JSA: The Active Blog

2008 Run For The Hungry

JSA — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 02:08:00 GMT

On Thanksgiving Day, for the second year in a row, 20+ members of my family participated in San Diego's Run For The Hungry 5K/10K Run/Walk. The course started just outside PetCo Park and looped its way through downtown San Diego and the Gaslamp Quarter. Since I ran the 5K, I had my brother (who was walking with my nephew) shoot pictures with my Sony Cybershot DSC-W80 and carry the GPS unit around the course.

Here's a screenshot of a map from Sony's GPS Image Tracker software showing the course area with a couple of race photographs plotted directly on it:

And here are a few snapshots from the race itself:

As you can see, there were several thousand runners, walkers, trotters, strollers and meanderers filling the streets of San Diego on a stunning Thanksgiving Day morning, showing community and togetherness for a great cause!

Balboa Park Scavenger Hunt

JSA — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 00:38:00 GMT

Traditionally, my extended family spends every Thanksgiving together in San Diego. This year, as an experiment, a couple of my cousins organized a four-team scavenger hunt all around Balboa Park. As evidence of completion of the tasks, each team had to take a photo showing them finishing the task in quesion at the various locations. Here are some of the photos taken by my team (all with my Cybershot DSC-W80):

Silliness at the Nikigator:

Through the looking glass (or is it the fountain?):

What word could we have been spelling?

A lovely time was had by all . . .

The Bean

JSA — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 02:18:00 GMT

Here's a bit of abstraction from our reflective walk through The Cloud Gate at :

FYI, I can be found at 8 o'clock . . .

Felines

JSA — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 04:22:00 GMT

As a basis of comparison, here are two cats with whom I am acquainted.

My friend the cheetah:

And Andy, one of my brother's four cats:

Both photos were taken with Sony cybershot cameras; the first in 2001, and the second one week ago. You can guess which picture has a better back story . . .

Walking Home

JSA — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 04:41:00 GMT

I live about a mile from my office, so my daily commute consists of a glorious walk along the Chicago River. On my walk home last night, I wanted to test the various settings for twilight shots and slow shutter speeds exposures. Of course, since it was in the mid-30's in Chicago, my gloveless shaking hands gave the steady shot technology all it could handle. Here are a few of my favorites:

Looking south down the river from the Randolph Street Bridge:

The Merchandise Mart:

North on the Kennedy Expressway from the Washington Boulevard overpass:

Given the difficulty of shooting in the cold and wind, the camera did a remarkable job of maximizing image quality while minimizing human error.

Babysitting For My Favorite Person On The Planet

JSA — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 05:45:00 GMT

This is my nephew, Augie (from the VERY FIRST set of pictures taken with my brand new Sony Cybershot DSC-W80!):

I babysat for him tonight at his house in Queens. While it is undeniably great fun to play with the coolest 8-month old I know, taking care of him for a solid six hours is utterly exhausting. No one bothered to tell me that carrying a 26 lb. crying baby around for an hour is no picnic regardless of whether or not that kid is a relative. Diaper changing, I can handle. An exhausted, unhappy, teething baby, not so much.

It was a relief, however, to see that he was even worse the next day with his own parents.