October 31 - Here We Go!

This blog just keeps reaching new heights of ludicrosity. Yes, I made that word up. When I received my Mario costume last week, I got this crazy idea of Photoshopping myself into some sort of Mario world. Rather than steal the background from somewhere online, I decided to draw it myself.

Anyway, hope you all had a fun Halloween weekend.

October 30 - Dust Buster

I haven't done a fake miniature in a while and I figured the Hoover Dam is the perfect candidate, especially now that the new bypass bridge is open. Not sure this one turned out all that convincing.

October 29 - Mantis Technique

Jia and I hit some tennis balls this evening. Right as I was about to call it a night, I saw this little dude right on the court. As my lens got closer to him (and I got pretty darn close), he would posture up and get into a kind of boxing stance. It was pretty funny.

October 28 - Pyramid Scheme

My Dad had free tickets to Criss Angel's "Believe" show at the Luxor. I always assumed the Luxor pyramid would make it into my blog eventually and here it is. As for the show, it was decent. I guess I'm just not as into magic as I was when I was a kid. It's not your typical Cirque du Soleil show, but I found the "Cirque" part of it to be pretty funny.

My review

October 27 - Modern Plumbing

There is a specific reason I took this photo. Not that my Halloween costume is a big mystery, but for those who don't know, this serves as a clue. (A couple of days ago, I posted a close-up of one of the buttons on the costume).

Incidentally, this is a mini-plunger that I got from Misti at last weekend's Yelp pie eating contest. She had a bag of them from Repurpose America (GreenerVegas.org) - an organization that takes unwanted materials from conventions (for example) and tries to repurpose them. In this case, how can you repurpose something as useless as a mini-plunger?

Also, the title is a reference to a joke used by the Blue Man Group.

October 26 - Ham Flashlight

I went down to UNLV this evening to check out the symphony orchestra. When I got there, I realized that I've never actually been inside the Artemus Ham Concert Hall before. Years ago (before I went to UNLV), I saw a production of Cabaret, but it was inside the Judy Bayley Theatre opposite from HCH. Of course, this flashlight sits between the two. (The light in the sky is from the Luxor).

October 25 - Il Tasto Giallo

The Halloween costume that I ordered from Zappos arrived today. It's pretty darn sweet. I'm planning on an elaborate photo with it at a later date. For now, you get this macro-style preview.

October 24 - Pumpkin Pie

I went down to the Fresh52 Farmers Market in Henderson for the Fall Harvest Festival. I was mainly there to witness the first annual Yelpy, Sugary, Super Fresh Pie Eating Contest. By all accounts, I'd say the event was a great success - except for the fact that a non-Yelper won. But that's A-OK.

October 23 - Nate Dog

I finally got to try Hanshiktaco, which is a Korean-inspired taco truck parked in front of Lee's Discount Liquor up near Lake Mead and Tenaya. I ordered a Tofu & Egg taco and a "Nate Dog." To be honest, I wasn't blown away by the flavors, but it's good enough for a return visit at some point. It's just too far from home.

October 22 - Boca Biersch

Hung out with a couple of old Circus Circus friends - Don and Josh. I haven't seen Don in a while, but Josh, I haven't seen for about ten years. We hit up the happy hour at Gordon Biersch in Boca Park. We initially tried going to Kona Grill, but their designated happy hour patio area was full.

October 21 - Ten-Pin Wine

This photo is just plain silly. I'm not so much referring to the ten wine bottles arranged like bowling pins, but the fake bowling alley I made. I'm not that artistic, so the background was initially just black. I decided to create some fake stars to make it less bland, but ultimately more cheesy.

Incidentally, the only reason I have so much wine is because some Fresh & Easy locations are closing and all of the beer and wine was 50% off. They're pretty much all cheap bottles that may taste horrible. But for the price, I can't complain.

October 20 - Abstract Wetness

As this blog has progressed, I've discovered that the one area I seem to enjoy most is abstract photography. This photo isn't all that abstract, but it does somewhat force you to think a little about the scene in front of you. In this case, I'm trying to capture a couple of things that happen when it rains in Vegas. (1) People are all intrigued like they've never seen rain before. (2) People forget how to drive.

Man, I hope it snows this year.

October 19 - The Lightning Thief

I haven't captured a good lightning photo in a long time. This doesn't happen in Vegas all that often, so I figured I needed to get my butt outside. I drove down to Red Ridge park and used one of the picnic gazebos for shelter. Capturing lightning requires a little preparation, some patience, and a whole lot of luck. Well, luck be a lady tonight. I wasn't out there very long when the strike above occurred.

October 18 - Magic Shots

I've had Magic Mountain on the mind lately. I decided to bust out my SFMM shot glasses and photograph them. I initially had them filled with just water, but it lacked color, so I added drops of Grenadine to make them look more interesting.

October 17 - Alumwire Shoot

My cousins needed some head shots. I happened to have another free room at the South Point (except this time I wasn't planning on actually staying the night). So we decided to do a shoot inside the hotel room. Studio photography definitely isn't my forte. A more natural background would have worked better in this situation.

October 16 - Dragon Boat Racing

I found out about this Dragon Boat Racing event down at Lake Las Vegas. Not only is it an interesting event, it's also for breast cancer awareness. I'm glad I made the long drive down there.

The LV Lohan School of Shaolin was also there performing the dragon dance and some martial arts demonstrations.

October 15 - First Look 2010

There's really only one team that owns the mindshare of this town. No matter how good or bad we may end up being, I am always excited about Runnin' Rebel basketball season. Tonight was the First Look event - the first official practice for the 2010-2011 season. It's always hard to tell how good we might be based on these scrimmages, but it's always good to see the guys back on the floor.

October 14 - Yelp Helps

I failed to get a good photo, but I had an awesome time at tonight's Yelp Helps event. It was great going around to all the non-profits and asking about what they do and what kinds of volunteer opportunities they have. I wasn't expecting to find so many that I actually want to help out. Also, I'm really enjoying hanging out with all these crazy Yelpers. I'm one of them after all.

Unfortunately, I spent so much time talking to each booth, I didn't have enough time to make it into the actual Atomic Testing Museum.

Incidentally, this is October 14 - take two. My original photo was a lazy effort and downright sucked. This one isn't much better, but I kicked it up a few notches in Photoshop and I think it looks pretty darn kewl now. It kind of looks like street art.

October 13 - Duck Duck Go

I feel like my photos have been pretty uninspired lately. I pretty much go home after work and then at the last minute, try to find something to photograph in my house. Today, I was already close by at Fresh N Easy and it was a quick trip up Eastern to Sunset Park to get something a little more interesting. At the very least, it's a photo that takes place away from home.

The title is simply a new search engine that I learned about a few weeks ago.

October 12 - Jamesy Pamesy

I got a last second text message from Chris to come hang out at Rounders. I had planned to go to the gym, but I stopped by to have a beer anyway. Long story short, this photo is pretty lame. I went out to get my camera and when I returned, my beer glass was empty thanks to James. So this is a before and after photo with a twist - a lame and uninteresting twist.

October 11 - Red vs Blue

I used my grill for the second time ever to cook up another large steak. I thought the coals looked pretty interesting as they got going in my chimney starter. The photo turned out not as interesting, so I had some fun with the color.

October 10 - Red Ridge

My brother and I decided on a last minute round of disc golf over at nearby Red Ridge park. I haven't played frisbee golf in years, so I was extremely happy to walk away with an even score (we both scored even, in fact). I parred every hole except two - I birdied one and bogeyed one. Incidentally, he barely missed this shot.

October 9 - Lebanese Festival

Another quickie - this time, a photo of my cousin and my Uncle as we were walking toward the Lebanese Festival. I like the visual flow created by the power lines. I didn't find anything more interesting within the festival itself, so I was content to make this my photo for the day.

October 8 - String Theory

Yet another attempt at abstract photography. Also, this is another blog post where I have the word "Theory" in the title. This is just the A string on my guitar, somewhere above the 12th fret.

October 7 - Archi's Panang

OK so the photo has nothing to do with curry. It's just a quickie I took while picking up lunch at Archi's Thai Bistro on Rainbow. I've been obsessed with Archi's Panang Curry ever since I had it at my cousin's house several years ago. Strange that it took me so long to actually go to this restaurant for the first time. Despite my meteoric expectations, it did not disappoint. (Yelp Review)

October 6 - Three Cups Of Tea

I'm currently reading Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, so I figured I'd get a photo inspired by this inspiring bestseller - or at least a photo inspired by the book's title. And by reading, I really mean listening to an Audible.com download on my phone.

"The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family." -- Balti proverb

October 5 - Clear Sky

I rarely make the walk to and up Exploration Peak, but I decided to head out as soon as I got home from work today. We've had some rain in Vegas recently and it would have been nice to get some cloud action. Unfortunately, most of the sky was pretty clear. That works out for a nice and clean black and white photo, however.

October 4 - Before Dawn

Before Dawn is a beautiful song featured in a flash game called "Music Catch" - one of my favorite games on Kongregate.com. I downloaded the sheet music a long while ago with the goal of learning to play the song. I'm a very long way from reaching that goal (I can barely play the first page).

October 3 - Urban AC

The Oasis is going to let Camila try a little jock work, so I figured we should do a DJ portrait. Unfortunately, I didn't get to the station until about 11:30pm, which didn't leave much time (I'm pretty anal about sticking to the whole "daily photo" thing). I think it turned out pretty not bad.

Incidentally, The Oasis used to be the "Smooth Jazz" station, but they've recently transitioned to urban adult contemporary.

October 2 - Molten Mess

We celebrated Ate Kathrine's birthday at her favorite restaurant - the Grand Lux Cafe inside the Palazzo. I was still full from the gigantic rib eye steak I had cooked on my new baby grill, so I just ordered a Mojito and this Molten Chocolate Cake. It was messy molten goodness!

October 1 - Chimney Starter

I've been holding off on buying a grill for at least a year. I figure there's no point buying a cheap one - it's a Weber or nothing. Well I finally decided to get my Weber. I bought a Smokey Joe Gold through Amazon. OK, so it's not what I originally planned on buying. It's a tiny charcoal grill good for only one or two people. Then again, some would argue that charcoal is the way to go. At $35, it cost practically nothing compared to around $600 for a Weber Genesis. Add in $18 for this chimney starter and $15 for about 40 pounds of coals at Home Depot, and I'm ready to go. I tested it out with a huge rib eye steak. Delicious!