Ryan's Journal

"My life amounts to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean. Yet what is any ocean, but a multitude of drops?" — David Mitchell

About Time

Posted from Culver City, California at 12:10 am, February 24th, 2006

The Antarctica photos are finally all online. Audrey gave them a thumbs up, but be warned there are a lot. It has already been suggested that I add a slideshow feature to the photo galleries, but if anyone has any other ideas of how to make the gallery easier to use please let me know.

Some of my favorites from the latest batch:

Chinstrap penguins at Baily Head

Chinstrap penguins at Baily Head.

Weddell seal in Paradise Harbour

Weddell seal in Paradise Harbour.

Clouds over Neko Harbour

Clouds over Neko Harbour.

Double Down

Posted from Culver City, California at 11:50 pm, February 16th, 2006

Last Friday night Ryan Sutherland, Aaron and I headed to Vegas to celebrate Aaron’s birthday. The trip started with Sutherland’s primordial response upon hearing the cost of a hotel room for the evening (“Goo”), was followed by much Beastie Boys music along the way, and culminated with an appearance by Charlie Chisel and a journey led by the ouija beer. The night ended late, and the following day we hit the Bellagio for brunch before heading home by way of the Mad Greek in Baker.

Audrey and I headed out to the desert two days later for some camping. Death Valley is a good bit cooler in the winter, and we had some good hikes in between coyote and kit fox sightings. Highlighting the differences between someone like myself who prefers the outdoors, and someone like Audrey who has spent almost all of her life in cities, the wind picked up Tuesday night and lulled me to sleep, while Audrey was up most of the night wondering if the tent would blow away (it didn’t). We headed to Vegas Wednesday to catch the Blue Man Group show (it ruled), lost some money on a baffling video slot machine involving an old prospector and Q-Bert, and finally headed home this afternoon after visiting the Mirage’s pool and jacuzzi.

The slow push to get through the remaining Antarctica photos continues, although I should be able to get most of them online tomorrow. As to the rest, at the rate I’m going it may be several more years…

Golden Canyon Landscape

Golden canyon landscape in Death Valley.

Procrastinization

Posted from Culver City, California at 9:30 am, February 10th, 2006

I took about a billion photos during the trip, and despite locking myself in the house for the past week I’m still far from done organizing them. For the twos of people who want to see trip photos, give me a few more days to get something online, and at least a week for the full trip gallery. In the mean time, here are a couple of the non-rejects:

Fur Seal in Right Whale Bay

Fur seal in Right Whale Bay.

King Penguin Colony in Salisbury Plain

Salisbury Plain king penguin colony.

King Penguins in St. Andrews Bay

King penguins in St. Andrews Bay.