More Photos

I have an old-time twin lens reflex camera that I sometimes shoot with. It doesn't have much going for it. It's film, not digital. Expensive, quirky, hard-to-find film. It's inconvenient, expensive to use and heavy. The 1970's vintage construction is totally mechanical and the focal length was carefully chosen to ensure equally sub-optimal performance in a wide range of real world situations. Developers shake in fear when I show them the exposed rolls I need processed.

It is a demanding mistress. I carry it into all kinds of fantastic places, spend hours setting it up, and manually composing the shot on glass.. Sometimes, at the end of it all, it takes a great picture. It's basically gambling so I'm sure that somewhere, there's a 12 step group waiting to help me manage this addiction.

Click on the TLR to see the latest round of pictures.

Vacation Photos

I arrived home safely this morning after a long but uneventful trip. I didn't get any sleep on the plane so my day has been consumed with a variety of mindless ephemera chosen to distract me from taking a nap and further bludgeoning my sleep cycle. Mostly, I spent the day at work. Mostly.

My latest pursuit has been compiling random vacation photos to put on the blog. Click on Laguna fireworks below to see the slideshow. Thanks to all of the folks who helped us have fun this summer.

DISCLAIMER: Given my current mental condition, all photos are in random order without captions. I'll try to tidy up later.

Bad News.

Oh no, he's retiring. I suspect my wife will be in mourning for the near future.

Reader Contest

Tell me what this dream symbolizes.

Maddie dreamed that she was playing outside a house and talking to Benjamin Franklin. Precise details are sketchy up until the point where she ran inside and Benjamin Franklin was eaten by a lion.

Sort of disturbing in a Terry Gilliam / Tim Burton / Neil Gaiman sort of way.

Perhaps we should ratchet back her intake of British bed-time stories.

Waterpark Quotes of the day

FIRST PRIZE
Entered in the "You keep using that word; I don't think it means what you think it means" category.

"I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. Let's do it again!!"
-Maddie Merrick

RUNNER UP
Entered in the "Now I'm quite certain you don't know what that word means" category.

"What if we went down that slide in a tire instead of an inner tube."
-Micah Anderson

World Cup detox

I got a little excited about the World Cup this year. Some would say that I went off-the-deep-end bonkers. I retort that the face paint and nail polish come off (eventually), and I can use the shirts to run in. I find myself perusing YouTube late into the night looking for video good scores or memorable misses.

The business reporter part of me will miss the Tim Howard-like stretch of German companies to get a soccer ball on their product.
--Soccer balls on shampoo bottles (to wash out all the temporary hair dye).
--Special WC savings accounts offered at the banks.
--Bakeries selling pound cake dyed like the German flag
--hard boiled eggs at the grocery store dyed either like the German flag or decorated like soccer balls.
--"Half-time snack packs" of yogurt: tapioca, chocolate and strawberry.
--Soccer car flags as a special give-away at restaurants.
--The South Africa WC logo on shopping bags.

My favorite was at a sushi stand: soccer balls made from round rice balls with bits of nori

It was great to support the US and German teams. I wish I could have done so longer. But it's over now and four years is a long time. I'll have to stop wandering aimlessly through the halls looking for the schedule for the next game. It's a good thing the Bundesliga starts soon...

Culinary Happenings

Barbequed shark for dinner with a side of barracuda.

The children were not amused.

Random Thoughts

Quote of the day:

"Now I know how my mother feels..."

--Maddie's reaction after being sent to the counter to handle restaurant orders for the family. She was not amused by all the special orders and modifications that she was expected to keep track of.

We are safe in CA after nearly 24 hours of travel. Prior to the trip, I was given a precious horde of several tablets of Ambien. As a result, I had high hopes that the flight would be uneventful. Unfortunately, the ability of the tablet to put me to sleep was exceeded by the ability of my five year old to keep me awake.

World cup madness continues. Since Germany won this morning, it will be at least a few days until my family returns to normalcy. 4 hours later, my kids are still sporting face paint of German flags on their cheeks.