New York

So here are a few pics that I took during my Christmas trip to NY. I'm learning a lot on these shoots.

Begin

I figure that since it has been several months since I last posted, this blog is pretty much a private blog now...which kinda feels nice. Most people have probably heard about my search for a new career. It's just about the only thing I talk about. After having decided that I want to go into something more artistic and creative than engineering I realize that I need to start making a portfolio of art and creative work. So one night while talking to Tim at 2am I decided I would buy a camera and take him up on the offer to teach me everything he knows. I got a great deal on a Canon Rebel XSI and I'm really enjoying it so far. Now mind you I've taken hundreds of pictures so far and I really only have a handful of pictures which are even worth looking at. That's all part of the process of learning. Photography is a medium I have never explored and I'm excited to journey into it and throw it around. So here are a few pics from a beginning photographer. If you happen to get to this site via Tim's blog...be patient...and close one eye.

Central Park

First Snow - Lincoln, MA

Pedestrian tunnel under the train tracks - Belmont, MA

December snow storm - Lincoln, MA

Random portrait of my friend Natalie in NYC.

The nephews. I didn't even take this pick, my sister did, but it's too cute not to post.

Lamine

I don't have much to say except that I'll be doing a lot more photography.

A Future In Blogging

There may be hope for me yet! I just got an iPhone and I'm blogging from it. Here's a chance for me to reenter the world of blogging.

It Takes a Moron

So I was in NY the other week visiting my sister, her husband, and my ridiculously cute nephew who is now 2 and a half. For several months now there has been a group of 10-13 year old boys loitering in front of my families Tae Kwon Do studio. They run up the stairs and yell into the studio. They have set off fire-cracks, thrown in garbage and made a general nuisance of themselves. Well I left the studio to pick up some food and when I cam back there was a group of 7 or 8 young boys standing in the doorway and one of them was up the stairs getting ready to enter the studio and pull some kind of shenanigan. When I showed up they freaked out and the young man at the top of the stairs came bolting down. My arms were full of food and I tried to stop the boy but he got by me. My brother in law Malick (picture 4th degree black-belt from Mali West Africa, 6'1" 240lbs pure muscle) comes running down the stairs in his bare feet and Tae Kwon Do uniform, and tears out into the rainy street, at a full sprint. The boy who was trying to get away was about halfway down the block but didn't stand a chance. Malick catches him, picks him up, and literally drags him back down the steet. The kid has lost a shoe, at this point, and is so terrified that he pees his pants on the spot. Malick drags him up the stairs and sits him down in the office.

The little perps friend shows up with the lost shoe and we sit him down as well. Neither boy will give us the name or phone number of his parents, so we call the cops. One of the neighborhood kids got his own dad and brought him to the studio. This guy shakes his head when he sees the two boys and says he'll go get their parents. Over the next hour the cops and family members of the two boys show up. The parents are chewing the boys out, the boys are crying their eyes out, and the police supervisor decides to have the boys cuffed.

The two boys are standing, hand-cuffed with wet pants, in the studio when the main perp's Dad shows up. First thing he says to his son is, "You shouldn't be cryin!!!" The cops throw them in the van and take them down to the precinct.

A few hours later the dad came back with this son and gave us all his info and told us to call him if anything ever happened again.

Wow. Good times. All I have to say is, how big of a moron can you be? "Hey guys, lets go harass the Tae Kwon Do studio." Why wouldn't you harass the flower shop or the beauty salon?

Morning

This morning I was up before 6am. Hallo!!!! After a night of compulsively watching the last half of season one of a teen TV drama that I don't care to mention, and sleeping for just a few hours, I hit the pavement. Me. It's a miracle. This week I haven't been out of my house before 10.

I have to say that I was amazed at the number of people out on the streets. What is wrong with you people? Is this normal or are you all feeling as strange as I am? People really get up early and grab a coffee and a paper on their way to work? I thought that was reserved for movies or special occasions, like a Saturday morning, in which case it all goes down after 10am.

Ah! The morning. Isn't it wonderful? Birds, darkness, alarm clocks, the advent of a new day. Well, la di freaking dah! Who cares? I surely don't. I hate my alarm clock. I hate the beginning of the day. I hate leaving my bed. I hate the bustle and hurry in the morning. Hate the traffic.

I'm trying to discover the deeper reasons for which I hate mornings. I can't find them. Maybe it's because it's before 7am right now? What I do know is that there exists in me a great dichotomy. At night, the man that goes to bed is full of aspirations, excitement, and convictions for the coming day. Yet, when I wake up in the morning, I'm not the same man that went to bed. Any noble or redeeming qualities have fled. The primitive man has emerged. Generally it takes me at least 30 minutes before I want to consider talking or acknowledging anyone.

That's all the energy or presence of mind I posses at this unnatural hour. I'm out.

Dance Off!

Three amazing dancers. In order of seniority. Remember that some of the classic bits are latter in the videos. Who's your tops?

Michael


Usher


Justin

Free Advertising

This is a boring post. A month or two ago, I received a recommendation from some old timers at work for a local fresh produce market. It's called A. Russo's & Sons. I'd been meaning to go for some time and finally made it today. Superb. The best way to describe it is a civilized Hay Market. It's all indoor. No shouting and yelling. Incredible selection including a lot of foreign novelty items. (ie. Golden Syrup...who sells Golden Syrup. That sweet syrup that takes me back to my british childhood.) The prices are higher than haymarket but cheaper than any local grocery store. They also have a wonderful selection of cheeses and breads. All I can say is that I think this place is a little gem. And it's only 10 min away, in Watertown.

West Wing

This is in tribute to my favorite TV show of all time. Nothing rivals it for me. I own the first 4 seasons. I watch them periodically. Over the holidays DeEtte bought me season 3 so we went on a WW binge. Here is one of my favorite bits.




And here is another great one.



And one on Star Trek

Thoughtless

My negligence in blogging reminds me of a quote from Thomas Paine. It's from The Crisis essay III. Honestly, I love the first three pages of it. It's smashing. I won't quote it all here because I don't wish to bore you all to death. I know what it's like to open a blog and see that the entry is 3 pages long. It's a serious time investment. But please indulge me by reading a couple of quotes.

"In the progress of politics, as in the the common occurrences of life, we are not only apt to forget the ground we have traveled over, but frequently neglect to gather up experience as we go. We expend, if I may so say, the knowledge of every day on the circumstances that produce it, and journey on in search of new matter and new refinements: But...it is pleasant, and sometimes useful, to look back, even to the first periods of infancy, and trace the turns and windings through which we have passed...

"Truly, may we say, that never did man grow old in so short a time! We have crowded the business of an age into the compass of a few months, and have been driven through such a rapid succession of things, that, for the want of leisure to think, we unavoidably wasted knowledge as we came, and have left nearly as much behind us as we brought with us: But the road is yet rich with the fragments, and , before we fully lose sight of them, will repay us for the trouble of stopping to pick them up."

I think that sums it up well. I really don't take time to meditate and learn from my experiences. I expend the knowledge of every day on the circumstances that produce it. I don't take the time to learn from what I experience.

Honestly, blogging and writing in journals, I think, is a powerful way to learn from experiences. So I'm going to begin to think more. I'm going to attempt to pick up the fragments which litter the road.

For those of you who got this far and have a little more patience, here is another little gem from Thomas: "There are certain circumstances, which, at the time of their happening, are kind of riddles, and as every riddle is to be followed by its answer, so those kind of circumstances will be followed by their events, and those events are always the true solution. A considerable space of time may lapse between, and unless we continue our observations from the one to the other, the harmony of them will pass away unnoticed: But the misfortune is, that partly from the pressing necessity of some instant things, and partly form the impatience of our own tempers, we are frequently in such a hurry to make out the meaning of every thing as fast as it happens, that we thereby never truly understand it; and not only start new difficulties to ourselves by so doing, but, as it were, embarrass Providence in her good designs."

Good Old Roger

Here are a couple of quotes for today:

"In heaven when they said brains I thought they said trains, and I hid behind the door"

"I'm willing to offer my summer cabin in Vermont for a honeymoon, should you be exchanging marital vows."

You Look Like

So I after have a discussion with DeEtte about who looked like who, I decided to consult the experts. I went to several sites but this one seemed a little more legit, and besides it creates these cool collages. So here is Number One. Decided I'd start with a good picture. You know, an angsty one. Results:

Not bad, Sting, Tom Cruise, Van Dam, and some how also Brandon Lee (koo koo), and an Asian woman...Kyoko Fukada! I look so much like an Asian woman. Hard to tell us apart. When I was in Japan everyone thought I was a native. "Nice kimono." This is, of course, until I spoke. Blast!

Next I decided to mix things up a little and try a more normal picture. Whoa!

Oh Yeah! Now this is more like it. Andre Agassi, I know who that is. Vicente Fox....ok, I'm like half Mexican and I do have a little facial hair. Brendan Fraser, we do both have some scruff. And wait, Alexander Lukashenko! Nice. The caught the facial hair and the receding hair-line. This is sophisticated stuff! Other dudes...not sure who you are...wait, isn't Bruno Ganz the dude who played Hitler! They nailed me. I'm a dead ringer for Hitler. After all, we share the same birthday. Uncanny. Ok, lets take this to the next level.

Sweet Baby James! 2 men and 6 women. Not bad. They are batting a 250. That's respectable. J-Lo...they must have known about my ghetto booty. Tim Curry, I don't have facial hair this time, tough match but they found it. And my all time favorite, I look like Sally Struthers!!!!!

Now I decided to test this stuff by putting a real celebrity in there and seeing if it could match. I have to give them credit for the first 2 matches, but the rest have sent me into hysterics for the past hour.

I can't decide which I like better, Ariel Sharon or Pharrell Williams? Robbie Coltrane is pretty great and don't forget about Al Pacino, after all they are both black and white photos. Actually Carlos Santana may be the closest match. Dang there's just no getting it past these pros.

Pavarotti

A few years ago I started to get into the music of Luciano Pavarotti. I decided that one of my life goals would be to see him in concert. To help me out, a few of my friends got me two tickets to see Luciano in concert, in DC, for his final farewell concert.

I traveled to DC on the date of the concert with my friend Marie. We were so excited. I'll never forget coming out of the metro at the Verizon Center and seeing the sign on the doors saying that the concert was cancelled.

Since then there has been talk of rescheduling but it just hasn't happened. He has struggled with pancreatic cancer and last night he died.

No piece of music has ever moved me the way that Nessun Dorma does when being performed by Pavarotti. I believe this is one of the greatest musical performances I've ever heard. I get goose-bumps every time, without fail.

Deadlines

So I've nearly hit the 2 month mark since my last blog. Grounds for total dismissal from any link list. So I thought I'd blog a little. But fact of the matter is, I don't really have any funny stories, deep thoughts, bizarre encounters or otherwise noteworthy anecdotes to share. Life is life right now, and I have little desire to expound on the depths of my shallow mind. So having pissed off my readership again with a short and totally unenlightened blog, which is almost worse than no blog, I'll end this little exposé.

England I

Ok, I didn't even bring a camera on this trip. I'm not big into that. I feel like we spend more time trying to document a moment that never really happens because we are trying to document it. It cuts into the real experience. Another reason that I didn't bring one is that I'm on my own and I tend to think that what makes pictures special is the people. Now I'm narcissistic so I'm not into pictures of just me. And lastly, I don't own a camera. So I've taken a few pics on my phone and those will have to suffice.

So far I've seen an array of London sights but here are a couple of highlight events:

1 - Wedding
My friends wedding was beautiful and the sealing was...no word to describe...I don't want to trivialize it by using words like 'special' or 'moving'.

2 - Lincoln
This is where I lived as a kid and stayed with my grandparents for a whole summer when I was 12. I was surprised how well I remembered the place. And the Lincoln Cathedral is beautiful. Then there were the family visits. Way better than I expected. This bit of the trip is really worth a whole blog. Might do that later.

3 - Wimbledon
That's right. Wimbledon. I saw several matches and ate strawberries and cream. I even got on Centre Court to see Nadal (number 2 seed) play. It was magical. After it all I met a family friend, 90 year old Dennis. We went and ate at a pub.

4 - Wicked
Yeah I was really surprised by this. I was kinda like...there's a decently priced ticket...people rave...not too excited about musicals right now...I'll go. It was amazing!!! So worth it. The girl who played the wicked witch of the west was so rock amazing. Drew you right in. You loved her right from the start. She brought down the house with her voice. Gave me goose-bumps like 3 or 4 times. Yeah. Loved it. Loved it. Loved it.

Much more to come. I've still got 3 more days in London but I think that Wimbledon and Wicked will be hard to beat. Not to mention Westminster and St. Paul's.

Life Lesson # 4,392,671

Ok. I'm in England right. And I'm helping my friend get ready for his wedding. Not doing much. I've had chips and gravy once, KFC twice, and McDonald's 3 times. These english people love american crap. Well last night my friend's finance and her best friend were deciding best how to get home. Well they each had a car and were deciding whether to take one or the other, or both. It was a big dilemma where if they took one then the other would have to get up early and come back into town with them. Course if they took 2 then both had to drive. It went on for 20 minutes. Twenty. After they left I said to my friend, "How long does it take to figure out how to get home!?" Now's where I begin to feel like a blackguard.

My friend explained that his fiance's best friend has MS. This means she doesn't have much strength and so she was worried about having to get up early if she didn't drive home. He went on to explain that she and her husband are also really poor. So she didn't want to have to spend extra money on gas to get home.

How senseless of me?How unkind?How ungenerous? How critical? How presumptuous? I am absolutely ashamed of myself. So often I am quick to judge. Quick to place blame. Quick to categorize. Quick to write off. I'm so quick to think that I understand the situation and that I am smarter than they because I've got it all figured out already. I need to step back and give the benefit of the doubt, seek to understand, and seek to be humble.

The Scientist

This is the song that converted me to Coldplay. I love this video. But you have to watch it all the way through for it to be good. So if you are bored and wish to spend 4:24 on some good music then click here. If you don't have the patience...wait for Idaho Part II.

Idaho Part I

So Idaho….Most of you know that there is not a lot of love in my heart for Idaho. It's just not a place I would choose to be. I often wonder why people voluntarily live there. So this last weekend I traveled there under somewhat unfavorable circumstances, but it turned out to be quite valuable. I really don’t feel like delving into the more grave matters so I’ll stick to a couple of lighter ones.

Before I drove the Esperanza:

I drove this:

A 1988 Ford F150, like this one but white and blue with no tailgate and not as shiny. It was a good truck. 170K miles and going strong. It was a standard transmission and had a stick shift that was about 2.5 feet long and had the bench seat so that you could have your girl ride center and put your arm around her. Amazing. The body was almost without blemish until I let my girlfriend borrow it to run errands :). It got about 10 miles to the gallon but was totally reliable.

When it came time to move out to Boston, I decided I needed to move on to a more fuel efficient and compact car. So I sold it to my old man as a favor for 500 bucks. I miss that truck.

This weekend we were doing a lot of home improvement and so we used the old Ford and I got to drive it. Oh, nostalgia. Malick and I drove it out to the old house I grew up in, to get some carpet one night. She still purrs. Once we got the truck loaded up with all the carpet we stopped for a moment to look at the stars. The old house is out in the boonies and the skies are so clear. The stars are brilliant out in Idaho where there are no people to detract from it with artificial lights. We just stood and stared into the night sky for 5 minutes and soaked it in. Maybe there are some things that I love about Idaho. I certainly love that old truck.

Boredom Ahead

Ok, I know that there are many of you out there (cough, a;llias;dJulieakdli, cough) that aren't too keen on blogs that have to do with my area's of interest such as my posts about art and dancing (ie. "I must point out that copying and pasting someone else's work is still not a sufficient blog. We want to hear from you.") Many of you prefer to be informed about me and my life and meanderings. You enjoy blogs like the last one I posted. Ones that seem personal. Well let me tell you, there is only boredom and frustration ahead for you people.

Yesterday I was so bored at work that somewhere in the depths of my mind, a memory surfaced. It was a memory from a year or 2 ago when I went to an exhibition at the MET. An artist/sculptor/architect named Santiago Calatrava. He makes beautiful works of art and sculpture and then sometimes uses them in his architecture. Here's an example. He enjoys studying the human body and how it is built. He looks at how the head or rib cage is suspended off the spine through the complex system of ligaments, tendons and muscles.





Some of these studies lead too sculptures. Some of the sculptures have inspired his architecture, like this apartment complex in Sweden.

Or this apartment complex being built next to the Brooklyn Bridge.


I wish that I was thoughtful enough and knowledgeable enough to be able to delve into the theory and history of architecture. But ultimately I’m a bit of an ignoramus and all I can tell you is what I enjoy. I wish that I could inspire you by expounding ideas about the value, methodology, and psychology of architecture and it’s connection to the human race. But at this point I can barely postulate what seems inspiring to me. Architecture interacts with me and I with it. Humanity has the desire and power to manipulate its surroundings. From the earliest stages, man has sought to build and create.

From Giza to the Freedom tower, what drives us? Is it worth paying a few extra million so that we aren't just building another concrete box. Or is it worth a few extra million to build a concrete box and call it "modern"? Do the man made portions of our environment matter to us? Do they affect us? Do we value functionality, beauty, or perhaps an ideal? What makes something beautiful? Would I be as likely to go to the ICA if it was still in it's original nasty firehouse? Would the Boston skyline be as beautiful with out the Zakim bridge? What if the bridges in Cambridge, over the Charles, looked like the ones over the canals in Idaho? Would I be as excited to stroll down Mem Drive on that sunny Sunday afternoon? What about the NYC skyline? Does the absence of the WTC towers change something? Why do people love the Brooklyn Bridge? Would they love it as much if it was built like the Tri-borough bridge? And what about Paris? What value does the Eiffel tower hold? It serves no functional purpose. It was not built for business or for housing or for any practical purpose. What about the Colosseum? What feelings were evoked in those who saw it for the first time, thousands of years ago? The Parthenon? Do the buildings really matter? Do the aesthetics? Do the locations? They do to me.

I know that I wish Government center weren't so damned ugly. I know that I love visiting the ICA and gazing out over Boston from a glass corridor. I know I love walking the river Charles on a Sunday afternoon and appreciate the bridges and buildings. I know that I get excited when I go to the Getty, Guggenheim, or the JFK, if for no other reason than I love the buildings. I know I love being inside the Frank Lloyd Wright room in the MET. I know that I love Tim's night pictures of the Zakim bridge. I know that in 2 weeks I'm going to be chilling with Big Ben and Westminster Cathedral and I'm stoked.

So what's it worth to us? Is it all worth millions? Is it worth paying 12 or more billion to make a freedom tower that is not only functional, but inspiring and beautiful. Are the arts worth patronizing and supporting? Do we really give enough attention and appreciation? Does society show that it values art in more than it's words?

Well here are a few that inspire me:

Pantheon - Rome

Falling Water - Frank Lloyd Wright

Entrance to the Louvre - I.M. Pei

Tenerife Opera House - Calatrava

Alamillo Bridge in Seville - Calatrava

Chicago Spire - Calatrava (should be finished by 2009, click to enlarge)

So maybe I wasn't very personal in this blog. But maybe, just maybe, you'll find that even though I'm not baring my soul, you are actually learning more about me. Lucky you. Read on reader.

NYC

I haven't been to NY since February and my nephew Lamine is getting big. So I headed down for Memorial Day. My family met me at the bus stop. Lamine came running up to me saying, "Uncle Seth (pronounced - sef). Uncle Seth." He is a such a great little kid. I love him. So here are some pictures. They date from the time he was a few months until today, when he is almost 2.

He took great pride in having peed on the bed and then pooed in the tub, all while Malick and I were trying to give him a bath. So we put him in the sink while we cleaned up.

Winter Gear.

New Year's Eve 2005.

Fishing in Idaho in May of 2006. (Me, Josh (older brother), Mom, Rozalyn (youngest sister), Malick (my brother-in-law)).

Lamine wants to help Josh with the fish.

I call this picture "Li'l Pimp."

Looking sharp!

This was in Central Park on Sunday. He loves water ('gee' in Malick's home language). It was a beautiful day. This is shortly after he threw up.

This is a guy we saw in Central Park. There was a big African Drumming crew behind him, complete with a token white guy trying to dance. Hilarious. I took this guy's picture for proof. Amazing isn't it?

So on Sunday night, we got home from Central Park about 7pm and had lunch. That's right, lunch. Malick is a real night owl. Then we chilled in the apartment and I played with Lamine till midnight. Malick and I decided to make a cheese cake around 1am. After that I fell asleep on the couch as Malick started cooking dinner. Then I woke up around 4am when dinner was ready and Malick and I ate some delicious lamb. Somewhere around 5am we decided to have desert. The cheese cake was bomb diggity.

So anyway, it was a great weekend and I love my nephew.

The End

Schleep

So why is it that I can NOT get up in the mornings. Doesn't much matter how much sleep I've had. I just can't get up. My condolences to my patient roommate Tim, who has to listen to me hitting snooze about 10 times on 2 alarms, each morning. But can you blame me? After all I have a super comfy King Bed and it loves me. Ok, a little Seth Sleep History.

Ages 0-7: Don't remember.

Ages 8-13: Parents made us go to bed at 8pm every night. 8! Waking up was tough, especially for family scripture study, but it wasn't too bad.

Ages 14-19: This is best described by an example. I'd come home late at night from some activity. I'd turn on the light to my bedroom, drop my book bag, and fall onto my bed face first. I was asleep before my body touched the bed. Seriously. I'd wake up at 7:10 the next morning in my shoes, Levis, and coat. I'd change into a new shirt, grab a piece of bread and then cut through several of my neighbors back yards to catch the bus because I'd already missed it at my stop.

Mission: Well it goes without saying that I had regular sleep. It's just lucky that companionship study was after an hour of personal study. I don't like to talk in the mornings.

College: I think I averaged 4-5 hours of sleep a night, for most of my college career. Except when it was finals, in which case I averaged 2. My last 3 weeks of college I slept about 8 hours a week and became a connoisseur of energy drinks.

Now that I'm a working Professional: I can't go to be before midnight. It is utterly impossible. I generally get 6-8 hours of sleep. Thanks or no-thanks to my flexible work schedule, I rarely get to work before 9:30am.

Side Notes:

1. I can sleep anytime and anywhere.

(That's me on the bottom row. I fell asleep in the gym while on tour at BYU-Hawaii. Everybody lined up for the picture and a good laugh.)

2. I am an incredibly heavy sleeper. I wake for no man. I once fell asleep at a 4th of July city fair in the middle of a crowd of people.

3. I don't like to talk when I wake up. I'm super cranky. Give me a good 1-2 hours to get going.

You light sleepers are blessed.