Buon compleanno, nonno.

Photo bliss in Tucson

I wanted to stay at this viewpoint forever.  During my visit to Tucson I took over 1,000 photos.  I'll gradually be adding some of my favorites to my flickr.  Sometimes I like to try and capture what I see when I'm wearing my brown sunglasses.  I hold them in front of the lens like it's a filter, haha.  I think I made a good call trying it here.

I decided the end of this year is a good time to pick back up at a new blog.  Three years is a pretty good chunk of time for a blog and this one was sporadically used.  I am hoping that I will be more attentive to a blog that feels more current.  Ciao!

America...

I have no problem with leaving for a week.

PDX > TUS

Well, I'm leaving on rainy Portland day, headed to warmer weather. The promise of sun makes flying worth it.

I'm ready

...for a few days in warmer weather!  Looking forward to several days in Arizona coming up, during which I will focus on being outside!  Walking the pups and going out to take photos.  Tucson actually isn't set up too bad, though I wouldn't want to live there.  The mountains to the north and the east provide a good compass, though.  As well, E Broadway Blvd acts like Burnside in Portland, dividing North from South.  Stone Ave seems to divide West/East but I don't think we go over that far!

No pool this visit... :'(

Changes

This is my first time using BlogThis!

My friend Kayley is a talented photographer living in Los Angeles and she told me about her new blog, The Eclectic Mind. It reminds me that I'd like to get a handle on this blogging situation.

One of Kayley's photos that I love:

I colori dell'autunno

Old Town

Grey ol' pdx

It's a myth that every day is like this in Portland, of course.  Maybe because I have lived here all my life, I am becoming somewhat immune to these days.  I tell myself, These days keep Oregon so green, and others believe the weather prevents too many people from moving here.  

Nehalem(?) River

Ok!

Tucson Sunset

Tucson Sunset

Are you a stripper, do you not know what year it is, that it's still summer, or....?

Almost sunset

For people who have a professor that doesn't allow bathroom breaks?

NO! Hahaha

UGH! Don't join the military.

I think the military basically sucks.  For everyone who has a loved one out there somewhere, I hope they return, and with their sanity, too.  For those that have lost someone who was "serving our country," I'm very sorry for that.  I beg of you all, please do not let anyone you love enlist in the military, no matter what benefits and experiences they are promised.  I think the military kills everyone in some way.  

I am thinking about this because of these two men on the MAX this morning.  Not only did one of them personally insult me, but they were horribly loud and were shouting YES SIR at each other and talking about having been Marines.  When the announcement, "The doors are closing" played, the extra crazy guy said WELL THEN CLOSE THEM and it was just unnecessary.  He said to the woman he was sitting behind, "I like your earrings, they look good on you.  But I know you don't want to talk to me because I'm a white boy."  ....?

At this point I turned and glared at him.  The woman almost immediately moved to the next seat in front of her to get away from him.  He would not SHUT UP and stop YELLING so I turned and said, "Could you pipe down, please?"  But he continued, and it was really hard to be around.  So I moved and as I walked down the little steps, he made a rude comment about me.  I'm sorry, he's being extremely disruptive and has the nerve to say something to me?  

I caught myself.  I felt my temper flare and I resisted my natural urge to go back up the stairs and slap him in the face.  I always have to remind myself that it's not worth it.  But people like that guy make me hate people.  And given what they mentioned about having been Marines, and how they were addressing each other, I'm assuming they were veterans gone wacko.  They might have not been.  But how many of us know people that came back from "serving our country" who are now damaged people in some way?  Nightmares, missing limbs, crazy behavior, violent behavior, obsessive behavior......  And those are the people who were fortunate enough to come back.  

I'm not saying I don't support our troops.  I do support them.  I support them COMING HOME.  And not DYING or turning into a freakin' maniac.  

Rawr

Will I ever stop wondering?

I always seem to end up thinking about a certain person, and I wonder...