Because The Sunset Really Was Mediocre

I'd really like to improve my portaiture skills. I'll call this a forced start to that. However, if any of you internet folk are willing to allow me to experiment on you, or perhaps your child, I'd love to take your picture!

Which is your favorite?

San Gregorio State Beach

The truth is that I did see the sign stating "Beach closed after sunset" when I parked my car. The sunset, in fact, was the reason for my visit. I had hopes of capturing its brilliant colors on my wee little camera. The sunset, however, was hardly inspiring. It was foggy and the cloud cover was thick. The colors I sought turned out to be simple variations on gray. Too bad, so sad.

I had driven over an hour to reach the beach, and I felt a bit dejected at the thought that my photography venture wouldn’t result in a single worthy image. I moped about snapping shots of this and that, trying to conjure up an image of the horizon. A few self-portraits lifted my somber mood (stay tuned for those).

When the sun had set far beyond the wall of gray, I turned toward my car and began to wander back. When I did, I came upon a wondrous silhouette of a bridge reflected onto the water by a full moon. A worthy shot! I snapped away.

I could see my car off in the distance, it was the only one left in the lot. After only a shot or two I saw another car pull into the lot shining its lights toward my Jeep. I kept snapping away, but soon I saw a figure shining a flashlight around the interior of my car. The same interior where I had carelessly left my wallet, phone, and extra camera lens. I immediately concluded that some thief had stumbled upon a perfectly opportune situation!

I had no intention of interrupting said thief’s burglary of my car. “What’s done is done,” I thought, “I’ll just sit tight until he leaves.” It seemed sensible to snap a few more shots in the meantime. After a few minutes though I was interrupted by a bright spotlight shining all around where I stood. Then a loudspeaker, “Stop what you are doing and return to your vehicle immediately.” My heart began to pound. I snatched up my tripod and began to move backwards. The spotlight followed me. “This is the California State Police. This beach closed at sunset. Return to your vehicle immediately.” I felt slightly relieved, and laughed nervously at the situation.

The hike to the parking lot meant crossing over a small lagoon of fresh water. Unfortunately, 1 inch of water had turned into 6 inches in the time since I had first crossed. Wet feet, very wet.

Back at my car I was greeted by an irritated female officer who rolled her eyes at my approach. I apologized profusely and told her I hadn’t meant to cause any trouble. She called it a warning and said condescendingly, “I won’t write you a ticket this time…but please, in the future, pay attention to the signs!”

Ok, maybe.

My Homeland

Approaching the runway in Salt Lake City.

More Of The Ordinary

That white line in the shot above is a plane.

Taken In The No Trespassing Zone

Oh World, how is there such beauty in the ordinary? Answer me that.

Taken in the San Francisco Bay.

Ok, I Know The Video Was Sub-Par

Action-Packed Kayaking

My roommate took me kayaking for my birthday. It was a little inlet from the Sea. Good times were had. Here is a little sampling of the excitment:

Mayo.

It is lunch hour at the Hospital Cafeteria. I purchase taco salad and head towards the exit.

I pass the condiment dispensers. An unassuming woman is poised over the mayonnaise. She pumps a good-sized dollop onto her index finger. I slow my pace, staring shamelessly. She raises the glob to her mouth and sticks out her tongue. She licks. In between licks she pauses, smacks her lips and gazes up in deep thought. Her brow furrows after the third lick. A healthy drop of white goo remains on her finger.

She pauses, then walks away. Away from the napkins. Away from the trash can.

I appreciate the perplexity of life and move along.

An Early Birthday

I recieved the most delightful kind of voicemail from my Father a few weeks back. He had a practical yet loving tone to his voice like he always does. He said I'd be recieving a package in the mail from him, that I should look out for it. "It's for your birthday...or Christmas, or whatever's coming up next," he explained. So great!

Well, it was the most lovely of gifts. A usuable, wished-for gift I would never have gotten myself. It was a new camera lens. And it's the shiniest, most handsome piece of glass a person could lay their eyes on. The point is, I like it.

Here is the result of the first trial run:

Back In Business

It was difficult to find a computer service store to help me out in my moment of need. Because um, uh….. I use a PC. In Silicon Valley. Homeland of Apple. I am an outcast, misunderstood, perhaps even unliked. I live amongst Mac People. Accordingly, no self-respecting computer nerd would be seen tending to a PC here. That kind of transgression could seriously damage a reputation.

I generally use Yelp.com for any local business needs where I don’t already have a favorite/reliable merchant. But Yelp had nothing. There were ample reviews of the various Mac service stores but listings for the PC stores had only 1-2 reviews (a major Yelp red flag).

Ultimately, I performed a simple google search for stores in my area. I found a small, locally-owned shop that had an informative website and reasonable prices. I couldn’t find single review of the place anywhere online. My gut told me it was the right place though, so I delivered my sputtering PC a few days back.

Small was really an understatement with regard to this store. It made up a sliver of a stripmall that ran the whole block long. The inside was poorly lit with a mish-mosh of computer parts (some used?) lining the walls. Just past the counter was a door to the backroom. When I entered the store I could see a group of four men chatting there. This room had a whole different look. It was bright, filled with bins of wires and motherboards. The men were young to middle-aged, invariably overweight, and totally geeked out. There was an audible buzz which I can only assume was the plethora of appliances, computers, and monitors demanding power in that small area. I knew I had chosen the right place.

I picked my computer up today. When I stepped up to the counter to pay though all the wrong words came out. I quickly mumbled a comment about how I must have been experiencing a touch of dyslexia. Andrew, who was effectively the epitome of a computer geek, simply smiled and swiped my debit card. After a few moments though he said, “Yeah, I’ve got that too.” I looked up puzzled. “I’m always mixing up certain letters and numbers, it’s really bad.” “Oh,” I replied, “well it seems like your pretty good at fixing computers anyway.” “Yeah, I am,” he admitted. I signed the receipt, scooped up my computer, and wandered toward my car. When I looked down to locate my keys though, I noticed this sticker to my utter delight:

Apparently, I needed to tap into my dyslexic side a little more seriously if I had any hopes of healing my computer. Because ever since I plugged it in and powered it up, its been working like a charm!