Closeup of rusty casemate at Fort Point National Historic Site. San Francisco, CA
Canon 5D, Lensbabies 3G, 1/200 sec, f/2.0
May 27, 2007  

Yes, I mean that literally- in the gutter.   I had an uncomfortable encounter with the pavement while crossing Lombard Street in San Francisco.   I fell hard, but managed to bear the majority of the impact, sparing my new camera substantial damage.   The camera made contact with the pavement, but it was minimal and the battery grip absorbed most of the shock.  That is, the shock that wasn’t distributed to the rest of my body.  My right ankle is still swollen (2 days later) and my left knee and shin are a bloodied mess.  Worst of all is the stiffness throughout my body.  I am once again reminded that I am getting older and that these events take quite a toll on me.  ugh.

In addition to my little crosswalk surfing incident, Sami managed to bring the rear hatch (on our SUV) down on my head on Sunday.  There’s a sizable lump and I got quite the headache from the ordeal, but I guess it could be worse.  It could, right?

The weather in the city was terrible until the day we left.   That coupled with my injuries prompts me to declare the need for a ‘do-over’.   I really want to go back and this time, I want to do it right.   I also want to meet up with my brother and a couple of friends in the area.  Guess I need to be thinking about those unscheduled vacation days, eh?

I really didn’t manage to get any decent shots while visiting San Francisco.  The few posted here (in this and the last entry) are about it.   The weather was so crappy and cold.  Not only did I fail to bring back any worthy photographs, I managed to get so much dust on the sensor of my one week old camera that I now have to take it to Beaverton this Saturday to have it professionally cleaned.  Guess who’s cancelling her weekend camping trip so that she can drive to Portland on Saturday?  Yeah…  color me thrilled.

Moving on, under housekeeping, I’d like to call your attention to the new (albeit very late) playlist in the sidebar on the right of the page.   I’m in a ‘grungy’ mood, I guess.

I’ve got a ton of email I’m going through.  I’m trying to get to them as fast as I can.  (Tara, yours is at the top of my list…   I’ll actually try to call you tomorrow, OK? )  For now, sleep beckons.

This is about all I have to show for yesterday:

Canon 5D, 24mm f/2.8, shutter speed 1/13 second, ISO 100

 Canon 5D, 24mm f/2.8, shutter speed 1/5 second, iso 100

We’re here in SF right now.   Now, most refer to this grey blight as fog and mist, but I personally call it “Hell”.  There are so many places and things that I’d wanted to be able to shoot and either they cannot even be seen through the grey blah or the moisture in the air is a little too much for my gear.  Today is supposed to be worse.   I’m hoping for a strong push to move this icky weather on out so that we can have a wee bit of sunshine.   I’ll settle for drier air.

I’m going to brush my teeth and we’ll hit the road.  Not sure where we’re headed to.  Somewhere dry, I hope.

Bee and Flower:  Canon 5D, Lensbaby 3G.  Handheld. f/2.0, exp 1/80 second, ISO 100

This evening, I spent some time watching the bees on the flowering shrub in front of my apartment.  They’d flit from flower to flower every second or two.  But I believe that although they seem aimless and disorganized, they were actually accomplishing something.  More importantly, they were accomplishing what they set out to do.   Unfortunately, that’s not always true in my case.

I’ve got entirely way too much to do.  But it’s going to be nice to have the daylight hours to work on the house (and catch up with that pile of laundry in the hall).   I was doing really well with everything again until these last three weeks.  I just haven’t been able to do keep up with everything.  I think it’s motivational issues.   Being busy with other stuff doesn’t help.  Still, there has to be a better way to organize my time.

Leaving tomorrow night for our trip.  It’s going to be a whirlwind few days.  (Scott…  if you see this, please give me a call or drop me a line.  We’d love to catch up with you while in the city.)

Now, if you’ll excuse me… I’ve going to indulge in a little late night South Park.