What do you want for Christmas?

An electron microscope.


Thank you Dr. Barrios-Perez.
These have got me thinking fractals, tie-dies and batik!

Remember getting your first microscope and slicing onions?
One man's pond scum is another's universe.

Surprised

The first of the pink oleanders has bloomed.

There's red and yellow to come.

The sun is retreating behind the eave during the day so they won't be as scorched, and the evening temperature is cooling so the soil should retain more moisture. Looking forward...

I dislike my camera much - cannot get well focused shots at all, but love the Photobucket editor for to salvage the pictures.

Obsessed

The moon full over weekend, must have spent half and hour finding a spot and fiddling with the camera to get this shot. It's topography well defined and a splendid silhouette, wasn't able to capture. Make do.

Did have lucrative (behaviors same) time; got boots.

Nothing Doing

Been a while.

I've taken to driving a cab a couple of nights a week for almost a month now. The investments are not paying and I shouldn't deplete the capital anymore. All toward toward expenses, which still add up even though the house and car are paid for.

Consequently, the working hours - from 4 pm to 4 am - has me defaulting to that schedule through the week. Quite the homebody, reading and watching videos. Except for the coffee places, haven't gone out at all, though not much beyond the tedious happening.

I've thought about blogging on driving - the people encountered, maybe ask for a photo - but can only imagine the complications. Had a thought too that getting around might afford opportunity to take pictures; not really - much focused on being dispatched and making money. There's not much beyond the tedious there as well. Nothing interesting about inebriates.

That's the floor I'm staring at while sitting near the "cage" waiting for a cab. I like it, driving, despite the risks and the hit or miss of a busy night. Most are quite lucrative. I really don't want to work for anyone and certainly have no desire to involve myself in business.

So the social life revolves around a coffee place open until midnight. Use the WiFi to download movies and keep up with breathtaking events. That's one of the expenses I can entertain now (or soon), getting a plug-in modem and buying wireless myself. (On dial-up; the premium paid for speeding it up by compression not worth a shit.) Just trying to factor whether I should give up the wired phone too. Combination of the telephone and ISP accounts is the same cost as the WiFi service. Not to mention saving on all that coffee. Did get a nice shot of an unfortunate tree outside of one of the places.

Back to Kindergarten

Had to give Paint a further try.
Now I've got myself wanting a drawing pad and stylus.


It's somewhat childish...
shouldn't be at all deluded.


But it's right at hand and worth the effort.
I mean I shouldn't delude myself as to any talent.


Don't think they look bad at all.
For first attempts.


Yet it can be most exacting.
Something to do while waiting on downloads.

Dreamy Draw Sun Up

My sleep schedule got discombobulated.
Since the weekend, I've been nocturnal.
Resolved to get with the day people.
Stayed up all night. Got out before sunrise.

Caught the radical rays in the Dreamy Draw.


No dreams for me today... this will have to do.


Oh yeah; I'd rather shoot it than climb it.


There is a good bicycle trail too - paved.


Drove around the mountain.


Climbed 1/10th of Piestewa Peak.


The trail upward. Most of it in pretty bad (hazardous) shape.


Here's as far as I go.


And back down for the obligatory saguaro.



Glad to be able to modify images when detail hard to capture.

From here, what did I do but go to the health club and a treadmill.
Haven't climbed old Squaw Peak in fifteen years.
Suppose I might make that a goal of sorts.
Sorry... the list is quite full. How's about better pictures?

Blue Stream

As much as I'd like to be floating downriver, upriver comes this.
Sunday night... middle of nowhere... what's going on?

Fortunately, we've got a coffeeplace open 'til midnight.
Here for the WiFi... just downloaded some books from library.

About Time

Finally had a good downpour the other night.
The first of the oleanders is blooming.


The rest are pink, red and yellow.
Don't think they'll all go off until spring.


Went back to the manual to see how to lessen the white glare.
Counter-intuitively... set the idiot-proofing dial to "cloudy."


Would look better had I set ISO 200 instead of 50.
The fresco feature in Photobucket enhances detail and transparency.

Klezmerites?

OK. Klezmer. The Janissaries meet Yiddish swing meets Romani.
Jewish wedding music auf Mitteleuropa. Something different.
Lost Leaf the only place in town I know to showcase such.
And a different sort of place it is.


Walked in and there you go... Gypsies.


Caspian Hat Dance. More Balkan than Klezmer. No clarinet.
Crowd into it. Got the floor bouncing; some Lubavitchers grooving.


Playing the street urchin to the hilt, I guess.


Intense rhythm. Driving tempo. Not too many changes.


Owe it to the tambourine man. Vocals sounded Romani.


All around some body's got a thing for La Escuela Lacrimosa.
Frankly, I just don't see it selling to this clientele.
Can't say that I'm at all taken by the genre.
Awfully drear. Here's to the iconoclasts.

Hope the band finds a laundry.

Where to now?

Got so wrapped up the game is over.
DBacks win. No banter from Metsies.

Klezmer @ Lost Leaf.
I'm hooked. We'll be there.

Saw the Lithuanian woman.
Space between. Too bad.

Texture

Nothing better to do, some exercise upon an exercise.
Much tedium involved in futzing with settings...
all from the hip, more or less. Cloudy. Tuesday.
Not much going on. DBacks winning; headed to watch.

These were freely processed using PhotoBucket features.


A cliché... looking for grain.


And gnarlies.


The fresco touch on a shaved palm.


Another palm.


Sequestered trash.


Cartooning enhances detail.


Another fresco. Better than I thought it could be.


Industrial glyphs.


More walls.


These must be air charges for some tool. Not happy with this.


Used the Blueprint feature.


Heat Map... effect makes up for lack of focal acuity.


Alright but could be better.


Stucco is stucco is stucco.


Worst thing about this place are wires everywhere.


Walking, talking ubiquity.


Getting further into the application.


Went to fiddle further with this and crashed.
So that's why they prefer Apple.