Zippered

I went to Albertson's (called Save Mart now, but it will always be Albertson's to me) early this morning to get some groceries.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the deli now puts their items in a plastic bag with easy close zippers instead of the more cumbersome ziplock style plastic bags.

Gray Hairs

I'm getting some gray hairs on my chinny-chin-chin.

Egg

Just like the last photo, sometimes you don't have to go very far to see something interesting.

A small bird's egg that was apparently eaten by another animal was lying just outside my front door. It is extremely small, about the size of a golf ball if it was whole, and extremely delicate.

I tried to move it next to a screw on the deck boards for a sense of scale, but it fell apart just from me touching it.

Also, I had to look up the difference between laying and lying.

Shadows

A shadow pattern of the railing along my staircase.

I really like the way this looks.

In all the years of living here, I've never been outside when the shadows on the stairs matched up like this.

District 9

Doug and I went to see Bruno today (it was mostly boring with a few funny parts).

Before I walked in, I saw this poster for a movie called District 9 and I recognized the "No Humans Allowed" sign. It is quite similar to this poster.

Now I realize the SF poster was part of the advertising campaign for the movie. I still want that 'bus' poster though.

The movie looks amazing; we saw the trailer for it before Bruno started. Aliens crash land on earth and instead of taking over, they're actually captured, sequestered for many years in an internment camp, and forced to give up their secrets.

Outside IMAX

(From Shayan's iPhone)

Shayan and I went and saw Star Trek on IMAX and he took this photo to send off to his girl-friend (who is Japanese and lives in...yup, Japan).

It was an incredible movie, much better than I expected it to be. Quite honestly, there was nothing that I didn't like about this movie. One of my favorite action movies of the year so far.

Overheating

Doug putting water in his radiator and the water reservoir. There is a leak somewhere, and his car keeps overheating.

He said sometimes he has to drive with the heat on at full blast (and its already nearing 100 degrees outside) just to cool off the engine.

A couple days ago, when he took off the radiator cap, water and steam flew everywhere and teh eruption lasted at least for 10 seconds. It was like a geyser going off.

Request Waiting

As soon as I returned home from our amazing weekend at Lassen, I noticed these items on my shelf.

Frank had come by and left me two things:
1. A request for six 8x10" enlargements of the photo of his completed puzzle, and
2. A nice fold out map of California listing every single state park. There has to be at least a hundred, if not over a couple hundred listed on this map.

Day 3: Bumpass Hell

This was our only hike considered Moderate by all the guides -- the other two were labeled Strenuous. A pretty straightforward hike except that this is the beginning of the season and at least half the trail here was snow covered. So we slid down trails as much as we walked. Finally, after 1.5 miles, the sulfuric stench of the geysers awaited us.

Sometimes not being able to smell is a good thing -- I'm the only one who could enjoy my lunch without everything tasting like "deviled eggs".

Lots of steaming geysers, bubbling mud holes, and dried up mud holes to see along the walkway built in the area.

Day 2: Cinder Cone

Cinder Cone is a fairly short hike: 1.2 miles to the cone, and then 700feet to the top.

The first part of the hike is pretty decent, just some small rocks on a sandy trail. It would be like walking on the loose sand of the beach, except the soil is black from the volcanic rock. Then we get to Cinder Cone.

There are no switchbacks, just a trail leading up the side of the cone, with a 30-35 degree angle. It's more soft soil, loose rocks, and larger loose rocks. Every step up you slide back down. It took a while to get there, but the view at the top is incredible: a lake, Lassen Peak, Fantastic Lava Beds (that's what they're called) and Painted Dunes. We eat our sandwiches again and then head back down.

The same trail down. Some people run down, throwing up huge clouds of dust. But we walk down, heel first, letting the loose soil fill in under our toes.

Day 1: Lassen Peak

We are spending the 4th of July weekend at Lassen Park.

Today: climbing Lassen Peak, which is very steep and rocky, and parts of the trail are snow covered. Along the way up, we heard that a guy tumbled over a narrow section that people kept calling the ice ledge.

Lots of friendly hikers, everyone says hello or stops to chat (usually about the hiker that fell). Finally when we get to the "snow ledge" area, we see why most people are turning around right there.


It's a narrow walkway, covered in ice, with the mountain on one side and a steep angled drop on the other.

We decide it's not worth the risk if one of us falls and head back down. But first, we eat our sandwiches.

Sweaty

I went to the gym and did 30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical machine while watching the 2008 WSOP on TV.

I was surprised how sweaty my work-out hat got since I wasn't really going at a hard pace.

Painted Statue

I visited a comic/game store nearby that I never knew existed while on my way to Old Navy to pick up their 4th of July tee shirt.

Inside a glass case, they have some amazing statues painted by employees of the store as well as their customers.

I asked to take a photo of this one and the employee opened the case for me. They aren't for sale, just to show off their painting skills.

I definitely don't have the patience for this.
BTW the strap of my camera almost knocked over a tiny statue. That would've been really embarrassing.

Blu-Ray

Just trying to document the dropping price of recordable Blu-Ray disks. This is from a Fry's Electronics ad.

I know I had a photo a few months ago (and I think I lost it when my hard drive crashed) when the price was $50 for a 5-pack.

Haircut

It's getting hot and my hair was getting long and curly in the back, making my neck itch.

II decided to give myself a trim to keep me cool in the summer months. Not shaved all the way, just a nice even trim.

Bubbling

Doug's Mountaineer has a leak somewhere and overheats sometimes during the day.

Here is the overflow reservoir with the water inside bubbling violently after getting hot.

Night Construction

Late night construc- tion on Arden Way after eating sushi with Shayan and seeing a late showing of Terminator Salvation.

Shayan had a major problem with a plot point (and to his credit, his argument did make sense). Overall the movie was decent, just not amazing.

Santa Fe Vendor

Ma, bapu, and I drove down to Santa Fe for a few hours to kill time before our evening flight. It was an interesting town, reminding us all of St. Augustine back in Florida. A lot of street vendors selling very "Native American" type art, and since we weren't planning on buying anything, we were ready to head back fairly quickly.

This vendor had some paintings he'd made himself, he is creating small jewelry pieces in this picture, and even had a shard of a meteorite to sell.

Panorama created with 5-6 photos using autostitch.

Sandia Peaks

Ma and bapu and I drove around Albu- querque after checking out of the hotel and dropping Madhvi off at the airport.

We came to check out the Tramway ride at Sandia Peak, but due to extreme wind conditions, the ride was closed. We heard later that it's closed quite a bit since it's windy up there a lot.

It was a great drive to get here anyways.

Petroglyph National Monument

Yatin and I met up at 7:45 this morning to drive down the street to Petroglyph National Monument.

We had a nice hike down a sandy trail, checking out the various petroglyphs (rock carvings) that were hundreds of years old. We also saw dozens of millipedes, a rattlesnake blocking our trail, lots of rabbits, and even a few stinkbugs.

Click the photo and find the petro- glyphs.

On the way back, we met a volunteer Forest Ranger who explained the meanings behind some of the petroglyphs to us, including the real ones and the fake ones.

Close-up of a petro- glyph from above photo.

The spirals, sun- symbols, masks, and even the "alien" like creature with three antennas sprouting from his head were all real (they don't know what he means and call him the Enigma Man).

Some petroglyphs were right alongside the trail and easy to spot, and others were in far off rocks that were barely visible. All together we must have seen 100-150 of them, much less than the 500 or so that the brochures said we'd see.

Wedding

Janki and George got married today in a beautiful ceremony held at an amphi- theater in Albu- querque.

There was an Eastern wedding first, then a Western one.

The great thing about the Eastern (Indian) wedding was that instead of speaking in Sanskrit, the priest spoke in English, so we (the younger generation) could all understand it.

This was the first time I'd seen this done, and it was a great idea -- it not only kept everyone's attention on the wedding, but we all were also able to understand what the ancient Sanskrit wedding vows said.

Where I Parked

Today all four of us left Sacramento to fly out to Albu- querque for Janki's wedding.

I parked my car in long term parking and took a photo of the aisle I was parked in so I wouldn't have to remember it.

Ancil Hoffman Park

Ma, bapu, and I took a walk around the 3.2 mile perimeter of Ancil Hoffman Park.

I used to run around this park to prepare for 5k runs, since this is almost the exact distance.

It's a beautiful park to walk around. One section borders the golf course, the second borders the American River, the third along a nature preserve, and the last section borders the back side of the golf course.

It took us about an hour and a half to walk all the way around, taking our time and enjoying the scenery.

Jellyfish

The jellyfish area of the Monterey Bay Aquarium was just breath-taking.

They were lit so well in this incredible blue water that it just looked like living art.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Ma and bapu at the main aquarium tank.

It was a great day seeing the Monterey Bay Aquarium, about a two and a half hour drive south of San Francisco along the coast. There were hands-on exhibits, a live show involving a rescued albatross, jellyfishes, penguins, and lots more.

Halfway through the day, we took a break to eat at a great Mexican restaurant.

Houses and Graffiti

As always, click the image for a larger photo.

Looking back toward the street is the juxtaposition of incredible houses and a graffiti covered wall bordering the beach.

Created with 8 photos using autostitch.

Pacific

As always, click the image for a larger photo.

A walk on the beach in the cool, but bright San Francisco evening.
At the far left of the photo is the Cliff House Restaurant.

Panorama made with ~7-8 photos using autostitch. (The little black area on the bottom left is the portion my photos didn't cover.)

Bus Stop Poster

We were all driving back to Madhvi's apartment when I spotted an interesting poster at a bus stop.

Everyone was nice enough to let me drive around the block so I could come back and take a photo of this interesting poster.

Balcony

Enjoying the crisp air on the balcony at Madhvi's spacious apartment.

Behind ma and bapu is the Pacific Ocean, a mere few blocks from the apartment.

Inside

The walls inside Coit Tower are covered in wonderful murals depicting life during the early days of San Francisco.

Coit Tower

Our first day in San Francisco.

We drove around the city, along Fisherman's Wharf and then here to Coit Tower while waiting for Madhvi to get home from work.

Unfortunately, the elevator to the top was broken, but this area has amazing views of the city below.

Bridal Veil Falls

We stopped here last time when ma, bapu, and Madhvi visited California in December 2000. Back then, there was snow everywhere and parts of the ground in this area was frozen.

While driving back from Lake Tahoe, we decided to stop here again, to take a new photo of ma and bapu at the same spot, this time in the early summer.

Tahoe Panorama

As always, click the photo for a larger version.

A nice panorama of the coast along the south shore of Lake Tahoe.

Ma, bapu, and I came here for the day. While bapu hung out at Harrah's for about an hour, ma and I took a nice walk along the lake.

Panorama with 6 photos using autostitch.

Pay Phone

I'm sure these phones are being added in, but it just looked ironic.

Sign of the times: everyone has a cell phone and these payphones are becoming obsolete.

Bug

A interesting, colorful bug outside my apartment.

It was just sitting there on the wall under my porch light.

Mystery

Guess what this is?

Highlight down here for the answer:

It's some lint and hairs from deep inside my belly button.

Highlight above for the answer.

Seriously. That's what it is.
Yup, that's gross.

Sculpture

Along Embar- cadero, close to Pier 1 (the actual pier number, not the store) is this sculpture of a bow and arrow.

Behind it is the Okland-Bay Bridge.