Archive for April, 2006

sunday randomness

Published
by
Danny
on April 30, 2006
in Community, Food, General and Toys
. Closed

breakfast at larry's

Random bits for Sunday night…

While the boys at Firestone were putting my new 17″ wheels and tires on my car last week, I walked down to a nearby Larry’s Market to get some breakfast. Their amaretto french toast is super tasty. For $6 you get four gigantic pieces of french toast covered in powdered sugar with butter and syrup on the side. It’s not exactly a light breakfast, but it was yummy.

I also discovered that this particular Larry’s (off 124th in Kirkland, near the freeway) has pretty neat diner-esque eating area. While all the other markets are doing the whole warm colors and natural-looking wood theme, this one has faux leather booths, metal chairs, lacquered tables. Very old school.

Crossroads Mall was a really happenin’ place on Saturday. There was some event going on nearby, and a few local music and dance performers did some shows on the stage at the mall. The most interesting one was The Rhythms of India dance group (I think that’s what they were called). Groovy modern Indian beats, semi-traditional dance moves, and some amazingly colorful costumes. I tried to get a few photos with my D70, but my 18-70mm lens couldn’t get close enough for anything good. Methinks I need to get a longer zoom lens for shows like this. That Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens looks awfully tempting. Too bad I just spent a butt-load of money on my car.

Speaking of my car, last week’s tune-up and new tires has totally transformed how my car drives. It feels like a new car again. The 17″ wheels with the new tires are riding very smoothly. The complete flush of my engine’s internals has really improved overall performance. I’m back to peppy acceleration and really using that turbo. Of course, gas prices just keep going up, so I’m not sure that the speedy driving is a good thing right now. Oh well.

photo friday: famous

Published
by
Danny
on April 28, 2006
in Photo Friday and Photography
. Closed

liberty at alki

Photo Friday 4/28/2006: Famous

There’s a small version of the Statue of Liberty over at Alki Beach in west Seattle. By itself it’s not such a big deal. I got really lucky with the cloud formation that afternoon.

free cone day

Published
by
Danny
on April 25, 2006
in Food, Fun and Photography
. 1 Comment

free cone day at ben and jerry's

Today was Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry’s. Newquirt, Southwick, Law, and I took a break in the middle of the day to head down to the Kirkland waterfront to enjoy some ice cream and soak in the sun. Free ice cream, clear skies, and warm weather really made it tough to go back to the office and sit in front of a computer. I would have rather stayed at the lake for the rest of the afternoon and just sit in the sun. Oh well.

Not surprisingly, I took my camera with me and snapped a few pics. Nothing terribly exciting. :)

sunday afternoon at the zoo

Published
by
Danny
on April 25, 2006
in Fun, Photography and Travel
. Closed

there's a lion back there

Taking advantage of Sunday’s beautiful weather, my buddy Scott and I went to Woodland Park Zoo for an afternoon photostroll. Most of the animals were either sleeping or hiding, so I didn’t get many good shots. The covered display areas were also dark enough to make even ISO 1600 shots difficult.

Another challenge was getting close enough for interesting photos. My 18-70mm lens was woefully inadequate to even fill the frame with a single animal in its environment. I guess this is why people get those monstrous lenses. I was able to get some nice shots of the monkeys, mostly because they were hanging out near the glass and being sociable. I’m definitely much more geared for close-quarters shooting.

One animal I wish I could’ve photographed was the goliath bird-eating spider. The gigantic spider was hiding beneath a carved out piece of wood in its display case, but I could see the silhouette of its monstrous legs and body against the backlighting. The beast was easily the size of my face – definitely the largest spider I’ll most likely lay eyes on. I have a bit of arachnophobia, so I was extremely glad that it was behind glass.

The small set from Sunday is available in my Flickr photostream.

« Older Entries