The Beauty, Pt. I

Riding around southeast Portland on an early spring night on a bike of your own build with a sixpack of Lagunitas IPA in your bag is an experience peerless.

Photography is Dead

Okay, it's not really. But for a while I thought it might be. Why? Digital photography, of course! Digital cameras make everyone a great photographer, right? I thought so, until I got a Flickr account (yes, my cyberlife expands [perhaps to make up for a contracting analog life??]). I went to upload my heartbreaking works of staggering photographic genius only to find that out of the 500+ photos I've taken since acquiring the beloved Canon PowerShot SD800, only five (5!) were upload-worthy. And looking at the photos on Flickr or at my acquaintance Pete Springer's website, I realize that -- as always -- it's not the equipment that makes the photo.

Although it helps.

Nursery

During the earlier months of our pregnancy people would ask us, "Have you done the nursery yet?" and Barb and I would scoff. "We're not 'doing' any goddamn nursery," I'd say. "The baby can sleep in our room." Or maybe, "We'll roll the crib into the office, but that's it. No painting, no decorating. It's a baby! What does it care if there's a mural of dancing clowns on the wall??"

Looking back, it seems so naive. After a trip to IKEA (I got a love/hate thing going with that company that may take years and thousands of dollars to resolve) we now have a nursery: cute area rug featuring a dragon, red dresser full of nappies and clothes, Klimt print; and of course the crib and rocker we already had. All in all, it looks like a nursery (albeit the nursery of the coolest newborn in SE Portland).

Can't wait to find out what belief is next to crumble before the inexorable power of the babychild.

Vanessa From Queens

Brother Mark informed me of an article in the Wall Street Journal (http://tinyurl.com/39ncry) about undersea cables getting cut. It was illustrated with an image of a shark with laser beams shooting out of it. Could there be any more sure sign that Rupert Murdoch, the Australian tabloid publisher, now owns one of America's most respected newspapers?

Next thing you know the WSJ will be featuring busty Page Three girls, perhaps depicted in a nice sober engraving.