team picnic yesterday underneath this really awesome tree. looking up through the lattice of branches and leaves

just spent a week in dulles for work. it snowed 7 inches on thursday night. my first snowfall in seven years. these were shot from my 9th floor window of the hotel.

The pictures are in and collected together in a little slide show. My trip was fun and the summit intense. Lots of side meetings for things I am involved in and plenty of gatherings in the bars and restaurants. Not sure I really like Vegas all that much but I barely got out of the Bellagio. It was great to see some of my favorite folks gathered all in one spot - Lou, PeterMe and PeterMo, John, Christina, George, Jesse and Rebecca as well as fun to meet some new folks - Molly, David, Lane, Mike.

If you haven't ever seen the Cirque de Soleil - I highly recommend it. If you are in Vegas - the O show is a must. After our day of summit/conference sessions, several of us went to dinner at Spagos and then to O. No pics were allowed, but I had my camera and I turned off the flash...so here are a couple of shots- I only took four. The images don't do the show justice - I was so dumbfounded by what they could do, I scarecely remembered I had my camera.

am here in Vegas for a conference (see design writings in a couple of days for the conference details). Had a couple of gin and tonics with a group of folks and then we headed out to explore the sights and sounds of the strip. we ended up walking around in circles a bit. crazy place this is.

Sheila and I went for a long drive - San Jose up to Point Reyes - today via SF and the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a beautiful drive, some fog, lots of hills. We had our trail books and were seeking some new biking trails. We ended up at Point Reyes and went down this one trail that ended up only being 3 miles round trip and over a lot of sand. Tough to ride in. So we drove back up the road and parked outside the gates for Tamales Bay. We thought we would ride into that park. Needless to say, it was a serious downhill ride in and a kick butt (and I mean serious kick some butt) ride back up the hill. I had to get off the bike and walk a little bit of it. Along the way, on one of my rests, I stopped and shot these.

Once upon a time I lived in Leesburg Virginia. In Leesburg was a small mini-diner called the mighty midget. I never ate there but it was supposed to be a great place to get carry out fries and burgers. Only one guy could work in the kitchen space. Last year I started travelling back to Virginia as part of my job at AOL. I went back to Leesburg checking out my old haunts, was my townhouse still there, what about the woods where I used to walk with Maggie and take lots of photos, how about the Mighty Midget? Alas...

In celebration of Sheila's graduation and Memorial day, we held a big backyard party barbecue. Lots of people came, some didn't (we missed you all) and Sheila's band played. The band - Lost Chihuahua, was very good and the guests sang and danced. There was a pinata and pool action. Lots of margaritas - can you say tequila! - beer and sodas consumed. Dad played grill meister and old family friends drove into town to celebrate with us too.

We had a brief visitor last week. A lady duck stopped by for a quick dip in the pool. She drove the dogs wild and then went on her merry way. Sheila shot these images, as I was at work at the time.

I have spent the last couple of weekends enjoying the sun and working on the side garden beds I started last fall. When I ripped out the grass and put in the patio, I left these wonderful tranglular shaped beds. They wintered over with large piles of soil/manure mix and earlier this spring I spread out the dirt and turned the soil a couple of times. Finally, as the weather has warmed I have begun planting and finishing the beds.

I dug up some existing beds and thinned the plants, moved things into the sun that had been in the shade of the fence and have added a bunch more plants - mostly sage, types of dianthus, salvia, oregano, different thymes and other stuff. I also have planted gladiolus bulbs for late summer.

My friend Natasha's daughter turned one last Tuesday. Saturday was her first birthday party. Fun for all ages. Elmo was a big hit and the kids got to sing and have their faces painted.

A few pictures from Sheila's thesis show and her opening reception. The turnout was great and the work was well received. Some thought it controversial and walked out but most stayed and listened to the interviews, watched the videos through their entire loop and interact with the crowd at the reception. Afterwards about ten of us went out for dinner. Congratulations little sister!

Riding behind my sister on the way to her Graduate Thesis show opening. She is clad in leather and rocks! I rode on the back of the Harley the day before - my first time - and although I was scared, I kind of liked it.

Biking out at Shoreline at the end of the work day. I am there at low tide and the water is out leaving lots of mud and funny birds looking for their next meal. This is a very peaceful place to be.

Finally have the pics from the Aquarium up. I visited last Friday when I was in Baltimore for the ASIS IA summit. Friday was a lovely warm day (78 degrees). The aquarium was filled with 6th graders on field trips, but despite the large throngs of kids, I saw a lot of really cool things. The images were taken as I moved through the space. I tried not to use the flash, so there are some blurry fish. The lighting was extraordinary and the colors intense. There was a special Seahorses exhibit and a lot of these shots are from that. This aquarium is unique in that they have an Amazon Rain forest on the top floor - complete with lots of tropical birds. The exhibits move from the ocean, to the coastal waterways to rivers as you move up the building. So the images move from ocean creatures to turtles and frogs and snakes and finally the tropical birds.

more...

Spent the weekend in Baltimore at the ASIST IA conference. I was a speaker and attendee. On friday I had a chance to wander around the inner harbor. These are the pics from the day. Images from the Aquarium will be posted separately. It was warm for the first two days and sunny and I enjoyed being back east for a short amount of time, although I didn't get any Blue Crabs to eat.

Went bowling friday night at one of those places that is all blacklight and dayglo. Rock and roll blaring and 9 of us bowling. Was lots of fun to bowl, to experiment with the digital camera and just to hang out.

New bike, old trail, newly blooming mustard. The orchards are carpeted with the yellow flowers. I am riding my new bike today - recently purchased with lots of change saved over several years. Pennies do add up.

I rode the standard 18 miles at Coyote Creek but did it in a little over an hour. I cut almost 20 minutes off my time. Big difference from the mountain bike. Georgeous day today!