Austin rocks!

Finally, finally I have something good to say about Texas. Austin Rocks!

I'm here for work. I dreaded coming and put off registering for this conference until the last minute. My previous TX experiences have left me runnin' for the border. But everyone sez Austin is the jewel of tex-ass.

I'm hooked. Why? The downtown architecture rocks. People look you in the eye and talk to you. To a person: old, young, women, men. With sincerity. Once, twice maybe. But it's prevalent all over town.

It's the only place this northern urban black boy feels comfortable around people wearin' cowboy boots, driving pickup trucks, and drinking like, well, cowboys. Only it ain't a cowtown like Fort Worth.

I told Lisa I'm bringing her here. Austin rocks!

Dad

I'm such a dad. Everywhere I go, I still grab napkins and stuff them in my pockets, backpack, bike bag, etc. It's a habit leftover from when my kids were young.

I can't help myself.

The kindness of strangers

The boys and I are in SF for mid-winter break. We're having dinner in a small Japanese restaurant (Grandeho's Kamekyo if you insist) sitting at the table by the door. A gentleman leaves, pauses, and says to the boys "Listen to your Dad. He's a good man."

And yes, that's The Rock behind the segaKidz.

Hacking Digital Cameras

One might forget that JetCityOrange purports to be a photography blog. Sometimes other things get in the way or I lose my way or whatever.

Let's reaffirm what we all know to be true: yes, this is a photo site. With that firmly in mind, may I direct your attention to a site aptly named Camera Hacker. And with this link may I re-establish once and for all, JCO's primary identity.

Speaking of weird fotographee I had my implant work wrapped up today. Long story, big bill. The oral surgeon has this really kewl office complete with a panoramic digital xray setup. Stand on these footprints on the floor, bite down on this thingie, and this widget rotates around your mouth in an arc. No darkroom, no chemistry, and the xray shows up on a screen in your treatment room. Big shoutout to Dr. Chin in Bellevue. (yes, it's a classic aptronym.)

We now resume our regular programming...

Valentine's Day

I'm no V Day believer myself but I just posted this page on dating for those of you who do. Or for anyone interested in The D Word (dating, not divorce, though we all know that there's a connection).

Hunting anyone?

If you go ahuntin', don't go with Cheney. Dead eye Dick hunts for Quayle.

Funny how the story was suppressed Sat nite so it didn't make the headlines Sun morning. Ahhh, the power of spin.

Random rants'n'raves

Valentine's Day, amnesty for those who aren't romantic the other 364 days of the year.

Your kids spend all day every day figuring out how to get you. It's their job.

Snapshots vs. photographs. Do you know the difference?

Guantanamo Bay

Camp xray is a national embarassment. These are POWs our draft dodger chickenshit of a president won't cop to. The courts are abandoning these poor bastards in the name of "national security". I don't know about you, but I feel less and less secure every day.

Let's see, there never were any weapons of mass destruction & the White House boldfaced lied about it, Al Qaeda wasn't in Iraq before but they sure are now, Islamics hate us the world over, Hamas won in a landslide yet we won't reach out to them, Isreal continues to paint itself in a corner and drag us alongside, the NSA has been wiretapping us illegally and the NY Times kept their mouth shut about it for a year, and Bush is still an asshole.

Yeah. I feel more secure.

Magic

I saw Crash again tonight. I cried more the second time than I did the first time.

Crash should be a double feature with Grand Canyon.

It's amazing that such films come out of Hollywood. All the shit they pump out and two gems like these sneak out.

Further poof that there is a God.

Photography in a police state

This sad news from down under is similar to the NY ban on taking photographs of bridges. Any half-assed terrorist isn't going to whip out a tripod and take pictures in broad daylight. Misguided totalianarism.

As misguided as the Capitol police arresting Cindy Sheehan for daring to wear an anti-war t-shirt to Bush' state of the union speech.

Now this is something The Man don't want us to know about. Talk about fotographee...