More Comic-Con

This year, I was on a panel at Comic-Con. I was very excited to be a participant- the panel was about an upcoming show at the San Diego Museum of Art curated by our friend Betti-Sue Hertz that features artists who are using animation.

I talked about Robert Breer, who was a huge influence on me when I was studying animation in college in the 70's, George Griffin who was my teacher and boss (my first job after graduating from college was as the teaching assistant in animation at Harvard- bratty Harvard students turned me off from teaching for about 25 years) and Luca Buvoli, an artist who has done a great Not-a-Superhero series that seemed particularly appropriate for Comic-Con. Calvin was the moderator extraordinaire, Betti-Sue talked about some of the artists in her show, Lisa Cartwright of UC San Diego showed clips of early animation, and her 11 year old son Nilo Goldfarb showed some of his Flash animation projects.

Here is a picture of the event.



Many more pictures of Comic-Con.

Happy Birthday Marc (maybe)

I think today is Marc's 21st birthday. I know we celebrated it the last day of Haborfest 2005, and that, according to the internet, was July 31.



Speaking of Harborfest, I found 2005 Haborfest fireworks on You Tube.

San Diego Comic-Con

Calvin and I just got back from San Diego Comic-Con; it was fabulous as always. Here are some pictures, there will be more!

Wonderwomen

Tired costumed fan.

Clive Owen was there, and I saw him!

Me with Ivy and Scott McCloud

The Poketo folks. As usual, I bought some of their stuff.

Comic-con attracts fans with a wide range of interests.

I finally got to go to Joe's Crab Shack! This restaurant is right behind the Convention Center, and I have often sat on the edge of the building, longing for buckets of shrimp and crab cakes- so close and yet so far. This year we went twice- I knew Calvin would like it, frosty cold ones, seafood and sports on TV. It is difficult to get off the floor, but Joe's lived up to my fantasies.

Calvin at Joe's

Members of the PWCW team in San Diego on preview night.

Fans.

Well Dressed Brennan Boys

The one down side of my trip was that I missed Erin's wedding on the Cape. There are some great pictures, but I especially liked the ones of the boys in their suits and their madras.

I think they inherited their fashion sense from Grand Daddy Bob.

Newest Associate

I worked the first half of the summer at the firm, Oppenheimer, Blend, Harrison & Tate in San Antonio. I really enjoyed working there which is a good thing since they offered me a position and I have accepted.

I will be working on the litigation team. As we all know from watching one of the best movies ever, Clueless, Litigators are the scariest kind of lawyer. Granddad asked me if they knew I was a flaming liberal, and I said yes and that is one thing they like about me.

Pictures of Camp/Postcards for Jane

I arrived safely yesterday afternoon. As promised, here are some pictures of Jane at camp. By the way, she mentioned she loves getting postcards, so here is her address in case anyone feels motivated to drop her a line: Camp Rising Sun Europe, 43 Stendisvey Stendis, 7830 Vinderup, Denmark.

Jane at work on a scene for a play.

Jane dancing.

Jane and Kate.

Jane in front of Viking burial mounds.

Beautiful Stendis, Denmark.

Cute Danish sheep.

Whackers!

Last weekend Calvin's Sunday morning softball team had their yearly barbecue. Eric and I went, we even got to see a couple of innings of a game. Since the games start at 8:30 on Sunday morning, I don't go to many.

The Whackers are having a great season, they are defending champions in their league. Here is the team picture.

Jane is alive and well

Greetings from Copenhagen. I got back from visiting Jane last night, and she is doing great. The camp is full of girls as nice, fun, smart and accomplished as Jane, which, as we all know, is saying something. She is writing and running a lot and suprising the Europeans by not being obese. I have some good pictures, but the power cord on my computer broke so I will have to post them when I get home.

Greetings from Copenhagen

I've been in Copenhagen since Tuesday night. Vienna was wonderful, but also hot--99 degrees in a city with little air conditioning. (Luckily its many beautiful museums do have factory air.) Yesterday I went to Viking Museum in Roskilde, where I got to help row a boat into the fjord and saw remnants of Viking ships that were almost 1000 years old. Today I am off to see Jane--I promise to abscond with her at the slightest hint of mind control.

Digital SLR!

I have wanted a digital SLR for a while- I love my Canon point and shoot, but I wanted more!

As of yesterday, I am the happy owner of a Nikon D40x. Here are a few of my first pictures.

Calvin points.

Eric after dinner.

Stephen points too (or is it a wag of the finger?)

My bathroom badly needs repainting.

Nalgene water bottle I got as swag from Microsoft at TOC conference.

Update From Austria

On Saturday, I took a cable car up the Untersberg, the mountains which looms over Salzberg. We hiked around and it was beautiful. I wish I had had time to hike up and down the entire thing. Here are some pictures. (By the way, now I am in Vienna, at the Hotel City Central).

Quick Update from Salzburg

Today is last day of the seminar. We presented our small group projects in the morning and have a banquet and concert this evening. I've a had a few free hours in the past weeks and have, among other things, taken a bike tour led by the wife of one of the seminar leader's wives, taken a cable car up a mountain and hiked around a little, and visited the fortress. Tomorrow I leave for Vienna. The wireless is a little wonky right now, but I will try to post pictures later.

Lady Bird

First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson passed away yesterday at 94. She was truly an amazing woman. She did more than just plant flowers, which I think is great enough. She was instrumental in supporting Head Start and campaigned tirelessly for the Civil Rights bill in the South. She also helped increase the number to National Parks.

The NPR station in Austin did a great documentary of her life, you can hear it here. She was a good Episcopalian and a good Texas, my kind of lady.

Pictures of Salzburg

This is the Schloss Leopoldskron, where we eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, and have tea and coffee twice a day. There is Bierstube (beer cellar?) where we are encouraged to go in the evening and discuss issues over a few cold ones.


Recognize the patio? (Think children in outfits made of curtains, canoeing).



My working group.



The view from the balcony off the dining room.



I think Maria imitated this statue in the Sound of Music. It is just outside the building where we sleep and have meetings.



The garden outside the schloss.

Belated Thanksgiving Pictures

Hello again.

I have been so scattered over the last few months. Things have been getting done, but I am not sure how exactly. Anyway, it was driving my nuts so a few weeks ago I made myself some lists and started going on getting things back in order and relearning how to focus on limited projects so that I could actually finish some things. Now no miracle has occurred but steady progress on my grants is being made, books I start are actually getting finished, and our apartments is slowly but surely being put back together after the great reorganization project of 2007. Someday I may actually be able to sit down and relax without a long list of things still to do, even if it is only for a few minutes.

Anyway, I have also been trying to keep better track of my files, both on and off the computer and I found a few pictures on my camera from last Thanksgiving in Oswego and thought I would share them. A little late, perhaps, but fun anyway and who doesn't need to be reminded every once in a while to be thankful for family, even when they drive you nuts?

Wildflowers and Peaches

Jerry and I are planning on using all wildflowers for our wedding. I am getting pretty successful at keeping plants alive but I am not that confidant that I will be able to grow my own wedding flowers, this choice is still being discussed.

Lucky for us the largest wild flower farm is located in Fredericksburg, a small German town outside of San Antonio. The farm is named Wild Seed Farms and really is a beautiful place. They grow fields and fields of flowers and native peppers all year round. They have a great website where you can buy seeds for your own beautiful flowers. Sadly, I left my camera at home but I will return and take some pictures.

My friend Genevieve is from Fredericksburg and joined me for the visit. It is peach season and people drive from all over to buy Fredericksburg peaches. I was lucky enough to be with a local who took me to her Opa's orchard outside of town and taught me how to pick the perfect peach. They are truly delicious.

Greetings from Austria

I arrived safely yesterday around 2. My luggage arrived safely 7 hours later. Everything else has been going smoothly. The seminar is interesting, we are fed constantly, and I have a view of the "Sound of Music" lake from my room. Pictures to come.

Chinatown and More

Last night, Neilson and I went to Chinatown for dinner.




Along the way, Neilson bought some "tasty" squid snacks.


We ate at Dim Sum Go Go, which I highly recommend to anyone in NYC (5 East Broadway). Everything is very fresh and yummy, and the waiters are charming and sweet. It is not super cheap, but we got a lot of food and a beer for about $20 each. (That sentence might let you just how cheap we are). I especially enjoyed the snow pea leaf dumplings and the sticky rice with beef. Unfortunately, I only remembered to take a picture of the beef balls in bean curd skin, which was the least photogenic and least appetizing of the dishes.

A stop at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory was in order. We were disappointed to learn that the store no longer serves lime sorbet, but the lemon/blueberry combo proved to be a good substitute.


We walked back through the throngs of tourists in Little Italy. Along the way, we peeped through a hole in the fence at old cemetery and saw a creepy replica of David.



We caught a terrific sunset on the way home.