Firefox Fanatic tip of the day (workflow)

Ever type in your username or something in a text field and accidentally misspell it? You can actually delete those unwanted saved entries! It makes signing in much, much easier (it also helps if you're constantly entering new text into a certain text field and you want to keep the correct lines without having to clear your entire saved form history in Firefox).

1) Click in the text field.
2) Arrow down to highlight the line you want to delete (but don't click on it).
3) Hit Delete. (Or on a laptop, hold down Shift and hit Delete.)
4) Watch it go away forever!

Apparently this was common knowledge years ago, and I'm just joining the conga line now. Enjoy.

It hasn't snowed yet this holiday season

In Denver, the month of September is near perfect weather. The tail-end of summer feathers seamlessly with the approaching crisp autumn air. In October, we are in the throes of a colder, changing climate. Leaves fall; they tip-toe across streets with the wind. It usually snows at this time, but nothing in October this year!

It's now close to Thanksgiving, and all we've gotten in Denver is a morning dusting last week that melted instantly. A couple days ago, high temp. of 80 degrees. In November. This morning, Mother Nature was lazy and decided to just ice our cars. No snowflakey ballet and dance, just freezer burn. Last year by this time, Denver looked like this::


I blame it on the economy.
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Canon 50D now part of my arsenal. Photos coming soon...

In pace requiescat Mitch Mitchell (and my Rebel XT)

In sad news, the rock world lost another great today. Drummer Mitch Mitchell died Wednesday of natural causes. The name ID might not come to you immediately, but he was part of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, a short-lived yet immemorable glimpse into how music can reach beyond its limits.

Mozart. Salvador Dalì. Bob Dylan. Pablo Picasso. I'm convinced that these people were actually sent from another planet; aliens brought in to say, via their art, "This is what's possible when you use your whole brain!" It was more than easy genius. They transcended mortality.

Jimi Hendrix could only attract the most talented drummer and bassist to match him. They became this jazz-rock fusion power trio, decades ahead of their time. While imi fueled a musical hurricane like no other, Mitch drummed out complex explosions of rhythm, like they fed off each other's jams. Bassist Noel Redding was the eye of the storm—deceptively simple bass lines to balance the havoc around him.

The Experience lasted only three years, 1966-69. Sometimes you think whatcouldahappened... How Jimi's trio would have changed music if they had played on through the 70s... Could they have prevented disco? Through the 80s... Easy Listening? Hendrix + Guitar Hero. It would have been amazing.
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I'm finally upgrading my camera body. Amazon be sending me Canon's 50D. I'm excited. I'm also upgrading my computer. It's time to get an iMac. I'm waiting for Macworld Expo in January because Apple's probably going to upgrade the iMac memory and whatnot. Who knows, they might go touch-screen on that thing. Amazing times...
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It's been more than a week since Election Day and a few elections haven't been decided yet. A month ago I predicted how each state would go, red or blue. Turns out I was two states off. Like many people across the country, I underestimated the Obama ground game. Obama took Indiana and North Carolina? Seriously? That's a powerful message.

Cable Center wedding pictures | Bobby & Marie in Denver, Colorado

Getting married this year at the Cable Center? Email Chris to see if I'm available to photograph your wedding! The Cable Center is a pretty amazing place of photos.



It was a fine ceremony at the superbly renovated St. Thomas More Church in Littleton::


Everybody, I want you to meet my beautiful mother and handsome father, Annette and Valente::


He's been playing the violin like a master for decades, and it showed at the rehearsal dinner::



Details of a perfect day (I think that duck is an inside-joke)::


Family family everywhere::


Whatchyoulookinat? I used to hit these on my birthdays when I was a kid::


Byeeeeeee::


Thank you Robert and Marie for a wonderful day. Sorry if I hit that piñata before you had a chance to (I know it was your special day, but I couldn't help it ;).

What a day for a daydream

Love those Rocky Mountains!

One weekend, two presidential candidates

Last weekend I went to a John McCain rally and a Barack Obama rally in Denver. Colorado is an official 'battleground' state so they want our votes! Here's Friday at the Western Stock Arena, the McCain rally attendance 4,000 strong (sorry, no Palin)::




Former Broncos quarterback John Elway introduced the Senator, as did John Lynch, a really popular Bronco who left last year and is considering another team, I hear.


48 hours later, Barack Obama made history by speaking to over 100,000 Coloradoans at Civic Center Park. A sea of people flooded the Park and stretched all the way to the steps of the Capitol building. In front of me::



See Barack? He's right there, at the podium!

And behind me (click for the larger version)::


It was amazing. I've never seen this before in Denver. I was one of 84,000 people at the Senator's DNC acceptance speech in August at Invesco Field, but this was different. No tickets required, first-come first-serve, early morning on a cold Sunday. People of all ages, hues, ethnicities, heights, temperaments, political affiliations attended this speech. It's a testament to Barack's overall message.



For comparison, last week's Obama crowd under the Gateway Arch in St. Louis reached about 100,000. Obama's excellent adventure throughout Europe this summer peaked in Berlin, where he spoke to a crowd topping 200,000. I counted the crowd while Barack spoke and my final tally was 114,293 people. Denver represent! We'll see if this Denver crowd translates into votes.

Dow-n Jones and My Predictions for Election Day

Yeah, they might as well as add an 'n' to the Dow.

Down, Jones. Down!

It's down 40% from this time last year. NASDAQ down 38%. S&P 500 down 41%. My 401(k) is now a 201(k). No worries, though. I didn't have that much in there to begin with, ha. Good strategy after all, Chris!

Ironically, so many of these stocks look really enticing right now. Still too risky to buy anything, though. But after the New Year (read: after the election), I'm going shopping for some discounted growth-stock mutual funds.

Speaking of the election, I'm going to call it. It's time. Here's how Barack will win the smattering of lean- and swing-states. My home-brewed electoral map, courtesy of MSNBC:



Obama-Biden will take all the swing states, except Missouri and North Carolina. Results will be close in Ohio, and even closer in Colorado. I think CO will go blue with less than a 50,000-vote margin.

The only way McCain-Palin have a shadow of a chance of turning around Obama's 11-point lead in the national polls is:

a) if there's a SERIOUS geopolitical event within the next three weeks (i.e., terrorist attack on the US or Western ally, or Israel attacks Iranian interests, etc.), or

b) Osama Bin Laden walks over to McCain's Sedona ranch and surrenders, or

c) McCain manages to come up with an actually clear, consistent and focused campaign strategy that's agreed upon by the following parties: John McCain, Cindy McCain, Sarah Palin, their campaign strategists, their economic advisers, and their surrogates. So far he's confusing the heck out of his base.

I'm going to be an election judge on Nov. 4th, and I'm wearing a purple tie and purple Converses in celebration of Colorado becoming a purple state. Awww. I promise I'll take pictures. Should be a lot of fun.

Thank the Lordinator (why I hate texting)

Governor Terminates Texting While Driving

One day, driving up 20th Street in Denver, I looked in my rearviewmirror and I saw a girl with her phone in one hand, texting, and a cigarette in the other hand, lit, and I think it was her right pinky finger that was operating the steering wheel.

Another day, driving down 12th Ave, saw Girl On Pink Cruiser Bike; she appeared about twenty feet away and crossed the street in front of me without looking either way. Yep, texting.

And it's not uncommon in this hipster doofus neighborhood of Capitol Hill to find some guy on a mountain bike texting while peddling uphill and having almost no idea that he kinda doesn't have the green light, and that a 2-ton monster of hard steel and oil is about to hit him. Dummie. Gives law-abiding bikers a really bad name.

And this guy died because he was texting.

Oh and that California commuter train that smashed head-on into a freight train a couple weeks ago because the engineer was texting when he should have been working the train properly, which kinda killed 20+ innocent commuters?

Thank you, Governator of Kahlifornia, for passing this legislation. The cyborgs of the future will be much safer now and hopefully every state will follow your state's lead. If anyone calls me while they're driving, don't be offended if I tell you to just call me back. It's because I care. :)

Autumn in Colorado - A Preview

Peak color in Colorado is actually a full week later than usual, so when I got up to Routt National Forest near Steamboat Springs last weekend, I was wishing for more yellows and rusty reds. But hey, green works too. (The pano above will be a gallery wrap above my mother's fireplace. One season down, three to go.)



Some guy's private property (oops)::


I explored this area of Colorado on the suggestion of legendary nature photographer John Fielder. Dunkley Pass certainly has valleysides blanketed in aspen! Definitely rivals that of Kebler Pass near Crested Butte, which is THE autumn drive in this state.



And look at this! I didn't know rock stacks existed in CO, but apparently they do. This appeared out of nowhere on Highway 131, northbound towards Steamboat Springs. Say hello to Finger Rock::


I'll be in Breckenridge and environs this weekend to take advantage of the (hopefully) peak color of golden aspen forest around Boreas Pass, and wherever the magic hour finds me. I think it's safe to say I'm definitely getting married in the month of Baracktober. Until then...

Barack Obama's Acceptance Speech: An Inside Look (adventures)

As you know, the DNC was in Denver all last week and I stopped by 16th St. Mall on the last day to capture history while it was in town::



I was about two blocks away from the MSNBC makeshift studios when I was whisked away by the LightRail to Invesco Field for Barack's acceptance speech that night.


Except the LightRail didn't go ALL the way to the stadium (that stop was closed). So I conveniently waited in a serpent-like line of credential holders about 2 miles long. Everyone of us had our credentials in hand, eagerly awaiting admittance to the best free event ever in the history of Denver.

Met some students from Iowa (where the whole thing started), talked to someone about the conventions of the 60s, passed countless peddlers selling campaign buttons and T-shirts... 2 hours later, I was in! I watched the televised version of the entire evening afterwards, but ya know, it didn't even come close to what it was like inside the stadium, live, in person. People assembled from all over the country, reporters from all over the world. Press boxes from all the major news channels, the top names in Democratic politics, celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg, Stevie Wonder and Sheryl Crow, Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson, Al Gore, oh and me. All in one space! The weather was postcard-Colorado beautiful. Slight breeze, summer evening stillness. And for what it was worth, I had an amazing view::




I took binoculars because I knew everyone would look like dyed Q-tips from that height. I caught sight of Rev. Jesse Jackson, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (and his bolo tie), Brian Williams and Tom Brokaw from NBC, and of course all the politicians (including the now-infamous delegation from Party Town!). As the shades of evening drew on, and as Barack spoke::



Although I was there, the convention on the field still seemed like a world apart. The spectacle and the size of this event was so beyond me that I almost had trouble connecting to it. Although I heard every word of Barack's speech, I still had to work to soak it all in. 84,000 people were there! And almost 40 million Americans watched it on TV. More than the Olympics opening ceremony, more than the Finale of American Idol. And I was there. Still can't believe it.


I do have my critiques though, as far as presentation (hey, it's me!). The fireworks after the speech were tame. The confetti and ticker tape shower were so localized, only above the stage, that it looked ten times bigger and better on TV (it never reached beyond the stage in fact). I LOVE that they handed out American flags to nearly everyone in the stadium (along with Change signs), but they skimped on the larger cloth flags, the ones that require someone to hold and wave it. I saw maybe a dozen in the whole stadium. I saw one guy in the upper stands, though, waving his with such enthusiasm, like a true revolutionary. He made it on the CNN homepage that night!

If the DNC had interspersed a hundred large flags throughout the sections, with volunteers waving them in all their glory, to balance out the ten of thousands of smaller flags, man that would have been a rare sight. I don't know. I can't criticize the DNC committee too much. I just keep thinking of that Claude Monet painting of the French flags in ridiculous abundance on a Parisian street, full of people celebrating a French exposition of something::



I guess after that night at Invesco Field, I have a newfound reverence for the American flag and what it represents. I wonder (to quote Michael Phelps) how "at a loss of words" some Americans would be if you asked them what their flag meant to them. Would it even be an instantaneous response for them? Or would they have to think about it for a second, because they really don't have to on a daily basis?

I stayed for a while to check out the Press boxes::


I sat in the horse's mouth way up there, what a view! Katie Couric is somehwere in that herd of people. For the most part, the press was so done with the DNC, ready for Round 2 of political coverage with the RNC in St. Paul, MN, next week.

I'm excited to see what the Republicans have to say (or not say), especially in the midst of oncoming Hurricane Gustav at the other end of the Mississippi River (online telethon, anyone? seriously, they're thinking about doing that). But I'll tell you one thing: the GOP will have to try pretty hard to top what I saw at Invesco Field!

DNC At My Doorstep!! Day 1

We've been waiting for the Democratic National Convention for a couple years now, and it is already leaving its mark on the city! Being only a 10-minute walk away from the Capitol Building has its rewards. It's far enough away that I wouldn't even notice the DNC at all, but close enough that I can stop by and soak in the politics!


And I walked right into an anti-war protest march that commanded the attention of the entire 16th St. Mall.


Going back to my Magnum roots::




That giant 131-foot blade above him is part of wind turbine manufactured in Colorado by Vestas. Signs of things to come!


I've never seen so many police on one street. Police on horses, police hanging onto vans with full riot gear, I think I saw Robocop too. Amazing scene. Everyone had a camera, and everyone was taking pictures of everyone else who had cameras! This is our Olympics! Bye bye Beijing! All the eyes of America are upon us.

More images from the DNC coming later this week. I'm excited for Thursday, as I'm one of the 75,000 lucky ticket-holders to Barack Obama's Acceptance Speech at Invesco Field! Historic night.

Laura & Frank have the most amazing backyard (wedding)

Last Saturday, I helped out fellow photographer Nicole Roche with a very cool wedding in Conifer, CO. Conifer is nestled within the foothills and on your way to the Rocky Mountains, and what a view from their balcony! The entire wedding was held at Laura and Frank's house high up on the mountainside. Looking south you could spot Pikes Peak in the far distance. It's one of those backgrounds that make photographers go "oooh... ahhh!"


The wedding party was small and intimate. Just the immediate family and the very closest of friends. Frank pulled off the James Bond look perfectly!







And I usually don't say this about just anyone, but Laura not only had a really effusive smile, but a really contagious laugh that would make everyone else laugh.



Details all around (isn't that the sweetest wine bottle holder thingy?)


Beautiful home, Colorado-style::


Dinner was catered by Las Margaritas in Denver. They make the BEST ceviche in the city. Seriously? I wanted to take some home. But I was a guest so I took a picture instead. Look at this spread!


Brides, here's a cool idea:: they printed out photos of each guest and attached them to cards where the guests could write down their salutations.


The way this couple from San Diego interacted throughout the afternoon really caught my eye. You know what was also caught? The flower bouquet! She was right there ready to catch it, and the guy had the most surprising look on his face. We all heard wedding bells. No doubt.


The almost-kiss. Ever classic::


I love it when kids like to have their picture taken. The eyes have it!



I get goofy sometimes. I'm not sure if they were laughing with me or at me. Either way, it was fun!


Some of my favorite portraits of the happy guests::




This is Laura and Frank's backyard!


Thank you both for letting me document your day! And thanks to Nicole for dragging me along...