Day 144

It's been a hectic few days. A lot of work and not much time for photos. Most of the images I took today occurred during the drives to and from work with the window down. Hope you enjoy.  You'll see a wide and varied depiction of wealth and less fortunate within feet of each other here in Jakarta. But it's amazing how wonderful the Indonesians are.  I couldn't pick just a few so enjoy these images from today.

I was wondering if he was taking a photo of me...

City worker doing cleanup and gardening.

Motorbikes everywhere...

This street was entirely lined with building materials. I liked the image of these small logs.

Day 143

Jakarta graffiti as seen as we walked to dinner tonight.

And this is the restaurant! Just a few hundred yards from the office. We had the Sate Padang as advertised.

Closer view of dinner.

A bunch of the gang from work enjoying dinner.

And while I'm on the subject of food, this is where we ate for lunch. We had the Nasi Gudeg Komplit.

And here it is! Chicken, rice, tofu, and something about the sublayer skin from a cow. Don't ask... It did taste... different... You won't find this at McDonald's.

At lunch with Phil (from Perth, Australia) and my Facebook friend Adrian (from Jakarta). Both work for ConocoPhillips.

Day 142

A koi display in the Singapore airport.  I was able to catch a shower at the Business Class lounge before catching my plane to Jakarta.

And here is a picture of some traffic in Jakarta

Day 141

I spent most of today sleeping enroute to Singapore. As you can see, I took this image while I was somewhere over the Pacific Ocean.

Day 140

View from my seat. Departing LAX and then onto Singaport and then to Jakarta. This aircraft has only business class.

Day 139

Dragonfly

This little guy visited this morning.

Day 138

One of the trees at work.

Day 137

Decor at the Hilton in Bartlesville, OK. Just so you know, I didn't place the props in this order and that's no "joke".

Downtown Bartlesville as seen from the company jet. That small skinny tower on the right side of downtown is the Price Tower designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  Due to funding constraints at the time it was built at 2/3 size. Basically there are no right angles. 

There is something majestic about flying through clouds. Today was no different.

Lake Woodlands in The Woodlands, Tx. This is the dam along Woodlands Parkway. I used to take the kids fishing here more than 15 years ago.  I had a short rod that I placed along the bank at the top of the dam. I left it there for a moment and came back about a minute later and it was gone. Definitely taken by a monster catfish I'm sure...

And this is the Woodlands Mall. That's I-45 just north of Houston. The lake above is just west and south of the mall. You can just make out the white tent like roof of the Martha Mitchell Pavillion on the extreme left of the image.

Day 136

I left my camera in my boss' car last night and I finally got a chance to post yesterday's images.

Sitting at the new Hilton in downtown Bartlesville. Just sippin' my diet Coke and thought this a colorful image.

I got to stay on the 5th floor. Had to swipe my room key to get there.

Decadence.

  White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake at Copeland's in Broken Arrow (suburb of Tulsa).

Decor at Copeland's.

Day 135

Downtown Bartlesville, OK. This is a remnant of the Phillips admin offices. Only the first three floors are open for tours I'm told.

And these two pictures were from the Mens room at the Two Sisters Restaurant at dinner tonight.

"Bartlesville's first professional baseball team, July 1907."

Yep, there it was, just hanging on the wall. Guess we guys need these reminders...

Day 134

I took this image at dinner tonight at Tumbleweed's Steakhouse in Bartlesville, OK . This clock is actually about 3 feet in diameter.

This is the view outside my 5th story room looking to the north of Bartlesville. These are the lights to the baseball park that was used by a minor league team that used to be here. Now the High Schools use it.

Day133

Yes, this is my 50 mm 1.8D Nikkor lens. And no, it doesn't work anymore and is not worth repairing. And yes, I dropped my camera again. And yes, I had fun taking it apart to see how it works. Just for the record, the focus ring is jammed/broken from the fall.

The metaphors and thoughts about this are endless. 

I've been told by more than one person that I over-think things. First, I don't know how that is possible in a world full of people who can't think for themselves. Or maybe since people don't think then the mere fact that I can means I over-think. Not sure. Second, that's just who I am -- I try to figure things out. I can't shut that part of me off. It makes be crazy at times and I'm sure it bugs the heck out of some, but what can I say. Third, at the end of the day I'm not sure it really matters anyway -- at least when trying to figure out people and their motivations. Lastly, no one can figure me out, not even me. So it all evens out -- comes out in the wash or something like that.

So, well, maybe my over-thinking is like that lens seen above where I've over analyzed, taken apart, or some would say destroyed something that while it would focus and would at least work for some fixed focus length is now useless. It worked fine at one time and through my actions is now just a piece of junk I don't even want to go there. Maybe I like the metaphor of throwing away the old junk inside and starting something new, starting over -- a new beginning. Or taking the shambles of some event in my life and creating some newer, better me. That's starting to sound better.  Just don't think too unkindly of me while I sort it all out.

Day 132

Olivia waving to her fans.

Day 131

Other than setting the light balance, there are no edits on this image. That's actually me as seen through a small round mirror sitting on a colorful tablecloth.

Day 130

I like the patterns on this microphone. For some reason I'm reminded of an ice cream cone.

Day 129

Yep, another Olivia sighting... I took this just as I was leaving this morning. She is going to grow up way too fast!

I used natural light as it was a bit dark making this image a bit grainy. You get the same effect (graininess) shooting high ISO film -- but for an entirely different reason. The digital grains are amplified noise. The film comes from the actual grains on the film. OK, it's way too late to get into this. Let's just say Olivia's a good baby and leave it at that!


So, at lunch today Angel and I were playing with the macro setting on our small cameras.

This is Angel's almost empty cup of tea. I used a flash on this and saturated it a bit.  Check out Angel's image of this cup.

 Angel was capturing the reflected image of the overhead light off his iPod. And I caught his image while he was shooting.   The focus is on his dog tag in the center. It looks upside down cause he was sitting across from me. You figure it out.

 And I caught the elevator guy fixing this hydraulic elevator. This is the top of the elevator cabin. Not as Gucci as the James Bond films, but interesting anyway. I took the other elevator by the way...

-tom

Day 128

Today I'm celebrating the return to active duty of my Canon PowerShot SD 950 IS. Had a lens problem that a local camera shop fixed for me. I'm going to throw in a few more images to celebrate.

Here are a couple of images from lunch at Jason's Deli. 

 A placard holder

 

Just a pile of electronic junk. I feel like a kid with a ton of stuff in my pockets. Angel and I emptied our pockets for this shot -- and it doesn't include my Canon...

And this just as I was leaving the complex after a long day at work.

Day 127

Self portrait with emphasis on Olivia.

For those days when I get a bit down it's nice to know there is one female who loves me no matter what -- unless it's dinner time or a poopy diaper...

Day 126

Moonlight Sonata?