These photos are from our first day in Lake Havasu. Amy was a trooper to watch me take random photos around London Bridge, and I think I was drenched from the heat after thirty minutes. (Someone asked if I was from around there. Oh, aren’t you clever?)

Thanks to the kindness of a tourist taking our photo by the bridge, I made an appearance in one of the photos.

Geeky side note: I was considering excluding a couple photos to feature at the top of this post, leading into the gallery below, but the photo carousel for WordPress.com is really slick, so I’ll just leave it as is.

After I got back from my trip to Philadelphia and New York City in October 2010, posting photos took a back seat. I’ve meant to move on with my newest photos here without worrying about cross-posting on Flickr (I’m not active there anymore), so I’ll just continue from when I last posted a fresh photo here (Meet Brian).

I took this photo outside the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on my first day photowalking around Philadelphia. I didn’t run up the stairs. Walking all over town wore me out.

(If you’re interested, here’s the Exif info.)

Not my best work, but I’m posting this to taunt a friend.

Yesterday, I stayed at my girlfriend’s apartment to wait for SoCalGas to light the pilot for her stove, oven and heater. Fortunately, Francis kept me company.

My girlfriend insists that I’m his favorite person, and it’s tough to argue with that. Most of the time, Francis wants to lay on top of me.

The downside: I can only read from my smartphone or Kindle. If I’m reading a textbook or using my laptop, he tries to run the edges with his face. But, how can I get mad? Look at that face! He’s so precious.

I visited the Nixon Presidential Library & Museum with Amy and her friend to take photos and pay our respects. As for posting this over a week later, I’d say it’s better late than never.

Hat tip: Thanks to Amy for choosing these ten photos.

For the first time in five or six years, I finally met James Huff in person at WordCamp LA. I’ve known him for about seven years. In addition to being a talented musician and all-around helpful guy, he’s a Happiness Engineer with Automattic.

Since his Gravatar is from his wedding three years ago, I demanded politely asked for a portrait.

Thanks for the good times, James!

Edit: Thanks, Amy, for suggesting that I reword my post. To clarify, this was my first time meeting James.

The first day I went into Downtown Philadelphia, I waited at the airport for the SEPTA train to Market East Station.

An older man walked up the steps, onto the platform, and asked if this train would be going into town. I assured him it would, but not before warning him that I wasn’t a local.

Apparently, he’s lived here most of his life, but hasn’t used the public transportation system.

For the next hour, we chatted Brian told me his life story.

At six years old, Brian and his parents got into a huge car accident. His mother was 33. His father, Bernie, was a captain in the Philadelphia Police Department.

Sadly, his mother lost both of her legs from that accident. He remembered the firefighters trying to pull him out and being confused, unable to compute that his mother’s legs were being amputated within the wreckage.

Both parents recently died at 90 years old.

Brian’s eyes welled up with tears. There was so much pain. There wasn’t anything I could say. He took a breath, apologized, and continued.

Brian theorized that he was probably bipolar after that accident.

For forty years, he was an alcoholic until a horrific vision snapped him out of it. Two feathers are in his wallet as a reminder, and he’s been clean for 18 months.

During Brian’s alcoholism, he had a three-year relationship with a girlfriend, then married her for six years. They had a son and grandson. Sadly, they got divorced because “she wanted to stop partying and he didn’t.” (He hasn’t seen his son or grandson in years. Sad.)

Brian is good with numbers, so he was an electrician for a long time. Now, at 57 years old, he’s trying to get his commercial driver license (CDL) in Philadelphia to be a trucker.

Brian currently lives in Las Vegas, but plans to move to San Diego, CA. He still has two sisters, but I can’t recall if he mentioned where they live.

As Brian spoke, he was calm, peaceful, and positive on life. I was overwhelmed with emotion.

Compared to him, I can’t complain. I was heading on an epic journey around Philadelphia, with my camera, lenses, and Twitter to keep me company.

As quick as the conversation started, he arrived at his station, shook my hand, smiled, and said goodbye.

Good luck, Brian.

Note: If you’re wondering, I took his photo before we boarded the train. I wasn’t sure if he’d keep talking to me, but he did.

View photo on Flickr

I’ve had a few days to let WordCamp Los Angeles 2010 simmer in my mind.

The following are a few things I learned:

Attendees

Don’t complain. You only paid $25, and the organizer(s) can’t please everyone.

I overheard a complaint about not having intermediate speakers. That was last year.[1. Attendee feedback from WordCamp LA 2009 indicated that people wanted beginner and advanced speakers.]

Don’t be scared – interact with others! You’ll get more out of the experience and feel much better at the end of the day.

Bring pen and paper. It’s good practice. If you have questions, write them down and save them for the end. (Maybe the speaker might answer your question, and you won’t break his/her train of thought.)

Ask questions pertinent to the speaker. I found myself glancing at the schedule a few times, wondering why the speaker or audience weren’t staying on topic.

Do you have a lot of knowledge you’d like to share? Write it all down and ask to speak next year. Or, write a series of blog posts about it. If it’s solid, it’ll get shared.

I heard that scheduling speakers was a difficult task this year. In a few panels, I remember some folks sharing a substantial amount of information.

Most importantly, if a speaker is talking or fielding a question, be quiet. I was annoyed at times because people kept talking and making comments to their friends, and I couldn’t hear what was going on.

Really, “adults?” Go outside, have your discussion, then come back.

Speakers

Make your talk, slideshow, and/or notes available online. State its availability at the beginning, and it should reduce questions if someone misheard a website or plugin.

*****

This was the second year I’ve attended and volunteered. (View Austin Passy’s and my photos from this year)

Although I view myself as a wallflower, I did my best to talk to people I haven’t met before. For the most part, I had a good time and felt that most of the speakers did a great job.

Especially after Luke Pilon’s speech, I’m inspired to get back into WordPress (especially helping in the forums), gain purpose for my website/blog, and write more.

If you attended WordCampLA, what were your thoughts? If you blogged about it already, please share a link to it in the comments.

Labor day 2009, I went with a bunch of friends[1. Mostly from our weekly poker night crew.] to Roscoe’s House of Chicken & Waffles in Hollywood. (Photos) I think it was more fun and memorable because we took public transportation.

This year, Taylor sent the same peeps[2. Did I just say peeps?] a text message, wondering if we’d want to go again. While only five of us went to Pasadena this year, it was still good times.

Taylor and Dan not pictured, mainly because they were sitting right next to me.

I’m taking photos for Iggy and Amber’s wedding ceremony and reception in a couple weeks. A small part of their payment was four LA Dodgers tickets and parking. We had seats at Field Box MVP (Section 3), Row Y, Seats 1-4.

I’ve never sat that close at a MLB game. Thanks Iggy!

After we got out of the parking lot, we got KogiBBQ for dinner and Yogurtland for dessert[1. Not pictured, but just imagine a small bowl of yogurt and a few fruit toppings.]. It was an awesome way to end the night.