ambivalent images

Frank Pitzker Pavilion

The other cool work of art in the park near the bean in Chicago. Ok, it's the “Frank Gehry-designed Pritzker Pavilion, the most sophisticated outdoor concert venue of its kind in the United States.” It definitely does look like a cool place to see a show. Big props to Chicago for Millenium Park in general, which is totally new since I was last there.

Spitting Faces in Millennium Park

One of the two light art pieces in Millennium Park. These two giant towers of glass bricks with embedded little LED lights face each other and apparently in the summer the faces appear on them and periodically water squirts from the mouths of the faces. The faces also move—they're basically video close-ups of different faces. Unfortunately the weather was much too cold for water to be running, so I guess during the winter these two exhibits just sort of make faces at each other and the world.

Worshipping the Bean

An unknown woman lays down beneath "the bean" for a great reflection shot. I took many many more pics of the bean, because, well, that's what you're supposed to do, isn't it?

It's strange, but this simple sculpture is so darned cool I would almost move to Chicago just for the chance to go and hang out in its presence whenever I wanted to. I look forward to returning on a warmer day (this was about the coldest day of the fall up to that point, I think) when there's no scaffolding on the bottom so I can walk under it and get one of those great crazy pics with the swirling reflections. (Here's another cool one.)

Lake Michigan Morning

Looking south along the shore of Lake Michigan toward downtown Chicago just after sunrise. I just got new running shoes for the first time since I started training for the marathon last May so I decided to try them out in Chicago. The lake shore is a beautiful place to run but hella cold when the wind is whipping in from over the water. Yikes.

I read something in the Chicago “Time Out” magazine about how the lake froze so quickly last year that the waves froze, too, so that when this guy rode his bike out onto the ice he was riding over the ridges of frozen waves. Crazy.

Lake Michigan Highrise

Looking straight up along the shore of Lake Michigan just north of downtown Chicago.

Sears Tower Driveby

Sears Tower from the highway at night.

Turkey Trimmings

The tastes and colors that go with turkey dinner.

Park Leaves

Brown leaves in the grass with colorful trees in the background. This is a late fall picture where the colors have gone from reds and yellows and golds to browns and tans and burnt oranges. I took this on 11/19/05. The cold has now come so the leaves are going to be gone from these trees any day now, I'd guess.

Anyhoo, Happy Turkey everyone! I'm off for a few days of vacation and I don't know if I'll be able to update, so if not, have a good holiday!

Naked on A Cloud

The scultpture at the west end of the Calvert street bridge.

Canopy Construction

The escalator canopy under construction at the Woodley Park metro stop. (At right is a full view of the canopy.) I know Dupont South got one of these not long ago, and I noticed one at the Stadium/Armory stop on the Orange line the other day when I was visiting the jail. I'm not sure, but it looks like maybe WMATA has decided to cover all the escalators that were formerly exposed to the rain and snow. Sort of: The plans call for canopies almost everywhere, but why nothing for the Dupont North escalator? That one has one of the longest stretches of exposed escalator ride I can think of. That aside, perhaps these canopies will keep the escalators from breaking down so often.

Here's another idea to help prolong escalator life:It drives me nuts to see three escalators humming at most stations early mornings and late at night when almost no one is riding them! So I suggest that WMATA should install motion sensors at the top and bottom of each escalator. Then set the escalators to turn themselves off when no one is on them. That will save wear and tear and energy, and that will save WMATA money, and that's good for everyone, right?

Rock Creek Tunnel Fall

Rock Creek tunnel in fall as seen from the Duke Ellington Bridge. This is approximately the same view I shot last January when it was covered in snow. I also got a pic of the inside of the tunnel last February.

20th St. NW

Looking south down 20th St. NW from near P St. Nothing special; this is just one of the views I see every day on my way to school. For some reason, it caught my attention. Sometimes photos don't really capture what you hope they will.

Kennedy Center

Kennedy Center from Washington Harbor. Yeah, I know this is the picture everyone takes, but that's why I had to take it, too! This was a 1-second exposure.

I was in the area again last night and the moon was full in a cloudless sky but I just couldn't make myself stop and dig my camera out of my bag b/c the wind was blowing and it was so cold I knew my fingers would freeze in an instant. I guess it's time to toughen up for the cold weather....

Fountain at 3000 K St.

The fountain on the Geeorgetown waterfront at night. The above picture used a flash, the picture at the right was shot w/out a flash and with and exposure time of 1 second. I thought the timed exposure would be the better shot, but after seeing both shots i actually prefer the one w/the flash. Because it was so under-exposed, the picture above almost looks black and white w/just a little color burning in the middle, which I think is cool.

Flagged Moon

The nearly full moon illuminates the flags flapping in the breeze along the Potomac in Georgetown. I took a bunch of shots here w/my camera resting on a concrete pillar to stabilize it. I was playing with the manual exposure settings to see how much difference they made. This was at 1 second and it seems to have produced the best balance between brightness and clarity of detail (as you can see from the sharpness of the light pole).

This photo was pretty dark but when I imported it into iPhoto and hit the “enhance” button, this is what happened. I think iPhoto turned up the exposure and sharpness to brighten the image, but it also sort of blew it out and made it grainy so it almost looks like a painting or a cheap reproduction of a painting (b/c of the dot screen pattern). At least I think that's what it looks like. I could be crazy.

------------------------------------------------------------
Flash used: No
Focal length: 15.4mm (35mm equiv.: 78mm)
Exposure time: 1.000 s
Aperture: f/4.0
Exposure bias: 2.00

Dirt Leaf

The outline of a leaf on the trunk of our car. Yeah, we need to wash the car...

Two Cobalts

Our Chevy Cobalt sedan (the orange one) sits parked in front of a Cobalt coupe (the black one). I took this picture because it shows the difference in the profiles of the sedan and the coupe, but also because I was surprised to see that the two versions of this car appear to have the same or a very similar wheelbase. According to the specs near the bottom of this page, that's true—the wheelbases are the same. Not only that, but the coupe is actually two tenths of an inch longer than the sedan in overall length!

From my perspective, the only reason to prefer a coupe would be that it is smaller, perhaps sportier, and more fuel efficient. With the Cobalt, the coupe may be sportier, but that's about it. Seems nutty to me...

America Builds

The America Builds Habitat for Humanity project on the National Mall at about 6:15 a.m. More photos of the day available starting here and going forward (click “next”).

I worked on a shift that started at about 6:30 or 6:45 and worked until about 12:30 p.m. It was amazing! I'd never worked on a Habitat project before, so I was very happy to find it was such a great, friendly, communal experience. Everyone just showed up to work and everyone just wanted to get something good done. No one was getting paid (except for a few Habitat staffers), and the goal was not to make money for anyone but simply to help someone out. There were building materials everywhere. Who owned them? It didn't matter; they were there for us to use as we needed them. There were tools everywhere. Whose tools were they? It didn't matter; they were there for us to use as we needed them. Who does what? It doesn't matter; work where you're needed and do what you're good at. No competition, no selfishness, just cooperation and goodwill. It was a little like heaven.

Why can't our whole society work like this?

If you haven't ever volunteered for a project like this, I highly recommend it. I feel very lucky to have been able to take part. The experience makes me wonder yet again why I thought law school was such a good idea. If my goal was to do good things for needy people, instead of spending a gazillion dollars for a J.D., why didn't I just go to work for Habitat and become a full-time builder? The roads not taken....

Sisu Triptych

Sisu in three poses w/in about 30 seconds. On the left she's just hanging out, then L. scratches her head so she yawns, and when L. keeps scratching Sisu smiles.

We have the sweetest dog. She's not the most well-behaved because she just goes psycho excited whenever she meets new people, but she is the sweetest, for sure.

20th and Mass

Waiting at the stoplight at 20th & Massachusetts Ave. NW.

Dupont Underground Mystery

One of the blocked entrances to the Dupont underground. These things are all around Dupont circle (I can think of three of them, at least), but I have no idea what they are. Are they just old Metro entrances? Or was there once something else under the circle? Anyone have any clue? Why are they still there?

Connecticut from Dupont

Looking up Connecticut Ave. from Dupont Circle.

Dupont Loft

Fall fashion on display at Ann Taylor Loft in Dupont Circle. Someone I know really really likes this store.

Extraordinary Apple

The Fiona Apple window display at the Dupont record store. I downloaded this album when it was circulating for free in that period between when Apple's first label dropped it and she got another label to release it. At least I think that's how it worked. Anyway, good stuff.

Orange Berries

Bright orange berries for fall. Whatever plant this is, it's all over the place and the bright bunches of orange fruit are very nice about now.

NaNoWriMo D.C. Write-In

Writers turned out in force last Tuesday for the first write-in for this year's NaNoWriMo. iBooks appear to be popular noveling machines, but there was also an Alphasmart, a variety of Windoze laptops, and some good old fashioned pens and paper, as well.

Leafy Gutter

The most colorful leaves I've seen this fall. I'd say the foliage has been pretty sad this season, but then I've been kind of too busy to pay very close attention, too. I remember running on Sunday in the marathon and thinking at one point what a gorgeous view we had of the foliage. I believe that was around mile 15 or 16 as we rounded the Tidal Basin and headed for Haines Point. That was probably about the peak of the race for me in terms of everything seeming great—the crowd was cheering, the view was awesome, and I felt pretty good. The rest of the race (10 more miles!) was good, too, but I'd say that's where the challenge really began.

Smoking Tryst

The scene at Tryst on a Saturday night as viewed through an ashtray.

Uptown Theater

The neon sign at the Uptown Theater in Cleveland Park. We were there a couple of weeks ago to see “Good Night and Good Luck.” Highly recommended.

Raindrops On Clover

What more can I say? Fall rains will turn to snows soon, I suppose, but D.C. is currently enjoying some absolutely gorgeous sunny and crisp fall days. I wish the weather was always like this!