short weeks are boss

Posted on May 29, 2012October 10, 2013 by Jake

One of the best parts about long weekends, are the ensuing/preceding short weeks. What ends up happening is that a week’s worth of activities end up getting condensed into a four days. One of said activities that I happen to be looking forward to, is a race on Thursday. It is the AHA Wall Street 3 Mile Race. I have run this race a few times. It is kind of unique opportunity to be able to compete in a road race that weaves through the canyons of the Financial District. I’m just hoping for good weather. Mama Nature is in full spring mode in these parts. Today was scorching sun and blazing heat/humidity, until about 7ish, when I snapped the photo above. Since that time, the wind and clouds have given way to torrential rain.

For anyone itching to read more of my pointless disorganized thoughts, I also posted this today.

thoughts on thurs

Posted on May 10, 2012October 10, 2013 by Jake

There is no bigger cop-out for the title of a post than using alliteration with the name of the day that it is published. Yikes! Anyway, I am back from Chi-town. It was a very rainy adventure. My friends have that new Range Rover crossover (forgot the name of the model). The panoramic roof (above) was phenomenal for viewing the city while we drove around.

It was very cool to be able to see my friends again. I was bummed when it was time to leave. To make matters worse, my flight was delayed 5 hours because of lightning. So, I didn’t end up getting to bed until just shy of 4 AM Monday morning. Not the best way to start the week. As fate would have it, last night was really the first night that I was able to go home from work at a reasonable hour, tidy up and get some sleep.

I had some grandiose plans for the week, including logging some solid miles running. I am going to feel like a bit of a poseur this weekend, since I have a race on Sat and Sun. I did ride my bike to work Monday though (got rained on, on the way home). Then, the following weekend is the Brooklyn Half-Marathon. This is probably my favorite NYRR race. Too bad that I’m out of shape and will most likely score a terrible time, this year. Oh well. At least I will have a lot of friends at the race. It will be a good time no matter what.

And that is why the title of this post is so lame.

giving up something i love

Posted on January 24, 2012January 24, 2012 by Jake

Okay, the title of this post is a bit dramatic when compared to the content. I mean, who writes about retiring a wallet, anyway? But for some strange reason, saying goodbye to this old boy feels like losing a part of me. I bought this wallet when I first moved to NY (when I still shopped at Guess, hahahah). It was the perfect NY wallet. It folded on the long edge of two credit card sized halves, which made it perfect for carrying in the front pocket (to deter against pickpocketing). It had card pockets on both sides, one vertically stacked with a bifurcated window (super easy to get the ID out for bouncers and TSA), and one horizontally stacked set of pockets (perfect for taking out a metrocard without having to take off your gloves). The finest feature of all, was the stainless external bill clip (below). This feature also turned out to be its downfall.

This wallet came with me to Brazil and Europe. It has spent more time on my person than probably any other non-body-part item that I own.

I noticed about a week ago, that the bills were not as tot as they usually were after closing the clip. If you look closely at the image above, you can see the hairline crack that the clip developed along its spine. I can’t just go around dropping cash all over the floor.

So, tonight I switched over to a nondescript black number by Coach. It doesn’t have nearly as much character, and is not nearly as utilitarian. RIP, my absolute favorite accessory…. ever.

fruit fly saga continues

Posted on October 17, 2011April 24, 2018 by Jake

By Friday night, we had successfully trapped hundreds of fruit flies in mason jars. I came up with the idea below, and it seemed to work pretty well.

good things appear to be happening

Posted on October 5, 2011October 5, 2011 by Jake

I like it when good things happen. It puts me in a good mood and makes it easy to stay motivated. On a completely unrelated note, I was sitting at my desk last night, and I couldn’t help but appreciate the way that my desk lamp was reflected in a different color from each of the elements in the lens above. Kind of cool, no?

Bell & Ross X Harley Davidson

Posted on September 28, 2011September 28, 2011 by Jake

Finally, something made by Harley that I can get into. Don’t get me wrong. I have a lot of respect for the company. But when it comes to motorcycles, there are two camps– sport bikes and cruisers. I fall on the sport bike side of the fence. I love MotoGP, and anything with fairings. That’s not to say that I don’t like naked bikes. I’m totally into cafe racers and street fighters too. I actually owned a Ducati Monster for a while. Generally, I like bikes that go fast and get low in the corners. I have never been a Harley guy. At all. But check out this collaboration.

Harley-Davidson. UK dealer Shaw Harley-Davidson approached Bell & Ross regarding the bike design which was “inspired” by the watchmaker’s vision on “performance, precision and engineering.” Using the Harley-Davidson FXSTB Softail Nightrain base, they worked together in developing a housing for the Bell & Ross BR 01-92 Carbon watch. “The watch mounting positioned the timepiece in an ideal place for its primary function as a professional tool for the rider.”

[via]

Ode to the A train

Posted on September 21, 2011September 30, 2011 by Jake

As great as public transportation is, the MTA is seriously messed up. Sometimes the glaring deficiencies are maddening. Other times, their efforts to restore service, or prevent interruptions are something that the Army corps of engineers would be proud of. One example of this was on Monday. A broken water main on the UWS caused the ABC and D tunnels to become totally full of water in certain sections. The MTA spent all night pumping it out and replacing signals and switches ruined by the flooding. Even though afternoon commute that day was hellish, having those lines out of service, the MTA had everything back in working order in time for the morning commute. Way to go, guys. In honor of their hard work, I would like to debut a little poem that I wrote about the A train. Hahahaha.

I have actually now written several of these. I thought that it would be hilarious to start writing poems while either waiting for, or riding the train late at night. This particular poem was one of the first. I thought that in light of recent events, it was appropriate to publish it this week.

On the platform, probably staring at the texturized yellow line. Maybe sane, maybe paralyzed. On my retinas flash the reflection of incandescent light on the tracks. It’s that ghetto incandescent light of a city that hasn’t been updated in much too, too long. The tracks have been worn smooth, shinier than mirrors. Two parallel mirrors in the sooty rat pen. Optics strain, pupils dial down. There is a disgustingly un-royal, royal blue circle with the English equivalent of Alpha marking the center. On my way home, at last. At last what? I don’t know. Nothing significant, because I’ll do it again tomorrow and again. I’m bad at poems.

So there you have it. Happy Wednesday.

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Hola, September

Posted on September 1, 2011August 31, 2011 by Jake

I sort of can’t believe that September is here. I’m so glad that Sept. 11 falls on a weekend this year. Because historically, getting to work on that day has been a joke. I suppose that it wouldn’t matter much this year anyway, since it is smack in the middle of fashion week. I’m getting pretty stoked about FW. My calendar is getting more and more packed by the day. During ’11 spring FW I turned over the 7D’s clicker. In those few days I snapped close to 4000 images, and loved every second of it. The in between shows is what stresses me out.

Anyway, the screen shot above is of part of my August image folder. Yes… I’m a windows nerd. I also still rock a blackberry. Now that Steve Jobs has stepped down, I may venture over to the Mac (dark) side. Only if Mac decides to open up their gigantic tight fist a bit, when it comes to creating/servicing your own builds and custom software/apps. Otherwise, I will most likely continue to be a stick in the microsoft mud.

Back to the matter at hand. Did anyone else* who reads this stuff (besides Bob, Zach and Tammy) shoot anything cool in August? Hit me with links please!

*I’m sure that I left some ppl out. Please forgive.

Get ready for aperture basics, as a part of the photog series, on Monday (probably).

Watch me now.

Posted on August 31, 2011August 31, 2011 by Jake

I have a small collection of watches that I like to rotate. I have a few sportier/chunkier designs for the weekend, and others that are a bit less casual looking. The less casual looking are the only ones that really jive with the getup that I normally wear into the office. So, when the batteries started dying off about 8 months ago, I was eventually relegated to a solitary black chronograph. A million times, I thought to myself “I should drop off those watches for service.” But I perpetually put it off. Yesterday, the battery finally gave way on black chrono piece, as well. So, I packed up all three of the watches above and dropped them off for service today. I will be retrieving them in the morning. Until then, my wrist will just have to remain naked during business hours. It’s like the macro drawn-out version of putting off laundry until you finally have to throw on a pair of board shorts (since your skivvies are all in the hamper), and a musty seldom worn t-shirt, then do the march of shame to the laundromat.

This concludes another lesson on procrastination.

Summer is fading

Posted on August 24, 2011June 20, 2021 by Jake

A great sign that summer is on it’s way out is when hurricane season arrives. I wouldn’t say that we are already in hurricane season. But, apparently Irene is coming through this weekend. As a side note: the young and impressionable Jake was always curious about how the names of hurricanes were chosen. This was one of scads of technical questions that I was able to ask my dad and receive a true and accurate answer about. In the pre-Google days, I feel bad for people who didn’t have a certified genius for a dad, like I do.

Back on topic, the days are shorter, etc.. I certainly hope that Irene turns out to be all media hype, like every other hurricane that has made it’s way in our direction since I have been a New Yorker. Why? I have some good stuff planned for the next few days. I’m not just talking about my boring old running. I’m supposed to be shooting something tomorrow morning that I’m pretty stoked about. Aside from that, a DC road trip is on the calendar for this weekend. More outdoor activities are slated for DC.

So, I can deal with the fact that the sun is no longer making itself seen until after 6 AM. But Irene, please girl, leave us alone this weekend. Ok? Go ahead and send your siblings through in a couple weeks, so that we have some real waves for NYC’s first real surf competition. But, I know that I’m not just speaking for myself when I plead with you to just turn yourself around and head back out to sea. k, thx.

[photo: shot on my way out the door to make the first video tutorial for the photo series]

In my mailbox this evening

Posted on August 17, 2011August 17, 2011 by Jake

I can’t believe that summer is almost over and Fashion Week is almost here. I’m equal parts elated and stressed. As much as I love covering the shows, my stress levels tend to be off the charts during the entire ordeal. At least I have all of the super thick September issues of my favorite mags rolling in, to keep me distracted in the mean time.

New York Street Art

Posted on August 12, 2011August 12, 2011 by Jake

I don’t mean to write two “I heart NY” posts in a row. But, I really enjoy the non-stop visual stimulation that occurs just walking around the City. Today I was on the way to shoot this, and I happened upon the scene pictured above (and below). I don’t know what I like more about what is going on here– several dozen trampled roses on the sidewalk, or a dog that looks like a baby deer. I think it is going to be a good weekend.