2010-01-04

by Colleen

Make-shift hot pot off my kitchen stove!

One thing this photo exercise has taught me already is that I really need to work on things like focus and exposure while taking pictures. This is sad because I'm using a digital camera that auto-focuses for the most part. I think I get too excited when I take the photo and jiggle the camera a bit, creating those blurry edges.

Something to improve over the course of the next three hundred and sixty one photos. Wow, this is gonna be a long year, methinks.

2010-01-03

by Colleen

Maracyn, Jubilee's antibiotic treatment. I hope I didn't compromise the sterility of the medicine by taking this picture, but it probably wasn't that sterile to begin with. After all, it is fish medicine. Jubilee is doing much better, thankfully...and yes, I have been praying for him :) - Philippians 4:6-7.

2010-01-02

by Colleen

Sometimes you see or feel something and you just know you have to capture it on camera. This was one of those times. I had just come up the stairs at the Addison red-line stop and was waiting on the platform for the southbound el. It was clear, sunny, and insanely cold. The kind of cold that makes the air shimmer, gives concrete that ashy white glaze, brings out the color of each color, and makes everything look more real. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you haven't experienced it. Anyway, Chicago's city government has just been through a year and a half's worth of meetings and hearings about our local sales tax, property tax and income taxes. Tax sales at 10.5%. Raise it to 11%! Lower it 0.25% - vetoed! Reconvene, this time with 2/3rds approval. Lowered! Raise income taxes to 4.5%. And up and down and up and down. Behind the initial legislation to increase the sales tax to 11% was Todd Stroger, and throughout the financial crisis, general local government chaos, and his declining approval rating, he has un-apologetically backed this increase. Something about this clear morning, waiting for the el, the bricks and the light, just all came together to set off this election sign in a way that seemed fitting for this to be the 1/2/2010 picture.

2010-01-01

by Colleen

This was not the best start of the new year for Jubilee, my betta fish. I snapped this photo completely sober, around 2 am, after getting home from a party and making the horrifying discovery that my fish's eye had grown to twice its size. Not only that, but the entire right side of his face was swollen, white, and fuzzy. I thought I cared for this fish, but honestly, my first reaction was repulsion and the urge to throw him away. That urge passed fairly quickly and turned to sympathy, but while processing the poor guy's transformation, I pulled out my camera and got this shot. Luckily, not much of what I've described is visible. Although you can see some eye protrusion in his profile, it's actually gotten worse since then. Ugh. This is the first picture I've ever taken of his bowl from a bird's eye view and I was surprisingly pleased with the result. It may have been the best outcome of the whole evening. Hopefully, there will be more pictures of Jubilee yet to take - he's currently on a series of antibiotics for treatment.

Photography

by Colleen

Guess what!! I heard about this 365 project that the kids are doing these days on flicker, excuse me - flickr. The purpose of the project is to take one photo every day for 365 days, and what with the notice of this coinciding with New Years-fricken-Eve and all, I've decided that THAT's what I'm doing in 2010.

But it's not a new years resolution, cuz .... I don't make those. So starting tomorrow, 1-1-10, one picture/post, per day, people. Hopefully not too sporadically*.

*my tribute to Brittney Murphey. rip.

New York City Comic-Com Videos

by Hubert

6 minutes to Christmas, and I thought the best thing I can do is post videos from February of this year. From Comic-Con!

Usually you see lines this long at Disneyland, except you don't see the whole thing! Actually this isn't the whole thing either. Scary, huh? If I remember correctly, it took at least 20 minutes to get onto the show floor.



There is a man in a giant banana suit in the next video.



Scarfy Blue makes fun of a sign.



Pac-Man lives!



Scarfy Blue's favorite comic book character.



That doll is ugly.

Scarfy Blue in New York City...Again

by Hubert

Digging through the archives...

Scarfy Blue went to Otto's Pizzeria, a restaurant owned by the famous Mario Batali. At least I'm told he's famous. I didn't know who he is, although everyone at work did.

Watch Scarfy Blue's amazing powers at work:


Scarfy Blue is not the goody two-shoes that everything thinks he is. Goody two-shoes? Does that even make sense?


Well, will you look at this! Now I know where the phrase "goody two-shoes" comes from.

A silly reunion with Scarfy Blue's mom.

Not biological of course.

And finally, food! Dessert counts as food.


What will Scarfy Blue do next?