Open House

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I’m in my 3rd year at my current job but never attended our annual Open House…until this year. I always avoided events like this for fear of bumping into parents that made my job way too hard. This year is different and I felt comfortable enough to make an appearance. I guess it’s a sign that I’ve managed my cases rather well so far.

It really took me back to the days when I was a 7-year-old taking my parents through my classroom and showing off my work. I remember a great sense of excitement from meeting your friends’ parents and running around your school at night. This Open House was no different. There were kids and parents everywhere with all the classrooms decorated to the nines. I loved walking through the classrooms taking photos of all their artwork.

The Parent Booster Club also coordinated a silent auction that raised $6200 for our school. It’s too bad that $40 of the money raised is mine. I bid on a couple items and won a private golf lesson including video analysis of my swing. It also came with 6 dozens of golf balls. I guess I will be golfing this summer. Anyone want to join me?! I’ll bring the golf balls!

1K richer

Last week, over IM, Ryan asked what we were doing for our anniversary. I thought, “That’s strange. Our anniversary is in November!” I wrote back to him “No plans yet. Why?” He wrote, “That’s when we’re having a baby and paying you $1000.” Sweeeeet.

Some of you know this already but a few years ago, Jes and Ryan made a bet: Whoever has a baby first has to pay the other couple $1000. Michelle and I actually didn’t find out about this bet until two years ago. My first thought was, “That’s a lot of money!” Then my next thought was “Why didn’t you tell me about this?!” I didn’t know whether to be amused or annoyed.

Anyway, the long-running bet has ended and our dear melters will be bringing a child into this crazy world of ours. So what do you get when a frog and bird make a baby? We’ll just have to wait and see. But seriously, I’m so happy and excited for them. This truly is THE year to have a baby. Congratulations You Two!!

Famous

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Nicole Kidman photographed by Annie Leibovitz

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The White Stripes photographed by Annie Leibovitz

Jes and I went to the San Diego Museum of Art today to see the Annie Leibovitz exhibit. I saw ads for it in the New York Subway but it was no longer being shown at the Brooklyn Museum. Luckily, I was surfing the internet last weekend to find that it was in San Diego until today. Score!

For those who are unfamiliar with the name, Annie Leibovitz is most famous for her celebrity portraits featured mostly in Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone. More recently, she photographed the infamous Suri Cruise photos.

lassie.jpgI met her once back in 1995 when I volunteered at one of her Vanity Fair photoshoots. It was a day-long photoshoot that involved photographing one very large group of Hollywood stars from back in the day. I actually met several of them including Eva Gabor, Gene Autry, Milton Berle, and even the 5th generation Lassie. (see photo on the left)  My job that day was to be Robert Young’s assistant.  He was the star of an old tv show called “Father Knows Best“.  My job wasn’t very hard since he was in a wheelchair and practically unaware of what was going on that day.  Another funny thing that happened that day was that I was asked out by one of Annie’s assistants.  Haha.  I don’t know if I ever told anyone this.  To make a long story short, I was way too naive and shy back then and turned him down that afternoon.

Anyway, back to the exhibit… It featured a mixture of celebrity portraits, her photos from Serbia, personal photos, and coverage of the Clinton and Bush administration. The rooms were pretty crowded but we managed to work our way through the gallery. For $10/person and an 80-mile drive it was not a bad way to spend a Sunday morning. What made it even more interesting was walking through the Earth Day festivities including a bunch of hippie propaganda and a Hare Krishna parade. Awesome.

On our way home, we stopped at Joe’s Crab Shack for a crabalicious feast. For $22.95, we got a platter of dungeoness, snow, and king crab. Yum yum. Their clam chowder was creamy and smokey and the fried shrimp was also very tasty. It sure did make driving home a little tougher with food coma and all but it was worth it.

dodge and burn

img_5694.jpgJust got back from my second evening in the darkroom and it’s getting pretty fun. I took a new roll of b&w last weekend and had the roll processed in time for today’s class but I was a dummy and left it at home. *sigh* So we printed some of my negatives from 1995, which didn’t come out too bad. I guess I’ll get to play with the new negs next week. We spent a good 2.5 hours in the lab printing and processing. We’re just getting the basics down but I’ve already dodged and burned some of my photos to make them look a little more interesting. Fun fun fun!

Props to all y’all

It’s National High Five Day and I certainly gotta give it up to the members of our *isofosho* Flickr group. We’re on our third theme, “Lemme See Yo’ Ride“, and the first day of voting has gotten off to a good start. We average about 20 submissions each time and the photos have been really interesting. It’s so neat to see everyone’s interpretation of the theme.  It’s also fun to see which ones get voted for and why. So, here’s a *high five* to all my fellow photogs!! Keep ’em comin’!

If you wish to join, just log in to Flickr with your Yahoo! login address and ask to join our group. Some just submit photos, some just vote, some just watch the action, and some do it all! Come play with us!

Let’s walk to dinner!

Uh, that’s something you don’t normally hear in suburbia but that’s what we did tonight.  Jes and I went out to dinner with Jay and Nikki (our neighbors) and we walked there.  In New York City it comes so naturally but in a city where BMWs and minivans rule, it’s another story.  Luckily, we live close to a number of decent restaurants so we walked down to Lucca Cafe.  They serve tapas-sized dishes and a large selection of wines.  My favorites were the pappardelle and butternut squash ravioli.  We also tried a reisling and a pinot noir that were both pretty good.  Dessert was a banana cake with dark chocolate and a key lime mousse.  Yum yum.