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)

Wow… where have I been!? At least I remembered to do another painting… hopefully I’ll remember to keep doing them.

Today feels like the first day I can finally take a moment and ease myself into the new year. The past couple weeks were just so jam packed… even when I was doing nothing. I hope I remember it all:

The driving all over Trinidad to find my long lost granny,

The time spent doing nothing with Flash II on the veranda in Tobago.

The Cris and caviar.

The death of my D80.

The feeling of a brand new D300 in my hands.

The shoot out in LA.

The drive up the Pacific Coast Highway.

The editing in NY.

It’s so much. Now, I just hope I remember to kick some ass in 2008.

I keep missing photo exhibitions, so it’s time to start reminding myself again. First up is Chinatowns which opens tonight and goes through December 22nd at the Storefront for Art and Architecture down at 97 Kenmare Street. Basically, it’s photos from chinatowns around the world. Sounds very cool to me…

I should remember to get down there.

(Update: Of course I didn’t make it there… lame.)

If the above clip is any indication, Lagos would be one hell of a trip.

I should remember to visit places like this…

(via Gridskipper)

I had the pleasure of heading up to Springfield, Massachusetts for another shoot with the fantastic Michael Warren. Other than a mostly rained-out day thrown in, everything went great. I can’t wait to go through the images and get started putting them into some work.

Although I took the shot above, I’m sure his version will be tons better. I should remember to keep shooting myself!

With the West Indian Day Parade in just a couple of days, it’s easy for my mind to linger on all things Caribbean. It’s such a great feeling to be able to go just a few blocks away and have such a mass of people from all over the West Indies, all the fantastic roti, all the great sorrel, all the ginger beer, all the maubi, all the music, all the colors, all the dancing and, of course, all the women in their tiny outfits jumping up to soca booming out of the flat bed mounted speakers in their bands.

What I didn’t know is that Japan also has it’s own fete! This one, called the Asakusa Samba Carnival, has a bit more of a twist… 99% of the participants are Japanese!! (Could you imagine if in New York they held the same thing will all the music, dancing, etc… except that 99% of the people were white?) Anyway, this is just another reason to go back to Japan. I simply would have to see this to believe it. Until then, these photos on Flickr and a video on CNN will have to do.

I have to remember to get over there next year!

(Photo by Olly Denton)

One thing I have to do sometime in the near future (among so many other things listed here) is see the Aurora Borealis with my own eyes. It must really be amazing. Although seeing it from space like the photo above won’t be possible until the price of space tourism comes down quite a bit, I should really remember to set up an excursion to a pole to witness this phenomena from some ground based location.

From the time I spent in my youth with my nose buried in copies of Popular Mechanics ’til now, I’ve always wanted to ride a “super train.” You know, one of those trains that flies along on some mystical magnetic levitation at hundreds of miles per hour.

Well, I’m writing this as I hurtle along at around 250 mph and I gotta say, I’m not super impressed. Maybe if it hadn’t been for the dude who didn’t let me sit by the window, I might be mesmerized by the landscape as it flashes by, but I’m not. And no one else in the train is either. Most people have their window shades down and are dozing or reading their papers. Boooring.

I wanted super! I wanted excitement! What I got was a mundane commute with a bunch of salary workers.

I have to remember not to reserve seats next time (since the machine didn’t let me choose a window seat) and just wait in line on the platform to snag a window.

This place is just OK. After staring at Tokyo Tower for a few days out of my hotel’s window, I thought it would be great to go up the thing and, I don’t know, stare back at my hotel or something. It was cool enough, I guess. (Especially when the recording that played in the elevator while going up alerted us not to be afraid if the elevator made a loud bang as that was “normal.”)

I guess the ultra-cool fight scene at the end of the Cowboy Bebop Movie made me expect too much.

One interesting thing about the tower is that they’re building a new one that will stand twice it’s height and be completed within the next few years or so. (Although as the plans stand now, it won’t be painted a cool orange color.)

I have to remember not to expect to be amazed if I ever go up the Eiffel Tower.