Tuesday, November 30, 2010

November 30 - Flavor Flaaaaav!



How many As are in Flava Flaaaaav anyway? I saw this sign last weekend and just had to capture it for my blog. I also tried the wings for lunch today. They're actually pretty good. I'm not sure they're worth 99c, but they're pretty good. I was talking to Nell behind the counter. For now, they just have the basic fried wing that is breaded with some pepper. In about a month, they will add other flavors. I gave her my contact info; she wants to have me try them when they come out.

Not that anyone ever cares, but here is my Yelp review.

November 29 - Happy Chocoholiday!



I had been looking forward to this Yelp event for weeks. I took Allan and Christine to Max Brenner inside the Forum Shops for the quirkily named, Max Brenner's Happy Chocoholiday. Rather than come up with a new write-up, I figure a copy and paste of my Yelp review works just as well...

I give this event five stars. One for each pound I gained.

Quote of the evening: "No mas leche" - a server commenting to a bus person as he was clearing stuff from our table. My cousin got cut off from the mini-flasks of milk! LOL

Misti, you always throw one helluva party. Thanks Mr Brenner. My cousins and I had such a great time. I always love seeing all of my Yelp buddies. The food is always great, but the people are even better. The Yelp community rocks! That's really why I like coming to these events.

OK OK, so the free food and drinks help. Loved the pulled pork sliders, the chocolate martinis, the paninis, the Philly cheese steaks, the banana waffle thingies... all delicious. And of course, what would a Chocoholiday be without chocolate chunk cookies? And what would chocolate chunk cookies be without the aforementioned shots of milk in chemistry-esque mini-flasks?

Ugh... I hear the gym calling my name.



November 28 - Railroad Trail



Not satisfied with my Friday outing, I decided to do another, albeit easy hike. Camila and I went down to the old railroad trail near Lake Mead. It's an extremely easy walk following the railroad bed that used to transport materials during the construction of the dam. You go through a total of five tunnels that cut through the volcanic ridges overlooking the lake.

November 27 - Green Valley District



A quickie photo I took after I went to the REI store at The District in Henderson. The photo looked decent as is, but I decided to play around with it.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

November 26 - Anniversary Narrows



I eschewed the Black Friday shopping in favor of some post-Thanksgiving caloric burn-off. I joined a hiking group out at Lake Mead to do Lovell Wash and Anniversary Mine, colloquially known as Anniversary Narrows.

Once we entered the narrows, the guy below busted out his flute and provided us with some hiking music. He totally reminded me of David Carradine in Kill Bill!



November 25 - Turkey Day



Had a fun Thanksgiving at JMACTS's house. Great food. Excellent company. Watched Ip Man and Scott Pilgrim. You know, the holiday classics.

This photo in no way encapsulates the entire attendance at the dinner. In fact, I have a different photo with more people in it. I just like the composition in this one the best.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

November 24 - Not-So-Angry Bird



When I came back from my lunch break, this bird just happened to be chilling on the fire hydrant right in front of me. Luckily, my camera bag was in the back seat. I quickly shot a few frames. Et voilà, photo of the day accomplished! Thanks little birdy.

November 23 - Senior Recital



I met Cecilia through a friend at a recent dinner party. She had her senior recital on this evening at UNLV's Beam Music Center. I'm so glad I decided to go check it out. She was absolutely amazing. I had never been to a recital before, so I didn't really know what to expect. I came away very impressed. For her last set, she brought her daughter on stage. It was a cute moment.

November 22 - Scarlet & Gray



This photo is a great example of how poorly Google Chrome displays images. I'm not sure why, but it lacks color saturation and the black level that the photo has when I view it outside of Chrome. That's really the only issue I've found with the browser.

Anyway, this is another attempt at a self-portrait. I wanted to get something moody with my new UNLV hat. Would you believe that this whole time since I've been a Rebel, I've never had a UNLV hat?

November 21 - Encore Entrée



I had a short amount of time to kill between my visit to the Bodies Exhibition at the Luxor and dinner with the family at the Palace Station buffet. I decided to stop by the Encore. I'm just over a month from the end of Project 306 and I'm trying to make an effort to get out more to take photos. Plus, I'm pretty much out of stuff to shoot at home and as I've well documented, food photos are played out.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

November 20 - Lied Library



This is what happens when you overdo HDR and give it the black and white treatment. I think it looks cool, though, so I'm rolling with it. I had some time to kill before the UNLV game vs Wisconsin. I stopped by the library and snapped a few quickies. It rained shortly after, which is why there were some good clouds present. And in case you don't know, we won the game!

Saturday, November 20, 2010

November 19 - Tofu Hut



What was that I said about foodtography? I guess out of 264 days so far, 30-something containing food or beverage isn't too bad.

I've been eating too much lately. Way too much. So what do I do when I get a text invite from Devin to do Tofu Hut AYCE at 11:30pm? Well I'm glad I went. It's only $13.99 and it was a fun time. Despite it being about 1am when we were done, I hit the gym afterward to feel less bad about my gluttony.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

November 18 - Canvas On Demand



I love Canvas On Demand. They always do an excellent job with my canvas gallery wraps. I recently purchased a couple of Groupons for 16x20 prints and I cashed one of them in for my Bellagio Glass Flowers photo. My favorite is still my original print - the Tampa sunset photo - but this one turned out pretty nicely.

November 17 - Oxtail Soup



It's official. This blog has way too many food photos. It's a lazy fallback. I eat a lot, so the opportunity presents itself far too often. Unfortunately, making food look good takes more effort than I usually put in. Honestly, this photo doesn't make the soup look that great, but it was certainly delicious.

After the Harry Benson talk up at CSN Cheyenne, I stopped at my old school LVAC on West Sahara to get a much-needed workout. I then decided to stay old school and hit up Aloha Kitchen across the road. When I saw they had Oxtail Soup as a winter special, I was all over it.

November 16 - Ethel M Cactaceae



Christmas just keeps coming earlier and earlier. Before heading to the MGM Grand for the first ever Yelpmazing Race, I went to the Ethel M Chocolate Factory for the lighting of their cactus garden. It was perfect timing. By the time they switched on the lights, Jia and I had to leave for the race.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

November 15 - Pho So 81C



The previous time I was at Pho So 1, I saw a couple at a nearby table cooking their food on a table-top grill. I've been wanting to try it ever since. It was a lot more food than I expected, and incidentally, more expensive than I expected. But I decided to do it up.

November 14 - Motley Brews



A bunch of us went to the Hard Rock Cafe on the strip for the long-awaited Motley Brews beer festival. It was a little disappointing in that many beers were simply out of bottles, but it was a very good selection of craft brews. Also, that glass is pretty small, but I'm glad. Any bigger and it could have been dangerous. There were many beers that were in the 8-10% range.

November 13 - Taekwon Rollergirls



In case you're wondering, this is not the first time I've posted twice for the same day (May 17). It's very rare that I have too much subject matter to photograph. I'm usually struggling to find even one good photo.

After Aviation Nation, I went to the Riviera to watch the Sin City Rollergirls with Don Solo. I got there pretty early and stumbled upon a Taekwondo tournament. As for the roller derby, it was a lot of fun. The lighting wasn't the greatest, but I managed to get some decent photos.









November 13 - Aviation Nation


I pretty much went to Aviation Nation this year for one reason - the F-22 Raptor (above). I missed it last year and was determined to catch it this year. It's an amazing machine. And it's freakin' Starscream!

Outside of the F-22, I wasn't really into the show this year. When I went in 2009, I got some pretty good photos of the Air Force Thunderbirds. However, I did miss their ground show (the stuff they do before takeoff), so I made sure to get some of that this year. Once they taxied away, I was ready to leave. I stuck around to get some photos, but I didn't really feel like just recreating what I already got last year, even in the name of this blog.

There's one exception. I think the panning shot is my favorite photographic technique. I just had to get another one of the Thunderbirds landing. In fact, that one might be better than what I got last year.









November 12 - Season Opener



Runnin' Rebel basketball season is finally back! Before the game, I drove up to the top of the parking garage to grab a quick photo. Unfortunately, it's nothing spectacular and certainly doesn't match our complete domination of UC Riverside. OK so it's UC Riverside. But we managed to maintain the doubling of their score (85-41).

November 11 - Cimarron Tunnel



There's this storm tunnel near my house that runs underneath Cimarron Road. Actually, there are two adjacent tunnels. It's pretty much pitch black in there. I had to do a little painting with light with my crappy little LED flashlight. Over 30 seconds, it was enough to bring out a little detail and give the rock a shadow, while still preserving the tunnel's mysterious look.

November 10 - Eye Photo



Question: Why do girls seem to like taking photos of themselves in the bathroom?

That was the first thing I thought about when I saw the results of my eye closeup experiment. With the reflection in my eye and with the mirrors behind the camera, it turned out to be a pretty interesting photo. At the same time, it reminds me of that strangely common bathroom facebook profile photo phenomenon.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

November 9 - Oyster Shooters



I must admit. This photo is pretty much a carbon copy of my Yama Sushi photo from July 31. Same type of restaurant. Same crappy low light. Same Photoshop effect.

July 31 was my first time at Yama Sushi. Tonight was my first time at Sin City Sushi. There were a couple of other firsts. First time I ever had a proper Oyster Shooter (or two). First time I've enjoyed Uni (or two).

Overall, I think I still prefer Yama Sushi. But it was a fun night hanging out with the Yelparazzi.

Monday, November 8, 2010

November 8 - Galactic President Superstar McAwesomeville



The title has nothing to do with the blog post. I just finished watching How I Met Your Mother and it's a name Ted comes up with when he meets "The Captain" who states, "A real man chooses his own name."

I like the name. I couldn't think of something better.

As for the photo, I got the idea for it a couple of weeks back when I stumbled across an art walk in Summerlin. One of the photographers had a black and white of the glass flowers inside the Bellagio foyer. I went a different direction. I specifically took the photo in the hopes that I could print it on canvas. I recently bought a couple of Groupons for a 16x20 canvas gallery wrap. I think this might look good on my wall. It looks artsy enough. Now I wish I bought more Groupons.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

November 7 - Feasting On Words



I went down to the Historic Fifth Street School for the Vegas Valley Book Festival. I think I need to return one day to get some photos of the school without all the extracurricular activity going on. It's a pretty nice little piece of Vegas history.

The theme for the final day of the festival was "Feasting On Words." Chef Rick Moonen of RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay hosted a "Community Grill" with other local chefs. There were plenty of good eats. I especially enjoyed the French Toast with Chocolate, the Pumpkin Crême Brulée, and the Skewered Grilled Shrimp and Scallops.

I grabbed this chef list from the event web site.
  • Mike Minor of Border Grill (Mandalay Bay)
  • Megan Romano of Charlie Palmer Restaurant Group (Four Seasons and Aureole)
  • Lorin Watada of Bachi Burger
  • Jet Tila of Wazuzu (Encore)
  • Sven Mede of American Fish by Michael Mina (Aria)
  • Geno Bernardo of Nove Italiano (The Palms)
  • Jean Paul Labadie of Marché Bacchus French Bistro & Wine Market
  • Kuldeep Singh of Origin India Restaurant & Bar and Moonen

November 6 - Retiring Old Glory



I heard about this flag ceremony through the Mountain's Edge newsletter. I figured it would be good subject matter for me to wax photojournalistic. Also, it's the first time I've ever seen the burning of the US flag.

Friday, November 5, 2010

November 5 - Bottlebrush Squirreltail



I think these are called Bottlebrush Squirreltails (Elymus elymoides). I had to do some research online to figure that out. We have a ton of these around the work parking lots and they caught my eye. I knew they would benefit from the creamy bokeh provided by the 70-200L lens.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

November 4 - Paseo Wash



I'm less than two months away from the finish line of this blog (in its original format anyway). I've felt like I've been low on ideas ever since the first few weeks. I'm amazed that I've made it this far. Tonight was another one of those nights. I had no photo ideas and nothing was really going on, so I decided to do a late night walk in the paseo near my community. It's really a storm water wash. Actually, I had never been to this part of it before.

This photo is nothing special. I was hoping to catch a nice night shot, but nothing really panned out. Oh well. At least it's not a close-up of some random object in my house. As Project 306 winds down, I'd like to be less lazy and try to finish strong.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

November 3 - Vintage Woodie



I've had this broken wooden tennis racquet in my car for months. It had one single purpose - to be used in one of my blog posts. Well, now that it has outlived its use, I guess I should throw it away. Or maybe it will just sit in my trunk for a few more months.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

November 2 - Matching Shirts



Jia and I decided to check out the exhibition game. He didn't have any Rebel gear to wear, so he asked me to bring him a shirt. Knowing that Jia maintains a "Matching Shirts" album on facebook, I thought it would be funny to get a matching shirts photo for this blog. I guess it's an inside joke.

November 1 - Beer The Feared



This is my homage to the SF Giants. I'm not a bandwagoner. I really don't even like baseball. But congratulations to Los Gigantes de San Francisco. Fear the Beard, and all that jazz.

Incidentally, this is another smoke art type photo. I basically just used the smoke as a backdrop for the SFG logo.