San Francisco Zoo - Dad's Visit

My Dad and his family decided to do a road trip from El Paso (El Paaa'hso) Texas to San Francisco to come and see me. They ended up being able to stay for Thanksgiving (post up coming). 

These guys were playing for like 20 minutes. I know it is a bit blurry but I thought that it really captured the play. I like how the bottom guy's face is kinda sharp. 

This guy was about to fall asleep standing on one leg.

I just think this guy looks kinda funny passed out in the sun. 

This is Lonigan, the youngest of my Dad's brood. He is a ham, and hams get their pictures taken. He is a pretty funny little guy with a ton of spunk. 

These apes really make me sad. You can really feel their frusteration at the walls and confinement. I wish they could get a chance to be out in the jungle before they die. 

Liz's Pics Sunset

The blimp up in the upper left hand corner is this new tourist company located at Moffett Field in Mountain View. For $500 you get an hour long ride around the bay area. Liz thinks it is worth it, I think it's a rip off for just one hour. I understand that's progbably how much it costs, but I just don't have that kind of money to spend on an hour. You can also see the Transamerica Building off to the right there. I just wish it wasn't so grainy (need a faster lens-grr). 

Fall Colors

Without Polarizer.

With Polarizer.

I just wanted to post a nice little useage of the polarizer. The leaves are waxy and do a good job of scattering the sunlight which makes them look washed out and white. If you use a polarizer, you kill the glare, and the color comes right through. Not to mention the sky is a bit darker which is always nice. These were taken at Mill's College the same day as we were digging in the dirt. See, California has fall colors too!

Mill's College Native Tree Planting

Whew! Well that's a start. I will be continuously working on changing how the blog "looks", and maybe eventually get to how it "feels", but I can at least stand how things are right now. This last weekend, Brian asked if I wanted to plant some trees, and I said yes. Liz went along for the ride as well, and probably worked harder than me. Oh and I'd like to thank Squidfingers for their pattern (on the sides, but I'll probably make my own eventually), and to this site done by a chica named Amanda which explained the modifications that I have done thus far. 

HDR Shovel

Peeps working, digging holes, etc. 

HDR of ths site and the huge Euch. Liz and Liz are working in the back.

Brian in digging motion.

The 500th Post!

That's right, 500 posts thus far on this blog in just over 3 years. Most of these have been in the last year, as my photo taking has escalated, as well the number of websites I'm currently plugged in to on a daily basis has grown, I have gotten more active on this blog. I hope you all out there have enjoyed what I have posted, and plan to continue to post in this public forum. In honor of this occasion, I have decided to overhaul the look, format, and style that is posted here on Guz's World. This site will be dedicated to pictures, politics, and philosophy- sorta typical of what has been here thus far. Basically this site will be reserved for writing my thoughts, while using visual images to string the thoughts together (or the narrative will be there to explain the pictures). The difference is there will be no more posts of simply images, with no text, in a big post-gasm.

Those kinds of posts will be reserved for a new blog that I am starting, Guz's Photo Blog- simple name, but to the point I think. It will have a seperate different layout and style. I don't know that I will do the multiple image sets though, I haven't made up my mind. I'd appreciate some input- do you like the 3-5 image sets, or would you maybe rather a picture per day, one picture per post. Even though it will be very hard for me to choose, I would be doing some serious filtering of my pictures, only publishing the very best cream of the crop. Thoughts? Also, would you prefer no text, or just maybe a single line of text, like a caption in a magazine? Remember there will be overlap between the two blogs, and from any given set, I will probably post more pictures here, than over there, only here there will be a dialogue explaining what was going on with me during the photo taking. Thoughts, opinions, or comments on this?

Well, anyway, I have really enjoyed the whole blogging experience as a medium of expression, and I hope that I can keep it up, because I'd really like to look back years from now on these first few years with some kind of sentimentality. Thanks for visiting!

-Jesse

Bush and Surveillance

If the gov't starts spying on journalists, I hit the panic button. I always knew the Bush administration was spying on us, but I guess I hoped that my fears were false. All those conservatives saying, "National Security" are full of shit. I mean are you all so blind to think that someone with unparallelled supervisory powers will use them for "Good", whatever that means? The temptation to spy on your enemies (and in this case friends as well- see Tony Blair) is just too great for anyone, especially someone as morally defunct as the 43rd Presidential Jerk of the US. 

Thanks dude. 

Link

SF at Night - Panoramas

SF - Night Civic Center Blue Dome

Coorelation: TV and Happiness

From the NYTimes- Link: 

“We looked at 8 to 10 activities that happy people engage in, and for each one, the people who did the activities more — visiting others, going to church, all those things — were more happy,” Dr. Robinson said. “TV was the one activity that showed a negative relationship. Unhappy people did it more, and happy people did it less.”

Girl in Pink - Revisited-Update

All of this politics talk has gotten me thirsty for some pointless art play. Here is a picture I took about a month ago, and since I've been playing with motion, blur, and overlay- I thought that I would try to combine them into something new. Here the original and new versions are, let me know what you think- this was a quick rough attempt, and I need to know whether it's worth going back to my original big image and re-working that version- or not. Which do you prefer?

UPDATE: One more of just a weee bit of blur on her backside...?