Consequence of Dating a Chemist:

"All I know about rare earth elements I learned sitting on the toilet." -The Girly, a vague reference to our shower curtain. In response to an NPR article about china's cornering the rare earth element market.

Since it's on Facebook, it Must Be Official!

Yes, it's true.

Somewhere, sometime, someone is going to get hitched.

Log Jam, Now with Less Sodium!

Due to dissertation related insanity, I have let my photos backlog beyond belief. I have approximately 18 months of unfiled, undeleted, and in some cases, unviewed photos.

Phocking Amazing.

Somewhat surprisingly, I appear to be just as capable of generating acceptable photos as ever. I just am not taking the time to check and create, where necessary.

Some recent examples:
I saw the light coming through the dual layered slats in the fence. I liked the glow and the break in the pattern created by the dropped lattice. A little creative cropping and desaturation helped bring this out. It violates good composition just a bit. I think it would be stronger if I cropped some of the top lattice out, but that would destroy the repetition.

Suburban Prison Cell, Herndon VA.

We went for a hike this weekend. It was amazingly relaxing to hit the trail without the guilt of a million years of school work behind me. Did I take photos? Oh yes. I didn't pay as much attention to composition as I should have, but there are still three of four hot spots. What these leaves really screamed to me was texture. The dry crinkly shape with little divots looked like used and rotted sandpaper left carelessly on the branch.

Dry Leaves. Camp Roosevelt, VA

I have a lot of trouble taking big pictures of forests. There is a certain glow of a dense forest canopy that is nearly impossible to photograph. It is this same glow that makes it so completely inviting to wander in the woods and forget that one resides in one of the most automotively, bureaucratically, and politically congested locations on the mother-loving planet.

A dim little idea dawned on me this afternoon as we wandered through the forest. I decided to try blurring the photo by moving the camera, and that I would saturate more in post processing. I am trying to show the forest, without so much detail in the trees.

Hints of Autumn. George Washington National Forest, VA

Dog Life

Bean.

Nap/Bath Time

No Front McPherson Strut

I was impressed to notice that my neighbors new-ish F250 has front and rear leaf springs. I though these things were essentially OBE, but apparently not.

F250 Front Axle

'We're not meant to have litters.' -The Girly, on fertility treatment

Found a veiled reference to 'Whats the frequency kenneth?' in code in the last part of the igor manual. Heres to the esoteric.