kapgar

I can't see that thief that lives inside your head...

Katie and I were wrapping up the season one DVDs of Monk when B-roll video of the Golden Gate Bridge showed up on screen. I paused the DVD player and looked at our TV... underneath the photos on the wall... we were both officially creeped out.

Why?

Check this out...

Here's a better view of my original photograph taken back in 1999 or 2000...

Now, I realize that this shot has been taken many times in the past. Hawk Hill is a great place to take photos of the bridge. But damn. Creepy to see them stacked like that.

While I've loved taking part in this Photo365 challenge, I think it's starting to play with my head a bit. To the point where I'm having dreams about photography. Actually, two nights ago, I had two dreams involving photography.

In the first, I was running through the woods taking pictures of a bunch of weather phenomena. Around me were a bunch of teenage kids also running. A few of them stopped me and asked me to take pictures of them. I said yes. As I'm snapping the pictures, another kid stops and asks what I'm taking pictures of. I point to the three kids and say, "them." He counters with, "who?" I point again. I can see them, he can't. I look at the review screen on my camera and see that my pictures are filled with nothing but fallen trees and rocks and other scenery items, no kids.

The second found me in some coastal village in southeastern Asia. There's a big festival going on and I'm taking some pictures. A monk (I think) walks up to me and lets me know that it's a private festival and they'd appreciate me not taking pictures. I apologize and go to delete the pictures off my memory card. When I hit the button on my camera, parts of start falling off and, no matter what I do, I'm unable to put it back together. I pretty much start freaking out.

I'm getting too involved in this, aren't I?

BTW, if you're interested in seeing my work on Photo365 to date, check out the slideshow below...

Just acting like we're animals...

I think the world as we know it is coming to an end.

You think I'm joking? Check this shit out...

Earlier this week, Tillikum, an Orca at Sea World Orlando, rose up, snatched its trainer, and drowned her.

Komodo Dragons in Indonesia attack a park ranger.

A shark-filled tank at a shopping mall in Dubai springs a leak.

A glacier measuring two times the size of Los Angeles has broken off Antarctica and is floating around the ocean threatening to wreak havoc with ocean currents and other weather phenomena.

Earthquakes are running rampant lately, some in areas you wouldn't normally associate with earthquake-like tendencies, and are causing all kinds of damage from both the initial shockwaves, the aftershocks, and tsunamis if they're ocean-based. Another tsunami is now threatening Hawaii.

You wanna know who's to blame? The animals of the world. They're rising up against humans. They're taking back their planet. They're delivering a collective "FUCK YOU" to humans the world over.

The Tillikum and Komodo Dragon stories needs no further explanation. They're just pissed.

The tank leak is because them sharks be hungry and are ramming seams in the glass. They just didn't quite time it right. The leak was discovered before they could break free and make a smorgasbord of the shopping public.

I believe that the glacier broke off because the penguins are sick of being stuck either in zoos or aquariums pretending to be cute on an ice floe that we're responsible for melting.

You can't tell me he isn't one angry flightless bird

The earthquakes are clearly the animals who are capable striking fault lines to prove how pissed off they are.

The reign of humans on Earth is over! Give it up!

I hereby declare my allegiance to the non-human animal kingdom. ALL HAIL MY NEW OVERLORDS!!

Are any of you watching Caprica? I've been giving it a shot after finishing the entire Battlestar Galactica series recently, but have been on the fence.

**SPOILER FOR LAST NIGHT'S EPISODE**

It's not a bad series, I suppose, but it has been really slow and I can't say I've been entirely impressed with some of the casting. I was about to give it up until last night's episode with Daniel's introduction of the Cylon to his company's Board of Directors as well as Tamara and her new, shall we say, antics. These two bits at least added some excitement.

What's your take on the show?

Where they hit the rocky shore out by the lighthouse...

On Saturday, I went with my mom and her photography club up to southeast Wisconsin to take pictures of lighthouses along Lake Michigan.

Despite being a dreadfully dreary day, it was a lot of fun. Got some pretty cool photos that you can see below.

I also was given the opportunity to make Norman relive his days assigned to the Imperial Hoth attack force. He didn't much like it. Can't say I blame him. For the record, the red thing in his hand is a Lego coffee mug. Hey, gotta keep warm when the environs don't naturally allow for it, right?

He also got to play outside the Lego Store in the Streets of Woodfield in Schaumburg, though. So that was cool.

Yeah, he may be an Imperial, but he's a rebel at heart.

But we did come up with the idea to create a squad of Norman clones. The purpose of this clone force is to spread his reach around the world. So, should any of you out there who are going on a vacation in the future be interested in having a Norman clone to feature in some photos, let me know well enough in advance so I can get one sent your way. Then, if you already have a Flickr account, you can share the photo with the group I'm going to create. If you do not have a Flickr account, send the photo(s) my way and I'll upload to my own account with credit given to you for taking it, of course.

Seriously, let me know.

Yanno, it just figures that an earthquake centered 20 miles from where I live would wake me up.

However, when the hanging cable and mounting bracket of a 20-pound wood poster frame on the staircase all of 10 feet outside our bedroom tears out and the frame falls into a trinket shelf sending several wooden blocks flying onto the tiles below and the frame scrapes along the wall until wedging itself into our railing, do I wake up? Hell no.

I slept right through it and didn't discover it until the next morning.

Go fig, eh?

Under pressure...

I'm feeling in kind of an "under" mood for this Snippet Wednesday.

Under-

-exposed
I couldn't believe it when Marty sent me this link to a story about one of the members of The Crystal Method who has been chronicling his tour with pictures of his son's Lego Stormtrooper in the different locales he visits. The trooper is even named Norm. In his case, though, it's for "NormTrooper" whereas mine was "Stormin' Norman," but still. Too creepy. I think my Norm needs to get out a little more.

-shirt
I bought a pack of Jockey undershirts a month or so ago without realizing that I normally buy them in tall sizes. Now, after a couple washings each, these things could barely be worn by a toddler and provide full coverage. So, until I have a chance to get back out to a store to buy new ones in the right size (and exchange the one pack I didn't open), I've been wearing T-shirts as undershirts. Last week I used a Blackhawks shirt one day. Yesterday was my Flaming Lips skull shirt from last December's concert. Today is my Ami James skull tattoo shirt. I'm stylin'!

-played
The mysterious gift I bought for Katie for her birthday was a new iPod. As you know, her old iPod died and was outside the warranty period. So I got her an iPod Nano and loaded it with music and video for her trips to the gym. Yes, she has an iPhone, which she has used at the gym, but she's always afraid of dropping it in mid-run (this has happened) and that's a bad thing to do to something that expensive. So she's been languishing for some time with the radio at the gym set to some crappy Top 40 station. Ick. That must change. Humanity dictates it!

Oh, and since I ordered it from Apple, I did get it engraved. But that stays between us. ;-)

-mined
In an attempt to circumvent Netflix, which has had me on hold for the show Glee for a month now, I asked if my library would order it. I received an e-mail yesterday saying, "Unfortunately, because Glee is a network television show, I will not be purchasing it." Huh? What the hell does it being a network show have anything to do with it? And what sense does that argument make when you already stock 24, also a supposed network show?

-estimated
Lindsey Vonn takes the gold in the Women's Downhill while teammate Julia Mancuso takes silver? NIIIICEEEEE! Way to go, ladies! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

You are my lover, my life...

On this day, an undisclosed number of years ago, the Good Lord (or whatever you choose to call Him/Her) had the good sense to grace the world with Katie.

While I wouldn't know her until 21 years later, she did finally come into my life at a time when I wasn't sure anyone would ever become a part of it.

But she did.

And I love her for it.

Happy birthday, Katie.

I love you with all my heart and always will.

That's snow, by the way.

Baby won't you drive my car...

I have decided that there is one profession I could never and would never want to hold... that of a plumber.

This morning, I decided I needed to clean out a slow drain in our master bathroom. I mean this thing was beyond molasses slow and we were both frustrated. Not even Drain-O was doing much. So I figured out how to remove the drain plug without breaking it and starting digging around with a pipe snake.

What I pulled out was the nastiest looking and foulest smelling clump of crap I've ever seen. I could identify some human hair, but other than that, I have no idea what it was.

I put the sink back together, but I then needed to clean up the residue.

Not pretty.

Just nasty.

I know I can fix this stuff, but having the ability and the willpower are two completely different things.

Yesterday, Katie and I went to the opening day of the Chicago Auto Show. It was a lot more fun than either of us expected and it helped a lot in our car search that will likely result in a purchase fairly soon.

For one, we are not going with Ford. As much as I love my Ranger and as great as it has been to us both, the new Fords are uncomfortable and overpriced. A couple years ago, we had priced base-model Escapes at around $19K. Now some of the non-hybrid models were priced at as much as $33K. What gives? Well, screw that.

We also discovered that our initial love of the Subaru Legacy was pretty well-founded. Decent price and very comfortable. The same goes with the Hyundai Sonata, Santa Fe, and Tucson.

Surprising, though, was how impressed we were with Mazda. We checked out the Mazda 6, CX-7, and Tribute. I really dug on the 6 and the Tribute while Katie really liked the CX-7.

Do any of you have any opinions on any of these models? Let us know. Please.

Next step is test drives.

Here are some pictures from the car show if you're interested...

It was a beautiful day...

It's nice living not too far from a major metropolitan area. There's always something to do, something to discover, something to escape to.

Katie and I did just that yesterday.

We spent pretty much the whole day in downtown Chicago doing things that we'd never done together. And we had a blast doing so.

[Facebookers, you may see a couple photos embedded in this post, but there are also a few photo slideshows you won't see until you click over to my blog]

We took the train into the city and walked on down to the Sears/Willis Tower. Katie had never been there and I haven't been there in years. And now they have the Ledge that we just had to see.

Next, we hiked our way down to the Shedd Aquarium. I probably hadn't been there in 20 years and Katie had never been there either. Again, a blast!

Finally, we headed up north to the Lego Store (this one we had done many times, but had to again just for kicks).

Lastly, we went out to the United Center for the Chicago Blackhawks v. Phoenix Coyotes. Sadly, the Hawks lost in a shootout, but it was still a fun game.

And we need to thank Katie's brothers and the future SiL, Scott and Steve and Becca, for the tickets which were Christmas gifts. 

We need to hang out in Chicago more often.

But I can guarantee Norman will be downtown a lot. After all, he's got some comrades to liberate.

Oh, the army building starts.

Last year, it was The Flaming Lips headlining the final day of Pitchfork that "did it" for me.

This year, the first night of the 2010 Pitchfork Music Festival will feature Modest Mouse.

I'm drooling already.

I will be there.

I must be there.

If it kills me.

So far, the other two days look decent. But I can only guarantee that I will be there on Friday so far.

Anyone else want to go with me?

Know what you doing doing to me...

During my commute home last night, I heard the song "Ruby" (Lala.com player will pop open, I hope) come on the radio. I was immediately singing along as I know it pretty well. And I own the album. But, for whatever reason, I was completely blanking on the artist.

Below is the mental process I went through to come by the name of the band...

Ruby, ruby, ruby...

Indian... [I have no idea why that word popped in my mind]

Indian...

Indian...

Native...

Chief...

KAISER CHIEFS!!

I shit you not.

I have no one to blame but goddamn Christopher Columbus and his inability to correctly use a freakin' astrolabe for why my mnemonic hooks are politically incorrect!!

Capiche?

Last night was one of Katie's long nights of work, so, after returning home from the gym, I decided to have dinner ready for her. A couple nights ago, we'd discussed having fettuccine alfredo, so I set about making it.

I was going to make it the right way, but Katie reminded me that we had picked up one of the frozen meal bags from Trader Joe's so I grabbed that to make it.

Inside the bag was one of the weirdest looking things I've ever seen in a TJ's meal. The pasta was flash frozen in what the instructions called "pods," which, to me, looked like they had been shaped in a muffin tin. The alfredo was frozen in what I can only describe as "chips" that seemed shaved off a larger piece.

I snapped a shot of the pods and chips (foreground) with Norman next to it to allow for some context...

Stranger still were the instructions that said to either microwave without adding any water or cook in a stovetop skillet with just a dash of water. I realize this is otherwise precooked, but to be told to do anything with pasta other than boil it is just weird to me.

Do not get me wrong, it was a good meal, like just about anything from TJ's. Especially after I added some grilled chicken and fresh steamed broccoli. But the initial state just caught me way off guard.

That's what you're hungry for...

This was a good weekend.

On Saturday, we went and hung out with our old game-night crew. We used to get together on a near-monthly basis to eat, drink, and play games. With scheduling difficulties of late, I think this is the first time we've been able to go in nearly a year. It sucks that it's been so long, but we finally did get together.

We had a good night eating, drinking, talking, and, well, not playing games. We call them "game nights," but it seems that, more often than not, we just talk the night away instead of playing anything. And, if we do break out a game, it becomes background to our conversation. But who cares? It was good convo.

The meal was really good too! Graham and Kristy researched and found topping styles from six different cities in the U.S. for hot dogs. It was pretty cool. Of course there was the Chicago style, but we also had, if I recall correctly, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Detroit, New York, and Seattle. All kinds of stuff like marinara, cole slaw, cream cheese, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, you name it. And they were cut up into small pieces so we could each try a little without getting too stuffed.

Added to that were my mom's baked beans. She shared the recipe with me on Friday and I made them on Saturday while Katie was at work. It was my first time making baked beans ever, and from scratch to boot, but everyone seemed to think they turned out okay, so I was happy.

It was all topped off with homemade vanilla ice cream and little dutch apple tarts. Yeah, nobody left hungry, that's for sure.

On Sunday, we went up to Katie's parents' house because they were tearing out a wall dividing the kitchen and dining room and we wanted to see how it all now looked. It was also the first time since Christmas we'd seen anybody on her side of the family. Sorry, I didn't take pictures, but the wall looked really nice! Not that it's done yet, but still.

Katie's mom took advantage of the opportunity to unload a bunch of stuff in storage in the basement on whomever wanted it. Katie and I were grateful we escaped with a small bag and nothing more since her brother and FSiL walked away with three large bags and another stack of stuff.

But we got a vintage Speak & Spell and Speak & Math out of the affair. Both are in perfect working order as Norman discovered...

After a long weekend of driving and hanging out with folks, we crashed pretty hard at home. Sadly, despite Norman's best efforts, no work got done on the puzzle at all...

Why do I constantly find myself relating to Wally?

Sometimes too well.

Like, scary well.

And no bald jokes, okay?

Out soaked in 95th Street beer...

Hey! That's my Boddington's, you ungrateful little bastard!

 

That last shot was completely unintentional. I was trying to clip him to the lip of the glass for a planned shot of him atop a full glass. Then he did a forward somersault into the glass and landed just like that. It was too perfect.

I promise not to do too many Stormtrooper story-picture posts. Maybe. I think. I dunno. Guess it depends on what else I've got.