Oh no! Ernesto has finally reached New York! It's the end of the world, run for the hills, take shelter!

 

OK, so maybe not really.  But if you'd been listening to the news for the past, what is it now, probably almost two weeks, then you'd think that Ernesto was some kind of super storm that was going to destroy us all.  I mean the amount of news coverage that this tiny, little, huricane-for-a-minute storm has received is unbelievable.  Never underestimate the power of the news media to turn a non-event into a major news story.  

 

As far as Ernesto in New York goes, all it's done is cancel a few matches of the US Open and turn Labor Day weekend into a rainy mess.  Oh, and it gives Andre Agassi an extra day of rest before his next match.  Anyone catch his match on Thursday night?  Wow what a match!  OK, now I'm just wandering all over.  I just had to rant a little after not being able to escape Ernesto coverage anywhere.

 

 

I just got back from a great vacation to Lake Powell with my family and I took a boatload of photos.  It's going to take a while to get them all posted so I thought I'd just post a few at a time until I'm done.  The first ones are of Brady on the wakeboard.  I brought my trusty 300 mm manual-focus lens with me on the trip and it turned out to be an excellent lens for capturing photos of everyone water skiing and wakeboarding. 

View Brady's action photos.

 

Alright, it's taken me nearly 2 months, but here they are.  For the Fourth of July I went with Elene and Adam to the rooftop of a building in Midtown Manhattan to watch the Macy's fireworks display.  You couldn't ask for a better view of the fireworks - it was close, not crowded and I could set up a tripod.  So I set up the tripod and took a bunch of pictures and got a few that actually look pretty good.

 

View the 4th of July 2006 album.

 

 

For the Fourth of July weekend I went with some friends, Elene & Adam, to Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey.   One of the attractions at Six Flags is the Wild Safari.  The Wild Safari is really pretty cool.  It's basically an African Safari in the middle of New Jersey.  They've got Camels, Ostrich (who wanted to eat my windshield wipers), Elephants, Rhinos, Kalabaw (Water Buffalo), Giraffe, Bears, Lions, Tigers, Llamas and Zebras - you name it.  I only wish that 1) I had a lens with a bigger zoom, and 2) I didn't have to shoot through the windows of my car.  I still managed to get a few good shots, so here they are for your enjoyment.

 

View the Wild Safari album. 

 

Alright, this will have to be my last update for the night because it's getting rather late.  A couple of weeks ago I went to a Mets game along with a lot of other church members in the New York area.  The Missionaries sang the National Anthem so we all were able to get in at a discount.  It was a lot of fun and my first major league game.  Heavy rain had been forecasted that night and it did start to rain in the 7th inning.  At that point everybody started to leave and I was going to as well but I stuck around for a little longer (it helped that I had an umbrella).  Then, shortly after it started the rain stopped so I stayed for the rest of the game.  Unfortunately the Mets weren't able to pull out a win but it was a good night anyway.
 
I got some nice shots with the fisheye lens.  The last few shots are of the McAdams family (and their twins) who I've become good friends with.
 
View the Family Night with the Mets album.

 

A few weeks ago I took the plunge and bought a Roomba.  Roomba is one of the greatest inventions ever created, especially for people that are lazy like me and own pets that shed like Pungi.  So, now all I need to do to clean up all the Pungi hair that inevitably gets scattered all throughout the apartment is set Roomba loose.  And when it's done cleaning it automatically returns to its charging station to recharge the battery!  It doesn't get better than that.

 

Anyway, what happens when you set Roomba loose while Pungi is relaxing?  Well, it's best to just view the photos.

 

View the Pungi and Roomba album.