Rainbow

Nothing special, but I saw my first Chicago rainbow (albeit a faint one) today. I snapped off a couple for posterity:


Today's rain stopped a couple minutes before sunset and for a minute or two I got to see a full on rainbow, arching from one side of the horizon all the way to the other...


Here's the other side. Looks like there's a pot of gold at DeVry "University"! Ok that was mean. Anyway, I posted two photos since I lacked a sufficiently wide wide-angle to get the whole thing (I'd say I would've needed about a 150 degree field of view, yikes).

Instead of finding gold at the end of the rainbow I found a side of Popeye's cajun rice. Close enough.

Poisoned

Ugh I got nothing these days. I've been battling a mild case of suspected food poisoning.

At first I thought, how could this happen? Then I remembered that my previous 3 days of eating included pho tai in Little Saigon, chicken and lamb shwarma in Bucktown, buffalo meat with pomegranate sauerkraut, duck sausage, and reindeer in the burbs. So really, how could it not happen.

I don't quite remember the last time I've considered myself sick, so I guess it was bound to happen. Anyway, I've been feeling like shit and not having much motivation to move. Here's hoping I feel better soon so I can get back to eating random game meat.

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Drop

Jump

I've been kind of busy these days with a lot of nonsense, so haven't really had much time to take photos. However, I did pick up a low-endish 25mm prime that I'm itching to try out. The image quality isn't that great but the lens is about the size of an Oreo, so it's all about the portability with this one. We'll see.

In the meantime, here's a scan of a ~10 year photo of me (taken by Chuck):


I don't remember the name of the river we were jumping into or even the year this was taken. All I know is it was somewhere in the upper peninsula of Michigan and that it was damn fun.

As You've Probably Figured Out

...I have lots of dog photos.


Q being patient as I tested out my DIY ring flash a couple months ago.

St. Patrick's Day

One of the more ridiculous annual traditions in Chicago is to dye the Chicago River green for the St. Patrick's Day celebration. I've never seen it, so I decided to check it out. Honestly, it was kind of dumb.


People were lined up on all the bridges, waiting for the exciting moment.


Rather anticlimactically, a boat sped up the river dumping green dye into the water. And that was it.


The dye is normally used to check sewer discharges and is safe for the environment. Looks like a big toxic waste accident. I didn't wait around for it, but the whole river eventually turns bright green.


That's a sweet kayak.

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Path of least resistance

Dirty Glass and Tuna

Well I got my broken glass I sent in for repair. The autofocus motor works but I found two big specks on the inside of the front lens element. Thankfully it's not a big deal due to the nature of these things: I once saw acceptable photos taken with a shattered lens that was literally glued back together.

Anyway, took some shots of dinner I made last night to test it out:


It's ridiculously raw, but that's the idea.


Seared ahi tuna with a sweet wasabi sauce. Uh I smashed the tuna a bit while cutting it so it looks a bit mangled - but whatever it was still tasty.

Try to eat seafood responsibly and safely. Check out Seafood Watch by the Monterey Bay Aquarium here. They publish lists of seafood that you should avoid due to overfishing or environmental impact reasons, as well as alternatives. They also identify fish to eat in moderation for health reasons (like fish with elevated levels of mercury).

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Lantern

Water

The Pacific Institute recently conducted a peer-reviewed study and found that bottled water is ~2000 times more energy intensive than tap water. (Link)


To me that's like buying a car that uses 2000 times more gas because it looks nicer. This is also because I'm not convinced that bottled water is objectively any "better" than most tap water in developed nations.

Dogs Dogs Dogs Dogs

Cathy's sister Sarah came into town over the weekend and we all went to Julie and Tim's place (and their multi-acre yard) in Wisconsin to hang out. When I say we, I mean Albert, Cathy, Sarah, Quentin, Kya, Snack, and Kona. That's a 4:3 Canis lupus to Homo sapien ratio - my kind of ratio.

Most of the time I was running around like an idiot so I didn't get any great photos, but I did have a chance to take a couple for posterity's sake:


This is Kona, Sarah's friend's black lab. I don't think he's even two years old yet so he was a total goofball. Awesome dog.


He's got a big head just like Quentin, lol.


Triple dog (lighting situation made DOF difficult, so only Kona is in focus).


Quentin, being a bit older now, promptly passed out after a couple hours of running around.