Fire in the Backyard

Introducing Jump Breaks!

Just a little note: if you see the link that says "read more" at the bottom of a post, please click the link! It means that there is more content hidden from the main page of the blog so as not to take up too much space when I write 500+ words. Try it out!

A New Flavor

When Bunny and I started trying cupcakes at Sprinkles a few months ago, I have to admit that I became a little obsessed. While I'm in the pop-culture minority because I'm not a huge fan of the red velvet cupcakes that made them world renowned, I will say that Sprinkles makes some amazing flavors. Over summer my favorite was lemon blueberry, lemon frosting over blueberry cake with blueberry compote inside. Bunny fell in love with their strawberry cupcakes, with strawberry icing over strawberry infused cake. Plain vanilla with sprinkles was great, and the chocolate cake part of the black&white cupcakes was wonderful, although the icing on that one was a little too sweet.

In the middle of my San Francisco adventure, Bunny and I went to the Sprinkles shop in Palo Alto, and we found that it contrasted heavily with our experience in Beverly Hills. The Beverly Hills store has a few features that make it a sort of landmark in Los Angeles. The store is tiny, with barely enough room for 10 or so patrons inside at any given moment, so a line quickly forms outside with people waiting to indulge themselves. The store is also nondescript and easy to miss if you're not sure what you're looking for. Finally, there is nothing quite like being only a block or two away from Rodeo Dr. and feeling a little bit elite by indulging in these special cakes at this location.

Weeks of Bliss

Over two weeks have passed since my last post so I thought I’d take the time to talk about my adventures during that lapse.

For the second and third weeks of August this year I took a position as an instructor for USF’s Foreword program. The basic idea of the program is this; a select group of incoming freshmen, many of them first generation college students, attend the school for two weeks prior to their first semester. They sign up for some courses that will give them a taste of what the coming years of school will be like. They work in groups and are encouraged to create lasting friendships and make solid connections with their peers. My job was to give them some prep for various math classes.

Edgy in black and white (Before and After)

I'm not a huge fan of black and white photography. Nor do I shoot in black and white; but here's what happens when you take a photo in color, grayscale it and enhance the contrast. This is the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles.

Pacific Design Center

Last month when Bunny and I were wandering around Los Angeles, we stopped at the Pacific Design Center in our vain attempt to visit one of the MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) locations there. Unfortunately and unbeknown to us before we got there, the museum was closed, but the PDC itself was a pretty magnificent place. From what we could gather, it's a giant design house where designers and vendors can set up space with like-minded people to sell their wares. So, instead of offices like you'd expect in most buildings, each of these spaces is pretty much a gallery for the designer. Very interesting place with a lot of furniture and textile design, but the building itself has some very impressive architecture, not that I'd expect otherwise.

Grafitti tours

While I'm here I plan on taking photos of the various graffiti/stickers that get put up around the city. Here are a couple I saw this afternoon.

Giants Observing

I was fortunate enough to be driving by this building as the firefighter (others not pictures) climbed among the roof. I haven't been able to determine what they were doing up on the roof, but I was compelled by the radio tower from Twin Peaks being covered in the lifting fog seemingly watching over the event unfolding.

The biggest and smallest

Bunny and I headed to Hart Park one afternoon since I've only been there a time or two and we were looking for local things to do. I remembered the California Bison and thought it'd be a lot of fun to see them since we had a great time finding the Buffalo in Golden Gate Park (not that they're difficult to find, but we were walking). Bison are really interesting animals - the largest in North America (bigger than Grizzly bears) and distinct from Buffalo. Afterward, we headed to the park and circled around behind to the senior center where there's actually a better view of the Bison than from the park itself. The one in the picture was moseying down toward us (still up on his hill) and posing for pictures while eating the plants. After we observed the Bison, we went up to the historic house at the top of the park. While wandering around the grounds (closed on the day we were there), Bunny spotted this squirrel climbing the cactus and nibbling the fruit.

Stranger from a strange land

Walking Twinkie with Bunny last night, we happened upon this wonderful Praying Mantis on the sidewalk.  It quickly began climbing into the bushes but stopped to pose for my camera.

Some people shouldn't be allowed to drive