Where have you been?

Just over a week ago we lost Kobra to renal failure. He was a dear, dear friend for the past four years and we miss him greatly. Thank you to everyone who has sent their condolences. Time heals all wounds but we will never forget our beloved friend.

Joshua Tree National Park in the California desert.


The Grand Canyon in Arizona.


Florida after one of the hurricanes.


Long Beach, California.

Although I have a nice fisheye lens it is sometimes necessary to stitch together a few images. Previously I have been doing it manually using GIMP, my preferred image manipulation program. It took a bit of work and I could make some acceptable panoramic images but no matter how much I tried I could never get it just right. The above as a prime example.


Then a colleague of mine turned me onto Hugin. This is an absolutely fabulous panoramic stitching program. It has built in settings for a number of lenses and effects plus is simple enough to figure out. I have only used the most basic of functionality but the results are fantastic. Using the same source pictures and maybe three clicks of the mouse this picture is the result.

Through travel and change life always goes on. In the past two years I relocated from Europe to LA, went unemployed on and off for about 1.5 years, lost my mother to a short battle with cancer, landed my dream job and relocated again but this time to the east coast, and have been looking for a home for my wife and I so we can begin the next stage of our life. Much has changed in that time but still things come one day at a time.



One major thing happening now one day at a time is Kobra's health. Recently he stopped eating which prompted a visit to the vet. Blood work showed major liver and kidney damage and since he has had good days and bad. He is a tough cat and has been fighting for life as best he can and we have tried to help him as much as we can. In the end though all of our time here is finite. Remember to enjoy it one day at a time.

Due to popular demand I'm getting back on-line. Starting July 1st I'll start posting on a regular basis. It will initially be a mix of current events and high lights from the past but where it goes from there is up in the air.

Wow. The deep red lounge. Stuffed with chairs, a coffee table, a sofa, and at one point a TV, this was anything but comfortable. Notice the sliding glass door that leads to...


...another poorly painted inside room. Our teal "dining room" was the old patio between the house and the garage. You can also see the entire kitchen which was, again, surprisingly clean. Although you can't see it there is another sliding glass door opposite the one pictured that leads to what used to be the garage but what was now...


...my bedroom. With the sliding glass door hidden by my closet the room didn't much feel like a garage. It was large but had two different height beds which could not be pushed together. I was separate from the rest of the house by the kitchen/dining room/lounge areas so I could pretty much do what I want and not disturb or be disturbed by anyone in the main part of the house.

My Latvian roommate owned and lived off of a deep fryer. French fries, fish sticks, anything. Some times his dinner would consist of french fries, mayo, and a few pieces of cucumber. Very healthy.


Another roommate had the habit of cooking food and storing it in the pan/pot she used to prepare it. Sometimes the items would go into the fridge, sometimes they would stay out in the open, but never would they be put into some time of storage device - the pan was good enough. Never mind the fact we had limited cookware, it didn't bother her in the least that anyone was inconvenienced by her actions.

By far the most interesting place I have ever lived was at Chapman Court in the Arbury area of Cambridge. Just down the street from the infamous Ship pub, we lived in the heart of chav and gypsy country. The first week I was there some of the local lads torched a car in the parking area. The police came to investigate but there was nothing they could really do. I eventually learned that the car was found by a friend of a friend of a friend "abandoned" and eventually ended up in the hands of one of the neighborhood 14 year olds. They played with the car until it stopped working at which point they decided it was a fantastic idea to just burn the car. I assume they thought it would simply burn down to dust and disappear.

Pictured above is my Latvian roommate and our disgusting kitchen which is actually pretty clean in this photo.

As I was saying we only lived at Tillyard Way for a few months so I have limited photography of the place. I did spend one evening doing some night photography which is what you see here. Aside from the Citroen we also had bicycles and access to the infrequent city busses.

1 Tillyard Way in Cambridge was not the first place I stayed but the first place I stayed that was mine. (The first week in England we stayed with friends.) We were only there for a few months but it was a clean apartment. This is not our flat but one exactly like it across the street. This fine automobile is also our Citroen AX 1.1L diesel. Quite the road machine.


The living room had a lovely breakfast nook looking out over the green.


There was also a decorative fireplace which basically means "just for looks".