Day 248/365 - At Artomatic

Tonight was "Meet the Artists" night at the Artomatic exhibition in Washington, DC and since I hadn't been yet to check out the show, I figured I'd go. Several of my Flickr contacts had works on display and I wanted to see their walls. Going also gave me a chance to finally meet Stacey (who brought delish pasteles), Ramune (who brought yummy chocolate peanut butter crispy squares), Kerrin (who brought zesty tomato and mozzarella skewers), and Lindsay (who brought Kevin -- who, given that he's a Kevin, is naturally a treat in and of himself). It was great to meet all of them and to meet up again with some of the Flickr folks I hadn't seen in a while.

The show itself was quite enjoyable. It occupies eight floors of an unfinished office building and is essentially an artistic free-for-all. There's something of everything there, and something for everyone. Rather more nakedness than I was anticipating, though. Apparently it's fairly easy to get women to pose nude for you. Based on Artomatic, it seems that all you need do is buy a nice camera, tell a woman the photos are for artistic purposes, and then 'bang!' -- her clothes fall off. Too bad I shoot mostly buildings, places, and objects. Just my luck.

(Taken with my Nikon D90)

Day 247/365 - At the Eye Doctor

"Which is better, 1 or 2? 3 or 4?"

Had my annual visit to the eye doctor today. Thankfully my eyes haven't gotten any worse. Last year was the first time she had to up my prescription in the 9 years I've been going to her to get checked out. I sorta wish she'd get some new eye charts, though. At this point even if I couldn't see it I'd know that the smallest line read "E V O T Z." Guess lying about that would kind of defeat the point though.

I was curious so I asked her once what she did with people who were illiterate and she said she has charts with pictures of objects on them instead of letters for people who can't read, recent immigrants from places that don't use the Phoenician Alphabet, and kids who don't know their ABCs yet. Another of life's imponderable mysteries solved.

I want to get some new glasses this year, so any recommendations for Metro-accessible places with cool frames in the DC area would be much appreciated. Thanks!

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 246/365 - No Beer Goggles Needed

The Nats actually won! It had been so long since that happened that I had forgotten what it was like to be happy at the end of a game. And there wasn't even a rain delay. Go figure.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 245/365 - Intern Happy Hour

Tonight a bunch of us from work went to Bullfeathers on Capitol Hill for a happy hour with this year's crop of summer legal interns. They seem like a good bunch. The two interns for my division are from my alma mater, so they better be good. We've had some, shall we say 'entertaining,' interns in the past. There was one who liked to call Westlaw and have them do case law searches for her and email her the results. There was one who quit after a week because he didn't realize that he couldn't afford to have a summer job that didn't pay anything. There was the one who wore basically the same clothes every day and slept at his desk. And then there was the one who wound up dating the Deputy General Counsel after the summer ended. None of us saw that coming. She was young and hot and he was a bald, nerdy guy who looked like the eggheaded little bird in the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons. Who knew that was what it took to be irresistable?

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 244/365 - Little Lump of Love

My friends Des and Chris recently adopted a little sister for their miniature Australian shepherd Chewie. Her name is Wicket, after the ewok from Return of the Jedi, and this is her resting in my arms (thanks to Adri for an assist with the photo). She's a warm, soft, little bundle of fluffy fur and needle teeth and so far sleeping seems to be her favorite pasttime. She's much more mellow than Chewie, although she does have a sense of adventure. While I was holding her tonight she climbed up my shoulder and onto the top of my head and then moved from there to walk across the back of the armchair like a cat walking a fence. I thought Des was going to have a panic attack when Wicket pulled that stunt for fear that she'd fall to the hardwood floor. Only eight weeks old and she's already a daredevil tomboy.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 243/365 - Scruffy Looking Nerfherder

This week's self-portrait is a shot of me sporting a week's worth of vacation stubble. I haven't shaved since last Tuesday morning before my cruise ship docked in Juneau. My face hasn't been this hairy since I shaved my beard off about three years ago. If I'd given it any thought beforehand, I wouldn't even have packed my razor and just gone the whole cruise without shaving. After all, if you can't be scruffy in Alaska then where can you be scruffy?

BTW - The title is a geeky Star Wars reference.

(Taken with my Nikon D90)

Twice on Sunday Bonus Photo - Back to My Own Bed

This week's bonus photo from my archives is a shot of my bed. After being gone for nine days, it was nice to get back to it.

(Taken with my Nikon D80)

Day 242/365 - All Ashore That's Going Ashore

My Alaskan cruise came to an end today when we returned to port in Seattle. It turned out to be as amazing as everyone says. The scenery routinely sliding past the ship was phenomenal. The ship was very nice, although I like Carnival better than Norwegian Cruise Lines. Carnival has better food, bigger staterooms, better quality service, and much much better onboard entertainment. Two-thirds of the performers onboard the Pearl (both in the theater and in the lounges) were godawful.

It was still well worth the trip, however. I saw glaciers, mountains, eagles, seals, whales (briefly), and porpoises, hiked through temperate rainforests, rode an old train, had beer for breakfast, flew in a floatplane, won $44 playing roulette, went undefeated at Scrabble, and got clobbered at shuffleboard. Never did get around to climbing that rock wall.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)