Avoiding Cliches

…and yet again

2010-11-27T09:52:00.000-08:00

If you missed that last move don't worry here's another one. New name new blog. Find me here:

This Circuitous Route

and
This Circuitous Route

Moved Again!!???

2010-03-03T00:36:00.001-08:00

So yea. I've started a new blog. Read the world through my eyes at LacView.wordpress.com

Wrap It Up, I'll Take It.

2009-12-31T09:04:00.001-08:00

It's been quite the year for me. It started with my bankruptcy becoming final and the feeling of release that went with that. A year ago I was concentrating on eating better, losing weight and feeling healthy. I was also paying strict attention to my money. This was a result of turning forty in November and feeling a need to get on with a real life.

As the year went by I got off track with both of those items. I ended up spending like a drunken sailor this year and gaining back all the weight I took off. Still, I'm okay with that. I learned quite a bit during that time. Not the least was that I was totally capable of cleaning up my act and turning my life around whenever I wanted to. Tomorrow I will join many in getting back on the efficiency bandwagon. I'm not unhappy with the way I spent my money. I had a wonderful vacation. I bought exactly the best tools for the job for me with my computers and camera. I lavished gifts and gave to charity like never before. And thanks to having no access to credit I did it all paying cash.

But all of this is besides the point when it comes to 2009. The story of the year was the amazing woman I met, wooed and next year will marry. I never expected to feel this comfortable with anyone. I never expected to find this much happiness. I never saw contentment on my horizon until this year. I'm glad it's called mid-life because I'm just now starting to think that I'm figuring it out.

This is likely to be the last posting on this blog. Change is in my air and I'm ready to stir up everything. This coming year I will move, marry and hit re-set on my life. Maybe a new page and a new setting is in order as well.

Getting Better

2009-09-08T09:34:00.000-07:00

I left the house without a cane for the first time in weeks. I took the stairs up to the lobby this morning. I'm riding in the back of the bus. I'm still a little nervous about getting off the back door and I'm really nervous about getting off of the 45 tonight going home but I am turning the corner on my injury. It was a real hellion of a sprain but I'm starting to get a little bit back to normal.

Yesterday was a proper Labor Day in that there was next to no labor involved. Kelly stayed over Sunday night and we stayed in bed until we were in danger of not being set for breakfast at Lefty's. Then back to the apartment for some work on the vacation pictures from July and lots of coffee. We finished the previous night's movie (1776) with a slice of French Silk Pie for me. Then BART to her house take out withCoroline on Pay Per View. A joyfully unproductive day.

The Lost Month

2009-09-01T12:36:00.000-07:00

I feel like I’ve lost a month. I spent August feeling like I was underwater peering up at the real world through a distorted lens. I fell coming off the 47 Van Ness Early in the month and sprained my bad (right) very badly. I spent the next five days pretty much living on Kelly’s couch and popping pain pills. The first week back on my own in The City had me feeling pretty darn fragile. I’m still using a cane to get up and down the hill and on and off the bus. I sit in the front of the bus with the elderly and infirm. On the personal front, Kelly and I have had our first couple of rough patches. We worked our way through them quickly and came out with a better understanding of one another. There is something to be said for bringing a lifetime of experiences to a relationship. Here’s to middle age.

Anyway irregardless of what this last month has brought me I’m ready to move on. The usual commitments apply: more writing in my journal, taking and sharing more pictures, tweeting relevant events, eating better, eating at home, writing in my blog, all the greatest hits.

Fuck You John Bolton

2009-08-05T07:21:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to send a big “fuck you” to former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton for his condemnation of our securing the release of Euna Lee and Laura Ling from a North Korean prison term. We traded a photo-op for two of our own. That’s it. We give them a handshake and they give 24 years back to two American citizens. I don’t care if you want to bomb Pyongyang this morning. I can listen to that with an open mind and maybe even get brought on board, but screw you for playing politics with this.

Firsts

2009-08-04T11:25:00.000-07:00

Well I haven’t been writing much so after reading Paul’s list of firsts I thought I would join in.

1. Who was your FIRST prom date?
Heidi Hitchcock

2. Do you still talk to your FIRST love?
No.

3. What was your FIRST job?
I delivered the Sacramento Union in 1980

4. What was your FIRST car?
1975 Monte Carlo

5. Who was the FIRST person to text (IM) you today?
Kelly Morrison

6. Who is the FIRST person you thought of this morning?
Mom

7. Who was your FIRST grade teacher?
I’m not even sure what school I was at.

8. Where did you go on your FIRST ride on an airplane?
Burbank I think.

9. Who was your FIRST best friend & do you still talk?
Bill Peterson and no.

10. Where was your FIRST sleep over?
Marcus’s

11. Who was the FIRST person you talked to today?
Kelly Morrison

12. What was the FIRST thing you did this morning?
Played Mafia Wars

13. What was the FIRST concert you ever went to?
Bowie I think.

14. FIRST tattoo?
None

15. FIRST piercing?
None

16. FIRST foreign country you've gone to?
Mexico

17. FIRST movie you remember seeing?
Caberet

18. When was your FIRST detention?
Freshman year High School.

19. Who was your FIRST roommate?
Paul Anderson

20. As a kid, what was the FIRST thing you wanted to be when you grew up?
Fireman

21. What happened the FIRST time you were incapacitated?
Knocked out playing Red-Rover in Second Grade

22. Did you marry the FIRST person to ask for your hand in marriage?
Yes

23. What was the FIRST sport you were involved in, aside from physical education classes at school?
Was on the Basketball team in Jr. High.

24. What were the first lessons you ever took?
I’m like this naturally. Never had a lesson.

25. What is the first thing you do when you get home?
Play Mafia Wars (are you noticing a trend)

26. How old were you when you had your first child?
None

27. Who do you think will be the FIRST person to post this after you?
Probably someone I don’t know. These things travel fast.

Fire at the Bus Stop

2009-07-12T17:20:00.000-07:00

Looks like half of SFFD are here.

Fireworks!

2009-07-05T11:04:00.001-07:00

SF 4th of July Fireworks, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

After last year's fog shrouded fireworks this year we had much clearer skys and I had a better vantage point. Put 20 up on flickr already and have many more good ones to put up later. But first I have to go to work.

Honduras

2009-06-30T08:54:00.000-07:00

So I’m trying to figure out how the hell everyone is calling the Honduran affair a coup. Constitution is written specifically to make sure that no one person stays in power indefinitely. President ignores constitution orders an illegal election. Attorney General and Supreme court says you can’t do that. President says fuck you I’m doing it anyway. Supreme court orders military to remove president. Military does just that and then allows congress to name the new president. Which it does. New president is from the same party as the old president. There was about to be a coup in Honduras and it was coming from Manuel Zelaya.

Our Story

2009-06-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted anything in awhile here. It was beginning to look like I'd reduced my life to 140 character snippets. While it's true that I've embraced the Twitter mindset that is not the whole story. This last month my attentions have been in a new direction. There is someone new and special and wonderful in my life. While we have not exactly been hiding our fledgling relationship nor have we been shouting it from the rooftops. Last night that dynamic changed when we went through a modern digital rite of passage when first her then I changed our Facebook status to show ourselves in a relationship.

I know that's a bit goofy but Facebook has played a big part in bringing Kelly and I together. In a nutshell here we are.

Our Story

We managed to spend 4 years together at the same high school without ever once speaking to one another. 20 or so years later Facebook notices that and overlapping circles of friends. Kelly adds me as a friend saying that Facebook wouldn't shut up about adding me so she did.

We make comments on each other's posts, share some stuff together, we suggest some books and movies we think the other might like. Typical Facebook stuff only we seem to get the same kick out of the same stuff. Some of the conversations and advise start getting personal so we start private messenging and using email. I decide it's weird to be opening up to someone I've never offically met and ask Kelly to meet me after work sometime.

Some time and negotiation leads us to meeting at Magnolia in the Haight. We have a very pleasant dinner and agree to see each other again. A week or so later Kelly writes on Facebook that one of her vacation goals is to take pictures of the pelicans on the coast. Photography is a passion of mine and I love pelicans too so I suggested we go on a Pelican Quest photo walk. We did end up doing just that and while we didn't do so well on the pelican front we did have a remarkable time together capped off by dinner at the Beach Chalet where it came out that we liked each other. You know. Romantically. Soon we started plotting to spend whatever free time we could with one another and each time we did was better than the last. Since we owed Facebook the debt of bringing us together it seemed a fitting way to announce our relationship.

Briana's Luck

2009-06-06T08:30:00.000-07:00

Here is a video clip from Brandon Tyler's show I shot on May 30 at Brain Wash.

Some Thoughts on Spring

2009-05-06T09:25:00.000-07:00

Spring is a strange time for me. Like most living things I go through upheaval in the spring. Some of it is good. Some of it is difficult. Some of it is internal. Some of it is external, some internal, some a special cocktail of mixing the two. Externally weather, work and that fucking daylight savings time are the three big influences. Weather and work are sly and a bit unpredictable. I find my enjoyment of spring as a season is directly related to how much rain there is. Too much sunshine really brings me down and these last couple of drought years have not been good to me. Work is the sly one because on one hand it is our slow season. We don’t see a lot of traffic in stores and that can play with your motivation. Numbers are down and frankly you miss the company of the customers. On the other hand the corporation goes through it’s own Spring upheaval. Committee’s, conference calls, pilot programs, new styles, new initiatives and all the time freaking out because business is slow. So I’m busy and I’m not. And Spring often sees changes in personal. That puts some stresses out there too. Bottom line is the job is a little psychotic in Spring. Summer is different. Summer brings in the business and then the focus becomes more direct.

I hated daylight savings time before they changed it two years ago. The new earlier daylight savings time is a freaking disaster for me. I have become a natural early riser. Usually I wake between five and six and I haven’t used an alarm clock in years. Fall is my most creative time. The journal that got abandoned during the dog days of summer gets updated daily usually starting in late October. (Around the time Daylight Savings Time ends.) I can usually keep that running with the gradual changing of early morning light until around the time Daylight Savings Time restarts when my internal clock is thrown completely off and I retreat from the world. It’s probably a rare thing but I’m sure I’m not alone in hating not just that first week of adjustment but the whole length of Daylight Savings. It’s the sunshine. It brings me down.

Fall is usually about creative production. I write more. I observe more. I would take more pictures but unfortunately my favorite creative outlet lives on light. There are fewer non-working hours with daylight. Spring is about mixing up the creative process. Spring is when I make my tech purchases. Camera and computer upgrades all happen in Spring for me. It is also when I run through my software choices. Everyday I seem to ask myself if this is the best way to process information in and out. The struggle lies in the way I learn. Going through the learning and testing process actually turns off a lot of my creative instincts. I’m reminded of the old “the medium is the message” line because I begin to work on the best ways to express myself right at the time that I have the least to say.

On the tech front this Spring I did very well. I adore my new Nikon D90. I upgraded my computer and more than doubled my monitor space. I have become a twitter junkie. I forced an upgrade on Karen and we are staying more connected and having a lot of fun doing it. I’ve spent a lot of time and energy making my desktop, laptop and phone all keep track of the same things with as little oversight as possible. Kudos to Nambu, Tweetie, Instapaper, Evernote, MacJournal, iBlogger, Blogger and of course Apple (including, yes, MobileMe which I did end up signing up for one more time) for making it all possible. And a special shout out again to Griffin for my Power-Mate which I still love to no end.

Bottom line is not that I need to come out from my cave. Bottom line is that I need to stop beating myself up for having gone in in the first place. This is what I do every spring. I move on. No matter where I am I’m going to write again. I’m going to take more pictures. I’m going to share. That’s my ultimate nature. Hopefully next year I’ll remember these things and you’ll be reading “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Spring” on this page.

The Independent Senator

2009-04-29T08:53:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I sat down to start writing about why I haven’t switched back to being a Republican now that Bush is gone. I did a couple of paragraphs to warm up and figured I would finish over the next couple of day. Before I could sleep my computer and head off to work the news started to break that Senator Arlen Specter was switching parties.

All of a sudden I was back in political news junky mode the likes of which I hadn’t been since the election. On the bus I followed every twitter link that mentioned Specter. I’ve long been a fan of Arlen Specter. I don’t agree with him on every position true but I think that’s true for every voter and politician. What I like about Specter is that he is notoriously hard on the Whip’s office. The man has his own opinions, his own research and damn it he’s going to vote the way he feels is right. I respect that. Hell, I love that.

Reading the reactions across the political spectrum you would think I was alone in that. To the right he is a traitor that should have been tossed years ago. To the left he is untrustworthy. Both sides seemed convinced that he’s going to screw them on card check. Independence in American politics seems to be the greatest vice these partisan day.

Independent, however, is exactly how an American Senator is supposed to behave. The reason 60 is such a magical number is because that’s how many Senators it takes to block a single Senator’s opposition. The Senate exists to give voice to minority opinion. The rules are there to encourage cooperation and compromise. Durbin and Kyl are supposed to have it rough. That’s a good thing.

Tactically I can’t see this as anything but a loss for the Republicans and a stupid one at that. The Club for Growth is starting to look like a super secret left wing establishment designed to cost the Republican Party as much damage as possible. If the party leaders can’t get Tom Ridge into this race and Pat Toomey is indeed the candidate he’s going to get killed by Specter in the general election. A Specter who will probably broker a compromise on Card Check. A compromise that would not have happened if he was still caucusing with the Republican’s.

Good Morning and Guess What You Just Bought

2009-04-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

I started writing a piece in honor of the first 100 days of the Obama Presidency. Mainly because every media outlet seems to be doing it and I don’t want to feel left out. I should finish is a day or two. It’s not really about the administration. In fact I’m probably going to title it “Why I’m Still Not a Republican” and it is more about how despite all my attempts to join back up the GOP continues to put up walls, barriers and entry fees that are simply too much for this middle-of-the-roader to deal with. This isn’t to say that I’m all that happy with all the decisions the President is making right now. Did I wake up to find out that I bought Chrysler? To go along with Citibank? And AIG? I guess that I’m not completely opposed to some government investiture in business. I just think we might want to talk to our broker because most of this stuff looks like real dogs. The conservative principle that the reason you don’t let government invest in anything is because they are really bad at it is looking pretty right on right now. Chrysler? Really? Why would I want to buy a company when there was no way in hell I’d ever buy the product?

Perfecting the Workspace

2009-04-25T08:45:00.000-07:00

So how many pictures of this desk over the last couple of years have I posted? I'm thinking this may be the last for awhile. My spring shake-up is done. New mini, keyboard hiding monitor stand, iphone dock/card reader, old school looking light/webcam/mic, new wider-screen monitor, old monitor standing up for status (twitter, chat, email, music), and my favorite my Griffin PowerMate all up and running in harmony. Hardware and software all in place. Now I just have to get off my mental ass and write something. If only it would rain. Been too sunny lately. Sunshine brings me down.

March

2009-03-31T09:53:00.001-07:00

March is mercifully coming to a close. I would call it a challenging month. In many ways I didn't rise to the challenge. I stopped keeping up my food journal and resumed eating lunch out. Thus I gained five pounds and killed my food budget. I broke away from my 2009 budget plan and bought a new computer. My ankle gout flaired up sidelining me for a week. I am not going to go into the collapse at work that our SF team is going through that I feel like I'm holding together with scotch tape. I wrote rarely in my personal journal and not at all on my blog.

Still it was only five pounds. I've automated enough tools that I should be able to pick them up and get back on track with money and food with tomorrows calendar change. I simply love my new computer set up and all of the things I bought this month. Bankruptcy has this other benifit of restricting all purchases to cash. As long as I don't spend the rent, lapses in control have little long term effects. I wrote in my journal this morning and here I am on the 3 to work updating my blog. New streaks have to start somewhere. I (well Karen) finally figured out what the hell is wrong with my ankle. It doesn't make it better but it does make me feel a little more settled to know. And right now I'm starting to get that feeling you get when you are starting to feel better after an illness of appreicating all the little things (like being able to walk). All in all I'm getting through the chaos that daylight savings time always brings into my life.

Brandon Tyler at the Guild

2009-03-16T08:53:00.001-07:00

In the Red Fog, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Saturday I broke my no driving streak when I borrowed Karen's car and headed up to Sacramento to shoot Brandon Tyler's show at the Guild Theater to release his new CD "Turbulence" Some of my pictures from the shoot Brandon and I did last year ended up on the CD including the cover. I was pretty pumped to shoot him in action this time.

I met up with the band at Andy Nguyen's on Broadway for the pre-gig meal. We moved to the Starbuck's around the corner from the theater before heading in for sound check. I took a lot of pictures before the show to get the feel of the whole night from the bands perspective. I've started filling up a flickr set in that order. It's hard because I'm still editing and I haven't gotten to the pictures from the show yet. This one is one of two I skipped ahead to do because I just couldn't resist.

Anyway I'm back to work now after a weekend with not enough sleep in it. I'll keep plugging away at the photos and try to get more up every day this week.

Money Well Spent

2009-02-22T09:13:00.001-08:00

Water Camo, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

So I went to new Academy of Sciences Museum in Golden Gate Park yesterday. It was my first trip to the new museum. As the old Academy was my childhood museum I was a little concerned. And yes there were some things I missed. I always loved the San Francisco skyline built into the wall at the old Morrison Planetarium although they did keep a piece in the gift shop. And the alligator grotto feels more like a museum exhibit and less like gators had snuck into your steam room and were hanging out with you.

Still the new museum is a wonder. I have no idea if we saw everything because my nature sense of direction was annilited by the rooms and bridges and elevators and passages and such. It is the Winchester Mystery House of museums but I loved it all the same. I bought a membership of course and am looking forward to returning (on a weekday) to take more pictures.

But this entry isn't about the Academy of Sciences. It's about my Nikon D90 that arrived on Wednesday and got its first real workout yesterday. No-flash museum photography especially aquarium photography can be challenging. I was somewhere I had never been before using a camera I only had a couple of nights to work on. Lets just say there was much tweaking of settings and discovery that I had the camera set for a completely different set of light conditions. Despite my befuddlement the camera performed beautifully. I was most struck when I put this picture up on flickr after doing some work in Photoshop and checked the iso setting. I shot this one at 3200 a setting that my d40 simply could not produce useful images. I think I might just love this camera.

New Camera

2009-02-19T09:08:00.001-08:00

Coming Out of the Barn, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Well the camera I've been waiting to get since it was first announced arrived last night. I worked all day so I wasn't sitting on the steps waiting for UPS. That was a good thing because when I got home at 6:20 it still hadn't been delivered. It was a few minutes later but I was pretty cranky for those few minutes. Anyway after an agonizing hour and a half for the battery to charge I spent the evening learning the in and outs. Big thanks to Ken Rockwell's guide for setting it up. Of course Ken's article on jpeg over raw got me re-thinking my workflow for the umpteenth time but that's for another post.

Anyway I got up early this morning and took my no traditional Cable Car Ride down to Aquatic Park and back to break it in. As I'm a little out of practice I didn't have the best shoot but I did get a couple I liked. I'm sorry this one doesn't show off all that the camera can do but I liked this one and this treatment the best. I will say that it was much easier to get it to do what I wanted it to than my D40. This was pronounced because I was trying to shoot from a moving Cable Car mostly before dawn with a very very slow lens. Suffice to say I'm very happy with my purchase and a big thumbs up to Abe's of Maine for delivering as promised with a rock bottom price.

New Pictures!!

2009-02-09T07:45:00.001-08:00

Blowing the Horn, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

After the longest absence in well over a year I began posting new pictures to flickr yesterday. It was tough to resist the pull of one of my favorite neighborhood events so Saturday I marched down to Sutter and Kearney and set up shop for a night of picture taking. A number of things contributed to this being a better picture year. First a year with the camera made me a better photographer. Second I learned my lesson and did not try to shoot a parade at night without a flash. Third the worst storm of the year did not happen on Saturday night resulting in me being unable to stop shivering for 48 hours as a result. After blowing $30 on a bleacher seat and then having the parade route being pretty empty because of that storm last year I decided to take my chances on the street. I got to the corner at 5 and ended up with a position about as good as I had last year so that was $30 saved.

The one issue I am having is that as I haven't been working on post production in so long I'm having to re-remember my favorite techniques in Photoshop. That is why the five pictures I've done so far all have a bit of a different look to them.

The next big event is the Valentine's Day Pillow Fight on Saturday. I'm crossing my fingers that I get my tax check today or tomorrow so I can order my D90 in time to use it this weekend. Although I wont feel too disappointed if it doesn't make it as the pillow fight is actually the one event that can be brutal on my camera. I would hate to do damage on the first day out in the field.

88 Lines About 44 Things

2009-02-08T19:10:00.000-08:00

Yet another Facebook list has crossed my inbox. Since I've been trying to post more and I don't have anything ready to go tonight I'm going to fill out this questionnaire.

1. Do you like blue cheese? Yes but only crumbled on a steak or in salad dressing.

2. Have you ever been drunk? Is this a trick question? Why is it phrased in the past tense?

3. Do you own a gun? No. What the hell would I do with a gun?

4. What flavor of Kool Aid was your favorite? Red.

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? I don't remember. I haven't had a doctor's appointment in maybe 15 years.

6. What do you think of hot dogs? I like them. Hebrew National, with mustard and cheese and a little bit of relish, perfection.

7. Favorite Christmas movie? A tie between "The Ref" and "Shop Around the Corner".

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Coffee.

9. Can you do push ups? I don't know about he plural part of this one.

10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? The only piece I wear a Tissot Automatic.

11. Favorite hobby? Photography.

12. Do you have A.D.D.? How the hell would I know?

13. What's your favorite shoe? Sperry Top Siders.

14. Middle name? Anthony

15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment?
- I'm so glad I ate Dinner before I freaked out and through my computer out the window.
- I like this movie (Deconstructing Harry) though the dialogue is really forced.
- I'm glad it started raining again.

16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Water, Coffee, V8

17. Current worry? About a meeting I don't want to go to at the end of the month.

18. Current hate right now? The way Adobe Bridge copies and pastes metadata. (See throwing computer out the window in #15)

20. How did you ring in the New Year? I don't remember. I probably slept through it.

21. Where would you like to go? New York.

22. Name three people who will complete this? I'm not sold on the chain letter aspect.

23. Do you own slippers? No.

24. What color shirt are you wearing right now? Grey.

25. Do you like sleeping on Satin sheets? No. I like to stay put when I sleep.

26. Can you whistle? Yes.

27. Favorite color? Grey

28. Would you be a pirate? I'm gonna reserve my 5th amendment rights and skip this one.

29. What songs do you sing in the shower? I make them up. They are horrible and not to be repeated.

30. Favorite Girl's Name? Jane

31. Favorite boy's name? Richard

32. What's in your pocket right now? Nothing

33. Last thing that made you laugh? A cartoon from this week's New Yorker. (page 91 '09 Anniversary Issue if you want to follow along at home)

34. Best bed sheets as a child? I don't think I had printed sheets. The white ones. No, the off white ones. I don't know.

35. Worst injury you've ever had as a child? I was playing on a hill covered with brush and slipped on a board that was under said brush. Unfortunately I sat right down on the nail that was sticking out of the board. Ouch.

36. Do you love where you live? I do. I love my building and I love the location downtown. Someday maybe I'll move somewhere where I can fit a third person in the room but for now I'm doing great.

38. Who is your loudest friend? Mike.

39. How many dogs do you have? None.

40. Does someone have a crush on you? I really don't think so.

41. What is your favorite book? "Love in the Ruins" by Walker Percy.

42. What is your favorite candy? Violet Crumble.

43. Favorite Sports Team? The SF Giants.

44. What song do you want them to play at your funeral? "Hope" by Bauhaus. "Your mornings will be brighter, Break the line, Tear up rules, Make the most of a million times no"

25 (not so) Random Things About Me

2009-02-06T08:11:00.000-08:00

So these lists are making their way around my Facebook circle and I’m in a take stock of myself kind of mood anyway so I decided not to completely blow this one off. But I thought I’m going to do it right. I’m really going to make it 25 random things about me. Not 25 semi-interesting, semi-connected minor factoids. No I was going to make a truly random snapshot of my personality. So I spent a couple of days doing free associative writing. All the events and emotions of my life I could think of were there on a long numbered list. All my plans, dreams, schemes, pains, joys, fears, lusts, triumphs, secrets, shames and embarrassments were all there. Then I plugged the whole thing into a number generator to get a truly random look at me.

The results were astounding. A quick view snapshot into my very psyche. Publication of such a document could be such a release. A release, for example, from my job. From the small circle of friends I’ve managed to hobble together. From all family ties. Not to mention probable inditement from local, state, and federal officials. Possibly even a war crime tribunal.

So I did what I had to do. I selected all, and hit delete. And then did a secure empty on my computer’s trash. And then over wrote all the blank space on the drive. Then formated the drive with 7 passes of write zero. Then removed the drive, dismantled it, scratched the beginning of the Gettysburg Address on the platter, took all the pieces on the Larksburg Ferry and dropped them into separate areas of the bay. Then I went home and wrote this collection of semi-interesting, semi-connected minor factoids about me.

I had my 1st pacemaker put in the week of my 4th birthday and mylast one taken out just before I started High School
I may not have a phobia about doctors but I sure do avoid them. It's been 15 years since my last office visit.
I mocked my friends for playing MTG when it came out and kicked myself hard about missing all the classic cards when I got into it 10 years in.
I have a pretty dim view of sales and salesmen. Guess what I've done for a living for the past 10 years.
The only thing I miss about moving out of the burbs is the Stanford Theater.
I haven't driven a car in over 3 years.
For the first time since I was 18 I have no points on my driving record.
I live a couple of blocks from Union Square. For the year I ran our store downtown I hardly ever ventured outside a 10 block radius.
I used to live on a sailboat that was too small to stand up in.
After that experience my present 250 square foot apartment isn't a space issue. But you can believe it has high ceilings.
I spent the first 20 years of adulthood mucking up my health, finances, romantic and work lives.
So far my 40's are all about repairing the damage of my 20's & 30's.
This is the happiest stage of my life so far.
My wedding day remains the happiest day of my life.
All I wanted to do after high school was get a job and apartment by myself in The City and embrace some kind of artistic expression.
The above plan did work out. It just took 20 years longer than I expected.
While I complain about it as much as any other San Franciscian, I secretly love Muni.
I have a 500 movie collection on my computer attached to my TV.
I haven't had cable in over 3 years.
I keep my movie and music collections sorted by year. It's the only way I can find anything.
I went to cancel my land line and they told me it would reset my Internet and I would be unplugged for 3 days. I said forget it, I'll keep the damn phone.
Bankruptcy may have been the smartest thing I've ever done.
I've always been a big history buff. Every school bond issue that comes up makes me remember the American History teacher that gave me an F. My vengance is my no vote.
I've been known to get up for popcorn when the car chase starts. Really I've seen this part before. Get on with the plot and the character development already.
My Christmas tree goes on top of the fridge. It's the only place it fits.

I am forgoing the chain letter aspect of this exercise as I don’t want to inflict the above on anyone else. Even though I remain convinced that this recession came about because someone refused to forward a list of happy thoughts to ten of their friends last spring.

Happy Birthday

2009-02-04T09:53:00.001-08:00

So this post is a special call out to that one reader we can all rely on. Mom. Happy Birthday Mom!

It is a property of our new age that I don't get the "you never call" or "you never write" guilt. I only get the "you never blog" guilt. Don't worry Mom I give myself enough of that already. Yesterday I had a great day off. I planned out a budget for the whole year. I finalized my automatic savings plans. I finally figured out my pension benifit at work. I configured a new home page. I took a long walk and bought my Fast Pass. I had a nice write on a friendly bench overlooking the Bay Bridge on a perfect day. I didn't spend a dime over the Fast Pass cost. I stayed to my diet and lost the weight that spiked up three days ago. By any account that's a good day. But there I was at the end of the day feeling like a failure because I hadn't blogged yet again and no longer have the concentration to do it at night. I did not spend too much time beating myself up. That is another habit I'm trying to get into. Stop listening to me when I start to nag or berate myself. For far too long I've been the one to beat myself into wounded puppydogdom. You know puppydogdom probably isn't a word but it should be.

So in an attempt to get me to shut up I'm going to try to be more dilligent about posting. It is likely that the quality will drop and you the reader will have to suffer. For one thing it will mean more posts written from the 3 bus on my phone with it's limited spellcheck abilities. That combined with my non-existant internal spellcheck abilities may make it less than perfect. But I'll fell better and isn't that what's important anyway? That I feel better? Anyway happy birthday mom

No, Really, I Wrote This

2009-01-15T17:25:00.000-08:00

So I've been doing a little research about this strange feeling that keeps popping up in me. Apparently it's an uncommon but not unheard of affliction that's called happiness. It's very odd and keeps throwing me off balance. Well it's supposed to be a new year with some new experiences so I think I'm just going to roll with it.

What it is coming down to is that the life changing habits that I tried to attach to my 40th birthday are working and making a world of difference. The impending erasure of my debt has me determined not to fall into it's trap ever again. I've spent much of the first couple of weeks of the year setting up different automations to pay my bills and save as much as I can. I have never felt as in control and frankly excited about my financial future as I do right now. (Though I wouldn't complain if my 401K would stop shrinking on a daily basis.)

The other big change was to my diet and tomorrow is a full two months of tracking everything I eat on MyNetDiary. This is also paying off as I've just started using a notch twice removed from the worn one on my belt. I'm down about 15 pounds from my maximum weight and am full of energy. While I'm not thin by any means, I've begun to remember myself as the thin person I used to be. This is big for me. A positive self image is another of those mind-states that I'm just not used to. I'm already thinking about some new clothes for summer. Actually the one piece of clothing I bought this winter was a sweater that bought based on my torso length not width for the first time in a very long time. That was $20 well spent dollars.

I'm on a writing roll too, even if this blog doesn't have much to show for it. I only missed one day in December in my journal and that has meant much to my sense of well-being. I've been trying to keep a dream journal too but that has been hit and miss. Too often I want to just turn over and get back to sleep as quickly as possible. When I do do it though the payoff is immediate as it usually helps me remember the next dream.

Along with skipping out on this blog I haven't taken very many pictures in the last two months. My last big day with my camera was my birthday and I have hardly given those pictures a second thought. I am not done with photography by any means but it does seem to have taken a break from the forefront of my consciousness. This is not unusual for me when I'm in what I've taken to calling "process mode". That is a state of mind when I take off my creative hat and put on my technical learning cap. This time it is not so much about a particular piece of hardware or software but more about absorbing as much advise as I can take from the internet regarding diet and personal finance. Being that tis is the season for diet and personal finance blogging there has been no shortage of advise most of which can be summed up as stop eating and buying stupid shit. Writing down what you eat and buy seems to be the preferred method of showing you how much stupid shit you eat and buy. The rest is details. It's been good to read the same things over and over though It's helped cement some habits. I would like to take this time to put a shout out to the site that has done for money what MyNetDiary did for food for me, and that sight is Mint. It is hands down the easiest way of keeping track of my money and budget I have ever seen. Of course both sights have great corresponding iPhone applications to go with them.

Well that should bring you up to date with where I'm at right now. I'm trying to turn myself into a lean, friendly, money saving machine.

Fresh Start

2008-12-31T14:45:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-31T00:01:00.001-08:00

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.

2008-12-29T09:51:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-22T11:05:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-09T23:21:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-08T17:36:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-03T09:44:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-01T08:01:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-29T22:13:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-28T09:00:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-27T10:50:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-26T09:44:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-26T07:55:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-19T07:46:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-18T09:01:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-04T10:11:00.001-08:00

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

2008-10-25T08:39:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-13T08:22:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-05T00:14:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-28T23:02:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-27T12:27:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-25T08:42:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-16T09:48:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-15T11:59:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-11T20:01:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-04T20:12:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-17T23:15:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-16T11:12:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-03T16:48:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-30T18:00:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-28T14:39:00.001-07:00

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!

2008-07-27T10:50:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-17T00:44:00.001-07:00

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!!!

2008-07-08T15:26:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-04T08:20:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-02T18:39:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-30T10:16:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2008-06-29T21:14:00.001-07:00

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

2008-06-25T14:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-25T14:30:00.001-07:00

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

2008-06-16T18:13:00.001-07:00

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?

2008-06-14T08:48:00.001-07:00

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

2008-05-03T11:13:00.001-07:00

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

2008-04-10T22:51:00.001-07:00

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

2008-04-10T08:27:00.001-07:00

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

2008-03-31T15:51:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-27T23:07:00.001-07:00

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

2008-03-27T00:35:00.001-07:00

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

2008-03-19T09:35:00.001-07:00

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

2008-03-16T00:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-13T23:30:00.001-07:00

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

2008-03-12T08:52:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-03-07T00:10:00.001-08:00

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

2008-03-04T00:50:00.001-08:00

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

2008-02-29T23:49:00.001-08:00

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

2008-02-29T08:28:00.001-08:00

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

2008-02-27T23:14:00.001-08:00

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

2008-02-26T23:59:00.001-08:00

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

2008-02-25T22:23:00.001-08:00

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

2008-02-24T19:06:00.001-08:00

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.

2008-02-23T17:37:00.000-08:00

Wet Rat

2008-02-22T23:05:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-21T22:54:00.001-08:00

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

2008-02-19T22:50:00.001-08:00

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

2008-02-18T09:07:00.001-08:00

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

2008-02-17T23:52:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-17T08:41:00.001-08:00

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

2008-02-15T22:43:00.001-08:00

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

2008-02-14T23:49:00.001-08:00

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!

2008-02-13T23:13:00.001-08:00

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?

2008-02-12T23:17:00.001-08:00

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

2008-02-11T21:31:00.001-08:00

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

2008-02-10T22:14:00.001-08:00

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

2008-02-09T23:11:00.001-08:00

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

2008-02-08T23:58:00.001-08:00

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.