Recap Photography

Arriving With Flair

2011-10-08T20:47:00.000-07:00

Announcing the arrival of our baby girl, Sylvia Luella Schafer. Born at 3:43pm on October 1, 2011 which daddy notes is binary if you write it 10.01.11 and mom's glad is a memorable date because anyone who hasn't been called on their birthday knows, remembering dates is one of her weaknesses. Sylvia weighed 6 lbs 15 oz.

For her one week birthday we're still hanging out at the hospital with her. When she was born her cries were pretty gargly and she went downhill from there, so they had to rush her to the NICU and intubate her and do a good number of interventions to keep her going. She was put on the oscillator (a high pressure ventilator) at first to help her out and kept sedated. Through the week she's been a champ as we slowly wean her off all her medicine and oxygen and ventilation. Now she's pretty much back to the healthy state we wish she'd started at. The doctors don't really know what was wrong, their best guess was that it was an infection of some sort that then set off problems with heart and blood pressure etc. The tests didn't ever show us what type of infection or confirm that theory, so we won't really know for certain it seems. We're just happy to be able to hold her and snuggle her and take her home soon.

Sylvia with about a quarter of the gadgetry she started out with.

Family photo

Grandma and Grandpa

Only on oxygen with her "hood ornament" IV.

To add to her other troubles she had to be on the bili lights for a "regular baby problem" (jaundice.)

Beautiful flowers from the co-workers

Finally equipment free!

Ode to Roommates

2011-05-30T20:26:00.000-07:00

Every day I walk by a new little room in my house and smile inside and out. While we were away in Mexico, Sarah and Corey were busy little bees, transforming a corner of the downstairs area outside our bedroom from bike storage to baby room. A little piece of me smiles to know that our little girl has a place for her in the outside world when she joins us.
So here's to you roommates, the wonderful people who make me happy to come home every evening. Because whether it's a nice dinner, a whole new room or even just a hello instead of an empty house, I appreciate the fact that you're in my (our) lives. Love you guys!

Also see below for the awesome work in progress from beginning to end. ::Happy Sigh::

Sledding in Shorts

2011-04-26T16:35:00.000-07:00

If you couldn't tell by the lack of posts, my picture a day for the year was not successful. I didn't make it very far, but once I forgot to charge my camera battery it was all down hill. As someone I know always likes to say, quantity not quality is what's important. So for this year, we'll go with that.
We had a girls weekend in Las Cruces with my mom, sisters and aunt. I was so excited to get to go to White Sands. I've always wanted to go take photos there. Unfortunately we didn't time it so that we got the really good sunset light, but we still had a lot of fun hanging out in the dunes and sledding in shorts.

February Began

2011-02-16T16:34:00.000-08:00

2/1/11
It got COLD at the beginning of February. So cold that we could make snow instantly. You have to know how to do it right though. Sticking out your tongue doesn't help, and room temperature water doesn't work.

Warm tap water works a little better, you can see a few poofs in there, but there's water too.

If the water is boiling though, you get magic. When you throw it into the air it whooshes into snow!

2/2/11 Yes that's a NEGATIVE sign before that number.

2/3/11 This is my coworker with life savers in his eyes... as eyes. He's a fun guy, I really love the people I work with.

January Ends

2011-02-15T16:41:00.000-08:00

I always feel like scenery shots are a cop out for picture of the day, but here's a lonely little dried up flower in our garden. Sometimes I like the dried up flowers as much as real ones.
1/30/11

1/31/11
We produced a welcome video for work. I love watching people try to "act natural" while they're on camera. That evening I made steamed pork dumplings. They're very tasty, but it does take a little while to fold each one. Plus our steamer isn't big enough to hold them all so we have to do a few rounds.

Super Weekend

2011-02-15T16:35:00.000-08:00

2/4/11 Icicles because it's cold.

2/5/11 The night before super-bowl and all through the house not a creature was stirring because there was no room, we had it so packed with food and drinks.

Shopping in the snow gives you dandruff or makes you go grey.

This is what the store looks like the day before super-bowl sunday. So packed it was almost impossible to even get in line.

This Week In Photos 1/29/11 aka Pumpkin in my Purse

2011-01-30T15:16:00.000-08:00

I was definitely stretching to get photos this week, thus the many pictures of food and dogs, always a good fallback.
1/24/11
The stick plant in the first picture used to be a pretty orchid that I got in the sale bin for $5 now it's just a stick. But I can't bear to throw it away, even though I have no hope that it will ever bloom again. So we have a stick in our kitchen.
1/25/11
We thought we should test out whether Jackson is a retarded dog, to see if he could get a treat out from under a cup. When that proved too easy we tried the old shell game on him, but clearly he's got a few extra brain cells because he found his treat.
1/26/11
When I need to get out of the office, I call Sarah to go to lunch with me at Mama's Pizza. These are some of the best calzones I've ever had. SO tasty and homey.
1/27/11
I tried to take a picture with my cell phone (which is probably from the year 2000) so the photos are really low resolution. But when I tried to get the photo off my online album, T-Mobile said no. So I took a screen shot, because the photo wasn't that interesting anyway. It was just the books on my nightstand.
1/28/11
Friday night, Sarah tried to make us some pumpkin pie, but apparently there's a pumpkin shortage or there was or the guys at the grocery store were making stories up. Anyway, no pie so we got homemade whipped cream with anglefood cake and berries.
1/29/11
Shopping success! We found pumpkin at Whole Foods, where I always feel guilted into stuffing groceries into my purse if I didn't remember a reusable shopping bag. Good thing we asked where to find it. You will never guess what section it was in.... Did you try to guess? Nope not canned vegetables. Of course you'd guess that. Nope not with the soups, or with the drinks or with the fresh vegetables or near the pies. Ok, give up? It was with the dog food. Makes perfect sense right?

1/24/11

1/25/11

From POD

1/26/11

1/27/11

1/28/11

From POD

1/29/11

From POD

Lazy Weekend

2011-01-24T19:13:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty sure this is going to be one of my last free weekends for awhile with school getting into full swing, so instead of being productive, I lazed about. On Saturday, Sarah and I went up to Boulder for her Christmas present which was supposed to be a photo class, but ended up being 2 hours in the cold with a couple pictures thrown in. Ok, the class wasn't that bad, but it was cold. Afterwards we went to the Dushanbe tea house (no photos sorry) it was a neat little temple place imported from Dushanbe with excellent food and tea of course. The perfect thing to warm us up.

Sunday, Corey generously offered to give my car its first oil change while I sat inside watching football and enjoying the fire he made. I love the mini fireworks in there.

From 11-1-22

This Week In Photos

2011-01-21T20:34:00.000-08:00

School started Tuesday, thus the slow down for the posts. We also learned about whiskey cocktails from a mixologist at a neat restaurant in Denver where they served candy cigarettes as an after dinner mint. They also had a tablecloth/tablepaper that Scott drew me a picture on. The event was a whole presentation on the proper way to mix a Manhattan, Mint Julep, Sazerac and one other drink I can't remember. Apparently those cocktails have been around for a looong time.

The rest of the week there was a little snow, enough to make the commute extra long and to keep Scott in Boulder overnight. I tried out a really long exposure on my camera. It's pretty impressive that I can take pictures of stars.

From January

This is the view from my office building. Not from where I sit, but if I look down the hall I can see downtown Denver and the mountains.

From January

It doesn't help if you read the instructions and they're wrong

2011-01-17T15:22:00.000-08:00

Dear Target,
Thank you for having a curtain rod conveniently on sale for me. As much as I appreciate that, I do suggest that you improve your curtain rod installation directions. See, when your diagram shows two little holes and there is actually one hole with a loop thing and one regular hole which has a large impact on how you mark and hang the curtain rod it might be a good thing to mention. Also when the secondary instructions are on the box with the screws, but you firmly glue that box face down into the bigger box so that when you pull it out they are impossibly to read, that doesn't help much either.

Some spackle, a literally antique sewing machine and an assist from Corey the handyman later, VOILA! Curtains in our room.

Decor

2011-01-16T16:28:00.000-08:00

I spent the day deep cleaning our bedroom. I can't believe how much dust has collected in such a short amount of time. The sad thing about scrubbing instead of just picking up is that it takes twice as long and only I know that I spent the day cleaning it. Oh well. I also took some photos to go over the bed. I have two 8x10 frames and an 8x8 frame. My semi-theme for the room is natural materials and textures so I took pictures of a few different trees. Like yesterday, I can't decide which edit I like best. More vintage or more clean B&W?

6:45 AM Saturday

2011-01-15T08:54:00.000-08:00

6:45 AM. On Saturday. That is early. But I was out at Delaney Farms at 6:45 AM. It's been proven over and over again, if I don't like something, like the cold or exercise or early mornings, all you have to do is tell me there's a photo-op and all my arguments are thrown out the window - like a Pure Moods tape that your father got tired of hearing complaints about. (I bought him a new one for Christmas.) - and I'm there, lugging my camera up a mountain, down a frozen street or into the morning pre-sunrise. I also love my clients and couldn't possibly say no when they ask for photos.

Color or Black and White? Which do you like? I couldn't decide which I liked better.

From Delaney Farm

Friday 1/14/11

2011-01-15T08:33:00.000-08:00

Oh Friday. It's so nice when Friday comes around and you get out of work 10 minute early, thinking you'll be home in no time because it's Friday, and traffic is light and you're ahead of the game. Then you come to a halt. You listen to the radio and they tell you about "some slowing". Ha look at those people getting off the highway thinking they'll go faster they're going to go create their own traffic jam. Then you sit there some more. You decide that the objects on the side of the road must be interesting. Oh look! a glove! You could probably get out and pick it up if you wanted to, but who wants a mucky glove when there's only one of them? But you could pick it up. Instead you start calling everyone you know and have half hour conversations with them all. But you still aren't home even though it should only be ONE Mr. Ed from work to home. For those of you not in the know, Mr. Ed was a TV show back in the day and that's how I used to mark time in car trips because I didn't know how long a half an hour was. So I'd ask how many Mr. Ed's away we were and I'd proceed to sing the intro song and make up an episode or watch one I'd already seen in my head. Sigh. Eventually I did manage to get home and have some lovely dinner with the roomies. We saw this neat little ice-cream shop building and of course had to stop. The sad thing about little cameras is that they really can't take pictures in the dark, so you'll just have to imagine that you see the building shaped like a milk pail. Added bonus this place was delicious and served generous portions of amazingly affordable ice-cream. I'm definitely going back.

Happy Long Weekend everyone!

From 11-1-14

Maybe it's Mars

2011-01-13T18:55:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I know it's not supposed to be Mars. It's supposed to be some sort of earthen sculpture bridging the earthiness of education with the futuristic research side of campus where I work. One of these days when I'm on the other end of campus I'll take a picture of the futuristic side for you. There is also a video I've seen somewhere, I think on YouTube, about the artist and it's construction, but when I went to find it, I couldn't. You'll just have to wait for that piece of entertainment.

It's so nice to walk to my meetings on a sunny day and enjoy the beautiful campus where I work. I really want to get a pedometer to see if I get as much walking in as I think I do.

Attack of the 14 Squeakers - 1/12/11

2011-01-12T18:45:00.000-08:00

Here is Jackson and his 14 squeaker-ful lion. He's a big dog, but compared to the length and sheer squeek-a-tude of this lion he looks small. He always perks his ears so attentively when you squeak one for him, but the ears raise an indignant extra degree when you squeak another one at the other end. You can just hear him exclaim, "squeakers can't move!" He really loves dragging his squeaker lion around. I had to take a photo because I wasn't sure it would last much longer since one of Jackson's missions in life is to de-squeak-itate all toys.

we were not telling him bad dog or anything here. I think we may be telling him to stay. But he sure looks cowed.

1/11/11

2011-01-11T20:25:00.000-08:00

I should have started my new year today, all those nice Ones. With this 365 photo thing I have to admit that I'm both looking forward to and afraid of the fact that I'll frequently be taking pictures of the same things. I really want to use this project to help me look around and discover things I might not normally pay attention to, but really I've got a pretty standard routine going back and forth across I-70* every morning. Home, Work, Home. Sometimes there's variation, but not as often as there is routine. Anyway, I think it could be neat to see the same thing every day but see how it changes. Or it could just get dull.

This morning traffic was bad enough that I was pretty much sitting in a parking lot, which allowed for photos of the commute. Don't you just love the smell of dog food in the morning? I drive past the Purina plant, which depending on what part of the food they're processing or maybe just how hungry I am, can smell sort of good or sort of gross. It's usually nice and steamy, but it was extra steamy this morning because it was so cold.

* Did you know that Arizona type folks say "The 70" and Colorado type folks say "I-70"? I get it mixed up all the time. I also say Arizona Mills when I mean Colorado Mills pretty much constantly.

This is what happens when the temperatures never gets above freezing, but the sun hits the black metal mailbox. Snow ribbons.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-10T19:35:00.000-08:00

So I decided that because I was busy running around the country for the holidays I'd start my new year, resolutions and all this week instead of on the traditional 1st day of the year. It gives me a little leeway to eat the leftover Christmas cookies. So, HAPPY NEW YEAR! This year one of the things I'd like to try is a 365 photo deal. Scott got me a little camera for Christmas so I feel like I can make this happen. It's not always easy to pull out the big camera every day. I don't promise to post a photo every day, but I'd like to at least take one a day. Not sure how often the posting will happen. One other gadget that I'm looking into is a wi-fi memory card so I can automatically post a photo.
We got a good amount of snow over the weekend. I still miss our little Civic sometimes but I'm not sure it would have made it over the drifts.

From Snow

I pick Scott up and drop him off here every day so he can catch the bus. Even when it's literally 10 degrees outside.

From Snow

I love the light coming through the snow covered trees. Sarah braved the cold to trek down to the corner with me just for a picture. People are so supportive of my photo madness. This is another example of how motivating photos can be for me, who'da thunk that I'd go out when it's so freezing?

From Snow

New Motivation

2010-12-05T20:28:00.000-08:00

I would like to remember to post more and especially post more photos. Or maybe it's less of a matter of remembering and more a matter of finding or having the motivation to take a picture, upload it and write something about it. In New York, interesting things were going on around me on my way to work, and since I didn't drive I had lots of time for observation. Although I love love love Denver, that's one thing that I do miss. But I'm pretty sure I can still have it, I just have to make the effort.

So I'm trying to figure out what sort of goal I should set for myself. Whether it should be a post a day for a month or a picture a day for a year or maybe something less ambitious, like a post every other day. One thing I like about that is that it does motivate me to go out and observe the world a little. To take note of the funny little things going on around me. Yesterday I went to Wal-Mart and I saw an amazingly large number of Disney shirts on adults. Including one that said "It's all about the attitude" I was a little confused about why that was paired with a picture of Tinkerbell. I guess she has attitude. I also saw a Santa ride by on his motorcycle with a dog in a cage in a Santa suit on the back of it. I'm still not sure whether the dog was stuffed or real.

I need to wake up and pay attention to the things around me a little more. "participate in life" as someone I know once said.

MOPS Photos

2010-12-04T20:10:00.000-08:00

I promised photos from the Mom's group called Mothers of PreSchoolers (MOPS) I worked with back in October. Here are a few of them. I loved meeting all the beautiful, sweet and wonderful families. I was sad to see them go after only a half hour. Part of the fun of photography for me is getting to play with the kids and having them warm up to me even though I'm sticking a big crazy black thing in their face. There were something like 27 families, so this is just a small sample.

I got to see Hudson (the flying one) again this weekend! He got a new little brother shortly after this picture was taken. I'll have to share some photos of him being a good big brother soon.

Workin' Hard

2010-11-11T19:32:00.000-08:00

Phew, having time for a blog post seems like a luxury! Between full time work, plus grad school assignments plus 40+ photoshoots and all the editing that goes with that, I'm a busy lady. I did make time for Corey's (the roommate) surprise 30th birthday party. His parents came to town and kept him busy climbing mountains while we got the house ready. Sarah did all the hard work planning and cake baking.

From Corey's 30th Birthday

I did a ton of photos with a group called MOPS or Moms of PreSchoolers. Actually 37 families total. I posted some of the photos on Facebook and I'll post some here when I have time. I also did a shoot at Lair O' the Bear a great little hiking spot in the mountains with a kid named Mick. Here's a photo from our hike.

From Jones 10-30-10

Photos and More!

2010-10-01T06:44:00.000-07:00

I've been so busy lately with photo-shoots that I've had to raise my prices. It was a struggle for me because I really love being able to provide a service at an accessible price. I don't want people not to have pictures just because they can't afford it. Yes, they can go to Wal-Mart or take pictures of their own, but it's not quite the same. Or it wouldn't be to me. I really enjoy taking photos, I don't do it for the money, I do it because I love hearing from clients and people who I've taken pictures of who are happy because they have a memory to keep forever. One of the best compliments I ever received was from someone who said that he liked my photos because he looked in my photos how he felt he really looked. I may have worded that confusingly, but I knew what he meant. It's nice to look at a photo and say, yeah that really captures who I am, instead of having it just be a photo where you notice that the way you tilted your head gave you a double chin. I just don't have the time for the amount of business I was getting so I raised my prices, but I'll have to look into some sort of contest or non-profit connection that will let me provide photos at a cheaper price or for free occasionally for people who would love to have photos but might not be able to afford my higher prices.

Enjoy a few of the photos from last weekend's shoots!

Two-Month-Old Lucy

Zucchini on The Loose

2010-08-10T17:19:00.000-07:00

Mmm the garden is growing and I don't know if we'll be able to keep up with production. I thought I'd planted conservatively, but I should know that 3 zucchini plants is not conservative. Maybe I'll do a before and after shot, because I swear I go out one day and see a cute little baby zucchini about the size of a hot dog and the next day a giant monster zucchini closer to the size of a new roll of paper towels is sitting out there waiting for me. I also got a yellow squash so I made calabacitas.

We didn't have tortillas in the house, so I decided to make some, but we didn't have shortening either. I made tortillas with butter, which turned out more like pastries. No bend to them at all and very buttery tasting.

As if that wasn't enough kitchen craftiness I thought that I needed some homemade mozzarella to go with the fresh tomatoes and basil. So Sarah and I gave it the good ole college try. Well..... that didn't exactly work out. We ended up making something with the taste and texture of ricotta cheese. I think it had something to do with the temperature. Not sure if I'm going to try again.

New Look

2010-07-21T21:29:00.000-07:00

I'm working on changing up the look of the blog. It's a work in progress so if you have to do some funny scrolling for awhile. I apologize. Eventually things will get better. The ultimate goal is to have this hooked up through my photography website and to make it so pictures can be extra large! I'll have to brush up on my coding skills before that all gets done though. Saw a lovely rainbow at our house yesterday.

Climb Every Mountain Until You Find Your Golden Ticket or Your Spirit Animal

2010-07-11T19:57:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time in the land known as Colorado, I saw a varmint cross the road. I was probably around 12 years old at the time. Thus I was not only lacking in my animal identification skills, but alas there was no Google around to help me identify the creature. I knew it wasn't a groundhog, but it looked a little like one.

Fast forward 15 years, I once again find myself in the land of Colorado hiking along a trail at high altitude. Although there wasn't much oxygen, I was fairly certain I wasn't having a vision when I saw a fat rodent-like-beast come towards me with a hopeful gleam in his eye.

The creature was a Marmot and they seemed terribly tame for living way up at 13,000+ feet. They must have been fed a lot of granola bars, because they walked right up to us ready to have some lunch. Here I thought I was trekking into the wild.

We reached the top of Mt. Chiquita, (no relation to the banana that I know of.) and realized that our hopes of summiting a second mountain were about to be dashed by the ominous rainclouds on the horizon. I was alright with that, so we said goodbye to our friends the Marmots and ran down the mountain, barely avoiding a mountain downpour.

Looking back at the photos, I realize I look a little like Johnny Dep's version of Willy Wonka, but the wind was crazy up there and I didn't care what I looked like.

From Estes Hike

New Camera

2010-07-04T13:18:00.000-07:00

I bought my dream camera. The Canon 5D MarkII. It's dreamy.

I took some photos around the house to test it out. You can see all our vegetables and such.

From 2010-07-02

Happy Fourth of July!

From 2010-07-02

Mmmm mmmm Good

2010-06-22T17:14:00.000-07:00

We made chocolate cupcakes filled with cookie dough the other night. Or more accurately, Sarah did. The trick is to freeze balls of dough and then put them in the cupcakes so they don't cook. We also make Blueberry Cheesecake Ice cream with Sarah's birthday present ice cream attachment. Here's the recipe for it if anyone is interested.

Also an ice cream tip in general. Always add any fruit, nuts, etc. after you make the ice cream. Otherwise it won't freeze. I learned that the hard way.

Blueberry Sauce:
¼ cup sugar
1½ teaspoons cornstarch
¼ cup water
¾ – 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1½ teaspoons lemon juice

Graham Cracker Mixture:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ cup butter, melted

Ice Cream:
¾ cup sugar
½ (3.4-ounce) package instant cheesecake pudding mix
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a small saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch. Gradually stir in water until smooth. Stir in blueberries and lemon juice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.

2. In a large bowl, combine the cracker crumbs and sugar. Stir in butter. Pat into an small ungreased baking pan. Bake at 350° F for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack.

3. In a large bowl, whisk the ice cream ingredients. Fill ice cream freezer cylinder two-thirds full; freeze according to manufacturer’s directions.

4. Crumble the graham cracker mixture. In a large container, layer the ice cream, graham cracker mixture and blueberry sauce three times; swirl. Freeze.

Creepy Old House on 44th Ave in Wheat Ridge

2010-06-19T07:10:00.000-07:00

Sarah introduced me to this wondrous act of nature. This huge tree fell on this house about a year ago in a big storm. The scale of it all is just so impressive. I don't think this tree could have smashed the house more if it had been planned. It gives you the creeps a little. I may have climbed a fence to get some photos while Scott and Sarah acted as lookouts like good friends do. But what's a little trespassing in the name of a really awesome picture? At one point I thought I saw the curtains flutter in the windows and that was enough to make me jump. Some horror movie should be filmed here. Funny, it's right on a busy road off the Interstate, but it looks so rural.

From Fallen Tree

Did I Mention That I have a Job?

2010-04-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

Yup, I've been happily employed for 3 weeks now and I am excited to hit the one month mark since that means that I'll get a paycheck. Being on a monthly pay-schedule isn't so bad, it's just waiting for the first one that makes it seem like a long time. Anyway, I'm the web content specialist for a company that does all the billing for University of Colorado Hospitals. The people I work with are great and so far I've been busy trying to convince people that they should know the name of their clinic otherwise I'll name it for them, and dealing with mounds of dirty data. I say dirty because I just want it to be all nice and filled out, but of course entries are never complete so I have to go hunt down information. I can't wait to get the software I ordered so I can stop using Microsoft Paint and start using Photoshop. For those of you who aren't as familiar with these programs Paint is akin to an architect trying to build with legos or an artist being limited to crayons.

Birthday Fun

2010-03-27T19:15:00.000-07:00

I shot a first birthday party today at a Marriot. The birthday girl was adorable, but her "boyfriend" was just a little ham. How cute is this kid?

ps happy birthday on Friday to Scott. He got birthday cake and presents too, but no party at the Marriot.

Denver Photography

2010-03-25T15:43:00.000-07:00

I have been scheduling a few photo shoots recently, including one at the Denver Zoo for a 1st birthday. The little boy looked particularly taken aback when he touched a poky plant. I've also been exploring my new city and finding cool places to visit and use as photo locations. The butterfly pavilion will be an excellent spot, Scott took me there on a date :) It's his birthday tomorrow so I"m off to wrap presents. Oh, also the football field table is one of many creative collaborations with my roomie Sarah. It's amazing what you can do with some dowels, astro turf and medical tape.

From random moving

Late New Year

2010-02-26T15:47:00.000-08:00

From NewYears2009

I know it's February, but I realized that I didn't blog about my New Year's adventures. I have a distinct memory of doing it but I must have made that up. My roommate from college Valerie visited us in New York for the New Year. This happened because we were talking about how she always meant to visit before we left and I told her that she had a month left and she'd best do it. So she did. We went to see Fuerza Bruta which was a great show that included all kinds of dance and performance. There was running on the walls and dancing on this large suspended pool thing above your head. It was a great experience and we got so into it that we temporarily forgot that getting wet wasn't the best idea in the middle of winter. We had a nice dinner at the bald man chocolate restaurant which is kind of like a visit to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory including pipes of chocolate running through the space. I don't particularly love chocolate, but I'm good at eating around it.

From NewYears2009

On the Hunt

2010-02-19T16:16:00.000-08:00

Depending on how you look at it, my job search is going pretty well. I've applied at tons of places, but of the 3 places I've interviewd with, 2 have offered me the job. I haven't accepted any offers yet, I'm holding out for something that I can really dig in and make a career out of. At this point I'm thinking that I might try some temping and keep up the hunt.

I've been keeping busy maintaining another blog for Alan and Jen (the friends who were in the fire). It's a place we are using to rally the troops for donations and updates about them. You can see it at alanandjen.wordpress.com

It's snowing here today and it snowed yesterday. It's nice to see it falling, but it sure gets the car dirty. I've learned that snow is like rain in that you can think about washing your car to make it precipitate.

My Friends are My Heroes

2010-02-16T14:38:00.000-08:00

I know I have been very slow at blogging lately. We're now officially moved to Golden/Denver Colorado and are very much enjoying things. Hopefully I'll start keeping up a little better soon.

This morning I found out that two good friends of ours had been in a fire late last night. The news coverage can be seen here. Alan and Jen were in the top apartment. Basically, the fire started in the place below them and they had to climb out a window to escape. From what I've heard, they're both going to be ok. Alan had third degree burns on 14% of his back plus smoke inhalation and Jen had a cut on her head. Alan will probably be in the hospital for awhile though and they didn't have renter's insurance.

I'm hoping to do some fund-raising through my photography here in Denver to help them out. I've contacted a few mom's groups to see if they'd be interested in getting together to get photos and then their fees will all go towards helping Jen and Alan get back on their feet.

Alan and Jen visited us in New York, here's my post about it, and waited patiently in the ER for us when Scott got his lip cut in soccer, I'd love to help them out. My thoughts go out to them and their family, hoping they all get better soon.

This is Getting Ridiculous

2009-12-27T13:18:00.000-08:00

Strangely enough, Scott and I flew on Northwest Airlines through the Detroit Airport twice this week. In light of the news of the attempted terrorist attack on a Northwest Airlines flight into Detroit I felt particularly interested in the story. The details in the news reports are a bit sketchy so far, but flying back home on Sunday I really felt like we were reaching a new level of ridiculous in air safety. I think the folks who want to do harm will find no end of ways to cause trouble. Until we chain everyone into their seats naked we probably won't be able to stop everyone. Think about the weapon that could be made out of a nail file or a ball point pen.
We were told in our flight to NYC from Detroit that we weren't going to be able to leave our seats for an hour prior to landing. Since we'd just barely made the connecting flight by running (yes again) to make the plane, we didn't have time to stop and go to the bathroom or grab food etc. So the flight time of 1 hour and 8 minutes just barely gave me enough time for a bathroom break. What if the flight had been 59 minutes? Would they have made me pee my pants? I read in a New York Times Article that the new restrictions might require people to keep their laps free of objects as well. They didn't tell us about or try to enforce that rule. But like I said, if someone is really trying to do damage they're not going to be bothered by that rule or any rules. I took a few classes on terrorism in college and basically we concluded that terrorists "win" by creating an aura of fear that makes people change their habits in disproportion to the action of the terrorists. One man on one plane means that everyone everywhere has to pay to feel like a prisoner trapped in their seat. The new rules are ineffective and they just hand victory to the bad guys. I'm just hoping that this knee jerk reaction is followed by moderation similar to the liquids ban turning into a fewer liquids rule.

Rant over.

Here are a few pictures to prove I saw winter this year. Also The Book Shoppe is Scott's mom's store. It's adorable. She lives upstairs and the store is downstairs. Best of all it's on the main street in town named, get this, Story Street!

From Christmas 2009 Iowa

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T07:22:00.000-08:00

I was going to be good and make a whole beautiful Christmas card and send it out via e-mail because you know I don't mail things ever. But it didn't happen. So here's a part of a holiday card. I took the photo of the holly when we were visiting Scott's aunt and uncle in NJ. Enjoying our time here in Iowa, having successfully arrived after a harrowing sprint through the airport. With 15 minutes to make our connection and our connecting flight being in the only other terminal in the airport i got my exercise for the holiday season. On to the massive overload of cookies candies and other food! Merry Christmas everyone!

Remi-Monster

2009-12-16T12:22:00.000-08:00

Got to take some pictures of my coworker's cutie pie a few weekends ago.

From 09_12_06_Remi

I will get back to blogging at some point. For now, finals are done and holiday party season is taking up all my time. Soon I'll have more time than I know what to do with so there will be more reading material around here.

From 09_12_06_Remi

A Bird? A Plane? A Scott

2009-11-16T16:12:00.000-08:00

This is my husband. He can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Or at least benches in the train station for the sake of pictures. We had a nice weekend with a trip to a sculpture garden and a visit to his aunt and uncle who showed us around Princeton. I'm thinking I should have gone there as an undergrad because they have these really cool Tony the Tiger jackets that they get to wear. That, and amazingly beautiful architecture. I wouldn't have minded sleeping in some of those buildings.

Showering

2009-11-12T18:56:00.000-08:00

Yes, this is an ice sculpture of a baby bottle. The baby shower I took pictures of was pretty incredible. It was especially funny because the only person boogeying on the dance floor at certain points was the pregnant woman. She danced the night away shaking her booty and her belly. Not only that, but she also did all the planning for the elaborate shower that included a DJ with lights and centerpieces etc.

So I've already skipped a few days, guess I didn't manage to blog every day of the month, which is pretty sad considering that someone who HAD A CHILD managed to still blog every day. That means I have NO excuse.

Cutie Pie

2009-11-09T04:33:00.000-08:00

I got to spend part of my Sunday in company with this cutie. Her name is "Charlie" short for Charlotte. We took her photos last year as well. It's so great getting to see my little clients growing up. Her mom gave her a sugar treat before the photo shoot, so she was ready to go! She was playing and running everywhere. Even, taking care of ridding the city of those nasty winged rats called pigeons by running them out of town. We made good use of a clown nose that we were handed, I'm not sure why they gave it to us. (Don't worry, it came wrapped, we didn't just stick something on her face that a bum gave us.)

This is Not Exciting

2009-11-07T10:40:00.000-08:00

Today I will:

Clean House
Do Homework
Photograph a baby shower

Tomorrow should be very similar except I'll photograph an outside baby. Apparently baby showers around here are a big deal. They expect it to go until midnight. This is why you aren't getting a report on the interesting part of my day. I've never heard of a pregnant person who wanted to be up past midnight. I'm sure it will be fun though. More interesting material tomorrow, I promise.

For Posts Sake

2009-11-06T18:32:00.000-08:00

I don't know that I have anything particularly interesting to say, but I'll post for posting's sake. Scott made some friends when he was in Chicago, so we took them out to dinner at Please Don't Tell, which means I can't really tell you about it. But you do enter through a phone booth, in super secret Super Man style. I was a bum and left afterward instead of going out. I've got two photo shoots this weekend. I could have three if I'm feeling up to it, but I don't think I've got it in me. I don't think my poor camera does either. Looks like I need to raise my prices a bit so the work slows down. Well, I won't have that problem soon. I'll have to say goodbye to all my adorable clients.

Close Encounters of the New York Kind

2009-11-05T20:03:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been close to a man? I mean really physically close, and sat there inspecting some small detail, such as his scalp or the little patch of razor burn on his neck or perhaps the fibers in his jacket? I did this tonight, but the people were all perfect strangers.

I started off the evening doing some photography for an awards dinner at work, but unfortunately the power in part of the building went out, which meant that about 100 people were up on the 35th floor with only one elevator to their name. That was a comfy elevator ride, made longer by the fact that it stopped on every floor because if someone happened to press a button anywhere in the building, that elevator was going to be the one to stop. I finally got downstairs and realized that I'd left my coat, all the way up on the 35th floor, but decided to brave the chilly weather rather than try to get up and down again.

Then I got to the Path train, where people were already shoving onto the train at the first stop. Each consecutive stop just shoved my face a little closer to the guy standing next to me. If you were ever to try this as a social experiment, without the excuse of a crowded train, you would probably get arrested for invading someone's personal space. I kept waiting for someone to crack a fart joke, hopefully not a real fart. Public transportation can be wonderful, but it can also get too close for comfort.

Leaving you with a photo, my boss made a tasty apple pie and brought it in today.

Heard on the Train

2009-11-04T10:20:00.000-08:00

"Who throws snowballs at Santa? That’s so fucked up." - Said the guy on the train in reference to the Philly's fans, who apparently have done that. Many people around here want the Yankees to win the world series. I'm not a big fan, but I would like to point out that everywhere that I've moved to, the local team has won the world series. The Diamondbacks won when I moved to Arizona, if the Yankees win now and then the Rockies win when I move to Denver I should market myself to baseball teams as a good luck charm. That could be a lucrative career.

Wining and Dining

2009-11-03T18:38:00.000-08:00

Monday was a busy day, which is why there was no post, even though I may have said something at some point about posting every day because it's :: announcer voice:: NATIONAL BLOGGING MONTH.

It was busy because we had an event that involved every single employee in North America and Canada and I had to help coordinate the New York portion, then after that we went to the Tisch Gala, a fundraiser for the NYU Tisch School of the Arts. When my company buys a table and needs someone to fill a seat I'm happy to tag along for free dinner and drinks.
I got to see Glen Close very very close. And Marcia Gay Harden was next to Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. They were all sitting at the next table over and had to walk by me to get to the stairs. No I didn't reach out and try to pet them, or ask for their autographs, or just yell "hi" and smile and wave real big. I acted like any proper New Yorker and feigned indifference. I did consider stealing their leftover eclairs and trying to auction them on ebay, but ultimately decided against it. Next time I'll at least steal the eclair and take a picture of it for y'all.

The room where we had dinner was gorgeous. This is a picture similar to the set up, for our dinner. The room overlooks Columbus Circle and Central Park.

You can see a slideshow of images from the event to see all the famous people I mingled with here . You can see Howard Stringer, the CEO of Sony in one of the pictures. He was a presenter which is why I got to go.

Is This Thing On?

2009-11-01T12:50:00.000-08:00

When you can't see your own eyeballs it's tough to tell if they're on straight. This Halloween I was a slow starter, as in the day of Halloween I finally decided that I should make a costume, so Scott did some excellent fabric store scouting and found the perfect cheap fabric and we went to town making ourselves into the Yip Yip's from Sesame Street. I'm not sure if I liked them before, but watching this again had me cracking up. I think people either have fond memories or really disliked these characters, but a good majority remembered them at least vaguely. Scott and I lined up to join the Village Halloween Parade. They only let a few people through at once so the street starts getting more and more packed with people plus their costumes that may or may not include horns, antennae, halos, backpacks, or spikes, all of which can be dangerous to precariously glued on eyeballs. It gets worse when a tightly packed crowd of Wild Things, bees and beasts find themselves in the midst of a downpour unable to move. Some umbrellas come out which can be good or bad depending on your precise location. Large umbrellas can cover a lot of crowd, but if you're the unfortunate soul at the edge of an umbrella you become a drain pipe for all the cold water that isn't reaching everyone else. Discomfort aside, everyone was in good spirits and at least the rain made it cooler under those costumes, since after days of 50 degree weather it was suddenly 70 out. We had a good time prancing along calling out "yip yip yip" and brrrring! Everyone seemed to remember different parts of different skits, which we happily reenacted. At certain points we had large swaths of people saying yip yip yip along with us. A few people thought we were pink and green Elmos, close but not quite. Or some people forgot what we said and shouted "beep beep beep." When we'd finally had enough we got onto the train with our costumes half off and inquiring minds wanted to know what the heck we were. As hot and soaking as we were, we shoved our heads back inside and did our Yip Yip bit, to the approval of the Entire Subway Car. Many people were excited to see us and told us we were their favorite costumes of the night. I will miss New York Halloween.

From 10_31_09_Halloween

Dribs and Drabs

2009-10-26T16:59:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to have a photo shoot on Sunday, but we had to cancel since the little one got his first year shots and developed a rash from them. So we'll have to wait for new pictures. For now you can see some more from the shoot with Karys. Lots of good ones. At some point maybe I'll go through and choose all my favorites, but for now here's just one more.

I dare you not to say awww

2009-10-11T19:49:00.000-07:00

Soo adorable, from the photo shoot today. We even had another person who was doing a photo shoot ask if the little girl was interested in modeling! I know her mom was interested since she wanted some head shots last year, so I'm glad she got to make that connection. It was a lovely day at Riverside park. I might share more from the session later.

School Daze

2009-09-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

I've been up to my eyeballs in school lately. Actually this semester has been a little less hectic than last semester, but we haven't started on our projects just yet. Anyway, if you're interested in what I'm up to, my class blog is here http://edcotech.blogspot.com/ I post there much more often. Mostly because it's assigned and I get graded for it. Much of it will probably be a bit dull for general readers, but if you ever need to kill some time, there you go.

A quick update on the weekend. Scott was in Chicago for a neuroeconomics conference. I ran in the BBBS 4K Race for the Kids and my "little sister" came too! We saw Tiki Barber and Sean Kingston afterwards as part of the worldwide day of play. I raised over $800 and my team raised over $6,000. I can still collect donations through October :)

2nd time around

2009-09-23T19:24:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, Mr. Mateo who I photographed at his 1 year birthday, invited me to his second birthday party. He also invited some llamas and goats and a few friends. Scott joined me and we both had a great time because Mateo's mom is an awesome hostess and an impressive cake maker and party planner. While Mateo rode the horse, he just kept repeating, "horsey, horsey, horsey, horsey" In a wondering voice like he couldn't believe these things were real and that he was on top of one.

From 09_08_22_mateo2bday

Tidbit

2009-09-13T19:46:00.000-07:00

Just a small sample image from one of my recent photo shoots. I LOVED this family. There are so many photos I just can't stop playing with them. I'll share more later.

P.S. We're moving to Denver next year.

P.P.S. Picasa is screwing with the colors in my photos. It is much more vibrant on my computer. Grrr. You can compare it to the Flickr version, which is much more accurate here.

From 09_09_05_Turbin

Surprise I'm Semi-Famous!

2009-09-02T08:33:00.000-07:00

So for those of you who don't know. I got an e-mail awhile back from a lovely lady who saw my ad on Craigslist. She was an editor at Time Out New York Magazine, a magazine with a circulation of about 147,000. She wanted to put me in a photography careers feature. I had some trepidation at first, but after I got myself in gear and fixed up my website, I felt much better about it all. Now I'm hoping I'll get a few extra clients out of the deal and raise some more money for BBBS!

I got to go have my photo taken, which was interesting. I learned that I should really work harder at making people more comfortable in front of the camera, because dang it's hard to smile and not know what the heck you look like or if you are doing something model-tastic or ridiculous.

So I guess we'll see. If you'd like an autographed copy, you may just have to donate to BBBS first.

Here's the link to the article. Enjoy!

Funny note: Scott noticed the guy pictured in the magazine was different than the guy pictured online. I did a little digging and found his post about it. Apparently they printed the wrong photo. It's entertaining to read his much more jaded view of the whole thing.

Slideshow Selections

2009-08-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

This weekend I had another photo shoot with a cute boy turning 1 year old. My revised website has even gone live. I'm still hunting out little typos etc. So if you see any, let me know. www.recapphotography.com Here is a sneak peak at some of the images from this weekend. But I've also got a job for my faithful readers/friends/family. I am selecting images to add to the gallery section of my site. Please make note of any pictures you see in this album that you feel are worth adding to the gallery on my website. Be fierce critics, these aren't necessarily all favorites, they're just a lazy sort of selection. Don't let any duds get through!

Photo Session

2009-08-13T16:48:00.000-07:00

As Promised, here are some photos from my most recent shoot. It was down in Woodbridge, NJ. This family was so fun and enthusiastic. The baby was only 12 days old! I love being welcomed into people's homes to experience their culture and traditions.

Projects

2009-08-12T18:23:00.001-07:00

I've got lots of projects and such in the works these days. I'm working on a new website for one. This link should work temporarily to give you a sample. I've still got to do some editing and change some pictures. I also need to trouble shoot the gallery page which seems to not be working at all just yet. This has been a long slow process since I'm basically learning programs as I go. I've also gone with a challenging design. Everything's pretty much the status quo around here. Softball is going well right now. The other day I even helped out in a double play and scored the game winning run. I'm hoping that my softball season winds up quickly because school will be starting in September and my team won't forgive me if I have to miss the game and go to class. They're my coworkers too so I'm really crossing my fingers. The reason the season is going so late is that we've had around 4-5 rained out games. It's been a wet summer but it finally started to get hot. Sorry for the mishmash of topics. I know I've been terrible about posting. I did a photo shoot on Sunday and I'll do another one this weekend and the next, so I'll have pictures to share soon!

Another Day in the City

2009-07-13T20:09:00.000-07:00

Today we were asked if we were 'born cute'. We were also spoken to about alliteration and assonance and consonance and then challenged to a rhyme off. We were just trying to buy huarachas and horchatas for dinner. So much to ignore. I bought a vest, since I have to return the one I stole from a friend. I am extremely tempted to travel to London in a couple weeks. All New Yorkers act as if I'm inconveniencing them by asking them to do their jobs. Their jobs being to scan an item of clothing and let the machine process my credit card. Yes, I will move away from here someday. But then my blog posts won't be nearly as interesting.

Not Burning Man

2009-07-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

"Train was on fire. I got off." I was comforted to receive this text from Scott yesterday when I was waiting for him to come home. At least he wasn't on the burning train... anymore.

Scott squeezed his way onto the train at the tail end of rush hour. Reaching his long arm over the heads of nearby passengers he grabbed the nearest crossbar. The train departed for the next station with a jerk that settled into a steady rocking back and forth similar to an elephant ride. The usual scream of the brakes announced that they had arrived at the last station in Manhattan. He noticed a wave of people walking past from the end of the train, unusual, since typically people who rode the train at this point were headed to New Jersey. The scent of smoke wafted in through the open doors. A hot, metallic, industrial scent with hints of burning plastic mixed in. Looking more closely he could see a gray haze and he turned to follow the departing passengers. Midway through his saunter toward the exit, the crackle of a station announcement told him that there was a fire in the station (perhaps this should have been mentioned earlier?) then the crackle of the intercom faded into indecipherable mumbles that may have announced a train delay. The conductor announced throughout the train that he'd be moving the train and anyone going to NJ should be aboard. So Scott stepped into the nearest door. Before he could look around for a hand hold his mind sped through the implications of all he'd just witnessed. He decided that the evidence indicated a flaming train and he didn't want to be trapped beneath the Hudson river aboard such a machine. As the double bell sounded it's usual door closing ding dong he slipped out of the train and made for the exit and the fresh, if it can ever really be considered fresh, air of New York City.

Just a day in the life folks. Bet you wish you were here.

Sisterly Love

2009-07-09T15:36:00.000-07:00

My sister is in town, the middle one. She reports that on her day of mall trolling in Jersey City she was alarmed to learn that people don't wear shoes that fit around here. Maybe it's the economy. I don't know if we'll have a chance for any good adventures while she's here since most of her time will be spent in Pennsylvania with her boyfriend at a wedding (not hers).

Here's a picture from an art event we went to this summer. They pinned on your supposed death typed onto a piece of lace. I was devastated about being drowned as you can see.

From Photo Booth

Patterns

2009-06-28T15:15:00.000-07:00

First I have to congratulate my "Little" which is what the people we mentor through Big Brothers Big Sisters are know as. She graduated from High School on Friday and I was able to go watch and act like a proud mom. I even got to wave at her from the stands and she gave me that embarassed, 'why are you acting like that?' look. It was great to know that after four years together she gets to go out into the world and even go to college! I am in fundraising mode again for the Race for the Kids. You'll all be getting those wonderful soliciting e-mails soon!

Patterns, there have been some interesting ones lately. Friday I was headed to our soccer game, though Scott could only watch with all his injuries. We thought it might get rained out, but instead the clouds turned this crazy pattern and stopped raining. I've never seen anything like it before, they looked like someone had given a three year old kid a bingo marker and the kid had stamped it all over the sky in the form of clouds. On the soccer field I played defense and stopped a few balls with my legs. I also did a really great move where I threw a ball in and the momentum plus the wet field made me slip and fall forward. I felt oh so graceful. Later I noticed a nice little ball pattern along with the bruises and some turf burn on my knee. Quite lovely for summer skirt weather. Turf is not nearly as forgiving as real grass. As we were leaving the game a fire truck was blaring and pulled straight up to the corner we happened to be standing on. Apparently they were headed for a guy who was standing on the same corner. This is becoming an unfortunate pattern, since just this Tuesday we were in a coffee shop when the fire alarm went off and the firemen along with three fire trucks showed up. I don't think there was actually a fire.

I also saw the cab that we were in last week that when it crunched into another cab. Apparently the way you fix your bumper is just to tape it up with packing tape. I'd have gone for duct tape, but I this probably looks better. I didn't manage to grab a picture of that. So sorry.

Lions and Tigers and... Dinos?

2009-06-24T15:40:00.000-07:00

Poor Scott, he's got all kinds of injuries. Not only does he have a hole in his face. He also has a dinosaur on his arm. Ok, it's not actually a dinosaur, but it looks like that to me. It's a large foam block that keeps his finger elevated because he had minor surgery on it to remove a bump on his finger. I think it was extra bone of some sort, but it bothered him so they chopped it off (the bump not the finger). Scott used his foam block as an umbrella carrier and took it off for some pictures in brooklyn bridge park, where we took our guests Jen and Alan who were visiting from Arizona. They left today, but we're looking forward to more company soon!

Oh What a Night

2009-06-20T06:29:00.000-07:00

So I got off early this Friday, thinking that I'd show our friends Jen and Alan who are in town, a good time. We headed out to check out Central Park and FAO Schwartz, and Rockefeller Center and Times Square. Then we had some early dinner at a cute little Italian place and headed over to my and Scott's first soccer game of the season. Jen and Alan were all set to be spectators and the game was going along fine with our team dominating the field. I even got a few shots in from the backfield since it's really quite a tiny field. Well the small size of the field seemed to work against Scott because he and someone on the other team were both watching the ball as it came towards them and both turned to run after it at the same moment, not realizing that they were near each other they basically body slammed right into each other. It was like a cartoon, they just smacked and both went straight down on their backs. Scott looked a little wobbly when he stood up so I made him sit back down and sure enough he had a bloody mouth. The guy was short enough compared to him that Scott had gotten a nice headbutt. He had a slice right above his lip and the consensus was that he needed stitches. So our team recruited 2 new people and Scott, Jen and I left for our hospital visit. I tried urgent care centers, but apparently Friday night is not the time to try those. So we sat in the waiting room, empty except for slightly anxious groups of people and a security guard. Finally the triage nurse came and called a few people's names. I'm not sure what would have happened if something really serious came through the doors because there was no medical personnel in sight. Two girls on our left were telling someone how the one girl had taken a spill off her bike and had a skinned up knee. She said she was wearing a helmet but still felt banged up. Though in the end she seemed to decide it wasn't worth waiting for hours to be sure so they left. Another group came in with a 20 something girl and they said she just lost her sight, she can't see, she had an allergic reaction. They just looked at her and said, there's nothing we can do, just sit down and wait. Though her wait was considerably shorter than other people's. She got in in about 5 minutes. Still, sheesh! Scott finally got called and was put on the fast track line so Jen and Alan went to go hang out in the neighborhood while we waited some more. The first doctor we saw said we had the option of getting a plastic surgeon and we weren't sure, but eventually she said we'd probably be happier with one, so she called him, which of course meant more waiting. The plastic surgeon was really nice and he at least numbed Scott up before yanking on the wound, unlike the first doctor lady. The cut went all the way through to the inside of his mouth. At least there were no loose teeth. Scott thought it was cool that he got stitches on the inside and one in the muscle and three on the outside. Silly boy. When we finally got discharged Scott was still up for going to see our friend for their birthday, which was the original plan. We decided to take a cab because waiting hours for trains at that point didn't sound fun. So we all piled in and had gone less than a mile when scraaaaaape. Our cab driver decided he should turn into the other lane shaving it too close and running into another cab. So the cab drivers stop and put on their blinkers and get out of the car. Completely ignoring us passengers. So we throw the guy 5 bucks and hopped out to catch another cab. We finally got where we were going, but didn't stay long since Scott had had a long day. I did get a text from our soccer team saying that they'd won 6-1 for us. Scott is feeling alright this morning. It's still tender, but we're all ok and Jen and Alan have a good adventure story to tell. Oh yeah, they also ended up hanging out with the friends of the "blind" lady. Those people said she ate shellfish and had only had mild reactions before, but this time it was way worse, and that they knew you had to play it up to get seen in the ER quickly. I took note of that for next time. Now Scott and I will have matching scars :)

long long ago....

2009-05-23T05:20:00.001-07:00

It certainly has been awhile since my last blog post. I think I had enough writing that I just didn't want to think about doing any more for awhile. I'll start with one that happened awhile back and work my way back to present day.

We went to a "light saber" battle in Washington Square Park, which by the way is now open. For those of you who don't know, Washington Square Park is the one by NYU with the big arch and they tore it all up and relandscaped and made a new fountain so that it wold line up with the arch and it's been closed for over a year. So now it's open again.

Anyway, this battle consisted of thousands of cardboard tubes, you know the kind that are in the center of wrapping paper that you used to use as swords when you were a kid? Well we got to flashback to the days of kid-dom. They painted these things with fluorescent paint, pointed some large black lights at us and waited for dusk. The battle was interesting, but I always think this group could use just a small amount of extra planning. They're the same ones that do the pillow fight. I think I made this comment before about them. For example, in this event everyone got all bunched up and stuck their "sword" in the air and wiggled it around. There wasn't enough room for proper fights. It would have been more fun if they'd made a line and had people stand on either side of it so actual "sword fights" could take place. Oh well, maybe I'm just too much of a planner. Everyone had fun anyway and so did I. Scott and Eric even had their pictures up on the Gothamist. Here are some of my shots, it was tough lighting conditions for photos so there aren't really any fantastic ones.

From lightsaber2009

Photo Time!

2009-04-11T14:43:00.000-07:00

A few photo taking opportunities cropped up lately. One was with a lovely lady named Aramide. She definitely knew how to model. It's amazing how different photos are when you actually get to direct the person instead of chasing after them!

From Tunrola2

My other adventure was with my sister who happened to be in town. I took a short break from theory paper writing to go to the pilllow fight on Wall street with her. The cops had blocked off the area by the time she got there, so we had to make our way to a secondary pillow fight meeting point. Whew anyone who's ever had those feathers go up your nose or down your throat will feel a new kinship with a cat with hairballs. Fun times!

From Pillowfight2009

Black Hole

2009-04-08T19:30:00.000-07:00

So I've been in a theory paper and work black hole for awhile now, which is why you haven't seen any blog posts. I've even got a few fun photo sessions to share. I'll get to those later when I have more time. Not sure when that will be, but in the meantime I've added my twitter-feed on the right there so just in case you want to be entertained while you wait you can check that out. Think of it as an appetizer, or maybe as those annoying commercials that show before the trailers in the movie theater. They occupy your attention and sometimes you learn fun random facts. This post can be the movie trailer that you watch and say eh, to and then someday you'll get a fulfilling blog post which will be the featured attraction you overpaid to see. Only I'm not taking your money so it's a great deal! Welcome bargain bloggers there's a blue light special on capital I's...

Cosmo Mafia

2009-03-26T17:27:00.000-07:00

No it's not a harem of ladies who lunch whilst sipping pink drinks with their pinkies out as they plan the demise of their hated hairdresser. The Cosmo Mafia is apparently a group of gentlemen who hang out in steak houses with an older and scantily clad lady impressing her with their pink drink choices. Or perhaps their message was that they were so manly they didn't have to fear that femininely fruity beverage. Either way, Scott and I spent less time talking over his birthday dinner, than eavesdropping on the booth next door. Some lessons we learned include "It's about having lots of money and having people take care of you. That's what real love is." Ah apparently Scott and I weren't totally aware of the meaning of true love. It's taken us a few years, but now we know. We also learned some other life lessons through our eavesdropping. "It's not good to meet up with sketchy guys who you don't know very well. Even if you meet them in a public place, they could have guys waiting in the car." As a crime detective novel might say, I couldn't get a read on these guys at first. They came in wearing suits, a pair of fairly tall broad gentlemen, at least 60 years old. One had curly black hair that had turned mostly silver, pulled back into a low ponytail. The other one looked like a slightly hefty and greasy Richard Gere. It was really their drinks choice that threw me off. Then this 50 some year old lady comes in and shrugs off her coat to reveal a backless yellow number that I'm not sure I would have worn with confidence. But the gentlemen seemed to enjoy it. They didn't seem like normal businessmen or academic types. They didn't have that professional veneer, but they did seem to have money... Eh fuggedaboutit.

Das Rheingold

2009-03-26T07:55:00.000-07:00

I went to see my first opera last night! I saw Wagner's Das Rheingold at the Metropolitan Opera House. It was a really great production, but we had gotten the cheap 'day-of' tickets that are standing room only. This opera was the first in the tetrology Der Ring des Nibelungen, and the shortest, but still clocked in at two and a half hours without intermission. Needless to say, my feet hurt quite a bit afterward.

I don't know if any of you are familiar with this opera series, but it seems like Tolkein's Lord of the Rings was strongly based off of it. In Das Rheingold a gnome forsakes love and steals the Rheingold from the Rhinemadiens, using it to forge a ring of power. This ring give him domination over everything and he uses its power to amass wealth and intends to eventually conquer the world. He forces his brother to craft a helmet that allows him to change his shape, or even become invisible (sound familiar?). Eventually, the ring is stolen from him and he curses it such that those who possess it will meet ignoble demises until the ring is back in his possession once again.

Kinda cool right? I want to see the other operas, but I don't think I could bear to stand again. I think the longest one clocks in at just under six hours...

Don't you get ESP...N?

2009-03-24T19:09:00.000-07:00

I'm always surprised when I finally get around to updating my blog. See I write blog posts in my head all the time. So when I finally get the time and a computer in front of me and I see some old post that was way before the one about sushi class, and deaths in the family and holes in people and birthday presents and paper extensions and well, you get the point. If you could just read my mind, this would be updated a lot more frequently. I thought maybe twitter would help, but I can't text twits because I don't pay for texting on my phone. Yup that's right folks, every time you show me the love and send me a text I rack up a 15 cent charge. Only Scott pays for texts. Maybe I should have asked for textability for my birthday. I did get it in a way. I am typing on my very own brand new shiny blue tooth keyboard. So nice. I even have a mouse to go with it. Sooooo much better for using in photoshop. Thanks Scott!

Back to the Logo-Drama

2009-03-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

Previously on Logo-Drama.... Adrienne asked her loyal readers to select between options A, B and B'. None of which were overwhelmingly popular. This time on Logo-Drama Adrienne will again present some options for her fledgling photography business, in the hopes that one will meet with mass approval and prevail as the new logo. If not... it's back to the drawing board. dun dun duuuuuunnnn! Let me know your thoughts people :)

I <3 the Internet

2009-03-11T17:41:00.000-07:00

Warning stream of consciousness ahead!

Well I guess it all really started from a magazine. Today at work we recieved our regular subscription to Museums magazine. It sounds really exciting, I know but in it was an article by an interesting woman who I sheepishly admit I thought was a man because it was about gaming. She wants to use gaming in all sorts of great ways, including saving the world and having a game designer win a Nobel Prize. In the article she talked about happiness and how video games are really great at producing happiness based on some basic principles happiness researchers (yup they exist) have found. This all connected to museums because she thought museums should be at the forefront of creating happiness and that they could use the principles of gaming to do so.

Sooooo I've been thinking lately about my degree topic (educational technology) and how the part I'm really interested in is individualized instruction. I really think that's where technology has a chance to shine instead of just being annoying and hard to work/incorporate into the classroom.

When I first heard about gaming and ed-tech I thought, 'eh'. I've seen Scott play and play and play and didn't really want to have much more involvement than that. But when my professor described the way games can become really great individualized instructors my interest was piqued.

Anyway, back to Jane McGonigal, who happens to be the lady I was talking about earlier. She's awesome. I found her blog and she has some great stuff there and great ideas in general. I am always a fan of the "make the world a better place" ideas. But doing that while having fun is even better. She talks about how people spend 20 hours a week on World of Warcraft and compares that to the amount of time it's taken to build Wikipedia to it's current state. Basically WOW players could have make Wikipedia in a few months. She also links to this site where you play a game of exchanging and building on ideas the Signtific Lab. Their name bugs me because I always want to pronounce the G. So that was interesting, so is her Top Secret Dance Off. You can browse her blog for yourself to find all these crazy things.

I don't know if this gets anyone else excited, but I can't wait for the future and to meet people like her and to create games to educate people well and change the world and GRRRR just DO something with my life.

p.s. I was going to make a super secret dance and post it, but I made the super secret dance video and decided that it should remain secret.

Knowledge is Power

2009-03-09T18:43:00.001-07:00

The things I learned on the way to the Path station.

1. If your culture requires you to wear a head scarf it's really nice in the winter. If you add to that the benefit that you don't need to buy a hands free phone attachment and that you can just stick your phone in the scarf instead, then you've almost convinced me to convert.

2. When an Asian lady pops out of her car with a handful of pamphlets and thrusts one at you as she says "glow-ba-wa-me" always take the paper. You will find out all kinds of great things. The first thing I learned from the paper was that there will be a picture of a lovely blonde asian, a blasian if you will, (come to think of it, the same term could be used for a caucasian, i just like the term, no disrespect to anyone.) The second thing I learned was that "Yes. Thank you, Master." is a "Question." The final bit of knowledge I gleaned was that in order to prevent Global Warming we all have to become vegetarians.

3. I learned something else, but then I forgot it. Too much cognitive load this weekend sorry all.

]

Overload!

2009-03-07T20:54:00.000-08:00

Ahh yes, just the way I like it, finishing homework at 1:00 AM on a Saturday. I thought I was supposed to be doing something else. Well If I'm lucky I'll get to see time jump for daylight savings. Anyway, here's a shot from a 1 year old's birthday party that I did last weekend. I'm going back to do another family member next week. Busy busy. I just can't say no to people who want pictures! Phew, at least spring break is coming up so I can catch up on things. Funny how it only means I don't have my 2 hour class on Monday, but it makes a large difference! I really am loving it all, I just wish I had more time.

From Tunrolo

Hurray Procrastination!

2009-03-01T12:50:00.000-08:00

So I'm supposed to be reading about Cognitive Load and Split Attention effects etc. Instead I'm writing a blog post. In my research I came across a site that is not only excellent for procrastination, it also teaches you something AND helps the poor. Awesome! www.freerice.com is basically a vocabulary quiz, though they have other topics. Every question you get right donates 10 grains of rice to the UN world food program. I learned some great words already such as osculate=kiss, extirpate=destroy and gimcrack = showy but cheap. I hope you've all been thoroughly distracted and entertained. If you weren't, then just give in to your bibulous tendencies and come back later.

Finally Photos

2009-02-28T19:19:00.000-08:00

Here is a sampling of some of the photos I took at the vow renewal ceremony I shot in January. I did another photo shoot today, but I don't want to give too many pictures at once. It's like candy. It's tastes great, but if you have more than one Snickers Bar at a time then you're just going to get a belly ache. I know I've been super slow on the blogging front lately, but with school and work and photography at times, my schedule is pretty tightly packed. I hear all kinds of good news these days though. Congratulations to Marci (Sarah's friend from AK who now lives in CO for anyone not in the know) on your engagement!!! Congrats to Anna for getting into Business School at Kellogg in Chicago! Whoo hoo!

Lost and Found

2009-02-15T17:08:00.000-08:00

From Winter 08:09

You know that feeling when you're cleaning out a closet or drawer and find a mysterious roll of film or disposable camera that has all the pictures on it, but for some reason it never got developed and you don't remember what era it belongs to, let alone what the pictures are of. There's a magical moment when you get the photos developed and you relive some point in time that you had completely forgotten and probably never would have remembered if it hadn't been for your long lost photographs. Typically with digital pictures that's not really possible, unless you come across an old memory card that you lost somewhere. I was reading about lost and found cameras today, this one was found in a river and the photos were recovered and reunited with it's owner. These are all lost and found photos that people post about. This brought to mind the camera that I broke a few years ago, and hadn't ever downloaded pictures from because it's a memory stick and we never got new cameras that used them. But because I bought myself a memory card reader recently that takes all kinds of media I realized I could find my very own pictures. These are from the big snowstorm we had, the second largest on record. As you can see it was sticky snow and the cars in the neighborhood took on whole new shapes and showed off how aerodynamics work. I also had more hair back then, and it was fairly soon after we moved to the city, so Scott's snow boots were the redneck version. I love snow, but I am really ready for Spring.

From Winter 08:09

Hearts a Flyin'

2009-02-14T17:15:00.000-08:00

So I set my alarm for 5am today, thinking that I might get up and go to the city to help fill 1000 red heart shaped balloons and hang them up and down Broadway. Well, of course the alarm went off and I decided sleep was a much better option. I figured 1000 red heart shaped balloons would be a fun thing to see in the daylight so Scott and I headed out to see it once we woke up at a more reasonable hour. I had envisioned a street full of large balloons, but once we got there it was apparent that the volunteers hadn't shown up in droves and that 1000 balloons was more like 100 balloons. I can envision the early morning scene where the few volunteers gathered in the cold dark trying to fill balloons with helium and tie the little ends then attach string. All with frozen fingers. Hmm I think I made the right choice to stay in bed. It was a little dissapointing to see so few balloons out. they were also pretty tiny. Scott and I made the best of it though and went shopping. We also got to grab lunch with Sky and Anna. A very nice Valentine's Day. Hope everyone else had one too.

non-post

2009-02-12T16:43:00.000-08:00

I was going to post some photos from a session I did in January, but picasa wouldn't upload it and blogger wouldn't upload it, so I give up. Got to go see the studio where the Wonder Pets is made today. It's a children's show for toddlers, but the whole animation and production process is neat to see. Definitely a nice work environment in this cool old building downtown. Little Airplane Productions is the name of the place. I'm very unmotivated to blog since my whole reason for posting didn't succeed. Will try again another day.

Fail

2009-02-04T17:58:00.000-08:00

You may or may not know about the time wasting page otherwise known as Fail Blog www.failblog.org It is entertaining to see the many ways people can be incompetent or oblivious. I was doing some window shopping otherwise known as walking through Duane Reade while trying to kill time so I don't have to wait in the cold for Scott to pick me up from the train station. It's either shop at the drugstore or stand in the alcove to the door for Subway, but for some reason, even though it's a double door, people insist upon walking through the door both in and out that I happen to be huddled near for warmth. The other door works perfectly well, it's just on the left. I should try standing on the left. But that doesn't explain the exiters. Hmm... So I get banged by the door for as long as it takes Scott to scrape the snow off the car and drive up the hill to get me. This is why I shop at Duane Reade, not that I really needed to justify that. Anyway, I was shopping their sale isle checking out all the great 50% off deals when I noticed a sign. I thought to myself, "oh my, that's ridiculous" 0% off, what dope would put up a sign that says that? Then I looked closer, not only were there 0% off deals to be had. There were also some that were a whopping -1% off. SALE FAIL! I tried submitting the middle image to fail blog. That had to have induced a huge cringe as soon as it happened. I could even see myself doing it. Phew, got the big ole stereo into the car, time to slam the trunk shut. SMASH! *$&#&*(! Anyway, so I didn't make it to fame on Fail Blog. I'll have to make my own fame. I might have posted the car photo before so forgive me if I've made you look twice.

Admirer?

2009-01-26T18:05:00.001-08:00

It's that time of year again, when 5 lean creatures are leashed to a sled/cart and race through the streets of New York trying to avoid flying eggs, bananas, corn and mayonnaise while completing obstacle courses and looking team spirited. Last year we raced as a dodgeball team, but this year I'm not planning on racing. I did just find out about it and I decided to check out their forums. The "personals" section had an interesting post, there were two girls on our kickball team and there may have been other kickball teams, but I thought this post was entertaining anyways.

Attn: Girl from Kickball team

Post by timo more smiles » Sat Jan 10, 2009 12:02 pm
I hope your team is racing again this year. Or, to say it more specifically, I hope you race again this year.

Last year we talked briefly (I offered you a swig of whiskey, you politely declined). As stupid as it sounds, I've been thinking about that moment since.

Maybe this year, I can be more prepared to offer you a drink of your choosing. Without being too presumptuous, I'd say I bet you're a hot chocolate kind of lady. And without being too smug, I'd say I make a mean hot chocolate. From scratch. I buy a block of semi-sweet and grate it in to gently boiling milk (with a small pad of butter--don't tell anyone, it's my secret ingredient!). Then I add sugar, a little bit of maple syrup (the other secret ingredient--I'm just giving away the farm here!!), and a few dashes of nutmeg.

Mmmm. It sure is good!!

Maybe I'll make some today and sit by the window, sipping my hot chocolate as I watch the snow fall. Doesn't that sound romantic?

I tell you all of this in the hopes that, if you were on the fence about whether or not to do the race this year, I can help convince you that it's a good idea.

My team is going to be dressed as Fruit of the Loom this year. I'm not sure which fruit I'll be, but I'll let you know when I do!!

Strange Things Happen Here

2009-01-17T21:36:00.000-08:00

You've probably heard by now that a commercial airplane landed in the Hudson River pretty close to where I live. Probably less than a few miles away. Anyway, just a tip for all you who fly to and from anywhere. I read the reports of flight attendants who told passengers "head down, brace for impact." In one of the best classes I ever took in college, forensic anthropology, the instructor told us that the diagram they show of people hunched over braced for impact is not the best position to be in. She said the best thing to do is to pull your knees up to your chest and cover your head with your arms with one thumb in your mouth. This is because if you lean all the way over, more likely than not the seat in front of you will jam your skull down onto your spine and kill you instantly. The thumb part is so that you'll protect a fingerprint and it will make you easier to identify your remains afterward. She was just being pragmatic since she puts a lot of time into trying to ID people's bones after plane crashes. So now you know what to do just in case.

Body Check

2009-01-05T18:31:00.000-08:00

My new computer has a camera built in. So I get to do goofy things like playing with perspective and the objects on the wall. This also gives my fans a chance to see what my face looks like these days. Since I've heard that inquiring minds want to know.
School is starting soon. I'm still finishing up the last class towards my certificate in web design. I'll have all kinds of credentials soon. Maybe even enough to have a CV. I'll race Scott to see who can be the most academic.
In other news, an old man fell on me today. I was standing on the train, minding my own business this morning when I hear an asian sounding voice querulously say HONEY!? Then wham. Adrienne gets body slammed by some old Asian guy. I think I broke his fall quite nicely actually. Who knows what would have happened if he'd hit the floor or some other part of the train. Poor guy, someone gave up their seat for him and the train people came and ran the train express to the end of the line. I'm sure it was just too hot or something like that because he seemed pale, but otherwise ok afterwards. I'm fine too. It's a little too early in the year to be adding scars.

Shiny New Year

2009-01-04T18:12:00.000-08:00

So I'm starting the shiny new year off with a shiny NEW COMPUTER! I also have some shiny new skin on my face. A stranger probably wouldn't recognize me if they met me last week. My 13" macbook is doing well for me so far. Got the wireless hooked up and everything. Now I just need to get all my files transferred which will take some time. But hey, at least I still have them all, and my health. Oh yeah, we'll also start off the new year with a newly shiny car. Ours was sitting innocently parked on the street when some vehicle thought it would be good to crash into it, so now it's being repaired and the guy even said he'd use the extra paint to patch up the little dings so it will be shiny all around. Maybe I'll start seeing shiny happy people skipping through the streets holding hands. Or maybe I'll just see REM. Who knows what the new year holds aside from school work and hopefully a little play.

Adrienne vs. Snowman

2008-12-25T10:37:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! I went around fighting the neighborhood snowmen. Apparently they're pretty tough here in Idaho because a few of them got a good punch or two in. Only 7 stiches later I'm healing and got some lovely Christmas presents that are sparkly and if I wear them just right they distract you from the mess on my face.

On a sidenote. The tragedy nearly equal to my face is that the camera in my pocket had it's screen busted up at the same time. I think the camera still works, but that remains to be seen. It was my little pocket camera so at least my Alpha is still alive. With the rate electronics have been failing around me who knows what's next. 1 Vacuum, 2 computers and 1 camera have all died within the last month.

From Snow vs. Adrienne

Tag Lines

2008-12-06T15:23:00.000-08:00

It's voting time! Which do you like better?

Recap Photography - Bringing Back Memories

or

Recap Photography - Remember

I've got my reasons for liking/not liking both. Give me your input. As a reward for input you can see pictures! Here are some that I took last weekend at a holiday photo shoot.

This is the same cutie that I took pictures of for his first birthday. he's so easy going. His parents set him in the pokey evergreen bushes and he made some small noises in protest and even though he was very hungry and not so happy with being in pokey bushes he still didn't cry or lose his temper. Such a sweetie.

Last Halloween

2008-11-28T18:30:00.000-08:00

There was a period in time where I was too busy to keep up with the blog and I didn't even post pictures from Halloween. So here they are. We had a Pride, Greed, Wrath, Sloth and Lust.

T-day

2008-11-27T06:56:00.000-08:00

Happy Turkey Day everyone. Hope you're all enjoying some good food, friends and family.

It's A Wedding!

2008-11-25T18:36:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share some of the Lauren and Donovan wedding photos. We had a ton of fun in AZ getting to see everybody. The free dinner at the wedding was really good too. I have this thing about free food, it always tastes better and I can never refuse it or stop eating it. I think I have a highly tuned survival instinct. I MUST eat when it doesn't cost me money, who knows where my next meal might come from? I might have to beat down a rhino or something. Anyway, I don't know if you've ever seen the movie Rat Race, but the guy who plays Mr. Bean was in it and his most memorable line was "It's a Race!" Guess you have to watch it to understand. Anyway, that's what the title of the blog post is about.

From Terry Wedding

A bit of science geekery

2008-11-25T09:59:00.001-08:00

So, I was hanging around in the lab today and realized something that shook my understanding of the video game universe. Like many of you, I played Duck Hunt on the Nintendo during my childhood. I'd use the zapper to shoot each duck, thinking that somehow the TV was registering my shots. But think about this for a moment. There is no way in hell that the TV could figure this stuff out. So how was this gun working anyway?

Fortunately this sort of question is exactly what the internet was designed for, and I quickly found an answer. It seems that the gun doesn't shoot the ducks on the TV, rather it detects an instantaneous change in the display when you pull the trigger, and registers this change based on an electrical pulse from a photodiode located inside the barrel. The change in the screen occurs much faster than you can see which answers the obvious question of why you never saw it. Think of all the subliminal messaging fun!

Basically, after pulling the trigger the entire screen goes black and on one frame after another, each duck is represented by a white square. The game is able to tell which duck you hit by which white screen was onscreen when the photodiode activates.

What I want to know now is, if I were to point the gun at a bright light, would I automatically get a duck everytime?

I guess this doesn't only happen in cartoons

2008-11-20T15:55:00.001-08:00

No, I'm not talking about the suspension of gravity until you look beneath your feet to open air.

When I went to the water fountain today, I bent down for a drink and all of a sudden the water squirts out and hits me in the eye!

wtf! I didn't think that actually happened in real life!

Finders Keepers

2008-11-19T18:18:00.000-08:00

Many of you have already heard this story, but it's such a good one I've got to tell it again. Scott and I were hanging out on campus at ASU on Wednesday and saw a little carnival set up on the lawn. So we went to check it out and play some of the games just to kill some time. As Scott was finishing a game of darts we turned around and he noticed a wallet on the ground. So of course we picked it up and looked at the ID hoping to see who it was in order to return it. The Florida license had a picture of The King as in The Burger King which I thought was kind of a funny joke on some college kid's part. But then we flipped it open and saw a little sticker that said "Attention Would Be Good Samaritan! Don't worry about lost & found. The King wants you to keep this wallet and everything in it." Inside was a dollar that at first glance I thought was play money because it had the King's face on it, but upon closer inspection I saw that it was actually just a sticker put on a dollar bill. Then we opened some more pockets and found a $5 Burger King gift card. Definitely the best marketing ploy I've ever seen. It's tough to describe how good it is just by telling the story. But just think of the emotions you feel when you find something valuable that someone has lost. Just for a second you hope that you might have gotten lucky, but then you start to resign yourself to spending some time trying to find the missing owner etc. Then imagine actually getting to keep the thing. Hey it's a nice leather wallet. It's also like winning the lottery without even entering. I decided I wanted one too so we went looking around and I hurriedly picked another one up that Scott spotted. One of the carnival operators saw me pick it up and tried to take it from me so she could put it in the lost and found. Very well done Burger King marketers. I felt compelled to blog about it and give them the extra marketing they were hoping for.

Don't Take the Golden Ticket

2008-11-18T19:08:00.000-08:00

So last night Scott and I went to this NYU Tisch Gala. It's one of those swanky fundraising dinners that I just happened to get tickets to through work. First episode of note occured in the bathroom where I heard a real person respond to a compliment on her shoes with "they're last season though." Some people apparently really do care.
We found our seats and luckily I was sitting next to someone who could point out the famous people walking by. Tony Bennet, Alec Baldwin, Ira Cantor (some society lady). I thought it was neat to see, but none of them really blew my socks off. It was fun to see Rainn Wilson from The Office present some awards and the Coen Brothers too. The guy who invented Skyy Vodka was even there. I tried to get some pictures, but they were all really blurry since I only had my little camera. The best part of the evening was when Elaine Stritch (who plays Alec Baldwin's character on 30 Rock's mother)came out on stage in nothing more than a pair of tights, a shirt, tie and sweater vest. She sang him her favorite love song about how some man's love made her love herself and did this double handed leg pat thing that couldn't help but make you laugh. Especially when she's over 80.
As we were walking to the dinner portion of the evening people were trying to direct me to a different room from everyone I came with because I had a pink ticket and theirs was yellow. We got it all straigtened out though and they gave me a yellow one. Apparently I should have kept the pink ticket though since that was the VIP room! Oh well.
On the way out, Scott went to the restroom and I was waiting outside when I saw people taking a picture and heard a vaguely familiar voice. I snuck around to the front side of the group and saw it was Tina Fey! Every other famous person I saw that night didn't impress me much, but Tina Fey is just so awesome I was definitely a little star struck. I think she was with her husband and they were headed towards the elevator. I saw Scott coming and gave him the hurry up hand wave to get him to come along and I got to the elevator just as the doors started to close. I didn't want to force my way onto the elevator like a crazy person, but Tina Fey's husband (I think) held the door for me and I got to ride the elevator down to the ground level with Tina Fey. Yup if only I'd kept the pink ticket I could have been wining and dining with her. Sigh, the elevator ride was pretty exciting though.

Here's Scott practicing his Tina Fey hand signal.

From 2008_11_17

Off to AZ

2008-11-11T18:22:00.000-08:00

I'm headed out tomorrow to sunny AZ to join the hubby who has already been enjoying the sun. Hopefully I'll come back with some pictures and renewed blogging spirit.

Catch Up

2008-10-28T19:59:00.000-07:00

So October is looking pretty skimpy compared to September when you look at the number of blog posts. It's been a busy month though with the museum opening and trying to work on my Masters application. I'm pretty amazed that I managed to fit our yearly fall trip with Sky and Anna into the month. We had a good time and went down to a little town called New Hope and then did some patriotic sightseeing in Philadelphia. I'll have to give a "ri-cap" of the trip later, but here are some pictures to tide you over and make up for my lack of posting.

From 10_19_08

Race on the PATH

2008-10-23T15:57:00.000-07:00

The PATH train is just like the subway, only it goes fewer places, and one of those places is New Jersey. I also think it's a little cleaner, but it's got to be tough to keep a place like that clean. About 242,000 people go ride it each day. During rush hour it can be crowded, sardine-like even. This evening wasn't any different, I stood there trying to read my magazine while I snaked my arm under the shopping bag of the person standing next to me in order to hold on to the pole to keep from careening off into the lap of some lucky person with a seat, or worse to create a domino effect of falling people. Anyway, there is a stop on the way home where a large percentage of people get off and a limited number of seats typically open up. At the end of a long day people will push frantically to get off the train and others will try to be Salmon swimming up stream because they don't want to get pushed off the train and they want to get back to where the exiters came from to snag their seat. I usually coordinate where I stand with the person who I think is most likely to get off the train first so I don't have to struggle and I can snag a seat quickly. I may have had to squeeze/bump my way through a couple exiters to nab a seat, but I figure I was helping them because once I sit I am out of their way so they can leave without trying to go around me. So tonight after gaining a seat I am still reading an article about the election and about white middle class voters who probably won't vote for Obama because of race issues and I was marveling at the idea that such things still exist since it seems so ridiculous to me to care about a person's skin color. As I'm reading and contemplating how I am going to vote, I hear "What did you say?" In a very aggressive tone. So I did the furtive eyeball and I see a young black girl probably a senior in high school talking over her shoulder to a late-twenties-ish white man in a black pea coat. He repeated what he must have originally said "We're all going to the same place" as the girl and the woman she was with sat down in the seats next to me. I don't remember exactly what the girl said in response, it was something about them being rude and possibly something about them not having a good job. This is about the time when the white woman who was with the man pipes up and says "Your mother is probably on Welfare." "My mother has a good job with the state" responded the girl. The Woman responded with some comment implying that the girl was too stupid or just plain stupid, but it was really her tone that got my blood boiling. I couldn't believe the way she was throwing around racial stereotypes coupled with an argument on intelligence. As if she were so bright. The argument devolved from there into what job did the woman have and whether it was the girl's business to know and how the woman (who had a short bob haircut) should grow some hair before she started talking. Finally the woman sitting next to the girl, who I figured out at that point was her mother told her daughter to be quiet and to quit talking. Repeatedly cutting off her murmers of white people who did mumble mumble. Meanwhile the white couple is standing off in their corner mumbling about welfare and unintelligent some more sounding all righteous. The mother told her daughter to rise above petty fights like that as the girl still tried to say "I'm not that lady!" "What's her name? Who gave up her seat?" Her mother replied "Rosa Parks, and she didn't give up her seat." All through this I was just bursting. I wanted to say something, anything to show these people that an argument about a seat was petty in the first place, but in the second place to bring ridiculous racial stereotypes out as an argument was the worst kind of ignorance. I wish I could have thought of something to say, I know everyone in the train was listening. I wanted to say something that would be snarky and make people laugh but at the same time make them realize how ridiculous the racial remarks were. I also wanted to thank the mother for teaching her daughter a valuable lesson. In the end as we exited the train I told the mother to have a good night and that I hoped they ran into nicer people. Maybe there wasn't something to say that wouldn't have just made everyone more defensive and gotten me into a fight. But I really wanted to stand up for what was right. A friend said to remember what they looked like. Just in case I run into them again, anyone have any ideas? What would you have said if you were going to say something?

Crazy Drivers

2008-10-12T18:43:00.001-07:00

For any of you who may have attempted to drive in New Jersey, you know that the drivers here are crazy. I never cross the street when the hand says to go because I just know some bus driver will try to turn left and plow me down. I always wondered about the crossing gaurds who I see on the way to work. They never seemed to be nearly cautious enough. They'd just walk into the street and wave the pedestrians through the intersection, or more likely they'd stay standing on the corner and watch as people made their own way across. Appparently you only get gaurded crossing the street if you're a kid. I always thought they should do a little more whistle blowing and "stop" hand motioning. So on Friday morning as I kissed Scott goodbye I told him to "look both ways before crossing the street." Jokingly of course, but I didn't think that the caution would be so timely. As I walked out the door and up the hill I saw the poor crossing gaurd sitting in the street in front of a car. Apparently someone had hit the lady, and was at least calling for help. But she didn't seem to be ready to get up and walk out of the street.

On another note, I got the Red Velvet cake that I won in a raffle. Soooo delicious. It's tough to stop eating it.

Wiretapping not focused on al Qaeda Suspects

2008-10-09T10:14:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm not too good at blogging about what it is that I'm doing, so instead I'll bring some more politics to your attention. Remember when Bush said that all the wiretapping the NSA had been doing (think back to 2005 now) was strictly for use against al Qaeda suspects and that no American civil liberties would be violated?

Yeah, no surprise but that was a lie.

It seems wiretappers would intercept and then share some of the juicier tidbits coming out of Iraq, from military officers to volunteer relief workers (American Red Cross, for example). ABC just did a whole report on it, if you're following that.

Maybe next time I post it will be about something cool and science-y instead of depressing and politic-y. At least it's not mavericky.

Ceramic Sightings

2008-10-04T06:31:00.000-07:00

I think I am somehow magically linked to Macayos. I have always enjoyed their lovely margaritas, but what is more entertaining than a few margaritas, or perhaps more entertaining after a few margaritas is the ceramic mugs that they come in. Known coloquially as "Bob's" and "Cha-Chas" these distinctive mugs are easy to spot, but it amazes me that I have now spotted them not only in their native Arizona habitat, but also in Vietnam, and now in a New Jersey Good Will store. Really, what are the chances that of all the Good Will stores in New Jersey that the one that I happen to pass by every day has an authentic Macayos mug? It's where I had my wedding rehearsal dinner, then when I went to Vietnam on my honeymoon, we were sitting at the bar and what did we see propped up along with the bottles of liquor, but Bob and Cha-Cha. These things are following me. If there's a message here, I'm not sure what it is.... collect ceramics? Drink Margaritas? Return to Arizona? Perhaps its just the ghost of Arizona past.

Resurrection

2008-09-30T19:35:00.001-07:00

My computer has magically come back to life! I am so happy to see it again. Now quick someone hand me a backup drive while we've still got time. Or maybe I'll just wait until it crashes again and then think of taking action. Babysitting again tonight. Nothing terribly exciting around here. I have a few craft projects I've been stewing about, so we'll see if something happens. I have a vague urge to decorate the house for fall. I'm thinking wall applique and paintings and pumpkins. Where are my crafting buddies when I need them? Did I ever show you the paintings I made my sister a few Christmas's back?

Seasons of Love

2008-09-29T19:07:00.000-07:00

Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes in a year. Or roughly that. If you take into account leap years, there are 525,966 minutes in each year. So if you approximate that there have been 2007.75 years since say... Christ was born if you're into that kind of thing. If not you could just say it's been that many years since a carpenter dude became the ultimate super star. So, if you decided to take our economic stimulus package worth $700,000,000,000 and divided it by the number of minutes in those few years you would get a handy $662.87 per minute. That's not an awful hourly wage I'd take $39,772.20 an hour. A slight step up from my current wages. Honestly though, if they do ever pass the money I'm hiring a lobbyist. Just think I could ask for a paltry 0.0000142857% of the package for good Samaritan purposes. I could find some great things to do for the economy with $100,000.00. I'd promise to spend it on something like housing.

Not a political blog, but...

2008-09-29T16:58:00.000-07:00

So, I haven't ever really posted here, but I thought some people might be interested in alternative bailout proposals since the bigg'un failed today.

If you're interested, this post on Daily Kos has some alternative takes from other sources, specifically mentioning previous banking crises in the past, and how those crises were averted.

Marsh

2008-09-28T16:36:00.000-07:00

Went for a little nature walk today. Nothing too interesting other than that. I did go to Brooklyn for dinner last night which was entertaining because of all the conversations I overheard on the street. The best one was when a group of teenage boys walked by and one of them said "Dude, what if my house was White Castle!" and the other boys made awed and amazed noises. For those of you who don't know or haven't seen the movie. White Castle is a burger chain on the east coast, similar to burger king.

From 9_28_08

Extra Postage

2008-09-27T19:07:00.000-07:00

I'll try to make up for the lack of a post yesterday by posting twice today. Also I'm staying up so that I can see Saturday Night Live. Tina Fey is supposed to reprise her impression of Palin. The last one was so awesome I can't miss it. Plus Scott's computer is so safety-ized that I can't watch video online, so if I miss it I'm SOL. Anyway, if you're easily grossed out close your eyes. Or maybe you should have already closed your eyes. I think it's interesting the way this Rat decomposed and looks like it's melting down the drain. I also like playing with macro focus on my little camera and these water droplets were begging to be photographed. The grass is in a really nice area on the water where I think I'll try to do a photo shoot some time. I'm always on the lookout for new locations these days. I'm definitely enjoying being an off hours photographer. The only problem is that now I'm really starting to get impatient and I salivate over the new Sony camera. It's the a900 So many awesome features! It even has a feature where you can take a test image then change the settings and it'll give you a preview of how those settings will look so when you actually take the picture you know it's just like you want it. I saw it at work the other day and it was hard to keep the saliva in my mouth and my feet on the ground.