Bull Creek

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Bastrop State Park

I put my pics up on Tabblo this time. It's just easier for me to organize the pics there then on my blog here.

Still learning so much about photography. And CSS. The cool thing is this new interest of mine is maing me check out all these places I've never been to before. And also make me aware of all these great places all around me that I never fully appreciated.

It turned out to be pretty dry at Bastrop State park. But the sky was gorgeous, almost looked like a painting. Got a chance to test out some macro zoomin shots.
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Austin in the evening

I've been over the whole sixth street scene in Austin for a while now. It tends to get really boring really fast unless you like dancing or drinking. I don't drink and don't dance unless I'm drunk.

But there is an awesome place on 6th next to I-35 called Habana. It's a Cuban place, good food and music. I usually end up hanging out there with freinds when the weather is good.

The pic below is right next to Habana. You can't actaully tell, but to the left of this location, I-35 starts and everything from there on just starts looking really ghetto.



Got this one while walking towards the capitol on Congress. We were passing under the lights of the paramount. I added some special effects ofcourse. I try not do that too much (besides correcting over exposure), but this somehow seemed appropriate. The paramount is one of the oldest theaters around here and the lighting seemed to work out well with B&W.

Thunder, Rain and GunPower for the 4th of July

You would think that a level headed person would want to stay indoors after noticing the menacing appearence of the heavens above.Occasionally, the clouds would growl ,like my sister after she discovered she had gained 5 lbs instead of losing the 10 she was working towards.

But it was a Tuesday, it had been a four day weekend and I was bored out of mind sitting around in the house.

Soon the rumbling stopped and seeing this, I gathered the pack and headed out.

Ofcourse the other fellas didn't bring an umbrella or anything. I wanted to make an event of it and decided to bring some salty snacks, watermelon, lawn chairs, ground spread, my ipod, the camera, a tripod (useful for night pics).

OK, so I had been planning this for the past couple of days and I really wanted to go.

Going to Zilker for the 4th was like getting double-dog-dared into a drinking game. It seemed like a good idea at the time because it had happened such a long time ago that you forgot about most of it, but you always regretted it the next day. And you would probably do it again anyway because you are only left with a vague recollection of a pseudo-pleasent experience after a couple of days.

I always take the buses from 15th and Trinity down to the park. Spend an hour at the park, stared at the orchestra and the fireworks and then rushed back to try and be one of the first 100 folks on the buses.





There was a surprising number of folks around. Looks like its going to take more than a little downpour to keep the Austinites from celebrating the 4th at the park.




Some folks had the right idea about viewing the fireworks. I'll have to remind myself to grab a canoe or two next year .





We contemplated the surroundings (i.e., checked out the chicks ) as we bit into watermelon and some salty snacks..




Soon the sun started to set and clouds became heavier.

No matter. We were here to stay for the music and the fireworks.


And it was around this time when I realized that the camera had run out of battery.

And the fireworks weren't going to start for another hour....


And then the rain came. I think it was that first cannon blast that jiggled that cloud loose and set it off.


After 30 minutes under the tarp, we decided this was all the fun we were going to have tonite.



Thats when the fireworks started....

And that's also when my camera died....

Fireworks and lightening make an awesome show. I quickly forgot about the camera as the lightening arcs danced with the spectacular and dazzling fireworks. The damp and the soaked all oooooh'ed and aaaaahhh'ed .

I'm so glad I went.

So for next year.

1- Get a canoe for watch the fireworks by the river.
2- Recharge the camera before you leave.
3- Remind yourself how much you used to enjoy the rain as a kid.

Make fun of yourself. Its a good thing.

A freind of mine from Canada introduced me to an awesome Canadian East-Indian (the dot , not the feather) comedian called Russel Peters.

His style of comedy celebrates the diversity that exists all around us. Basically he makes fun of you if you're Yellow/White/Black/Brown/Magenta. The world is shrinking every day and I love how he manages to do standup comedy about race/religion and still have everyone in the room loving him for it. It's basically another form of tolerance preaching, with alot of penis and poop jokes :)

Check him out in the video below. Plenty more on youtube and google video as well.

FIFA semi-finals today at 2pm. Folks in Texas aren't too keen about the sport, although you will find pockets of insanity if you're in the right neighbourhood at the right time.

I'm rooting for Germany to make it into the final. Let's see what the Italians have to say about that today.

Speaking of a soccer fever, here is a picture that is pretty hard to beat.

Stacy Pool hike

I had to go in to work today for a bit. But afer that, I decided to skip lunch and went to check out Stacy Pool.

Bad idea...
Not the stacy pool thing, but the whole skipping lunch deal. Started feeling like crap after walking around for a couple of hours around the area.

I really just wanted to find this little watering hole I had come across the last time I had been there. It was off the side of the road, you had to climb down a bunch of rocks and stuff to get into the area. I did find it, but didn't bother going down there for the reason below.

I felt a little overdressed as I walked around the place with my ipod and cell phone clipped to my belt and my umbrella (forecast for rain today) and camera in the other. Everyone else was jogging around in a shirt and shorts. I have never really been a fan of shorts. Only wore them in the gym or if I'm out running. Havn't done either of those in a while.



You can't actaully tell in the pic above, but the water is coming from a drain pipe. I just convieniently left it out of the pic :)





It was a beautiful day to be outside. Unfortunately, my hunger got the better of me.And when yer insides are gnawing at you like that, all the natural beauty in the world will just seem like something that is slowing down your progress towards the car.

That and I saw a freakin huge ugly-ass-hairy spider. The only way I was going to take a picture of that thing was if I had a telephoto lens...Man that thing was nasty..

Did catch some other shots on the way back



That's all I have for today.

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Batty In Austin (nature shots part 2)

I wandered around downtown Austin. Austin's supposed to be a hip/happening place. Surely there must be something I could shoot down there. Butterflies were just not going to cut it.

Well... I was right.

I remembered that during the summers, the Congress bridge holds is home to thousands of bats that surge out into the night around sunset. Makes for quite a view. These bats make for an delightful olifactory (overwhelming smell of guano in the area) and visual (thousands of little rodents flying in the air) experience.

So I parked the car around the 1st street bridge. This was a short walk from the congress bridge.



A small crowd was already starting to develop at the spot.



I had some time, so I figured I would explore DT in the day. Don't come here much when its daylight, so you miss out on some of the sights, like this one here

Yes, I know. Just a waterfall. But just standing there in its spray and finding my own thoughts drowning in the roar of the water was somehow soothing to me. It quiets the mind to a point where all the voices in head couldn't say anything above the din of the water. It's not very often I can get those guys to shutup.

I figured if I'm going to get a good shot at those rodents, I better find my place in that crowd that was really starting to swell.

I mean, look at these poeple! Why are these facinated by these icky flying rodents? And I'm right there with them.



As I waited, I struck up a conversation with a chinese gentleman and his mother who were trying to read what exactly was written on this guy's shirt


The gentleman explained that it talked about the rain and thunderclouds convolving with .... something and doing something with the tide and stuff...

I bet if you wrote humpty dumpty in chinese and sold that shirt, folks would buy it. It's one of those fads, like having a che guavara t-shirt. You have no idea what the symbols/man mean/stood for but damn, it looks cool on a shirt. I know I would buy it :)

Ok...the bats. Lets see them then






And there you have it folks.

These bats will rid the city of all kinds of nasty bugs in the night and will settle under the bridge for the day, only to rise again the next time.

Makes you wonder how thousands of bats a) found this bridge and b) all agreed to make it their summer home.

The real-estate guy must have made a killing...

[Update] Here are the pics in my tabblo. Arn't they purty?

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My attempts at nature shots

I recently developed a keen interest in photography recently. So I decided I would travel the streets of Austin with my sister's camera. This way, I would always be ready if inspiration struck me.

Today was my first experiment with this.

It's a Sunday , which means I won't be at work till sunset. I might actually get something interesting.

Armed with the camera and a cheap tripod, I set about to seek inspiration.

I found my muse at the top of a ridge right next to the bridge on 360 where I got this beaut.


This was ofcourse several snaps combined. It's a good thing the sun wasn't out. That's fudged up some of my previous attempts at this.

I am by no means an expert at this, so I'm sure there is a way to make this look better.

But right now,I don't care. This panorama thing is awesome!!

I even tried my hand at nature photography


yeah, I know. I'll keep working on it.

E-Shack in the making

This is not my first attempt at starting blogs.

I had visions of grandeur when I attempted my first blog. With these hands, I would take this lump of clay (my life, my ideas, all the voices in my head) and carve/mold figures and works that would rivals Michealangelo’s David and those scribbles that Leonardo did in his spare time. But alas, all I would end up with was a pile of goo with less potential than my neighbour’s three-year-olds ear wax dolls (He later improved his designs with strategically placed belly button lint).

I think part of the problem was performance anxiety. I was under the incorrect assumption that anything I published on the information superhighway had to be glorious, original, a veritable eMansion of knowledge and inspiration. And all I had was an eShack. An eShanty-town with its open eGutters and little eRats scurrying all over the place..Yup, me special place on the information super highway.

e-Shack A metaphor that implies this blogger has the writing skills of a 2 year old chipmunk and still wants to contribute to the blogsphere

I realized that the blog’s goal should’nt be about the reader. I should be about me! As Kelly says in Beverly Hills 90210, I choose me!!.

I can't guarantee this won't be the beginning of e-Favela, but lets see where this goes.