When are we eating?

The beginning of the end of the world college friend wedding phase of life has commenced!!! First up:

From Colorado Springs, we have Jill!
From NYC, we have Ant!

This was probably the most fun I've had at a wedding.
This was a RIT gathering at its finest:

Q: The ratio?
A: spot on.

Q: Endless talk of airplanes, spaceships and race cars?
A: obviously

Q: Hooning?
A: duhhhh

Q: Lots of whiskey fueled shenanigans?
A: lolz lolz lolz

Q: A TRUBOTRON?!?
A: JEA!!!


Now, the trip... Flying out over the Rockies was aight. Flying over Mt. Rainier?

^AWESOME!!!


Lt. P. Lo showed us around an abandoned AF Academy:






Q: Whoa, Phil! What did the Air Force do to you?!
A: huh?
Q: You're HUGE!
A: I guess? You make it sound like I'm some sort of freak...

^Yea man, FREAKIN awesome!!!
The P. Lo fan club at the Chapel.


One of many hipster moments:



And finally, the beautiful Bride and Groom!!!

Punchbowl Falls

What does one do when presented with the first day of genuine spring weather?

Leave the state in search of even better weather!

Actually, a friend came to visit this past weekend. One of these things he wanted to do was photograph the series of sights off of the Columbia River Highway in Oregon:



I was all for it, but I had to warn him:


We stuck to the hikes and trails we were used to. Actually, we settled on seeing one waterfall that wasn't even on that map...




Note: While Xing had a high performance waterproof jacket, he was not wearing any sort of high performance pants/shoes/socks/etc.


"Hey Joshua, how would you photograph those trees?"

^like that.

A Day in the 4th & 5th

Name the architectural structure which transmits lateral forces (pushing a wall outwards) through a segmental arch and vertical block.

I met my sister by the Notre Dame.





We decided to walk towards Place des Vosges to explore the area:


After lunch at Chez Pierro on Rue de Birague, we met up with my sister's friend at École Normale Supérieure, where the cafeteria staff was on strike:


So we had a picnic by the Seine!


If you answered with Flying Buttresses at the beginning...
*high five!*

^much easier to shoot from a distance!

Confessions of an American Businessman...

My first meal in Paris was at a Hard Rock Cafe...

If I had a time machine, I'd go back and throw "one-week ago me" under a bus to prevent that from ever happening. Unfortunately, I don't. Although, my co-worker got his sought after Hard Rock paraphernalia!

Following meals were had at company cafeterias, and bistros around the hotel/tourist joints. I became irritated by the cuisine... having been told French cuisine was good, it seemed all the places just had the same menu:

-Tartare.
-Foie Gras.

-Steak Frites.
-Poulet Frites.

-Duck of some sort.
-Pizza Margherita.

-Penne Rigate w/ Tomato Basil sauce
-Crêpes.

Maybe I had a romanticized image of what French cuisine should have been, but surely there had to be *more* to Parisian dining establishments! Then I referenced an email from a friend...

First stop:

^oh yeah, my sister was in Paris too. We (obviously) met up.

After grabbing the best falafel ever, we sat down at a nearby park to watch two sweaty adults hog the ping pong table.

^the kids never had a chance...

We later made our way towards the Centre Pompidou. As we got closer, we saw more and more street art stickers stuck on things:

^you can see more on google maps.

We also found a 24-themed gallery (the FOX tv show, 24). The artist's name was Jack Bauer. This train in mid-explosion spanned three rooms on two levels.

^at L'IMPRIMERIE Gallery

<3 Renzo Piano


Tubular!


*Y/Struc/Surf by Marc Fornes:


Kinetic Hall by Yaacov Agam:


Double Métamorphose III by Yaacov Agam:


So the highlight of the day was the restaurant recommendation. We headed to the 10th and arrived at this wonderful establishment. We had the mixte plate and le petit salé aux lentilles.

^it was the greatest meal while in Paris.

We ended the night on a high: