January has been great so far

2009 has bee good so far. The weather has been very nice the past 2 weeks so we have gotten out to do cool stuff. I also formed a small photography club at work. We hope to go out once or twice a month and shoot and then compare shots. You can learn a lot by comparing pictures taken at the same place and same time.

We flew down to visit Mom, Oma and Grandpa for Christmas so I pulled up the Yule Log feed on Jet Blue Christmas morning.

Donna and enjoy getting cool foods for New Year's Eve and then staying in. Here is Donna picking out cured meats at a Russian Grocery Store

We went shopping on Filmore St. and I thought this was funny. I doubt they can improve that guys skin.

I liked the building reflections in this shot so I removed everything else

This is the first shot I took with my new 50mm Lens. It's the Canon 50mm 1.4. I love it.

I like shadows

This is Brett on our first Photo Club trip

Our trip was to North Beach. This is a new lighting installment they put in recently

There are a lot of smokers in the city and they all have to smoke outside

This guy offered to read us some of his Erotic Haikus. We passed on the offer.

This guy seems to be looking for a good time

Street Jazz

You think your cube is small?

I liked the color and shapes in this one

You can get anything and everything on Broadway in SF

More people smoking outside of bars

This guys seems happy to have his beer

That's it for now but check back later.

Jon and Donna

A Typical Day at LucasArts

Just a quick post to share something special and fun. The last week of the year we had a contest. They broke us into 8 person teams and allowed us to make a game in a week. The teams were made up of all divisions at LucasArts so we had marketing and fiance and other areas on our teams which was cool. They encouraged us to market our game (internally) so we went all out and brought in a few of the 501st to hang around while we were showing our game. Our game involved treating Storm Troopers poorly so we dressed them up in bandages and crutches. It was a big hit and created a great buzz in the office. Many pictures were taken that day. When we take pictures at work it's always a good idea to get them approved for showing. Enjoy.

It's not all flying around shooting down X-wing fighters when you are a pilot.

Me geeking it up and proud of it!

Pilot gotta boo-boo

Workplace accidents are down this year when you aren't a Storm Trooper

Band-Aids don't only stick to kids.

Sometimes you have to call in the big guns when the copier is jammed.

This isn't the toner you are looking for.

Right after this his face melted then exploded.

Some top secret coding going on.

Like I said a short one but a fun one.

Jon and Donna

Wrapping up the year

Happy New Year!

2008 was a good year for us. We had a great time exploring the city, work was good for both of us and we even got out of town. We took a trip to Disney World. It's a fun trip for us and as you will see from the pictures we had a great time. Mom and Bill were nice enough to apartment and pet sit for us. It was a grand adventure for them and we really appreciated their being here for the pets.

We took Mom and Bill out to Lunch to show them the ropes. We showed them around a neighborhood in The City that we like and showed them how to use the bus.

We got up early for our flight and flew all day. We have 3 legs. It took a while but we had fun. Here was a shot I took out the window at sunset on our way to Charlotte (our last leg).

We went to The Magic Kingdom the first day. Donna posed with the Evil Emperor Zurg.

The cleaning crew sprays window cleaner in the shape of Mickey Heads as they clean the windows.

I likes this one of The Pirates

I liked it so much I took another one once it got dark.

Here is a shot of the Main St. Station all lit up.

Here is a shot of a toy train. I used a low shutter speed to blur it and make it look less miniature.

Here is Darrin (the friend we went with) trying on Official Astronaut Helmets.

Here is all of us in my favorite. A mirror.

A shot on Test Track


Another of us on Test Track

We went to all kinds of restaurants out there

Here is a shot of the newish ride at Disney's Animal Kingdom, Expedition Everest.

Donna and I just off of Everest

They have an area at Disney's Hollywood Studios that they deck out with Christmas Lights

It was amazing but way too loud

I liked these benches on The Disney Boardwalk

Darrin getting us into Epcot. He got us into each of the parks each day. We appreciated that very much!

My fake tilt shift shot. It's me faking a miniature to look like real life looking miniature.

Donna and Darrin going over some of her shots

We ate at a great place for lunch in Japan at EPCOT

Our waitress was great and even posed for a shot.

Lucky Cats in Japan

Donna on our The Land Tour. We saw Green houses growing plants hydroponically. I think they do that in San Francisco but they don't give tours.

Another shot of Donna on the tour. They were raising fish and they filtered the sunlight red to keep the algae from growing.

Gingerbread men and pretzels in Germany at EPCOT

Darrin eating again. He isn't as used to having his photo taken constantly as Donna is.

All of us in another mirror

My favorite of the trip. Donna taking a picture of herself

A lighting fixture at a fancy restaurant we went to called Blue Zoo.

The oyster bar at Blue Zoo.

The Bar at Blue Zoo.

We had a very nice hotel room. We could watch the EPCOT fireworks from the balcony.

Darrin and I finding out how hard Speeder Bikes are to ride.

Me posing with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for sale at Disney's Hollywood Studios

A bucket of Kermits

A wall of Mickey and Minnies

Disney owns The Nightmare Before Christmas and sells quite a bit of merchandise.

We had a beer at The Rose and Crown bar in England at EPCOT

Donna and I on the paddle ship

The three of us eating dinner in Germany

Donna and I went to The LucasFilm Holiday Party. It was a lot of fun.

They had great spreads of food there

And they lugged in a carnival ride. This is indoors in a giant cool warehouse.

It's not Christmas if you don't go to EJ and Sue's Cookie Making Party. It was a great party with kids and dogs and cookies!

Ya aren't supposed to eat the frosting but I couldn't resist.

That's it for 2008 but check back soon for some of the early shots of 2009

Hoping you have a great 2009,

Jon and Donna