Core/Chicago f/9 @ 1/125 sec

f_4_t and I were in Chicago over the weekend for my cousin Jackie's wedding. As per custom, I've started a city photo set on Flickr. Right now, it's all Sears Tower-related, but I'll have more from around downtown, the Art Institute and Millennium Park in the coming days.

My phone died (well, rather, failed to have infinite battery life) Monday night and therefore, missed three phone calls from the Raleigh Police Department. They were able to go out Monday night, pay a call upon the hopefully bruised-shinned fellow and put him in custody.

So, Tuesday afternoon when I realized I had a number of messages waiting, I called back and headed downtown with f_4_t to pick up the bike. It was still in good condition. Oddly, I don't think the guy ever bothered to hook the front brake back up. I'd disconnected it last Sunday after our last ride to get it onto the roof rack. The seat quick release is a bit out of whack, but that was actually something I was going to ask REI about when I took it in for a tune-up. Other than that, it's fine. Picking it up involved other people arrange for paperwork to be done or look things up.

Back in March, I had a great opportunity to buy a mountain bike at REI. f_4_t's preferred mode of cycling is that involving lots of whoopdy-dos and dirt. And since for the first few months of our relationship, she'd been a sport and kept up with me on her mountain bike while we were on the Greenway or road-riding, I figured I'd give true off-road riding a shot.

It came that my REI dividend, the member discount and a great price combined to get me a K2 for cheap. We hadn't taken the bikes out a lot, but some and I was really liking mtn. biking, looking forward to getting down to Harris Lake for rides. A friend was telling us about a great trail up near Roxboro that sounded nice.

Unfortunately, I currently can't pursue those rides since we noticed last Thursday that we'd had a break-in either the previous night or early in the morning. Seems someone saw fit to break into the storage shed attached to the house and purloin my bike.

f_4_t and I have back-to-back pager weeks, which means two weeks of trying to not get cabin fever but also not making firm plans, seeing movies in the theaters or dining at fancy restaurants. She's taken to calling it something along the lines of "Life on the 10-minute leash." Staying close to wi-fi is high value.

Aside from carrying a low level of stress at perhaps being awoken at 3 a.m. by a customer who's forgotten their FTP password, the pager itself gets spam. Far more spam than actual pages. Everything from classic OEM software (Corel seems popular) to libido enhancers to some 419 spam.

So, while we were sitting at last night's Raleigh Flickr meet, a spam page came in. Software. In the reading I created Photoshop Cialis. Tagline: "When your photos come in a little limp."

Quick dinner this evening.

• Bratwursts cooked in a skillet
• Sauteed onions
• Stone ground mustard
• pickle relish
• Terrapin Rye Squared Imperial Pale Ale

All tasty. Not a bad meal to watch For A Few Dollars More with.

The beer is very fully flavored, but not overpowering. The brats did better with onion, mustard and relish than with Amy's Chili, though the chili wasn't a bad option.

All Quiet/Bethlehem f/8 @ 1/400 sec

I've posted a small set of photos from our recent trip to Bethlehem, focusing on Bethlehem Steel. Shaun O'Boyle has his own photo essay.

Robin/Bethlehem f/6.3 @ 1/60 sec

f_4_t and I were up in Pennsylvania visiting her folks over the Father's Day weekend. All in all, a great trip, if we set aside two incidents at the bookends. First, a DUI checkpoint on a two-lane road in Quakertown [1] off of I-476 Friday night (well, Saturday morning) that took about 30 minutes or so, at 1 a.m. and then the 25 minute wait for food at the Ruther Glen Wendy's off of I-95 at Va. Route 207 on Sunday [2].

We packed a few things into a day and a half of actual visiting time before driving back. Robin's dad used to work at Bethlehem Steel, so Sunday morning, Robin, her parents and I drove and walked around the old plant and photographed as he told stories about some of the different buildings. A pretty good way to spend Father's Day.

Finding the Name/Washington DC f/3.5 @ 1/1000 sec

Uploaded a few photos from a DC trip Robin and I took back in March, including the NSA mascot for kids.

Ferris Wheel/Raleigh f/32 @ 5 sec

Robin and I got out to Triangle Town Center this evening in just the nick of time to get a few long exposures of a little carnival set-up in the parking lot before the full brunt of the evening's thunderstorm hit. Surprisingly, they were still running the rides with lightning in the area, Ferris Wheel included. I wouldn't have ridden.

Right after getting a few set-ups taken and Robin returning with some cotton candy, the tolerable precipitation turned into a deluge and it was time to go, camera shielded by an umbrella.

Otherwise, generally slack day. Took in parts of the American Tobacco Campus for lunch (Tyler's Taproom, with some Abbey-style ales on tap). Worthwhile, including seeing the four or five pieces of Nelson Mandela's time at Robben Island prison [1]. We discussed a remote cam project involving a small boat and camera, floating down the campus' "river." It's worth some further pondering.

1. Smaller than I imagined, but held over until July 31st

Holding Tight/Raleigh f/5 @ 1/160 sec

The Raleigh Flickr Group got out to the rodeo at Carousel Farms Arena on Tuesday. I have a set up from the trip. The rest of the group has some great work, check it out.

Also of note, my parents were out from Memorial Day weekend until last Saturday, which kept f_4_t and I very busy. Good times though. I think we got them to quite a few Raleigh and greater Triangle highlights, but not all of them.

I have another development cycle starting at work Monday. This time, we actually have some competition for one of our products, so, it's unsure if we're going to be working on the last version before the company decides to use an outside vendor or not. Since earlier versions were hamstrung by a customer with complete veto power over anything we wanted to do with the product, my team's excited that we (and they) can move on independently. And rather than worry about the ultimate decision, I'll be happy knowing that we're going to kick ass on the upcoming dev. cycle.

Finally, in some of the spare time, I'm looking at redesigning and relaunching my domain. The initial design is coming along, but I've been lazy about getting the software to drive it in place. We'll see how it goes.

Trousers Drummer/Raleigh f/3.2 @ 1/250 sec

More from today</strong>

A lovely day outside and a nice change of pace, being able to have some positives related to photography instead of the myriad wallowing in the mess of JPG Magazine from the last week. I've taken the day off from tracking what the latest goings on are.

Instead, at the invitation of a friend from work, Robin and I packed the car with photos from my Jan./Oct. show at Kulture, reading material and a couple of chairs and headed down to RebusWorks for RebusFest. For $40, I figured it was worth a few hours of our time to sit outside on a nice day and have people see if they were interested in my work. We got there a little after 1:30 and a few minutes and two Jacksons later, I'm set-up across from Antfarm Studio's Amanda Humphries, selling her 3D sculpture and Kirk Adams, selling his silk-screened t-shirts.

Buddha Sleeping/Raleigh f/6.3 @ 1/320 sec

Robin and I managed two photo outings over the weekend in addition to Retrofantasma, a bike ride, getting Rex to the dog park, etc. etc. Busy, but very enjoyable time. I have more photos from our Sunday photo outing, to Phật Tích Vạn Hạnh, up over at Flickr.

Two Leaves/Yates Millpond f/5 @ 1/60 sec

The day went right in so many ways. Even the weather broke enough for photography. Robin and I hit Yates Millpond south of downtown for a late afternoon shoot with some Flickr friends and the severe thunderstorm cells were gracious enough to stay north of where we were for a while. A few more photos from the afternoon are up now.

Stan/Raleigh f/5.6 @ 1/30 sec

I'm well behind on some updates about how life's been going the last little while. Some rough stretches yielding to very good. Finding more time to tackle photo projects again after completion of my Technological Failures class (on my list of things update about).

Of particular note was Robin buying a road bike this week and as it's first major outing, joining me for the 60 (really 64)-mile AIDSWalk+Ride Saturday. That was followed by a much more leisurely 12-mile ride on the greenway today. Beautiful weather for it, too.

Hooks and Shadows/Glenwood South f/8 @ 1/250 sec

Nice, relaxing evening at home. Brought in Chinese food. Read some. Robin and I decided that a 120-square-foot house would not work for us. Still, I like the design and thought involved.

51/Raleigh f/4.2 @ 1/100 sec

Being accused of being a narcissist over participating in the 365 days project, I decided to take my self-portraits in a different direction for the next little bit.

Goodness: My payment for appearing in JPG Magazine, Issue 8 showed up in two parts. A lens on Saturday, a check today. Secondly, in a sign that a feature I'm working on adding to a utility script for one of our products is desired, a guy in our support dept. has promised me free bagels. Yeah, it's not hardware, but nice to work on something that's appreciated.

Other things to update on in the near future:

• Last week's concert
• Fondue
• My Technological Failures class
• Development projects

Upcoming shows

• Josh Rouse @ Cat's Cradle -- Jan. 24 (going)
• Yo La Tengo w/ Portastatic || Rosebuds @ Cat's Cradle -- Feb. 5, 6
• Explosions in the Sky @ Cat's Cradle -- March 15 (going)
• TV on the Radio @ Cat's Cradle -- April 15 (tix on sale Jan. 20)
• Ratatat @ Cat's Cradle -- April 16 (tempting)
• John Vanderslice @ Local 506 -- April 26

American Hardcore

Went to the Colony last night w/ badger and Robin. Ehhh. Interesting from an anthropology perspective and some of the dissonance of comparison between seeing throbbing show footage set against interviews in front of Little Tykes swing sets. Best: H.R. of Bad Brains in D.C. with a stream of... well, I found the imagery funny. I'll let it surprise you.

Someone I wanted a little more screen time from: Kevin Seconds. Kevin and his (then?) wife Allyson ran the True Love Coffeeshop until they lost their lease, then reopened. But, I digress...

My complaint: Not being terribly into the music, I thought the film overstayed its welcome, just as everyone was wrapping up about the end of hardcore shortly after Reagan's second term started.

Other stuff

• Renewed LJ for another year. Yay.
• There's a documentary in progress about Helvetica. [via Daring Fireball] Helfuckingvetica.

Pod/Clifford f/3.5 @ 1/400 sec

I haven't had any substantial updates on activity in the last little while, largely since Robin and I have both been busy doing. Christmas shopping lead into our Christmas trip, which lead into the prep and hanging of my photo show. Oh, and I was on pager this past week.

Robin and I made it back from the holiday voyage to the suprisingly non-snowy north a few hours ago. More photos online in the next few days.

Happy New Year, all.