Amsterdam, Netherlands

We got back from Amsterdam a while ago, but Cathy and I have been pretty busy. We're still busy, but I've finally gotten around to looking at my photos from Amsterdam. Now I'm not as...enthusiastic, or passionate maybe, about traveling to Europe as some other people, but I admit I had a great time.


Flag of Amsterdam. We arrived at 9 a.m. Central European Time, and had been basically up for 30 odd hours already. I wasn't sure if I was delirious, excited, or both, but it didn't really matter. We just checked in and started wandering.


There was a lot of walking. Good thing I like walking and the city is pretty much made for walking too. And, as you know, the place is made for bicycles, although we never did get around to renting any...oh well.


Typical canal view, building towards the left is the Bijbels Museum. As for the weather, the forecast the week prior predicted clouds, rain, and more clouds. Needless to say, I was happily surprised when the clouds gave way to blue skies and sun. It stayed that way for most of the trip. Foolish forecasts.


We visited a lot of museums, including the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh (awesome), and a couple photography museums/galleries I was interested in. This one is at Huis Marseille. We also hung out at some parks (mainly Vondel Park), gardens, other random spots.


There was a lot of this. Beers and maps. Between sights, the general rule was to wander into a random cafe or bar, get a beer, and look at the map. Maybe a sandwich. Beers, maps, and a sandwich.


Zuiderkerk, a church. There was a lot to look at just by walking down any random street. I found it all too easy to just wander around and see interesting stuff everywhere I went, especially the architecture.


Ok, that's enough for now. Obviously, there was much more to the visit, but I think you get the idea. Vacation successful.

Going out of town again. We'll be back shortly.

Married

I am.
Much love and thanks to all the friends and family, it was great to see and be with everyone. It's rare that I can be with all my close friends or family at the same time so the weekend was special to me on many different levels.

And by the way, all the credit for the wedding must go to my lovely and beautiful wife Cathy. Our amazing wedding was the culmination of countless hours of her imagining, planning, organizing, creating, crafting, working, and loving.

In a couple days we're traveling all over South Korea to see some of Cathy's extended family and then to Bali for ourselves. Excitement abounds. I'll be sure to post travel updates and other assorted crap while I'm out there, at least whenever I have spare time and an internet connection.

Photo unrelated.

Swing ride.

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Here are a couple more from the trip:


Like I said, I went back to Camelback the next day, except this time with Cathy, Bernice, and Dave. I swear I did other shit besides go up and down this thing, but it's really the only time I was taking photos during the trip.


Dave, Bernice, Cathy. We went about 1/4 of the distance I went the first time. It was about the right distance since the girls were pretty tired by the time we got back down. I was pretty impressed by them though since the trail was pretty strenuous and it was really freaking hot.


Even though it goes much higher, the views were still great from where they got to. The clearer weather helped too.


This one is part of the view from the very top when I went by myself. The best part about it was that you literally had a 360 degree view up there. Even though it's not that high up compared to some other places, you can still see quite a bit and the land detail is pretty difficult to distinguish at this point.


Apparently the golf courses out there are nice, whatever that means. Honestly, I think it's kind of a waste. I mean, it's in the middle of a desert. You have 200+ acres of water intensive land in the middle of the Sonoran Desert being used purely for recreation. That just seems silly.


A lot of places with outdoor seating had misters to help cool you off. Kind of a waste maybe, but it does get a wee bit hot out there. Then again, after a bit of thought it's probably more efficient than air conditioning.

Anyway, not sure when I'd go back (unless we all get a free hotel room again), but I had a great time.

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Paired

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Downtown (Denver)

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Dash

Holidays and TheKnot.com

Well the holiday season is almost here. I find it funny (or maybe unfortunate) how life gets busier during the holidays. Used to be the other way around, where I'd get a week or two off and basically try my best to make trouble without getting caught making it.

Also, Cathy setup a profile at the [theknot.com]. I never heard of theknot website until recently, but then again I wasn't engaged until recently either. It's nothing crazy but you can get random details about us, the wedding, and other info.

Sign the guestbook too... Let's just say someone whose name rhymes with "bathy," has been eagerly waiting for people to sign it, and thus far there is a grand total of two entries :) (thanks to Rie/Eric and a canned entry by the administrators of website, yay).

Photo unrelated.


Shrine Chapel by Orchard Lake in Michigan. The chapel wasn't consistently lit so I snuck a tripod in and took some bracketed exposures to make this composite image. You risk "flatness" to an image when you do that, but you can bring out a lot of interesting detail...

Technically, Spring is Here

Well, Spring is here. Although it did snow the other day. I find that totally unacceptable. Weather, you're a little bitch.


In honor of Spring: a Red-Spotted Purple, hanging out amongst the blackberries. Found this guy on North Manitou years ago. I later wasted about 15 minutes of my life identifying it via the Internets.


Westinghouse Career Academy High School in Chicago. Not doing so hot.


Screwing around.

Navy Pier Sunrise

This past Saturday, I woke up at around 5 am, and headed out to Navy Pier to catch a sunrise. Dusk and dawn are two of the best times to take photographs of pretty much anything, as the lighting is ideal. It was my first time walking around the Loop that early in the morning, and it has never felt more empty - I like it a lot. I also felt like I was going to get mugged with every step I took.

Unfortunately, it was windy that morning, and that introduced excessive blur in most of my photos. Even the ones I did keep weren't that great, but oh well:


Cathy commented that it looks like there's a big fire off to the right, and yeah, it does look like that. It's actually the street lights from the city.


About 5 minutes after the first picture, but to the north a bit. The orange glow is from the sun in this one.