I am an addict

As in: Photos

Baby smiles are their own kind of heroin.

The Ghosts of Photostitching

As in: Photos

While we were apple picking this weekend, I took a panorama shot of the orchard using my camera's "photostitching" feature. While it does a decent job of blending the backgrounds, it also results in eerie people movements. Check out the ghostly pedestrian!

Sunset

As in: Photos

Golf? Me?

As in: Photos

I went to the JA Classic this weekend, a friendly best-ball scramble hosted by some friends of mine in the wilds of western Wisconsin. I'm a terrible golfer but I had fun.

Pondering Bob's advice

As in: Photos

The Bob Newheart statue near Navy Pier in Chicago. I got lots of stares posing for this photo.

Kitty: you are my Lucy

As in: Photos

1. Lay in hilarious pose on floor. Pretend to be asleep.
2. Continue laying in hilarious pose while stupid owner gets out his camera with Charlie-Brown-like naivete.
3. The moment before owner takes his picture, sit up and ruin hilarious pose. Owner falls on his back, metaphorically speaking, screaming AARRGH!

The Most Cluttered Office (OR) How I Learned to Stop Being Afraid of Camera Features and Love "Sports" Mode

As in: Photos , Thoughts from the "L"

A month ago, staring absent-mindedly out the window, I noticed that the Green Line runs right by The Most Cluttered Office. Championship clutter. Olympic-caliber. I've been in Greg Ulmer's office—I know clutter. Yesterday, I got a window seat on the right side of the train, so I thought I'd see if I can get a pic of it. I turned on "Sports Mode" and sat poised by the window, catlike. The kid in front of me looked at me like I was nuts.

It occurs to me that perhaps the piles shield this guy from the terrors of working with the el going by every 10 minutes. My eyes keep returning to the leaning tower of booklets in the left window: how many more can he add before it topples?

...finds a use for things.

As in: Photos , The Street

Yesterday, I noticed this on my way to work:

Then my office-mate alerted me to a sticker I might like on the way from my office to my local neighborhood SUBWAY. I had my camera ready and documented a number of stickers:

Obviously, many of these stickers are the work of the same mysterious artist, who made most of her images on stickers, but also posted a large image of the most iconic character in the series. But what of the other images? Is this a meme? The public art sticker?

Could this be the model for an assignment? One can use the Web's knowledge of the power of iconicity to structure one's stickers, one needs to make stickers provocative enough to be noticed by the pedestrian, to make text/image glib enough and 'chunked' enough to be absorbed in passing. Is this mysterious artist writing the city? Is this different than graffiti? Jeff?

Junk music

As in: Flotsam , Photos

I found this piano in an alley near a park we like. I makes me sad.

Saturday Photos

As in: Photos , Thoughts from the "L"

Things you expect to see on the way to work:

A street light


A tire swing


Maybe even some low-hanging clouds rolling off the lake.


But you generally don't expect to see A barell on fire Well, maybe you do. Aside: I didn't notice until later that I caught the 'ol CTA rumbling by as I took my burning-barrel photo.

Weekend's Media

As in: Media , Photos

Catching up on TiVo backlog:

• Veronica Mars just keeps getting better. The line from this episode that was so awesome:

  Just another day in the life of a human Google.

  She goes from one search to the next and back. I'm all about hard-boiled detectives right now, and VM fits in perfectly: she's scrappy, she's a working-class private detective in a rich-person's world, her personal morals are the highest thing for her—even when it means busting a good friend. And it's excellently written. Bonus! It got picked up for a second season.
• Did the Kung Fu Hustle. Its slot as the #1 Kung Fu Comedy in America is well-earned. Fantastic.
• Peter MacNichol, how do you capture our hearts so? We enjoyed your stomach-rumbling antics on Ally McBeal, and your friendly mentor-ness on NUMB3RS continues to endear.
• Ocean's Twelve. Meh.
• Finally watched (from tape) last week's Amazing Race. High point: Rob calling Uchenna and Joyce "stupid" while they were quietly kicking his butt. Mid point: Kelly tells Ron he "got out of his commitment to the military" by "being a P.O.W." He gets angry but shows remarkable restraint, given the comment. Low point: otherwise tiresome Ron and Kelly are spared the axe in favor of destitution. Question: will anyone give them anything? (Probably not.)
• Last: saw Pac-Man related graffiti on Thursday:

The Mysteries of... weather?

As in: Photos

Bizarre day. I was visiting the in-laws in Lansing yesterday, and woke up to this out their front door:

A four-hour drive home to Chicago gives us this out our front door:

Obligatory Pet Photos

As in: Photos

So I just got a new digital camera and have been going photo crazy the last couple days. Of course, the most interesting subjects around the house are the pets. Here are my favorite pet photos so far. Other than cropping and re-sizing, I haven't altered these at all.

Loki on his morning squirrel hunt


Jawa kitty!