Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween

Spookiness at Missouri Botanical Garden.

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Thursday, October 30, 2008

Dunaway Books, South Grand

In my continuing series of fun shop restrooms, I offer Dunnaway Books.

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Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Refraction Opening , RAC Galery, St. Louis

I almost forgot to mention the photo show that opened at the Regional Arts Commission last Friday night. It's worth a peek.
Artists: Mark Douglas, Bob Reuter, Antje Umstaetter
Curated by Amy Bautz

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Sunday, October 26, 2008

Walking thru the Central West End

Lat week, on the evenings Julie went to the gym, I decided to walk somewhere fun and have her pick me up there when she was done. Wednesday, I walked from my job in Midtown to Left Bank Books in the CWE.

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Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Goofing around with stitching

If you are at all interested in stitching together multiple photos to make one big view, I can recommend New House Internet Service's PTGui. It doesn't really care how careful you were when you took the original images. I used to be so tidy when I was planning panoramas. I'd set up my tripod just so, I'd make sure I was using the right focal length, and I'd be so scientific judging how much overlap I had left. PTGui has made me a lot lazier.

Here's an uncropped panorama I put together from 4 handheld grab shots Saturday morning. Easy.

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Tuesday, October 21, 2008

k.d. lang at the Touhill

JD and I rode the train a lot Saturday.
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k.d. lang's voice, her range and control, is amazing.
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Sunday, October 19, 2008

Mr. Obama and a Couple Other People, Under the Arch

Julie & I woke up yesterday and said, "hey, what the heck. Let's go to the Obama rally." For the full narrative, let me recommend Julie's write-up over on our SLog. I just take the pictures. And try not to freak in crowds.

We saw a bunch of clever political wear. I didn't get a picture of my favorite. It was a plain white shirt with "Broke College Students for Obama" written on it with a sharpie. Here are a couple other offerings.

I hadn't heard about the "Rednecks for Obama" movement.
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I've also never seen the pink triangle veteran logo before. I don't get out, much.
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Here's a small section of the crowd we were standing with on Washington.
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Friday, October 17, 2008

Ben Folds at The Pagent

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Good piano-stompin' fun.
Yes, we sat so we could watch the keyboard.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Compton Hill Water Tower, Reservior Park

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This old pressure valve decorates South Grand at I-44.
This pic is a composite of 5 or 6 pictures I took when I walked by yesterday.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

A couple more from Clayton



I'm still running a little slow, so here are a couple more pics from my in-town vacation last weekend. I've been informed this is called a "staycation" and it's all the rage in these uncertian days.
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Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Memory Check in Clayton

When I first moved to St. Louis to go to grad school I lived here.
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It was a somewhat rundown apartment complex then, and I had a huge 1 bedroom apartment for about $400 a month. It didn't look like this. The fountain was broken and the shrubs were dead or missing. My stove was a depression era antique. No one really batted an eye when we built a crane to lower boxes of books out of my friend's 3rd floor apartment, or used a toboggan to drag the boxes across the yard. I don't think that would fly now. Now these are Fountain View condominiums in Old Town Clayton, featuring one bedroom condos starting at $252, 500. Clearly, I don't know how to live the good life. I'm much happier in my small 3 bedroom house that I bought for a third of that silliness.

The Shady Oak theater hasn't seen the rejuvenation my old apartment got.
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It's empty, and near the end of its life. I think I read that the owners were going to knock it down and build a parking lot. I understand there isn't a big demand for single screen art house theaters any more. My tastes have changed as much as anyone's, I guess. I used to walk down here and avoid accounting homework on Saturday nights. Now I'd just as soon sit at home an watch a DVD. The popcorn's cheaper and the chairs are much more comfy.

Besides, if it reopened some literal type would come along soon and force a name change. I've never seen a shady oak in downtown Clayton, just fluttery ginkgoes.

Okay, no more rambling. I'll get back to photos tomorrow.

Digital IR in Clayton

Saturday was a pretty good day for digital infrared. Concrete and metal aren't my favorite infrared subjects, but I figured I should challenge myself.

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Monday, October 06, 2008

Mini-vacation in Clayton, MO

Julie's employers ran a symposium last weekend at the Ritz-Carlton St. Louis, which is really in Clayton, MO. The City of St. Louis is not part of St. Louis County. It's not part of any county.

Anyway, Julie's employer's offered her a room at the Ritz for the duration of the event, which was really rather wonderful of them. She would have gotten even less sleep if she'd had to drive the 40 minutes round trip every day. Best of all, no one cared if I came along and shared the room for the duration. I got a little walking in Saturday, which was bright & gorgeous.

The first night we were there I had trouble sleeping for several reasons. The biggest reason was that I hadn't tried sleeping in bed since my shoulder surgery, and it took me a while to pile the pillows up properly. The other big reason I figured out more slowly: it was too quiet. I didn't realize how well built the building is until I opened up the balcony door the next afternoon to catch a breeze. I slept much better Saturday night with the sounds of Forest Park Parkway and Metrolink rumbling in the background.
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Our room
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Sunday, October 05, 2008

More Traveling Without Driving

I'm doing pretty well getting around town via Metro and school shuttles. As of Friday I don't have to wear my sling any more, but I still don't think I'll be driving any time soon.

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Me on Metrobus 92, going to PT

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View from the Grand Metrolink Station

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Walking from the Forsyth station to the Ritz-Carlton

More on my mini vacation at the Ritz later.

Friday, October 03, 2008

Wednesday Night @ El Paisano

So who knew El Paisano, on Watson, delivered? They're inexpensive, tasty, and not far from my house. It's good to know. I'm not cooking much anytime soon.

Of course, if you get delivery, you miss out on the mariachi band.
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Thursday, October 02, 2008

PT on South Grand

Well, I've started physical therapy for real, now. I'm happy with how convenient everything is. Just another advantage to city working & living, I guess. When I'm at work I can take a school shuttle part of the way to the PT office. On the down side, it does mean walking past the scary mascot topiary...
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The shuttle stop is right around the corner. It's never more than a 15 minute wait, unless the weather's bad or there's been yet another accident on Grand.
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Then the shuttle plunks me down one large intersection away from the building I need to get to.
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Unfortunately, this path isn't going to work for me today. I didn't really feel well enough to go to work this morning, so I need to hop on a bus or scare up cab fare. Oh well.