Oct 28 2011
Took my mom down to the Casa del Prado in Balboa Park to attend the “Eerie Evening of Waltz” Halloween dance put on by my sister and her husband and their vintage dance organization, Waltz & Such. Good selection of music, even just to take pictures to. Having a couple of cute spinning girls to watch didn’t hurt either.
( g y r a t i o n p i c s )
Oct 28 2011
Had us another one of them amazing San Diego sunsets this evening. Never get tired of ’em.
Oct 27 2011
Finally had my first video chat using Facebook’s Skype interface. Was really glad it was with my nephew. It was brief but cool to see him again. Plus he made his grandmother very happy by saying hi to her as well.
Oct 27 2011
Took pictures of my mom making authentic-ish Hungarian gulyás (goulash) to one day post on my recipe blog. I can add this one to the other five I have waiting to add.
Oct 27 2011
Invaded the intimate privacy of two consenting adult insects just so I could bring these educational images to my viewers. All three of you.
Oct 26 2011
Took my nephew Stephen to this year’s Annual Meeting and Open House at the San Diego Natural History Museum. Started off a little boring with a rather lackluster meeting and some dry cookies, but then got much better once we took the tour three floors below to the snakes and lizards specimens, up to the second floor to see the display department and then going inside the individual labs up on the fourth floor. We stayed until they kicked us out at 9:00.
( s p e c i m e n p i c s )
Oct 25 2011
Met up with my old high school buddy John this afternoon. First time I’ve seen him since graduating thirty five years ago . We sat down outside a Starbucks at University Town Center in La Jolla and never once talked about high school.
Oct 24 2011
Another day of not feeling my best. Can’t stand this nagging cough, but at least it tells me I’m on the back half of this cold. Spent another day working on photos while catching up on podcasts. Best news today was that my BFF Brenda passed her teacher’s certification test, which she was sure she had failed. Three coughs for Brenda! I think it’s time for some TV vegging.
Oct 23 2011
Because of a stupid cold, not very much happened with me today. After I buried a dead Monarch to stop a Yellowjacket from eating it and after I played a couple of levels of Angry Birds and after I posted some photos on Facebook, Flickr and Google+, I just watched a lot of stuff: the second half of the Chargers loss to the Jets, the second part of Kelbytraining about Google+, Cali’s reviews of about half a dozen iPhone 4S cases, the 60 Minutes piece on Steve Jobs’ biography before it aired (thanks to MacRumors), a few Russell Brown podcasts about Photoshop, an episode of commandN, and a live recording of TWIT. After watching all that I decided to give my eyes a rest so I sat and watched some TV.
Oct 22 2011
A larger, orb-weaving spider set up shop just outside our kitchen window which gave me a perfect opportunity to get some macro close-ups without actually getting close and with being inside a nice, warm kitchen. Gave me a chance to use my tripod for some really good, steady, sharp images. Can’t believe how something that looks as nasty as this could be so timid.
Oct 22 2011
Found a dying Monarch Butterfly that couldn’t fly on our driveway. No idea what was wrong with it. Looked really healthy although with a bit of a skinny abdomen. Picked it up and took it to one of our milkweeds for it to feed. Tried three times. Always ended up falling off and landing in the dirt. Then I found another recently emerged Monarch that had died because it had been incapable of flying since both of it’s wings were completely deformed. Not a foot away from that one was the third Monarch. This one had come out of its pupa only an hour before and it was beautiful and perfect.
Oct 22 2011
Came across this little guy on one of our plumeria plants. Apparently they love to destroy tomato plants. I’ll have to keep an eye out for more of them. They have super nasty looking pointy larvae. Their name? Keeled treehopper.
Oct 22 2011
Our friends who arrived yesterday came over again this morning for some breakfast and a visit with my sister, her husband and my older brother who brought over his three kittens. They were here for only a few hours before continuing on their journey to meet up with more old friends.
Oct 21 2011
Old family friends who we haven’t seen in over forty years arrived this afternoon for a quick 24 hour visit. Too bad I can’t remember them other than by their family name. We sat and chatted, then went out for a Mexican dinner at Tio Carlos in the Midway area meeting my older brother and his kids there. I had a beef chimichanga with a rather unappetizing looking orange-colored sauce on top. It was good though.
Oct 20 2011
Had a very brief chat with Cali Lewis on Google+ today. Surprised to find out that she originally wanted to be a marine biologist. That she didn’t is a pity for all the moist animals that she would have befriended, but lucky for the rest of us arid, land-based mammals that she chose geeknicity.
