making him a little less active. But he’d trot around with Lucky, playing with whoever would stop by.
But now, Lucky is alone again, as he was for a year before Bixby’s arrival. The photos in this post were taken with a film camera on Bixby’s first day in our lives. The photos are dated February 25, 2001.
You’ll be missed, Bixby.
Photo of Papa, Bixby, and Lucky. Bixby is on the left.
Mia's First Birthday
Mia Bathing
At 10:16 am last year, Mia arrived in our lives. And what a year it has been. Ever since then, time seems to have been moving so fast, often a complete blur. I’m sure every parent has a similar experience.
Wasn’t it just a month ago that it seemed like all she could do was cry, eat, and poop? Wasn’t it just last week that she learned how to crawl? Wasn’t it just this morning she learned how to stand? And it seems just now, at this very moment, she really knows, by the glint in her eye, who mommy and daddy truly are. There is so much to share, but now so little time to write about it.
I took this photo as Mia was bathing this morning, getting ready for her day (or actually the whole weekend). I hope to post more photos later today - when I can find a moment. We’ll see how that works out.
But for now, Happy Birthday, Mia!
An Opportunity
I’ve been meaning to write for some time now. I’ve had the desire to do so. But having the desire, and having the opportunity, are two different things. When they don’t sync up, it can make for one cranky person.
Luckily, I’ve been too busy to be cranky.
Commute Map
I started a new job a few weeks back. It’s a job that I was interested in taking. I took a 12% pay reduction and increased my commute by 45 minutes, but to me, it was worth it. At least that’s how I looked at it when I said yes to the opportunity. It is how I look at it now, as well. I’m sure, almost positive, it will also be how I look at it in the future. But sometimes, in the haze of commuting, it is difficult to see the sanity in the decision I made.
I get to spend more time with Farrah and Mia. Granted it is morning commute time, but it is time nonetheless. The evening commute is spent apart. When I get home, which is often after 7pm, I only spend an hour with Mia before her bedtime. Then the time I spend with Farrah is only eating, catching up briefly on the day’s events, then getting our things together for the next day.
For now, it seems like a cycle ride that has no end.
In October, things may change. But October is months away. Who knows if the change will be for the better or for the worse. The optimist in me hopes for the former, and I will continue to think that until October comes to pass.
I’m writing this on my evening commute home, on the CalTrain. It hasn’t been a bad experience on the train. The people are as friendly as can be, for being cramped into a train, going from point A to point Z in such-and-such time. I’ve only had a few delays here and there. Nothing to complain about just yet.
When my job moves deeper into the City – yup, we’re moving downtown – we’ll see what the train commute plus Muni will be like. I’m guessing it’ll be a bear for a few weeks until I get my pattern down.
And so I’ll try to post when I can. I hope I’ll find opportunities to do so, whether it’s writing while I’m on a train ride or when I’m winding down from the day in bed.
I have the desire. Opportunity is the issue.
Mia's First Easter
Rabbit ears. Eggs. Money.
It’s Mia’s first Easter. It was a quiet Easter, spent at the house with the grandparents. It was quiet by choice, as Mia was recovering from being sick all week. Otherwise, we would have made a trip to spend Easter with family.
We had a lovely lunch - a Honey Baked ham, fried chicken and egg rolls from King Egg Roll, green beans, and Brussels sprouts. Then it was to the living room to watch Mia open her Easter eggs.
She’s a little too young for candy, so money was a good substitute. Yes, she did try to eat the bills. We then headed outside to take a few photos with each grandparent and ourselves. I wanted to take a full group photo, but unfortunately, I ordered the wrong tripod plate for my camera. I’ll need to get a new one.
You can find more Easter photos in the://Easter album.
Photos were taken with both the Canon 7D and the Canon S95 on April 24, 2011.
Mia and Her Bunny Ears
Mia and Her Bunny Ears
Bunny ears. A gift in Mia’s Easter basket from Grandma and Grandpa. She wore them yesterday and this morning, even though she isn’t feeling 100%. Hopefully, she’ll be hopping around with them on Easter Sunday.
On a different note, Mia woke up at 2 am crying. It’s a bit unusual, but since she’s not feeling totally well, it’s understandable. What was interesting was that Farrah found Mia sitting up in the middle of her crib. We haven’t seen Mia get herself from a lying posting to a sitting position, so this is the first occurrence we know of. Next thing you know - she’ll be climbing out of her crib. Eeek!
This photo was taken on April 20th, 2011 using a Canon S95.
Mia and Mommy at Whole Foods
We were able to get a lot done this weekend. We first started at the Mountain View Farmers’ Market, it was off to Milk Pail to get other fruits and veggies not found at the market. We finally ended the triple play day at Whole Foods. Mia has been enjoying all the new textures on each type of food she’s tried. She’s been enjoying chicken, carrots, and rice. We need to expand her palette even further, as she’s shying away from the purèed food. In this photo, taken at Whole Foods, Farrah is searching the baby foods trying to find something that would appeal to Mia. What’s Mia doing? Just hanging out on the BABYBJÖRN. This photo was taken on April 10, 2011, using the Canon 7D. This photo was edited in Photoshop CS5 as well as Flare.
Mia and Dr. Seuss
Mia loves listening to Dr. Seuss stories on the iPad. She started off with Dr. Seuss’s ABC. In this photo she is making her first pass at Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham, a bit of a long story for her to sit through.
Oh, don’t worry, we don’t let the iPad do all the reading to Mia. Farrah takes time each day to read to Mia from the stack of books we have sitting on our bedside table.
This photo was taken on March 6, 2011, using the Canon S95.
A Sunday Post
I wanted to start writing a regular post on Sunday, time permitting of course. I’m not sure what subject it may be. Perhaps it will be about something that happened during the week. Or it could be a summation of the week’s events in total. Or it may simply be another photo. Let us see what comes of this.
Mia turned nine months old this past week. She has been out of the womb longer than she was in it. A fantastic thing to realize this week. If you told me 18 months ago we’d have this babbling bundle of joy to deal with I would have simply replied, “Huh? You’re crazy.” Yes, we’re happily crazy.
Farrah was able to put Mia in short sleeves, sunglasses, and a hat, as the sun finally came out of its hiding place behind the clouds. Earlier that day Mia had some blood drawn—an unpleasant experience for all of us. I was the lucky one to hold her still while the needle was inserted. It’s a task I hope I do not have to do often. But going outside in the sun cheered up Mia immensely.
I had a birthday recently. As a whole, it was a pleasant experience. But there were individual elements, like being stuck on Highway 17 for over two hours, that were unpleasant. A tree was down across the highway, making the trip to Santa Cruz more arduous than normal.
Part of the presents I received was a very cool backpack and tickets to WonderCon. The last time I went to a comic book convention was over 15 years ago. I had never been to WonderCon, a large local comic book convention. This would be Farrah’s first comic book convention, making the experience even more memorable.
The Moscone Center, where the convention is held, was extremely crowded. There were many people in costume, though a majority of the attendees were in everyday clothes. We saw at least a dozen Stormtroopers, a couple of Wonder Women, a Superman, an Alien, a couple of Jokers, and several scantily clad women who were, I’m guessing, some Sucker Punch characters. (I need to watch that movie.)
We were able to attend a talk from one of my favorite comic book artists, Bill Sienkiewicz. I’m not an artist, and not being able to draw is worth a lick. But I enjoy listening to creative people talk about their passion. Sienkiewicz talked with no prepared topics, simply taking questions from the audience. It was interesting to hear about his past experiences which help shape his artistic point of view.
WonderCon was crowded. Moving around the first half of the show floor was like swimming through molasses. When we got to the middle of the showroom floor we had more opportunity to move and breathe more freely. Even with all of this, I think I’d like to go to WonderCon next year as well.
The above photos were taken on April 1, 2011.
Mia and Her Chubby Cheeks
Mia was sitting in her high chair, waiting for her next spoonful of lovely baby food, when I took this photo. Doesn’t this picture make you want to pinch her chubby cheeks?
This photo was taken on March 24, 2011, using a Canon 7D and the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8.
Mia Reaching
We are trying to encourage Mia to crawl. Part of how we’re doing this is by placing the desired item just outside her reach. In this case, we’re using my iPhone to play Maroon 5’s “Sunday Morning.” Over and over again, Mia kept trying to push herself off the far wall, inching oh-so-close to the iPhone. Unfortunately, she grew tired and didn’t reach her goal. She’ll continue to try until she reaches it. And then we’ll be in serious trouble.
Mia and Her TiVo Remote
Mia and Her TiVo Remote
Mia discovered our DIRECTV remote while sitting on our bed. She would stare at the remote, running her fingers through the numbers and other buttons, but not press any of them. Then, of course, she would try to stick the remote in her mouth, because that’s what babies do. It’s always difficult to pry the remote from her hands once she has a hold of it,
While doing some cleaning around the house, Farrah found a remote I bought for our TiVo unit - a unit we no longer use. Wow, this would be perfect for Mia! This could be her remote, and we can have our remote back. If she has the TiVo remote by itself, she’ll play with it without end. But if you put both remotes in front of her, she’ll opt for the working DIRECTV remote. My guess is she knows that one works, it does things, whereas the TiVo remote is only there to distract her. Smart girl.
This photo was taken on the morning of March 16, 2011.
Mia and Her Reflection
It’s amazing how babies can be occupied by their own reflections. Farrah placed Mia in front of the hallway mirror. Mia was able to occupy herself for a good ten minutes. She laughed, clapped her hands, and leaned forward to touch her reflection. his photo was taken on March 5, 2011, using the Canon S95.
New Photos - Hoping More to Follow
Mia and Kaleb
I have a ton of photos that want to get out of Aperture and published on the site. Unfortunately, my time is not cooperating. I posted a few photos from “An Afternoon with Family”. Hopefully, this will start a flood of new photos posted to the site. I’m optimistic that it will.
iPad 2? Not for Me
The iPad 2 was announced last week. It appears to be another cool Apple device, a nice upgrade from the original iPad – which I currently own. Though I love my gadgets, I don’t think the iPad 2 is for me.
My current item of lust is an 11” MacBook Air (128GB with 4GB of RAM of course). I have to stress that it has 4GB, because, unlike the MacBook Pro, aftermarket RAM cannot be added later on. But why would I choose a MacBook Air over an iPad 2?
I agree with Vicky Beeching’s take on the two. It comes down to this:
- iPad=consumption device
- MacBook Air=creation device
Now, there are some people who find the current iPad an adequate creation device, but I am not one of them. My primary form of creating is writing, which I find difficult to accomplish on an iPad. I’ve tried using a Bluetooth keyboard with the iPad. I simply find it awkward to use it in conjunction with the iPad.
The iPad 2 appears to be amazingly fast. It also adds the ability to create more content, having added cameras and other software, which allows you to take photos and videos. You can also edit those photos and videos – a by-product of the amazing speed. But I don’t think I’d use the iPad 2 for such tasks. That’s what I would use the monster iMac to do.
To me, the appeal of the MacBook Air is size and weight. It would be easy to lug around with the heavy DSLR in tow. It would also be easy to simply take out, write a few thoughts, and plunk them back into the backpack.
Of course, this blog post is not stating I am getting a MacBook Air. I’m just saying if I had a choice, I’d prefer a MacBook Air over an iPad 2 (for like Christmas or my birthday).
I’m just saying…..