August 30, 2009

Project 365 Continues

Seems to be the thing to do 'round these parts on Sunday nights.

Note: The shot w/the car was made possible with my new macro lens that arrived Friday :-D

Toy Car

Sunset @ The Congress Ave Bridge

Two Turn Tables & A Mixer (And Some Headphones)

And of course more here.

Just Because

Jesus Bandages & Salt

August 23, 2009

Project 365 Rolls Right Along

Cake in a Bowl

Cake in a bowl.

Bill & The Ball

Bill enjoying his new light-up ball toy that my parents got him.

Diana's House

Diana's outdoor plants that I watered while she was away.

August 16, 2009

Eyes and Books

So I woke up this morning and my right eye was all crusty. I looked in the mirror, and this was staring back at me:

A Sty

Kinda looks like I got knocked around in a bar fight or something, haha. But really it's a sty. I went to the hospital and got some medicine for it, in addition to advice about warm compresses every so often. Good times! My parents didn't even mind that it canceled our planned trip to Salado. Instead, we went to Half Price Books where I ended up blowing some money on this stuff:

The Spoils

Oh, yeah, more stuff to add to the backlog of items to read. I'm currently reading this, then I have to read and review this (I promised the author I would; she is a fellow technical writer/blogger in Austin), and then it's on to other things. Oy!

In other news, you will likely be seeing a lot more pictures from me in the coming ... year. I've decided to do something called Project365, in which I take at least one picture a day for the next year. I probably already average at least one picture a day, but of course I skip most days and make up for those w/photo-intensive days, like trips to NY (or China!) or whatever. But this will be a daily thing. I officially kicked it off on August 10th and, so far for the first week, have been keeping up with it quite nicely. The photos will be archived here on Flickr. I won't lie; part of the motivation here is to convince myself it's worth it to buy a nice macro lens or maybe an external flash :-) But I swear that's only part of it ...

August 15, 2009

Less than Zero

This ad makes me shudder ... for two reasons.

 

August 10, 2009

Bill x3

Bill

This photo screamed B&W.

Bill

Interrupted during a snack.

Passed Out

Passed out.

August 9, 2009

Pets in the Heat

I never used to pay attention to this sort of thing ... but I stopped off at HEB today, the Hancock center one, and right next to it is a Petco. As I walked down the sidewalk into HEB, I saw a large cage out front of Petco with like six or seven dogs & cats passed out in it. The cage was under a tent (so, marginally in the shade) and it was apparent that they animals had been sprayed with water at some point, but, c'mon -- it's over 100 degrees out today!! The animals were not even remotely moving. The whole scene made me really sad.

A sign out front said they were collecting donations for food for the pets ... maybe they were some sort of charity? I wasn't really sure and I didn't ask. I was appalled that in this day and age someone would subject animals to this sort of treatment. I stood out front there debating whether to go talk to them ... but I'm pretty non-confrontational ... so I didn't say anything.

If I see that again (and that's likely, given that I do most of my grocery shopping there) I will definitely inquire as to what is going on. I'm not the smartest person alive, but even I know that in this heat it's best to minimize your time outside ...

In other news, Bill is doing just fine.

August 8, 2009

... a Beautiful Sky Blue

After a year of being in the dirty, smoggy mess that is Shanghai (and lots of other areas, like Beijing and Xi'an as well) -- with its metallic-gray skies, rainy weather, and towering skyscrapers that blot out the sun -- I find myself paying much, much more attention to a beautiful deep blue sky than ever before. Why do you think I bought the polarizing filter for my camera?

View from the Plane

Manhattan Bridge from the Brooklyn Bridge

The City I Live In

The UT Tower

Red Bud Isle Park

Lake Austin @ Mozart's

Lake Austin

Incense Burning

Sky Outside Lhasa

Sunset in Potala Square

... and so on.