The Day the Zunes Stood Still (a.k.a. Z2K)

Hahahahahahahahaha! I think this has got to be the goofiest thing ever, not to mention a fitting end to 2008!
I own a Zune30, which along with every other Zune30 decided to "freeze" at exactly 12:00 Midnight PST. By "freeze" I mean it rebooted itself, but got stuck at the Zune boot screen. No series of button presses or screaming at it (as demonstrated above) resulted in getting it past the boot screen. My next thought was "Well, I guess I could just let the battery run out, plug it in and see what happens." That's when the light bulb went on. "Why don't I just disconnect the battery and reset it that way", I thought. Well, after verifying how to take my Zune apart, I proceeded to do exactly that, and voila! -- my Zune is up and running. People have been posting some pretty funny stuff -- someone even went so far as to create a video dedicated to the event.

Here are two more funny images related to the problem.

Cotton Candy Clouds

Sunday evening's sunset was absolutely spectacular. I stepped outside and captured this image just as the clouds were turning a beautiful cotton candy pink. Tonight's sunset was even more spectacular, but I didn't have my camera with me.


If you like beautiful sunsets as much as I do, you should visit Missouri Skies. Lots of great sunset photos!

Celestial Trio

Sky & Telescope is calling tonight's celestial event the "Venus & Jupiter Show", but hey, let's not forget the Moon. ;)
Tonight the crescent moon joined Venus and Jupiter forming a beautiful celestial triangle. While I was getting the shot, a little cloud decided to pass in front of Venus, but it's so bright it came through anyway. The Moon, as you can clearly see is surrounded by a lovely halo, and Jupiter is the bright star to the far right of the image.

Aerial Jewel

I have always loved hummingbirds. I put up a feeder a couple of months ago, which has attracted several of them, but one in particular (a male Anna's Hummingbird) seems to have claimed the feeder as his own. Hummingbirds are very territorial, and this little guy defends his feeder at all costs. Today was one of those lovely cool overcast days, so I took advantage of the lighting and snapped a couple of pictures of "my" little guy. One of the best things about the male Anna's is the fact that they sing. He sits in the trees in front of my house and sings his little heart out on a regular basis. Right click this link to download an MP3.

Coming in for a landing.

Here's the jewel part -- his beautiful neck feathers. I'm going to keep trying to get closer to him. These pictures were my first attempt after letting him get used to me over the past two months. He didn't seem to bother the flash going off, so I'm hoping I'll get some good shots as time goes by.

Lions and Tigers and Spiders! Oh, my!

Wait! That's not right. We didn't see any lions or tigers, but we did see one heck of a spider! I took a day trip out to the Boyce-Thompson Arboretum on Sunday, hoping to find some Fall color. Well, I didn't find any color, but I did find a few surprises. First, there were numerous butterflies and hummingbirds flitting about due to the plethora of flowers in the aptly named "Hummingbird Garden." Then, I stumbled across a beautiful garden spider. He (or she) was absolutely huge! In order to get the close-up shot, I had to stick my lens about 1" from the spider. I was sure it was going to scramble up its web, but it stayed put and allowed me to get my shot. Later, after hiking the high trail, I stopped in the "Aussie Walk-about" and took some pictures of a decaying Power Wagon. Man, I would love to restore that thing. I'm guessing it's a late 40's or early 50's model, but it could even be a 60's model as they didn't change a whole lot after the war. Finally, we headed home, but while doing so we noticed a large cave-like hole in the side of one of the mountains within the Superstition range. My daughter was pretty sure it contains an old Native American cliff dwelling. Well, I did a bit of Internet research, and concluded that it might be the Rogers Canyon Cliff Dwelling, but I'm not quite sure. Anyway, after reading about this ancient (600 year old) ruin, I'm determined to hike to it before summer comes around again.

There were several old world rose bushes in the garden. I captured this image of a large fly who was hanging onto the underside of the flower. I'm not sure, but it appears that his left (compound) eye is reflecting the underside of the rose. Click the picture to see it at full size.

Here's a little Painted Lady. We see large numbers of these little beauties in our own backyard.

This beauty is a Pipevine Swallowtail. Unfortunately, of the several specimans flying around, none of them would hold still long enough to get a decent shot, but at least this picture captures its beautiful blue coloration. And yes, the orange flower it is sitting on is really that orange!

A glorious (not to mention, very large) female Banded Argiope (Argiope Trifasciata) spider. I've not seen one quite this big before. I estimate her body was at least 1.5 inches in length.

Ah, the old Power Wagon, complete with a lucky horseshoe.

I love the color, it's my favorite. :)

Chiquita and the "Bug"

My birthday falls a few days before Halloween, so I can be assured that my birthday will include creepy crawlies and ghoulish delights. Last year, my oldest daughter and her then fiancé gave me some special Halloween cup cakes, complete with large plastic spiders on top. Well, my little dog, Chiquita, absolutely loves to play with real bugs (i.e., crickets, spiders, etc.). So, as Halloween draws near, I got out the plastic spiders and let her have some fun. I believe she thinks they are real! When I first let her play with them, she scratches at them for a couple of minutes. This is what she does with real bugs. Then, once she is sure they won't be able to bite her ('cause they're dead), she'll pick them up with her mouth and have a ball. See for yourself.

Cheryl's First Race

Cheryl ran in her first race today, the 17th Annual Frank Kush 5K, which was held at Tempe Town Lake. Being a true family event, people were encouraged to bring their kids and their furry children (i.e., dogs). As always, you can click on any of the photos for a larger image.

There was a pretty good turnout for the event.

I provided the morale support.

Cheryl's pumped up and ready to go!

The early morning light was reflecting so nicely off the bottom of the old Mill Avenue bridge.

They're off! The winner (see red arrow) finished the 5k in just over 16 minutes!

I tried my best to get a shot of Cheryl as she ran by, but the best I could do was capture her head and one leg. Interestingly enough, there was a young man running with a log. Cheryl said he almost whacked her in the head with it a couple of times during the race.

Here's Cheryl on top of the bridge, just a few minutes from the finsh line.

She did it! I timed this photo just right, as her time is recorded (above to the right of her head). Cheryl had a goal of finishing the race in 40 minutes, but to her delight she beat her time by almost 2 minutes!