A Net of Glass

Headstone Sundial

The Lake That Sounds Like Spring Reverb

Waves That Wash Away

She Looks Cold

Thanks for the Change of Scenery

Flying In

Spending the holiday in Montana...

A Ship Scuttled Amongst the Rocks

An Oasis Amid Smoke and Fire

Oh, and thanks Do Make Say Think for playing the two best shows I attended this year.

The Hollow

Happy Halloween

Cindi and I carved pumpkins and here is the result. Hers is the top one and mine the bottom.

The Beginning of a Twilit Dream

Of Smoke, Fire and Water

Tapping

I Like the Cut of Your Jib (even if there is no jib)

Photographic Painting: The Flame

Less Than Happy

My friend and former roommate had a baby a couple months ago and was over for dinner. Cindi asked me to grab the camera and I got some nice shots of mother and child. I also got some shots that I thought were good, but not necessarily nice.

Inside or Out

Inside or Out

Photographic Painting: The Face

The Final Break

This is the break that won. It was wine and cheese coupled with fresh fruit dipped in a chocolate fountain. Oh, and some assorted dessert pastries. I don't know if any of the pictures I have shown in the last three posts were the ones submitted for the contest, but there you have it. Next time we'll be back to my usual photographic musings.

Broken Fridge, Broken Into, and Sushi Break!

The saga of breaks continues... My fridge broke and got replaced today. Sadly the landlord didn't measure the height of the new fridge and we have custom cabinetry above the fridge and the new fridge was exactly 1 inch to tall, so the cabinets had to be rehung. A big dumb ordeal. My car was broken into and the radio stolen. Which is lame. I love having music in my car, it keeps me sane.
But then there was the executive board room break. It was sushi themed. So, sushi, sake, green tea and Voss bottled water were the menu items. The sushi guys put together a very cool platter with bamboo as a center piece, but they were supposed to prepare the different kinds onto separate plates, because the one platter was too busy visually, but when I got to it it was too late. I tried my best to get some close-ups to try to separate the types, but it was difficult. I also got pictures of the sake and bottle water (not pictured) and the green tea. It looked pretty tasty, but after more than two hours of it sitting out, and a prior experience with sushi food poisoning (not from my hotel, it's the only place I will eat sushi now) I was loathe to eat any of it.

A Busy Break, A Bad Break, Broken, and a Breakfast Break

It's been much longer than I had planned to post again, but things have been a mess. Last week was just out of the question, work was crazy (which will be the mantra for the next month or two), my dog broke her leg and had to have a plate "installed" in her leg so it would heal back in place, so that has been a whole thing with vets and meds, and on top of what was a mess of a week, my watch stopped working. Perfect.
Anyways, after reviewing the photos I realized I need to break this up into three posts. And I'll warn you now this may be very boring, but it was a job of sort for my job... I work for the Banquet and Convention Services department for the Crowne Plaza San Diego. Crowne Plaza was doing an inter-brand contest concerning my department. They wanted interesting and creative breaks, which are the food and beverage setups when meeting attendees take that coveted 15 minute hiatus from whatever seminar they are attending, or it's that morning rush for fruit and pastry before you jockey for a good seat in the meeting room.
We were tasked with three separate setups. A Morning Meeting Break (Continental Coffee Break), an Executive Boardroom setup, and an Afternoon Meeting Break. The planning and building of these breaks was delegated to some of my counterparts within the Food and Beverage Department (a representative from Banquets, Kitchen, and the Restaurant). I was asked for any ideas I had once they had "themed the breaks" and gave them my thoughts, but my task was to photograph the breaks. Which was a much longer undertaking than I had originally thought, but it was a nice change of pace from my usual workday.
We won in the category of Afternoon Meeting Break, but we will start with the morning break today. This was just a continental "fruit, pastry, coffee, and juice" break. I might not show the wide shots of the breaks, but just give you a closer impressionistic view of the breaks. (or I might) And my apologies for any boredom, we'll get back to "art" pictures soon. But on the upside for tomorrow: Sushi!!!

Tiki Oasis 7

So, I've been pretty light on the pictures recently and that has been because I have been busy. the Crowne Plaza San Diego, formerly the Hanalei Hotel, hosted Tiki Oasis 7 about 2 weeks ago. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun. We had a tiki bazaar, live music and DJ all day by the pool and then bands and dancing on the lawn at night. There were a lot of people and I hope they come back for many years to come, it was fun, it was everything a hotel event in the summer should be. One of the guys brought in this giant 20 foot tall tiki bar that he built (and builds for sale), seen below, that just barely fit getting into the pool courtyard area, and from the experience of helping him move it, it was no small task. He hopes to bring another next year, but built sectionally, for easier transport. The eyes on it glowed red at night and there was a timer mechanism that would release steam, fog, smoke or whatever out of the nose and eyes every 20 minutes or so. The main stage had two side platforms built for go-go dancers and similar ilk. I rarely have such an enjoyable time while working. So, here are a few pictures I was able to snap while working. I'll have another post in a few days concerning a much more boring topic, but will hopefully explain some of my lack of posting.

Photographic Painting: Got Done, Thought of Meddle, Then Didn't Listen to It

Like a Reverse Cartoon Sunset

Swish

Vented

This Thin

Land of Birds

Face on a Stick