Music streamed from the phallic Harmon Kardon Soundsticks and Jello shots (red not green this time) flowed from the fridge last night at Dardy’s Bulletproof Lounge party, held in celebration of his now furnished apartment.

There were a number of online personalities present, including Carol, Paul, Mike, Eric, Susan, Rae, and Rita. It shall be quite interesting to read the various reactions, impressions, and thoughts from so many web journalists, in the coming days!

• Dardy’s thoughts
• Mike’s thoughts and coverage
• Paul’s coverage
• Eric’s thoughts

Jack, Amy, and I had an extended conversation about how long I’ll be continuing this web site. In my opinion, writing about memorable events, rather than a daily blomit, is the key to sustained growth. The other approach tends to burn people out — once they’ve said all there has to be said, what more is there left to say?

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Quoi d’neuf?

On Saturday, the St. Lawrence String Quartet performed Tchaikovsky 1 and Bartok 3 at Eric’s in San Francisco. I’m not well versed in classical music, but I can spot excellence when I hear it — Geoff, Barry, Leslie, and Alberto, they are most impressive.

On Sunday, Rae and I went cycling along Canada Road in Woodside. The city closes off the road to vehicular traffic on Sundays, making it great for cyclists, roller-bladers, and runners. I brought along the camera for the ride. That’s right, here I am spinning at 20 miles per hour with no hands on the bike, taking pictures!

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The seventh meeting of the Camera Owners of the Bay Area user group met last night at SLAC. This month’s meeting was going to feature talks by landscape and nature photographers, but I wasn’t able to secure enough speakers for the night. Since I had just returned from a week in Desolation Wilderness, I decided to give a talk on backpacking and photography.

First time attendees to COBA, Claudia and Gordon Peterson, helped me out by listing some tips and techniques for effective bird photography. I doubt that a camouflaged tarp would have helped to bring the wildlife closer to me last week; they don’t call it Desolation Wildnerness without a reason! Granted, I did see one deer walk right in front of me during the trail one day, but that was the only large animal I saw during the entire trip.

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Right now, Judy is on a plane headed for Japan, where she’ll be working for the next several months. On Monday night, she held a going-away party at her place in Oakland. It was nice meeting some familiar faces in Mona and Vanessa, both of whom I haven’t seen in person in what seems like years. All four of us were in the same freshman class, and Judy and Mona lived in Serra House, which neighbored Donner House in the ever-lovely Stern Hall.

I enjoyed meeting Judy’s other friends, including co-workers Randy and Bart, Minako, Robert, and their daughter Sophie, See-Eng, Cary, and Vineet and Karishma (along with a few others who left early whose names escape me at the moment). Sophie was an especially cute little 11-month old, and she seemed happy when I played goo-chee-goo-chee-goo with her. Rae and I thought her pigtail was especially cute. A lot of babies seem to be sporting these mini-pigtails; is it the trendy thing to do?

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From September 7-12, 2002, I backpacked within the granite and alpine heart of Desolation Wilderness, the site of my first solo backpacking trip two years ago. After some further excursions to Henry W. Coe State Park, the Lost Coast, the Russian River, and Big Basin, it was time to return to my roots.

63,960 acres of “subalpine and alpine forest, granitic peaks, and glacially-formed valleys and lakes” cover Desolation Wilderness, which was declared a national wilderness in 1969. Portions of the Pacific Crest Trail and the Tahoe Rim Trail intersect with the wilderness, which is located next to South Lake Tahoe. According to the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, it’s the most heavily used wilderness area per acre in the United States.

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Last year, we celebrated Michael’s 30th birthday at the Indian Oven restaurant in San Francisco. For his 31st birthday, Deb, Arwen, Dave, Keith, Teri, Rae, Susan, Petrice, Michelle, and I joined Mr. T at Mescolanza Pasta Pizzetta Dolce on Clement and 24th.

On the way to the restaurant, Rae and I saw the sign for a One Hour Photo store on Clement. The other day, we saw the Robin Williams’ film of the same name. We both enjoyed the film and found Williams’ portrayal of Seymour to be pretty chilling at times. The pursuit of truth and proof sometimes drives us to do things out of the ordinary. It all reminded me of a time when I was driving back from a night of dancing several years ago. Coming to a stop along Central Expressway, I felt like a running back faced with the split-second decision to go straight through the hole set by his blockers or to do a cut back. To the left lay the path homeward and to the right was a photo opportunity. Like the recently “retired” Terrell Davis (TD), I went to the right.

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