Location, location, location

Sometimes it's the food that makes a great dinner. Somestimes it's the wine. Sometimes it's the company. And sometimes, it's just where you happen to be that makes it memorable. With this kind of view, you could serve pretty much anything and I would probably remember it fondly.

Camera: Nikon D70s
Location: Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Cockroaches Are Not Cute

This is a picture of an eight-year-old boy holding a cockroach -- A Huge Frickin' Cockroach. (That sounds even better if you say it with a Scottish accent, but then again, what doesn't?) I was eight years old once, many moons ago, and I don't remember a time then or now when I would have held a huge Madagascar hissing cockroach in my hand. Not long ago, I would have freaked out just knowing these things existed, and there's my son calmly holding one in his hand looking like he wants to pet it. If I weren't so grossed out by the possibility of splatter, I would have stepped on the damn thing.

Camera: Nikon D70s
Location: New York City, NY

Meeting John Glenn

This week was the 40th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing (for those of you who
believe that that actually happened). This week, we also celebrated the 88th birthday of John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth (some 7 years before Neil Armstrong blasted off).

I had the honor of meeting Senator Glenn at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. He turned out to be one of the most gracious people I've ever met (and sharp as a tack, too). In this picture, he is pointing out a few interesting details of his Friendship 7 capsule to my 10-year-old son. This was an immensely cool situation that I hope my son can appreciate when he gets older.

Camera: Nikon D70s
Location: Washington, DC

Types of Drunks

Working in bars for the last umpteen years, I've run into my share of drunks and they tend to fall into a few categories. There are the happy drunks, the mean drunks, the obnoxious drunks, and the show-off drunks. There are the drunks who actually get better at pool, darts, and foosball the more they drink. There are the drunks who think that they sing or play guitar better the more they drink, despite the painful reality.

And then, there are the drunks that just quietly fall asleep at the table and wait for someone to carry them home.

Camera: Nikon D70s
Location: Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

This is My Backyard

Well, no it's not. But I'm planning for the future. I've heard that your own personal island can be purchased for a modest price. One day, I would like to get out of bed, look out my kitchen window and see this. And then I would wonder who the nice man is who is sitting under my umbrella. Smithers, release the hounds.

Camera: Nikon D70s
Location: Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Those Bleeping Games

No, I wasn't censoring myself. If you look closely, you will notice that there is not an electronic gizmo in sight. Here we see a boy having fun with a game that has no batteries (Etch-a-Sketch to be exact). I won't mention that two minutes after this picture was taken, he was playing a Wii game with one hand, logging into his Webkinz account with the other, and listening to an iPod. Let's just enjoy the moment.

So Happy Together

Remember those carefree days down at the soda shop when you could share a malted and some licorice whips with your best girl? No, me either. When my time came around, it was arcade games and pizza. For my kids, it will probably be something completely different. That's if they can fit girls somewhere between appointments at baseball, soccer, lacrosse, band, and taekwondo.

Camera: Nikon D70s

Sometimes, you just have to say...

Okay, okay. The name of this city is actually pronounced "Poo-KET", but don't tell me you weren't thinking something else for a very brief moment.

Camera: Nikon D70s
Location: Punta Cana, Dominican Republic