My seat mate is in for the longhaul

Weird self-portrait

Taken on a plane as sunlight diffused through window. I was not expecting this but it looks cool.

Bagpipe Jam

In Halifax, Nova Scotia.

My Apple pie

This sign was on a railroad car

Apparently this is a problem in Wisconsin.

Ever since he and Lois married, Superman really let himself go

So which is it?

These two ads popped up side by side on one website. I would have
taken either ad by itself at face value for the message it carried
("Allstate can save $468 on average" OR "Allstate can save $348 on
average"). But together they strike me as meaningless. Still it's
better than those ads with the gecko.
They're just plain stupid.

Doo wop

This group (whose name I didn't get--sorry) was performing outside the
Metrpolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan. Great harmonies and vocal
arrangements. They had a CD for sale, which Tracey wanted. I said the
group would still be there when we came out so we could get it then.
But, of course, they were gone by that time.

A rude tomato

My brother grew this tomato. We think it's a new variety and needs a
new name. We just can't decide between "Big Boy" or "Beefcake."

More desk toys

My infamous knitting colleague left yesterday in prepartion for a move
with her husband. She left behind her own set of desk toys. I'm
thinking with these and the ones below (yesterday's post), we have the
beginnings of an interesting collection. A tourist attraction maybe?
Or at least a garage sale.

Toy Shrine

These belong to our company's Graphic Design and Show Production
Coordinator. Everyone should have something like this.

Patchwork landscape

I've flown for years (not on my own power unfortunately) and I've often seen this patchwork landscape out the window. Why is the land parceled out like this, and what accounts for the various colors? It's the kind of question I've never asked anyone because I always think the reply will be preceded with, "Are you kidding? EVERYBODY knows the answer to that!"

Water (I hope) and not jet fuel

Irony

(In case you can't read it, it says STOP Vandalism)

Panoramic view

I'm trying Panoramatic, an iPhone app that stitches together photos into... well, a panorama. On this initial try, it did an excellent job with this view from the sofa.

Saving to the circular file cabinet

There's the old joke about unwanted papers being "saved in the circular file cabinet," which, of course, meant the trash can. I just noticed that when using GMail on the iPhone, I can't delete a message like usual. Instead it gets "Archived" but it shows the picture of the trash can. Art imitating life? (This doesn't happen in other mail apps as far as I can tell, just GMail.)

Great food, great pub

If you live anywhere near Marbledale, CT, you owe it to yourself to check out the White Horse Country Pub and Restaurant. It's in the location of the former Marbledale Pub, itself a longtime landmark of the area. Relaunched by Englishman John Harris, the building has been completely gutted and remade into a British pub. And the food--with an English flair--is excellent. I had the Chicken Pot Pie (seen here), embellished with the pub's logo white horse. Not typical Summer fare I know, but delicious nonetheless. We're already making plans to go back.

Wherever you are

Tracey and I took the Bridgeport Ferry to Port Jefferson, L.I. for a
day trip. Enroute I wanted to check whether I had turned off the Map
feature on my iPhone. I hadn't, and it was still tracking our location
somwhere in the middle of Long Island Sound.

David Bowie's son?

Alex got fitted for contact lenses today. On the way home he said one eye was blurry. My wife looked and saw this, so they of course went back to the eye place. The doctor took one look and instantly realized what had happened. She had dilated the eyes of the patient before him, and must have had a tiny bit of mydriatic residue on her hand. His blue eyes are ultra-sensitive, hence the Bowie look, which I think is kind of cool.

Holographic presenters

These two ghostly presenters were live somwhere in the convention
center, and could see and interact with us. Pretty freaky.

Closing keynote

Again from the conference, the view from the A/V booth.

Big Brother Is Watching

Actually this is a video conferencing demo from a conference I attended.

Sometimes the art department actually knows what they're talking about

In our office the lowly whiteboard is often an outlet for repressed
expression.

Doppelgänger?

She'll probably disagree with me and think I'm crazy, but the woman in this counter card at our local Stop & Shop looked (to me) like a certain knitting colleague of mine. She should at least appreciate the personal humiliation I suffered explaining to the guy behind the busy deli counter why I was taking a picture of their counter card.

MY SACRED VOW

To erase crime from the face of the earth!!
You can tell this guy is serious because there are two exclamation marks after his sentence. So, to explain what's going here, I found this great book at the library celebrating the work of Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, two greats from the Golden Age of comics (and yes, this was before my time). My cousin and one of my friends from school got me hooked on comics as a kid. But I've never heard of some of the costumed crimefighters in the book, which makes it an even better find.

THEN IT WASN'T AN ACCIDENT TONIGHT!

IT WAS MURDER!

MY WORK HERE IS DONE!

Where did it all come from?

Today was Clean Danbury Day, with drop-off spots all over town for various types of junk. For me it was a chance to unload some old electronic stuff. In this picture: 1 television, 1 photo scanner (that served me well for a number of years), 1 AM/FM/CD/Dual Casette stereo unit, 2 shelf speakers, 1 VCR, 2 DVD players, 1 DVR/Receiver, and 2 Dish TV receivers.

So many meetings...

...and this is the only way to get any other work done.

The mall

Fragrant flowers?

I'll be the first to admit that I can't tell a daisy from a daffodil
(that's Tracey's department) so I don't know what these flowers
outside our office are. They look nice, but they throw off a smell
that I don't find pleasing at all.

All connected

Co-worker Chorus Line

Jazz hands!

Money man

When Alex was 5 or 6, his grandmother gave him his "birthday money," probably 20 or 30 dollars, all strung together (I don't recall the reason). He wore it around the house for the entire day.

Candle bloom

My wife burns candles in every room at night. It adds a great atmosphere to the house. This one is my favorite for the bloom pattern that it produces on the tiles.

We have numbers!

In the 10 years I have worked here, numerous people have gotten lost
trying to find this building because the street numbering system is
crazy. Now they can't miss it. I am also quite easily amused.

Cool sky

The sun is shining but the distant clouds look threatening. The sky was almost purple. (The view from outside my train window)

Lots of rain

This is usually just a quiet little stream, but we've had so much rain
lately it looks like you could do some serious boating here.

I shall call him... Mini-Me

This is too weird. It's supposed to be me. You upload your photo into Avatara and they create your "clone" avatar. Freaky.

Click here to make your own.

Tanks for the memories

I took this picture at last year's Memorial Day Parade in my hometown. These guys were just standing around watching everything go by with little reaction. But as soon as the tank rolled into view, they all whipped out their cameras. You would have thought there was a swimsuit model on top.

Cocoa everywhere

All these products at the Hotel Hershey Spa store contain cocoa.

Loooooong hallway

Hotel Hershey

There was a time

There was a time when train stations had fireplaces to keep travelers
warm and dry. This is one of two (at either end) at the Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania station.

Enchanted pond

Chihuly Glass at the NY Botanical Garden.

Hard at work

Our favorite Chinese take-out place is called Jeffrey's Kitchen (I know, right?). Often, while waiting for my order to come up, I'll watch the guys and girls in the kitchen do their thing. What is evermore fascinating is that they do it in a tiny, tiny space. At various times the staff has ranged from eight to 10. But they have a silent choreography, a way that gives each cook wide berth that looks effortless.
Oh yeah... the food was great, too.

The only Lois Lane that matters

Numerous actresses have portrayed spunky Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane over the years, including Rolly Bester, Helen Choate, and Joan Alexander (Radio series. Alexander also voiced L.L. in the famous Fleischer Studios animated shorts); Phyllis Coates (Superman and the Molemen feature and the first television L.L. She also had the best scream of them all.); Patricia Marand (It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman Broadway musical, which closed after 129 performances); Lesley Ann Warren (It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman television adaptation, because if it flops on Broadway, it's ripe for TV); Teri Hatcher (Lois and Clark series); Erica Durance (Smallville series); Margot Kidder (Superman, Superman II, Superman III, and the horrific Superman IV: The Quest for Peace... come to think of it, after the first one, the rest were all pretty bad... and, come to think of it again, so was the first one); Kate Bosworth (Superman Returns); Kyra Sedgwick (Justice League: The New Frontier animated feature); Anne Heche (Superman: Doomsday animated feature); and Dana Delany (Superman and Justice League animated series). But for my money, the only actress who matters is Noel Neill, who succeeded Coates on the 1950s television series, and also portrayed L.L. in the movie serials opposite Kirk Alyn. She is who I think of when I think of Lois Lane. Plus she autographed this photo for me. How cool is that?

The Skanktones

My friend Chris plays drums for the Skanktones, a roots reggae act. I took this photo at a gig in Bethel last fall. I like the way it turned out.

Lightning strike

I took this picture from my hotel room balcony in Orlando last June.

Kaleidoscope Eyes