pleasure little treasure

a little help? no idea what these are, originally uploaded by ashleyv.

We've begun digging out half the backyard to lay down a flat patio that will have the rest of the yard about 3 feet high behind a retaining wall. Our backyard is that sloped.

We've removed 75% of the crappy grass, laid out posts and string to mark out the area to dig, and got started this weekend. We had dug out about a quarter of the yard about a foot deep when we started coming up with all this broken glass. We figured the frat boys that lived here before us and put down the pavers for the tiny uneven patio that was here had dug a fire pit and thrown in a bunch of beer bottles or something.

Then we dug into really corroded twisted wire attached to a really old light socket. We (I) started to dig more carefully, much to JR's dismay. I came across more antique lightbulbs, and then a whole area of seashells that had apparently been in a glass container that broke in the fire. I dug even more carefully, setting all the broken glass aside. As I kept digging, it started to look like I was digging out parts of an old chandelier, and then I started finding some intact apothecary bottles. And then a perfume bottle badly warped from the fire: close inspection showed it was "Bracelet Eau De Parfum".

By this time, I was flat on my stomach, digging carefully with a golf tee and a small gardening shovel. I started to unearth a metal box, which disintegrated when the tiny shovel slipped on hard soil and hit it. So I was using just a golf tee and my gloved fingers. When the golf tee broke, I started using a long nail I had found.

I unearthed an oval-shaped metal lid with a religious statue on it and an inscription that I made out later to be "O, MARY CONCEIVED WITHOUT SIN, PRAY FOR US WHO HAVE RECOURSE TO THEE". I was digging up jewelry chains, small bones (ick!), all kinds of broken wine bottles... It was fascinating! I even dug up an intact Seagrams bottle that still had some liquid inside! And who knows what else is under there? Careful excavation will re-commence this weekend. I think I've found a new passion - urban archaeology. I've started a backyard archaeology photoset of just a few of the things I've been able to take clear photos of.

the photog, home alone

JR is visiting family this weekend, so I'm on my own. In my head, it was going to be non-stop "all about me", but last night i ate when i got home and then went straight to bed, since I'd worked until 3am. So last night was a goner. So far today I've made lists, gone and had my favorite breakfast at Kookez (the blueberry and strawberry skillet cake), and then come home to try and organize a good bag to go out for a photowalk with. And all of my alternatives are woefully inadequate. So I've decided I want this, from Crumpler:

The 6 Million Dollar Home

I need it to house all of this:

• Canon Digital Rebel XT 8MP Digital SLR with EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 Lens (Silver)
• Canon 75-300mm lens
• Canon Speedlite 430EX
• JOBY Original Gorillapod
• Canon Powershot SD400
• extra battery and charger
• extra CF cards
• notebook and pen

And that doesn't even include the new lens, diffuser, mini-tripod and lens hood I want to buy. And it sure doesn't include our full-size tripod.

Anyway, I'm off for a photowalk with my awkward setup, which is what fits in my tiny camerabag in that, and that and everything else in my work backpack. Ugh. I won't be quick on the draw today. But here's to the nice weather outside allowing me to go take some photos!!! Yay!!!

more chicago photos

"the bean", originally uploaded by ashleyv.

I know it took forever, but I've finally uploaded the rest of my Chicago trip photos. This is one of my faves.

some chicago photos

skybridge, originally uploaded by ashleyv.

This isn't all of them, but it's all I could get through uploading today. There are lots more pics to come, but I'm hoping to stuff a whole lot more sightseeing into my morning tomorrow, so I may just have to work on them during the flight.

It's been gorgeous and cold in Chicago this week, and I look forward to coming back soon when I have a plan for what to see and can spend some time enjoying the sights with JR. In the meantime, I just can't wait to get home.

backlighting

backlit red leaf, originally uploaded by ashleyv.

I took this while waiting at the shuttle stop in Mountain View last week. I just wanted to remind myself of how nice it probably is in SF, considering that I'm in Chicago right now, it's already cold, and tomorrow it's supposed to be snowing with a high of 41. Degrees! Fahrenheit!!!

I'll be taking lots of photos when I get a chance this week, so prepare yourself to see some snow. Brrrrr!

castro street fair 2007

fantastic faces, originally uploaded by ashleyv.

Last weekend JR and I walked to the Castro Street Fair ("Where everyone can have a gay old time!") to drank beer, get mediocre street vendor food, and do some people-watching. We showed up just in time to catch DJ Earworm, who was as far away from the food as possible, but was very close to beer. Not a good combination for an empty stomach. So before his two-hour long set was over, I was a little tipsy. Let's just say there was some slight dancing involved. But I got some decent photos.

DUR: it's just good manners to include a link to my Castro Street Fair 2007 photoset.

matt buchanan is a thief

stop, thief!, originally uploaded by ashleyv.

While imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, outright theft of copyrighted images just pisses me off. That's a photo taken BY ME at the Lucky Oliver party earlier this year. (See the All Rights Reserved photograph proverbial ball and chain). And it's being used without my permission, and with no attribution, in a post by Matt Buchanan on Gizmodo. It has been downloaded to their asset server and is being served up as if it was taken by Matt or is stock photography owned by Gizmodo. Which it sure as hell is not. I believe that is copyright infringement. Law friends, help me out here...

How do you think I should handle this, dear readers? I could email him at matt@gizmodo.com, I could contact Gizmodo, I suppose I could even contact Gawker Media. But right now I'm a little hot under the collar, so I'd appreciate any sensible, cool-headed advice you can give.

UPDATE: See the tiny orange link at the end of the post that says "Flickr"? That links to the photo in my photostream, and I guess they consider that adequate attibution? I don't. If you use my photos, the page should explicitly give me photo credit. They are definitely going to hear from me.

luckyoliver party

Last week we went to LuckyOliver's First Birthday Party at ACE Auto. It was pretty darn cool. We met Hunter and Brian of LuckyOliver at SXSWi earlier this year; it's a unique stock photo site - check 'em out.



ACE Auto isn't even very far from where we live, and it's the perfect place to have a party for photography enthusiasts. Photo opportunities galore. Metal sculptures, hundreds of irons, random collections of things in barrels, an abandoned bus, and a life-size mouse trap. You heard me. Unfortunately, it's either not operational, or they just didn't run it that night. I think you run bowling balls through this massive Rube Goldberg machine. It involves bathtubs and metal staircases and big boots and massive springs. Too much stuff to mention.



Anyways, we had a great time, and I took a few photos. Go see more in my LuckyOliver's birthday photoset.

my new cast (aka "nice toes" by your friendly neighborhood toe fetishist

my new cast (aka "nice toes" by your friendly neighborhood toe fetishist), originally uploaded by ashleyv.

This photo has been getting an outrageously high number of views (255 views as of 06/22/07), and now I know why. Sigh. Sometimes, interwebs, I just don't get you. Or I do, and you freak me out a little.

family album up on flickr

To give you an idea how special this is, let me tell you how close we came to losing these photos forever.

We had collected all these photos for Mom's memorial service, and taken one to be blown up and framed. I also wanted one of them copied and framed, so I took the envelope of folders with me. And they disappeared into the netherworlds of my "filing" system. I thought I'd sent them back, no one else remembered receiving them... And about a month ago, there they were, in plain sight, with a few college photo albums. So I took them out, looked through them, cried a lot, and resolved to get them all scanned and put on CD. When I had time to do it, I couldn't find the envelope.

We searched high and low. Looked in the cars, scrutinized my desk at work. This took two days to go through everything twice. I was at wits end - I finally found them, and they were gone, this time forever. JR realized trash day was the next day, and as a last ditch effort, he went and got the bag out of the trash. He brought it up, opened the bag, and started digging through; immediately, I recognized the mailing envelope and tore it out of the trash. I was sobbing with joy - a couple of photos were a little creased, but they were here! We figure they fell off my desk into the office trash can and got swept up in our big spring cleaning.

While I wasn't looking, JR took them to a camera place to have everything scanned, including slides, which came out incredible. So I've uploaded them to my flickr family album. I'm not done, but here are most of the really precious old ones.

pebbles

pebbles, originally uploaded by ashleyv.

i don't even know you anymore.

awwwww...., originally uploaded by ashleyv.

Winston went in for grooming and came back with almost no hair. He's like a totally different dog. He looks so tiny, like he weighs 10 pounds. But it also took 6 years off - he's all feisty, actually playing with a toy and carrying it more than five feet before dropping it and forgetting about it.

This shot doesn't show off his haircut as much as this one, but it was just so precious I couldn't resist.

like a command from god...

like a command from god..., originally uploaded by ashleyv.

While I was in San Antonio, I saw this sign, and it was like a wake-up call. I had to turn the car around and go back to take some shots because it was so meaningful to me. I've been putting off all kinds of things in my life: losing weight, doing paperwork, exercising, taxes, dealing with my mom's estate, really exceling at work again; my life has been in stasis, waiting for things to happen to me, to my life. As if these things would just magically happen for me, to me. And here was a sign literally telling me to BEGIN. It's been in the back of my head, I just needed it to be turned into letters, into a word. A command.

robot bunny

robot bunny, originally uploaded by ashleyv.

resolve

I've been really, really trying to take a photo a day. And I'm failing miserably at it. We're too rushed in the mornings (and I've done about all the from-the-car shots on the commute that I can muster) and when we get home it's dark, and I've taken pics of everything in the house. So who knows. You may start seeing random things in here and on my flickr just so I move a little closer to my goal.

Hence, the cat in the hat.

photo: mercury loves his hat

i love my new hat, originally uploaded by ashleyv.