Muffin Gets Married

I traveled to Albany/Troy, New York, for the wedding of my grad school classmate Lauren McMuffin.


















I drove up the day before and visited with one of my undergrad roomies: Big Spicy (which is a somewhat literal translation of the syllables that make up her first name - insert credit to Liang). Good times were had - both at the wedding with Classmates Lauren and Sharon, and with Big Spicy.

Lauren and her Dad. This was during their serious dance, before they opened the dance floor by doing the entire Pulp Fiction dance. Awesome.


















These pictures are terrible, but I like the sequence they form.

I M Pei

In the East Building of the National Gallery is some support column on which the names of people tied to the building are carved. This would be unremarkable, if not for the fact that the area around I M Pei's name is all stained and dirty from large numbers of hands. We were astounded: do people stand there and think, "Ooo I M Pei," and touch the stone with there dirty fingers because they so love the buildings he designed? That doesn't seem to make sense with what we know about the general population of America.

East Building. Thanks for the picture, wikipedia.














After museum closing hours, we pay our respects to I M Pei. Crazy style. Photo by Jennifer, or she'd be in there too.

More from Washington, DC

The majority of the DC trip was gray and half-heartedly rainy. Fortunately, most of our time was spent inside of a museum-type building, so it didn't really matter.

This picture was like my sixth try, which is why I look kind of put out about it.

Hey Canadian Embassy! Your style is very DC, but you are light-years more friendly than the US Embassy in Ottawa. I won't be shot by Canadians lurking in the upper-story windows if I run while crossing the street, which, if you remember correctly, was my fear regarding the US Embassy.

We stayed at a funny little place in DuPont Circle... It was like an old smoking club for gentlemen. Somebody at the Nameless Institution had a connection to it, so we stayed in the guest wing.

The decor was outrageous. I got lost while attempting to leave my room for the first time and ended up in a wood paneled room with huge heavy brocade curtains, where an ancient little old man had fallen asleep on a chaise lounge, with a newspaper on his lap. It was like I wandered into some scene from Dickens.

Team Photo Conservation in front of one of the mega marble mantlepieces - me, Jennifer, Zoe, and Katie.














Here's the Team again, plus photo historian Roger and photo conservator Connie (who is peeking out way in the back, behind Zoe). This may or may not have been taken at the Nameless Institution.

The view.

In Which I Go to Washington DC, Having Been Invited to a Special Event at an Institution That Shall Remain Nameless

It has been a long time since a train-car self portrait has been shared!

I was one of the young photograph conservators invited to participate in an event designed to bring together young photograph conservators and young photo-historians. The even involved discussing three early (think 1850-ish) landscape photographers and then looking at examples of their work - negative and prints. Because this event was hosted by a Major Institution in Washington DC, we were able to visit several Other Major Institutions, always looking at works by the three selected photographers.

The Major Institution required that we all sign something stating that we would not use its name in any media. Hence the vagueness.

I went to DC the day before the scheduled photographic fun to enjoy the city and to catch up with some college friends. And it was a beautiful day.

Scenes from the National Gallery Sculpture Garden.

My favorite piece in the garden. I can't remember who the artist is, and I kind of don't really care. It was so awesome and shiny.

A little tiny (relatively) spider, by Louise Bourgeois (who made the giant spider outside the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa). The Canadian Spider is much more impressive.

I also went into a few museums (American History, Natural History) and walked most of the mall. My goal was to visit the Reflecting Pool - unfortunately there was no water present to reflect, just a few dirty shallow puddles. Which makes me wonder: Is the Reflecting Pool always a crushing disappointment?

And why must the paths always be covered in little bits of rock? To be like Paris? To ensure that people walk slow, pausing every ten minutes to dump the little rocks out of their shoes?

Some Smithsonian.

The West Building of the National Gallery: I love this picture. I didn't photograph the East Building, which was designed by I M Pei.

Post museum-visiting and mall-walking, I met up with the above mentioned college friends, R and F. And we went to a Sushi Go-Round. Love it.

Coming Soon!

I've been on the move recently, and will remain on the move for a few more days. But! Coming soon are trips to Washington DC and Albany (New York State).

Time Waster

The best website I've stumbled across in some time:
Hot Guys Reading Books.













This one is awesome because the guy has some crazy facial hair happening.

Sink Cat

I went into the bathroom this morning to brush my teeth and found the cat all curled up. Inside the sink. Where she remained for the next two hours, until I kicked her out. This sink-nesting is a new thing for her.

I giggled the whole time I was taking pictures.