Beam me up

Beam me up, originally uploaded by billaday.

UFOs almost attacked me today. Fortunately, I escaped their beams.

Day 263

three napkins

three napkins, originally uploaded by billaday.

Here are three napkins.

Often, I have an idea of what my photo-a-day will be. On this day, we had plans to see Joshua Radin at the House of Blues. My sister Annie hooked us up with a meet & greet with Josh. Unfortunately, the security guy wouldn't allow my camera inside. Fortunately, I had taken this one photo earlier, or else my photo-a-day project would have disastrously ended. Yay napkins!

Day 262

Airwolf Twilight

Airwolf Twilight, originally uploaded by billaday.

I've taken many helicopter shots, and most all of them are really lame. In real life, helicopters are cool. On film, they aren't as cool. They don't make noise and move around anymore.

This is the first helicopter shot I like. I caught this one just as it ducked behind a nearby tree. There is just enough motion in the blades. Of course, yesterday's photo-a-day is also a silhouette, but you can't win 'em all.

Day 261

escape

escape, originally uploaded by billaday.

No, I'm not in prison. Strangely enough, this is outside of Lakeshore Learning Materials (it's a teacher store). Apparently, they really want to keep people out. If I had a retail store, I would try to get people in.

Day 260

Fender Deville

Fender Deville, originally uploaded by billaday.

I really like my guitar amp. It's the Hot Rod DeVille™ 410. It has four 10-inch speakers, so the tone is nice and punchy.

I used my external flash, the Nikon SB600, resting on the amp aiming at the right of the guitar cable. I like the blurry knobs in the background.

On a side note, and probably boring note, you can see the red tape on the guitar cable. I used to put red tape or red marker on all my guitar stuff. Yeah, definitely boring ending.

Day 259

crash

crash, originally uploaded by billaday.

When you're a good drummer, it's hard to not look cool.

Day 258

gaps

gaps, originally uploaded by billaday.

"I've got an oscillating fan at my house. The fan goes back and forth. It looks like the fan is saying 'No'. So I like to ask it questions that a fan would say no to. Do you keep my hair in place? Do you keep my documents in order? Do you have three settings? Liar!"
-Mitch Hedberg

Day 257

Bill the Great

Bill the Great, originally uploaded by billaday.

I ordered a drink from the Barnes &Noble Café. Since my wife works at B&N, I know most of her colleagues. Shelly took my order and gave me this cup. She obviously knows what's up.

Day 256

Bookworm

Bookworm, originally uploaded by billaday.

We sat down to watch The Departed on blu-ray, a very exciting thing for me. Sure enough, in the middle, the wife picks up a book and starts reading it. I thought it was fairly ridiculous, so I took a picture of it. Ironically, I, too, was not paying attention to the movie at that point.

Day 255

this little piggy...

this little piggy..., originally uploaded by billaday.

Being the cool uncle, I get to take the kids outside without shoes. His mom wasn't so happy about it, but I got this really good shot of Everet hanging out on the chair with a shallow depth of field (so his toes are more prominent (or something)).

Day 254

up town

up town, originally uploaded by billaday.

The beaten path in Pasadena treated me well with this shot. For years, I would only walk down (and photograph) Colorado Blvd. Just one mile in any direction has led to some cool shots.

Day 253

Double T

Double T, originally uploaded by billaday.

We had a bottle of Double T wine from Trifethen Winery tonight, acquired from our trip up the coast. It's a red blend--that means that it tastes good, apparently.

Day 252

a change in the winds

Showerhead, originally uploaded by billaday.

A friend commented a while back about my choice of subject for my photo-a-day project. He always knows when I have something new because I take a picture of it for my photo-a-day. I suppose that's true--I capture change. Change can be something new (like this not-so-brand-new shower head), it can be a change in elevation (a mountain), a change in age (someone's birthday). To me, that's what photography is about. Obvious or otherwise.

Day 251

old found camera

old found camera, originally uploaded by billaday.

I finally retired my old Canon SD800 this summer and picked up the (almost identical, but cleaner) Canon SD870. The screen is bigger, there is no dirt inside the camera, and the body isn't falling apart.

This photo is of neither.

This is actually Isabelle's old camera, the Canon SD1000. She "lost" it, and we bought a new one (SD1100). I dropped a guitar pick into the couch, reached down, and found this camera. It's a recliner couch, so it actually fell to the ground under the recliner part. I never did find that guitar pick...

Day 250

the drive home

the drive home, originally uploaded by billaday.

After six days up the coast, we're back. The 5 is way more desolate, hot, and ugly than Highway One. It was also 7 hours faster. Now, for the recap:

We started our trip on Highway One in Santa Monica and passed through Malibu on our way for a snack in Solvang.

We stayed over in Morro Bay, ate in San Luis Obispo, and went to Hearst Castle.

The drive up the 1 from San Simeon to Monterey was gorgeous.

In Monterey, we visited the the aquarium and relaxed. The view from our hotel room was amazing.

After that, we headed up to Half Moon Bay for the night.

Our last stop was wine tasting in Napa.

If you haven't been there, go now and look at the map of where these shots were taken. It's really cool.

Day 249

the vintner

the vintner, originally uploaded by billaday.

My favorite winery we visited in Napa (by far) was Heitz Winery. They have a really good cab and a killer port. Keep in mind, I'm not a wine guy. But these were really, really good. And they have free tastings. So do yourself a favor, and go find a glass. Oh yeah, this is their logo,etched in wood.

Day 248

barrels

barrels, originally uploaded by billaday.

Our first stop in Napa (after check-in) was Trefethen Vineyards. We got there 10 minutes before wine tasting closed, and got lucky. The lady was really nice and gave us many pours, as they say. We bought the Double T, named after the way the branches look. Anyway, it is really good. After tasting, we walked around. Here's a bunch of wine in barrels.

Day 247

Cannery Row

Cannery Row, originally uploaded by billaday.

This was the view from our hotel room at the Monterey Bay Plaza Hotel. We could hear the waves hitting the wall of our room. It was amazing.

These are the old canneries that have been abandoned. Before traveling here, I read Steinbeck's Cannery Row. I must say, it was a fantastic book, and it made the city of Monterey and Highway One much more fascinating.

Day 246

jelly

jelly, originally uploaded by billaday.

We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and saw lots of jellyfish. Turns out, they're hard to photograph: it's dark, they move sorta fast, and they're behind glass (so a flash doesn't work). So after many blurry shots, this is the best one of a single jellyfish. Woo hoo.

Day 245

Highway One

Highway One, originally uploaded by billaday.

The best part about driving along Highway One is the view. I stopped the car several times between San Simeon (Hearst Castle) and Monterey. This leg of the trip was the coolest view we had, and this shot was the coolest shot of the day. It seems a bit cliché, but the lighting was rockin' and the angle was rockin', so here you have it. This photo encompasses what I thought the trip up Highway One was going to be.

Day 244