Monthly update

Seems like all I can manage these days is a monthly update of ye ol' blog. Alas! I've been super busy lately. First I went to a tribology (the study of friction) conference in San Diego, CA, then a funding review meeting in Gainesville, FL. It's always a major crunch to get a years worth of data analyzed, condensed, and thrown into a 30 minute PowerPoint presentation. After that was over, we packed up and went to TN to visit the grandparents. So basically, I've been going somewhere or getting ready to go somewhere nonstop for the last month. I did manage to take lots of pictures everywhere I went, so let the fun begin...

We'll start in San Diego: Due to a stroke of luck, I was there for the big fires. The city was filled with smoke and haze so thick that you couldn't breath and when you blew your nose, you were left with black boogers. Nice.

In no particular order, sights from San Diego:

Wrought Iron:


The old hotel on Coronado


The old hotel on Coronado


Panorama showing the smoke. (Click for Full Resolution version)


Night Skyline from Coronado



Now onto Gainesville: Okay I didn't actually take any pictures of Gainesville. As far as I could tell, it was a godforsaken place. But I did go to San Augustine, the oldest settlement in North America. I was a little disappointed in what I found there, like most everything in FL, it had been, for lack of a better word, Disneyfied. All the old buildings had been converted to shops selling the fudge, ice cream, and stupid hats so typical of a tourist town. You really had to look pretty close and peel back the layers to find any true old world charm. Here's what I came up with:













Some color, just 'cause: