Wow, is it February already. Where the hell have I been.

Oh yeah…

After Martinique, I spent the holidays freezing and damp high in the Peruvian Andes. This trek was organized through Adventure Life. For the most part, it was great. Some time in Cusco acclimatizing ourselves to the altitude, then off to the Ausangate region for 6 days climbing over 17,000 foot passes, meeting Andean people, watching baby alpacas being sheered and sometimes born, visiting the markets, sampling local cuisine like guinea pig and strawberry beer… and basically taking in the gorgeousness of the often brutal landscape. (There’s a desktop or two available over at mybestdesktops.com)

After the trekking, we took the easy train route to Machu Picchu… Truly breathtaking ruins, but I wouldn’t recommend taking the train all the way there and the town of Aguas Calientes was a bit too touristy. Finally we spent the New Year in Lima drinking Pisco Sours and exploring.

Although there were many memorable experiences along the way, it was hard to compete with a month in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Additionally, there were some hiccups with Adventure Life… I should remember to think twice before using them again.

Immediately upon retuning to New York I had a single day to relax before heading down to Savannah, Georgia for a work shoot. The fruits of that labor should be launching soon. I should remember to chat about it then.

Then it’s been heads down working.

I should remember not to work so much… and travel more.

I had the opportunity to head to southern Africa to spend the holidays mostly out in the bush tracking animals and shooting them with my camera. It was beyond anything I had imagined up to that point. The camps we stayed at were rustic “tents” but large with king-sized beds, open showers and double vanities. The people working at the camps, especially in Botswana, were fantastically good natured and had thought of our every want. The trackers and rangers were extremely knowledgabe and seemed to enjoy sharing their time with us whether we were out in the bush or having some after dinner drinks.

And then there were the animals… especially in Botswana, there were animals everywhere. Under every bush, hiding in every tree, roaming every open space. It was continuously breathtaking and sometimes more than just a little frightening. I certainly learned a new respect for elephants. Perhaps “respect” isn’t the right word… it would probably be more honest to say “fear.” Then there were the lions, leopards, cheetah, African wild cats, zebra, giraffe, wild dogs, kudu, tsesabe, servals, caracal, jackals, hippo, wart hogs, baboon, monkeys, monitor lizards, hyena, all the impala, the eagles, the hawks, the vultures, all the tons of other birds in every shape, size and color you could imagine… plus more. All under the most amazing sky.

Specifically, we went to four camps. In Botswana, we went to Chitabe Lediba and Savuti Camp. The latter being based on the Savuti Channel with was running for the first time in 25 years. In South Africa they were Camp Jabulani (not somewhere I would recommend), and Exeter Dulini (pictured).

One final thing was that I managed to geotag all my photos. I should remember that…

They say that once you’ve gotten the sands of Africa in your heart, you can’t help but return. I think it will be pretty easy to remember to head back as soon as possible.

I guess it had to happen eventually… Since I started running this Summer (though sporadically), I was bound to run in an official event. And with my woman being the woman she is, she was bound to sign me up for one sooner rather than later.

That’s how I found myself among a couple friends and quite a large crowd of folks in Prospect Park this morning getting ready to run 5 miles.

I have to admit, the Turkey Trot was a lot of fun. I finished in around 39 minutes and hopefully I’ll remember to do something like it again… although I imagine my woman will remember for me in case I forget.

Update: Turns out I finished 258th out of 1288 runners! Pretty good for my first race, I think. Official time was 39:41.83 with a pace of 07:56.4.

MyBestDesktops.com launched one year ago with Halloween desktops, so it’s exciting to once again be in the season of drinking and being scary! So far we’ve had a cute jack-o-lantern and a scary ghost… what’s next?

I need to remember to keep uploading stuff!

 Last weekend the woman and I took the Triumph for its first real ride up to Pawling to celebrate our countries independence in the woods. Riding 70-80mph up the Taconic through green woods, over reservoirs, and around tightly packed rolling hills was heaven. Oh and the time up in Pawling was great, too. (Chopping down trees, building bonfires and generally cultivating rough manly hands.)

I need to remember to both visit my friend in Pawling more often and just plain get out there and ride away from the city more often.

(photo by Jay Erickson)

Although I don’t personally do a lot of the traditionally accepted activities to celebrate Valentine’s Day, I do like the sentiment of being a little nicer to someone for whatever reason. So, to help get in the spirit, MyBestDesktops.com will be posting what I hope to be a whole slew of lovey-dovey desktops over the next couple weeks.

Today, we kick it off with Valentine’s Red Rose 1. Keep checking MyBestDesktops.com for the latest and greatest in sweet desktop wallpaper goodness.

In the meantime, I’ll try to remember to keep updating the thing…

My Best Desktops is in the midst of a Halloween desktop wallpaper blowout! Head over there and download ‘em while they’re hot!

For the past few years, I haven’t been making it out to the yearly Mermaid Parade in Coney Island with too much regularity. (I mean, from what I can remember, last year it was raining, right?) Anyway, with the untimely demise of Coney Island as we know it (more here) lingering in the air, me and what seemed like half the city decided to make the trip out to the boardwalk for this year’s celebration of all things Mermaidy.

It was a gorgeous day, full of semi-nude women somewhat covered in body paint and pasties plus a slew of also scantily clad mer-men parading down the streets, then mingling on the boardwalk. We drank beers, shot some photos, and just generally enjoyed the day. I really hope there’s another Mermaid Parade next year, and the year after that, and so on.

On a side note, the coolest thing I ran across while out there for the day was an impromptu limbo… uhm… situation set up by two guys holding a ribbon across a busy street loudly encouraging “just the females” to give their challenge a try. It was one of those great Brooklyn scenes that reminded you why you’ve lived here for so long and still love the place. When the crowd wasn’t producing any adventurous takers, they upped the ante by announcing prize money in the realm of $20. This got a couple takers, but the winner was definitely a surprise!

In the meantime, I gotta remember to head out to Coney Island a few more times before it starts to really change… oh and shoot the freak.

Last day of 2006:

First day of 2007:

Well it’s 2007 and the weather sucks. Not the best start.

Yesterday was Christmas which started with my woman seemingly not loving her presents due to there being no toys in the mix and me absolutely loving my presents mostly due to the new 50mm lens and flash additions to my photo kit. Additionally, my woman managed to craft some delicious buljol for breakfast, we watched Scrooged and ended up having Christmas dinner at my cousins (shockingly seeing my family twice in one year).

One more thing to remember about Christmas this year is that James Brown died. He was slated to host New Years Eve at B.B.Kings in Times Square, but I guess the Godfather of Soul won’t be making it.