Reno Saint Patrick Daze

Well, here I am in Reno. Stopped to refuel and saw a Starbucks, so decided to use their WiFi and upload a few more 3D images, and rest a bit before taking on the Sierra Nevadas.I took this photo of the 600 South freeway on-ramp in Salt Lake City earlier this week. This image was taken at the lip of the spillway at the Tooele Reservoir.
This photo was taken at the north shore of the Tooele Reservoir looking south.
This one was somewhat experimental, and I like the way the clouds glow.
Above is an image of my stereoscopic photography device. The cameras are at an extreme position, (I don't usually position them so far apart, especially for such a close-up shot).

I'll be back home to Santa Cruz, CA in about four hours. Yay!!!

Happy Blogday - 4

Johan und Metal Shop

I must have been having fun because the past year flew by so quickly. I can't believe this blog is already four years old. So much has happened in those four years.

More Snow Behind the Zion Curtain

I'm at McDonalds again. This time I'm inside, and for some wonderful reason, they're playing Brian Eno Music. The piece currently being played is from the For All Mankind soundtrack. Mighty Mo and I saw that movie when we lived in Madison,Wisconsin. That's where we were when our son, Mason decided it was time to be born. That was 21 years ago next week.

Snow came to Tooele in a big way Monday. Before it was over, we had accumulated about six inches of fluffy whiteness. I rolled naked in the fluffy white powder after a long hot bath.
My 91 Ford 4X4 getting covered.
I drove to the location of the old Anaconda Mine today, and took this photo of the old slag pile because I liked the contrast between the black slag and the white snow.
There was plenty of snow for me to create a sculpture. Since there was plenty of food coloring in the cupboard, it seemed like the proper thing to do was to colorize my sculpture.

On Saturnday, my old high school buddy, Jon, accompanied me to the Utah State Fairgrounds where we attended the Belly Dance Festival. I met lots of nice folks, and got some lovely photos too. The above stereoscopic image is of a collection of masks that were being sold by one of the vendors there.
On the way to the event, I shot this stereoscopic image of some power lines near Salt Lake International Aeropuerto.

My WiFi Woes Behind the Zion Curtain

I'm writing this post whilst sitting in the parking lot at the Tooele McDonalds, because it is the only place in town to access WiFi. I'll fill in the blanks later when I'm more comfortable, meantime, enjoy a few 3D/stereoscopic images.

Here's a shot I took of my great little car as an approaching storm rolls in engulfing the Oquirrh Mountains in the background.

I nearly got killed at this rail road crossing many years ago as I was taking my girlfriend home from a date in Salt Lake. Not long after that near calamity, a friend of mine was killed here along with his one-year old baby. The Union Pacific RR finally installed lights, a crossing gate and other improvements to prevent more unnecessary deaths here.

The Great Salt Lake is a place shrouded in mystery. I've always been curious about this square building on the south shore. I assume that it had something to do with the old railroad line that brought folks from Salt Lake City to the old Saltair Resort that burned down at least twice before being abandoned. A new Saltair Resort exists nearby now.

Gilgal Garden in 3D - California Guitar Trio in 3D

Tada! Last month I had the opportunity to stroll through Gilgal Garden, one of my favorite places in Salt Lake. There was still a bit of snow on the ground, therefore the not-so-famous stone garden appeared especially surreal and beautiful. The perfect place for some 3D photography, so here's this month's installment of stereoscopique. N Joy!!!

The Joseph SphinX

I'm stoked to be back to California, because on Wednesday night, some friends and I attended the California Guitar Trio show at Don Quixote's in Felton. The show was awesome, and surprisingly, cost only fifteen dollars. My friend, Brainphreak, drove from San Jose, and shot some video with his new 3D camera. You can watch his You Tube Video by clicking below:

WATCH 3D CALIFORNIA GUITAR TRIO VIDEO

Here's an awesome stereoscopic image created by Brainphreak.

Forever and Forever in Tooele... in Pictures

On Vacation - Cal to Utah

Here's this month's stereoscopic image. This one is of Capitola Beach as seen from the Capitola Wharf.

My favorite place in the world... Castle Beach, Santa Cruz, California.

Salt Flats at sunset... traveling @ 75 MPH.

Spheres in 3-D

September has arrived, therefore, as promised, here is my selection of 3-D images for you to enjoy this month. This time we're focusing on four unique spheres.

The first example is a 3" geode that I spent many hundreds of hours refining in my sphere-making-machine. The rough, exterior has been removed, but remains unpolished. I think I've decided to keep it this way, but may end up polishing it someday.
The second example is another sphere that I machined. This one is made from granite used in the construction of the Salt Lake Temple.
In about 1995, I found about a hundred of these 6" solid iron balls in the desert near Kanab, Utah. I was only able to take fourteen of them with me at the time, and when I returned to get the others a few weeks later, they were all gone. The one in this photograph has been sprayed with a polyurethane coating identical to the popular Rhino Liner for pickup truck beds.

This baseball size sphere was manufactured by an anonymous ancient American Human, and exhibits weathered evidence of having been tooled. It was found in a remote location, perched on a much larger round rock surrounded by thousands of obsidian and flint fragments. Obviously a manufacturing location for arrowheads, knives, spear-heads... and one curiously carved sphere.

Have a ball viewing!.

Salt Lake Temple Stones - Not For Sale

Back in 1992, scaffolding was erected around the historic Salt Lake Temple. It seemed strange to see the beautiful landmark shrouded under a framework of planks and framed tubing. At first I was worried that the mysterious symbols were being removed. The mainstream LDS had been looking more and more like mainstream Christianity, and I feared that someone in the Mormon hierarchy may have decided that "those symbols just don't seem right anymore."

Fortunately, they weren't removing the symbols, and when I discovered that some of the old granite stones were being replaced, I figured that there must be lots of pieces of granite laying around and being discarded. As a freelance rock hound, in addition to being a chronic accumulator of rare antiquities, I couldn't resist this once in a lifetime opportunity to acquire some of the stones from the original Salt Lake Temple. What a uniquely finite and invaluable thing to possess... a tangible piece of sparkling white granite from what millions of people consider to be one of the most holy edifices on Earth. The House of the Lord.

2"x2"x6" granite shard and 3.5" granite sphere

I found the telephone number for the Salt Lake Temple President* in the US West Direct White Pages. The three-inch-thick phone book contained literally hundreds of listings under Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so it took some time to narrow down the correct number to dial. The temple president graciously took my call but informed me that there were no stone fragments of any substantial size being removed, and that mostly powder was coming out after all the cutting and sawing.

I thanked the man, but his explanation didn't ring true to me, and I couldn't forget about that granite. I knew that there must be some stones being removed. "It's a lot easier to remove pieces of granite than to reduce an entire granite stone to powder," I reasoned. A few days later, I was spending some time with my father, and told him of my unfruitful conversation with the temple president. Dad perked up and informed me that he knew "head-honchos"* involved with the restoration project, and told me that he'd find out about the stone fragments I was seeking. The next time I saw my dad, he presented me with two large sparkling pieces of granite that exhibited visible blade marks from the powerful saw that had cut them away from the Salt Lake Temple. I had my stones.

In those days, I had a strange looking machine that turned stones into smooth spheres, so I prepared a piece of the invaluable granite, and placed it into the machine where it spent hundreds of hours being refined into a perfect 3.5" sphere. One of a kind, and NOT for sale!

* Names of the temple president who lied to me and the "head honchos" who supplied the stones, are intentionally withheld.

Days of 47 - Pioneer Day 2010

19th century wood cut of a Mormon pioneer wagon train from one of my favorite old books, Wife No. 19 or A Life in Bondage, (published and printed in 1875), by Ann-Eliza Young... Brigham's rebellious wife.

Micro Historique

In the middle of the nineteenth century, Protestant bigotry and oppression forced tens of thousands of persecuted Mormons to leave their homes and find freedom outside the borders of the "land of the free". The forced exodus sent the indefatigable Latter-day Saints on a mass-migration, (nearly their entire population), halfway across the North American Continent. On July 24, 1847, that huge undertaking came to fruition when Brigham Young, and a company of Mormon pioneers entered the Great Salt Lake Valley. The 24th of July has been a celebrated day in the territory since.

The Parade

Since 1849, a festive parade has been held on 24th of July to commemorate the enduring pioneer spirit of everyone who has put his/her shoulder to the wheel, and worked to establish a kingdom in the tops of the mountains... and beyond.

People begin arriving as much as a day early to stake out a good spot to situate their lawn chairs, where they can have the best view of all the floats. On the day of the Days of 47 Parade, tens of thousands of western-appareled, US-flag-waving spectators line the parade route. Forget about driving in downtown Salt Lake on July 24th. Most of the downtown area is inaccessible, and police roadblocks seem to be everywhere.

Personal Experience

When I was a courier for Pony Express back in the 80's, I was responsible for the downtown Salt Lake route. I recall that on the 24th, there was no way that I could get my van to the majority of the destinations there, especially those located on Main Street, (the parade route), so I parked as closely as I could, and used my skateboard to shuttle parcels to and fro. It was actually rather effective and efficient, and I didn't have any difficulties getting parcels delivered to the few business that remained open on the official state holiday.

Two videos in celebration of Pioneer Day

I discovered this amazing video by Baby Bam Bam Bumkin on You Tube. Most folks will think that it's pretty silly, but Baby does make some pretty insightful comments... and it's pretty dang funny too. My favorite float is the "Tree of Life" bearing fruits in the form of graven images of past and present Latter-day prophets, and Mitt Romney, of all people.


The second video is something I threw together last year, and is somewhat thematic. I was worried about all of the expired and old prescription medications that had accumulated for decades in my aging parents cupboards, so I decided to take on the task of cleaning it all out. It was really quite shocking to see how many medications my parents had been taking over the years. There was even one still in the cupboard from 1978. I was happy that there weren't any narcotics, but all pharmaceuticals are dangerous and come with a list of terrible side effects. "No wonder mom and dad are in such bad shape", I though to myself as I removed one child proof lid after another, deep into the night. Contrary to my dad's view, medications can't be disposed of in the garbage because they are classified as toxic waste, therefore the whole shebang was eventually taken to the hazardous waste receptacle at the Tooele County Sheriff's Office, and disposed of properly, but not before I shot this video. I wish I had taken more pictures, especially of the containers... there must have been fifty of them... probably more.


Happy Pioneer Day!

May daZe

May, 2010 has been a good example of why living in Santa Cruz is so awesome. I'm not just talking about the nice weather, but rather, the events that take place here, on our world stage.

May started out with a roar when during a May Day march, a clan of darkly dressed, masked and hooded hoodlums smashed out many shop windows on Pacific Avenue. Some conservatives blamed rioting Latinos for the damage that was estimated to be over one million dollars. The local media pointed fingers at a group of anarchists, while others have suggested that the riot was masterminded by the budget-cut suffering police department in an attempt to save their jobs. Some have even speculated that the Santa Cruz Down Town Association created the event to draw attention to problems there, and establish a greater police presence. One of the biggest issues is that we don't know who orchestrated the May Daze event. But, officials have decided that there will be no law enforcement layoffs, and a greater police presence down town. Yay!

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The Santa Cruz Film Festival is always fun, and there are always lots of wonderful films to watch. I attended 8: the Mormon Proposition, a rather mean-spirited propaganda piece that blames the Latter-day Saints for everything from fixing California elections to teenage suicides. The film made it seem as though Mormons are completely brainwashed robots who carry out the will of a dark overlord.* I wish the film had been more honest and truthful, but it's difficult to remain objective and emotional at the same time. It was sad to see how LDS Church leaders were unfairly portrayed in the film. It wasn't necessary to distort their faces as they spoke. Good spin effect though. They seemed so spooky. Imagine the outcry if the foe were on the other shoot.

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Amgen came to Santa Cruz on Tuesday, May 18, and turned the town into a bustling bike party.

Dark clouds in the distance appeared threatening, but a sunny sky prevailed all day.
Soon, thousands of people were lined up to witness the finish of round three of America's favorite cycle race.
A Lance Armstrong fan waved her little sign in support of her hero.

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On Friday, May 21, I went to see a Flock of Seagulls play live at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
I love seeing punks on beaches. I photographed these two enjoying the 21st century version of new wave. Does that make it old wave now? Or old-school, new wave? Or...?

An actual large flock of seagulls flew overhead as A Flock of Seagulls played their first number. I saw this band at the Us Festival way back in 1983. I shant say more.

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The Steady Ed Memorial Masters Cup Tournament came to the De Laveaga Disc Golf Course last weekend, (May 21-23).
The worlds greatest disc golfers battled it out for three days.

This was the best drive I have ever witnessed on #7. The disc came to rest directly under the basket. Nice chuck!
Putting for birdie.



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On May 23, I attended Cabrillo Chorale at Cabrillo College. I was impressed with the lovely new addition to the music department. The musical performance and the new building were equally beautiful. Bravo!I call this My Imaginary Friends Ensemble

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Mountain Animal Hospital, one of my favorite local bands, played at the Crepe Place on Thursday, May 27. This show celebrated the release of their second CD, called Better Children.
The new music sounded great. The instruments were crystal clear, and the vocal harmonies were inspiring.

Most folks say that Mountain Animal Hospital's genre falls somewhere between progressive and indie. The name of the band suggests a poke at indie band names that so often possess an animal theme, like Vox Jaguars, Deer Tick and Giraffes? Giraffes!. Perhaps Mountain Animal Hospital can provide relief to some sufferers of contemporary musical maladies.

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Thousands of folks from every land came to Santa Cruz this weekend to enjoy some perfect weather, gnarly surf, fine food and some laid back locals for the Memorial Day weekend. Everyone wants to be in Santa Cruz. Got Cruz?

* I spent much of my childhood in Utah, and in my experience, the church isn't nearly as influential as folks would like to believe. As I recall, the number one, most important thing to most Utahn's, is sports. Yes, the inflated ball reigns supreme in the Beehive State. The second most important thing to Utahns is prescription drugs and doctors. Athletes are gods, and doctors are elevated to a position higher than high priests. Utahns also like sweets and snacks, and consume more sugar than any other state, so naturally, the children (and of course, there are a lot of 'em) are a bit hyperactive. But rather than removing the sugar from the child's diet, to deal with the hyperactivity, lots of Utahns tend to medicate them with drugs for ADD and ADHD, etc. beginning a life-long attitude toward acceptance of medication. When these sugar-charged medicated kids get older, they end up on psychosis-inducing psychotropic drugs that too often lead to suicide. Don't blame it on the LDS Church leaders though. Put the blame where it squarely rests, on the doctors and pharmaceutical industry.