Government in Action!

This past election night Jay got to tag along with our neighbor to the Bloomberg Election party. This is him coming home after the festivities…

…We both voted for Jimmy McMillan of the “Rent’s Too Damn High” party.

That Friday was Veteran’s Day, and as Amy and I came downstairs for lunch we ran into the parade marching along in front of our building. I had my camera with me for some reason, so I took a few shots. I can’t say I was too thrilled seeing armed men marching up Fifth Avenue – reminds me a little too much of Red Dawn – though their ferocity is somewhat diminished as they’re being paced by the Blues Mobile.

The flutists.

Maybe I’ve grown older or more jaded. I just get disturbed by these combined displays of weaponry and pageantry.

Driving past Lord & Taylor

No longer at Death's door...

Hey everyone, I’m at home fighting the plague – or the flu as those in the “medical profession” are wont to call it. I’m finally getting better and haven’t had a fever like that 104 degree temperature I made it up to Tuesday night, so I thought I’d take advantage of my time at home, and post a few pictures.

Here is a skyline shot from the wedding night of Amy’s friends Mark and Lizzy. The reception was in a hotel right across the water in Jersey City. Very cool place with an amazing view. I didn’t have my tripod, but I managed to set the camera down on the balcony and get this shot.

I don’t have any digital images from my Halloween Party this year, which was the following night – all prints – but hopefully I’ll get some scanned before too long.

The weekend after Amy and I were wakened by loud cheering Sunday morning – and it wasn’t even for us. I’d forgotten the New York Marathon was that day so we went up to the roof and took some pictures of the madness along 4^th Avenue.

I love my zoom lens

Next up…government in action

Open House New York

Back in October, Amy and I checked out a nifty event called Open House New York where places normally inaccessible to the public are opened up for everyone to see. There are tons of cool places to check out. Unfortunately that Saturday it was pouring, so we didn’t get to as much as we would have liked. My main interest that day was checking out the High Line , one of the coolest industrial remnants in the city running along 9^th Ave. Although we weren’t able to actually go on it, a gallery space along the route near 15^th Street held a lecture and afforded us this view.

I was a little upset that I couldn’t get a shot free of reflection, but then I decided to play around with it some

Remnants of a pier along the Hudson.

The following day we went way uptown to the High Bridge Water Tower. Those shots didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped, but here’s one I am fond of.

Belated birthday images

For my birthday this past year (September 3^rd for those prone to forgetting), I decided I wanted to go on a Roller Coastering roadtrip with my dad like we used to do when I was younger. I wanted to revisit some of the great coaster parks while we both still could – and we brought along Jason, my roommate, friend, and fellow coaster buff to boot.

I don’t have any pictures of our second stop, Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, because I didn’t want to take my camera inside while riding the rides, but these are from our first stop King’s Island near Cincinnati, Ohio.

Here’s Jay tooling around in the Mystery Machine.

One of the less desirable aspects of King’s Dominion is their ties to Paramount Pictures films and other licensed product placement. I didn’t mind the Scooby-Doo ride in the Hanna Barbara-themed kiddie park, but major rides based upon long-forgotten actioners like Face Off and Gone in 60 Seconds got to be a bit much. We ate lunch at a Bubba Gump shrimp place.

Far more desirable are the coasters. And here’s the main attraction – Son of Beast, the world’s only looping wooden roller coaster. It truly is a monster and an amazing ride.

The sharp circular banks are a coaster feature unique to Son of Beast and its still-active predecessor The Beast, which is the world’s longest wooden coaster

Looking at it you wouldn’t think you’d pick up much speed on one of these banks, but you really move through that curve something fierce.

Here’s the big hill of the Racer. Again, you wouldn’t think a wooden racing coaster with a mid-size hill would be that much of a thrill, but if you look carefully you’ll notice the Blue Train is running backwards. All of the g-forces and ups and down you’d normally expect to experience on a wooden coaster are thrown all out of whack. It’s truly disorienting and makes for a fantastic ride.

King’s Island is extremely well-maintained – just a nice park to visit. Here’s the centerpiece of the place, a faux Eiffel Tower with an observation deck.

The day we were at King’s Island, there was a cheerleading competition going on. Throughout the day Jay and I kept being outmanned by these 12-year-old girls who were completely unfazed by the most terrifying of rides – the Drop Zone in particular. I thought this shot of one of the cheerleader girls was too funny to pass up.

Brooklyn Waterfront

Back in August, Amy and I walked from Williamsburg back to Park Slope going along the waterfront by the Navy Yard and through Dumbo.

Here’s a decrepit shipping contraption among the inlets of the East River. I imagine boats would go through over the rollers and cargo would be lifted up with the pulleys above.

Here’s Amy in the park between Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges.

As it got darker we ended up in front of Grimaldi’s trying to take nighttime shots with my digital camera. Here are two different shots of the Watchtower headquarters nearby.

I like the effect of the sign shooting forth like a laserbeam

March of the Penguins

The Dallas Aquarium has a large number of penguins in their own little environment. We got to catch their feeding time which was pretty nifty. If they’re used to sub-arctic temperatures I don’t know how they were dealing with Texas heat.

These little guys were inside and it looked like the one was trying to show off in front of the others. He was staring down everyone else with his wings up.

Look at him trying to be all bad-ass…

…And being ignored

Aquarium time

My digital camera was still fairly new to me during the Texas trip last June, so I was getting used to playing with the settings and my zoom lens. Man, I love that zoom lens…and you’ll see why in some of these Aquarium shots.

The Dallas Aquarium is pretty impressive. The first thing you enter is a large rain forest setting where birds are flying overhead and you’re walking through this completely alien environment (or as near a facsimile as we can create indoors). Here’s a toucan perched overhead.

I couldn’t quite get the misty effect that the waterfall and humidity create.

This guy reminds me of that Jim Henson rain forest special from ages ago.

Flamingoes

I’ll finish up the Aquarium shots next time.

Lots of catching up to do...

So ages ago, I promised photos from my trip to Texas this past summer. I’m finally posting a select few.

Here’s a shot of the Austin power plant, which was next to this tiny art gallery, outside of which Amy and I randomly bumped into Shauna Bittle, one of my old roommates. And I thought Texas was supposed to be big…

One of the coolest places we visited in Texas was Hamilton Pool, a natural spring that serves as a local swimming area. It’s a rather amazing rock formation, where waterfalls cascade over a cliff overhang.

A truly interesting feature of Hamilton pool is the roof of the outcrop where dozens of birds have built nests into the rock surface.

Next up…the Dallas Aquarium!

Keeping in the holiday vein.

Here are some shots of the pumpkins Amy and I carved prior to Halloween. Poor Charles, Amy’s pumpkin got the rot and had to be tossed before the party. She carved a new one which is occasionally in the background of pictures from the party itself.

Amy fell asleep early, so I set up my tripod and was playing with the settings on my digital camera and the lighting.

One of the problems with the focus on my new camera is that it has a hard time getting a truly sharp shot in low lighting. I was trying to center on the candle, but couldn’t achieve the same quality I could see through the lens itself.

Some of these have the feel of a poster for a Michael Myers flick, which I like.

Still pining for a White Christmas

Hey everyone,

My inactivity in posting seems to have encouraged people not to visit. I’m working on fixing that. My good friend Matt Boggie is going to help me set up a proper web site to display my pictures. This blog will eventually shuffle over to that site and hopefully be a means up updating everyone when a bunch of photos are available to look at, not just the scattered handful I have here. We’ll see how that all goes.

In the meantime. I’m getting rather annoyed by this complete and utter lack of snow in our area. There have been no sledding opportunities whatsoever. I’m hoping that by posting some festive holiday shots, I can encourage the weather to be more in my favor.

These are pictures of Amy’s tree. The all-blue lighting was inspired by my dad who told us the story of how he convinced my mom to put up an all-blue tree their first year of marriage, but never since. You can see the train he provided racing around the track in some of these.