Union Square

On Saturday I went to Union Square for the first Street Photography Meetup. It was fantastic! Steve & Rob are the organizers, and they have so much knowledge! It's great to walk around with them and see what they're seeing. Here are some of my shots :)

Long Ago

Recently, my dad sent some pictures to me that his friend, my "Uncle" Ike, took when I was much younger. I love them, so here they are! Check out the 'stache on my pops ;)

Before LA

The pics from Kat's bday dinner at Blockhead's. Shira, Christine, Kat & I went out there and then headed next door for (more) drinks. Happy bday Kat!

LA Freeway

Driving the 101 from dad's to mom's. Sunny and warm!

You know you're at the airport too early when...

you can take a picture of an entire terminal with not one single person in it.

I hate iTunes (today)

I am so over this program right now it's unbelievable. Of course, it's my fault for trying to move my library the day before vacation (I need music on my phone to survive). But should it really be this difficult to tell iTunes that I no longer want it looking at my C drive for music, instead it should check out the E drive!? Gah!

A day in Fayetteville

Yesterday I drove into Fayetteville with Leif to stay with him a couple of days and see the town. He made a superb dinner of spaghetti & salad (a nice, spicy sauce) and his friends John & Jasper came over for a few hours to hang out.

Today was my first full day in Fayetteville, and it was quite the adventure! I walked to the town square to see the farmers market this morning, and then met up with Leif for lunch at Loafin Joe's (a yummy sandwich place). He was working all day, so I explored the town in foot.

I ended up spending hours at the Blair Library, reading in their comfortable chairs (and air conditioning)!

Across the street from that was this fantastic little arts/jewelry store that I ended up getting some beautiful rings from. The outside was all painted like a watermelon! The posts were red with seeds and they had colorful chairs and decorations everywhere.

I also got to check out this fun, used book store that totally rivals Strand and Powells (not as big, but pretty fantastic anyway).

So tonight we're just hanging out with Leif's friend, Anna, and maybe John & Jasper will come over again in a bit.

More of the same planned for tomorrow - see more of the city and relax!

Hello from Arkansas!

Well I've been here in Arkansas since Friday, and it has been a jam
packed vacation already. We've gone swimming in Bluff Creek, which
runs behind my Aunt Beth's house, and canoeing down Buffalo River
yesterday.

I also got to see the house my cousin, Edana, is building with her
husband, David. And I checked out the cows & chickens my aunt keeps.

I'll add pictures as soon as I'm home!

Photo Field Trip #3

For our last photo field trip we actually stayed within the building and just outside of it. We were practicing both composition & flash. I have to say, that building was very, very boring. I'm sure a great photographer could have found something great in there, but ugh it was a long hour to shot!


A fountain drain I got up close & personal with.


A mop bucket that one of the janitors left out.


An abstract view of the stairs & ceiling.

The second part of our lesson, using flash, took us both outside & inside. We mostly just shot each other, but the guard on duty was totally willing to help us out with this project!

CityWalks #3 - UWS

This past Monday I explore the Upper West Side, between 67th & 91st Streets. I was joined by Miriam, a recent retiree who found my ad on Craigslist & thought it sounded fun. It was nice to have someone to walk with.

We started on Broadway and 72nd, and I quickly realized that the main sights on this trip were grocery stores! Granted, they've been around for quite some time - Zabar's has been around since 1934. But still, it's odd to think that this is what people should see in NYC. But the walk was interesting and buildings are much, much shorter up there. It's nice to see sky!


We made our way over to Riverside Park - and wow! It's got this fantastic community garden up near 91st Street, and it runs all the way down the river to 72nd. It was absolutely wonderful - quiet, on the water and just nice. It's very much like Battery City Park (my fav place in the city) so that's probably why I was so excited about it.



When it ends and you curve back into the city there's a statue of Eleanor Roosevelt in a ring of trees - very cool.


The final section of this walk was up Central Park West. I've seen most of that before - the Historical Society, Dakota, Museum of Natural History. But there are some cool buildings. A very nice vendor in the park told us about all the celebrities living the buildings right at 73rd & Central Park West (I, of course, don't remember any of the names he said, but they were very famous).

I was tempted to go into the Natural History Museum for the "Extreme Mammals" exhibit. I have no idea what it's about, but I figured it would be a nice way to end the day. Little did I know special exhibits there cost $24! I couldn't do it. So hopefully I didn't miss too much :)

Downtown

We had our second photo class outing last Saturday, and we spent it wandering downtown between Barclay Street & Cedar Street. We were working on getting good pics in the shade, and let me tell you, I do not enjoy it! The colors just always seem a bit off. Plus, we were going between shade & sun, so it was even harder. But I think it will help me when trying to take pictures up at grandpa's.



We also played with motion, and learned how to make a car seem like it's really moving. It's kind of fun to get different people/cars while everything around them is blurred.


Our professor also showed us how to do this thing with the zoom (he said it was popular in the 70s, but I may have to bring it back). It makes it look like a vortex sucking everything else in! I love it ;)


Seeing how reflections come out.

We had about an hour to walk around and take pics, and these construction workers were right on the corner.


We stumbled across a tourist group of Amish girls on our way back to the classroom.

Brooklyn Bridge

Last weekend I went out for a 3 hour field trip with my photo class, instead of my weekly city walk (those will be continued this coming Monday). It was a gorgeous day, and we headed to the Brooklyn Bridge to learn about spot metering, using our aperture priority setting and figuring out what works, and what doesn't. Sadly, I realized (once I was home & had downloaded the pics) that my lens needed cleaning *sigh*

CityWalks #2 - LES to TriBeCa

I started in the lower east side (LES) at Houston and Forsythe. Walking up and down, and east to west, I was shocked at how deserted the area is. Maybe because it's a Monday? I would still expect some bustle. There were some people, of course. Sitting in cafes reading a paper or just relaxing. Obviously locals in their daily routine. But I only passed a handfull of other visitors to the neighborhood. And even they seemed lost without a crowd.

There were these two awesome wall arts on Rivington - words about the LES and what it is.

What the LES was not lacking was closed shops. I counted 13 in just 14 very short blocks. Plus 4 more buildings that seemed newer and had maybe never had shops in them, and still don't now. It's so weird, and something I never would have imagined.

I stopped by the Tenement Museum, but a school group was going in and the tours they had open didn't start for hours. I'll have to plan ahead next time :)

After that I stumbled across BridgeGallery on Orchard. They were exhibiting a guy named Sydney Cash, who is doing light installations with just pieces of glass and lighting. They were kind of awesome.

It's amazing to find yourself moving from the LES into a part of Chinatown that actually feels like China, without even realizing it. My walk today took me to the part of Chinatown that tourists rarely, if ever, see. I was the only white person for blocks. I didn't hear English, and the signs were all printed in large Chinese characters, only sometimes followed by a small English translation. It was a great glimpse into what Chinatown really is.

From there I found myself in front of the courthouses, sharing a bench in the park with an old woman who just seemed to enjoy the day.

The next area I went to was TriBeCa. It was so sterile. Maybe it comes alive at night, but during the day it's just a bunch of people with two-level strollers and business guys walking around. It seemed incredibly clean for NYC (really, where's the trash?) and even though it's called "historic TriBeCa" all I saw were new restaurants, huge grocery stores and wide sidewalks. Maybe the buildings are historic, but that's about all.

It's so weird, because usually I hate the crowds of tourists on Prince, the unruly mobs on Broadway. But I welcomed Canal when I came back to it after TriBeCa, because it just felt more NY than most of the areas I had visited on my walk. So that's a good day - when I finally appreciate the crazy disaster that is Canal!

CityWalks #1 - Downtown

So I've taken every Monday off from last week to the end of the summer (and I enjoyed it sooo much last week!). Basically they told us we need to use up our vacation. So I decided that each Monday (or at least most of them) I'm going to take a walk around a section of the city. I'm using my CityWalks deck as a basic jumping off point and then just exploring from there.

Last week - on my first walk - I started out at South Street Seaport and made my way through downtown to Battery City Park and up to WTC

I've only been to South Street Seaport a couple of times before - and always for a specific event. So I was a little shocked by how touristy and blah it is. There's a huge mall there and a ton of restaurants and shops. And that's about it. There are a couple of ships that I guess you can go on sometimes - but not on a Monday.

I sort of sped through downtown - been there, done that. And then I got to battery city park, which is still my favorite place in the city. I had my macro lens and got to use that a bit along the esplanade. And it was just a really great day!

Flowers along the esplanade - so close & detailed!

A little squirrel friend who was too brave for me - I totally backed down when he came at me!

Next up: The Lower East Side, City Hall and TriBeCa.

The 88

Kate, Anna and I went to see an LA band called The 88 on Monday night. You have probably heard them and didn't even know it - their song "Coming Home" was on a Target commercial awhile back and "Sons and Daughters" is on Rockband!

Anyway, it was an awesome show at Piano's - one of my favorite venues in the city. Check out their website at www.the88.net

Travel Sites

I love when a travel site adds something useful that also has a little something more than other sites. TripAdvisor just added a flight search to their website. Pretty standard, and I already love Kayak. But I checked it out anyway because, hey, I love TripAdvisor.

Well, in addition to the great format (slide bars for departure/arrival times, check boxes for other options) they also have a feature that tells you what you can expect to be charged in additional fees - for carry-on bags, in-flight entertainment & food. Which is kind of nice. It knew that Virgin America doesn't charge for a carry-on, but I'll spend $30 (!!) on American (among others). I love that! Now I can see how much I'll actually be paying for the entire trip. Yipee!

New Recipe - Spicy Skillet Chicken

Finally made a new recipe! It is delicious. Kind of spicy, totally flavorful and easy as could be.

Spicy Skillet Chicken
4 servings

Ingredients
1 to 2 teaspoons chili powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/4 lb)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained, rinsed
1 can (11 oz) Green Giant® Mexicorn® whole kernel corn with red and green peppers, undrained
1/3 cup Thick 'n Chunky salsa
2 cups hot cooked brown rice

Instructions
1. Mix chili powder, salt and pepper. Sprinkle evenly over both sides of chicken. In 10-inch nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add chicken; cook 8 to 10 minutes, turning once, until juice of chicken is clear when center of thickest part is cut (170°F).
2. Stir in beans, corn and salsa. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer 3 to 5 minutes or until vegetables are hot. Serve with rice.

Nutrition Information
1 Serving: Calories 460 (Calories from Fat 70); Total Fat 8g (Saturated Fat 2g, Trans Fat ncg); Cholesterol 75mg; Sodium 1020mg; Total Carbohydrate 66g (Dietary Fiber 9g, Sugars ncg); Protein 40g

Sigh. Read the bill

A huge deal was made a week or so ago about $200 million spending included in the stimulus plan that would go toward providing contraceptive coverage. Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) denounced the spending, saying Republicans wouldn't back the spending on contraception. Media jumped on board, covering the story and repeating the $200 million price-tag from Boehner. Democrats even capitulated, and agreed to take that part of the stimulus plan out.

Now it seems that it was never part of the package to begin with. What Boehner saw was language that allowed Medicaid recipients to get as much pregnancy prevention coverage as they do coverage for actually being pregnant. Something that a number of states already do. The $200 million? That's projected savings to the states within 5 years.

Yeah - good job dude. If you want to read an article about it, check out Huffington Post. Not sure if we'll hear anything more about this. But we should.

So Much to Post!

I seem to always find a ton of stuff to rant and rave about on the same day. So I'm separating them into different posts, even though they're all going up at the same time!

Awhile ago someone posted a comment on my site directing me to an online store that sells the "I Kinda Love New York" t-shirts that inspired my blog title. I clicked back to the author, and she is also an LA transplant with a less than whole-hearted love for NYC. Here's her blog: http://ikindaloveny.blogspot.com/. She's funny and compares the coasts, and actually finds things to enjoy about the city! Novel idea, that.

January in DC

It's been a couple of weeks - I'm just slow getting my pictures together. But here are a few from DC.

On Monday Leif & I went to the National Portrait Gallery to see Shepard Fairey's "Hope" poster. It was awesome, and I never knew it was a collage before we got up close there.

Leif & Mary let me stay with them, which was fantastic. They live in Arlington, and we ended up walking from there to the Inauguration. It was so much fun. We were about 1/2 way down the Mall, between the Capitol & the Washington Monument, right next to the carousel.

What a Ride!

An article directly from FirstRead - they are always entertaining!

With President Bush set to leave the White House less than two weeks from now, here's a "Then and Now" to show what the United States looked like when Bush was entering office and what it looks like now as he's leaving.

The "Then" is the best-available figure as Bush was taking office in 2001. The "Now" is the most recent figure.

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
Then: 4.2% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2001)
Now: 6.7% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, November 2008)

DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE
Then: 10,587 (close of Friday, Jan. 19, 2001)
Now: 9,015 (close of Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009)

BUSH FAVORABILITY RATING
Then: 50% (1/01 NBC/WSJ poll)
Now: 31% (12/08 NBC/WSJ poll)

CHENEY FAVORABILITY RATING
Then: 49% (1/01 NBC/WSJ poll)
Now: 21% (12/08 NBC/WSJ poll)

CONGRESS APPROVAL RATING
Then: 48% (1/01 NBC/WSJ poll)
Now: 21% (12/08 NBC/WSJ poll)

SATISFIED WITH THE NATION'S DIRECTION
Then: 45% (1/01 NBC/WSJ poll)
Now: 26% (12/08 NBC/WSJ poll)

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE (1985=100)
Then: 115.7 (Conference Board, January 2001)
Now: 38.0, which is an all-time low (Conference Board, December 2008)

FAMILIES LIVING IN POVERTY
Then: 6.4 million (Census numbers for 2000)
Now: 7.6 million (Census numbers for 2007 -- most recent numbers available)

AMERICANS WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE
Then: 39.8 million (Census numbers for 2000)
Now: 45.7 million (Census numbers for 2007 -- most recent available)

U.S. BUDGET
Then: +236.2 billion (2000, Congressional Budget Office)
Now: -$1.2 trillion (projected figure for 2009, Congressional Budget Office)