Memorial day, we went to visit Piper, first thing in the morning. Reagan cut Piper’s hair (they now have matching haircuts). Piper was in such a great mood, that we just hung out with her goofing off, for a few hours.

More photos over here (warning, there are about 1000).

We got out on the bikes, today and had ourselves a little picnic. Reagan was in charge of the sammies. She made tomato avocado and cheese on wheat bread. Delicious.

I put the blanket half in the shade (for Reagan) and half in the sun (for me).

I’m pretty glad that I brought the camera today, because Reagan was hamming it up.

Below: Reagan making her shadow dance.

We finished off our ride by hitting Pinkberry on the way home, before showering and heading to Westchester to visit the Pip.

She looooovvvves her new itouch. She is so used to having Reagan or myself grab our phones away from her, when she gets bored of looking at the display and starts eating them. For her birthday, we picked her up her very own, complete with an indestructible case.

Then, of course, we grilled up some burgers for dinner (a veggie burger for Reagan).

Ok, first of all– I hit a few milestones this week. I broke 700 miles on my Nike profile. Second, I broke 200 miles, on my goal to run 500 miles between Jan. ’10 and Jan ’11. I ran 5 days this week. Even though my pace was not as good as it could have been, I’m still giving myself a B+. I especially earned this grade because it was like 98 degrees and 98 percent humidity on Wednesday, and I still slugged out 6 miles.

The image above is actually from a post that I wrote exactly one year ago. Oddly enough, the convicts have spawned again, and there is a very similar scene going on in the tank, this week. I kept the mating pair separated for about a year, which worked pretty well, until the other tank cracked (could have been really bad). When that happened, the male, and all of the adolescents went back into the big tank. Tina is feeling pretty crowded these days.

Enough about the fish. The firm is closing early today (which actually means something to me, these days). Besides remembering the brave souls who gave their lives to defend out freedom, the only specific plans that we have this weekend are to run/ride bikes, and  take Reagan to see the Deitch Gallery before it closes. I’m also doing some product shots for Shaun White’s new line for Target. I have the samples already. It is some pretty cool stuff. It should be a fun project. Other than that, I’m hoping that it will just be a lot of lounging, mixed in with Piper visits, and watching the BP Cam, as much as possible. Hahahaha.

If you have a minute, take a peek at this very kind article that was written today about Reagan.

I hope that everyone else has an awesome holiday weekend.

I have always been a fan of Nixon Watches. I actually own a few of them. “The Mellor” (above) is definitely the next one on my list. Father’s day gift, perhaps? Hehe.

-Via-

Apparently summer decided to show up, last night. Today was a scorcher. I almost rode my bike to work this morning. So glad that I opted out of that one. Against my better judgment, I ran 6 miles after work. I almost melted. In fact, I may actually have been melting. I also ran the reverse of a route that I normally run, which gave me some steep uphill sections. Dumb dumb dumb.

Anyway, Reagan had to go do some church stuff tonight, so I went up on the roof to enjoy the weather a bit, after the sun had set. Of course I brought the cam. Nothing like a little long-exposure action to help wind down. The image above is a plane that was taking off from LGA. I hit the shutter release when he was about half way across the frame. Tomorrow night is a full moon. So, of course, I had to grab one of these:

It just wouldn’t be right to take the camera on the roof, without snapping these apartments.

Also, fleet week started today. Of course I totally spaced it, and did not have my cam with me today. Otherwise, this post would probably be loaded up with photos of aircraft carriers and other ships cruising past my bldg, into the mouth of the Hudson.

I have been obsessively watching the BP leak cam, ever since the Fed’s gave the “top kill” solution a green light, this  morning. I have a multiple monitor setup, at work. So I have had one just dedicated to live “top kill” action. My urge to share what I have been observing has probably resulted in some of my Facebook “friends” hiding my status updates. It is similar to watching CSPAN, in that– it is really boring at times, but you can tell that important stuff is definitely happening on there. Hahaha. I’m praying like crazy that this procedure does the trick. From everything that I have read, the next plan on the list would take months to execute.

I’m already looking forward to the long weekend.

Reagan:

There weren’t really any clear shots of Reag, this time. So, I did some crude editing to make it easier to spot her. The cuteness definitely still comes through, even though the images are so small.

Jake at the finish:

This was such a fun race. It was the first half-marathon that I have ever run without headphones. It was a lot different without them, but not nearly as bad as I expected. In fact, I was really pretty amazed at how quiet it was, especially in Prospect Park at 7 AM. I’m not really sure why I put my fingers up like that, crossing the finish line. I guess I was pretty excited about finishing (five hundred and) first! Hahahaha.

I absolutely love MotoGP. I love it more than pretty much any other televised sport, besides the Winter Olympics. Actually, maybe even more than that. When I first started following the sport, a few years ago, I was really into riding sport bikes. Reagan had a Vespa, and I had my sport bike, and we would go for Sunday rides together up and down the north shore of Long Island. It must have been quite a peculiar sight, hehehe. Anyway, now that I have been bike-less for three years, I like MotoGP even more, because it is almost like a vicarious release for me. If I can’t go fast on motorcycles, at least I can watch others do it, a few times per month Hehehe.

Back in the day, the MotoGP site was kind of sub-par. But in recent years, it has been upgraded. It now has daily articles that are also published via RSS, etc.. I have to be careful around the weekends when there is a race, though. Because, since the bulk of the races take place in Europe, the US generally is relegated to broadcasting a tape delay. So, there have been a few times where I accidentally read the outcome of a race, before having seen it. I hate that.

Whether you are into motorcycles or not, the site is worth taking a glance. The photographers are super-craque, and the images they shoot transcend the realm of moto. There is some seriously artistic material on there. I am a nerd. The end.

I think that we have already established that Sweedish=hot. Peter Bjorn and John, in my opinion live up to this characterization. This is another a group that I discovered only about a year or so, ago via Pandora. Why does it sting so bad, every time I admit that? Hehe. Anyway, they have apparently been around since the early aughts (first album published in 2002).

The song that I’m sharing could be considered very annoying, or very catchy, depending on perspective. Victoria Bergsman lends a hand with the vocals. The track is from the 2006 album “Writer’s Block.” It’s called “Young Folks.” Press Play.

[photo:  not sure who to credit, but it's a great one]