Moldy rolls

I was going to just toss this bag of moldy rolls when I got home from work last night, but then I thought I'd play around with them. I don't think any of these images are winners, but it was fun/gross to play with lighting. I didn't put any effort into making a backdrop, or perfecting studio lighting, though it was good inspiration for an upcoming military themed macro project. Stay tuned.

Houston by iPhone

As I mentioned in my last post; I spent a couple of days in Houston last week on business. I didn't take my DSLR, but I did use my iPhone to capture some of the buildings near the cross streets of Louisiana and Dallas. I wish I had a real camera with me, but these images give you an idea of some of the architecture in the area.

Haven't had a bath in 22 years

I have to say: baths are amazing. When I think of simple pleasures and the finer things in life, baths now come to mind. Last night, in Houston, when I got to my hotel room I was stressed from a rough day spent working with my boss. I was eager to shower, change out of my monkey suit, and hit the streets for some exploration. While playing with the mixing valve for a steaming hot shower, the notion of a bath entered my brain. Why not? I was at a 4 star hotel, and the tub was spotless after all (I'd never take a bath in my tub!). So I dedicated the next 30 minutes to some much needed me-time. I propped my iPad up and played some Explosions In The Sky, grabbed a few extra towels and filled the tub. The next half hour was spent soaking, contemplating and reminiscing of the times when my 8 other brothers and sisters would take turns bathing in that old brick house outside of Pittsburgh. It was then that I realized it had been over 22 years since I last turned all pruney in a giant porcelain trough. Vivid memories came flooding back to me of evening sunsets and the sound of my siblings still running around outside. I could hear them through the open upstairs bathroom window . I remembered a time, I must have been 7 or so, when my older sister Molly shampooed my hair making me giggle as she lathered my noggin comically. And the water; oh the water! Grey with a day's worth of playing in the woods, catching grasshoppers in the garden and baseball with my friend Cody, down the street.

Many times since then, I've wished for a bath; after every race or long road or mountain bike ride, I think of how nice a hot bath would feel on my tired legs. Why haven't I bathed? For one, I'm 6' tall and the bath tubs in the places I've rented in Boston, Baltimore and New York were tiny! For two, those same bath tubs were never a place where I would want to submerge myself, no matter how clean I thought I could get them.

Anyway, baths are fantastic. I'll add a bath to my business travel routine from now on. As glorious as they are, 30 minutes is a long time and I simply couldn't take the heat after that. My body temp was definitely elevated. I looked like a lobster when I hopped out! ....mmmmm lobsters.

Saturday morning in pictures

This past Saturday I was up and at em' for an early morning walk with the camera around Columbus Circle and the south end of Central Park. I checked out an interesting sculpture "Tornado" at the southeast entrance to the park, swung by Rat Rock and hit up the Apple store. I can't explain exactly why I feel a compulsion to visit the Apple store every several months. I don't need anything from them. Yet I'm attracted to their laptops and desktop machines; drawn to them much like Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Anyway, I stared in amazement at the 27" iMacs for a few moments until the idea of a pretzel croissant at City Bakery entered my mind and I was able to snap out of it and head down to 18th Street. Ahh, the power of food. I have to thank Chris Kreuter for turning me on to these insanely delicious little morsels. Thank you Chris. Seriously. Before heading further downtown, I noticed an awesome little hot dog stand. The owner's nice orange road bike sandwiched between the stand and the boundary wall of Central Park is what first caught my eye. But then, I noticed pictures of Eddy Merckx on the outside; sweet! Though I didn't buy one of NY's classic dirty-water street dogs I did delight in the thought of Eddy Merckx pushing for his five Tour de France wins in the 70's, fueled by Belgian hot dogs.

Single Speeding in Allentown, PA.

One aspect of my job that I really enjoy is the traveling. Last week I had to travel to the middle of Pennsylvania. Since I had a rental car for last week's trip and a full day open for traveling/exploring, I packed a mountainbike and set off down the road. I got to Bear Creak Resort in Allentown, PA at around 1:30 and rode a single loop around the ski hills and lodge before calling it quits. I stopped often to shoot bits and pieces of footage with my iPhone to create the short video below. I was impressed with the trails, though I stuck to the main loop which traces the perimeter of the resort and measures only 5 miles. I was hard-pressed to make the climbs and keep my hands on the bars through the rock gardens on my rigid single speed machine but had a blast all the same. Snow flakes fluttered down through the leafless trees and snot froze in my mustache. It was 27°F and QUITE nippy! Overall I'm impressed with the video quality of the iPhone. Staying true to phattire low-budget production fashion, I used Windows Movie Maker to create this one.

Amtraking

Another Amtrak ride down to DC. I'm getting quite used to this trip now. I always wish I could stop and explore some of the places I speed past; the old factories just outside of Jersey for example. Instead I sit listening to Peter Bjorne & John's Writer's Block album. I plan on mountain biking in Germantown, MD tomorrow morning. I haven't ridden at Schaefer Farm in at least six years and it is one of my favorite spots to ride so I'm dying to get the single speed out there ASAP!

Edit: I never actually got to ride at Schaefer Farm! Bummer!

This morning in pictures

Washington Heights this morning at 7:30am.

A few xmas photos

I actually spent a decent amount of time playing around with my Lionel O-gauge trains this year. I don't always get the train out though this year, setting it up and really examining each box car was really enjoyable.

Goal #1

Looks like I have one bike related goal in my sights for March of 2012. The Red Hook Crit goes down on March 24th (incase you couldn't decipher that information from the adjacent image). More info here in the near future.

Happy Holidays

It's nearly Xmas eve and I've been one busy guy this month. Work has taken me to Milwaukee (awesome town!), Charlotte (also awesome) and continues to send me to other interesting spots in the new year like Allentown, PA (not so awesome). But, still, I enjoy the experience of traveling and all of the interactions, foods and situations that come along with that. Milwaukee was a blast; I spent some time in the 3rd Ward which was full of hip & happening joints and gorged myself at a sea food market where I chowed down on a tasty lobster for only $14. You can't beat that price. I reassured myself that I simply couldn't afford NOT to eat my steamy little friend. The best part of it was that the lobster had a great fresh flavor. Now, I've been known to breakdown and shlep my water bug-craving ass into Red Lobster from time to time - and let me clarify this is only when I had hit rock bottom in my lobster addiction. I'm not proud of it, but I'm not exactly ashamed either. Red Lobster is like shwag lobster I pick up when I'm really fiending. Most of the time, if you want the good stuff, you gotta pay top dollar. So, to eat an awesome lobster for $14 was so right-on. The half-dozen Blue Point oysters I slurped down weren't bad either.

Look for a lot more noise coming out of this blog in 2012. This year has been a rough one on me; my lack of blogging these past couple of months speak to that. Here's to a happy holiday for everyone and a fruitful new year!