Biggest Regrets

Today's Quote That Explains Everything, Ever

"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." ~ Anais Nin

Ew, That's Creepy

I hate when that happens.

Best. Christmas. Ever.

There was something really special about this holiday season, but I just can't put my finger on it.

Today's Thing

Here's today's thing you never saw, and probably never would have without the Interwebs.



This a Bolivia bug. Also called a pussy moth. No, really.

Anyway, I want one. Are these cute, or what?

It's About Time

It's about time my book made its way to a place where I can start corrupting young minds!

Oh, yeah, it's UC Berkeley. Already corrupted. Shoot.

Michael Jackson is Near Death

I was sad to this this story today. Apparently, Michael Jackson has a rare disorder, Alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency (a potentially fatal afflication).

In reading more about this ailment, Wikipedia states: "People of northern European, Iberian and Saudi Arabian ancestry are at the highest risk for A1AD."

Blast! If he'd known about the higher risk for Europeans, maybe he would have stayed black.

A Visionary Idea

Here's an inspiring story about bringing glasses to the masses. (That kind of blog copy should only be written by trained marketing copywriters. Don't try it at home.)

One to Ponder

Thanks, Brandon. I'd recommend wearing asbestos pajamas on your deathbed.

Kids to Kids Adopts Another School

Kids to Kids rocks. You know the group, since I've volunteered with them for, oh, three years or something now. Wow. What a hoot so far.

Anyway, Kids to Kids adopts schools and gives kids books. At these adoption launch events, I take photos. I got to do that today, too.



I'd expect more photos of smiling kids with books soon. Oh, just deal with it.

Today's Puzzler

"Treasure troves."

Are there other kinds of troves?

Remember?

Remember when "Planet of the Apes" felt a ridiculous premise for a movie? At what point would monkeys have gotten the upper hand?

Uh, not so ridiculous now, huh? Witness the first step toward ape domination.

I'm Not Taking Your Photo, I'm Giving You a Cracker

Hey, it works.

Sometimes

Sometimes, you take a photograph, and it's a nice photo. Cute kid. Nice, simple composition, sharp enough.



But the photo doesn't really tell the whole story sometimes. Sometimes, you're in a dimly lit room, and the lighting is this ugly flourescent, and the child has had upwards of 17 pounds of sugar and won't stand or sit still, not even for one shot.

And still, you get one.

Sometimes, those are the most rewarding shots of all.

Best. Day. Ever.

If this happened to me, it would be the, well, the second best day of my life. After meeting Anne-Marie, of course. Phew. Dodged another bullet on that one.

You Wouldn't Believe the Crap People Get in the Mail

Seriously.

Anyone?

Anyone know of a playground with one of these spinny things in Las Vegas?

Where are they all?!

Day Care Valet

Another Brandon Muller original.

Stuff Your Stocking With This

Found this little gem, just in time for the holidays. I ordered four. Can't beat the $13 price tag!



Click here to check it out on Amazon.com.

Saving the Best for Last: Why?

So, today I'm browsing USA Today's Web site, and I'm scanning down the list of news stories.

* Investors scramble after Madoff is charged with $50B fraud
* Why home values may take decades to recover
* GM to temporarily close 20 plants to slash output
* White House, Treasury say they won't let automakers fail
* Fifth Georgia bank closed, 24th nationwide failure in 2008
* Gasoline pushes down retail sales and wholesale prices
* Dollar falls to 13-year low against yen
* FDIC chief sees housing pain into 2010
* Bank of America to slash 35,000 jobs over 3 years
* Foreclosure numbers tumble in November, but bad news looms
* Auto deaths down 10% so far this year

That's a lot of bad news.

A couple of things struck me as odd. First, one of the only two items on the list that weren't bad news said, "Forclosure numbers tumble." That's great news. But, then, because they couldn't just report the good news, they pulled the rug out from under us with "Foreclosure numbers tumble in November, but bad news looms."

"We gotcha! You were feeling good for a second there, weren't you? But, no! Snap! We zigged when you expected us to zag!"

The other thing that struck me as odd was that the only purely good news on the list was positioned in the very, very last slot. Auto deaths are down 10%? That's huge!

You can almost hear the editorial staff at USA Today discussing this news items. "What amazing news! Let's bury it under all the crap!" (They probably used some fancy journalistic term, though.)

I wonder why just about everyone is feeling anxiety about our world and our economy right now? What's the downside of reporting all the news, good and bad? A question as old as reportage itself, I imagine. How about if we lead with the news about foreclosure numbers tumbling and auto deaths being down? What does that do for us? Doesn't it give us an emotional launching point that's optimistic and hopeful and positive rather than a feeling of dread and angst and gloom?

We can't help but have our attitudes shaped by the information we ingest, from a variety of sources. It's garbage in, garbage out. No one's impervious to it. It sticks to you like dog poop on your shoe, and you carry it around with you. And in the case of the economy, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy because fear and uncertainty and pessimism actually cause some of the bad news that's being reported.

So, I say we balance things out. For every story about the doom, we get a story about a dolphin with a prefabricated tail. For every thousand naysayers, we get an Obama. It's our responsibility to communicate this to our media overlords.

Day Without a Gay (Translation: Can of Worms)

We're dealing with a can of worms here.

I get it. Gays should miss work and participate in this "Day Without a Gay," to bring attention to their plight. I guess the plight involves having too much disposable income and impeccable taste.

Anyway, here's the tricky part. What if you just happen to call in sick that day? Wouldn't a weird kind of dilemma present itself? You'd come back to work the next day, and assuming you're not gay, even though there's nothing wrong with that, and wouldn't you feel compelled to say to everyone at work, "Uh, yeah, yesterday. Really under the weather. Took the day off to recover. That's it. Just sick. Sick day. Yep, out sick yesterday."

And, of course, the gay people in your office would be really ticked off, because you're kind of implying that you don't want people to think you're gay even though there's definitely nothing wrong with that.

"Day Without a Gay"? Interesting strategy. From the looks of things, lots of people are already participating in the "Day Without a Smart Person" campaign. That one appears to be ongoing.

I Have a Huge Bathroom

Gotta love Craigslist!

Today's Random Photo

When we see amazing images of hummingbirds in flight, we think, "Hey, I could probably do that." We would be wrong.

It Ain't a Picture of a Kid: Enjoy

!

Today, my friend Brandon sent me an e-mail containing one symbol. It was this:

!

Wow, I thought. An opportunity to learn more about this ubiquitous symbol! (I didn't think that. I thought a smaller word, but it sounds fancier to say it that way.)

My very next thought was, "Is it exclamation point or mark?" I guess both are OK.

Now this is something I didn't know:

"The exclamation point was introduced into English printing in the 1400s, and was known as the 'note of admiration' until the mid 1600s."

Talk about fancy! One can't help but feel a little lofty using the phrase "note of admiration." And I'm all about loft.

I was also surprised to learn this: "Exclamation marks can also be placed mid-sentence and function like a comma."

Wow, I never! knew that. Which! I'm pretty sure! is not proper usage.

Of everything I learned about the exclamation point/mark, this was the most alarming:

"One study has shown that women use exclamation marks more than men do."

I guess this means women do more admiring than men. Or maybe they just exclaim more than men. Yeah, no kidding.

I think I like the exclamation point when it's part of an interrobang. Don't you agree?! (An interrobang is a combination of a question mark and an exclamation mark.) I've been "banging," to use printer jargon, for years, and I didn't even know it.

I don't suppose interrobangs are all that welcome in formal writing, but to me, there's nothing quite like the one-two punch of a question mark AND an exclamation mark to give one's question the appropriate amount of curiosity AND urgency.

More exclamatory tidbits, I say!

"There is a town in Quebec called Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, spelled with two exclamation marks."

Now, that's just too cool. How could I have not come across that little gem before now?

This one's a bit more of a baffler, probably because my knowledge of math is about as extensive as my knowledge of gym.

"In mathematics, the exclamation mark represents the factorial operation. For example, 4! is 4 × 3 × 2 × 1 = 24."

Who knew? If I had seen "4!" somewhere, I probably would have just thought someone was really enthusiastic about the number four. And who isn't, come to think of it?! You kidding?! Four?! Why, I interrobanged four times in one night back in college!

This one took me from baffled to entirely lost:

"In computing, the exclamation mark corresponds to ASCII character 33 (21 in hexadecimal)."

Oh, well. One can't know everything, or one would be God. And that job's already taken.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to learn more about this very! exciting symbol, Brandon?!

Today's Redundancy

My favorite redundancy: Evangelical Movement.

Today's Random Kid Photo

Mime, a Zoo and Bird Poop

This is somewhat remarkable.

A friend from high school wrote the other day to say that they'd performed mime with me, in a zoo, in 1979. This is remarkable because I truly can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday much less what I did close to 30 years ago. (Let's not even get into the subject of how, on God's green Earth, high school somehow took place 30 years ago.)

I wrote to another high school friend and asked if she remembered what this other friend was talking about, and she wrote, "You frequently went to the zoo to do mime. You were the geek of geeks. This one particular day you convinced some other people to join you. A bird pooped on someone when we were frozen. I don't remember who."

First, yeah, mime has kind of fallen out of fashion. I get that. But at the time, it was cool. Trust me on this one. Shields and Yarnell rocked.

Second, I did mime at a zoo?

Third, how on EARTH does one remember such intricate details of a day that (allegedly) happened nearly 30 years ago? I'm speechless. (Unrelated to the mime thing.)

What's your earliest detailed memory?

I Dislike Failing

Shoot.

I had this great idea for a photo. It would involve strapping a camera to my stomach, and flinging a kid around, and capturing the action by having someone snap the shutter remotely.

Tried, oh, 200 exposures. But I just couldn't get it. I don't know if my arms are too short, or if the kid was too heavy (kept him from flying out kind of horizontal, away from the camera). Maybe I need a wider angle lens to get this one.

I hate failing.

Then again, sometimes failures turn out OK, I guess.

Today's Movie Review

That there "Quantum of Solace." That sure is a movie. Lots of action, most of it familiar. Baffling story.

Mostly, things are just too easy for this Bond. There's nothing at stake. And the villain looks like somebody I could beat up.

I sure do miss me my "Moonraker."

The Perfect Gift

This is the perfect gift for the designers in your life. (Watch the video.)

For Better or Worse

There are these moments. The ones where your brain does pretty startling things. Making connections. Sparking at just the right moment.

My team at work was having a meeting the other day, and it started out with some lighthearted talk about how I'm going to buy a cow in Bangladesh soon. (More on that later.) Anyway, one of the people on our team mentioned that she'd bought a cow as an investment as a kid, and the cow was named Blacky. She lived on a cattle ranch, so those cows weren't long for the world, and I mentioned that it would be hard for me to name my cow if it was soon to be sent off to the slaughter.

There were a number of other conversations that transpired. About e-mail marketing. About the state of the economy. About work stuff.

Toward the end of the meeting, we were given some bad news. One of the members of our team (not in attendance) was being let go. Kind of sad, but the change made sense in the context of some other changes going on with our company. The guy in question is kind of our team mascot. Quiet. Just a nice guy.

Anyway, within three seconds of having that news imparted, my brain kind of started juggling the news, the previous conversations and a million other things, and I turned to my co-worker (the one who lived on the ranch) and I said, "That's why you never name the cow."

Now, I have to say, there was a moment of silence after everyone heard that. Just a beat. A moment where the reaction could have gone either way. It might have taken a moment to register. Or maybe everyone was deciding if it was insensitive or not. But after that beat, there was just the loudest, most enthusiastic laughter in recent memory.

Maybe it was because the comment was a moment of levity in an otherwise tense discussion. But I'd rather think of it as appreciation for how my brain works sometimes. For better or worse.

Putting Portraits to Good Use

Here's my sister's holiday card for this year.



It's good to have a photographer and copywriter in the family, I guess.

Thanksgiving Jokes

I made up some jokes in honor of Thanksgiving. Please share with friends and loved ones, because, let's be honest, your gravy sucks.

Q: Why did the cranberry sauce cross the road?
A: Because it can.

Q: Why did the pumpkin pie cross the road?
A: Bad seed.

Q: Why did the pea cross the road?
A: That's there he left his iPod.

Q: Why did the tryptophan cross the road?
A: Wake me when you know the answer.

Q: Why did the mashed potatoes cross the road?
A: Seeing a new place was appealing.

Q: Why did the stuffing cross the road?
A: There was an opening it had to fill.

Q: Why did the gravy cross the road?
A: It was feeling saucy.

Q: Why did the corn cross the road?
A: If you knew, you'd be amazed.

Q: Why did the biscuit cross the road?
A: That's just the way he rolls.

Q: Why did the green bean cross the road?
A: That's just the way he casseroles.

And last but not least...

Q: Why did the pilgrim cross the road?
A: Because pilgrims would cross anything to escape an oppressive political environment, even when faced with the very real threat of bureaucracy, impatient investors, internal conflicts, sabotage, storms, disease and uncertain relations with indigenous peoples.

Blue Frosting

Now, that's something you don't see every day.

I Admit It, My Dad's Cool

You know what makes my dad so cool? I'll begin my answer with these.



About three times a week, my dad cuts wooden toys for kids. He does it for a group called The Happy Factory.

They use scrap wood and make those charming little toy cars for poor kids. They've made an incredible 25,000 toys. Just him and a small group of older guys, and the occasional volunteer (often spouses or family members) that helps put on the wheels and treat the wood with oil.

It's a remarkable project. Simple, and ultimately resulting in smiles on the faces of kids.

And my dad's part in it all always brings a smile to his kid's face, too.

What's Our Deal, Anyway?

Thanks, Brandon. This one says a lot.

Today's Kid You Don't Know

Today's Kid Pic

Because no day appears to be complete without one.

The Internet: Spark Killer?

Brandon sent over an interesting quote from Albert Brooks, apparently from the Rolling Stone comedy issue: "I think the Internet is slowly going to take down all creativity. You can take any artist in the history of the world...and if you can have widespread opinion on their first time out, you can kill the great spark that makes them who they are...Large amounts of opinion early in an artist's life is like a cancer."

I'm not sure I agree. It's an interesting thought, but in a way, every artist gets feedback about what they do, right? Whether it's in a comedy club, or in my case, people just reading my articles and jokes. I guess the Interwebs make it possible to get far more negative feedback in a much shorter time, but to me, there's also an insulation that happens on the Web.

I used to get quite a bit of hate mail about the much-neglected Dribbleglass.com, but it was easy to ignore in most cases, because it's virtual, and at arm's length.

Ultimately, if someone's spark can be extinguished by dopey, misspelled comments on a comment board, it might not be the right spark in the first place.

If anything, I'd take the opposite opinion on this one. Never before have creative people had a way to get such wide exposure and massive support for what they do. The sheer size of the audience means far more people to give positive feedback, to spark more creativity, to boost one's ego. I love the feedback I get on Flickr, and on this blog, about my photos. And I still get touching notes about the work on Dribbleglass. (Gotta love when those cancer victims write to say that my billboards are a bright spot in their day.)

I'm not sure Albert gave this one enough thought. Or maybe it's an insecure artist talking...but, in the end, nobody does their work in a bubble.

Today's Kid

I guess this is kind of starting to be the thing I do. Kids photos. Mostly because during the fall and winter, it's harder to find bugs.

Drum Roll, Please

It's about time I officially unveiled my new photography Web site, ScottRoebenPhotography.com.




Stop by. Check it out. Tell me what you think.

I figured it was about time I started paying for the seemingly endless supply of photo equipment with, of all things, money generated from photography!

Thanks to everyone who's sent kind words for the Buzz page!

Building a site isn't the same thing as operating a business, but I figure I'll give it some time to see what develops. (Pun first used in 1831.)

My Happy Place

This is one of my happiest places.



I've lived in Vegas for several years now, but I never seem to get over the fun of craps. Yes, it's fun, win or lose.

Casinos tend to have a problem with photography inside their properties. I tried to be slick at this table, at the Four Queens on Fremont Street, but the dealers pretty much crawled up my hello when they heard the shutter going. They were very aggressive about making me stop shooting, and insisted I delete the images. Yeah, that's gonna happen.

I hate, hate, hate being told what to do. Ever.

So, I fake deleted the images and just kept playing.

From the discussion that followed, it appears the casinos don't care all that much about photography for security reasons. They seem to care because they want to protect the privacy of their other customers. What a bunch of hooey.

You almost never see photos of craps tables in an actual casino. So, enjoy it. That's a lot of red.

Why Do I Like This Photo?

I have no idea.

$2 Portrait

Here's Walt!



Walt is homeless. That's gotta suck. I met Walt at the Fremont Street Experience here in Vegas. Walt wasn't feeling too talkative, and may have been in a fistfight recently (hence the cut and stitches).

Asking if I could shoot his portrait brought a smile to his face.

Learn more about the $2 Portrait Project here.

Maybe You'll Find It Funny

So, I'm at In-N-Out today. It's a restaurant. And there's this young girl behind the counter. Very friendly and chipper as many employees of In-N-Out seem to be. And, when place your order, they assign you a number and give you a receipt so you'll know when your food is ready. This girl says, "Sir, your number is 86." And in my head, I thought, "Hey, if this were a diner, you just canceled my order."

I actually started saying those words. I then realized that it was highly unlikely that this sweet, friendly young woman would have any clue what I was talking about. I don't think people "86 things" anymore. Mostly they send things back because their Wagyu beef is a tad undercooked.

It wasn't a ha-ha-funny-joke, but that's not the point. The point is that I have become my grandparents.

It's Good to Be Young

I shot some kids the other day. I do that.



This guy was a handful.



As was his brother.



Their sister was the perfect model. I guess it could be an age thing, but I suspect it was a girl thing.



I love the way kids just think about the things right in front of them. They don't seem to spend a lot of time having regrets about yesterday, nor do they tend to worry about what's coming up. It's just now. The cookies. The toys. The laughter. And even those things they don't give much thought to.

In a way, doing photography of children is the hardest and the easiest thing in the world. It's hard because it's exhausting trying to keep up. But it's easy because the pretense is nowhere to be found. It's just pure. Pure fun. Pure emotion. Pure wonder.

I Shot Me a Reception

I will probably never be a wedding photographer. Too much pressure. I could do it if it were outside, in daylight, open shade, etc.

But it's the reception that's the real killer. The one I shot (not for money, for a friend) was literally in a giant gymnasium. In virtual darkness. After all these years of doing photography, after investing in gawd-knows-how-much equipment, and after learning a nearly infinite amount of information about low-light photography, I still have no clue what I'm doing. It's all hit and miss.

Here are a few images I felt were more hit than miss.

Ever Get That Feeling?

Ever get that, well, uncomfortable feeling when you kind of think somebody's not in on the joke?

This is Cool

Thanks for sending this along, Brandon.

Here's the Dilemma

So, here's the dilemma. I have no use for God or faith or religion. Never have. I judge people who are devout. I can't help it. The stubborn part of me wants to shake people and make them understand that they're wasting big chunks of their emotional energy on superstition, no different than a belief in the Tooth Fairy or leprechauns.

But then I read a story like this one, on one of my favorite blogs.

The husband of the blogger is visiting the Dominican Republic, and he visited two homes, one where he observed a lack of faith (and hope), and another household filled with faith (and hope).

I'm not sure how nonbelievers can begrudge these people their faith, no matter how much we consider faith folly, because they have nothing else. If faith gives someone comfort in a life filled with strife, how is that destructive? If there were another option, I'd be for it, but I don't get the feeling there is.

Nonbelievers go on and on about the negative influence of religion, but we have the luxury of being free from religion and faith. We don't need it because we have abundance and prosperity. But what if faith were all we had? (And before you say the hope created by faith is "false hope," I'd say, from the looks of things, no, it's actual hope.)

I recently went to see "Religulous." It's not a good movie, but I agree with many of the sentiments put forth (especially when it comes to the loopy beliefs put forth by some of the world's largest and most successful organized religions). Bill Maher is arrogant, and condescending, and chooses only the most inarticulate people to make the case for religion, choosing to ridicule their beliefs rather than to really listen to what they're saying. In the end, the movie said a lot that needs saying, because nonbelievers don't seem to have much of a voice in America, at least not an organized one, anyway.

But what the movie completely missed was the Dominican Republic factor. Where do we get off saying these people should give up their faith because we don't agree with what they believe?

For many years, I've sponsored a child in India through an organization called Children, Inc. It's been incredibly fulfilling. This organization works through Christian schools to do their work, educating children who otherwise would have no access to education. I've never agonized over whether I want to give to a group that works with Christian schools because for the people receiving their help, faith may be the only bright spot in their lives.

So, let's cut religion some slack. Sure, we can still still slam TV evangelists who exploit the weak and vulnerable, and we should still make sure to take jabs at Xenu and Kolob and other such nonsense. But let's understand that the things we dislike about religion are just part of the picture. Faith may also give people peace. Faith may give people hope. Faith has its place. Not in the Pledge of Allegiance or the Oval Office, but maybe in a little shack in the Dominican Republic, it has its place.

Very Sad News

I think you'd agree it's very sad Michael Crichton passed away yesterday. He wrote some amazing, imaginative books.

He will be missed.

I just wish there were some way we could have him back, you know? Some way, maybe through science, a field he explored in many of his books, to make it so we could kind of have him with us again.

Hmm. Yeah, if only.

What I Did Today

Some people went to the park. Some people fed the homeless. Some people went to church. This is what I did today.



Yeah. I hear ya. Probably should have gone with the feeding the homeless thing. Besides, they probably don't get too much kiwi.

Enough About Me

Blah, blah...blog. It always seems to be about me.

But this time, it's different. It's about some book.

Uh, that I'm quoted in. In Spanish.





I'm pretty sure that quote translates to, "The only difference between friends and lovers is about four minutes." I guess people like that line, because it's on hundreds of sites on the Interwebs.

See? This blog entry wasn't about me. It was about my TALENT. So, there.

Oh, Snap!

I been told! So, here's the official line-up of my conditions.

Apparently, I have obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. Obvious one.

Histrionic personality disorder? Not sure what it is, but yeah, that's probably spot-on.

Borderline personality disorder. Yep.

Oppositional defiant disorder. (Can't go along with that one, sorry.)

Narcissist. Check. Conduct disorder. Check.

Ya just gotta love living with a mental health professional.

I Don't Birth 'Em

I just shoot 'em.

Holy Crap!

We hit a few garage sales today, as we do each weekend, and the first one we go to, there's a printer box under a table. I noticed that it was taped shut...it looked like it had never been used.

I asked the lady in charge about it, and she confirmed, it was brand-new. Her husband had gotten it, but never used it. He'd paid $100, she said.

They were asking $30. But I already have a pretty good printer for photos. The cost of ink kind of makes printing more expensive than is worth it, especially when a place like Costco does such a great job for, oh, 12 cents a print or something.

So, I asked if they'd take $20. She said "yes." I was pretty happy.

When I got home, I figured I would look up the printer to see how much of a deal, if any, I'd gotten. I found the printer on Amazon.

The price: $456.99.

Hence, the holy crap. Yay, yard sales!

Ron Howard is Cool

Whatever your political leanings, whether you're voting for Obama or the wrong candidate, you'll appreciate this great video featuring some icons from the golden age of television. Two golden ages, actually.

It's All About the Cheeks

This is one of the kids I shot this weekend. Them is some impressive cheeks, that's for sure.



This is the baby's sister. More cute cheeks, too.

Today's Portrait

"Today's" doesn't mean to imply there will be one every day, so don't worry.



I just registered this domain name: YourKidShouldBeShot.com. Do you think that's a good name for a photographer who wants to be paid for taking portraits of children?

Scariest. Video. Ever.

Funniest. Video. Ever.

Our dear friend Brandon has whipped an amazing, funny, charming, incisive and, oh, did I mention, hilarious video that's sure to redefine "viral."



The video it's a spoof of is nearly as entertaining (and addictive).

Like vs. Love

There are photos I get that I like, and photos I get that I love. Guess which category this one falls into.

That's Gotta Suck

It's gotta suck when you have a friend over for dinner, and they take all these photos, and you kind of play along because you figure the guy would never post your pictures on his blog without asking.



Jen's a regular visitor to this blog, so it won't be long before she finds out that this hypothetical situation isn't all that hypothetical. Sorry, Jen, but it's better to ask forgiveness than permission.

And thanks for being such great subjects!

Three Weird Things

Three weird things that happened this week.

First, I put out a fire in a neighbor's yard this week. I drove up, and a large bush was fully engulfed. The flames were licking at the leaves of a tree. I used a garden hose to douse the flames, and a fire truck showed up a few minutes later.

It's been said that some run away from danger, some run toward it. I, on the other hand, run toward something that's not particularly dangerous in an effort to have my neighbor's grateful wife make me some lumpia.

Second, we had a blackout at the office on Thursday. It really shone a light (so to speak) on how reliant we are on electricity and computers. Everyone was standing around going, "What do we do?" Every interaction, every piece of business, every step we take to keep the business going and the money flowing starts with our computers and e-mail. I think there was a time, during my lifetime, when we didn't have computers. At all. If the electricity went out in those days, people probably just kept working. Using paper and pen. And we all survived. Weird.

Weird thing number three. Yesterday, my girlfriend said these words, "I left a bug out for you. I fished it out of the cat's water dish. Because that appears to be normal in this house."

Not exactly alien abductions, but weird nonetheless.

Anything weird happen to you this week?

Icon: Not Just Some Title I Made Up

As further proof of my alleged iconic status, I proffer the following. I know, I know. Generally, I'm not a big profferer, but in this case, I felt proffering was called for.

Below is the cover of a book.



Yes, it's a real book, not some Photoshop jobby. Here is the back of the book.



That's right! Mere years after I virtually begged Dave Barry to contribute a "blurb" to my book, "Twisted Billboards," I was able to return the favor to another aspiring writer. Here's a close-up.



I trust that my pithy endorsement of this book, as "Creator, President and CEO" of my profoundly neglected site AnimalRightsStand.com, will cause this lively read to appear at the top of the Bestseller List within days. Actual results may, well, you know, vary.

Our Famous (and Irksome) Cat

Well, that's something. Our cat made the paper.



Just another one of those WTF moments in life.

Everything Seems to Have a Face

Aw, man. Now I can never crush a silverfish under foot without thinking about a furry little face.



There are just some creatures I'd rather not see the face of! I want them to remain anonymous and faceless and suitable for crushing.



Up close, silverfish appear to be the Teddy bears of the animal kingdom, innocently creeping into our silverware drawers and cabinets.



Who's to say our foraging and mating are more important than theirs? We're so different because we can make cars and end tables? That makes us better?

Next time, think before you crush.

Today's Random Kid

Went to a party for two-year-old the other day. Lots of kids. With a camera in my hand, I don't even seem to mind all that much.

Heeeere's Johnny

This is Johnny.



I met Johnny downtown, at the famed Fremont Street Experience. I tend to meet more homeless people at the Fremont Street Experience than anywhere else in Las Vegas. Maybe they like the light show.

I took Johnny's portrait for $2 as part of photographer Thomas Hawk's "$2 Portraits Project." Find out more here, or see the $2 Portraits Project Flickr Photostream here.

Oh, Holy Crap!

Guess what crawled creepily into our home tonight! Let's just say it wasn't a friendly ant or graceful butterfly or elegant praying mantis. Oh, heck no. The animal kingdom had to take it up a notch!



Terrified of this thing though I was, I still just had to take on the challenge of getting a macro shot. I suspect this may be where my little macro hobby ends. This thing was angry and mobile. I tried my little "in the fridge for five minutes," but he got right back up, right away, and bolted for freedom.

Back into the fridge. Ten, 20, 30 minutes. On the very last try, he held still just long enough for me to get 5-10 shots. Being so close, every movement made me think this guy was going to jump into my eye and poke a hole through my iris with his barb.

Getting this simple shot (that I'm not all that sure looks REAL) was one of the most unnerving things I've done in photography. Scorpions don't have cute little faces. They just don't. I can get all warm and cuddly over an ant, but I just can't seem to muster an affection for this bad boy.

Enjoy, because this might be the last extreme close-up you see for awhile. At least until my hands stop shaking.