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Our project for the weekend (really two weekends…hopefully) was to prep the master bedroom for painting. This is not a big room, but it took quite some time just to sand down the over-textured walls. Plus, our home was built in the 30’s and some of the walls really show what 70+ years of settling can do to plaster.

But it did give us the excuse to buy a shop vac! So, hopefully, we’ll have some AFTER pictures to post by next weekend.

On Saturday, my photo photo class convened at our instructor’s home in Sacramento. Our evening menu was a scrumptuous homemade chili and a very nice sushi platter from a local restaurant. A few glasses of red wine to bring the flavors together–including the competing chili powder and wasabi spices. The meal (and company) made the 90-mile drive worthwhile.

After dinner, we all showed images from our latest assignment, which was to take five photographs that were totally unrelated. It may sound easy, but its a challenge when you train yourself to look for themes in your work. Anyhow, my classmates (as always) impressed me with their creativity.

Here are my five.

I just love this painting. It really does capture that feeling of the “business travel fog”. Below are a couple of my “classic” business travel images that I’ve had in some shows.

A nice quick trip to Seattle last night and today for work. Any trip to Seattle is an excuse to hit Two Bells Tavern with my dear dear friend Jeff. This has been our favorite burger joint for several years running–an amazing blue burger for me please–and of course gooey cheese bread to start! Check this small Belltown neighborhood establishment out if you’re downtown for lunch or dinner.

Here are a couple of quick pictures from the trip. Some nighttime views from my room at the Westin (the heavenly bed really is nice :), and some fun shots from the airplane.

This last shot is what happens when Photoshop takes control. Just fun.

Oh, and the cat purring quote. That’s from a Seattle radio station bumper referencing how soothing its music was…it made me laugh out loud. Seattle was in Day 22 of straight rain days, so the laughter was nice.

I was in Las Vegas for two days this week to attend a government conference held in conjunction with the enormous International Consumer Electronics Show. The government conference was really quite impressive for its speakers–in the government realm, this combination of congressmen, political appointees, and top government CIOs was top notch.

One thing I learned is that politicians are funnier and tell better stories than the rest of us–its just a gift. I have evidence. The 5 politicians I heard, told fascinating well-spun tales and funny jokes–and these are politicians with very different political views than mine. From the non-politicians, I heard jokes about (and I’m not making this up): a laptop versus lap dance joke, a condom and aspirin joke, and a joke about the nationality of the 9/11 hijackers. Amazing.

But hey, maybe these folks thought they were at the Adult Entertainment Expo, which was also in town.

Anyhow, I did have a good conference, learned quite a bit, and had some time to walk a bit in Las Vegas. Although, there is a definite downside to being in Las Vegas by yourself…you take pictures like the one below while you are waiting for your food!

I stayed at Caesars Palace for the first time. A beautiful hotel, and nicely situated at the middle of the Strip. Convenient for dropping by the Bellagio to watch the fountains. My room was OK…a sideways view of the strip AND the roof of the casino (check out the foreground in the sunrise picture below).

I have never been to the Consumer Electronics Show, and it is NOTHING like any show I have visited below. The sheer scale is magnificent. I wish I had had more time to explore–I only had a couple of hours in the main show after our conference ended. I did find a few things I would LOVE to buy 🙂