Day 80 - Ice Invaders - 1 Mar 2011

When I got the trays to make ice cubes shaped like the aliens from Space Invaders I thought it would allow me to add a bit of retro geekiness to an otherwise sophisticated evening sipping Martinis with our suave and cultured friends. Well, guess what. Turns out evenings like that are few and far between with my crowd. Yes, our friends tend to be more beer and wine type people, and you don't put ice cubes in beer (or in wine either, so I'm told).

Day 79 - Paperless Society - 28 Feb 2011

The fine folks at Session Beer saw fit to dual purpose their caps as game pieces for the classic strategy game of Rock Paper Scissors. Five/sixths of the way through a twelve pack however, I've yet to acquire any Paper. Is this just some statistical possibility, or is some clever scheme my some wily folks in the Cap Dept to get me to buy more of their delicious beer? One way to find out.

Day 78 - Riding Home - 27 Feb 2011

An unseasonably warm Sunday in February provided the perfect opportunity for a family spin. We rode down to the playground at the next neighborhood over. This once was a rite of a passage for my kids on their way to biking independence. Now they the ride is fairly routine and they have outgrown the playground. They did manage to entertain themselves long enough for me to put the setting sun at my back and take this shot.

Day 77 - People Say We Monkey Around - 26 Feb 2011

My son got to reprise his Day 68 role of a Ben Franklin statue that comes to life, only this time he got to do it my favorite Fred City toy store. That left me with some time on my hands to explore the toy store while he talked to strangers about his life as a printer, an inventor, and a patriot. Luckily I also had a camera on my hands, so I did what any good dad would do - took pictures of the toys.

Day 76 - The Frog in Repose - 25 Feb 2011

This little fellow is actually a musical instrument of sorts that we brought back from New Orleans as a souvenir for our son. Not shown is the stick that you can use to make a rhythmic frog like sound. It is actually a pretty neat thing, though in retrospect I wonder what we were thinking by giving him yet another way to make noise.

Day 75 - Concentricity - 24 Feb 2011

And yet another shot from the Random Stuff on My Desk series. These usually happen when the day is passing by and I have yet to find any inspiration, which was the case this day. Not to spoil the magic, but this is a picture of the lights on my external harddrive. I meant for it to be sharp and clear, but screwed up and set the exposure for too long. When I saw the result, I decided to try more long handheld exposures.

Day 74 - Neon Flower - 23 Feb 2011

I think this is first flower shot in the new odyssey. It won't be the last. Once spring arrives there will be many more, believe you me. For now, this is a one-off that came about when I broke my vow and took both kids to Giant together. The flowers were right in the front so they had not yet started to be annoying. So, when Ella suggested we get some flowers for Shelley, I agreed. Twenty really long minutes later she was using the flowers as a weapon to bludgeon her brother. Glad we didn't get roses.

Day 73 - Good Wall - 22 Feb 2011

I've had this picture in my head since this odyssey began, and on this morning the conditions were just right to capture it. Ideally I would have taken the shot a half hour earlier, but instead I shoveled the driveway first. Even so, it was close enough to the magic hour that it worked out OK.

Day 72 - Send in the Ducks - 21 Feb 2011

Some how the family's holiday schedules aligned such that the kids and I had off but Shelley had to work. When such an opportunity presents itself, the three of us head straight for Five Guys Burger and Fries, or as I call The Place With Better Burgers Than In and Out. I meant to take some cool picture inside the restaurant, but got caught up in the rapture and forget. Luckily there were some ducks outside that could be tempted with an empty peanut shell.

Day 71 - No Right Angles - 20 Feb 2011

The fisheye fun continues, this time looking down on the lobby of the hotel where we stayed. I kindof wish I had taken this shot an hour earlier when this lobby was packed full of people trying to get their money's worth from the complimentary breakfast. I was not able to do this however, because I was one of those people.

If you look very closely, you can see that this shot contains many actual fish eyes.