Fresh Start

So my hearing has come and gone and it was easy as pie. Actually pie sounds pretty good right now. I'm back home having just finished a celebratory rib eye smothered in mushrooms. I'm on my second glass of wine and frankly I'm feeling about as good as I've felt in years. Happy New Year everybody.

Nervous

So tomorrow is my Bankruptcy hearing with the trustee. Everything I've heard or read tells me that I have nothing to worry about still I'm a bit on edge. I hope I'm going to be able to sleep tonight. Less than 12 hours and the biggest monkey of my whole life gets his walking papers. 2009 is shaping up to be what I was thinking about when I named my old blog "Braver, newer world". Maybe it's time to refresh this one again for the new year. I remain determined to make my forty-first year a time of renewal for me. Tomorrow is a big step in that direction. Wish me luck.

Ah, New Year's week. I wasn't sure how I felt about the mid-week aspect of this year's new year's but I've made my piece with it A couple of days to review, a couple of days to celebrate, and a couple of days to try out the new habits.

My diet took some knocks Christmas week but that was to be expected. This morning on the scale I was a pound more than where I was last Monday morning. That's not enough to lose any sleep over. The thing was when I reviewed what I was eating none of it was really all that bad. A slice of cake and a scoop of ice cream maybe but mostly just an increase in the volume of meat and cheese. I'm still going to show a net loss for the holiday's and I'm happy with that. I continue to make the vast majority of my meals so I'm automatically eating better and saving some cash. Good habits to walk into 2009 with.

I've only missed writing in my journal once in the past month and a half so that's another habit in place for the new year. I'm tracking my expenses religiously so between that and my hearing on Wednesday I'm feeling as positive about finances as any point in my life.

The two things I need to get back into are this blog and my photography. I have taken only a couple of pictures in December and published nothing on flickr in over a month. That is something I'll try to work on this week. I want some natural feeling habits in place by this time next week.

Not Really Hiding Out

I haven't been very expressive on the web lately. I haven't taken any pictures since my birthday and I haven't even looked at those pictures all month. I'm back in process mode, trying to build up some good habits for the new year. I've been expermenting with different to-do lists and jornalling tools. The most imporant thing for each piece of software is how well the iPhone version works. I'm trying to lug my computer around as little as possible. The strain on my neck is making that weakness in my right arm worse.

Not that I want to be complaining about how I feel. For the most part I feel great. I've been sticking to my diet very well. I hit a plateau for about two weeks but broke past when I followed some advise to mix up my diet a little more. So on Friday instead of having lean hot Italian turkey sasuage for dinner like usual I picked up a nice big $13 Rib eye from Cala (marked down to $5). Sure enough the next morning I had dropped two pounds. I considered picking up a jar of lard to really turbo-charge my weight loss buy figured that might be pushing my luck.

I've been writing in my journal every day when I wake up and I even started a dream journal this morning. I've been playing around with different financal tracking software just trying to get the habits built by the time 2009 starts. Right now I'm leading towards Mint.com. It seems to play the best with my bank account. I continue to track everything I eat and keep a running calorie total. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm around and I'm doing well. Better than well even.

Two Days in a Little Apartment

Well that's pretty much my weekend. I was a total homebody these last two days. Yesterday I did venture out to Trader Joe's for groceries but today the farthest I got from my apartment was the mailroom. That is just fine with me. I spent no money (which is good cause I'm pretty broke until payday). I tackled a couple of projects I've been putting off forever including organizing my desk area, reworking my Remember the Milk account and filing the overflowing inbox and the year's worth of papers it contained. I'm in task not creative mode right now. I'm looking forward to working on my photography in this more organized environment. In the meantime I'm taking solace in the fact that I'm writing every day and blogging on a much more regular basis. I'm glad I started working on my health and finances before my birthday. I'm only 9 days in but so far my 40's are a real treat.

Food

So I wouldn't say that food and diet have been consuming my every thought, but I do believe this is the most attention I've given to what I've put in my body in my whole life. I have only really lost weight in one other period of my. That was when I was doing the Atkin's no carb thing. Even then I wasn't paying all that much attention. Basically I read the first two chapters of his book and then just stopped eating sugar and carbs. It didn't really matter what else I was eating as long as it wasn't sugar or carbs. I lost 30 pounds on a coffee, bacon and cheese diet. I have a funny feeling that wasn't exactly what I was supposed to do. Of course eventually even bacon and cheese got boring (it did take a while though), I had some sugar, my appetite came roaring back and that was that.

This time I'm paying more attention to all-around nutrition. The main thing I'm doing though is keeping a record of I eat and counting the calories. That has been the silver bullet for me. It makes me consider what I'm eating and actually answer the question do I really want that? It's been okay that the answer was yes to dinner at Cheesecake Factory on my birthday, or twice this week with a snickers bar at work from a holiday care kit from an executive. I write it down and I incorporate it into my totals.

The funny thing is that the last thing I've felt these last three weeks is deprived. In fact sometimes it's a struggle to eat enough. Since I made these changes I haven't skipped a meal. That's a new thing for me too. I've kept myself well fed all the time with foods that make me feel great. I know this is probably old hat to some of you but it's new ground for me. The only thing I've noticed is that while I eat out a lot less often, I'm going to the market all the time. In fact right now I'm on my way back from TraderJoe's.

One of those Days

Yesterday was one of those days that things get done that make all the rest of your days easier. The last document I needed for my bankruptcy had been proving very elusive for the last three weeks. In order to stave off a couple of lawsuits I had gone ahead and filed anyway. I was counting on getting something from payroll that was now way overdue. The court needed this thing by Friday and I was starthing to get frantic. By Monday night I was a real basket case. So first thing yesterday morning I began banging on payroll. Sure enough by noon I had a hard copy in my hands and at my lawyer's office by 3. A huge weight was lifted. Another weight goes away on New Year's Eve when my hearing is.

So by the end of the year I should be 6 weeks into my new diet, out of debt and starting toward a positive balance sheet for the first time in my adult life. Hey, maybe my 40's aren't going to be so bad. I might be able to get used to feeling good.

Birthday Report

Not wanting to blow the two weeks I've got invested in my new diet and wanting to get out of the city and see something a little more on the natural side I tapped Karen for birthday duties yesterday. It was a very good and mellow birthday. I took the train down to Redwood City and we ended up driving down south of Carmel. It was a little hazy but still a beautiful fall day. We had lunch at the Carmel Whole Foods Salad Bar. While that doesn't make for a very exciting blog post I can report that it was exactly what I needed at the moment. We drove down to the big bridge and took some pictures. Then we went back to Carmel and took a walk along the seaside. I have never seen such big waves. These walls of water kept crashing in. No one was in the water. Surfers were just standing there with us watching the waves come crashing in. In the afternoon we stopped by the Carmel Mission. Somehow I had never visited this Mission. The gardens and chapel were beautiful, ancient and a little sad. I haven't had a chance to go through the pictures yet but I'm excited about seeing them on my computer. Look for some new stuff on Flickr in the coming days.

We headed back north as the sun set and got to Palo Alto an hour before the last Bogart double feature started. We had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory but kept it under control by sharing the Thai Lettuce Wraps and Chicken Pot Stickers. Then it was back to what used to be my favorate haunt before moving to the city, the Stanford Theater, for a double feature of To Have and to Have Not and The Maltese Falcon. I was a little stunned to realize that Karen had never seen either movie. We both did a good job staying awake through the last one when the long day seemed to catch up with us. A trip to the snack bar at intermission helped. Karen drove me home and I hit the sack right about the time my birthday was coming to an end.

Throughout the day my phone kept shaking with best wishes via voicemail, text, facebook and other modern communications. I was happy to recieve every one and they contributed to a general feeling of well being that was with me the whole day.

The End

So I'm down to the last couple of hours of my thirties. I woke up thinking about how at least a condemned prisoner can cling to that possible pardon call. No such luck for birthdays. But the death imagery stayed with me when I realized that that was the only way to avoid turning 40. All of a sudden a birthday didn't feel so bad.

A Moderate Thanksgiving

Well that was the most moderate Thanksgiving of my life. If anything I under ate. I worked for a few hours, talked to most of the people I'm close to on the phone watched some old West Wing and went to bed early. To tell you the truth I'm pretty happy about it too. The holiday didn't interfere with any of the new routines I've set up for myself and here it is the day after and I'm feeling good. The phone kept me from feeling lonely and I'm glad I didn't go out like I usually do. Eating alone in a restaurant on a holiday just brings being alone into sharper focus. Anyway it's over and with no lasting effects spilling into today. For that I'm truly thankful.

Thanksgiving

I had a cranky day yesterday. I kept getting into fights with machines. The new blogging application I bought had an undocumented bug that took me two hours to figure out, both my computers froze up on me, and I couldn't get my daily inventory to balance with the work computer and either my payroll department or my lawyer's fax machine doesn't work. I have no access to either of these machines but they are still working hard to screw me over.

By the time I was finished with dinner (my 33rd decent meal in a row) I was looking for something more than baby carrots to drown my sorrows in. I was thinking more along the lines of a chocolate cake. Mind you I didn't say slice of. Anyway there is nothing remotely like that in my apartment and I was in no mood to go out. So I put the rest of the almost stale Raymond's Sourdough round in the microwave for 20 seconds and ate the remaining crust with Smart Balance and salt. Not the best thing for me but better than the alternative. Then I started surfing the news sites. That did not make me feel any better. The news from India made me feel foolish for all the petty things that I let get to me. I thought of the health and safety of all the people I'm close to and care about. So on this day of thanksgiving I'm thankful for all you mean to me and do for me. And in this economy I'm going to say thanks for having a job that forces me to work on Thanksgiving Day. That's better than having no job any day. So...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

BlogPost

This is my second attempt to post from the BlogPost iPhone application. I wrote a long catch-up post on it this morning and was pretty happy until I went to post and it gave me a network error for the next two hours. I'm trying this to see if it was something about that first post.

iPhone Love

Like any device, or software for that matter, my love affair with my phone waxes and wanes. Actually that might be going to far. I always love my phone and use it all the time. I guess what waxes and wanes is my using it as a substitue for my computer. Right now I am on an iPhone high and my shoulder is loving me for it.

It's because it's November. November is my month. Always has been. I don't know if it's because my birthday ends the month, the shorter days, the cooler but not cold weather or the approaching holidays, but November has always meant a creative burst for me. This year was no different although it took until the second week to get going. After writing very sporadictly all spring and summer I've journaled every day for the last two weeks. Better I've been simply waking up and starting to write every morning. That's where the iPhone comes in. I've returned to my first days of owning it when I was using Notes to journal all the time. I have established a habit. Wake, grab phone, begin typing.

My morning pages are not the only place I'm connecting this way. With 40 coming up this weekend I took a good look at-well I took a good look at me. There is more of me. And there is about 40 pounds more of me than there needs to be. So I did some digging and ended up joining an online journal for keeping track of what I eat, weigh, and exercise. Of course I made the decision on which one based on how good its iPhone application is. Thanks to MyNetDiary I've recorded my last 30 meals and have yet to have a bad eating day. I also scrapped OmniFocus as my to-do list replacing it with Remember the Milk again because of the speed and ease of the iPhone application. So why am I bringing this all up here now? Because I realized that I was never really happy mailing my blog entries and with most of my writing happening on my phone I finally broke down and bought Blog Press and installed it on my first page. Hopefully this is enough of a kick in the butt to start updating regularly again.

Well I've got to go. Can't skip breakfast. It's the most important meal of the day.

HRC

Well the news is all abuzz with the idea that Hillary Clinton may be Obama's Secretary of State. I just want to weigh in that I think this is a bad idea. Not that I don't think that she would be an effective SoS, rather that she is far more valuable in the Senate. I think the Senate needs Hillary. I think the country and the institution is well served when there are people on the far ends of the political spectrum that know how do drill down an issue to find common ground. For the longest time the left has had Ted Kennedy to do this job but that may not be for long. I think Clinton is the natural heir to that position and we would all be better served if she stayed put and took that mantle. 

Yes I'm Still Out Here

Got an email from my most faithful reader (my mother of course) reminding me that I haven't communicated in awhile. This is just a quick note to say that I have not been in my usual self imposed exile. Rather I've been playing around with a little pre-turning-40-time-to-get-into-the game thoughts. I finally got off my ass and hired a lawyer to start my much needed bankruptcy proceedings. Just that simple first step was like getting a giant weight off of my back. That's led me to thinking about the other much needed changes. I've been journaling every day for the past 5 days and I haven't done that since February. I bought a scale and joined one of those online food journaling sites. I've been taking pictures again this month and trying to post as often as I can. Getting back on this site is the next step. I know this is just a mid-life crisis coming into bloom but I'm determined to make this one of the great positive mid-life crisis's of all time. After all I've been going through them since my early teens. I've got more experience than most. I'm going to do this one right. 

Election Day

Before tomorrow dawns and the 2012 presidential campaigns go into full swing I thought it might be time to weigh in on the present political landscape. 

First the easy prediction: Barack Obama will indeed be elected President. How big will the margin be will decided pretty early. If Indiana is close when its polls close then McCain is in for a very short night of remaining a candidate. Personally I think I'm having a hard time seeing Obama winning Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Indiana, North Carolina or Missouri. The problem for McCain is that he has to win every one of those states plus taking Pennsylvania for him to have any chance. The best McCain can hope for without Pennsylvania is a 269-269 tie in which case the House of Representatives would give the election to Obama. This scenario also counts McCain winning New Hampshire, and Nevada as well as all of the above states which is highly unlikely. Far more likely is Obama winning New Hampshire, Nevada and Virginia and cruising to a 291-247 win. Less likely but still possible is more of a blowout with many or all of the swing states going for Obama along with a popular vote of more than 50%. That combined with what will certainly be at least 15 seats in the House and 4 in the Senate will give the new president the first real mandate from the electorate since the Reagan revolution. 

That of course is the segue. Obama is the new Reagan. These are troubled times. We have couple of unpopular wars, who may not be going exactly badly, but show little signs of ever ending. The world economy has found itself in its worst state in decades. The President has proven massively ineffective at dealing with anything and is horribly unpopular at home and even more unpopular around the world. America needs someone that can articulate a populist competent optimism. Shockingly enough it was the Democratic party that ran exactly that campaign. That more than anything else is why they are poised to win big today. 

Milestone

In January when I bought my new camera and started posting to flickr on a more regular basis I made a goal of a thousand total views a week or 50,000 for the year. Yesterday I hit that number. I got there with more than a little help from our Lion friends from the San Francisco Zoo. My first Lion Sex picture also hit a milestone yesterday being my first picture to get to 5,000 views. 

It's a simple truth that having my pictures looked at makes me happy. Though as I've been working on some different photo shoots lately I've been wondering how much of what I do is tailored toward getting a few more views. I contribute to award and rating groups and I'm never sure how much influence their views or lack of response changes what I do to my pictures and what I choose to share. I've been having fun with color lately but this morning I realized that as colorful as the Italian Parade was what I really wanted to do was print these shots in black and white. I guess I'm still trying to figure out what my own palette looks like and sometimes I worry about letting other people's opinions take me away from the directions I want to be. Where does my ego run off to when I start creating?

Feet Week

Blue Angels and Flag, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

I woke up early this morning and started working on yesterday's pictures. I shot over 600 between the Fleet Week Air Show and the Italian Heritage Parade. I may have gotten up too early actually as my first posts included flights by the Blue "Angles" during "Feet" Week. Hopefully I got it all corrected. Anyway the first five are up on my flickr account.

Feeling a Little Purple Tonight

Sailboat at Dawn, Lake Tahoe, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Well I finally posted my first five pictures from last week's Tahoe Trip. I'm not sure if I like what I've done with them. I've soften them up and they ended up pretty darn purple. That's just the way it went once I started working with them tonight. Tomorrow may be a different story altogether. I promised myself that I would spend my first year taking photography seriously doing some experiments in style. Tonight is no different. Who knows tomorrow I may be putting them up sharp like a tack and in black and white. We'll see. I have inventory tomorrow at work so I really should be in bed now.

On the Road

Checked into the Firelite Lodge in Tahoe Vista. I have no idea if I'm going to be able to get to sleep without the noise from the Bar around the block, the wail of the Firetrucks, the ringing of the Cable Car bells, taxi whistles, the manic screams of the lost and the never ending construction that comes in through my bedroom window. We're right on the highway so there are cars every so often, but the silence is already kinda weirding me out. Hopefully by tomorrow I can acclimate to a gentler existence. 

Waiting for the Leaves to Change

Fall should be around the corner but so far all I've gotten is our regular Indian Summer. That has been good for business but not necessarily for my mood. I spent more of this week out of the mild conditions of my apartment and my store than I usually do. For example right now I'm killing an hour in the Starbucks next to my store on Union Street. It is as usual pretty warm in here. It was the same for the morning I spent at the Sugar Cafe. The Jury Assembly room at hall of Justice wasn't very well ventilated and Part 21 of the Superior Court was the worst of all. 

Yes I had jury duty this week. I never made it into the jury box for questioning. I spent most of my time catching up with old lightly read New Yorker's (I even found 2 cartoons I had missed) and watching what would have been the most boring episode of Law and Order ever. To tell the truth I don't mind jury duty all that much. With no mandatory military service it is really the only civic duty we have other than paying taxes which is a pretty good deal for living in the most free nation ever conceived. That and the fact that I have an exaggerated appreciation of my judgement and fairness. I think I would make a good juror. Heck if they would pay more than $17.50 a day and have more than a couple of days of work a week I'd be willing to go pro.

Anyway I had very little chance of being picked for this jury as the case was just too close to the same types of crime I and the store's I supervise are often the victims of. So I did a lot of paying attention to what was going on. It was stereotype city, right down to the bow tie on the public defender's neck. I would have sworn that I have seen the judge, attorneys, bailiff, and court clerk playing themselves on television. 

Because of jury duty I only managed a single day off and I spent that on a last minute trip to Muir Woods. I've also had to do some support work for some other stores in the city. I am out of my routine in a time of the year that I like to renew the best parts of my routines. Fall is to me what Spring is to most people. This is mainly because I can't think straight during the warm months and have always felt saver in the cool overcast of winter. It may have to do with an unwarranted fear of spy satellites I don't really know. All I know is that I'm feeling overdue for a creative breakout and it's just not there yet. The good news is that the calendar moves on despite any of our wishes so I do know that it's on its way. 

Mini Vacation

Ladybug Sign, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Got spirited away on Monday. Karen came to town and picked me up for an afternoon walk in Muir Woods. I have been in desperate need of a good walk in the forest and the day didn't disappoint. On the trail we came up on this sign for a "Vacation Spot for Ladybugs. As you can see even the sign was crawling with ladybugs as was much of the fence, ferns and ground around us. Afterwards we drove to the coast and had some good quality time with the Pacific.

As far as the pictures go, it was getting dark in the forest in the late afternoon so al my shots came out needing a lot of help from the old digital lab. I've put five up but I hope to find some more good ones to add later.

Feeling Good

I'm now on my second straight decent night's sleep and I am feeling
much better for it. Yesterday was a good day off, I got some laundry
done and a few groceries. More importantly I worked on my photography
seriously for the first time in a couple of weeks. My camera set up is
by no means ideal for nighttime high speed sports photography (Nikon
D40 with a kit lens) but I managed to put 15 pictures up on the better
side of not bad.

Last night my dreams were full of adventure, I was a superhero getting
his butt kicked but fully conscious of the fact that I was about to
take my own turn ass kicking. I was a student director/actor in a high
school musical (not my own high school which kept nostaligia to a
minimum), and a squad leader in the Italian campaign in WWII. In the
last one I discovered the most incredible underground deli ever
imagined.

In short things seem to be looking up. Of course the fact that I've
been on the phone the last two nights with the friend that I thought
had abandoned me two weeks ago may have something to do with my mood
change. Maybe.

San Francisco Twilight Criterium

Twilight Criterium 5, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Saturday they closed Union Street for most of the afternoon and evening for the first Twilight Criterium Bicycle Races. It was not all that great for business but turned out to be a lot of fun to watch. My store was actually on two blocks away from the race itself so I did not get to see any of the Kids or Amateur races. I did however bring my camera to work so that I could shoot the Women and Men's Pro events. The Women's event started in light at 6:40 and ran for an hour into the twilight. The Men's event didn't start until eight and took place in under the lights.

For the women I was on the top of the uphill for the last turn. For the men I moved to the bottom of Filmore for the fast downhill turn. Fast may actually be an understatement. Much of the action I didn't get a chance to see until I looked at the pictures I was taking almost blind. I had to turn off the auto-focus because there was no time for my camera to lock on. It took most of the race to get my settings right but by the last few laps I was getting some shots I was happy with.

It was quite a rush standing right where they took that corner. You could feel the air as the bikes sped by. The only drawback was you can't be at an event in the Marina on a the weekend without a high percentage of drunken douche-bags, including the 6'3" guy that insisted on leaning out over the bikers for half of the race. I have to admit that I would have gotten some great pictures of the carnage if this moron had fallen on the pack of bikes.

A Comment on My Mood of Late

I think it's a comment on my mood of late that I think this is the goddamn funniest thing I've ever read. 

Feeling A Little Alone

Had a pretty lousy day off. Was supposed to go out with a friend and didn't hear from her at all. Nor in response to two messages, a text and an email. My iPhone took a header too. Twice. Wouldn't accept the back-ups I had either so I pretty much had to rebuild the environment from scratch. It was damn hot today too so I ended up holed up in my apartment. I did manage to get the laundry done though. I also read an article on People Who Live Without television. For the most part the article was nothing I wouldn't expect, mainly that people on the far left and the far right pretty much give up TV for the same reasons. No, what through me for a loop was the percentage of people in this country that don't watch TV. It's one to two percent. It's true that I don't really consider myself mainstream but I had no idea I was that out there. I haven't had cable since I moved to the city three years ago. I have a TV but it's hooked up to a computer that I watch movies and a few TV shows through Netflix. One percent! I thought for sure it was going to be at least five. I feel so out there. 

An Odd Sort of Nostalgia

Photos on the Bed, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Today was the last day off that I have for quite a while. I'm working the next twelve days straight actually. And to tell you the truth it was kind of a weird day off. I slept very poorly last night, maybe three hours all told. I wasn't even sure what it was that was keeping me up. Troubles of the heart maybe. I have some women on my mind. I've seen Karen a couple of times in the past two weeks, including lunch on Friday. She called me today after seeing the new Woody Allen movie with it's crazy ex-wife in it. A birthday phone call with an expired love interest in the mid-west touched on her status return to single. The Unmentionable-EX, deleted her entire blog in another sign of upheaval in the universe and the woman I really want to call me hasn't. Like all month. No wonder I can't sleep.

Pouge in The Times wrote a story about a firm in Irvine that will scan a thousand photos onto a dvd for fifty bucks. So i spent part of my day emptying albums and making piles of pictures on my bed. More memories were trapped in that box than I remembered. Strange nostalgia gripping me today. God, I hope I can sleep tonight.

Hooked by Phonics

I'm sitting on the bus watching a young father work some phonics flash
cards with his daughter. I'm reminded of just how much I hated the
phonics portion of reading in early primary school. I'm sure this has
led to my god awful spelling and pronunciation. I was just in such a
hurry to read to understand. I wonder how much my rush to learn only
what I was in a rush to learn has left me with an incomplete education.

Got to Give the People What they Want

Lion Sex Too, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

So this morning I broke down from my artsy photography expressions and just nakedly grabbed for page views on flickr. To do so I broke out the last of my lions having sex stash and threw it up and onto my favorite ratings groups. The reaction was swift and impressive. I've never had a picture make a hundred view in it's first day. By the time I left for work this one had. Right now eleven hours after I posted it is my 11th all time most popular. I have no idea what this means about society or flickr. I do know that I'm considering having business cards drawn up to reflect my personal expertise in "Big Cat Mating Photography"

Beautiful Day Off in San Francisco

Enjoying the Day, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

I stayed up way too late last night cleaning up my Facebook profile. Woke up too early to keep at it. I did manage to get out of the house for a couple of hours and take some pictures. It was a bright, shiny yet mild summer day in San Francisco, exactly the kind of day I love the city for.

As for the pictures, just when I think I'm getting a style down I start playing with each picture so I can't even post 5 pictures that look like they have anything in common. Well, I'm still learning the art.

Like I said, I updated my facebook profile to better reflect where I am at both in the world and on the internet. I got friended yesterday by an old high school buddy. It was nice to catch up. I'm sure that's one reason why I've got Joe Walsh playing after listening to The Cure all night long. Days gone by, you know.

While I was poking around the old internet tubes I came upon yet another of those web 2.0 aggregators called FriendFeed. I like it, it's very easy to use and you can set it up for yourself or anyone else, whether or not they use the service.

Anyway enjoy the pictures. Back soon.

Testing the Prime

Gripman on Brake, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

I took my camera with me when I headed down to the Embarcadero to get a haircut. I spent part of the morning trying to decipher what the moderators were looking for in a flickr group dedicated to my favorite photographer Henri Cartier Brenson. The name of the group is Decisive Moments after HBC's collection of photographs covering 1930 to 1957. There was much debate about what exactly a decisive moment was. Some people took it as the moment when something signficant happens in the subjects life. Other's saw it more as a play of time and alignment between photographer, subject and environment. HBC wrote about the term like this, "...the decisive moment, it is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression."

After having 3 of the 4 pictures I submitted rejected I thought I would try to think more like Henri and only took out my 50mm "Prime" lens. No hiding behind a long lens today. No being lazy and using the zoom instead of my feet to frame the picture. It was tough but I did manage this capture which I like very much. I was sitting on the California line waiting for this guy and the conductor to finish their breaks for the ride home. I like this shot but I'm not going to send it to the Decisive Moment group. The one thing I think I have learned is that those guys are elitist jerks.

Stella!

This is a Berry Stella. It is my favorite baked good from Starbucks.
Ever. I have had one every work day since they started carrying them.
They seem to violate Starbucks rule against any moistness in any
breakfast bread. But they come with an bonus. Whenever the cashier
calls out to have it pulled I get treated to a personal audition for
"Streetcar Named Desire" Stellaaaa!

Vacation Almost at an End

Rincon Tower, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Well tomorrow, scratch that, today is my last day off. I didn't take a lot of pictures, I didn't write on my blog very much. Still I'm not unhappy. I taught myself a new workflow using Capture NX and I'm sure that I'm going to be putting out better and better pictures because of it. I also managed to get all my image files into one place on Aperture and that was no small feat. But the most important thing I did was to finally get some pictures printed. I had 20 8x10 and 8x12's printed on Kodak ENDURA Metallic Paper. I love the way they turned out. I spent Monday mounting and framing 10 of them.

Anyway there are five new architecture pictures up on flickr. This one of Rincon Tower through a chain link fence is my favorite.

Theives!!!

Dykes on Bikes, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Yesterday's column by San Francisco Chronicle muckrakers Maiter and Ross featured this photo I took during this year's Pride Parade. It is not one of the ones I submitted to the SFGate this week. I'm also not the person that forwarded it to the both the Chronicle as well as the Fire Department. Maiter and Ross are stirring up a controversy based on whether or not that is San Francisco FireFighter Sabine Balden's badge on her bustier. I've looked at the full size picture uncropped and blown up and I can't tell although it sure is in the right shape on top.

As the article was the #1 emailed on the Gate last night I guess I'm happy that one of my pictures got so much exposure. On the other hand I'm annoyed that it's up without my credit and that emails requesting my credit be applied to the picture have gone unresponded by both Matier and Ross and the Chronicle's photo editor. And I sure as heck don't want to get someone in trouble with at their job based on a picture I took.

Anyway here is a link to the Column.

Transamerica Pyramid

Transamerica Pyramid, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

I probably should have spent my day off working on the rest of the Pride pictures but I was hit by the desire to hit the road and take some more building shots. JPEG magazine has a submission theme open for "Geometry" so I thought I would take some photos of our city's most famous pyrimid.

Fire on Union Street

So this was the scene about a half a block from my store just about an
hour ago. One of the old buildings that houses a Tibetian shop run by
a wonderful lady named Gity Joon caught fire and it seemed like the
whole fire department responded. It looks like the fire was confined
to the upper floors and the SFFD had it out pretty fast but it sure
caused a stir to end the evening.

So I Took Some Anonymous Advise

So I took the advise of the "anonymous" person that left a comment on my Pride post and submitted some pictures to the SFGate. It's not like I was on assignment or anything but it was very friendly when they accepted all five of my submissions and the Reader Photo's section on the front of the gate was filled with my pictures. Here's the screen grab. Mine are the tiny black and white pictures at the bottom of the page. 

Pride Photos!!!

Brides on Bikes, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Lot's of Brides on Bikes to start the parade thanks to the California Supreme court decision. Yes, I know it is a colorful event and I processed all the pictures in black in white. I'm afraid I'm starting to develop a little bit of a specific style. Anyway I took more pictures today than any other day of my life. I managed to get through about a third of them. So follow this link and check out the first sixty-six with more to follow. I've really got to get some dinner and watch some Law and Order Criminal Intent.

Catching You Up

I've got lunch on my mind so I'll try to make this quick. 

I had a great time at the Old 97's at The Fillmore. It was my first time at the Fillmore as well as my first time seeing the Old 97's. Both were impressive. Except for the heat the venue felt comfortable to be in. That's a lot coming from me who feels comfortable practically nowhere. The band was fantastic, one of the best shows I've seen. Absolutely exuberant. Since the show was right after the Laker's getting pummeled by the Celtics (a game I drank my way through) I had one of my happiest nights in a very long time. 

However that night led to one of my least favorite mornings in a long time as the combination of standing all day at work drinking cider non-stop for two hours and then standing and bouncing up and down for another four hours all without any water left me and all my joints dehydrated and aching. I'm still not back to a hundred percent and that makes me a little pissy. 

Friday I went to the de Young and saw the Chihuly exhibit. That was incredible. Like nothing I've ever seen. Beautiful glass objects set in some stunning instillations. The glass pieces lit on black mirrored glass gave the rooms an otherworldly dimension. It reminded me of that magical novel Veronica that I love. Highly recommended. 

I got in touch with an old friend that I hadn't spoken to in over a year. She said she was busy and would call me back shortly. That was two weeks ago. She hasn't responded to any of my texts since then. It's starting to dawn on me that maybe she just hates me. I'm so bad at reading people I really have no idea. I'm feeling a little out there right now I guess. The Unnamable-X is falling in love again. (Hey, she publishes in the public arena and I read it what are you going to do?) This is leading to a resurfacing of completely unjustified jealousy. Not pretty. Not pretty at all. Of course there is the girl I'm trying to spend more time with who hasn't returned any of my calls for the past week. I'm starting to worry that I sleep-phoned something embarrassingly forward to everyone in my phone book and that's why no one will talk to me. 

That pretty much brings you up to date. More later as it happens. 

Some Bay to Breakers Pictures

baytobreakers08 14, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

I've gone through some of my Bay to Breakers pictures and gotten them onto flickr this week. This one is my favorite so far. I'm trying to get better about writing but it's hard for me to stay focused lately. My neck and right shoulder have been bothering me pretty bad most of the year especially the last couple of months. In absence of longer items I've tried to embrace twitter a little bit more so that I can at least get a little record of what I'm doing down. I've got the feed running in the margin. My lack of writing has extended to the home front too. I've only put three journal entries in my computer all month. This is contributing to my unease I know. When I don't write every day I get a little more lost an anxious. This morning I did manage to get breakfast and have a write at the Sugar Cafe. I had my camera and computer with me and took a stroll down Market where I took some pictures of emergency services responding to someone passed out on the street car tracks. Then I headed here to the Main Library figuring I would try to get back into the swing of blogging. So here I am. Trying to remember how to do this.

New, as in Shot Today, Pictures

Newsstand, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Yes there are new pictures on my flickr page. Yes they are ones that shot less than two months ago. Yes, they were in fact shot today. By popular demand (well one person actually) there are several portrait orientated architectural shots.

I was going to spend another day locked in the apartment working on my photo backlog but decided that it might be better to actually figure out what had become of my camera. So I took a walk down to the MoMA to check out the photography books and then made my way back up to California and caught a cable car home. I know it's territory well traveled for me but I believe there is always a new angle or process.

Where Have You Been?

Girl, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Well to tell you the truth I've been right where I usually am. Spring and Summer are always hard times for me creatively. The Sunshine gets me down. I guess that's why it's good that I have a job that gets busier the more the sun shines. Work has been taking up more of my energy but not so much that's it's wearing me out, just an upturn in the business (though not as much as my bosses or I would like). I bought a Roku Netflix streaming box that I've been loving and using to watch a bunch of documentaries. My favorite was one on Henri Cartier-Bresson. It prompted me to order a couple of his books on Amazon. The main one arrived just yesterday. And it was yesterday that I finally locked myself in my apartment and went through all the pictures that I took when Colleen was out here at the end of April. There are a hundred and thirty new pictures on my flickr pages so click on the girl with her hands on her hips and take a look. I still have a sizable backlog to go with my Bay to Breakers and Union Street festival photos too so stayed tuned. I even managed to hit the street last night to take a couple of shots which I'll try to put up tonight.

Spring Fever

Dancer in the Wings, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Just a quick note to say yes I am alive and I have not completely abandoned my artistic endeavors. While I may have not posted anything in the last few weeks here or on flickr I have actually taken a large number of photographs. I hope to process some of them over the next few days. Let me just say that I hate spring. Everything goes through upheaval in the spring and to tell you the truth I don't like that all that much. I like fall. I like knowing that winter is coming and things are going to freeze for a little while so maybe I can negotiate my way through life a little bit more effectively for a couple of months.

They remodeled my store, it's pretty but easier to rob. In my head I couldn't decide if I was a midwestern family man or a west coast urban hermit. I finally decided on software and a system for processing my pictures, they upgraded both of the programs I use and once again I can't make up my mind. I get the girl I've been chasing for years to spend the weekend with me, we part as friends.

Now I know that these are not catastrophes by any means. But they are the kinds of things that make it hard for me to produce any meaningful work. This is one of the reasons I like photography. I have not been able to concentrate or write or stay on task for very long this last month. Yet I have amassed several hundred photographs that are waiting for me to get my ass back on track. I've found my medium.

Things are looking up though. I have more help at work. I've joined the San Francisco Fine Arts museums and my trips to the de Young and Legion of Honor have already had a great impact on the way I see. I bought the catalog to the MoMa Friedlander show last night and it is changing my life. I know where I belong. I'm staying in the city. If rent control isn't voted out of existence next month I'm probably staying in this apartment. I've spending more time and energy with an old friend that is also trying to work her way out of a corporate rut. Happy productive times are just around the corner. Stay tuned.

Bejing Marches on San Francisco

Bejing Marches on San Francisco, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

My first batch from yesterday's Olympic Torch protest extravaganza are up on flickr. I've got some more to put up that will be coming later. I'm also going to try to label them with more backstory than usual. I'll try to get to that by the end of the weekend. In the meantime check out the set so far.

Olympic Torch Protests

Monday in Front of City Hall

Mayor Gavin Newsom, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Monday I found myself a half an hour early for the main branch of the San Francisco library to open. So I started to take some pictures of City Hall. That is when I noticed a group of people with a podium using City Hall as a backdrop. So I wandered across the plaza and came upon an endorsement event for Supervisor Mark Leno's race for the State Senate. This gave me a chance to take some close shots of several members of the Board of Supervisor's as well as the Mayor and Joe Alioto Veronese who had dropped out of the race to endorse Mark Leno. I was approached by a member of the campaign while I was shooting and ended up sending him copies of the shots I took for him to use. Who knows where they might end up. Anyway here is a gallery of some of the the shots I took.

Mark Leno Event

Office With a View

We'll not quite an office but as close as I can get. I managed to get an alcove all to myself on the 5th floor of the San Francisco Public Library with a nice view of City Hall. I had power and internet and of course my phone and music with me so it was a nice change of pace from writing in my little room with its alley view of the Hotel Rex. I even managed to take some birds eye pictures of people on the street from up here. I'm definitly going to be doing this again. 

Easter Morning

Crissy Field Path, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

This one is from Easter Morning before going to work and before the parade and festivities. I have a couple of more days of intensive work as I try to get through the weekend, close out the first quarter with a bang, look to hire some new people and get my store ready to be closed next weekend for inventory. Once I'm through that though, things should be pretty good. I've decided not to offer my services to any other store and instead take four days off next week instead of two. The idea is blissful. I just need to stay healthy so I can enjoy it.

Some Pictures from the Easter Parade

Egg Bonnet, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Well I'm back. I have been taking pictures but I've been struggling with the post-production. Today I went to a 3 hour seminar that Apple was doing at the Westin on their program Aperture. Despite being pretty much sold on Lightroom and having a library in it of several thousand images I've been tinkering with Aperture since 2.0 came out. The presentation was impressive and I came back home eager to try out some of the things I'd learned. My first hour was spent having to delete the program, re-install it, destroy all my settings, rebuild my library and in general get pretty pissed off. I finally got it to work again and managed to import and process all of my Easter Parade pictures. That went well. I narrowed down and processed 400 pictures into the 37 that I loaded on to flickr tonight. Well that's all for me. I've got more pictures to go through but that will happen sometime after I get a night's sleep.

2008 Union Street Easter Parade.

I Went out to the Bridge on Monday

Saturated Bridge, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

I had to go into the store to process something that was on a deadline so I took the opportunity to jump on the 28 and take it out to the bridge. I tried to catch a shortcut down to Fort Point but ended up in a very steep and wooded area so I had to backtrack. Nothing more embarrassing than getting lost in the woods in the middle of a city. I took a few shots and then headed home. I just finished my two days off and frankly I felt antsy all the time. No, that's not quite true. For a while there I was feeling testy. Yesterday I seemed to use most of my day researching the in's and out's of keywording photographs. I went ahead and signed up for smugmug and I'm starting to get serious about the organization and presentation of my pictures. It is a daunting process to say the least.

A Big Thank You

I know I have used this space to make fun of m y 254 square foot apartment before but tonight I would like to thank my friend John for his part in adding a great new feature to my abode. You see after spending the evening at Fiddlers celebrating St. Patrick's day my apartment now has that added bonus of spinning round round like a recored baby round round like one of those cool restaurants that give you a whole city in the round. After single-handedly raising cider futures I can report that my apartments now turns on it's own.

My New Best Friend

My New Best Friend, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

It's been a rough week or so with a hell of a stomach flu descending on me early last week. I haven't felt like doing much of anything in that time but I did manage to take at least one picture a day. Tonight I finally got around to posting them on flickr. This one is from Sunday and it is of my savior.

I Made the Finals

Remember that calendar contest that I was pimping for votes on last month. We'll they've narrowed it down to one picture from each of the four weeks in February. Mine is week three. The prize is actually something I'm very close to buying for myself, a one year pro account to Smugmug. So if any of my readers might see fit I could use a little support. At the moment I'm one vote off the lead so even a little bit of help would be appreciated.

The link is here

ADIDAP Flicker Round February


And stop to check out the rest of the site. All Day I Dream About Photography is a great photography blog and one I read every day.

I'm sick and I think I gave it to my iPod.

iPhone,

For the last three days I've had the worst stomachache. I called in sick today and have spent the last two days mostly moving from my bed to my bathroom. The one exception was a trip down to the local Genius Bar. This morning I woke to discover that my phone was feeling more poorly than I was. I spent two hours trying to reset it but was unsuccessful. But here is another endorsement for Apple's customer service. Because 15 minutes after I walked out of the store with this brand new phone. I just wonder where I could get a new stomach that fast.

My Weekend Has Arrived

Red Rose 5, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Grace had to take this past weekend off so I was alone at the store for the last three days. Three warm and sunny days. Three busy days. Three days when I could have really used my assistant manager. Anyway it was a long weekend for me and I spent most of Monday just cleaning up the store. But Monday was my Friday so now I'm off and looking forward to taking some new pictures. Here is a rose from tonight. After work I realized that it was already the third and my February Muni pass was going to stop working in the morning so I took the bus down to Safeway so I could use my debit card to buy it. I decided to buy some flowers while I was there to work on my macro photography. There are some more on my flickr site. I don't know what I'm going to shoot tomorrow but I know I want it to be new. Whatever it is I'll be posting it around twenty-four hours from now.

Quick Self Portrait to Keep My Streak Alive

My Nikon and I, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Tonight I was supposed to be cleaning house because I have people coming over tomorrow night after work. I did a little as well as got some dinner and watched a little TV. I have no idea how it got to be a quarter to twelve. Evenings just seem to fly by for me. I had to take a quick picture just to keep my streak of taking and posting at least one picture a day since I bought my camera. Actually for only taking one frame it didn't come out too bad. I can't tell you how many times I've taken 30 or so frames of myself only to toss them all. Not being very photogenic does not do too much for my motivation when it comes to getting a good shot of myself.

Slipped Out Late Last Night to Take Pictures

Fire Escape at Night, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

It got to be eleven o'clock and I still hadn't taken any pictures so I grabbed my camera and took a walk around the neighborhood. This was the only shot worth sharing from the alley between buildings across the street. I still didn't manage to blog before falling asleep. This morning I was hoping to be to work by nine and I'm not even out of bed at 8:30. I keep falling a little behind. Not enough hours making up my days I'm afraid.

Watching the World Go By

Watching the World Go By, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

I like how this picture came out. It's not of me but I know I still get that look sometimes when I'm riding on the outside looking at the city. This was taken at the top of Nob Hill. I'm pretty sure he was looking at Grace Cathedral.

I spent most of the afternoon at the library doing some research. This is only the second time I've been to the new main library and it's starting to grow on me. Last time I even got myself a library card for the first time in forever. I'm getting to know the angles. I especially like how I can use my own computer in the library as a card catalog. I ordered two books from other parts of the state to be sent up. Free internet and power. Nice lighting and a bathroom. I think I'm going to be spending more time there in the future.

Yellow Flowers

Yellow Flowers, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

This morning I decided I wanted to take my camera out to the ocean for the first time so after a long write over coffee at the Sugar Cafe I boarded the 38 bus for the long ride out to Sutro Heights Park. I took some pictures of the sky and the shoreline but I think the best shots came from the flowers in the park. I'm still learning the ins and outs of macro but it was fun.

New Jeans / New Shoes

New Jeans / New Shoes, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

My wardrobe is expanding. If you know me, you know I usually have to have my arm twisted pretty darn hard to by anything casual. The Jeans that are sitting on the radiator are the pair I bought two years ago and constitute the only piece of denim I've owned in the past five or so years. This makes the jeans I bought tonight (that I'm wearing) a complete changing of the guard. The Top Siders I bought last week are the first pair of casual shoes I've owned since moving to the city. I still don't own a pair of athletic shoes. Man, I've got to lighten up.

Okay, So that Wasn't Such a Good Idea

Dragon & Firecrackers, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

I think the third hour did me in last night. I started shivering uncontrollably with about an hour left to go. Once the parade ended I had a hell of a time stopping shaking long enough to put my gear away. The walk home was not fun. Not at all. I tried to run a hot bath when I got home but that just made my hands and feet hurt more. This would all sit better with me if I had got got shots. But the rain kept me from bringing my flash and I grossly underexposed most of the shots.

Today I've been trying to work my way through editing them down. I shot almost 700 frames and I have no patience for anything but eating and watching old movies. I'm achy and irritable and so tired. I called in sick and then canceled on John and Sarah's Oscar party for the first time in several years. I have no idea what I'm going to take a picture of tonight. That's the one streak I've got going and I really have no idea what I'm going to shoot.

Waiting for the parade.

Wet Rat

So tomorrow is the Chinese New Year's Parade in San Francisco. It is the Year of the Rat. It looks like this year it's going to be a very wet rat. The forecast for tomorrow night is for rain, heavy at times, with winds 30 to 45 mph with gusts up to 70. Last year the evening of the parade was near perfect weather but I was sick as a dog and couldn't really get out of bed. This year in my excitement of having the new camera I went ahead and ordered a bleacher seat. It looks like it could be a pretty soggy seat by the time the dragon comes around. Tonight I've been working out a system of plastic baggies with holes cut in them for my camera and lens as well as breaking out my old bib from my sailing days. Stay tuned. Whatever the weather I'm sure to have some interesting pictures tomorrow night.

I Do Believe I'm Feeling Better

Brown Twins Walking Up Powell in the Rain, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Yesterday when I broke my blogging streak I also blew my journaling streak at 92 days. This was the first time I'd managed to go three full months without missing a day. However the last couple of weeks had seen some weak entries. Lots of last minute notes just before midnight just to say that I had written something that day. Sure that's better than nothing but still not what I had in mind when I started writing every day. So this morning with nothing hanging over me saw me get up early enough to sit in my chair and have a clear-headed write. That did wonders. Now if only I can get myself to write these blog posts in the morning before work again I'll be back on track.

The picture I took on my way home from seeing George's entry into the San Francisco Indy Fest, Inertia. It was very good and I must acquire a copy if at all possible. It was playing one last time at the Roxy. I didn't take my camera out while I was in the Mission at all. But when I got back to my own neighborhood I found a spot to lean and then saw the Brown Twins climbing the hill home after hitting the Powell and Sutter Walgreens. I snapped when they got into the light but the iso was off the chart for the camera that's why it's so grainy.

Nice to Have a Day Off

Just One Eye, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

I almost didn't know what to do with myself. I tided my apartment, did half my laundry, ordered groceries, and uploaded a bunch of photos to flickr. What I didn't do was set foot outside. I haven't done that in a while but that's okay. It was nice to stay in for a day. My daily photos from today were of me taken here. I'm still learning the in's and out's of my flash.

My Favorite New Read

Where Are We Going?, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Lately I've stopped reading Digg and Reddit so much and have been spending most of my online time on flickr. However there are a couple of photography sites that I'm starting to read religiously. My favorite is ADIDAP–All Day I Dream About Photography. She runs a monthly contest based on the submissions to their flickr group. At the end of the year they publish a calendar of all the monthly winners. My Photo "Where Are We Going?" was labeled as #6 out of the 900 or so pictures that got submitted this month. Now the voting begins. I heartily recommend checking out this site and voting on this month's contest.

ADIDAP Flickr Round 2

A Month with My New Camera

So yesterday concluded my first four weeks of Nikon ownership. I thought I would put up something about how it impacted my life. I carry my camera almost everywhere with me. Often times with my whole kit which includes a tripod, flash, extra lens, batteries the works. On the rare occasions that I don't have it all with me I miss it. It has become an extension of me. 

The screenshot above is from my flickr stats page taken today. To put it into perspective know that four weeks ago nothing on that chart was above 50 in a daily reading. That one shows a peak of 650. My total views a month ago were 3,500 for the first two years I was a member of flickr. Now I'm approaching 10,000. Wow!

Some Night Shooting

Peter & Paul at Night 1, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

This is the entry I should have written last night. The problem was after I took pictures in Washington Square Park I ate at the Pomodoro right there on Union and had a quarter carafe of red wine. They don't serve wine by the glass anymore. Anyway by the time I got home I was pretty much done in for the day. I laid down to take a nap before processing the pictures I'd taken and post one here. I woke up at, no kidding, 12:01. Too late to make my midnight deadline. So I went back to sleep.

Anyway on my way home last night I got off the 45 at Columbus and decided to take my first stab at long exposure photography since I got the new camera. I got some nice pictures of Peter and Paul and a couple of good ones of Coit Tower. It was easier than I thought and I'm starting to feel more comfortable shooting in manual mode.

Still Sleepy

My Eyes Seeing, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

I've been writing these entries the last few weeks at the end of the day. This has not produced my pest writing. Tonight I can barely keep my eyes open. I was successful in keeping them both open long enough to get this snap.

I'm keeping my streaks alive. A journal streak that goes back to November, a posting streak that's started since a couple of weeks later and my flickr streak dates back to mid-December.

Annual San Francisco Pillow Fight

Feathers, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Today was a long day. I started by helping on my sixth inventory this quarter. I was drained by the time the day was over, but I had to head out to the Pier to complete a transfer. I caught a cable car home but noticed people heading down to the plaza. Then I remembered the pillow fight. I finished my ride home but then ran into my room to throw together my camera bag and caught a cab back to the Ferry Bulding. I took pictures for a couple of hours and then went home to work on the editing and get some sleep. Well I've done some editing so I guess it's time to get some sleep.

What a day!

My Nikon and I, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

My god, I had a day today. I was up, packed, dressed and on my stoop waiting for Brandon to pick me up at a quarter after six. By the time dawn had happened we were set up taking pictures out at the wave organ. Brandon is working on a new MySpace layout for his band and had hired me to take some pictures of him for it. Eight hours, four locations and nearly four hundred frames later I got back home. Waiting for me at home were the packages that I had paid extra to have delivered to me the day before so I would have them for the photo shoot. My new tripod and flash unit were the chief components. The flash I'm still learning how to use, but boy we could have used that tripod today. Until this afternoon I was using a very inexpensive tripod with a truly diabolical head on it that allows for very little fine tuning. My new Slik tripod that my camera is resting on in this picture is my first one with a ball head. Wow, what a difference. Put the camera wherever you want it and tighten the lever. No struggling. No swearing. Very nice.

As for the shoot, Brandon came over tonight and we started sorting and playing around with post production. We did end up rating and figuring out what shots we liked and what shots would get the most attention. We did a rating system and ended up with about 70 with three stars, 17 with four and two or three that qualify as some of the best pictures I've ever taken. I'm really quite proud of the work.

Where is it you ask? Well, like I said he's working on his MySpace and wants to hold on for a kind of grand re-opening. I'm still doing some work on them so you probably aren't going to see much more than a teaser for a while on this site. In the meantime I was having some fun with my new flash and took this shot is vaulting ahead of every other one to become my favorite self-portrait.

Is that the Roof Coming Down?

Is the Roof Coming Down?, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Today was supposed to be the day that makes tomorrow possible.

There is probably a bad corporate inspirational poster in that comment somewhere. Just randomize the words.

I had to work an inventory and change over for a new merged store. It was, as expected, long and a little stressful. But I was safe in the fact that my new tripod and flash would be waiting for me when I got home.

Not quite.

My new rechargeable batteries were the only thing of the two next day and one third-day package that was due from UPS. Since they were still showing as "out for delivery" on the UPS site and I was afraid of missing them before having what is my first paying assignment I sat in the lobby for three hours afraid to leave, afraid to go out and grab a bite to eat (my apartment is at the moment barren of food). Anyway the stuff never showed. Not even the slip to sign off to have them leave it tomorrow without a signature. I was pretty pissed and not a little frantic from not having eaten anything. I then went and got a club sandwich and some ice cream. The ice cream ended up melting all over my shirt, my pants, my chair, my carpet. I'm just sitting down to write this at eleven at night. I haven't written anything in my journal at all. Nobody looked at the pictures I took yesterday. I haven't taken a single picture today for the first time in almost a month and I want to be up and actually shooting on location in eight hours. I've got to take a picture, write something in my journal and fall asleep, like, right now.

Back in My Favorite Spot for People Pictures

Man in Glasses Crossing the Street, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Between a steady stream of work related phone calls for a day off I made my way back to my favorite spot to snap people pictures. At the end of Market street in the area between the two directions of the Embarcadero I can usually get some good even light and catch some people coming and going from the Ferry Building. It was nice to get a couple of good shots after some disappointing work the last few days.

This blog is starting to show some potential as a photo blog as I've been avoiding the news in most subjects. I did notice that the long-time Congressman from the peninsula, Tom Lantos passed away this morning. An interesting time for the Democrats to lose one of their biggest hawks and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs committee. A set back for what's left of the pro-war side of the party. Okay, maybe I don't completely have tunnel vision.

Early Morning Set-up

Early Morning Set-up, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

I was up early this morning to try to catch morning light. I walked down to the square but found that all but the smallest part of it was being prepared for a major event. I took some pictures around the edges but wasn't very happy with any of them in the end. So I started taking shots of the workmen. This is the best of those. I decided to stop shooting and get some coffee and write in my journal. This was a good decision. Lately I've been doing my daily writing at the end of the day. This does very little for me other than helping me keep my commitment to myself. At night I'm just too tired and full of too much of the day's baggage to use the time to clear my mind. This morning I got myself back on track at the Cafe Rulli in Union Square. Of course I'm still faking my way through this blog post while trying to keep my eyes open. One step at a time I guess.

S.S. Independence Leaves San Francisco

Independence Under the Gate, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

I had lunch with Karen at Crissy Field yesterday and we were there when this ship passed by and headed to the gate. Karen found the article in the Gate about the whole story. Check it out here.

Last U.S. ocean liner heads into the unknown

Grace in the Fog

Grace Clock in Fog
Originally uploaded by lacadaz

Got up this morning at dawn to get the good light but encountered a blanket of fog instead. Decided to give it a try and shoot some pictures up the hill anyway. They actually came out okay. The others are a little more dark and brooding but that's part of what makes Grace so nice to shoot no matter the weather.