June 29th Pic!

"Waterworld"

No not the shitty Kevin Costner movie! This was taken at the community pool, it's the water circulation system that keeps the pool fresh and so clean clean. Helping Eva move tomorrow so should have some interesting pic's of boxes or piles of clothes or something...it's need to convey pure chaos. Hope she isn't reading this.

June 28th Pic!

"How Time Flies"

It's officially been 5 years since I started working professionally. Crazy. Wonder if the next 5 years will go just as fast!? probably faster. The only guarantees are I'll be 32 and the Lakers will win at least one more championship.

June 27th Pic!

"Rough Terrain"

Sunday morning near North Scottsdale. It was a McDowell Conservatory trail, this place was pretty tough to find but after an hour or so of searching we got it by following a mountain biker who looked like he was headed to a trail. We spotted some wild Coyote cubs, huge Jackrabbits, and lots of lizards (all on Eva's camera, with her telephoto!, they'll one day be header pics). Oh and we woke up at 4:30am to go get the early bird or worm...I don't remember what we got I was still dizzy from lack of sleep. 

"Like Mars"

Except for the whole life thing.

June 26th Pic!

"Jumping Cholla"

Not quite leanin' like a Chollo, but these suckers thorns do jump onto you if you're not too careful. This was the Cholla garden in Joshua Tree, we went to visit it on Sat morning after getting lost trying to find a cool trail we wanted to hike. While walking through the garden of Cholla's while reading aloud all the facts (there was an information pamphlet with 18 facts) like a 5 year old we realized how badly our necks were sunburned from the day before. We used plenty of lotion but the camera strap rubbed it off. The logical solution, go back home to phoenix! ...Ok in reality between the two visits to Joshua Tree we had pretty much see all of it, and the flowers really weren't in bloom so it was easier to call it quits. We did buy some snazzy sun hats that would keep our necks cool (well not cool, but cool from the sun if you catch my drift). 

"New Asphalt"

A lot of the roads in Joshua Tree were brand new! My car drove like a dream.

June 25th pic!

"On top"

Elevation 5,457 ft...Ryan Mountain, Joshua Tree. This morning Eva and I woke up around 5am and started our trek into Joshua Tree. After hitting a trail which led us to an old abandoned gold mine (of course she wanted to see it!, though no gold was found) we went to hike up Ryan Mountain. Without regard for time of day we hiked up it, even though the sign said the hike was treacherous (At Picadai I put my life on the line for good pics!) we decided to partake at high noon on empty stomachs. 

"Illusion"

We made it in about an hour after walking fairly briskly and taking some stunning pics of an awesome lizard (on Eva's camera, will be a title pic soon). On the way down we saw 3 people looking like they were about to die, asking how much farther they had to go. We told them 20 mins but sadly it would probably take them an hour...they were in bad shape! the heat was killing them! 

"Fools Gold"

The aforementioned gold mine. It was a fun hike up to see this site, meaning it was an easy hike! 

"Shooting for the Moon"

After our tiring hikes, we decided to head back to the hotel and sleep for a few hours then head back out for an evening session. After a nice dinner, we packed a bottle of wine along with some light snacks and headed to the park to find a nice spot to relax and enjoy the sunset and stargaze. The moon was awesome that night, as witnessed by the pic above. 

"Full Moon"

Trust me after coming home from a 4.5 mile run outside on a monday where every breath feels like hot fire you'll run out of interesting titles for the pics too! Enough with the excuses! I really like this pic...no matter what the title! 

"Painting with the Moon"

30 second exposure (meaning the shutter captures an image for 30 sec's) while I moved my camera in circles. You may ask..."Sid, you said you went stargazing, where are the pic's of the stars? all I see are sloppy pics of the moon, how drunk were you!?"

Well, that's an excellent question...A. I wasn't drunk because a moth flew into my glass of wine! :( and B. No star pic's because there was a FULL moon, it looked as if someone parked a semi behind us and with their headlights on the highest level! 

June 24th Pic!

 "Night Drive"

On Eva's Camera...it's a pic of us driving Thursday night to Joshua Tree. As we were driving, around 11:45pm I realized...holy crap! I haven't taken a pic yet! See usually we stop midway to either eat or fill-up on gas...but since we filled up on gas and ate before we left....we just powered through the drive. Hence a pic from the car. Coming soon!

June 23rd Pic!

"Tree Map"

Joshua Tree tomorrow! also picked up a print for Eva today, it's the other pic's in the image, those are just sample pics but she has a 16x20 version of the same image. It looks good from afar. The birds and the water have nothing to do with Joshua tree in case you were wondering, I just thought they looked cool. 

And yes! That is a Nat Geo map of Joshua Tree, and it's also tear proof. It was the most expensive map I've ever bought and never used. Last time we were there, we used all the free maps they gave us...this time it's different...we'll say no thank you to the free hippie maps and stick with our yuppie Nat Geo expensive map! Did I mention it is tear proof!

June 22nd Pic!

"Dorothy's Closet"

Before the sweatshop workers installed the Red Rubies. 

An awesome contribution by Eva! It was her day off...during her adventures today she saw a Hissing Rattle Snake, A large Road Runner, Amare Stoudamire (Sun's Basketball superstar) and a box full of red shoes, in that order. Guess what she took a pic of? I really do like the pic!  :) 

Speaking of shoes...I went for my usual run today on the treadmill, and the nastiest smelling lady started working out on the elliptical next to me, I was only .25 miles into my 5 mile run. I'm gagging as I'm writing this but I finally pushed the stop button at 2.5 miles and ran outdoors. It smelled pretty bad outdoors too, but 100000 (not enough zeros!) times better than the awful smelling lady. 

On a positive and non barf inducing note...returning to Joshua Tree this Thursday! Excited. Look for a good pic update on Sunday night or Monday evening, depends entirely on how much wine I drink after I come back into town.

June 21st Pic!

"High Contrast"

All of today's pic's are Eva's contributions! This pic is taken near Mill Ave in Tempe, for those of you familiar with AZ. I like the contrast of the old factory vs the KPMG building. 

"Fences"

I'm a sucker for the urban look of fences. I think it just makes the pic's look a lot grittier. 

"Fairlane"

This beautiful Ford Fairlane was parked in front of Eva's place today...I drove up to pick-up Eva and her Niece to go see Toy Story 3 (great but not as awesome as Toy Story 2) and Eva was in full Papparazzo mode all over this car. My only regret is I didn't bring my camera...it's cool though she did a great job! 

"Fair Butt"

LOL. It's getting late.

June 20th Pic!

"Hot!"

It's officially gotten to be really freakin hot in AZ...I went out to take a pic at 9pm today and I started to sweat. Not cool! (quite literally). So, since I went out to take a pic, why do I have a pic of unopened fruit bars? Well...the pic I took outside didn't turn out so well, had some difficulties getting my camera to focus...So around 11:45pm when I realized none of the pic's I took outside were serviceable I resorted to taking pic's around the house play in my playbook. I was going to get a pic with a half eaten fruit bar but didn't feel like loading myself up with all the sugars so close to bed time!

Here's the pic I took outside btw. 

"Dastardly Bug"

Dastardly because it was so damn hard to get a good pic...but also because it looks damn evil! This is near Four Peaks. The setting was perfect, a clear shot of the moon over the decrepit building with the shady bug parked in front. I was almost Ansel Adams meets Alfred Hitchcock! I really haven't been too lucky in getting pic's of the moon this week. 

When I return to Joshua Tree this Friday the Moon is mine!

June 19th Pic!

"Broken"

What happens the one day I decide that It's too damn hot to take the 4 flights of stairs at Eva's place? The elevator breaks! So not only did I waste energy and calories walking over to the elevator but I had to double back and go up the 4 flights of stairs! Awesome! 

On the way up the stairs as I reached the 3rd flight, I heard one of the saddest sounds...it sounded like a wounded baby seal...when I got up to the 4th floor I realized it was the elevator, the funniest part of the whole ordeal (yes ordeal! try climbing 4 flights in 100+ degree heat!) was that there was a limp "Happy Birthday" balloon floating inside the elevator. 

I had limited time to get the pic but I wanted some details (like the Elevator broken notice) I could not have captured If I framed it more creatively. I like this one in particular because the balloon is just creeping from the side, almost as if it evidenced some crime.

June 18th Pic!

"Salsa!"

I realized late today after my nice long run, after laundry...that I forgot to take my picadai!...Considering I have Tennis @8am tomorrow and work after I'll get my Picadai early in the morning tomorrow to avoid today's panic!

The pic above is of a candle Eva gave me, Caribbean Salsa! It's smells as good as it sounds...Caribbean Salsa! The out of focus and out of commission candle in the back is the Cupcake candle I bought for $1.50 at Fry Grocery Store. The wick burned out in it so all I have now is a bunch of wax....so old and busted meet the new hawtness, Caribbean Salsa! 

..Last post about damn Candles. Really.

June 17th Pic!

"Light Rail"

No Kidding!....This pic was taken with a 30 second exposure (meaning, no photoshop..all In-camera magic!). The sensor stays open for 30 secs and captures as much light as possible, it is great when it's dark! 

I took a few Pic's near Eva's place today but as I drove home, I saw a crazy looking moon over Tempe town lake with the bridges in the foreground so I decided to park and find the right pic. After 5-7mins of searching for the moon I gave up! Instead I found the light rail bridge which has a cool lighting effect below it. 

"Blue Vs Yellow"

Pic of the same subject as above except I framed it a little different and set the camera at a 2 second exposure. See the difference in light! The Bridge's lights are cool, the Blue reaches the end of yellow, then changes color and doubles back. Neat trick! 

"US Airways"

US Airways corporate building in Tempe...I like the reflections in the water, 2 sec exposure again. 

"Through the Bridge"

As I was walking back to my Car this caught my eye, thought it would be kinda cool. I still like it! 

"Porous"

This was the original Picadai pic I took from outside Eva's apartment building. I like the blinding light in the center of the pic. This was a 2 second exposure also. 

WOW...5 Pic's in one day! Oh yeah, the LAKERS WON their 16th NBA Championship!

June 16th Pic!

"Boat Home"

So I've been challenged to "Step up my Game!" by one of Eva's friends....OK! I'm going to try hard to get my ass out of the house to take pic's...no more "Crap on my desk" pic's. I promise. 

Also try taking pic's EVERYDAY....it's a challenge. Time to Step up my game! Thanks for the kick in the ass. That was the phrase I thought about all day at work yesterday....I'm going to make a list of creative pic's I want to take. 

Above pic is from Tempe town lake, it's the harbor where the boats are tied up. Stepped up my game a little I think :)

June 15th pic!

"Over Wine"

At "Terrior" wine bar, Eva is contemplating which Cheese plate she would like with her Italian wine. I DVR'd the Laker game (game 6) to go participate in "Trivia Night" at the wine bar, unfortunately not many people showed up since they were all busy watching the Laker game. God bless DVR! The game was a blowout and I didn't really miss any good action! 

There was an altrecation at the Wine bar though...really! at a Wine bar! Some guy started yelling at the Owner over the fact he didn't carry Tequila at the Wine bar...needless to say he got his ass thrown out! We also got a free bottle of Wine for winning Trivia...out of all the One teams (us) that played we won! Awesome!

June 14th Pic!

"Gooooooooooooooal!"

After spending this weekend in "Gaucho" country (UCSB Mascot) while the the World Cup was going on I knew Monday had to be some shout out  related to soccer. UCSB is best known for their great Soccer team, but surprisingly not many students there were sporting soccer paraphernalia. This is the second reference to Soccer on my blog, first being one brand of soup cans vs another being reffed by a can of V8. 

Can't wait for more fun match-ups, this year's been a sports viewing drought for me!

June 13th Pic!

"Where's Waldo?"

The Graduation day was quite a process...it was not nearly as organized as I've been used to but it was a quick ceremony that was humorous without too many "your Generation is great...blah blah blah speeches". There wasn't a massive Ceremony for the entire school but multiple ones for each school, California is broke so they had to make cut's somewhere. 

"OH-Ten Grad!"

The Case of the missing "S" will never be solved but the speculation is that it was hit by a flying tortilla a reported 3 times and fell to the ground....probably "Platoon" style with its arms reaching for the heavens.

June 12th Pic!

hmm...not on my camera, we took pic's though. This day's adventures involved dinner with the folks and the usual "someone is graduating" fare. So once I browse through Eva's camera(s) I'm sure I'll find the right pic....stay tuned!

Updated 6/17/10

"Grad"

"Hey...wait a minute!...I sense a camera being pointed at me!" My Sis at her graduation dinner in Thousand Oaks, CA. It's funny how she's the only one looking at the camera while the rest of us are absorbed in reading the Menu (Thai). My dad seems keen on eating his camera. Eva is making sure I don't pick anything too spicy...whatever I ordered wasn't too spicy but I just remember being incredibly full!

June 11th Pic!

"Sloth"

UCSB campus is one of the most beautiful campus's I've seen...you can Google it and see all the beautiful aerial shots. However you'll never ever see quirky graffiti art on Campus via a Google search! So you're welcome! 

Walking around the campus can be a bit overwhelming because you're stuck between deciding....do I want to just take in the views or do I want to view it from behind my viewfinder and enjoy it later when editing. After 5 mins of deliberation I chose the former...My sis was about to graduate, I'll probably never see the lagoons and the beaches and water features of UCSB again.

June 10th Pic!

"Ring Ring"

Motel Phone during our stay in LA before heading to Santa Barbara for my Sis's graduation. We went out for drinks a few min's after we checked in so I didn't get an opportunity to grab a better pic later on. Oh well, at least when I look back at my pic's a few years from now I can guess that I must've had a hell of a time that night since I forgot to take a better pic! ...Yes it was a fun night, got free beer from some vendor, it tasted like sweat, though I was told it was passion fruit flavor...wtf (I won't say the name, since it was FREE beer)

June 9th Pic!

"First Contact"

I hate wearing contacts, but sometimes it's just a necessary evil. It was nice for one to run with my contacts though, 11 mile run is a lot easier when you're ears aren't holding up a glass and metal frame. 

Off to Santa Barbara tomorrow via LA and Thousand Oaks for my Sisters undergrad graduation. Will hopefully have some awesome pic's...when I stop partying that is! 

Signing off on the Blog till Monday 6/14. Updates will kick ass, I promise!

June 8th Pic!

"Best S@!T Ever!"

As far a pre-running snacks go, you can't top Dark Chocolate Peanut Buttter Reese's. It was exactly as the title claims!...The secret to a perfect Reese's cup, Freeze in the freezer for 15-25 minutes which allows the soft center to harden just a little so each bite is consistent and the chocolate doesn't melt in your hands! (TM)

Secret to any good candy is Dark Chocolate! When I was in Germany I found a Dark Chocolate Twix..it was amazing!, in Switzerland a Dark Chocolate Tobleron, amazing! ...see the trend. I don't know how many Dark Chocolate variations of popular candy we have here I think I'm gonna have to do some research. I found the bad boy above while in line at Target...I was starving and about to eat my arm off...but I waited till I came home, froze the thing for 25mins before I ate it. ...Trust me the freezing it worth it!. 

June 7th Pic!

"On a Flight"

Today's after dinner festivities included going up to North Scottsdale for a drink at Uncorked, a Wine Bar/Lounge. Eva and I both had the Port Wine Flight, it was a little too sweet for my taste but still pretty good. As you can see from the pic's we were being complete dorks taking pic's all over the place but it was all fun! 

I'm half-way in the training for the SF 1/2 Marathon in July (on my B-Day!) and I gotta say there's nothing better than good wine after a nice long run...I've been finding myself with a glass of wine in my hands after a long run more frequently these days, can't really complain I guess! 

"Ribbit Jr."

Another frog figurine, guess we like frog's in AZ...yesterdays was from Downtown Phoenix, today it's North Scottsdale. 

"Hot Coral Blur"

If there is one contentious topic between Eva and I, it's the difference between the color "Coral" and "Pink". I understand that Coral is a shade of Orange and Pink is ...well Pink, but the "Coral" she owns is really almost "Pink"....whatever I give up! Pic above is Eva twirling about in her Pin...err Coral dress as I try to take an interesting pic.

June 6th Pic!

"Bubbly Toes"

Downtown Phoenix, before dinner at The Roosevelt, Eva and I walked around the area and took some pics. It was a little dark out but I somehow managed to get the shot above at the last second. I have the same shot without people in it, but I figured people make things interesting...I need to get into more people based photography. It was nice and warm out today, except the restaurant (bar) we went to felt like turning up the A/C to 70 degrees! We were freezing by the end of our meal! 

"Ribbit"

No it's not some deformed monster! It's a frog...a VERY detailed frog...it's a statute of a leaping frog in the Japanese gardens, it's something to look at, simply amazing. I thought it was better to get a pic from this perspective but in retrospect there are a few other angles that would've worked out better. Oh well it was too damn hot and I was too damn hungry!

June 5th Pic!

"Garden of Eva"

This pic was taken last night (5th, posted on 6th) at Eva's place....she has a coffee table with 3 little Cacti plants on the edge that I somehow manage knock over all the time!

This was the night we ended up on the wrong side of Downtown Phoenix while looking for Postino Central (new location)...if one sees a lot of Cops running towards one part of town...don't go there. We ended up making a U-Turn and finally finding the new Postinos location...my GPS for some reason wanted to take me to a gas station on the wrong part of town, my GPS forgets that I drive a Prius (55mpg!). I forgot to even take my camera out during this ordeal...thus we have the pic of Eva's cacti above...on the plus side by the time we got to Postino's (9:20pm) we didn't have to wait for a table.

June 4th Pic!

"Puffy Roti"

This is an Indian Tortilla, it's from Costco it's super good! Rub some olive on the raw dough and place it on an iron skillet after a few min's it'll get nice warm and puffy! I had it with some Lentil soup...after a 5 mile run it was a nice and filling. 

Speaking of Iron Skillets I've had mine of 2-3 years and it's got a kick ass patina...a layer of oil on the skillet that builds over the years.

June 3rd Pic!

"Crossing the Bridge"

Today was my parents 28th wedding anniversary...so to celebrate they visited Mt. Rainer in Washington St. In the pic above is my Mom, since it was just the two of them, they couldn't appear in one pic. I crashed the party 13 months later and my Sister 5 years later...somehow she believes me when I tell her she's the bastard child. 

"In the Center"

I'm afraid I get my photography skills from my Mom :( 

When I was 12 or 13 I was put in charge of taking pic's of my sister during school play...I thought I was soo badass...when the pics came out my Dad yelled at me because I stood in one spot (far away from the stage) and took 35 pics that ALL looked the same. The film camera we had didn't have zoom. I couldn't even tell which tree my sister was! ...I've improved marginally since then.

June 2nd Pic!

"The King"

California Kingsnake a contribution by Eva! ...She went out on a ride yesterday (June 2nd, posted June 3rd) looking for some birds and happened upon a snake! ...I'm deathly scared of snakes like Indiana Jones and I'm from India so that gives me 2x the reason to be scared. I probably would've not even taken a pic...so lucky for you (the handful of people that read this drivel) Eva was brave enough to take a pic! 

"Low Rider"

This is how nature photogs roll!

June 1st Picadai!

"Imperial"

An Eva contribution. She didn't put her name on the pic today because the object of her photography was not actually taking pics but rather bird cataloging. She got herself a fancy Nat'l Geographic Bird Guide and a handy-dandy check list of birds in AZ. So she went out this morning and decided to snap some pics, but soon realized it's way harder to match pic's to drawings...I mean there are a million finches in AZ...Spotting the difference between a perfectly drawn illustration and a real bird is a fools errand! Which is why I only plan to take pic's of highly common birds. The exchange would go something like this.

Eva: What bird is that...let's look in my field guide!

Me: It's a pigeon...look on page 43, yes the gray one! (end of story!)

Eva: Cooool! let's see what else you took!

Me: A chicken, a Parakeet, and one bad-ass Dodo.

Eva: Wow! You're amazing! let's look for the birds I took pic's of.

Me: Ok (no sarcasm in tone)

Eva: Ok I can't tell from the pic...this finch has a yellow streak here mine is there, the beak is slightly red....

2 hrs later and after having made no considerable progress as to the type of finch Eva will have finally given up...I on the other hand have successfully spotted 50+ Gray Pigeons located on page 43. 

"Some Finch"

The highly debated finch above. Android Phones have an app now where you can take pics of anything...and it'll do an internet image search and tell you what it is. Next internet Meme...all pic's of poop will be tagged Glenn Beck!