Stade Olympique, October 2010

Last fall I spent a whole afternoon wandering around the spookily desolate olympic stadium grounds in Montreal. Aside from a few athletes, a handful of Japanese tourists going to the tower, and a kid practicing parkour, the place was deserted. (wikipedia)

Alaska 2010

Highlights from my awesome trip to Alaska with Muchmore include the Anchorage to Seward ride on the Alaska Railroad, the Kenai Fjords boat trip, the Mount McKinley / Denali park visit, flying lessons over the Knik Tundra with Greg, hiking the Winner Creek Trail with Nancy, and a lot more!

Mexico City

Seven days was just not enough time to explore Mexico City. A week after being home and I still find myself daydreaming about the streets and the people there.

Winter Reconnaissance

Somewhere in the title there’s an anagram with Wisconsin in it, which is fitting because these photos were taken on the short flight from Appleton to Milwaukee. The window in my favorite seat (2A) was a little scuffed, so these are not the clear shots I would have got if Midwest Airlines still had it’s new Boeing 717s. Nonetheless, the shortness of the flight (20 minutes) means we never get too high, so it’s easy to make out all lots of detail on the ground. The snow helps too, adding lots of contrast and making it easier to pick out the larger features.

Best Care in the Air

I am VERY UNHAPPY that Midwest Airlines is out of business. I don’t have any confidence that Republic Airlines (who grounded all the Midwest jets and fired all the pilots and attendants) will make my trips home as pleasant as Midwest has done over the years. Message to Republic Airlines: It’s not about the cookies!

This week marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The story behind his exploration has always fascinated me, since reading Voyage of the Beagle as a school kid. Two years ago the American Museum of Natural History in New York City had a great exhibit dedicated to Darwin — with live animals to illustrate. And last year I had the great fortune of traveling to the Galapagos for a ten day expedition.

George Takei + Brad Altman, originally uploaded by Atomische.com.

Get soaked, steam a little, dry, repeat.

Despite the rain, or perhaps because of it, I had a very enjoyable time at the 2008 Gay Parade. Instead of our usual spot we decided to head uptown a little — 27th street — and found a great area on the corner where we could take photos head-on. It was a lot easier to engage marchers from behind the barricades. There was plenty of room too, so no standing motionless for hours. More photos coming soon!

Had a very successful walk-around in Tel Aviv today, and saw much graffiti including stencils, tags and a few murals too. Erez is helping me translate some of the text. Processing them is a pain on the laptop so the rest will have to wait until I get back to NYC next week.

Just got back from the far south … stayed in this hut near Mitzpe Ramon in the desert, with no electric or plumbing.

We didn’t really need guides, but ran into Ahmed and his friend every time we turned a corner. In perfect English, learned at the New Gate school, they asked “where would you like to go?” It turns out school is out for summer this week, so the market for guides in the Old City was quite crowded.

Today we took a drive to Jerusalem and visited many of the popular sites, visited with the locals, ate some great hummus and of course took lots of photos. More later, I promise. (it’s quite late here and I’m wiped out.)

Yesterday I went on a short photo safari in the old part of Tel Aviv with Erez. Called Neve tzedek (Oasis of Justice) it’s actually the first neighborhood of Tel Aviv.

We didn’t see lots of graffiti except for a handful of stencil tags and pasteups. Most of the stencils were very political. I’ll post more of them over on Flickr later on.

We saw the one above, “Straight to the Heart” many times. The notice board on the left has a poster for the upcoming Gay Pride Tel Aviv which I’ll miss — it’s the day I come back to NYC.

After a grueling flight, which started with me being chosen for extra security measures, I have arrived in Tel Aviv. First stop, the beach, followed by an invigorating fruit drink. The weather and water are perfect, although the locals think the water is still too cold for swimming. Luckily, no jet lag yet, but we’ll see how things go tomorrow.

On my way to Tel Aviv today. Stay tuned for more posts from your Middle East correspondent.

Atomische photo of the day for November 15, 2007

Last weekend I went to Hawk Mountain with my friend Michael. It was supposed to be hawk migration season — but someone forgot to tell the hawks. We did see lots of great foliage, and a few accipiters. But one of bit of awesome luck came as we were searching for someplace to eat in the old part of Bethlehem: ruins of the old Bethlehem Steel works. I was really surprised how close we were able to get, since the fence went right up to the buildings. And not a guard in site. We later found out that some of the buildings are being converted into a casino complex (BethWorks). I wonder what will become of this huge factory?

Atomische photo of the day for August 1, 2007

Traffic heading west last weekend was pretty heinous, given the weather and commuters–who knew that so many people commute from NYC to Pennsylvania? Luckily the drive back Sunday afternoon was a breeze.

Atomische photo of the day for July 30, 2007

I had a great weekend with Michael in the Poconos / Delaware Water Gap area. We hung out with the gays by the pool, did some lite hiking and waterfall-hunting.