Monthly Archives: August 2008

Photo-A-Day

Havana on my Mind

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Havana on my Mind
Photo-A-Day #1232

Last night I went to a place called Havana Mania for dinner with my Uncle Jim. He asked me if I liked Cuban food and I was sort of non committal about it, I like it but not really raving about it. So we had dinner at Havana Mania and the food was excellent. I enjoyed it very much. We got this large platter of all sorts of things including chicken, beef, pork and shrimp. So tasty. I said on an utterz message, that was supposed to go to this blog, that I am now a big fan of Cuban food like my Father-In-Law Dan.

I’m having a hard time realizing what day it is right now. My flights were fine. I made it to both of them on time, even the super quick connection in Washington. So I was home by 10:30. I wanted to be a trooper and do some work today so I signed in for four hours but I was dragging so I ended up with a half day sick. I then took a 3 hour nap which was not nearly long enough. When I got up Allison and I decided that we would go to the new Cuban place for dinner.

Yes, Cuban again, this time we were at the Havana Cafe, it is a new restaurant located in the place where my parent’s favorite pizza place used to reside. I think that if they go down for a meal they won’t be missing pizza very much at all. The place is very small and cozy and the people there are very friendly, but then again we had our icebreaker, Eva, she melts hearts. Eva was pulling out all the stops with the sign language, the waving and the smiling with her now 8 teeth. Yeah a couple came through while I was away. So now she has 4 on top and 4 on bottom. So Eva was a charmer. Allison and I ordered our meals, I got Vaca Frita (in the Photo-A-Day) and what I really liked is that you can substitute any of the sides. This meal was supposed to come with plantains, well I don’t like anything from the banana family so that was out, and I easily subbed that for an empenada. The meal was absolutely delicious. I really wish that more people were there because I’d like this place to be successful so we can eat there again.

Allison just helped me load my boat on the car and I need to get some rest because I’m going out with Keith again for another Wired Kayaker session, so look for that video later in the week. I need to go get some sleep.

Photo-A-Day

Made in the Shade

Made in the Shade
Photo-A-Day #1231

Today was the day after a whirlwind. I was up for over 24 hours straight. So you’d figure I’d wake up late, nope. I ended up awake at 5:00am (went to bed at 1:00am) I got up to work on the video for WOM World and Nokia Productions. You can see the product of that work in the videos in the post below. I am a fan of the Sepia one but was trying to incorporate video and stills together in the black and white one.

I’m not a total Jumpcut convert yet, in fact I think it is buggy and temperamental. However, I do think that it accomplishes something pretty sweet with collaboration between people. I was able to get whatever uploaded media that I wanted from Bryan, Heather, Bekah and Arnold. So after breakfast with Colin, Donna, Nick, Bekah and Bryan I decided to try Jumpcut a second time and that is where the black and white one came from, I thought I was on to something but when I played it back it was adding some images that I didn’t want added. I’ll have to scrap it and try that one again on Jumpcut.

After I messed around with the video it was time to meet everyone downstairs to go to the Santa Monica Pier. I went with Bryan, Nick and Bekah. We got there a little after Colin and Donna. We walked up down and around the pier photographing everything in sight. I stick with inanimate objects and people I know. Bryan photographs people and he is very good at it. I try not to take too many photos of people I don’t know.

The Santa Monica Pier has a Ferris Wheel and roller coaster among some of the fun draws. I had a nice time photographing those attractions and the reactions of people riding them. I walked to the end of the pier and took some shots looking back through the pier. I was able to photograph a pelican up close and as I was going back up to the Pier I heard a busker singing Todd Snider. I had to stop and drop some cash in his bucket because, hey, who sings Todd Snider, it was great to hear.

We met up with Bryan’s friend Nathaniel and his girlfriend. Nathaniel took this photo of the group on the pier.

Group Shot

After we were done on the pier we headed to the promenade and had lunch. We went to a place called Yankee Doodle’s. It was typical American fare and I split an appetizer/meal with Bekah called The 8 Ball Platter. It had Sliders, Hot Wings, Onion Rings and Fries. I asked for a small container of mayo to make some Fry Sauce. They went and charged us $0.50 for the mayo, they probably ended up using as much mayo int he container as they would have on the cheese steak that was requested without mayo. That was sneaky. Not something I like at all. I did mix up some Fry Sauce and added some Tabasco, it was tasty!

I met another busker and bought his original CD of 11 songs for $5.00. He had a great smile and beautiful voice. I dropped my money and a business card into his bucket and let him know that his photo so could be seen on Flickr. Here is one of him, his name is Niles Rivers.

We then kinda futzed around a bit and headed to a T-Mobile store so Colin and Donna could get some Sim cards for people to use to test phones. I gave them back the 5310 that morning so I am ready to test something a bit meatier like say the N95. I’ll have a full review of that phone soon. Bryan, Bekah and I went back to Bryan’s car to get our bags. Bryan, there is a reason I like this guy, he’s like me, he gave me a ride to meet my uncle rather than have me get a cab or a bus. And the ride was really out of his way too. In LA that can mean hours in traffic. We had a nice ride to Havana Mania, where I met Uncle Jim.

Along the way we stopped at Randy’s Donuts. There must be some really famous guys with R’s in their name in LA because Randy sells tasty donuts but Ralph also has a chain of supermarkets. We stopped here because the building has been featured in many movies. Which ones? I have no idea, but it may be in another one soon because we saw a film crew as we each got a donut.

I got to Havana Mania and split a nice dish with Uncle Jim. We talked and I am must be tired because I talked a LOT. I don’t often talk so much but when I am working on 4 poor hours of sleep in a 36 hour period who knows what you are gonna get from me. Dinner was delicious and then Uncle Jim brought me to the airport. I cropped and edited my photos form today, I’ll geotag them when I get home and then upload them all.

I had an awesome couple of days with some really amazing, talented, generous and creative people. I hope to cross paths with them sometime again soon.

Here is a link to my photos tagged Santa Monica.