I think she liked her cake.

Thus far we have been unable to get Zooey to take stage direction.

Clearly, she is unimpressed.

She makes this face a lot for some reason...

Zooey arrived Saturday evening at 6:00 pm. Today, we got to come home.

One particular bench in Lawrence's South Park. The card reads:

Please do not remove these roses they are in remembrance of my beloved late husband.

Lamp post in front of the Java Break in downtown Lawrence.

This is another photo from the caucus earlier this week. Their shirts reminded me of the music video for "Take on Me".

I've read a bit in the local paper and heard stories from other people, and to my surprise it appears that the caucus location we were at was one of the most organized in the area. Today is the Republican caucus, though with recent developments I doubt the turnout will be nearly as high.

Last night was Super Tuesday, so Karen and I went to the Democratic caucus. This was a strange and new thing for us, as Kansas usually doesn't have a caucus, and when it does it isn't until after the general election. (Ok, this might be a slight exaggeration.)

Before we go any farther, I have to mention how amazingly painful the caucus system is in practice. First, you pack everyone in a building. Second, you take the packed crowd and have them get into groups based on the candidate that they support. Finally, you have everyone stand around for at least 3 hours for no apparent reason, while something magical happens on the other side of the room that no one can see. For bonus points, you use a very bad P.A. system so that no one can hear either. That is how we run a caucus in Kansas.

I had something uplifting to say about participation in the process and all that, but it's slipped my mind as I think about the pain that was the actual process. After experiencing this, I will never, ever, complain about how long it takes at the polling place where I vote.

A lot of the people brought their children, which was at least entertaining while we stood around for several hours. This photo was from pretty early in the evening, when someone was standing on a chair shouting about something on the other side of the room. At least the kid thought it was exciting.

Lawrence is home to a large crew of "interesting" locals, one of these gentlemen is named The Screamer. He wanders about town flashing people peace signs, on occasion he can be seen screaming at people in cars, inanimate objects, or animals. The Screamer is so well known that someone made this sticker likeness of him and placed it on the back of one of the downtown buildings.

New toy!

Did I mention how much I enjoy Kansas weather?

This morning Karen and I woke up to a "weather event." When we went out side this was across the street. The tree outside our bedroom window looked like it had been folded in half.

I thought it was funny.

I came home Friday after work and what do I discover? Yep, Karen with pink hair.

This past January I altered my employment condition, now I'm working for the University of Kansas Engineering Department. One of the best things about the new location is the abundance of bizarre old hardware, thankfully it's not in use.

Above is the main board from an Altair 8800, circa 1975.

Ice has covered almost everything in Lawrence. This morning the sun even made a brief appearance to illuminate the scene. I wouldn't mind the ice so much if it was not accompanied by chilling winds and such a low temperature. Oh well, winter in Kansas has finally arrived.

(There were no key parties in the neighborhood for the event.)

Warning: you have wasted yet another year surfing "the internets."

Yesterday Karen was looking for some magnets. During our search we came across the Raccoon of Doom, he must have had to escape from Raccoon L.A. or possibly Raccoon New York, which is obviously why he is missing an eye. Just like our hero Snake Pliskin, now if we can just get Raccoon a playing card...

People have started putting up Christmas lights and the evil music has begun.

Oh yea, bring on the holidays.

This was the first election that I have participated in since turning eighteen, and it doesn't seem to have mattered. Living in a state where 62% of the population voted for Bush is depressing, but I am going to take solace in the fact that I live in one of two counties that the majority voted Democratic.

I took this photo when John Edwards came back through town, it was peculiar to see one of these signs on the floor. Now it just seems appropriate, a sign of defeat.

I've submitted this to lensday for the "neon dreams", as mine have just been just been dashed.

These skulls have been brought to you by the happily kitschy people who chase the customers about like flesh eating zombies. I don't think I'll mention the store's name, since they are, in fact, evil. Nonetheless, I'm submitting this to the "offset" theme at lensday.com.

The idea of flashy sure has changed a bit since 1904 when the coffee shop I frequent was built. Nestled in the middle of the building is this large stained glass ceiling. I think I like the old idea of flashy versus the newer ideas.

I'm submitting this to lensday.com for the "flashy" contest.

I found this random graffiti on the side of the parking garage downtown. I still haven't the slightest idea why someone would spray paint a tooth onto anything.

I couldn't get back up to the shoes, but this is a photo from yesterday when I was on campus. I have to wonder if there are people upside down still wearing those shoes. Maybe it's a new mob strategy.

This is from the wrong side of Potters "lake" on campus.

As a side note, I found a very interesting trail of shoes behind the lake yesterday. I'll be going back up today to take some more photos of this trail of Nikes.

I go past this corner a couple times a day and every time I think it looks a little bit like SOHO. But alas, it is only poor downtown Lawrence.

Don't get too used to this daily posting, I may not be able to sustain it unless I can find some more time to get out during the weekly grind.

I decided to carry my camera around with me today, just in case I saw anything interesting. While on campus, over lunch, I had the chance to take a couple of quick photos on the hike from the parking lot to my professor's office.

This photo has been submitted to lensday.com's first theme contest, "in the field."

I haven't had a chance to get out lately, with school in full swing. I was starting to get concerned that I wouldn't even know which end of the camera I was supposed to look through. This morning I grabbed the camera and ran while Karen was getting ready.

You may also notice that this image is larger, I have been playing with the layout a little bit so I can increase the size of the photos.

Flowers in the park near my house. This week's submission for photofriday.com.

I took this photo during one of my morning walking expeditions around the neighborhood this past July. I went back by this weekend to see if the the rusted lock and chain were still hanging there, unfortunately it wasn't.

We have a nice new arts center building here in Lawrence. This sculpture is located right in front of the new building with all of its steel and glass. I imagine this should make a good submission for this week's Photofriday. Just so you know, the clouds in the middle are a reflection.

This has to be my favorite picture from the trip to Colorado.

I don't know what it is with the people in Denver—they must really like their children. So they bronze them. Guess that makes it easy to know where they are all of the time...

This is the creek—though the signs kept referring to it as a river—that runs through Estes Park in Colorado.

The only bad part was how poorly Karen and I felt. I never realized how thick the air in Kansas was until I got into the mountains. After walking around for an hour or so, I was exhausted. Karen didn't do much better.

As Karen mentioned we spent the some time in Denver this past week. I took this picture someplace in downtown Denver while Karen and I were wandering around on Friday. There were several statues of children frozen in time, I don't know that this is exactly tranquil so much as eerie.

Note: The following could be considered highly cynical.

I don't have a very good view of politicians in general. I've always felt they rate just above soap scum and below toe fungus. Not even party affiliation affects this classification. I used to be able to chalk this up to a disaffected youth outlook, but that doesn't seem to pass muster now that I am married. Something about that car insurance discount changes the allowed reasons for not liking politicians.

With about the same excitement that I reserve for concerts, I went with Karen to wait for the Kerry/Edwards train to come through our little burg. At the end the train didn't stop, though there was a very surprised group of passengers when a regularly scheduled train stopped. In fact, I would venture to say they got an even bigger response just because they stopped. With the regular train in the station, I snapped this picture of a campaign balloon. I can't say I like the politicians any more than I did before, but you have to admire them for coming back to a state that they are doomed to lose in the upcoming election.

All of August is moving day in Lawrence. The students start to return for the fall semester at the University of Kansas. During this time one can find just about anything sitting out for the taking. Need a file cabinet—here you go. Need a new bed—just a block further. Need a new television—check the side streets.

There is a down side to all of this free stuff, the students in all of their terrible glory are back.

Well, not exactly sunset, about a half hour too soon.

I took this photo last Friday just outside of Ute, Iowa. This has to be just about one of the quietest places on the planet. The only sound was the slight rustling of the beans and the corn. (The beans are on the right, the corn on the left.)

I learned to drive on the road that goes off to the left in the distance.

Karen decided that she needed to create a new 404 page. I, of course, got drafted to help take pictures. Seems that the the killer rabbit just wasn't cutting it anymore.

I'll sea your ocean and raise you a red flower. Yes, I did just make that pun. This week's PhotoFriday contest was 'ocean'. For those of you paying attention, you may recall that I am in the middle of Kansas. Where am I going to find an ocean? So instead, I present this red flower from the front of the coffee shop I frequent.

I'm late for this week's Photo Friday, but the heat here makes me sluggish. It seems that every year I forget how miserable humidity makes the heat feel. Cool is hard to do when your skin is melting.

By the way, I now have comments. You should leave one if you are bored.

Last night Karen and I went to the local fireworks display. There seems to be some sort of evil weather god that attacks on the 4th each year in Lawrence, this angry deity brings miserable humidity and mosquitoes. Oh well.

Found this little guy at the Ghetto Zoo this past Friday. Let me explain—Karen and I had the opportunity to go to the zoo in Kansas City for free. I figured I'd be able to get a couple of decent animal photos.

On the drive out, I made mention of this particular zoo's colloquial name—the Ghetto Zoo. Contrary to popular belief, this nickname is not based on its placement in the city, but rather the zoo's rather rundown and shabby feel. Yes, I do know that this nickname isn't the nicest, and probably shouldn't be mentioned in polite company. Needless to say, I didn't give the zoo its nickname.

Karen thought I was being unusually critical of the zoo until we got back around to the performing seals. There were seven seals; of these, three or four were blind, another couple were deaf, and I believe there may have been one healthy one in the bunch.

We didn't stay much past that point.

The past month has brought several amazing storms through the area, most of which happened during the middle of the night. A few of these storms brought with them clouds that begged to be photographed. I, of course, didn't happen to have my camera with me at the time. Alas, Fates, you are cruel to me. This photo is from the end of May, right after I returned from New York.

Entered in the PhotoFriday clouds challenge.

P.S. The statue is holding a shovel, not relieving itself.

Some items are so fashionable they end up as car accessories. A true success story.

Karen was taking pictures of me taking pictures, again. This must be real picture in picture (it's the second one).

Time for journey, a Photofriday event. It has been two weeks since I posted, getting back from a vacation and into normal life takes a bit of time.

The skies have been simply amazing since I returned from New York. This must be some attempt to make up for the absolute lack of sky while I was there. This is my submission to the Black and White theme for PhotoFriday.

Noticed this in the bunch of pictures from Central Park that I took on Tuesday, 25 May. I never imagined an island as small as Manhattan could have a park this large.

Today Karen and I walked around Greenwich Village. While she was shopping I sat on the stoops of the stores occupying myself with my camera.

So this whale was in the Natural History Museum, and it was simply huge. This is my big fish. The shutter speed for this photo was 10/13 of a second, and I hand held it. The only modification from the original in-camera image was the sizing for this site.

Somehow I don't think the giant needle and button in the Garment District in New York is exactly what was intended by the Macro theme at Photo Friday.

It's Photo Friday time again. I found this at the tire shop in downtown Lawrence. The entire back lot is full of tires from everything that rolls.

Seems to me that playtime is over and someone forgot to take their toy home.

I can't fathom the reasons to carve your name into a tree; however, this is on the local college campus. Maybe this is some sort of strange mating ritual unbeknownst to me.

This is my first entry for Photo Friday. This fallen tripod of tree and pipes happens to be located behind my office.

The inside of a local train, get it, "training." It's a pun, fine, nevermind. It's Karen, looking very Bob Dylan with her jean jacket.

Today, at long last, my new camera arrived: a Nikon D70. To anyone who has not spent the last three months reading technical specifications, reviews, and press releases, this is the famed "Rebel Killer."

I don't know if this is premature, but the hype may just be true. I strongly doubt, however, that Paul Simon will have a song about digital cameras anytime soon. The only real concern I have about the camera is that Karen may hide it, since I have taken somewhere around 200 "test shots" of her this evening.

Who knew that a manual could be so exciting to read...