Downtown

Sunday, April 19, 2009
I unexpectedly found myself downtown tonight with nothing to do. I took the opportunity to take a few photos.

I thought I had long exposures figured out, but some of them required some serious touch-up to make presentable. Guess I need to practice more.

Also, I didn't get one shot I really wanted because I lack a wide enough lens. So if any of you have too much money to spare, I really could use a Canon 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5. Or a Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8. And don't get me started on the fisheye lenses!







Complete set can be found here.

We mite have a problem

Monday, April 6, 2009
Wikipedia is the worst website ever.

Witness the following.

Whenever I visit the Harmons on 5400 South and Redwood, I pick up a new cheese from the cheese counter that I haven't tried before. My most recent selection was Mimolette, a cheddar from The Netherlands. I found it quite enjoyable and have been munching on it for the last few weeks.

However, tonight I made the mistake of reading the Wikipedia article on it, where I discovered that some of the flavor of the cheese comes from the INTENTIONAL INTRODUCTION of cheese mites!

Worse, the grayish rind of the cheese comes from the DANDER AND EXCREMENT of the cheese mites!

The Mimolette has now fallen out of favor with me and I suspect I will be taking it straight to the toxic waste section of the dump. I should probably have the refrigerator incinerated too - you can't be too sure of these things.

Zeus - King of the Dogs

Sunday, April 5, 2009
This blog post sucks to write.

The dog I spent the last twelve years growing up with has taken a turn for the worse.

My mother had two Alaskan Malamutes - Krystal and Zeus. Krystal was about a year older than Zeus, and they grew up together their entire lives. They didn't always get along - I remember one fight where they weren't distracted by anything, even by bacon being dangled in their face. But they still grew up together as buds. When Krystal passed on two years ago, Zeus had a certain sadness about him that he never seemed to fully recover from.

In the last six months, Zeus' health has steadily declined. He has hip problems as expected from most dogs this size, he's gone blind in one eye and has completely lost bladder control.

Today his pain seemed much more intense and constant than normal. The poor guy struggles to stand up on his own, usually getting maybe 1/3 of the way up before collapsing in defeat. When he does manage to get up, he appears to have doggie Alzheimer's - he doesn't seem to recognize people or places, and he just wanders around confused and disoriented.

I went over tonight to visit the family and say my final farewells. We fed Zeus a final meal of chicken noodle soup, and treated him with a few scraps of chicken from dinner.

I can't wait to play with you again 70 years from now.





A few more photos here.